Merry Christmas Everyone!

After much too little sleep, I'm up again bright and early Christmas morning...to clean. There are no presents, yet. Santa did not visit. But the Mom arrives in eight hours, and by then I should have my apartment looking presentable.
I'm joking, of course, if only a little. Mostly I'm just too wound up to sleep. I keep making lists in my head, of things still to do (put away that load of dishes, clean the mirrors...), and when I tell myself to stop, I end up with excited thoughts (Boxing Day sales? I want to buy boots! Black ones, tall, not thigh-highs though...) so finally I decided it's better to get up and be productive. If I get enough done, then I'll take a nap later.
I really shouldn't be spending my time blogging, but I decided to put on the TV, to that channel with the fireplace that they play all day- and there's two of them! How does one choose between 'Yule Log Carols' and 'Christmas Fireplace'? And I thought this day was going to be so simple!

Merry Christmas, all - from one who doesn't celebrate it (much)!

Busy holidays

So, this week is so busy that I actually had to make a list of the days and outline my activities for each one. And revise said list. Over and over again.
Keep in mind that I also use the outlook calendar on my work computer, and I have wall calendars at the office, and at home. Yes, they're all the same- its just how I roll.
So when I add to all those a list of daily activities, you know I've got a lot on my plate.

Lucky me, it's almost all really fun.

Saturday was my work holiday party. Kev went with me, and we sat at a table with a bunch of friends of mine from work. The dinner was good, the talk was good, and we left after a few dances. For once, there was no major winter storm the night of the event, as there has been the last three years running...that was nice. Did I win anything, I hear you ask? No, for the third year in a row, I did not. Planning for rigging next year's prize draw starts now.

Sunday I went shopping with Erica, a friend from grade school whom I've recently(ish) reconnected with. I love introducing people to fun shops and things I know about that they've never been to or heard of. We went all over Yorkville, and had a pretty productive day. Then I went to the Robins' place to hang out for a bit, and they let me borrow a mixer.

This morning was the one un-fun part of my week. I got to go to the doctor! I had to get a Havrix booster (protection against Hepatitis-something you get for vacations to places like Mexico). While I was there, the doc offered an H1N1 shot (that I've been meaning to get anyway), so I got that, and then she wanted to send me for blood work (basic stuff), and since I hadn't had time for breakfast I was good to go to have blood taken just then and there. So basically I spent the first half of my day impersonating a pin cushion. Woot.

But then I came home and finished a beading project (yes, its a gift), and made shortbread cookies, with the mixer I borrowed, which made it super fast and really easy. I decided to save the dishes for tomorrow, when my arm doesn't hurt so much.

Tuesday I get to go to the mall! after work to shop! for presents! YAY! Then I'm going to come home and maybe I'll make meringue cookies...I haven't decided yet.

Wednesday I have a holiday party and gift exchange with a bunch of girlfriends. Its a potluck and I'm bringing puff pastry onion tart I made, and some of my cookies (and maybe meringues).

Thursday Erica has invited me over to her place for dinner. I get to meet her fiance and her cat (though strangely I think she's more excited about me meeting the cat). Should I bring something?

Friday I have more baking to do (in case you have yet to realize it, I've set myself out to be everyone else's worst influence this year!), and then the weekend is brunch and more shopping and more baking, and another holiday party and everything is just so much fun!!!

...if only my arm would stop hurting. Damn shot.

Yay Christmas!

So, Hanukkah is very early this year (like, it starts on Friday), and the Mom is coming to visit on the 25th. This means that presents (which would normally be shipped across the country) are being delayed. It means that the finger food night (a tradition from childhood that the brother and I have kept going) is being delayed. In fact, all the usual festivies are being timed to the Mom's arrival. And since she arrives on the 25th, that means that for the first time in years I'm kind of doing Christmas.

And its fun.
And totally going to my head.

I made cookies, with food colouring in them, and those little edible metallic balls on top. I'm planning menus. I've even bought those little LED lights and strung them up...on my potted palm.

I'm still lighting the candles, of course.
It's just the opening act to, well, a whole lot of cookies, as far as I'm concerned.

Yay Christmas!

Ill fate

The signs were there. 

My lips have been chapped.

I got to bed at a decent hour last night, but felt like I'd only had a few hours sleep.

And on the way to work, I stopped at Tim's for a hot chocolate – a large one.  Hot chocolate in the morning is not a good sign.  Needing it even before I get to work is a really bad sign.

Add to that, I got in to the office at the same time as my boss.  The same time!  That has never happened.

 

In hindsight, I know I should have been much more cognizant of what was coming, that dark cloud that was looming on the horizon, that ill fate that was about to befall me.

Literally, ill fate.

 

But still, I find myself unprepared.  By halfway through the workday, I am down to four tissues.  Four.  Even my most carful rationing can only take me so far, and I tremble for the moment when that meager supply runs dry.  I'm sneezing at the office, and it's not a good thing.

 

My boss already commented on it.  A friend said I sound like I'm coming down with something.  I contradict them, I am not getting sick.  It's allergies, it's dust.  Cat dander.  The fact that there are no cats at the office makes no nevermind.  I'm not getting sick.

 

And yet, I've sent off an email to let the group know that I will not be attending our book club meeting tonight, after all.

I have plans to stop at the grocery store tonight for tissues.  And maybe soup.

And I want my large, warm sweatshirt really, really bad right now.

 

But I'm not getting sick.

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Inventory was a mistake

We're in the middle of a fabulously gorgeous autumn. Cold, yes, and a little rainy, but freaking beautiful. The view off my balcony is made up of all my favourite colours, and looks like it belongs in a magazine. Ironic, since the last time I went to buy my favourite magazine (a bead mag called Bead & Button), instead of a bright orange cover and projects that celebrated this very colourful time of year, it was all full of purple (meh) gold (ick) and crystal (ugh). I left it in the bookstore, and ended up buying Real Simple, which I've never read before, but the cover was very orange, so I decided to give it a shot.

And while I would be pretty disappointed that my newest bead-fix has been denied me, I'm not sweating it, cause the end of this month is the semi-annual Toronto Bead show (woot)! Not only is this an event I look forward to every day of the six months since the last show, but this time, I get to introduce a friend to the quietly wild bead show atmosphere. Victoria and I will grab brunch and then walk to the show from there.

In anticipation (and preparation) for the show, I decided to sort through my stores, take a note of what I have and what I'm lacking, and make up a shopping list. This, I believed, would solve two problems that I have run into before in my shopping: avoiding getting two or more of the same thing (what am I going to do with three vials of scarab-green beads, seriously?), and making sure that when I get home, I have everything I'll need (avoiding the I can't work on that project cause I'm out of freaking glue! moment).

This was a mistake. What started as a shopping list turned out to be surprisingly long, and evolved into something of a wish list as well. The result? Come next weekend, I'm likely to be broke.

Happy as a kitten in a yarn store, but broke.

Nuit Blanche - gone

This weekend was pretty good. I went to the market (it's well into autumn here, and the apples are amazing), then I went out to Nuit Blanche.

I ended up seeing five exhibits (I'd planned out a route that covered twelve, knowing fully that I wouldn't get to all of them), and only three of the five were actually on my list. I started at the Bata shoe museum, where they were taking pictures of people's shoes and doing an art-installation based on the photos. There was also supposed to be poetry, I thought, but maybe all the poets were on a break while I was there. Anyway, because there were no poets (just an empty microphone where the public were being encouraged to 'share their stories - and no one was), and because there wasn't a large group of people together (they were letting in small groups at a time, and there was no main large gathering place), the atmosphere was kind of hum-drum. Basically, what I had thought was an intriguing idea was executed disappointingly.

So after that, I figured I'd head straight downtown where more of the action would be. Lucky me, on the way back to the subway I passed by the ROM, and there was a street performer out front. He was great - nothing shockingly original performance-wise (a basic sword juggling routine, a really tall unicycle, and a bit of fire eating thrown in for flavour), but his showmanship was fabulous - he had the crowd laughing like crazy. He was good enough that I stayed until the end of his show, and I put money in the hat he held out.

Downtown I went to see a giant silver bunny balloon by Jeff Koons that was set up inside the Eaton Centre - very cool. On the way there I passed by this woman wearing a dress that was made out of an igloo-looking tent, doing a performance piece that seemed to be about waking up, though I didn't stay very long to see it.

Then I got in line for Massey Hall. There was a sound installation there called Space Becomes The Instrument by Gordon Monahan. I stood in line for 90 minutes- UGH. It was cold, we were standing on the sidewalk, which was decidedly uncomfortable, and there was nothing going on around us to take our minds off the wait. Clever me, I don't leave the house without a book in my purse, and it doesn't matter if it's 4am, in downtown Toronto, there's always enough light to read by, easily (for the record, I am against light pollution, but just this once it worked well in my favour). On the other hand, once I got in, it was pretty much worth it. The audience all sat in a group, on the stage. Just getting to see Massey Hall from that perspective, to be able to say "I've stood on that stage before" was neat. The performers were all in the orchestra and balconies. They had piano wires strung up, right to the ceiling and across the entire space from left to right, and there was a microphone attached to the point where all the wires crossed. Then one girl grabbed one wire, and dragged the mic along the wires, jiggling them and waving them and increasing and decreasing the tension on them, and the mic picked up all these weird tones and variations. That noise was combined with techno sounds and pumped into speakers all around us, with the sound moving from one to the next, so it seemed to come from different directions. It was very neat sounding, and kind of reminded me of the thunder storm we'd had earlier that day.

Then came the second part of the performance. Three people climbed up in the balconies, and held speakers that started emitting steady tones - each one different. Then they started swinging the speakers around their heads, at different (and changing) speeds. The sound was eerie, and it got more eerie when all the lights went out, and the three swinging speakers each lit up. The ceiling of Massey Hall is scalloped, and the lights made the shadows oscillate- it kind of looked like waves. The effect worked well, since the sounds made me think of Sirens (the mythic kind, not the ambulance kind). All of it was strange - I need a work halfway between music and noise, cause that's what this was. I liked it a lot.

By the time I got back outside, it was about 5am, and I decided that I was tired enough (and had enjoyed the sound installation enough) that I would end on a high note (no pun intended), and headed back home. I got in at about 530, took a little time to wind down (and eat something; by then my circadian rhythms were screwed up enough to leave me starving), and then I hit my pillow, hard. For about four hours, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I was just trying to decide if I wanted to attempt doing anything (no), when Kev called - he'd been at a house party the night before, and was about as beat as I was. We decided that the best thing to do was as close to nothing as possible. So today Kev and I ordered in Thai food and watched nine hours of Boy Meets World.

Awesome weekend. Awesome.

Nuit Blanche - going

Ever heard of Nuit Blanche? Its this all-night modern art thing that fills up Toronto streets once a year, and it's tonight. Its very strange to be getting ready to go out at midnight, but here I go. Check out the webpage for the basics, and I'll blog tomorrow (after sleeping in, of course) about all the things I see.

http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca

Fresh look

So, I spent the greater part of the weekend painting my apartment, and I'm super pleased with how it turned out. Check it out:

My tools

My intrepid helper
Getting started
Final result - gorgeous!

So, I hope you don't mind the image-based blog, but frankly, I can't think of anything else to say about a now-brown wall. Shockingly, watching paint dry doesn't make for scintillating commentary.

I bought paint!

I've decided one of the walls in my apartments needs to be a different colour, so today after work (last day of summer hours, so I took advantage) I went to the bead store and found a fabulous citrine to wear to a friends' wedding next week, and then I went to the hardware store and got paint! I'm so excited!

Stupid Tuesday

Everything at work blew up in my face today.

This morning I had to peel myself out of bed, and I knew it would be nice outside, and I have laundry to do and my apartment needs cleaning and I am very eager to start painting that one wall in my place that I've decided needs to be different, and I thought about all the things I could do that weren't work, and then I told myself to go to the office like a good girl, even if I do have plenty of paid sick days that I haven't taken yet this year.

I should have stayed home.

I had minor questions - minor!- about the process for using this new system the US is using, and what should have been very, very simple answers ended up being the openings of multiple cans of worms, which result in very very much more work for yours truly (and others). None of this is my fault, so there's none of the guilt I would have if I'd actually screwed something up, there's just that feeling of naivete that comes from weeks of people telling me that this would be 'simple to implement' and me blithely following, ignoring the voice in the back of my brain that was trying to tell me 'this will be harder than you think'.

I should listen more to my inner voices. More the one that whispers 'stay home' than the one that tells me new projects are destined to be nightmares.

We saw a tempest, not The Tempest

Last week, several friends and I came up with the lovely idea of going to Shakespeare in the Park after work. We decided to meet right after work and have a pot-luck picnic before the show. I made pasta salad. We left work, and the sky got a little darker. We got to the park, and the sky got a little darker. We took out our picnic, and the sky got real dark, and started growling. We ran to the nearest gazebo (don't think round, arch-roofed romantic 'you-are-sixteen-going-on-seventeen' structure, think barn roof on stilts with lines of picnic tables beneath), and the sky opened up and...well, 'rained down hell' is only slightly melodramatic. Winds raged, rain came in sideways, lightening crashed like mad. We screamed a bit, laughed a lot, and once the winds calmed enough to let the rain come down more vertical-like, we shrugged our shoulders and unpacked our now slightly damp, but just as tasty, picnic, and finished our adventure...and dinner. By the time we were done eating, the storm was finished and the sky was orange and calm(ish), and we all went home- damp, kinda cold, and with a good story (bad decisions often lead to those).

Weekend at the Cottage

So, late last night, we got back from the cottage. I love that place. It's very relaxing - I love not having any clue (or care) about what time it is...or what day it is. The weather was better than it called for (meaning that it didn't rain every minute)- we actually had some nice, sunny days. There was swimming and tons of reading, we played several games of Trivial Pursuit, great (and very plentiful) food...

I brought a chunk of soapstone with me (yes, the one I maimed myself with- see previous post), and the plan was to work on it a bit each day and have it done by the end of the weekend. Well, I kind of got into it, so I carved the whole thing in one, several-hours-long stint. It was great, especially as I had Steven (hereby known as my carving guru) sitting with me, showing me techniques and telling me what tools I'd need and such. Check out what I made!

I hope you all had a great long weekend like me!

Who knew preparing for the cottage was so hazardous?

I'm a freaking genius! (The English language really has to come up with punctuation that denotes sarcasm).

Tomorrow the brother and I are off to the Robins' cottage. Sweet! Though the weather hasn't been the greatest, we have high hopes. But, just in case, I'm also bringing along a lot of things to do- I bought beading magazines, I'll have a pile of sudoku puzzles with me...you know how much a brain weighs? That's how much candy I bought.

Also, I have some new pieces of soapstone from my trip to BC, and I wanted to bring some along to carve. I don't want to tote along ALL my tools and stuff, though, just a set of files and some sandpaper, so I was trying to do everything to prepare the stone ahead of time. Thus, I figured out (last night, in my head, in my bed, while I was supposed to be sleeping), that it needed a hole. Skip forward to this morning, which found me freshly showered and dressed for work, using a towel as an apron, and drilling into a piece of stone.

It's not a huge thing- I didn't need to get out my whole Dremel set or anything - I've got my grandfather's drill, this awesome, ancient hand-crank thing.

So, I'm trying to carve this hole, trying not to get dusty, and trying to not be late for work. I'm changing drill bits, which you do by either a) holding the crank still while you twist the chuck at the top open, or the reverse, by holding the chuck still while turning the crank. Now, you see those gears on the drill? See that space between them that doesn't exist? Yeah, that's where my pinkie finger went.

I spent all day at work doing my best to avoid typing 'cause it turns out I use my pinkie a lot when typing. Ow. I also stopped to buy band-aids on my way home - I'd used my last one.

Poor pinkie. On the other hand, now the damn stone is ready for the cottage!

Peas!

Isn't it beautiful?! It's one of my first batch of sugar snap peas that I grew all by myself! Seriously, these started out as seeds and now I have something edible, people.

I'm thinking of becoming a farmer.

Away too long, and not long enough!

Don't hate me because I'm busy!

Between friends moving, friends starting new businesses, friends getting married (not to mention my own venture across the country), I've been a busy girl!

Yes, life is busy happening in the big city. Unfortunately, the big city is also featuring a city workers strike that means all Canada Day celebrations were cancelled, not to mention that the trash is starting to pile up good n' high. Let's just say it was a good time to get out of the city.

I managed to do Canada Day in Victoria, which was lovely and sunny and had that small-town feel. There was a street festival and free watermelon and a nice dinner with friends, and it all culminated in a fabulous fireworks show (we're convinced that Toronto shipped its unused explosives to the coast).

The Mom and I also participated in a glass class, and made beautiful plates! This one is mine (forgive the awful photography, and for the record, that's a piece of white paper behind it- the plate is clear, and therefore REALLY hard to get a good picture of. I'll try to do better tomorrow). I'll try and get the Mom to send me a pic of hers for me to post...except I still have her memory card...sorry the Mom.

There was a lot of shopping (I seem to be surprisingly enamored of umbrellas lately...) there was a trip to Botanical Beach (while the tide was coming in..."JUMP, Mom, you can do it, you just have to get a running start!"), obligatory pickle-boating, lots of good food and a couple of really great markets. The markets there are different from most Toronto ones I've been to- here's it's mostly food featured, with some stuff (like art, hand-made items, etc.) There, it's mostly stuff with a little food thrown in, mostly for munching on there, while you browse. I got some great hand-spun wool for my knitting guru, a suitable appropriate bridal shower gift for my bride-friend, something called ice-wine tea for my tea-loving artsy friend, and piles of chocolate for piles of others. I also hit the museum there- it's a wonderful little museum, and right now it has a really fabulous show on loan from the British Royal Museum. REALLY worth going to- I had a great day.

But now (sigh) I'm back, and suitably recovered to get back into the proper swing of things, including blogging. I'm a little behind on all sorts of projects, which I will let you know about in time.

You may have noticed a new link to the right- Sonnet & Mayhem. This is the truly inspiring artsy endeavour of the above-mentioned tea-loving friend. She's opened up her own business making hand-carved and stamped cards, postcards, etc. She's got very much talent, and she's pouring it out into these lino prints, and they're turning out beautifully. I happily point you in her direction - go explore her blog, and her shop on etsy.com. Her stuff is great!

The cat killed my hairdryer

The Mom is visiting.
She says I'm not allowed to make fun of her on my blog, so I won't.

My pillows got soaked with water last night, but that was because of the cat.
My hairdryer is dead, but it was probably the cat.

Also, the cat can't answer my cell phone reliably and can't read without its glasses.

But seriously, we're having a great time. We went to brunch and the zoo, then we went to St Lawrence Market and shopping and to a BBQ at the Robins'. Then we drove to Jordan and Niagara-on-the-Lake. The weekend was wonderful, but exhausting!

And the visit goes on- tomorrow we're going to the movies, and then at some point we have to go shopping again...I need a new hairdryer.

I am my mother's daughter

So, the Mom is visiting at the end of the week. I am very excited, and I have a lot to do - stocking up on groceries, doing several loads of laundry, cleaning everything, yadda yadda yadda. So, the minute I get out of work today, I rush off to (of course)...go shopping.
Whatever.
So I'm in Winners and I find sheets for a very reasonable price. And since I've needed new bed linens for some time, and especially since I'm soon to have a house guest, I consider this a fortunate find.
However, I also find shoes.
They are the same price as the linens. And they're great. And I can't splurge on both.



Sorry, Mom.

Call it Vitamin P

Summer hours at my office started this week; that means working an extra 45 minutes every day until Friday, when we get to leave in the early afternoon. And while I'm very much looking forward to Friday, right now, all I'm feeling is a full week of extra-long days piling up. This, together with the stressingly difficult Pilates class I just went thorough (I'm pretty sure this damn class is supposed to be getting easier, not harder as I go along) has left me decidedly drained; I didn't even have the mental fortitude to steer myself away from temptation tonight and so am having a dinner that is very much anti-diet. I bought something I've never purchased for myself before, ever: one box of Lucky Charms. I justified that if I was craving it so badly, then maybe it contained something my body needs that I was lacking (you know how sometimes you out-of-the-blue want a steak if you're low on iron?)
However, looking down at the remains of my 'dinner', I find it doubtful that my body was lacking in vaguely purple-tinted milk.

Spring things

So, it's officially Spring, and the weather has become acceptibly spring-like, even if 'April's showers' seem to be spilling into May.  I've cleaned my house (to a degree, anyway), I've started my garden, I'm cooking with vegetables from Canada (as opposed to South Africa) once again!
This year, I've planted sugar snap peas (these didn't work last year, but I like them too much not to try again), red peppers, tomatoes, and spring onions.  Good luck to me, though I already have sprouted things poking out of soil, so I'm off to a good start!
 
I also went back to the Farmer's Market with a friend last weekend.  It's been a while since I've been there- winter doesn't make me want to get up early on a Saturday to trek across town to a large cold building that's probably mostly filled with withered carrots anyway- but now that there is sunshine in the mornings, it's great to go.  Which, for the record, everyone else seems to be thinking as well, cause it was friggin packed.
But I'm glad we went.  It always feels good to go to the market.  I feel very grown-up and sophisticated to buy things like fiddleheads and smoked paprika.  I also bought a large pink chunk of Himalayan rock salt, which I currently think makes me very cool in the kitchen.
I made fiddleheads with shrimp over cauliflower mash- and damn I'm good!
 
And I'm buried in the extra-curricular projects right now.  I'm knitting two things at once (scarf for the brother and messenger-style bag for me), I just loaded up with new beads at the Toronto Bead Show, it's finally warm enough for me to start stonecarving again, and I even picked up new sketching pens...and then went home and sketched...and then remembered why I don't sketch things...I suck at sketching.
 
In my down time (of which I have little left, after all that), I'm reading a book that has no real story; no character development, no antagonist to speak of, no rise or fall of action...believe it or not, it's not even fiction, it's NON-ficition (which I never, ever read), and it doesn't even have a plot, unless you consider the alphabet a plot, and even if you did, I doubt you'd find it a very compelling one.
And I tell you now, this is one of the most ticklingly wonderful reads I've ever read.
Ironically, it's a book published by Penguin that's all about an Oxford publication, but what can I say, sometimes the publishing lines get blurred.
It's called Reading the OED, and that's all it is, a book about a guy reading a dictionary- and its GREAT!  Seriously, people, go out and get this book.
I freaking love words.  Favourite new word so far: Cellarhood (n.) The state of being a cellar.  WHY DOES ENGLISH HAVE A WORD FOR THIS?!

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Yay week

Why is this a yay week? Well, we had Friday off cause of Easter, and long weekends are always good. Also, last Tuesday, I'm sitting at lunch in the cafeteria, and the head of my division, along with the CEO come and sit at our table. We make pleasant conversation...a one point, the CEO asks if anyone is taking Thursday off work. I reply, jokingly "Well, if you're offering..." and he gives me baseball tickets! Four seats at Rogers Centre to watch the Jays beat the Tigers. Awesome. So, I get Kevin and the brother to take the day off work as well, and we (and the brother's roommate) go to the game, which the Jays win, so everybody's happy.
That night the brother and I have Passover dinner at the Robins (very tasty- fabulous lemon cheesecake), which goes on till 4am (all the best evenings do). While I'm there, I show off my first properly completed and successful knitting project: a short green scarf in variegated green and cream, done in straight knit stitch. Embarrassingly basic, but I'm so proud. I expect to be razzed for my geeky new hobby, especially by the brother. The family dutifully raves over my gorgeous scarf- and the brother asks me to make him one! I have a commission- how cool am I?
So I spend a good chunk of Saturday trekking to the good wool shop (which is all the way down in Queen West). I get wool for the brother's project...and more for a new project of my own. I also stop at the grocery store and make a slowcooker-full of curry that night. Sunday I have brunch with book club friends, then home for knitting and curry. Knitting goes fine. When I try to transfer the ceramic dish full of curry to the fridge...well, there's the fridge door, and the curry pot, and me juggling them, and for the record, I suck at juggling. Result? A very predictable shattered ceramic pot, curry everywhere...floor, fridge, cupboards, me. Super ick, and a waste of perfectly good food! I'm crushed as thoroughly as my slowcooker pot.
Whatever; it was a cheap slowcooker anyway.
Monday I have a vague idea to go to Victoria. I mention it to the Mom over the phone. She says 'anytime'. Today (tuesday), I find a seat sale on airline tickets- and there's 4 seats left. No time for thinking, so I book my travel (whirlwind; I usually think these things to death before going forward with plans like this). But its done, the tickets on my credit card...but when I get home, what do I find? My tax return?! Why thank you, government, you just bought me a flight to BC.
Like I said, its a yay week.

Spring Snow

Its snowing in Toronto. It's spring, it's Easter...and its freaking snowing. Not mostly-rain-its-almost-frozen-if-you-squint snow, but big, fat, cover-the-grass, stick-to-your-felt-coat, Merry-Christmas-Everybody SNOW. Ugh.
Tonight I made really good burritos for dinner. This week is Passover, so we're supposed to eat unleavened bread, and I figured tortillas were unleavened. The brother and I are going to the Robins' for dinner on Thursday, too. I'm looking forward to it, especially since there's no work the next day (three-day weekends are sweet!)
...that is, they would be sweet, if I could get motivated to do something with them. I don't know what the deal is, but the last couple of weekends I've been rather lumpish. Admittedly, I had a book for book club to get through this weekend, but it's annoying to have a couple of days free of the office and to spend the entire time inside. I think I have to start planning better for my time off.
Not that all my free time lately has been wasted, mind you. Three weeks ago the brother and I went to Ikea so I could buy a shelf unit that was on sale. Ikea was all out of the shelf unit, but I was with the brother (who loves to spend my money), so somehow at the end of that weekend I had a four-foot palm plant, several kitchen tools, a DVD player, and a new kitchen floor. For the record, stick-down tiles are fun- for the first four rows.
There's not much more of note right now- knitting and beading are fun for me, but not to talk about...so I think I'll go do that now.
Happy Passover, Everybody.

Belated Mexico

So, winter was brutal in Toronto – we broke the record amount of snow fallen, dangerous cold warnings went out, a lot, and we were just getting to the part of the winter where everyone’s aching for some sunlight, and yet they all know there won’t be any for another month, at least.
And that’s when I got to go to Mexico.
Sweet.

Everything about it was wonderful. Even the flight out was, like, the best flight I’ve ever been on- with snacks and food and wine and champagne. (Though the movie did suck, and they played “When the moon hits your eye” when we landed – classic Italian songs are the ideal way to welcome visitors to Mexico, I guess).
We made it to the resort, and saw the Mom, which was, of course, great.

The resort was large, but it didn’t feel huge. It was horseshoe shaped, facing the beach, and had three pools in the centre, with a ‘river’ connecting the pools, and a swim-up bar, and two restaurants. There were wild iguanas and cats and peacocks that all made the hotel their home (very cool – guests of the hotel would pick hyacinth flowers and feed them to the iguanas). That night we had dinner in an open-walled restaurant overlooking the ocean.
All the rooms face outdoors, so when we went to bed that night, we could hear the waves, and the sound was so perfect that we actually wondered if the sound was being piped in. (It wasn’t.)

We spent the next three days by the pool. The brother made fun of me for bringing four books, but we burned through those pretty quickly. Fortunately, there was an informal book exchange at the towel hut, and we got some more reading material there.
We spent some time on the beach, but I liked the pools better. Lounges everywhere, a little music, and guys in white who wandered around bringing us drinks and food and drinks and frozen towels and drinks…

There was a marina about ten minutes’ walk from the resort, and we went there one night for dinner. There were a couple of cool art places, a tequila boutique with free tastings, and a lot of restaurants, including where we went – Victors. I loved Victors!!! That place had the best tortilla soup I’ve ever tasted. And the tequila was free, and flowed like water. The brother had warned me before our trip that I was not, at any point, to turn down any offers of free stuff (this stems from the last flight we took together, when I was offered both a newspaper and a glass of wine that I didn’t want, and was later lectured for turning down). So you can imagine what it took to have the brother, by the end of the night, pleading not to be brought any more tequila, LOL!

We also took the hotel’s free bus tour of the city, which included time to shop and explore the city. The area we were in was busy and bright and there was too much to look at. This is also when I found a shop full of Huichol art – beaded art done by the Huichol Indians. We took some pics there, and I bought a Huichol owl to take home with me!

Then there was a ride up through the foothills of the Sierra Madres to a fabulous seafood restaurant. The Mom and the brother shared a drink made up of several different alcohols – including moonshine – which was served in a coconut decorated with flowers and straws…and a carrot. We never really figured out where the carrot came in.
We went back to the pool some more, and on our second-to-last day, we went on a real adventure, with speed boating and whale watching and horseback riding and snorkeling and a private beach with a catered lunch. That was an incredible day- we saw three humpback whales, and dolphins.

When we went riding, well, I think my horse on the way up to the waterfall was named ‘Glue Yesterday’, but I got a different mount on the way back, and he was minimally more ‘lively’. At the waterfall was a restaurant with drinks and munchies, and a swimming hole. Then we rode back and got back in the speedboat, to go to our private beach. Snorkeling was cool – I saw a tiny little jelly, and a blowfish and some long-nosed fish, and small sharks all in a group, and bright little tropical fish, and stingrays and sea urchins. Very cool!

By then we were tired, and starving, but the meal on the beach was so good (there was really delicious steak – I’m going to try and recreate here). Afterward I laid in a hammock strung between two palm trees drinking a pink drink out of a coconut, and knew it was heaven.

That evening we went to the upscale restaurant at the hotel, which was specializing in gourmet Mexican food. It was great, and we ate so much, and after we were stuffed, then the staff started singing and I tried to sink into the floor cause they were singing at me. They brought me a birthday cake, too, which was delicious, but we were so full that we mostly just picked at it. I should have brought it back to the room, in retrospect.

And the next day was travel day again. The Mom flew out early, and the brother and I spent the day by the pool before going to the airport. The flight back was a little delayed, and again the movie sucked, but was otherwise fine. The brother leant me his noise-cancelling headphones for the whole flight, which was very sweet of him – those things are amazing.
And then we were in Toronto again, where it was cold, and later, snowed. And all three of us looked back fondly on our trip…
…and decided to do it again, next year.

Too cold; must think of Mexico

My balcony looks like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man exploded all over it; giant mounds of fluffy whiteness everywhere. This fact, combined with my desire to try and save money made the decision to stay in today pretty easy to make. On the other hand, I'm bored as hell.

The holidays were quiet at home, busy at work - the usual. The brother went out west again, and I spent a lot of time at the office getting ready for the national sales meeting in Orlando. But the quiet was kind of a needed break, and I did all sorts of indulgent things (like ordering in Chinese food just for me) that I don't usually let myself do. Also, I got a ton of time to bead!

Gearing up to the business meeting is always a ton of work, and the meeting itself is kind of surreal; especially this one, which included the US side of the company, and a bit of the international side, as well. The days were long and crazy busy, the hotel was expansive, and there were no windows where we were, so the only daylight I saw all week was on the way from and to the airport. On the other hand, I got to room with a friend, so that was fun, and the food was really good. Still, there were so many of us (something like 1800 people), and the meeting is always like taking a break from your real life. It's interesting - challenging, exhausting, fun, stressful, all rolled into one- but I'm always happy to get home at the end of it. Especially this time; I flew home on Friday and then took Monday and Tuesday off, so I had a lovely four-day weekend.

And the Mom booked our Mexico trip! We're leaving in just a few weeks, and I'm pretty excited. I've already gone online for information on bead stores, local art, culture, food, and safety (all the things I find important!) Apparently Huichol art is a feature in Puerto Vallarta, and it's gorgeous! I can't wait. Especially when I look out the window, and know that I won't be able to play hermit tomorrow. Out into the cold and snow for me - for a few more weeks at least :(