I'll Be Joining The Bloggiesta Party!

Yay! Bloggiesta is back for the second time this year! Now everyone knows what I will be doing the weekend of Sept 28 to 30!  I first participated in the event in January 2011 and again in March of this year.  Both times I had a fun and productive blogging weekend and I'm always excited when it returns. In past Bloggiestas, I wrote posts related to the event on my professional blog.  This time I'll write my updates on this blog to keep my other blog focussed on management topics.

What is Bloggiesta, you ask?  From There's A Book blog (one of this year's hosts): it’s a blogging marathon devoted to ticking off items on your to-do list and improving your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing.   Started by Natasha of Maw Books Blog, I discovered it when WordPress featured a blog about the event on the Freshly Pressed page.  Even though the event is open to all bloggers, many of the participants are book bloggers who I discovered are a wonderful community to learn and share ideas about writing and blogging.   The event even has it's own mascot, Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize).  Mexican-themed food and drinks are optional but can be an added bonus to the event :)

Mini-challenges are part of the event and a great way to building your blogging know-how.

If you want to join in the fun, you can sign up here.

I have already started thinking about my to-do list for the weekend.  There are quite a number of improvements to my professional blog that need to be done and I have to decide what I want to do with this blog.  Stay tuned!

Wish This Was A Summer Vacation Report

Yesterday, a friend posted "It smells like autumn."  NOoooo! It can't be!  I'm not ready for the summer to be over yet.  Where did it go?

My friends and family already know the answer.  Yes, once again, I spent too much time at work.  Once I am able to talk about the project I'm working on, that statement won't seem so sad.  It's an important project, so the effort is worth it and the results are good so far.

In my free time I did manage to enjoy the summer somewhat.  So far, I've kept my promise to myself and visited my favorite place in the city once a month: Montreal Botanical Gardens.  I am particularly delighted with my July visit when I decided to photograph lilies in the evening.  I had never visited during lily season and the flowering brook garden was in full blooming glory.  Below are a few of my favorite shots.

A couple week later, I bought my new toy: a Canon S100.  I've been frustrated with my old point-and-shoot camera for quite awhile and I don't always want to carry my DSLR with me.  So, as a reward for successfully passing an important milestone on my project at work, I invested in my photo habit.  I'm carrying that camera with me everywhere and I'm gradually figuring out all the features.  It's almost as good as my DSLR but WAY more compact.  It can also do HDR, but I haven't had an appropriate subject to try it out yet.  Of all the creative modes, I'm enjoying the toy camera and the spot color modes the most.  

The major festivals came and went.  Now that I no longer work beside Place des Arts, I didn't even walk through the festival area and take in the free concerts/activities.  At least D and I went to see one of the fireworks shows from La Ronde.  It was our anniversary, so we got the gold seats and it was worth it!  We also had a great afternoon at La Ronde... it didn't (really) rain! 

Finally, just this weekend, I got out on my bike!  I hosted a MEETin event to cycle along the Lachine Canal.  It turned out to be a bigger adventure, resulting in a tour of Verdun.  The weather was amazing! Since I was the only person with a camera, I did not take any scenic pictures along the way.  Still, it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Every time I go cycling, I wonder why I don't do it more often.  Montreal is a great city for cycling, especially when the weather is like it was yesterday.  

Hmmmm... maybe I should start a photo blog instead?  I would probably post more often!

In Search of the Best Cupcakes

I happen to live near two cupcake shops, one of which I walk by practically every day and the other happens to also sell their treats at the Jean Coutu near my work.  The one I walk by has proven to be much more of a temptation - I stop by about once a month and pick up a little reward after delivering a project milestone at work.  Still, I wondered how the two shops compared. So, for my birthday, I set up an "In Search of the Best Cupcake" Event on MEETin and a few of my MEETin friends helped me find out!

Our first stop was D Liche Cupcakes on St. Denis.  Co-owner Robert greeted us warmly and graciously gave us the run-down on the source of the deliciousness.  Their cupcakes are made with 90% organic ingredients and contain no bad stuff like Crisco.  The result is a moist, rich cake that is not too sweet.  We each bought two minis of different flavours.  I chose the chocolate raspberry almond (above, on the left) and the chili chocolate (above, on the right).  When I peeled the wrapper off the first, I licked off the cake left behind.  I couldn't help myself!  I love the chili and chocolate combination and this cupcake did not disappoint!  The first bite was rich dark chocolate with a little bit of spice in the after taste.  The second bite had the chili kick!  Sneaky spice... love it!  The chocolate raspberry almond is like a mini black forest cake, but with raspberry.  A friend had a vanilla cupcake that tasted like a little bit of vanilla heaven.  With very happy taste buds, we set off to the second shop.

The next stop was Petits Gateaux on Mont Royal.  As soon as we walked into the shop, it was a completely different experience.  Unlike D Liche, the show cases seemed quite bare.  Being Grand Prix weekend, the street fair on Mont Royal likely kept the shop very busy that day.  As we selected our treats, we realized the cupcakes did not look as enticing.  To do an honest head-to-head comparison, I selected two minis: Chocolate Passionfruit (above, on the left) and Irish Coffee (above, on the right).  As soon as I peeled off the wrapper, I knew the competition was over.  There was nothing on the wrapper even to tempt me to lick it.  Both cupcakes were disappointing.  They were dry, too sweet and  the flavours were non-specific.  I could barely taste the passionfruit, but it was not masked by the chocolate.  The irish coffee had a hint of mocha, but there was nothing particularly Irish about it.  One friend complained about the presentation - it had looked like someone had started to peel off the wrapper, changed their mind and returned the cupcake.  It wasn't the case, but the wrapper coming off of the cupcake is a clear signal that the cake is too dry.  We couldn't even bring ourselves to discuss the cupcakes in the shop - the girls behind the counter looked like their day was tough enough.

So, the clear winner of the best cupcakes in the Plateau is D Liche Cupcakes on St. Denis.  The picture above is only a small section of their tempting showcase.  Robert and Ken will graciously tempt you with their flavours-of-the-week. If you have never tried their cupcakes, I recommend getting a box of six different minis so you can decide what flavours will be your favorite!

Nature and Museums

Montreal is one of the best cities for museums.  We have a wide variety of museums, covering almost every aspect of history, art, science and nature and stuff in between.  The exhibits are always excellent quality and the entrance fees are quite reasonable compared to other cities in which I have lived.  The best part has got to be the annual Museums Day on the last Sunday of May.  From 9am to 5pm, all the museums and exhibits are free and fleet of city buses are set up to shuttle us around.  Finally, after living in Montreal for four years, I was finally available to participate in Museums Day, which also kept a resolution to visit more museums.  I am so glad I did!

I chose to visit the museums on the purple bus route.  Two of the museums were out of the way, so having a shuttle take me directly there was exactly the incentive I needed to visit.  The first two stops were on Parc Jean-Drapeau, which is a short metro ride from home.  With the plan set, I set out on my museum adventure Sunday morning.

The first stop was the Stewart Museum.  It had closed in 2007 for a massive renovation and just reopened in 2011.  I had decided to walk to the museum from the metro.  It was a beautiful day, so I stopped along the way to take photos in the park... and then promptly got lost.  Oh, well, the results were photos like this one:

I eventually found the museum, which is housed in an old fort/military prison near Jacques-Cartier bridge:

Stewart Museum was a pleasant surprise.  Being the site of an old fort, the views of Montreal, the port and the bridge were fantastic.  Inside, the museum was beautifully renovated and the comprehensive exhibit covered the story of Montreal from the age of exploration through to the 20th century.  The story covered the life and technology of the times, not just the historical facts of conquests and battles.  I would highly recommend the Stewart Museum to history buffs.

So not to get lost again, I took the shuttle to the next stop: the environmental museum at the Biosphere.

I'll be honest.  I expected a museum run by Environment Canada to be a bit dull.  It was just the opposite!  It rivalled the Science Centre with respect to being an interactive, fun museum.  All the exhibits, focused on environment and ecology, had something for everyone.  There was an interactive section for kids to play while they learn about the wonders of water.  Kids and water is serious fun! There was also a fascinating exhibit of 16 dresses made from "garbage", such as used batteries, plastic containers, books, electronics, and much more.  The creations were more artistic than practical, but the creativity was impressive.  I could go on and on, but the Biosphere website will give all the details.

My final stop was Maison Saint-Gabriel, which preserves and reenacts 17th century life in Montreal.  I had missed a MEETin Montreal event to visit the museum a couple of years ago, so I had intended to go see it on my own since then.

By this point, though, it was 2pm and there was a long line outside the museum.  I decided just to explore the garden and watch the demonstrations on 17th century weaving, snowshoe making, and blacksmithing.  There was also a surprising side exhibit on shoes from the 17th century to present day.

For a bit more nature, my weekend started with my first visit to the Botanical Gardens this year, which was also a photo walk event I hosted for MEETin.  The gardens are one of my favorite places in Montreal.  Now that I have my Access Montreal card, entrance to the outdoor gardens is free, so I will be trying to go monthly to photograph the various flowers as they come into season.  Since we had a mild winter and an early, exceptionally warm spring, a lot of the May blooms were already finished.  Still, we were able to catch the Leslie-Hancock garden in its final glory of colourful azaleas and rhododendrons.

The gardens and Museums Day were a great start to the summer season.  Looking forward to my adventures in June!

Marriage Advice

As I am preparing to attend the first wedding I have attended in quite a few years, I've been thinking about marriage and what it really is to be in one.  I am fortunate.   Contrary to statistics, almost all of my married friends are still together, in their first marriage, and starting to reach 40.  Even after a one-year separation, my own marriage somehow is still going after nearly nine years.  What have I learned from the experience?  If I could go back in time, what advice would I give my younger self?

First, I still appreciate and value the advice two friends I consider my marriage mentors gave us before our wedding.  They married when they were barely 20 years old and were still together nearly 10 years, and three children, later.  With all that experience at such a young age, I figured they would have some wise words for us.  The advice: "When you start to have problems, and you will, don't be afraid to get counselling." Not what I expected, but still very insightful.  When that time came, I reached out to the same friends who still gave the same advice.  Even though my husband and I did not get counselling together, I still got it for myself and it helped.

The next bit of wisdom I only truly understood when things fell apart. During that time, my friends and colleagues shared their wisdom from their own marriages.  All the conversations started with:  "Marriage is hard work."  I had likely heard that before, but it didn't really hit home until that time.  Marriage is hard work.  It is hard to constantly be mindful about our own actions and behaviours, make compromises but not sacrifice our needs, and show each other love, respect and appreciation, even when we don't always feel like it. These are only a few examples.  Marriage is even more work than that! Now that I understand that,  I am putting in a more conscious effort to work on the right things to keep our relationship going.

Finally, this last bit of advice is definitely directed at my younger self: remember to take time for myself.  During my first years of marriage, I tried so hard to do all the things I thought I should do.  Between running the household, running errands, and running my career (which involved a lot of business travel for awhile), I was allowing myself to be run into the ground.  I was exhausted.  Since moving to Montreal and the year of separation that came with it, I re-learned how to take take time for myself to do things that are just for me.  As a result, I have a bit more balance in my life and my husband he has more time for himself, making him happier.

What marriage advice would you give your younger self?