New Blog announcement

Although I haven't posted for a while I fully intend to keep blogging, I'm just not sure what I want to write about here. I want to let you guys know that I'm collaborating on a new blog with my good friend Leila, from A Story of Growth and Reflection.

Our blog As You Are  came about because we both have a strong interest in some of the most important issues that people face today. I wanted a space to generally cover the heavier topics that some of you talk about with me outside my blog and this seems to be the perfect fit, for both of us. We hope it will become an interactive space where people can share their stories and experiences.


Click here to link, we hope to see you there!

Chillout Video

It's been a while since I've been here but I want to share what is probably the most beautiful video I've ever seen. Hope you like it and that all is well.

An Update of Sorts

 

This is the longest I've gone in a long time without posting. I don't know if it's been because I've been feeling uninspired or not much new has been going on. But I'll take a few minutes and see what I come up with.

  I got a pedicure last week. I can't believe I got a pedicure, never thought I would and never gave it too much thought. And now that I have?...I liked it!

  So yeah I'll go back.

  Against my better judgement I picked up Fifty Shades of Grey a while ago. Pretty much every review I've read has painted it as mediocre, yet it's the best-selling paperback in history. Go figure. I had no intention of giving E L James my money, she doesn't need it. But a friend in Spain who enjoyed it has been asking me to give her my opinion so I bought it. Fortunately with the points I had earned I saved five bucks on it so I was kinda happy about that.

  After three weeks I'm only forty pages into it, partly because it's very slowly fleshing out the characters and setting the stage for them to meet. I think most of my reason for not getting more into it is I have a friend who's on a very similar journey to Anastasia; I find listening to her experiences infinitely more interesting. She told me that many in the BDSM community find the book laughable, from my point of view (even just forty pages in) I find the writing rather immature and wish it had been written by someone who had lived this first-hand. I can't imagine someone with no sexual experience being immediately immersed in this lifestyle.

  Many take issue with how Grey and Anastasia are portrayed. The way her submissiveness is presented doesn't sit well, not because she's in this role but because she's shown as completely unempowered. A victim. My friend shared this link from one woman's viewpoint of what a healthy submissive is. I found it interesting.

  In other news at the beginning of this month I began working for a new company. My team provides outsourced mail room services to a large client (I manage the operation). Recently the company I worked for lost the bid for the contract, we were offered the option of working for the new company and all of us accepted. The downside is I lost sixteen years seniority with nothing from the company to show for it. The good news is it looks like my new employer will be better to work for. I certainly hope so.

  On August 11th Sandy and I are having our annual deck party. It's an all-day affair that starts early afternoon and runs until 2 or 3 in the morning. You're all invited.

  F'real.

Secret Sunday

Goodbye by Sugar grl14

It's been a while since I featured this so welcome to the 115th round of Secret Sunday, a chance to anonymously share secrets and/or fantasies you've been keeping to yourself. Some are uplifting, some are heartbreaking and some are just plain naughty.

All are valid.

Here's how it works:

1) This is open to anyone who wants to participate, from regular follower to casual visitor.

2) Post a secret or fantasy anonymously. It can be from mild to wild, anything goes. All I ask is that it's true. You can post as many as you're comfortable with. I don't plan to censor content or language.

3) If this is something you'd like to run on your blog please feel free. Let me know and I'll follow along.

And now to it...

Quest For Cheese

here

Today was one of the busiest I've ever had at work. I'm not in the frame of mind for anything cerebral but I do feel like posting, so I'll share something I wrote on Facebook about our trip to the supermarket tonight.

Sometimes too many choices at the supermarket isn't a good thing. Why is it so easy to find Tibetan Hairy Elk cheese or Norwegian Midget Double Aged Beaver cheese but it takes literally ten minutes and two staff to help locate a block of plain friggin' Swiss? They even put holes in other cheeses just to fake you out, to make you THINK you've finally found it. That's what the security cameras are really there for. They don't give a damn if you set off the alarms for the razor blades, they want to watch you go apeshit trying to find a specific cheese.

Happy weekend everyone!

Love Story

This is a poem I wrote for my first on-line friend, Anna, who I met shortly after I started blogging in 2009. I was charmed by her writing, especially about her boyfriend; it was passionate but refreshingly innocent. Over time we got to know each other and formed a close bond. 

This piece has always held a place for me because I've never captured the spirit of someone's relationship more completely than I have here. It's also the first poem I've written of a story seen through someone else's eyes. Anna still has the original I sent in her room somewhere, thousands of miles across the ocean. I've watched her grow into a woman over the years and we're still friends today.

Posted with her permission.

Love Story

So come to me on bended knee,

And calm my insecurity.

We’ll lay beneath the Aussie skies,

Fight the dark and greet sunrise.

With stained-glass rays to warm our face

We’ll run each day’s uncertain race.

Love’s moments spent near or apart

With you forever in my heart.

On crashing beach and windswept plain,

Through winter’s chill or summer’s rain,

We’ll act like fools for all to see

Or be content to simply be.

Stolen nights entwined as one

When passion’s dance has just begun,

Your deep blue eyes and tiger skin

With every breath I’ll breathe you in.

Then hand-in-hand we’ll face the day,

Climb obstacles that come our way

And thank the day that we both met

My shining Prince.

Your Juliet.

Our Anniversary Celebration

Thursday marked fifteen years that Sandy and I have been married. We rarely get extravagant when celebrating special occasions, instead we decided to book a day off work and spend the day together on a trip into the city. We centred it all around a tour of the Picasso exhibit at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) in Toronto.

We took the train downtown, joining the morning rush-hour crowd as they poured into the city. But we were in no hurry and made a few stops along the way.

Our first destination was a cafe/ bistro that Sandy recently discovered. We both have a weakness for a good latte and weren't disappointed.

isn't she adorable?

From the cafe we headed up the street to the art gallery...

"Large Two Forms 1966 and 1969" by Henry Moore

Some of my favourites:

"Violin" (sculpture)

"Sacre Coeur" (sketch. Sandy and I fell in love with this one)

"Musician"     

"The Kiss"

"Man With A Guitar"

"Reading"

"The Farmer's Wife"

"The Supplicant" (this was a small piece, with amazingly fine detail)

"Three Figures Under A Tree" (heavy African influence in this work)

gift shop

From the art gallery we went back to the cafe for lunch (the prices in the restaurant at the gallery were crazy). Afterwards we took a stroll to Sandy 's office so I could meet some of the girls, then we continued downtown.

   Yonge/Dundas Square, in the heart of Toronto...   

Our last stop downtown was the St. Lawrence Market. It opened in 1803 and was named the world's best food market in April by National Geographic. Sandy goes fairly often but I hadn't been there for years, so it was a perfect opportunity to do a little meat and produce shopping. I also got a chance to meet some of "her boys", who take such good care of her when she shops there. Yeah, she loves the attention!

We left the market mid-afternoon and caught the train home. We had a quick shower then headed out for dinner at...

We both ordered steak topped with crab, shrimp and bernaise sauce (Sandy skipped the bernaise) and got THE best server we've had in a long time. Shauna was amazing, her service was great and when she found out it was our anniversary she took time to talk with us. She asked us how to make a relationship last and was full of questions.

Sandy and I both agreed it was one of the best days we've spent together in a while. Everything was perfect!

More random photos from our day...

sculpture in a park

these looked pretty hot

I thought some of you might like this

setting up for the MMVA's (Much Music Video Awards)

I loved this bike!

in the park...