spending good quality face time with a few friends from church; a picture mikey (my sort of 2nd dad) holding a picture of mikey, holding a fish; wall to wall air mattresses - best way to live; celtics/raptors exhibition game; the boys (dad and jeff) embracing the holiday spirit; rice chopr on my walk home; photo inspiration for later... think i remember where i took this though?
Friday: once finished at work, I stopped briefly at the new loblaws at queen and portland (and yes, at joe. I couldn’t resist, AND managed to get an additional birthday present for my friend Stacie at the same time!). I then braved the rush hour traffic (which I can confidently say, increase my blood pressure and stress levels significantly, every time I do it) to get to dundas for a 7:30 holiday gathering. while I thought I would be late, I managed a 7:45 arrival time… not too shabby! stacie and nathan (parents of monkeys… and fantastic friends forever) had a few of us over for some appetizers, and general merriment – and it was so nice to see everyone… especially our friend dave who lives in montreal, who I haven’t seen in years (and keep promising to go visit while he’s living there… my list keeps growing). we all brought something, and ate WAY too much, drank amazing homemade cider (by Stacie, the most natural cook of cooks – she’s the one who inspires all my ‘basics’ cooking, i.e. the bagels I made). spent the night laughing so hard we could choke, and then finished with a general bible/religion discussion…. So nice to have friends who you can laugh with, and turn to philosophical discussions, on a dime. when we all realized it was midnight, we said our goodbyes, and I drove home to meet my parents and sister at our family friend’s house for their annual cookie exchange/Christmas party. had a great time – especially when the hosting couple (who are like another set of friends, or parents, to us) began gushing sentiments about their love for my parents… my sister and I were proud (we have kick ass parents). when we realized what time it was, I drove my sister’s friend home, and we were home to bed late.
saturday: woke up at 11 to head out to Toronto – after unpacking, and then repacking some exchange of goods for my apartment changes. – to meet with the ladies I donned with at Laurier (from such adventures as homecoming). was a little late, but nevertheless arrived to find Karli and Alex waiting for me at my apartment… after alex’s arrival from near the Manitoba border, where she teaches on a native reserve (so we rarely get to see her). We chatted, I got Alex some major food, and waited for leigh and elise to arrive… once they did, the rest of the day involved talking, eating Vietnamese food, talking, youtube videos, talking, drinking our customary bambino, talking, 'Christmas Vacation', talking, and wall to wall air mattresses. It was another late night (4am. Again. Worst), but so worth the time, and the laughs. sunday: woke up at 9 for most of the ladies to take off – elise and leigh had to be back in Ottawa for 2, and they had to hit the road… and karli had a family Christmas gathering… so once we said adieu, alex and I spent the morning reading outpost magazines, talking about travelling, and what we hope for the future (it was a heavy weekend for convos). We then trekked to the subway, where alex went her way to meet up with her friend, and I headed down to union station to meet my dad, sister, and sister’s friend for the celtics/raptors exhibition game. celtics - my team – were in a rough way, with garnett hurt, rondo hurt, green having just been called out for the season, and pierce not playing due to injury. As a result, it was a pretty exciting game at the end, with the raptors missing a shot with a scramble under the net at the buzzer, and the Celtics winning by 1. I can’t emphasize enough how happy I am that the NBA season is on. Then headed back home, did some shopping, and went over to my friend’s place for mexican madness… our ritual. Spent the night eating amazing Mexican food, and more talking. amazing. walked home, and met with denver to discuss music, and our plans for big things. including a band.
Hope everyone was able to smash in as much visiting as I was this weekend – lots of parties and socializing everyone?
i'll leave you with these 2 things... my new list of favourite music, from denver and my convo, and one of my favs - garnett - taking the place on my list of new trashtalkers who will appease my need for trashtalking, now that reggie is gone (love that #4 moment in that video)...