Pixie Dancing

Who: Anyone who can legally get into a bar who reads this weblog or was told about it by someone who reads this weblog, and wants to come.
What: Going out dancing to celebrate Pixie's high school graduation (finally!)
When: Saturday, May 28th - 10:45ish is when I'm planning on heading out.
Where: The Union Hall on Argyll and 99th Street.

See you there!!

Duvet: another word for screwed

Rob and I went to Jysk tonight in search of new sheets for our bed. The sheets that I had were only twin swized, and Rob's were getting old and in need of replacement. The last sheets that I had gotten were from Jysk and I loved them, so it seemed like a clever plan. Alas, it was close to closing time and decisions were being made in a rush. This, is not a good idea, for reference. Luckily we did not end up with anything horrible, like jaguar print, but what we did end up with was a duvet cover - and no sheets. Apparently Rob and I both need lessons in reading information on cases properly. *sigh* So now Rob is going to have to go there after work tommorow, return the duvet cover, and find the proper sheets. So much for soft, clean sheets tonight...

Freakishly Small World

Went to dinner at The Oliver Garden tonight - my absolutely favourite restaurant in the world! It was a spontaneous decision, so we ended up at the one near West Ed, instead of the one near my house. As usual there was a line, so we gave our names and prepared ourselves for at least twenty minutes of standing. I didn't realize I was standing in front of the door to the ladies' room though, and a few second laters was bumped by a woman trying to leave it. I turned, already apologizing, but stopped mid-sentence, stared in suprise and said, "Brianna?" Turns out Brianna and Phil had had the same brilliant idea and were actually just finishing up their meals. She invited us to come sit with them (they had a booth) so we went and the four of us talked for a bit. The waiter brought Rob and I drinks, and a couple minutes later Phil and Brianna their bill. They paid, we said our goodbyes, and off they went. Rob and I continued to sit in the booth, got given menus, ordered and had a lovely dinner. Sometimes coincidences can be awful nice...

Salesclerks on commision should DIE

I had to partake in an activity that I truly despise tonight - bra shopping. I was in desperate need of a real bra that actually fit, and we were at a mall, and well, quite frankly, I think Rob was tired of listening to me complain about the situation. So it was into La Senza we went. They were having one of those large bins of bras everywhere sales, so I poked at those but didn't see any I liked (aka that weren't pink, flowered, or covered in lace). It probably didn't help that I didn't really know what size bra I actually needed. It took a couple of tries to figure out a size that fit, but eventually I did, and one black and one green bras were purchased. I know, it sounds relatively painless but the whole time this annoying girl kept coming over and asking if "I was sure that I didn't need help finding the right size," and offering her oh-so-professional opinions. I wanted to smack her! Her tone of voice was incredibly condescending, her body language said, "You are not worthy to shop in my store," and she used the word 'like' every two seconds. I seriously considered leaving without buying anything and going down to the other end of WEM to another La Senza store, but I felt that that would both be unfair to Rob, and would mean I'd have to go through this all again. So I bit my tongue, picked two bras, and headed towards the cash register. At this point Little Miss Salesclerk informed me that I ought to get a third one as well, since they were 3 for $30, and I wouldn't want to pay $19.50 for each of them instead. That seemed reasonable, so I went back and grabbed the white one (same as my black one) that I had been considering. She rang it all in, looked at the screen and said, "Oh." She called another girl over, who pointed out to her that those were not, in fact, 3 for $30 bras but 2 for $31.50 bras. She looked guiltily at me, "Ummm, well maybe you could just pick out one more and then you'd have two 2 for $31.50s." Yea bloody right. I told her I didn't want to white one, paid for the other two, and quickly left before leaping over the couter to throttle her. I know, it was an honest mistake, but stupid, condescending, highly made-up salesclerks annoy me. The worst thing was that I was in a great mood beforehand, and left incredibly frustrated and grumpy.

Gypsy Skirts
Luckily, while walking past XXI, I spotted a gorgeous green gypsy skirt in the window, tried it on and bought it. I love love love it! I also got a pair of new, plain coloured tank tops but that wasn't nearly as exiciting. It was wierd though - even though I didn't spend much money, I felt as though I had, having not been shopping in sooooo long.

Miniature Pixies
My grad photos arrived today. If anyone is interested in having a miniature picture of Pixie, let me know and I will try and get one to you. I'll probably scan and put up copies later, but am too tired to do so now.

Oh and speaking of graduation: Next Wednesday night is Commencement for my grad. I agreed to go to that, but am not going to the Banquet and Dance on the Saturday. Instead I have decided to go out dancing! More details to come later, but it will be Saturday the 28th, probably at the Roost or Suburbs. If you are interested in joining me, drop me a comment or an email, or, I suppose, just show up. I'll try to remember to put further details up here for those of you who do not let me know.

Ode to Springtime - the current life of Pixie in a nutshell


To the average Albertan, Spring’s arrival is the highpoint of the year. We welcome it with the open arms of a child who has gotten lost in the department store. Spring symbolizes everything good and fun in our lives. It is the end of seven layers of clothing just to take out the garbage; the end of shoveling what feels like several times our body weight of snow off the car each morning. Spring revitalizes our spirits and sets our minds in motion. We start to plot out great plans, adventures and projects. But Spring, to the allergy sufferer, is more akin to the coming of napalm to the Vietnamese jungles.

It starts with the nose - a tingling feeling in the top like a coming sneeze. The nose starts to run more than usual, but it’s not until the snow has completely melted that you start going through a box of Kleenex a week. And even then it isn’t until you wake up the third morning in a row with a bleeding nose that it hits you – Spring has sprung. Your life starts to revolve around those small white tissues, as you are awed by the sheer amount of mucus your body seems capable of producing. In the beginning you tend to think that eventually there must be an end to the mucus, but eventually it dawns on you that production never ceases. This realization tends to come around the time that the skin around your nose starts to go raw from chafing.

Next it spreads into the eyes - they get red, itchy and watery. Rubbing them helps but only for a minute, and then the itch returns. Somedays you feel as though it is taking all of your willpower not to reach up and pluck your eyeballs from your head. Opening and closing your eyes actually becomes difficult as the itching makes your eyelids more and more pained. And, as if that weren’t enough to deal with, your eyes start to bruise. Huge bags appear under the eyes so you look as though you haven’t slept in weeks. People start to comment that you “look tired”, or that you ought to see a counselor about that “marijuana problem.” Parents occasionally warn their children away from you, for fear of infectious diseases.

The next target tends to be the throat. Swelling lymph glands, sore soft palette, and a feeling like you’re swallowing sandpaper. This tends to correspond with a cough in the base of your chest, as your body desperately tries to dislodge massive amounts of phlegm. Throat lozenge-type products, like Halls™, become your lifelines, and you begin to exist solely on a liquid diet. Tea, coffee, water, juice, milkshakes- anything that even remotely fills you up. You start to wonder what you ever saw in solid foods anyway. It’s worth mentioning that every cough sends another throbbing pain throughout the rest of your body, just adding to the general suffering. It also tends to provoke sneezing fits, which always end badly with mucus flying everywhere.

Then it travels up into your ears along with a constant throbbing headache. A feeling similar to pins and needles spreads through your forehead, heralding the start of migraine upon migraine. No matter how much Tylenol™ you take, it seems as though the pounding never stops. Sometimes you wonder who ordered the construction crew inside your head, and whether or not they are accomplishing anything useful. At the same time the glands behind your ears are beginning to swell up, and your ears themselves feel like they are stuffed with cotton. It often seems as though the world is emitting a high pitched squealing sound that only you can hear. It bounces around inside your head making concentration on day-to-day activities near impossible. But since you’re the only person who can hear this horrible noise, most people tend to think you’re being a bit of a drama queen and the words “suck it up, princess” become part of your daily routine.

But the worst part, the absolute worst part, is the incredible lack of energy. Some mornings, it’s all that you can do to pull your head off of the pillow and reach for a Kleenex. Every motion, every step, every breath sends a brand new shiver of pain coursing through you. Your body feels like it may be atrophying from lack of use and you’re desperate for air that isn’t artificially modified. But going outside, even for 10 minutes, leaves you feeling miserable. Walking three blocks in the middle of the day becomes a huge ordeal and “fun” Spring activities, like biking, are completely out of the question. Instead, you get to stay at home cursing the four walls around you, while watching your friends and family going out and getting the most out of their lives. So much for great plans, projects and adventures...

Allergies in any form can be, pun intended, a hard pill to swallow. However unless your throat is closing off in anaphylactic shock, most people don’t tend to take allergies particularly seriously. To the non-sufferer it’s an annoying case of hay fever, at best, but more often is just considered to be sniffles and sore eyes – nothing to worry about. Between the aforementioned effects, this added emotional baggage, and a regime of drugs, sprays and drops, the allergy sufferer has their hands full trying to maintain a semblance of normal life. So welcome in Spring, if you must, but try to remember that not everyone is quite so happy to stop and smell the roses with you.