In Transition

Lying in bed the evening of January 30 I couldn't help but think of that night's sleep as a "new year's eve" of sorts as January 31st was to be a day of irreversible change. It was that day, the last day of January 2014 that we would take possession of our second home as a married couple.

While waiting for the call from the lawyer's office Friday morning, Hubby and I went to pick up the elements of our new walk-in closet and kitchen pantry.

We then returned home to find my Mother-in-law who was almost as excited as we were for the day's exciting events.  After a bite of lunch and more waiting, the call came in at 2:21pm.  "Congratulations on your new house" the law clerk said.  "Your keys are ready to be picked up".  I told her we'd be right there and we all jumped in the car and drove the 15 minutes to the lawyer's office.  We were SO ready to check out our new place!

Our weekend was spent first ripping out the old original carpet before painting our master bedroom, taking it from a dark dramatic blue to our tropical oasis of bright "green grape" and gentle "quiet blue" like in our present home.  

Before (taken before possession)

After (pre-carpeting)

We also ripped apart the closet and assembled our new closet organizer pieces:

Taking down the closet bars

New Closet elements

We also painted our new ensuite but I don't have the pictures for that yet… stay tuned for that ;-)

Monday morning the contractors came in and ripped up the old carpet from the main floor and ripped out the original kitchen.  They cut a new kitchen doorway and prepped the original doorway for drywalling later in the reno.  They screwed down the floors in preparation for today's big task which was placing the tiles in the hallway, powder room and kitchen.  I can't wait until tomorrow to check it out.

I wasn't planning to do any other painting for awhile but yesterday I decided to repaint the guest bedroom, freshening it up and taking it from the girly bedroom feel.  I had mistakenly bought more "quiet blue" than I needed for our room so that was the colour I decided to go with for the guest room.  It really is a gorgeous blue.  In some light it almost looks periwinkle.  I did the first coat and trim yesterday afternoon and this morning I got over to the house at 8am to paint the second coat before the tile guys showed up.

Guest Room (before we took possession)

Fresh new look
(this is much brighter in this picture than in person)

Tomorrow I will finish up packing while the tile guys finish up their work on the hallway floors.  Grout day is Thursday and then Friday our carpet installers arrive and the kitchen cabinets get assembled.  Woot Woot!  Every day is feeling like Christmas as we "unwrap" a new phase of our reno!  Exciting days!!

I'll keep you posted as we go!  Until next time...

Ten Years Already!

They say that as we get older time seems to pick up it's pace.  I would whole-heartedly agree.  Remember as children when a year felt like FOREVER?  Now, a year feels like a week and well, a decade… who can believe how fast THOSE are going by!

Ten years ago today I was 39… dreading the fact that my 40th birthday would be encroaching upon me within the next 9-1/2 months.   Still waiting on God for a miracle baby… wrestling with God as He took my precious Mom to her heavenly home.  Ten Years!  How can it be?  I still remember that week leading up to October 25 as if it were yesterday.  That summer Mom's health had declined.

 She had been unwell for many years, the results of a botched surgery that paralyzed half her face and throat.  Eating became too difficult that summer and she began to lose weight.  Her cough sounded very pneumonic (like pneumonia to me).  Her headaches increasingly frequent.  Yet, despite it all… every time we spoke she'd recite her favourite Bible verse:  "This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it"Psalm 118:24… every day that is but the last time I called.  Something was different.  Something wasn't right!

Mom had started getting shots from the doctor to help her anemia so Dad had brought her down the 2-1/2 hour drive from their home on the Lake to my brother's.  When they arrived at my brother's place Mom was unresponsive… catatonic almost.  She was rushed to the hospital where she sat in the ER for 2 days until a bed could be made available for her.  FINALLY on the Sunday afternoon she was put in a room where visitors were finally able to come see her.

Having a brand new 2003 Honda Civic which God had just blessed us with…and that I had just saved from my work proceeds to put the downpayment on… I was able to shoot down the highway to visit my Mom.  She did not look herself at all.  Instead of the vibrant woman I knew, there lay a feeble "old" lady.  Only 72, my Mom looked 92.  She was fading away day by day and quickly at that.

Mom had stopped eating solids by this time and was only able to drink her calories.  For Mom though, this was catastrophic to her health as damage from that botched surgery in 1981 caused her to aspirate everything she drank directly into her lungs.  That horrid cough I heard was indeed her lungs.

The days in the hospital that week were sacred to me.  Mom directed me, her youngest child, to oversee the giving out of the hand-crocheted tablecloths she'd made for her granddaughters.  She also told me to hold on to the baby sweaters she'd knit… for my own child… that never came.  (I've since been distributing them to my nibbling' babies).  She never complained of the pain.  Never thought of herself. Just kept thinking and almost mourning for her children and grandchildren as she saw her days on earth were few.

Being with Mom in the hospital that week always reminded me of a conversation I had with her in my teen years.  I remember mentioning to her that I was afraid of having children… "what if I have one and don't like it" to which my wise Mother (of six) assured me that "something magic happens when you  have your own baby".  I never forgot that and sitting there by her death bed that week, not being a mother and not knowing that love for myself, I realized that there was something "magic"in this experience too.  As a mother brings her child into the world and experiences that "magic"… so a child sending her Mother out of this world experiences a similar "magic".  That week with my Mom was like sitting on holy ground as Mom prepared to "go Home".  For those moments I will forever be grateful!

That first year without Mom was unbearable.  The blackest hole I could ever imagine.  Worse than my infertility pain.  But God, in His great mercy and grace, seemed to open a portal to Heaven for me around the first anniversary of Mom's passing.  He gave me a glimpse of her… whole… smiling… the "old" Mom only better.  Thank you Jesus!!

So here I sit 10 years later.  I still miss Mom but thankfully that dark hole of existence is long gone.  Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't miss her more but I realize that she wouldn't want me to stay sad forever.  She would want me to go on.  To embrace life.  To look forward to when we'll be reunited in Heaven.  I can't wait to see her mansion!  I bet it's a 'Beut!"

To honour my Mom today I put together a little collage of pictures from her life…  I hope she would have liked this glance at the beautiful life she had.  She truly was a woman I aspire to be.  It's funny… ten years ago I never would have imagined how much I'd start to look like her.  I was always more my Dad's side of the family but this summer my brother gave me the biggest complement.  He told me that my hands and gestures were very "Mom" like.  She lives on!  She lives on in me and in my siblings and niblings.  As I chose the pictures for the collage I was struck by how much my sisters look like her too at different stages of her life.  As a young girl she looked like my oldest sister and then a few years later looked like my middle sister… Thank you Jesus that she's still here!

Sorry to go on & on… I guess it's cathartic to write on this day as I honour the memory of my precious Mom.  I feel like she deserves to be remembered fondly on this her "new" birthday… her Heaven birthday!!

The Life and Times of my Mom!

Until next time...

Busy Times Means Little Blogging!

Hello Blogging Buddies… I hope you've all been doing well since my last blog post.  It amazes me how quickly time flies!  Lots has been happening since my last post and I've been here & there with tales to tell so let's get started…

As you know that the past year I've been embarking on a new, exciting career that combines my passion for travel with a tiny amount of income.  I LOVE my job as a travel consultant and one of the "perks" of the job is getting the opportunity to check things out in order to recommend clients, also known as "FAM" trips (or familiarization trips).  In late September I went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on my very first FAM … and LOVED IT!

Hubby was travelling on his own business trip so I invited my niece, "S" to join me.  We flew away on Air Canada Rouge to the sunny beaches of Arena Gorda in Punta Cana where we stayed at the lovely Iberostar Bavaro resort.

My "job" while here in the lush, tropical paradise was to do a site inspection of our resort (a task which would take all of 2 hours in our 7 day week stay).  Having never been to Punta Cana before (and having not been at an all-inclusive resort for almost 25 years), I decided to book other site inspections at a couple of resorts along the beach.   I checked out all 4 of Iberostar's resorts on Monday, the Grand Bahia Principe resorts on Tuesday, and Majestic Resorts (Colonial/Elegance) on Wednesday.

Heading to "work" Monday Morning

Each resort was beautiful and each had it's own personalities and strengths.  It was so helpful to see them all side by side in order to know what might appeal to certain clients and why I would send them to one resort over another - or even one section of a resort over another.

My work days were a few hours of site inspection those first 3 mornings, leaving the afternoon for other "research"… like enjoying the resort amenities!

Doing "research" on the beach

We enjoyed a massage on the beach, tried different a'la carte restaurants, numerous "fruity" drinks… all in the name of my job!  On Thursday, we took an excursion so we could check out what my clients might like to do while in Punta Cana.  We chose the Caribbean Festival where we boarded a pirate ship that took us swimming with nurse sharks and stingrays and snorkelling in the open waters.

The rest of the week was just R&R although my brain still couldn't stop "researching".  I would accost strangers at other resorts to ask questions about where they were staying.  I'd chat up people by the swim-up bar about their vacations past and present.  I would network with other agents from the U.S.  A travel agent's work is never done!!

I was only home about 10 days before Hubby and I hopped in the car to make our way South to NC to my niece's wedding.  We were honoured to be asked to read 1 Corinthians 13 at their ceremony and then were honoured to help my sister and her Hubby (parents of the bride) in getting the reception hall ready (and unready afterwards).  It was a LOT of work but it was a blessing.  God has allowed me to tick another "Mom" thing off my list as I married off one of my "kids"!

Hubby & Me w/ Newlyweds  ~  Sister Love

After the wedding we joined my Sister and her Hubby's family for a week (not quite a full week for us) at the Outer Banks.  Hubby & I were celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary on the Tuesday so instead of staying at the beach house with all of them, we had opted to get hotels where we could have privacy (wink wink).  On the Wednesday, we rallied the troops (or as many as wanted to join us) and we went on a Wild Horse Adventure Tour into the dunes of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, just north of Corolla, NC.  It was amazing as we 4-wheeled our way in the tour Hummer and self-driven Jeeps over the sand dunes to find the wild horses that roam the beaches.

A Collage of our time in the Outer Banks

Lighthouse in Corolla, NC

Although it's been a busy month of travelling, I feel so blessed by all that God's allowed me to do and see.  It's actually kind of nice to slow down though.  Maybe my brain will catch up with me now and I can get back to blogging more regularly again!  Until next time...

New Season, New Focus

I was having lunch with one of my FABULOUS nieces today and she asked me, "Aunt Sue, do you still blog?".  Sheepishly I had to confess that thought "technically" I still blog... I have of late fallen off the proverbially blogging bandwagon.  I haven't been as faithful at writing as I have in years past and I miss it, although my mind feels so scattered lately that I haven't felt I've had much worth saying.
But... with that little prompt from my niece, here I am today to blog!

I titled this entry "New Season, New Focus" in the hopes that with this change in season taking place this weekend, heading from Summer into Fall, that I might somehow gain some new focus.  Balancing work with my church life and home life has been a little more tricky than I'd anticipated and to be honest, I think menopause (or rather mental pause) has caused me to be a little ADD!

I love my job and it has kept me busy off and on all summer.  I also did some travelling with my Hubby  to San Juan, PR and San Francisco.  The first trip I spent my days solitary on a gorgeous beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean while Hubby worked...

This is what my days looked like

Sometimes my only company was that coconut

Down at this end of the beach was the Ritz-Carleton resort

On the second trip this summer (August), while Hubby worked my brother, sister-in-law and I played "Tourist" in my favorite city, San Francisco.

One of our highlights on our trip, once Hubby finished working, was spending a day and overnight in Monterey.  

Enjoying a glass of wine at the Pebble Beach Clubhouse,
overlooking the 18th hole and Pacific Ocean

Caramel-by-the-Sea beach
(overlooking Pebble Beach golf course)

One of the things I LOVE about Carmel-by-the-Sea is the architecture.  Some of the homes and shops in this quaint town look like fairytale homes.  You could just imagine the Seven Dwarfs popping out at any minute on their way to work... whistling of course!

We had dinner at the Hog's Breath Inn ... a restaurant owned by actor Clint Eastwood.  The food was delicious and the restaurant ambiance very charming, just like the town!

Delicious meal at Hog's Breath Inn

We ended our Labour Day weekend in another of our favorite areas - Napa and Sonoma valleys.

Castle Tour and Wine Tasting at Castello di Amorosa

 

Wine & Food Tasting at Kendall-Jackson in Santa Rosa

Wine Tour and Tasting at Beringer

Wine Tasting at Silverado

 

 Wandering the grounds at Inglebrook 

(owned by director Francis Ford Coppola)

It was another successful business trip for Hubby and a fun time for my brother, sister-in-law, myself and Hubby when his business finished!

I'm off soon on my very own business trip, but more on that in the future!  For now... have a great day until next time...

Our Tour of London - Day 1

Warning... this is a picture-filled post!

With only 3 full days left in the UK, Hubby and I left Aberdeen (and the wonderful hospitality of my cousin's family) and boarded our little British Airways flight to London.  As daunting as Heathrow and London can be, we chose to pay a little extra and take the Heathrow Express train straight to Paddington Station where we chose to stay as our home base.  Thanks to Hubby's Hilton Honor points, we had a very nice room in the Hilton Paddington Station and didn't have far to lug our big bags through London to our hotel room.

Hanging out with Paddington Bear in Paddington Station,
 our temporary "home"

We didn't spend a lot of time at the hotel unpacking.  Nope - we wanted to get out and see as much of London as we could in our limited time in this big beautiful city!  We got directions from the concierge at the hotel and then took off on foot on a somewhat long and interesting walk in search of Victoria Station and a night bus tour of the city.  Nothing like seeing a major city all lit up at night!  Here are just a couple highlights for your viewing pleasure:

British Parliament Building 

Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

Bright and early Thursday morning we bought tickets for the 24 hour Hop on, Hop off tour which we were delighted to find out was actually good for 48 hours!  The bus stop to get on was across the street from our hotel which was super handy and the tour included a river cruise too.  Talk about great value!

Our tour officially started here, at the Marble Arch...

Didn't know I was that strong, did ya?

and we winded our way through the busy streets along Oxford and Regent streets into Piccadilly Circus...

Piccadilly Circus doesn't look much like a circus in daylight

and over towards Trafalgar Square...

Trafalgar Square

Looking down from Trafalgar Square to Parliament

Admiralty Arch looking down
The Mall towards Buckingham Palace

Did you know that only the Queen and Royal Family are allowed to go through that middle arch here and this is actually arches in an actual building?  I just read they are planning to make a luxury hotel in the building.  As you can see from the picture below... that sucker is locked tight!  It's only used for ceremonial processions.

If you look closely, you can see Buckingham Palace
and Queen Victoria's statue in front of the palace

We made our first stop off the bus at the Horse Guards Palace to take in the Changing of the Guards ceremony.  

Ceremonial Waiting

Here come the other Guards

Hey... you looking at me?

That horse looks like he's sizing up Hubby & Belle

Looking back up towards Trafalgar Square

Little did we know while we were at the Horse Guards Palace, but we were blocks from Downing Street where the British Prime Minister lives.  They block the street now so we couldn't have gotten close anyways.  We hopped back on the bus at this point, and got off again near the Parliament buildings.

Majestic Parliament

We made it to this area of London just in time to hear Big Ben (the bell inside the Queen's Tower) chime Noon.  Perfect timing that wasn't even planned.  At this point in our tour we decided to get off the buses and take our free River Thames cruise.  From this vantage point we got a great view of the London Eye ferris wheel and highlights along the riverfront on both side of the Thames.

The London Eye

Shakespeare Globe Theater

Tower Bridge and Naval Ships

Our ride up the river ended at the Tower of London so we disembarked and decided to take the tour of this ancient fortress.

Hanging out with the Guards

These Beef Eaters look thrilled to be taking a pic
with me, don't you think?

Tower Bridge from inside the Tower of London

The Crown Jewels are in here... and they are GORGEOUS!

At this site many beheadings took place - Gruesome I know!

On duty guarding the fortress

Off with his head!  (Not really thank goodness...  I rather like his head!)

Poor Snoopy... his younger siblings are taking revenge

After our tour of the Tower (and the exquisite Crown Jewels) we hopped back on our cruise to head back to our starting point.  Once back on terra firma we walked back across the bridge at Parliament to  take a spin on the London Eye.  (It was here, walking across the bridge, that Hubby saw a guy pickpocket an Asian tourist.  He tried to tell her but she seemed to blow him off.  Hope the guy in her purse didn't get much!)

So off we ventured to the exciting London Eye to get a bird's eye view of London from the safety of a beautiful glass globe:

The cart before us... filled with gobs of school kids

Parliament from the air

Looking up

Great views from up here, don't you think?

St. Paul's area from high above

Zooming in on Buckingham Palace from the London Eye

Is that Trafalgar Square way down there?

My Honey and I enjoying our ride in the sky

After our ride on the London Eye, we head back to the bus stop so we could grab the rest of our hop on , hop off tour but unfortunately the bus driver didn't understand what we were asking and we ended up missing the middle of our tour and were headed back towards our hotel.  Fortunately for us, this worked out as it started to rain and we were forced down below of our open-topped bus.  Unfortunately, we missed out on getting off the bus in Knightsbridge and this was the closest we got to the famous (and massive) department store, Harrods...

Harrods in Knightsbridge

So... that was our first day of touring London.  I'll stop here for this post but will be back to give you the highlights of our 2nd day on our hop on, hop off and our 3rd day of touring.  Cheerio for now!