Guest Post: Liz from An Epic Liz 20SB Blog Swap

Hey guys- I decided to take part in 20SB's Blog Swap event.  I was matched up with Liz from An Epic Liz, who has told you all about one of her favourite childhood vacations.  I've done the same over on her blog here. Check out my post there as well as her regular posts, with lots of uniqueness and flair!  Enjoy!

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As a kid, my parents and I went on a few trips, but they were usually educational. Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas – and once, just once – Orlando, Florida.

Orlando is the epitome of the greatest childhood vacation, I think – all of the different Disney theme parks from Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom onto places like Sea World and Busch Gardens – they were all wonderful places to go to as a kid! When I got to go for myself, I was over the moon.

Since I was around eight years old when we went and I’m at the ripe old age of twenty six now, I don’t remember many particulars. I remember that I had really wanted to go to Busch Gardens, but we didn’t due to lack of time. I remember thinking that the Magic Kingdom was actually a castle that you could tour… and was disappointed when it was just a ground-floor gift shop, basically. I still look back and laugh at how my dad made fun of me for not wanting to go on the Tower of Terror. I was eight, what can I say? It was scary!

Being a bit of a daddy’s girl, I still look back fondly at my photo album from those years and see all of the photos of myself with all of the Disney characters – even a couple of me and my dad with Goofy come to mind. I loved nights at the parks – all of the bright lights and some with water shows. It was fun to walk around and check out all of the different things there were to see, shown in a different light thanks to the lowered sun.

As a family, we aren’t the biggest fan of rides. I remember going on a train ride at one of the parks, as well as (of course) going on Splash Mountain and how silly I looked in the photo. I never realized that people always looked so terrified because you’re basically going downhill into a giant pile of fake plant pokers! Of course – who wouldn’t be horrified? It all makes sense now.

I believe we spent around a week at the park, and it was the first and only time thus far I’ve been to Florida. I also remember (besides the Disney excursion) just driving around in the rented car and eating at strange places – also going to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. That was a great time, which definitely appealed to the part of my mind that’s always been inquisitive about things I’m not too sure about.

This post was initiated by the Blog Swap event hosted by 20 Something Bloggers. Come and check out a little bit of my everyday at An Epic Liz (http://www.anepicliz.com) – and don’t be afraid to follow!

Everything Past 25 Sucks!

I've never been one of those people who really cared too much about age.  I always thought getting older was much better than the alternative...death. So, I enjoyed birthdays and adding that extra number onto my age.  When I was young I was very proud of myself for being older, as though I had something to do with it.  And I guess to some extent, I did help keep me alive by being somewhat responsible and such.


Last year was a different story though.  Last year I turned 25. The big 2-5! I realize, when I'm much older I will look back and laugh at how ridiculous it is to be bothered by the number 25. But as a 20-something right now, in this moment, and even more so in that moment of turning 25... it's a big deal. 25 is "mid twenties" when your parents are describing the ages of their kids, it's like being an official adult (eww) and means new expectations are set out. All this sorta came looming down on me on the day of my birth last year, and it sucked!  Not to mention my actual celebration... I'm not sure you can call it that, was less than exciting, with me ending up being the DD (designated driver, not my boob size- sadly).

This year, was much different.  Brandon planned my surprise party and proposed to me.  Way better, right? Yup, until now. Now that more than a month has passed since I turned 26, it's becoming real. Guys I'm in my... mid to LATE twenties!!  What?! How did that happen?  Wasn't I just 3 years old- locking my babysitter (now one of my bridesmaids) in my child-lock equipped room?  Wasn't I 9 years old running a summer school program and bullying the neighbourhood kids into attending?  I could have sworn I was 18 and still enjoying driving so much I'd make any excuse to pick things up for my mom or friends. No?  Really? Are you sure?  Crap.


So, now that I'm 26, things about getting older are becoming more obvious.  And try as I may to ignore them, I simply can't.

• your metabolism slows down: this one sucks big time!  No longer can I eat whatever crap I want without any repercussions.  In a year's time I have managed to gain almost 10 pounds... not a drastic amount, but enough on my small stature to notice. And I don't even eat a lot of crap- and the last few months (minus the odd snack or treat) I've been trying to eat healthy.  And I go to the gym- not as often as I should, mind you- but I go more than the average person I'd say.  You know, the ones that don't have a membership and stuff.  Anyway, Brandon's sister, who is 21, has this ridiculous body.  Ridiculous-good, not ridiculous- bad.  And I kind of hate her for it, because she can literally eat anything and stay her flat stomached self!
• my body doesn't recover as well: Brandon tried to show me some new exercises at the gym, except they were, like, intense exercises!  He'll tell you they were basic... but really, who are you going to believe?  The next day, my body was in excruciating pain.  Yup... Excruciating! Before, you know, back when I was younger, I would have been ready to do it again the next day.  Heck, I probably wouldn't have found those exercises as hard.  I used to worked on farms for more than 10 years and never once was really sore from the work.  Stupid body.
• my eyesight is getting worse:  I've been wearing glasses since I was in the second grade, and for a while, my prescription stayed the same, but for the last 5 years it's just gotten worse as time has gone on.  I'm fairly certain, one day when I'm 75, my glasses will be 3 inches thick... that is unless technology works in my favour and all the prescription portion of the glasses is within tiny, thin pieces of glass.  That, or Brandon is just going to have to be my eyes, while I take care of the hearing (since his is already basically gone)

I guess we can all be thankful that my mind is still in perfect, wonderful, working order!  ...right?

So this feminist walks into a bar...

I’m not a feminist. I am a woman, just not a feminist. I believe in rights for everyone, any gender, any race, any sexual preference. You do what you’re gonna’ do and I’ll do what I’m gonna’ do. But when I saw on my Twitter feed this morning a tweet from one of the large Toronto news teams, saying that Saudi Arabia is allowing women athletes to attend the Olympics for the first time, I was shocked.

What?! I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised, but I guess I just assumed all the countries of the world had jumped on the “women are equal” bandwagon. How self-centred of me. There are so many places around the world that don’t have equal rights for different members of the community, whether that be women, people of another skin colour, gays etc. Even here in North America, there are areas that don’t accept others. Look at all the work Ellen DeGeneres does for gay rights in California, and advocating for gay marriage. What does it really matter if 2 gay people want to get married to one another? How does it affect your life one way or another?

Recently, Anderson Cooper came “out” as gay. (For some reason I thought this was already common knowledge?) And, of course, media everywhere started covering the story. There were statements quoted by Anderson, opinion pieces, jokes… everyone spoke about it for a day…media news only lasts about a day if it’s popular these days. There was discussion whether he should have to come out to show he isn’t ashamed of his sexual orientation, whether he should be a spokesperson etc. What I don’t understand is, I don’t have to be a spokesperson for being straight. Being the celebrity that I am, I’m sure I would be the first to be asked if this were to happen. But it never would. Because straight is “normal”. I guess if celebrities feel it’s important to be a spokesperson for their belief, actions, or cause then that’s their prerogative. But I don’t understand why some people in the gay community think by him not coming out (publically) sooner, it meant he was ashamed or hiding it. So does that mean the fact we don’t hear much about Matt Damon or Steve Martin’s personal lives, they must be ashamed of being straight and the things they do? Do you see how ridiculous that is?

OK being all serious is boring… but seriously people, get your shit together and just let everyone be.

Tuesday: The Worst of All the Weekdays

Tuesday. It's the Subway Melt day at Subway, but even that is one of the crappier subs available.  Besides being crappy sub day of the week, Tuesdays are the worst feeling of all the weekdays.

Monday: at least you've just come off the weekend and you have lots to think and talk about to others.

Tuesday: well, here we are, it sucks.

Wednesday: it's hump day!  Half way through the week and you can see the end of the tunnel.

Thursday: only one more day- you can do this.

Friday: horray! it's here... took long enough to get here, didn't it?

So, you see?  Tuesday sucks!  Down with Tuesday!  Let's just skip Tuesday...and Wednesday, let's go with Thursday too for good measure and right onto Friday.

Hey, Stop Playing Those Games! Oh... It's My Alarm

Have you ever blamed your spouse/significant other for a morning alarm clock sounding? ... Oh. You haven't? Well, I have.

Friday morning my alarm was going off on my phone to wake me up for work. But I recently changed my alarm tone because the noise from the 4 fans we have blasting in our rooms overpowered my previous alarm noise and I would sleep through it- bad news bears.  I haven’t completely gotten used to the new tone yet, so when I heard it going off Friday morning, being half asleep still, I thought Brandon was playing a game on his phone or Xbox. I kept trying to go back to sleep- still in my groggy state- thinking Brandon was being incredibly rude waking up so early to play games. 

At some point I decided I would wake up and be angry with him.  I remember thinking of my plan of attack prior to fully waking up… "first I’m going to spring up, then angrily ask, 'must you play these games now?!'" 
It was planned and it was going to be impactful and definitely make my point.  I counted to myself, "1...2...3...Go!"

As I began my spring upwards from my sleeping position I realized that Brandon was still sound asleep, and that noise that was incessantly blaring (ok, not really) was, in fact, my alarm.  Hmmm… my dramatic episode planning was no longer necessary or warranted.  Thankfully, I saved face as Brandon was still sleeping and had no idea I had this planned.  That is, until now.  Oops!

Fake boobs are better than fake people

I think fake boobs, and their approval by people, depend on the generation and particular person you are speaking to. For example, ask a baby boomer who is now a mother and I would argue most of them would say they disapprove of fake boobs. But ask people currently in their mid-late 20s (what are we? Generation X? Y? ...some letter), and I think you'd find more acceptance.

I, for example, am fine with fake boobs, and would even consider getting them myself. There are many reasons women get fake boobs, from pure cosmetic to reconstruction following a medical procedure. And who cares as long as the woman got to decide for herself that it's something she wanted to do.

This brings me to the next portion of my post- fake people. You know them. You may work with them, or go to school with them.  Hell- they may even be part of your friends or family. They are everywhere, and inevitably we will meet them at some point in our lives. They laugh at every joke ever told to them (regardless of the humorous content)... "hahaha oh to get to the other side?! That's a thigh slapper!" they complement everyone on the same things "Joe your shoes are awesome! Hey Sue great shoes!" (for those of you who do this- it erases all sense of genuinity), they seem too happy (because secretly they aren't) "today while walking to work I slipped and broke my leg in 3 places- but that's ok, because I don't really like using my legs anyway".

This may sound very negative, but it's also very true. I would rather meet someone who is genuine and maybe not quite as happy-go-lucky, with unicorns shooting out of their asses. The person who can be realistic and still happy is the person that is most genuine. I'm not disputing there aren't many genuinely happy people, and that some of them can find happiness in any situation. I'm just saying those that are clearly fake... annoy the crap out of me. Plus fake people don't tend to have the same "bounce" that fake boobs have.

Thus fake boobs... Better than fake people!

Why Canada/Independence Day is for the Rich

Ok maybe not the rich, but people that have money to spend. These national holidays are supposed to be a big, fun celebration for everyone residing in the country, but things can get expensive if you want to have any patriotic fun.

We considered going camping- but it's always so busy and the cost can grow quite fast with food, supplies, gas etc.

Drinking is possibly the cheapest activity, but at the risk of sounding like alcoholics, we can drink quite substantial amounts with little effects (we are Irish and Newfie, ya know).

Fireworks can be fun, depending on the location.  Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to buy our own though- and the ones that are put on by the city are good, but so busy...

So all this to say, for our Canada Day long weekend we enjoyed some good old fashioned relaxation at home time. It was actually quite nice to have basically no plans. We managed to get the entire weekend off together- which is usually rare but seems to have happened twice this month.  We visited with my horse, Sophie, who after eating the apple we brought her proceeded to sneeze-cough a portion of it (along with some grass and spit) right onto Brandon's face!  I laughed for a long while after that... including 45 minutes later driving in the car on our way home. He didn't seem to find it quite as funny as I did... but that doesn't matter- cause if it happened to me he'd find it equally as hilarious.  I tried to take a picture before wiping him off, but he strictly forbid it.

We also started (and finished) Lego Batman 2 for Xbox.  Those Lego games rock!  It all started with my Lego Pirates of the Carribbean game I got for my Wii many months ago when Brandon was married to his Xbox (so I had something to do too), and we got hooked.  We finished Lego Pirates (twice- once on Wii, once on Xbox), tried Lego Star Wars (weren't fans) and now Lego Batman 2.  Even though we completed all the levels there is still so much extra stuff to do. So now we're working on that.  How is that for a long weekend of fun?!

What did you do for your Canada Day weekend? And for the American neighbours- with the holiday more fresh in your memories... or at least I hope so- what did you do to celebrate your country's birthday? Other country readers- how do you generally celebrate your country's national holiday?