We Are Not Amused

In honour of Victoria Day I thought I would use the famous quote “We Are Not Amused” attributed to my favourite royal, Queen Victoria, as inspiration for my last guest blog posting. It’s fitting somehow that as I type this that fireworks are erupting outside my window.

Ok first up a personal we are not amused that I must get off my chest and an update on the whole Crown Royal issue. So after a week of nothingness I decided to email him a light and breezy how are you/do you want to hang out email because I was getting inpatient and a bit concerned – I mean it’s a bit odd that a facebook status addict hasn’t done any updates or walled anybody in over a week. It’s also a bit odd that he hasn’t contacted me once after being in contact everyday for 3 weeks. As of this posting I still haven’t heard from him but good news he’s alive … he updated his status today. So now I’m miffed and totally not amused. My friends keep telling me not to sweat it and give him a few more days and to give him the benefit of the doubt and normally, being an optimist and hopeless romantic, I would, but I’m finding it difficult to do this – I’m frankly blaming this new jadedness on Northern Lights. Arrrggg … dating can be soo frustrating!!! I just want a good, sane, honest guy for once; is that too much to ask for? Me thinks not. Talking about men; Queen Victoria found herself a good one. Though I shouldn’t be too envious since Prince Albert died relatively young (especially compared to Victoria who died at the age of 88) at the age of 42.

Queen Victoria’s Lasting Impact

For some reason I’ve always had a fondness for Queen Victoria and always found her to be a gutsy, admirable and intriguing woman. I think my fondness for her goes back to when I first saw the Shirley Temple movie The Little Princess in which Queen Victoria helps Shirley’s character find her wounded father.

Victoria (yeah, we’re on a first name basis) became queen at the age 18 (at 18 I was graduating high school and couldn’t make up my mind as to which University to go to) and ruled for 64 years. She was a woman who didn’t believe in feminism/advancing woman’s rights but yet proposed to her husband since she was a monarch and above him in status. She helped abolish slavery in England, ushered in the trend of brides wearing white on their wedding day and via Albert she introduced the Christmas tree to England and its colonies. All in all a pretty neat lady. Another pretty neat lady, a personal fav, although fictional, is Marilla Cuthbert who at the onset of Anne of Green Gables is often not amused by Anne’s chattiness and scope of imagination.

A Kindred Spirit – Anne with an E

Anne of Green Gables, was my absolute favourite book growing up, and it remains my all time favourite book. It is the book I turn to when I’m sick or just having a blah day and need a pick me up. I was first introduced to it in grade four when I received the series as a Christmas gift. By the time I returned to school I had gobbled up the entire series and talked about Anne so much my mother swore she had a second daughter. In honour of the 100th anniversary of its publication my book club chose Anne as this month’s pick. Although, I’ve read Anne at least 10 times it’s been awhile since I read it cover to cover and I was a bit hesitant to read it again; would it stand up? I’m happy to report that yes it did and I fell in love with this book all over again to the point that I will be rereading the entire series. I’m looking forward to hearing what the rest of book club, some of them being first time readers of Anne, have to say about the book.

And that’s it for me. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my guest blogging experience. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I decided to start my own blog. Check it out at http://kayleemusings.blogspot.com/. There’s nothing posted on it as of yet, but I promise to get started on it within the week’s end.

Thanks DissolvedGirl for the opportunity and welcome home! Can’t wait to read more about your Western Tour.

We Interrupt This Date Due to Illness

Exhilaration, pure happiness, giddiness, stomach butterflies, self-doubt, overanalysing, frustrations, insecurities … isn’t dating fun? Sure it has wonderful moments: getting all dolled up for the first date, first kisses, long phone conservations into the early morning, flirty, witty banter via emails and text messages, the little things they do to impress you and to show you that they’re into you, the first time you don’t have to get dolled up …

I never dated a lot as a teenager and in University; I was the girl with her head in a book who said she didn’t have time to date because she was too busy studying. In reality and to be completely honest I was overweight and just didn’t have enough self confidence to a) have guys ask me out and b) to ask a guy out.

I moved to Mississauga about 2 years ago for work and I didn’t start really dating again ‘till this past fall. For the most part it’s been great and I’ve had some wonderful dates from the one that started as lunch time tea date at Timmies and didn’t end ‘till late nigh tea at Timmies to the one that ended with him singing me one of my favourite songs. But I haven’t been that fortunate when it comes to actual relationships. Granted I can be a bit picky, but at my age (27) you have to be; I refuse to waste months or worse years on a relationship that’s not evolving or heading somewhere. I have nothing against casual, fun relationships, but I’m finding myself wanting more.

So since I’ve started dating again there’s been the Italian, the stalker, the one that broke my heart, and the one I didn’t expect. The Italian and the stalker aren’t worth mentioning and the one that broke my heart (Northern Lights) is for another posting (refer to A Few Introductory Words for the short story). But Crown Royal - the one I didn’t expect - now he's worth a few words. I met CR the day I ended things with Northern Lights and for some reason despite the fact that I had a tearstained face, red puffy eyes etc he decided to ask me out two days after meeting me. I very hesitantly agreed to a date because despite the crappiness of what happened with Northern Lights I remain an eternal optimist and hopeless romantic. I didn’t expect to develop feelings for CR since he was so different than the guys I’ve dated in the past but unlike past guys CR actually made an effort at wooing me from serenading me to cleaning his house for the first time in years so it was acceptable for me to come over; from witty responses to my status updates on facebook to going out of his way on a Saturday to give me a lift to a friend’s place because he knew it would take me forever via bus. In a period of three weeks we spoke or emailed at least once a day. He had just re-entered the dating world and I was still a bit “broken” so we were taken things slowly and things seemed to be going well. We even had the “talk” were he asked me “are you in?” I told him yes and asked him the same question and he said he was. And then came nothingness.

We had made plans to go out last Saturday evening and he called me mid-morning to cancel because he was sick. It’s the classic is he really sick or just blowing me off question. He sounded pretty sick and everyone tells me that I’m overthinking things, which I have a tendency to do a lot – it’s probably my greatest flaw; it’s pretty bad, you should see the pro and con lists I make. I also don’t have a lot of patience so I decided to email him on Monday asking him how he was feeling and whether he was interested in going biking (he’s an avid mountain biker) when he felt better. He replied within hours saying that he felt a bit better, he did want to go biking and that he would let me know when he was up to it. And I haven’t heard from him since.

I know, I know, it’s only been 3 days; but after three week of 24/7, three days feels like an eternity and my mind has begun to analyse our last date, which has now been a week ago. Was it something I said, did? Is he blowing me off? Which frankly is annoying since how can you go from showering someone with attention and wanting to be with them everyday to not. I wish guys would just tell you there not interested. Did he get bored with me – how I don’t know since I’m absolutely fabulous – because we’re so different? Of course if he’s on his deathbed (knock on wood) I’m going to feel like a complete moron and bitch.

What My Father Taught Me

Yesterday was the book launch for a new history title about the Scottish exodus to Canada. Compared to our last book launch, which was held at Casa Loma with close to 500 people in attendance, this was a small affair of about 20 people held at the office for family, friends, and staff. Even though I’ve now organized my fair share of book launches and events, I still get nervous and anxious just before. Will people show up? Did we bring in enough books to sell or will we run out? Do we have enough food and more importantly wine? This book launch was no different actually this one was worse since there were so many hiccups along the way from only 3 people RSVPing for the event to not deciding the format (a lunch event versus an after work event) ‘till two days before the launch. Thankfully the launch was a huge success; people showed up and we had enough food and books on hand!

So I’m at the book launch doing my duty of greeting guests as they arrive and selling books and my boss, Yenta (I have soo many funny stories about her she deserves her own blog posting ... hmmm I think I know what my next blog will be about), starts looking for a book; an older title that I know is not in the cabinets that house our promotional copies, so before she asks because I know in the next 30 seconds she’s going to ask, I grab the copy in my office and hand it to her. And that’s one of the lasting lessons that my father taught me: always anticipate what someone wants, especially if you want to be useful.

My father believes in doing things himself, especially when it comes to house maintenance, from reinforcing floors to installing an underground watering system and I would often help him. To be honest I don’t think he really needed the help, sure he could use the extra hands to hand him nails etc but looking back I’m pretty sure that most of the time (ok he definitely needed help with the underground watering system) this was his way of spending time with me. As his helper I learned quickly to anticipate what tool he would need next and it came to the point that we wouldn’t even have to talk since we both knew what the other one needed in order to complete whatever that weekend’s project was. Growing up I gripped a lot about helping my father and his never ending projects – heck I still sometimes try to get out of helping him when he asks for my help when I go home for a visit — but in hindsight (isn’t that always the way) I appreciate the values he instilled in me as we worked on projects together.

Random Sunday Musings

I know, I know (I hear you loud and clear Madox!), it’s been awhile but how can I compete with postings that are coming to you from across Canada?

I read a lot, currently reading four books, and last week I finished the book Five Things I Can’t Live Without by Holly Shumas. It’s just an ok book about a 29-year-old who finds herself at the crossroads of life. If you have a couple of hours to kill and a library card you should check it out, especially if you like chick lit. The part that stuck with me and got me thinking was the title. What are the five things that I can’t live without? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently in terms of jobs (should I open that bookstore), living situations (should I move out and get my own apartment so I don’t have to deal with a crazy, rule-obsessed roommate?), love (what kind of guy do I want, what are my deal-breakers, what’s up with Crown Royal and was he really sick when he cancelled our date?), and life in general. So what are my five things? Sure I could say shoes and accessories but in all seriousness what are they? What follows are my five things.

1) Love
2) Family and Friends
3) Human Connections
4) Fulfillment
5) Books

So what are the five things you can't live without?

A Few Introductory Words

I’m a chatter. A listener. A writer? Not so much. Although I email constantly throughout the day, I’ll often reply to an email (especially one of those multi-paragraph ones) by picking up the phone. So why did I decide to start blogging? Well I started blogging for work – I work as a publicist at a mid-size Canadian publishing house (no the other one) – and found it to be quite relaxing; especially on a Friday afternoon when my brain just can’t focus on actually working with the sun shining through my window. Also, my friends, especially DissolvedGirl and Semi-Optimist, have been pushing me to start a blog citing that one if you’re not on the web you don’t exist and two since I lead such a “drama-filled” life that I would have plenty to write about. I think they were just tired of listening to me and really I don’t blame them; I’ve put them through a lot since the New Year. Honestly, my life, although it’s been pretty drama filled the past few months – recently got out of an unhealthy relationship; one of those he was great on paper but we were on different paths, his to Alaska and mine to settling down — it’s pretty mundane for the most part. Although I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog, I was still hesitant so when this opportunity presented itself I decided why not? Let’s try it out.

So what can you expect for the next three weeks? Well you can expect stories from the publishing world, musings on what it’s like being back in the dating world, on movies I’m watching and books I’m reading. I can’t promise that all my posts will be as witty as DissolvedGirl’s, but I do promise to try to keep you entertained so that the next three weeks fly by.