Wednesday, November 25: I arrive in SFO 35 minutes earlier than scheduled. Just perfect! The first item of business is to get off the first exit of the 101 and get myself not one but two In N’ Out burgers for dinner! Delicious! I really think they have the best fast food burger by far and I’ve been craving it since my last visit in June! With a happy heart and stomach, I try my best to stay awake and admire our new TV (which arrived only hours before I did) but I quickly doze off on the couch as soon as my body is horizontal.
Thursday, November 26: Thanksgiving! Jeff and I sleep in (as always) before having some pho for lunch. This was the best San Jose pho I have had – definitely rivals what we have at home and may even be better than the Golden Turtle on Ossington! We then make a trip to Safeway for groceries – can you believe the store is open on a holiday? We have a 10% coupon for everything so try our best to pick up as many things as we need, and even then, we only run a bill of $120. My plan was to make cornish hens for Thanksgiving dinner; however, they only come frozen and there was not enough time to defrost. So, we decided to make butter chicken and naan bread for dinner instead. We bake a pumpkin pie too, just to stick to traditional.
Friday, November 27 – Sunday November 29: On Friday afternoon, we drive out to my favourite mall in San Jose as well as to Santana Row (the posh shopping strip) to check out any Black Friday deals. Black Friday is honestly not as exciting as Boxing Day but we learn a lot about what we want and what we can afford for our apartment (i.e. paintings, dining set, etc). We do end up going to Home Depot twice (n.b. they say you always marry someone like your father) to buy a drill so that we can mount the TV and speakers to the wall. On Sunday evening, I keep score for Jeff’s regular hockey game at an arena I've never been too called Dry Ice. It was the most intense game I’ve seen yet!
Dry Ice Score Keeper
Monday, November 30: My 27th birthday! I spend my time leisurely and relaxed first at Barnes and Noble where I picked up a book on “How to plan a wedding cereomy” and (shamefully) snap a photo of the table of contents with my iPhone as a guide… this is a savings of 25USD! I then head back to the mall to try on wedding bands and find a possible birthday present (thinking a Coach bag). I must have tried 50 rings and was a bit discouraged when a salesman told me that the diamond of my engagement ring is mounted too low and that I would have to remount it if I want to wear a wedding band next to it… I learn quickly he’s full of crap. After picking up Jeff from work, we head out for dinner at my favourite Thai place, and we go all out: beef satay, curry and then fried banana with coconut ice cream for dessert. YUM! After dinner, Jeff suggests that we walk around the mall to look for a present. We go to the coach store but I cannot justify buying such an expensive bag (see below):
The tartan glam tote (from Coach)Then Jeff suddenly pitches an amazing idea that he had for a while but didn’t want to share because he thought I wanted a bag: he suggested that we Build-a-Bear together! And that we did – we brought home a polar bear and named him Dexter (after the TV show that we had been watching nonstop). What a sweet and simple gift – Dexter even has a recording of Jeff’s voice!
Tuesday, December 1 – Wednesday, December 2: I can’t pinpoint anything particular for these two days other than working myself at home or at Starbucks while Jeff is at the office. But when he comes home from work, we spend some quality time together chatting and watching hockey!
Thursday, December 3: Jeff finds a coupon for Coach – 30% off already reduced merchandise at their Factory store. So, not having given up on the thought of having a bag, I go the Great Mall in Milpitas while he’s at work and am shocked to see that there is a line to get in the store and an even greater line at the cash. There is a sense of desperation. Women are lined up to buy 8-10 bags at a time. One woman grabbed a bag I was looking at right out of my hand and walked straight to the check-out line! I stood speechless – I suppose if I wanted the bag I would’ve fought for it, but I find nothing that I truly like (and would want to still pay $100 for) so I make my peace and accept the fact that this is simply not meant to be. I leave the store and walk into Zales (People’s equivalent) and try on wedding bands again and find the perfect one for the perfect price. They even have the ring Jeff wants and for less than online! I pull the trigger and purchase both, along with their warranties and engraving for less than $1000. What a deal! That evening, we drove out to downtown Los Gatos to catch up with Scott over dinner at Willow Street Pizza. It was nice talking to a fellow Canadian, as always!
Jeff's Ring (image from Blue Nile)
My Ring (image from Blue Nile)Friday, December 4: This is the day that I decide to make Thanksgiving Dinner, only one week late. And it turns out to be a huge success! Maple cornish hens with roasted potatoes and vegetables! We invited Jimmy (Jeff’s co-worker) over and he and Jeff ate and ate and ate. I now understand the joy of cooking – to see the joy on others’ faces!
Saturday, December 5: We drive to Crate and Barrel after breakfast at home to check out dining sets but everything is too expensive. Jeff then had to work for a few hours in the afternoon (on top of working the previous night till 3am) because of an emergency situation at the company. He takes a mini-break though and we drive to San Francisco to have dinner with Adam who will be moving back to New York. The restaurant that Adam chose is called EOS – very tasty food. We have a fun time but drive back so that Jeff can work. We go into the office at around midnight and he fixes the problem in an hour! I like to think of myself as his lucky charm.
Sunday, December 6: This morning, we had lunch at Dave and Busters before picking up our wedding bands! So exciting (note: I’m smuggling mine back as we speak and it’s sitting very nicely on my finger)! We spend the rest of the afternoon at home, packing up and just taking in every moment we can together before he drives me to the airport and I cry, and cry, and cry. Even though we will be seeing each other in less than 3 weeks for Christmas, the separation is difficult. So here I am at SFO, with about 30 minutes to board my red eye flight. Dad or Chris will be at YYZ to pick me up (thankfully) and I have a busy week ahead of me. But for now, I have a little time to myself before I go back to the hectic school schedule, to reminesce about my wonderful visit and to think about Jeff playing hockey right now, and how he’ll score for me like he always does.
On a side note, my knee has been recovering well but I have been very laxed with exercise while I’ve been here. On the upside, when I’m with Jeff I don’t think about it much at all and the pain is only there once in a while. But, I’m sure that I could’ve done more strenghtening exercises. Neena won’t be impressed but I’ve already given her a warning. I see her and Dr. Theo on Tuesday – we’ll see what’s in store for me: is jogging and running in my future? Stay tuned!
-ange xx
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