Canadian girl out and aboot

I just got the funniest Xmas card from a friend. As most people know, I love Leonardo DiCaprio. My friend Sunni just sent me a postcard with a picture of Leo from Romeo and Juliet. On the back the card reads, "My Heart will go on at Christmas and year-round." She signed it from Leo, but I could tell that it was from her from the handwriting. It's hilarious! I laughed really hard when I saw it.

We've been living in a deep freeze here. The cold started on Saturday. I woke up and completely wimped out. I was determined to stay inside, but my friend Ben offered to pick me up and take me to the Edmonton Journal bookfair. Once I decided to go out, I was okay. I ended up bundling up and walking to the farmer's market, so I left my house even before Ben came to get me. The bookfair was a blast. We listened to some children's writers, then talked to Todd Babiak via Skype. Todd was in France, but his Internet connection died. So he ran to a bar and we could talk to him while he was in the bar, surrounded by French patrons. Then his French friend came onto the connection and talked to us for a long time. We heard some other writers read, but one of the highlights was definitely the security guard at the Journal. He is a writer and journalist who is in exile from Iraq. He has continued to write his poetry and fiction and has written a book that was copyedited by one of the Journal writers. So he read his poetry in Arabic, and then his friend read it in English. It was very cool. After this, Ben took me on a tour of the Edmonton Journal newsroom and I tried to identify various writers by their desks.

That evening, I went to a party. It was in the -40s but I walked the 10 blocks there instead of starting my car. I have a great winter system. I have a very warm parka and I wear a tuque and a face warmer. Then with my boots, mitts and cords, I'm good to go. The only exposed skin is around my eyes, and the only thing that really gets cold is the area between my boots and my parka. So basically, I had cold knees.

The party was quite fun although no one was dressed up and everyone left at about midnight, due to the cold. I ended up talking to a high school drama and dance teacher and an engineer whose wife is doing a masters' in international development. He and his wife had just done some overseas work in Zambia, and it was quite interesting to hear about.

On Sunday, I stayed home the entire day. I did not get dressed or change clothes until 8 at night, when I changed into a different set of pyjamas. I read 2 newspapers, watched two movies (The Apple and the Triplets of Belleville) and read most of "The Bishop's Man" by Linden MacIntyre. I think I'm going to have pyjama day every couple of months. It was wonderfully refreshing.

Today my brother called me at 8 a.m., wondering where our parents were. Please note that my brother lives in the same city as them, while I do not. I had talked to them on Friday, but immediately became concerned since it is so damn cold. I was imagining them stranded in a snowbank somewhere. So I called them repeatedly, and found out that they're okay and fine, although their water has been shot off for a few hours due to a water main break. The ironic thing about this is that my brother went to Calgary without telling them, and then he was concerned that they went away without telling him. Weird.

1. NOT Working and catching up on movies.

I spent a lot of the weekend NOT working. Instead, I did a bunch of errands on Saturday. This included stopping by the craft sale in my neighbourhood and the farmers' market. I also had a delicious palak paneer wrap from the coffee shop near my house. The art house movie theatre in my neighbourhood was showing "An Education."

I'd highly recommend "An Education." It's a great story, an interesting moral premise and all the acting is wonderful. I was a little surprised by how much Carey Mulligan (the main actress) looks like one of my cousins.

2. Sunday, I taught my teen writers group. Since we are having a bunch of guests for the next few meetings, we just did a bunch of exercises and talked about books including Tolkien and Twilight. I love the teens and we have great discussions.

3. I woke up early to go to a preview of "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Mari took me to the preview, which was at 10 a.m. There were only 4 of us in the theatre; Mari, and two other writers who we both know. So we sat in a row in the theatre, talking about movies, books, music and theatre. We ended up sitting there for an hour because the manager couldn't get the projector working. She tried to make us come back the next day, but we refused and just sat there until she could get it to work.

"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is truly wonderful. It's funny, cute and interesting and it looks absolutely amazing. I kept on wanting to touch Mr. Fox's face, because the fur looks so lifelike and soft. The actors were well cast, the music was great and the script was fun. I think it'll be up for some Oscar noms.

4. After this, I came home and did a bunch of work and wrote some stories about alpacas.

5. Today I woke up to a very nice e-mail from a woman that I'd interviewed. I went by her booth at Agritrade last week and we did a story about a software that she'd created to help farmers do their accounting. She sent me an email saying that various people stopped by her booth because they'd received the email news and were interested in her product because of what I'd written. Since she created the program to help farmers and is the sole owner and creator of her business, I was thrilled by this, and really happy to have helped her out. Plus, it's just nice to get positive feedback.

6. It was plus 17 and sunny today, which was delightful. I had to go to Ikea to pick up some things for friends. I live on the same side of town as the Ikea, so it's not a bad trip for me. I also love that I have the freedom to go on a week day, because there is never anyone there and it makes it really easy to shop and browse.

After this, I went downtown to do a few things. I tried a new coffee shop, and went to see an exhibit at the Albert Gallery of Art called "Museums of the Contemporary World." I'm glad I saw it, but it wasn't really my thing. It was an excellent exhibit, but I'm just not into looking at floor plans or architectural designs for buildings I may never get to go to. Still, I do have some museums that I'd like to add to my list. I really want to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario next time I'm in Toronto. Then I went to check out a mall that I'd never been to before. I went to the mall specifically to buy MAC, but also to get a lay of the land and check out what stores they have. All in all, a very productive day, and a nice change from spending the day in front of the computer.