Part of My Charm

Can you see why?
More to come!

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I’ve had a, countdown of sorts, for the last couple of days. You see, tonight, RB and I are packing the car with clothes, junk food, music and lurve (I just added that in for extra fromage factor, but there will be love) and heading up to my family’s cottage. 

I’ve tried to write post after post about the cottage, about my (and our) experiences up there, about how I feel about the place and my memories with my family, but they all turn out wrong. There will never be enough words to describe how I feel about having had the opportunity to spend weekends, and sometimes the whole summer, up by the lake with my cousins, friends and wonderful grandparents. 

We had countless days, all piled in Nanny’s room, whining about how we were bored, or wanting to hear her “famous” stories, requesting freshly baked cookies or foot rubs, and of course, play fighting with all of the cousins and friends we could fit on her king-sized bed. 

We had countless afternoons down on the beach, swimming, relaxing on the boat, having picnics far out past our bay, playing water games with Nanny and the family and trying our best to avoid The King of the Dock. AKA, my uncle Wally who had this game of throwing anyone off the end, if we got too close. 

We had countless evenings out on the screened in porch, playing card games that made us so rowdy we’d get yelled at constantly to quiet down, listening to music and to the last-minute boaters make their way around before it got dark, playing Rummoli and of course, spending quality time with family. 

Those memories are just the TIP of the iceberg on cottage times. I could tell you about how my Nan keeps binoculars in her bedroom so she can watch the boys at the scout camp, across the bay, skinny-dip at night. Or about how she’s called the “Kitchen Slut” by many; an endearing term that she loves and shows just how much she dotes on men. Or about how she, on a dare, wore her bra over she shirt and paraded around the men who were playing cards. Or about how we used to sneak out of our rooms/tent to meet the scout camp counsellors in the middle of the night. Or .. seriously, I could go on for days. 

I wouldn’t trade my cottage memories for the world. For nothing. They’re mine and I’ll cherish them forever. Just take a look at this picture (taken by RB, last year) and tell me that you can really blame me for loving it this much: 

It’s magical to me.

This weekend/week we’ll be hanging out A LOT on this:

Feeding these tame, adorable chipmunks. And yes, that’s my leg circa .. last year:

We’ll be eating on the screened-in porch of this restaurant/motel that we both adore:

We’ll be seeing breathtaking sunsets like these and searching the sky for shooting stars. Taken by RB:

And lastly, I get to do it all with this man, who supports me all the time. Who gives into my silly requests and my sometimes less than mature behaviour. Who caters to my needs. Who, most importantly, loves me and cares about me. Aww, mush. I had to, sorry. He’s just a really great person & you all should know.

I’ll miss the interwebs a bit, I’m sure, but our five days up at the cottage will be pure bliss and I’m already dreading that we actually have to leave at some point and get back to work, to reality. To the blistering heat and NO lake. SIGH. 

I heart the cottage. And I heart all of you. Have a good weekend/week - be back Thursday! One last thing before I go. I almost forgot to share this picture with you. It resides in our cottage bathroom and really shows you the great sense of humour my Nanny has. Enjoy:

Untitled from jordan c on Vimeo.

BAH HUMBUG. It’s still being wonky with the voice/sound but ya know what? I DON’T CARE ANYMORE. Enjoy! (I’m not really in *that* bad of a mood, it’s just frustrating.)

Ikea is a MAZE. A huge, confusing maze & they never ever want you to leave. At least, not before you’ve looked at EVERYthing in the whole store. I’m in the market for a new desk and chair and we went to check out Office Depot first before heading to Ikea. RB and I both had the day off so before we started furniture shopping, we went for a walk at a new park & explored the trails a bit before it started raining.

My desk now is a hand me down from my cousin Kelsi, who painted the teeny-tiny piece of furniture white & pink. Now, I have nothing against pink but the desk is made for a midget and doesn’t leave a normal-sized person much room. I’m going to haul it out to the garage, sand and paint it. And by me hauling it, I mean RB. Friends suggested we keep it for our future home. It’s small enough to use in the hall for decorations & random odd & ends, or in the kitchen as a phone/computer desk. 

The new desk I picked out is from the Jonas series, and people, I am not ashamed to admit that I very recently downloaded “Burnin’ Up” by the Jonas Brothers and listen to it while blowdrying my hair in the morning. Don’t judge, it helps get the job done.

It’s what I need - a large flat surface with lots of room for my laptop, lamp and other decorations. I felt like a grown-up when I sat down and tried it out, whereas my current desk makes me feel like I should pull out the Barbies & Play-D’oh. 

The chair is comfy and supportive, which is good because I have a bad back and leg and need the best chair I can get, in my price range. The chair I have now was passed on from my brother & is really bad for my posture/everything. I tuck my bad leg under my body and strain it even further. I also sit .. sort of leaning to the side & really, nobody likes a curvy spine. It’s bad news bears. Sorry, I’ve eaten a lot of sugar today and I’m dealing with RB’s LOUD snores at the moment. They’re very distracting, but I can deal with it. I do a lot more annoying things than snore. 

It’s a change that needs to happen. I’m excited about the idea of a new workspace and hope that it will bring me more motivation to work on the two (secret) projects I’ve started. And maybe even to start more. I’m also looking forward to the project of sanding and re-painting my tiny desk. I haven’t decided if I want to use a dark wood stain or paint it a bright colour. I’m more of a bright person but RB is a little more traditional. A little bit of both is good, so we’ll see what I eventually decide.

Anything else? Basics is good. My “0″ key was sticking last night & was highly frustrating. Other than that, it’s fun. The people I work with are all really nice (and all really high school, but we’ve all been there) and I haven’t had any rude customers yet. I’m usually really nice and have a big smile plastered on my face, so that helps. Standing for five + hours is also a bit much, but my body is slowly getting used to it. My solution for now? Heat rub cream, so if you catch a whiff of an overpowering mint smell, you know I’ve been around. 

I’m going to finish watching ‘Obsessed’ - a show about extreme OCD cases and maybe head to bed. We’ve been pretty lazy today, other than our walk at the park and in the Ikea maze, so I can’t tell if I’m actually tired or just in a couch potato coma. Night!

I love to dance, but I never said I was good at it. I hope this gets a few laughs, at least. I was having fun & Otis (our english bulldog) was watching me, wiggling her little tail. You should have to pay for this kind of entertainment, but you lucky people get to view it for free. We’ll call it an early Christmas present. 

I has life? No. from jordan c on Vimeo.

First off: a comic, stolen from my dear friend Kendra from college who I miss a LOT. All of my friends. Steph mentioned in her last comment that she’s amazed by how much of an age gap there is between all of us, but we still work. In fact, we all get along really well. The only person I laugh with as much as I do with my college friends, is my cousin/best friend Keri. I won’t get started on Ker, I’ll have to do a separate post altogether - she’s priceless. Ok, moving on to the comic I teased you with a few sentences ago.

Seriously guys, I couldn’t stop laughing when I read this. THIS explains my humour, quite well. “WEE-OO-WEE-OO!” I’m the ambulance,” is my favourite part. Probably because I like to impersonate ambulances. And talk in silly voices. And make random noises. Ask RB, he’ll tell you all about my quirks. 

I know most of you who read this are married or at least live in your own place so you might not share in my woes, but privacy is a big thing for me & we don’t have as much as I’d like, here. I’m really not trying to complain about this because RB’s parents are the best potential parents-in-law a girl could ask for. We don’t pay any rent, have our meals made for us, we don’t have any set chores (other than our room, emptying the dishwasher/cleaning up from dinner, our laundry) and his mom, treats me like the daughter she never had. The only downfall: being interrupted while trying to get our freak on. Sorry to be so .. in your face about the fact that we make sweet, sweet love sometimes. It just had to be known. 

I’m trying to think if there was anything else I wanted to talk about. I’m posting TWO days in a row. I almost can’t believe it, I must be sick. What I really think it is sometimes - I take my writing too seriously. I’m constantly reverting back to WFN class, trying to construct the perfect story in hopes of an equally as good mark. I have to start realizing that I’m not getting graded on THIS writing. I loved all of the comments on the last post & I agree with Ames that it’s one of my favourites too. I think I’ll be “real” more often.

Last but not least, and I always save the best for last, it’s my best friend Jess’ 26th birthday today. I don’t usually call her Jess though, we refer to eachother as Pak & Pak Pak. I cannot, for the life of me, remember where we came up with those nicknames but we’ve had them for a few years now. I seriously couldn’t imagine my life without her in it. We’ve known eachother since kindergarten and it BLOWS my mind to be able to say that we’ve been friends for over 20 years. I can still picture Jess with her bright red hair and mass amounts of freckles on her chubby little cheeks. Probably licking chips. (Don’t ask.) 
Jess is the type of person you really want to be friends with. She’s supportive & unique and always there for me. We just get eachother and I love feeling like that. Currently, we’re trying to motivate eachother to get back into a gym routine. It helps that Jess picks me up & drives me home every time we go. She’s the best. She’s also the best because sometimes we avoid going home and she drives us to Taco Bell. YUM. Anyways, I have some of the best friends that a girl could ask for. Happy birthday, Pak - I love you, forever. 

Jess & I - Christmas Eve 2008 @ her family’s party. It happens every year & I always look forward to it. Her family is like mine, and vice versa. The best year - I got so drunk that I knocked over the baby gate (to keep the dog downstairs) and the garbage, spilling shrimp remains and EVERYthing else, all over the kitchen floor. Smooth move, Jordan. Sorry about the ..squishy-ness of the picture, too. 

Ok, I’m off to make eggs & toast with RB before he has to take me to work.

Seriously, I’ve been sitting here watching the cursor on my screen blink, for too long. Blink, blink .. blinky blink. I’ve got some crazy blog anxiety going on. Have you ever experienced such a thing? I get COUNTLESS ideas for new posts during the day & by the time I actually try to start writing one of them, I can’t do it. I can’t form a sentence, I don’t know what I want my point to be and I worry that I won’t be funny enough, make sense, etc. I guess it’s just something that I want to be REALLY good at so I don’t want to fail at it. At anything. I have a bit of a problem with being a perfectionist. I’m the worst kind though - I want so much for everything to be perfect that I don’t even try .. it’s just too hard and I won’t be able to do it. Lazy perfectionist; it isn’t really working for me anymore.

Oh. I’m watching the news & The Dionne quintuplets turn 75 today. Also, I had a dream about going to the bottom of the ocean in a weird pod-like thing. There were a bunch of people with me & outside (on the ocean’s floor, apparently) a few stray dogs were roaming around. No hallucinogens were taken before bed, I promise. I usually have a LOT of dreams in a night & remember at least a little bit, from all of them. I told RB once about how I feel like I never get a really good nights sleep and my dreams are to blame. I’m so involved and aware while they’re going on, that I’m not really resting. I love my dreams though, it’s like going into a different world & escaping for adventures I wouldn’t normally have. What do you all dream about? Do you remember your dreams? Try to interpret them? Share, please! 

I’m really excited because today, I don’t have driving school. I’ve been going Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and people, it is four hours of sheer torture. I know we’ve all been through it and know how bad it is. It’s BAD. Like I explained to Emily in the letter I wrote to her, while we watched a totally 80s video featuring Don Johnson about seatbelts, as long as I get the insurance break - it’s COOL. The woman running the classes has a thick accent, so thick I can barely understand her. My bag is filled with magazines, paper & crayons, my iPod and even a word search book. ANYthing to keep me occupied and awake.

In my last post, I wrote about how I feel like I’m 16 again. Now, if I was really 16, I’d be a lot fatter, insecure, awkward, depressed, anxious ..shall I go on? My classmates in college are quite a bit younger than I am, (Steph’s creepin’ up on me though, thankfully) driving school is chock full of 16-18 year-olds & working at the grocery store - it’s like I time warped myself back to high school. I’m 26. I should be a lot further than I am, but I’m not. In high school I was scared and shy, almost too much to leave my house at times. Going out with friends to a bar? Wouldn’t have happened. I couldn’t walk to the grocery store by myself and there’s no way in hell I could’ve been a cashier at that age. I didn’t have any confidence and I panicked going into social situations.

I remember going to a pool hall when I was probably 16. I was scared and shaking & remember that once I got through the entrance, everything started going in slow-motion. I couldn’t breathe. Everyone was looking at me, or so I thought. I stood out. I couldn’t stand it. Now, I realize I was having a panic attack. I’ve since grown out of having them, for the most part, and never want to go back to feeling like, that. 

My point? I think that going through these experiences is beneficial to me really growing up. Only now, can I really embrace the things that I’m going through and actually gain something from them. 

Teenagers have always intimidated me. If they came on the bus and sat near me, I’d sweat. I’d think, “Are they looking at me?” “Do I look okay?” “Are they judging me?” The insecure thoughts were endless. I think it stems from me never feeling accepted by my own friends in high school. I WAS, but I never knew it. With no confidence, it’s really hard to believe in yourself. I know, right? Who woulda thunk it. 

Now? I laugh and joke with the girls at work & listen to them bitch about boyfriends, classes and normal high school drama. I have heart-to-heart talks with Catie, my 17 year-old co-worker, who has more confidence and wit than I do, even now. I sit beside my classmates in driving school, eating my sour apple lollipop, texting and pointing out things in the newest InStyle magazine. 

It’s my rite of passage. It’s my ticket to freedom.

I’d follow you anywhere.

Finding places like these - I can’t get enough of it.

It was a seriously gorgeous day yesterday, so RB and I decided to take a nice drive in the country. The windows were down, the music was blaring and there was no shortage of blue sky, as far as we could see. As we drove along RB would say, “Ok, where should I turn now?” and I would reply with my answer. I love driving around aimlessly (especially on days with warm, sunny weather) and couldn’t be happier that I’ve found someone who enjoys it too. We also love to explore new places, new trails, try new restaurants, go hiking, take pictures, garden, go to the cottage/go camping, etc. I sometimes worry that we don’t have enough in common, but when I really think about it, there are tons of things. We work. We’re good ’splorin partners. 

We commented on cute houses, old brick farmhouses and agreed that we’d like to own every single one we saw. Living in the country would be bliss. Because of all of the growth in the surrounding cities, it’s easier to live more north now & still be close enough to all of the ammenities you need. I mean, I go to the mall maybe once or twice a month, but I wouldn’t want to have to travel more than an hour to get to one. 

RB had spotted an antique market the other day, while he was out with a friend. We drove to it but realized they’re only open on Sundays. I was disappointed but quickly got over it. There’ll be lots of chances for us to go back. We decided to stop in and visit my dad and his wife & stepson while we were in the “area.” (Outside my dad’s front window is a billowing willow tree. What?! Jealous.) We sat outside in the sun and talked with my dad while my aunt’s cats (they live on her property) roamed around and Tim, my stepbrother, cut the grass with the riding mower. I don’t get to see him that often anymore, so I’m glad we visited. I could very easily get used to a life like that. It’s so peaceful up there.

After leaving my dad’s, we stopped in at Easterbrook’s. We went to their second location, but the original restaurant has been open since the 30s! Their diner style restaurant is really cute; I love vintage/antique ..everything. The food is simple but amazing. We had foot-long hot dogs & shared french fries with gravy. I love me some gravy. And french fries. And ..food in general. Help me, I have a problem. 

Original Location. Isn’t it CUTE? 
{Source} 

Other than our adventure dates, we’ve been going for walks, enjoying the weather, taking pictures, visiting new parks and gardens, driving around, eating freezies by the dozen, going to the movies (we saw Earth - SO good!!!!!) and playing scattegories. Oh right, I forgot to add - almost getting killed by a roman candle. We bought a few last night & set them off at the park with my cousin Keri. I stuck with sparklers; we were all much safer that way. On her first try, Ker got scared & dropped her roman candle after only a few seconds. Of course, we start running & screaming (in the dark) as the candle is shooting right at us. I’ve always been a wuss and really not liked being close to fireworks, so I think I’ll keep my distance from now on. They’re beautiful but just too dangerous for me.

I finally (finally, finally, FINALLY) signed up for driving school! In the same week, I got another part-time job as a cashier at the local Food Basics. Hi, I’ve officially just turned 16! Lyke omg, I can just see it. SIGH. But you know what, I was afraid to work as a cashier because I’m bad with money and was always worried about making a mistake and afraid to take driving school because I wasn’t confident enough to drive. Now? I’m not really that afraid anymore and I just really need to get my life started. RB’s mom is great and has started to offer (all the time!) to take me driving. We’ve only been once so far but I did really well, stayed calm and actually ENJOYED it. Wow. I think that I need to get over these fears before I can start to go forward. Not having a license is a real setback & being afraid of jobs will only keep me from striving toward my full potential. Onward and upward? Yes. 

My dad invited us to Marineland sometime this week & much to my surprise, RB was interested in going. He’s not so much for a bunch of screaming kids running around (neither am I, really..) but we’re both excited to get up close with the killer and beluga whales, as well as all of the other animals they have. Another thing RB is excited to get on and I’m terrified at the slightest thought? The Sky Screamer. The World’s tallest triple tower ride. People, I’ve been on ONE rollercoaster in my entire life. My ride history has involved many bumper cars, carousels and even the swings, which RB says are probably the most dangerous ride ever. Probably, but I love it. I did drag him on the “Scrambler” last year at the traveling carnival, but I don’t think I could physically make myself get on that ride. I’ll let you know if I decide to make the daring decision to do it. 

Sorry for the humungous entry but it was needed. I really have to start updating regularly! One last thing before I go - Head over to Kay’s blog, Scribble Honey, for the chance to win one of four goodie bags filled with things from Carley’s and read about her experience with Carley’s Clear & Smooth - Prizes included in the goodie bag: original formula, moisturizers, lip balm & other great, natural products. I’d love to win this! Great giveaway, Kay.