Decadence

I've been back in Victoria for about 24 hours and have already seen a healthy amount of rain. I'm sort of missing the east coast snow. Since flying back to Vancouver on Friday I've continued to wear my wool winter coat, scarf, and purple knit hat, all of which are rather inappropriate for the west coast winter.

I had such a lovely and decadent holiday and caught up with so many wonderful people. Some highlights:

Toronto
- Lexiconjury reading, where I was happy to purchase the Shift & Switch anthology
- Martini Wednesday at Labrinth (these were a tradition the summer before I moved away)
- Teri and I braving the snowstorm to march through the Annex streets and get groceries
- Drinking tea at the Moonbeam cafe in Kensington and stocking up on indie reading material at Book City and the Toronto Women's Bookstore
- Ordering Amato's and drinking wine with Caroline and Teri
- Amazing meals: brunch at Mitzi's sister, dinner at Kalendar (I ate swordfish(!) and we tried mulled wine), brunch at Fressen (always a favourite; such amazingly full plates of goodness), and sushi (tried a spicy tuna roll for the first time)
- Dancing at the Dance Cave (another favourite of mine)
- Saw Brokedown Mountain with Teri

Fredericton
- Spending time with family
- Trimming the tree (or watching my mom do it) and sipping our wine
- Big holiday meals: Christmas eve at friends of the family, Christmas breakfast at my grandparents, Christmas dinner with relatives at our house, Boxing Day dinner with friends of the family, and another dinner with my cousins and their families
- Skiing with my father (I hadn't been in a few years, and I love those new parabolic skis!)
- Catching up with Jill and Kayte over tea or drinks on various occasions
- Saw Memoirs of a Geisha with my mother
- Das Radio show at the Capitol (dancing ensued) and how on the way home Matt, Joe, and I got pulled over for no apparent reason

Montreal
- Saw The Family Stone with Caroline (Ok - a movie with Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, and Sarah Jessica Parker? How could I not see this in theatres?)
- New Year's Eve: Caro, Teri, and I spent the first part of the evening at Caro's drinking wine, and making soft tacos, sugar cookies, and elaborate martinis. We then headed to a Hawainian New Year's party also in the Plateau, toasted the New Year with styrofoam cups of champagne, and ended the evening dancing to 80s music at La Tulipe
- Mimosas, special cheese, and a fancy restaurant with Caro's family on New Year's day
- Cooking again with Caro (we used to be roomates in Toronto)
- The shopping, especially a store on St-Laurent called Surplus that had samples or slightly defective jeans (i.e. Seven jeans with a button missing for about a quarter of their regular price)
- Getting the chance to speak French again
- Exhibit at the Musée D'art Contemporain de Montréal
- Trying two new restaurants with Caro, Soy and Le Petit Treehouse, which were both amazing
- Brunch with Dana, comparing notes about grad school

Vancouver
- Dorian meeting me at the airport
- Lounging around in our hostel because we were both tired from travelling
- Brunch and exploring on Commercial Drive
- Evening on Main St with an art show at Blim and a late dinner at Habit
- Dancing at the Public Library even though the club was kind of awful (I got excited when I heard about a club in a library, but it turned out to be just in the same complex as the library)
- Splurging to take the PCL back to Victoria (so much better than the public transit, especially when you've got luggage...and busrides in the dark are cozy)
- Not getting sick on the ferry this time

I think it'll be a good while before I eat in a restaurant again... Now I really need to get back to work (!!!) - school as well as the kind where you earn money...