VERY KLASSY!!!
The olympics were awesome and it was Canada's best showing in both the winter or summer games, with a total of 24 medals. And in case you didn't know 16 of those 24 medals were brought home by women athletes including both individual and team sports. There were many highlights and a few disappointments. First, the good. Cindy Klassen won a total of 5 medals, the most by any Canadian at the olympic games. Claria Hughes who is only one of 3 athletes ever to win both in the summer (cyclying) and winter (speed skating) games, won a gold to finish off her career in style. My boys from Newfoundland won the gold in curling. The first time any newfie has won a medal at the olympics. It was such a big event that the director of the school board closed all the schools at noon, so everyone could watch their boys from the rock win olympic gold. Russ Howard, who is not a newfoundlander, but was brought onto the team for experience reasons, became the oldest olympian to win gold at the age of 50. Now for the disappointments, the main one being that the Canadian men's hockey team did not make it past the quarter finals. Let me just say I was just as disappointed as the next person. I love hockey, and seeing that this will probably be the closest thing to a stanely cup for leaf lovers, like myself, I was sad when they were booted out of the tournment. But the truth is, those chosen to play for Canada did not show up to play. And lets stop blaming poor gretzky for choosing the wrong players to represent Canada. They could of won, had they physically and mentally showed up and played as a team and not as five individual players. I know it was heart breaking, but I have been so tired of the media acting like it was the end of the world. The olympics did not end after they lost and Canada has much to celebrate. We should also congratulate our women's team, who played flawlessly throughout the games and did not become overwelmed by being the defending champions. All I can say is it was a fun 2 weeks of sports and competition and I cannot wait until the games are on home soil in Vancouver.

SOME BIG NEWS TO ANNOUNCE!!!
I am sorry I have been unable to post lately, but I have barely seen the light of day in the last couple of days because I have lived at work.
Anyways, I wanted to send out love and congratulations to my friends Jo and Pat who got married this Sat. I am sorry I could not be there, but know I was thinking of you guys and I hope you had a fabulous day. Love ya.
Also it is Sada's b-day today. She had a big birthday bash on friday, that I hear went very well, unfortunately I could not attend. But I am glad everyone came to celebrate you. You're tre fab.

SO TIRED......
The last couple of weeks have kicked the crap out of me. I havent been sleeping, less then the usual 2 to 4 hours I get a night. At the beginning of the dollar ad I did 5 days in a row and I think I slept less then 10 hours total during those days. And since then I just have been feeling spent, whether I sleep or not. I have had the last 3 days off and I am still so tired. I think I need to start drinking more caffine at least for now, so I can get a bit of a pick me up. The good news is dollar ad offically ended yesterday and there will not be another one at least until the fall. I am glad that tomorrow I will be going back to "normal" no frills and not back to choas and craziness. Hope everyone else is doing well in blog land.

SLEEP STUDY - FRIGHTENING!!!
In case you didnt know, I don't sleep. Well, enough that is. Usually I get between 2 to 3 broken hours a night and if I take all the sleep drugs I am allowed, I might get 4 broken hours. So in the recent months I have been diagnosed with insomia. No kidding. The truth is, I have had problems with sleep my entire life, even as a kid. But it has been absolutely terrible in the last 2 years. Before they send you for a study though, they make you try everything in the book. No caffiene, or very little. Taking baths before bed, drinking decaf tea, breathing exercises, medation. You name it, I've done it and still cant sleep. So I finally got refered to a sleep clinic. I went friday night, scariest thing ever. They hook up a cazy nummber of wires to your head, chest, legs. There are monitors to check your heart, lungs, brain waves, etc. With all of that crap, i could barely move. Plus, there is a camera that watches you and a microphone so the lab people can hear everything. So lets just say, I didnt sleep. But knowing what I was going into I didnt plan to. And when they take the wires off, so painful. You didnt think you had any hair on your face, let me tell you when they rip that tape off you realize you do. Unfortunately, I ended up working 12 hours after that night. So when I got home yesterday I thought I was going to die. But I had today off and have been trying to make up for lost times, when it comes to sleep. I will let you know if the results are enlightening or helpful at all.

INSPIRATIONAL AND MOVING...
I have been thinking over the last day about how I was going to put into words what I experienced last night. Its going to be difficult, but I am going to give it a go. Last night, someone I know who has similar yet different stuggles then my own, shared her story with me. She was so open and honest with me about how her life was turned upside down, how she struggled and how she has recovered. Listening to her speak, I could not help but cry and my body shook the entire time she talked. I could relate on so many levels to the feelings and experiences that she has had. I listened to her talk about the number of times she wanted to give up, the times she was tired of fighting. But yet, something in her gave her the strength to continue to fight and struggle till she found peace. And the amazing thing is that she found it and is living it everyday. Although, I think her journey to feeling better will be different then mine, she gave me hope that peace and happiness is possible. You just have to fight and hold on long enough until it comes. She definately helped to motivate me to keep headed on my journey and that soon, I will find what I have been searching so hard and long for. Peace, happiness and good health.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!
I have always been a sports person. Even at a young age, I wanted to try, participate and watch every sport I could. During childhood and adolescents I played and was involved in many sports, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, curling and softball. Softball has been the sport that definately won my heart and is a sport, I have played competitively until this recent summer. But there is definately something that is special for me about the olympics. I would watch every hour of coverage if I could and often switch to NBC to watch when CBC or TSN is covering something else. I think I love the olympics, because it is about amateur athletes (with the exception of men's hockey and basketball), that dedicate years of their lives to their sport, with the dream that one day they may be able to represent Canada at the Olympics. I think what I love about it, is these are regular people who often hold part-time or full-time jobs or are students. They do not get paid to play their sport, they train, dedicate hours of their life because they love what they are doing. The olympics are what sports should really be about. Not about negiotating to get that million dollar contract, or sitting out in professional sports when they dont get what they want or feel they are too injuried to play. These olympians often train and perform through a variety of serious injuries and illnesses and always give their best when they perform. So although winning medals is the goal, I love the spirit and sportsmanship that these athletes have to offer. They remind the public that its not always about money and winning, but doing the best one can do on any given day. This is the message that should be sent out to our kids, not the one they have been receiving from the professional sports. I have great amount of respect for these olypmpians and all the other althletes who tried but fell just short of qualifing to get to Italy. One last thing, I put a picture of Sandra Schmirlier on my site because to me she represented to the fullest what it is to be an amateur athlete and to be an olympian. She is definatetly one of my hero's. If you do not know her, she won Canada's first and only gold in curling at the olympics in 1998. She has been refered to as the 'queen of curling' and 'Schmirlier the curlier'. She helped to qualify her team while she was pregnant and was always a great ambastor for the sport. She even continued to promote it, throughout her struggle with cancer, which is a fight that she eventually lost in 2000. She always took the time to meet her fans, talk to the media, encourage her team members and did this with class, respect and usually with a smile on her face. So this post is dediacted in her memory as well as goes out to all of our Canadian olympians who have worked very hard to be in Italy. I salute you.

STUPID VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
I have always dreaded and hated this day. Especially in high school. I remember every year this day would come along and girls lockers would be decorated with wrapping paper and red bows, girls would be getting roses and gifts from the man they "loved". There would also be so much excitment about the dates they would be going on, dinner's and as I got to grade 12 and OAC hotels being booked for the big night. I never really had a boyfriend through h.s and never on valentines day. So my locker stayed its ugly green colour, there were no roses or cards for me. I always felted very depressed and alone on this day. No wonder I am so bitter. But as I came to university there was not as much hype about it and it is definately less of a big deal amongst my friends. So I dont really hate it anymore, I just think it is stupid. Its a money making holiday for card stores, flower companies and resturants. If you love someone it should be something that is expressed every day and we shouldnt need a day to remind us about our love for someone. But since I am ranting about love, I am going to take this time to give a shout out to all of those I love. To my parents, my mom called me today to wish me a happy valentines, even though she knows I hate it, but the call was nice. My sister and her boyfriend Jay. My friends, Noa, Sada, Mary, Jess, Pearl, Sarah, Julia, Jo, Melissa, Kate, Michelle and Neliza. If I missed anyone its not that I dont love you, its that I have barely slept in 4 days and my mind is not working right. To all of you, thanks for your love and kindness, it means a lot.

DOLLAR AD INSANITY!!!
As most of you know I have worked with No Frills for the past 7 years. It hasnt been a bad job, it has been pretty flexiable for school, I have met a lot of amazing people and it paid my way through university. Cant ask for much more, right? During these 7 years, I have worked at 4 stores and have had many responsibilities/roles. For the last 3 years or so, I have been a supervisor and a front end manager. Usually its awesome and so much better then working cash, but when it is busy, it can become very stressful and tiring. The dollar ad, which is currently running right now, are the 2 worst weeks of the year for staff. The aisles are packed with people, so bad that it can take 10 minutes to move from one end of the store to the next. However, I must say that the customers have been for the most part pleasnt and patient. I have only been sworen at once in the last 5 days, which is good for a regular week, never mind the dollar ad. But I have barley slept and I am very tired, so I am glad that I have the next 2 days off, because I have practically lived at the store since thursday. Can't wait for it to be over, so things can go back to normal. What ever that is.

DVD PLAYER DRAMA!!!
Yes thats right, I said drama. During boxing day, I bought a DVD player (yes I know I am the last person on earth to get one). Anyways, I also bought some DVD's and were given some as christmas presents. When I got back to Hamilton I was so excited to watch my new movies, but soon found out that it was not going to happen anytime soon. My T.V has wonderful colour, but it is old and does not have any of the new attachments for a dvd. So I went to the SOURCE and told them about my situation, and they said that since I had an s-video cable spot on my vcr, I could run the dvd player through it. So I buy the cord and rush home to try it. But since my remote does not have an input or av button it would not work. So I arranged with my sister to swap my tv for her old one that has all of these connections. So a couple of weeks ago when Nick and my mom were driving back to the hammer, we made the switch and she hooked up the player. We were in a rush that day, so we just turned it on and it started to load, so I thought everything was fine. When I got home that night and tried it, it would play five minutes of a movie then freeze. I was so mad, but tried 2 others just to make sure and it was the same result. I wanted to give up and take all of these failures as a sign that I should not have this device. But I did not, the next time I went to T.O I dragged the player with me on the go bus. Luckly, I had a receipt and exchanged it for a better one. One that works, hurray, at least for now (knock on wood). So the moral of this story is to never give up, even when you run up against 10 walls before you get what you want.

I have been tagged!!!
My friend Sada tagged me and I responded to her questions on her site. Sada I love you and you are tre fab. I was thinking about doing something similar, but asking some different questions. I can do this right? I hope I am not breaking any tagging rules, but its my site, so I figured anything goes. Okay so here it goes.

4 of my favourite things to do:
1. Hang out with my friends
2. Spend time with my sister
3. Rant about ridiclous and important things with Noa. It can be anything from adding new things to our "list" or debates about social issues.
4. Play softball

4 of my favorite places to be:
1. Walking in dundas, when it is summer and warm, the scenery is beautiful and it is so peaceful.
2. Up North, further then cottage country, like North Bay. I enjoy the peace up there too (I think because I cant seem to find it in my life, I look for places where it is ingrained in). I also like the water sports (water skiing, tubing). I love canoeing and kyacking, I could go on forever about it.
3. In my bed sleeping (ohhh sleep, sweet sleep).
4. On the field playing my favorite sport, softball

4 of my favorite sports to play or watch:
1. Softball/baseball
2. Hockey
3. Curling
4. Figure skating

4 of my favorite books:
1. Tuesday's with Morrie
2. She's come undone
3. The colour purple
4. A million little pieces (I am not it yet, but I am half way through and I love it).

4 of my biggest Achievments:
1. Completing my degree (finally)
2. Finding the courage to do some of work I need to do to make my life better.
3. Being financially independent in every way.
4. Finally learning to step back from life every once in a while and take time for myself.

4 of my favorite quotes:
1. "I have enough guilt to build my own religion" Tori Amos
2. "The more we take the less we become. The fortune of one man means less for some" Sarah McLachlan
3. "The truth shall make you free, but first it will shatter you, what was broken can be mended, what was lost can be restored" Alla Renne Bozarth
4. "If I shed a tear I won't engage it, I won't fear love and if I feel rage, I won't deny it, I won't fear love" Sarah McLachlan
I tag Sada, CC Mac, MJ and Noa and anyone else that wants to do this.