Jun 29 2008

Random photos

Posted on June 29, 2008 by Kate

One of the advantages to taking my camera everywhere is that I am able to take photos of some realllllllly random things – and I do, every chance I get. Here are a few I’ve taken over the last few months:

This was a gypsy Amy and I saw in Tim Hortons in March. I know it’s blurry and you can’t really tell, but that green thing is her head scarf, and she had crazy thick eyeshadow in the same shade. She moved too quickly for me to get a good photo, but seriously, what is a gypsy doing in Tim Hortons?

L and I saw this guy on our way back from the States in April. He pulled up to the border line like this – he was driving like that! It reminded me of when I was in high school and my friend Hollie and I would pull the dumbest stunt ever – if she was driving, she would recline her seat all the way and use the pedals, and I would steer and tell her when and how much to slow down/accelerate. Do you wonder how I made it this far? I do.

This lady was in Tim Hortons one day when Steph and I were there. I would sooooo love to know where she works. The uniform is great.

My cousins and I saw these dogs one day not too far from my house. I can’t decide if they’re cute or scary, and I can’t figure out how they both fit in the front seat?

I took this one just today, in a Wal Mart parking lot. I don’t even know how to describe how excited I was when I saw it. It doesn’t get much more ridiculous than this. I just wish I’d been able to see who owned it, because I’d like to know what kind of person proudly drives that car around.

Jun 27 2008

On men and dating

Posted on June 27, 2008 by Kate

In my opinion, one of the most fun parts of being single is dating. Contradiction? Not really. There’s single, and there’s being a relationship, and dating falls somewhere in between, that fun stage where you can see more than one person and go on awesome dates and just enjoy being out with someone.

So, I’m dating. And I’m really liking it. Some have potential, some absolutely do not, for example the guy who asked me to be his girlfriend before our first date was even over. Oh, so wrong. For so many reasons.

Last night I had one of the best first dates ever. I met a guy named T at Starbucks for coffee, and then we went to the petting zoo at Waterloo Park. A zoo! Okay, so the term should be used loosely, because it was a donkey, some deer, 2 goats and 2 pigs, and there isn’t really any petting allowed, but that’s not the point. The point is that T chose this for us to do (super cute), and he even brought food to feed the animals – trail mix for the ducks and dried fruit for the others (super thoughtful).

It was so much fun. I was trying to think of the last time I’d been to the zoo, and I determined it was on a kindergarten field trip. Eighteen years ago. And here I was, tossing trail mix to ducks right in front of the sign that said, “please do not feed the ducks” and having a great time. (This is a huge feat for me because I am deathly afraid of birds.)

It was one of those dates that you think about when you’re on your way home afterward and think, wow, what a NICE night. It wasn’t spectacular – it was just a lovely, easy evening, and that is so much better than spectacular or mind-blowingly exciting. As I drove home I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I replayed the date… the conversation, the laughter, the fact that, as Amy put it, he “kept it PG on the first date.” It all just added up to what is definitely in my top 3 first dates.

Our plans for a second date were going to include going to a comedy show but apparently there isn’t one on the night we wanted to go. Potential back up plans are the drive-in or glow-in-the-dark mini golf.

Seriously, the zoo, the drive-in, mini-golf… with plans like that, how could anyone NOT love dating?

Jun 24 2008

A weekend on the plateau

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Kate

I went to Montreal this past weekend, a trip that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to as the time neared but that ended up being one of the best weekends of my life. In addition to the theatre festival that The Boy’s dad runs (which I won’t name here because of a slight fiasco last year), this past weekend was also the St. Laurent street festival, which I thoroughly enjoyed last year and was so pleasantly surprised to see it when I drove into the neighbourhood.

The biggest highlight of the weekend was of course staying with The Boy’s family and spending time with them. His momma and I took advantage of the street festival on Friday night by having dinner on the street and keeping bottles of booze in our purses (or the stroller basket). It was so wonderful to see The Boy and love on him for a while. I miss him and his family very much, and I’m honestly very touched that they continue to be so welcoming to me, even though I no longer work for them. We practically shared living space for a year and staying with them was a bit like coming home. I spent more time in their house than I did in my own and I used to say it didn’t bother me to work long hours because whether I hung out in my living room or theirs made no difference to me. I slept many hours on their couch while The Boy napped, and as I sat there on Saturday morning in my jammies I had to smile thinking of all the mornings I went to work without getting dressed. It was a good time in my life.

For the record, the bottle of rye never left my purse all weekend, although it was replenished once a day. Yes, there was a lot of drinking in the streets this weekend.

The other highlight was seeing a play with Amy at the theatre festival called Degrassi: The Musical! which was just ridiculous and hilarious. “Kathleen, you’re such a prude. It’s probably because you’re anorexic and your mom’s an alcoholic and your boyfriend beats you.” If you don’t understand that you clearly were not living in Canada in the late 80s and early 90s. Last year Amy and I saw thirteen plays in a week and had a blast. Some were during the week after work but most were seen over the course of one weekend, during which time we walked from one end of the city to the other (and back, several times) to see some of the funniest plays we’ve ever seen. We couldn’t quite recreate that this year but we managed to catch a show and relive at least some of the fun.

In closing, here are some of my favourite things about road trips to Montreal, in photo form:

The view of the city from the mountain