Life is a highway

Or at least that's what it felt like this weekend!

I tried to surprise the kids at school on Friday when I picked them up (they normally take the school bus) but that surprise quickly faded when the Principal demanded I have a note to take them with me. We sorted it all out. And it kind of made me mad but I realized they needed to have that measure in place. However, my surprise slowly faded when most of the kids who know who I am ended up walking by me in the hall to the washroom and telling my oldest niece that I was there. So she wasn't so much surprised as she was frustrated that she couldn't leave the classroom to come and get me.

I was here on a stopover to Toronto because I was teaching an Arty Party for Luxe Designs at Bizzy B's in High Park. I love to find new neighbourhoods in Toronto. Part of me secretly wishes I lived in Toronto and I think I would if it wasn't for the high rent and the fact that my heart is in Southwestern Ontario. It was fun to go up to teach though. And the store was just awesome. So much to look at it was like sensory overload. I ended up picking up a couple of new stamps for my Christmas cards. And I also learned some new tricks. I'll be watching for these neat Luminescence paint things in the future now that I know how to use them. I probably could have done some serious damage in the store if I didn't already plop my paycheque down on my student loan.

Then it was dinner with my friend Anu. Anu and I used to work together so we talk daily but it's still fun to hang out with your friend in person. Almost every single one of my friends lives in Toronto so it's hard to pick who I can see and who I can't. I feel kind of bad. I wanted to see all my friends but my trip home had to be right from the store and Anu is on the way. So we met in Mississauga for dinner which turned out to be hilarious.

I did not know that the QEW and the 403 separate. I always thought the 403 turned into the QEW and that was that. Nope. (Somewhere Annette is shaking her head muttering "Cape Cod June 2004" to herself). So here I am in South Mississauga trying to find the restaurant thinking that I just came off the 403. Anu called me and realized what I had done wrong so I had to make the long trek north to the 403 and the restaurant. And to make matters worse, I ended up behind someone who was learning to drive a stick shift. On a major street. In rush hour. Sigh...

Dinner was awesome and we had a few laughs about her old job and my current one. I miss having her on our team because she did such a great job for us and now we're stuck with...well someone not as good. It took forever for the waitress to get back to our table with our cheque and I ended up not getting on the road until an hour later than I had hoped. I hate driving at night and I equally hate driving through construction at night and the trip up the mountain in Hamilton always terrifies me in the dark. I was exhausted when I got home. But still, it was a fun day.

So now I'm just helping my sister can some green tomato relish (she says "mmmm", Elizabeth says "what smells so bad?") and then we're going to hang curtains and then it's back home for me. I hate these weekends where I feel like I've spent the entire weekend in my car but it was worth it. And hey, I should get used to it. Creative Festival is in four weeks!