simple smiles #44

And just like that, my countdown to Europe has reached the single digit of 5 days. I'm a little burnt out from the daily 7-3 work grind to the point that I fear I'll spend half my vacation snoozing away like an old lady to catch up on sleep (though getting a free daily coffee from a teacher for the past three weeks has definitely helped!). At the same time, I'm excited to soak it all in - the culture, the food, meeting The Boy's family, food, exploring castles, food, going shopping, taking a gazillion photographs, FOOD. I know I'll be missing these following things though, the things that bring me those simple smiles:

BOOKS. (click here for a larger image) I'll admit, lately my 'reading' has been trying to do the 'medium' section of my Sudoku puzzle book, but books will always have a soft spot in my heart. Plus, my sister who just recently returned to the blogging scene has a section called "bookshelf love" and she wanted me to join in! All my novels/textbooks/comics are pretty much scattered ALL OVER THE PLACE but here's a peek at just one of my shelves - you'll find Harry Potter, some Shakespeare, required reading from university that I ended up loving, and a couple of books I haven't even read yet - whoops! I'm going to try to take a couple of books with me on my travels but I know I probably won't have time!

SUMMERLICIOUS. Every winter and summer, Toronto hosts a 'Winterlicious' or 'Summerlicious' where restaurants have set menus for lunch/dinner that are $15 and up. Two online friends that I've known since I was about 13 (so 10 years!) meet up every year and decided to try out Cafe California - it was AMAZING. Above is the warm pasta salad, which was an assortment of everything and was bursting with flavour. And after we checked out a Salsa festival, which made me wish I knew how to dance (though I'm great at the waltz) :P

ESCAPING TO THE BEACH. I finally had a day off this past Friday and got to catch up with The Boy; I owned him at skipping rocks and then had another couple of our friends join us for random times at the beach. One of the main reasons why I'm so excited for Europe is because I'll be able to actually spend time with him, since it's been such a rarity this past month. 

SURPISE BIRTHDAYS & FRIENDS. Yesterday we hit up a local conservation area for a surprise birthday party for one of my closest friends and it was a blast! :) I know what I'll miss most in my month away is planned & spontaneous get-togethers with friends. We BBQed, caught up, explored behind a waterfall and just enjoyed the sun, making it the perfect three-day weekend.

My final day of the three-day weekend has been spent getting those last-minute items for Europe, trying my hand at EXTREME COUPONING ($10.99 Venus razors on sale for $6.99 + a $2 off coupon = $4.99 razors, baby!) and err ... fighting the urge to take a nap and sleep away the rest of the afternoon. Gotta start packing!!

How has your weekend been?

And what would your ultimate Europe souvenir be?

(I'm planning a giveaway at the end of August with a European souvenir!)