Small Talk

On Sunday night we went to Czehoski to see Jen's band, The Roaring Girl Cabaret play. I hadn't seen them before and all of the reviews I had heard from former colleagues were completely accurate. They are fantastic!

Anyway, we sat down with some of Jen's friends that we knew, some that we didn't. Steve introduced himself to the guy sitting next to him and the conversation was a little slow getting started. I noticed that as soon as Steve asked "What neighbourhood do you live in" the guy became completely animated and enthused about describing his 'hood. In Toronto you can start any conversation about neighbourhoods and you know you will have lots to discuss.

I realized when overhearing this that it's sort of like how people from Saskatchewan get excited when talking about the weather. I remember the time that I brought Steve over to my grandparents' place and he couldn't get over the fact that everyone just sat around with the weather channel in the background.

a couple photos after our night at Czehoski

The Friendliest Pilot

Since the two posts under this are about our life that is continuing simultaneously in Toronto, I thought I would include this little anecdote about my flight out East. I was sitting in the waiting area before boarding my Toronto flight on Friday night. A man came up to me and sat down beside me wearing an air canada uniform. He said, "Are you on my flight to Toronto"? Yes - he was the pilot. He continued to initiate a long chatting conversation about Regina, the weather, the fact that he pushes buttons for a living. It was awesome and sort of helped with my fear of flying (I figured the Saskatchewan friendliness either hit him as soon as he walked off the plane or he was drunk).

Backyard Adventures

Steve is working like mad on the backyard. He has dug a trench for our gutter, fixed our drainage issues, new window & window well in the basement, and is now building a new fence between our yard and Ned's. Oh yeah...and he mixed 32 bags of cement!

This is the before view:
The pretty vines on our fence that separates us from Jan & Guy's yard. Inspiration for what we hope our other fence eventually looks like.

The view of the old fence that separates our yard from Ned & Lauren's...Steve has now taken down the fence and has posts in for the new one.

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary in Photos

Our anniversary date was too weird for words...fruit flies, lost tickets, puppet fornication, etc. but at least we were together.

Brushes with Fame Regina Styles

I'm sure that everyone in Regina has had their own encounter with the resident Corner Gas celebrities, but last night was my initial experience with this uniquely Saskatchewan brush with fame. I was at the Hotel Sask last night at a meeting until about 10 or so and afterwards got cornered into having a drink in the lounge to continue discussing work. This was exactly the opposite of what I felt like doing after such a stressful forteen hour work day, but because I'm a glutton for punishment I agreed. As we were enjoying a glass of wine and discussing the finer points of orchestral management, Lacey (yeah, we're totally on a first name by character basis) sat down at the table right beside us. It was a defining moment in my life and has changed the way I think about everything...who needs TIFF anyway? Brushes with fame.

Short Weekend in the R dot

Some highlights of my Regina weekend:

Thursday - went to watch the Riders lose at Ashley & Ryan's place with a bunch of their teacher friends. I love watching Rider games in Sask, it's way more fun...and people really care. :)

Friday - worked my arse off trying to get stuff ready for my first board meeting next Tues.

Saturday - picked up some art that Steve and I bought ages ago and only now got framed. I hadn't seen it in almost three years and it is so fun. My living room looks so much more fun now! Saturday night I met up with Derek & Sofia and Ryan who was visiting from Vancouver. I don't think I'd seen him since a foggy night at the Owl a decade ago. We had a nice dinner at the Fireside Bistro (the food was great, the service left a lot to be desired!)

Sunday - worked my arse off from home preparing a bunch of stuff for work next week. I miss the high-tech TSO which allowed me to access both new and already opened email from home and also allowed me to access my calendar! Sometimes I feel like I'm in the dark ages here and it makes work very challenging, but we'll get there!

Looking forward to a long and hectic week of work and then it's back to TO for a weekend of renos and romance to celebrate two years of marriage!

Long Weekend in the T dot

I knew I'd been missing Stephen, but I didn't realize how much I missed my friends, my neighbours, my street, my shower, my paint brush, Keith Richards, my grocery store, my film buff, Andy Barry, my mizi's breakfast until I saw them. Nonetheless, I didn't miss the smog, the garbage, the traffic (more specifically the Caribana Weekend Traffic) at all.

We had a couple of funny big city moments this weekend. On day 1 Steve and I rode the rocket to Kensington Market to do a bit of shopping. We were standing outside of this Ethiopan women's clothing store and a slightly scruffy urban hipster type walked up to us and asked for the time. I told him it was 12:35 and he said "I have a cab waiting with a quarter tank of gas". Steve and I were totally confused and so Steve asked, "What exactly are you asking us?" and they guy just walked away. Were we propositioned for drugs? I'm not sure.

On Saturday night at 5am someone started yelling through the mail slot of our front door. "MARY...RANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...." Steve walked downstairs and yelled back "WRONG HOUSE". Drunk lady: "Mary?" Steve: "WRONG HOUSE!" We've been trying to figure out who Mary & Randy are since we know pretty much everyone on our street and none of them are Mary & Randy.

The other thing that I have to mention about the weekend was how stunning our house looks. Stephen has been outdoing himself. He has been making the trim by scratch, and it looks so aunthentic to the age of the house and it is so well done for someone who has never done trim before. I need to stop and contemplate this for a moment - we have TRIM! I've been dreaming about this stage in the reno for so long!! He's almost finished all of the kitchen pieces (the island has a back to it), he's hired a landscaper, fixed the basement stairs, fixed the gutters, etc. Steve is awesome and I'm so proud of the way he is getting this reno done - things are really moving and I think we have the nicest house in Toronto. No, make that Canada. :)

There were so many great times this weekend that it's hard to mention them all: the reunion with the husband, the house, Vesuvios' pizza, shopping on Queen street, Yara & Lyle's party, meeting Tiago, the massive pork bbq with Kate & Karen, impromptu house visit by Jen & Michael, making Stephen freezer meals, sitting in our backyard, Dream in High Park with Nicole and Eric, and of course painting trim!

Wow, after reading this post I'm wondering why I moved back to Sask. Why did I move here? Oh yes, for my career, to be closer to my family, and because Stephen was ready for something new. I need to find some sort of support group for people who have recently moved back to Saskatchewan who left a fantastic job, an almost finished house, and an awesome set of friends and in-laws. Yeah, obviously we made the right choice.

AHH - this blog was supposed to be about how much better Saskatchewan is than Ontario. I guess this wouldn't be much of a story if everything was perfect immediately.