Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
The last few weeks have been absolutely amazing - I was going to wait until I uploaded some photos before I posted here, but since the last of our computers seems to have internally combusted (no, not really, but it might as well have), I guess you'll just have to imagine the images. I'll give prompts when you're supposed to imagine!
Starting with the boring: I've fixed my boots problem by only wearing office shoes, and leaving the boots behind. Yes, this has caused an increase in "# days shoes get snowy," but has also resulted in a %100 reduction in "# days Jen looks like an idiot clumping around in winter boots indoors."
(Image# 1: Black pointy toe shoes ON MY FEET UNDER MY DESK. Note the startling lack of similarity to clunky salt-stained winter boots!)
Moving on to the awesome!
An amazing meat-filled week (I'm officially designating March as 'Meatless March' to make up for it) was had with our favourite Austrians ever. We braved frigid temperatures, snow storms, and beautiful sunny days to have some of the best winter fun Toronto has to offer. I finally went to Phil's BBQ, and have some of the best bbq that I've ever had. It was a hit with Chris and Vera too, who pronounced it the best bbq ever.
Skating at Nathan Phillips Square was great, except for my size-too-small skates (how did that happen??). Correction - it was great AFTER I had them sharpened - my two laps before I had them sharpened led to 3 separate moments of Jen spawled on ice. I decided I'd had enough after about 20 minutes, and went back to my office to grab some things that we'd left there while C, V, and Mark finished up on the ice. On my way back, both arms loaded down with books and skates, I took atumble into a slush puddle.
IMAGE: Me, face down in slush, business types diverging around me while I brush off the dirty wet ice and try not to cry because I am very very embarrassed and my pinky finger is sprained. Poor me.
Our last night in Toronto with Chris and Vera was greta - they cooked us an amazing pasta (the sauce had nearly an entire bottle of red wine!) and I made us some chocolate volcano cakes before we headed out to my new favourite bar ever, the Crooked Star, for some of their awesome Caesars (they have FIVE different kinds! All blazingly spicy!) and a round of Oh Hell.
Thursday morning was very sad - V&C had cleared out before we woke up, and their absence was definitely felt. Toronto decided to cheer me up though - from the subway to work I was surrounded by little pink hearts spraypainted in the snow! (IMAGE: little pink hearts! In snow!). Our Valentine's day was nice - as usual we didn't really 'celebrate'- just cooked ourselves a nice dinner complete with wine and Cinema Paradiso.
On Friday, I left for Montreal with my two favourite Toronto M's (Mark and Maggie) to see my favourite Montreal M! Over the course of our three day weekend, we drank many (, many, many) bottles of red wine, saw some art (damn lack of student card!), cooked a lot of yummy food, went out for a lot more yummy food, and had front row seats for a hilarious taping of CBC's "The Debaters." We met up with Vera and Chris again for Poutine and smoked meat, finally saying goodbye and immediately starting to wish we were planning another trip to Austria. We also made the most of our one toboggan on top of Montreal:
(IMAGE: One bright yellow inflatable toboggan, a maggie lying on top of it, with a Megan and a Jen sitting on the Maggie. Five seconds later: A bright yellow inflatable toboggan, a Maggie lying on top of it, with a a Jen sitting on the Maggie, and a Megan sprawled 10m back. Ten seconds later: One bright yellow inflatable toboggan, with a Maggie sprawled beside it, a Jen sprawled 5m back, and a snowy Megan walking toward. You must put big smiles on all involved, and laughing onlookers in your image.)
GOOD TIMES!
I am currently in the midst of a Paula visit, so there will be more updates soon!
Starting with the boring: I've fixed my boots problem by only wearing office shoes, and leaving the boots behind. Yes, this has caused an increase in "# days shoes get snowy," but has also resulted in a %100 reduction in "# days Jen looks like an idiot clumping around in winter boots indoors."
(Image# 1: Black pointy toe shoes ON MY FEET UNDER MY DESK. Note the startling lack of similarity to clunky salt-stained winter boots!)
Moving on to the awesome!
An amazing meat-filled week (I'm officially designating March as 'Meatless March' to make up for it) was had with our favourite Austrians ever. We braved frigid temperatures, snow storms, and beautiful sunny days to have some of the best winter fun Toronto has to offer. I finally went to Phil's BBQ, and have some of the best bbq that I've ever had. It was a hit with Chris and Vera too, who pronounced it the best bbq ever.
Skating at Nathan Phillips Square was great, except for my size-too-small skates (how did that happen??). Correction - it was great AFTER I had them sharpened - my two laps before I had them sharpened led to 3 separate moments of Jen spawled on ice. I decided I'd had enough after about 20 minutes, and went back to my office to grab some things that we'd left there while C, V, and Mark finished up on the ice. On my way back, both arms loaded down with books and skates, I took atumble into a slush puddle.
IMAGE: Me, face down in slush, business types diverging around me while I brush off the dirty wet ice and try not to cry because I am very very embarrassed and my pinky finger is sprained. Poor me.
Our last night in Toronto with Chris and Vera was greta - they cooked us an amazing pasta (the sauce had nearly an entire bottle of red wine!) and I made us some chocolate volcano cakes before we headed out to my new favourite bar ever, the Crooked Star, for some of their awesome Caesars (they have FIVE different kinds! All blazingly spicy!) and a round of Oh Hell.
Thursday morning was very sad - V&C had cleared out before we woke up, and their absence was definitely felt. Toronto decided to cheer me up though - from the subway to work I was surrounded by little pink hearts spraypainted in the snow! (IMAGE: little pink hearts! In snow!). Our Valentine's day was nice - as usual we didn't really 'celebrate'- just cooked ourselves a nice dinner complete with wine and Cinema Paradiso.
On Friday, I left for Montreal with my two favourite Toronto M's (Mark and Maggie) to see my favourite Montreal M! Over the course of our three day weekend, we drank many (, many, many) bottles of red wine, saw some art (damn lack of student card!), cooked a lot of yummy food, went out for a lot more yummy food, and had front row seats for a hilarious taping of CBC's "The Debaters." We met up with Vera and Chris again for Poutine and smoked meat, finally saying goodbye and immediately starting to wish we were planning another trip to Austria. We also made the most of our one toboggan on top of Montreal:
(IMAGE: One bright yellow inflatable toboggan, a maggie lying on top of it, with a Megan and a Jen sitting on the Maggie. Five seconds later: A bright yellow inflatable toboggan, a Maggie lying on top of it, with a a Jen sitting on the Maggie, and a Megan sprawled 10m back. Ten seconds later: One bright yellow inflatable toboggan, with a Maggie sprawled beside it, a Jen sprawled 5m back, and a snowy Megan walking toward. You must put big smiles on all involved, and laughing onlookers in your image.)
GOOD TIMES!
I am currently in the midst of a Paula visit, so there will be more updates soon!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Forgetfulness
I would like to fix whatever fault in brain is causing me to forget to bring shoes to work with me. Stomping around in my winter boots all day for the second day in a row SUCKS. Mark was helpful on the streetcar this morning, pointing out that I HAD remembered to bring my skates and could wear those instead.
PS - Looking forward to skating at Nathan Phillips Square this afternoon! If anyone is in the area, you should come! I'll be there with my amazing Austrians around 3:30-4ish, staying until we are in desperate need of hot chocolate.
PS - Looking forward to skating at Nathan Phillips Square this afternoon! If anyone is in the area, you should come! I'll be there with my amazing Austrians around 3:30-4ish, staying until we are in desperate need of hot chocolate.
Friday, February 01, 2008
BLOGS DON'T UPDATE THEMSELVES MISSY
(side note - I've forgotten to bring my camera along for about a month, so there are no lovely pics to illustrate the fun stuff that I did manage to do in January)
Title credited to my writing coach, the slavedriver Ms. Megan F. I just noticed that I had almost posted a 'new' thing back at the beginning of January, but it never got past the draft stage. I do have very legitimate reasons for NOT posting though - at the moment I am working two jobs and I just calculated that in January, I worked an average of nearly 60 hours per week. Wowsa. I'm liking it though, and not feeling burnt-out. I've decided that the non-burnout is due largely to the fact that my two jobs are polar opposites of each other. My theory is that the hours worked at the one cancel out hours worked at the other - so if I work 20 at one, and 40 at the other in a given week, it's like I've only worked 20 hours. Wow, 20 hours - I'm so lazy!
The last time I felt this way was back at the end of high school, and for brief periods during my undergrad. Instead of being worn out by all of the hours of my day taken up by duties, I was energized and happy. That's pretty much how I'm feeling now. I'm also pretty thrilled that I've finally paid off the last of my trip/application debt, and I can start saving again and splurging on the little things I've been avoiding for the past few months, like going for nice dinners with friends, buying cds and concert tickets, etc.
The one major downside is that it's become very hard to plan my life to include as much time with friends as I'd like. I haven't seen Sharon in WEEKS, shameful since we are living in the same city and work two blocks apart. For that reason, I'm looking VERY forward to her superbowl party this weekend (it's certainly not for the football reason - I've honed my skill of attending s-bowl parties and watching fewer than 5 minutes of the actual game). There's also the hope that I'll get to see Paula and Maggie, and generally gave a kickass day.
Awesome things:
Sushi with friends.
Fancy dinners with friends.
Movies with friends.
Yoga (with friends).
Friends.
Sbux sandwiches, mostly.
Sucky things:
Pain in shoulder.
Working 26 out of 40 hours.
Sbux Antipasto Sandwiches (41! grams of fat, including 8! saturated! >2000 mg sodium! >750 calories! Eat it and you will die!)
Title credited to my writing coach, the slavedriver Ms. Megan F. I just noticed that I had almost posted a 'new' thing back at the beginning of January, but it never got past the draft stage. I do have very legitimate reasons for NOT posting though - at the moment I am working two jobs and I just calculated that in January, I worked an average of nearly 60 hours per week. Wowsa. I'm liking it though, and not feeling burnt-out. I've decided that the non-burnout is due largely to the fact that my two jobs are polar opposites of each other. My theory is that the hours worked at the one cancel out hours worked at the other - so if I work 20 at one, and 40 at the other in a given week, it's like I've only worked 20 hours. Wow, 20 hours - I'm so lazy!
The last time I felt this way was back at the end of high school, and for brief periods during my undergrad. Instead of being worn out by all of the hours of my day taken up by duties, I was energized and happy. That's pretty much how I'm feeling now. I'm also pretty thrilled that I've finally paid off the last of my trip/application debt, and I can start saving again and splurging on the little things I've been avoiding for the past few months, like going for nice dinners with friends, buying cds and concert tickets, etc.
The one major downside is that it's become very hard to plan my life to include as much time with friends as I'd like. I haven't seen Sharon in WEEKS, shameful since we are living in the same city and work two blocks apart. For that reason, I'm looking VERY forward to her superbowl party this weekend (it's certainly not for the football reason - I've honed my skill of attending s-bowl parties and watching fewer than 5 minutes of the actual game). There's also the hope that I'll get to see Paula and Maggie, and generally gave a kickass day.
Awesome things:
Sushi with friends.
Fancy dinners with friends.
Movies with friends.
Yoga (with friends).
Friends.
Sbux sandwiches, mostly.
Sucky things:
Pain in shoulder.
Working 26 out of 40 hours.
Sbux Antipasto Sandwiches (41! grams of fat, including 8! saturated! >2000 mg sodium! >750 calories! Eat it and you will die!)
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