Eff. Winter Has Arrived.

When I woke up this morning and looked out my window, I was thrilled. Snow! Fluffy, white, storybook snow! Finally, I could crack out my winter coat and mitts and bundle up accordingly.

But by the time I made it outside, the scene had changed. It was hailing. On me. On everything, actually. I was sliding around like a duck on vaseline. My cozy winter feelings lasted all of five minutes. I had a fleeting memory of a news report I heard last year.... Ottawa is frequently named the coldest capital in the world. I tightened my scarf.

Eff. Winter has arrived.

Otherwise, it has been an interesting week. In a strange turn of events, I bumped into an old friend from elementary school on the bus and we managed to meet for tea to catch up. It felt surreal to find out what all my childhood friends are doing.... it felt even stranger to know that several of them now have kids!

I've noticed that once you're done university, have a job and are with a long-term partner, the questions start. You know the kind. The when-are-you-getting-married-or-starting-a-family-and-why-haven't-you-moved-in-
together-yet-besides-why-would-you-dream-of-waiting-for-wedded-bliss-it's-
totally-the-shit-and-people-give-you-appliances kind of questions. I usually respond that I'm in no rush, and that the strength of my relationship is not determined by either marriage or babies. In fact, marriage and babies seem more likely to me to strain a relationship (stress, money and time issues come to mind), but hey, what do I know. I've got neither, and I've heard reliable sources speak in favour of such things.

I've always been biased because my parents never got hitched, and they are still together and awesome as ever. At the same time, throwing a backyard celebration in the name of love, gorging on food and getting decked out in party dresses sounds like fun to me. But so far, the wedding that appealed to me most was at city hall. My friends walked down the aisle to an 80s Madonna song and went out for Chinese food afterwards. The bride sewed her own dress the night before.

I'm not joking. It rocked so hard.

As an aside... can I just say that I have started to DREAD wandering through stores again? Two words. Christmas Music. Sappy, badly-sung shite that should be buried along with all other terrible music - somewhere in Paris Hilton's backyard. May it die a terrible death.