Edmonton

For those of you who don't know, I'm in Edmonton until July 17th for work. Although I'm working it's also like a mini vacation. Maira lives here so I'm going to get to spend a lot of time with her.
Let me back up a bit and update you on my last few days.
Saturday we had a 'farewell' BBQ for me. It was just a few couples (Raju's friends) and our friend Jay with his two little girls as his wife had gone to the movies with her friend that night. We spent the entire night in the backyard. It's rare we entertain outside, and it was a small enough crowd that we fit on the outdoor couch and a few extra chairs.
Sunday we woke and went for brunch at Toast. I love the french toast there (Thanks for introducing it to me Di). We then headed to Fariena's house to celebrate Kira's 6th birthday. We got there to find Snow White on the front lawn surrounded by several little princesses. She was busy telling them a story. They already had their make-up done and were anxious to get nail polish as well (even my nephew wanted this). It was super cute.
We stayed for a couple of hours and then Raju dropped me off at the airport. There was a place in the airport where you could get your nails done while you wait for your flight. Unfortunately they were busy (there was only one esthetician) so I didn't get mine done. The flight was mostly ok but a little turbulent. I watched Date Night. I enjoyed it. It had action and humour in it.
In Edmonton I took a cab to my hotel (The Matrix). I have a "Platinum Suite". It's like a mini apartment, with a little kitchenette area that has a microwave and small fridge. It even has plates, glasses and cutlery. I have a living room and fireplace that also goes through to the bedroom. In the bathroom there is a soaker tub and a shower. Once I settled in, I wandered out to the grocery store. Internet didn't seem to be working so I wasn't able to prepare for work the next day, but felt that I was ok. I chatted with Raju and then tried to sleep, but it is light out here until almost midnight so found it difficult.
I woke up yesterday morning and tried to get the Internet working again but still no go, so I just resigned myself to the fact I may not have it while I am here. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it forces me to relax and not do work outside of work hours. In the office the day went quickly and even more so when the power went out in Toronto. In Edmonton we are 2 hours behind but our office is linked to Toronto and we lost all connections so we stopped working at 3:00p.m.
Back at the hotel, I decided to take a walk to the mall. I got there at 5:00p.m. and it was open until 6:00p.m. I managed to spend a bit of money in that hour. Nothing like power shopping. I found Jacob and there were many great sales. I tried on a ton of stuff but didn't feel like any of them fit me well so only ended up with one dress and one top.
Back at the hotel I had three phone calls, Camilla, Raju and Maira. After all that I just decided to order dinner. I had the beef dip sandwich. It was delicious.
This morning, I didn't even attempt to try the Internet. I got ready, had breakfast and went to work. Again the day went by quite quickly. When I got back, I stopped at the front desk for assistance. Magically the man at the front desk was able to get the Internet to work. I didn't turn it off and brought it upstairs. Unfortunately when I got to my room it seemed to have disconnected. Fortunately after 5 minutes it reconnected. I have not turned it off since, as I'm scared I won't get it working again.
Maira came by after work for a quick visit before she headed home. It was great to see her and not feel like we had to catch up all in one evening. We've made plans for tomorrow (pedicure), Friday and the weekend already.
When she left, I headed back to the grocery store for dinner fixings. I ended up with pasta and salad and chicken. The chicken and the salad were ok but the pasta wasn't very good. I will be happy to be back at home and home cooked food. On the way back I saw a bunny rabbit. It was sitting in the grass beside a parking lot. There was nothing else around just the rabbit. If my arms weren't full, I would have taken my camera out and taken a picture. That's not a site I see very often in the city.
Well, off I go to get ready for bed. Let's hope I can figure out this internet thing again tomorrow.