Snowboarding - WOO!

Ryan and I went snowboarding last Friday at Crystal Mountain. We were so psyched! So far so good: we had salsa and snowboarding scheduled this month and we did both. How's that for sticking to our New Year's Resolution!

Being silly before hitting the slopes.

On the Discovery lift.

Looking down the Discovery run.

I ran out of speed and a little pink Teletubby (that's what Frankie, our instructor, called the kids on the slopes) gave me a hand. Haha.

I regained speed! Vroom vroom.

Rai lookin' fly.

I ran out of speed again so I walked the last couple of yards.

Me, facedown in the snow. Yummy.

Shh, don't tell anyone he 'fell'.

Beautiful in the snow!

Francesca, my inner snow bunny, is quite happy now.

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Snow!

Snow's back in the weather report again. It's not snowing here at the moment but the weatherman says even the coastal areas may see some spread. Damn, and I just got finished telling Ros that we're having fine weather...psyche! :/

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Tartan Mad

I love tartan and I've always loved tartan. Must be my mother's fault because I clearly remember a red and black tartan skirt being one of her most favourite items of clothing when I was little, and I don't know about you but as a little girl, I always wanted to wear what my mother wore. In my teens, I took her two tartan scarves (one's red and black; the other's blue and green) and called them mine; they're still in my closet now.

Anyway, I bought a red and black tartan doctor's bag style handbag several weeks ago and I just found a pair of shoes that would totally match: it's called And The Winner Is Plaid in The Carnival of Love Collection by Seychelles. They come in three colours - green, off-white and red - and I want all three! :( Damn you Seychelles, damn you. Why do I have to love shoes, particularly your shoes, so much??

The other ones I want are called Collectors Item (part of The Button Down Collection) in brown and white. I'm seriously thinking about getting both pairs. I've been wanting the brown ones since last summer when I saw them on sale at Top Shop (oh, and I so should've just bought them then!) and the white ones...well, I've been looking for a pair of white loafers for the summer time to wear with dresses but these would do just as nicely, if not nicer, than plain white loafers.

Anybody wanna give me an early birthday present? I need them in 8. :D

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Dow Down 200

Anybody read about the massive drop in the stocks today? Worrisome...

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Everything's Coming Up Roses!

And how sweet they smell! It's been a fabulous month. There's no other word to describe February - and I still got a week left of it! - other than 'fabulous'. Wanna know why? Lemme list the reasons why...

I quit retail. Hurrah! *Confetti and streamers*

Ryan and I started a new chapter in our lives with our New Year's Resolution. We started salsa last sunday and we're going snowboarding tomorrow! Hurrah again!

I've met two straight men at R Place and they've both complimented me (in different ways) and thinking about that still makes me feel good. We should all try and drop one person a sincere compliment - it's better if it's a stranger - because not only does that make people feel good, you'll feel good about it, too! Remember, Karma is a bitch - don't mess with her!

I quit retail. And I've had several pretty good interviews (although none of them have totally grabbed my senses yet). w00t w00t!

I went to the Gene Juarez Academy to get my haircut from Jr (finally). He's training there and he kicks ass. No one touches my hair now except for him! Thanks to him, my hair looks gorgeous, I look fabulous and everything's just so peachy keen! When I'm rich and living in Europe, I'm so flying him out to do my hair.

I'm on a roll with this whole I'm-single-and-ready-to-mingle thing. I've had a couple of dates this month and they were all good, some better than others. One guy was pretty vibin' and he looked promising...until I discovered how tall he was. Sad! Argh, and I was wearing flats, too! Some people can overlook it but I couldn't in this case. Raven once said that I couldn't hold a man's height against him but that's so not true. Height is very important. What if I wanted to wear my three-inch heels? Huh, huh?? I do not want to be taller than my guy; I want to be able to fit under his shoulder! It's primitive biology: Big, tall man can take better care of woman. Granted, that isn't always the case but for me, it is. Turns out, we really didn't have that much in common to make it work either, so it all turned out for the best.

Another one was a lunch date. He suggested dim sum (point!), which I was quite pleased with because it's not the usual fare, and it was somewhere I hadn't been to. I showed up and he was already there (point!) and had already gotten a table by the window (point!). And guess what? He had a bouquet of red roses for me! (A gazillion points!!) Now I don't care what you've heard but I can tell you that every woman likes receiving flowers. Roses are one of my favourites, too! Maybe a dozen roses (yes, count 'em - it was a dozen) may be a bit much for some of y'all on a first date but not for me! Why? Okay, this is going to sound a bit sad and pathetic but oh well, to hell with all that: up until today, I've never, ever received flowers from a man. Yeah, that's right. NEVER. What's the bloody problem with men these days?! Hell if I know!! Maybe there's something wrong with me? Uh, no. I've received plenty of flowers and bouquets from my girl friends, best friends and workmates. Maybe there's something wrong with all the guys I've been with? Yeah, that sounds good. I've bemoaned to Flick (who has received flowers from an ex before, mind you) about my unfortunate statistic and even she was shocked. I mean, what the hell, right? How tragic, non? Oui, oui damnit. Well, until today! I'm still floored by the flowers. Y'see? THAT'S how you woo a girl! Need I say more about that date? Oh yeah, he also said, in a very sincere (point!) and slightly awed voice (point!) that I looked beautiful. Lemme just dance a jig right now...


Saturday's a busy day, too. I've got a pedicure in the afternoon with one of Jr's friends at Gene Juarez and then I've got a big night ahead of me. I'm being taken out to a night on the town! Woo babeh! First there's dinner on Lake Union - beautiful view (point!) - and then...drumroll please...a show at Seattle Repertory Theatre (point!). Oh, wow. I am well impressed! That's totally thinking outside the box. Soooo much better than your typical dinner-and-a-movie date! Now, then, what should I wear?

Also, Georgia and I have banded together and we are going out and doing hetero-single stuff! Space City Mixer holds a lot of singles events and activites that sound really fun and most of them aren't too pricey. They even have international singles holidays. Whoa.

Oh, and did I mention I quit retail? :D Progress, baby, progress!

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New Chevy Commercial

I'm really liking Chevy's new commercial. I don't like their cars but I'm a bit of a sucker for advertising; I can't help it, it's in my field. It could be the music involved - they had artists and other famous people (i.e. Mary J. Blige and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) from different genres sing different parts of the advert - or it could just be the T.I. bit that I like:

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Il Borgia

This may be jumping the gun a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit. Alright, it's jumping the gun a lot but that's besides the point. Em just showed me her wedding dress and it's absolutely perfect, and weddings are still on my mind even though I'm having seriously second thoughts on the whole matrimony thing. Blame the spouse of someone close to me, but I'm getting sidetracked. Anyway, if I do get married, I want to get married at Il Borgia - either at the village of Monteluce or at the Castle. Of course, getting married in an English or Scottish castle is my absolute first choice but Tuscany Italy's a very close second. Now, about that wedding dress...

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eBay - Lead Me Not Into Temptation!

Up until now, I've never been one for online shopping. Online window shopping, yes, but actually buying stuff online? Nah. I just don't do it. However, I've becoming more and more specific about what I want and finding it harder and harder to find it in stores. I was just surfing eBay for cameo jewelry and I'm definitely feeling the pull...

Like this gorgeous Victorian cameo brooch from free.fellows on eBay. All together now - oooh, aaah. That's right. I should just start buying all my jewelry on eBay now.

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Salsa Babeh!

Finally, finally, salsa lessons have started. Ryan and I started tonight at HaLo, which is part of Century Ballroom. It was a lot of fun - of course! - and it felt so good to be putting on my dance shoes again. They were so happy to be taken out of the closet!! They said to me, "Yay, you're taking us dancing!" Aren't you jealous that you don't have talking shoes? Yeah, that's what I thought. *Smirk* Kekekekeke :D.

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A British Affaire

I'm clump-blogging, apparently...

Anyway, I've been running out of tea. OH NO! Exactly my reaction. The box Nick got me two Christmases ago (yes, two years ago...I've been in and out of the country so it's taken me a while to make a dent in it) was running low and I needed a refill. I was going to ask Tony to post me a box but I had discovered a shop here called A British Affaire, specializing in all things English. Can we say YAY?!?! I think I literally squealed when I found a description of it in Where magazine. I checked it out last weekend and boy was I happy. McVitie's Digestives, Quality Street chocolates, Aero... and, and Sharwood's and Patak's cooking sauces. Can we say curry?! CURRY! Best of all, of course, there was so much tea! I was in a bit of a daze at all the tea at my fingertips: Tetley's, Twinings, PG Tips, Yorkshire Gold, Typhoo, and Taylor's of Harrogate. I picked up Tetley's Decaf. Now that I've refilled my tea supply, I need to pick up some milk...

The shop keeper told me that they'd opened a second shop in Tacoma and it's going to have a tea room, too. Oooh! He also told me that if there was something that I wanted and they didn't carry it, I should talk to the owner and they'd try to get it for me. Cool! Maybe I can get Jordan's cereal...

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Yay Vonage!

All hail Vonage! They're my new favourite company. Not only are they cheaper than my old phone company, they give me more features and, and, drumroll please...I get unlimited free calls to UK landlines!! I mean, how totally AWESOME is that, huh huh huh?! That is what hooked me in. Of course, the other bonuses helped, too, but free unlimited calls to UK landlines? Hell yeah! I just spoke to Flick and Yseult and it was sooo nice to hear an English accent. It's funny because I slip into an accent, too. Don't judge me. :P

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Belated New Year's Resolution

Ryan and I had a very long and heartfelt discussion - the kind that only best friends can have and carry on - several nights ago. It ended with Ryan making a belated New Year's Resolution for us: we are going to do one or two fun, exciting, different, we've-always-wanted-to-do-but-never-did, new things every month. We realised that we always do the same things: R Place, dinner, hang out at someone's house, movies. We were stuck in a rut! Both of us have lived here for ages and neither of us have ever been to the zoo - the zoo for crying out loud - for the sake of just going to the zoo. (Okay, there was that one time I went with Kevin and met up with Em and Charles but it was a mistake - not the Em and Charles part of course - and we'll just forget about that and start with a clean slate. And there was another time that I went to observe the gorillas but that was for an Anthro project so that doesn't count either.) Tragic, non? Very.

So we're determined to stick to this resolution, although I doubt it'd be that hard. We live in this amazing city that has so many things going on all the time, but we've never really went out there and experienced it fully. We're both really excited and here are some things we've got planned:

Snowboarding
Murder Myster Trains on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train
The Bodies exhibition
The Bellevue Art Museum and the Seattle Art Museum
The Washington Park Arboretum
The Northwest Trek
Exploring Fremont's art galleries
Olympic National Park
Taking a ferry to Victoria, BC, Canada
Jet City Improv comedy show

And I'm also determined to plan a Ceroc trip up to Canada...the classes are on weekdays but there's always the Cerocshop weekends...

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Superbowl XLI

The Indianapolis Colts beat out the Chicago Bears 29-17 today. Go Colts! Not that I'm a Colts fan - I'm a Hawks fan - but they were the lesser of the two evils, so to speak...the Bears beat us in the playoffs and so therefore they had to lose. :)

I missed the kickoff and the first two quarters because I took my mom shopping (and yes, the new trousers I got were worth it) but I made it back for the last half and it was a good game. I noticed that the Colts are good passers and catchers. But I did miss an exciting moment in the game - was it 14 seconds into the game? - when one of the Bears turned the opening kickoff - they were on the defense because they lost the coin toss - into a 92-yard touchdown. That's ninety-two yards. Wow. Apparently it's a first. Oh, and it rained. That's a first, too.

*Exhale* Well, no more American football for now. Next!

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Darren Hayes In London

If only I was in London...

Press Release Live Dates

THE OLD FASHIONED WAY

Darren Hayes is soon to begin a series of exclusive regular performances in London as part of a plan to showcase new material for his forthcoming album 'This Delicate Thing We've Made'.

The Australian born singer songwriter is about to turn up the heat on the demand for his new album the old fashioned way : by road testing it in front of a tiny audience.

In a series of exclusive and intimate twice monthly club performances, Darren will regularly take over residency of a famous London venue with a night specially created for him : 'Delicacy'.

With only 150 tickets available to each performance it goes without saying that demand will far exceed supply. But that's apparently just how Hayes wants it.
With dates beginning in March, Darren will continue performances all the way up to the release of his new album in August this year.

"I want to road test new material and play songs that I haven't performed in years. And hopefully throw a few surprises in as well. After almost 5 months locked away in the studio, I'm ready to stretch my wings. I love the new songs and I can't wait to get out there and debut them live".

Those lucky enough to score tickets will be treated to an eclectic mix of brand new music, reinvented older tunes and maybe even a few quirky surprises.

Demand for tickets is expected to be high – with only a limited number sold prior to each performance. The rest will be available on the door and via exclusive MySpace only random invitation. Those who miss out need not shed a tear. Hayes intends staging much larger shows in the U.K in September and the rest of the world in 2008.

Stay tuned to www.darrenhayes.com and www.myspace.com/darrenhayes for exclusive news regarding Venue, ticket availability and also similar regular intimate dates in New York.

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