hello from Palm Springs!

A girl could get used to this... Who knew November weather could be so fabulous! Yay for fabulous sun!

Montreal!

To know me is to know that I have a slight (or not-so-slight) obsession with Montreal. If Montreal were a person I would have a hopeless crush on it, even though I would know in my heart it was out of my league. It's just so dreamy!

Luckily for me, Rach is living in Montreal, so I took the first opportunity for time off that I could get (I'm no longer working 2 jobs! yay!) and I hopped on the train.

I got to spend some time alone in the city while Rach was working, which was lovely, because I spent so much time alone when I lived there (I could count the people I knew on one hand) that it was great to reconnect to that. I started my morning by visiting Old Port and then pretty much walked non-stop for the rest of the day, visiting all my favourite places from back in the day. I even stopped by my old apartment to say hi. So many memories.

Here are some shots of Old Port...

On Sunday we did what everyone who's anyone does--we went for brunch at L'Avenue! You're guaranteed to stand in a line, but it's sooo worth it (especially when there is a manequin to entertain you).


I was a little sad that they didn't have my favourite (caramelized bananas with English cream crepes) on the menu anymore--maybe it's just a summer thing?--but the banana and nutella crepes I had were delicious!

Once I was finally able to pay our bill (I think it took about 4 tries...thank goodness our waitress had a good sense of humour!), Rach and I did a little birthday-engagement shopping for Chelle.

After that we headed over to Mont Royal for some Tam-tam/Duck Tape Warrior action. Rach snapped a few pictures of her boy-crush but, for some reason, waited until he started to get dressed before she decided she wanted to take pictures of him. Can you spot him?



After that we walked around for a bit (always searching for more birthday-engagement presents) and, of course, took some time to play in the snow.

I'm worried that these are coming back. I've seen way more than I'd like to admit in the past few months (although some of them are braided, not everyone is rocking such a perfect ringlet). KM, as if you don't want to start working on one of these!

so...many...lanterns...

Monday evening we headed over to the botanical gardens to check out the Chinese lantern celebration. I have to say that I was pretty impressed! i had no idea lanterns could be so fabulous!

We simply had to take a jumping photo. Of course, it took a few tries to capture us in all our glory.

This is my interpretation of a lantern, as expressed through a jump. I apologize for the tummy. No one needs to see that.

Yeah, this is the best we can do.

Another interpretation of a lantern...stunning, I know.

We wrapped up the evening by going to one of my new favourite places in Montreal, Rockaberry for dessert. It's so good it's dangerous. It's so good we went there twice in the 3 and a bit days I was in Montreal. So good!

Finally, a sign for a restaurant I'll have to hit up next time I'm in town. Who doesn't love taste-free food?! Dear, sweet Montreal!

i grew a mini pineapple...

...but by the time I finally got the guts to try eating it, it was too late. I live a life of regret.