Two Years Today

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Whispered Sweet Nothings

He sits rubbing my socked feet like a good husband and then comes out with these sweet words.

him: "Is it you with the big toe?"
me: "You mean the extra long toe beside the big toe?"
him: "Yeah, it's freakishly weird."
me: "Thanks babe. And what who else would the toe belong to?"
him: "Anyone with their socks off."

huh?

There you have it, I'm freakishly weird, or at least my toe is. Thanks babe.

ADDITION TO POST: I am surrounded by such sweet men. Here is my brother's response to this post, "Yes you are freakishly wierd and it isn't because of your "Normal" Storozuk big second toe. There is plenty of other things that make you freakishly wierd..."
Thanks bro.

Santa's Message to My Man

This is a very cool little tool you can use for your kids (or husband) for Christmas. A personalized video from Santa himself!

Check out the message from Santa to Mike, I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he sees it. Be sure to have your volume turned up and you might have to refresh your screen once or twice before it actually comes up, it will say error but it's LYING!

Oh and one side note, if I was creating one of these for a child I think I would choose one of the options other than "how does Santa know who has been naughty and who has been nice" - how creepy are the elves peering in the window?! That would freak me out if I was wee!

One Year Wiser!

This is a very belated Happy Birthday post for my fabulous husband. No I didn't forget his birthday, I just haven't wished him a happy day publicly. So here I am wishing my Michael a VERY happy 32nd birthday! I love you Miguel! I love you so much in fact that I'm willing to have you plastered all over some bombshell's bod. NOTE: That might sound like an open invitation but it's a once in a lifetime thang and since you're plastered all over the girl below the offer is now null and void.

A birthday post wouldn't be complete without a PhotoFunia pic.

Halloween Hangover

I ate far too many of the little chocolate bars meant for the goblins last night. I have a chocolate hangover. blech.

Of course nephews and niece were definitely the cutest trick or treaters stomping around town.

The Mario Brothers costumes Joanne pulled together turned out phenomenal if you ask me:

They've got the poses down pat.

And of course Princess Belle made an appearance.


Jess and I watched The Exorcist as planned last night. I arrived home at 130 am totally freaked out and planned to sit in the living room until Mike got home; that was until I checked my mail and realized Lola had sold. Her new home is in Savannah, Georgia! Thanks to the sale I was distracted and got over being creeped out.

Mike and I had planned to attend a Halloween party as zombies tonight, unfortunately Mike is really turning into one so we can no longer attend. He found out yesterday that what we thought were some nasty bug bites are actually shingles! Ick and ouch. Thankfully I've had the chicken pox; unfortunately we can't be sure everyone else has so we're skipping the bash.

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween and that you enjoyed my Blogtoberfest run this month, I can't believe October is gone already. I'm going to attempt to stick to the daily posting so be sure to stop on by regularly.

I Want One!

Mike sent this pic my way today knowing I would melt when I saw it. I want one.

Socked in the Face

The long weekend has come to an end and it certainly was not a dull couple of days. For the first time in a very long time I managed to have two late nights in a row and survived to tell the tale; Mike did too but just barely. Let me explain.

Friday night at 1130pm we decided to drive to a nearby city to bowl. Apparently our local bowling alleys are not open past 11pm; why that is I just don't understand. Isn't bowling the happening thing to do these days? Okay so maybe it's not but we had a blast. I've never been ten pin bowling so my first attempt ended up looking (and sounding) more like a shot-put toss than a roll; the second ball nearly took me with it. I finally figured out that there are different weighted balls and then I was on fire. I'm pleased to say that I won one game and Mike won the other two; our competitive pal lost all three. It would be rude to laugh about that so I won't (aloud).

Saturday is when the excitement took place. Mike is an electronic music junkie and DJ's whenever he has the opportunity; he hasn't played out in quite some time so we were both really looking forward to his set. The bar we were at is a bit sketchy inside but has a great patio so I figured it would be a decent night; sure enough a pile of our friends showed up (including a few we haven't seen in a long time) and a fabulous night was had by all. Mike played an amazing set that had the entire place bouncing . The night came to an end and that's when our adventure began.

All of our friends left the bar at about 1:45 am; we left shortly after at 2am after Mike packed up all his gear. Mike and I headed out of the bar and started across the small parking lot located off to the side of the building. As we were walking I noticed three young guys walking towards us, they were talking and laughing, as were Mike and I. Without any warning one of the punks ran at Mike and slugged him in the face. WHAT THE HELL?!

I've witnessed some pretty bizarre things in my life but this definitely finds a place at the top of my list. Mike hadn't even noticed the guys walking towards us, they hadn't been in the bar we came out of, we've never seen them before in our lives. It was a total random act of violence.

Mike managed to stay on his feet, he stumbled and settled himself up against a car to gain his wits while the three little punks sauntered off. Needless to say I freaked out after the slugging. I called the little thug the nastiest things I could think of on the spot and screamed for the people in front of the bar to call the cops (which they did and believe it or not: 911 was busy). All of my yelling managed to attract cops from a street over eventually but of course the guys were gone by then.

The positive in the scenario is that the little bastard used his fist rather than a knife and thankfully none of our friends were nearby because no doubt it would have turned into something much worse if more people had gotten involved. Then again it's unlikely that the little bugger would have had the nerve to hit Mike if others were nearby; I'm certain he was an easy target because of the fact that he had a heavy record bag thrown over his body and a woman at his side.

Mike's okay, he has a nasty bruised fat lip and a sore throat but other than that he's fine. We are both still in shock for obvious reasons.

I wish karma would send me a postcard with a picture of the little beater after she pays him a visit - no doubt he'll get what he's given a few times over and he'll deserve no sympathy. This world of ours is certainly a crazy place.

Crazed Soccer Fan?!

Nope. Believe it or not this (not the greatest quality thanks to a shaky cell phone) photo was taken of Mike last night at a house warming party. His Ireland flag face was pretty friggen creepy in the dark.

Want to throw a kick ass party for your friends? Hire a professional face painter and a steel drum band for entertainment. Good times!

Standing on top of the world!

Our week in Whistler was amazing. Mike and I spent Saturday mountain biking and had an amazing time; Sunday we took the peak chair to the, you guessed it, peak of Whistler mountain. It was a beautiful day on Sunday so we managed to get some pretty spectacular shots.

Where's Waldo Mike in these two pics?


The background is so beautiful it almost looks fake, don't you think?

Off to see Feist with a pile of people at Deer Lake tonight, have to fly!

Now I Get It!!

I've bitten the bullet and decided to pay for 24 hours of internet access so that I can update everyone on our adventures in British Columbia. We're having the most amazing time!

Mike and I agree that this trip is definitely our second best vacation (first being our Mexico/Jamaica wedding/honeymoon trip) and we're just halfway through it. We arrived in Vancouver last Friday and spent the night with Rebecca; she has the most phenomenal view from her condo on Sunset Beach.

Saturday morning we drove two hours to Whistler Mountain where we had planned to spend five nights. The two and a half hours it took to drive to the mountain seemed like just a blink of an eye thanks to the phenomenal views!

Cara, Herwig and Rosie met up with us in Whistler just a few moments after we arrived in the village. The boys hit the Whistler Golf course where they played a round, drank some pints and enjoyed the scenery.

Cara, Rebecca, Rosie and I spent the afternoon catching up over drinks (milk for the baby, beer for the ladies) and then took a hike to Lost Lake where we snapped some pics, oohed and ahhed over the baby and yapped some more.



Sunday afternoon the fun continued...
I now understand my husband's obsession with mountain biking. Cara, Rebecca and I rented some bikes and gear and hit the trails and WOW was it fun!

I'm totally hooked on mountain biking. I had a blast zipping down the hill with Reebs and Neen, three runs were just enough to get me hooked!

Monday and Wednesday there are women's clinics offered for a crazy good price at Whistler so I attended both clinics on my own and loved every minute. The girls were super cool and the coaches were awesome. They split us into groups by riding ability and there was no pressure to ride any runs we weren't comfortable with or to move at any particular speed. Both nights I rode with the lower intermediate group because I was comfortable riding blue runs (green are the easiest). I learned some basic riding techniques on Monday; Wednesday our coach, Jim, taught us to jump. Hitting table top jumps was what he worked with us on - not jumping over anything so mom don't fret - I caught a little air on a few of the table tops after practicing over and over again so that was pretty cool!

So far I've ridden Easy Does It (green), part of Golden Triangle (blue), B-line (blue), a bit of Ho Chi Min (blue) which was my least fav due to the zillion rocks and roots, Crank-it-up (blue) which I loved and Heart of Darkness (blue) which is pretty intense thanks to the drop on the right but wow is it fun! Mike is pretty stoked that I liked riding, we're going to bike together tomorrow! Yay!

Jessy, Colin, Ian and Jackie all arrived on Sunday afternoon. Rebecca headed back to Vancouver after riding but Cara and Herwig stuck around for another night. Remember I said we had planned a five night stay in Whistler? Well it has turned into eight nights thanks to a crazy rock slide that has blocked the only highway from Whistler to Vancouver. Thankfully our hotel has offered us a fabulous price for additional nights while the road is blocked. We've got it made at the Mountainside Lodge and would definitely stay here again in the future, we're right at the base of the mountain in the village. Check out the view from our room.


Monday the girls all went kayaking while the boys rode and others (Herwig - such a good man) took care of Rosie.

We had such a good laugh, particularly when Jessy flipped her kayak landing in the freezing cold creek next to a beach where three strangers were sitting, thankfully they were kind and helped us to right jess' kayak before they laughed at the situation. Hilarious!

We've been up to much more since Monday but I think this is a long enough post for today. I'll tell you about some of our other adventures tomorrow. It really has been a fabulous week!

A Journalist in the Family

I introduced Mike's blog Samsquanch to you last week and now I am very excited to show off the article that he had published in the Georgian Bay Today thanks to his first post!

I opened the mailbox this afternoon, snatched up the pile of goodies and spotted the newspaper immediately. There was Mike's article on the first page of the paper! I bolted home and made him read it to me... that just seems like the right thing to do once you've been published, a public (even if the audience is only one) reading. How cool is this?


We were both thrilled to find that the article continued beyond the first page and better yet, it took up an entire additional page!
Mike was planning to head to Blue Mountain tomorrow to hit the trails, how perfect is it that his article on Blue arrived in the mail the day before he heads there?

Getaway

After receiving some terribly sad news last week (which I will share with you at a later date) Mike suggested we get away for the weekend. He swept me off my feet and took me to Niagara Falls for a two night escape; it was wonderful.

We stayed at the Marriott and when we walked through the doorway into our room we sighed "WOW" in unison: the view was spectacular! When they say "Fallsview Room" they mean fallsview.

Yes that's a shot taken from the floor to ceiling window in our room; breathtaking isn't it? Here's another from our window:


The weekend was ultra relaxing, we ate, slept, laughed, relaxed in the whirlpool, ate, enjoyed the view, ate, wandered the cheesy streets, laughed, ate and snapped a zillion pictures of the view from our room.




The Maid of the Mist is the boat shown below, we didn't hop on for the tour this year but one day we will!

I'm posting more pictures than is probably polite in the land of blogging but I like to go against the grain... so there.

This shot makes me laugh, read the sign carefully and then look at the surroundings. Something tells me that the WWF and the Rainforest Cafe might not be an 'authentic' part of Niagara Falls


Mike and I were talking about how badly we want to visit Egypt about 20 minutes before we stumbled upon this Pharaoh. With only a little prodding from me Mike hopped up on his lap for a pic; I should have taken a picture of the looks on the faces of the people around us. Hilarious!
No the picture isn't supposed to be rotated, this is the top of the Museum. I remember visiting the Ripley's museum when I was a kid but I don't think King Kong was on the roof then.

I love this one!

I was a bit disappointed to find out that what I thought was an old school Ferris wheel was actually the new and 'improved' version where you sit in a pod. Rather than taking a ride I took a picture.

After taking a nap Saturday evening I hopped out of bed to grab my book and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A rainbow!! This is my favourite shot of the weekend.

A mega-big thanks to my fabulous husband for a great escape weekend! It was a wonderful break from reality.

Samsquanch

Sam who? Samsquanch.

Have I piqued your interest? Check out my husbands blog to find out what the heck a Samsquanch is and to learn a bit about his two greatest loves: electronic music & mountain biking. He has even posted links to some of his freaking awesome tracks here near the end of the post. Not only is my husband smart, funny, handsome and athletic, he has some serious talent in the music department.

Oh and his first post caught the attention of the editor of a newspaper up in Georgian Bay; since then he has written an article based on the post and it's going to be published! Very cool!

Ladies Were on Fire!

What a fabulous night I had with the girls! Six of my amazing girlfriends joined me for dinner at my place and following that we headed to a nearby club where we met up with a few other girls and watched a pile of handsome firemen strut their stuff at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind's 3rd annual Hot Night in The City fundraiser. What a blast!!

By sending an email to the organizer in advance to ask if there was any chance I could reserve seats I managed to snag 12 seats in the second row! We were close enough to get clear views of the models yet far enough away to avoid being yanked out of our seats and up on stage (first row was hauled up for dancing).

I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. I'll definitely be attending next year and intend to drag along an additional row of girlfriends (that includes you mom).

While I was checking out the latest fashions on some fine looking displays, Mike was in New Orleans at Emeril's restaurant (which apparently has an 8 week waiting list)!! Seriously, what are the chances of that?! He didn't even make reservations in advance, he arrived in New Orleans last night and met up with a colleague, the two were chatting about basketball while waiting for the valet parking guy and a woman standing next to them slips into the conversation and tells them that she used to work for the owner of the basketball team they were discussing. They start chatting, find out she's Canadian and owns some companies in New Orleans... the next thing they know she tells them that they really have to try eating at Emeril's, but there's an eight week wait, she proceeds to place a call and BAM! Mike and his colleague have reservations at Emeril's restaurant for them and the person they were there to meet with. What the?! Talk about lucky!!

Thanks to Emeril Mike has tried a new food, one I never thought he would put near his lips: escargot! Woo hoo! He becomes braver with age, I love it.

You know where I'll be expecting to eat when we eventually make it to New Orleans together...

30 and FAB if I don't say so myself.

Happy Birthday yesterday to moi!

It's official, I'm a member of the Dirty Thirty club and pleased to say that I feel no more mature today than I did last week... or last year for that matter. PHEW!

My birthday celebrations started a week ago: Mike arranged an evening of fun fun fun with a pile of our friends last Friday. Drinks and yummy chow at a local watering hole Barley Works HELLO it's our new pre-party feedery - $20 for a bottle of wine? what the...? followed by an evening of rump shakin' at Starlight equals good times had by all. I was thrilled to see my favorite faces showed up to help me celebrate, I had no idea who was actually coming, we had a blast! We opened up the club and nearly closed it - disco and funk kept us on the dance floor from ten till two. A truly fabulous night!

Yesterday was my actual birthday and it was a fantastic day! My girl Tanya was super cute and had my b-day announced at school, she also brought in a... errr... lovely pink BIRTHDAY GIRL ribbon for me to wear. I made a valiant effort to wear the sucker but it kept falling off. oops.

Unfortunately Mike has been in Orlando on business since Monday - he felt really awful about being away but of course I understood SOB - he surprised me yesterday by having a ridiculously huge and stunning bouquet of tropical flowers sent to my work! The office ladies were gushing over my delivery when I slipped in to pick it up. Honestly these are the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen! Thanks babe!

After work I went to The Cake Box with my mom for cupcakes and had the BEST cupcake EVER. Seriously. A chocolate peanut butter cupcake? Peanut butter flavored butter cream icing? Oh my delish.

I worked off the cupcake during my pilates class that followed - I love it more this round than I did last - then headed to an amazing little Italian restaurant, Casa Rugantino, to pick up the pizza Tanya had ordered for our dinner. YUM!

My wonderfully simple yet fabulous birthday was topped off when I arrived at Tanya's place . I was expecting an evening of pizza, a movie and maybe some Scrabble but walked in to find balloons, streamers, and some of the fabulous women I love gathered together. We ate, drank, watched the lunar eclipse and laughed!! I am so unbelievably lucky; I have the best people in my world.

It really was a very happy birthday.

One Fabulous Year Down

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY!!

At this moment one year ago our wedding ceremony was taking place. It was truly an amazing day: we laughed and cried and laughed some more. I wish we could do it all over again; I wouldn't change a thing!

Here are a few of pics to celebrate us!

The last year has flown by so it feels like just yesterday that we were saying "I do." We are going on eight years together as a couple and I think we laugh harder and more often today than we ever have.
I love you more than anything Michael, you complete me.

Spoiled

Christmas Eve was spent with my mom, dad, John, Sarah & Neve. We had our traditional Christmas Eve Chinese food fest. Yum!

Only regret of the evening is that once again we didn't get a family photo, we need to start doing this on the occasions when we are all in one place!
Here are a few shots from the evening.

Mom admiring her new Pylones paperclip holding bird

Dad checking out his new blade

Sarah & Neve opening gifts.
Reading 'The Grinch'

Neve driving Uncle Mike to Toronto.

Looking stylish with his lovely flower (a gift from Neve).

Our first Christmas Eve as an old married duo.

It was a really great evening; we wrapped things up by heading home, curling up together on the couch and watching 'It's a Wonderful Life.'
A perfect ending to a perfect Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning I woke up bright and early. Some things never change...
My early wake-up used to drive my brother nuts, he couldn't handle waiting until the morning to see what Santa brought him so he would slip into the living room to sneak a peek in the middle of the night, that meant there was no reason for him to drag his lazy butt out of bed early Christmas morning. I on the other hand LOVE surprises so I would be up early lying in bed waiting until I figured it was a reasonable enough hour to wake up the entire household. I'd bounce around the house until mom gave me the thumbs up to bang on John's door and then eventually dad would be ready with the camera and we would fly under the tree to see what Santa had left. Such good memories.

This Christmas was a little bit different. Instead of waking up my mom, dad & John it was Mike who had the pleasure of waking up to my face inches from his. The stare alarm works well.

Santa Mike spoiled me rotten. I'm so excited about my main gift - a brand spanking new Singer sewing machine. Here I am looking like a dork with my new favorite thing.

The book I'm holding is called bend-the-rules Sewing
and it's written by one of my favorite bloggers Amy Karol at Angry Chicken. I'm hoping to post my first attempt at sewing by the end of the week - a super cute little zip up pouch from this fabulous book. 2008 is going to be my year of crafting. Mom & Dad gave me a huge bin full of supplies for card making, I can't wait to get started.

Lots of other wonderful gifts from Mike. One that makes me laugh is my new snake bike lock.
The cat wasn't so sure about it.
A wonderful Christmas morning followed by a great afternoon with Mike's parents, Joanne & Paul and the boys.

Gabriel & Michael posing for pics before gift opening.

The last two gifts on the tree were air hockey paddles and pucks for the boys, but they didn't have a table to play on. Granny pulled out the magic pen and suggested they try wishing for a table. Here they are writing out AIR HOCKEY TABLE very carefully, wouldn't want an ice rink suddenly appearing in the living room.

And now the wishing begins...

Wishing with all their might...

And what to their wondering eyes did appear...
They were so excited!

Dad on the phone with Uncle Pat in Ireland.

The Mrs. Mitchells listening in Joanne posing with her bon bon.

Paul caught smiling at one of his boys - Gabriel I think.

My favorite picture of Mike taken over the holidays this year.

Dinner was brilliant! A delicious feast made by Mom M.
We had a wonderful day, lots of singing and laughs.
Merry Ho Ho!!

We were spoiled rotten as usual this Christmas. Mom and Dad (both sets) went overboard as usual and we love all of our gifts! Thanks everyone for everything!