good weekend
well, i'm gonna start of Friday when a weird minor miracle happened and i was able to use the laundry room enough to do four loads of laundry. yeah, i was really amazed. then i was more amazed when i was good and folded and put away everything. of course, i had incentive on that one 'cuz gretzilla came to visit, and i wanted to impress her. well, i at least didn't want to seem a complete slob. plus, i'm starting to enjoy having a less cluttered apartment. am i really turning into an adult? eek!
anyway, poor gretzilla had to drive from Waterloo and hit all kinds of traffic and detours on the way. she didn't get in until late, and we talked for an hour or so too. i also had to play with the puppy! Diffie is so cute! lots of fun there. we went to bed late, but managed to get up and moving before noon. sadly, it was raining. no, not raining. pouring. we decided to visit my campus / office and the west island first, and went to Arcade Basile for lunch so she could try poutine. we also made a stop in D'Aoust, but they're not running the little money rail system. i was sad. but i got some jelly and a box of tea anyway. : )
we stopped back at my apartment to let Diffie out and play with her for a little while. then we headed off to the Botanical Garden. i dragged gretzilla around so she could see the gardens in the daylight before she saw it at night. i didn't realize that they'd already prepped a lot of the place for winter. the penjing and bonsai were gone, and the pond in the Japanese garden was drained. i was sad, but i think she still liked seeing the place anyway. we did a quick tour through the greenhouses (made quicker by the fact that nearly half of the greenhouses on the tropical side were blocked off for renovation) and The Great Pumpkin Ball.
then we took the metro to St. Denis for dinner. with a little thought and whatnot, i managed to get us to Restaurant L'Academie with no mishaps. i'm getting better. anyway, we were able to get in immediately and were seated at one of the two tables stuck in a little tiny nook on the second floor. gretzilla didn't get to see the restaurant that much, but it was a lot less noisy. we had some really yummy food. i tried their gnocchi and immediately went into happy taste bud land. after we ate, we reversed course and returned to the botanical garden for The Magic of Lanterns. by that time, it had finally stopped raining, but we made our tour of the lanterns pretty quick nonetheless. we needed to get back to let Diffie out, and gretzilla needed to do some homework.
on Sunday, we headed to downtown Montreal to look at the McGill campus and explore Ste. Catherine. had a great lunch at Cafe L'Etranger. gretzilla even ordered a second sandwich to go so that she could have good food on the way back to Waterloo. we made a quick stop at Lush and Chapters (to use the bathroom, we didn't buy any books!) before heading back out to my place. then she had to pack up and leave. : (
i spent the rest of the day being totally lazy and reading or watching DVD's. it was a really nice weekend, though, and i'm really happy gretzilla got to visit!
anyway, poor gretzilla had to drive from Waterloo and hit all kinds of traffic and detours on the way. she didn't get in until late, and we talked for an hour or so too. i also had to play with the puppy! Diffie is so cute! lots of fun there. we went to bed late, but managed to get up and moving before noon. sadly, it was raining. no, not raining. pouring. we decided to visit my campus / office and the west island first, and went to Arcade Basile for lunch so she could try poutine. we also made a stop in D'Aoust, but they're not running the little money rail system. i was sad. but i got some jelly and a box of tea anyway. : )
we stopped back at my apartment to let Diffie out and play with her for a little while. then we headed off to the Botanical Garden. i dragged gretzilla around so she could see the gardens in the daylight before she saw it at night. i didn't realize that they'd already prepped a lot of the place for winter. the penjing and bonsai were gone, and the pond in the Japanese garden was drained. i was sad, but i think she still liked seeing the place anyway. we did a quick tour through the greenhouses (made quicker by the fact that nearly half of the greenhouses on the tropical side were blocked off for renovation) and The Great Pumpkin Ball.
then we took the metro to St. Denis for dinner. with a little thought and whatnot, i managed to get us to Restaurant L'Academie with no mishaps. i'm getting better. anyway, we were able to get in immediately and were seated at one of the two tables stuck in a little tiny nook on the second floor. gretzilla didn't get to see the restaurant that much, but it was a lot less noisy. we had some really yummy food. i tried their gnocchi and immediately went into happy taste bud land. after we ate, we reversed course and returned to the botanical garden for The Magic of Lanterns. by that time, it had finally stopped raining, but we made our tour of the lanterns pretty quick nonetheless. we needed to get back to let Diffie out, and gretzilla needed to do some homework.
on Sunday, we headed to downtown Montreal to look at the McGill campus and explore Ste. Catherine. had a great lunch at Cafe L'Etranger. gretzilla even ordered a second sandwich to go so that she could have good food on the way back to Waterloo. we made a quick stop at Lush and Chapters (to use the bathroom, we didn't buy any books!) before heading back out to my place. then she had to pack up and leave. : (
i spent the rest of the day being totally lazy and reading or watching DVD's. it was a really nice weekend, though, and i'm really happy gretzilla got to visit!