We break with speed, that girl can read my racing thoughts.

Today was an insanely busy, but very nice day at work. I took two groups of students on an environmental science field study at a nearby river. I brought one group there and back, then did the same with the second group.

However, being outside on a sunny day in a pair of jeans that become muddy as the day goes on is a nice change from being inside a classroom. All of the kids were really great too. I love how even the toughest of teenagers will lose his/her swagger when immersed in identifying insects. "Miss! It's one of those sideways swimming bugs you told us about! That's so wicked!" "Miss we found a crayfish! Come quick!"

Here's a picture that I took from our site. The subway goes above the river, and it was nice when I had a few seconds to watch the trains go by.


Anyway, it was a fun day. I look forward to analyzing our data tomorrow and going through pictures in class. I'd also brought some isopropyl alcohol and vials to preserve some of the bugs to show samples to future classes, but I didn't have the heart to preserve any of our fine specimens, so back in the river they went.

After school, I went for a nice run at the gym, then ran some errands. I stopped by to pick up a button for my local Liberal candidate for MPP. He co-founded War Child Canada, so even if I have NDP leanings, I have to vote for this man because he's a very strong candidate. Heck, he's even endorsed by K'Naan.

This upcoming provincial election is very near and dear to my heart. Even though I'm passionate about the environment, health-care, employment, social justice, poverty, and social programs, let's face it: education is my #1 political priority. I believe that providing children with a quality education will inevitably help with all of the issues above.

Of course, since I am an educator, I have a huge vested interest in the system, and in working conditions for teachers. However, good working conditions for teachers are best for students. If you look at countries with the top education systems in the world, teachers come from the top of their graduating classes in university, are respected, and paid fairly.

Ontario has been following this model in the past eight years, and we've made leaps and bounds. Our system is ranked #5 in the world. We've had no labour stoppages during these eight years, unlike during the Harris years. And why do teachers go on strike? It's not about money: it's about issues like prep time and class sizes. Could I teach as effectively as I do now with less preparation time and/or with more students in my class? I certainly could not, and that would be a shame to my students.

This is why this election is so important to me. The current government that we have is not perfect by all means, but it has done a good job overall during the past eight years. It has been campaigning by specifically mentioning its accomplishments, and not with cheap political ads that throw around inane phrases like "taxman" around.

So, Ontarians, please vote on Thursday, and when you do so, don't forget about the damage that was done to our province in the 1990s. Do we want to go back to that?

Anyway, I was planning on doing a separate post about the election, but it all came out here. Now, for a laugh, go to the "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" site, scroll down, and watch the McGuinty attack ad. It's great satire on negative political advertising

Bittersweet Melodies

I enjoyed my Friday night in. Something neat came out of it. I tweeted about the book I was reading, "The Story of Beautiful Girl" by Rachel Simon, and the author tweeted back at me! She told me she's going to be in Toronto at the end of the month to do some readings, and I'm totally going to go. I love how Twitter allows some interaction between you and the artists/authors/musicians/etc. that you love.

On Saturday, I met up with a neighbourhood pal for some shopping and coffee. I got some nice bird earrings, and some stuff at the Body Shop. I also picked up this clock at Indigo since it was Teacher Appreciation weekend so I got 20%. Unsurprisingly, I've had my nerdy eyes on it. It now lives by my desk.


Saturday night was Nuit Blanche. Nuit Blanche is an all-night art event in Toronto where the city is supposedly transformed by installations. Jason and I decided to go for a good sushi dinner, then have a nap, and head out at about 10 pm to hopefully beat some of the crowds.

We followed a plan of attack that was printed in a weekly newspaper. We started at Wychwood Barns Community Gallery which was away from the downtown sites, but supposed to have some stuff. There were a few installations there and some artists had their spaces open, but nothing particularly worthwhile. At least we had to walk through a nice neighourhood to get there.

We headed to Zone A, the north part of downtown, from there. We went to quite a few installations, but found very little that we liked. Too many of them were video installations, which don't particularly lend themselves to photographs. The only video installation that was somewhat remarkable was the upside down Niagara Falls. The only other thing I liked in Zone A was the installation in Bay Street subway station.

Bay Street station has an unused "ghost" station located below the regular station. It's apparently used in the filming of lots of movies. Anyway, the installation turned the ghost station into a TTC slumber party. The station was decorated with lights, and had yoga mats lying around everywhere for you to nap on if you wished. There were trains on either side of the platform that were pitch black, and had sheets hanging over some seats to create forts. It was pretty neat, but too dark to take any photos.

When we got to Zone B, the mid part of downtown, the closed-off portion of Yonge St was insanely busy and not overly pleasant to stroll down. We decided to cab out to the Distillery District which had a few installations, as well as some food trucks for the event. By that time we were both hungry, and got some snacks. I got a maple bacon donut (yummy, but definitely a sometimes food, ha-ha) and we split a grilled cheese sandwich. We went to the Distillery location of Balzac's coffee for hot chocolate.

After feeling better after food and warm drinks, we found the installations in the Distillery District which included a "circus" although it wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped. By this time it was 3 am, so we made the decision to go home as opposed to heading to Zone C. I think we were both cold and tired, and Zone A, where we'd spent most of our time, had been so disappointing that we'd lost our momentum.

I've done Nuit Blanche twice before, and both of these previous times I'd only stayed out for 2-3 hours. Both of those times I saw many more memorable installations as opposed to this year. I think next time I go, I'm going to start in Zone C, since maybe this year that's where all the good stuff was?

We slept in this morning, and after breakfast and some TV, we went out to Soundscapes Records on College St. so that I could buy my copy of Feist's Metals a couple of days early. They were also doing a Willy Wonka contest where tickets to a tiny Feist show next weekend were hidden inside one of the albums in that store. I didn't get the tickets, but I was actually glad since I couldn't really go since I'd already booked my tickets home for Thanksgiving weekend next weekend.

After that we wandered to Sonic Boom records in Kensington Market. I found the coolest thing there: an indie rock colouring book! It has things like a Stars connect-the-dots, a page where you can colour in Hayden's friends, a maze where you can help members of Broken Social Scene get together and make a new record, a page where you can draw the proper hair on the band members of Rilo Kiley and more. How could I not buy that?

After Kensington I headed out to meet up with my friend Elaine to see the movie "The Help" again, so we could see the ending. You might remember that we saw the movie a couple weekends ago, but got evacuated from the theatre due a fire alarm before it ended. The ending was really good, and worth seeing the movie again to see it.

And now it's time for me to crawl into bed with my book and read until it becomes to go to sleep in preparation for Monday. However, the great thing about this week is that it precedes a long weekend. Woot!

You better get your story straight.

I am super pumped that I have NO PLANS for this Friday night. I can't remember having a weekend evening where I'm not doing something. It's not that I don't like doing stuff, but a quiet night is a nice treat.

I had a really great day at school today. Assemblies and literacy test prep meant that I actually had a lot of time to get caught up, and not feel like I go for eight hours without a moment of calm.

I spent some of my day being ticked off by a nasty newspaper front page about "BAD TEACHERS!!!" that made it sound like we were a bunch of drunks who belittle and abuse our students. I'm all for getting rid of the bad apples, but seriously, fear-mongering journalism is not cool at all. Happy World Teachers' Day (yesterday) indeed. This article has accomplished nothing except to stir up anti-teacher rhetoric from people who do not understand what a demanding and important job we do. However, it doesn't matter because at the end of each and every day, I know that I've made a huge difference in the lives of my students and that's what keeps me going.

I'm going to shut up about that article because I've gotten it out of my system by writing a letter to the editor with my work spouse, running 4.18 miles, and doing a little bit of shopping. Roots had a 15% of sale and I bought this interesting cowl-necked sweatshirt. It's made of sweatshirt material, and is totally comfy but looks pretty funky. It'll be great for the cool weather that's coming our way this weekend.


This weekend will be fun too. I think I might have an afternoon of coffee and shopping tomorrow, a re-viewing of "The Help" on Sunday, and Saturday night is Nuite Blanche. Jason and I are planning to go late to avoid the crowds (hopefully). I'll definitely write about it next post.

But for now, I'm thinking that a hot bath, a glass of wine, reading, and hitting the sack early are the way to this Friday.

Happy weekend all!

Change your sheets and then change me.

This post is going to be mostly about music. There's so much great music coming out this fall and I've barely even dipped my toes in, so to speak.

1) Dan Mangan - "Oh Fortune"

This album came out yesterday, but thanks to a pre-order, I've had in heavy rotation for about a week. I really like this album: I think Dan's definitely taken it up a notch since his fabulous album "Nice, Nice, Very Nice". My favourite song is the first track "About As Helpful As You Can Get Without Being Any Help At All". "Post-War Blues" is great too. Watch the live performance below if you are interested. It's a great performance, and makes me really excited for the end of October, when I'll be catching him live.



2) Tori Amos - "Night of Hunters"

This came out last week, and admittedly I've only listened to it once, but I know I'll be spending a lot of time figuring it out. This record was put out on a classical label: Deutsche Grammophon. All of the songs are based upon classical songs, and melodies weave themselves throughout this concept album, which is all about Tori meeting up with some spiritual guides, some of the parts of which are sung by her eleven year-old daughter. I think you'd totally have to be a Tori-phile to be interested in this album, but I look forward to getting to know it better, and to seeing her live in December.

3) Feist - Metals

I have to admit it: I have a huge girl-crush on Feist. It's a very innocent crush - I just like looking at pictures of her (I think she's beautiful), and I love love love her music. I like Feist so much that I recently bought Elle Canada because she was on the cover, and then immediately read the story about her, and put the magazine aside because I don't really like fashion magazines.

Anyway, the new album comes out next Tuesday and I am so excited. It actually just started streaming on www.listentofeist.com and I'm on my first listen and I'm already loving it big time.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm looking forward to seeing Feist in December too?

4) Kathleen Edwards - Wapusk

I just came across this single on iTunes yesterday. I don't think the LP will be out until January, but I really love the "b-side" to this single: "Change Your Sheets". I saw Kathleen perform both of these songs a the little show that Jason and I went to at the Dakota Tavern at the end of the summer. "Change Your Sheets" stuck with me at the show. When she was performing the song, I could really identify with the lyrics. I've been listening to this song non-stop all day. I have a tendency to obsessively listen to a new song repetitively, and this is my new compulsion.

5) Other new releases

I still need to get the new Elliott Brood album, and I'm interested in the new Ohbijou too. Also, my favourite emo band, Jack's Mannequin, is coming out with a new album next Tuesday as well. And, November brings me new Los Campesinos! too, for which I am beyond excited.

Anyway, that's my music rant. You'll probably get some more of these this fall.

I was going to watch TV tonight, but I sort of forgot about it when I started streaming Feist. Oh well. I haven't been reading much lately - I got stuck on a book about Cleopatra's daughter, but luckily it was due back at the library and I couldn't renew it, so I can abandon it now. I'm going to go start a new book, and listen to Feist. You should too. Read and listen to Feist. It's a recipe for bliss.

Open your eyes, put it in drive, get on the road, and just go.

Road trips make for fabulous weekends.

It rained very consistently all of Friday, which made for less than perfect driving conditions on my way to Sturgeon Falls. I managed to leave the city by about 4:15 pm, but I was slowed down by a lot of traffic while heading north on the 400. I think I drove for about 45 minutes at about 30 km/h.

However, even if the weather didn't improve, traffic finally did. I essentially drove straight north for about 400 km to reach my destination. I took a quick break at a Tim Horton's in Gravenhurst for coffee and a sandwich. My timing ended up to be perfect, because as I was driving by Huntsville, I was treated to some impressive fireworks for whatever random reason. They were in the sky just to the left of the highway, and were actually happening at the same time as some sheet lightning. It was cool, but then eventually I passed and couldn't see them anymore.

Even though I was driving toward North Bay at 8 pm - 9 pm in the evening it felt so much later to me because of the sheer lack of traffic on the road. Sometimes I felt like I was the only vehicle on the road. What a contrast to what I'd experienced leaving Toronto!

I made it to my friend Sandee's house before 10 pm, and we had a nice evening catching up and staying up late chatting.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Sandee, her six-month-old daughter, and I headed to Leisure Farms so that I could meet Arnold the pig, and pick up some very delicious butter tarts. This farm had a lot of things going on at it: there were corn mazes, wagon rides, piles of pumpkins, bales of hay sculpted into various creatures, and a lot of yummy fruits/veggies and freshly baked goods for sale.



Unfortunately, Arnold the pig was nowhere to be found. We even asked around. I guess we should have booked an appointment? What a disappointment to go to a farm to meet a pig and not be able to find him. Luckily, I bought some strawberry jam and butter tarts to ease my pain. (Note: the butter tarts were unbelievably delicious!)

We drove around Sturgeon Falls a little bit so I could see the sights, and also went to drop off some mail at a friend of Sandee's. When we got back home, we got Sandee's husband Jason (yes, another Jason... there are now three Jasons associated with the group of 9) to pick us up some poutine and pogos from the best chip stand in Sturgeon. Yum!


In the afternoon, we all went for a small hike, because it was threatening to rain, past a cranberry bog to Lake Nipissing. Then, the skies cleared up a little bit, so we went back out to Leisure Farms to try our luck with Arnold again. Luckily, he was there that time! (Note: small town life is so different from Toronto life... I don't two trips to meet a pig have ever happened in this city.)


After our hike/successful Arnold meeting, I had a nice afternoon nap, and then went for a little walk in downtown Sturgeon. It has the highest concentration of francophones in Canada outside of the province of Quebec. Most of the signs are bilingual, and that fact might also explain the prevalence of awesome poutine.


Sturgeon actually has a sushi restaurant, so Sandee & Jason took advantage of having a true sushi aficionado in their midst to evaluate it. We ordered in some sushi for dinner, and I'd put it on par with any reliable sushi place in Toronto.

This morning I was treated to a delicious breakfast of French Toast made from raisin bread from Leisure Farms. Then, I had to hit road for 400 km straight south. Luckily, the weather was beautiful today. It was sunny and bright, which was perfect, since the leaves had already changed colour in the north (they've just started to turn a tiny bit here). I stopped at Duchesnay Falls outside of North Bay for a small scenic hike up a hill to see a waterfall.


I stopped at a different town at about the halfway mark for a break and an iced coffee. Bracebridge is a classic Muskoka town. I drove around the downtown for a bit, and stopped at a local coffee shop, the Muskoka Bean. Instead of eating there, I decided I would eat at Weber's Hamburgers just a bit north of Orillia. Sandee recommended it to me, and I have driven by it on other trips, but never stopped. It's always got a huge line up, and even though it's on the north side of highway 11, they built a bridge over the divided highway so that you can access it from the south side of the highway. Even though the line was long (as evidenced below), they have a pretty efficient system for getting you through, so I got my food pretty quickly and enjoyed it outside in the sun at a picnic table.


The drive back into the city was very smooth, thankfully. I think the trip home took the same amount of time despite the fact that I stopped for breaks three times, plus once for gas, along the way.

I had such a great time catching up with my friend Sandee and her husband Jason. I was completely spoiled by them: poutine, pogos, pig meet and greets, sushi, french toast, and I was sent home with vegetables from their garden. I left them with a celebrity magazine, and I lent Jason the CDs that I brought with me, so at least it wasn't only me being spoiled, ha-ha.

I love having friends spread out all over the place, because it gives me an opportunity to experience places that otherwise I never would. I really do like the north. I love the fact that I passed what Sandee and I have coined the "moose line". The moose line is the point at which you begin to see moose crossing signs. It's pretty exciting to cross, even though you have your fingers crossed that you don't actually have a moose cross in front of your vehicle.


Despite the fact that I love living in a big city, I love being able to get away from it all. Yay for roadtrips! Hopefully I can take another this fall before winter takes over.

Drive there and then drive back again.

I would rate myself as about 70% from my damned malady. Voice is back. Throat is only sore in the early morning or late evening. Nose is slightly stuffed up. I'm still prone to coughing fits and I'm often dead tired by the end of the day. However, I have energy to make it through the day at school, and have spurts of creativity, and be my usual fun self in social situations.

I've almost made it through another week. I'm really excited for the weekend because this weekend is ROAD TRIP weekend! I'm renting a car and driving four hours up north to visit my pal Sandee (Go9) near North Bay, ON. I've been wanting to make this trip for years, but have not done so because I never settled on a weekend. At the end of the summer I booked it, and now the weekend has arrived!

I was really hoping for some nice sunny weather, but the forecast is calling for rain. It might make going on a hike not possible, but hopefully the forecast is wrong. *fingers crossed* However, no matter what it will be fun catching up with an old friend, and emails have mentioned things like a pig meet 'n greet at a place with pumpkins and a corn maze. You can't go wrong with that!

I'm looking forward to the long drive. I essentially drive straight for the entire trip. I've thrown a motley assortment of CDs into my bag for the drive, since I don't own the cable to connect my iPod, and I haven't had time to make a mix. In addition, I'll have plenty of time to think. I'm not sure what I'll think about, but I'm sure my brain will come up with something to keep be occupied.

Well, I *am* exhausted and heading to bed. I'll let you know how the trip went. Happy weekend! :) I'll leave you with one of my favourite road songs.

Oh Fortune.

I'm sitting here, still stuffed up, cold feet, wearing my favourite hoodie, cat on my shoulders, listening to the CBC Radio 3 Podcast about new fall releases. Grant Lawrence has declared Feist's "Metals" the most anticipated Canadian album of the fall, with Dan Magnan's "Oh Fortune" as the second. I'm psyched for both, as I am for non-Cdn releases by Los Campesinos!, my emo-sweethearts Jack's Mannequin, and Tori Amos. They're playing a song by my new year's band, Elliott Brood, and it's good too. My ears are going to be oh-so-happy this fall.

Anyway, I closed out last week in zombie mode. I took Wednesday off of work and thankfully regained my voice. I really should have stayed home for the rest of the week, but I decided to go in and do my best. At least I could speak again. My plague seemed to move from my throat and into my head. My entire head felt congested and just yuck. As soon as the school day was over on Thursday and Friday, I just came home and slept.

However, I am me, and I had some social plans that I didn't want to break. Jason had won some tickets to some TIFF screenings. I had elected to stay home for the movie on Wednesday, but decided that I could drag myself out for a 10 pm screening on Friday. We went out for pho before the movie, and I didn't even finish mine since this cold has messed with my sense of taste and eating more seemed pointless.

I had faith that the movie was going to be okay because it had been recommended by the Toronto Star. The movie was Americano, a French film that was about a man dealing with his mother's death. Well, all I can say was that it was very film festival-y, if you know what I mean. The dude two seats down from me fell asleep and was snoring. I would have followed suit, but the theatre was about two degrees too cold for me to fall asleep. I give the movie one gigantic MEH.

Yesterday, I had sushi-lunch plans with my friend Flora. I actually started to feel like myself again during the lunch, and I had some energy and animation. It was fun catching up. As always, whenever I meet up with an old friend, I realize how lucky I am to have so many awesome people in my life.

I ran some errands and came home for a nap before heading out again to meet up with my friend Elaine to see The Help. I read the book years ago, and the movie is a good adaptation.

At one point during the movie, a loud beeping, perhaps an alarm, started to go off. You could feel everyone in the theatre sort of thinking the same thing "What's that? Someone should go tell them. I would, but I don't want to miss the movie."

Then over the loudspeaker there was a voice that said "This is Toronto Fire Service. There is an alarm in Tower 1". The beeping stopped, and we continued to watch the movie. Then, maybe ten minutes later, the movie (which was about 95% finished) stopped, the lights went on, and we left the cinema.

It seemed like there was a half-hearted rather slow evacuation going on. People were lining up to go to the washroom, and milling about. There were people still buying stuff at the refreshment stands. There were employees handing out free movie vouchers, and we made sure to get some. We decided to leave the building to go have coffee. We saw fire trucks outside, but seriously, what kind of evacuation is it when people are still buying popcorn? And, fire be damned, I don't think anyone would have left without their free movie coupon.

I joked that if this had happened during Americano, I would have evacuated very quickly, vaulting myself over the snoring man.

Good thing I've read The Help because I've yet to see how the movie is resolved. I bet there were maybe like 5 minutes of the film left. Elaine and I have re-booked to go see it again.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty OK today. Still stuffed up, and I'm going chill out this afternoon/evening with Jason. I should be in good shape for school tomorrow.

Ugh.

I have almost completely lost my voice. I can't believe I'm going to have to take a day off so early into the school year. BLERG.

My throat was hurting last week, and I attributed it to the fact that I was using my voice a lot again with being back to school. Well, it's just gotten worse this week, and I really should have stayed home today, but my classes don't have textbooks yet, so I dragged myself in. I tried to talk less than I normally do - I showed a film (related to the curriculum with corresponding assignment, of course) period 2, and actually connected a computer to a projector and typed out instructions to my period 3 class. I took the subway home from work with my work spouse. I had my iPhone out and was typing messages to her on it. It was pretty funny. I'm going to save that note to laugh at for later.

However, I realize that it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut. I kept wanting to talk and talk and talk. I'm sitting at home now, resting it, and slightly going insane. Seriously, I'm sure that I wouldn't be talking now at all if I didn't have this ailment, but the fact that I can't call my mom and complain really bothers me.

You totally don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, ha-ha.

I'm also really stuffed up and tired too. I am the worst when I get sick. I get into a battle of wills with my body, and my body always wins. It pretty much goes like this:

Christielli's Body (which sounds like a robot): "Warning, warning, I am sick."

Christielli: "I don't have TIME for sickness. I am going to work, going to the gym, and doing every other thing I have planned. You will bow to my will."

Christielli's Body: "Do not push me. Rest now. Or else things will get worse."

Christielli: "Never!!!" And then I proceed to continue to do all the things I want to do, and maybe a few extra things to show my body who is boss.

Christielli's Body: "Enough. Total meltdown commences."

Christielli: "Oh shite. I should have listened. Okay Body, I will rest now and take care of you. Let's never fight this way again."

Of course, I forget about this the next time a sickness rolls around.

So yah, I'm hoping that my voice comes back soon. Because really, I don't have TIME for this. Yeesh. Okay, I'm going to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich to make myself feel better.

I have been dreaming you've been dreaming about me.

Now that I'm done holidaying hard during the summer, I think I've started weekending hard during the school year.

On Friday, two of my work pals and I had massages booked at the spa to celebrate the end of our first week. As we congregated in the parking lot, another colleague asked us "Hey are you ladies in the cycling club?" (The cycling club is new. They go for a bike ride on Fridays, I guess.)

"No, we're going to get massages. I guess we're the spa club," was our reply. Of course, the questioner wanted to join our club.

After a really nice massage, during which my therapist commented that I didn't have much tension (wait, just, wait), I met up with Jason in the Yonge-Dundas neighbourhood for dinner. We went to an old-school diner that's hidden on a street behind the commercialized craziness that's become Y-D. It's basically Toronto's wannabe Times Square. Anyway, dinner was really nice - cheeseburgers, fries, coleslaw and red wine for the win.

After dinner, we headed out to Yonge-Dundas square for an indie show: Jason Collett with Zeus. Jason Collett put on a really nice set that was sometimes rocking, sometimes mellow. It was perfect music for a warm summer evening: my favourite songs were "Love Is a Dirty Word", and the BSS song "Looks Just Like the Sun".

After being Jason Collett's band, Zeus was going to do a set on their own, but someone was really tired and incoherent and could barely stand, so we headed home for some tea.

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to head down to the Summerhill Running Room to pick up my race kit for that evening's night race. I also hit up Starbucks; I am IN LOVE BIG TIME with the salted caramel mocha frappucino (you can get it made light if you are watching your calorie intake FYI). Then, I ran to Staples to stock up on some new Sharpie marking pens and other fun school supplies. School supplies keep me motivated.

My friend Heather took the train down from London, and met up with me at my place. Our race was at 7:55 pm. So what to do with our afternoon that wouldn't tire us out? We went out for a nice lunch in my 'hood, and then got manicures and pedicures. Then we headed back to my place to chill until race time.

The race was at Sunnybrook Park, which isn't too far from where I live. When we got there, the park was filled with runners wearing their headlamps (which made you look like a miner) and black race Tshirts (embellished with some fluorescent stripes and reflective words). When our race started it was just dusk, but it got dark pretty quickly. The weather was perfect: a little bit cool, so that you didn't get too hot while sweating. The neatest part was that during a curve on the course, you could see the lights of all of the runners ahead of you. I wish I could have taken a picture of that, but heck, I wasn't going to slow down.

I finished my race in a time comparable to the other 5Ks I've run this year. I'm pretty consistent. Heather was right behind me; only 1.2 seconds separated us. I didn't realize she was so close until I stopped running and she was right there behind me. We'd started off the race together and then kept passing each other. She would have beaten me, but her shoelace got untied at one point, despite double-knotting, so she had to stop to tie it.

The post-race was a bit of a party. Everyone put their lights on their red setting afterwards, and each runner got a complimentary hamburger/hot dog. I went for the hot dog and it was delicious. The MC dude kept telling us to go to the beer tent for a free glass of beer after the race, and thought that was awesome, until it turned out it was a free shot glass of beer. Boo!

Supposedly, there were full beers that you could buy, and we'd made sure to tuck beer money into our pockets, but we couldn't find where to buy the tickets, and we were feeling cold standing outside in our sweaty running clothes. We decided that we'd drink at home instead, but by the time we got here, we just wanted tea, Modern Family, and then sleep.

Today we headed off to the Jays game. Seriously, sitting for three hours in the sun has probably exhausted me more than the race. The Jays managed to beat the Orioles, despite the fact that they went through pitchers like they were going out of style. We got to witness two Jay homeruns in the bottom of the seventh, and the wonderful Jose Bautista hit a sacrifice fly to get the go-ahead run.

I always love going to baseball games because they remind me so much of my childhood. My family are all huge Jays fans; my parents watch every televised game. I was a huge Jays fan in the 80s, and in the glory days of '92/'93. Every baseball season I say I'm going to go to more games and follow baseball more closely, but I usually just make it to a game or two. This was my first of the almost-finished 2011 season.

Now I'm just tired and ready for bed at 9:12 pm. I'm so hardcore. I've been drinking lots of lemon-ginger tea with honey. My throat is unhappy from me talking a lot in my teacher voice, so tea, and cough drops, have been helping a lot.

I've also been listening to a new Los Campesinos! track on heavy rotation. It's so catchy! I can't wait for their new album, Hello Sadness, that comes out in November.

Hope you all had great weekends and will have good Mondays!

Back to School.

I had an excellent last weekend of summer, even if my plans did not turn out the way I'd thought they would. In fact, because I made another scheduling error (remember this?), I ended up with a bit more culture in my life.

The culture started on Friday night when Jason and I visited the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). They had a great exhibit about water, and it satisfied my inner science nerd, which really needed some nurturing before the big day (i.e. today). Then, I dragged Jason all over my favourite floor of the ROM: floor #2. That's where you get to see dinosaurs, and all kinds of non-extinct creatures in the biodiversity gallery. Oh, and there's the bat cave too. The bat cave is one of my favourite parts!

By the time we headed over to Ancient Egypt, we were losing our attention span and getting hungry, so we popped across the street for some pho. Yum. Then we wandered down Bloor St. and visited Greg's for ice cream (roasted marshmallow FTW), and did some record and book shopping.

On Saturday, I thought I'd booked a morning train to Stratford, but it turned out that I had accidentally booked a train the day before. Argh. When I went to the ticket counter to try and buy a ticket for the proper train, it turned out to be sold out. Also, the ticket lady gave me some attitude. She said "didn't you double check the date in your verification email?" And I replied "well no, I didn't, because I assumed I clicked the proper date on the calendar." Also, at that point I had been a teacher on summer vacation, when dates really have no meaning to me, and I wouldn't have noticed anyway.

So, I ended up begrudgingly buying a ticket for the evening train, and texted Jason saying "are you still going to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario)? I'm still here!"

I also had to call my friend Teresa because we had plans that evening to see Harry Potter, and it didn't look like I could make it. However, luck smiled my way, because Teresa caught a ride with her husband and kids to visit his mom in Toronto, and we saw the movie here, and then I got a ride to Stratford with them on Sunday. I was able to get a refund on the new ticket that I bought earlier that day.

Also, it really worked out that I was able to go to the AGO with Jason, because it was the last weekend of the Abstract Expressionism exhibit that was visiting from MoMA in NYC. We had a good time looking at the AGO's extensive collection of Canadian art, and then we both enjoyed the Abstract Expressionism exhibit. Once our attention span started to wane, we went for a nice late lunch on Queen St. W.

I find that after about 2 hours at a museum or gallery, I can't really take in much more. In fact, my brain gets so filled up, that I'll do something ditzy like say "Hey Jason, is the model ship area?" when we are in fact looking at photographs about industry. Yah Christy, photographs do not equal model ships.

Once I finally made it to Stratford, I was kind of tired, and spent a lot of the less than twenty-hours I had with my parents napping. However, we did watch some fun Sunday night TV, and I chatted with my mom a lot.

I got back into the city yesterday, and was still really tired. I guess lots of culture zaps me. I had a lazy day reading, and then in the evening Becca T arrived! She's staying with me this week as she takes care of some work stuff in Toronto.

And that bring us to today *drumroll*: the first day of school. Really, it was easy. We just had introductory meet 'n greet classes, and then an afternoon of meeting. Tomorrow I'll have to really get back into instructional mode. The first week of school is always nice: I tend to be on top of my planning, because I haven't been swamped yet with marking and extra-curriculars.

Well, so that's that. Day one down, many more to go until I have the opportunity to sink back into summer brain. Ahh, but it does feel good to be back into routine, and having more purpose to my day.

I'm yours to keep, oh won't you keep me, I'm a keeper.

I went into school today for a couple hours. I wanted to sleep in, and couldn't get there until about 1 pm, and then they kicked us out at 3:30 pm, but it was enough time for me to remember how to plan. I feel like I know what I'm doing for the first week, and I'll go in again tomorrow to do some more planning and photocopying.

The first visit back to school always reduces my back-to-school anxiety. I think all teachers have back-to-school nightmares. This year's nightmare involved me being forced to teach geography. Really not all that horrific, but I didn't want to teach another subject. I like my science, thank you very much.

This long weekend will be pretty fun. I have ROM plans with Jason, then a quick visit to Stratford to see my parents, and then on Monday Becca T will be coming back to crash on my couch for awhile.

Then on Tuesday, it's back to the grind. Wish me luck! I hope you all enjoy your long weekends!

You wouldn't even be yourself if you weren't telling a lie.

Here's a rundown of a few days of epicness in reverse.

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!

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, wake up.

After a couple of sunny days where I went on some bike rides and sat in the sun on a patio and read a bit, the weather's turned a little cloudy and ominous. And what bad timing. There is a screening of The Muppet Movie in a park downtown courtesy of TIFF, and Jason and I had plans to go, but it looks like it's gonna thunderstorm, so that might not happen.

Yesterday, I received a letter from AA in the mail in response to my complaint about the customer service I received after my cancelled flight. It included a voucher towards a flight in the future. It could cover a trip to NYC, Chicago, or Boston (I've been doing my research), but I've been to those places all recently. It's not like I have to use it right away; it doesn't seem to have an expiry date, but I've already been thinking about how I could use it. I've always wanted to experience NYC at Christmastime and go skating at Rockefeller Centre. Or maybe I can use it to go somewhere warm (Miami? California?) in the the winter. Anyway, it's just a fun thing to think about.

Yesterday, a new album came out by a band I recently discovered: Library Voices. It's called "Summer of Lust" and it's a really catchy album. I love it. My favourite song on it is "The Prime Minister's Daughter". It's a pretty catchy tune that imagines that Stephen Harper's daughter will grow up to date a dude in a band which would be highly ironic considering his views on arts-funding. Give it a listen:

All the other songs are similarly clever and catchy. Another catchy song, sung to the city of Regina, is "Regina, I Don't Want to Fight", which I found ironic listening to considering my recent post about never having been to Saskatchewan.

Hmmm, what else? I've been having such a laid-back week this week. It's my first this summer. I've been using extra time to cook a little bit, sleep in, catch up with some friends online, and to chill. I'm getting a mani-pedi tomorrow, and I have plans to go on a mini road-trip to Niagara Falls with a friend on Saturday. Next week, I'll have to start planning lessons and photocopying. I think I'm a bit ready to go back. Daresay I'm getting bored and I could use money. I could have more summer vacation, but to enjoy it, I'd have to go on another trip, and that costs money, and I need to work for more money, so that's where I am now - I need to work another year to support my holidays. But I'm hoping I have some nice classes that will allow me to nerd out and plan some fun lessons.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Sadness, but hope.

I woke up this morning to find out that Canada lost an amazing political leader to cancer. I always hoped that one day I'd be able to call Jack Layton our Prime Minister, but sadly, that won't happen.

I highly doubt that any Canadian, regardless of their political stripes, could read his last letter to Canadians without feeling emotional and sadness that Canada lost an amazing leader at his peak.

The closing lines of his letter leave all Canadians, and I think everyone around the world, with words to live by.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Well said, Mr. Layton. May you rest in peace. I hope that one day your vision of Canada, and the world, is realized.

I never...

I am procrastinating right now, and what better to do whilst procrastinating than to steal a meme from someone's blog (in this case wigsf's)?

I never...

...have travelled to Asia, South America, Africa, or Antarctica. There are a lot of continents left on my travel list.

...have been to Saskatchewan or Newfoundland. It's one of my goals to have visited all ten provinces, so those are two travel destinations on my list. (Wait, can one call Saskatchewan a travel destination?)

...have seen Death Cab for Cutie in concert. I think I've pretty much seen every other band I love live.

...have tried Jagermeister.

...got around to buying an air-conditioner, nor a new couch this summer. I swore up and down that I'd do both, but here we are in the waning days of August.

...have been downhill skiing. Or water-skiing either.

...will forget the entire lyrics to Weezer's "El Scorcho". They've been in my head since 1996, and I'm pretty sure they will stay there.

...will be able to get rid of my black Doc Martens from the 90s.

...tried Mr. Pibb + Red Vines. Apparently, they equal crazy delicious.

...posted any pictures from Chicago. So here are some!

Swim until you can't see land.

I am back from a quick trip to St. Ratford and back to retrieve one cat. I left here on Monday morning, and made it there by noon. I relaxed, chilled with the 'rents, visited my aunt, and then I spent today running errands and went to the gym which was really good. I've been feeling pretty lazy post-trip, so that first good workout felt invigorating.

And now we're home and I'm feeling the need for a random-ish post. My friend Heather is visiting me for a couple days and arrives tomorrow morning. We've got a spa day planned for Thursday and I'm not sure what else, but it will be fun catching up and doing girly things.

Now for the random.

1) The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Jason brought me this album by the band Frightened Rabbit back from when he visited Montreal while I was in the US. He saw this Scottish band play at a music festival there. Anyway, I really love the album; it makes me nostalgic for the summer where I visited Claire in Scotland since they mention the North Sea. It's a great road-trip listen too. I had it in the car with me on my way to St. Ratford and back. I recommend it. Its title gives me an idea of what my winter should be.

2) My emo heart is beating fast.

Jack's Mannequin, the band that appeals oh-so-well to my inner-sixteen year old, just released a new song and the video makes me oh-so-happy!

3) I will most liked explode on October 4th.

That's when the new Jack's Mannequin album comes out, AND the new Feist album too! I think the Feist album will win the battle, but seriously, I will be over-stimulated that day.

4) Some random pictures of NYC.

This evening as I was walking down my street here in Toronto, I thought "I miss New York!" I thinking I was daydreaming about Central Park. Here are some pictures of NYC, since I haven't posted any (anywhere!) yet.

Statue of Liberty as seen from our 'round Manhattan boat cruise.

View of our lovely hotel from Central Park:

Me walking in Central Park:

The memorial for John Lennon in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. I think I look for it every time I visit NYC.

Me at Tiffany's. No, I'm not giving the peace sign like a silly teenager. I am holding up two fingers to symbolize the fact that I had to go to Tiffany's twice. The first time I bought a necklace that upon further reflection, I thought made me look too old. I exchanged it for a bracelet. (Rare photo of my on my blog: note, it was windy!)

Here's the bracelet. (And a sparkly ring I bought at Swarovski. The picture doesn't do it justice.I blame Vern for that purchase.)

Times Square. I love this picture (taken by Vern) of the Wicked sign. Oh, how I loved that musical. Also, the Sbarro makes me think of the episode of the office where Michael goes to NYC and eats at Sbarro. Oh, and can you spot Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in the ad for his Broadway musical?

Here's a view of the Manhattan Bridge from my favourite Brooklyn neighbourhood - DUMBO.

And here, from the same beach, is a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. (You have one bridge on your left, one bridge on your right.) We crossed that sucka three times that day: twice during our race, and once we walked it on our way home from DUMBO, so that we could take in the view at a more leisurely pace.

Lastly, here I am walking in one of my favourite Manhattan neighbourhoods: Greenwich Village. We went there for lunch on our supposed-to-be-last-day in NYC. It started to pour, and I left my umbrella packed in my suitcase (silly) so I had to buy this new purple one at CVS.

Ahh, I do <3 NY even though it never wants to let me leave. My 2009 trip to NYC also had a cancelled flight home, but that time, it just meant that we were put on a plane that left 1.5 hours later. Hell, I still love you New York. (I stole that line from Ryan Adams.)

Happy Wednesday pals!

How Come You Never Go There?

I survived the night in the fleabag hotel and made it back home to Toronto. I've never been up and at them so early and quickly than I was on Wednesday morning. We made it out of that place at 7:30 am, even though our rescheduled flight was at 11:20 am.

Of course, things didn't go 100% smoothly from there. When we arrived to the airport, we couldn't check in using the self-service kiosk, so we had to stand in the "problem line" for about twenty minutes. When we got to the agent and gave her our confirmations that we had received the prior evening, she said "you missed your flight."

WTF, I thought as my heart dropped. How hard is it for me to get home? Also, how can you tell me that I've missed my flight when I'm here almost four hours early?

"You were originally scheduled on the 6:45 am flight from La Guardia," the agent explained.

"Yes, we told the agent last night that we wanted that changed," I explained. Who wanted the trouble of moving to another airport, and getting there in time for 6:45 am?

"She didn't cancel that flight, so when you didn't show up for that flight, your booking on the 11:20 am flight was cancelled," she continued using a tone that insinuated that this was somehow our fault.

I asked her if she could fix that, and she could, but seriously, who needs a couple more minutes of stress after your flight was cancelled in the first place? Seriously, I am never flying American Airlines again. I already wrote them an email where I explained that the service at the airport the first night sucked (the agent gave us the wrong reason for our flight cancellation and did not give us a "distressed traveller" voucher for a discount on our fleabag hotel). They haven't responded yet. Boo.

However, we did manage to check in, have a nice enough breakfast at the airport, and chill in the terminal for a bit. Of course, our flight was delayed by another 45 minutes, but we made it Toronto, and there was absolutely no line at customs and our baggage got to us quickly, so at least there were some silver linings.

***

It's so nice to be home though! We've had some really nice summer weather the past couple of days (not too hot and no humidity) and I'm glad to have some down time. I'm going to pick up Miss Rilo on Monday and spend the night at my parents', but I'm glad to have a chill weekend ahead of me. I have to do some heavy-duty apartment cleaning (as always, I never seem to beat the clutter), but I think I'm going to bike to Starbucks this afternoon and finish reading the novel about Frank Lloyd Wright that I picked up while visiting Oak Park.

I also have to write up some proper posts (with pictures) about my trip! My last few days in NYC were great. The run went really well. My time was really similar to my first 5K in May, which I was pleased with since I hadn't been training too hard since then. Also, the weather was pretty hot and humid that day, and there were two hills on the route, so I think having an equal time on a tougher route is a bit of an improvement. The scenery was beautiful and I waved to the Statue of Liberty when I saw her.

I'm not emotionally ready to go back to school yet, but my bank account sure is. However, I'm looking forward to the fall/winter already. I have some really awesome concerts lined up: Dan Mangan, Matthew Good, Feist, and Tori Amos. I'm totally pumped for Feist's new album. I came across the first single on the internet today, and I like it a lot.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Just think, soon enough the days of the week will have meaning for me yet again.

Silver linings and first world problems.

As you all know, I like to travel. And thus far, all of my travels have gone relatively problem free. There's been a delayed-flight here, a lost bag there, and a couple express trains hopped when they should have been locals. However, right now I am facing my biggest travel SNAFU ever.

My flight home was cancelled because of "air traffic control". Airline policy is that we are responsible for finding and paying for our own accommodations. We did our best while tired, annoyed, and lost since we don't know Queens, and have ended up in a scuzzy hotel by the airport. And I won't even tell you about how I got us on the wrong hotel shuttle, which ended up bringing us to an even worse place than this one. I guess the fact that we're not there is a silver lining.

Another silver lining is that we do have free wifi, which our swanky Manhattan hotel did not have.

I had potato chips and peanut butter M&Ms for dinner. We walked over to nicer hotels to see if we could eat in one of their restaurants (closed), and tried to order pizza, but they wouldn't deliver. At least this place has vastly available junk food, I guess, which is yet another silver lining.

We could have stayed at the Sheraton. But our reasoning was that this was cheaper, but still expensive enough to be nice, right? Wrong. If you're ever stuck in this situation, go brand name. Of course, if we had been travelling in Canada, I would have had my handy data plan on my iPhone, and would have looked this place up, so that would have saved us some grief.

Anyway, I do realize that after having a really amazing holiday (I'll blog about the rest later, I swear), this isn't the worst thing in the world that can happen. Hence, it really is a first world problem, that a lot of people would be more than happy to have. However, right now, all I can think about is how much I would love to be at home in my own bed.

Please let there be no cancellation tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me, blogosphere.

p.s. And another silver lining - Vern has gummy bears from FAO Schwarz in her suitcase. Oh, and we have time to share photos!

p.p.s. And I do realize as well how my problems could be way worse, especially considering the riots in London. If things were different, I very well could be there right now, since it's another favourite city of mine. However, I'm not, and my prayers are with my friends in London right now.

NYC!

I love this city. This is my third time visiting, but my first in the summer, so it's nice to see a different side of it. Here's a rundown of what I've packed into the last 24 hours or so.

1) Cabbed from the airport to our really nice hotel on Central Park South. We have been schlepping our stuff on public transit thus far, and after a long flight from SLC to NYC, we splurged on a cab. Plus, the bumpy, crazy, heart-rate-increasing ride is definitely the way to arrive to the city.

2) We navigated the subway to go to little Italy for a nice dinner. My travel buddy loves Italian food, and I love starting NYC trips with a random dinner in Little Italy. Last time I was in NYC we did the same, and I actually found the same yummy restaurant so it was nice to return. Little Italy is awesome on a Friday night in the summer: the streets are closed off to traffic, there are patios everywhere, and there are carts selling gelato and canolis. I was very full when I left Mulberry Street.

3) I woke up early, and went for a nice jog in Central Park. There was some sort of race going on at the same time, yet I was still able to carve my own route on a different path. I love Central Park so much, and I plan on going there a few more times, hopefully for some biking and sight-seeing, before we leave Tuesday night.

4) We started our afternoon by going down Fifth Avenue and doing some shopping. I had decided my big souvenir from this trip would be something shiny from the original Tiffany & Co. It's only a little silver necklace, but I love it. I love the NYC Tiffany shopping experience. All the sales people are really nice, and you get to take the elevator (complete with happy elevator operator) to the third floor where they sell the silver that is affordable for regular people. As I was leaving the store, one saleslady commented "oh, I see you got yourself a blue bag of happiness!" It was very sweet.

5) We headed to one of my fave NYC spots: 30 Rockerfeller Plaza. It's always nice to walk around and see sights familiar from my favourite NBC TV shows.

6) After a completely meh lunch (were running short on time, so went to the first restaurant we saw), we headed to the Gershwin Theatre for Wicked. WOW. It was an amazing show. It might be my favourite musical ever. It's much much different from the book, so Jabba, you'd even like it! I missed it when it was in Toronto awhile ago; but I think seeing it on Broadway must have been better because the sets and the effects were extremely effective. I got teary-eyed at the end of Act One just because the show (and the singing) were so good.

7) We headed back to our hotel to relax, and then headed off to Starbucks* in the rain. We are doing a 5K run across the Brooklyn Bridge tomorrow, so we had to figure out the details and how to get there, hence I'm sitting and blogging. With the rain, and the fact I'll have to be up tomorrow morning at about 6 am, it's going to be a chill night. I think I'll just enjoy the comfy couch in the hotel room and do some reading.

Hope you are all having fabulous weekends! :)

*I like Starbucks in general, but it's so handy when you're on vacation for the free wifi!

Utah in a Nutshell.

I haven't blogged yet from Utah, and I apologize. This part of my trip has been way more laid-back than the Chicago part, and I had ample time, but I think I was just too busy hanging out and chilling to really get to it. But now I will.

We arrived in Utah on Saturday, which now feels like a lifetime ago. I love how time goes so much slower when you are away from home and having fun. Anyway, once our plane landed in Salt Lake City, we rented a car, and I drove twisty mountain roads (it was a little scary!) to arrive in Mount Pleasant, Utah.

We spent the first night catching up with our friends Sandra (Go9) and her husband Jason. We even went out for ice cream at the Shave 'N Cream. As soon as we drove by this place, I died laughing at the name, and knew I had to go. We went the first night and got a tonne of ice cream for $7.50. I asked for a single scoop of ice cream (cost = $1) and got three giant scoops. And yes, I checked, and that was indeed a single scoop. After that I was on a giant sugar high, and composed a song in the car.

On Sunday, we took a long ride out to Arches National Park. It took almost three hours to get there, but it was worth it. Utah's a big state.

Here's a picture of a lookout that we stopped at:

Here's one of the arches at the park. I forget which one it is.

We then hiked up to the arch and climbed in it. Can you spot 1/3 of the Go9?

Here I am walking towards another arch. I've also forgotten the name of this one.

Monday and Tuesday were spent just chilling around town. We went for a road-trip to the nearest "big" city (Provo: an hour's drive away) to go to Best Buy. I thought I'd broken my camera near the end of my hike in the park. I got some sand in the lens and it wouldn't go in and out any more, but it worked again by the time we got to Provo. We still did some shopping, and everyone else bought new electronics except me.

On Monday evening, I cooked my awesome veggie chili for dinner, and we had a nice meal with the very classy wine that Vern and I brought from Chicago. We bought it at Walgreen's one night with the intent of drinking it in our hotel room, but that never happened, so it came to Utah with us. We had a nice campfire in the backyard, made s'mores, and then we girls stayed up talking past 2 am.

Vern and I left Mount Pleasant at noon today, and drove to Park City, where we'll be spending the next two nights. Before we left town, one last stop at the Shave 'N Cream was needed, as well as a photo of us, the sign, and our rental car taken with the self-timer on my now-alive camera.

The drive to Park City was very scenic, with many mountains, lakes, and twisty roads. I'm getting pretty good at this mountain driving, I tell you. After we checked into our hotel, we drove to Main Street and spent the evening wandering around, doing a little shopping, and having a nice supper of some pretty yummy pepperoni pizza. Here's a picture of Main Street:

Tomorrow we have lots on our plate: perhaps a scenic train ride, a visit to an Olympic site where Vern's going to force me to zipline, and then we will head off to Salt Lake City to meet up with The Grunt! I'm excited!

Hope you're all having great weeks. I will hopefully get in a post from NYC, and I will definitely have to backtrack at some point and post pictures from Chicago!

p.s. Vern was commenting that my Utah post is way longer than my Chicago post. That's because that one was from my iPhone, and this one's from my laptop. Yay for hotels with free wi-fi!