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WEEK OF DECEMBER 29, 2002 - JANUARY 4, 2003.
After all the travelling that we did last week, Mike and I decided to take it easy this week and get some rest. Except for Monday night, when we went to a Pre-New Year's Eve party at my friend's place. We got to see a bunch of my friends that I don't see all that often (some of my friends live in places far away from here). As a bonus, one of my friends' friends is a chef, who volunteered to make some delicious treats for the evening!

We stayed home for New Year's Eve itself, as is our tradition. This is because our anniversary is on New Year's Day, so we usually spend the evening together, just the two of us. Take-out Chinese food, rented movies, watching the Big Apple descend on Times Square. Very enjoyable. :)

It makes having to return to work for two days less onerous.

Then on New Year's Day...

Mike proposed to me!!!

It was after dinner when he reminded me that we hadn't had our fortune cookies from the night before. So he went to the kitchen and grabbed two fortune cookies. On the way back from the kitchen, he unwrapped mine for me (he's so sweet!) and then handed it to me. When I cracked open the cookie, my fortune read... "You will be proposed to," as Mike got down on one knee and presented me with an engagement ring!!!

What a surprise! And what a way to start the year! :)

WEEK OF JANUARY 4-10, 2003.
This week was fairly quiet, which is nice after the biggest holiday of the year. I had some time to gather my thoughts, and to reflect on this joyous occasion that I was able to share with my family.

This week was also a good week for catching up with old friends and for keeping in touch with family. I did some of both. :)

WEEK OF JANUARY 11-17, 2003.
This week was quiet and relaxing for me. Mike spent 36 hours in Bermuda for a job interview (and brought back some beautiful photos!), so I had the place to myself for a while. The perfect opportunity to get in some quality "me" time. I spent it on the sofa, writing. Contemplating. Reflecting on the joy of life.

This week I started playing cribbage with two of my coworkers. Just a friendly game during our lunch break - quite enjoyable. I enjoy playing cards, and it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to play cards with other people. I used to play bridge with a large group of friends from school, and later with a smaller group of coworkers, but that was well over a year ago. So I guess you could say I jumped at the chance for a nice friendly game or two.

WEEK OF JANUARY 18-24, 2003.
We started this weekend off by spending the day with Mike's family on Saturday, and then by relaxing and doing our own thing on Sunday. Then on Monday we visited a friend who was getting rid of an old (well, not so old) computer and some other stuff in a moving sale. We ended up spending most of the rest of the week setting up our new toy. That is, when we weren't watching the first episodes of the new season of American Idol. :)

Friday was my sisters' birthdays, so I gave them both a call to wish them well. Neither of them called me back. :( Must have been out too late celebrating.

WEEK OF JANUARY 25-31, 2003.
Saturday was a social day for me this week. I spent the afternoon with one of my close friends from school (who, unfortunately, I haven't seen much of since) and then I spent the evening gaming with a small group of friends. This was the first night of our new campaign, and we stayed up late creating our characters. And just chatting. What else would you expect from a group of girls? Okay, there's one guy in the group - the GM; all the gameplayers are girls. Real fun. :)

The next day we ended up working out computer problems. Not ours, though. My mom's computer is on it's last legs, and doesn't want to start up most of the time. There are plans for a possible house-call.

After a long week, which included a dental appointment (no cavities - Yay!), the girls and I got together again on Friday for some more gaming... the game begins. We stayed up late getting things going, while Mike celebrated Chinese New Year with Yang and his family. Fun all around!

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1-7, 2003.
It was my friend Galen's birthday this week, so on Saturday Mike and I went out to dinner with Galen and a few of his close friends, at a small but nice Italian restaurant, followed by enjoyable conversation that lasted until midnight. And cookie dough.

Work is starting to get really hectic for me (like it wasn't already), plus I think I'm coming down with a cold or something. So I was totally grateful to Mike for having a boys' night out so that I could stay home and relax, and have some "me" time. Especially since my mom's bringing her computer over this weekend so that we can have a look-see at whether it's fixable. I've been really looking forward to the visit since Christmas, when I was hoping to have my mom over for a day or two, but it just never worked out. Business is always a good excuse for a social visit, ain't it?

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8-14, 2003.
Even though Mike and I are feeling rather under-the-weather, we ended up cleaning our place in preparation for my mom's visit. She and her husband (and their dog) stayed over for the weekend while we all worked on their computer. We ended up getting another used computer from Mike's friend (the moving sale), and spent the time fixing it up, installing all their old programs, and moving all their old files to the "new" computer. And we ended up watching a lot of movies in the process. Nothing like a good comedy or family movie to lighten up a frustrating, painstaking surgery. (Well, that's really what it is, isn't it?) We watched 6 movies in two days, including a bunch of extra footage. Pretty good, I think.

This Friday was Valentine's Day. Mike and I went out to dinner at one of our favourite restaurants. Without a reservation, the plan was for him to pick me up right after work and drive straight to the restaurant to beat the dinner rush. Well, we ended up waiting for most of 45 minutes for a table. Not too bad, considering. But the food was wonderful. Mike has a huge piece of lasagne, and I had linguine carbonara (my favourite sauce) with lots of scallops wrapped in bacon. Mmmmm! Then we went home to have a nice quiet evening, and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, followed by Notting Hill (or at least the end of it - we caught the tail end of it on TV when our movie was over), and Ever After. Thank goodness we get to sleep in tomorrow!

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 15-21, 2003.
On Saturday we visited Lori and Sheldon, and spent the entire day with them. After we finally got up, of course. But we stayed late to make up for it. It's Lori's birthday, so I thought it would be nice to visit - and we haven't seen them in a while. It was a relaxing visit - some conversation, music, and a movie or two that we hadn't seen before. And we had tacos for supper - something I hadn't had since I was a teenager. I think I'm gonna have some again later this week. :)

On Sunday I got a call from my older sister - definitely the highlight of my day. We don't get to talk very often, as she doesn't live very near me.

Not much else the rest of this week. I haven't been going to my exercise classes, cuz my back's been sore for a while now. I think it might have something to do with my chair at work. Who knows? But I've been staying at home and just resting. And surfing the web, of course. :)

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 22-28, 2003.
I got some very good news this week from one of my sisters. But I don't think she's shared it with everyone yet, so I'll update this section later. Not much else happened this week.

WEEK OF MARCH 1-7, 2003.
My mom and her husband came to visit us this weekend, for a couple of hours. We had a nice time - we played a couple of games, watched a movie, and chit-chatted until they had to go home. I'm so glad they were able to make it though - the winter's been so bad for them that I didn't think they'd be able to visit us until spring... and that's way too far away!!!

Also this week, we went to a community awards ceremony where Mike's brother Dave received an award for his work as an actor. Neat, eh?

Then on Friday, me and a few of my girl friends got together for dinner and karaoke. We bought a membership at a karaoke bar, where the four of us got our own private room, and we sang for two whole hours... that a lot of ABBA and Britney songs. Gotta do more of that! :) And the bubble tea was pretty good, too.

WEEK OF MARCH 8-14, 2003.
This weekend we tried making a new recipe... Beef Stroganoff. Well, we've made a version of it before, but we tried a new version of it this week, and actually liked it! Must be the wine that we used. :)

This week we also spent a day with Mike's family, and I got together with another group of my girl friends on Friday night. I'm really making a habit of this, aren't I? :)

WEEK OF MARCH 15-21, 2003.
We spent this weekend visiting my mom and her husband. It's my mom's birthday, and the weather was nice, so we decided to return the visit. Great timing - the snow is finally starting to melt. And they had over eight feet of it piled up when we got there. It definitely dropped a bit while we were there. The weekend also included games, dinner at a Chinese restaurant (everyone ate WAY too much!), late-night chatting, western omelettes for breakfast... all the stuff that I love about visiting them. :) And a really great home-cooked Sunday dinner, too! Truly a wonderful time.

Mike and I also went down to the lake one afternoon this week, and took a bunch of great pictures of each other ( email me if you want to see them). The day was perfect for it - mild, sunny, calm - we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Oh yeah - we also tried another new recipe this week. I love collecting recipes, and finally decided that it would make sense for me to actually try some of them sometime. So this week's recipe was Supreme Potato Casserole - we got the recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook that I treated myself to last year (it's got a coil spine, so the book will lay flat on the kitchen table while I'm cooking/baking). Well, I absolutely fell in love with the dish, and had the leftovers for lunch just about every day for the rest of the week. I'm looking forward to making it again soon. (BTW - email me if you want the recipe!!!)

WEEK OF MARCH 22-28, 2003.
We went for a long walk in the ravine near our place on Sunday. It was supposed to be just an excuse to get out of the house, cuz we hadn't been out much this week. But it ended up being much longer that either of us would have liked. Not that we don't like walking, but it was a bit windy out, and the wind was a bit on the cold side. The problem was, we didn't stay on the paths that we usually take - we did a bit of exploring into new territory. And ended up on the wrong side of a river, with no way back out of the ravine for over an hour. We ended up crossing back to the "right" side at a railway bridge that was NOT meant for pedestrians to use. Good thing there were no trains.

We didn't try any new recipes this week. After that two-hour walk, neither of us felt like doing anything other than curl up in front of the TV. (I even fell asleep!)

We became pen-pals to my nephew, it seems. Which I think is really cool. He wrote us a letter last week, and we wrote him back on Saturday. My sister called me up later in the week to let us know that my nephew got the letter, and that he'd probably write us back again. It's good to know that six-year olds are still excited about getting mail. Heck, I'm still excited about getting a letter in the mail!

Then on Friday on my way to my get-together with the girls, I took some pictures along the way. Just a couple of sights here and there that caught my eye, and some historical stuff that I didn't know about the area. But it was fun - you never really know what special view might cross your path for a second that you might just pass by if you weren't in the mindset to capture it on film or memory card.

One more thing happened this week - Mike decided to rearrange our furniture. All of it. But at least he warned me. And at least I have the weekend to get used to it, before I have to stumble around and bump into everything in the morning while getting ready for work. ("Honey, where'd you put my whatchamacallit???") But I must admit that I do like the new arrangement. I'm going to take a few pictures of it, just as soon as I've found a new place to hide my various messes.

WEEK OF MARCH 29 - APRIL 4, 2003.
Monday, Tuesday - it snowed! Thursday, Friday - we got ice pellets!!! C'mon, Spring - get here already. This is crazy!!

Mike and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle Monday night, while watching Mallrats for the umpteenth time. :)

Favourite TV show of the week: American Idol.

Recipe of the week: stir-fried mushrooms. Yup, just mushrooms. And you'd be surprised how filling they are. A friend of mine makes this from time to time, which I discovered once when I was over at her place and commented on the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. What's in it? I asked. She told me: ginger, dill, garlic, and Montreal steak spice. Mmmm... It really smells meaty! Must be the steak spice. :) I cooked up a batch of these for lunch on Sunday, and Mike helped me eat a bunch of them, but he's not a big fan of mushrooms (I am). So we also had tacos for supper that night.

WEEK OF APRIL 5-11, 2003.
We had nice weather on Sunday, although there was still some snow on the ground, so I brought my camera outside and took a series of pictures of the place where I live, for my aunt who is too far away to visit often. She hasn't seen my place yet. I also took a series of pictures of the inside to show her.

Most of the rest of the week was uneventful, and it ended on a very good note: I went to a karaoke bar with a couple of friends, and we sang Friday night away. And the bubble tea was very good, too. :-)

Movie of the week: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

WEEK OF APRIL 12-18, 2003.
This week started with a wine tour. I drove to the Niagara region of Ontario with Mike and a couple of friends from school, and we tasted wines from a variety of different wineries. I highly recommend trying the icewines at Birchwood winery.

Now, don't get me wrong here. There's no way I could have possibly drank too much (I'm sure I could have driven home in another hour or two, legally). But I was sick for most of the rest of the week, starting on Monday. I actually went in to work, but by the end of the day the contents of my stomach was jumping to get out. Thank goodness for Pedialyte!!! And Mike was so sweet, he took good care of me, and I kept myself occupied with my recipe collection. Sorting it, not reading it or cooking it. I don't think I could have managed that. And I actually didn't have enough energy even to read my email this week!

By Friday I was feeling better (I went back to work on Thursday), so Mike and I looked for a church close to us to attend for Good Friday Mass. The one we found was a really nice, older building, and there weren't very many people there. We thought at first that it might be due to the SARS outbreak, but found out later that it's just because the church is located in a non-Catholic neighbourhood. Anyway, we enjoyed the service. The cool thing about it is that the church had sign-language interpreters for the entire ceremony. Neat-o!

WEEK OF APRIL 19-25, 2003.
This weekend we did the Easter thing, visiting relatives and going to "candles-church". The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and the extended family chatted it up outside, watching the children play with the kite and the puppy, and watching the cows with their young ones. This is what Easter is for!

I guess the rest of the week seemed like an anticlimax, I didn't do much until Friday when I got together with the girls for our bi-weekly gaming session. But it certainly felt like spring!

WEEK OF APRIL 26 - MAY 1 (Thursday), 2003.
Movie of the week: I Spy. Funny, entertaining, perfect for a Saturday night.

This week was quiet for me, I mostly stayed home and did stuff on the computer.

WEEK OF MAY 2 (Friday) - MAY 9, 2003.
This was a long weekend for me, a bit of a family vacation. Mike and I got together with my extended family, and we all stayed at a Bed & Breakfast for the weekend. Which was nice, and relaxing.

And of course, we girls got together and did some shopping!!!

On Sunday morning I made a special breakfast for everyone - omelettes!!! I love omelettes, but I hadn't had any for a long time, until Mike and I stayed over at my mom's place on weekend, and we had omelettes for breakfast. Mmmm!! Since then, we've had that egg-goodness for brunch several weekends a month.

On the downside, my sister wasn't able to make it, as her son and his friends had recently come down with chicken pox, and Mike had never had it before. I missed her this weekend - I haven't seen her for a few months. :-(

Monday was a sad day for me. Mike had to go away on a business trip. :-( I got up early to drive him to the airport. I didn't go in to see him off (it was too sad), and he was meeting some coworkers there anyway. So I went home to be miserable all by my lonesome. With my TV. It didn't help that there was a thunderstorm that night, either. But at least he was only away for a week, and I picked him up at the airport on Friday - I got to see his face light up when he saw me at the end of the arrivals ramp. :-)

Movies of the week: Showboat, The Sixth Day.

Recipes of the week: Potato Casserole Supreme (Betty Crocker Cookbook), and rice pudding (my favourite comfort food).

WEEK OF MAY 10-16, 2003.
After most of a week without Mike, we spent Friday night and most of Saturday hanging out together. Then one of my friends, who I haven't seen in months, called and invited me out for coffee. So I went, and Mike stayed home to recover from his jetlag. (And his sunburn!) And I had the best pizza ever - it was mostly covered with spinach and a few mushrooms, and it had no sauce. Which is great, cuz the sauce usually gives me heartburn. :-(

On Sunday, Mike and I went to visit his family, who missed him too while he was away.

This week I went to my very first "confirmation" ceremony. I'd seen baptisms before, but never a confirmation. Chalk that one up.

Movies of the week: The Green Mile, Bladerunner TV Show of the week: Survivor 6 (Amazon) - finale.

WEEK OF MAY 17-23, 2003.
This weekend I got together with the girls again to do a little gaming, and Mike and I did a little shopping. Then on Sunday night (it's a long weekend) I got together with Maja and a few other people to celebrate her birthday. Dinner and dancing at a great club, what more could one wish for??? :-)

On Monday I celebrated the long weekend by sleeping in and chatting with some long-distance family. Sweet!

Then of course, something bad had to even it all out - my glasses broke. I don't know how - I was only cleaning them on my T-shirt when they snapped in half!!! So I had to spend the rest of this week with my old, OLD prescription... Everything and everyone was blurry, and I had trouble reading the monitor at work. (Did I mention that I work on the computer all day, every day, at work?) Luckily, I got an appointment with my optometrist for Wednesday, but the frames have to be shipped in (read: I have to wait a LONG time for them). :-(

Other good things happened this week though: Ruben Studdard won the American Idol contest (I would have been so upset if Clay had won, but he did deserve to be in the top 5). And I went karaoke-ing with Maja and Marie on Friday, while Mike was out with the boys. Man, do I love to sing!!! :-)

WEEK OF MAY 24-30, 2003.
This weekend, Mike and I went shopping for a pair of shoes, among other things. I wanted to find a pair of black running shoes that I could wear for the trip from home to work (and back), but wouldn't look totally weird with my work clothes. Well, I found a pair - on sale even - but when I tried wearing them, the back of the shoes rubbed against my achilles tendon, causing my a lot of pain. There's actually a scab on the back of the tendon where the shoe was rubbing. Needless to say, I returned the shoes. Now I have to find another pair. :-(

We also watched a lot of movies this week: Requiem for a Dream, Two Weeks Notice (which we watched twice), Riverdance (I caught the last half of it on TV), and The Usual Suspects (it was a first time for me - Mike's seen it a bunch of times, of course). Oh yeah, and Mike went to see the Matrix 2 with a group of guys from work on Memorial Day. I still haven't seen it yet.

On Friday we went to Karaoke with a large group of friends - it was Yang's birthday, and this is his favourite kind of party. Hmmmm.... perhaps I could do this for my birthday. Bubble tea for everyone!!! :-)

WEEK OF MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2003.
Saturday night I got together with the girls for our usual gaming session. We had a new player this week, which was cool since one of our regular players couldn't make it. (She was moving this weekend, and didn't want us to help... I asked!) And Karen made a wonderful stir-fry for supper, too. :-)

Sunday was the first hike of the year for me and Mike. I think my friends have been hiking once or twice already, but we couldn't make it those weekends. We hiked 6 km in 4 hours, which doesn't seem like much, but we lost the trail for a half hour and had to backtrack to find it again. And, of course, I stopped frequently to take pictures. I thought that I only took 12-15 pics, but I actually took 37!!!

And I was so exhausted when we got home that I just flopped on our air mattress for the rest of the evening and watched TV. We had the air mattress set up cuz on of our friends that was hiking with us stayed over at our place the night before, so that we could all hit the road early.

Also this week: my new glasses arrived (Yay!), and on my third anniversary at work I got a free makeover, care of Clinique. And I bought some make-up. :-)

Then on Friday night Mike and I celebrated by going to dinner and a movie. We ate at a Greek restaurant (one of my favourites... I just can't get enough Greek food), then went to see Ewan McGregor in "Down With Love." (Ewan's also one of my favourites!)

Movies of the week: Down With Love, The Hurricane.

WEEK OF MAY 31 - JUNE 6, 2003.
Mike and I were so excited to start hiking again this summer, that we decided to do some hiking on our own, in-between the Bruce Trail hikes. So on Sunday we hit the Discovery Trail in Toronto. It was just the two of us, so we chose a section that was a two-hour loop. That way we didn't have to backtrack to get back to the car. This particular section was mostly in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, and I was surprised both at how large and at how beautiful it was. And of course there were a few "celebrity" plots - such as that of William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Yadda, yadda, yadda... then the week ended with my usual girls' gaming session - this time we had it at Mandi's new apartment, my first time seeing it since she moved in a few weeks ago. We ordered in Chinese food for our game, and there was lots to go around.

Movies of the week: Chicken Run, Littly Nicky

TV shows of the week: Canadian Idol, The Amazing Race

Dish of the week: Asparagus-brie quiche (I ate it, I didn't bake it, but it was delicious anyway.)

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