On Bag Boys

Hey all! Or should I say: Hello anyone who is actually still reading this thing after I virtually stopped posting on it. I apologize for my pathetic showing in recent weeks. I honestly think of things on almost a daily basis that I want to post about, but then I forget about it later or else I get too busy. Oh, well, whatever. Sorry, that's all.

I do have a story to tell, though, that happened to me earlier this week.

My house runneth over with plastic grocery bags. I don't really mind this; I think they are useful. We as a household actually probably use more than most because we have scoop the cat litter every single night (sometimes in the morning, too, depending how picky our cats are being that particular week) so it's always good to have lots, but I noticed exactly how many we had and I thought that I would try and be environmentally-friendlier and bring my own bags with me when I headed out to Safeway later in the evening. Moreover, these weren't just old plastic bags, these were cotton tote bags that I brought home from Germany. Cotton bags that are basically for the purpose of carrying groceries.

I get to the counter and tell the cashier that I would rather put my groceries in these here cotton bags instead of the normal plastic bags. She calls a bag boy. I tell her it isn't necessary, but she says it's no problem. So the bag boy shows up and she hands him my bags. There are about 3 or 4 bags inside of one bag, making a total of 5 cotton bags. She says quickly that I would like my groceries in cotton bags instead and starts scanning though my purchases. He looks confused, and thinks for a minute; trying to put his finger on what's going on. Finally he opens up a plastic bag and puts my cotton bags inside of it. I stopped him and explained to him what was going on. He still seemed confused, even as I was walking out of the store.

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or stand there with my mouth hanging open while shaking my head. I think I kind of ended up doing a mix of both.

Some things are just better with brother

These pictures were taken in Holland:

Allow me to explain, just in case this isn't really clear: I noticed this jewellery store called "Has Gold," but when I looked in the display window, I found that it was completely empty. (I can't remember if they were out of business or were just closed for the day, but that's not really the point, now is it?) The irony of this left me completely at a loss for words, but when I grabbed my brother's sleeve and pointed it out he found the perfect words in my place: "You mean Had Gold!!"

Man, I love that guy sometimes.

Not to be confused with that other store...

I've decided that, now that I seem to be able to post pictures just fine, I should go back and fill in the blanks. I will try and diligently post pictures that I took and never got around to posting; some will be funny (at least I think they are) and some will be serious. Now I just have to be diligent...

Post Number 100!!

I figured I'd hit this mark a lot sooner, but I figured that back in January when I was posting every other day. Still, it's a milestone.

I just realized that I haven't posted anything even after I said that I would still post on here. So here's a little update:

School starts tomorrow. I'm pretty darn excited, actually. As much as I hate school, I am excited to get this, my last year, over and done with. I am also yearning to be productive. The bottom line is that this year in Germany was sort of like an awesome, year-long vacation. I attended classes, but they were not as work-intensive as the classes here in Canada - especially the third- and fourth-year classes I'm taking! Anyways, I'm excited.

Ashley and I got a pedicure tonight. I love getting pedicures! It was Ashley's gift to me for coming home because she's such a good friend who knows how much I love them. We got French pedicures, which means, for all you men out there, instead of getting the whole nail painted in a colour we just got white painted on the tips and then a clear polish all over. I love it because my toenails look so clean.

There are also two stories about my coming home that should be told, and I feel a little bad that I didn't mention them before as they were such well thought out ideas and the responsible folk deserve props. So get ready to give them up:

First story: Ashley told me at the airport that she had left me a welcome home card on my bed. When I got there I realized that was a deception, to say the least! Here's what there was:

Guess how many balloons there are? There are exactly 99 red balloons. That's just plain funny. Very, very well done if you ask me.

Second story: After reading my post back in March about why I always wanted to visit Bari, Italy, my mom decided to help me out. She designed and had made for me 10 notepads that say "From The Desk of Bari Pulles" on the top. She had them waiting for me in a gift bag at the airport when I arrived. It was very sweet. And hilarious. But more sweet than anything.

Okay, that's all for now. There is still more, I promise, but maybe not for a bit. We'll see.