Holy fuck.
It was the worst hangover I had ever had that didn't involve me becoming intimate with a toilet. And it was my own fault for not drinking water before I passed out. Such a dumbass.
You know those hangovers where you just need to lay very, very still and pray?
It was one of those.
And I knew I needed to get up. I knew we had plans. I knew that I had totally earned the hangover and deserved every miserable minute of it.
Yet, when Lola came down and said, "Kate, you totally have to get up, we've got stuff to do." I believe my exact response was to put a pillow over my face and cry.
So Lola sits on the stairs and says to me, "Kate, I just want to let you know that I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about making out with that guy last night."
And I dug deep into the memory section of my brain to try and remember her even having said anything to me at all, be it about the random doctor boy or otherwise.
But I came up empty handed.
"Sweety, I barely remember making out with the boy, nevermind talking about it afterwards. Don't worry about it."
I eventually separated myself from the sheets and got into the shower where I spent many minutes contemplating death and how similar it must feel to a really awful hangover. I finally got out and while I had to take many breaks, I managed to dress and was begrudgingly ready to go.
Now I have to say that very last thing I wanted to do in the whole wide world was get dressed and go outside, the very idea made me want to crawl into my suitcase and zip it closed. But it ended up being the best thing for me.
Not the driving part.
No, the driving part had me teetering dangerously between Miserable and Nauseous. And Lola could totally tell because every time I took a deep breath to quell the rising unhappiness, she asked me "are you ok?" And I lied and said I would live. But once we got out of the car and the cold weather I had been dreading hit me in the face, I was totally fine.
This is why people can drink so much where there is winter! Cold air is the fucking cure to any hangover.
The fifty something temperature sucked the hangover out of me and within minutes I was ready to consume coffee, which I did while sitting in the grass at a little part that was having a perfect little Celtic Festival.
We walk into this absolutely stunning green park and there are a couple hundred people, some of whom are sitting in their fold out chairs facing a stage where a little old man is singing things like "The Fields of Athenry" & "Oh Danny Boy" & other songs that aren't so popular and that I don't know the name of and the rest of the crowd is milling about at the various booths set up around the park.
And for reasons unknown to me, I got completely overwhelmed with emotion and had to excuse myself so I could go call Amanda and cry like a complete idiot on the phone.
Thank god for sunglasses.
I did so much on this trip but my favorite part was just sitting in the grass sipping coffee and listening to Lola's family and family friends (all from Ireland) talk about every day stuff with Irish folk music in the background. I'd have been content to just sit there all day.
We couldn't spend the whole day there so we got up and went to breakfast. Lola was so sweet, she kept saying "so are you ready for food now?" and I kept saying I just needed a few more minutes as we walked down the street looking into little shops.
This was my favorite shop, all pretty and purple :)
And if ANY of you out there know what the hell Dirty Bingo is, I need an email about it because I am dying to know!
We ate at this super tiny hole in the wall restaurant that is Lola's most favorite breakfast place in the world and I once again can't remember the name of it. (I am such a dissapointing tourist huh? I can't remember the name of
any thing.)
What did we do after that? Geez, my poor brain. I believe we then went to IKEA. HOLY CRAP people! Have you ever been to IKEA? I had never been, although I often read on Dooce about how rad IKEA is but I never knew.
I just never knew.
We go into this fucking blue warehouse full of awesomeness. That's what it is. It should be called WFOA instead of IKEA. Unless IKEA stands for something cool too and I just don't know what it is.
I'd google it but I am at work and on the King of the Ancient Dinosaur Computers. The very fact that I don't put my face through the monitor is amazing.
We were in IKEA forever and yet it felt like no time at all... much like when you first meet some dude you are totally into and that first date is like nine hours long and you end up sitting in a park somewhere watching the sun come up? IKEA is so like that dude. You can just walk around for hours and look at all the cool shit and time ceases to exist.
This is what I bought there:
A package of 48 scented tea light candles, four packages of glass colored tea light candle holders (each package with four glass holders, for a total of 16), two woven polypro bags with cool designs on them (which I am using for grocery shopping now that Toronto has inspired me to stop destroying the enviroment with plastic grocery bags), a roll of drawing paper that is like a million feet long and a rod to mount on the wall to hold the paper.
Total cost (Canadian): 24.99
I am now in the process of planning a road trip to IKEA with Jiffinner, The Cake Lady and Fairy because that is just way too cool.
Lola? What did we do after IKEA? I think we went back to Lola's house...
I know we had plans to go out that night...
I don't remember! And do you know why, dear reader? Because I had become entirely obsessed with what I was going to get everyone. I had been lucky and found perfect gifts for Amanda and Trin at the festival, but I couldn't figure out what to get Em... and then I started feeling bad because I hadn't gotten Ruthie anything and here she was being all super awesome.
I know that we did go back to Lola's to rest because we had plans to go out with two of her friends that night for drinks... and Lola had to work.
We did go back to her place and kick back for a few hours. She chatted with her boys about what we were going to do that night and it ended up that we were all going to a movie. But not together, lol. They were going to a movie and we were going to a movie and then we were all going to meet up afterwards.
And we, being chics, decided to go see The Nanny Diaries.
But did we get to see The Nanny Diaries?
No.
And do you know why?
Yup. Apparently the newspaper had ran an incorrect ad. So, the theater showing The Nanny Diaries was actually an official film festival theater and rather than letting us laugh at the drama-comedy and hate how cute Scarlett Johansson is, we had to watch The Princess Of Nebraska, which I can only hope you never have to watch.
Lola and I had agreed, as we were walking out of the movie 45 minutes in, that we would say it was "artsy" instead of "crap" but I just can't lie to you all.
So, rather than talk about the movie, I just tell everyone "I got to go to the Toronto Film Festival.." and they ooohhh and ahhhh and ask if I saw anyone famous.
After the movie, we walked around downtown in the super cold weather, stopped and got some coffee and then sat outside sipping it and watching all the people cruise by while waiting for her friends to call and say that their movie was over.
We eventually found ourselves sitting in a college bar called The Green Room. While we were hanging out there, drinking tea rather than alcohol - thank god, we just talked. Lola had a bunch going on right now and it was nice to just sit and talk and not be trying to pick up dudes or run to the next thing or worry about flight times or anything. We just sat and acted like girlfriends who live in the same zip code and who get together for drinks and bitching.
It was nice.
We did eventually go and meet her friends at another hole-in-the-wall restaurant. (I think all of these places are probably regular sized for Toronto and just look tiny to me :P) Her friends were charming, to say the least. One of whom had just returned from South Carolina and I had the best time just listening to him recap his story. They were great and we sat there for a few hours just chatting. Around three we left and headed back to Lola's house.
(Lola - I know I've left things out - post them in my comments!!)
Labels: Toronto trip
