An Ode to the Minivan

I really want to drive a minivan.  I know, I'm a weirdo.  When Ryan and I were picking out my Civic, there was this gorgeous Honda Odyssey there that was calling my name.  The funny thing is, I'm totally ok with driving a minivan, which is a total mom car, but the thought of driving a station wagon....well let's just say I would rather ride my bike everywhere.  (Ok that might be an exaggeration.)

It's basically a sports car {via}

Minivans are practical.  They fit so much stuff!  My parents used to have a minivan and the whole family could travel somewhere together, which was fantastic.  These days, if we are going for a family dinner or to some sort of event, we need to take 2 vehicles because there is at least six of us. 

It would come in handy too for friends.  I used to drive my parents van to the bar (I was the DD, don't worry) and fill it full of all my friends.  (Were they my friends or just people who wanted a ride to the bar, I don't know.)  You can fit a 2 people more than you can in a car and are more comfortable doing it.  

If you get the extended minivan you can cram the back full of stuff too.  This is much better for travelling than my little baby civic trunk.  These days apparently they are dropped in the back too so that you can fit even more!  Plus stow and go seating, genius!

My name is Kaileigh, I'm 27, childless, and I really want to drive a minivan.

Who Am I?

The other day my sister and I were discussing what defines us.  We know people who define themselves by the school they go to, the job that they have or the sport that they play.  And maybe that is normal, but to me it seems like those things aren't really important in the long run.

I read an obituary once that went into full detail about everywhere that the woman had worked in her lifetime.  She had two children, and yet only their names were mentioned, not their achievements or the impact that they had on her life.  All we read about was her jobs.  And I thought when I read it, I hope that is never me.

My sister recently started a blog and her tagline is "Kindergarten teaching nutrition pushing sales stylist."  It perfectly describes her.  Sure being a kindergarten teacher has a huge impact on her life, but there is more to her than that. We are more than what we do.  It's about what we care about, what we are passionate about and how we affect other people.

But who am I?  I guess maybe I often do define myself as an Accountant or a Brock University graduate. And I'm proud of those things.  Brock shaped me into the person I am, but I chose to be an accountant based on certain qualities.  I use the term accountant to define my personality, not to just let people know what my career is.  Because at the end of the day, it's about what you come home to, not what you do for work.

I'm "thrifty".  Some may call me cheap.  But I just like to be careful with my money.  I like to have more money than I need.  I'm saving it for a rainy day I guess.  I constantly say I have no money.  That's a lie.  I have lots.  It just happens to be in a savings account and recorded on a spreadsheet where it is allocated to something special.  

I'm an animal lover.  Talking to people?  Not my favourite.  Talking to animals, I could do it all day.  Maybe that makes me crazy.  But my cat doesn't think I'm crazy.

I'm an introvert.  I am so very much an introvert.

I have a strange sense of humour.  I get it from my father.

I love my family.  I could spend way more time with them than I should.  Not that it's a bad thing, it's just I wouldn't get much else done.  

I'm a planner.  You know what they say: We plan, God laughs.  Story of my life.  But I will keep planning anyways.

So basically, I may not have a tagline defining who I am, and some days I really don't think that I have a clue who I am, but I'm working on it.



 

If you could see my browser history....

If you looked at my browser history you would see:

All of the trip plans for a Vegas vacation.  

Flights and rental cars were figured out.  We were hiking to this gorgeous location.

Havasu Falls

This is Havasu Falls.  There are a group of waterfalls down in the Grand Canyon.  The only way to get to them is to either do a 10 mile hike or take a helicopter, but we're ambitious and wanted to do the hike!

Had amazing rates at Harrah's in Las Vegas. 

Harrahs's

Unfortunately to do that hike you apparently need to book more than a month in advance...So the trip is off.  Hopefully some day before we are too old to hike 10 miles each way and sleep on the ground we will be able to do it.  I did look into other locations at the Grand Canyon, but it being only a month ahead of time, and trying to book Easter weekend just didn't work for me.

Also in that history are searches for Vacations to Costa Rica.  This girl right here is really sick of winter and needs to get away from reality.  Unfortunately Costa Rica vacations have yet to drop their prices by $800 per person.  Shocker.

Costa Rica

Then there are searches for trailers.  Because I have now convinced myself that it's ok to spend this money and so it must be spent!  

So all that is on my mind right now is trips, trips and camping trips.

Clearly summer can't come soon enough.

Spring Is In The Air?

For the past two weeks, the radio has been informing me that spring starts today and winter is over.  I hate it.  Because guess what, the weather doesn't care what date it is and I'm pretty sure that winter is going to last forever.  So radio people, let's not lie to ourselves.  

It is getting warmer though, and some days I see spring coming.  And then we have a snow storm...

But if spring were to come, there are a few things that I would like to do.

Tan.  I'm basically so white that I'm transparent.  And I'm not a huge tanner, but a little bit of summer colour is definitely not a bad thing.

Go hiking.  Not snowshoeing, hiking.  Maybe here.

Wear my Toms.  Something without socks!

Get a pedicure.  Because honestly, lately I just haven't felt like making my toes pretty when I'm going to stuff them into socks all day.

Have a BBQ.  Because we have a new deck and new patio furniture and I would like to use it. If spring is warm enough we can do this!

Garden.  Ha! Just kidding, I really don't want to do that.

See this lake without ice and snow on it

Literary Junkies

 

It's another Literary Junkies link up!  I'm just going to get right into it!

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it!

Right now I'm reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  It's our book club book for this month, and although I'm not too far into it, I'm really enjoying it!  It's also probably a book that I never would have chosen to read on my own.  

There are two different stories going on.  One of a young Jewish girl living in Paris during the war.  It is about this time when the French police rounded up all of the Jews in Paris and sent them to death camps.  I had never even heard of this before!

The other story is about a middle aged woman in modern day Paris.  I haven't gotten to the connection between the two stories yet, but so far both stories are keeping me interested.

2. What was your favorite series to read when you were a kid?
Without a doubt it was Nancy Drew.  I read them all!

3. The world is ending: What 3 books do you save from your collection in hopes to contribute to whatever new society forms?

Tough question.  Harry Potter.  Even though technically half of the collection is mine, half is my brothers and they all live at my parents house.  I guess I would just grab three random books from the series!  Maybe the first one, the last one and one in the middle. 

4. What is your favorite genre to read? Why?

Apparently it's young adult.  But I also really like mystery thriller type books and some chick lit for an easy read.

5. If you wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?

Ginger Snap.  I don't know.

6. What is next on your “to-read” list? Tell us about it!
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling is on there, as soon as my brother brings it home from school!  I still haven't read Where We Belong by Emily Giffin so I really want to read that one.

What have you been reading lately?

ShamRockin' at The Rock Game

Apparently I have some pretty good luck at Stag and Doe raffles when it comes to the Toronto Rock.  A few weeks ago at my friend's Stag and Doe, I won 2 tickets to a Toronto Rock Lacrosse game.  So on Saturday afternoon Ryan and I headed down to Toronto for the game.  

We started with dinner at the Pickle Barrel.  At 4:00.  Yes we are seniors.... But really we hadn't really eaten lunch so we just decided to eat early.  

Then we walked down to the game.  We had some great seats.  Unfortunately The Rock lost.  But the first half of the game was great.  The second half...well let's just say it wasn't so great.  

We also had our row selected in the game for everyone to win a $10 Tim Card.  So basically we were paid $20 to go to this game...


The other half of my luck is in regards to the jersey.  2 years ago at another Stag and Doe I won a signed Rob Marshall jersey.  I was pretty excited to finally get to wear it! (Because I don't generally just wear a jersey around the house.)  Plus Rob got his first goal of the season at this game, so it was a perfect game to break out the jersey for!  I must be good luck.  (Even though I don't think he even knew I was there wearing his jersey.)

I was wearing a skirt...the jersey is a bit big

My cousin volunteers for The Rock and we had some other friends there, so we all went out for drinks and snacks after the game. 

I've got to say, having some free tickets was great because we had a great night out and really didn't spend very much money.  That's my kind of night out!

Awkward Andy

I lived with 14 people throughout my University education.  It wasn't always a good time, let's just say that.  There are numerous stories that I could tell about these five years of my life, but I think I will start with the one that I will never forget.

Awkward Andy.

That's what we called him anyways.  So basically, I bought my own house in third year of university, and then had the task of finding roommates.  I had just taken a year off to do a co-op so all of my friends had houses and I was kind of on my own.  So my mom (I blame my mom), went down to the city to meet a potential roommate.  She said he was a quiet guy in second year and she thought he seemed ok.  Thanks a lot mom.

We tried to befriend him.  But he was so awkward!  And this is coming from a socially awkward penguin like myself!  I have some examples of his awkwardness:

Besides Awkward Andy, I loved that little house

• He lost his key all the time.  We would find it on the driveway, the living room floor, the counter, the backyard.  One day we knew he had left it inside, so we sat in the living room and waited for him to knock on the door.  But the knock never came.  Then we heard him downstairs in his room.  To avoid talking to us, he had crawled through his bedroom window.
• He would do all of his cooking in the middle of the night so that he didn't have to be in the same room as us.  One night the smoke detector woke me up at 2 in the morning.  He had food on the stove, but had decided to go out for a late night stroll while it was cooking.
• He walked to school, 45 minutes, in the rain, frequently. 
• After 6 months of this, I confronted him about using the phone (he didn't pay for it).  Things got a little heated and I told him I thought he should find another place to live next year.  He responded with "Do you have a problem with me?"  Um this is the most we have spoken in five months and you frequently climb through your bedroom window so that you don't have to talk to us.  So yes, I have a problem with you.

Let's just say, I was glad when he moved out. 

Spring is in the Air

Yesterday it was 5 degrees.  Insanity!  I was outside without my coat on.  

It's funny because in the spring when it's 5 degrees we basically want to walk around in shorts because it's so hot.  In the fall when it's 5 degrees we bundle up in a coat, scarf, hat and mittens because it's freezing.  But after 4 and a half months of this crappy winter, I will take a sunny 5 degree day.

It gives me hope that someday (sooner rather than later I hope) I will see this again.

That would be grass.  The mythical green stuff that is currently dead under the snow.  This picture was taken last May 24 and I'm not entirely convinced that the snow will be able to melt before then.

{pinterest}

The Start of My Birthday Week

Wow that makes me sound like one of those people who makes sure that they see everyone they know for their birthday, demands that they all go to the bar with them and that the entire week is all about them.

That's not me.  I promise.  I really don't demand anything. It just seems that by the time we have had a birthday dinner with Ryan's family, my family and Ryan and I just do something, a whole week of celebrating has happened.  I'm 27, most people don't care that it's my birthday and I'm ok with that.  (Frankly, most of the time I don't even care that it's my birthday.)

So yesterday was the beginning of that as we went to Ryan's parents for my birthday dinner.

It started out with gifts of course.  I got some camera filters, seasons 3 & 4 of Friends for my viewing pleasure, and some new Toms.

Toms with laces.  I didn't even know these existed!  And I'm glad I looked up with picture, because I should tuck the laces in like that instead of tying them....

Anyways, dinner of course was delicious and that's the part of birthdays that I love the most.  The food and the dessert.  So much goodness in one week!  Oh and cheesecake....I really love cheesecake.

What I Do At Work

I don't generally think much about my office job, because it's just what I do.  But one time, my friend who is a teacher asked me what I do everyday and how I know what I need to do.  I had never really thought about this before.  As a teacher, you go to school and you know that you have to teach every day.  A doctor goes to work and has appointments that they have to follow.  But what do I do as an accountant and how do I know what needs to be done?

First of all, I am an accountant at an insurance company.  So I deal with daily financial transactions that are made and recording things for the financial statements.  Well that's a simplified job description.  There are many different types of accountants and the jobs can vary drastically.

I have tasks that need to be completed daily, weekly and monthly.  Over time, I have just learned what these tasks are and know that they need to be done.  I know what my daily tasks are so that's easy, I just go into work and do them every day.  For everything else, I kind of schedule myself.  I know what needs to be done each month and when it needs to be done by.  I write them all in my calendar.  Mostly this isn't a strict schedule, more of a guideline.  It's basically a lot of time management and planning my own schedule.

Sometimes random things come up that take priority, and in most cases, my regular tasks aren't on a strict enough schedule and I can do them.  Take yesterday for example, I basically didn't ever get to doing what I thought I was going to do.  But that's ok.  It's what keeps life interesting.

I enjoy my job because it does vary.  I'm not doing the exact same thing every day and that keeps it interesting.  Yes I just said that being an accountant can be interesting.  

Growing Up So Fast

The Pipperstink turns 2 today!  And I'm a terrible cat mom and forgot to get her a fancy feast.  That's right, we like to make a big deal out of our cat's birthday around here.  Some day when we have kids we will think about how ridiculous we used to be when we treated our cat like a baby....

A year ago

Anyways.  So I thought I would share what Pipsi has been up to lately.

 I started a puzzle and Pipsi thinks that the pieces are toys.  We go downstairs and they are just everywhere.  

 This weekend, Ryan built her a fort.  She loved it! There's nothing that cat likes better than a fort.  She sat in there for awhile, came out, and then went back in.  It's cold out, I would rather be in a fort too.

 Lately she loves when we shower because it means that that thing in there drips!  She just sits on the edge of the shower waiting for the drip so that she can swat it.  Oh to be entertained the way a cat is...

I walked into the bedroom one day and saw this.  I will never understand her fascination with climbing behind the dresser drawers.

What did we do with our time before we became crazy cat people?  

My Biggest Fear

I'm going to share with you today my biggest life fear.

Don't lie, you're terrified of it too.

Here's the situation.  You're driving along and you feel a sneeze coming on.  You stick your finger under your nose because you have heard that can stop a sneeze.  You do this even though you know that a sneeze is never stopped, only delayed.  You try to put it off for as long as possible and then it happens.  You sneeze once, twice.  You open your eyes to ensure that you aren't on the wrong side of the road, or about to drive into somebody.  You sneeze again.

Phew, I made it out of that one alive.  That is until the next sneeze comes along.

This may be scarier for me because I am not a single sneezer.  I very rarely just sneeze one time.  It's always at least a double and is often a triple.  And I sneeze loudly and have a full body convulsion when I do it.  I'm afraid that while sneezing I won't be able to steer properly or something.  

It's only a matter of time until the above picture happens to me.