"It's going to be a bright (bright) bright sunshiny day"

Friday the weather forecast was predicting a high of 22 degrees. We were hitting the 20's! As luck would have it, it was my day off. But also as luck would have it, I was the only one with a day off, so nothing really got going until 5. Ah well, we still had a good 4 hours of sunshine left.

I boogied on downtown (I miss downtown) with my family's taxes in tow. Yeah, I'm Asian like that, save money on postage by dropping them off at the government building in person. Had a little package to give to Posie and that's just wonderful since she works in the government building, too. Then I strolled around Olympic Plaza, picked up my tickets to the Killers over at the Ticketmaster, sashayed my way down Stephen Avenue...wow, the patios were loaded with people taking advantage of the weather. Finally deposited my GST cheque into my bank account and with impeccable timing Civic phoned me up and had parked his car right by the bank. A quick sweep by Sunterra proved fruitful. Their last piece of tiramisu for the day and it was MINE!

Daisy wouldn't be available for over another hour...it was 5:30 and she said she'd meet up with us at 7. So we wandered over to Chinatown and I had my red bean bubble tea. Civic didn't know of Try Again, isn't that crazy?

Earlier I had suggested we try out Brava Bistro Uptown for dinner but now our minds were starting to wander with other dining options. Nothing at Eau Claire really appealed to me so we walked right through, wandered down the river and over to Kensington where Julio's Barrio lured us over with thoughts of yummy sangria.

Walking around with Civic is so breezy. Much better company than others I've spent time with at Prince's Island in the past. Much more entertaining than others I've spent time with elsewhere, even. Thank God for friends like him.

Which is more than I can say for my conversational skills at times...haha.

"Isn't this where that university student died? He drowned under the ice this winter? The one with family in Newfoundland or something?"

"Did you hear about that Korean guy they found dead at Glenmore Park? They said they were having a hard time contacting his family, maybe he's an exchange student?"

"Isn't the riverside sketchy at times? I mean, isn't this where they found that kid dealing drugs last year and then they linked him to the head dealer guy? Yeah, and his (the kid's) parents wouldn't stop renting to the creep so social services took away their children?"

Don't get me wrong, I love our river...I think I've just been reading too much of the newspapers lately.

They took our names down for Julio's Barrio and Daisy still wasn't around so we kept on walking. Went to Crave where they actually had a bit of selection left for so late in the day! Civic finally tried one; the chocolate one with the peanut butter frosting which I looooooove. I love that one so much I ordered that one again despite having other choices available in front of me. Called Daisy up and got a banana and chocolate one on her behalf. Another box of baked goods to place in my little shopping bag with my tiramisu. Good God, I'm such a bakery whore.

We took a peek at the wares over at Wee Book Inn. They had a book on how to improve your spelling. Remind me about that sometime...books and reading and spelling = a subject of much discussion amongst my pals and I on several occasions.

Finally got our table at Julio's Barrio and I blurted out "sangria" to which Civic asked if we should order a bucket. Freudian slip. :) Yes, we would order a pitcher of sangria. Throughout the evening Civic, ever the gentleman, kept our glasses topped up at all times. A pitcher of sangria divvied up amongst 3 good friends makes for good times. Good stuff.

Unfortunately after dinner Civic had to leave us since he had a long day ahead of him Saturday. A carload of guys(?) whistled at us as we walked down Kensington to Daisy's car. Not sure if they were after us or Civic. :) We drove back downtown and dropped him off back at his car...and then we were at a loss for what to do next. Our pride would not let us go home, it was only 11 in the evening! I honestly couldn't eat anything more, not to mention our cupcakes and my tiramisu were just sitting there making me feel even fuller. Fine, we'll go for coffee. Always room for coffee.

Cruised Uptown and Bad Ass Jack's was no longer in operations. Whoa. Not only that but Morgan's Pub was now something else. It was sad to see Shaken Drink Room gone (the owners closed up shop after that guy was shot dead in the establishment). Patios were in full swing, as they should be on such a beautiful evening. And all of a sudden we had the notion of driving by Bizkette's old pad to see if it had been torn down yet.

It wasn't torn down, but it definitely looked shut down. The mailbox was gone, and I swear there were no signs of anyone living inside any longer. If Daisy and I were nervier we should have gotten in somehow and nabbed the vent that everyone signed. Ah, that beloved vent. Alas, we're not break-and-enter kind of girls. So there we were, just staring at Bizkette's old place. It was kind of spooky-looking now...not inviting at all. But *sigh* the good times we had in there. Flashbacks to those two B.C. guys we picked up during the Stanley Cup playoffs...memories of the Red Mile in general...the night when we deep fried everything in sight...good times good times.

We miss you, Bizkette.