Confessions of an anti-shopaholic

Last night I went to see "Confessions of a Shopaholic" with a couple of my girlfriends for a Girl's Night in honor of my friend Sam's birthday. It was the only girlie movie on at the theater that she had not seen, and even though I was not that excited about seeing it since I know NOTHING about designer clothes other that the fact that they are way overpriced, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the movie. I'd only seen Isla Fisher in one other movie - Wedding Crashers, ha - and didn't know how she'd do at playing someone who wasn't a sex-crased lunatic. Well, I guess shopaholics can have similar personalities to sex-crased lunatics, but anyway......it was a fun girl movie. I don't see those too often--the last movie I watched before this was Dirty Harry, somewhat of the antithesis to this movie. Anyway, I'd recommend it to anyone.

Not much else has been going on this week--work has been way busy, which is definitely a good problem to have in the midst of this ever-so-lovely economic situation (sense my sarcasm?). Problem is, as usual, and in combination with the fact that the weather just keeps reverting back to SNOWY, I tend to have trouble getting as much done around the house after work as I would like. Even though I've been married almost a year now, domestic duties still aren't my strongpoint.

However, I feel that I am pretty good at finding new and fun things to do. On this past Sunday, we decided to go to PawsWay (see previous post for more details) to get Delilah some exercise after having been cooped up in the house due to the cold for the past week or so. We went downtown at around 4:30, and when we arrived at PawsWay for the Small Breed Off Leash, they had already maxxed out at the 30 dog limit. After a half hour of waiting, we were allowed to go in. This off leash was a lot different than the last one we went to because there were a variety of dogs there, and Delilah was the only Boston. That didn't bother her, though--she makes friends quite quickly. Her favorites were a Bassett Hound named Rigby and a couple of pugs....they had fun. She ran and ran and ran until she couldn't run anymore and it was really fun to watch. This place even had a track around the top, so she ran around that quite a few times. We weighed Delilah on the way out--she's up to 16.8 pounds! That's almost double what she was when we got her just 2 months ago! Here are some fun pics from inside PawsWay and what we did afterwards (I'll apologize now for the way these pictures turned out, this blog template tends to cut them off a bit...I may be changing templates to fix that soon):

This was the biggest dog there....he was the coolest bulldog ever.

Delilah on the track upstairs with some of her puppy pals

Downstairs making more friends

This was the view from the doorstep of PawsWay....we have quite the "big city" dog!

My turn--this one was taken from a platform on to a ship down on Harbourfront This is the ice rink at the Harbourfront....notice Lake Ontario in the background!

Delilah was quite puzzled by the people skating....she just sat and watched for a long time.

Overall, it was a really fun day. This weekend should be fun....it is our twin nephews' birthday weekend....their actual birthday is today (HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, ETHAN AND LIAM!) and we're heading down for the weekend to visit and celebrate. We haven't seen them since right after New Year's, so I'm sure they will have changed a lot. More to come....

This week's "Dose of Delilah"

A few recent shots of our Delilah--she's almost 5 months old already and looking so grown up! But alas, she is still all puppy--hence, the shot of her sitting on her dad's head. :)

We're taking her to a place on the Harbourfront in downtown Toronto tomorrow---it's called PawsWay. It's affliated with Purina and apparently is an educational facility, but there is also an indoor area for dogs to run, and with the weather we've had this past week--SNOW, big surprise, I know--Delilah DEFINITELY needs a place to run. She doesn't do well in the cold, and she's almost as stir crazy as I am with all of this winter junk. I plan on taking my camera tomorrow; the reason the indoor area is open tomorrow is for a small breed event, so hopefully there will be lots of other dogs there for her to play with. Pictures coming soon.

If you want to know more about PawsWay, go to www.pawsway.ca.

Valentine's Day/Family Day weekend

Last weekend was really awesome, I loved having the extra day. For all of you "staters" who don't know what I'm referring to, Canada gets a day in the month of February (which usually coincides with President's Day) that is called Family Day, with the idea being that businesses, schools, and most stores are closed so that families can spend time together. I think it's a nice holiday, the U.S. should do that, too! Anyway, because of that, not only did we have the weekend, we got Monday off as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning........

On Friday, Gary and I went down to the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton for the Dierks Bentley/Brad Paisley concert. He claims it's the last show in Hamilton he's ever going to because the venue is situated right in the middle of the downtown area and it's surrounded by narrow streets and even worse than that, ONE WAY streets. We were so close to the place, but we couldn't get to it. He got a bit frustrated. Anyway, once we got inside, we had a lot of fun....there's nothing like a good country concert, contrary to what most of my Canadian friends believe. I was so amazed that literally none of my friends or co-workers had ever even heard of Brad Paisley before! Country is not a music genre that is often listened to here, and even though I'm not an enormous country fan, now that I live in Canada, it is somewhat of the "forbidden fruit," so Gary and I listen to it a lot more. Dierks Bentley opened the show, and he sounded great! The way the stage was set up allowed the performers to go out into the audience a bit, and even though we were on the second level, we could see really well. When Brad came on, I think Gary was really surprised because not only is he a great singer, he's also a phenomenal guitarist, and he definitely showcased it in his show. He's also an ENTERTAINER in every sense of the word. His show had all kinds of graphics and other country stars incorporated into it, for example, during "Whiskey Lullaby," a holograph-type image of Alison Krauss came on the screen in the corner, and it was life sized, so it almost looked like she was sitting on the stage on a stool. It was really cool. He played for a really long time, probably close to three hours. We heard on the radio on the way home that he was really sick, too, but the way he performed, you never would have known. Gary said it was definitely one of the best country shows he's ever been to. It was my second time seeing him, and I think I enjoyed this one more than the first. Here are a couple pics from the show:

Dierks Bentley

Brad Paisley

On Saturday, we embarked on our downhill skiing adventure. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of it, because I left my camera at home for fear that it would get wet or too cold or I would fall on it and break it or hurt myself. Since it was my first time downhill skiing, I was quite nervous at the start, especially considering that we parked in front of a double black diamond hill (in layman's terms, a REALLY FREAKING BIG hill!) I said, "Um, I'll go home right now if you think I'm going down that one!" Gary assured me that there were plenty of bunny hills for me to try. After the eternity it took to get our gear rented and get measured for skis and poles, we finally made it to the slopes. I couldn't figure out how to move at first, and my arms are definitely out of shape, because I barely had the arm strength to get myself going! I finally did, though, and Gary took me to the bunny hill. After three trips down and NO FALLS, I felt pretty confident, so we moved up to the next two stages of hills. I never did fall down the entire night, which I'm pretty proud of. I never even wiped out on the lifts! Skiing is really fun, although I'm still not very good. Even though I never fell, I felt like I didn't have complete control of what I was doing at least half of the time. I guess it takes practice, and I'd definitely be willing to try it again! On our way home from the hill, since it was Valentine's Day, we stopped at Starbucks for a nice warm-up drink and we got some new books to read--I got a digital photography how-to type of book, plus a book by Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer--he's a genius!) and Gary got a book about globalization. Sounds boring, I know! :) Then we went home, and he let me watch Moulin Rouge since it was kind of a girly holiday! He didn't complain at all, and he didn't fall asleep until the end! I was way impressed!

This was basically our day on Sunday---we needed a day to relax, and Delilah is never far away when we're on the couch relaxing, as you can see from the photo below. Plus, she just is so cute I couldn't resist putting this up!

Monday morning was also very relaxing, but we had yet another concert to go to on Monday night. It was Brett Dennen with Angel Taylor opening for him. Brett's not a big name, but he has been in Rolling Stone magazine and on vH1 as an "Artist to Know." His songs have been background music in various TV dramas, and one of them was even featured on a hotel chain commercial in the States for a while. This concert was at the Mod Club Theatre in downtown Toronto. It was another really cool little club--those are the best kind. We are always really close to the stage, they're usually not too crowded, and the talent is always good, because they're not well-known enough yet to let it get to their head. When we got to the club, the doors were just getting ready to open. There was a big line up, and walking up and down the line was a very tall guy in a sock cap. He came closer to us, and I realized it was Brett Dennen himself! He was just walking up and down the line chatting with people. There was a 9 year old kid in front of us, and Brett introduced himself, and the kid was so stoked because it was his first concert ever! He kept his cool while Brett was talking to him, but when he walked away, he was so excited and talking a million miles a minure. It was so cute. Most definitely a moment that kid will never forget. The show was pretty good, too. We were about 15 feet from the stage, and minus all of the huge tall guys with big heads that kept standing in front of me, I really enjoyed myself. Here are some pics:

Angel Taylor--She sings a song about my favorite Starbucks drink: Chai Tea Lattes!

The very tall and very witty Brett Dennen....as one girl yelled during the concert, and I quote, "Brett, you're a lyricist genius." Ha.
I was reminded this weekend of all of the great stuff there is to do in the Greater Toronto Area. We haven't even scratched the surface of it all, and we've lived here a year and a half. That's amazing to me. I've made a list (imagine that) of all of the big things I want to do and the places I want to see. I'm just going to keep checking them off as we go!

I get homesick when.....

I get homesick when life-altering and very significant events are happening the lives of my best friends and family, and I can't be there to share in the joy, or in the worse case, just to be there for someone when they need a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to. I'm homesick tonight because my best friend for 17 years, Abby Mitchell, just gave birth to her first son today. Nolan Adam Mitchell was born at 4:28PM, weighing 8lbs 11oz and measuring 21 inches long. I wouldn't be at the hospital right now if I lived back home, because I don't want a crowd at the hospital when I have my children one of these days, but I would most definitely be available if she needed anything and would for sure be visiting pretty much as soon as she gave me the green light. But since I live almost 10 hours from her house, who knows when I'll be able to see him--I still haven't even seen my cousin's baby, and he was born in the first week of January. It makes my heart hurt when I see pictures of him changing so quickly and I haven't even seen him yet! Living so far away from friends and family really makes me appreciate them so much more and treasure the times that I do get to spend with all of them. It just makes me sad that the visits and times together have become very few and far between.

Anyway, I just want to send a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Abby and her husband, Bart!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Rupperts!

I just found the coolest website!

If you're into photography, as I am, you'll love this site:
www.boston.com/bigpicture (I've put a link to it in my "Clickworthy Links" section as well.)

It's affiliated with the Boston Globe newspaper and its purpose is to highlight excellent photojournalism. There are FANTASTIC photos on this site from many different sources. Check it out for inspiration, I know it totally put me in the mood to grab my camera!

I've got the fever!

I don't know how else to describe my feelings right now, unless maybe I use the famous Indiana expression, "I'm like a fart in a skillet!!" It might be because the weather is starting to warm up and spring is coming, but something in me has sparked, and I've really got the itch to try new things and do stuff I've always wanted to but never have had the chance......mostly, I guess I'm in the mood to travel. I've made a list of places I'd like to visit in the near future, most are places I've never been, but a couple are repeats. I'm a list maker, and I have a special list I'd like to share later on in the blog.....sorry about the eye strain you may get, but give me a break, people, I haven't blogged in nine days and I'm never at a loss for words.

My Travel Top 10:
1. Costa Rica (we want to visit a friend, Jim, at his water ski resort- (http://www.waterskicostarica.com/)
2. ANYWHERE BEACHY - (I crave sun, warm weather, sand between my toes, and ocean!)
3. Quebec City, Quebec - I need to see more of Canada, and this is one of the most historic sites.
4. Anywhere in Germany - 3 hours in Amsterdam made me want to see more of Europe!
5. San Diego, California - I was there when I was 6 and I still remember the ZOO!
6. Washington, D.C. - Been there twice, but never as an adult, plus it's a photographer's dream
7. Montreal, Quebec - See reason #3
8. Halifax, Nova Scotia - See reason #3
9. Newfoundland and Laborador - See reason #3
10. A trip out west, including Vegas, Denver (my Jessica Baker lives there), the Dakotas, and Arizona....another photographer's dream and Gary keeps talking about the BIG SKY!

Since we can't go anywhere right this second, I'm settling for trying something new this weekend--Gary and I are joining our friends Paul & Robyn and Joe & Tina for some downhill skiing at Snow Valley in Barrie. The rest of the group has skiied (or is it skied?, I don't know) before, but I never have. They're trying to set me up with a beginner course, but I tend to be a girl who operates without instructions and manuals and lessons, but rather trial and error. We'll see. I think I'm going to get there and see what it looks like before I decide whether I'm going to brave it on my own or head for the bunny hill. Wish me luck. Here's the website for Snow Valley, in case you're interested--they even have webcams of the hills! Cool! http://www.skisnowvalley.com/

So another list I have compiled in the past couple of weeks is a list of 25 random things about me. It was a "chain letter" of sorts that was going around Facebook, and I had so much fun reading everyone else's and was tagged enough times that I actually did a list of 50 random things. If you want to read those, get Facebook and be my friend, but I had so much fun that I want to do 25 more (I just don't want my Facebook friends to realize that I am this big of a loser).

25 More Random Things About Me:
1. I am always curious if anyone besides me actually ever reads this blog...ha.
2. When I was growing up, I only ever wanted to be one of three things: A Marine Biologist, a lawyer, and then a teacher. I'm proud to say I actually was a teacher and hopefully will be again.
3. I am a huge internet/technology/pop culture junkie, yet I have no idea what the definition of the word "Twitter" is. I think I'll have to figure that one out.
4. I check iTunes every Tuesday for the free song of the week and make a purchase from the site probably on average once a month. It's the equivalent of my sister's shoe habit.
5. Unless I'm super tired, in order to fall asleep, I have to be laying on my stomach with my head turned to the left and my left leg hiked up and out of the covers.
6. I never thought I'd get into it, but the closer it gets to my sister's wedding day, the more I want to help her plan it. Funny how I never got that into it for my own wedding.
7. I am obsessed with Lawry's Seasoned Salt. I put it on popcorn, eggs, salads, cottage cheese, meat, potatoes, and pretty much anything else that needs a pinch of salt.
8. My bedroom in college was decorated in an I Love Lucy theme. It's my favorite classic TV show....I think I've seen every episode and own quite a few on DVD. I will own the entire series one day, mark my word.
9. Speaking of Classic TV--once, in elementary school, our music teacher had a contest to see who knew the most TV theme songs. She had a CD that had a bunch on there and played them until someone answered. I won, hands down, and she even gave me some really old ones that she thought I would have no clue about. Her mouth hit the floor when I identified the "Barney Miller" theme song, and she stopped challenging me.
10. My favorite kind of pizza is a Pizza Junction Deluxe minus sausage with CANNED mushrooms. I pick the mushrooms off and eat them last because they're my favorite.
11. I have never broken any bones (knock on wood).
12. I have seven nieces and nephews ages 6 and under, and I love to spoil them ALL.
13. If I ever go back to school for my master's degree, I want to specialize in either Library Science or Special Education with a concentration in working with autistic children...I love them.
14. I hope to write a children's or young adult book someday, but I feel like every topic I'd like to write about already has a book written about it. I'll come up with a creative idea one of these days.
15. When I was in high school, I was a basketball referee for a YMCA basketball league for 5-10 year olds. I loved it, it was great to see them learn the game and watch the joy on their faces when they scored their first basket.
16. I was MVP of my high school volleyball team during my senior year....I even had an article written about me in the Fort Wayne paper, which was considered to be a pretty big deal. It's so funny how stuff that was life-altering then is so trivial now. I'm still proud of my accomplishment, though.
17. My family and I hosted a foreign exchange student from Brazil when I was a sophomore in high school. The cool thing was that she was my friend first and it didn't work out with her host family, so she moved in with us! We loved having Gabi and we miss her so much--it's been ten years since we've seen her!
18. I'm really good at remembering people's names. When I was substitute teaching, I used to try to memorize all of my student's names whenever we would line up to go anywhere. Now that I work in a place with about 900 people, it's a bit harder, but I probably can recognize 75% of the people by name, and I've filed enough paperwork that if they give me one of their names, I can usually get the other one. Uncanny, I know.
19. As mentioned above, I really like to travel--problem is, that requires TIME and time off of work, both of which seem to be scarce lately. I have a big list of places I would like to visit.
20. I've been working on our honeymoon "scrapbook" (it's really a digital photo album) since our honeymoon and I'm only to day three and there are already 50 pages! It's a very painstaking process.
21. I really like the idea of having clothes and shoes that are of really good quality, but I'm way too cheap for that to actually happen on most occasions. I don't really like shopping for clothes and have to be with particular people or in a particular mood in order to do so. I just need to be nominated for What Not to Wear so I can spend someone else's 5000 bucks and they can tell me what looks good.
22. Speaking of makeovers, I have a slight phobia about hair dressers due to a very traumatic experience that led to me having a half-butch haircut in seventh grade. I still wanna puke every time I think about it.
23. I love sports--talking about them, watching them, playing them, reading about them--and most importantly, impressing men with my knowledge of them.
24. I don't drink coffee, however, I thoroughly enjoy President's Choice Green Chai tea, Tim Horton's French Vanilla Cappuccinos, and my favorite--a Starbucks Nonfat Chai Tea Latte. YUM.
25. I hope I didn't give you eyestrain...that is, if you're even still reading.

Pictures of the upcoming concerts and hopefully of the ski adventure to come soon!

The past two weekends in review

Work and winter doldrums kept me from blogging last week--that, probably combined with the fact that when I get home, time just slips away. We eat dinner, play with Delilah, maybe do some clean up or laundry, and then basically I knit while we catch up on some TV, and then it's time for bed, and the cycle starts all over again the next day. I find it very easy to get in a rut in the winter. Yesterday was the first really nice day we've had in a long time--I went coatless because it was a whopping 40 degrees Fahrenheit! Today is sunshiny, but a bit colder, and thanks to those damn groundhogs--well....I don't even have to say it. Ugh.

So last weekend we made the trip to the in-laws to introduce Delilah to them. There was fun had by all, and she did a very good job of minding her manners (minus the occasional leap on the couch to give someone some face kisses, usually my mother-in-law, who doesn't like doggie kisses on her face). On Saturday, Luke, Lauren, Joel, Matt, and Beth came over to visit, and I don't know who got worn out first, Delilah or the kids. They chased each other around like crazy for most of the day. It was nice to see them all getting along! Lauren doted on her the most, though...they were buds all day!!

This weekend was way more low key. We were originally going to go to Michigan for a Super Bowl party (the famous commercials aren't aired here in Canada, plus, no offense to my fine Canadian friends, they just don't understand the excitement that comes along with football. Analogy: Football is to Americans as Hockey is to Canadians.) However, a bad weather forecast, which has yet to materialize, in combination with the fact that our license plates need to be renewed kept us from crossing the border. We had a much needed lazy weekend! We rented all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and watched them all, we slept in, and yesterday we took Delilah to her first Boston Terrier Meetup group playdate. I know it sounds stupid, but we don't really have any other way to socialize her with other dogs on a regular basis, and all the other dogs we know are just too big to play with her safely right now. Besides that, it's kinda cool for Gary and I to meet people that we can share experiences and advice with about our dogs. I made her a new neck warmer for the occasion, and it's a good thing I did, because when you put 50 Bostons in a room, all of which have been cooped up during the winter months, it gets REALLY difficult to keep track of your dog! They were all over the place! Delilah had a great time, minus the fact that there were a couple randy little boy dogs who kept trying to hump her! She eventually escaped them and had fun running and playing and chasing balls. The place where they had it was in a really great part of town, too--the Distillery district, so that was fun for Gary and I because we'd never really been. We're hoping to take her back in a couple weeks for another playdate, and by then maybe it will be a bit warmer and we can explore a little more. Here are some playdate pics:

In the car on the way, no doubt wondering where we're going

Making new friends....Gary's protecting her from boys!

These were just a few of the participants!