Winterlude=Winter Love

So, for those of you who eagerly await my updates I apologize for the long delay (looks like I've broken my write once a week resolution already! Oops!). It's been a weird couple of weeks, I've been kind of roller-coastering through all kinds of emotions.

I went through I guess a melancholy period, maybe mopey is a better word. I'm not really sure, but there were a few days where I was kind of off my game. Luckily Jay is incredibly patient with my ridiculousness and I am feeling ten-fold better about life at this moment. It helps that we will be back in the land of lighthouses and ocean air soon I'm sure.

H-Mac gave me this card, before we moved. He now hangs out on the fridge door. It's a mix of adorable and terrifying.

The past week has been awesome! We went out last weekend for Donald's birthday, sadly the first of his birthday's I've made it out for in all the years we've been friends. It was brilliant to get out and see everyone and party like it was 1988! Haha. We went to a pub in downtown Ottawa and were even able to catch most of the NHL All Star Skills Competition which was sweet!

Then later in the week I had the chance to have coffee with one of my wonderful camp friends, Surfalicious! It was great to see her and catch up, she had lots of pointers on cool stuff to do in Ottawa which is always useful. She also opened my eyes to many fantastic YouTube videos I'd been missing out on! 

Winterlude, Ottawa's three week long winter festival of awesomeness started Friday. Jay and I spent a day downtown looking at ice sculptures, blizzart (art to make up for melting ice sculptures), watching some figure skating and just generally enjoying the fact for the first time in recent memory it was really sunny and not freezing cold. It was a beautiful day to be outside, I didn't even need my Sens mittens the whole time! It truly made me look at winter in this city a whole new way it's kind of beautiful! Here's a question, have you ever thought about where the ice to make ice sculptures comes from?? The answer is below, it makes sense but I didn't expect it!

Making ice sculptures.

I love the Monarch. I was a little disappointed there was no Will & Kate ice tribute.

Jay looking fly, with some hockey tree art.

Me, looking equally fly, with some fiberglass wolves.

Lost Mitten Mountain.

Our nation's capital.

P.S. I think I love him :)

People getting their skate on!

How cool is this?? Haha get it cool? Cause it's ice!

Now the answer to my question, they get ice for carving in cardboard boxes, it's sold & distributed by a Canadian company. Pretty freaking cool (ahah get it! Cause it's ice!)

The only not impressive part of my Winterlude experience was the DJ played Nelly's "Ride With Me" song and even edited, that song is really not cool for a family event. Don't get me wrong, I love me some rap beats, but it just wasn't the time or place.  It did start a Nelly song marathon for me though, I spent much of my Saturday night watching him rock out on YouTube and I loved it. Especially "Dilemma" with Kelly Rowland and "Over & Over" with Tim McGraw. Oh and "Grillz", I'd forgotten about that one!  Once Crissy & I made ourselves some grillz on Hallowe'en, it was fly in case you were wondering.

I have to share my thoughts on this transit strike in my homeland. First off, I've read everything I can find about it, sadly the newspapers are disappointing in their coverage this week so I don't know as much as I would like. I read a comment on an article yesterday though that struck a nerve with me. It was essentially saying that whether you agree or not the drivers are fighting to protect something that was in their contract originally and that in a similar situation individuals would probably fight for the same thing. I think that's a valid point, there is a lot of drama surrounding this strike obviously, but if someone tried the bait & switch on me with contract terms I'd probably want to make a little noise as well. I know there is more too it, probably more than anyone not directly involved knows hence the epic fail on media coverage.

I don't really have a side on the strike issue, but I do think it's more between the head of the union & the city, all of the drivers aren't as awful as people are painting them in the newspaper story comments. I've spent much time riding the buses and not all the bus drivers are as bad as people are painting them to be, and more importantly many of them don't even want to be striking.  Regardless I hope they can compromise and get the buses back on the road soon, it's winter, it's a hassle and it's inconsiderate to all of the people who rely on transit everyday.

Generally though I must say, I think HRM council is proving itself to be ineffective (no surprise I suppose!) I was very disappointed in all the drama over the sale of St. Pats school, they botched that quite substantially and I am seriously rooting for the community groups to win it and be able to put something beneficial for the community in. I spent many days walking past condos & townhouses that don't fit in the area and that in my opinion (recognizing I am an outsider) felt like a slap in the face to the community as it seems to me as a way to just push out the people who have built lives there.

Mostly I detest the whole idea of condos and I don't think a building that could have potential for providing support to the community and expansion of community activities should be torn down to make room for more. Lastly did you know the Halifax Rainmen used to practice in the gym at St. Pats.. that's cool eh? I hope something brilliant is able to go there and make a difference in for the community. 

I have been trying to come up with a way to somehow make my blog a little more than a chronicle of my life. I feel like I'm contributing very little to the cyber world with just a rundown of my life on a fairly irregular basis. I know it's everyone's dream to change the world but I don't even want to do that I just want to write something meaningful and worth reading. I'll keep working and try and find a way to share my life with you, but also somehow to make this more than just a repetitive version of my day to day events. 

Until I figure it out, I appreciate your patience, feedback and friendship. Have a fantastic week and never forgot how special you are.

                               Keep Smiling :)

Bonus: I found a couple of pictures from Jay's birthday I don't think I shared, even though it was months ago! Here's the cake I made for Jay and him with it. Better late than ever I suppose!