Tea in Toronto

This weekend my mom came to visit me!!!  It was a very big deal for her to venture to the scary city that is Toronto.  The last time my mom was in Toronto was about 7 years ago and it was for less than a day.   They found my place no problem.  Well, they got a little confused when they got to HVE, but I went down and helped them out.  Now that they've realized it's not so hard to get here, they should be able to come more often! yay!

 

My mom came with boxes full of crap from the garage that she no longer wants to store but I may want to keep.  *sigh*.  Ah well, it can stay in my storage locker I guess.  Some of the stuff she brought was cool.  Like my grade 10 class blues tape!  My painting of Notre Dame.  There was also a picture of me holding a cute kitten but I look huge!!  Why she thought I'd want that picture is beyond me! 

She also came bearing gifts!!!  Yay birthday presents!  She bought me canisters that now hold tea, sugar, flour, and unknown (maybe cocoa powder?), fun napkins, tea lights, kitchen towels, and this fun metal basket organizer thingy.  I can't decide where I want to put it yet.  She also brought a yummy chocolate truffle cake.  My mom rocks.

It was alot of fun showing my mom and George around Toronto.  You can't experience Toronto without going to one of the summer festivals so we went to the buskerfest.  There were lots of little shops set up which my mom and George loved.  We listened to a really cool band from Australia.  The one guy had an electric didgeridoo!  So fun.  We also heard this guy playing the drums which sounded really good.  Then we saw he was playing with buckets!  It was unbelievable. 

Afterwards, we wandered around downtown a bit.  I showed them some of the path and took them to see where I work.  Then we went to the Fat Belgium for dinner.  It's so yummy there!  They really enjoyed it.  They can't get food like that back in the boonies.

When we got home, George helped me fix Rob's vacuum.  While I was cleaning in preparation of my mom coming, I discovered it was MAJORLY plugged, and rob and I couldn't get all the crap out of the tube.  Ewwww it was so gross.  But anyway, with George's help we solved the problem!  I was all excited to vacuum to see how well it works, but I got lazy.  Maybe I'll do that this weekend.  Later we watched The Longest Yard which they both really liked.  We paused near the end to watch the fireworks at the ex.  Gotta love the view.

Sunday morning we went to Cora's for breakfast and it was amazing as usual.  I can't see myself ever getting sick of that restaurant.  Then it was time for them to head off.  The good news is they can't wait to come back!  I have a list of things to do in future visits.

Crybaby Tiger has some competition

Thursday was SR's staff association golf tourny. A couple people in my team were going so I decided it would be fun to go too. We went to Brampton, and the course is long and difficult! I was afraid it was going to be cold and cloudy, but the weather turned out to be perfect. A very enjoyable way to spend a late afternoon/evening.

It was best ball and we had alot of fun. I was going to use the golf simulator the night before to practice, but I was tired so I napped instead. Even so, I'm glad to say I didn't embarrass myself. They were impressed with how I did as a beginner. I made some nice shots, my ball was used a decent amount of the time, and I made one gorgeous put. Putting is the hardest I'd say. Not like mini golf at all ;) I must say, my dad is a great teacher! People say I have potential.

Afterwards there was a bbq and prizes! I like prizes. Our team won!! ... for having the highest score hehe. I did mention the course was difficult right???? At least we were able to get bogey's consistently =) But it meant I got a SR golf towel!! Now I just need a golf bag to put it on. I also got 3 "Big Bertha" golf balls with the SR logo on them. Very nice!!

On my walk home I decided it would be a good idea to drop by the matts first. Silly me I called first. We decided it's not necessary. I like this plan. It's so fun living close. More people should move into Cityplace. Yay Cityplace!!

The only bad thing about Cityplace is that they tore down the Spadina golf course. If they hadn't, Jeff and I could go play golf easily. Maybe other people will be interested too and we can all go somewhere like this golf course I really like which is east near my dad. Hopefully one day...

Wedding bells

This past weekend was Justin and Monica's wedding. The ceremony was really nice and they both looked amazing. Mon changed a couple times during the reception and each dress was gorgeous. The flower girl and the ring barer were so cute! When the ring barer started walking too fast the flower girl put her arm out to stop him, then they continued along. The Father's speech was a little questionable and it wasn't really related to marriage. It was mostly about how electronics have taken over and how people should take time away from them or something. Meh, I like my gadgets.

The reception was really nice. I was amused by the wedding memento. Everyone got a poem in a frame and mine said: "I promise you as a lover and a friend; I will love you like I never love again; With everything I am". How sweet of Justin to give me a love poem! Too bad he is married now, otherwise how could I resist?? hehe

I didn't have alot to eat during the day since I was told there was going to be an 11 course meal for dinner. My drink for the night was white wine since it was easy. It hit me pretty quickly. After one I was feeling it, after two.. you could say I was kinda drunk. I think around this time the first or second course was being served... oops. I've been told the multiple Advil I had earlier in the day wouldn't have helped either. I didn't end up eating too much since there was alot of seafood and by the end of the meal I was too drunk to even bother eating. People seemed to be amused that I was the first one drunk. Chris probably wish he wasn't sitting beside me. I know I annoyed him when I kept trying to put heart confetti into his hair.

The night consisted of trying to walk straight, seeing double, and having fun. I managed to catch the bouquet! It came flying at me and landed in my arms. No moving necessary. The flowers are beautiful. That made me happy, and no, I haven't suddenly decided to get married anytime soon! My mom and dad were both freaked out when I told them I caught the bouquet. Apparently they believe in the meaning more than I do.

After catching the bouquet, I was waiting until the lucky guy got to put the garter on my leg. I remember past weddings not wanting to catch the bouquet solely for avoiding this, but drunken jen was amused by this idea. I waited, but it never happened! I guess they didn't know of that tradition. No worries, later that night I enforced it! And of course I made him use his teeth. That's how it's supposed to be done. Apparently I agreed that Greg could take it off later that night, but I don't remember that part! I ended up going to sleep with it on cause it amused me. How silly of me!

We were sent home with ALOT of cookies and cake. That's what we had for breakfast on Sunday. Mmmm cake and cookies. Well, I guess it was more lunchtime by the time I wasn't dizzy any longer and was out of bed. We played some cards, watched baseball and nascar, and I napped later. Very enjoyable weekend.

My ears hurt

9:30 am:

Last night, at about quarter to 5, the fire alarm went off! I was having such a nice sleep too. It went on for about 15 minutes? no idea. Way too long anyway. I discovered you could silence the alarm in the suite by pressing the "silence alarm" button (go figure). It helped, but you could still hear it from the hallway, and it only worked for so long. It would start up again and eventually we couldn't silence it anymore. Damn technology!!! It also made me realize I have no idea what the building fire procedures are. There were two different alarm sounds and I have no idea what they mean.

Finally the alarm went off and I started to try to go back to sleep. It of course went on again. I stumble out of bed with the intent to try to silence it only for it to stop. *sigh*. So I get back into bed, then there's the worst noise yet! I would compare it to a very very loud feedback noise from a microphone or something. Then the security guard came on the intercom (and of course the announcement was ear piercingly loud!) to inform everyone that there was a pipe broken and we don't have to leave our suites. Not that anybody was going to anyway. I saw about a dozen people wandering around downstairs from the window. I figure I would have headed downstairs if more firetrucks than just the one arrived. Well... probably.

After the announcement, I figure that's it for the fire alarm problems. It pretty much was, except when I was finally starting to fall asleep again, the intercom would come on for a bit, but all it did was click on and sort of buzz for a bit. It was enough to startle me back awake. That happened a couple times.

So, I was pretty tired this morning. My shower in the morning didn't wake me up like it normally does. I decided I would buy a cup of coffee on the way to work today for a morning kick. I discovered buying coffee when you don't normally is actually harder than I would have thought. The fact I was tired made it alot worst, but was also the reason for buying coffee! What a vicious cycle.

I decide to go to Timothy's for a treat since I love their Cafe Mocha's and thought I'd try their coffee. First, I manage to get in the pay line, so I had to back up a bit to order. I asked for a medium coffee with milk and 2 sugars, and she says milk and sugar are over there and points. I look... I feel stupid. Then she kinda waves her arm pointing out all the coffees I have to choose from. Of course it wouldn't be as simple as just asking for coffee (I'm such a Tim Horton's girl, obviously!!), there were like 10 different kind of coffees to choose from. This isn't actually uncommon, but in my state this was unexpected (well, i saw them when I came in, but my brain never registered what they were). I kinda read the names and I'm like oh goodness, i have no idea what any of these mean!!! I like my coffee, but I'm no expert by any means. She sees I'm totally clueless so she starts to describe a few, but being tired my brain clues in shortly afterwards, so I didn't really see what she pointed to, so I just said medium strength and she poured me a cup.

I've decided they should have coffee shots when you walk in to help get your brain working so buying coffee isn't so complicated.

So now I'm at work, my coffee finished, with a slightly burnt tongue due to my anxiousness for caffeine, and I'm only marginally less tired than I was an hour ago. Figures!

10:30:

Update: It's an hour later now, and as I'm slowly becoming more awake, I realize how pitiful my little "adventure" to get coffee really was.

11:30

Update 2: HAHAHAH Now there's a fire alarm at work.

Gotta love DQ

Tonight we went to Fresh, a veggie place on Spadina. It was interesting. I tried eggplant. It wasn't gross, but I couldn't get used to it either. Everybody else really enjoyed their meals though. It was Dave's last wing night for a while since he finishes work this week, and it was Reena's first! She ended up driving which turned out to be a bad idea and missed most of it =( Awww poor Reena! I hope next week is more successful.

Afterwards some of us played a Robot board game. I did horribly the first game, but when I killed myself I managed to kill Matt first so all is good. The second game was a super hard version and I kicked ass and made it look easy! Yippee!

On the walk home, we made a very exciting important discovery... An Orange Julius/Dairy Queen store is opening up in HVE!!!!! YES! This DQ is even closer than when I lived at Westcourt AND there's an Orange Julius too!! Can't beat that!

Mid-Twenties

My birthday was yesterday! Yay birthdays! Friday night I spent all night cleaning. New carpets suck!!!! They should sell pre-vacuumed carpets. Vacuuming shouldn't make a bigger mess than when you started. My dad told me to keep vacuuming every few days until it's better. bah!!

Saturday I went for breakfast at Cora's with my Dad, Debbie, Vincent and Erin. It was a last minute thing so it was really nice. The food was sooo yummy it was a great way to start my birthday weekend.

Afterwards I dragged Keizo out of bed (at 2:00!!!) to go to the the gym and show him the super club. I also got to try out my new work out shirt! It's cool.

The rest of the day I spent getting ready for my party!!!! It was lots of fun. More people were able to come than I expected so I was thrilled. Highlights included earrings, melon bread, turtles (slippers and bread), alcohol and as i mentioned, friends!!

Sunday I spent watching nascar, gilmore girls, and big brother, and napping. Tony Stewart was passed in the last few laps which was a bummer, but I can't get everything I ask for, even if it is my birthday. On the other hand, HOH was revoked and a player i liked ended up winning it so yay!

Toronto has been fun like always. I got to go to the beaches jazz street festival with Rob, Patrick, and Toni which was fun. There was alot of non-jazz played, but I hadn't been down queen street east before so that was cool. We also ran into Kenny which amused me. I went to the yonge street festival with Dave which was alot of fun. We saw these amusing dragons, really creative music/art/dance/drama performance, big band, and really funny improv.

I'm getting into the habit of going to the gym and going on the elliptical machine. One week it was really hot and my ac was broken so i only went once that week, but other than that it's been successful. I'm looking forward to when exercising is no longer new, but just part of my routine. I've wanted to do this for a while so it's nice it's finally happening! I guess the next step would be using weights, or taking up some other form of exercise as well. No rush though! haha

I've been to Waterloo a couple of times. I got to see Keizo try lobster for the first time. Their eyes are beady and gross. When he was finished I hid it with my napkin. It was creeping me out!! I tried a piece and I'm not a fan of the texture. I chew, but nothing happens. I don't understand the appeal. It didn't taste gross, but didn't taste amazing either.

I discovered I can buy movie tickets at work for 9.50. That means I don't have to avoid going to the movies in Toronto since I hate paying more than I was used to at Waterloo.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but that's my fault for not updating in over a month. oops!