I’m about to dish! 

I know you guys have just been dying to know what I’ve been up to over the last 5 days so here we go:

The Weekend

I picked up my rental car and drove up through Algonquin Park. It was my first time doing it, and I was excited about the beauty of the provincial park. However, it was still all covered in snow and all brown and grey. Even with all that, it was really nice. I managed to escape any bad weather on the drive up. I stopped a few times and had a nice afternoon drive. Do you guys ever just like go for a drive? I think I inherited this from my dad – somedays I just have this urge to jump into a car and drive around back country roads with my camera. The country girl in me loves it.

I arrived in Ottawa and at my brother’s house about 20 minutes before he got home from work. He had hidden a key for me outside so I let myself in and explored his new place without anyone to stop me from opening random doors. It was great! We went out for dinner, fought over who was paying for it (I won because our waitress was like “YES…I’m all for the woman paying sometimes!” to which I had to be like “exactly!! Even if he is my brother” hehe). We got home around 8, and I walked in and shouted a big hello to his housemate, who had just fallen asleep, but he was ok with it the next day when I finally saw him. He did slam the door on his way out of the house at 4:50 the next morning waking me up, so I think we are even.

Saturday was COLD and WINDY. We were supposed to go axe throwing, and I called Friday night to book a lane but no one got back to me until 4pm Saturday and by that time they were booked for the whole weekend. But I got my milkshake at my favourite dinner in Ottawa, one of the reasons I go to Ottawa is for this milkshake, and then my brother took me to the new outlet mall near his place and I bought some makeup and finally got myself some new medi-rings! I only wanted like 3 or 4 but ended up with about 15 for $15 haha. They are cheap and will probably turn my fingers green after wearing them for a month or so, but since they are just fillers until I can get some nice silver/white gold ones, I’m not even going to worry about it. We went to the movies (Ready, Player One) and when we got home, I got to see his housemate for the first time this trip and got a HUGE bear hug (he’s excellent at bear hugs because he’s like 6’4 and 350lbs? He’s a big guy). He was just heading out for dinner with his new girlfriend but they came back to the house after and we all watched random YouTube videos until I could not stay awake a minute longer. His girlfriend is super awesome and I approve of his choice.

Sunday is where it all started to change. We woke up to a little snow on the ground and it was just starting to mist, which then turned into freezing rain. I met a friend for coffee while my brother went to church. And by the time he picked me up an hour and a half later it was full on freezing rain with wind gusts so strong I thought I was going to lose my hair! We went to sushi for my birthday lunch (YUM) and then spent the rest of the day relaxing. I literally took a two-hour nap haha.

This Week

Monday was not fun. I checked road conditions religiously from the minute I woke up until I left Ottawa. If I make no stops, it takes 4 hours to get from my brother’s house to my house. It takes about 50 minutes to go from his house, down the 416 highway to the 401. On Monday, that took me an hour and a half. The speed limit is 100km/h and I was going no more than 80. At one point, the wind on the road was SO BAD I had dropped down to 60 and put my 4-ways on. I literally prayed the entire way down the 416. I’ve also gotten into this habit of singing a specific church chorus when I’m really freaking out. It calms me, so between praying and singing, I totally made it. Once I was on the 401, it was so much better! Still only drove around 90km/h but I was keeping up with the flow of traffic. It was raining but the wind had calmed down so it was a better drive. What should have taken 4 hours took 6 – and I went straight from that emotionally draining drive right to work for another 6 hours. My boss had organized birthday celebrations for me so I was at work until almost 9:30 for cake and presents.

Tuesday arrived and I still had my rental car. Instead of a 3-day rental, plus an extra rental for Tuesday, I just kept it for 5 days straight. One of the students here had an interview for a university in my hometown so I was asked a month ago if I would drive her. Which is awesome because I got paid to drive to my hometown! It was great. But the roads were forecasted to be horrible. Thankfully they weren’t! When we left in the morning, she thought she had a test at 12:30 and an interview at 5. We arrived about 11:50 and she walked in just in time to have someone cancel their 12:00 interview so she was switched! She had her interview right away from 12-12:30 then right into her test from 12:30-2:15. I took the time and visited one of my friends who had her baby in December and I got to hold the little cutie! We arrived back in town with time for me to do 3 hours at work, but my boss graciously agreed to let me take the rest of the night to myself because I was exhausted.

Write Club has started the voting process so I’m trying to invest some time in that. After the contest is over, I can let you know if I made it into the bouts or how far I got. But definitely check it out and vote – every bout that you vote on gets your name entered into a draw for some gift cards. What’s to lose?

I woke up this morning to the bill for my rental car, they only charged me for 4 full days, not 5, which is AMAZING! And now life goes back to normal, or as much as it can – I have a job interview for a summer placement on Saturday so positive vibes people!