The Official May 24 Weekend Update and probably my longest post ever!

Okay this will probably end up being a super long post.
Hope you don't get bored haha.
Oh yea and I totally left my camera at home so I did my best to scour the net for pictures because I always like a story with pictures.
I'm already rambling and I haven't really officially started...


So I had planned to go on this trip not that long ago (read here).
Then midweek Val had thought of throwing Eva a last bridal shower with just theGirls.
A LuluLemon shower...in Toronto.
So because of my non refundable train ticket this is what my travelling looked like between Thursday and Tuesday.

Friday


I got up at 6am to shower and be ready to catch the 7:30am train.
The yellow line on the map.
So I get on the train and I half dozed to Toronto...I do like to take the train I just wish it was a little cheaper...I'm sure in the USA I could use the $250 for airfare but alas not in Canada
(flying is so super duper expensive here...a flight to Ottawa would have been more than 3 times the cost of the train!)

Here is a train departing from my home town station.
I switch over in Toronto to a different train to Ottawa.
I love Union Station in Toronto.
It has such an urban cool New York vibe to it.

As the trian departed for Ottawa I started listening to The Hunger Games on CD and OH MY GOSH I was hooked! Seriously I became quickly engrossed in the story.  And now I'm practically obsessed about when these movies will finally come out.

It was also nice to not have to read on a moving train which might make me feel a little trainsick(motion sickness=not so awesome). 
I arrives in Ottawa in the afternoon and I thought their station was so super cool!

Fun fact: the Ottawa station is used in Jake Gyllenhalls movie Source Code due to it's "futuristic look"

Brooke picked me up with her adorable daughter who is 5 and a half and who I adore.
We went to their place and made a quick dinner of salad and pizza and settled in for a quiet night (because we had a big drive the next day!).
We watched Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings which brought me back to last summer when my dad and I would watch every Friday together (ugh yucko feeling in pit of the stomach).
Then we made a key lime pie that was super simple.
Ingrediants: gram cracker crumbs, butter, condensed milk and lime juice and lime zest...thats it.
It bakes for less than 10 minutes (well after we set the crust)...so it was an easy task to do quickly.


Saturday


We woke up pretty early to head into Kingston first to pick up Jane.
We met her at LuluLemon where we proceeded to shop like crazy for Eva's shower that night.
We had a blast picking out things we thought she would love...from panties to yogatops!
The ladies in the Lulu Store LOVED our idea for a Lulu Bridal Shower.

This is the Kingston store and I guess they have blog artists that write different posts of the LuluLemon website which is really cool.  The staff at the Kingston store were all super friendly and helpful.  And I was so good of not picking up the zillion cute clothes I loved there.

Then we went to the mall to pick up some shoes for Brooke.
It is funny going to that mall because I went there a few times in Uni when I was visiting the girls in Kingston.  So it brought back some great memories though it is such a tiny mall.
We bought some cute shoes ...and yes that was me starting to crumble with self control haha but we were in a shopping zone.
I couldn't resist a pair of neutral metallic ruffle flats!
Especially since my favourite neutral metallic flats had become unglued due to the humidity in Singapore.
So that was my justification haha.
Then we were hungry and decided to get some (unexpectadly fresh, delishious and made to order) mall sushi.

Before we knew it we were on the road for the TDot (about a 3 hour trip).
Continuing on the green line on the map.
We got there just in time to wrap the gifts and get ready for Eva's arrival at Val's place.

And what a fun evening we had.
We had awesome appetizers of chips/homemade salsa & guac and wine (because you know that goes with chips and salsa right hahaha).
Then for the main course we had green beans, chicken breast stuffed with brie and apples (sorry I didn't get a picture) but let me tell you it was amazing...the girls are great chefs.
Then for dessert we had Eva's fav (peanut butter chocolate cheesecake) and the keylime pie Brooke and I made the night before.
It was close to 10 or 1030 and we were debating to go out or stay in.
The girls and I came to the conclusion to go out because we figured if we stayed in Eva would justify going home (to do wedding stuff early) instead of staying over so we HAD to kibosh that idea!

We walked (it was actually okay not super cold out) to Bloor Street West area in Toronto which is an awesome area with tons of restaurants and bars and great patios.
We headed into the Swan and Firken

(Eva loves pubs! and oh yea she loved one of her Lulu tops so much she wore it out to the pub.)
We quickly ordered two pitchers of sangria (a white and red) and loved our amazing bartender Shaina.
We were just having a chat and enjoying ourselves waiting for a seat on the upper outer patio.
When Jane and I both catched a glimpse of this shot.
It first caught my eye because it was pink...and a boy had ordered it.

Any guesses on what it was???
Yup it was totally Pepto B as in the nauseaheartburndiarrhea Pepto B.

We immediately both burst into giggles at the realization.
The guy totally caught us and said "don't make fun of it my guts are killing me".
Which then we chatted with him (Shawn) for a bit.
Then we moved on to our own conversations again.
Deciding what to order next for drinks and debating if we wanted food.

We finally got seated on the patio and ended up next to Shawn and his two friends.
So they quickly joined tables and the 8 of us quickly made friends and great conversation until closing.
We all agreed it was nice to be able to have fun flirty conversation but without the actual pickup things happening.
At the end of the night one of Shawn's friends Andre asked for my number (score!  I guess our conversations about Britney Spears were good bahahahaha).
And when he stood up to give us all hugs I realized he was 6'10" against my 5'3.5" self...it was a little hard to hug him haha.  But I love big tall guys!
We then walked home and all agreed it was a fab way to spend Eva's last "single" weekend.

Sunday
We got up and lazed around a bit.
Eva had to leave to go with her fiance to finish up some last minute wedding stuff.
So Brooke, Jane, Val and I headed out for a greasy spoon breakfast on Bloor Street West again.  We walked until we found one that looked good and it was packed because it was super good!

After we had a nice lazy brunch we decided to go see Bridesmaids together.

Which we all were laughing out loud so darn much.
I'm pretty sure we annoyed the people around us but it was too darn funny.
And a great way to spend the rainy afternoon.
Seriously so good and funny but also raunchy and disgusting...you definitely would not want to watch it with your parents (well if they are like mine and HATE movies like The Hangover and The Fourty Year Virgin).
The funny thing is I totally LOVED the bitchy character.
She had great style and I could understand what she was trying to do in a sense.
I totally sympathized for her.

All the girls laughed at me for this and rolled their eyes...but I was like SPOILER ALERT!*** "guys seriously the shower she put on was amazing...and really puppies in pink berets as shower favours...GENIUS!" 
Jane goes "you WOULD totally love her Teagan...and for the record we will never give puppies as favours for your bridal shower...but I guess sometimes people judge those types of girls and in the end her heart was in the right place".  SPOILER ALERT ENDED***

We then dropped off Val because she needed to get some work done and we headed to Yorkdale mall which is where Taylor and I shopped when she was here in January (read here).
As I was shopping for accessories (for this dress here) I couldn't find anything...and the more I was growing frustrated.

So Jane and Brooke suggested trying on some dresses and starting picking out some they thought would look great on me (seriously do I have the BEST friends ever and they totally acted like my personal shoppers! I felt so spoiled).
So we decided on a dress for the wedding that would be fun to dress up with accessories (I had spotted an AMAZEballs (I think that is a Bethanny Frankel word) Fascinator earlier!
I felt so MUCH better after choosing a new dress and accessories for the wedding and was more excited.
We grabbed a quick dinner at the mall (burgers and fries not so healthy but pretty good tasting).
Before meeting Eva in the parking lot to get rid of her new lawn mower taking up Jane's Trunk.
Eva had been at the mall buying groomsmen gifts with her fiance (haha who obviously had left it until the last minute).

Then we headed back for Ottawa via Kingston (the lilac line on the map).
We got into Kingston at 9 and still had to head to Ottawa so Brooke and I went to pick up her daughter from her parents home in Kingston.
Waking up a 5 and a half year old to put in a car...not so smart.
And she had a (perfectly justified) tear filled tantrum...we both felt so bad.
But we hunkered down and grabbed coffees and made it into Ottawa just before midnight exhausted.

Monday (Victoria Day Holiday)

We got up and had some breakfast at Brooke's place and then picked out what to do.
First we headed to the Tulip Festival.

Given it was a holiday the park was packed with families who had the same idea as us.
Here is some information about this years Tulip Fesitval.

The theme for the 2011 edition of the Festival is Kaleidoscope – A celebration of spring awakening through colour, culture and community. The Festival will run for 18 days, from Friday May 6 through to the end of the Victoria long weekend on Monday, May 23. In partnership with the National Capital Commission (NCC), the official gardener of the Canadian Tulip Festival, Major’s Hill Park will feature must-see extraordinary kaleidoscopic tulip beds. Children and family oriented activities will abound, and the International Pavilion will be back! Always an extremely popular destination, Commissioners Park and the Tulip Route along the Rideau Canal, will feature more than 300,000 blooms of 50 varieties of tulips. Notably, Malak’s bed and various other breathtaking multi-colour tulip beds to be displayed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and along the shorelines of the Ottawa River in Gatineau, promise to be, as always, spectacular by nature.

We also definitley managed to sneak in a great Canadian snack of Beaver Tails.
Brooke's daughter was super excited about that (and so was I) though I did tease her asking her how all the Beaver's are supposed to swim if we eat their tails...the patient 5 and a half year old explained they weren't real duh!  I can't remember the equivalent in the USA but maybe it is like elephant ears or something.  In Canada they are "a Canadian pastry made of whole-wheat dough, shaped like a much-respected national symbol: a beaver's tail. Cooked in canola oil, they are served hot with a variety of toppings like cinnamon and sugar, chocolate hazelnut, maple butter, and apple cinnamon".  When President Barack Obama's came to visit to Ottawa "the Beavertails chain will make a special ObamaTail: the same base topped with cinnamon and sugar, a whipped cream "O," chocolate sauce, and some maple".  Which I think is a super cute idea! 

Brooke and I had a good laugh because her daughter had cinnamon and sugar EVERYwhere after eating it even behind her ears!  Then we headed to the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology.  Brooke's daughter could barely stay in her seat she was bouncing with excitement. We had so so much fun there.

It totally doesn't look like much from the entrance but it is filled with so much family fun stuff!

There is a periscope inside.

With a view of outside!

We thought the Titanic model was really cool!

Brooke's daughter's favourite part of the museum was the Crazy Kitchen which is a very skewed room.  I'm not sure how to explain it but we had to walk through it twice becuase she loved it so much!

An old snow machine (well it is a Canadian museum!)

The trains for fun to look at too.

This was some kind of electronic exhibit and there was a dark three story tube slide that Brooke's daughter was dying to go down...except was too scared to go by herself so I sucked it up and went with her but it was so NOT made for grownups.  Part of it found me scooting my butt along with her in my lap just to keep going and I was totally in a dress so thank goodness it is a solid black plastic tube!  But I definitely won't be doing that again!



We headed home for a quick refresh before heading out to dinner at KS on the Keys.
The restaurant was really great.

It is their new location.

We loved their light fixtures...I know we are nerds haha.

They are famous for their pizza.  We both wanted actual food but it didn't stop us from ordering a pizza to go for a late night snack.

So for dinner I had an amazing lambrack with mashed potatoes and roasted greens.  Brooke had a Thai curry that was delish and her daughter had chicken fingers and fries (kiddo friendly).
We went home got her daughter tucked into bed and then settled in with a bottle of wine and the pizza to watch the premiere of the Bachelorette.
Which was so so good!  I'm going to have fun watching that series for sure.

Tuesday
The next morning I got up and took a cab to catch the train to my home town.
I left Ottawa at noon and got in at 930pm.

Is it bad that my heart sunk when I realized my mum came with my dad to pick me up from the train station?
I just had a feeling of dread.
I had just travelled 9 and a half hours and I didn't want to be badgered.
Which definitely came.
And I tried in a half defeated half tired voice explain that THIS is why I don't talk to my parents about things because they immediately are negative and come up with only worst case scenarios.
And my mum told me again I wouldn't survive in Toronto if I moved there and I would be cut off (again) from any kind of help...but if I opened an office in my hometown it would be paid for.
I just told them (again) my hometown makes me miserable and I'm leaving one way or another.
Then I closed my eyes and leaned back to ride in silence the rest of the way home.

And that is how I ended my super fabulous trip in the most stressful way possible.

Pictures from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,