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!

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our weekend in Bancroft

My step-brother had a milestone birthday this Saturday (30 yrs old) and we decided it was a great excuse to get up to Bancroft to visit the family! After a lazy Friday night (a little cleaning, but not much to be honest), we spent Saturday morning cleaning, Seth ordering his Tool tickets online at Ticketmaster and me dropping off the Accent for it's last round of maintenance before the warranty kicks off.

It felt like a fast trip up to Bancroft and there was already party-goers at Derek & Amy's by the time we got there in mid-afternoon. After a few more provisional trips to the liquor store and beer store, we were finally ready to party. It was a fun party - lots of kids splashing around and lots of Derek & Amy's friends (probably close to 30 people there at one point). And I made sure that we caught the different stages of Derek's sobriety that evening - here he is at stage one - doesn't look so bad. But stage 7 is a bit different. Although we all were started to look a little messy around that stage.

We all felt pretty rough the next day - luckily Amy was kind enough to go out and get the hangover cure of the world - McDonalds! We headed out around 1pm and got home shortly after 4pm today. Now we have baseball....we're sooooooo tired.

Cheers ... S & S

Picton Mini-Break

While we wanted to take a week off in August to celebrate our one-year anniversary, unfortunately we had to make due with this past week (July 10th), as Sara is in the midst of switching jobs (so exciting!) and wouldn't be able to take a week off so soon into the new position.

And surprise of all surprises... Seth decided he would plan the vacation - keeping in mind that we already were busy until Tuesday of that week. So a classic road trip to Picton was planned - Sandbanks, golf at Loyalist (golf course where we got married) etc. We woke up super early on Tuesday morning, and through a few wrong turns, finally ended up in the town by 12noon. We ate at a fantastic patio - pub called Coach's, and decided to take advantage of the sun that was peeking through the on-again-off-again clouds - we headed to the beach.

While many of you may wonder why Picton of all places - it was pretty perfect. Way back when, Seth and I used to go to the Sandbanks all the time in the summer to hit the beach - we both love just lying out in the sun and relaxing - and this beach is the best I've ever seen in Canada - so why not here? Plus, the town has gotten much better for shopping and there's all sorts of little bars and patios in the area. Makes for a fun little holiday.

Good thing we got the beach in while we could - it rained solidly the next day. Which of course was supposed to be our golf day! Seth booked the tee-time super early so we would take up the entire day - so we were on the ferry by 6am - you can tell in these pics! It look cloudy, but we had no idea it was going to pour down like it did. We got drenched out on the course by the 7th hole. Luckily we got a raincheck for the full 18 holes - the very next day.

By the time we had gotten back to Picton and changed into dry clothes, it was still only 9:30am - so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed into the town to do some wandering around, shopping, and to see if there was a movie we could see. There was - it was at 2pm and it was Cars - don't see it - if we weren't desperate to find something to do, we would never have gone to see this. But we were successful in some shopping - got some jeans for Seth and some little knicknacks for around the house. Too bad the spa was completely booked up, that would have been a fun way to while away the afternoon. That night we went back to the Waring House - where we'd had dinner the night before - nice little pub, and by the time we got moving at 10pm (on a Wed) it was the only thing open in Picton, aside from McDonalds.

The next day was much nicer for golf (and since with our sunburns from the first day, there was no way we were going to the beach, it wasn't so bad that the only time available was at 11:30am on our final sunny day). And we got to see our wedding venue on a beautiful sunny afternoon - that was nice!

Overall, Picton was a fantastic + relaxing time - couldn't have asked from a better surprise from Seth.

Cheers... S & S

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the Valliers' blog - just a little way to keep all our friends and family up to date and informed on our life!

We've had a super busy summer so far and there's absolutely no way that we're going to post about the past 2 months in great detail - but we can do a quick recap...

May 2006 - we did a 4 day trip over to San Francisco to visit with some friends there - we had a blast and highly recommend it - one of the most beautiful cities that we've ever visited - especially for the ol' US of A. Here's a few pics of the trip ...

Just arrived - Louise took us for a quick trip around the city and across the bridge - here's Seth in the backseat of her convertible with the Golden Gate bridge in the background - pretty groovy shot.

And here's a pretty cool pic of Lombard Street - the twistiest road in the world - we had actually just driven down it before this picture was taken - I'm not sure how anyone actually lives on this street - not only a nightmare to park, but also way too much tourist traffic everyday...

And of course, here's a pic of Alcatraz - in the background of this shot of Seth + Louise. If you want to see all of our pics of San Fran - go to www.sethandsara.shutterfly.com - we have all of our pics from various trips + stuff posted there.

Moving right along - Sara had gone to New York a few weekends ago - to see Madonna in concert - and to shop (of course!) - that was tonnes of fun. Finally saw Central Park for the first time - it's gorgeous - why doesn't Toronto have any parks like that??

Then the next weekend we had a blast at Liz & Greg's housewarming party - it may have been a trek to get to Markham - but well worth it - especially for the paper/rock/scissors tournament - ingenious! Unfortunately lots of drinks + girls around make for a dressed up puppy - this is Fez - Liz & Greg's child!

Last but not least - on the Sunday following the housewarming party, we had my step-brother and his family in town for a visit - which of course included a trip to the Bass Pro Shop store!

We just spent the past few days in Picton on a surprise holiday that Seth planned - we have this weekend off as I start my new job next week - so it was good timing - but we'll post about that w/ some pics later on...

Cheers....S & S