The World is your Oyster...

Where did this year go?

2011-12-02T21:30:00.003-05:00

The Boy and I put up our Christmas tree and wrapped 90% of our Christmas gifts. yep, December 2. Now. Xmas baking and two huge pushes for Team Diabetes.... see you in 2012 :)

My 30 things

2011-10-16T16:56:00.000-04:00

I did it! I completed(ish) my list!

ok i didn't do it.. but look at all of the other things I did:
1. I went skydiving. Twice.
2. I went backcountry camping and survived!
3. I teach TWO things regularly.
4. I painted. That reminds me JS - your paintings are still coming!
5. I subscribed to a marketing journal.
6. I sang karaoke in front of real, live people.
7. I own property.
8. I visited Australia, loved it, and am dying to go back, million-hour flights be damned.
9. I went scuba diving - amazing new hobby!
10. I took a cooking class. several, really. and I will take more!
11. I mastered poached eggs. It didn't take me nearly as many tries as macarons.
12. I mastered hollandaise sauce. Vegan hollandaise, but hollandaise nonetheless.
13. I sent a package to someone far away. several someones!
14. I renewed a friendship.
15. I caught a fish!
16. I went horseback riding! Horses are scary.
17. I went for high tea. I love pretending to be fancy.
18. I made a croquembouche - a profiterole tower- from scratch!
19. I shot a gun!
20. I went sailing. This was a toughie but was pretty amazing.
21. I flew a kite. why did i wait so many years?!
22. I lost 10 pounds.. over and over.. the same 10 pounds.
23. I lost 10 pounds of clutter. also over and over. I'm my mother's daughter and i want to save stuff for a rainy day, but i live in condo. i'm working on it.
24. I rode a mechanical bull.
25. I repaired a piece of furniture.
26. I had a grown-up dinner party.
27. I surprised my parents.. FINALLY! (and yes, they were completely surprised!)
28. I went on a motorcycle ride.
29. I got Screeched In.
30. I made 8 batches of parisian macarons and there was something wrong with each of them, but I put in a fair effort.
30b. I repotted some plants! I'd always wanted to do that.

and now my list of 40 things before I turn 40 starts.. Just remind me to start more than 6 months before. geez. i need a break!!

p.s. weekend was a blast - The Boy took me on a surprise trip to Montreal and to eat at Garde Manger, Chuck Hughes' resto (SOOOOO good and so salty!) and then threw me a surprise party yesterday. I love him :) so far 30 is great!

Numbers 29 and 30 (not really): Get Screeched In and Master Parisian Macarons

2011-10-13T23:50:00.001-04:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.. I am an honourary newfie. I drank the rum, kissed the cod head (thanks AW!) and said the line.. I is me, old cock. And long may your big jib draw. Or something. Line? Sure, I wasn't in actual newfoundland. But when will I be? Thanks to AW for organizing and creating the certificate.. and to DM and The Boy for photodocumenting the event. Super fun. Now what will I do with an entire bottle (-1 shot) of Screech?

I'm still in my 20's.. as I write this, anyway. My friends have gone home and it's just me and The Boy, munching on the crap macarons I've been trying to make. These things are a million dollars each in the stores. They are not cheap, but they are worth every hard-earned penny. I followed the same recipe, to a T, 6 times. And for rounds 7 and 8, I just had to try new recipes. Sometimes they were misshapen. Sometimes they were flat. Usually they were hollow. The last time, round 8, just now.. they weren't hollow (YAAAYYYYYYYY) but looked like crap. I can't successfully call it as mastered. Macarons are so finnicky it could be a gram or two off of one ingredient, too much beating or too little beating, egg whites too aged/not aged enough, too dry/too much humidity… AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH all in all, I could NOT master parisian macarons. With only minutes to go before the day changes over and I legally turn 30 years old, I did not complete my 30 things. But you know what? I need something to grow on.

Number 28: Go on a motorcyle ride

2011-10-12T22:24:00.000-04:00

I was 8 and one of my neighbours was polishing a motorcycle in his driveway. My other neighbour, CR, had gone on a motorcycle ride and told me that she loved it (As a note, I ran into CR on the Ottawa U campus a million years later and she was getting off her own motorcycle and doing the shaking-hair-out-while-taking-helmet-off thing. So hot). The motorcyle neighbour said he'd take me for a ride if my parents said it was ok. I didn't even ask - I knew what the answer would be.

Fast forward 22 years and The Boy says it'd be a good idea for us to both get our M licenses in case we go somewhere like Europe and we want to get scooters to tour around the city. I've been wanting a city scooter anyway (although zoning out on the bus and playing Words With Friends will be hard to give up), but I think it's a good idea to actually go for a ride first. The Boy's friend DM says he'll take me for a ride. After work today, he picked me up and we went for a very fast and slightly rainy ride up and down Colonel By Drive. It was SO FUN! He was nice and didn't lean into the turns like the bike could have, and for that I am thankful!

So from my list, I want a gun and a horse and a kite and more scuba diving trips.. But do I want a motorcyle? The jury is still out. It was super fun but I am a scaredy cat.

Number 27: Surprise my parents

2011-10-12T07:46:00.001-04:00

For their anniversary one year, I tried to surprise my parents by bringing them on a hot air balloon flight. It was too windy, it got cancelled, and my mom told me that I can't surprise them because they'd need to know how to prepare in advance, and besides, my dad is afraid of heights (challenge… accepted). So over the past few years I've tried giving them gift certificates out of the blue (not as good as chinese food), surprising them with a meal out (we can't make it then, how about another day?), surprising them at home (every time, they weren't home). Those people just can't be surprised. But this time I think they will be! The Boy and I bought them an end-of-season bbq, assembled it (The Boy) and left it in their foyer. And I know they will be surprised when they get back from their trip because DQ called me in surprise already when he went to their house to harvest tomatoes. They come back from their trip today! They don't read my blog (or even know about it) (or what a blog even is) so I think it's ok to announce it here.

YAY!

Numbers 25 and 26: Repair a Piece of Furniture and Host a Grown-Up Dinner Party, Not Just A Bender Location

2011-10-11T12:39:00.001-04:00

The story of my wanting to repair a piece of furniture starts with Grey's Anatomy and Martha Stewart. It's no secret that A) I'm in love with Martha Stewart and everything she stands for, and B) I have a thing for gay men. So turn back the clock to when Grey's Anatomy was still starting out and made me cry in every episode, to when George (TR Knight) was still fighting for Meridith's love, and to when TR Knight hadn't yet come out of the closet. TR Knight goes on an episode of Martha! And they refinish a chair. Martha asks TR about a girlfriend (he did not have one... yess!!!!) and they chat about chairs at his house that he needs refinishing. Martha says she will help. And me? Well, I develop a plan. All I have to do is write a book, go on a book tour, get an agent to book me a spot on Martha!, make friends with Martha, and have her introduce me to TR Knight and we'd live happily ever after. And in the meantime, I figured he'd want a handy girl around the house, so I'd learn how to refinish furniture. But, alas, TR Knight came out of the closet, being maybe the 8th guy in the list of celebrity-or-otherwise crushes I'd had that turned out to be gay, and crushed my dreams.

Sidebar, the last time I was in NYC, TR Knight and Patrick Stewart were in a broadway show together. I kick myself for not going to see it. It pains me, it really does.

Anyway. Having this on my list has taught me two things:
1. Recovering furniture is easier than I thought!
2. I don’t like it.

The thing is, I don't love rules. I'm NOT handy, and I hate measuring. It's the reason the only thing I can sew are straight lines, the reason why I can't follow patterns, the reason why I can only crochet and knit scarves, the reason why my cookies never turn out, and the reason why my life is full of disappointment. But what I DO like - experimentation, creation, wonderment, and that feeling of complete satisfaction when that recipe DOES turn out. I am also satisfied when things turn out from perfected recipes and online patterns, but it's not the same. I don't feel project ownership. I don’t feel empowered.

Anyway. I had this great idea. All you need to recover furniture is fabric and a staple gun right? So I bought some cheap beige vinyl, got an allen key and a staple gun, and took The Boy's dining chairs apart. He'd bought them from some guy at work's brother who was moving overseas. They were a million years old and the black leatherette was holey. I popped out the cushiony pieces, tucked the beige stuff around and stapled like crazy. Four chairs and a very very very sore back later, I'd done it! And when KO came over for dinner, he said that the whole apartment looked airier. Amazing! Totally worth it.

The story of my wanting to host a dinner party came from one Thanksgiving potluck at my parents' house. I have hosted thanksgiving potluck every year since my first year of university, where I had a few friends over because they weren't going home to visit family. One Thanksgiving, LJ brought some amazing cheesecake and this made up chocolate-caramel deliciousness she brought in a mug (how she didn't actually just eat it by the spoonful escapes me) and DQ tried to make conversation with her.

DQ: So. You hang out at my sister's place a lot, eh?
LJ: Yeah. We're there a lot.
DQ: So. Do you guys predrink there before you go out?
LJ: Um. No. we just.. We hang out.
DQ: but it's always busy right? She's always having people over to drink?
Me: Shut up! We do more than just drink. Geez.

But it was a lie. I lived in the market and people usually came over for some drinks before we went out for dinner/dancing/etc. and I really really wanted to have a real grown-up dinner party. Not just a potluck, not a time when ppl came over and we made something together, not ordering pizza. And last night, I did it!

The Boy helped, of course, but it was mostly me! We made bruschetta (sourdough, garlic butter, boconccini, tomato, basil), roasted carrot soup (carrots, celery, onions, pickled garlic, skim milk) with smoked gouda (using his new indoor pressure smoker), salad (belgian endive and microgreens with goat cheese pinelles rolled in toasted walnuts and maple flax, all with a fig and fire balsamic reduction), two-salmon ravioli (atlantic salmon, smoked salmon, ricotta, green onions, dill, won ton wrappers) with pesto (spinach, basil, garlic, olive oil), and chai crème brulee. Sure, the ravioli kind of melted together and we had to do some last minute patching… but it tasted good. And we had a really fun time! There was wine and music and conversation and loveliness. Thanks so much to LJ, DC, and KO for coming over to help me scratch this off my list!

Number 24: Ride a Mechanical Bull

2011-10-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

You know, I've had whiplash since the September long weekend. I went tubing with The Boy's brother in law and we hit a few wakes pretty hard. When I got back on the boat, this is the conversation we had:

Me: I think I have whiplash!
Everyone: Hahahahahah
Me: no, guys.. I'm serious.
Everyone: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

So I tried to sleep it off for a week and three massage sessions and four weeks later (now a total of five weeks), I am still a little bit painful. Of course, riding on a mechanical bull tonight probably didn't help. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. MB and JP met up with me at the Crazy Horse bar in Kanata (eeps) and MB and I went for a little ride! She was so helpful - giving me the pep talks, giving me a light up red maple leaf cowboy hat and buying my ride! I was uber nervous but she went first and totally rocked it. Amazing! I have no hip action (my dance instructors will agree) so I pretty much gripped onto the bull with my inner thighs (and calves and even my toes) and hung on for dear life. And it didn't so much buck me off as I slid off. That thing is slippery. I was on for 37 seconds the first time and less than 30 the second. But at least the second time I held on with only one hand! Yay me!

Would I do it again?

Only if I had to.

Number 23: Lose 10 Pounds of Clutter

2011-10-04T22:30:00.001-04:00

I am my mother's daughter… afraid of throwing things out because I might want to use them later, boxes of stuff I never opened and never needed, displayer of knicknacks because I was worried the gift giver would look for it in my apartment. I'd throw it all out, if I could.. But I can't. So I thought that 10 pounds would be a good start. Sometimes I am ruthlessly piling stuff in bags and boxes to be taken away to Value Village. Most of the time, I end up rooting through bag trying to find something (see, I DID need it after all!). Last weekend we had a garage sale! It was cold and windy and we packed up early to truck everything out to the charity. And then we ate chips and pizza and watched 30 Rock.

I know, it isn't special. But I did it. One day at a time!

Number 22: Lose 10 Pounds

2011-10-02T09:28:00.000-04:00

Oy. I was exactly this heavy five years ago. I developed a slight eating disorder and lost 20 pounds. I got ahold of myself and gained 10 pounds. I started working out more, and I lost 10 pounds. I went to Brazil and gained 5 pounds. I bought a house, threw out my scale, ate exclusively fried food, and gained 10 pounds. I started training for a marathon and I lost 5 pounds. I went on a cruise and gained 10 pounds. I came back from the cruise and stopped eating like a madwoman and lost 10 pounds. I planned a wedding and stressed myself to oblivion and lost 10 pounds. I got married and ate a kg of dark chocolate lindt truffle balls from the lindt outlet and gained 10 pounds. I went on my honeymoon and gained 5 pounds. Came back from the honeymoon po' and lost 5 pounds simply by not having enough money to buy groceries. And since last May, I got tired of living like a pauper and started going out to eat again. Only I'd missed it for a long 3 months, so I ate out every week. Several times a week. And I gained 10 pounds.

So. It's five years later, and I've come full circle. But have I lost the 10 pounds? Sure I have! Over and over again, but still.

Number 21: Fly a Kite

2011-10-01T20:25:00.001-04:00

I tell everyone and their dogs about my list. It makes me accountable. Sure, I've had five years to manage this list and I'm only doing it now. People are most surprised about this one.

Everyone: "You've never flown a kite!?!?!?"
Me: "No, not successfully."

The last time I tried to fly a kite, I was maybe 12. We built kites in tech class out of balsa wood and painted kraft paper with little flowers and and happy faces and peace signs. And the next day, when the paint had dried (and dried the paper into a stiff mess along with it), we took our kites out to the football field and tried to set them aflight. It did not work. And I have a very vague memory of flying a kite when I was tiny and having the kite nosedive onto the ground a few times. That memory was more of a flashback when I saw it happen this time.

This time, I was ready. I bought several kites from Giant Tiger *just in case* something went wrong. JJ assembled my kite for me, PH made me hot chocolate, and The Boy took me out to a park to set it up in the air. And on a very very cold October afternoon, when I was 29 years old, I successfully flew my first kite! Sure, I had a few of those flashback-inducing nosedives, but after a while, I got the hang of it and was able to save it AND steer it. Amazing. $5 Giant Tiger penguins kite, man! It was awesome. And when my smile was planted firmly on my face, The Boy said to me, "can I play too?" I love him. Of course he can play. And we vowed to get good kites and play on a hill next summer. All summer.

We'll see :)

Number 20: Go Sailing

2011-09-25T21:23:00.000-04:00

Ever since TL lived with me for that month in 2007, I have wanted to go sailing. See, TL is the truest form of a free spirit I have ever known. Undeniably gorgeous, strong, easygoing, sweet, and adventurous like nobody's business. One day she came home and we talked about our days. I told her about my boring day at work and probably playing soccerbaseball at lunch. She told me about going to class and about going sailing.

Me: What? Sailing?
TL: Yeah, it was great!
Me: Wait. What? Why did you go sailing?
TL: Some guy on Craigslist* needed a crew and I answered it and said 'sure, I'll go.'

We should add "brave" to that list. But little TL went on the sail and had a blast and now lives on a boat for a living. Amazing. And I have wanted to go sailing since.

So I did! Last week, SG put me in contact with a couple she knows, D and L. I met them at the Nepean sailing club and we went out. I "pulled lines" (yanked on ropes) and "tacked" (turned the boat) and even "steered" (steered)!! And it was exhausting but extremely fun. We were even in a tiny little regatta! We didn't win… but we weren't last! And isn't that what matters?
It was beautiful and awesome and wonderful and I loved it. I'd totally do it again :)

*this was way before the Craigslist killer, back when answering ads was still safe. Still, I lectured her about going off with a crazy and how she should at least text me to let me know beforehand so SOMEONE knew where she was going.

Missed Connection

2011-09-21T12:47:00.001-04:00

you - driving in a grey SUV with Ontario plate on the Portage Bridge going straight on Maisonneuve.
me - in the STO 39

I just wanted to let you know I totally noticed you this morning. I noticed you take your left turn super wide and get halfway into the bus lane. You should thank your lucky stars that my bus driver slammed on his brakes because your "car" would have been totalled if he hadn't. if we had been in Ottawa and it had been an OC Transpo driver, you would be dead. Today MUST BE your lucky day... you should buy a lottery ticket! Might I also suggest a refresher driving course?

Number 19: Shoot a Gun

2011-09-18T22:50:00.001-04:00

I don’t love guns. They mostly terrify me, and I’m not interested in most things gun-related. But when DM suggested I put it on my list of 30 things to do before I turn 30, I said, “why not?” Half an hour later, he texted me saying that he’d found a shooting range open house and it would be the cheapest option for us. Eeps. He was serious.

We were late for handguns (since I was teaching yoga) (yes, recognizing the irony in this) but we went to the rifle open house. We listened to a short presentation about the gun club and took an extremely condensed version of the safety course. Then, we were paired up with gun club members to supervise our shooting and walk us through the safety bits and, in my case, remind me how to load the bullets into my little (extremely heavy) rifle.

We lay half-rolled over (semi-prone, on one hip) and loaded these tiny little bullets and then looked through two scopes (hard to do) and then shot 10 bullets at 5 targets in an M formation. The targets were black circles with big white circles around them and I got on three black circles and within the white circle on the last two. It was hard to aim – I just couldn’t get steady for 9/10 shots, but I totally did it. It was so fun!

And I so want to go back for handguns!

Numbers 16,17, and 18: Go Horseback Riding, Go for High Tea, and Make A Croquembouche from Scratch

2011-09-11T22:48:00.004-04:00

It's been a productive weekend.... my niece's birthday party, yoga on Parliament Hill, celebrating JP's birthday, shopping, cleaning, organizing photos from our BC trip, and striking three things off my list. Three very unrelated things.

First off: Horseback riding. I've always wanted to ride a horse! There's a picture of me and two cousins riding an elephant from back when we were all single digits but i'd never been on a horsie. One of the lemons, AM, organized a trail ride for me, LVL, and GL. It was great! we got up super early this morning and headed out to Pinto Valley Ranch. I rode Geronimo, the sweetest, slowest little horsie and I wasn't afraid of him at all! Sure, that first trot kind of freaked me out, but the second and third were really fun! and my adductors don't hurt as much as my sitz bones. Woah. Anyway, we had a blast! I was smiling from ear to ear. After a pogo lunch at their restaurant, we all tried our hand at lassoing. I lassooed. Lassoed? I did it.

Nextly: I showered to get the horsey smell off me, called SG and went to the Chateau Laurier for High Tea. I've always wanted to go for High Tea and have heard only amazing things about it. Tiny sandwiches and tarts, scones..what's not to like? So far, everything seemed right up my alley. But for some reason, I'd never been. The tea was delicious (a spicy chai, finally!) and the scones were warm and freshly baked (our server got the kitchen to make us new scones because the other ones had sold out), the sandwiches were tiny and gorgeous (smoked salmon was my favourite), and the teeny tiny fruit and custard tart was the perfect ending. The Boy was there, it clearly wasn't his type of activity, but he came because he loves me. And even when SG and I got girly and chatted about girly things, he just pretended not to listen and played on his phone. I had fun! And I've done it! And now I know I can do it at home for cheaper and with better food. Not the scones though, those are ridiculous to make. It's so hard to get them light and fluffy.

Finally: the profiteroles. I'd made them before with great success in anticipation of one day doing the stacking to make a big tower. Here are some handy baking tips for those of you who plan on making one of these in the future:

- plan on making them all in one day. it will take several hours, but the pastry kind of gives out in a day, so you need to work quickly.
- work quickly. enlist a friend or three.
- use a magic bullet. wtf is up with the dough? it just gets all gloopy. GROSS. the magic bullet is a life saver.
- pipe quickly. they will spread out so hurry up!
- watch the progress with the oven light. if you take them out too soon, they will fall flat. who wants to eat a flat cream puff? they are no longer puffs then, they're more like cream pitas. or cream pupusas.
- no, putting the fallen cream puffs back into the oven will not make them rise.
- have many pans. if you have to reuse the pans, don't stack the warm puffs on top of each other. the beautifully golden round puffs will deflate and you will have a stack of flattened puffs.
- use a toothpick to gouge a hole in each puff so that you don't have to rip a hole with your piping tip.
- use freshly whipped cream. if you whip the cream and then leave it in the fridge overnight, you will have to rewhip it.
- for 8x the kraft canada recipe, you will need 1L worth of whipped whipping cream. Thanks to The Boy for running out to get an extra 500 ml container.
- pipe quickly. those things do not stay crisp forever, and start their expiry as soon as the moisture of the whipped cream hits them.
- prepare your caramel mixture and DO NOT WALK AWAY. and when you dip it in the ice bath afterwards, it's just a quick dip, not a rest. instead of reheating your caramel, start over. if you reheat it, you will get a gooey mess that sticks to your teeth.
- dip the profiteroles into the mixture and then stick them together. don't use a chopstick to apply caramel. i thought it would be a good method, but dipping is so much better. do use a chopstick to do the decorative caramel swirly bits.
- since you did it all in one day, it will be fresh enough to eat.
- have a plan as to what to do with the croquembouche. who will eat it? who would you like to serve it to? if the caramel is rock hard and the pastry is wilting, what is your contingency plan?
- if you want a free croquembouche, please let me know ASAP. it needs to be picked up tomorrow morning before I go to work. it's just not going to last very much longer.

Number 15: Catch a Fish

2011-09-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

YES, you read that right. I caught a fish. No, make that.. I caught FIVE fish.
Ok ok. the back story:

trip 1 to the inlaw's:
- got a fishing license
- FORGOT my fishing license on my counter at home.
- went out on the boat with my father in law and sister in law's husband
- they each caught a billion fish
- my three year old niece even caught fish

trip 2 to the inlaw's:
- sister in law's husband felt really sorry for me and bought me a box of worms
- sister in law's husband felt really sorry for me and put the worms on the hook for me
- I CAUGHT FIVE FISH! four were on the same worm! different fish too!
- The Boy caught a fish too!
- three-year-old niece also caught fish from the dock.
- she has her own tinkerbell fishing pole.
- i want a fishing pole too.

it was fun! i think i will have to learn how to touch worms though.

YAY!!! :)

Number 14: Renew a Friendship

2011-08-31T16:58:00.000-04:00

I was great friends with this girl, MB, in the fourth grade. She was new from Winnipeg and because her last name started with B and mine started with C, we sat at the same table. MB came over to my house to "do homework" (aka play, because what fourth grader has real homework?) and, if I recall correctly, we did a few projects together. We were friends until sixth grade, but in seventh, we were sent to The Big School and although we were friendly, we weren't really friends. The longest I even talked to her was when my friend MTF went over to MB's then-boyfriend's house to return something and she was there. But fast forward through university and establishing lives on our own and MB and I had a mutual friend KO who said something about her on msn messenger. "Tell her I said hi!" I said, and he said "tell her yourself!" and so I did. MB and I chatted, and then went out on a date at the Blue Cactus, and then started going out on the town together. She moved out west but I stayed at her house when I went out there for work and we see each other every time she's in town. She even flew in from Vancouver for my wedding. We chat on the phone and by email, especially by FB. And in Van, The Boy and I stayed at her house. We had a really phenomenal time with her and her boyfriend. I adore the woman! Friendship successfully renewed.

My hero - an IronMan Canada finisher!

2011-08-29T22:08:00.002-04:00

On Friday, we walked around downtown Penticton doing a bit of shopping, mostly scoping out stores that I'd visit on Sunday when The Boy raced and I waited. We walked into the wierdest store EVER called Fruv which looks exactly like lululemon but is NOT lululemon at all. The Community board looks the same, the yoga wall looks the same, even the square black shelving to hold the pants looks thes same.. and their pitiful excuses for the scuba hoodies are ridiculous. It totally creeped us out. We were shopping for hats anyway, and I'm so glad we found one because i wore it on our lazy river ride down the channel between the Okanagan Lake and Lake Skaha. It was awesome. There was only one time where The Boy was paddling with his arms to get away from this raucous bunch of drunken idiots that we could hear for a full km after we'd passed them. But in whole, it was great. We tied our inner tubes together and just floated down the channel giggling and laughing and drinking gatorade (him) and water (me). When we got back The Boy had to go to the Penticton Convention Centre for his welcome banquet and information session and I went to Tokyo for sushi yakisoba. So good. We finished the night with mini donuts from the stand right across the street from our hotel.

On Saturday, we wanted to hang around and do as little as possible so The Boy could rest his legs. Jack Layton, rest his soul, passed away and his state funeral was televised, so, of course, we watched it. I cried my eyes out. I'm not crazy involved in politics but I pay attention to what I think are the important bits and I am so sad that we have lost an important piece of Canadian history. After the funeral, we dropped The Boy's stuff off at the race site, watched a few episodes of Dexter, an then headed to Villa Rosa, best Italian in South Okanagan. It was ok. i mean, it was buffet food and I could only eat some of it, and it was totally underseasoned. still, it was carby and good for The Boy.

Sunday was RACE DAY! We woke up at 5 AM so The Boy could eat and get ready for 12+ hours of strenuous physical activity and I got up because the people in the room next to us were making smoothies with an extremely loud blender and were on the whole very loud. I walked The Boy to the start line, kissed him, and then searched for a space to wait at the bag drop-off zone so he could give his pump back to me. He never came back! But I figured things were ok. I had my phone out and was refreshing every ten minutes to see where he was. His swim was good and after I picked up a breakfast sandwich from Tim's, I even got to see him leave for his 180 k bike ride! I then sat in the sun in a small park and read for an hour waiting for the shops to open at 11 but at 11:05, I realized that the shops down on Main Street are not actually open on Sundays. Wow. That would have been nice to know earlier. I was never able to go back and find that cute green lace dress I saw. :( Oh well. I went back to the hotel room for lunch and then came out with a pile of sidewalk chalk, expecting to find a space on the road to draw a heart and a note to him on the run course but the fasties had already come out! So i just sat down outside the hotel and cheered and cheered and cheered and cheered. When I expected The Boy to come out, he didn't. So i had a mild breakdown refreshing every three minutes (maybe less) trying to see when the heck he would finally finish the bike. Finally, FINALLY, an hour after I expected him to, he came off the bike and I could breathe again. And when he ran past me, he did the sweetest thing I always wanted him to do but never asked him to: he stopped to kiss me (*blush*). And then he said "five flat tires" and kept running. Yikes. From there, I rang my little ironman cowbell and said "way to go.. Shannon. Good job.. David. Excellent work.. Chris.." and cheered every single person who passed me for the next four hours. The way the run is set up, all the runners have to run by the hotel four times. After his fourth pass, I ran inside to watch him run across the finish line on Okanagan TV and then ran to the Athletes Village to welcome him in. He finished in 12:24! My hero! ANd we each got congratulatory ice creams from Ogo's. Best hokey pokey ice cream ever.

It was tough to get to sleep last night because our hotel is so close to the finish line. we could hear the announcer call in the last people who rolled in before the course closed at midnight. how those people were still going is beyond me. each and every IronMan, finisher or no, is incredible.

Today we slept in and then headed BACK to the big lines and tents for finisher gear. Oh IronMan, you have a phenomenal marketing team. We packed, went to the beach for one last go in the Okanagan Lake and then walked (slowly) to the Hooded Merganser, this amazing restaurant tucked behind the Penticton Casino that is literally on the water. We sat facing the lake and ate dinner to the changing landscape in the sunset. Absolutely gorgeous (the food and the view)! And when the sun went down and the air grew cool, The Hood' threw on their overhead heating lamps and we were toasty warm eating our little desserts. After that amazingness, we took a long moonlight stroll along the beach. What a perfect day.

Tomrrow, we get up early and head back to Van, and then back home. But the vacation isn't over. at least we get a few days at home to regroup. ok. it's a front; i'm devastated. I don't want to go home! :(

Wine..wine.. winey winey winey winey wine...

2011-08-25T19:13:00.003-04:00

Wow. I think I am all wined out. No, seriously. OY.

We've explored the Niagara wine region in southern Ontario and the Marlborough wine region in New Zealand, but nothing compares to the Okanagan. It is INTENSE. It is so big, there are sub regions within the region! Yesterday, we drove out to Naramata region, only a few minutes north from Penticton. We visited La Frenz, Laughing Stock (where The Boy picked up a great bike jersey), Black Widow, Lake Breeze, and Therapy wineries, before needing a serious food break to quell the hunger and absorb somma the alcohol. We headed to the Naramata town centre where everyone and their dogs were out for the mid-week market. We picked up some homemade pierogies for dinner and some hand food for the present. The Boy got a blisteringly hot Aussie steak pie that burned his tongue and I ate a decent mini spinach feta pie, a crappy ice-cold samosa from the "Samosa Lady" truck with no line, and then waited for EVER (10 minutes) for the very best chicken jamaican patty i've ever eaten in my entire life. and i've been to Toronto! seriously. Who knew? Naramata!? We finished the day with a nap on the beach, a mini swim, and then wine and dinner.

Today we went to the race expo so The Boy could register and buy IronMan-themed gear. Several hours and hundreds of dollars later, we set off to the Summerland portion of the wine tour. THREE DAYS OF WINING! Today we visited 8th Generation, Sumac Ridge, The Vinegar Works (where we picked up a delicious french tarragon gewurtztraminer vingar!), Hollywood and Wine (where we met another couple from Ottawa!), Dirty Laundry, Heaven's Gate (only open for two weeks!), and Silk Scarf. We tried a pile of delicious wines and a bunch of not-so-great ones. When we'd had about enough, we came back, jumped out to the beach again (not hard when it's only 1.5 minutes away) and then back for those Naramata pierogies (only ok), cheese and smoked goodies, and wine!

and I tried the best little juice from SunRype: apple, pear, and vanilla! YUM! this post is disjointed. oh wine.

You know, I don't really drink that much..

2011-08-23T22:02:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, it rained in Vancouver. Not that crazy an idea, considering it's supposed to be one of the rainiest cities in Canada, but we'd actually heard that it cleared up for our epic weekend in Van, so we were disappointed that it rained. I woke up to rain but thought I heard it die down. After a quick brekkie of cinnamon toast, I thought I heard the rain die down and maybe The Boy and I could make it to the train station in relative dryness. Not so. He opened the front door and called to me, "Are you kidding me? it's not even close to not raining." we hugged each other all the way under my tiny drugstore umbrella, but I thought it was kind of cute!

We took the train to Granville to shop on Robson and at the Pacific Centre. Of course, we spent time at H&M, looked for sunglasses for The Boy and some new (waterproof) shoes for me. We visited the Lululemon on Robson and I found the Spin Me shirt, a new tank that hasn't made it to Ottawa yet. I had to have it. And i found this great Vancouver designer who makes everything reversible! i LOVE double duty clothes! Even The Boy, who had a solid hour to sit and read in that shop, admitted that everything in that store was totally me. And i didn't even spend THAT much money on two dresses and a shirt (ie. four dresses and two shirts). no, really.
After shopping and picking up everything that we needed, didn't need, and didn't know we needed but totally needed, we stopped at the Fairmont for a pre-dinner drink. When we travelled around in Australia and New Zealand, The Boy and I would get hungry around 5 pm and eat dinner right away, forgetting completely that we could have had predinner drinks and a snack before heading into the main attraction. We are vowing to bring back the predinner drink into our lives. We're trying to stave off the grandma sydrome of eating at 4 pm.

We met up with MB and NH for dinner at Shabusen, an all-you-can-eat sushi and korean bbq that PC recommended to me and I was only too excited to try. It was awesome! But i had a hot sauce tummy ache afterwards. That Orange Habanero sauce from Sunday really messed me up. The food was good and it was great to hang with girlfriends (and have The Boy grill our meat for us!) The food itself was ok (mostly good, some of it a bit weird) but I had a really great night overall.

We had to rush to the airport afterwards to pick up our rental car and I missed my motorcycle ride with DS. It's ok. I Know I will get it in before I turn 30! :)

Today was magical. We woke up early, loaded the car, hugged MB (we'd said goodbye to DS last night) and thanked her for letting us stay at her house! So very helpful, and it was so great to hang out with friends that I almost never get to see.

We set out for Penticton, but the long, scenic way, as DS recommended. It. was. incredible. It reminded us so much of New Zealand, but 100% Canadian. Mountains! Grass! Trees! Even the dead grass in the deserty areas! And.. the wineries! as far as the eye can see, and then some. We stopped at Rustic Roots where I picked up a peach/necatarine wine but The Boy hated everything that was there, and then we stopped at Seven Stones where The Boy picked up a Meritage, but I hated everything there. After the Similkameen area, we needed to take a break. MB had recommended lunch at the Burrowing Owl where they have this deliciously spicy Caesar. It was a really cute winery, but we didn't actually like any of THEIR wines. Our server told us where to find that spicy wine so we went right to Silver Sage. SO good. It's one of their ice wines but infused with a hot pepper and they use that in place of vodka and tabasco in the magical Caesar. But alone, it tastes sweet and spicy all at the same time! Their other sweet wines were perfect too. I maybe spent more on wine today than I did on clothes yesterday. The truth is, I NEVER drink at home. I will spend 59/60 days alcohol-free.. but every single day on this trip! Man.

Our little motel room in Penticton is cozy and filled with oversized furniture (read: small and has too much furniture for the space), but it's home for the next week. We've filled it with fresh local produce from Keremeos and groceries and race paraphernalia. YAY!

Outdoorswoman? uh.. nope.

2011-08-21T20:50:00.001-04:00

Yesterday MB and DS, The Boy, NH, and I set out for a bike ride along the seawall after DS made us this amazing french toast and bacon breakfast. We biked to The Naam restaurant on 4th at McDonald, this "Vancouver institution" that serves all vegetarian and vegan meals and that has "crazy sketchy service", "a long lineup", and "amazing food." I loved my meal.. the maui maui platter, and our service was really quite good, AND it wasn't that busy in there! we got a table right away. The food didn't sit well with at least four of my companions though. KAW met up with us over there before her paddle boarding lesson at Jericho beach.

It was so great to see everyone. While I was lucky enough to meet up with NH in Australia last January, i hadn't seen her for years before that.. and i haven't seen KAW since she moved away from Ottawa last summer, and THEN announced she probably wouldn't be coming back.

After lunch, we biked to Jericho beach, but it was too windy to set our stuff down and lie in the beach (sandstorm!) so we kept biking up to Spanish Banks, and then back along the seawall to Amato Gelato Cafe, a quick stop on a friend of MB's C's sailboat (no sailing trip for me yet) and finally back to the bike shop to return my rented bike and NH went home.

We were still full from gelato, so we cruised around historic gastown and had drinks at Six Acres, where I'm pretty sure The Boy's empty stomach started to absorb his fancy beers too quickly!! Hahahah.. KAW and C met up with us again and then we all tried to go to Guu for dinner, but it was crazy packed with Japanese people yelling at the top of their lungs and chanting something that made people laugh. not us, it was an hour and a half wait for a table for all of us, so we went to Steamworks, this great little Zagat-rated brewpub where The Boy had a sampler and KAW, DS, and I each had our own fishbowls of sangria. Amazing. so were the shrimp corn dogs.. but not my overcooked chicken and house salad. still, 2/3 ain't bad.

It was a fantastic night but made for kind of a rough morning. This morning we woke up super early and went to Deep Cove because we had reserved kayaks for 10 AM! We got our kayaks and went out for a beautiful and peaceful paddle out on Indian Arm. MB had gone on a Seal Experience kayak in New Zealand and was telling me about this on our paddle. I joked about this being a Seal Experience as well but was surprised when we actually ran into a pile of seals sunning themselves on a log. I got up super close.. about 6 metres.. but then freaked out had had to paddle away. Other paddlers just went around us.. I don't think they knew what we were looking at. one of the seals was totally looking at me! Even when I was on the other side of the log, he turned and looked right at me! Soul mates!

AFter paddling, we went to Honey Doughnuts for honey doughnuts and turkey cranberry sandwiches. The Boy got into a huge fight in the dining area over the last doughnut and ended up with a black eye!!! Ok, not really. He was taking his camera off and somehow it slammed him in the eye. he actually bled for a few minutes and will likely end up with a nasty bruise. He's ok though, and we had a nice little post-kayak snack. The Boy said that the honey doughnuts were dense and heavy but the other three of us thought they were light and fluffy. THey were the perfect treat and all the energy we needed to hike the Baden Powell trail, where a huge sign said to keep dogs on their leashes, but only 3/45 dogs were actually on-leash. jerks. MB attributes this to the west coast lifestyle and accuses me of not assimilating to the culture.

We hiked to the top, me at the back of the pack, of course, because DS and MB climb hills every live long day. The main lookout was packed, but the other lookout wasn't. The Boy and DS helped clean up litter left by other jerk hikers and MB and I lay in the sun. We hiked down, where I rolled my gd ankle and then had to walk up the steepest hill of the day to where the car was parked. MB wants me to talk about how lovely the hike smelled - the way the creeks bubbled and trees opened up to the world. But me, I want to tell you about how out of breath I freaking was, and how every step reminded me that I'm still not fully recovered from the freaking Grouse Grind. OW.

We rewarded ourselves with a pub visit, only every turn was wrong and MB received the most horrfying fake margarita, even after she asked for it to be made with real lime. We also had "orange habanero" wings which actually caused literal pain in my body and made my face tingle even 40 minutes later in the shower. I only had a few drops but it was crazy hot adn i kind of wanted to die. i've been trying to make good food decisions but that was definitely not one of them.

We had to retire back to the house for showers and rest time but then made it out again for sushi (YAY!) at a local hole-in-the-wall Sushi place with a cute police officer buying takeout. It was so good! But I forgot that we were eating separately and I ordered stuff for The Boy to eat and then he refused. so full. To make matters worse, we then drove out to The Marble Slab Creamery to try and recreate the magic of my original Marble Slab experience. It didn't work, and we all feel sick. MB asked me not to blog about this part of the night - she wants to forget it ever happened. Ugh. me too.

MB has been super helpful in assisting my checklist of 30 things to do before I'm 30. One of them is to refinish furniture. but we're sort of in a sushi/ice cream coma now and I've lost interest. Plus, she's using a knife. oh, she's now moved on to using a corn cob holder. I really wanted to to help her refinish these chairs... maybe tomorrow, when i'm not so bloated. the truth is, I feel like I'm not going to see the payoff from this project.

having a super great time!!

Vancity!

2011-08-19T21:13:00.002-04:00

I don't generally like to visit places more than once.. but every so often I realize I'm kidding myself. For example, New Zealand. Ain't no way I'm not going back. and Paris.. I was there when I was 16 and too young to realize what a cool place I was visiting. ANd Italy.. sure, I went there for a DAY but I know there is much more to explore.

The Boy signed up for Ironman Canada and so we knew a year ago we'd be heading to Vancouver for a mini visit before heading up to Penticton for the race. Last night we got in late but MB picked us up from the airport (Thanks lovely!!) and this morning we got up early, saw her off to work, and then headed on the Millenium line to Waterfront, took the Seabus to North Vancouver, and then the 236 to Grouse Mountain!

I'd heard of the Grouse Grind a few years ago from FL who is a hardcore hiker and backcountry camper, so I thought it was out of my reach... but The Boy and I did it in underaverage time, only 1:17! I just want to make it clear - it sucked. There were girls having full conversations all the way up and I was just trying to breathe. The Boy was talking my ear off while grannies passed us and I was hanging onto tree stumps trying to catch my breath. What a mess. But you know what, we did it. WE DID IT! and I would have bought an "I survived the grouse grind" tshirt, but they were really ugly.

We were sweaty messes so we devoured some lunch at the top of the mountain (I actually wolfed down a half a sandwich before The Boy had even unwrapped his, looked at me, and said "wow, hungry?"), cleaned up, walked around and took the swingy gondola back down to the city.

Next stop was the Lululemon Lab, the design hub of LUlulemon where new stuff is developed and then produced in limited quantities. If it's good, then they produce more and send it out to the stores! i picked up a dress, a purse, and a pair of shorts for me, and a number of other stuff for MT, by request!

We had planned to go Scuba Diving on Sunday, so we started to walk west towards the dive shop. about an hour and a half later of sightseeing and wandering later, i had the genius idea of actually calling the dive shop to see if there was any space available. there wasn't. we headed over the Burrard St Bridge to check out a bike shop, and then busted it by bus over to meet MB after work. We stopped for a quick roll of sushi-snack and then headed back to her house that she shares with her boyfriend DS for a home-cooked dinner and drinks. It's the weekend!!!

ugh

2011-06-22T22:50:00.000-04:00

It's not that I am deliberately trying to not post, it's that I have nothing to say. I have 17 things to complete in less than four months. I started this list when i was 26. wtf.

Number 13: Send a package to someone far away

2011-04-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

I always mean to send care packages to people I care about, but something always gets in the way.... like laziness. EQ lived in Detroit for years and I didn’t send him a thing. He’s lived in Arizona now for years, and I still hadn’t sent him anything. Until now. His 40th bday was on February 14 and I meant to send him a package of goodies from Australia but the box didn’t look full enough. So I added this and that and found a smaller box and got some big bubble wrap and then left the whole package in the corner of my bedroom where I didn’t see it until this week. But I’ve done it – I sent my favourite second oldest brother a care package. Hope you like it! And just to make sure that it wasn’t just a fluke, I joined a Secret Girlfriend exchange on an online forum and I sent some Ontario cheeses to my Buddy out East. YEAH! I love care packages!!

Happy Belated Birthday, E!

Numbers 11 and 12: Master Poached Eggs and Master Hollandaise Sauce

2011-04-18T00:50:00.000-04:00

Poached Eggs and Hollandaise sauce have long been on my list of things I need to learn how to do. It’s the only thing I ever want to order when I go out for Brunch. April 16 was National Eggs Benedict Day! I don’t know in what nation, but it came up in my calendar. I spent a lot of time practicing on other eggs. Some were overdone, some were underdone, and almost all of them fell apart as soon as they hit the water. Vinegar or lemon juice? Lots of water or a little water?

Here is what I did to finally perfect my poached eggs:

1. Put as many ramekins as will fit in the bottom of a big pot (for me, that’s three)
2. Fill the pot with hot water, only as far as barely over the top of the ramekins (as the water boils and as you add the eggs, the water level will rise)
3. Bring the water to a boil without either vinegar OR lemon juice.
4. Crack an egg into a separate ramekin and pour into each of the little cups in the water.
5. Boil for exactly three minutes. If you have to turn away to make a coconut lime tart, turn back frequently. Maybe I should have just set the timer.
6. Remove ramekin with a pair of tongs. Tip into a pot of simmering warm water to keep warm as you continue with the rest.

And for the hollandaise sauce, I cheated. To avoid all that extra fat (when already eating two eggs for dinner and having had an egg sandwich for breakfast, and having had failed attempts at poached eggs for the past three weekends in a row trying to perfect these damn things, after all) and to avoid potential bacterial formations in our non-restaurant standard kitchen, AND because one of our friends has an allergy to raw egg yolk, we made a vegan hollandaise sauce using tofu. The results? Amazing. Make this immediately!

Not only was it easy, it’s healthier than the real version!

That’s two more things off my list!

Fruit salad, yummy yummy...

2011-04-06T18:37:00.002-04:00

My mommy made me some fruit salad this week. It has peaches and bananas and strawberries and apples and pears and green grapes and orange and mandarin and I’m eating it right now. Since coming back from Honeypalooza, The Boy and I have been more liberal about accepting food gifts from my parents. This week: congee and fruit salad. It just makes me SO happy to eat their food (usually). And who cares if I’m almost 30? I will always be my parents’ child. Plus, I know it makes them happy to accept the food. I think it makes them feel loved and needed. And I do love and need them. Nobody makes fruit salad like my ma. p.s. the answer is that I'd always choose caramel over chocolate. mmm butterscotch. mmm Maple!

Four lies and a truth

2011-03-16T12:45:00.000-04:00

Picked this up at Please Pick Up Your Socks... I've had to think about these a bit because my life is an open blog and I don't blog about any one thing like health, weddings, or yoga. I started this blog to keep track of my travels, and kept it on to talk about restaurants, yoga teacher training, and things that just happening in my life. Sooo... my blog theme is that there is no theme. It's just me.

and if you're still following and reading after all these years.. hello! and thanks :)

So without further adieu, my four lies and one truth. Can you guess?

1. My favourite type of meat is beef.
2. I cook most of the dinners during the week.
3. Given a choice between chocolate and caramel, I'd choose caramel.
4. I eat at least one piece of chocolate every day.
5. I love cilantro and add it to everything.

Number 10: Take a cooking class

2011-03-10T22:48:00.000-05:00

I love food.

Ok. I said it. Not that it's a surprise to anyone, but I'm obsessed. I'll watch Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and I'll drool along to Iron Chef: America. I watch Unwrapped and The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Man vs. Food and Martha! I'm in love with Alton Brown and Bob Blumer. I pore over Bakerella and Pioneer Woman's blogs (see right). I have food on the brain 100% of the time.

So I guess it's no surprise that I also like cooking. Not that I'm actually any good at it, but I like slicing and dicing and baking. But the way that The Boy's schedule and mine collide, he's actually the one who makes dinner most of the time (Wednesday nights are generally my night). One of the things I wanted to put on the 30ttdbi30 list was to take a cooking class.

My friend TS was talking about wanting to take classes, so together we found a pretty cheap Chinese cooking studio (called "The Studio") in Kanata. We enlisted her husband RH and my then-boyfriend-then-called-The-Boy-now-still-called-The-Boy and drove out for the adventure.

Turns out this woman was operating out of her house (sketchy) and she WAS Chinese, but she was teaching us how to make hot and sour soup, spring rolls, beef and broccoli, and general tso's chicken. Have you read the Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee?

Well. I'm becoming less scared of deep frying at home now. that's a start.

• Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.

2011-03-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

Black pants, black boots, black coat, black gloves, black purse. Thank goodness for my hot pink hat. My untimely demise will be brought about by getting run over at the corner of Waller and Besserer streets, not 100 m from my front door. I look good, but the winter's gonna get me.

Blue Mountains

2011-01-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

We've spent the past few days in Blue Mountains and it's been exhausting. I mean, it's been gorgeous. stunning. Beautiful. Amazing. AND we got lucky with the weather again. When DM went to Blue Mountains it was foggy but we got the perfect blue haze over the mountains.

We got to the village of Katoomba and walked down to Echo Point, where you view the Three Sisters rock formations. We'd purchased a hop-on-hop-off trolley tour but the bastard arrived 15 minutes early and there's only one every hour... so we decided to walk to Katoomba falls via the Giant Staircase.

Make no mistake. The Giant Staircase is aptly named. It's Giant. We descended roughly 100 stories on steep steps hewn into the rock in some spaces and rickety see-through metal stairs nailed to the side of the cliff in others, passing one of the sisters. We then hiked along the Federal Pass up and down, around and around, and went up the Prince Henry Cliff Walk to Katoomba Falls.

By this time, it was too late to turn back, so we just kept hiking. Three very sore hours later, we walked up the crazy steep main road to get back to our hotel to eat Australian cheese and fruit for dinner.

Yesterday, we went to the Jenolan Caves, as recommended by AH when she went to Australia. We toured the Lucas Caves which are 430 million years old and got harassed by a bat! Only one though, thank goodness. And it was tiny. And it was The Boy who got harassed. LOL. The caves are filled with stunning sparkly calcium carbonate deposits that make huge stalactites and stalagmites. There were enormous caverns and gorgeous formations... it was unreal and even all of the professional photos I've seen online don't do this place justice.

After a quiet lunch next to the river (still no platypi sightings, but did get attacked by a swarm of gentle butterflies), we toured the Orient Caves. My favourite formations were the multicoloured ribbony-looking curtain-like pieces. I just couldn't put my finger on why until the tour guide pointed out the "bacon-like formations" and called them shoals. MmmMmm.. Bacon.

We had dinner at the City Bank, which is a restaurant, not a bank, and everyone was dressed up fifties style. If you go to Katoomba at the end of January, be sure to pack your fifties gear and swing-dance knowhow. If only we knew! We left our swing dance at home.

Today we came back to Sydney and went to the George Street Lululemon. Another Canadian was working there. Love! Then we went to Manly Beach and explored Ocean World. To be fair, I'm not sure we'd have gone if we hadn't gotten the Explore 4 Pass (Wildlife World, Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Tower, and Ocean World) but we did, and it was still worth it. Lousy with kids, the place also hosted massive sharks and two at-least-a-metre-wide sting rays that could have eaten me in a bite and then some. YIKES. Super fun!

We popped back into the ocean for our last go in the Pacific and got knocked around by some waves and reliably got burned again. Oh well. It's the one souvenir that didn't cost us a thing. We're going back to Canada tomorrow and I'm depressed beyond words. I dont' want to go back. I don't want a 60-degree swing. I want go stay here where it's nice and soothing and warm and foreign. Sigh.

Common sense: lacking

2011-01-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

Today we spent a whole day touring. We went to the Sydney Opera House and it sparked the little girl in me who wanted to be an architect when she grew up (I took a mini-course in high school that was supposed to give a taste of what the profession might be like, and it turns out I lacked the common sense to include a bathroom in the house I designed). That thing is stunning. I mean, it looks cool on postcards and everything, but it is something else in person. I was in AWE. Good times. The Boy liked it less, but who cares.

After Sydney, we went to Bondi Beach for a dip in the ocean. So fun. We are getting gutsier with our belongings and leaving them on the beach, but, knock on wood, we are lucky. So far, we've just been so lucky on this entire trip! We left Brisbane before it was inundated, we left New Zealand before the earthquakes... we're just lucky. We did try to find the Lululemon in Bondi but the boy sent us to some other random yoga store. Yeah, no.

We were exhausted, but we went to Chinatown for dinner, walked through the little souvenir shops there, and bought some buns for breakfast tomorrow. Does it really work? Standing outside the restaurant saying "Chinese food? Chinese food?"

Tomorrow we're going to Blue Mountains!

Advance Australia Fair!

2011-01-26T23:18:00.004-05:00

On Sunday we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, this AMAZING covered market with over 1000 stalls. The Boy was like, "so, we'll go for about an hour and then we can do the hop on hop off tour.." and I was like, "we-elll, I don't want to rush it..".

Yeah. So we spent four hours there. It was incredible. Sure, there was a lot of junk, but a lot of fun stuff too. I bought a super cheap carryon luggage because my reusable lululemon shopper is threading down and an Aussie lamb leather jacket.

THEN we went on the hop on hop off tour, which, in Melbourne is free. There's a free tram that circles the city and a free shuttle, both of which have recorded tour information. How amazing! We saw the Shrine of Remembrance and the stadiums and their skytower, and jumped off at Lygon Street, their Little Italy. We'd been hearing from this person and that person that Lygon Street is THE place to eat, so eat we did! We had the most delicious thin-crust pizza. Omg. OMG! Credit card-thin! It was awesome.

Righto, then we walked back to our hotel, did a quick workout (read: the first weights I'd done since before we left on vacation and has thus left my lats crazy sore, even today, Thursday) and swim in our hotel, and then went to Nando's for dinner. We saw Nando's everywhere -- it's this Portuguese chicken place, but we learned yesterday that there's Nando's in BC. Hah - we thought we were trying some Aussie chain.

On Monday, we left at 8 AM to take an 11.5 hour train to Sydney. We had meant to drive but found a great deal on Travelzoo to take the train instead. The train was actually not that painful. They served some pretty good scones at teatime. We saw this drunk old man who walked up and down the aisles with a dirty scarf and a radio transponder. We each read books and watched Fight Club on the laptop.

Yesterday was so fun! We met up with my friend NH and her fiance TK for breakfast and all went to the Australian Museum here in Sydney together. The Australian Museum would have probably been good if it had been the first museum we'd been to on our trip, but it had a lot of the same stuff that we've seen at the other museums we've already been to. NH and TK had to head off to Perth to meet up with friends, so The Boy and I went to Wildlife World and the Sydney Aquarium and explored the many lego structures there! Super fun. And there were animals and insects and underwater tubes where we got to see rays and sharks and dugongs and one massive 5m crocodile named Rex. He was bigger than the one at Reptile World in Alice Springs, but we didn't get to see him as close up, which I'm 100% ok with. Unfortunately, we didn't see any platypi.. the platypus tank was empty all three times we went to visit. :( We waited patiently, but zip.

We went to Helm Bar on Darling Harbour (or "dahling haba" as the locals call it) for dinner and had the best mojitos we've had in ages. Social premixes theirs now. Helm Bar makes theirs fresh, and with a flourish.

Today was Australia Day! The Boy and I put on our red shirts and went out for the day, but after an hour on a patio for breakfast, we were sweating. The news said it was the hottest Australia Day on record in 20 years. Wow. Anyway, we'd have changed anyway - an informal poll in just a few minutes on that patio determined that only 4% of the population on the way towards Hyde Park was wearing red, blue, or any Australian attire. We went shopping, hung out Hyde Park, and went to the Motor Show which included almost a thousand old cars and hot rods, and visited St. Mary's Cathedral before stopping for half priced frappuccinos, Triple J's Top 100, and more Australian Open for a break. We went to Sydney Tower and watched the Oztrek motion video, which would have been also lovely to watch at the beginning of our Australian adventure. The Boy would like to say that it blew his mind, but it really just blew. Not Sydney Tower, just the movie. After kebab, we went to Dahling Haba to watch the flotilla and the wonderful fireworks. We found this space near the Park Street bridge and were exactly between the fireworks on the water and fireworks from the tall buildings behind us. It was incredible! We were IN the fireworks. We were so close, we actually had to turn our heads to see it all! My favourites were the sparkly ones.

The weirdest thing we saw today wasn't that there were a lot of people wearing Aussie flags or being patriotic (there weren't), but it was the drunk man dancing on the corner. The Boy recognized his scarf and I recognized his radio transponder, but it was the drunk guy from the train. The Boy was like "wow, it must have taken him a long time to get here."... I think that he actually got kicked off the train partway through the journey.

And now, we're watching this weird stop motion movie starring Mary Daisy Dinkle and Max Jerry Horowitz. It's sad and hilarious all at the same time. What's it called? We loved it. Look it up. Watch it. Love it.

German backpackers: Why can't you speak quietly on busses?

2011-01-22T22:14:00.001-05:00

Omg. Hotel Discovery was SO bad! We should have just left, but we had already paid online. That first night, I regretted not learning German. We could have made friends with our neighbours! Our other neighbours spoke Mandarin. I suppose I could say I regret not learning that too. And there were douchebaggy kids playing football in the hall. I'm too old for this.

Last night, Friday night, was even better. Our next door neighbour was having a party and watching porn in their room. I went down to complain (it was almost 2 AM!) and it turns out someone else had already complained about them. Also, it wasn't our next door neighbour -- it was two doors down. And apparently there was only one person recorded to be in that room, so everyone else was kicked out. Nice. Regardless, The Boy and I checked out and into a Best Western near the train station. This is the luxurious honeymoon part of our trip!

Yesterday, The Boy and I deemed the day Shopping Day. We met up with JD and her beautiful darling little daughter EV for coffee and snacks and walked around the city a little. We went to the Bourke Street Lululemon that has like five Canadians working there. The manager is even from Ottawa! JD told us that Melbourne is Australia's Shopping Capital so after she went back home to put EV down for a nap, we went exploring. We found some really chic shops in some small alleys and some bargain basement (actual basements) warehouses where I was able to pick up a number of things for less than $50. Then, we met up with EQ's friend PH for drinks at Hairy Little Sister. It was a good day -- I love The Boy with all my heart, I do, but it's nice to talk to other people sometimes.

Today, we took a tram ride out to Albert Park to visit JD and family. We ate gorgeous sandwiches and macaroons in St. Vincent Park and played in the playground (Well, EV did; we watched). Her husband DD graciously drove us back into town. We didn't participate in any hook turns, but we've seen a few in town. They're so weird. Instead of turning right from the rightmost lane, in Melbourne at certain intersections, you actually pull to the left, wait for traffic to clear, and then turn right. TO THE LEFT. THEN TO THE RIGHT. weird.

We hung out and walked around and accessed the incredibly fast and free internet at the State Library. We went for thai (where The Boy choked on my basil seed and green jelly drink) and then went to Fed Square to try and meet up with PH again to go out again. Internet issues kept us apart, but The Boy and I watched Nadal vs. Rafa at Federation Square, and then walked over to South Bank to the Crown Casino. We had a few drinks at one of the clubs, Tangerine, but it was lousy with kids. Lots of girls in short dresses and tiaras and buttons that said "18!!". SIGH. And I was maybe looking around for a toilet and maybe there was a girl in a horrible (i'm not kidding, i'd say this even if the following didn't happen) (i mean, maybe) white dress with a pleather shoulder ruffle and studs talking really loudly on her mobile phone and she DID say "stop looking at me, asian!" Horrible thoughts. Horrible horrible unyogic thoughts.

So. apparently the drinking age here is 18.

It's HOT.

2011-01-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went on a one-day trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and walked around the formations in the blazing hot sun. The shade was so welcome. Thank goodness for the SPF 60 The Boy's mom gave us for Christmas in our stockings. After our stupid burns (Surfer's Paradise and the surprising burn on Fox Glacier), we actually finally evaded sunburns and skin damage. YAY us! but for real, it was hot. 41 degrees hot. Crazy, burning, hot. So hot they had to close the Ayers Rock climb because the rock gets so boiling hot that it cooks the climbers from the insides. Hot.

Small world -- The Boy pointed out two men on our trip with Lululemon shirts on. I said, "ooh. they must be Canadian." Turns out, not only are they Canadian, but one of them is the father-in-law of Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon. His daughter was Lulu's second employee, so they all live Lululemon. Like me! Teeny tiny world!

Ayers Rock and the Olgas themselves are stunning massive rocks in the middle of the desert. Many people have said that they're awe-inspiring, and many have said they're overrated. I say: "Wow. Bigger than I thought. Cool."

We're in Melbourne now, and there is an unexpectedly large population of asians in this area. they all speak mandarin. My friend JD lives here and instructed us to go get "dodgy dumplings" from this place in an alley that has had a few health code violations but serves fantastic cheap dumplings. We went and (a) feel fine, and (b) have leftovers. it was GREAT.

Our hotel, however, is not. Seriously, Aussies just throw that word around too liberally. "Hotel" Discovery is actually a hostel. And $85/night may get you a "private double" room, but it does not get you "privacy". We've been paying $40-$50 per night for private doubles, some with ensuites. At Hotel Discovery, you get a drywalled partition. Your private double will be in between dorm rooms and people speaking at regular tones will be heard perfectly through the walls. And your bathroom facilities will be a full 200 m away. Honest. In North America, "Hotels" are at a certain standard, "Motels" is below that, usually one or two stories with ample parking, and "Hostels" is below that, offering dorm share, right? The motels we've stayed at in Australia have been the nicest places so far.

This trip is gonna be hard to top

2011-01-18T22:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the best day ever. Strong statement to make but let me break it down for you:

1. Patio: we hung out on a patio for hours using free internet. It wasn't that humid out and it showered a little, but then became sunny and moderately warm. The internet was frustratingly slow, but we had nowhere to be.... just maxin and relaxin...

2. Shopping: The Boy and I went for a walk through the CBD, ran into one of our dive instructors who told us to go find some bike shops just east of a shopping centre. We went for the short jaunt to look at bike jerseys, and then walked back to the shopping centre to look for new fake wedding rings. My $1 ones were all faded and gross. My new ones cost $2 each :) We spent hours looking through the stores here. We didn't spend much but it was just nice to walk around!

3. Lagoon: We went back down to the water and swam in the lagoon. It's a little funny but you have to drive or bus to the beaches a few k away, and there weren't that many people there, so we just jumped into the pool. It was great, and super convenient for us.

4. Massage: In the night markets, you can get a 40 minute Chinese (or Korean, as the case may be) massage for $15. I can recognize the importance of having a fantastic registered massage therapist (or two!) but it still felt good and was helpful for my poor hips.

5. Sushi: The Boy and I had found a sushi place where the sushi goes around on a little conveyor belt, but it was closed on Mondays. Oops. So we walked back down towards our hotel and found another sushi place with a conveyor belt. Have you met me? I adore sushi in all fashions. The Volcano roll was my favourite.

6. Gelato: Gelati is a dime a dozen in Cairns. Of course -- it is the hottest possible location ever so gelati is what everyone craves. The night before I'd had mango and blood orange. Yesterday I had lemon custard. I regret not getting the green apple. Or the lychee. Or the pistachio. or the dark chocolate. but I have an ice cream maker now and I need to remember that.

7. Massage Part Two: Despite all the magic, I hadn't been feeling 100% (all the in and out of the air conditioning) so we settled in for some quiet time in our room. The Boy gave me a hand and foot (and calves!) massage while we watched some fun episodes of Cougar Town on the laptop.

I know. You hate me.

Today was another travel day. We came to Alice Springs via Qantas, but our flight was delayed so Qantas TOLD US TO GET SOME REFRESHMENTS AT THE AIRPORT ON THEM, UP TO A VALUE OF $25 EACH BOARDING PASS. wh...at? WHAT!? So, we got some pizza and salads and were not too upset with Qantas at all. And by the time we even got our food, they were last calling for our flight. Delay schmelay. Luckily we were not the last people on the plane. On our flight, they still gave us sandwiches (currently in the fridge for eating tomorrow) and cookies and australian fruit cups. We landed in Alice Springs and were immediately picked up by the Toddy's people, even without our requesting it!

We visited Reptile World and petted Frank, a Spencer goanna (monitor lizard) and saw Terry, the MASSIVE crocodile that TOTALLY glared me and The Boy down. I'm not kidding! Seriously. It was sitting in his tank and we were taking pictures of him through the glass, and he slowly got up, took a breath, and then came back down, spotted us, swam CLOSER to us, and then GLARED AT US THROUGH THE GLASS!!!!!! I actually backed away. That thing is twice my size! Don't judge me. You'd be backing away too. Dammit, you weren't there. We took some pictures and then ran away.

Anyway. Reptile World is great. We took tons of pictures and learned about snakes and bites and even saw a teeny tiny lizard and alerted the employees. Turns out it was just a wild lizard that got in through the door. What are the chances? it was probably trying to jailbreak his friends.

We walked through the CBD and then came back to Toddy's for dinner -- camel steak! My dad had told us to try fried camel hump meat and this was the first time we'd even seen it on the menu. It was ok. too red meaty for me, but the peppercorn gravy was fantastic. Tomorrow we're going to visit Ayers Rock and The Olgas!

My Hero!

2011-01-16T21:53:00.000-05:00

The dive trip was quite possibly one of the best things i've ever done, ever. Finishing my degree, getting married, buying a house, and doing this dive trip (Pro Dive Cairns - woohoo!) -- definitely among my top things not regretted.

The second night dive was impeccable. My depth and air: fantastic. We went with W and S in a foursome and I finally got to see giant clams! We also had FIVE sightings of SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Most of them, the ones around the boat, were just about a metre long. The one we found in the bommies was over a metre long and was swimming around our foursome. I saw a red cod chase the little fishies in our torch beams and a lot of leopard-spotted sea cucumbers. The Boy saw the little red shrimp eyes hiding in the coral.

Our third and final day of diving was jam-packed and wistful. I was still powering through my air on the first two dives and it wasn't until then that one of the divemasters suggested breathing in for 3 counts and out for 7, instead of equal inhales and exhales. I spent the entire last dive counting and The Boy and I were finally on par with our air management. We saw tons of anemonefish and beautifully coloured parrot fish, more giant clams, one very sad dead giant clam, more sharks and turtles, and billions of other little colourful fishies. I love diving!!

Upon our return to Cairns, we promptly melted from the stifling humidity and checked into our new hostel. We walked in and were immediately like "oh, crap." But after some investigation work, we figured out how to make the air conditioning function and it's really not that bad. I mean, our first hostel in Cairns was bug-ridden. This one is dusty but at least (so far) bug-free!We had dinner and drinks with our dive group at Rattle and Hum and then came back to crash in our (finally) cool room.

This morning we woke up at a groggy 7:06 for our day trip to Daintree Forest and Cape Tribulation. It was really beautiful even though I felt regretful for not having taken another gravol this morning. I still (STILL!) feel like we're on a boat. We took the scenic route on the Pacific Highway, had morning tea in the Daintree (well, The Boy had morning coffee, and I had nothing because who wants to drink something boiling hot when you're already melting in the sun?), and then went on a small cruise along the Daintree River to go crocodile hunting!

We saw three crocs: one baby one about two years old and only about 30 cm, apparently still too small to do anything and still considered food for some of the larger fish, one mini about four years old, and one big 4m long one (well, we only saw the head but the skipper told us - the croc is named Scarface to the River folk) about 11 years old. We walked through the rainforest on one of the marked walks and looked at scary-looking leaves and even saw a lizard on a tree. We walked through the stinky swampy area and saw the cool snorkel roots of the trees gasping for air.

On to Cape Tribulation, the only place in the world where the rainforest meets the reef. It was really cool! We weren't allowed to go swimming, though, because it's stinger season. We walked down the beach instead and explored little (and one big!) holes ostensibly made by tiny crustaceans. Then, we had lunch! It was alright. There was a whole spider garden at the restaurant.. spiders the size of my hand. BLECH.

On our way back, we stopped at a few lookouts and Mossman Gorge and Port Douglas. In Mossman Gorge, there were signs everywhere to not go swimming, it's dangerous, etc, but other people were in it. So we jumped in at a fairly calm looking space between some rocks, where the current wouldn't get us.

I heard a whole smattering of spanish next to me and then all of the sudden, The Boy says "no, don't do that. let go of me. don't hang on to me." Some Colombian had apparently smacked his leg on a pile of rocks and panicked and tried to drag The Boy down. Thankfully, My Hero talked him down, helped him get to the edge where he could grab some grass and then hung out with him for about 15 minutes until the guy could get back to the sandy part safely. Amazing. THEN we realized that the pile of people hanging out on the opposite side of the gorge weren't playing, they were STUCK there. Five people had to be rescued by the group of kayakers that just HAPPENED to be in the area. WOW. Listen to the signs! But I guess, when else do you get the chance to swim in the rainforest?

Port Douglas was lovely, but really catered to tourists. We didn't spend much time there, just a little bit of wandering and coffee. For dinner tonight we went to Paddywhack's, and my faith is somewhat renewed in kangaroo and crocodile meat. We had a "tasting" at our first Cairns hostel and they were disgusting, but it was possibly because it was extremely overcooked. I'd never order it again, but at least the restaurant prepared it properly and it tasted passable. We also tasted an emu sausage, grilled barramundi (the fish that eat baby crocodiles!), and bread with fire-germinated wattle seeds. Don't ask me to explain it, the waiter's accent was too strong. We finished it off with the BEST possible gelati. Great day for the vacation. The Boy is a Hero :)

Fish fish fish fish fish fish fish

2011-01-14T17:47:00.001-05:00

Last night's Dive 4 was scarier. Not THAT scary. I mean, it was scarier, but I'd been having so many problems with my bouyancy that it really threw me off and made me unconfident about my abilities. I crashed into our guide a few times and accidentally crashed coral twice. It really sucked. Plus we couldn't really see anything. BUT we did see a shark. and a pile of me-sized fish. It wasn't cool at the time but tonight we'll go on another night dive and i'm hoping it will be better.

I want to say that after a good night's sleep I emerged refreshed and calm, but there was a big storm last night and the boat was crazy rocking. We have a window in our cabin and from about 3 AM we could look out to see stars/sea/stars/sea/stars/sea... uggghhhhh. And all the passenger's stuff left on the tables were on the floor this morning.

We've done three dives today already and they've been great. I added a weight to help manage my bouyancy and air and it was perfect. BUT The Boy had mask issues and surfaced without my knowing. It was a terrible and horrible 30 seconds, but we're ok about it now, and it won't happen again. We considered doing the advanced diver course and the adventure diver course, but we're going to do them back at home. We're still just getting our diving fins on. :)

Today we saw TONS of amazing fish including a grey reef shark, a whitetipped reef shark, several turtles, clown fish, parrot fish, a quebecfish (leopard printed rabbitfish), humbugs, half and half pullers, and a blue-spotted stingray among a billion other fish we'd never see at home. It's just all so beautiful.

Number 9: Go Scuba Diving

2011-01-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, we did a bit of shopping around Rotorua in the morning and then drive to Auckland for the afternoon and evening. We are kind of done with museums at this point, so we walked along the harbour and then had lunch on Queen at a little Chinese place for noodles. Then up the billions of hills to K' Road, what's touted as Auckland's "quirky" area of town with fun shops and eateries.

K' Road turned out to be home to a few cafes, about six secondhand shops (which would be great, but I'm on the hunt for a hat, and the only fairly newish and cleanish looking hat was a white baseball cap with gold sequins on the front - The Boy said no.) and a few sex shops. "Quirky" is subjective, I guess.

We went to the Skytower, not to go up ($84 per person!?), and certainly not to walk around the ring (please.) but just to look. After a bit of shopping, we went for dinner at Burger Fuel (the floridian girl at the Sydney Lululemon recommended it, and it turns out to be a chain!) and it was delicious but way overly filling. We waddled back to the Jucy hotel and hung out and waited to wake up at 4 for our flight back to Australia.

So yesterday, we returned to Australia! And within the first six hours of being in the country, I'd acquired 11 new moquito bites, and then another dozen or so during the evening. Cairns is bloody humid. We went from wearing pants and layers in New Zealand to wearing almost nothing in this godforsaken town. It has the charm of Byron Bay with only a smidge of the douchebagginess. No beach though! they have a weird "lagoon", this open air public pool near their section of the Pacific in between the harbour and dirt. We explored the town and got our gear for our dive trip....which we are now on. :)

which brings us to Number 9. Go Scuba Diving!
The Boy and I have now been on THREE (Count 'em!) (one, two, three) unguided scuba dives at Pellowe Reef! It was SO exciting! We saw a pink anemone and lots of schools of fish of varying sizes and lots of black-tailed humbugs and half and half pullers. We saw brown coral with blue tips and gold coral with yellow tips, brain corals that actually look like brain (not that I've seen a real brain), and mushroom coral that looks like mushrooms! It was really fun and the water was super warm, even at deeper depths. At the surface it almost feels like someone peed in the water because it's so hot! You know what I'm talking about.

The second time we went down we saw a small manta ray. CRAZY! Other people saw a shark!

The third time we went down, we saw a turtle! it was so fun.

Zorbing: an invention only the Kiwis can claim

2011-01-10T21:35:00.001-05:00

They Boy and I spent last night and tonight in Rotorua, about 3 hours southeast of Auckland, and a very long 6 hour drive froom Wellington. Wellington was a huge disappointment. We expected a big beautiful city as the capital of NZ but it was pretty run-down looking. The Boy defended Wellington by saying that Canada's capital city is also a bit run down in areas. I can see how it was really modern looking back in its heyday, but there are a lot of bits of paint that are peeling, everything is just looking weathered and old. After our bus tour, we went to the cultural museum, Te Papu, which was fun but a little bit overrun by kids. There was this really cool touch screen table thing with musical pieces that went together and Lucy Lawless singing. I have no way to explain this in words -- you'll just have to go visit Te Papu!

We visited the Sunday farmers market and foodie stalls on the harbour, and then went to a weird and maybe racist lunch at a malaysian place. Realizing that we didn't allot nearly enough time in New Zealand, we just hightailed it to Rotorua. We definitely need to get back to NZ!

My parents told me about this strip of motels where every unit has its own private hot springs.WhAT!? So we looked it up and Fenton Street it was! We stopped in at the Ascot on Fenton who offered private spas in the backyard, but not of mineral waters. Apparently the gasses from the mineral waters KILLS PEOPLE IN THEIR SLEEP. Nobody told us this! Still, we were able to hot tub in the backyard. Our proprietors told us that there were some deaths nearby, but who knows.

Today we went to Waiotapu, the scene of active volcanic activity and saw some really incredible pools of boiling water and pools of waters with various minerals in them. The green/yellow pools had arsenic and the orangey waters had sulphur! VERY strong smelling, too. We also went to Waikite to bathe in the mineral waters (not to sleep near them). It was beautiful and mostly relaxing (there were some kids there that followed us around a bit, but we were able to have little chats in the gorgeous pools).

We wait straight to Zorbing next, this crazy invention by kiwis where you are strapped inside an inflatable ball that's shock corded to a larger inflatable ball. They push you down a hill and then you feel like "Ohhhhh, I'm glad I didn't eat beforehand" and then "ohhhhh I wish I had eaten a little something before!" The second zorb we did had no straps but they put some water in and you slip and slide on this twisty turny path down the hill. I liked it, but I didn't like how they zipper you in (the strap-in zorb had open holes on either side for you to get in and out) and the zipper is only one way. what if i HAD to get out? The third zorb, The Boy and I did it together straight down the hill, with water. That time was fun!

We tried Turkish for dinner on Eat Streat (no kidding!) and ate guvec. It was soooo filling! I had to bring the rest of mine hotel -- I'll eat it for breakfast tomorrow. This town, though interesting, STINKS. I'm not kidding. I woke up several times last night because of the sulphur. it's disgusting. and then today after we went Zorbing, i was feeling a bit nauseous and the smell just overwhelmed me. I had to lie down for awhile. Don't get me wrong, Zorbing is fantastic, and not dangerous at all. We just hadn't eaten in a long time and all the whirly motion was not good. I feel sick on the windy mountain roads too (windy meaning many twists and turns, not a lot of blowing air). Tonight we have time for just one more soak in the hot tub and then we're off to Auckland tomorrow for our last day in New Zealand. so sad. I wish we had more time here! I'm afraid that Australia won't be as exciting! :(

Glaciers and Green Lips

2011-01-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

After spending an uneventful night in the teeensy tiny (and expensive) town of Fox Glacier, we went to the actual glacier yesterday!! It was amazing. I wore all my rain gear because it was drizzling and put up my hood -- I forgot my hat. About midway through our day tour of ice climbing, the sky cleared up and we had to take off all our layers. I was down to my t-shirt and had my hoodie off and were on the ice in the sun! It was beautiful. We saw all the distinct striations on the ice and it was this brilliant blue! We hiked up from the terminal face with crampons and our guide, Scotty, cut fresh steps for us to keep us safe. We saw moulins, where the water bores tiny (and larger and larger) holes into the ice and then the water flows underneath the glacier and that's how it carves further out into the valley. We were even able to fill our water bottles from the little flows on the glacier -- so fresh!

Before we even got started, I was chatting with some of the other girls on the tour and the Australian girl asked me if I did a lot of outdoorsy things. I said no, that I'm more of an indoors girl and that I really like beuatiful buildings, but did she? Yes, she went outside as often as she could. The German girl with her agreed. Wouldn't you know, though, that the indoorsy girl wasn't the most hesitant on the trip? It was the Australian. HAH. But I maybe should have been slightly more cautious.. I stepped on this bit of ice that looked solid, but actually crashed through into the water below. I didn't go far, but I fumbled my feet and tore a hole through my Lululemon dance studio pants. :(

At the end when we were taking off our crampons, The Boy looked at me and said "um. i think you might have gotten a little sun on your scalp." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh ANOTHER SUNBURN!!!!!!!!!

i want an australian hat.

Or any hat other than just my cap.

Anyway, immediately after our ice hike, we went on a mini hike on Lake Matheson. this lookout has the best views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. It was gorgeous but there were some low lying clouds and we couldn't see the tops of the mountains! Mount Cook is the highest mountain in NZ and Mount Tasman is the second highest... but we couldn't tell which was which because the tops were hidden. Then we went to Hokitika, the only place in NZ where naturally occuring jade (pounamu) is found and goodletite is mined.

EVERYTHING (restaurants, bars, stores) was closed when we got there at 9 pm. We found the only restaurant open (Indian) and ate some food (yum) and tasted this fantastic wine called the Doctor's Reisling from the Marlborough region here in NZ. The sun was still bright. it doesn't set until about 10 pm here. Friday night and nothing going on. Oh well!

This morning, we went into "town" for breakfast and then shopped around for pounamu. Dude, it was crazy expensive. I'm not willing to part with several hundred dollars for a tiny piece of carved jade, especially when it's from British Columbia. Note to travellers: when buying jade in NZ, if it says "Genuine Nephrite Jade" it probably is, but it's NOT from NZ. It has to say "from NZ" on it. I DO still want a twisty piece of carved jade, but I'm hoping that it's slightly cheaprer in the bigger towns we'll visit.

We drove to Murchison for lunch and some scenic lookouts. We would have stopped at the swing bridge, but given my fear of heights and The Boy's fear of people, it didn't happen. The next bit of our trip was all about the Marlborough Wine County! Marlborough is known for their sauvignon blanc, but I prefer much sweeter wines. After trying a few with no success, we were referred to Forrest Estate. The Boy suggested we skip it because it was getting on to their closing time, but then he saw a sign that said that Forrest produces the Doctors wines! So we backtracked, went in, and bought a few bottles of the Doctors Reisling. It's touted to taste like candy apples - toffee sweet and smooth and apply tart and crisp. I love it! Too bad we'll never find it in Canada. :(

We're in Picton now. We visited the Queen Charlotte Sound and walked around the wharf. For dinner, I had Queen Charlotte Sound green-lipped mussels and The Boy ate blue cod fingers. We shared a smoked Sound salmon pizza and we're stuffed! It'll be an early night tonight because our sail is early tomorrow!

Rain, rain, go away!

2011-01-06T02:45:00.000-05:00

Today was filled with more winding roads (EQ, you would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE driving around here - you and BOT should come here and drive!) and mountains and valleys and rivers and oceans (just one ocean, but you know what I mean). Unfortunately, it was also filled with rain. We woke to so much rain pounding the top of the van that The Boy didn't even go for a run. Instead, we went to Queenstown's CBD (large and bustling, for New Zealand, but probably the size of Byward Street, cut in half and put next to each other) and looked for souvenirs and coffee.
Our plan was to drive to Haast and go on a few of the conservation walks, and maybe catch a glimpse of the Fiordland crested penguins (the ones with crazy eyebrows), but we were totally rained out. We had a whitebait patty at a local greasy spoon but "whitebait" is "small white fish used for bait", "patty" means "oversalted omelette", and "delicacy" means "what can we trick tourists into eating". ugh. UGH!

We forged on to Fox Glacier, where we expected another town but were greeted with 500 m of hotels, tour operators, and one overpriced general store and now we're in the lodge hoping that the rain clears up for our glacier hike tomorrow. I'd have wanted to go on a hike around Lake Matheson and another near Fox's terminal face, but the RAIN IS RELENTLESS!!!!!!!!!! and it's putting me in a bad mood! I am breathing and practicing gratitude. I'm on my honeymoon with the best person in the world.

Colours!

2011-01-06T02:42:00.000-05:00

Ok we figured out part of the mystery of the alcoholic kids and the mother. They weren't upset that we were in the common room, but they were discussing that the internet was coin-operated. BUT that doesn't explain the beer and vodka. Seriously, I saw one of the kids sip from his tallboy!
Today I drove on the wrong side of the road for the first time! Make that, I drove on the wrong side of the parking lot and laneway. I moved our campa to a parking spot behind our lodge. Yay me!

We got up early to go on our Milford Sound tour. Everything was so beautiful! There were lakes and rivers and real live fjords and mountains as high as the eye could see. What gets me the most is that everything looks painted. I mean, i can't believe that everything is real, and I can't believe how artists can get it to look like that. We saw so many colours of water too.. aqua, dark blue, dark green, dark aqua, bright blue, milky jade green, and last night at the Glow Worm cave, a crystal colourless clear. New Zealand is the land of beautiful coloured water.

Our tour guide, Simon, stopped a bunch of times to let us go on little walking trails. We stopped at The Chasm, which is a total tease on the way up. First you see some trees. Then some small rocks. Then you see a rocky falls where you think that if it was pouring out, water would be sloshing down that trail, but it's currently dry. Then you see another dry rock way but you hear some water. Then you see yet another rock way but this time with a little bit of water trickling down. And so on and so forth until you hear the most tremendous crashing sound, and you round the corner and in the middle of a plank bridge, you realize you are standing on top of this HOLE in the earth and there is water everywhere and it is just intensely amazing.
New Zealand is so stunning. I regret planning our vacation to spend more time in Australia than New Zealand, and I regret not allocating enough time here. Everything we see is just beautiful. Even all the lamb everywhere doesn't make me feel bored (just dry from saying "baa" so often).
Oh right. Ok. So we went on a Milford Sound cruise and went under Stirling Falls (I got SOAKED but The Boy just laughed from inside) and touched (well, the boat did) the Tasman Sea. As you can expect, it was gorgeous.

When we got back to Te Anau, we hung out in the city for a bit and got ourselves organized to get back on the road. We drove to Queenstown and met a disorganized Quebec girl working her first shift at a restaurant ever (well, that's what we think!). The food was very good for the price. Maybe the whole restaurant was new...

Christchurch, Dunedin and Te Anau

2011-01-04T02:38:00.000-05:00

On New Year's Day, we flew to NZ on Pacific Blue, one of those flights that even sells water becuase the flights are so cheap. I had to carefully dig out my purse from in front of Mike's feet (we switched seats so he didn't have to be in the middle), grab my purse, and then try to put everything back in front of hiim, all without waking him up. Guess where this is going.

Woah, Jucy rentals is tres disorganized. We booked our "campa" ..how many months ago? Yet The Boy had to wait for three hours to get the van. He showed up and THEN they said "ok! we'll clean that for you now." ..wh.at? Well, New Zealanders are supposed to be laid back. I guess this is the island vibe.

On the 2nd, we picked up the van and then went down to the CBD. I'd met this really nice British girl who now lives in Christchurch on the Plane and she told us a bunch of things to do. Walk through the city, she said.Go to the Cathedral, go to the Arts Centre Market, go to Dux De Lux for the salad bar, go to the art gallery. So we walked through the CBD. It didn't take long.. we actually walked the length three times through the day, but only made it into a bit of the Botanic Garden...

We went first to the information booth (crazy helpful) to book our Kotane Experience at the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, then to Dux de Lux for lunch (salad bar was good, I had part of a bbq seafood pizza as well and it was tasty!), then to the Art Gallery (where I saw the most beautiful still life with green grapes on it I just wanted to pluck and eat right there), back to the infobooth because I was sure I had dropped my wallet on the plane and asked the girl to call the airport for me (see what i mean about crazy helpful?), then to the Cathedral (there were parts of it that were barred because of the earthquake but we were still able to get in and see the swastikas in the tile decoration), to the Botanic Garden (beautiful! Not as extensive as the Sydney Botanic Garden, but still much more beautiful than.. say.. Confederation Park... The Boy saw Maple Corner on the map so we went to see if Canadian maples can thrive in this climate - they were Japanese maples), back to the airport to pick up my wallet (thank GOODNESS!) and then to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

We first did the Maori cultural welcome where we learned how to say "Hi, how are you, be well" (Kia Ora) and "that is magnificent" (Ka Poi) and I danced a poi dance and The Boy danced haka. It was really fun! We ate dinner (lamb and kiwi for him, smoked chicken salad for me) and then we went on a Willowbank tour and saw the kiwi (they turn the lights down during the day so visitors can see them but turn the lights on at night so they know to go to sleep) and eel (they stuck their heads out of the water to be fed. GROSS) and other NZ birds and animals. I fed a deer!
After that, we followed the WB receptionist's instructions to a car park nearby. We played with the van and organized (sort of) the inside. It will be a hassle to have to take it apart and build it up every day, but acommodations are cheaper this way. Sleeping wasn't actually even that bad. We both got cold at night, but not cold enough to use the comforter provided.

Yesterday, we started off for the south by going to Lyttelton. Plane Girl told us that we could hike up the top and then go down to Lyttleton. Plane Girl totally misled us. It was a long, narrow, windy and dangerous road and it was crazy sweaty out but if an old man could do it, heck, we should have too. In any case, we took the extremely expensive gondola up, had breakfast, looked around, and then made the most of our return trip back down.

After Lyttleton, we set out on SH1 and stopped at a grocery store to pick up lunch supplies, and then went across the street to this gorgeous park that hit the ocean to eat our picnic. The Boy and I had never had a picnic before! It was great. Maybe not as romantic as I'd expected, but still fun. Back on the road, we played Meu and Nigh but added Baa and Alpacaaaaaa. Lots of sheep everywhere! and itn much much much larger proportions (population, not size).

We arrived in Oamaru and tried to stay for the evening for the two penguin viewings (had to pay to see the little blue penguins in the conservatory, but the yellow-eyed penguins would have been free, but we'd have had to stay until late. The deciding factor was that Dick Smith (the electronics store) didn't carry a very necessary camera chanrger (The Boy accidentally left his in Surfer's Paradise) so we went to Dunedin.

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula was an emotional rollercoaster. First, we we sad because everything was closed by the time we got there. Stupid public holiday. Then, we were happy because we went to Velvet Burger for dinner (I had lamb and The Boy had venison - it was like the New Zealand version of The Works), walked around the city, and found a bachelorette from Canada. Next, we were sad because the yellow-eyed penguin conservation centre was closed. THEN we were somewhat relieved when we found a motor park nearby. Next we were elated because the motor park receptionist told us about the blue penguin return in another hour. We drove back out around the peninsula, past Penguin Place and out to the furthest point and hung out there until it got really dark and we saw REAL little blue penguins come in on rafts (groups of penguins), climb out of the water, waddle up some rocks, and RIGHT PAST US! We were literally less than a meter from them. And when it was still light out, we were able to see the CUTEST little penguin chicks in a burrow. There was a goh goh penguin and he was guarding the mui mui penguin and it was 100% adorable.

We returned to Penguin Place this morning and it was completely worth it. I'm not completely shocked that the price went up $20 in the 10 years since our guidebook was published, but 100% of the proceeds go to funding the conservation project, so it was easy to justify. AND WE SAW REAL YELLOW-EYED PENGUIN CHICKS LESS THAN A FOOT AWAY FROM US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were crazy cute and fluffy and twice the size of the adult little blue penguins. weird! We also saw a number of fur seals really close too!

We left Dunedin after picking up a camera charger and stopped in Gore to check out an NZ McDonalds (The Boy wanted to see if they had a Kiwi Burger on the menu -- they don't but (a) they call their XXxxx a Boss Burger and (b) they don't blend their McFlurries, it was just a sundae with maltesers). Playing neigh, moo, baa is starting to get tiring. We added "hey, DEER!" to the mix, but seriously, they're EVERYWHERE. At least we figured out that the venison is local.
In Te Anau we had more pizza and venison at an italian restaurant that made their own pasta. Then we took a cruise on Lake Te Ana-au and went to this glow-worm cave on the other side of the lake. It was really fantastic. We ducked under low hanging areas and the cave opened up to these crazy carved caverns with little teeny tiny green dots on the ceiling... GLOW WORMS! You get to see all these amazing waterfalls and LITERALLY crystalline pools of water and then you get into a sketchy boat and you go through pitch black caves lit up only by the glowy green of the gnat larvae. It was really, REALLY cool.

We're back at the campsite now. While the kids were up, the tv has been on Disney. The last kid just went to sleep so The Boy got up IMMEDIATELY and grabbed the remote. I think he was suffering a little. It's nice to finally just sit down and chill for a bit, even though we've been driving (and I've been passengering), it's made for some long days.

A german mother and two young children (under 14) just came in carrying two beers each and a large bottle of vodka. They seemed to be upset that The Boy and I were in here, and left immediately. What just happened!??!!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T02:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was New Year's Eve. I have to tell you, I have never known New Year's Eve to ever not be wearing cold-weather clothes. It didn't really feel like New Years, and the Brisbane peeps offer happy new year wishes reluctantly. The Boy and I sat down and got bitten by mozzies (mosquitos) and hung out with 25,000 of our closest friends at South Bank to peacefully watch the coordinated fireworks and laser show. It was interesting, and the fireworks were lovely, but maybe a little tamer than what we'd expect. Hey, I heard that Oprah was in Sydney.

Before the fireworks, The Boy and I left Surfer's Paradise and backtracked to Currumbin to go to the Wildlife Sanctuary. We saw kangaroos and koalas and dingos, oh my! It was fantastic. We've gotten to the point where we are hating the Lonely Planet East Coast Australia (2002) authors. They are just so bitter about everything. Each site is too commercial and peaceful.. if we listened to the book we'd have done nothing. We're glad we went to Currumbin. The Boy had been saying that he felt like he was on vacation, but aside from the accents, he didn't really feel like he was in Australia. At the Wildlife Sanctuary we got to learn about Australian agriculture and wildlife, including all the cold blooded (eek) reptiles who just hung out. Also their version of the seagull was crazy brave and hanging right out at the picnic tables ready to swoop in as soon as you were done eating. And yes, I had my picture taken with a koala. Her name was Arabia and she was 5 years old. Adorable!

After the Wildlife Sanctuary, we went to Surf World and then Honeybee world (or something) and I tried (and fell. in. love. with) macadamia honey. What.

We drove to Brisbane, checked ionto the "honeymoon suite" at the Acacia Inn on Upper Edward Street and wandered through the Queen Street mall. I had said I'd stop in at the Lululemon in Brisbane, and we found it.. the posters are still up, but the store is completely dismantled. What happened?? We had dinner at Jimmy's On The Mall and I ate Moreton Bay Bug (kind of like a small lobster), Bundaberg scallops, and local King prawns. MmmmMmmm!!! Then we walked around the CBD, found what we thought might be city hall (it turned out to be a casino) and then walked to South Bank for the fireworks. We did end up seeing city hall on our way back to the Inn.

After so many days of cloud-free skies, it finally all came down today. This morning, we walked back to South Bank to go to the Queensland Museum, which was fun and informative (I want a mother of pearl bib necklace SO badly) and the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art which was crazy fun. I played with lego as part of an installation, we sent a postcard to our future selves, and we slid down a huge double slide. The Boy even got injured by the slide!! That took up our entire day. we only had time for a snack and to pick up some souvenirs before heading back to get our luggage and get to the airport. where I am now. and they're calling us to board so I gotta go. New Zealand is next!!

I like long walks on the beach

2010-12-30T02:33:00.001-05:00

Today was beach day in Surfer's Paradise! Finally, we can feel like we're on vacation. We went to Surfer's Paradise beach first thing and splashed around in the waves. Then, breakfast at the Surf Life Saving Club. it was alright, not even good, really, but it did. We then walked south about four beaches (about 4k away) to check out a mall. It wasn't worth the walk, but the walk was worth the walk. It was SO nice to walk along the edge of the water and let the waves splash against our feet. Counting waves and walking in each others' footsteps.. it was really beautiful. We heard on the news that the great weather brought out the biggest crowds all summer to Gold Coast!

To be fair, there weren't ever more than about 150 people on each beach at a time, and Surfer's Paradise was definitely the most populated. The other, smaller beaches further south only had maybe 80 or so people. Still, it was PERFECT. wonderful weather, cool breeze, sweet sweet waves. We were exhausted after the return walk, so I revived by going shopping in the mall at Cavill street. We went to the Australian Shooting Academy to check out the range prices, but they were a little steep for tethered shooting. Even bowling, something that The Boy and I have done in odd cities, was really expensive. We skipped the arcade and went to get a cold drink (i had a coke spider, just a coke float), free internet, and then wandered back to the beach to get a works burger (onions, fried egg, beet, pineapple) on a chicken breast, barramundi and chips (tastes like catfish), and a couple of Bundaberg brewed drinks! Bundaberg is a busy little town - they do rum too, presumably from the billions of sugar cane fields on the coast.

At the end of the day, we went to the pool. The beach was just too far, and too sandy. We were too tired, but I know that nobody is sympathetic fo this, so i'll end it here. :) Tomorrow - Brisbane!

On the road again

2010-12-29T02:30:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned lately how great The Boy is? He still puts on the windshield wipers when wanting to change lanes and turn, but he has acclimatized magically to driving on the wrong side of the road. I'm still too scared to give it a go. After grabbing breakfast at a Hungry Jack's (the Australian equivalent of a Burger King, logo and all), we purposely took an offshoot to find Maclean, a little teeny Scottish Australian town where the telephone poles each have a tartan painted on the bottom. The nice man explained little histories of the town, told us about the sugar cane harvester at the roundabout, and we walked down to the river and hung out. We picked up some Australian fruit (the green apples taste like fuji, the lychee were incredibly fresh and juicy!) and a pack of dark chocolate Tim Tams. Then we visited a sugar refinery and took pics of the sugar cane fields. I don't even know why we turned off because there were sugar cane fields lining the Pacific Highway for AGES.

In Ballina we hit some serious traffic (The Boy says he's going to be a pro at these two-lane traffic circles by the time we get home) and saw the Big Prawn, this scary looking mad-eyed fiberglass shrimp on top of a souvenir store. We finally made it to Cape Byron in Byron Bay, got some ice cream (mango macadamia for me, and Mars bar for him) and hung out at Little Watego. We hiked around and saw a whole school of dolphins playing at the surface and a few little lizards. We saw some hanggliders and, on a whim, we decided to go down and see if there was any space. Wouldn't you know, there were two spaces right then and there? Without the time to even realize we were going to run off a platform atop a rainforest, Neil (my guide) and I were up 1060 feet in the air. What. The Boy and his guide, Ashley, weren't far behind.

Man, it was beautiful. Peaceful and not scary at all (although my left hand got a little tired from gripping onto Neil's harness so tightly) and I even got to steer! And halfway through the flight I realized "hmm. we didn't eat lunch. I'm .. STARVING." ....lol, this entire trip we have been hungry! After we landed, we made our way into the CBD and realized that Byron Bay is DBC (Douche Bag Central). Holy swagger! I'm so glad we weren't able to find private accomodation there! We ate at Bollywood, a little Indian resto that Neil recommended, and then got outta town. we went to Murwillumbah through the most beautiful tourist offshoot yet... lots of windy hills and beautiful rainforest and even a rainbow! It's been raining off and on lately, just teeny little showers, but the northern tip has been experiencing crazy floods. We hadn't seen any evidence of that, but did see that one roat was closed due to flooding, and the route we were on had just a little bit of water spillage.

Then onto the Gold Coast Highway (which The Boy likened to Carling Avenue) and to our little apartment in Surfer's Paradise, just a block from the mall, and another block to the beach. Surfer's Paradise reminds us both of Waikiki.. I know I said this when I went to Hawaii, but i REALLY want to have big splashy waves. Oh wait. I have been to the Pacific before. hmm. well. anyway, I went in again! We went for a walk on the beach to go the night market, open only wednesdays and fridays. Nothing good to buy there, but we did make out really well at the souvenir shop across the street. YAY!

And the beat goes on and on and on and on and on

2010-12-28T02:26:00.000-05:00

The Boy is such a good man. I'm not kidding, he's amazing. we drove for HOURS today. not two or three or four or five, but close to 10 hours on the road. According to the Lonely Planet, you can just take the Pacific (misnomer) Highway all the way to Brisbane. So we set out, and the Pacific Hwy is really more like the 7 than the 417. It winds through little towns. The signage is a little spottier too, and we had meant to take some of the brown tourist sign offshoots but missed the first few because we were only given a few hundred meters to make decisions. We even missed Port Stephens where I really wanted to stop because of the year-round dolphins.. by the time we realized it, we were maybe 60 k past. Oh well. We stopped for lunch at a Driver Reviver station (Stop Every Two Hours - this campagin is ALL over the highway. they even give free coffee! I guess road tripping is huge here). Later, we made it a point to go off on the tourist drives and FINALLY found the Pacific Ocean! We (I) played Moo and Neigh Aussie-style (Meu and Nigh) but didn't know what to say when we saw a few camels on the side of the road. We stopped in Port MacQuarie for a walk down one of the beaches and saw some kids flying kites. Flying a kite - that's one of my thirty things. I dipped my finger into the Pacific! It was warm, but really, I wasn't wearing the right shoes, so I only got the tidey bits. I'm not sure I'd ever touched the Pacific before.. I mean, I've been to the west coast of Canada and the states, but I'm just not sure. no wait. Maybe I have. Still. This time, I'm sure. We also went on a short hike and I got bitten by "mozzies"... I took an allergy pill pretty quick but I'm sure we'll need to pick up some bug spray soon. In Coff's Harbour we stopped quickly to take a pic of the Big Banana (they're huge on growing bananas in this area) and finally settled at the Espana Motel in Grafton for the night (aka the only place on the side of the highway that had a vacancy). They had surprisingly amazing food (fish and chips and salad for The Boy and garlic prawns on rice and salad) and we weren't sure if it was the quality of the ingredients that made it so amazing, the fact that we were truly starving, or if the food was just really that good. Tomorrow: more driving.

Flora, Fauna, and Number 8: Visit Australia

2010-12-27T02:20:00.000-05:00

OMG OMG OMG OM GOM GOM we're in Sydney. Actually, I remember LJ telling me a few years ago that Seattle was very Sydney-esque. I get it - all the freaking hills (it's good for my quads, I keep telling myself), the monorail. In any case.. .WE'RE IN SYDNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it! After our sketchy sketchy shuttle bus deriver dropped us off at the hotel (and I use this word loosely) in Kings Cross, we checked in and proceeded to find FOOD! Mr. Grumpy Pants (aka The Boy) has this tendency to get picky when he's ravenous so we walked past a billion sandwich shops and sushi joints before he was like "ok, let's just eat." You kidding me? I had a sweet potato pizza that was amazing. Then we went electronics shopping to find a GPS for our road trip. Mayers has it all! New australian fabourite. Then we said hi to the Sydney Lululemon girls, walked to Darling Harbour for a couple of beer (for him), adn then through the Royal Botanical Gardens where we were (I was) terrified by the BILLIONS of bats that were waking up and swirling around aove our heads. I got a picture of one and it looks just like the batman symbol. I may or may not have screamed when a branch dropped just THREE FEET AWAY FROM ME. The Boy laughed. Jerk. Said, "that's why we came to Australia, isn't it?" I guess Fauna isn't my thing. It was creepy in there, but lots of fun Flora :) I had no idea Plumeria were so huge.

Up in the air

2010-12-26T02:15:00.001-05:00

Currently sitting on the flight to Sydney and I'm dying a little. I'm so tired... didn't get that much sleep on Christmas Eve due to last minute stuff and buying music on iTunes. On this flight I have watched The Social Network, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Town, How to Train Your Dragon... and I slept through Wall Street 2, Life as we know it, and either She's out of your league or Going the Distance. Either way, I didn't actually watch it. For such a long flight, The Boy splurged on the bulkhead seats so he could actually get some decent legroom. Turns out these seats are totally for people with long legs (not me) and long torsos (again, not me) -- i can't put up my legs comfortably, although I can extend them.. but when I do, my body is too short to actually see the screen in front of me, so the movies I've "watched" have been mostly black shadows. still. The Boy seems happy (relatively, for being on a flight). My bro gave us some Air Canada lounge passes that we used in Toronto and we enjoyed some full fat cream of tomato soup and crudites (and he enjoyed a few glasses of guiness and port). We also got some fun free magazines. I wish I got to use the lounge more regularly. The lounge in Hong Kong had dim sum and black sesame ice cream. magic!

Anyway, we had to stop in at Vancouver and decided not to use the rest of the passes, but to save them for when we come back. SK suggested that we take showers in Vancouver but i figured, oh, 16 hours isn't that bad. but really, it really really really is. I look forward to the chance to shower mid-travel because i feel SO dirty right now. blech. instead, we hung out for an hour waiting for the plane to refuel. Having signed up for the Holiday Yoga Challenge, I did some airport yoga (half sun salutations and a bunch of standing strength poses) while The Boy got harassed (piercings and his new lowhawk perhaps?) by security wondering if he had any drugs with him. lol poor Boy.

only another 2 hours to go. Despite my exhaustion, I am incredibly excited to finally get to Australia! I think i'll take a nap -- I want to be completely ready to tour around when we get to Sydney!!!!!!!!!!!!

Number 7: Buy a place to live

2010-12-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

Wow. Even when I was 25 I knew that paying rent was crap. If I'd just bought a place sooner, I'd have saved tens of thousands on rent. Of course, I'd also be living in the burbs and I'd have missed out on a lot of my formative years (formative years being the end of university and the beginning of my life following that!) and all the fun that ensued. Still, I always wanted a place of my own.

About six months into our relationship, The Boy and I went to the spa and, in conversation, set some relationship parameters. I would not move to the burbs to live in his house. He would not move into my tiny apartment. After a very brief but very logical conversation we decided to move out of our separate places and buy a place together. We high-fived on it, that's the sort of people we are.

And so the apartment hunt began. I didn't want to outwardly skew our joint decision to find a place to live, but I'd been in love with a particular unit in a particular new building. My friend TL said "why don't we walk by it on our way to the grocery store? I can say something about how beautiful it is." and so we did. We walked by. She nonchalantly said, "I wonder what's going up there." I said, "It's a new condo. it's gorgeous. i have the floor plans at home." we got home, she asked to see the floor plans, I pointed out my favourite one, The Boy said "hmm. i could live with that." and we bought it.

Sure, it flooded a year later and we had the worst neighbour after that, but it's our home and I love it! No more rent! :) Scratch one off the list.

Number 6: Sing Karaoke

2010-12-15T21:01:00.001-05:00

Remember, this list was borne when I was 25. I'm a different person now. Have I gone to Karaoke? heck yeah. I have I been back since? hell yeah! Do I sing in front of my class twice a week? You bet your bippy. Am I a good singer? don't bet on it. but i still do it :)

fun fact: my favourite spinning song does not include any words with which I can sing along.

Number 5: Subscribe to a Marketing Journal

2010-12-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

There was a time in my life where I lost my sh*t and didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I THOUGHT I wanted to leave Ottawa, use my degree, and leave the government to go forth and convince people to part with their money. So "Subscribe to a Marketing Journal" got onto my list. Well, I did. I didn't love it, it wasn't worth it to me, and I've since figured out what i want to do with my life (for now). I've found my calling - the perfect balance between HR and Marketing, mixed in with the government. In the venn diagram of my life, I'm settled in Internal Commnunications. I love it.

I paid my dues, but I found my grown up job where I'm finally not in exams and interviews every few weeks. Yeeks. I became a grownup before I turned 30.

Number 4: Paint

2010-11-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

Ok I'm not saying I'm a master painter. I know (I KNOW) I'm not great at still lifes.. But I always wanted a great big.. Massive piece of art that spanned over several canvasses. When it's three, it's a triptych (thank you Tea Party).. But what is it called when it's four? Anyway. A few years ago, I had some friends over and we had a painting party. Threw some paints on four canvasses taped together, took 'em apart, and now it's my favourite wall hanging in my apartment.

And I was on a small kick. My friend JS asked me to paint something for her new house. It's been over a year, but I swear I'm still going to do it :)

Number 3. Teach

2010-11-17T21:44:00.001-05:00

Every so often I get this feeling where I'm not good at anything and everyone is always better than me. To be fair, someone will always be better than me.. but when you're having a wine and chocolate day, that information only makes things worse.

At some point before this list was born, I had this crazy idea that I wanted to teach *someone* *something*. I reviewed my list of things that I liked and came up with the following:

piano (but giving up piano in favour of figure skating meant that i could barely read music anymore)
figure skating (but my flat feet made even standing on the ice painful)
skiing (but i'm just not good enough - plain and simple!)
watching tv (but they don't offer classes for that, unfortunately)

And so, I forgot about it... for years.

It wasn't until I noticed that everytime I heard a good song on the radio, I would imagine doing spinning drills to them. So i bit the bullet, took a course, and became a spinning instructor.

The honesty of it all is that when i'm having a crap day at work, i can drag myself to the gym teach a class, and leave feeling amazing. spin does that to me. i love it.

Number 2: Backcountry Camping

2010-10-19T19:46:00.000-04:00

I dated this guy long before The Boy who loved camping. On a date, we watched Being Caribou, a movie about this camping filmmaking couple as they navigated the elements and followed the porcupine caribou as they migrated through Alaska - through an area threatened by oil drillers. After the movie, he thought "wow, she's going to be so moved by the beauty and be inspired and want to camp!" Unfortunately for our relationship, I thought, "i'm freezing just from watching that. I would never almost kill myself and jump through raging waters to try and follow CARIBOU."

Still, the "you've never done it before, so how do you know you don't like it?" note stayed with me long after the romance died. When FL suggested the Summer of Fran full of backcountry camping, I agreed to going once, on an "easy route". FL called me a mule as I portaged (well, i thought!) and I canoed the best I could. I ate rehydrated chili and didn't shower for three days. Best of all, i really truly honestly had a lot of fun!

Interestingly enough, I have never gone again.

Thanks to FL for making one of my thirty things happen :)

One more year until the end of my life and Number 1

2010-10-15T20:34:00.000-04:00

I talked to my brother E last night - he wished me happy birthday and i wished him a speedy recovery. I'm 29.. "one more year until the end of my life," I said. and he agreed!

I had my big milestone breakdown just before I turned 25, so when I turned 25, i started a list of 26 things i needed to do before i turned 26... only 26 came and i still hadn't completed half the things on my list, namely because my manager had gotten pregnant, and I was asked not to go on my backpacking trip through Australia. So i added a few things and hoped that I'd get them all done by 30.

#1. Skydiving: I hate heights. I totally unequivocally hate heights. I went bungee jumping for my 20th birthday and split the side of my face open with the bungee cord - I swore I'd never do it again. But skydiving, I heard from my Grade 11 Chem partner as I ran into her on the bus one day, is completely different. "it's fun. it's peaceful, it's relaxing. I'd go all the time if I could." ok. So i gave it a go. Who knew I'd love it? The feeling of being powerful and alive and strong and vulnerable all at the same time. But I was happy I went. And I went again - but I'd never do it again.

Thanksgiving Weekend, AKA the weekend I became a PADI-certified Diver!

2010-10-12T17:20:00.000-04:00

On Saturday and Sunday mornings The Boy and I went on our open water dives. They were.. how you say.. intense. I mean that in the itwasfun way but also in the ihadafewfreakouts way.

On Dives 1 and 2 we did our surface skills and went down to about 40 feet. we saw a plane (a tiny thing) and a boat) and I finally was able to hover properly! 40 feet is easy. you can still see the water surface above you, it's sunny and great, and, at least where we were, you follow the road down gradually and it eases you in.

On Dives 3 and 4 we went down to 60 feet and saw a log cabin and a submarine and a big plastic shark! At some point around 50 feet, it got really dark in front of us and i squeezed The Boy's hand. i totally didn't want to go any deeper... but our divemaster went ahead of us a little and i could still see her and when we went down to 60, i could still see, so it wasn't as scary. it was just all of the sudden, there was this LINE of darkness. on our last dive, i had a lot of trouble equalizing...instead of swimming down the quarry road, we had to go off the side of the road like you're falling off a cliff, except you're not falling.. you're just floating. weird. very very weird. i was holding onto the rock wall and just descending little by little and equalizing the whole way. it's funny that it's the last one that gave me the most trouble. :P

all in all, a really fantastic Thanksgiving Weekend. we weren't able to make it to The Boy's parents' because of all the dives, but we didn't want to wait until Hallowe'en Weekend and be freezing and miserable for our dives. it was crisp, but it was great. we also shopped, cleaned, organized, decorated a two-tiered scuba-themed cake for our congratulatatory post-certification brunch, had DM and LJ over for tv and spicy korean noodles, and had my family over for traditional thanksgiving moussakgna (lasagna with eggplant...).. played with my nephews in the pool, and my mom brought over the best thing ever.

three words: pumpkin pecan pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Scuba 5 - last in-pool dive!

2010-10-08T15:12:00.004-04:00

Last confined water dive. WOW. I can't believe we've come this far. I'm still no good at hovering (the Boy can just sit there suspended in mid-water!), but I'm apparently good enough to be let out in to our FIRST OPEN WATER DIVE THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freaking out.

We wrote our exams, i got one question wrong. I thought 100% oxygen is bad for you, but it's only bad for you when it's at depth. If your buddy gets Decompression Sickness, you should administer 100% oxygen, if available, and then seek medical attention immediately. I can handle that.

I'm not going to miss 6pm classes, 8:30 pm pool dives, and coming home after midnight, no siree. but i'm scared for this weekend.....

Scuba 4

2010-10-08T15:11:00.001-04:00

Scuba lesson four! Mannnn if I wasn't jealous enough of The Boy, he had a private lesson all night to make up his skills from dive 3 and then did dive 4. my girl buddy didn't show up so I had to hang out on my own and get my legs scraped and pushed by these two IDIOT Columbian girls who are disrepectful and annoying in the class, and downright rude in the pool. I want to throttle them weekly. SO not yogic. I make an effort and swim away, but honestly, if you are swimming BEHIND ME, and it happens that you are UNABLE TO CONTROL YOURSELF and YOU swim into MY legs, PLEASE do not SHOVE ME OUT OF THE WAY because I will turn around and glare at you. I should have throttled her. And later, we're treading water. They are moving backwards right into me. I turn around and kick to get out of the way. My fin accidentally hits one of hers (I swear!) and she YELLS AND WHINES!? No. Seriously. SERIOUSLY. This is gonna get ugly. (it didn't get ugly. I'm such a coward). Breathe. In and out, in and out. In scuba lesson four we had to take the mask off and swim around and turn our air off and ascend with our buddies. Not too bad.

Scuba 3

2010-10-08T15:11:00.000-04:00

Scuba lessons again. The videos are so cheesy, but I agree that repetition is key to get the message across. The Boy takes things in so easily. He just reads the manual and is done in minutes, retains everything, and knows how to apply all the skills. Me, I read the book, I highlight, I answer all the mini quizzes, I test myself, I reread. And then we get to class the next day and I've lost most of everything. WTF? Even though he has an ear infection and wasn't able to go to the pool lesson, he still rocked the info. It makes me part proud and part jealous. Last night they turned your air off so you could feel how it feels when you're low and out of air. It is FREAKY. The girl I was buddied up with just started signalling out of air as soon as the divemaster went behind her. Really? REALLY? How are you going to react when you're in water and your tank actually runs out of air!? Anyway. I think I'm getting braver.

Scuba 2

2010-09-15T21:09:00.000-04:00

It appears that SCUBA is a form of meditation. Always focusing on your breath. Inhale, exhale, never hold your breath. Maybe the oxygen just feels so good compared to the crap we breathe in every day. Maybe it's hanging out in this weightless environment. It just feels so amazing!!! But I feel fantastic when Scuba is done.

Yeah. So that may also be because I'm still terrified. We had to take our mask off for a minute and breathe just through the regulator, without anything covering your nose. It's to simulate taking a minute to find your mask or having your buddy bring your mask back to you. In any case, I tried to put my mask back ON and it turns out wearing a high bun on your hair looks FANTASTIC and in style in real life but totally prevents you from being able to put your mask back on underwater. Drama.

Am I getting old?

2010-09-13T11:52:00.002-04:00

Listening to Vevo at work, just letting the videos stream.. discovering new music. The last song came on and I was bopping my head a little, thinking "hey, this girl is catchy" when the lyrics say something about "being your man" ...? so i click over to the video and some 10 year old kid is singing into the camera. EEK.

Burham? who are you? have you hit puberty?

Best Husband Ever

2010-09-10T17:25:00.000-04:00

The Boy is away this weekend, which is half awesome, half terrible. Of course, I'll miss him, but it's only two days and we've been away longer before. We were at his parents' house last weekend so didn't buy any groceries this week. We've pretty much been living out of the freezer and pantry and looking at a pitifully empty fridge all week (except for a couple of onions and broccoli - gross!). But last night I got home, and, as usual, The Boy has prepared dinner for me (he always get home before me and makes dinner for two. When I have the chance to cook, I do, but he always douses it in hot sauce.) I notice that he's prepared more than one chicken breast for salads.

He says, "I cooked a few extra, so that you would have food to eat while I'm away."
I melt, and say, "awww… Thank you sweetie! You didn't have to! I can cook too"
He says, "I know, but I wanted to. I was doing it anyway, and now you wont' have to."
I say, "aww, sweetie! You're only gone a couple of days, I could have handled it! And besides, there's a poutine shop around the corner!"
He says, "Exactly."

But if that isn't amazing enough, I go to put dinner stuffs away and the fridge is PACKED. Peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers - all things I eat! Plus he's gone and made this delicious carmelized onion and cheese dip that I can share with friends for when I have a big The-Boy-Isn't-Here-So-Parteeeeee party. The bachelor and bachelorette may have ruined me for romance (helicopters, sandy beaches, yachts, gorgeous hikes) but filling the fridge? Putty in his hands.

Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

2010-09-08T21:05:00.000-04:00

Last night The Boy and I started Scuba Diving Lessons. Here are all the reasons I am afraid:

1. The #1 rule is NEVER STOP BREATHING, always breathe continuously. What if I forget? What if I stop breathing? I tried to equalize when we were in the pool but it's hard to swallow when you're biting on a regulator and you keep trying to swallow and then you realize that you're holding your breath and you have a mild panic attack, leaving you to consider coming up for air.
2. Being underwater for that long is freaky. Hold-your-breath freaky. Which leads back to #1.
3. All those tubes. I grabbed the wrong apparatus more than once.
4. It's safe! But dangerous! And what if I see a shark and I want to bolt and I accidentally overexpand my lungs and die?
5. I'm not brave. That's all it comes down to. I'm scared!

ARGH

2010-09-06T21:15:00.000-04:00

I accidentally clicked on something and I messed up my blog template.
OH how i am averse to change....

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-08-25T17:19:00.000-04:00

Oh my. oh my my my my.

If you've been following or if you've ever met me, you know that I wanted every last drop of my wedding to be handmade - my veil, my cake, alll of the stationary.. even my shoes were from etsy. I like to think of myself as crafty. and today, I thought "I'm going to suck it up. I'm going to buy a cricut. NAY. I will ask The Boy to buy me a cricut for my birthday. Perfetto."

So I google and I read reviews and then I come across this.

Woah. and I read. and I peruse. and my jaw drops. I want it.

Hi. Boy?
you know how you always say I'm so impossible to buy for? I want, I change my mind, I want, I change my mind? I want this!

That is, if i don't win it here first:
SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Love,
C :)

WOW

2010-08-16T22:53:00.002-04:00

Sometimes my only purpose in life is to teach yoga and (enter appropriate measurement here).

I thought for awhile that I could gauge how well I taught a class based on how many people would fall asleep during savasana - did I work them hard enough to elicit 5 minutes of REM? Maybe it's based on how many people TELL me what a great class it was - or are they just being polite? Is it how many people smile when I adjust them? Is my class really bad when they get up and leave - or are they just rushing for the bus? Is it about how many laughs I get?

Aparigraha.

I know that teaching yoga's not about me. I know that after writing this and posting this that at my next class, I will look around for smiles and check to see who's not wiggling their fingers and toes at the end of savasana. But tonight, I am just so happy to have taught a class. And so tonight, my only purpose was to teach.

Chocolate

2010-08-06T09:12:00.002-04:00

It's so easy to justify chocolate isn't it?

- It's early in the morning
- I've been very productive already
- The kitchen (where my lunch is) is too far away
- I don't feel like hummus (which is in the fridge about 20 feet away)
- I got to work on time this morning

*sigh*

Poutine, oh how i love thee

2010-08-04T16:51:00.003-04:00

let me count the ways.

First off, how the EFFF did i miss THIS!?!?!?!?!?

ok. No. I know I've been busy, but the marketing on that event needed to quadruple. I am INCENSED that such a day has passed and I was not a part of it.

*sob*

For our first post-wedding date meal, The Boy took me to Smoke's Poutinerie, a chain from Toronto that's possibly like The Works of the Poutine World. Not that I knew a poutine world even existed outside of Quebec and surrounding. In any case, I ordered the Triple Pork Poutine with peppercorn gravy. Can we all say this together now? DROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL

(yes, i'm back on the meat)

My perfect poutine had on it hand cut fries, squeaky cheese curds, gorgeous thick peppercorn gravy, and not one, not two, but three types of meat from some magical animal: bacon, sausage, and pulled pork.

digest this.

I think I still am.

Anyway, it was magical. A little pricy for poutine, but it was incredible. no ketchup needed.

Smokes, you kill me that you're literally around the corner from my apartment. You and the new All You Can Eat Sushi place across the street are going to make me fat.

Oh, but i'm married now. what's he gonna do, divorce me??:)
(just kidding sweetie. i know. i'm only allowed one AYCE Sushi per month)

Cryathlon

2010-07-25T21:07:00.000-04:00

The Boy's birthday is on Wednesday. Google "gift ideas for triathletes" and this is what (among other things) I've found. Sooo cute, right?

Top three questions asked to me/the Boy at the wedding/reception:

3. Is he a good baker? haha. harhar. hehe. Actually, yes, he is a very good baker.
2. Can he show us some Kung Fu? haha. harhar. hehe. Actually no. He's busy. It's OUR WEDDING RECEPTION.
1. When are the babies coming? haha. harhar. hehe. 2013. I'm not kidding. I need to go to India for Yoga Teacher Training first.

But wouldn't they look so cute in their Tri, Daddy, Tri onesies?

So.

2010-07-21T00:38:00.004-04:00

It appears that I'm married.

WOAH.

does it feel different?
no. i just feel tired. and poor.

my lessons learned:

hire a wedding planner. it is SOOOOO worth it not to have to decorate yourself or ask your friends to do it.
you will cry. the walk up the aisle will be blurry. you will cry even harder when your mom says "look, you're making The Boy cry!" and even harder than that when you actually look at The Boy. but don't worry, it'll stop after you sign the register.
make an emergency kit. even if your planner says she will make one for you, after she leaves, you will be thankful that you packed a sewing kit (for when The Boy's button falls off his sleeve as you're about to do your tea ceremony), advil (for when your feet want to murder you after hanging out on concrete in 5" heels), and deodorant (for when you've realized that having your reception outdoors in the middle of July was possibly a weather crapshoot).
include eyelash glue in your emergency kit, if you are using fake eyelashes. however, when in an emergency situation, go to MAC, not Sephora. Sephora won't do the reglue, but MAC will, plus they'll give you a little touch up too. all those tears have taken their toll.
you will be proud of your DIY efforts but literally two/200 people will notice that you and The Boy spent two hours stamping a costco packet of 1000 napkins with "a perfect pear" and the swirl you've been using on all your stationary. save your time and sweat. watch the bachelorette in peace next time.
you will eat, if you feel afraid that you won't eat, but even if you ask the servers to bring you hors d'oeuvres, they won't. even if you're the bride. unfortunately, you will not have much of an appetite anyway. this will last a full 24 hours after the wedding and you will be dismayed when The Boy offers to take you out for your first married date meal to the new Poutine place around the corner but you can't. plus you have a fridge literally packed to the gills with leftovers from the rehearsal dinner that MUST be consumed anyway.
cheers every table, even though you will miss lot of dinner that way. you will have to contend with all the people who tell you they have known you since you were "this big" but you will be surprised and amused to learn that your mom didn't reveal your pregnancy until it was impossible to hide. you will not know whether to be offended or amused, so you choose amused.
starch the top of your dress. you might think you don't need to, but the folds will fall down in the heat, and you will regret not having done it by the time dinner is over.
the chocolate fountain sounds like a good idea but will surprisingly not be as much of a hit as the candy will be.
nothing else will matter. you will be married.

ohhhhhh

2010-07-21T00:03:00.002-04:00

I see.

I see now what people were trying to say to me when they were trying to talk us out of baking our own cake the week before the wedding. In the seven days before the wedding we with outsourcing from friends):

- finally finished seating arrangements
- dealt with parents as they decided that the arrangements we made were unacceptable
- finished printing out the table cards
- picked up pictures for the table cards
- stamped, glued, and assembled table cards
- tied ribbons on the table cards
- organized tables into ziplock bags
- made table toys for kids
- calligraphed seating cards
- attached seating cards to packets of M&Ms
- spent two hours searching for infant-appropriate table toys (that were never used)
- calligraphed chair cards
- cut ribbon for the chair cards
- ran out of ribbon for the chair cards
- emailed the company three times to ask for an emergency shipment of matching biodegradable ribbon
- noticed that the company changed its FAQ section to reflect "no emergency shipments"
- went to Michael's at South Keys, Michael's at Pinecrest, Walmart, Bouclair, and Fabricland looking for ribbon before finding it at Michael's in Orleans.
- checked candy volumes in vases
- broke one vase
- bought a new vase at Michael's
- met with the NAC
- met with wedding planner
- bought pears
- gave flower choices to mom, who insisted she wanted to arrange our flowers.
- dealt with mother as she decided our flower choices were unacceptable.
- plead with sister in law to arrange flowers when mother decided to no longer arrange flowers.
- dealt with mother when she decided to do flowers again.
- dealt with 123roses when they wanted to ship on Friday afternoon instead of Thursday, as arranged in June.
- dealt with 123roses when my mom thought they only shipped 50 roses instead of the 100 we bought.
- dealt with fiftyflowers.com when they didnt' ship until Friday afternoon instead of Thursday, as arranged in June.
- went to seamstress for three fittings for chinese dresses.
- went to another seamstress for three fittings for white wedding dress (it appears i had lost too much weight to fill the bust section of the dress, but retained enough for the stomach section)
- spent 2 hours ironing white dress when it came back from the seamstress unpressed.
- ironed green chinese dress
- steamed red chinese dress
- sewed pearl beads on ring pillow
- sewed cathedral veil
- baked 6 cakes
- made three kinds of ganache
- made two kinds of buttercream
- assembled cakes
- swore a lot
- continued assembling cakes
- spent 12 hours making fondant and gumpaste roses and dendrobium orchids
- went to two dance classes
- volunteered for 12 hours at bluesfest (hey, it was my 10th year, i couldn't not volunteer!)
- drove to orleans to pick up putter from parents' and mini putt set from canadian tire (even though the kid told me it didn't exist, i had to wait 20 minutes while he went into the warehouse to suss out the situation)
- decorated putter
- sharpened sword
- made pear-ginger truffles
- made chocolate-covered cookie dough truffles
- taught two classes
- bought groceries for making all the wedding goodies
- bought groceries for rehearsal dinner
- went to Holtz for facial (i think i fell asleep), mani and pedi
- went to my most magical massage therapist ever Clare Hack for a massage
- had makeup done
- went to parents' for pictures at home
- went to brother's for night-before dinner
- shaved legs

i'm sure there's more. i'm just too tired to think.

THANK YOU to EQ, BTO, DQ, SK, and Crys' Wedding Sweatshop for making this all happen! :)

Awesome

2010-06-21T19:59:00.000-04:00

Before The Boy proposed last June, he sent out an email to my friends asking if any of them knew my ring size. One of my girlfriends AH wrote back and said, no, she didn't know my ring size, but that he should propose in a restaurant because I would cry a lot and it would be funny.

He proposed at home, with flowers and a suit and a bow tie and lots of nice words. And I said yes, with lots of tears.

Still, it would have been nice for an effort like this:
http://wedinator.com/2010/06/02/funny-wedding-video-elaborate-proposal/

For the record, your ring size is NOT your shoe size, as I hypothesized with another girlfriend, JS. My ring ended up being two full sizes too big and I had to wear it on a chain around my neck, NOT Sex and the City style, since I hadn't watched any of that season until two weeks ago.

Little Things

2010-06-14T14:57:00.002-04:00

The Boy and I are making our own wedding cake. He's a baker, I'm a baker, we bake together, we want to do it, it makes sense to do it.

But people keep telling us to outsource and that we will have too many "little things" to keep us busy before the wedding. What little things? Programs? check. Seating arrangements? fine i'll do them before. dress fitting? will be done by July 11, no problem. Hair and makeup trial? Makeup done. Hair will be done on June 26. Checking on flowers? my mom is in charge. So fine, we're going to make our cake.

Only those, and other "Little things" all have to be done at some point. So this weekend The Boy and I had a fabulously productive weekend without actually sitting down next to each other and hanging out. unless you count driving as hanging out. We:

met with the priest to do our formal interview and paid the rest of the deposit
entertained The Boy's sister who was here for one night
went out for Ethiopian food
watched Coraline
baked a birthday cake for my Nephew A
reorganized freezer and froze birthday cake because his party was cancelled (he's sick)
partially reorganized pantry (I started it, but mike is finishing it tonight)
went to the gym, twice
went to Michael's, twice (him one time, me one time to pick up different things)
went to Dollarama to find candles (no success)
spraypainted the card box (this is the second coat, the third coat needs to go on next week
went to the grocery store to buy veggie burgers and buns
went to the liquor store
went to a friend's bbq
made favours
sent RSVP reminers
talked wedding RSVPs with my parents
told my mom that no, thank you, I do not want to wear her veil with my wedding dress.
went to two fabric stores to buy fabric and veil material
traced and cut out patterns on the fabric (I'm making the thank you gift for my bridesmaids)
borrowed a serger from my parents
printed out a few more RSVP cards for additional people mike's parents wanted to invite
reassembled those invitations
finished thank you cards from the shower
met up with a friend from uni who wants to borrow my party room for a shower she's throwing.
went to Toys R Us and spend hours looking for a birthday gift for Nephew A (we decided on a pocket pokemon game)
bought gifts for all of the kids to give them at the rehearsal dinner
went to the seamstress to get my chinese dresses fixed
tried on my wedding dress three times (once for the seamstress, once for my mom, and once for my sister in law)
stamped programs (front and back)
bought paint (we are painting next weekend)
reorganized some bins in the guest room
made couscous salad
played with my neice and nephews

My stomach is killing me. I think it might be stress.

I was wrong.

2010-06-01T14:29:00.001-04:00

I am on the internet 100% of my free time. It's not a Shopaholic situation (actually, it sort of is)... I've just been trying to find stuff for my wedding. I love everything but have $0.00
I have been looking elsewhere and reading review after review. Finally, I settled on a pair of gold satin Badgley Mischkas to go with my Chinese dresses that make me want to cry everytime I touch them, I love them so much. Are they comfortable? They're alright. But LOOK at them. I know. I've been wearing them to dance class but know that I won't last from noon to midnight in them, so I've also been looking for a pair of comfortable green shoes to wear with my white dress.

You know me, I love multipurpose things, so I bought a pair of Mohops from etsy designed that you can wear them a billion different ways, PLUS i can use leftover bridesmaid dress material (green!) to use as ribbons on my feet. One of my bridesmaids has made it perfectly clear that the shoes are hideous (lies!) and only belong on granola crunchers and geishas. Sigh.

This weekend was the National Capital Race Weekend (I did the 10k in 1:10, WAY faster than I thought I would, and The Boy did the marathon in 3:06) and between volunteering at the race expo and perusing the Great Glebe Garage sale, I found a stand of adorable wedges. i tried them on. i gasped at how freaking comfortable they were. But I was embarassed by the brand. I have made fun of this company way too much to buy their shoes. But.. but... they're so comfortable. AND.. they're cute. Dont' believe me? check them out yourself.

After my 10k, I threw them on and was able to DANCE through the streets while JS and JC were hobbling around. They're THAT comfortable. This brand has a store in the Byward Market, and after The Boy's marathon and on our way to Zak's diner, I saw it. and in the window. I saw. green. wedges. OMG. Green! Comfortable!

Upon further inspection, they are completely inappropriate for the wedding, BUT upon perusal of the website, I found some awesome office-appropriate heels! I'm a convert. I freakng love these shoes. LOVE!!! But original crocs are still ugly.

Jury Duty Selection makes for a long day.

2010-05-11T13:47:00.001-04:00

Very. Very. Very. Long.

First, they stuff 200 people with winter coats inside a room that only has 90 seats in it (I counted) and they say "be here at 9" so we can register and then "court will start at 10, so after you register be back here at 9:45" meaning "you barely have time to grab breakfast across the street" so by the time you get back from breakfast not only is every seat taken, but all the seats outside the room is taken, and all of the wall space to lean on is taken. And then you stand there until you're tired, and then you sit on the floor until, I'm not kidding 10:50… and your cell phone will have intermittent service so you can't even text message or play with the apps on your phone. Then you get led from the jury selection registration room through some back halls to courtroom 37, and because you decided to make a phone call to holtz to book your wedding hair appointment, trying to kill time, and because you're not allowed to have cellphones on inside the courtroom, you have to finish your call while the ENTIRE room files in before you, and then you shut off your phone, and again, the courtroom is PACKED and there are about 30 people standing around the walls, because there are no seats left! So you choose a wall space and lean on it. Then you realize that the defendents are already in the room in a tall plastic box. Like a penalty box, but with the board windows on them. There are three of them. Everyone rises when the judge comes in. then people sit down, but you keep standing, because, again, you don't have a seat. The registrar person "introduces" the crown attorney and the attorneys on the defendant's side. Then the defendents rise and the registrar woman lists each of the charges seperately (I think there were 7) and the defendents plead not guilty to each of them. You will gasp a little and tear up a bit when you hear that there was assault with a sawed off shotgun. The judge explains what is necessary of the jury panel and what the process today will be like. This particular trial will last an estimate of 3 weeks. If you are not chosen for this particular trial, you must return next Monday in order to go through this ENTIRE process again for another trial. They will pull the registration cards out of the lotto drum one by one and will be read. When your name is called, you stand in a line on the right side of the courtroom. When they call your name, they say your juror number, first and last names, your occupation, AND your place of employment. Then you stand for half an hour while 30 names are listed. Your name is not called so you are dismissed for now. This will all resume again after lunch. You're next to the rideau centre, so you go get some lunch with a few old coworkers who work downtown. Then you rush and return at 2 pm. Why you rushed is unknown, however, since you will have to sit around for what seems like EONS before you are led back into the courtroom. It was probably only 15 minutes, but frankly, you have been waiting around all day, and you don't have the patience anymore. You know better this time. No phone, and you stand by the doorway to the courtroom. You are the first person in the courtroom this time, and have your pick of seats. You realize that you don't necessarily want to sit directly in front of the defendents, so you change seats abou three times, likely drawing attention to yourself. You notice that there is ONE person in the jury box. Poor sucker. The judge explains things again. They will be choosing two lots of 30 names this time, and the rest are dismissed until tomorrow, when they have to come back and go through this until every single person in the pool is interviewed by the judge. Thank goodness, your name will get called halfway through the second lotto, but you still have to stand there, practically directly across from the penalty box until all sixty names are called and the rest are dismissed until tomorrow morning. Finally FINALLY you get led to a long hallway, where you get a pen and a short questionnaire with questions on it like "do you understand english well?" (yes) "do you have problems hearing?" (no) "will serving on this jury cause any hardship, including financial, social, and physical?" (I think that's what it said) (yes) and "do you have any travel plans within the next three weeks that can't be easily changed?" (I wrote no, but then the bailiff guy said that this trial starts WEDNESDAY not next week, so I scratched it out and put yes.). Then you decide whether you want to be sworn in on the bible or affirmed. Then you have to give the pens back because the attorney general has no money. Every person takes about a minute. Suddenly there is a pause. The bailiff says that if one person takes extra long that it's almost certain that they will be part of the jury. By the time you go in, you notice that there is, indeed, a second person on the jury. You sit down in the witness box and your questionnaire is given to the judge. He asks you what your travel plans are. You say that you are going to a friend's wedding on Saturday. In windsor. And that you're in the wedding. He says ok. Then he asks you what your hardship is. You say that you are getting married yourself, in July. He asks if you are planning it. You say yes. He asks if you consider serving on the jury to cause hardship. You pause. You want to ask him if HE thinks it is a hardship. You want to say that if it was just one week you'd be ok, but to sit for three weeks, that's just too much. You want to say that you're stressed out as it is and this will make matters worse. You want to tell him all the things you've left to plan and haven't yet. You want to cry. But you say, "yes." then he thinks about it for a second and excuses you for this trial and for the trial next week. You confirm that you don't have to return. You say "perfect" a little too perkily and practically RUN out of the room.

And it's over!!!!! :)

Yin Yoga (Weekend 3)

2010-05-09T21:45:00.001-04:00

so many tears, so little time.

Yin Yoga makes me so happy. and angry and frustrated and this and that, but at the end of the day, happy. and calm. and happy again.

Training, part 1 is over, but part 2 will be in the fall! can't wait. :)

Yin Yoga (weekend 2)

2010-04-29T20:37:00.000-04:00

Woah.

So this was the Anatomy weekend. It killed me a little. Yin Yoga is practised cold so that you can really energize the fascia in your body. If your body warms up, the tendency is to stretch out the muscle, not necessarily the fascia. In order to better understand fascia, we watched a movie by Gil Hedley where he respectfully and tastefully demonstrates human fascia and muscles on donated cadavers.

Or at least "respectful" and "tasteful" were words that ME used. The words I would have used were "I'm going to pass out" and "I think I'm going to throw up" and "Wow. I had no idea that chicken sandwich I just ate would be the last time I ate meat."

If you've met me or ever even talked to me, you'll know that eating meat is one of the characteristics that makes up my personality. And although it was INTERESTING (no, not "cool") to see how fascia not only provides a protective covering for the muscle, but also connects through, all I could think of was "this reminds me of when I prepare pork tenderloin". EW. and now I can't even bear to THINK about sinking my teeth through flesh. BLEURGH.

And I'm not getting any sympathy at all. I had my physical yesterday and told my doctor about it. She said that at least I didn't have to see the cadaver in person, that her son is in med school and that someone in his class passed out when they saw the cadaver, and that after her first work on a cadaver, she couldn't eat beef jerky. but that i'd get over it.

I hope so!!

Rib Festival is at the end of June.

Bad yogini!

2010-04-23T19:14:00.001-04:00

I was called out in my class last night. EEPS.

After teaching a class, one of the students came up to me and asked me if I had a block at home (yes) and if I just practiced at home, I could open my hips a bit further (I know! :( ) and how she was a yoga teacher too, when did I do my training (last year) where did I do my training (Rama Lotus) and with whom (KM, JA, and RH), and oh I was learning the new version of yoga, and nobody taught the old yoga anymore, like when she did her yoga training with (insert yoga vishnu here) and of course I know about him and how amazing he is? I smiled and told her I would work on my hips.

Since when did yoga become about name dropping? Even in my new training, ME talks about having Paul Grilley over at her cottage. COOL. But... you know what I mean.

Should I be talking about how I have JA and KM on my facebook? How I used to fight for a place in KM's class on Tuesday nights after spinning?

It's just yoga. Who cares where you learned it, as long as you're doing it?

Yoga Teaching - Round 2 (weekend 1)

2010-04-12T12:30:00.003-04:00

I love love love love love love Yin Yoga.

Yin Yoga is this magical slow yoga that creates a lot of pain and heat through your body when you don't even move- you just let gravity help stretch you out. And it is so crazy painful but so crazy great, and you feel like you've just come off some incredible retreat after just an hour and a half of body love.

Or you remember how much it hurts but you remind yourself that it's good for you, and you have to do it.

In any case, I signed up for Yin Yoga teacher training with ME... I've been looking forward to this training for MONTHS. I'm not kidding! I called Santosha every day for a week at the end of December, again at the beginning of January, and finally, I let the receptionist take my name and number. She said she'd call when registration opened. Three weeks later, registration opened and I didn't get a phone call.... but I was too excited to care. I just called anyway and registered. I had to do it.

This weekend we started off. It's a much smaller group than the 200 hour training I took last year at Rama Lotus. I've never taken a class with ME before (The Boy has taken some spin classes with her) but I loved her immediately. And remember how hard it was for me to open up last year? It didn't take a day before I was in tears and getting hugs from perfect strangers. The emotional release is such a gift. I'm so happy to be embarking on this!!! :)

At the end of our session yesterday, ME showed us some incredible Daoist yang yoga. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I'm in love!

Poor Boy

2010-03-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Around midnight on Tuesday night, The Boy was having so much trouble with his stomach and kidneys that Telehealth Ontario advised me to bring him to the ER. We did, and only a few short hours later, they doped him up with morphine. Thank goodness. He finally got to lie still (not too still) on a cot while I tried to make myself comfortable on a table in his room. I'm surprised I got any sleep at all! He finally got discharged after 8 AM - at which point we fought traffic to get home, and I called my manager to tell her I wouldn't be in for that day. Or the next day, because of contagiousness.

Yeah. Turns out it wasn't food poisoning after all. I probably shouldn't have kissed him Hello.

White Green Mountains

2010-03-09T23:35:00.002-05:00

It only concerned me a little that Canadians had to travel SOUTH five hours in order to get SNOW. It has only snown a few feet here, and since it's been so warm, it has all melted! Luckily, last week it snew 2.5 feet in Vermont. YAY!

LJ and her dad, JJ, picked me up on Saturday morning and we headed to Vermont for a weekend of skiing, fun, and for me, career advice. JJ provides training in my field and is a fountain of knowledge. And they are both amazing skiiers. They gave me lots of tips!

On Saturday, we stopped in Essex to do some outlet shopping. I looked up the list of stores and was a little concerned about the ability to shop there for any length of time, only really being interested in two stores (BCBG and the Kitchen store). Turns out, I can spend 2.5 hours (and several hundreds of dollars) just at BCBG. I love that place. $40 dresses? HELLO!

Smugglers Notch is wonderful and boasts long runs and not that many people. I loved it! Well, I loved it the first day, and the second day I was really tired, and scared of falling, since I bailed so hard already, and today I was really REALLY sore, but much more confident. The conditions were wonderful, and I really, TRULY had so much fun! not to mention the cooking, desserts, watching the Oscars and the Jason/Molly wedding, and chatting. Loved it.

On the way home, this afternoon, JJ asked me "what will your reunion be like with your fiance?" And i jokingly said "there will be music, and white doves, and revolving camera spans, and I will run to him and leap into his arms and it will be magic." I was really only hoping for a hug and some snuggling while watching Lost... not coming home to The Boy with food poisoning. Wendy's - never again.

Glad to have a great mini vaca.

Poor Boy.

P.s. It blows. It blew. It has blown. It snows. It snew. It has snown.

MMmm. Vanilla.

2010-03-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

I wonder how you infuse flavours into tea?

And I wonder what it is in vanilla that makes you feel so warm and fuzzy even if you're having a crap day from hell and while you are on the phone with someone trying to fix a problem that never should have happened in the first place and then your colleague writes you a one-line message ("hot water is ready") and you throw a teabag in a cup and march over to her office and then you get this warm vanilla feeling and even as more emails are coming in but things are finally better.

Sort of.

My diet never stood a chance

2010-02-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

Since the beginning of February, there has been a container of conversation hearts in the little kitchen room (a room with two fridges, a microwave, a printer/photocopier, and a table with a few chairs). I have been trying to cut down the old waistline, and have been really proud of myself for not eating any of them. Pure sugar! Who needs it? Cheeky sayings? Fax me. Please. So I'd eye the sugary hearts warily and think to myself "I don't need those. If those were cinnamon hearts, it'd be a different story."

Or did I say that out loud?

There is now a container of cinnamon hearts in the kitchen room. F.

Wedding Dress Shopping

2010-02-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

LJ and JM took me on a little bridal roadtrip yesterday. We drove to Moose Creek which is stupid far for the experience. Our first appointment was at Juli Annah's, which was quietish, nice, clean, and not too busy (it was me and another girl but the other girl got there earlier than I did and her 6 friends sat on all the chairs so my two friends had to stand). I found a dress I thought was decent.

We had an appointment at Alliance (about 5 minutes away) so we rushed out of that place and from the sweet lady to a crusty lady and a place CRAWLING with prom goers and seven (count'em) other brides, each wearing dresses larger than the circular clthing racks. It was hell. And the woman was acting all nice but really weird, compared to the first place. Instead of helping me into the dress, I was in a standard change room (the larger ones were taken) getting into the dress by myself. And she said she was going to get us some clips so we could see the dress on (I coulnd't do it up. Stupid diet has done NOTHING) and I asked her for a veil too because I was really excited about the dress, and she was gone for a VERY long time. Maybe 10 minutes? Eventually we looked around for her and found that she was serving a group of kids. So we took a bunch of pictures and hightailed it outta there. I think we spent about 20 minutes in there total.

Then we went to a third place on Montreal road called Eternity. We were the only people in the store, and there were big couches for my friends. The girls (two!) were really helpful and gave advice about shapes and stuff. I found a really gorgeous dress that was even better than the one at Alliance.

Now I am concerned with getting a corset for under my dress. I have a really fine shape when I'm all sucked in. :)

Love for Lulu

2010-02-06T23:18:00.001-05:00

I'm teaching a class at Lululemon this weekend and told my friend TS about it. She is still refusing to go to Lulu even though her stepdaughter and I were extoling their virtues. "They make your ass look good!" "they make you look so skinny!" "They wick the sweat away from you!" "They're so well-designed!" "They have little pockets everywhere!" She wasn't having any of it. She said that she struggles with the temptation of assflattering yoga wear against her anti-corporate, mini-socialist sensibilities. She finds the company obnoxious, yet those who love it, LOVE it.

I feel lululemon is the beast you don't know, but when you know it, you love it. Like corsets. You think "good god, that's barbaric. Thank goodness women don't have to be subjected to that nowadays!" and then you put one on and you're holy "holy crap. Look at my waist! Look at my hourglass figure! Look at how GOOD I LOOK! I WISH I COULD WEAR THIS EVERY DAY!"

Or if you are strongly eco-minded, and you take the bus or walk to work every day. And then one day the busses go on strike. And you have to carpool. And you get picked up and driven in, and the ride is smoother, faster, and the company is hella better both in odor and conversation… and you think "oh my god, I could get used to this."

Or it's like the first time you eat something UNBELIEVABLE.. Like pascale's ice cream. You think "it's ice cream. How good could it be?" because all you know is the breyer's or no name crap that your mom bought on sale which then got freezer burnt in the downstairs freezer because you were only allowed to open one ice cream at a time in the upstairs freezer and for god's sake, will someone finish the orange ice cream already? You hated it, but you see mint chocolate chip downstairs, and finally three weeks later, you open the mint chocolate chip and it's got a layer of frost on top and you eat it because it's all you know. (I honestly didn't even know the frost was "freezer burn" until I was maybe 15 - I just thought all ice cream came like that) and now that you're trying to lose weight and your fiance buys groceries because you don't work at tunney's pasture anymore and can't take the bus to the superstore quite as easily he comes home with fat free and flavour free vanilla. Please! Who the hell wants vanilla ice cream!? Sorry. Frozen yogurt. Anyway. You go out for lunch without said fiance and you order dessert and it's homemade ice cream and the first spoonful just fills your mouth with flavour in a way you didn't know a frozen custard could do.

That's what Lululemon is like.

YAAAAYYYYYYY

2010-01-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

2010 is going to be big, methinks. A wedding! Heading off to Australia (FINALLY!!!)! I'm excited for this year. And scared.

But I think mostly excited.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

I know I complained about my family giving me crap gifts and all I wanted was blah blah blah and it seemed like I was being ungrateful but I'm not. Or at least, I was trying not to be. Gift GIVING is really hard too. I try to be as thoughtful as possible. My parents are IMPOSSIBLE. I mean, not impossible to be thoughtful for, but impossible to BUY for. For years I got my dad snow removal, but this year he paid for it himself. This year, The Boy and I got him spikes for his shoes. Those snow-removal people don’t come if there isnt' a forecast of less than 5cm.

My mom is going on a cruise with her sister next month and asked for something she could take travelling. I spent 8 hours peeling, washing, slicing, boiling, straining, boiling, straining, boiling, straining, sugar dipping, and drying ginger because ginger is supposed to help soothe your stomach when you are feeling nauseous. And I bought her a pretty passport holder with a matching makeup case and luggage tag. And when she opened the gift she kind of had this "ohhh" look on her face. And when she said "thanks", it wasn't really clear that's what she meant.

*sigh*

I have a really amazing idea for gifts for next year though. It better freaking knock her socks off.

P.S. I do really appreciate all the wonderful gifts including my brother coming home from Arizona, my nephews and nieces being the most adorable people in the world with their cute little kisses, amazing food at both my parents' and The Boy's parents' houses, and the Glee soundtracks. Thank you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

peanut butter balls

2009-12-21T23:32:00.002-05:00

Today I ate fresh salmon, broiled with dill, mixed with only a teeny amount of fat-free mayo and capers. I ate this amazing little mix on sliced cucumber rounds. Then I had five kumkwats. Then, before spin class, I ate two fruit leathers.

Good, right?

Then I got to spin and was craving protein. How would I last through the next two hours? I considered grabbing a third fruit leather, but then MS, who teaches the class before mine, brought peanut butter balls in for her class and invited me to have some.

I had three.

And then I remembered that I am supposed to be trying to lose weight.

Stupid holidays.

Christmas presence

2009-11-30T22:21:00.002-05:00

The Boy asked me today to make a list of the things I wanted for Christmas. I dunno. I've always wanted STUFF but I'm not sure I want to make a list so he and his family can buy them for me. That's weird. However, I could probably do with never receiving a bath set again. People. I used to sell Avon. I have enough bubble bath to last me until 2015.

The thing is, gift-giving has always been a little weird in my family.

Exhibit A:
My brother gave me a Lynn Miles cd when I was little, for Christmas. I had no idea who Lynn Miles was, but he liked her a lot. It was a 2-in-1 gift. Buy me something that he can enjoy. Joke's on him, though. I love Lynn Miles now.

Exhibit B:
My mother gave me a necklace (nice) and a bottle of folic acid for my 24th birthday.

Exhibit C:
My sister in law gave me cellulite cream for my 25th birthday.
Note: I was depressed for two months leading up to my 25th birthday and took this milestone really hard.

Exhibit D:
My mother once took a Hello Kitty collectors plate OUT OF MY BEDROOM, put it back in its packaging, hid it away for months (I looked for it everywhere but she had apparently forgotten all about it and had no idea what I was talking about) and then. gave. it. to. me. for. Christmas.
I had purchased the plate from ebay. with. my. own. money.

Your honour, I rest my case.

The thing is, this year I don't even really want anything. I don't NEED a Wii fit. it I want the Hello Kitty necklace I lost. I wish I'd never lost it in the first place. I want to lose 30 pounds. I want a yoga studio in a great big house with a double wall oven and a cooking-school kitchen. I want my piano back. It's smaller that the big piano I bought out of desperation, and for god's sake, I had a freaking connection to it. I played it for hours a day for 11 years. I learned on it. I taught on it. and now my sister in law is holding it hostage. But she'll never give it back to me. And it breaks my heart, I literally JUMP.. every time I'm over there and they're having a birthday party for one of the kids, and their kiddy friends jump all over the piano and bang on the keys. I'm sure I used to do it when I was littler. But that thing was MINE. :(

So, Boy. What do I want for Christmas that you can get me?

Please, just love me. There's nothing in the world I want more.

And lululemon gift cards would be nice.

Obrigada!

2009-11-22T12:08:00.002-05:00

yesterday was our last day of sightseeing! We went to Sintra by train (extremely efficient) but it rained as soon as we got there. :( We explored one of the palaces and bought some portuguese liqueur and port, ate some more portuguese food (the Boy had a burger, he's gearing down from tourist mode, i think). We were soaked at this point, so just hopped back on the bus and took the train back to Lisbon.

Our plan was to sleep and then wake up for dinner, and just stay up until our flight (we'd have to leave around 3 to get to the airport on time), but we ended up watching more 30 Rock, eating, then sleeping until we had to leave! we got to the airport super early (the checkin counter didn't even open until 4:30, and no coffee places were open, of course). Somehow on one of the flights, I caught something so fierce the flight attendants took pity on me and made me a hot toddy with brandy. it was yum and made me regain some colour, according to the boy, but that might be
because i'm asian and turn red when I drink. Anyway, we are now home SWEET home and i am a little sicky. :(

*moaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnn*my poor sinus.

It was a super fun trip. It was the first time The Boy and I had spent that much uninterupted time with each other, and it was fine. it was fun. i didnt' want to kill him, EVER. i love him! and I'm happy to be home.

mm. Pasteis...

2009-11-20T12:02:00.002-05:00

We've had great success with the hop-on-hop-off tours, so we decided to hit one up here in Lisbon. The City Sightseeing company hasn't done us wrong, but the Yellow Bus company goes to the same places, the ticket is valid for 48 hours instead of 24, and you can use the same tickets for the tram and city buses too. Convenient!

We took the bus to Belem, where we stopped off and saw a Snoop Dogg lookalike hawking sunglasses. we took some pictures at the Torre de Belem and then walked over to the Padrao dos Descobrimentos monument to take some pictures. that thing is huge and stunning! We saw the monastery and searched for the Ultramar Garden, this botanical garden that is full of these amazing peacocks and a little insectorium (they were all dead and preserved,
thank goodness!). Gorgeous!

In Belem, you HAVE to have a pastel de Belem, which is kind of like a chinese egg tart, but fluffier, creamier, with cinnamon, and with a little more charring on top. Delicious. Only the girl who served us at the shop was a stupid bitch who rolled her eyes at me, was short and angry, slammed the plates down on the counter, and I paid for six things, and she only gave me five. I had to show her my receipt in order to get it, and even then, she asked the cashier if it was true. she gave it to me grudgingly. I also ordered one pastry in TUNA but she gave it to me in ham and cheese. Stupid, crass whore. Why did she have to start being rude with me? I didn't do anything wrong! All I said was that she was missing one of the croquettes! And she was rude to begin with! Racist bitch.

Belem left a bad taste in my mouth, so we decided to head to the Aquarium next. The Aquarium is gorgeous and was really fun! There was one tank with school fish who all swim in one direction but there were a couple of odd fish who were swimming against the school. so cute.

We came back downtown and got some food at Cafe Nicola, which was recommended in a little tourist guide. Our server recommended the rabbit dish, but it was so salty, The Boy and I could barely eat it. The flavouring would have been lovely if someone maybe didn't mistake a tablespoon for a teaspoon? maybe...

Then we retreated back to our room with tunisian wine, mango juice, and a bunch of 30 Rock episodes. We're just so tired. It's fun to be away but we're overtoured, I think.

Lisboa!

2009-11-19T11:56:00.003-05:00

We have arrived in Lisbon! For our first day in Lisbon, we got a map and trusted it to have the right street names on it. Who knew this city would be so damned hilly? My ankles hurt from all this climbing. And sure, the city has tried to help in some instances by installing stairs, but my QUADS crazy hurt too! Thank goodness we recovered from the marathon before coming here. Thank goodness the marathon wasn't here! Ow ow ow ow ow.

First things first, we visited a pastelaria. The Boy chose two - one of them had shrimp in it. Poor guy (he is allergic to shellfish). Then we found our way (eventually) to Castelo de Sao Jorge. I expected some palace with a tour of the rooms and you could see old beds and clothes and decorations and the like. What we got was more ruins. It was cool, though, and my fear of heights got the better of me and I couldn't quite get to the highest points. The Boy and I were even able to look at the streets and find where we are staying, plus where we needed to be next, the Se Cathedral. Ice cream stop, then on our way to the Se.

We wandered and wandered and then finally stumbled upon Igreja de Santa Maria Maior instead. It was pretty, and there were lots of tourists, so we went inside and took pictures. And then we asked, and yes, this was the Se Cathedral. Why don't you Lisbonians effing label stuff the way it is on the damned map!? Poor Boy was so frustrated at the map. I tried to make it into an adventure, but he still wasn't that impressed. We also found Lisbon to be a little grungy. It would be so beautiful if the buildings were pressure-cleaned once in awhile. And also, the curse of the construction has caught up to us, and a few things that we wanted to see (Praca de Commercio and Casa de Dos Bicos) were closed. It only took one portuguese man (pointing and slashing his hands viciously) and about twenty construction workers for us to figure it out. *sigh*

We walked to Baixa, super close to where we are staying, and Lisbon's downtown and maze of pedestrian walkways, full of shops (yay!) and cafes (yay!!) and monuments (yay). We took pictures of the Elevador de Santa Justa, this random elevator built in 1902 in the middle of the city centre, and then went to find some more pasteis. Lisbon Day by Day recommends a place called Pastelaria Suica .. does that mean SWISS Pastries? Not interested. we found Nicola cafe
instead and feasted on some pork and chicken-stuffed goodies, portuguese beer (for the Boy), and gijinha com fruta (for me). Gijinha is this cherry-flavoured liquor. You get a shot of it (I sipped) and then you eat the cherries at the bottom. Yum! (and by "Yum" i mean "wooooooo", that sound you may or may not make when you try an alcohol-soaked fruit that is very very very very strong)

Dinner consisted of cheeses (including one amazing dried goats cheese), ham, sardine paste (more delicious than it sounds), bread, and a lamb stew thing called Cabrito de Beirao, and for the Boy a white port to start, green wine during the meal, and a red port for dessert. I will have to find the recipe for that lamb dish! It was amazing!

We were both tired, so came back to rest. While putting on moisturizer, I realized that I forgot to take my hello kitty charm and the gold necklace i have been wearing since i was 12 out of the safe on the ship. I am SO upset. I emailed Royal Caribbean right away to see if they could find it, but what are they going to do- knock on the door and ask to look in the safe? Ask the new people in 2539 if they found my necklace? Probably not. They will have to wait to see if the new people in that cabin turn it in. and they won't, because it's a beautiful necklace I have never seen on anyone else (I think my parents bought it in Hong Kong) and it's a really unique charm (I bought it in South Korea for a million bucks.. or what felt like a million bucks anyway). I will never get it back and I'm SO sad about it. :(

Our vacation is almost over. :(

2009-11-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

I'm going to miss this ship, I really am. I'm going to miss the hot tubs, the sitting by the pool or on Deck 6 reading, the 7-course meals. If The Boy and I are going to retire to a cruise ship (instead of a retirement home), we are going to have to start saving now!

Malaga!

2009-11-17T11:51:00.004-05:00

After the Tunisian organized tour, The Boy and I KNEW that we didn't want to participate in a coach tour with old people anymore (ooooh one of these days, these words will come back to haunt me). We resorted back to the hop-on-hop-off and explored on our own. First, we headed to the Bull Fighting Ring, which was gorgeous and big and full of culture. We entered the Bull Fighting Museum (upstairs) and saw big stuffed bull heads, costumes, models, and ..shock of the century... bloody pictures. I wasn't really prepared and may have shed a tear or two. I mean, I new that bulls were killed in bullfighting, but I didn't realize how barbaric it really is! I couldn't handle it. :(

Our next stop was Gibralfaro, this fortress thing (more ruins!!) with some crazy narrow passageways and heights. I coudln't make it up to the topmost point, but The Boy did, with the camera. He went up there and then said "you won't like it up here." and I responded by putting my jacket on. Stupid acrophobia.

We headed back down the hill to try and find Picasso's birth house. It looked like it was under renovation, so we didnt' go in (but T and N told us later that they were able to go inside, so maybe we were just looking at the wrong thing?), but we stopped for Tapas #1! For 11E, we got a glass of beer, a glass of wine, four tapas selections, bread, olives, two coffees, and chocolates. And everything was delicious, especially the pineapple chicken. mmmm.

After that snack, we went to the Malaga cathedral, meandered down little streets trying to look for the Picasso Museum (we eventually found it, and it was really fun to go inside and see his early works. The Boy was less impressed and offered to draw a box with a face inside with a triangle on the bottom for me), then went to the Roman Theatre. When we got lost (again), we stumbled upon an archaelogical dig! That was interesting.

We were getting tired so needed a sit-down (more tapas!). In the old town, in Constitution Square, we found a nice cafe with horrible english placemats for more tapas. It was a little more expensive, but it was tasty. Salty, but offset nicely by my delicious sangria. mmm!

By this time, it was siesta time, and all of the museums and places we tried to go from there were either closed for siesta or closed for renovation. *sigh* Even the "river" was all dried up. We tried to go shopping at El Corte Ingles, but man, that place is expensive. :( we hopped back on the bus and headed for the port.

Our boat wasn't leaving until 7:30, and we wanted to make the most of our day in Spain, so we had one more tapas experience before going back to the ship. We found the pedestrian street, Alameda Principal, and tried to look for tapas, but apparently 6PM is too early for tapas and dinner. The Boy said "we ask three places, and if nobody is serving, we just go back to the boat, ok?" :( But lucky for us, our third try was successful! We had a great little tasting platter, beer, and sangria.

So, my spanish is extremely limited, and I was able to communicate with the other two tapas places "the Boy cannot eat shrimp." (el no peude comer gambas...?) "allergico?" "si." "si. no gambas." perfect. except that our mixed platter had a rice dish with shrimp in it. no problem, i ate that. and washed it down with the MOST delicious sangria. Only partway through the sangria i start to feel itchy. and then I look at the fruit floating in the bottom. "Boy," I start, "is that KIWI FRUIT?" ARGH. but the server apologized (not his fault) and got me a new sangria with only orange in it. it wasn't as delicious, but it was still good.

At that Tapas place, we ran into some kids (three girls, two boys, all under 25) who were also from the ship. We started talking to them because one of them saw my lululemon jacket and asked me if I was from Canada. They said they were from the Royal Caribbean ship and I was surprised and said "really? oh.. i'm sure we would have noticed you! there are not that many young people on the ship." but then our food came and we didn't continue chatting. When The Boy and I told T and N about it, they said "are you sure they don't WORK on the boat?" ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah. still not enough young people on the ship. :P

All in all, Malaga in a word: delicious. :)

Our cruise ship passed the rock of Gibraltar:

3rd place

2009-11-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

The highlight of today's sea day was The Boy participating in the Wii Super Mario Kart Tournament. There were four heats, and in the first three, little kids won (an 8 year old, a 10 year old, and a maybe 16 year old with terrible facial hair). Then in our heat, The Boy won. So in the finals, there was an 8 year old, a 10 year old, a 16 year old, and a 32 year old. Yeah. And he said he threw the race so that he wouldn't look like the crappy old man who beat the little kids. And still came in 3rd (over the 16 year old!)... lol my hero!

We also spent time in the pool, reading (Madeleine Wickham/Sophie Kinsella's Gatecrasher), and hanging out. There isn't much to do for someone under 50 on this boat, but we've found ways to keep ourselves really busy anyway. Some of the activities aren't half bad (avoid line dancing at all costs), and it's really a treat to be able to sit around and read. :)

Tunis!

2009-11-15T11:39:00.003-05:00

The Boy and I booked a tour with Royal Caribbean, so we had a little more time this morning. We decided to steer away from our regular buffet breakfast (smoked salmon and fruit for me, with the odd biscuit and cream gravy, thanks) and have breakfast in the dining room. Our server totally read my mind when he suggested I get salmon instead of canadian bacon on the eggs benedict, but then he forgot and I got the canadian bacon anyway. no biggie. I got some salmon from the deli bar and made it myself.

Tunis is fun! We were worned by Andreas Julsef on tv and by people on the boat that Tunisia would be sketchorama. No skirts, cover the shoulders, be extra wary of your belongings, don't use your credit card anywhere. I even took my gold necklace and gold Hello Kitty charm off and put it in the safe on the ship. Can't be too careful, you know. My mom has told me stories of muggers just running up to tourists and yanking their necklaces off (I'd imagine that would hurt), or one robber running by to cut your purse straps off, while another runs up and scoops up the purse, which you are now no longer holding on to. I'm always paranoid now, but you can't be too trusting anyway.

Tunis was fun, but I don't think I'd ever go back, despite the beautiful things in the souks, and the real-life dromedaries, although the tour guide said that those would be the only we'd see (they were hanging out at the port for pictures). I heard tonight that a lot of people were really disappointed in Tunis. They had been looking for camels and desert. Tunis is a city! It was exactly as I had expected. A little less agressive, even.

Our first stop on the tour was the Bardo Museum where we saw the most amazing mosaics EVER. More intense than the greek ones, with way more detail and colour. It was truly amazing. Then we went to a government carpet store where the workers explained that tunisian rugs are a huge export. They were really beautiful, but crazy expensive. The biggest ones were $6000! US! But some were made of pure silk and could be used as heavy blankets as well. They were
stunning and I'm sad to not have gotten even a little one, but The Boy promised that one day, when we get a house and can actually have space to put in a rug, we can go to Turkey or somewhere to buy a beautiful rug. HE PROMISED.

I bought a camel leather bag and some souvenirs for a SONG (original price for bag 90 dinar, purchased for 30). Next we went to the Phenix de carthage for typical tunisian food and sweet mint tea. The food was disappointingly bland, but what can you do? The tea was delicious. Afterwards, we went to Byrsa for some more ruins and fabulous vantage point of Valetta. It was gorgeous. We set out for Carthage next to explore the old roman baths... but ruins are ruins are ruins and The Boy and I are getting tired of them. NO MORE RUINS!

Our tour headed to Sidi Bou Said, which our tour guide said was just like Santorini with it's little white houses with blue trims. I STILL want to go to Santorini though, one day!! We went up the main street and shopped our way down, buying spices (Originaly price 65 dinar, purchased for 11 dinar), and trying, in vain, to bargain with shopkeepers to spend the rest of our dinar on an incredible olive wood basket. We didnt' have enough dinar, I definitely didn't want to use my credit card, and in the end, not enough time. We were among the four last people to get on the bus to get back to the ship. basketless. :(

Just look how gorgeous. I want. :(

Another fabulous meal with T and N! The service here is amazing! Sunil and Paulo are the best waiters ever. They are so good at remembering what we like (The Boy and N love horseradish) and bringing us a ton of desserts every day. They're So nice and great! :) Eating at restaurants at home will suck and we will never be able to recreate this magic!

Valetta!

2009-11-14T11:34:00.003-05:00

Last night, we asked the girl at the Expirations (Explorations!) desk about touring. She leaned forward conspiratorially and told us that we could get around Malta on our own, but it would probably be best to get a tour for Tunisia because it's a little more sketchy. Great idea!

We disembarked, walked up the little hill, and immediately found a hop-on-hop-off tour. It wasn't the City Sightseeing company, but a private Maltese bus. For only 16E per person, this was a great deal, considering the organized tours would be about 43E per person, and taxis were going to be 10E per person just to go up a hill! Granted, it was a pretty massive hill. But still.

Our tour driver was a little sketchy and made us all stop at a Mdina Glass store, where we're SURE he was getting kickbacks. Another tour even came and passed us (no deal for him, I guess), and since our tour driver was so late, he ended up eliminating a whole section of the tour to TaQali, this little handicrafts village. I wanted to go there! The Boy and I jumped off after the driver passed another one of the stops, at the Mosta Church. This is this magical cathedral where a bomb pierced the dome fo the church without exploding! It was cool. All of the big churches in Malta have two clocks on them - one with the right time and one with the wrong time. The theory was that if the devil came and saw the church, it wouldn't know what time mass was scheduled because he wouldn't know which was the right time.

After Mosta, we headed out to Mdina, this little old walled city. We explored, watched the Malta Experience (A tourism video on the history of Malta), and ate as much traditional maltese food as we could find. The Boy even tried a locally-brewed beer and I had Malta's national drink - Kinnie. It's like orange soda, but more natural tasting. Actually, it tastes more like orange peel than the orange itself. but good. i can't describe it.

We hopped back on the bus and toured the resort area of Malta, where all the magical beaches are. It was really florida-ey. If we came back to Malta, we'd stay in St. Georges Bay for sure. It was beautiful!

Tonight we ate dinner with new friends N and T from Edmonton. They were sitting across from us for dinner the other night and had ordered several desserts to try them all. Great idea! Between the four of us, I'm pretty sure we had ten appetizers, eight main courses, and ten desserts. Plus wine. We have bonded over our mutual love of food. and Gluttony. oops. Well, they are nice people!

It was the perfect day! Exploring, eating, hanging out? I am loving the cruise life.

Sea Day

2009-11-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

Royal Caribbean "makes an effort" to provide ample entertainment for you on the sea days where you can't go anywhere. The Boy and I tried to participate, honest, but it was tough. We went to the Malta and Tunisia workshop but the presenter, according to The Boy, was "a total turd". We weren't the first people to walk out on the talk, and I'm sure we weren't the last. we also did a little workout in the morning (I attended Stretch And Relax and the Fab Abs class with what seems like the only fitness instructor on board - my abs were sore, but the classes sucked. Royal Caribbean - won't you hire a REAL yoga instructor??), and of course did our daily hot tub in the evening. I went to a jewelry-making workshop with some poor kid who was clearly assigned the activity and didn't know what he was doing. The highlight of the activities, for me, was probably Bingo, it was slightly exciting. But that Rachael girl needs to learn some new material (so that if there are four games and she calls out B-4 three times, she doesn't say "that's B4, not after, B4" all three times). The highlight of activities for The Boy was likely rock climbing. Because he's not afraid of heights! We spent the rest of the day lounging around next to the pool or on Deck 6, reading (Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me). It was awesome. Relaxing. exactly what we needed.

We finished the day with the most amazing lamb dinner and raspberry panacotta for dessert. Mmm! And I just had to start my meal with not one, but TWO appetizers (scallop risotto and strawberry bisque). Apparently that's allowed. Fun. :) (TROUBLE!)

We then tried to hit up Boogie Wonderland, the dancing/singing show in the theatre, but we couldn't get seats and had to stand. We left after a few acts. It was fun, though. I liked the ABBA medley best. Now that the seasickness is gone, I can really enjoy this cruise! :)

Katakolon

2009-11-12T11:29:00.001-05:00

Katakolon is apparently one of those little villages that exists only as a liaison between the port and the nearest city, Olympia. All that's there is a bunch of restaurants and touristy shops. When The Boy and I got off the ship, we hightailed it to the train station to get on the first ride to Olympia. On the train, we met a couple from California who were "so happy to meet another young couple!" although, they looked to be in their mid-forties. so.. pardon?

In Olympia, we spent a lot of time at the archaeological site of the original Olympics! It was really fun to see the old stadium (The Boy ran around the track, of course), the fighting and jumping ring, the altars where the original olympic flame lightings took place, temples, baths, and various other ruins. It was really cool! I guess these ruins are better than other ruins because we actually care about what happened here. That sounds insenstivite, but you know what I mean.
When in Olympia, we have to go to the Olympic Museum, too, right? We were the only people there, which was a nice change from the throngs at the archaelogical site. We saw medals and torches and commemorative coins and stamps. That museum was so small and outdated. It really had the potential to be so much more!

Olympia is also filled with orange trees and olive trees. I could have sworn my mom said that fresh olives off the tree were delicious, so I asked The Boy to pick off a plump green one for me to try. It was bitter! BLECH. Well, maybe if I try a black one from the tree, it will taste better? So I picked a black one and bit in and it was like POISON! i had to rinse my mouth out with water, it was so gross! My mom is wrong.

Or maybe she meant fresh DATES were delicious?

This is our last day in Greece! I had hoped to visit Mikonos and Santorini as well, but we will just have to return to hit those up later. :) Efcharistoh!

Crete!

2009-11-11T11:20:00.003-05:00

We rushed out of the boat for Crete, thinking we'd have so much to see, but so little time. Up at 5:30, at breakfast by 6, and out of the boat by 7:05, we jammed ourselves onto the first port shuttle, which left us at the Crete Port Authority. When we were there, we got hassled by taxi drivers left and right, but we opted for busses at 2.60 E roundtrip to Knossis. We took the bus and met up with the other Royal Caribbean tour people on their way into Knossis - the ancient palace of Minos. We looked around but we are kind of getting to the point where ruins are ruins... even if this is the birthplace of the minotaur myth. At the gift shop, I asked one worker what we should see in Crete. Well, it turns out that Canada's remembrance day lands on the same day as some orthodox celebration in Crete, so most things were closed that day. :(

We bussed back to the city and in a sad turn of events, the sky opened up on top of us. In a lucky (and amazing) turn of events, we ducked into the first cafe open. It happened to be in a hotel, so we scored a free city map and mulled it over while sipping coffee (him) and rich hot chocolate (me). What makes this turn of events so lucky, you ask? It was a chocolate cafe. They specialized in all things chocolate. And every day from 10:30-12:30, they have free all-you-can-manage pastries and cakes with a chocolate fountain. All you need to do is purchase a drink!
Which we already did!!!!!

Incredible.

The sun came out, and we walked up and down the streets browsing shops (the ones that were open), went into the attractions that were open (some fancy churches), and hanging out at the Venetian Fortress. Fun! Still having a few hours left before departure, we bought a book on greek mythology and hung out in a cafe next to a beautiful fountain, ate, drank, and read. It was awesome.

total cost for two people:
- transportation $5.20
- entrance into Knossis $12
- drinks and free pastries $7
- book $9
- two crepes, a beer, a water, homemade ice cream, tip $13
total: $46.20

cost of one tour for similar, but with no meals and no book: $62
total savings: $77.80