Plus One in Toronto!!!!

Every year the anesthesia residents in their 5th year go to Toronto for a 'conference' where they spend the weekend practising exams before their final medical licensing exams. B is a part of the examining team so this year I tagged along... never before has "I'm here for the food" been more correct! 

The conference location isn't in the most exciting area, but I did explore a bit, finding a great Chinese Market, I hit the IKEA and enjoyed just chilling at the very nice conference facility!

On Saturday I took the car and found my way to just outside of Oakville, the half way point to my Aunt and Uncle's house in St Catherine's. It worked out perfectly that they could meet me for coffee, and my cousin with her husband and new baby made it as well! I didn't see them much growing up as they always lived in Ontario, but little moments like this are awesome to make happen and I was thankful they were free to make it work! It was so great to reconnect, catch up and meet the adorable little Hannah!

I may have lived in Newfoundland for 10 years where the concept of "traffic" is a couple of people on the road in front of you, but I haven't lost my touch in city traffic! The 401 is ridiculous! It's quite like playing a video game. The exit system is pretty slick but if you miss that one you needed - forget about it! It was probably best I didn't get to those outlets anyway... 

Saturday night B and I hit up the Canucks vs Maple Leafs hockey game! The match up doesn't happen often and we were "lucky" enough to catch it and it was the last one before the Olympians took off for Sochi. Turns out it was one of Luongo's last games too. :( It was lots of fun to be there but pretty painful to watch the Maple Leafs win on home ice! We weren't the only Vancouver fans there though... phew!

Sunday the work was done and we drove back out to Oakville to see more cousins from B's side! We were treated to a crazy big brunch and a great time catching up before we had to head back to the airport. Short and sweet!!!

Girl's Weekend in BC!!!

Thanks to extreme loneliness and extra travel points I was able to head home and spend the weekend with my girls and spend some quality time with my niece! It was short and sweet and we hit Whistler for a couple of nights with a whole lot of ladies and girls!!!!

I barely even took pictures!! I regretted later not taking M since I spent all kinds of time with her friends and cousin! Whoops! I decided I'll take her a bit earlier when we head back the next time.

Volleyball in Halifax

Our grade 12 girls had one last hurrah as a travelling team in their last year of school. They participated in the Dalhousie Classic for the second time and had a blast. We enjoyed a beautiful weekend in Halifax, walking all around the campus area and enjoying the Dalhousie Community. Though the team left Sunday morning, I left late that day so I'd be able to visit a friend in Dartmouth. We had a great day catching up and she showed me around outside of the Halifax area. We visited Peggy's Cove and a beautiful little community called Mahone Bay. It was a stunning day, perfect for the drive.

Plus One in Vegas

I love having loved ones that go to conferences. This November marked two years since a friend and I hit Vegas for her Bday and almost to the day, we were back for her conference and I was lucky enough to tag along! We were hoping for hot weather and it wasn't for the first two days but really, you're on holidays and having a good time - does it matter? Really? While she conferenced I walked and walked, shopped a little, and enjoyed the free drinks and snacks in the VIP lounge with which our travel agent extraordinaire hooked us up. And sometimes I just did nothing.

Outside of conference time we enjoyed hanging out, Cirque du Soleil "O" and "Zarkana" and a show called "Le Reve", which was incredible. We did some serious damage at the outlets and visited the Body Works exhibition with two other residents. I've seen this exhibit before and it is very fascinating. It's not for the faint of heart - but you'll learn a lot if you visit with three doctors!!!

We danced like never before... to the point of bleeding feet...

A short and sweet getaway was just what we needed in November...

My Travel Dreams Have Gone Too Far

Happy April Fool's Day! And fools we are... stuck in a snow storm and hunkered down for the day. Nothing like a snow day on April 1!!!

Last night I had the craziest dream. My dream-interpretting son has announced that it is because I have been stressing way too much about our Easter trip and the time I spent looking at flights. With all these storms can you blame me??? We did finally book the trip... and not that we're counting but in exactly 18 days and 23.5 hours we'll be airborne.

Anyway, last night I dreamt that on a month long trip (that took until the end of the dream to figure out) to BC my in-laws took us on a trip to the moon. Yes that's right. THE moon. It started out that we were in this weird area where we had to hop from floating item to floating item without being sucked out into space like George Clooney. Naturally I was quite concerned about Mattea staying put on her pool mat, you know those square things with the layered colours? Obviously THOSE are reliable for space floatation as well. I felt like I couldn't properly open my eyes, so I was always squinting or functioning with my eyes closed. It was so frustrating! But then - RELIEF! I got the call that I was accepted for an interview for law school. (Here, I guess I should admit I watched Legally Blonde until the wee hours of the morning). So I made a plan to go to the interview at noon the next day, well, better make it 1pm in case I don't get back as quickly as I thought. But I was sorry to say that my squash racquet had just drifted off into the great unknown and I would not be able to prove my (non) proficiency with it. "That's okay," he said, "we'll get to that another time."

So, we go for a walk.

And all of a sudden we're walking down a lovely rocky area.  I can still see it so vividly that I just wish I was an artist! Somewhat like I picture Albuquerque, but a bit more mountainous. There was a fun water park, and oh the pictures I took!!! People were everywhere and low and behold - I bumped into a high school friend! But I was starting to feel slightly anxious about my trip home for my law school interview and a little claustrophobic and 'stuck'. I headed off to ask about leaving early. I was told we were meant to stay 3 more days and the only flights out left once a day at 4am. I wasn't sure about the time change, so I figured it'd be best to just stay up all night. Tomorrow's transportation was on a helicopter. "How long would that take?" I wondered. More anxiety (sense a theme?) about being "stuck" on the moon for a few more days. What on earth would we do??? Well, I could leave tomorrow morning, but I would have to pay $1000... for the cups... naturally. I went to the calendar and realized that we would still have 2.5 weeks in BC if we stayed the extra 3 days. But how would I contact the law school without REALLY racking up the phone bill? Yikes. I was looking at pictures on my phone and really concerned about using 3G. When I looked, it wasn't 3G it was simply just "L".

That's gonna cost a fortune.

And then I opened my eyes and couldn't see out the window. Everything was pure white. But try as I might I couldn't close my eyes and get back to the moon.

(PS - The moon doesn't look like the photo I've used - conspiracy theory?)