Celebrations

Last weekend I took some time off and went back home to celebrate my birthday with my family and friends. The best part about birthdays? All of the e-mails that you get sent about free stuff. I kick started off my weekend with a snack/lunch at Spin Dessert Cafe and Bistro. Unfortunately there are no high resolution images of my weekend because I wanted to spend the time as organically as possible. That means no touting large chunky cameras and lenses around, and only capturing moments fleetingly with my phone.

P had planned something special for me that day and refused to share any secrets so we rushed back home to get ready. All that I was told by him was to bring a dress and to be ready to potentially stand for a couple of hours. I later found out that he had planned for us to go on a sunset cruise around the Thousand Islands. Unfortunately we missed the cruise due to a rising bridge that had our car stopped for about 5 minutes. Within that time frame, out boat launched, leaving us by the dock. The lovely ticket sales counter was kind enough to completely refund us the value of our ticket and instead we took to the town for dinner.

We shared our dinner at Tango Nuevo and then walked around the downtown core enjoying the setting sun against the buildings and harbor front. Soon after we drove back to Ottawa to enjoy a night out with friends. What started out as ice cream cake at a friend's restaurant turned into an alcohol-fueled karaoke night with the bestest. Surprisingly I didn't wake up with a splitting headache the next morning. Myself and a couple of friends took to Gatineau Park to go hiking and settled on a trail that had a waterfall.

Once we found the falls, we idiotically thought that it would be smart to climb onto the rocks in the middle of it and take pictures while risking our lives. Yes, risking out lives. The rocks were slippery and the mud deep. If it hadn't been for the trees to cling onto, I'm pretty sure that most of us would have fallen to our untimely deaths. How ironic would that have been, to die celebrating your own birthday. We finished our afternoon off with a couple scoops of gelato from Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana. Let me say that the gelato there trumps Piccolo Grande, anyday.

There was time to kill in between gelato and dinner so we took to a condo showing room and then the Ornamental Gardens at the Experimental Farm. When the sun became too blinding we headed over to My Sweet Tea for drinks. The night was finished off at Gezellig where I had dinner with some close friends and celebrating one of their CMA exam passing. I'm already excited to go back home again next weekend and see my family as I've been feeling the emotions of homesickness whenever I'm in Toronto. I have high hopes for the upcoming week and can't wait till Friday rolls around!