Last Thursday, we went to view a penthouse condo listed for sale in our neighbourhood. It was my second viewing and NPY’s third. We didn’t find any dealbreakers and good friends who saw it with us have been positive as well.
To view the suite, I had to skip a ballet class. I was planning on going for a run to make up for it, especially since my company also hosted a dim sum lunch for the entire firm the very same day. But our friends who came to view the suit had dining coupons for seafood combos at Cray Kitchen + Bar and invited us to dinner! With one other couple and a friend whose girlfriend is out of town, it was a fun and lively dinner. None of us were pros at eating seafood pot and shelling prickly crayfish!
We kept it simple and to ourselves on Friday night. NPY might have gone back to his parents’ house for dinner and games.
On Saturday, after lunch with the in-laws, we went to visit the condo for my third time and NPY’s fourth during an open house. We are independent and will do our thing but we surely didn’t want to have disapproving parental units. The parents thought it is a great unit.
Soon after the open house – during which I learned the seller’s realtor has family in Halifax and noted that I have a slight accent in how I pronounce some words – it was time to get ready to go out in the evening. I squeezed in a short run and those are some of my favourites. Knocking off a run gives me a such a positive attitude for the rest of the day.
We went to my co-worker and her husband’s place in Richmond. They were so enthusiastic to have us over and made a delicious steak dinner. They introduced and guided us in our first game of Cards Against Humanity which was an awesome “ice breaker” of a game letting us peer into each other’s minds. There were times when I laughed until I tears up, when the card I selected as an answer I just knew was the perfect one!
The next day, Sunday, I had to wake up as early as I do to go to work and I ran in, for once, to set up the pre- and post-party my firm was hosting for its Sun Run run team. I played an appropriate Songza playlist, met with catering and made a cute display of the pastry items and cups of yogurt parfait and chat with the runners when came back in. I got rather tired of the question I kept getting, particularly from the repeat runners, wondering why I didn’t run. Because… no matter who in our party had done it multiple times, I bet I’ve done it more times than he or she has. (I have done it five times. And ten total 10K races in Vancouver.)
My friend Frank ran with his coworkers but we were both downtown on a lazy Sunday afternoon and met up for a bit to get caught up.
NPY and I joined some of his hockey buddies for patio time at Tap & Barrel Olympic Village. There we were on the large second-floor patio enjoying the sunny afternoon and talking dreamily about upcoming trips to California!
On Monday, we attended a performance of Kim’s Convenience at the Granville Island Stage of Arts Club. I’ve wanted to watch this production ever since I heard of it (after Toronto Fringe) but found Soulpepper Theatre pricing high. But the production is on tour this year and I arranged to go with a fellow Asian-American culture-lover and we brought spouses along. NPY didn’t know what he was headed for but he really enjoyed the play and he’s usually a hard sell. There was just the right amount of laughs and emotion and a fairly tidy ending.
On Tuesday, NPY went back to his parents’ house for dinner and games and I contacted my cousin, Alan, as I was walking home. I was just trying to arrange a time to meet up on the weekend but it turned out he had the evening off and I invited myself over. But first, I went for an hour-long run on the treadmill. Usually, I procrastinate all evening and go just before the gym is officially closed at 10 p.m. so running right after work was odd and really early! But I had incentive which was to be done and showered and at my cousin’s early enough to be there a while. Mission accomplished.
I just love how my cousin who lived in Toronto most of his life ended up living in my neighbourhood, just two blocks away from me. When he lived in Toronto, he lived five minutes from his brother and I envied that scenario. For things like that, and having friends relatively close by in the city, I love living in the city and can’t give it up.
It was a great feeling to get caught up with my cousin. We are not the closest in age (his younger brother is only two years older than I am) but we can talk about anything. I got a lot of things off my chest and his experience and distance from the issues I face shone an honest light on things. It’s also fun because he can definitely hold his alcohol and we didn’t wimp out and make nary a dent into a bottle of wine.
Then, on Wednesday, my firm held an End of Busy Season social at PiDGiN in Gastown and I was excited for weeks about the venue and event. A year ago, I stuck close by to a girlfriend and her coworkers but this year, I could stand on my own. These days, I have less face-to-face contact with my new role so it was good to put a face to the names I worked with. The tapas were good and the real food we got later even better – the alcohol kept flowing and there were splendid no-holds-barred strong cocktails to select as your next choice.
It kind of occurred to me to cram in fun now. Inside half a year from now, I have to start being a lot more vigilant and self-denying. Within the next month, we will go on our California trip and – it seems – move again! It doesn’t rain but it pours.