Some friendships never die

Over this past weekend, my best girlfriends from Queen’s and I got together to celebrate our 10 year friendship anniversary.  We can finally call ourselves “old friends”, which is awesome.  We spent the weekend camping at Emily Park and spent most of our time relaxing at the beach or around the camp fire and chatting about our lives then and now.  It was great.

I really have to say there is nothing better than getting together with people who know you really well.  These girls are like sisters to me.  We met in residence in first year, and lived together for the three years after that.  Can you imagine?  There were 5 of us girls for 4 years, and although we had some rough times, we were always super tight.  It was a total blessing for my school years, and I’m so happy that when we get together, it’s like we’re still just as close. 

Needless to say, I had a really good weekend – even a little bit of rain couldn’t put a damper on the fun.  I love you girls! 

Another Christmas season come and gone

It’s been a great break. I’ve really enjoyed having time off, and I’m really happy to say that it was also a really fun and generally pretty relaxed Christmas.

Once M was finally free for the holidays, we headed down to the Sarnia area. Instead of the stress of wedding planning and having to drive between Sarnia and Kitchener, we were able to celebrate with both sides of the family all in one area. (Thanks Wends for hosting). It was really good – everything seemed easier and less overwhelming. It totally helps that the nieces and nephews now know me and are comfortable around me. In fact, the nieces were even a little besotted with me, getting annoyed if I didn’t sit between them. M’s parents also finished the basement at their place so there was more room to juggle the 8 people and 2 dogs residing there. M and I even got to spend some time together, which was really nice seeing as it’s been crazy at times this year.

It was also really nice to not have to travel nearly as far to spend time with my family. It was really nice that everyone agreed to move the traditional call to Africa to a later time, seeing as this year the plans on their side of the ocean were a little different too. It was good to have a brief chat, because I have to say, I really miss that tradition when it comes to Christmas. Last year I was lucky, and I got to have my aunt and cousin here for a few weeks over the wedding, but still I missed it. Going forward, I really hope we can find a balance of getting to see my family and doing some of their regular traditions too. But we’ll work on it. Either way, dinner with Christmas pudding, mince pies and brandy butter really hit the spot.

Christmas spoils were good this year too. M splurged and got me a new camera seeing as my digital has been on the fritz for some time now. I was so surprised because I had convinced myself it was Degrassi High on DVD by the shape of the parcel. Oops! I got M an awesome Hurley shirt that he loves. Wends spoiled us with goodies from England. It was great. There were tons of other prezzies, but I won’t list them all so that people don’t get too bored!

Once we got back from Sarnia, Marty and I had some time to recover (ie spend his work bonus of gift certificatesto Yorkdale mall) before heading to Haliburton with friends to celebrate New Year’s. There ended up being 14 of us in the end, and it was pretty fun. We hooked up some prime ice skating on the lake and drank enough hot chocolate to last me for a while. We played card games and board games. It was fun and I enjoyed myself, though I do have to confess, I’m not really a New Year’s kind of gal. I don’t put that much stock in it so it doesn’t take much to for me to have at least a little bit of fun. I also have to confess I was really to get back home and spend time with M again after having so many people around all day long.

Now, I’m enjoying the last bits of my vacation. We had a nice dinner with Rachel and Nick last night. M and I hit the gym together today, which was good. It’s nice to have someone who knows what they are doing with the machines explain a few things to me. But reality also creeped in because I bought my school books today too while we were on campus. Sigh- I guess I really do have to go back to class on Monday.

At least I’ve got another book to finished before I get there.

A very busy weekend

Sheesh!  Just when I’ve been trying to get in to the swing of things when it comes to school work, I land with the first of three very busy weekends for me in September.

Friday night was the QPT AGM and BBQ.  It was really good to spend some time hanging out with that crew, especially since I haven’t seen quite a few of them since we did the show in June.  It was good – we had lots of beers (sweet beer) and lots of food.  Shout out to Amy and Peter for being our gracious hosts in their new and almost renovated house.  In the end, we also got some business done.  We collectively elected a new executive board, and I’m proud to say I will get to sit on it for another year.  It’s good because even if I don’t have too much time during school, I’m still helping plan events and I’m a part of the club!

Saturday was good – It started of easy, I slept in a little bit.  Then I got up and did some reading for tomorrow, before I had to get showered and head to KW for Roshan and Stephen’s engagement party.  It was a good road trip as Nick and Rachel came along too.  We hit up the party, which was expertly planned, but a tad overwhelming at the BBQ got moved inside due to the rain, and there was about 65 people there and kind of loud.  But it was good – the soon to be Chancellors and the Barons decided to sit and have a nice chat on the front porch while periodically making food and drink runs in to the house.  We left in the early evening, and made one other quick stop before heading home – ok, wait two.  The first was Value Village – a treat, seeing as the ones in Toronto are usually super picked over already by the hipster crews and such.  I managed to find two sweaters, a scarf, three pairs of earrings and a brooch for 25$.  Sweet!  Nick also found some duds, which was good.  After that our last stop was Dairy Queen before heading back.

The drive home was rainy, but good.  We were glad to be back, we Wii-ed it up a little then settled on watching Vantage Point on Rogers on Demand.  Very good movie.  It’s a little stressful at first, and a little overwhelming to constantly be changing perspectives, but I enjoyed how it played out in the end.  And really, it’s a pretty clever concept.  I recommend it.

Today was even crazier.  I got up at 7:30 to start my reading.  I managed to get quite a bit done.  Then it was showering, hitting up the bulk barn and heading to Rachel’s sis’ place where were hosted a bridal shower for her.  We had a great showing, not too many cheesy games and lots of great food.  We had girl time and Rachel got spoiled with some great gifts that I’m positive Nick will appreciate too! 

Tonight was also a busy one.  David did his last sermon as senior pastor of FT.  It’s sad to see him go, but he’s got some new adventures to pursue.  Plus we’ll definitely see him and Jen around town.  They’re not moving to Siberia or anything.  It was a good celebration, and a good close to a chapter in the life of FT.

Baby steps from here.

Weeeeee!

Last night was so much fun!  M and I went to visit our friends Rachelle and Dave (who got married on July 5th) for the first time since they’ve been back from their wedding.  It was really good to see them – and we brought overall hilarity because we taught them our new favourite card/board game Bohnanza (a.k.a. THE BEAN GAME!).  We’d learned about it when we went to Rachel’s cottage earlier this summer, and we’re now passing on the joy.

After Rachelle’s successfully wiped the floor clean with all of the rest of us, Dave decided to do a little game sharing of his own, but on a different scale – it was Guitar Hero on his Wii.  M loved it, but I’m really bad at that wretched game, so I sat out.  But then we got another new experience – to try the Wii Fit.  And I’m totally in love!  I’ve been wanting one since I first saw the commercials for it, but I’m totally sold after last night.  Not only are you having fun, but you really do work your muscles. 

Thanks Dave and Rachelle!

A mammoth post for a mammoth weekend

I feel kinda bummed that I broke my daily blogging record, but it’s been really busy. (Plus, I was periodically unable to access my blog during the day, which makes it harder to blog regularly). Oh, and last week I had an appointment every evening, and I had two people’s workload all week. Blarg. That being said, it’s on to the fun of the weekend.

Friday after work, M and I traveled to Sombra to visit his parents. It was a super easy trip, and barely and bad traffic – not even at the bottle-neck where the 401 and 410 meet. Crazy! We made it there around 8:30, and normally we arrive between 9:00 and 10:00. We has also arrived just before some serious rain, which was lucky as well. Soon it was bed time, but we woke up early on Saturday to enjoy the sunshine and great weather.  Well, truthfully, it wasn’t really that intentional.  The clock in the basement hadn’t been switched with day light savings, and was one hour later than it actually was.  So I woke up at what I thought was 9:00, had breakfast, and went for a swim – then discovered it was only 10 AM!  Seriously.

Oh well – it worked out well, seeing as Marty and I had a relaxed morning – and it was a good chance to catch up with everyone.  It was a full house, considering that Jen, Mike and the nieces were also visiting this weekend.  But of course, there was tons of space, tons to do outside and it was good to keep us all entertained.  Especially with the neighbours having a pool we were free to use at any time.

I called sister just after 11:00 and invited her to join the family – she couldn’t resist the lure of the pool either, and came for a swim and dinner just as the nephews and Marty’s brother came.  It was good – we had a really fun time chatting and playing “bumhole” (a.ka. Asshole), and even some Ucher with Marg.  After an awesome BBQ dinner, we all relaxed and went to bed quite early (yeah, like 10 pm).  Wow.

Sunday was nice too – when we got up, M and I had a nice little “just the two of us” breakfast set up for us on the deck.  Then just the two of us went for a swim, and it was really nice to have some time for just the two of us before the rest of the family came over to swim too.  We had a good time all around before we packed up and headed out.  The drive home was good too – we made it back to the city just around 6 or so.  M and I decided to continue to chilled out together time and watched Across the Universe and ate some pizza.  The movie was really, really good – I love Julie Taymor – and it was a nice evening.

Monday was a whole new adventure – I got up early and M dropped me off at Union Station so I could head to Oshawa to meet up with the girls from Apt 3.  It was good – I managed to find Nushin and Farah on the train and we had a chance to catch up.  Farah is back visiting from school, as she’s just about done her med degree at Leichester.  Nush is now back from the same program and working in Brampton.  It’s sooo good to have them back in Canada, so it was doubly nice to get a chance to find out what they’ve been up to. 

Once we got to the ‘Shwa, a very tanned Court picked us up and we got to catch up with her and all the things she’s been doing on her summer off (she’s a teacher).  We then got to see Al’s place and wedding pics while we waited to Jen – then we were off to the beach a Coburg.  I was totally impressed!  The beach there is really, really nice!  Plus it was the sand castle festival so there were tons of awesome things to see.  All of girls got to relax and catch up with what’s going on in each others lives and plot fun for our 5 year homecoming this fall for Queen’s.  Seriously, I love these ladies.  Can you imagine we’ve been good friends since we met in residence in first year?  Wow.

Overally, twas a good weekend – now I have to fast the rest of the dreaded Tuesmonday.

Reconnecting

Ok – so more baby steps.

Yesterday, I finally stopped sitting on my want to catch up with my awesome pal from Queen’s Matty B and I gave him a call. It was funny. I said “It’s Felicity!”, and he was like “Who?”. Funny one. Either way, it was really good to talk to him and to find out that he’s been just a crazy as me with all the stuff he’s been doing lately. It also re-affirmed that good friends are forgiving! Woot!

Last night was another reconnection. I went out to the new Milestone’s in the AMC complex in Dundas Square with my friend Michelle. We drank an ultimate bellini and caught up – we haven’t seen each other since November – and there’s been tons going on in our lives. It was really nice to hear how she’s thriving at her job, she still madly in love with her BF and all is well.

I guess I can do this!

Dinner and beyond

Last night as there were so few of us that could meet for LR, Rachel and I were invited over to dinner shindig that was happening at Enoch’s place.  I walked a little late but was greeted with enthusiasm, and a nice cold, homemade Mojito.  Excellent!

The dinner was nice – it was with a great bunch of people I know but haven’t spent time with in a long time.  Lots of awesome food made by Nicole, Karl’s fiancee.  We just chatted, had drinks, relaxed and got to know each other a bit more.  I can’t even tell you how great it was to go out and do that again with people I know.  Especially ones from my church.  I’ve been feeling so much like I’m in limbo these days, and totally disconnected from my church community, that it felt really good to socialize with them.  Plus the people I was chillin with were all a bunch of hipster city kids – and it made me remember some of the great feelings of being a cool city kid.

It seems there has been so much change in my life that I feel like I’ve had to say “Hello grown up married type Felicity” and goodbye to “gregarious fun-loving Felicity”.  It’s a crappy feeling because the grown up Felicity feels a little too innondated with the seriousness of life.  I’ve been really scared that I’m losing my ability to be social and to make connections…or even worse, that’s I’m no longer worth making those connections with.  Maybe that explains why I’m so nervous to catch up with some of my friends.  I can’t meet them as my fun loving self because that girl is tucked away somewhere. 

But it’s all about baby steps, right?  Last night was a good one.  I’m still fun, and outgoing, and friendly.  And I can carry on a conversation.  Another one was resetting my iPod and listening to my awesome tunage while commuting to work sur la TTC.  It reminded me that I’m still that music lover, I’m still a city girl. 

Now I just need to get back in to my skinny jeans.

A sort of long weekend

It’s come and gone.  The Canada weekend spectacular at the Duncan cottage is over.  It was full of adventures, drinking, and peeing in the woods!

Friday afternoon, M and I left the city early (3:00) but still landed in the mass exodus of cars leaving the city.  In the end, we were glad of the early departure, because it could have been WAY worse.  We met up with Dave and Danielle in Peterbourough and followed them all the way to Shawville, QC where we snagged the keys from Dave’s parents and headed to the cottage.  Now, let me explain, Dave’s cottage is a wonderful little house with no running water and an outhouse out back – totally a great place to have crazy good times, especially when you’ve got cold beer – which we did!  That was the first thing we had before heading to bed.

Saturday brought more people to the cottage – Dave’s cousin Rob and Danielle’s sister Lisa plus her awesome puppy, Tia. Then Andrew and Ericka came from Ottawa.  We had a relazing, partly rainy day, playing board games, reading and chatting.  We even managed to squeeze in a swim before dinner of organic beef steaks, potatoes and an awesome dessert made by Ericka.  After dinner we did some fun DIY fire works by the water at Norway Bay before coming back to hang out some more and go to bed.

Sunday was just as relaxing – for the most part – until we decided to have a brilliant stupid idea of hiking to a swimming hole nearby with Tia and with Dave’d parent’s dog Bridget.  It was a good plan overall because this swimming hole is awesome – it’s where I bumped my keister last summer when I chickened out on jumping off a rock.  HOWEVER – we did not fully take into account the fact that we were traipsing through a wooded area that was muddy and exceptionally slick because of a major rain the night before.  M, Lisa, Tia and I went in first, and managed to get somewhere though there were a few falls on the way, and a few nervous moments where Tia went a little to close to the edge of the fast moving water than we would like.  Then we discovered we were at the top of the falls, not the bottom and had to walk crawl on our bums down a rock face towards the pool.  Tia was the first down, moving straight into the water (God loves puppies who can swim) but she couldn’t get out of the slippery rocks to find Lisa!  Marty rescued her, and all three of us and the dog managed to test the waters a little bit. 

Then came adventure part 2.  Dave, Rob, and Danielle arrived with Bridget, a super dominant and slightly aggressive German Sheppard.  YIKES!  This got complicated because she wasn’t well behaved at all and nearly pulled Dave into the water when trying to get towards Tia.  Then she started biting at Tia, and they started a little fighting right on the edge of the fast moving water!  NOT COOL!  We all panicked a little, separated them, and quickly made the call that this was a BAD idea and scrambled out of there.  Dave, Danielle and Bridget left first.  Then the rest of us left together.  We managed to keep the dogs separated and then opted to swim in the bay instead.  That was until lightening and thunder rolled in.  We made it back to the cottage just in time – and apparenely we just missed a huge tree crashing on the beach at the bay too!

Waiting for us at the cottage was more friends, Ash and Maria, who chilled with us the rest of the time.  Lisa unfortunately had to take off with Tia, but we were a new crew of people.  We had dinner – and after that I had to head off to the Duncan’s house to sleep, because unlike everyone else, I had to work on Monday!  Luckily I had the option of going in to the Ottawa office, so it was an easy commute in with Mr. Duncan and an easy day at the call centre.  I was later picked up by the cottage crew who has decided to foray in to Ottawa to look around a little.  It was too bad is started to pour there too so we jumped back in the car and headed back to have an awesome dinner of BBQ burgers.

Yesterday was the last day – we relaxed in the morning in the sun! (I got a little sunburn – finally some colour!)  After tucking in, we cleaned up and headed back to civilization.  We left about 2:00 and made it home just before 8:00 last night.  All in all a good trip.

Thanks Dave for hosting!

I’m senstive and it sucks!

Now that this whole process is over and done with for now, I’m feeling like I’m ready to get back on track with all my friends.  Trouble is, it’s a little daunting.  It’s like emerging from a pit and suddenly saying “Here I am – what’s new?” when everyone else is a way past that point.  They’ve been living their lives since I dissapeared.  And I’m sensitive about it – meaning that I’m kinda feeling a little bit like a lump on a log – do I have a place now that everyone has moved on?

I think I’ve been feeling blue on this bit for a while – mostly because a lot of transition has happened over the last year and a bit.  I went from single girl with a broken heart to girl in love, to engaged girl, to married lady, to school work nazi, and then back to life.  It’s a lot to process, and it’s hard to see where you fit in anymore, especially when your good friends are transitioning too.  I’m terrible at staying in touch, but I’m still wanting to be a good friend.  Yikes.

Anyway.  I’m sensitive about this whole thing – I’ve felt a little bit like I’ve failed my friends by not being around, and so I’ve been second guessing myself as to whether or not I was worth being friends with at all.  And that’s a BAD way of thinking.  I dunno.  Maybe the dramaqueen just needs to chill out and leave the drama out of it.

Baby steps.

I’m a terrible correspondent!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about just how bad of a correspondent (and possibly long term friend) I am.

Let me explain what I mean.

I am a person who loves to meet new people and to forge new friendships.  Trouble is, I’m really bad a staying in touch with people when they aren’t in my immediate circle.  For example, my good friends from Jets Go, who I no longer see on an almost daily basis, don’t get nearly as many emails and correspondence from me as they should.  Why?  I’m not sure.  I think it’s because I get very wrapped up in my immediate circumstances that I forget to send all the emails that I’ve intented.  Hating talking on the phone at length is also an issue.  I just can’t pull off long hour long coversations over the phone like I used to in high school.  I mean, it does happen every now and then, but it’s rare.

I ponder about this – mostly because these days I feel like I’m even struggling to keep up with friends in current life circle.  Life has changed a lot.  I planned a wedding, got married and changed where I live.  I’ve also undertaking 3 university courses that have to be done in a very short amount of time.  I don’t have time for my husband, let alone for me and let alone for my friends.  And this bothers me.  

I know, I know.  Most people say “Forget about it!”  and “If they’re your real friends, they’ll understand”.  But how long can I expect them to understand without sending out a little love?  One-sided relationships suck.  For serious.  

I guess I ponder about it because I don’t want to be selfish.  I don’t want to feel like my friends have to continue to care about me and love me when I’m not doing all in my power to love them.  But then again, right now, all that’s in my power is the ability to say “I love you, and still care, I just need to get this shit done first”.  

I’m torn.