Dreary day in Toronto. Boo!

And the forecast for the rest of the long weekend? Thundershowers, thundershowers and more rain. Fantastic!

And me, planning to move. Sigh. What great planning.

Had a lovely sushi dinner last night with Jess. And more presents!

AND I had my inaugural visit to Bally's, following my re-membership. They have a really good annual deal, so I had to go for it. Maybe this way, I'll actually go to some yoga and pilates classes.

For now, though, my chest and back are screaming at me for my efforts last night. And today is volleyball. As usual, I will rip up the court, despite the fact that I can't lift my arms above my shoulders. Ouch.

Today, my workmates took me out for birthday lunch... I'm really lucky to work in such a nice place. Most people don't like their jobs at all. I'm glad that I have such great people around me.

Then I got birthday wishes from all my friends... Raye, Jess, Heather and her mom, Marlene, from BC, Susan from Scotland, Andrea from Germany, Jaap and his parents and Jan, all from the Netherlands, Emilie in Australia, Chris, Tony, my cousin Becca, my mom (of course!).

I'm such a lucky girl.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Went home for the weekend to celebrate, well, me. It was so lovely. So quiet, so relaxed, too much food, enough sleep... perfection!

Plus, Matt and Kendra got me a gift certificate, so I got to go shopping with Matt and buy new clothes! My first new clothes since I've returned home!

I got a yoga mat and an IQ-test book shaped like a toilet for reading at those special moments. And I brought home Matt's old bike so I can start riding (as soon as I figure out how to get the tire on properly...)

And today I celebrate another year on the planet. What a year it's been. It's hard to believe that, on this day last year I was in Sydney, blowing out the candles from my chocolate-bar birthday cake that Andrea made me. I miss her. That was a good day.

ohmygosh

My bridesmaid's dress just arrived from Vancouver and it is SO pretty!

I am going to be so pretty! I'm so excited!
I've never been in a wedding party before. Yay!

Yay for Heather picking out something nice.

OK, I'm a good cook, when it really comes down to it. I mean, I just made a yummy meal out of odds and ends that I had in my cupboard at home.
 
All it takes is having the right odds n ends.
 
I wonder why I suck so much when I'm trying to cook for others? Maybe because I try to make something new and interesting and, since it's all trial and error, sometimes it just sucks. When I make it for myself, I can throw it out and start over. When I'm cooking for others, it's usually because we're hungry and need to eat now now now.  OR maybe they're just more picky than I am.
 
It's a good thing that I was able to bring in something yummy and healthy from home, because last night I went out for a very unhealthful dinner of E&C fish n chips with my friend Mike.
 
Did I mention that I didn't even recognize Mike?
Hair all over the place, he looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Last night I saw a fantastic rendition of As You Like It in the Boston Commons. Really top-notch.
 
And I had a most magnificent sleep in the Park Plaza Hotel. Yay for Internet specials on lovely hotels! Tonight is slightly less posh, at the YWCA. It's fine, though, since I'll be out for the entire day and only there to sleep.
 
I am in love with Boston.
Today I plan to walk the Freedom Trail and visit Harvard in Cambridge. It's a lot of walking, but so worth it! It's such a beautiful city and the weather is perfect!
 
I'm sad that I have to leave tomorrow, as there's just so much to DO here!

I love Boston!

I'm on my way to Boston tomorrow. And of course it's supposed to rain all weekend!!!

Happy Belated Birthday, Dave!

I finally signed for my new place last night!

And even drank to the occasion! I'm quite excited, even though I can't move in for a while yet... damn rental agreements! Can't wait until I have a dishwasher again. And my lovely majik bed!

And to celebrate further I went for a power roller blade with Tree around Forest Hill, the super-rich part of Toronto. My GOD the houses! And the hills... what a bad idea it was for a newbie like me to rubber-neck at houses in the fading light on a cracked street with a large downhill gradient.

Of course, I flew out of control and screamed and waved my arms and tried swerving to slow down, which only alarmed the vehicle that was following me. Finally, I crashed into the curb and fell ungracefully to the asphalt. Nice. I'm all class.

At least I didn't hurt myself too badly. My knees are a little tender and so is my pride.

Met up with Anita and Ev, my roommates from university, for dinner last night.

Ev brought Jude, her 7-month-old, who is the cutest, most smiley baby I've ever met. He was wearing the cutest bright green soccer shirt with a bright yellow Old Navy sweatshirt and jeans and I thought if he were any cuter I could just eat him right up! With his fine blong hair and bright blue eyes that crinkle up when he laughs, which is most of the time.

In the restaurant, he smeared his face with his food, rubbing it into his hair... gotta love kids' enjoyment of their food.

Anita talked about how she freaked out on this guy she went out with... reportedly the nicest, most gentlemanly guy she's ever gone out with. She laughed about what a spaz she was and I told her to write to him and just be honest, telling him that she'd been a spaz. Good advice? I figured, what does she have to lose, really?

Ev talked about how her daughter is in ballet and having her first sleep-over without her -- a big step for a child. She talked about all the people that have had babies lately... it's breeding season, apparently.

And all the while Neet and I cooed over Jude. The girls are going to LOVE him. He's such a flirt.

And then Ev told me about how people are predicting that I'm going to marry Alex. Interesting theory.

Last night I met up with Tree and we drank a bottle of wine on her back porch, and ate cheese, bread and good olive oil. Mmmm.

Then we went to see As You Like It in High Park. God, I love theatre. And this was exceptionally good.

Afterwards we went to a nearby pub and drank more wine, talked, and listened to a guy playing his guitar and singing sweet cover songs. It was great; he was so good. We dropped a healthy amount in his tip jar and he nodded gracefully.

"G'night ladies."

Ladies.
I blushed.

We walked back to the subway station, smiling at the hazy full moon hanging just over the park treetops.

Had a lovely day in Bala. Stopped in Gravenhurst and Orillia on the way home. Ate ice cream and played mini golf.

Sadly, had a migraine.
And missed my mom's call.
BOO!

Beautiful weather; must go out and enjoy it.

...and then we won our beach volleyball championships!

It was a hollow victory. Riddled with people hating us, fighting, grievances. Not fun. And when I get down, I'm even worse.

Not to say that I'm anything less than stellar, of course. I was the inspiration for the whole team.

But I lost my joy and then my body was hurting. Migraine, back pain, belly pain, the need to urinate quite urgently. It all conspired. Somehow I even think I sprained my thumb as it hurts and is an ugly purple colour.

Sigh.

So my friend Scott, whom I recruited for the evening as we weren't going to have enough players, and I went to Murphy's where we were meant to meet up with the other volleyball players. Well, it didn't work out; no one from our team was there. So Scott and I sat down to a lovely rack of ribs and chatted the night away (probably a little too late as I have to work today). But it was a good talk, and as always, after talking to Scott, I was left thinking "we don't get together enough."

And then the alarm went off this morning.

While the rest of the world has the day off, I'm at work on Canada Day. Feeling like crap. Tired and headachey and sore.

~pouts~
Please ignore me while I feel sorry for myself.
I can't help it; sometimes I get grumpy and just want someone to bring me a couple Krispy Kremes.