Moving Time again...

I'm sitting at our dining table watching movers take out box after box (and furniture too.. I'm running out of chairs to move to!) and am getting sentimental about leaving the condo. Vineet wonders why I'm getting sentimental when I've only been living here for 9 months and he's had this place for 4 years and is just happy to move on!

Well, first of all, I get sentimental whenever I leave places I've lived in no matter how short or long. (I was hugging the post of the bunk bed I used to stay at in the condo in front of La Salle during my last year of college!) And what he doesn't realize is that in total I've spent more time in this condo during my bum months after moving in Canada,

Even Joey is feeling a bit out of sorts and whimpering.. cause of course he doesn't understand what's going on.

But then again.. I'm also getting excited! In about 2 hours, we'll be at the new house. We hope to get settled in ths evening (the movers are unpacking till 9pm and then we're on our own!) and finish up on Friday afternoon so that we can enjoy the long weekend ahead! =)

Here's some photos from the brochure of the new house we're moving to at the Beaches!!

Gay Pride Parade 2007!

The downtown core streets shut down for the Gay Pride Parade festivities! We initially went down to the Bay & Gerrard intersection but there was already a huge crowd and I couldn't see a thing (being the tall person that I am...). We were about to give up but decided to give the Yonge & Gerrard intersection a try. We were in luck cause they kept the intersection open for the floats to park at the end of the parade so we got a great view! Here are some of the pics!

What a Week!

The past week flew by so fast cause there were so many things going on.

First, the week was significantly busier given that I started working again! On top of that, we bought a house! That would pretty much have kept our days and nights occupied but we also had to keep prior commitments on Tuesday night to watch Russell Peters (!) and then on Thursday night to play Ultimate Frisbee.

And this weekend, we didn't let up... Saturday was spent at Canada's Wonderland! Then on Sunday we watched the Gay Pride Parade and then hopped on a ferry to spend the rest of the day at Centre Island.

Now, am just taking a breather, having breakfast before I head off to work and start another week. Will definitely post more about the house, how fun the Russell Peters show was, the funnel cake at Canada's wonderland and pics from the Parade!!

Visual DNA.

Saw this on Sumeet's blog, who saw it on Nitin's.. who knows where Nitin found it? =) Apparently, this is my visual DNA... cool exercise though =)

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Wedding Pics!

This is my first blog entry as Mrs. Leila C. Mehra =) So first of all, thank you to everyone who made it to our wedding! It really made it uber-special for us having everyone there. Thanks for taking the time to come and join the event-filled (literally!) weekend.

Our "official" wedding pics aren't in yet but thank God for friends we're seeing pics already for immediate gratification. These ones are by Vic Icasas - and when Vineet saw them he was asking me, "Why did we hire a professional photographer again?!?" =) Hehe. I have been looking at them over and over and over again the past few days so I thought I'd post them here to share.

Again, thanks to those who came and to those who sent their best wishes... THANK YOU!

Niagara Falls with my Fam!

First installment in the arrival of the Castañeda family with my mom, Ate Diane and her family (Andy, Andrea and Sophia) coming in on the evening of May 17th. Vineet wasn't here when they arrived but he came back on the 20th and we decided to take advantage of the Victoria Day holiday on May 21. So we rented a van and made a day trip to Niagara Falls!

P.S. Joey's a big hit with Andrea & Sophia & my mom!!!

Did you see the AI Final?

.. I just watched my recording of American Idol. I'm so sleepy but I just had to say.. that final song choice was soooo pro-Jordin and so not meant for Blake. Oh well. I'd like her if she didn't stop making those heart signs on her chest.

The Condo is Sold!

The condo's sold!!!! We just put it on the market last Wed afternoon and held off on offers till Tuesday night. We got SEVEN registered offers, which is quite a lot for a condo! And it allowed us to get an offer higher than list price with ZERO conditions and we've already got the certified cheque in hand.
It was quite an experience going through the offer process... I didn't think it was going to be as intense as it was! I had just come back from a walk with Joey thinking it was going to be a one hour thing. It turned out to be a 3.5 hour process! I was sad to see the faces of agents when their offer had been rejected in the later rounds, and sad to think of some of the potential buyers I had gotten to meet... but it was great talking to the final buyer. He seemed really nice and his wife / girlfriend (not sure) was also nice. She loved Joey so much that I am making a mental note to keep Joey out of the condo when they come for their "access visits" to measure, etc. She might take him!!! =) hehe.
This experience though was a great orientation into a multiple offer scenario - in case we end up in the same situation with us being on the buy side. So will still keep on praying everything works out!

The Condo's on Sale!

The condo went up for sale last Wed afternoon. So far, there have been 22 viewings with the agents and we're holding on offers till tomorrow. Hope everything goes well!
Here are some of the pictures of the condo that were posted on the brochures and online sites:

Betty turns 1 year old!

Betty has had a tough year. She has survived a nasty fall which required surgery. She had to have a heart replacement. And she had to move all the way across the globe and get used to a new home. But she's still here with her dents and scratches that "add character". I couldn't imagine life as a bum without baby Betty by my side! For those of you that don't know... Betty is my Mac Powerbook =)

Spring Changes...

It's a beautiful spring Sunday and EVERYONE is out! I've never really lived in a country with seasons so it's interesting for me to see the changes that come when the weather really begins to warm up. Aside from the sudden foot traffic on the sidewalks cause veryone wants to be out in the sun, here are some things I've noticed.
1. The restaurants re-open their patios. And a lot of the restaurants or coffee shops actually remove/open the glass walls.. I've never seen that feature before in Asia!
2. People are already pretty nice in Canada but everyone just gets nicer and more cheerful. People actually talk to you when you're stopped at a traffic light!
3. Speaking of traffic, all the convertibles suddenly come out! In Manila, thought he weather is good, you'd die of pollution if you kept your car top down when driving in the city or on the highways.
4. I see legs! I realize that I haven't seen people's legs except in the hot tub at the condo. =) Now, it just gets a little warmer and the shorts and skirts are out with a vengeance. (It's still a bit too cold for me to do that though).
I see the point though... after many months of trying to stay warm indoors, it is a pleasant change. So we tried to enjoy it too! Here's a picture Vineet took of Joey and me when we went for lunch and a walk by the lake.

Cakes, mini-cakes and cookies!

I'm exhausted! I attended an Introduction to Cake Decorating Course at Bonnie Gordon's Cakes. It was the "intensive" version which meant that classes were conducted over 3 full days. It was extremely tiring cause:
1. I'm not used to waking up at 8am.. and not having my afternoon nap =)
2. You only get a 20-min break for a quick lunch.
3. You spend a huge part of the class on your feet.
4. You spend more time on your feet since you have to bake a cake, layer and mask it as part of "homework".

It was really fun though and am looking forward to the next occasion I'll make a cake again... currently planned for my puppy Joey's first birthday in July! Hope I've moved to a house with a big kitchen by then!!!

Here are the things made from the 3 days of class! If I can't fit into my wedding dress, you'll all know the reason for it! =)

Raptors win Game 2!

... YAY! Raptors win vs. New Jersey Nets in Game 2. Their last playoff win was in April 2002!

Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Vineet's always wanted to go away to Niagara for the weekend. And this weekend he convinced me cause:
1. We were going to Terry and Carla's housewarming at Burlington anyway. From there it's just 45 mins more to Niagara.
2. The weather was gorgeous! It was just going to be sun, sun, sun and going to a high of 26 degrees!


On Saturday night, we played Black Jack at the Casino for a couple of hours. Then on Sunday we went to a wine tour at Peller Estates. We went through about 6 different wines at wine tasting (2 in the tour and got 4 complimentary at the wine bar) and found out we had cheap taste in wines! Without knowing the price, the one we liked best was their Heritage series Muscat at just $11.95 a bottle. =)

After the wine tour and wine tasting, we ditched our reservations for lunch at Peller Estates and decided to go back into the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. First stop, I bought a hat cause the sun was beating down hard... I got a straw cowboy hat in preparation for summer at the lake / beach =D. We asked the shop girl for a recommendation on an outdoor patio restaurant and were directed to Zee's on the other end of the strip. It was just so so peaceful sitting there on the patio. The sun was bright but the breeze was so cool (since the wind cools over the Lake which is still very, very, cold). Then we headed off for some dessert... Vineet got a mint chocolate chip ice cream (his usual) at Cow's.. and I tried my first candy apple from Rocky Mountain. Candy apples are yum! Super sweet candy coating and crunchy apple underneath =) Then we bought a gift for Joey, a cute red harness that would be easier on his tiny neck & body. (Took him on a walk yesterday and he got lots of props on the harness!).
Then it was time to go... We passed by Mississauga to meet up with Pasz & Mel at Pasz' parent's house to pick up Joey. They had been so nice to take care of Joey for the weekend. All in all, it was a great relaxing weekend which I felt was just a preview of summer here in Canada!

Raptor Red.

Vineet and I have enjoyed watching the Raptors regularly this season since we had purchased an Eastern Conference game pack. But going into the stadium for the playoffs, the atmosphere was crazy. Each person had been given free red Raptors t-shirts, so the stadium was completely red! We got in and the game was already underway and noticed something unusual though... Raptors were in white jerseys and it was the Nets that were in red. The media, care of long sarcastic quotes from the Nets' Richard Jefferson saying they had never had that much support on their away games, picked up on it in the coverage after. (arrrgh) That basically rubbed salt to the wound because yes.... the Raptors lost.

They just weren't playing the same. They're usually a quick team that moves the ball a lot. But this time, they were completely off. Shooting was bad, hardly any assists... I guess they were nervous being such an inexperienced playoffs team? the game was still fun though as they had spurts where they seemed to put up a fight... like in the 4th quarter when from a 14-point deficit, they eventually got the Nets lead down to 1-pt so the entire stadium was on it's feet cheering their hearts out. And of course, you can't help but enjoy the "BOOS" and chants of "Carter sucks" whenever the ball touches Carter's fingers. There was even a blow-up doll wearing a Carter jersey that people were passing around and beating up. It was eventually confiscated by security though. All this must have had some effect on Carter (as it usually does) cause he got 4-fouls quite early in the second half and had to sit it out for a while. Unfortunately, it didn't help the end result.

On a brighter note, we got really good seats for the playoffs! And these seats are the seats we will regularly have for next season. We shared season tickets with our friend Thad and got better seats than we had this year. The seats have a great view and we finally have cup holders! Also, waitresses come around with PDAs to take your orders so you don't have to bear with the uber-long lines at the concession stands.

Oh and before I forget... the Raptor is the cutest NBA mascot. Here is the newly launched CHOMPER RAPTOR version. He basically "argued" with a NJ Nets fan and chomped him down in his big mouth! Hehehe.

Playoffs...

... YAY! We got seats for the NBA playoffs, Toronto Raptors vs. New Jersey Nets. The last time we watched them go against each other Jason Kidd wasn't there so I'm really looking forward to seeing him! Also, it's fun when Vince Carter is at the dome cause the Canadians love booing him cause of how he was when he used to be with the Raptors!

WEDDING UPDATE: Church Change!

For the past few weeks I've been trying to sort out a minor hiccup in the wedding planning. Our church is getting renovated! So we've been on a hunt to find another available Church that was downtown, available on June 2nd and that we liked. We actually spent one day just driving around churches that I had Googled to see if they looked nice. And with the help of Fr. Mick we are now all set to be married at St. Paul's Basilica (instead of St. Patrick's Church). For details on our new Church, please go to our site: www.mehra-castaneda.com!

Singapore Lah!

It started with hawker-like Chinese food yesterday and now the weekend is turning into a Singapore-like weekend. To be honest though, it's mostly about the food than any other experience.
After the dinner at Pacific Mall yesterday, Vineet was craving dimsum. I had saved an article about the top 10 dimsum places in Ontario so we decided to visit the top-rated place. Lai Wah Heen is supposedly the best dimsum in North America. We had been to the restaurant before and loved it (you should try the moo shu... to die for!) - but we had gone at dinner time so dimsum was not available. We decided to go to their sister restaurant Lai Toh Heen since it was in the Mt. Pleasant area, where there were other nice shops to visit.
The dimsum was amazing!!!!!!!!! They had the "typical" hakaw and siew mai which was really good quality but it was their specials which you order by the piece which made it really unforgettable. Two that we particularly liked: Stuffed Tofu Brick fried in Spicy Sea Salt and Bacon-wrapped Shrimp in Strawberry Wasabi sauce.
The food was so good that I'd definitely come back even though the service wasn't all that great. In fact we joked that it completed the "Singapore experience"! ;-)

The Real Chinatown!

What is recognized as Chinatown is actually just 10 minutes away from where I live. Today though, I found the real Chinatown -- MARKHAM!Looking at the people in the cars in Markham, about 70% of the passengers were Chinese (and the remaining 30% were mostly other Asians - Indians, Filipinos, etc.). And as you gradually kept on going on the road, there was an increasing number of signs in Chinese.

We went inside Pacific Mall - which was less of a mall and more like a giant building with row after row of stall-like stores typical of those in Asia. Upstairs there was a section selling Chinese cheongsams, trinkets, decor, it remineded me of our shopping adventures at the Silk Market in Beijing!

Then we hit the foodcourt. YUMMY and very affordable Chinese food to satisfy Vineet. He ordered food enough for 4 people even though it was just the two of us. I took a picture of the foodcourt cause it reminded us of Newton Circus or the other hawkers centre in Singapore.

Looking around me it was pretty hard to remember I was actually still in Canada.

YUM!