Merry Christmas!!!

I know it's belated, but Merry Christmas to everyone! :)

Art and I had a fabu Christmas holiday in Texas with his family and the extended family. We saw some amazing stuff including Ice! at the Gaylord Texan resort. Loved it! We actually spent Christmas Day in Oklahoma City at my sister-in-law Jessica's parents houses. Her family was amazing....good food and great company! :) Pics to come!

And now we're back home in Tallahassee....I'm officially moved in! However, I'm home alone tonight, as Art had to leave suddenly to Midland, TX for work. I'm hoping he'll finish in time and make it back to Florida for New Years Eve. I want to start 2007 with my honey by my side, the start of a new beginning for us finally living together again after 3 years.

If he doesn't make it, we're planning to have a private party at our apartment on New Years Day for the two of us, but I'm still holding out hope that he'll be there for NYE! :)

So, until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays....and get your drink on, y'all! ;) Champagne galore!!!

Travelling at Christmas sucks...

As I'm sure everyone in the Western world knows, Denver airport was shut down for the last two days. I'm not even going to or near Denver, yet somehow it ended up making yesterday the looooongest day ever!

I left Halifax yesterday morning at 8:40am, bound for Dallas, to spend Christmas with my husband and his family at his brother's house. I had tickets to fly through Boston and Chicago to DFW. I got to Boston without hassle and then found out that my Boston-Chicago-Dallas flight (all the same plane) got cancelled because the plane was in Boston, but broken. So off I go to the United counter! I stood in line for 3 hours to finally get on two standby flights for later that day, one to Washington, DC and the other to Dallas.

I got on my first standby flight but not the second. So right now I'm in DC. Luckily, the agent in Boston confirmed me seats for today's evening flight to Dallas. Once I misssed the flight last night, I headed to the Customer Service desk in the terminal....huge lineup again. After an hour, I gave up and headed out to the main ticketing agents, thinking the lineup would be less out there.

I was wrong.

3.5 hours later, I finally get to an agent who can get me the hotel voucher I was promised in Boston. She books me to the Hyatt near the airport (which is pretty nice...I have pics to share later!) and gets me breakfast, lunch and dinner vouchers for today too! And....she upgraded my flight to first class for tonight!

So, even though I spent 7.5 hours in lineups yesterday, at least I'll be in Dallas tonight (I hope!) and I got some pretty nice perks. Some others weren't so lucky. Many of my new "airport friends" won't be going anywhere for Christmas but the airport.

For now, I'll sign off....but I hope to post again later when I'm safe and sound in Dallas with my husband (who's also flying into Dallas today from Tallahassee, via Charlotte, where's there's tons of rainstorms in the area!)

Remind me not to travel over the holidays next year....

I am the worst blogger ever...

Okay, okay. I know I said I'd get on with this whole blogging thing, but I just forgot about it. Plus I've been really busy! ;)

Since my last update (in June...I *really* suck at updating!), I've gone on a few more trips. I went:

~ to New Brunswick in June
~ to Florida for three weeks in August
~ to New York City for Labour Day weekend in September
~ to Hawaii for a week in October for my 5th wedding anniversary
~ to Florida again in November for Thanksgiving weekend

Yeah, the frequent flier miles are racking up! ;) And I have more news.....I'm officially moving home!!!! That's right, bitches, I'm moving back to Florida! Art and I have finally decided that this living in two countries thing is done, so as of THIS Thursday, I'll be residing in the USA once again!!

Art and I are heading to Dallas, TX to spend Christmas with his brother Kris and his wife Jess, his father and his stepmother....and all of Jess's family. We'll be making a day trip up to Oklahoma City for Christmas day to celebrate with Jess's family! Then Art and I will head home to Florida together.

I'm making a trip home to Halifax again in January (yep, more frequent flier miles...wooo hooo!) to renew my spousal visa (long story short is that Art's company decided to renew his work visa by mail but since I was in Canada, I didn't qualify for the mail renewal, so I still need to cross the border). But the bonus of having to come back means I have another trip to get my shit back to Florida....AND I'll get to go to my sorority ball on January 6th! Wheee! I'll get to dress up all pretty and go ball gown shopping!

So that's the highlights from me. I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday in style (well, celebrated with the girls on Saturday night by hitting downtown Halifax!) with lobster and a few bottles of champagne. I'm getting old! Eeeek!

And now I must head back to my packing...I have waaaaay too much stuff to get home! Happy Holidays y'all....I promise to update more often (since I'll have more free time in Florida!)

Back from Toronto...

So it's been a week since I came back from my trip to Toronto, but I've been working like mad this week and had no spare time to blog!

Toronto was a blast! It was so great to meet everyone and see old friends again....I can't wait to go again! ;) I think I spent the whole weekend drunk, though. From the flight there till I got home, I was drinking the entire time....which means it was a GREAT weekend! Haha!

And I have another vacation coming up (shocker, I know!) in two weeks. A bunch of girls and I from one of my boards rented a cottage in Shediac, NB for a weekend retreat. I can't wait for that weekend....a whole weekend of eating lobster, drinking like a fish, and generally having a crazy time ahead for us!

No news on our immigration status yet either. But we did decide and agree that, regardless if we hear anything or not, I'm moving home in August! I'm going to come home before Art's birthday so we can have a party at our place! At least now I know I have an end date in sight....and if we hear from the lawyers sooner than that, even better!

Travelling princess coming through!

Okay, so first update...my grandmother is doing much better! She's been transferred out of the hospital and is now back at her nursing home. Yaaaaay! My aunt Noreen was here till Friday morning, which was nice. I hadn't seen her in years, so it was good to spend some time with her (not a lot though, I was working crazy hours at Old Navy this week!)

Now...onto fun news! I'm going to Toronto!!! Some of my girls online are having a sleepover and I totally wanted to go. So, Art bought me a plane ticket! I haven't been to Toronto for 3 years now...and with the impending move to Florida, who knows when I'll be able to go again. So I'm off to the big T.dot for the weekend of June 3rd! :)

Which lead me to an important note: I have officially made the first weekend in June my girls getaway weekend! Last year I spent that weekend with my girls in Montreal and this year I'll be spending it with the girls in Toronto! Waaaa-hoooo! I'm totally excited to see the city again, to do some shopping, to meet everyone....and to hit Wonderland on the Sunday! I haven't been to Wonderland since we lived in Toronto in 1999, so that's going to be a blast!!!!!

And now off for my Sunday fun: I'm going for a tan to visit Sarah....and give her the souveniers I got her in Europe, as well as a little present I got her....one of our sorority tote bags! Then it's home to watch Desperate Housewives...haven't seen anything since just before I left for Europe!

My weekend...not so good...

So Friday night my grandmother had a mild heart attack. I found out Saturday morning when I got up to go to work, my mom had to go to the hospital at 1am. She's doing better now, she's sitting up in bed and eating a bit, but she's still in the ICU.

So we've spent the weekend back and forth to the Dartmouth General. It hasn't been too fun. But, we did get to surprise my mom today with a brunch. Hash browns, sausages, scrambled eggs, pancakes and mimosas! :)

And now we're awaiting the arrival of my aunt Noreen from Ottawa, who's coming in to see my grandmother. I haven't seen her in a few years, so that'll be nice to see her again - though not under these circumstances.

An International traveller I am!

So I know it's been over a week since I returned from Europe with no update...but I have good reason!

On the last Friday of our vacation (April 28th), Art started feeling sick. He had a fever, chills, and diarrhea. We even took him to the emergency room in Piotrkow Trybunalski (the nearest town to where his mom's family lives in rural Poland), who said nothing serious was wrong with him. Upon his return to the US, he went to the hospital there, where it was finally diagnosed that he had salmonella poisoning! By this point (he found out Thursday), both his dad and I had started getting the same symptoms. Jerzy started feeling ill on our flight to Halifax Sunday afternoon....and I started feeling bad overnight on Sunday. So we've all been pretty crappy (pardon the pun!) for a week now.

We blame some goat's cheese we bought and ate from a vendor on the path towards the salt mines outside of Krakow on the Wednesday (April 26th). I now know I'll never be doing that again! Having salmonella poisoning sucks..but the plus side is that I lost 10lbs walking around Europe....and at least another 5-10 since I've been home! Wheee!

Now...on to Europe! It was the best trip I have ever been on to date! :) I have never had so much fun or learned so much or SEEN so many amazing things in such a short period of time! We're working on our pics (well, Art is right now...I'm waiting for the DVD he sent me of the pics)...we took over 600 pics in the 12 days! I don't know how to explain everything I saw and did without making this blog entry so big....so I'll just say (for now), wait for the pics, they'll explain it all for me! :)

For now, here's a few pics of our trip!

One of my personal highlights of London was seeing something Harry Potter related. I'm a *huge* Harry Potter fan...so I made Art and his dad go with me to King's Cross Station to see the display they have for Platform 9 3/4! :)



On our first weekend in Poland, we were in Wroclaw, Art's birthplace. We headed out on the Saturday night (April 22) to the bars with Tomek and Magda. Tomek is Art's godmother Zofia's son and Magda is his girlfriend. While we were there, some local university students were taking pics of the bar patrons, so we made the Polish website! Wheee!



I'll have all my pics up soon, I hope!

Officially on vacation!!

As of 5:30 tonight, I'm officially on vacation for two weeks! Wooo hooo!!!! I started my vacation off right by getting my nails fixed up and pretty again, here's me being lame by taking a pic of them:



And yes, that's a Mike's in the background...I'm on vacation bitches, I shall drink when I want!

I started packing last night for Europe (I still can't believe we leave tomorrow night!!!!!) and it was hard. How does one decide exactly what to take for 12 days in Europe? Especially when you're going to be meeting all the aunts/uncles/cousins/friends in Poland? Eeek! Luckily I have all day tomorrow to work on that!

Tonight, I celebrate being on vacation!!

Good Friday...I could be sleeping...

So it's Good Friday today, everything's closed in Canada so I'm not working (wheee!) and I had planned to sleep in till noonish. But my stepmother in law called around 10:30 to wish me a happy Easter and a happy Good Friday. I thought that was so nice of her...but now I'm wishing I was still sleeping! ;) Is that mean?

My dad is currently bottling two types of wine....a rose and a white. Mom and I tried the rose already (half glass each....dad couldn't fit it into a bottle...shame!) and it's a little tart, but whatever. We're now waiting for the white to be bottled.

I really need to start packing soon...I haven't done a damn thing to pack, only to shop for Europe. I've got everything I'll need...except some British pounds for personal spending $$ when Art's not around (otherwise, he's my money guy!). I work Monday during the day, then I'm off for two weeks!!! I still need to get my nails done too...I broke two nails at work yesterday. Booo. And we need to decide if we're going to get gifts for the kiddies we'll be seeing (two of them, one 12 year old boy and one 4 year old boy). We've met the 4 year old when he was one, he's Art's stepsister's son, Szymon. Totally cute, I can't wait to see him again!

I think I'll spend today packing, then I'll know how much space I have for gifts! ;)

Shopping frenzy!

Look at me....second day with a blog and I'm writing in it! Wooo hooo!

So I got my income tax refund finally today (Thank you Revenue Canada!!!) so I went and did some power shopping for Europe! I got some roll-up capris, long tanks, socks, and an umbrella, all from Old Navy (I heart my staff discount!). Plus I got a book to read and a cute travel diary so I can write all about my adventures in Europe while I'm on the road!

One week left to go, I should start thinking about packing soon!!!!

Welcome to my blog!

So I've decided to start a blog online. And I hope to remember to post often! ;)

A bit about me: I'm Canadian...I love martinis. What else is there to say?! ;) Okay, there's a bit more to me than being Canadian and drinking martinis. I'm 27, have been married for over 4 years to my awesome hubby Art, and have been travelling like mad!

For the past 2+ years, I've been living at home with my parents in Dartmouth, NS...while my husband has been living in our apartment in Tallahassee, Florida. I was working on my degree at Saint Mary's...but since this past summer, I've been waiting for our green card process to progress far enough that I can move back to Florida and legally work.

We're about to head off on a vacation that we've been planning for years now....we leave on Tuesday night for Europe!! We'll spend 2 days in London, followed by 9 days in Poland. Art hasn't been to Poland in 15 years...and I have never been to Europe at all!

I'll get to meet all of Art's aunts, uncles, and cousins, not to mention my father-in-law's friends, too! We'll be visiting Wroclaw, Warsaw and Krakow...as well as a farm in the middle of Poland, where Art's mom's family still lives. Apparently next to none of their family speaks English, so I'm listening to some CD's in hopes of learning some more Polish...enough to at least ask the basics:

"where is the bathroom?"
"I don't speak polish"
and..the most important "I would like some vodka!"

I hope to make some posts while in Europe, if not, y'all can read all about it when I get home! :)