Distillery District

I'm having adventures faster than I can blog about them! Let's see if I can catch up a bit here.

I do realize the irony in following the previous blog post up with this one but I want to stay chronological here. So after posting about how much I like doing things with my friends, Wednesday, May 30th I headed into Toronto by myself. My destination was the First Parliament Interpretive Centre. I need to back up though and give a bit of background. Before I moved to Ontario I was at a ScrapShare Washington Retreat and discussing my plans with my friend Linda. She suggested that I connect with her friend Wendy who is involved in some of the fields I am looking at employment opportunities in. Wendy and I added each other on Facebook and then life got in the way. I moved, settled into school, went to Quebec and took my epic road trip last summer. She moved between Ottawa and Toronto and got divorced. This year when school ended I contacted her again and made plans to come out to visit. Wednesday was that day. 

I was late leaving Waterloo but traffic wasn't too bad so I got to Toronto around 1pm. Wendy was waiting for me and greeted me by name when I walked in. We started chatting and talked for probably two hours straight. It was great. We discussed the exhibit and how it developed, her involvement and the other places she has worked. From what Linda had said I knew Wendy would be a good resource and I was right. We discussed the job market in our field in Ontario, ways to network and a bunch of other things. The exhibit itself is a temporary one so it's mostly just informational panels. I didn't take any pictures but it was interesting to read and a good introduction to the War of 1812 bicentennial events happening in Ontario starting this year.

 The exhibit closed at 4 and I left just before that. Wendy directed me to the nearby historic Distillery District (which is where I had ended up parking my car) and because I wasn't in a rush to get anywhere, I hung around for awhile. I browsed through the shops, ate the lunch I had packed while people watching and treated myself to some fabulous chocolate and a tart from the bakery. In a store called Bergo I found THIS. I first saw it in the MOMA gift shop when Meredith and I were in NYC. I also recently pinned it on Pinterest. I know you can buy it at uncommongoods but I found it for cheaper here. I don't know what I'll use it for. I have no need for a creamer but I've regretted not buying it for two and a half years so I had to get it. Interesting side note. I had a feeling I would find it in that store. All their other stock was similar gadgets and by the same designer so I was working my way through looking closely at each display. Just before I found it I got a call from Meredith. We had been playing telephone tag so I was expecting her call. I also had a pretty good idea of why she was calling. The day before I had learned that one of our elementary school classmates had passed away. I don't even know the last time I saw or spoke to Laura but she used to live across the street from me and we played together a bit. This is really random but one of the clearest memories I have of Laura isn't even about her. It was of Meredith telling me, in maybe grade 3 that Laura had said that her older sister was "bleeding from between her legs". It was the first I had ever really heard of menstruation and I remember Meredith sounding really concerned about Laura's sister and the fact that it could happen to us. I also remember responding in that "I'm-younger-than-you-but-the-oldest-child-in-my-family-calmness" that "There must be an explanation for it. We just don't know what it is yet". Anyway, as I said. Random. The point of that segue was to say that just after I hung up with Mere I found the creamer so in a weird way it felt like she was there with me this time too. Anyway, this has gotten kind of long and rambly. I guess I can finish up by saying it was a nice, relaxing, productive day and I can't wait to get back to the Distillery District and to other parts of Toronto over the summer.

BlackBird Vintage. Another amazing shop that was like having my Pinterest boards come to life. It was everything I could do to hold back and not drop major $$$!

The chocolate shop

Random Easter Memories

I suppose any annual event makes you think about past ones but today I'm reminiscing about past Easters. When I was a kid the chocolate was there but the emphasis was, as with every Sunday, always on church. Doing an Easter egg hunt was always a bit awkward because it was either completed in a hurry before church (like the picture) or we had to wait until after which was just painful :P

Because we moved a fair bit, Easter is very much associated with the house we were living in at the time. For example I know, from our ages and the angle that this was the house on Harwood. I very clearly remember the excitement of finding our chocolates in Mom and Dad's closet too. And our "baskets" that were actually empty Becel margarine tubs :)

The year we were on Astoria we had our hunt in the back yard. That summer we found a stray chocolate egg in the dryer vent. Somehow we had missed it and by then it was very melted. Ooops!

One year on Perth we had to do the hunt in the living room because it was POURING rain outside.

When I got older it was less about the chocolate and more about the fact that I had a long weekend and it was a great time to travel. In 2000 I visited Ontario for the first time and in 2007 I was in Texas. It is crazy to think that I now LIVE in Ontario (I joked about moving back then but I never, ever would have done it) and it floors me that Texas was five years ago already.

Easter is obviously about much more than chocolate or travel. After this weekend my heart is full of thanksgiving, love and new memories as I look back five years, twelve, twenty some and two thousand to where it all began.

Random Memory #7: Summer Reading Programs

I took these pictures a few years back anticipating a blog post like this.

I was in the library yesterday in the kids section (getting more Disney DVD's to watch in French, currently I'm watching the Little Mermaid) and I overheard the librarian explaining the summer reading program to a young girl. I used to LOVE the summer reading programs they offered in my hometown. I participated every year but I think 1994 was the year I read the most. I remember going back to the library multiple times to get more cards and stickers because I kept using mine up. I read a lot of Babysitters Club that year but a lot of other things as well. The idea was that you set a goal for yourself of minutes of reading a day. I forget exactly what mine was. Probably 15 minutes, 30 and 45 or an hour for gold. I gave myself a lot of golds. I know I read a lot.

The hardest part for me of being in university is not being able to chose what I read. I mean I find the required reading really interesting (thank goodness) but there is SO much that it's hard to fit anything else in without feeling guilty. This last year I w

as reading ALL the time, at home, on the bus, on my fifteen minute breaks at work, but it was all required reading. I don't know if that will change next year but for now, I'm enjoying my summer reading.

I never really understood "summer reading" until now. Reading is something I do all the time and until I was in university I didn't understand how some people could not have the time for reading for pleasure.

I took this picture of the books laying around my room waiting for exams to be over in April. The twilight ones are in there (and I've since added Breaking Dawn as well) because I'm hoping to scrapbook my trip to Forks, WA this summer and while I may not read them cover to cover, I will reference them while scrapbooking. The top two, Little House on the Prairie and Wind in the Willows along with Marley & Me, Like Dandelion Dust and Little Women (not yet acquired) are the selections for the book club back home that I am still an honorary (albeit bad) member of. Since I took this picture I've finished the LM Montgomery and Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont biographies, all three Starbucks books and World Without End. I've also read two others that weren't in that pile and added at least five more. It's great to have time to read what I chose again!

Random Memory #6: Oregon Trail

I'm continuing to live in a no-television apartment and it's working amazingly well. All my regular shows have started back up again for the new season and I'm not missing them or feeling sorry for myself at all.

One of the things that is keeping me sane is that I can get random dvd's from the library. Movies, documentaries, educational programming. It's fascinating what they have there. Recently I watched a PBS documentary on the Oregon Trail. That is a period of history that has always fascinated me. I have read lots of historical fiction based around that time period and we used to spend HOURS playing it after school.

As soon as the bell rang we'd RACE to the computer lab and stay there until it closed (an hour or so later). Mom learned not to expect us right after school. "Us" was Meredith, my brothers and I (and other students). You could take five people in your "wagon" so Mere and I always took each other, which ever boy we had a crush on that week and one random brother that we'd write off to cholera or a wagon accident or drowning. Because you knew SOMEONE had to die and we didn't want it to be someone we liked!

The best part of Oregon Trail was hunting (even if you could only bring back 100 pounds of meat) and running the rapids at the end. I still miss that game.

Did anyone else play?

Wordless Wednesday: Really. I'm not hard to please.

This is from my box of elementary school projects.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

At the last scrapbook retreat I attended my project was my school days album. All my annual portraits and class pictures in one place. I only did Kindergarten-grade seven and I'm still trying to locate my grade eight through twelve pictures. While I was looking I found the box that has all my school projects in it. Book reports, art work, you name it, Mom saved almost everything. My next step is to go through that box, ditch the stuff I don't want, scrapbook what I do and photograph anything I'm not sure of. I took a couple photos that night and I'll share them here.

The first one is my "olympic torch" from the Calgary 1988 Olympics. I don't remember the actual olympics other than the fact that the mascots were Howdy and Hidy. Her name was spelled wrong but I still felt a kinship with her :) Apparently we talked about the olympics at school though, hence this torch.

Meredith and I are getting together to watch the re-broadcast of the opening ceremonies this evening.

Citius, Altius, Fortius
Higher, Stronger, Faster

Good luck to all the athletes!

Sara & I

This is Sara and I on the first day of grade one. Weren't we cute? :D

Was I not the cutest kid ever?

I was looking for something else last night but when I ran across an "autobiography" I had done as a school project in Grade 11. A precurser to a "Book of Me" ;) I thought I'd share a few pictures just cause I'm so cute LOL

The one of me on the phone is part of my "career" page. Remember that I did this project way before I startd working. At that time I put my interests as "receptionist" which is what I did for seven years. Looks like I started training early!

The date on this photo is October 1984 which would have made me about three years old. That's my mom behind me sitting at the kitchen table. She used to wrap my arm up in a "sling" ALL the time. I *loved* pretending that I had a broken arm. I remember one time (a few years later) when I was trying to learn how to ride my bike with one hand, Mom put my arm in a sling and I rode the whole way around the block like that.

It should be noted that the cloth she used was a diaper. Seth would have still been wearing them when this picture was taken and Robert wasn't even around!
I remember the day this photo was taken. It was around the same time as the previous photo. I was only three but some how, using wood blocks, I figured out how to spell my name all by myself. I remember it being really early in the morning and when Mom got up she was SO proud of me :D

Random Memory #5: Keyboarding 11

A lot of my highschool memories are fuzzy. Not because of drugs (thankfully) or time (yet ;)) but highschool was something to be endured. I read books of people who have super clear memories of certain periods of their life and I wish I was the same. One thing that is clear is my Keyboarding 11 class.

To graduate in my district you had to take a "Career and Personal Planning" (CAPP) class. That course only lasted half the year and for the other half you could chose an elective like wood working, cooking or, in my case, keyboarding.

I had five very close friends in that class. We took up the back two rows (three computers one each row) which was weird for me because I almost always sat at the front of the room in my other classes. We started with file folders over our hands so we couldn't look at the keyboard while we typed. We had these excercise books that had built in stands and we would type "asdf jkl; asdf jkl;" over and over and over. I remember being excited when we progressed to the second row of letters "qwer uiop qwer uiop" because I could actually spell my name!!!

Our teacher, Mr. Spann, (affectionately called "Spam"...so original I know :P) let us listen to the radio during class. Now anytime I hear Celine Dion singing "My Heart Will Go On", Shania Twain's "Don't Be Stupid" or Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply" I am instantly transported back to that hot stuffy corner classroom with the sound of keys clicking methodically.

When Mr. Spann left the classroom, much to the chagrin of our male classmates, we would CRANK the radio and sing at the top of our lungs. I remember having it so loud that I couldn't even hear my own voice! Good times :)

Each of us were given a 3.5" floppy disk to store our exercises on. During the spring of 1998 (when this class took place) the movie "Titanic" was the biggest thing going (hence the Celine Dion song). All of us had huge crushes on Leonardo DiCaprio and we would practice typing his name over, and over, and over. (The modern incarnation of doodling all over your note book I suppose.)

My paternal grandmother passed away that Easter and I remember calling one of my classmates from Alberta and asking her to delete the document with Leo's name before handing my disk in for marking.

I am so thankful for that class. It was a pain to learn but now, if I couldn't type correctly and as fast as I do, I wouldn't have this job or my current career. It definitely makes a difference. Thanks Mr. Spann!

Random Memory #4: 50 Cent Swim

One of the big news items on the radio today and in the paper is that my city is giving free rec centre passes to grade five students. Something about grade five being when kids start making decisions for themselves and needing extra incentive to stay in shape. I could have used this.

The summer before grade five we moved to a house that was a two minute walk from the new (at the time) recreation centre which had a huge wave pool in it...among other things. I *LIVED* at that pool. Every Friday from 3-4:30pm was a 50 cent swim. And every Friday, I and my two brothers were there.( Aaron was only 9 months when we started going) My Uncle Tim lived with us during that time and when he was around, we often stayed right through until 10pm. Yes 10. As long as you were there before 4:30 and had an adult present, you could stay for as long as you wanted...or until they closed at 10pm. It used to drive my dad nuts that we'd be there for so long but Mom would just bring a book and read (she rarely got in the water with us).

There was a tube waterslide that went OUTSIDE (so cool when you're ten LOL), two diving boards, 4 feet and 10. I got pretty good at jumping off them. I never learned how to dive properly but I could jump and "swim" back to the ladder. There were also "lilypads". Big floating things anchored by a chain. The cool kids got to be on those and there were often shoving matches for dominance. We weren't the only ones that were there weekly and over the year and a half that we lived there we got to know some of the other people quite well.

I was at the rec centre a few years ago when I was volunteering for the Seniors Games I was back in that rec centre. I took a few minutes to look in on the pool. It's still the same but looking a bit tired. Same wooden parrots on the ceiling, same large water squirting lizard. Lots of memories.

~Heidi

Ramdom Memory #3

Stacy's post reminded me of something I was thinking of posting last week. In grade three I was given the task of handing tests back to the students in the classroom. At least I think that's what I was doing. Whatever it was was super important and it was an honour to be asked. So big an honour that even though I had to pee really bad, I made myself finish doing this task before I went. Of course, I didn't make it. I still remember the feeling of standing there, in the classroom, with warm fluid running down my legs on to the cheap thin carpet in that portable.

I was *so* embarrased. I ran straight to the bathroom and hid there until my mom came with clean, dry clothes for me.

The funny thing is I still do that to a certain extent. Well, I don't pee my pants but I do sit here at my desk at work and say "I'll go after I finish XXX". Thankfully my bladder is louder then it was then and I have enough brains to just stop and go pee (because it takes, what? all of two minutes?) but I still try and push it. You'd think I'd learn!

Random Memory #2: My Acting Debut

My co-worker picked up a Marvin Gaye cd from Starbucks this morning. She said she thought the song "Heard it through the grapevine" would be good for this afternoon when we're all dragging.

That song sparked a memory for me. In grade seven, our school presented their bi-annual musical production. The theme was "Communication". It detailed the evolution of communication from cavemen and drums through morse code and the telegraph, the invention of the telephone, up to the current computers and cell phones.

I had two parts. Picture this. The auditorium is dark, the sound of drums raises in volume, the curtain rises, there is a lone spotlight on a girl with...what on earth is on her head? A BONE??? Yep, I had an 18" plastic bone threaded through my hair and I was dressed like Betty Rubble from the Flinstones. I wonder if there are pictures... Anyhow, there was actually another girl sharing my acting debut. I seem to remember her missing one of the nights though. We practiced for WEEKS on those drums. Got pretty good too.

For my second part, I believe it was after the intermission. I was dressed like a newsboy complete with my brother's carrier bag. I came across the stage waving a newspaper and my big line was "Extra, extra, read all about it"

So there you go. My acting debut. I think I'll stick to radio :)

~Heidi

Random Memory: Hot Dog Days

Hot Dog Days used to be my favourite day of the month. We lived close to the school and often went home for a hot lunch but Hot Dog Day at school was special. It cost 50 cents for a hot dog, 50 cents for your choice of regular milk, chocolate milk or a juice box (I *always* got chocolate milk) and 50 cents for a glazed donut.

Mid morning on the special day, the aroma of boiled hot dogs would start to waft down the hallway. Heaven to small children with short attention spans. At the appointed time, the grade sevens (highest grade in the school) would come around with the appropriate number of hot dogs, drinks and donuts per class. Then the teacher would dole them out according to her master chart. Any kid that got more then one hot dog or donut was considered “cool”.

Once in awhile the deadline for getting our money in was missed. Those days I got to go down to the office and purchase hot dogs from the PAC parents. Then I’d take and deliver them to my brothers in their classrooms. That was almost as fun as getting your hot dog with the class.

There is something sacred about the taste of a well boiled hot dog on a doughy white bun, chocolate milk and a glazed donut. Back then I didn’t like the taste of ketchup so I would only add mustard and relish to my hot dog. Yum. When the “meal” was over, I’d take my napkin from my hot dog and donut and stuff them into the milk container. Compartmentalized garbage. A great way to finish.

In the intermediate grades they started introducing pizza day and they even experimented with cheeseburger/fish burger days (from McDonald’s). In high school, besides the regular cafeteria offerings which is another whole post, they sold individual samosas. All quite good but none of it was quite as magical as Hot Dog Day in elementary school.

~Heidi…who doesn’t actually eat hot dogs any more but who would enjoy a nice cold glass of chocolate milk and a glazed donut right now…