My 2008 Resolutions

I don't usually make resolutions at the start of the New Year because it seems sort of trite and goes against my anti establishment tendencies. However this year it does feel appropriate, considering that 2007 was a very messy year and I am more than happy to leave it behind me. I am also trying to "be more yoga", so it seems a good time to dive in. I will follow the "It's Yoga" philosophy of "write it down, and all is coming." I have written it down in THREE places already, and this is my fourth, just to make it clear to the universe that I am particularly determined about these things. I will also see the list staring me in the face everywhere I turn, thus making it unavoidable. I'll probably make charts, too, because I'm analytical like that.

So without further ado, here is my list of 2008 Resolutions (with additional commentary for the benefit of the reader.)

In 2008, I will:

- Drink eight glasses of water a day (not because I've been told to, but because I feel better when I drink more water, and it's better to have a specific amount to keep on track.)

- Do Yoga six days a week (again, because I feel better when I do Yoga, and sometimes I slack off and feel guilty. I'll also start up my yoga journal again, so I can keep track of my progress, because it's interesting!)

- Get my own place. (Might rent or buy, depending on where I get a job and what's available. I'm not convinced that being on the property ladder in Nova Scotia is a good idea, despite what I've heard. Houses stay on the market here for way too long, and I'm non-committal in that respect.)

- Get a good job that makes me happy! (Must, must, must be with a company that shares and respects my values! Must, must, must not dread going into work every day!)

- Get a nice boyfriend. (Nice is key. He will love to spend time with me, be positive and considerate, tell me I'm pretty and make me hot chocolate when I'm sad. In return, I will love him, bake him cookies and entertain him with my scintillating conversation and sparkling personality. Not a bad deal, I think! I make pretty good cookies!)

- Learn the Samba Line Dance. (Usually I can pick up new dances pretty quickly, but the Samba Line Dance eludes me at every corner!!! It is also fun and very cool to watch, but can I get it? no no no!!! But I will, darnit. I will.)

So that's that! I think they're all reasonable and achievable goals, and I have twelve months to come out a more balanced and confident person! I'm excited about this!

How about you? Do you have any resolutions for 2008?
Lots of love and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gillian

And this was supposed to be our week off!

This morning on my way downstairs I ran into my dad who was running up the stairs with his flute case. "This," I speculated, "does not bode well."

When my dad came downstairs again I asked what he was up to. "I'm about to tear out the fireplace in the study." WHAT?! WHAT?! "NO!" I shouted! "You can't do that!"

The fireplace in the study is one of those charming original features of this house that some misguided fool already defaced. At one point it was a wood fireplace, but someone tore out part of the chimney to put in a bathroom vanity on the other side of the wall. If you tried to light a fire in there now you'd burn the house down. HOWEVER, the fireplace mantel is still pretty and it could easily be converted into a propane or electric fireplace, hence my concern. At any rate, my dad explained to me that the study was now going to become their bedroom, and the dining room would be their private sitting room (for when guests start arriving.) The study is small, so the fireplace would have to be torn out for the bed to fit. I did not approve of this plan.

My parents NEVER stop, but when they do they plant themselves in front of the fireplace in the current living room and watch television. The fireplace is key. It's on most nights from September to May. But THAT room is turning into the guest dining room, and I had this horrific vision of my mum spending the rest of her nights sitting sadly in front of the dining room fireplace. How upsetting!

SO I collected my parents and encouraged them firmly to leave the fireplace alone, turn the study into their sitting room and the dining room into their bedroom. We measured, speculated, spent the entire day moving furniture and guess what? The new plan worked, and the fireplace is still there and my parents now have a bedroom where the dining room used to be. PHEW! Are you confused? Here, I drew diagrams:


And THAT is the story of how Gillian saved a fireplace and inadvertently spent her day off moving furniture. I suppose virtue comes at a price ;) Unfortunately my parents figure that they can't afford a propane fireplace insert without having to get jobs at Tim Hortons, so if anyone is looking for a lovely "Bed and Breakfast Warming" present... might I suggest a propane fireplace insert? ;)

Love,

Gillian

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Well it was a very quiet but nice Christmas here in Nova Scotia. We all got thoroughly spoiled by Santa, we went for a little drive, I cooked my first turkey and we had a lovely dinner. I admit that I tried to ignore Christmas a little bit, because whenever I started to think of it I got really sad that the rest of the family wasn't with us. It was a nice day, but it just wasn't the same :P

As promised, I've put together a little Nova Scotia Christmas slideshow. This way you can pretend that you had Christmas with us. Midway through is a picture of a young golden Eagle, which will seem completely non-cohesive to the rest of the slideshow, but we saw it on our Christmas drive today, so it is henceforth The Christmas Eagle and actually does belong.

Still no sign of the missing package, but hopefully... maybe... I hope?

Love to everyone!

Gillian

Christmas Rage!!!

AUGH! I am so mad right now!!! Canada Post has somehow managed to lose the Christmas parcel that we sent to Nathan & Sheila. It was allegedly "successfully delivered" on the 14th, but did they get a package? NO! NO THEY DIDN'T! And I'm MAD! I'm FURIOUS! I'm ENRAGED!

I have my fingers and toes crossed for a Christmas miracle, that it might suddenly appear at the mail depot or something, but for now let me leave you with a little advice:

1. When you send a package, you should insure it for the appropriate amount, and not just say "yes, the $100 insurance coverage is fine."

2. Did you know that you can request a signature to confirm receipt? You can and you should, or some postal jerk might just leave the package on your front porch for some OTHER jerk to steal.

3. Just because you track a package and it says that delivery is confirmed, don't necessarily believe it.

Well, wish us luck that we get this sorted out.
Having a blue, blue Christmas :(
Gillian

Disneyland Slideshow

Better late than never, here's a slideshow from my trip to Disneyland this summer with Josh, Susan and Caspian!

It was so much fun, I'm tempted to move to California! Good weather, good food, great shopping, lots of fun! Hmm... too bad about that pesky Green Card issue.

I'm working on putting together a little Nova Scotia Christmas slideshow, so keep a look out after Christmas for that one. I'm also putting together a rather large list of resolutions for 2008, which I will post on here too! Nothing like exposing your resolutions to the masses to keep you on track, right?

I'm a sentimental schmuck right now with Christmas around the corner and most of the people I love so far away. I love you and miss you all, dear friends and family!

Happy Christmas, Hanukkah and Yule!

Gillian

The Truth Is Out There! and It Involves Aliens!

Sometimes when I'm feeling a little edgy and my mind is going on and on about unpleasant things I start to crave a little escapism. Usually this means that I hunker down with marathon episodes of The X-Files and play solitaire. I have to play solitaire while I watch The X-Files or else I get too scared and have to sleep with the light on. Solitaire helps me keep my distance, and gives me somewhere else to look when yucky things are happening :P I love The X-Files. I think it's smart and interesting and often quite funny. It's also neat because it was filmed in Vancouver, and sometimes I see familiar places and go "OOH! OOH! I've been there!" It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to think that I stood in the same spot as David Duchovny ;) haha! Anyway, I know I've been watching too many episodes of The X-Files when I start to think that everything is a government conspiracy and I'm surprised when the lights go on when I flip the switch. Today has been one of those days. I think I need to cut back a little bit before I start wearing a tinfoil hat ;)

I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from season 5:

SCULLY: Have you thought seriously about dying?
MULDER: Yeah, once, when I was at the Ice Capades.

Lots of Love,
Gillian

My Latest Project

As many of you know, lately I've been applying for jobs in Halifax and Calgary. Most of these jobs are boring and I'm not excited about them, but I'm ready to head back to the work force and settle back into my own life again, so I have to take what I can get and go from there. Right now any answer is a good answer, as long as it resembles forward motion.

However, yesterday I found a job posting for a Junior Art Director that got me pretty excited. You may recall that Art Director is one of my Top 5 Dream Jobs! I think I'm almost qualified for this job, so keep your fingers crossed that they see it too! The job involves a lot of liaison work with photographers, and a knowledge of photography, so I put on my resume that I do freelance portraits (which is true) and that I've assisted photographers (which is also true, despite the fact that I don't really speak with said photographers anymore, which might make references on that front tricky.) At any rate, my parents thought that having an online portfolio of my "work" might be beneficial. I let my other photography site fall off the web-o-sphere a while ago because my confidence in my photography "talent" was quite shaken (and still is, I guess.) But I agreed that it might be good to have something up in the event that the company did call me and wanted to see what I was about. We'll see what happens with that!

Until then, if you want to take a look then go for it, just keep in mind that many of these shots are quite old and that it only took me about three hours to throw this site together, so it's definitely NOT fancy. However, it is full to the brim with really adorable babies! The site is a sub-directory of the Delcourt House website, so there is NO "www" in the url (who knew?!) The site is http://gillianbell.delcourthouse.com if you want to check it out.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Gillian

Oh Christmas Tree!

Yesterday we went on a little excursion to cut down a Christmas tree at a tree farm! It was oh so cold, but a fun experience. Flip the Tree Farm dog was very helpful in showing up the perfect tree, and he and mum became fast friends, of course!

Mum and Flip :)

This is our tree (before we cut it down.) I'm just posing with the saw, trust me, I left the sawing to dad.

Here's our tree all decorated! Isn't it pretty?

Lots of love,

Gillian

More Killer Robots!

This blog of mine seems to have an underlying theme of weird and sometimes creepy music videos involving robots. I don't know why this is, but I find them sort of fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

There was this one, and this one (the first video). However, I think THIS video wins the Creepiest Robot award:



I love the song... so bizarre! But there's no question in my mind that this robot will absolutely kill you while you sleep. As we learned in the first video: NEVER TRUST ROBOTS.

On the theme of creepy mechanized things, openroad.tv made a little video tour of the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco. I posted about the Musee here, and their video tour is here. Laughing Sal is more nightmare material, so it's entirely possible that you'll have horrifying dreams about being chased by robots tonight. Don't say I didn't warn you. Sleep with the light on tonight!

Love,
Gillian

Our Neurotic Dog

THIS is exactly why we never leave the dog home alone...

Those used to be the blinds in the bathroom... until we went to Bedford without Belal today! I don't think that's going to happen again, ever. I guess you can look forward to more pictures for the Waiting art installation.

We love you Belal, but yikes!!!

Love,

Gillian

My Favourite Christmas Memories! Part 1

These videos are dedicated to my dear brother Nathan, who shares my problem of not being able to listen to The Carol of the Bells without thinking of The California Raisins. Now you can show Sheila ;)

Merry Christmas :)

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Love,
Gillian

Waiting: Day 13

It certainly doesn't take long to get back into the swing of things after a vacation, does it?

Oh well, it's been a while since we've had any waiting pics (I forgot for a while, but they're back by popular demand!)

Man, that coat washes me out :P All of that tropical Calgary sunshine, right? I'm so pale that I glow! haha.

At least this time we had a huge mountain of snow to look at while we waited. I suppose this is what I get for my lofty comments back home that "it's hardly snowed at ALL in Nova Scotia." If you zoom in to the picture, you may notice a red flag on top of the fire hydrant... they all have those, for when the hydrant is completely covered in snow. Sakes Alive!!! I do miss the prairies after all.

Much Love,

Gillian

Ahhh, Airports

I am presently sitting at gate B22 of the Toronto Airport, contemplating life and drinking my ba-jillionth coffee of the past... many... hours. My flight to Halifax is delayed, and I'm seriously sleep deprived. Why did I choose the overnight flight?! WHY?!?! So I'm punchy as all get-out and I payed the darn $10 for wireless access, but I'm soooo tired that I need something to keep me entertained. Lucky you, that means that you get to enjoy all of the nonsensical drivel that my sleep-deprived brain can come up with. Like is Sleep-Deprived hyphenated? WELL IT IS NOW!

Leaving Calgary was haaaaaaaaard and it took absolutely everything in me to NOT cry when I said goodbye to Nathan and Sheila. I met up with my friend Kenny at the airport and it was soooo hard to say goodbye to him too. Saying goodbye is really very hard, and I'm really hoping that everyone is on board about moving to Tahiti or, alternately, Halifax! I don't want to say goodbye to anyone else! So if anyone out there is contemplating a goodbye then I'm just going to tell you that now is not the time and I'm not going to listen.

God I'm tired... I want to sleeeeeeep... I don't know how long I've been awake but it's been a long time. I need a shower. I need bed. I need to stop whining but I'm so TIRED!!! I have a semi-frozen Christmas pudding in my suitcase that I need to get back into a freezer ASAP. I need to stop yawning and not fall asleep on my keyboard.

Hmmmm. What else can I write about to stay awake? Iiiiiii... um.... er..... Let me think. Hmmm.

There was just an announcement that our flight would be boarding at 8, which I was very excited about until I realised that it's only 7 here. D'oh. How, HOW will I stay awake for another hour?!

I'm going to go surf the web I think... wish me *yawn* luck!
Gillian

Homeward Bound..?

All through my Calgary vacation I've been suffering through a Location Identity Crisis. I forget which city I'm in, which province... even which country I'm in. I wake up in the morning and go through the list: "I'm in San Fra... no... Nova... Calgary? Hmm." I had a dream that I bought a house but didn't know which city it was in! Is that weird or what? So as for gaining insight into where I belong... hmm... still thinking on that one.

Tonight I fly back across the country so this morning I'm putting stuff off, like packing and re-filling the rental car with gas. Part of me wants to go back and part of me doesn't. All of me wants coffee right now, and none of me is willing to go brush the snow off the blasted car again (again!!!) and drive to Starbucks. I do so loathe and detest this city in the winter, but oh do I miss my family and friends. All that's left for me to do is hunt for pirate treasure, become rich and then forcibly remove my family and friends to a decent climate! I WILL hire goons. You HAVE been warned.

Thanks to everyone who made my trip so lovely :)
Gillian