Also, one of my coworkers held a Movember party at his house this weekend. Kayla and I got all dressed up for the occasion— check us out at Vintage Redheads.
11/29/10
Decking the Halls and my Mo
…and now that production is over for yet another month, I have been able to do some of the things that have become Christmas traditions in our family. I helped my Mom decorate the house, including her Santa shelf and our beautiful nativity set. I also did a couple batches of gingerbread…mmmmm… I'm going to do sugar cookies with icing as well, but these gingerbread men took me a while, so I need a bit of a baking break.
—ooh, I really gotta find my camera… these BBerry shots are awful.
Also, one of my coworkers held a Movember party at his house this weekend. Kayla and I got all dressed up for the occasion— check us out at Vintage Redheads.
Also, one of my coworkers held a Movember party at his house this weekend. Kayla and I got all dressed up for the occasion— check us out at Vintage Redheads.
Movember and More
Happy Monday! (Extra happy for me, since I have the day off!)
So, as aforementioned, here the the account of what I did on my 24 hr. break before production began!
When I got to work on Friday, I noticed that it was Tricia's birthday. Not because there was a birthday banner or cake or anything, but because her desk had been wrapped in cling-wrap and stuffed with newspaper. Yes, this is how SNAPers celebrate birthdays, by rendering the birthday girl or boy's desk unworkable. This is pretty funny, but also a bit frustrating, so I decided to lighten the mood with some balloons. I made Tricia an amazing fishing-rod hat before I went on my break at 3pm.
When I arrive home from work on Friday afternoon, I tidied my room a bit (since I knew that over the following week it would rapidly become just a large pile of dirty laundry). When my Mom finished work, we headed up to the mall— which is a zoo these days, in the lead-up to Christmas. On our way in, we passed a stall that was promoting WorldVision, asking people to take on the honour and responsibility of supporting a sponsor child. We rushed past quickly, since we were in a hurry to pick up a gift for my Aunt, but the man at the stall shouted afterwards that it would be the easiest life we'd ever save. I have actually wanted to support a sponsor child for a while, and I know that WorldVision is legit, so on our way back through that hallway, I stopped and signed myself up. The child I picked is a HopeChild, which means that he lives in a community affected by AIDs. The money I supply each month (only $40— less than 2% of my monthly income) will go towards providing "…providing access to things like education, skills training, improved nutrition, agricultural assistance, safe water, and health care so families can meet their children’s basic needs and give them a brighter future." I rushed home to write him a Christmas card— hopefully it reaches him by the 25th!
Later that evening, I met Kayla for some coffee and we picked up some snacks for… Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows Part 1! We had pre-purchased our tickets earlier that week— and it was a good thing, because I'm pretty sure the show we saw was sold out. We also arrived about 2 hours before the movie started, thinking we'd look like losers at the front of the line— but we were about 30 people from the front! Some people had even brought lawn chairs to sit on while they waited. Crazy! But our early arrival was worth it— we had great seats, right in the centre of the row. The movie was pretty good, actually. It was a little different from the other HPs, because it doesn't follow the same format— there is no school year to base the plot on, since Harry, Ron and Hermione are out in the wilderness, trying to keep away from Voldemort's Death Eaters and trying to find the remaining Horcruxes (these are objects in which Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul, making him immortal, unless they, too, are destroyed). It was very dark, though. There is a scene where they are torturing Hermione that made me cringe! But I think I'd like to see it again on the big screen!
The next morning, I got bundled up, picked up some Timmie's and headed out to meet Kayla at the Newmarket Santa Clause Parade. Now, since I had recently been to Kitchener-Waterloo's Oktoberfest parade (a very professional, televised parade), Newmarket's Christmas effort did appear slightly shabby in comparison. But it was still pretty adorable. There were a few marching bands, a steel-drum float, little baton-twirlers, beavers and scouts and an awesome Viking float (I think that was the Kiwanis club). It was also a bit hunky. There were a number of cops, paramedics and firefighters handing out candy and Christmas Greetings. And although the parade was overrun with Santas, elves, reindeer and other 'holiday' characters, there were a few churches that helped to 'keep Christ in Christmas'. There were some great Nativity scenes and even a scene from CS Lewis's 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'. It really got me feeling festive! But I didn't have much time to do anything else festive, so I headed home for a quick nap before I went back to the office.
So, as aforementioned, here the the account of what I did on my 24 hr. break before production began!
When I got to work on Friday, I noticed that it was Tricia's birthday. Not because there was a birthday banner or cake or anything, but because her desk had been wrapped in cling-wrap and stuffed with newspaper. Yes, this is how SNAPers celebrate birthdays, by rendering the birthday girl or boy's desk unworkable. This is pretty funny, but also a bit frustrating, so I decided to lighten the mood with some balloons. I made Tricia an amazing fishing-rod hat before I went on my break at 3pm.
When I arrive home from work on Friday afternoon, I tidied my room a bit (since I knew that over the following week it would rapidly become just a large pile of dirty laundry). When my Mom finished work, we headed up to the mall— which is a zoo these days, in the lead-up to Christmas. On our way in, we passed a stall that was promoting WorldVision, asking people to take on the honour and responsibility of supporting a sponsor child. We rushed past quickly, since we were in a hurry to pick up a gift for my Aunt, but the man at the stall shouted afterwards that it would be the easiest life we'd ever save. I have actually wanted to support a sponsor child for a while, and I know that WorldVision is legit, so on our way back through that hallway, I stopped and signed myself up. The child I picked is a HopeChild, which means that he lives in a community affected by AIDs. The money I supply each month (only $40— less than 2% of my monthly income) will go towards providing "…providing access to things like education, skills training, improved nutrition, agricultural assistance, safe water, and health care so families can meet their children’s basic needs and give them a brighter future." I rushed home to write him a Christmas card— hopefully it reaches him by the 25th!
Later that evening, I met Kayla for some coffee and we picked up some snacks for… Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows Part 1! We had pre-purchased our tickets earlier that week— and it was a good thing, because I'm pretty sure the show we saw was sold out. We also arrived about 2 hours before the movie started, thinking we'd look like losers at the front of the line— but we were about 30 people from the front! Some people had even brought lawn chairs to sit on while they waited. Crazy! But our early arrival was worth it— we had great seats, right in the centre of the row. The movie was pretty good, actually. It was a little different from the other HPs, because it doesn't follow the same format— there is no school year to base the plot on, since Harry, Ron and Hermione are out in the wilderness, trying to keep away from Voldemort's Death Eaters and trying to find the remaining Horcruxes (these are objects in which Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul, making him immortal, unless they, too, are destroyed). It was very dark, though. There is a scene where they are torturing Hermione that made me cringe! But I think I'd like to see it again on the big screen!
The next morning, I got bundled up, picked up some Timmie's and headed out to meet Kayla at the Newmarket Santa Clause Parade. Now, since I had recently been to Kitchener-Waterloo's Oktoberfest parade (a very professional, televised parade), Newmarket's Christmas effort did appear slightly shabby in comparison. But it was still pretty adorable. There were a few marching bands, a steel-drum float, little baton-twirlers, beavers and scouts and an awesome Viking float (I think that was the Kiwanis club). It was also a bit hunky. There were a number of cops, paramedics and firefighters handing out candy and Christmas Greetings. And although the parade was overrun with Santas, elves, reindeer and other 'holiday' characters, there were a few churches that helped to 'keep Christ in Christmas'. There were some great Nativity scenes and even a scene from CS Lewis's 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'. It really got me feeling festive! But I didn't have much time to do anything else festive, so I headed home for a quick nap before I went back to the office.
11/21/10
Late Night Update
Holler!
So, hopefully in the next week or so I will have time to post about my 24 hrs off that I had on Friday. (We get 24 hrs off before our production week begins… which is pretty much 7 16 hr days…). Just to tease you: I adopted a World Vision sponsor child, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, I went to the Santa Claus Parade! I will eventually get to telling you about my plans to go see STORNOWAY! woot.
But since it's already 1 am and I have to be at work again in about 8 hrs, I'll just say "sweet dreams" and hopefully post sooon!
So, hopefully in the next week or so I will have time to post about my 24 hrs off that I had on Friday. (We get 24 hrs off before our production week begins… which is pretty much 7 16 hr days…). Just to tease you: I adopted a World Vision sponsor child, I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, I went to the Santa Claus Parade! I will eventually get to telling you about my plans to go see STORNOWAY! woot.
But since it's already 1 am and I have to be at work again in about 8 hrs, I'll just say "sweet dreams" and hopefully post sooon!
11/17/10
Funny Money and Re-discovered Music Love
So… am I still very much getting used to this whole full-time job business. Especially since my particular job requires a certain amount of overtime— which I was warned about before I signed on and therefor I have been prepared for (kind of). The upside to the overtime is that I get time off in lieu! The only problem here is that I have yet to figure out how to spend my time off in a way that helps me to feel fulfilled. Other than having some much-needed visits with certain well-loved friends of mine, I spent my days off this month sleeping in, running and shopping… not exactly activities that satisfy my creative personality. And so, here is a short list of things I plan to do on any future free days:
Also, even though I'm back in Canada, I continue to listen to my beloved BBC Radio 1. My favourite DJ, Greg James, is on when I arrive at work and, thanks to the BBC iPlayer, I can listen to the morning's Fearne Cotton when Greg signs off. Although I'm not a massive fan of dancey-pop music, my craving for good tunage is always satisfied with an array of UK rock and hip hop… and, these days, folk music, too. Some bands I am really liking these days are:
The Script
Cheryl Cole
And… I know you've heard them before, but I've just re-discovered my old friends Biffy Clyro! So good.
Enjoy!
- I plan to knit. First— a pair of socks.
- I plan to write. Writing has always been an incredibly therapeutic activity for me. I relish the thought of sitting down to reflect on my day, remembering each interaction that made me smile (or frown) and sharing any poignant thoughts or funny stories with my dedicated readership. Plus— if I don't write down my life, how will I be able to refer back to it in my old age, when I write my memoirs? :P
- I plan to pray. I mean, I do pray, even when I'm strapped for time and patience. But my busy-day prayers usually consist of 'Thank you God for all the blessings you've given me— now here are all the things I want from you.' What about what God wants from me? I really need to hear from Him. And so, I plan to sit and wait and listen and pray and confess and spend time with my God.
- I plan to SING! I love to sing. So more of that, please. (Oh— and guitar and piano, too… even though I kinda suck at both)
- I plan to read. Like, seriously I have a list of books that are waiting for me! A couple of weeks ago, my brother took me along to this sweet charity book sale where I bought some great books! But I can't even start those until I get through Driscoll's 'Vintage Jesus', which has been sitting on my bookshelf for I don't know how long.
- I plan to be a fashionista. When is the last time I made an appearance on Vintage Redheads? (Although I did lose my camera a while back… is that a valid excuse?
Also, even though I'm back in Canada, I continue to listen to my beloved BBC Radio 1. My favourite DJ, Greg James, is on when I arrive at work and, thanks to the BBC iPlayer, I can listen to the morning's Fearne Cotton when Greg signs off. Although I'm not a massive fan of dancey-pop music, my craving for good tunage is always satisfied with an array of UK rock and hip hop… and, these days, folk music, too. Some bands I am really liking these days are:
The Script
Cheryl Cole
And… I know you've heard them before, but I've just re-discovered my old friends Biffy Clyro! So good.
Enjoy!
11/15/10
October Part 2
Oh my goodness! I really need to get caught up!
Hmmm… let me think back a few weeks…
Okay, okay. So the next big event in my life after Thanksgiving was Kayla's big race. She had been training since June for the Toronto Goodlife Marathon. She had been dedicating hours and hours each week to training her body to run the incredibly long distance of 42.2 kilometres! Now that I have started running myself, I can appreciate what a difficult feat it is to push your body to work so hard for so long!
Meg, Jay and I were right there with Kayla to support her on her race. We drove up to Young and Sheppard to catch her at the 1k mark. We had made two signs, one reading 'Posse Love Kayla' (bahaha Arrested D inside joke) and one that read 'Run Kayla Run!' She looked so excited to see us! After she passed us, we tried, to no avail, to find a MacDonalds for breakfast. We stupidly drove all the way down to Queen's Quay in an attempt to catch Kayla on her big lollipop loop— but the traffic was so bad that Meg and I hopped out to pursue the marathoners on foot while Jason tried to drive back to their house. Meg and I caught Kay at Front St. before we scramble to Starbucks to buy a banana (to help Kayla with her Lactic Acid build-up) before booking it down to the Ex. We caught Kayla close to the end of her epic race, near the 34k mark. To be honest, she looked a little rough— she must have been so exhausted by that point! She looked a little cheered after she saw her girls rooting for her, though. It was just before this point that I realized that the majority of the runners had their names printed in bold under their numbers on their bibs. Naturally, I began cheering for each runner by name, shouting out 'Wooooo! Go Jennifer! Go Michael! Go Enrique!' Most runners seemed very encouraged by this! I received many grateful smiles and even a few hoarse 'Thank yous'. Later, Kayla's running buddies told me that most runners really appreciate the encouragement.
Meghan and I raced back to Spadina and hopped on a streetcar in an effort to make it up to Queen's Park before Kayla. And although we ran from the streetcar stop right to the finish line, we just missed her! Jason caught her, though. He even ran alongside the race to the very end! Kayla finished her 42.2k at a very admirable 4 hours and 28 minutes! We are all so proud of her! She received a medal the size of a plate, which she had engraved with her name and race time. What an inspiration! A couple of years ago, she didn't run at all and now she has a marathon under her belt! *sigh* when I grow up, I want to run a marathon like Kayla!
The next week started to get really busy at work, as we prepared for production. I knew that I'd be at work late, and I was definitely preparing myself for long hours… but I had thought that my coworkers were exaggerating when they said that we'd be there until 2 or 3 am. They weren't. I worked seven 16 hour days in a row that week (including my weekend). Now, you may be thinking 'gosh— stop whining!' or 'oh man, now she's going to complain about her job', but in reality, I kinda like working those long hours. Although they are stressful and busy, I enjoy my work and I work with a bunch of people who are just fun to be around. I don't really know them that well, yet, but I am always giggling at something they say. Production also reminds me of being back at school in the labs with Kyle and Tom, listening to 'Home for a Rest' by Spirit of the West every hour on the hour… *sigh* good times.
After Production, I had a couple days off in lieu of the overtime I worked, which I spent catching up on sleep and preparing for the upcoming SNAP Halloween party. Unfortunately, attending my work party meant that I'd miss out on Meg and Jay's Housewarming/Halloween bash down at the Euc. I was pretty disappointed that my work party was scheduled on the same day, but I decided that it would probably be a good idea to hang out with my work colleagues in a more relaxed context. I ended up having a pretty good time! There were some great costumes: Rhett and Scarlet O'Hara, Ronnie from Jersey Shore, The Mad Hatter, Scott Hamilton, the Terminator and— my favourite— a Double Rainbow!
I got to know my coworkers a little better and I met some new people too… one attractive young gentleman even asked for my number! I was having a good time, but things started getting a little messy around 12:30, so I went home to my nice, warm (and quiet) bed. Oh yeah— I forgot to tell you about MY costume! I was Medusa. I looked GREAT! I got a bunch of plastic snakes, which I painted gold. Then, I made a crown out of floral wire and I wired my snakes to the crown. I curled my hair with a small-barrel curling iron. When I put the crown on, I covered the wire bits with my hair. I wrapped myself in a toga, strapped on my gladiator sandals, a gold chain belt and lined my eyes with black and gold before heading over to the party! It was another awesome Halloween costume.
OMG, something clearly went wrong with the uploading of these photos… oops!
Also, these are my amazing parents on Halloween night, getting ready for the Trick or Treaters:
Hmmm… let me think back a few weeks…
Okay, okay. So the next big event in my life after Thanksgiving was Kayla's big race. She had been training since June for the Toronto Goodlife Marathon. She had been dedicating hours and hours each week to training her body to run the incredibly long distance of 42.2 kilometres! Now that I have started running myself, I can appreciate what a difficult feat it is to push your body to work so hard for so long!
Meg, Jay and I were right there with Kayla to support her on her race. We drove up to Young and Sheppard to catch her at the 1k mark. We had made two signs, one reading 'Posse Love Kayla' (bahaha Arrested D inside joke) and one that read 'Run Kayla Run!' She looked so excited to see us! After she passed us, we tried, to no avail, to find a MacDonalds for breakfast. We stupidly drove all the way down to Queen's Quay in an attempt to catch Kayla on her big lollipop loop— but the traffic was so bad that Meg and I hopped out to pursue the marathoners on foot while Jason tried to drive back to their house. Meg and I caught Kay at Front St. before we scramble to Starbucks to buy a banana (to help Kayla with her Lactic Acid build-up) before booking it down to the Ex. We caught Kayla close to the end of her epic race, near the 34k mark. To be honest, she looked a little rough— she must have been so exhausted by that point! She looked a little cheered after she saw her girls rooting for her, though. It was just before this point that I realized that the majority of the runners had their names printed in bold under their numbers on their bibs. Naturally, I began cheering for each runner by name, shouting out 'Wooooo! Go Jennifer! Go Michael! Go Enrique!' Most runners seemed very encouraged by this! I received many grateful smiles and even a few hoarse 'Thank yous'. Later, Kayla's running buddies told me that most runners really appreciate the encouragement.
Meghan and I raced back to Spadina and hopped on a streetcar in an effort to make it up to Queen's Park before Kayla. And although we ran from the streetcar stop right to the finish line, we just missed her! Jason caught her, though. He even ran alongside the race to the very end! Kayla finished her 42.2k at a very admirable 4 hours and 28 minutes! We are all so proud of her! She received a medal the size of a plate, which she had engraved with her name and race time. What an inspiration! A couple of years ago, she didn't run at all and now she has a marathon under her belt! *sigh* when I grow up, I want to run a marathon like Kayla!
The next week started to get really busy at work, as we prepared for production. I knew that I'd be at work late, and I was definitely preparing myself for long hours… but I had thought that my coworkers were exaggerating when they said that we'd be there until 2 or 3 am. They weren't. I worked seven 16 hour days in a row that week (including my weekend). Now, you may be thinking 'gosh— stop whining!' or 'oh man, now she's going to complain about her job', but in reality, I kinda like working those long hours. Although they are stressful and busy, I enjoy my work and I work with a bunch of people who are just fun to be around. I don't really know them that well, yet, but I am always giggling at something they say. Production also reminds me of being back at school in the labs with Kyle and Tom, listening to 'Home for a Rest' by Spirit of the West every hour on the hour… *sigh* good times.
After Production, I had a couple days off in lieu of the overtime I worked, which I spent catching up on sleep and preparing for the upcoming SNAP Halloween party. Unfortunately, attending my work party meant that I'd miss out on Meg and Jay's Housewarming/Halloween bash down at the Euc. I was pretty disappointed that my work party was scheduled on the same day, but I decided that it would probably be a good idea to hang out with my work colleagues in a more relaxed context. I ended up having a pretty good time! There were some great costumes: Rhett and Scarlet O'Hara, Ronnie from Jersey Shore, The Mad Hatter, Scott Hamilton, the Terminator and— my favourite— a Double Rainbow!
I got to know my coworkers a little better and I met some new people too… one attractive young gentleman even asked for my number! I was having a good time, but things started getting a little messy around 12:30, so I went home to my nice, warm (and quiet) bed. Oh yeah— I forgot to tell you about MY costume! I was Medusa. I looked GREAT! I got a bunch of plastic snakes, which I painted gold. Then, I made a crown out of floral wire and I wired my snakes to the crown. I curled my hair with a small-barrel curling iron. When I put the crown on, I covered the wire bits with my hair. I wrapped myself in a toga, strapped on my gladiator sandals, a gold chain belt and lined my eyes with black and gold before heading over to the party! It was another awesome Halloween costume.
OMG, something clearly went wrong with the uploading of these photos… oops!
Also, these are my amazing parents on Halloween night, getting ready for the Trick or Treaters:
11/1/10
The Month of October Part 1
Oh, man. I gotta quit these monthly posts and start updating more frequently. My sincere apologies for my prolonged absence from this blog! In my defense, I have only recently began my new job, which does have some crazy hours sometimes. So, here I am to bring you up to speed.
I started my job at SNAP on Wednesday, October 6. SNAP produces around sixty community-based publications across Canada, the US and even one in Italy. Each paper reports on local events and provides ample ad space for small local businesses and national chains alike. Anyway, my job is to take care of the creative end of one of the papers. I do all the page layout and ad design for one of the franchises. So far, I like my job quite a bit! I work with a bunch of fun, outgoing people and I get to design ads for most of the day. We do get into some pretty long hours the week before the paper goes to press, but those times remind me of being back in school, so I don't mind it so much.
In addition to my new job, October also ushered in Canada's most beautiful season. While I love to see glittering snow carpeting the ski hill in the Winter and the hot sun shining on a lake in summer, I really do think Canada shows it's true colours (aren't I punny, Tom?) in Autumn. By mid-October, every deciduous tree was on fire with bright, warm colour and there was a distinct crispness in every breath of fine, fresh air. I was able to enjoy the season fully on Thanksgiving weekend.
My little brother (who is actually about a foot taller than me) arrived home late Thursday night and was available to be picked on for a whole 3 days. We celebrated our little family reunion by going apple-picking… except we didn't. We all piled into the car and drove out to Stouffville to the apple orchard, only to be greeted with a large sign that read 'Pick-Your-Own Sold Out for the Season'. Ridiculous! I guess we should have gone earlier. We stopped in at another farm to purchase a few apples and headed home. Luckily, my Dad spotted another orchard and we were able to pull over and take a stroll through the trees. However, I think this farm needed one of those signs, too— there were barely any apples left on the branches (there were quite a few on the ground, rotten and stepped on). But we were quite happy to take a walk in the warm autumn sun and enjoy the scenery. And I did purchase a candy apple on my way out!
On Sunday, we drove down to Innerkip to my Aunt Donna's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was much warmer down there, despite the fact that it was only about a 2 hour drive from Newmarket. We sat on the wide front porch, catching up while enjoying some bevies and we played some new-fangled version of lawn darts. Soon, the rest of my family started to arrive, including most of my Aunts and Uncles and my cousins Jordan and Spencer. Jordan is 19 and a bit of a tough guy. He showed me his new tattoo and chatted a bit about school. Spencer is 3 and VERY rambunctious. At first, he was too shy to talk to me, but it didn't take long for him to warm up to me. We played hide and seek and all kinds of games. He's a cutie.
The dinner was fantastic! I can always count on my Aunts to make an amazing meal. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and turnip and bean salad and— a German tradition— delicious red cabbage. I barely had room for pumpkin pie! We ended the evening with coffee and my new favourite Canadian TV program: Battle of the Blades. After everyone left, my Dad drove Jordan (my brother, not my cousin) back down to Western. Then it was bedtime for all of us, we had an early morning the next day.
Monday morning, we bundled up and drove into Kitchener-Waterloo to see the Oktoberfest parade. I haven't been in YEARS, but I remember going almost every-other year as a kid. The parade seems a lot longer than it used to be. There were marching bands (my favourite), giant balloons, horse-pulled beer wagons, cultural heritage dancers, women in dirndls and men in lederhosen and, of course, the obligatory local celebrities. It was a good time!
Tomorrow: the rest of the Octomonth!
I started my job at SNAP on Wednesday, October 6. SNAP produces around sixty community-based publications across Canada, the US and even one in Italy. Each paper reports on local events and provides ample ad space for small local businesses and national chains alike. Anyway, my job is to take care of the creative end of one of the papers. I do all the page layout and ad design for one of the franchises. So far, I like my job quite a bit! I work with a bunch of fun, outgoing people and I get to design ads for most of the day. We do get into some pretty long hours the week before the paper goes to press, but those times remind me of being back in school, so I don't mind it so much.
In addition to my new job, October also ushered in Canada's most beautiful season. While I love to see glittering snow carpeting the ski hill in the Winter and the hot sun shining on a lake in summer, I really do think Canada shows it's true colours (aren't I punny, Tom?) in Autumn. By mid-October, every deciduous tree was on fire with bright, warm colour and there was a distinct crispness in every breath of fine, fresh air. I was able to enjoy the season fully on Thanksgiving weekend.
My little brother (who is actually about a foot taller than me) arrived home late Thursday night and was available to be picked on for a whole 3 days. We celebrated our little family reunion by going apple-picking… except we didn't. We all piled into the car and drove out to Stouffville to the apple orchard, only to be greeted with a large sign that read 'Pick-Your-Own Sold Out for the Season'. Ridiculous! I guess we should have gone earlier. We stopped in at another farm to purchase a few apples and headed home. Luckily, my Dad spotted another orchard and we were able to pull over and take a stroll through the trees. However, I think this farm needed one of those signs, too— there were barely any apples left on the branches (there were quite a few on the ground, rotten and stepped on). But we were quite happy to take a walk in the warm autumn sun and enjoy the scenery. And I did purchase a candy apple on my way out!
On Sunday, we drove down to Innerkip to my Aunt Donna's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was much warmer down there, despite the fact that it was only about a 2 hour drive from Newmarket. We sat on the wide front porch, catching up while enjoying some bevies and we played some new-fangled version of lawn darts. Soon, the rest of my family started to arrive, including most of my Aunts and Uncles and my cousins Jordan and Spencer. Jordan is 19 and a bit of a tough guy. He showed me his new tattoo and chatted a bit about school. Spencer is 3 and VERY rambunctious. At first, he was too shy to talk to me, but it didn't take long for him to warm up to me. We played hide and seek and all kinds of games. He's a cutie.
The dinner was fantastic! I can always count on my Aunts to make an amazing meal. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and turnip and bean salad and— a German tradition— delicious red cabbage. I barely had room for pumpkin pie! We ended the evening with coffee and my new favourite Canadian TV program: Battle of the Blades. After everyone left, my Dad drove Jordan (my brother, not my cousin) back down to Western. Then it was bedtime for all of us, we had an early morning the next day.
Monday morning, we bundled up and drove into Kitchener-Waterloo to see the Oktoberfest parade. I haven't been in YEARS, but I remember going almost every-other year as a kid. The parade seems a lot longer than it used to be. There were marching bands (my favourite), giant balloons, horse-pulled beer wagons, cultural heritage dancers, women in dirndls and men in lederhosen and, of course, the obligatory local celebrities. It was a good time!
Tomorrow: the rest of the Octomonth!
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