I think it’s funny when I click on my blog and see that I’ve had, like, 50 hits in a day.  I click on the breakdown and see who’s reading and wonder why they don’t comment – Sarah K (cause I know you’ll comment), any idea why?

What another whirlwind weekend here in the busy McMaster household! It’s been mental! I thought the few weeks before Rowan arriving would be seriously slow and I’d be cursing time to move faster.  It’s almost been the oppositve -I almost ran out of preparation time to get things done ahead of him getting here tomorrow!

If anything these last few weeks have taught me is that I’m far from finished here.  With this SLB merger, there’s a lot of fear in the air.  A lot of people are being let go and there’s uncertainty all around.  If you’d asked me before Christmas whether Col losing his job would have been such a bad thing, I’d have said ‘No way, I get to go home’.  However, these last few months have changed that, I’ve started to love it out here and in fact, have started to view this place as home.

Like I said to Col last night over dinner, it’s such a weird transition for me.  I’ve finally got past my settling in phase and am really starting to enjoy being given this opportunity to live my dream.  It’s an odd feeling I can tell you!

As crazy as it sounds, Col and I move Valentines day every year.  With Christmas, his birthday being at the end of January and mine being the day before the actual Valentines day and nothing to celebrate from February until our wedding anniversary in October.  We’ve moved it to July 14th since we got together.  Everything’s cheaper, it’s much easier to get reservations at restaurants and the sentiment of the day isn’t lost.

This year, my brother arrives on the 14th, so, Col (being the super romantic guy he is – which is something not many people know about him), booked a surprise meal for us on Friday night.

Not just any old meal, but in a place called Perry’s Steakhouse – somewhere I’ve only heard stories about.  I’d heard that it was seriously expensive but the best feed in town and worth every penny!

The restaurant itself is phenomenal, you walk in and are seated at a table in a subsection of the restaurant.  Like a little pocket of tables, a mini-restaurant kind of, with just a few tables.

Each table has it’s own waiter/waitress, the bread they bring you is the best bread we’ve found here – and I think it’s safe to say the best we’ve had even at home.  It’s proper crusty, with proper butter and it’s hot and fresh.

Our waitress Danielle asked me if I’d like something to drink, not being a wine drinker, I asked her if they had a strawberry daquiri and she said they’d no strawberry and would I like something else.

I asked her what she had and she suggested a Cucumber and Blueberry Martini which, although it sounded slightly odd, I agreed to.  It was delicious!

Food-wise, my decision was easy and quick.  I’ve never seen lamb on a menu here, I’ve missed lamb and when we eventually do find it to buy for ourselves it’s pretty expensive.  I snagged some lamb chops, Colin got a 3 peppercorn NY Strip and our sides were layonnaise potatoes and broccolini.  I can’t recommend this place highly enough.  It was delicious!

Every single bite, the food was cooked exactly how we ordered it, the service was fantastic and the atmosphere made us feel like we were anywhere but a fine dining place (I expected a very snooty, hoity toity atmosphere).

Having read reviews about the desserts we decided, since it was a special occasion that we’d order one.  I’m glad we only ordered one as it was HUGE!

We ordered Bananas Foster, which came with its very own flambe chef and was prepared tableside.

Our flambe chef talked us through the ingredients, the cooking process and even told me when the prime moment I’d want to take a picture would be.  He cooked the bananas a little and mixed in some nutmeg, cinnamon, butter, brown sugar into a kind of caramel, added some rum and flambed. They were served with a huge ball of home made vanilla ice cream.

It was the best meal I’ve ever eaten and it was totally worth every bite!

It did render me unable to move for a few hours after but it was totally delicious!

Saturday morning I got up around 9 and just as I was fixing myself a drink it occurred to me that we were supposed to be going to the Bridal Show that morning.  I bolted upstairs and woke Col and we both got ready in a bit of a rush.

We went to the Bridal show last year and the place was PACKED, so we wanted to get in early and get out early as it took up most of a day last year.

This time, it took just over an hour, we entered pretty much every competition for free travel/hotel stays (and an extra competition here and there!), we picked up a few sets of the infamous sheets that we got last year (and have regretted not buying more of, since!), we got a great deal on some dance lessons (2 private lessons and 2 group lessons for only $10) and we got some information on our mens wear and videographer in case we decide that we want to immortalise the ceremony on camera!

After lunch and on our way home, Col decided that we’d pull in to a car dealership to take a look around the forecourt and see what kinds of cars were ‘out there’ for us to choose from.  The lot was MASSIVE (and hot) but we had a short dander and then went home for an hour or two before our evening gathering.

That night, we headed out to Richmond to visit our friends Cindy and Tim and the whole gang was there! Ann and Paul, Lori and David, Janet and Paul, Emily and Luke and two people we’d not met who came, Becky and Michael.  It was fun!

Cindy and Tim had prepared some gorgeous meatballs, Janet had brought a lovely Ceasar salad and after we’d all eaten we piled in to the pool where we all just hung out for most of the evening.  It was well after midnight by the time we got home, being the last to leave and spending the last hour or so talking to Cindy and Tim about how Col and I met and the troubles back home in Ireland.

It was such good fun, I love the Ribauls, they’re getting to be like family to me and I know that no matter where we end up in the world that I’ll always keep in touch with them.  They’re just ‘good people’ and I can talk to both of them about anything and everything – and often do.  This whole experience has brought some fantastic friends into my life and I’m so honoured to have met such wonderful people.

Sunday morning I called my daddy to wish him a Happy Birthday and got a quick chat with a very terrified Rowan.  His trip is coming up fast and he’s really unsure of himself, especially with the connecting on his own in Toronto.  After our call to home, we watched most of the Silverstone Grand Prix before heading out to Pearland where the McGuigans were throwing a World Cup party.  Adrian and Soo, Mariano and Katherine, Colin and Amee, us, the McGuigans and a couple of the McGuigans friends made up the party.  The men all sat in their home theatre room while the ladies sat in the living room chatting and nibbling on snacks.

Chris has made a delicious curry for all of us to eat (I’ve not found good curry since moving here so I was alllllllllll over that!) and Geraldine had made a shepherds pie (which Col tells me was delicious but I was too distracted by the curry!), then Geraldine produced some hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert – so, although the game didn’t go the way we’d have liked it to, there was plenty of comfort food to make us feel better! LOL!  Col didn’t win in the poker, but it was great craic and lots of fun!

Keeping up with the busy nature of the weekend, Monday wasn’t a quiet one either.  We were up until after 1.30am Monday morning watching Big Brother UK (our not so secret guilty pleasure) and, as a result, I slept through the 7am water aerobics class.

 Around 10am Ann came and picked me up and we headed in to the city to the Angelika Theatre where we went to see, ‘The Girl who played with Fire’.

It’s based on a trilogy of books I fell in love with towards the end of last year and although I’ve not yet seen the first movie, I just had to go and see it on the big screen.

The movie was just over 2 hours long, it’s in Swedish (with English subtitles) and is pretty graphic covering a lot of issues.  I really enjoyed it though and thought it was very well done.  On the way in to the movie I wondered why it wasn’t done in America cause it could have been made a hit overnight.  However when I came out I was actually glad that it hadn’t been ‘Hollywood-ised’ and that it was done in the way it has been.

When I got home, Col called and told me he was out test driving a car and he’d be by the house to take me for a spin in it  When he got here, the dealership bloke (an English guy funnily enough) told me to take it for a spin so we went for a quick jaunt to try her out.  There’s a few issues with her though so we need to look in to it a little before we decide.  It’s a good car at a good price and Col seems to like it which is the main thing given that it’ll be his car – but like I say, we’ll see.

My summer of socks is going well so far, I’ve just started my 3rd pair.

I can’t post pictures though because they’re all for Christmas presents and the recipients will see them, but this is a picture my friend Izzy sent me of her wearing the pair I made for her for her birthday 🙂

Last night was another late one! After a yummy steak dinner, I got back in to the pool for the first time in 10 days – due to thunderstorms and bad weather.  It was tough! The instructor Gloria really put us through our paces.  I am the only person in the deep end in the evening classes so it’s a little alienating but with the deep end being that much more difficult than the shallow end I’m not giving it up just so I can stand on the bottom of the pool and be surrounded by people!

After water aerobics Col and I cleaned the upstairs of the house for 2 solid hours.  Again, it was tough going but we felt pretty good about the house by the end of it.  I’ve just a few things to do around the downstairs tonight and the house will be ready for the coffee morning and Rowan’s arrival tomorrow.

Col has asked a local mechanics garage to take a look at the car we test drove yesterday and put her through her paces to see what ailments she has to get fixed.  He seems psyched about it so I have my fingers crossed for him.  He had a bumpy week last week, he pulled a muscle at footie on Wednesday night leaving him a little hobble-tastic on Thursday when he went in to work.  Thursday didn’t help because he got into a small altercation at work which resulted in him being pinned into a car by the automatic security gate at his office and left him sporting a rather sore and freaking huge (and pretty gross) bruise on the back of his other leg – which has gotten a lot better since, but is still all purple and funky colours.  So he suffered this weekend with aches and pains.  I just hope this week is a little better for him!