Two Thousand Nine

[Walking through The Annex in the cold]

January

Get my first DSLR.

Convince Nick to live in Toronto with me for one full month. I admired his courage a great deal as January was brutally cold.

My boss leaves for sunny L.A. I hoped he’d take his assistant with him so I could get her position. That didn’t happen. It made it easier for me to consider leaving my job so…

Nick & I decide to put an end to this long-distance and start to plan my move to New York.

[brunching with Julia at Easy Rider]

February

Celebrate Valentines Day at Peter Lugers’ steakhouse. Decide Valentines Day needs steak & cheesecake from now on.

Buy my first pair of leather Steve Madden boots and fall in love. Proceed to wear them out. Goodbye, high-tops, I am a woman now.

Enjoy more-frequent brunches with Julia.

I begin to thoroughly enjoy being an aunt and have been named Aunt “Geegaw” by my two year old nephew.

[Dimitri The Lover & Mr. Geography’s business cards on my fridge]

March

As usual, temporarily escape the mid-winter blues with Canadian Music Week.

After one night of CMWing, I took a cab home from the Supermarket and got Mr. Geography!!! Was too excited and/or intoxicated to get any of the answers right to his questions, but left the cab very happy nonetheless.

That same week, I was the victim of an attempted pick-up by the notorious Dimitri The Lover at a grocery store. It was like Toronto was showing me I didn’t need to leave for New York, as the city had plenty of its own local celebrities!

[Happy faces in strange places]

April

Not much happened. I started this blog, probably for something to do!

[my going-away party at C’est What]

May

What seemed like the shortest and craziest month of the year, as I prepared to move from the apartment with Angela to New York with Nick!!

I purged my belongings – sold furniture, books, CDs, and electronics, gave away clothes, left piles of things on the street for people to take.

Left my job of six years.

Got a sunburn the first weekend on May at Bamboozle in NJ.

Was incredibly thankful Angela’s dad had a lifetime Fed Ex discount, as that is how I sent what belongings I had left to Brooklyn.

[our new living room]

June

I am in Brooklyn!

Work on sprucing up an almost furniture-less apartment.

Begin volunteering at an art gallery in Williamsburg.

Start attending classes at Namaste Yoga, love it.

[glow stick moustaches in Pennsylvania]

July

Celebrate my first 4th of July in Nick’s hometown of Lancaster, PA with his family.

Attend a superhero-themed birthday party and don a cape with about 20 other adults and one child.

Art gallery shuts down; the routine I was developing is thrown off.

Join a Polish meat head gym, discover how great it is to get up and go to the gym first thing in the morning, almost every day.

Start volunteering at Insound.

[Sparky & I at Sneaky Dees]

August

Get muddy at All Points West.

Discover the joy of sharing a box of Peter Pan donuts with Nick on a Sunday morning, while reading the NY Times.

Return to Toronto for the first time in 3 months. The longest I’ve ever gone without seeing my family.

Come home to Brooklyn to find a box from Tiffany waiting for me. Swoon over my new key necklace from my sweetheart boyfriend.

[Engaging sunset!]

September

Spend Labour Day weekend in Maryland with Nick. Get dressed up as tourists in tye-dye.

Nick suggests we get up early one morning to watch the sunrise on the beach. When the sun has risen, he gets down on one knee and proposes!!!

Go back to Toronto again for my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary party.

Get refused re-entry to the USA at 5:30 am. Hate life for a few days, then enter survival/stubborn mode and hire a lawyer.

[Jillian Stella Martin]

October

Nick comes to visit his exiled fiancee. We celebrate our birthdays and Canadian thanksgiving.

My niece, Jillian, is born!

I get a terrible sinus infection. Become addicted to Advil Cold & Sinus.

Discover and embrace the practice of the neti pot.

Get tonsillitis.

Get hives.

Realize I probably had H1N1.

[The East River]

November

Return to Brooklyn for one month.

Watch the Yankees win the World Series at the new stadium.

Run into Hannah & Landon on the street in Williamsburg the day after I return. As a Canadian-American couple who were also bullied by the government, they give me hope and inspiration for Nick & I.

Visit Atlanta, GA for the first time.

See Tracey Morgan do stand-up comedy.

Hang out with great ladies like Kate, Courtney, and Shannon.

Nick starts at an exciting new job with a great company!

[Sarah & Stephen: super couple]

December

Fly back to Toronto.

Make suburban resolutions like I will learn how to drive while I’m here and read a lot.

In reality, I will play with my sister’s kids every day for 8 hours and wonder where the day went.

Fall in love with Sarah Curtis & Stephen Bowles all over again for their hospitality and hang outs when I come into the city. (Stephen can make eggs benedict!!)

Am grateful for Joe & Dori, my sole Whitby friends.

Enjoy being back for the holiday season.

Curse the Christmas freezing rain and countdown the minutes until Nick comes to visit so we can spend a good part of next week at my parents’ cottage!