A Distanced Game Day

Last year Teri and her family launched an annual event in honour of her late father. Gord's Game Day is held in September and brings people together to be outside, active, and connected. Her dad was involved in many team sports both playing and organizing them, as well as, a driving force for their extended family to gather and have a good time. The event last year, in 2019, was at a public park in Hamilton, with obstacle courses, giant jenga, soccer and more. Entry fees and fundraising go towards the Brain Aneurism Foundation of Canada.

With the pandemic this year, the event had to go 'virtual' with a request that family groups and small gatherings of friends try to keep the budding tradition going by running their own Game Day in honour of Gord. A bunch of the participants sent in photos and clips from their activities, which have been made into a video. We did our own Game Day at the waterfront in August, organized by K. The video starts off with a clip from that day and me pushing a ball of Jason's spoon during a race (I am the worst!) You can catch glimpses of Teri, her mother and brother, Greg, R.O.M, K, Jason, Mike, LeMonde, Kristen, Noah, Leo, Monica, Andras, Sebi, and the list goes on. It is a fun montage!

Happy Easter

K sent us this image with a message that said "Looking forward to the day I can hang out with my peeps again"

Me, Maria, Matty, Teri, Monica 

as Peeps! for Easter 2020 done by K

Super cute! Don't know why she picked a photo where Monica has her eyes closed but the rest of us look good. I don't think I have ever had a Peep, don't they have coconut on them, or is that something else? And I agree with her statement, this self-isolation for Covid-19 is really lonely.

It's A Bit Like A Party

I hosted my third Virtual Trivia Night last night and it was busy! There were 19 teams! It is a big collection of people: from close friends to extended family, friends of friends and more. I have covered up their names but you might recognize some faces among last night's trivia crew:

Participants for Covid-19 Virtual Trivia Night

Hosted by me on Zoom

March 31, 2020

Soup Selfie!

One of my Christmas traditions has always bucked the material/consumer driven holiday trend - Christmas Soup. More than a decade ago, while I was still living in Ottawa, Teri got together with a couple of her friends to make French Onion Soup. Since it is a dish that takes a long time - lots of cutting onions and boiling them down - they decided to make a day of it, hanging out together.

Every year since that start they have gotten together for an afternoon/evening in December to make soup together and then eat it afterwards. I joined the tradition a few years in and over time the group has grown with spouses and even a baby now. We just got together yesterday for Christmas Soup 2019 (see photo), made a delicious green minestrone one.

The Taste Of Grapes

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A post about my Dad each Sunday, named after a song that he loved.

When my dad had his hip replacement surgery I sent him an Edible Arrangement, a pretty bouquet made of cut fruit. I remember talking to him on the phone a couple of weeks into his recovery and he said that when he was finally able to eat something, since the pain medication made him very nauseous, he started with the grapes from the arrangement. He was so thankful for those grapes and talked about how sweet and refreshing they were.

Teri, Monica, Maria, Matty, and K sent me an Edible Arrangement yesterday and I had the grapes right away. My dad was right, they were awesome; so cool and juicy, a great thing to have when you start eating after surgery.

The Bag Boy

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A post about my Dad each Sunday, named after a song that he loved.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have now done the Toronto Island Try-Tri three times. The first time in 2013 was only a few months before my dad's unexpected death. He had accompanied Mom, Jason, Teri, K, and I to the island to cheer us on and watch our stuff while we competed. When writing yesterday I came across the fact that Dad's last comment on Always Standing had been about my race that year.

Doing the race for the second time in 2015 was really difficult, I remember getting emotional on the last stretch of the run. I hoped he was proud that I was still doing this type of thing. I was sad that he missed the chance to hang out with a bigger group since more people came last year. I missed seeing his smiling face in the crowd. I think I held it together for the most part after the race.

This year was different. I was a mess after I finished running. I actually hadn't thought about it until I crossed the finish line and then it was a rush of emotion. Three years ago he had been there; now I picture his face but can't hear his voice in my head anymore. I know he is cheering me on but I forget what that sounds like. I miss his support and his energy. I cried for a long long time as I sat in the shade after I finished this year.

Third Time Today

I don't know how I missed blogging about it last year, but I did the Toronto Island Triathlon for a second time and today I did it again for a third.

In 2013, Mom, Jason, Teri, K, and I went to the island for our first triathlon. The event is in August, but I didn't end up blogging about it until October.

Then in 2014, I had planned to do it. Jason and I actually signed up even though it would mean returning early from our Killbear camping trip. Then Jason hurt his ankle, and I was having such a nice time up north we decided to skip it.

Last year, a bunch of us did it again. We launched what I anticipate to be Meg's illustrious triathlon career, Teri and Jason joined me in doing it a second time, and we convinced Matty to come out at the last minute. It turns out I never posted about this, even though we had done a fun training session at the cottage, and I improved my times in almost all the areas, and there was a great picture of me biking!

Me Biking - 2015 Toronto Island Try-Tri

Multisport Canada Toronto Island Triathalon

August 22, 2015

Photo by ZoomPhoto

Helpful Tuesday Links

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online has a list of common abbreviations. I found it when I wanted to know what the short form was for subscription (there are two options Subscr. or Subscript.)

However, it only includes words that are used in the OED so it doesn't have the abbreviations that recently tripped up K. She thought her friend was saying she had an 'appointment' near her, but really she was getting an 'apartment' nearby - big difference.

There is actually a bigger, better source that I should have used: Abbreviations.com

Paper Productivity

On a quick step away from all the house related posts, I went to The Cottage this weekend to work on some wedding preparations. 

In order to keep our budget down, Jason and I are trying a lot of tips and techniques to cut costs. One of those is to do your own flowers. It was hard to find a good cost estimate but I knew that this was is an area that can cost anywhere from $500 to $5,000. It all depends on what specific flowers are chosen, whether they are in season locally or not, size and number of bouquets needed, and if any decorations or centerpieces are getting made.

Both Kristen and Jenn found ways to save on flower costs but still have beautiful fresh flower bouquets. Jenn got her's done by a grocery store florist, I know because I picked them up for her. Kristen's mom put her's together the morning of the wedding from flowers bought at a farmers' market. These would have been smart options for us as well but as soon as fresh flowers are used it means more work and organization on the actual day - bouquets using other materials can be done well ahead of time and don't add to the day-of organization.

So this weekend, using some outdated brochures that were going to get thrown away, Teri, K, Tessa, Kristen, Jeska, and I gathered glue guns and scissors around the dining room table down at Long Point and got to work. And work we did! Jason and I have a large wedding party so that meant EIGHT bouquets to make yesterday. We finished and they look great. See the photo above - paper roses, mainly in blue. One more thing to check off the list of things to do before the wedding.

Finally Saw The Bean

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A post about my Dad each Sunday, named after a song that he loved.

For a long time I didn't know where Stonehenge was. This was because I visited England between Grades 5 and 6 for over month with my family, and we never saw it. We saw so many sites in England the idea that my parents didn't take us to this Wonder of the World was unfathomable to me, so I spent all of high school and most of university thinking that was somewhere else. When Steph finished at Carlton, we celebrated by going on a trip to London and she wanted to see Stonehenge, we actually fraught a bit about it being in the country (and Steph is obsessed with Stonehenge so I have no idea why I argued.) We ended up seeing it and now I obviously know what country it is in.

I had been having a similar experience with The Bean. It can't be in Chicago, cause if it was, why hadn't my dad and I visited it when we came in 1994?

As I mentioned before, the only other time that I had visited Chicago was when I came with my parents over 20 years ago. My mom had a conference to attend, which meant that my dad and I hung out together during the day. We stayed at the Blackstone Hotel (some of The Untouchables was filmed there), which is next to the Hilton where my mom's conference was. These hotels are on South Michigan Avenue, just across from the big park area on Chicago's waterfront, we walked along the lake when it wasn't too cold or windy.

The only major attraction we visited here was the big aquarium, besides that we just went to all the free art galleries. Dad loved this because they were free and he has a certain cursory interest in art. Also, because I was young, we probably were moving through them in at a good pace. So, with this emphasis on art, visits to the waterfront parkland, and desire to see things that didn't cost anything, how come I never saw The Bean (which I hear K is pretty obsessed with and likes to visit it multiple times when she visits the city.)?

Turns out it wasn't even there! The planning for Millennium Park didn't start until 1997, and Cloud Gate (The Bean) wasn't added until 2006.

Ritual And Happiness

According to my Book List 2012, I was reading Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project in February of 2012 and I was quoting it that same month. I really liked the book and have since passed it on to friends to read. Teri liked it. K had a very adverse reaction to it and in fact couldn't finish reading it. I do agree with many of K's points but I still found the suggestions insightful.

I just started another 'self-help' style book by Rubin, Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives. I love rituals and routines (I don't like to think of them as habits, though they are) so it has been an enjoyable read so far.

My love of rituals drew me to the title of a recent Time magazine article: 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy, According to Neuroscience. As detailed in the article, these rituals are:
- Feeling gratitude
- Labeling negative emotions
- Making decisions 
- Touching 

I am pretty good at the middle two on that list. I am very decisive, which eliminates a lot of the worry, anxiety, and stress that I see in less decisive people. Years of therapy, with various practitioners, has helped me identity things I am feeling and I try to acknowledge them aloud. I don't really like 'touching' and am not a fan of hugging. Luckily, I think Jason fills enough of that component to keep my happy.

The thing that I really really need to work on is the first point of the article - gratitude. It shows up everywhere as an important factor in happiness!! Scientist prove it all the time that it helps with depression and anxiety. It isn't that I take things for granted (though I do) it is just that the idea of gratitude doesn't have a permanent place in my life. Actually, with less and less people practicing religion, rarely does anyone take time to be grateful for the things in their lives. "Things I am grateful for" seems like a boring journal or blog to keep but is scientifically proven as beneficial to do. I need to work on it somehow.

Happy Belated Birthday to Teri!

Teri's birthday was yesterday, though we celebrated on Sunday with another Escape Room. We were supposed to all go out for dinner but I went home to bed because I was too hungover. The Escape Room was a bit different than other ones I have done, there were about 20 teams (of 6 people) all doing it at the same time. Only 3 of us escaped and I believe we were the first ones. Maybe I am better at this type of stuff when I am hung over? Actually I think it is just a very smart, and fairly balanced group. Having K's math skills helped a lot too.

The Dream Team Of Escaping!

Matt, Greg, Teri, Jason, Me, and K in the front

Escape from the Cursed Forest, Sept 13, 2015

I am pretty bad at remembering birthdays. As friends for well over 20 years now, Teri is one of the few birthdays I actually know, though when the time comes I am not that on top of it. Found this quote on Twitter and I feel like it applies, "Your secrets are safe with me because I literally won't remember them. This also applies to your birthday. Your birthdays are safe with me."

Got No Flo

There was a very very very slim chance that work might send me to Florida at the end of November for the largest tradeshow in our industry. However, the official list came out today and I am not going. The main thing that the official list getting finalize means, is that I get to start working on the huge task of scheduling flights, cars, accommodation, meetings, and other events for all the people going, over 20 people. It is going to be a really exciting, I love organizing that type of thing.

In fact, I recently made a spreadsheet on Google Docs to help organize Teri, K, and other friends get together more regularly. It is beautiful, colour coordinated, organized by date with key details. Greg said that it proved anything could be put into a spreadsheet - even friendship. This is high praise because Greg, along with Steph, is one of the most talented Excel users that I know.

T&G Engagement Shots

I figured that I would start out Wedding Wednesdays way back in October 2013 when Steph published her Feature Set of Engagement Photos that she did with Teri and Greg at the Toronto waterfront. I know that I briefly mentioned that they were getting them done at the time, but only provide the link to the Sneak Peek. It turns out that I am terrible about remembering to share my friends engagement photos on Always Standing.

This is one of the many great shots:

Harbour's Breeze: A Toronto Love Story

Photo by Stephanie Beach Photography

Copyright 2013

My favorite pictures are the two different ones where they are sitting. (Also the kissing one with the CN Tower in it, this is mainly because I love the CN Tower and its iconic representation of downtown Toronto.) The photo above is actually K's favorite; she loves it so much that she has mentioned multiple times thinking that it looks like it could be in a magazine. I agree, it definitely looks like a sexy clothing ad - for Guess maybe.

See the full Feature Set on the STEPHANIE BEACH PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG.

Way Too Early

I am not known for my punctuality. I actually love rushing to appointments, flights, trains, etc. The threat of lateness is thrilling, my mom says it is an ADD thing. However, the threat of lateness often just turns into actual lateness. So, with my current unemployment and the subsequent job interviews, I am trying really hard to be early.

I went all the way out to Scarborough today for a job interview. The interview was scheduled for 3:00pm, I arrived at 2:10pm. I think that is way too early. I think 2:45pm would have been perfect and that 2:30pm shows that you really were trying, but anything more than half an hour early is just bad.

It was nice to be so early, since I was interviewing where Aimee's sister works and she came down to visit me in the lobby/waiting room. We had a nice catch up while I waited for the people to come get be for the interview. The receptionist called, emailed, and sent instant messages to the main guy listed in my confirmation email.

When no one had come by 3:10pm I suggested contacting the second person listed that would also be at the interview and I looked at the confirmation email again to check the spelling of this second person's name. And that is when I saw it - Tuesday May 27. I was a week early! Now, that is too early!

This was especially a pain since I get very dressed up for interviews and K had made the point of coming over this morning to help me straighten my hair. It looks great but unfortunately there didn't end up being an interview today and I need to go through it all again next week.

To Tired To Post

Had a nice bike ride today to go and see the cherry blossoms in High Park. Now I am too tired to write anything, just going to post a picture instead:

Yay for biking in High Park

Duel Selfie by K

Note: The pretty pink tree in the background is actually a magnolia tree and not a cherry tree. We did see the classic blossoms but they weren't as impressive for photo-taking. 

Summer Soon

Things that make me feel like summer is close at hand:
- Construction dust
- Tessa going to a Blue Jays game
- Promotional flyers about swimming suits
- Kristen in sunglasses
- The noise of birds at The Cottage
- Kendra wanting to go biking
- No one complaining that I wear flats
- Noah talking about NHL playoffs
- Frozen/iced coffee ads
- Jason watching the Rapter's in playoffs
- Allergies

I Met Gail

I met Gail Vaz-Oxlade yesterday at a fundraising event for the shelter that Taylor works at. This was an amazing dream come true. (Well the full dream would be to be coached by her financially like on one of her shows but this was pretty much the next best thing!) I took K and Taylor met us there. The presentation she gave included a couple of Financial Literacy tests and I was not as good as I thought I would be! Mainly I don't have quite enough saved for an emergency (should have 6 months worth of expenses and I probably have about 2 or 3). I also do not know enough about TSFAs, RRSPs, or RESPs and how to use them to my advantage. I got lots of good ideas for Always Standing posts and now I want to do a Monday Money Tip thing, but I have so many series going on right now that I don't know it is a good idea to clog up the blog with them. But I do want to set up a 'Tribe' on her My Money My Choices program, but I will post more about that later. I got her to sign my copy of Debt Free Forever, which is my favourite of her books. It is by far the best self-help style book I have ever read. I think everyone should own it! Ignore the Debt part, since the book is practical whether you have debt or not, really it is just about smart money management.

My Dad's Songs, Down In New Orleans

Sunday Mornin' Coming Down - A post about my Dad each Sunday, named after a song that he loved.

Last night on Bourbon Street, in New Orleans, was amazing. There was a lot of drinking, as you may have gathered from my previous late-night drunk post. But what is more awesome about Bourbon Street is all the music, this whole city is filled with people making music, all different types: in bars, on the street, in the squares, and everywhere. My dad would love it, and so often I hear songs that remind me of him.

The most important song of our trip has been House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. K arranged the entire Bachalorette to revolve around the lyrics to the song, it was so cool (and all the activities were a lot of fun, we had a great day.)

There is a house in New Orleans 

They call the Rising Sun 

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy 

And God I know I'm one

But we have heard so many other songs that remind me of my dad too. It is nice that he introduced me to so much great music but also that the music ends up being connected to such a wide range of memories and situations.

Results Week - Teri & Kendra

Seeing that Teri now consistently runs in 10km races and K has completed a marathon in the past, I knew they would do well at the triathlon. And I was right!

Before The Race

K and Teri

Photo by My Sports Shooter

Teri and K finished together, I actually think that they crossed the finish line holding hands - I can't show that shot because, unlike the one above that was in the Sports Shooter 'Free Zone', you have to pay for finish line photos. Anyway, Teri and K finished 206th and 207th - 99th and 100th for women. For their category, which was also my category, they were 21st and 22nd of the 32 females from age 25 to 29 that raced on Toronto Island that day.

Total Time: 1:00:58.7
Swim (400m): 12:37
Transition 1: 2:49
Bike (10km): 26:48
Transition 2: 1:00
Run (2.75km): 17:46