Woot woot for long weekends!

I can't believe what a busy weekend it's been! It all started on Friday night . . . a group of us from work had made plans to go out for dinner to a local restaurant to see a former coworker who had been transferred to another location. It was meant to be a reunion, but as it turned out, our former coworker couldn't make it :-( The six of us who went out still had fun though . . . well, mostly. Have you ever had one of those friends who just drives you crazy all the time 'cuz she's competitive with you (for no good reason)? Well, one of the women at the dinner on Friday night was one of those kinds of people. I don't even think I can describe her as a friend anymore since her behaviour is just so thoughtless. Luckily, we don't work together anymore. Anyway, all evening at dinner, her stories had to be the biggest and best. She had to display her "intelligence" continuously throughout the evening by saying things she thought were clever and funny, but were really just annoying and rude. I got annoyed by her early on when I was answering some questions posed to me by a friend on the other side of the table. The woman asked me if I had had my hair highlighted when it was cut. I answered her, and immediately this annoying woman, who was sitting right next to me, turned to me and said "did you get highlights too?" as though she hadn't heard my friend across the table ask the question. This happened a couple of times. A friend of mine who was sitting across the table from me told me yesterday that she had noticed a couple of times when this woman (who is her roommate, coincidentally) had literally cut me off mid-sentence to say something "witty." I didn't notice that, which I guess is a good thing because it may have made me exchange words with her and that might have wrecked the evening.

On Saturday afternoon I had my usual Saturday lunch with my best friend. We ate at our usual Cactus Club, where I was disappointed to find out that they're taking my favourite meal, the smokehouse quesadilla, off the menu :-( At least they will still serve french fries with garlic mayo . . . Anyway, she and I made plans to go down to the States to go outlet shopping next weekend. Soooooo looking forward to that! On Saturday evening, I went over to my friend Sheryl's place for her birthday dinner. It was a very enjoyable evening spent with good friends and eating good food and enjoying the gorgeous weather outside. We chatted and watched the kids play and soaked in the sun. I discovered that it only takes me 20 minutes to walk to her house, which is very cool. Anyway, I didn't get home until just past midnight so it was a pretty tiring evening.

On Sunday morning, I had plans to meet my friend Anne and her boyfriend Shawn at Joyce Station so that we could go to a restaurant (which I think was called "Fantastic Restaurant") for dim sum. It was such a nice day that we walked from Joyce Station to the restaurant. A very enjoyable 10 minute walk up the street, which was much nicer than taking the bus. I ate some delicious food, but had to draw the line at finishing the chicken feet. It wasn't that they tasted bad, in fact they tasted just like chicken, but they had a lot of small bones that I kept having to spit out and it was making me gag slightly. Anyway, we got nice and full and then went back to the skytrain station. I headed home to start my laundry and rest for a few hours before heading out for my next event. Some of the adult students at my school had organized a birthday dinner for Angela, one of the teachers at the school and a good friend of mine. They invited me and another teacher, Leanna. The plan was to meet at an Italian restaurant, Marcello's, on Commercial Drive at 5pm. I had never been there before, so I met up with Leanna at Columbia Station and we went together. She's spent a lot of time on Commercial Drive, so she knew exactly where she was going. We made it to the restaurant by 5 and the students joined us shortly after. The birthday girl, Angela, was late because she was coming home from Cultus Lake and got a late start. Anyway, the students were a lovely group, very fun, and we were kept entertained all evening. After dinner we went to another restaurant (we were looking for a place with a patio, but quickly realized that we'd never find one on such a gorgeous evening) that had a large open window, and had drinks and snacks. After that, we walked over to a gelato place and got some gelato - delicious! By that time it was past 9, so we decided it was time to head home. All in all . . . a great evening!

Today will be devoted to finishing my laundry . . . and if I get it together on time, going to see the new Narnia movie. I think right now I'm going to go back to bed and read more of my book and wait for my current load (pinks and purples) to finish drying.