Last year, Mark, his brother David and I biked the Tour de l'Ile, a 50km bike ride with about 30 000 people, for the first time and we couldn't have picked a worse year to do it. The weather was awful! WET WET WET. The first hour was grey, but cool enough that the ride was enjoyable, but then it started raining and didn't stop. It was miserable, but we biked the whole thing and I got to see parts of Montreal that I'd never seen before. I also got more wet than I ever have before.

This year the Tour de l'Ile is celebrating its 25th year and we plan to bike it again! I'm especially excited to see that the route is a different one than last year. This year's route is one familiar to me as big parts of it run West along the canal and then back East along the river. Can't wait!

Something I have been keeping track of in a paper journal, but not in this blog are Mark and my "10 Great Dates". Now, listen here:

Mark's very generous and thoughtful mother put together a huge box of individually wrapped gifts, each relating to a great date from the book "10 Great Dates Before You Say I Do"*. The idea is to read each date's chapter, do the exercises as homework, open the accompanying gift and discuss the chapter's theme during a date. 

I would never have thought I would take part in something like this, but when someone is thoughtful enough to put such a wonderful package together just for us, I can't resist.

And so, on to Date #1:

On Easter Sunday Eve, we cracked open the book and read the first chapter: Sharing Hopes, Dreams and Expectations. The exercise was to rate from 1 to 5, eight important areas to a couple: commitment and security, companionship and friendship, sexuality and sensuality, affection and tenderness, encouragement, intellectual closeness, mutual activity and building a family. The next day,  we went to the Eggspectation** in the Old Port for breakfast and discussed. 

After having been together for a little over 6 years and having lived together for about 4, we have already shared our hopes and dreams many, many times. However, we've never explicitly (ok, maybe during a few fights over the years) discussed our expectations of each other and it was insightful to focus on this part of the date. The gift Mark's mother chose for Date #1 was a journal and pen, both of which we decided to use to keep track of each date, i.e. write a few notes, attach the homework and where the date took place. I think it'll be funny to look back on this journal in 15 or 20 years and see what we thought of our relationship just 6 years in.

Stay tuned for Date #2!

*For the record, Mark and I are not about to  say I do. 

** Man oh  man has Eggspectation ever gone downhill! That's my last visit for sure!

After everything that I've been doing since I last posted (Freaky Friday, March Break, Easter, The Class, Miroir Noir screening that I barely attended, 9 weeks left in the school year! + M. Ward show to look forward to!) two really funny things stick out.

1. HAPPY EASTER GUS! What a hat! Apparently this is normal in Australia. Email me, I'll show you the videos.

2. I got a parcel notice addressed to Willow Paquette! The lady at the post office had a laugh about that. She didn't even question me when I told her Willow is my cat, even though I had to show her picture I.D. to get the parcel that was addressed to me (an Etsy treat). Willow's enjoying her Feline Greenies Dental Treats as I type.