1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Got engaged. Smashed up a car. Went to the Dominican. Had a real Christmas tree in an apartment.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
For the most part, I did. I ate pretty healthy, I worked out often, I volunteered too much and I got a better job. However, I'm still a crappy friend and I did not start an RRSP. FAIL!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Some of my frienemies gave birth to bitchy babies just like themselves. Actually, some people I do like had babies, too. Not this bear!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No--I'm thankful for that.

5. What countries did you visit?
Dominican Republic aka "don't bother getting in shape before you go because everyone else is at least double your size".

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More money. More sleep. D&G glasses.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 13th. <3

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
H2B wants to spend his whole life with lil' ol' me. That makes me feel pretty fantastic!

9. What was your biggest failure?
The big T-Bone and having to wave goodbye to my little red Saturn. Actually, that wasn't really my failure, since the douchebag in the truck hit ME. I failed epically at baking sugar cookies this Christmas...?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I fainted at a client meeting (maybe that should be my biggest fail of '08?) and I lost a filling...other than that it was a pretty healthy year.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
H2B's for putting up with my constant retardathons.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My grandmother's.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent? Car BS?

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Dominican, the US election, my rock.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
WOMANIZER YOU'RE A WOMANIZER YOU'RE A WOMANIZER OH! WOMANIZER OH YOU'RE A WOMANIZER BABY
Genius lyrics from a genius lady.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?
happier, thinner and richer. ftw.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sleep, art, and travel.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Beating up old people and pooping in the woods

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With the family, drunk and sneaking nibbles of Cranium clay in between turns, and making sure my dog didn't jump up on the new furniture.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I stayed in love...I fell in love with this blog...how romantic

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Gossip Girl Gossip Girl Gossip Girl
It saved my sanity on many Mondays.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Edward Cullen

24. What was the best book you read?
The Glass House...I read it on the beach in one sitting on vacation. Couldn't put it down.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Eva Cassidy...I'm a little slow. And Miley Cyrus. Judge me and I'll cut you.

26. What did you want and get?
A new blog (yay!) A vacation. The Dark Knight in Imax.

27. What did you want and not get?
A winning lottery ticket.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Dark Knight was pretty suite

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 27 and I cried in the parking lot at noon and then stole candy from the Bulk Barn bins. I lied about my age. We had ice cream cake at work, and H2B and I had sushi and he baked me a humungous pink and blue cake that was slightly tipped to the side but tasted wonderful. My friends gave me really funny cards and joke gifts, so in the end, birthdays aren't all bad.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More hours in the day...definitely.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I think it became girlier...I wore dresses and skirts far more in 2008 than ever before.

32. What kept you sane?
Gossip Girl on Mondays. Guitar Hero marathons. Starbucks being just around the corner--thank you, Baby Jesus.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Obama.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The economy in general got the biggest reaction out of me.

35. Who did you miss?
My mom and dad.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
That would be unfair to all the un-bests. I'll say my new coworkers at Colour. They're a very good bunch.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
If you need something on a Friday, tell everyone you need it on Wednesday. You might get it on Friday.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"all I wanna do is *chick chick boom pfffft pyoom chick boom bang* and take your money"
Well done, MIA. Well done.

I have been going to the gym since college, ran track and played sports in high school, swam a few times a week throughout elementary and middle school, you name it--I have spent a lot of time in locker rooms--yet never once have I experienced the need to wander around a locker room stark naked. Is there something wrong with me?? Based on my observations, I seem to be in the vast minority.

Last night I walked into the ladies' locker room at the gym and pretty much got a faceful of ass, literally and figuratively. I get that it's best to apply body lotion fresh out of the shower so your skin absorbs it, yada yada, but c'mon, how hard would it be to wrap yourself in a damn towel while you bend over to lotion up your legs?! Especially when said towel is wrapped around your frigging hair. There was no towel shortage happening. Oh, there were towels available, but this free bird decided to grace us all with her ample naked ass-in-the-air glory.

The other day I walked in and saw the most ginormous boobs on earth--RIGHT THERE!! I was like SHAZAM! (I think I thought it and didn't say it out loud. Fingers crossed.) I veered sharply to the right and felt a little off for the next hour or so. You know how when you're a child and you see someone naked for the first time it's kind of shocking and you feel all weirded out and odd? Well, that's what this was like. Obviously this was not the first set of boobies I have spotted but these were definitely the saggiest, biggest, oldest ta-tas I've seen from that close range. I have no idea what sort of exercise this broad had been performing but I cringe in phantom boobular pain just thinking about lugging those things from the gym to the parking lot, let alone swinging around on a treadmill. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

I won't even get into the various stages of, ahem, grooming I have spotted in the locker room. I honestly don't look for this sort of thing but it's the same as how one would notice, say, a very wooly lamb or a rather large Persian cat attached to one's body. It's kind of hard to avoid observing. No no no no no. Towels towels towels towels for the love of God!!!!!! If you're going to bring fluffy animals to the gym, hide them!! New rule: No pets in the locker room!

Some would probably say that I'm embarrassed of my body and if I were more confident and comfortable I would be OK with parading around in my birthday suit in front of other women. Guess what: Even if I were freaking Angelina Jolie I would not be waggling my titters and bum in front of innocent bystanders. I don't have any big huge body issues; I have youth on my side (relatively) so things are pretty much located where they should be and I think everything looks the way it's supposed to. Yet I have never had the urge to tromp about the locker room in the buff. I don't feel restricted by wrapping a towel around or pulling the curtain closed in the shower. I'm not embarrassed...it's more out of respect for my fellow gymgoers who, like me, get a mild case of the dry heaves when confronted up close and personal with foreign jugs and patootie. Body confidence is great and I'm happy that these ladies don't have an issue with showing off their hoo-has and crotchal regions but I think keeping that sort of thing to one's own home is probably a good idea. There is no towel shortage in the locker room! I repeat: there are plenty of towels in the locker room!

Christmas was pretty freaking fantabulous this year with the exception of getting my windshield cracked by some asstard on the highway and dropping my sister's gift while loading up the car to go home--the gift happened to be a set of wineglasses. As soon as the present hit the ground I heard the shattering of six goblets. This did not exactly get my holiday off to the best start ever, but I quickly cheered up and things improved 110%. Christmas was essentially a four-day drunkfest with occasional breaks for eating and passing out.

Santa was super generous this year and for once I actually liked every single one of my gifts. I got seasons 1-4 of The Office on DVD which will keep me laughing for many hours. I got a paper shredder which Dad and I went apeshit over on Christmas morning sticking random objects in it. We got a little carried away destroying old credit cards and I might have shredded a gift card by mistake--woops. I got a bunch of clothes, more books than you can shake a stick at and lots of wine and wine-related paraphenilia. I got the Eat Shrink and Be Merry cookbook and screeched with joy at it. I also got The Artist's Way and now I'm convinced I was meant to be an author or a sculptor or something.

New Year's Eve is next on the holiday hit list and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go out. I've got a massive hate-on for New Year's Eve debauchery for the same reasons everyone else; it's expected, tons of pressure to have big plans, blah blah. I'm thinking we're probably going to stay home and maybe have people over, make some awesome food and have our own little martini and wine bar, have some games set up, maybe some Guitar Hero, whatever. I think that sounds a lot more appealing than getting sandwiched between Jagerbombers and Prosti-Tots at the Do-Me and puking all over the inside of a Casino Taxi and kicking off '09 with the beer trots, no? :)

Hope everyone had/is having a wonderful holiday!

1. He gets up super early to scrape my car windows and brush the snow off every morning.

2. He hates Starbucks but he'll run over to the one around the corner and get me a coffee while I'm getting ready for work AFTER he's finished scraping my car.

3. He watches Gossip Girl with me every week and doesn't complain. In fact, he bought me season 1.

4. He brings me US Weeklies and Crossword scratch tickets randomly so I can have my little celebrity gossip/lottery fix.

5. He has memorized my clothing sizes, favourite shade of O.P.I., and preferred Bath & Body Works lines.

6. He never forgets an anniversary or a birthday and remembers my family's birthdays too.

7. He writes me lovey-dovey and dirty emails at equal frequencies and sends me dumb YouTube links to make me laugh during the day.

8. He hates talking on the phone as much as I do.

9. He tells me I look pretty even when I look like ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag.

10. He always brings me a glass of water before I go to sleep.

I love him very, very much for the little things as much as the bigger things he does. I think I've kind of lucked out. I'm definitely going to miss H2B over the holidays, even though we're only going to be apart for a few days, and I'm excited to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with him next year, when he's no longer H2B but just H.

Elizabeth tagged me on her "25 quirky things about you" meme. I hope I can think of 25!

1. Until this year I hated sushi. Abhorred it. In the Dominican (not the most Japanese of cultures, I'm not gonna lie) in April I had too many cervesas and tried it again on a whim and guess what? It's now one of my top three foods and I eat it at least once a week. Weird how tastes change.

2. I almost lost an eye when I was 6. My cousins and I were playing tag at a family reunion on the same lawn where my dad and my retarded relatives had been playing horseshoes earlier and not put the posts away. This is already looking like a Play Safe commercial, huh? I got tagged, fell, and landed face-side down on one of the poles. It ended up conking my cheekbone and not my eye, but an inch north and I'd be a Cyclops today.

3. I'm frightened of clowns, and I take it back to when I was getting my pre-kindergarten booster needles at the doctor's office. I was scared out of my trees and spent the entire time waiting staring at a nasty-ass clown poster that was leering down at me. Bad associations!

4. I know the lyrics to pretty much every song to come on the radio--not sure if this is good or bad!

5. I will always be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan even acknowledging how terrible they are.

6. I can't fall asleep facing away from the bedroom door or with the closet doors open.

7. I don't like using my Blackberry or Outlook calendars. I have to write appointments down in an old-school planner book or else I forget what I have to do or delete everything accidentally.

8. I'm obsessed with decorating blogs and magazines and I think if I ever were to open a store, I'd buy an old house, renovate it, and decorate all the rooms appropriately with cool things for sale that I picked up here and there.

9. I love to take pictures and paint and draw, but I'm crappy at all three.

10. I don't like lobster and I don't understand how it can possibly be a delicacy.

11. I never ever have Kleenex in my house. I can't seem to remember to buy it unless H2B or I have a cold (which is almost never) so we end up sniffling into toilet paper most times.

12. I like the smell of skunks...like I wouldn't BATHE in it but I like smelling them.

13. I rarely get sick...my biggest problem is migraines. I don't get colds or flus often, knock on wood, and I've never had a flu shot.

14. I'm not 100% sure what my take-home pay is after taxes and such. I know what my gross salary is for the year and that's about it.

15. I have been in a hot air balloon.

16. I have never been to Europe.

17. I feel fat about 80% of the time even though realistically I know that's not the case.

18. My fingernails have ridges in them that I'm sure is some sort of vitamin deficiency but I don't want to get it checked.

19. I don't speak to most of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side of the family. The drama makes it not worth it.

20. I check my hair for grays several times a week. None yet! *again, knock on wood*

21. I haven't eaten a hot dog since I was about 8.

22. On my 27th birthday I spent my lunch hour crying in my car and stealing candy out of the bins at Bulk Barn.

23. I don't buy anything for myself unless it's on sale.

24. I wish the Christmas season lasted forever! When I was little, I'd watch taped Christmas shows on the VCR on my summer vacation.

25. I already have my baby names picked out. I'm not going to share them because I don't want any baby name thievery. :)

Today is December 14...unbelievable. Not only is Christmas like 10 days away, but 2008 will be drawing to a close in a little over two weeks. I'm not very excited.

2008 has been, shall we say, an eventful year...

1. I left my old job and started a new job.
2. I moved in with H2B.
3. I visited a new country (Dominican!)
4. H2B and I moved to a new apartment.
5. I smashed up my car.
6. I got a new car.
7. I got engaged.

It has been a rollercoaster of a year, that's for sure--never a dull moment. But it's also been a fabulous year and one that I'm a little sad to see come to a close. Plus, in general, I hate New Year's. I don't like New Year's Eve--I don't like the pressure of feeling like I need to have plans for an exciting night out. I don't enjoy making New Year's resolutions and I'm not a big fan of the idea that I'm another year closer to death.

I've started giving a little thought to my New Year's resolutions for 2009. I'm sure this list will be tweaked a bunch, but here are my thoughtstarters as of today:

1. Learn to budget.
I don't keep a budget. I know approximately what I spend on the necessities each month: rent, food, bills, car stuff. I know that when I want something I go and buy it. And I know approximately how much money I bring home. What I want to start doing is actually create some kind of Excel spreadsheet (gag gag gag *stabs Excel*) and actually track my money coming in and money going out for a month or two, see if it looks reasonable, and learn to spend more wisely, which ties in nicely with my next points...

2. Set up online banking with seperate accounts: chequing, retirement, wedding, and house.
I currently have all my money going straight into my chequing account and no where else. Stupid, right? I would like to have different "pots" and make sure each pot is getting what it needs. I can't believe I'm just getting to this now.

3. Run 10K.
Right now, I do 4 to 4.25 miles several times a week, which is roughly 6.4-6.8 kilometres. I would like to be able to say I can run 10K in one stint. I think it'll be doable!

4. Visit a new country.
I don't even care which country...it just has to be new. Considering I've only visited three, that shouldn't be too difficult.

5. Write every day.
Even if it's one line in my journal about how crappy the drive to work was or what I wore to the gym. I love writing and I don't do it nearly enough.

6. Keep in touch better with friends.
I am ABYSMAL at keeping in close contact with even my best friends. Work, volunteering, gym, yada yada...everyone's busy and I suck at nurturing relationships. Once a week, I will call or contact someone to hang out or just catch up over the phone. But it has to be more than a Facebook wall post.

7. Spend more time doing the things I love best.
Painting, photography, baking, going to weird shops, making crappy crafts: all things I love to do; all things I don't do enough to make me happy. This year I am going to spend more time on hobbies. Spending one weekend morning, even a couple hours, at one of my hobbies will be good for me, I think. So often on weekends I'm like "OK WE HAVE TO CLEAN THE HOUSE! OK NOW WE HAVE TO GET GROCERIES!" and so on and so forth I really don't enjoy the time and then come Sunday night (ahem *right now*) I'm pouting because I wasted my weekend and I'm going to be up in eight hours getting ready for work again and sulking.

Soooo...look out 2009...I am going to be baking up a storm, painting assorted shitty items, hoarding cash like a miser and hauling ass galore. Good times ahead!

Our agency Christmas party is this Friday. In lieu of the LBD, I have decided to step outside of my comfort zone of dresses slightly and opted to go the LPD route. Yep--purple! I'm in a bit of a shoe dilemma and need advice.

Please attempt to ignore the Myspace quality of these photos, the ginormous flash where my face should be, the clothes explosion that's going on on the couch next to me (I swear I am generally a tidy person...these photos were taken at 7am on a Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for work!), my absence of self tanner, and any spots on the mirror. Phew...I ask a lot, I know.

Option #1:



These are my Nine West pony-hair open-toe shoes. I hope to God the pony hair is fake!

Pros: They're cute and fun
Cons: It's WINTER in Canada. Granted there's going to be minimal outdoors action at this thing, and none of my shoe choices are particularly weather-friendly.

Option 2:



Basic black, kinda shiny, pointy-toed black heels.

Pros: They are comfy and easy to get around in.
Cons: I wear them to work a lot so they aren't designated party shoes.

Option 3:



Cobalt-blue pumps that I found at--wait for it--Wal*Mart. NOW YOU KNOW ALL MY SECRETS!

Pros: They are blue, which makes them fun and party-ish. Plus they cost 19.97 so if someone gets drunk and pukes on them I don't care about throwing them out.
Cons: Does cobalt blue go with purple? They aren't the most comfortable choice.

HALP!

H2B and I put up our first Christmas tree together last night. :) That's me putting the star on top...


the final (slightly blurry) product...


This morning I decided to get crackalackin' on the wrapping.
Here is the mess I made in the process.


...and the results!



I'm not a very good wrapper. I use way too much paper and the ends get all messy. It's the thought that counts though...right?? And I don't care for gift bags, therefore, if you're getting a present from me, be prepared to deal with mediocre wrappage.

Also, last night I decided to try--for the first time, despite being 27 years old and Canadian--rum and eggnog. Not a good experience. It's probably the worst combination of life. Liquidy alcohol should not be mixed with milk products, period. It's only OK when it's something creamy, like Bailey's or kahlua. Rum, vodka, & co. are a completely different story--I almost woofed my cookies. H2B rummaged around and came up with another sickening concoction: Fireball whiskey + cream soda. "It tastes like candy!!" he proclaims, shoving the glass at me. I'm not sure what kind of candy he's been eating but it tasted kind of like hobo ass with cinnamon, or what I imagine that would taste like.

1. Britney Spears needs to have another mental breakdown again, ASAP. Crazy Britney who shaves her head and drops her babies and marries her high school lab partners is so much more fun than Britney who has her shit together. Crazy > Shit Together. Every time!

2. Lately I have been paying way too much attention to people's teeth. In some cases, it's OK...some people have lovely teeth. Some people should not part their lips. It's making me really self-conscious about my own teeth, though...in fact, right now, I want to go brush and floss. I think I'm going to invest in a teeth whitening kit of some sort. FASCINATING, I KNOW...Moving on!

3. This weekend is going to be extremely holiday-centric. Saturday includes Christmas shopping, card mailing, tree buying and decorating, Elf-watching, and Christmas party numero uno of the season. Sunday is Christmas baking day plus probably a little wrapping thrown into the mix. This working Monday-Friday is really interfering with my opportunities for Christmas cheer.

4. I had Tim Horton's coffee this morning and it's rotting me from the inside out. It is horrible, horrible stuff and I don't know how people drink it on the regular.

5. My DVR does not like the Hills and always stops recording at a key crucial moment in the episode. Therefore, I don't know how Lauren and Audrina's conversation ended up going on Monday. Even sadder is the fact that it's not really killing me...in fact, I barely care. Could this mean I no longer love the Hills? That makes me a little sad, I'm not going to lie.

6. Back to the Christmas baking thing, I need to decide what to make this weekend. Right now I'm thinking the following:

-Peanut butter balls
-Rum balls
-Gingerbread cookies
-Either sugar cookies or shortbreads
-Annnd probably some kind of nutbread/sweet bread

I'm trying to make things that freeze well and could make good gifts or gift supplements. Any suggestions on other options? I have a marble cake mix but that doesn't really scream "Christmasy". I might try baking with Splenda so that stuff isn't quite as deadly nutritionally. Last time I baked with NutraSweet and it was DISGUSTING!! Apparently, baking with Splenda is OK. If you have any good Christmasy baking suggestions that would be good for freezing and sharing, please let me know. :)

This weekend, H2B and I met some friends to "go out". In a bigger, cooler city, one could say we "went clubbing", but it's Halifax, so we don't club. I used to go out on the regular--we're talking every Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays, with the occasional Wednesday student night at the Dome (also known as the Do Me, because that's kind of the theme of the shithole--it reeks of desperation). But since I got on this health kick a year or so again I have cut wayyyy back on the drunken debauchery.

As a result, my bank account got fatter as my waistline got smaller. Suddenly I was spending a couple hundred fewer dollars every week in cover charges, taxis, drinks, and post-bar donair pizza, taking in about 1,000 fewer calories per weekend night out, and encountering an approximate 98% decline in embarrassing moments and regrets. Not a bad trade-off!

However, where I used to be able to knock back 10 or so drinks in one sitting and not be any worse for wear the next day, my alcohol tolerance is shot to the max and I end up getting disgusting hangovers now, all the time. I used to drink a bottle of wine on a regular Wednesday night while eating dinner and reading magazines. Now a bottle of wine equals a six-Advil day in a dark room with an empty garbage can in very close proximity.

Anyway, on Saturday night we met up with a bunch of people and went to Peddler's. Not sure if anyone reading this is familiar with the Halifax bar scene but Peddler's is basically devoid of any atmosphere whatsoever and the only reasons I can think of to go there is the drink prices: $2 for a single, $4 for a double--and the very high likelihood that you'll get to see two popped-collared Jagerbombers pounding the Axe Effect right out of one another. We went there and basically lurked in the corner next to the Hot Nuts machine and watched an Asian guy go more or less apeshit excited and come back a minimum of four times to get hot nuts. I was trying pretty frantically to get drunk-- and had about three double rum and diet Cokes and one disgusting shot of Sourpuss. Those kinds of establishments are not really doable when sober. The highlight of the evening was probably getting into a big conversation in front of the bar with a girl who overheard me calling my friend Adam Chuck Bass and singing "Womanizer" at him. This girl launched into a big spiel about how she loves Gossip Girl and ended with me putting my fist in her face and yelling "POUND IT!!" because we'd totally bonded over our favourite show. When we were leaving the bar, I saw her making out with some goof on a stool and she actually stopped sucking face to lean back and crane around and screech "GOSSIP GIRL FOR LIFE!" at me. Obviously we're meant to be BFF.

Unfortunately, on Sunday morning I woke up feeling like 10 pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag. I crawled around on the bathroom floor, leaning my forehead against the cool tiles for relief. I pulled a pillow over my face and whined for H2B to bring me Advil. He came into the bedroom with a pot and a spoon from the kitchen and banged on them and I think I actually started to cry. No sympathy from that one when it's a self-induced illness, that's for sure!*

Now that December is here, there are going to be more and more opportunities to drink and indulge, and this post is going to serve as a reminder to me to NOT overdo it. Thinking that I'm actually a good dancer for a couple of hours is not worth a day of misery. On Sunday, I said, "I'm never drinking againnnnnnn..." (yeah, with 7 n's.) Obviously that's not true, but over the holidays I'm going to be careful to alternate one alcoholic drink with one glass of water and not let myself get to a point of embarrassment and sickness. I'm getting old and I can no longer party like it's 1999.

*He did bring me Advil and ginger ale and also sat with me through three episodes of Gossip Girl, offered to get me McDonald's greasy hangover cure breakfast, and didn't tease when I kept having to run to the bathroom. He's really not that mean to me in my weaker moments :)