It is a very rare occasion that a band worth mentioning comes to play in our town. We get a lot of wannabes and some good bands that are just starting out, but the fact of the matter is that our town is just too small for any major name to come. It would just not be worth it for them.

My friends and I often buy event tickets for the big concerts in the city. It does tend to be very expensive though. On top of the price of the tickets, we have to pay for gas, food and a hotel, as the closest large center is a four hour drive from here.

We do splurge once in awhile, however, because sometimes it is just nice to get out of town and it also gives us an excuse to go shopping. We usually drive to the city before the concert and don’t come home until the next evening, giving us the day in the city.

A good friend of mine runs a wedding planning service.  She has had many clients over the years, so I thought that I would pick her brain for some of her trademark secrets when it came to weddings.

From our little conversation, I learned a lot.  She told me that there seemed to be two groups of people – one who was looking for ways to save money on their wedding bills, while the other just wanted to have the most amazingly grand wedding whatever the price.

But, for the most part, she told me that many couples hired her to help them save money on their weddings.  A lot of the younger couples were keeping their savings for a down payment on a home as opposed to spending it all on their wedding day.

She told me that her biggest secret was to set up these couples with practical favors instead of expensive ones.  It was one of the easiest ways for her to save a couple money on large weddings, because the cost of the favors add up quickly.

I came away from the meeting enlightened – things have sure changed since we were married many years ago.

Last year was indeed a great year.  You see, it was last spring when I bough a  Mosquito trap and I put it in my yard.  Even after the first week, I could notice a big difference in the number of mosquitoes in my yard – it was less than everywhere else.

But, at the end of last summer, the bulb in the trap burnt out and I needed another one.  Sadly, they were sold out for the season.

With summer quickly approaching, I went to the store today to buy a replacement bulb for my trap.  I found them and bought two, just to make sure that I wouldn’t run into the same problems as last year.

I think I will put the trap out next week as it is starting to get warm.  Sure, there are no bugs out yet, but I figure if I start catching them as soon as they come out, I will be able to enjoy the outdoors without mosquitoes sooner.  And life without mosquitoes is like heaven on earth – yes it is that good.

I am a little disappointed in our phone service provider.  We have been loyal customers for the past 10 years, and we have always paid our bill on time.  This good behavior has allowed our business to get a discount rate on our regular phone service.  You may think that would be a cause for celebration, but I beg to differ.

The problem with her phone company lies with the fact that even though we have enjoyed a discount on our regular phone services, we have been paying too much for our conference calling plan.  You see, they charge us by the minute and our organization is at the point where we are using thousands of minutes per month and in turn paying thousands of dollars to have that service.

I figured that there must be some way to reduce our phone bill without losing the services are we enjoy.  As it turns out, I found a company that offers flat rate conferencing at a price that is ridiculously cheaper than what we pay now.

We’ve contacted the company and they are providing us the opportunity to test drive their conference calling solution so that we can see if their promises live up to the hype.  At any rate, it will be nice to reduce our current expenses by switching providers and allow us to build an emergency fund for a rainy day.

Lately, it seems like most of my friend’s houses have been broken into and they have had a lot of their stuff stolen.  Since this has been happening, I have been getting a little bit paranoid and scared that it will happen to me.

So, I have decided that I not only need some better home owners insurance, but that I should keep my valuables in a secure facility to protect them.

I decided to check out the local self storage locations in town to see if I could find the one that was the most secure and affordable.  As it turns out, those two things are opposites of each other, so I decided that security was the most important aspect of the two.

I purchased some storage space at a secure storage facility in town and I am in the process of moving my valuables there.  I just hope that I can get them all moved before something bad happens to my house.

I moved to Calgary a few years ago because of its diverse culture and my desire to fit in as an immigrant. I found that I fit into Calgary’s Pakistani Community right from the start and I was so happy to be there. I knew that I would never want to leave this city and it soon became known as home to me and my family.

When I went to drive for my class 7 driving test, I was so nervous, but the instructor was very comforting and understanding. If I had not passed the test, I think she would have been more disappointed than I was, as I could tell that she was really rooting for me to get it. I was overjoyed when I passed and she even gave me a hug.

To celebrate my passing, the family took me out to Halal Pakistani Restaurant for supper and we all had a wonderful time. This was shortly after coming here and it soon became a way of life for us. We celebrate every small victory of living in a new country with new experiences. Everything is not easy, but it is all worth it.

As the mother of two young children it did not take me long to realize how quickly your house can compete with Toys "R" Us for having the most toys.  I decided very early that I would not be buying my children any more toys.  As a result, I have had to come up with creative ideas for birthdays and Christmas.

I obviously, would not win mother of the year award, by buying my children nothing but clothes.  One of the best gifts that I ever gave my daughter for her birthday was a really nice child size set of gardening tools.  She loves to be outside and loves to follow me around the garden, mimicking my every move.

I gave her her own small section of the garden to grow her own vegetables and her own flowers.  She is very proud of the things she produced and she was very careful to keep her plots watered and weeded.  Every day she could be found putting on her little gardening gloves and taking her little hoe out to dig up some weeds.

My mother has been taking supplements for thyroid care for a few years now and she swears by them. I know that they work because she seems to be such a healthy person and you would never guess that she had a thyroid problem if you didn’t know about it.

She had put me on ADD/ADHD natural supplements when I was young because she always said that no child of hers would take Ritalin. I am thankful for it now because I was able to have a normal adolescence without being drugged up. She definitely knew what she was doing at the time.

After the birth of my third child, I had a lot of trouble losing weight and wanted to take something to help me out. She decided that I get a natural weight loss supplement that would not have any affects on my nursing baby. I decided to give it a shot and was once again pleased with the results.

Most people that know me would say that I am very musical.  I can play the trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet and guitar.  Though it has taken awhile to master these instruments, I just love music, and all that practice doesn’t seem like work to me.

So, when I had the opportunity to get a learn & master the piano course at a discount, I really couldn’t pass it up.  I have wanted to learn how to play the piano for so long, but I had been unable to find a suitable course or teacher to teach me how to play.

It turns out that when I told my aunt that I was going to learn how to play the piano, she offered her old piano to me as a gift.  Now, I have everything that I need to learn how to play – I just have to take the time to do it.

While I was flipping through the television channels tonight, I came across an interesting show that I think that I will watch from now on.  The show follows real people through their career choices and looks if what they thought they wanted to be when they grew up was actually what they became.

It sure seemed like an interesting premise as most of us don’t become what we set out to be.  This was exactly the case for the study of this weeks show.

You see, the lady that was on the show had always had dreams of becoming a Marine Biologist.  But, as it turned out, she would have had to go to a college far away from her home and the price would have been out of her reach.

So, instead, she went to her hometown college and became a Dietician instead.  Her story was very interesting and I could relate to it, since I didn’t become what I had set out to be either.

I am looking forward to watching the show next week – I wonder how it will turn out.