The End

Where does two years go? As I sit here trying to think of how to end this blog, I can't believe that I went nearly two full years without writing on it. I never intended to completely abandon my blog, just to take a bit of a break. But that break turned into nearly two years of cringing every time I thought about my blog, or about writing on it again. This past January, my New Year's resolution was to start up my blog again, but I procrastinated over and over again and lost touch with all the blogs I had been reading up until that point. In fact, I had to do a password recovery just to get on this blog again because it had been so long! But, today is my baby due date, and I've done everything on my to do list except for start a new blog. So, I thought I'd end this one first and then direct you to my new blog.

So, why haven't I written on my blog in two years. Well, it started after I got back from my 6 weeks in Europe. I had my first full time teaching job, and I was teaching French 10-12 (all split classes), Communications 11, Socials 10, plus distance learning PE 8-12. On top of that it was at 2 different schools, where I was also the staff rep, in charge of the Me to We club and the teacher sponsor of the Interact club. As if that wasn't enough, I was applying for my Masters degree, volunteering Friday nights as a youth leader, hosting a church home group Wednesday nights at my house, in a book club Thursdays, scrapbooking group Mondays, and directing plays at my church. In previous years when I had been substitute teaching, I would get so bored and lonely on days off, that I ended up signing up for a dozen different clubs. When I started teaching full-time, I made the mistake of not dropping any of them. Which is exactly why I didn't have time to blog.

On top of that, before I got pregnant 9 months ago, I was going through one of the toughest times of my life. Because I couldn't get pregnant. I started trying before my last blog post, and it took us a year and a half of frustration before I was rewarded with that little blue plus sign on the pregnancy test. As each month passed, I felt more and more depressed that EVERYONE around me was finding it so easy! In the first year I spent trying to get pregnant, I had 14 friends have babies and 8 more get pregnant. It was INSANE. I think I attended at least one baby shower a month the entire time, and each one was more and more difficult. Of course I was happy for the other mothers, but why did it seem like I was the only one having such a hard time?

Of course, I know this isn't true. In fact, a good friend of mine tried longer than we did, and eventually went for expensive fertility treatments. But having a specialist tell you that it might take years for you to get pregnant isn't exactly encouraging. We were close to going for IVF when we miraculously discovered we were expecting. Could it be that the stress of work and all the things I was trying to do were contributing...I'm sure now that it was likely a factor. Which is why last year, when I started the school year, I made sure that things would be different. We'd been trying for a full year, and I was desperate to make life less stressful and busy. So, I reduced my work contract from 1.0 to .857, and I quit several volunteer groups and extracurricular activities. And I started writing poetry again, taking the first course of my masters degree. Having so much free time was wonderful, and it was only 5 months later that we were blessed with the baby that will soon be born!

I've been envisioning a new blog for a while...thinking of what I want to write about and what type of blog it will be, and realized I needed to make a fresh start. So, my new blog is called La Vie en Rose, after the Edith Piaf song. You can find it at: www.sabrinalheureux.blogspot.com

Thank you for reading :)

Alice in Wonderland

Happy Halloween!

Paris, take two

Our second day in Paris started out yummy. We took a walk, past the Pantheon

and the Sorbonne to "la rue Mouffetard". Here I found a row of delicious bakeries and all types of food. We bough pain au chocolate, croissants, baguette sandwiches and a tarte au fraises. With our goodies in hand, we wandered back to the Jardin de Luxembourg, where we lounged beneath the trees on chairs (you're not allowed to sit on the grass) and ate our food. We didn't walk through the whole park, as we needed to be on our way, but we did stop to look at the pretty pond in the center and the statues.



Next we went to our first museum, the Musee National du Moyen Age, where we saw room after room of medieval relics, paintings, armour and artifacts. There were some amazing books here too. The higlight for me was seeing the display of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. So beautiful.

This day was really a day for museums, as we then walked to the Musee D'Orsay, an art gallery in a beautiful old train station. We didn't have an abundance of time, so we saw my favourite impressionists, took in the view from the roof top, and then headed back to our hotel to check and see if my luggage was in yet.

No luck though; it hadn't arrived. So, we turned around and headed out to see one last museum, the Louvre. It was a friday and was open late, and free for those under 26, so I didn't feel bad that we hadn't enough time to take in all the exhibits. Instead, we chose the ones we really wanted to see. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the underground moat remains, and a beautiful collection of roman and greek statues. It was nice to look at something other than paintings. Many people have told me that they prefer the Musee D'Orsay to the Louvre, but I really loved the Louvre. When we emerged beneath the glass pyramid, the sun was just beginning to set, and we took a beautiful, albeit long walk (me in flip flops) to the Arc de Triomphe. The view of the sun setting behind it was definitely worth it, though. And, Mike was nice enough to suggest that we walk down one of the side streets, and took my photo as I posed with all the famous designer stores. It was fun to window shop while they were closed.





We then hailed a taxi to Montmartre, and found a lovely little restaurant, out of the tourist zone, to eat at. We had a three course meal, with the best ravioli I've ever eaten, horse meat (which turned out to be steak, thankfully--the waiter didn't speak English and had confused cow with horse), creamy potatoes, and dessert.

We were very tired at this point, at took our cab back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before heading to Ireland the next day. Thankfully, my luggage had finally arrived.

Our time in Paris was short, but wonderful. We managed to see a little bit of everything, and take in the major sites.

26

Today is my 26th birthday! Yesterday Mike asked me if my life was what I imagined it would be at 26. I thought about all the things I wanted to accomplish and I think I am very happy with where I am right now. I have a husband, friends, a dog, a house, a good job.....really I'm very spoiled. I think the only thing left on my list to accomplish for 26 is to publish some poems (in a real journal) and then hopefully to make a baby...hehe. Mike says he doesn't mind helping me to accomplish that one.

So, now I'm closer to 30 than 20! Such a strange feeling.

For my birthday so far I have received: 25 facebook messages, a new hair colour from Mike's sister, a new blowdryer, some clothes from my mom and tomorrow I'm getting another puppy!

Here's to another year!

Side note

I haven't yet gotten the rest of my Paris pictures, and I'd like to blog about my trip in order, so I'll have to wait a few days as I am currently in Port Alberni. It was a surprise visit for my Mom and Mom-in-law, as Mike just happened to have a few extra days off. The look on my mom's face when I arrived at 11 pm a few nights ago and surprised her was priceless. So, in the meantime in between my trip journals...here is a photo that I love of Ireland. It's my favourite Irish sky.




Ah. I so miss Ireland. It was beautiful. I want to live there.

Two Canadians in Paris

My 7 week European adventure began on July 2nd when we arrived in Paris. It was a long flight, made longer by the 3 hour delay on the run way in Montreal as we waited for a thunderstorm to clear up. Unfortunately, this delay shortened our already short two days in Paris, and caused my luggage to get lost and not be delivered until the night we were leaving. But, despite having to go shopping for essentials, makeup, clothes and some flip flops upon my jet lagged arrival at our hotel, we managed to see an amazing number of things in Paris on foot and had an incredible time together.

Day one:

July 2nd. We took the RER train from the airport to our hotel, the Dacia Luxembourg. I made a great guess as to where to get off and we walked only a few minutes before spotting it. We were located very close to the Notre Dame, the Pont Neuf, the Sainte Chappelle and the Pantheon, among others. So, we set out on foot at about 4:30 in the afternoon, once I was better equipped with a tank top and new shorts from the Paris Gap! (I had arrived in sweatpants and sneakers to 32 degrees). Luckily for me I had put my summer dresses in Mike's suitcase, so after swapping my sneakers for some new flip flops I was able to dress up in the evenings.

Our first adventure was to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was lovely and cool and HUGE! I was really blown away by the beauty of this church. I wasn't expecting the size and we really enjoyed looking around inside. Because we were short on time, we didn't climb the tower, but took some gargoyle photos from below. We then headed a short distance away to another smaller church, the Sainte Chapelle.
This one is known for it's stunning stained glass windows that tell the entire story of the bible.



The Notre Dame and my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.


Me inside the Notre Dame.

We enjoyed walking about and seeing the sights until our stomachs started grumbling. We chose a little outdoor cafe to have a seat and some dinner. We then headed back to the hotel, and I thankfully managed to find some decent socks along the way which made me very happy as I was wearing Mike's big sports socks and my feet were still swollen from the long flight. We entered our hotel, took a nice nap to try and shake off some jet lag (we travelled for a full 24 hours before arriving) and headed out again. We had planned on seeing the Musee d'Orsay that night, but were enjoying the sleep too much, so decided to have a late walk to the Eiffel Tower instead.

We left just before sunset and walked hand in hand along the Seine river. We underestimated the distance a bit, as we could see the tower as we walked, and figured it couldn't be too far away. But, over an hour later, we finally arrived. It was 11pm and I was worried that the upper floor would be closed, but there was still quite a line up and we were able to go to the third floor. The elevator was scary--like an amusement ride all on its own. We arrived at midnight to cheers from the park below as the Tower lit up with sparkling lights. It glows yellow all night but only has twinkling lights for the first ten minutes of every hour. It was really magical to step out of the elevator to the twinkling lights.

Once at the top we took our time seeing the sights of Paris. If you're only in Paris for a short time, it's a good way to see what the entire city looks like at night. Everything is lit up. We could see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance.



Me at the top.

When we left, we spent some time lounging on the lawn in front of the tower. In the evening, there are many Parisians who sit on the lawn here and drink wine and watch the lights. We soon found ourselves hungry, though, and decided to see if there were any Parisian cafés still serving food at 2 am. Lucky for us, there were. We split a burger and frites and then took a cab home. I only remember swearing to Mike that if we survived the cab ride I would never call a cab in Paris again.




And that was day one. We went to sleep exhausted with a very long list of what we wanted to see in our one remaining day.

Guilty

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Lately I've been the worst blogger ever. But, I figured I should probably update my blog given as I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow morning for 6 weeks!

It's not that I haven't had anything to write about. In fact, I've been so busy that I could probably do a post every day for a month to write about all of it. Between directing a two hour musical for 60 students to planning this trip, finishing my report cards and being sick for two weeks, I haven't had much time for anything.

But, I thought I would post a picture update of what I've been doing. I won't write a whole lot, but the pictures include my students' graduation ceremony and red carpet, Mike in his serge at the grad red carpet, a few more pics from my trip to the Dominican and the wedding there, me and my friend M's new baby Angeline, and a few of my puppy who looks so grown up now!

Well, tomorrow morning we fly to Paris for two nights. We are planning on seeing everything we possibly can. Did you know that being 25 in France gets you a youth discount? I'm getting into the Louvre for free! Then, we head to Ireland for two weeks. We are staying in two cottages. On the 18th of July Mike flies home and I fly to Edinburgh to meet up with my friend Amanda. I will be visiting her and some family members around Scotland before heading to the south of france for 12 days. I will be participating in La Sabranenque, which is a volunteer camp where you help restore a medieval village. I'm very excited and I must admit not feeling prepared just yet. I have all my stuff laid out on the table but still need to put it into my suitcase and decide what to leave behind. But, that's very typical of me. I've spend countless hours doing the planning and preparing for this trip and cleaning my house for the house sitters I have coming. I've spent so much time doing all of this that I left no time for myself to relax and be excited!

Hopefully the trip there will go smoothly and I will be able to sleep a bit on the plane. Hope you all have a wonderful summer and I will try to update my blog with some travel news while in Scotland!