What not to do while making popcorn

For those of you who may have taken the "Bonnie Lundquist how-to-make-microwave-popcorn" class, here's evidence that you should NOT actually put a plate below the bag of popcorn to help "make sure all kernels pop".

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Happy Halloween

This was how halloween happened in FMM.

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I am still alive!

Hello? Hellooooo? Anybody out there?

Whoa. I can't believe it's been this long since I've posted anything on here. I can't even really blame it on being busy. Sure, there's been quite a lot going on, but I've definitely had my fair share of downtime I could have used to write posts for your perusal.

So, just what has happened this month? Let's see. There was a trip to B.C. One family wedding. And my birthday. And a 10K race. Mom and Dad's anniversary. One superb birthday/housewarming bash in Fort McMurray. A motherload of work at the ol' office. And then, to top it all off, a sprinkle of Halloween. Ooh, and who can forget some amazing playoff baseball!

Here we go from the top:

The trip to B.C. - Brody and I drove from Calgary to Enderby on Friday, October 9. A fairly uneventful trip turned interesting on the otherside of Revelstoke when we lost our headlights. Well, we lost the low beams. After a short pause at the creepy truck stop between Revelstoke and Sicamous, we decided our problem was not fuse-related and therefore unfixable at that particular time. We highbeamed everyone between the truck stop and our final destination. Luckily it was later at night and there wasn't too much traffic on the road. Still, we pissed off our fair chair of fellow travelers, most of whom were driving large semis.

Wedding - A big congratulations to my little cousin Jenna and her new husband, Brett. The happy couple married in Salmon Arm on Saturday, October 10. It was a chilly, but gorgeous, fall day and the bride, bridesmaids, groom and groomsmen looked fab. It was nice to see some family and watch my 91-year-old great gramma get picked up in a bar (by an old drunk guy who was so well known at the establishment he had his mug framed on the wall). Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Granny cut the rug with the old dude.

My birthday/Mom and Dad's anniversary/10K race. These are grouped into one category because they all fell on the same day! October 11 was a busy one for the Lundquist and Ellis families. Brod and I had to leave the previous day's wedding early because we had to wake up at 5 a.m. on my birthday to prep for the race and then drive an hour and 10 mins to Kelowna. We made it in time, met up with his sister and brother-in-law and were off to the races...literally. Penni and I ran the 10K while Brendan joined the rest of the crazies for the full marathon. I clocked a time of 1:05:03, which was faster than I hoped, but a time I expect to improve the next time I run a 10k. Penni steamrolled through the 10K with a finish time of around 54 minutes and Brendan beat his 4 hour goal for the marathon by two seconds! Congrats to everyone.

After the race we enjoyed breakfast with Penni and then headed home to Enderby for a big turkey dinner with the rest of the family. The day ended with a few presents - for me and for my parents - and lots of laughter. I love being home for the holidays. Happy 29th Mom and Dad.

Housewarming and October birthday bash: October 24 marked the night when the young mixed...errr, sat along side...the old in a housewarming and birthday part at our new residence on O'Coffey Crescent. A good time was had by most of the attendees and the evidence of a good night littered the countertops the next morning. Happy Birthday to my fantastic friend and fellow birthday-er, Kristen Palmer. I should also use this space to send happy October birthdays to my great friend Dana Prevost, fellow blogger and proud daddy, Lars Konge, my bestest uncle J, and a host of others who celebrated their special days this month (Sheila, Kailyn, Scott, Brendan, and of course, my late and lovely, great grandpa - Grandad).

Mish mash: The rest of the October 'stuff' will fall into this category because this post is getting long and I'm getting bored (which surely isn't a good sign for the readers). Halloween was uneventful for me, but pretty eventful for others in my household. Kels dressed up like Lulu the Lemon (hopefully you can all make the connection there) and Scott was someone I'd never heard of until a few weeks ago - the Dos Equis man (who is apparently the [self-proclaimed?] most interesting man in the world? I dunno, it was weird to me :)). They both looked lovely and had a good time with a Facebook profile page, a gay cruise ship director/sailor, Tinkerbell, a mexican, a playboy bunny, Eve and Harry Potter. While they were out carousing, I enjoyed a quiet night in with a few girlfriends and a couple bottles of wine.

For those of you who have been watching the MLB post-season, you haven't been disappointed. Rarely have I seen a playoff stretch feature this many exciting baseball games. The only way I would like it even more was if the TO Blue Jays actually got to participate. In their absence, and due to my inability to cheer for the bought-and-paid-for, penant-winning Yankees, I am forced to cheer National League this year. Go Phillies.

Sorry for the long update my friends. I promise to refrain from going MIA in future.

PS - Because I feel like it, I'd like to share with you, one of my favourite quotes.

"In a world where celebrity equals talent and where makebelieve is called reality, it is most important to have real love, truth and stability in our lives."

Lord knows we could all use a little more of those.

See ya later, grill!

It has been 17 months since the orthodontist in Vernon stuck a wire and hunks of porcelain across my top set of pearly whites and 16 months since he did the same thing, only with metal brackets, on the bottom set.

And now, after a year and a half of wire changing, short-term pain, and "F" slurring, I'm happy to report that I have only three more sleeps until these monstrosities are wrenched off my chicklets.

What will I do when they're finally off? I don't know...because I've done a lot of stuff I shouldn't have with braces on. I'm eaten toffee, I'm chewed candy, and I've munched on chicken wings and ribs (discretely and only in the comforts of my home, surrounded by my closest friends and family). I'm not planning to run out and sink my teeth into an apple, but I AM looking forward to the day when I can pick up an ice cream sandwich and just bite the damn thing (the same goes for sandwiches).

Other items that have proved difficult to consume since early 2008? Strawberries, salad (or anything with lettuce), apples, peaches, nectarines...the list could go on.

I am SO looking forward to WEdnesday afternoon when I finally don't have to worry about having lukewarm water by my side if I'm eating something that requires a "direct bite".

People have said that you can't psyche yourself up for the appearance of your teeth post-braces, but I don't care, I'll just be happy to have the damn things off. While I'm grateful that I didn't have to put up with a full mouth full of metal and hot-pink elastics for a year and a half, I did have to endure months upon months of corporate meetings (while in a brand new job). It'll be nice meeting people who may actually think I have some level of experience and credibility instead of them thinking I'm just a 14-year-old grade nine student who's there to "job shadow her mom".

That does bring me to the one thing I WILL miss when I'm brace free, and that's being asked "Who's younger, you or Kelsey?".

Second place? Yes please!

While driving to work yesterday, I heard about one of the craziest—most dangerous—radio contests ever.

Now that a day has passed, I can’t remember what you had to do to win, but it was the prize itself that was most concerning. What would the winner take home? A $1,000 Tim Horton’s Gift Card…accompanied by a “Front of the Line” pass! This pass would allow you to march right up to the front counter, bypassing the entire line. Now I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the typical Tim Hortons-goer, but up here in Fort McMurray you’d be putting your life in your hands if you decided to play your Front of the Line card.

Seriously…can you honestly imagine walking past 15 (or more) 250-lb. shift workers who’d been standing in line at least 20 minutes?

The Front of the Line card sounds like a Meet Your Maker card to me.

This is one contest where I’d gladly take second place.

My intro to FMM

Many people have heard me talk about the crazy welcome mat Fort McMurray laid out for me last April, but I wanted to support my claim with photographic evidence.

This photo was taken April 20, 2008 at 11:47 a.m.

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