It's like summertime!

I love wearing new shoes! I wore one of my newest pairs today when I went to lunch with my friend and then my Spirituality and Healing group. Unfortunately, new shoes don't always love me :( I ended up with blisters on my heels and some pre-blisters on other parts of my feet. Oops. It's the price I sometimes have to pay for summer shoes :)

It's unseasonably hot here - it was over 20C today and is expected to be 24C tomorrow! Of course this is very welcome because I, for one, am tired of the cold and rain and snow. Hopefully the rain they're forecasting for the weekend won't show up.

Edited: the shoes I was wearing are Carmea by Nine West. The shoelace detail, together with the quilted satin and the suede, caught my eye. The other pair of shoes I bought are very similar to this pair by DKNY; there are some subtle patch placement differences but the shoe is essentially the same. It's super-comfortable and cute - and the sole says dkny all over the place.

On my way to Mississauga

Shhhh.... can you hear it? The caCAW, caCAW, caCAW at the edge of your hearing? No? Well, I can hear it, but just barely - it's the call of the Winners store and it's loudest when you're near one.

As I was tonight. I'm dog-sitting in Mississauga tomorrow morning so headed there this evening. I had told Ian that I wouldn't be stopping at the Winners on the way to my destination, even though it is my favourite Winners. I meant it when I said it, too. Really.

But then as I got nearer and nearer I heard its caCAW call and thought, "well, I guess I could go in for only 15 or 20 minutes to look only at shoes." I have been looking for two specific pairs of shoes: one black ballet slipper with rounded toe and one that I can wear with pants to walk around in. I've told Ian about my hunt for these shoes before, so he knows that I've been looking for them.

I found both of those pairs of shoes tonight at Winners and both were on sale!!!!! I also found a couple of other pairs of shoes that were on sale that I could have bought but decided to pass up. In the end, I got exactly what I was looking for at a very inexpensive price - clearly, heeding the Winners' caCAW call pays off. I've learned my lesson: if I hear the caCAW call of the Winners store, I'm heading in. Don't try and stop me! :)

Something like productive

I had to get up early today so I set two alarms. It worked! I was up on time. Yay!

I filled my day with aimless wandering from store to store. Remember the dress I'd been trying to fix up for the wedding? It didn't work out, although I never posted that. I made a critical error and had to abandon it :( Well, an identical one was marked down to $19 so I bought it and will try again :) I also bought more sew-in rhinestones on a shirt. And I bought some stretch satin fabric on sale in some new colours.

That was really all I bought, which is pretty amazing considering the number of stores I wandered into. At one point I was looking at this gorgeous lace sling-back peep-toe platform stiletto JLo shoe in my size but I couldn't find its mate no matter how hard I looked. It's a store that has all of its inventory out so the shoe should have been there somewhere. I guess it's ok that I didn't find it because it wasn't cheap. But it was gorgeous.

I also didn't buy the other pair of JLo shoes I tried on that were marked down to $31. I loved them but they hurt my baby toes so I passed them up. See? I didn't buy a lot of things today. :)

Since I shopped pretty much all day, I didn't sew. I am hoping to sew tomorrow.

My family Christmas

My family Christmas went really well - certainly better than the last few years. Yay! The saddest part was that one of my sisters was much to sick (and apparently contagious) to attend and so she and her family drove back to Southern Alberta today. We all missed her and her family a lot.

When we got there, we chatted and nibbled on food a bit, ordered Chinese food, opened gifts while nibbling on food, chatted more, and ate Chinese food. After that, everyone else chatted while I slept on the couch. I think I had nibbled and eaten too much and my tummy felt upset. For some reason my body told me to go to sleep, so I did.

When I woke up about an hour later everyone was chatting and stuff. It was really nice.

I felt really welcomed by my family and it seemed that everyone else there felt the same way. I hope that this is the beginning of better Christmas celebrations for my family.

Oh! In case you were wondering what I decided to wear to the celebration, I wore my new red top and my long stretch-velvet mermaid skirt that I made for bellydancing. I wore some great Cubic Zirconia earrings, a grey headband with rhinestones on it, and a sparkly silver bangle. I looked quite nice, if I do say so myself :)

And just to clean up something else - I am keeping the extra pair of shoes (pair #1) that I bought the other day. They'll be useful.

Shoes, glorious shoes

Since I bought that great dress yesterday, I had to go out and see if I could find some shoes to go with it. I went shopping today for shoes and have bought two pairs.

You see, I found pair #1 - cream satin stiletto heel, cream mesh sides with some silver sparkle, and an open toe - which were comfortable and I thought that they might be nice, but I wasn't sure. They were on sale and so I figured that the price was right but I didn't want to buy anything that wouldn't be useful. I'm sure Ian is very proud of me for having learned to show some restraint in shoe-buying :)

Anyways, I put those on hold and continued my search. I found pair #2 - strappy leather silver stiletto heels - which looked good and felt fabulous and I thought they might be nice, too, but again I wasn't sure.

So I bought pair #2 and went back and bought pair #1. Both pairs can be returned as long as they're not worn outside and I thought I would look at both and return the ones that didn't work as well. Pair #1 is the kind of shoe I usually buy: it has nothing on top of the foot and so my legs look longer. This helps me to look a little bit taller than I am. :) Pair #2 has straps on top of the foot and fastens behind the ankle, which is not what I usually buy, but since the dress is ankle length I thought the straps would "fill-in" my foot below the dress.

I brought them home to my parent's place and tried them on with the dress. Pair #2 is the winner!!!!!

But now I don't want to return pair #1. I have had occasion to want shoes like this, and they were quite inexpensive. I have another beigh-y high-heeled shoe but they're a little on the small side and so my toes go numb after about 20 minutes. Today's pair #1 would work with just about any knee-length skirt or dress, which is what I usually wear. I'm going to sleep on it and make the final decision tomorrow about whether to keep pair #1.

If you're interested, this is pair #2. Pretty, aren't they? They look even prettier on my feet :) I can't find a picture of pair #1 as they're made by the house brand of the store where I purchased them.

Boxing Day shopping

Today being Boxing Day with lots of good sales, one of my sisters and I went shopping. We weren't really shopping for anything in particular; we just like looking at stuff and trying things on for fun. My sister made me try things on that I would never try myself.

One of those things was a gorgeous red satin/crepe bias cut dress (gown?). It has a very slight cowl neckline, a spaghetti strap on one side, and a thicker twisted fabric strap on the other. The dress is divided into panels so that it has a mermaid effect and the bottom has quite a lot of swing. The crepe side of the fabric is used over the mid-section so that it does not shine and highlight the lumps and bumps I have there. At the same time, its satin shininess at the top and bottom help to draw the eye away from the midsection. It is gorgeous on me :) Honestly, I think it looks better on me than on the mannequin in the picture, partly because it is a little longer on me. I did think about this dress for a long, long time (and walked around in it - people I didn't know gave me compliments!) before buying it. I paid less than half-price (including tax) :)

I will need shoes for this dress - certainly better shoes than the one on that link above - and my sister and I will be on the hunt tomorrow.

I also bought a cute black dress with white swirls on it. It had an elasticized belt with fake patent ends - the belt really makes the dress look fantastic. Of course I remember the last time wide elastic belts were in and I wasn't sure that I wanted to give in to this same trend again but the dress was way too cute to pass up. It was 50% off and it can be worn in the winter with tights and in the summer with bare legs. Accessories will also dress it up or down.

Finally, I also bought a red top with chiffon and velvet paneling and some beading just under the bust. It is here (in red, not cream or black). It fits really well and looks awesome and was also 50% off.

So.... I bought more than I'd planned but I love love love love love love love everything I got :) Next up: shoes!!!!

Pain, pain, go away

I saw my family doctor today because the pain in my sternum has been steadily increasing. It used to be that if I was awake for about 12 hours in a day I'd take the oxycontin three times in the day and if I was awake more than 12 hours I'd take oxycontin four times in the day. Lately I've been taking oxycontin four times every day and that's still not enough to keep the pain under wraps. Sigh.

My doctor gave me a prescription for the Fentanyl patches again. We're starting with the lowest amount in hopes that it will take the extra pain away. If it works, I'll be upping the fentanyl and decreasing the oxycontin until I'm off the oxycontin completely. The only stumbling block is that I get welts under adhesives.

I talked to the pharmacist and apparently the fentanyl patches come in two generic versions, each with their own adhesive. Some people end up tolerating one brand over another (I'm not the only one with the adhesive problem). I'm trying one now, and if it doesn't work I'll try the other one. If that still doesn't completely work, I'll pick the one that works best. Reactine (an allergy medication) comes in prescription-strength and the pharmacist thinks that taking this should counter the allergic reaction to the adhesive (if I have one).

So even though I'd had those problems with this pharmacy before, I'm glad to actually know my pharmacist because she knows my situation and she tries to help me.

When I put the patch on, my pain did lessen. And I got kind of dopey :) No driving for me for a little while.

Oh - and remember that I wanted tall shoes? With a platform and stiletto heel? Well, I'd seen this pair of shoes a few months ago, tried them on, and loved them. They were $70, though, and I didn't really want to pay that much. Since then, I've been thinking about those shoes and looking for them everywhere. Tonight, I finally found them in my size and I bought them! They have a platform and a tall heel - it's not a stiletto, but it has a very strong heel. There's a tiny peep-toe in front. They're a pump and the front has rows of black sequins. The back and heel are patent leather. Yummy! This page shows them in brown, but those pics don't do the shoes justice at all. Imagine them with black patent leather, please :)

A whole lotta shopping

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. Yes, for the first time, we bought an artificial tree. It's a 4 1/2 foot tree with a pot (so it could sit outside) and has mini-lights on it. Our decorating scheme is blue and silver, so we have silver bead garland and silver and blue balls. It looks nice - I'll try and take a picture of it for you.

I've done a lot of shopping lately. I bought a backup New Year's Eve dress as even though I plan to make a dress, if it doesn't work out for any reason I want to be able to wear something. I got this dress, and I got it at a great price because it didn't have the sash. I don't need the sash anyways because the dress it looks nice on me as-is. The best thing about this dress is that it is a little black dress (LBD), which is something I didn't have before. LBDs are the right things to wear on many, many occasions; they are a wardrobe staple.

I also bought stuff for bellydancing. I got two beaded crochet scarves, a variety of headbands, some big sparkly earrings, some more sparkly hair stuff, and some shoes that I can wear. Some people are wearing slip-on slippers from Isotoner but I don't really like those. So I'll wear shoes that are at least as comfortable as those slippers.

I also bought a beautiful polka-dot shirt and two blouses that fit me really well.

Whew! I'm done with shopping for me. Well, except that there is this longing inside me for new shoes. Tall ones. With a platform and stiletto heel. Sigh.....

Anyways, tomorrow I'll finish my bellydance skirt. From now on when we go to class we're supposed to wear whatever it is we'll be wearing to the recital. The recital is at 7pm on December 14 in Cambridge. Tickets are $7 in advance and so if you're interested in attending, please let me know soon so that I can buy tickets for you.

Shopping and swimming

I got to go shopping again today! My friend needed shoes and we were able to find the perfect pair for her :) I also bought myself the cutest little red plaid purse. I thought about getting the similar clutch but I wouldn't have been able to fit anything in it and it didn't have silver threads in the fabric. I can't wait to get everything moved into my new purse :)

I also had both swimming and Well-fit today. Wow, that's a lot of work. Swimming is hard because I don't know what I'm doing and I do things inefficiently. There are supposed to be two other people in the class but neither of them showed up, so I got a private lesson. That worked out ok. She was able to really give me detailed instruction which was quite useful. I won't have lessons next week and so she wants me to be sure to practice swimming at least once a week outside of class. Hopefully I'll find some time to do that.

A good shopping day

I went to the Oasis bead show today. I didn't buy very much: an 8" strand of aquamarine faceted hearts in graduating sizes (only $35 - that sort of thing usually runs about $100), two 16" strands of freshwater pearls in silver or grey, an 8" strand of tiny blue sandstone dice, and an 8" strand of snow quartz cubes. I really don't need that much because I have quite a lot of beads, and I didn't want to spend that much. I'm very pleased with my purchases. I especially love the aquamarine; it's my birthstone and I'll have to make something for me out of those beautiful stones :) I'd be happy to make something for someone else, too, of course - let me know :)

After that I went shopping for a dress. We're going to a wedding in a couple of weeks and I always like to have something new to wear to those sorts of things :) I ended up buying this dress in red. Even though that link says this dress is casual, it's really pretty and I think it'll be fine for the wedding (especially with a cute black jacket over it, which I already have, and a red hat, which I have).

The colour is gorgeous! The dress has a swingy skirt and a cute top. It isn't all that well made - the cute swingy skirt has parts that need to be re-sewn with elastic. I also need to shorten the top bit and I'll do that by taking it up at the shoulders. However, overall I'm very pleased with this dress and think it looks really nice on me.

I already have shoes that I can wear with it. I have my tall red patent sling-backs that match it and some red suede flats that match it. I also have some black shoes that would work, and some nude-coloured flats that would work. So sadly, I don't need to buy new shoes for the wedding.

North Carolina juggling and shopping

The Renegade show was ok last night. There was a bellydancer who did contact juggling - both her bellydancing and contact juggling were good. She got lots of catcalls and whistles. Juggling is a sport practiced primarily by males, in case you didn't know :) Some of the other acts were pretty good and others were pretty bad. The guy with the two doll babies (he eventually made them out to be superheroes and they were supposed to jump on his head.... but they missed) was bad. I'm glad that we had an opportunity to go because we can't go tonight. I'd love to go but we're getting up very early tomorrow to go hiking.

Ian juggled all day and I shopped. I went to the Friendly Center. While I was there I pretty well exclusively spent time at Macy's because it is my favourite department store here. I tried on dresses and suits; I've gained a bit of weight and would love to have a suit with a jacket and skirt or pants. I found one I loved but it didn't come in my size, and the other one I loved would have cost me $168+tax on sale. I decided that I didn't need a suit that much :)

On my way there, I stopped at a Shoe Carnival store. While I was browsing around they announced a time-limited sale of buy one get one half off. Their prices were already reduced and so the two pairs of shoes I bought were a great bargain. Not to mention beautiful! One pair is a black patent ballet slipper and the other is a flat silver shoe with cutaway sides and interesting things at the toe.

OMG!!!!!! As I was looking to find my shoes so you all could see them (which I didn't, sorry), I saw that Zappos now has a Canadian site!!!!!!! They are shipping to Canada for a flat rate of $10. I can barely wait to shop there!!!! We in Canada can now get all these great shoes at all these great prices (the dollar is sooooooo good right now)!!!!!! I wish I had lots of money :) I tell you, this has made my day. If you love shoes like I do, and I know some of you do, I highly recommend this site. They have a big variety and their shoes tend to be less expensive than if you'd found them in the store.

On a less frenetic note, this evening we watched the individual and team juggling competitions. It was quite entertaining - I've seen some of these jugglers on videos so it's cool to see them participating in a competition. I'm really enjoying the shows here, and I think Ian is having a good time, too. We might consider going to the festival next year in Kentucky.

Insurance things

I'd been wondering why I hadn't been receiving those notices each month indicating that the LTD was going into my account... and I was also sure that I was supposed to get some money back from the dentist. Well, I logged into the insurance company's site and found out that I was supposed to get money back. When I called them it turned out that my address had been miraculously changed. The only place that could have done it was my dentist's office. Grrr. I've changed it back and I should get my $330 back soon. That's a lot of money to go without :)

I also found out that Ian is covered under my insurance. And that the insurance company would cover the entire cost of Neupogen if I needed it :)

I got an application form for a Christmas show in Ancaster. It's a two day show November 24-25, and it's $165 for a 10x10ft booth for the two days. That's a lot of money. The application is past the deadline but there are a couple of booths open, so the organizer said that I should mail in the application anyways. I guess I'll do that. We'll see if this works out. It would be nice if I did well there - I just hope I don't get sick :)

Oh yeah - I bought these shoes at Winners for only $12!!!!!!!! They were on sale from $50. What a deal! And I bought some gorgeous fabric with which to make a couple of dresses. Soooo pretty....

No blisters?

Today was pretty relaxing; my parents and I ran some errands in the afternoon which was fun. I didn't want to interrupt their routine too much while I'm here, as it's disruptive enough having someone stay with you.

Later on I saw a friend of mine for dessert and we hung out a club called Suede. I wore my new red shoes, and when you're wearing shoes like that, well, you have to go out and show them off, right? The club has a bunch of white couches for seating and has pretty nice decor. I think it targets a slightly older (25+ ?) demographic. I stood around in my shoes for over an hour there before my feet started to say anything, and I could have stood on them for a lot longer before my feet would hurt too much. I was able to walk around in these shoes, too. I think they're winners :)

I didn't get any blisters on my feet, either :) I used a product called Band-Aid blister block and it really worked!!!!!!!!! There were a couple of spots that I was sure would give me blisters but my feet are fine. I highly recommend this product.

A fun shopping day

I decided to go shopping today because, well, I love shopping. I went to the largest Winners in the area and tried on a bunch of things. I ended up buying four more shirts, two of which have lots of printing and sparkles on them. I have a thing for lots of printing on shirts. And sparkles. I share some qualities with crows.

I also bought some shoes :). They have a 4 1/4" heel with a 3/4" platform, are red patent, have a stacked wood sole, have a comfortable peep toe, and are slingback. They are these shoes (with leopard coat and black tights); I guess they're not part of the current collection because I can't find a better picture, but that's ok. These shoes are amazingly comfortable. I walked around in the store wearing them for about 30 minutes and my feet weren't rubbing anywhere, there were no incipient blisters, and the bottoms of my feet weren't getting sore. I think I will be able to wear them for a whole evening :) I love love love love love love love love them, although they aren't the most practical purchase I've made. then again they're not the most impractical purchase I've made, either.

I hope I can find a place to wear these fantastic shoes. After all, what young woman doesn't need a pair of sky-high red patent shoes? :)

I managed to make a bunch of earrings today. I very much like the teardrop structure that I used for these Waves of the Ocean earrings. There's something about this particular arrangement that really works, isn't too regular, and has a lot of interest. It's also not immediately apparent what the structure is, which I really like. Anyways, I spent the evening making a bunch of earrings using the same pattern for the bottom drop part. So I've made a bunch of earrings that have an interesting, colourful drop. I'll make some simpler, cheaper earrings tomorrow.

A very long day

I saw my doctor today and we're going to try increasing my current antidepressant by 50%. He'd originally wanted to double it but it already makes me really tired. I'm sleeping quite enough these days (or at least I want to sleep a lot). We talked about how depressed I am and about how sometimes I end up feeling stupid. I know I'm not stupid, don't worry, but there are times when someone will say something or use a tone of voice that makes me feel stupid. This has been a sore point with me since I went back to school after my primary breast cancer; the treatments left me with lots of cognitive difficulties and I definitely wasn't the smart, quick person that I used to be. It was and is very hard to deal with that. Right now, with me being depressed, feeling stupid happens more frequently and is more upsetting than usual.

While we were discussing this I started crying and my doctor seemed to get really angry with me. He told me that I wasn't stupid and that I'd been through a lot, more than most people and other things. Actually, I have no memory of what he told me and Ian had to tell me afterwards. Ian said that he must have had some reason for raising his voice the way he did, that he must have been using some technique with me and that it was planned and all that. I don't really see how that was supposed to work, though. At the time, I felt hurt and frustrated that he wasn't getting it. Intellectually, I KNOW I'm not stupid, and it doesn't help to be told I'm not stupid by someone who doesn't make me feel stupid in the first place.

One problem with my depression is that my thoughts and behaviours are NOT AT ALL rational. I kind of came away from the appointment feeling like he wanted me to just snap out of feeling stupid, and to feel another way instead. If I could do that, I would, but it's just not that simple for me right now. I know that ultimately I will need to do things that help me react better in these situations, but I can't do that right now. I'm going to give my employee assistance program people a call tomorrow to see if I can get in for therapy. However, I also need the chemical help via antidepressants to make it possible for me to try to turn my thoughts around.

My doctor also wants me to get out in the sunshine during mid-day, especially as spring starts to spring. I guess I kind of have a prescription for sunshine :) He wants to see me next week and I have an appointment for Tuesday morning. We will also be talkign about my pain; I'm taking my long-term painkiller every 3 hours now, so it's time to bump the strength up again.

The rest of the day went much better :) I got some new walking and wearing-with-jeans shoes. I also got my teeth-whitening equipment from my dentist. I'm self-conscious about my yellowish teeth and have been sort of trying to whiten them by using over-the-counter products. They haven't really worked, but I think that this will. I see my dentist in two weeks to see whether or not it worked :) I can hardly wait :)

I had dessert with a new friend and then we went to play games. We played Apples to Apples and they played Bohnanza while I read the rules for Hoity Toity. I'm looking forward to playing Hoity Toity; it's new and I think it'll be fun. I was glad to get out and see people - I haven't seen them in a while and I've missed them. Yes, I'm depressed sometimes, but I can still go out and have fun and enjoy my life :) It was a very fun, if long, evening.

Home again!

We just got home from Las Vegas about 1/2 an hour ago. It's been a very long day traveling home and we're both quite tired. As well, I only got about 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night, which is about half of what I usually get so I'm quite exhausted.

We did have a great time and we enjoyed the shows and everything. We are both very glad that we went and that we did the things we did. I'm looking forward to showing you the few pictures that we took and to telling you everything but I'm too exhausted to do that tonight. Therefore, I'll update this entry over the next day or so.

Here's the update.... I haven't put the pictures up yet but hope to do this in the next day or so.

Hotels

We stayed at Bally's. The first night we had a room that backed onto one of the elevator banks, so we listened to the elevators all night. This room didn't have a very good view since it was far away from the Strip. We requested a better room for the second night and got one as far away from the elevators as possible. It overlooked the Eiffel Tower from Paris Las Vegas and we could see half of the water fountains from the Bellagio. We could hear the music, too, which was cool.

This room was a long walk down a cold hallway from the elevators, but it was much quieter. We did prefer the outlay of the first room because it had a counter with a mirror in a separate area from the bathroom, which was a perfect setup to apply my makeup. The second room didn't have that kind of setup. It would have been perfect to have the first room in the second location. Still, the second room was nice.

Casino/Hotel layouts

The lobby at Bally's was fairly well laid out and it was pretty easy to find things. In our travels, we visited New York New York, Paris Las Vegas, Bellagio, Wynn, Aladdin, Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, MGM, Mirage, Harrah's, Rio, Bill's Gambling Saloon, Venetian, and the Four Seasons.

The high-end places like the Wynn, Bellagio, Four Seasons, and Venetian are beautiful. The ceilings are high, the carpet is soft, it's easy to get around, and they're well-signed. We couldn't smell much smoke in these places and everything looked expensive. The marble in these places was lovely and wonderful. The casinos had lovely ceilings, usually with draping and soft lighting. Even the slots areas didn't feel busy but felt elegant, spacious, and rich.

The one place that really stood out as being awful was New York, New York. It was loud, smoky, and confusing. We couldn't find our way through the place to find anything. Everything was crowded and it was hard to get around. Most places try to keep you in the hotel/casino because they want you to spent money, but they provide signs so that you can find your way out. New York, New York lacked these signs. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

The other places kind of blurred together. Each place has its gimmick and those were sort of interesting. Every single place is HUGE. You could walk around for hours..... and since we visited a lot of the places, you can guess that we walked for hours and hours :)

Food

We had thought that we were going to eat at a really fancy restaurant at least once. That didn't happen. We had breakfast each morning at the hotel and it was so big that we really didn't eat much through the day. The last two days I had Cream of Wheat, which is one of my favourite breakfasts. I guess I was missing good old wholesome food. The servings were HUGE. You could practically eat for a week on one meal.

For lunches/dinners we tended to grab a small thing like a muffin or baked good before the show and then eat half a sandwich each after the show along with a pastry dessert.

Shopping

As you know, I love love love love shopping. We went to the Fashion Show Mall, the shops at the Aladdin, the shops at Wynn, Venetian, and Bellagio, and wandered by the shops in every other hotel. Ian was very patient in shopping with me because I know that he doesn't like shopping at all. I appreciate his willingness to go with me.

At Fashion Show Mall, I managed to try on Christian Louboutin shoes :) I am a size 6 (36) in most styles and a 6.5 (36.5) in some specialty styles. Of course I couldn't afford these shoes, but if I ever see them for a cheap price then I know what size to buy :) I looked at a lot of clothing, which was fun.

At the Wynn I tried on Jimmy Choo shoes. I love them almost as much as Christian Louboutins :) I learned that I am a 6.5 (36.5) in these shoes. Again, I can't afford these shoes but I wanted to know my shoe size in case I see them for cheap.

Everywhere I went, I looked at dresses, handbags, and clothes. I wanted inspiration for the handbags and earrings that I make, and I wanted to look at the clothes made by some top designers like Roberto Cavalli, bebe, Chanel, Dior, and others. It was satisfying to look at all of these shops.

The Venetian shops really do have a canal running through them, and you really can ride a gondola (which we didn't do). That was kind of cool.

Gambling

I'm not much of a gambler, but Ian sure likes to gamble. He did most of the gambling, but I tried craps at Bill's Gambling Saloon, blackjack at the Mirage, and table Texas Hold-em at Paris Las Vegas. I won money at blackjack and lost it at the other two games. I also played the slots and won some money there. Overall, I lost money, but I didn't lose as much as I thought I might.

Ian loves to gamble and spent most of his gambling time at Bally's in the Party Pit. He had a lot of fun. I think he ended up about even which is not too bad.

Getting around

We bought a Monorail pass, thinking we would use it a lot. Well, we didn't; we only used it to get to Fashion Show Mall. The main problem with the Monorail is that the stations are at the backs of the hotels, so you have to walk through the hotels to get to the strip. It also doesn't stop near the Fashion Show Mall so we had to walk a long, long way to get there.

A better option is taking the city bus. It's $2/ride and $5/24 hour pass. It stops at all the major hotels on the Strip, which makes it better and easier to take.

Of course we took taxis to and from the airport and from different places when we were tired. It takes a long, long time to get down the Strip in a taxi because of the amount of traffic there. A good taxi driver will drive through parking lots or around the back streets to get you where you're going. A bad taxi driver will either drive up and down the Strip or will go WAY out of the way. It's easy to get a taxi at each hotel because the hotels employ people who can get you a taxi. Every hotel has a taxi line; stand in it and you will get on a taxi within about 10 minutes or so.

Grand Canyon

The bus tour to the grand canyon was fantastic. We got on a shuttle that took us only two blocks. The tour bus was comfortable; I'm glad we took it as it meant that we could see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon without straining ourselves much.

If you're planning on visiting the Hoover Dam, you'll want to do it soon as they're building an overpass that takes you away from it. It's because of 9/11; they're worried that someone will smuggle a bomb of something and destroy the dam. Therefore, everyone going over the structure is questioned before they go over it. An officer came onto our bus each time to check that we weren't carrying a weapon or bomb or something.

We made two stops at the Grand Canyon to take photos. The first one was much better as the view was pretty and unspoiled by people's buildings. The second one was more historical as it had all of the hotels that were built to house people wanting to visit the Canyon. That stop was less fun because it was more touristy.

Shows

We first saw Zumanity, which is a Cirque du Soleil show celebrating sex and sexuality. It was very, very good. Of course the circus acts were amazing, and the strangeness of seeing the bare breasts did leave us. This show is rated adults-only and for good reason; they don't do anything overtly sexual, but it is very, very sensual in nature. If you are uncomfortable with some expressions of sexuality, including bondage and homosexuality, you may not like this show. We loved it; it was very, very good.

We saw Penn and Teller on the third night (my birthday). We thought that we would enjoy the show very much, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as we thought it might be. It was sort of funny but it wasn't quite as good as the tv show. There were some funny bits; just not as much funny as we might have hoped.

Finally, we saw O, another Cirque du Soleil show, and it was amazing. If you see only one show in Las Vegas, make it O. The choreography, costumes, and sets are spectacular. Even the theatre is wonderful. The fact that it all takes place on and under water makes it all the more amazing. Go see this show. Even though it's expensive, go and see it. We were up on the second balcony and could see pretty much everything, so you have a good view even in the cheap(er) seats.

Other attractions

Aside from the hotels themselves, the only other attraction we paid for was the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. It was really cool. I love aquariums and this one was huge. Ian made me touch a manta ray that they had. They looked funny trying to get out of the pool they were in. I didn't think that they would be able to breathe air, but this one ray did everything it could to get out. It was a pretty good show; I'd recommend it.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas!

Ok, ok, I know that you're dying to see the first necklace I've ever made... there are some pictures here. My hair should look better, since it was styled today, but I put it behind my ears. I realize that the necklace isn't everyone's taste, but I like it for evenings out. The dress in the photo is one that I bought specifically for Las Vegas. I thought I'd put a note about it in my blog, but apparently I didn't.

The dress is cream silk with black dots on it. It's a sleeveless sheath dress and it looks like it was made for me. Really, it is figure-clinging; Ian complained about the cost of the dress (only $50) until he saw it on me. It's very sexy :) It doesn't hurt that I've been working out and bellydancing for the last 3 months, so my tummy looks pretty awesome. I think I'm going to wear this figure-hugging sexy dress with my sky-high shoes (the ones I wore to the Christmas party - see them here). Pretty nice, huh? I don't know which night I'll be wearing this outfit when we're in Las Vegas, but it'll be one when we're seeing a show and I don't have to walk much. Maybe to see Penn and Teller on my birthday on Saturday?

We packed up our clothes for Las Vegas tonight - we leave tomorrow night, so we want to be ready. I have to pick up a couple of things tomorrow and then we'll be leaving tomorrow night. I'm very excited! As far as I know, we'll have the laptop and (I hope) internet access while I'm there, so I should be able to update you on our fun events each day. If for some reason the internet thing doesn't work out, then I'll upload all of my entries when we get back next Monday night.

Mostly random thoughts

I spent part of the day getting ready to go to Las Vegas. I figured out which outfits I was going to bring (including which shoes) and starting some hemming. I'm very excited :)

In my Spirituality and Healing group we talked more about how the Secret isn't at all realistic because it kind of treats the universe like a fridge where you ask for stuff and you get whatever you want. That's not the case at all - you still have to act on your requests; you can't just ask for stuff. You have to try to make it happen. There is a lot more stuff that is wrong/not accurate in the Secret, which, if you know about it, isn't so bad - I shudder to think that people take what it says without thinking about it or doing further independent research.

I went to the dentist yesterday and it turns out that I have two teeny cavities. Many of the pills I take cause dry mouth which contributes to cavities :( I'm also thinking of whitening my teeth at the dentist's. I'm quite self-conscious about my teeth and wish that they were whiter. I do have to think about it, though.

Random thoughts

I had to go and buy a new toque because I lost my other one and it's too cold out to go without one. While I was shopping, a pair of shoes jumped onto my feet and begged to be bought. They were very cute and on sale and so I took them home with me. They're this pair. It's the butterflies that got me. And the fact that they're flat and cute. I am so weak.

I also played around with some of the fabrics and stuff that I have. Since I have a tv downstairs now, I can keep up with my shows and work on stuff there. Not that I'm watching anything exciting these days - during the day I watch various Star Trek shows. But at least I don't have to sit on the couch like a lump - I can sit downstairs and play with my fabrics and try to figure out how to make stuff.

Speaking of work, I mailed in my insurance forms yesterday. Sigh. They wanted copies of all my latest scans and reports, which was a bit of a pain to get together. I will be taking the physician forms to my family doctor next week. I have no idea when I'll go back to work. I'm not going back right now - I'm definitely staying on long-term disability for now.

I was thinking about work, and it occurred to me that no matter what job I do if I go back, people are going to expect me to be the same person I was when I left. I was very efficient and very good at my job; I was definitely the go-to person in that group. I'm not that person now. I can't do that kind of work any more, because it's too stressful. Being the best performer and the go-to person and the one who knows how to make stuff work means that I worked every night on my BlackBerry. Ian used to hate it, because I was always checking messages and working and working and working and working.

So if I ever go back then I can't be that hyper-efficient person I was - or at least, I can't do it outside of business hours. I don't know how hard it would be for people to accept the "new me" - the people who don't know me won't have any expectations, but the people with whom I worked closely (and who haven't left) might still think I was the person I used to be. That could suck a lot for me and for those other people. I'll stop thinking about this unless I actually go back - there's no point stressing myself out over something that might not even happen.

Shopping adventures

You should all be very, very proud of me today. I went to Winner's (my favourite store), and I didn't buy this pair (Aries) of shoes by Betsey Johnson for $100, or this other pair (Meri) of shoes by Betsey Johnson for $100, or a pair like this (Lemore) in distressed beige leather by Steven by Steven Madden shoes for $60. Yes! Winner's has Betsey Johnson shoes!!!!! I love love love love love these shoes!!!!!

I wanted all three pairs of shoes, all right. I don't have a lot of need for the Betsey Johnson shoes because I have no place to wear them - I just wanted them because they're beautiful shoes. And I do love beautiful shoes so much......... Sigh. I could almost find a use for the Steven shoes, but the colour wasn't quite right so I passed them up. So I didn't buy any of these shoes, even though I really really really really wanted them, because I am trying to save some money.

Instead I ended up spending money on makeup - but it was substantially less than the shoes would have cost. :) One of the drug stores is having a sale on the Physician's Formula makeup that I love, and so I bought some stuff I didn't have as well as some replacement mascara - they have a creme mascara (Lash-in-a-Tube) that is fantastic! I did find two foundations that I'm happy with - one is a Physician's Formula; there's a lightest colour that is working for me (yay!), and the other is a Marcelle brand in their lightest colour. I tell you, this colour-matching stuff is tricky.

At least I didn't spend that much money today; I'm happy about that. And I was able to find a couple of products that I like that weren't too expensive. All in all, a pretty successful day. It was a good way for me to spend the day before my oncologist's appointment. I'm feeling reasonably calm about tomorrow; I just hope that it goes well.

Holiday party

We went to my company holiday party tonight. You can see pictures of Ian and I before we left for the party here. Aren't my shoes awesome? My feet hurt quite a lot by the time we were done, though. Still, they look fantastic :) I also spent quite a bit of time on my makeup - I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, too. I felt very pretty, and I think I looked pretty, too.

The party was held at RIM Park instead of Bingemans, where it was held last year. There were two main giant rooms where tables were set up. One was a gymnasium with a gym floor and the other was a fieldhouse with a plywood floor. There were a number of smaller rooms upstairs as well. They were nicer than the big rooms, but our friends were in the fieldhouse. That was fine; the plywood was easier to walk on than the gym floor :)

One thing that I especially liked about the venue this year was that the tables were round and set up for eight people and there was space to walk around the tables. Last year, there were long rows of tables and the chairs were very close together. If you wanted to get up, you disturbed 15 people to get out, so having space to walk this year was great. The other thing that I liked about this venue was that there was slightly more network coverage than at the venue last year, so I could more easily find my friends.

The dinner started about a half-hour late. Bingemans still catered the dinner. Unfortunately, that meant that the food was made over at Bingemans and brought to the site so it was a little less tasty than last year. The desserts were ok. Both of us ate too much, of course :)

After dinner there were the usual speeches exhorting the company's success over the last year (yes, we were very successful). The tables near us played some drinking games; whenever any of our main products were named, they took a drink. I don't know how many complimentary bottles of wine they ended up going through (there are a lot of products, and many of them were mentioned at least once), but it was a lot. The company did provide a taxi to anyone who wanted one; as long as the person can legibly write their name on the chit, they could have a free cab ride, and the taxis started showing up at the door at 10pm. Every employee attending also had to sign a waiver saying that they wouldn't drive if they'd been drinking.

When the speeches ended, the dancing began. The music was pretty loud, as usual, and so we decided to leave. As we were on our way out, we met up with some other friends of ours and chatted for a while. I wish I'd known they were there earlier as it would have been nice to sit with them, too - there was room at our table. Oh well, maybe next year. There was one other friend that I'd hoped to see there, but I didn't. I think she was planning on going - I hope she managed to make it, and that she had fun.

Overall, it was fun. The people who knew about the purse thought it looked great and that my shoes were awesome. The people who didn't know about the purse only thought my shoes were awesome :) Some people didn't recognize me because my hair is short and darker than it used to be and I was wearing contacts instead of glasses. I used this to my advantage to not talk to the people I saw that I didn't want to talk to :)

Compression garments

I got my lymphedema sleeve and gauntlet today. The gauntlet covers the wrist and hand up to the knuckles, so the fingers are free. They are not terribly comfortable, which is not surprising given that they are compression garments :) I'm supposed to wear the sleeve and/or gauntlet whenever I do any of my sports or when I am walking. I wore them both this evening when I went for a walk around my neighbourhood, and I was surprised at how much better my hand and arm felt afterwards than usual. I'm looking forward to seeing the difference tomorrow after curling.

I see my family doctor on Monday to get him to sign the prescription for the sleeve and gauntlet. I think I can claim the cost of these items against my extended health insurance, if I have a signed prescription. Hopefully the fact that I bought the things today (before my doctor signs the prescription, although it is dated last Wednesday) won't be an issue for the insurance company. If it is, that's ok, I guess - they cost less than the last pair of shoes that I bought :)

Shoes

I spent a few hours shopping for shoes with a friend of mine. We went to Vaughan Mills, which is a mall full of upscale outlet stores and other upscale-ish stores. The company Christmas party will be held in the next month or so, and I wanted shoes to wear to the event. I'll be wearing the same dress as last year - a black mid-calf bias-cut silk chiffon sleeveless dress, with black beading at the neckline and and on the ruffled hem - but I wanted new shoes to go with it. Had I not found anything, I was going to glue feathers and rhinestones to the shoes I wore last year to spice them up a bit.

I did find shoes, though. We ended up having to go to Yorkdale to find my size, but I'm glad that we did. They are perfect - I love love love love them! Even Ian likes them :) They make my legs look longer and leaner, and are delicate enough to go with the dress because they're black lace. They're very similar to this style in black, except they're not by Betsey Johnson (so no pink sole), and I think the heel is higher at 5". I have never worn heels this high before - I'll have to practice walking around in them!

I did also buy a backup pair of shoes that were drastically marked down - they're actually this pair, but they're black with pewter trim. I love the heel :) These ones will also be suitable to wear with skirts when I go back to work.

Friend's wedding

We went to a friend's wedding and reception on Saturday. The groom was a high-school friend of Ian's. The wedding was held at the Islington United Church. It isn't the couple's usual church, but they needed one that would hold up to 400 people. The church itself is really nice with lovely stained-glass work.

The wedding started about 1/2 hour late. There were six bridesmaids and groomsmen. Each bridesmaid wore strapless dusty rose knee-length satin dress with matching satin waistband and her own silvery shoes. I didn't love these dresses, both because I don't think satin looks good on most people and because the hems were topstitched. Each groomsman worse a cutaway coat (which I find quite attractive). The ceremony was of course lovely; interestingly, it was the groom that seemed nervous and teary. Someone handed him a box of tissue at the end of the ceremony :) The bride wore a strapless ivory two-piece dress. It was lovely, of course, although it would have been better had they used ivory tulle to decorate the church instead of white tulle.

After the ceremony was over and the certificate was signed, the bridal party took pictures with each of the different groups that had attended the wedding. As the grooms friends, we were dead last. It would be nice to have pictures like that, although it took a long time to do this due to the number of people.

The reception was held at the Atlantis pavilions at Ontario place. It was very nicely decorated, with white tulle everywhere. The table centrepieces were 2 1/2 foot vases with two orchid branches surbmerged in water in them. They were beautiful. There was also a big screen where people could see the action happening at the bridal table.

The bride and groom both have a Chinese background. Therefore, the first appetizer was roast suckling pig with jellyfish. I would have liked this better had the pig been warm, but it was served cold. It was ok, I guess. Ian liked it. I didn't try the jellyfish. The second appetizer was a mixed-green salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It did have spinach, but I'm sure that's not a problem :) The third course was braised imperial shark's fin in boullion. It was pretty yummy, although I didn't love the gelatinous texture of the broth. The main course was grilled veal rib eye. It was a huge piece of meat served with underdone rice and vegetables.

The dinner service was very odd. The tables were beautifully set. However, there wasn't enough bread for everyone at the table, so not everyone got bread. Also, the people clearing each course refused to take the cutlery away. No, really, they refused. They wouldn't pick up the plate unless the person took the cutlery off of it, and then they wouldn't take the cutlery from our hands. We had enough cutlery for fresh cutlery with each dish, and so previous cutlery should have been cleared. The bread plates were also not cleared, although they did provide a handy place to put used cutlery. By the end of the meal, the table was quite messy, however.

The non-Chinese food was not very good and tended to be very inconsistent. Ian's salad was swimming in dressing while other people didn't have enough. Similarly, his veal was rare while mine was medium-well done. I don't know what catering company they used, but I certainly wouldn't recommend them. The Chinese food was apparently catered by some restaurant in Toronto. I think it was probably very good.

Finally, Ian had requested non-seafood, non-fish dishes as his dietary preference, and they had a lot of trouble with that. For some reason, they thought he was vegetarian while they were serving him meat.

Dinner started a half hour late and lasted three hours for those four courses. There were lots of speeches during dinner (some of which were good :) We left after the first dance (choosing not to stay for the bouquet and garter toss) as I was getting tired. As we were leaving, they had a seafood and dessert table set up. The desserts looked very yummy, but the seafood smell was quite overpowering. I don't love seafood, and I don't like its smell, so the desserts weren't as appealing as they might have otherwise been. Also, it was 11:30pm and I should never eat that late :)

All in all, it was very nice to see these two people who were obviously very much in love get married. While it wasn't perfect, it was still a lovely occasion.

Shopping and a movie

We spent most of the day shopping. We're going to a wedding next weekend, and we had to get the wedding gift, of course :) We also spent some time getting accessories for the evergreen-coloured dress that I'm going to wear. I'd originally wanted to get new shoes that were flesh-coloured and sparkly. It turns out that I have some high-heeled pumps that are flesh-coloured (well, a two-tone beige) with some very subtle gold and silver sparkle to them. So I'll wear those :) I did buy a necklace, an ivory shawl, and some earrings.

This evening we saw The Illusionist. It's a lot like a con or grifting movie set about 100 years ago, and we thought it was really good. The whole movie was spent setting up the con, and the twist, when it was finally revealed, was unexpected and therefore good. The accents were quite well done - they were consistent amongst the actors throughout the entire movie. I've seen those actors in other movies and in interviews, and they don't speak like that in real-life. The constumes and sets were beautiful. I'd recommend this movie if you like either period films or con movies.

Fall fashion magazines

The September issues of the fashion magazines are out! The September issues showcase the fall fashion trends. The magazines are really thick with lots of ads from a variety of designers. They also have tips on how to wear the latest trends as well as compilations of the trends. I look forward to the September issues all year :)

One thing I'm pleased with is that the magazines have way fewer perfume inserts than they used to. In the five magazines I bought today, there was exactly one perfume insert. That number is way down from years past, when there were three or four per magazine. I'm noticing as well that there are more ads for shoes and jewelry than there used to be. Not that I mind, given that I love shoes as much as I do :)

For those who are interested, the trends this season for women are menswear, dark skinny jeans, leggings, wide slouchy pants, big poufy tops, layering, tartans, glen checks/houndstooth, black and white, dresses, miniskirts, platform shoes, stiletto heeled shoes, skinny boots, and gold everything. There's not a lot that I can really wear this season - big tops over skinny bottoms are not a good look for me (and neither are skinny tops over big bottoms)... and layering just makes me look bigger. Oh well. There will be other seasons.

Movies

It was so hot today (35C or so) that we wanted to spend time in air conditioning. Since Ian isn't that fond of shopping, we decided to see some movies.

The first was The Devil Wears Prada. It was ok. Meryl Streep was fantastic, as were the clothes and the shoes. The story was a little weak, however. What second assistant gets to wear the clothes from the company wardrobe closet for free to work? Really, the best reason to see the movie is for the aformentioned clothes and shoes.

The second was An Inconvenient Truth (also known by me as Al Gore's global warming movie). It's the movie of Al Gore's lecture on global warming. While his statistics might be a touch skewed (he is, after all, trying to prove a point), the argument is compelling. I highly recommend this film, especially if you don't believe that global warming is a problem.

Toronto

Vicki and I went to Toronto today. We'd originally sort of planned to drive into downtown (yes, I know that's not usually a good idea)... but then I realized that the Molson Grand Prix was this weekend, and so there were road closures and stuff. So we drove into Mississauga, took the GO train, and then the subway.

Our first stop was the Textile Museum of Canada. Unfortunately, we arrived before they opened, and so we wound up wandering through an art exhibit at Nathan Phillips Square. We stopped for a bite to eat at a coffee shop there. As we were leaving, I noticed an article in the Globe and Mail on how today's work environment results in ADD in the workplace (I was interested because I work in a chaotic environment - that's what comes with working for an email-based company. There's no way that I could decide to read and answer my email only twice a day :) ). The lady tidying up practically shoved that section of the paper into my hands, so we took it with us to read later :)

The Textile Museum was awesome. The current exhibit is on Wandering Weavers, and it showcases textiles from a number of nomadic cultures. There's also an interactive section on fibers and textiles. I assume that section is for kids, but since there were none there at that time, we played with the stuff :) Half of the museum was closed since they're setting up a new exhibit, so as we were leaving they gave us half of our admission fee back. That was a pleasant surprise since we'd already decided that what we saw was worth the $10 admission.

We then walked down Queen Street and poked into the shops there for a bit. I think that I'm not quite cool enough to shop there :) I ended up buying a top from some nameless store. We both really liked the dresses in Fashion Crimes, although they were quite expensive for what you got (the construction on some of them was not really up to par IMHO). Most of the dresses were 50s-inspired with crinolines, and many had some sort of applique on them. This store also had lots of gloves.

When we were finished walking, we took the streetcar down to Dufferin St because we wanted to go to Designer Fabrics. They have a lot of great fabrics there, and it's fun to go through and just touch all of them :) Some of the fabrics there are exquisite (and you pay for it, too!). It is definitely the place to go if you want upscale home decorator fabrics, dupioni silk (which comes in about 100 colours), or embroidered silks, all at very reasonable prices considering what you get. We actually ended up spending more time in the trims department than the fabric department. Vicki bought a bunch of trims and stuff to use in garments that she'll sell through her (and Ruby's) store on etsy.

Did I mention that I was wearing new shoes that I just bought last week for all of this? Ummm, yeah. That might not have been the smartest thing to do (although the shoes look fantastic and were mostly comfortable through the day).... by this time, my feet hurt. We took the streetcar to the Long Branch station and then the GO train back to the car. We finished up with "dinner" at Demetre's, and then came home.

It was a very long, but very fun, day.

My friend's day

I went shopping today at Yorkdale and Square One with a friend of mine. She's going to a wedding in 4 or 5 weeks and needed an outfit. We figured that it was best if we got the shoes first, because it's hard to find shoes for her (and I know from past experience that if you have an idea for a specific shoe in your head that you might not find it.... but it's easy enough to make an outfit, if it comes to that). Luckily, we did find shoes today at Yorkdale - they look fabulous and she got them 25% off because they needed a minor repair that she can easily do :) We spent the rest of the time looking for a dress. We didn't find one, but we did eliminate types of dresses from consideration. Therefore, it was a very productive day.

That same friend turned 28 today, and her husband had a BBQ this evening for her. It was fun. The food was yummy (he made a great potato salad and cake) and the company was good.

There were three babies at the BBQ that were all under a year old. It wasn't as hard to see and be around them as I thought it might be - I'd been a bit worried about that, since, well, I won't be able to have them. I find it difficult to be around very small newborns, but apparently that feeling doesn't extend to eight- or nine-month old babies.