8 days before Christmas...

...and I'm all done shopping baby!
All the presents are wrapped, tagged and ready to go! I think this is the first time in my whole life I've been done this early.

Whoo-hooooo!
Now I can relax and make fun of all the last-minute shoppers! hehe

Poutine!

As you know, Québec is known for its poutine. Everyone has told me that La Belle Provence has the best poutine here! I've been living in Montreal now for 1-year and 9 months, and I've yet to try it.

As I was shopping today, I stopped off for gas, and whaddaya know...right beside the gas station was a La Belle Provence! I decided to finally try it.

The verdict: it was only okay. I honestly didn't see what the big deal was! I think I've had better elsewhere actually. Anyway, there ya' go...one thing less to check off my list of Montreal-things-to-do!

Lemon chicken lunch!

A co-worker told me about a lunch for Mitch's birthday today. She's a freelancer, and was going to be working at the Rogers Montreal office downtown today, and was meeting up with Mitch, Julie, Imelda and Miette for lunch (they're all old Spafax co-workers)...and all work downtown!

I wasn't going to go...just didn't feel like hopping into a cab and back for lunch, ya' know? BUT then all of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off at work! Everyone had to evacuate. Where's a girl to go?

I hopped into a cab and met them all for lunch at Soupe Bowl in downtown Montreal. They had pancit on their menu! But I decided to order the Crispy Lemon Chicken instead...just to see how it compares to a place in Toronto that I love! It was close. The chicken was almost the same, but the rice is better at Peter Street Deli (that's the one in Toronto).

See, I go to social functions here! :P

Ron's moving day!

I went over to Ron's new condo in the afternoon (cause I went shopping with Ev in the morning... hehhe) ...just in time for the pizza and beer! It turns out all his boyz moved all of his stuff in one trip! Diana and Gerwyn came around the same time as me to help... or eat that is. Di was excited that our dudes now both lived in the same neighbourhood!

After everyone left, Ron and I went to Wal-Mart to do some shopping! We then met up with Di and Gerwyn for dinner at Sushi Fun, the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant these two have been raving about! It was pretty good, actually. We were so stuffed by the end of it!

We then all headed to Ron's new home... we needed help bringing all the bags up, and with unpacking Ron's brand-spankin' new 47" flat-screen TV! :)
After the TV was unpacked, and checked to make sure it was working, we played a "friendly" game of Taboo!

Diana & Gerwyn vs. Sally & Ron

Who do YOU think won?? Well, Gerwyn had never played this game before, so you know what they say: beginner's luck! THAT'S what it must have been. You won't be so lucky next time my friends! CHALLENGE! :P

Company Christmas Party!

So tonight was our Christmas Party, held at L'Atelier Restaurant. The food consisted of Bambi and his friends: deer, rabbit, and lamb. I thought that was kinda weird...but that's my company for you.

It was fun, actually...by the end of the night, our Montreal office consumed quite a bit of alcohol (see below for the number of bottles we drank!)...so good times were had by all! :)

My photography debut...

A little while back, Di was looking for photos from all across Canada for a website her company was working on. Well, I just checked out this new website, and it turns out..they actually used a lot of the photos I took! Check it out:

http://www.canadianhotelguide.com

You'll have to go into the photo credits section to see which photos are mine (they're near the end of the list).

our Lotto lunch!

When I worked at Rogers, there was a group of us that decided to all go into a Lottery pool! Wouldn't it be great if we had won millions, and all left the company to retire at the same time?? We each had our own dream of what we'd do...but alas, the dream is over...

We decided not to renew our numbers this time (I'll kick myself in the you-know-what if those numbers show up this weekend!).

We took our winnings, and decided to go for lunch at Thai Princess (what used to be our favourite Thai restaurant in our old Richmond Street neighbourhood). The food was exactly as I remembered. The crispy cashew chicken there is the best I've ever had! mmmmm....

After lunch, I decided to visit the ol' building and the ol' co-workers (the TPG gang, and my glow ho's!). I made my way around, and also bumped into many acquaintances: Jason B. (from highschool), Nancy (Di's new sis' n' law), Laurie (Randy's old coworker), Maria (a girl I used to work with, but only ever spoke to on the phone), and Joan (Jaime's younger sister). It felt weird to walk the halls of Rogers again...like I never left! I almost went back to my old desk to do some work!

a day with the kids...

I met up with Ev and Mel for brunch at Le Petit Déjeuner...they really do have the best waffles...mmmm! Mel told us all about her trip to Vancouver, and Ev shared details of her future trip to Hong Kong...uh HUH. I then went to Ev's work to do some printing (thanks EV!), and then met up with Di to hear about HER trip in Miami (do you all see a theme here?)...I want a vacation too!

After that, I had a date with 4 kids: Matthew, Justin, Jaylene and Aleenah. We went to see the movie: Happy Feet! I liked it, but I could tell the kids were getting a bit antsy in their seats by the end of it. We then all went to Swiss Chalet for dinner with my sister and her husband since it was Matthew's actual birthday. I had a fun time, and it was good to spend some "bonding" time with the kiddies!

Matthew's birthday party!

I drove from Montreal straight to Pickering, where my nephew was having his 9th Birthday party! He had all his classmates with him, along with the rest of my nieces and nephews. After getting my a*ss kicked by my brother at Air Hockey, I went home.

I then met up with Quel and Rox for dinner at Mr. Greek's...and then we headed over to see Mike D. sing at his Christmas concert! What a great way to get you into the Christmas spirit! (Di: Oliver I. from highschool was part of the choir, can you believe that?) I dropped off the girls at Starbucks, and then headed to Mississauga to see Ron with coffee in hand. He was studying for his upcoming exam on Tuesday.

Crazy Montreal weather!

Yes, it started snowing this morning. At least that's what I thought it was from my nice warm living room when I looked outside the window. When I got out, it was a different story. The snow was actually freezing rain, or hail. And it hurt!

It continued between rain/hail all day here in Montreal. By the time I got home, everything was covered with ice! As a matter of fact, one of the trees just outside my building had all the branches frozen, it tilted over and broke! Crazy! After I saw that, I went back to my car (which was parked right under a tree), and drove it to beside a building, with no trees around!

On my way home, the power was out for a few blocks (no traffic lights, no street lights) so I was worried that there wasn't gonna be any power here, but there was (thank goodness!).

What's with the weather here?!!?

First snowfall in Montreal...

It's December 1st, and what a better way to start the month than with snow?!?
I looked out my window this morning, and there it was. It's just starting, and I'm not sure if it will continue throughout the day, but there was my car...just outside my building, getting piled up with it this morning.

Should be fun driving to Toronto this weekend!
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