Parade of Lights!!!

To get us in the Christmas spirit, we went out to see the Holiday Parade of Lights. Or the Festive Electric Parade. Or the Seasonal Glow-in-the-Dark-apalooza. Whatever non-denominational inclusive title you want to give it. Santa was at the end of it, so it's still the Christmas parade, any way you slice it. In Halifax, they do it at night - so it's COOLER. :)

We went down to the Sally Ann and picked out the most AWESOME Christmas sweaters we could find. Criteria: warm, ridiculous, and hideous.

We'd like to think we succeeded. :)

We stopped into the Uncommon Grounds at South Park and Fenwick and got the most fantastic winter-y coffee hazelnutty mocha-y soy-y (soy-y?) coffee-y drinks ever. Mmm.

Then it was off to the parade!!! We got a prime spot on a little hill next to a family with a kid who was convinced he was a jedi. He was priming himself for later concussions by tossing himself repeatedly down the hill - if we laughed, he threw himself harder. It was so hard not to laugh. :)

And then... it was PARADE TIME!!! (I brought my very broken glasses and prayed nobody saw us. Good lord. Just my luck we'd run into Johnny Depp. "Oh, hey Johnny, yeah, the parade is sooooo great.... Oh these? Yeah, I heard having a twist tie holding your frames together is the new black. (pause) It's not? Well, THIS is embarrassing.")

So apparently the parade marshall was phoning it in this year. The first float arrived, sped past us like it was late for the parade, and then two more floats flew past us. Then some tweens baton-twirling... and then.... NOTHING. For easily 20 minutes. People were leaving in droves - did they really think the parade was over? Two dodgy floats and some pre-teen baton twirling??! Good grief.

And then...

get ready to look closely.

(Okay, not THAT closely... it's pretty obvious. Like today's Metro Toronto "Peterborough Pete" gaff, only a little more PG-13, thank god...)

Honestly, I couldn't dream up something this stupid to Photoshop. This was the sign on a float in the Holiday Parade of Lights here in Halifax. The float was entitled "SANTA'S SIGN SHOP". What, did he have some sort of equal-opportunity mandate where he had to hire a bunch of dyslexic elves? Is this part of Harper's Literacy for Kids program? Holy crap. Please, tell me someone else saw this.

The rest of the parade was uneventful; the small boy got tired of tumbling down the hill on his head and his parents got tired of watching him, so they went home. After that, it was just floats. Floats and more floats. Here are some of the highlights as we saw them:

This one actually looked like something!

They had DANCING GINGERBREAD PEOPLE!!! DANCING!!!

It was awesome.

Pyro AND smoke? Sweet.

Hard to see, but if you look to the right, behind the tree,

you can see the dancing MacPass.

For Toronto folk, it's sort of like a metropass but you put it in your car and you can speed through the tolls on the bridge without the battering-ram hummers chasing you.

Awesome.

"C100 everywhere!"

That's the slogan of the radio station that SHOULD be called

"C100! We'll Nickelback You To Death!"

But they DID have a cool Buzz Lightyear in their float...

That was solid.

It almost makes up for their insufferable programming.

Thanks to Dal Architecture for their confusing

people-dancing-in-a-giant-bedsheet float.

I hope nobody needs emergency services during the parade...

because it's going to be tough to drive fast

with all those lights in your peripheral...

not to mention, you're stuck BEHIND A PARADE...

All in all, it was a great evening.

Hooray for the holidays!!

Where Brad has been hiding these past two months...

You know how some people who enter into a new relationship sometimes spend all their time comparing it to their old one and going on and on about how much better things are?

I know I'm in the right place here. Every other thing I say at school is "holy crap, this is so much better than U of T architecture..."

This program is exactly what I was looking for. It's inclusive, it's comprehensive, and it's fun. I'm learning things that actually have real world applications, from people who genuinely love their jobs and treat me like a peer, if an inexperienced one. I am constantly amazed at the number of my classmates who are in the studio at all hours, day and night.

And then I realize that we're all here because we love it. It's so good to be in a place where people share your passion for something. We're all nerds, but because we're all the same type of nerd, we feel cool about it, and it's great!

So, not to put down U of T (I'm sure it's great for some people, just not for me), but if you or anyone you know is thinking about architecture, send them east.

Here are a few pictures of the studio I've been hiding in for the past few months. See you when I emerge in December...

November 15 - our trip back to the T-dot

Dale & Trevor's wedding gave us the amazing opportunity to be back in Toronto, and we got to spend time with some of our nearest and dearest. The wedding was amazing; it was so great to spend time with Dale and Trevor and their family and friends; we got to catch up with some wonderful people the days before the 'big do' and the day of the wedding was absolutely perfect.

The view flying into the island airport was gorgeous!

Landing in Toronto was... well, terrifying.

Mel got to spend some quality girl time with Amy and couldn't be more thankful to have such lovely, gracious friends. What wonderful hosts! What's better than being fed like a king, lounging around in jammies, catching up, eating sushi, shopping in Yorkville, listening to Amy's best "Disney Princess" imitation, and going for a mani/pedi? Pretty much nothing. :) Especially now that the 'big news' is out...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Art and Amy are having a baby!!! We absolutely can't wait for baby Mullin to arrive in May. It's like waiting for Christmas when you're five. Every day is like torture while you writhe around trying to guess what you're going to get!! And what could be cuter than Amy pregnant? Once again, pretty much nothing. :D

Then it was off to Jenny and Ian's to visit the new house! Another big congratulations - the moving part is done!!! :D It's hard to say what was more fun - the trip to Ikea and 99-cent lunch, hiding small stuffed animals in the staged kitchens, going for dinner at Sarah's with friends, or the fabulous housewarming party... but it was wonderful to get to see so many people all at once! A big thanks to Larry, Carolyn, Art & Amy, Dylan & Suba and Lanie for coming out to visit and share some drinks with us. Maybe a few too many drinks. :) That last Blue Fantastic should have been optional...

Jenny & Ian left us adorable Kermit notes with metropasses

so we could jaunt around the T-dot unchaperoned. :)

We may have had a little TOO much fun at the wedding... and left the keys in the front door. Ian discovered it the next morning.

Oops.

The party started out tame enough... with cheese.

Carolyn and Larry enjoy a hot cup of tea.

Things move along at a tidy pace... until -

...out comes the scotch!

...and the Tit-pins...

Dylan takes a stab at the Tit-pins.

"Tastes like... carrots!"

Suba has to see this for herself.

"Ew!!! It DOES taste like carrots!!"

"Wow. Carrots. You weren't kidding."

"Yeah... carrots. And pine scented car freshener."

And then it REALLY went downhill...

Suba tries to hide behind the Great Wall of Beverage.

Things get pretty silly!

Mister, that look says it all.

The weasel was an IKEA gift for Maeby -

but we think Jenny wanted to adopt it!

You know it's a good party when...

the host falls asleep on the floor.

In the dining room.

With a stuffed weasel.

While guests are still there.

We also had a wonderful lunch at Harbord House with Brad's family; mom, the girls, dad and dad's new girlfriend came down to visit and it was so great to see them all. It was nice to be welcomed back to a favourite haunt, and it was great to see family. It was too bad Ted couldn't come down to brunch; hopefully his back feels better now and we're looking forward to spending some time with him in Collingwood over Christmas to make up for it!

Brad's three gorgeous sisters; Allie, Maddie and Katie.

Bruce and Kim came down to visit as well!

Brad and his mom over a cup of hot tea.

Then the two of us went for a romantic stroll through Chinatown. Nothing brings you closer than the shared bond of laughing over awesome signs. We found some real gems.

The trip was rounded out by a fantastic visit to TBA rehearsal to hear how this year's group sounds; what a great time! We're both rooting for you guys for your concert on November 27 at the JCR at University College and wish we could be there! Then it was off to the Red Room, as usual, for some late night Creemore and one of everything on the menu. That avocado brie sandwich is really, truly, manna from the gods. The Viet mafia gods, that is... We got to spend a few brief but awesome moments with Curtis and spent time catching up over drinks with the old Pogues crew... Thanks to Susan, En Lai, McAllister, Pat, Glenn, Robin and everyone else who made it out; it was so great to see you all!

And last but certainly not least, we have to wish more CONGRATULATIONS - this time to Alexis and Matt on taking possession of their NEW HOME!!! We're super excited for you guys too, and can't wait for pictures!!! Hooray!!!

Flying in over Halifax was gorgeous.

It's good to be home.