The 'Hero' themed nursery is going to be perfect. Now we just have to start work on it. With all the artist sketches we have and Daddy J's DC busts, we're set!

I can't wait to meet our son! I am SO excited!

I am anxiously anticipating this weekend, because I will finally meet my in-laws. Wahoo!!!! Although I have spoken to my mother-in-law and father-in-law (and wife) on the phone, I've never met any of them. Although Mr. J & I have been together for 2 years now, we just haven't got around to visiting Miami (dad and stepmom live) nor Vancouver (mom lives), and they haven't been able to visit us here.

So, after we decided to get married on our own in Jamaica, we thought it would be nice to have a small post-wedding celebration and invite the families.

And that is this weekend. We are only having 25 people to a small reception at a hotel, and then celebrating back at our house with a Saturday night party and Sunday brunch.

Sometimes I wish they lived closer, so I could spend more time getting to know them and learning about the Jamaican culture. They are part of my life now, and I want to learn as much as I can about their background, so I can make sure that knowledge gets passed along to our son/daughter.

It will be a great weekend!!!

I had an amazing Saturday this past weekend. Mr. J & I were in Saskatoon for free comic book day. So, while he busied himself with work at 8th Street Books and Comics, I made it a priority to catch up with old friends.

Now, when I refer to them as old friends I'm not inferring that they are people with which I've lost touch, just friends that I've known for ages (10+ years) and who, sadly, I don't get to see that often (primarily because I live in another city/province).

However, because my friends are so important to me, it is important for me to stay connected to them as much as I can. So when I return to my home province, I make sure that I get-together with whomever I can in order to maintain those relationships.

Usually, I only get to see 1 or 2. Mostly because there are a number of other things going on, and we can only fit so many visits into one day. But this past Saturday, I had the day to wander from friend to friend visiting at will.

I had only set up a few visits, but surprisingly, managed to see a lot more friends that I was anticipating, which is what made the day so wonderful.

My planned lunch with BB & his girlfriend, got bigger when T-ass and Ty became part of the plan. We tried out this little Mexican place on Boychuk called La Bamba - very tasty. It was fun to see my old buddies and we reminisced about years gone by.

Before and after my lunch, I managed to squeeze in some time visiting with the newest parents of the group - the Schnells. I stopped over at the house to visit Jenn & Anara, and then made sure I spent some time at the Den with Al.

My afternoon coffee with AJ turned into a meeting of yuppies (as cenobyte referred to us) at Calories. Just as I was calling AJ to confirm our coffee location, I was surprised with news that ceno was in town, and that AJ had just dropped off J-Bra at Calories for a visit with ceno and Thunderhowl. I immediately wanted to join them, so AJ & I commenced our afternoon coffee with the rest of them. I was very happy to see them, and we had a wonderful afternoon talking shop (gaming).

I finished off my afternoon back at 8th Street with Mr. J and the rest of the crew. Pat took us all out for supper at Amigo's, and I had wonderful time meeting new people, especially a local comic book artist Tom Grummett who was doing sketches for Free Comic Book Day.

This past weekend Mr. J & I made a trip down to Calgary for the Comic & Entertainment Expo.

We drove down early Saturday morning in order to make the 11:00 AM Voice Acting workshop for Mr. J. We arrived around 10:30AM, and found ourselves standing in line for about 40 minutes, even though we had purchased our tickets in advance. It seems as though they weren't appropriately staffed when it came to collecting tickets, providing a 'goodie' bag and ushering everyone through the doors - they only had 3 people for that. I noticed later on that day (around 1:30) that there were still people waiting in line.

We arrived at the Voice Acting workshop about 10 minutes late, but we didn't miss too much. We were entertained by a couple (Yuri & Tara) who work in the industry - they regaled us with stories of their experiences. I think Mr. J got some useful information.

There were a number of 'stars' at the Expo - Edward James Olmos (see picture below), Margot Kidder (wow, has she ever aged), Kandyse McClure (Dualla), Sean Astin (see picture below), James Kyson Lee (Ando), Jewel Staite (Kaylee), Voice actor of Rhino - Bee-Awesome!!!, and many more.


We didn't actually meet any of the stars, except for Mark Walton - voice of Rhino from Bolt. I am conflicted about meeting movie stars. Yes, I enjoyed watching them in their show/movie - but what am I really going to say to them, 'hey, I liked you in X', or 'You were awesome'. That just seems lame, and because I didn't have any burning questions, I was satisfied with just 'seeing' them. I guess I just don't get worked up about meeting celebrities.

We spent quite a bit of time on 'Artists Lane.' The baby's room is going to be themed 'SuperHeroes', so with limited 'hero' options in the world of 'decorating the nursery', we figured a great way to theme the room is with hero artist sketches. We picked up (and ordered) a number sketches at the Edmonton Comic event - Zatanna, Batgirl, HarlyQuinn, and a signed pic of Ando. In Calgary, we picked up our Edmonton order of Batman, Superman and Captain Marvel (DC version), and purchased a number of other great 'hero' sketches. We will be laminating some and framing the others. I think the nursery will be cool. Now we just need to decide on paint colours for the room. 'Super Baby' (as Mr. J calls him/her) is going to be inundated with comics and superheroes upon birth.

Anywho, I got sidetracked there a little.

Sunday, we walked around the event some more, visiting with various people that Mr. J knew, and attended our final workshop on Breaking into Voice Acting. It was hosted by Helene Rousse from Total Casting. She provided a wealth of knowledge on how to get started to what to put on your demo. Mr. J and I recorded most of the talk, so Mr. J will be able to reference back to it later on.

It was a great little weekend, and prepared me a bit for GenCon. Not in terms of what to expect - I know it will be nothing like I experienced - but helped me understand how tired I'm going to get, and how many snacks and drinks I will need to take with me - 7 month pregger Mama is going to need to be prepared for anything.

We also managed a nice little visit with Uncle and Auntie.

This morning we met up with Bne and his friend at Barb & Ernie's Old Country Inn. It's a German restaurant that's been the mainstay of Edmonton for over 30 years. I can't believe it's taken me over 2 years to discover this amazing weekend breakfast joint.

Bne was in town, and we decided to get together for Sunday breakfast. I didn't want the usual - Denny's or Ricky's, so Bne suggested Barb & Ernie's. I remember hearing about the place, and did some research before deciding that would be our place to eat and visit this morning.

AMAZING!

First of all, there menu is large and diverse. You've got the regular bacon and egg, pancake, french toast, Eggs Benedict flair, but with a German twist - can't forget the bratwurst, or how about German Bacon Pancakes!?

I decided on the french toast with wild berry topping and whip cream. I was thoroughly impressed. It was delicious, and I managed to eat every last bite. Bne tried the German Bacon Pancakes - which were quite tasty, and Mr. J had the 3 Hotcakes with topping order.

He was for warned by the waitress, 'you know, there as big as a plate!' Mr. J paused momentarily, and placed his order again, 'I'll have the 3 Hotcakes with Strawberry topping.'

Now, granted we all thought that was quite a bit, but if anyone could handle it, it would be Mr. J. Although, I think we were all thinking of a fairly round standard size plate (8 inches). Still large, but nothing more that. We'll were we all surprised when the orders came.

The plate was a large oval sized plate, and his 3 pancakes not only completely covered the entire plate, they were spilling over the sides. And these pancakes weren't flat (as we all know when we make pancakes at home, they don't always turn out as fluffy as we'd like), they very fluffy - perhaps a good 1/2 inch thick.

We were continually amazed through our meal at the size of the pancakes. Bne's comment definitely captured the essence of Mr.J's eating experience: 'You've definitely broken the rule: Don't ever eat anything bigger than your head.'

Mr. J managed to eat 1.5 pancakes, and he took the rest home. We got some advice from Ernie on what to do and what not to do if Mr. J decides to re-heat the monstrous pancakes.

It was a fantastic way to spend Sunday morning. The next visitors who come, we'll be hitting up Barb & Ernie's, so be prepared.

My BFF tagged me on facebook, to complete one of these personal memes/quizzes. I'm not a fan of putting too much personal information up on facebook, so I figured I would honour her tag by completing it here.


****20 YEARS AGO (1989)****
1) How old were you? 12
2) Who were you dating? no one
3) Where did you work? my dad's grocery store
4) Where did you live? Biggar
5) Where did you hang out? At my Jen's, my BFF
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? No
7) Who were your best friends? Jennifer, Michelle, Melanie
8) How many tattoos did you have? 0
9) How many piercings did you have? 2, my ears
10) What kind of car did you drive? wasn't driving yet. Mom had a Buick, I think and Dad had a Suburban.
11) Had you been to a real party? No
12) Had you had your heart broken? No
13) Were you Single/taken/Married/Divorced? Single
14) Any Kids? No! Not at 12.

****15 YEARS AGO (1994)****
1) How old were you? 17
2) Who were you dating? No one
3) Where did you work? Dad's grocery store
4) Where did you live? Biggar
5) Where did you hang out? same as above and the store
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? no
7) Who were your best friends? Jennifer, Melanie, Andrea, Susan
8) How many tattoos did you have? 0
9) How many piercings did you have? 3, ears
10) What kind of car did you drive? I drover mom's car or the suburban
11) Had you been to a real party? Yes, several at this point.
12) Had you had your heart broken? no
13) Were you Single/taken/Married/Divorced? single
14) Any Kids? Still no kids.

***10 YEARS AGO (1999)***
1) How old were you? 22
2) Who were you dating? Jeff
3) Where did you work? Co-op grocery store
4) Where did you live? Saskatoon
5) Where did you hang out? mostly my house, or the bar
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? no
7) Who were your best friends? Jeff, Andrea, Jennifer, Melanie, Susan
8) How many tattoos did you have? 0
9) How many piercings did you have? 3, ears
10) What kind of car did you drive? 89 Blue Ford Tempo
11) Had you been to a real party? Yes, several
12) Had your heart broken? Yes
13) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Taken
14) Any Kids? 0

****TODAY (2009)****
1) Age? 32
2) Where do you work? Alberta Government
3) Where do you live? Edmonton
4) Who are your closest friends? Mr. J, Jennifer, Andrea, Melanie, Susan
5) Do you talk to your old friends? Yup.
6) How many piercings do you have? 2, ears
7) How many tattoos? 0
8) What kind of car do you have? Pontiac Grand Am
9) Had your heart been broken? Yes, but not since I've been with Mr. J
10) How many kids? None yet.
11) Are you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Married

Don't get me wrong, I love that crunching sound my shoes make when they hit the cold, hard, packed snow, but come on, enough is enough. Just when we thought it was going to turn around and spring was on it's way, we get 2 nasty winter storms, and then ice cold weather. I can only imagine what my Saskatchewan friends are facing. It's generally 10 degrees colder than it is here. Ouch!

It is suppose to let up near the end of the week. And spring is officially around the corner. So my fingers are crossed. Let's hope to hell this winter is over!!