SnoBlog

Well, here I am again on an airplane. This time i am flying from Montréal to Atlanta. Jonathan and I are coming home after a long weekend in the city. We were supposed to have vacation this week, but because of his change in jobs that was cut short. However, I am glad we were able to have this trip.
So the adventure started off a bit rocky. We had plans to get there on thursday evening and then I had a great surprise plan for Jonathan on friday night. I had booked 2 VIP Tapis Rouge tickets for opening week of the new Cirque Du Soleil show “Totem.” needless to say through many cancellations and reroutes we made it to Montréal on Friday afternoon. I was starting to get nervous about our arrival… But alas, we made it to our B&B and had about 2 hours to get settled and head back out to the show. It worked out well and Jonathan had no idea as to what my surprise was. I told him absolutely nothing about it.
I just told him to have dress clothes ready for Friday night. So we dressed and headed out to the Vieux Port where the Grand Chapiteau was located. Even as we saw the Cirque tents as we bot closer to them, he was not sure. Then we turned into the area and his eyes lit up. If he only knew… With the Tapis Rouge program, there is a separate entrance and VIP area 1 hour before the show with drinks and Hors D’oeuvres before the show. When I turned into the salon, he was confused as to what we were doing. We were given our VIP passes and handed a glass of champagne as we were greeted at the door. For the next hour we enjoyed amazing food and drink as well as special entertainment. We took a number of photos in the private salon and were given a program before the show. If you are not familiar with them, they are very much like art books. We were escorted to our seats via a private entrance. I reserved us 3rd row center aisle seats and again, I just saw jonathans eyes get bigger and bigger. It made me feel like I had done the right thing. After an amazing first half of the show, we went back to the Tapis Rouge salong for intermission and enjoyed an espresso and a few gourmet deserts. When we were heading back to our seats they gave us a CD from their 25th celebration. After the show, we each bought a souvenir from the One Drop foundation that helps provide clean drinking water around the world.
After the show we walked around the Vieux Port area and then back via St. Catherines’.
We stayed in a very nice B&B that Jonathan picked out that was central to most everything we wanted to do.
The next day we woke up a bit later and went down for breakfast. We both enjoyed a nice leisurely meal while chatting with some of the others who were staying there. That afternoon we got out and went to the Montréal International Jazz Festival. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening there until about 9pm. After that we went to watch the fireworks for the International Fireworks Competition. That night the presentation was by China. Again, just amazing.
After those festivities we again headed back via St. Catherines’ just to be out amongst the people since the close the road and use it as pedestrian only during the summer months. Just an amazing walk for people watching and being out without having to go to a bar or club.
After that we were both exhausted. We picked up a couple of slices of pizza and headed back to our room to call it a night.
During the Jazz Festival I bought some Poutine, which is a Québécois traditional food. Basically it is French fries, gravy and cheese curd. I wanted Jonathan to try it to get the true Montréal experience…truthfully I don’t know anybody who does not like it, and he was no exception. Also, at the airport today, we had a few hours so I had him try another true Canadian food…. Smoked meat sandwiches… Yup, he like that too! I guess we can move to Montréal now… We also stopped at Tim Hortons as an obligatory coffee stop.
I officially say I think I have started Jonathan on his path to be a Québéccer. (insert evil laugh here)
So, all in all, after some challenges in our travel arrangements, I think we can both say that we had a once in a lifetime trip and hope to go back several more times….
Soon.

Comments (0) Jun 26 2011

Well, today is start of our summer vacation. It is not quite what we expected to do, but since joanthan started his new job before the vacation time, we are actually pretty lucky to get this time off together. We could not decide between Cancun or Montréal… So, we kinda figured the weather in Cancun would be warmer year round, so we should do Montréal now.
Jonathan found a great little bed and breakfast right in the neighborhood we wanted to be in and I found flights that would get us there and back. Then… A severe weather pattern rolled through Atlanta the night before and kinda threw our flight plans for a whirl…
I kinda figured we could at least try for the first direct to Montréal and see what we get. After that, we could start exploring our options. After we did not make the first direct flight, I started to look st other routes and found that flights from JFK looked all wide open and we should head up there. S we hopped on the next flight to JFK and made plans for the next flight to our destination. Low and behold a storm system was rolling through and since the flights there are on regional jets, they began canceling.
We would have gotten on the next flight there except for the fact they had to restrict the weight of the aircraft because of the weather and took 8 of us off….
So, we were put on the list for the last flight to Montréal from JFK at 8:30. No big deal… Well I was monitoring the flights and saw that they cancelled that one about 15 minutes later. I had to scramble once again and find yet another way. So here I am on a plane to Detroit. Yeah, a bit of a round about, eh? Can’t complain when you travel for free I guess. Our flight to Montréal was supposed to leave at 10 and get in around 11:30. Notice how I said “was.” well, now that flight is delayed until 11:15 and gets in just after 1am.
Jonathan has been diligent about updating the bed and breakfast so they kind of know what has been going on and to make sure we could still come in tonight. A this point I just hope to make it there. Again, no big deal… Just a process…. I have an amazing event planned for us Friday night, so we need to be there by late afternoon tomorrow. I am not going to say much about it yet, since it is a surprise for Jonathan.
So for now, keep your fingers crossed we get a seat on that flight. Hopefully….

Comments (0) Jun 26 2011

A few weeks ago, Jonathan and I went for our first true backpacking trip together. I have been backpacking before, but for Jonathan, this was his first time. We have been camping numerous times, but nothing like hiking for 3 days and no access to facilities. So, we found the Pine Mountain Trail in southwest Georgia and decided to make a go of it.
To start, a few years ago, I had my car stolen twice. Yup, not once, but twice. At that time I had the majority of our camping gear in my trunk because we were going every weekend. So, last year we did not go camping too many times because we had to “make-shift” a few items and purchase some new stuff to even get going again.
This past year, we purchased a new kit of gear over a couple of months because we both missed camping quite a lot. We decided that we were ready to move up in skills and really try backpacking. On one of our first adventures out this year, we found some great hammocks that we bought at a state park. We really enjoyed using our hammocks just out and about, so I started researching camping with hammocks and I found a large community of people that use hammocks instead of tents.
So, we decided to get a full complement of gear to accommodate a 3 day trip with hammocks… Wow, did we ended up having fun and learning a lot. We really researched our camping site to really know what we were going to deal with. We found that there would be no fresh water sources, no restrooms and no general facilities. So, we had to be prepared to sterilize river water and take care of all the other necessities we would need.
Our first day out we arrived a bit late, so we had to choose a trail spot that was a bit closet than we planned. Also, when we were getting our permits, there was somebody lost on the trail and couldn’t find their way back. We let the woman working the desk take care of that first, obviously… It was fun to listen in on that conversation.
We headed out and set up our site. It was a bit of a challenge the first time because it was mostly new gear. We figured out the best set up and had dinner. The next day we hike quite a ways to our next site and it was our first time with a pack and all of our equipment. It was crazy hot, which added to the difficulty of it. All in all, it was a great and we had an amazing place to camp on the 2nd night. We were right next to a spring fed stream so the water we collected was nice and cool. Also, since the water source was close by we washed up after a long sweat filled day. We had a bit more of a challenge setting up our site this time. We had to find two sets of trees to keep our hammocks close by. We found a few after awhile and really had another great night.
Day 3, we finished hiking the trail and back to the car. We stopped at the trail end and had lunch before we headed back to the car. That day we hiked through a lot of the trail that was destroyed by the tornadoes in the area. It truly was something to see. You could see the exact path of the tornado as it went trough the area. Plus, it made a lot of the hiking a bit challenging because most of the trail was just cleared and still not fully functional.
Overall we both had a great few days… I truly enjoyed that trip and watching Jonathan really push his boundaries. I can’t wait until our next backpacking trip!

Comments (0) Jun 19 2011

Hello again….

I say hello again because this is yet another attempt at starting a blog. I have tried a few times in the past, however due to either technology constraints or life situations it has not been easy to keep updated. Now, I believe I find myself both technologically and situationally available to try this again. Not that I think I have anything revolutionary to say, I would just like to add my voice to the digital clutter in case somebody would find it interesting.
All that being said, let me start off by saying it is currently 6:00 AM and I am flying from San Antonio to Atlanta. I like working these early morning flights simply because everybody is sleeping and there has been no time to start the airline drama this early in the morning. I will have finished 1/3 of my day by the time most people wake up. Of course, that is not to say i enjoy waking up at 3:30AM, however, the idea of being finished by 2:00PM is very appealing to me.
So, I guess if you don’t know much about me I should take a minute to tell you a little of my background… I was born and partly raised in the northern Chicago suburbs. We moved around a bit, but primarily in the north. We spent a few years on northern Wisconsin operating a resort in a tiny town on a lake. I remember that very well and is probably where I start to truly remember my childhood. After that we returned back to the Chicago area where i finished high school. I then went to university at the university of Missouri – Columbia to study music performance and education. After 6 years there I started working at walt Disney world as a performer. I was primarily at the Disney MGM studios during my time there. I was fortunate to be part of a number of different productions and parades there, most notably for me Toy Story and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Both of those productions really were special to me and I truly cherish all my memories from both of those.
After 5 years at Walt Disney world I transferred to Disneyland Paris. I was there for a few years and again was part of a number of productions there as well. That is one experience in my life that I can say truly changed me for the better. I returned to the USA to return to Walt Disney world to find that I could not come back “home.” So, with much trepidation I left the company and went to work for Delta airlines as a flight attendant, where I am today. During my employment at Delta, I was furloughed after the events of September 11th and took that opportunity to Earn my estheticians license. I currently operate a little office in my neighborhood and enjoy working with my clients.
Lastly, I need to tell you about Jonathan. He is my partner. Not legally a husband. So we like the word partner until husband is available to us. We met in 2002, at a time in our life when neither one of us was looking for a long term relationship. When people ask about how we met, I like to say we went for coffee and has just never left. Well, now it is just over 9 years later and I could not have been a more thankful person that he came into my life. We are looking forward to celebrating our 10 years next February. He is the other thing in my life that has changed me for the better, and I thank him for that every chance I get.
Well, that should catch you up on my life so far… I hope to use this blog to share stories and tell you about my life and those that touch mine. I would also like to use this as an open dialogue for those who read it as well. For now, I will say until next time…

Comments (0) Jun 05 2011