WARM BEER COLD WOMEN

Friday evening I hoped aboard a bus to Hammytown for a little Chaisson/Murray reunion. we made shore (which for you non Acadian folk is grated pataters pressed into a cake pan, usually with pork on the bottom...i was the weirdo with my own pork free pan,...more for me!) smothered in Heinz tomato ketchup. It brought back so many wonderful childhood memories and funny stories from our childhood....like the time Randy's easter eggs were mysteriously wet...b/c I went around and "only licked them a little before putting them back into the wrappers..."...

post mini reunion Robin and i hit up Big T's hizzaus for a partydawg, where I was easily persuaded to play texas holdem for big bucks...no more pennies and dimes like I grew up on. also these 'big boys' don't DO "5 card poker" only stupid wimpy texas holdem where I folded on the first hand, and went all in on the second hand and lost all my hard earned cash...until I sneakily stole it back. bwahahah.

getting home from the b-dot was an adventure in itself. "Roadtrip to the GO stations, who's in??" So we all pile into the car only to arrive at the station as the train is leaving, so we start planning for lunch...4 hours later we arrive at the hizzaus with groceries in time to watch the hockey game - which went into OT (YAY Canada for winning!). Then back to the Go Station where I get on a train and fall asleep all settled in on the top 'bunk' by myself...only to wake up some time later stopped, crowded into my seat and surrounded by police...an hour later they let us off the train so we can catch another one and let the police finish up their investigation...so mysterious. so now i'm snuggled into bed relaxing and ready for bed. Big day tomorrow with Nike's Recharge run and picked out my outfit for the first day of school. ooooweeeee.

IF I TOLD YOU THINGS I DID BEFORE, TOLD YOU HOW I USED TO BE...

Like last year, I found myself ringing in 2008 while chillin with an ex and getting stood up by a soon to be ex, on New Years day. Working on breaking this trend for 2009.

In between the 2007 and 2008 countdowns there was a lot of living. I got to experience a little bit of TO culture and fun, having gone to see Lysistrata, visited the ROM, the Zoo, Centre Island, Blue Jays game, CN Tower (both stair climb and touristy visit), rowing on the Lake Ontario. There were many new restaurants, pubs and clubs explored and I found new fun places to run, like the Lakeshore. Resolution in this area of my life is to go to the theater, and see something like Dirty Dancing.

After having lived here for less than a year (about a year and a half now...) I managed to find myself in a 1/2 page color photo in the Toronto Star, running and talking about how wicked marathon running is on CBC Sports, and filming a video for the MOHLTC. I haven't started signing autographs yet...
You would think living in TO I would occasionally see celebrities - my friends have stories of partying with Cuba Gooding Jr. and spotting Brad Pitt and Angelina Joli during film festival...the closest I've come to meeting a celebrity is chattin up a Canadian Idol contestant at Pearson Airport. Resolution - meet celebrities...still waiting for Lance Armstrong or Simon Whitfield to make a surprise visit to the lounge...

There were losses in my life that make me sad. It's hard to reminisce about the good times of 2007, but also take time to remember those no longer with us. Moment of silence please.
They will be remembered and I'm sure they would want us to go and be happy.

Love affairs. After the big breakup of 2007 right before Valentine's Day I took some PLeTTe time, dyed my hair and spent way too much money at the Eaton Center. Once that was out of my system I moved on and found a best friend in a boyfriend...until he cheated on me. I got over that quickly and moved on to hot triathlete boy who flaked one day and stopped returning my calls and emails...still have no idea why...then there was British boy, which has not really worked out for obvious reasons. There was also the short lived flings of 2007 with cute internet boy, hot naked gym boy and international intellectual clingy boy. There were lots of wedding bells in 2007 (Not my own silly). Aimee and Brian got married, and so did my brother and Aarika. Carrie and Neil got engaged and I'm sure many others did too. I have no resolutions in the boy department for 2008. This is a year to focus on being me, on my own, I think. Boys cause too much drama, and I can create that on my own.


Running has been fun and improving. I completed my first 1/2 Ironman which was amazing. Ran a new Marathon and 10K PB, did the Ride for Heart (Which has nothing to do with running, but fits into the exercise category...). I got my VO2 max tested - 50.4, and anaerobic threshold -185 (which I don't do much with since I don't train with a heart rate monitor, but its good to know). I've also met lots of new running friends, which is probably the most exciting part. Resolutions for 2008 - get a new bike and start thinking about doing a full Ironman, and keep trying to qualify for Boston.

School has been decent, work is super (when I'm not nearly killing people at the hospital or flooding the place at the lounge). Travel has been non existent, unless you count Hamilton and the East Coast. Resolution - figure out what I'm doing with my life and travel to England and see Manchester and maybe Dalton Castle.

and after all that I'm exhausted. I hope 2008 is just like 2007 only better!

:)

GINGERBREAD HIZZAUS



This is soo intense



We take our gingerbread hizzaus making so serious that we hired an engineer to help out..and by hired I mean forced into it



Check out those wicked shingles




If you look closely you'll notice that it's actually a gingerbread health clinic (not a hizzaus)



It turned out smashingly well...which is rather surprising considering the amount of egg nog consumed during construction ;)