New York to Toronto in 20 easy steps

First of all...New York was fantastic...but I have to save it for next time.

Let me tell you about the most complicated way possible to get from La Guardia airport to Toronto.

Step 1: Have your 6:30pm flight cancelled and receive notification around 2:15pm while in line to start the NBC studio tour.

Step 2: Immediately call Air Canada to confirm cancellation (which they do) and try to reschedule yourself (and your two friends) to get home that day.

Step 3: Receive an alternate routing home with a 5:30 flight to Montreal and a 9:30 flight to Toronto arriving at 11:00pm. Feel kinda crappy about getting home so late when you were hoping to have time to unpack and relax but figure it'll be ok to be a bit tired for work on Monday. Proceed with your tour.

Step 4: Rush out to the airport for the 5:30 flight thereby missing your planned excursion to pick up cupcakes before heading out of town.

Step 5: Arrive at the airport to find that the 5:30 flight to Montreal has also been cancelled and join the line of people trying to figure out a way to get home.

Step 6: Get rescheduled on a 7:55 flight to Montreal which moves your connection to 11:00pm and gets you into Toronto at midnight. Be thankful that using the mobile Air Canada services and getting notification early means that you were fast on the draw to get rescheduled through Montreal in the first place, unlike many others in the line who are being handed lists of local hotels.

Step 7: Decide screw it, since you've now got another 3 hours before your flight you'll take a cab back into Manhattan and pick up your damn cupcakes...which are absolutely fantastically delicious.

Step 8: Have your 7:55 flight get delayed until 8:35

Step 9: Have the flight get delayed until 8:55 and start worrying about making your 11:00 connection

Step 10: Have the flight get delayed until 9:25 and realize that there's now a snowball's chance in hell that you're getting to Toronto that night.

Step 11: Arrive in Montreal at 11:15 looking for attendent who was supposed to be waiting to rebook connecting flights for people as per announcement made en route. Find no one in the Airport from Air Canada because they all took off at 11:00.

Step 12: Book it to the Hilton while on hold with Air Canada to confirm seats on the 7:00am flight to Toronto.

Step 13: Spend 45 minutes on hold

Step 14: Confirm 7:00am flights for all three of us

Step 15: Sleep for almost 4 hours

Step 16: Get to airport to check in for 7:00am flight. Can't use kiosk to check in, deal with confusion about reissuing ticket (which is already an old fashioned carbon handwritten paper) to fly out that morning.

Step 17: Stop to grab some food with your two poor pregnant friends who need to eat something.

Step 18: Get to the gate having everyone already boarded and the sign already changed for the next departure to Winnipeg and the gate agents saying that there is no one else on the flight to Toronto that's about to pull away from the gate. Then they look at our boarding passes and realize that they had just took us off the passenger list because they assumed we made the connection the night before. Thankfully make our way on to the plane.

Step 19: Arrive in Toronto...pick up luggage (which makes it with duty free booze thankfully intact since it had to get checked after we missed the connection)...grab cab to head straight to work to arrive 15 minutes late for your 8:30am Monday meeting.

Step 20: Try to figure out how long you need to put in at the office before you can go home and crawl into bed.

Honey, I'm home

I'm heading to New York with the girls for a weekend of shopping, dining and shows.



More importantly, I'm going to see my tv husband on Thursday (don't worry, I know he's having affairs with others...we have an open relationship).


The only sad thing is that we're at the show the day after Steve Carell visits which would have been perfect. *so close* dammit! Our fellow canuck Mike Myers better bring the funny on Thursday.

Because there's not enough commentary on the SATC movie

Okay. So I came into the movie with certain expectations. I have seen every episode of the series multiple times. The show is one of my top five of all time. And I have to say that I walked out of the theatre absolutely, completely satisfied.

I went opening night with 14 of my friends for what was one of the most unique theatre-going experiences of my life. All of the oft-repeated observations about the movie's audience were evident...the theatre was on estrogen overload, populated by groups of women attending together, and there were stilettos and makeup and an audience more done up for a movie than I've ever seen. And everyone was excited to be there.

I've been reading reviews that swing from 'it's sexy' to 'it's sexist' and was gleefully informed by one of my coworkers of the 0* review in the Globe before heading out last Friday to see it. Here are my responses to the most commonly made criticisms.

1. I KNOW that real women don't walk around in designer clothes and $400+ shoes everyday. And have seemingly unlimited time to spend sitting around in restaurants over drinks with their friends. But we wish we could. Since when do movies need to show real life?

2. Ditto the money they have to spend on New York real estate, decorating their homes and travelling at the drop of a hat. Not realistic. Got it. Now get over it.

3. Frankly I pretty much disregard any review written by a man and I don't care it that's sexist in it's own right. So much that made this show and these characters special was in the way that the friendship between these women worked. I'm sorry, but if you're not a woman you just can't appreciate it the same way.

4. Yes, almost 2 1/2 hours is pretty long, especially for a romantic comedy. But I didn't look at my watch once. I can't say the same for the interminable 113 minutes I spent watching You Don't Mess with the Zohan this week.

5. Yes, Jennifer Hudson's character seemed a bit tacked on. But not obtrusively so, and I thought it gave Carrie a few great moments where she realized how far she had come.

6. If you didn't watch the show then this movie was not made for you. Period.

That last one is probably the biggest. For those of us that are fans of the show it was like catching up with great friends that you haven't seen in a while. And the fact that we know these characters so well means that we come into the movie with all of the background that makes the events on the screen have much more emotional impact (says the girl who was fighting back tears with varying degress of success through most of the second half).

The movie is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone who's seen the trailer knows that Big is going to screw over Carrie (again) and set up the major conflict of the movie. Charlotte didn't get much of a plot at all, though the two moments where she went all mama bear on Big were fantastic. And Samantha had, for me, some of the best and worst moments of the movie (the two worst? There's no way she wouldn't have taken her hunky neighbour up on his offer and the silly 'let herself go and gained weight' scene.) As an aside, I sat about 10 feet away from her at the taping of the etalk Kim Cattrall interview and the lady looks fantastic, and thankfully not plastic or frozen in the face.

I'm also one of the people who think it's fantastic that a female driven movie (and one where all the stars are over 40!) was able to open at number 1 in the summer blockbuster season, and knock off Indiana Jones after only one week to boot. If its sucess, and that of Baby Mama earlier in the season, helps to get more 'movies for women' made then I'm all for it.

At the end of the day, Sex and the City: the movie has earned a spot on the DVD shelf next to the well worn set of the series. And that's the best compliment that I can give.

What's with all the cliffhangers??

Unless you count the summer viewing options of So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, Canadian Idol and the like (which I totally do, but anyway) the television season is basically winding to a close this week with the two hour Lost finale (the mother of cliffhanger shows).

And is it just me or did there seem to be way more cliffhanger endings this season? I don't know if the strike shortening the season for scripted shows led to some serious readjustments of story lines or if it's just that I've managed to forget the usual end of season 'suck 'em in for next year' moves but here are the questions for which I'm waiting until September (or more likely October) for answers:

1. ER - Who was in the damn exploding ambulance?
2. Criminal Minds - Who was in the damn exploding SUV?
3. Desperate Housewives - 5 years later? And where the heck did Mike go??
4. Brothers & Sisters - William Walker had another child?
5. Ugly Betty - As much as I love Christopher Gorham, Betty damn well better have gotten her ass on a plane to Rome.
6. Gossip Girl - OK, Chuck leaving B stranded at the helipad is probably technically not a cliffhanger but damn it, how am I supposed to go without this show for 3 months??

Not to mention all of the shows that never came back after the strike...I will undoubtably need a recap of where they heck they ended off before they come back in the fall.

I think only two shows that I was watching actually got cancelled this year, and they were ones I really wasn't all that invested in (Men in Trees and Canterbury's Law). Which means I have room in my schedule to pick up something new. First on the list...

Joss & Eliza together again! Sign me up.

Sucked in by a vampire

I read a lot. About 2-3 books a week depending on what else is going on. And I read pretty much everything, from biographies to business tomes, memoirs to mysteries, chick lit to crime, and everthing in between.

Lately I've been on a bit of a kick for both young adult fiction (so much better than it was when I was reading Sweet Valley High) and paranormal chick lit (which seems to fill the entertainment void left by Buffy). The combination of which seems to be met perfectly by the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.

And yes, I realize that I'm late to the party on this one. She was just named as one of Time's 100 most influential people, the series has been called "The Next Harry Potter", and the movie being released this December is apparently turning the actors into the most searched for stars on the web. But in the spirit of 'better late than never' I'm telling you that if the idea of a teen vampire romance catches your attention at all, you should rush out and read the first three books in the series; Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. If only to stay pop culturally relevant :-). And then you can join me in waiting for the conclusion of the series with Breaking Dawn which will be released on August 2nd.

The best TV shows of all time (this week)

Two different people have asked me in the last week about what I would consider the top tv shows of all time. Clearly, this is something I need to share. So without further ado and in no particular order...here are what would make the top 5 list at this point:



Sports Night. Because even if the first three seasons of The West Wing are arguably Sorkin at his best, this is where he did it first. Because it was my introduction to Peter Krause, Felicity Huffman, Josh Malina and the multitude of Sorkin regulars showing up in bit parts. Because it died an early death thanks to the boneheads at ABC. Because even though the Damn Dating Plan was awful, the first season build up to the Dana & Casey kiss was fantastic. Because "you're wearing my shirt Gordon" is a moment that still gets me to this day. Because of the many, many, many quotable moments and expressions that I still manage to get into my day to day life (and rejoice when someone gets the reference). Every couple years the series gets popped into the DVD player and rewatched.


Six Feet Under. It has to say something that I waited almost two years to watch the final season even though it was sitting on my shelf ready to go. I just liked the idea that there were more episodes for me to look forward to. It was smart, and heartwrenching and funny and had an incredible group of actors...and it made me cry.




Sex and the City. Look, I'm a single 30-something woman. Of course I love this show :-). And yes, I've had the "which character are you" discussions with friends...over brunch natch. But beyond all of the frivolity and fashion and discussions about sexual proclivities, this show to me was about friendship. How no matter what other relationships where going on these women had each other. And it makes me thankful for all the fantastic friends in my life. It's also completely rewatchable and I stop flipping through channels to watch it on a regular basis...even though I own the DVDs. And I can't tell you how many times that situations and conversations I'm having with friends remind me of episodes of the show. Does that make me sad? Maybe...but it also means that the show gets it right.



Veronica Mars. It was smart. It was funny. It had great dialogue with fun pop culture references. It managed to weave a season long mystery arc with more contained mysteries of the week and keep each episode entertaining...twice. Kristen Bell's Veronica is a kick ass heroine. Logan Echolls is the bad boy we all want to reform. Great guest stars...Paul Rudd! Alyson Hannigan! Michael Cera! I loved this show and mourned it's ending. And it's the one show on my list that I don't have in my DVD collection, must rectify that.






Lost. I think J.J. Abrams is brilliant and will watch anything he puts his name on (Cloverfield is the exception to the rule). This slot almost went to Alias because I'm nervous about including Lost as it's not finished yet and could go off the rails or end in a mess. I was somewhat late to the bandwagon on this one because I missed the first season in the days before timeshifting and the PVR with two shows already in that time slot when it premiered (yes, I've mentioned that I watch a lot of tv so shut up). But after hearing rave reviews all season I picked up the first season when it came out on DVD a few weeks before season 2 was set to start. I figured I'd watch it over a few weeks and tape the first couple of episodes. Silly me. I spent an entire weekend glued to the television and was ready for the premiere the next week. This show has more OMG! moments than anything I can think of. And while I think the third season contained a few of a missteps (Nikki & Paulo...shudder), the negotiated end date of the series allows the men with the plan to execute it the way they wanted to...I just hope they don't disappoint me.


So there they are. If you're looking at the list and thinking 'she totally missed show x', you may be right. But these are my top 5 and I'm sticking by them...for now.

Your turn.

Open for business

For all of you who were waiting breathlessly to see what I ended up deciding on the murphy bed...












Am officially ready for guests :-)