Canada Day, Penthouse View

I was lucky enough to receive an invite to an impromptu little cocktail party on Friday night.  Way up on the 19th floor of The Falls in downtown Victoria!  Hello Penthouse View!!

Breathtaking views.  Almost 360 degrees.  Amazing.

We sipped wine, ate munchies, and watched the sun go down…

…down…

…down…

…and the lights of the Legislature come on…

Somewhere between glasses of wine it occurred to us to take pictures of people as well as the view.  Nothing like point and shoot flash to make a white girl seem extra white at night…especially since Michael is tanned. :)

Hands down best view of the Canada Day fireworks EVER.

After the smoke cleared and the wine was gone we toddled next door to Clive’s Classic Lounge for (very) last call.  Shawn and Nate were very accommodating and whipped up cocktails for our entire brood even though we were cutting it close on closing time.

As soon as I sat down Sandi and I recognized each other across the bar!  We’ve been Twitter stalking each other for ages and finally met in person!  :)

I really ought to have known we’d eventually meet at Clive’s.  :)

Shawn also gave me his very last button.  I shall wear it with pride.

Super fun night.  Now how am I going to ever watch the fireworks in amongst a crowd of thousands ever again?!  I’m only all about the penthouses now!!

Canada Day, Victoria

The sun decided to make an appearance for Canada Day!  I worked extra hard Thursday night so I could take some time off work on Friday to cruise the downtown events.

Chibi and I slept in, did a couple of work tasks, caffeinated, and loaded up on snacks and water for our day.

First up… meeting Baby Penny!

I met up downtown with my friend Charmaine then we met up with Mike and Angela to meet their little Penelope.

Chibi wasn’t sure what to make of the wee bundle.  :)

We hung out until Penny got hungry.  Crying babies promptly get returned to their Mommies!  ha.  Mike and Angela carried on with their day while Charmaine and I wandered around the waterfront checking out the Canada Day festivities.

Of course the first thing I did was eat. Greek Gyros thankyouverymuch.

Inner Harbour…

Legislature lawn and main stage…

Krispy Kremes!  What?  It was for charity you know!!

Apparently it was also Vulcan Day here in Victoria.

Chibi was a crowd pleasing superstar.  We should have put a tip cup out for her…I spent half my day explaining that she’s supposed to be naked.

This time last year I was on route from Halifax and spent Canada Day cruising the Beaches of Toronto with Mousearoo (sporting the exact same outfit).  Eh!

After a few hours Charmaine and I went our separate ways so I could bring Chibi home and get ready for the evening’s adventures in fireworks…which included views of the city from 19 stories up!!!  (Stay tuned.)

Happy Birthday Canada!!!

Carnivore

Congratulations to Ashleigh McIvor!!  GOLD in x-skiing!!  Now just share that with the men’s hockey team and you’ll have some super happy Canadians!

Today’s headache hung around most of the afternoon.  Gah.  Finally, after I picked FH up from work I let my ponytail down and that totally helped!  I forgot how heavy my hair gets when I grow it out.  I’ve got A LOT of hair!

Afternoon snack was another deeeelish Kashi cookie…

and a bosc pear…

After slogging through some afternoon work I asked FH if he would mind going out for a burger.  I had a craving something fierce!  I actually think that this craving might be what was making me all snacky yesterday.  I knew I wanted something but wasn’t sure what.  Turns out it was a big juicy burger.  Hello protein!!

We hit up The Armview…

And went all out on the “feed the beast” craving.  Shared mozzarella sticks…

I had the Classic burger with ketchup, mustard and fried onions.  To which I added bacon and cheddar…

With crispy fries (and yes, that is a side of mayo!)…

 

I ate the whole thing!!  Funny enough I’m not even all that full.  Bottomless pit, anyone?l

Now hopefully I’ve got that out of my system!!  It’s not often I eat beef and even more rare that I crave it.  Sometimes you just gotta!

Good thing I have a make-up cardio session with the girls tomorrow night!!

Now to take in the Canada vs Germany hockey game where our boys are going to make up for that sad showing vs USA! 

Go Canada Go!

No Holiday for Me

Today I’m an American.  By that I mean that I am getting the 4th of July as my holiday instead of today for Canada Day.  The company I work for is US based and 99% of our clients are American so it just makes more sense for me to take US holidays.  Only drag is the US has far fewer stat holidays that we do! 

I’m off all next week anyway though, so it’s all good!

I was up crazy late talking to my Mom on the phone last night (hi Mom!) so ended up snoozing a bit extra this morning…maybe 9:30 or so when I finally dragged myself into my office.  It’s dreary outside (still!) so I decided today was an oatmeal kind of day.

In the pot:  1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 banana, 2 heaping tsp ground flax, cinnamon.

 

On top:  hulled hemp seeds, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl PB, mini chocolate chips

Deeeelish.

Early afternoon I wandered downstairs to see what I could whip together for lunch.  I’m on a clean out the fridge mission again because of our upcoming holidays.  I found: ciabatta bread, bacon, veggies, mass quantities of cheese!

I turned this into an open faced BCST (bacon, cheese, spinach, and tomato) sammich.

Cooked up some bacon, drained off the grease, quickly wilted the spinach in the hot pan.  Put the spinach on the bread, topped with shredded mozza and bubbled it under the broiler.  Topped with the bacon and some sliced tomatoes.  Holy freaking yummy!

Some baby carrots and cuke slices on the side.  Man, was I full.

That didn’t stop me from raiding the last of the cherries and chowing down on a Kashi bar later in the day.  I needed the sugar buzz!  Lack of coffee + dismal weather = afternoon doldrums

For dinner I was doing more perishable use-up and decided to make a stir-fry.  Chicken tenders, mushrooms, yellow peppers, garlic, broccoli, green onions and the sauce from Chop Suey in ESBM. Served over long grain & wild rice with extra soy sauce.

After I dished up FH’s portion I added fresh pineapple chunks to the pan and heated through for my portion.  Topped my plate with a sprinkle of sesame seeds too. Today was a tasty food day!!

 

Now I’m enjoying some cute little animal crackers while I type, then I have to do my hair as we are heading out for some mini golf.  Indoor glow in the dark mini golf, apparently!!