Hints of Fall

Yeeeeehaa! This morning I woke up and it was cold! Since we sleep with our bedroom window open, I had a pretty darn good excuse to cuddle with the hubbie. But really what does it for me is that the wind blows from the north today and it reminds me so much of my favorite season: FALL!
There's a bright blue sky too, so I think I'll go walk in the woods.

I've been catching up on other people's blogs, and I must say I wish I could all invite you to Quebec. I miss our talks, our C.S. Lewis Sundays, French brunches, *sniff, sniff*

I had a "French brunch" with waffle the other Saturday, but it's not the same without 15 some peeps with sleepy eyes. I had invited some of my husband's brothers ans sister, and even though the table wasn't bending with tons of fruits, ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crêpes and French toast; I guess they liked it.

To all CMU peeps, Cheers!

This ain't the summer for resting!

You know what's fun about Quebec? Or perhaps I should say me now, I have discovered I have my own time zone! Who would have thought?



Since I am now a teacher, I'm supposed to be off during the summer, but really, "vacation" seems to be out of my vocabulary lately.



In July we moved to a new apartment from Montreal to the Laurentians. It's a much bigger place and although St-Jerome is more quiet we're getting used to it. We have also attended 2 weddings (pictures below). The first one is my cousin, and the second was Matt's brother. To top it all, Matt's sister gave birth on the 22nd.



Strange how it fits in a few sentences but seems like a few months have gone by with so much going on! University seems even further in the past. I guess it just means life goes on.



it's a very short update, but the pics should entertain you until I post again...!


-------- Matt's brother's Wedding



My Cousin's Wedding

(I did her hair, quite the job!)
And baby Gabriel

Is Quebec in a different time zone?

Well, isn't that a good question? I mean my last post was in what, october?

Let's summaize by topic and bring things up to date:


Husband
he is fine, and it is going well, as we are setting in a better routine between us-work-friend-family time. If most of you remember me as cuddly, well I assure you, this husband is perfect for me!

Family
We have a new little niece, freshly popped out on Dec. 23. Her name is Maya. we are also expecting another niece/nephew for this summer. Matt's grandparents have been quite sick, which has led us to spend more time with them (we are expecting to loose one of them within the next year or so...)
We will be attending Matt's brother wedding this summer in July, and we are most excited!

Work
I've been having tons of fun at my new job. Teaching English at adult school is just awesome. I have the chance to interact with my students beyond teacher-student standards. it's also nice to have the time to chat with them and help them out figure out other stuff in their lives. So I might after all get my teacher license for Quebec province.

Matt is looking to a switch from managing at Blockbuster to start into mutual funds and financial planning. it puts a little stress on us, but he is so enthousiast about it, and it good to see him in a better mood.

Christmas
well, let me tell you... it was a non-stop celebration from dec. 24 till jan. 2. we had parties on the 29, 30, 31 and the 1st, we stayed up till 4am. We were burnt, or dead, I, not quite sure. We had a good time with our families and friends.

Viva Las Vegas!

That's the song that was playing in my head after I had my meeting with the director of the school i am to work at. It went very, very well.

I am to start with 7 hours a week, with a group of 20-25 students. Their levels are varied (from grade 9-12 English), but they are working individually, and all I have to do is sit at a desk waiting for them to come ask questions. I know, it sounds too good to be true, but honestly my task is to guide them in their exercises, explain, have them do pre-test and test (which are already made) and to correct it.

The best part is that my day starts at 9:25am and finishes at 3:55pm, and that includes an hour long lunch break. And the kicker, is that I was offered another 15 hours a week before the end of the meeting!

I'm starting on November 6th, I'll let you how it goes.


VIVA LAS VEGAS!
(By the way did you know that ZZ Top did a remake of Elvis Presley's song? Weird...)

Ingglelish, uh I mean English!

Today was an interesting day. I've been very spaced out, and at the sime time feeling restless all day. Anyhoo, I got a phone call for a job I had applied for 2 weeks ago. So it looks like I'll be teaching English starting this November! I'm meeting the principal on Monday for the details. The fun part is that I will be teaching adults (18 and over) so they are usually motivated to learn. Yeah! Matt and I went to celebrate on a date (we take anything as an excuse for a date!)

On another topic, this weekend we are having my mom's family reunion. We are renting a chalet for about 50 people. And since we are close to Halloween, we decided to have a theme night on Saturday: Pirates. Aaaarrgh! It shuld be pretty funny to see everybody dressed up as a pirate! We are going to have some games about sinking ships, treasures and all. Gee, do I love my family!

I'll put pictures up afterward you can be sure!

toodles!

Cajun Shrimp and Grey Skies

It's been kinda rainy the last few days, and it seems even more depressing because last weekend was so gorgeous. I had a pedicure appointment today (small joy!). It's an upper class salon, but I got this appointment very cheap. When came the time to choose the nail polish color, I usually go for softer tones, pinks, golden... but today I decided to shake my toes (instead of my fist) to defy the grey clouds: I chose a bright orangee-red color! Of course my feet were going right back in my shoes (the weather being too cold to wear sandals) but hey, who cares?!? My toe nails were secretly shining today! I tried to look up a similar color on internet. Although I saw one that was close to it, I didn't like the name- cajun shrimp. Urgh! Who thinks of those names for heaven's sake!
Instead I picked this one to show you: Friar, Friar pants on Fire...

**Sigh, sigh**

Chinese Thanksgiving?!?

I'm not big on traditions, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed by my Thanksgiving weekend. I had been expecting a nice turkey diner....

Saturday morning, bright and early, my husband and I went up north to harvest my uncle's vineyards. We were about 30 people to take off the nets (to keep birds from eating the grapes), and then proceed to cut off the nice, plumply, juicy, tasty grapes. We had two fields to harvest, but it only took us about 3 hrs. We spent the afternoon playing football, and let me tell you that it was quite interesting to see my uncle going nuts running, jumping, pushing. Imagine a little 5" Quebec French guy giggling as he speeds by you. Nevertheless, I manage to get a touchdown for my team; quite a feat if you consider I'm only 5"3. Hence forth I've been called Speedy Mimi!

We finished the day by having supper with a few of my cousins (some where my uncle's where we had been harvesting and they, of course, brought the wine!). We had a nice fondue.

Sunday morning we had a brunch at my parents: no turkey. I was starting to get anxious to see that sexy bird, but we still had the supper to look to.

Sunday supper was at Matt's parents. They usually are a bit more traditional then my family. Gasp and inner giggle! We were to have fondue, again! I asked if there would be turkey meat? No... sniff, sniff. I had to imagine the little bits of meat were juicy turkey.

I guess next year I'll have to plan it myself!