October 2023

Chilling in Toronto

They went to a midweek date to Bar Isabel, because L had a Pilates class and was getting quite stressed from work. They had super good prawns and patatas bravos.

On the weekend, A cooked for Julie-Ann and Michael, he cooked a salmon en croute, with potatoes and veggies. They sat around, had nice cider and played board games and some heads up (L’s fave).

They went to Sadru and Shiloos for a quick walk with Alim. They had a super nice time chilling at Nani’s and wanted to make sure that they wrote about it, because it was super chill. It was quiet and they had North of Brooklyn pizza.

Double thanksgiving

They had two thanksgiving dinners, first at Annie and Paddy’s where they had cooked up a super spread, they were a little late as L was feeling a bit off. It was super nice though and amazingly tasty.

They then headed over to Aleem’s and Karen’s where they met up with two of their friends (one was a cousins). They said what they were thankful for and had nice wine and lots of thanksgiving-y food.

On the Monday, L had to work but A had Thanksgiving off and he cycled in the rain to Tommy Thompson park and listened to podcasts about Israel-Palestine. He really enjoyed it.

Steph arrives

Steph arrived on Thursday and L chilled with her for a bit before heading off to meet everyone else at Bellwoods Brewery for Kat and Harry’s leaving drinks. It was really happy and chilled. The next day, A and L both worked and then went to Azhar with Steph in the evening which was great as usual. They also had bang bang ice cream which was surprisingly nice. It was great to see Steph looking so well after her treatment.

The following day they all went to Evergreen Brickworks for the farmers market which was so much fun. The autumn colours were out and they got loads of nice tasters of food and bought some veg. Then they chilled at home for a bit and A helped L make a model for work to predict revenue growth for her project and she was very grateful. In the eve, they went to Pai which was yummy.

On Sunday they went to borrow Will and Tamara’s car and headed to Brodflour for bagels before driving to Niagara with Steph. It was a bit rainy and misty but still lovely and then they had lunch at Ravine before driving home. A and L then made LOADS of veggies and filled the fridge which was great but then they hadn’t realized the gas was on without the flame and L got a headache… so she called the nurse line and they told her to to go the ER which she REALLY didn’t want to do, but she did and A came with her. They saw her relatively quickly and did some blood tests and they watched David Beckham in the meantime. They wanted L to do more tests but she knew she was fine so they went home around 2am.

L had another TikTok interview that week and was overall quite stressed and burnt out, really needing a break.

Italy

On Thursday night, they flew to Rome and landed at lunchtime on Friday. They immediately took a train (after delays) to Rome and then had time for one coffee before getting another train to Orvieto, where they met A’s friends – Rasmus, Rowan. Arnaud, Maline. Cara. They chatted to them on the train and then arrived and spent ages trying to find a taxi to drive 5 mins up a hill to the hotel.

The hotel was in a great setting in the mountains and countryside but they quickly found out they would be sharing a room – luckily with Ben and Lizzie who are lovely – however it was a surprise especially as they were exhausted and just wanted to sleep! L was a bit emotional and also got rejected from TikTok which made it worse. After a little cry she decided to head out for the Pizza party which was chilled even though it rained a little. They had an early evening and slept well!

The next morning they had breakfast in the hotel with friends and then decided to walk to Orvieto up the hill and L was soo happy for some activity and alone time! The town was cute and small, and the Duomo was so pretty. They met Ben and Lizzie there then had coffee and met some of the other crew in town too (everyone else had driven). They got snacks from the supermarket (L’s fave past time) and then walked back to the hotel. They got ready and headed out for the ceremony at 3pm in the back garden by the castle tower. It was a very pretty ceremony in Ukrainian and English and with a funny old man officiating. Olesya and Joe both looked amazing!! And so did Umar who had lost LOADS of weight. After the ceremony they had a tonne of canapés and it was raining a bit but they all had white umbrellas that made it better. They then went to have dinner outside and it was the most stunning backdrop and table L had seen. They had 2 pasta courses then tuna then dessert. It did rain a bit throughout the meal but people were still chilled. Umar’s best man speech was hilarious and also sentimental, and both Joe and Olesya gave good speeches too! After that, they headed to the dance floor int he partial rain, A ate a lot of mille feuille and L ate berries off the top of it 🙂 \

They drunk quite a lot (open bar) and danced outside and then inside when it moved into the castle later. L had nice chats with some of the girls and went to bed at 2am but A stayed on to hang with his friends until later and propped up Umar who was really tired. He eventually came back around 4am and passed out.

They woke up late on Sunday and missed breakfast but walked into Orvieto again to have breakfast at a cute cafe. A was a bit hungover. Then L sat outside with some of the friends and ate gelato whilst A did some McK work to prep for DGL stuff. L had a good time chatting on her own about mental health services in the UK. Then in the eve they went out for a dinner outside and ate pizza chatting mostly with Vicki, Tim, Dan and Grace. A stayed up to watch NFL whilst L watched sex education and went to bed.

On Monday they had the final breakfast with the friends then set off to Rome with Rasmus, Rowan, Arnaud and Maline. Their train was delayed but they finally made it and went straight to their hotel in Rome to chill before heading out on a walk to see the sights. Everything was super busy but it was nice to do the long walk. They ended up having dinner at a Michelin recommended bistro outside and had pasta and fish and went to a really cute wine bar!

The following day they met up with Emily and Joe who were also in Rome at a coffee shop then walked through Villa Borghese with them before going on to see the Colosseum. A loves the Romans and he told L a lot about them. They then took shelter in the hotel and L did pilates whilst there were thunderstorms. In the eve they went to a Korean restaurant which was yummy and a nice change from all the pasta and pizza they had been having! They went to a cute wine bar after and A had a trebbiono white wine that he loved.

On Weds they went for a last quick coffee and walk then headed to the airport to fly back to Toronto. They are currently on the plane writing this!! 5 hours left to go! A giggled a lot at some cartoon movie and ‘The Nice Guys’