You always did prefer the drizzle to the rain.

Lots of stuff to catch up on here, I guess.  I survived getting my report cards done.  The Mayor of this city keeps getting more and more ridiculous.  Life continues being really busy.

Friday was a PD Day.  It was our staff day of reflection, and for the second year in a row, we went out into the community to do volunteer work.  My friends and I signed up together to volunteer at a mission for the homeless and socially isolated.

Before our day of service, we decided to meet up for breakfast.  I found a cute vegetarian diner a few steps away from where we volunteered.  It had a wall lined with Pez dispensers which was awesome.  It was great catching up over coffee and chocolate chip pancakes before we went off.

At the shelter, we split into two groups: half of us sorted canned goods for the food bank, and the other of us sorted clothing for the clothing bank.  I was in the clothing group, and I spent my day going through boxes of donations looking for warm things for the winter: coats, hoodies, and things that would be good to layer.

The work that I did affected me.  As you all know, I love clothing and fashion, and I love going out and finding new things, and looking fashionable makes me feel really great about myself.  As I sorted through unwanted items that I knew would be used by people in need, I felt really sad knowing that not everyone gets to make choices about fashion the way I do.  I know it's really superficial, but to not even have the power to make yourself look good must be frustrating.  Or I guess it really made me realize that something that I take for granted, isn't available to everyone. 

We were all in the back room sorting, while the clothing bank's employee (who was a real character) brought new finds out onto the racks in the area where people could look for clothes.  I overhead him trying to find a new winter coat for a woman, but there wasn't much at that point.  Later in the day, I came across a brand new coat (with tags) in her size and I hope it somehow got to her later. 

We got a lot of work done.  The storage room at the clothing bank was a disaster when we got there, and we got it completely cleaned up and unpacked lots of extra boxes too.  It felt good to get work done for another organization, and again, I'm left feeling really thankful that I was lucky enough to get an education, and find a good-paying job that I love and that affords me all of the material goods that I want in life.

I hung out with my friend Mathew in the evening.  We set out to do some Christmas shopping, and ended up buying mostly stuff for ourselves.  (Isn't that how it always happens?)  I don't usually have much luck at Winners, but I ended up finding a really nice designer wool coat for less than half price.  It looks really good on me.  I was going to try and get another year out of my current coat, but I knew I'd found a great coat.  Bring on the cold weather!

On Saturday, I went on a cross border trip with friends from work.  I didn't buy very much at all, mainly just junk from Target.  I went for fun times, and fun times were had.

Today I slept in and then headed off for one of my happy Kensington Market Sunday afternoons.  I went down there to get my hair cut, and also did some real Christmas shopping at the Blue Banana Market.  Yes, I actually got all gifts, and nothing for me.  Then, I treated myself to a grilled cheese sandwich at The Grilled Cheese.  Yum.

Now I'm getting some stuff done, and then I'll curl up with a book.  I could totally use another day of weekend, that's for sure.