Mr. Potato and a Sizzling Wok

January 3, 2010

The one thing about not being in university anymore is that your friends are no longer just a short walk away.

Now, our schedules no longer revolve around our classes and meetings. They revolve around work and more school, and other obligations.

Now, when we get together, we can't just call and say "hey, let's meet up in 10 minutes at Second Cup". We actually have to plan, and drive.

So it's always a treat when our friends can come over to hang out with us, even if it's for a little while.


And when else do you get Mr. Potato cooking lunch for us on a sizzling wok. See? Funny things happen when our friends are around.

White Out Conditions

March 9, 2008

Can you believe the amount of snow that blanketed the GTA this weekend? Yesterday, after driving through heaps of snow to take Catherine (one of my BM's) to Marble Slab, we got home to find our driveway full of snow. My sister and I (being a little over ambitious at times), thought we'd be able to clear the driveway to decrease the amount of work we'd have later. Geared up in all our snow gear (snowboarding goggles included) we marched out, only to realize a little while later that there was no way we'd be able to clear the driveway and decided to clear just enough to get the car back into the driveway.

This morning, Andrew went out (or rather, tried to go out through the front door) and was confronted by a whole new blanket of snow. Overnight, the winds blew all sorts of snow, dumping it all (curiously) onto our driveway. The snow was now piled up to be as high as the snow banks beside our cars, which were already taller than me. So, needless to say, we didn't make it out for church this morning. Only a few short hours later, we were driving down perfectly dry roads to drop my sister off downtown. How is that even possible? Sure beats me.

On the drive back to Waterloo, Andrew brought up the idea of watching 10,000 BC at some point this week after my midterm (yet another one). I had forgotten why I wanted to watch the movie so I asked him to remind me. "The woolly mammoth" was his reply. Really? I don't recall liking woolly mammoths so much that I absolutely had to watch a movie with one in it. So I asked again. "Woolly mammoth! It's because it looked so real!" Clearly over these past years of our relationship, I somehow conveyed the idea that I was really into woolly mammoths. That, or the snow's gotten to his brain.

School's Out, Let's Play!

December 20, 2007

I got up nice and early this morning to have breakfast with a friend at Cora's, which is a really nice place to have breakfast, if you're the morning type. Just don't get their ham and swiss crepe. The swiss makes it taste like rubber. Then after, I met up with my *family* to go tobaganning! It's been a while since we've had a chance to play together so we figured this visit from Mr. Man would be a perfect opportunity. We found a nice hill and had a couple runs. Let's just say we didn't last quite as long as I thought we would but it was still fun. We finished off our time together with some all-you-can-eat sushi at Wasabi (which is another story for another day).

Thanksgiving Weekend

October 8, 2007

This Thanksgiving weekend was packed with activity!

Friday we rushed back so I could make it to my good friend's birthday party. We had dinner at Magic Wok then headed back to another friend's house (which used to be our regular routine) to play DS, Wii and Poker :) Then we ended up playing a mix between spin-the-bottle and truth-or-dare except it was spin-the-bottle to choose the next victim and truth-or-dare, minus the dare parts. It got really personal but it was fun enough to play until 5:30am (whoohoo!)

Saturday I couldn't drag my body out of bed so Andrew had to take Nathan to the doctor's himself. Then we headed out to Mississauga for family dinner with my sister and her boyfriend. We dropped off the turkey and headed over to my other cousin's place to figure out why exactly she's always late for every family function that involves her cooking ;). Turns out the hours right before she arrives is an intense race to make as much food in as little time possible. We understand now :)

As always, the food tasted great and we ate until we were stuffed. The same cousin beat me to getting Nathan a Hallowe'en costume. We tried it on him and it looks absolutely adorable - but you'll have to stay tuned to see it. In any case, it's always nice when the whole family can get together, especially when food is involved. Who am I kidding? There's always food involved.

Sunday we had dinner with Andrew's side of the family. It was a much smaller affair but we got the chance to share a little bit of what we were thankful for over the past year so that was nice. Nathan always seems to have trouble sitting still when we eat at Andrew's aunt's place. He always squirms out of his chair, wanders over to the window and yells 'baaahs!' (bus).

Monday my parents and their friends invited us along to go for a bit of a hike up in the Mississauga/Brampton area. We stopped by the Apple Factory to pick up some yummy apple foods to snack on then headed out to the Badlands for a look around. (Aside: there were these kids sliding down the hills on their bums and when they got up, they looked like little baboons with red bums! Luckily, Nathan didn't feel the need to join in) Then we drove to Forks of the Credit PP for a bit of a hike around but there were no trees so we were left to bake in the sun (it did not feel like autumn today). Finally, we ended up at Belfountain, this cute little town for another little stroll and some ice cream. There was a cute little coffee shop called The Shed but today was definitely not the day to be sitting outside, drinking coffee.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

And We're Back

August 27, 2007


My parents and a bunch of their friends take an annual camping trip to whatever new location they want to explore. Last year, Little Guy and Andrew got left behind because LG was too small and we didn't think he'd be very comfortable out in the wilderness. But this year, we decided to tag along. We made the 12 hour drive up to Lake Superior last Wednesday, stopping over in Sudbury because we had a late start.

Little Guy has been very cooperative the past couple weeks, going wherever we had to go and staying pretty quiet when we needed him to. He's been content with getting in the car when we've asked him to and entertaining himself, looking out the window and such (because he can now that he's graduated to front-facing). We hoped that he would stay this way for the trip and he really did.

We made as little stops as possible to get there as fast as possible and Little Guy, though he was a little fussy at times, was happy most of the way. We arrived mid-afternoon and the fun began. We played in the water, fished, canoed and hiked. Our campsite was right off the beach so LG wandered into the sand throughout the day. The picture is the view of the sunset from our campsite. It was a great way to end off a summer.

Peterborough Zoo

August 15, 2007

Today, Andrew, Little Guy and I spent a day with my parents. We all piled into a car and went to Riverview Park and Zoo, fondly referred to as "Peterborough Zoo" by my family, just because it's in Peterborough.

It was such a nice day out, the first thing we did when we got there was go to the little water park. At first, LG stood off to the side, only letting his feet and hands get wet. But slowly, he worked his way into the water, and stayed in it, even when he got splashed in the face.

Next, we made our way to the back of the park to take a ride on the train. I went on this train yeaaaars ago when my grandparents were visiting. It was nice to see that this wasn't just a figment of my imagination. That train I went on as a kid really did exist! We got there just in time and the conductor said we could just take the ride and get our tickets after. So we hopped on! Got a seat in the front of the car so we could see everything.

After our relaxing train ride, we took a stroll through the zoo to see the different animals. By now, LG was pretty tired from all the playing and walking so he took a little break in the stroller with his milk while the rest of us searched for the animals in their habitats.
We were lucky and most of the animals were awake and in view.

When the adults decided it was time for a break, LG seemed to magically get his energy back as soon as he saw the playground. His eyes lit up and he let go of his milk, he was ready to play. Off he went with Andrew into the sand, in search for somewhere to play. They went down the big, swirly slide - Andrew seemed to have a little trouble but LG had fun. I know because the only thing he said when he got off was "whaaooo!"

We ended the day eating watermelon and mangoes in the shade. After we washed up it was time for the long ride home. It was a great way to spend a sunny summer afternoon - 4 things in one... FOR FREE! What could possibly be better?

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

August 4, 2007


In a last minute turn of events, I became Jasmine's wedding date. It was a little weird considering I didn't actually know the couple but oddly enough, by the end of the night, I felt like they were my own friends.

As the night went on, we mingled with strangers and heard speeches from various friends of the couple. Everyone's lives sounded so interesting, so full of.. well, life. It must be nice to be at a point in your life when you can look back and see what a great group of friends you have, the friendships that have lasted 25 years, the excitement of taking a chance and landing an exciting job in NYC.

In a way, it made me remember that at some point in my life, I had wanted those things. Over the years, I had somehow forgotten about these dreams I had. For the rest of the night, I borrowed these memories and lived in them. Whatever happened to the days of life-long friendships that I heard about? I felt like it was a thing of the past and I was just born in the wrong decade. It all sounded like the storyline of a chick flick.

After grabbing some dessert and a missed chance at dancing up a storm, Jas and I headed out to Go For Tea and ended up reminiscing about old friends and the wedding and pretty much obsessing over everyone else's lives but ours. Anyway, as depressing as this might sound, I'm going to attribute this to not being satisfied with my life (not in the "I hate my life" kind of way, but more like the "There's always room for improvement" way).

Dresses and Airports

July 14, 2007

Yesterday, Chris mentioned that RW&Co. was having sales (his mom apparently goes shopping frequently and ALWAYS knows when all the good sales are). So, I was determined to go and see if I could get that dress I really wanted. I ended up dragging Andrew and Little Guy along with me. Anyway, I found the dress (rah!) and there were only two left a size 10 and the one I got. I tried it on and it was a lot looser than I remembered it being. Don't really know what happened there, but after much deliberation, I ended up taking it to the counter and paying for it. AND!

1. It was actually $39.95, compared to the original $88.95
2. It's still too big, but I convinced myself to get it because I can still get it altered
3. I'm going to keep it and alter it AFTER I finish the 101 thing as my little reward to myself (bahaha)

On another note, we went to the airport to pick up my parents (they went to BC for a couple of weeks without us because they no longer love us and don't wish to pay for our airfare - just kidding). It was pretty late, so it was like one of those postcard pictures of a city at night except it was the airport area at night. On top of that, the night air was cool and not the least bit humid. Just perfect. I don't know what it is but every time I go to an airport it makes me feel happy.

And this time, instead of waiting in front of the terminal, like a lot of people, or even parking in the lot beside the terminal and paying like some more people, we drove to the middle of no where and parked there for free (although, I don't think it was meant to be free parking because I'm pretty sure I saw a lot of employees parked there and some parking tags in people's cars). Because we parked so far, we got to ride in that shuttle thing, which was also fun and cool because we got to whiz by the lights and see them from a higher point. I'm sure Little Guy liked it!

Last note - one of the pieces of my parents' luggage got shipped off to Yellowknife. It was a good thing though, because I drove the small car tonight and there would have been no way it would have all fit. Don't you love how some things work out so well...

My Sister's Birthday

July 7, 2007


My sister turned 19 today! Through a random turn of events, her boyfriend and I planned a surprise party for her. We had a nice little bbq at his place with a bunch of her friends. It was a nice mix of people.

The plan was to have her out of the house for the day (at work) so we could run around and get things done. But she didn't go to work. Oh well, that's okay, she'll be out umping a softball game for a couple hours so we can sneak out then! Then she comes and tells me someone's covering for her. GREAT! Now what. We ended up telling her we were invited to another Doctor's event for dinner and a speaker.

We raced over to Chris' house after I had frantically, but secretly packed the car, but I forgot to bring the pinata! THE PINATA! It's okay, I told myself, we can pick it up later. So we got the call that they were coming and we all got ready. Thing is, at the time, we were blowing up balloons. Andrew made it his mission to blow the biggest one. A couple times, he got close but accidentally let it go. See, these balloons were from Dollarama and had the tendency to pop at will.

Right as Jay got closer to the house, Andrew's huge balloon pops which made her look up from the ground. She sees the decorations and well, the surprise wasn't as successful as we had hoped for it to be. BUT I think we made it up later when we brought the Curious George pinata!

Note: I'll post the pictures later when I get home.

Just Because We Can

July 4, 2007

This week I have a car in Waterloo which was a nice change. I come and go as I pleased, without having to plan ahead and schedule who had to be where at what time. I think having a car is one of the luxuries I very much enjoy. I don't see how people can live without a car. As convenient as people say buses are, I have my reserves (although I can also understand that owning a car might not be a luxury everyone can afford to enjoy). I've always like driving. Maybe it's the sense of control, or maybe the freedom. Anyway, having a car this week afforded me a few rare moments, ordinary, but appreciated nonetheless.

I think in this case, it was privacy. With all the traveling back and forth (on Greyhound and rides from people), Andrew and I don't get a lot of chances to talk. But the ride in gave us a few moments of privacy and we got to talk. Not really about anything important but it was a nice change anyway. Then tonight, we went to McDonald's for dinner because I really wanted a Smartie McFlurry. We tried to make one last night but the Smarties didn't get crushed enough and it ended up being 'Smarties in Vanilla Ice Cream' - rah. Anyway, after that, I suggested we go to Sobey's to get groceries for the rest of the week. Not that we actually needed any, or that we intended on cooking any time during the rest of the week. But we ended up going anyway, walking around for a while, back and forth, through the aisles, talking and stuff. And then we left empty-handed... just because we could.