What a way to spend the weekend - poor Seth had to take care of me for the past 3 days because I've been seriously under the weather. What started with some nausea and grossness early Friday morning has carried through all the way to today. Needless to say, there's not much to report on our past weekend - but I'll try...
Friday, since I was off sick from work, I went out and rented a few movies - Pursuit of Happyness (for me to watch that afternoon, as Seth had ZERO interest in watching it - according to him, the entire plot and meaning of the movie could be gathered from the preview - I say, cynic....) + Bobby. Seth had a busy busy day at work, so he came home exhausted (as usual) and sadly enough, we didn't have enough energy to watch Bobby, and were actually in bed before 10pm.
The next day I thought I was feeling better, so I headed up to Markham with Seth in tow - the plan was for me to pick up Liz and make our way over to the Baby Show in Mississauga, and for Seth and Greg to chill out, doing what boys do - drink beer, watch sports, play xbox. Well, the Baby Show wasn't as rife with giveaways as one would be led to believe, and the walking around for the couple of hours we were there killed my fragile health state. We made our way back to Markham, I met G&L's new member of their family (and still-nameless puppy), and Seth and I headed home. I knew before I even got home that going out that day was a mistake - and I paid for it dearly on Sunday - which I spent literally, sleeping, all day.
Seth on the other hand actually had some energy and got out of our quarantined house for some baseball practice in the cold weather. Nice way for him to spend the afternoon - especially as I was hogging the couch all day.
So that's it - no other news here. I woke up still feeling really crappy, and decided to call in sick again (honestly, can't remember when I was last sick for 4 days - insane), and take myself to the doctor. Of course there's nothing they can do for me - they don't exactly dole out antibiotics to preggers that easily - so this sinus/fever whatever-I-have just needs to 'run it's course'. Blech.
Sorry for the boring post - hoping to have much more interesting news for you next update!
Love to all - S&S
Monday, April 16, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Easter weekend and promised pics
Finally a long weekend that actually felt like one! Don't you love getting Fridays off vs Mondays? I think it's because the week really does feel shorter, so you get the full advantage of enjoying every minute of the long weekend.
So we spent the early part of Friday morning just lazing around catching up on some shows we had PVR'd, and the later half of the morning cleaning and doing laundry (ah, the joys of domestic bliss). Seth took off to Greg's to watch some well-anticipated Masters tourney in the afternoon, while I ended up crashing on the couch watching a few movies (all good intentions of doing the work I brought home with me this weekend still being procrastinated as we speak!). That night I went to the movies with my friend Liz (The Reaping - it's ok, but more of a "renter") and Seth hit the Firkin to hang w/ the guys, playing some Golden Tee and darts. Liz and I popped by the bar after the movie to check in with the lads, and they were all well on their way, so after a few hours I dragged Seth's ass home, as he had to work on Sat morning (don't feel sorry for him, he had a very 'good' Friday). Seth was home by 1pm and his parents, Debbie & Shorty got up to Toronto by 1:30 - they were visiting for the weekend.
We took them down to the Eaton Centre to do some weekend shopping - it was a madhouse - absolute zoo! Seth got a couple of shirts from Abercrombie (bday presents from the parents) and we headed back uptown to stop in at the Firkin for a bite to eat and some more drinks. Afterwards we headed back to our place to get changed for dinner and watch the start of the hockey game. Around 8:30 we headed back downtown to the Keg for dinner - it was packed as well (the joys of living in the city for a long weekend), but we finally got a table and had a fabulous dinner.
This morning Debbie treated us all to a yummy breakfast (that she brought up pre-prepared with her - we're spoiled!) and by noon they were off. Seth spent the rest of the day watching the Masters + hockey - disappointed in the outcome of both - oh well. I continue to procrastinate not opening up the computer to do the work I desperately need to get done for tomorrow - it's going to be a late night I think - oh well.
So we spent the early part of Friday morning just lazing around catching up on some shows we had PVR'd, and the later half of the morning cleaning and doing laundry (ah, the joys of domestic bliss). Seth took off to Greg's to watch some well-anticipated Masters tourney in the afternoon, while I ended up crashing on the couch watching a few movies (all good intentions of doing the work I brought home with me this weekend still being procrastinated as we speak!). That night I went to the movies with my friend Liz (The Reaping - it's ok, but more of a "renter") and Seth hit the Firkin to hang w/ the guys, playing some Golden Tee and darts. Liz and I popped by the bar after the movie to check in with the lads, and they were all well on their way, so after a few hours I dragged Seth's ass home, as he had to work on Sat morning (don't feel sorry for him, he had a very 'good' Friday). Seth was home by 1pm and his parents, Debbie & Shorty got up to Toronto by 1:30 - they were visiting for the weekend.
We took them down to the Eaton Centre to do some weekend shopping - it was a madhouse - absolute zoo! Seth got a couple of shirts from Abercrombie (bday presents from the parents) and we headed back uptown to stop in at the Firkin for a bite to eat and some more drinks. Afterwards we headed back to our place to get changed for dinner and watch the start of the hockey game. Around 8:30 we headed back downtown to the Keg for dinner - it was packed as well (the joys of living in the city for a long weekend), but we finally got a table and had a fabulous dinner.
This morning Debbie treated us all to a yummy breakfast (that she brought up pre-prepared with her - we're spoiled!) and by noon they were off. Seth spent the rest of the day watching the Masters + hockey - disappointed in the outcome of both - oh well. I continue to procrastinate not opening up the computer to do the work I desperately need to get done for tomorrow - it's going to be a late night I think - oh well.
That's our weekend in a nutshell folks - and of course, as promised - here's the pics of the house from last weekend....
How cute is it that we got a pic of us with the SOLD sign?
Our lovely kitchen - finally a kitchen I can be proud of!
Our living room/sitting area - it's small, but will be perfect for a few bookshelves. And PS - how cute is my husband - look at that big smile on his face!
And this is our family room - right off the kitchen, with a gas fireplace - yes!
How cute is it that we got a pic of us with the SOLD sign?
Our lovely kitchen - finally a kitchen I can be proud of!
Our living room/sitting area - it's small, but will be perfect for a few bookshelves. And PS - how cute is my husband - look at that big smile on his face!
And this is our family room - right off the kitchen, with a gas fireplace - yes!Tuesday, April 3, 2007
What's new?
Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve been so poor at posting the updates after our Dominican holiday. Yikes – sorry people! Will definitely try to do better in the future.
Our house is adorable. The lovely thing about living in a long-distance zone is that the prices drop like a stone up there. So we got our 9 year old house for under $300k. I know you’re supposed to be coy about how much you paid for your house, but really, you’re all family and I hate that secretive bullshit. So yeah, we paid not that much really, for a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom house with a brand new kitchen and stainless steel appliances – yessssss!
Bonuses of the house that we are looking sooooo forward to?
- A backyard. This is probably first and foremost, because we miss grass, I miss tanning and Seth misses BBQ’ing. And hopefully this means we can start to repay all the entertaining we have enjoyed at friends’ houses as much as we’ve always wanted to.
- A dishwasher. I’m not going to lie to you. We both hate doing dishes more than anything else in the world. Well, except maybe Seth and cleaning the bathroom, it’s like drinking and driving – they just don’t mix. Yes, every time I see a commercial for Jet Dry, I get a little bit more excited.
- An unfinished basement. If we had found a house with a basement finished to perfection (like our lucky friends did), we would have jumped on it. But aside from that, unfinished I think is the 2nd best option. Because now we can finish to our own taste. And to be honest, that’s a FUN home-reno project, because really, it’s just an Adults Playroom.
- A double-car garage. Such a rarity with (smaller) new houses that we really lucked in on this one. Love that we still don’t have to worry about cleaning off ice/snow like we’ve so not become accustomed to with our luxury underground parking the past 5 years.
- Central air. Another bonus to those of us that have still been suffering with in-window air conditioners for many years. It will be wonderful.
- A gorgeous kitchen. This was actually what I went into each and every house hoping to see. I mean, you’re looking at 2-3 year old houses and the kitchens are still crap. I just wasn’t getting it. And then we saw this house, and honestly, I think it was one of the biggest selling points.
- A fireplace. I realize that my romantic notions of evenings in front of the fireplace are never going to happen, but I can’t remember when I haven’t longed to have a house with a fireplace (woodstove not counting), and now we have one. Gas, but still, a fireplace.
I know there’s more – but the list is long enough, you get the picture. Needless to say, Seth and I are super excited about finally getting the house that we’ve been talking about wanting for years. It’s like it’s all falling together.
And of course, I saved the other (best) little nugget of news for last… we’re preggers! Well, technically it’s just me that’s knocked up, but for some reason people always announce it like it’s happening to ‘us’. And I suppose it is in a way. Except for the 6 week morning sickness. Or the cramping. Or the gas / bloating. Or the headaches. Or the insatiable hunger. Yeah, that doesn’t appear to be happening to Seth. Well, maybe the gas… ;)
I actually plan on posting some belly shots soon – so you can monitor ‘our’ progress. And while ‘we’re’ only 13 weeks, there’s definitely a pouch. Bye bye abs.
So we move into our house at the end of August and ‘we’ are due October 4th. Yes, it’s all happening at once. Which is just the way we like to do things I guess (4 month engagement/wedding planning anyone?) … lots of changes for us Valliers coming up. Good changes. Big changes. Scary changes.
:) S&S
PS - I promise I will post both pics soon
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Our Dominican Weekend
Yes, we've been extremely tardy in writing our update - sorry about that folks. Well the week in the Dominican was amazing (as I'm sure you can all imagine). We'll take you through a quick synopsis of the vacation, and let you know that we've updated our www.sethandsara.shutterfly.com account with all the pics from the trip - take a mosey over there and check it out (yes, there will be some funny/intoxicated/childish pics - hey, we were on vacation!
So we arrived slightly later than expected, due to a flight delay (surprise, surprise) - and while we all planned on making it an early night, we took advantage of the Sports Cafe that stayed open until 6am (yes we did - it was a rough Sunday morning).
Sunday was spent hanging out by the beach and pool, eating dinner at the Mexican restaurant and later at the disco. Monday saw most of the guys going on a fishing charter that turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Most of the people were seasick and the water was so rough, the boat almost capsized - all in all, everyone was relatively lucky, although one person had to be taken to the hospital for a pulled shoulder - it was really quite crazy. The girls had much less of a crazy day - mainly spent lazing on the beach. That night was a mutual stag/stagette - the girls went to dinner at the Italian restaurant, on to the casino for some luck on the tables and then to the disco. The boys went to the buffet for dinner and then to the bowling alley to play poker and ended up meeting the ladies at the disco. It was a pretty crazy night for all!
Tuesday everyone took it a little more easy - we hung out by the pool, nursing our hangovers, eating at the buffet as much as possible. That night Seth & I had dinner at the Dominican restaurant with a few of the ladies - stopped by the lobby bar for a few drinks and went home early - since the next day was the wedding!
7am came pretty early on Wednesday morning - the girls all congregated in our room to order room service, have breakfast (complete with Mimosas) and get ready. Lindsay did an amazing job on everyone's hair - and we quickly got dressed, put on our makeup etc. to wait for the JP to arrive. The boys all got ready in Greg & Liz's room - after playing 9 holes of golf earlier in the morning.
The wedding, as you can well imagine (and view via our pics on Shutterfly) was beautiful - really amazing, very short - just picture perfect. And Greg & Liz were lucky enough to get an amazing photographer at the resort - their wedding pics are absolutely amazing. After the ceremony (which wrapped up around 2pm), we all went back to our rooms and changed into our bathing suits and chilled out around the pool some more. Dinner was at 7pm down by the beach - it was the yummiest dinner (salad, chicken wings, steak and coffee mousse for desert)! After the dinner, we all walked up to the lobby bar and enjoyed the live music and a few more cocktails before heading along to the disco - which turned into another long, crazy evening...
On Thursday, Seth and I had an early breakfast and couples massage - then spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, shopping at the vendors etc. That night we had our special dinner (that came with our room) - lobster dinner on the beach - it was actually really romantic (as cheesy at that sounds).
Friday was 'activity day' - everyone congregated on the beach to hangout, play a few games and enjoy our last 'full day' in paradise. We played some kind of water polo/soccer/football type game that the guys made up, boccie ball and some of us went riding on the banana boat (which was hilarious - we fell off twice - which is kind of scary and funny at the same time when you're in the middle of the ocean). That night we all had dinner together at the same restaurant on the beach that we ate at for the wedding dinner - most of us actually ordered the exact same thing, since we knew it was so good (and have no imagination). It was karaoke night at the Sports Cafe, so we all ended up there, watching many bad singers sing many bad songs.
So that's our vacation in a nutshell - Saturday went by in a blur and we left the resort by 6pm to take a very late flight back to Toronto - we were dropped off by the cab at 3am and fell asleep almost within seconds of hitting the pillow.
This past week at work was torturous, it was very hard getting back into the swing of things. The weekend couldn't get here soon enough - and has been spent taking it very easy. We did visit our friends Rob & Vone for a yummy Indian dinner on Saturday night - and of course Sether is at a Superbowl party as I write this. All in all, a relaxing, fun weekend and so sad that it's Sunday night...
S&S
So we arrived slightly later than expected, due to a flight delay (surprise, surprise) - and while we all planned on making it an early night, we took advantage of the Sports Cafe that stayed open until 6am (yes we did - it was a rough Sunday morning).
Sunday was spent hanging out by the beach and pool, eating dinner at the Mexican restaurant and later at the disco. Monday saw most of the guys going on a fishing charter that turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Most of the people were seasick and the water was so rough, the boat almost capsized - all in all, everyone was relatively lucky, although one person had to be taken to the hospital for a pulled shoulder - it was really quite crazy. The girls had much less of a crazy day - mainly spent lazing on the beach. That night was a mutual stag/stagette - the girls went to dinner at the Italian restaurant, on to the casino for some luck on the tables and then to the disco. The boys went to the buffet for dinner and then to the bowling alley to play poker and ended up meeting the ladies at the disco. It was a pretty crazy night for all!
Tuesday everyone took it a little more easy - we hung out by the pool, nursing our hangovers, eating at the buffet as much as possible. That night Seth & I had dinner at the Dominican restaurant with a few of the ladies - stopped by the lobby bar for a few drinks and went home early - since the next day was the wedding!
7am came pretty early on Wednesday morning - the girls all congregated in our room to order room service, have breakfast (complete with Mimosas) and get ready. Lindsay did an amazing job on everyone's hair - and we quickly got dressed, put on our makeup etc. to wait for the JP to arrive. The boys all got ready in Greg & Liz's room - after playing 9 holes of golf earlier in the morning.
The wedding, as you can well imagine (and view via our pics on Shutterfly) was beautiful - really amazing, very short - just picture perfect. And Greg & Liz were lucky enough to get an amazing photographer at the resort - their wedding pics are absolutely amazing. After the ceremony (which wrapped up around 2pm), we all went back to our rooms and changed into our bathing suits and chilled out around the pool some more. Dinner was at 7pm down by the beach - it was the yummiest dinner (salad, chicken wings, steak and coffee mousse for desert)! After the dinner, we all walked up to the lobby bar and enjoyed the live music and a few more cocktails before heading along to the disco - which turned into another long, crazy evening...
On Thursday, Seth and I had an early breakfast and couples massage - then spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, shopping at the vendors etc. That night we had our special dinner (that came with our room) - lobster dinner on the beach - it was actually really romantic (as cheesy at that sounds).
Friday was 'activity day' - everyone congregated on the beach to hangout, play a few games and enjoy our last 'full day' in paradise. We played some kind of water polo/soccer/football type game that the guys made up, boccie ball and some of us went riding on the banana boat (which was hilarious - we fell off twice - which is kind of scary and funny at the same time when you're in the middle of the ocean). That night we all had dinner together at the same restaurant on the beach that we ate at for the wedding dinner - most of us actually ordered the exact same thing, since we knew it was so good (and have no imagination). It was karaoke night at the Sports Cafe, so we all ended up there, watching many bad singers sing many bad songs.
So that's our vacation in a nutshell - Saturday went by in a blur and we left the resort by 6pm to take a very late flight back to Toronto - we were dropped off by the cab at 3am and fell asleep almost within seconds of hitting the pillow.
This past week at work was torturous, it was very hard getting back into the swing of things. The weekend couldn't get here soon enough - and has been spent taking it very easy. We did visit our friends Rob & Vone for a yummy Indian dinner on Saturday night - and of course Sether is at a Superbowl party as I write this. All in all, a relaxing, fun weekend and so sad that it's Sunday night...
S&S
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The last weekend before vacay
Wow - in 7 days time we will be sitting on a beach, catching some rays and enjoying some cocktails - love it! But this post is about looking over the past week, not the week ahead, so let's get to it...
Overall the week was crazy busy for both Seth and Sara with work etc. The weekend was a relaxed one though. A quick spa appointment for Sara while Seth watched Sat afternoon football up in Markham with Greg (yup, playoffs and now it's all football all the time!). Sara then met up with her friend Liz and they did some last minute shopping both for wedding stuff (the necklaces for the bridal party are gorgeous!) and of course, bikini's a la Old Navy prices - love it! We did sushi for dinner up in Markham and Sunday has been spent lazily cleaning up around the house. Not an overly exciting weekend, but well-needed just before this coming work week and the impending trip. Sooooo many things still to do - including, buying some luggage, making a packing list, buying vitamins/sun lotion etc., and getting $ exchanged for US$.
Really can't wait for the trip, especially after the last couple of months of work - we are in dire need for a vacation and I'm hoping it won't fly by as quickly as I expect it will. So you won't be hearing from us next weekend - but we promise a long, newsy post after the vacation with lots of pics.
Love to you all..... S&S
Overall the week was crazy busy for both Seth and Sara with work etc. The weekend was a relaxed one though. A quick spa appointment for Sara while Seth watched Sat afternoon football up in Markham with Greg (yup, playoffs and now it's all football all the time!). Sara then met up with her friend Liz and they did some last minute shopping both for wedding stuff (the necklaces for the bridal party are gorgeous!) and of course, bikini's a la Old Navy prices - love it! We did sushi for dinner up in Markham and Sunday has been spent lazily cleaning up around the house. Not an overly exciting weekend, but well-needed just before this coming work week and the impending trip. Sooooo many things still to do - including, buying some luggage, making a packing list, buying vitamins/sun lotion etc., and getting $ exchanged for US$.
Really can't wait for the trip, especially after the last couple of months of work - we are in dire need for a vacation and I'm hoping it won't fly by as quickly as I expect it will. So you won't be hearing from us next weekend - but we promise a long, newsy post after the vacation with lots of pics.
Love to you all..... S&S
Sunday, January 7, 2007
The Bachelorette Part-ay!
Well this weekend Sara hosted the bachelorette party for her good friend Liz, who is getting married in just a few short weeks in the Dominican. With Seth out of town on another fantasy football boys' weekend (in Kitchener), Sara was able to host 15 girls in the apt. for Liz's bachelorette. Everyone started to arrive around 7:30pm and the martini's flowed right up to 9pm, when 'knock knock knock' - Liz received a special visitor! She was surprised and the rest of us were laughing our asses off, as 'Officer Sebastien' entertained the ladies for the next 1/2 hour. Very few of us had ever seen a male 'entertainer', and quite honestly, probably won't again - they're not that entertaining - a bit gross really - although still highly hilarious and will post pics to share soon.
After the 'entertainment' left, the ladies then hopped into a stretch Lincoln Navigator limo, which drove us down to Crocodile Rock - THE stagette bar in Toronto - it was packed and we had plenty of fun for a few hours there. Next on the list was the Fire Station - not another bar, this was actually a visit to the Adelaide St. firehall, where Liz got all sorts of pics in the fireman gear, with a few friendly firefighters and on the truck - it was fun, but probably not so much for the poor fireman that had to put up with the tipsy ladies. Last on the list was a trip to another club - Blvd Lounge - used to be called My Apartment and was a great stagette stop, but is now apparently catering to the under 22 crowd, so we had one drink and legged it out of there - no reason to feel old on a girl's night out. After a quick stop at the Pita Pit, we headed home - at this point the group had dwindled down to 6 survivors and we were all ready to take off the dancing shoes (sore feet!) for the night - since it was just before 2am (last call), we were able to get into a cab easily and headed up to Sara's apt to sit and chat for another hour before finally calling it a night.
Overall, a great weekend with all the ladies had by Sara. And I'm sure Seth had a wonderful guy's weekend as well - he's not home yet though, so we can't say for sure....
:)
After the 'entertainment' left, the ladies then hopped into a stretch Lincoln Navigator limo, which drove us down to Crocodile Rock - THE stagette bar in Toronto - it was packed and we had plenty of fun for a few hours there. Next on the list was the Fire Station - not another bar, this was actually a visit to the Adelaide St. firehall, where Liz got all sorts of pics in the fireman gear, with a few friendly firefighters and on the truck - it was fun, but probably not so much for the poor fireman that had to put up with the tipsy ladies. Last on the list was a trip to another club - Blvd Lounge - used to be called My Apartment and was a great stagette stop, but is now apparently catering to the under 22 crowd, so we had one drink and legged it out of there - no reason to feel old on a girl's night out. After a quick stop at the Pita Pit, we headed home - at this point the group had dwindled down to 6 survivors and we were all ready to take off the dancing shoes (sore feet!) for the night - since it was just before 2am (last call), we were able to get into a cab easily and headed up to Sara's apt to sit and chat for another hour before finally calling it a night.
Overall, a great weekend with all the ladies had by Sara. And I'm sure Seth had a wonderful guy's weekend as well - he's not home yet though, so we can't say for sure....
:)
Monday, January 1, 2007
Busy holidays
I know, we've been tardy, allowing another 2 weeks to go by without an update. Well, as you can imagine (and as I'm sure you've also been), we've been busy - running from place to place and working all those non-holiday weekdays in between.
Well, going back to the weekend before xmas, we had a party to attend at a friend's house on Friday night - it was a great chance to see the gang before the holidays. We left early as Seth had to work that Saturday - which gave Sara a chance to do some last minute shopping and we left the city early that afternoon. Traffic was surprisingly not bad at all and we made it to Kingston by early evening.
Sunday morning Sara did some more last minute shopping, and Seth picked her up and we visited Sara's dad + step-mother in the afternoon. After a nice visit there, we then spent the evening at the Vallier's watching It's a Wonderful Life, having (more!) food and hitting the sack pretty early. Xmas morning was spent with the Vallier's opening lots of presents and having a huge breakfast. Then it was over to Sara's mom's house for more present-opening and Christmas dinner with the family.
Tuesday morning Sara went out to check out the boxing day sales and then we did another Xmas dinner at the Vallier's and it was back to Toronto for us. A very busy few days visiting a lot of family, which is always great, but also exhausting - we can't wait for next year and (hopefully!) hosting our own Xmas in our own house!
The week went by pretty quickly, as 3-day weeks usually do. This past weekend was spent visiting and being visited by lots of friends. New Year's was surprisingly calm this year - we must be getting older - haha. Today we spent the day lounging around and mentally getting ready to go back to work for the next couple of weeks until we get to go on our holiday to the Dominican. Can't wait for that!
Next weekend Seth is out of town for a football fantasy pool thing, and Sara is hosting the bachelorette party for her good friend who is getting married in a few weeks - should be a great time!
Well, going back to the weekend before xmas, we had a party to attend at a friend's house on Friday night - it was a great chance to see the gang before the holidays. We left early as Seth had to work that Saturday - which gave Sara a chance to do some last minute shopping and we left the city early that afternoon. Traffic was surprisingly not bad at all and we made it to Kingston by early evening.
Sunday morning Sara did some more last minute shopping, and Seth picked her up and we visited Sara's dad + step-mother in the afternoon. After a nice visit there, we then spent the evening at the Vallier's watching It's a Wonderful Life, having (more!) food and hitting the sack pretty early. Xmas morning was spent with the Vallier's opening lots of presents and having a huge breakfast. Then it was over to Sara's mom's house for more present-opening and Christmas dinner with the family.
Tuesday morning Sara went out to check out the boxing day sales and then we did another Xmas dinner at the Vallier's and it was back to Toronto for us. A very busy few days visiting a lot of family, which is always great, but also exhausting - we can't wait for next year and (hopefully!) hosting our own Xmas in our own house!
The week went by pretty quickly, as 3-day weeks usually do. This past weekend was spent visiting and being visited by lots of friends. New Year's was surprisingly calm this year - we must be getting older - haha. Today we spent the day lounging around and mentally getting ready to go back to work for the next couple of weeks until we get to go on our holiday to the Dominican. Can't wait for that!
Next weekend Seth is out of town for a football fantasy pool thing, and Sara is hosting the bachelorette party for her good friend who is getting married in a few weeks - should be a great time!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Xmas shopping, a new 'do, and dinner at MidTown
Hello family and friends! Well this past weekend (not over yet, thank god - don't you just love weekends!) was another busy one for the Valliers, but all in all pretty good. Friday night was spent watching the Devil Wears Prada on DVD - a nice relaxing end to a long week. Sara had Jury Duty on Mon + Tues, a Montreal trip on Thursday (as she managed to not have to serve the entire week of Jury Duty - lucky girl!) - and Seth had a very busy week at work with his new branch and a work function he had to attend on Thursday night.
Saturday Seth had to work yet again, and Sara got up early to do her update on the Ultimate Survivor Pool blogsite she contributes to. That and some light housework, by 1pm she had to bust her butt down to Fiorio for her hair appointment - highlights and a cut in time for the holiday season - a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon! While Sara was getting her hair done, Seth was getting home from work and relaxing from the way-to-early-morning he had - then at 4pm we both met up at the Eaton Centre (Seth shopping - shocking!) to do some more xmas shopping - thank god we're almost done!
From shopping we headed straight to a new restaurant that recently opened in our 'hood - the old Summit House - now called the MidTown - it's a well-priced joint with good food - and a great wine list. That was enjoyable. After that we went home and watched yet another movie (Clerks II - Seth's pick) and made it a relatively early evening.
Today will be spent on the couch watching football for Seth, and Sara will be making up all the cookie tins/trays and finishing her xmas cards - we're late this year! And tonight - the season finale of Survivor - woo hoo! A great weekend all around for the Valliers...
Saturday Seth had to work yet again, and Sara got up early to do her update on the Ultimate Survivor Pool blogsite she contributes to. That and some light housework, by 1pm she had to bust her butt down to Fiorio for her hair appointment - highlights and a cut in time for the holiday season - a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon! While Sara was getting her hair done, Seth was getting home from work and relaxing from the way-to-early-morning he had - then at 4pm we both met up at the Eaton Centre (Seth shopping - shocking!) to do some more xmas shopping - thank god we're almost done!
From shopping we headed straight to a new restaurant that recently opened in our 'hood - the old Summit House - now called the MidTown - it's a well-priced joint with good food - and a great wine list. That was enjoyable. After that we went home and watched yet another movie (Clerks II - Seth's pick) and made it a relatively early evening.
Today will be spent on the couch watching football for Seth, and Sara will be making up all the cookie tins/trays and finishing her xmas cards - we're late this year! And tonight - the season finale of Survivor - woo hoo! A great weekend all around for the Valliers...
Monday, December 11, 2006
Early xmas, baking, b-days and football
Wow - it was a crazy busy weekend for the Valliers! Seth had a quasi-bachelor party to attend that took him (with a gaggle of ganders) to Windsor + Detroit for a weekend of drinking, poker, football and much debauchery we can only assume. He arrived back home at 4:30am on Sunday night (Monday morning) and the poor guy is still tired - good thing that he had Monday off work!
Sara's weekend (which you'll get much more detail on, as I'm a girl, and really the only one of us that ever writes this blog...) was also super busy. She drove straight to Kingston from work on Friday night - making excellent time on the highway and getting to her Mom's around 8pm. It was Sara's Mom's 60th bday - so she got a new purse, some angels for the tree and a certificate for a girls' weekend all expenses paid by her lovely daughter ;) to Toronto. Yes, she's a spoiled mum.
After a couple of drinks and catching up, it was time to wrap A LOT of presents - we were doing Xmas early with Derek, Amy and the nieces on Saturday afternoon - and being the only
grandchildren in the family (so far), they are S-P-O-I-L-E-D - and we love doing it. The next morning it was off to a girls brunch with Mom and her 3 closest friends at Ramekins, then straight off to Aunt Reta's for the Xmas celebrations. It seriously looked like Christmas exploded in that living room - and the nieces favourite phrase? I wanna open ANOTHER present! Well, I think after piles of clothes and toys, they got their fill. And Auntie Sara got the Aunt-of-the-year award for the My Little Pony castle + accessories - that was cool. Although I didn't win the contest of favourite clothing - that went to 
Mom and her picks of some fuzzy jumpers that were adorable. Don't you love pre-school fashionistas? They are so adorable!
Saturday evening was spent baking shortbread, then Mom did some more cookies on Sunday morning and our annual xmas baking extravaganza is finally DONE! That's our weekend in a nutshell - check back next week for more updates!
Sara's weekend (which you'll get much more detail on, as I'm a girl, and really the only one of us that ever writes this blog...) was also super busy. She drove straight to Kingston from work on Friday night - making excellent time on the highway and getting to her Mom's around 8pm. It was Sara's Mom's 60th bday - so she got a new purse, some angels for the tree and a certificate for a girls' weekend all expenses paid by her lovely daughter ;) to Toronto. Yes, she's a spoiled mum.
After a couple of drinks and catching up, it was time to wrap A LOT of presents - we were doing Xmas early with Derek, Amy and the nieces on Saturday afternoon - and being the only
grandchildren in the family (so far), they are S-P-O-I-L-E-D - and we love doing it. The next morning it was off to a girls brunch with Mom and her 3 closest friends at Ramekins, then straight off to Aunt Reta's for the Xmas celebrations. It seriously looked like Christmas exploded in that living room - and the nieces favourite phrase? I wanna open ANOTHER present! Well, I think after piles of clothes and toys, they got their fill. And Auntie Sara got the Aunt-of-the-year award for the My Little Pony castle + accessories - that was cool. Although I didn't win the contest of favourite clothing - that went to 
Mom and her picks of some fuzzy jumpers that were adorable. Don't you love pre-school fashionistas? They are so adorable!Saturday evening was spent baking shortbread, then Mom did some more cookies on Sunday morning and our annual xmas baking extravaganza is finally DONE! That's our weekend in a nutshell - check back next week for more updates!
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Wow - where did the time go?
Once again we are very behind on posting our updates - so sorry people, but we'll do our best to get you all caught up on our lives very quickly...
The weekend of 17th Sara went to Kingston for the weekend as Liz was having another shower held for her there. Lisa D - another of Liz's bridesmaids was holding it at her parents' house - long time friends + neighbours of the Prices. It was a fun shower - and again a late night - who knew bridal showers could be so dangerous? It was a great time had by all and gladly the showers are now done - it's just the dangerous-nous of the impending bachelorette that we have to worry about now!
The following weekend (the 24th) was a chance for Sara and Seth to kick back and relax a little, with no big plans and lots of interest in doing nothing. Friday was spend watching a movie, then the gym in the morning on Saturday and later that afternoon, Sara had a lunch/shopping date with a friend while Seth cleaned the house. Sat night was spent at the movies with friends, and Sunday was a busy day of football-watching for Seth and chocolate-making for Sara. Overall a productive, but relaxing, weekend.
This past weekend has been (so far) just about the same. Friday spent staying in - watching part of a movie - that is until our TV died. Saturday's agenda for Sara included a lot more Xmas baking and for Seth - a trip to Best Buy to get a new TV. Although he seemed quite determined to come back with only a slightly larger tv - of course, what was he dragging through the door an hour later? Yup, a 37" LCD - oh well, we can view it as an investment.
Saturday night was the annual Caribbean Christmas Blocko at friends', Rob & Vone's - it's always a blast, although for some reason this year seemed a little more tame than previous years. Today (Sunday) we both got up early, watch some TV and then Sara went shopping for the nieces' xmas presents and Seth got started on his football-watching.
Wow - reading this over, our lives sound pretty boring - and repetitive. Well - I guess that's what happens when you get older... ;)
The weekend of 17th Sara went to Kingston for the weekend as Liz was having another shower held for her there. Lisa D - another of Liz's bridesmaids was holding it at her parents' house - long time friends + neighbours of the Prices. It was a fun shower - and again a late night - who knew bridal showers could be so dangerous? It was a great time had by all and gladly the showers are now done - it's just the dangerous-nous of the impending bachelorette that we have to worry about now!The following weekend (the 24th) was a chance for Sara and Seth to kick back and relax a little, with no big plans and lots of interest in doing nothing. Friday was spend watching a movie, then the gym in the morning on Saturday and later that afternoon, Sara had a lunch/shopping date with a friend while Seth cleaned the house. Sat night was spent at the movies with friends, and Sunday was a busy day of football-watching for Seth and chocolate-making for Sara. Overall a productive, but relaxing, weekend.
This past weekend has been (so far) just about the same. Friday spent staying in - watching part of a movie - that is until our TV died. Saturday's agenda for Sara included a lot more Xmas baking and for Seth - a trip to Best Buy to get a new TV. Although he seemed quite determined to come back with only a slightly larger tv - of course, what was he dragging through the door an hour later? Yup, a 37" LCD - oh well, we can view it as an investment.
Saturday night was the annual Caribbean Christmas Blocko at friends', Rob & Vone's - it's always a blast, although for some reason this year seemed a little more tame than previous years. Today (Sunday) we both got up early, watch some TV and then Sara went shopping for the nieces' xmas presents and Seth got started on his football-watching.
Wow - reading this over, our lives sound pretty boring - and repetitive. Well - I guess that's what happens when you get older... ;)
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Sex and the Kitchen
This weekend was the bridal shower that I hosted for my best friend Liz - preparations started on Friday night, getting a lot of the food prepared and the house decorated. Lisa Deir came over with her roommate to help on Friday night, which was much appreciated and reward with many glasses of wine - ouch.The day of the shower was pretty hectic - there was a lot of things to do with very little time until the 3:30pm start time, but with Lisa's help it all got done - thank you thank you thank you Lisa - your help was essential - I never could have done it without you!
Melissa came over slightly early too - so she helped a tonne as well - it's great friends we have! The theme was "Sex and the Kitchen" - a play on our fave show, Sex and the City, so the food was all cocktail munchies and there was an assortment of flirtinis and rasptinis - very yummy - see below for the recipes.Desert was meant to be fruit + ladyfingers with a chocolate fondue - the only thing was that none of us getting everything ready had ever used a fondue pot before - so the fondue turned into a
fondon't. Yup, we filled the butane to high, and there was an out of control fire under the pot - so the chocolate burnt and the fire would not go out - funny now that I look back on it, but very stressful at the time while everyone was arriving and the phone was ringing off the hook with the buzzer etc. So desert turned into just plain fruit - oh well, at least we had a lot of it!
With the theme, everyone was asked to bring a gift for the bedroom and a gift for the kitchen that were related. Liz got some great gifts - a French Maid's outfit - that was hilarious! Some female 'bedroom' appliances and then coordinating utensils for the kitchen, a toaster and then a cozy bathrobe (to keep her 'toasty') - everyone was very imaginative and Liz got some great stuff for both rooms of her house!
Well, that was pretty much the weekend - poor Seth had to work on Saturday, and since his home was filled with women for the entire afternoon (and late into the evening) he ended up going to Greg's to play video games, eat pizza and be 'men' - so wasn't too terrible for him.
Next weekend is the shower in Kingston that Lisa and her mom are hosting - it should be a great time and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend out of the city! That's all for now - love to you all!
S&S
Flirtini
1 part vodka
1 part champagne
1 part pineapple juice
Shake over ice, strain into martini glass, use 1/2 a strawberry as a garnish.
Rasptini
1 part vodka
1 part blue raspberry cordial (found at grocery store)
Shake over ice, strain into martini glass with 4-5 frozen raspberries as garnish.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
The Irish Weeks
Well - it was such a busy couple of weeks that we didn't even have time to post! Okay - hold on to your horses, as this will be a long one...
Louise and Phil arrived on Tuesday - in on a flight around 8pm - so we stayed up that night chatting and having a few drinks - just catching up really. Wednesday Sara had to work, and the Irish decided to sleep in (jet lag!) - so Seth didn't do much that day - he did drive them around our 'hood - looking at all the houses we can't afford! Thursday, Seth took them to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which sounded like a fun time. Another non-eventful night though - Sara made a pasta dinner and we all watched Survivor. Friday finally came - the first day of our Montreal trip - we left pretty much right after Sara finally got home from work - doing the full 5-hour drive straight there - nightmare.
Getting in just after 1am, we were all pretty shattered, drank a few beers and went to bed in
hopes of getting up early to do all the touristy stuff we wanted to cram into one day. Well, 10am is early right? Haha - so we were all starving and just started wandering towards St. Catherine Street to find somewhere to eat - ended up at a pub/pizza place - it was okay, but not great food. After that we went to find out about the tour buses - the easiest way to get a 2-hour snapshot of a city! There was only one tour operator still running though - and it was a 3-hour tour - we didn't really want to eat up that much time, but we did want to get the tour done - so we decided just to go for it. It was pretty cool - although we all took a few cat naps on the bus - well, that is except Seth - who knew he was such a tourister?
So here's a pic of Sara and Seth in "Old Montreal". We kinda wished we had more time in here - it was all narrow streets and plenty of cafe's and shops - looked like a very interesting area to explore. The tour tooks us to the Olympic park and past a
number of churches and the university - we did stop at one church, but can't remember what it was called.
Going up to Mount-Royal and looking down on the city was probably the best part of the tour - it was really cool. Here's Louise and Phil on the mountain.
After the tour, we did a bit of shopping, but we only had about an hour of
shopping time available - so we quickly did Simons, Roots and a few other smaller shops. Found a convenience store to buy 'refreshments' on the way back to the hotel and went back to get ready for dinner - that turned into a 4-hour long chat-fest where we all had a few drinks before trying to find somewhere to eat. Luckily, we ended up finding a great little Italian place called "Bellagio" right near the hotel - fantastic dinner had by all!
That night we went to Crescent St to find some fun places to party - that street is happening! We all had a blast, and I wish we had pictures - but the Irish brought their camera, so we'll have to try and get the pics from them.
The next day was painful for us though - everyone was pretty hungover. Because of that, we didn't do the additional shopping that we thought we would be able to do before we left Montreal - but probably better on the pocketbook in the long run. We drove straight to Kingston, after a pitstop at Pete's Smoked Meat Diner - a little place on the way into Montreal that Seth found a while back and apparently has the best smoked meat sandwiches and poutine - too bad Sara couldn't try it - but there was no way to keep that down.
We arrived at Seth's parent's house close to 5pm - they had dinner waiting for us (roast beef dinner) - class! It was a nice, quiet evening - just what the doctor ordered. We sat around and chatted and watched a couple of movies before going to bed at a reasonable hour. The next day we finally got out and about by around 1pm - we were going into Kingston to do the 'touristy' stuff. Kingston has actually got some interesting places to see. We went to Bellevue house (Sir John A's home in Kingston) - toured around that which was fun. Then we did the Penitentiary Museum - which was really quite interesting. We drove them around Kingston, showed them Fort Henry, the waterfront, Queens, and last but not least - Wilton Cheese Factory for curd!
That night we went to Sara's mom's house for dinner - this time it was John's shish-kabobs for dinner - yummy! We chatted for quite a while after dinner, so didn't get on the road until after midnight - getting into Toronto at 3am - tiring, but nice to have the Tuesday to relax and do nothing before Sara & Seth went back to work on the Wednesday. Seth went to the hockey game with Rob on Tuesday night and Sara, Louse & Phil went to see an early movie - the Departed - amazing movie - see it if you can!
Wednesday night was pretty low-key, then we went out for the required Fynn's visit on
Thursday night - it wasn't too late of a night though - saving up our energy for Friday. We spent that night up at the Firkin (although Seth had to leave early as he was working on Saturday - poor guy - he was exhausted!). Saturday was pretty rough - but we had to go out and get costumes for the Halloween party we were going to that night. What kind of costume do you do when you're super hungover - Pirates of course! So we all got dressed up again - and headed out to Scarborough to Kelly & Steve's for one of the best parties we've been to in a while - it was great for Louise & Phil to see everyone!
Sunday was very low-key - we needed to recover! Monday and Tuesday seemed to go by in a blur - Louise + Phil's last two days were spent shopping (for them) and working (for Seth and Sara). Tuesday night turned to be a late one - we stayed up chatting forever - trying to fit it all in I guess! So Louise and Phil left on Wednesday afternoon and to be honest, our tiny little apt feels empty without them now. It was a great couple of weeks - we had a tonne of fun and it was really fabulous to get a proper 'catch up' with them - since most of our visits have only been a few days here and there - more partying than just hanging out.
So that's been our life in the past 2 weeks - now you can understand why there was no time to post an update until now! This past weekend was quiet for us, we went to see Marie Antoinette last night (how did I get Seth to go - I have no idea) - not a great movie all in all. And now I'm all in preparation mode for the shower I'm hosting next weekend for Liz - I hope it's as fabulous as I've promised her it will be!
That's all for now - love to everyone - we'll post an update next weekend and let you know what else is new!
Louise and Phil arrived on Tuesday - in on a flight around 8pm - so we stayed up that night chatting and having a few drinks - just catching up really. Wednesday Sara had to work, and the Irish decided to sleep in (jet lag!) - so Seth didn't do much that day - he did drive them around our 'hood - looking at all the houses we can't afford! Thursday, Seth took them to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which sounded like a fun time. Another non-eventful night though - Sara made a pasta dinner and we all watched Survivor. Friday finally came - the first day of our Montreal trip - we left pretty much right after Sara finally got home from work - doing the full 5-hour drive straight there - nightmare.
Getting in just after 1am, we were all pretty shattered, drank a few beers and went to bed in
hopes of getting up early to do all the touristy stuff we wanted to cram into one day. Well, 10am is early right? Haha - so we were all starving and just started wandering towards St. Catherine Street to find somewhere to eat - ended up at a pub/pizza place - it was okay, but not great food. After that we went to find out about the tour buses - the easiest way to get a 2-hour snapshot of a city! There was only one tour operator still running though - and it was a 3-hour tour - we didn't really want to eat up that much time, but we did want to get the tour done - so we decided just to go for it. It was pretty cool - although we all took a few cat naps on the bus - well, that is except Seth - who knew he was such a tourister?
So here's a pic of Sara and Seth in "Old Montreal". We kinda wished we had more time in here - it was all narrow streets and plenty of cafe's and shops - looked like a very interesting area to explore. The tour tooks us to the Olympic park and past a
number of churches and the university - we did stop at one church, but can't remember what it was called.Going up to Mount-Royal and looking down on the city was probably the best part of the tour - it was really cool. Here's Louise and Phil on the mountain.
After the tour, we did a bit of shopping, but we only had about an hour of
shopping time available - so we quickly did Simons, Roots and a few other smaller shops. Found a convenience store to buy 'refreshments' on the way back to the hotel and went back to get ready for dinner - that turned into a 4-hour long chat-fest where we all had a few drinks before trying to find somewhere to eat. Luckily, we ended up finding a great little Italian place called "Bellagio" right near the hotel - fantastic dinner had by all!That night we went to Crescent St to find some fun places to party - that street is happening! We all had a blast, and I wish we had pictures - but the Irish brought their camera, so we'll have to try and get the pics from them.
The next day was painful for us though - everyone was pretty hungover. Because of that, we didn't do the additional shopping that we thought we would be able to do before we left Montreal - but probably better on the pocketbook in the long run. We drove straight to Kingston, after a pitstop at Pete's Smoked Meat Diner - a little place on the way into Montreal that Seth found a while back and apparently has the best smoked meat sandwiches and poutine - too bad Sara couldn't try it - but there was no way to keep that down.
We arrived at Seth's parent's house close to 5pm - they had dinner waiting for us (roast beef dinner) - class! It was a nice, quiet evening - just what the doctor ordered. We sat around and chatted and watched a couple of movies before going to bed at a reasonable hour. The next day we finally got out and about by around 1pm - we were going into Kingston to do the 'touristy' stuff. Kingston has actually got some interesting places to see. We went to Bellevue house (Sir John A's home in Kingston) - toured around that which was fun. Then we did the Penitentiary Museum - which was really quite interesting. We drove them around Kingston, showed them Fort Henry, the waterfront, Queens, and last but not least - Wilton Cheese Factory for curd!
That night we went to Sara's mom's house for dinner - this time it was John's shish-kabobs for dinner - yummy! We chatted for quite a while after dinner, so didn't get on the road until after midnight - getting into Toronto at 3am - tiring, but nice to have the Tuesday to relax and do nothing before Sara & Seth went back to work on the Wednesday. Seth went to the hockey game with Rob on Tuesday night and Sara, Louse & Phil went to see an early movie - the Departed - amazing movie - see it if you can!
Wednesday night was pretty low-key, then we went out for the required Fynn's visit on
Thursday night - it wasn't too late of a night though - saving up our energy for Friday. We spent that night up at the Firkin (although Seth had to leave early as he was working on Saturday - poor guy - he was exhausted!). Saturday was pretty rough - but we had to go out and get costumes for the Halloween party we were going to that night. What kind of costume do you do when you're super hungover - Pirates of course! So we all got dressed up again - and headed out to Scarborough to Kelly & Steve's for one of the best parties we've been to in a while - it was great for Louise & Phil to see everyone!Sunday was very low-key - we needed to recover! Monday and Tuesday seemed to go by in a blur - Louise + Phil's last two days were spent shopping (for them) and working (for Seth and Sara). Tuesday night turned to be a late one - we stayed up chatting forever - trying to fit it all in I guess! So Louise and Phil left on Wednesday afternoon and to be honest, our tiny little apt feels empty without them now. It was a great couple of weeks - we had a tonne of fun and it was really fabulous to get a proper 'catch up' with them - since most of our visits have only been a few days here and there - more partying than just hanging out.
So that's been our life in the past 2 weeks - now you can understand why there was no time to post an update until now! This past weekend was quiet for us, we went to see Marie Antoinette last night (how did I get Seth to go - I have no idea) - not a great movie all in all. And now I'm all in preparation mode for the shower I'm hosting next weekend for Liz - I hope it's as fabulous as I've promised her it will be!
That's all for now - love to everyone - we'll post an update next weekend and let you know what else is new!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
A busy + sick weekend
The weekend was supposed to be very low-key, but ended up to be quite a busy one. Sara was (is) still sick from last Monday - it just keeps lingering and is now a rough, phlemy cough - which is just gross and she's wishing would just go away. But that also meant that Friday night's plans of drinks w/ a friend that she hadn't seen in quite a while were cancelled - instead, she rented a movie (the Lake House - sappy, but good!) and decided to tuck in for the night. Seth got home around 8-ish and by 9 was in bed and out for the count - guess it was a long week for both of us!
Well, Seth also had to work on Saturday, and after work, he met Sara at the nearest Ikea to buy a few things for around the house - with our impending visitors (Louise + Phil) stopping in for a few weeks, we needed to get some chairs that would give us more seating than just the couch. We got home just in time to put the chairs together and tidy up the house before our friends Rob, Greg + Liz stopped by to watch the Michigan football game. Many beers ensued for the boys, and they ended up going to the nearby pub, the Bull & Firkin for many more drinks - the girls stayed in and watched lame tv on the PVR while Liz waited for Greg to call to be picked up. Although it was a quiet (and sober!) night in for the ladies, we were still up until past 2am waiting for the boys to be done with their night.
Sunday has been spent cleaning up the mess from Saturday night, and finishing up the invites to send out for Liz's shower - they didn't turn out quite as 'creative' as Sara would have liked - but they'll have to do - they're already late going out! Oh and surprise surprise, Seth is a 'little' hungover and watching football for the rest of the day! Haha - boys will be boys!
So this week will be exciting (and a busy one) - Louise + Phil get into town on Tuesday night, and Seth has the rest of the week off to show them around Toronto and play host. On Friday we're planning to head to Montreal for the weekend - meander back through Ottawa and spend a day or two in Kingston showing our guests around the eastern part of Ontario. It should be fun and we'll make sure we post some pictures of the trip for everyone!
Well, Seth also had to work on Saturday, and after work, he met Sara at the nearest Ikea to buy a few things for around the house - with our impending visitors (Louise + Phil) stopping in for a few weeks, we needed to get some chairs that would give us more seating than just the couch. We got home just in time to put the chairs together and tidy up the house before our friends Rob, Greg + Liz stopped by to watch the Michigan football game. Many beers ensued for the boys, and they ended up going to the nearby pub, the Bull & Firkin for many more drinks - the girls stayed in and watched lame tv on the PVR while Liz waited for Greg to call to be picked up. Although it was a quiet (and sober!) night in for the ladies, we were still up until past 2am waiting for the boys to be done with their night.
Sunday has been spent cleaning up the mess from Saturday night, and finishing up the invites to send out for Liz's shower - they didn't turn out quite as 'creative' as Sara would have liked - but they'll have to do - they're already late going out! Oh and surprise surprise, Seth is a 'little' hungover and watching football for the rest of the day! Haha - boys will be boys!
So this week will be exciting (and a busy one) - Louise + Phil get into town on Tuesday night, and Seth has the rest of the week off to show them around Toronto and play host. On Friday we're planning to head to Montreal for the weekend - meander back through Ottawa and spend a day or two in Kingston showing our guests around the eastern part of Ontario. It should be fun and we'll make sure we post some pictures of the trip for everyone!
Monday, October 9, 2006
2 week update
Okay, so we're running behind on the weekly Sunday updates on this blog. Sorry about that - but here's a two week update for you...
Last weekend we did the Murder Mystery Party at our friends' Greg & Liz's - they hosted the party as it was Greg's birthday and he's always wanted to go to one of these parties. So he threw one for himself! It was great fun - Seth was a rich gambler and Sara was the detective (it was a Casino-themed party, so there was also Elvis, a number of showgirls, a senator + wife, more degenerate gamblers and casino staff there was well!). It was a blast - everyone really got into it, both acting-wise and in their costumes. Lots of fun had by all - unfortunately too many drinks were also had by all, so no one correctly guessed the murderer - but Sara did the get best-dressed award!
So that was last weekend - Sunday being a bit of a hangover day, with not much to do except for Seth to watch football and Sara to do laundry and other around-the-house chores. This weekend we drove directly to Ottawa on Friday night - another friend's birthday, another birthday party.
This time it was to visit Sara's friend Melissa - she was joining the 30, Flirty and Fabulous club, and Ottawa is also Seth's best man's home, so he got to visit with his friend Ryan. Friday night was a late one as traffic was so terrible from Toronto, and Saturday the girls waited for Liz to show up (she drove up in the morning) and went directly out to meet the boys for lunch at Cora's and then an afternoon of shopping!
Shopping was quite evenful - everyone got a new outfit and we had just enough time to get back to Melissa's apt to put out some appy's, get ready and have a few cocktails before heading to the restaurant for dinner and to meet a number of her friends.
Seth and Ryan had a date for the hockey game - so didn't meet up with us until after - then we headed out to another bar - had a few more cocktails and finally headed home to bed. We tried to leave at a decent time in the morning, as we were due back in Kingston for a very quick Thanksgiving visit early afternoon - unfortunately we didn't leave until closer to noon, bringing us into Kingston around 2pm. We had dinner with Seth's parents and then headed over to Sara's parents for a quick visit - then back on the road by 7:30pm, to get stuck in traffic heading back to Toronto and getting home close to 11pm.
No wonder we're both exhausted today - thank goodness it's a long weekend...
Last weekend we did the Murder Mystery Party at our friends' Greg & Liz's - they hosted the party as it was Greg's birthday and he's always wanted to go to one of these parties. So he threw one for himself! It was great fun - Seth was a rich gambler and Sara was the detective (it was a Casino-themed party, so there was also Elvis, a number of showgirls, a senator + wife, more degenerate gamblers and casino staff there was well!). It was a blast - everyone really got into it, both acting-wise and in their costumes. Lots of fun had by all - unfortunately too many drinks were also had by all, so no one correctly guessed the murderer - but Sara did the get best-dressed award!
So that was last weekend - Sunday being a bit of a hangover day, with not much to do except for Seth to watch football and Sara to do laundry and other around-the-house chores. This weekend we drove directly to Ottawa on Friday night - another friend's birthday, another birthday party.
This time it was to visit Sara's friend Melissa - she was joining the 30, Flirty and Fabulous club, and Ottawa is also Seth's best man's home, so he got to visit with his friend Ryan. Friday night was a late one as traffic was so terrible from Toronto, and Saturday the girls waited for Liz to show up (she drove up in the morning) and went directly out to meet the boys for lunch at Cora's and then an afternoon of shopping!
Shopping was quite evenful - everyone got a new outfit and we had just enough time to get back to Melissa's apt to put out some appy's, get ready and have a few cocktails before heading to the restaurant for dinner and to meet a number of her friends.
Seth and Ryan had a date for the hockey game - so didn't meet up with us until after - then we headed out to another bar - had a few more cocktails and finally headed home to bed. We tried to leave at a decent time in the morning, as we were due back in Kingston for a very quick Thanksgiving visit early afternoon - unfortunately we didn't leave until closer to noon, bringing us into Kingston around 2pm. We had dinner with Seth's parents and then headed over to Sara's parents for a quick visit - then back on the road by 7:30pm, to get stuck in traffic heading back to Toronto and getting home close to 11pm.
No wonder we're both exhausted today - thank goodness it's a long weekend...
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Birthday parties, concerts and more!
Well this weekend was a busy one for Seth & Sara - we didn't do much on Friday night as Seth had a leaving party for one of his employees and by the time he got home, we were both pretty knackered.
Saturday was spent cleaning (of course) and Seth left mid-afternoon to do a bbq party before heading with some of his friends to the Tool concert at the Molson Amphitheatre - from all accounts it was a pretty fun concert.
Sara left early evening to a birthday dinner being held at Rob & Vone's - our friend Vone just turned 30 (well, on Monday) so Robbie decided to make a huge fabulous dinner (with the help of some of his more talented culinary friends) - we had mussels, lots of cheese and huge helpings of paella - very yummy. It was a great party and was fun to see everyone - a tonne of people showed up and it was great to catch up with a few that we hadn't seen in a while. Seth decided to pop by after the concert, and after a few more bevvies we headed home.
Sunday's been pretty quiet - Seth watching football and Sara trying to get motivated to start her scrapbook from a long-ago Europe trip (photos that have never made it into an album). It looks like this week is going to be a busy work week, and next weekend we have a mystery dinner party at a friend's place - haven't got our characters yet, but it should be a fun fun time!
Cheers ... s&s
Saturday was spent cleaning (of course) and Seth left mid-afternoon to do a bbq party before heading with some of his friends to the Tool concert at the Molson Amphitheatre - from all accounts it was a pretty fun concert.
Sara left early evening to a birthday dinner being held at Rob & Vone's - our friend Vone just turned 30 (well, on Monday) so Robbie decided to make a huge fabulous dinner (with the help of some of his more talented culinary friends) - we had mussels, lots of cheese and huge helpings of paella - very yummy. It was a great party and was fun to see everyone - a tonne of people showed up and it was great to catch up with a few that we hadn't seen in a while. Seth decided to pop by after the concert, and after a few more bevvies we headed home.
Sunday's been pretty quiet - Seth watching football and Sara trying to get motivated to start her scrapbook from a long-ago Europe trip (photos that have never made it into an album). It looks like this week is going to be a busy work week, and next weekend we have a mystery dinner party at a friend's place - haven't got our characters yet, but it should be a fun fun time!
Cheers ... s&s
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Kingston and lots of football for Seth
Another weekend spent apart for the Valliers - it's funny how we can both be so busy with so many different weekends. Seth spent the past 2 weekends away from Toronto, and this past weekend Sara did a quick roadtrip to Kingston to celebrate a friend's 30th b-day and visit some much-neglected family.
Seth on the otherhand, was actually in Toronto for the weekend - he had to work on Saturday, so couldn't make it to Kingston for the visit - and so instead spent much of his Saturday at work and then at Greg's house playing videogames and likely playing poker until the wee hours of the morning. (Although this really is all conjecture, as he never really filled me in on what happened on Sat night - except the fact that it was a late night - and then early morning Sunday golfing -
I just happened to find him in various states of consciousness on Sunday night when I finally got home from my weekend - the poor boy was wiped out.)
Sara's weekend in Kingston was fantastic though - Friday night arrival was late and she went straight to bed. Saturday was spent with her mom shopping (successful shopping) and then Saturday night was her friend's b-day party - which was a blast and fantastically put on by her parents. Sunday, Sara spent a few hours visiting with her Dad and getting some work + MBA advice, and the latter half was spent with Liz and her sister (fighting) in the car home... haha.
That was the weekend in a nutshell - poor Seth is in Niagara Falls all week for a work conference and Sara is left on her lonesome again, boo hoo. This weekend looks like it will turn out to be a productive one and fun - another 30th b-day party planned for Sat night, while Seth goes with the boys to a Tool concert.
But we'll have to fill you in on all that later ... sorry if this post was confusing with the 1st person sequitur ... it's hard to write in the 3rd person all the time.
s&s
Seth on the otherhand, was actually in Toronto for the weekend - he had to work on Saturday, so couldn't make it to Kingston for the visit - and so instead spent much of his Saturday at work and then at Greg's house playing videogames and likely playing poker until the wee hours of the morning. (Although this really is all conjecture, as he never really filled me in on what happened on Sat night - except the fact that it was a late night - and then early morning Sunday golfing -
I just happened to find him in various states of consciousness on Sunday night when I finally got home from my weekend - the poor boy was wiped out.)
Sara's weekend in Kingston was fantastic though - Friday night arrival was late and she went straight to bed. Saturday was spent with her mom shopping (successful shopping) and then Saturday night was her friend's b-day party - which was a blast and fantastically put on by her parents. Sunday, Sara spent a few hours visiting with her Dad and getting some work + MBA advice, and the latter half was spent with Liz and her sister (fighting) in the car home... haha.
That was the weekend in a nutshell - poor Seth is in Niagara Falls all week for a work conference and Sara is left on her lonesome again, boo hoo. This weekend looks like it will turn out to be a productive one and fun - another 30th b-day party planned for Sat night, while Seth goes with the boys to a Tool concert.
But we'll have to fill you in on all that later ... sorry if this post was confusing with the 1st person sequitur ... it's hard to write in the 3rd person all the time.
s&s
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Finally - an update!
Wow - apparently we are worse than we expected ourselves to be at updating the blog - it's been a few weeks now, eh?
Well, the weekend after the 1 yr annivesary weekend, we went to Greg's Dad's cottage up in Presquile for the weekend. Seth had bought a new tent and airmattress for us to use and we were excited about re-entering the camping world! Too bad we didn't arrive until after 9pm, so it was already fully dark by the time we had to set up the tent - that was challenging! But Greg & Liz had dinner waiting for us - some bbq shish-ka-bobs and we discovered a new card/board game (it's called Sequence - too fun - go buy it!), so we ended up playing that and having a few 'pops' well into the night.
The next morning the boys got up super early to go fishing (of course) and Sara & Liz just hung around, chatting and ended up going into the countryside to find a farmer's stand to buy corn for dinner. Too bad we couldn't hit the beach - it looked amazing (very similar to Sandbanks), but it just wasn't sunny/warm enough to make the effort. When the girls finally got back from their road trip, the boys were already back from fishing (unsuccessful - didn't bring back lunch unfortunately) and the were already watching golf on the tv and snoozing. So the girls made lunch for themselves, played a few card games and then watched a movie and snoozed themselves.
Dinner was a hamburger + corn affair and then again, more Sequence of course (it truely is addicting!). Too bad it really starting raining hard that night - we all woke up a little more damp/soggy the next morning (oh yes - Greg & Liz were in a tent too - no one was using the luxurious cottage - that was reserved for Greg's Dad + Stepmom!) ... but Greg had pancakes and bacon waiting on us when we finally did wake up - yummy fresh strawberry and raspberry pancakes - I don't think we can ever go back to plain pancakes now! And after breakfast, Seth tore the tent down and packed up everything, while Sara supervised of course! ;)
That was a great weekend, and then the following weekend was Seth's annual boys' football fantasy pool weekend draft up in Kitchener - so Liz had organized a girls' weekend for her wedding party up in Markham! We went wedding dress shopping - picked out the bridesmaid dresses (aren't they going to be gorgeous?!) - and I think Liz really decided on a style of wedding dress that she likes too. Our friend Vone is making the dress, so she wants to start designing it soon!
Saturday night Liz had made a yummy spinach lasagne for dinner and the girls just sat in and had a few (lots!) drinks. The next morning was a little slow moving - luckily Sara made a yummy fry-up for breakfast. Stefanie (our newly pregnant friend!!!) had to leave to get back home and Liz & Sara & Lisa decided to head back into the city for a fun Sunday night.
So that's pretty much how our past few weekends have gone - still have been really busy! And I'd love to give you a full update on the football draft weekend, but I don't really know the details and Seth is away again this weekend - doing the "Fins, Skins + All-Ins" annual weekend at Greg's cottage. So I have a quiet, relaxing weekend planned for myself - and now I can scratch that first 'to do' off the list - updating our family blog! Going to laundry now - have a great weekend everyone and we'll post another update soon!!!
s & s
Well, the weekend after the 1 yr annivesary weekend, we went to Greg's Dad's cottage up in Presquile for the weekend. Seth had bought a new tent and airmattress for us to use and we were excited about re-entering the camping world! Too bad we didn't arrive until after 9pm, so it was already fully dark by the time we had to set up the tent - that was challenging! But Greg & Liz had dinner waiting for us - some bbq shish-ka-bobs and we discovered a new card/board game (it's called Sequence - too fun - go buy it!), so we ended up playing that and having a few 'pops' well into the night.
The next morning the boys got up super early to go fishing (of course) and Sara & Liz just hung around, chatting and ended up going into the countryside to find a farmer's stand to buy corn for dinner. Too bad we couldn't hit the beach - it looked amazing (very similar to Sandbanks), but it just wasn't sunny/warm enough to make the effort. When the girls finally got back from their road trip, the boys were already back from fishing (unsuccessful - didn't bring back lunch unfortunately) and the were already watching golf on the tv and snoozing. So the girls made lunch for themselves, played a few card games and then watched a movie and snoozed themselves.
Dinner was a hamburger + corn affair and then again, more Sequence of course (it truely is addicting!). Too bad it really starting raining hard that night - we all woke up a little more damp/soggy the next morning (oh yes - Greg & Liz were in a tent too - no one was using the luxurious cottage - that was reserved for Greg's Dad + Stepmom!) ... but Greg had pancakes and bacon waiting on us when we finally did wake up - yummy fresh strawberry and raspberry pancakes - I don't think we can ever go back to plain pancakes now! And after breakfast, Seth tore the tent down and packed up everything, while Sara supervised of course! ;)
That was a great weekend, and then the following weekend was Seth's annual boys' football fantasy pool weekend draft up in Kitchener - so Liz had organized a girls' weekend for her wedding party up in Markham! We went wedding dress shopping - picked out the bridesmaid dresses (aren't they going to be gorgeous?!) - and I think Liz really decided on a style of wedding dress that she likes too. Our friend Vone is making the dress, so she wants to start designing it soon!Saturday night Liz had made a yummy spinach lasagne for dinner and the girls just sat in and had a few (lots!) drinks. The next morning was a little slow moving - luckily Sara made a yummy fry-up for breakfast. Stefanie (our newly pregnant friend!!!) had to leave to get back home and Liz & Sara & Lisa decided to head back into the city for a fun Sunday night.
So that's pretty much how our past few weekends have gone - still have been really busy! And I'd love to give you a full update on the football draft weekend, but I don't really know the details and Seth is away again this weekend - doing the "Fins, Skins + All-Ins" annual weekend at Greg's cottage. So I have a quiet, relaxing weekend planned for myself - and now I can scratch that first 'to do' off the list - updating our family blog! Going to laundry now - have a great weekend everyone and we'll post another update soon!!!
s & s
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Our 1 yr anniversary
What a weekend - the weather wasn't so great, although that's okay as we didn't have any outdoors-y things to do this weekend, and next weekend is a cottage weekend - so let's hope for sunny, warm weather then!
We spent Friday evening at our friends' place - Rob & Vone just got back from a roadtrip that took them across Canada and back! We stayed there fairly late (as often happens at Rob & Vone's!), and subsequently almost slept in too late the next day! We woke up at 12:45 and had to rush to get to the show that Seth had bought tickets for.
So at 1:45 we found ourselves at the Canon Theatre (used to be the Pantages Theatre on Yonge St) ready to watch Spamalot - the Monty Python musical. After that we went to dinner at a new restaurant in our neighbourhood "Lola" steak bistro. Food was quite yummy and service was fantastic!
In between there Sara had given Seth a new watch as a 1st anniversary present (clocks are the modern take apparently) - Seth had gone more traditional with the show tickets being paper and all!
Then after dinner, we headed up the street to have a few more cocktails at Spacco (great pool bar w/ a big patio for smokers) and then on to the movies to watch World Trade Center. The movie was great - but not so 'uplifting' for an anniversary date. Oh well, everything else was super romantic and fun.
And even though we forgot the wedding cake at Sara's mom's house, and weren't able to share that as a traditional 1st year anniversary thing you do - everything else was pretty perfect.
Cheers ... S &S
We spent Friday evening at our friends' place - Rob & Vone just got back from a roadtrip that took them across Canada and back! We stayed there fairly late (as often happens at Rob & Vone's!), and subsequently almost slept in too late the next day! We woke up at 12:45 and had to rush to get to the show that Seth had bought tickets for.
So at 1:45 we found ourselves at the Canon Theatre (used to be the Pantages Theatre on Yonge St) ready to watch Spamalot - the Monty Python musical. After that we went to dinner at a new restaurant in our neighbourhood "Lola" steak bistro. Food was quite yummy and service was fantastic!
In between there Sara had given Seth a new watch as a 1st anniversary present (clocks are the modern take apparently) - Seth had gone more traditional with the show tickets being paper and all!
Then after dinner, we headed up the street to have a few more cocktails at Spacco (great pool bar w/ a big patio for smokers) and then on to the movies to watch World Trade Center. The movie was great - but not so 'uplifting' for an anniversary date. Oh well, everything else was super romantic and fun.
And even though we forgot the wedding cake at Sara's mom's house, and weren't able to share that as a traditional 1st year anniversary thing you do - everything else was pretty perfect.
Cheers ... S &S
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Mom & Walt Vist for the Weekend
This weekend Sara’s parents visited from Friday to Sunday morning. Friday night we spent sitting on our balcony – drinking much too much wine and beer! Actually, we had to send Mom & Walt home in a cab back to the hotel (a $25 cab fare later—oops!) at midnight. Needless to say, when we had to get going that morning everyone was feeling a little worse for wear.
Luckily we managed to pull it together and get on the road for 10am – heading out to Vaughn Mills shopping centre – for the boys to go shopping at Bass Pros Shop and the ladies to visit the rest of the shops in the mall. The guys were done in a short hour, and we all met up for lunch at Johnny Rockets – a cool retro diner-type restaurant that had jukeboxes at each booth and good ol’ American food – everyone had hamburgers (except for Sara – chilli dog was her pick).
After lunch the men headed back home to chill out on the balcony and me & Mom continued on shopping. It was relatively successful. Mom got a full outfit at Fairweather for under $60 and I got 2 new pairs of shoes from Town – fabulously successful! Too bad it took so long to shop though – that mall is huge and tiring – so we didn’t have any steam left for Ikea, we just went home.
We stayed in for dinner that night – Mom & Walt had brought up 4 t-bone steaks for dinner and we had that along with corn on the cob, baked potatoes and a big salad. And after dinner a few more drinks on the balcony! We didn’t overdo it that night though.
Mom & Walt left early on Sunday morning and the rest of the day Seth and I spent cleaning out our closets and dressers, making room for new fall clothes! Haha. Overall, a fairly relaxing weekend – and another one coming up! It’s our one year anniversary on Saturday and we have a romantic dinner planned!
Come back on Sunday for the update!!!
Cheers S & S
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
An unassuming weekend
This past long weekend (well, for some of us, not so long, as Monday isn't technically a stat holiday - so Sara worked - booooooo) was a restful one for Seth and I. While we love the busy schedule that summer gives you - all the parties, patios and visiting - it does get tiring. So we were happy to be hibernating at home in Toronto, while Carribana was going on downtown, without any social commitments to speak of.
Friday night was spent sitting on the balcony, listening to music from 1993-95 and reminiscing of the time before pop was so prevalent in the music industry. When it was good ol' guitar grunge that was the most popular sound going on. It was fun though, as funny as it sounds, we don't get to sit around and chat much, so it was a welcome, quiet, Friday night.
Saturday poor Seth had to work, and Sara had a brunch that she almost missed (who sleeps in to 11am anymore - my body must've needed it!) - and then wedding dress shopping with friends afterwards - how fun to relive what was my summer of planning last year. And saw all sorts of lovely dresses for my dearest Lizzie to go try on, if I can only convince her that she has the time! Saturday afternoon was spent doing a little bit of housework, a nap for Seth, and then off to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean - it was great - really, go see it.
Sunday was an early one - we had a golf date up north of Aurora at 8am. Tiring, but nice to be out before it gets too hot and be done an entire round by the time it's pretty much lunchtime. Too bad the guys we got paired up with were tools - really annoying. A little bit of grocery shopping, a stop at the beer and video stores, and we were homebound again. We rented V for Vendetta and Wolf Creek. First one good, second one incredibly scary/gory/disturbing. At least for me - even Seth got a little freaked out at some of the more gruesome parts.
So that was our weekend in a nutshell - doesn't sound like much, but suited us just fine. And we got to do a big clean so there will only be tidying to do on Thursday night before Sara's mom & stepdad come for a weekend visit this weekend. And if you're wondering, yes, Sara's mom is just as anal for cleanliness as Sara is. Although neither of us reach Debbie's depths! :)
Cheers ... S&S
Friday night was spent sitting on the balcony, listening to music from 1993-95 and reminiscing of the time before pop was so prevalent in the music industry. When it was good ol' guitar grunge that was the most popular sound going on. It was fun though, as funny as it sounds, we don't get to sit around and chat much, so it was a welcome, quiet, Friday night.
Saturday poor Seth had to work, and Sara had a brunch that she almost missed (who sleeps in to 11am anymore - my body must've needed it!) - and then wedding dress shopping with friends afterwards - how fun to relive what was my summer of planning last year. And saw all sorts of lovely dresses for my dearest Lizzie to go try on, if I can only convince her that she has the time! Saturday afternoon was spent doing a little bit of housework, a nap for Seth, and then off to the movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean - it was great - really, go see it.
Sunday was an early one - we had a golf date up north of Aurora at 8am. Tiring, but nice to be out before it gets too hot and be done an entire round by the time it's pretty much lunchtime. Too bad the guys we got paired up with were tools - really annoying. A little bit of grocery shopping, a stop at the beer and video stores, and we were homebound again. We rented V for Vendetta and Wolf Creek. First one good, second one incredibly scary/gory/disturbing. At least for me - even Seth got a little freaked out at some of the more gruesome parts.
So that was our weekend in a nutshell - doesn't sound like much, but suited us just fine. And we got to do a big clean so there will only be tidying to do on Thursday night before Sara's mom & stepdad come for a weekend visit this weekend. And if you're wondering, yes, Sara's mom is just as anal for cleanliness as Sara is. Although neither of us reach Debbie's depths! :)
Cheers ... S&S
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