The day that never was!

February 29th is here people! Get your act together!

Today is that extra day of the year you always wish for; That extra time to do things you don't normally do.

Enjoy! With this video as your companion, you can accomplish all the things. These people are my new favourite. Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks. They got their act together and now they're going to be famous. I'm going to see them at the Sasquatch festival. Pretty stoked.

Days of the week are harder to learn than Curling.

I was literally just about to write this and call it "Monday bumday" and then I heard my roommate say, "Oh, Tuesdays..." and continue to ramble about who she'll be working with.

Welp. Shows what I know. I've had four days off, and this is the last of it. I booked it off to go skiing, but decided not to go skiing, so... I got a lot done, actually! But it's making my brain mushy. When you don't have to write the date down all the time it's easy to forget what day it is. This brings me to Ciao Monday! Which is still appropriate because it says "Ciao Monday / I'm through with you." Which is a fact. It's by Emm Gryner, a Canadian singer. Listen to it:

Anyways, I digress. Where has The Advantage taken me today? I practiced curling! To be good at curling (or anything at all) one must curl (or do said anything at all). Now, I've been curling all my life. Doesn't make me any good. And I curl on a mixed league twice a month. Still, doesn't mean I'm any good. Anyways, the sheet next to me housed a lady teaching another lady how to slide. I heard her say things like, "Don't drag your knee," and, "Don't lean on the rock," and, "Keep your forward foot down."

Then I looked at my own sliding technique. My knee was down, I do lean on the rock and my foot was always bent when I slid out. How is it that I've been doing something for so long but I've forgotten the basics?

I suppose we all need refreshers from time to time on how to do what we're used to doing. So, lesson learned: Don't just do what you want to be doing, do it actively and engage yourself. It will lead to better results.

No half-assing it in the arena.

Updates:

Drinking: I'm doing very well at drinking when someone else is paying. I'll get ya'll back when I'm loaded. Also, it's my roomie's Birthday dinner tonight. At Julio's. So I'm going to HAVE TO buy some bulldogs. Good thing I've been saving it up

Eating: Great! No fast food, no chips and no processed stuff. Also, remember when I said I'd quit drinking Green Tea? Why? Why didn't somebody stop me? That lasted all of three terrible days. Green Tea is also, as @KrrristenW pointed out, pretty much the healthiest thing ever.So I'm happily back on that train.

Writing: Going great! I am working on some web content that I will post once it is done. I've also made a proposal offering my services as a Tweeter. If any company is looking for someone to do their social media, I'm their interested and willing individual!

Personal writing: I think about it a lot... does that count?

Practicing the accordion: Uch. I want to say to myself, "Carrie, there is no such thing as not having time, just not making time." Ok. So. Where is this time? Maybe I need to... I don't know. MAKE MORE TIME!!

**New Project: ** Develop a concoction for Time, and then make more of it.

Will keep posted.

Also, thanks to everyone who's reading! I really appreciate it. Let me know what you think! I love comments.

And pass me on to your friends, if you think I'm so great, like seriously already. Gawd.

No pressure.

Planning ahead a few months, 'cause that's how you get things done

So. My trip.

I am going on a 23 day trip with Free and Easy Travel, an Edmonton based travel company that specializes in backpacking trips, to Greece and Turkey! I'm going with my cousin, Randi, and a close friend of ours, Lauren.

I. Love. Traveling.

I feel my most creative and energetic and myself when I am out and about the world. Especially going somewhere I've never been before. So, May 1st I'll be jet-setting across the ocean and I cannot wait.

Get it? See what I did there? See, I took Turkey and Greece and took alternate meanings for both... Oh. You got it? Explanation ruined it? But you got it? Like, Turkey, Greaze, funny, right? Yea, it is. If you see what I did there.

Then, just to make sure I keep my jet lag as long as possible, I'm leaving for Sasquatch! the day after I get back. As in, we land in Edmonton at 5pm and get into the car and drive to Washington State at 3 in the am with Randi and we're trading Lauren in for my Roommate, Chet. STOKED.

We know one of the bands (Nobigdeal) and the rest of them are just going to be stellar to see live at an outdoor festival.

Also, my birthday is in May. The 11th. If you wanna send a card that's cool. Address:

Carrie Robinson

GREECE (or Turkey)

World

Perfect. Leave the postal code out; they'll find me. Looking forward to your witty comments about aging and drinking wine and granny caricatures.

The point is, I planned ahead and you should too. It's going to be, basically, the best month to exist. What's your best-month-to-exist going to be like?

Monetary gains by fermentary losses

This one is a bit more literal. Or so it may seem...

I am planning a pretty big trip in May. I'll be out of the country the whole month (more on that later) and this, naturally, means I need to cut spending and dive into hyper-saver Carrie mode.

So, according to this very blog's mantra: Save money by saving money. Don't spend it. Keep it for something else that you need it for later.

Easier said than done, as most of you are probably acutely aware of. Now, I'm not a shopper. In fact, the thought of a day at West Ed scares the shit out of me. Actually. Anxiety attacks, the whole sha-bang. I own as many pairs of shoes as necessary, my food intake, as noted here, is now cheaper from less eating out, and I'm stocked up on beauty supplies.

"Where does her money go?" I hear you asking. My honest answer: Going out

I like to go out. I like to hang out with friends in bars and pubs with delicious deep fried pickles, pint specials and greazy everything. Sometime I like going to cafes where everything is clean, the chai lattes are good and biscotti is a word no longer meaning "cookie" in Italian but "expensive wafer" in English. Mostly, it's places they serve delicious, delicious spirits.

See you in May big guy

So it begins. If I am to save enough for my trip, I am going to have to drink less until May. I say this because that is what tends to lead me to order 2 plates of deep fried pickles, another pint, shots, another plate of deep fried pickles and a plate of nachos (just to be safe.)

And, of course, by drink less I mean drink less money. So, I'll be looking for deals! Keep me posted if you come across any!

Tonight I have a staff party. Their drink tickets are like gold to me.

Be reliable by being reliable... Please?

Some people's children.

I've heard people say they want to be more reliable. Well then show up when you're supposed to, do what's asked of you and be there for people. It takes time and effort to earn the title of Reliable. As a friend, a coworker, a student, a teacher, a societal being. I think everyone should take the time this week to earn that. The whole damn world.

There is nothing more frustrating than making plans, sticking to them, just to find out the other person hasn't. Or asking someone to do something for you, them saying yes, and then they don't do it.

I'm not saying that you should start saying Yes to everything people ask of you, or do everything everyone wants you to do, but say No if you can't. Or, as Facebook has so righteously taught us, the good ol' Maybe if you aren't sure. Don't say Yes just to abandon that Yes in a dirty, hidden, rarely emptied dumpster later.

Rant over? Probably never. It's my biggest pet peeve and I want it to stop. But, I suppose that's the thing with pet peeves: They're there because they're there. So they're not going anywhere.

PS: Eating is going great! Still feel great, except when I had the idea to switch from Green Tea in the morning to Mint Tea. Ha! What a laugh I was at the end of the day... Energy pick-me ups are pretty much a necessity in my consistently upturned life.

The Disadvantage of Doing Too Much

Uch. Ever get to the end of a long day, where you've been sitting in front of your computer all morning, running around town all afternoon and then doing housework all evening, and then you look at your To Do list and YOU CAN'T CROSS ANYTHING OFF.

How does this happen? I did my emails, Tweeted the Twitter, Facebooked the masses, paid my bills swept the floor and this was all before lunch. I then took off DT to sing with a lovely old woman (which I say endearingly) for about an hour, got my car washed for the first time since... winter, had a late lunch with a friend, got home and went out for a walk, did laundry, did dishes... And yet, I feel like I've accomplished absolutely and utterly nothing.

I guess I need to take my days off and structure them better, like, write a schedule or something. I do like doing things like that... But then I get carried away writing a schedule, and I end up scheduling my whole month, realizing that I meant to do a bunch of stuff and then my day is gone again!

*le sigh*

At least I'm wasting time to watch the end of Season 1 of The X-Files. I haven't sat down and watched TV in literally months. Just writing that has shocked me. So, if I've been too busy doing other things, why am I not where I want to be? I suppose I'm on my way, like Caillou. I feel like him somedays. Just learning, getting into trouble, being bald, moving along...

The Art of Drooling

One thing I want to be doing is eating healthy. It puts you in better moods, keeps you active, (and let's call a spade a spade) makes you skinny, and (most importantly) keeps you HEALTHY. I want to live pretty much forever. And, oddly enough, the faster the foods you eat decompose, the longer you will live. Fact.

So, The Advantage of Doing more shopping and less fast food binging has been my current sad, sad song. I work next door to a KFC, across the street from a Wendy's, across the other street from a Harvey's and within walking distance of a Timmy's, Second Cup, Starbucks and a Shell Station. The Taco Bell has graciously closed it's greasy (pronounced greazy) doors.

This guy knows where it's at

So, on days that I don't pack my own lunch, I must resist the stank of these places, close my eyes, and run blindly across the road to Booster Juice, which I enjoy.

It's just hard. I really love deep fried chicken. Like, a lot. And when wind is blowing the right way, and our vents kick in, and the KFC lunch rush is in full heat, the smell comes into the store like a plague. A delicious, battered and deep fried plague.

My only solace is trying to cook good, hearty meals in advance and pack 'em up in my Folk Fest lunch bag and bring 'em to work. It works! Actually, surprisingly, it really does. I eat, I'm full, it's healthy. Huh.

So long as I don't start getting too bored of things too fast, which I tend to do, this should prove to be startlingly easily done. Just don't go into establishments where they serve food that kills you, however slowly. Done.

Also, any good recipes worth freezing and bringing for lunch, let a girl know.