New Year Reflections

As 2013 starts and I hide from the cold outside, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how I'm doing on renewing my love affair with Montreal.  At the beginning of 2012, I declared I would:

• Embrace winter (if it ever comes).  Go skating, tobogganing, maybe even snowshoeing - at least once a week.  Find and enjoy more tea or hot chocolate.
• Embrace summer (when it comes).  Find and enjoy new terrasses.  Eat outside on my own. Finally attend a show at the Just For Laughs festival.  Spend time at the Jazz Festival.  Have a picnic in a park.  Watch the fireworks from Jacques Cartier bridge.  Find and enjoy more shop-made ice cream.
• Walk or ride my bike just for the fun of it.  I got a bike bell in Amsterdam.  I should use it :)
• More solo street photography (outside of my monthly MEETin photo walks).
• Go to Jean Talon or Atwater market every week.
• Go to the Botanical Gardens (my favorite) or some other park once a month.
• Visit museums.  We have A LOT of museums in Montreal and admission is inexpensive.  Hmmm... I really should get an Access Montreal card.
• Explore more restaurants, especially in my own neighbourhood and around work.
• Wear fashionable clothes.  Yes, I like living in a city where I can dress nicely.  Now if I only worked in an industry that didn't think I had a job interview or a hot date every time I dressed up...
• Update this blog once a month.

How did it turn out?

• Winter was really mild, so instead of enjoying winter sports, I walked to work a lot more often than I normally would, went back to yoga and discovered hula hoop.  
• Summer was consumed by work, so I didn't accomplish any of the items on that point.  Still, a lot of the remaining points did get done over the summer, so I still found ways to enjoy what Montreal has to offer.
• I cycled and I love it every time.  I even did a cycling event with MEETin and inadvertently toured Verdun.
• Solo street photography... Once I got my new compact camera, I carried it with me so I could take a lot of impromptu photos as I walked around town.  When it warms up again, the camera will go back in my bag.
• We signed up to have a box of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables delivered to the office every week, so I had no need to go to the markets every week.  We got a lot of vegetables, enjoyed a healthy summer diet, and learned a few new recipes along the way.
• From late May through late September, I grabbed my camera and spent an afternoon a month at the Botanical Gardens.  I have even more photos of the beautiful flowers and plants.  My only regret is that I missed photographing the Fall foliage in October.
• For the first time, I participated in Museums Day and discovered two fascinating museums on Parc Jean Drapeau.  As that day wrapped up, I was already planning what I wanted to do in 2013.
• Not at the same level as 2008, but I did explore some new restaurants, mostly in my neighbourhood.  Memorable meals include a succulent lamb tajine at Au Tarot, excellent fish with Jerusalem artichokes at Bar et Boeuf, and fabulous game at Le Club Chasse et Pêche.
• Slowly my wardrobe is getting updated...
• Only missed July and November updates on this blog.  Not bad, considering I hadn't regularly updated this since 2008.

My goals for enjoying Montreal in 2013 are pretty much the same as last year.  Instead of writing journal posts summarizing what I'm doing, I'll work to make this blog more interesting. I would also like to do more travelling this year.

Happy 2013 everyone!

And Autumn Passes Into Winter...

Autumn is spectacular in Quebec.  Fortunately, I was able to get out and enjoy it in between work and attending a conference in Vancouver.  Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll share a few of the photos I took over the past three months.

Anyone know what these are?

I concluded my monthly visits to the Montreal Botanical Gardens in late September, catching the last of the vegetable gardens and the Dahlias.  It was also the start of the Chinese lantern festival and one of the best displays in the past five years. Unfortunately, I forgot my bike light so I could not stay until it was dark.

Thanksgiving weekend, we did a roadtrip up to Bois Franc for the annual Balade Gourmande during which local farms open their doors and sell their harvest goodies.  We visited a cranberry farm, a game fowl (pheasants, quail, guinea fowl, etc.) farm, Fromagerie du Presbytère, a coffee roaster (for D, of course), a flour mill and concluded with a deer farm.

Colourful pheasant at Faisanderie St. Albert

Right before leaving for Vancouver, I participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.  I joined a group that walked around Atwater Market early Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful day, but it was too early for me to feel particularly creative. 

Autumn at Atwater Market

That evening, I participated in my third Light the Night Walk. Our team raised over $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we agreed it was the best walk out of the three years.

Although it's not Quebec, I thought I may as well share a Fall photo from my week in Vancouver:

View of North Vancouver from the Conference Centre

For the past three years, I have had perfect weather for a photo walk on the first weekend of November.  This year... it was freezing cold!  However, the light was perfect for shooting reflections in the glass skyscrapers downtown.  It was one of the most creative photo walks I've had in a long time.

Place Ville-Marie

As the Christmas lights came out, I started to carry my camera in my work backpack so I could snap pictures of the lights as I walked around work and home.  The display along St. Catherine in the neighbourhood where I work is particularly festive:

Christmas Lights leading into The Village

I hope to get some photos with both lights and snow between Christmas and New Year. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Bloggiesta Burrito (Wrap-up)

I was SO looking forward to this edition of Bloggiesta.  When I first signed up, I had grand plans to do all sorts of writing and blog improvements over the three days.  I viewed that weekend as sacred - I would have nothing else on my agenda, except for blogging.  Unfortunately, as the weekend arrived other important and urgent items crept into my weekend plans and my Bloggiesta goals dwindled. Considering how little I have been blogging lately, I am happy that I was able to find a little dedicated time for Bloggiesta.

So how did I do with the remaining goals?

• WRITE! I haven't written a post for my business blog all month.  I have a couple of posts in draft and another forming in my head. In addition, I have been asked to guest post on two other websites.  I need to spend the weekend writing.
• Yeah, well, that didn't go as planned. I got derailed by some bad news regarding a conference presentation proposal, followed by some Treasurer work for my building taking longer than expected.  The guest posts did not get done.  I did get a post up on my business blog, which is more than I have done in a month.  It's progress, but not as much as I would like.
• Clean up my categories on my business blog. 
• That got done the first night.  WordPress made it really easy to get it done quickly.
• Participate in a mini-challenge.  In particular, I want to check out the WordPress v. Blogger mini-challenge hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.  
• I got this done first thing Saturday morning.  I then checked out the other mini-challenges and wound up completing 5 more:
• Tips for Setting Up Guidelines and Policies (always important!)
• Photo Copyright: Bloggers Doing Right By The Graphics We Use! (helpful for finding more sources for free/inexpensive photos and graphics)
• Six Techniques To Revitalize Your Old Content (some great suggestions)
• Grade Yourself! (Using a website grader - no surprises, but good to check)
• How To Use Evernote (Got me using it for more than clipping websites, plus I learned about The Secret Weapon!)
• Improve the visual appearance of both blogs.  
• Sadly, didn't get to this at all.  Next time... or it's something I'll do over Christmas.
• Ramp-up new editors for the PMI-Agile Community of Practice blog I edit and schedule a few more posts.
• I got the ramp-up part done just before midnight on Sunday.  Whew!  Just under the wire.
• Added during the weekend: Put "Popular Posts" on my sidebar, thanks to 6 Techniques To Revitalize Old Content mini-challenge.
• Didn't get to this.  However, I did revitalize a couple of really old posts in the new blog post written for my business blog.  So, I still put that mini-challenge toward my original goals.  I consider that a win.

In the end, it was a productive weekend, even if it wasn't as productive (for blogging) as I had hoped.  This was my 3rd Bloggiesta.  I still find it fun and helpful to virtually hang out with a cool group of book bloggers and write, improve my blogs or just swap tips and tricks.  I would highly recommend the experience to any blogger.

It's Bloggiesta Time!

Yay! Bloggiesta is finally here!  I am SO looking forward to this weekend.  I'm posting my to-do list a little early because this weekend is starting to fill with activities not related to blogging.  I'm hoping that a written to-do list will keep me focussed on what I really need to get accomplished on my blogs.

What I hope to get done this weekend:

1. WRITE! I haven't written a post for my business blog all month.  I have a couple of posts in draft and another forming in my head. In addition, I have been asked to guest post on two other websites.  I need to spend the weekend writing.
2. Clean up my categories on my business blog.  Done!
3. Participate in a mini-challenge.  In particular, I want to check out the WordPress v. Blogger mini-challenge hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.  It may help me decide what to do with this blog.  If I do migrate, I will leave that for the next Bloggiesta.  Done! Plus, I'm checking out other mini-challenges.
4. Improve the visual appearance of both blogs.  They are both looking a little stale to me, so I would like to give them a fresh coat of paint.  Creating a more professional looking header is top of my list for my business blog.
5. Ramp-up new editors for the PMI-Agile Community of Practice blog I edit and schedule a few more posts.
6. NEW! Put "Popular Posts" on my sidebar, thanks to 6 Techniques To Revitalize Old Content mini-challenge. But, I will only get to this if #1 and #5 get done.

I think that's it for now. We'll see how I did at the end of the weekend.

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!