A Stott Embarks on a Journey Away from her Stottsman and Stottboys to visit a far-away 'fub

Just now, the apartment is feeling a little dark and forlorn. A Stott is no longer here. So suddenly, an apartment is empty of Stott! what is one to do?! At first I sank onto the couch, curled into a ball, and mourned to a sympathetic fubman. But enough of sadness. The visit was so much fun and I want to recount it while it's still fresh in my memory. a note though...we did so many things you see. I'm afraid the days and activities kind of jumbled together in my memory. I remember everything we did, but you'll just to bear with me on exact timing.

Stott's station was the living room, and accordingly spots were sanctioned for the purpose of containing various Stott containers. The futon was bolstered up with some books to help with the sag. Fubman had to work that first night, so Stott and I set off by ourselves to collect supplies for dinner. We decided on smoked salmon potato cakes, so we bought the stuff for that (as well as a healthy-sized bag of chocolate mini eggs spotted by Sarah, rittersports, and popcorn. one must be prepared for a good snack). However, I forgot about the breading for the cakes, so they ended up being croquettes, as Stott pointed out. But they were still good with the lemon-dill aioli, and we had a nice salad with apple cider vinegar dressing made by Stott. After dinner we did some stories - quite frankly I wish we'd done more of them, because we did get off to a rather genius start. But we just did the two. some good chats were had, and I got Sarah to watch "pitch perfect", which I'd been dying to share with someone since I'd first seen it.

Anyway, our first full day we had rather a late breakfast, which fubman made - raspberry smoothies, as Stott and I were planning to go for a run afterwards. It was grey and cloudy, but dry, and we ran through the village on the back roads to the multi-use path (MUP, as it is dubbed) and ran all the way to mackenzie beach before turning back around. I tell you, it was a lot more than I was used to pushing myself, and I had to stop and walk soon after we had turned around because I was feeling sick. But I kept running when I recovered, although it was hard for me to keep it up and soon Stott, bouncing away energetically,  had disappeared over a hill and around a bend, not to be seen again until she'd finished and waited for me. I was jogging down gibson, a potholed gravel road that never seems to have it's potholes fixed, and there was Stott standing at the end. We walked the rest of the way back to the apartment. Stott's face had a healthy pink glow, while mine, I discovered later in the mirror, was more of a blackberry stain.

After Sarah had had a shower, we beautified ourselves. Actually, first I think we went out to eat at wildside. It took us a while to decide between sushi (not sure if it was yet open...), tacofino, and Wildside. We decided Tacofino because it had just re-opened and I was really excited about it, and a Stott was an obliging Stott. But Tacofino ended up being closed! So, since wildside is fortunately right there, we went for that - which actually isn't a disappointment, wildside is always delicious, it's just that it's open for more of the year than sushi or tacofino is. (my grammar is crumbling, and I apologize to those of you who still abide by it - that last sentence was extremely grammatically confusing to me...) But I was very content to share it with someone that had never experienced it before, that always makes things feel new again. I got the buffalo chicken burger special, and Sarah got the spicy chicken tacos and we halved them. Soooo good. Sarah agreed, as would any sane person, that wildside fries are of an amazing quality. It is true...they're so crispy, yet melt in your mouth! Everything is always fresh there. It's what makes it good every time. Anyway, somewhere around the food eating, we did beautify ourselves. Sarah flat iron-curled my hair, and the result was so lovely it made me suddenly re-think my hair-cutting plan. But, upon reflection, I mean....obviously I can't make my hair look like that my SELF. I've tried the flat-iron curl, and I do not end up with curls. So the hair cutting plan was stuck to. We must've gone to the grocery store again after that, because one of the cashiers, who has seen me often enough with a raggedy anne braid, made a point of complimenting my hair. He was quite flirty actually...(not to me exactly).  Laura will remember him from the time we bought vermouth for our risotto. The guy at the grocery store who made a comment about us going out on the town, after spotting that vermouth? Same guy. Somehow, he is always kind of flirty when I bring a sister to the store. When it's just me, he pretty much completely ignores me. Sarah won't believe he was flirty because of her, but them's the facts. I'm sticking to 'em.

That night, full from the wildside, we napped, and snacked on popcorn and chocolate rather than have an actual dinner. We watched Step it Up - it's always enjoyable to watch a big, muscular man like Channing wriggle and gyrate. Sarah and I agreed that it adds a definite strong current of attraction to a man. But there's something about Channing also that is very masculine...he makes other boys look pretty and feminine in comparison. I like a masculine manly man with a sensitive side. I mean...who doesn't? It's kind of irresistable...anyways - tangent. When Shawn got back from work that night, we all played rock band for awhile. I wanted to do more stories, but somehow it just never happened. But Stott and I had some good chats. I always love to have a sister around to chat with.

Quite frankly, I can't remember which night we made babka - I think it was the next night, on Tuesday. yes. That day, we bought the supplies for tie-dying, also, and got started on our turkey feast. You see, Shawn had received a turkey as part of a christmas bonus from his boss, and we'd long ago planned to save it for when Sarah came. Sarah brought with her the fortunate knowledge of a bacon covered, maple-glazed roasted turkey recipe...with cornbread sausage stuffing...so that day in preparation, I made some cornbread while Stott made the aforementioned magical creation, called BABKA. We'd talked about it earlier and decided to add nutella to the middle - and it was not a mistake, let me tell you. That night we snacked on hummus with chips, and warm babka dipped in melted nutella and cream cheese glaze, as well as an obligatory ode to dinner - cornbread grilled cheese. I believe that night also that we watched "the backup plan" with J-Lo, which I discovered had to be watched with a sister to be fully appreciated...there were some scenes - the birthing one for example, that almost made me hysterical.

 I didn't mention it, but soon after that first morning run it had started to rain, and didn't cease the entire time Sarah was here. so Wednesday morning found Tofino in quite the wet state. Since we hadn't been to the beach at all yet though, we decided to tough it out for our run, and ended up at Chesterman's. Not only was a steady drench falling from the sky, but also a steady freezing wind. We both had trouble keeping our immediately sodden hoods on our sodden heads (in order to protect sensitive ears). Stott resorted to pulling on one of her boy's (Sloane's?) brown flappy toques, which had a large light brown drippy stain on one side. The ear flaps flapped merrily in the wind until she had the thought to pull her hood over the toque, and the bulkiness did an alright job of keeping the hood up after that. We ran down the length of lynn road, cut onto the the southern end of south chestermans, and ran the entire length of the beach plus a little loop. Afterwards there was not a dry speck on either of us. I felt pretty good because I didn't start feeling sick until the very end. Before we made our way home, Sarah treated us both to a cup of chocolate elixir from Chocolate Tofino, which we happily dipped leftover babka into when we got back to the apartment.
This was the day appointed to tye-dying and turkey feasting. First though I forgot to mention that the day before, Sarah kindly gave Shawn a really cute hair cut before he set off for a job interview (ended up being a dud, but the hair cut was NOT). She also cut MY hair. I love it, and so does my hair. My curls have come back with a vengeance. I've noticed quite a few people in town look at me and not recognize me since, too, which is kind of funny.

For the purpose of tie-dying, I rummaged around and managed to procure a white bruhwiler's surf T for Stott, and a tank for myself. These were our originals. we painstakingly mixed to get the correct shade of green and blue - those were the colours we used, and set about following the directions on the site we'd found and the dye packets. for testing we used an old white sock and raggedy tank of fubman's. The best part was taking off the elastics and unraveling the shirt to see what had been done...and then there was the fun of scrunching it back up and dunking it in a different colour. After those first ones, our thirst was not at ALL abated and we decided to set off for the thrift shop, Castaways, to see if we could find anything else to transform. the tiny shop ended up yielding to us but one offering...a soft white cardigan, which I urged Stott to take, since I'd just remember some other white shirts of mine I could use. so back at the apartment, Sarah set to work on her cardigan and I on two other shirts I'd found. we used a sage green, violet, pale teal, and yellow. It's definitely addicting...I'm already planning tie-dye parties in my head! So much fun - and then you have a cute something to wear at the end!

After the tie-dye fun Stott and I set about dutifully preparing the turkey feast. spicey italian sausage sizzled on the pan, Stott prepared buns, the turkey was rinsed, dried, covered in bacon and finally stuffed with the prepared stuffing, glazed with maple syrup and stuck in the oven. Basically, Stott and I were crazy busy with all the different preparations, and we'd only lightly snacked all day on babka and hummus and the like. There WAS a short nap time in between...every day we managed time for a nap...it must be said. By the time everything was ready, the smells had been enticingly wafting about for hours, and I was ravenous and drained. The feasting felt quite short in comparison to the preparations, but it was all delicious. Stott and I felt rather proud of ourselves. We hung out lazily for a bit after dinner, and then watched "family man".

Thursday we kept the turkey leftovers within reach. Delightful bunwiches stuffed with the leftovers were had. Stott and I did t-tapp. Soon after breakfast, we ventured out on the drenched town to take a look at Covet. As always that took awhile, because that store is so filled with cute things. Sarah tried on some clothes and various hats. She ended up with a cute round black one (hat). I bought Stott a Danica make-up case covered in peacock-coloured owls, as a gift for cutting my hair. It was still less than I'd have spent on a hair cut anywhere else - Stott spoils us all, does she not?!  After a good long peruse in Covet, there was a quick stop by the health food store, and then we went back to the apartment.
At some point during this day, Shawn approached Stott - and this is the exchange they had.
Shawn: so, you're a Stott right?
Stott: Yes
Shawn: does that make Kyle your Stottsman?

At this time I was changing in the bedroom - all I knew was that Sarah's voice was suddenly coming through the crack in the door. "Amy! I have a Stottsman!" she was saying, with the voice of one who has just made a delightful discovery. The discovery was duly appreciated, and fubman too for discovering it. What can I say - my fubman is a genius! I mean it was also he that came up with Une Fubbitte.

If you've made it this far, I congratulate you! I'm not exactly sure, on reflection, what made me feel as though I needed point out each exact movie. I think (upon FURTHER reflection) it's because I don't want to lose a single moment of the visit. Thursday being the last night, we watched two movies. "silver lining playbook" and "life as we know it".

The next morning Sarah left at 11 and a sad 'fub was I. It's now a few days later as you can see. After family leaves, the empty apartment hits me like a slap! But I am so glad she came. We had so much fun.   And Stott, it's up to you to add anything I forgot to mention...

And now, as promised.

I think this would be a good anti-bullying pic. this is how me and Sarah feel about bullies.

two excited girls

the Slug

haha, Stott...!!! 

the excitement is now barely contained...

sisters of the long chin and lip

sisters to strike terror...

Also, as Labee pointed out, her and I took a few of these when she was over. I will be obliging and add them (they need to be shared anyway):

hi.

phhht...hehe

BLAUGHEIWOAPWRIGH

mom always said we were cute girls

this one...speaks for itself

mom also taught us to be kind and thoughful girls

Oh...oh my! 

rawr

evil plot faces

haha, poor labee has no idea, in her joy, that I am about to deliver a left hook to her chin

hilarity

...followed by great fear...

the end!