Happy #thinkingoutloud Thursday! No idea what I’m going on about? Click here!
1. Alrighty! Time to spill the beans on the mysterious trip I told you about last week! Even though it might not be so mysterious if you read my last Link Love post or if you follow me on Instagram…
That right there would be The Spoon, The Clean Feets, and The Big Man (aka: me, Meg, and Arman), and if you’re wondering how we all ended up in the same place at the same time, it’s because we decided to have a mini blogger meet up when Arman announced that he’d be in Toronto for a little while. Is that crazy? Heading across the country to hang out with people that you met online? Well, put that way, maybe… but it was actually a great weekend spent with great friends, so let’s get to recappin’!
2. It all started last Thursday morning when I woke up waaaaaaaaay too early (read: 3:45 AM when my flight was at 10) after tossing and turning all night long. As much as I love to travel, I’m not really the biggest fan of travelling alone… especially when I’m basically flying by the seat of my pants and don’t really know what to expect when I get to where I’m going. I had a hotel room and a roomie…
Meghan rocking the #publicbanana
… who kept me up way past my bedtime with damn good chats and SATC marathons, but other than that? Nada. Needless to say, I was a lovely mix of sleepy and stressed.
3. That being said, I was in dire need of a coffee IV, but it probably wouldn’t have gone over so well with security, so I settled for some Starbucks instead… in my first red cup of the season!
4. Followed eventually by a second (with a side of CN Tower)…
A third…
And a fourth…
Not all on the same day, mind you. And don’t you just love how I felt the need to take pictures of all my #redcups? Apparently I was making up for the fact that I hadn’t been able to find them in Edmonton up to that point. Moving on!
5. The view from the hotel room was pretty…
6. And I loved how downtown Toronto had a nice mix of the old and the new…
City hall.
St. Michael’s Cathedral.
7. But my absolute favourite part of the entire trip, was definitely the people…
… and dog! (aka: The Prince)
We briefly entertained the idea of checking out some of the sights and sounds that Toronto had to offer (CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, Second City, Royal Ontario Museum), but no one was really in the mood to play tourist… we were more than happy to just wander around downtown (or hang out in Whole Foods for 3 hours) and chat. That’s the thing about good friendships — you don’t really need much else. My only complaint is that circumstances got in the way of me being able to meet Chelsea and Davida, but there’s always next time.
8. I did, however, have the pleasure of meeting a pretty amazing lady named Shannyn, who not only took time out of her day to show Meg and I the city, but went out of her way to find peanut-free restaurants that I could eat at. I then went on to commit the biggest blogging fail ever by not grabbing a picture with her. All the more reason to go back!
9. Speaking of going back… I may have shed a tear or two when I had to part ways with the gang. And then another tear or two when I didn’t get a window seat on the way home. I don’t use the bathroom enough on airplanes to appreciate an aisle seat, and not being able to look outside not only makes the flight feel 10x as long, but makes me feel every little bump and dip even more as well. Not a fan.
10. Aaaaaan that’s that! I hope you guys are having an awesome Thursday, and before I go, I just wanted to quickly thank you for all of the support you’ve been showing Spoons. Last week’s ToL was the biggest one yet, and the Link Love roundup keeps growing as well. You guys rock my socks off <3
No questions… just tell me whatever comes to your mind! 😀
More places to find me!
E-mail — [email protected]
Twitter — runwithspoons
Facebook — runningwithspoons
Pinterest — runwithspoons
Instagram — runwithspoons
Bloglovin — runningwithspoons
I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe that between the THREE of us we did not get a photo!!! LOL shows how much fun we were having…phones were away most of the time! 🙂
You come back and visit ANYTIME. It was so great to meet you.
Your trip looked amazing and I LOVE seeing pics of you. It makes me so happy!!
Blogging meetups are the best! I’m slightly jealous over here 🙂 Hmm I’m thinking your next trips should be to NYC obviously!
I would actually love to head out to NYC one day! And you better believe I’ll be looking you up WHEN it happens 🙂
Sounds like SUCH a fun meet up… wish I were still in PGH so I could have come up!
Me too! I was secretly hoping that I’d get to meet you, and then you had to go ahead and move on me!!
I would have taken pics of the red cups as well. If it weren’t for the whole “saving money” thing I would definitely have been to Starbucks by now!
Ahh I love following your blogger meet-ups (…I’m living vicariously through you).
Also, I don’t even drink coffee, but I think I’m going to get me some red cups just so I can be a conformist. And #whitegirl. 😉
This is AWESOME!!! And also proves that Arman really DOES exist in real life!
OMG it’s crazy to think that you were so close (I live in TO!) not so long ago. Where did you stay? Did you like the whole foods at yorkville?
We stayed at the Sheraton Centre downtown. And I did like the WF! I didn’t actually end up buying anything, but it was a nice place to hang out.. and I wish we had one in Edmonton!
Thank god I now know what all the fuss over the red cups is, considering you have four of them in this post!
I’m pretty sure I got a little banana on my lips in that picture. Just for you.
We’ll need to pick a new location for 2015.
Australia?
A banana farm?
Inside a starbucks cup?
Actually, a peanut factory. 🙂
That is so awesome, Amanda! There’s something so unique and special in meeting friends that you’re so well acquainted with, other than in person. And I didn’t care about Starbux redcups till recently, hah! When my friend said that they make her feel giddy and all the more excited for the holidays, I started to rethink that maybe I was being too much of a Scrooge…;) And Toronto looks like such an interesting place! I’m really not familiar with it (like at all), but seeing all that mixture of old+new is pretty cool. We don’t have much of that in Socal as you probably could tell. Have a beautiful day, Amanda! ^_^
Looks like you had such a fun time! Seriously wish I could have joined in the fun. What peanut free restaurants did you end up going to?
We just went to the one place with Shannyn, and neither Meg nor I can remember the name of it 😆 It was a Mexican place that’s been open since the 80’s — that’s all I can remember!
Toronto looks amazing! I’ve never quite made it there, but it is definitely on the list. Thanks for hosting the linkup!
Aww wow that looks like such a special weekend! I’d love to meet up with blogger friends one day. And as super cliche as it sounds goodbyes are the hardest thing and the better the visit the harder the goodbye
What a fun trip with great people! Blogging friends are so awesome, aren’t they?! Love all your red cup photos! I need some ‘Bucks red cups in my life!
That looks like such a fun weekend! And I’m totally understanding the need for caffeine in an IV on days like today.
I am SO happy to see you got to meet some great people over the weekend! You are a lucky girl to have the privilege of being able to travel! 😀 I am living through all of your adventures. haha!
#redcups #ftw
Aw, that looks like so much fun!!! I love getting to meet other bloggers it’s so much better to meet in person. Now, when are you coming back to Victoria?!?! haha, we NEED to meet!
I was -totally- there! You need to come to Edmonton! There are a tonne of us here in AB 🙂
Look at you and all your meet ups! I’m really glad you got to meet Arman – he is just the sweetest. (Don’t tell him I said that)
I can’t wait for our potential Christmas meet up in YYC!! 🙂 😀
AHHHH!!!
We need to have one in Edmonton one of these days so I don’t have to travel so much! 😛
So much blogger love in one photo!!! I’m so happy to see that 🙂 It’s sad how much the red cups at Starbucks make me want coffee all the more -trust me, I know the struggle. I feel ya
What a fantastic link up for you guys!!
I did wonder when I read Arman had written somewhere “see you soon”….. that explains it! 😀
Super super jealous! I would love to visit Toronto and meet you and Arman! You never know, maybe one day 🙂
Fingers crossed! 😀
Hi Amanda! I can’t believe this is my first time on your site. I need to join in the link-up fun next week for sure. That’s so cool you took a trip for a little blogger meetup. Love that! I’ve been meeting some local San Francisco bloggers lately and it’s so fun to put faces to names and words. Happy Thursday! 🙂
Yay for having meet up!! Good friends are hard to come by, so being able to meet some good ones is always a good thing!! Ugh and I must get a red cup finally!! It just makes it feel like the holidays when I have one 🙂
Awww! I’m so glad you guys got your mini blogger meet up! I miss you guys so much…and ONE of these days I will meet The Big Man!
So can we just relive this trip in Alberta? Please? I’m glad that you guys had a good time though – I miss Toronto! I probably would have dragged you guys to the ROM though….or if it was in the summer, the zoo. I’ve been wanting to go to the zoo again for years but it hasn’t happened yet! I want to go to the one in Calgary this summer though.
We literally walked right past the ROM on our way to Whole Foods, and I thought of you! But we’ve definitely gotta get an AB blogger thing set up. I just hope we can do it in E-town every now and again so I’m not making the 3 hour drive alone all the time 😛
What an awesome trip!!
I’m going to be the creepiest creep and guess you stayed at the Sheraton? I had a similar view when I stayed there for work 🙂
Lol OMG! You seriously are the creepiest creep — that’s exactly where we stayed 😛
Great post Amanda! <3 Toronto, Quebec…. on my bucket list to visit!
Thanks for hosting the link up! Just learned about it last week when one of my blogging buds participated. Looking forward to following you and future link ups. Best, Lisa
Thanks for joining this week, Lisa! 🙂
I could use a coffee IV today…hook me up!