lacking in the visual

i've been out more in the past half-week than in the past couple of months and taken hardly any pictures. i guess that's the way it goes.

saturday night was chris' bachelor party and silvia's bachelorette, or so i thought. we got dressed up and went downtown. j dropped me off at the bar. the girls weren't there. i called chris to find out where silvia was and found out the party was the next night. so i called everyone i knew but no one was downtown. thankfully sylvia had already asked me over so i called her and headed over.

j headed to the drunk tank. let's just say the bachelor party was like any other and j had a good time. and i had a good time with sylvia, and later alan. we got home just before 4am and slept in like champs.

sunday we had the usual dinner with j's grandparents and then i went back downtown but this time met up with the girls. there were 5 of us at a swanky martini lounge. it wasn't what i was expecting.. more of a girls night out than a bachelorette party, but i had a great time. it was a good mix of people and a lot of fun. i still giggle thinking of silvia asking the hot bartender for a 'sexual pleasure' and then later asking for an 'easy tiger', you know, to lead him on and then turn him down. it was funny.

last night i had dinner made for me again. with j out of town (oh, j's out of town this week) his family must feel bad for me and is cooking me meals and hanging out with me. it's very nice. this time it was his parents. i really appreciate it. cooking for one just isn't any fun.

and on that note, i invited sylvia and lindsay over for a girls night in and we ordered chinese food. again, good times. rolo got a little cranky that we were hanging out in the living room and knocked over a picture frame we got in costa rica. i was surprised at my own reaction: it's totally fine. i know that j will try and fix it and he'll probably do a really good job and it'll be more us because it's broken and we have cats who knock things over.

and now i get to veg out on the couch. i have enough left over chinese food to last me for a while, though i might need to buy some salad to counteract the deep fried goodness that is chinese food, but i have lunch for tomorrow and likely for the rest of the week.

and i'm getting another dinner made for me thursday night when i go and mooch off my parents... i mean, when i go visit them. i'm on a mission though: book them a trip somewhere hot for right after christmas. they deserve a vacation. to ward off high blood pressure, the cold ottawa winter and such.

and i can dream about what i'm going to do with my remaining 5 vacation days. hmmm...

trans-siberian orchestra

j and i went to see the trans-siberian orchestra last night. they do nice christmas music and that was about all i knew about them. holy crap, was it ever a fantastic show.



we had seats on the floor and were snowed on twice.



the music was awesome and loud and perfect. j liked the pretty girl singers, though they were porn star-ish at times.



if you ever get a chance to see these guys live, do it! we were blown away.

this and that

- i just got an email from alan about human remains being found right near where we were hiking saturday. that's only a little creepy.

- i just set the date for my third annual cookie exchange party. i haven't been extremely social this fall and was wondering if anyone even remembered that it was coming up and then i got a message about it on my facebook. people do remember and even look forward to it. that feels nice.

- i have a four-day training course coming up. tomorrow and thursday and then next wednesday and thursday too. it's leadership for first time managers. it couldn't have better timing with my acting coming up december 1st.

- it gets dark early with the time change and i'm finding that i'm getting tired earlier and i'm crankier. maybe i just need more chocolate.

- i'm almost at the point where i'm going to break down and go and see my doctor. my body still isn't right after cuba. i thought whatever it was would pass. it didn't and i broke down last week and talked to a pharmacist who gave me some drugs. the drugs helped somewhat but i'm still not right.

- i just found out that our friend chris proposed to his girlfriend and is getting married next wednesday. so we have bachelor/bachelorette parties to go to friday night. crazy.

saturday fun

we went on a hike with L, S and A yesterday. beaver trail is part of the ncc's greenbelt. it was chilly but fine when you're moving.



we were on the lookout for beavers, but instead saw tons of chickadees. they would fly right up to you, swerve and fly away. but then we stopped at a little lookout point and i put my hand up, joking that they would just come and land in my hand, and then ONE DID! i freaked out because it felt like something bit my finger. everyone was laughing at me, but then they all put their hands out hoping one would come to them.



it was fun.

cuba

cuba was a whirlwind trip. we went to playa caleta in varadero. it was a 3.5 star resort but was beautiful. it was the beginning of high season so the resort was pretty empty when we got there. we had an ocean view.



we spent most of our time lounging beside the pool but also chasing around these guys:



we called them spring-tailed lizards because when they ran, their tails wound up behind them. they were fun.

we went to the city of matanzas, which was the cultural center of cuba before the capital, havana city, took over. matanzas was our glimpse of actual cuban life. we also saw the bellamar caves, the biggest tourist attraction in cuba. the cave was enormous and the weird part was that it was hot and humid in the cave unlike here, where caves are generally cool.



the resort had a different show every night, and joe, one of the guys from the animacion team would come into the lobby right before 10pm and shout "show time!" over and over. he was fun. the shows were much better than we were expecting. there was dancing and singing and aquatic ballet... everything that j wants to do when he grows up. unfortunately they weren't accepting applications. he contented himself with watching the pretty cuban girls in thongs.



it was interesting learning about cuba and how things work down there. we finally got the nerve to ask our waiter how cubans can afford cars when the salaries range from (the equivalent of) $10-20 US a month. (the answer: it isn't easy.) we enjoyed it but probably wouldn't go back to varadero, not that it wasn't beautiful and fun, just in a been-there-done-that kind of way. i would recommend cuba, but bring some anti-diarrheal medicine. take it from someone who knows.

quick note

a quick note to let you know that we're back from cuba. it was beautiful and fun and relaxing.. and i can say all that even though my stomach hated the food and my body is still protesting.

j is on training all week and i'm catching up on the million and one things i have to do at work. funfunfun.

it's official

i've been dreaming about cuba for a while now and tonight we made it official: we're going to cuba this saturday! like in 48 hours! FOR REAL!!!

monday i went off on a trip-tangent and researched churchill, manitoba for a bit until i realized that you have to book WELL in advance. definitely something to keep in mind for future travel, but this trip is all about cuba. cuba cuba cuba.

we're going to playa caleta in varadero from saturday to saturday. it's rated pretty high and has windsurfing included (j's happy). we'll take lots of pictures.

one more day of work and then play.