weekend wonderful

You guys! First of all, I had a great weekend. But more on that later, because I have exciting news: look at my face!! Remember that one time when I was like, "oh boo-hoo I don't look appropriately nerdy because I don't have awesomely enormous nerdy glasses to wear?" Well, now I do! And they only set me back a sweet six dollars and eighty cents (Canadian! ... which, let's face it, isn't a deal anymore because the American dollar is in the dumps ... but $6.80 is super-cheap in any currency!)

(hat: thrifted; shirt: Marshall's; shorts/belt: Bargain Boutique; shoes: Kohl's; glasses: F21)

I used to be a firm believer that "it's silly to wear glasses unless you need them," and then I realized that was ridiculous. Glasses can be an accessory, just like a hat or a scarf or a necklace or sunglasses, for Pete's sake. That said, I did initially set out to find glasses because I wanted to assist my computer-weary eyes, but now I kind of don't want to swap out the lenses for the real deal (although I suppose an eye exam couldn't hurt). I might buy another pair so I can have one pair that is functional and one that is just fun. :)

What camp are you in? Can glasses just be funky accessories? Or do you have to belong to the elite group of the nearly-blind?

So I mentioned I had a great weekend. Despite the dismal weather forecast, K and I got up early (okay, I got up early and dragged him out of bed) and started driving north. We reached Montreal around 11 o'clock, parked in our favorite parking garage, and went straight for St. Catherine. It had been drizzly on the drive up, but as soon as we pulled into the city the sun came out and the temperatures teetered around perfection. It was glorious!

After some serious shopping, we decided to stroll over to St. Denis/St. Laurent for more shopping and potential eating. It was lovely. We stopped strolling momentarily to listen to a French redhead sing some blues for Les FrancoFolies music festival (and then some guy started rapping and all we heard was the sound of the sidewalk calling for us to start walking...); sat on a park bench and savored our sunny surroundings; popped into an awesome vintage store on St. Denis, Chez Jack, where K picked up some seventies-style shirts and I cursed the fact that I had already emptied my wallet at H&M and F21; and then I took the only photo of the trip:

From there, things got a little dicey. Due to a misunderstanding of intent and K's complete lack of directional acumen, we ended up walking reallllly, realllllly far. I won't bore you with the details, because it all worked out for the best! We ended up having dinner at a quasi-expensive (for us) but sototallyworthit Indian restaurant (Le Taj) on Stanley street, downtown. K got the Chicken Tikka Masala (which he always gets) and said it was quite possibly the best he had ever had. I got the Mattar Paneer, which the waiter recommended over the Vegetables Korma because, he said, he really liked green peas (which I thought was kind of a strange thing to mention liking, since peas are kind of whatever, right? Wrong! He was spot-on--the sweet, firm peas were absolutely the perfect complement to the mouth-wateringly buttery curry and chunks of paneer [which of course I adore because I am a monger of cheese in any form]) and the onion nan. It was bliss. I wouldn't lie to you. Absolute bliss. The only weird thing was that the host/restaurant manager (?) was hovering right around our table the entire time, freaking out about the fact that they couldn't really handle the influx of potential patrons because they already had too many reservations. Other than that it was a delight, and you should definitely go if you're ever in Montreal (and like Indian food).

The next day we slept in and I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. It was (surprisingly) another gloriously perfect sunny day and K wanted to take some photos with his (relatively) new Nikon, so we hit the country roads looking for some falling-down barns. He didn't even make me drive, which was nice :) In fact! I didn't have to drive at all this weekend, and when I started up my car this morning to go to work it didn't even make the weird grinding/growling noise that it usually makes. It was smooth sailing all the way to the office! But that's really neither here nor there, the point is that we had a relaxing little road trip up into the Champlain Islands where we got to hang out by a lake, spy on three families of Canadian geese adrift in an algae-green pond, and explore an abandoned house. Best part of the day?

(K got some really great photos of the cows that I may have to steal)

My appetite for adventure has been temporarily sated.

:)

memorializing montreal

Went for a run in the pouring rain this morning... it was actually kind of nice. For once I welcomed the downpour, because it helped to wash away the smoke from the Quebecois wildfires that hung heavy in the air yesterday. When I woke up in the morning I attributed the smoky smell to the multitude of BBQs that were undoubtably firing up in force in preparation for Memorial Day festivities... but no! K and I had planned to go for a bike ride around the Champlain Islands, but the smoke and haze discouraged us and our plans fell to pieces. Oh well, some other time!

This weekend K and I took a lovely little day trip up to Montreal for some shopping and sightseeing. We walked down St. Catherine and I bought a delightful little dress from H&M (very bad behavior for someone as broke as I am), and then we walked down to the vieux ville for some lunch and looking around. We were being kind of wishy-washy about where we wanted to eat, so when a kind gentleman suckered us into looking at the courtyard terrace of his restaurant we decided to stay (we always get suckered in... the same thing happened when we were aimlessly wandering around the Old North End in Boston last year). It was a good choice:

(my view of the corner, behind K's head)

(image courtesy of MP website)

The restaurant was called Montreal Poutine, so it was only appropriate that we try the famous poutine of Montreal (which I've never had, even living so close to the border for my whole life!). It is deliciously, heart-stoppingly unhealthy, but so worth it--french fries, vegetarian gravy and cheese curds, oh my!

(image stolen from MP website)

It was divine, but next time we have poutine we're definitely getting the kind with peppers and onions on top... it looked so good. The food itself was also good, but a little pricey. We probably wouldn't have been satisfied with the small portions if we hadn't also had the poutine. I wanted the roast chicken, brie, red onion and caramelized pears (sans chicken) but the sandwiches were apparently made in advance and couldn't be altered, so I opted for the three cheese (brie, blue cheese, chevre) sandwich. It was good, but small. K got the smoked meat and mustard sandwich on rye bread and it was adorably miniature but had enough meat on it to feed a hungry alligator (or boyfriend).

We walked around some more, but failed at finding a nice place to sit and have a couple of cocktails. Any Montreal-ites out there? I'd love some recommendations for places to go next time we visit... any excellent live music venues or cocktail lounges? Delicious places to eat with vegetarian options?

All-in-all it was a good day. When we were getting ready to leave we realized we probably should have listened more carefully to the parking garage attendant, because the whole place was completely closed down and locked up. We circled the block several times trying to bust in before realizing that we could, in fact, go in the way we came out... if we pushed the little doorbell-style button by the door to be buzzed in. We can be such idiots sometimes. I blame the fact that we couldn't find a bottle of water in the entire city. How do those Canadians stay hydrated???

Anyway, back to the present/outfit: whenever I wear flats (usually only for the sake of "mixing it up") I immediately regret it and wish I had worn heels.

You know? Just sayin'.

(slip dress: UO; shorts/belt: Bargain Boutique; cardigan: Old Navy; moccasins: Minnetonka; scarf: F21; bracelet: gift from K)

Oh! Also--forgot to mention: K and I went to see SATC2 on Sunday evening and I loved it, of course. He even chuckled a few times. That evening was kind of foiled as well because we went to Monty's Brick Tavern to hear some of the live jazz they advertise as happening on Sunday (4:30-8 pm)... and it was silent in there! Not a sax or a drum set in sight! I was incredibly disappointed, mostly because it just felt wrong to go see the SATC movie without having a cosmopolitan at some point within the same 24 hours. I'm going to have to figure out what went wrong there... because I feel like I've been duped by some seriously false advertising.

Also, not twenty minutes into the movie a crazed looney of a man (I sensed extremely pent-up frustration of some sort) aggressively turned around and told the guy laughing loudly behind him to "Shut the f*ck up!" and stop ruining the movie for everyone. Needless to say, this was not that sort of crowd, and everybody jumped to the defense of the laughing-man, which only angered the looney more. He just kept yelling at the relatively unresponsive laughing-man until his date (that poor, poor woman... I pray they were not seriously involved) got up and dragged him out... but not before he leapt on the laughing man and attempted to punch him in the face.

...

Needless to say, I was horrified, and thanked my lucky stars for my wonderfully obliging boyfriend. I cannot believe some of the people who walk this planet.