Three Fetes and a Funeral

That pretty much sums up my weekend.

What a busy one it's been! Friday night Hubs and I headed out to a swank event for work. I'm always so tired at the end of the week that it's a wonder we even made it there. But we did. Got all dressed up (in the bathroom of a Shoeless Joe's, no less - nothing but class) and made our way to the venue.

Sigh. So many of these things are an absolute blast and this one had all the right pieces, but it took them forever to get the evening under way! Everyone was a bit crabby by the time they put the freakin dinner on the table and the problem is the food wasn't all that much up my alley to begin with. But I managed to hold out until the steak hit my plate, and was thankful for those wings Hubs and I split at Joe's!

We left shortly after dinner - just too tired to keep partying, open bar and all! As it was we got home after midnight, and I felt terrible for falling asleep in the car on the way home. But I did. And it was good.

Saturday morning came way too early, but at least I managed to get up for a good cause. Around 10:30 am Hubs dropped me off at a friend's place, and from there we caravaned to beautiful downtown Bowmanville for Applefest! Yes, you read that right! The diva was woot wooting it up at Applefest with her WB gal pals.

We had a blast! It was cold, it was windy, and the local firefighters didn't quite live up to their GTA counterparts (so sad - such high expectations dashed on the rocks) but we still had a fantastic day. We shopped, we ate hot dogs and french fries and apples with caramel sauce (as Nat says, sex in a bowl). I brought home apple pie, apple crumble, candy apples, cranberry loaf, fudge, some Halloween decorations, a beautiful pottery bowl that is supposed to be a Christmas gift but I don't know if I can make myself part with it, and a folk art-y pumpkin thing to put on our front door.

By the time we got back to the car, I had those permanent bag indentations in my fingers and my fellow fest'ers were equally happy to put my purchases down and deal with their own stuff. Yes, I bought so much I had to enlist the aid of my friends. What great gals they were to haul my stuff!

We made it home around four and an hour later, Hubs and I met up with Nat, her hubby and a bunch of their friends for dinner and drinkies at a local Irish pub. They (the pub, that is) made the mistake of having a Keith's night among other things, and so each time you purchased a Keith's, you got a Nevada ticket like card that could win you a prize.

Well...you never saw a more dejected group of drinkers than us last night. Beer after beer, card after card, we kept losing. It was almost impossible really - to have that many pints and cards and to never win.

Finally - finally! - we had a winner in our midst. Of course it was the guy who showed up late and was on his second pint. I thought our alpha drinker boys were going to jump out of their skin they were so ticked off at the injustice of it all!

The tide finally turned later in the night when we finally hit the part of the pile where all the winners are. Soon there were mugs being handed out left, right and centre. I left with two myself. Delightful!

After five pints of the India pale ale, we decided it was time to shuffle on home. Hubs' butt was sore from sitting on those fancy pub chairs - you know, the wooden ones with no ass padding whatsoever - and the appearance of the regional pipe band in the pub (to come on stage later) gave the poor boy palpitations (he hates bagpipes. Hates. Big time.) was therefore a clear signal to him that it was time to depart.

It was 9:30.

Yes, our Saturday night ended at 9:30. And I was perfectly okay with that. Especially since I had a five pint buzz going on.

Aw come on, there have to be some benefits to this nature imposed break in baby making. Sometime's a girl's just gotta drink, ya know?

So. Home by 9:40 (ah, I love a pub in close proximity) and in bed around midnight. Just to wake up early-ish again to go to that funeral I mentioned.

Yeah, not a fun way to spend a Sunday, but it was something I most certainly needed to do. Someone I worked closely with in a client-type relationship passed away last week, and even though it wasn't necessarily expected of me to go (professionally speaking), there was no way I was missing it.

This individual was one of the kindest, most unassuming, gentle and generous people I've ever had the pleasure to work with. He was one of my favourites, and he's gone all too soon. I got to know his family and his friends over the years, and was honoured to sit amongst them and hear stories told of this wonderful man. Many tears were shed, and when one of his closest friends hugged me tightly and thanked me for coming, I knew the early morning wake up and cross GTA trek was more than worth it. You'll be missed Al - you'll be missed.

On my way home I spotted a Starbucks and headed in for my caffeine fix. As I didn't know how long it would take me to get to the funeral home and I most certainly didn't want to be late, I didn't press my luck and stop for coffee at our local Tim's. So by the time the service was over, I was in major caffeine withdrawl.

Once my grande non-fat sugar free vanilla latte had been safely procured, it seemed my senses were heightened and I became acutely aware of my surroundings. Including the clothing store I like to frequent and the Shoe Company.

Yeesh.

The last thing I needed was to spend money. But I did need new shoes. And a fall trench coat. So while I was in the neighbourhood, I decided to check in and see what they had.

I didn't find a trench coat, but I did get a new top, a pair of pants, a comfy nightie, and some sexy underwears. You know those boy cut panties? Yeah, I like them a lot and Hubs is quite a fan, so a nice pink and green pair came home with me. Fortunately I had a gift certificate from my sister/mother in law so that took a lot of the sting out of the purchases.

Great - now when Hubs' sister reads this, she's gonna know I spent part of her money on undies. There's a mental image she probably didn't need!

I also managed to score two great pairs of shoes, two bottles from the new OPI Russian collection - Siberian Nights, which I'm wearing right now, and An Affair in Red Square - pick my pants up at the dry cleaners, and get Hubs some pop.

When I got home, Hubs was already in the process of completing the most dreaded task on this afternoon's to do list - putting down the black earth all over our aerated lawn. What a wonderful guy. He did it because he knew how much I didn't want to do it. Gotta love him.

That task completed, we decorated the outside of the house for Halloween, then it was relaxation time. He watched one of the Star Wars flicks, I played around on the computer and we both ate apple pie.

Just another weekend in the suburbs. Hope you had a great one too!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?