Category: we have fun

Caitlin with a C

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/04/2010

I was watching Liza Minnelli’s live show, Liza with a Z, filmed in 1972-the year I was born. It was directed by Bob Fosse who was a genius when it comes to movement. Of course, I was loving it very much, it’s the music of my youth and it was Liza…I mean, LIZA! I was thinking “who wouldn’t love this?” then I felt the hate emanating from the other half of the couch. It was palpable, Shannon dislikes this sort of thing that much. He was practically cringing in misery. Out of sympathy I did change the channel, I can watch Liza do her thing any old time.

For real. Blackbird? Yes please.

Ring Them Bells? Don’t mind if I do.

Did I ever tell the story about the time my friend Igor, who at the time I’d known for 10 years,  suddenly said that despite the length of our friendship had no idea what kind of music I was into. It’s a touchy subject, really. If I flat out say Broadway musicals, people think I am crazy or kidding. And it’s true, I like other music too, all kinds. Heck, we’re going to see Maiden in the summer and I am psyched. But if I had to pick one music based radio station for eternity, it would probably be the Broadway station on Sirius.

And I am not ashamed.

Ok. I have a question, who do you think is the modern day version of Liza Minnelli? Is it Madonna? In 1972 was Liza considered cool or was she…strictly for the card carrying seniors?

Pee. Or poop.

Gee wizz indeed. It would be fun to work there because you’d get to answer the phone “Gee wizz! How can I direct your call?” Is it strange that I appreciate port-a-potty art? There’s another company that I see around town with a bear running on it and it’s pretty much the funniest cartoon ever.

Would a devout christian be offended by this?

I’m going out shortly for nachos with my home girls.  Well. King’s Crown and wings. And maybe a celebratory beer or two. Nothing like good news from divorce lawyers to fill me with cheer.

Grr.

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 24/03/2010

Angry because my computer crashed and I hadn’t saved my blog post about our trip to Vancouver. It wasn’t big, no, but still.

Anyway, it was a good trip, I loved the hotel we stayed at just because it was new and uber swanky. So swanky there were extremely fancy cars always parked outside-like the brand new Aston Martin the first day.  So new, in fact, that they were still ironing out a bunch of kinks, one of which meant that we had a pretty messy room for a couple days because we couldn’t get the maid signal to work. And the pool hadn’t even been built yet. But still, worth what we paid.

And very close to the Olympic torch, so that was cool too. Across the road:

Olympical

You could get close enough to feel the heat from the flames.

I’d blog more but the intense fight happening next door is so very distracting. I’m glad Ari isn’t home yet to listen to the ugliness…

Tradition!

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 08/02/2010

As it goes every year, I made my way back to Windsor on Superbowl weekend. It’s a good way to reconnect with my Windsor girls, I love them all so much and miss them like crazy during the rest of the year. The weekend was spent largely getting to know Ruby who’s 15 months old and smart as a whip.

And she wears a pirate shirt.  I have a healthy respect for that type.

Ruby is a pirate. 003.jpg 006.jpg

We went shopping stateside at my beloved Target. Of course. And we also went to Meijer, where I’d never been before. I love it there too. The fish were friendly.

014.jpg 015.jpg 016.jpg

We also went to a cool Michigan hunting store but I didn’t take pictures there out of fear. But I loved the store and I wish I lived near it.

After shopping we came home and went for a walk. What an adorable family, eh? Ruby wore her new dress that Libs made.

033.jpg WEEEEE ta da!

And I went bowling with my girls last night. That’s all, 2 nights really isn’t enough, not to see everyone and not to do everything you want. But it’s a good time to spread love! Right Kum?

Saving $$

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 19/01/2010

Why go to a pro when I have a super pedicurist right here?

Toesys

From big-baby toe, I got gold, white, pink, black and silver on both feet.

Skating into the new year

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 29/12/2009

I refuse to ice skate. It’s totally different from roller skating and I just don’t do it. And thanks to Drew Barrymore, I begged for roller skates for xmas-and got them! I don’t know if I love these more than the Kindle, but it’s a close draw.  And considering I haven’t really skated in about 30 years (apart from one birthday party with Ryan O’B and Karrick and Tony 15 years ago) and I am finding it quite amazing how quickly it comes back to me.

I think they need pink laces and pom poms or dice.

It’s hard to take a picture of one’s feet without the picture coming out all twonky.

The superb news is that there is a free skate here, in Toronto, once a week in the North Market, across from St. Lawrence Market. With that and my quilting class on Thursdays, I will be a busy bee starting 2010.

I also finally finished Shannon’s final xmas gift-the other thing he asked for-a handknit hat. It’s done in blue variegated chunky alpaca yarn and it’s pretty plush. I might make a pompom for it, if he wants one!

The Royal

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 18/11/2009

I went to the Royal Winter Fair last Friday with my boss and my dad. It was the first time they’ve met and they got along really well. As always, my favourite part (since they didn’t have any poultry worth looking at) are the giant veggies. This beast is a 32lb beet. Imagine how much borscht that would make!

beets

It’s scrawny compared to last year’s winner. No free toilet paper this year, but I did get 10lbs of free potatoes AND a wooden spoon. Good stuff.

Simple Pleasures

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 31/10/2009

Today I made cupcakes to celebrate Hallowe’en. Nothing like eating sweets on the way out the door to collect more sweets, right? I know Ari will share her bounty with us, she never likes ALL the candy she gets and she does love to be generous. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went out trick or treating, I handed out candy at my house in Windsor-a popular street due to the houses being so close together, easy grabs for candy hunters.

Anyway, these were supposed to be pumpkins, but they ended up looking like eyeballs so I changed my plans.

I can seeee yooouuu

Kind of gruesome. Better than cutesy pumpkins, right? And yeah, it’s a festive tablecloth that I bought for Thanksgiving. There weren’t any that had an Autumnal feel to them, so I went with skeletons.

Other than that, I’ve been listening to the Harry Potter series as read by Stephen Fry, who I adore. I finally finished book 5, Order of the Phoenix, that was about 30 hours long all told. It was AWESOME. Now I am stuck into HBP which is even better, such a dark book. If you’re ever bored with Youtube, look for Stephen Fry doing an English quizshow called QI, it’s brilliant. Very, very funny.

ps. I got interrupted by groceries. What I meant to add was that the other reason I am enjoying the audio books is because I can get a LOT of knitting done. I’m working on my fourth copy of this pattern. I’ve modified it slightly, but it’s easy, fast and deeply satisfying!

AND MY SISTER HAS SWINE FLU! AGH! Poor old thing, Megs, get well soooooon! I love you!

Early X-mas

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 28/10/2009

I was thinking about writing a little about karma, but seeing as I don’t really believe in it, I will tell you what I DO believe in.

Love. From family and friends.

So I got a message from my friend Michelle who works for MAC makeup (and is on maternity leave right now) asking me and my other girlfriend Libs to come over and take away ALL her excess makeup. She said she had tons of MAC, but also Estee Lauder, Clinique, DKNY, Sean John, Bobbi Brown…My head nearly exploded from excitement, I mean, how much makeup laying around could she have? The message said that her husband wanted the space, it sounded like it could be a LOT.

It was a lot. A LOT lot. Four plastic containers of neatly organized makeup.

I brought wine. It was SO fun, so exciting and so hilarious going on a total greed rampage. I would have danced all the way to the subway after but my backpack was so heavy, I could barely move. Here it is full:

very full and very heavy

Tee hee. And you know how I love sorting things and organizing stuff? Bit by bit, here’s what I took home:

1. Odds and ends. This is a mishmash of perfume, lotion and anti-aging goo.

bits and bobs

2. Clinique. It’s mostly lip glosses and lipsticks, but there’s also mascara, eyeshadow, powder and a toothbrush.

it’s so clinique-y

3. Estee Lauder. This stuff is so amazing, it is beautiful to look at, it smells great and it feels super glamorous. Again, this is mostly lip things, but there’s also 2 perfumes, nail polish, mascara, eye shadow, Fruition, powder…

estee is NOT just for old ladies

4. MAC. Oh, how I love thee, MAC makeup. This is the regular day to day makeup I got, tons of lip gloss, eye shadow, pure pigment, foundation, liquid liner, mascara, nail polish.

MAC packaging is puresex

5. Heatherette for MAC is beautiful, bright colours, very cute and sexy. And those patent lashes are KILLER.

heatherette

6. Special edition MAC, brushes, fixer, powder, shadows and lashes.

gorgeousness.

That’s all. Heehee. Not to say that I will be keeping the lot to myself, no no no. That would be silly, everyone knows I don’t wear lipstick ever. No, I will be picking out what I love most and hoarding that (which will amount to less than a third, I guess) and the rest will be sorted into piles for xmas gifts and swaps.

Interested?

And lots of love and thanks to Michelle, who made this possible!

Costa Rica, Panama

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 23/10/2009

Our trip was so interesting, we did so many different things, met lots of interesting people, ate great food, it’s impossible to pick just one thing. And while I have to admit it’s nice to be home and no longer sharing a room with a 6 year old who rises with the sun, I would move back to Yandup Lodge permanently if they’d have me, even without internet or phones, even if it meant sharing a cabin with Ari again. That place is as close to heaven as an atheist like me can believe in.

Here are some of my pictures of our trip:

1. pigeon 2. Costa Rica 3.  Costa Rica

4. Costa Rica5. ant hill 6. mushroom

7. leaf cutter ants 8. start of the hike9. giant bell in San Jose

10. mountain driving 11. hummingbirds 12. Shannon on the zipline

13. crazy zipline girls 14. secret sloth 15. Arenal

16. Millie17. Giving scritches 18. amputee sloth

19. baby sloth 20. baby Leila21. Leila and Dave

22. baby on a walk 23. beach 24. they’re everywhere

25. ugly. 26. deserted isle 27. light, not diet

28. beach29. starfish 30. family

31. Kuna art 32. Panama City

1. Did you know that pigeons like to party in Costa Rica too? The town centre, in San Jose, is much like Trafalgar Square, pigeons everywhere with little kids running through them causing them to flutter away…

2-4, 8. Photos taken from the rental car while driving through the mountains on our way to the beach on day two before getting side tracked by the waterfall.

5-7. From the path to the waterfall, an anthill, a funny cup shaped mushroom and leaf cutter ants. I could have watched them for hours-and was grateful to have an excuse to stop and rest for a while. They’re really amazing, and seem to work cooperatively, sharing loads and helping each other at the entrance to their nest.

9. A giant bell in San Jose.

10, 11. Mountain scenery on our way to Selvatura Park in Monteverde.  There were giant purple hummingbirds that were squawking at the other birds, being very aggressive and pushy.

12. Shannon on the zipline. This was super fun and kind of scary. The dudes that lead us around were awesome, reminded me of the Sherpa guides in the episodes of the Simpsons where Homer decides to climb Mt. Everest. What an amazing job to do that all day.

13. Ari and I being dingbats in our zipline duds.

14. This is the first sloth I saw in CR. She was behind our hotel in a tree, just lumping around. I went back and waved at her several times, showing her to another hotel guest who said that in Germany they are called “slow and lazy”. Huh. Shannon didn’t believe she existed, but this picture PROVES IT.

15. Mt. Arenal. La Fortuna was named as such because the lava flowed down the other side of the mountain.  I really loved it there. I loved our hotel until the ‘laundry incident’ that pretty much wrecked it.

16-22. Sloth rescue pictures from Aviarios del Caribe.  Most of the babies there are of the 2 fingered (nope, we say fingers nowadays, not toes) type as the 3 fingered babies are very fragile and don’t survive long on the ground without their mommies. This place was great, I could have happily spent a lot more time there talking with the woman that runs the place.

23. The beach we went to after the sloths. This was the place where a local man, recognizing me as a tourist, excitedly pointed out a squirrel in a tree. A squirrel, for real…

24. Graffiti in San Jose near the museum that we went to that was shut down. Skinheads are everywhere, I guess.

25. Dave and I agreed that this building was actually aggressively ugly. Like the architect was specifically asked to design something ugly, did it and then was asked to make it uglier. Man.

26. A seemingly deserted island off the Kuna Yala territory in Panama-I’d live there.

27. In Latin America, Diet Coke is called Coke Light.

28, 29.  Beaches. Snorkeling. A starfish held by a nervous child.

30. A funny picture of Shannon and Ari. You can barely see her, but you can see her best friend.

31. Yandup. Go there if you can. The people in Playon Chico are so amazing. I’ll always remember my new friend Ocho Anyo…

32. Panama City from our 24th floor hotel room.

Home. Tired. Stuff.

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 22/10/2009

I can’t really get my thoughts together in any appropriate way-and we all know that Shannon will do a better job with pictures than I will-but we had a great time, a seriously wonderful time.

Until then, I leave you with this: infant sloth bellybutton. Nothing in the world is cuter than this.

sloth bellybutton