Spring Cleaning

I just finished doing a cleanse, as in an inner type deep physical cleansing. What it basically involves is spending about 3 days “gearing down”…taking meat and protein out of your diet the first day, then the next breads and grains, then strictly veggies the third, then fasting for three days. After that you would spend 3 days slowly gearing back up.

I have a juicer so I juice fast. I used to do this every year but haven’t in about 3. I always feel so good after and it’s nice to know that you may have gotten rid of a few things that just shouldn’t be in there. I have to say though that it’s tough. Friday when I went to work the first thing a coworker did was shove an enormous plate of chocolate chip cookies in my face, offering me one with a sunny smile that I immediately longed to see being fed my fist. I spent the rest of that day AND the next day enduring a massive headache caused by the sudden lack of caffeine surging through my tea stained veins.

Ugh. By the second day of the actual fast I was sitting at my computer fantasizing about eating when out of the corner of my eye I saw a CornNut on the floor. One single tiny little CornNut. It lay there in all its wondrous glory, its beige outer shell gleaming in all its salty goodness, its satisfying crunchiness beckoning me. And I have to say by this point I was seriously considering the ramifications of shoving a loaded burger and a side of fries into my juicer. Then my ex phoned and invited me over for potato pancakes and yes I called him a f*cking asshole much to his total confusion…lol…but could a person take anymore?

But, I DID IT! I am on steamed veggies today and man were they good. Unfortunately I, with my department, went to celebrate a coworker’s birthday at this chocolate café. All of them shared a chocolate fondue, and drank various chocolaty drinks. I endured with sipping my Pellegrino and sneaking apple pieces from my bag…-a not so enthusiastic and very sarcastic yay- But I feel great and I want to keep the diet (good food, no crap) going for a bit and lose this little bit of extra weight, so I WILL to continue to be good! Even if it means resisting mean coworkers baring fat laden cookies and evil little CornNuts lurking in the farthest reaches of my livingroom!

The Final Chapter - finally!

Lesson 4) don’t forget to pack hair gel or you’ll look like a drowned rat all day…meh

So the next day after a lot of cursing at my hair, we went to OMSI, Portland’s science center. Yes, we are geeks. We did the planetarium show about black holes, and went on a submarine tour, then hung out looking at all the “sciency” stuff. It was cool, lots of screaming kids though. –shudders- The submarine was actually a lot roomier than the Russian one I had been on, guess Americans are bigger…lol…Oh and all this was after having a quick boo at the big weekend market. Lots of homemade crap, as always, and some lady gave me a sticker of the American flag. I…ummm…didn’t keep it. –shifty eyes-

We did have breakfast at Kell’s, an Irish pub, that is supposedly haunted as well. And OMG they had the drink of my dreams…my two favourite things rum and apricot brandy, together with orange, lime and sour mix. Damn tasty! I’ll be making those at home…lol…Anyways, apparently there had been a fire in the basement, that had traveled through the tunnels where it originated in the warehouse across the street. There are tables in the basement and that’s where their smoking section is. I took a quick boo down there, on my way back from the washroom. It was creepy, no one was down there and at the far end I could smell a smoky charred wood smell, it was very strong. One of the waitresses came down to get something and she chatted with me a bit, she was cool didn’t mind that I was looking about for ghosts…lol…but said as long as I wasn’t down there by myself cuz strange things do happen. She told me that the fire marshal had died over where I smelled the charred wood. She also told me that sometimes the piano plays all by itself. I made Jeff go back with me later that night for a couple drinks, armed with the camera. I took some shots, tried different exposures, but nothing showed up in the pics and no ghostly piano player saw fit to entertain us much to my disappointment. I might add though that neither Jeff nor the waitress could smell the strong odor of charred wood that I could. I took pics, but like I said nothing to see. The back is where you see the foosball table. Click here.

We ate dinner at one of the McMenamin’s schools turned hotel and restaurants, Kennedy School. While waiting for our table we had drinks in the small detention room…lol…it maybe sat about 12 people, and had a pot belly fireplace in the centre keeping us all nice and toasty. The whole building was really neat, and the food was good. They also had a drink with two of my favourite things in it, rum and chai tea. See why I love Portland so much?

So that about does it for the trip. Ride back was good, and I spent the afternoon bumming around downtown Seattle. One thing about Seattle is there are a lot of crazy people roaming around there, as if one day they had just let everyone outta the nut farm. Another thing I noticed about the US is the lack of recycling options. Here we have recycling containers all over the place, even the garbage cans downtown have a rim along the sides where you can place your bottles. The street people always collect them and they can take them in for money so it’s all good. But in the states? Nothing nowhere notta. It hurt me to throw away my water bottles.

Lesson 5) Although made to withstand scalding hot beverages, over proof rum will in fact disintegrate "to go" coffee cups.

Yes, I figured why not? A nice refreshing bevey for the bus ride back. Well a little advice if you should think about doing this…drink fast!

Lesson 6) If sitting on the back of the bus don't put anything on the floor cuz if some shit for brains spills his sticky drink on the floor it's all gonna run down to the very back of the bus and soak your stuff. (but I caught it in time so HA!)

Weekend Getaway and Lessons Learned Part 2

Lesson 3) When going on a ghost tour take your camera.

Yeah I didn't, though I thought that most of the tour would be underground, but it wasn't. Portland had/has a huge underground network of tunnels that were supposedly used to transport goods from ships to the many establishments. They are nicknames Shanghi tunnels because, so the story goes, a lot of people were "taken" from here to be forced to work on ships.

Course once you're out to sea there's no escaping right?

So we started off at Old Town Pizza and had dinner, pizza was fab! The place is in an old building, of course, all the furniture was old and all that and had a good atmosphere to it. The atmosphere felt "full" to me and it's hard to explain but old places like that most often feel that way to me. Oh yeah and it used to be a brothel!

At the prearranged time we met our tour guide, Natalie, outside only to find it was just us, so we had our own private tour! Natalie was totally awesome, very knowledgeable and personable and fun. She took us into the basement of the pizza place because apparently there's a ghost there. Although it was creepy I got nothing except several taps on my head. I touched my head each time it happened, and felt nothing. There IS a leaky pipe there but if it was dripping water wouldn't I have felt some wetness? Especially after several drops? Well I didn't so hmmm..

The next part of our tour took us about the streets of downtown Portland for a bit, with Natalie pointing out various buildings and telling stories, and us popping into a couple places real quick. She also took us to Voodoo Donuts and if you are ever in Portland this is MUST! I had a glazed topped with Kaptain Krunch and Jeff had a maple one topped with bacon. Natalie had the house special, a man shaped donut (think gingerbread man). It came with two pretzel sticks with which to practice your own sweet and gooey voodoo. She had us picture someone that we didn't like then went at this poor donut doll with the pretzel AND with surprising vehemence. Soon it's juicy red raspberry filling was oozing out of the massive hole that was once the "dolls" stomach. Was there something more to Natalie, I thought? Should we really be going into creepy places all alone with her? Time would tell.

After giving the massacred voodoo donut to a homeless person we were once again off and ghost hunting. Natalie took us to The White Eagle inn and tavern, an old establishment that also use to be a brothel. She took us upstairs where they do have rooms for rent for those brave enough. Stories abound about what took place in this upper part of the brothel, most not so nice. One story is about Rose, who was stabbed by a customer in her room..and apparently died in the hall too overcome with her injuries to make it any farther. There's more stories but I could go on and on about this place. Anyways Natalie chooses to not tell us where in the building anything happened, so as to not get any false positives. So up we went into the "L"shaped hallway. I first went into the "bottom L" part and was overcome with a very intense feeling. I felt lightheaded, sick, and there was that real gross feeling in the pit of my stomach I get when death is near to me. My hair was standing on end and it was just way to creepily overwhelming. So I left the spot and walked down the hall bit and the feeling went away. I caught my breath then went back to that spot and was once again overwhelmed by the same feeling. There was one other spot in the hall that made me stop and ponder, but nothing like that first spot. I did some searching when I got back home and found this...a picture of that spot complete with an "orb", borrowed from the Paranormal Research Society site. They say that door there in the pic is/was Rose's room and where the orb is is exactly where she died and exactly where I was standing when that feeling overcame me.



**For other pics of the White Eagle, borrowed from the McMenamin’s site, click here**

I have to admit it was a little hard to sleep that night and unless Jeff was screwing with me something or someone was playing with the bathroom shower curtain. Every time I went into the bathroom it was in a different position. I didn't ask Jeff about it cuz at this point I figured he must think I was batty enough...lol

Stay tuned for the final chapter in my trip..

Weekend Get-Away – Lessons Learned Part 1

1) When you own two pairs of boots that are the same, one pair in brown and one in black, make sure to do your packing in a well lit area so as to avoid packing one brown and one black boot…unless you are feeling ambitious enough to attempt a new fashion trend.

Yes this happened and I realized, at work, two hours before my bus was leaving. >.< At least I work in an office of all women who believe that life, health and wellness comes before work, and my boss was the one that ordered me to leave work and go home to make the change. (I can’t EVER see this happening with a male boss…lol) A frantic bus ride home then taxi ride BACK downtown to the station and all was well on that front…whew.

2) When the extremely ill humoured and unfriendly US border guard asks what your occupation is, lie.

Apparently they find it difficult to believe that you can actually get paid to raise money for a charity and that it really IS your job and will continue to barrage you with inane questions while you try desperately not to roll your eyes and keep a pleasant, yet slightly vacant look on your face.

----------------------------

So this past weekend I took the bus to Seattle to meet up with my cousin Jeff, and the next morning we would head out to Portland by car. Friday night we spent a pleasant evening at a really nice restaurant, having dinner with an online friend of mine, Jon. Great food, great drinks and great company, it was the perfect evening. It was also great to actually meet someone I’ve only known through the computer, I hope to meet more someday!

The next morning we headed on out, going the long way to see Mt. St. Helen’s along the way. Some of the better look-out points were still closed due to ice and snow which in turn was due to our unnaturally cold spring. (TONS of snow…it was piled almost as high as the car in some parts.) But we had some amazing views and I am sharing the pics below. (when I get home and them uploaded later tonight)

3) Don’t count on seeing what ya wanna…lol

I kinda got skunked this trip in a couple ways. I have wanted to see the Carousel museum for literally years and wouldn’t you know it, the weekend I finally get to go it was closed because they are in the process of relocating. I have also wanted to see the Tulip Festival and although it was on, the tulips have yet to bloom due to, once again our unnaturally our cold sprin. (lots of angry tourists abound…lol) But I am anxious to go back to Portland VERY soon and the museum is as good an excuse as any.

On the way we ate a lunch in Olympia, a pleasant enough town, though I learned my debit card does not work at point of sale, only in the ATM’s…oops. The weather was perfect, very warm and sunny, a truly perfect day! We arrived in Portland later that afternoon, checked into our swanky hotel and made our way out for a drink, then to Old Town Pizza where we would enjoy their house special and meet up with our guide for our ghost tour. Again the night was warm and balmy, making it a perfect night to wander about downtown Portland and all its old historical buildings for some ghostly fun.

**Stay tuned for part 2, ghostly encounters!


For more pics click here

If 40 is the new 30, someone needs to tell my ass!

Or my entire body for that matter. What the hell is going on below the chin? Well sure there’s the age thing but when did it develop this complete and total disregard for my feelings? My body despises me, I know it. Secretly it relishes in my scowls each time I happen to pass a mirror which is something I am coming to frequently avoid. (I knew that snickering sound was coming from somewhere.)

And to all who know me, yeah yeah, yeah. To be honest I am no more than maybe 10 pounds overweight and even then it’s not really overweight it’s more like 10 pounds more than my totally vain self wants to weigh. That doesn’t bother me as much as the “dimpling” of my thighs and my backside, which by the way is starting to give in to gravity. Dimpling? My ass! And yes it’s on my ass, but call it what it is…cellulite plain and simple. How come men aren’t plagued with this hideously deforming ailment? Probably because they wouldn’t even notice if they did, like they fail to notice when their bellies begin to hang over their belts or their jiggling man-boobs that they so proudly display by going topless in the summer to the detriment of our sensibilities. Gag. And if they didn’t notice then who would be able to sell the multitude of creams and treatments to wage the war on this cottage cheese of the flesh?

Anyways the long and the short of it is I want to get back into shape…as much of a shape that I can achieve not being 20 any longer. Toned I guess is what I want…so the old skin maybe doesn’t look so saggy and maybe the dimpling goes back to that special little hell from whence it came. Thing is I don’t weight myself, haven’t in about 20 years. I go by how I look and how my clothes fit. So I decided to start measuring myself, my waist and my hips anyways, where I have the extra stuff I want to shed. I plan on sticking with my work outs, and pray nothing happens as it always does to sideline me…like injuries and strange colds that knock me on my ass for a month. Eating right is another thing, at least during the week and lots of water! I will be “weighing” in monthly here on my blog figuring that will help motivate me. My goal is to lose 3 inches at least.

So here we go, the first month…

Waist – 30
Hips – 37
Workouts – 2 full w/o’s - 2x this week (didn't drop dead - bonus)

Bella Bella

So people who aren’t my “net” friends keep asking me what’s with the name. Well actually even some of them ask too. My rt name is Bonnie, but my online name is Bella. Not something I woulda chosen for myself, but it basically chose me. Here’s the scoop…

I roleplay online….love love love it! For those that are uninformed, this is where you make up a fictional character and play that character with other people who have made their own characters For the most part this is done in a room such as a chat room…live. You write a post about what your char does and says, then the other person does the same…back and forth it goes. I have always loved writing, and being able to play your char off another person, live, with no knowledge at all of what they are going to post really makes you have to think on your feet and causes some rather interesting situations. My awesome rp partner in crime Donnie has definitely stumped me a time or too…lol…oh the stories we could tell. We die laughing at some of the things our chars have gone through and/or done to one another. I couldn’t ask for a better person to “rp” with. His imagination and creativity simply astound me at times. I swear sometimes I have found myself sitting there, mouth agape at something he’s written. I want to write books with him but he dun wanna…-pouts- Anyways I digress! Must be the wine. ..-snickers- There are a lot of different themed rooms, Medieval, Sci Fi, Horror, Vampire, even Western! It was when I joined a Vampire one some years back that I inadvertently got the name.

Not having played in a Vampire themed room, but wanting to, I found one I thought would be “newbie” friendly. So I chose a room, then chose to play a character that was basically "pre-made" by the owner of the room. There was a basic bio, I only had to apply then elaborate on that bio. She was already named, and her name was Belle. It was after joining this room that I began to make online friends, and most called me by my char’s name, Belle….not unusual since most online people don’t wanna give out their real names. It kinda stuck, but when registering for some other forums that name seemed to be taken so I changed it slightly to Bella and that stuck moreso. So there you have it…