Adios Canada!

Well, the farewell party has come and gone and I am feeling incredibly blessed and also very sad. It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to my friends and family. Since my farewell party, I have been reflecting on just how fortunate I am to be surrounded by the friends in my life. I can honestly say that I have cried on a daily basis thinking about all of you and how much I will miss you.


What can I say.........the farewell was touching, laugh out loud funny, tears and the usual gong show. I finished in fine form.........do you all forgive me for not saying a proper good night? And I was lucky enough to have my dearest friend fly up to surprise me. And all the way from the "boonies". Just kidding L, I will never forget my roots. And thanks to the hosts/organizers of the event - it was a blast and I really appreciate your efforts.



And what else has been happening this last little while.....a few of my friends had asked me why I had not posted anything lately. To be honest, I have been entirely consumed by getting ready for this move. At times, I felt completely paralyzed by the seemingly gargantuan task of preparing to leave a country. Lets see, what else....Oh, yeah, I got my first tattoo. I thought it fitting with my new transition. And to all of you who told me it does not hurt that much....liar liar, pants on fire!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was an especially emotional day. I moved out of my house - possession was at noon. I realized that I had over 9 years of memories in that place. Many laughs, many tears and countless precious moments. And to all my Melrose friends.......I love you and will miss you. You are going to have to travel a bit further than down a few stairs to have some cocktails together now!!!! And to my dear friend who helped me with all the "heavy lifting" in my move. I love you dearly and will always be incredibly grateful for everything you have done for me.


Wednesday is the big day when I leave for Mexico. I cannot believe the day is almost here. My next post will be from Mexico.

Again, a big thanks to all my dear friends who helped drive me around to get everything done. I am going to miss all of you so much.

Farewell Party

I cannot even believe this day is almost here - my farewell party scheduled for this Saturday. I have been so busy packing and getting organized to leave the country while also trying to spend quality time with friends and family that I can't believe that the party is almost here. I have so many emotions running through me right now....it is going to be so difficult to say goodbye to everyone. It definitely feels bittersweet - I am excited to leave and start this new adventure of my life but I am also going to find it so hard to leave my amazing friends and family. The thing that gives me comfort is that many of you are coming to visit me very soon. I can honestly say that I am very blessed and have the most wonderful friends and family.....But what will I do without all of you on a regular basis?

One last camping weekend with the girls!

I have been away since Friday morning doing one last camping trip in the Rocky Mountains before I go. I went with my niece and my two cousins.......one last girls weekend before I leave.

Even though the weather was rainy and on the chilly side, we had such a great time and lots of laughs. It was an emotional goodbye today.......my cousins are like sisters to me. They are wonderful young women and I cannot believe how fast they have grown up. And then there is my niece.....she and I are "BFF's" and I have been lucky enough to have one whole week with her. I have cherished this week with her and am not ready to say goodbye. I will miss her and my cousins so so much. Fortunately, I know that my niece is coming to visit in Mexico for 3 weeks at Christmas so that will keep me going.

I realized that I will also really miss the Rocky Mountains and their raw beauty. We were camping on a lake surrounded by mountains and I took Jackson for a swim every day.

Overall, the weekend was very relaxing, with the exception of Sunday night. At around 1am, Jackson woke us up with insane barking and baying and tore out of the tent through a small hole and started running around the tent frantically. I had never seen him act this way - I ran out after him and looked around but could not see anything in the woods. Nor was I about to set out to look! I brought him back in and tried to calm him down....then about 2 hours later, the same thing happened. Eventually, he calmed down. Around sunrise, yet another repeat performance from Jackson, so I looked outside the tent through a window and much to my shock, saw a rather large grizzly bear about 15-20 feet from the tent. I was frozen in shock - I could not move at all. All I could do was watch it helplessly. At one point, the bear turned around and looked in the direction of the tent........I was holding my breath, I was so scared. Then, it turned around and slowly walked away. I watched him until I could no longer see him in the woods. The next few hours seemed like an eternity. Eventually, my niece and I got enough courage to get out of the tent where we took a survey of our campsite. Nothing was damaged.......there was nothing in our campsite at all besides water bottles and camping chairs. All we saw were his very large footprints around our entire campsite. All I could think about was all the terrible stories about bear attacks on humans and how lucky we were.

Well, I am going to miss camping and hiking in the mountains, but the grizzlies, well, not so much.

Moving Sale - Part One

Here are the photos from my moving sale. Notice the two greeters........they were not for sale!