Life of Shanks

This always makes me laugh.

I really need a new camera.
You know... me going to South Africa and all.
Suggestions about what type I should get are welcome.
Donations gladly accepted.

So last night I was out at a Christmas party ( tis' the season). Someone ordered lamb. Another person leaned over and asked (quite seriously I might add) ... " So, when you eat lamb, doesn't it feel like you're eating Jesus?".

I just about died.
So did everyone else.... Quite possibly the most memorable thing I've heard... and crazy.

Popcorn… I could eat it every night (must have lots of butter) Travel books. The smell of rain. CINNAMON BUNS!!! ( Highlevel Diner has the BEST). Days with no worries. A good cry. Coffee from Guatemala. Singing. Taking pictures. My friends. Listening Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto. Sitting by a fire. Playing the piano. Broadway Musicals. Doing something right. Being near the ocean ( as long as sharks are not there) Puppies ( and dogs that forever look like puppies!) The first snowfall. Being adventurous. Ice Cream. Laughter and making people laugh. Shopping! Christmas. Chai Lattes. Tuesday Night Time Outs. Ianisms. The movie ELF. Downhill Skiing. Sitting in a hottub. Old SNL sketches. A really great song. Feeling cozy. Fresh Air. The smell of Lemon, Lavender and Cinnamon

So after 2 years- we are finally doing the follow up of 2006's highly successful No Day But Today concert.
November 15th, 2008 is the magic day folks. The same crew that brought you the last concert is back for some more musical goodness. We hope to raise lots and lots of money for the Seed of Hope foundation. Hope you can make it out! ( oh and the concert is at Red Willow Community Church in St. Albert, AB... 15 Corriveau Ave. 7:30pm. )

Ok- so I suck at bowling. Usually my first game of the night is horrible. Second game- I can usally redeem myself with a spare or two. But last night- I kicked some bowling butt:) I am as shocked as you are my friends. Really I am.

I cut my hair. Wanted to do it earlier in the summer- but with all the wedding craziness this summer, I decided to wait until after I was done with my big work gala- ( which was on Sept. 11)

So yeah- chopped it off. Was going to go shorter- but I think my hairdresser was skurred. 5 inches is still a lot to cut off though...

So tonight I witnessed something very disturbing. I was driving to a friends house on the south side of Edmonton and was waiting to make a left turn at a very busy intersection. The cars going the opposite direction stopped because there was a family crossing on the pedestrian cross walk behind me. They were walking behind my car and past me. The cars behind me had all stopped- but this van- sped right on by. THe father got angry and threw something at the van- which I think was an apple.
Then the van stops just past the lights. Backs up- quite quickly... and runs into the father and kids.
um yeah...

So the guy gets out of the van- the father punches the guy and starts cursing at him- while the hysterical mother is freaking out beside him. I have no idea where the kids are at this point- but the guy for sure hit them.

the cars started blocking my view of the scene so I didn't see what happened next. It was straight outta a movie. Very scary if you think about it. What bugged me the most is that the driver of the van was trying to act like it was the family's fault. YOU HIT A KID BUDDY!!!
Anyways- it was a crazy moment. I texted my friends immediately with the scene I had just witnessed. I pray that the family is ok and that the kids weren't seriously injured!

I had 3 weddings this year.. could have had 6- but I was already committed to some elsewhere. Next year- I already have three and the current wedding season isn't even over yet.

Being a wedding coordinator- I've learned quickly over the years, what I WON'T be doing at my wedding.....

.....you thought I was gonna give away my secrets didn't you??

But for real-I just attended a wedding last week. And it was the 1st wedding in 10 years that I haven't done anything at. 10 years. No singing, being a bridesmaid or guestbook attendant, or wedding coordinator
It was weird. but very fun. Ok- there may have been a few moments in which I was just itching to help- but I pinched myself-stuffed my mouth with a canape and instead enjoyed watching all of my crunk er I mean drunk friends party like it was 1999.
Just call me designated driver..


Suitable attire= $400
Flights to Weddings = $1400
Watching your friends act a fool while singing ABBA on the dancefloor= Priceless.

Book us! Book us!

Ok- so I NEVER am able to remember dreams in the morning... but as I sit here eating an english muffin and oj... suddenly the events that happend in my brain last night came back to me.

Picture me, John Legend, & Kanye West- in the studio together... recording a version a "we are the world"

Suddenly- Kanye says to me- "shawty- you need to come into the studio with me and throw down some tracks"

and then John Legend asked me out.

Weird huh?

So weird.

And now I'm paying the price. 2:54am and I am SO awake. SO tired- and SO awake. Yay! You'd think I would learn by now.... don't drink caffeine after a certain hour unless you plan on pulling an all-nighter Melayne. Oops.

So here I am blogging. Its been a few days- and yes, I'm still in bootcamp- barely. I actually ran away from bootcamp today.
I found out what we were doing, and before anyone could say AttennnTION! I was sneaking off to my car.
Horrible.. I know. But when you have very bad asthma like me- you don't really want to be running 3 miles and pushing a big black truck. Nope. Not really.

I did go for a run on my own though- so I really don't feel half as bad as I should. I'm just waiting for a call from Corporal Reed tomorrow. Not looking forward to that one. I will go Thursday... at least I think I will

I was hoping that by the second week of bootcamp, I wouldn't have those butterflies in my stomach. But as I sit here contemplating Monday... I would say that I'm just a wee bit nervous. I pulled a muscle on Thursday, and thought it is feeling better, the thought of the possibility of pulling another in a few days- does not thrill me.

On another note... I am SO ready for summer. Tonight is are offical end of the ESO season. Even though we have a add-on concert on Tuesday- as well as a free show in 2 weeks... tonight there is reason to celebrate! And on that note... I must go eat. Food is calling me.

So.... today- we ran for 1.5 hours in pouring rain- holding a 100 pound steel pole.
At the end of the day- when we were stretching... my feet slipped from under me, and my face went sliding on the wet grass.

Do I really need to tell you how Day 2 went?

So I did something stupid last week. I googled "Boot Camp Edmonton" and all these sites popped up. Why did I google "Bootcamp Edmonton" you ask? I've been asking myself that same question for the past 5 days.

Suddenly I find myself signing up for Soldiers of Fitness- which by reputation- is the worst in the city. I couldn't stop myself. As I pressed the big blue " Complete Registration" button- I heard the little voice in my head yelling- NOOOOOOOO....
It was too late. I paid my money and in only a few days- I was to be running, jumping, and doing pushups like I had never done in my life. Those few days went by too quickly until today- Monday- June 2, 2008- I made my way down to Kinsmen Park, handed over my waivers to the corporal ( heart pounding), and stood at attention- for what was to be the first of many days of I can only assume to be HELL.

I can barely type this blog. My arms are jelly, my legs- well- lets just say.... it took more then a few minutes to get from my sofa to my bed. 10 laps around a LARGE field, 50 or maybe 60 pushups- I lost count- it was probably more than that. Tons of crunches, leg lifts, squats- oh... I could go on. NOT my idea of a good time.

But alas- I am determined. I will not quit. I will get thru the month one way or another- and Dagnabit... I WILL see results.
Stay tuned for weekly updates on my progress. For now- i must rest my head, shoulders, arms, knees, quads, and pretty much everything else before I fall over.

So I'm backkkkkk!!! Its good to be home. As fabulous as France was, my own bed feels really good! We had another Carrollettes performance last night- it went famously well! It was so good to do another gig- it's been awhile. Here are some pics from the performance-courtesy of my friend Trevor Boller





Back to life, back to reality.

I do love this town. The fantastic buildings, the cobble streets- the hundreds of restaurants downtown ( take note Edmonton). I've been to more than a few restaurants, and I must say wow. Best food I've EVER had. Bill and I went to this one place- no idea what it is called, but it had the best Gnocci we've ever had. And for Bill to say that, it was ridiculously good. We're going back for lunch today.



2 nights ago- Bill took me and Liz (from the Edmonton Journal) to a gay restaurant. He had happened to stumble upon it, and besides the staff being in love with him, the food was amazing. So he took us back.


We had a BLAST... here's a pic of our waiter Tony. We now have a place to stay if we ever return here.


A few things I've learned so far:
So before I came- the rumours that the French were rude were flying though my ears. I find in Lyon quite the opposite. You do your own thing, they do theirs. You attempt to speak French, and they may laugh at you with pronunciation,but they appreciate the effort. You do have to watch where you're going, because dog owners don't believe in taking their dogs to parks and picking up after them. Today when it is rainy out... the streets are particularly dangerous because of that. Bread is served with EVERYTHING. I mean- absolutely everything. If you have a wheat allergy France is not the place to come... and finally you eat from 12-2 or you're not going to get lunch. Alot of places close down. Me who is usually the late lunch eater is having issues remembering that one.

On another note... The shopping here is also fantastic. I remember why I loved European style... there actually is some! Shopping at home won't be the same after this. Today it is raining, and I just finished breakfast so I'm going to head out and roam the streets a bit. I'm meeting Bill and Liz in a few hours for lunch, so I may just spend a bit of money before that. Tomorrow being Sunday ( and all the stores are closed) I'm heading up to the hill where the beautiful basilica is. The old 5th quarter is apparently amazing to explore- so that's my Sunday activity. And then I head to Pariee! More later!

Here's a few pics from my trip so far

Beautiful view in the plane as we leave the border of England and carry onto France!



View from my hotel room- ok.. maybe looks a bit ghetto, but it really is nice.




The Opera house in Lyon. Where I'll be spending all my evenings

Bonjour Mes Amis! Je suis a Lyon France…
First let me start by saying, that somehow.., I always get the interesting flights.
The ones where there’s some odd technical difficulty that requires 2 hours to find out
That it is nothing after all. Well- that happened to me in Montreal… so of course- we didn’t leave until 10pm EST( which is 6am France time)..in the meantime crazy red haired French lady keeps staring at me. And whenever I say anything to her- its like I interrupted the tearing down of the Berlin Wall or something. Anyhoo… lets just say she is what we would call a “treat”.My conclusion is that I think she thought I was a famous person. What gave it away lady- the lulu lemon pants, the sunglasses or the crazy hair? Come on!

So we finally leave Montreal. And I realize I forgot to take sleeping pills out of my checked baggage. Nice. There goes my good nights sleep. Ce’st la vie! I did get in about an hour and a half.

Arrival at the airport. All is well- I get my luggage and notice it is incredibly hot in the airport. Or is it….
Apparently I had food poisioning- broke out into a cold sweat and started vomiting in a garbage can. But man- I felt So much better after that! But then- suddenly my suitcase felt almost 10 pounds heavier when trying to get it on the train. Maybe I should have eaten something before I left the airport. Ahh well… I did make it to Lyon safely and can I just say- wow. What a great town! I’ve only seen small part of it- but apparently- it’s the good small part. Great architecture, fabulous cafes, etc etc etc.. and they have a starbucks! Right across from the opera house- so it makes it even better. After the 36 hours traveling- I thought I deserved one.

Met up with Elizabeth Withey from the Edmonton Journal- and we attended the Porgy and Bess Dress rehearsal last night. Great cast. ( and frikin hot too! ) Interesting way to stage the opera, and I will be seeing it 2 more times before I leave this place- so I wasn’t worried if I was going to miss anything!.... best part of the night? The Chocolate Mousse I had following the performance ( at midnight) yummy… the French know how to do it up!

Oh yeah- my hotel. Very cute- and seriously 2 steps from the sein River. Its beautiful! sounds of a band playing along the river put me to sleep last night!
Thats all for now! More later;)

The last few days, I have seriously pondered why I live in the most northernly major city in Canada. -55 degrees celsius with the windchill is not my idea of a good time. I am envying my friends who live in much warmer climates. Its so bad- that it actually feels warm at -27. I checked the weather in Antarctica yesterday- it was - 7 in some places- other places +10. Nice.