Chartres

On my Thursday in Paris, I took the first of two day trips out of Paris. The nice thing about one's third visit to a major city is that you can do things outside of the city. Since I feel that I'd already seen most of Paris' must-sees, I definitely wanted to take some day trips out of the city this time around.

For day trip #1, I headed to the Gare du Montparnasse to catch a train to Chartres. Chartres is a town that's located 96 km southwest of Paris. It's a pleasant approximately 1.5 hour train ride through French countryside, and a great thing to do on a sunny day.

I love the train stations in Paris. The reason why I love them is because they feel like real train stations. They have so many tracks and trains running that they put Toronto's little Union Station to shame. What's more impressive is that there is more than one major train station in Paris. It just makes me feel that trains are respected in Europe, whereas sometimes in North America, train travel feels likes it's an outdated dusty old mode of transportation from the past. Not in Europe.

Once I found the proper place to buy my ticket to Chartres, I snapped a quick picture of the Departures board. See, lots of trains!


The ride was very pleasant. I loved looking at the small towns as I passed by. I wish I could have snapped some pictures of the rolling countryside, but I was just too content to sit and watch to bother myself by trying to get a good shot.

When I arrived in Chartres, I thought to myself "now where to find the Cathedral?" It was pretty easy to spot as soon as I exited the train station.


This cathedral, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, was mostly built between 1193 and 1250, and is apparently one of the finest examples of the French high Gothic style (thanks Wikipedia). It also houses a famous relic said to be the tunic that the Virgin Mary wore while giving birth to Jesus Christ. However, the tunic is not currently on display in order to preserve it.

No matter one's views on religion, I think cathedrals are such interesting displays of architecture and history, and that's why I enjoy visiting them. In addition, when I do visit one I do feel a sense of peace and thankfulness for life just because they are so beautiful.

At first, I walked around the grounds of the cathedral. At the back, you could look down upon the gardens, and there was this interesting pattern planted:

When I was hanging out with my friend Jane after the trip, she mentioned that she'd gone to Chartres when she visited Paris, and asked me if I saw the maze on the floors of the cathedral. I said, no, but I saw it outside. I guess next time I visit a cathedral, I will be sure to look down at the floor.

Here's another view from the gardens.


Then I went inside the cathedral. A lot of the stained glass survives from the 13th century, which is a bit insane, don't you think? No wonder I kept looking up instead of down at the floor!

After visiting inside, I spent some time admiring the crumbling facade of the cathedral. The number of statues and other details was amazing. Many of the statues had aged. There was one of Mary holding a headless baby Jesus. I should have taken a picture but I didn't, because I think it rather disturbed me.

I decided to spend some time wandering around the town a little bit, and getting myself lost along its narrow streets, and admiring some interesting looking houses.

Here's Chartres' Hôtel de Ville:


I decided to return to the cathedral, because at 2 pm, the North Tower re-opened from lunch break. For about €7.50, you could climb the North Tower of the cathedral. I figured it would be a nice view, so I sat on a bench in the square in front of the cathedral and relaxed until 2 pm.

I didn't ask how many stairs I would have to climb. At the end I found out it was a 300 stair climb. I worked up a bit of a sweat.

Totally worth it though. The view was magnificent.

Here's the view of the square where I hung out before my climb.

Goofy self-portrait to prove that I did it!


I love gargoyles.

When I returned back to the ground, I took a picture of the tower I climbed as a memento.

Then, I returned to the train station to catch the train back to Paris.

For a snack, I got a bottle of Orangina, and one of the most amazing granola bars that I discovered at Monoprix this trip. I don't know why I didn't stock up on them and bring them back home. So good. Macadamia nuts, coconut, and dark chocolate.

When I returned to Paris, I had some time to relax and read in the Jardin du Luxumbourg before meeting up with Becca T and accompanying her to a party. It was fun to meet some of her Paris colleagues and friends.

Next post - my day trip to Bruges. Yup, adding another country to my list!

Paris at Night by Bike

When I left you last post, I was chilling by the Eiffel Tower, and listening to Phoenix while waiting for my night time bike tour of Paris.

My blogging pal/traveler extraordinaire AlieMalie recommended that I do a bike tour of Paris using Fat Tire Bike Tours. Now, I have biked a bit in Paris on my own using the Velib' system, but biking any distance through Paris is a little bit intimidating for me because I'd have to spend a lot of time consulting a bike map, and the terrifying traffic (despite the excellent system of bike paths). So, I decided that a tour would be the perfect for me to feel safe biking through Paris, and to leave the planning up to someone else. I opted for the night tour, since it covered a longer distance, and included a cruise on the Seine complete with wine.

It worked out perfectly since Becca had work commitments on Wednesday night, and the bike tour would give me something fun to do.

All of the other people on that night's tour were American other than me. There was a family with three teenage boys from Florida, a trio of Texan teachers, two students from NYC, a Texan studying in Barcelona on a mini-trip to Paris, and a couple from Boston. As we started off, past the Eiffel Tour, one girl's chain fell off her bike, but that left time for an excellent photo op. Here is me and my bike. I bought my new coat especially for Paris. I should have taken off my reflective vest for the photo... you'll see I got better at that as the tour progressed.


We biked past this building at dusk. I think it's Les Invalides, which now houses the Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb, but I could be wrong. Either way it was beautiful.


We biked for a good distance through some traffic all the way to Notre Dame. I was so glad I was doing this as part of a group... It would take some real balls for me to do this on my own. I'm way too timid to even bike in Toronto traffic. During some left turns, all I could do was mutter "holy shit" under my breath. It was exhilarating.

When we got to Notre Dame we stopped on one of the bridges, and our guide explained to us the locks on the bridge. I'd never noticed them before during my other visits to Paris, but maybe I was just crossing the wrong bridges. Anyway, couples in love place the locks on the bridge, then throw the keys into the Seine as a sign of their commitment. There were a few combination locks on the bridge too. People, a combination lock is a deal-breaker, no?


The back of Notre Dame at night. Note the flying buttresses.


The Hôtel de Ville (city hall).


We then stopped for some ice cream at a really yummy place by Notre Dame. I had left my money in my bag at the office, but the nice couple from Boston were nice enough to lend me some. Yay for tour camaraderie.

We headed in the direction of the Louvre. We crossed the pedestrian bridge, the Pont des Arts, that links the Institut de France to the central square of the Louvre.

Here's the gorgeous Institut de France.


Here's a view of the Louvre from the Pont des Arts. It's such a massive building.


From there, we biked to the Pyramid at the entrance of the Louvre.


From there, we biked along streets by the Seine to the docks where we'd meet our boat for our cruise of the Seine. I snapped this picture of my fellow bikers ahead of me, just to capture the sense of what it was like to be following them along the night time streets of Paris.


As we waited for our boat to leave the harbour, I snapped this picture, which I think is my favourite of the entire trip.


The cruise along the Seine was cold, but lots of fun. The boat was fairly large and rather full that evening. There were lots of loud teenagers on the boat (spring break tours, perhaps?) but they just hooted and hollered as we passed underneath bridges. This just made me laugh, because we went under lots of bridges, and you'd think they'd get bored of it, but nope. In addition, I loved watching Parisians along the Seine. There were lots of groups of people sitting by the river drinking wine, which naturally gave me an idea for something to do on my last night in Paris.

I only took a few pictures during the cruise. I think it's because I was relaxing, drinking wine, and chatting with my fellow bikers. I was flattered because one of the Floridian teenagers in my group asked me if I was a student, and I had to admit that no, I was a teacher.

Here's the clock of the Musee de Orsay. The building used to be a train station, but now is a great Art Gallery with lots of Impressionist art work. I visited there my first time in Paris, and it's excellent.


Here's a fuzzy picture of Notre Dame taken from the boat.


After the cruise, we biked back to our starting point but took some time to take some last pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night.




And that was my night bike tour of Paris. It was a great time. I told Becca T that she must do it when her sister visits her. If you ever visit Paris, I suggest you do this tour if you enjoy biking. Thanks for the tip AlieMalie!

My next Paris post will be of my little train trip out of Paris to see the Gothic cathedral at Chartres.

Give me something to remember.

Press play on this video. Do it. Trust me. It's what I've been listening to on repeat as I write this post.



I'm trying my best to get back into the groove of real life post-Paris, and, well, post-other-things. Everyone said that I came back from Paris with a post-Paris glow and looking better but maybe it was the new silk scarves that I got from Monoprix for €15. They are pretty.

Right now, I realize that I'm not the tour-de-force that I usually consider myself to be.

I'm having a hard time getting back into my running regime. I had a crappy-ish first run since Paris yesterday... I just did 5K. It was too much time in my head to do any more. I'm going to run again tomorrow after school. Maybe even take myself to the nice new gym by the Eaton Centre as motivation for a good run. My 10K is in a month and a half. I felt ready for it a few weeks ago, but now... not so much.

I've been losing myself in books. I read through Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections in record time. It was rather depressing, but I overall I liked it (although I liked his more recent novel Freedom better). Now I'm immersed in a novel about Catherine the Great: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.

I was reading this book on my Kindle but then I woke up yesterday, and half of my Kindle screen was dead. I called Amazon, but it's out-of-warranty, so they'll replace it for $65, but I could get the newer model for $79 so what's the point? I actually think I'm going to make the move to the Kobo, because it's compatible with the Toronto Public Library's E-books.

Which reminds me of the fact that our librarians are on-strike so I can't even go to the library these days. :(

I was really into my novel, so I went to Indigo and bought it so I can continue reading it.

I haven't been listening to music as much as I usually do. I've been riding the subway in silence, reading. Note: I usually do listen to music while reading... I've just not been listening to music much.

But I have been... a bit. Enough to have put the new Joel Plaskett Emergency song Harbour Boys on repeat a few times. And listen to some Phoenix, which reminds me of Paris. And discover the Neko Case song that I hope you're listening to now like I told you to. ;)

Oh yes, and I have been listening to John K Samson's album Provincial and some old Weakerthans songs because I did go see my beloved Johnny K play on Thursday night at the beautiful Great Hall which made for an awesome show. The openers were good too. I'd seen Shotgun Jimmie (from Sackville NB) before, and he's a fun guy. I gotta figure out the songs I like by him and get them on my iPod. The other openers, Wake Owl, a young band from Vancouver, were great, and I have acquired their EP, which I'm enjoying immensely.

Of course, Johnny K was fabulous. I love his solo stuff, and I died a bit to hear old Weakerthans tunes, which are the soundtrack to my past, and I also loved when John K and the Provincial Band went loud for some songs. I needed loud. Also, my heart broke during the last song, Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure, because it is a song about a lost cat, and I was missing Rilo (she's back home now), and Johnny K sang it out into the crowd without a mic and it was a perfect moment.

I forgot to bring my new awesome camera to the show though. I bet I would have gotten some great pictures with it. Next time.

Okay, so I did not mean to purge all that up onto my blog, but I did, and it stays. The other things, besides reading and a bit of music, that have been getting me by are my memories of Paris, and my photos.

On my first day in Paris, I had some time to wander around while Becca T did some work stuff, and I came across my street namesake.


I also wandered along the Seine to Notre Dame, took some photos, and spent some time sitting beside the cathedral.


That night, Becca T and I went out for sushi, as per tradition, and then did some night time wandering. Here's a night shot of Notre Dame.


The next day, Becca T and I went out to the working class Paris suburb of Saint Denis to see the Basilica of Saint Denis. Why? It houses the royal necropolis where all but three of France's kings are buried, and holds the remains of Marie Antoinette. I've seen MA's chateau, her jail cell, the place where she was killed, and finally I've seen her grave.


The alter inside. Note: even though it was a sunny spring day, it was bone-chillingly cold in the cathedral.


Here is a memorial to MA's son, Louis XVII. He died as a little boy in captivity. His heart was cut out of his body, and now stored next to his parents' grave at the basilica.


Here is the memorial to Louis XVI and MA.


We probably would have spent more time at the necropolis but it was so cold inside, that we headed to Montmartre for coffee, and so that I could get a shot of the famous windmill at the Moulin Rouge, which I'd not seen before.


The next day, Becca T and I weren't at our best (too much wine the night before), so we had a lazy day sitting in the Tuileries, and going for coffee. As a treat, I booked us into a hotel in Saint Germain, and I went for a pre-dinner walk, where I took some photos. Here are the narrow streets:


And the church of St. Sulpice, which I remember best from reading The Da Vinci Code.


The next day, we met up with a friend to have brunch in the Marais, at a cute place we discovered last time: Le Loire dans la Théière. I ate what was on the chalkboard. Their Sunday brunch, which I had last time, is epic. The weekday brunch is good, but can't hold a candle to Sunday brunch.

The inside is decorated like Alice in Wonderland.


After brunch, and some shopping, Becca had work stuff to do, so I headed off to the catacombs, which was on my Paris to-do list. I wanted to see the ossuary, which contains the remains of about 6 million people who were buried there in the late 18th century until about 1874.

First, I had to walk through a long expanse of underground tunnels. I felt completely alone in these tunnels as the tourists who entered behind me didn't walk very fast and I lost them. It was spooky.


Then I got to the empire of the dead...

It was just hallways with stacks and stacks of bones. My inner goth was in heaven.


After that, I took the Metro to Bir Hakeim. I was doing a night bike tour of the city that started near the Eiffel Tower.
I had an hour to kill, so I ate my supper that I brought from home (fresh baguette with ham and cheese, yogurt, and a banana), and took lots of pictures of the Eiffel Tower while listening to Phoenix.



Why did I listen to Phoenix? Paris makes me think of their awesome Take-Away-Show series, that I'm pretty sure Rawbean, told me about a few years ago. Phoenix = Paris for me. If you have some time, watch the series. I have been. It makes me happy.



I'll close this post here. Next post will be about my night time bike tour, which was awesome and one of my favourite things ever. Back to Catherine the Great for me.

Hope you all have a great Monday.

And to think this was last night.

We sat along the Seine drinking wine.


Light reflected off of little puddles left along the cobblestones from rain earlier in the evening.


The light reflecting from the water's surface was also beautiful.


We walked over a pedestrian bridge to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle on the hour.


We wandered to the front of the Louvre to be treated to this view.


And that was last night. And now I'm back in Toronto. It was an amazing trip. I think my hiatus is over and I'm going to be posting a lot of pictures and memories from my trip (before I forget what I did). These are just a selection from a couple of hours in Paris. Imagine what else I have up my sleeve.

Oh you delicate heart.

How is it that I only have one day left in Paris? I know, I promised posts. I've actually been staying away from my frenemy the Internet. It's been good for my soul.

But I do want to check in with you lovely people. I have done some amazing stuff here in (and out) of Paris this week. I started off with a nice trip to Notre Dame, sushi w Becca T, the royal necropolis at St Denis, lots more walking around, a wine & Kanye debacle, lazy day in the Tuileries, night in a St Germain hotel, dinner at my favourite restaurant, brunch at my favourite brunch spot, shopping in the Marais, the catacombs, a night bike tour of the city, a day trip to Chartres, lounging in the Luxumbourg Gardens, a party, and today's day trip to Bruges. It's been great, and I think I'll write more from home.

I got a new camera for this trip and it's AWESOME, so look fwd to many pictures.

Tomorrow is do-what-I-feel day. I look forward to it.

Au revoir!

My first hiatus.

Hiya blogarinos.

I'm going through a really tough time right now. I'm not going to go into details, and it'll be all A-OK in the end and I've got all of my wonderful friends in my corner right now.

It will be okay. Paris is coming in a week, and I want to post from there, but other than a few updates from there, I'm going to go on blog hiatus for awhile. I don't know what to write about right now.

I'll be back I'm sure. Who knows? Maybe the city of lights will make everything right and this will be the shortest hiatus ever. I hope so, because I enjoy blogging immensely, and I'm just not feeling it right now.

Cheers,
Your pal,
Christielli

I'm gonna try, see me try!

I've been really unfocused lately, hence the lack of blog posts. To get back to writing, I'm just going spew some randomness on here.

1) My post title comes from the song "Demons" by Sleigh Bells which is my new favourite running song. It's loud and angry.

2) Speaking of running, I did a personal best 5K today, quite possibly because of the song above. It inspired me to sign up for the Women's Half Marathon 5K in Sunnybrook Park at the end of May. I want to see if I can get a PB for 5K in an actual race. Don't forget, I've also got a 10K in the middle of May. My goal for that one is to live through it.

3) I have been researching running routes in Paris this evening. I want to go for at least two decent runs during my vacation. It seems as if Becca T lives near the Bois de Vicennes, which is a big forest that came up in my research, so I'm gonna ask her what she knows being that she's the Parisienne.

4) And yes! Paris! 9 sleeps. I've been doing a lot of research on activities and day trips and stuff. I was considering visiting the D-Day Beaches, or somewhere else in Normandy, but then I came across a bus trip that I could take to Bruges and I'm leaning toward that. Why not add another country to my list of places I've been? Plus my friend Joanna said it's very pretty. Hey - I'll probably be off to Bruges two weeks tomorrow if all my plans come to fruition.

5) I want to go the Louvre again.

6) I'm also going to find Marie Antoinette's grave.

7) And I'm going to shop.

8) I also want to go into the catacombs. Becca did it when she first moved to Paris and enjoyed it. It looks goth-tastic to me.

9) Seriously, I feel like this trip to Paris is the only thing keeping me going these days. I am also really toying with the fact of doing another trip to Europe this summer because why not? I don't have anything pressing this summer so maybe I should pick a city/country that I haven't been to and explore it. Maybe even on my own so I can "find myself" or something like that. Who knows. Anyone wanna come with?

You gotta try a little harder, you're the comeback kid.

It's illogical when it's your first day back at work after a long weekend (thanks again McGuinty... we'll always have Family Day, right?), and you are more tired than when you left. I was seriously pushing myself to get through the day.

Why? Well, I think the first is that I ran a very enjoyable 10K yesterday, but I find when I do that distance, I'm pretty tired the next day. That run followed an early-ish train trip back to Toronto from Stratford. I find that travel always tires me out a bit. Finally, I think today's exhaustion was compounded by the fact I was unprepared for work and therefore made it in an hour earlier than I used do. However, I love the calmness and productivity of an early morning. I resolve to do it more often.

Anyway, even though I didn't feel rested following my long weekend, it was still a great weekend. I organized birthday drinks on Friday night with my favourite pals who live in the city, and that was a good time. On Saturday I headed out to Stratford for some good family time. I mainly chilled with the parents for most of the weekend - we had a birthday dinner for me and my dad (his birthday is the 25th), and watched some fun TV together: National Geographic, SNL, and the 500th Simpsons episode.

In addition my dad loved the massive books I got him (they should keep him out of trouble for awhile) and the Wile E. Coyote Super Genius T-shirt that I got him.

Do any of you remember a Bug Bunny cartoon where Bugs knocks on the Coyote's door and says "Are you in, genius?" or something like that? That cartoon sprung a very nerdy game that has been played in my family for years. It basically goes like this.

Me (to my dad): "Hey corrigible, are you in?"

My dad: "No, I'm not incorrigible. Oh sensitive, are you in?

Me: "I'm most certainly not insensitive. Hey scrutable, are you in?"

And on it goes, most likely until my mom gets annoyed and says "you have already used every "in" word in the dictionary in your game, stop for heaven's sake!"

Anyway, that's why I had to buy my dad that Tshirt. And it catalyzed a round of the "in" game. Also, I'm not sure if either of us has played "scrutable" yet... I'm going to file that away for next visit.

Last night Jason and I went to see "The Descendants". I really enjoyed the movie, and I totally say give the Oscar to Clooney - he did a good job of rocking an awkward haircut, not being a Hollywood super hunk, AND he made me cry. Damn you Clooney!

How crazy it is that the Simpsons has done 500 episodes? Jason and I were discussing favourite Simpsons lines this weekend, and I'll leave you with one of my favourites - attributed to Ralph Wiggum.

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

But oh! There was a new good line on the 500th episode. Lisa says to Homer "I pick up books like you pick up beers" and Homer replies "Then you have a serious reading problem."

Even though the Simpsons aren't what they used to be during their Golden Years (seasons 3 through 8), they're still funnier than a lot of stuff out there.

I got my philosphy. (#1000)

The thought that I would make it to one thousand posts on this blog never crossed my mind when I started it almost seven years ago on a music-related whim. I was an avid reader of musician Matthew Good's blog at the time, and he would link to his fans' blogs, so I thought, hmmm, maybe I should start one of these blog things. And now here we are.

My first post was a whole lot of nothing. However, it's funny reading my second post and knowing the future of many of the random things that I mentioned, like:

a) I'm still listening to Kathleen Edwards... and saw her last weekend.

b) The colleague who had the Lululemon bag that I liked is now a really close friend of mine. I barely knew her back then. I still have the bubblegum pink version of that bag, and want to replace it because it's rather godawful, but it's the perfect size for a weekend bag and I use it all the time when I visit my parents. (It'll get used this weekend again.)

c) Apparently I was watching the new American version of The Office at that time. Ironically, I watched a bit of it tonight.

d) I mentioned a ficus plant (Benny) that I owned and eventually killed because it dropped leaves everywhere and I couldn't take it anymore. I haven't owned a plant since.

However, it's really fun to reflect on how even though I'm the same music-loving, sitcom-enjoying person that I was back then, I've definitely grown and changed and done a lot of exciting things over the years.

1000 posts ago, I was a new teacher at my school, who actually just had a temporary contract for that school year. The stars aligned in my favour, and I've been at the same place ever since and have grown a lot in my career. Moreover, I truly do love the students at my school, and have made so many good friends among my colleagues among the way.

1000 posts ago, I hadn't really traveled anywhere. Since then I've been to Australia, Cuba, England, Wales, Ireland, Montreal, New York, Texas, San Francisco, the Maritimes, New York (again), Paris, Scotland, London, Paris (again), Nice, Monaco (for an hour), Italy (for four hours), Cape Cod, Boston, Barcelona, London (again), Chicago, Utah, New York (again), and I'm heading off to Paris (again) in about three weeks. Well done me.

1000 posts ago, I went to shows every now and then. Now I go to tonnes of shows.

1000 posts ago, I lived with a human roommate. Now, I live with a feline roommate in a different apartment one subway stop north of where I used to live.

1000 posts ago, I had a lot of awesome friends. Now, I still have the vast majority of those friends (maybe a couple have drifted off), but I have so many more wonderful friends, many of whom I've met directly from this blog. Yesterday was my birthday, and I got so many nice wishes from my blogger friends. I've met up with many of you guys for coffee, drinks, or dinner, gone to shows with some of you, did SXSW in Austin with one of you, some of you have crashed on my couch and/or floor, I terrified one of you with my driving skills in Vancouver, I've crashed on couches and now guest bedrooms in someone's London flats, and have had awesome MSN/phone/Skype conversations with many of you too. Heck, I sort of kind of met my boyfriend through this blog. (Actually, I would say it was a set of Joel Plaskett concert photos that brought us together initially, but we're both bloggers.) I am so thankful for all of these people that have been brought into my life through this fluffly little blog.

Today I was thinking, oh crap, what am I going to do for my 1000th post, and this song came up on shuffle on my iPod. I think it's a great way to send out a 1000th post.



p.s. My dear blog buddy Claire is going to hit her 1000th post this week too! Isn't that crazy that we've done it around the same time??

Quickest Blog Post Ever (#999)

My intent was to have my 1000th blog post correspond with my birthday (today), but as you can see, I'm one post off.

However, that's OK because I am a numbers girl, and the number 999 is quite attractive to me.

Anyway, my birthday follows a very nice Valentine's Day. Tonight, I'm going to take myself for a run at the nice new gym near the Eaton Centre, then meet up with Jason at one of my favourite restaurants - The Ace. The night should be ace. Ugh, bad joke. But I get a free pass for that today?

Ugh, can you believe I sang a bit of the song "Jump" by Kris Kross (90s crap pop for the win) to one of my classes yesterday? Possible high/low point to my career. Oh, it had a point. I was reminding them to use the criss-cross method when writing formulae for ionic compounds.

Let's see if I can top that today. (Doubtful.)

So when the night falls, my lonely heart calls. (#998)

February is a busy month. Even though this weekend seems like it was calmer than the last, it was still busy.

On Friday evening, I had a meeting of the "spa club". Because of personal commitments, my colleagues and I who had booked appointments were all coming and going at different times, however, since I was in no rush, I took some times to hang out in whirlpool and steam room after my massage was done. Talk about relaxation.

When I got home, I finally finished reading "Alone in the Classroom". It was an all right book; beautifully written but slow in pace.

On Saturday I ran errands in the morning, then read/napped on my couch in the afternoon. I met up with Jason in the evening for dinner, then we went to see Kathleen Edwards at the Phoenix. Hannah Georgas, a Vancouver singer-songwriter, was the opening act. I saw Hannah last summer at Hillside, and also really like her previous work. She mostly played new stuff, and I have to say that I'm looking forward to her new album.

Kathleen was amazing. She is a consummate musician, and truly rocks out during her shows. She is a stellar songwriter, and I love how she expressively performs her songs. The highlight song for me was her performance of "Goodnight, California" from her previous album "Asking for Flowers". It started off with her playing violin (or fiddle? what's the difference?) and she and her band did a great job playing this sprawling rocker of a song. It was a great show. Ooh, and I picked up a *purple* Kathleen Tshirt.

Of course, it was Saturday evening as well when the news of Whitney Houston's death came out. She was the first musician that I ever loved. When I was six, my parents bought me my first album ever, "Whitney", on tape. I listened to it non-stop, and Whitney was my favourite for a long time. I think I eventually moved on to my boy band phase after that, but I always paid attention to her career, even though I no longer listened to her.

I was saddened about her downward spiral into addiction, and I rushed home from work a couple years ago when she had that Oprah interview. I was really rooting for her to have a huge comeback, and get her voice back, even though you could tell her gift had been damaged from years of drug use.

It's tragic that she passed away far too early. I hope that she is at peace now, and that her tale reminds us all that addiction is a real disease, and not a choice.

I had a lazy Sunday today. I relaxed at home until I headed down to Kensington for a hair appointment. I wandered around there for a bit, and picked up some yummy cupcakes at a bakery for tomorrow's student council meeting. (It's my turn to bring in snack.)

Now I'm watching the Grammys. I somehow always put myself through this award show every year. Not sure why. Oh yes, it's because I enjoy yelling at my TV.

Happy Monday folks! It's going to be a busy week for me - Valentine's and birthday week. Yay!

Mandatory Blog Update (#997)

My new couch is together! It's a vortex that pulls me directly into the land of nap. This thing has been dangerous for my productivity this week. Hopefully the novelty of comfy naps will wear off soon.

Semester two is so far so good. My classes seem quite nice thus far. Fingers crossed that it's their true nature, and not just a honeymoon.

Tomorrow I've got a massage booked after school. I feel that I've earned my relaxation for sure since I made it through exams, marking, report cards, and starting a new semester.

This weekend I'm also going to see Kathleen Edward and get a haircut. I'm excited for both, one more than another.

Hope that you all have nice weekends!

p.s. My running playlist is getting played out. Any suggestions for good exercise songs?

Happy Superb Owl Sunday! (#996)

I totally stole this post's title from the Facebook status of the TV show Portlandia. It's a wonderfully bizarre show, and the term "Superb Owl Sunday" makes me happy because I don't like football but I love owls, so Superb Owl Sunday is so much more appealing to me. I should go change into my Burrowing Owl t-shirt right now, but I'm already wearing my Dan Magnan t-shirt which is pretty awesome itself, so I'll just think about owls instead.

Also, some of you have noticed I have taken to numbering my posts. I am getting ever closer to post #1000, and I didn't want to miss it, so I realized that if I numbered my posts 'til then, I will not miss it. I'm not sure what I can do to make my millennial post special, but I still have a few to go until then.

Wow, I've had a really busy three days since my last post. I will summarize...

Friday - Non-teaching day at work. Did my photocopying for day one of second semester. Went to lunch at Swiss Chalet, followed by a quick stop at the Gap Factory Outlet where I bought a very Parisian off-white spring trench coat with navy blue buttons. I have the perfect matching navy blue Coach bag too. I really hope it will be warm enough for me to wear this to Paris. If not, I'll have a Paris springtime in my coat here in Toronto. I also got a stripey shirt to go with it. Having this Gap outlet so close to my work will be dangerous for me.

After lunch/shopping, I went back to finish off semester one stuff. I went for a run at the new gym near the Eaton Centre (it's beautiful and has heated floors) then did some running around in preparation for Saturday's Bachelorette party.

Saturday - Spent the morning cleaning all the things. My pals from the Go9 arrived to welcome shots of some fruity alcohol I picked up. We Skyped in my friend Sandra from Utah, had the Bachelorette open up her gifts, then headed off to dinner at my fave local Mexican dinner. We knocked back quite a few pitchers of margaritas and sangria. It was a great time. There was lots more silliness after that, but in order to protect the good reputations of those in the Go9, I will leave it at saying that a good time was had by all, and that the hostess was the first one who succumbed to exhaustion and crawled into her bed after the late night pizza arrived.

Sunday - Most of my overnight guests left in the 8 am carpool, but Jo^2 (Jolene & Joanna) stuck around to go for breakfast down the street, and we headed off for some shopping at Ikea.

I was feeling rather tired, but I decided that it would be good to accompany a couple of friends with a large pickup truck to Ikea becaue I needed to work on completing THE LIST. I haven't yet posted about THE LIST but it's become a running joke amongst many of my friends, so I'll introduce it now.

Bascially, once Jason was cooking at my place and asked for a pair of tongs. I replied that I didn't have any, and he said "you need to start a list of basic household items that you need." I'll admit it - I kind of live like a university student in many ways. Let's face it - I'd much rather spend money on handbags and travel then, oh, tongs.

When I tell people I don't have tongs the common reaction is "How do you NOT have tongs? How do you flip things?" This begins the conversation into how I don't need to flip things because I don't like cooking meat, and live happily without tongs. And no, I'm not a vegetarian, I just like to eat meat cooked by someone else.

Anyway, tongs was the first item on the "grown-up list" and Jason and I added to it once while he was cooking and I was drinking wine. Here it is. I was forced to take a picture of it to send it to an interested friend. Seriously, the list is FAMOUS.


Now you understand why I couldn't turn down an offer of a trip to Ikea by a woman with a pickup truck. Jason and I have been planning to go together in his car, but so far other fun things have taken precedence.

Today I knocked off quite a few things off THE LIST: TONGS, a colander, a new bookshelf, and A NEW COUCH! I've been using my futon from university days for far too long. If I watch too much TV, my butt starts to get sore. I'm so excited to watch TV in comfort... This could lead to me getting the flat screen TV from THE LIST.

I also got a couple things not on THE LIST, like a second cutting board, and a new bedside table. Both were needed though.

All of my other stuff, plus the many purchase by Jo^2 fit in the pickup truck, but my couch had to be delivered. It was supposed to arrive between 5pm and 9pm, but it arrived fifteen minutes early. I was excited. I got it all unwrapped, but I'm going to need some help putting it together (for lifting), so Jason's gonna help me early this week. Here's how it looks now. Rilo's been exploring it like a fort.


All in all I had a fun weekend with lots of money spent. I'm going to have to lay low for the rest of February so that I have money for Paris in March. I guess you'll have to wait, electric kettle.