Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Feeling Nostalgic

I spent the past weekend back in my home and native land and it was glorious. As the airplane touched down in Toronto, memories of good sushi and cheap bibimbop came flooding back to me. After 7 months of living in Chicago, I've recently begun missing a few things about Toronto. Man, flying into Billy Bishop is the best. Sit on the left side of the plane and you'll get a beautiful, up close view of downtown and the waterfront. If you're taking a connecting flight, like I did, you get to do it all over again for the second leg of your journey! The picture below was taken from the airplane window on the way back to Chicago. I miss the CN Tower!
Anyway, my trip to Ottawa was busy busy but fun fun. Although the main attraction was the wedding of M's best friend, we were able to get a few other things accomplished as well. On Thursday night, M and I met up with a couple of friends for Vietnamese food at New Pho Bo Ga La. We stayed entirely too long for a restaurant that likes quick turnover, but they didn't take our order for a good 30 minutes, so I didn't feel too badly.
On Friday morning I laced up my skates for the first time in almost a year and went for a skate on the Rideau Canal. This is the "world's largest skating rink", almost 8km long! The last time I was on the canal a couple of years ago, I didn't know how to skate and was pushed around in a sled. I'm so happy to say I didn't fall once and now I can cross this goal off my 36 in 365 list! We skated for about an hour, then met up with the groom-to-be for breakfast at the oh so delicious Cora's.
In the downtime between wedding related events, M's dad gave me tutorials on baking bread, cinnamon rolls, and oreo ice cream. I get a feeling that he wants me to start cooking better for his son!
And then on Saturday, the long awaited nuptials of C&R! Gorgeous wedding, totally gorgeous bride, good times all around.
For a few weeks I'd been asking M if he wanted to practice his best man speech in front of me, but he's the kinda guy who doesn't actually write one out, he just uses notes from his iPhone. Say what? I could never in a million years do that. I'd end up rambling on about something, forget a bunch of important stuff, and then go blank. M did a good job though and was able to relax after it was over.

After brunch with the wedding party on Sunday morning, we headed straight to the airport for our flights back to Chicago! It was really a fabulous time, my favourite weekend in ages.

And that's what I've been up to, since I know you were on the edge of your seat, wondering :)

2 comments:

  1. It was the best of times for us too. There's nothing like a good wedding and that was a good wedding!

    Although I live in Ottawa, I too miss Toronto sometimes. I love the hustle and bustle and yes, the food in the bigger cities. Ottawa is quite small town.

    We loved having you guys home and wish you weren't so far away. But another visit to Chicago later this year sounds like a good idea :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Marina, I stole your picture, hope that's okay!

    I'm going to write a blog post on Toronto vs. Chicago in the near future. Who woulda thunk we'd actually end up liking the Big Smoke, eh?

    Being away from family is hard. I can appreciate how much you must miss NS somedays. Yes, a trip to Chicago is in order :)

    ReplyDelete