I love Superman Kitsch...

Exhibit A: Superman Kitsch

That's my keychain. It's a spotlight. I absolutely love ridicolous things with Superman on them. This is particularly problematic at the minute considering the movie and all. There is Superman everywhere!

I sort of love it and hate it at the same time. Matt called me the other day from Costco telling me I could buy a Big Screen TV and DVD player with Superman on them. The worst part? I just about drove over there.

So there you go - day two of things I love. What random things do you love? Post it. You know you want to...

I love Ben and Jerry's...

My good friend Angela Haugo has decided to have Ten Days of Valentines, sharing the things that she loves. I thought this was a good way to turn this conusmer holiday into something better. So I thought I would spread the joy.

I love Ben and Jerry's Half Baked.

With a love so deep that none can fathom. No but seriously, you must eat this ice cream. It's expensive but oh is it good. It's one of those spoon in cup scenarios, which you just have to do sometimes.

I love it so much that I bought it in Britain, hid it in a staff freezer, and then ate in all in one sitting with Bonnie Dowling. Mmmmm boy....

Welcome to WR...

My favourite restaurant meal is now only six minutes from my house.

Welcome Catcus Club.

Welcome Jack Daniels Ribs.

We went last night and mmmm boy....

(Blogworthy?....You betcha)

Livin' the dream....

....My Excuse for lack of blogging

is this....

I have decided to do 19 semester hours this semester. I want to "graduate" by April and do PDP in January 2008. This means in almost every respect I am going to fall off the face of the planet. One of these ways is blogging. Never fear though, there is always 2 am, when you are still up and the paper is being written. I am sure some random blogs will still come, perhaps just less frequent.

I know its pretty lame to issue a blog disclaimer, but I just did it. It's probably also pretty lame to have 2 posts in a row with your own face on them. Its like I think I am Oprah or something. Sorry about that. We just all know...the pictures keep the people coming.

All this being said, I must put this out there. School is the best time of life. I know it is. Never again will I be this busy with things that I am in love with doing, even if they are overwhelming and frustrating at times. Yes, teaching is going to be great. But learning, and professors and all of that....it can't get better than this. I am blessed, truly blessed that I even get the oppurtunity to do this. Let's see if I can remember that all semester...

Still got it...

I know, probably the lamest picture you have ever seen, but read the story, and it will make sense..and hey I got a camera for christmas, leave me alone..

I am far from being a "spontaneous" person. In fact, my over evaluation of every decision rarely lets me act without thinking (probably good in most circumstances).

Yet tonight, the minute I heard there was Gingerbread syrup to be purchased, I was out of the door within minutes. Generally, the syrup is not for sale. You know, speciality....keep the customer wanting more - all that marketing garbage. But for some reason, a co-worker from my store was downtown last night and she saw that it was on the sale shelf. So I got in the car with Stef, and booked it downtown...

You have to know, I am pretty obsessed with this syrup. It's to the point that I phoned four stores today to find one that had some left over. Anyway, when I got to the store, the guy said "thought you weren't going to make it". And I told him that it took longer than I thought, coming from Surrey and all. He was literally shocked. He said "Surrey" incredulously like about 4 times...and then he gave me "two for the price of one" because of the "gas money". What buddy didn't realize, is that I would have paid double for those two bottles...

So there you go...I still have some moments of ridiculousness left over from our 45 minute drives to Krispy Kreme (what were we thinking, those donuts don't even taste that good...) And now, I will be drinking Gingerbread lattes through March. Oh yes....

The darker side of snow...

I am the first to love a snow fall, but I have to say, this time around I was none too pleased with our little snow dump. The Mazda 3 is totally incapable, so I have felt like a 15 year old for the past few days. Some unfortunate consequences:

1. Classic fall - absolutely classic. I was walking out of my English class with my favourite proffessor and her 4 year old daughter. I am laughing at their joke "hahaha" then...BAIL. Like feet up, on the ice. I heard an audible gasp. One of those moments that so brutal you have to laugh it at yourself.

2. Cabbies - Thursday morning, the Cab company that I called for 8.45 calls at 9.00 to say the Cabs aren't running. "Again something that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY" (catch that reference?). Anyway, all that effort to stay in Langley, and I missed my first class.

3. Cabbies - I went to EMS today to do a little game of Poetry Jeoprady. Yes, I know, biggest geek ever. But it went pretty well, considering they were grade 8's and all. Then, I'm outside waiting for the ol' cab to show up. An HOUR and a HALF later, they tell me someone is coming, who never did. I called in some back up (Gina and Matt), but literally got home at about 5.30, which is pretty brutal considering I finished at 2.30.

So, there is my snow rant. I realize its probably tame compared to most, those that had to sit in 3 hour traffic jams for example. Or the Pegger's who can't even leave their house for fear of getting instant pneumonia. But hey - I needed to rant....

I just can't help myself....

Sometimes I forget about how much I love George. But man, this guy is classic handsome. Those eye wrinkles, the laugh. Espresso and George. Does it get any better than that?

One more thing....

I am John Lennon....

Okay, I know I know. Blasphemy.
I have turned the CP's against me forever. haha.
I think its the hat maybe. One thing is for sure, I do often resemble a 70's boy - so a 70's man - its possible.

Fondue Party...

No posts at all for 3 weeks, and then 2 posts in 20 minutes. Can you even deal with that? Tonight I got invited to a party with friends I just love. Fondue party at Rebecca's. Before I got there I was saying why I liked these guys. There is some good jokes there, and not cheesy jokes (ok, sometimes), but like "we will mock you" jokes. Wow, that sounded a lot worse when I wrote it down. What I mean is, there is some solid wit, sass and fun times going on there. We also played "Apples to Apples", which I must say I was very skeptical about. But it turned out great. I am glad I got to be a part it.....

These photos are Bec's. I must say that now...I get in too much trouble otherwise...haha.

Ya, those are some pretty great girls. I sure like them....

One reason why I love Matt: he saved the fondue. When things were looking dim, he stirred that thing until it tasted like heaven. And then there's Tim...he sure is stirring....

I love how in this picture, Laura and I crammed into the far corner, when really we didn't need to at all.

I see what you mean Bec...

And yes, those are cream puffs for dipping...oh yes.

We like to hold skewers of non-dipped cream puffs up to our mouths. I don't really get it, but hey, we look good, so that counts for something.

Where Have I Been?

Tonight I was talking with some fellow bloggers (did I just say that?) and I realized why I have not posted since December 16th. I have actually been out…doing things. haha. But seriously, I have had a really great Christmas break. We had Christmas with Brandon and Lindsay which was just great – they woke up in the morning with us and everything.

After Christmas I had some amazing adventures. And now in real Bec Shulba style, I am going to give you the whole story complete with photo gallery. Both Matt and I got cameras for Christmas. Oh yes...

….Canucks….
On the 27th, Stefanie Fraser phones me up and says “I have hockey tickets, want to go?”. And I basically could not even handle myself. I went to the Canucks for 30 dollars. It was phenomenal. My favorite part is when the whole crowd of grown adults cheers “Calgary sucks” or chants the goalie’s last name “KIP-PER”. We may have signed up for a Canucks Mastercard simply for the free blanket. But c’mon, it’s a cool blanket…

...Joanna Beaver Reunion…
I hadn’t seen this beautiful women in over a year, and it was due time. This is my wonderful friend from LA who overflows with warmth and grace. It was a short visit, but it was amazing. We had yet another random Capernwray fun time. I stayed with Christy Childers, who has been gracious enough to host me TWICE in the past two weeks on my random jaunts to Seattle. I also saw Eric Pauls, Whitney, Dan, and of course the wonderful Kelly Kettles. Such great times. I am so blessed by the continued interaction with these Capernwray friends.

….Oregon Coast….
So after my time in Seattle with the ladies, Matt came up and met me and we took a little drive to the Oregon coast. Yea, I know, pretty random, but great times. We kicked it in Cannon Beach, which was JUST beautiful. The sun came out for us and shone through our whole beach walk.

….New Years at Margaret’s Cabin...

So this year, I finally got in on the New Years Cabin action, that I had missed due to lame-o Starbucks shifts in past years. Margaret’s cabin is just outside of Seattle, so we had New Years, American style. Which really, is the same as Canadian style. The best part about it was that the countdown was so arbitrary. We just based it off someone’s watch, and decided we should probably pay attention to New Years. After the countdown, we all joined in singing (twice) Auld Lang Syne. For some reason, Brenda had memorized the words. I guess that isn’t really a shocker. All in all, a great time, avoiding the trumped up New Years parties, and enjoying the evening with good friends. Little word of advice, you don’t know how insane your friends are until they play Mafia together.

Now, if you made it this far - I am very impressed. If you want more pictures, don't worry, I will post more when my life gets lame again.

It Gets Uglier Every Year...

Things turned out a little differently this year with the ugly sweater party. Although the intention was to go to the Stanley Park Christmas Train, it ended up closing because of the ridicolous weather. We didn't let this keep us down.

Instead, we headed to a house where the man had synchronized the thousands of lights on his house to music, which he was broadcasting from a radio tower atop his house. Yes, true story. A real Clark Griswold situation if I ever saw one. There was also "snow" that shot out every 10 minutes from a machine. Needless to say Gina danced in the bubbles (we might need some more pictures later). After this we headed downtown to the Old Spaghetti factory. Pretty awesome to be walking around downtwon in that thing. People were definitly "enjoying" us.

All and all, it was pretty different than years past, but a good time was had by all. Expect a return to the traditional next year. But one thing I must mention. It appears we have started a revolution: Commodore Ballroom Sweater Party. Next year we should go, we would rock those guys....

Leave it to Jenny to take a hip photo - even at an ugly sweater party.
Leave it to me to take a horrific photo - my childsized Christmas tutu.

Yes, it is true.

Ladies in Red....

On the front of Lavonne's sweater - the Eiffel Tower. On the back - "Joyeux Noel". For all you Americans out there - thats Merry Christmas in French. She's so cultured that Lavonne.

I think we tried to take a picture about 10 times and then realized, we are wearing awful sweaters - how are we supposed to look good?

The Winners of Christmas Sweater Party 2006:

Geoff Stewart - Modified for "Ski-Jump"

Katie Schafer - Stock for "Teacher Vest"

Interesting to note that both of these winners are champions of years past. The great part was our server "John" as pictured above, did the choosing. He even gave an honorable mention to Melissa for her Pig sweater. Three cheers for John.

This makes me happier than I can even say...

hugh grant. love actually. one of the best rom-coms of all time.
every time this movie ends, i pull out the controller and put this scene on again. at least twice. enjoy.

This is just getting ridiculous….

Okay, I am that person I just never thought I would be.
In the middle of studying for exams, I have found yet another source of online procrastination.

I got Facebook.

Yes, I know. I now have a blog, a myspace, two email accounts and facebook. It will be a wonder if I communicate with anyone in real life.

Funny anecdote about facebook – I got a little confused during the profile and instead of typing that I was a woman, I typed that I am interested in women. Uh oh. Now I think facebook informs everyone when I change something. So all of my friends (which currently stands at a grand total of 3) will see that in one day I changed from being interested in women to men. Good thing for Matt....

Oh geez. That’s what I get for adding yet another internet communication device.

Better. Sweater. 2006.

12.15.06
Come one, come all.

This year featuring:
Dinner and Stanley Park Christmas Train.

......

(Want to come? Didn't get the evite? I probably don't have your email. Let me know. I want you to come...)

Let's Play Name that PostSecret....

Who does this remind you of?

.......

Ever seen a PostSecret that is soo much like someone you know that you can't even handle it? Don't worry, I have more rounds coming. I expect participation here.

In case you are behind, Postsecret is an online blog where people from all over North America send in their secrets, and they are published every Sunday

Play for yourself (www.postsecret.com)

Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer...

This weekend I had the rich pleasure of spending time with some England Capernwray girls - affectionatly titled: the CP's. And these women deserve the title, because they are so cool it is hard to believe sometimes. The weekend was filled with moments of art, beauty and life. Honestly, I am shocked they even keep me around. It is amazing to be apart for so long, and to fall back in, like you never left. So for them I am truly blessed. Blessed to have gone to Capernwray, to have met such truly unique women, and to still know them now....well I couldnt ask for more.

The whole team, in a cheesy Starbucks photo.

But who is that on the end?

It's Marcy! We walk into Chapters Langley,

and we run into a fellow Capernwrayer from England.

What are the chances?

************************************************************

the.cps.

Me - either cool or creepy, you decide.

Jamie Spiro - the superstar.

Kristina Janzen - the beautiful

Bonnie Dowling - bringing sexy back.

how emo are we?

it's good to laugh this hard.

These photos are not mine, they are theirs. They know how to work that camera. There needs to be credit where credit is due. Thanks guys.

Shoot!

Remember that Matt & Nat purse money given to me by Brandon and Lindsay? Well I got the purse, and I am excited. But today, I was so excited to win the auction that I rushed to the computer and waited until the last second. I "won" the auction this afternoon.

Okay, now, 5 hours later, I am on ebay, and the exact same purse is listed for 30 dollars cheaper. Oh no, not 10, not even 20, but 30. I just about want to die. Not even on a bid, but on a "buy it now". The guy is just giving that away. I am just telling myself "oh well you would have paid that in a store". But c'mon how brutal is that. Oh well, I guess we win some and loose some, but MAN do I feel ripped off. At least it was birthday money.

Herein lies the love/hate relationship with ebay.

Snow and Scrabble...

"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but no school is so delightul, so since I have no place to go, Let it snow...."

Yes, I should have spent the evening writing one of my three papers. But scrabble with my mom, and Love Actually on TV were just too tempting. Hey - it was snowing outside.


It's snowing. Like crazy. My family woke up and braved it to church. I just loved that. The solidarity expierenced by those actually at church was astounding. I just love that feeling. It was like we all a part of somehing.

Sadly though, the snow can also be awful. I left my car at Matt's last night and he drove me home. Then today, when Matt and my dad went to retrieve it, it took them like 2 hours shovelling it out. It didn't go anywhere and had zero traction. Too bad for a brand new car eh?

But despite all of this, the snow is magical. Matt and I took a long walk in the snow last night, just enjoying it. Something about it makes everything look romantic, even boring suburban streets. That and everywhere children are laughing. Matt said he saw one little girl come outside and twirl yelling "snow, snow!". I think I can symathize with this small girl, tommorow morning, when I don't have to drive to school. Oh yes.

If Ang Can Do It....

....so can I.

Here I am, a little red haired sleeping child. It's grad yearbook time, so the parents were uploading pictures. Sometimes, its hard to imagine that we were that little. But we were. How do parents even deal with kids growing up? Thats what what I would like to know.

Traveling is the schoolmaster of understanding...

.....so Brenda and I are heading to school....

August 19th - September 27th.
Europe.
I hear they are still accepting applications.
Want to come?

**Above title quoation was written by Wes Drewlo. He wrote that today. So eloquent....