A leisurely jog…

Last night Gerwyn and I decided to attempt something 'active' and decided to go for a run (at my suggestion). We were going to go from his house at Yonge and Steeles to Promenade Mall at Bathurst and Centre. Its been ages since either of us have worked out and I thought this would be a nice leisurely way to get back into the swing of things.

Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten who I was dealing with and Mr. SuperFit wouldn't let me actually "jog". Or rather, his "jog" = my "highspeed run". So after the first 5 minutes (which was uphill by the way,) I was exhausted. But do you think that stopped the "JogNazi"? Oh no, then he ran back to where I was and insisted that I was just "running on the spot" and that I could do much better and I needed to keep up with him. He has a great way of pushing me towards the boundaries of near-death, and so I jogged on, although about 10 feet behind him the whole way. We got to make a few pitstops everytime we hit a red light (thank God!) but other than that, I had to run. He kept looking back to see where I was and would make arm gestures to make me hurry. I had an arm gesture of my own that I wanted to show him however my heart would have probably stopped right then and there if I attempted any additional physical activity beyond what I was already doing. When we finally reached the mall I was ready to pass out. I was seeing stars and it took every bit of willpower just to make it to the curb so I could stretch.

Of course, once we got inside the mall my thoughts moved to how we would get home. There was NO WAY I was going to run back and it was getting too cold to walk. So Gerwyn pulled out his cell phone (which he brought in his trusty "fanny pack") and we called my pally Sally who just so happened to be in Thorhnill and on her way to the mall. I've never enjoyed her car so much as I did during that ride home. It was warm and cozy and didn't my cause my heart to pound outside of my chest.

I think I'll stick to my lonely treadmill from now on…

Another Busy Weekend…

This weekend was full of celebrating. On Friday night my sister arrived for a visit from Connecticut so I decided to take the GO train home and visit her and my mom. My brother and sister in law ended up joining us so we all ate my mom's famous ox tail soup and played with Charlotte. Saturday we got up early and had to run some family errands before going to my uncle's 70th birthday party. We made a quick stop to visit my dad's grave and then headed home to grab a quick snack before the party. Once we got to my aunt's house, the house was already full of hustle and bustle while my cousin's kids ran around and we all waited eagerly for the food to be served. As usual, it was another pig out fest followed by the biggest Costco cake I've seen in a long time. All the kids fought over who would get the piece with all the icing.

Later in the afternoon, Jessica and Michael tried to give me a refresher course in how to ride Jessica's bike and after about 20 minutes I was able to make it one way up and down the street. However I still had trouble turning and had to get off the bike and walk it into the other direction in order to change directions. But nevertheless they were happy to see me riding and would clap every time I rode by.

After lunch/dinner, I managed to catch a ride with my cousin back downtown in her packed mini-van. I didn't know they could hold so many people, but with four adults and 4 kids (2 in car seats,) we all managed to fit. Unfortunately my niece Samarra was not thrilled with the car seat and wailed the entire ride home and my nephew Michael suddenly felt car sick after eating all that icing and I had to hold a plastic bag on "stand by" just in case. Life with kids definitely makes things more exciting!

Once I got back to the condo, I started to make the cupcakes and prepare the sangria for Ev's shower the next day. Unfortunately I had not picked up any fruit so I had to make Gerwyn go out on his bike and get some. (Thank goodness for nice weather!) 70 cupcakes later, I was exhausted and we eventually just crashed on the couch before we were even able to start our dvd.

Sunday, we got up and I finished decorating the cupcakes while Gerwyn watched various You Tube videos. He showed me one of Conan O'Brien doing a commencement speech at a highschool. It was hilarious. He made a great point about how people focus too much on a "supposed goal" or objective that they think their lives are supposed to take but might end up missing the "fork in the road" which could be the thing they end up loving the most and makes their life worthwhile. (His example was attending a meeting for his college newspaper with his roommate. He didn't have any interest in going beforhand, but it ended up leading him to his career as a comedian.) All in all a great message and a hilarious delivery. Later that afternoon all the buzz started for Ev's shower and then the rest of the afternoon was a blur until the point where we got to take a nap after everyone left. It was nice to see everyone and catch up (momentarily) anyway! We ended the evening by going to Thornhill and having dinner at Sushi Fun followed by yet another episode of falling asleep in front of the couch.

Niece-sitting... shhhhh

Tonight I'm babysitting my niece Charlotte. She's 6 months old now and this is my brother and Nancy's first evening out. They went to see Dirty Dancing with friends. My brother kept asking me if I wanted to invite my cousin Hanna over cause he said I would "need the help". Me wanting to be the "cool" aunt, thought "nah, I won't need help, I can power through!". However, since Sally and Mel mentioned that they wanted to meet Charlotte I thought I would invite them to come by.

Well the first half hour or so went well enough, my brother and Nancy left and Charlotte was as happy as could be, Sally and I were playing with her and she didn't even notice that mom and dad were gone. By the time Mel came over at about 8, she started to show signs of tantrum and by 8:10 the show was well under way. We each took turns carrying her around, trying to console her. Mel even took her for a walk down the hallway of my condo but her screams became so loud Mel came running back cause she didn't want to disturb the neighbours. Then Mel suggested I heat up a bottle and even though the kid had been fed before Nancy left, I figured what the heck, we had to try everything at this point. Sally and Mel put her in her carseat and started to rock her while trying to keep her thumb in her mouth. I was in charge of bottle heating (the easy job!). After about 10-15 minutes the screaming slowly started to die down and soon enough we just heard the odd whimper here and there but for the most part, silence!! We all tried to keep very very quiet as any little noise would disturb her and then Sally and Mel escaped. Now I am alone and crossing my fingers (and toes,) that she's out til midnight at least which is when her parents are scheduled to return.

So... while Mel and Sally managed to quiet down my niece, I think my niece managed to quiet down my biological clock. In fact, I don't hear a peep out of it at all...

Long Weekend Re-cap…

So nice to have a long weekend again. For me, May 2-4 is the "official" start of summer. Even if it was only 3 degrees at one point. Friday night I met Saadia and we went for dinner at a Sushi restaurant. I hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks so it was nice to catch up. Now that she's in her new home, you can tell she just looooves to entertain!

Saturday morning I met Susie and we went for massages at the Sheraton Centre. Wasn't the best experience and I probably would not recommend them but we still had a good time. We went swimming first, then did the whirlpool and then had our massages. After that, we had a quick brunch at Fionn McCool's which was deee-lish! Its smaller portions so I don’t think the guys would like it but perfect for us girls. They also serve these yummy "Irish Cakes" which taste more like "Indian cakes" to me. They are a very spicy curried potato/chick pea patty which is probably deep fried. They were very tasty!

After brunch I had to rush home to get ready for Candace's wedding at the Liberty Grand. The wedding started at 4pm so I only had about an hour to get ready so I was rushing along only to wait in the end while a certain someone took their time arriving to pick me up. We ended up missing the wedding ceremony but made it in time to congratulate the bride and groom and get a few pics before the reception. The room was beautiful with lots of candles and tons of flowers everywhere. The food was amazing, about 8 different courses of risotto, lamb, black cod, suckling pig, salad and dessert. I was SOOO full, too bad I wore the tight dress that night! Lady Kane, Gerwyn's favourite live band played and everyone danced for the first few songs (even Gerwyn busted a few moves in the middle of dance floor of course,) but the dancers slowly dissipated and Lady Kane didn't even get to do their last set. (I'm not a huge fan of cover bands, there's something about it that I find cheesy, like its an "old person" thing, I just refuse to believe that I'm THAT old. Sorry Vinder! Anyway, I stood by and took lots of pictures while Gerwyn and Candace danced the night away.

Sunday morning came too quickly after a night of drinking and too much food at the wedding. But I still managed to get up at 7 am and take the train to visit grams. Lately she just sleeps the entire morning away, so I take the opportunity to catch up on my zzz's on the little couch beside her. I would get into the bed next to her if I could but the medical bed she has is too small and my mom always yells at me when I do that. My grandma says I should just push her over if I don’t have enough room but she's so heavy, I couldn't move her even if I wanted to! After grams, I headed to my brother's new house to check it out (its massive of course) and then begged him to drive me back to the Go train to catch the 2pm train back to the city. When I got home Gerwyn and I decided we would watch Ironman at the theatre but first, a quick stop at Saadia and Raju's for a long weekend bbq. Three hours later and totally stuffed, we made it to the theatre and caught the last show of Ironman. It was just ok. I think I had high expectations because people told me it was soooo good. I don’t even remember what happened in the end because I fell asleep. Too much food + midnight movie = me falling asleep in the theatre.

Monday morning we got up late and met MelandNorm for breakfast at Marche. Then we went back to their place and stuffed ourselves on Krispy Kremes that they brought back for us from Buffalo. Then we decided to do some shopping at the mall. This probably wasn't the best idea because of course, the mall was packed. We still managed to pick up a book and some gifts before we walked home. Then we packed up and headed to Gerwyn's house for football (see post above.).

Capture the flag!

Last night I played a game of Flag Football for Gerwyn's TSSC team. Its an intermediate team and they were short players (girls specifically,) so I decided to give it a shot. I figured I could get some fresh air and a little exercise while standing around on the field. Today, I feel like I got run over by a truck. I can barely move, breathe, sit, cough, etc etc etc. The game was 80 minutes of non-stop running back and forth. Because there were so few players (only 7,) everyone had to stay on the field the entire time playing offense, defense and special teams. It was lots of fun and totally scary at times (two guys collided with each other and one ended up needing stitches in his eye!) but it taught me that I am SO out of shape. By the end of the first half, I couldn't wait until the half time was called so I could finally catch my breath. Being the super star co-ordinated athlete that I am, I managed to trip and fall twice; once on my own teammate and the second time on my own feet. I did manage to have a couple of shining moments though, considering I knew nothing about the game, I managed to grab one guy's flag and I almost had a touchdown except Gerwyn threw the ball over my head. I think he was shocked that I actually had my hand up for the ball (but I was open afterall!!). All in all, a fun night and a great learning experience. Maybe I'll even play again. But perhaps at the "beginner" level instead…

Check out the sk8ers...

Happy Mother's Day!

Just got home from another family food fest at my uncle's house. It actually feels like its been awhile since I've seen all my cousins, it was good to catch up. My cousin Mark's daughter Samara has grown so much, she's about five months old and still has her blue eyes. We're all crossing our fingers she gets to keep them... All the mom's got flowers and gifts and I got my mom a lipstick (that's all she wanted!) and asked her to make kalbi for me and my friends this week. Nice Mother's Day gift huh? Well, better she's kept busy then bored right??? Anyway, she didn't give me an answer on the kalbi yet, apparently the "good meat" is scarce so she has to go on a hunt to see if she can find it first.

The rest of the weekend I spent with Vinder going Mother's Day shopping yesterday and then going to Candace's staggette at Maro (minus Candace... she didn't show!!) It was fun to get all dolled up though, even if it was for only an hour or so. After Maro, we went to Fran's for a late night snack. Then Gerwyn's bad back officially got the better of him (see post above to find out what I believe was the cause...) and it was time to go home. (For once, I wasn't the one wanting to go home early!!)

All in all, another busy weekend. Boy am I tired. Hope all you mothers out there had a great mother's day!

Weekend Update

Sally kindly reminded me today that I haven't updated my blog so here's a quick recap:

Friday night:
Dinner at JJ's place with Sally. JJ made one of the best steaks I've ever had. Great food, great wine and a great night with friends.

Saturday:
Went to High Tea at the Royal York for Candace's shower. Lots of tea, lots of cakes and lots of rain! (got caught in it on my way out!)
In the evening, went to Saadia and Raju's place for dinner with Kim, Trish and their husbands. Trish brought her two kids who I haven't seen in a long time. Her son Devin is absolutely beautiful. We used to tease Trish in University cause she had done some modelling when she was a teenager but its obvious her son got her "model" looks. Those eyelashes alone are to die for!
It was great to see everyone and catch up. Lots of food, lots of drinks and lots of recipes exchanged!

Sunday:
Went to Scarborough for Charlotte's baptism and then met MelandNorm and EvanStu for dinner at Wah Sing. It was Stu and Gerwyn's first time at Wah Sing. Unfortunately it wasn't their best night (although the crab fried rice was amazing,) the rest of the dishes weren't as good as usual.

Monday:
Met Susie after work for coffee and then ended up having dinner with JJ again. I had stopped by his place to use the bathroom and ended up staying for dinner. A gracious host (even when surprised by an uninvited guest,) he threw together some butter chicken and a yummy salad.

Tuesday:
Starting to feel like I'm coming down with the flu. Didn't feel great yesterday and my headache and congestion still seems to be lingering today. Will try to go to bed early and hopefully get rid of this throbbing in my head.