I want to try to split this up for ease of reading. And getting that giant picture of me off the main page! I tried to re-size it, but apparently the interwebz are having none of that.
Wednesday
Wednesday began bright and early (before 7 am!!) when I headed into the Medicine Hat railyard to do some training and get as much done as possible before I took off to head back to Calgary at noon. And why did I leave at noon? Even though my job requires me to include my travel time (from home to location or vice versa) in my work hours, taking off halfway through the day seems a little bit excessive for a just over 3 hour drive.
But it was very very necessary because Wednesday was my dad’s retirement party!!! My dad actually worked for the same company as I do and he recently retired after 35 years of service so of course the company had to throw him a party! In his speech, my dad said that when he added it all up he’s had 17 different jobs and we’ve moved 7 times for the railway – we even moved right before my senior year of high school. The party was definitely warranted.
(My dad giving his speech!)
It was at Belgo in downtown Calgary – a restaurant where I have never been before but during the party they walked around with tiny grilled cheese sandwich appies so they are more than in my good books now! I also got a free glass of wine. And my dad gave a very lovely speech where he individually thanked all of his closest friends or mentors and told everyone how proud he was of his family (us!!) who joined him on his years of railway journey. We all almost cried. (And by “we all”, I mean myself and my boss and not the hardcore railroaders.) When the speech was done, my brother Bryan gave him a beer and hugged him and then ran off to his super-foods cooking class, which is why he is not in the below picture.
{Family pic!}
Which may be the most awkward picture known to man. I didn’t realize that only my giant baby brother Kevin was standing behind me so I tried to shrink myself and instead ended up looking like a turtle with some sort of tricep issue. Meanwhile, poor Kevin doesn’t even look like he’s part of the family. Hilarious!
I also got a corsage. The party organizers originally got it for my mom, but she hated it and gave it to me. And I proceeded to wear it through the entire party…
{Me and Kevin and the corsage}
… And afterwards to my theatre company meeting at Moxie’s!
Meetings are always the best when they are late at night and come with wine.
{Our cast parties always devolve into dance parties}
My meetings also come with the bonus of incredible co-workers. These girls are talented, smart and ridiculously funny. We were once running a rehearsal in my basement and the neighbours knocked on the wall because we were laughing so loudly. On Saturday, we are running auditions for our upcoming production of The Winter’s Tale and it is bound to be a great day.
They also didn’t even bat an eye about the fact that I was wearing a corsage. Stellar.
Thursday
Valentine’s Day!
This was a jam-packed day, filled with returning my rental car from the Medicine Hat work trip, receiving a box of chocolates from my dad (he does it every year so “[I’ll] always know that at least one guy is thinking of [me]”) and seeing off my baby brother Kevin at the airport as he headed off to India for 10 days to make a movie. (I know!!! He doesn’t even play it like it’s a big deal, but I know he’s just trying to play it cool. Silly 21 year old boy.) His flight ended up being delayed by a day, so we went through all the excitement again twenty four hours later, but it was still kind of a big thing!
This year I had two valentines. The first was one of my dearest friends from university, Jessica.
{picture of me and Jess feeding each other spinach dip in 2007. as you do?}
Jess is probably one of the smartest people I know – she’s currently in her second year of law school and still has mental energy to see me through my “the world is falling apart at my feet” freakouts. We’ve both been through some life drama lately, so we met at Higher Ground in Kensington for a late afternoon coffee and pseudo-therapy session. Our coffees came with little pink and red sugar hearts sprinkled on the whip cream… adorable!
{Picture of my coffee}
After that I was off for a date with the true love of my life… my mama! We had a leisurely dinner at Milestones – shocking on Valentine’s Day, I know, but apparently all you need to do is make reservations and show up at 5:45 pm and all goes well – and then saw The Kite Runner at Theatre Calgary. It was directed by one of my profs from university but we would have seen it anyway, since we are subscription holders to both Theatre Calgary and Vertigo Theatre. (Love my theatre!!) I had never seen the film or read the book, so I was definitely the annoying audience member who gasped through the entire show. I plan to read the book now, though, since I love to see how works change when they’re adapted for the stage.
Anyway, needless to say, there was no time for blogging. Only sleep. And chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.
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