Goooood morning kids! How is everyone this fine (and snowy for us Calgarians) morning?

Me? I’m fabulous! First off, I want to say a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband… We had a great meal with awesome friends last night. Barry loves “meat on a stick” at Bolero – a Brazilian BBQ place – so I mostly surprised him with an evening there last night. He seemed to enjoy it. I hope this is another incredible year for him.

The countdown is definitely on now, as our cruise is only a couple of days away. We’re very much looking forward to some sun after the recent weather insanity here. Hurricane force winds over the weekend that actually blew our fence door off, combined with a severe winter storm blowing through today, gives us all the reason we need to be counting the minutes down, now! Let’s see, that would be…

The primary reason for this blog post today, however, is a question I’d like to pose to you… Have you had much luck with sneaking alcohol aboard Princess or Royal Caribbean cruise ships? I have done it in the past, but I haven’t attempted it in recent years. Previously, I’d wrap a couple of bottles of wine in my checked baggage (which, quite frankly, I rarely actually check… I drag it on board to avoid dealing with the porters) but this time, for both cruises, I am going to be checking my bags, and attempting to circumvent the high wine prices on board by bringing my own bottles (just a couple) to consume in my room.

So YOUR TURN – Let’s hear your stories!

ps: I can’t believe these cruises will bring me up to 15 in the count, and this is the first time I’ve left absolutely everything (including excursion bookings) until the very last minute. I hope that delay doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass because we miss out on the excursions, or night entertainment we want! (Oasis actually allows you to pre-book the evening entertainment before you board, but we missed it by 1 day… darnit)

Hello from work, everyone!

I’m taking a few minutes over my lunch hour to reach out and give you a quick update.

I. Love. My. New. Job!

Okay, yes, I’m unbelievably busy… But, I’m learning a ton, and I’m actually talking to — and giving advice to — clients! As some of you know, that was my biggest issue in my previous position. I didn’t feel like I was making a difference in any of my client’s lives, and I was not allowed to talk about my opinion whatsoever.

What a difference that makes.

The timing of my upcoming trip for nearly a month is actually better than I thought. We leave in a few days, and it’ll be a much-needed rest from the amount of learning I’m doing every day. Also, December seems to be a slower month in this position, which is good… I get back just in time for tax season! But, working with the Commercial group means that tax season is not as hectic as on the personal side of this role. I’m thankful for that.

In other news…

I can’t believe it’s been four years this week that my Dad passed away. I was on a cruise to the Med at the time, and that was probably the lowest, darkest time for me in my life. My, how things have changed. I still think of my Dad nearly every day, but, I’ve let go of the deep sadness I felt for so long after his death. Dying is something we will all have to do at some point, so I’m choosing to remember the good times I enjoyed with my Dad, and celebrating what he brought to my life.

So, I’ll leave you with a question!

YOUR TURN: What’s been going on in your life, lately? Catch me up!!

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” – Henry Miller

Early this morning, I woke up with a start. I looked around my dark bedroom, and reality hit me right in the face… I’m not immortal, no one is. One day, I’ll be looking around just like this, and that will be my last moment. And then, I will no longer exist.

How frightening, hey?

It’s rare that my mortality really occurs to me. Is that weird? Of course, there are obvious times, like when my Dad died, that I was forced to really think about it, and realize how thankful I am that I came to be (and that my birth parents allowed me to have life). But, how often do I actually consider that one day, my conciousness will actually no longer “be”? Not often enough, I realize.

I guess that’s also the downside to not having faith in the presence of a “heaven” or everlasting life with a soul. But, I also think that forces me to live the moments, because in the grand scheme of my life, those moments really aren’t all that plentiful, so I try to enjoy each one of them.

That Henry Miller quote above is one I’ve quoted here on the blog in the past, but I haven’t *really* been living my life that awarely, obviously. I think this is a great wake-up call, though. I’m going to try harder to live more awarely, and be thankful for the life that I have. Because, it’s pretty darn awesome to be alive!

YOUR TURN: Do you ever pinch yourself into awareness, and realize how short your life really is? Does your faith (if any) help you to deal with your mortality?

What the hell… It’s FRIDAY already? Why can’t my work weeks fly by as quickly as this week off has?

It’s been a busy week of mostly studying. My brain feels full and foggy at this point. I think I’m done studying for today. At 4pm. Oh well. I’ll be bringing my study guide with me on our roadtrip this weekend (have I mentioned how much I love SeeWhyLearning‘s study guides? They are absolutely awesome for financial learning).

Tonight, B and I are off to enjoy dinner with @JeffMik and Paula – We haven’t seen them in a while, so it’ll be nice to catch up. And, since I’m currently back on my weight loss kick, CHARcut is a perfect place for a great meal without worrying about the food choices! Thankfully, I’ve only got 14 pounds to my goal of 150, so little slip ups here and there won’t be the end of the world this time around, although I’m trying my best to stay on clean eating and low calories.

YOUR TURN: What are you looking forward to, this weekend? Whatever you get up to, I hope it’s awesome!

Okay, granted, I hear we are in for another rough winter here in Alberta, but wow… the beautiful sun shining almost every single day really rocks my world. In fact… *gasp* I might actually prefer all this sun and bright, big sky to the dreary Vancouver weather, even with the cold and snow we get here in Calgary.

Now, that said, don’t ask me in the middle of winter if I still agree. I believe I’m entitled to bitch about the minus 40° temps when they happen, at least for one more winter.

In a similar theme… Have I mentioned how much I love my life, lately? Things are looking up!

YOUR TURN: What are you loving, today?

Hi guys… Thanks for popping in on this fine Wednesday. I thought I’d take a few minutes to write about something that has been bothering me for quite a while.

First of all, I just want to say, DO NOT READ INTO THIS POST as anything more than an attempt by me to talk about something that is bothering me about many, many interactions over the past couple of years online. This post is not directed at anyone specific, okay? (I don’t even know why I feel the need to say this, but maybe it’ll all become clear once you read what I’ve got to say.)

I started blogging 14 years ago, and let me tell you, it was a steep, steep learning curve to figure out what was acceptable to say and share on this site, and what simply wasn’t cool. Because my “blog” was more like an online journal back then, and I wrote fairly anonymously, I shared more. Hell, blogging wasn’t even a verb back then.

During the early years, things I said on previous incarnations of this site – and I admit now that I shared too much – pushed people’s buttons. I was going through a divorce, and was reaching out for help, support and guidance from friends, and my filter was not defined at all. Let’s face it, online etiquette wasn’t really clear back then.

I quickly learned that sharing info about my friends here (without their approval, despite me attempting to hide who I was talking about) or speaking out about something that should be brought up in a phone call rather than via a blog entry was an absolute no-no. Feelings were hurt, anger flared. You get the picture.

But, this was in the early years.

Since that time, etiquette online has been estabilished. Common sense (even if it’s still not so common) usually is encorporated in the social media platforms, and I’ve seen great improvements for the most part, in this area.

Except… When it comes to Twitter and Facebook. Why the hell is it that people treat others so poorly on these sites? Things, some would never say to the face of another, are proclaimed with such intensity on these sites, that it makes my head spin sometimes.

Clearly, there needs to be some sort of guideline people can use, so that feelings don’t get hurt, and friend’s relationships aren’t ruined because the written word was taken incorrectly? I don’t get how this can be so difficult? Take a breath, pause, and don’t fly off the deep end when you take offense to something someone has said.

I’ll leave you with the filter that I incorporated years ago… If you wouldn’t say something to your Dad that you want to share with the world, (he used to read this site when he was alive), or are too chicken to verbally say something that is bothering you to the person your anger, frustration or hurt is directed at, how about, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.

Pick up the phone, people. You’ll eliminate many misconstrued issues that way.

YOUR TURN: What are your thoughts on this?

Hey kids! Thanks for popping by!

Today is day 1 of 9 for me being an out-of-work bum student. So far, I haven’t gotten nearly as much studying in as I would have liked. It’s been a bit of a stressful day, actually.

Mostly, because I headed over to Barry’s office, where we did some number-crunching and soul-searching to discover what we really want to achieve in our retirement. I guess we really do need to put our heads together finally on this, despite the fact that our unknowns are still pretty far and wide.

And, let’s face it, planning for the future while trying to balance the present-day expenses can be somewhat stressful. I’m not sure why I thought this goal-setting exercise would be so much fun. Oh well… We’ll get a basic plan in place, and come back to it in six months, when it’s sure to change all over again. That’s just part of the point of financial planning – getting the foundation in place.

On another note, Barry and I have decided we need to get out of Dodge for a couple of days this weekend. There’s nothing quite like a roadtrip to cure all that ails, right? Besides, Barry and I are almost out of all of our sugar-free stash of groceries, and need to stock up on more. The states have so many more choices for these kind of things.

YOUR TURN: What are you doing for Halloween weekend?

Wow, these past few days have flown by! As I woke up this morning for the last time at the unGodly hour of 4:45 (okay, it was actually 3:30 because I couldn’t sleep), I felt sad about the change that was happening this afternoon.

Okay, not that sad… I won’t miss waking up that early, or having to go to bed at 8:30pm to be asleep by 9 (and missing out on most of the evening I used to enjoy so much). But, everyone has been so nice, wishing me well in my next role. I even came into the office to find a lovely card and a bottle of wine on my desk from one of the advisors I work with. So thoughtful.

I know that Barry will be happy that he’ll never be woken up at 5:30 because “I just don’t feel like taking in the train to the office – please won’t you drive me?”… Today will be the last day for that. That was awfully sweet of him to drive me in on my last day – he usually sleeps in at least two hours longer after I leave for work.

My next journey starts a week Tuesday. Here we go!

YOUR TURN: What are you looking forward to, this weekend? Me? I have some girls from the office coming over Saturday night – we’ve planned this for quite a while now, and it will be a blast!