first weekend of fall

i've just sat here and tried to remember what i did this summer, and it's realllllly blurry.

let's say summer officially began when i went to vancouver on june 20th, because before that, i don't think it was ever warm. or was it? my birthday was kinda chilly, so i can't be sure there. anyway, i came back, and the weekends in july...hmmm. i did bootcamp daily, i taught on tuesdays, i went to the rogers cup party, we saw batman but not in imax, alex went to vegas and i went shopping, then my sister was here, then my mom came to visit too, then we went to europe. and now summer's over.

somewhere in there, we managed to make very little progress on our place, and i think i have a list of "what i'd love to do in the summer/when the weather's nice" that's still untouched.

anyway, we did cross one very important milestone this past weekend - we finally went apple picking. i've been saying this since 2006, and two years later we finally got out there. i also came up with the brilliant idea of bringing a one-year-old who knows nothing about picking apples and has absolute no appreciation for the things we like. oh, and who is extremely prone to motion sickness - i would know, because i dealt with vomit to and fro. kingsley found it superbly amusing after he vomited the second time - he actually laughed and giggled. i wondered if i'd ever have my own kids.

the weather was beautiful though, and the crowds at chudleigh's proved that it was probably the last nice weekend before fall bites us in the bum. i always remember fall hitting us hard after thanksgiving, but judging by the rain today, i'd say fall has come early this year. only a little while longer before i'm standing in a dark parking lot at 6pm shoveling snow off the car - grrreat.

i do have high expectations for fall...we're doing the cottage thing over thanksgiving, and then some down time before remembrance day long weekend (i'm planning on skipping town - any takers to join me??). i'm picturing getting the kitchen all finished, the lighting fixtures installed, and the window treatments done. fall's a good time to nest, non?

unclean bill of health

- although i can eat normally now, my digestive system is still recovering from the hell it went through from a week of not eating
- my skin decided to develop rashes on all four of my limbs overnight on wednesday night, and i am still scratching like a monkey. i'm not sure if it's just too dry, if i am allergic to something, or if i'm just due for a skin transplant
- my eye, not wanting to be out-competed, developed an infection on friday night. i woke up on saturday with my eye spitting out gunk angrily
- somehow on saturday afternoon i managed to twist my knee and ended up hobbling for most of the weekend

there we have the reasons of why i'm a four-eyed mango today at work.

Nyac

This makes me ridiculously sad: Nyac, my favourite otter at the Vancouver Aquarium, passed away due to leukemia on Tuesday evening.

Nyac was the famous otter holding Milo's hands on YouTube, and Nyac was also the oldest otter at the Aquarium. She was great to watch and I loved visiting her. I would stand there and watch the otters all day if I could.

Nyac was recued from the Exxon Valdez spill, which the vets at the Aquarium think might've played a role in giving her leukemia (one more reason to hate oil companies?). She was 20 years old, which is about five years more than the average otter age.

I'm biased because I love otters, but still, how could this little thing not capture your heart?

I would find more pictures of Nyac that I took if I could, but they're not on my work computer like I thought they were.

I frantically searched my fridge today for the magnet I got of Nyac and Milo when I was in Vancouver in June, and couldn't find it! Turned out my cleaning lady hid it under another magnet when she was cleaning. My coworker Diane, who has the other magnet I got, called and told me hers was face down on her desk this morning - the first time it had been moved since I gave it to her in early July. Maybe our magnets were mourning too.

what a cubicle worker thinks about daily

- i may not finish my (non-alcoholic) drinks, ever (had to explain to someone why i was carrying a starbucks cup presumably containing quite a bit of coffee out of the office at 6pm once), but i dislike people who don't finish their food and want to throw it out. why do they want to throw it out? because they've beaten the food down to a pulp that no self-respecting overeating individual would want to tackle it. how old are you, three?? this rule is only acceptable when dining at restaurants and the food is so mediocre that if you eat it again for your next meal you might actually die of boredom.

- i judge you by the shoes you wear. clunky heels were in when i couldn't walk in heels, so we've all come a long way. now move on and join us in 2008.

- no matter how big the diamond studs in your ears are, your privileges don't extend to blackberry reception in an elevator. so stop trying, and stop acting like you cannot bear to pay a smidgen of attention to us minions in the elevator ride with you. we feel the same way about you, ps.

- to the guy who asked so politely at marche: can i get my stir-fry in a cream sauce please? sir, 3 out of 5 asians are lactose intolerant.

random thought of the day

overwhelming number of high school classmates getting (or have gotten) hitched. i'm ok with that, considering i still think surrey is a "small town".

i wasn't prepared though, to see that my classmates' younger siblings are now walking down the aisle. that creeps me out and makes me feel ancient.

ideal world vs. reality

ideal day:
5:45am - alarm goes off; i get up
6:00am - do my 5km on the elliptical or treadmill
6:45am - work on those guns and abs
7:15am - quick breakfast, pack up some food for the day
7:30am - shower
8:00am - clothed, made up, and out the door
8:45am - at desk with coffee
4:45pm - start the countdown
5:00pm - ditch
6:00pm - home with my feet up, waiting for dinner to cook, wine in hand
7:00pm - a blur of vegetating on the couch, tidying up, and perhaps doing house stuff if i'm extra keen
9:30pm - in bed

-----

reality:
6:00am - alex's extremely annoying alarm goes off, i whack him, shove a pillow over my head, and go back to sleep
7:23am - panic ensues in my mind while my body remains completely still
7:25am - my body decides to test out moving one limb at a time
7:35am - putter putter, then get in the shower
8:00am - brushing teeth as if i were a shark with seven rows of teeth
8:05am - complain i have nothing to wear (how does this happen?)
8:10am - put on a semi-normal outfit, smear on make-up
8:15am - valiant attempt to include some food from home in my purse for the day
8:25am - look for a jacket
8:30am - realize jacket is actually still in the car
8:35am - locate keys, cell phone, and other miscellaneous items needed for work
8:37am - wait for elevator
8:40am - get in the car
9:20am - in front of desk without coffee, but with a questionable breakfast from greasetown in the caf

where was my alarm in this reality? maybe that's where i've gone wrong.

Nerja

ah, the mediterranean. we meet again.

balcony of europe.  our hotel faced this lovely little square

cutest little beach hut!  i loved how vibrant the colours are!

thank you, i take wonderful pictures of people

the alhambra...the architectural detail on all of the palaces and random buildings was breathtaking

this is why we have a tripod

beautiful sunset...almost as beautiful as vancouver sunsets

nerja has been great for lying on the beach doing absolutely nothing important.  other than that, i think it's a pretty mediocre beach town.  it is overrun with brits and other english-speaking tourists.  oh, and germans.  while i love that every afternoon from 2pm till approximately 6 or 7, we are lying on the beach with occasional dips in the freezing mediterranean sea, i have to say i haven't been super impressed by the scenery.  

wait, let me back up.  i feel like i have heard the term "warm mediterranean sea" used many times (maybe too poetically) in everyday speech, in books, in prose, in travel brochures, etc. etc.  i'm not sure if those people were here in the middle of july, because now in the beginning of september, i suspect the arctic shelf that recently broke off is hanging out here, about a mile away from the shoreline.  it is absolutely freezing.  i know most oceans and even lakes feel a little cold at first, but this is cold enough that when i dip my feet, my feet actually hurt from the coldness.  if the sun's not beating down my back, even when i'm fully immersed in the water and used to the temperature, it can get a bit too breezy and chilly in the water.  i have to tell alex to prove his manliness in order to get him to jump in - haha.

so, back to the scenery.  there's something about beach towns.  i'm still on the fence about how i feel about them.  anyway, having grown up in vancouver, then transplanted to toronto, i have a deep, profound, obsessive, and biased opinion about how beautiful vancouver is.  i compare many cities to it...and so far south of spain hasn't measured up.  the mountains here are yellow for crying out loud!  it's missing some lushness and some of that really natural, i-am-not-trying-at-all beauty.  for example, north shore in oahu, hawaii is absolutely stunning, but waikiki and honolulu try too hard and are too commercialized.  i feel that so far what i've seen is closer to the waikiki-style than the north-shore-haleiwa-style.  

so i'm picky.  however, have had great fun out here lying on the beach, adding colour to alex's glow-in-the-dark self, and becoming uber-tanned that i am the centre of jealousy in our hotel room (can't compare self to those bronzed people who live out here).  also had an amazing seafood meal in frigiliana thanks to tina's suggestion, and drank quite a bit of sangria.  we move on to barcelona - commercialization, shopping, city fun, here we come!  oh and tapas.  and paella coz i haven't had any yet.

Paris

Specialty florist that only did roses - we saw a couple of them around the city.


One of my favorite pics - Raspail Market as recommended by Barefoot Contessa.


Chopin's grave at Cimetiere Pere Lachaise - finally made it there within "cemetery hours" this time


cafe angelina - best chocolat chaud ever!!!


what's Paris without an image of the Tour Eiffel?

As I get older, I think I become more and more self-conscious. When in Paris, even though I do know some French and used to chat with my teachers in French all the time, I just couldn't do it. I would mumble, I felt embarrassed, and I just could not bring myself to it! Therefore, I found the city slightly hostile due to my imagination, and it just didn't feel totally right to me.

It took a lot of convincing from Alex, but eventually I did warm up to the city. I was all, "I heart New York City" (which I do), because I feel alive and happy in NYC, and there's no language barrier to worry about. However, Paris is very charming, and I think the Parisian lifestyle is one that I'd like to try some day.

For example, the open-air markets were a treat, and the first night, we went down the street to a strip where they had a boulangerie/patisserie, charcuterie, wine store, and cheese store, and basically bought dinner there plus at the downstairs section of Monoprix (which is AMAZING by the way). Our baguette was still warm and fresh when we picked it up, and it was just such a simple luxury, yet so attainable in everyday life.

Walking on cobblestone streets with flats that don't have much support on the bottom for three days straight? Not fun at all. I ached so much by the third day I was begging to go home and forfeit shopping. It made me wonder though, how do Parisian women do it in stilettos on those streets!

Funny thing about our Eiffel Tower pics - the lights were on when we were walking from the Metro, and I kept on saying, "I'd be so pissed if it turns off by the time we get there." So at one point I stopped along the way and snapped a quick pic with the little camera we have. What do you know, just when we were approaching Champs-de-Mars, yep, the lights went off. I was sooo annoyed but we set up the tripod and took pictures anyway. After quite a few with different angles and all that, we walked off towards to Arc de Triomphe. About five minutes into the walk, Alex turned around and said, "OMG the lights are back on!!" We looked at each other and just ran!! Set up by the Seine on the Right Bank and just took as many pics as possible, the one here being one of them. Apparently, the light show is every hour on the hour for ten minutes. Now you know.