I'm Baaaaack!

Yes, it's true. I'm back. It's no secret that I've been absent from this blog for quite some time now. I haven't been absent from life though, and that's why I haven't been able to update you all on my comings and goings. There's so much to tell. However, as I spent the better part of this evening reading and getting caught up on all of YOUR blogs, I became consumed with an overwhelming feeling of blogger envy. So many blogs I read are full of inspirational and uplifting posts that strengthen me and my faith. After reading about those amazing experiences I went to update my blog and felt that it was, in a word, shallow/superficial/lame. Mostly I use this blog as an outlet for my quirky sense of humor and refrain from posting anything even remotely serious or thought provoking. So I guess it is shallow, or my thoughts are shallow, or (gasp!) I'm shallow! I mean, is it really that interesting to hear about the next vacation I'm going on, or the next toy I'm considering purchasing, or the latest Hollywood gossip that has captivated my attention? I might have to possibly revamp my whole platform.

P.S. Just in case some of you ARE interested in my recent travellings, Alaska was amazing! I enjoyed it much more than I expected to! We went kayaking in Ketchikan, whale watching in Juneau, hiking in Skagway and then saw the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. The scenery was breathtaking and the group of friends I was with kept me laughing all week long! I never thought that Alaska would be a place that I would visit, let alone recommend to others, but I must say that if you ever have the chance to go you should jump on it!!

P.P.S. Has anyone ever seen the movie The Ultimate Gift? It's a major cheeser but is really touching. I'm watching it as I'm typing this post. Rent it. Watch it. Love it.

P.P.P.S. There are less than 34 shopping days until my birthday.

P.P.P.P.S. I'm really not THAT shallow, right?

P.P.P.P.S. (last one, I promise!) I just wanted to give a big shout out to my cousin Mark, who has passed the first section of his CPA exam!! As one who has been in his situation and had to suffer through those hellacious tests, I take my hat off to his success (hypothetically of course, I'm not wearing a hat because hat hair doesn't really work for me). Take the time to congratulate him on this amazing accomplishment!!!

Goin' Green

So I'm still sitting on the fence on this one. I'm all about helping the environment and doing my part to "save the world" but I find some aspects of this trend......unsettling. I've been travelling a little bit more as of late and in every hotel I've been in there is this fun little card that encourages me to "go green." I can do my part to help the environment, the card says, by helping the hotel cut down on its laundry services. The housekeepers will only change the sheets every 2nd or 3rd day, which is totally fine with me since I tend to wait just a tad longer than that to wash my own sheets at home anyway. Check one for me! Okay, so another way I can do my part is to re-use the towels in the bathroom. Not a prob. Seriously, I've always thought it was a little unnecessary to wash the towels everyday anyway. The card recommends hanging up the towels that one is going to re-use, and dropping the towels on the floor if they are to be washed. Easy, right? Wrong. The vital piece of information that the little "green" hotel card fails to include is that the housekeeping service will fold your towels right back on the rod, as if they had been laundered and never been used in the first place. No problem if you are the only one using the towels. Add another person in the mix and those towels just get all jumbled up to the point that no one knows whose towel is whose. Ew, ew, ew. Wouldn't it make sense to just leave the towels in the exact location that they were when the room was serviced? That way it's a win, win (win) situation. The hotel saves energy by not having to launder the towels. The customer gets that warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that they are doing all they can to "go green." They also win the piece of mind knowing that they are re-using their OWN bath towel. Genius, right? So I'm still trying to figure out who I can write to about this because it seems like the ENTIRE travel and entertainment industry is dead set on encouraging me to be unhygienic. I just can't stomach "going green" at that price. I'm going to Alaska this next week so although I'd love to do all that I can to keep those icebergs frozen, I'm going to have to do all I can to make sure those towels get washed everyday.