Oh what a night ...

Being Saturday, I of course was at work today. I started the day off feeling not quite right (sore throat, ear ache, and generally feeling queasy) but I wasn't sick enough to stay home, so I headed in to work for about 8am. I stopped off to get oatmeal and a bagel at Tim Horton's on the way, and Dena, one of my close friends, stopped off at McDonald's to get us coffee (the bagel was for her).
Every Saturday I like to send electronic updates to my staff on their quarter-to-date results, and although it can be quite time consuming, I know they appreciate the information.
I had sushi for lunch - probably not the best thing to have when you're not feeling so hot, but I didn't have a ton of it, and by day's end, I was feeling better.
I came home, cleaned up the house a bit, and started to get ready for GNO (Girls Night Out).
I made dinner reservations a few weeks ago at Cafe Dario for myself and 7 friends. My best friend Paula from Selkirk came in for dinner (Selkirk is about an hour outside of Winnipeg). I don't get to see her often enough, so seeing her is always a real treat. I also got to see Shannon whom I haven't seen since my Dad's memorial service. Shannon and Joanne both drove over to my place so we could all carpool together. Cass and Betty came together and met as at the restaurant, and rounding off the group were Rebeca and Rhiann. Rhiann is honestly THE funniest person I know, and she's wickedly smart and witty, which I think makes a lethal combination for the most comedic people. In my opinion, I think not all smart people are funny, but all funny people are smart. What do you think of my theory?
If it weren't for the great company, I'm not sure I'd be so happy about Cafe Dario mainly because of the terrible service, but dinner itself was quite good, especially considering the $35/person price tag, which included your single choice between 5-6 appetizers (I had the Escargot Diablo), soup (sweet corn and tomato), salad (with a very good roasted red pepper dressing), your single choice between 5-6 entrees (I had the new york strip loin which came with garlic mashed potatoes and pureed beets), and dessert (chocolate orange mousse). When you consider you'd probably pay $30 for the steak alone at a restaurant, the price is quite amazing I think. I think everyone felt full but not stuffed after the meal, and every single course was as visually appealing as it was delicious.
After dinner, I drove Rhiann home (downtown), then Shannon and Joanne and I drove back to my place so they could get their vehicles.
Events like this remind me not only how important it is to have a great network of friends, but how lucky I am to have such a supportive group of ladies in my life.
A toast to great friends!
I can't wait to see you all at the next dinner!! :)

Being grateful

Did I ever tell you that I work for the greatest organization in the world? Well, I do. Call it being "loyal to the Royal", or "bleeding blue and gold" - I love my employer through and through.
This week we celebrated "Employee Appreciation" - for us, a week long event of showing appreciation to our employees for the amazing jobs they do each and every day.
We've marked the event by having a week-long celebration, enjoying everything from games (Minute-to-win-it style), to a quarterly performance celebration, to casual dress week, to a free BBQ, to hand-delivered choco-pops with a note of appreciation ... the list goes on. I don't know that many organizations go to the lengths that RBC does to celebrate their employees, but I am so grateful and PROUD to work for such an amazing company.
I celebrated by getting my weekly 45-minute team meeting extended to an hour, and taking my team off site to enjoy iced coffees and not have a meeting focused only on work. It was a beautiful day and I think everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be outside enjoying the fresh air.
The daycare that Romeo goes to was also appreciative of his marbled spice cake, which they were kind enough to take a picture of and post to their FB page! I made a quick molasses glaze yesterday morning before we took the cake to school, and I asked for honest feedback since, A) I had never made it before, and B) I wasn't going to be able to try it. They said it was great, but I think they don't want to hurt my feelings :) Oh well ... :)
Today is "Blue Water Day" at RBC. We're celebrating RBC's commitment to a variety of water conservation initiatives worldwide, including RBC's commitment to donating over $50 million globally over a ten-year period (from 2007 to 2017) for such causes. Yet ANOTHER reason I love RBC!
Time to get ready for work. All employees are encouraged to wear blue in honour of Blue Water Day, so I'll pick through what I have to wear and play my part. I'm grateful that I work for a company that is not only internationally well recognized but more importantly, a company who is so well respected by many.
What are you grateful for?
Make it a great day, everyone!

I'm baaaaaaaaack ...

So I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. On the contrary, I'm returning to all of the things I used to do before my Dad passed away.
So what have I been up to? Wow ... where do I start??
Well, I've been to the mall. Yep - I said that mall. When my Dad was was moved to the hospital and then the hospice in February, most of my spare time was spent at the hospice, and there were some weeks where I barely even got our grocery shopping done. I hadn't been to St Vital in eons, and I wasn't even sure I knew how to get to Polo Park anymore! Turns out, they're both still in their original locations, and they both welcomed me with open arms :) I engaged in some much needed retail therapy, and got some great deals along the way.
I've done some crafting, mostly jewelry and cards. Let this be a hint to anyone who crafts out there - your craft just isn't complete unless you have glitter on it!! Trust me.
I've done some reading and have a few different books on the go:
"The Slap", which is a book about a guy who slaps a child who is not his own at a BBQ and the ensuing fall-out from 8 different peoples' perspectives. I have to say, when I first started it, I was LOST with 8 people at a BBQ all being introduced within just a couple of pages, but the style is very Grapes of Wrath-ish, and I'm quite enjoying it.
I'm also reading "This is not a book - Adventures in Popular Philosophy" which is a very high-level overview of the four branches of philosophy and the philosophers whose work has influenced thinking in that area. Similar in style, I'm also reading "This book has feelings - adventures in the philosophy and psychology of your mind". Fortunately the chapters are short in those two books, so things don't get too heavy.
I'm also reading Tina Fey's autobiography "Bossypants". It's not bad, certainly way better than Peter Russell's autobiography, but for someone I find quite entertaining and humorous, I find her autobio a little on the boring side.
And of course I ALWAYS have room on my nightstand for a cookbook or two, or three, or four ...
I went to the library for the first time in forever and found volume 1 and 2 of a book called "The Cake Mix Doctor". As a die-hard cook and baker, I'm always looking to expand my circle of willing guinea pigs to try my latest creation, and The Cake Mix Doctor is comprised of recipes that use cake mix as the base. As I blog, I'm baking a Marbled Spice bundt cake for Romeo to take to daycare tomorrow. Correction - Romeo is baking it, he always does. I've never made it before and won't get a chance to try it, so I'll have to rely on our girls at the daycare to give me their honest feedback.
Lastly, I planted a garden. Yes, you read it right - I. Planted. A. Garden. There's probably nothing I hate more than gardening, and had all but given up on EVER trying to plant a garden again after the yearly disasters I've created, but one of the girls I work with mentioned "square-foot gardening" and after she explained it to me, I was inspired to try it one more time.
The concept of square-foot gardening is that you plant your vegetables in 1 sqaure-foot "plots", usually in a raised box, no more than 4'x4'. Unlike traditional gardening, which grows stuff in rows, square-foot gardening has everything planted in square-foot plots right next to each other, virtually eliminating weeding, and creates an ultra-efficient garden (no wasted water, no wasted fertilizer etc) Although the photo below is not my OWN garden, you'll get the idea from the photo.


I was on vacation the week of May 23rd and with a little help (ok, a LOT of help), I got my garden weeded, tilled, constructed, and planted. I went out to water the garden a few nights ago and was pleasantly surprised to see the beginnings of the radishes I planted! I'm so excited!! I ended up with 20 square-feet of plantable area, in a 48 square-foot frame. Apart from radishes, I also planted strawberries, rosemary, cilantro, two types of basil, two types of tomatoes, onions, garlic, two red and golden beets, swiss chard, eggplants, peppers and carrots. Because of the nature of square-foot gardening, you don't end up with tons and tons of food that you need to give away, so it helps to cut down on food that goes to waste. Once the garden is up and running, I'll post some pics of my actual garden.
I've also started going to hot yoga again, and I'm reminded just how much I missed it. I'm also reminded how out of shape I am, but yoga is so forgiving, and I have already noticed a difference in just 1 week.
On a personal front, things are going better than expected (I think?). I think of my Dad often, and am occasionally reminded that he's not here anymore and that I can't just pick up the phone and talk to him anymore. My Dad was a great singer, and was always singing, and now I wish that we had taped him singing so I could listen to it now. Oh well ....
My Mom has finally decided to live with my sister here in Winnipeg on a permanent basis. At first, I had reservations about it for many reasons, but my sister says things are working out well for now, and although it's an adjustment for everyone, I do hope that in the long-run, things will work out for the best. My Mom living with my sister is somewhat conditional on my Mom enrolling herself in extracurricular activities to keep her on-the-go, and she seems to agree with that notion. My Mom will be going out West in July/August for about one month to visit my other sister in Calgary and my niece in Edmonton.
So that's it in a very summarized nut-shell.
Sorry for the extended hiatus, everyone, but I think it's what I needed.
I will update again soon, maybe with photos of my new garden? :) Wish me luck!!