giopalooza is officially underway

me, gina, dee, caroline and hannah

what a weekend! jam packed with friends, food and fun! it was a great way to spend my last weekend in london, that's for certain.

gina came into town and stayed with our friend avril, so i made my way to wimbledon (where av lives) and made that home for a couple of nights. although the walk there was somewhat of an episode. the day started out so nice with a rare blue sky, but of course, by the time i had to drag myself, my luggage and my handbag to wimbledon (10 minute walk to bus; 2 minute walk to station; then 10 minute walk from station to av's), the rain was pouring down. at first i thought...its ok, but before i got on bus number one i hit a paving stone on its corner...a loose paving stone, who's other corner was buried in a puddle. so as i depressed the weight on one side, it propelled the water logged other side up, and the water soaked my entire leg from the knee down. great...i had just changed for the night as well.

THEN the bus was late so therefore we had to stand out in the rain for even longer than planned. oh, and when i got off the train at the other end, i stepped into what i thought was just a wet paving stone but ended up being an ant's ocean, thereby filling up my red leather shoe with water. so...there was me, my wet leg, my sopping shoe and an umbrella i was using to protect my burberry bag. by the time i got to av's, i was a drowned rat and my straight hair was as frizzy as if i'd of rubbed balloons all over it and then stuck my finger in the light socket. sigh.

but that first night was great! i got re-ready at av's and we head out to where it all began! me, gina, avril, jo, dee, caroline and hannah made our way to aurora on lexington. such a fabulous restaurant - the food is always impeccable, the wine delish, and this time they stuck is in an (almost) private room. those poor bastards that were stuck with us. i feasted on olives and bread; seared tuna and noodle salad, then grilled sirloin steak, followed by a cheese board. all that was washed down with a lovely wine - concha toro, explorer, pinot noir. wow...we rolled out of there 4 hours and many bottles later. some of us made our way home so as to be rested up for the night before and others head over to opal near waterloo, where they were the only ones on the dance floor and had women ask if they could dance with them. yes, they got picked up by other women. hahaha

saturday was a late start, and the plan for camden market fell through. then the second plan for covent garden market fell through and thus, a new plan for kingston was born. it was nice to head out there one last time. the christmas market was up (albeit a small one) but it was lovely. and i had a turkey and cranberry pasty for lunch - no mulled wine though. it would have been too much. and since saturday night was primed to be a big one, i didn't want to be full when i got there.

23 of us made our way to the goat in clapham junction  - i've been there loads of times so it was nice to have my leaving do there (well the first of others...this is giopalooza after all). we gathered there before making our way over to cucarachas for dinner. and what followed was food mayhem. although the doritos (ya, doritos NOT nachos) were a surprise, the rest of the food was definitely mexican. although more chi-chi's mexican than papacitos. ya'll remember chi-chi's? it was all there but the mexican fried ice cream, but let me tell you, i ate only half of my meal but felt like puking afterward anyway.

and finally after all that, 15 of us went to the bank (thanks to caroline's tourist guide skillz) for some 'apertifs' and some dancing - well, no dance floor but we made our own. we shut that place down and then all head home for a much needed rest.

caroline our tour guide

what a night - it was so great to see everyone all in one place. i had 3 different sets of friends there and it was so wild to see them all mixing together and getting to know each other. we had the work contingent; the dee/han/caroline contingent, we had the canadian friends, and the family. incidentally, of all the people that were there, i had lived with 4 of them at some point in time.

it was such a humbling experience. and then my friend michael had to stand up and make a speech and therefore, made me cry.

michael's speech made me cry

i'm such a sap.

my last sunday roast was at the ivy with gina and avril - very swanky.  it's old style class; the theatre crowd's place to see and be seen. and there were were, stuffing our gobs (again) and me this time with roasted pork belly (where will i find that in canada??????) finishing up with a cox apple tart with butter and almonds. honestly. what a decadent weekend. for photos of the weekend check out the album.

i thought leaving canada was tough when i had said goodbye to family and friends i have had for decades. but this is even tougher...because although i'm going home and back to those family and friends, i have since made a family here of my own. and leaving them is real tough because i'm not sure when i will get to see them again, or even in some cases, if i will.

me and the sister

but until then, we have the rest of this week. giopalooza continues with the birthday on tuesday night and then my move to my final london home. i thought clapham would have been it but i decided to treat myself for the last 3 nights in london.

check out my final home!

and don't forget the leaving do on thursday, harry potter on friday, and an exhausting trip home on saturday.

i'm tired just thinking about it!

xoxo
gio