Sunday, July 29, 2007

Summer...At Last!!

Summer came late to PEI this year (I will refrain from commenting on the obvious reason for screwed up seasons and the such..), but it FINALLY arrived and in a big way. The past week has been FULL of sunshine and high temps (for East Coast Canada anyways!)

I heart my mountain bike, it's been a fabulous way to get around town since I moved in to Carvell Court and ceased constant reliance on using Mom & Jim's cars to get around. I find myself constantly impressed with how quickly I can get to places. It's so easy to just hop on the bike and roll on. Prime parking and no worries about being stuck in long lines at the lights. I have only two big beefs with the whole biking thing. Firstly, given my five-year relationship with a hairstyle that is not conducive to helmet-wearing, I find myself torn between protecting my vanity and protecting the contents of my head. Secondly, when it rains or gets dark I kind of miss having a car. Right now it's not a problem, but come winter and early nightfall I may have to find some other mode of transport...


The last week has been pretty busy. On Sunday I picked strawberries then went to the movies with my dad. Monday I made the hottest THai chicken curry I've ever had.

Tuesday I baked cakes - Carrot cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate cake with chocolate icing. They were for birthday celebrations at work and seemed to be recieved very well. Dawn even suggested I try selling Carrot Cake muffins at the Farmer's Market. I reckon my weight loss would not continue if I started spending more time in the kitchen, but we shall see, maybe I'll go all entrepreneurial with my sweets at some point - enough people have told me I should!

Wednesday I went to see Hairspray. What an awesome, uplifting film!! I guess I'm a sucker for any movie with song and dance, especially one that's set in the sixties.

Thursday I joined Keri & Dawn at the Charlottetown Driving Park for some exciting Harness Racing and betting. I only got there for the last race and lost $5.00. Sadly it wasn't like the Sydney Cup races, where I was treated to all you can drink booze and all you can eat food for an entire afternoon...The more I think about it, the more it becomes obvious why I gained weight in Oz...

Friday was fabulous. After work Adam picked me up and we went to Brackley Beach, specifically Robinson's Point, where there was no one else on the beach. Just us, a bottle of spiced rum, a cooler full of ice and a bowl of fresh pineapple. After watching an amazing sunset, we headed back into town for dinner at Chez Shannon's and while we were eating, a cat wandered in through the kitchen window. A cat that did not belong to the household. I tried to pick it up but it hissed at me, then it hissed at Adam then it realised it wasn't welcome and left the same way it came in. I am embarrassed to admit that we decided to head out for some dancing and ended up at the VU. Now, to be fair, we were planning to go to the much more classy Piazza Joe's, but it was shut down. So yeah, wow, the VU is something else.....

Saturday I picked Dawn up and we headed East, taking a nice drive up to St. Peter's Bay, where we walked along the beach then did a bit of shopping. Eventually we went to Mount Stewart, where we had dinner reservations at the Trailside Cafe. Nathan Wiley was playing at the cafe, so I thought it would be a brilliant chance for Dawn to enjoy some local music. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Wow. I have to write a list of my plans for the next few weeks, I don't know how I could have forgotten how busy it gets on PEI in the summer..So excuse me, while I write my little list, which is really more for myself than for anyone's enjoyment. Unless you enjoy lists, in which case, enjoy away.

Tuesday - CHANCES (5.30 - 6.30) and Short Films at City Cinema (7.00 - free!)
Wednesday - Drinks w/Ryan et al at Fishbones maybe?
Thursday - Meet w/al for drinks/trivia at Churchill Arms (tentative)
Friday - Family Reunion Meet & Greet in S'side
Saturday - Family Reunion BBQ at Cabot Park
Sunday - Day/evening at Mark & Rita's cottage

Wednesday (Aug 8) - Shawn's Strawberry Social
Thursday (Aug 9) - Ceilidh at Poole's Corner w/Cynthia and Dawn (tentative)
Friday (aug 10) - birthday celebrations & Andrews arrives!
Saturday - birthday celebrations w/family
Sunday - more Andrew time or drive up West w/ Dawn

Thursday (Aug 16) - Farewell Drinks for Dawn
Friday (aug 17)- NO WORK and Parade Day
Saturday (Aug 18) - Roadtrip to Halifax w/Rana

Thursday, July 26, 2007

ENFJ

OK, so anyone who knows me well, knows I am addicted to personality tests, most specifically the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator Test. It turns out that the reason this stuff intrigues me so much is because I am an ENFJ Personality type. I know some people dismiss the significance of these things (probably in part because of their personality type!), but I've found it to be useful in understanding myself, developing my 'weaker' areas and in understanding my relationships with other people/personality tests.

Here are snip-its about my ENFJ Personality Type:

The Idealists called Teachers are abstract in their thought and speech, cooperative in their style of achieving goals, and directive and expressive in their interpersonal relations

Teachers expect the very best of those around them, and this expectation, usually expressed as enthusiastic encouragement, motivates action in others and the desire to live up to their expectations. Teachers have the charming characteristic of taking for granted that their expectations will be met, their implicit commands obeyed, never doubting that people will want to do what they suggest.

The Teachers are found in no more than 2 or 3 percent of the population. They prefer to plan both work and social engagements ahead of time and tend to be absolutely reliable in honoring these commitments. At the same time, Teachers are very much at home in complex situations which require the juggling of much data with little pre-planning. In much the same way, Teachers value harmonious human relations about all else, can handle people with charm and concern, and are usually popular wherever they are.

Teachers can overwhelm their loved ones with their exuberance, and with their Pygmalion presumption that everyone wants to be helped along the path of self-discovery. Then, when their loved ones either resist their pressure or fail to meet their idealistic expectations, Teachers can feel frustrated, disillusioned, or even betrayed by the persons they care most about.

Oh dear me - I want to laugh. Hahaha. I am off the races now - the harness races that is!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I Do I Do I Do

If you haven't seen Muriel's Wedding, put your best slippers on, slip out to the closest video store and get yourself a copy. I guarantee you'll love it. If nothing else you'll have a newfound appreciation for ABBA.

Is it just me or is EVERYONE getting engaged/married/preggers??? Seriously,. I think I've been kidding myself that it's only because I'm back on PEI that I find myself surrounded by people that are getting hitched. The fact is it has more to do with me and my ripening of age. Sigh. I guess I have to face it - I am mere days away from turning 27, which incidentally is the average age that a woman in the UK gets married these days. It's a good thing I'm not in England then isn't it? I mean, I might feel a bit spinster like.

This whole tying the knot thing... I've though more about it this year than in all the previous years combined. I suppose this is probably related to my age, but it's also because I consciously decided to put a huge love affair on hiatus. That's right, the love affair I've had Mr. Travel is officially 'on a break. Mr Travel was a brilliant companion and I've nothing but the best things to say about him, but I just think we need a break from each other. I'm currently dating Mr. Career and Mr. Gym. they're both becoming pretty serious commitments. Maybe I'll eventually marry one of them. We shall see.

Anyways, enough chat of that. Time for a quick rundown of life as I get settled back on PEI (again, I emphasis that I am only settling for a limited time and am already being convinced by) an unnamed certain someone that moving to San Fran is an attractive option for the future):

Living in the big city now. Shacked up in a 6-bed house for the next six weeks and sharing with two gals. The rent is cheap and it's a ten minute walk from UPEI,Mr. Gym and the grocery store. Could it get any better?

Finally had a FABulous weekend on PEI. To start, the weather was brilliant- sunshine and warm temps. On Friday I went out with a whole crew of friends with Arkansas, Michigan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and PEI representing. Oh how I love people 'from away'! We went down to Victoria Row for drinks, then 42nd Street for more drinks then (gag) Peake's Quay for a sample of the amazing nightclub options available on PEI. Saturday I moved into my new place,then ironically decided to go visit Mom & Jim and stay over at their house. Sara came to visit on Sunday and we had a lovely relaxing day.

A very sad thing happened - Jim found Smudgie, who'd been missing for a few days, injured and lying in a ditch. They took him to the vet and he had to be put down. I'll miss his meowing and prowling. I know Mom & Jim will miss him a lot, but he had a wonderful cat life in Long Creek and that was because they took him home from the Humane Society and gave him free reign to live life as cat should.

I registered for a university course. It's not until the new year, but I'm excited because it's a course in Small Business Management and, well, that's where I'm heading.

Been busy at my UPEI job - the days fly by. My other jobs are keeping me busy enough in the evening - one in particular which involves proposal writing.

Hmmm. I guess that's about it. Wow. It seems like I'm crazy busy but when I blog it out, it doesn't sound quite so overwhelming. I do have a lot of things planned up for the summer, which I think it part of the reason I feel flat out - between family reunions, friends from away visiting, birthdays (OK, just one, but it's mine!) and roadtrips, I'm starting to think I might actually have to get a day planner..... nah. where would the fun in that be?

I'm tired. Time to sleep.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

For some reason Blogger doesn't want me to title this post. That's OK by me, I'm happy to be titleless!

So..I've been back on PEI for four whole weeks now. Wow, a whole month and I've managed not to go stir crazy. I suppose this is namely due to the fact that I've been spending all my time job-hunting, working out and looking for a place to live.

My investment in the first two has paid off brilliantly. I somehow managed to land myself a day job, as well as two contract positions doing interesting/challenging things that promise to keep my brain somewhat occupied. I've also managed to lose some weight already and am planning to keep that trend on the downward!

As for finding a place to live, well that's not quite come to fruition yet, but it will soon enough and then I'll have to face the fact that I am LIVING on PEI again. Since I first left for Ireland back in '03, I've never returned home with the intention of staying, so this is all just a little bit new and intimidating for me, but I am 100% sure that the next year will be brilliant and then, well, then we shall see what life holds in 2008. To be honest, I'm already 'kind of' planning to pack my bags and head somewhere. No idea where, but that will become clear. THen again, planning the future is never a particularly reliable thing.

Hmmm...OK, so yeah life's been mostly work, working out and working on a place to live. It's all fun and games. Last night I went out with Adam to 42nd Street Lounge. We had great conversations as usual and I tried a Baha Beach Bum, but it wasn't like I remembered. Charlottetown was eerily quiet. The rest of the summer is promising to be full of fun and visits from away - first up is Sister Sara next weekend, then Rae, then Sara & Rowan again, then Andrew, then Jimmy, then...well, who knows?!? Woohoo - summmer on PEI!