Cross-border calculator

Many of us, especially those in rural areas, dream of a big shopping trip across the border- outlet malls, shops we don't have, and great prices.

So if you're thinking about travelling for a shopping trip, I found this handy-dandy cross-border calulator that will help you figure out if it's worth the trip!

Happy spending!

Editor's note: Retail therapy is a legit form of therapy. Just sayin....

Worst interview faux pas

Found this little gem on cnn: Worst interview faux pas.

Has some great stories and also some things that people did that are just weird!

Just Bust a Move!

If anyone of you haven't seen the 'Pink Glove Dance'- really inspiring! Check it out on Youtube! My fav is the older guy- so funny!

And if you want to help support breast cancer research there is something cool happening in our region- The Bust a Move for Breast Health Campaign.

Here's the run-down: The QEII and IWK Foundations invite you to join them for Bust a Move - a groovin', shakin', record-breakin', fundraisin' extravaganza!

Six hours of exercise, world record-setting, hundreds of people raising $1,000 each, special guests (including fitness celebrity Richard Simmons!), and the chance to make a huge impact in the lives of Nova Scotia women are combining to create an event unlike any other.

On Saturday, January 30, 2010, the Halifax Metro Centre will come alive as hundreds of men and women unite in support of world-class breast health services in Nova Scotia. Whether you’ve been touched by breast cancer, are a survivor yourself, have a passion for fitness, love tackling new challenges, or want to be part of a unique experience – this event is for you!

I am sure that you will hear and see lots involving this over the next little while- it's a great way to support people in our community who are making a difference and having fun while doing it!

Counting

I consider myself to be an intelligent person- lots of schooling, life & job experience etc. I feel as though when I don my cashier uniform that a lot of people assume that your IQ drops.

Even though I am a cashier- guess what? I can still count.

I absolutely hate when people come to the express lane (10 items or less, clearly posted, and fairly common for express lanes anywhere) and people throw up 15 or 20 items.

I will note that I don't mind when someone has a few items over and says is it ok? I don't mind when you ask- if you're nice. I should also note, as this has happened about 1089348903 times, that 20 items of the same thing (i.e. 20 cans of cat food, or soap, whatevs,) DOES NOT count as '10'. People seriously do this, and they say "well since it's all of one thing I thought it was ok". Um, no it is not, that is still 20 separate items and I can count.

I think the best thing is when people come up, they have too many and they're kind of eyeing me in hopes that i don't know. Um hi, I physically scan each thing through plus bag it, the jig is up- you have too many!

One thing that really gets me too is the people who wait in a huge line-up, come up with too many items and say "Sorry, i hope this is ok?". Um well you're already here, you're on my belt, I'm not going to kick out out now- little sneaks!

Just a little rant about a legit problem in the life of a cashier- I assure you that others can attest.

Happy shopping and no sneaking!

Wordle

So again, props to my mom for discovering this site called Wordle.

What is Wordle? Well: Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

It's free, it's easy, and it's really fun! It can make a nice gift for someone, you can play with the colours etc. and frame it. Or just a nice cheer-up thing for someone- Check out the gallery to see what other people have created!

Just a note: the more times you put in a word, the larger it gets! So if you want to emphasize certain words but not others, then enter it a few more times :)

Happy wordling :)

People plow

Working in a grocery store I see a lot of people with strollers. I feel bad for a lot of them because it is next to impossible to carry a basket or take a cart- so I feel for people who have to grocery shop with them.

I also very much respect that fact that strollers are a useful means of transportation, and often difficult to deal with (I can't imagine the difficulty of taking a cab or riding the bus for people who don't have cars).

So, kudos to mums and dads that successfully use this mean.

No kudos and a giant slew of swear words to people who use strollers as self-proclaimed people plows. Yes you have a stroller, yes they are sometimes difficult to maneuver, and I respect that fact that shopping is difficult, but please, don't use it to run me over or force me uncomfortably out of your way. I will gladly move, as I'm sure others will, but I think sometimes strollers are improperly used.

Perhaps a bell or some mechanism to alleviate this problem in society would be useful- or general respect on behalf of both parties for each others needs?

Can't we all just get along?

This is not an attack on stroller users and or/babies- but merely a vent sesh much like we vent about bad drivers. Don't get me started on bad drivers...

At the Seam: NSCAD Textiles and Fashion Departments Show and Sale

Sorry if you're not from here but there may be similar cool events happening in your area that you can check out :)


At the Seam: NSCAD Textiles and Fashion Departments Show and Sale
When: Through Dec. 19
Phone: 494-8301
Students at NSCAD continue to show us how easy it is to buy local this holiday season. Tuesday marks the start of the Textiles Department's show and sale, with work by both current students and alumni. Seeds Gallery manager Jennifer Simaitis lists off the goodies. "You can expect woven scarves and blankets, screen-printed tees, handbags, one-of-a-kind garments, wall hangings, pencil cases, badges, great stocking stuffers, and more!" Official opening Monday, December 7 at 6pm. –Holly Gordon
Green Locally owned Seeds Gallery, 1892 Hollis Street, 494-8301

Graphics Fairy

So, I plan to post some more projects that I've done, until then- I'm going to post some sites with ideas etc that you can use!

I stumbled upon this site Graphics Fairy which simply has vintage images and crafty ideas. All of the clip art is free (!) and she also has a lot of cool ideas.

Basically I am overwhelmed by this site, it has so many neat projects, photos and inspirations! There's old advertisements, fonts, holidays, owls, wall paper and more. The possibilities are endless with what you can do with the clip art, but it's a great website to keep in mind if you're venturing to do some projects of your own and need a nice graphic.

So,if you're not the craftyiest person ever, this is a great site to print things that already are and you do something simply with them!

Supermarket Sarah

So i stumbled upon this great website, Supermarket Sarah. Basically this gal from London set up a shop in her house and sets up these cool displays, then you can go in, and literally buy things off of her walls, shelves etc! The pictures are interactive so you mouse-over what you like and it tells you if it's sold or not-and you can order it right off of her website!


So creative, innovative and neat! Her stuff is really cool, it is in Europe so it is a bit pricey- but art is an investment and who can so no to a champagne bottle lamp?

She also has a blog which is fun to checkout: http://blog.supermarketsarah.com/

Anyways- worth a browse and if anything, worth something for the creativity and neat way of creating your own means :) Make sure to check out the vintage section- really neat stuff and some things that we might not see too often in Canada!

Cake Wrecks

So my mom passed this site along to me and it is absolutely hilarious and looks delicious!

It highlights all sorts of cool cakes, cake decorating and designs! One of the best parts? The cake wrecks that people submit. What is a cake wreck? Well according to their site: A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

so basically people submit photos of cakes that fit the above description- there are also really cool and fun cakes to look at but if you scroll down, on the right-hand side there are categories including: Literal LOLs, Mithspellings, and one of my favs: handwriting horrors.

So check out their website, it is really funny with regular blog updates including beautiful cake pictures, recipes and also, hilarious cake wrecks.

Flagpole Sitta

This one hails from 1998- Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger. Pretty catchy but you may have gotten sick of it's overplay- but hey, it's 11 years later why not bust it out again?

I bet you might even still remember the words! I looked into it: the band is no longer together- one hit wonders, but still a great tune. So in honor of the year the band broke up, throw it on your ipod and enjoy :)

The Art of Passive aggressiveness

We've all experienced. It's hard to detect, sometimes mis-labeled, often passed over, sometimes utterly frustrating, and sometimes hilarious-when we're not experiencing it of course. I'm talking about passive-aggressive behaviour.

In the age of technology, one could argue that it is more prevalent than ever- people writing in cap locks, misunderstandings of tone, varying interpretations around semantics and then straight up passive aggressive behaviour.

Did you know that it is actually a diagnosable personality disorder? That co-worker or that friend who constantly says things or does things that you're like, are they aware of this, is this serious? How much time do we waste trying to decipher if it is passive-aggressive or note?

I understand that it can be a completely, and utterly frustrating occurrence to deal with, and I'm sure a difficult diagnosis to live with but on the lighter side, and our personable enjoyment- let's share in other's experience with passive-aggressive behaviour at Passive Aggressive Notes.com.

Grocery store rant

I have a slight issue with flyers for grocery stores, particularly when they have a giant, and I mean like half a page, photo of raw meat! Does this entice anyone? Me? Not so much- show me a big cooked hamburger or a nice cooked steak-then I think mmmm steak- What gets me too is that the picture is so large! It is just a bug hunk of beef. See above photo, which would make you purchase beef on sale?

I can't even tell you how many times someone purchases one of those pre-cooked roasted chickens and on my break i just want to buy one and eat it. Not in a barbaric manner, I would use a fork and knife but still, all I want is one chicken-all to myself.

Also, as a cashier, I ring through about a billion products per shift (give or take a billion) and you end up with the most random cravings. Bags of marshmallows (um why?) jar of pickles, new kind of chips -- all kinds of junk that you don't really want but something sparks weird cravings and you end up buying them!

Fur babies

I am a huge lover of pets, animals etc (not spiders etc., important and significant technicality). I currently have a little bunny named Quinn, at home with my parents a Pomeranian-Poodle mix named Sassy and my roomie has a nice big cat named Binks! I also had a beautiful dog named Brier who has long since gone but was a part of our family for years and I miss her!

Anyways! I just want to highlight animals during the holiday season! During the holidays there are lots of charities and non-profits etc. looking for donations. I think an excellent one, that can be affordable and really mean a lot to you, is to donate to a local animal shelter. Lots of shelters even have holiday events for fundraisers such as The Nova Scotia SPCA's Tree of Lights. Here is the description below:

December 11 - 22, 2009
Tree of Lights
This year’s Tree of Lights in support of the Metro Shelter will be held during regular mall hours at Halifax Shopping Centre from December 11-22 and December 16-22 at Sunnyside Mall. This is a wonderful way to honour your pet, in a pet’s memory or an animal currently at the Metro Shelter. For $5, you can customize a decoration for the tree and turn on a light. There is also a wonderful assortment of merchandise for sale just in time for Christmas! Once again, we e will require a great number of volunteers. Visit our on-line sign up sheet to register for shifts.

How amazing is that event? If you don't have a lot of money, volunteering your time can also be a great way to help our furry friends during the holiday season! Check out your local animal shelter for local events, or even give them a shout and see if there are any specific items that they need that could be affordable to you! Sometimes it can be as simple as paper towel or other affordable products.

Please note I'm not undermining the importance of other charities etc. for families- help those two but don't forget about our furry friends :)

Special showing of the Polar Express

On Saturday, December 12th at 10 a.m., Empire Theatres in Bayers Lake will be showing the Polar Express in support of the IWK. This special showing is part of Empire Theatres’ third annual Holiday Charity Screenings program. Admission to the movie is free with a donation to the IWK.

Encourage your family and friends to get in the festive spirit by enjoying this great holiday film in support of a great cause!

Stranger danger

So I have another pet peeve: being approachable to strangers. I'm sure there are others who are like this but it's seriously a problem. Standing at a bus stop,on the bus, in a store- anywhere really, I somehow manage to get into conversations with people. Don't get me wrong,I'm by no means anti-social or a giant beyatch but sometimes it's like why do you feel compelled to talk to me right now? Even better, people still talk to you when you have headphones on. Dude, you made me take out my headphones so you can say "nice day out"? Bugger off I'm trying to get my groove on!

There are many situations where these random people feel compelled, obligated and entitled to strike up a conversation. Let's explore.

The elevator. It does not matter if you are going up two floors or fifteen, people feel that because yourself and them are in this 3 by 3 ft area, and have absolutely no escape that you are socially and conversationally bound. I have people comment on something I'm carrying "Oh hey what do you have there?" Um excuse me? None of your business? Who are you? Even if you are riding one floor that 6 seconds of silence and acknowledgment that you are in the elevator is instantaneously uncomfortable, but I assure you that awkward conversations are not the remedy.

The airplane. Um hi, we were randomly seated next to each other, I'm probably never going to see you ever again in my life, and don't get me wrong, but don't care if I do, and probably will never remember you. So don't ask where I'm going, where I'm from, what I do etc. Physical random placement beside me does not equal a new best friend; I assure you.

Again, don't get me wrong I enjoy conversing with people and learning about others, but these situations do not implicate me in a life long friendship with you.

We all grow up learning not to talk to strangers, yet we reach some right of passage where that apparently does not matter and all of a sudden it's game on. I'm going to go practice scowling and looking unapproachable....

Crafty-nest!

So, as I said I like to do crafts etc. so here I'm going to share what I already have on my Facebook, which is some before & afters of projects I've done. I'll start with my most recent one- feel free to use the ideas or do something similar- most of my projects are inexpensive (I'm both cheap & thrifty!) I also like to use simple techniques and supplies!

My favorite place to get items to do something with is the second-hand store. My most recent project I finished tonight is a bulletin board. I found the piece at the Salvation Army, it is a wooden calendar frame that is considered somewhat of a country style- it was wooden and had green ivy leaves on it. So I got this for $2, cleaned it up and gave it a few coats of black paint. Next, i found some cool crocodile plastic-leather scrapbook paper for $1.49 per sheet. I also picked up some embellishments that look just like tacks, sheet of 16 for $2.95. All i did was slap on the paper,the embellishments and then add some of my fav things to display! The picture quality is not the best (I used my crackberry to take it) but the green looks fantastic against my purple walls.

This is just one example of recycling and reusing someone else's junk and you can do it too! Seriously this project was under $10, minimal effort and fun to do!

Sometimes if I'm out I'll grab a few sheets of paper that I think have potential for a project to have on hand for the next trip to the second hand store.

Happy crafting!