Day 130 (May 10, 2010): Metaphysics

Today I went to "A Sense of Serenity" it is a metaphysical store in our community. http://www.asenseofserenity.ca/    Here is a description of the store from the website:  "Nestled just off Whyte Avenue in Edmonton’s cultural hub of Olde Strathcona, A Sense of Serenity has been fulfilling the metaphysical needs and wishes of its patrons since 2003. Ausha, the store’s proprietor, has converted the space from a vacant store front to a charming and warm oasis that invites customers to come back and experience the rejuvenating elements her store has to offer. "

I find the whole area of metaphysics and spirituality in general very confusing.  There are certain things that I am drawn to and certain things that I absolutely don't believe in.  What is most confusing to me about it all is that I don't know why I believe in the power of certain things and not others.  Is it based on my values, upbringing, life experiences, ability to have faith, education about the matter or what?  I don't know.  It is definitely a question that I would like to explore further though.

Anyway, back to the store.....the atmosphere is charming as the website describes.  There was alot of cool stuff.  Unfortunately because it was a work day today I couldn't spend a ton of time in there.  I think that it would be good to go back and visit it again when I had more time.  Also, the person who was working there, not sure if it is the owner or not, is very helpful and if I had more time I would have asked more questions.  Perhaps more knowledge on these types of things would clear up some of my confusion.

Ken got back from his hunting trip today so hopefully he will soon have some updates for you on what different things he did this weekend.  They had alot of adventures but didn't see any bears. 

Day 129 (May 9, 2010): Digital Photo Frame

Today I went through my thousands (literally thousands!) of pictures on my computer and saved a bunch on my memory stick so I can put them on my digital photo frame at work.  It was fun to look through old photos but it was also hard to pick which ones to put on it.  Here are a few of my favourites:

The Red Wings celebrating their win when we went to watch them play in Detroit at Christmas.

My brother is a volunteer fire fighter.  This is him in his gear.  The playschool was visiting the fire hall that day.

Ken skating on a home made rink that my brother made for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Ken and I on our honeymoon.

Oden dressed up in his bat costume at Halloween two years ago. Doesn't he look impressed!

Baby Thor on the pumpkin this past year at Halloween.  He was so little then:(

Our nephew, Trysten, opening gifts on Christmas morning this year.

My mother in law, Betty-Lou and nephew, Trysten.  We had so much fun tubing that day.  What a great memory!

My niece Bridget going through the ice maze at the ice festival 2 years ago.

Great Saskatchewan sunset.  I took this photo right when I got back from Korea.  I missed those sunsets while I was gone.

Audrey and I in Yeoido Park in Seoul, S.Korea.  One of the few green spaces.  We have alot of good memories there.

Oden and Thor looking out the window at our old apartment.  Thor is even bigger than this now.  He's not a little puff ball anymore.

Anyway those are a few of the pictures that I put on my digital frame.  I look forward to enjoying the memories while I'm in my office at work.

Day 128 (May 8, 2010): The Handmade Mafia

Check these out, they are chocolates!  Aren't they beautiful?

Here is the lovely packaging they come in.

My Aunt and I had one of these chocolates at the "Handmade Mafia" market today. They are delicious!  Here is a link to the webpage.  http://www.jacekchocolate.com/chocolatepackages.html  This lady makes these chocolates with REAL ingredients like lemon rind in the lemon chifon chocolate (no artifical flavouring). She has her spring collection out right now but it always changes.  What a great gift idea!  

I could go on and on about these unique chocolates but I should tell you something about The Handmade Mafia which is where I went today:
"The Handmade Mafia is a monthly market and collective of local designers and handmade makers galore! To be part of the family one must either design or make their items themselves."

They have a facebook group that you can join.  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85089515560

The market runs once a month.  There was jewelry, clothing, paper goods, cupcakes, fun hair accessories, chocolates etc.  I actually heard about this at the Royal Bison craft show that I was at last weekend.  The difference between the two was that the Royal Bison was all crafts and art while the Handmade Mafia included food as well. I think I will probably end up back there again sometime when I have gifts to buy for people.

Day 127 (May 7, 2010): Planting my garden!

(this is not my garden, lol)

Today I planted part of my garden.  I love gardening and I have been chomping at the bit to get in the garden.  I planted spinach, swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, carrots, and turnips.  I will plant other things later but it is too early to plant them now.  Of course my back is already tightening up from bending over but it's totally worth it.  I forgot my camera but maybe I will go by the garden tomorrow and take some pictures....right now it is just sticks in the ground marking the rows but I could put a before and after picture later in the year.

We are actually part of a community garden of which I am the chair.  It is alot of work, organizing almost 40 gardeners but it is alot of fun too.  I really enjoy giving back to my community and keeping a small part of our city green.

Day 126(May 6, 2010): Manicure, Pedicure and Facial!!!

Today Ken left for his hunting trip.  His thing today is to start a journal.  He has never written in a journal before and he thought it would be nice to journal about his trip.  The closest thing he has ever done to journalling is this blog and lets face it, I do 80% of the writing on here.  Anyway, he will add his journal writings to the blog when he gets back from his trip.

I had an awesome day today.  I had a meeting at work this morning from 8-11am.  That kind of sucked because usually on Thursdays I have the morning off and don't start work until 1pm.  I spend my mornings with a long workout at the gym followed by a relaxing steam in the steam room then a tan in the tanning bed and I slowly get ready for work then have lunch and head to work.  I like my usual Thursday routine.  However, because I had the meeting to attend this morning it kind of messed with my usual schedule. I didn't have to be back at work until 4pm this afternoon though so I decided that instead of going to the gym in between I would finally use up my gift certificate for "Friendly Nails" that I have had for over 4 months. I earned the gift certificate from a healthy eating contest.  It was hard work earning it so I was kind of holding on to it for a special day. I thought today would be good since I was pouting a bit that Ken was leaving for four days.  (I know 4 days doesn't sound like much but we spent the first year and half of our relationship apart most of the time because he was working out of town and we decided that we prefered spending our time together so he gave up that job and since then I have enjoyed having him around more) The manicure, pedicure and facial were AWESOME!!!!  I haven't felt that pampered or relaxed in a long time!  I almost fell asleep during the face massage part of the facial.  It was a very enjoyable 2 hours.  I really need to pamper myself more often!

Day 125 (May 5, 2010): bubble tea and sadly no photobooth

(this picture looks very similar to our bubble tea, however our straws were not that big and we didn't get fruit on top or spoons. The first time I tried to suck it through the straw Ken said it looked like my head was going to explode, lol)

Tonight our plan was to go to a photobooth at the mall and get some pictures taken.  I was really looking forward to this one.  I called the mall to double check if they actually had one or if we would need to go to another mall further away.  They said that they did have a photobooth. So off we went.  When we got to the mall and finally found the photobooth it was out of order. Now what???  It was getting kind of late in the evening and I have a SUPER long day tomorrow (a split shift starting with a meeting at 8am and ending with a parenting group at 9pm) so I just wanted to get something done and get home to bed.  I also had in the back of my mind the fact that I still needed to blog about this, tonight!, when I got home.  So we walked around the mall trying to decide what to do.  Then I remembered that when we were looking  for the photobooth we saw a place that sells bubble tea.  I have been curious about this bubble tea that I have been seeing everywhere lately.  When I was in Korea I had bubble tea but it was real, hot tea, with gelatinous tapioca bubbles in it.  The stuff I have been seeing everywhere lately looks like slush with dark coloured bubbles in the bottom.  Also, all of the flavours seemed fruity.  It seemed really different than what I had experienced as "bubble tea" so we decided to try it out and see what it was all about.  We decided just to share one as it was almost $5.00 for one and we didn't even know if we would like it.  I told Ken he could pick the flavour and of course he picked the one flavour that I didn't like, blueberry, so I told him to pick again.  This time he picked strawberry.  I like strawberry so we went for that.  Ken described it as tasting like a strawberry Campino candy.  He hit the nail right on the head!  The slush was exactly like strawberry Campinos.  He tried one of the "bubbles" first.  He said it tasted like nothing and he didn't like the consistency.  When I tried it I really chewed them up and discovered that they taste like tea so I guess that is where the name "bubble tea" comes from.  The tea is in the bubbles. The consistency is sort of like gummy worms but a bit more chewy.  Overall, we thought it was just okay.  Neither one of us would buy one again.   I can think of alot of things that I like better that I would rather spend $5.00 on.  Also, I'm sure they are loaded with sugar, artifical flavouring and colour so they are probably not that healthy either.  At least the kind we had......

We still plan on going to a photobooth for pictures some time.  Next time I think we will just go to West Edmonton Mall because they have about 40 photobooths so one of them has to be in working condition.

Day 124 (May 4, 2010): Card Making

Tonight we are making cards for our Mom's for Mothers Day.  I can't tell you anymore about it right now.  I will add pictures after we mail out the cards......