Welcome to 2007

I promised myself that I would put together a little something summarizing my week in Sudbury over Christmas. It was a jam packed week, but incredibley fun. It was great to see the family, and all the friends. So here are a few select pictures from Chrismas with the family and pictures of hang outs over the week, including our reunion at the Wolves game.

Aunty Pina and Uncle Jer.

This is the cutest picture. Nanna and Nonno P.

Uncle Frank & Aunty Pina

My mom & uncle Frank

Nonno P & I

Christmas Eve supper (somwhere in between 2nd course (broccoli soup) and 3rd course (bacala)). The 7 th course included a good 3 or 4 rounds of B-52's and uncle Jerry moving from the head of the table to passing out on the couch.

Christmas Eve at the Perri house. We still have the "adult" table and "kids" table. No matter how old we get, nanna and nonno's house isn't going to get any bigger, and thats ok (its cooler in the dinning room anyways).

Christmas Day at the Simonato House (after the 1st of 2 big meals had that day).

And here is Sierra, some seven months later (see previous blogs). She is so grown up and big and unbelievably cute (with those little pierced ears!).

Boxing Day at the Townehouse with my peeps.

As sly as these two are, we caught them sharing a moment on the Townehouse dance floor. Ruth is all shy (probably 'cause she is the yongest in her family).

Ruth and one of the coolest dogs I know, Yukon (tied for coolness with Bailey of course).

When I was yonger I thought the stuffed wolf at the Wolves games was cool. It would sail across the ceiling when the Wolves scored a goal. This time around I found it slightly disturbing.

This picture was inteded to be a group shot, but I'll take the next best thing, a close up of Derek.

C.Mac. and Shasta chillin' (literally).

Good to see Dr.Kumar out, although she did burst my bubble (not all hospital internships are fully equipped with McDreamys, McSteamies and rendez-vous in the on-call rooms). Well at least not yet (you go girl!)

Pam, Vaness and I. This is about as good looking as a picture can get.

Mr.Cutler sandwiched by 4 lovely ladies. If my calculations are correct, this is Derek's first winter in a few years. It looks like him and Francie are handling it quite well.

I tried to make a bubble comming out of Jordy's mouth, but I am still a novice at this whole bloggin stuff but if I remember correctly it was something along the lines of "YAHHHHH ITS MY BIRTHDAY BITCHES!!!!!". Angela, Alynne and I tried to calm this picture down.

It's good to see Heather making it into a picture (insead of taking them...)

Da'boyz.

Greg sandwiched by two hot mommas.

Geo & A-Bass

Kara and I lookin' all cute ...

I couldnt hold that kiss long enough to take the damn picture, but 2 seconds earlier Sean was the luckiest man alive being sandwiched between too very fine ladies.

It's not often that we're all back in the 'Bury so it was great to see everyone making an effort to come on out. Good times had by all.

So far 2007 has been pretty good (finally got some snow!).

Stay tuned for more adventures.

Happy 2007!

Love Claudia

Now I'm Mad...

I can't take it anymore! Evertime I turn on the radio or tv, or flip open the newspaper, there is some story about how we have to make Christmas....oops or should I say Holidays....oh gosh maybe Festive Season, more politically correct.
Seriously...is this still an issue???

The last time I checked, wishing someone a Merry Christmas, was filled with good intentions, love and friendship, not intended to be hurtful or mean spirited. And yes, Catholics around the world are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but that's just it, we are celebrating, it's a happy time! Woooohooooo!

On the news today I heard that a Toronto Judge demanded that a Christmas tree that was put up in the court house be taken down because it may be offensive to some. I almost drove off the road. I realize that if you were to trace back the history of the Christmas tree, it does have Christian origins, however I would venture a guess that 99% of the population (including Christians) would not have thought so. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Christmas tree has always been a symbol of cheer, light, traditions, memories and depending on who has deocrated it a thing of beauty and art. So come on, its December, you broke the law, you head into the court house and bam! you are welcomed by a beautifully decorated tree, with lights and shimmering decorations. I highly doubt that this someone, be it Jewish, Muslim, Budhist, Atheist, etc will react with anger, hurt or offense, but I would hope for a tiny second, a ray of hope and happiness. But then again, I could be wrong.

So whether or not you celebrate Christmas, the religious celebration or the sharing of presents, please do not be offended when you are wished a wish of joy, peace and love.

Merry Christmas Friends.

Love Claudia

So behind in the blogging....

Its been awhile once again since I have updated my space. October has been a crazy month...super busy with work...working all over the place....a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend filled with great family and a turkey dinner with all the trimmings! And well October is also birthday month in the Simonato household. So for my birthday this year we did it up Toronto style, with a pre party at Paul & Melissa's place and then hit up the bar scene. It was alot of fun. I have to say though that I did feel old....yes age is only a number, but it was very wierd being at a bar with my baby sister.....but very fun at the same time.

Here are a few other pictures from our super fun night out and about.....

Ok so if you've seen the movie 'The Ringer' the above picture will make sense (and hopefully chuckle), if you haven't seen the movie, Paul and I are just demonstrating how big our pipes really are....
It was also Laura's birthday celebration (the good looking lady on the far right), but the best part of the picture is Paul who looks like he has been photoshoped into the picture.
Me doing my very best Mick Jagger impersonation.....
And now for my cupcakes...these are my vampire cupcakes that I made to celebrate the birthdays

And these are my spider cupcakes that won me first place at the Aqua Terre Halloween baking competition. Yes that is black icing with edible black sprinkles, rope licorice legs and marshmallow and m&m eyes.

So much to blog about...so little time...

Dear friends:
I have to start off with deepest appologies. It has been well over a month since I have updated this blog. And well there is so much to write about!

First off I promised to give a picture filled summary of the Nova Scotia adventures, and well that did not happen. There are so many pictures, so many stories...but here a few quick ones:

This is the best picture I could grab from our whale watching trip on the Bay of Fundy. Its a humpback whale, and it was pretty much the largest animal I have ever seen in the wild. I also have some pretty great video of the whales, and me talking to them, but im not smart enough to figure out how to upload video.

This is the balancing rock, just waiting to drop. We passed it on our way back from Briar Island. Pretty amazing. Even more amazing is that I got a shot of it with no crazy tourists hanging off of it trying to push it off.

When in Halifax we stopped at the Pier 21 museum. It was a pretty amazing experience. Both sets of my grandparents came through Halifax on their way to Sudbury. In the background is a large Carnival cruise ship. From the pictures ive seen and the stories Ive heard, a boat ride across the Atlantic was anything but luxurious some 50 years ago.

At the end of our east coast trip we stopped in to visit with Caitlin who is living in Dartmouth with her boyfriend Thomas. They were very nice to let us stay with them for two days and show us around the Halifax area. Our last night in town we took the ferry from Dartmouth to Halifax to enjoy some lobster and beer. We then went back to Caitlin and Thomas' to hang out, and Thomas promised to mix us up some martini's. He however had to slip into something a little more comfortable.....

Thomas actually sewed this costume himself. I was totally impressed (and the spidey martinis were kickin too!)

Ok so thats a very brief wrap up of Nova Scotia 2006. I promise to be back this week to upload more fun pics from the summer.

Love C

Post a comment...first thing that comes to mind...

If you knew that today was going to be your last day on earth how would you spend it?

Toronto Beer Festival

One of the perks of summer, are the warm, sunny afternoons spent drinking beer. Thats exactly what we did last weekend...hit up the Toronto Beer Festival at Fort York. I have to say it was a pretty good time....a great combination of 3 of my favorite things...beer, friends and festivals. And here is a picture of Team Beer.......

I know you are rubbing your eyes right now, but yes this is a cargo van with built in taps on the outside. If only our work vans were this amazing ( the taps would clearly be used to dispense distilled water and liquinox).....

Now I had to rub my eyes when I saw this dude...yah thats a mullet, after my double take I realized that it was a wig. What would a beer fest be without a mullet or two..(this guy actually had a mullet wig wearing friend with him, but he didnt make it into the picture...)

The sun was pretty hot, and poor Paul was getting a little too much sun on the old forehead. The Beer Festival folk were selling rediculously overpriced hats (including Molson hat made out of 12 pack cases), so Richard made a stylish hat out of a complimentary poster. It also served to find each other in the crowd....

Toot toot toot....Melissa got a pretty rockin' hat FOR FREE (those nice people at Steam Whistle, including a real toot tooting whistle)

....and the hat was even big enough for me :)

So in theory the beer festival...great idea...and it was alot of fun. For some reason though we though that we could continue partying it up into the night. Yah we ended up crashing out well before midnight.

Cheers to beer,
Love Claudia

Nova Scotia - Part 1 featuring Peggy's Cove

Alrighty, here is the first entry of what promises to be a lengthy series highlighting Claudia, Andrea and Michelle's summer trip to Nova Scotia. We flew into Halifax pretty late and got to our motel in Timberlea and settled in. We didn't realize though that this cute (and very reasonably priced) motel was located right on a river.....



....this was the view from our motel window looking out the back....it was very pretty, and this fabulous clear sunny summer day was what followed us throughout our entire week in Nova Scotia!
Our first stop was in Peggy's Cove. We hit up this little fishing village quite early, before the tour buses started rolling through (...great tip from the Lonely Planet guide...visit before 10 am!!!)
Peggy's Cove is a very picturesque fishing village, some 40 km from Halifax. It is home to roughly 60 permanant residents. The homes were so cute, very old with alot of character.
The pictue below was taken from the top the granite hills looking back towards the village.
Ok now lets talk about these oversized seabirds. This sea gull was massive. Probably one of the largest sea gulls I have ever seen. Seeing as how I have spent very little of my life close to an ocean or sea, I would imagine that these are quite normal (definatley not like those sickly ones you see in the parking lot of the McDonald's in Parry Sound who survive solely on french fries that people passing through insist on feeding them, as though they are one with nature....). That is actually NOT a smile on my face, it is pure fear. Thank heavens I had on sunglasses or i'm sure that little bastard would have pecked my eyes out! There was also a very keen mother telling her kids that there are no such things as sea gulls.....although I have heard this before...what the hell would you call this feathered friend????
Awwww...Michelle and Andrea.....very happy that they are on vacation and not working!
One of the benefits of being at Peggy's Cove so early is that you can actually get a picture of the famous lighthouse without it being littered with random tourists (...its wierd to think though how many other peoples pictures from around the world you might be in....)

I tried to play around with my new digi cam, and put together this little panoramic shot...probably better viewed in a larger format...

Looking back towards the village, and inland you can make out the unique landscape that surrounds Peggy's Cove....all of those little boulders are known as "erratics".....ask your fellow geologists for and explanation ! :)


Ok so this entry outlines the first hour of our trip....I promise to fast forward a few hours for the next entry.....

See you Soon

Love Claudia

Northern Road Trip 2006

Toot toot for one wicked road trip! Kate, Paul and I headed up to the Sault to visit with our friends, and enjoy some beverages and golf.

Our road trip started out with stops at all of the over sized northern Ontario pocket change sites:

The Big Nickel, Sudbury, Ontario

The Big Loonie, Echo Bay, Ontario

On Saturday we hit up some Sault golf....mother nature tried to stop us, but when you are this hardcore about golf, very little will.

Team golf consisted of (from left to right) : Seven Iron Steve, Daryl the Driver, Andrea 'Ace' Buttazzoni, Kate 'Mulligan' MacDonald, and Putter Paul.

Ok so the Marshall was really nice to us at the beginning....however Kate and I were slowing things down considerably so we had to distance ourselves from the team. Here are a few examples of stellar golf manoeuvers we perfected on our own. Please speak to Kate or myself if you are interested in some of our golfing tips.

What the heck would you do if your ball landed under a tree??......

...Or on the gravel cart path??

Although a few days early, I brought Andrea up some birthday gifts. If you are in the Sault area, Andrea now owns a full out martini set, so go visit her and she will whip you up something yummy and full of alcohol. Ok so I want to post more pictures from this trip but this bloody program is driving me nuts and wont let me. So this is the end of the July long weekend story....

Peace & Love

CS