If I Had a Million Dollars…

Posted under Coffee, Money, Technology, Travel, Trixie the Toyota by Sarah

…I’d buy your lo-o-ove!

Not really.

Off the top of my head, I think I might:

• Pay for my entire education
• Put my sister through school to be a Registered Massage Therapist
• Go back to visit Hawaii and Mexico and Norway, etc., and maybe take my family to one of those places
• Travel to the UK and Australia and New Zealand and Italy and France and Greece (you get the picture)
• Buy some stocks
• The wise thing to do would be to put it in the bank first and start letting it earn interest, and then pay for all of the above things out of the interest, but the wise thing wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind.
• Buy a house, fix it up, and perhaps rent part of it out to pay the mortgage payments
• Is there any left?
• If so, I’d start an authentic Mexican-food restaurant somewhere along Lake Huron and maybe bring in one of my Mexican friends to guarantee that it’s authentic! And, of course, to stay and make tortillas.
• Not gonna lie, I’d buy some brown leather “riding” boots
• And I wouldn’t wait for my BlackBerry contract to expire before getting the biggest and prettiest iPhone there is
• I’d hire someone to review and delete all the spam comments that are in the “comments waiting to be moderated” section of this website. Blech.
• Is there still some left?
• I’d buy one of those sweet mesh ergonomic office chairs that you could just live in, or at least they look like you could!
• I’d buy a newer Toyota 4Runner, one without cracks in the dashboard or worn spots in the paint or dents in the bumper from where my little brother backed into a post. The only flaw I’d accept would be coffee pre-staining under the cupholder, because heaven knows I’m only going to add to them!
• Oh yeah, and buy a lifetime subscription to SIRIUS satellite radio so that I can listen to the CBC wherever, whenever, forever!

Glamparella

Posted under Coffee, Culture, Friends, Society, Travel by Sarah

Glamping. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of it. It’s all the rage among the fashion-forward, upwardly-mobile, and comfort-inclined, ie; Me.

For the ignorant:

Glamping: (n.) Glamorous Camping. (adj.) A form of camping in which the participants enjoy amenities usually associated with five-star accommodations.

Having decided that I should become a Glamper, I did a little preliminary research, and was not disappointed. I found that Glamping, despite it’s very “now” moniker, is actually a throw-back to those African safari camps of the early 1920’s.

Picture large white canvas tents with wide awnings, Persian carpets, king-size beds, dressing and wash rooms, antique furniture, china dishes, oil lanterns casting a warm glow everywhere, and perhaps a tame tiger cub on a fluffy mat in the corner.

Now add colour to the tent, electrical outlets to supply those “oil” lanterns (not to mention our espresso makers, margarita blenders, flat-irons, and iPod docks), and trade the tiger cub for a mini-bar, and you’ve got modern Glamping!

Some people are Glam-purists: they refuse to take any electronics with them, and instead plan to observe the beauty of nature from their comfortable oases. Others consider their Glamp-site to be a Four Seasons without walls and expect every possible convenience, including spa treatments, baby- and dog-sitting services, and gourmet chefs. I’d consider myself in the first group, with the addition of a FEW electronics, namely an espresso maker, a coffee-grinder, a cell-phone charger (I’d keep it on vibrate and in my tent), and my laptop on which to write and maybe watch movies.

It seems that the rich and famous have a natural head start on us regular folk, but I hope to find some fellow Glamparellas who are willing to pay a little more for equipment, haul a little more weight to the site, and scorn, just a tiny bit, the tradition of “hard-core” camping (read: canned food, instant coffee, damp bedding, flimsy mattresses that allow you to get familiar with every bump and crevice of the forest floor, etc.) in favour of comfort, good food, a bottle of wine or two, and hours spent with our feet up with a good book, in the open air and sunshine.

Tell me that doesn’t sound heavenly!

Modern Matters

Posted under 3BT, Clothes, Travel by Sarah

1. Airports. They’re bustling, there’s security that can be a pain in the butt, sometimes you have to run through them and sometimes they don’t have the restaurants you want, but I almost always feel secure in an airport, and I love the feeling of people going places. I wonder where they’re going and where they’re coming from and who they’re meeting and why. There is an awesome sense of purpose. And the organization of routing the right people to the right planes at the right times, well that’s just uber-impressive!

2. My new Element hoodie. It’s a beautiful dark grey-blue with black and teal and light pink and white flowers and designs, some embroidered… and it’s cozy and comfy. And it was on sale! And my best friend has the same one, commemorating our weekend together after a one-year, three-month separation. See it…

3. The new iTunes. Album artwork: very cool.