A matter of perspective...

Lately you might say Tim and I have been experiencing some bad luck. We’ve run into a number of frustrating and sometimes exacerbating situations. Here’s a brief list of what has happened to us the past 2 months:

- our rental car was broken into while in Aruba and our laptop, camera, all camera accessories, Tim’s wallet, his ipod and a specialized camera bag he got for Christmas was stolen
- our fridge freezer died, we lost a lot of food and the fridge was on its last legs
- someone showed up looking for $$ in unpaid cable bills which our landlord was supposed to be paying since it’s included in our rent
- the internet died, we called the cable company, they said there was nothing wrong with it, they set up an appointment for us to get it fixed A WEEK LATER; we called two more times to make sure that the cable hadn’t been turned off, they said no; called them the day before the scheduled appointment to find out when they were coming, they told us that the appointment had been canceled and that our cable had been turned off the previous week….
- Tim got Norwalk at work and had to take 2 days off
- I found our car dead in the garage the day Tim got Norwalk, when I went out to get him some chicken noodle soup
- my application to the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapists for the written portion of my licensing exam was suspended after our VISA was declined; had to get a money order and pay a 50$ charge for the declined card to the Alliance
- our landlord hadn’t received the rent from January and wanted us to send it again, although our bank clearly said that the money had gone through
- my desktop crashed
- my gramma had a heart attack and spent almost a month in hospital

It has been a frustrating experience, but we have been learning a lot through it all. I’ve learned that you can dwell on the crappy things that have happened, or you can try to make the best of them. Because really, when it all comes down to it, God is looking after thngs and it will work out in some way or another in the end…..For instance:

- We had the opportunity to be in Aruba in the first place, and thankfully our insurance company will replace everything that was stolen
- We got a new fridge from the deal that actually keeps ice cream frozen!!! :)
- The internet eventually got fixed, it had all been a misunderstanding due to the incompetence of a new trainee at the cable company (stupid Cogeco); the downside is that since this incident our router has not been working well at all; keeps kicking off our computers and re-setting itself randomly
- Tim has a job!
- I was able to call CAA and get the car jumped, and got a new battery with a 6 year warranty in the process
- I got to spend 2 whole days hanging out with Tim, while he was home sick with Norwalk
- I got the application in to the CAP on time, and that’s really all that matters
- The lost rent money was found! It had been put in a different account than our landlord normally puts the $$ into
- My computer is ancient, so maybe now I’ll get a cool new computer!
- Gramma is feeling much better and was sent home! She’s so pleased to be home, and we’re praying for a swift and full recovery

So when it all comes down to it, everything is a matter of perspective. It hasn’t been an easy month, but I’ve been learning to try and see what good might come out of a situation and then trust that things will work out in the long run. It’s a hard lesson to learn, and believe me, I’m still learning. But thankfully, things usually work out ok. :)

boardin'

Tim and I were lucky enough to escape to Blue Mountain yesterday evening.....we had hoped to make a weekend of it, but alas, other things interfered. But it was still a super fun evening! :)


Me about to get in line for the lift, you can't tell, but the line is actually REALLY long.

Zippin' along at top speed...........well actually......Tim just got a good shot :P

Standing in front of the beaver tails and hot chocolate shack

Tim's artistry :)

Excellent Birthday!

Yesterday I turned 25! And it was a great day.

Despite having my final exam yesterday morning, which was WAY too long and had some confusing questions and was in general pretty tough, it was a nice day. Tim woke me up just after midnight to sing me Happy Birthday, which was really cute and sweet and made me laugh. :P

I got up at 6 am to do some last minute studying, but once Tim got up around 7:15 I couldn't study anymore, because I was too excited! He sang me happy birthday (AGAIN! so fun) and then gave me a card. He had me completely fooled, because I didn't think he'd had the chance to get me anything yet. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered tickets to Phantom of the Opera taped inside the card!!! They were for 2pm, so basically as soon as I finished my exam, we were headed to Toronto to enjoy the show. Needless to say, after he gave me the card, there was NO WAY I could study anymore, I was bursting. :P

So we ate breakfast and planned for the day until it was time to leave for my exam, and then off we went. Tim dropped me off at school, and I made my best attempt at concentrating while I wrote the exam....like I said before, it was WAY too long! My hand was hurting by the end of it!

We got to Toronto in good time and made our way to the Princess of Wales theatre for the show. Our seats were in the "dress circle" - so not orchestra seats, but still really good ones! The show was amazing....I had a hard time controlling myself from singing along with all the songs. I had seen the movie, and listened to the soundtrack many times, but nothing beats seeing a play in the theatre. It evokes such emotion, such joy, being in the theatre is beautiful. I really had a wonderful time! We even had some haagen dazs ice cream during the intermission (very yummy).

Then Tim and I went to dinner at a place called "Fred's not here". I don't think Fred was present, and it was a neat little restaurant serving mostly smokehouse/steakhouse meals. Lots of meat, not as many other options. I think if I'd known beforehand, I might have chosen another restaurant, just because I like to have lots of options, and I felt somewhat limited in what I could order. I mean, I like meat, but it's nice to have some veggies or other yummy tidbits to accompany your meal.

Nonetheless, dinner was great, I had mushroom ravioli and salad and Tim had duck prepared 2 different ways. We also had some coconut shrimp as an appetiser. Everything was very good, and we had a great time chatting about the play and enjoying the evening. I think the only thing that was missing was a big group of waiters coming over to sing happy birthday, but what can I say, not all restaurants do that kind of thing. :P Overall, it was really fun!

We came back to Hamilton, and much to my excitement there was a notice in the mail for a package!! So we went and picked it up from the post office, and sure enough, it was a present FOR ME!!! :D Tim's parents had sent me a gift in the mail, which I was super excited to open, and Tim made me wait until we got back to the apartment before I could open it! The anticipation was HUGE.

They got me a digital camera!!! A really cool one, one I've been wanting for a while, that Tim and I had been talking about getting because his little camera is on its last legs and so I needed a little camera to use. The camera they got me is the Canon Digital Elph SD 600 - a fun little camera that I am enjoying learning how to use. I got to take it out with me, because later that evening I went over to Anna and Leana's place for a post-final party with classmates. :)

The gang at the party (I'm using my new camera to take this!!!) :)

And they had cake for me! And sang me happy birthday! It was so fun. I think it made the day just about perfect. We had a fabulous time laughing, playing goofy games and some of us even stuck around till 2 am talking about everything and anything.

Leana with the super-chocolatey-uber-yummy cake that they got for me!

It was a wonderful day. :) Probably the only thing missing was my loved ones who live far away; it would have been nice to see all of my family, but I know your thoughts and prayers were with me. It was a fun day. A good day. And now I'm a year older.

Charity Ball

Here are some pictures from the Charity Ball. Although I took like 45 pictures, alot of them ended up being of the same people and the same stuff. Ha

So here's some of the more interesting pics, I'm going to try and figure out how to post the entire folder. Enjoy! :)

Yasmin, myself & Helen

Me and Alexis :)

Fun Times

Scott and the little Missus :)

Me and Ray

Cute shoes!

Beautiful people

So pretty! So dashing! The newly engaged couple, don't they look great? :)

Steph, Myself, Catherine, Sarah, Alexis, Nicola

Noah and Anna Banana :D

Somehow I survived not having the internet all weekend and finishing my paper on time. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that my friend Helen was gracious enough to share her apartment and internet with me for the weekend. Thanks Helen! I don’t know how I would have gotten it done otherwise. I just can’t imagine having spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the library….boo

So what’s up for me this week? I’m excited to say that this is the second last week of the term, so despite the impending tests and OSCE, it will all be over soon. J This week will be filled with finishing up our last pbt problem, which I have to say is very interesting. We’re learning about HIV – what it is, the pathophysiology, the natural Hx, the complications, the stigma, all of the psychosocial aspects that surround the disease and what kind of role of physiotherapist takes in it all. I have to admit, although I’d heard the term “HIV/AIDS” many times and I knew it was a terrible disease, and how it was transmitted, I didn’t really know a lot else about it. Did you know that there are two types of HIV? HIV type 1 and type 2 – eventually they both become AIDS, but they have different pathogenicities, disease progressions, and even different responses to retroviral therapy. One is most common in West Africa (type 2) and relatively rare in other parts of the world, and type 1 is the strain that most of us know about and hear about on the news. But isn’t that interesting? There are a lot of things about this disease that I never knew. And I wasn’t really sure where a PT could fit in helping a patient with HIV, but as I learn about it I realize there are areas that PTs could help. I like my profession, there is so much to learn!

Anyway, besides finishing up PBT, I have an educational group assignment to do, we’re making up an education package to address low back pain in pregnant women. It should be pretty neat. We’re even going to make a DVD of exercises to include in the package, and my friend Alexis is going to wear a pregnant belly and act out the exercises for the DVD. Should be pretty great. I just hope we can make it look professional. :P Other than that, I’m just keeping up with schoolwork – this week should actually be probably the most interesting one of the term; we’re also looking at breast cancer, and what a PT’s role would be for patients with breast cancer. We’ll be seeing HIV and breast cancer patients, and I’m really looking forward to all I’m going to learn. I’m such a geek. :)

I’m counting down the days, in less than 2 weeks this unit is done, and I get to have a week off. We’re definitely going snowboarding! I can’t wait. :)

Well it's been another interesting and challenging weeks. I think I'm starting a pattern here of posting on Fridays. I was actually planning on posting earlier this week, but alas, our internet has been broken since Wednesday with no hope of repair until next Wednesday. BOO

So I'm at the library, working on our laptop, trying to recuperate from all the time I've lost not doing work because we were trying to figure out the internet problem. Such fun :(

ha ha and instead of working, I'm blogging. Where are my priorities? :P

Just to answer a few of your questions, the charity ball was tons of fun, I will post some pictures very soon, just depends on who I can steal internet off of. :)

My gramma is doing ok, she's now off the oxygen, which is a good thing, and now she just has to work on improving her breathing (taking deep breaths) and getting up and around more. It's definitely still a long road to go, but she's on the way to recovery I think.

Currently in the library the fire alarm is going off....weird....no one is leaving either. I wonder if we're supposed to leave? It's actually quite loud and obnoxious. Oh! it just stopped. I guess we didn't have to leave after all. Weird. i'm really not used to working in the library, I've always been a working/studying at home kind of girl, it's what I did all through undergrad and what I prefer VERY much now too. I just find I can't get comfortable. AND have you ever tried to bring a laptop with you to the bathroom? VERY difficult.....it's just not as nice working on campus. argh

Anyway, I think I should stop now, need to get back to the work. But I hope everyone out there is doing well.....anything new and exciting happening to you? I'd love to hear about it. Oh, and check out Tim's blog, it's pretty cool. The link is under my "fun links" section. :)

Another Friday already?

Wow!

The days seem to be just flying by, I can't believe it's Friday again, I feel like I just posted that it was a Friday and I was thankful for the weekend. Well here I am, a Friday again, and I am again very thankful. Ha ha

I can't wait for reading week, only 3 more weeks, then I have a WHOLE week off! I can't wait. :P Plans are still up in the air as to what I'll do for reading week, some friends from class have asked me to come with them on a trip to Florida, which would be SO FUN and I'd really like to go. But then Tim and I haven't gotten to do much boarding this winter, and we'd really like to get some in before all the snow melts, so we were thinking of going somewhere to board for my birthday.....it may just end up being Blue, but it would still be fun! So I'm torn....not sure what to do.

My parents are in town again this weekend to visit with my grams - she's still in hospital. She's doing ok, she's recovering slowly but she's still pretty sore from the incisions of the surgery (heart bypass), so she's having some trouble breathing and has had some issues with fluid around her lungs. In fact today they had to perform a procedure on each lung to remove the fluid. And her feet are pretty swollen. So I'm worried. I know in the long run it will be ok and likely these are just after-effects of the surgery, but it still causes concern you know? However, on the bright side she seemed really good, she's chipper and alert and has even been up around on her feet a little the last few days. Hopefully now that she can breathe easier, the nurses will have to be chasing her around. :P That would be good.

Tomorrow is the Charity Ball for the OT/PT classes, I'm really excited. This year for a second year in a row we're raising money for Cancer Rehab, a not-for-profit organisation in Hamilton that provides rehab services to cancer patients and survivors. It's a pretty cool cause and I'm so happy we get to help them out. :) It is going to be an awesome event, and I bought new cute shoes to wear - although I'm a little nervous because they're much taller shoes than I would normally wear. Hopefully I won't fall. Ha

Here's to 3 inch heels

Fun distractions

Well I've spent over an hour trying to connect up YouTube to my blog to show you all these videos that I like. Tim and I were looking on YouTube the other night and came across them, and let me tell you, if you want something to distract you for minutes (or even hours) go to YouTube.com and check out "Purple and Brown" in the Channels section. It's a bunch of very short, amusing videos. It's definitely taken a few minutes out of my hectic days.

We've also discovered a pretty fun game, called "Flip Words" on YahooGames - another great distraction when you need a break from studying or work. Just beware, this one can get addictive.

The week has been busy, so much work for school, but today I had the day off so I was able to at least get the work done I wanted to for tomorrow without too much stress. So that's good. :)

Snowboarding on the weekend was great, it was SO NICE to get away and the conditions at Blue were excellent! There's been so much snow lately, I was really pleased with how great it was. There was snow falling the whole time we were boarding, which was really beautiful and added to the fun! I'll definitely be spending all the time I can on the hill this winter. :P And my board was great, it rides really well, definitely faster than my old board (good old 150 cm no-name board!).

That's it for now I think....happy Wednesday!

TGIF

Today was midterm day, all morning writing an exam that wasn't worded very well after a night of studying and really not enough preparation....it's the same every term, no matter how hard I try, somehow I never seem to have enough time to study. I think I did ok, I hope I did. Thankfully, all I need is a pass (70% in my program) because potential employers don't care too much about your marks as long as you have good clinical care skills. :P The beauty of health care.

I don't have alot of interesting things to say, I'm tired from a busy week of work, and thankful that it's finally the weekend. My gramma's doing a little better, she had an angiogram on Tuesday and they took her in for an emergency bypass the same day because her left coronary artery was 99% blocked. My mom said one of the nurses told her yesterday that grams is the "miracle patient" that they're all talking about who survived despite 99% blockage and being 82 y old. It's pretty amazing how the body can adapt.

Now she is in the ICU being monitored and they're taking great care of her, hopefully she is on the road to recovery. It will be a long one, but she's tough and I think she can do it. Gramma's survived alot of things in her life. :) I admire her for that.

This weekend Tim and I are hoping to head to Blue Mountain on Saturday for some snowboarding! We bought new boards in the summer, mine's a Rossignol Zena and Tim's is a Rossignol Wanted Man and we got them for a really decent price.



My board - SO CUTE eh? :P I like the fishies :D



Tim's board is the second one in, neato! :)

Thankfully the weather is finally cooperating, so I'm looking forward to finally getting to try out my new board. Especially since there's beautiful fluffy snow falling as I write this....YAY!!! I'll let you know how it went!

Life....

It's been a busy and challenging week.

Monday was a snow day, which was unexpected and fun. I spent most of the day working on the insurance claim that we had to submit as a result of the stuff that was stolen in Aruba. We finally got that done, and all I can say is I am happy to have it over with. Never lose important stuff, or let it get stolen. Insurance claims are a pain in the neck! :P

Tuesday was soooooo busy catching up on all I'd missed, however I was able to relax in the evening and hang out with my friend Helen. It was fun. Then I got home and Tim told me I had to call my mom right away - my gramma was in the hospital.

I spent most of Wednesday with grams in the hospital, she'd had a heart attack and since my parents were driving from far away, and i was the closest to her, I went. I have to say it was a surreal experience sitting in that hospital, looking at my gramma in a hospital bed. It's the first time I've really realised my own mortality - someday my grams will die :( and someday so will everyone else I love. I don't mean to sound morbid, I guess I'd never really thought of life that way. Eventually we all die. And I know that there are greater and more beautiful things to come beyond death, but it's still something hard to comprehend.....no longer existing in this world, as imperfect as it is, it's all I know.

God has created such wonders in this world - white beaches and turquoise waters, the majestic greys and browns tipped with white of the mountains, a simple, perfect red rose. All of it so beautiful, so full of life. So reflective of God's life I suppose. And a little bit of his personality. Didn't he create such a wonderful world?

My grams is still in hospital, she finally has a room to sleep in. We can only really take a wait and see approach right now. So I guess we'll see.

The thing about thongs...

I have this thing about thongs.

I think in the right place, at the right time, a thong can be a good thing. Like when you're wearing a pair of cute pants or a pretty skirt and you want to avoid a panty line. Or, if you're into it, thongs can be a great item to spice up life a bit. ;)

But what is with women (and men!! yikes) wearing thongs on the beach? If you want to tan in the privacy of your own property, then go right ahead, wear a thong. However, if you're in a public place, well, thongs shouldn't be. I don't think there's any appropriate situation to wear a thong in public, well, unless you're a bodybuilder. Then maybe you could get away with it. I could see how thongs can work in body building competitions. But on the beach....no place.

While we were in Aruba, there was probably at least one woman a day that would walk by in a thong, and I've got to tell you, I don't know what some of these women were thinking. I don't mean to be mean, but with so many pretty, flattering bathing suits out there, I don't understand why some women choose to wear a thong. I just don't get it.

There was one woman in particular that happened to be using some chairs just in front of us on a couple occasions, and I happened to have my camera out at one point when she walked by.


Need I say more? Maybe I'm just not used to it, and heaven help me if I ever venture to the beaches in Europe (men in speedos and nude beaches - YIKES!), but I just think there are so many other options that would be more flattering.


Oh well, what can I say? Here's a picture of an iguana.


(Taken by Tim, on a low bush right near we were sitting on the beach. He walked right past our chairs and into the bush)

Time flies

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted anything on here. The holidays were so busy, and I wasn't near reliable internet access for most of the time, but still it seems bizarre to think so much has happened.....I don't know where to begin. Here's a brief summary of what I've been up to in the last month:

- Finished up my placement at the health center, it was an awesome experience and I came away from it feeling really confident in my skills and very thankful for all I learned. It was an amazing time. :)

- Went to a Christmas party at friends of Tim's on Dec. 14th, it was an appetizer party and it was super fun, although I ate WAY too much and felt quite ill for about 2 days after.

- We hosted a few friends at our apartment for a Christmas get-together! It was a great time and I was so excited to have people over with our pretty little Christmas tree and decorations. I'm so sad though, I realised we didn't take any pictures of the party or of our apartment while it was all decorated.

- We made our way over to Belleville to spend time with Babi and Didi and the rest of the Berezny family for a wonderful evening of visiting and great food. The next day we made our way over to Pickering to spend time with Grandpa and Mary and the rest of the Radford clan for another wonderful evening of visiting (and great food!).

- We were supposed to go skiing for a few days at Blue Mountain over the break, but alas, mother nature did not cooperate and the hill was closed due to lack of snow. :( We have new snowboards and have yet to use them. Looking forward to it soon I hope....

- We spent a wonderful week with my family - which included lots of yummy food, great visiting, sitting in front of the fire, spending time with special friends - it went too quickly and before we knew it we had to head out. One funny event is that this year Tim braved boxing day shopping with me, my mom and sister Lissy, and I have to say I was so impressed at his performance! He stood out in the cold for an hour lined up in front of Staples, and then braved the crowds at Wal-Mart! What a man. :P

- We came home here briefly to drop off all our gifts from my family and all the goodies we acquired boxing day shopping. Then we headed over to Toronto to meet up with Gary, Sue, Jeff and Mark and the next morning we flew out to ARUBA!!!!

And we spent a fun-filled week in aruba windsurfing, sunning on the beach, eating all sorts of amazing food (if you ever come across a Texas de Brazil restaurant, you HAVE to go!), and even scuba diving!!! That's right, I braved the ocean and went scuba diving. It was pretty darn cool and hopefully sometime soon I will have a few pictures from the adventure that I can post on the site. Unfortunately, our camera was stolen while we were in Aruba, so I don't actually have many pictures from the holiday, but Tim's parents have sent us lots of great pictures that are also pretty fantastic. And I would definitely go back to Aruba again, it's a really neat place.

So as you can see, we had a pretty eventful holiday. Now we're back home, I'm back into the swing of school and Tim starts his new job Monday!!! That's an answer to prayer by the way!!! :) He'll be working at St. Joseph' s Hospital doing administrative stuff! And he's really excited about the job. So thanks for your prayers, and if you want to know more about it, feel free to email us and ask. :)

Here's a picture to leave you with:

Festive celebrations

Well, the holidays are on their way and with the holidays comes all sorts of fun get-togethers and lots of food. On the weekend Tim and I had the opportunity to partake in a couple get-togethers and get into the holiday spirit.

Saturday night was a potluck for my class, so Tim and I went out and we had a great time! I had prepared a turkey along with my friend Sherri for the event, and although it was a lot of work, it was worth it! Definitely VERY yummy! :) We also built and decorated a gingerbread house, and it was a big hit! Who doesn't like giant cookies covered in candy? :P The party was fun because it gave me the opportunity to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in a while and to just relax and chill out. And we got to try everyone's specialties, which was great fun! The only down side to the whole evening was the fact that Hamilton has the most messed up parking system in the WORLD! For half the year you are supposed to park on one side of the street, and for the other half you are supposed to park on the other side. And it just so happened that as of December 1st it was time to park on the other side of the street, so 7 of us (7!!!!) got parking tickets! Can you believe that? You'd think they'd give a couple day's grace period or something, but no....everyone was parked on the "wrong side" of the street and everyone got tickets. They definitely made a killing of our party that night.

Sunday we had a relaxing day at home, we put up our Christmas tree (WOOHOOOO finally!!!!) and then hung out with Ian, a good friend of ours who spent the day catching up. He and Tim played video games all afternoon while I wrapped Christmas presents, and then I joined in for a little while to play rampage (I got Tim some old-school games like pac man, rampage, mortal kombat etc etc). It was kind of fun to play, although I did lose interest after a while. :P

Other than that, we had a pretty relaxed weekend, we had lots of yummy food, I made turkey soup Sunday night, and really just enjoyed hanging out. I love how the holiday season lets you slow down a bit and spend time with those you care about. :)

Mmmmmmmm Shortbread :P

Being in the Christmas mood, and since Tim was busy with school work and couldn't help me put up the Christmas tree, I decided to experiment with a new recipe.

Usually I make whipped shortbread, which is lighter, but I wanted to try a more traditional, denser recipe. It turned out really well, I made some in a round pan and some in a press mom gave me last Christmas. Both worked out well, although if I do it again, if I used just the press, I would split the recipe in three.

Shortbread à la round pan

Shortbread à la press

Scotch Shortbread Recipe:

Preheat oven to 300 F

Combine:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
Add:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
- beat together until light and fluffy

Blend in:
2 cups flour (it calls for all purpose, I used unbleached and it worked fine)

At this point you can roll it out on a floured surface to cut out cookies, or you can split the recipe and press the dough into an ungreased pan (or a special Christmas press) - if it's in a pan, remember to prick it with fork several times. You can also use a butter knife to cut it into fingers/triangles etc in the pan.

Cook in oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, recut fingers/triangles, sprinkle with icing sugar/granulated sugar/coloured sugar sprinkles. Let cool.

It's a yummy recipe, makes rich shortbread that's not too sweet.

Enjoy! :)

(recipe courtesy of "purity cookbook")

Santa Claus Parade!

On Sunday I went to the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto with my friend Sherri. It was really fun. I had never been before and was very excited to go because I had watched it on TV as a kid and had always wanted to go myself.

So we started our adventure by heading out from Sherri's apartment building (where Tim had dropped me off on the way to church) bright and early. We left around 9:45ish so that we'd have lots of time to park, hop the subway and get some prime curb spot before the event.

We arrived at the Yorkdale mall and found out that half the city had the same idea as us - park there and take the subway into town. We waited in line for about 15 minutes before we got into the subway station, but then we were on our way.

We got off at Queen's park, and we couldn't believe how many people were there for the parade! There were kids of all ages! Some children were in the street (which had been blocked off for the parade) drawing messages and pictures for Santa with sidewalk chalk. It was really cute. And the feeling was so fun, everyone was excited to be there despite the cold.

The parade took a lot longer than we thought it would to actually get to where we were standing, and then it took a lot longer than we thought it would to get through it all.....it was a heck of a long parade! There were all sorts of floats and bands and walking clowns and costumes of all kinds - some more Christmas-y than others. :p But it was a fun experience and overall, despite the cold Sherri and I had a great time! :D One really cute thing though was at the very beginning Canada Post workers came along and collected letters to Santa. Nice eh?

After the parade we walked around for a while, got some pizza, went to the Eaton's centre for a little shopping and then headed back to the subway. We actually took the subway the wrong way because we had crossed town, but in the end we hopped off and switched trains and still ended up where we needed to be in the end. It was a really fun day and although we were tired, it was worth it. Enjoy the pictures! :D Sorry they're still a little wonky, still trying to figure out the picture program. :P

Santa!!

Santa's workshop

 

Horsey for Tara!


Random Cadbury elf


Another cute little kid


This one's for Sherri!

 

Cute little kid


Letters for Santa


Silly clown chasing the officer with Silly string!


They got me!

 

Santa Claus Parade Pictures 2

Me and all the parade goers


Messages to Santa


Puppy dressed up as Santa's little helper


Trying to keep cozy and warm