Sort of live blogging... written and saved as drafts along the way...

[update from the plane]

As per usual, the start of our trip trying. I'm writing this from the plane as I can't watch a movie or tv because the headphone jack on my seat is jammed with something. That on top of the spectacularly shitty service we have gotten from Air Canada starting last night when we tried to web check-in. As was the case when we were in Regina, the web check-in didn't work. We have ALWAYS used the web check-in as it is super handy and efficient - and you can choose your seats! When I called Air Canada at that time, I was told that the reason we couldn't web check-in was because Air Canada Jazz was now a separate company and that they did not offer web check-in -- which I have reason to believe was a big crappy lie. Last night when I called, they told us we could only web check-in 24 hours before our flight... well, we were within 24 hours of our flight. Then they came up with this crazy story about how it has to be within 24 hours of our connecting flight. Anyway -- that was another big lie. I phoned back and got another agent who couldn't help us, but at least didn't lie and make up stories... he was able to seat us together. It's a good thing I called back as when we got to the airport extra early we were told immediately that our flight was full and that if we hadn't already made arrangements to be seated together there was nothing they could do for us. Just for fun, I tried to check-in again -- within 24 hours of our connecting flight, no dice!

So we are now at the airport, it's 5PM... the time they told us to be at the gate to board... when they announce that the flight will be delayed at least 45 minutes due to a crack in the windshield of the plane. So we are re-routed to a new gate, we get a new plane, we take off 1 hour and 15 minutes late. Now this would have been just a mild annoyance if not for the fact that we have to catch a connecting flight in Zurich. We had a 2 hour window there that is now 45 minutes assuming that nothing else goes wrong... but Neil says we have to get through security again and he's not convinced we are going to make it. We'll let you know what happens next.

PS. Neil almost spilled red wine on my pants. That would have been hilarious (after the fact, not sure I would have laughed at the time) given I was only allowed to pack 2 pairs of pants!

[update from CERN]

Well, we made our connection -- barely -- after taking a shuttle train to our new gate, we barely had time to go to the bathroom before we were boarding for Geneva. Upon arrival in Geneva I instantly realized 2 things about Neil... he can't make a decision to save his life, and he and I are completely incompatible travelers. We are on 2 different universes when it comes to how to approach things. Me, I want to get out there and cram all that I can in a short period of time. Neil, wants to make sure we do as little as possible for as cheaply as possible. Dare I say it, but I'm seriously annoyed on day one. He wanted to take the bus to CERN, then a cab, then he didn't know... while this decision making process was being battled in Neil's head, a part of me snapped. Maybe it was the lack of sleep... as in none the night before on the plane (and I tried to sleep, oh how I tried) but we couldn't make a simple bus/cab trip from the airport. You'd never had known that he'd been here twice before....

I'd like to say that we did something on our first day, having arrived in Geneva at 10:30am. The only remotely interesting thing we did was tour CERN -- and the project Neil is working on is really cool.

My last negative point (because tomorrow cannot be any worse) is this: to save money we decided to stay in the apartment that U of T is renting for colleagues that come to CERN to do research. An apartment that is in France and that has limited transit access -- transit being our sole means of getting around. Imagine a very dirty, old, 3 bedroom apartment that only men have been living in for the last year. Imagine bugs, yes bugs, lots of creepy bugs, crawling on the floor in the bedroom. Imagine a bachelor pad that hasn't been cleaned in months. That is what my husband brought me to. At this point I am too tired to cry. Though I'll give Neil credit -- even he has suggested we move to a hotel for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow can only be better.

The husband and I are off to Europe in three days. I'll admit, I tried really hard not to get too excited about this trip as we have in the past, talked and talked and almost planned and almost gone -- but, something always came up and thwarted plans... well, that and Neil hates planning, sight-seeing, standing in line to get into museums, taking pictures, me taking pictures, people, places, things... (ok, I jest on the last few.) Point is, when he thinks of vacation he doesn't visualize twirling around in the Austrian Alps pretending to be Fraulein Maria while singing the Sound of Music. His idea is sitting on a beach, at an all-inclusive resort, where he can grab a Crown and coke or 4 before 10am. Now, don't get me wrong, I like that kind of trip too -- but I've been aching to see Europe for a long time -- so off we are. I secretly think Neil is going to like this trip too.

Our itinerary is as follows:

2 days Switzerland (Geneva, Lausanne)
4 days Austria (Innsbruck, Schwaz, Salzburg)
4 days Germany (Munich) We're going to the Oktoberfest opening ceremonies!
2 days Switzerland (Zurich, possibly Luzern, back to Geneva)

This weekend was spent running around finalizing plans which resulted in, the argument.

Basically, I had been under the assumption that we'd each be taking a middle sized suitcase (after all we are gone for 2 weeks). Neil, on the other hand, had been dreading the thought that we'd have to go buy travel back packs (No! Not shopping!). Saturday evening, I just casually mentioned that I was worried about packing my suitcase -- I always over pack and the thought of not being able to take my really big suitcase was bothering me. Neil asked, "are you serious??" Yes, I really was. I though we'd each take a suitcase. I have been reading extensively about train travel and no where had I read that suitcases were a) forbidden or b) a bad idea. This sparked a heated debate which resulted in me calling my cousin Samantha to settle the dispute. She sided with Neil and I had a complete meltdown.

Enter today: Neil essentially told me that we HAD to go shopping for travel packs (he never tells me we HAVE to go shopping.) So we went to MEC and got these backpacks:

I suppose they make us look like worldly travelers, but I think they are huge and awkward and yet don't hold nearly enough!!

How would you rather travel?? Like this:

Or like this??

 

Ahh... there is something about a wedding that seems to bring out the worst in people. The week leading up to my cousin's wedding was laden with hot tempers, crabby attitudes and sour expressions. When you come from a family that is casual to a fault -- outfitting yourself for a wedding brings the blood pressure to the breaking point. As my family loves to procrastinate -- we were even putting finishing touches on our outfits the morning of big day.

However, I knew we were in for a good day when I arrived at the family homestead at an extremely early (for them) 9AM and was able to pry my sister from her peaceful slumber without instigating WW400 (we are well past 2 in our family). Not only did we look fantastic, we arrived early -- a double feat! Here's what Neil and I looked like:

The ceremony began. What you need to keep in mind is that my nephew, Harrison, is four years old and extremely fidgety. It is hard to keep him sitting still. Now if you remember, I said my family was early. Here's what he looked like 20 minutes prior to show time:

Here's the bride coming down the aisle -- so pretty!

So, it seems to reason that after sitting patiently for 20 minutes, a 4-year old would think he'd been behaving fantastically, so right on cue, as the bride and groom stood facing each other, church quiet, priest about to speak, he decided that this would be the perfect time to point out he'd been sitting perfectly angelic for a very very long time and that is exactly what he did.

Very loudly, so that everyone, in the church could hear, Mr. Harry asked, "Is it over yet?"

Everyone, bride and groom included, laughed.

Now, Mr. Harry is a smart little lad. Had that been the end of it we'd have all thought, 'aww that kid is really cute.' However, recognizing that we'd granted him attention and enjoyed it (we laughed didn't we??) he wanted more attention. So, about 5 minutes later, after ceremony the had begun, the little shit, farts -- loudly. I was sitting in the pew ahead of him and found myself feeling bad for my sister as there was nothing she could have done. Worse still, about a minute later, I could hear my sister speaking quietly to Harry, I imagine it was something to the effect of, 'honey, it's very very rude to fart in church,' when Harry replies quite loudly, "but mom, I wanted to smell it!"

Oh. dear.

Now I felt a weird combination of feelings: horror, for my sister and the bride (it will probably be forever heard on their wedding video), unbelievable mirth because, come on, it was freaking hilarious -- aww from the mouths of babes (and in this case the behind of babes!). I felt trapped in the giggle loop (for those of you who watch BBC's coupling) When you think of or hear something extremely funny in a situation where it would be highly inappropriate to laugh -- the giggle loop occurs when you overcome the desire to laugh and it comes back stronger moments later, hence repeats in a loop.

Somehow, we managed to get through the rest of the ceremony without anymore mishaps. Here's the bride and groom with their wedding party after the ceremony:

Now doesn't everyone looks nice?? (though if I'm being honest I'd say that the brown suits the guys were wearing should be sent back to the 70's -- but hey, that's just me being my catty self.)

Now after the wedding, but before the reception -- my family kicked it into retarded mode. As we were all busy primping for the day in the morning AND on time for the ceremony, it came to our realization at this time that we were STARVING! So we decided to go to McDonald's and order food. I suggested ordering a large number of Bacon Cheeseburgers as they are small, delicious and only $1.39. When we calculated the number we'd need to feed the masses back at the house, however, no one wanted to place the order. Tim came through though and I still find listening to him order this massive order hilarious:

Now it may seem like we are crazy to order 12 cheeseburgers (and I'll admit I was shaking with laughter as Tim ordered this....) Truth be told, however, we were informed at the drive thru window that the guy couldn't understand why we were laughing about 12 cheeseburgers. So I asked him what he'd find shocking and he said 30 so I guess we had a ways to go to stand out.

So all in all, Shannon's wedding will go down in history for "the fart" and for ordering 12 cheeseburgers. Oh and for my Auntie Heather oozing happiness (partially due to white wine - though I'm sure she was happy for Shannon too) and proceeding to tell us repeatedly how much she loved us!

Guess what, Auntie Heather, "we love you too." Seriously!

To see pictures from the ceremony click here .

To see pictures from the reception click here .

Last Saturday turned out to be a crazy day. To be honest, it all started Friday night.

Friday:
Friday was a plum crazy day. I spent the day with my mom and sister running around town like chickens with our heads cut off. We were trying to get items that I needed for "shower" games; games were my responsibility for my cousin's wedding shower. We finally got back to my mom's at 10:30PM after an exhausting 2.5 hour grocery shopping stint at Superstore -- don't even get me started on how it can take anyone that long to grocery shop -- it's a sore point with me and I've realized I'm a different type of shopper than other members of my family... names are really not necessary.... So we got home and a series of events unfolded:

• My brother ran downstairs towards the laundry room with a bottle of liquid Fleecy fabric softener, proceeded to trip down our basement stairs (impressive really that he wasn't hurt), Fleecy flew through the air and hit the side wall of the stairwell, bottle broke open and liquid Fleecy flew through the air covering walls, stairs, floor. Let's just say that the verdict is still out on whether liquid Fleecy can be removed from carpet and that I've learned that you can have too "fresh" a smell.
• At the same time, my sister is unloading the dishwasher and proceeds to break a Pyrex cooking dish -- glass flies everywhere.
• My mother starts yelling at my sister because she had dressed her son in pj's that are too big for him (sleeves and pant legs are way too long)... my sister in a huff proceeds towards her son in the hallway where she steps on his long pant legs, effectively tripping him, he goes flying (as far as he can with pinned pant legs) and proceeds to face plant on the floor HARD and starts screaming...

I was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table taking in all of these events. GAWD! Glad to be home. That said, it was now 11PM and we had a shower card to design (because we don't do things the easy way, like shop at Hallmark). Tess and I had to create 3 shower games and we had to make a Penis cake for Shannon's wedding stagette the next day.

What you need to know about this picture is that
both my cousin and her finance are red heads.

Enter Saturday:
Saturday night we went to the Rider Game. Oh, what a game it was. We were sitting on the 45 yard line under the overhang and this turned out to be the best possible place to be sitting. It was storming. Rain, thunder, lightening and a really good football game! It could only get better when the power goes out at Taylor Field, right? YES! Especially when you are dry! Here's a few pictures and a short video clip to give you an idea of what the night looked like.

This is the view from our seats.

This is how hard the rain was coming down...

Adblock

Later that night:
The game delay took about an extra hour - so I rushed home to meet my sister and pick up the cake and then we raced to my cousin's stagette. We stayed only long enough to deliver her presents as it was so late... She seemed to really enjoy her gifts.

Onto Sunday:
The wedding shower was a very nice affair -- English Garden theme. The games went well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I think several members of the family felt immense relief that it went well and was over. I was also happy because I could relax -- it was a busy weekend!

Here's Shannon with a mouth full of gum:

guess she doesn't know Jason very well, after all...

I love shower games
They are EVIL!!

Here's the bride-to-be with her mom, grandma & sister

Finally, we are at Day 3 -- by far, the most solid line-up:

6:00pm - 6:45pm - CUFF THE DUKE
My favourite of the night. I totally became a Cuff the Duke mega-fan after seeing them live. FANTASTIC!! I saw a comment made about them on the web that went like this, 'You are either a Cuff the Duke fan or just haven't heard of them....' So true! I give them a hearty Most-Special-K stamp of approval. If you are one of the 'just haven't heard of thems', get you butt in gear and check them out.

7:00pm - 7:45pm - AMY MILLAN
I saw Amy Millan open for Ron Sexsmith in May. Within the acoustically sound Massey Hall, she was fabulous. However, she sounded a touch muted/fuzzy here and though it was good, I wouldn't say she was great.

8:00pm - 8:45pm - RACHEL VAN ZANTEN
Fresh new talent!! This lady can wail on the guitar!! My brother Tim thought she was the best of the night!

9:00pm - 9:45pm - BLACK UMFOLOSI
This was a world renowned acapella troupe from Zimbabwe. They were very good and the crowd seemed to love them. I thought they were out of place in a "folk" line-up. Neil and I went to the Beer Gardens during their set... enough said, I think.

10:00pm - 11:30pm - BLUE RODEO
Blue Rodeo needs no introduction -- I've seen the 4-5 times and they are always solid. I thought the sound wasn't the greatest for the first few songs... but it got better as the show went on. Best song of the night was my absolute favourite -- Lost Together, which I didn't record.

11:30pm - 11:45pm - FESTIVAL FINALE
Chills and I mean CHILLS went up my spine when all the performers from the weekend joined Blue Rodeo on stage for the last few songs. What a fabulous way to end a folk festival -- with a Canadian Folk Classic -- enjoy!