Sunday, February 7, 2010

Family Reunion...& Leotard

Had my cousin over for the weekend. She came from some distance and we had a wonderful time visiting. On Friday night we went down the road to an Italian restaurant that's new to the neighbourhood for dinner and had a delicious meal. On the way we stopped at a cheese shop and bought cheese, glorious cheese, for the weekend, including one called Mimolette that I've never tried before.

On Saturday, the sun was shining and it looked spectacular out, so we decided to go for an outing to an Anthropologie store. My foot was hurting (on Friday I had walked barely any distance to a pool near work to get the Aquafit schedule), but the store was within driving distance, and I figured I was up to one measly shop, so off we went.

I got a great pair of skinny black jeans (and I do mean skinny – I've lost weight since RA came on, despite munching on endless Toblerone bars and other assorted goodies when I need comfort). My outfits have been somewhat restricted for the past two months, since I can only fit my swollen feet into two pairs of boots, so having one more pair of jeans to wear is great.

We also popped into a health-food store, and I bought some ground-up hemp. I don't prepare meat at home myself, and I'd found out that hemp is a complete protein (woohoo!) and contains other good-for-you stuff like omega-6 fatty acids. Then we rested up at the fab-smelling tea shop Teaopia, and I had a chai latte while watching talented young skaters from a local skating club whip round the outdoor rink and do spins and jumps. Fun!

Back home, we were all set to take a nap when my sisters arrived, so the chatfest began in earnest. My crazy French friend was also coming for dinner, but had to work late, so it wasn't till around 8 that we sat down to eat the yummy meal my cousin had prepared (chicken breasts stuffed with smoked gouda cheese and bacon, risotto and asparagus – can you say delicious?!). During dinner we got onto discussion about what we'd bought at Anthropologie, and my cousin and I both said "Leotards."

Crazy French friend said, "What??"

We said, "Tights. You know – opaque hose." And then my sisters, cousin and I all looked at each other, and asked, "Do you think leotard is actually a German word?" (Although quite frankly, it sounded French to us!)

That's happened before when we were kids. Our mum would be talking to us in English, toss in a German word on a regular basis, and we would think it was English and then use it with our friends, and they'd have no clue what we were talking about. Like Zieps (or English knot) as in: "You have a Zieps in your hair." No clue that wasn't English!!

Anyway, we Googled it – as CFF (crazy French friend) said "Leotaaaaaard?" with her accent and had all of us laughing hysterically. We determined, yes, it actually was English (but, oui, of French origin – aha!!!).
 
And so I've decided I'm going to call crazy French friend Leotard within the pages of this blog from now on.

Today, my cousin and I slept in (thank god, as we didn't get to bed till midnight and my hands and feet were severely unhappy, but I was having too much fun to kick everyone out). Now, I have masses of laundry to do, but despite a nap, I'm feeling shaky and too tired, so I'll just continue to take it easy.

All in all a good weekend that was worth the tiredness and pain. Love my family, love Leotard!

P.S. A friend from work just came by unexpectedly and dropped off some lasagna her husband made. So wonderful, so kind, so thoughtful!!!

4 comments:

  1. It was!! I love having company over. I'd have people over all the time if I could. My dream is to have a big enough house that everyone can have their own bedroom and en suite bathroom so they'd all be totally comfortable... Some day!

    :) L

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  2. Oh, a chai latte! My favourite! I love Teaopia.

    My family has always called them "leotards" as well, although I hardly ever hear anyone else use the word.

    Sounds like you had a great day!

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  3. You call them "leotards," too? Excellent! I'm going to be polling people at work on that word.

    As for Teaopia, I'll be heading back there some sunny day...

    :) L

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