buyer's remorse

I have serious issues with commitment when it comes to making purchases.

I am still shocked that i was able to buy a wedding dress in 2 hours.

I can barely buy underwear without worrying that it's too big or too small and that it's a final purchase. I usually buy a couple smalls and a couple mediums so that at least i have a couple that will fit properly.

I've been on the hunt lately for a gym bag. A nice, roomy, gym bag with separate compartments for shoes and wet stuff and pockets because i LOVE pockets. Oh, and of course stylish...i don't want a frumpy ugly gym bag.

So, i went to sport check...they had a couple of Nike bags, but they were mostly the big one-pocket duffel bag. no thanks.

Then, i thought about Lululemon and how they carry exercise / yoga gear. Now, they have some nice bags!

I visited the store, and hummed and hawed over their line up of gym bags. I think they had about 5 or 6 different kinds each in 2 different colour choices. I spent a good 30 minutes inspecting each one and checking all the pockets and imagining where all of my things would go. I finally chose the warm up bag. At first i wasn't crazy about the colours because the colours were crazy (navy all over with purple straps and lining), but it started to grow on me and then i really liked the colours.

I put my things in my new bag and took it to the gym to test it out (i left the tag on). It was ok. All of my stuff fit, and everything had it's own cozy home, but my stuff only just fit so i wouldn't be able to put anything more in it or anything bigger like a bigger towel, or a sweatshirt or sweatpants. PLUS, it didn't have a shoulder strap. Although my arms fit through the handles, it was still a bit awkward because it was quite bulky and my arm had to hang over the side of the bag. AND what about in the winter? with a huge winter coat (and yes, my coat is huge...even my fellow canadiens make fun of it eh?) i doubt i would be able to get the straps over my arms.

So back to the store i went to review the bag options. I had gone back to the website to check out the bags in order to maximize my time spent in the store. As soon as i arrived in the store for a second time i picked up 4 bags. The one i had now (to compare against the other contenders) and 3 others that could work.

Again, i carefully inspected each bag and visualized where all of my stuff would go. The problem was, each one had a different feature about it. 2 had shoulder straps, but one of those only had one big middle pocket with no dividing compartments. Another one had nice divided compartments but no shoulder strap, and mine didn't have a shoulder strap, and was not quite long enough, but i loved the way it looked and all of the compartments.

I could not make up my mind. I wanted one that looked like mine in colour, but was a bit longer like number 2, but has as many compartments as mine, but with a shoulder strap.

Not one had all of the features together. I reluctantly exchanged the funky one i had originally bought for the rollercoaster bag that was slightly longer and had a shoulder strap. It didn't have as many compartments as the one i originally had, but it had a separate compartment for my shoes which was the most important. Oh, and i forgot to mention...it's black...they did have a brown one 2 days ago when i first went to the store, but they have since sold out of brown which is one of my favourite colours.

I know black is the most versatile, but i really don't like black. AND my winter coat is brown, so brown would have been the best. AND the strap is red and i'm not a huge fan of red either. AND i especially don't enjoy the combination of red and black together. But sadly, i had no choice as this was the most practical in terms of function.

So there you have it. It took me 3 days to buy a gym bag and i'm still not 100% satisfied with it, and it only took me 2 hours to buy a wedding dress which is more important and way way WAY more expensive, and non-refundable yet i have no desire to even look at another dress because i am 150% satisfied.

weird eh?

Hurtin'

Hi my lovelies,

I'm sorry for taking off and not saying anything.

I don't really have time for this post, but i miss you guys, so i thought i would just bang this out for now.

Lady x responded by basically saying "thanks for all your work on this, but there are still a lot of items we haven't received for the syllabus so we're going to hand it over to one of our locals so that we can easily go back and forth with her which wouldn't be fair to you." (That was not a direct quote from her, but i summed it up for you). Clearly she was not happy with my recommendation and wanted to do it her way (who knows what the rest of the committee thinks). I'm sure when i see the final product it will have all kinds of 'And's, 'In's and 'Of's . Oh well, it actually doesn't bother me as much as i would have thought. I'm actually pretty proud that i have a high standard and i won't have my name attached to just anything. I mean, what if she wanted me to misspell words just because she wanted them that way even though it's incorrect. idontthinkso.

So...i've been hitting the gym lately. Yay! It's about freaking time. I've been taking advantage of my lunch hour and it's been working out nicely. Although it means my lunch is a bit extended with the short travel time and shower time factored in, i make up for it by eating my lunch at my desk and not taking any other breaks (note: many people here are smokers and take several smoke breaks a day).

I'm taking group classes at the gym (like aerobics, step, weights etc. etc.) It changes every day which is great because i'm working everything (if i go everyday that is....) but MAN, it has not been easy. The first two days i was hurting BAD. My legs and arms are b-u-r-n-i-n-g!

On top of that, i suck with a capital S at coordination. This is a huge surprise to me as i play a ton of sports that require coordination AND i played the piano for 10 years which required that i could follow a beat. But for some reason when i'm trying to do the aerobics and step classes, i can't keep up with what the instructor is doing and i end up looking like an idiot. Where everyone is facing one direction, i end up facing the opposite and i end up looking at people when we shoud all be looking at each others backs....very embarrassing. I'm always totally off and i'm getting really really frustrated.

Well my dears, i'm sorry this is such a lame and quick post, but i have some deadlines hovering over my head that i need to attend to.

Please keep me in your thoughts when i'm at the gym - i need all the strength i can get!

p.s. i need a new gym bag - something cool and roomy and with lots of compartments. Anyone have advice on ones they love?

it hurts...continued

So, you'll be happy to know that i took your advice and decided i should tell the woman the error in her ways.

I drafted an email almost verbatim to what Sarah said. My manager just so happened to walk by before i sent it off so i asked her opinion because i was worried (I'm always worried about things like this) that i was being rude, too bold, or too assertive.

She read it and she said: "you're not being assertive enough. You have to tell her what you think in a way that doesn't ask for her approval. If she has a problem with the way you're doing things, then she can contact you."

I was shocked because i thought i was being too assertive, but this is what i wrote to her:

Hi X,

Please find attached to this email the second draft of the syllabus.

I noticed that you had made changes to the capitalization of some words in the titles. I have consulted with my colleagues who write collateral for publishing and along with my past experiences in writing and publishing event documents, it is not correct to capitalize words like "A", "As", "In", "To, "The" etc. The opposite is also true: The "major" (for lack of a better word) words in a title should be capitalized. Therefore, I did not make those changes.

When you have the other documents and information for the syllabus, just send it along and I'll insert it as quickly as I can.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Oh my gosh, i'm still shaking after hitting send...

It hurts, it hurts!

What do you do, when someone asks you to do something that you KNOW is wrong?

You KNOW it's wrong, and it pains you to do it, but you feel you can't speak up or say anything about it?

Now, before you start thinking that someone has asked me to kill someone else for them, it is nothing like that. At all.

I am a coordinator. I plan events and do almost everything in between for an event. One of those things is building a syllabus or program guide for an event / conference. Most of the events i organize are conferences for the healthcare industry.

When i build a program guide or syllabus, i take the info someone gives me which usually comes in the form of a word document and i flash it up, take out extra spaces, make corrections etc. etc.

With this syllabus i'm currently working on, it had a lot of small errors like capitalizing Every Word In A Title Including The 'Thes' And 'Ands' And 'As' And 'Ins' etc. etc.

I corrected them so that only the appropriate words in the titles were capitalized.

I sent it back for review, and she sent it back to me with a ton of track changes and she changed back ALL of the words i had de-capitalized.

It looks stupid, and unprofessional and it pains me to go back and make every insignificant word start with a capital.

Should i say something or let it go? This isn't my conference, and techincally i just carry out their wishes and make happen what they want, and if they want their titles to be capitalized and incorrect, i guess i should let it be, right?

This person is older, and supposedly has done this before, but she's a nurse and so that tells me that she hasn't had to do a lot of writing and editing etc.

Thoughts?

p.s. i KNOW i'm horrible about things like that when i write here, but when i'm making something that goes to print, it's different....k?

I'll take it!!

Ok,

I've calmed down considerably since Saturday when it seemed as though i had rushed into a huge decision.

I should add that it seems to have been a weekend filled with quick and impulsive decisions.

I got my hair cut on Friday and i didn't expect to. I went in thinking i would get a trim, and the next thing i knew i walked out of there looking like victoria beckham.

i liked it initially, but then the fear set in that i wouldn't have "long enough" hair for my wedding and i've been stressing all weekend about it and how my hair is now "too short".

Update: today, monday morning, i like my hair again, and if i have to, i'll get extensions for my wedding...kidding!!

ok, so that was friday. Saturday, my mom and i had plans to see the Phantom of the Opera. It's her birthday and she's been staying with me for the past week to help with the gardening. I treated her to the Phantom for her birthday (and because i have this weird obsession with the Phantom of the Opera...)

I wanted to maximize my mommy and me time so i made appointments for us at a couple of bridal stores. We had one appointment last Tuesday, and it was ok. The woman had beautiful gowns, but for what i was looking for it was going to be crazy expensive (or at least, an amount that i would not be comfortable spending). Again, she was nice, and showed us some less expensive alternatives, but i knew they weren't what i was looking for.

On Saturday morning, my mom and i went to our second appointment before the Phantom. I really didn't know what to expect as i found this store on the internet after doing a google search for a designer dress i saw in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. She is the only one in Ottawa who carries this designer. I called her to see if she had that particular dress (in the magazine) she said "no, because that line ranges from $15,000 - $20,000 and there really isn't the market for that kind of dress in Ottawa"

No shit.

She did add that she carried a lot of this designer in a much lower price range and invited me to come and see if there is anything else i liked.

I agreed, thinking it couldn't hurt.

On saturday, my mom and i drove downtown and parked the car. We started to walk towards the store and my mom asked why i wasn't bringing my wallet. I told her "well, i'm not going to buy anything today". I honestly thought i would be shopping for a dress for months. I had also planned to make a trip to Montreal and Toronto, as well as make several outings with my sister and bridesmaids.

In the end, i ran back to grab my wallet "just in case" but mumbled a few more times how i "really don't need it".

When we arrived in the store, we were greeted by the sweetest woman, Rena. She started off by pulling out the catalogue for the designer i said i liked. We flipped through it and i pointed out dresses that i thought i would like to try on. I chose maybe 8 dresses that i wanted to try on. As she was taking me back to the dressing room, i saw this dress on a mannequin and stopped to stare at it. I said "Rena, i LOVE this dress, i really want to try it on". She said "ok, but i'm surprised, because it's not what you said you wanted, and you didn't even make a peep when we flipped by it in the catalogue". I said "hmmmm" and said again, "i really want to try this one."

So into the change room i went. I tried on two full lace empire waist gowns. Both beautiful but not "IT". The next one i tried on was also full lace with an a-line skirt but didn't do anything for me. I was getting worried. These were all dresses that i knew i wanted and the were actually beautiful dresses but i wasn't getting that "This is it!!" feeling from any of them. When i put on the third one, my mom starting crying and telling me how beautiful the dress was and how perfect it was. i was Really getting worried at this point because i thought for sure if my mom was crying then it was supposed to be "the one" but i just didn't love it on me.

After standing around in that third dress for about 30 minutes while both my mom and Rena kept fiddling with it to try and convince me that this was the dress, i finally said "i would really like to get out of this dress now and try THAT one on (pointing to the one i saw on the mannequin). Rena obliged (although i knew she thought the one i currently had on was the best) and took it off the mannequin for me to try on.

As soon as i emerged from the change room and looked in the mirror, I. KNEW.

immediately i said "yup, this is the one".

My mom had her mouth on the floor and exclaimed how "stunning" it was and how it looked a thousand times better on me than on the mannequin (thanks mom).

She kept her mouth open and her eyes wide as she walked around me touching the dress exclaiming that it was "just perfect" and "exquisite". She couldn't say anything more than that.

I just stood there looking at myself in the mirror with a huge grin on my face and said "i'll take it"

(thank GOD it was well under my budget...how lucky??)

OMG

i bought my dress















my WEDDING dress













Today












i tried on 4 dresses and had to have this one













am i crazy????

The pics i promised

Hi All,

Here are the pics i promised.

Here's a picture of the guest room before we moved into the house:

Clearly they had 2 little girls who loved pink...

Here's the guest room after we painted it but before we did anything else to it:

Here's what it looked like when it was all finished:

Ha know i know you're all dying to get an invitation to stay over at Chez Roz's Boutique Hotel!

;)

Tattle tale Roz

OH GOD.

I'm one of THOSE people.

I'm pretty sure i just got one of my colleagues in trouble. I didn't mean to i swear!!!


Here's the scoop: I was very suddenly given a new role at work: to be a coordinator for a committee. Like i said, it was very sudden and very weird for lack of a better word. I'm obviously the best person to handle it because of my other role in the organization but i was not made aware of any thoughts or discussions around this new role being given to me until it happened and i was one of the people on the email that said "please note Roz is now the coordinator for this committee."

Okaaaaaay......

So i'm thinking, whatever, i'll just do what i'm told and if i mess up i'll say that it's because i had no idea what i was even supposed to do because no one told me.

The girl who used to be the coordinator of this position sent out an email to the members of the commmittee making them aware of the change. There just so happens to be a teleconference today with the committee and i'm supposed to head it (just so you can get a better understanding of the timeline, i was made aware of my new role two days ago).

So my manager pays me a visit today and says "i just want to let you know that i spoke with the girl who used to have this position and i told her i didn't want her to just 'dump' everything on you. She'll be by later to see you and go over things with you".

I said "oh, ok, ya she came by and there's a teleconference tonight that i'm supposed to head up and take minutes for". Well my manager just flipped out and said "WHAT??? YOU??? but you don't know anything about the committee!! She shouldn't have dumped this on you!!". She made me follow her to this girl's desk while she told her - in front of me - how it's not very professional of her to just dump this on me without giving me some more guidance and a longer transition period.

I felt so bad. My face must have been 10 shades of red. It sounded like i went to my manager and cried to her about how i had to head the teleconferece tonight which wasn't the case at all. I mean, i've done many-a-teleconference and although i wasn't thrilled about being given 2 days notice, it wasn't something that i couldn't handle. I mean, this girl did come and see me and although i still have no idea what this committee is about, i just figured i would pick it up as i went along. I had no intention of getting this girl in trouble and it totally looks like i went to my boss to tell on her.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time for me. I was just starting to feel somewhat integrated into the organization. I mean, no one asks me to join them for lunch or anything yet, but at least people smile at me in the hallway and compliment my outfits once in a while. I was JUST starting to feel comfortable making small talk with these people. And on top of all that, this girl is one of the nicer people and probably closest to my age whereas most of the other people are nearning retirement.

Why oh why did this have to happen to me and why did it have to be with that nice girl?

I feel horrible now and i want to send her an email "apologizing" but i also don't want to bad mouth my manager.

sigh.....

what i've been up to and what i like to do

Hello Jello!

Sorry (again) for being MIA. I've been up to a few things.

Last week i had this burning desire to do a puzzle. I don't know why i wanted to do a puzzle so bad since i think i've only ever done one puzzle before in my whole life. But i felt like it so i went to the store and bought a $10 puzzle and worked on it non-stop until it was finished for 2 days. I will post pics of it soon!

My mumma is visiting me this week. It's her birthday on Saturday and i invited her to come to Ottawa to see the Phantom of the Opera. So she came up a week early (since she's retired) to visit, and make my front lawn into a garden. I love putting my retired mother to work!

So in preparation for her arrival, Mat and i have been busing completing the guest room. It. looks. awesome. if i do say so myself. I also took pics of it and will post soon.

I know you're all dying to see photos of the go-onings this week and last and i promise i will get them up soon and by soon i mean when i feel like getting off my lazy ass and uploading them to the computer because i need the space back on the memory card.

So for now, i thought it would be fun to play a game. Feel free to play along. It can be quite humorous!

The Game:

Go to google and type your name and "likes to" in quotations. eg: "Tom likes to". Write copy and paste the first 10 things that come up.

1. Roz likes to travel light and seize the moment
2. Roz likes to think of it as a modern day Bill Withers or Hall and Oats
3. Roz likes to show patients what she's learned and would be happy to meet with you
4. Roz likes to look for information and then organize it in a useful manner
5. Roz likes to make out in my living room and then tell me i should mack it!
6. Roz likes to supervise her "dad's" work
7. Roz likes to keep herself groomed
8. Roz likes to tell the stories about the animals that appear from thin air, strange spiritual presences, and how "weird things happen around here"
9. Roz likes to have her picture taken
10. Roz likes to meow at us in a grumpy way and i meow right back

ok, so some of them i just don't get, but a few of them are kinda funny. What do "you" like to do?