October 2, 2000

One year ago: Well, more or less. I unveil my redesign! And that design has served me well.

So, Jim and I went to Toronto this weekend! And smoked Cuban cigars and bought devil monkey bags! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Jim took the day off from work on Friday in preparation for our trip. But then we got some sad news. My great-aunt Marion died early last week. It wasn't unexpected news, as she had been in the hospital for about a week, and she's been in poor health for a number of years. But it's still sad. Anyway, her funeral was on Friday afternoon, so Jim and I rearranged our travel plans so that we would be able to attend. I'm sure you don't really want all the details of the funeral. I mean, it was a funeral. She was actually Presbyterian and the rest of my family is Catholic, so it was kind of confusing because some of the prayers are different. Like what's up with the "debts and debtors" thing in the "Our Father"? My whole family stumbled over that one. There were three separate eulogies, and my dad did the one representing my part of the family. It was very touching, overall, and it affected me a lot more than I thought it would. I was glad that Jim was there for me, because he is a perfect boyfriend.

Anyway, after the services, we hobnobbed with family for a while. The highlight was probably me dropping a piece of cake on the floor in the church basement, and then walking over to my brother and saying, "I'm so embarrassed! I just totally dumped my cake on the floor!" and he said, "Yeah, we saw the whole thing. Nice one." I'm such an idiot. We ended up leaving for Toronto about 3:30, and after a quick stop at McDonald's, we were on our way.

We made really good time, because there are no traffic laws on the QEW, apparently. We ran into a little traffic as we got close to Toronto, but we were still there almost an hour earlier than I thought we would be. We found Dave and Tara's new house with no problem. This was the first time I've seen their new house, so I was very excited. Of course, being an idiot (see above), I didn't take any pictures to share with y'all. After freshening up, we went to dinner at a place called Shopsy's (I've mentioned it before -- it's the place with televisions right in the booths). This was fortuitous because I got to see Eddie win Big Brother without actually having to watch the show much. I really just wanted to see who won. Then, we went to see Best In Show, the new movie featuring the same cast as the brilliant Waiting For Guffman. It was just as funny. If you haven't seen Guffman, rent it. If you have the chance to see Show, do. That's my review. Funny. Lots of cute dogs. See it. We went back to Dave and Tara's house, and the boys played video games while Tara and I watched Popular and then had a nice chat about death and aging. I know it sounds like a downer, but it was a good talk. Suddenly, it was 3 AM! Time for bed.

The next day dawned bright and not so early. Well, Jim got up at like 9, but the rest of us slumbered until late morning. Soon, we were SHOPPING! I love shopping in Canada, because you can look at the prices and be shocked, and then do the conversion in your head and think, "Why, this only costs fifty cents!" So, it's great. Our first stop was a vintage store owned by a friend of Dave and Tara's. He wasn't there, but my perfect winter coat was! I've been looking for a new winter coat because the one I have is really unstylish and falling apart. Also, it's more of a parka, and on the rare occasion when I had to dress up for something, it just didn't work. Anyway, it's an army green wool coat with a faux-fur black collar, and it was only $40 Canadian! Granted, it's vintage and thus used, but I rarely find vintage clothes that fit me because women were really small back then, I guess. I checked it all over for moth holes, or unraveling seams, and it seemed sound, so I bought it. No pictures today, because I haven't showered, but I'll drop a picture in at some point of me in my new coat! I know you are all on the edge of your seats.

Anyway, we continued shopping and shopping. Jim was looking for cool Princess Mononoke merchandise, but he didn't find anything he really wanted. He did buy some Cuban cigars, but of course, he smoked them all in Canada and didn't bring any back to the States, because that would be illegal. We went to the fabulous candy store, Sugar Mountain, where we all went a little nuts. Dave bought soap gum, and made us all eat it. It tastes like soap. Jim liked it. I spit it out. Dave laughed. I also stocked up on some stuff from Lush because it smells good. I was also on the lookout for a new purse/bag as my current one was unsatisfying to me. I had been thinking about a Manhattan Portage style messenger bag, but then we found the Paul Frank devil monkey bag. I wasn't sure about it, but Tara peer-pressured me into buying it, and I'm really happy I did. As I walked to the register, I pointed at the monkey and then at Tara and mouthed, "You!" because she is the devil shopping buddy. She makes you buy stuff. But I love it. On the way home, I tried to come up with a funny name for the monkey. The best I could do was "Bobo the Satanic". Later, on ICQ, Tara came up with "Beelzebubbles" which is hilarious. She thinks she read it somewhere, but I'm just going to pretend that she made it up.

After so much shopping, we were tired out. We went back to the house and ate veggies and dip, and candy. Surprisingly, it all went well together. We watched Mystery Men, which Jim and I had never seen. It was really funny! Then Dave went to bed, and the rest of us watched the director's commentary on Clerks. It was interesting, but I wish Kevin Smith had thought to have more than one mike. Also, they turned the film's audio all the way down -- normally when there isn't any commentary, you can hear the movie. It was realy interesting, but the execution was kind of poor. But I know that he did the commentary originally for the laser disc, so maybe the technology wasn't as good back then. After that, we went to bed.

Jim and I woke up before Dave and Tara the next morning, and decided to set out in search of coffee. It was a beautiful day, and we walked up and down the street before finding a Portugese bakery, where we got coffee and doughnuts. Then, we went back where Dave and Tara were awake. We all sat out on their lovely back deck and chatted, while eating muffins and such. But, all good things must come to an end, and Jim and I wanted to get home before too late, so we headed out. It was a great weekend, although I wish we could have spent more time there. Sometimes life has other plans for you, I guess.

On the way home, we stopped at Ikea, because I'd never been to one before, and I'm looking for shelves or a curio to hold my snowglobes. We found a pretty cool one that fits in a corner, but after looking at it in the packaging, we decided it wouldn't fit in our car. Oh well. I'm sure I can find something similar at Target or something. It was neat just to go to the store, and now that we know where it is (and which exit to get off), we can always go back at some point.

Now the new television season starts! Also, we have a wedding to attend on Friday and I have a bridal shower on Saturday. Then, next week, Sars, djb and Gustave will be coming through town on their way to Toronto for a visit, so I hope to hook up with them. Then next weekend is Mary and Terry's wedding! I can't believe it's almost here! So, lots to look forward to, and lots to keep me busy.