Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Today I...January 31st



Today I...

...am sharing this photo of these two deck chairs which were on the deck at our condo this past weekend.

...enjoyed watching the snow fall outside.

...was happy I didn't have to get in traffic to get home. It just so happened that I had to run a few errands after work, which led me to take the metro (subway) and when I stepped out and saw the weather induced traffic jam outside, I walked home since I only live about a seven minute walk from the metro station.

...am hoping that the weather forecast is wrong and that the snow that is falling right now will not turn into freezing rain overnight.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Today I...January 29th



Today I...



...am sharing three photos from my day at Mont-Tremblant with all of you. The view from one of the windows of my aunt and uncle's condo, the view from the Cabriolet ski lift which takes you from the South side Village entrance to the foot of the south side ski hills and the driving conditions my brother and I went through for about half the drive home, f not a bit more. It was very windy and very snowy and we went through a few white outs (for anyone who might not know what a white out is, aside from brand name liquid paper, it's when snow gets blown around so much that you can't see through it anymore). It was not as bad as when we drove up to Tremblant in a snow storm two years ago though and still, in our opinion, not as bad as when we were stuck in traffic for almost two of the three and a half hours it took us to get up there on Friday. A normal drive from Montreal to Mont-Tremblant should take between and hour and a half and two hours when there is little to no traffic. Trying to make it up there on a Friday between 4:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. is not for the faint of heart. Try it at 8:00 P.M. or 9:00 P.M. and you'll have an easier time. But doing it in mediocre driving conditions? Piece of cake. No one is out there unless they have absolutely no nervousness issues at that wheel, as my brother and I do not because we both learned how to drive in the dead of winter. As long as the white outs are not constant, we're fine.

...got home from the mountain at 1:15 A.M., got to bed at 2:00 A.M. and slept until 10:00 A.M.

...have sore calves from my ski boots. I love downhill skiing, but I hate the boots.

...am happy to report that I did not wipe out once yesterday. I hadn't skied in two years, but my body remembered how to do it very quickly and by the end of the day, I was more than ready to attack intermediate runs.

...heard a timid knock at the door while I was eating breakfast and oped up to find the superintendent's daughter standing there with a letter from my landlord. My rent is increasing. This is the cherry on the sundae of all the cost increases I've had in the past few months: cable and internet, transit pass, gas and now rent and there goes my financial wiggle room. I don't know what to do about all this, but I'll have to go over my budget again and really pray that the mythical pay equity raise I've been hearing about for a year now comes through, otherwise I will soon be up the proverbial creek without a paddle and I can forget about skiing or traveling any time soon.

...will be going out with G. She called me earlier not too long after I got my rent increase notice and offered to take me out for a coffee or tea so I can 'let it all out'. Thank God for friends.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Skywatch Friday



I have two Skywatch features this one, one of them is the Winter Sky above Montreal and the other is a view of the entrance to the ski village at Mont-Tremblant, where I am heading tomorrow night in order to spend the day skiing on Saturday!

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, stop by the Skywatch Friday blog.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Today I...January 25th



Today I...

...am sharing this photo from Montreal seen from Île Notre-Dame with you.

...am back after choir practice on Monday and a horrible migraine last night.

...am thankful that my Sweetheart invited me to his place last night so that I wouldn't have to cook. I was able to have a relaxing evening and doze on his couch and when we went to bed I fell asleep with his hand on my head (his hand covers my entire head and the heat from it relaxes me and relieves my migraines) and slept for nearly twelve hours. I woke up feeling so much better this morning, it was unbelievable.

...took half the day off to allow myself to sleep as much as I needed to.

...made a stop at home before going to work since my Sweetheart had to suddenly head to a meeting. I made myself scrambled eggs with spinach and onion powder,salt and pepper, yum!

...had quite a productive afternoon at work.

...an looking forward to heading to Mont-Tremblant for the day on Saturday, but I'm more than likely leaving Friday night, so tomorrow will probably be my last post before the weekend.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Today I...January 22nd



Today I...

...am sharing a picture of another snow sculpture with you. I didn't make it out to the Fête des Neiges this weekend, but I'll try and make it next weekend and get more snow sculpture pictures for you :o)

...had lots of weird dreams before waking up this morning because my dinner last night was too rich! It was very yummy, don't get me wrong, but cream sauce on both the entrée and the main course? Never again :oJ

...am looking forward to my Sweetheart coming home tomorrow.

...am wishing that it was going to snow tomorrow rather than rain, because the rain will inevitable freeze within 24 hours and one thing we really don't need is more ice on the sidewalks!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Today I...January 21st



Today I...

...am sharing this picture of a tree limb reaching out over the St-Lawrence River with you.

...headed out to the West Island for a spa appointment.

...took a while to get up the motivation to actually head out the door into the cold!

...went grocery shopping on the way home.

...warmed up with a nice bowl of soup when I got home.

...am heading out to dinner with a friend this evening, one of our favorite Italian places! It should be a nice end to my Saturday :o)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Today I...January 20th



Today I...

...am sharing another photo from Montreal's Fête des Neiges with all of you.

...am welcoming two new followers to my blog! I've actually gained followers two weeks in a row now and it has put a smile on my face :o)

...am so happy it's Friday and am looking forward to a nice, relatively quiet weekend.

...had a pretty busy day at work, with a tour right smack dab in the middle of it, right where I like them! It really makes the day go by faster when they land in the middle of the day as it splits the day in two.

...have been thinking of my Sweetheart a lot and am looking forward to him coming home on Monday!

...am nearing the end of my current read: 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'. It is a great book and I highly recommend it! Next step: going to see the movie and hunting for a new book to read. I have a list made up and will also check out the Indigo books website as well to see if I can find anything else that might interest me.

...am loving my e-readers more and more, it makes reading anywhere, anytime even easier!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Skywatch Friday



This week's Skywatch feature is a shot I took of Montreal from Île Notre-Dame when I was there for the Fête des Neiges (Montreal's Winter festival) a few years ago. I am hoping to make it out there for this year's edition as I really did have a good time the last time I went. This year they are including a snow village as well, including an ice hotel. Why anyone would want to spend a night in a hotel made out of ice is beyond me, but it has been quite the thing to do at Quebec City's Carnaval for many years, so they decided to open one up here. You won't ever catch me spending the night in either of them, that's for sure! I get cold some nights just sleeping in my own bed, so I cannot imagine how I would survive the night in a hotel made out of ice!

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, stop by the Skywatch Friday Blog. Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Today I...January 18th



Today I...

...am sharing these photos of Downtown Toronto with all of you. My Sweetheart's train is probably pulling into Union Station right about now. He is visiting Toronto for the first time since moving back to Montreal last March. He still does some work for his former employers there every once in a while, so he is going to meet with his former boss tomorrow to discuss his work and visit his former colleagues. He'll visit with some friends there for the weekend and he will be coming back home on Monday. I'm looking forward to hearing from him what it felt like for him being back in Toronto for the first time. It was such a strange feeling for me, the first time I went back in September. I felt like he should have been there with me, despite the fact that I was visiting my family. When I got on the Subway after getting off the train in September, I had to head the opposite direction I used to head in when I went to my Sweetheart's place and it felt very odd. My brain and my heart still very much associate Toronto with my Sweetheart and it will always be filled with a lot of bittersweet memories for both of us I think.

...couldn't believe the city hadn't put down salt and gravel on the sidewalks by 8:00 A.M. We had a pretty hefty snow, ice and windstorm overnight and then the temperature really took a nose-dive, so by the time everyone headed out to work this morning, there was a good five centimeters of sheer ice on the sidewalks. Great fun to walk on, I can tell you. It was a bit better this afternoon, but not much. We will more than likely be stuck with icy sidewalks for a few days now since they didn't keep on top of the ice while it was forming!

...am already looking forward to the weekend and sleeping in!


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Today I...January 17th



Today I...

...am popping in before my Sweetheart gets here :o)

...am sharing a nice, wintry photo from last year with you, since we are currently in the middle of our second snow storm in two weeks.

...am finding the snow quite lovely, especially since I am going skiing up north next week. Skiing on real snow is always better than skiing on artificial snow I find.

...am airing out my kitchen to try and get rid of the charred lasagna smell that is still lingering there. I made vegetarian lasagna (that turned out lovely!) on Saturday and the sauce leaked out of the dish while it was baking and boy, did it ever smoke and smell up my apartment! Not a bad smell, but after a few days it does get a bit tiresome. One of the problems is that due to the age of my apartment building, we have no vents above our ovens and my oven being a gas one, it has no self-cleaning setting. I gave it a good scrub yesterday and will give it another tonight and hopefully it will be usable again after that :oJ

Sunday, January 15, 2012

I'm back!



Look, I'm back! and with a super video to boot :o) This is one of my all-time favorite pieces for violin and the first three and a half minutes are insane :o) Itzhak Perlman is one of the best violinists ever, the proof is that he gets through the Prelude (the first three and half minutes) without even breaking a sweat :o)

So, I've had a great few days, despite the freezing cold here. We finally got a few good dumpings of snow, so everything is nice and pretty and white and cheery, especially since I don't have a car that needs to be dug out of a snowbank so that the plows and get through :o)

I made a nice vegetarian lasagna yesterday, it took forever and then the juices leaked into the bottom of my oven and set the smoke detector off for about 15-20 minutes non-stop. My downstairs neighbor loved that, he beat on his ceiling to let me know all about it. Does anyone have any tricks for getting charred tomato juice off the bottom of a gas stove? I tried scraping at it a a special scratchy rag and it took some of it off, but I get the impression I would have to be at it for half a day in order for it all to come off...Anyhow, my Sweetheart and I thoroughly enjoyed the lasagna, he took three pieces of it for himself before we left his place this morning and I put three pieces in my fridge and the rest in my freezer. But yeah, the next time I make lasagna, I am opening the kitchen window, turning on the rotating fan I use to cool off the kitchen in the summer and putting tin foil in the bottom of the stove so I can just throw out the charred mess after I'm done baking it!

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend, I should be around a bit more this week so I'll be posting more regularly :o)

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Today I...January 11th

Today I...

...am popping in for a quick post!

...am happy to report that my return to work is going quite well. It is much quieter than it was two weeks ago, so I got caught up on my work very quickly. My only problem is that I'm still not used to my earlier hours in the morning and am quite tired. I should be back into my routine by next week though :o)

...enjoyed a nice girls' night out with my friend V. We went to a sushi bar near my place and chatted away over yummy sushi and teriyaki and I got a free dessert since they made a mistake with my entrée. Have you ever had green tea ice cream? If you haven't, you should try it out, it's amazing!

...am hoping that you are all having a lovely week :o)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Today I...January 8th



Today I...

...am sharing this picture of my choir performing in our concert on December 11th. One of my parents took this photo, but I don't know which of them. Rehearsals are starting up again tomorrow, our three week break sure went by quickly!

...got lots and lots done! I did the laundry, vacuumed, took down the Christmas decorations (they go up the first weekend of Advent and come down a day or two after Epiphany at place), took a two hour break to watch a movie, then went to the grocery store and walked there and back. I normally take the bus back from the grocery store, but I just missed one as I came out of the store and since my bags weren't too heavy, I walked home.

...am feeling very energetic today! Good thing, eh?

...am very much looking forward to a new episode of Pan Am tonight, it's been over a month since it's been on!

...am letting you all know that I have a very busy week ahead, so I don't know how much I'll be able to post. I have choir practice tomorrow night, my Sweetheart is coming over on Tuesday night, I'm supposed to go out for sushi with V on Wednesday night, I have an appointment on Thursday night and a dinner at work on Friday night. As I said, it's a good thing I'm feeling energetic and well rested after my two weeks off, because I think I'm gonna need it! I will post as much as I can though, I promise :o)

Friday, January 6, 2012

Today I...January 6th



Today I...

...am posting early since I will be getting together with my Sweetheart later early this evening and will therefore be nowhere near the mindset to post. Well, that's happened a lot these past two weeks, but I was on 'staycation', so that's okay, or at least it is in my books :o) If you're gonna unwind for two weeks, you may as well unwind all the way in my mind and only do what you feel like doing, except for the essentials, like washing dishes or cleaning. Even on that front I was kind of slow though, like when I reminded myself three days in a row that I needed to vacuum before actually vacuuming.

...am sharing this video of an Ikea commercial I really like. It's been out for months, but it took forever for someone to post it on YouTube, so I'm only sharing it now.

...think I am succeeding in getting myself in the proper mindset to head back to work on Monday, especially since I seem to have reached my sleep quota. I am now wide awake after eight hours of sleep. I just need to get myself back into a proper sleep pattern, because right now even if I'm in bed with the light out at 12:30 A.M., I don't fall asleep until about 2:00 A.M. and then I sleep until 10:00 A.M. Hopefully I can knock myself out of that nasty habit before Monday, otherwise I may have a few issues next week. This is nothing new though, it happens to me every time I have an extended period of time off.

...am enjoying observing the new fish I added to my aquarium yesterday: two blood red platys and seven micro rasboras. I am particularly enjoying the platys as they stand out so much from the other fish!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Skywatch Friday



I'm pretty sure I've shared this week's Skywatch feature before, but it's one of my favorites, so I figured I'd share it with you all again. It is the forward mast of the Queen Mary, which is permanently docked in Long Beach, California. It was my favorite out of all the places my Sweetheart and I visited while we were in Los Angeles last May.

To see more Skywatch photos from around around the world, you can visit the Skywatch Friday blog.

I hope you all had wonderful New Year's celebrations and I wish you all the best for 2012! Thanks for stopping by :o)

Monday, January 2, 2012

Today I...January 2nd



Today I...

...am popping in for a bit of a catch up post!

...am sharing a photo of my aunt L's updated collection of black faced sheep. The two on the end for part of my Christmas gift to her last week.

...am happy to report that I have been having a lovely, relaxing 'vacation' so far. I spent Friday afternoon to Saturday evening with my Sweetheart and we spent Friday evening with a group of friends catching up as we hadn't all been together for several months.

...had a quiet end of the evening at home to see 2011 out and 2012 in. I had just enough time to enjoy a sushi dinner and watch a movie (The King's Speech)and then enjoy a glass of white wine at the stroke of midnight while getting a text message from my Sweetheart and phone calls from my father and my brother.

...had a nice New Year's dinner with my father's family last night.

...am having a laid back day today while hoping that the cold I caught from my Sweetheart will move along and leave me alone.

... am letting you all know that I may be off the radar map again for a few days as I may be heading up north with my Sweetheart tomorrow into Wednesday.