On the road again...

I'm off...here's my schedule...I'm leaving for Calgary tonight...I'll be there till 5pm on Wednesday--then I fly to Edmonton and we leave for the Fort on the 3rd of November. I'll try to be in touch over the next week! Love

Disarm you with a smile And cut you like you want me to

That beautiful picture above is one of the things I'm going to miss when I move out of Banff in...wait a minute...I leave tommorow!! I don't think I'm ready to part with my beloved pumpkin spice latte yet...no, I won't see it until next year! Here in Banff, we have no Tim Hortons....we have Starbucks and it's great. When I moved here...the special coffee of the month was my favorite PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE. It's like pumpkin pie in coffee format. It warms you on the days that Banff weather hates you...and I am going to have one tonight and probably another tommorow before I get on the bus. I'll miss you pumpkin spice latte...see ya next year...

This is your day, your day...Happy Birthday to you. to you. to you. to you. to YOUUUUUU.

Happy Birthday Greetings to the following people who celebrated in the past couple of months. Ashley "I've had a few too many" Dunsford (October)

Carolyn "but the hat looks good" Steele (October)

Adam "The Leader of the Band" Thomas (October)

Rachael "The gal amongst the guys kind of gal" Arsenault (September)

Of course, Nancy "I drank 6 coolers?" Waite (September)

Colin "Is this shirt too revealing?" Enman (September)

And of course...My little brother, Jamie, who turned the big 19 on August 25th...here is a recap of his adventure on his birthday.

Jamie and random kid in a hotel room in Halifax.

Jamie, Ronga and Steve being kicked out of the hotel after random kid set off a fire extinguisher.

Gotta love family. Once again, Happy Birthday to all of you and hope your birthday was as fun as my bro's looked!

Mama, If that's movin' up then I'm movin' out.

Well...another day, another notice. I am officially resigning from the Juniper hotel as of today. I have loved my time here and it is the most beautiful hotel with breathtaking views and great atmosphere but it is now the moment to take an opportunity. Danaca, Alissia and myself have decided to move North (Fort McMurray way) for the chance to work a lot and make a lot more money than we have been making in Banff. We work for 21 days straight and then have 7 days off...it's great and awesome and i get to travel and make money. SOLD. I'm in. Last day of work is on Thursday...weekend in Calgary with Carolyn then the girls come meet me on Monday or Tuesday...Edmonton for a couple of days and then we are off. LOOK OUT.

I'm a hustler baby, I just want you to know...

Lets take a look at this picture. It's Bret "THE HITMAN" Hart doing his finest work to date. He is now starring in a Musical Theatre masterpiece, Aladdin. That's right, we lucky folks in Alberta (or anywheres, if you would like to fly in) get to see BRET "THE HITMAN" HART act...and sing...and dance..AND WRESTLE in Aladdin. I tried finding the commercial that they play 15 times a day here in Banff on tv on youtube but I couldn't find anything. So remember the glory days with this jem...by the way, I did have those sunglasses.

On to more exciting things...last night I went to bed at 730pm. Ok, that's not that exciting. I was woken up by the police at 5am...that exciting enough for you? Seems that we're not allowed to have strange French men in our rooms...wait...it wasn't me again. It was my french friend Nathalie. She had to have not one...but two men escorted out of her room last evening. Gotta love the police banging on her door saying that she had to have them out. Life in staff accom...can it get any better?

Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here.

I am reminiscing tonight. I am stuck on 3-11 shifts all week which means, hello MSN....

This picture is of me and Colin. It's when he came home from living in Banff and the last night at Tash, Michelle, Sheena's and Ash's browns court pad....also known as Crazy Hat Party...also known as the night of evictions. I think about this night now and it feels not long ago and yet so long ago. That picture was taken in August 2003...more than 3 years ago now.

The funny thing...this is me and Colin back in March of this year....lets take note of the shirt he is wearing. Good friends.

That group picture is almost 3 years old now too...Ash's big birthday pub crawl. I remember those damned pub crawls. Get semi drunk at the Wave....drink on the bus...more booze at Big Momma's and Myrons and Melons (the 3 M's) and end up making up with random people at the Page. Times were good...we were young. I know most of us would have a rough time with that now but we are troopers and we would make it ;)

The days of pub crawls and eviction parties are over for now. Who knows if they will ever be back. We are spread across the crazy world...Tash Mac and Janette in France, Colin and Kristin in Halifax, Tamsyn and Karey in NFLD, Shawnte in Toronto, Jeff will wander somewheres, Taryn will be in Ottawa, Ash in New Zealand...Me, Nance and a bunch more are finding things in Alberta and the home bodies at home. We are spread across but I look back on pictures of the past 5 years and they make me both smile and get anxious for when we will all be together again.

Here's To Friends, For A Reason

So Ash wanted me to tell Janelle and Nancy when I went to Calgary about how much she made on her tip cheque this summer...this was obviously important to Ash as she made me document it...she is after all a money hungry rodeo whore. You know...

Ash's story take one

Had a fabu time with the girls in Calgary. I cannot wait to go back! Check out my full day's activities on Nance's page.

Cry me a river...

Today I cried. It wasn't one of those good cry's where you are in your bed sobbing into your pillow. It was at work and it was for a stupid reason. I haven't had an emotional real cry since I left home and that now infamous night at Peakes (long story short...lights came on at Peakes, tears came down my face). Don't get me wrong...when I cry at Grey's Anatomy, it's real but not my disapointment type of crying I'm used to. I've been sick with a sinus cold for a couple of days. It's been not fun...you know that yellow snot that never ends...yeah I got that. My nose is raw from the constant blowing of it. I found out that I had another Thursday and Friday off this week and thought to myself...it's payweek and I deserve something...I'm FINALLY going to Calgary. So our paychecks usually come on Wednesday...as of 1pm, they hadn't arrived. Alyssia came over to work for a moment and asked me why I looked so glum. I explained, I wanted to take my paycheck to Calgary to do some good winter clothes shopping. Then it started...chin wobbling...tears welling...I started to cry. She told me not to worry and that it would pan out. I stepped away from the desk for a moment and started to bawl uncontrollably. Was it because I had been emailing for the past 2 days with Nance and Nelle about our plans or because I had been playing tasha and I's favorite game over work email all day? Did I miss home or hate where I was? What was with the crying?! Not even 10 minutes later, the purolator man showed up and I started crying again. My boss was like dear god girl...you need a cocktail. I told her not to worry, now that I had a big fat paycheck under my arm...there would be many cocktails. Smiles again...just a 25 minute breakdown!!

True patriot love and lalalalala...

One of my favorite things since I got out to Banff is to watch The Daily Show and the Colbert Report at midnight. I'd watched a lot of Daily Show in my day but at home I found myself always falling asleep during the Colbert Report. I knew it was funny but I just couldn't stay awake. SO...being the chick with no cable that I am, I have 3 channels...cbc (it's a given folks), global and ctv. With CbC showing either 1940's movies...or Canadian cinema (which is game of russian roulette, it's good or it's real bad) and global's nightly dose of informercials, Ctv became my saviour as did the Colbert Report. I am often told to stop laughing so much when I am watching it. I love the fact that he wants people to pronouce the name Colbert right so he changed the prounounciation of Report (col-bear...rap-pore). There is a great interview with the man himself in this month's New York magazine...I suggest you read it.

And hit 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

Well...let us continue the story from Monday. My roomate and I decided that this sounded a bit sketcky but funny none the less. So, we bought pantyhose, talked to someone on the phone completed the task and then he said come pick up your money in Calgary at the radio station. I still felt like this was kind of weird so I decided to call the radio station. They informed that we had been pranked by some perv who wanted to see us in pantyhose (as we had to take pictures). Good thing we didn't send the pictures. I totally was scammed. Good example of small town girl getting taken advantage of in the big city. Oh well...it's funny.
We went out Thursday to drown our sorrows -- well that turned into too many $1 vodka slimes and $2 shooters. YAY -- banff keeps my drinking problem in tact! We're having a Thanksgiving dinner at staff accomodation on Monday. Sounds like it might be really good. Sunday night, Danaca's parents are coming and making a big dinner and lucky me, I'm invited. Double YAY.

Oh and taking a note from Janelle...here's what I am thankful for...

My mom, dad and brother who let me know that I'm loved, even though I'm so far away
My friends from home who make me feel loved
My friends here in Banff who make me feel welcome
My friends everywheres else who are great company, sometimes too far away
My extended family who are rockin'
My health and home

That's what makes me happy :)

Here I Go Again...

Ok...
So lets say the crazy rock radio station in Calgary called me this morning at work and asked me if I wanted to win $200. Then the man on the phone tells me that I have to put on 2 pairs of pantyhose and blow them up with a pump and talk on the phone with him while I do it...lets say I agreed to this...
more to come tommorow...