My brother is the devil.

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He is selfish. 
He is childish. 
He is callous. 
He is self righteous. 
He is cruel. 
He is tempermental. 

As much as it helped me grow, I never want to relive that one summer at home. Coming back does remind me why I ever left in the first place. I am traumatized, and I will always be as long as I live in fear. Unless something drastic changes, nothing will stay the same. I never enjoy walking away from a problem...

FMI - Wednesday

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FMI PD week is sponsored by the Financial Management Institute and is a conference for members of the financial community in Ottawa. It is held usually the last week of November, and has a host of different speakers every day. 


TBS (Treasury Board Secretariat) holds a FORD graduation, and we are the lucky graduates this year. As a result, we get one free FMI day above the one my department pays for. So I attended today's session with my FI-02 and Lt. Colonel. 

The keynote speaker was David Chilton, the author of the Wealthy Barber and one of the Dragons on Dragon's Den. His presentation was amazing. It is evident that he is a great speaker, a great storyteller and an overall great guy. He was telling us stories from Dragon's Den (and that Kevin O'Leary can be an ass in real life) and stories about his success as the author of Wealthy Barber. I have the book and kind of bummed I didn't do my due diligence to see that he was a keynotr speaker, or else I could've brought it for him to sign! 

He also talked about the state of Canada's economy and where it's heading. He also made a point im stating that no matter what people complaim about, Canadian 's quality of life is getting better. We are a spending nation and we always want the best of everything (why does everyone need granite counter tops?!), things we do not need, and using financial resources we do not have to fund this. He was talking about a woman who spent $60K on renovating her two bathrooms but when it came to funding her son's university education, she found she was struggling financially. We have never been more in debt. Then he talked about our number one hobby not being hockey, but complaining. We complain about everything! And we don't even realize how great our quality of life is. His speech really hit home. One of the best presentations I've ever heard, interesting and very funny too. 

The remaining sessions I chose to attend related to "International Perspectives" and dealt with Canada's role in the global finance sector. It wasn't as interesting as I wanted it to be. 

I love these events because it is a great networking event. Networking sounds so daunting, but when it's with people you like, it makes it so much fun! I never realized how many people I met in the finance industry after one year alone. The finance community is definitely small in Ottawa!

After the sessions, Melissa, Brian (other FORDs) and I went to Milestones for drinks and a much needed catch up session. It's so nice knowing people in your exact position but people you don't necessarily work with, to get perspective. Sometimes a little encouragement is all you need!

Anyway it is going to be incredibly busy in the next couple of days. I'll try to keep this thing updated. 

The Hunger Games

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I just watched Catching Fire and I must say that I'm becoming a big fan of the series. I don't think I'd read the books, but I do like the concept. 


Here's how to make Hunger Games better:

1. Delete all love scenes

Christmas Shopping

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I am so exhausted today. After work, I went to the mall with C for four hours doing some Christmas shopping. It sucks shopping in Ottawa because all the stuff that is your size is sold out. Always. Nothing is ever "in stock." 


I should really stop buying things since buying this IPad put me in debt, but Christmas is approaching and I need to get so much stuff out of the way. There are so many Christmas potlucks/luncheons/dinners/parties so getting the "gift" part over and done with will be a relief. 

Ron's (Belated) Birthday

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Once every 2-3 weeks, we meet up for dinner/scary movie night. We have seen Silent Hill 2, Sinister, Mama, Insidious, Insidious 2 and The Conjuring. Tonight, we watched The Purge. Not really a horror movie, but still entertainingly bad. 


We also celebrated Ron's birthday at Red Lobster and went back to Wes's place for movie and cake!


"Why Can't We All Love Each Other?"

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I had a long day at work today. It took me forever to catch up on my e-mails because I was on course for two days. And my workplace is giving me so many responsibilities, I seriously don't know how I can handle them all. They had a $1 lunch today with a hamburger, pop and chips sponsored by CANEX. I ran into my old supervisor and he sat down and had lunch with us (weird. Nice because I adore him, but weird because he was sitting with us kids.) 


After work, I went to do my eyebrows at Visage and it took 40 minutes. I honestly don't know why it took so long but I do know she was brushing my brows like no tomorrow! The pains of being a girl...

Then I looked at my phone and it turned out Connie was watching me, as per this creepy photo she took...


When I was done, we met up with our other CMA group members for drinks at Royak Oak. It was a really great reunion and I honestly didn't realize how close we were until we were all catching up like old friends. Afterwards, us girls went to get our icecream (tradition) and then headed home. 

Some serious, intimate discussions and also some silly, outrageous ones. Overall, great night. 


It's Not Always Greener...

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So my brother and his family are set on making the move to Ottawa. I just want to scream at them, DONT DO IT!!!! Don't get me wrong, I like this city. It's nice. Just nice. But it's not home to me. I don't feel a part of the community here (and thank goodness for that, because there are A LOT of weirdos here.) Ottawa is vanilla ice cream. It will not disappoint you, but it won't excite you either. 


My sister-in-law always has a "grass is greener" mentality which is not good because you are never going to be content in your life. You will always be hoping for something better. She will be close to her family, however I don't think my brother is going to love it here. At least I'll have more family here (while I'm still here) and I can get to see more of my neices!


This Idyllic Life

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I've been well. I consider this phase in my life, a catch-up phase. I'm finally finished school, and now I am getting my finances and other aspects of my life in order. 


I am now itching to do my "next thing." I am getting excited about the business planning stages of my cafe. I've also wanted to learn French. I want to do more arts and crafts! I also want to revisit my accounting and tax textbooks. Write my horror movie screenplay. I want to get my FI-02. I want to save up for my house in 3 years. So much to do! I have a very balanced life right now and I am so thankful for that. I love my job and I love working for the government. I love my weekly routine. I have so many things to be thankful for that I always take for granted. God helped me create this idyllic life and I finally feel like I can enjoy it. 


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