Winter blahs...

The dull, gray winter days have left me in the mood to shake things up. Last weekend was so beautifully sunny it made it seem like spring was just around the corner. Put these two together and I decided their was only one possible course of action...

For a point of reference here's a before* picture:

.

And here's the after:

And from the side:

And the back:

I'm super happy with how it turned out. The shape of the cut is fantastic. Its a bit shorter than I had really wanted but it'll quickly grow out to the length I had in mind. She put in tonnes of layers. There is so much volume and my head feels lighter, like its floating. Loves it!! It's actually kind of bittersweet that I've found such a fantastic hair stylist and soon I'll be moving away... Since it's an Aveda salon, the smell of my hair is heavenly right now. I'm heading up to Ottawa for a weekend of Winterlude fun - skating and beavertails!! Enjoy your weekends and I'll leave you with one last little peek at my new look... Enjoy!!

*I took the before picture on Tuesday, since I was having a good hair day that day. I don't think its a fair comparison when the before picture is totally heinous and the after picture is pretty.

Olympic Fever

I heard on the radio the other day that it was 1 year until the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I can't wait!! I love watching the Olympics on TV. It was especially fortunate that I finished my summer semester the day the Beijing Olympics started this year. It left me with days where I could do nothing but watch Olympics. I was in heaven.

Hearing it was only a year made me think back to the day of the Opening Ceremonies of the Calgary games in 1988. I often wish I had been older than 9 at the time so I could really enjoy and experience the games, but I digress...

Hard to believe it was 21 years ago, today. Geoff had somehow gotten an invitation to go to the unveiling of the Olympic stamps at Convention Centre, so Mom took us downtown for that. But so many people had shown up we had to watch it on monitors in the lobby, since the conference hall was full. I'm pretty sure we got some free food (something that as a graduate student I have learned makes almost any event worth attending) and then left. We walked down Stephen Ave. Mall and went up to the top of the Calgary Tower to watch the Olympic Torch come up Centre Street and accross the bridge.

We went to Safeway and bought a cake with Heidi & Howdy, the Olympic Mascots, on it and took it over Grandma & Grandpa's, since it was also their birthday. We also had sparklers for the cake, that we wanted to light when they lit the torch at the stadium, but I'm pretty sure we got too impatient for cake and lit them early so we could eat it. Oh well. We tried. Happy Birthday Grandma & Grandpa - I miss you.


That day is one of my favourite childhood memories. I'm so excited for the Olympics to return to Canada!! Hopefully Safeway will be selling cakes...

I'm going to have a horrible weekend...

A Dr. Horrible weekend that is...

Did I really just type that? Yeah I did.

Really, what is important is that after nearly a week of sitting on a shelf, mocking me, because I had to write my paper, I can finally watch it. And the musical commentary. Guilt free.

DONE DONE DONE

I finished my paper. So happy to have that off my plate. You have no idea. Now that its done, I have completed 50% of the coursework for this class - that means I only have 3.3% to go before I am finished this entire degree and it seems like its been a long time coming. 9 weeks and counting.

And now I can sleep in a bit tomorrow and reward myself with a triple venti, hazelnut, non-fat, no foam latte on my way to work in the morning. Did I mention it will be free? Makes it even better... mmm... I'm off to bed to dream about that coffee.

Project Runway Canada

Not only do I love reality TV, but there is just something about the slightly-bastardized Canadian versions of shows that originated in the States. One of the funniest differences is the catchphrase. In the original PR, Heidi Klum tells designers that "In fashion, one day you are in and the next day you are out." (in her delightful German accent) Where as Iman, who hosts PRCanada, says "Sometimes, you just don't measure up" In a lot of ways, she could be talking about the entire Canadian production.

For its second season, PRCanada moved up in the world from cable (Slice) to network tv (Global). The show also moved from T.O. to Ottawa which surprised me. I had no idea that Ottawa was a bastion of fashion.

If you haven't been watching - start now (3rd ep. aired tonight). Not only does this fulfil a void left by the absence of PR Season 6 (held up by lawsuits in the US) but this season has actually surpassed any season of the American version. To clarify - the designs, except for a few, have been fairly mediocre, but the drama - that has been fantastic. In the first episode TWO (!!) designers quit!! One had a nervous breakdown (no loss) but the other had to leave for heath reasons. It was acutally too bad because from what we did see in the first episode, he seemed quite talented.

I'm going to predict that the designer to beat will be Sunny. Even though he finally just won his first challenge this week, he's been in the top 2 every time. (and probably deserved to win more than he has). So far his designs have been way above the rest.

And who seriously needs to get kicked off? This guy. --> He somehow managed to survive making a party dress for Elisha Cuthbert that looked like a figure-skating outfit last week. He did show some restraint in his outfit this week, but I think it is only because he was partnered with someone who reigned him in. Plus he's just plain annoying.

Maybe my resume could use some work...

Perhaps something like this could help me land a job:


http://barneysvideoresume.com/

SuperWeekend

The weekend started out at a SuperConference and is ending with the SuperBowl.

I went to T.O. for the OLA SuperConference - for the Expo, since I have to write two papers for my class on various interactions with the vendors there. I was also able to catch up with quite a few people. I do wish I'd had some time to attend sessions - maybe next year if I have an employer who will pay for me to go ;)

I stayed with Monika (at her super-cute new house) - really a perfect plan since she was going to OLA too and it saved me from leaving K-town at about 5:00 AM on Friday. We ordered Thai on Friday night, as per usual, and I've found a new favourite - red curry beef. so so good.

Now I'm settling in with my Sunday morning coffee to get caught up on stuff before the SuperBowl. I think I'm going to cheer for the Steelers - mostly because I saw them live this summer when they played in Toronto, even though it was only preseason (don't worry, I didn't pay for those severly overpriced tickets - I won them by doing a survey).

I'm kinda excited to watch the SuperBowl - two stations I get are broadcasting the game - unlike with the Grey Cup when NONE were, so I couldn't watch it at all - in Canada - there is something wrong with that.