The Travel Bug . . .

Do you have the travel bug?! We totally do. Yes, we know we just got back from a wicked Central America cruise - but that was more than 2 months ago (where does the time go?!)

Anyway, our great friend Jackie (shout-out Jacks!) just got back from a trip to Egypt and shared with us some amazing photos and, yup, that made us wish for a trip too!

So we'll share some of her photos with you and maybe you can share some of your travel plans with us to tie us over until our next trip!? Where are you going or where would you like to go in 2007?!

I know we are far from being hard-done-by - but it's fun to bring drama into blogging!

Here's our list of where we're going - just keep in mind that three of the six are work related!

• Vancouver Island
• Los Angeles
• Houston
• Mexico City
• Golden Triangle (GT'07 Holla!)
• Tahiti!!!

OK - so it's a pretty wicked list - we are so spoiled! And we were talking over at Adam and Roxcie's last night (awesome perogies by the way, Rox!) about Tahiti and that kinda got us thinking more about trips too.

So many places - so little time!

Happy Birthday Brother!

While at first glance, this may appear to be my stunt double wake boarding this past summer, alas it is my big brother. And today (February 23/07) is his birthday!!

You see, I had a bad "b-day card" experience with my younger brother's birthday in November. In my rush to get him a card that would arrive on time, I quickly selected one from the "brother section" in the store, read it very quickly and sent it away. A week later when it arrived, he called to thank us, but asked why I had sent him a "step-brother" card?! Looking back it's rather funny, but - my bad. And now he's traumatized by my slip-up and demands to see blood tests and his birth certificate from my parents - hahaha!

So to avoid a repeat, I am making use of the BLOG and giving my older brother a big birthday shout-out! Now the world knows (or the seven people who read our blog) and you can take great pride in knowing you were the first big b-day shout-out (the first of many, I'm sure...anything to save $4.69 for a card, right?!)

Happy Birthday - save us some cake for when we see you in March!!

Family Day Weekend

Alberta rocks! We will do pretty much anything to find a reason to have a long weekend in any month. And so February has Family Day Long Weekend. Although I've just learned that Sask. adopted the holiday this year too (copy cats!) We, in fact, actually kept to the Family Day tradition and actually saw family members - Katie's folks came over on Sunday night and had my "world famous" Lasagna (world famous refers to the fact that there are people in the world who may be famous and have actually had my lasagna!) Anyway - it got good reviews & that's what's important!

Despite a busy weekend filled with studying, MBA Thesis, work call-out and naps, we managed to get out for a hike and explore at Elbow Falls to take in some of the great scenery!

Hope you made the most of your Family Day Weekend. Enjoy the views...

Say Goodbye to the Double-Wide

Since May of 2006 I have had the pleasure (insert sarcasm here) of working in my very own double-wide trailer down by the river in Portland Oregon! You'd think a multi-million dollar project would come with some swanky office space (or just some SPACE) but instead they've spent most of the $$ on consultants (which is probably a good investment - but not as fun to complain about!)

Looking out from the inside, you can't help but wonder if the bars on the windows are to protect the employees or to protect the outside world from us! Either way, they typically don't inspire you - other than to get past this phase of the project! And that's what happened last Friday (I'm free, I've been paroled to my half-way house in Burnaby! ha)

We still have a long way to go before we are all back at home with our significant others (three months in Mexico City and three months in Houston), but at least I'll be in the same country for a while (six weeks). Now for my favorite part of blogging...bullets!!!

Benefits of Burnaby vs. Portland

• No more being denied entry into the US (and secondary searches at security!
• No more getting out of bed at 3:30am on a Monday morning
• I get to come home on Thursday night...at a reasonable hour
• No more customs agents - or passport/visa
• One flight!!! No more noisy Seattle airport!
• No more Silver Cloud Inn...but I will miss my "trany" friend Andy
• We get to visit Scott's family!!!!
• We get to see Karima!
• and last but not least............No More Trailer!

Your Inner M&M . . .

We found a great website and thought we'd share: http://www.becomeanmm.com/

We had great fun exploring our M&M features - let us know if you think there are any similarities!

My Man In Uniform

I've known Scott for a couple of May long weekends now and have only seen him in his uniform once!!! And that was his bike cop uniform so it really doesn't count! Can you believe it...I'm going to be his wife and this weekend was the first time I have EVER seen him in his uniform?!!! You would have thought the stereotypical response most women have to seeing a "man in uniform" would have prompted him to show off early in our relationship...I guess he was too busy trying to impress me with our trips to Crave for cupcakes - mmmm cupcakes!!!

Anyway, I thought it was time for everyone to see how great he looks in this uniform of his!

Shave and A Haircut

OK - so maybe I don't need the haircut, but sadly it is almost time to say good-bye to the beard. Work related plans will dictate that in the next couple of weeks I will require a much cleaner look. But during the past 18 months, I have become very fond of my current look. And lucky for me, so does Katie!

While my beard has ranged from Lumberjack (not a Katie favorite) to more of a 5 o'clock shadow look - the beard vibe was always good. I took out my eyebrow ring (flashback to getting it pierced in Vancouver & being thankful for Tequila!), just before we went on our Christmas/New Years cruise (my snorkel gear wouldn't seal properly with the ring in!) And since I knew that a "clean-up" look was coming in late-February, I left it out when we returned back home.

Katie has requested we document the shaving process, so I'm sure we will. She also has her heart set on me keeping a sick-ass handlebar moustache for a day at work too - negotiations are still on-going!

(Schwartzee & Scott without beard) (Sony & Scott without beard)

If all goes to plan, I'll be able to grow back the beard by mid-March . . .for a little while anyway ; )

Canadian Idol

This weekend, CTV Canadian Idol came to Calgary to hold auditions for, uuhhh, the next Canadian Idol. We're not fans of the show - in fact, neither of us have even watched more than mere minutes of the Canadian brother of the successful American Idol. But much like the morbid curiosity that causes people to stare at the horrific car accident as they drive-by, so too did we find ourselves at South Centre Mall to take in the Idol action!

(Warning: the following views may not reflect those of CTV)

Hoping to see some freaks of nature, our venture to the mall did not disappoint! The chance to embarrass yourself in front of hundreds of people was enough to draw people from all over Alberta. You'd think that contestants would want to distinguish themselves from the crowd - but those in attendance seemed like they lacked creativity and woke up thinking, "what can I do to make myself different? I know I'll wear my wranglers, cowboy hat and boots and bring my guitar!" You can only imagine their disappointment when the other 1,200 applicants from Cow Town showed up wearing their wranglers, cowboy hat.....

There were a few exceptions and they fell into the following categories:

Women/Girls who must have thought the auditions were for the next Canadian Prostitute Show. Yikes! Who lets their wives & daughters out of the house dressed like that?! But if you can't sing, you may as well have "fakers" to try and distract the judges, right?!

Women, Girls and a few fellas that may have been going to the High School Prom following the auditions. Perhaps CTV thought they'd kill two birds with one stone and film an episode of Degrassi Jr. High at the same time?

Cougars who were mostly interested in hitting on Ben Mulroney (the annoying Canadian Idol Host) and

Gay guys who were mostly interested in hitting on Ben Mulroney!

As far as singing talent goes, you don't actually get to see the auditions at the mall. Contestants are whisked away to the judges area and the mall patrons have to be satisfied in seeing the long lines of wannabes practicing their "best stuff." But all was not lost, we'll leave you with a few conversation clips overheard by some of the Canadian Idol hopefuls in every corner of the mall.

Man #1: (singing)
Man #2: hey - hey (tapping Man #1 on the shoulder) "You're singing off-key."
Man #1: Oh, but that's the way I sing.
Man #2: Oh. (walks away)

Woman: "Tell me which earrings makes it sound better" (sings) and then switches earrings (sings)
Supportive Boyfriend: "Maybe try it without any earrings on?"
Woman: "Good idea!"

What We Like About Art . . .

We bought some art at Christmas for our house, instead of buying gifts for each other, and it arrived last Friday. So this weekend we toured our house (short tour) to find where we'd like to put it. Neither of us know that much about art, but we are learning more from Katie's mom (thanks!) and just by looking at different artists in the past months, we've started to develop some likes/dislikes of our own.

And that's probably the most important aspect of buying art - finding something that you like. Regardless of the reason, if it makes you happy and you like how it looks, how can something be wrong?! This is a Brodinsky painting. It is one of 55 originals he painted on a wooden medium.

So we thought we'd share what we like about this painting:

Katie: Likes the use of colors and, because we enjoy travelling so much - she looks forward to someday trying to find the place in the picture. Also likes that there are no people in the picture!

Scott: Likes that the artist uses materials (sand, clay, crushed rock) in his paintings from the area where he is painting and how that material makes a unique texture in the painting. Also likes that there are no people in the picture - something about eyes looking at you as you walk by the picture!

That's it. It's that simple. We hope it's inspired you to look at art differently!

Roxcie & Adam's Wedding

This weekend Adam and Roxcie (Katie's brother and his wife) returned from thier wedding/honeymoon/cruise! We got a chance to see their amazing photos and hear all about the wedding!

They got married on January 21th (haha) in Miami on the cruise ship. We wish we could have been there to help them celebrate - but we will get a chance to see Roxcie in her beautiful dress at a reception in Fairview, AB later this month.

Looking forward to sharing years and years of laughs! Congratulations!