i have a LOT of packing to do

I'm slightly intimidated.....

time's catching up with me...

....so I'm slowly but surely edging into the final straights here. I'm a lot sad about that. It's funny when I think about coming out here, I was crying SO much - even when I got off the plane in Canada. But now I love it. It's weird how you cope and just get on with stuff....I think....is it? Maybe it's not. I don't know.

Anyway - enough of that!! I went to my first hockey game last week and i LOVED it!!! I'll get some pictures up soon..I could totally love that game :-)

yes, i know - but i've been busy!!!

So it's been a while.....

Am still super busy at work, so I won't bore you with that - still randomly enjoying it which is good.

Weather update: it is very very very cold. Anything I've said earlier about being cold, please disregard as I obviously didn't know what I was talking about. Today the high was -11 and that's the warmest it's going to get for the foreseeable. In the next few days, Calgary will be seeing lows of up to -29 and HIGHS of -24 ish. I just don't have the words.

So - the best thing that I've done in the past few weeks is make a quick weekend trip back to London for "the wedding of Fran and Kris". Fantastic, fabulous and formidable (the french version, not the english there....). It was a joyous day to be part of (and well worth sitting necy to The Most Annoying Man In The World Ever on the flight over) and I'm so pleased I had a good seat for the event!! I may have cried a bit - oh, alright then, a LOT. I actually sobbed my little heart out. I think it was obvious how much it meant to those two and everyone was quite touched. The reception in the Guildhall Crypt was amazing, such a cool venue and I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of all the guests out waving sparklers around outside at almost midnight. Thanks to Mary, the ubiquitous Irish landlady, the festivities continued well into the wee hours.

It was great to get back to London after all this time and see all my friends. It really made me realise how much I've missed you all and London. It also made me realise, or reminded me I suppose, that I am an 'out of sight, out of mind' type rather than an 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'. I wonder if that's a coping mechanism?? Before getting back to London, I could definitely have stayed in Calgary for years and years, but I'm not so sure now...the shoe shopping alone is reason enough to move back! Speaking of, I have a return date. I shall be arriving in London on Sunday 17th December for good. The Canadian adventure draws to a close. Which makes me a bit sad. The time has gone by far too quickly and I could do with another six or twelve months....but time waits for no man and all that...

Right - before I 'treat' you all to another Mooney stream of consciousness, I think I'll head to bed, I'm still not quite over the jetlag!

Ooooh - before I go, forgot to mention: the night I arrived back into Calgary after the London weekend, I managed to stay up until 8pm before I hit the sack. I was wonderfully ensconced in sleepyland when I was rudely awakened by the fire alarm. I tried my best to ignore it, until I heard faint sirens in the distance getting louder and louder. A fire truck and a police car pulled up outside my window flashing blue and red lights into my room. I peeked out my door, starting to worry that it was more than a false alarm only to see about six firemen running past. I promptly shut the door and went back to bed - I was soooo tired and figured they'd wake me if there really was a fire!! I couldn't get back to sleep (alarms, flashing lights, general pandemonium outside) and tried to think about what I'd save from my flat if there was indeed a fire. My handbags I think came top of the list....and then I fretted about whether or not I should go and put some clothes on just in case I did get bundled out in a hurry. After 40 minutes of crazy inducing noise, the false alarm was outed for what it was and quietness descended...until an hour later when the bally thing went off again, thankfully only for five minutes or so this time.

How bad is that though - handbags?!?

30

So.....there we are....and here I am...

30. Wow. That's old. I remember thinking about this age as a youngster and being convinced that at this ripe old age I'd have it all figured out, probably married with a few kids of my own. Turns out that's not really happening. What I do have is a lot of good memories and plenty more good friends. And the knowledge that the concept of age is a shifting thing. At 16, 30 felt ancient, light years away....but now? I know plenty of 40 year olds who still haven't matured (read: grown old). I can't pretend that I'm not slightly devastated at being THIS OLD, but I'll deal with it - there are plenty of other things in life to worry about.

I've done some pretty cool/ amusing things thinking about it, including living and studying in France, living and working in the US for a summer, jumping off a mountain (with a parachute), being stretchered off a mountain (yeah - not one of my highlights!!), moving from London to Dublin, moving back again to London, buying a house, paying bills, pretty much being independent from the age of 18, living in Canada, seeing Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge, travelling in Thailand, making new "best" friends in the ladies, hanging out with male models, being a godmother, kitting the parents out with a new front room, getting a job, getting a better job, travelling to South Africa for a weekend (and staying in a fanTAStic hotel), being the 'May Queen', going undergroung in a gold mine, playing on a massive mining truck in Fort McMurray (google it), graduating Uni (certificate in 8/11/2000 - cool!!) and having the ceremony in Irish and Latin so I understood NOTHING, recording an album, meeting Rolf Harris (paj - that one's for you!!), winning a PJ and Duncan competition on my 18th birthday (Fran - remember that?!?!), having my parents call the police thinking I was a "missing person", owning stuff already that appears in magazines' "hot lists" (I recognise that this might not impress anyone but me!) and knowing you lot through it all.

I think the best thing that I've done is make some fantastic friends. Friends who won't let me wallow as much as I'd like, granted, but bloody good people all the same.

cold

has a whole new meaning to me now. This week, when i heard on the news that the high was -4, i was pleased that it was warming up. Heading out in the morning with the knowlegdge that's it's -14 is scary stuff.

I need to get me some gloves

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

So....after being totally freaked out that I was late (EVERY YEAR that gets me, every year!!) I have now put all my clocks back the requisite one hour. Hopped into the shower while I put the coffee on to brew, out of shower, in my robe feeling luxuriously clean and moisturised, caffeine in hand, open the blinds to see what the day has in store for me

and BAM

Welcome to October in Calgary.....it's a winter wonderland out there! And still snowing. And I don't own a proper snow proof coat. And I don't own a hat. And I've lost my gloves (been talking about getting new ones for months now).

It's making me feel strangely Christmassy though, I've got all those "walking around the Christmas tree...la la la" type songs in my head. And it's not even Halloween!!!

[As an aside, I really miss Halloween in school, drawing witches flying through the moonlight over a darkened row of houses - you know the idea]

so...ummmm.it's been a while

How the devil are you all??

I've been a busy bee in the last month. I went home to Ireland for my cousin's wedding (photos on flickr) which was GREAT. It was lovely to get home to see the parentals and the two kids and it was also great to meet up with the extended family which I don't do too often. We stayed two nights in a hotel in the wesht which was a nice break for us all. The week FLEW by, but I did manage to buy not one but TWO dresses (including a nice blue one, so I'm all set for Fran and Kris's upcoming BIG DAY).

Since I've got back to Calgary I've not actually had a day off work, which sucks but (GEEK) I'm also really enjoying the work. And that's pretty much all I've been doing - just in the door at 11.40pm!!! It's kind of nice for the ego to be working on deals that are getting lots of press coverage though.

I actually don't have much more to add than that really....I'm not sure when my last day here will be, but it's rapidly approaching :-( I'll really miss it here, it has proven to be exactly what I needed and I've made loads of new friends and feel like it's done wonders for my confidence (I know there's some of you out there who probably think I don't need any help in that area at all!!!)

So...hopefully I'll be back to more frequent updates in the life of the moon. Tell me your stories!

Night xxx

whodunnit??

They're having to remove the microwave from the second floor kitchen at the London office because "someone has taken the glass plate".

I have nothing more to say...

wow I'm tired...

...I've just spent the day building houses!! Got picked up at 6.45am and have been busy sawing, hammering nails and shifting bits of wood about...I know this may be a surprise to a few of you, but I'm actually pretty handy on a building site - its just so much easier to play dumb and let someone else do things for you normally, but I have that smug glow of someone who's satisfied with a hard day's work. And I might even make the local news (yes - me working hard for a change IS a newsorthy item out in Calgary!!!).

I've had a bath and a shower and feel nice and refreshed and ready to take on the night's entertainment :-)

Before I go - just enough time for a big WOW for Cath - jumping out of planes over lakes??! I'm jealous!! Can't wait to catch up with you in November!!!

Holiday!!

So…..I’m back again after traveling the length and breadth of the country….well, almost!! I had a great time, felt like much more than just under a week and a half which can only be a good sign! So what did we do I hear you ask? The first part of the holiday was spent in…

Calgary/ Rockies

I took Anne and Claire to the nice steak restaurant the night they arrived as I don’t think they really had the energy to do much else. It was really nice – old fashioned with some scary interpretations of interior decorating, but we survived the evil fairy things on the wall and the scary paintings and managed to have a very nice meal washed down with a few drinks in the bar/ drawing room. Next day it was up early and away on our tour of the rockies with our guide Petar who is originally from Croatia. It was just the three/ four of us which was great – much more personal than the trip I took previously and no annoying waiting for the silly girl who never managed to make it back to the bus anywhere near on time! We saw more lakes and mountains, but no waterfalls this time although we did get out to the Athabasca glacier which was pretty cool (naturally enough for a glacier I suppose!!). It was a long old day, but a good time was had by all including our guide who acted like he was on a tour of his own and took pictures left right and centre. He posed for one with myself and Anne which was when he declared “I like to hug” and proceeded to put his arm around Anne!! I think she has a husband here if she ever wants one :-). I went back to work the next day and then on Thursday it was off to…

San Francisco!

We arrived in the afternoon after an early-ish morning flight, dumped our bags and set off to explore. Our hotel was in a fab location and I’d definitely go back to it (despite the old people’s home smell!). We found an Irish shop so went in on a whim as Claire wanted teabags. Once inside we discovered a world of tat and were about to leave when Anne asked if there were any local Irish bars (we’d read that there isn’t much of an Irish scene in San Fran really). Turns out there was one (pretty much right behind our hotel) so we made our way there to have a late lunch. Claire’s flatmate and sister (Una and Mairead) were in San Fran having spent the weekend in Vegas, so they decided to meet us there…despite deciding to only stay for lunch and ‘the one’ we didn’t end up leaving until about 1am that night!! It was a great bar – brilliant barmen and we’d stumbled upon a live music night courtesy of Nikki, the friendly local transsexual! She was great – had a big list of songs for everyone to request from including some serious Irish rebel numbers. Add to that a few songs done in the style of Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash (yes – all in the same number) and a few shots on the house and you’ve pretty much got an idea of the night that was had. Great craic altogether. The next few days were spent visiting Alcatraz, going on a wine tour in Sanoma, shopping, going to the aquarium, looking at the sea lions, taking street cars, eating at the worst restaurant in the history of the world ever (you know who you are, Swiss Louis) avoiding crazy people (of which there are legion) and trying to keep warm. I hadn’t heard before that the coldest winter Mark Twain ever spent was a summer in San Francisco but I don’t think I’ll forget that in a hurry – the fog is a killer!! On the Tuesday morning it was an EARLY start for the flight to…

Toronto!

We arrived in the afternoon again and followed the concierge’s recommendation for a steakhouse a short walk away. I chose badly it would seem, but everyone else seemed happy with the food. The waiter however was a different matter, we had encountered our first experience of what I had heard about lots in Calgary – the infamous ‘tood of those ‘out East’ (apparently Toronto only counts as out East when you live faaaar in the West as I do as its actually more like Central Canada – those truly out East in St Johns tend to take offence at that description!!). Craig, our friendly waiter was the sort to bring us the cheque without enquiring as to our appetite for seeing the dessert menu or drinking some coffee. Naturally we demanded coffee after the cheque arrived just to make a point. Hmph. Next day we went to the CN Tower which is a bit rubbish actually. We’d expected a whole floor of glass, but there was only a tiny bit mostly overrun with Japanese tourists throwing themselves on the floor and making the peace sign all over the place. We mooched around and ate some LOVELY food and didn’t go to the cinema. We had a tour of Niagara the following day which included a tour of a winery. At 10am. The three of us opted out of that one….Niagara on the lake is a gorgeous little town and the actual falls are pretty awesome, especially when seen from the boat. Niagara the town is not. I have NEVER been anywhere as tacky in my life. Ever. The three of us were pretty gobsmacked at the state of it, a complete tack attack next to one of the most amazing natural sights of the world!! Anne and Claire left on the Saturday and I stayed on until labour day with the fabulous Ms Proll. It was great to catch up and hang out in Toronto – you live in a very cool area Sarah and I am jealous!! I’d start worrying if I was you – I know where you live and I might just find the excuse to make a weekend trip to Toronto in the not so distant future!!

So – a whirlwind of an adventure and I haven’t even begun to tell all the stories, but if I did that then I’d have nothing to talk to you about the next time I see you all! My next adventure will be at the end of the month when I go home for a week as it’s my cousin’s wedding which I’m greatly looking forward to! Hope all is well in the world of you all – let me know if you’ve any news, but feel free to say hi even if you’ve been boring!! ;-)

Link to pics on the sidebar....

xxx