Keira-anne.com

I got tagged by Tawcan, so I suppose I should keep the ball rolling…

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Volunteering at junior high youth group.
2. Working at Northern Reflections.
3. Deciding what I wanted to do since high school was finished.
4. Using ICQ to chat with my online friends (I was beyond cool).
5. Crushing on Trevor Hurst.

5 things on my to do list today:

1. Meet with Tenille on Granville Island.
2. Get through the work day.
3. Get an intense workout in this afternoon.
4. Finally get my butt in gear and register for this weekend’s 10k run.
5. Watch at least two episodes of Law & Order: SVU.

5 snacks I love:

1. Graham crackers (smothered in peanut butter and chocolate chips)
2. Bananas
3. Canned peaches
4. Cheese and crackers
5. Hickory sticks

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Get rid of all my student loans (and Amy’s too!)
2. Give money to my family
3. Travel extensively
4. Open a sanctuary on an acreage for abused and abandoned dogs
5. Donate funds to the SPCA and downtown eastside support groups

5 places I’ve lived:

1. Vancouver
2. Port Hardy
3. Courtenay
4. Tsawwassen
5. Comox

5 jobs I’ve had:

1. Legal assistant
2. Pre-school teacher
3. American Eagle shopgirl
4. ice cream scooper
5. Northern Reflections shopgirl (hideous, I know)

5 people I punch:

1. The Birthday Boy
2. Jenny
3. Angekins
4. John
5. Tenille

Photo: miss604 on Flickr

I want to take a moment to join the chorus of hundreds around the globe who are wishing Tony a very happy 102nd birthday this fine Fall day. It’s been a long time since we’ve polished off a pint or two together, but I love the guy all the same.

Tony, I hope your day is filled with wonderful surprises and constant reminders of how appreciated you are. Thank you for being you. Much love from your favourite Canadian blondie.

Last month, I sat down at my keyboard and was drilled for hours on end by Tony Pierce. Okay, that’s not exactly how it played out, but he had the exciting idea of interviewing me for the busblog. To hear what played out (as well as my thoughts on blogging, boys, family, faith, kissing and dressing up like a cheerleader), head on over to today’s edition of the busblog.

Today is Tony’s birthday. On this, the celebration of his 29th year, I wish him happiness, whipped cream bikinis, cool and crisp beers, true joy, Chinese twin sisters (or heck, even triplets), winning Cubs games and a fantastic next 365 days.

It’s true - I am home alone on a Friday night and it feels fantastic. I thought I’d take a break from my freshly-purchased season 4 of Sex and the City (more on that in a moment) to blog a little bit for you lovely readers.

I have some thoughts on blogging I’d like to share.

I met my babelicious friend Becky (though more widely known to most Vancouverites and other readers of my blog as Miss604) at the end of the summer in 2006. Truth be told, I wasn’t that hugely into the so-called “blogging world” and didn’t read a heck of a lot of blogs. However, to me, Becky is like my Fairy Blogmother. She’s real, refreshing, interesting and smart. She writes on relevant topics, sometimes on personal experiences and always does so in a style that is uniquely and unmistakably her own.

In our discussion this morning, we both agreed that when we do write blog posts that are similar to each other, it’s only based on an experience we shared together or on an inside joke that we know the other will get when they read it. In the huge world of blogging, it’s inevitable that, as a blogger, there will be other bloggers who are likely to influence you or inspire you - that’s the way it really should be. It’s a great community to be a part of.

But the buck stops there.

Blogging is actually a very personal, inwardly intimate and ideally unique endeavor. I won’t purport to know the roots of blogging, but to me, it’s much like making the choice to take your personal journal and open it up to the world, quite literally. The process will then often morph in that sometimes as a blogger you will tend to write about current events, records, recipes and a whole plethora of topics. You can run the gamut with your blog. But what it all ultimately comes back to is one thing: you, the blogger.

I won’t pretend to know a lot about blogging because it’s only been something I’ve done for a little over two years. What I will say is this: be inspired but be your own self. Be personal, be intimate, but be real. Be you, be youself, carve your own niche.

Tonight I spoke about this at great length with Tony. He knows a thing or two about blogging. We agreed that one of the great things about Raymi is that she’s just that: genuine. She makes no excuses for who she is - both flaws and dazzling attributes. Whoever you are, you will always have something to write about and are always entitled to share your point of view on things. What Tony did tell me is that no one can ever say “I’m not able to write about this because…” because that simply isn’t true. The truth is, everyone has a voice and everyone has something important to say. Just make sure it’s your voice that’s saying it.

Photo courtesy of Tony Pierce…ummm…from my inbox.

——————————————————

Now, back to what I mentioned earlier…I’d like to turn your attention to the Fab Four. Sorry to disappoint some of you, but I’m not referring to the Beatles. I’m talking about the staple to every woman’s life: Sex and the City. Cliché of me to blog about? Perhaps. But so necessary.

SATC wasn’t something I watched when it originally aired on HBO, and actually only got into the series early in 2006. Sacreligious, I know. But I breezed through all six seasons in just a few short weeks on DVD and caught myself up. I was told today by someone that the show featured poor character development and was completely unbelievable. Perhaps he was correct on a whole, but if you break it down into chunks, I disagree.

First off, let’s agree that the four main players (being Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda) are really actually just one character, with each of the girls representing a different part of that main character. Each brings different attributes and experiences to the coffee shop table, ones that every single woman can relate to in one way or the other. I cannot say there hasn’t ever been an episode of SATC that either made me say to myself “oh wow - that totally happened to me!” or made me think “hmmm…Carrie hit that manicured nail on the head.”

Maybe the storylines are superfluous and a tad to the extreme, but that show is filled with little golden nuggets…shiny jewels of wisdom that are timelessly applicable.

And that being said, who isn’t excited for the movie to come out in May, 2008? Not much has been revealed and filming only commenced on September 19th in New York. What I can tell you is that aside from the addition of Jennifer Hudson to the cast, the Fab Four are back and have brought Smith, Steve, Harry and (bless his heart) Mr. Big along with them. Carrie and Big are apartment hunting in Manhattan and paparazzi shots of the set show Charlotte sporting a rather large baby bump.

What I’d like to know is this: in the last episode of the show, it was revealed that Mr. Big’s name is actually John. Are we still going to call him Mr. Big?

Photo courtesy of INF on People

At the end of July, Tony and I debated over beers. “Nestle Tollhouse Morsels make the best chocolate chip cookies, hands down!” I said.

Photo courtesy of Duane Storey (um, I think!)

“No way…a chocolate chip is a chocolate chip. I bet you couldn’t even tell the difference between different ones,” was his reply.

And so the challenge began.

Not long after Tony returned to L.A., a package arrived for me in the mail. In that packaged I found four Ziploc bags, each containing chocolate chips and marked A, B, C, and D, respectively. My challenge was to bake cookies with the four different kinds of chips and decide whether I could tell the difference.

Let me preface this by saying that, after purchasing said chocolate chips, Tony admitted that “Well, they do actually look different. Maybe you will be able to tell them apart.”

Tonight I dragged Becky over to my apartment and executed the challenge. Here’s what happened.

Check out my Flickr for more photos.

Becky and I rated the four different chocolate chips in three different categories. We each ate a chocolate chip on its own, within the dough and then finally within the baked product. Each chip was given a score out of 10 by each of us in each of the three categories, and in the end, the scores out of ten were added up and chocolate chip “B” emerged as the winner by only a couple points.

Chocolate chip “D” was the loser, but with its odd flavour, Becky and I were convinced that Tony may have doused it in an illegal substance. Okay, maybe not, but “D” was weird. Chocolate chip “A” won a special award for Biggest Overall Improvement. It did worst out of all four chips in the stand-alone area, but within dough and within the baked cookie, it made leaps and bounds. In fact, within a cookie it tasted much like the cookies used to taste at Subway back when Subway cookies were actually good.

Tony, you need to post a comment and share with all of us which of A, B, C, and D really were. That is, of course, if you remembered to write down what you sent me.

And last but not least, in the spirit of all things “cookie,” here’s a flashback to the 80s with the girls of Troop Beverly Hills singing “Cookie Time.”

Video courtesy of YouTube