Serendipity, baby

I still have some afterglow after last night's date.

Up until the very end Dave wouldn't tell me were we were going, just that I should dress up.

When we got on the highway I had narrowed it down to two places.

I had first thought we might be going to the little Italian restaurant on Danforth where he had planned to propose. As it turned out that night we were given a table in the corner, and there wasn't enough space for him to propose there. (I wondered why he was so upset about where we were sitting that night.)

My second guess, though, was right.

We paid the requisite arm and leg fee for parking, and walked toward the CN Tower.

The top floor accessible to the public is the renowned restaurant 360. For those who don't know, it's the restaurant atop the CN tower, which revolves slowly so you see the view from every angle while you enjoy the kitchen's award winning cuisine. We walked past the various cues of people and took the elevator to the top, ears popping every few seconds. We were seated at a table right next to the glass.

The noise of the other parties quickly faded behind us. We spent most of the dinner quietly gazing in each others' eyes. We didn't talk about much, both of us just seemed so relaxed and into the moment that conversation wasn't necessary. Much that was said was unspoken.

As we were seated and browsed the menu, we passed the spot where we got engaged, along the lakefront beside the Westin Harbour Castle that cold February night. We instantly recalled the view from our hotel room that weekend overlooking the sugar refinery and the lake. We pointed out other landmarks we knew, and occasionally talked about the days and years to come. We watched the ferry crossing over to the Islands and the Island airport, still, below us. We watched what looked like tiny origami boats racing across the waters.

In our relationship I'm definitely the worrier. I wonder, sometimes aloud, how is it that two people who are so different can work so well together? Dave is a captain in the military and I have a minor in peace studies. When we moved in together he had 2 giant dogs, and I had two cats who had never been around dogs. We are yin and yang. When I question how it is that we work so well together he always tells me "serendipity, baby." And, he's right. It's not the only thing that keeps us going, and it's not something we rely on, but we seem to have an inordinate amount of it around us. He landed a job in the 'shwa which was halfway between where he was living in Windsor, and where I was living in Ottawa, and I landed one a couple of weeks later. When the first house we bought didn't work out, we found one we liked better a block away. Things have aways seemed to have fallen into place and worked out for us, and I can't explain how.

As the restaurant slowly turned toward the west we had another dose of serendipity. As though it hadn't been perfect to start dinner overlooking the spot where we got engaged on a cold February night, as it turned west we were timed perfectly to watch the sun set among the clouds. The sky was painted in ribbons of pinks, reds, purples yellows and oranges with the blue clouds providing the perfect contrast at every moment. In seconds the sun sank like a rock below the horizon.

The meal itself was enjoyed slowly (though Dave still eats as though someone will eat it for him if he doesn't eat it quickly enough). The appetizer course was a tomato arugula salad with lots of peccorino cheese, and some of the best olive oil I've ever tasted. I savoured every bite.

My main course was a risotto with chanterelle mushrooms and an aged goat cheese. The risotto was good but really wasn't anything to write home about. It didn't seem to matter, though, because food really didn't feel like the focus of the night, even though we were out for dinner.

As we ate, we quietly talked of the days ahead, but not the stresses that will come with them, or the work that is to be done; only of our commitment to each other and him telling me how beautiful he knows I'll look as I walk down the aisle, or how beautiful I was that night.

We looked at land marks north of the tower, saw planes just as they descended toward the airport, or just as they were rising in the sky. We talked about our excitement that soon we'll be taking off on our first real vacation alone together.

As desert (which for me was a tower of chocolate with fruit coulis and fresh fruit) was served the restaurant had turned back to the spot where we got engaged. We held hands and sipped tea, and looked below us at the baseball game. It looked as though it was a tiny mosaic with the blue seats and the crowd watching were tiny tiles.

We sipped tea again facing the water, and strolled down to the observation deck where we could hear the game, and to the glass floor. I strolled across, heels and all, while Dave watched from the solid floor, unable to overcome years of evolution which screamed "you've got to be kidding!" at him. We lingered a while holding hands, stopping to kiss in complete ignorance of people around us. He lent me his jacket when I got cold.

I had really hoped to find a comfy leather couch and bottle of wine on the observation deck where we could just curl up together and enjoy the night, but neither were available. We took the elevator back down, I joked with the operator, and we strolled back to the car, still enjoying every moment and looking at each other starry-eyed.

I still feel starry-eyed this morning. Dave's just changed my flat tire for me so I'm off to pick up my wedding dress from its final alterations, with garbage bags in tow so he doesn't see it until I'm wearing it at the top of an asile, only three days from now.



(but I have to say the feminist and jokester in me is still screaming "who knew dinner at the top of a giant phallus could be so romantic?!")

It's been a head-smashingly fun week in the 'shwa

Has it ever been a loooonnnnnng week. I have no idea how I'll survive until Friday. Oh well. I'm supposed to be at a bachelorette party which should be lots of fun and games. That's of course if I'm still standing!

Anyway, moving on, I've done lots of learning this week. I've learned my parents have decided to do some work to their already gorgeous home. I've also learned that my mum probably should have become a highly paid accountant for some big nameless corporation because her tax-refund-getting skills are impeccable and I'm now expecting a fairly fat cheque from the man. These two forces have combined to make it virtually irresistible NOT to do some work on the house.

We moved in at the end of last summer and, beyond a few tiny things, we haven't done much work to the place. I have a long list of things I want to do to this place. It's an older house which definitely has lots of quirks, both good quirks and bad.

I'm hoping to slowly start to rid the house of the non cute quirks. The beige in the living room is making me a little cabin feverish. The original kitchen (or an early successor to it) in our 1940s house is getting more and more annoying especially when you view all the glorious cabinet options and choices there are out there. The original hard wood floors are still gorgeous but badly in need of re-finishing. Most of all the wallpaper in the front hall and upstairs hall is making me nutso.

In a bid to rid the place of its quirks, I think I've found a pretty good score. A neighbour down the street works re-finishing floors for a living (SCORE!) and has given us a wicked price to re-do them. So, that will happen once we get the walls un-beiged, and the ceilings touched up with plaster and painted, the floors are next.

But, in the meantime, the wallpaper in the halls is the bee doing the most stinging in my bonnet. Actually I have a bonnet full of bees right now, but I'm directing it all at the wallpaper.

I'm sure at some point this wallpaper was pretty to some person. I can't think of either a time when that would have been, or a person who would have found it pretty but I'm sure it was, just as I am sure that it is not pretty to me.

I'm curious as to what I'll find behind the wallpaper. The walls are lathe and plaster and we already know of one spot that will need work (we call it the rollercoaster wall because it dips up and down), but the rest is a mystery. My fingers are crossed that it isn't too bad and the wallpaper removal itself isn't as dreadful as I'm imagining it will be.

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Finally, should you randomly happen to be a caterer who happens to stumble onto my blog, I have some completely unsolicited advice for you. Aren't you lucky!

If, as a caterer, you're being asked to price catering an event such as a wedding, and one of the MAIN parties identifies herself as a vegetarian right from the beginning, it would probably not be a great idea to note how big a "pain in the ass" some vegetarians are at catered events at length. You would probably also be best not to tell said vegetarian about how she should realize that most of the people attending the event will eat meat so she really should focus on ordering food that will please them (meaning all meat, all the time) instead of the "few vegetarians." This type of comment will make said vegetarians consider hiring one of your competitors instead.

Just moments before the steam started to come out from my ears and my head started spinning rapidly in counter-clockwise fashion, I told her that as a vegetarian I had more often ran into caterers who were a pain in the ass that treat vegetarian guests who were paying a great deal for their services as the pains in the ass. I'm also not a fan of cocktail receptions where all the hors d'oeuvres are meat. Moreover I didn't want my veggie friends to end up with a dish of the standard cold penne primavera, or, as I served one time, a vegetarian dinner that consisted of two potatoes (one still covered in sauce from the chicken that had until moments before occupied the plate) and veggies. I don't want my own freaking wedding to be like that!

Beyond that, when we said pork was out as an entree option because we have friends who are devout muslims who can't eat pork she implied that was completely unreasonable and said that "some people are so unreasonable as to not want to be in the same room." Uh yeah! And they're our friends, so we're happy to accommodate that. You should be too! Frig!

So now, after the fun this week has been so far, my sweetie has prepared a hot water bottle for my aching back (no, I'm not 90 years old and yes I use water bottles regularly) and I'm off to bed. You may have guessed I didn't get much sleep last night, which has made the tone of this post somewhat cranky. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow fresh and ready to tackle the wallpaper sans cranky pants tomorrow night after work.