I actually won something!

(This was actually written last night when I couldn’t connect to the Internet. So, things that say today were actually yesterday which was Tuesday.)

Aside from working a lot to stay on top of all the Christmas activities and preparations at work, I’ve also been quite busy otherwise.

Last Thursday I went and saw Jewel with Jamie-Lee. She’s an absolutely amazing live performer with an incredible voice. The next night I wanted to go into town to pick up a few things and to go to the Rotary Festival of Trees (the mall had a tree in it and I didn’t get a chance to see it beforehand) and we went to Webber’s Downtowner for dinner – had a fantastic veggie burger! Jamie had never been to the Festival of the Trees (for anyone else who doesn’t know what it is you can go to www.rotaryfestivaloftrees.com but basically companies sponsor trees and decorate them with products, certificates, etc). I bought a book of raffle tickets determined to win a tree this year – though I said that last year too! Put my name in for some really cool things and I actually won one!! I won the one that I actually put my name in for my parents – the tree from the Pool Sauna Showroom, I can’t remember everything that was on it, some pool toys, accessories and gift certificates. So that was pretty exciting to get the call tonight! I have to go and pick up the tree and ‘decorations’ tomorrow, the good thing is the store is directly behind the mall so I don’t have to go too far.

Saturday morning I headed down to Toronto to go see “Chicago” with Melissa. What a fantastic show! I loved it! Mind you I love anything on a live stage! I’m going to try to get tickets for Phantom of the Opera when it returns early next year and take my Mom and sister as none of us have seen it before. After the show we went back to Melissa’s for some wine with her Mom and Mom’s friend Sue who had also come to the show. We then went to The Ethiopian House. It was my second time there – it’s SO good! Basically it’s Ethiopian flat bread (kind of like a pancake) which you break apart to scoop up different curry-type selections from a giant plate in the middle. We then did a little shopping and headed back to Melissa’s.

Sunday morning we woke up early to get some more shopping in. I bought a Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor mix which I am really excited about! I bought a few Christmas presents as well. We then wanted to go to an Indian Restaurant that is claimed to be one of Toronto’s best, but when we got there we discovered it closed. So instead we ended up at Spring Rolls for some excellent Thai curry. I left the city around 2:30pm and headed to my sister’s for Nate’s first birthday party.

Poor Ty had to get three stitches on Sunday morning. He was at church with his grandparents and tripped and hit his head off one of the chairs. He’s a trooper though, hasn’t complained at all. I picked them up from the sitter’s today. Nate’s so cute, he’s at the age where he really recognizes people and runs over smiling to greet you with his little arms extended. I’m so happy to be here and sad all at the same time that I missed out with Ty when he was this age.

Asili is also celebrating her first birthday today. I got her some of her favourite treats, a plush bone (that she’s already ripped apart) and a dog basket filled with goodies from the SPCA. Last night I made her some home-made dog biscuits called “Peanut Butter Bones”. She absolutely loves them! The entire time I was making them she sat there waiting patiently so that by the time they were done I couldn’t make her wait until her birthday to have some. Simple to make too! 1 cup natural peanut butter, 1 cup skim milk, 2 cups whole wheat flour, you mix it, knead it, cut out the shapes and bake for 20 minutes. I took some in to work today for people I know who have dogs. Yes I am a geek, but I can live with that.

A bunch of other things happened as well, I’m just not doing real well at remembering them at the moment. I spent most of tonight sorting/cleaning my closet. It was about time, especially now that most of my clothes are too big; it was a lot easier to part with things. I got rid of 20 pairs of pants - I didn’t even know I had that many and that’s not including the 3 suits I also got rid of. I’d like to say my closet is a lot emptier now, but strangely it’s not. Strange since I’ve only replaced some of it and certainly not as much as I got rid of. I suppose it has to do with the reorganizing, I have smaller, neater piles on the shelves instead of massive shelf to shelf piles.

At any rate, I’m just babbling now because I’m supposed to be doing my Event Table and Schedules for December so I can give those to the appropriate people tomorrow. Though I really just want to crawl into bed and read. I’m currently reading “A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby. It’s about these four people who meet when they each attempt to commit suicide. One book in the long line of great books I’ve read recently.