Internal Switch

Last week in Toronto, I bundled up and went for nice long walks in the snow. After a full day trapped in meetings, it felt great to wander the metropolis, to window shop and to listen to the crunch of snow and ice underfoot. While in Toronto I heard myself refer to the weather as "brisk, but totally walk-able." The temperature at the time was single digits Fahrenheit.

Now, I'm happily back in Austin and my internal switch is once again set to Texas. I just stepped outside to go grab the mail and thought it was very chilly and did I really want to leave the house..The temperature? It's a solid 51 degrees. Nearly 40 degrees warmer, yet it *feels* colder to my walk-ability checker.

Sure, in Toronto I didn't step foot outside without properly bundling and here I am a bit more lax with scarf and gloves. However, I feel the bigger difference is in my switch setting. In Toronto I am set to "Chicago" which activates my "stronger than thou silly weather" impulse. I see the bright side of 8 degrees. Immediately upon my return to the Southland, my switch switches back to Texas...Home in Texas I expect to feel warm sunshine and am annoyed with crisper temps. Can I trick my brain into still expecting Toronto cold and feeling "warm" at 40's and 50's? What other switches are unknowingly tripping up my ability to fully enjoy my moment wherever that moment finds me?

The Great Canadian....

Herein lies a few tales from Toronto:

My flight from Houston to Toronto was on a puddle jumper of a plane, with a 2.5 hour puddle to navigate. It was one of the bumpiest rides I've been on, but I managed to not spill my gingerale...Points to Mindy.

Upon arriving we got to take stairs down from the plane to the tarmac. I consider this the height of fun since I associate it with Cary Grant movies. I needed big sunglasses and a gossamer scarf for the occassion. On the long walk to customs I passed one restaurant. Only one. And no stores... What the what?! Have I left consumerism central? However, the one eatery I did see made up for the otherwise lacking culinary landscape.

The

Great

Canadian

Bagel

?!

Nothing against Canada and definitely nothing against bagels...but together? I never would have seen them paired off? Did eHarmony come up with this?

In case you were wondering, rush hour traffic on the night of a hockey game is indeed quite impressive. Regardless, I made it and had some wondering time last night.

My hotel is located in the Fashion District and my co-workers had raved about a couple of shoe stores, so I was a woman on a mission. I found a pair of shoes by a company called Groundhog which I heart very much. I have been looking for this pair of shoes (i.e. flats that can dress up or down) for over a year, so thank you Canada!! I was a bit too late for most of the boutiques to still be open, but there were lots of fabric stores, button stores, hat stores, ribbon stores... I have a picture to share, but that will have to wait.

This morning I went for a city walk in the chilly rain. Toronto reminds me of Chicago...maybe it is just the cold, downtown with lots of smokers...

I'm off to work, but hopefully there will be more episodes coming soon!

Tequila

Tequila has not been the drink of choice at the Thompson household -- that would be tea (either hot or cold, we live on the wild side). Let me clarify. Alcohol has never been something my parents particularly like. They will try a little wine occasionally, but rarely go back for more. This year was the first time I gave my dad a beer and he liked it enough to finish it- Woo hoo!

So when I was traveling with the esteemed parentals in Mexico I did not expect any renditions of Parents Gone Wild. Sure we planned to take taxis back "home" from different wedding festivities, but that was just because we didn't have a car, right?!

Oh, the crazy mountain air of central Mexico got to the padres. Pictured here you can see the three of us taking a shot of tequila! I was so proud and slightly dumbfounded. They didn't go back for more shots of tequila, but this means I've now taken both tequila (San Miguel de Allende) and vodka (Moscow) shots with the RoPeg! What country will we go to for our next shot?