Birthday girl and more!

Friday May 11/12.

Wishing my sister, Carrie, a fabulous birthday today! She was born on Mother's Day (our late Mum always said it was the best gift she EVER received on Mother's Day!) We've been best friends all our lives.

Riding bikes together, (hoo haw!)

building castles,

playing dress-up, ("I got the dumb one."),

and just hanging out. (I really miss that back porch at the old "hidey hole"!)

Carrie deserves only the best in the year ahead! See you later today for a mini-birthday celebration with Auntie Ray at lunch!

Has been quite a week so far.

My son, Max, and his pals, Cleo, Celeste and a rather intense Brooklynne have been shooting a school video project at our house.

Watched the third last episode of House ("Post Mortem") - twice! Once alone, once, later, with Kate. Best parts? The wacky road trip shared by House & Wilson! (Loved seeing the ever-good Wilson become "inconsiderate", as he called it). And the threesome House set him up for? (can only IMAGINE what happened there!)

Meanwhile, I've been doing daily runs at the Riverdale Park track on a quest to get in some exercise and relieve stress. (doctor's orders to keep from going round-the-bend or over-the-edge). Hey, better late than never!!

Lots of people have told me for years I'd be a good candidate for running but I never listened. Who knew I'd actually LIKE it?


I started off with two laps (800 metres), even running in the rain one day, and have worked my way up to 4 and a half laps (1.8 kms). Takes my mind off a lot of crap and feels good, especially when the temperature is cool.

Each lap takes me past Bridgepoint Hospital, where my cousin Kev lived for about a month last summer.

I used to sneak Henkell champagne into him there every night,

smuggling it in just in time to sparkle up his hospital dinner! Cheers!

But shhhhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone!

Sometimes I think of those days when I run past Bridgepoint and feel so happy Kevan is OUTTA there and his fractured ankles have healed!

Meanwhile, this week, I also had a colonoscopy at the Kensington Institute.  This time, opted to go there and pay the extra $50 for proper sedation (Propofol),

so the procedure was pain-free! Yippee! I wasn't allowed to drive afterwards, but later, after some rest,

went out for a run and checked out all the pretty flowers

at the newly-opened Garden Centre at No Frills.

Just looking at the colours is good for the soul!

Went shopping for groceries (again). Man, I sure have to spend a lot of time at this store to keep stuff in stock!

Couldn't believe the number of seagulls flying over the parking lot!

Started to remind me of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds!

Ran into my musical blog mascot, Aubrey, on the way home. Bought him a Heineken. He was busy on his cell. (but was smiling, so maybe he's getting back together again with his girlfriend and our wedding plans are off!) Ha ha

Yesterday, drove to Bloor & Bay, parked at the Manulife Centre and went Mother's Day/birthday shopping. What did I buy? I'm not telling!

To quote Lucy in the Charlie Brown series, "Presents for pretty girls???" (Carrie, you'll find out later today)!

Seasonal letdown

December 29/11.

Now that the Christmas crunch is over, I'm feelin' the letdown, bigtime.
Weird or what?

All the work, rushing around, adrenaline pumping, lack of sleep, fun,

laughs, excitement, visiting, prezzies, Henkell with cousin Kevio,

hot chocolate with sister Carrie, - and then, suddenly BAM! It's over.
Back to reality.

My daughter, Kate, commissioned her friend, Kathleen, to paint a watercolour portrait of her and boyfriend, Damian, as his Christmas gift. It turned out beautifully. Here, they are trying to recreate the pose! So cute.

My son, Max, got lots of cool t-shirts for Christmas, including this gear fab one, from my sister Carrie.

Lee got a new bathrobe from his Mum (my sister, Carrie). Very nice!

This was Auntie Ray's reaction to the robe.

Sam made a poignant toast to those we were missing this Christmas - Mum and Uncle Ev. It was still a fun day, but so sad without them.

The Hannukah bash at Mum and Dad B's condo was also SO much fun. We did something different, with this wild gift exchange. Too tough to explain!

My sister-in-law, Debbie, tried her best to outline the details of this exchange. I didn't understand a word, but in the end, it turned out to be very funny.

My adorable nephew, Adam, ended up with his fave - PEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My bro-in-law, Arlen, had the honour of lighting the first Hannukah candle. Well done Arlen!!

My beautiful niece, Robin, received a gift card, cleverly disguised (by my husband, Sam), in a glasses case! Sneaky.

As for me, (here with my amazing Dad-in-law, Ben), I received a perfect gift for me!

LIFE, The Year in Pictures, plus an Indigo gift card, which I used to buy my new wall calendar for 2012. (Which I'm hoping will be a banner year)!!!

All in all, Hannukah was a blast. Thanks, Deb, for all your work on pulling it together, and to my parents-in-law who hosted the event.

After a much needed day off on the 27th, (which was pretty much spent sleeping and cleaning up the mess of Christmas), I was ready to rock & roll on the 28th with my good pal, Pam Pickard.

She was working that day at her RBC job across from the Eaton Centre, so we met up,

At good old greenjeans for lunch! She had a glass of wine (since she was travelling home by TTC) and I had a Diet Coke (since I was driving). We had a fab gab, catching up on everything. She is an amazing woman and was pretty much on fire as a standup comic during this lunch hour. Wish I'd recorded the conversation so I could play it back again. SOOOOOOOOOOOO funny.

After lunch, she took me to see her office for the first time. Little did I know, she shares her cubicle with Gumby!

Pam has a pretty great view of Old City Hall from her office window!

Took a walk over to the Eaton Centre to get my new wall calendar plus some more vanilla scented body cream from The Body Shop (buy 2, get one free deal - LOVE it!) And we couldn't resist,

one more stop at La Senza for their fabulous 50 percent off sale! I mean, come ONNNNNNNNNNNN!

Nine pairs of sexy panties for 30 bucks??? Can't be beat! And the teddies? Out of this world! Did we buy anything? I'll just let you GUESS!

On the way home, did some more GPS practice, driving like a maniac on highways and biways, not getting lost once, due to the threats from Bossy GPS Broad. She STILL tried to steer me into a cement wall at one point, but I'm on to her tricks now and made it home in one piece,

only to find Max, using his new Christmas gift - some kind of drink hat, where you sip pop out of straws attached to a construction worker's cap. Why? I don't know. But made for a great pic. Never a dull moment, as usual. Maybe Christmas letdown isn't so bad. - Afterall - it's FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAYYYYYY!!!
BRING it ON!!!!