If we took a holiday... took some time to celebrate..

Countdown: 27!!! In fact, in 4 weeks from yesterday, I shall be married! YAY!!!!!! :D

Ahem. Anyway.

Thanksgiving has come and gone - "thank" goodness. Also thankfully, no one died this year in Wal-mart during "Black Friday" - the day after Thanksgiving when retailers slash prices and expect to move into profit (hence "black") - probably because no one showed up. Wal-Mart had very low sales on this crucial weekend. They didn't discount their stuff as much as they've done before (maybe to avoid another little old lady being crushed in a stampede towards $19.99 DVD players?) and everyone else undercut them! But apparently now they'll be discounting even more heavily during the rest of the holiday season. FYI, 23% of annual U.S. retail sales come during the last 6 weeks of the year during the hols.

On a more personal note, this Thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for many things - my endlessly fluey health, my struggling career, my crazy family, my bad shoes that give me corns (hey, there are millions out there with no shoes at all!) ... but mostly, I'm thankful for the fact that I actually got to Toronto without any flight delays. Woohoo.

Contrary to fear expressed in previous blog, I got to Toronto much earlier than expected. Since the office closed at 2PM, I decided to leave for the airport early. After all, the flight was at 18:00 hours. So I left at about 14:30, and got to the airport about 15:30. Of course, nothing can go right for too long when it comes to me and airports and when I got to the United counter at Terminal 1, I found out that the flight was "operated" by Air Canada and that I needed to be in Terminal 2. I went over to Terminal 2 and was told that the 18:00 flight to Toronto had been delayed till 19:20 - BUT... the 14:45 had been delayed till 16:00 and if I hurried, I could make it.

So I hurried away and miraculously, when I got to the gate at exactly 16:00 they were just beginning to board. After 10mins in the line at the counter, I had a boarding pass on board the 16:00 flight which really didn't take off until 16:50 due to snow/rain/de-icing issues.

Still, we got to Toronto at 19:10 EST and apparently were late but dammit, I was much earlier than I'd intended to be so YAY for good luck and good sense about leaving for the airport early :D

Of course, my good karma did not last. Everyone in the country was being denied entry into their warm homes, could my fate truly be any different? When we finally got home from the airport (after rain, traffic, and an impromptu grocery trip), The Sister realized she didn't have the key to the house. So off we went to downtown to get the spare from MT. Meanwhile, I needed the loo and a hot meal so needless to say, by the time we made it indoors to the house at a little after 10PM, I was glad to be home!

Overall, Toronto was fun, in a quiet and relaxing way. We ate a lot, played Risk and Seven Seven (super-cool card-game invented by us in the 80's), looked through old pictures of the family, threw a surprise very-early b'day party for The Sister (thank God it's over, I could no longer hold it in my tummy), met some family and watched some movies. Good ol' relaxing fun.

Of course, the minute I came back it was madness again. I landed in Chicago on Sunday evening at 17:10 and in 20mins was with Sarwar and in a mad dash to the outlet mall in far away Aurora (which would shut at 20:00) where Sarwar had a lovely Valentino suit (for the Valima) on hold for my inspection. Thus inspected, it was promptly purchased, as delays should not be made when you're getting sumptuous Italian designer wool suits at 25% the original price.

And now I'm back in the office, bored to the point where I am not doing any work or else I'll have nothing to do tomorrow. Sigh. I'd rather be out shopping - well, not really since its raining and snowing outside and I don't have an umbrella. Oh well.

In other news, Bush is visiting Canada (I see my frequent visits have made it the new trend), and he is the first American president to do so in 10 odd years. Doubt it's going to do much good since the Canucks despise the man, but at least there'll be some fun Bush-bashing in the papers. Despite all the jokes and the rivalry, Canadians have given us maple syrup, probably the wood in your bedframe, your door and staircase, Mike Myers, Alanis Morrissette, Avril Lavigne and Nickelback. And now, they hate Bush. Good on them!

Also, Julia Roberts named her twin kids Hazel and Phinnaeus. Hazel's alright, but Phinnaeus? The kid won't need to go to kindergarten to learn his vowels, they're all in his bloody name. Maybe his nickname will be Phinnu? The name is too antiquated for a baby. Poor kid. He's gonna have a rough time on the playground.

Well, that's it from me, folks. Time to go back to pretending there is work to do, so I can look like I deserve to earn my bread. Toodlez!