Thanksgiving in Montreal

For Thanksgiving this year Daniel and I decided that it would be fun if we could rent a car and go on a roadtrip to Montreal. On the first night we stayed near Old Montreal, which is also close to the Montreal Village. We walked around the Village during the day and it was quite a different vibe than in Toronto. I think maybe the Village in Toronto is in a less seedy part of town. It seems to be changing the landscape of Church street because that area is getting more and more expensive. Anyways, it was the black and blue festival that weekend so there were a lot of leathers on the street - lol!

Then we checked in at our hotel (Le Pomerol) which was quaint but nice. It had a double jacuzzi tub right next to the bed! It looked odd, but it was nice. We then went over to the Eaton Center, grabbed some authentic Montrealer cuisine (steamies with poutine) and walked over to Old Montreal. Old Montreal was very cute with narrow streets and an old world atmosphere. We stopped off at the 3 Brasseurs which oddly enough, was a little taste of home for us because we frequent the only one in Toronto.

The next day we went to my auntie Diane's place for Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time that I introduced Daniel to her and my uncle Claude and I was a little nervous. My uncle Claude has quite a personality and is very loud, in a good way of course (French Canadians FTW) And people think I'm loud! Everything turned out great and we had a fun time! It was the first time that Daniel smoked a cigar :) My family goes all out with the food and the drink, they make a whole evening of sitting around the table joking around. It would have been more fun had my mother tagged along with us. It was funny, Diane suggested to my mom before we left that she should ride up with us so that she could go to the dinner. I could tell that she wanted to go, but my dad didn't - so they didn't.

The weekend after we had our Thanksgiving dinner at home which was nice, but not quite as fun. Maybe because Christine's boyfriend Mike was sick and canceled last minute :( We had BBQed turkey at my auntie Diane's place and a traditional turkey at my moms. Good food - good company - what could be better?

Dragonette Concert

I found out that Dragonette was going to play at the Mod Club and I was so excited to go to a rock show for a band that I enjoy! I got my sister to pick us up 3 tickets (one for Daniel) from soundscapes - this let us bipass the $10 per ticket charge from ticketmaster - Assholes! So yeah, the tickets were $15, and Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees were opening.

The concert was yesterday (the Thursday before the Thanksgiving long weekend). Doors at 6:30, show at 7. By the time we got close-by it was 7 and we stopped off at this cute little place for paninis. By the time we got there it was 7:30 and I figured that Ruby Jean would be halfway into her set, but unfortunately she didn't even start. She turned out to be quite unentertaining. It was entertaining however to note the variety of people who came out. A lot of gays and a lot of geek types (and one very annoying guy who was on E in front of us!) lol

When the show finally started I was psyched! They played all the hits from their first album and lots from their second album too. Sadly my sister wasn't as entertained and left early. It was an awesome show, I was so happy! Dragonette DIDN'T play two of my favourite songs. But in their defense, these two are only internet songs and have not been released on an album. One of them is Boys and the other is ...



Next on the list of shows is a Basement Jaxx DJ set, so exited!

September

So September has come and gone and what has been going on? Well, I got my Daniel back! Finally! He brought be back some goodies from Florence, a Puma T-Shirt, a ring (not THAT kind silly!) and a bracelet, and the best present of all - himself! hahaha

Other than that, my employer decided to hire me full-time for my current position of Data Analyst. That means that I analyze data. It's not all that complicated. The job is pretty good, I do interesting work and when there is a lull in the work (and my boss is out of town) I get to do whatever I want at work! Horray for Youtube and Google Maps!

My grandmother passed away on the 14th and the funeral took a lot out of my family. It was very sad, but she was 97 and we had already said our goodbyes. Even as she was loosing part of her mind I always pictured her as the perfect grandmother who babysat myself and my sister, made crafts with us, baked us cookies, put dimes in our birthday cakes and cooked us up homemade play-dough. I miss my granny, but I'll always remember.

Tim Hortons

Lately I've been starting my day with a large cup of Tim Hortons coffee. Usually it's done by the time I get to work so I refill my cup with the sludge from the office... I remember in 1st or 2nd year Uni I started getting half coffee - half hot chocolates. That's the equivalent of a cafe mocha minus the whipped creme and chocolate sprinkles. Then in my last year of Uni I was drinking 2 XLs a day of Tim's coffee. Now I'm drinking slightly less than that, but I'm definitly hooked for life.


Whenever I used to go to Tim Hortons with Daniel he normally gets one of the promotional donuts that they have (key lime and strawberry bloom). So today I picked up a blueberry bloom donut in loving memory *sniffles* of my Daniel. I think that they're making the blooms smaller now...I'm not usually a big fan of donuts, but if I had to choose I'd probably get a vanilla dip but only if it had the sprinkles that are long (i.e. not round). It's my sister that got me on the vanilla dips. So good!

Here's one of Daniels fave Aqua songs, enjoy!

(Baby I am missing you)
I want you by my side
(And I hope you'll miss me too)
Come back and stay
(I think about you every day)
I really want you too
(You swept my feet right off the ground
You're the love I found)

Dragonette

I came across Dragonette while scouring my sisters CDs in a bold attempt to fill my 8G IPod Nano. Now that I have too much music I'm going back and deleting any extra music I don't like from my IPod. Luckily for the Canadian Band Dragonette, I fancy their music. Their most recognized song was I Get Around, but I can't get enough of this other one: Black Limousine. Apparently that album didn't fare too well...

As far as music goes 99% of my favourite music has female vocals in it. Even the male artists like the Jaxx and Benassi use female vocals. Another attraction... bands with a girl fronting. You've got No Doubt, Aqua, and Dragonette!

Anyways, I later found out that the lead singer from Dragonette, Martina Sorbara collaborated with Basement Jaxx (aka the Jaxx) on their single Take Me Back To Your House from their Crazy Itch Radio Album. She even stars in the video! This excites me. Now I get to look forward to a new release from Dragonette and the Jaxx next month!

For now, I'm a true believer...

Civic Day Shopping

This morning me and my mom went to Square One for some shopping. We couldn't go anywhere fast because of my blasted knee (more on that some other time) but we did pretty well. My mom stocked up on Cards at Carlton. Apparently they're revamping their card reward system... I wonder why...? Not that I ever buy cards... I think that I'd rather spend an extra $5 on something else than a piece of paper. But she got 8 cards where 2 were free.

Then we went for some coffee at Second Cup - my treat :) and bought some Cucina soap refills at Fruits & Passion. Buy 2 get a small one free. Laura, Rainbow Jade, Wal*Mart, then EBGames for Gears of War 2. Scott will be happy: hopefully he'll let me play with him soon - lol. As we were making our way out I wanted to look at Pumas at the Athletes World. Then we looked at the Pumas for women...

My mom is really getting gung-ho about losing weight and getting healthy. Her new motto is 'Just Do It'. I remember as a child we never got Nike shoes because they were so expensive. I guess times change 'cause she bought a pair of Nike's - I hope she puts them to good use. My mom offered to get me a pair of shoes because it was a BOGO-HALF deal, but there was nothing I liked so I didn't get a pair. The sales lady was very insistent to the point where she was like "Lets make a deal". She suggested finding any pair I liked and she could ask her manager to make it a BOGO-HALF. So I try on a shoe but it was falling apart on one side. So in the end I didn't get a new pair of shoes. But what's the point of getting a pair of shoes I only kind of like? I wasn't in love today (with any of the shoes, I mean)

While we were at the mall my dad went to a Chinese Supermarket H&H (Think T&T but smaller, lol what's the deal with all these names? What's next, Asian gas stations named G&G?). Anyway, he went to buy fish, $5 for 2 fish. Sounds pretty good but only a small amount of the fish he got is edible by my parents standards. Give the same fish to a different family and they probably would use 90% of it... So we're having fish as a sidedish for dinner. It was very good and good for you too!

After dinner my mother decided that she wanted Dairy Queen and at the time it seemed like a marvelous idea to me. It figures, she wants to start a fitness regimen with Dairy Queen... I got my usual Pecan Mudslide - not on the menu, but they made it for me anyhow :) OMG it made me feel so disgusting after, the next time I have one, I'll have to drag Daniel along so he could help me :)

Daniel is Missing!

Okay, so Daniel is not actually missing. Odds are that he's somewhere between Pescara and Rome. But Canada is missing him and so am I! Today we helped my sister set up her bed and other things (stupid IKEA!), but overall it was kind of a lazy Sunday.

I miss you