Magical Morning

What a tremendous day I've had. This morning I woke up early to go to the gym as usual, and after my workout Gramma and I were invited over to Rachel Pottinger's house for tea. We had a lovely time playing in the gorgeous backyard, pictured above, and the kids had a great time playing in the stones and sand. Isaac was kind enough to give me some sand to play with, Joanna had a grand time swinging on her playset, and Shireen was just Shireen: perfectly delicious in every way.
It was 25 degrees in the sun today despite the breeze, and I was lucky enough to enjoy an uninterrupted hour and a half on the back deck this afternoon, just reading and soaking up the sun (with sunscreen, of course). Then Gramma and I loaded all her empty bottles into the back of Merc and drove them to the bottle depot, where we got a measly $8.75 for the lot of them. Then we went to Southgate to look at a lot of stores, and thankfully (Mom and Auntie Bren listen up), we found Gramma the elusive bedskirts for her beds. A huge accomplishment!
Now it's after 10 and I work a full day tomorrow. On Saturday evening we're invited out to Sproules'farm for a farewell bbq in honour of Luke, the Australian fellow living with the Pottingers. That should be good, as I think there's going to be a bonfire, which means marshmallows will be involved. Excellent.

-Laur

Photojourney #1- YMCA and West Edmonton Mall

Let's get physical

I don't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I've joined a gym in Edmonton. It's at the William Lutsky YMCA, and I'm really enjoying it. At home when I joined the gym I never had enough time to go, but now that I have a car at my disposal, and no classes to attend or do readings for, I can go whenever I please. It turns out that whenever I please is at 8 in the morning, but that's okay; it's a great way to kick start my day and get everything going.
Yesterday I went to West Edmonton Mall to meet my friend Kaley and her nurse friends to see Iron Man at the Scotiabank Theatre (formerly the sickest Silvercity you've ever seen). I took the bus because Gramma was convinced that the Whitemud Freeway, which is the driving route I'd take to get to the mall, was closed due to an accident with the LRT construction; it took me little more than an hour to make a trip that by car would have taken between 10 and 15 minutes. Ravishing.
Anyways, while I didn't have a lot of time to shop at the mall (thank goodness!), I did see Iron Man and it was FANTASTIC!!! I highly reccommend it to anyone who enjoys a smart, witty, funny and socially aware action movie. That and Robert Downey Jr. just keeps getting better with age. Gweneth Paltrow is also back from quite an absence in this film, playing Iron Man's faithful assistant Pepper; she's stunning, as always, but plays her role, first as an unshakable lady and then as a ruffled and somewhat frightened woman, so naturally it's almost surprising. She is an Oscar-winner, though, so I shouldn't be so shocked. Long story short, GO SEE IT! It's an excellent diversion and a really good time.
I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet. Oh, and guess what? I installed a router in my gramma's house so I am now wireless! Get ready for webcam capabilities and video-blogs, my friends! This should be sweet!!!
Off to work now, pictures after dinner. We bought a wack of ground beef yesterday so I'm in charge of making hamburgers. Yummo!

-Laur

Aspiring Ansel Adams

I've decided to take a photography class, two actually. They're drop-in digital photography safari classes at the City Arts Centre, on two consecutive Wednesday nights in July. I'm kind of excited; I really want to become more skilled than I am. I seem to be doing alright right now, but it never hurts to be a little more knowledgeable.
How do you like my preliminary efforts? These were all taken just at dusk outside my Gran's house. It smells so beautiful here right now.
-Laur

Fear and Loathing in Edmonton

I got lost today. Not seriously lost, but lost enough that I stopped and asked the guys at Part Source South Common for directions. Of course, I found South Common by mistake. Kind of like when I found the Canadian Tire and the Penningtons by mistake. I can tell I'm going to have all sorts of fun mistakes this summer.
Last night after work I raced home, changed my clothes, made some dinner and was outside waiting for Kay when she arrived with Joanna and Isaac. I went home with them, bathed the babies, put them in their pajayjays and read them a story before struggling to get Isaac to go to sleep. Joanna was out like a light within minutes. I felt kind of weird because I haven't had to do that in a really long time, not since Matthew and Benjamin were mine to take care of every Saturday night. It was fun, though. Isaac is a clingy monkey child and we had a huge cuddle before he fell asleep. Then I went downstairs, where Luke, the Australian, was watching TV. We watched "Finding Nemo" (what a classic!), I had another huge cuddle with the cat, Smokey, and at 11:45 Rachel and Richard came home from what was probably the longest graduation ceremony in the history of ever.
Today I went to the gym, cleaned the house like a mad woman, got lost coming home from the gym, and now, freshly showered and made up, I will go get Gramma from the airport. When we get home I'll find time between happy hour and dinner to make my famous hot cheese, spinach and artichoke dip to take to Carson and Amanda's place tonight. They're having a get-together and I said I'd make an appearance.

Cheers,

-Laur

Unpredictable Prairie

I couldn't believe the colour of the sky on Sunday night as I walked back home from Safeway (where I needed to buy some vanilla ice cream to replace Gramma's stock). It was the deepest, most malevolent-looking grey I had ever seen, and I had to get a picture of it as the wind thrashed the trees back and forth.
Turns out it was mostly bluster, though, because they next day when I got up it was almost 30 degrees and sunny as can be. I had a great time setting up the back patio and sanding Gramma's cedar deck chairs in preparation to stain them. Around 3:30 I jumped in the car after google-mapping the directions to the Home Depot at South Common and headed over to find some appropriate stain, but after a minor wrong turn I found a Canadian Tire and decided to go there instead. The bottom picture is of me chilling in my Granny-wagon, a big silver Mercury Grand Marquis that guzzles gas and rides so smoothly I break the speed limit without knowing it.
Today I'm back to work after two days off, and my elbow is sore from sanding, but I'll be okay.

-Laur

Guinea Pig Land!

The top picture is of Shireen Muamar, the youngest of the Sproule babies. Is she not perfection in 4-month-old form? I had all the Sproule girls and their babies (3 generations in one room) over for coffee this morning and we had a nice visit. Then Kay invited me to the farm for lunch and Rachel invited me to the zoo for the afternoon and how could I say no to either invitation, honestly?
What a lovely, lovely day. I took Gramma to the airport on Tuesday morning so she could fly to Toronto, and I've missed her but been fine ever since. Today was the perfect cap-off to a 3 day-off span from work and I couldn't have had a nicer time.
The 2nd picture is of the Guinea Pig display at Edmonton's Storyland Valley Zoo. I love that Edmonton's idea of a zoo display involves Guinea Pigs. The baby ones were definitely cute, though.
The third picture is of Isaac Pottinger, Rachel's son and the 2nd youngest of the Sproule babies. He's often very frowny around strangers, but by the time we got in the car to go home he was smiling and laughing and having a grand old time.
The last picture is of Joanna Pottinger, Isaac's older sister and the oldest of the Sproule babies, sitting on my shoulders watching the Elephant information session. Don't you love her sunglasses? A birthday gift from Gramma and I.
Anyways, I'm a little sunburned so I have to go relax (any excuse :D) but I'll post again tomorrow.

-Laur

My humble place of employ, and roses

The aftermath of Mother's Day in a floral shop is a tired and tedious affair. Mostly you spend the day cleaning up, removing abused and dying flowers from the public eye, and opening and cutting the boxes and boxes of stock that arrived to replenish the depleted numbers. I did a lot of cutting this afternoon, and a lot of replenishing. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th pictures above are of the Safeway Floral Department. It's a nice space, though cramped at times, and I'm really getting to like it.
The top picture is of one of the roses I brought home for Gramma. She really likes them.
Three days of work-less bliss begin tomorrow, though I'll be driving Gramma to the airport tomorrow morning as she leaves for Toronto at 10:30 am. It will be strange living alone in this house, in a city I don't know very well. I think I'll catch up on my reading.

-Laur

Flower Shop Cyborgs and Baby Faces

The top picture is of my first battle wound from the floral shop. I was reaching over to get a flower pick (that plastic pitchfork thing that you attach the card to in a bouquet or arrangement of cut flowers) and I hit the edge of an electrical light override switch really hard. I looked down at my hand and there was this inch-long gash smiling up at me, filling quickly with blood. When I grabbed it it opened further, revealing that my skin was lacerated almost a centimetre into my flesh. Long story short I didn't need stitches, it wound up clotting together after I pinched it shut for 15 minutes, but it's going to leave a shiner of a scar and it's really sore. I was wearing duct tape over the bandaid when it first happened to hold the edges of the cut together better, so I fancied myself a flower shop cyborg. How exciting!
The next pictures are of my cousin Carson's baby daughter, Erica, 2 months tomorrow. She is DELICIOUS even when she's screaming her tiny head off and I am so in love with her. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her, so more updates on her later. She and her mom (Amanda) and Carson and his mom Syrell and Syrell's husband Dale came over to the house for Mother's Day dinner so I got to hold her, though she shrieked in abject terror the first time I tried to pick her up. By the end of the evening she was a little more used to me, so I'm thinking we'll be friends soon enough. I'm going to photograph her until she's world wide web famous :P

-Laur

A Journey to Ellerslie Nursery

This picture is of a gorgeous begonia sleeping deep inside a bush at Ellerslie Nursery, where Gramma and I went earlier this evening to buy soil and marigolds and 3 different herb seedlings (Italian flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, and "mint julep" mint).












This picture is of Gramma checking out a crazy plant with paper-thin leaves; she thought it was the neatest thing. I brought my old digital camera (with the loose battery door) with me for Gramma to have and we figured the nursery, with its many beautiful blooms, would be a good place for her to practise her digital photography skills. She didn't take as many pictures as I did, but I think she's getting the hang of it.
Mad sick skills, kids. I can take pictures like Nazia now. Hear that, Naz? I learned your secret! It's called "macro setting" and I hold the power now. Mwahahahaha!
Anyways, here's the nursery, or at least part of it. I can't wait for Gramma to get back from Toronto so we can go buy more plants! The University of Alberta is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and is asking all the gardeners in Edmonton to plant green and gold (yellow) flowers this summer in celebration, hence the yellow marigolds we picked up earlier. But lots of other flowers come in yellow, and purple happens to be one of the best colours to plant with yellow, so I think this is going to be a very colourful summer.


Time to go read my books. I joined the Edmonton Public Library. I totally belong.

-Laur

Adventures

So this morning I got up and went to my orientation at Safeway. I was looking forward to a tour of the store and all sorts of fun things, but most of the time I was on the computer doing their training exercises and watching videos on WHMIS stuff, so that was a little disappointing. I'm working a full day tomorrow though, from 9:30-6 in the floral shop learning a bit about what they do over there. Right now is the busiest time of year because it's Mother's Day on Sunday and everyone wants to buy flowers for mommy. While making her breakfast in bed and doing all the cleaning for a week is my idea of a good mother's day gift, I can't help but love the rainbow parade of colors in that department; I helped organize a display of rose bouquets with a lovely woman named Darlene and just had such a nice time of it.

When I got home I realized that the weather was going to turn nasty (it's been raining steadily since around 5:30 pm and the temperature is dropping) so I told Gramma we had to go grocery shopping NOW rather than after dinner. She drives now, but her bad elbow was so sore today from driving yesterday that I was given all driving responsibilities today and drove all the way to Superstore and back, weathering massive winter pot-holes, SUVs and the longest train in history to get there, buy a crapload of groceries, visit the Real Canadian Liquorstore (nope, I'm not kidding; there's no such thing as a liquor control board in Alberta) to get 4 bottles of wine (for company, apparently) and a bottle of Gibson's Rye Whiskey (Gramma's poison of choice) and speed home in time for the sky to open up and rain down on us.

I'm baking cookies this evening because Gramma has a taste for a cookie.

Delish.

-Laur

Kind of a big deal

Check this out. It's a skating rink inside a shopping mall. West Edmonton Mall, to be exact. Gramma and I took a little trip out there today so I could apply for a job at Lush Handmade Fresh Cosmetics (Bryna, they have the cutest setup there, kind of small, but they'll have a regular storefront within 2 years) and to get black sneakers because guess what, kids? I got a job!!!!
I walked around the plaza beside my Gramma's place this morning handing out resumes and when I got to the Safeway, I filled out an application and then someone called the manager and I had an impromptu interview and suddenly I'm meeting the manager of the floral department and I have orientation at 9:30 the next morning. So that's pretty cool. They don't pay the astounding rates that I've heard many places pay but I figure if I have two jobs I'll be doing pretty well.
Anyways, while we were at the mall I took pictures of the crazy fish like a little kid and then later Gramma and I went out for a celebratory dinner at Olive Garden (HA! BREADSTICKS!). The sunset was so pretty when we got home that I asked Gramma to pose on the front step so I could get a picture.

Isn't she beautiful?

-Laur

ARRIVEE!

I am hereeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Watch out, Edmonton, there's a storm coming and her name is LAURA!

-Laur