Today I...February 28th

Today I...

...went to see the annual 'Butterflies go Free' show at the Botanical Gardens. I got there before lunch, there was no line and no major crowd, so I had all the place I needed to take my pictures, it was great :o)

...took a round-about way home so I could get a good walk in.

...watched the hockey game and I was happy to be proven wrong when Canada won :o) I'll admit that with their overall performance during the games I didn't believe they would win.

...am an even prouder Canadian than ever. Our games turned out great despite a rocky start and we won the most gold medals ever in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. So what if two other countries won more than us overall, we have more gold and won more medals than we ever have and we did it all at home :o) Oh and I hope you got a look at our closing ceremonies, they kicked some serious butt too (and actually still are, I'm writing this while watching Alanis Morissette my favorite song of hers :o) )

Today I...February 27th

Today I...

...went out to dinner with a good friend of mine to my (and I believe our) favorite restaurant in the world, Maïko Sushi. That's a picture of our dinner up there, it was absolutely fabulous and we ate every last bite. We also had a wonderful time chatting, as we always do :o) Oh and don't ask me why this is underlined, I have no clue. I entered a link for the restaurant and the blue underlining for the link just wouldn't go away no matter how much I tried to get rid of it. If anyone can help me out with this, please do, because I'm feeling pretty dumb about it which is why I'm making this post short. It's driving me mad. Don't worry, you're not missing out on anything, my day was pretty run of the mill besides going out for dinner. I just did my laundry, spoke on Skype with my Sweetheart and a friend of mine who lives in Switzerland, took some clothes over to the Goodwill bin and bought some milk. Oh and I watched Canada win two of three of its gold medals at the Olympics today. WE ROCK!!!

P.S.: I ended up figuring out how to fix the underlining problem by going into my post and stripping out a bunch of wonky html. It was a totally random idea and I actually had no clue if I was butchering my entire post or not, but it worked out and left me feeling pretty smart ;o)

Polar bear swim, anyone?

I came across several ducks while out for a walk in a little park in Toronto two weeks ago. Click on the pictures to enlarge them and you'll be able to get a much better view of them. I felt frigid just seeing them in the water, but of course they don't seem bothered by it one bit :o)
That's Camera Critters for this week, be sure and check out all the other adorable critter photos out there by going here. Have a great weekend, everyone and thanks for stopping by :o)

Today I...February 26th

Today I...

...had a very quiet morning at work followed by a busier afternoon.

...set up an appointment to visit a lovely apartment, but then found out that someone put in an application for it with a deposit. If their credit check goes through, they will get it, but I'm going to call the building manager tomorrow since apparently they have a series of units freeing up about the time my lease is up here.

...went to an appointment after work and was then supposed to go to dinner with a friend, but she let me know during the afternoon that she felt she would be too rushed after work to go out this evening, so we're going out tomorrow night instead. Delicious sushi and great girl talk, here I come!

...went to buy myself two books with some gift cards I got instead of going out to dinner. Not a bad trade off :o)

...saw a homeless man, when going out and then back into the subway station who was either a few drinks shy of an alcohol induced coma or high as a kite or possibly both. He looked like he was having his own brand fun, all right...I felt sad seeing him, but at the same time I had trouble keeping a smirk off my face while watching him dance, as did all the other transit users.

Today I...February 25th

Today I...

...am missing my Sweetheart a bit, he popped on and off of Skype a few times, but we didn't manage to get a hold of each other. I think his Internet might be acting up. So since I'm missing him, I'm sharing some pictures from our Valentine's Day drinks and dessert with you guys. Above you can see some pictures of the pre-dinner cocktails that my Sweetheart created. They were a devilishly delicious mix of black current liqueur, peach juice and orange liqueur. My Sweetheart decided we needed to name the mix and called it a 'Torontonian'
...and here are the strawberries he put on a plate int he shape of a heart for us. His heart was kind of lopsided and he wasn't happy with it and gave up, so I took over and told him I hadn't done a BA for nothing and I nudged a few of the berries around to get this result.
...and here are our after dinner drinks, some yummy carbonated apple and pomegranate juice from...Ikea :o) Hey, they don't just sell great home decor stuff!

Today I...

...did some apartment hunting and found a few places of interest, I may visit one place on the weekend and if I do, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

...got a paper cut, ouch!!! I'm such a baby about paper cuts, it's pretty bad. It just always stuns me how much a little thing like a paper cut can hurt!

...watched the women's' hockey team bet the US in the final to win a gold medal, GO CANADA!!! That's the third Olympic gold medal in a row for the Canadian women's' hockey team, we ROCK!!! Now hopefully the men can pull off the same trick.

Skywatch Friday

I needed a touch of sunshine in my life today and I thought that maybe you all could too, so I'm sharing this photo I took while on vacation in Florida a few years ago with all of you as my Skywatch Friday feature for this week :o) I hope it warmed up any of you caught in the dead of winter like me! You can go and check out other Skywatch photos over here.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Today I...February 24th

Today I...

...am sharing another photo from my trip to Toronto with you, this one is from the business district near Union Station, I just loved the way the sky scrapers were reaching up against the bright blue sky. It's nice to see blue sky like this because we've had so little of it here in the past few weeks and we won't be seeing any until at least Monday from what the weather forecasters are saying.

...made it work on time. I got up at 7:00 and was able to get on the first bus that came along and was at work early enough to be able to sit and read a bit before having to start the day. I was was cranky as all heck about having to get up earlier, but seeing that I was going to be more than on time was far less stressful than seeing that I was going to be late.

...got back on the Pilates wagon and it felt great. I hadn't worked out since the Monday I got to my Sweetheart's place two weeks and I was starting to feel lousy about it, so work out I did. I'll try and do it once or twice a week again because I was getting very good results before and I'd like to maintain what I've obtained so far :o)

Today I...February 23rd

Today I...

...am sharing with you a photo I took of the map that my Sweetheart and I used for our road trip a bit over a week ago. We brought our cameras on our drive, but it wasn't sunny out and the lighting wasn't very good for photos, so I took a few pictures of the map we used instead, showing the areas we drove through. This one shows North York, which was our departure point and Markham which is where we really started heading North. From Markham we headed to Uxbridge, had a bit of a drive through there and then we headed up to Lake Simcoe, which is shown on some of my other photos.

...was late to work. Again. I felt like total loser. I left a bit earlier, made it on the first bus that came along, although the fella who got on before me had to pull me out of the way of the doors as they closed to keep me from falling back out. I thought I had it made, that I was going to be on time, but no. It was someones bright idea to have contract workers for the city putting lamp posts in along Queen Mary Road, right in front of the Oratory in the dead of winter, in a snowstorm at the height of rush hour. They therefore had a small crane set up in the right hand lane in front of the Oratory and had it blocked off for about five feet. The traffic was backed up all the way to the subway station and I was late to work. Five minutes late instead of ten, but still late. I give up. I'm going to check out the price of used cars as a last resort, because tomorrow I'm going to have to get up at 7:00 instead of 7:15 since the transit corporation seems unable to provide its users with reliable service despite constantly hiking their rates and the fates seem determined to make me late to work no matter how fast I go in the morning and how much I have to cut into my leisurely pace in life in order to make it to work on time. If, but getting up at 7:00 to leave at 8:00 to make it to work for 8:30 which SHOULD only take me 20 minutes but as lately been taking me 30-35 minutes I still cannot make it on time, I will seriously have to consider buying a car, something that I cannot yet afford and do not really want, because seriously, living this close to work feeling like I might need one is a scandal. But what can I say? Inefficient public services will not cost me a job that I worked my ass off for eight years to get.

Yesterday I...February 22nd

Yesterday I...

...was ten minutes late to work because I wasn't able to get on a bus until 8:20. Two went by my stop packed to the brim and after the second one went past us without stopping, the three other people waiting at the stop and I started walking to the subway. We made it one stop further before three buses came along, all of them moderately full and we were all able to get on one of them along with the 10 people who were waiting at the stop before we got there. I wrote a very clear and concise complaint to the transit commission over the situation, because this is a problem that has been creeping up progressively since just after Christmas. I'm paying more for my pass, but am getting to work late more and more often no matter how much earlier I get up in an effort to catch a bus. What gives????

...was in a cranky mood all day after being late.

...went to my first choir practice since coming home from my vacation. It went very well, but i'm going to have to make sure not to be beside the girl I was beside last night, because she was driving me nuts. Every little mistake she or someone else made, she treated like a disaster, she always had some little comment to make whenever the director spoke to us and she was constantly chatting to the girl on her other side. She was also forcing her voice to make sure she was the most audible singer in the entire section, it was really, really annoying, especially that she often made rythmic errors. Ugh...nothing like people who think they're God's gift to whatever when really, they're not that impressive. If she keeps forcing her voice the way she is, she'll have none left in a few years.

This weekend I...

This weekend I...

...was very busy. Yesterday I did some housework and was planning a quiet evening when I got a call from my oldest friend (we've been friends since grade 5) inviting me to a girls' night at her parents' place out in our hometown of Beaconsfield, which in in the west end of Montreal. We got together there with two of our friends from high school and ate home made spaghetti, chatted up a storm and laughed ourselves silly while playing Cranium. I got home very late though, at 2:30 in the morning and was in bed at 3:00. Luckily my landlord and his wife slept in this morning and I was able to sleep until 10:30 A.M., so getting to bed so late didn't do me any harm.

...socialized out a lot. After being out all night last night, I went to lunch with another good friend of mine at Ye Olde Orchard Pub, a Montreal 'institution' as we call our oldest and most well known watering holes and restaurants, to celebrate my birthday. They make a mean steak and mushroom pie, let me tell you! After that we came back to my place, she clipped my cats' claws for me because she's so darn good at it (whenever I try to do it, my cats hate me) and we watched an episode of the X-Files, one of our all-time favorite shows. After she left I hurried up to get ready, because my grandparents were coming to get me an hour after Val left to take me to my aunt and uncle's to celebrate my birthday yet again. It was fun, the food was great, but it was a short evening because all the guys (my dad, my brother and my grandpa) were fixated by the Canada-US hockey game and then my grandpa and my dad wanted to make it home before it finished so they wouldn't be out on the road with everyone else who had been out to watch the game and my brother wanted to watch the final period with his buddies at a sports bar. Too bad we lost...

I had no clue...

I had no clue that rhinoceros'...

...and some breeds of ant-eaters were this big.

I took these photos at the Toronto Zoo on Monday of last week. The zoo was pretty great, but is definitely more fun to visit in the summer I'm guessing. I'll be heading back there with my boyfriend in June or July I think :o)

For more Camera Critters pictures, head on over here.

Today I...February 19th

Today I...

...enjoyed every moment of the announcement of Brother André's canonization. We at the Oratory have been waiting rather impatiently for the announcement since the Pope recognized the final miracle necessary for him to be made a Saint. It was a very momentous day at work indeed! I took several pictures during the press conference held this morning and will share them with you soon :o)

...enjoyed every moment of my birthday. I got birthday wishes all days and tonight went out to dinner with my brother. I drank a bit too much and ate a bit too much, but with the week I've had, I think I was entitled to it :o) I was definitely in a celebratory mood.

...am very tired, but it's a good kind of tired. I will therefore head off to bed and I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Today I...February 18th

Today I...

...am sharing with you a photo that I took of the bronze statue of the Oratory's founder, Brother André, that stands on the of where the house he was born used to stand. It faces a monument made out of the foundations stones of the house, which burned down in the 1950s. Stay tuned to the news tomorrow for some big news about our humble little Brother.

...got the official letter congratulating me on getting my permanent job. It's now stuck to my fridge door with a magnet and won't be coming down any time soon :o)

...got myself a slightly early birthday and self-congratulatory present: a lovely orchid for my office. Yes, it was slightly pricey, but I figure that after all the stress I went through these past few months, I deserved it. Also, my other office orchid was looking kind of sad and lonely since it stopped flowering, so I figure that with two, hopefully one of them will always be flowering.

...got a slightly early birthday present from my co-workers: an awesome six CD set from EMI classics call 100 Best Sacred Music. Drool...I've listened to three of the CDs so far and I LOVE them!

...was happy that my landlord responded to my distress call and finally came to finish fixing my bathroom door. He fixed it so it stays closed now and my can no longer open the door, but he still has a bit of work left to do on that and then he'll have to fix the leaky pipe under my sink. He's going to come back on Saturday, until then I have a Tupperware container collecting the water from the pipe.

Skywatch Friday

Hi all! I'm back to Skywatching this week after my lovely vacation :o) I took this photo next to Toronto's City Hall last Thursday at the end of the afternoon under a beautiful blue sky. The weather was perfect for skating, nice and warm (by Canadian Winter standards) and not too much wind.

I hope you enjoy this Skywatch shot, be sure to go and check out all the other great Skywatch shots out there over here.

Today I...February 17th

Today I...

...am sharing with you a picture that I took while out on a lovely (mostly) walk that I took in a park near the St-Clair subway station in Toronto a week ago today. I say it was a mostly lovely walk because towards the end of my walk I went someplace I shouldn't have, slipped on an icy embankment and nearly ended up in a small, very cold looking river that I would have had to walk through quite a ways before being able to climb out of. Yup, I gave myself a good scare and swore that I would never be that daring again!!!

...am very tired. I have lots and lots of work to do this week and it ain't gonna be getting easier any time soon! You will all see why on Friday. Tune into the news, you won't be able to miss it.

Today I...February 16th

Today I...

...had a VERY busy first day back at work, but I managed to slog through the mound of stuff that piled up on my desk while I was away and am very proud of the achievement!

...was thrilled to find a full size desk in my new cubicle! I had been expecting a mid-sized desk at best and there I was staring at my shiny new desk with so much space that I didn't know what to do with it all!

...drum roll please...found out this afternoon that I got my FULL TIME PERMANENT JOB!!! I am over the moon and can't quite believe it yet, the reality of it is going to take a while to settle in I think, but WOW what a great early birthday present to finally achieve one of my long-time goals :o) Nothing like a dream come true every now and then! Thank you so much to all of you who have been saying prayers and sending positive thoughts my way through all of this, it really has meant the world to me :o)

...spread the good news around as fast as I could. I called my Sweetheart first and left him a message, then I called my mom, then my grandma, then my dad, then my friend who cares for my animals while I'm away, then put it on Facebook and then told my other grandma when she called me and now I'm waiting for my Sweetheart to connect to Skype so we can celebrate together long distance :o)

Today I...February 15 th

Today I...

...enjoyed my lovely memories of Valentine's Day with my Sweetheart.

...gave my Sweetheart a few final driving pointers before we turned in our rental car. Part of our Valentine's Day treat to each other on Sunday was a road trip which we thoroughly enjoyed.

...texted my cousin to wish her a happy birthday.

...enjoyed having my Sweetheart take some pictures of me in the dress I wore to my cousin's wedding last week.

...headed to the train station with my Sweetheart and was surprisingly calm when I boarded the train and left him behind. Normally I have a good cry when I leave after a visit to him, but they've normally only lasted a weekend or four days at the most. We were blessed with an entire week of evenings together plus a weekend, so I was much more sated this time and I guess that's why I'm so calm tonight and still have a smile on my face. I do miss him already though and it will be strange going to bed by myself. I know I will feel lonely then and will more than likely get teary, but I'll just imagine that my Sweetheart is beside me and that will take a bit of the edge off. That and I'll wear the pair of socks he gave me a few months back so my feet wouldn't get cold on the train. Yes, they're his socks. I haven't succeeded in getting one of his sweaters for keeps yet, so I'm making do with the socks and a teddy bear he gave me for Valentine's Day a few years ago instead :o)

This week I...

This week I...

...have been enjoying a much needed week off.

...enjoying evenings with my Sweetheart after he gets home from work.

...enjoying walking around in shoes instead of boots almost every day.

...enjoying going for long walks.

...collecting bruises and aches after slipping and falling three times on ice hidden under snow. Yeah, it snowed for about 24 hours here in Toronto, just enough to hide the icy patches. Ouch...

...have taken many, many pictures and tried to upload them, but my Sweetheart's 'high speed' internet connection is way, way slower than my cable internet back home and it froze up good when I tried to get pictures on here for you guys a few minutes ago. Guess you'll have to wait until I get settled back in at home next week before seeing them. Sorry...

...went to the Toronto zoo with my grandparents on Monday and saw all kinds of interesting critters!

...am taking a break from blogging, but still wanted to give you guys a bit of an update, so here I am! I hope you all enjoy your weekend and I'll be back to my regular blogging habits next week :o)

Today I...February 7th

Today I...

...am recovering from my cousin's wedding. I did not get totally sloshed, no indeed, probably because I had such a bad migraine all evening and actually ended up asleep on the second floor of the Heritage barn where the ceremony and reception were held, but because the rehearsal and decorating on Friday were incredibly tiring and then yesterday there was the makeup and hair to get done, the getting ready, the last minute details and OUCH the migraine. It was still fun though and I took over 350 photos :o)

...am still giddy over having caught my cousin's bouquet. She tossed her rehearsal bouquet, not her wedding one, but I think that's all the better because I'll be able to keep it forever and it will always be just as beautiful as the the day she got married :o)

Today I...February 4th

Today I...

...had a crazy day at work filled with packing boxes for our office's move, getting stuff ready for our busy week in March, giving a tour and then filling more boxes.

...was late for my pre-wedding manicure after work and was then reminded why I so rarely have manicures when, after waiting a half hour for my nails to dry, I promptly chipped my left thumb just before leaving the salon badly enough that I had to wait for another 15 minutes to have it redone and then wait another half hour for it to dry. I swear, I feel like walking around with mitts on until the wedding on Saturday so I won't chip the polish again. But hey, at least I was still in the salon when I chipped it!

...only had dinner at 10:00 because my mom called me when I got home and I vented some of my stress to her (thanks for being such a great listener tonight, mom) for about an hour, then took out the trash, then tried on my dress for the wedding to see how it looked with the shoes I bought (smashing!), the showered, then started my facial, then spoke with my Sweetheart (another great listener award goes out to him, plus one for making me laugh at my situation), then I finished my facial and THEN I finally got to eat.

..still have not packed and it's 11:45 P.M. and I'm tired. I'd better get to it so I can crash. Methinks I shall be sleeping on the train tomorrow.

I'll try and post as often as I can while I'm away, but barring miracles, don't expect a thing from me until at least Tuesday. I hope you have an awesome weekend and I'll try and check in next week while I'm away :o) See you all soon!

Skywatch Friday

Since the Olympics are opening in Vancouver next week, I figured I would go for an Olympic themed Skywatch this week. I took this shot in early spring last year after going to the Botanical Gardens next door. The stadium is a Montreal staple, just like Old Montreal and St-Joseph's Oratory. Montreal just wouldn't be Montreal without it!!! Even though the running joke in the city in the to call it 'The Big Owe' instead of the 'Big O'. Yes, the damn thing cost us a fortune to build for the 1976 Olympics (we just finished paying it off) and it has probably cost us even more to maintain. Oh well, at least it's well used! It now houses a public sports complex and we use the track and field area for exhibits, some concerts and large sports events and every two years when either the summer or winter Olympics are on, they light up the flame in the cauldron you can see beside the rings.

Have a great weekend and be sure to go and check out more Skywatch photos here

Today I...February 3rd

Today I...

...am sharing a nice summery photo with you because, you know, we can all use a little bit of summer in the middle of winter :o)

...got home way earlier than I expected because I got to the spa early and they took me early so I got an earlier bus home and voilà! Here I am :o)

...was pretty much headache free, phew! That was a doozy yesterday.

...got some very exciting news at work today. Not about my job, the posting for that is still up and I won't be hearing anything until it comes down on Friday. If I hear anything about that during my vacation I will be sure to let you all know. No, no, this is actually much bigger news which you will hear about on TV and in the papers, but not for a few weeks yet. Just keep an eye out for it, you'll know what it is when you hear it :o) And no, I'm not telling :op

...found myself wondering who, between my landlord and his wife, can't park straight in the garage to save their soul...I'm fairly picky about garage parking since I spent years driving my mom's SUV and had to park very, very straight in the garage because otherwise the truck wouldn't make it through the door (yup, it really was that tight, they didn't make SUVs when my mom's house was built in the 50s, or if they did, city folks didn't drive them because they didn't need them). So I couldn't help but wonder, when I literally nearly tripped over the landlord's VW's bumper when I went into the garage earlier how, in the name of Heaven, you can manage to park something that handles like a Jetta does so crooked in a huge double garage that your front bumper is inches from the door into the duplex and your rear bumper is nearly touching the rear bumper of your neighbors' car? And not only that, but park it that badly and just leave it like that? I would be way too embarrassed about parking like that to even think of not backing out and trying to an even slightly better job than that. But hey, that's just me ;o)

Today I...February 2nd

Today I...

...wore my shoes for my cousin's wedding most of the day to break them in some more.

...found out that I'm going to have to go to a meeting with a team we're cooperating with for the third year in a row on a project for kinds in low income public schools in Montreal. I'm being sent it because aside from my boss, I'm the one who knows the project best. I'll have to give a 15 minute presentation and then answer questions. Yeah, no pressure there...right!!! If I'd known I was doing this earlier in the week I would have made sure to keep my fanciest and most professional work clothes for tomorrow, but as I didn't know, I wore them yesterday.

...developed a tension headache shortly after getting to work and it's starting to peak. Ouch...

...am starting to get stressed out with all the stuff I have to do before leaving. Today was supposed to be my relaxing day, but I had to get groceries after work, wanted to do my Pilates workout one more time before the wedding on Saturday, ended up eating late because I also wanted to practice my singing a bit, vacuumed while my dinner was cooking because I didn't have time to do it over the weekend and I steadfastly refuse to leave a messy apartment behind when I go away and I still have a pile of dishes to wash. Ugh...I just want to go to bed.

...have come to the conclusion that it may be hard for me to post between now and my departure and then once I'm away. So, folks, be warned that despite my best efforts postings may be few and far between for the next week and a half and don't expect took many pictures since I'm not bringing my laptop with me. I hope you guys like my writing enough to stick around :o)

Today I...February 1st

Today I...

...was flying solo at work since C took the day off and D never works on Mondays, he works Tuesday to Saturday. It was nice and quiet, although I did get quite a few phone calls.

...took an overcrowded bus to work (the guy behind my was literally glued to my ass. It was bugging me, but I bet he didn't mind it one bit...Took another overcrowded bus home with a girl's backpack glued to my back and took a third INSANELY overcrowded bus to choir practice because about half of the orange line of the Metro was down. I was so proud of myself for getting what was supposed to be an earlier bus than usual so I could actually make it practice on time, but it turned out to be running late because it was so overcrowded and it only got later as we went along, so I got in ten minutes late as usual...but I was still one of the earlier ones since so many people were stuck in the Metro. That's what happens when you get smoke in a tunnel, it takes them forever to vent it, even if fixing the cause of the smoke only take about 10 minutes.

...was impressed that my landlord came over today to try and fix a problem that I only mentioned to him yesterday. He unfortunately wasn't able to fix it, but he will try to come back before I leave to get it done. I guess the problem being my bathroom door not staying closed anymore might make him feel the problem is rather urgent. You know, just maybe. If only he thought my slowly dying dryer (which is, technically, his slowly dying dryer) was as important.