On Leila’s birthday for dinner they went to SARA which was amazing. The bartender was so great and gave the whole bar 2 special shots for L’s bday and gave them free dessert. They also met this young girl who was very loud and was in Sales and Trading at a bank in Toronto and wanted to schmooz with L & A the whole time.
On Sunday they went to Roncesvalles to have brunch with Will at The Ace (Tamara wasn’t feeling well). They had such a good chat and then an even nicer chat on the walk home through the snow with Will, stopping off for Soma hot chocolate on the way home. In the afternoon, A headed off to NY for LEAD training and L had accupuncture.
The next week, L went to the office a few times and had a lovely Thai dinner with Julie Anne at home. They had wine and takeaway and chilled in the flat and it was lovely. L also went to see Nani who had made a feast on Friday night and then brought back some of it home for A who had just arrived back from LEAD.
Alex flew of to Tarrytown Estate just north of New York for LEAD1. He had a fantastic time. He made 4 good friends with his group and he loved both the experience of being in person with similar folks as well as the exercises. There were a few types: Values (e.g,. cards), Role play coaching (e.g,. empathy), thinking through McK (e.g,. network), skill workshops (e.g,. PSS-ing) and games. Alex’s team got really close and he drew pictures of them all as part of their feedback. Every evening there was free food and a free bar, it was super fun. He super valued it and decided during the week that he needed to leave his current product. He felt much more comfortable with being at McK after the week.
The weekend after LEAD was so incredibly chilled. They started off with a great brunch with eggs, potatoes and bread. Tamara had bought L flowers for her birthday which were lovely. Then they went on a really long walk with no purpose and ended up chatting to a guy in a coffee shop (they had decaf) for ages about “bullshit jobs”, went into loads of consignment stores (didn’t buy anything) and then ended up at a winery for happy hour on Ossington for $5 wine and sardines and truffle crisps. They also went to Aesop and the guy sprayed their hand soap bag to make it smell nice. They stopped by a great gallery where the artist had used a scanner take photos of people on a road. In the eve, they headed to Leslieville to go to Avling!! And then went to History to see The Charlatans. The highlight was them walking listening to Therapy Crouch (Peter crouch and abbey Clancy podcast) on the way. The concert was interesting, lots of more elderly people, but it was very chillled and they stood at the back and did a little wiggle.
On the Sunday, they wandered to Chinatown, not even getting a coffee before seeing A’s Aunt’s school friend Maurine at King Seafood Diner. It was such a vibe, everyone was speaking Cantonese and pushing the food options around on trolleys, there were 0 menus. It was really nice, and they met both of Maureen’s childeren who were their age. They chatted about themselves as well as the food places in Toronto & Montreal (they really like Montreal). On the way back they first went to a Chinese supermarket, L was excited, before she went to Acupuncture and A chilled at home.
During the week, on Monday they went to a gig at Soho house with Tamara and Will. XXXX
They found o
On Friday A was feeling quite tired from work so L forced him to set out a plan to see all of his friends and be proactive. They found out that day that Daria wasn’t moving back into her apartment for a whole year, they could be month to month on rent! They went to AloBar to celebrate – it was very very last minute (booked 30 mins before) on a Friday night and they felt lucky to get the reservation. Food was good but not excellent but they only had snacks. The mezcal drink was FIRE
Saturday morning A messaged a whole lot of friends to try and catch up with them. He spoke to his family and Masha. The main event, however, was the swimming pool!!!! L had been going to physio, chiro and accupuncture weekly for the last month and was finally cleared for exercise. Despite not enjoying swimming, she was too excited to start exercise again and found the nearest public pool to them in Trinity bell woods. It was at a community centre, they paid $4.50 each to enter. Very clean. Lots of people playing table tennis. The pool was very calming, classical music playing, everyone in hats and googles (apart from a & l ). L went in the slow lane, A in medium and it was the first time L’s back hadn’t hurt in a long time. They did 30 mins slow swimming and it felt amazing. L felt so human with everyone just quietly swimming looking the same in hat and googles. They came out and the sun was shining and L felt 10/10 (apart from her hair being very chlorine-y). They immediately bought googles and a swimming cap for the next week!
In the evening he met up with Jon and Will at the Oxley and talked about Teradata, his idea for a C2B data business. Meanwhile L went to Fresh by herself and had a walk and made invitations for Arabella’s hen do.
On Sunday he was feeling much better and they organised. They spent the day cleaning ahead of Super bowl Sunday. L was so so happy after they cleaned. They went to Badiali to pick up pre ordered pizza (L felt very good about it because the queue for pizza was so long and they had pre ordered). In the evening Tamara, Will, Paddy and Annie came over for Super bowl and they made some snacks and got more pizza from North of Brooklyn (not as good as badiali). It was so fun to host again, and Land A are great at hosting together! Flat loooked amazing and L was very proud of them. She didn’t watch any football but she loved watching the ads. All the other brought drinks and food and snacks etc, and she felt very lucky to have good friends in TO.
The next week was pretty slow and chilled, they both felt quite burnt out. Valentine’s day was the cutest and the most a&l day. They went swimming!!!! And then L had made jacket potatoes but A wanted a burger and they went to Fresh straight from swimming, very chill and had a burger and noodles. They did the NYT love questions again. Alex was telling his work colleagues that he was leaving the project and his partners tried to convince him to stay. He also had sci fi reading group again on gen AI, which he loved. On Friday they went to Saku sushi after Mckinsey Wine down and it was great. A had drinks with Steven afterwards whilst L watched Dynasty.
Today they went to Brodfour for the Salmon Bagel, went swimming once more and now they’re sitting in a new cafe just north of Oslington. It’s super cute
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 