Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Latest!
Oi! It's been a few weeks since I last posted...just chugging away with work mostly.
In the past two weeks I've:
- bought a new computer! Whisper quiet, super fast, Windows 7 upgrade coming in the mail, and all for the rock bottom price of $299. Hard to believe computers used to cost 10x that!
- Volunteered with Second Harvest at a cool "chef's day" thing at Yonge-Dundas square. About 14 booths set up with different chefs making different treats at each. You`d buy $1 tickets, then each booth`s stuff was 2 or 3 tickets, and my job was to help collecting the tickets at the booths. I helped at a booth serving glass noodles with thai curry and shrimp, as well as one doing pulled pork sandwiches!
- Did some high speed go-karting with work peeps
- caught up on the latest seasons of Fringe and Smallville
- watched Battle of the Blades, which is surprisingly addictive.
- organized and written up the blurbs for our honeymoon pictures!
Our pictures up on flickr!
In the past two weeks I've:
- bought a new computer! Whisper quiet, super fast, Windows 7 upgrade coming in the mail, and all for the rock bottom price of $299. Hard to believe computers used to cost 10x that!
- Volunteered with Second Harvest at a cool "chef's day" thing at Yonge-Dundas square. About 14 booths set up with different chefs making different treats at each. You`d buy $1 tickets, then each booth`s stuff was 2 or 3 tickets, and my job was to help collecting the tickets at the booths. I helped at a booth serving glass noodles with thai curry and shrimp, as well as one doing pulled pork sandwiches!
- Did some high speed go-karting with work peeps
- caught up on the latest seasons of Fringe and Smallville
- watched Battle of the Blades, which is surprisingly addictive.
- organized and written up the blurbs for our honeymoon pictures!
Our pictures up on flickr!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Winding down...
Last few days of the trip! We spent the night in Cordoba, and visited the Mezquita this morning, an massive building which has alternated between a church, a mosque, and now a huge cathedral. Really interesting blend of catholic and muslim influences in the building.
Hope to get postcards sent before we leave madrid...hopefully!
Hope to get postcards sent before we leave madrid...hopefully!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Algarve and Southern Spain!
Haven´t had internet for almost a week! Writing from a little (read cramped and busy) internet cafe in Granada. We really enjoyed Lisbon, and also visited Sintra and Cascais which were fantastic. Next two nights were in smaller towns, staying at gorgeous Pousadas. We stayed one night in a CASTLE, and another night on an estate at the top of a mountain with a stellar view on all sides, including an ocean view from our room. Dinners at these places were also fantastically good.
Did a few days at beaches in different areas, ranging from small beaches with cliffs and little islands, to multi-mile long super sandy beaches. Perfect weather every day.
Next we did Seville, and enjoyed walking around all the pedestrian shopping streets downtown. Saw the Cathdral which is the 3rd largest in the world. This is probably the 10th massive and incredibly ornate church we´ve seen. Had a really yummy dinner, including a venison stew.
Yesterday we drove through the mountains (and literally mile after mile of olive trees, I´ll have to post pics), and stayed in Granada. Didn´t get around to wandering around downtown until after 8pm, but stayed out until almost 11, and had dinner on a nice patio in a square. We went to see the Alhambra today, but got there too late to get tickets to go inside...we´d intended to book online in advance, but didnt get it done, so settled for walking around the outside which was still nice.
Off to Cordoba tonight, Toledo tomorrow, and finally back to Madrid on the weekend. Hard to believe it´s been two weeks, but we´ve seen SO much! Laura´s got us up to something like 800 pics...thank goodness for digital cameras, or we´d be spending a fortune on film!
Did a few days at beaches in different areas, ranging from small beaches with cliffs and little islands, to multi-mile long super sandy beaches. Perfect weather every day.
Next we did Seville, and enjoyed walking around all the pedestrian shopping streets downtown. Saw the Cathdral which is the 3rd largest in the world. This is probably the 10th massive and incredibly ornate church we´ve seen. Had a really yummy dinner, including a venison stew.
Yesterday we drove through the mountains (and literally mile after mile of olive trees, I´ll have to post pics), and stayed in Granada. Didn´t get around to wandering around downtown until after 8pm, but stayed out until almost 11, and had dinner on a nice patio in a square. We went to see the Alhambra today, but got there too late to get tickets to go inside...we´d intended to book online in advance, but didnt get it done, so settled for walking around the outside which was still nice.
Off to Cordoba tonight, Toledo tomorrow, and finally back to Madrid on the weekend. Hard to believe it´s been two weeks, but we´ve seen SO much! Laura´s got us up to something like 800 pics...thank goodness for digital cameras, or we´d be spending a fortune on film!
Labels: Honeymoon
Friday, September 18, 2009
Porto and Coimbra!
The past few days have been super busy, but lots of fun. We drove from Braganca across to Porto through the Douro valley, one of the biggest grape growing regions in Portugal (home to all the grapes grown for Port wine). This has to rank among the top 5 drives of my life, easily comparing to the Rockies in terms of beauty. Crazy mountains and valleys, all with terraces carved into the sides of them, for miles and miles, growing grapes and olive trees. Nutty beautiful.
We stopped in Regua, one of the main towns along the river, and visited two wineries. We did a tour at one of them, and saw them stomping the grapes by foot - we even could have done some stomping ourselves, but were behind schedule.
The drive into Porto was...an adventure. The road systems here are very different from back home, especially in towns. Roundabouts and 5 way intersections are the norm, and there´s no notion of a grid-based road network...everything just winds and twists...roads are all very narrow, and people drive at breakneck speed(150-160 on the highway is pretty normal, as the speed limit is 120). We´ve been navigating via a combination of google maps directions and a GPS, to mixed results. The GPS is fantastic for getting us through the mazes of tiny streets in town, but has led us astray a few times getting IN to town. Porto was the worst. By far. We ended up very very lost on these extremely tiny streets, with stone walls on both sides, that were "two way" streets, but barely wide enough for one car, going up and down steep hills, and crazy windy....as the sun was setting. We FINALLY made it into Porto by around 10pm, totally exhausted.
Our hotel room in Porto was very tiny, but in a great location. We managed to get out and see most of the big sights by early afternoon, including lunch right down on the river. The afternoon was spent doing Port wine tours/tastings across the river...we only actually visited 5 of the 16 or so Port Houses, but probably had an average of 5 large samples per place. Port is fortified red wine, so pulls in at 20% alcohol, so by the end of the day we´d each had probably the equivalent of 10 plus shots of booze. We stumbled home along the super hilly, cobbled streets, sobered up a bit and had a really nice dinner at a place called Cafe Majestic.
Yesterday we drove from Porto down to Coimbra, home of the oldest university in Portugal (started around 1350). They´ve got a GORGEOUS library and chapel, and strangely all their students dress in uniform, which includes a cape. Seriously.
Last night was our second night staying at a Pousada, this time we stayed in an old convent high up in the mountains, with an AMAZING view, miles and miles in every direction. Played some tennis, went for a swim, and had a fantastic dinner (I had veal and portuguese sausage, followed with a sweets/pastry buffet!)
Off to Lisbon today!
We stopped in Regua, one of the main towns along the river, and visited two wineries. We did a tour at one of them, and saw them stomping the grapes by foot - we even could have done some stomping ourselves, but were behind schedule.
The drive into Porto was...an adventure. The road systems here are very different from back home, especially in towns. Roundabouts and 5 way intersections are the norm, and there´s no notion of a grid-based road network...everything just winds and twists...roads are all very narrow, and people drive at breakneck speed(150-160 on the highway is pretty normal, as the speed limit is 120). We´ve been navigating via a combination of google maps directions and a GPS, to mixed results. The GPS is fantastic for getting us through the mazes of tiny streets in town, but has led us astray a few times getting IN to town. Porto was the worst. By far. We ended up very very lost on these extremely tiny streets, with stone walls on both sides, that were "two way" streets, but barely wide enough for one car, going up and down steep hills, and crazy windy....as the sun was setting. We FINALLY made it into Porto by around 10pm, totally exhausted.
Our hotel room in Porto was very tiny, but in a great location. We managed to get out and see most of the big sights by early afternoon, including lunch right down on the river. The afternoon was spent doing Port wine tours/tastings across the river...we only actually visited 5 of the 16 or so Port Houses, but probably had an average of 5 large samples per place. Port is fortified red wine, so pulls in at 20% alcohol, so by the end of the day we´d each had probably the equivalent of 10 plus shots of booze. We stumbled home along the super hilly, cobbled streets, sobered up a bit and had a really nice dinner at a place called Cafe Majestic.
Yesterday we drove from Porto down to Coimbra, home of the oldest university in Portugal (started around 1350). They´ve got a GORGEOUS library and chapel, and strangely all their students dress in uniform, which includes a cape. Seriously.
Last night was our second night staying at a Pousada, this time we stayed in an old convent high up in the mountains, with an AMAZING view, miles and miles in every direction. Played some tennis, went for a swim, and had a fantastic dinner (I had veal and portuguese sausage, followed with a sweets/pastry buffet!)
Off to Lisbon today!
Labels: Honeymoon
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
In Portugal!
We picked up the rental car yesterday, and did a 5+ hour drive from Madrid over to norther Portugal, to a town called Braganca. Our car´s actually quite nice, a Citroen C4...and most importantly, it´s an automatic!
The drive was really gorgeous, very dry, rugged terrain. We saw lots of solar panels and lots of wind turbines. We made a pit stop in this very small town...probably about 200 stairs up a cliff to a castle, and a whole little town inside the castle walls. Really well kept and very cute.
The last leg of the drive was through crazy twisty up and down mountain roads (we were doing between 20 and 50km/hr to give you a sense). Finally arrived in Braganca, at our Pousada: Sao Bartolomeu. Man, what a hookup! This place is absolutely gorgeous, and has a fantastic view of the castle, and rolling hills for as far as the eye can see.
Dinner last night was terrific...I had rabbit. Like a WHOLE rabbit. And it was amazing. SO much meat, and so tender and delicious. We also had a really nice local red wine, and a bunch of little tapas-type dishes.
Breakfast this morning was also amazing, lots of breads with a whole slew of choices of locally made preserves and honeys. There were also cheeses and 4 different ham-type choices, then a choice of 5 different fresh squeeze juices (and champagne to made your own mimosas!).
We head off today to Porto, driving along the douro river, one of the biggest wine and port regions of the country! The grapes are grown on the banks of the river, and the wine and port are produced on site, then shipped down the river to Porto where they are cellered and aged. Two nights in Porto!
The drive was really gorgeous, very dry, rugged terrain. We saw lots of solar panels and lots of wind turbines. We made a pit stop in this very small town...probably about 200 stairs up a cliff to a castle, and a whole little town inside the castle walls. Really well kept and very cute.
The last leg of the drive was through crazy twisty up and down mountain roads (we were doing between 20 and 50km/hr to give you a sense). Finally arrived in Braganca, at our Pousada: Sao Bartolomeu. Man, what a hookup! This place is absolutely gorgeous, and has a fantastic view of the castle, and rolling hills for as far as the eye can see.
Dinner last night was terrific...I had rabbit. Like a WHOLE rabbit. And it was amazing. SO much meat, and so tender and delicious. We also had a really nice local red wine, and a bunch of little tapas-type dishes.
Breakfast this morning was also amazing, lots of breads with a whole slew of choices of locally made preserves and honeys. There were also cheeses and 4 different ham-type choices, then a choice of 5 different fresh squeeze juices (and champagne to made your own mimosas!).
We head off today to Porto, driving along the douro river, one of the biggest wine and port regions of the country! The grapes are grown on the banks of the river, and the wine and port are produced on site, then shipped down the river to Porto where they are cellered and aged. Two nights in Porto!
Labels: Honeymoon
Sunday, September 13, 2009
My feet are sore!
It´s been a really hectic 2 days in Madrid, but lots of fun! We´ve managed to get all sorts of things done, and minus a small hiccup last night meeting up with my aunt and uncle, things have gone quite smoothly!
Yesterday our flight got in around noon local time, and we took the subway to the hotel, which turned out to be gorgeous and super conveniently located. Went for a walk and saw an egyptian temple, a huge park with a rose garden, twin churches, the royal palace, a big cathedral, the opera house, and another big park. After a quick nap we took the subway to meet my aunt and uncle for the leonard cohen concert(by the way, it`s a super complicated system here...just getting over to meet my aunt and uncle required 3 subway connections!). Unfortunately our google maps directions got us lost and we ended up taking a taxi to their hotel. We went out for a really nice dinner, then were blown away by the concert - leonard cohen literally played three and a half hours, including FOUR encores. The concert didn´t end until almost 2am, a little ridiculous!
Needless to say we slept in this morning, but still checked out a massive flea market, the train station, plaza mayor (where they filmed the assisination scene from Vantage Point), a fantastic pastry shop, an art museum, the botanical gardens, and a long walk along Gran Via, similar to NYC´s Broadway. My feet are SORE. The strangest thing is that restaurants don´t open for dinner until 8pm or later. Smoking is MUCH more common here, food is generally fairly expensive, but the subways are super cheap (1 Euro!).
We pick up the rental car tomorrow and head to Portugal, with our first night in a Pousada!
Yesterday our flight got in around noon local time, and we took the subway to the hotel, which turned out to be gorgeous and super conveniently located. Went for a walk and saw an egyptian temple, a huge park with a rose garden, twin churches, the royal palace, a big cathedral, the opera house, and another big park. After a quick nap we took the subway to meet my aunt and uncle for the leonard cohen concert(by the way, it`s a super complicated system here...just getting over to meet my aunt and uncle required 3 subway connections!). Unfortunately our google maps directions got us lost and we ended up taking a taxi to their hotel. We went out for a really nice dinner, then were blown away by the concert - leonard cohen literally played three and a half hours, including FOUR encores. The concert didn´t end until almost 2am, a little ridiculous!
Needless to say we slept in this morning, but still checked out a massive flea market, the train station, plaza mayor (where they filmed the assisination scene from Vantage Point), a fantastic pastry shop, an art museum, the botanical gardens, and a long walk along Gran Via, similar to NYC´s Broadway. My feet are SORE. The strangest thing is that restaurants don´t open for dinner until 8pm or later. Smoking is MUCH more common here, food is generally fairly expensive, but the subways are super cheap (1 Euro!).
We pick up the rental car tomorrow and head to Portugal, with our first night in a Pousada!
Labels: Honeymoon
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tomorrow's the day!
We leave for the ol' honeymoon tomorrow! Really excited to get it started - we've been planning for ages now, and I'm tired at looking at MAPS of cities, and want to just get there and get started!
First stop, Madrid. We're actually going to a Leonard Cohen concert on Saturday night with my aunt/uncle. Should be interesting!
Aside - I've rekindled my love for the library. I'd been hitting them up trying to secure free museum passes, and have actually really had a lot of fun finding / reading a handful of books in the past few weeks. Knocked out 2 John Grisham's, A Spot of Bother (same guy who wrote the curious incident of the dog in the night), and Ray in Reverse (the same guy who wrote Big Fish). My only qualm...they're computer search is hard to use if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.
Aiight. Off to Europe! Not sure how often we'll have internet, but I'll try to post when I can!
First stop, Madrid. We're actually going to a Leonard Cohen concert on Saturday night with my aunt/uncle. Should be interesting!
Aside - I've rekindled my love for the library. I'd been hitting them up trying to secure free museum passes, and have actually really had a lot of fun finding / reading a handful of books in the past few weeks. Knocked out 2 John Grisham's, A Spot of Bother (same guy who wrote the curious incident of the dog in the night), and Ray in Reverse (the same guy who wrote Big Fish). My only qualm...they're computer search is hard to use if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.
Aiight. Off to Europe! Not sure how often we'll have internet, but I'll try to post when I can!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The upside of doing our honeymoon well after the wedding itself is that we didn't need to plan them both at once. The downside is that all the past month has been nothing but honeymoon planning...well...
We also went to the Roderick Reunion out in Saint John. Did lots of canoeing, swimming and work around the property, but also did the traditional bowling, BBQ, bonfire and golf for the reunion itself. Weather was FLAWLESS the whole time we were there, which is super uncharacteristic of new brunswick! I *do* love the cottage.
Last weekend we were up at Dave's cottage near Wasaga. Weather wasn't terrific, but still in the mid 20s and not too rainy...not out swimming twice, played volleyball/badminton/frisbee, and played lots of euchre + mexican train (tequilla) dominoes. Big ups to Dave and Sara for having us up!
The honeymoon is only two weeks away. Time really flies. I just finished booking our last hotel - which has been a major adventure. The internet is truly amazing in terms of how much information you have at your fingertips, but it also makes things incredibly overwhelming and time consuming to sort through!
I'm sure I've spent 100 hours+ on TripAdvisor.com, Hotels.com and Booking.com sorting through all the different options. Example - Madrid has almost 500 hotels. Literally. Obviously you can filter them down by region and price, but we're still talking 200+ feasible options, each with ratings, reviews, maps and pictures to sort through.
Given that we're staying in something like 12 different cities over the 16 day trip, that's 12 different hotels, 12 different drawn out decision making processes! Anyways, all in, I'm pretty happy with our choices, and the variety of places we're booked at all across the spectrum:
...AND I managed to very closely hit out target of $100/night average. Go team!
We also went to the Roderick Reunion out in Saint John. Did lots of canoeing, swimming and work around the property, but also did the traditional bowling, BBQ, bonfire and golf for the reunion itself. Weather was FLAWLESS the whole time we were there, which is super uncharacteristic of new brunswick! I *do* love the cottage.
Last weekend we were up at Dave's cottage near Wasaga. Weather wasn't terrific, but still in the mid 20s and not too rainy...not out swimming twice, played volleyball/badminton/frisbee, and played lots of euchre + mexican train (tequilla) dominoes. Big ups to Dave and Sara for having us up!
The honeymoon is only two weeks away. Time really flies. I just finished booking our last hotel - which has been a major adventure. The internet is truly amazing in terms of how much information you have at your fingertips, but it also makes things incredibly overwhelming and time consuming to sort through!
I'm sure I've spent 100 hours+ on TripAdvisor.com, Hotels.com and Booking.com sorting through all the different options. Example - Madrid has almost 500 hotels. Literally. Obviously you can filter them down by region and price, but we're still talking 200+ feasible options, each with ratings, reviews, maps and pictures to sort through.
Given that we're staying in something like 12 different cities over the 16 day trip, that's 12 different hotels, 12 different drawn out decision making processes! Anyways, all in, I'm pretty happy with our choices, and the variety of places we're booked at all across the spectrum:
- uber fancy castle type places
- modern chic big chain places
- tiny 1-star and 2-star, 15 room hostales (not to be mistaken for hostels...hostales are a notch up the ranks)
...AND I managed to very closely hit out target of $100/night average. Go team!
Labels: Honeymoon
Monday, July 20, 2009
So....much....chocolate
So this weekend was truffle weekend. Literally.
My flight back from New York was cancelled / bumped on Friday, so rather than getting out of Newark at 7, it was more like 9:30. By the time I got home, it was after 11, the perfect time to start making chocolate! Got to bed around 12:30 with the first batch of ganache cooling in the fridge.
Saturday I got 2 batches done, and worked more or less straight from 10am (when I got back from another failed mission to the library to get free museum passes...got there 15 minutes before they opened and was already 32nd in line!?) to 11:30pm.
Sunday was two more batches, 10am -> 12:30. Laura's sister was a big help boxing up the chocolates.
The sad part? there's 97 people coming to the wedding, and a few of the batches only made about 90-93 truffles. Oops : ( (especially when most of the truffles were pretty big and could easily have been smaller).
Anyways, I'm DONE with truffles! And frankly, I think they look pretty darned good!
My flight back from New York was cancelled / bumped on Friday, so rather than getting out of Newark at 7, it was more like 9:30. By the time I got home, it was after 11, the perfect time to start making chocolate! Got to bed around 12:30 with the first batch of ganache cooling in the fridge.
Saturday I got 2 batches done, and worked more or less straight from 10am (when I got back from another failed mission to the library to get free museum passes...got there 15 minutes before they opened and was already 32nd in line!?) to 11:30pm.
Sunday was two more batches, 10am -> 12:30. Laura's sister was a big help boxing up the chocolates.
The sad part? there's 97 people coming to the wedding, and a few of the batches only made about 90-93 truffles. Oops : ( (especially when most of the truffles were pretty big and could easily have been smaller).
Anyways, I'm DONE with truffles! And frankly, I think they look pretty darned good!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
New York!
I'm in the Porter lounge waiting for my flight to New York! I love Porter, even when it meant waking up at 5am...the lounge is so comfy, and the almonds are so good! If I drank coffee, I'd probably appreciate it even more! It seems like they are doing a lot of construction, maybe even building a whole new terminal.
I'm just down in New York today and tomorrow, not even long enough to officially bring back duty free. I actually miss New York a bit - wouldn't want to be down there for any more than a week, but there's a bunch of guys from the New York office that I haven't really had a chance to hang out with for atleast a year now.
Anyways, it's just about 1 week til the wedding! Ali's wedding this past weekend was terrific....super nice to see everyone, including the radiant bride herself! All things considered equal, the weather actually worked out quite well, and the food / wine was stellar! The Perth Plaza Motel even ended up being a notch or two above expectations : ) Thanks to Yonny and Dave for being good carpool buddies, and thanks to Reid's Dairy for fueling the trip in both directions.
Laura and I finished making the name card things for the tables last night...definitely a pretty time consuming process, but ended up being fun and I think they look terrific. Just need to get the truffles made this weekend, and the playlist finalized.
Can't wait to see everyone next week!
I'm just down in New York today and tomorrow, not even long enough to officially bring back duty free. I actually miss New York a bit - wouldn't want to be down there for any more than a week, but there's a bunch of guys from the New York office that I haven't really had a chance to hang out with for atleast a year now.
Anyways, it's just about 1 week til the wedding! Ali's wedding this past weekend was terrific....super nice to see everyone, including the radiant bride herself! All things considered equal, the weather actually worked out quite well, and the food / wine was stellar! The Perth Plaza Motel even ended up being a notch or two above expectations : ) Thanks to Yonny and Dave for being good carpool buddies, and thanks to Reid's Dairy for fueling the trip in both directions.
Laura and I finished making the name card things for the tables last night...definitely a pretty time consuming process, but ended up being fun and I think they look terrific. Just need to get the truffles made this weekend, and the playlist finalized.
Can't wait to see everyone next week!
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Worth a laugh
I've gotten much enjoyment out of these two websites over the past few days and thought I'd pass them on!
Awkward Family Photos: Basically, the site is a swack of pictures of embarassing/funny "family photos".
The other one is called Fancy Fast Food. This one's not so much funny as impressive. It's a list of "recipes" and pictures of gourmet looking meals prepared entirely with "ingredients" from fast food restaurants.
This one is a fancy "sushi" meal prepared entirely with ingredients from Poppeye's Fried Chicken.
Awkward Family Photos: Basically, the site is a swack of pictures of embarassing/funny "family photos".
The other one is called Fancy Fast Food. This one's not so much funny as impressive. It's a list of "recipes" and pictures of gourmet looking meals prepared entirely with "ingredients" from fast food restaurants.
This one is a fancy "sushi" meal prepared entirely with ingredients from Poppeye's Fried Chicken.Saturday, June 27, 2009
Free Herbal Essences!
Check out this link to get Free Herbal Essences! (atleast that's the theory!)
There's also a coupon on there for $2 off Danactive that I used today to get a free 4 pack from Loblaws, since it was on for $1.99!
There's also a coupon on there for $2 off Danactive that I used today to get a free 4 pack from Loblaws, since it was on for $1.99!
Labels: Free
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Wedding music
I've been rocking out to the best of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s for the past month or so, in an effort to compile a rocking and fun playlist for the wedding.
The problem? There's not a lot of good *dancing* music - I could make a kick ass driving mixed tape, but that's not quite the "get out on the dance floor" vibe we're going for.
What are a few songs that you like DANCING to? Help!
The problem? There's not a lot of good *dancing* music - I could make a kick ass driving mixed tape, but that's not quite the "get out on the dance floor" vibe we're going for.
What are a few songs that you like DANCING to? Help!
Labels: Wedding
Friday, June 12, 2009
Stinky Asparagus Pee
Sara and Dave were over last Friday for dinner / bridge / beer tasting. During dinner, which happened to include asparagus, Dave made a comment about stinky asparagus pee. I kid you not.
At first, I really thought Dave was some freak of nature. I've consumed asparagus in significant quantity my whole life, and have never noticed any particular side effects from asparagus (unlike say beets). After laughing about the whole thing for a few minutes, I forgot about it until today.
Yes, I googled "Stinky Asparagus Pee".
And I got results. LOTS of results. Like dozens of full out articles on the subject from reputable news sources. The Discovery Channel, UBCs Scientific Quarterly, and even the staid old Wikipedia.
The topic was best explained in this brief note on MSNBC.com:
WHY DOES YOUR PEE SMELL WHEN YOU EAT ASPARAGUS?
Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. It is also found in onions, garlic, rotten eggs, and in the secretions of skunks. The signature smell occurs when this substance is broken down in your digestive system. Not all people have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan, so some of you can eat all the asparagus you want without stinking up the place. One study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that only 46 percent of British people tested produced the odor while 100 percent of French people tested did. Insert your favorite French joke here________________________________.
At first, I really thought Dave was some freak of nature. I've consumed asparagus in significant quantity my whole life, and have never noticed any particular side effects from asparagus (unlike say beets). After laughing about the whole thing for a few minutes, I forgot about it until today.
Yes, I googled "Stinky Asparagus Pee".
And I got results. LOTS of results. Like dozens of full out articles on the subject from reputable news sources. The Discovery Channel, UBCs Scientific Quarterly, and even the staid old Wikipedia.
The topic was best explained in this brief note on MSNBC.com:
WHY DOES YOUR PEE SMELL WHEN YOU EAT ASPARAGUS?
Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. It is also found in onions, garlic, rotten eggs, and in the secretions of skunks. The signature smell occurs when this substance is broken down in your digestive system. Not all people have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan, so some of you can eat all the asparagus you want without stinking up the place. One study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that only 46 percent of British people tested produced the odor while 100 percent of French people tested did. Insert your favorite French joke here________________________________.
Labels: Asparagus Pee
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Waterloo!
Was down in Waterloo on Tuesday to do coop interviews...decent batch of kids this time around. Had 10 interviews, 8 of which were 4th years -- interestingly we liked the younger kids better, which is unexpected.
We finished up the interviews fairly early, so I played squash with my friend Dave, who lives in Waterloo, then went out for dinner and took the greyhound home. Definitely weirdest greyhound trip I've been on!
SO get on the bus in Kitchener, and grab a seat near the back. There's a dude laid out asleep across the 3 seat's near the bathroom, so I sit a couple rows in front. Bus leaves on time, and drives to Sportsworld (like ~15 minutes..also, since when has there been a stop at sportsworld??). The bus driver comes to the back of the bus, and wakes the guy up, and goes "what stop were you looking for again?", "kitchener", "oh, you missed it. Don't worry though."....so we proceed to drive all the friggin way BACK to Kitchener to drop this guy off....wtf!
But here's the golden nugget. We pull in to Kitchener, and I'm expecting the guy to be all ready to go, up and at it and off the bus....but there's no sign of him. I kid you not, the guy's in the frikkin BATHROOM. So the whole bus is sitting waiting for this guy to do his thing....finally the bus driver goes back and knocks on the door, and he's like "ya, I'll be out in a minute..." -- talk about awkward, and a bit frustrating. Total wasted time for this guy? 35 minutes.
We finished up the interviews fairly early, so I played squash with my friend Dave, who lives in Waterloo, then went out for dinner and took the greyhound home. Definitely weirdest greyhound trip I've been on!
SO get on the bus in Kitchener, and grab a seat near the back. There's a dude laid out asleep across the 3 seat's near the bathroom, so I sit a couple rows in front. Bus leaves on time, and drives to Sportsworld (like ~15 minutes..also, since when has there been a stop at sportsworld??). The bus driver comes to the back of the bus, and wakes the guy up, and goes "what stop were you looking for again?", "kitchener", "oh, you missed it. Don't worry though."....so we proceed to drive all the friggin way BACK to Kitchener to drop this guy off....wtf!
But here's the golden nugget. We pull in to Kitchener, and I'm expecting the guy to be all ready to go, up and at it and off the bus....but there's no sign of him. I kid you not, the guy's in the frikkin BATHROOM. So the whole bus is sitting waiting for this guy to do his thing....finally the bus driver goes back and knocks on the door, and he's like "ya, I'll be out in a minute..." -- talk about awkward, and a bit frustrating. Total wasted time for this guy? 35 minutes.
Labels: Waterloo
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Time is ticking!
Can't believe how close we're getting to the wedding... (Ali, YOUR time is REALLY ticking!) Still lots of details to sort out, but I'm sure it'll all come together.
My folks are coming into town this weekend to meet Laura's extended family. On the upside, it'll be a BBQ.
As a result, we rented a car for the weekend. I was driving Laura into the gym this morning (and heading to St Lawrence Market), and this car came zipping past us at an intersection, passing us via the left-turn lane. What a dink. We were heading down Spadina Rd (the northern, residential part of Spadina, one lane in each direction, houses on both sides, etc), and the guy actually passed another car. The timing literally could NOT have been any better, as out from behind a bush steps a speed-trap cop, who totally nailed the guy. Laura and I both got a seriously good laugh out of it...it was genuinely perfect timing.
My other happiness this week - finally got the $150 worth of PC Points from the printable coupons I used back in March / April. Sweet sweet coupons, I do love thee so.
I'm listening to the new Hayden CD...thus far I'm not enamoured, but I'll give it time (the old 3 full listens policy). Also, watched "Strictly Ballroom" this week...really is one of my favourite movies. I think I've probably watched it 4 or 5 times now...it's got everything - mockumentary style laughs, a little romance, wonderful music, and impressive dancing!
My folks are coming into town this weekend to meet Laura's extended family. On the upside, it'll be a BBQ.
As a result, we rented a car for the weekend. I was driving Laura into the gym this morning (and heading to St Lawrence Market), and this car came zipping past us at an intersection, passing us via the left-turn lane. What a dink. We were heading down Spadina Rd (the northern, residential part of Spadina, one lane in each direction, houses on both sides, etc), and the guy actually passed another car. The timing literally could NOT have been any better, as out from behind a bush steps a speed-trap cop, who totally nailed the guy. Laura and I both got a seriously good laugh out of it...it was genuinely perfect timing.
My other happiness this week - finally got the $150 worth of PC Points from the printable coupons I used back in March / April. Sweet sweet coupons, I do love thee so.
I'm listening to the new Hayden CD...thus far I'm not enamoured, but I'll give it time (the old 3 full listens policy). Also, watched "Strictly Ballroom" this week...really is one of my favourite movies. I think I've probably watched it 4 or 5 times now...it's got everything - mockumentary style laughs, a little romance, wonderful music, and impressive dancing!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Weight Loss - The SECRET!
Clearly I've been doing it all wrong -- saw an ad in the Metro here for this event: Free Weight Loss Seminar & Free Buffett
Yup. It's all about the free buffet.
Yup. It's all about the free buffet.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
One of those weeks
I've had a rough week. On Thursday I had a meeting with the client from 10-noon that ran a bit long, so I figured I should grab lunch on my way back to the office. So I hit this joint on King St called "Reggies Sandwiches" that I've been hankering to check out for a while now.
I'm walking back to the office when the "Oh Crap" lightbulb goes off. (I believe I actually said "Oh Crap" out loud, and may have even smacked my forehead). One of the guys from the London office was in town and we were going to go out for lunch to a taco place in Kensington with a couple other guys.....so, ya, I totally went to Kengsington and had a SECOND lunch!
Today I went to Shoppers (20X the points day) and bought a good load of stuff...and was halfway home before I realized I was still pushing the SHOPPING CART. Ya, my head was somewhere else I think! This is a big Shoppers / Optimum week for me - it's a "Referral Bonus Day" on Monday-Wednesday next week - if you are referred, and you spend $30 you get 5000 points (and the person who referred you gets 5000 points too!) that's like $7 each in Optimum points!
Heading out to a bachelor party this tonight...2nd one in the past month and a half, and we're friggin going to the same dance club we went to last time! Oi.
I'm walking back to the office when the "Oh Crap" lightbulb goes off. (I believe I actually said "Oh Crap" out loud, and may have even smacked my forehead). One of the guys from the London office was in town and we were going to go out for lunch to a taco place in Kensington with a couple other guys.....so, ya, I totally went to Kengsington and had a SECOND lunch!
Today I went to Shoppers (20X the points day) and bought a good load of stuff...and was halfway home before I realized I was still pushing the SHOPPING CART. Ya, my head was somewhere else I think! This is a big Shoppers / Optimum week for me - it's a "Referral Bonus Day" on Monday-Wednesday next week - if you are referred, and you spend $30 you get 5000 points (and the person who referred you gets 5000 points too!) that's like $7 each in Optimum points!
Heading out to a bachelor party this tonight...2nd one in the past month and a half, and we're friggin going to the same dance club we went to last time! Oi.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ka-ching!
Honeymoon tickets - BOOKED!
Plus, the whole fiasco with Aeroplan last night actually ended up working in my favour....found a coupon online this morning for Flight Centre for $50 off per person when booking an international flight.
We'd stopped in last weekend to the Flight Centre near our house to talk to them about some of our options, and the girl was super nice, so I figured it'd be nice to go back and book through her...I assumed that they'd charge like a $50+ commission above and beyond what the tickets would cost straight on Air Canada, but turns out that their commission was baked in already, so we got things for straight $100 less than we woulda otherwise! Ka-ching!
Also, while biking home today, I had a flash of inspiration:
"Stollen?", "Naw, I baked it myself!"
(come on, that's too darned funny!)
Plus, the whole fiasco with Aeroplan last night actually ended up working in my favour....found a coupon online this morning for Flight Centre for $50 off per person when booking an international flight.
We'd stopped in last weekend to the Flight Centre near our house to talk to them about some of our options, and the girl was super nice, so I figured it'd be nice to go back and book through her...I assumed that they'd charge like a $50+ commission above and beyond what the tickets would cost straight on Air Canada, but turns out that their commission was baked in already, so we got things for straight $100 less than we woulda otherwise! Ka-ching!
Also, while biking home today, I had a flash of inspiration:
"Stollen?", "Naw, I baked it myself!"
(come on, that's too darned funny!)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Emily & Co.
I frikkin hate the "interactive voice response" systems like Emily from Bell. Just had to "talk" to the phone for like 5 whole minutes to get through on Aeroplan...frankly, the systems WORK relatively well, but I just feel like such a dolt talking to a computer.
Laura and I were about to pull the trigger on booking tickets to Madrid for honeymoon (air canada seat sale ends tomorrow), but my name on Aeroplan is "Greg" and on my passport is "Gregory", and they need to match in order to use the aeroplan card...so needed to call Aeroplan to have them change it. Blarg....now that she's changed it, it'll still take 24 hours before I can actually USE it to book the plane ticket. I'll be soooo peeved if the price goes up tomorrow.
Laura and I were about to pull the trigger on booking tickets to Madrid for honeymoon (air canada seat sale ends tomorrow), but my name on Aeroplan is "Greg" and on my passport is "Gregory", and they need to match in order to use the aeroplan card...so needed to call Aeroplan to have them change it. Blarg....now that she's changed it, it'll still take 24 hours before I can actually USE it to book the plane ticket. I'll be soooo peeved if the price goes up tomorrow.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sweet sweet long weekend
The rest of the training I was running last weekend up at Blue Mountain ended well! It's always a good feeling to wrap things up without there having been any major calamities, particularly with so many moving parts to the puzzle (Two different batches of people flying up from the states, some people coming up on the Friday, others on the Saturday, sorting out all the restaurant menus, the room lists, the schedule etc, let alone the actual content for the weekend!) Happy to have it all done with for now!
Had a busy week...went to Hooters on Monday with some guys from work, worked late on Tuesday, went out for dinner with Laura and one of her friends on Wednesday (got caught in one of the Tamil Tiger "protests" trying to meet them - more on this later), Thursday went out for dinner to Don Juans with work guys then went to see "Earth" with LT (cineplex mystery shop!). Aside - Earth was really gorgeous, and totally worth seeing on the big screen if you're at all into wildlife documentary kinda shows....really gorgeous photography, including some amazing time-lapse shots.
This weekend we went up to Laura's parents place - did a BBQ and wine tasting last night, then went for a nice hike today on the Seaton Trail for a few hours. Wine tasting candidates: Hillebrand Cab-Sauv, Jackson Triggs Cab-Franc/Cab-Sauv, Pelee Island Cab-Franc, and a red blend from Strewn. Blind taste test winner? Pelee Island, which means 2 of the 4 wines for the wedding will be Pelee Island!
Rant of the week - Tamil protests in Toronto. I've been a bit confused about this whole thing, since there have been BIG protests almost every day for the past few weeks. In a nutshell, Sri Lanka has had an ongoing civil war for the past 20+ years between the two main ethnic groups, one which is in power and one which is fighting for the creation of an independent state( the Tamils). The government has got the tamil rebels pinned in a fairly small area and have been shelling them into submission. The issue is that civilians have been caught in the cross-fire.
Canada is home to the biggest group of Tamil's outside of Sri Lanka, something like 250,000 or so...seemingly many of whom live in TO. The rallies/protests have gotten a lot of attention because literally thousands (like 5000-8000) have shown up, and while they've been peaceful, they've been a big pain closing down major streets for whole days, and even taking over the Gardiner last weekend, and Yonge / College / University this week. The goal is to draw attention to the situation and to try to pressure the government into leaning on the sri lankan government to stop their attacks on the rebels and to give the tamil's an independent state.
Here's the part I don't get. The protesters are all waving Tamil Tiger flags, wearing Tamil Tiger tshirts, and waving picture posters of the leader of the Tamil Tigers. I didn't fully realize until I did some reading, that the Tigers are a recognized terrorist organization according to 32 different countries, including Canada. They've been accused of/blamed for everything from using child soldiers and dressing in civilian garb while fighting, to using suicide bombers, to assisinating political leaders to drug / weapon smuggling, counterfeiting, piracy / hijacking, money laundering. ( Good ol' wikipedia)
On one hand it sounds like things in Sri Lanka have been very difficult, and no doubt many civilians have been negatively impacted by both sides. I'd be all for protests simply trying to draw attention to the situation...but waving the flags of a terrorist organization with an undoubtably sketchy history and track record? Just not sure I really get the whole thing.
Had a busy week...went to Hooters on Monday with some guys from work, worked late on Tuesday, went out for dinner with Laura and one of her friends on Wednesday (got caught in one of the Tamil Tiger "protests" trying to meet them - more on this later), Thursday went out for dinner to Don Juans with work guys then went to see "Earth" with LT (cineplex mystery shop!). Aside - Earth was really gorgeous, and totally worth seeing on the big screen if you're at all into wildlife documentary kinda shows....really gorgeous photography, including some amazing time-lapse shots.
This weekend we went up to Laura's parents place - did a BBQ and wine tasting last night, then went for a nice hike today on the Seaton Trail for a few hours. Wine tasting candidates: Hillebrand Cab-Sauv, Jackson Triggs Cab-Franc/Cab-Sauv, Pelee Island Cab-Franc, and a red blend from Strewn. Blind taste test winner? Pelee Island, which means 2 of the 4 wines for the wedding will be Pelee Island!
Rant of the week - Tamil protests in Toronto. I've been a bit confused about this whole thing, since there have been BIG protests almost every day for the past few weeks. In a nutshell, Sri Lanka has had an ongoing civil war for the past 20+ years between the two main ethnic groups, one which is in power and one which is fighting for the creation of an independent state( the Tamils). The government has got the tamil rebels pinned in a fairly small area and have been shelling them into submission. The issue is that civilians have been caught in the cross-fire.
Canada is home to the biggest group of Tamil's outside of Sri Lanka, something like 250,000 or so...seemingly many of whom live in TO. The rallies/protests have gotten a lot of attention because literally thousands (like 5000-8000) have shown up, and while they've been peaceful, they've been a big pain closing down major streets for whole days, and even taking over the Gardiner last weekend, and Yonge / College / University this week. The goal is to draw attention to the situation and to try to pressure the government into leaning on the sri lankan government to stop their attacks on the rebels and to give the tamil's an independent state.
Here's the part I don't get. The protesters are all waving Tamil Tiger flags, wearing Tamil Tiger tshirts, and waving picture posters of the leader of the Tamil Tigers. I didn't fully realize until I did some reading, that the Tigers are a recognized terrorist organization according to 32 different countries, including Canada. They've been accused of/blamed for everything from using child soldiers and dressing in civilian garb while fighting, to using suicide bombers, to assisinating political leaders to drug / weapon smuggling, counterfeiting, piracy / hijacking, money laundering. ( Good ol' wikipedia)
On one hand it sounds like things in Sri Lanka have been very difficult, and no doubt many civilians have been negatively impacted by both sides. I'd be all for protests simply trying to draw attention to the situation...but waving the flags of a terrorist organization with an undoubtably sketchy history and track record? Just not sure I really get the whole thing.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Blue Mountain!
It's been a busy last few weeks:
- planning for this Team Lead Training I'm helping run this weekend up at Blue Mountain. 34 or so people total, 3 days of content. Good food, good people, good fun so far though! (and ridiculously nice hotel rooms)
- buying wedding rings...we finally pulled the trigger. The hard part...neither Laura or I have actually seen our rings yet. The store only had 20-30 rings in stock, so we ordered ours out of their catalog of 500 or so rings that all looked practically the same. I think we'll both really like them, just hope they fit properly etc. Think we're going to not do engraving.
- crate and barrel: finally some success with wedding registry stuff! we went to one of their early morning gift registry things...the store is closed to "regular" people, only about 10 couples were there, they had waffles, juices, snacks etc, and we managed to put 10 things on the registry!
- work...starting a new project at work for the same client. Should be an interesting next 6 months or so, but it's a bit of a weird spot right now since I'm doing the old and the new at the same time for the next month or so. Upside - we'll be launching a piece to the website that we'd originally worked on but that got shelved just before our April launch date...happy that it'll finally see the light of day!
- had dinner with sara/dave, ali and muriel's good intentions the other day. Definitely one of the best parts of toronto is having friends nearby! Looking forward to seeing everyone else TWICE in July!
- planning for this Team Lead Training I'm helping run this weekend up at Blue Mountain. 34 or so people total, 3 days of content. Good food, good people, good fun so far though! (and ridiculously nice hotel rooms)
- buying wedding rings...we finally pulled the trigger. The hard part...neither Laura or I have actually seen our rings yet. The store only had 20-30 rings in stock, so we ordered ours out of their catalog of 500 or so rings that all looked practically the same. I think we'll both really like them, just hope they fit properly etc. Think we're going to not do engraving.
- crate and barrel: finally some success with wedding registry stuff! we went to one of their early morning gift registry things...the store is closed to "regular" people, only about 10 couples were there, they had waffles, juices, snacks etc, and we managed to put 10 things on the registry!
- work...starting a new project at work for the same client. Should be an interesting next 6 months or so, but it's a bit of a weird spot right now since I'm doing the old and the new at the same time for the next month or so. Upside - we'll be launching a piece to the website that we'd originally worked on but that got shelved just before our April launch date...happy that it'll finally see the light of day!
- had dinner with sara/dave, ali and muriel's good intentions the other day. Definitely one of the best parts of toronto is having friends nearby! Looking forward to seeing everyone else TWICE in July!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Blech
This leaves a sour taste in my mouth -- Chris Day (of Sir Winston / Merivale fame) was doing the news on CTV for a bit...but is now John Baird's press secretary. Blech...John Baird is by far leaps and bounds my least favourite person in Canadian politics.
Had a very quick lunch with Ali yesterday -- she couldn't actually eat lunch with me though because she had to "go pick up garbage"(yes, literal garbage)...
Heading out to a wedding this afternoon...weather's supposed to be a gorgeous and sunny 28 degrees! Don't think I'd posted about it, but I was at Trevor's bachelor party last weekend. Started out in Pickering at his cousin's place - backyard BBQ with roughly 10 computer geeks and 10 firefighters...interesting crowd! They'd rented an inflatable "jousting castle" - picture a bouncy castle but with 2 wobbly platforms and jousting "sticks". The idea is to wail on the other person until they fall off their platform. Needless to say, the firemen won. (although I DID beat a few of em)
Yonny is back in town! Welcome back Yonny! It took her less than 3 days from arrival in Canada to Dessert Trends cake in her tummy...a quicker performance than even I expected!
LT and I are now back to wavering between Portugal/Spain and Greece when it comes to honeymoon. I think our concern with Portugal/Spain is that we don't really know what we'd actually DO day to day (the vision would be to fly in to Madrid or Lisbon, then basically drive the souther coasts of portal / spain, basically from Lisbon to Valencia or Barcelona). Neither one of us just wants to sit on the beach all day.
Had a very quick lunch with Ali yesterday -- she couldn't actually eat lunch with me though because she had to "go pick up garbage"(yes, literal garbage)...
Heading out to a wedding this afternoon...weather's supposed to be a gorgeous and sunny 28 degrees! Don't think I'd posted about it, but I was at Trevor's bachelor party last weekend. Started out in Pickering at his cousin's place - backyard BBQ with roughly 10 computer geeks and 10 firefighters...interesting crowd! They'd rented an inflatable "jousting castle" - picture a bouncy castle but with 2 wobbly platforms and jousting "sticks". The idea is to wail on the other person until they fall off their platform. Needless to say, the firemen won. (although I DID beat a few of em)
Yonny is back in town! Welcome back Yonny! It took her less than 3 days from arrival in Canada to Dessert Trends cake in her tummy...a quicker performance than even I expected!
LT and I are now back to wavering between Portugal/Spain and Greece when it comes to honeymoon. I think our concern with Portugal/Spain is that we don't really know what we'd actually DO day to day (the vision would be to fly in to Madrid or Lisbon, then basically drive the souther coasts of portal / spain, basically from Lisbon to Valencia or Barcelona). Neither one of us just wants to sit on the beach all day.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sewers
Funny thing about English...
Sewers -- sow-ers or soo-ers....big difference!
Laura: "Hello Soo-ers!"
Sewers -- sow-ers or soo-ers....big difference!
Laura: "Hello Soo-ers!"
Friday, April 17, 2009
Shop shop shop til you drop!
First off, a big thanks to the peeps - Ali hand delivered a very nice, framed full size shot of one of my fav pictures from Merivale-era! Ali...was thinking afterwards, how did you get this done? This HAS to be from oldschool film? (Wasn't someone doing like darkroom development)
I'm biking to work again! Started this week : ) I like it much much more than taking the TTC(however my keister's sooore from the first 2 days of biking). Laura got me some new bike gloves for my birthday!
Laura and I went to the Bay last night to do our first ever wedding gift registry.
i) We had an appointment for 6:30, and had to wait til after 7:15 for someone to actually see us.
ii) They yabbered for almost 30 minutes. "How many wedding showers are you having?" "None" "But what about engagement parties?" "None". "Oh but dear, MOST people have ATLEAST one!" "Yah, that's not really our style" "Well, if you DO change your mind..."
iii) We FINALLY got our hands on the little zapper scanner thing...and in an hour and a half managed to find......2 things in the store that we liked. And honestly, it wasn't me being a downer on the parade. I think we just already have a lot of stuff - plates, wine glasses, cutlery, pots, pans, knives, etc. (Alison - you've got that Jamie Oliver flavour shaker thing on your list...I spent like 5 minutes looking at it last night trying to figure out what the heck it was slash how it works...what IS it??)
We're going to Home Outfitters on Monday so hopefully will have a bit more success there, but I'm leaning more and more to just asking for Kiva gift certificates so we can have fun and make a bit of a difference by loaning out the money until we actually buy a house and have space/need for more stuff...
Should be a gorgeous day and really nice weekend!!
I'm biking to work again! Started this week : ) I like it much much more than taking the TTC(however my keister's sooore from the first 2 days of biking). Laura got me some new bike gloves for my birthday!
Laura and I went to the Bay last night to do our first ever wedding gift registry.
i) We had an appointment for 6:30, and had to wait til after 7:15 for someone to actually see us.
ii) They yabbered for almost 30 minutes. "How many wedding showers are you having?" "None" "But what about engagement parties?" "None". "Oh but dear, MOST people have ATLEAST one!" "Yah, that's not really our style" "Well, if you DO change your mind..."
iii) We FINALLY got our hands on the little zapper scanner thing...and in an hour and a half managed to find......2 things in the store that we liked. And honestly, it wasn't me being a downer on the parade. I think we just already have a lot of stuff - plates, wine glasses, cutlery, pots, pans, knives, etc. (Alison - you've got that Jamie Oliver flavour shaker thing on your list...I spent like 5 minutes looking at it last night trying to figure out what the heck it was slash how it works...what IS it??)
We're going to Home Outfitters on Monday so hopefully will have a bit more success there, but I'm leaning more and more to just asking for Kiva gift certificates so we can have fun and make a bit of a difference by loaning out the money until we actually buy a house and have space/need for more stuff...
Should be a gorgeous day and really nice weekend!!
Labels: Wedding
