Waaahoooooo!

One of my bestest West Coast buddies is coming to visit!! Thanks to Westjet and another incredible seat sale, she surprised me out of nowhere by booking a ticket to come out here next month! Oh how fun to have one of my girls out here for a whole week!!

Blue Man Group

OK, so I'm slow posting these days. About a week and a half ago, DBF and I went to see Blue Man Group with our good friends Mark & Coco. Same show I saw about a year ago in Victoria, but much better seats!

This time there was a different opening act. Artist David Garibaldi. Very cool! Hopping around with his paint bushes, splattering and smashing paint on the canvas, in under 5 minutes he made amazing portraits.

Then started the "Rock Concert Movements". :)

And of course, in true Nova Scotia fashion...for all of you Trailer Park Boys fans (which I am not), they brought out Bubbles to end the show and introduce the band.

And as a treat for our friend Mark, who was looking forward to this all Summer I managed to make a video of the "Love" girl. :)

The Last Day

Gotta get this posted so I can move on to current happenings!

Sunday morning Tiff and I awoke to gorgeous sunlight streaming in through her hugeass condo windows. We slept way later than planned, but we must have needed it. Her new guest airbed was double thick and tres comfy!


We stopped and picked up the other Jamie on our way back to her old place...you know, the one I mentioned that is conveniently located right across from my favorite Starbucks. She joined us for her first coffee of the day, and left us to visit while she carried on with her move. (I would like to note that I offered to help her with the moving but she wouldn't hear of it because I was on 'vacation'.) Jamie and I sat and enjoyed our coffees for a while, then decided to head off for a walk to Beacon Hill Park.

It wasn't quite as nice as Saturday, but I was still all sunscreened up...and was able to wear my light hoodie to keep the burn at bay.

We checked out the Petting Zoo...which I haven't done in years. So many cute little stinky animals! Jamie gets right in there with the goats and makes friends with them. I'm more of a pat-them-on-the-head-and-then-admire-from-afar kind of girl. :) I still love the peacocks though...those have always been my favorite. We had peacocks in the city park in Nanaimo when I was a kid and they always seemed so out of place...very cool. And the zoo had just shaved the llamas, so they looked pretty hilarious. We did comment that they should call it an Eating Zoo though, because all of the animals seemed to be constantly stuffing their faces and not too interested in being pet.






After washing our hands thoroughly, we wandered through the park and headed for downtown. We walked along the waterfront in front of the Empress Hotel...there was something going on at the lawn of the legislature, but we never figured out what. Something to do with a lot of the marching bands that were in town for the next day's May Day Parade.

We hit up a little hidden shoe store so I could pick up some Converse for DBF. You may remember that I mentioned back before the move that he had a gift certificate to use up...I gave it to him for his birthday LAST APRIL...but of course it went MIA right before we moved....and then reappeared just a week before I went back on vacation. LOL. So I got his shoes, and of course a pair of sporty flipflops for myself. :)

After that we decided that lunch was in order, so Jamie suggested that we stop at a little place in Bastion Square so we could sit outside. We had grilled paninis, people watched, and listened to the musician that seems to always be there. Then we went and got ice cream....from the place that makes homemade waffle cones...heavenly!! That place always smells so freaking good...from a block away!

Then a little more window shopping and we decided that we had exhausted downtown, so went back to her place to just hang out and chat. Her hubby came home later with an extreme full body sunburn...so we laughed a little at him.... hehe.

By now, my friend Nicole (Robi) was back in town...and our other friend Keith had been texting me about dinner plans...so Nicole picked me up and we met up with Keith, his new girlfriend, and Tiffaney for dinner at my favorite soup place...Ferris'. Unfortunately, all of my stuff was still at Tiff's so I had no opportunity to change, fix my hair or add make-up...but such is life. It's a super casual restaurant, but I did feel pretty fluffy and windblown. Dinner was super yummy though...nothing beats their Chicken Penne Soup with rice dumplings...and I don't know how, but they make the best little tossed salad. I think it's all about the sunflower sprouts and lemon-feta dressing.

After dinner, we took Keith and his gf over to Tiff's new place. By this point, I was exhausted...and starting to get sick. Boooooo. I drank a ton of water but it wasn't really helping. It was getting late, so Robi and I loaded my stuff into her Jeep and headed for her place. My flight was at 7:00am and she was awesome enough to get up at 5am with me and drive me out to the airport. Plus, I got my final night's sleep in an actual comfy bed....so nice!

There was a lot of hugging and goodbyes that day. I hope it gets easier with each visit back, but I doubt it will. I guess this is what it's like when you move away from home.....

Saturday Sunburn

(I seem to be sooo into the title alliteration these days!)

So, of course, it wouldn't be a vacation if I didn't get burnt. Especially since it was the first truly nice weather I got to enjoy. And especially because I was wearing a wide-strapped top that would leave stupid tanlines for the rest of the season. LOL.

Saturday I had hoped to go for a hike or at least a really good walk through one of the parks, but as I mentioned, a lot of people weren't available so it didn't work out. My buddy Mikey and I did spend a good portion of the day together though.

Tiffaney conveniently lived (I say lived because she actually moved while I was there!) across the street from my favorite Starbucks, so Mikey and I met there for some iced coffee and catch-up time. Some kids were selling Krispy Kreme donuts outside so Mikey bought a box... you know "to support the kids". haha. Glad he bought them, cuz I only ate two...instead of me buying them and eating the whole box. I don't know what it is about Krispy Kremes, but they are so damn fresh and tasty!

We sat outside for probably an hour and a half so I knew that I was probably starting to get pink. After that, we wandered downtown to meet his girlfriend while she was on her lunch break...and then went down to the waterfront to get fish tacones (yes, more fish tacos...these ones with Ahi Tuna from Red Fish/Blue Fish...and they were the best!). While we sat on the pier eating, I knew that I was already burnt. My poor shoulders. Every. Freaking. Year.

After we walked his girlfriend back to work, Mikey had to head home and run some errands. I opted to stay downtown...first stop was to the drug store for sunscreen. :) Of course, after stopping in the mall to use the bathroom and put on the sunscreen, I ended up shopping and didn't really need the sunscreen after all. A lovely trip to Jacob, sent me out happy with two new t-shirts, a cute button down (in size small!) and a new skirt.

The sun had gone low enough when I came out to make it comfortable walking around...so I got another iced coffee and just wandered. I stopped into a store just to look around and finally found a pair of trouser jeans that fit perfectly. Murphy's Law: I tried on about 25 pair of those things here in Halifax, and one step into a Victoria store and the 2nd pair I tried was the winner!

Tiffaney had spent the day moving a few loads to her new condo and getting some running around done with her Dad. She wasn't quite done when I was ready to call it a day from downtown so I just went back to her place with a snack and read my book for a while. Good to get off my feet and just enjoy the silence. Later, Tiff's Dad and stepmom decided to get some Chinese food for the inaugural meal in her new place, so they invited me to join them out on her deck in the warm breeze with the pretty view. Lovely. We then spent the night in the new place...so fun to be there for such a big event for Tiff. Hello homeowner! (oh and when she saw my sunburn, she made me put on Solarcane...yup, that red!)

Fun with Friends

And now back to our belated vacation stories....

So it was a slow start Friday morning, a bit groggy from the wine and late night listening to crazy people scream and smash stuff. I took a long shower and mostly sat on the couch watching the kid play Xbox 360.

I met my bosses for a nice lunch downtown by the water. First truly gorgeous Friday afternoon of the year, so the patios were packed! I had some more yummy fish tacos...these ones were tiny, but oh so delicious. We had a good meeting, then I decided to just hang around downtown and see if I could find anyone that might get off work early.

I walked for a bit with my coworker until he had to turn off to go home and get back to work....haha....and then decided to head to Starbucks to get my caffeine fix. I mean, seriously, it's now 2:30pm and I still haven't had a coffee!! (Note to self: bring my own coffee to the kid's place). I gave my friend Jamie (yes, she's a Jamie, not a Jaime) a call on her cell, hoping she would answer because she works in the building that the Starbucks is in...but no such luck. But, as I stood in line waiting to order my beverage I turned around and there she was in line too! She actually had the day off but had been downtown shopping and just happened to stop in to have coffee with another friend. So we all chatted until her friend had to go back to work, and then Jamie came with me to LuluLemon to pick out some overpriced gymwear.

She had to head back home about an hour or so later, but as luck would have it my other girlfriend Rhyanon decided to leave work early, so she came downtown and picked me up. Perfect timing! We opted to go to her place and sit out on her front porch with some cold beverages. We chatted and caught up on all the news from the last few months, and enjoyed the sun without cooking in it.

Later, my other girlfriend Tiffaney picked me up and took me to pick my suitcase and stuff up from the kid's place. (The boy roommate was just getting home at the same time and he apologized profusely. I just told him not to worry about it. It wasn't really his fault and it wasn't his screaming that kept us holed up in another room. Shit happens.) Tiff and I then headed back to her place, changed our clothes, had a drinky-poo and got ready to go downtown.

We decided to head down a bit early so we could get a decent table and some dinner before our other friends showed up. We had hoped for a big group, but being the long weekend quite a few people were away or previously engaged. No biggie, I still got my girls Charmaine and Ingmarie, and a few others. All good fun! It ended up being a relatively late night of chit chat and a bit of wandering around...but it was soooo nice out, it was worth it!

Ingmarie & me

Me and Charmaine.

Me and Tiffaney enjoying our much beloved and needed Strongbow.

Restaurant Rave

Attention Haligonians! It's my turn to recommend a restaurant. If you have never been to Mezza Mediterranean Grill on Quinpool, get your asses in gear.

Living on the outskirts of town, we use Quinpool Road a lot, and have driven by this place many, many times since moving here. It stood out as something to check out because it has a classy, modern exterior...which most of the restaurants along that stretch of road don't have. Lots of Greek and Mediterranean type eateries, but most of them are of the traditional or greasy spoon variety (not that I don't love those too!).

My girlfriend and I decided we wanted to go to a movie...then decided to make it dinner and a movie....so instead of sticking to the huge-ass Empire theatres that are both in suburbia with no decent restaurants nearby, we opted to hit the Oxford Theatre which gave us the option of trying Mezza for dinner. Boy are we glad we made that decision!

The restaurant wasn't overly busy or anything for a Thursday night, which was fine by us for our chitchat. The interior decor is modern, yet still obviously middle eastern. Warm oranges and brown, wrought iron art, dark linens on the tables, incredible wooden ceiling with carvings. The menu offered a wide selection of Lebanese cuisine...everything from kabobs to salads with fresh mint to kebbe and manouche. So many things I had never heard of, but with full descriptions everything sounded wonderful. We settled on the Mezza Sampler Platter (mezza means tapas) for two, which had portions of 2 salads, 2 dips and 4 tapas.

The hummus and baba ganouche were both creamy and delicious. They brought us a basket of warm pitas and I honestly just wanted to dive into the platter with my hands...but thought better and used my knife and fork. :) The phyllo cheese rolls were freaking fantastic...good thing there were only two of those! And I've had stuffed grapes leaves before that I didn't much care for, but these Warek Enab were super yummy. There was a kebbe and a vegetable kebbe...we didn't realize they were different so we each grabbed one....mine was with the lamb and beef and it was pretty tasty. The center of the platter was piled with taboule salad filled with minced fresh herbs and also fatouche salad that was to die for.

Can you tell I liked it?

The platter was $25 and more than enough for both of us. We paired it with a bottle of New Zealand Sauv Blanc, and finished with a slice of Bailey's cake (holy freaking good!). Oh, and they had these yummy little pretzels sticks instead of a bread basket....toasted with sesame seeds, I could've eaten a whole bowl.

DBF isn't a huge fan of such stuff, but I'm hoping I can get him to live on the edge a little because it was sooooo good. If anything, it would be a nice romantic little date night to sit at the bar for a bottle of wine and some dessert.

I highly recommend!

Weekend Update

Saturday was celebration day for Raylene's birthday. She invited me to join her and some girlfriends for brunch over in Dartmouth, and since I love brunch and need to meet new people I gladly accepted. Brunch was at an Alderney Landing restaurant called Ducky's. By the name, I thought it was going to be a greasy-spoon sort of place, but it was more like a little bistro with a decent view. I had the Eggs Benny and it was really good. So was the coffee! (I'll have to go back and really wander around there one day...there was a market of some sort going on that had homemade pies and jams and stuff!)

There ended up only being three of us...one of the girls slept in (and it wasn't me!). We sat and chatted for a couple of hours and it was great. I miss just drinking coffee with my girls (and Mikey!) and chatting about whatever.

Afterwards, the girls went to meet some other friends and do some shopping. I was invited, but had errands to run so I opted out. I ended up doing a little shopping of my own trying to find some cute trouser jeans, but after about 30 tries I gave up and bought cute new shoes instead. LOL. I can always find shoes that fit!! The jean trials were frustrating...all of the good stores like Banana Republic or even RW&Co don't make their pants long enough. I was stoked to fit into size 6's (hello vanity sizing or what!) but nothing was long...even if they called it long it would only be like 33"....no good for me if I want to wear heels. Tres annoying! Oh well, such is life.

I managed to squeak in a short workout on my way home to check on the dog and get ready for the evening too.

The evening plans were for a group of us to meet up for a pub dinner, then go see a band at the Casino. Originally we were going to go to the Split Crowe to eat, but because the weather looked a little wet, it was changed to the pub in the Casino hotel. Good thing that the company was good, because the service was absolute shit and the menu was soooo boring. Our waitress was either new or just bad at her job, because she was about the slowest server any of us had ever had. Getting our bills was pure torture as well. (This led to some of the people skipping out on their bills, but I'll rant about that another time...un-freaking-cool!!)

But I got to meet a bunch more of Raylene's friends and most everyone (minus the bill-jumpers!) was fun and hilarious so that is really all that matters. Birthday girl had herself a very cute dress and a very cute boy too! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the night...boooo!

When we went to see the band, they had only played an early set due to the Comedy Festival that was going on....so the group ended up dividing up at that point. Raylene still wanted to dance and since it was her party a few of us agreed to go with her to the Lower Deck across the street. The others didn't want to go there, so stayed at the Comedy Show. The Deck was hot and crowded and I'm not a huge fan of the music upstairs, but it was still a fun night out. A few minutes before 2am, I decided to get my coat before everyone else did and grabbed a cab home.

A bit of a gong show, but a good time!

Sunday, Mojo let me sleep til noon and I spent the day just puttering and basically doing nothing. Lovely. :)

Birthday Madness

On Sunday, we got to enjoy a fun day of birthday celebrations for our friends Mark & Cosette's daughter Camille. Actually it was Cosette's birthday too, but you can only imagine how overshadowed her day is by the fact that her daughter was born the same day! Of course, what could be more fun than enjoying your daughter's 5th birthday with family, friends and fun? :)

They gave Camille about 10 options of what she would like to do, and she chose bowling. So off to the bowling alley we all went (about 20 people...Mark has a HUGE family...damn East Coaster, LOL). It was candlestick bowling...tall skinny pins...which I've never even seen before. I had intended to bowl, but there were so many of us that I just decided to watch instead. DBF bowled though and had a few good laughs over it. I swear the kids were a zillion times better than the adults....although, they did get to use the bumpers.

Afterwards we went back to their place....yes, all those people crammed into their house. Snacks, pizza, cake, ice cream, screaming balloons (and children!) ensued. I only wanted to kill one trantrum-ing child...and I wasn't alone in this...so all-in-all it was a good time had by all.

For the birthday daughter, we picked up a whackload of cool Crayola stuff....a giant coloring pad featuring Disney fairies & such, smelly markers, self-sharpening pencil crayons, erasable regular crayons, and this cool modeling clay thing. For the birthday Mom, I found this cool candle lantern thing at Chapters (of all places) that she can use indoors or out. I swear, if there had been two of those things I'd have one for myself!

Tomorrow night, we will go out for an "adult" dinner in celebration of Cosette's birthday, minus the child. :)