st. john's weekend - part 2 (saturday)

We arrived downtown around 11:30 but could not find a parking spot to save our lives. After about 25 minutes of driving around the heavens opened up and finally bestowed one upon us. And in the process of discovering said spot, we noticed a mass of people making their way towards the waterfront. We, being our curious selves, decided to ignore our breakfast/brunch seeking bodies to find out what the fuss was all about.

 We quickly realized that it was the rally to save and keep the Search and Rescue program here in Newfoundland. It kind of has a place in our hearts not only since our father is a retired fisherman, but also because a Michael Petten, from our home community and older brother to one of Catherine's best friends, is only still here with us today because of this program's existence in our province.

If he had to wait for them to arrive from Nova Scotia, where Harper's government wants to relocate it, he surely would have perished in that frigid Atlantic; he was waiting over 2 hours for assistance as it was from our shores! That place does over 500 rescues a year, and in the matter of lives, that's no small number. We heard his mom give her few words on the matter in front of the huge crowd and we were so proud of her.

From there we walked to the Duke to get some brunch, once again, the place was packed and we got the only table left in the house. Our "weekend brunch" hit the spot. We even saw good ole "Tinny" again. Catherine decided to tweet "Newf celeb sighting: Tinny from Republic of Doyle at the Duke! Where's Des?" just for fun. We abandoned the idea to go to the pottery craft place only for the fact that it was all the way at the opposite end of Duckworth and we ultimately wanted to head in the opposite direction. 

So we went back to the Newman Wine Vaults to take a sensible look around the place, without the chairs. We continued on and browsed a couple of little stores we'd never noticed before along the way. Lots of people were out walking and it shaped up to be a beautiful day, considering the dreariness we've been living in for the last three weeks. Not only did it not rain like the forcast foretold, but the sun actually showed up!

This is the face of an ecstatic girl. It was about this point when she discovered that Allan Hawco of Republic of Doyle retweeted what she'd said earlier. We had a good laugh at that!

We walked by the ole train too. We decided to end our train adventure when some cute newlyweds showed up to take pictures; we figured we'd share. We went back to Water Street, stopped to rest our feet and drink something hot from Coffee and Company (the wind still made it a little chilly), and picked out bridal shower presents for our cousin.

Since it was such a nice day we went up to Signal Hill to check out the view, learn about Marconi and radiowaves, and people watch a little (as always). Lovely.

(the two photos above are from Evannah)

From there we got some things to bring to the birthday bonfire in Middle Cove Beach. It was Janessa's birthday and it was a perfect way to spend a Saturday evening. We chilled from 8 til 11ish eating the mandatory hotdogs and marshmallows, doritos, and cupcakes that Evannah made; playing with light up toys, catch phrase and enjoying the fireworks show that a nearby group were shooting off. The beach was really lit up that night, fireworks and at least a dozen other fires.

We really enjoyed ourselves!

st. john's weekend - part 1

(proud parking moment)

Catherine and I spent this past weekend in St. John's for the occasion of the St. John's Days as I mentioned in a previous post. We didn't get to do all that we had originally hoped to do, but we definitely didn't feel like we missed out. Some things were switched, skipped, or replaced and it was just what we needed!

Friday we were a little later getting into town than we had planned as we were held back by police directing traffic around a nasty accident along the highway. I sincerely hope they are okay whoever they are. A bit of a sad start to a trip, but we took more caution with our own driving.

Since we arrived late we were a little late getting to the Newman Wine Vaults for the Shakespeare by the Sea skits, late enough that they had the doors locked. There happened to be another visitor trying to get in and we conspired ways to try and get someone's attention. We were about to give up and were around the corner when the fellow reject ran to tell us the door was open (because he had practically kicked it down). It was an interesting experience to say the least. I think I mostly enjoyed the atmosphere, that it was glowy in the candle light and just plain old and rustic. I like old things.

Afterwards we decided to walk around and figure out where we wanted to eat supper. As we did, we came across some of the cast and crew from The Republic of Doyle doing some filming on Duckworth. Pretty cool to stumble upon. The only person we recognized in the crowd was Marthe Bernard, who plays Tinny. We then settled on the Yellow Belly. It was blocked, upstairs and down with only one little table left meant for us. I had pizza and she had a burger & fries which sounds kinda boring but it was so delicious. Not your typical greasy feed; this was the good stuff. Catherine kept making funny faces the whole time, and I can't recall why haha.

(ignore my scary eyes...)

From there we took a little walk around then headed over to Nan's house where we were to spend the next two (broken-sleep-filled) nights on her pull out couch. It's a really nice couch but a not so nice bed.

(I apologize to my friends who I did not inform of my visit to St. John's. This was a sisterly bonding trip after all.)

once upon a winter's day

If we look like we’re having a blast, you’d be right! I had some quick business to take care of downtown on Monday and had invited Robyn to come along for company. I'm super thankful that the weather cooperated because we had sooo much fun running around enjoying the rare afternoon of sunshine while capturing a few of our favourite spots. I'm glad to have finally put the video option on my new camera to good use and Robyn took her editing skills up yet another notch on the uhhmazing scale. I get so mushy happy every time I watch it. Thanks for being silly with me, Robz!