Hello again old friend!

Well, as happens with most new year's resolutions, I never kept mine. I was planning on updating this blog more frequently, but with the new convenience of facebook, I have pushed aside xanga and embraced this more savvy form of communication. 

Today, however, is a new day!  I have experienced a little miracle in the technical world that has set me free back into the world of writing. The keyboard of my laptop stopped working about 2 months ago, so I had a regular external keyboard attached to my computer and was using like a desktop p.c..  But today, after lugging my laptop along with my external mouse and huge keyboard into the living room to do some work with Michael, I clicked one of the keys on my laptop keyboard accidently, and to my surprise, it was working again!  I let out a squeal of joy and thanked Jesus for this small miracle. 

At this moment, it is 1:36am, and I'm reclined on my bed, typing on my computer. It felt so freeing that I decided to say hello to the blogging world again!

This semester of campus ministry has been a whirlwind, and I can't believe it's almost over.  We're wrapping things up for the year, so it's been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks.  Right now we're planning for an Easter service at the Concordia University student bar on Sunday night.  Michael had the idea to do it there because it was a central location for students and young professionals, perfectly equipped with all the technology we needed to do what we wanted to do, and we found out the bar is closed on Sunday nights.  When we first asked the manager if we could use the space he was of course hesitant to have a church service in his bar, but after talking to one of the students involved in our ministry who also happens to be involved with student government in a major capacity (she just got elected for President of the student union for next year!), the way was paved for us to do this!  It's pretty fun planing, and I'm excited to see how things turn out. 

I'm looking forward to come home to B.C. soon- i'll be back from April 25th till June 16th to do some more fundraising for our ministry work out here in Montreal, and of course to be a part of Marika and Simone's graduation and Marcus and Carmen's wedding.  They're happening on the same weekend in June so there's lots of transition in a short amount of time.  Another shocking transition is that my dad is selling the bakery as of the end of April.  I have lived above the bakery from when I was 2 until I graduated from high school. So many family memories, but it really does feel like a new chapter is opening up in all of our lives, so it seems appropriate. 

Well, it's getting late (it IS late) and I need to get up early tomorrow so I better sign off.  I will attempt to write again soon. But you should all join facebook- it's another fun way to keep in touch!

Au Revoir for now!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

I was beginning to wonder if Good ol' Jack Frost was afraid of me.  

There was a big snow fall in Vancouver a few weeks prior to my arrival home for the holidays- then it rained and melted the week before I got there. 

A week after I got to Vancouver, there was a big snowfall in Montreal, and it was in the minus 20 range for temperatures. On New Year's day  it rained and all the snow melted. When I came back on the 3rd there were spring-like conditions, I was wearing a light jacket and the sun is beaming on my face (absolutely beautiful!). 

Today for the first day, I felt like I was in the Montreal that I always about (and somewhat dread). It felt like more than 20 below zero, and my nose and face felt like it was going to freeze off... but the locals say that this is nothing, and that the true Montreal winter has yet to come.  I'm curious to see whether this winter is finally here to stay.

This is what it looks lik e in the Old port of Montreal right now (it's a webcam picture and it keeps updating itself)

This is what winter is supposed to look like at this time of year

Global warming at it's best.....

Back home from back home

Well, after a lovely time spending the holidays back home in B.C., I am back in Montreal.  I was supposed to fly back last night, but instead my flight got delayed till this morning becuase of poor weather somewhere.  I was okay with this, becuase it meant one more night hanging out with my dearest Morgan, and watching another episode of "24" on the DVD set at her house... Every Christmas I seem to get introduced to one show that I end up becoming obsessed with before the end of the holidays.  Whoever was the brains behind "24" was a genius because it is definitely designed to be addictive. I'm vowing to never watch it on TV becuase I would definitely get hooked and end up organizing my schedule around it every week. Thank goodness for DVD sets and vacation time at Christmas.  

The last few weeks have been busy, and amazing. It was awesome seeing my great friends in Vancouver, spending some time with my brother Marcus and his fiancee Carmen, and time chilling with my sisters who are all grown up and graduating this year. My little brother Sebastian is HUGE now... he's grown a lot since I saw him in the summer and he's such a little man.  I miss them all already!!!

It feels good to be back in Montreal. I'm excited for the year ahead- lots of great beginnings out here, and I can't wait to see what's next. I can hardly imagine.

Well, one of my New Year's resolutions is to write on here more frequently... since I have started my facebook addiction, my time on here has been limited. But I will try to keep the xanga world a bit more updated on my random life happenings...

well, it's 2:14 am out here, time to get to bed, so I can try to beat the Jet lag.... 3 hour time difference.

Talk to you all soon!!!!

It's finally Winter in Montreal

I was beginning to wonder if we had switched weather with the west coast when I heard tales of snow storms and snowball fights. Over the last month or so I have been thankful that Montreal's icy winter was being postponed... mostly we were getting rain and wind, which made me feel right at home!  Two days ago, the snow began to fall, and as a result, today and yesterday have been a delightful winter wonderland.  A nice way to ease into the trecherous Montreal conditions- hopefully -40 won't be happening until I after I get back from Christmas holidays.

Speaking of holidays, in one week I'll be heading back to B.C! I can hardly believe that 3 months have already gone by and I'm so excited to see family and friends- I miss you all a lot!, and I can't wait to be home!

Visitors and my new facebook addiction

My month in review series has not been going as anticipated. I just haven't been feeling the flow of blogging lately, because I haven't been sitting down and making myself write. But today, I had a couple minutes (its 1am out here so i'm really procrastinating getting to bed) and thought i'd give a little update.

This weekend was really nice. Phil came out to visit me in Montreal with his parents and aunt and uncle. It was really great to see all of them! I love having visitors, first, because it give me a chance to see the people I love, and second, it gives me a chance to be a tourist in my own town!  We found some wonderful breakfast places, went for a few great lunches, and enjoyed some Montreal shopping. Then on Saturday to Sunday, Sarah and Minh came out and we had some adventure on the town.  We were roaming on St. Denis street in the night and heard some rockin' music coming out of Lou Lou Lemon, so we decided to go check it out.  We turned out to be the party crashers (or should I say party starters- Minh ended up dancing up a storm and bringing everyone else along with her to the point where the owner wanted to offer her a job!).  It's not every day you have a dance party, with hors d'oervers and fun people in a retail clothing store.  Random good times.

If anyone else wants to come for a visit to Montreal, just let me know!  Zoe Ducklow, who happens to be Marisa's wonderful sister-in-law came for a visit in the beginning of October. We shared many adventures together, mostly revolving around eating (which most adventures in Montreal do).  Here's some videos that made me laugh today- candid moments videotaped at Montreal's most famous family-owned smoked meat shop, Schwartz's. They provide a funny insight into my wonderful world of posed photos because we thought we were taking photos when the video function was on.

In other news...

I just signed up for facebook this morning because a guy I met at Concordia told me it was the newest thing in online social networking. Already, I have found some friends from first year residence at UBC as well as others.  You should all go try it out-  easy to use and kinda fun.  You can find your old friends, and figure out if you have mutual friends and plan activities and invite everyone at once...  www.facebook.com.  Add me to your list if you join! Do it, do it! :)

Well, enough late night shenanigans folks, it's time for some beauty sleep! 

P.S. You're right folks, the smoked meat is a bit overrated in my opinion.  It does taste better than it looks, but the hype is not really worth the lineup.