I don't really miss it...
I have to say that I haven't really missed blogging. Not at all really. Been way too busy. But tonight seemed to be a good night to update myspace and my angelfire website so here I am. I'm actually procrastinating and not doing school work. How awesome am I? hehe
School's going well. I'm actually a big nerd in education. Who knew. I hand assignments in early and stuff. It's scary. Too much spare time to do stuff I guess! It's nice getting good marks for once though.
I absolutely loved my time student teaching. My kids were amazing and I cant wait to see them again. I think i'm totally cut out to be a teacher. It's a lot of work though. Most days I got home and just like fell onto the couch. Insane. But so great and rewarding.
In other news, I have a boyfriend. Which my sister is extatic about and I'm happy about because she can stop calling me a spinster. lol We both win.
I am SOOOO looking forward to christmas break. So much amazing stuff. Spending time with the fam and the boyfriend. Ang is coming to visit me for a few days. I'm going to calgary for almost a week. So yeah! Things are pretty good right now.
And that's about all that the internet world needs to know right now.

My trip to calgary
Okay..so just now I realized that I am really unoriginal when it comes to making up titles for my blogs. Seriously though...I don't feel like burning brain cells just to come up with titles. I already suck at blogging consistently and if there was pressure to be creative on top of that..well!!! Anyways, small rant.
The trip to calgary was great! First of all..I flew. I love flying rather than spending a crud load of time driving. I got in on the Friday and Shauna had her first experience of Costco. Du du du...apparently she'd never been and she somehow got a card or something..i'm not sure. But I volunteered to go with her seeing as I like big stores with useless/unnecessary stuff in them! Of course my favourite section of the store is the candy isle and the section in the middle that has all the books. Anyways, the next day Shauna and I headed to Edmonton for an awesome couple of days. We shopped WEM in like 7 or 8 hrs. That was like speed walking the whole time. haha I got some clothes and whatnot. The only thing I didnt get that I wish I could have afforded was a leather messenger bag from roots. I totally loved it but it was like 300 bucks and I was so not willing to shell out that kind of cash. They have sea lions or something now at the mall instead of the dolphins they used to have. At first I was super disapointed because I love dolphins..but the sea lions turned out to be pretty awesome! We had an amazing late supper at the Old Spagetti factory which is my new favourite resteraunt. SO good. We went back to our hotel room and watched one of those movies that's way too expensive. haha I think it was called The Family Stone. I liked it. Partly cuz one of the Wilson brothers is in it..and the wilson brothers are HOT. The next day we went and played some arcade type games at Galaxyland and while we were there some guy gave us some tickets for the rides..so we were like..score! We decided to go on the Swing of the Century...cuz..we'd just had breakfast and didnt feel like chanking. I have to say..I think i'm getting too old for rides because all that spinning was too much for me. It was pretty funny..we got off the ride and looked at each other and just started laughing.
The water park was really fun! I hadn't been there in..I dunno...a decade? It's been a while. Um..most of my stories about the water park are probably better in person..cuz..i get really animated and use my hands a lot haha Lets just say that there was a couple of slides where my bladder almost let go. hahaha Talk about scary.
Back in Calgary Shauna and I (and sometimes Dave when he wasn't working or going to school) played vids (Narnia and Fantastic 4), watched some movies, that kind of thing. Oh we went and saw X-men: The last stand or whatever it's called. And we saw The Breakup with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. I love that guy! One of the nicer days Shauna and I went to the Zoo. I kinda expected it to be super lame. I just agreed to go cuz my sis really wanted to go, but I ended up having an amazing time! I took my digital and got pics as best as I could..considering there's plastic walls and fences and whatnot. But it was just a really cool experiences. Can't remember the last time I was at the zoo either. Maybe like grade 3. I'm not even sure which of the animals was my favourite. My sis liked the tigers I think. Sadly there were no ligers. hehehe Hmm..yeah! I'll put some of the zoo pics on my website when I get a chance.
I got to spend a day with Chris which was great! We had lots to catch up on seeing as he's been so busy working nights and whatnot. We got some slurpies and went for a walk through a park. I was really glad we did that cuz it was gorgeous out and I was kinda thinking that's what I would like to do. I was glad when he suggested it! We went to this really cool resteraunt where you order your own pizza and and lots of the ingredients have wierd names and whatnot. Uh..i'm probably doing a really bad job of explaining this. Oh well! But ya! The food was really good and we chatted for a long time. Then we went back to his place and I beat both him and his little brother at Settlers. No...not because I have skills...but because I got lucky. ;) I will mention however that Chris did win one game..so it's not like I totally dominated. hehe
Anyways..i'm running out of steam here..so i'll finish by saying that I had an amazing trip that was totally jam packed with fun stuff.

Vacations are grand..except...
Have you ever noticed that when you get back from a vacation work seems horrible. You start to ask yourself if there's any way that you could survive without going to work 5 days a week for what seems like forevor hours. Poopy work. That's how I feel about work right now. It's nice cuz it makes me money...but when i'm too tired at the end of the day to even sit at my computer..haha That's pretty sad. Anyways!
I went to saskatoon for my grad. I am officially now done at the U of S and have my second degree. For those of you that missed it..my first degree was my BRE (bachelor of religious education) that I graduated with a couple years ago. You may be wondering what I can do with a BRE or a BA, well i'll tell ya! I needed my BA so I could get into education so I can become a teacher. I didnt technically need my BRE but I wanted to go to Bible college so I figured that I might as well get a degree while I was at it. The sweet part of the deal is that having that extra degree will help me make more money once i'm teaching. Money is good. So yeah the U of S grad was long. I was the 6th person to go on stage out of a couple hundred. I spent most of my time checking out a very good looking young boy who was playing in the orchestra. He was about 4 feet away from me..so I had a pretty good view.
I spent a couple days in sask after my grad, visiting with friends and family. I love spending time with Ang. She'll always feel like my roomate, even though we no longer live together. If you weren't aware...roomate is a category of friend somewhere between really good friend and family. Cuz technically they're not family..but..they put up with you! I spent a night at Rae and Jer's, which was really good cuz I hadn't seen them in a while!
Wow this is already a really big ramble so I'm gonna start another blog to talk about the Calgary part of my trip...

Saskamatoon....again..
Well i'm heading to sasktoon yet again. This time i'm going for my university grad. That's in 6 days. I can't believe it! I have been accepted into the education program at the U of Brandon for this fall. I'm pretty excited cuz that means that i'm one step closer to being done school FOREVOR. Which is good..cuz that's how long it feels like i've been in school already. haha
Anyways, so after my grad i'm jetting to Calgary for 8 days in which i'm hoping to spend some time with my friends and tons of time with my sis. I'll of course have some stories to blog about when I get back.

April rain....brings may flowers?
Is that what the dumb expression is? Anyways..happy birthday to me! I turned 24 yesterday and what a good birthday it was!I woke up to a birthday email from Chris (thanx again..it made me laugh SO hard..."wait...you're not alex...") Went to work..cuz..why not. Mom and dad gave me money and the new Oliver Twist on DVD. Boo yea baby! So excited! That was on my christmas list...and my list of things to buy myself...but I hadn't got around to it yet. So i was pumped about that! After work Nic and I went to the city and did some shopping around. Mostly we just came home with a whole lot of DVD's...like ten each...and wierd odds and ends stuff. But it was super fun!
Blockbuster guy: "hey are you alright?"
Nic:"uh yeah i'm fine"
Manda:"she's just a little tipsy"
Guy:"oh yeah, been out drinking?"
Manda:"nope."
Guy:"oh...okay..."
hahahahaha Okay..so..maybe you had to be there...but it was freakin' hilarious. Hmm...so we went to Pizza Hut for supper. Amazing. Seriously. Then back to carman for some settlers. Boo yeah! And Connie...mamma rose...made me a cake! It was chocolate and was in the shape of/decorated like a carebear...the blue one! Yay! It was the greatest thing...there's pics on my website...check them out..cuz seriously..it was just great. I was speechless. And grinning like a fool...of course. So yeah, that rounded off the night nicely and my birthday was great!
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I don't think anything else is really new right now. I'm heading to saskatoon in two days for yet another ortho appt. Gonna see the grandparents, ang, maybe some other friends/family. So I will probably blog about that after I get back.

Little Boy Underwear
Now Playing: OLP
If you're not freaked out by my title...you should be. Or..maybe you shouldn't be...I am not sure. Decide for yourself. But do I have a story for you! So i'm reading in bed Friday morning, when Brett (my brother) comes into my room and says "man do you have bad luck with that car." My first thought was, you've got to be kidding me...somebody hit my car? But no. Brett asks me "so what'd you do last night anyways?" I told him I went to the Roses. When I asked him why he responded by telling me that I had UNDERWEAR on my car. I of course started laughing hysterically. I was laughing so hard first of all because I was so relieved that there was nothing wrong with my car. And I was also laughing cuz..well..duh..I had underwear on my car! So anyways, I get out of bed, and decide to truck outside in my pink flannel pj pants and a hoodie. I also grabbed a random mitt from the closet (that wasn't mine) incase I had to touch the item in question. So I go outside, and hanging on my antenna is...GREY LITTLE BOY UNDERWEAR! No lie! So I ran into the house with them, chased mom and brett around the kitchen with them, and then disposed of them in the trash in the garage. Now seriously...whoever decided to do this..thankyou..because it started my day off in such an odd way. If I know you...fess up...because I already accused Nic and she denies the whole thing. haha

Feelings
Well I told someone that I liked him a few weeks back, and then yesterday we talked and he decided he's not ready to be in a relationship. I'm dissapointed obviously because I like him, but he's a really great guy so I'm still looking forward to being friends with him. Yes...I actually think he and I can still be friends, cuz i'm not bitter or upset or anything like that. I think with where he's at in his life, and where I'm at, us being in a relationship wouldn't have been a good idea. I'm turning 24 in a month...holy poop...24!! Isn't that the scariest thing ever? I don't know how I'm going to deal with that. I'll probably have an early midlife crisis and go get something pierced..or..I dunno! But wow..sorry..tangent. So yes. My "love life" is back to it's uneventful state, but I'm okay with that. It's going to be a really busy couple of months. I'm finishing up my eng course. Graduating in May. I've got a couple more trips to saskatoon for these STUPID braces..I just want them off already! And then Ambers wedding is in August...so I need to start getting tanned and in shape for that. So yeah! OH and I'll have interviews for school, to see if I get in this fall. So I think that should be enough to keep me busy. And if not...I can always throw in Pride and Prejudice...which i'm buying as soon as I hit the city next. Of course the edition i'm talking about is the NEW one...with kiera knightly who's friggin' gorgeous! I already have the old one with colin firth :D

The Tragically Hip
You know who's amazing? Well you can probably guess due to the title of this blog...the Tragically Hip! Yeah...I was hanging out with some people, listening to some music, and there were a couple songs by the Hip that came on. I thought to myself...self...you need to pull out your Tragically Hip and give it a listen to! So that's what I'm doin' currently. I started listening to the Hip in grade seven. I went to this camp and ended up liking this guy named Greg, and he loved the hip, so I decided to give them a shot. Thank goodness for Greg, cuz otherwise I would have been missing out! Every time I hear "Ahead by a Century" I think of him and camp. Not like he was the "love of my life" or anything...it's just you know...whatever.

First we'd climb a tree
and maybe then we'd talk
or sit silently
and listen to our thoughts
with illusions of someday
casting a golden light
no dress rehersal,
this is our life...

Yeah there's more..but that's my favourite part. Anyways, enough about the Hip! Uh...since my last blog i've done some major settler playing, (I won some and lost some) gone without a whole lot of sleep, watched a couple movies, gone BOWLING..boo yeah baby! Love bowling. Apparently I suck when attempting to bowl left handed. Not a good story melvin. One of the movies I watched was the Three Amigos. I made Erin and Mike sit through it..lol I am not sure how impressed they were..but I love it. Cheese, cheese, and wait..more cheese! So ev, colin, rae, jer, etc I now own it and we can watch it whenever we want. ;)
Hm...I could try to get into particulars of everything i've done the past couple days..but..that would take lots of time and be boring for most people. Instead...i'm just gonna say that I've been having lots of fun the past couple of days! And now i'm going to read some more about Mr. Darcy and Elizabeths romance..while I eat some rainbow chips ahoy cookies.

Settlers Night
Well what a day! I worked this morning and then jetted home to get ready so Nic and I could go to the city! We did some shopping around at places like Home outfitters and whatnot, did Walmart of course...okay...we actually were in there for like over an hour. How we kill so much time in walmart...we don't know...but it happens...frequently. Anyways, I picked up a couple DVD's a cd, and some beer glasses. Yes you read right...beer glasses. That's what they say they are on the box..however I just really liked them so I wont let that keep me from using them! They're fairly plane jane, but they were like ten bucks for a dozen, so if someone breaks one I wont want to cry or hurt them. haha Yes...I get emotionally attatched to my things. Psychological problem? Very yes.
After shopping, and hitting a McD's we went to Mikes and played multiple games of settlers. Sadly I think Nic lost all 4 games...which is so not what happened last night...last night she kicked my butt for almost the entire evening. I think tonight Mike and I each won two...so it was even steven. (dumb expression...I think so!) But yeah...uh..not much you can say about settlers in a blog that would actually interest the people reading it. It was just a really good night overall, I had fun. An excellent way to spend a Thursday night. Now it's two am so i'm going to go read a little Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth and then get some schleep.

Saturday Night Fever
Well it's Saturday night, and I have to say that it has been a fairly uneventful day thus far! Can't say that about the week in general though. Lots of work...not enough school work sadly though, I'm gonna have to do better in the next few weeks.
I don't think I normally get bummed out on Valentines Day. I especially didnt this year because I had to work all day and didn't have time to think about anything cuz we were so busy at work. It was crazy busy and I was whiped by the end of it but it was good. The highlight of my day though was that Nic sent me a rose and a DVD. The dvd is hilarious..it's got John Travolat in it and I think it's called "The boy in the plastic bubble." I can't wait to watch it! Johnny is hot stuff.
Wed and Thurs were good. Hung out with Nic and various members of the Rose family. Watched some movies, did some DDR...yes...I still have two left feet. I swear it's not my fault! Ohhhh yeah we had some really good meno food. It was amazing.
Friday was awesome cuz Karissa was in town...oh she was also in town thurs..we hung out, talked for a few hours. But anyways, Friday we went to Buddy's for some grub then came back to my place. Watched "A lot like love" and then discussed relationships...because that's inevitably what you end up thinking about when you watch a chick flick. haha
I'm currently chatting with my sis online and listening to some Kutless. I'm staring at my book...because I only need to finish ten pages. I'll do it tonight yet..I'm not worried. It's too early for bed yet so I guess i'll try to find something else to do for a few hours.