I am Canadian

It's been awhile since I've posted something funny.
Happy Friday.
Oh so TOTALLY true!
And you'll "get it" if you love hockey.
And what I would like to do sometimes to people when they poke fun at Canadians.
Admittingly(so not a word I know) I don't usually get that because 
everyone always thinks I'm American.

Teagan and the Russian

Okay I know it may be confusing but I'm officially changing MrAccountant to MrRussian.
Okay so MrAccountant MrRussian. 
If you need the background I'm going to try and keep it short and simple but with lots of pictures to make you think I'm a good blogger haha.
If you forget our first date read here

Our second official date was not last Sunday but the Sunday before.
We had breakfast at Eggsetera downtown.
(Can't find one single pic on the internet!)

Followed by exploring St. Lawrence Market downtown.

Pics from here
Think part antique shopping/part actual marketplace.

Then we walked along until we found a small bookstore to explore.
I immediately fell in love with it and it reminded me of Meg Ryan's bookstore in You've Got Mail.  Even had perfect squeeky hardwood floors!

Seriously how perfect is this bookstore...it's my new favourite find in the city.
Pic from here and here.

Then we walked to the skating rink downtown to people watch.

Pic from here.

Then we checked out a small exhibit showcase going on.
It was titled Architeture Too Tall?  And had some interesting things on exhibit.
I have to admit part of the reason I was interested was so I could collect the pamphlet to give to Taylor to give to her husband in case he would be interested.  Haha I'm a total nerd.

Pic from here.

Then we grabbed a  coffee and chatted some more.

Pic from here.

Before checking out Chagall's exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Which included works from Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou-Paris. 

Pic from here and here.

Okay and now it's my turn to geek out here.
I totally was hoping to come across some strange exhibit like with a ladder of knives hahaha.
Seriously how much was this date was starting to mirror that episode of Sex and the City with my very own Russian.

Pics from here and here.

Did you miss it? here is them meeting... well as long as this video remains on youtube that is haha I love Sex and the City.

It was a perfectly nice Sunday.

We hung out again on Thursday evening a week ago.
A great dinner at Pizzeria Libretto.

Pics from here, here, here.
INCREDIBLE pizza and wine.

We had some great chats about many things.

And guess what?!?!?!?!

I told him about being pseudomarried before (but without getting into the details of Spencer).
In fact as my heart raced and I stared down at my hands nervously wringing each other.
I mumbled something about "yes I guess you can't really judge someones past...I've been married before.  Long story short we were together it was to assist us with paperwork/immigration and since we were engaged and essentially going to be married anyway it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Only he changed his mind and then what seemed like a good idea actuallly wasn't."
He understood and I think it made him feel better about his own situation.
He dropped me off then at the new bar for me to meet with some colleauges from work that I discussed in this post here.

Yesterday we went to the home opener of the Raptors game.

Pics from here.

It was the season home opener which was cool because they gave away some stuff like t-shirts/towels.  And the Bieb's was there (see here).
I also thought it was EXTREMELY cool that the captain of the team came out and thanked the fans and essentially apologized for the lockout prior to the game beginning.
And yup the intro song is from Drake (LOVE)...

Can I also geek out and say that I LOVE announcing of starting lineups.
I know I know I'm SUCH a cheerleader...but it gives me goosebumps EVERY time.
At half time Kardinal Official performed.

Don't know who he is?
You must NOT be Canadian then.
Do you remember my post here???  He is the artist that sang that song...

Anywho I did kind of feel bad for him.
Here he was performing and midway in the third quarter of the game they present Justin Bieber with his very own jersey....and NADA NOTHING for Kardinal Official!

After the game we went to Joe Mama's where we listened to live jazz and drank wine and ate appetizers.

Pic from here  Doesn't this look EXACTLY how you think a jazz bar would look?
And we talked and talked.

I felt myself really opening up to him.
It is sort of this weird flux where sometimes I am totally comfortable and sometimes there is that awkwardness there.
Sometimes I look at him and think he is quite handsome and I feel quite happy.
Other times I find myself wondering if I could see myself with him and I feel quite unsure.
Sort of a mixture of feelings all at once.

When he dropped me off at home, he asked if he could kiss me and he did.
And it was sweet and nice.
I'm just not sure 100% how I feel about it all.
He is really nice and is treating me really well.
And that may be all I need.

Sometimes I do find it difficult with his stutter/stammer...part of me wonders if it is a translation thing as well (his first language being Russian).  It makes me want to throw in Season 6 of Sex in the City to watch Aleksandr Petrovsky to see if this occured at all.  His accent does totally remind me of Aleksandr. 

I am also purposely trying NOT to rush into anything.
But I'm wondering if some of the passion isn't there...and how important is that anyway?
Is it something that can develop?

I do have to say right now I'm at least interested in spending some more time together.
But I don't want to feel pressured to rush into anything (he knows this).
I admit I've also been slacking with the eharmony dating website.
I think I may need to force myself to keep it up a little longer...go on a few more first dates...and see what is out there...besides what's the rush?
So that is the update with MrAccountant MrRussian.

I'm feeling very... pensive...and very excited to see the girls this weekend for our New Year's Eve Celebrations at Eva's house.
Just what I need.

A Random Great Tuesday

So yesterday I attended another sorority alumni event.
It was held at the Allison Smith Gallery downtown.
It as a beautiful gallery with a great exhibit that I wish I had more time to peruse.

Our event was all about mentoring so it was a fabulous time talking and networking with other women.
It was such a great diverse crowd with people from their mid twenties all the way up until their early sixties.
There was a wonderful selection of wine, sparkling water, cheese, cracker and fruit.
So obviously I loved it.

Now I have a bit of a confession to make.
When I joined my sorority back in my undergraduate days it literally was a way to essentially do volunteer work once a month with girls my own age.
In Canada you can nix the idea of what a traditional sorority would be like.

My university is still without a house or a dedicated dorm.
My pledge class was a grand total of about 6 girls.
Our entire active group was maybe triple that number.

Some of that was good because it had a great focus on philanthopy.
But even without the expected or dare I say usual popular bitchy sorority girl issues.
It was a group of girls...which was even without the cookie cutter facade...a little bit like mean girls.

How did I solve this?
Well I sort of was a little bit of a back row student.
I came to all the events.
I did my bit but never felt that "sisterhood" with those girls.
I think I knew in my heart I didn't fit in there.
But I still loved the idea of my sorority and what it meant and the ideals to live by (which some girls did NOT abide by)...just saying.
I knew that likely I wouldn't keep in touch with any of them and I really didn't.
I do take some responsibility of that though.

I didn't mention this next thing in my post about the other event I went to (catch up here).
I met a girl who I reached out to shake hands and introduce myself.
AND she knew me...by name.
And that made me feel AWFUL.
And once she said hers I did recognize her.
She pledged my last semester at UW.
But I was embarrased that I didn't recognize her at first.
Anywho she was at the gallery event last night.

Here's the thing when I first moved to Dallas in 2005 I didn't immediately reach out to my sorority alumni group because I was kind of disappointed by my undergraduate experience.
That sounds terrible but it sort of felt like a halfa$$ed attempt at one.
Things weren't necessarily taken seriously and that bothered me.
So I just didn't know about reaching out again.
Boy am I lucky that I ran into the sweetest girl ever who invited me to an alumni event.
And the rest is history.

I will never forget she picked me up in her cute black convertible.
And she was EVERYthing I thought I sorority girl would be...very much like Elle Woods.
Blond, perfect makeup, a cute dress, pearls, and was super chatty and friendly.
That my friends is how Taylor and I bonded.
And I loved everything about the alumni group in Dallas.
I met another one of my best friends Melody there too who I miss so darn much.
The women involved were incredible.
The events, the entertaining, the friendships...I don't know how I would have survived without it all.
It made me fall completely in love with my sorority.
I learned traditions and other things that I had never come across during my undergrad.
And if you know me you know I LOVE tradition.
I miss all those ladies so much.

So when I first moved to Toronto I reached out here and I got nothing.
No response.
So when I tried a second time I did.
And the events have been good.
It is definitely a different case here versus the south.
But it has potential.
It just may be on the verge of something.

So the girl I mentioned earlier lets call her Sarah.
We get chatting at the end of the night.
And she has a little vent about people not getting involved.
So we chat more and I confess to her my feelings of undergrad and how it all was for me.
And that I was hoping for great things from the alumni side.
I also let her know that I would definitely like to get involved to try and make that happen.
So I will also be picking Taylor's brain on all things my sorority (she is my go to expert!).

Then as we were walking out the door Sarah said to me..."you know Teagan I really admired you when I pledged.  You were part of the reason I felt strongly about our sorority.  You made a big impact on how I felt about the sorority."
And my heart melted because I didn't think I made a difference or mattered there.
I also felt shame/guilt/embarrassment after in the Dallas alumni group because I didn't know or had the experiences/traditions they did during their undergrad.
So I felt like with my lack of experience/traditions there was no way I could have made an impact on anyone in my sorority.
But maybe I did.

And my heart was filled with hope.
That maybe just maybe...I could make a difference both in my university town active members and in the alumni sorority members.
Maybe I could get people excited about our sorority again.
Maybe we could work together and get a house for UW.
I know that is a HUGE goal and seems a rather impossible dream right now.
But who knows.
Maybe I can make that difference.
And hopefully I made a few more girlfriends who have Taylor/Melody friendship potential.
And that my dears would be worth every bit of effort.

Weekend Update

Okay let's get down to what this weekend was.
How quickly did it fly by?
For me super fast.

So Friday...after a nutso work week I met up with Eva for a hot yoga class.
It was awesome and my knee didn't bother me one bit!
We may take up this studio on their offer for the a month at $40.

The instructor was Asian and was most of the ladies in the class.
And her son is living in Singapore.
So we had a fun quick chat before hand.
Her accent certainly took me back to my yoga instructors in Singapore.
Which did not help with my current tactic at deciding on the job offer in Singapore (ie. try NOT to think about it).

After that I came home a good sweaty mess.
I wanted to jump on eHarmony but I refrained because after all what kind of cool person would I be sitting at home on a Friday night.
So I was just sort of lazying around avoiding the web when this message came in...

Just want you to know I love you and will be ready soon and wanted to know if you still will be.

I tried to ignore it.

I am much better and its not complicated anymore.  I want us Teagan, just wanted to make sure you will still be there I love you.

I still tried to ignore it.

I wanted to completely process it so I can be 100% present and emotionally available to you and us.  Do you still want us?  I love you, I think we would work and be great together.

So I cracked and messaged him back.
I told him I would see him and see what was there because to be honest I don't know what will be.
I haven't seen him in more than two years.
And I'm trying to move forward with my life.
But I don't know if I"m strong enough to cut him out completely.
Is there a possiblity of us...I'm not sure.
There are things about him that I don't think will change that are important to me.
So the best I can do is see with him.
I'm not sure how much I'm actually depending on it because let's face it he's been kind of a flake.

And I'm intrigued by people I'm seeing on the web.
I find myself laughing out loud to some of the communication (in a great way).
So I think I will see what also comes of that.
And maybe Jacob's time has come and gone.

Saturday
I woke up and drank a nice hot coffee while finishing the book One Day.

And I hated it.
I won't spoil it for anyone but I disliked.
Cool concept...didn't like what happened with it.
Super annoyed...but might still be curious enough to watch the movie.
Here's the trailer.

So then I met up with Val for lunch at Yorkdale mall.
And we headed over to Michaels to meet Duff!
And I got him to sign my copy of his book Ace of Cakes.

He was really fun and chatty.
He told us he wrote his portion of the book in one afternoon.
He took his laptop and rode his Vespa to the beach.
He said he has ADD and he wouldn't be able to keep at it so he solved that problem by just hammering it out.
It was my first celebrity encounter (I think) and it was pretty fun.

After Val and I headed back to scope out the brand new first Canadian J Crew and Top Shop that just opened.
Both fun and both gorgeous.
I wanted to buy a zillion things in J Crew.
And I loved how their window had We Heart Maple Leaf neon lights.

This was opening weekend (glad we didn't have to wait in line!

The inside was beautifully set up.
One of the nicer J Crew's if I do say so myself.

I stumbled across this opening invitation which I thought was cute and perfectly geared to Canadians.

I didn't realize it had been open this long but I don't always get out to Yorkdale.
Both of us were very impressed with JCrew and both lamented our current thin wallet status and the lack of JCrew buying power we had.
Well we can always save up we decided.

With that we headed over to TopShop which I like decidingly more after living in Singapore and reading up on my fav magazine UK Glamour.
Very impressed with the store and found the clothes trendy, well made and more reasonable then J Crew.
Check out these pics.

How cool would it be to use this section??

One day I will totally splurge on a personal shopper.

Maybe they can help me figure out my curvy body shape.

The rest of the day I did laundry and avoided eHarmony (becuase again I didn't want to portray a girl at home on a Saturday night haha).

Sunday
I woke up this morning and decided it was time to attempt to run again.
So I resorted to the very beginning of the C25K program I started ages ago.
With my fingers crossed to not repeat the knee issue I had in the summer.
So far so good which makes me super excited to continue.

I then headed to the grocery store and prepared stuff for the week.
And I decided that a Sunday afternoon was a perfectly acceptable time to be active on the EH website.
So I did and I really enjoy it.
It's fun to flirt and see what's out there.

I am about to head out for another yoga class with Eva.
It has been a pretty good low key weekend if I do say so myself.
How was yours???



Pics from here, here, here and here.

What's up with the T.dot.O Sobriquet?

So I had a great question about my blog title or why it is know as the T.Dot.O.
My understanding is T.Dot.O is the short term or slang version of Toronto, Ontario.
I always loved it because where I'm from (my hometown) is the name of another big famous city so I always said I'm from X, Ontario.
This has always carried over for me my entire life.
For example when I lived in Dallas ...I told people I lived in Dallas, Texas.
(As IF there is any other Dallas besides that in Texas!)
Huge shout out to all my friends in Texas :)
Gosh I miss them all so much...cue the song Come Back to Texas...sigh.

Anywho there I go tangent-ing again.
SoI'm a big fan of full names or nicknames that reference the full name ;) 
So I wanted to double check where specifically the T.Dot.O comes from.
So I did what anyone else would do and consulted the absolute truth via the internet (Wikipedia haha).

TO or T.O. – from Toronto, Ontario, or from Toronto; pronounced "Tee-Oh". Sometimes used as T-dot, T-dot-O, or T-dot O-dot.

So I was correct there (thank you internet).
I also would like to say that due to my messed up accent.
I don't say anything correctly.
My friends say I say "Toronto" like an American.
Glad they glossed over the fact that I still say y'all because I like it.

Locals (aka my Waterloo Girls) say Toronto like TRAW-nə. (sounds to me like Ta-ra-nah said fast). 
A pronunciation of toh-RON-toh in casual speech is usually seen as a sign that the speaker is not a native of the city.
It drives me nuts because the local way to me sounds like they are not enuciating.
I think I say it the correct way...even if everyone thinks I'm American based on my accent here.

Further research (via Wikipedia...side note: can students reference Wikipedia academically?...I would think not but anywho) indicates that Toronto has a bajillion nicknames.

In his book Naming Canada: Stories about Canadian Place Names, Alan Rayburn states that "no place in Canada has as many sobriquets as Toronto."^[9] Among them are the nicknames:

• TO or T.O. – from Toronto, Ontario, or from Toronto; pronounced "Tee-Oh". Sometimes used as T-dot, T-dot-O, or T-dot O-dot.^[10]
• The Megacity – referring to the amalgamation of the former Metropolitan Toronto.^[11]
• The City That Works – first mentioned in a Harper's Magazine article written by Washington Post correspondent Anthony Astrachan in 1975.^[9] It refers to the city's reputation for successful urban planning^[12][13][14] (lauded by Jane Jacobs).
• The Big Smoke^[15][16][17] – used by Allan Fotheringham, a writer for Maclean's magazine, who had first heard the term applied by Australian Aborigines to Australian cities.^[9] The Big Smoke was originally a popular nickname for London, England, and is now used to refer to various cities throughout the world.
• Hogtown – Related to the livestock that was processed in Toronto, largely by the city's largest pork processor and packer, the William Davies Company.^[18]
• Toronto the Good^[19][20] – from its history as a bastion of 19th century Victorian morality and coined by mayor William Holmes Howland.^[21][22] An 1898 book by C.S. Clark was titled Of Toronto the Good. A Social Study. The Queen City of Canada As It Is.^[23] Today sometimes used ironically to imply a less-than-great or less-than-moral status.
• Queen City – a reference now most commonly used by francophone Quebecers ("La Ville-Reine"),^[23][24] or in advertising.^[25] The second part of the three-part Toronto: City of Dreams documentary about the city was titled The Queen City (1867-1939).^[26]
• Methodist Rome – an analogy identifying the city as a centre for Canadian methodism.^{[citation needed]}
• City of Churches.^[27]
• Hollywood North – referring to the film industry.^[28][29][30]
• Broadway North,^[9] in reference to the Broadway theatre area in Manhattan
• The 416 – 416 is the original telephone area code for much of the city (the other area code is 647); the surrounding GTA suburbs, now using area codes 905 and 289, are similarly "the 905".
• Centre of the Universe^[9] – it was mentioned in the documentary film Let's All Hate Toronto,^[31] as the term is used derisively by residents of the rest of Canada in reference to the city. It is also infrequently used by the media.^[32][33][34] Outside Toronto, it is sometimes said to be used by residents of the city.^[35] The moniker 'Centre of the universe' was originally a popular nickname for New York City, and more specifically Times Square. It has since been used to refer to other municipalities.

So there you have it. 
And really if I called the blog Teagan in Hogcity or Teagan in the City of Churches???
Doesn't exactly have the same ring to it don't ya think??? 
Though Teagan in Hollywood North could be a contender haha.

With that I will leave you with a T.Dot.O Hip Hop artist that did a love song to Toronto essentially.
Sort of when the trend of when the trend of songs like Empire State of Mind etc came out.
Enjoy.

Sophie's Baby Shower

Last Sunday Val, Eva, Quinn and I piled into my car to head up to Kingston.
We had a surprise baby shower for Sophie (who thought it was for Quinn).
We headed up in the awesome weather.

It was in Jane and her husbands new place.
Look at all the darling party decor Jane and Brooke set up.

 Presents!

It wouldn't be our kind of party without this awesome spread.
Perfectly summery.

I made the guac...with a new special ingredient green apple.
It added great crunch and flavour!
All the girls went crazy for it.
How fun and simple is that?! ...avocados, half a diced purple onion, half a diced green apple, a jalapeno, lime juice and salt and pepper. 
Whenever I do something cool like find a recipe for an unexpected addition I want to tell Eva and Taylor because they are my kitchen experts.
I guess I will have to wait until Taylor's next visit to Canada to have her try it out :)

Oh yes and something for a cocktail or two (non alcoholic options of course for the preggos in the group).
I picked up this bottle strickly based on colour (pink) and the fact that there was multiple fleur-de-lis on the bottle (which I'm sort of obsessed with haha).

Baby stuff is just so darn cute!
Time for presents.
How great is it to have a cute little enthusiastic helper.
Brooke's daughter now comes to virtually all the day time girl stuff.
She is a blast!
And if you are wondering YES that is a pink streak in her hair (permanent) seriously she is the coolest kiddo I know.

This is a real maple leaf that was painted and hardened (kind of like bronzed but not bronzed).
How Canadian is that?!

How cute is this?
Sophie and Quinn's bumps...we all joked that the babies were already high fiving (which is something we've been know to do haha).
The babies are either going to best friends or get married...we already decided.

Then it was time for Sophie's belated birthday cake.
Summer sherbert goodness.

We were so incredibly stuffed at this point we needed a walk.
Kind of perfect that Jane's place is on the lake.
So off for a walk we went.

There is something special when the seven of us are all together.

The laughs the hugs and the happiness= the girls.
This is home.