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Last Friday Scott and I went to a CFL game. We saw the BC Lions play the Hamilton Tiger Cats. I got the tickets off Craigslist as an anniversary present (paper!) for Scott. He had never been to a football game before and really wanted to go.

Gene Simmons was there for some reason. He did the coin toss, and then he left.

The first 10 minutes I had absolutely no clue what was going on. None whatsoever. Luckily Scott didn’t mind answering all my questions. Plus I got to have a hotdog with bacon and cheese, so I was happy.

The lions lost by one point. One confusing point. Why would you get a point when you miss a kick??? I’ll leave this for Scott to talk about in his blog (eventually) because IDGI.

I ended up having an OK time, although I don’t think I would pay to go again. I would go if it was free!

P.S. DID YOU KNOW cheerleaders don’t wear skirts anymore??! They just wear underwear!

On the way home a dude yelled at us from his car and it STILL makes me mad to think about it. We were crossing the road in a crosswalk at a busy intersection and he zoomed up making a left turn and yelled at us for being in the road when the red hand signal was flashing. Um, we started crossing when it was still walking man, I don’t think we are expected to get all the way across before it even starts flashing. I yelled at him. Scott told him to “Shut up, idiot” too.

I wish you got more time in situations like that. He’s the one who shouldn’t so be so close to us while we’re crossing, and I would have liked to tell him that!!! Dumb angry man.

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Last week was pretty stressful. I was really starting to get worried that we were going to get stuck at the end of the month with no where to live. I really didn’t want to end up signing a year long lease for a mediocre place. Anyway, the place we had applied for and then gave up on (because we hadn’t heard from them in the 1-2 days they said) called us back after 5 days and said it was ours. So we went over and on Friday and signed the lease.

It’s in the Metrotown area. 2 min from Patterson skytrain station. 10 minute bike ride to BCIT. 15 minute train ride to downtown. Twice as big as our apartment now, plus a balcony (ground floor though). Move in at the end of this month!

Do you like my artwork?

Other weekend highlights have been playing Carcasonne and Dominion (Rosemarie, please come back to Vancouver NOW!!), seeing Harry Potter 7.2, and checking out the local market (although it was POURING rain). We bought 2 things of strawberries and 1 of raspberries for $10. I was relieved to see some local strawberries still because I don’t feel like I ate enough this summer. Should have had more Shouldice while in Ottawa, doh doh doh.

I also reassembled my bike with the few tools that we have, except for the handle bars. Need allen keys for that. I can’t wait to ride it!!

Scott is still looking for work. I hope he gets something soooooon.

Here are some pictures from last week at the free concerts in Stanley Park. Jess was in town finding an apartment for when she starts at law school in Sept. Wooo a new friend in Vancouver!!

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July 14th was Scott and my first anniversary! Scott got me some flowers and candy and I got him some CFL tickets for this Friday. Then we went out for a fancy dinner at Tojo’s. We ordered the 5 course and vegetarian omakase which basically means ‘trust the chef’. It was exciting and delicious. I had been looking forward to this meal ever since we moved to Vancouver. Tojo is one of the top rated restaurants in Canada!

To drink I had a cocktail with sour tangerine and guava that was super tasty.

1st course: I had a tuna tartar thing that was super light and smooth and fluffy and soft and delicious. Scott had a spinach salad that he liked a lot but it was very tiny so he was sad.

2nd course: I had octopus. It was decent, not rubbery whatsoever. I’m sure that is pretty much as good as octopus gets. Not my top choice of seafood really. Scott had a seaweed salad, which was ok, but maybe a little plain.

3rd course: Yellowtail with some stir fried stuff. Quite tasty, but cooked fish < raw fish, in my opinion! Scott had a croquette that I don’t think he liked very much because it was not very Japanese.


4th course. Picture stolen from travelwithamate.com

4th course: OMG delicious tuna thingies. From the menu: Red tuna wrapped in nori seaweed with a light tempura crust, served with sour plum sauce. The slices of tuna were perfect looking: raw in the middle, cooked around the outside. PERFECTLY flakey. Scott got a mushroom dish that he liked a lot (finally).

5th course: SUSHI! Yay! Both of ours were really good. We each got a variety plate, which is what I always wish I could have at sushi restaurants but is usually not an option!

My plate had a raw prawn sushi (blech), yellowtail sushi (om nom nom), a piece each of Great Canadian Roll (Atlantic lobster with asparagus inside with smoked Pacific salmon on top), Spicy Tuna Roll, Golden Roll (crab, scallop, salmon, and sweet shrimp rolled in an egg crepe), and the most delicious piece of sushi I have EVER eaten:

Pacific Northwest Roll (West coast Dungenss crab and avocado inside-out with scallop and flying fish roe on top).

Scott’s plate had two of those bean curd pillows with rice on the inside, a few pieces of a roll with pineapple and lots of other veg inside, and a few pieces of a roll that was wrapped in cucumber instead of seaweed.

Sorry for the terrible pictures, we didn’t bring the camera with us to dinner.

Then for dessert we had ginger ice cream with tasty citrus fruit on the bottom, and a pannacotta type thing that tasted good but I didn’t really like the jelly texture.

Overall I was very happy. Scott’s wasn’t very good value though. We both left full, after about a two hour dinner since you have to wait a bit in between each course. It was a fun experience and maybe when we’re DINKs we can go back. Maybe Scott will eat fish by then.

Can’t believe we’ve been married a whole year! It’s passed by quick.

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I have been churning through the audiobooks lately. A good story really makes the work day pass quickly!!

Books I Listened To:

  • the rest of Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
  • First Among Sequels – Jasper Fforde
  • The Help – Kathryn Stockett (interesting)
  • Water For Elephants – Sarah Gruen (liked it, haven’t watched the movie yet… the movie might ruin it for me)
  • Assassination Vacation – Sarah Vowell (did not find this very interesting since i have little interest in american presidents)
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson (liked much more than the first one in the series)
  • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest – Stieg Larsson (good in some parts, incredibly boring in others)
  • Divergent – Veronica Roth (yes yes! very similar to hunger games, but i think i liked it better. read this!)
  • One Day – David Nicholls
  • Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer (i recommend this one as well. about post wwII, in letter format)
  • The Death Defying Pepper Roux – Geraldine McCaughrean (would be a good story to read to your kids at bedtime)
Books I Read:
  • A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – Ishnael Beah (very interesting! this guy has gone through the unimaginable)
Next:
  • Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
  • She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb
  • ???

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Every Ottawaian (sp?) knows that Canada Day in Ottawa is the best. I planned our trip so that we could spend Canada Day there! And this years’ party did not disappoint. I had a top notch day.

We started off the day with Rosemarie, busing downtown and going to the Museum of Nature to look at bugs and freak animals. After that we went to the hill to see the crowds.

Her and I scarfed down a poutine surrounded by people all crowded around trying to get a glimpse of Will and Kate. We didn’t see anything really, only on the video screen.

Then she went off to meet her friends and Scott and I went to a party at Leslie’s for beer, Canadian music and patriotic snacks.

After a few hours of that we headed back to Parliament Hill to stake out a spot for the evening concert. We met up with way more people and had quite a large group. I thought the concert was actually better than usual. I had actually heard of some of the bands (ha) and even heard a new guy that I really like (Dan Mangan). There were acrobatics and drumming too.

Scott and I snuck out about 20 minutes early to race around to Major’s Hill Park where we grabbed a nutritious dinner (a popsicle) and watched an unobstructed view of the fireworks. Noice.

It took us ages to get home due to some unusual bus patterns but we made it home (reunited with Rosemarie) where we scrubbed off the sweaty filth of the day and ate a midnight snack of two kinds of cheese and two kinds of crackers. Awesome.

Ummm then the next day (the last day), we did some frantic packing and a quick coffee with the scrapbook ladies and then Jill drove us to the airport. Our flight back was uneventful.