I gots a Bag!

Friday was the final day that we could hunt for my bag. "Jules, I'll find you a Matt and Nat bag if it's the last thing I do before I leave Toronto!" Man, when Sable's determined, things happen. She mapped out our route beforehand. To Yorkdale mall, where there are plenty of stores to make the bag happen.

In case I didn't fill you in on this, because I don't think I did, I wanted to find a nice bag while I was out east. Bentley at West Ed does not fulfill this purpose. Even Aldo is dull. I wanted something truly hip and good quality. Something that I didn't have to throw away in a year. Coach or Matt and Nat would work. If I hadn't bought so much at Simons, I suppose I could have bought a Coach bag. But then ... that's for New York now :)

ANYHOO, we headed to Yorkdale via the Rocket. We shopped all morning, from 9-12. It was a good session. We saw a very outletey-outlet. We tried to hunt down a cool tea traveller at lululemon but to no avail. We hunted down Matt and Nat. Nobody knew what they were in Toronto. One lady said they weren't in this mall. Sable rolled her eyes and said she would find one. And she did!

There's a store called B2, which is the younger, hipper version of Brown's. Brown's is a LARGE shoe company that carries EVERY kind of shoe you can think of. Every brand. Brown's in Montreal had nothing interesting but the Brown's here carried Matt and Nat. Not the one that I wanted though :( I ended up purchasing an equally cool bag, even though the salesman wanted me to buy a larger, bulkier bag because it looked better on me. No no - I want this one. Matt and Nat bags come with a carrier bag inside that carries the Matt and Nat bag. They left that bag in my purse and wrapped it in a cloth Brown's bag. Then put THAT bag into a plastic shopping bag with PVC handles. 4 bags for the price of 1! Gross.

We looked throught their GIGANTIC Holt Renfrew, with Marc by Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. We tried out Coach bags. Looked for hair accessories. We had lunch in the upstairs foodcourt then headed for The Path.

The Path is the underground shopping district in Toronto. It is the largest underground shopping hub in the world. You can enter The Path from any subway station, though it's not always easy to find. The one by St. Andrew's is clearly labelled. We walked through, buying nothing. It was interesting and full of cool places. Wait ... I lied. We did buy a few postcards. It was good. We went to a market called Fresh n' Wild where we bought berry salads and banana bread for breakfast for the next day. Planning ahead is essential!

We headed back to the hostel where I fell asleep "studying". I dreamt about my significant other because I think I missed him, even though I wouldn't ever say so out loud. Then Sable's phone rang and nearly stopped my heart. Her cousin Calvin called and wanted to pick us up for dinner. We got into dress formation for Dirty Dancing, then met him outside.

As we were getting dressed, one of the girls we shared a room with came in. She asked how long we were staying. I said we leave tomorrow morning. She nodded. Short holiday. I laughed. You know it. I asked her how long she would be here. She laughed then shrugged. She said she had a problem with her hands - then held them out - that kept her here. The hospital said she couldn't go home until her condition was stabilized.

Here fingers were deformed at the tips and completely black. It's what you see when organs die. Tissue necropsy. I tried not to cringe. Does it hurt? "Like hell." What happened? She didn't know. One day, she was fine, taking a holiday in Toronto; the next day, she was in a hospital being told she had an autoimmune condition. "The doctors told me my immune system was attacking some disease that ain't there. So there's a lot of stuff in my blood and it's causing these clots." I asked if she was given anti-coagulants. She looked at me like I was Jesus. "Yeah, yeah! And they gave me blood pressure pills and pain pills. Just about everything you could think of." I nodded. She said she was sure that it was her poor diet. I shook my head. Autoimmune conditions are nobody's fault. Anything can trigger them and nobody can predict them. It's not her fault. She wasn't convinced. We had to leave before I could tell her anymore. I told her to feel better and that I hoped she could go home soon. Where did she live? She smiled wryly. Florida. She's sick of snow now.

I waved at traffic aimlessly to signal to Sable's cousin where we were. Renee, Sable's sister-in-law was with him. He drove us to Richtree Market, which is a sort of buffet-style restaurant where you get a credit card that scans everytime you purchase an item. Then, at the end of your meal, you bring the card to a cashier who will take your payment there. But if you lose your card, you have to pay $100 fine or do dishes. Plus, you need a receipt to exit. So it's pretty hardcore. I had roast porkloin with rosti potatoes and a banana-strawberry napoleon. It was amazing. Then we went to Dirty Dancing!

Man, I wish I had the body of the girl who played Penny. She's frickin' beautiful. Legs that extend two feet above her head and strong strong strong strong strong. But she's also about six feet tall and 120lbs. The little Asian girl from the third season of Canadian Idol joined the guy who sang everything to sing all of the important songs from the movie. I .... had the time of my life ... cool. I liked it a lot, even though it was much abbreviated from the movie. I missed Baby's nose though. And her sister should sing like shit, not like a broadway star, dammit! Oh well. Still enjoyable, especially the lifts in water. Electronic screens do wonders.

A walk back home made me chilly, but off to bed as 12am for a 4am wake-up. And I'm still singing the songs in my head.