Adventures in the Big City

Last Wednesday I finished work at the office job, headed home for a quick nap and then hopped on a plane to Ontario to visit H.. When we first started planning this trip we were hoping for a week long adventure but in the end our schedules only allowed for a quick Thursday - Monday visit. We crammed all the tourist highlights, lots of good food, hours of life chats, multiple glasses of wine and sangria and it was the perfect little getaway to transition from office life into part-time vacation mode before camp. 

I landed in Toronto at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and after a quick pitstop at H.'s to change out of airplane clothes we headed for Niagra Falls. We didn't stay long because the weather was cold, rainy and foggy. We hung out long enough to be impressed by both the falls and the amount of selfie sticks. So.many.selfiesticks. 

We called it a night early on Thursday because Friday we had big plans to hit up the Toronto Zoo and visit the twin panda cubs that were born a few months ago! It ended up being an awesome day at the zoo because it wasn't at all crowded and even though it was a little chilly it was perfect weather for walking and getting to enjoy everything opposed to thinking about how uncomfortably warm it was. In addition to the baby pandas we saw their parents and I think I could have spent all day just at the panda exhibit. I wish I looked that cute laying around all day eating. I could also spend all day watching meerkats, back in university I binge watched Meerkat Manor and ever since then I have been fascinated with those little critters. We also got to see the gorillas, which I've recently become more interested in after watching a lot of documentaries about the gorilla conservation efforts. 

Saturday we were up bright and early to spend the whole day in Toronto. We purchased City Passes, which gave us admission to almost all of the main tourist attractions in the area, we saved a lot of money and at a few places we got to skip the lines because we had already purchased our tickets! We headed to the Royal Ontario Museum and prioritized what we wanted to see, we easily could have spent the whole day there but we were kind of on a tight schedule. We checked out the dinosaurs, the Canadian history section, Chinese Architecture, Ancient Egypt, quick tours of the mammal displays and a few smaller exhibits. It was the first time I had seen dinosaur displays in person so that was really cool and the history geek in me was overly excited about all of the Canadian History stuff. 

From the ROM we headed back through the city with a pitstop for Poutine and another in front of the Toronto sign so we could take a selfie for National Wear Your Camp T-Shirt Day. Did I mention we spent the entire day roaming the streets of Toronto and all of the attractions wearing matching shirts so we could have photo ops? Because we totally did. And that's why we're besties. 

We went to the top of the CN Tower where I confirmed my theory that I did not want to ever live in a big city and then headed next door to the aquarium. The aquarium was a little bit of a hilarious experience for this east coast girl who grew up on the ocean. When we first walked in there was a big crowd around one particular tank so I got really excited thinking it was something really exotic....turns out it was a tank of halibut. I laughed a lot and then took a discrete photo of the hoard of people admiring fish that I have seen my entire life. It's the little things in life you never really think about being different from place to place. There were lots of other cool marine life, we were able to spot a turtle in the biggest display of fish, and turtles are always a highlight. They had several tanks full of jellyfish that were completely hypnotic. I kind of felt like sitting right there and spending hours watching them float around. 

By the time we got back to the apartment each day were were more or less exhausted and didn't have any interest in changing clothes and heading back out to supper. Which was just fine but us and it meant we got to spend time cooking and eat supper with H.'s boyfriend while telling him all about our days adventures. He only judged us a little bit for our matching outfits. We did eat out a few times  including amazing sweet potato pizza that sounds weird but was delicious. 

It was hard to say goodbye Monday evening, but hopefully it won't be too much longer until we see each other again.

Tuesday Weekend Update

I’m  a day late to the party (of course) but I didn’t get a weekend recap post written Sunday and by the time I got home from work yesterday the only thing I wanted to do was eat supper and go to bed. Which is exactly what I did.

I can’t not blog about my weekend though because it was pretty great and needs to be shared with the world. Even though I didn't take a single photo of my weekend. 

Friday I was not a happy camper (as you may have guessed from this post). So I watched three hours of Top Chef Canada and by the time I went to bed at 11:00 I was in a much more agreeable mood. Cooking shows have a seriously calming effect on me. In fact I fall asleep to reruns of Good Eats pretty much every night.

Saturday morning I woke up around 9 and went through my usual Saturday morning routine of coffee, bagel and catching up with episodes of Ellen. I’ve really grown to appreciate quiet, unrushed, lingering mornings. I’m not exactly sure why, I’m never rushing to get out the door to work in the morning. I always have my clothes picked out and lunch made the night before. Knowing that I have to be somewhere by a specific time just sort of adds pressure to the morning. Eventually I showered and headed to the mall in search of a spring jacket.

I got lost trying to get to the mall because I hate driving in the city. I hate the city.

Once I rerouted myself (and got lost in the parking garage) I headed to Sports Check only to discover the jacket I was on a mission to buy wasn’t there in the colour I wanted. Womp womp. I opted for my second choice and so far no regrets.

I wasn’t in a big hurry to go anywhere so I browsed stores and tried on a few things. I bought another zip up hoddie at American Eagle because it was 70% off and I couldn’t leave it there. Eventually I decided it was time to find my way home but first I made the executive decision to treat myself to Starbucks. Because I’ve been living in the city for 3 months now and I haven’t had SB once. I opted for my go to Mocha Frappe and then had almost instant regret and remembered I should have ordered the iced Passion Fruit Tea. Next time.

I had left over pizza for supper and ended up ooVoo-ing with R. until midnight. It was delightful.

Sunday I had another lazy morning (and lazy afternoon too). My roommate’s Mom was in town for the weekend and she made us Sunday Supper. It was the perfect way to end the weekend/start the week. We had lasagna, salad, bread and for dessert she made homemade ice cream cake. I really wish I had of gotten a picture of the epic-ness that was the cake. But I was too busy eating to get my phone and take pictures. (Side Note: I’m going home for Easter and will finally be reunited with my camera!)

Yesterday was brutal. I was in such a good mood when I started the day and by the time 11 a.m. rolled around everyone else's crankiness had totally rubbed off on me. I really need to work harder on not letting other people's attitudes influence my mood. I think that'll be a summer goal! 

Luckily today was an improvement and I'm hopefully catching up with a friend later this week and then first thing Friday morning I am getting the heck out of the city and returning to the land of green grass and trees and back/front/side yards and miles away from any apartment or office buildings. I could not be happier. Seriously, I gave this whole living in the city thing a really good try but it is not for me. That's a whole different post though!

Snow Day Roulette

During university whenever there was a snowstorm in the forecast my friends and I liked to play what we called "Snow Day Roulette". The game was pretty straight forward - you could have a few drinks/stay up late/not do the assignment all in hopes that the next day classes would be cancelled and you'd be free to recover from your few drinks/sleep in/enjoy another full day of procrastination.

So when the weather forecast looked like this Tuesday night I was faced with a new grown up job version of Snow Day Roulette.

Except that in Grown Up Land my choices were more along the lines of not choosing my outfit or packing a lunch the night before. I know. Livin' on the edge.

Wednesday morning I woke up at 7 and checked my phone to be greeted by the glorious message that work was in fact closed for the day.

My Snow Day was exactly what a needed I wore my favourite extra grubby $10 Wal-Mart jogging pants all day long, drank two cups of coffee and at least 3 cups of tea. Enjoyed homemade waffles and played board games with the roomies. 

And I won't lie this morning when work wasn't closed I was pretty annoyed. The roads were really sketchy and I absolutely despise winter driving. Plus it was kind of a long day at work.

The good news is tomorrow is Friday which means I can wear jeans to work and I have no plans to work this weekend! Depending on the weather I may go on an adventure to visit with H. on Saturday but we may be getting more snow. (Seriously, I am SO ready for spring!)

My snow day also seemed to have re-kindle my blogging inspiration! I've got some post ideas planned for the next few days and have been taking steps to contact folks about a new design. 

Life is looking up! 

Ten on Tuesday

{one}
It seems like all of a sudden every blogger on the planet is jumping ship to WordPress and is posting about a giveaway/free product/review/other successful blogging thing every second day. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious. I'd also be lying if I said my ultimate goal is to be a big time blogger with thousands of adoring fans.

{two}
Up until university I would spend hours every day writing. Sometimes I'd write poems, sometimes I'd just ramble out prose until I was finished. I've been thinking a lot lately about how I want to start writing again. And at some point I realized that the timelines of when I stopped really writing on a daily basis and when my anxiety went from being an occasional visitor to a daily friend match up pretty well. I've started making myself write for 20 minutes every day. It's hard to start but once I do it I find myself losing track of time and really enjoying what I'm doing. Playing with words and rearranging sentences, putting names to feelings…I knew I missed it, but I didn't realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again.

{three}
I hate living in the city. There I said it.

{four}

Pinterest

I've mastered the art of popping popcorn on the stove and it's now one of my most favourite things. I know my parents always had an air popcorn popper but somewhere along the way I fell victim to the microwave popcorn revolution. But it's just not the same. I'm officially renouncing any involvement with the microwave stuff and devoting myself to "real" popcorn.

{five}
When I moved I forgot my camera. I haven't been back home since I moved to get it and it's slowly starting to drive me nuts. It's hard to practice and "get good at photography" when my DSLR is 5 hours away. I know I'll be gone home in April for Easter but I've got my fingers crossed I'll figure out a way to reunite with it before then!

{six}
I think I can officially say that I've masted the art of homemade mac & cheese. Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence of this….but the next time it's on my menu rotation I fully intend on sharing my recipe with the world. Or the 5 people who read my posts on a regular basis.

{seven}
Lately everything has been purple & red. Neither of those colours have ever been my favourite but over the past month or two when asked to chose a colour for something it's always purple or red or both.

{eight}
As you may have guessed by that last line I'm really just trying to pass the time until my chicken is done marinading so I can make and eat supper. I neglected to defrost said chicken so that's really prolonging the supper process. And I'm hungry.

{nine}
There aren't enough words to express how ready I am for summer to happen. I miss sunshine!!

{ten}
"Nine on Tuesday" Didn't have the same ring to it as "Ten on Tuesday" but I don't really have anything of value to say here. Happy Tuesday!

February Friday Five!

{one}

For a girl who doesn't have anything resembling a boyfriend, gentlemen caller, friend with benefits, "it's complicated" type relationship I sure did get a lot of Valentine's! My parents sent a box of fancy cookies to me at work and there was lots of candy and adorable notes from H. & R. 

Close up of the Valentine's H. made. I'd seen them on Pinterest but they are even cuter in person, she did such a great job. There was even a little note on the back expressing her love for our friendship!

{two}

This week at work was so bizarre. There was a lot happening so my regular 9-5 hours were totally out the window. Tuesday I worked 7:45-4:15, Wednesday I was 9:00-4:30 and then yesterday I was in from 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Next week is probably going to be very similar since Tuesday we're making the 2.5 hour drive to camp to pick up some things we need in the office and take up some equipment that was donated but has been sitting in our offices. I suspect it will only get crazier from here until May. 

{three}

Last night after work I went out with H. and some other girls who worked at camp last summer. We went to this amazing local place were you pay $5 and play boardgames! They have tons of games and you can stay as long as you want and play the boardgames. They also have coffee and beer and you can order chips & salsa, bowls of candy and other snacks food. We were there for a solid 3 hours and can't wait to go back! I also didn't get home until 11:30 which is officially the latest I've been out since starting work. I needed some extra coffee this morning. 

{four}

I'm making brochette for supper tonight and my excitement is far too high. There are probably 100 different things I could be doing as a hip 20-something in the city. I'm choosing to watch Criminal Minds and eat Bruchetta. Things may get wild if I treat myself to a glass of pop. 

{five}

I've been doing so well sleeping & eating lately! I've been meal planning pretty consistently and getting 8 hours of sleep every night (usually more). I'm going to post more about meal planning next week (at least I'm planning too, we'll see what happens), but the summarized version is it's making such a big difference. 

Linking up this week with the lovely Five on Friday ladies! 

Life Lately

When I wrote my last real update about the moving situation everything was still very much a giant question mark. Friday night I did find a place to live though (sort of). One of my friends is studying Occupational Therapy and part of her program is doing work placements in various OT work places. The past two months her placement has been in a different provinces so her apartment in the city has been empty. I knew it was empty all along and was an option, the only glitch is that she isn't sure where her next placement will be...it could be just about anywhere in Canada and it could also be back in the city. If it turns out that her next placement is back in the city then I'll be apartment hunting again the end of the month. I am really hoping it's not in the city because I am pretty happy where I'm at and absolutely hate the thought of moving. Again. We'll see what happens though, fingers crossed!

Since I'm not entirely sure how long I'll be living in this spot for and because the apartment is fully furnished I packed pretty light. Clothes, toiletries and a few other essential items. Peyton did not come with. As much as I would have loved to find a pet friendly place and take her with me I know she can't come to camp and would have to go back with my parents during the summer anyway. Moving her for 4 months and then moving her back just seemed mean. 

H. offered to come help me unpack Saturday (even though there wasn't much to unpack) and she brought me a little apartment-warming gift. I'm always saying how I just want to be one of those people who has dinner parties all the time. So she brought me super cute paper plates, napkins and paper straws for my first dinner party! She made me oatmeal chocolate chip cookies too but those didn't make it long enough to get photographed. 

Work has been both super busy and super fun. So far this week I've gotten a March Break Day Camp up and running, started forming a Camp Alumni group, researched policies and procedures on camp rentals and started inputting data for this summers campers! I also was tasked with the job of coming up with songs for one of our counsellors to learn how to play on guitar that everyone knows the words to. I am in love with my job. 

The only downside to this week is that I keep expecting something bad to happen. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm lying awake at night coming up with crazy scenarios that will put an end to all this greatness but it's constantly nagging at me in the back of my mind. It all just seems so good to be true. I hate that I'm thinking about all the potential bad things that could happen instead of fully focusing and enjoying the good things. I've been praying about it a lot and forcing myself to focus on being thankful for the now and not praying that "nothing bad happens" because that's just not going to work. If something bad is going to happen, it'll happen and I'll deal with it accordingly. 

Overall I feel like I'm on the right track and things are coming together. Plus now that the initial anxiety is diminished I'm sure my second week will be even better than the first! 

One Day Down

I'm writing this post sitting in my new room, in my new apartment, drinking tea, eating 'welcome to the city cookies' after successfully making it through my first day of my big girl job!

I wasn't nervous about starting work, but the whole driving in the city component of the job definitely causes some anxiety. I keep reminding myself it will get easier but for now it's the worst part of the day. Especially the going home part when it's dark out and rush hour traffic is happening!

I've been snapping photos and screenshots of all the amazing messages friends have been sending me over the past few days in anticipation of being an awesome blogger but right now I have no motivation to be a "good blogger".

Eventually I will take the time to document my first few days in the city. But for now I'm going to enjoy being in jogging pants, sipping tea and catching up with friends who are eagerly awaiting to Skype so they can hear about my first day!

The People That You Meet

Apartment hunting on short notice has been an experience like none other. In university I lived in residence and then moved in with a friend when one of her roommates moved out. Totally bypassing the ridiculousness of e-mailing strangers on Kijiji and hoping for the best. The fact that I only have a week to find a place just adds to the craziness. I mean, worst case scenario I could stay with friends for a week or two while I find a place but I would rather move once and stay there and not have to move again in two weeks time. That being said I'm not about to settle for sketchy accommodations just because I'm on a time crunch. Some ads I've answered have quickly turned from good to bad with one reply. These are just a few of the delightful folks I've interacted with over the last 72 hours. 

Pinterest

Hipster Girl

She was my first lead, the room seemed nice enough and with just one other person I thought I was home free. Then I creeped her on Facebook. The first red flag was we had some mutual friends. And by friends I mean casually acquaintances who I had either gone to high school with or worked with and are still kicking around my friend list but are super hippies/stoners. I'm a friend to hipsters, I can get on board with oversized/unnecessary glasses, fair trade coffee and plaid. The drug use not so much. Moving Along. 

Family Circus

I don't remember the exact wording of this ad but it went along the lines of "looking for a third roommate in two level townhouse close to downtown...both young professionals, non-smoking, no parties..." So I emailed to check it out and discovered that it wasn't so much they were looking for a roommate as much as they were looking to rent out a room in their house. This husband and wife team had at least two kids and were just looking to rent out a room (for a lot of money considering what was included) in their house with shared kitchen/bathroom/living space. No Thanks. 

Animal House

I'm still not convinced this one was real. And I didn't send an e-mail because there was no way I was ever going to move in with these people. But their ad contained such gems as "2.5 dogs live here, really just two but there's a third that is over a lot", "420 friendly", "Saturday night parties & jam sessions", "communal living", "co-operative environment" and "must not be uptight". If I was a producer looking to cast a reality show this bunch would have been my pick, but I'm not. I just want a place to live for 3.5 months. Keep Looking. 

Christian Girl

When I saw the ad 'female Christian roommate wanted" I was sold. I e-mailed the girl and she seemed really excited and lovely and I was really excited. Good location, no crazy parties or drug use, sign me up! And then I asked for photos of the place and if I would be able to Skype with the roommate (the girl I was talking to is the one subletting her room). Girl replied back that she wasn't willing to sublet her room to anyone without approval from the roommate. Understandable. I replied that I wasn't planning on making the five hour drive to the city before moving and was hoping that we could exchange some e-mails, set up a Skype meeting and decide if we'd be a good match. She stopped responding. I feel like I failed some sort of Christian Girl test. 

The Hippies
I love me some tie-dye. And I'm all about peace & love and all that good stuff. But there's a line. And these folks were past the line. They were looking for another roommate who would agree to attending regular meetings to discuss the atmosphere in the house, has an interest in poetry and foreign languages,  potlucks and highly active in environmental and social justice issues. #aintnobodygottimeforthat If I was embarking on some sort of spiritual journey this would be an experience, but I'm not. I have a job. The last thing I want to do after a day of work is come home to a meeting to discuss the atmosphere of the house with 8+ people who live there.

Big Bang Theory
At the moment this is my most promising situation. But again I'm waiting on pictures. These guys are looking for someone to take over a lease until April (perfect timing). There's a parking spot, it's within my budget, close to work, it's a lot of check marks! And bonus points for the room being furnished. I've got high hopes for this one. I'm referring to them as Big Bang Theory because it's 4 PhD students. Which is great because it means I won't be living with a bunch of undergrads who just discovered alcohol. Fingers Crossed!

Apartment Hunting

I wish I could be one of those people who when adventure knocks leap to their feet to answer the door and then run off without a single thought about what they should bring or do to prepare. 

But I'm not.

My anxiety has been at an 8 for over 24 hours. It feels like a sumo wrestler is sitting on my chest. My mind has two trains of thoughts running in opposite directions. One is listing off all of the things I need to figure out; somewhere a safe/cheap place to live, a budget, packing, unpacking, driving in the city, moving date.... the other is telling me to CALM DOWN, God's got this. I can take the necessary steps to try and make connections and figure things out but in the end it's in His hands.

I'm exhausted but my mind won't stop racing long enough to fall asleep.

I keep reminding myself this is my year to Be Brave. Right now it's not helping.

Apartment hunting on such short notice is HARD. I thought I found a great place, it was well within budget, a good location, had a parking spot and the title of the ad was 'Female Christian Roommate Wanted". Perfect. But when I told the girl I was hoping to see pictures and wanted to "meet" via Skype she wasn't super into it. I'm not really willing to make the 5 hour drive this week just to meet the girl and then turn around and drive 5 hours back when I'm moving at the end of the week. So that's disappointing.

I haven't been able to really start packing yet because I don't know where I'm going. If I don't find my own place I'll be staying with friends and I my packing will be extremely limited to just the clothes I need for a week or so. #stress

On that note I'm going to go make myself a giant stir fry because I'm craving broccoli hardcore. (I don't think I've ever mentioned this before but sometimes when I'm stressed I get really intense broccoli cravings. It's ridiculous. But also kind of awesome?) 

God Moves Fast

At least once a week for the past five months I've mentioned "the grant" on blog. For those of you who are new around here "the grant" I'm referring to is a grand my camp had applied for to transform my current job as seasonal program/assistant director into full time. I'm not exaggerating when I say it has been a never ending saga of jumping through hoops and thinking we've reached the end only to discover more paperwork needed to be filled out, or they misplaced information they got over the phone or that the person in charge of our application was leaving that department so it was being passed on to somebody else. When the original proposal and application was sent in the requested start date was October 28. October 28. Needless to say that date passed and with each month we assumed the odds of getting approval decreased significantly. The most frustrating part of the whole thing was the grant was never "denied", it was sitting in limbo. Which meant I was sitting in limbo too. I couldn't sign on a contract anywhere else because if the grant was approved I obviously wanted to be working there. 

Tuesday we heard from the person overseeing our application and he said something along the lines of "things look good". It was so tempting to get excited but "things look good" is a long way away from "approved". So I didn't get excited. Then yesterday morning we got official approval! And a start date of February 3rd. That gives me 9 days to move. Nine days to find an apartment in the city (that meets all my requirements and is budget friendly) and pack and move and start work. 

My anxiety is pretty darn high at the moment. 

I had a bunch of posts planned for this week but with all the chaos I didn't get a chance to edit & hit publish. I suspect that pattern will continue for the next few days while I figure out the details of the move. Things are a bit overwhelming but I'm trusting that everything will work out God is in the details. I'll find a place to live that is near work, has parking, in a safe part of town and affordable. Everything is happening pretty fast but it's all good things! I just need to keep reminding myself to breathe and enjoy the experience. 

Weekend Update: Extended Edition

Thursday night as I was packing I got the above messages from H. She has a hot tub at her house which we planned on putting to good use during the weekend hence the bathing suit. And with a major snow storm in the forecast we thought we might have some outdoor winter fun, so I packed my snowsuit too. I was ready for anything. 

Friday I headed to the City as planned and for the most part the roads were in pretty good shape! I got to the city by early afternoon which was perfect timing since H. & I had a chance to put some finishing touches on R.'s birthday present! I thought I got a picture of it but apparently I didn't. It was a Pinterest project made from a bulletin board with a photo of the 3 of us in the middle and then we cut out 24 circles from pretty paper and on each of them wrote a reason why we love R. (she turned 24 this weekend). 

We went out to supper with a few more friends to celebrate R.'s birthday at a cozy little restaurant downtown. I'd never been before but I ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Burger and it was super yummy! After dinner H., R. & I headed back to H.'s for wine & birthday cake! H. made the amazing tie-dye cake! The cake itself was a layer of chocolate cake, a layer of graham cracker cake and a layer or marshmallow fluff icing, I'm not sure where she found the recipe but it was extremely impressive! After cake & wine we spent the rest of the evening catching up and planning the rest of our weekend.

Saturday we headed to the mall, along with everyone else in the province based on the traffic that we encountered on our way there. We kept trying to take a picture but we couldn't get a good angle to truly capture the ridiculousness. Once we got to the mall we continued with the ridiculousness when we headed to the grand opening of Forever 21. So much crazy. We bought a few things there but after the experience we'd had enough of the mall so we headed back to H.'s for our fun evening plans!

Two other girls that worked at camp this summer came over Saturday night and the five of us spent too much time in the hot tub and drank too much wine in the process. We were still in the hot tub when the snow storm started which was a pretty neat experience!

Sunday the snow storm was in full force so we spend the whole day bundled up indoors and recovering from Saturday night's wine & hot tubbing. 

Monday the roads were still pretty sketchy to make the 5 hour drive home so the three of us spent an extra day together and tackled the mall once again! This time we powered up before hand with pizza & garlic fingers and then headed out. Our second trip was much more successful and enjoyable and we all managed to get a bunch of Christmas shopping done. Yesterday evening we played with H.'s new puppy. She is the sweetest and even though I'm not much of a small dog lover, it's hard not to love that little ball of fluff!

I was up early this morning and set out for the drive home. The roads were still pretty sketchy in some places but I made it home safe & sound! I am now going to spend the rest of the night reading the 166 unread posts on my Bloglovin' feed and replying to a bunch of e-mails that have been neglected over the past 4.5 days! 

City Weekend

I had the best weekend! It was so great pictures couldn't even begin to do it justice so I didn't take any. (What I'm really saying is I'm a terrible blogger who carried a camera everywhere this weekend and failed to take any pictures.) 

I've been in the City since Tuesday so there were lots of options when it came to weekend shenanigans! It started off on Friday afternoon when I hung out with my friend Q. we spent the afternoon catching up, went for a walk around his university campus and got coffee. Friday night H. came over and we spent the whole time engaging in some good old fashion girl talk while snacking on Halloween candy. I'm so thankful for phones and computers that make it possible for us to communicate on a daily basis but it's just not the same as being in the same room. I took advantage of every opportunity I had this weekend to see friends and spent time together even if we didn't have elaborate plans.

Saturday H. and I had plans again but first she spent the morning and afternoon working on her thesis while I hung out with the cats. The main reason for my stay in the city was to cat sit these three adorable creatures while friends of mine were in New York.

Saturday evening H. & I went out to supper and then did some shopping. She scored three super cute dresses to wear with leggings at Target and I got an awesome pair of boots and a plaid button up shirt at Old Navy. We had some time to kill before our next activity so we went to Chapters and spent an hour browsing the Humour and Self-Help sections. It's amazing what people can write a book about and get published! Next up was the highlight of our plans: Cosmic Bingo.

That's right. You've probably heard of Cosmic Bowling, but here in Atlantic Canada, there's also Cosmic Bingo. We were pretty surprised to see that the crowd was mostly made up of people around our own age with only a handful of seniors. Neither of us won anything but we fully intend on going again, and the next time we go we're going to bring along more camp friends. We play a lot of Bingo with our adult campers so playing glow-in-the-dark Bingo in the off season really helped cure some of the campsickness. 

Sunday I tidied up the apartment, watched entirely too many true life crime shows on CNN and recovering from all of Friday & Saturday's fun. 

My cat & apartment sitting duties end tonight and I'll be heading home tomorrow morning. But I'm heading home fully recharged and happy after a weekend full of friends & adventures. This afternoon I want to hit up the Gap & Roots outlet stores and treat myself to a delicious over-priced caffeinated beverage.