Emagin Ajia!!!

Rob's nephew had a little girl last week...I don't know what "title" that would give us...Second Aunt and Uncle? Never heard of it...but whatever the formalities are, Ema is darned adorable. And the luckiest little bugger ever. She lives 5 minutes from both sets of grandparents, who are itchin' to help babysit.

One of the first things Travis told Rob after Ema was born was how lucky they are, that they are "guys", and don't have to go through with child birth!! But he was a trooper and stayed in the delivery room the entire time, although he admitted he was feeling kinda faint near the end!



It's times like this when I'm envious of families who all live in the same city!!! I wish we lived driving distance to everyone in our families...I would LOVE to hold and smell the baby!!!

I've been on cloud nine lately...

Had a nice weekend...had a surprise visit from Rob's brother, his wife and their little girl on Saturday. They treated us to a delicious dinner at a great Italian place downtown (I went all out and ate like a pig...including cheesecake for dessert). Then Sunday was the perfect Spring day...sunny and warm...Rob and I took Bosco out to the trendy area of Ottawa (Westboro), grabbed some Starbucks and walked around window shopping...it was a very yuppy Sunday afternoon! And today I found out I passed my Mutual Funds Exam!!! Yay! It's 7:40pm, I'm already in my PJ's...and I have nothing to stress about tonight. I am going to read a magazine, watch some TV, and just be happy...

hope you all are also having a happy day!

What DRAWS people to ART??

It's funny how something so abstract can make you know 100%, that for whatever reason you can't explain...you love it.

I fell in love with this painting from a local young artist from around the Ottawa Area. I found her by fluke online. Her work consists of lots of asian-inspired themes (florals like my dad used to paint, but with a modern twist). Anyway, I contacted her and she's painting me something similar to this...except instead of the Chinese symbol for "Wisdom" (which is what is on the existing painting), I asked if she could paint me the symbol for "Love" because it means more to me. I would much rather be in LOVE than be WISE!!! This will be my first purchase of original artwork in my life! And it cost the same as buying a poster/print from an art store! I was contemplating buying it and giving it to Rob for his birthday which is in a few weeks...but it felt like I was cheating him out of a birthday present. Buying him something that really it's ME that wants! And considering it's my first purchase of art, I think it's only right that I buy it for ME ME ME!

Spring was officially a few days ago...

snow is melting...
grass is peeping through...
birds are chirping...
people have stopped wearing down-filled parkas...

yes this is all true...

but how does Joyce know Spring has arrived???
because is STINKS outside!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the fact that summer is on it's way...but Spring Time in Ottawa is soooo smelly!!! I don't know why, but ever since I was a little girl growing up in Montreal, I remember spring-time air is always stinky like poo. Sometimes worse than poo. I don't remember this happening in Vancouver...maybe I just didn't notice it because I lived downtown where there wasn't much grass, and everything around me was concrete and glass. Anyway, I guess I shouldn't complain considering how happy I was that I didn't have to zip up my jacket today, and actually took off my mittens because my hands were too hot!! Hope everyone else has Spring Fever too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICTOR!!!

One of my favorite stories of my little monkey Victor, is when he was a little boy (3 or 4 yrs old I think), and he got in trouble for using a screwdriver to poke holes in the screen patio doors. When his mother (Sue) discovered him doing this and asked him why...he responded with "I wanted to break something". My Rob LOVES this line...he claimes to totally understand this typical BOY "feeling". Susan then told him that "now bugs will be able to come in", to which Victor responded all worried ..."Even the bubblebees?" Ha ha ha, so cute and funny! I hope all your birthday wishes come true Victor!!! I promise I will see you next weekend with a cool present to make up for not being there to celebrate it today.

Blah Blah Blah...Boring Boring Boring...
I'm not posting a real blog because I'm supposed to be studying. And now that both my mom and dad read my blog...I will get busted if they find out that instead of reading my dumb Mutual Funds textbook I am wasting my time blogging! Ha ha ha, 31 years old and married with my own house, and still worried that I'm going to get in trouble from my parents! Bye all...I'll write something more fun over the weekend.

Ok, I admit...I'm obsessed...

I LOVE this used furniture website www.usedottawa.com! I check it several times a day to see when newly listed second-hand furniture is posted. I blame my obsession on the purchase of this house! I love being a home-owner...it comes from having rented an apartment for so many years before. Now we get to paint, decorate, plant, whatever and whenever we want! I am constantly thinking about what I want to do (and buy) for the house next. I fell in LOVE with this solid oak dresser from this website last week. It was stunningly gorgeous. And only $65.00!! I emailed the person selling it, and asked her when I could come and see it. She told me she could show it to me that night, or the next night. I decided that since it was freezing rain, and that I didn't know if the dresser would fit in our car without keeping the hatchback part open, it was safer to see it the next night. I went home, looked at the picture of it again, and decided, "yes I absolutely love it and will buy it tomorrow". The next morning, I emailed the lady telling her that I would be by after work...I almost cried when I found out that someone else had braved the weather and bought it the night before! Now that it's gone, I think I love it even more! Anyway, my new decorating idea involves this black antique armoire and the burgundy slipper chairs. Both items are way too expensive, but you never know...the thing about second-hand shopping means bargaining! I wonder if I will ever feel like my house is "done". I am constantly looking around and thinking "OK, I need to hang a picture there, and that wall needs to be painted red, and I need a mirror to open up this space..."

Bosco, Bosco, Bosco...Rob and I honestly say that we have the "cutest dog in the world" on a daily basis!!! He doesn't listen all that well, his ears are kinda stinky, his paws smell like popcorn or corn-chips, he drools when there is food around, his lips sometimes smell like dirty-rags, he moans and groans whenever he lies down like he's had the toughest day, he is known to steal people's spots on the sofa (if you get up to go to the bathroom or get up to get something, you're sure to come back to having NO more seat)...but man do we love this goofy guy!!!
For those of you who don't know, Bosco is a mix of a Black Lab and a Basset hound...so he has short legs. Look how determined he is to look over the fence, short legs and all!
Can you believe he's a throw-away-shelter-dog?? He's so handsome!!! My forever-puppy (his nickname since his short legs and big ears make him look like a 4 month old lab puppy, rather then a 21/2 year old)!I found him on Petfinder, an online website that advertizes shelter animals who need adopting. Rob and I drove 6 hours each way from Vancouver to almost Oregon to get him...12 hours total in one day!!! Anyway, not only is he a looker...but smart too...check out his blog (it was emailed to me at work a couple of weeks ago) www.boscohouse.blogspot.com

Rob is on the Dean's Honours List at school!!!...and I can't get past chapter 5 (of 20 chapters) of my Mutual Funds course! It's Saturday morning, and I have to study soooo badly...I even told my mother (who was specifically cooking us one of our favorite Korean dishes "MANDU" (dumplings) not to visit me this weekend so I could study. I'm going to regret that when I'm hungry in a few hours!!! I feel like I'm in University again...when i would find any and every reason to procrastinate. I need a Starbucks for some oomph...kick start some motivation! As for Rob...I am really proud of his accomplishment. My little brain-y-ac!

ROB THINKS I'M GROSS...

because I have a "thing" for these two guys!!!



Dr. House from the TV show "HOUSE" which is on tonight at 9:00pm. He's old, scruffy, walks with a limp (and cane), and he's a huge nasty asshole...but there's still something about him that I like. It's his honesty...and intelligence.

And more importantly...Morgan Freeman! I often say I have a "crush" on him, and obviously it's not real...he's really really old! But his voice is amazing. I could hear him talk about anything and I'm intrigued. It started with the Shawshank Redemption (one of my favorite movies of all time). And grew with every movie I've seen him in. And most recently his narration in "March of the Penguins"...his voice gets me EVERY time!!

How does he love me??...let me count the ways...

Rob and I have been together for almost 8 years. Wow, hard to imagine since I still act and feel like I'm 19 years old. Anyway, every so often he will DO something that makes me FEEL the love. I hear the words "I love you" often, but sometimes actions speak louder than words.

The first time I really knew that Rob loved me was when we went camping in Manning Park early in our relationship. Now let me explain that I am NOT a roughing-it kinda girl. Anyway, I knew Rob loved me when I got up in the middle of the night, telling him I was going to be sick, and having him follow me from our tent to the no-electricity, no-running-water outhouse, and hold a Coleman lantern over my head so I could see while I threw up. ICK. He didn't seem as grossed out as I would have been if the tables were turned. He then proceeded to drive me to the Manning Park Hotel-Lodge because I needed a flushable toilet and running water, and paid for a full night, even though it was 5:00am, and check-out of the room had to be at 10:00am. He paid $80.00 for 5 hours, so I could basically puke in a real bathroom!!

The next time I knew he really loved me was when I thought I accidentally threw away my Psych notes in the garbage (down the garbage chute in a building 31 stories high), and had my final exam the next day. My knight in shining armour physically sifted through piles and piles of garbage looking for my notes, while I stood there crying my eyes out. We never found them, and it turns out that I had left them in class (the TA told me he was waiting for 2 weeks for someone to claim them, but since I waited until the last possible day to study, I never realized they were missing!).

This next experience, Rob cursed and complained about me the whole time, I still felt the love!! I have this "thing", a quirky thing that I can't go poo in a public washroom. I have learned to hold it until I get home. This one day at work in Vancouver, I had to go, and since a whole bunch of people were all going out after our shift, I knew it would be hours until I got home. My stomach was killing me, so I called Rob and explained why he had to come pick me up from work. He (not happy about it at all!) came to get me at work, drove me home so I could poo, drove me back to work, and then had to drive back home!!! Ha Ha Ha, it still makes me laugh how crazy I am sometimes. The fact that he did all that (i heard a lot of unpleasantries the whole time) really made me feel lucky to have someone understand my illogical quirks!!

This brings me to the most recent love-filled event. Our whole house was repainted. Every single wall. Both Rob and I already weren't feeling well before the painters came (a stomach-thing), and then on top of that, the paint-fumes pushed me over the edge. I couldn't escape them, even though we had every window of the house open. I felt like I couldn't breathe. We looked into getting a hotel room, but in order to bring Bosco with us (we didn't want to leave him in the toxicity), we would have to stay on the smoking floor of the hotel (we have done this before, and the stench of stale smoke mixed with perfumed room deodorizer was not going to be much better than the paint fumes). Anyway, I fell asleep on the couch, and woke up to Rob telling me to come to bed. He had set up our unfinished basement to be a cozy bedroom! He put down a boxspring topped with a mattress-pad, had tons of blankets, a lamp and alarm clock, Bosco's bed beside us, window open for fresh air...it was perfect! I slept fume-free in my cozy make-shift bedroom!

I know this is a long blog, but I wanted Rob to know how much I appreciate and love him...and thank him for putting up with all my "princess" ways!