I had a really good time hanging out with my two co-workers after work today.  Georgia, Nicole and I had made plans to go for sushi, and so we ended up at Sashimi House (Georgia’s favourite) for an early dinner.  As you can see from the picture, we had a table full of food with each of us having very different meals; Nicole had her vegetarian sushi combo, Georgia had her raw fish, and I had my bento box.  But we all made sure to share the fun and laughter.

Since Nicole had plans afterward, Georgia and I decided to head up to Pacific Mall.  I haven’t been there in a long time and it didn’t seem like anything had changed.  Surprisingly, I ended up buying this really cute black & white dress there.  It reminded me of the pair of Nine West heels I bought last Summer but never wore.  I’m not even sure the dress will go well with the heels, but if not it’ll just give me a good reason to go shoe-shopping :)

I’m really going to miss working with these girls early in the morning at Chapters.  We were always the 7am girls.  Susie flew off to Europe this week, Nicole is leaving at the end of next week, and Georgia won’t be working mornings anymore.  Great, I’m going to be stuck with the guys.  Not to mention Norm & Peter, my two favourite Starbucks people, have both left.  Everyone seems to be leaving and it’s a bit sad, but in a way I’m happy for them all.  Without a doubt, I truly wish them all the best.

I’m just dying to see the new movie, Dead Silence.  It’s been a while since I last saw a movie at the theatres, and this one sounds pretty interesting.  I can’t even recall the last time I watched a horror movie, so I’m really hoping to see this one.  I just have to find someone to go see it with me ’cause this is one I definitely don’t want to see by myself.

Shrek: The Third is coming out on my mom’s birthday.  I’m pretty excited about it since Shrek is one of my favourite animated films; it’s up there with Monsters, Inc.  My three attempts to finish watching Shrek 2 failed horribly, so I’ll have to ensure I make a better effort to see the third one this time.

The Nanny Diaries is another movie I’m patiently waiting to see.  I’ve recommended the book to many people while at work, so it seems only right to see the movie too (just like with The Devil Wears Prada).  It seems like a light, enjoyable film that’s perfect for winding down after exams  :)

Yesterday was an absolutely wonderful day. I got to Chapters at 9:30am just as they opened because I wanted to be early to beat the crowd at Starbucks (except there turned out to be no crowd; everyone was outside the mall lined up to get their VIP wristbands). The people didn’t start flowing in until about 10:30am. That’s when Chapters became infested with hundreds of little kids and their parents. They were there to see the Doodlebops. One little girl even had a bright pink wig on haha

But the Doodlebops wasn’t what made the day so amazingly wonderful. Vanesa and I had initially planned to use the day to study, but since people were constantly coming by to sit and chat with us, studying was near impossible.

Andrew W. dropped by to pay everyone at Chapters a visit. I rarely see him now that he doesn’t work with us. Almost everyone else came by during their breaks. Everyone from the usual Susie, Omar and Keith to George, Sandra and Samuel. We formed this nice group at the centre of Starbucks, not to mention how comfy it was to sit on the couch. Even my two favourite people at Starbucks, Norm & Peter, were working.

It was purely a coincedence that Vanesa and I wore matching colours (not to mention very similar styles too), and how ironic that it happened on OUR DAY. For those who don’t already know, a few years ago the best friend and I established that the 13th day of every month would be OUR DAY. Since graduating from high school, we’ve spent very few OUR DAYs hanging out together, so yesterday was special.

We left Starbucks just before rush hour hit. It was such a beautiful day out that we decided, instead of taking the bus all the way home, we would walk down my street from Sheppard (it’s about a 40 minute walk back to my house). Despite having to hop thru puddles and having to bare with the curious eyes in the cars that drove pass us, it was fun. Walking over the 401 bridge was a bit freaky, but we had a laugh when we started running as if to avoid the huge trucks that zipped by under our feet at lightning speed. We were getting a bit hungry at that point, so we stopped at Country Style to grab a breakfast sandwich and sit down for a chat before continuing with the journey.

I remember how we used to do that in high school; go for walks after school when it was nice out. Completely burden-free, almost careless. It also reminds me that within unhappy memories, there is still room for happy times.

I had Saturday off this weekend, the first time in months.  A few of my co-workers and I finally went to the Mongolian Hot Pot that we had planned months ago.  It was my first time at this particular hot pot buffet that Teresa recommended, and it turned out to be pretty good.  As you can see from the picture, I had the ultra spicy soup base; those are red chili peppers floating on the top there.  Omar was the only weak one to pick the normal soup base.  Considering he’s Mexican, you’d assume he’d naturally go for the hot stuff.  Guess not.  Even his friend, Alena, got the spicy soup base.

After enjoying the hot pot lunch, I met up with Johnny for some downtown shopping.  It had been a long time since we last hung out.  After we got bored of Bloor St., we went up to Yorkdale.  I later found out that Omar and Alena actually went to Yorkdale and then went downtown.  I’m surprised we didn’t run into each other haha  I managed to pick up a cute top @ Yorkdale which I really like.  I’m still in search of a nice belt and casual shoes, though.  Anyway, Johnny and I ended up at Moxies for dinner and we had a really long, interesting conversation there.  I always like conversations that are inspiring.  And having known him for so long, it’s nice to catch up with an old friend.

I had today off by fluke, and it’s funny that I have more days off this week than I’ve had in the last 10 months.  I slept in a little this morning (by that, I mean I got up at 8:30a), went to study at Starbucks for a few hours, and then came home for more studying.  Tomorrow is another day off, which I’m supposed to spend studying with Vanesa.  The Doodlebops are supposed to be at Chapters tomorrow morning for a kids’ event.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get some studying done despite the ruckus.

First and foremost…the good news:  96% on my Nutrition midterm!!!  I can’t be more happy with my mark.  I’m surprised with how much I’ve learned about nutrition since taking this course.  It’s just a matter of incorporating everything I’ve learned into my lifestyle now.

The last few days have been energy draining.  I worked downtown on Sunday and got slammed by an overwhelming amount of customers.  Typically, I work Sundays alone, so I open at 11am and close the store at 4pm.  On this particular Sunday, though, I didn’t end up closing until 6pm.  A mining convention kicked off that day over at the convention centre with 14,000 attending the event.  This one customer had asked me to put together a few outfits for him while he said he would come back later in the day; he didn’t come back until it hit 4pm AND it took him an hour & a half to decide on his purchase.  On the bright side, I managed to double the day’s sales with his help.  My boss was thrilled to hear the figures for that day.  As for me, I had a great time talking with all the people who came by, many of them were very friendly.

I’ve been socially deprived lately, being busy with school and work.  It was just coincedence that, in the last two days, I managed to catch up with a few people I haven’t seen in a while.  Morris happened to be at Chapters on Monday.  I never see him working at Starbucks anymore.  We had a good conversation about lifestyles, dealing with stressing and what not.  It was inspiring.  Then later that day, Daphne came by with her friend.  We haven’t really kept in touch since collaborating for the last X-quisite video, so it was nice seeing her again.

Then today, I had an awesome time just hanging out with my best friend at Starbucks.  Vanesa and I haven’t seen each other since she went on vacation right before the Xmas holidays.  It’s been nearly three months!  We were mainly there to study but, as usual, you find us chatting away and laughing about silly stuff.  We also had a heated debate with Samuel about panhandling.  haha  I’m not about to start another discussion here about that topic.

Anyway, the last couple days have just been great.  Had many interesting and inspiring conversations with all types of people, learned a lot through that, and it all got me thinking about what my direction from here on is.

If you have listened to the news in the last few hours, you may have heard about the danger of falling ice chunks in the downtown Toronto area.  Sheets of ice were shedding from the sides of the CN Tower, causing the area along Front St. between John and Simcoe to become a danger zone; this strip was closed off in the afternoon.

That being said, I’m reminded that the menswear store I work at is located inside the Intercontinental Hotel right at the corner of this very street.  Check out CP24′s coverage and watch the video.  The part where you see a sheet of ice smash against the glass roof of the Azure Restaurant is rather frightening.  But you can see how professional the hotel’s security team is in handling situations like these.  No wonder Prime Minister Harper checked-in to our hotel a few weeks ago ;)

I’m guessing that my trip to work tomorrow is going to be quite an exciting one.

I’ve been relaxing in the comfort of my home today, despite the huge snow storm outside.  It’s nearing the end of my study week.  So much for studying, I haven’t studied or looked over my nutrition textbook since my midterm last Thursday.  But let’s look on the bright side, I used my spare time to rest for once.

So you may have already heard (and asked) about my back pain.  It’s the result of the extensive lifting and carrying of books at Chapters.  When I’m at work, I only worry about being fast & efficient and not so much how it can injure me; I know I have a bad habit of lifting incorrectly.  I’ve kept myself working so hard the past months that my mentality was able to completely override any symptom of pain.  Since I sort of let loose these last two weeks, I’m totally feeling it now.  The worst part is that I’ve been finding it difficult to sleep at night.  Put a back pain and lack of sleep together, that makes a very cranky Franny.

Oh, and just a side note in regards to my cheesecake incident…I came across the business card that Mr. See had given me, and when I turned it over I realized that his cell number was hand-written on the back.  So to all of those who thought it was more than just a nice gesture, well…maybe you were right afterall.  haha  Too bad he’s in his mid-40′s.  I’m not one to date a man twice my age even if he’s loaded.  Hell no!

Here is the result of my celebrity look-alike test.  What do you think?