Montreal: Day One and Two

Hey, so I’m in Montreal, this is pretty cool. I got dropped off at the airport by my younger brother. My dad was supposed to drive me but he had a meeting that ran late so my brother came instead. I got there in plenty of time so I sat and watched CNN discuss the latest on the Pope while I waited. April 18th is the start of the conclave, and the Pope’s heart may be buried in Poland. Interesting.

Boarded the plane, got to sit next to a guy who seemed to enjoy bouncing his leg up & down so much that it makes the floor vibrate. I was ready to start stomping on the floor to show him how annoyed I was, but I stayed quiet. Stupid having-manners-liz.

My older brother met me at the airport and we headed to his office. He gave me the truck and a map and I headed off to do some shopping while I waited for him to finish his day of work. His girlfriend had asked earlier if I would feel comfortable with driving “that big truck”. Are you laughing with me on that one? Most of us remember my ’76 Chevy Blazer, loving dubbed George. Yeah, I don’t think a 4 door Jimmy will be a problem for me. I am, after all, the daughter of the “Bucko from Boiestown”, as my mother liked to call my father at times. I am a girly-girl in some respects but I can drive a truck (it just looks funny to see me do it). I also used to prefer dinky cars to dolls and caught a fish once.

George, coincidentally, was the only thing I loved that was brown. Originally he was orange, but my dad painted him brown.

So I took the truck and headed off to IKEA. I called Mare from IKEA, the people around me were probably saying "so what?" I spent a good 2 hours in there looking all around, it’s like going through a set on a stage, or someone's open house, very weird, but very cool. Jenn, there were lots of couches, some comfortable, and some not. If they looked really square, they felt square. That kind of thing you’d have to pick out in person for sure. The smushier ones were comfy though.

Lisa, I got your candles. At first I could only find off-white and white but that was because I hadn’t made it to the candle section yet, so there I found the yellow.

I bought myself the plastic bag holder I’ve been wanting for quite a while, so I can install that in my closet and have less clutter. Also bought a small velvet bag in the kids’ section which I thought would be good for putting my belly dancing hip scarf in so it won’t get hurt. Bought some frames to match the ones Mare bought so I can add more to the wall of pictures. I bought 4 5x7 and 2 8x10-ish but am now thinking I should have also gotten a couple 4x6? Still have time to go back if I feel like it.

One thing I am seriously considering going back to get is the square LACK side table, in the brown-black color with a wood-grain texture that when I saw it in person, would go very well with the color Stew stained my coffee table. I would be able to bring these back with me, I could tape the boxes together and stick them on the plane. So I need help there. Do I get one or two of those tables and bring them back? They’re only $30 each. If you have a minute hop online and take a look at them and offer me some advice please!!!

After IKEA I buzzed through a nearby mall, but mostly stores I can shop at when I’m home, so nothing bought there. I’ll save my money for visits to Chapters and Jacob.

While driving I turned on the stereo in the truck and played the cd my brother had in there. Laughed at how it would be pretty similar to something I would have made. Then it finished and went back to the first and I said, out loud, what the hell is this? It was Rich Girl, but not by Gwen Stefani. I later described it as the mini-pops version but it wasn’t sung by kids so that wasn’t exactly accurate. It was definitely someone else singing the song, but it actually took some convincing to make my brother agree. At first I thought he was just teasing me and he knew the difference but he wasn’t and didn’t. Later he played the two songs together and I could tell he knew I was right but was still reaching for the “maybe it’s a different speed” explanation. I guess he has not seen the video/heard the original as much as I have to immediately be able to tell the difference. Not having cable TV in his house means you don’t get to watch videos all the time like me.

Went back to my brother’s office and then headed to his girlfriend’s house where I was able to meet her for the first time. She’s really nice. She sort of looks like Jennifer on Days, only taller and skinnier. Not twins or anything but that was who she reminded me of.

My brother’s humor is as it always is. On our way back from the concert, in response to something his girlfriend said, he described himself as a Transformer, “because there’s more than meets the eye.” And then proceeded to laugh himself silly over it. Gotta love my brother :D

Thursday was a lazy morning, I think I was up around 9 but read for a while before actually getting up. Did my email and blogging, then we headed to Doirion to pick out kitchen cabinets and countertops. I sat and listened, making the occasional comment, realizing that building a house comes with a lot of choices and am I ever glad I didn't have to make them. Now I know why interior designers exist. Starting with a blank slate is hard.

So they ended up picking out cabinets, which I think they are wavering on and will likely change after they pick out the tile for the kitchen floor. They did pick out a nice set of blue cabinets for the main upstairs bathroom with a nice complementary countertop that they both really liked. Blue may sound weird, you have to see it, it does look really nice. There was also the ensuite to pick stuff out for, they went for brown cabinets in there (boo). Brother asked what I thought for that bathroom and I reminded him, "I hate brown". So I stayed out of that one. Gf went back home to do some work and brother and I headed out.

From there we headed to see the new house, or should I say the new foundation. It's already been poured, and the forms taken away. This thing is moving fast. It's quite the neighborhood, wow. It's like driving through Rothesay or Quispam. Pretty swanky. Tomorrow we're going to be able to get back into the model home which is the same plan as what they are building. Mare, what does Arbrisseaux mean? That's the name of the street.

We also stopped by Pier 1 to look at a kitchen table, but I don't think that's going to work. It's the one I liked actually, with the green on the legs and the chairs whose back have an X design. The green just seems too bright. They are thinking of a terra cotta/mediterranean type of floor, but not too orangey. Depends on the tile I guess.

Had lupper at Cora's, sat and talked for a while. My brother gave me the questions of "what do you think of gf?" and "can you see us married?" I told him she was really nice but that I couldn't make a judgement on whether I could see them married based on only having met her 24 hours ago. I didn't want that to come off sounding like I didn't like her, because I do. I told him that. Just can't make that kind of call after only having talked to her for a grand total of a couple of hours, during which I am sure both of us were a bit nervous about making a good impression with each other. So far so good, I said.

We met back up with gf and headed to the bank for them to sign mortgage papers, then off to the Outback Steakhouse for supper. Got to watch a smidgen of The Masters. Kind of miss not being home with my dad & grandfather watching it, but there's always next year.

After that we headed back to gf's house to watch The Apprentice. Gf says everyone in her office was using Tana's line from last week, in which she described something as "it's not rocket scientist". I saw that last week too and said to myself, "did she just say scientist?" Funny!

I seem to have a new fan in Tank the cat. Tank decided I looked like a comfy place to be and since I was offering some scratching I became his best friend of the evening. It was funny watching him try to get up a couple of times and then just give up as he was too comfy. He's a very vocal cat, mews loudly for his food or treats. But very affectionate, which if I had a cat, is how I'd like it to be.

That's it so far. Today we go pick out windows, I think that is the only thing scheduled. Tomorrow in the morning we'll meet up with gf's sister and new baby and head to the model home. In the afternoon we're making plans to go downtown and I can do my exotic foreign dancewear shopping.