Relief

As the plane was landing in Vancouver Int'l Airport, I caught a glimpse of the mountains outside. To my surprise, I felt my eyes well up. And that was when I knew I was finally home.

Home this time means so much to me. It's been six months since I took a break from work, and in the six months, we've launched/have worked towards launching two huge campaigns that involve moving pieces in all the communication channels. I know there are lots of people out there who work longer hours than me, but I think this is the first time I've felt stress from work. More specifically, this is the first time I've experienced this type of stress - the type where I actually do care a lot about the end result, and I'm not just stressed about not getting things done. I stress about not getting things done perfectly, not leveraging all the channels and vehicles available to me, not doing enough testing, and all kinds of "non-perfection" issues. I guess it comes with being so close to your job and actually enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Also, I know I joked about it a lot, but I actually do think there's been truth in my statement that our apartment is like our first-born. I don't have a choice but to love it unconditionally, and make it into the best that I know it can be. Since we've gotten the place, there's been so many kinks that we've had to smooth out along the way. We haven't gotten to the day when it's completely finished, tidy, and perfect, and we can just sit back and marvel and fall in love with it. I work hard to get to that day, but for now, it's been like my first-born that I lose sleep over.

So this time, home is where I want to recuperate. I want to "heal" - eat, relax, read (a lot - I have lots of missed months), and just be.

I can't wait.

First Long Weekend of Summer

9:30pm, Monday of a long weekend.

Potential problems in the next hour: not being able to fall asleep, realising that I actually have nothing to wear to work tomorrow because I failed to do my 'work' laundry yet again, and putting off prepping for lunch and breakfast tomorrow (responsible & mature, I know).

The long weekend started with Friday night - Shrek3 was funny, but the previews were most memorable...Transformers looked amazing, and the Bee Movie with Jerry Seinfeld is hilarious! Saturday morning Alex and I walked all the way to Leslieville to get breakfast at Bonjour Brioche. It's such a cute little cafe, and we got there just in time so we didn't have to wait around for a table. The service was friendly, but since it was a weekend morning, service was also very slow. My latte came with a heart - kinda like the picture, but a smaller/delicate heart. I am still kicking myself for not having a camera with me.

After breakfast we walked over to ReZen Condos at King & Sherbourne...and I was promptly sold on the lovely bamboo floor upgrade option! I'm still debating whether or not it's a good investment, though. The neighbourhood was really cute - it's right on the design strip so we checked out some fantastic furniture shops along King...including AGA!! Aga kitchens just have that lovely country kitchen look that makes me want to bake pies or something. Anyway, so now I'm still trying to decide if I want to buy a unit at ReZen. There are some pretty decent units left on floors that would get a lovely view of the lake, so I'm quite tempted. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I'm ready to nest, especially in Toronto...

Also checked out Ikea and bought a patio set, and wandered down University to end up at sushi just down the block. On Sunday we were ready to go on a biking adventure along the lake, but it was disappointingly cold for a half-ass sunny day. So we had breakfast at home and just hung out, did some cleaning, got my nails done, and made a nice coq au vin dinner to enjoy on the patio :) We watched the Pursuit of Happyness, which was a great movie!

This morning Alex and I went out to breakfast, stopped by the Eaton Centre to look around a bit, and then he went off to work while I sat around and caught up on Seinfeld on TVtropolis. I only turned off the TV when I realised they had a show about couch potatoes! Cleaned up a bit, then baked some snacks for the work week - oatmeal cookies with dark chocolate chunks, and wheat bran pear muffins. The pear muffins taste kind of funny - I can't put a finger on it, but I think the pears weren't ripe with flavour so they're kind of bland. The oatmeal cookies, on the other hand, are fantastic!

After this weekend, I am spoiled with visions of what the summer can shape up to be. The only thing now is to get the freaking apartment floors fixed!!