Omigod you guys!

I just bought tickets to Legally Blonde the Musical. I'm not expecting this to be high quality but I'm hoping at least entertaining. I've been curious since it opened on Broadway but we haven't had time to fit it into our recent visits. Things like this happen when you need to see the same show multiple times (Spring Awakening).

Speaking of which, I feel obliged to at least mention that our beloved RENT has closed. I also need to mention that I completely forgot and now it's gone and I'm not sad. I admit that a small part of me wants to rush down to the BC/EFA flea market to see what they're selling.

I'll miss the Nederlander most... I have fond memories of the 2 dozen (+) attempts at lotto (successful 95% of the time).

It will be very sad to walk past 41st street and see it painted a colour other than puke green.

This Break Sucks

It's been a month and a half since we "went on break" and I'm done with it and ready to start trying again but now D has complicated things further by asking me to go back to school in January. I have approval from work (it's only 2 days per week) but it is a huge time commitment since the school is not in Toronto. I asked her when she expects me to make her baby in all of this and she says we'll do both. I want to go back to school and it's something I've wanted to do for 10 years but right now I'd rather get knocked up. When talking life goals I'm pretty sure I'm ranking having a baby higher.
As timing goes our first month back will be November. It's too late this month and next month we'll be on vacation. We've decided we are going to do this "the old fashioned way". When I suggested this to D she looked at me like I was nuts! What I meant was that I'm not going to medicate or monitor or even use OPK. I have 9 months of monitoring behind me and although the last 2 have been wonky I've still ovulated between day 15 and 20 with no exceptions. Normally either 15 or 20. Since we're using fresh we'll inseminate on day 14 & 19 (at night) and if we have the opportunity of any other time we'll go for it. I'd like to try day 15 & 20 as well. I still have the clinic on backup but my RE wants me to go on 150 mg of Clomid and I do not want multiples!!! We know this sperm works too well so I'm hoping that my bad luck in the past has been poor timing and frozen sperm issues.
Anyway, we need to rent a zipcar and do a trial run to see how long it takes to drive to Hamilton and back. At first we thought we'd rent from Hertz but it's so much easier to grab a zipcar. The only downside is that 4 hours costs the same as 24 hours at Hertz however zipcar includes Gas and if we're not using the car longer than 4 hours what's the point of keeping it parked in our garage or paying for gas and parking to drive it to work? This is the same old story and reason we do not own a car! I know once we have the baby we'll need one but until then we're enjoying the freedom. BTW, I do understand the irony in this statement to most people but not owning a car does have it's freedoms and renting a car when needed is a great alternative and fun because you get to drive a variety of cars.

The Weekend

I'm very sad that the weekend is almost over. It's been a super busy weekend that has been quite enjoyable.
First, I must say that walking is a hard habit to break. We haven't used our bonus metropass as much as we thought we would even though we've been all over downtown. We're so used to walking that it seems like a waste to walk over to the Subway to go only a couple of stops. We started the morning off on Saturday by walking down to EQ3 at Sherbourne and King. We were hoping to place our order for our new sofa bed. Unfortunately we didn't end up liking the one we saw online and are now torn between a couple of other options. We're either going to get the Solo double sleeper or the Solo sectional. However we have two issues. The first is that EQ3 has discontinued the fabric we used for our chair and ottoman as well as discontinuing other fabrics we would have liked. We brought home a couple of samples and we weren't happy with our selections. It's pretty much back to the drawing board on fabric. Second, the sofa bed we were interested in was 77" which would fit perfectly through our 78.5" door frame. The Solo Double Sleeper is 80". Although I am certain we could angle the couch and get it through we do not want to take that chance. I need to either figure out a way to be 100% certain it will fit or we'll have to go with the sectional. D likes the sectional so we'll probably get that but we're still stuck on the fabric issue. I think we may need to expand our search to other stores. Crate and Barrel opens on September 15th so we may find something we like there.
We didn't hit the TIFF activities until later in the day. We went to the red carpet event for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. This was a much more enjoyable experience than the Zac Efron mania. Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno) is a total SNOB. I ended up getting a few good shots but at the point of the red carpet where most of the fans were he just walked past completely ignoring them. Would it have really hurt to turn your head and smile? Maybe wave? It was like he had blinders on. Other celebs spotted included Ari Graynor, Kat Dennings, Jonathan B. Wright, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Jay Baruchel. We'd already seen/met Ari and Eddie in Dog Sees God on Broadway and Jonathan B. Wright in Spring Awakening on Broadway but it was cool to see them again.
Afterwards we decided to head up to Yorkville. This was actually at D's request however I was ok with it as long as we could go to Summers for ice cream (Watermelon Sorbet - YUMMY). We didn't see much there but it was fun to be "part of the action". The best and most hilarious part of the night and possibly weekend was when a car pulled out of the Four Seasons Hotel and the paparazzi rushed it. Not even knowing who it was I took a pic. Afterward everyone was saying it was the girl from Zoey 101. We even heard this rumor after leaving Yorkville and walking down Bloor. Anyway, much later we figured it all out. It was Jamie-Lynn Sigler NOT Jamie Lynn Spears (morons).
This afternoon (Sunday) we went to go to the red carpet for The Duchess. This was at Roy Thomson Hall so it was busy and hard to see anything. We got a few shots of Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes. I'm completely over the Gala's at RTH. It's just too busy.
We're hanging out at home now waiting to go over to red carpet for Zack and Miri Make a Porn. D thinks this may be busy because it's a Kevin Smith flick but we'll see.

Here are some pictures:

Jay Baruchel is very Odd:

Michael Cera is very Rude:

Kat Dennings is very HOT:

Jamie Lynn Spears? Jamie-Lynn Sigler? Bristol Palin?
You decide...

Where's Waldo: Keira Knightly is in this pic.
Can you find her?

TGIF TIFF

Friday was excellent. At work and afterward. Partially because Debbie Downer didn't talk to me all day and also because after work we went to a couple of TIFF events that were great fun.
The first was to see the red carpet for "Me and Orson Welles" at Ryerson. We saw Claire Danes and Zac Efron. I nearly took out a teenager who kept shoving High School Musical pictures in my face trying to make him sign it. I feel a bit bad now since it was probably her "dream come true" but it's still rude to shove paper in someones face (mine)! One thing that always really annoys me at TIFF are the 40 year old ebayers that are there to get autographs. They were there in full force as well as the paparazzi (damn Zacquisha). D had a really good time because she loves this stuff. I was on camera duty.
As we were leaving we found a MetroPass on the ground. This is the equivelent of finding a $100 bill considering it was only September 5th yesterday. Whoever lost it is going to be pissed but unfortunately they didn't sign the back and it was in the middle of a sidewalk where many people had walked down so it's not like we were going to ask "who lost a metropass". If it had been signed we would have because the person who owned it could be identified. In this case, I hate to say it but: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers. This is a major bonus for us and we were very happy/excited. I have a MetroPass because I take the subway to work but D walks to work so she uses tokens. Now we both have unlimited travel for the month and we can be lazy again! Yorkdale here we come!
Next on our list was to grab something to eat so we went to the Eaton Centre to go to McDonald's since we had "2 can dine" coupons. At that point our choices were to join that madness known as Brad Pitt at Roy Thomson Hall or go check out the Etalk Festival Party.
We ended up at the Etalk party. I guess they didn't give out enough wristbands or there wasn't a big enough crowed because they were letting everyone into the red carpet area. We ended up right in the front for a Diddy concert which was awesome. The whole event was very exciting. D and I watch Canada AM and Etalk everyday so seeing Seamus O'Regan, Ben Mulroney, Tanya Kim and Lainey was cool.

Here are some pics:

Diddy

Ben and LaineyZacquisha (Zac Efron)

Random Thoughts

I'm so happy tomorrow is finally Friday. It's only been a 4 day week but it's been a LONG 4 days. I work with this woman who is driving me crazy and I finally snapped at her today and asked that she not speak to me for the remainder of the day. Her eyes bugged out of her head and she ran off. I probably made her cry. She is just so odd. She's paranoid that everyone is plotting against her and she's always saying stuff like "are you mad at me" when in fact the only thing that is making any of us mad is the fact that she's asking if we're mad or if we hate her or if we're ignoring her. Give me a freakin' break lady and get a shrink. End of subject.

On the topic of crazy we used to have these really odd neighbours that for some reason are hanging around our complex again after moving out many months ago. This isn't the first time they've come around since they left but now it seems like they're here almost every day. This is a single mom with 2 kids. They were home all day (kids never in school) causing noise and destruction in our common areas. Last night they were outside hanging around until 11:00 pm and the little girl can't be older than 4. Not to be rude or anything but the lease on units runs $1800 a month + utilities - how the heck could she afford living here to begin with? I don't want to sound judgmental saying that because she's a a single mom she can't afford to pay rent but this woman would knock on doors and ask for food. I felt like yelling out my window last night "Shut up and go home". I can hear them out there right now. Part of me is fearing they've moved back in. It's just so strange. It's like they're stalking our condo complex.

Anyway.... I brought home boxes yesterday to pack some stuff up out of the Clair's room (for the rental closet). Clair (our 14 year old darling kitty) was diagnosed with cancer over 2 years ago and given 3 - 12 months to live. The only side effect of this is that she's being more sensitive to the antics of her little brother who endlessly torments her. When was started TTC we took the furniture out to make way for the nursery but since it's been a year and no progress I've decided enough is enough. Our place is too small to be using a whole room as a storage unit/cat hospice. When my nephew comes over he sleeps on a little bed in our room. Since it seems like he'll be over more often we've decided to clear the room out and make it an area for the children. Clair can still sleep and eat in there when they're not here but when they are she can hop the gate as needed to get away from her brother but otherwise she's evicted. This will be my weekend project. I'm hoping I have D's blessing to also buy a couple of new toys and some Disney Cars decals for the wall. I know she won't want me to make a big deal out of this but I think it would be nice for my nephew to have a little area here. It's not like he's a stranger! I also know that D is just looking out for me because if BIL decides we can't see him anymore I'll be devastated. To be honest, I'm not THAT worried because one less child on the weekend has always been something he's been eager for.
Sigh.

Living Downtown

We have been thinking a lot about moving lately but we're really torn. Living downtown is awesome but in exchange for our great location we live in a small condo. There are many times when I think that I want a yard, a bike, a dog and a car. All things we're saving for when we buy a house. As far as the car is concerned, it's something we could theoretically have now but it wouldn't be practical. D walks to work and I take the subway which is only a couple of blocks away (driving to work would be stupid with gas and parking rates). Instead, we rent and when we need a car it's always new and in good condition. That said, the itch to move is ALWAYS there. Ideally we would wait until my mat leave is over to move. That way I'll be downtown in walking distance to D's work and not isolated in some far flung suburb.
Although we're still looking and have expanded our search it seems that we may just stay here as planned and make some improvements to maximize our space. For one, we're going to rent a closet -Manhattan Style- and store our seasonal items like the xmas tree. I told D it seems excessive to spend $300 a year to store xmas decorations (why not just get a real tree and throw it out each year) but we do have other items we can put away. I think these other items could get the curb treatment with the real tree but we can't agree on that one. So, we're getting a closet (yay) and we're going to invest in some nifty PAX storage sytems from Ikea. We're pretty much doing this to our bedroom:


We're also going to get this sofabed from EQ3 for the living room. Our chair and ottoman are EQ3 and we really love them. This will helpwhen guests sleep over. It will be nice to have a bed to offer instead of the couch. It's also smaller than our current mammoth couch. Our living area is too small for a full size - not to mention the fact that a couch that doesn't come in 5o pieces won't fit up our stairwell. Condo living rocks.
The sofabed:

We're also thinking about pulling up the carpet (wall 2 wall) and putting in laminate or hardwood flooring. Our condo rules stipulate that you have to have area rugs over your hardwood flooring where people walk so it's kind of pointless to put down hardwood if you have to cover it. As much as I hate the carpet I don't know if I want to go through that for someplace we'll only live for 2-3 more years.

Dinner is ready.....!

We just sent the children home after they spent the night. This was the first time my niece has stayed overnight and my nephew thinks he owns the place so there was a bit of jealousy. Overall it went well. BIL asked if we'd take them again next weekend so it looks like he's over being angry with us.
We are suckers!!