So I'm feeling a little bit sorry for myself today, since this was supposed to be my first day in London. But I still feel I made the right decision to postpone it, and it's only 5 months away now.... that seems like such a long time! But I know it will actually go pretty quickly.
I'm also feeling sorry for myself because I have been sick all weekend. I stayed home from work on Friday, and we were supposed to be going to Rome, New York (just outside Syracuse) for a concert on Friday evening. I actually really thought about not going, but in the end we made the trek anyway...for one very good reason. And that reason's name is...Jesper! :-) Yeah, I just couldn't pass up the chance to see him performing just a few hours from Toronto. So we went. And I have to state for the record that the people in Rome, New York have to be among the nicest people I have ever met. Seriously, everyone that we had any interaction with was super friendly and helpful. We got slightly lost finding the venue (due to the fact that there are two schools in the city with the same name), but we eventually found it through the aid of a nice man we met in a parking lot, and a nice police officer. :-) And after the show, when we were about to leave 'cause we thought the cast had already taken off, some of the women involved in the show with the dance school made sure we got to talk to Jesper and invited us out for dinner with them afterwards, and practically offered us a place to spend the night!! We declined all of that, other than the talking with Jesper bit, since it was late and we wanted to get back to the city, and I wasn't feeling that well. But still, we were just overwhelmed by their friendliness.
Anyway, Jesper! He is still fabulously talented, in case you were worried. I hadn't seen him since Vienna three years ago, so it was a treat to see him perform again, and sing in English the whole time! He did Sunset Boulevard, The Birds they Put in Cages, Broken Vow, Mr. Bojangles, Tonight and Let It Ride, plus some group numbers. The singing was really spectacular, and they were accompanied by dancers from a local dancing school. It was kind of an odd combination, but a fun evening anyway. Let me just say that when I was dancing, we never had anyone like Jesper come and perform with us! And, as I already said, we did talk to him briefly afterwards, and he was as lovely as always. Todd told him how much he's had to listen to me go on about him, so Jesper apologized to him. :-)
Other than that, the rest of September was rather uneventful. We finally got the whole mess with our apartment straightened out (they weren't going to let us out of our lease, so we filed a claim with the Housing Tribunal, and they finally agreed), and our new place is all set up, we just need to find out when we are moving. A bunch of the old work crowd had a girls' night to celebrate multiple birthdays, which was a lot of fun.
New TV has started, and I'm watching the regular Amazing Race, Smallville and Supernatural, as well as the new show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but we'll see if that continues to be worth the effort. The Lost season premiere is next week, I can't wait!!
October looks to be very busy, in a good way! We have tickets to so many fun things....such as:
- Taping of Rick Mercer
- Argos/Riders football game
- Jason Robert Brown concert
- Wicked
- Kurt Browning special (with Jeffrey, and Barenaked Ladies)
- Taping of Royal Canadian Air Farce
- Dinner Mint show
- East Village Opera Company concert
It's going to be great!!
Alright, that's about all I have to say for now. I shall leave you with some pictures of Tiger...as you can tell from the second one, he has really warmed up to Todd...in fact, he often goes to him instead of to me! I am insulted!!
Hope you all have a good week!
Sorry, it took me a little longer than I had planned to finish the last update!
So, big news first: my trip to London has been postponed.
Yeah, I know, it sucks. Believe me, it wasn't an easy decision for me to make. I was preoccupied with it most of the time I was home. But it really came down to the simple fact that I didn't have as much money saved as I wanted to. I would have still had enough to go, but I would have been broke as soon as I got there, and in the position where I'd need to find a job right away so I could pay the rent. And that's not how I want to do it. I want to have some time to look around and find a good job, the right job for me. So I've decided to stay here for a while longer, probably about 6 months, and really save up a good amount, so that when I go, I'm in the position I want to be.
So, I'm in Toronto for a while longer! And because of that, I made another important decision - I don't want to live in Mississauga any more. The commute is really bothering me, and if I have to be here for another six months, I'd rather be in the city. Not to mention the fact that our current apartment is falling apart and the management is totally useless. So we've put in our notice, and will be moving at the end of October. We spent a LOT of time looking at apartments (that's why I've been so busy and haven't updated since my last entry!), but on Thursday we finally found one that we want. We have to go in on Monday to put our money down and everything, and then hopefully we will have it!! It is right downtown, at Yonge and College, for those who know the city, which means I could walk to work, and even go home for lunch again. Plus, it's a nice apartment, though a bit small, and the building is really nice. We think we will be very happy there. I can't wait!!
Other than that, not an awful lot has been going on (you mean you wanted more??). We celebrated Todd's birthday on the 29th by going to Spamalot, and we went to the Ex for the first time ever for both of us. Todd's between classes right now (his new semester starts next week), so we've just been hanging out at home a lot on the weekends, which has been nice. Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with Laurie for lunch, since she and Jeremy are in town for a music festival.
As promised, here are a couple of pictures of my time at home - there's me and my sisters, and my brother Lee and his wife Dawnelda. Because I am staying longer, I will get to go home for Christmas and see everyone again, which is a nice plus.
Alright, I know, I didn't update from home, and I've been back a week and still haven't. I have no excuse but my usual one – lack of time, and general laziness. We were hardly at home while I was out West, and when we were, we did astonishingly little, which was just the way I wanted it. A typical day at my mom's house involved picking raspberries, watching daytime TV, doing crosswords, playing Yahtzee, making meals, and if we were really energetic, going downtown for some errands.
Aside from those few lazy days, the trip was actually quite busy. I arrived in Edmonton on Tuesday evening, and we stayed there until Thursday morning, spending some time with my sister, brother-in-law and adorable nephew. On Thursday, we went to Camrose for a doctor's appointment for my mom, and then stopped in Killam for supper with my grandfather and his girlfriend (my mother prefers "lady friend").
Friday and Saturday were lazy days, then on Sunday we got up early and hit the road! We stopped in Batoche, Saskatchewan at about 1 p.m., and were there until just after 5, exploring the national historic site. There was a really well-done video/visual presentation, and a small museum, and then you could just walk around what remains of the town (which isn't much!). From there, we continued on to Prince Albert National Park, eventually arriving at our destination of Waskesiu at around 7 p.m.
Waskesiu is a small resort-style town in the park, and we had a lot of fun there! Monday morning we got up and drove out of town a bit and went for a walk on one of the hiking trails in the park. Mom was worried about black bears, but other than that (and incessant spider webs), it was a really nice walk. We did not see any bears. After a quick lunch, we spent about 3 hours at the beach, which is really good for me and beaches. I swam for a bit, but the water was chilly! We had supper at a very busy restaurant, and then went to the little movie theatre to see Pirates of the Caribbean. The next day, we drove home again, in the sweltering heat with no air conditioning in the car. We did take a break to visit my other grandfather and his wife in Saskatoon on the way home.
After a couple of relaxing days at home, we were off again, to Calgary for Lee's wedding. We got to the city mid-afternoon on Friday, and just had time to check in before heading off to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The wedding was Saturday afternoon, and it was really lovely. I messed up once in my reading, but I don't think anyone noticed. We just visited back at the hotel until it was time for the reception, which was at Canada Olympic Park. The supper was good, and the speeches were my favourite part of the whole day. There was the dance after that, but I had a bit of a headache and was tired, so I didn’t last too long – I left around 11:30, while the most persistent revellers were there until around 2.
The next morning we had a late start, and after lunch in Calgary, I went with my youngest sister to Red Deer, to see her apartment there. We visited for the rest of the afternoon, and I continued on to Edmonton that night, where my mom was already having a BBQ supper at my uncle's, so I joined that in progress. On Monday, we spent the entire day at Fort Edmonton, which was a lot of fun! I had been there many years ago, but hadn't remembered it being so big. After a very quick stop back at my sister's house, I headed out for dinner with Todd’s parents and grandmother, who also live in the city.
Tuesday we were invited out to the zoo, but I wanted to spend some quality time with my nephew, so we stayed in. After playing all day, we all went out that evening to the Edmonton corn maze, which was designed this year as an Edmonton Oiler and the Oilers logo. It was actually a lot of fun, as they had checkpoints, and little trivia questions to help you on your way. We finished in just over an hour. And then on Wednesday, it was time to come home again!
You know what, this has been long enough already, so I'll update again later this weekend with all the news that's been going on since I got home (and there’s been lots!). And more pictures. But I'll let you absorb all that for now, along with this one picture of Caleb and me. Have a good weekend!
And now we're at the end of July!! I am leaving in two months - can you believe it? It doesn't seem quite real yet - probably when I have the plane ticket bought, and the visa in hand, it will be a bit more concrete. But one thing at a time.
Before any of that, I'll be heading home on Tuesday for my brother's wedding. The wedding's actually not until the 12th of August, so I'll have lots of time to visit with my mom, and see my nephew, of course! My mom and I are also spending some of the long weekend at Prince Albert National Park, which should be lots of fun. I'll try to update at least once from home, and there will be tons of pictures to share!
Since I last wrote, there hasn't been a whole lot going on, actually. To follow up with my last entry, our non-existent supers (that is, the ones who work for other buildings) STILL have not been to look at our apartment. Todd wrote them another letter on Thursday, so we'll see if anything happens.
The second weekend in July was spent visiting with a few of Todd's friends, and then he did his service at his church. Their minister takes the summer off from leading services, so different people in the congregation do it, and Todd's done one for the last few years. If you're really curious, you can listen to the whole thing online! He plays several of his songs, and I even get a nice mention. :-)
The weekend after, we were supposed to go to Stubstock, but I ended up being terribly sick for four days, and didn't leave the apartment, let alone the city. So that was a shame, 'cause I wanted to spend some time with the girls, since we're all so busy this summer. Now I guess it will have to wait until September.
Last weekend was the comedy festival in Montreal, which was a lot of fun! We took the train down, and stayed at a very nice little budget hotel right off St. Denis, so very close to the festival stuff. We wandered around the old city, spent some time with my cousin Tricia and her boyfriend Scott, and then went to one of the Just for Laughs galas with John Cleese. It was really good. Some of the comics were better than others, but overall it was a lot of fun. Jimmy Carr was probably my favourite!
And now this weekend, we went to see Superman Returns on Friday, and then have just been running some errands in between spending tons of time outside. I'm very tanned/burned, and yesterday I sweated so much there were salt stains on the waist of my pants - bet that's an image you needed. :-) But it's been very hot here, and tomorrow is supposed to be unbearably humind - can't say I will mind getting back to the Alberta dryness.
Okay, a few pictures for now (from Montreal, and one of Tiger), and I'll try to update from home.
I am sooo unimpressed right now. On Tuesday after work, I came home to find our bathroom flooded, and a nice pool of water in the spare bedroom. The super came to take a look at it, and decided that it had leaked from the unit above us, and there was in fact a large bubble in the ceiling above the toilet. So he said they'd get somebody in to fix it. Today, I came home to this:
Anyway. Other than that, it's been a pretty good week! We had a really fun trip to Ottawa for the long weekend. We drove up Friday in the afternoon, and made it to Laurie and Jeremy's in time for a little Guitar Hero before supper, after which we went downtown for a Haunted walk, and then back to the house for some Simpson's trivia. On July 1 (after dealing with an oil leak in the rental car), we all went to the National War Museum, and then headed to the market for something to eat. Every place was crowded, of course, so we ended up at a lounge that was loud with pretty uninspiring food, but at least it was supper. After that, we went to Major's Hill Park for some of the shows there, and then to Parliament Hill for the end of the main stage and the fireworks. Then there was the madness of getting on a bus to get home, which cannot be described unless you have experienced it.
On Sunday, we went to Gatineau Park and did the trail at Pink Lake, which was very nice. That evening, Laurie and Jeremy had a barbecque with some friends over, so we had good food, and played some more games afterwards. And on Monday we drove home, which involved a close call with some ducks and an angry driver.
Last night, Brenda, Peggy, Todd and I went to a sneak preview of the movie Peaceful Warrior, which was pretty enjoyable! I still haven't seen Superman Returns yet, can you believe it?? Maybe this weekend.
Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend - me in a slightly too large replica helmet from the Boer War, Pink Lake at Gatineau Park, and a turtle in the lake. Guess I'll go start gathering cleaning supplies...
Look at this, I'm actually updating twice in a month! It's a miracle!
Unfortunately, I don't have very good news to report regarding my mother. Her recovery was going pretty well, but I've just had an email from my sister yesterday that she'll need to have a minor surgery on Monday to fix something else that's come up. I haven't been able to speak to her myself yet, but I'll be trying a bit later this morning. This is quite disappointing, I know she was pretty anxious to get home.
Around here, things aren't nearly as dramatic. Probably the biggest excitement all week is that I dyed my hair! Yes, again. But a new colour this time, a dark-ish red, and I really like it! Here are a couple of pictures:
I crossed a couple of more things off my Toronto to-do list this week as well. On Wednesday night, Susan, Michelle, Peggy and I went on a Haunted Toronto walk, that went through some of the downtown area. It was fairly interesting. Peggy and Michelle weren't that impressed, but I thought there were some interesting stories, and I learned a few things about the city that I didn't know before!
Yesterday, Todd and I got up early and went downtown for a bike tour of the Toronto islands. We were actually the only people on the tour! We started at the St. Lawrence market, and then took the ferry over to one end of the islands, biked around and across, and took the ferry back from the other end. Along the way we stopped to get some of the local history (including another ghost story), and to take in a few of the island attractions, like the dragon boat races that were going on, and the hedge maze (which, sadly, we were unable to find the middle of). It was a lot of fun, and an absolutely gorgeous day for it. They also have tours of downtown, and of the Beaches, so if you're interested, I'd highly recommend it! Here is a picture of us on the island with Toronto in the background:
Other than that, it's been a fairly quiet week. Next weekend is Canada Day, so I've taken the Friday off work, and Todd and I are going to Ottawa to stay with Laurie and Jeremy and do all of the typical Ottawa Canada Day things. :-) Should be fun!
June is half over - just three and a half more months until England!!
It also means that my mom's surgery is over - she went in on Wednesday. So far it looks like everything went really well, and she's in good spirits. I'm so happy. There were a lot of things that might have gone wrong with it, and it doesn't look like they have. So hopefully she'll be back to normal in no time at all. Definitely in time for my trip home, which is now booked - I fly to Edmonton on August 1, and Lee's wedding is the 12th. I'll be staying until the 16th. Todd can't come, unfortunately, 'cause it's right around exam time, but it will be a lot of fun anyway!
I know, I didn't update about the New York trip. I honestly don't know where the time is going. But anyway, it was a good trip, travel-wise, and a mediocre trip, theatre-wise. We left here early Friday morning and drove to the city, parking at Port Authority as usual. We were staying at the Big Apple Hostel, where I've stayed the last four or five times I've been down. It's just such a great location! Usually I stay in a dorm room, but this time we had a private room, which had a TV and a safe, so it was almost like being in a hotel. :-)
We did some walking right off the bat, with a little tour around Midtown, going down to see the Empire State Building and Madison Square Gardens. That night we got tickets for Lestat and had a good supper at the Olive Garden. The show was pretty disappointing, unfortunately, but the cast was great. We had an early night in then, since the drive had tired us both out, plus I wanted to get up early! The next morning we were at the Brooks Atkinson theatre by 7:30 to wait for standing room tickets for The Odd Couple. So we waited...and waited...and finally at 10:00, the box office opened, and we were still the only people waiting. Oops. :-) But at least we got our tickets!
We headed down to Union Square to start a walking tour of lower Manhattan. After looking around there, we wandered down to Washington Square park, where we had some lunch, and then went over to the Merchant House museum, which is an old home from the 1830s, owned by a wealthy family. It was a pretty good museum, and not too long to go through - we spent about 40 minutes there. After that, we headed down to the Lower East Side, where I had wanted to go the Tenement Museum. Unfortunately, once we found it, there was almost a two-hour wait for a tour (guess you're supposed to book ahead), so we decided not to do it. :-( Oh well, next time!
From there we walked through Little Italy and Chinatown, down to City Hall, and then to the World Trade Centre site. This is the start of my usual walking tour, that almost everyone I've taken to New York has been subjected to. :-) We went to Trinity Church, Wall Street, and then down to Battery Park. After all that, we were pretty tired, so we headed back to Midtown, and had a quick supper at Ollie's, and then rested at the hostel a bit before going to stand through the show that night!
We wanted to see the show pretty much to see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and because Todd's a comedy fan. The show actually wasn't as funny as I expected it to be, though there were definitely moments. Overall, we enjoyed it, but nothing spectacular.
The next morning we slept in, and then had brunch, and walked some more! This time we went to Grand Central Station, and over to the UN. We looked around a bit inside, and then came back to 5th Avenue to stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Centre and Radio City Music Hall. From there, we tried to get lottery tickets for The Drowsy Chaperone, but didn't have any luck, so we went for Ben & Jerry's ice cream instead. :-) We had planned to spend the afternoon in Central Park if we didn't get tickets, but unfortunately it started to rain! So we did go to the park and looked around a bit, but didn't stay too long.
We had supper at John's Pizzeria that night, and then got tickets for Avenue Q at the booth, which we both really enjoyed. My best experience of the trip, easily. And then we had an early night again, since the following day was the drive home. So I think that, for Todd's first time there, he got to see an awful lot. :-) He liked it, but found Midtown too busy for his taste.
Back home, we've been playing tourist a bit too! I've made a list of things I want to do here before I leave, and we agreed that we'd take turns alternating who gets to pick what we do on the weekend. So my first weekend, we went to Doors Open, and visited four buildings in the city. We had hoped to do quite a few more than four, but the lineups were pretty long in some places.
On my next weekend, we visited Casa Loma and Spadina House. Casa Loma is one of my favourite things in Toronto, and Todd had never been. So we spent a few hours there, and then went next door to Spadina House, which I'd always been meaning to do and had never gotten around to. It was actually a really interesting tour! Todd even said he liked it more than Casa Loma, which I think is a bit of sacrilege, but I guess he's entitled to his opinion. :-) Anyway, I definitely recommend checking it out if you're going to Casa Loma already.
This weekend is Todd's weekend to pick, and he actually just wants to stay in, since he's been working hard all week on a paper for one of his classes. So I think we're just going out later for dinner (there's a shrimp festival on at Big Daddy's Crab Shack!).
Anyway, I'm hungry now, time to get some breakfast! Here are some pictures from some of the above-mentioned activities!
Tiger relaxing out on the balcony
Todd at Casa Loma
Spadina House
Me in the gardens at Spadina House
A cute little bunny that Todd give me
sitting at my desk at work
So we're into the middle of May now! The above is a picture of me at my computer, with Tiger in the background. :-) He and I are enjoying some quality time together, as things get back to normal. We were very busy with the visit from Todd's parents. They stayed for 10 days, and we took trips to Cooperstown (to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame), and Niagara-on-the-Lake (to see a show at the Shaw Festival). We also did stuff in the city, and tried to entertain here at home (I'm not sure how entertaining it was!). They're very nice people, but it's always a bit stressful to have someone staying with you, so as much as we enjoyed the visit, we're breathing a bit easier now.
Todd's also back at school, he started his new classes last night, so I'm going to have some evenings to myself for a while. Does this mean more frequent updating?? I'm not promising anything just yet. :-)
I'm spending this week looking forward to the weekend, when I'm heading down to New York for my annual long weekend trip! This will be Todd's first time there, so we're actually only going to see 3 shows (when there's enough time for 5 - can you believe it?), and do lots of walking around the city as well. Hopefully the weather's decent! We're hoping to see The Odd Couple, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Lestat for shows, but that might change. Avenue Q and Altar Boyz are high on the back-up list.
We're also planning a couple of other weekend trips in the summer - hopefully to Ottawa for Canada Day weekend, and then to Montreal for the comedy festival later in July. We got tickets to the Just for Laughs gala with John Cleese, so that should be fun! We're staying at a modern-looking hotel on St. Denis - it'll be the most time I've spent in Montreal since I was 16, so I'm looking forward to exploring the city a bit more!
There will be some exploring of Toronto next weekend as well, with the Doors Open weekend here. And then there's the Stubstock weekend in July, which I'm looking forward to after our poor dodgeball showing last year. Poor Todd is getting dragged to all this stuff when he should probably be studying - oops! But he did well on his courses this past term, so I have faith that he can keep it together for the summer. :-)
There have been some developments on the London front, though not particularly positive ones. The apartment I was planning on staying in might be a no-go, and one of the contacts I had for a job is going to be out of commission for the next two years. But I've been doing lots of online searching for jobs and apartments, and come up with lots of interesting things for both, so I'm not letting any of that get me too down. I did, however, do a pretty detailed budget analysis, and it looks like my departure date is going to get pushed back to the end of September rather than the beginning. Not much point in getting over there and being broke right off the bat! So I'll work an extra month here and save up some more cash.
Okay, that's about all for now - I'll try and post next week when we get back from New York! A couple of pictures for now - the first is the scene out our balcony window - lots of trees in bloom! And then there's Tiger sticking his tongue out at me. :-) Have a great long weekend everyone!
Happy Easter!
Yup, it's been another month since I updated in here, and I honestly don't know why. I mean, I do have some time at home, but I think with the extra 3 hours a day of commuting, my time in general is feeling much more limited. So today, at the end of a three-day weekend, I'm taking a few moments to clean up some things on my site and put at least a small entry in here.
So what's been going on since the last time? Well, some sad news first. I went to my first funeral ever. It was for the mother of one of the women that I work with. It was a Muslim ceremony, which was very interesting, but also very sad, of course.
Yesterday was my nephew Caleb's first birthday! I can't believe it's been a year already. They had a big party for him at home, so I'll have to wait and see the pictures. I sent him a bubble lawn mower and a coin set for this year. I know the coins won't mean anything to him right now, but hopefully he'll like them when he's older!
I've also been busy with all my various medical appointments, but have finally managed to get pretty much everything sorted out. I got my nightguard that's supposed to stop me from grinding my teeth at night, and will hopefully eventually return full mobility to my jaw. I also went with Michelle, Peggy and Tanya for massages at the Elmwood Spa, which was absolutely heavenly.
And then there was the ordeal of my shoes. I needed to get orthotics for my fallen arch, so I finally went for the fitting, where I learned that not only do I need orthotics, I needed the shoes to go along with them, which would NOT be be covered by my insurance. So when the whole thing was over and done with, I got ONE pair of shoes for....get ready for this.... $850!!! And they're not even pretty shoes. :-( I mean, they're okay, they're not hideous, but they're still orthopaedic shoes. Oh dear.
While I was throwing money around, I decided to finally get myself a digital camera! This was brought on mostly because my trusty regular camera ceased to function entirely. So I bought a new one (this one!), and we've been having some fun with it. Here are some pictures of the new apartment, and below are some from today (Todd with his Easter basket!).
Hope you are all having a nice holiday!
