Sunday, September 22, 2013

Back to school

Although I'm not a student anymore, the "back to school" season is in full swing for me!

It started with yet another change at work: my supervisor moved from the chiropractic department to the kinetics one and I followed him. My 4th move (and 5th office) in 2½ years...

Then I started going back to the gym more regularly. Yoga twice a week, pilates and zumba once a week. I don't see any change yet, except that I'm always hungry!
Then I went back to my sewing classes. I'm starting with a pain of pants this year.
Then, with a few friends, we started meeting at a coffee place over the weekend to knit and chat. Fun!
Then I started a wine tasting class with a friend from one of my labs. I like wine, but I don't even know how to express what I like, so hopefully this will change me into a social wine drinker. I really liked my 1st class.

Meanwhile, some stuff also gets done!

Like this vest:

Ok, still missing the buttons, but I'm almost there

It's warm, it's red, and it's lacy. Love. 
And like these blankets, finally off the loom:



I also started this, which may travel across the ocean if everything goes according to plans:

And these soups:

I bought a big bag of carrots, because they were on special, but of course, being 2, there is absolutely no way we can eat them all. So this morning, I took out my big canning pot and made soup. I started with onions, carrots and broth, and then divided the soup and 2 and made a batch of tarragon-cumin-carrot, and another batch of curry-ginger-cumin-carrot. I put them in mason jars, and will freeze them, this way I will have easy lunches to bring with me. I think that making 19 jars cost me less than $10, thanks to the super sales on onions and carrots!

Otherwise, life is busy but good. I keep celebrating my 40th birthday over and over. Thursday, my man and I went to a local spa for dinner and baths. I used a gift certificate I received from one of my labs last June. It was a wonderful evening, and I finally discovered which is my favourite restaurant in 3R!
Then, on Saturday, we went to Magasin general Lebrun , an old fashion general store that doubles as a museum and concert hall. I had received tickets for the traditional male a cappella band Les Charbonniers de l'enfer (Hell' charcoal-makers). It was wonderful, and as you can see, we couldn't have been closer to the band! 


The other thing that keeps reminding me of my big 4-0 is that we are busy organizing our big trip! Montreal-Vancouver-Shanghai-Kuala Lumpur-Borneo-Singapour and back! All our planes tickets are bought, and most of our hotels are booked. We are getting our vaccines this week, and then all we'll have to do is to wait for December to arrive! 

Have a good week! 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

End of summer

The last few weeks have been all about enjoying the end of the summer. I know summer only ends in a 2 weeks, but there is a frost warning tonight in 3R, and I have been sleeping with my fleece nightgown and socks for the past few nights (that's the price to pay to sleep with open windows as late as possible!)

So, first, Santa Fe. 
Wow. 
It was awesome, and weird, because so...exotic. I travel quite regularly, but this was not a place I expected to go one day. That's probably why I just said yes enthusiastically when my friend invited me to join her and a few other ladies to spend a week there; my past experience taught me that I always enjoy going to places that were not on my bucket list, since I have no expectation whatsoever. 

And I was not disappointed. I spent week in the desert, staying in a charming adobe, visiting Navajo pueblos, drinking margaritas, enjoying the most wonderful food and shopping for silver and turquoise jewelries. I felt very far from my dear Transylvania and all its trees! The colours, the smells, the landscape, everything was so different, while being so North American. 

Oh the food...

Chilis and jewelry, that's quite representative...

Picture for my man, who would really like to decorate our house with this

Indian museum

Our adobe



Taos pueblo (http://www.taospueblo.com/)
The annual Indian market (http://www.swaia.org/)
Bandelier national monument
http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm
at the Indian market
Since I came back, we got to go a nice baptism, and then this weekend was the moment I wait for all year long: camping at Lac Clair. 

Lac Clair holds a very special place in my heart. Five years ago, I was invited to spend a weekend there by one of my good friends, the same guy who, a few months later, became my man. We have been going back every year since, and each single time, the magic of that place calms me down as soon as we get there. This is one of the only place on earth where my billion lists don't follow me...as much. 

This year we rented a freshly renovated tiny cabin. We went to bed at around 8:30 pm, and I slept like a baby until my man woke up at 4am to restart the fire. I decided to go out and spent about 15 minutes just staring at the moon and the stars, before I went back to bed. 

Somehow, I haven't had insomnia for the first time since Christmas since. I'm crossing my fingers it will last, and I'm hoping we can go back before the end of the season...

Emergency camping blocking
making jam with the plums from our trees! 
final yummy result
Young ducks resting next to our place
yes, we got that close to them...

In other news, I have 5 inches left on the woven blanket, the greylina you see being blocked on the picture is only missing its button band, and awesome news, a few students from one of my research lab decided they needed something to do during their break at the hospital (they're nurses), so they decided to learn how to knit. We got together last Monday in a coffee shop, with a few other friends, and spent a few very pleasant hours together. We are doing it again this Saturday morning, I can't wait! 

Talk to you soon!