Drinking, Travel and Disease Mix Well

To thank our neighbours Amy and Andrew for collecting our mail while we were in Italy, we had them over for drinks. Between the four of us, we drank a bottle of Prosecco (well Kevin actually opted out and just had a beer) and a bottle of DD Leobard strawberry wine that my parents brought from Winnipeg the last time they visited Ottawa. That's some high quality drinking!

Amy and Andrew (Amdrew perhaps?) have some great travel stories as they put all their stuff in storage for a year to travel the world before moving back to Ottawa from Toronto. They've recommended Portugal and India as future options for us. They too base travel destinations around the quality of desserts available.

Andrew is a photographer and writes reviews of photography equipment. Amy is a cook, but she also acts when she can. Her latest gig is for medical and pharmacy exams. She's given a disease and symptoms and has to act as a patient for students to make diagnoses on their tests. She's bound by a confidentiality agreement, so she couldn't tell us what disease she was. I guess diabetes. And insist on pronouncing it like Wilford Brimley from the commercials - die-a-beet-ess.

Jenn and Hen Official at Last

Today was the big day. After 12 years together, Jenn and Henry finally got married! Jenn looked completely beautiful. She cried during the walk down the aisle but pulled it together for the rest of the ceremony. For the sake of her makeup, she said. The weather was perfect, although the un-air-conditioned church got pretty hot towards the end of the ceremony.

The reception was in the grand ballroom at the Royal Crown. There were about 400 people, which for Jenn and Hen, is limiting to only close family and friends. Hard to imagine since I only have 7 first cousins. Everything was done up in silver and fuchsia - I don't know how she convinced Henry to have so much pink, but I guess waiting 12 years wins you a few concessions. There were also an unprecedented 4 toasts to the bride, by the 2 matrons of honour and her 2 siblings.

For once, I caught the bouquet! Mainly because Jenn's sister Joanne told all the girls to pile on top of Jenn once she threw it, which left it lying on the ground. Prime pickings. I didn't even have to use my pointy elbows on anyone this time.

4 down, 2 to go.

Winnipeg-oh!

I'm back in Winnipeg for the weekend! Kevin and I started the day stopping by IBM to visit Darin, his old boss/my parents' next door neighbour/our matchmaker. Quite the power combo of titles! Darin's team is made up of 2 other developers - Mike and Curtis, a.k.a. McLovin (see March 20, 2008). Mike and Curtis are also going to weddings this weekend and Curtis is having his own wedding the weekend after. I have a theory on why August beats June for wedding frequency in Winnipeg. If there are 2 things Winnipeggers love, they're good deals and Jeanne's cakes. I suspect the bakery's year-long supply of cookie bases expires in August, causing them to give special deals on wedding cakes, thus driving the popularity of weddings that month. That's one for Freakanomics to explore.

On the drive over, Kevin and I also did a stalking run past my old house on Braemar Ave. Sadly, the year and a half I put in to reshaping the bushes into perfect balls went to waste as the plants appear to be growing untamed now. I had also planted flowers with colours arranged in order of the spectrum. That's right - I have OCD tendencies. Don't tell me you've never separated your Smarties into colour groupings, counted out equal amounts for each group and then eaten them in the order they appear in the rainbow! I still ate the brown ones even though brown isn't in the spectrum, so this proves I'm normal! Any way, the spectrum pattern wasn't evident in the flower beds at all. Sigh. Kevin has forbidden a spectrum garden at the Ottawa house, claiming "random" is a pattern too.

After IBM, Kevin and I went to In Ferno's for lunch with my parents. I of course ordered the duck confit, but for some reason the server thought I meant the duck appetizer, so I got this tiny plate of potstickers. I pointed out the mistake and they managed to whip up the proper meal pretty fast. We got the appetizer for free. Duck appetizer, duck entreé... I tried to get a duck crème brûleé, but no luck.

Post lunch, we went to check out the 99 Pieces of Art on the Wall show at the cre8ery gallery, although 4 had been sold so they were down to 96 by the time we visited. After that, we did a walk around the Forks. We toured the Riverwalk, watched unhelmeted children injure themselves at the skate park (my mom's personal fave) and went through the Johnston Terminal. The new Manitoba display in the Johnston Terminal is pretty cool, although the ballet mannequin on display is clearly too fat to really be a dancer.

In the evening, Kevin and I went to Bellissmo for dinner, with Kevin's former curling buddy, Ian. I was still full of duck but managed to cram in most of a salad. To finish off the evening, we went to Flea Whiskey's for a few games of pool. I won a few games, but only 1 real win - the rest were scratches by the other player. In the end, Ian was declared Pool Champion of the Universe.

Genie and Lynn Kicked out of Restaurant

Genie was back in Ottawa for a family visit, so we got together for dinner at Zuni Grill. Her cousins tried to thwart our plans by forcing her to eat a pre-dinner at their house and then giving directions that sent her driving in the opposite direction of the restaurant, but they couldn't keep her from the siren song of cocktails. We had a good visit with lots of laughs, and eventually got booted out so they could close the restaurant for the night. Good thing I'll see her again next weekend in Winnipeg!

Last Day in Winnipeg? Not So Fast...

Today started off with an early lunch with Mark, my former co-worker from ENSIS. He was out of town for our reunion last Thursday, but managed to fit me in on my last day in Winnipeg. We ate at the Pony Corral Pier 7 patio. Mark is now a V.P. at Librestream, a company that offers a mobile video collaboration product. I remember back when ENSIS first invested in Librestream, the product was so top-secret we couldn't even talk about what they did. Oh, venture capital. Speaking of which, some of you ENSIS folk will enjoy vcwear.com. My favourite t-shirt there says "Your Mom Is Not A Valid Test Market". You can also buy the company, but every time someone new visits the site the price goes up a dollar, so act fast. Anyway, Mark and I had a really good visit and the patio weather was great, so I'm glad we made time to get together.

After lunch, I was off to visit our family friend Janet and her 3 kids, Ariel, Cameron and Ethan. Her husband John is fighting in Afghanistan right now, but he should hopefully be back by September. I couldn't believe how big the kids are now! We didn't have a lot of time together but I got a tour of the house and an update on all the kids. Ariel showed me her collector Barbies (need I say awesome) and her favourite video game where you cook virtual food. Girl stuff is the best! Janet's always been good at sports, so it's no surprise that Ariel is amazing at ringette, Cameron loves hockey, and Ethan is already starting to skate. I don't know how Janet does it all on her own. Especially with 2 rottweilers added to the mix!

Back at my parents house, I was finally able to have one dinner at home with them before my flight back. However after dinner when I decided to double check my departure info one last time, I discovered my plane was taking off right then. My original flight was canceled and I had been looking at the wrong set of papers! And I had, of course, booked the last flight of the day. Well, one more night in Winnipeg won't hurt. Departure at 7 am. I hope. I think that's the first time I've completely missed a flight due to my incompetence. I showed up a day early to the airport once, but that doesn't count because I didn't actually miss the flight in that situation. I was all the wiser the next day.

Christmas in July

It's a tradition for the 6 Pack girls (nicknamed in high school because there are 6 of us - not because of beer drinking) to hold a Christmas party every year, no matter how late it has to happen due to scheduling conflicts. Because of my move to Ottawa, we set the record this year by holding our Christmas party in July. I have a pretty tight agenda on this Winnipeg visit, so the only opening was Sunday morning, 10 am. Despite the horrible state we left her in last night, Jenn made it to brunch! Albeit with the same hairdo, but I'm not judging.

We met at Buccacino's with Christmas presents in tow. After recapping to Jenn what happened last night and enjoying the brunch buffet, we moved on to opening presents. It had been so long, we had forgotten what we had bought for each other and what we had even asked for, so it was a real surprise. Among many nice things Karene picked out for me (we rotate who buys for who based on order of birthdays), I got the The Muppet Show Season 2 DVDs. Now I remember why I only have Seasons 1 and 3 - it all makes sense! We're considering making Christmas in July the new tradition.

After brunch, my mom and I went to a wedding shower in Beausejour for our family friend Stacey, better known as "Stacey from the farm". If there's one thing that can be said about Beasejour, the women sure know how to make dainties! Stacey's dad also bought so much Arbor Mist there was enough for every lady to have her own bottle. We played a get to know the bride and groom game and were given papers to write down our marriage advice. Mine was, "The key to happy co-habitation is NO RABBITS!" Stacey took one in before, so she'll know what I'm talking about.

After we got back to Winnipeg, I headed off to Genie's house to meet her and Noemi for pizza and house tours. Genie's house is a bungalow with a really big yard. The best feature is the awesome bathroom upstairs that she renovated, with root beer walls and a jet tub. A close second is the one wallpapered basement wall that is overlaid with velvet stripes. There is a ton of closet space. What I wouldn't give to have a purse closet like Genie. Darn you bunnies and your closet of hay!

A short car ride later, we all arrived at Noemi's. Noemi's house is a 2-storey, also with a huge yard. For those that don't know, she'll need it, as the Ly's will soon be a family of 4. Unleash the uninvited tummy rubs! Noemi's just in the process of renovating the kitchen so I didn't get to see the full effect, but judging by the new counter tops, it's going to look fantastic. I also love the balcony off the main bedroom.

It's been a whirlwind tour. I leave tomorrow for Ottawa, but will be back in another month.

I Love You Too Jenn

My mom made a BBQ for family and friends today. We had way too much food and visited for a good 6 hours. I checked a suitcase on this trip so I could bring everyone little gifts from IKEA. As a courtesy to Winnipeg readers, I have include links to the top "Bring an IKEA to Winnipeg" petitions here: 1, 2. Also, has anyone heard from the Jets lately? Never give up.

Meanwhile, Jenn was being thrown a surprise bachelorette party. I missed the pre-festivities including laser tag (very Jenn) and the stripper (those were separate events - there's no magical venue that offers strip laser tag), but joined the girls at Pony Corral for dinner. So digression... what would you name your strip laser tag company? I might go with "The Right to Bare Arms".

You know the night is going to be pretty wild when 25 women are packed onto something called the Bada Bing Party Bus, complete with "dancer" pole and free energy drinks. All the girls were given shot glass necklaces and Jenn came around pouring while we drove to the first bar. Don't spill on my precious Trustfund jeans! Nooooo!

The first bar stop was Alive (the former Au Bar or Wise Guys, depending on your age). It was only 9:00 so the bar was pretty dead except for about 4 bachelorette parties. Jenn's sister had prepared a book of tasks for Jenn to complete. My favourite was a sheet of stickers with titles such as "Best Pecs" or "Worst Pickup Line" that she had to go around sticking on boys. She also got called up on stage to dance with the live band. I joined as one of her backup dancers.

Next stop was Blush. Activities there included getting a guy to leave a message on Henry's (Jenn's fiancé) phone, cheers-ing with strangers and a whole lotta drinking.

Back on the bus, poor Jenn wasn't holding up so well. It probably didn't help that we all kept chanting instructions at her such as "dance, dance" or "cry, cry". A true highlight of the evening, in response to "speech, speech", was Jenn's deeply moving, "I love you, and I love you, and I love you, and I love you," speech. It will be interesting to see how our brunch at 10 am tomorrow morning works out.

Post bachelorette party event note: photos of Jenn at her party have been suspiciously hard to come by. Come on, they can't ALL be incriminating!

Tess Just Married... Again!

Maritess (a.k.a. Paige) and Jorge finally had their church wedding ceremony today after a 9-year delay after the civil ceremony. That was 4 boyfriends ago for me! Including many bad dates in between.

The girls met at Jenn's in the morning to get ready. My dress was made with measurements I emailed to Tess and I didn't get a chance to have it fitted, so it was my first time seeing it and trying it on. It was pretty big, but a few safety pins and a quick sew job later, it was wearable. There's a great picture of me in my underwear on Jenn's couch, sewing my dress, which for obvious reasons, I decided not to post here. Obvious reasons being you have to pay me $10 first. Sales of my LynnXXX operating system are slow, so I need to make up the lost revenue somehow.

We packed Jenn's vehicle like a clown car of bridesmaids and headed to the Manitoba Legislative Building for pictures. Pictures went on for about 2 hours, then Tess's family whipped out this entire lunch buffet from the trunk of a car. Another hour of pictures later, I was pretty sunburned. Not really a problem for the other girls. The photographer actually called me "Whitey". Then after being corrected, "Liz". Apparently he's not good with names.

After a slurpee stop on the way to the church (Winnipeg is the slurpee capital of North America, so it only makes sense), the wedding was underway. It's official - Tess and Jorge are married! They drove off in a hummer with a "Just Married Again" sign on the back. Awesome.

Dinner was at Rembrandts in Lockport, which is a restaurant and conference centre run by Frances, our friend from St. Mary's. The food was excellent and Tess's daughter Vina gave an incredible performance of Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing. Someone should YouTube that now, before she's famous. Just keep her away from boys named Bobby!

Special thanks to Noemi for being my wedding date. Her daughter entertained me with a 10-minute discussion of macaroni as well. The wedding was lovely, but the best part was seeing everyone again. Good thing there's still 2 days left of fun-packed activities.

ENSIS-tini Reunion

My first day back in Winnipeg since Christmas 2006! My mom and I went shopping at Polo Park for most of the day. We found some new clothes for her, we both got some new accessories and nail polish, and I introduced her to the miracle of Spanx.

At 4:30, she dropped me off at Earls on Main for the ENSIS-tini Reunion. All previous and current employees of ENSIS that I could track down were invited for drinks on the patio - just like the old days. Thirteen of us hung out and caught up on news. We also tackled important issues such as should Bruce shave his mustache? Unanimous yes. Does Earls serve the same white wine to everyone and pretend it's different varieties? Likely. Should we have reunions more often? Definitely.

It was so great to hang out with everybody again. I guess as of next Thursday, ENSIS will officially become part of the GrowthWorks Canadian Fund and entrance to the ENSIS alumni club will be closed. I can't wait to see the alumni pin-up calendar in another 10 years. Yikes!

Missing from photo: Bryan and John

Dye-saster

I wanted to dye my hair blonde before my trip to Winnipeg so what salon would be the most logical place to choose? Salon? Nah. I went to some stranger’s basement instead. To be fair, I had been to this woman once before and there were no issues. This time, not so much.

I entered the house to the sound of screaming children. Apparently the hairdresser’s kids had missed their naps that day and they were not in a good mood. After the screaming from the smallest one wouldn’t stop, she let her come down to the basement and poke me/step on my feet/ shoot a blow dryer at me for the 2 ½ hour appointment to shut her up. Lovely. Plus there was some bonus screaming and random singing throughout.

I could have dealt with the kid, had my hair been perfect, but instead I ended up with a golden-orange stripe around my roots. I left with dignity, had Kevin confirm that I did indeed have a stripe and it wasn't just my contacts going bad, cried for 20 minutes, told myself that other people go bald due to serious illnesses so I should suck it up, cried for 1 more minute, then started packing for Winnipeg.

Luckily I still had 1 day to get my hair fixed. My co-worker recommended Byblos, known for good colour jobs. They were very nice and the lady they booked me with, Lucy, managed to get rid of the stripe. My hair is now worth $210. I charge $2/minute if you'd like to touch it.

Bluesfest is Eclectictastic

Kevin’s work gave us free tickets to Ottawa Bluesfest. Bluesfest started as an event for blues music, but is now more a festival for music from all genres. Our night out included Snoop Dogg, the Loved Ones and the Weakerthans. Eclectictastic!

When we arrived, we witnessed Snoop Dogg on stage smoking illegal substances openly in front of the crowd. Or I should say, smok'n illegal substances openly in F-R-to-tha-izzont of tha crowd. How did we get by before Gizoogle.com’s “tranzilations”? Snoopdogg.com also has a translation feature that will “shizzolate” tweets on Twitter. I’m registered on Twitter, have never used it, but still have 7 people following me. My goal is to see how many followers I can procure without ever actually typing anything in.

The Loved Ones – meh. They were a punk band we’ve never heard of.

Kevin owns Weakerthans cd’s and t-shirts - i.e. is an official fan - so he probably enjoyed them more than I did. They’re from Winnipeg, so of course, we are connected within 6 degrees. Actually 2. Our friend Rob is housesitting for the lead singer John right now. John announced that he’s looking to put a new curling team together this year, so put the word out. (Sorry Rob, guess this means you’re cut.) The Weakerthans encored with One Great City, subtitled “I Hate Winnipeg”. The song is excellent, yet angers me at the same time. They’re from Winnipeg, so they do have license to mock, yet how can I condone the statement that the Guess Who suck? We have so few celebrities to cling to! Who else is going to sing at every Grey Cup/Junos show/Pam Am Games ceremony/Salisbury House opening? Don’t anger the Guess Who!

Free Long Distance Calls to Me

Apparently Vonage has a local access feature I never knew about. People in Winnipeg can call me for free by dialling 480-9716 (that's in area code 204), then following the prompts to call me at my home number. No long distance charges for you! If you're calling from somewhere else in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., France or Spain, you can look up other local numbers.

Let the gabfest begin!

Camper Van Kudos

Since my parents are visiting from Winnipeg, where's the first place we headed to Saturday morning? IKEA of course. Good thing my parents brought the camper van. Kevin and I seized the opportunity and also took my old deep freeze in to the recycling center. The freezer came with my house in Winnipeg but I never needed to use it. We moved it to Ottawa and finally tried plugging it in this past January. 2,100 km and 3 years later... it didn't work!

We also made 3 trips to Loblaws to buy patio furniture. Trip 1 - informed there was a sale that day, but it only started after 5:00 pm. Trip 2 - mad rush at the store when everybody shows up at 5:00 and the 2 furniture guys have to fetch massive patio sets for all the waiting customers. We bought the furniture after getting a different table top because the glass in ours was smashed. Trip 3 - realized the bench was bent and took it back in exchange for the floor model.

Ultimately, success! It hasn't stopped raining here since the purchase so we only got to sit on it once.

Dinner and Burnouts with Mike

My brother Mike was in Ottawa for a few days doing some work for Lexus. He had a very cool Lexus IS F to drive around in with an interior in white leather! He came to pick Kevin and me up, and several burnouts later, we arrived at Pub Italia.

Mike just visited Winnipeg, so we had some beers and pizza and he gave me updates on friends and family. Everyone had to work the next day so we went home at a reasonable hour. After several more burnouts.

The Return of Jenn and Moe

Jenn and Maureen couldn't leave their meeting early on Thursday, so they ended up changing their flights and staying an extra night in Ottawa. Girls night out take 2!

Jenn didn't pack any extra clothes so first we went downtown to Rideau Centre to find her a new shirt. Then for dinner we tried the Black Tomato in the Byward Market. It was packed, but we had good timing and got the remaining open table. The food wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be, but the wine and the company were excellent. We couldn't decide on one dessert, so we shared a piece of peanut butter pie and a piece of chocolate pecan pie. Is it wrong that I always focus on what a restaurant offers for dessert over the main course?

Then it was back to the self-proclaimed "unsurpassed luxury" of the Southway Inn again. Jenn had managed to talk the hotel staff into upgrading Moe into a suite, which seemed to have an Arabian Nights/circus tent, red and yellow-striped theme. Enchanting. I lasted till about 12:30 and we did another round of good-byes.

I've got my fingers crossed for yet another snowfall, causing a shut-down of the Ottawa airport and girls night take 3!

Jenn and Moe Visit Ottawa

There were 2 exciting events yesterday. First, I had my audition to get a family doctor. Basically a pre-appointment to see if I could qualify for an actual appointment. Success! Those years of tap and jazz really paid off. Let the illnesses begin!

Second, and much more exciting, Jenn and Maureen were in Ottawa for a meeting so I had an evening out with them. What's the first place you take visitors from Winnipeg? IKEA, of course! Jenn brought a spare suitcase so she could load up, but she didn't really buy that much. Then we went to the liquor store to get some bottled Bellini's, but apparently the LCBO doesn't carry them any more.

The big news for those of you who haven't already heard - Maureen is engaged!

Jenn and Moe had lots of wedding talk over dinner at Zuni Grill, a restaurant near my house. For dessert, we shared some cheesecake and sat around talking for so long the waitress had to give us the polite "the restaurant is closing in 15 minutes" warning. We headed back to the Southway Inn, glamorously located in the middle of nowhere, a 5-minute drive from the airport, and talked in Jenn's room till about midnight.

I can stay up late and abuse my body with cheesecake now because I have a family doctor! Whee!

Fame! (sans Leg Warmers & Headband)

I made it in to California on time yesterday and immediately started running into people in the hotel. It was funny that with the blonde hair and glasses some people took a minute to recognize me. Makes me think that Superman's Clark Kent disguise may have been plausible after all. Soon after, I went to lunch with Darin from Winnipeg. He's the one that lives next to my parents and set me up on the blind date with Kevin.

There were 2 good parties last night. My boss had a drinking party for bloggers in the lobby bar, then the head of the company had a party for staff and the Board of Directors in his hotel suite. I kept the partying in check but still didn't make the 6:00 am group run the next morning. I decided 3 hours of sleep would be more beneficial to my health seeing, as I had stayed up a full 24 hours.

I've been meeting so many new people and seeing a lot of people that I only run into once or twice a year, so I'm already starting to lose my voice. Figures - I just bragged last weekend that I haven't had laryngitis for 5 years. That'll learn me.

The biggest event for me today was the awards ceremony. My boss asked if I wanted to co-present and I said no, but that I wanted to be in all the pictures. He doesn't like getting his picture taken, so it worked out well. There were probably some people who didn't know who the heck I was, but who cares, I posed in all the trophy shots any way. I'll be famous on flickr! High aspiration, I know. I did force my way into 12% of the photos from Monday. Here I am with Doug, the conference's program chair. Note the "Trouble Maker" ribbon on the bottom of my name tag. (Staff got to choose their own titles.)

The day ended with a reception out by the pool. It was a bit chilly, but since most of you reading are in Winnipeg and Ottawa I'll keep my mouth shut about the cool California temperatures or risk a beating when I get back.

Jen Moves 3,468 km Farther Away - Not that I'm Counting

I took the bus to Toronto after work to visit my friend Jen (formerly of Consumers Distributing fame). She just got an awesome job in IT with WestJet and is moving back to Calgary. I got in around 10:00 pm and walked to her condo. She tried to get me to take a cab because the weather was “bad”. I’m from Winnipeg and Ottawa, darnit! She should know a few snowflakes can’t slow me down.

We talked for a bit, ate some grapes, then went to a club called Velvet Underground for her friend James’s birthday party. She lives right downtown so it was just at the end of her street. We did a bit of dancing then headed home to sleep.

Abominable Monster Snow Storm

We had 28 cm of snow yesterday! It wouldn't be so bad if our snow banks weren't already about 8 feet tall. (I do realize I mixed metric and imperial measurements. I'm tricky that way.) The roads were manageable once you got off the side streets, so Kevin went in to work. Mainly because it was bagel Wednesday at IBM. I stayed in and worked from home.

Sore... from... shoveling. And we're supposed to get about 16 cm more by Monday.

The only thing about the weather forecast that makes me feel better is seeing it's -23 in Winnipeg. -34 with the wind chill. It's a toasty +2 here. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Evil laughing hurts my sore back.

Winterlude 2008

Today, Kevin and I took his cousin Jeff and his girlfriend Michelle downtown to go skating on the Rideau Canal, formerly the longest skating rink in the world (yay and boo Winnipeg). We made it 3.4 kms before turning around, and picked up free chocolate milk, mini boxes of Honey Nut Shredded Wheat, hot chocolate, American Express lip balm and a tacky, plastic, lighted necklace along the way. We also tried maple taffy poured on snow and of course, a Beaver Tail. We also met several mascots that I've never heard of and there some people dressed up in old-timey costumes shooting at people. Freezing rain started falling on the skate back so after changing to shoes, we stopped in at 2 stores and then headed home.
We spent the afternoon with board games and drinks (cocktails for the girls, beers for the boys). We played Killer Bunnies and Carcassone, taking advantage of the fact that Michelle is a one-drink drunk.

We were going to try to see the ice sculptures again, but the weather sucked. Our street was pure ice and rain was still coming down. We skipped it and went for dinner at MHK Sushi. We rented a few movies and watched Even Money, which was not that great. Despite having Danny DeVito and Forest Whitaker in it.