Anyway, I did have a really great time at home and Brent and I got tons done for the wedding in January. My flight over there wasn’t the best, but at least I had something to look forward to at the end of it!
My first day home I was up early, had a great breakfast, went to the dentist, and ran some errands all before noon! I had made an appointment to go look at bridesmaid dresses at lunch that day, but none of the girls were able to come, so Brent and I went on our own. I tried on about 25 different dresses before we decided on one!
That evening, Brent took me for dinner downtown at a restaurant called Brassaii and then we went to a pretty hilarious show (The Evil Dead) afterwards. 
Unfortunately, my jetlag was catching up to me and I could barely stay awake by the end of it. Brent had also reserved a room for us at the Marriott Hotel on Bloor Street for the night! (As a surprise a few years ago, he brought me to the Marriott at Niagara Falls and I loved it, so he had planned us a mini-getaway this time.) I LOVE the beds there because they are just UNBELIEVABLY comfortable… ! But, too comfortable I guess, because I literally fell asleep 5 minutes after arriving and didn’t wake up till a few minutes before checkout time the next morning! Poor Brent. :( But at least it took care of my jetlag! :)
Thursday morning we had a really great breakfast at the hotel and then headed uptown to meet with our photographer. Things went great with him and we booked him for January 3rd! In the afternoon Brent took me to a really nice place on Avenue Road for a couples massage! The massages were great and we had a great time there.On our way home we stopped by the scrap booking store in the beaches to look for some supplies to make our wedding invitations. They had some amazing stuff there, but not enough stock for us to get them all done.
That evening Dad and Norma took us for a nice dinner at the Hunt Club (where our wedding will be in January).
Friday morning we were supposed to meet with the priest, but he cancelled on us, so we went downtown early to do some more invitation hunting instead. In the afternoon we headed up to Ashley’s with Norma to look into getting a gift registry there. I had never been in there before, but it is REALLY an amazing place. Everything is so nice! Brent and I had a really fun time picking out some nice china and lots of kitchen stuff. It’s too bad we won’t have a place to put it all for so many years. :( 
That evening, Mom took Brent and me back to the Hunt Club to meet with the manager and finalize things. Everything looked pretty good and we are pretty excited about it.Afterwards, Mom brought Brent and me golfing on the course. We only played about 7 holes, but it was pretty fun. Juliann and Georgia came to meet us there when it got dark and we had a really nice BBQ buffet for dinner on the bluffs.
Saturday was my first morning to sleep in and I really needed it. In the afternoon, we went to meet the priest and set everything up with the Church. Nana, Nono, Terry’s family and the McGill guys all arrived that afternoon and we caught up a little before heading down to the Boardwalk Pub for our Engagement Party.
It was a really fun night and I was so happy that so many people were able to come. The time went so fast though and I hardly felt like I got to catch up with anyone (except maybe the McGill swimmers who stayed up with us till past 4 in the morning!). 
Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. Everyone left around noon, so Brent and I headed out as well to go hunting for more invitation supplies. We also managed to drag Jamie to Moores to find the boys some suits for the wedding.
That evening we headed up north to Mom’s cottage in Georgian Bay. Mom, Jamie, Juliann and Georgia were all able to get a couple days off work so they came up as well.Mom gave up her amazing master cabin to Brent and me for the nights we were up there- which was SO nice of her. The cabin looks out over the water and has 4 giant sliding doors looking right onto the lake. There was also an incredible thunderstorm our first night there which was spectacular to watch right from bed!
On Tuesday, Betty and Floyd and Harry and Pauline all were able to drop by the cottage for a visit. It was the day after Harry and Pauline’s 35th anniversary so we had a little cake for them even though they couldn’t stay too long. 
Betty and Floyd stayed till the evening and then took Jules and Georgia back down to the city with them. Mom, Jamie, Brent and I stayed at the cottage for another day and did some more relaxing, sailing and trampoline-ing. 
On Wednesday night, Mom headed back down to the city and Jamie, Brent and I headed to Collingwood to spend a few days at Dad and Norma’s condo.
We had a couple relaxing days there- working on invitations and hanging out by the pool. Dad and Norma came up and met us there and we were able to visit for a little bit before we headed back down to the city on Saturday morning.
On our way back into the city, we made a few little detours and found me some shoes for the wedding. Jamie and Brent were pretty hilarious trying to help me choose, but nonetheless I think I ended up with a pretty good pair and a good deal!
That afternoon Brent and I went down to the beach with our paddleboard and surfski and paddled all the way down to Ashbridges Bay to visit Jules who was lifeguarding at ‘Woodbine 6’. It was fun to be back at the beach and to see some of the people I used to work with.
I hadn’t been paddling with Brent in a few years either, so it was really fun to be back there with him. That evening Mom took us out to Quigley’s for my last dinner at home. :(
I left the next day and it was not a happy time. I thought it was going to get easier as time went on, but it actually just gets harder.On my first flight I had a ‘talker’ beside me so I wasn’t too thrilled about that. But on my second flight I had a mom, a 6 month old baby and a 7 year old girl beside me. I thought it was going to be awful, but the baby actually ended up being great- and having a 7 year old girl lean on me every once and a while was definitely better than having a smelly man doing the same. I also looked after the baby for a while to give the mom a break, so I think she was pretty happy that I was there too. :)
So that’s it and now I’m back in Sydney trying to study- for the next 4 months.
Thanks again to everyone who was able to fit me in while I was home. I miss you guys so much! :) xo (and thanks for reading!)
I met Dad and Norma down in Melbourne for their first weekend in Australia and we had a great time there. It was a really short trip for me- but definitely worth it. Dad, Norma and I all arrived at the hotel around 11am on Saturday morning. After a little breakfast and some down time we walked around downtown and took a tour bus around the city. It really is a beautiful place and much less crowded than Sydney.
We had an early dinner that night (since I knew Dad and Norma would probably start fading around 7pm) along the river and then headed back to the hotel. On Sunday morning we got up early and had a good old McDonald’s breakfast (my first time having McDonalds in Australia!). At around 8am, we were picked up by a tour guide in our own private mini van for a trip down south on the Great Ocean Road.
We went to lots of famous places like Bells beach, the Twelve Apostles, Apollo Bay and the Loch Ard Gorge.
We had a really nice lunch in one of the small towns and also saw lots and lots of birds, kangaroos and koalas along the way. There was lots of driving in between stops- but coincidently, the tour guide had just got married (also to a Brent) and so had lots of advice for me. :)
Dad and Norma did lots of other touring around Sydney while I was at school. They visited Bondi Beach, Coogee Beach, Manly Beach, went to a show at the Opera House, took a tour of the Blue Mountains and walked around the Botanical Gardens. Luckily, the weather was great while they were here too.
We had dinner (twice!) at my new favourite restaurant in Sydney called ‘James Squire Brewery’ down in Darling Harbour. Both times Dad and Norma got kangaroo steaks, which I think they really enjoyed! The oysters there (some covered in cheese) were AMAZING.
I also of course had to take them to my all time favourite dessert place- ‘The Lindtt Café’ for some ice cream afterwards.
I have been pretty busy with school lately - learning lots of endocrinology and trying to review the last year and a half of material. Hospital days have been very busy too.
I’m not sure if this story is appropriate for my blog- but most people find it interesting, so I’m going to tell it anyway. So, last Tuesday at the hospital we saw a man who had come into hospital after having an erection for 4 days. Apparently the doctors did everything they could to help him (a giant needle to suck the blood out of the veins and a lot of drugs), but nothing worked and he eventually ended up getting gangrene and had to get his penis removed. :( I guess there wasn’t much hope for him (after 4 days) since you apparently start having permanent damage after 4 hours- but we were still really sad for him. We didn’t ask, but we are hoping that he has a very understanding and supportive wife.
This past Friday, I met up with my old East York Swim Club swimming friend, Ali Shea and her mom who happened to be visiting Sydney for a holiday. Ali is about 5 years older than me, but we were both breaststrokers, so trained a lot together back in the day. She is now just finished her first year at Ottawa University Medical school, after doing a masters and a PhD while waiting to be accepted. After talking to her, I’m really glad I didn’t take that route into medicine as I would have been still at the beginning of a long (and uncertain) 10 more years of school. I’m ‘stuck’ in Australia for now- but at least I’ve only got about 2.5 years of school left!
This Monday coming I’m having another ‘girls day out’ with Alice and some of her friends. We are going out to have yum cha for lunch and then to see the new ‘Sex and the City’ movie. Afterwards we will probably go have a cosmopolitan somewhere. :) Also, we apparently have to dress up- so I think I will probably dress as Charlotte. (Sorry boys if u have no idea what I’m talking about but Georgia should really appreciate this).
This weekend coming is Stevie and Sharon’s wedding in Boston. I’m really sad to be missing it. Hope everyone has a great time!
Thank you for the flowers, Brent! xo
