Monday

7:42 a.m., bag on shoulder, keys in hand, went to grab the mug of milk from the microwave to add to the waiting travel mug of coffee when

SMASH

the mug falls from my hands and lands on the ceramic tile floor, hot milk and shattered favourite coffee mug everywhere --- including all over my clothes, shoes, cupboards, etc.

Had to stop, strip and scrub the kitchen, pick up all the shards (can't risk the princess splicing a paw pad), called in to work to let them know I would now be running a tad behind, rethink the wardrobe for the day (not a happy process) and then start all over again.

Thank Christ it's a sunny gorgeous day this fabulous Monday or I might just have been tempted to throw in the towel before 8 a.m. and start the week over tomorrow.

the bloody injustice of it all

Hi, my name is Kathryn and I am addicted to shoes.

There, got that off my chest and so now can continue with this tale in clear conscience.

There is currently a fantabulous pair of red patent leather stacked peek-a-boo pumps for sale at Aldo and I want them something fierce! I mean they are drop. dead. sexy. I tried them on last week and while they fit my ridiculously large (12) foot, sadly they were cut too low for my additionally ridiculously high arch. I almost cried ---- I had already envisioned them paired with my super-dark denim jeans worn fashionably under my crisp black linen shift while sipping a sassy cocktail on a sunny patio. Alas, this was not to be ......

To add insult to injury, my young assistant just this instant went to buy them for herself (as further proof that height is in no way related to foot size, she is 5'11 and has a size 8. I am 5'9 with a 12 and my sister 5' 4 3/4 with a 91/2, so there!!). I tried to play the boss card and forbid her from taking lunch and threatening her with all sorts of nasty tasks that would come her way if she did indeed buy MY shoes, but to no avail. She bought them and they are indeed fabulous.

Contemplating

Just for fun (and to shut the annoying people in my life who think they know what's best for me and I am DYING to prove them wrong up) I am contemplating the thought of maybe, just maybe, trying out one of those matchmaking services that everyone is on about. NOT the internet variety but an old fashioned, screening process in place, criminal background check, etc. corporate matchmaking service.

This will open myself up for a whole whack of ridicule and rejection, I know.

Thoughts? Comments?? Suggestions???

You see, I kind of want to do it so that I can say "yeah, did it, hated it, didn't work, it sucks and is humiliating and you were all WRONG"

('cause I really am that petty)

one big happy .....

LIGHTHOUSE PARK JUNE 18, 2006

the parents are coming! the parents are coming!

My parents arrive tonight for a brief (4 sleep) visit to see their lovely daughters and grandchildrendogs. Our itinerary thus far is as follows:

Tonight 9:00 p.m. meet them at their hotel and have a late dinner

Friday Paula (my sister) and mum will “play” while my dad does important lawyer-type stuff (“ILS”) and I am at work then at 5:15 meet Paula and mum at family friends for drinks, dinner etc., dad still doing “ILS"

Saturday - Meet parents at hotel for coffee and then go to Horseshoe Bay where more family friends will pick us up in their boat (grandchildrendogs included) to go over to Bowen Island for lunch. Then it’s up to Squamish to look at houses and have a BBQ

Sunday - meet cousins and their children for a hike and lunch in Deep Cove, dinner at yet another friend of the family for Fathers’ Day, then it’s back to the airport for the senior Caseys for the night (I offered accoms in my 700 sq. feet, but the Fairmont appealed more, go figure!!)

I am really looking forward to their visit and I am sure that it will be much better than the Christmas visit (not that that visit was so terrible, but I was a huge basket of stress, thanks to the recent breakup and the fact that I was totally HATING my job and everyone at it and so was not really able to keep any food down and was drinking far too much (not that anyone noticed, we are WASPs after all)). However, dollars to doughnuts one of the first things out of my mother’s mouth will be some sort of comment regarding my weight/appearance (I have mentioned that one of the results of the whole breakup/job hating thing was a loss of 40 lbs or so and about 4 dress sizes, right?) and the second thing (though she may wait until Saturday for this one) will be about my lack of steady man and/or children in my life.

The fact that I now have a great new job, make that career (and there IS a difference) and am significantly less stressed and happier won’t matter.

The fact that I am single and childless will.

Maybe it's true what they say about dogs and boys

So I was out walking with Miss Maggie the other night and we ran into Jake the chocolate lab and his rather cute owner, Chris. We have run into each other a few times over the last couple of months and exchanged the usual dog walking pleasantries: cute dog, what's her/his name, how old is he/she --- you know, the kind of thing all parents chat about when crossing paths. The difference this time was that instead of just exchanging the pleasantries in passing we actually walked together and then Chris invited Miss Maggie and me out for a beer and dinner at the Red Lion in West Van.

Of course we went. And had fun (though this is the same venue as my first meeting with the ex-non-non-date's children and where I almost died from injesting an errant shrimp in my salad). No such drama this evening, though!! Just a pleasant, straightforward evening with nice conversation and two really adorable canine chaperones.

ex-non-non-date strikes again

If you hop into the wayback machine you will recall the drama that was the non-date, then non-non-date, then ex-non-non-date and then, finally, friend. After the "getting knocked off his pedestal in one fell swoop" incident we managed to somehow salvage a friendship. And for that I feel quite fortunate. Kind of. You see …

He has been calling, email, texting, a lot of late and quite frankly if I were his current girlfriend, and I’m not sure that he has one right now but I know for certain that he did, the discovery of which resulted in the knocking off the pedestal incident, I would probably not be all that happy about it, given our “history”. I mean we were talking with some frequency over the past few months, like maybe every other week or so but in a very Monday to Friday 9 to 5 kind of way, we worked in the same office so that was quite unavoidable, and he was super supportive of me during my whole career change and the fallout from that. But this is different. What’s happening now is bearing a striking resemblance to what was happening during his changing of our relationship way back last summer.

His calls etc. are far more frequent. He is feeling the need to keep me apprised of his whereabouts, like so I don’t think he is “ignoring me” or anything. For instance, I texted him last week on the morning of a really important job interview meeting that he had scheduled for late that day. A very innocuous message along the lines of good luck, I’m sure you’ll be brilliant. He emailed me back that night and left me a voice message saying that it went really well, he was really excited about it and would fill me in on all the details in about a week and a half as he was off to X for the weekend and then Y on Monday p.m.

Well, he called Tuesday afternoon to say that his plans had changed and that he was actually leaving Tuesday night, filled me in on how the interview went, what’s going on with his kids, troubles with his ex-wife, what he’s been up to, etc., etc., etc., and then said that he would be back Sunday night and could we get together for dinner one night next week to catch up and chat.

Well, logically I should just tell him to get F**ked. However, that would kind of be like cutting off my nose to spite my face. Technically I’m doing nothing wrong. However, there is that niggling doubt in my mind: what’s he up to? What’s his motivation? It would be great if I could trust that we really can be “just friends”, but, like most women do, I have this innate sense about certain things and his behaviour is eerily similar to when he was wooing me last year and I have to admit (as much as I am ashamed to) that I would not exactly be adverse to the possibility.

I know, I know, I am potentially setting myself up to be hurt in a HUGE way again. I know this, yet ….

Or maybe there is nothing to this whatsoever, he just wants to have dinner and go over what’s been going on and maybe even bring his current girlfriend (if he has one) along, too. HA!

I do believe the quote at the top of this page says it best.

In any event, I’ll keep you posted …

I mean why would a man want to date a woman in her 30's anyway?

I was at Nu for brunch on Sunday (which I highly recommend, by the way ----- yummy and complimentary fresh baked mini croissants and demi tassess of French drinking chocolate as an “amuse bouche”, and truly delicious (and non-expensive) brunch offerings, I had brioche toast, home-fries and bacon (need the carbs and grease to soak up the remnants of the JD that someone obviously poured down my unwilling throat Saturday night (that’s a whole other story)), fabulous service and a breathtaking view). I was not all that enthusiastic about going to be honest, skeptical of an “up scale” locale for brunch, wickedly hungover and not really looking forward to one of the expected attendees(who as luck would have it did not end up attending after all), so I was very pleasantly surprised by how yummy and delicious it was. Funny thing happened in the ladies room, however: 2 girls obviously in their mid-twenties were discussing events of the evening before and I gathered from their conversation that the one (pink t-shirt, cargo capris and army hat) was dating a man considerably older and was describing to her friend (very funky orange and red streaked hair) how someone was commenting that it seemed to be a trend to have men in their late 30’s dating younger women. Nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering there.

However, her next comment was: “I mean why would a man want to date a woman in her 30’s anyway? They are so desperate and all they want to do is get married and settle down”.

!@#$%&^%$#@!!!!!!!

I was sitting in the next stall and honestly did not have the wherewithal to do anything about it (I have mentioned that I was feeling a little less than perfect, right?), but honestly ------ what a truly terrible thing to say, not to mention what a huge (false) generalization.

So I’m asking ---- anyone have an opinion, one way or the other, on this?

If a bear shits in the woods, should I have a cocktail??

Seems like a rather redundant question, no?

This was actually on the inside of a birthday card I got from a very good friend and it made me laugh and laugh and laugh ...... you know how when people who know you REALLY well can just look at you or say one word or whatever and you collapse like a boneless git in a heap on the floor laughing all the while? And then your abs hurt more than the morning after you have done 500 crunches in various positions in an effort to magically transform your 38 year old mid-section into something other than what it is? Yeah, like that and that my friends is worth more than all the therapy money (or extended health benefits) can buy.