Summer Part 2

August is where the fun and the sun begins. Summer in July was a bit damp, but the weather in August really turned things around. The wedding being the kick off point to a very fun rest of the summer. After that it was parties and bbqs galore. Mid-month I had a host of visitors in town.

Janos was in Montreal to photograph a wedding and decided to step out to Toronto to check out the city and catch up. It was so great to have him around again! He and I are former flatmates and were always having fun in the kitchen cooking up a variety of items. When he was here he introduced me to a delicious cucumber salad (cukes, garlic and sesame oil-done) and we had some great lettuce wraps with a thai peanut sauce.

Two days after he arrived my youngest cousin, Cam, arrived from Kelowna for a couple of days before he moved to The Netherlands for a year of University. We hadn't seen each other in at least 3 years so it was great to catch up with him again. He and Janos and I went for a delicious and authentic mexican dinner at Christie and Bloor and then headed to the Skydome for a baseball game- Janos being a baseball fan with no teams in Vancouver. Cam and I are less enthusiastic fans (read not fans at all) but had a great time up in the nosebleeds drinking beer and laughing with and at the rowdy fans. Janos managed to score a free expensive seat and really enjoyed it.

That evening as well my best friend Briana arrived in town, it was like friend overload in the best possible sense. I picked her up from the airport and it was just beyond wonderful to be able to hug her again. And she brought me some Okanagen Cherries!

Next day was brunch out with all of us and some wandering around Kensington market. A summer storm was brewing so it was ridiculously hot and muggy- it made it very hard to wander around and check things out. I was hosting a bbq that evening to have my Toronto friends meet my BC friends. The preparations were plentiful and the food was really good, but after the second guest had arrived a loud crack was heard and it started to POUR with rain. I mean torrential downpour pour. So we all ran inside to see if we could out wait the storm enough to start the BBQ.

My apartment is not large, it's really pretty teensy and having 8 of us in my living room on a beyond muggy evening was really interesting. Or in other words HOT. But the rain finished up and we were able to get the BBQ up and running and work on stuffing our little faces with a bunch of delicious food. I love hosting a party, I JUST love it. I'm also really good at it. Part of me wishes that I had a bigger place so I could have lovely dinner parties and friends over all the time. Not yet.

During this time I had been asked to go to Los Angeles to be a personal assistant for a week. It all seemed to line up, I was booked to leave on Saturday afternoon to fly out there. The bbq was Thursday as Janos and I had to hit a wedding in Terra Cotta on Friday.

We might have lazed about on breakfast on Friday morning a bit too long as we were a bit rushed heading up there, having to run an errand downtown. And since I don't drive in the city I had no idea about the horror and frustration that is downtown driving. I'm not sure why anyone does it. And apparently I have become a backseat driver, which is mortifying and Janos has since accepted my apologies about that.

The wedding itself was lovely and there wasn't a trace left of the previous days storm (which in fact caused quite a bit of damage slightly north of the city due to Hurricanes). The setting was picturesque along a river and everyone seemed happy and beaming. I admit to not being in best form because of stress/lack of sleep/I'm an asshole. But it was a fun time and we had a really intersting talk with the Father of the Groom- who used to work for the TTC. It was so interesting to hear about the behind the scenes of the subway.

Saturday morning we met up with Briana for a brunch at Easy- which is definitely my favourite brunch spot in the city. And then we headed back home, Janos packed up and left for the airport, I ran around doing work and errands for my trip. Cam and I got an hour or so to relax before we all headed to the airport and we were off to all corners. Briana back to Vancouver, Cam to Amsterdam and me to LA.