Archive for the ‘summer’ Category

I moved into my new living quarters this weekend, unsure of what to expect, and dimly surprised that it didn’t seem to effect me more. The first weekend in a while that I didn’t have much going on but a long drive to Barrie for a friend’s birthday and another night out. Add a morning of Aji Sai sushi with it and it could be deemed a tres successful 48 hours. And it was.

I went to bed earlier than I have on a Sunday in a really long time. Just because I was tired, and I was bored but I couldn’t help but wonder, as I stared at the slanted ceiling of my new room, why I wanted to do this. To take hold once again, a glimpse of the life I had back in Calgary. Complete independence, proximity to (almost) everyone I know and freedom. A few things that I haven’t even gone without since I’ve been back anyway. Yet, my stubborn head brought me here, with a “Toronto” address, Alberta plates, and Mississauga P.O. Box and a life of vacations and adventures.

Without a photo on the wall, but a photograph of the Manchester Ferris wheel, a birthday gift from my sister one year, and a couple of new cute black boxes from IKEA which now hold my make up – a bed frame made without the metal bars, so a mattress sitting in the middle of it with no support, I lay there, for now, wondering in an empty room.

Has summer officially started? Well, it’s 9 PM before it gets dark, so it seems like it. Only time will tell what kind of summer it’ll be.

After a whirlwind 72 hours, I’m finally back at work trying to wrap my head around the weekend. It all started with a seemingly relaxing Friday night of Hot Yoga at Infinite Yoga in Mississauga where I sweat, balanced and strengthened my calf muscles. After losing about ten pounds of water weight and feeling so overwhelmingly dehydrated, I prepped for a night of pretend modelling for my dear friend Lindsey Drennan for her big shoot she had the next day.

The end result (one of):

I’m really excited to see the rest of them! Perfect for my new website that’s currently in the works. I need some updated professional shots! And now I have them. A quiet night turned a little longer than expected and I wasn’t home and in bed until about 3 am only to wake up the next afternoon ready and waiting for my impending lunch date with Keisha – always a lovely catch up.

My Saturday night began back at Lindsey’s where the girls all got ready and drank some lovely wine – always a plus! Lindsey detailed the evening perfectly in her recount of the evening at Mercatto.

We got called the Canadian version of Sex and the City, many, many times:

We unfortunately didn’t get the amount of polaroids that Lindsey had intended, but the night was a huge success anyway. Ended off at Brooklyn on Queen for a quick cocktail, I was on my way home by 1 AM feeling a bit older at my exhaustion and cramped feet.

Sunday was filled with friends, beer and a Blue Jays game, which proved to be a small preview of what this summer is probably going to be like living with the girls in the Annex this summer: Fabulous.

All in all, it was just one of those weekends. A weekend I hadn’t expected nor planned for (every single thing I did this weekend was planned on Friday night with the exception of Saturday night girls dinner). It was one of those weekends when you hang out with true friends and realize who they are. Getting over disagreements and growing up. A weekend of first “I love yous” for some and for others, first drunk texts that weren’t full of hatred and disappointment. It was a weekend that made me full of hope and excitement for the summer. Who can’t love that?

Is it almost Thursday already? Where has the week flown off to? Summer is coming, I can feel it (despite the odd weather changes that have gone this week) and it’s making me more excited by the minute. The thing that sucks? Weddings that I’m committed to going (and WANT to go to) have me booked on what so far seem to be the best weekends in the city thus far, among the predicament of having a personality and lifestyle that includes wanting to attend every outing that’s possible no matter how much it’ll probably kill me.

For instance, the night of Thursday, May 27th has sequestered itself among three events I want to attend:

1) Strut for a Cure

A night promised to make everybody speak out against Cancer while listening to Dragonette and meeting others in the industry. Plus, the swag bag you get once you leave isn’t bad either. Mostly, it’s just the type of thing I’m loving about living in Toronto. Being able to go to these fundraisers and parties and network my butt off. Problem: I may be dumb, but I scoured that website and could not for the life of me find out when the event starts that Thursday. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem but for someone attempting to plan “a night of a million stops” it is.

2) Carassauga: Mississauga’s Festival of Culture

Of course it has to be the first night my father’s extracurricular activity, FCAM, actually does something that will interact with the community by promoting the integration of the Molise culture in Canada and I have this prior commitment and urge to attend Strut for a Cure instead. Which leaves me feeling guilty. I did, however, design this snazzy advertisement to be included in Carassauga’s 25th Anniversary special edition commemorative magazine they’ll be handing out at the show. The AD itself was inspired by the work my friend and sometimes partner, Emily Bachor of Whylime Design does at Where Calgary magazine.

She’s made me a big fan of the opacity button:

You may think this is no big deal, not being able to attend the opening ceremonies of the Carassauga weekend, as it’s just that – a weekend event. However, this brings me to the dear old commitment number three.

3) Bridal Shower in Windsor, Ontario

My dear, dear friend is getting married. Yay (it’s a sincere yay). But instead of taking up one of my weekends that consist of me waking up at noon and reading PostSecret all day, I will be sitting at a table with other twentysomething friends becoming misty eyed at the thought of my friend getting her happy beginning and me wondering if I’ll have a date by the time her wedding comes around in August – or if I’ll even want one. Problem: It’s basically an entire weekend of visiting and busyness that I’ll have absolutely no time for …

4) Sex and the City 2 Premiere

Now, I know this may sound crazy, with all the fantastic prior engagements I’ve just listed to end off with my disappointment that I will not be able to watch the continuation of the best show ever made followed by the best movie sequel to a TV series ever made but I am. I am disappointed. Mostly, however, because of spoilers. I won’t be able to take it. In addition to reading PostSecret every Sunday, I have this odd, unnatural habit of checking out TheMovieSpoiler.com to see what happens at the end of the latest blockbusters just released. It sort of reminds me of Billy Crystal’s monologue in When Harry Met Sally about being so dark that he reads the end of novels before he starts in case he dies so he’ll always know how it ends.

Problem: even if I successfully remove myself from being tempted to log on, I know it’ll be all around me. When will the next opportunity come that I can see the movie before I read about what happens in the tabloids? In 2008, when the first movie came out, I had to block my sister from my MSN list because she had gotten home from watching the big premiere (she lives in the United Kingdom and had the pleasure of seeing it a full eight hours before I did) and wanted to gush about how amazing it was. She’s like that.

All in all, I think I may just be whining about unnecessary things. But I can’t help it – I want to do it ALL!!!!

Which, in case you don’t know me personally, is exactly what I’ll end up doing.