Sally's Turn

We always give Sally a hard time for crashing our WNDinners but never hosting her own, so this weekend, she finally decided to have the entire gang over for dinner at Ron's. Let me just say that I took full advantage of the opportunity to be HER guest for a change!! It was great! She hung up my coat and scarf, got me my beverage, my napkin and my coffee!! It was like my very own beckandcall girl!

Dinner was deeeleecious too. We had Lin Garden take out featuring my all time favourite Green Beans. Who knew green beans could be so good (I have a feeling they are deep fried first, but who cares!) After dinner, was my favourite cake, Strawberry Shortcake. It was to celebrate our favourite shortcake's birthday: Menalle. I think she's 35 or something... hope you enjoyed your birthday cake Mel, cause I sure did!

After dinner was games time and y'all know how much I LOOVE games! We played Dance Revolution (where I kicked everyone's butt except for Ron's but he OWNS it so really, he doesn't count,) and Air Guitar. Everyone made fun of my dance technique but I think I was able to win because I constantly held my arms out at my sides so I wouldn't lose my balance. Gotta have a strategy afterall!! You KNOW that's going to be the next big "move" at all the clubs...

All in all, a very fun night with great hosts! Between all the games and all the food (I didn't even mention all the chocolate and candy Ron had at his house, he has a major sweet tooth, my kind of GUY!) I think my every dinner party wish came true that night. Way to host your first dinner party Salabia!!

The weekend AFTER...

I just realized that I forgot to blog about (Canadian) Thanksgiving so instead my blog will be about the weekend AFTER.

But just to recap, Thanksgiving was filled with the usual pigout fest, Saturday I met Ev for breakfast and spent the day at her place helping her prepare for her family Thanksgiving dinner and playing with Kahlua. Sunday, Gerwyn came over after his trip to Mexico and I made little Thanksgiving dinner just for the two of us. Roast chicken, sweet potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts and cheese biscuits. We were stuffed! Monday was my family dinner at my uncle's house and everyone pigged out! There was a table of food as long as the eye could see, one side was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the other fixings, and the other side was the usual Korean food, kalbi, chicken wings, noodles and plenty more! We stayed so long that we ended up eating lunch and dinner there. The strangest thing was that it was SOOO hot, it felt like a summer day but it was Thanksgiving! Its always cold on Thanksgiving? Instead, it was steaming hot in the kitchen and my poor sister in law almost melted. She's eight months pregnant now and I felt so bad for her. Between being so full I couldn't move plus the stifling heat, it was hard enough for me to survive, I can't imagine having a big belly full of baby on top of that!

This weekend was pretty quiet. Friday night Gerwyn came over and I watched him eat a whole bowl full of chocolate. Even I was amazed. Then an hour later, I was watching tv listening to him moan about his stomach ache in the bathroom. Poor guy, that's what happens when you show no restraint!! Saturday I met Kim, Trish, Saadia and all the kids for an afternoon of bowling at Vaughn Mills. There were four little kids all under the age of 5 and it was chaos!! I couldn't keep my eye on all of them at once. It made me rethink my four child future plans, but I figure if I just have twins, there'll be no way to chicken out. So we'll see what happens. Then we had a quick lunch in the food court and I headed off to celebrate Eid (the end of Ramadan) at Saadia's mom's house.

Unfortunately I was so stuffed from lunch, I didn't have a chance to enjoy all the Guyanese cuisine, but I managed to fit in a few appetizers and take home some spicy plaintain chips for later.

Today, I spent the morning with Grams (she was sad today, I had to convince her that I would be getting married soon so she would stop crying.) and then did a little house hunting with my brother. He's looking for a new place for him and Nancy to live near my mom's house.

Now I'm waiting for Gerwyn to come over so we can have dinner together before the start of another busy week...

Arf arf!

Hi everyone. It's me Kahlua. I just wanted to say how much fun I'm having at my Auntie Diana's office. My mommy Evelyn had to go to a conference today until Thursday so until then I am playing at my Auntie's house and spending the day at her office. This morning I was so super clean and smelled great. Then Auntie Di made me walk all the way to her office in the rain and I ended up all black on the bottom. My paws were soaking wet and I looked like a fuzzy puff ball on the top half and a drowned rat on the bottom.

Now I am dry and sitting in Auntie's lap. We just went for a lunch time walk and a visit with Susie and now I am back in the office having a rest. I have to gear up for my long walk home, hopefully it won't be raining again because unlike my mommy Evelyn, my Auntie Di refuses to carry me home.
Hope everyone is having as relaxing a day as me...

Ring of Fire

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night Sally came over and we went for a jog along what has now become our "usual" route. (Distillery District to T&T and then back.) Then we rented the worst chick flick ever, "Catch and Release" and Sally stayed over. Saturday morning we went for a massage at King Edward and then met her friends Raquel and Derek for breakfast at Petit Dejeuner. After stuffing ourselves (what else is new?) Sally dropped me off at Janet's for a bbq at her friend Andrea's place. It was just a girls only event and it was nice to chit chat about "girl issues" for awhile (yes, most of it centered around men of course!) Janet brought her new son Cole and everyone took turns holding and snuggling him. Later in the evening Janet drove me home just in time for me to change and meet Saadia for a quick visit to Nuit Blanche. It was a strange evening, we walked from UofT all the way to Richmond and Spadina. My feet were killing me by that point, and I have to admit, the exhibits were just "odd", a little too "modern" for our simple minds. So around midnight or so, we hopped in a cab and headed home. It was nice to catch up with Saadia though, I hadn't seen her since her trip and boy was she tanned!
Sunday, I got up early to visit Grams and then had lunch at my mom's house and chatted with my cousin until about 3 when Saadia picked me up and we headed downtown. I was going to go to Saadia's for dinner but I ran out of stamina and interest in jogging over to her house. Just as I was contemplating what I was going to do for dinner, Mel called and asked if I wanted to try Lin Garden with them. They always rave about how great the food is so I welcomed the opportunity to give it a try (and not to cook!). Well they weren't lying, that place was AWESOME! Too bad its all the way in Scarborough, but the food is definitely crave-worthy. We had green beans, garlic shrimp, chile fish, chicken pakoras and some brown noodles that I happened to forget the name of. We all joked about the "damage" we would experience the next day but I have to say, so far, so good. No sign of the infamous "Ring of Fire" this time... whew!

All in all a great busy spent with great friends! I think I managed to squeeze in a visit with almost everybody!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

You probably think I'm a month early but this weekend we celebrated Korean Thanksgiving. I actually didn't even know it until my mom told me the day before at my sister in law's baby shower that we were hosting a party. The shower was nice, my cousin Madeleine and I went together (after trying to do some last minute shopping and picking up some furniture for her kids at a local garage sale,) and we PIGGED OUT! I guess pigging out runs in my family cause Mad and I both had two helpings of lunch (which was a mixture of homemade Korean food and some ordered Chinese dishes from Congee Queen,) and two helpings of dessert (chocolate Dominion cake, it was SOOOO good.) After the shower, I went back to Mad's parents house and hung out with her kids and my grams and then decided to walk home from there since its only about a 30 min walk to my mom's. I get out the door only to find two little kids running after me. They refused to stay at home and wanted to come too. I welcomed the company (and the help with my bags) and we all walked together as I gave them a detailed account of the details of the shower (surprisingly they were both VERY interested, especially the part about the cake.) After a quick stop at my house for some leftover cake, I ended up going back to their house with them so Mad and I could drop off her furniture before picking up some Swiss Chalet for the kids. Then Mad, Carol and I headed out to watch a movie, "Eastern Promises", it was VERY VIOLENT, some rather graphic fight scenes that I hope to soon forget but other than that, an interesting story.

Sunday it was time to help mom out with the Thanksgiving dinner. I spent the entire morning chopping vegetables, stir frying, and then napping. Then I taught my cousin from Korea how to bbq (he'd never done it before) and we ate some kalbi right off the grill. Then my cousins and aunts and uncles all started to arrive and again, we pigged out. Carol made two pies for dessert, apple and pumpkin. With the exception of constantly being told by my mom that I was doing everything wrong, it was a good weekend. Unfortunately I had a Coke with dinner and now I seem to be VERY awake... what to do now??? Maybe I should start planning for my Wednesday dinner, how can I outdo Norm....

A welcome houseguest...

Tonight I decided to borrow a little houseguest, Kahlooki-Loo! She is just so cute. She was so excited to go for a walk when I picked her up, she just ran and didn't even look back! After two HUGE poops on the way home I thought she was tuckered out. However when I got home she turned into a bundle of energy and all of a sudden wanted to play. I did my best to keep up with her but now I think I'M tuckered out!! Right now she is sitting on my lap trying to lick my face while I type. If only I remembered to bring her food. Hopefully she ate enough at Ev's during the day cause it looks like she won't be seeing another meal until tomorrow... Thanks for staying over Kalooki, I missed you!!

No Labour on Labour Day!

Labour Day weekend was spent up at Mel's cottage in Muskoka. Just what the doctor ordered after a busy week doing last minute wedding stuff. The weather was perfect and the entire weekend was just sooo relaxing. We vegged out, ate, canoed, sat by the campfire and watched the moon rise. That's right, the moon actually ROSE, it was the coolest thing ever. We could see it come up over the hills and into the sky. Wendell (Mel's mom's boyfriend) took us for a moonlit boatride after, we sat in the middle of the lake and just stared at the stars. It was amazing.

Back at work on Tuesday, all the girls received a very interesting email from Evelyn, turns out she had a fantastic time in Italy with her boyfriend who is NOW her FIANCE!! Congrats to Ev, looks like there'll be more wedding planning in my future...

This weekend looks like it will be another relaxing one. Saturday Gerwyn booked us a couples massage as a leftover gift from my birthday and then I've made us dinner reservations at Kultura. It feels like its been awhile since we've had an official "date" so this Saturday we decided to dress up and try a night out for a change... I guess after a year of dating, its easy to get lazy and just spend all of your time vegging out. Its time to rekindle a little romance!

Susie's married!

This weekend was Susie's big wedding weekend. I took Friday off work and headed up to Uxbridge early with her and her girlfriends to do last minute organizing for her big day on Saturday. Knowing my best friend, I figured she was super stressed and everything would be all over the place so I offered to be her "wedding co-ordinator" for the weekend. I had no idea what I was in for... there was a loooong list of to-do items and not enough time in the day. Lots of last minute details that seemed to change minute by minute as my indecisive friend kept changing her mind!! Anyway, we finally got the tent and forest situation figured out and got back to her sister-in-law's place around 10ish to relax and for me, write my speech. Saturday morning we had a great breakfast at Lori-Jean's house and then off the spa we all went for manicures. Too bad mine didn't last. But with so many things to do that day, it was the least of my worries. Then we all headed back to the house to get ready. Susie's dress was a work in progress right to the last minute with Lori-Jean sewing it up right before she had to put it on. Her family was scrambling around the wedding site getting all the last minute stuff done (thank God we didn't have to be there!) and we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. By 4pm we climbed into the car and arrived at her brother's house only to be met with the beginnings of a rainstorm. There was a little panic as we figured out what we should do, drag everyone back into the tent, or just go for it. After about 10 minutes of back and forth, we settled on making the best of it and climbed into the horse drawn wagon in the rain. By the time we got to the forest, we were pretty wet, but luckily all the guests had umbrellas with them. The weather was warm though, so the rain wasn't so bad, in the end it added a romantic element to the whole thing. Once I accepted that I would just look like a wet rat, the rest of the night was fine. No need to worry about getting dirty after that!! After the ceremony we went back up to the tent for the reception. I spent the hour before dinner running around meeting caterers and servers and also desperately trying to finish off my speech. By the time dinner was ready, I still had a paragraph to go and my time was approaching... eventually I ended up winging the very last part but in the end, again, everything worked out. People laughed when they were supposed to and I ended up making it all the way through with only one pause for crying. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. As the speeches continued Gerwyn realized that he had locked his keys in the car so we went down to wait for the tow truck to come to open his door. I ended up missing Susie and Josh's final speech but luckily I made it back for the slideshow and Gerwyn got his keys.

With the exception of a few electrical problems later in the evening , the rest of the night was great, there was a live salsa band (so good!!) and a belly dancing performance too!!
At around midnight Gerwyn and I were ready to call it a night (he was still recovering from his flu which wasn't improving after being in the rain,) and we headed home. All in all it was a fantastic night and Susie and Josh had a great time. But if there was one thing I learned from this whole experience, its that a wedding co-ordinator is a MUST! The last thing I want to do on my wedding day is stress about where the tea bags are or who's going to run out to get more ice...

Nap time

Today I took a nap. A two hour nap. And now I am awake. Last night I had a coffee around 4pm (since I was planning on going to see JT later that night, I figured I needed the caffeine) and I ended up not being able to sleep. I woke up this morning exhausted and was actually nodding off at my desk today. So when I got home I decided I would take a "quick" nap before going to the gym. Unfortunately quick nap ended up being almost 3 hours so at 10:00 I got up and finished my laundry, made Susie's money box for her wedding and now am updating the blog. The next few days are going to be quite busy for me with last minute planning for Sue's wedding so it was nice to just veg out a little tonight however, now I am left awake and not much to do. Well, actually I have many things to do, clean, write my speech, clean, but I don't feel like doing any of that stuff. I just want to veg out, it feels like I so rarely get time to actually read a book or just do nothing anymore... I kind of forgot how great it is!

Are you Superbad?

Tonight Gervinder and I are going to see Superbad. I'm sooo excited. Every time I see the trailer I crack up. Favourite scence so far: the skinny Chinese kid doing his cat impression. Let's see if it can live up to the hype!

Yesterday I threw Susie's staggette with her friends Hana and Amanada. The theme was COCKtail party and it was hilarious. There were penises everywhere, all shapes and sizes and many different colours.... green guacamole penis... yum! We played a special version of charades (Movie: E.Three: The Extra Testicle), popped the penis pinata and then of course we finished the night off with a special appearance by Officer G-String, he put Sooz under arrest and read her her rights. It was hilarious and she was shocked so our work was done. All in all, a crazy, raunchy send off to a crazy, raunchy friend. Next week: the BIG day!!