My Spring Break...ish

Friday was chemo day, dose #3 of 6. It's been written in my Moleskin now for three weeks and I have now commitments for the next day--even someone else is going to pick up Zack tonight at the meeting point as I am on pretty strong anti-nausea meds right now. I feel like I started to be prescient and have a crystal chemo ball....Friday, March 20...11am...Zoe will be hit by a freight train...she will have no broken bones but she will feel like shite for about 10 days. She will recover with the help of her awesome team: oncologist Dr. Karen Gelmon, TCM Dr. Sunny Lee, physio extraordinaire Judy Russell,and of course, my mentor Lalitha. She will somehow mangage to remain healthy enough to stay with the every three week protocol and to matter what happens she will be done by July.

It is also my "Spring Break" as the kids are out of school and out of town. Instead of feeling sorry for myself about not being able to go somewhere sunny myself, I decided to surround myself with good company and fit in some fun with a smidji of work as well as doing the limbo, choreographed as per my Cancer Agency dance card.

So let's get to the highlights:

Lunch with a Buddy and Marketing "Research"
Monday involved lunch with an old friend, downtown. We caught up on our family lives and then, as marketers do, we started to brainstorm all sorts of ideas about our respective projects. Very fun. Then I went off to do some "research" at Tiffany, H&M, and Holt Renfrew to see what my clients might be looking at and/or buying. I'm going to be having a huge jewellery party at the fabulous Glenda's Wallace's--hostess extraordinaire--on June 18th and the creative juices are flowing.

Quick side note. When I was in Holt Renfrew--my second time as I found the sales people to be so absurdly snobby the first time and everything's so way overpriced--I was looking at a hot Quash pink shawl in the mirror, thinking this is just a piece of unhemmed fabric, how can it cost $95? Maybe once Charlotte gets her fashion design business going we can get this kind of fabric wholesale and she can sell it to her Mama for just a wee mark-up? A salesperson approached me and commented on the tights I was wearing...black and cream horizontal stripes to complete my black cotton mini-tutuesque dress and my knee-high lace-up black Docs. "Oh so nice," she said. I thanked her. "Look so nice on you, you so skinny. I couldn't wear them." I agreed that I wouldn't have normally worn such a thing but that I had recently lost a lot of weight. "How you do it?!" she asked, clearly hoping for the secret to my success. "Chemo.," I replied, noting that that's an effective way to cease a conversation. Monday night ended with an impromptu dinner at Pair Bistro with Kelly who is here with her kids for the week. We started with a Wild Mushroom Truffle Latté that was served in the teeniest of expresso cups with wee spoon. Sooooo good.

Acupuncture, Writing, Jewellery-designing (the latter was mostly in my mind).
Tuesday was acupuncture and following that, there had been a planned belated birthday party of two for Lalitha, who just turned 60 last week.

As an aside, I find it interesting that two of my dearest intimates both have the same astrological sign, both were born in the same year and both have husbands who are 15 years younger than them...does that have something to do with their age-defying good looks and radiant demeanour? Hmmmm....

I was listening to the radio on my way home from acupuncture and heard how long the border line-ups were and told Lalitha that I couldn't bear for her to be in that both ways just for us to have a visit so we decided to postone as none of her gifts were non-perishable. Actually I'm kind of turning the tables on Lalitha as her belief of what one does when she has a birthday is either (a) forget completely about it or (b) if it is being acknowledged in some way, it is she giving gifts to her intimates. Well all I can say is that she is in for a bit of a surprise this year.

I tried to take advantage of the "free" time and go up to the upper office to rest but the combination of the major reno with major manpower and major loudest-imaginable power tools makes that a bit tricky even with my window closed and my silicone ear plugs stuffed into the deepest recesses of my eardrums. The other tricky thing is that my mind is going even faster than usual...I have one creative idea after another. I have pen and paper beside my bed to try and just write it down and then be able to nap but they just keep coming.

It actually reminds me of a time when I was seeing a neuropsychologist for PSTD--following my first bout of cancer. In our final meeting after he had fixed that all up we got to talking about other types of ways in which he tweaks people's brain patterns. He said that he has artists who come to him to further activate their creativity...well I was all over that!...he did acknowlege though that they tended to sleep less as a result...me whose just been going to see him to be able to sleep! but in my excitement I didn't really give that much weight. I told him that I would think about it and spoke to Lalitha about it later. She just laughed at me and said that that would be ridiculous to put myself back in the position of sleeping less and that I was plenty creative already. Well whatever part of the brain Dr. Swingle would have amped up appears to have naturally occurred. It's super fun but it is a bit tiring so I am spending as much time as I can in the upper office.

Estate Planning
Did you guys know that when you die, on the very day that you die, all your assets such as stocks are deemed to be sold (I don't believe that you actually have to but they are deemed sold) and all the capital gains are triggered and you get to pay a big fat tax bill....but...one can also donate money to NPO's thereby helping out charities whose work you believe in and get a charitable donation tax receipt and end up paying less death tax. Lurking financial friends and acquaintances can write to me if I got any of this wrong but that's the gist of it.

So odd as this might sound, this is something that is making me incredibly happy. I feel like a fairy with a magic wand...who am I going to sprinkle fairy dust on? I do have some ideas and I do have a very strong general area of interest which is: single women and children in the Downtown East Side. I am interested in finding out if there are micro-lending programs in existence, I'm wondering about housing projects, I'm interested in companion and working dogs for people after seeing that sightless man navigating the Downtown streets with just a red-tipped white cane. I am more interested in supporting programs that provide "the fishing pole rather than the fish as I believe one of the barriers to real change can be the multi-generational dependency on welfare and government handouts. I was really excited by an article that I read recently in the Vancouver Sun about young women in Calgary being trained in carpentry. It is a joint project between the Vermilion/YWCA and Habitat for Humanity. I have just started conversations with the Calgary folks. It is my understanding that this is not happening in Vancouver and would be expensive to start...needing a sizable physical space etc. so I am looking for other people who might have an interested in being involved.

Here is the link to the newspaper article:
http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=1356910&sponsor=

So that took up most of my Wednesday and the morning of Thursday, then errands and an unsuccessful attempt at a nap and then I needed to get ready for a big evening out...

I feel a bit like a drag queen when I get ready to go out and put on make-up...mascara definitely has to come before the wig as I found out the first time that I did it the other way and ended up with mascara all over my faux follicles.

I'm losing my eyelashes and actually attempted to put on false ones but did such a terrible job that I had to rip them off as well as a few of the few remaining real ones...ah...vanity.


Ta Da! Wig on. My new-to-me fabulous Betsey Johnson "Bambi print" dress on...the same one that I was coveting at a different consignment store last summer but as that one was a bit too large for me and because I was certain that no one but me would want to buy it...I held out for it to be further reduced only to have it sell! But then, last week, there was--in my size--in a different consignment store. That's a sign from the Universe to buy it, right?

I'm outside my place, just waiting for the rest of the Fab Four, to get this party started!




On our way to Lumière with our charming cabbie Charan.

Please note that the Fab Four are not just fabulous but also responsible.










Outside Lumière. That's Kelly to my right and Natasha and Dolly to my left.

The Fab Four's Lumière dinner
I wanted to go out with Kelly for an awesome dinner while she was in town and ended up inviting Dolly and Natasha to join us. I debated between Lumière and Market and we settled on Lumière. I'm so glad we did.


This is Dwayne--who belongs in the über-echelon of waiters--let's call him a superserver...kind of like supermodel but with brains and charm and endless patience and good humour. All of which we Fabs greatly appreciated.

There was a nine-course "chef's tasting" menu that had zero details. I asked Dwayne if it was a secret or if we could find out what it would entail. I had already anticipated that we might want to do that and when I called to make a reservation, I spoke with Tiffany and asked if it was a problem if one of us was a strict vegetarian. Tiffany assured me that the chefs would be able to accommodate that and I could hear her typing notes as we spoke including that Kelly ate dairy but not seafood (I think that's pescatarian, you faux veggie fakers).

Dwayne said with a smile that it was not a hard and fast secret and said that he would go speak with the chef and report back. He was gone for several minutes and then explained that normally when there are two people having the chef's tasting menu, they prepare two different dishes for each course, totalling 18 different dishes but as we were (he thought) three and one, there would be 27 different dishes and he proceeded to eloquently describe each and every one of the dishes. I was much more enticed by what Kelly was having and asked to have exactly the same. I then complemented Dwayne for his delivery skills and he showed us that he had done it with writing only one word per dish when the chef had told him what would be served and in what order! As I said, he is in a category all his own.

The food was all excellent! Here are some visuals:








This was my first course...instead of a gauche coulis...they have literally painted on a smear of red beet! I was in aesthetic and taste-bud heaven.



Natasha said that this reminded her of those Asian rice crackers...I don't think they usually put black truffles in those though.

This was an insanely delicious roasted eggplant dish.

We spent six hours having dinner, luxuriating in our 9-course, premium-wine paired dishes, interspersed with hilarious conversation as my buddies all got to know each other better.


Here are my BBFs tryin' on some LL:



I was so impressed with how fabulous the food was and the flexibility that the kitchen exhibited with the "I am allergic to beets" and "I am allergic to tomatoes" and "I'm not allergic to anything but I hate cilantro." All of this Dwayne carefully noted even to the degree that in the first course Kelly did not get beets on her salad but I did even though I had asked for exactly what she had asked for...very impressive. The most charming moment was when after we had all laughed about the smiji mushrooms that the carnivores would be getting and I oohed and aahed when the dish came out...well wouldn't you know that two courses later Kelly and I had our dishes tweaked with some smijis. It was at that point that I asked Kelly to go and take a picture of whomever what whipping up this amazing food. I guess they were a bit overworked as this is what she came back with:











I was a documenting fool taking tons of photos. All of a sudden I spied Dolly's cleavage from across the table. I said to Natasha who had just met Dolly and Kelly that evening, can you believe that Dolly just turned 60?


As for me...what do I have? A demi-cleave? No need to feel sorry for me though. Cumulatively I nursed my two kids for 4 1/2 years, I have a kick-ass yogini tattoo over my mastectomy scar and I am still kickin'. No regrets. But I still can admire my BBF's racks.

Natasha and Dolly were having a bit of a "whose travelled to more places" face-off and had Kelly and I in hysterics with some of their match-ups...ever been to Hurtigruten? Well they have.

We really could not have had a better time. These pictures tell the tale. Just a warning though, all that chef flexibility and you can have anything you want and make any change or tweak you want leads to a final bill that is not for the light of wallet. That said, it was worth every penny and the experience was priceless.

oh, what's that? You're wondering where Kelly and I got our gorgeous necklaces? I'm so glad you asked...check out http://www.screamingpeacock.ca/ ...that's my custom-designed, one-of-a-kind and very limited edition jewellery website. The latest designs section is way out of date...but you'll be glad to know that the 2nd annual Summer Solstice Screaming Peacock Soirée has been set for Thursday, June 18th. Glenda is hosting again and she has promised a repeat of the Lemon Drop Martini Fountain. Sorry gents, it's gals only. But feel free to email me if you want to surprise your honey with something special zoe(at)screamingpeacock.ca