Montreal, Canada

Montreal is absolutely stunning and I am still in awe with the night life in this city! I wrote about visiting Old Quebec first because it was my favorite! Since we only had a week of vacay we spent more time in Quebec, but on our way back to New York stopped and toured a bit of Montreal. 

Montreal at night is alive and filled with energy. I could totally live here. It's very much slow compared to the hustle of NYC and Jersey where we live. 

We stayed at the nicest hotel and ate at a 24 hour "hole in the wall." It was great and I was reminded of NYC while walking around the streets of Montreal. I know there is so much to do here and I wish we had more time but luckily we went to some of the places I really wanted to go to! 

We walked through chinatown and this may sound silly but I loved the arret (stop) signs. 

Mcgill university is a prestigious college. They call it the Harvard of the North and Noah would love to attend here. Apparently they have a great architecture program. 

The Biosphere was cool enough to take a picture! 

I loved, loved this sculpture garden. This is Mother Nature and she was lovely. 

Jon and Noah having a fun father and son moment. 

So thankful for this guy who takes us to the most amazing places. He works so hard and he deserves all the goodness in the world. I hope he knows that as much as I complain about being menopausal and constantly crying over many things that I appreciate him so much! 

Quebec City, Canada

Summer is flying by so fast and yet I still feel the need to do as much as I can before summers end. Thing is it’s okay if we don’t. I want to cherish all the memories I make with my only kid left in our nest but I also feel the need to slow down. 

Tiny Living

Growing up in a small house you would think that one would want to buy a bigger house when they got married and are older...not me. Not us. We've moved around so much in the past 30 plus years of marriage and because of that always rented. And although people would say, "you're throwing money away" I didn't care. Still don't. Renting for years has worked for us and doesn't make us feel obligated to stay stuck in a place for too long and for that I am grateful! 

So with that being said, after five years of living in a house that I thought we would be in at least until Noah graduated or Jon retired is up for sale.

While we were at my daughter’s graduation in Utah last month, we got a surprise phone call from our landlord saying that he’s selling the house due to health issues and that we have 60 days to vacate.

Well, my stress level cannot handle finding a place within 60 days so as soon as we landed, we immediately started looking and low and behold, our daughter Lexie helped us find the cutest space within a week. 

And it was a HUGE blessing in disguise…

We are in our mid 50s and we’re not getting any younger so having us leave a house that had stairs and a huge lawn was not feasible for us anymore. We just couldn’t keep up with it anymore. Sure the stairs  kept us in shape but there were many times where we accidentally almost fell down the stairs or even tripped a lot. But broken bones are not worth the risk-oh wait, my husband has already done on the job as a UPS city driver, and he definitely doesn't need that to happen at home. 

We also had garden beds that I never planted anything in. I am not a green thumb, never have been. My mother was a perfectionist at gardening, but not me.  The house on Franklin street worked out for us for five years but now that we just have Noah left in the nest downsizing makes a lot of sense. 

However, we are still paying the same amount of rent and that’s OK because this cute tiny living space is so worth it. The peace that it brings is worth the price. 

This tiny living space reminds me of a NYC apartment, but without living in the city. We absolutely love it and although I didn’t hoard too much it did help me get rid of more things that I realized I didn’t need and it was so refreshing to do that. 

Less is best and this space is exactly what we needed right now especially at our age. We adore it. We love it and Noah loves his room. 

Having our landlord make this decision, not only for his mental health, but for ours as well was something that we definitely needed, and we truly feel so much more at peace with this adorable tiny living space.

Here’s hoping we stay here until Jon retires and then move somewhere permanently where the state will not tax his pension! 

Life Lately Since The Year Began...

 

Is this it, am I done? Is this the end of my blog? I certainly hope not but here we are in the middle of June and I haven’t shared or written anything in the last six months.   

For the past 15 years I’ve always looked at my blog as a journal of my life. I haven’t written major long stories in a while. All I have done in the last few years is pretty much shared the same thing that I post on my Instagram and snippets of what we’ve done on a weekend and sometimes that can get monotonous for those of you who follow me and read.

I would love to go into depth with my writing. I would like to share more about my life and be even more vulnerable in detail like how I used to be when I first started this blog. Especially with everything that has been going on the world and with me up until now at 54 years of age.

I also want to bring light and joy into this writing space. I always don’t want to be a Debbie downer but sometimes I have to be because, well-that’s life in todays world.  

So since the beginning of this year, I have to say that life has literally been bittersweet- both happy and sad. 

Currently-The one good thing that is going on in my life has been becoming a grandma and my granddaughter is growing up so fast! She’s 7 months old now and because of all the A. I. crap that’s on the Internet and out of respect of my daughter I will not be sharing any photos of her on the internet. But we are sooooo happy to say we are proud grandparents of a beautiful granddaughter. 

Then Nutcracker at Lincoln Center.

Jon and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary two weeks ago and for the first time I finally got to see the Nutcracker. It was very beautiful and loved every second of it. Apparently there are two versions of the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and we saw the one with the little children which was George Balanchine's version. We hope to see the original adult version in 2026. Anyway, it was a crazy, beautiful snowy day in the city. Who knew we'd have snow the day of the show! We all had a grand time including Noah. Yes, he tagged along and we all saw the nutcracker together. But in all honesty, Noah is not really into the ballet, but he thought it was pretty cool nonetheless. Going to the city is always fun and it was a very low-key anniversary date...with our son. 

Waiting For Godot!

One of my birthday wishes was to see Keanu on Broadway and we did! We saw the legendary Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Waiting for Godot and it was interesting in many ways. I love that in many ways the writing behind it was referring to God and I loved that about this show. Keanu and Alex need to do more broadway shows. They were all brilliant and amazing in this and I recommend watching it before it closes next year in January! 

Merry Christmas!

 

Even with one kid in the house the Christmas magic still thrives. It thrives slightly different, but as a much older mom I do my best to make it special. I still hang stockings but instead of them being filled with candy and trinkets they literally just hang for decoration. See, not all my kids come home every Christmas. Once they get married, graduate from college and have real jobs, they come home less and less. However, I still manage to put up a tree and have a few gifts under the tree. They may not be material things, but they are little things that they can use. 

Oh Christmas Tree.

After going tree hunting for 15 years I did not buy a real tree this year. I don't know, I just wasn't into it. So we decided to buy an artificial one and I think it looks pretty good. We've had it up now for a while now and put on ornaments a few days ago. In spite of the feelings I have toward the holidays now that my mom is gone I somehow manage to keep the spirit alive for the sake of the kids, my sanity, and also because Christmas was my mom's favorite holiday. 

December is Here and Flying by Fast!

 

Second week of December and time is already flying. Took our traditional photo at the plaza earlier last month to beat the crowds and Noah continues get taller and towers me. It is such a bittersweet time knowing these moments are going to completely become obsolete once he leaves the nest. I have two more years with him and will take advantage of these moments every chance I get! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season without the hustle! 

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

 

Thanksgiving came late this year and even thought it was just the three of us this year we kept the tradition of going to the Macy's parade. We always have fun and although it didn't rain like it did last year it was pretty cold. We were bundled up and with being in my menopausal state didn't mind the cold. LOL. We had a fun time and enjoyed watching this year's "90's themed" parade. I swear millennials were behind organizing it! They had 90's bands as well as Gen X music such as "Only in my Dreams" by Debbie Gibson playing on a serta mattress float. It was crazy good and although we miss the performances in the beginning because we are watching the parade we can always see it on tv later. I captured a few photos but this year wanted to enjoy watching it instead of recording so I didn't record videos or do a reel but I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Now we kick in the Christmas season! 

Fall's Final Stretch In Central Park.

While Noah was at a scout camp Jon and I had the whole weekend to ourselves and we decided to spend time in the city. We are so so fortunate to live close by and that it's only an hour drive for us. We didn't get a chance to catch the fall foliage when it peaked earlier in the month or when my sister was here. Not enough time. I swear there is never enough time in the day to do all things one would want to do in NYC when they visit! So luckily we caught fall's final stretch inside the park and it was nice to see the last of the fall foliage. We also decided to capture moments of us (a little photo shoot if you will) and the beauty that Central Park brings....