We dined at a meat eater’s paradise recently, and luckily I took along my favourite vegetarian friend to really sample the menu.

The abundance of meat part was a surprise. We were wandering around aimlessly trying to find a brunch place that spoke to me (brain shuts down with no food, so this process can take a while). Suddenly, I remembered that we have said on numerous occasions that we had to go try Taco Rico at 440 West Hastings as reviews are always good.

What I hadn’t seen in the reviews was that you get up to eight different kinds of meat to choose from for some of the dishes. Heaven. I had the lamb tacos. Lamb and Mexican - together! What more could this Kiwi girl ask for? Veggie boy had some great looking tostados. We were happy.

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Finally made it to the much hyped ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ yesterday (the things you can do when you finally get a day off!). These books were key to my childhood and my love of reading. In fact, I clearly remember being curled up in the school cloakroom reading “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” in grade one. I was reading it on the day my teacher came out to tell me that my parents had agreed to let me move up to grade two, since the rest of the class was pretty much stuck on that Dick and Jane type of literature. Grade two: land of small print books, less time being forced to nap, and older boys.

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“One more drink and I’d have been under the host”
- Dorothy Parker

Everyone knows mamma loves her wine, but mamma also gets a wicked hangover the next morning. Could be something to do with how much of the stuff I put back at one sitting, but it tastes so damn good!

Years of waitressing taught me more about politics than political science ever did, and it also taught me a sure fire hangover remedy.

1. Get your sorry ass out of bed. Laying under the covers writhing in pain just makes it worse. Trust me.
2. Down a can of gingerale. Stat!
3. Nibble on some bread or crackers.
4. Have a cup of good heavy soup - a chowder or split pea (my favourite is Habitant) usually does the trick. Nice and thick.
5. Start drinking water.

Trust me.

In “the day,” I could dance from the second the DJ started until the evil lights went up at the end of the night, sometimes even without liquor or anything else to inspire me to bounce up and down, gyrating and spinning like a wind up doll. Speakers, stages, tables - yes, I was one of those annoying girls. People used to say I was a good dancer, but it was dark and they had a lot of smoke in their eyes and were falling down drunk, so who really knows?

These days, you may find me bobbing my head as I walk outside for a smoke, but actually dancing would kick my ass. And that kills me. I miss being able to bounce up and down to a good beat for hours on end!

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“Time is what turns kittens into cats.”

I haven’t been an quick convert to blogging - just ask my friends with blogs that I have scoffed at as they developed their own works. But then I have rarely come around quickly to something I didn’t discover myself. Just how it is.

But I’ve had a crazy few years, and coming out the end of them, I have remembered that I am an adventurous kind of chick who is way more open to trying new things by nature than I have been presenting myself as lately. And that I have a huge list of things I want to do, see, feel, experience and write.

You may recognize the quote that this blog is named after. Consider this a place for me to rediscover the brilliance in the world that has been harder to see of late.

And to record how it all goes in the hopes that others can hopefully pick up a few tips from my lessons as we go. Because I plan to start having a hell of a lot more fun in this little life of mine and to continue to look at those stars.