Eenager

Today Husband asked me, "what's a 'tween'?  A cross between a teenager and a weenager?"  Niiiice.

Moving to a 2009 Mobile Life

I needed a new cell phone for a while as mine was 2.5 years old and started "expiring" like Sam Bell in the movie, Moon. The ear piece speaker busted so all my friends and family started hearing was, "WHAT? Can you repeat that?!" I don't know why I would yell... their speakers worked just fine I'm sure. My cell phone calls finally turned into, "sorry, my phone is a piece of garbage.. can I call you back in about 10 minutes when I get to a land line?" Enough was enough so Husband and I stopped into a Bell Mobility store at the Eaton Centre after a delicious breakfast at Senator's. I had the Senator breakfast; two fresh Ontario farmed Omega3 eggs fried over-medium with pure unsalted butter, perfectly crispy bacon, mouth-watering baked beans and thickly slicked Challah toast and a coffee... oh sorry, this isn't about food. So, I took my full stomach over to the mall and asked for something called a "smart phone". Have you heard of this new term? I thought my Samsung m500 was prreeeety smart but apparently they come even smarter now.

There were a few things I knew I did and didn't want so it was a matter of narrowing my choices down. I didn't want an iPhone. In fact, I could have used Husbands old 2G iPhone but even the prospect of having a free iPhone didn't even tempt me. I need a keyboard, end of story. I did want html web browsing because that's what I loved most about the iPhone. Drum roll please...

3G Palm Pre

This sweet puppy has everything. It syncs with just about everything (Outlook, iTunes, Google), has full html web browsing, touch screen and slide-out keyboard. I feel like I have finally entered the 2009 mobile world. I know I'm fashionably late but it's nice to be here.

The Hangover = Platitudinous Pabulum

The pretentious title of this post was made possible with the help of a thesaurus. It needed that extra little umph to get across my snobbery for this movie. I swear I've never used either of those words in real conversation in my life.

The night started with french onion soups at The Keg. After I told the waitress we need the bill asap because Husband and I were catching a movie, she asked "what movie are you going to see?" I found myself embarrassed to tell her. I answered sheepishly, "The Hangover" with a roll of my eyes. I was bracing for her to scold me and ask why I didn't have better things to do with my time. Instead, her eyes lit up and she said "oh, it's so good! You're going to have a great time." This was, it turned out, a very common feeling. Husband and I had been hearing buzz about The Hangover from friends to strangers at the gym. One acquaintance said she woke up in the middle of the night still laughing. Normally, this is not the kind of movie we would voluntarily attend but since it was getting "good reviews", we were game.

It was exactly what I was dreading it was going to be. Garbage. This movie played out EXACTLY how I thought it would (juvenile, ridiculous and gratuitous) and nothing more. It was predictable, badly acted and we found the jokes forced. I got no belly laughs. Just chuckles. Chuckles don't pass the muster.

Don't misjudge me here. I love stupid movies as much as the next guy. One of my recent faves was Tropic Thunder. I was laughing long after the movie ended. Now, I know this was not the common consensus. That's why I have appreciation for the wide spectrum of movie fancies out there. And therefore, I will not judge others for their crappy taste.

Now who will sell me OxyClean?

Finally Billy will stop yelling at me. My condolences to his family. Doesn't it seem that there are a crazy number of high-profile deaths this month?

David Carradine (June 3)
Ed McMahon (June 23)
Farrah Fawcett (June 25)
Michael Jackson (June 25)
Billy Mays (June 28)

And the big winner is... South Carolina Governor Sanford. Sorry - I know I'm being cheeky.

Thanks for hanging in there, all you readers out there. I've been blogger MIA for a few weeks but I'm back now and I have plenty of wonderfully useless things to write about.

Talk again shortly.

iLemon

I'm on the top floor of the Mac store on 9th Ave and 14th St. I'm killing time with Husband and Sister while we wait for a genius to become available.

My sister has been using a BlackBerry for the last 6 years. She was the first person I knew who owned a smart phone. My sister is the type of person who is loyal when she likes a brand. She has been using Canon Elf cameras since the ancient times when they used film. This month something amazing happened. She got an iPhone.

Her first impressions were, let's say, not good. "How do I cut and paste on this thing?!?" To which Husband (the iPhone user) replied, "um, yah, you can't. Not yet." He's the eternal iOptimist. Then she asked, "how do I search for a phrase in my emails?" "You can't do that either," Husband replied. My sister then said, "were they asleep at Apple?"

What happens next is really bad so skip the next part if you're a Apple "fanboy/girl" prone to queasiness. Her calls started failing. Once in a while, and now every single call. She tried making a restaurant reservation and had to call them 27 times, one word at a time. She also noticed her battery life was unusually short. Last but not least, the speed was at a crawl and then froze several times.

Now she's at the genius bar getting it swapped out. Her phone will be replaced but I don't know if her faith in the iPhone will ever be restored.

This is not a vacation

We're 2 weeks into this month long New York adventure and you'd think there would be adventures a-plenty to blog about. Apparently, not - since you've been hearing the sounds of crickets from the Debbie from Toronto blog for the last 14 days!

The problem with a month long vacation is that it's not really a vacation at all. We have not taken a break from our responsibilities because we're not retired. We run a business with employees and overhead and a bookkeeper and all. Running it from the front lines in Toronto has its challenges but running it from 767 km (477 miles - are we cool?) away can be very frustrating at times. Our employees are doing a fantastic job handling everything but sometimes you just need to be in front of one another bouncing ideas off of each other. It's just not the same on Gtalk.

Well, that feels better. I think a paragraph of complaining did the trick.

I'm actually having a fantastic time. My girlfriend came for the weekend and just left. It's a long weekend in Canada so that means I'm on a mental long weekend.

Random Update

We left Toronto yesterday at 11:30am (a tad behind our original 5am schedule - lol) and are now here in New York living in Greenwich Village for the month. The cat was a little angel on the 9 hour drive and she's acclimatized pretty well to the new apartment. It's been raining and damp here and will probably continue to be the rest of the week. I don't mind!

Side note, we're returning the Dell Mini. It is PAINFULLY SLOW. It's simply not worth having. It wasn't even that cheap. Unfortunately, Dell makes it far from easy to return. Husband was on the phone with them for an hour (which he doesn't have to spare) while they passed him around from one department to another and back again. The verdict after all that time? "We'll send you an email." We've been waiting for DAYS to get that email now. Are they trying to run out our 30 day return window? I've always used Dell but this is enough to detour me. I like to know that a company is there for you not only during the good times (buying) but the bad times too (returning).

We parked the car here last night so we're going to drive it out to Jersey now and leave it there.

I hope we have a story worthy week so you can read about something interesting!
Lates.

Time Minus 10 hours to New York

We've sublet an apartment near NYU so it's a done deal. May in New York.

Talk to you again soon...

New Computer, Meet Your Little Sister

The 12" Mini Dell came today... finally. Husband bought an external CD drive to install Windows XP pro which we'll return next week. Completely unethical. I know.

It will be great to have a computer at home again. I used to work from home but when Husband and I joined forces and expanded our business into an office, we took our computers with us. That meant for the longest time, I was completely out of touch every evening and weekend. It was very nice for a while. It certainly drew a distinction between work and home. People admired it, even.

Well, I've had enough zen time and I'd like to join the rest of the world again on my off hours. So, this Mini will be our home computer. It will let me check on email and look up recipes and perhaps look up the occasional porn. Just kidding. I don't use recipes. {insert laughter}

The Dell Mini will also be great for short travels to New York, etc.

Welcome to the family, little computer.

Mazel Tov! It's a New Computer!

Old computer, meet new computer.



Old computer, you're not being replaced... you're just not good enough anymore. New computer is younger, shinier and less screwed up than you. I don't know how to say this, but you have a lot of "baggage" - you're littered with useless stray data and old .exe files. It's nothing personal... but it's time you step aside.

New computer with your non-broken screen and you're empty documents folder. I hope I'm not being bold but I think I love you. The rage and disgust will surely come... but let's not think about that while we're in our honeymoon phase.

Ok, back to normal. My new Dell Inspiron arrived yesterday with Purolator. I opened it up and immidiately blemished the beautiful black casing with my smudgy fingerprints. It's taking me all day to upload my files and install software. I'm nowhere near done - it will probably take me another day. I bought a 12" mini at the same time and that has not arrived... when should I start worrying?

By the way, could you tell I was writing this blog post from my new computer? Night and day! ;)

New York in May

When I got back from New York this last time, I told my husband what a great time I had and how much I would love to spend more time there with him. Then he had the most fantastic idea... "why don't we go for a month?" Hell ya! I got the cat vaccinated last week and now all I need is a box to stuff her in and we're ready!

We're driving down and staying in a sublet. We almost had one nailed down yesterday but it all fell apart... I went to the bank and purchased a bank draft for $7.50 to send the funds with express shipping. The envelope was in my hand ready to drop in the mail when I got a call from the girl. "Sorry to bug you but I just want to make sure you don't smoke." "Nooooo", I replied confidently. Then, she went on, "Also, you don't have any pets?" I was caught. I can't completely lie. I told her that we have a small cat and my parents will be watching her but there is a slight chance that we'll have to bring her with us in case my parents are going away. That was a deal breaker. No matter how much I pleaded with her explaining that my cat is exceptionally clean and non-allergenic and I would pay a cleaning lady extra to do a super thorough job when we leave, she said, "I just don't want a cat in my place." Blurg.

So, we're still looking but I'm confident we won't have a problem finding another great place. I think I'll bring myself to lie this time around.

P.S. For those of you who got your panties in a bunch when I said I was going to stuff my cat in a box, you didn't realize what a luxurious box it would be. Here's a photo of the cat carrier I'm picking up tonight from PetSmart:
If we don't find a sublet, the three of us will stay in there.

Toronto Power Saving Blitz

We got a visit at the office today from a electrician contracted by Toronto Hydro. He was part of the Power Saving Blitz program happening in Toronto. It's fantastic - this program goes around to small businesses and replaces their lighting fixtures to more energy efficient ones free of charge. This helps businesses save money on electricity bills and helps the city's power grid.

To learn more, see the Toronto Hydro website.

"When you conserve energy you’re doing more than just helping your business’ bottom line – you are also contributing to a cleaner environment for your customers and the community."

It's good for everybody from the hydro department to the contractor to the business owner to the environment. Love it.

The day the gym lost

No gym for me today. I'm too tired. I didn't sleep very much last night. My husband ran out of Breathe Right strips so he was snoring his face off. Every time it woke me up I would slam my leg down on the mattress to wake him up just enough to stop. At one point when I was at the end of my sanity rope, I shook his shoulder and sweetly said, "honey, you're snoring". He said, "no I'm not! I'm not even sleeping! I think you're mistaken." We had a good laugh in the morning. And then I told him I was going to make his day a living hell.

BTW, it's our one year anniversary today. We're too cool to celebrate/remember.

Flight Control, this is the last 40min you wasted

If you have an iPhone, I'm about to tell you about an extremely addictive game to download. I caution you in advance... it is both highly satisfying and time-wasting.

It's called "Flight Control. The highest score I was able to achieve was eighty-something. My husband just emailed me a screen capture proudly displaying his highest score:


Download if you dare...

Feel free to let me know of other fun/addictive/cool games or apps...

New York Follows Me

As you might know, a lot of footage in movies and television shows set in New York City are filmed in Toronto. It's cheaper and the two cities look similar. While walking in my neighbourhood (that's right, I'm using Canadian spelling - we love our "u"s), King Street East was transformed into a Manhattan scene.

Photo below: the line of New York yellow taxis

Photo below: New York news stand and hot dog cart

It looks like the gods didn't think I had enough New York. And, as it turns out, they're right because Husband and I are going to spend the month of May there. We're planning on subletting an apartment and work remotely. The only thing I worry about is how my cat will do in the car for 8 hours. Oh boy.

New York daily, part 2

I finally have a moment to recap the rest of my trip. Getting back to "real" life in Toronto has been busy so cut me some slack!

Monday night: Lower East Side.
Shang Chinese Restaurant by Toronto chef Susur Lee.
Stanton Social for a drink.

Tuesday: Upper East Side.
Got my eyebrows threaded while my sister got her hair did.
Had a bite at Hot and Crusty. My fave bagel place in NYC.
Mani /Pedi - black nailpolish on toes, translucent pink on fingers.
Kinkos to get business cards printed for sis.
Kate's Paperie - beautiful stationary for the office in our company color.
Really mean taxi driver - so funny.

Tuesday night:
Sister went to work function, I went to Whole Foods (saw Seven Weber).
The W Hotel Store - got two little Jonathan Adler ceramic vases (photo below), a wrap cardigan, Hanky Panky undies and pink "Love Quotes" scarf.
Wednesday: Flatiron district.
Guest on The 404.
Walked by the Shake Shack where they're famous for their long lines. (photo below: Shake Shack is on the left, the line snakes to the right.)
Met up with sister, walked by Baked by Melissa and bought a $1 cupcake.... the size of my thumbnail, or as my sister said, the size of a popcorn kernel. (photo below)
Wednesday night: Gramercy.
The Moth with sister and her 2 roommates. TWO MORE CELEB SIGHTINGS!!
- Lorraine Bracco, aka Dr. Jennifer Melfi from The Sopranos and
- Parker Posey, aka KitLex Luthor's girlfriend from Batman Returns (2006)
Gramercy Tavern Restaurant for dinner

Thursday: Chelsea/Meatpacking/West Village.
Bleeker Street pizza - award winning but not my favorite. The crust was too thin and crispy... like a dry cracker. Majestic still my fav.
Art Galleries at 529 West 20th St. - saw my favorite artist, Marco Maggi at Jose Bienvenue Gallery. Also saw a fantastic photographer, Corey Arnold at Sara Tecchia Gallery. (photo below is my favorite photo from Corey Arnold's show... I want it!)
Delicious canollis from Rocco's Pastry Shop - took a dozen back to Toronto.
Louboutin shoes - drooled over shoes. I'm an 8.5 , hint, hint.
Uminov Guitar store - bought some picks for my guitar teacher, one of my employees who plays guitar and me.


Back to Toronto!

Sitting in the studio

I'm sitting at the 404 studio as we speak. I'm a bit early so I'm here alone spending some time on my laptop before the show starts.

Last night my sister had to go to a work function so I walked over to Whole Foods to get some dinner. This is the scene of my next celebrity sighting. As I was spooning noodles into my eco-friendly take-out container, I looked over to see Steven Weber doing the same. He had his usual long wavy hair, and was wearing a trench coat. If he wasn't famous, I would think he was a creep.

New York daily

To finish off Sunday...
After parting with Ralph, I took a taxi from Newark to Tribeca. It cost $60 after adding tolls and tip. Next time I'll take the train.

After seeing my sis and meeting her new roommates, we went to Bouley Bakery for a snack. I had some fancy macaroni and cheese and for dessert, a chocolate croissant and a green pistachio macaroon. Can you tell I was in need of serious comfort food?

Later that night we got dressed up and went to our 9:30pm reservation at Megu. We're taking full advantage of Restaurant Week here in NYC when normally out of reach restaurants put out a prix fixe menu for just $35/person. It's similar to Toronto's Winterlicious (& Summerlicious) event.

Monday (today):
Sister got a call from her boss - had to do some work this morning. I got a call from Husband at the office - everything was falling apart without me there. Actually, he just needed me to make a couple files and email them off. I also bought Replay Media Catcher for $30 to try recording the live streaming video off of Ustream.tv. I would like to record the preshow when I'm on the 404. Unfortunately, Replay Media Catcher is a piece of shit. This is the second time buying the software - the first time was back in October for my first 404 appearance and I got a refund. I downloaded it again thinking they may have had time to work out the bugs. We'll see if tech support replies to my email. You'd think it wouldn't be so complicated.

We walked over to Century 21 (financial district), tried on some clothes and left with Jelly Belly's. Go figure.

You can't be in New York without having a daily greesy slice. My long standing favorite is Majestic Pizza . I used to only get one slice per trip but now that my sister has moved to Tribeca, we're just a couple blocks away. I'll tell you right now, I will be eating Majestic Pizza till my flight leaves.

I'm best friends with Ralph Fiennes

So, yah, I'm pretty good friends with Ralph Fiennes. And by good friends I mean, we were on the same flight. He's super good-looking in person. I gave him a warm smile followed by a nod. This simple gesture said to Ralph, "I know who you are, I appreciate your work, you are very handsome and I respect your personal space." I'm sure he got all that - I could tell.
The last movie I saw with my close buddy Ralph was the Constant Gardener. As you may know, I don't spend much time reviewing movies on this blog. However, there just so happens to be an entire entry in November completely devoted to reviewing a deserving movie... The Constant Gardener. If you didn't read the review, you can click here to see it. But I wouldn't bother. The details are not important. The fact is, I wrote a review about it. Really, don't read the entry... especially if you're name is Ralph Fiennes.
Anyway, I'm in New York now so stay posted...

Little word, big difference

Today I changed my blog to "from" from "in". In other words, from "in" to "from". Confused?

"Debbie in Toronto" describes my current location and it's not always true. For example, I'm leaving for New York tomorrow. If I wanted to blog while I was in New York, that would make me a big liar. Also, Husband and I are thinking of moving to Los Angeles sometime in the relatively near future. How could I continue to be "Debbie in Toronto" then? So, the decision was made in the spirit of looking ahead and keeping me honest. I am now "Debbie from Toronto". This is true of me anywhere I might be in the world, both literally and philosophically. I feel good about the revision and I hope I haven't lost any readers because of this transition.

I was also able to snag debbiefromtoronto@gmail.com so the transformation is truly complete.

More about my trip to New York later... I'm flying with Porter - can you say "free internet access?" I'm sure I'll blog again at the gate to let you know all the exciting things I have on my list. FYI, I'll be on the 404 podcast on Wednesday.

Gimme deep fried dough!

Husband is away, spending this weekend out in Vail, Colorado snowboarding with friends. He keeps calling me from the top of the ski lift wanting to stay on the phone with me to "take me down the mountain" with him. It might be fun for him to have me on the phone but it's far from being virtual reality for me. All I hear is Husband yelling "left, right, left, right" over the sound of wind whipping against the microphone. The first couple times was cute but this third time I told him I was on the other line and had to go. He's so cute for missing me.

So, I've been fending for myself the last few days. I am even MORE boring than I thought. Friday was pretty eventful because I was here at work with the girls (our employees) and then did family obligations that evening. Saturday I spent the ENTIRE day at home watching MTV gems like "Paris Hilton: My New BFF". I had several offers from friends to go out especially since I mentioned his absence in my Facebook profile but it turns out that I would rather spend my time with my BFF... me! JK!

For today's dinner, I will get a Panzerotto from the local Italian cafe near our office. I got to thinking how many names there are for this heavenly combination of dough, cheese and tomato sauce. And, by "many", I mean three: Panzerotto, Panzerotti and Calzone. And by names, I mean two. Panzerotto, it turns out, is made up since I can't find it in Wiki. One thing is for sure: the only way to eat a Calzone/Panzerotti is deep fried. Not every place has a deep frier big enough for this son-of-a-B but when you find an establishment brave enough to dunk an entire pizza folded in half into hot oil, put their telephone number on speed dial.

I ain't no chicken!

After narrowly escaping a lethal bacterial infestation from eating raw chicken at Square Boy, you would think I could never set eyes on a piece of souvlaki let alone eat at Square Boy again. Well, ladies and gentlemen, last evening I walked right into that wonderful dump and ordered myself the chicken souvlaki on a bun and greek salad. Poison me, I say, as long as I get to enjoy eating it.

Photos from L.A., as promised

This is the view I was talking about in a previous entry. We drove up through the hills and found a spot to look out. It was beautiful standing there.
We also saw a movie opening which looked tres L.A. so I had to snap a picture...

Goodbye cruel world!

Today Husband and I ate Square Boy for lunch. I LOVE their chicken souvlaki in a bun with a big fresh greek salad. The bun is tender and juicy and the salad is crispy and refreshing. I've eaten that exact meal about 10 times this week.

I was nearing the end of my meal when I took another bite from the bun. The texture of the meat didn't seem right so I looked down at the nugget of chicken. What I saw was horrifying... the chicken was totally RAW inside. Not slightly pink. Totally R.A.W. It was so nasty to realize I had half of it chewed up in my mouth. I spit and called Husband to take a look and save me from my now inevitable, painful death. "What do I dooooooo?!?" I cried out.

Husband folded the evidence up in the paper wrapping and put it aside. I pleaded, "honey, can you Google what you should do if you eat raw chicken?" Husband replied, "I'll call Telehealth".

After giving the nurse on the other end of the line everything from first and last name to postal code, she finally put Husband on hold to what I suspect was to Google, "what you should do if you eat raw chicken." She ended up telling us to wait for symptoms and then go get medical attention. Thaaaanks. I was hoping for some clever preventative measures like, "induce vomiting" or "take a plum, heat it in the microwave, shave some almonds on top and eat it similtaniously with a hot pepper."

So, if I don't make it, please think of me fondly... remember, no one has faults after they're dead.

Debbie in LosAngeles, wrap-up

Saturday, January 17
Today the kids were home from school so Husband and I took them out to enjoy time with them and let my sister and her husband pack up the house. We took them to see Bolt at the Beverly Center. The movie was hilarious. The kids got popcorn and soda and sat through the whole thing. One of my favorite parts was the pigeons - New York pigeons vs. Los Angeles pigeons. I would even see this movie without kids.

We walked back to the parking lot with the kids and the first sign that things weren't going to go smoothly was that we weren't sure what floor we parked on. I don't think I have to tell you how nerve-wracking walking through a busy parking lot with two hyper children is at the best of times. We wandered two levels and were not getting any closer. 5yr old nephew "O" kept telling me, "I know where we're parked! We're at 3-B! Not 3-G. THREE-BEEEE." "Sure, honey" I replied to "O" looking at my husband with an exhausted eye roll. We decided to divide and conquer so I took the kids and Husband set off into the parking jungle. He returned with a grin... our car was parked in 3-freakin'-B.

Later that afternoon, we took them for a walk. Actually, they rode their bikes and we chased. It was so nice to spend time outside - in January.

After the kids were in bed we went for a long drive to a wonderful restaurant called Geoffrey's in Malibu. It was absolutely breathtaking. We were there after dark so we couldn't see the water but we could hear it's thunderous crash as the waves hit the rocks below us. The air was mild and fresh and we ate, talked and laughed under the stars. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful visit.

Sunday, January 18, Departure Day
- We packed up and left in the morning to LAX. Note: American Airlines has turned into a "No-Frills" airline and next time if we have a choice we wouldn't fly with them again. They charged me for nuts.
- Loooong flight. I really hate flying. It's boring and uncomfortable and loud and smelly and... etc.
- Two things happened at Pearson that have had impact on my life. The first is physical the the second is mental.
1) I dropped our laptop bag and smashed my screen so now it looks like I have a frame of black and green foliage. See photo below:


2) We were waiting for the Park n' Fly shuttle to take us to our car and it was freezing cold outside. There was very little to shelter us and the shuttle was taking far too long. The number of people waiting was building and tempers were getting hot in the bitter cold. Husband and I looked around and both came closer to the decision to move away from this. We had to wait even longer at Park n' Fly while they shoveled our frozen car out of the lot.

Husband is ready to leave Toronto tomorrow. I'm not all the way there yet. I love Toronto and I would sincerely miss it. The thought of saying goodbye makes me sad. At this point, however, I think I'm fighting the inevitable. We're skipping town and it's just a matter of how soon.

Debbie in LosAngeles, continued

Friday, January 16
- the usual (do I even need to tell you at this point? We are creatures of habit.)
- started to drive without the GPS... Santa Monica, Venice Beach (got out and walked barefoot along the beach), Merina Del Ray, LAX (not on purpose), Manhattan Beach, and finally 3rd Street Promenade where we sat down for an early dinner at Bravo Cucina. My meal came with a side salad and the dressing was so good that I inhaled all the greens on my plate before I even tasted my main dish. It was herby and incredibly flavourful. Light yet creamy. If they sold it, I would have bought a bottle. The waiter was kind enough to give me a small container to bring home to my sister.
- nap, put boys to bed, cheese plate with the adults and a movie, laptop, bed.

"But all the kids in my class are nose-pickers!"
"One kiss is a hundred hugs... and a hug is 2... actually, a hug is 51 minus 2."
"What's a googleplex plus infinity?"
- Nephew "O"

Debbie in Toronto -> Debbie in LosAngeles

Debbie in Los Angeles wears her sunglasses a lot more. It's literally been some of the coldest days in Toronto this week (-16C = 3F) and I walked around all day here in a white tank and flip flops. Ok, I was accessorized L.A. style with a strategic scarf, designer jeans and large funky ring so don't go thinking I'm a big shlumpadinka with "tourist" across my forehead. (I just got a visual that I had to clear up for you) :)

I'd like to use this blog as a supplement to my insufficient memory, so I will track Husband and I's trip with a daily wrap-up on where I went and did, possibly ending with a meaningful quote from either my 5 or 2 year old nephew.


Sunday, Jan 11: Departure Day
- Went to the office one last time before escaping.
- Drove to Park&Fly and shared a Twix with Husband while waiting for the shuttle to take us to the terminal. (Yes, chocolate bars are important enough to make it into my journal)
- Did a self check-in with American Airlines only to find that we had to pay $16 per check-in bag!!! 2 bags = 32 big ones. That gets added to: $404 airfare plus $111 taxes per person = $515 x 2 tickets = $1030 on our Visa
- Left perfectly on time and arrived perfectly on time.
- Went to pick up our rental car from Avis. The first they gave us was a Pontiac G6. It was nice but our gps mount was not compatible with the air vent panel thingies so we got the Dodge Caliber. Our gps works in this one but what a terrible car! No wonder American car companies are going down the tubes! I can't imagine anyone taking this car for a spin and saying, "now this car makes me feel like a king!"
- Drove to my sister's house in West Hollywood, jumped around with excitement to see not only my sister and brother-in-law that live here but also my other sister visiting from New York.
- ate leftovers, went to sleep.

Monday, Jan 12
- the Grove for bagels and coffee from Coffee Bean
- went to Trader Joe's to pick up groceries for Husband to cook his delicious shrimp pasta. It was too busy so we went across the street to Ralph's. A lemon in Toronto is 25 cents. At Ralph's in West Hollywood it's $1.49. Husband went to the cash register and bent over.
- finally saw 5yr old nephew "O" after school and got a big hug
- ate delicious meal

Tuesday, Jan 13
- slept in and went to Coffee Bean for bagels and coffee
- was joined by both sisters and just as we settled into a nice seat outside, a nice gentleman off his meds tried breaking the front glass of the store with the table he was sitting at. The L.A.P.D. took unnervingly long to get there and eventually took care of the situation.
- we sat there for a long while chatting and enjoying each others company
- shopped on Rodeo but didn't find anything buy-worthy. Gave up on clothes and went into a bunch of furniture/decor stores including Fendi, Kartell and White Orchid.
- babysitter arrived and we all went out to a hot restaurant named "Mark's" for dinner. Turned out that it is a tres gay spot and that night was particularly busy because it was a "gay mixer". Had a great meal and great time - lots of laughs. Husband told stories of his rebellious youth that thoroughly entertained us.
- visited the condo my L.A. sister is moving into this week with her family. Actually, the main reason we're here at this particular time is to help with the move.
- had a long heart-to-heart convo with N.Y. sister till the wee hours

Wednesday, Jan 14
- Husband went to a business meeting in Burbank
- hung out with N.Y. sister till we were joined by L.A. sister and went to Terroni for lunch (a Torontonian restaurant with a new location right in my sister's neighbourhood - cool huh? Doing very well, by the way) . Husband joined us and when he sat down he announced that he was ready to move here. It hit him while he was driving with the windows down and the sun in his face that it was JANUARY.
- picked up little nephew "C" and went for milkshakes at Millions of Milkshakes
- sang the boys to bed
- took N.Y. sister to the airport :( boooooo
- ordered take-out sushi, stuffed ourselves and went to shluf (sleep)

Thursday, Jan 15
- The usual... long stroll to the Grove to get toasted Jalapeno Cheddar bagels and coffee. The girl now knows us and says she will save our favorite bagels for when we come back tomorrow.
- L.A. sister received a lewd and totally hilarious gesture from a man on the street. It can be interpreted as his appreciation for her voluptuous boobs. lol
- walked back home and stopped for a 7-11 slushy on the way
- Drove through the hills. Saw an incredible view and took a picture. I'll upload it from my camera when I get back.
- visited my brother-in-law's plastic surgery office and got a couple not-so-beautiful beauty marks lopped off. Two on me and two on Husband. We feel much lighter now.
- Trader Joe's for groceries to make chicken and shrimp fried rice. I must say, grocery stores are so much more beautiful and well maintained here than at home. I also love the idea of eating fruits all year round that don't have to travel half way around the earth to get to your table.
- Husband cooked up some dinner while L.A. sister and I sang the boys to bed.
- ate, watched tv, worked on laptop... GOODNIGHT!

"I'm older than my brother which means I'm going to get freckles first. I mean, wrinkles."
- Nephew "O"

Another night in front of the T.V.

Our day looked something like this: Sleep in, go to Good Life Gym to check out the facilities (hated it), go home, eat lunch, go to work, get big pulsing migraine, go to Extreme Fitness Gym, sign up and pay, pick up a large pizza from Amato, eat, watch TV.

Yes, we finally joined a gym. We got a great price and it's a beautiful, clean facility that I'm really looking forward to. We have our fitness assessment on Wednesday. For some unexplainable reason, I'm nervous. I know that it's not a competition but I always want to get the best score in a test. I'm used studying and going into the test thoroughly prepared and in this scenario, I feel like the worst student in the class. I'm totally out of shape and it's going to be embarrassing. I can't even touch my toes these days! The part that I'm dreading the most, by far, is they gave us both a sheet to fill out tomorrow with a list of everything we eat during the day. I've decided to rebel and not to do it. Fuck them - they should mind their own fucking business, nosy mother fuckers. I'm detecting that I might be a tad defensive about my bad eating. Whatever, I just made a batch of cookies yesterday and I'm not going to let them go to waste. That's just wrong.

So, while we were eating we were watching the Sweden vs. Canada hockey game. The Prime Minster was there and we saw him taking a photo with a fan... a shirtless man with a jersey painted on his torso. Only in Canada. I can't find a photo online but if you do, send it over and I'll post it!

After watching the game for a few minutes, my husband sweetly asked, "you don't mind if we watch this for a little longer, do you?" To which I replied, "sure... but you're going to pay for it 10-fold. I'm going to make you watch the Bachelor!" He then said, "great. It's the first episode where we meet all the hot chicks!" I told him, "your not watching the Bachelor." Ooh, he's good.

Speaking of the Bachelor, I must say that I'm truly dissappointed with the choice this season. I was reeeeeally looking forward to seeing more of Jeremy and I was convinced he would be the next bachelor. He's dreeeeeeamy.