Today: I had a lazy morning of sleep, TV, and breakfast, and then I hopped on my bike to go to the gym for a Body Pump class. After I got home from the gym, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck - I was really tired. I spent the afternoon napping and watching TV, which is so not like me. After dinner, I got back on my bike and rode over to my work spouse's house. Our back-to-school plan was to create a "wall of fun" to hang up in our office. Basically, we went through old pictures of trips, parties, and random things that we have done together, and made a collage. It turned out well, and will cheer us up on stressful days.
Sunday: A morning of sloth, followed by a good run at the gym. I have another 5K race that I'm training for. This one occurs at dusk on Sept. 10th, and you run through a park with a light on your head. It sounded fun, so that's why I signed up.
After the gym, I met up with an old-time blog friend at a neighbourhood bakery. Readers who have been in my "blog circle" for ages probably remember Katie, who used to live in Montreal but then re-located to Toronto a few years ago. Anyway, we never had met each other in person, and decided this needed to be fixed. It was super fun hanging out IRL, and discussing work, life, politics, and all the great people we've both met from blogging, and the one person who was definitely not great. It's awesome that we live in the same 'hood, and I predict more coffees in our future.
Next up on my blog-buddy-to-meet list is Miss Ash. She's someone else who's so geographically close, but we've never organized ourselves to hang out. It will happen this fall. Stay tuned.
Sunday's fun doesn't end there. Jason dropped by for dinner, and then we headed to The Dakota Tavern to catch a small show featuring Kathleen Edwards (with Jim Bryson). We found out about it via Twitter, and it was a super intimate and fun. She played a few new songs too, and I think she mentioned her new album was coming soon. I'm excited.
She opened with the song below, so check it out if you'd like to introduce some gritty alt.country/folk/rock in your life.
Actually, Jason took a video of one of the songs and posted it on Youtube, so here it is. It gives you a good idea of what a tiny show it was.
Saturday: I hadn't seen my friend Wendy in forever, so I couldn't let the summer go by without spending a day with her. She lives in Hamilton, so I took the GO bus out there, and suggested we head to Niagara Falls for the hell of it. It was a beautiful day for a road-trip, and quite frankly, I was craving a chocolate-covered strawberry from the Hershey store.
Not only did I get my strawberry, I had ducked into Starbucks to use the washroom, and they now have a Niagara Falls Starbucks mug! Another one for my collection, woot!
We walked around for a bit, but it was so freakin' hot that we decided a nice air-conditioned lunch was necessary. Everything in downtown NF is pretty much a chain restaurant, so we settled on Boston Pizza. I never eat at chain restaurants in Toronto, so it's a weird treat to have the opportunity to do so.
The restaurant was by the Sky Wheel, and I decided we should go on that to get a nice aerial view of the Falls. Here's a nice view of the Canadian Falls that I took from the Sky Wheel. The mist coming up from the Falls is pretty impressive, eh?
However, from the Sky Wheel, you also get a great view of the Dinosaur Adventure mini-golf course, so we decided we needed to do that too.
It was lived up to its name, with a lot of fake dinosaurs, and we tied, so it was a nice game.
Our parking was up by then, so we headed back to Hamilton but stopped at the Winona Peach Festival on the outskirts. It was pretty crazy - lots of tents of vendors and food and stuff, but I was quite frankly expecting more peaches. However, I did come home with a big basket.
After that, I met her cat for the first time, and then I had to head back on the bus to Toronto. It was nice to get a good view of the CN Tower lit up orange for Jack Layton as the bus drove into the downtown core.
Friday: I was up early and off to the gym, and got a lot of errands done too. I didn't really have any evening plans, but luckily two of my pals from work were back in town after their summer trips, so we had a nice impromptu catch-up session.
Thursday: I totally don't remember what I did this day. It will remain a mystery for the ages.
Wednesday: While I was writing my previous blog post, I had the TV on with coverage of the memorial events that were happening for Jack Layton. I decided to go down to City Hall to pay my respects. I wrote "thank you Jack" in chalk on the sidewalk, and signed the condolence book. I think the past week since Jack's death has been a really surreal and emotional experience for most Canadians. When I went down to City Hall the mood was very sombre and quiet. I had to hold back tears. I know I, like many other people, didn't realize quite what an impact Jack Layton had on them until he was gone. I will carry his message of love, hope, and optimism always.
That night Jason and I were supposed to go see the outdoors screening of The Muppet Movie, but tornado warnings changed those plans. We ended up staying in and having dinner. We were treated to a wicked thunderstorm with lightning that seemed to last for hours.
And that my friends, brings you up to date on my penultimate week of summer vacation. And now we're on to the home stretch. Hope your weeks treat you well!