monkeys and zebras and bears, oh my!

On our last day in Denver, we noticed some fancy cows on our regular route... we were pretty convinced that they hadn't been there all along; we were happy to have our feelings validated the next day in the paper when Stace read the ad stating July 21 as the first day of the "parade". Phewph, we hadn't contracted mad cow disease after all...

The Denver saga continued with a visit to the zoo... that was pretty cool:




Then we Found Nemo!

Now my sister is in town with my niece and nephew. More pics to come... on the plane on the way to Calgary from Chicago, my sister sat near one of my collegues (Jeff S.; TWU) ... boy was he surprised to meet Melissa, as he didn't even know I had a twin. It was reinforced when I came to the airport wearing nearly the exact outfit as Melissa had on... and later we picked out the same skirt at Rietman's and I had mine set aside to buy when Melissa came out of the change room saying, "what do you think of this one?"

Too funny!

D

Arachnophobics beware

 This is a picture of a pretty big spider that hung out at the corner of our patio window earlier today. The size of its body was about the size of a quarter: it was the largest spider I have seen since I moved to Canada. Upon a bit of googling, I found out that it was a cat-faced spider; which, apparently, belongs to a family of "orb weaving" spider. We didn't kill it or relocate it as we figure it is big enough to prey on the moths that tend to hang out by our patio doors as well. I guess our mottephobia is of a slightly larger degree than our arachnophobia. 

Coke is the new BlaK

Coca-Cola BlaK :: Review

Party for your tastebuds!

I love it, brought home as many as I figured I could carry back to Calgary from Denver, CO (6). At first it isn't the caramel-coffee taste that makes your taste buds wiggle, or even the idea of the chilled coffee... it is the carbonation. Carbonated coffee? yep... with a hint of caramel, a bit of cola but not too sweet, and a bitter after taste. The kind of after taste that true coffee drinkers actually enjoy about a cup of good coffee.

I will get Karl to post a review after he has tried some. Has anyone else tried it? What do you think? I am trying to figure out when they will be releasing it in Canada.

D

pac-man

My high pac-man score of the day: 79,960... can you beat it?

"that's not my department..."

... and the slacker of the year award goes to...
The bumper sticker of the year award goes to New York Yellow Cabs: (picture courtesy of my sister from her recent trip there)

Post of the Day

Quote of the day: "my taste buds are screwed up" - Stacey S referring to the new Coke BlaK (coke effervescence with coffee essence)

Blog of the day: "Go to the John"



panaramic camera-phone-photo of the day (somewhere between Vancouver, BC and Denver, CO)

mess of the day: Ross Dress for Less

My friend Stacey's brother is going on tour with Kiros. Justen Gordon (right) was just a little gaffer at Cowichan Camp when I got to know his parents and family. Time flies when you're having fun!

Stacey and I made it to good ole Denver. We already met people going to the same conference as us... some on the plane and some on the shuttle. Poor folks on the plane didn't get their luggage transfered through to Vancouver... thankfully we both have ours. I think about the only thing Stacey and I could share clothing wise is socks. I guess we would have had a good excuse to head STRAIGHT to Target rather than waiting until tomorrow. ;)

Third Day Concert!

Went to an awesome concert tonight at the Saddledome... last day of the Stampede. Starfield and Chris Tomlin opened for Third Day. Great worship.

Here are a few pics. More pics, comments and maybe even a video clip coming soon :)

my other twin...

My Aunt Elaine is in town and we got together for lunch... showed up wearing the same thing. Turns out it doesn't just happen to some twins or other twins...

flower power...

Some of my daisies survived the week, even though it is pretty warm in here for them. Here are the six survivors...

My twisty branch bouquet survived pretty well too... the branches even started growing little leaves on them.



Here are some flowers from my deck flower boxes... the ones that survived the hail! What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger I guess!

Off to Costco again... :)

vinegar

Got a costco card yesterday. Because it's important to be able to buy TEN LITRES of vinegar all at once. What was I thinking?

Julie of Arabia

WOW! My friend Julie is in Saudi Arabia right now. Visit her blog.

All female tourists are required to dress according to Saudi tradition: covered from head to toe with only their face, hands and feet exposed. Julie is in the most conservative city, the capital Riyadh, where women must wear a black robe over their clothes.

If tourists choose to travel during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, they will not be allowed to eat or drink in public during fasting hours.

cowgirl

I had lunch with my Grandma Jacquie yesterday at Wendy's. This is her Calgary Stampede outfit... I didn't get a full picture, but in the true spirit of the Stampede (and the true opportunity to collect a stampede wardrobe after living here for decades and teaching for a lot of those decades...) she had on a jean jacket, plaid tied scarf, western shirt, and... best of all... cowboy boot earrings.

YEEHAW, you go girl :)

I always have a great visit with her. I love her stories about her travels, she has been all over the world. This time I heard a little bit about Peru. Plus she makes the best ginger snap chews ever, and brought me a whole batch! She baked up a storm for my uncle Ralph for his birthday, and their dog, Buster got into them when they went out and ate all 2 dozen. She said that one time they went home and Buster had pulled the tea pot into the living room and spilled it all over (previously white carpet!).

Can you believe I even have a video mode on my new phone camera? And I have special effects like Black & White, Sepia, solarization, negative, a light (sort of like a flash) and a pretty good little zoom.

Denver, CO

Anyone been to Denver? I will be there for work next week and might have some free time on Saturday. I need an insider scoop on something fun to do... the "Colorado Rockies" are not playing, so I'm thinking old town tram ride? Stacey, do you think it'll be better than the Ctrain? ;o)

Is Zinedine Zidane a Leader?

If leadership is influence, who do you want to follow? How does society acknowledge leadership, what it is, how leaders influence others... not to mention "condoning" the acts of bullying?

"WORLD governing body FIFA was embroiled in controversy last night after it named Zinedine Zidane the player of the tournament less than 24 hours after he was sent off in disgrace for head-butting in the final."

I know the Italian guy probably said something horrible to him to freak him out... but I hold Zidane to a higher standard as the captain of a World Cup contending team. Nothing justifies his behaviour in my opinion. Nothing justifies his behaviour, and no amount of talent justifies FIFA's decision to name him "The Player of the Tournament" and reward him for his play. The game is about more than just dribbling the ball and scoring a goal, it is about honour and sportsmanship, on and off the field.

hail movie

Videos Karl took of the hail yesterday:

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Grabbing a couple of big pieces (about 1.5 inch diametre)

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Another pic of the flowers from my mom. I wore this outfit to church today, and then early afternoon this happened:

egads!

gazing at my daisies...

Yes, I am officially spoiled rotten!
Check out the gorgeous flowers I got from my mom

(with the twisty branches, daisies & orchids)

and sister (2 dozen gerbera daisies...)

I just couldn't resist the temptation to "share the love" around my house,

so I made 2 extra vases full out of the 2 dozen gerberas and put them in the entry way

and living room. The main vase is still very full:

Tried to add more pics, but sometimes blogger gets cranky when you add lots. So, maybe next time!

updates...

Okay, so I took the liberty of giving myself today off, being my birthday and all. and now I am a blogging machine because I've been a slacker.

The latest novelty in our lives is a Playstation 2 with Dance Dance Revolution ... That's it Karl, shake what your mama gave ya!

These are pictures from Sunday, lunch at Karl's folks' place. They always spoil us with seafood!mmmmmm...

And my cousin, Jocelyn was in town and we had a BBQ (mom with fruit-kabobs on the

Barbeque), mom took us out for SUSHI (yum) and she and I went to Banff... Good times!

thirty years ...

I was the surprise... They only thought there was one big baby coming...

not two small ones! until I was born...

Melissa reminds me of Alisha in this picture (below)...