Garlic and Ornaments and Planes, Oh My!

Work was just a typical Friday. Lots to do and hyper people everywhere. LOL. Steph came in for a "surprise" visit. I knew she was coming but some of the peeps she used to work with didn't know so that was the surprise part. Especially Giggles. Their reaction was by far the best :)

Steph kidnapped me with the promise of free admission to a rather large craft show and sale. Can't say no to that. But en route to dinner, I got us side tracked. As we were driving and chatting, I suddenly told her "pull in here!". I've been looking for a specific item for my brother for Christmas and figured that this particular store would have it.

OMG. I have to say, that was the most poorly laid out store I've ever been in. Not only could you not find anything, but we couldn't find staff to help either. I'm convinced we could have played hide and seek in there for hours. By some miracle, we found what we were looking for and it was in the "Clearance" section. Except it wasn't marked down. Didn't care. I found what I wanted. Next trick: find the cashier. That was actually harder than you think it should be given that stores typically want you to pay for things. We finally found a till an thankfully, there was a staff member there. I asked her about the shirt since it was in the clearance section but wasn't marked down. She was nice and went and asked a manager. The manager knocked $15 off the price. Sweet. I paid for my purchase and the clerk put it in a ridiculously oversized bag. In fact, Steph asked if she could get in the bag and have me carry her out of the store.

We continued on our way and made it to a mall to grab some dinner. We both must have been rather hungry as it only took us 2 minutes to decide where to eat. This is usually a much longer and drawn out process. While eating, we had a bird's eye view of Santa's Village and got to watch people having their photos to Santa. It was rather entertaining, especially when the two teens girls got their photo done and Santa keep squeezing them in close to him.

Now that we had some food in our system and had the energy to shop and explore, we hit the Craft Show and Sale. It really was quite large. One of my former co-workers was working at a booth there so she took our coats for us, so that was handy. We wandered and explored and bought some gifts and ate a bunch of free samples, a surprising number of which contained garlic. Since we were both going to be in the same car together, we felt it was safe for us to eat the garlic. Nothing's worse than smelling garlic on someone else. But if you both eat it, it's all good! It was very nice and a good way to spend a cold, rainy evening. Even better was that Steph got the admission tickets for free! Before we left, we hit up the bathroom (no great shock there). Since the show was getting ready to close, several women made the same pit stop as us.

While we were in the stalls, a cleaning person came in and she was talking to a supervisor on her walkie talkie. The man said "once we have evacuated the facility..." What now? The lady in the stall next to me said "Well that doesn't sound good." Everyone laughed. I said "I wonder what they're not telling us" and she replied "I don't know but it can't be good. Pee faster!". The woman on the walkie talkie was now laughing at us all. I'm sure the supervisor meant that once the facility emptied out, not evacuated. But still, it was amusing.

Once we got to the car, Steph was getting bottles of water from the trunk and we're just chatting away. All of a sudden, a jet takes off from the airport (which is literally right across the street from where we were) and both of us jump a good foot in the air. Since it was so cloudy, the sound was really bouncing back and it sounded like the damn plane was in the parking lot with us. And it kind of startled us. I guess we were on the jumpy side tonight.

I really need to get to bed. I'm still sleepy from my late night last night and now from my long day today. Sleep is sooooo good!

Good Night!

Sarah

Christmas Lights and Beavertails

I feel like a bit of a rebel. I stayed out quite late this evening, especially since I have to work tomorrow. LOL. It's funny. I'm a grown woman and can come and go as I please yet I still think it's naughty or whatever to stay out late on a "work night". I know, crazy. As I was coming in my neighbour down the hall was heading out to hockey so I guess I'm not all that late.

It was a very fun evening. Myself, Xtina and 3 co-workers all headed up to Parliament Hill to see the kick off celebrations for "Christmas Lights Across Canada". They were very nice.

It started with someone doing a mini-concert on the Peace Tower Bells and then a youth choir sang (they were really good) and there were a few speeches, more singing, and then they lit the lights and some fireworks went off and the capital was all lit up.

We all managed to get candles too, so that we could be part of the "lights" on the hill. I'm pretty sure everyone of us got wax on ourselves and/or out mitts/gloves.

 

 

 

 

After the show, we did a quick tour of the back of Parliament Hill and then went to the Chateau Laurier to warm up and see the Trees of Hope. One of us attempted to turn the hotel into a wax museum but dropping not one, but two candles on the floor, each of which left a nice pile of hard wax behind. And it wasn't me. I swear.

 

Once warm, we opted to hit up the Beavertail stand since the line up on the Hill had been way too long.

So off we went. Despite it being friggin' cold, we all took off out mitts to each the wonderful creation that is the Beavertail. I had apples and cinnamon on mine and it was amazing. I haven't had a Beavertail in about 2 years so it was a real treat. Factor in that I was really hungry and cold and that made the Beavertail seem like the most delicious thing ever.

We then decided that we needed real food so we wandered over to the mall and ate at the restaurant there. It was very nice. They stuck us downstairs next to a group having an office Christmas party so we had a little bit of entertainment along the way. Atleast I think it was a Christmas party. Who knows.

All in all, it was a great evening/night spent with some very cool people. We got to participate in a some very Canadian activities, kept re-lighting each other when the damn wind kept blowing our candles out, player tourist, got a little sticky, had some good food and had quite a few laughs. That's definitely my kind of fun. Except for the cold. That wasn't very nice. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Cheap Chicken and A Man In A Skirt

It was a very successful day out shopping with Stephanee. To start off, I had awesome hair today. While killing time this morning, I decided to break out the hot curlers and go to town. It was very fun "Saturday Hair". We managed to avoid getting into any real trouble. Steph did get a rather nasty look in the Dollarama from some lady after Steph laughed just a little too loud. And I found the perfect santa hat for myself there too.

We also discovered and awesome deal for lunch/dinner. There's a place called Scores, which it a chicken place (Like Swiss Chalet or St. Huebert) and it's got an all you can eat soup/salad bar. Well, as we discovered, when you order the 1/4 chicken dinner, not only does it come with a side, but it comes with the free salad bar. So for a grand total of $13.28 (with tax), we got a 1/4 chicken breast, fries, dipping sauce, a roll and all the soup/salad/fruit we wanted. We got our money's worth and both left with a take out container of chicken. Super awesome! And the waitress was great too. So all in all, it was a good call.

Moving on to Walmart...it was a mostly routine visit until...we were just making out way to the cash when some fun t-shirts caught our eyes. While we were looking at them, I looked up and saw a man walking by. He had grey hair, a really long beard (think ZZ Top) and was wearing a women's padded white spaghetti strap tank top and short cut denim skirt. It was a total "People of Walmart" moment. Wow. Really don't know what to say about that.

I managed to get a new light weight winter coat at 50% off. I love surprise Saturday sales. They rock.

Tomorrow Steph and I are at it again but it will be a much more somber and dignified day. Or at least the morning will be. We're heading downtown for the National Remembrance Day ceremonies. Then we're hitting a craft sale and Costco. I trip across the river to hunt down jeans for Steph might be in that mix too.

I hope that everyone takes a moment tomorrow to reflect on what living a free country truly means and to think about all those people who came before us. All those who fought bravely and proudly and some of whom made the greatest sacrifice of all - so that we could have that freedom. And please don't forget the ones who continue to serve for our country. Lest We Forget.

Good Night!

Sarah

Hair - with the fun curlers in.

 

Finished product. Lots of curls!

 

The fun "Princess Santa Hat" that I found in the doller store.