50% Staycation + 50% Vacation = 100% Fun

Friday night, Jeehon and I met up with two of our girlfriends at The Rogers Center, a hotel downtown. We had no kids. It was amazing.

This was my third time away from Topher in his short 13 months of life. This was actually Jeehon's first night away from Sungu in his long 22 months of life! Our amazing brothers and parents were on hardcore babysitting duty till Saturday afternoon.

So, Steph and Elisa, the two friends we met up with, had set up the whole stay/vacation. Steph and Elisa both still live in Toronto, which is why it was 50% staycation, and Jeehon and I were 'visiting' (though this is also our home, and always will be) which is where the 50% vacation comes in. But it really was 100% great times!

So we started off the night with homemade Smores cupcakes in the hotel room (thanks Steph, they were amazing!) then we tried to decide what to wear for our night on the town. There was going to be lots of walking involved so 3 out of the 4 of us decided to wear walking shoes. Jeehon opted to be Miss Fancy Pants since she would not at any point in the night have to pick up a 26 lbs child.

Our first stop was a restaurant called Marche/Richtree. All I needed to eat there was a plate of Rosti- shredded potatoes with a side of sour cream and smoked salmon. AMAZING. Jeehon got mussels, which were also to die for, and the other ladies also got Rosti with different sides. So good.

Then we walked around downtown and ended up at David's Tea. Or seomthing like that. They have these huge canisters filled with loose-leaf tea behind the counter, you pick one that sounds interesting to you, they let you smell it, and then they brew you a fresh cup. I had something called 'Kiss Me' which was a red tea with bits of peppermint and chocolate in it. Again- AMAZING.

We went back to the hotel room. It was about 9pm. And we were kinda pooped. So we sat and chatted. And just when it looked like a couple ladies were going to hit the hay, we decided it was time to eat again. So we got dressed and went down the street to a place called 'Smokes Poutine' where they sell, well, poutine. Poutine is a wonderful Canadian invention that consists of fries, cheese curds, and gravy. So we got an order of 'regular' poutine, and a 'Nacho Grande' poutine which had chili, jalapenos, some other stuff, and cheese, on fries. A great snack at 11pm! Gotta love the clubbing district.

We rolled on over back to the hotel room and had some great sleep in our matching pajamas (thank you Target for having cute and cheap pajamas!)

The fun and the eating commenced as soon as we woke up the next morning (at 8am. Glorious to wake up because of the sunshine, and ont because of a baby crying!) Steph and I took the streetcar over to the Drake Hotel where they have the best scones in Toronto, or possibly the whole world over. The cranberry ones have a bit of chocolate in them to balance out the tartness. Genius. Then we went to the best (but also most expensive) place for dim sum (which is a bunch of little plates of dumplings, or other appetizery looking chinese food) called Pearl Harborfront. Hilarious.

Anyway, I know gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, and it sounds like we practiced lots of it on our amazing staycation, but there was so much walking and talking and fun-having involved that we really needed all that food to keep us going! In these hard financial times, staycations are the best things to go on- no real traveling costs, a chance to fall in love with the city you live in, with friends you love to hang out with, I would recommend that everyone go on a serious staycation at least once a year.