All I wanna get is a little bit closer.

I had a super fun weekend even though I skipped out on this year's edition of Nuit Blanche.  I'm okay with it, there's always next year.

Anyway, since it's late and I wanna read a bit more of JK Rowling's A Casual Vacancy before I go to bed, I'll turn my weekend into point form.

- On Friday night, I went out for dinner at one of my fave restaurants in the city: The Ace.  (Hey wigsf - you should go there and try the fried chicken, it's delicious.  I'm curious to find out what a fried chicken connoisseur like you would think.)  It was a fun time.  I had some really yummy Belgian Bourbon ice cream, which was way more chocolatey than bourbony.  Also, I think we had plans to go light on the wine, but then it turned out we should have bought a bottle.  Wine by the glass gets pricey, yo!

- On Saturday, I procrastinated, read, ran, then FINALLY started my spring cleaning.  (Don't point out it's fall, please don't.) I managed to get rid of two huge bags of clothing, yet I still am short on closet/drawer space.  Still, I feel like I got a lot accomplished.  During my next spring cleaning bout, I shall attack the bookshelf.

- Today I continued with the spring cleaning, then got a mani-pedi which was great.  I got it a colour called Bad Romance - it's black with purple sparkles.  Then I went to another fave restaurant, Tabule, for my dear work spouse's birthday.  It was a good time, but a short time, as three of my pals have young kids and had to take off.  Still, it's great to have a delicious meal with a bunch of great friends.

- I've also listened the crap out of this song this weekend.  LOVE IT.



- I'm also really into the new Dragonette album Bodyparts.  The above song and this album make for a fun fall soundtrack.

Anyway, that was my weekend.  From Wednesday to Friday, I'm going to be out of town.  I was invited to chaperone the school's leadership camp at an outdoor education centre so I figured why not?  The kids are good and most of the activities are planned by the staff so I'm hoping I can sit beneath lovely fall foliage and read.  (I'm sure it won't be the relaxing time I have pictured in my head.)  On the bright side, it gives me an excuse to wear my $100 lululemon camping pants that I bought for my one and only ever camping trip in the summer of 2010.  I knew they'd pay off.

Oh, and lastly, I contributed to my good friend Claire's I Love Your Blog series where she interviewed me about blogging!  Check it out!

Happy Monday folks!

Maybe come September I will feel brand new.

I love when you randomly find an awesome thing on the internet.

I just found this.  Kathleen Edwards.  Take Away Show.  In a Paris soccer field.  Love.



I have to say that I'm really feeling her song Sidecar these days.

Also, I'm now craving Paris like anything.  As I do most days.

Speak plain he said.

I liked this Monday, even though it was a Monday.

School was fine.  Classes were good.  Had a long student council meeting, but that's always OK 'cuz I like spending time with those kids. 

After that I dragged myself to the gym and put in a pretty decent run.  I have a 5K race coming up at the end of October and then an 8K at the beginning of November.  I do not feel ready for either, but feel like I'll get there if I keep on running.

After I got home, I turned my computer to the MuchMusic stream of the 2012 Polaris Prize.  The Polaris Prize is the Canadian version of the UK's Mercury Prize, and I enjoy it because it is an awesome celebration of great Canadian albums. 

As I started watching the stream, I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich (best dinner ever always) and planned some espionage on the phone with a friend/former colleague as I made my dinner.  That's talent.

I watched the duration of the award show and I really enjoyed the performances.  My faves were Cold Specks, Kathleen Edwards, and Feist (of course).  I also enjoyed checking out Grimes, because a few friends have been talking about her, and Cadence Weapon was pretty good too.  

I was super happy that Feist won the prize!  As you all know, her album Metals is one of my favourites, and I found that it has wound itself through my life in the past year, so I'm really happy that it won.  

It's funny, when I started listening to Metals, I think my life was more like the first track "The Bad in Each Other" and now things have moved on to the final track "Get It Wrong, Get It Right".

Yay Feist.

When they love you, and they will, tell them all they'll love in my shadow.

Right now I'm addicted to the Japandroids' album Celebration Rock.  It's on the Polaris Prize short list, and I feel that I'm probably late to the party, but I'm glad I'm there.  This album is eight gritty rock songs, and I love it.  It reminds me of stuff I listened to eons ago.... perhaps Attack in Black or The Get-Up Kids or something.  I'm trying to put my finger on it.



I like this video of their because it was filmed at one of my favourite Toronto rock venues: Lee's Palace.  In fact, I'm going there tomorrow night to check out Rich Aucoin, who blew me away this summer at the Wolfe Island Musical Festival.  It's a late show (he comes on at 11 pm), but oh well. QUIZZES FOR ALL on Friday, I say!  :)



I think I posted the above music video before but I think a repeat is OK because it is so freaking good.

I went to the spa today after school.  I am so relaxed right now.

I have so many excellent concerts coming up this fall too.  Fall is the best season for sweater-wearing and concert-going.

And it's the weekend in two more days.  Mine will be fun I know it.  Hope yours is too.

Oh Monday, Monday I'm done with you.

One of this things that I did this weekend that I didn't mention last post was to change up my hair colour a bit.  I felt that my hair got washed out this summer by the sun, and was looking a bit mousey brown.  So, I bought a dark brown hair dye (one that I've used before), and used it on Saturday morning and was quite happy with the results.

Over the summer, I forgot how any sort of change in my appearance becomes a talking point for students.  And not just those in my class... I got random comments from kids in the hall, former graduates back to visit, student council members, and staff members too.  I rather felt exhausted about hearing about my hair by the end of the day. 

Here are some of the comments that made me laugh a bit.

"Miss!  You dyed your hair!  Is that a physical change, or a chemical change?  Or maybe a bit of both?"

"Holy shhhh... You dyed your hair this weekend!"  (I appreciated the self-censoring here.)

"Miss, what colour was your hair before?  I liked it then.  It was nice." (Said by the sweetest kid ever.  I kind of wanted to un-dye it.)

Interestingly, I think the boys noticed way before the girls. 

Also, this makes me want to get my nose pierced or maybe a tattoo just for fun.  I wonder what the reaction would be like for those.

Hold That Thought.

I had a really great weekend.  It included things like:

- a marathon Friday night BBQ with the work clique
- two lovely runs through the cemetery on cool sunny fall mornings
- lots of social plans: afternoon parties, dinners, brunches, drinks, etc.
- lots of enjoyable conversation
- making sure I was awake by 10 am on Saturday to buy tickets to Toronto date for the Sloan Twice Removed 2012 tour

Suffice it to say, I'm pretty wiped from the weekend, as per usual.  I could have totally used another weekend day to read, watch a bit of TV, knit, and figure out a new running playlist for the fall.  I think "Summer Running 2012" might have to be retired.

Hope you all have great weeks!  I'll leave you with a song from the new Ben Folds Five album that I particularly love.  I'm so glad that the first album in 13 years from BF5 has not disappointed me.

Calling on the backlines.

Lots of nice little things happening in the past few days.

- Lots of nice emails from various sources.  Most special = an email from last year's student council president wishing me a good first meeting of the school year.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: the kids are all right.  Thoughtfulness rocks.

- Skype dates with Becca T and Claire.

- Time to read.  I finished the Great Gatsby!  I no longer have that huge literary hole (but I do have many others).  I liked it as I do any well-written tragic tale.  Now I'm reading a dark thriller by Gillian Flynn called Dark Places.  She wrote the current bestseller Gone Girl which I wish everyone would read so I'd have people to talk to about it.

- An advanced download of Ben Folds Five's first album in thirteen years: The Sound of the Life of the Mind.  I'm on my third listen and I really like it.  There are songs that break my heart with beauty and bittersweet lyrics.  It's out on September 18th for those of the rest of you.  (I'm special because I pledged this album on Pledge Music and will get an autographed vinyl copy of it soon.)

- Starbucks has brought back my fall favourite: the salted caramel mocha frappucino.  Delicious!

- Today I was treated to a small Stars concert at the historic Masonic Temple Concert Hall (which is now an MTV Canada studio) thanks to my friend Karen.  She got us on the guest list.  I knew about the concert.  My pal Mathew, who was there too, told me about it, but for some reason I didn't register that I should go.  Anyway, I'm glad that Karen got us in because I got to see Stars play three songs from The North (Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Get Love, Backlines, and The North).  It was really great and we were so close.  Man, I love this band!

Anyway, I've got lots of good stuff coming up too.  Remember how I thought this was going to be a quiet weekend?  Nope.  I've got plans every day (two on Saturday).  Maybe a bit of quite next weekend?

I am so much better than I used to be.

Right now I'm catching up on emails, etc. after passing out on my couch for two hours.  I have had an insanely fun few days, and I think the fun kicked my ass a bit.  Actually, my first week back at work pre-kicked my ass, and all of the fun just added to me being completely shattered.

On Thursday night, I went for dinner and a JKS show with my friend Paul.  He was running a bit late, and as I was waiting for him on the SE corner of Bathurst and Bloor, my friend R (super fit phys ed teacher) ran into me (she was mid-run), and then I chatted with a group of three former students.  I guess that's the intersection to be if you want to see people!

The concert was awesome.  I saw JKS (lead singer of my favourite band ever, the Weakerthans) back in March when he played with a full band.  This time, it was just him and a back-up guitarist.  It was a great show!  He played lots of new stuff from his solo album, and many Weakerthans old favourites. I can't believe that some of these songs have been with me for so many years.  I remember discovering them back in university.  How times flies.  But lots of things stay the same: like hearing the songs "Pamphleteer" or "Aside" live is always great.

For his finale, he stood on a stool and sang "Virtute the Cat Explains her Departure" out into the crowd.  That song breaks my heart because it's about a lost cat, and well, if Rilo ever got lost I would be devastated.

On Friday, Mathew and I did go for Thai at a hole-in-the-wall place he loves and it was excellent.  We then watched the Hunger Games, which was good, but not as good as the book, as is the case with movies.

On Saturday, Heather and Jolene came down for the Night Race, and we had a great morning/afternoon of wandering around the city.  I splurged on a couple of new books, and got a great birthday present for my work spouse (a pin based on elements!).

The race was fun.  The most hilarious part was this year's race shirts were NEON YELLOW and we decided to wear the ugly things.  The race itself went well.  I was slow, but at least I didn't score a personal worst.  The lights we had to wear on our head had a battery life of 17 hours, so our joke was as long as we beat that time, we were good.

On the bus ride home from the race, we heard girls in their twenties planning on going out after the race.  We were tired, but I insisted that we go to a pub in our race gear and have beers and nachos so that we could feel young too.

Heather spent the night, so today we did some shopping and lunch, and then caught a movie.  I'd wanted to see the documentary "The Queen of Versailles" during HotDocs in May, but it sold out.  It's now playing at the Varsity.  It was quite good.   It's about a really rich couple who started building the largest single-family dwelling in the US, but then got hit by the economic crisis.  It's a great conversation movie, that's for sure.



After that, Heather caught her train, and I went home and baked some treats for tomorrow's student council meeting.  After that I passed out on my couch.

And soon it's Monday.

Hope it treats you all well.

Good luck, bad luck, survival. Sleep is my friend and my rival.

I thought that I'd be slowing down in September.  It's a loaded statement for a teacher to use the words "slow down" and "September" in the same sentence, but you all remember the summer I had, right?  There was no slowing down there!

Tomorrow night, I'm going to see my dear John K Samson (lead singer of the Weakerthans) play somewhere on Bathurst.

Friday I have plans with my dear friend Mathew.  We're playing it by ear, but I'm hoping our ears will bring us to Thai food.

On Saturday, my friends Heather and Jolene (both from high school) are invading my place and we're doing the Energizer Night Race (5K).  That's the night-time race I did last year where I had to wear a light on my head.  It was super fun so we're doing it again.  I'm so out of good running shape (too much eating and drinking this summer and not enough exercise despite the Grouse Grind) but I figure this will set a good time to obliterate when I do another 5K at the end of October.

On Sunday, I might get a chance to relax before another week.  Next week/weekend seem quiet, and maybe it'll stay that way.  I gotta get back to my knitting, reading, and watching of Breaking Bad.

Hope you're all enjoying September too!

Well the only way I see this happening is in an extended ride north.

Made it through the first day.  The first day is always a breeze.  Well, not really this year, in that the AC in the school was COMPLETELY down (as opposed to a regular day when it's half down), and we were all melting.  I wore pants.  Big mistake.  My mom told me a cold front is coming soon.  I asked if it would be entering my school, because that's what that building needs.  It retains heat like a mofo.

Anyway, it's too soon to tell if my classes are good.  I am optimistic they will be.  I've got all grade tens this semester.  I like grade tens.  They know what's the what, but are still humble and do their homework. 


Now for some randomness.

I enjoy musicians who maintain really great mailing lists.  Today I got an email from Hawksley Workman announcing his fall tour and it was beautifully written.  Tonight, I got an email from Stars about their new album, The North, which came out today, and same thing. 

I went on a mission to find a bag that will hold ALL of my stuff.  I am tired of carrying a gym bag, a lunch bag and a purse and sometimes more to work.  And I'm too old for a backpack.  I found a tote that will carry it all, I hope.  Tomorrow is its test.

I baked muffins for the science/math department at school as a treat for tomorrow since we have a morning meeting.  I haven't baked in years.  I don't know what came over me.

ANYWAY,  the point of this blog post was to let you know I survived day #1.

Inspiration.

As you all may, or may not, be aware, it's that time of year again: back to school.  I gather that if you're a person in the rest of the world, without any school-aged children, you might not know that the school year is approaching.  However, does anyone really forget the renewal that comes with a new September?

I have to say that I'm looking forward to the new school year.  After a summer of travel and loads of fun, I'm feeling ready to go back into the classroom.  On top of my optimism for a great new school year, the past couple of days have brought me some extra inspiration.

First of all, a colleague/friend lent me a book called "What Teachers Make" by the poet/teacher Taylor Mali.  I purposely saved it to read at the end of the summer to give me some inspiration before a new school year.  Mali is best know for the poem below:



I really enjoyed the book.  Currently, Ontario's teachers are in the process of negotiating a new contract with the government, and with that comes anti-teacher comments following newpaper articles online.  I've learned to stop reading comments following any newspaper story about teachers, however I made the mistake lately of skimming some, and I read a comment that described teachers as "under-worked, over-paid, and over-benefitted".  GROSS.  Luckily for me, Mali's book is a wonderful antidote to this attitude.  It was a great reminder of how wonderful and important my job, and provided me with great inspiration before the new year.

Also, I have to comment that we are lucky in Canada: our teachers are fairly compensated.  Often people complain teachers make too much money.  One of the hallmarks of a good education system is that teachers are well-compensated and respected (eg Finland - the best in the world).  If teachers aren't, you won't attract the best people to the profession, and students will suffer.  You want great teachers?  Pay them accordingly.  Don't think it's a hard job?  Come shadow me.  I'll put you in front of my *best* class, and see how you fare, then ask you to teach one of my more challenging classes. Good luck.

Anyway, I think reasonable people will agree with me there.

I've spent the past two days at school working with 40 student leaders to organize and run an orientation day for our incoming grade nines.  (This is just one of the many activities that I donate my own time to organize because I see the inherent value in it to students.)  This has been another source of inspiration for me.  It was an exhausting task organizing the day, but we got it done, and today the leaders did a fabulous job of running the day.  Cue to me standing around, doing nothing for most of it.  In education, you know things are going well when the teacher has nothing to do.  After the grade nines left, I gave my best "you guys are amazing" speech to the leaders, and it felt good that the school year hasn't even started, but I've already had an opportunity to make students feel great about themselves.

One of my favourite moments was when a spunky grade nine tried to grab a basketball out of one of the leader's hands, and the leader said patiently "just hold on, you'll get to play basketball outside, okay?" and it really put the niner in his place (but very kindly).  Afterwards, I told the leader that I thought the way he handled the situation was awesome, and you could see him just shine when I gave him praise.  I'm so lucky to have this job.

Finally, I'm inspired to create a "Science Wall of Fun" in my classroom this year.  I've been an itinerant teacher for years: jumping from this classroom to that one.  This means that I'm never in one place long enough to decorate it, but this will change this year: I'm in one place for all of my classes.

The idea for the Science Wall of Fun, came from this quote that I came across on Facebook the other day.  It made me really excited to share the amazing-ness of science with my students!

I've come across many nerdy science jokes on Facebook, and I spent about a hour last night printing out my favourites at home (so they'd be in colour).  I can't wait to post them.  I think this one is in the lead for my favourite!

So those are the three things that have left me inspired for a new school year.  Tomorrow, I'm taking the train to Stratford, and my pal Vern is going to be kind enough to drive Ms. Rilo and I back to Toronto.  I'm looking forward to having my buddy back!

Hope you all have great long weekends!

The tricky part is to come back home.

The above line is from the song "Sure Can Start" by Two Hours Traffic.  It always goes through my head when I return from a trip, especially one that precedes getting back into the swing of things at work (I go in tomorrow for some planning).  Anyway, TO's been OK so far.  I've been trying to get back to Ontario time, visited my buddy down the street, and got my hair cut.  However, there have been a couple moments that have left me feeling yucky.  I guess that's just post-trip hangover.

Anyway, as a change of pace, I'm going to post pictures (!) instead of merely writing.  Here are some pictures from the last part of my post.  I'll go back in time and post some earlier photos another time.

Rawbean told me that I had to find this market on the Island that had goats on the roof.  Luckily, it was on route to Tofino.  We were driving and I asked Alison "what's the name of the market with the goats on the roof?" Before she could answer, the sign did the job.  (I love that it's called what it is.)

And this is why we came!  Actually, the market is pretty neat too.  I got pressies for my parents there!

After the market, we stopped at Cathedral Grove, which is a nice little trail where you can see some of the biggest/oldest trees in Canada.

We spent the night in Ucluelet, which is described by my guidebook as "Tofino's ugly stepsister".  I completely disagree.  It had a couple nice small beaches, and we had drinks on a boat.  The next day, we walked around part of the Wild Pacific Trail that brought us to a lighthouse.  Here's a picture of the view:

Alison walking the trail:

The lighthouse:

After that, we drove to Long Beach which is in between Ucluelet and Tofino.  It's a very long beach.  :)  It was pretty windy that day, so I had to walk down the beach in a hoodie.

 It was a good day for para-surfing... I think that's what this is called.

My feet in the Pacific.  (Note the nice pedicure I got in Vancouver... and my annual summer Birkenstock foot tan.)

After Long Beach, we drove into Tofino to see the town.  It was your average beach town.  We stayed long enough to visit an art gallery, take a picture of the sign, and have a quick dinner.

The next day, I drove to Victoria, and met up with Jabba for dinner.  On Saturday, I spent a full day in Victoria with Jabba.  Yay!  We did high tea (with mimosas!) at the Empress.

Here's a picture of the BC legislature during the day...

... and at night.  I love how it's lit up!

Well, that's a brief wrap-up of my trip with photos. 

ps If you are a Stars fan, you can stream the new album here!  I love it!!!

I came here to bring the noise to the island girls and the harbour boys.

I have to say that I am enjoying island life a lot.

Since I've been here, I've been having a great time.  I stayed out late on my first night catching up with my friend Alison.  Yesterday, she took me to a really nice waterfall where you can walk out through shallow water over a rocky surface and actually go sit near the falls.

I decided not to bring my camera, as I was worried about slipping and falling (I'm clumsy).  However, I made it all the way to the falls no problem, and almost all of the way back.  Alison said "watch out for the hole!" and I said "I see it!"  However, the misfortune was that we were talking about different holes, and in I went.  I stubbed all of the toes of my left foot on the rocky surface.  Ouch!  See, good thing I did not bring my camera!

After that, we ended up driving to a beach with a funny name - Goose Spit Beach.  It was really nice.  Here's picture of my rental car on the beach.  Can I tell you that I am in NO WAY a car person, but I love this little guy?  It's so fun to drive!  Tight parking spots are no problem!  If a jerk parks behind you and kind of blocks you in, no worries, you can three-point turn yourself outta there!  (This happened at the waterfall.)  Driving with the top down is SO MUCH FUN.  Alison and I joke about missing the car when we spend time away from the car.

After the beach, we had a nice dinner at a pub by the Marina in Comox to close out a nice day.

This morning I went for a run along the River Walk in Courtenay.  Alison, who is not a runner, was game enough to join me.  We did a good 5K run/walk, and came to the kayak rental place near the end of our route.  We were already kind of sweaty.  Why not hop into a kayak?  We rented two singles, and off on the water we went for almost two hours.

I'd never kayaked before, so I was apprehensive, but I had tonnes of fun!  The best was that we saw lots of seals in one section of the river.  At one point we saw five at once, including a cute little pup.  It was awesome!  Definitely a trip highlight for me!  Unfortch, I decided it was best not to bring my camera (see above clumsiness), but Alison did get pictures of me in a kayak, and hopefully some seal heads.

After a snack, and a shower, we met up again to go on a road trip.  (The Mini will get you anywhere on a thimbleful of gas, I swear.)  After some debate, we decided to take the Oceanside highway to Campbell River, which is north of Courtenay.  The southbound part of that highway is supposed to be prettier, but we'll be heading that way tomorrow, so north we went.

The way up was pretty.  We passed farmland, wineries, and ocean resorts.  A few kilometres outside of Campbell River is a little park with all kinds of wood carvings.  They always change because they get purchased or moved around town.  Here I am with my favourite! 

After that, we went on a mad hunt for a fish and chip place that my Van Island travel book recommended.  The GPS did a horrible job of finding it, but after some back and forth driving, I figured out where it was.  When I finally spotted it, I yelled "Dick's!  There's Dick's!  We found Dick's!"  (Obviously the place was called Dick's Fish and Chips.) I didn't mean to sound inappropriate but it was pretty hilarious, and I shocked and appalled Alison just a little bit.  We made jokes about it all evening.

After some very delicious fried food (good thing we got all of that exercise in the morning), we took a walk along the harbourfront.  We even saw some giant cruise ships.  We ended the even with giant ice cream from a store on the pier.  It was excellent.  Campbell River was a fun place!

Tomorrow, we're taking the Mini for a roadtrip to Tofino!  There are a lot of fun places to stop along the way and it will be great.  I hope the weather will be nice so we can cruise with the top down.  Seriously, I've never loved a car so much.  Even though it's so small my suitcase will not fit in the trunk.  Whatevs.  What it lacks in trunk space it makes up for in awesomeness.

Vancouver!

Here I sit in my homey B&B in Courtenay, BC after spending a lovely evening catching up with my dear friend Alison, who was one of my besties/roommates from university.  After a ferry debacle (more on that another time), my rental Mini Cooper convertible (free upgrade!) and I made it to Vancouver Island.

However, I should catch you up on my adventures in Vancouver, in point form only since it's really late at night, but the time to write might escape me later, so I'll do it now.  I'll post pictures later Jabba, I swear!!!  (I know, I'm the worst with pictures, but I always want to write things down before I forget.)

Itemized List of Vancouver Fun!

1) Taking a train DIRECTLY from the airport to downtown is one of my favourite things ever.  Take note Toronto.  You should have one of those.

2) My first meal was at Japadog. Take note Toronto.  You should have one of those.

3) I rented a bike and biked along the seawall in Stanley Park and across some awesome downtown bike lanes.  Take note Toronto.  You should have more of these.

4) I braved the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  Last time I was in Vancouver, Becca T refused to do it, so I figured I'd do it.  It was slightly terrifying, and heights usually don't make me very nervous. 

5) I ate sushi.

6) I met up with Rawbean for drinks - I had Watermelon Beer.  It was almost as great as the company.

7) I slept in and got a pedicure.

8) I met up with my pal Wes (who visited me earlier in the summer) and his girlfriend for sushi, the beach, and the Richmond Night Market.

9) I DID THE GROUSE GRIND.  Last time I was in Vancouver, Becca T and I *both* refused to do it.  However, I've come to enjoy fitness challenges (OK mainly running) in the past five years and I really wanted to do it to say I'd done it.  I DID IT!  2.9 km of wicked outdoor stair climbing to an ascent of 900 m.  Both Rawbean and Wes joined me!  Blogger mountain summit, anyone? Anyway, it was HARD, but the endorphin rush at the end, and the sense of accomplishment, was well worth the pain and exhaustion.  Also, the people I met along the way were super fun!

10) Rawbean and I celebrated the GG by going shopping downtown.  Unbeknownst to us, the Zombie Parade was happening at the same time.  It was super long!  We kept going in and out of stores and there were still more and more zombies.  It was awesome.  There was everything from Zombie Thriller Michael Jackson, to Miss Zombie Universe, to the zombies who reminded the rest of the zombies to obey traffic signals.

11) I finished my Vancouver adventure by joining Wes and friends for a local show at a venue that used to be a sushi restaurant.  It was fun, although I was so tired from the GG.  I also got to meet more fun people (shout out to Crystal, who might be a new reader!).

Looking back on my few days in Vancouver, I had such a great time.  I think Vancouver won me over more this trip than it did the first time I traveled there, and that's not just the remnants of the GG endorphins talking.  I'm not sure what the difference was, because I liked it in 2007 and had lots of fun, but it shone more this trip.  Maybe it was leftover Olympic sparkle, who knows?  Anyway, I had a really great time, and now I'm looking forward to a laid back quiet week on the island.  Yay summer.  Please don't end!

Awesome.

Rawbean and I met for drinks and dinner in Gastown tonight. 

It was the stuff of legend.

p.s. Claire, she's in on the PEI plan.

We won't leave it all in our heads.

I got home this evening from a super fun few days in Kingston.  I got to visit a friend, make new friends, explore a cute little city, and go to a music festival on a cute little cottage-y island.  Fun!

I arrived on Wednesday, and went out for Vietnamese food for dinner, followed by a refreshing swim in the lake.  On Thursday, I got a thorough tour of Kingston by foot, and spent a nice evening at a pub.  We had plans to go paddle-boarding on Friday, but since the forecast called for rain, the paddle-board rental place was closed, so we drowned our sorrows with one of those margaritas with a Corona stuck in it.  Instead of paddle-boarding, we shopped around downtown Kingston, which proved to be profitable because I found a really cute pair of silver leaf earrings.

We ordered pizza for dinner, which was hilarious because it took us an embarrassingly long time to navigate the pizza place's new online ordering system.  I don't even think we'd had drinks by that time!  After we got our hard-earned pizza, we went out in the pouring rain to catch the ferry to Wolfe Island.

My pal Melly, who had been watching the weekend's weather forecast with the eyes of a hawk, had messaged me to bring a raincoat since the POP for Friday was 90%.  Of course, being the city girl that I am, I didn't own a proper summer raincoat.  I find all you really need is an umbrella in the city since public transit can get you most places, and on rainy days I just stay inside.  Thankfully, I was able to pick up a last minute rain jacket at the Eaton Centre before I caught the bus to Kingston.  I needed it for that ferry ride, I tell you.  And, I think it'll probably come in handy for my trip to BC, so it was a great last minute purchase.

As soon as we got off the ferry, the rain let up somewhat.  Wolfe Island is a very cute cottage community with little churches, restaurants, and an annual music festival.  We made it to the baseball field where some bands were playing.  They were supposed to be playing in front of the town hall, but that was moved because of the rain.  Anyway, we got some beer, and had fun seeing Mike O'Neill and the Pinecones, before Elliott Brood hit the stage for a really fun set.  The rain had completely stopped by the time we settled in for the bands.

We headed over to the General Wolfe hotel to hear a bit of Yukon Blonde.  We couldn't see them since the place was so packed.  After awhile we thought that we should get the next ferry, but didn't consult the schedule, and found out we had to wait until the 1:20 am ferry.  We walked around town for a bit, and heard someone singing "Rockin' in the Free World" from somewhere, and figured that we should crash that party.  It turned out to be Hollerado playing in a sweltering church hall, and we stayed there for awhile, obtained 2-for-1 beer, and fist pumps.  We had a super fun end to the evening dancing to Hollerado before we caught the last ferry to Kingston.

The format of the WIMF changes on the Saturday to just one stage. We got there in time to see a fun band named Nightbox, then went for lunch at the Island Grill, where we ordered too much food, and then spend the rest of the day lounging and listening to bands.  Zeus put on a great set, but the highlight of the evening was Rich Aucoin.  I have never seen such a fun and interactive performer.  I knew none of his songs, but he turns his show into a multimedia interactive experience, so I was singing and dancing along.  It was incredible.  I've turned into a convert and will be there next time he plays Toronto.  Oh, and he did it all with borrowed equipment!  Air Canada had lost his gear!

Here's a video for one his songs.  It's fun but does not translate how insanely fun he is live.  Go see him if you can!



Today was a lazy day with brunch, the Kingston antique market, and a bus-ride back to Toronto.  I'm glad to be home, but I won't be for long; three more sleeps and I fly to Vancouver!

Also, I totally would like to do WIMF again, but I'll be in Kenya for next year's WIMF.  My deposit cheque cleared, so I assume that means I'm officially going!  Yay!  Maybe my next WIMF will be in 2014!

Blow off the roof and let in the dark.

I think I just wrote the best email ever.  This is how it went.

How was your trip?

I didn't know that you were home already! I'm off to Kingston to drink bourbon and see rock bands on Wednesday but will be back next Monday and I'm going to visit P. in the evening so you should come too if you can get away from your responsibilities and such. Or, if not, let's have lunch next Tuesday because then on Wednesday I'm off to BC to climb a mountain and ride a bike and hang out with new friends and reconnect with long lost friends etc.

Let me know!

I guess I just thought it was the best because it made me realize:

a) I have a lot of fun left in this summer.  I'm very excited about my Kingston and BC adventures that are coming soon.

and,

b) One should always have a close friend or two who live within a twenty minute (by foot) radius of oneself.

My Olympic Addiction. A Biennial Affliction.

One month of summer has come and gone.  I actually spent a lot of it in the sunshine, so my usual white pallor is gone, and my legs are covered with a second crop of mosquito bites (glamping isn't all glamour, y'all).

HOWEVER, now that the Olympics are here, I can already feel my healthy glow fading, as I am drawn to my TV, which is normally left in the off position for weeks at a time.  The call of the outdoors has gone silent.  Instead, the call of swimming matches, synchronized diving, rowing, and many sports that I don't even understand is much louder.  Goodbye tan.

Every time the Olympics  rolls around I think "oh I'm not going to watch much of that... I don't even understand most of those sports" and then a couple days later, BLAM!, I'm working an ass-groove into my couch (Homer Simpson reference... sorry for the crudeness).

I was in Stratford for the first part of this week and watched the Olympics with my parents, who also get addicted like me (it's a family disease).  I made plans to see You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Stratford Festival with my aunt, and felt a pang of regret as I headed out the door because it was taking me away from the Olympics.  However, the play was really fun (I wanna go dust off my old Peanuts comics) and I was able to catch up on what I missed during primetime.  Phew.

I have been enjoying some of the stories that have been playing out during these Olympics.  How about that badminton scandal?  I don't think I ever imagined that I would write the words "badminton" and "scandal" together in my life! (Hey - they put the "bad" back into badminton!  SORRY! THAT WAS AWFUL!)  First of all, I understand why the teams were throwing the matches, but when two teams are trying to throw a match at the same time, isn't the game just going to go on infinitely?  It would have been zero-zero FOREVER, no?

When I saw clips of those poorly played games, it brought back memories.  Mainly of myself playing badminton in grade nine gym class.  I thought I was horrible, but looking back, I guess I was playing Olympic-calibre badminton.  Heck, I was even better than the disqualified teams; I couldn't even get the birdie to hit the net!

(Sidenote: my record in high school badminton was flawless.  I thought I was pretty lucky to be paired with our grade's best badminton player as my partner.  He would field all of the shots, and I would stand back and cheer as we took down pair after pair of opponents.  Now that I'm a teaching, I've learned that grouping strategy wasn't luck, but is called heterogeneous pairing.  It explains why I was often paired with students who had the academic equivalence of my badminton skills in non-gym classes.  Also, I think I sucked at badminton because no one really taught me how to play.  We just had rackets thrown at us and were told to play badminton.  How is that education?)

Enough of the traumatic high school gym class memories and back to the Olympics.  Other than Shuttlegate (as CTV calls it), I've been into swimming.  First of all, I don't like hearing people being mean to teenagers, so I've been disheartened at the finger-pointing at Ye Shiwen, the Chinese swimming phenom.  Good for her for being faster than the guys.  It's innocent until proven guilty, and she passed all her tests, so I'll give her the benefit of any doubt.  Also, I came across the story of Australian swimmer Leisel Jones, who was being called "fat" by the Australian media yet still was able to pull off a fifth place finish in the race that I watched.  This is her fourth Olympics.  URGH.  As if women don't feel bad enough about our bodies, now Olympians are being called fat.  She should have challenged those buffoons to a swim-off.  (As should Ye Shiwen.)

Note how all of this stupid criticism is toward female athletes.  Hmmm.

I found myself on Team Phelps on the Lochte versus Phelps swimming battle.  I don't have any reason why, that's just how my heart felt.  I was on the edge of my seat watching the 200m individual medley final this afternoon.  Yay for Phelps.  (I know, like he doesn't have enough gold.)

As for Canada, I'm happy with our seven medals so far.  Who doesn't remember Beijing when it took us one week to win a medal?  There was some major national hand-wringing going on then.  Now we're just wringing our hands over who will win the first gold.  I've enjoyed the silvers that we got in both men's and women's 8-person rowing, and all of our bronzes in synchronized diving, judo, and weight-lifting were fun to watch too.  However, I was super proud of our women's gymnastics team who surprised by making the finals and then coming in fifth.  Well done to them.  It's not always about winning a medal.

CTV is promising me all kinds of fun events tomorrow, but my friend Heather is coming to visit me for the weekend, and I don't think she's coming to Toronto to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics.  So maybe my tan isn't going to completely disappear.

PS I'm also super happy that CBC won the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics.  No more "I Believe"!  For non-Canadians, that is a song that the CTV plays whenever we win a medal or something significant happens.  It's very annoying.  Nails on chalkboard stuff.

PPS If I ever talk about competitive swimming this much in a post again, I owe you guys a coke!  (Mr. Burns reference)

Bathurst, Spadina, St. George & Bay.

I've spent a busy few days playing Toronto tour guide.  It was totally fun.  When I have a week in Toronto on my own, I'm guilty of sticking around my own neighbourhood too much and not taking advantage of what this awesome city has to offer.  I'm so glad that I had a friend from Vancouver spend these past few days with me, so I could show him around my city, and remind myself of why I really like calling this place home.

On Friday, we took a ferry out to Centre Island, found a good spot on the beach, and then walked to the other end of the Island.  We headed back to the "mainland" and took a streetcar out to Roncevalles for dinner and to meet up with friends for drinks.  This was the third person that I got to introduce to the terrifying aspect of having to walk into traffic to board a streetcar this summer.

Saturday was spent wandering around to see a lot of my favourite Toronto neighbourhoods: Queen St. W., Kensington Market, College St., the Annex (and Honest Ed's!), parts of U of T, and a bit of Yorkville.  That evening, we saw Best Coast play at the Phoenix, which was a nice show.

On Sunday, we went shopping at the Eaton Centre and wandered out to the Distillery District.  A thunderstorm sent us home from the Distillery a bit early, but that was OK 'cuz it gave me time to make dinner before forcing my pal to watch the finale of the Bachelorette with me, my pal Mathew (innocently dropping by to borrow a travel voltage converter), and a couple bottles of wine.  Yes Jabba, that explains why my last post was title-less.  ;)

Monday was a road trip to Niagara Falls.  It was a beautifully sunny day, and we had a great time.  We went on the Maid of the Mist, and I laughed when my friend invoked Rainier Wolfcastle and said "the plastic bags do nothing!" as we were pelted with mist.  I assure you this was completely refreshing on a day with a humidex of 41 degrees Celsius.  We also had a lot of fun people watching and getting a sugar rush from the frosty chocolate milkshakes at the Hershey Store.

My friend's last full day was spent wandering around Toronto and seeing more landmarks, spending more time by the water, and watching the poor Jays fall apart in the seventh inning to the Oakland A's.  At least we weren't there tonight for the 16-0 blowout.  The poor Jays... they are really suffering from a lot of injuries.  I love them still.

Anyway, so I feel I did a great job as a Toronto tour guide.  Today my friend flew out, however, Becca T arrived from visiting her parents's cottage in Muskoka.  We had a great time catching up and doing classic Becca T/Christy activities: sushi, and Starbucks in a little parkette we used to frequent.  It started raining, so we headed back here, talked a lot, and ended up putting together the Lego landmarks I bought in the US.  It was rather fun.

Unfortunately, I won't get to spend any more time with Becca this summer.  Tomorrow I'm taking the train to Stratford.  It's finally time of Go9 GLAMPING!  It's gonna be great!  I'm going to spend about a week in the Stratford area too.  It'll be nice to spend good time with my parents and Miss Rilo.  The whole family's together, ha-ha!

Also, I've been really enjoying the Polaris Prize-shortlisted album "I Predict A Graceful Expulsion" by the lovely Cold Specks.  She lists subway stations in her song "Elephant Head".  It's good stuff!

When I remember this summer, I'll remember drinking a bottle of wine, watching the Bachelorette finale with a couple of friends, and listening to the new Stars single on repeat, and thinking about social justice, education, and the joy of math/chemistry problems.

Not a light beach read, or how I learned a lot about social justice from an actress.

Before I left on my trip, I downloaded a couple of library books on my Kobo.  One of them was Ashley Judd's memior All That Is Bitter and Sweet.  I scanned the description of the book thinking that it would probably be a light summer read, but since she'd discuss her social justice work in developing nations with the UN and other organizations, it wouldn't be completely a guilty pleasure, as celebrity memoirs tend to be.

Boy, was I wrong.

In this book, Ashley Judd takes us through a spiritual journey through many aspects of her life: her difficult childhood, her recovery from depression and codependency, and her social justice work in developing nations.

She is educated (she describes her studies at Harvard at the end of the book), passionate, and a great role model.  Her work with prostitutes, child slaves, and women living in poverty in the developing world is eye-opening and justifiably uncomfortable to read.  However, through it all she shares how she feels that love in the answer, and that if you help one person, you help the world.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in social justice, gender issues, and/or spirituality. 

As a result of reading this book, I wanted to sponsor a woman in a developing nation through the organization Women for Women International, whose work is described in the book.  For about $1 a day, you can sponsor a women in a country such as the Democratic Republic of Congo to overcome obstacles and provide for her family.  However, since this is a US/UK based charity, for income-tax reasons, I decided to donate to a similar Canadian-based charity: Plan Canada's Because I Am a Girl.  It's a similar idea: that $1 a day would help educate, feed, and provide medical assistance for a girl in a developing nation.  I wanted the site to just randomly pick a sponsor child for me, but then they made me choose, so I selected a little girl in the Philippines, because I teach many newcomers from this country, so it holds a place in my heart.

Anyway, the point of that was that when Ashley wrote "if you help one person, you help the world", it really resonated with me, and donating through a charity like that is the quickest way that I could help a person in a developing nation right now, so I did.

This book also validated some of my teaching practice too.  I teach a unit about the environment and human health in one of my courses, and one of the topics that really hits home to students is the distribution of transmissible diseases like malaria, AIDS, and TB in the developing world.  Facts about how many people are affected by these diseases, and how cheap yet often inaccessible drugs and preventions such as mosquito nets always really resonate with and infuriate my students.  I feel good knowing that I've passed on this information to at least 100 kids (I've taught the course four times), and I really hope that they will take this information with them when they are old enough to vote.

This book also was a good read a year in advance to my (hopeful) trip to Kenya.  (Still not 100% confirmed but very likely.)  Even though I know I'll see some tough things (not as tough as in this book), I hope visiting and working in Africa will be life-changing for me, just like it was for Ashley Judd.

Lastly, I love the message of empowering women in the developing world.  Reading about rape, forced prostitution, and poverty is difficult and it highlights the disparity between men and women in these parts of the world.  It's not to say that the men in these countries don't have it hard too, but so often, the women in these countries don't even know that they have basic rights.  Since women are backbones of family life, to empower a women means to empower a family, and this will make life better for everyone.  This was the same message in another one of my favourite books, I Shall Not Hate by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish.

I guess the moral of this post is don't judge a book by its cover... ever.

Three songs

1) Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It - Stars

You know that thing when you listen to ten seconds of a song and you love it?  Happened when I listened to this.  I am so excited for September 4th when The North is released.



2) Angels - The xx

Beautiful.




3) Gotye Call Me Maybe Mashup - Pomplamoose

Brilliant.



(p.s. I should be cleaning my apartment now.  That's why I'm posting music instead.  Earlier, I was reading up on particle physics and elementary particles becuase I KNOW HOW TO PROCRASTINATE.)

Just own the night like the fourth of July.

Wow, trips go by oh-so-quickly.  It's my last night in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and I've had a relaxing and fun-filled time here.  It's a totally fun and pretty city.  I wish that I had more time here to explore more of the outdoors and go for long bike rides and maybe a hike, but AlieMalie's gotta get back to work (we can't all be teachers!), and I gotta get back to Toronto to get ready for my friend from Vancouver who is visiting me in a few days.

Friday was our first full day in MSP.  We started the day by heading the Como Park Conservatory and Zoo in St. Paul.  The conservatory was filled with many extreme plants and even two species of extreme mammal (humans, and Chloe, the two-toed sloth).

Here are some pretty sunflowers:

Water lilies:

 Chloe, the two-toed sloth:

The zoo was rather sad though.  Many of the animals didn't seem to have enough space and seemed rather depressed.  It made me really think about my opinion of zoos.  I think they are great to teach people about biodiversity and for conservation purposes, but they need to give the animals as much space as they'd need in their natural habitat.  I don't want to criticize this zoo without being informed: perhaps a lot of research did go into the animals' enclosures.  It was a really hot day, so that could have contributed to the animals being so lethargic.  However, my gut feeling was that the animals did not seem happy, and I left the zoo feeling sad (hence I didn't take any pictures).

Anyway, on to happier things: i.e. the Mall of America!  It's a pretty big mall, so of course I wanted to go.  I was quite excited to go the Lego store.  I have friends who are in to Lego, and I have to admit I'm getting into it by proxy.  This store was insane! Check out the view from above:

I got some Lego gifts for friends, and I also got the Lego Architecture set of Big Ben.  It'll be fun to build when I eventually get time to do so... (maybe in September?)

After that we did a bit more typical shopping for handbags and jewelry.

Friday evening we booked ourselves a ghost tour.  AlieMalie knows that I'm into them: I've done them in Stratford, London, Charlottetown, Nova Scotia, and Salem MA.  Normally these involve walking around town and being told ghost stories about various buildings.  I always enjoy them because I love spooky ghost stories.  Also, it was Friday the 13th, so it seemed a perfect thing to do.

This one was a bit different.  Instead of being a ghost story walk, it was a ghost hunt.

It took place in one of Minneapolis' oldest building and we were given a set of ghost-hunting tools: an EMF reader, dowsing rods (don't ask), and a flashlight.  We were let lose in this building with our guides, and were supposed to use our tools (or even apps on our phones) to find the spirits that haunted the building.  It was a pretty funny experience that has spawned some good jokes between us, especially this great shot of an ORB!!! that AlieMalie got on her phone.  BOO!

On Saturday, we headed to the Guthrie Theatre to see Roman Holiday - it's a musical featuring Cole Porter songs based on the Audrey Hepburn movie, which neither of us had seen.  However, it seemed like a good thing to do since it took place in a rather awesome modern theatre overlooking the Mississippi.

We both really enjoyed the musical.  It was very cleverly done.  I wonder if this new musical will make it to New York, or even Stratford, one day.

Today was our last day, and we decided to go to a Twins game.  We got cheap skyline seats, which were great because they were cheap and offered a nice view of the skyline from Target Field.  The Twins lost bigtime to the Oakland A's, but I really enjoyed getting to a new ballpark.  And it was free hat day!  Bonus souvenir for my dad!

Here's the view of the skyline:

I LOVED this sign... It might be hard to see in the picture, but Minneapolis and St. Paul are shaking hands over the river.  Working together is the best!  I really wanted some sort of souvenir with this sign on it. I fall in love with the oddest things sometimes.  But all the gift shop had was overpriced shotglasses, a hideous nail-clipper/keychain, and... earrings(!).  My picture will be the souvenir.

Me in my free Twins hat!  I'll give it to my dad.  He won't mind that it's slightly used.

I loved the cup-holders in the seats in front.  Why doesn't the Skydome have this?  I'm always afraid of spilling my beer there.

 

Here I am with the statue of Kirby Puckett at the entrance to the park.  He was a famous Twins player in the 80s/90s and was a household name... at least in my household.  We were always into baseball, and I remember my dad making lots of jokes about Kirby Puckett.  I am seriously getting this picture of me almost getting attacked by his statue framed for my dad as a joke.

We had to make one last trip to the Mall of America after the game.  During the game, the hotel phoned AlieMalie to apologize because our housekeeper broke my bottle of foundation in our hotel room.  They told her that they'd deduct the cost of it from our hotel bill; all we'd have to do is a bring a receipt for it.  Anyway, there was a MAC store at the mall so I went to get a new bottle.  When we got back to the hotel, we were going to show them the receipt, but we didn't need to because they had researched the cost of the makeup on the internet, and had deducted $35 from our bill.  Minnesotans are really really nice!

Sidenote: as a result of a second trip to the mall, I bought additional makeup at MAC, found the awesome BAD ROMANCE nail polish that was painted on my toes in Winnipeg, and got a new pair of shoes.  I think in the end, Minnesota won this deal.

ANYWAY, so I sit at the end of my first summer trip feeling really great.  I've had some really great times over the past week and a half.  I had such a great time especially hanging out with AlieMalie in Chicago and Minnesota.  It's been over four years since we last saw each other (that's what living in different parts of the continent will do), and it's been great reconnecting.  She is an absolutely awesome friend, and a joy to travel with.  I do hope we make it to Europe together some day, or at the very least, she makes it to Toronto so I can take her to a Jays game, and to a great shoe store.

I'll leave this long post (MSP is fun, y'all!) with a couple more photos.  Here's an awesome giant cherry on a spoon sculpture:

Crazy moving pub on wheels - you gotta pedal for your beer!

Old flour mill:

Skyline at dusk:

See ya in Toronto!

I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine.

New post, new city.  Right now I'm in Bloomington, MN which is actually part of Minneapolis.  After a fun-filled three days in Chicago, I'm spending the weekend in the Twin Cities, and then on Monday, I fly home to Toronto for the next part of my summer vacation.

On Monday, my good pal AlieMalie picked me up at O'Hare, and then we headed into Chicago to meet up with a friend of mine from work who was also in Chicago.  We went for deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's, which was amazing.  Last year, I did the deep dish pizza thing at Pizzaria Uno, and it wasn't nearly as good.  Deep dish pizza has been redeemed for me.

We packed a lot in on Tuesday.  We went to the Field Museum, which I loved.  Not only did I get to see Sue, the most complete T Rex fossil out there, I got to enjoy their Extreme Mammal exhibit.  I really like mammals - I took an entire course on mammalian diversity in university, so I was in heaven.  Unfortunately, there was no photography permitted of the Extreme Mammals (it would be too much to handle for anyone), but here's Sue!

After that, we headed downtown for lunch at then went up the Sears Tower (okay, it's now called the Willis Tower, but whatever).  That was fun.  They have these glass boxes that protrude over 100 stories over Wacker Ave.  Both of us were brave enough to stand on them.

 

We then headed over to the Chicago Theatre to catch Fiona Apple.  The theatre is amazing.  The inside is ornate and decadent.  Fiona herself was amazing.  I wasn't sure what to expect from seeing her live, as I wasn't a superfan before this show, but now I can say that I am.  She is an amazing live performer; she is intensely physical and has a great voice.  I'm so glad that we decided to go to this show.

After the show we wandered around Millenium Park.  Late at night is a great time to get shots of the park without tonnes of tourists in your shots.

Yesterday, we headed downtown to do a river cruise by the Chicago Architectural Society. I actually did the same cruise when I was in Chicago last year, but I was totally game to do it again because of the booze cruisers.  Last year, there were about five couples who got on the boat, and spent the entire cruise drinking and yelling across the boat at each other.  It made it hard to hear the docent's explanations (and made me very grumpy), so that's why I was game to do the same cruise again.  I had a mimosa to celebrate that there were no booze cruisers this time!  :) 

After that, we went for lunch at an awesome restaurant called The Purple Pig.  The highlight of the meal was salted caramel soft serve ice cream for dessert.  So good.

After that, we walked down to Navy Pier, then relaxed on Ohio beach with a beer for a while.  As we were sitting on the beach-side patio, this fetching fellow sauntered by a few times.  Does he remind you of anyone?

We took the El to meet up with my colleague again for our last meal in Chicago.  It was a fun few days in that city.  I really love Chicago, and although I've been there twice in two years, I feel that there is a lot more for me to do there: see a Cubs game and explore more of the neighbourhoods.  I have a feeling it won't be long 'til I do another few days in that amazing city.

Today we drove about 8 hours from Chicago to Minneapolis.  We stopped in Madison Wisconsin for a break and ate at a great pizza place that has mac 'n cheese pizza.  It was carbalicious!

Now we're enjoying generous glasses of complimentary wine as we plan our three days in the Twin Cities.  We're gonna go on a ghost tour (hopefully tomorrow night - Friday the 13th!), see the play Roman Holiday, and go to a Twins' game.  Oh, and of course, the Mall of the Americas is around the corner from our hotel, and I've been a good girl and only bought one thing in Winnipeg (a book) and one thing in Chicago (a Lego model of the Sears tower), so I think I'll be doing some shopping there!

Heart of the Continent

I'm sitting here at WPG's airport, enjoying the existence of free wifi.  In less than an hour, I'll be on my way to Chicago to meet up with my pal AlieMalie, who I haven't seen in over four years.  I'm super excited.

I've had a great time here in Winnipeg!  I leave feeling relaxed, and my brain is clearer than it has been in awhile.  I'm relaxed (so much so I had to say that twice).  I had a great long weekend in Winnipeg... I was here five days, that's like a long weekend, right?

Seeing Feist at the Winnipeg Folk Festival was amazing.  I love festivals, and it's always great to try a new one.  It's at a very large park outside of the city, and it was a great space to enjoy music.  I enjoyed all of the musicians that we saw (Snowblink, James Vincent McMorrow, Justin Rutledge, and someone else whose name escapes me) but Feist took the cake.  She is one of my favourite live performers.  I've had friends call Feist "French cafe background music".  But, as my pal Matt said, "if so, that's one cafe I'd like to go to."  She has such great performance chops; her guitar solo during Sea Lion Woman was amazing, and I was proud that I did not bawl during "Let it Die".

The rest of the time I was here I did lots of fun I stuff.  I drove 1.5 hours north to Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg, and had a great time relaxing on the beach and going for a small hike... however I returned with the worst sunburn ever, and covered in mosquito bites.  We went to see Spiderman, and had some good laughs at the security levels at Oscorp.  It was an OK movie, but turn your brain off.  I went to the Royal Canadian Mint (if you ever go, ask for Phil as your tour guide), walked around downtown a lot, and got pretty damned drunk in Osborne Village.

I treated myself to a great spa escape at Ten Spa at the Hotel Fort Garry.  Massage (on ouchy sunburns), facial, and insane mani-pedi.  A woman told me that she was jealous of the mani-pedi I got (complete with paraffin wax and everything).  My toes are now a colour called "Bad Romance" (black with purple sparkles).  It was a great way to spend five hours and I'd love for the massage therapist that I had to move to Toronto.

On Sunday, Matt and I did the legendary hotel brunch at the Fort Garry.  IT WAS INSANE.  Yes, it cost me $50, but I ate that much food, I am sure of it.  I got so full, that I couldn't even try all the pastries and desserts and I wanted to so badly!  I didn't even have room for an omelette!  I was crushed.  We ate for seriously 2.5 hours.  I'm pretty sure that I worked it all off by walking around all afternoon, and then going for a run.

Oh yes, and maybe my favourite thing from Winnipeg was the abundance of dragonflies.  They were flying around Folk Fest, Grand Beach, and by the Forks.  They are a rarity in my Toronto existence and I loved watching them.

To sum up, I will leave you with what I believe were the two funniest things I said during my trip to Winnipeg.

"Friendly Manitobans are friendly even when you hit their car!"  (I kind of hit a van, but no damage to either vehicle THANK GOD.  I left a note for the van owner 'cuz there was a dent, that was not from me, and he called and was so nice and wished me a happy vacation.)

"The Hotel Fort Garry brunch - where freshly squeezed orange juice flows like water."

Good times.  Now off to make good times in Chicago!

But the airport's always almost empty at this time of the year, so let's go play on a baggage carousel.

I feel that my summer truly starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll fly to Winnipeg, rent a car, and then head out to the Folk Festival to catch Feist.

I'll spend a few more days ambling about the Prairies, a couple days spoiling myself at the spa, and then I'm off to Chicago.

I feel that Winnipeg is the perfect destination for my first flight this summer.  Don't laugh.  Ever since I was a 21-year-old kid listening obsessively to the Weakerthans on my *DISCMAN*, I would picture this city that they sang about in my head.  I knew things about the airport, street names, etc., and thought "hmm, I'll go there some day."

And ironically I did.  Winnipeg was the first place I ever flew to, but not for pleasure, but for work.  When I was 23 (so young) I took a job on a remote reserve in Northwestern Ontario.  I had to fly through Winnipeg to get there, and spent hours in the airport, and a few overnights in the city, including a week for a conference that coincided with my twenty-fourth birthday.  Yep, you know your living conditions are harsh when spending your birthday in Winnipeg in February seems like heaven.

Anyway, so the point of this is that Winnipeg has always had a special place in my heart and seems like a good place to start a summer of self-care and rediscovery.  Through the magic of blogging, I have a good friend there, and my girl Feist is there, so it's a good place to go.  After that, I'm excited to spend a good week with my pal AlieMalie, who I haven't seen in over four years, as we roadtrip from Chicago to Minneapolis-St. Paul's.

The best thing about this summer is that I have pretty much every day filled with awesome people.  People who really care about me and have my back.  People who don't find me too introverted, who don't focus on my flaws, and who don't think life is too short for me.

Anyway, I am just SO FREAKING READY to leave this city for awhile and to remember what's important.  And to spend some time reconnecting with my old self, the optimistic girl who would watch the following video over and over again and didn't worry about bullshit because she knew herself.  I feel like I lost myself this year and I have so much faith this summer will help me find myself.