Love Is A Four Letter Word

Love is one of those words.  We all use it in different ways.  It has different meanings for each of us.  It has levels and depths and insinuations.  Some are afraid to use it, some use it callously.  Then there is the whole thing about putting the "in" before the word.  In love.

I am uncertain if I have ever been in love.  I have definitely fallen for people.  Actually, I fall hard, it's not pretty.

As for the word love, I refuse to save it for spousal purposes only.  Given that I'm single it is probably a good choice if I ever want the chance to use the word.  Okay, well I guess there is family, I use the word in reference to them as well.

I guess the family thing actually solidifies my use of the word in reference to my friends.  I definitely think of my friends as my chosen family and I definitely love them.

Hear that friends?  I love you all.

Happy thoughts...

Okay so this is not the entry I was going to post tonight. I had a somewhat lengthy blog about my views on my relationships past, present and future. It seemed to be getting a bit heavy and I felt it really wasn't saying anything but was potentially sounding whiny.  The draft is saved, it may yet turn up but I decided to go a different direction tonight.

I need to blog about the good stuff in my life. I haven't been lately. Okay, I know I haven't been blogging at all lately. but I seem to have been blogging some pretty heavy stuff and it's time for some random events instead of random thoughts.

So this past weekend was my 45th birthday and I celebrated with my friends. Friday night was a birthday party for myself and two other August babies. Happy Birthday to Calvin (August 21) and Stephen (August 30). Hosted by Matt and Chris it brought together a bunch of awesome people to be sure. Pre and post party hosted by Eric, always a good time.

Saturday and Sunday brought good times with more friends, Saturday morning coffee and movie with Colin, sushi dinner with Rob, hanging out with Shaunna and Harlee for a bit (Ninjering called on account of rain).  Sunday morning coffee with Kim and dinner with the parents. Throw in Happy birthday calls from my sister and my ex-wife (a whole other story) and you've got the makings of one of the best weekends ever.

Some other random good stuff in my life right now: Jessie, the best dog ever. Yoga. Starbucks Vanilla Lattés.  Aussibum Underwear.  Summer. 

Kids Again

On the first or second day we went to the beach I commented to my siblings that it would be nice to have Mom and Dad on the beach watching us having fun in the water. I admitted that it was a "kid" thing to say but we all did agree. Yesterday while we were out at Stone Island Mom said she enjoyed watching us as it reminded her of when we were kids. I thought was pretty funny given my earlier comment. She said they were counting heads from time to time just like they used to do when we went to North Beach as kids.

So we have been doing some shopping off and on but so far the only thing I have bought is a hat. I know eh, me not buying stuff is pretty weird. Mom and Dad bought us all something for their anniversary even though we tried to explain that wasn't how it worked. They bought me a silver pendant, a cross of sorts. Oh I also bought vanilla for Freda, enough to keep her baking for years to come. Other than that it has been mostly just food. My 500 Pesos per day budget has been rolling over quite nicely. Hopefully the shopping will pick up today and tomorrow.

Just to let you know I got up at about 7AM and came outside and am sitting on the patio writing this blog. So beautiful here.

Fun in the sun.

I just can't think that it gets any better than this. The ocean is so warm and we have had such a blast playing around in it. It has been like being kids again. Only we are not fighting like we used to. Not even bickering. There has been plenty of teasing though. In my family if you do something dumb it will never be forgotten. We will bring it up any chance we get.

Anyway, having a blast. Wish you were here...

P.S: I had my first Starbucks Vanilla Latte in Mexico yesterday.

The long Awaited Family Reunion Post...

...or Highlights From My Trip to the Maritimes. Part I

Friday July 31st we headed out for the long drive across Quebec. We made stops only for gas and to stretch our legs. Jessie was awesome, she spent most of the trip sleeping in the back seat. She complained less than Dan to be sure. We finally arrived in Edmundston NB and checked in to our pet friendly room at the Best Western. The room was well set up for pets, no carpet, and it had patio doors to the parking lot. That made it much easier to deal with the luggage too. We went for a swim. Okay I didn't swim at all but did enjoy the hot tub even though it wasn't as hot as I would have liked it. After the swim we headed downtown for a walk and a bite to eat then just relaxed.

Saturday morning we headed out to the nearest Starbucks which happened to be three and a half hours away in Moncton. Best discovery ever was that there was an H&M in Moncton, there would be shopping before we left. So we grabbed our Starbucks and headed for the family. In the end it was nice to see everybody and it was all pretty low pressure. We just hung out.

The cottage was rustic by my standards but much less rustic than it could have been. Because we had Jessie with us we ended up with one of the better rooms. The upstairs was all pretty open but there were two bedrooms downstairs with doors and we got one of them. They also had the only two double beds so that was another bonus.

The rest of Saturday was pretty relaxed, just hanging out and drinking. Walks on the beach with the dog. Enjoyable. In fact when asked later about my favourite moment the first thing that came to mind was those walks and runs on the beach with Jessie.

Sunday we headed in to Moncton for a bit of shopping. No great finds but Moncton does have an awesome mall. The rest of the afternoon and evening was the reunion. Reasonably low pressure and fairly painless.

Monday was a random day trip to "the dunes" which turned out to be fairly pointless in that dogs were not allowed. We went for a quick look around while my sister looked after Jess. Then came out and just hung out with my sister, my dad and some family member from Boston. That turned out to be more fun than the boardwalk on the dunes.

Tuesday morning we headed off to PEI. My sisters partner, Andre was not feeling well so he stayed behind and looked after Jessie. Somehow I ended up being the lead car on the trek but thanks to the GPS, I managed to get us to the Confederation Bridge which was a pretty awesome structure. We headed in to Summerside where we left the family in order to accellerate the tour as we needed to be at the ferry in time to head over to Nova Scotia. From Summerside we headed to Charlottetown and wandered around downtown. Had ice cream at Cows which is an East Coast thing. Awesome parody t-shirts there. I bought one and found one I wanted that wasn't available there but a quick BlackBerry message to my Sister-in-law had one purchased for me on their visit to Cavendish. After that we headed for the ferry and then off to Halifax NS.

More to come in Part II. Time to go get groceries now.