ANT EATER

The house that we stayed at in Florida was luxurious, as I mentioned it was worth $1.2 million dollars.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Awesome kitchen and great layout.  The only thing that I didn’t like about it was the furniture was super tacky and old, the beds were not the greatest and it wasn’t as clean as I would have liked it.  But, that’s me being a bit anal (about the clean factor).

So, we had a bit of an ant infestation in the house.  Mostly in the kitchen because its where the food is.  It wasn’t a pleasant thing to see tiny ants crawling on the kitchen counter top every day, but what can you do?  On our second last morning, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and started eating away.  I was pretty tired so I didn’t pay much attention to my cereal.  About three quarters into my cereal eating I finally looked down at my bowl…guess what?  Dead teeny tiny ants floating in my milk.  OHMYGOD - I JUST FUCKING ATE SOME ANTS 8O . 

Totally grossed out, I quietly told everyone that the cereal was bug infested, dumped my remaining bits of breakfast into the sink and promptly threw out the rest of the cereal we had.  Normally, I would have flipped right out.  I was grossed out, but I wasn’t over the edge turned off, and it definitely did not affect my appetite.  I think since coming back from the Dominican in February, I’ve gotten a lot more chilled out about bugs and creepy crawlies.  They are still not my friends, but they no longer make me wanna scream bloody murder.  I’ve matured since then.  Although ants have never made me want to scream, but eating them by mistake should, but thankfully didn’t.  My friends would have had more ammo on me cause they were cracking jokes all day about it.

Well, at least I got my protein fix, eh?

UNPACKING

I hate packing, but I think I hate unpacking even more.  I brought so much shit back from my vacation its not even funny.  No, seriously, its not funny.

I’d show you a picture, but its too embarrassing how much crap I brought back with me (plus, who wants to see my underwear, right?).  I don’t know how to freaking pack for a vacation.  Maybe there are support groups out there for people like me who over pack?  What do you think?

The day I left for my vacation, I went over to my friends place before we left for Buffalo.  You see, we flew out of Buffalo, yeah, not doing that again – I’ll pay the extra and fly out of Pearson.  Anyways, my suitcase was heavy and I was thinking to myself “self, what the hell do you have in your suitcase and do you really need to bring two backpacks with you?”.  Yeah, I brought two backpacks, one with my laptop and the other as an extra that was holding stuff (I won’t go into details).

So, I came to my senses, somewhat, and did a bit of unloading and left my extra backpack and other things I wasn’t going to use at my friends place before we left for Buffalo.  I was able to fit everything into one suitcase and still had some room.  I was quite proud of that - I down sized. 

While in Florida, I did buy a few things, but not enough to over load my suitcase.  But my weakness, and it always has been, is shoes.  And, they are bulky, even if they were just sandals.  Oh, and did I mention that I had promised myself no spending money on shoes?  Right, and that worked out horribly, but I’m giving it another go, no shoes as of now!  No, really!! 

Anyways, with all the sandals I bought, it definitely took up the extra room I had.  My friend bought a hell of a lot more than I did, cause she’s a shopper, I’m a shoe shopper, she’s a everything shopper.  So, I packed some of her stuff in my suitcase, which then over loaded it.  Now I’m left with sorting it all cause we got home so late that I just brought it all home with me.  I need the suitcase for my business trip which is in less than 2 weeks…so I need an empty suitcase and I have to start thinking about what to pack for this business trip.  Aiya! 

VACATION RECAP

I’m at the tail end of my vacation and just relaxing and packing on my last full day.  I went on vacation witha group of friends, it was interesting.  We rented a house that’s on this canal in Florida.  It’s a  nice house – worth$1.2 million according to its sales price.  It’s a five minute walk from the beach.  The beach is surprisingly nice, white sand and not the kind that feels yucky, cause I’m not a fan of sand.  The water stretches for miles and wasn’t very deep which was good.  And, there’s a ton of shells to pick and also a ton of sand dollars lying around that you can grab. 

     

I’ve never rented a house before with a bunch of people.  I’ve done the cottage thing, but that’s a bit different, usually I just stay for the weekend, not a whole week.  Interesting dynamics.  There isn’t a lot to do where we are other than shopping.  There is water sports, kayaking, paddle boating, etc.  I was going to kayak, but it ended up not working out, which kinda pissed me off, but I don’t want to think about it again. 

So, today is the 4th of July and there was a parade going on.  Very much like Mardi Gras, they throw candy and necklaces out to the crowd.  The floats played loud music, it was very entertaining.  Americans sure do love celebrating the 4th.  I don’t think Canadians are as patriotic as Americans.  Nonetheless, it was fun.  I’ve done 4th of July in the west coast and it’s a bit different there, not as rowdy. 

Florida is not my favourite state, even though I’ve pretty much been all over the state.  But having seen a different side of it, I appreciate it more – there actually is beauty other than the swamps (well, Key West and Miami are pretty nice I got to admit).  Would I come back here again?  Probably not, and if I did, definitely not with the same people.  I’m glad I went away, but I’m also glad I’m going home soon.  I want to sleep in my own bed. 

TRAVEL STRESS

A picture of peacefulness….

I should be packing, but I’m writing instead.  I’m actually procrastinating.  I have a lot on my mind and can’t focus on packing right now, therefore I’m writing instead.  Plus, I’m waiting for the nail polish to dry on my cute little toes….ok, cute to me anyways.  Packing is probably my worse thing to do.  I hate it when I have to pack for a trip.  I never know how much to bring.  Or what to bring, or why I’m bringing it

Now that I’m going to be traveling more, with musings from my boss that some of it will be international now…yikes…I’m really going to have to divert back to how I use to pack.  Just bring what I need and don’t get crazy.

Anyways, enough about business travel, I’m talking personal travel.  So, yeah, have no freakin idea how much to bring and the polish is almost dry.  Almost, not yet so I’ll keep blogging randomly.  I’m feeling a little loopy.  I always do when I have to pack because it just drives me batty thinking about what I might have forgotten to bring with me.

On a different note I had a very nice dinner with my dad.  My mom’s been out of the country, so dad’s been by himself, so I’ve been trying to have dinner with him at least once a week on top of our trip to see my nephews.  It was fun talking with my dad, he tends to reveal more when my mom’s not around dominating the conversation.  He confirmed to me my worse fears, kidding, that my youngest nephew is indeed a replica of me as a child.  He also told me some interesting things that I never knew, apparently I have been to Hawaii, Korea and Taiwan, of course it doesn’t really count cause I can’t remember it, but it was fun to learn what a little traveler I was as a child.  It wasn’t as fun, although funny, to learn what a little princess I was as a child.

Its nice to bond with my dad.  I love my mom, but my dad and I have a more relaxed relationship.  Anyways, enough procrastinating, I must pack plus my cute litte toes are dry now.