Keri and Jen have left, heading East and West respectively. Keri’s ‘doing’ Eastern Europe with planned stops in Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Krakow. Jen has headed home for, in her words, ‘the most important job interview of her entire life’. That’s right folks, the opportunity to work as a waitress at the Canadian pavilion in DISNEY WORLD doesn’t come around every day. In any case, best of luck to both of them on their adventures. Fingers crossed that Keri will remember my request for Milka chocolate bars and Jen will have room for my Got 2 B Glued styling products.

So, um, yeah, I am left to my own devices as of today. Funnily enough , though, I’ve discovered over the last couple of months that presence of sane minds (i.e. Jen) has never really discouraged me from using my devices. Ahem. Oops.

OK, well my weekend is only half over as I am taking Monday off in flex-time (the one and only benefit of my Dolly Parton 9-5 job). It’s already been eventful enough to blog about and planned eventfulness still to come…

Friday evening us gals (and Anne’s sidekick, Brad), headed out to a ceilidh. I didn’t know any more details about the ceilidh, save for that it was 3 pounds in and in aid of the tsunami relief fund. Dancing for a good cause, what could be better? So I donned my new skirt, some lace stockings and a simple black top. Hey, if there was any chance there would be men in kilts at the ceilidh, I certainly wasn’t going to be in trousers! Anyways, about ten minutes before we left Keri revealed that is was a FAMILY ceilidh that had been advertised at Beth’s church. Oh dear. I was NOT dressed for a family affair (in fact it turned out to be like some old family wedding where you feel a horrible urge to do the chicken dance). Anyways, with no time, or desire for that matter, to change, we headed out – Beth, Jen, Keri, Anne, Emily (our token American friend), Brad (token Aussie friend) and Shannon (just a token).

The place kind of reminded me of the Legion back home. At each table there were trays full of pretzels, crackers, etc. The crowd was rather mixed, ranging from probably 3 years old to 83. Mostly families and couples, with a few girls who, evidently, had been as uninformed as myself as to the appropriate attire for the eve. Anyways, the ceilidh was good fun, as per usual. My fav, however, was when we did a Russian circle dance which I can’t even begin to describe. There was also the Canadian barn dance..Anyways, after the raffle draw we decided to head out, but not before Jen snagged a container of candy that had been innocently sitting by the doorway all night (we’d been informed earlier that it was for the kiddies..how fair is that????) Kids get so many perks.

Right, so some of us gals headed to the Walk About to catch the last couple of hours worth of dancing. There was, as it turned out, a kick ass band playing. They happened to be from Ireland, although their name, ‘Blue Moose’, seemed Canuck-inspired. It was only later I learned the name was inspired by, er, a ‘special’ film. Anyways, the band eventually called it a night and the DJ played the usual Walk About tunes for the final hour. We were getting ready to leave at closing time when some dude from the band came over and invited us to go to the ‘nightclub’ upstairs. I put nightclub in quotations there because it really doesn’t deserve that distinction. Anyways, Emily & I decided that perhaps it was just a bit too early to be going home, so we stayed. Damn me and my weakness for Irishmen…Anyway, the band was great and, since I’ve not added any links to my blog in awhile, and am in the business of promoting good things and dissing bad things, I’ve put up a link to their website. OR-iginal music is where it’s at…

Saturday I didn’t do much other than laundry, groceries and napping, as I needed to conserve energy for the evening. Jen & I ended up heading to the Iglu bar with Anne to catch up with the lacrosse team and our 3 fav Calgarians. It was a really cool bar with some nice, mellow live music. Eventually we headed out for some dancing at a Mexican-inspired club that is pretty close to our place. Home and in bed by two, I needed to catch up on my sleep. Jen, however, is nuts. She had a flight early this AM, so just stayed up through the night. Of course, there was the whole packing thing, which she had yet to do….

And that’s that. The gals are gone, and I still have almost two days of freedom before it’s back to the office. Plans include going to see a film called The Last Waltz, which is from 1978 – it is The Band’s farewell concert and is directed by Martin Scorcese so suspect it will be good. Anne and I will then endeavour to have a delicious meal at a Thai restaurant. Tomorrow I am hosting a dinner party for some friends – planned menu includes Chicken Pot Pie and Apple Crisp.

OK am still working on my surprise for everyone who reads this. Will aim to have it up by the end of the week…

Hmm..you’d think that would be the end of this post, but no! I wrote this post at home with all intentions of posting when I got to Internet café and logged on to wireless Internet – snag in plans, however, as wireless Internet not available..my transaction was declined. Slightly concerned this may mean I am in the trouble with the credit card people again, but I can’t see how…sigh.

It is a gorgeous day out – like a lovely May day back home…so much for the wind and rain that is apparently never-ending during the winter months. We’ve had a few centimetres of snow, although by the way everyone here reacts, you’d think we had a couple of feet of snow!

OK, this post is getting too long and rather yawny, will go work on my surprise now. Stay 2uned.

Oh - BTW, thanks for the advice re: jobs and Sweden. I will let you know how I fair on both accounts!

This week alone is extremely important to me. I am pretty sure that by the end of it, I will have a lot of things sorted out in my head and heart. This may, of course, result in my doing something rather unexpected...