Burning the Candle

Booooo.  I’m sick.  Woke up Sunday morning with the sniffles, and by Sunday night it was a full-on cold.  Lame.  I guess all the late nights, airplane travel, and good times are catching up with me.  Couldn’t it have waited until like Jan-3rd? 

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, Sunday morning…

Tiff and I met Cat and Bre for goodbye breakfast at their hotel.  I had heard lovely things about Lure Restaurant and knew they had a fabulous view (which I completely failed to take a picture of!), plus it was convenient for the girls and check-out time.

 

We all ordered The Canadian…which is eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and toast…

Now, I’m not complaining (well, maybe a little) because the food was quite delicious and they do leave a lovely little pot of coffee on the table and the service is quite good…but seriously…$15.95 for glorified bacon & eggs?  Seems a bit much.

 

That’s a big meal for me at 9:00am on a weekend!  Especially after only 6 hours of sleep!  But it was tres yummy.

After that we had to sadly hug Cat and Bre goodbye.  I may or may not have cried in the hotel lobby.  I’m such a sap.  I am so glad to have had this extra time with my girls!

Tiff and I walked home to her place (10 mins)…oh wait…total sidenote:  We totally got locked into her condo parking garage on our way to breakfast.  The security gate was apparently broken and no one was around to explain how to manually open it!  So we had to re-park her car and call a cab to get to breakfast.  It was fixed when we got back.

Anywho…so we just chilled at the apartment for a bit…snacked on another yummy Xmas cookie and then headed off shopping.

Tiff had some family obligations so I got to meet up with another bestie, the other Jamie (or maybe I’m the other Jaime? ha!).  Unpictured was a stop at Starbucks for a tall non-fat half-sweet peppermint latte.  It was so-so.  Mint and milk just really don’t work for me.

Jamie and I wandered around, did some shopping and some chatting and then had to go our separate ways.  I picked up a few last things at the mall and then stepped outside to head home to Tiff’s.  It was raining. 

Yuck.  You try hailing a cab in downtown Victoria on a weekend during Christmas season in the rain.

I walked home.

A little rain never hurt anyone right?  It took about 20-25 minutes, but the rain got harder and I was soaked to the bone. 

You can’t really tell but my socks were so wet they absorbed color from my boots…I could ring them out!

But that’s what in-suite laundry is for.  I put my pants, etc in the dryer while I waited for Tiff.  And snacked on a pear (which apparently escaped my camera but I remember specifically choosing the pear for my snack!).

And then it was time for Ingmarie’s Gingerbread Party!!

I look forward to this all year.  Until Ing’s first party a few years ago I had never made a gingerbread house.  Now it’s just not Christmas without it!  :)  (She bakes it all from scratch for us!!)

 

This year’s version is a little more slapped-together than previous ones.  But it’s still cute and yummy!

Tiffaney made her first ever gingerhouse this year…doesn’t it totally look like she’s made a zillion of them?

 

Ingmarie and Alex always have a wicked-awesome food spread too.  Many deeeeelish cheeses…

There were meats, olives, pickles, treats and veggies too…but the cheese really is the superstar.  I snacked on a few bites here and there, but mostly just drank water and tried not to share my sickypants germs with everyone. 

The thing about sharing candy dishes with everyone is that I had to wash my hands every time I blew my nose…like a BAZILLION times!!

After sampling some homemade Irish Cream we said our goodbyes and headed home to hit the hay at a reasonable time.  Tiff doped me up with NyQuil and I think I was asleep before I closed my eyes.

whew.