Interestingly I titled this entry going home....not back to Nova Scotia...but to Oulu, Finland! Yes, we are planning a 3 week trip to Finland in July 2008! Any takers?
It is going to be a great trip to finally go back and see my family and friends that are still there and see the new families! It will be 13 years since I have last been back! It's going to be a whirlwind trip but I think it will be the best trip ever!
We will fly directly to Oulu (not a direct flight from here! LOL) and we will drive to the Northern parts of Finland, cross into Norway, visit some beautiful scenic spots there (Hammerfest, Tromso) and we'll venture to the land of Sweden where we will indulge in some old city sightseeing in Stockholm. I have friends in Tempere and helsinki that we will also visit! This is a trip in the planning stage and I am looking into accomodations, etc. but it will be just so awesome to go "home."
Stay tuned as i will update this on my planning progress for Suomi 2008!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
August Run
Well where has the time gone.......it's going going gone and soon September will be here. Excitingly enough, August has meant the adoption of our lil baby girl, Mya! She's my whippet that I truly love and she brings so much joy and excitement to my life; she's unbelievable! We got her on August 5th and my life has never been the same since! I must say she is demanding and does require a lot of attention but am told that this will subside once she becomes an adult! She is 19 weeks old this weekend...almost 5 months! She's really a part of our life now and she has fit in perfectly! I have been teaching her tricks and trying to control some of her bad habits that she developed but all in all, I couldn't have a more perfect pup! She is affectionate and cuddly, cute and quarky!
Her temperament is amazing, she loves people, dogs, kids, everything! She loves to run and a cpl times a week I take her off-leash to this huge field where she loves to chase me and run like a wild weed!
I'm sure now, many of my stories will involve her as she brings so much joy to my life:-)
I'm trying to be a good parent and have done a lot of research on how to raise her. I am controlling her diet and vaccinations to support her healthy body. I feed her raw and she loves it! And she is vaccinated minimally to ensure her immune system stays strong and healthy and not complicated with the numervous optional vaccinations that the veterinary world would like you to spend money on. This is a whole new Post which I may write about later.
So cheers to Mya and thanks for so much fun and excitement she has brought us thus far!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
FINLAND FINLAND FINLAND
Thanks D'Arcy and Monty Python for the title!
Well, where do I begin, on July 26th around 6:47pm my "gang" drove into my driveway, for our 14yr reunion, and a weekend I will NEVER forget!
I played host, D'Arcy played taxi, the three west coast Americans played "pay to drag your ass to Canada....what kind of holiday vacation resort is there in Canada?" and that is how this weekend came about!
A few years ago I had a moment....a moment where I wondered where all those close friends I had in Finland were, where were the people who made me who I am today; because although Finland changed me forever, I can dedicate a huge part of who I am to the people who I grew close to. Daphne from Philomath, Ismail from Eugene, Oregon, Monica from Angola, Indiana, and D'Arcy from Peterborough. BTW, these are not our cities we call home now, but how I remember them all!
They arrived, after 14yrs of being apart, and it was the most incredible weekend I think I will ever spend in my life!
We did NOTHING! And we were so happy to do nothing...well, we did sit on my back patio and watch the days go by as we hugged, cried, laughed, reminiced, and got up-dated on our lives!
Fourteen years....and there was a bond stickier than "pulla" that we cannot explain. D'Arcy said it best in her Blog; we grew up, we had kids, we came out, we loved, we lost, we never forgot each other.
After searching high and low for some of you, we came together. I THANK you all for making the journey, and I hope I made the journey worth while! My deal was, get your ass to Ottawa, I will do the rest! I did not want them to buy one once of alcohol or one gram of food while they were at my house, that was my promise, and I wanted to provide everything that they could imagine so that it would be memorable! I think we made it memorable!
So 14years have escaped us, but within 5 years we will all be together again....a promise we can not let go.
If you are ever fortunate to be an exchange student, please, do not forget the people who helped you along the way! I plan to visit my supporting Rotary Club to share this weekend with them and to let them know how much their generosity and belief in me as a student has changed my life!
Merci, Kiitos, Thank-you
Well, where do I begin, on July 26th around 6:47pm my "gang" drove into my driveway, for our 14yr reunion, and a weekend I will NEVER forget!
I played host, D'Arcy played taxi, the three west coast Americans played "pay to drag your ass to Canada....what kind of holiday vacation resort is there in Canada?" and that is how this weekend came about!
A few years ago I had a moment....a moment where I wondered where all those close friends I had in Finland were, where were the people who made me who I am today; because although Finland changed me forever, I can dedicate a huge part of who I am to the people who I grew close to. Daphne from Philomath, Ismail from Eugene, Oregon, Monica from Angola, Indiana, and D'Arcy from Peterborough. BTW, these are not our cities we call home now, but how I remember them all!
They arrived, after 14yrs of being apart, and it was the most incredible weekend I think I will ever spend in my life!
We did NOTHING! And we were so happy to do nothing...well, we did sit on my back patio and watch the days go by as we hugged, cried, laughed, reminiced, and got up-dated on our lives!
Fourteen years....and there was a bond stickier than "pulla" that we cannot explain. D'Arcy said it best in her Blog; we grew up, we had kids, we came out, we loved, we lost, we never forgot each other.
After searching high and low for some of you, we came together. I THANK you all for making the journey, and I hope I made the journey worth while! My deal was, get your ass to Ottawa, I will do the rest! I did not want them to buy one once of alcohol or one gram of food while they were at my house, that was my promise, and I wanted to provide everything that they could imagine so that it would be memorable! I think we made it memorable!
So 14years have escaped us, but within 5 years we will all be together again....a promise we can not let go.
If you are ever fortunate to be an exchange student, please, do not forget the people who helped you along the way! I plan to visit my supporting Rotary Club to share this weekend with them and to let them know how much their generosity and belief in me as a student has changed my life!
Merci, Kiitos, Thank-you
Friday, July 20, 2007
Finn Reunion - 1 week away!
Hey everyone, Thanks Daph for getting me hooked on yet another website/blog site. Like I need another site to manage! LOL But what a great idea! I love it!
In 1 week I will be meeting up with 4 of my other exchange buddies who spent a year in Finland with me, living and growing into who we are today! I know they have experienced everything I have and for that I am thrilled to share our weekend reunion with them!
I can`t wait to tell you how it goes...some people say you will never capture what you had back then....I know that's true, but we will capture a new found friendship I hope and a friendship that will be with us for another 15 years!
In 1 week I will be meeting up with 4 of my other exchange buddies who spent a year in Finland with me, living and growing into who we are today! I know they have experienced everything I have and for that I am thrilled to share our weekend reunion with them!
I can`t wait to tell you how it goes...some people say you will never capture what you had back then....I know that's true, but we will capture a new found friendship I hope and a friendship that will be with us for another 15 years!
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