Watson Wednesday

I posted some of these on Monday but I couldn’t resist sharing all four of them - even if just for posterity sake. 

Here We Go!

Isn't that bracket beautiful? Weeks ago when the post season started, someone made predictions and their predictions had the Nationals in that National League circle... having defeated all the other teams in their path and making it to the World Series. It was beautiful to look at - but then; then it was only a prediction. But now... now it's the real thing.

It’s October 22nd - and my Nationals are one of two teams still playing baseball! The Autumn Classic begins tonight! Suffice it to say that I'll be taking lots of deep breaths over the next week and a half - at the most. If it takes seven games to decide the winner, then by next Wednesday night there will be a new champ.. if it takes seven games. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time - who knew sports could be so exhilarating? 

Actually - for me, only baseball is this exhilarating. So - think of me fondly this week, likely curled up in the fetal position watching the games unfold through my fingertips! Man - postseason baseball is fun! 

I Saw the Sunrise on Saturday

Well. This weekend absolutely flew by...just like I thought it might! Happily I was able to leave work at 3:00 and go home to walk my pup and relax just a wee bit before heading to church for the Lavish Women's Conference! I grabbed a quick bite in the volunteer's lounge and then was a welcome-r for all the women attending the conference. 

We had worship and listened to our awesome speaker, Nicole Smithee and of course, snapped the excellent pictures above before I headed home for the night. I got home around 10:45, hopped in the shower and then hopped immediately into the bed because my alarm for Saturday was set to 6:15. Y'all - that is earlier than I get up for work! What in the world?? 

I was up so early on Saturday that it was still dark outside when I got up and as I drove to the church (coffee firmly in my grip), the sun was coming up! I snapped a picture before heading inside and the day just unfolded in rapid succession....

We had awesome Strite's Donuts for breakfast (which were free - because volunteer!) and snapped a whole lot more pictures as we flitted around from sessions to lunch to worship to our final session and before I knew it, it was 3:15 and the conference was wrapping up!

 

I helped do a bit of clean up and then made my way home for supper and to just chill out! *sigh* I had such a great time at the conference but I was also so happy to just be at home, go grab dinner and then have a chance to take a bubble bath and catch up on Mr. Robot from the coziness of my couch! I didn't last too long though and I was sound asleep before 10! 

Sunday was just a drizzly and damp sort of day... I sipped my coffee and got ready for church. After church I met my Dad for lunch at McAlister's, popped into Wal-Mart to get some supplies for cooking supper on Monday night and then headed home. I loaded my pup in the car to go see if the Gingko trees at the Arboretum had fully turned yellow yet... and y'all, they aren't even close! 

When we came back home, I started a quick load of laundry and played catch up on This Is Us while sipping coffee on my couch. I mean - what else are you supposed to do on rainy days? I got my clothes together for the work week, organized and put away some things in my home and we had pizza for dinner. I took (another) bubble bath, watched the latest episode of Poldark and then climbed in bed! 

Oh yes - and in the middle of all that organizing and setting out clothes, I couldn't resist snuggling up to my sweet pup who just laid on the end of the bed and watched me going about my business. He's such a silly little love!

I cannot believe that the final weekend of October is looming - it seems absolutely nuts! 

Five on Friday

One. This is Still Real - It's been 2.5 days since the Nationals clinched their spot in the World Series and it still feels a little bit unbelievable. I went to Opening Day for the first time this year and the Nationals lost to the Mets... and the rest of April and early May was rough. I remember pretty clearly telling my Mom "maybe this just isn't their year...." and well, I suppose they went ahead and proved me wrong. Who knows? Maybe this year IS their year?

Two. Words of Wisdom - As a sort of tag onto the above information... on May 24th, the Nationals had a 19-31 record which is pretty tragic. They had an 0.1% chance of making it to the playoffs and everyone had counted them out... and yet here they are. When asked about that on Tuesday night after they clinched their ticket to the World Series, manager Davey Martinez said something that has really stuck with me: Often bumpy roads lead to beautiful places. And this is a beautiful place." Well. That'll preach - for a whole lot more than just baseball.

And yes - you can buy a t-shirt that says that. No, I haven't bought it yet but I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind! 

Three. Lavish Conference - Tonight and tomorrow for a portion of the day is the women's conference at my church and I'm looking forward to it! I decided to jump in with both feet this year and volunteer, so while I'm not sure what all I'll be doing... I'm sure I'll have a great time!

Four. Some Laughter - Just a few things that have made me smile here and there, throughout this week!

Five. Watson - And last but certainly not least, a little snap of Watson since I didn't do Watson Wednesday this week! He's such a mess and as he gets older he's becoming increasingly cuddly. I can't say I mind that too much at all!

Y'all have a good weekend! Something tells me this one is going to fly by! 

National League Champions!

The Washington Nationals are National League Champions!

I'm interrupting the usual "Watson Wednesday" post today to share that my Washington Nationals completed a four game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals and are going to the World Series! I am still trying to wrap my head around it but I wanted to document it on my blog to remember for all time - not that it's something I'll forget!

Game One was in St. Louis and Anibal Sanchez carried a no-hitter through 7.2 innings before it was broken up. The pitching kept the Cardinals bats silent through all nine innings and the two runs the Nationals scored were enough to make the series 1-0.

Game Two was also in St. Louis and Max Scherzer carried a no hitter through 6 innings before it was broken up. Michael A. Taylor hit a home run to get the Nationals on the board and two additional runs, coupled with another stunning pitching performance meant that game two was also a win for the Nationals. They took a 2-0 series lead home to DC.

Game Three was at home: Nationals Park saw it's very first NLCS game in history and the Nationals made sure to make it a good one. Stephen Strasburg pitched an absolute gem, the bats came to life and combined to score eight runs and just like that, the Nationals had a 3-0 lead in the series and were a win away from the World Series.

Game Four was in DC, falling on Ted Lerner's 94th birthday (he owns the Nationals) and Patrick Corbin became the first pitcher to rack up 10 K's in just four innings during the post-season. The Nationals scored all seven runs in the first inning, knocking out the Cardinal's pitcher Dakota Hudson and going on to eliminate the Cardinals and earn the title of National League Champions - and a trip to the World Series. 

I'm pretty sure I'm still trying to convince myself last night really happened. But - it absolutely did and my Washington Nationals start the World Series on Tuesday, October 22nd! Wow!

Baseball & Building Things

How delightfully creepy did it look on Friday morning? I couldn't believe how foggy it was but it looked like something out of Sleepy Hollow... to me, at least. Blessedly, the work day was short and I was able to head home around 3:00 and spend some time with my pup before heading to the church to help get ready for the women's conference coming up this weekend.

I made sure to get home in plenty of time to settle in front of the TV for game one of the National League Championship Series - which was a definite nail biter - but Anibal Sanchez pitched a no-hitter through 7.2 innings and the Nationals secured a 2-0 win over the Cardinals for Game One. Of course, the intensity of the baseball game didn't dissuade Watson from feeling the need to beg for my maple cookies. *sigh* 

Saturday morning I tried to sleep in but I finally gave up after laying in bed for almost an hour trying to go back to sleep... I did use my new 5 cup coffee pot to brew some of the coffee from the Congo that arrived as the first part of my Atlas Coffee Club membership that my little sister gifted me for my birthday. It was delicious and the perfect way to start off the day. 

After being lazy for a little while, I got dressed in my Max Scherzer shirt and went to Lowe's with my Dad to pick up some final supplies for finishing up the kitchen and then we grabbed some groceries. I spent most of the afternoon "supervising" the kitchen work, putting together chili for dinner and being sure to take cold medicine in an attempt to keep whatever sickness I felt like I was getting at bay...

Around 4:00 I settled in front of the TV for Game Two of the National League Championship Series and watched Max Scherzer carry a no-hitter through six innings - and also watching the Nationals clench a second win over the Cardinals and putting them at a 2-0 in the best of seven series. After having some chili for dinner, doing some blogging and taking a bubble bath, I watched a few episodes of Schitt's Creek on Netflix and then climbed into bed.

Sunday morning I had delicious Congo coffee again and put on my brightest colors for church. After the service, I got gas and made a quick Target run before meeting my Dad at our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. We returned to Lowe's yet again for a few more supplies and then returned home for football and more kitchen work... the afternoon seemed like it passed in an absolute blur and while the water got hooked up in the kitchen, we watched the Saints win and the Cowboys lose. I had leftover chili for dinner, took another bubble bath and watched the newest episode of Poldark before crawling into bed.

The weekend seems like it passed in a blur and I feel like the next weekend will be no different. The month of October feels like it is absolutely flying by - but then again - I think I've said that every single month this year. 

Celebrating Thirty-Five in Maple Country

Last Sunday was my thirty-fifth birthday. I can't even believe that I've already been thirty-five for a full week. I really can't believe that I'm thirty-five at all... but there are a lot of things I can't believe, so I suppose I'll add that one to the pile! We started the day with breakfast at Tim Horton's - because I don't know if you can actually claim you've been to Canada if you haven't actually had Tim Horton's - right? 

Our first stop after Tim Horton's was Casa Loma - a 98 room mansion built for Sir Henry Pellatt from 1911-1914. Pellatt and his wife lived in the house from 1914 to 1924...the house cost about $3.5 million to build and covers 64,700 square feet with amenities that included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two secret passages in Pellatt's ground floor office, a pool and three bowling alleys... just to name a few. The house was taken in 1924 by the city for unpaid taxes and the building was left vacant for years.

 

 

When the city increased the property taxes in 1923, Sir Henry Pellatt held an auction and sold off over $1.5 million in art and $250,000 in furniture but it wasn't enough and the house was taken the next year. In the late 20's the house was operated as a luxury hotel and was a popular nightspot for wealthy Americans during Prohibition. The stables were used during WWII to conceal research and production of sonar devices for U-boat detection; "under repair" signs were hung up to allow workers to come and go without suspicion. The house underwent a 15 year, $33 million renovation from 1997-2012 and reopened for tours shortly thereafter.

 

The house and all of it's rooms are open to the public - the tour was self-guided and you listened to information about the house with hand held radios. There were also plaques telling you information about the house and we pretty quickly realized that if we took the time to listen to each 2-3 minute blurb about some 16-18 rooms, read all the plaques, take in the sights...not to mention that the entire third floor was a military museum and you could take spiral staircases up...up...up into both of the towers - it was a LOT. 

 

We ended up spending about three hours at Casa Loma and I feel like we made a pretty thorough tour of the place, but I also see how you could easily end up spending an entire day looking around the place. We ended up missing the stables but that was mostly because portions of the house were decorated for a Halloween event and I wasn't walking through what amounted to a tunnel of terror just to see the stables, ha-ha! The house also has escape room style events that take place in each of the two towers - one is magic themed and the other is WWII themed and they both looked incredibly fascinating! If you are planning a trip to Toronto - Casa Loma is not to be missed - it's amazing! 

 

Since we'd foregone the hop on/hop off bus on Sunday, we drove to Casa Loma and from there we popped back over to the harbor for lunch at a spot called Amsterdam Brewery that had delicious food and excellent views of the Toronto Harbor. After we finished our lunch, we took a short walk over to hop in line for a boat tour of the Toronto Islands - a group of fifteen small islands that ring the Toronto Harbor. The bus tour was a part of the hop on/hop off bus ticket and made it seem like we'd gotten our monies worth since we didn't actually ride the bus that much! 

 

The views of the Toronto skyline from the boat were incredible - the "post card" view of Toronto that most people know is shot from the Toronto Islands and so I made sure to snap plenty of pictures! There is an amusement park on one of the islands, a small airport on another and a yacht club on yet another - and people also live on the islands. A house on the islands is much cheaper than living in the actual city but there are only a set number of homes on the islands and you could wait up to 150 years for the chance to own one - so basically, you might put your name on the list but die before the opportunity arose. And just because your parents own a home, you have no guarantee that you will - homes revert back to the island to be sold when the owners die - they cannot be willed to family members! 

 

After our 45 minute cruise around the islands, we were so close to the Beavertails shop that we went back for round two - after all, it was my birthday and so I got to choose and I figured, if I wasn't going to have a birthday cake I might as well have another Beavertail! This time I got a Maple Pecan Pie offering and my Mom chose Strawberry Cheesecake - both were divine but we also agreed that our favorites were the chocolate items we got the day before! 

We then scooted over to Graffiti Alley - which is exactly what it sounds like. It's an alleyway that is filled with graffiti that is constantly changing and evolving whenever someone sees fit to take a couple cans of spray paint and go to work! I am always blown away by graffiti because I don't see how anyone can paint so amazingly with a spray paint - but some of the art work was truly impressive. 

 

Our final stop of the day was to check out the Toronto Legislative Building in Queen Elizabeth Park and I had to snap a picture of one of the little black squirrels hopping around all over the park. I thought they were the cutest thing and told my Mom I'd bring one home as a pet... although I think my dog would eat it, ha-ha! We made our way back to the apartment and packed up our things before walking two blocks down the street to have dinner at the Loose Moose - which was a loud sports bar but the food was really delicious and I was perfectly thrilled to have fried dill pickles, a Sprite and some chili as my birthday dinner! 

We set out for home on Monday morning around 7:00 and the trip was quick, easy and uneventful. I cannot say enough about what a wonderful city Toronto was - it was clean, the people were nice (it's Canada - duh) and there was so much to see and do! I know we didn't even begin to scratch the surface of what the city had to offer and I'd definitely be open to returning to Toronto again in the future! I'd also highly recommend that if you're planning to visit Toronto, you purchase a City Pass because it will get you into some of the big attractions: the CN Tower, the Aquarium, Casa Loma and more... it's a must have. 

So - there you have it. A long weekend spent exploring Niagara Falls and Toronto - some amazing memories made and another year of life started in style!