After realizing that my dreams of sandy beaches and fancy drinks with umbrellas in them were not meant to be, I thought that my summer vacation was kiboshed.  But, always the amazing friends that they are, the lovely folks in Montreal responded to my desperate, last minute e-mail request for a possible Montreal retreat with a resounding “yes!”  On top of that, I got in touch with my cousin in Toronto, and she immediately arranged for me to stay with her and her amazing fam for the weekend.  Thanks to these people, my vacation was a hit.

I flew in to Montreal on the morning of Friday, July 17th, and was even able to get the remainder of my pre-workshop assignments completed on the plane.  This trip, like every trip I make to Montreal, was fantastic.  After Montreal, I took a train to Toronto with Dallas and Brian (the last train before the VIA rail strike began…phew!) and went to stay with my cousin, Tannis, and her family.  From there, I went to Vancouver for Simon Fraser University’s Book Editing workshop to learn the ins and outs of editing non-fiction.  Overall, my two weeks away this summer were amazing.  Here are some highlights:

1. Roller Derby

The final match before the championships for the Montreal Roller Derby League was held on Saturday, July 18th, and it was quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had at a sporting event.  The arena was filled with an eclectic mix of people – older couples, children, young people, drunk people – but the atmosphere was positive and exciting.  We were lucky enough to have the boyfriend of one of the players sitting with us, so he explained the rules, some of the ref’s calls, and some of the team strategies as they played out on the rink.  We drank beer (two for $5!), cheered loudly, built a beer-amid, and came up with our own roller derby names (Wrath of Khan, Mark my Words, Dallas Does Derby, and Brian Gofuckyourself).  It was all kinds of fun.  The after party, held at Caigibi, made for some hilarious shenanigans, and was eventually taken to Mod Night at Blizzarts.  There, we danced to awesome 60s music while an Elvis movie played on the screen behind the DJs.

2. Cheesecake and Birthday Wishes

My 28th birthday was on Monday, July 20th, and I had an amazing day.  I woke up early, went for a run, and got dressed up to spend the day shopping.  Karen, Lee, and I spent a relaxing few hours on their back patio before heading over to Dallas and Brian’s for an absolutely amazing Thai dinner prepared by the gracious hosts themselves.  Karen, Lee, Dallas, Brian, Mark, and I relaxed, drank wine, talked, and enjoyed a delicious banana chocolate cheesecake care of Dallas’ amazing culinary skills.  Mark and Brian left for band practice and Karen and Lee retired for bed while Dallas and I stayed up talking about the realities of growing older, the increasing frequency of friends’ nuptials, and terrible shoes.  We capped off the night, after Brian returned from band practice, with some It’s Always Sunny.  Best birthday ever.

3. Just for Laughs with Aziz Ansari and Marc Maron

On Tuesday night we all met up on St. Denis, which was blocked off for the Just for Laughs Festival.  We had dinner at a cheap little Thai restaurant and made our way over to Theatre Saint-Catherine for the Aziz Ansari show.  The theatre itself only seats maybe 100 people, so the show was small and intimate, which was excellent.  All of the performers that night were great – the opener was hilarious, Aziz was funny (albeit a total name-dropper), and the ‘free’ show after Aziz, Marc Maron, was an hour spent drifting between the extreme depression and boiterous laughter.  That guy can tell a story, but Jesus H. Christ he’s got issues.  I even saw Gary Gulman in the audience.  Exciting!

4. Yoga with Karen

One of the things that I look forward to every time I visit Montreal is going with Karen to her yoga class.  Not only is her class itself relaxing and challenging, all at the same time, but the drive there and back gives us a chance to talk and catch up and I really value that time to and from her class.  She’s an amazing yoga instructor to boot, so those classes are good for my body as well as for my soul.  Provided I don’t fall over (ha!).

5. Tattoos with Tannis

After a joke about getting matching Jem and the Holograms tattoos, Tannis and I spent the week leading up to my arrival in Toronto frantically e-mailing back and forth to try to decide on a tattoo design that we could agree on.  What started as a joke became “one of the greatest ideas we’ve ever had.”  Tannis booked us an appointment at TCB Tattoo in Toronto and the swallows were inked into our skin – hers on her ribcage, and mine on my arm.  Matching tattoos may be cheezy to some, but they’re always fun for me.  I’m so glad we got them done.

6. The Badass Shoe Museum

A running joke for the weekend in Toronto: I mis-heard Tannis when she said we were going to the Bata Shoe Museum, thinking she said the Badass Shoe Museum.  Badass or not, it was a great outing with her, Todd, and the kiddies.  Who knew shoes could be so interesting?

7. Birthday Dinner with the Family

On Saturday night, Tannis invited the rest of the Toronto Family – my aunt and cousin – over for a birthday dinner.  Spending time with my family for my birthday felt like being at home, and I was really touched that they went all out, with a cake and everything!  Just being able to hang out with those adorable little kids and to see the members of my family that I rarely get to see was a real treat.  Plus, the cake caused me to fall into an amazing a chocolate coma.

8. Beaches Jazz Festival

After the birthday dinner, my aunt very graciously offered to look after the kids so that Tannis, Todd, and I could head out for the night.  We met up with Tannis’ friend Bianca at the Beaches Jazz Festival.  Queen Street East was blocked off for what seemed like miles and miles, and makeshift stages were set up at every block where different jazz or blues bands would play.  It was amazing: there were tons of people, great music, and we had an awesome night filled with beer and jokes.  The night ended with us waking up my aunt as we microwaved dinner leftovers at 3am.  Good times, good times.

9. Vancouver Solo Redux

The Book Editing program was excellent – just like last year, I met some great people, learned a hell of a lot in a short period of time, and had a chance to see some more of Vancouver.  I met up with my cousin and his girlfriend for dinner one night, and, given that this year’s workshop was much less intense than last year’s, I was able to spend some time alone during the evenings walking around, taking photos, and enjoying some patios.  Vancouver’s record-breaking heat wave was a welcome change from the dreary and rainy weather I’d faced in Montreal and Toronto, and back at home in Winnipeg.  It was a sweaty good time, and I welcomed the solo time to relax and unwind in the sun.

Today is my first day back at work in almost two months. To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I should be doing. I’ve been away for so long that I don’t know where things stand, and my Dad is en route home from Boston so there’s nobody here to fill me in.

I’ve spent the morning reading work emails and trying to track down a refill for my day planner.

But, it feels good to be back. It will be decidedly better once I have some idea of what I’m doing. I’m not that concerned, though, as this weekend has launched me into a relaxation coma of sorts that suits me very well. I’ve also taken to reading fiction…FOR FUN! It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down with a book that isn’t related to work or school, and read it, guilt-free.

The relaxed mood I’ve been in probably also has something to do with the fact that I just got out of a Birthday Week (well, two weeks). I love Birthday Week. It’s been a tradition in my family to milk your birthday for all it’s worth, and I’m particularly good at it. Last Friday was my birthday celebration (five days after my actual birthday, on which I had another celebration. See? I’m good at milking it), at which Rachel surprised me – I thought she was still driving through the states on her way home from Mexico, but she had actually been home since Tuesday and managed to keep it a secret – and at which I drank way too much and became obnoxious and stupid. I spent the rest of the weekend at the lake in the sun and had another joint birthday celebration with my Mom, whose birthday is eight days after mine. I was showered with lovely gifts and delicious cake.

Precious!

And this is where the stupid part started…

This Saturday afternoon I headed to Academy Bowling Lanes for Meghan’s daughter, Emma’s sixth birthday party. Glow bowling, pop, pizza, cake, and five crazy little girls. It was fun to watch them play and showboat for the camera. Emma has grown into quite the little G, with phrases such as “for real?” and “off the chain!” becoming mainstays of her vocabulary. She’s adorable and such a sweetheart, but if you mess with her, she’ll cut ya. Like mother, like daughter.

That afternoon Matt, myself, Arth, and his girlfriend, Heather, all headed out to the lake. After I dropped them off I went to Karen’s cabin, which is about 20 minutes away from mine, to hang out with her, Lee, and their friends for a couple of hours before they left to go back to Montreal the next morning. The rest of the weekend was spent reading, playing Settlers and Careers, watching movies (Nothing But Trouble and Hot Rod, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed), and drinking beer. I have almost finished Lullabies for Little Criminals, which April gave me for my birthday after I realized at the SFU workshop that I have little to no knowledge of current fiction. I also finished reading Skinny Bitch this weekend, and I am contemplating a vegan-esque lifestyle. Contemplating being the key word there.

It may be because I spent most of the weekend in a pot-induced haze, or because I didn’t do a damn thing that I didn’t feel like doing, or because I was surrounded by nature’s quiet embrace, but I feel fabulous today. I’ve managed to put my thesis completely out of my mind (at my supervisor’s insistence…I believe her words were “it’s my turn to work now”) and I’ve come out of the weekend with a newfound passion for reading. I made the incredibly wise decision this year of telling one of my friends what exactly I wanted for my birthday: books. I always felt as though telling people, unasked, what I want as a gift is incredibly tacky, but this year I decided to hell with that, and gave April a list of the books that I want to read. I received three of them as gifts and couldn’t be happier. Much like telling people what you want seems weird, one of my friends told me that she felt weird getting me what I wanted – and I can relate – as she felt like she should have gone to some extra effort to guess what it was without being told outright. But we both decided that it was all for good, because it was easier for her and lovely for me.

So far, I am really enjoying Lullabies. It’s a beautifully-written book. Heather O’Neill’s writing is the kind that makes it seem like writing a book would be easy, but at the same time makes you realize how much creative imagination it really takes to come up with some of the description she details. It feels weird to talk to people about the book because all I can come up with are the cheezy, meaningless phrases that we used in our Heather O’Neill memoir pitch at the SFU workshop: written with candor and in O’Neill’s signature edgy style, this book will simultaneously delight and horrify. Ha. It’s witty, it’s clever, it’s candid, it’s ‘powerful’. Anyway, it’s good.

I’m committed, now, to reading as many novels as I can this summer. How committed? I’ve added the “virtual bookshelf” application to my Facebook page. That’s when you know it’s serious.