Potluck

My apologies, I know I haven't posted in a while. My life picked up like a whirlwind and kind of overtook, well, for lack of better word, my life.

To pick up where I left off last, I had a potluck at my place at the end of March.

I invited a lot of people, but even with a handful of polite declines, I still had more people coming than usual. I didn't even have enough chairs for everyone!

Everyone had arrived by around 630 and there was a lot of (delicious!) food at the table! =D

Not enough chairs to go around, whoops! =(

It was also Denise's birthday the weekend before, so I made her a banana cake with cream cheese icing in celebration.

Mmm delicious cake... *droooooools*

I didn't get a good photo of all the food, as I slowly became busier as more people trickled in.

We enjoyed a LOT of yummy foods made by everyone, had birthday cake, played catch phrase and things in a box.

There was a lot of food going around afterward still. Drunken gummy bears, homemade Bailey's, caramel fondue and so much more. There was a lot leftover, but thank goodness people took things home (like all the chicken wings left!)

All this writing is making me hungry... time to grab my bedtime snack! =D

Monkey Toasts

A couple weeks ago, I went in to Toronto for the weekend to hang out with my cousins, Winnie and Sharon. Winnie's birthday was a couple days before, so we decided to head out for dinner and a comedy club of her choice.

We ended up at Banjara Indian Cuisine, which, by the way, was absolutely DELICIOUS. It's even better than Diwa Classic here in Guelph, and I really like that place...

Anyways, the place was packed, fueling my comment that it was a great place to eat.

After dinner, we walked around the Queen St W area because it was a beautiful cool night. When it was about good timing, we headed to Comedy Bar with our tickets to Monkey Toasts!

I like live comedy, but haven't been out to see a lot of it because not many of my friends are interested in it. Glad my cousins are up for anything! It was a great show, with three guests (John Catucci, Mike Layton and Marnie McBean).

It was pretty cool, because Marnie is an Olympic medallist for Canadian rowing and she shared her experiences on that. Mike Layton is the Trinity-Spadina city councillor, and John Catucci is on the Food Network!!

I definitely hit up John Catucci afterware for a photo and the chance to ask him about being on the Food Network, how he got to where he is now, etc. Although he didn't have the authority to get me a show on the network, he was interesting to talk to and an overall awesome funny guy.

Me with John Catucci!

BlackBerry Playbook

YAY PLAYBOOK!


Now I officially have something *GOOD* I can use as my eReader!

It's so fantastic, and now that the OS 2.0 has been released, some of the kinks have been ironed out as well!

woot woot!

Birthday extravaganza

My birthday was a special one this year, where I celebrated leaving the 18-24 age demographic and entering the new world of 25-34 (or 25-29).

I wanted to do something a little different than what I normally do on my birthday. What better way to say I'm growing up than to have a nice little grown up wine and cheese party!

I got these nice new plates and was (slightly too over-) excited for them.

I also now enjoy taking fancy photos of random non-fancy things. Like this:


And this (pretty wine glass markers):


I think my birthday went pretty well. My friends were there and we had a great time talking, laughing and eating delicious cheeses (nomnomnom!)

There was lots of dessert to go around too! I made french vanilla cupcakes with a whipped buttercream frosting, Kendra brought me a cake, Carolyne brought Jonny a cake, and Jonny made a Brown Betty.




Hurray for delicious food, lots of wine, and great friends!

Birthdays and cake!

Adam's birthday was yesterday, which is the main reason why we didn't stay overnight at Relay this year. I needed most of the day to bake the cake, so being awake and alert was necessary.

I made a simple white cake, a recipe I hadn't tried before. With a trick to help cakes bake evenly, I was pleasantly surprised to have a perfectly level cake when I was done with the baking!

Perfectly flat!

This made my life so much easier, because it wasn't absolutely crucial for me to crumb coat the cake. Although it would have been better with it, I was totally pressed for time.

I made a simple vanilla buttercream to start and slathered it all over the cake. To put the finishing decorations up, I added a packet of instant espresso to make a delicious buttercream and a slight colour contrast.

Delicious!

We went out for dinner at Wooly's and headed back for games and dessert. Hurray for birthdays!

Penguins! in a cookie =)

'Penguins! The ultimate cute bird. Now available in cookie form! For a limited time only, get them before they're gone!'

If I could have an infomercial, that could be what it sounds like.


Earlier this week I made penguin cookies. I couldn't post them until now because the recipient of them was still in suspense about what it was that I had made.

Anywhoo, Adam's favourite animal would be (you guessed it) the penguin. Having a big stash of penguin stuffed animals hidden away at his dad's, they've been around his whole life. We recently began the propaganda on his niece, last month while we were in Regina.

But herein lies the story of the penguin cookie...

They began as innocent gingerbread cookies, cut out from the top of a highball glass. It was irrevocably altered forever when it was iced *gasp* with black buttercream icing.


Then it was filled with flood black, only to be tainted with more icing, this time white.

Piped along the bottom and then filled once more, with flood white.

Finally, it was given a rest. But then more embellishments were added. To end up with, a penguin!

Beautiful!

Happy birthday Adam!

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting

I've made cupcakes before, but I normally don't make my own frosting. Nor do I try to fill a piping bag and pipe it decoratively on top. Well, there's always a first for everything.

It was Laura's birthday on Saturday, and in lieu of a birthday gift, cupcakes were made instead. I went to the store to get nice pink and blue cupcake liners (which, chocolate is the WORST at ruining the colour of... never again!), and these cute styrofoam pink and blue mini eggs to top.

My buttercream frosting was a simple vanilla recipe. I don't have fancy piping tools, so I simply used a disposable Wilton piping bag and some of their plastic piping tips. I actually didn't think the floral tip would be big enough, so I took the round tip and cut it so it was a fat round tip to pipe out. It worked surprisingly well! And this time, I cut the hole of the disposable piping bag smaller than before, so my icing didn't leak out the sides of the piping tip. Phew!

Happy birthday Laura!

Before the party though, I actually had a potluck to attend. I brought wine, cheese and crackers to that, and stayed for a few hours before leaving for Laura's. Good thing Adam was bright enough to think to bring the cupcakes to Laura's beforehand. Not only were we able to drink at both places (and take the bus/taxi), but it was a really yucky wet day out and it would have been a disaster trying to get the cupcakes to and from places!

<3

January 2011 pt.1

So I haven't posted in a while now. It's time to recap the year so far, and I shall do it in month form:

We started the year with a Friday night out. Borealis was the restaurant of choice, and although I have been before and liked it, I was very disappointed this time around. It was a busy night, so the dining area was pretty full. Everyone around us seemed to have really yummy looking meals so I was excited. Then came our dinner. Adam's looked delish, whereas mine looked about 1/3 of the size. It was a (very) small portion of salmon, even by my standards, with hardly any salad to go with it, hidden underneath. Needless to say, I ate my entire Marble Slab ice cream cone that evening.

For my birthday weekend, we went to see Morning Glory the Friday night. Starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton, I absolutely loved it. The story of an over-ambitious news turned executive producer who needs to get her two co-anchors together and save the morning news program. I love McAdams so of course I loved the movie. Oh, and Ford and Keaton are great too.

On the Saturday, I had dinner at the Fat Duck with a small selection of my friends. The restaurant wasn't as big as I thought (having gone past it everyday for the past 18 odd months), but quaint and nice inside. Since it was my birthday, I also got a free dessert which I tried desperately to share with everyone, but no one was biting.

After dinner, it was wine and dessert at my place. A smattering of desserts had been made/brought to my place beforehand, and I had a large selection of wines sitting in my fridge and on the wine rack.

Good eats + good friends = good times

On my actual birthday, Adam was insistent on making me dinner, so I let him be. Taken from the cookbook Kendra got me for my birthday, he wanted to make vegetable stew. Delicious for a mid-winter evening. =)

Canada Day "Long" Weekend

So it was a long weekend for some, but obviously not for the university. We went to the beach on Canada Day, but it was back to work for us on Friday. I'm sure most people took it off to go away for the weekend, but I stuck it out and actually worked every single day this weekend.

I went in Friday and managed to get in 2 full assay runs. I wanted to use my time efficiently so I felt accomplished by the time I made it to Fawn's for her birthday. We sat around in their lovely backyard in the shade and had BBQ and chatted. It was a beautiful evening out but we all had to head home. I was planning a lengthy day in the lab the next, and Kendra was heading to Toronto.

Saturday was another full day with 2 assay runs (while watching FIFA of course!), before going home, catching up with people on skype, and then going to Ann's to head to eBar. A night out dancing is always fun, and it was great that Paco showed up as well! Despite a super creepy acquaintance, who shall remain unnamed, the night was a blast. Luis, Paco and I caught a cab home, which was much better than my typical route of walking the hour+ long walk home from downtown. I settled in nicely into bed, only to be roused awake at 8am the next morning. Why oh why do I plan a full day at the lab when I know I'll be absolutely exhausted!?!?!

I couldn't get in a full day at the lab because I ran out of sterilized water. I just barely managed one full run, but I was welcoming the thought of going home early with open arms. I watched some tv, weeded my garden, all before Kendra came over. Since we missed her at the fireworks on Canada Day, we haven't really talked, and there was much to catch up about... We got it all out in about an hour, before it was time to hit the sack.

That brings us to Monday, where I *tried* to sleep in before going in to school.

Off to Ohio tomorrow!

June!

I've had a super busy week this week at school and outside that as well, I haven't had much time to write anything here.

Throughout the week I was training one of the summer students on laboratory work. Laura's working with me the whole summer to help me get all my digestibility assays completed, so it was a long week of accompanying her in the lab getting work done.

Monday: I had an appointment at Estee Lauder for a revamp of skin care for summer.

Tuesday: Walter came over with a guitar and keyboard for a music jamming session. We hammered through quite a few songs and I got to exercise my keyboard (not piano) skills. It made me yearn for a keyboard again.

Wednesday: Diego's thesis defense in the morning followed by some grad lounge drinking. I had a Relay meeting so I had to leave the grad lounge early to make it to that. During the meeting, I was informed salsa night at eBar was cancelled until next week, so I got to head home and make dinner at a unGodly hour... Everyone else went to Diego's house after grad lounge, and then eventually to Doogie's, but I was absolutely exhausted and in no mood to party on a Wednesday night.

Thursday: a free day? really? I spent time in the lab looking for a keyboard. By nightfall, I had made contact with one girl in Cambridge selling one that I am supposed to go see in the morning. Thank goodness for Jerlene and her ability to drive me there...

Friday: Jerlene and I went to Cambridge to look at the keyboard. Given the brand and the price, I pretty much already knew I was going to get the keyboard, but you must always look like you are very much only considering it. We picked it up for cheaper than the listing price, and headed to Party Packagers to get loot gear for Jerlene's birthday dinner that night.

Dinner was at Ben Thanh Viet/Thai out on Woodlawn. I made it to Kendra's where she drove. I got helium balloons, and Jerlene was showered with numerous gifts. Dinner was good, it was actually a decent vietnamese restaurant for once. Good choice! Afterward, we went to Jerlene's where she opened her gifts and chatted. Then we went home.

Saturday: kegger party! Kendra and I went to the mall to pick up a couple things for the 90s party (think: butterfly tattoos and 90s jewelry). Afterward, we spent a couple hours making the music playlist for the party. I clearly spent the larger portion of the rest of the day (and yesterday afternoon) playing around with my new keyboard. Rob came after 9 to take the bus to Ann's, where we got there after 10. The party was fun, flip cup and beer pong galore. Of course Gillian and the twins were there as well so I got to hang out with them again as well.

Sunday: post keg party recovery. I am currently sitting here eating and watching 7th Heaven on my laptop. Awesome...

Siobhan's quarter-century

It's been a busy weekend of going out. Siobhan celebrated her birthday Saturday at Kelli's and Doogie's. Starting out at Kelli's, an already intoxicated Siobhan attempted to break her pinata with a meat tenderizer. Fantastic.

With lots of chocolate eggs and jolly ranchers on the floor, I'm sure that was a great mix with all the alcohol coursing through everyone's veins.

We headed out to Doogie's after 11, and although we missed the line, it was already very full inside. The music line up has changed since I was last there, and the Test Icicles are no longer the Saturday night band. It was a group called Groovy Brothers, who turned out to be absolutely fantabulous. They played all the great classics that everyone loves. Great Big Sea, Twisted Sister, The Proclaimers and more I can barely remember because the night was so epic.

With the parents (Phil and Siobhan) drinking and dancing up a storm with the baby under their arm, good times were had. Until inebriation hit the dangerous level and a nasty unfortunate slip ended the baby's life. There goes our "good parenting" for the night. But alas, a better time could be had without a yellow happy-faced balloon in our hands.

With all sorts of crazy antics going on that night, like losing house keys and running into team latino, I'm sure everyone had a blast. Which is always the case, because it's Doogie's!

Happy birthday Siobhan!

80s Tight and Bright

Finally! The time has come to break out my long awaited outfit and party the night away 80s style. Ann, Kendra, Rob and my birthday all being celebrated in one night, the theme is "80s tight and bright". Come one, come all, in the best 80s gear you can find. We're serving up the best tunes and snacks of the 80s.

My night started at Kendra's, where I got ready. We had a drink before we walked over to Ann's where a few people already were. Jerlene and Eugenia were right behind us getting in, and soon after there were the masses of people pouring in.

There were pixie stix, gummy worms, rainbow chips ahoy, dubble bubble, fizz, tootsie rolls, animal crackers, teddy grams, blue corn tortilla chips, popcorn, pop rocks, cake, a keg, random alcoholic beverages and the trivia trophy. Sounds like a fantastically delicious night.

There were a TON of people in the house, but despite how much alcohol there was, we sucked the keg dry by midnight. There was flip cup, shortbus, and a ton of drunk snacking. We never managed to get the "She Bangs" video done, because of pure intoxication and unwilling dancers, but the night was an absolute blast.

Cheers!

Pixie stix cheers, to our birthdays!

Surprise, mom!

So everyone knew that my flight back to Edmonton was the morning of Christmas Eve. What only a few were privy to learn though, was that that wasn't actually my flight.

I had originally booked my trip home to be on Christmas Eve, but what I did about a month before, was switch my flight home from the 24th to the 23rd. I did this in order to surprise my mom for her birthday (on the 23rd), and also because I know she wasn't too happy about me flying back so close to Christmas day.

The plan:
Albert picks me up from the airport and we hang out for the day, doing whatever it is I need to do to get ready to go home (buy last minute Christmas things, etc.). My brother booked a dinner reservation for 5 people, without my mom knowing, since he was in on the plan.

Action:
We showed up at home around 5, but my mom was in the shower. So much for Albert pretending to bring a "present" (me) for my mom. So we waited inside. I hid all my stuff in my brother's computer room and waited behind the small wall indent next to the kitchen. My mom came downstairs cus she heard some noise, thinking it was my dad coming home. Albert was in the kitchen with a potted plant for my mom and she was very stunned. Albert tells my mom he brought her something else for her birthday too, and points to me standing behind her. Shrieks galore, my mom was clearly very excited to see me.

=D

Yobson!

Birthdays. Bon voyages. Vikings. Bollywood. Drinking.

Hell. Yes.

Saturday morning was a good start to a very unproductive day. I woke up before Kendra did, so I lazed around in bed until she woke up around 10. Eventually, after talking for a while, we decided to get out of bed and I was dropped off at home.

I made lunch, did a bit of cleaning, talked to Tory for about, and did some random readings. I went to school to switch the samples in the freeze dryer, take some lasagna trays from the lab and got some groceries. I got home and the cooking had already begun - mmm butter chicken.

We got all the food ready and I got dressed in my viking gear, and we headed to Vicky's place downtown. Eventually, we made it to Nigel's place where everyone else trickled in over the next hour. Hurray for Bollywood style dinner to go alongside the Bollywood/Viking themed party.

I'd say it would be a toss up between Tim and Cam as the most enthusiastically dressed. Tim was decked out from head to toe, including his home-made shoes, which were really just fabric laced up at the back and duct taped together at the bottom. On the other hand, Cam wore a wig, fake beard, helmet, some mink fur, and.. pretty much nothing else.

We headed downtown to the bars around 1145. The plan was to go to eBar, but the shocker of the night was a line outside the doors. Since the weekend had been a write off so far, I figured I needed to go home, catch some sleep, so that I could go to church in the morning and have a productive Sunday. Thus, the solo adventure home. Good thing I left before the regular bus service stopped, so I wasn't on the late night and it most definitely wasn't full of drunkards. Win win.

MacDuff's 24th

MacDuff!!!

Dinner was at Wild Wing, where apparently Mark ate wings and had (probably excessive) amounts of beer.

The pre-drink at Kelli's place is where the champagne chugging began. Down to the label, Mark!

We got to Kelli's some time after 830 and were there until shortly before 1030, when we made out way to Doogie's.

Doogie's was only about half full when we got there, but we already had a long table full of people there. The Test Icicles were set to play (as they do every Saturday night) and I was very excited to hear them. I tried to go to their concert a few weeks ago at the Taps, but was unable to go because no one wanted to go on a Wednesday night.

The band arrived. Slowly. First only the guitarist. The drummer showed up about 30 minutes later. The bassist did not, as he was playing in Kingston with his other band, but there was pre-recorded material to work with. The band is absolutely fantastic.

Doogie's was a fun night, with everyone up and dancing. Interesting things happened that night, and of course we can't forget that someone in our group has to get kicked out at some point.

I ended up leaving a bit earlier, as I had it penciled in, to attend church with Jerlene and Ann the next morning (see next post). Anne drove to the bar, and took Matt, Ildiko and me home some time around 1230. I got home, but didnt' sleep for another few hours. For some reason, once it hits midnight, I just can't sleep no matter what I try. Seriously, something needs to be done about this.

Happy birthday Mark!

GLOW @ Empire

I went to GLOW on Tuesday night, for DJ Kwake's birthday and Canada Day. Originally Gail, her sister and Alice were to come as well but Gail wasn't feeling well Monday and it spread over until Tuesday as well. Not to mention the fact Alice suddenly had to work Wednesday morning so she wasn't able to make it either.

My brother, Chris and I were heading there together. I stopped at Greg's to pick him up and drop him off at west-side auto so he can pick up his car. As usual he speeds past me and gets to the destination first. We made it just in time to get in free, but find that it isn't very busy inside. We meet with my brother's co-workers (Jason and Crystal) inside, who had snagged a booth for the time being (we were later notified we couldn't sit there unless we ordered bottles). We moved from the upstairs bar area down to next to the dance floor because the place was filling up and they were opening up the lower levels.

The dance floor opened around midnight and they started blowing out disgusting smoke from the above machinery. I'm not sure what it was, but it smelled funny and left my eyes very dry and irritated.

It was a fun night, with Jason acting very happy when drunk and getting my brother to drink as well. Unfortunately it was a night of rejection, but pure entertainment for Chris and myself.

Eventually Jason and Crystal left, sometime after 1am, so we hung around for a bit more before we left ourselves as well. An as predictable as usual, it was a "race" between Greg and me on the Whitemud. Race in quotations because I would always lose, so he doesn't push it over 100km, and he zooms past me only to slow it back down to 80km so that I can catch up and he can do it all over again. Fun fun...

The weekend pt. 2

On Saturday, mom was inviting the whole city over for my brother's birthday and my graduation party. I was very groggy when I woke up, but headed out to Whimsical to pick up the cupcakes for the party. We got 18 of them, and got jewed by the pricing for the last 6. Only the first dozen were on for the sale price, so we ended up paying almost the same price to get the 6 extra. Sucky. Then we went to the grocery store to get all the food, before heading home to get started on prep work.

My family from both sides showed up, a bunch of my brother's friends, and Gail Yvonne Michael and Greg came as well. During dinner the guys created a drinking ringtoss game, where losing team takes shots of 151. I was very unimpressed that my team lost...

We were to go to Vinyl that night for my brother's birthday, but my uncle got quite intoxicated and was adamant he go with us. He kidnapped my brother to his house, so we were forced to go there as well to "wait for him to change and come out to drive him there". We grabbed my brother and left, and apparently left my uncle at his place cursing up a storm. Oops.

We showed up at Vinyl very very late, so we didn't get in free. Greg Michael and Yvonne were already there waiting, along with many of my brother's friends. I think we were the last ones there because I didn't see anyone else show up afterward. We were there for a couple hours, and I've never seen my brother so drunk and dance so much in my life. Sometime after midnight, he was so intoxicated he came over to me and flung himself on me stating "I can't find my friends!". Interesting, as they were just a couple people over from us, on the dance floor. Eventually he wanted to go to Iron Horse, which I refused, and left him with his friends to go bar hopping. Gail Greg and I were on our way to Billiards Club, when I receive a call that my brother is passing out and I need to get him. So we head to Iron Horse, where I find him at the front of the line paying cover. He tells me to get in, and proceeds to walk in himself. Not wanting to follow him, I call it a night and we head home.

I get home around 130am and my parents are asleep. I go to bed, and get woken up an hour later to my brother texting me to come open the door. Great, 230am and still awake. Another night of not sleeping.

Sunday was pretty relaxed. Chris came over again, for the 3rd day in a row. He picked up his laptop but hung around for a couple hours and we played a game of Killer Bunnies. It was the longest game ever, but I won, finally, for once. Nothing else really happened, it was a pretty chill day.


The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
- Oprah Winfrey

Surprise Prags!!

Pragyan's birthday was over a month ago, but because of the end of school and finals, the celebration was put on hold. Since Greg got back a couple weeks ago, the timing was good to plan the surprise party. The cover was a barbeque at Greg's where Prags needed to get there beforehand to help out. It was intended to be for a lot of people, so we needed all hands on deck. The actual plan was dinner at Earls and a fun night out.

Poor unsuspecting Prags showed up at Greg's after running with a 3 or 4 2L pops in a grocery bag. Huffing and puffing he was "late" for the intended time, which really is okay since a few of us were going to be late at the restaurant anyways.

Angelina and Mike were already there, and Madeleine and I showed up at the same time. Unfortunately, Prags and Greg were already there by the time I arrived, so it wasn't the greatest planned surprise. To make up for it, I had gotten Prags a poster that I knew would make his day. =D

Akane and Justin arrived afterward and we all ordered. I had already eaten and Justin doesn't eat out, so he left a when the food arrived, agreeing to pick us up again when we were heading out.


After the food, another surprise for Prags! Angelina had ordered a dessert prior to everyone arriving, and the waitress brought it out with candles lit. Prags blew them out too quickly, so I didn't get a picture of it with them lit.

When dinner was over we all headed to Greg's to wait for Justin. I followed Mike home so he could drop his car off, and were off. Getting there before everyone else, Mike and I talked with Greg's mom for some time before the rest of the gang arrived. Greg showed the pictures of his trips to Bali, Tokyo and Jasper and some pre-drinking was done. The plan was to head to The Bank, where everyone got very very drunk and didn't leave until really late.

Dan's 23rd birthday - Hudson's

Saturday night was Dan's birthday party. I went to dinner with James at Shogun beforehand, to catch up and for him to tell me about his trip to Japan. I heard lots of stories, and they all gave me a very odd feeling about Japan.. almost like I wouldn't like it there if I visited. Anyways, dinner at Shogun was good. I was super hungry because we went a lot later than originally planned, and ended up ordering way too much food.... That's... totally not my fault, haha. So we packed the rest up and headed to the downtown Hudson's.

Getting there around 1015, a large group of people were already there. I saw Adam there, who I haven't seen in years now. Although we didn't talk, it was good to see him again. Hung out with Michael, Chris and Billy, and Albert showed up half an hour after I got there as well. As the (awesomely sexy, haha) picture indicates, Chris was well on the path of drunken-ness by the time I arrived.

Funny story, on the dance floor I was dancing with Chris when a girl comes up to us waving her fingers at me asking if I was single. I told her we weren't together so she asks if she can take Chris away from me to go dance with her friend, I think the name was Teresa. So she takes Chris away and I am left dancing partner-less, so I head back to the tables. I tell Michael and Billy about it and Billy gets excited about going to dance, because he wants a girl to take him away too. So we head to the dance floor, but Chris is already back. Apparently the girl was pre-occupied with texting on her phone so he ditched, but he says she was pretty hot. Dancing with me didn't score Billy a girl, so I guess it was just a one time deal.

There was a massive line outside the restaurant, and Gail was at the end of it. We were both pretty sure she wasn't gonna make it in, so she went home, and I got a ride home from Michael. I was pretty tired, as it was a very long night. It wasn't from being out at the bar, but it was from the other circumstances surrounding Saturday night that made it so exhausting. I'll write about it in another post, but it seems that May has not been a very nice month to relationships. I don't think in a 24 hour period I have gotten more phone calls from friends seeking relationship advice, ever. Ironic how life is - when your life is down in the pits, apparently the people close to you have crappy periods as well.

Busy weekends

I haven't been on the computer for more than an hour at a time this whole weekend, it's been pretty hectic.

Friday: I spent the whole night watching The Hills season 4. I've been playing catch up on all my TV shows since school ended, and it was time to watch the girls. =)

Saturday: I taught piano first thing in the morning and hung out with my cousins for a bit afterward. Then I went with my mom's side of the family to a mother's day lunch, which ended up taking a very long time. After that, I went to the gym and worked my butt off for an hour before going to south edmonton common to pick up flowers for mom. While I was there I tried to go to H&M to get some cheap summer clothes for my upcoming Hawaii trip, but the lines for the fitting room were too long for me to want to wait. I also called Dyana while I was driving around the parking lot, and we decided that we would set up a night to have dinner and catch up.

After getting home, I had 45 minutes to shower and change and get ready for Yvonne's birthday. It was at Bangkok by Kingsway, and I didn't know how exactly to get there, but I found my way. It was disgustingly hot inside the restaurant and Yvonne was poking fun at Michael who was sweating up a storm. Yvonne, on the other hand, was still wearing her thick cotton zip up jacket at the table. Dinner was relatively good, the beef didn't cook up all gross like some restaurants do, but it was hot inside and the place seemed a little dirty. I guess that's what you get when you go to a restaurant that has all you can eat hotpot for under $15 though. But I didn't get sick so it was still ok, as usually I get sick after eating at chinese restaurants.

I didn't go out to Diesel after dinner, because there was no sense in me waiting around 2 hours before anyone would even be there. I went home, and good thing too, as I began developing my headache on the drive home. So to combat that I changed into my lounge clothes and watched the rest of The Hills season 4! =)

Sunday: I woke up groggy and gross and I was feeling the verge of sickness. I didn't want to go golfing, but my brother wasn't happy about that, so I dragged my butt out of bed and got ready. We headed to his friend Gini's house first to drop off some stuff, before going to Fort-In-View. We got there about 30 minutes early, so we played around on the putting green for a while. Chris' brother was late so we didn't tee off until noon and played for 5 hours.

The front 9 was horrible. I got a 10 on one hole because I had 5 sand shots. I couldn't get it out and when I finally did, it managed to roll back down the hill and into the sand again. That frustrated me, and I just started whacking at it before I gave up and just threw the ball up the hill. That messed me up big time. The back 9 I actually did really good on and I was happy about that. I also got my first chip-in ever, from probably about 20-30 yards away. Although my putting wasn't that bad for my first round of the season, it was good to know that it was taking me less shots to get it in. For my first round of the season, I didn't do too bad. It was exactly on par with how I finished last year, but given the fact that I had like actually counted all my penalty strokes yesterday, and all my halfassed sandshots as well, I think I actually did better. Plus the fact that I haven't even picked up my clubs until yesterday, I started off very well. Now, to get better!

When we got home, dinner was all ready to go, which was nice since I was quite tired from golfing all day. It was hot outside, and golfing wasn't making it any easier. After dinner, I lounged around and got started on all the seasons of Chuck that I missed. I only got around to watching about 4 episodes, so I'll probably continue on the rest of it tonight.

This morning, Greg messaged me on facebook and told me a little bit about how the last few days were. He went offline because he didn't want to run out of money, but managed to call me about a half an hour later. I had trouble hearing him because it was very loud in the airport, but it was good to hear from him. His flight to Tokyo is boarding now, and will take off in about 20 minutes. He'll get to Tokyo about 8am, where both of them will get to wander around aimlessly and unshowered until 1pm when check in for their hotel will become available... Sounds kind of... gross.


You must not give in to negative emotions today. The moment you start thinking of yourself as some kind of victim is the moment you become one - and you're not. Your life is full of good things and good people, so get a grip.
- Horoscope for Monday May 11 2009, Metro News