This is going to be the second Thanksgiving me and the HB will be spending in Toronto away from home. Wow, I still can’t believe we’re already into year 2 in Toronto.
The only sucky thing about this is once again we won’t be spending Thanksgiving with our families this year. But, on the upside I booked my flight back to Vancouver for December, and because I’ll be working from my work’s Vancouver office for part of the time, I’ll be back home for almost 25 days!
I can’t express how incredibly excited I am. Not just to spend Christmas and New Year’s with all of my loved ones, but also to escape what I’m going to assume is another terrible winter here in Toronto. What’s even more awesome is that because I’ll be flying out mid-December, I got a really good deal on my flight! When I was looking at flights that left closer to Christmas, round-trip tickets were about $1000.
Yes, I could afford it and it would be worth every penny, but I much prefer leaving a bit earlier, working for a week or two while I’m there, and saving $400! My HB may or may not be leaving for Vancouver as early as I am. It all depends on if he has any work commitments here or not (but I secretly hope he flies out early so he can save mega money on his ticket too).
I finally ran a 5k race for CIBC’s Run for the Cure! I did it as part of my work’s running team and I’m happy to report that I finished in 42 minutes and was able to raise $270 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation thanks to the wonderful donations from my family and friends. And yes, I did stop mid-run to take a no-makeup selfie of myself. I needed proof that I did it (if not for you reader, as a reminder to myself that I actually did it!).
Last thing before I get to today’s blog love, I finally canceled my god awful AMEX and VISA cards! It’s been on my list to cancel them for over a year (possibly 2), and I finally did it! Of course it wasn’t easy.
For my VISA I had to go to a Scotiabank branch on a Saturday then fill out a bunch of paperwork to get it done. Yes, that’s not that bad but you tell me the last time you were free during the day on a Saturday to go to the bank. Why aren’t all banks open late on weekdays?!
As for my AMEX, once again I encountered a ton of problems with their customer service. The number on the back of my AMEX directed me to a pre-recorded voice that would only let me hear my card’s balance. So I went to the website, found a different number but it directed me to the same robotic voice.
I tried another number, and it gave me some weird dial tone that sounded like the number was out of service. Finally, I called their number for VIPs (which I am not) and when I got a hold of an actual human being, I asked him to redirect me to someone who could help me. He did and I was able to cancel my card over the phone.
Bye bye credit cards, I sure won’t be missing you. Now I just have my Mastercard and my joint credit card with my HB, but I’ve also just applied for a VISA card with RBC.
