Summer Fun!

Now to recap my recent vacation!

On the 25th I alighted from work and met my friend Steph out at the Scarborough Town Centre for dinner at Moxie's. After dinner we planned to see a movie, but upon realizing everything was in 3D- which makes Steph nauseous- we decided to go shopping. Which was totally not necessary as both of us just hit up the outlets in Niagara last month. But yes, fun night with my gal!

Saturday my mom and stepdad were having all the kids over for a pool party! There are 5 kids between them (one couldn't make it), plus significant others and two toddlers, makes for a big enough group to call it a party :). The weather had been iffy, but no rain ended up falling and we had a grand ol time time eating and catching up.

As I mentioned recently, my mom is going through chemo this summer and lost her hair- so we decided to be twins for the day! I even drew matching tattoos on her head (sadly, you can't get a tattoo during chemo or I would totally dare her to do it for real!). Also, I am really bad at drawing stars.

Then on Sunday Cam and I loaded up his car and drove to Montreal! We were meeting my friends Jeni and Brandon there and then heading out to Jeni's family cottage in Quebec the day after. Cam and I stayed at L'Appartement Hotel, which was a little run down, but the price was right and our room had a full KITCHEN. Too bad we had no reason to cook! We ended up meeting Jeni and Brandon at a nice bar a few blocks from the hotel, and after a few beers we wandered over to Schwartz's Deli for some smoked meat sandwiches. It was a ridiculous amount of meat but so good.

After that we wandered to another bar for some more drinks (Jeni and Brandon are really into the craft brew scene and had particular bars to hit up while they were in Montreal). Monday we planned to wander into Old Montreal, but it was rainy and cold so we headed off to Lac Malaga, where the cottage is!

I seriously love this cottage. I went with Jeni and Brandon in 2009 and 2010 and was dying to go back, but never had the chance until this summer. It is out in the Eastern Townships on a small lake where no motor boats are allowed, so it just exudes quietness and relaxation. I didn't do much all week except read (I did the first Game of Thrones novel start to finish in 5 days), and eat, and relax. Well, I also ran and swum too :)

The first few days were a bit on the chillier side (it warmed up closer to the weekend), so in the mornings that called for a blanket and book, and in the evenings a warm fire in the living room! But the middle of the day saw us down on the dock or out on the row boat enjoying the sunshine down by the lake. In the evenings we played some pretty hilarious games of Scattergories and cards, accompanied by a radio station which played only random, but awesome music. One night we watched a movie, but really electronics weren't employed much while we were there!

The cottage from the lake

On Thursday we went to Abbeye de Saint-Benoit-Du-Lac, which was a 20 minute drive from the cottage. It is a tradition to go there every time we are up because the abbey sells amazing homemade cheeses, spreads, pies, and other goodies (they also sell jewellery, music, books, and art...but we go for the food). Cam and I picked up a box of assorted hard cheeses, along with a soft cheese, apple butter, honey, a pie, some chocolates, and some ice-creams for the road. Most of all that is already gone :). However, you can often find the cheeses at grocery stores here in Toronto so I recommend you try them! Their blue cheese is award-winning at competitions around the world (FYI- add "go to cheese competition" to bucket list)

J'adore les fromages...

Finally on Monday (it was a long weekend here in Ontario), we packed up and headed back to Toronto. Cam and I dropped Jeni and Brandon at the Montreal train station as they had booked the train home before Cam and I had confirmed we were driving up. I was quite jealous of them after a bit, though, because Cam and I got stuck in the worst traffic and didn't get home until after 10pm! Then sadly it was straight to bed for work the next morning. Le sigh...

However, it was a fantastic week and I can't wait to get up to the cottage again! There was so much we didn't get to do as Jeni and Brandon missed a few days near the end of the week for a funeral. Hopefully next year we can make up for that!