Holiday Rush

I did the last bit of my Christmas shopping last night and boy, I sure am exhausted (notice the use of the present form “am” as opposed to “was” because I am still very much exhausted even though I got 5 hours of sleep last night… I was so tired I think I barely moved in my bed). As usual, shopping at the very last minute during the holidays is a bad idea as the mall is always in such chaos and totally jam packed.

I wanted to get my parents some really nice stuff so I did a lot of walking, checking stores and prices and making sure that I was getting them the best present while still maintaining our budget (my brothers and I have decided to pool our money together). I knew my dad wanted this one sweater from Roots which he mentioned to me in passing the other day but I couldn’t find it (I think they ran out of it already) so I had to look for something else. The very small number of male-oriented stores in malls doesn’t help when you’re looking for a nice Christmas present for your dad. Then I couldn’t decide on what was a better present for mom and then when I finally decided on what to get for them, I had to get them wrapped. I must’ve gone back in forth through the entire mall atleast twice.

Then of course I had to carry them all the way home in the packed subway train and then outside in the cold and by the time I got home, it was already past 10 pm. I was thirsty, hungry (I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch) and just about ready to pass out. I was so hungry that I filled the entire plate with food, warmed it, and gobbled it all down in just 10 minutes. Whoa!

After rinsing my plate, putting it in the dishwasher with all the other dishes and running it, I began working on my Christmas cards (good thing I have green and red pens handy for the Christmas season).

It was past midnight by the time I slipped into bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was gone.

It’s amazing how much stamina and determination I have for shopping and yet have no will power to go to the gym. LOL.

Expenses.

Ever notice how fast your pay cheque slips through your hands? Sometimes it suprises me to find out how much of mine has disappeared in such a short amount of time that I immediately begin to think that:

a) someone has finally found a way to hack into my bank account and take my money.
b) my bank is secretly charging me fees that I don’t know about.
c) I am being overcharged by one of my automatic debit bills.

Because I have no idea where my money went and the sum of my expenses (which I would tally in my head) don’t add up right, I would end up checking my account for the last 10 transactions I’ve made.

For some reason, it rarely occurs to me that it must be the shopping I’ve been doing (which is funny because it almost always seems to be the cause).

And I always forget that I have items that automatically get debited off my account every month so that’s always out the window. When you think about it, it’s really the little things you spend money on that kill you in the end.

Lately, I have been looking at how much money I make and my expenses and I realized I should be able to save so much more than I am saving now. I just REALLY need to stop spending and learn to save more.

Some discipline is what I need.

Holiday Shopping.

I’m exhausted.

I decided it was about time I took care of some Christmas shopping so I passed by the Eaton Centre on my way home from work. I thought that I would be avoiding the crowd by going on a week night. It really didn’t make a difference. It was packed and there were long lines everywhere. I know, I shouldn’t have procrastinated on it.

It was a good thing that I already had an idea of what I wanted to get so it was a bit easier rather than going through the entire mall not knowing what to get. It was still a little painful weeding through the crowd and standing in line to pay but what can I do? It was worth it in the end because I got some really great gifts.

One thing I noticed, during this time of the year, a lot of men are carrying yoga/gym mats and doing a lot of shopping at Lulu Lemon. Of course I am assuming it’s for their significant others. I just find it funny that all men seem to have the same idea for a gift. I must admit, it’s quite endearing to see a guy in the subway carrying a pink mat.

There’s still some holiday shopping left to do but I just have zero energy to do all of it this evening. I can only assume that the next few days won’t be any better.

Shrunken?

Weird.

The other day I was going through my closet looking for something to wear and found some of my older sweaters from last winter. I tried them on but for some reason they’re a lot shorter and a little tighter. I don’t think I grew taller and when I weighed myself, it looked like I didn’t gain any weight either (unless the weighing scale is rigged).

I also noticed that none of the clothes I brought with me from the Philippines fit me anymore so I might as well give all of them away. My dad said maybe my clothes shrunk but I doubt it (after all, there were clothes I had never worn since I moved here which means they never went in the dryer so they couldn’t have possibly shrunk unless clothes shrink when they’re kept in your closet too long).

It’s about time that I did some closet-cleaning anyway. I need to sort my clothes and take away those that I won’t be wearing anymore. It’s getting too crowded in there.

I have made a resolution to stop spending (I know, I’ve said this a million times before) so older clothes will have to do. I really NEED to save MORE.

Swamped.

I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post. I’ve been so swamped at work and too tired at the end of the day to even think about posting.

So what’s been up since my last post? I went to Calgary on business and stayed there for 4 days. I didn’t really want to go but I didn’t really have a choice either. I mean, how do you say “No, I don’t want to go” to the president of the company, right? At least I was happy about 3 things:

• I got to fly business class to and from Calgary (my first time!)
• I got to take Friday off work with pay and didn’t count as a vacation day
• The clients were pretty nice to me and it was an easy trip altogether

I wanted to go around downtown while I was there but I’ve been told almost eveything downtown closes at 6pm so I spent most of my time walking around the surrounding area of the hotel I was staying at.

I’m also relieved that I am no longer doing the majority of the training sessions since I have my hands full on manual writing and QA. Not that it’s been scratched off completely from my responsibilities but at least I’m not training every single day. It gets really tiring after a while.

The weather has been pretty nice. Normally, it’s a little cold already during this time of the year but it’s still a bit warm for this month which is a bit surprising to me. Not that I’m complaining… you know I love the warm weather.

Another thing, I turned 24 this month! Wahoo! Golly, the years just fly by! It was a simple b-day. Had lunch with Steve’s family that Saturday and then lunch with my family on Sunday both at the Danforth. Steve and I were saying how we are truly “all-danforthed” out! We can’t help it though because the food is always great and the patios are nice. You get to eat and sip a cold drink and just watch people walk by and enjoy a bit of sun. It’s just a bit of a hassle going to and from since traffic is a bit of a killer.

3 people in our office have gotten married this month. There must have been an office memo I missed requiring all single people to marry by this year. LOL!

I’ve been doing a lot better when it comes to managing my finances. I am proud to say I have been able to spend less and actually put aside money on my savings account. Yay! This is a big deal since I really, really need to start saving as much as I can.

That’s that… now back to work. Eck!

Unpacking and the Sims

I’m back home after a few days of sleeping over at boss’ place (FYI, the “boss” happens to be a “she” and I was staying over her place to watch over her cat while she was away for the long weekend). I started unpacking and putting my clothes away as soon as I walked into my bedroom. I took one glance just to check if everything’s in place. I always do it even though I know no one really goes into my bedroom unless they need to borrow something (my cordless phone, laptop or some little thing) or put freshly laundered clothes on top of my bed. Since I’d been watching over a cat and most of my clothes were covered in cat hair, I put most of them in the laundry basket and the clothes that I never really wore and remained clean, I put them back in my closet. It always amazes me how much clothes I actually bring with me whenever I go away. It’s when I come to realize I really do have plenty to wear.

After putting my stuff away, I grabbed my laptop off my bedroom floor (yeah, don’t ask…), grabbed the new games I purchased from Future Shop and proceeded to install them. Steve and I had gone to Future Shop over the weekend and bought a few games (they were so cheap we couldn’t resist it). We bought two games each and one of the games I had purchased for myself was “Sims 2 – Glamorous Life”. It had been years since I last played the Sims and I thought it would be fun to play it again. So I put the CD in my drive and… it popped up a window saying I needed to have Sims 2 installed first. Dammit! I didn’t know I had bought the extension pack!! It was right on the box too! Talk about reading skills… yeesh! I couldn’t really be mad could I? My own stupidity, my own fault for buying the darn thing and not realizing I needed to have something else installed first. Double yeesh!

Since playing the game is out of the question, I decided to purchase songs out of iTunes and update my iPod and browse the internet. Duh.

At least I got some of my chores done… something productive.

Dinner, The Toronto Zoo, Wonderland and Harry Potter

What a weekend I just had.

Friday night, Steve and I spent the evening with his family. I met his mom (finally!) and although she didn’t speak nor understand English, she was quite polite and friendly. She did give me a hug before I left and told me in Greek that she was glad she met me. Aww.

Then we went to his great aunts’ house and visited for a few minutes and then went to dinner with his dad. We ate at this tiny restaurant called New Orleans and it was quite nice. The place was cozy and warm and the food was absolutely AMAZING! It was a bit pricy of course… each meal was about $20 but it was delicious. I’m not such a big fan of fish but I had tilapia and I loved it. I would definitely go back there.

The following morning, Steve and I went to the Toronto Zoo with my family. We got there around 11am and went through the African Safari first and then the Indo Malay Region and then the Canadian territory and then finally the Dinosaur display. The Toronto zoo is huge! We didn’t expect it to be that big. It was really fun and we enjoyed seeing so many different animals. We saw rhinos, elephants, cheetahs, lions, a polar bear, grizzly bears, giraffes, a cougar, bald eagles, orangutans, gorillas, etc. It was nice to see Steve and my family spend time together. He gets along with them so well especially with JR who has always been the quiet one in the family. After 7 hours of walking, we finally decided to call it a day and head home. Surprisingly, we only covered half of the zoo with those 7 hours! There was so much more to see but we were exhausted already.

That same night, Steve and I pass by Yorkdale to grab a bite and watch a movie. We passed by Indigo because I wanted to get a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After eating, we were too tired to do anything else so we decided to just head back home and leave the movie for the following day. We were both so tired that we both did the same thing – went straight to bed and woke up the next morning.

Sunday, I woke up and realized I had slept over 12 hours. Steve had done the exact same thing. We decided to go to Perkins for breakfast and then head out to Wonderland since it was near Perkins anyway. I wasn’t really in the mood for roller coasters… I knew I would get sick as soon as I get on one. Steve was quite thoughtful and considerate, only taking me to rides that were relatively easy and just watched some shows. After Wonderland, we went back home to rest and then went out again to grab dinner and watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I truly enjoyed the weekend.

The weekend

I’m hungry. I’ve noticed that around noon, my ability to concentrate on work goes down. It’s as if my tummy is telling me that I’ve been working too much and that it is now time to eat. Of course it doesn’t help that I can smell the food being prepared in the kitchen (our company provides us lunch).

While waiting for lunch, I guess I might as well talk about my weekend. On Friday, Steve was off work and the day was going by oh-so-slow-I-almost-died. I was so glad to see him after work when he came by to pick me up. We spent our Friday evening just relaxing at home with Fey and watching “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle”. I’ve never seen it before and I thought it was pretty funny. We had originally intended to go and see Tansformers that night but the showtimes were too late for us to go see it.

Steve picked me up early Saturday morning because we were going to go to the JW Convention in Hamilton. I’ve never been to Hamilton before and it felt like a long drive although it took us only an hour to get there. I was amazed to see so many people… I honestly didn’t know there were so many JWs… It was pretty interesting and I have to admit I learned somethings I didn’t know or think of before. After lunch, I was trying my best not to fall asleep but it was just impossible so I ended up dozing off. Steve was laughing at me at one point because I was bobbing for apples. The blue dress I wore that day (which happened to be new) had purple ink on it and a bit of strawberry juice by the end of the day. Talk about being clumsy.

That same evening, we had planned to see Transformers but once again, the showtimes weren’t that great and so we ended up watching a Korean movie with Fey and Daniel. It was such a good movie and had us fighting back tears through it. I ended up crying at the end of it. It was just so sad. It was a very impressive movie. We just don’t know what the title of the movie is because it’s in Korean.

Sunday, the family and I went to a Chinese Restaurant downtown and had lunch there to celebrate mum’s b-day. It was fun but the weather was awful. It had rained the entire day and everything was just damp and humid. After lunch, we decided to do a bit of shopping at the Eaton Centre and then I went to meet up with Steve. Later that night we took Daniel with us to an Italian Restaurant and then just relaxed at home after.

So the weekend has come and gone and we still haven’t been able to see Transformers.

One Hip Slip Too Many

Last night I passed by the mall on my way home because I needed to buy a bottle of conditioner, body lotion, and a black hip slip. I bought a black dress over the weekend and if I stood in the sun, you can almost see through it and glimpse my undies. Of course I wasn’t having any of that so I needed to buy a hip slip.

Now, who knew that finding a hip slip would be such a difficult task? I thought they would have it at La Senza for sure but apparently they don’t make hip slips. Dammit, I don’t need them to make one… I just need them to sell one! So there I was walking through Eaton Centre, entering stores that I thought might possibly sell them and found nothing. Finally, I decided I would check Sears since it was the nearest one to me. It was horrible. First, I couldn’t find an attendant who could tell me if they sold them so I spent a good amount of time walking around trying to find someone. When I finally did find someone, they pointed me to the farthest corner of the floor and said they would be on a rack against the wall. I got there and all of them were not only long but they were too big.

So I decided to check out The Bay. The Bay happens to be on the other side of the mall so I had to walk all the way across and then go several floors up until I got to the appropriate section. Similar to Sears, they also had them in a corner but luckily enough, they had my size. Just to be sure I tried them on and then paid for it. I ended up getting home late just because of a stupid hip slip.

I really did consider just returning the dress at one point.

Canada Day Weekend

The long weekend has come and gone and I am once again sitting at my desk at work wishing it was the long weekend all over again. It was a good break – having started the long weekend right with a BBQ in the office. It was nice to be at work on a Friday afternoon, doing nothing but eating BBQ and talking with people instead of working.

Friday night, Steve and I met up with friends at Jack Astor’s to celebrate Elisabeth’s graduation. We thought we’d be late but traffic had cooperated and we got there right on time. The following morning, Saturday, Steve and I had breakfast at Crème de la Crème along Bloor Street West and then headed downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum. He had gotten us museum tickets since I’ve never been there. We didn’t want to have to worry about parking downtown so we decided to take transit instead. Steve was so adorable taking the TTC… he was swiping the metropass the wrong way. LOL.

The ROM had 4 floors, all of which we visited. It was pretty amazing and we both loved it. It’s so interesting to see and learn about so many different things. We had taken some pictures with my phone camera since I had forgotten my digital camera at home. By the end of it, our feet hurt and we were starving. We must’ve been there for atleast 3 hours but it was all worth it. After the ROM, we took a walk along Yorkville and did a bit of shopping. That same night, we met up with Denny and company and went to Remy’s and had drinks on the rooftop. Since I don’t like the taste of alcohol, I drank iced tea the entire time. It was fun but I was freezing. It would’ve been nice to stay there for several hours if it weren’t so cold.

Sunday, I attended my first ever JW meeting with Steve. We stopped by Milestones first to have lunch since we had an hour to kill. YUM! The meeting we attended only lasted an hour and afterwards we headed to his place to change and then went to the beaches to play beach volleyball with his friends. I haven’t played volleyball since highschool and it is pretty safe to say I sucked at it. Steve on the other hand was amazing. He was the best player among all of us and I’m not being biased or anything. It’s the truth! He can return the ball and serve with ease. While he was racking up points for the team, I was getting bruised on my arms from the hitting the ball so hard. I don’t even know who lost of who won or how many games in total everyone played.

After volleyball, we went to another beach for the bonfire and to watch the fireworks display. It was so cold and thankfully we had brought a blanket with us. We were surprised at how many people had shown up. We had a beautiful view of the city and the water but it was super uncomfortable sitting on the rocks. Steve and I kept complaining how much our bum, our back and our legs hurt and we kept adjusting our sitting position and trying to find ways to make ourselves comfortable. After a couple of hours, we decided to head home since it was just plain uncomfortable already and we were freezing. We both got home at 3:00 am and I was so tired that I couldn’t even say my prayers straight.

Monday, Steve and I decided to go to his cousin’s place and we had brunch together and played Monopoly. I had to take a nap after because I was still exhausted from the day before. We spent the entire day there and left late to go home.

It really was a great weekend. We got to do so many things and see people and although we were pretty tired after, we had so much fun. Dammit, can we move back time and do it all over again?