Wanting To Lay Like Broccoli

I cut my nails today for the first time in what must have been two or three weeks and my lordy - it feels good. Every now and then I try that 'feminine look' by growing out my nails so that they elongate my short, stubby fingers a bit, but they inevitably get in the way of everyday activities like lifting cardboard boxes, putting my arms through wool or tweed sleeves, and typing fast. I'd like to think that I still have the ability to choose practicality over aesthetic. Good example: my shorter, but still cute, strappy heels that I wore out to the club on Saturday so that when 2:30am rolled around I was still able to walk rather than hobble, like most of the other girls.

Today was the first time in a long while that I spent the entire day at home; the only time I left the house was to move my car to another spot in the driveway. As home-body-ish and depressing as that may sound to some, there was honest-to-goodness nothing more that I wanted for myself other than to lounge around in my comfy clothes and hang out with my family. Besides, I think a day off from the world is exactly what I deserved after the week and weekend that I had. I spent everyday last week driving to and from and back to Toronto (I live about 30, 40 minutes NE) doing school visits and meeting with people for lunches and dinners. Driving in Toronto at any time of the day, nevermind during rush hour, is a horror that I wish on very few people of this planet. I feel like my road rage has grown at least two inches and that I've worn out the brakes on the car. Parking was a whole other expensive ordeal. I only had dinner at home one night the whole week (Friday) and I felt terribly guilty about blowing off another dinner (downtown yet again!) for it.

And though my weekend was just as busy, it was also just as lovely. On Friday I got my hair cut by Greg's sister who I haven't seen in about 7 years. It was really neat to chat and sort of catch up. By the time I was done it was 3pm and I had eaten an apple all day so while Tanya got a trim, I headed out onto the Danforth to find a snackie. I ended up right next door to the hair studio at a place called the Detroit Eatery, a hole in the wall burger shack devoted to the Detroit Red Wings. I walked in because it looked different and I try my best to not eat at chain restaurants anymore and ended up surrounded with hockey memorabilia and middle-aged single men chomping on greasy burgers and fries and downing Coke, or beer. Sure I felt vaguely awkward, but I was already there and I'm up for any gastronomic experience, hockey fanatic or not. When my hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies came to the table, I realized what scene I had just created for myself: one of those sad movie situations wherein I, as the lone female, have a Thanksgiving dinner by herself in a dimly lit, dingy restaurant because I have no family nor friends or something. And then I walk home. Alone. In the snow. Of course, that totally wasn't the situation given that my best friend was getting a hair cut next door, it was beautiful weather outside and I was just jonesing for some hot turkey and gravy. I sat there and enjoyed every single, lonely bite.

(And yes, Happy Turkeyday, Canucks. Hope you enjoyed devouring your various types of fowl, or Tofurkey for the veggies out there.)

Saturday was spent doing one of my all time favourite fall activities: apple picking! My friends and I drove way out to an orchard that hadn't yet been picked out of apples (PS: it did not occur to me previous to Friday evening that an orchard could be picked out aka run out of fruit) and spent our time climbing gnarly trees, exclaiming "OOH! Look at that one! Get THAT one! It's huge! And SHINY!", and taste testing crispy, sweet Cortlands. Cruuunch. Yum. We browsed the markets and also found our way through a giant, 8-acre corn maze in just 56 minutes! We even found all the clues, answered every question and solved the mystery word at the end! Aren't we just the coolest 24-year olds that you ever met? To top it all off, we spent the afternoon counting apples, peeling apples, and slicing apples to make apple pies and apple tarts. Apples apples apples. At $14 for a bushel, we picked 72 apples which made 5 pies, 12 tarts and we each had more than 15 apples left to bring home to our family members. I think we're all going to be pretty sick of apples in just about three more days. At least they'll keep the doctors away!

I could use more apples because I'm still fighting this damn cold. I've been not 100% healthy since I left Chicoutimi the first week of August and this go go go schedule isn't helping. I didn't get home until almost 4am on Sunday morning for the sake of a friend's birthday at an ultra-cool club downtown which turned into a 1:30am food fest at the local 24-hour diner joint. I got 5 hours of sleep before I was up to get to me and my mum's facial appointments and I WISH that I could have fallen asleep during it like my mother. I don't know how the woman does it - snoring and everything! Then it was an hour and a half drive to the Loo where I spent an hour and a half doing paperwork in the office before driving back an hour and a half to meet my starving family for dinner. I almost fell asleep in the car on the way home.

That night I had several good chats with my brother and discovered that he 1. has met his life goals at 22 years old, and 2. watches Jon & Kate Plus 8 religiously. I couldn't help but gawk in shock and awe when he told me how disappointed he was that he didn't score perfect on the Twins Quiz (he scored 9/10 - he got their left-handed-right-handed-ness mixed up, poor guy - how well do YOU know Mady and Cara?). He told me all the times during the day when the show airs (two times every day with Wednesday being a marathon day - Monday used to be one too but they got rid of it those production bastaaards!) AND he schedules his work day around them. I guess working from home will let one do that. He eats specifically at 10:30 to catch the 11:00 episode, and he looks forward to 5:00 more than any other working person I know because that's when a whole HOUR of J&K+8 comes on (dinner comes right after). On marathon days he'll take the one-hour breaks between shows to shower and eat. So, that's my brother ladies and gents, having met all his life goals at 22 being a freakish cult follower of a reality tv show, in addition to owning a car and having his dream job. I'm proud of him, I am.

Speaking of which, the new episode that came on tonight at 9 (that I missed!) is airing again in 15 minutes....
11:40 pm