Wine, Sun, and Furniture

Mauriano, Silvina, and R

I don't know why my photos turn out darker than the originals when I post on here, but they do! You can barely see my friend Silvina with her tan in the middle! They are our favorite Argentineans and our close friends in Vancouver. We all met for a drink before we headed over to my boss' place for our staff bbq. The party turned out to be a good time, at least we all thought so. The younger staff stationed ourselves at the table in the middle of the back garden and didn't move, except for more wine and food. Not sure why it always ends up that way, but we always seem to separate ourselves from the older members- lack of conversation I think. I'm sure I sensed jealousy though, as they all wished they were sitting with us and laughing to pee their pants like I was. Might have had something to do with the wine, though! It was a beautiful night and so wonderful to be outside in the cool air after sweltering through the afternoon. And the food was fantastic, his wife put on quite the spread. Made me glad to be working here - sure it didn't last past this morning when I came back to the office, but I did experience the gratitude.

Did anyone else bawl their eyes out watching Tiger Woods win the Open Championships yesterday? Or was it just me? How touching was it to see him crying with grief for his father who past away three months ago, who would never see him play again? Not being able to let go of his caddy and hugging his wife? I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. It made me love him even more to see such a human side to him. I almost forget how much life is really happening all around these professional athletes, and yet they show up everyday and push through, do their best. It makes me want to be a professional athlete- I'd be a tennis player or a golfer for sure. The commitment and desire just blows my mind. Going after their dreams and goals with such discipline, I'm in awe regularly. And getting be fit for a living...sounds pretty good to me!

R and I went sofa shopping yesterday - trying to decide whether to get one now or wait till we can save up more and get something really nice. Loved everything at EQ3, go check out their website, very funky! We have a love seat only at the moment, a generous gift from our local friends when we first moved to the city- before that we were sitting on the floor. With his parents coming soon, we thought this would be a good time,but it is an intense process, full of imagination and price tags and fabrics that I cannot for the life of me visualize as actual size and in my flat! You gotta get it right the first time as well, they aren't going to sort it out for you! Any advice for a virgin furniture buyer? The first house stuff I ever bought was last October when we moved into our flat and IKEA made that easy. This is the real deal and I'm faltering...at least we are both on the same page with what style and size and comfort factor we're after. I couldn't imagine doing this with our heads butting together.

We've rented a car for the long weekend coming up in August, going to do a couple day trips to some parks and hikes around us. We couldn't decide where to go away over night, so decided to do day trips instead. We're saving the big holiday for when R's parents get here in September - 2 and a half weeks or being the tour guides, I can't wait! We'll be doing the wine country and Vancouver Island and maybe hit the mountains as well when they are here. See what we want as well! Can I just say that two weeks paid holiday is a sin, complete nonsense! In England you get what, 3 weeks at the very least?? R and I are still trying to get used to this after having 3-4 month holidays for the past few years while we were traveling. Working a bit to fill the bank account, then months away on the road. Sounds much better to me as I sit here on yet another beautiful sunny day, missing it.