Engagement Party!

Big thanks to Jason & Amanda for throwing us a wicked engagement party. Our LA friends (and Jon's dad) were able to make it out to the shindig. We had finger foods, wine, and a champagne toast. It was great getting to celebrate with our West Coast buddies and appreciate everyone for coming out. Of course we forgot both cameras, so our event coverage is limited.

We've been pretty neglectful of this blog, but we promise to update with more places to go and things to see in Toronto very soon. Perhaps Thanksgiving Day weekend will provide us with some catch-up time!

Flower Girl #1

Flower Girl #2

Meet Our Flower Girls!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while... to say that we've been busy would be an understatement.  But we recently booked our caterer and photographer so all of the "big" vendors are out of the way, and hopefully we'll have some more time to spend on our blog.

We spent Halloween with our flower girls, Isabel and Sophia.  Tamar works with their dad, and they are two very sweet girls.  Their grandma, Gigi, is an expert seamstress and makes their Halloween costumes every year.  This year Isabel wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  (For the record, Tamar was a big Wizard of Oz fan when she was Isabel's age - apparently she'd lay in the bedroom with a damp cloth on her forehead, imitating Dorothy when she wakes up at the end.)  So in addition to a Dorothy costume, Gigi made Sophia a Glinda the Good Witch costume.  

Isabel dictated the rest of our costumes - Tamar was the Wicked Witch of the West, her mom was Auntie Em, and her dad was a farmer from the opening scene.  Jon was going to be the Wizard, but instead opted to be the Yellow Brick Road.  So a unique cast of Wizard of Oz characters.

The girls really raked in a lot of candy - we were so impressed with the loot they got!  And Isabel shared her stash with us.  How sweet is that?  At only 4 1/2 years old, she has become an expert at sharing.  

We had joined them for trick-or-treating last year, when Isabel was Jasmine from Aladdin and Sophia (at only 2 1/2 months) was a cat who fell asleep almost immediately after leaving the house.  This year she was up and running for most of the evening - it was so cute seeing her in her poofy pink good witch gown.

We are really excited to have Isabel and Sophia as our flower girls!

Isabel and Sophia before Trick-or-Treating

Yes, Jon was the Yellow Brick Road.  How cute is Isabel's costume!?!

Choose Your Own Adventure: Yonge & St. Clair/Forest Hill

These midtown neighborhoods have a special place in Jon's heart, having spent many years attending middle and high school in this area. That's right, Upper Canada College, the oldest secondary school in Canada has Jonathan Faria as one of its alumni. If you're in the area on a nice day, check out the lush grounds and stunning architecture at UCC.

UCC is located in Forest Hill, one of Toronto's poshest neighborhoods.  A bit west of Yonge Street, Forest Hill is home to some of Toronto's most famous families - including the founders of Second Cup.  Forest Hill used to be its own incorporated village before being annexed by Toronto (see some parallels between FH and Beverly Hills?) and still has a cute village strip.  You can visit boutique shops and classy restaurants along Eglinton Avenue near Bathurst Street.

East of Forest Hill (and close to the wedding venue) is the Yonge & St. Clair neighborhood.  This is one of the business hubs of midtown Toronto.  There are plenty of bars and restaurants dotting Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue, and you can hop aboard the St. Clair Streetcar - which recently received its own dedicated lane.  

Bar: Scallywags (11 St. Clair Avenue West).  A popular haunt among the UCC crowd, try to get a spot on the upper level.

Restaurant (Casual): Sprout (15 St. Clair Avenue West).  Try fresh and tasty Vietnamese fare at this lunch-only joint.  

Restaurant (Fancy): Sette Mezzo (936 Eglinton Avenue West).  Upscale Italian cuisine in the tony Forest Hill Village.

Shopping: Bead Cafe (970 Eglinton Avenue West).  Crafty folks can enjoy making their own jewelry or selecting from an assortment of beads and notions at this Forest Hill Village shop.

Yonge & St. Clair

UCC

Meet Our Ring Bearers!

This weekend was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  We spent the weekend in San Diego with the family of our Ring Bearers and had a great time.

Our ring bearers are the children of two of Tamar's dad's former medical students.  The couple met at Stony Brook Medical School.  Since the husband (Ran) is Israeli, Tamar's dad invited him and his (then) girlfriend to Tamar's house for all of the Jewish holidays.  In particular, they were a mainstay at Passover Seders during their medical school years and residencies.  This was mostly because Ran could read through the story section of the Hagaddah (the book that you go through at the Passover Seder) very quickly, which meant eating sooner.

After finishing their residencies, Ran and his wife, Sunny, moved to Tucson.  A year later, they relocated to San Diego.  When we moved to Southern California, a big perk was being able to visit their family.  The roles have changed, and now Ran & Sunny's family have had us over for the holidays.  

It's great getting to play with the kids too - they're now into dinosaurs, Star Wars, and Transformers.  Over the past year they've grown so quickly, with Nava recently starting 1st grade and Ben in pre-school.  Here's some pictures from our brunch on Saturday (we had a little too much fun with the fruit on our plates)!

Nava pretending to be a dinosaur.  Ben had previously said: "Want to hear something sad?  All the dinoaurs were killed."

Ben making an orange smiley.