Behind the Wheel

Oh ya. I forgot to write about one major event that recently went down. Crown and I bought a car.

As my dear friend Mr. Rush so eloquently put it, "Congratulations guys, you just increased your ecological footprint."

Great. And yes, I do feel guilty about that. However, I'm going to turn THIRTY like any minute now and I've never owned my own car. So, I feel like that might let me off the hook a tiny bit. I mean, I could have been pumping harmful emissions into the universe for years now, but I haven't. At least they make'em a little cleaner these days?

Also, I don't drive to work. I take the smelly, germ infested TTC like the rest of the suckers. And that might not be good from my mental or physical health, but damn it, it's good for the air.

Anyway. Our first car is a Mazda 3 sedan and it's purple. They try to hide the fact that it's purple by calling it Indigo Blue but they aren't kidding anyone. It's freakin' purple. And I LOVE it. The freedom! The freedom! Even though we really hardly use it at all (there's this terrible fear of losing our parking spot) it's always there in the back of our minds. We can DRIVE there.

Want to go to the zoo? We can drive there.
Want to go grocery shopping? We can drive there.
Hey, maybe we should go to the cottage this weekend? YES! We can drive there.

It's truly amazing. And I promise, When hybrid cars that run on carrots or whatever are available and reasonably affordable, I'll be first in line. But for now, it's high gas prices and the open road for this chick.

So buckle up, baby, because I'm behind the wheel.

It's Getting Hot in Herr

Welcome to Nellyville ya'll. For about the seventh day in a row we're experiencing 30 + degree weather in the TDot.
And you know what? I fucking LOVE it!

It's sweaty. It's muggy. It's summer!

I just wrapped up my Saturday morning vacuuming and there's little beads of sweat dripping down my calves. That never happens to me. In fact, I can work out for an hour at full tilt and not get the leg sweat. But today, a couple squats to reach under the bed and a couple calf lifts to get the top shelves and I'm Sweaty Betty. It's great. I feel like I've been pumping iron.

The Momes is in repertory arrest, of course, but I can tell he loves it too. Like mother, like pugger.

Sorry to everyone who hates this kind of weather, but perhaps you can find it in you to be happy that at least one person in this city is sitting around, sweating from the legs, and smiling.

It's getting hot in herr, so take off all your clothes.

I'll House You

It had to have been THE most expensive hole in the ground. But it was OUR hole in the ground. And now? It's our four walls, three floors, 1099 square feet (not including another 280 square feet of sunny, west facing, roof top terrace). It's our two bedrooms and TWO bathrooms.

Soon it will be our hardwood floors, our shiny new stainless steel appliances and our beige (to match the pug) berber (sp?) carpets.

For the last 13 months, it has also been our main source of excitement, anxiety, uncertainty and happiness. Our house. Our very first house.

Sure, it's not the Victorian Century home of my dreams. It won't be the slow and steady labour of love that we fix up bit-by-bit on weekends. I'm hoping it won't involve unexpected leaks that capture with buckets and laugh about a few months later ( I hope!).

It is, to be specific, an "urban town", a.k.a. stacked town house/condo. It's nestled in a little community of row after row of "urban towns" in a small area of downtown Toronto known as Liberty Village. It's an industrial area now, but one that is rapidly becoming developed and infused with young urban professionals (read: yuppies). A visit to the shiny new grocery store promises many SUV sightings. I'm sure that Starbucks will move in any minute (I hate to admit it but I sure do love a grande non-fat latte, you know?). It's going to be our community, yuppies, train tracks and all.

Yesterday, after 13 months and four separate notices of delay, we received our "confirmed occupancy closing date, which supersedes the tentative occupancy closing date." That confirmed-which-supersedes-the-tentative-date is August 23. Just a little over three months away.

We both laughed at that word--confirmed--and said, "yeah, sure, as if." When something that you've been waiting on for so long keeps getting pushed away, you start to think that it's not real. But this time, I think it is real. I think this thing, those four walls, hardwood floors, roof top terrace is really going to be ours on August 23.

Well, it'll sort of be the bank's, but let's not ruin the moment.

Don't Take it Personal

I haven't written in a while and that's sad. Because truthfully, I really do enjoy it, even if nobody out there is actually reading it. It's a nice way to spend some time with myself, making myself laugh (or cry depending on the day). I feel like, even if I'm not evoking emotion in anyone else, at least I'm squeezing a little juice out of myself.

This has been one of those days that makes me lean on the "cry" side, quite frankly and here's why:

a) I had to wake up a 6:30 am. Never good. NEVER GOOD.

b) I had a kind of stressful appointment early on in the day and although I ended up enjoying myself and learning somethings about myself (I'm pretty incoherent and "off-the-ball" at 8:00am) I'm disappointed in what's sure to be the outcome.

c) The Momes. For those of you who have been reading, you'll know that he's my pride and joy. A little bundle of fur with, it turns out, special needs. Last night we had a scare that he may have had another seizure (he had one in late December - but has been seizure-free ever since). Today he wasn't himself and we had to once again rush him to the vet. GOOD NEWS: 99% sure that he DID NOT have another seizure. BAD NEWS: He seems to have sprained, or torn something, in his knee. Now we have a hyper-puppy who is not allowed to walk. Not fun. Very stressful.

d) Britney Spears announced that she's pregnant. I'm not sure why this makes me want to cry, but it just does, okay?

e) I caved and ate a Harvey's burger for lunch. MMmmmm was soooo good though.

f) I'm now in some state of semi-shock from all of the events of the day. I'm worn out, scared, anxious and a little overwhelmed.

What else can I say? It's just one of dem days.

I Need Love

Valentine's Day.

Hm.

What do I think about Valentine's Day? I dunno. Seriously, I really don't.

I used to fancy myself a romantic but I'm not so sure anymore. And is Valentine's Day REALLY romantic anyway? Isn't it just a chance for people who aren't genuinely romantic to force themselves into it once a year?

What is romantic these days?

I love chocolate and flowers and diamonds. But I love those everyday and while on Valentine's Day I'm not going to turn any one of them down, I still think they'd mean more if they came on a totally random unexpected day.

I love long walks on the beach at sunset.

I'm a sucker for a public marriage proposal. Take me to a wedding? Forget about it, I'm a mess. I bring a whole package of tissues and I use them all. But I'm constantly telling people that I don't want that kind of wedding for myself. It's too public. Maybe I'm only privately romantic?

Write me a love poem? I'll laugh at you. Sorry if you're sensitive, but poetry? Not my thing.

Love songs? LOVE love songs. The title song of this blog, "I Need Love", by LL Cool J? My heart pounds when it comes up on the iPod. And most people laugh at the cheesiness of it. For me when it comes to love songs, the cheesier the better. I even love the final ballad on JT's solo album so much that I'll listen to it two or three times in a row. [Did I just really reveal that?]

Love stories? Awesome. I used to judge a movie's worth by how much it made me cry. Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding... all the Julia's. All of them. My favourite romantic movie? Terms of Endearment. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT people. Saddest, sappiest love story of all time.

I love puppies and teddy bears and babies... oh my!

But despite all the evidence I've listed here to the contrary, I just don't think I'm very romantic. Or maybe I'm just not good at forcing romance.

For me the most romantic moments happen when I'm least expecting it. It's found in a photo that someone took of me when I wasn't looking. A photo that shows how beautiful they think I am (even if I think I look chubby).

It's found in the quick kiss I get when I'm in the middle of a totally mundane sentence. "So, then we have to take the dog for a poo, then I'll put [INSERT KISS HERE] clean sheets on the bed, then we can watch the news and go to bed."

Now that's romantic.

Valentine's Day. You know what? Whether you love it, or whether you hate it. I hope you find a few stolen and unexpected moments of your favourite kind of romance tomorrow. A wink, a proposal, a loving slap on the bum. A quiet cuddle with your baby or your puppy. A romp in some new lacy lingerie.

I may not need conventional or contrived romance to be happy. But you know what I do need? I need love.