almost the end of 2008

I started this blog back in 2004 when it was a brand new online tool and back in a time when no one seemed to know what having a blog was all about or what to write on one. Now it has become a widely used tool across the world. I actually created mine so that I could keep my family updated with what I was up to across the miles while living in Montreal. It was difficult to get everyone to email and use MSN, so reading a daily blog seemed useful.
I also used to write a lot more creative pieces years ago (along with formal updates)yet hope to start again in the new year.

Its been neglected now over the months due to many more methods of keeping in touch with my people.

There is still MSN which I rarely use now but still find quite gratifying for its instant rapid responses.

And I find that Facebook has pretty much taken the place of MSN. Some people use Facebook for email purposes as well and have eliminated their hotmail accounts in the process (due to their expiration from not using within one full month).

There is also myspace, which I joined a while back. I find it to be a fantastic tool for musicians. It is great for finding new talent and spreading the word on existing favorites. Personally, I hardly know anyone that has joined it besides a few of my online junkie friends who seem to use it more for a site of self expression if anything if they're not musicians at all.

For fun I created a full blown myspace page for Dave's old university band 'Mordecai Lingus' one night.

I had their old cd on iTunes and decided to load some tracks for the hell of it.
He expects a full out cult following.

I will let you know how it does.


Last week I joined Twitter and found it to be an exclusive treat once again like my blog used to be. Only a select few are aware of it and use it daily.
However, do I feel it is necessary to let people know what I am up to 24/7, not really but if the technology is out there, why not. Its also linked to Facebook and for now it seems more exclusive to have Facebook status reports updatead 'via Twitter' or 'twittelator' than simply via Facebook.
Or again are we just the types that like to be the ones in the know?
Not sure. Or are we all just lonely and mad at our pc mac world of non-existent human contact. Whatever happened to the days when coffee shops were filled with laughter, good indie music and not glowing mac books and generic cd's.

Through Twitter I was able to exchange a few words with Matt Good the other night. He let me know what his favorite song of all time was. I found the track and agree. But then I wondered if I still lived in BC would hot coffee be on order and piles of cd's exchanged instead; however hopeful. It was nice to touch base with him and the song is one of the most atmospheric and memorable. There is a long list of my own dreamy favorites, if you want to know any of them please just email me.

As for the classic medium of all time=books. I found an old Camus book I bought in Toronto years ago. Exile and the Kingdom. I haven't read it. So I decided to pick it up last night and try reading more offline. I still find The Stranger is one of my favourite books.


As I write this, strangely I just got an email from an old highschool friend that found me on facebook who now lives in Japan. She added me as a contact on her Flickr account. Which I also belong to.
It is a fantastic site for photosharing and seeing a very visual peak into peoples lives...and what they find beautiful too.

Its almost the end of 2008. My sleep pattern is all off track. Thanks for the great year. Its been a long one.

Happy Anniversary Emily & Derek!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Thank you Brent & Beth for the W-gifts!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Mom!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

NIFTY AND FIFTY?!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Honeymooners

On the Friday of our trip to Mont Tremblant we went to
the Spa Scandinave

http://www.scandinave.com/

aka: polarbearing...

Come on thats super relaxing fun...esp dunking yourself into the frozen river...!

The first time we went down to the river (which you can see in the background of the first photo) we saw a deer passing over the frozen ice!

"Wow what stupid humans" - the deer must have thought?!...

but we continued down the staircase into the slushy cut-out into the ice

3 times.

It was 5 degrees.

There are also other "cooling" pools that are a warm 12 degrees and an icy waterfall to stand under if you're brave enough.

Dave went right into the river (!) I went in half way, that was enough for me. WOW! My new husband is the bravest man I've ever seen! This river was much colder than the last polarbear club I went to in Saint Saveur a few years back.

After the plunging you have to go to these quiet relaxing rooms.Where you sit and whisper about how cold you just were, or sleep (as it feels like you've just run a billion miles actually..!)

You must do the above in the below order:

A) hot

B) cold

C) relax.

This is the process.

As for the heating stations:

there is:

A) Dry sauna, 200 degrees (think cooked turkey)
B) Steam room

C) Outdoor hot tubs

D) Warm outdoor pool

E) Outdoor campfire (which is constantly burning so you can either heat up or dry off!) --which I did once..just for the hell of saying that I stood in my bikini in front of a roaring fire while it was snowing...now thats camping!

No wonder I caught a cold the first week home!

We had a nice wintery day together and it was fantastic.

Our wedding rings sure got hot in the dry sauna -yow!

It was a great chilly Friday.

Just Married!!!

February 16, 2008

Yes we did it! At last!

Thank you everyone for sharing our special day with us.

It truly was a wonderful day.

The best day of our lives (so far!).

The W-photo's are now starting to roll in and we have posted them on our Flickr account for you to see them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peppermintlab/

And if you haven't sent us yours, please do so as we would love to see them -and your special point of view!

Love Patti & David Crowe

Vivienne Westwood blasts government's stance on terrorism suspects

By Joelle Diderich, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS - Rebel British designer Vivienne Westwood on Monday used her catwalk show in Paris as a platform to protest a British government push to extend the number of days that terrorist suspects can be detained without charges.

Westwood sent models down the catwalk wrapped in T-shirts and silk blankets printed with "56" - the maximum number of days the government reportedly wants to hold terror suspects, doubling the current limit.

After the display, she launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Gordon Brown, amid growing speculation that he will call an early election.

"I'll be voting against him, definitely. Anything to get him out," said Westwood, who is best known as one of the founders of the punk movement in the 1970s.

Britain's Home Office said that, while a 56-day limit on such detentions has been widely reported, no formal proposal was ever made and that officials are still trying to determine how much longer they would like to hold terror suspects.

Brown, whose second full day in office was marked by a failed terror attack in London, set out plans in July for tough new anti-terrorism laws, saying police need greater powers to hold and question suspects in increasingly complex and global plots.
Currently, suspects need to be charged or released within 28 days.
Westwood accused the British leader of behaving like a "tyrant" and said the measures would not help to protect British citizens against terrorism.
"We need people (in court) in front of the law - this will protect me," she said.

The designer has a history of mixing politics and fashion. For several years, she has been calling for the release of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement activist convicted of killing two FBI agents in a shootout on a South Dakota reservation in 1975.

Lola the explorer!

We went up to the Crowe's nest Friday & Saturday for Dave's dad Wayne's birthday....and boy did we have a nice relaxing time!

Great weather and S'mores too!

Lola, Dave and I went around the lake in the canoe...saw a few turtles and frogs!

Lee and I also picked some wild raspberries!

We are back in the city now (as I was supposed to work today but now am not!) hope to make some french toast and go for a nice stroll down to the market to look at some wedding invitations! (yes we are still planning along over here!)

haud muto factum

– nothing happens by being mute.

Stylist and fashion guru Isabella Blow, a vibrant and often outrageous presence on the British fashion scene, has tragically died aged 48.

Thanks to Vogue being written about 3 or so months prior to actually being published/released I read about the loss of Isabella Blow just last week. I could not believe the sad news of the world losing such an icon.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=453384&in_page_id=1879

She had an unfailing eye for beauty, and "discovered" Stella Tennant, Honor Fraser and most famously Sophie Dahl, whom she first encountered weeping on the street after an argument with her mother. Undeterred by Dahl's then-voluptuous size, she whisked her off to Storm model agency and cast her in a Vogue fashion shoot.

But it was her passion for fashion, and her ardent support of British designers, which will be her most enduring legacy. She was an early supporter of Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and milliner Philip Treacy, using her own body as a billboard to advertise their skills by wearing them at every opportunity.

At the sort of event where most fashion editors would wear workaday black garb, Isabella could always be relied upon to turn up in full fashion regalia - even if it was nine o'clock in the morning. No event was too early - or too casual - not to warrant outrageous clothes, towering heels and a slash of crimson lipstick, all topped off with a jaunty Treacy hat, which she was never without.

There was never a dull moment when Isabella Blow was around. To her many friends and admirers, she was the quintessence of British fashion: a passionate supporter of new talent and an outspoken champion of the avant garde.

She began her career in 1981 as an assistant to Anna Wintour, now editor-in-chief of American Vogue. Returning to London in 1986, Blow worked for British Vogue, The Sunday Times Style magazine and most recently Tatler, as their fashion director. She had a penchant for plucking rich young society girls from relative obscurity in the shires and taking them under her wing before championing them as models.

For her passion and her character, she will be sorely missed. The world is a far duller place without her.

Mystery today surrounded the death of Isabella Blow, one of the British fashion industry's most eccentric characters, amid claims that she may have poisoned herself.

The 48-year-old fashion director of Tatler magazine, a self-confessed depressive, was found collapsed in her Gloucestershire home on Sunday and pronounced dead in hospital yesterday morning.

Her art dealer husband, Detmar Blow, said she had been very ill after fighting ovarian cancer but declined to say whether she took her own life.

7-7-7

We always talked about this date years and years ago.
Long before it ever crossed the minds of the masses.
We laughed and joked and teased each other about this magical date as this was to be our day to get married as nothing on the calendar would be as lucky for a pair of goofy friends like us who talked and talked on the phone.

Instead we are happily settled into our new home in Ottawa down in the market.
I can hear the peace tower bells ringing in the distance too.

Everything is as lucky as can be.

We arent married yet, but that is on the horizon not to worry.

Off to Otown

Well I've heard a few requests for more pblog "updates".

So here is one for you. Even though this was meant to be a place for my friends and families that are living

in more distant places such as Edmonton etc. Not for my friends that actually SEE me in the flesh.

Those are the luckier of the sort.

I have also heard that the pblog is to some, a sort of morning ritual.

So thank you for this. I was also told that if I were to post more the readership would return.

Yet I believe that everyone is busy with their facebook accounts and fail to find the time to read blogs anymore.

A Blog, that's so 2004.

I've lived in a quite a few cities to date. Now its time to get moving into the next.
So what if I am taking a break from the dust and cat & dog fur that's flying all over the house as we speak.


I think I have developed some mild dust allergies.
I guess because its my 30th birthday next month its already bringing me lots of good fruitful age-related surprises.



Thanks for that.


I am happy packing up stuff and getting rid of all the garbage that seems to follow us around house-to-house.
Its good to cleanse the house. Get rid of far too many greeting card collections. Odds-N-ends regarding my closet.

Such as my VANS.
Yes I am going to donate that little bit of what was once such a big part of my exterior coolness in the past.

I couldn't donate my collection of concert t-shirts though. Its a real struggle to part with it. I stacked it up to be as high as my knee, then the rest just had to go. I really "edited" it down.
I know that I never wear any of them anymore, not even to bed.

I do not however own the above: "Jails Hot!".
Sorry folks.

As per Ottawa, Dave and I found a nice old 1900's Victorian "row house" as they call it.
My mom says that "row house" sounds very ghetto and I am not supposed to use the term.
I will miss hearing the roars of children 9 floors down below at the school across the dirt path of which, is soon to be a grand new road. And I will miss that fresh ooze of fresh greasy hot tar when it hits +40 some time soon.....Mmmm. Gotta love Mississauga.
I will not miss the 403, or Hurontario traffic.
I will miss the Mississauga city hall fountain that Lola and I walked to.
I will also miss our sister city Kariya Park, and the ducks and its own zen garden with little pebbles raked daily. That's about it.
Oh, and I will also try to forget why it was that we moved here in the first place.


Down below in the open field, no one ever came to clean up the Tim Horton's garbage that I complained about either earlier this year.

There's no reward with complaint. In 2007, no one cares about anything or anyone, or even the state of the environment. I really feel upset about all of this. But what am I to do? put my head back into the sand and keep consuming.

So I had enough of my boycott and went to buy us lunch as I wanted to see who was working there and what this ignorance looked like. I arrived bitter as ever for my sudden hunger.
A bunch of students frantic as ever were microwaving bacon and spilling coffee on the floor was what I saw.
A young woman with a khaki colored hiijab then asked me for my order, and I felt guilty as I asked for a traditional summer Turkey-BLT. She snickered at my reply. I felt bad for not being a vegetarian like I said I would this year. I then went on to purchase soup and coffee. And as my bonus to the combo, I even got a choice of doughnut. How filthy of me.

"Vanilla dip, please"



Ok, off to Ottawa it is. I promise to start-up my creative writing again.
Time to get back to my packing up.


M-GOOD news,
For those that didnt know already, Matt Good is streaming his new cd that comes out July 31st.
iTunes has it streaming, its fantastic.
It will just be hard not to be connected to the internet while we move to hear it this week.
Trust me it will be a fast PC hook-up!


Cheers to you and yours, and Happy Canada Day!

"Abusive Actions" PART: 2

Hi Patti,

We appreciate your suggestion.

You can make this request from the 'Suggestions' tab on the Help page.

Let me know if you have any further questions. Also, your account was disabled because you took repeated actions that could be construed as spam. For instance, it is a violation of Facebook's Terms of Use to repeatedly send the same message or to make the same post. Facebook prides itself in protecting users from spam, and we take this standard very seriously.

However, after reviewing your situation, we have reconfirmed your account and you should now be able to access it again. Please do not send or post any more form messages. Further violations of our Terms will result in the termination of your account.

Finally, please be aware that when a warning message appears on your homepage, it will generally be displayed for 24 hours. It can be displayed for longer, however, if you continue performing these abusive actions. We appreciate your cooperation going forward.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Justin
Customer Support Representative Facebook

How I got suspended from FACEBOOK for animal rights issues, PART: 1

MY LETTER TO FACEBOOK:

Dear Classifieds Manager/Editor of FACEBOOK,

I am writing with regard to the "free to a good home" advertisements that appear in the classifieds section of the MARKETPLACE.As you may be aware, animals given away for free can, and unfortunately often do, meet gruesome fates.

They can end up in the hands of animal abusers like Barry Herbeck, a Wisconsin man who was convicted of torturing and killing animals he obtained through "free to a good home" ads.

He confessed to taking his kids with him when responding to the ads so that people would be comfortable turning animals over to him.

People known as "bunchers," who obtain animals illegally from random sources to sell to research facilities for profit, often acquire animals by answering "free to a good home" ads.

Small animals advertised as "free to a good home" are sometimes acquired by individuals who intend to use them as bait in training other animals to fight. Gerbils, hamsters, and young kittens are often acquired to be used as snake food.

Animal protection organizations all over the United States and Canada work diligently to educate people about the proper procedure for placing animals and frequently assist people in finding good homes for their animals. I have contacted individuals who placed "free to a good home" advertisements on FACEBOOK to alert them to the potential perils for their animals and have in the past received appreciative calls/e-mails from people who say they never knew that these dangers existed.

FACEBOOK could do its readers and the animals a great service, while setting a very progressive example, by printing a brief warning at the top of the pets section about giving animals away for free.

Readers should contact their local Humane Society for further help with surrendering their pets.

For example,
The Toronto Humane Society supports members of the community who can no longer care for their pets and must surrender them. However, they ask the public to help manage their admissions by giving as much lead time as possible.
If you need to surrender a pet (within Toronto) call 416-392-2273 ext. 2146 to make an appointment.

www.helpinganimals.com

MY REPLY FROM FACEBOOK:

Hi,
Action has been taken on your account, and Facebook Customer Support has received your inquiry. We will review your situation and get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for contacting Facebook.

-Facebook Customer Support

Welcome to Ottawa. Please enjoy your stay...

For those of you that have no clue what we are up to....I will post it here to make things easier.

Dave is currently in Ottawa with our dog Lola and is starting his NEW job tomorrow with the Govt!

Lets hope that ALL goes well for him and it isn't something like SHLLP was for him.

We hope we will have a great fresh start and all should be peachy...or rosey...or something like that!

They are home of the Sens right? how could we go wrong with that?

I have remained behind in Mississauga so that I can tidy up the condo and prep all the stuff for moving!

I am also now going to Edmonton to visit my family on Thursday night until the 22nd.

I haven't been home for over a year and a half.

Yes, I haven't seen my brother and Dad for that long...as well as ALL the rest of you!!!

I told Dave that we should have him come online as a "guest blogger"

so that we can both share our Ottawa and Edmonton stories

while we are apart this month.

Lola doesn't know how to type, but perhaps Dave can add a few comments where necessary.

I cant wait to get home to visit with my family!

We are planning on doing lots and lots of hardcore wedding shopping!!!

Its totally a girls vacation....!

I haven't been to the giant mall in ages.

Waterpark anyone? rollercoaster too?

We will get to go to the giant wedding section/wing of west Edmonton mall all for me!

I am SO excited! it will be a great time!
I always dreamed about going there when I was little girl to try on dresses!

I also hope to go to Whyte ave to have a few pints with all the people I have reunited with on facebook

and all of my cousins that are now "of age" to drink. We have to find a way to sneak in my sister.

She will be 18 on the 27th, sadly I will not be there to take her to the strippers....

wait, gross!

My cousin Chris SO owes me drinks because of the good time we gave him here in March.

Sadly, Dinosaur Jr will be playing on the 26th, so I will totally miss that...oh well.

My brother will have his hands full with running his kids-day-home so I will be over there visiting and

playing with all of Jalen & Kennedy's super cool toys.

I cant wait to play with their kraft dinner colored playdough!

And of course Jalen and I will have a lightsaber fight.

My friend Kelly and her husband told me they were driving to Banff to go ski for the long weekend,

and that I should join them for Spring Skiing in the mountains...

oh! SO tough to say no!

I hope to take Dave to ski/snowboard one day...he will then understand why I hate living out east

We were thinking of going to try out the Swiss Alps for our honeymoon....sound good?

Time to start our honeymoon registry I think!

Anyway,

hope to write more and make more use of the blog from E-town.

And dave, from O-town.

Enjoy.

Love P&D

Facebook Flaw

Yes I have taken some much needed creative

time off from my pblog writings.

Sorry fans.

I know that you are just as busy with facebook as I am.

Its amazing how many old friends I have found on that

crazy new tool of wasting our little spare bit of time.

Its all about curiosity isn't it?

Its all about messing with fate.

I almost don't like it.

Life unfolds a certain way and we are all just supposed

to roll with it.

None of this, "hey lets be friends again

because I never bothered to be yours way back when in

the first place, sorry!"

baloney.

There was a reason why I stopped being your friend

it happened for a reason.

Just because I can use this

new cyber tool doesn't mean

that its right to do so.

Like in that old movie Flatliners

where Kevin Bacon goes back to find that

girl he once teased so much that he ruined her life

and she ended up living in the ghetto.

He went back and fixed things.

Luckily I don't live anywhere near

Jane&Finch,

but my life has turned out alright.

Sure I threw banana's into the crowd in Gr.9 during a talent show

(don't ask),

not because it was funny,

but because my best friend and I didn't like

the "popular" girls that were sitting in the front row

and always insulted us and called us

alternative weirdos.

Sad isn't it, the mind of a 14 year old.

We also wore black dresses to our grad when everyone wore bad

1990's floral prints.

I sent the pics over to my friend last week for a laugh at how cool we were.

Such rebels.

And noticed that I even

wore classic pearls.

Imagine!

I was teased for the way I dressed.

But now I am "friends" with these people? years and years later.

Is the popular girl now me, because I have lots of virtual friends?

no.

I think Kevin Bacon will add me soon enough.

And my life will right itself entirely.

My friend "Taz" in jr. high locked my friend and I

in the basement in the dark of our school once

by accident?

and we never forgave him.

I even smacked him in the face.

And life moved on to grade 10.

Fresh start, new school, new people.

He found me on facebook and we laughed about the incident

yet I am afraid of the dark and small spaces to this day.

Was I supposed to find him again?

Are the creators of facebook indeed playing with fate?

What do you think?

The photo was from Taz, its a "Keytar t-shirt".

I thought it was funny.

He is a Dj in Kelowna now and married.

I suppose we all grow up at some point?

Others just keep wearing bad t-shirts like him.

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, its been awhile.

WSPA -Anti-Bullfighting Action

There are less than 2 weeks left until the deadline for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to sign the Written Declaration calling for an EU-wide ban on bullfighting. If you live in the EU please help by emailing your local MEPs, urging them to support the Declaration

“Not only would the Declaration complement the EU’s high standards of animal welfare, but it would also send a strong message to member state countries that support bullfighting that there is no excuse for such cruelty in the twenty-first century.” Leah Garcés, WSPA Director of Campaigns

http://www.wspa-international.org/news.asp?newsID=405&type=0

The anti-bullfight Catalonia campaign continues to grow from strength to strength and continues to draw support from animal welfare enthusiasts and supporters from across the globe.
Support the Anti-Bullfighting Campaign ‘Culture without Cruelty‘ and help WSPA to end the cruel sport of bullfighting.

Bullfighting is a cruel sport that pits a bull against men who wield a variety of lethal weapons.
WSPA is working with Spanish member society, ADDA, to end this cruel ‘sport’ in the region of Catalonia, northern Spain.

Get involved with WSPA. Sign their petition and help end bullfighting now.

Why are bullfights cruel?
Most bullfights last for about 15 minutes, with a series of deliberately vicious stages. The bull is taunted and stabbed with a variety of spears, barbed spikes and daggers. These weapons are designed to inflict intense pain and cause blood loss to weaken the animal.

After this period of suffering, the Matador finally kills the exhausted and dying bull. Many bulls die drowning in their own blood because the Matador’s inaccuracy often pierces their lungs instead of the heart.

Following this, a short dagger, or ‘puntilla’, is used to sever its spinal cord at the neck before the bull is dragged out of the arena, sometimes still alive.

Achievements to date
Barcelona City Council declares its ‘anti-bullfight’ stance in April 2004
Over 500,000 petitions collected in support of a ban on bullfighting in Catalonia
Bill to ban bullfighting proposed in Catalan Parliament in April 2005

The future for bullfights in Catalonia
The next and crucial stage of this campaign is securing a ban on bullfighting in the entire region of Catalonia. Such a ban would be a landmark victory for the entire anti-bullfight movement and would relegate this cruel ‘sport’ to the past once and for all.


Sign their petition and help end bullfighting now...

http://www.wspa-international.org/pet_bullfighting_eprotest.asp

bridal boutique #1, Location: Queen Street garment district

My aunt and I thought I should just get all girly and go try on some
frilly glitzy cupcake dresses in the tacky bridal section on Queen street.

We got in a lot of trouble for snapping this photo!
We were pretty much kicked out of the store before I tried on anything!

But instead to try to make a sale, the girl handed me 2 cupcake Cinderella's

and hovered over me like a mosquito while I was just in my undies!

Also, I cannot believe how difficult it was to get on the pumpkin dress,

I had to "jump" into the dress --believe me it was tough to do even with my long legs!

The bridal assistant was terrified that I had another camera hiding

with me inside the change room!

"no photos, no photos please!"

Like we were headin for the hills with these rare made in china designs!

The flourescent tube lighting was TOTALLY flattering as well!

Anyway it was a success to see what silhouettes I look good in at least...

That was my mission.

And it was amazing to find out that for $1900 you can get a big pile of crap!
I think it will take me a long time to find

"the one"

Seen anything on EBAY? let me know.

king kong arrives at the CN Tower

Thought we were being funny or something.

I haven't been to the tower in over ten years and at that time it was a whopping $12!

This time it was $27!

Plus $9 to go to the sky-pod.

I couldn't believe all of the security checks we went through to get up there.

Thanks 911!

We then thought about the airport being somewhat inadequate for not having the same nifty machine that blew air on us checking for bombs etc but they do have a designated swab lady.

They also casually took our photo prior to entering against a green screen

--yet it was totally for security purposes.

They then turned our candid mug shot over to a photoshop expert

who puts in a slick CN Tower background

for a cool $25 upon exit.

At least the sidewalk sausages don't cost $27!

Did you know that there is enough cement used in the CN Tower to build a sidewalk stretching from Toronto to Kingston?

Man is quite stupid in my books.

But not as stupid as the guy that holds a world record for hauling misc appliances

up the stairs!

Or the stunt man that threw himself down the stairs

"on purpose"