murdles’ rantings

so…this year we did not plan on celebrating our anniversary with anything exciting.  i got nellie a book he had wanted called “the god delusion.”  but he decided to surprise me this year with a two-day getaway!

it all started when karen and i were talking one day as we were getting lost on our way to joe fresh.  i had mentioned that nellie and i were going away for two days the following weekend, but that nellie would not tell me where we were going.  and suddenly karen said the same thing!  but that they may be gone the whole weekend.  so we were like hmmm…we wondered.

so we had a wedding to attend that previous weekend (to the surprise weekend) and we began to test our boys.  karen prodded chris, but chris’ lips were sealed shut.  he would not budge.  so i thought i’d try because nellie is never good with secrets or surprises (i love you hun!). 

one night in the car i had said “so…does the surprise weekend have anything to do with chris and karen?”  and you can see nellie’s beady eyes dart back and forth and go wide-eyed and he says calmly “i don’t know what you’re talking about.  why?  what did karen say?”  so obviously i pump my fists back and forth and shout “it does!” and obviously he goes into defense mode and says “i have no idea what you are talking about!”  as he gives his toothy grin and chuckle.  so i innocently say “it’s okay if it doesn’t.  i don’t want to know the surprise.  i just wanted to know if it would be with them, because it’d be cool.”  and then he goes into an “aren’t I enough” attack.  but what got me was after a long pause, he says “what did karen say?”  HA!

so the day finally arrives and obviously i discover that the surprise is with chris and karen, which is awesome because they love having fun and we get along so well.  however, karen and i did think that we’d be dropped off somewhere while chris and nellie took off on us (inside joke).  surprise!

but they didn’t.  so we went for lunch in toronto and then afterwards the boys took over driving and navigating while karen and i had a cycle of sleeping and conversation as chris tried to hide the mapquest map he was using.  and then we arrived into elora…a quaint little town just outside of guelph.  we walked around, but most of the shops closed around 5.  we did visit a japanese green tea store where a real tea master educated us on green tea and had us view a clip of his appearance on a local show.  he was so passionate about green tea.  apparently his family grows it back in his hometown of kyoto, japan.  i discovered matcha dessert green tea.  lovely as an iced tea.

then we had a nice dinner at the local fancy restaurant H20 at the elora mills inn.  i had the tenderloin beef with gorgonzola mashed potatoes and veggies.  the dinner was delish.

we then headed back to the b&b and played this tornado game, where chris got so excited he almost took the whole game apart!  then nellie and i played othello, where he obviously beat me, as he does with every game we play.

at this point, we called it a night because apparently we would have to get up at 5:30am.  isn’t this supposed to be relaxing???  the b&b was nice enough to pack us a breakfast!

so karen and i did as we were told and woke up bright and early to head over to the park across the street to discover that we would be going on a ride in a hot air balloon!!!  it was truly awesome.  it was so quiet and calm, i could have stayed up there forever.  but obviously we couldn’t because we’d run out of fuel, or we’d run out of wind to ride on.  apparently we were very lucky because the other couple we were riding with had attempted this for the third time because the weather was not on their side the previous times.  the hot air balloon is so reliant on the wind that some rides would be as short as 6km.  ours was 1.15 hours and took us almost 32km.  it was awesome.  there’s nothing like just hanging in a basket at almost 750 feet up in the air.

so karen and i thought that would be it, but nope there was more!  after having brunch at the only place that was open in elora (a really great greasy spoon type place), we were on the road again.  we did not know where we were headed, so once again karen and i cycled through conversation and sleep.  when we awoke, we discovered we were going to stratford!  the boys had bought us tickets to watch “of mice and men.”  okay…i’m never good with plays that are really really dark and there is no singing, so i admit, i drifted off to sleep once in a while.  but the parts i caught were really really good.  i never read the book, nor watched any of the movies, but it was deep.

and after the play, we headed back into Toronto, where we crashed for a bit on chris and karen’s couch and then tried to have dinner at a Korean restaurant, where the host was rude, so we ended up at a Thai place, which was simply satisfying.

thank you boys, for planning such an amazing two days.  it is still surreal to me, as it seemed to happen with the blink of an eye.  i’m just glad i took pictures to document most of the weekend!

you can see the pictures in my photos section (under “people” and the look for “the anniversary surprise 2007″). enjoy!

it was going to be such a beautiful weekend that I was so eager to go out and do stuff.

saturday…

i discovered the dollarstore…dollarama is heaven.  they have everything…one even sells bread.  they have scrapbook stickers, kitchen utensils, bowls, food…etc.  EVERYTHING!  i got lost in there, so i ended up making myself late to my naturopath appointment.  on my way there, i was going 110-120km per hour and halfway there I almost got myself into a serious accident.  one car going 60km came out into my lane to try to avoid hitting the cars that were stopped in his lane.  luckily i anticipated that, so i slowed down to about 90-100km…but he ended up, i guess, trying to avoid me, so he swerved back into his own lane that he hit a car.  so i had already slammed on the brakes at this point (everything flying forward in my car) and I looked over.  luckily, no one was hurt.  i debated whether to call 911 but i selfishly kept going because i was already late for my appointment.  i’m just happy no one hit me from behind.  i was a bit shaken up at this point, so after my appointment, i took the side roads.

so, after that eventful morning, i decided to wash my car for the first time.  i wanted my gentle touch on it.  needless to say, i won’t have a career in car washing because i went against my gut instinct and decided to use a scouring pad on my shiny car to get rid of the hard to get off crusty spots.  so…now parts of my car are all scratched up.

then, i took up knitting to calm myself right down.  =P

sunday…

i had a lot of chores to catch up on, but i was so tired, i decided to let myself sleep until i woke up.  i woke up at noon.  it was a great sleep.  but i guess i was still groggy because i went to go cut some bread for my sandwich and i sliced my finger open.  okay, if  you saw it, you’d probably say that it is nothing.  and you’re right, it certainly doesn’t need stitches, but you could see the layer just below the subcutaneous tissue, whether that’s muscle or fat, i did not want to split open to take a look.  i was just concerned about the bleeding.  so, again…day two…and i’m back to that shaken up faze.

gotta take my bach flower mix that my naturopath gave me.  she says its like a natural ativan.

sigh…

okay…so my wonderfully amazing cousin (hehe), karen, has introduced me to the wonderfully amazing world of facebook…which is kinda like myspace, but probably less fraud and spam.  i’m obsessed with this now.  thanks karen.

an update on me since chinese new year…

i started seeing a naturopath for my eczema and i’m on these homeopathic unda drops and some other herbal remedies in hopes that my hands can look normal again.  its like a horrific site everytime i look at my hands.  i put myself on a diet as well, TRYING to stay away from red meats, dairy, and breads (and junk food) because i’m giving my liver a rest so that when i start these foods again, i may be able to detect for myself what are my “trigger” foods.

i think dairy is a big part of my eczema because i recently tried to eat a bit of cheese again and my hands started itching a bit.  its great to finally go on this diet though because although i sneaked in some garlic bread and cheese…and okay some chocolate chip cookies…i see the portions on my plate getting better (meaning that there are more veggies and good meats) AND i’m eating more fish!  (I usually dislike fish).

what else?

oh…i have my first ding on my car.  i cannot tell you how it happened because i am quiet embarrassed and i did a baaaad thing.  so after all those years of being afraid to drive, now i’m afraid to park.  that might give you a hint.

anything else?

well, i got a new digital SLR camera…gift from hunbun…THANKS!  i need to use it more, but i just have no time.  but i love it.  oh wait, i already told you about the camera. the pictures from my last post were from that new camera.

yah…my life is pretty boring.  it consists of eating, going to work, coming home from work, eating, sleeping and then it happens all over again.