In lieu of a Facebook post thanking everyone for their well wishes and birthday love, I wanted to write a blog post on my 27th birthday.
I wish I had a letter from myself at 10, 13, or 16 to myself at 27 so I could see how I measure up against my young self's expectations, but it doesn't matter. I never had specific goals for myself to have achieved by this age, but if I did, I would've achieved them all and then some. I could not be happier with where I'm at in life.
I have a lot of love. I have a woman to share my life with who I love fiercely and who loves me back. I have four sisters and two parents who support me, challenge me, and inspire me. I have an incredible group of close friends, spread around the world, some who I've known practically since birth, some from university, and a few newer additions who make me laugh and think on the daily. And I wouldn't be the cat lady I've become if I didn't acknowledge my precious Spoon who really does add a lot of love to my life.
I also wanted to acknowledge my Facebook friends (and LinkedIn connections!) for taking a moment out of their day to write a brief message - or lengthy post - to wish me a happy birthday. I know a few people who find Facebook birthday messages insincere, but frankly I love them! I don't mind if we have spoken to or seen each other in years, because getting well wishes on your birthday feels special whoever it comes from (like the woman at Yogurty's who gave me my yogurt on the house today!) and I really appreciate it. I only wish I wrote more birthday messages to people myself!
Love has to be the most important, but I want to ponder some other things I have at the age of 27... purpose, good health, security, independence, and fun! The list really goes on. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be another incredible year. Thank you to everyone who's making today special and those who make every one of my days special.
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
W. and etc.
It's my friend W's birthday today. He is one of my best friends in the whole entire world, and so I can't stop thinking about him today and wishing him all the best on his special day.
One of the things I love about W is his tendency towards the new, exciting, elaborate, and original! I like to stick with things I'm comfortable with/used to a lot of the time, but W often takes me out of my comfort zone and introduces me to something new. Case in point: his choice for birthday celebrations this weekend. On Saturday night, my GF K. and I headed to Mississauga for some... ROLLERSKATING!!!
Yes, W had us all join him at Scooter's Roller Palace in Mississauga, ON for a night of roller skating hilarity. When imagining what decade I might've thrived in that I wasn't alive for, I've always imagined myself in the 70's. Tall with a blonde 'fro, roller skating with grace and style on a Saturday night. The reality was much different, but who cares about grace & style?! I was there for pure fun, and it was! We laughed, fell, wobbled along... It was hilarious and a great time! I highly recommend it.
Currently reading... The 158-Pound Marriage by - my tied-for-favourite author - John Irving
One of the things I love about W is his tendency towards the new, exciting, elaborate, and original! I like to stick with things I'm comfortable with/used to a lot of the time, but W often takes me out of my comfort zone and introduces me to something new. Case in point: his choice for birthday celebrations this weekend. On Saturday night, my GF K. and I headed to Mississauga for some... ROLLERSKATING!!!
Yes, W had us all join him at Scooter's Roller Palace in Mississauga, ON for a night of roller skating hilarity. When imagining what decade I might've thrived in that I wasn't alive for, I've always imagined myself in the 70's. Tall with a blonde 'fro, roller skating with grace and style on a Saturday night. The reality was much different, but who cares about grace & style?! I was there for pure fun, and it was! We laughed, fell, wobbled along... It was hilarious and a great time! I highly recommend it.
Currently reading... The 158-Pound Marriage by - my tied-for-favourite author - John Irving
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Birthday Week!!!!! / Discovering T.O. #7 / Port Hope Showcase
Last Monday, May 28, I turned twenty-five years old. Quite a milestone, really. I keep wishing I had some sort of letter from my younger self to my 25 year old self to see what I was expecting / hoping for. The truth is though that it doesn't matter. I couldn't be prouder of who I am and where I'm at in life, so letter or no letter, I'm one happy 25 year old...
...made happier by the fact that I had the most wonderful series of mini-celebrations of the day of my birth. I'd like to tell you about them.
1) The Beamish House: locally just called "The Beamish", unfortunately this great pub and restaurant doesn't have a website. Once a year the school that I work for throws a huge reunion weekend for its alumni celebrating 5, 10, 15, and so on reunions. The weekend peaks with a dinner on the Saturday night on campus followed by an evening of debauchery, traditionally at The Beamish. This small, quaint pub is taken over, and although its interior doesn't have much space, its patio is sprawling. It's a great night, and two of my besties ventured out to Port Hope to enjoy the evening with me. This was on May 26, but it kick-started birthday celebrations in just the right way. Before they headed back to the city the next day, we indulged in the classic greasy spoon breakfast at Dimitri's in Port Hope. I had the Grand Slam breakfast. It may not have dill-infused hollandaise sauce drizzled all over it, but it did the job.
2) Jim's Pizza & Pasta: this is another classic Port Hope establishment that I highly recommend. The truth is that this wasn't particularly the highlight of birthday celebrations, but I find that restaurants are a good anchor in this blog for other stories. The real highlight was having my girlfriend come to PH on May 27 to have dinner, chill times, and then be there with me first-thing on my special day. That said, grabbing dinner at Jim's Pizza is ALWAYS a delight. This is my GF's favourite spot in Port Hope, and we always each get the pizza & salad combo. With this combo, you get a small, 4-slice personal pizza with any 3 toppings you'd like PLUS a huge serving of delicious Caesar salad (Greek is also a choice, but I mean, really). After our delicious dinner we bought some snacks and went home for a viewing of "Best In Show".
3) My Special Day itself: the authentic birthday day was no exception to the fun already had. I woke up with the GF and opened a gift from her and from other family members who had sent theirs in advance. Then I made us breakfast (she would've made it, but she likes the way I make eggs best!) and we lazily enjoyed the morning (I took it off from work), and then I drove her to Oshawa where she took the GO train back to Toronto.
I had a great day at work, complete with cheesecake shared with my colleagues!
When the work day was done, my Mom and sister came to Port Hope to take me to dinner. And what a dinner it was! We ate at Trattoria Gusto (finally a PH resto with a website). I've eaten here 3-5 times before and it's very delicious. I find that's a bit of an anomaly about Port Hope - not a lot to do, but 3-4 incredible restaurants! We went all out, sharing a beet salad, calimari, and carpaccio to start, and then for my main I had the chicken parmesan, which was succulent. We finished it off by sharing a decadent, rich brownie with a candle on top. It was fantastic!!!
4) Old school gay village celebration: Even though I'd had my fair share of celebrations, I wanted to do it up right with a night out in Toronto, which went down this past Saturday, June 2. I hemmed and hawed over how I wanted to celebrate, and it dawned on me - when was the last time I had a night out in the Church & Wellesley neighbourhood a.k.a. the gay village in Toronto?!?! I came of age in that neighbourhood and came into my proud, gay self, and I have great memories (nostalgic already?) of drag queens and dance parties, so I thought - it's about time I go back.
This evening started with appetizers and drinks at Smith on Church St. I'll be very honest with you -- I didn't really do my due diligence on Smith. I basically looked for a restaurant in the village that had a few classy-looking/sounding appetizers and said, why not? Full disclosure: all it took was seeing that Smith had a charcuterie board. Charcuterie = class. Thankfully my lack of research didn't result in 11 friends and I dining at a dive. Smith had us seated at a long table set for 12 upstairs at the restaurant, with a big window, a fireplace (too hot for that though), and a view of the goings-on of Church St. It had a great vibe and the drinks and food were great! For the record, I did order the charcuterie board and I loved it. I didn't look to see what was on it, but I did eat cow tongue and I enjoyed it!
After 3 lazy hours eating and drinking at Smith we head off to Zelda's new location on Yonge St. for a drink. I ordered the "Proud Mary" (for its name only) and we left shortly after that.
Where did we go? Where else does one go when they want an old school gay village celebration? Buddies in Bad Times. Buddies has such great music and so much sweaty and fun dancing on Saturday nights, and this past Saturday was no exception. We danced and drank and had ourselves a great time until about 2:30 when last call was made and it was time to catch the late-night Yonge bus home.
Being 25 is off to a fabulous start, and many thanks to the friends, family members, and Port Hope/Toronto establishments that made my birthday celebrations so special!!!
...made happier by the fact that I had the most wonderful series of mini-celebrations of the day of my birth. I'd like to tell you about them.
1) The Beamish House: locally just called "The Beamish", unfortunately this great pub and restaurant doesn't have a website. Once a year the school that I work for throws a huge reunion weekend for its alumni celebrating 5, 10, 15, and so on reunions. The weekend peaks with a dinner on the Saturday night on campus followed by an evening of debauchery, traditionally at The Beamish. This small, quaint pub is taken over, and although its interior doesn't have much space, its patio is sprawling. It's a great night, and two of my besties ventured out to Port Hope to enjoy the evening with me. This was on May 26, but it kick-started birthday celebrations in just the right way. Before they headed back to the city the next day, we indulged in the classic greasy spoon breakfast at Dimitri's in Port Hope. I had the Grand Slam breakfast. It may not have dill-infused hollandaise sauce drizzled all over it, but it did the job.
2) Jim's Pizza & Pasta: this is another classic Port Hope establishment that I highly recommend. The truth is that this wasn't particularly the highlight of birthday celebrations, but I find that restaurants are a good anchor in this blog for other stories. The real highlight was having my girlfriend come to PH on May 27 to have dinner, chill times, and then be there with me first-thing on my special day. That said, grabbing dinner at Jim's Pizza is ALWAYS a delight. This is my GF's favourite spot in Port Hope, and we always each get the pizza & salad combo. With this combo, you get a small, 4-slice personal pizza with any 3 toppings you'd like PLUS a huge serving of delicious Caesar salad (Greek is also a choice, but I mean, really). After our delicious dinner we bought some snacks and went home for a viewing of "Best In Show".
3) My Special Day itself: the authentic birthday day was no exception to the fun already had. I woke up with the GF and opened a gift from her and from other family members who had sent theirs in advance. Then I made us breakfast (she would've made it, but she likes the way I make eggs best!) and we lazily enjoyed the morning (I took it off from work), and then I drove her to Oshawa where she took the GO train back to Toronto.
I had a great day at work, complete with cheesecake shared with my colleagues!
When the work day was done, my Mom and sister came to Port Hope to take me to dinner. And what a dinner it was! We ate at Trattoria Gusto (finally a PH resto with a website). I've eaten here 3-5 times before and it's very delicious. I find that's a bit of an anomaly about Port Hope - not a lot to do, but 3-4 incredible restaurants! We went all out, sharing a beet salad, calimari, and carpaccio to start, and then for my main I had the chicken parmesan, which was succulent. We finished it off by sharing a decadent, rich brownie with a candle on top. It was fantastic!!!
4) Old school gay village celebration: Even though I'd had my fair share of celebrations, I wanted to do it up right with a night out in Toronto, which went down this past Saturday, June 2. I hemmed and hawed over how I wanted to celebrate, and it dawned on me - when was the last time I had a night out in the Church & Wellesley neighbourhood a.k.a. the gay village in Toronto?!?! I came of age in that neighbourhood and came into my proud, gay self, and I have great memories (nostalgic already?) of drag queens and dance parties, so I thought - it's about time I go back.
This evening started with appetizers and drinks at Smith on Church St. I'll be very honest with you -- I didn't really do my due diligence on Smith. I basically looked for a restaurant in the village that had a few classy-looking/sounding appetizers and said, why not? Full disclosure: all it took was seeing that Smith had a charcuterie board. Charcuterie = class. Thankfully my lack of research didn't result in 11 friends and I dining at a dive. Smith had us seated at a long table set for 12 upstairs at the restaurant, with a big window, a fireplace (too hot for that though), and a view of the goings-on of Church St. It had a great vibe and the drinks and food were great! For the record, I did order the charcuterie board and I loved it. I didn't look to see what was on it, but I did eat cow tongue and I enjoyed it!
After 3 lazy hours eating and drinking at Smith we head off to Zelda's new location on Yonge St. for a drink. I ordered the "Proud Mary" (for its name only) and we left shortly after that.
Where did we go? Where else does one go when they want an old school gay village celebration? Buddies in Bad Times. Buddies has such great music and so much sweaty and fun dancing on Saturday nights, and this past Saturday was no exception. We danced and drank and had ourselves a great time until about 2:30 when last call was made and it was time to catch the late-night Yonge bus home.
Being 25 is off to a fabulous start, and many thanks to the friends, family members, and Port Hope/Toronto establishments that made my birthday celebrations so special!!!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Wonderful Weekend!
Man, I must be in a writin' mood. Two posts in two days. Oh well, when the muse is with you, the muse is with you...
First a little something fun:
What a sweetie!
I've been having a great weekend! It's a long weekend here in Ontario (Family Day), so the usual luxury of the weekend is made that much more luxurious. I've had a great mixture of chill times, time outdoors, movie-watching, friend-seeing, food-eating... the whole gamut. In the food-eating arena, I went to Frida last night as I mentioned I would, and it was as delicious as I remembered. Tasty margaritas, succulent jumbo shrimp, and the best guacamole I've ever had in my life!!! On top of all that, I had with me some absolutely fabulous company. Great evening!!!
Today was an adventure with my boy Waleed. As his birthday present, I wanted to do something fun together. W. and I are going to be friends forever, so buying expensive things isn't always necessary; I'd rather have a fun experience together, so that was the inspiration for this gift. We started the day off with brunch. We met at the Bloor Street Diner where I was having a coffee and thinking that the all-you-can-eat brunch sounded tantalizing. When Wal arrived we asked how much the AYCE brunch cost and it was $25.95 each before tax. That was a little too steep for the two of us, so we finished our coffees, paid for them, and headed east to Sunset Grill at Bloor & Church. There we got 2 filling breakfasts for $20 TOTAL!!! I'm glad we resisted brunch at BSD -- another time.
After a yummy breakfast at SG, we headed to surprise #1, which Wal had NO idea about. Where did we go??? The Bata Shoe Museum!!! I hadn't been there since I was 12 or so, and Wal had never been, and I thought it would be a fun experience. We went to lots of museums together in Paris, but why not in the city where we both (kinda... sorta...) live?! It was a lot of fun. We started downstairs where the history of shoes is charted, and then we followed that up with the Roaring Twenties exhibit, which was really well done. We also saw the Art in Shoes | Shoes in Art exhibit, which was cool, too. We were there probably an hour or so in total, and then we headed to surprise #2.
Surprise #2: Seeing "The Iron Lady" at the Varsity Theatre in the VIP theatre!!! Wow... what a movie. It was really fantastic to see such a strong, powerful woman's journey. It was also well-done; watching Margaret Thatcher's struggles with sanity/dementia. Jim Broadbent acted well, as he always does. But, let's get to the most important thing:
MERYL. MERYL. MERYL.
Meryl Streep... how do you do it? She is, without a doubt, the greatest actress of our time. For that matter, she may be the greatest actress of all time. While watching the movie, you completely forget that it's Meryl. That is definitely thanks to the talent of the make-up artist, too, but... oh Meryl... you really just nailed it. You were Margaret Thatcher. You were completely in the character. The accent, the facial expressions, the voice... You were absolutely flawless. Win or lose the Oscar, there is no debate about your talent. Congratulations on the performance of a lifetime!!!
Never mind the special treat of enjoying a movie in the VIP theatre. It's not something you want to do every time you see a movie, but for a treat it's worth the extra bucks. You've got a small, intimate theatre with a great view of the screen. You've got extra comfy seats and a side table for your treats. You can have beer while you watch your movie! And, in my last experience in the theatre, I even had an employee serve me my treats!!! It's a fun little treat. (Say treat again... treat!)
So that was the birthday adventure with Waleed. A lot of fun!
I also saw another great movie this weekend: "Beginners". I'd been wanting to see this since I saw a preview for it; it seemed like a really new idea for a movie. Beyond a fun story line, it also had a creative multimedia-esque approach. The acting was also really good. I loved Melanie Laurent, and Ewan was great, and Christopher Plummer was at his best. It was a well-written movie and quite moving. I loved it!
So, that was my weekend! Lots of fun, and back to reality on Tuesday!
First a little something fun:
What a sweetie!
I've been having a great weekend! It's a long weekend here in Ontario (Family Day), so the usual luxury of the weekend is made that much more luxurious. I've had a great mixture of chill times, time outdoors, movie-watching, friend-seeing, food-eating... the whole gamut. In the food-eating arena, I went to Frida last night as I mentioned I would, and it was as delicious as I remembered. Tasty margaritas, succulent jumbo shrimp, and the best guacamole I've ever had in my life!!! On top of all that, I had with me some absolutely fabulous company. Great evening!!!
Today was an adventure with my boy Waleed. As his birthday present, I wanted to do something fun together. W. and I are going to be friends forever, so buying expensive things isn't always necessary; I'd rather have a fun experience together, so that was the inspiration for this gift. We started the day off with brunch. We met at the Bloor Street Diner where I was having a coffee and thinking that the all-you-can-eat brunch sounded tantalizing. When Wal arrived we asked how much the AYCE brunch cost and it was $25.95 each before tax. That was a little too steep for the two of us, so we finished our coffees, paid for them, and headed east to Sunset Grill at Bloor & Church. There we got 2 filling breakfasts for $20 TOTAL!!! I'm glad we resisted brunch at BSD -- another time.
After a yummy breakfast at SG, we headed to surprise #1, which Wal had NO idea about. Where did we go??? The Bata Shoe Museum!!! I hadn't been there since I was 12 or so, and Wal had never been, and I thought it would be a fun experience. We went to lots of museums together in Paris, but why not in the city where we both (kinda... sorta...) live?! It was a lot of fun. We started downstairs where the history of shoes is charted, and then we followed that up with the Roaring Twenties exhibit, which was really well done. We also saw the Art in Shoes | Shoes in Art exhibit, which was cool, too. We were there probably an hour or so in total, and then we headed to surprise #2.
Surprise #2: Seeing "The Iron Lady" at the Varsity Theatre in the VIP theatre!!! Wow... what a movie. It was really fantastic to see such a strong, powerful woman's journey. It was also well-done; watching Margaret Thatcher's struggles with sanity/dementia. Jim Broadbent acted well, as he always does. But, let's get to the most important thing:
MERYL. MERYL. MERYL.
Meryl Streep... how do you do it? She is, without a doubt, the greatest actress of our time. For that matter, she may be the greatest actress of all time. While watching the movie, you completely forget that it's Meryl. That is definitely thanks to the talent of the make-up artist, too, but... oh Meryl... you really just nailed it. You were Margaret Thatcher. You were completely in the character. The accent, the facial expressions, the voice... You were absolutely flawless. Win or lose the Oscar, there is no debate about your talent. Congratulations on the performance of a lifetime!!!
Never mind the special treat of enjoying a movie in the VIP theatre. It's not something you want to do every time you see a movie, but for a treat it's worth the extra bucks. You've got a small, intimate theatre with a great view of the screen. You've got extra comfy seats and a side table for your treats. You can have beer while you watch your movie! And, in my last experience in the theatre, I even had an employee serve me my treats!!! It's a fun little treat. (Say treat again... treat!)
So that was the birthday adventure with Waleed. A lot of fun!
I also saw another great movie this weekend: "Beginners". I'd been wanting to see this since I saw a preview for it; it seemed like a really new idea for a movie. Beyond a fun story line, it also had a creative multimedia-esque approach. The acting was also really good. I loved Melanie Laurent, and Ewan was great, and Christopher Plummer was at his best. It was a well-written movie and quite moving. I loved it!
So, that was my weekend! Lots of fun, and back to reality on Tuesday!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tweetin'
I am chagrinned. I have neglected this blog. I feel like it's my old toy car and I got a really cool remote control one and have been dedicating so much attention to the new, cool, shiny one, and completely ignoring my old, beaten-up racecar... or really any such analogy...
In other news, racecar is a palindrome, and so is the phrase: "Never odd or even". Coooool.
So yeah - time to reboot Sugar and Gravy a bit, eh? Get some new entries in and try to be a little more consistent? You betcha, I will.
I'm getting adjusted by a chiropractor this morning. It's kinda hilarious because this chiropractor adds me to Twitter and sees (palindrome!) that my birthday is coming up (tomorrow) and offers me a free adjustment. I've never been adjusted before... I wonder what it will consist of. Will it be painful? Whatever... it's one of those things that just comes out of nowhere and you've gotta pounce on the opportunity, I think. I never used to do shit like this, but like my best friend W. and I realized yesterday, or rather, acknowledged, I'm a totally different person than I was 6 months ago. Or not totally different, but vastly different, I think.
Anyway, gotta get dressed and ready to be adjusted.
In other news, racecar is a palindrome, and so is the phrase: "Never odd or even". Coooool.
So yeah - time to reboot Sugar and Gravy a bit, eh? Get some new entries in and try to be a little more consistent? You betcha, I will.
I'm getting adjusted by a chiropractor this morning. It's kinda hilarious because this chiropractor adds me to Twitter and sees (palindrome!) that my birthday is coming up (tomorrow) and offers me a free adjustment. I've never been adjusted before... I wonder what it will consist of. Will it be painful? Whatever... it's one of those things that just comes out of nowhere and you've gotta pounce on the opportunity, I think. I never used to do shit like this, but like my best friend W. and I realized yesterday, or rather, acknowledged, I'm a totally different person than I was 6 months ago. Or not totally different, but vastly different, I think.
Anyway, gotta get dressed and ready to be adjusted.
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