So Many Stores, So Little Money

When they say, "shop 'til you drop" they don't mean it literally, do they?

I went on a marathon shopping trip yesterday at the Walden Galleria. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a ridiculously large mall in Buffalo, NY. This mall is so large (how large is it, Kendall?) that they have a store that sells RVs. Not just a little kiosk or office with pictures of RVs. Oh no, this is a store (that you enter from the mall, just like The Gap or Victoria's Secret) with actual RVs in it. Lots of RVs. Big RVs. Presumably one might need to purchase one to take home all the crap they just bought at the mall...?

Anyway, I was not in the market for an RV, but I was in the market for a knockout pair of shoes to wear with my fabulous outfit for Rick and Shara's wedding. Also, I had $50 in Lane Bryant coupons burning a hole in my purse. I found the perfect shoes at Famous Footwear who very conveniently had a "buy one, get one half off" sale so I also got these shoes 'cause I already have them in toffee and love them. I also managed to spend my Lane Bryant bucks wisely, walking away with two delightful and flattering tops and a funky pair of earrings.

What is arguably the best part of the Walden Galleria is not a store, but a restaurant called "The Cheesecake Factory." I urge you to peruse their menu, especially noting the 30 different varieties of cheesecake! You can even purchase whole cheesecakes to take home with you. Hey, maybe that's what the RVs are for.

I finally got home at 12:30am and unfortunately had to get up at 5:30am to go to work. My back and shoulders ached and my feet felt like I was walking on golf balls. It was all worth it, though--I've already started planning my next trip. Apparently there's a Ralph Lauren Factory Outlet store on Military Rd in Niagara Falls, NY...

I Love Five-Day Weekends!

I just spent a relaxing and enjoyable extra-long weekend up in my old stomping grounds visiting family. It was the first time I'd been back since Christmas, so it was really great to see everyone again. My little nieces are growing like crazy--the 5 month old now looks like a person and not just "generic cute baby". And I can't believe Hayden will be 4 in September and starting Junior Kindergarten!

My Mom's doing great--she just passed the 72 week mark for her cancer treatments, but her doctors have decided to change the hormone therapy she's on. The tumors on her lung have grown a few millimeters so they have taken her out of the trial study and put her on a more tried-and-true therapy. The trial therapy appeared to be possibly losing some of it's effectiveness, but the doctors are very optimistic about this new therapy given how well she responded to the last one, so we're all staying positive. None of her other sites have increased in size and the mass near her pancreas has actually shrunk to half it's original size, so don't worry--she's still doing fabulous!

The weather all weekend was lousy. I feel sorry for all those poor people who fought the long weekend traffic to come up north to open up the cottage only to have to stay indoors all weekend and then fight yet more traffic to get home.

Actually, who am I kidding--I don't feel sorry for those people at all. Lucky bastards with their $1million cottages in Muskoka won't get any sympathy from me!

Well, So Much For That

I've been really slacking off in the blog department, but it's because of my new internet pursuit--finding mashups.

It all started a while ago when I came across a song called "Kanye Mahna" which is "Golddigger" set to the music of "Mahna Mahna". Mashups have been around for a while but have mostly been flying under the radar of popular (ie. commercial) music. DJs like Lenlow, DJ Mei-Lwun and Jalad combine 2 or more songs into one song without using any additional instrumentation to make something that can often be greater than the sum of its parts. Take for example "Toxic Love Shack"--two great songs made even better!

I've spent the better part of the last two evenings scouring various sites for any mp3s I can get my hands on and I managed to find the mother load. This guy obviously has way too much time on his hands!

So now that my iPod is full, I guess I can get back to this blogging stuff. That is, until the next internet distraction comes my way...

Where Does the Time Go?

Wow, I've been back 10 days and only one blog entry! My apologies to all my adoring fans--I promise I'll try to be more on top of this in the future.

To be honest, I've had very little to blog about. I did get moved to another cubicle at work; my co-workers in this new locale were suspiciously enthusiastic about becoming my neighbours. I think I'm going to have to keep my eye on them...

I'm looking forward to having a temporary house guest this week. A friend who now lives out of town is coming back to defend her PhD thesis and I've graciously offered our second bedroom/my Honey's office for her use. This also gives me the excuse my procrastinating self needs to do my Spring Cleaning. I've got a whole colony of dust bunnies living in the corners of my apartment that need to be evicted before their reproduction gets completely out of hand.

Katie is officially in that special limbo between being an undergrad and a grad student and we will be celebrating the momentous occasion this evening with beer, BBQ and booty-shaking. Sounds like fun!