I won a free party!

Background: A few weeks ago I went for brunch to The Duke of Richmond, right by City Hall, on 20 Queen St. W. There was a bowl where you could place your business card for a draw. At the end of July I had an email from the Duke of Richmond telling me that I had won the draw. I was entitled to get a free party. The party took place last night.

All the usual suspects were there, and of course, making hand gestures.

The “free” party consisted of a reservation for 20 people, and snacks for such 20 people. Free chips and free salsa, free hummus with free pita, free artichoke spinach dip with free garlic bread, free fish bites (it’s like the fish on fish and chips, just smaller and without the chips).

Sadly, the beer was not included in the free party. Also, I thought that the free food was going to leave people hungry and unsatisfied, no problem, people would be able to order from the menu.
Surprisingly enough, the free snacks were enough for everyone, so there was no need to order more food.

Moses was there too, and he thoroughly enjoyed his time with the Ice Queen.

As usual, Accordion Guy brought his accordion and played for everyone: Rio, by Duran Duran.

I even gave a speech thanking everyone for attending my free party and advicing about my next party, for my birthday, in November. The theme is going to be 80s Prom and I am giving enough notice to everyone so that outfits and music can be prepared. There’s even enough time to start growing mullets!

Overall everyone had a really good time. Thanks, Duke of Richmond!
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The triad

The triad
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

We had so much fun today at the Bedford Academy.
I ordered a veggie cheeseless pizza that was perfect for my diet restrictions. Connie had the curry.

The big exciting piece of news is that on Tuesdays, you can get a bucket of Amsterdam Blonde for $15.

It is kind of weird that they bring you only 5 beers, it is not a very round number. Oh well, we drank it anyway, you don’t have to tell us twice!
Clara looked beautiful with her new hairdo.

And remember this picture?
It was taken about two years ago I guess.
Well, we have a follow-up. Yes, we wear our sunglasses at night! (OK, it wasn’t the night yet, but you know what I mean)

World Premiere of Lovable

At the Bloor Theatre
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Last night we went to the world premiere of Lovable, a documentary by Alan Zweig.

The movie is light, funny and makes a point. My part doesn’t come up until about an hour into the movie.
When I came up someone in the audience whistled (OK, OK, it was James). I talk about how I have raised my expectations and I have set barriers to intimacy, and sometimes when I lower my barriers I get hurt, this was the saddest part in the whole movie (remember that I gave that interview 2 years ago, though!).
I also talk about knitting and chicken wings! It is so me, everyone laughed, especially in the balcony. I’m pretty sure some people that I know were up there.
I didn’t remember, but Alan asked me to model my sleeveless tops, and they edited the whole thing, me modeling and stuff, into the interview.
At the end there are short takes of each of the women that gave the interviews, and that’s where I look the cutest.
And yes, I had a credit at the end of the movie, which means I will be on IMDB, lots of coolness points for me!!
After the screening there were questions and answers, it was lots of fun, and then Alan asked all the women that had been in the movie to stand up, and the whole theatre applauded us.
After my big screen debut, a celebration was in place, so we went to Paupers across the street.

We had a couple of pints but no chicken wings (I have cut down on chicken wings a lot lately).
All in all, lots of fun surrounded by good company and good friends.

Djobi, Djoba, Cada Dia Yo te Quiero Mas

The Gipsy Kings were amazing. We had so much fun. First we stopped at the Flatiron for some dinner. Unfortunately everything on their menu has meat, so we couldn’t eat much. We ended up sharing a plat of spicy fries. Also they finally got rid of the NTN Trivia so, really, I probably won’t be going much anymore. We ran into Eric at the Flatiron, a long time reader of this blog.

Just before 8 we headed to the Hummingbird Centre for the concert. I had a great time. But, do you notice how there are 7 Gipsy Kings in the pictures? Well there were only 5 last night, I don’t know if the other 2 quit the group, or what happened. They were great, though. I love the “guitarra flamenca” and all the gitano stuff (I do take flamenco classes after all). They sang some slow romantic songs, they played some instrumental songs and they sang their greatest hits. Everyone was dancing and having a great time.

Afterwards we met up with Becky and Mike and went to Big Daddy’s for a snack and margaritas. We wanted to have some New Orleans themed outing since it was Fat Tuesday yesterday so Mike had a hurricane.
All in all we had a great evening full of good music, good friends and good drinks.

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We had a great Valentine’s Day

James
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

We went to Golden Thai (on the corner of Church and Richmond) for some delicious Thai goodness. We ended up ordering the crunchy noodles, spicy eggplant and steamed rice.
After that we went to the Flatiron for a couple of cold ones. Note how I was still wearing the red top and James dressed up for the occasion, wearing a tie and such. He looked so cute!

Afterwards we went to my place to open our gifts. James got a corkscrew and a bottle of wine, since a few weeks ago I managed to break his corkscrew while trying to open a bottle of wine. After the initial panic of thinking we wouldn’t be able to drink the wine, James opened it with some manly tools from his toolbox. Now he got a new corkscrew and wine.
I got the best.gift.ever, tickets for the Gipsy Kings concert at the Hummingbird Centre next week. This is actually very special for us, because James likes to sing Gipsy Kings songs to me, especially the one that has my name on it (Baila Me). We are going to have a great time. He said he was so excited of getting the tickets, and he wanted to tell me for a week, but he kept the secret. Good for him.
Later we watched an Audrey Hepburn movie (Roman Holiday) and sipped some sparkling wine imported directly from Italy that my boss gave me for my birthday back in November. It was delicious, it had an aftertaste of chocolate that was so yummy.
All in all, an amazing Valentine’s Day.

Happy snowy Valentine’s Day!

Park
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

We woke up with 12 cm this morning. The snow is so nice and fluffy and clean. Everything looks white.
Here’s some pictures that I took this morning.







And for this Valentine’s Day:
“Don’t forget to love yourself.”
-Soren Kierkegaard

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Maria and James leaving

Maria and James leaving
Originally uploaded by Easternblot.

Yeah, we left Eva’s party on skates. Or did we?

Phone call

Phone call
Originally uploaded by Easternblot.

We called my sister in the middle of the night. James tried to speak some Spanish, but basically couldn’t hear anything because of the music and noise at the bar.

Eva’s birthday

James and Maria
Originally uploaded by Easternblot.

We had a lot of fun last night at Pauper’s at Eva’s birthday party.

Maria and Brett at Eva’s birthday party

Maria and Brett
Originally uploaded by Easternblot.

Brett’s head was so soft!