I have an Anne of Green Gables calendar pinned to the wall of my cubicle at work.

I bought it in P.E.I. last summer. I’m sentimental, I know.

It serves as a daily reminder of the dream-come-true holiday that my boyfriend (now fiance) whisked me away on… and that I’ll never ever forget until the day I die (and probably even afterwards).

I don’t know if you realize the importance of that trip, even if I spent a whole day trying to describe it to you. Let’s just say it was years and years and years worth of day-dreaming come true.

According to that calendar on my cubicle wall, almost twenty years, in fact. Twenty years since I fell in love with Anne Shirley of Green Gables fame.

And TODAY, it’s been one hundred years since that red-headed snippet was ‘born’.

June 10, 1908 – that’s the day that Anne of Green Gables was published.

At least, according to my “official” Anne of Green Gables calendar, that is. According to this article,

“She arrived on the Island on June 20, 1908, not in a carriage from the train station, but in a small parcel from the local post office, postmarked “Boston.” In it was the first copy of Anne of Green Gables [...]“

Whatever the actual date, the fact remains that Anne turns 100 years old this year. One hundred years of delighting girls and boys, women (and possibly even men) all over the globe with her enchanting ways and beguiling charm.

I, for one, have been fundamentally affected by the writings of L.M. Montgomery. Reading those books… living them… has, in no small way, defined the woman I am today.

It gave me great satisfaction to be able to tell Lucy Maud this last August, as I stood over her grave in Cavendish, P.E.I.

I like to think she knows.

At any rate, the evidence of it is in my heart.

I dedicate this month to Lucy, and to Anne.

I have much to say about both, so stay tuned.

When was the last time you giggled in delight?

Me? It was about 30 seconds ago, as I was watching this:

God, I LOVE this napkin song!!! It makes me deliriously happy. I actually chortled when the security guy walked onto the scene.

As seen on BoingBoing. More info on the Improv Anywhere blog.

I’m trying to keep my mind off the wedding since things aren’t going quite as smoothly as I had hoped. <sigh>

So instead, I’m trying to think of all the things I’m grateful for lately. One of them is my weekend away in Whistler weekend before last.

Ah, Whistler.

When most people think of Whistler, they think of pristine mountains, the exhilarating feeling of being at the very top of the run, the swoosh-swoosh of their skies as they cut through the crisp white hill.

Until that weekend, for me Whistler meant a change of scenery, a relaxing getaway hanging out at coffee shops, strolling through the village and shopping, and watching the truly cool people who have the authentic-looking lift passes dangling from their zippers.

But now I TOO HAVE SEEN THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN.

What’s more, I have lived to tell about it!

As many of you know, me and skiing go together like a paper cut and lemon juice. I made a feeble attempt at it last year to disastrous, whiplashy results.

But this time, I had help…

The highlight of my lovely weekend had to do with snow… a tall order considering I had so much fun already hanging out in Whistler village with my homie Azi (lattes and shopping and martinis, oh my!). Oh and did I mention that I spent a considerable amount of time getting pruney in the hot tub on the balcony of our kick-a$$ suite at the Sundial boutique hotel? Um, yeah. So that should give you an idea of exactly how much fun we had…

… riding the Sno-Limo!

That’s right, people. LIMO. Cause even when I’m making a fool of myself, I do it in style.

So what’s Sno-Limo? Basically it’s a tour you can rent where they strap you into a chair on skis and a hot Danish guy (in my case, anyways) steers you down Whistler mountain, pausing here and there to allow you to soak in the majestic beauty you’d have never otherwise been able to see. Yes yes, it’s true… I also got the feeling that the majority of their customers were old people and those who did not have the use of their legs. But Azi and I consider ourselves part of that latter category… and our hilarious guides were clearly thrilled to tease us about our youthful non-skiing status the whole way down.

But it was phenomenal.

It almost made me want to ski!! Almost. ‘Cause how do you go from sitting like a sultan, all cosy and warm and being chauffeured around the mountain, to getting all sweaty and tired doing it yourself on your own two feet??

Exactly.

Here’s just a taste of it for you. (I hope you appreciate it… my hand almost froze off holding that dang camera. It’s cooooold up there!!)

Sno-Limo offers tours at Whistler, Big White, Sun Peaks and Grouse Mountain, BC for about $90 per person for an hour. Call 1-888-568-5466 or visit www.sno-limo.com.

I have several blogs in my Google Reader that I read every day, because they’re funny, well-written, passionate or just plain bizarre (sometimes all at once!).

The annual Canadian Blog Awards has just announced its finalists for 2007 – go check out the list and maybe you’ll find a new blog to love. Some of my favorites are in there. (And don’t forget to vote).

You can also go ahead and click on one of the links in the left column of my blog to see some other sites that I like a lot.

And of course, if you know of one you think is cool, leave a comment or drop me a line at purplegables at gmail dot com.

After years and years of torture wearing specs that were as big as garbage lids, I finally go and get laser eye surgery only to find out – a mere 4 weeks later – that big, ugly, 80s-style glasses are back in fashion?!

Dang, I missed my chance to shine!

Quick… someone tell Sally Jessy Rafael.

Happy Easter Monday, everyone! I’d be happier if I wasn’t at work today (what a weekend!!) but it was worth it. More on that soon; in the meantime, here’s a little Easter tale for you.

My coworker Always-Good-For-A-Laugh-Duane became possessed by the spirit of Easter a few weeks ago and was compelled to buy this big yellow…um…bird:

He and a few others were convinced it was a chicken. After all, Easter is all about bunnies and eggs and baby chicks going tweet-tweet. Makes sense, right?

However, upon closer examination (and relying on my near-secret farmkid identity) I declared that those feet and that beak definitely made this thing a DUCK (if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then…). My ultimate argument? Chickens have toes!! I thought that would convince anyone, but apparently not.

So what else to do? I emailed the manufacturer.

—–Original Message—–
From: Kasia K
Sent: Mar 7, 2007 5:32 PM
To:fiesta@fiestatoy.com
Subject: Product 393781 – duck or chick? Please help!

Dearest Fiesta,
I am hoping you can settle a dispute which is threatening to disrupt our normally peaceful and fun-loving workplace.

Today, one of my office colleagues purchased a big yellow stuffed animal made by your company. It is lovely and big and fluffy. We adore it. However, we are not quite sure WHAT it is!

Is it a duck…. or a chick…?!?

The product number on the tag is 393781 and the yellow offender in question is featured on the cover of your 2007 Catalog on your website at http://www.fiestatoy.com/catalog.htm.

As you can see, this is causing us much distress. If you could kindly reply and settle this dispute (at your earliest convenience, of course, but hopefully before we start throwing punches), my colleagues and I would be forever grateful.

Kindest regards,
Kasia K

I soon got my reply:

—–Original Message—–
From: Chrisjerwu1@aol.com
Sent: Mar 8, 2007 12:35 PM
To: Kasia K
Subject: Product 393781 – duck or chick? Please help!

Dear Kasia,

Thank you for your purchasing a Fiesta toy. That yellow “thing” you’d purchased is actually a duck and not a chick. Hopefully this will settle your dispute and still maintain that continuous fun and loving workplace. We will keep in mind and try to improve our products better, so it will not cause any distress to our customers.

Best regards,

Chris Wu
Product Development Manager
Fiesta
Tel: (323) 581-9988 Ext. 109
Fax: (323) 277-1855

My mama don’t raise no fool! Now go eat some chocolate.

Did you know that the way you draw a house says a lot about your personality? Me, neither! Thank goodness for DrawAHouse.com. Now whenever I get depressed about real estate (im-)possibilities in Vancouver, I can just go create my own.

Check out my house and the test results. Then go draw your own and see what it says about you.

Thanks to Citizen Vancouver for this hilarious look at what Barbie and friends would look like if they lived in Vancouver.

Here’s just a small taste:

Yaletown Barbie: This collagen injected, rhino plastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends. Percocet prescription available as well as warehouse conversion condo.

So this makes me wonder… what would the Barbie from the northern end of “South Cambie” (where we live) look like ? My guess is she’d be wearing designer rainboots and carrying a reusable shopping bag made of hemp (makes her look enviro-friendly) which she takes with her on her walk to Capers where she buys Power (Poo-er) Muffins and over-priced organic strawberries. While waiting for the new Winners on Cambie to open, she amuses herself by dodging road construction and giving mental makeovers to those gals who hold up stop-signs all day in front of city hall. Oh, and she has a dog. And a fancy-pants baby stroller. And if she puts the dog in the baby stroller, who are you to judge??

Awhile ago I stumbled upon this great blog called The View From Your Window.

Basically people take a photo of – you guessed it – the view from their window, and send it to this girl who posts them up. Sounds simple, right? Well, I find it to be pretty amazing. What an intimate way to see how other people in different countries view their world – there are pictures from Mexico, Slovakia, England, Germany, Australia, you name it. Yes, even Poland, too. I always found that when I was travelling, the most fascinating parts of my journey were the times when I could see how people in that place actually lived, day-to-day.

Anyway, I submitted a view from my office window here in Vancouver and it finally got posted! To see it, go to the site and scroll down until you get to the entries for March 03, 2007… mine is in there.

Then go and take your own picture and send it to Kirsty, and share the view from your window with the world.

From McSweeney’s:

Valentine’s Day approaches. The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple’s Guide to the Thirty-nine Positions is elegantly sized for bedside convenience, features over 40 color illustrations, and is perfect for any restless cohabiter. To take the highly scientific Sleeping Pose Test, click here.