Brooke's Birthday Weekend

So I'm back.
I made it out there despite my lack of motivation.
It was great to catch up with the girls.  They are amazing and just an incredible support system.
They are all mad at PH and can't believe his actions...well rather inaction.
And at least they back me up 100%.
I really don't know how I would make it through this without my girls.

I made the 2 hour drive to Toronto and then met up with Val and Eva and then we road tripped it up the 3 hours to Kingston.  (And I only managed to cry once during the road trip).We made it just in the nick of time to the restaurant.  It was great a place called Atomica which is a gourmet pizza and wine bar.  Which suited us just perfectly....and we jabbered away and stuffed ourselves...so good!  I wish I had taken pictures of the food!  It was so busy and becuase the ENTIRE restaurant had ordered pizza we basically had 10 minutes to eat our dinner before we had to fly out the door to catch Cirque du Soleil's Quidam.  We got there JUST in time.  So we settled in to watch the show.  I thought it was good though sometimes it is hard to compare it when I saw Cirque du Soleil's "O" in Vegas where it is a permanent theatre with wonderful makeup.  So that part is better but the performers are always outstanding and awe inspiring.

Yummy gormet pizzas!

The bar which is really cool because the lights change colours...but pink was my favourite (of course)!

We then headed to Woodenheads for some cocktails.  Which was lovely and we keep chattering away.  (I managed to tear up but not out and out sob...ughhh I just sometimes when talked about my situation I think the only common denomiator and therefore the only problem is actually me!)

Downtown Kingston but there wasn't this much snow at night because the day was pretty warm.

Then I headed out with Quinn and her husband and we went to her in-laws home...arriving there just after midnight.  They had two friends over so we proceeded to have more drinks and play a game that is basically B*llsh*t with dice.  We had a great time and before we knew it it was 3:30am (which I can't remember the last time I was awake that late!) 

One of my new favourite games and it is fun and social and not too complicated!

So we headed to bed and then woke up to the smell of a delish breakfast!  We had eggs and sausage and toast and muffins and cinnimon buns with coffee and OJ (again I wish I had taken pictures...I will get better with that and it would help if I could figure out for my phone to store more than 14 pictures!)  By the time we finally got going it was around 1pm.  Quinn, her husband and I headed to Petsmart to go shopping because they got a new 8 week old labradoodle puppy today!!!  They are so excited it is fantastic! 

So before you know it it was 2:30pm and I met up with Val to head back home (5 hours on the road yuck!)  And it is dark by 5pm and we are getting ANOTHER storm so half the drive home felt like snow was flying right at me (this is a totally weird phenomenon I tried to get a picture of google images of it...it kind of looks like meter sticks of snow flying parallel to the ground straight at you so at the same time it is kind of like a tunnel.  The thing I liken it most to is on star wars/star trek when they go very very fast in space and the white lights go from looking light dots to bars...THAT is what driving in it is like and it sucks!)  But clearly I made it home okay :)  And again I managed to cry only once on the drive home...ugh like I said before I am so sick of me its a wonder the girls aren't sick of me...but Val is just supportive and a great friend of course so that helps.  I really want to stop crying daily...it is annoying.  I guess it will help when I sit down and get it all out.  And again the love and support from my amazing girlfriends carries me through.  But I know I need to work on it.
xoxo
Teagan

This weekend plans for B's Birthday!

This weekend we are celebrating B's Birthday.
We are going to have a wonderful dinner all together.
Then we are all going to see Cirque's Quidam show. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/quidam/show/about.aspx
I think the plan after may just be for some Java Martini's at Woodenhead's afterward.

It looks like another interesting Cirque show!

Here's the story from their website.

Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past. It could be anyone, anybody. Someone coming, going, living in our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. The one who cries out, sings and dreams within us all. This is the "quidam" that Cirque du Soleil is celebrating.
A young girl fumes; she has already seen everything there is to see, and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her little world, and she finds herself in the universe of Quidam. She is joined by a joyful companion as well as another character, more mysterious, who will attempt to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling, and the terrifying.

I didn't realize all the work that went into setting up their tents and venues...how interesting.

The Site

• The Cirque du Soleil mobile "village" includes the Grand Chapiteau (Big Top), artistic tent, entrance tents, VIP tent, box office, kitchen, school, office trailers, warehouses and more.
• 180,000 square feet (4.2 Acres or 17,000 square meters) is needed to house the entire site including the tents and trailers.
• The artistic tent is 1,300 square feet (120 square meters) and houses areas for: wardrobe, warm up and training, physiotherapy and dressing rooms.
• It takes 11 days for more than 200 workers, including 100 hired locally, to complete a city to city transfer of the infrastructures.
• It takes 7 days to set up the site and all the infrastructures and it takes 2 days to completely tear it down.
• This represents at least 11 000 man hours which represents 5.5 years of work if one guy did it alone!
• An average of 55 tractor trailers are needed to carry more than 2 million pounds of equipment from city to city.
• Completely self-sufficient for electrical power, the site relies only on a local water supply and telecommunication facilities to support its infrastructure.

The Grand Chapiteau (Big Top)

• The Grand Chapiteau measures 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter and is supported by four 82-foot-high (25 meters) steel masts.
• The Grand Chapiteau is comprised of 18 pieces of flame retardant vinyl canvas and is manufactured in Bordeaux, France by Voileries du Sud-Ouest, internationally renowned for their big tops.
• The climate-controlled Grand Chapiteau seats more than 2,500 people.
• The Big Top is held down by roughly 400 stakes, 5' (1.5 meters) nails.
• The cupola is 52 ft (16 meters) above the ground.
• The Big Top can support winds up to 75 miles/h (120 km/h).
• A Big Top lifespan is about ten years, depending on the conditions of use (storage, temperature and frequency of setup/tear-down).
• The Big Top infrastructure costs roughly $1.6 million. This does not include the stands or the other tents.

Here are some pictures from their official website.  I always love the makeup and costumes.  It should be a really fun night.

Looking forward to a weekend with my girls.
xoxo
Teagan