Bright Lights in My Nook

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Smelly Danielly

You may have to bare with me and all my photos and stories today.

On Thursday night Alicia, Claudia, and I went to Bright Nights at Stanley Park. Finally a planned Christmas activity that actually happened! Yay!

We headed out right after work and made our way down to the giant light display.

Claudia was being shy.

Someone made a friend!

The lights on all the trees were very cool, and most of the displays were fun and brought back childhood memories. Some of the displays were a little on the ghetto side, but I’m sure who ever organizes it does the best they can with the money they have. As an outsider it seems like it would be easy to put together some simple and inexpensive displays that are a little less on the ghetto side, but then that’s me, an outsider.

I love Yukon Cornelius.

Ah…Jesus, there you are!

They are playing instruments to the music.

And now, for something offensive.

Claudia thinks her jacket looks like a vagina. Yes, you heard me.

She is being birthed by a giant black vagina.

That is way too graphic for my liking.

Now, onto something more wholesome.

We bought tickets for 6:30, which meant we could start to line up between 6:30 & 7. I thought that meant we had to wait in line for half an hour and that we would catch the train at 7. Turns out that’s not the case at all. You can start lining up at 6:30 and then the train comes every 10 minutes or so. We were lined up, rode the train, and we off all before 7! Perfect timing for us!

Everything was well organized and quite efficient!

Alicia is a loser cause she gets to sit all by herself.

Claudia and I are the snobs.

The ‘live’ bear was probably one of the best parts of the train ride.

Riding over the lake was amazing.

A tribute to Bob & Doug McKenzie. Priceless. The sad part was that half the people on the train didn’t know who they were. It is a part of our Canadian history! We need to bring up our kids with the knowledge of the amazing Bob & Doug.

Extra bonus points for who ever it was who found the Much Music sled and added it to the display. Awesome!

***

After the train we headed down to the West End for dinner at Nook. Claudia had been dying to go there for months, and it seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.

Nook is this little restaurant tucked away, literally, in a nook. The atmosphere is really great and reminds me of a NY Diner we frequented the week we were there. They don’t take reservations so we had to put our name down and wait about half an hour, but we walked around the West End and quickly killed the time.

Pizza was our meal of choice. Alicia went for the Ricotta Pizza with Veggies, and Claudia and I went for the Prosciutto Pizza.

It was probably one of the best pizzas I have ever had, but the price of it totally hurt my soul. $17 for a pizza I could have bought in Italy for 6 euro! My relatives are rolling over in their graves right now. It was over priced (in my humble Italian opinion) for what it was, because honestly, if I went and bought all of those ingredients (arugula, prosciutto & garlic) it would have cost me a lot less. I feel kind of bad for saying that, but I am totally jaded after eating pizza in the Mother Land for a month.

The ingredient that sent this particular pizza over the top was roasted garlic. Oh my lanta, how have a I never roasted garlic and then thrown it on a pizza before?! If you ever get the chance to do this, I suggest you do. Roasted Garlic makes everything in life 100 times better.

I am totally torn over my love of this pizza and my hate for the price.

The other items on the menu were a little more reasonably priced. The pasta dishes were huge and the antipasti looked amazing. I wouldn’t hesitate going back and trying the other things on the menu.

It was quite a fun night with my girlies. I’m so glad I finally got to do something Christmasy!

Santa is Drunk…AGAIN

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Smelly Danielly

Saturday night was the night of the dueling Christmas Parties. Almost every year the ‘Santoli’ party at Darios Parents house and the Gift Exchange party at Chad’s friends house are on the same night. So we go for dinner and visit ‘Santa’ at the Santoli party and then get crazy and open gifts at the exchange party.

Chad wants to get a long distance plan so that we can phone Pat at random times of the day when we are all together and harass him. We phoned him after dinner so that Dario and him could sing ‘I Am Cow’ together. The phone was on a delay, so the singing was not very good. Sorry guys!

Also, please note Mauros reaction to his brothers ridiculousness!

Remember that post where Pat was in town and they drank all that Grappa with raspberries in it? Well there was still some leftover so Dario drank the rest and then decided to make raspberry puree by shaking the bottle like a crazy person. His expression says it all.

Umm…gross!?

This guys is insane. I think I’ve already mentioned that several times before. I bet and lost a chocolate bar on that. Stupid bet on my part, he would have done it for free.

Oh look! Drunk Santa has arrived!

When we were kids (this party has been happening every year for 19 years!) the thought of Santa coming to our dinner party to hand out gifts was amazing. But of course, you grow up and you realize that Santa isn’t real and it becomes less of an exciting thing for you. That is, until you become the age where parents and ‘kids’ get drunk together and Santa gets wasted on Wine and then talks like a girl to hide his real voice. Sweet Jesus, this is something everyone needs to experience.

When we were young Santa would be played by a different person each year, usually one of Dario’s cousins. The best part was trying to figure out which cousin it was. The past few years Dario’s Dad has dressed up as Santa which is just 100 times MORE priceless.

At this party, you stop getting presents from Santa when you graduate from High School. There are still a couple of youngins who are of present age so we have at least a few more years of Drunk Santa adventures.

Speaking of Drunk Santa, Ms. Clause also thought it was about time she got wasted on White Wine. She then proceeded to yell my name from the other end of the table and then run up and hug/crush/harass me. I have no idea why I got to be the special one.

Oh family events. The older you get, the more amusing they get!

You and I Were Mint To Be

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Smelly Danielly

I get ideas in my head and then I need to see them happen.

I was talking to Shazzi last week about Hot Chocolate. She gave me the brilliant idea of adding Mint Baileys to it. I know it’s not a novel idea, but I honestly never even thought about doing it.

I don’t really do alcohol unless it is in a drink and I can barely taste it, but then again, 95% of the female population would probably agree with me.

I also don’t do alcohol that is cream based because I have a stomach that likes to rage when cream/milk is introduced to it at the same time as other liquids. You know those people who can consume milk AND orange juice at the same time for breakfast? If I did that, I would puke, everywhere. I’ve tried. Trust me, it doesn’t work.

Therefore, I have always feared the Baileys and the Kahluas of the world.

But, my love of all things MINT told me to ‘press on’, so I mentioned my want of Mint Baileys to the husband, and with in a matter of hours it was on my kitchen counter waiting for me.

I honestly don’t remember ever trying Baileys before. I poured myself a little as a pre-dinner ‘snack’ and it was absolutely delightful!

Friday night our plans got ruined because someone *cough* CHAD *cough* saw three drops of rain on his windshield and declared our adventure to Van Dusen Gardens for lights and flowers a ‘Rain Out’ and cancelled the event. Note to self, never let Chad decided if an event is rained out or not. He is a pansy when it comes to the out doors.

Instead we packed 3 bags full of nick knacks, snacks, and audio visual equipment, and headed out to Surrey to watch the last three episodes of Mad Men. I honestly don’t know why we brought so much stuff with us.

The evening was good. Ryan made us Hot Chocolate and Baileys with an avalanche of tiny marshmallows. It was the most delightful winter amazingness I have ever had in a cup.

Elise and I felt the need to Facebook everything at the exact same time which was priceless really. The Ryan tried to convince Chad to give him the rights to this computer business he once ran full time and is now only partially participating in. Oh drunk conversations that seem so important and realistic at 2am.

If I could some how sneak the Baileys into the office, 3pm ‘Hot Chocolates’ would become mandatory.

Halls in my Mouf

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Smelly Danielly

Don’t mind me as I ramble…

It seems that this past weekend and it’s late nights has now trained me to not want to go to sleep before 11:30. This is very unusual. What is more unusual is that I am neither a Morning person or a Night person. I’m kind of ‘In the Middle’ person. I can’t handle early mornings and I can’t handle late nights. Am I just the pickiest person ever when it comes to being awake?

I called my Doctor yesterday morning to make an appointment to get my Thyroid Pills. This year has been kind of annoying with how many times I’ve had my prescription changed on me and how many times I’ve had to go for blood tests, but I guess in all reality they are just trying to make sure I’m on the right path. I have a bad habit of waiting until the last minute to get my prescription filled. I always think I have way more pills left then I actually do. This time I thought I would be proactive about it. I have 48 days of pills left, but when, you may ask, is the next time I can see my Doctor? Oh, he is booking for Feb 10th…Excuse me!? Oh but wait, they are having an open clinic next Monday which I can go to try and get my life saving prescription filled. I just have to wait in a room for hours on end until they see me. You know how clinics are, TOTAL DISASTERS. I do not have a lot of faith in this working out for me :S

Every single time I touch my hair, it falls out. Not in clumps, but in strands. Am I shedding for the Winter season!? I get that 30 hairs fall out of your head every day, but if I actually counted the number of hairs that fall out, it would be way more then 30. I know I am over reacting, but it is HAIR and I am a GIRL and I don’t like the thought of LOSING it.

I woke up this morning with a horrible sore throat. I haven’t had a sore throat like this in years. I was, however, smart enough to grab my Oil of Oregano and down some. It’s weird how something you use to season your food (to make it taste better) can taste so absolutely horrible when you take it as concentrated oil. It worked for a good two hours, but now I am back in pain. Must find juice to drown out the flavour.

95% of my Holiday Adventure Plans have been canceled thus far. I am not a happy camper! I tried to organize everything this season so that I would be able to enjoy all that this city has to offer, but my efforts have been fruitless. Friday night is on the cusp of being canceled and I am counting on Chad to save it.

Tonight I get to decorate the Family Christmas tree. NOTHING will ruin it, you hear!

Smoke Inhalation

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Smelly Danielly

As a closing for the week (or the start of a new one), I leave you with this…

Last Friday Elise, her sister Sarah Rose, and I went down town shopping. After our adventures we sky train ride home where we were joined by the husbands.

I brought up a conversation Alicia and I had been having earlier in the week.

Alicia and Adam play this game where one of them will yell FIRE and then fall to the ground. It is then the other persons responsibility to get them out of the room safely (as if they were in a real fire and were suffering from smoke inhalation and were unable to move). Really it is just an excuse to see if your partern will screw you over and leave you there or actually attempt to save you.

Now, clearly this is in the guys favor. I don’t know about you, but Chad is clearly double my size. If I were to be suffering from smoke inhalation then all he would have to do is pick me up and walk out of the room, or as Marianne Dashwood once said ‘He lifted me as if I weighed no more then a dried leaf”, because it is true. I, on the other hand, would probably die from attempting to move Chads stone like body.

But, after discussing this with Alicia I formed a strategy and knew I had to give it a try. My plan, the Fireman’s Drag. I figured if I could do that, then no matter how heavy he was, I would be able to drag him out. HA, good luck Danielle.

What I forgot to realize is that Chad is top heavy. All of his weight rests in his arms, chest, and that giant head of his. He legs look like chicken legs in comparison to the rest of his body.

So, there he was, laid out on the floor. I attempted to lift his shoulders but I could not even move them an inch. It was ridiculous. No matter what I did I could not get any part of my body under his damn shoulders (just think about how much pulled pork those shoulders would make!).

Great, now Chad was going to die of smoke inhalation all because he is too heavy up top. I could NOT let this happen. I quickly formulated a new plan and realized that I may as well drag him from the other end, since his legs weigh nothing.

GENIUS!

While it was still difficult, I was able to successfully drag him to the door way. Now, keep in mind we have hardwood floors, so they are easy to slide on. I’m not sure how well I would do on carpet (or how much of a rug burn I would give him).

So, when Ryan and Elise were over on Friday we handed down the challenge to them.

Initially, Elise ran out the door leaving Ryan to fend for himself, but we called her back and FORCED her to save him. Her first attempt at this was to push him across the floor.

…

Chad and I looked at her like she was insane. She kept slipping and sliding everywhere and Ryan basically stayed in the same position. Clearly NOT effective. Finally I grabbed on of his legs, spun him around and SHOWED Elise how to drag him across the floor.

OMG I WAS HYSTERICAL.

I think it is safe to say, that unless we were able to obtain some sort of miracle strength in the moment of a disaster, our husbands would most likely die from smoke inhalation. I mean, there really is no way to win, because if we were actually big enough, and strong enough to carry them, we would probably resemble Chyna from the WWF and then they wouldn’t want to be with us anyways.