dimanche 25 juin 2006

Travelling...



Wow ! Time flew by way too quickly. I am finally leaving for that European tour in only a couple of hours !



That last week was quite hectic ; I had quite a few rehearsals and concerts. I moved (again !) , bought those last minute nik-nak for the trip and ended up using crutches for the last few days because of a stupid tendinitis on my right leg...



Then today was the much dreaded bathing suit shopping. Ouch. What was supposed to be a one stop, 5 minutes thing turned out to be a 3 hours, 20 stores thing. I did, however, find the somehow perfect suit. Yé me !



And I am almost done packing : which was not an easy task, since I am a compulsive list maker : a list the the plane carry on, a list for the luggage, a list for the trumpet gig bag, a list of the lists... hum...



I'll try updating the blog from time to time. I am pretty sure that in between the French Riviera, l'Alsace, Loire, Paris and London, there will be many adventures to tell !! Who knows : I could meet the man of my dreams somewhere in St.Tropez or Paris ?



Have a nice summer ! I'll be back on July 22nd ...Wish me luck !!


mercredi 14 juin 2006

How I feel...

" Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out ; but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake " - Anonymous



That's how I feel this week... I'll leave it to that.

vendredi 9 juin 2006

Rants about love...






I've done it again ! I am another guy new best friend !





It seems to be a recurring thing in my life : meeting a great guy, becoming fast friends and then Bang ! I'm his new best friend and wouldn't it be a shame to ruin that ?





Now that would explain why most of my friends are guys...





I should really have stucked with long term one night stands : random guys that should have stayed in my life for, well, only one night but for some reasons, stayed for a while. I've never had the butterfly effect, the anticipation, the tingling effect. I've never had a real first date neither. Or a real first kiss. Or my heart broken. Maybe it all comes from my constant need to please and to take care of other people : By always putting my needs last, I have less chances of getting myself hurt. I've had my ego crushed and bruised many, many times however ! That should explain my way too long list of exes or why I felt the need of getting restraining orders against 2 of them...





Somebody recently told me that all women have exactly the love life they want. Ouch. In that case, I should really get my act together and really try to figure out what I'm looking for as a partner ! I may have had many boyfriends but I don't recall ever pausing and asking myself what I really wanted : I've always blamed my bad choices men wise on being an artist.





Many people around me have come to the conclusion that I've been looking at the wrong places from the start. You think ?? See, a good friend of mine, Mr. B, has been in LOVE with me for almost 15 years now. Yup, that long. He reiterate his love at least once a year, to make sure I guess, that I don't forget he is there waiting for me... Don't worry though : It's been said and told that I really value our friendship but that I'll never share the same kind of feelings.





What if my friends were right ? What if the guy of my dreams was in fact Mr. B ??





Should I go the easy way and settle for a guy who will make a great lifelong companion but whom I'll never LOVE or should I keep looking for the perfect guy ?



I need a drink...

jeudi 1 juin 2006

100 things you would probably rather not know about me...

1. I believe in destiny.

2. I have a dirty mind.

3. I don't walk "hand-in-hand" with boyfriends. I just don't.

4. My biggest fantasy would be to see some smooching couple fall in the escalator .

5. I have an identical twin sister .

6. I love thunderstorms.

7. I am a shower person. I hate baths.

8. I am a sucker for road trips.

9. I like driving long distance.

10. I am the most patient person in the world... exept when drinving

11. I started to play music at the age of 3.

12. I hold a Master's degree in music performance.

13. I also have an Artist Diploma in music performance.

14. I color my hair every 3 weeks.

15. I cry at sad movies.

16. I am an aries.

17. I'm addicted to Mah Jong.

18. I read my horoscope every morning.

19. I don't like conflicts. They make me very uncomfortable.

20. I won a kissing contest in Grade 4.

21. I don't go to hair salons : hair dryers are just too out of tune and there are way too many at once in those kind of places.

22. I've been giving myself haircuts for the past 10 years.

23. I could walk miles for Godiva ice cream.

24. I am very allergic to cinnamon.

25. I love eggs benedict.

26. I can't stand Black Pudding.

27. My best friend is a "HE".

28. I never sleep more than 4 hours in a row. Never could.

29. I am very critical of myself.

30. I failed the same philosophy class 4 times.

31. I like Peter Cetera's music.

32. I have 4 sisters and a brother.

33. My brother passed away 10 years ago.

34. I was raised by my father.

35. I was kicked out of school in grade 8 for selling hard liquor in a field trip.

36. I went to a Metallica concert.

37. I can have 25 shooters before loosing it.

38. I have childhood memories from age 1 1/2.

39. I was once sick on a bar. Not in a bar. ON the bar...

40. I can recite entire commercials.

41. I like foreign films.

42. I've moved more often than I've had birthdays.

43. I speak English, French and a bit of Creole.

44. I don't taste any difference between Coke, Pepsi and other Colas.

45. My middle name is Jeen. Yes, 2 "e".

46. My mom is a brilliant Psychologist.

47. My father is a retired cop.

48. I have 3 tattoos and plan on getting more.

49. My favorite color is yellow.

50. My dream car is a 1953 yellow beetle convertible with white seats and roof.

51. I put mayonnaise on everything.

52. I hate purses.

53. I can't stand Jack Daniel. The sight of a bottle makes me sick.

54. I can't wear perfume : I smell like a skonk after 5 minutes.

55. I crave sweet.

56. I bite my nails.

57. I do not tolerate humidity very well. I have a hard time breathing.

58. I have an excellent sense of direction.

59. I could live on sushi.

60. I brake a toe at least once a year.

61. My driver's license picture looks like a mug shot.

62. I've been in a serious train wreck. We were stuck in that train for 12 hours before being rescued.

63. I'm easily amuzed by very stupid or childish things.

64. I am a sucker for chick flick.

65. I tend to attract bad guys.

66. I was on a freak accident involving a Ping-Pong table.

67. I've had a chip of green paint stuck in my pincky for the last 12 years.

68. I broke my foot while jumping from the toilet seat at the age of 1.

69. I love riding motocycles.

70. I'm always broke.

71. I have restraining orders against 2 ex.

72. I can't stand the sound of harpsichord.

73. I have a fear of Fog.

74. I am affraid of swimming in lakes.

75. I cannot get out of the house without nail polish on my toes. Even in the winter...

76. I have a tendency of wearing short skirts as tops.

77. I'm addicted to flip-flops.

78. I am addicted to underwears : my drawers contains 78 panties and 39 bras.

79. When a passenger in a car, I am prone to very serious panic attacks.

80. I have no sensitivity in my left pincky.

81. I am a very good seamstress.

82. I finished sewing my bridesmaid dress 4 hours before my twin sister's wedding. I somehow managed to do the exact same thing for my youngest sister's wedding...

83. I have only 1 ovary.

84. I like spur of the moment things.

85. I like practical gifts. Power tools are my favorite.

86. I am way too laidback and easy going for most people I know.

87. I have a passion for fabrics. I can spend hours browsing through fabric stores.

88. I eat lobsters with a hammer.

89. My mother is deaf.

90. I used to bite my toe nails.

91. I was born very, very prematurally.

92. I got 2nd degree burns on 90% of my face after tanning while under medication. Luckilly, the only scars are on my hair line.

93. I collect fake diamond rings.

94. I am not a girly girl.

95. I cannot dance, even to save my life.

96. I cannot sleep with my fingers or toes untucked. It will wake me up instantly.

97. I have a permanent mold of a trumpet mouthpiece on my lips.

98. I have a skin disease. If I scratch my skin, it will itch like hell for hours and leave a mark for weeks.

99. I still have a baby tooth.

100. It took me 3 hours to finish this list.

mercredi 31 mai 2006

Highs and lows...

You know for sure you live in Quebec city when you wake-up to a freezing 45 degree outside to get out on your lunch break to a very humid 99 degree...



How am I suppose to dress ?????



In other news: Seems like the niece was right about the timing of me getting a boyfriend ( NO, the niece didn't hook me up ) Thanks to Calliope, I've discovered the most amazing thing ever : Susan.



And what did Susan tell me that was soooo amazing ?



"Romantically, Mars is now touring your house of true love for the first time in two years."



You heard that missy ? Your favorite aunt will finally find herself a nice guy...

vendredi 26 mai 2006

Celebration !!!!




I've done it !! I've reached the 10 000 mark !!



Only problem though. When logging on my site meter, I realized that the lucky winner was :


ME


Sucks big time, doesn't it ? The site meter would normally ignore my visits but I was staying over at my sister's place last night and decided to check out my blog, since I had some formatting problems in the morning... and that's when the meter hit the 10 000 mark. I almost cried.



But then, my niece entered the room and my evening got a funny turn.



As we were leaving to attend a concert, she said she had a big announcement to make but would wait for me to be sitting in the bus before telling me... Hum... OK !



Once comfortably seated, she dropped the bomb : unlike her favorite aunt (that would be me ), she's been dating someone for a couple of days ! His name is C-E, is in her class, gives great kisses on the cheaks (phew !), asked for her address in order to visit (already a gentleman !) and are truly in love. They plan on marrying at 19, buy a house in the south of France ( ?! ) and have 2 kids : a girl and a boy. They haven't chosen any names yet as they still have plenty of time but the paint color for the rooms have been chosen...



She had that very serious tone in her voice while telling her story so I listened carefully and asked the righ questions. The bus got really quiet at one point. Most people had a big smile on their face and would just listen to that little girl's story and remembering being 8 years old and madly in love for the first time.



Then she said it. She dropped an even bigger bomb : since she's soooooo good at finding good guys and that I am obviously not, she's going to try and fix me up, even though she thinks I'm getting a bit old for dating ... People in that bus stopped smilling. Instead, I got big, huge, loud laughs.



I need a drink. Fast...




jeudi 25 mai 2006

France








Time to play a game !!! Yippi !!!



If you were to spend a week near Paris, on your own with a limited budget (of course !) : what would you do ? Where would you go ?




I'll be spending a month in France this summer doing a tour with two different Wind Orchestras. Actually, 3 weeks of touring and an extra week to do some solo travelling afterward...



Any suggestions on where I should go ? WAY too many options for a wandering mind like mine !! It has to be said though : I don't really like touristy stuff and we'll play or visit most of them anyway with the orchestras...



Oh ! and did I mentionned that I'm leaving in 32 days ?





HELP !!!



vendredi 19 mai 2006

Interview




Me again !!





I volonteered to be interviewed by the amazing Calliope
... So here are her five questions :







1. I doubt you are really "just a trumpet player". So what else are you?





Hum... Good question ! I am not a wife anymore. or a lover . I am not a mother either( not yet ) . I am a daughter, a sister, an amazing aunt. A devoted friend and party girl . But first and foremost, I am a trumpet player.
Being a trumpet player is way behond the word . It's a way of living, of thinking. I strive for challenges . I am generally the only women in a world dominated by males : they see women as weak and useless and I'm here to prove them otherwise.





2. How are those blisters on your feet healing?





The feet are getting better, thanks ! After a week long rest, the raw skin looks more like giant scabs now, wich is encouraging. The feet should be out an running again real soon. Just in time for that European tour starting in 38 days !! ( sorry, I just had to plug it... )




3.In the big screen movie version of your life who plays you? Who plays your s/o?





Debra Messing would play me : she is friendly, witty, entertaining, bright and quirky. And Taye Diggs would play my other half : What can I say ?! I'm a sucker for that kind of guy. And I have to admit, he looks exactly like my favorite ex...





4. How do you like your eggs?





I'm more of a Julia Roberts's "Runaway Bride" kind of girl on that one. I like different things depending on the person I'm with...





5. What was it like growing up as an identical twin ?





We were born on a tinny Island that hadn't seen twins in over 10 years. From the get go, we were an attraction : the hospital extended their visiting hours, strangers would send gifts. Luckily for us, our parents made sure to treat us like two different person ; a mistake many people still make with twins. We developped very different personalities from an early age : when you are treated like a buy-one get-one-free pack of goodies, you need your own territory. And you get pretty protective of what you can get. My sister's a thinker, romantic, motivator, very dependant and idealist. I am, on the other hand, a musician, an artist in every sense of the word. We remain very close as ever : we speak on the phone 10-15 times a day, and still speak twins (or steno). The finishing up each other sentences or having whole conversations without actually using any nouns, adverbs or adjectives with a mixt of English and French. Still drives everybody around us crazy !












jeudi 18 mai 2006

Photo Friday !!

Let's all clap our hands : It's that time of the week again !



This week's theme : HATS



And one would wonder why I NEVER wear hats ! Hum... probably 'cause I've been surrounded by such prettiness from an early age ?


What can I say ?! At least, the colors matched... and it was the 70's. My mother has a urge to match everything, including every single colors around her. The fact that we looked ridiculous with those hats never even occured to her : all she could see was the matching colors ...



Yep, that's right : there's a rooster's ass on my head . In my defence, one of my many jobs requires to do parades quite a few times a year. And for very special occasions, we do wear an excellent copy of a uniform that would have been worn in 1862... I know, I know: it doesn't change the facts. I'm still wearing a roster's ass on my head...



Have a nice weekend everybody !!



mardi 16 mai 2006

Looking for Grand-pa's teeth...





My family always had weird ways to reward kids with money. Growing up, we'd be paid to fetch potato bugs in the garden : a nickle a head. An extra 2 bucks if we'd throw them in the neighbour's garden. Or 25 cents for every Jellyfish we could find on the beach. An extra dollar to put one on some stranger's butt.



My father has now reach a new low : it's been recently brought to our attention that his grand-kids have been rewarded to find his dentures ( He is known to forget them everywhere ). 3 dollars if they find them ; an extra 2 bucks to bring them to grand-pa. An additionnal dollar if they try them on...




GROSS !!!




And you : any weird ways to get money as a kid ?