Feeling a Bit Unlucky

This morning I was quite busy. I was off from one place to the next and was able to squeak in finding a few Christmas gifts for my family who are coming up next week for our wedding. I wanted something a bit more unique that was Canadian. I think I fared out pretty well but I wish I had more time to look. As I got home, I had about an hour before I needed to pick up my wedding dress when I got the dredded message. We kind of slipped up and you can't come in yet. My Jaw dropped!

Today I heard that a seagull giving you a bit of a gift might be lucky. Although I've gotten that gift at least once in my life, I'm not so sure I've been so lucky today.

So I was supposed to pick up my taylored wedding dress. Instead, I was told that they completely messed up and didn't put my dress in the "too be taylored" pile. I'm a bit nervous with all of that since Ideally I need the dress by Sunday. So here's to holding my breath I can get my dress soon!

I'm glad I'm not really that much of a stress case. I do get impatient but it's mostly because I'm always on time and have things planned out well. Keep your fingers crossed for me that they hurry up with my dress!

** Good news update - They pulled strings and the taylor came in today especially to fix the goof up. So I can pick it up tomorrow. Now I don't have to worry as it is such a relief.

Crazy Critters

I started off the morning laughing at the little cuttie** playing in the snow. Little Twister just couldn't stop having fun out in the yard with all the fresh white stuff.

He found a piece of wood that he started making into a snowball. Imagine that snowball underneath his little 6 inch gap of a belly and the snow. I actually had to drag him back inside. He looked at me like I was a party pooper or something, but it was cold out there and I really didn't want to watch him get me soaking wet from his snow ball party.

When I woke up this morning I heard busy little critters in the walls up to no good. I'm not really sure what type of rodent is in there, but it's something that is strong. I'm thinking it's a squirrel who decided to get into the DSL box and turned off the phone and internet lines by damaging all of the cables. The rodent is incredibly annoying and I wish I could board up his little hole and tell him off.

Luckily by the evening we got things working again but the pesky little creatures have been causing a stir. I wasn't able to do any work today as a result. Not fun!

So what do I do, take little Twist for a stomp in the snow down to the drug store. He was a hit with everyone as he was walking me to the store, leash in mouth and content as any little critter could be. I wish I had photos of him in the moment, but those are once in a lifetime shots that my tiny camera is not capable of handling. If I dragged out the D70 I would have been too excited if I got it wet and dirty so it stayed nice and warm in its case. But don't worry I'll be bringing it out for the wedding next weekend.

**This is my little cuttie. We were at school and he's wondering if I've gotten a good enough photo of him so that we can go outside and see the girls. Intelligent little fella, can't you see it in his eyes?

The Swiss Keep Getting Richer

A new report on the 300 wealthiest Swiss put out by Bilanz is now on newstands. According to the survey published, the richest people living in Switzerland just keep getting richer. The ten richest people in Switzerland alone have a worth of 103 billion Francs.

If you are up for reading the German magazine, then you'll be able to find out about the top ten weathliest Swiss residents. I'm sure you can guess the #1 person. It's the Swede Ingvar Kamprad, owner of Ikea who lives in canton Vaud. Roche pharmaceutical group (famous producer of Tamiflu) family of Oeri and Hoffmann families (worth SFr15-16 billion) comes in 2nd. A joint 3rd was held by Ernesto Bertarelli, the Brenninkmeijer family, and the Latsis family (each worth SFr9.5 billion).

The noted person off the list as Mohammed Al-Fayed, the billionaire boss of British department store Harrods, no longer lives on the shores of Lake Geneva as he has taken up residence in Monaco. The Latis Family, made known famous for dating Paris Hilton, was a new edition to the list. Of Course Shania Twain and Michael Schumacher were on the list as well.

The most impressive part of all of it is that all of these Swiss have gotten SFr31 billion richer since the last survey, as a result of stocks being steady money makers and strong real estate holdings. It's always interesting to know who all these wealthy people are in Switzerland as you usually hear about them but never see them.

Let It Snow

So I woke up to a snowy backyard and the sounds of a "Christmas Election" here in Canada. I wasn't surprised about the snow at all since the temps have been rather chilly here.

I'm not sure that I'm all too thrilled because I'm not used to driving on summer tires, no snow removal on the tiny side streets we live on and steep hills all at the same time. Let's hope the snow doesn't stick around on the streets too long as I don't want to be walking on that stuff on my wedding day. Anyhow, here's a quick look at our back yard that we are still getting as I speak.

Immigrating to Ireland

Since I'm currently part of that immigrant pool, I found this article in the Washington Post to be quite compelling. The remarkable article of East to West Migration speaks about a 39 year old man named Janis Neulans from Latvia and his struggle to immigrate to Ireland.

The article brings about the possible exploitations of new workers coming into the country and how welcoming the Irish are for these new immigrants. Why? Because they were in the shoes long ago. Many job rich countries such as Ireland, Britain and Sweden are welcoming immigrants while France Germany and other EU members aren't doing so. I'd say Switzerland is in the pool with France and Germany too. It's quite an eye opening account of one man following his dream.