Posted in Montreal, postaday, Sports, tagged habs, hockey, montreal on May 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »
After the Habs’ awesome Game 7 win against Boston, Big Bad Bruin Lucic’s behaviour during the traditional post-game handshake was all everyone was talking about. I got home from work and this conversation took place while I was making supper:
Me: Did you hear what Lucic said during the handshake?
Chris: I don’t really give a shit about golfers.
🙂
Hehehe
The man I married is very very wise.
Fore fu&#ers!
Posted in Family and friends, Good Times, Montreal, postaday2011, tagged baptism, Dinner, family, friends, fun, montreal, postaday2011 on August 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Hi all,
Sorry it’s been so long since I posted! Here’s a recap:
Chris and I were in Montreal for the weekend to attend the baptism of our nephew, Zach, and were proud godparents to boot. 🙂 We drove down on Saturday and arrived in early afternoon. We had an awesome time at dinner with friends and family. Our waiter was hilarious and had us laughing the whole night. He was giving out hugs (to both our female and male attendees) which made for some cozy moments.
After two pitchers of Sangria, we moved to shots. In a family restaurant, this was particularly funny. My brother Mark’s shot was a flaming sambuca, and some of it splashed on his cheek. After drinking it, his face was on fire for a few seconds. Unless he’s starring in the next Ghost Rider movie, this was probably not a look he wanted to keep. He doused the flames and all was well. Classic moment was when the waiter leaned over and said “You’re on fire dude.” 🙂
Mark, after his flaming sambuca shot
It was a great night and we were glad we got to see everybody and catch up. Everyone made it home in one piece.
Sunday was the baptism and everything went smoothly during the ceremony. Barring some crying when Zach got dunked in the basin, he did good. Chris’ sniffles were minimal. 🙂 After church, we all headed downtown for the dinner reception at Vargas. It was a beautiful restaurant and the food was very good.
We drove back to Toronto in the morning and got home at 2-ish. That was our whirlwind weekend. 🙂
Posted in Christmas, Holidays, tagged Christmas, days of christmas, holidays, montreal, snow, toronto on December 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Look – it’s snowing on my blog.
There’s just something magical about snow falling during the weeks leading up to Christmas.
There’s always that hope that we’ll have a white Christmas. I still feed sad if there’s no snow on the 25th! Last Christmas was eerily devoid of snow..which ended up lasting all winter. Snow at christmas would be nice…but it can melt away on Dec 26th. 🙂
And it’s not really snow as a whole, but instead, all these little individual unique sparkly snowflakes falling all around, making everything glisten and twinkle in the glow of Christmas lights.
The light fluffy kind that goes flying when you blow on it.
Or the uber heavy, wet kind that’s perfect for making snowmen and building forts.
Snow makes Christmastime magical. That’s why Bing was dreaming of a white one. That’s why Santa lives in the North Pole, where it snows all year. It just wouldn’t be the same if Santa lived in Cancun. Don’t even get me started on the red speedos.
Christmas in Montreal
Christmas in Toronto
I’m happy to report I woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground this morning and they’ve forecasted scattered flurries today so maybe it’ll stay!
Posted in Good Times, tagged bacon, brunch, family, friends, game night, get together, montreal, wedding on October 31, 2010| 2 Comments »
We were once again in Montreal this weekend, this time for Chris’ cousin Bill’s wedding. We drove down Friday, stayed at the same hotel (where they said “Welcome back” – omg we’re becoming regulars – funny). Friday was game night at Christina and Adam’s place – we got Arahovas delivered and we brought wine (Inniskillin Pinot Noir 2008) – yummy. Lots of gabbing and catching up, watched the hockey and played “Would you rather” – fun game! 🙂
Saturday, we ended up doing some shopping (bought wine tumblers which we’ve been wanting to buy for a while now). Then got ready for Bill and Mema’s wedding. It was fun to see everyone again and spend some time with family at the reception. Congrats Bill and Mema – we had a great time and wish you a long and happy future together!
Only in Montreal – it snowed Saturday night…
Wtf snow on Halloween...
Sunday morning was a group brunch with friends, family and bacon (I had a craving – leave me alone :)).
The nieces! Maddie, Chloe and Sienna. And that's a piece of me on the left there...
Olga and Christina - you guys look great! Happy to see you both!
Julie, Chantal and Mark - great pic of you guys!
Nephew and soon-to-be godson Zach - what a cutie
The gang at Tutti Frutti (a breakfast place in our old neighborhood)
We headed back to Toronto after brunch (with a pit-stop at Starbucks for reinforcements). Had fun guessing the next songs on my ipod which we set to shuffle (only 321 songs and we got halfway). I’m an ADD song skipper. Once I guess the song and hear a couple of verses of it, I typically skip to the next one. Chris said I made him dizzy…oh well, we all have our flaws. This is mine. 🙂
Glad to be home, where it’s nice and warm – not cold with snow on the ground! Ack!!
Posted in Good Times, tagged Easter, family, montreal on April 5, 2010| 3 Comments »
I didn’t know so much food could fit into one weekend let alone my stomach. But it can and it did! So, Wii Fit is making a comeback…at least til I get rid of the cruise and Easter weight. 🙂
We were able to visit with our families, ate at our favourite spots, shopped for a new spring wardrobe, and we’re now back home. Pooped but safe and sound.
The shopping excursion was very successful (but honestly, when is it not…) and I managed to find the 2 things I was looking for: new bag for spring and trench. Here is the damage:
H&M: Summer dress from their new garden line which I’m in LOVE with (it looks like a smock from grade school art class – no hating the smock people), summer tops and shorts and a couple of tops for work.
RW&Co: SKIRTS (2 black pencil, 1 beige khaki a-line, 1 grey pencil, 1 charcoal tulip), blouses (white, purple, black), short-sleeve sweaters (grass green – loving the new green for spring, coral), earrings.
Guess: Yellow bag for summer
The Bay: Light grey Guess trench (looks nice with the yellow bag)
So, firstly, here is The Bag:
Still shot of The Bag - Cowgirl Medium Hobo
Action shot of The Bag in the Guess spring 2010 ad campaign
I’ll be leaving my lasso at home.
We ate lots of Arahovas (Greek food) and Firegrill (prime riiiib). We got to visit with all the nieces and nephew, sisters, brothers, parents, extended family, … Very very busy and no longer very hungry.
We enjoyed a “game night” and played Password and a hilarious version of “Would you rather”.
Misc. pics of the fam:
Posted in Christmas, Good Times, tagged Christmas, montreal on December 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We left the green grass (well, brownish these days) of Toronto early on Christmas Eve. We brought one large suitcase filled with gifts and a second smaller suitcase for our clothes and stuff. No flight trouble, landed on time. I was really excited to see the city covered in snow from the window of the plane as we descended into Montreal.
My mother-in-law picked us up at the airport, then we drove back to her place (we were borrowing their car for our stay), then went to the hotel. After checking in and unpacking some stuff, we went to one of our fave Greek restos (Arahova’s) to have lunch, ran a few more errands (i.e. last-minute gifts) then back to the hotel to get ready for xmas dinner at my in-laws.
It was really nice to see everyone because it happens so rarely ever since we moved to TO. We got to meet Chris’ new nephew Zach, got to see how much his niece Chloe has grown (so much!), enjoyed good food, good conversation, had fun catching up with everyone, opened gifts. Good times. We left at 1am!
Christmas day was to be spent at my sister’s place with her two daughters (3 1/2 yrs old and just over 2) and my mom. We got there at around 8:30am for Christmas morning. My sister’s place is kid heaven. Tons of toys, Christmas decor is everywhere, and it just reeks of fun, excitement and Christmas glee!
So I got to don the Santa hat again this year and hand out presents to two very excited little girls. 🙂
Chris used my new digital camera to take pics of the Big Event. They received lots of horse-related gifts (they’re huge fans), princess dress-up gear and fairy wands, art supplies, Dora and Cars stuff, doll prams, games, puzzles, … And when all the gifts were opened, it was like Santa’s workshop exploded in my sister’s living room… We had breakfast and lunch, did the adult gifts, caught up on all the goings-on over the past little while, fixed my sister’s computer, then back to the hotel to crash..it was about 8pm.
I’ll post the other half of our stay in a couple of days. 🙂
Posted in Mtl to TO move, tagged habs, loblaws, montreal, potholes, right on red, toronto, winter on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We have been in TO for 8 months now. Already! And over the course of these past months, we’ve noticed some things that are different. Some better, some worse, some just different. Here’s a list. 🙂
Gas: Haven’t posted this in a while but for the first time in months, gas hit 90 cents today. Someone tell me what it is in Montreal?
Winter: Omg, winter is mild over here. Ya, there’s snow but nowhere near what we were tortured with in Montreal… Not as cold, nowhere near as icy, there were some storms and it was funny to hear everyone complain about the weather, but all in all, these winters I can live with.
Movie theaters: Guzzo has more comfy seats, but there’s so much more legroom here.
Loblaws: In Montreal they sell wine at the grocery store, here they have a small kiosk but for the good stuff you have to go to the liquor store called LCBO. Here they have a lot more Indian / East Asian products. Everything else is pretty much the same. Oh – and they’re open til 11pm here, which is cool.
Driving: I’ve said this before – TO has the most courteous drivers I’ve ever seen. Still getting used to it. All those years of drving in Mtl trained us to be like army drill sargeants in ‘Nam on the road. Much less stressful now… And I’ll say it again – people actually do full stops here. Fascinating.
Turn right on red. No contest.
Roads: No bumps, potholes are all but nonexistent, smooth rides are the norm. I definitely don’t miss the Mtl roads…more like off-roads…
Traffic: I’ll take Decarie any day of the week! Traffic here is ridiculous. What would normally be a 20-30 minute drive downtown turns into a 2 hour road trip to work. I’ve never done it, but have seen it from the train. Utterly ridiculous.
Customer service: People are really nice here. Not used to that yet either. It’s very pleasant to interact with people. They smile, they’re helpful, they don’t give you “the look” like they’re doing you a favour. It’s refreshing. I might become a people-person yet! Who knew?!
Restos: Well, the only restos we’ve been to have counterparts in Montreal so I can’t judge fairly… the food has been the same (Keg, Jack Astors, etc.) so far. They have a lot more Indian / East Asian restaurants simply due to the population.
Drive-thru: They have drive thrus everywhere… Coffee, fast food, banks, it’s crazy. You’d think they’d want to get out of their cars after the long commutes…guess not.
Sports: Montrealers are true fans. There’s nothing like the buzz in the air when the Habs are winning. 🙂
That’s all folks!
Deep thought of the day:
Intelligent doesn’t have to mean educated. And Creative doesn’t have to mean talented.
🙂
Posted in Good Times, tagged baby boot camp, montreal, the girls, weekend on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Deciding to go to Montreal for the weekend started out like a really good idea. It would give me a break from work since nights and weekends have become the norm during this project I’m working on, and it would be fun to see the fam, so taking a vacation day on Friday and heading back to Montreal had a nice ring to it.
My plane landed on Friday morning, and on the cab ride to my sister’s place, two things struck me. 1) DAMN it’s cold here and 2) WTF is up with the roads? Were they that bad when I lived there??
Anyway, I arrived at Sue’s just before 10am and walked into what seemed like a daycare. Sienna and Maddie were there and baby Chloe too, all surrounded by toys, bright colors, the sound of cartoons in the air and toys that require a lifetime supply of batteries and I thought to myself, “Wait, taxi, wait – take me to the Marriott!!” But the cab had already driven away – he had likely heard the commotion coming from the house…hmmm smart guy… So I went in.
That first day was spent playing with the kids which ended up being surprisingly fun. My sister has the troops on a military schedule. Baby #1 Nap time. Baby #2 Lunch. Baby #3 diaper change and go play (with Aunt Val!!). Ok now everyone, rotate!! Baby bootcamp was really quite entertaining… In late afternoon, Christina and Adam came by to pick up Chloe, we went out to supper at Firegrill (mmm Prime Riiiib) so I could catch up with my mom, then back to the house for bedtime story time (Sienna made me read 7 Easter books)… then off to bed.
Saturday: Brunch and shopping with Sue, Sienna, Maddie, Christina and Nicki. That was fun. Then off to the mall. That was fun too 🙂 Got lots of cute spring stuff and managed to fit it all into my suitcase on the way back, miraculously… Biggest coup of the day was getting a $130 Guess bag for $26. Very successful shopping day. Spent the evening at Christina’s watching the Habs while eating Arahova’s. Good times. Back to Baby Central for the night.
Sunday: Hung out at home and worked on Sue’s computer. Can she really have accumulated 7000 photos in one folder? Yes, apparently she did. Anyway, we sorted through all those pics and split them into subfolders and installed her photo printer. Super Mom is now able to print photos…Hope I didn’t create a monster!
The flight home was hilarious – the WestJet crew was so funny. The plane was half full, so they encouraged people to change seats if they like the looks of the neighbor across he aisle. They’re all about love. 🙂 Anyway, we landed, I got home safely, I freaked out that my herbs turned into a mini forest over the weekend, I unpacked, ate supper, uploaded pics to Facebook and here we are.
So, I survived Baby Bootcamp with just some minor aches and pains. It turned out to be more baby-filled than I’d originally planned, but I had a lof of fun. And can’t wait to see the troops again n a couple of months when they come down to TO. But I might have to hide the batteries… :))
Posted in Good Times, tagged bachelorette, montreal, weekend on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
That being said, other than work, my bachelorette weekend will be filled with movies and unhealthy food. 🙂 Got the new Narnia movie as well as Wanted on Blue-Ray, and season one of Private Practice the Greys spinoff. All this will be accompanied by chips & salsa, popcorn, m&ms, sorbet and other pig out foods. After losing 5lbs due to the stomach flu I had last week, it’s time to live it up a little.
Deep thought for the day: Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.
Ole!
🙂
Posted in Good Times, tagged chocotini, montreal, nicki, Shopping, square one on September 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Chocotinis Rule!
My close friend Nicki came down from Montreal for the weekend, armed with a chocolate martini kit (I was to provide the milk and booze – like that was gonna be an issue. Pshaw!) and an urge to shop. Well, let me tell you, it was quite the successful weekend.
She arrived Friday night and we had a wine and cheese, gave her the tour, chatted and went to bed (no, not together). We had a big day ahead of us tomorrow.
Saturday: We began with a big breakfast (eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, fruit, toast) to prepare ourselves for the shopping day ahead. It’s like getting ready for battle, I kid you not. And boy, we would have made Uncle Sam proud… Well, ok there’s no Uncle Sam in Canada but I bet those Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan would get a nice chuckle out of it. 🙂 Ahem.. moving right along.
After breakfast, we donned our comfy shoes, tripple checked that all credit cards were locked and loaded and hit the road to Square One, the largest mall in Ontario. We arrived, took the scenic route arooouuund the mall to find parking, probably cut a couple of people off doing so (but it’s ok, I still have my Quebec plates on so they couldn’t have been too surprised lol) and finally entered the mall. *Insert Hallelujah chorus here*
After months of careful money-saving following the move, it was finally time to let loose. We tried on lots of clothes, bought lots, ate lunch, gossiped, then dropped off our parcels in the car and went back for more!! Now THAT’s how it’s done ladies and gentlemen. 🙂 It was a beautiful thing. So when they finally called the cops and ripped our hands off the racks to kick us out at closing time, we drove home. I’m just kidding about that…it was just mall security. 😉
Dinner was Dominos pizza. Then Chris had to go into work (server maintenance) so Nicki and I broke out the martini glasses and made a mess trying to make them. These were made while we were sober so our only excuse was that we were high on shopping. They were quite good though. Chocolate mixed with 1 cup vodka and 1 1/4 cup milk (skim milk so they were *healthy* martinis yessirree), with chocolate sugary glass rimmer. Yum. We watched the latest episode of Lipstick Jungle and the Da Vinci Code. Then off to bed to dream of our purchases. |-)
Sunday – had a quiet morning at home, breakfast and lunch then waved Nicki off. She was going back to Montreal.
We’ll be in Montreal from the 24th to the 28th. Spending xmas eve with Chris’ family, then staying one night at my sister’s place for Christmas morning with the girls, then the rest of the time at Chris’ parents’ place.
We’re hoping to have time to visit everyone!! It might have to be group dinners on the 26th/27th so come one, come all. More details to come.
Oh – We’re getting my bumper drilled on Thursday (yep, it still sounds kinky…) to finally install the Ontario plate on the front of the car. Then we’ll officially be ontario drivers and have to be all courteous and stuff… 3 more days of road-rage to go. I find myself much calmer driving over here…it’s really pretty funny. Montreal has that “kill or be killed” feeling that just comes naturally after a while so I’ve been weaning myself off of that and it’s quite the change. Cars stop for pedestrians here. All the time. And they do full stops. Even at night when there’s no one around (they can’t see me peering at them from the bushes). It’s actually quite bizarre… Very Edward Scissorhandish.
So that’s the latest.
I like to write. About everything. Lately my passions are houseplants, gardening, growing our own food, cooking and working on my Life List. Not necessarily in that order.
Val City Gal 