Better late than never!

Hey everyone,

At long last, a blog update! In some ways the time seems to have flown by, although when I look back through my pictures it seems a lot has happened since February. Many of these events have been chronicled on Facebook already, which is partially why I've been so slow to update here. But now I have months and months to catch up on, so let's get right to it, shall we?

At the end of February, David and I drove with our friends Meg, Mikaela, and Alison to New Hampshire. Alison's family offered to put us up in their home for a few days, so that we could take advantage of the nearby ski slopes.





We explored the frozen woods and a nearby lake, plus spent two days skiing at local resorts. Some of us were more advanced than others, but we all managed! We had a great time, and on the way back we visited the Cabot Cheese Factory. Remembering back to a time when there was snow is fairly disconcerting, but we had a ton of fun and I didn't want to skip it in the blog! For more pictures of our ski trip, click here:

2010-02 Ski Trip

In March, our good friend Tyler made the trip up to Montreal from Orlando to come visit us. It was so great to have him here! He arrived just in time to make it to the Muse concert, which started only a few hours after his flight arrived in Montreal. The show was fantastic, and we all got t-shirts. Although he was only in town for a few days, and unfortunately we were each sick during one part or another of his visit, we tried to make the most out of the time we had.



We toured the old port together, which was interesting given that it was still so cold out and much of the water was still frozen. Another evening we went out with a group of friends for some beers and a few games of pool. We were so glad Tyler was able to come see us, and we hope to return the favor in the near future!

2010-03 Tyler's Visit

In May, I worked as an assistant photographer at my first wedding. So far I have shot three, but the season will really pick up in the next month or so! I am really enjoying it, and definitely learning a lot. And now more than ever, I appreciate how much work mom and dad do at these weddings!!

Toward the end of May, David and I left Callie with our landlords and headed down to Jacksonville, Florida, where we met up with Andrew, Annalise, Hazel, and Derek. We had such a fun week with the family! It was great to recharge our batteries a bit, and the weather was perfect for several days of exploring the beach and the city. And it's always fun to see brothers (and family in general) reunited!

2010-05 Jacksonville Visit

We were really grateful to have the opportunity to head to sunny Florida for a few days, and it was nice to have a little break from the ordinary. Since we don't get to see Andrew and Annalise all too often, this was an especially rewarding trip!

June was a pretty busy month for us. One of our friends here in Montreal finished up her program at McGill, so we all had a goodbye party for her. It was nice having such a big group of us together before she left!



A few days later, we got nearly the same group together for David's birthday. I got them all to assemble at one of David's favorite local restaurants, and then brought him in for a surprise birthday dinner! Afterward we went to Meg's for a little bubbly. (:



David got a pretty good haul for his birthday...



June 25th was our fourth wedding anniversary, and we celebrated with a picnic in Park Lafontaine. The weather was perfect and the park is really beautiful this time of year. We brought a ton of fruit, cheese, and sandwiches, plus little Callie of course. She had a great time too! It was just a really nice day. And that night, we had our traditional sub sandwiches in honor of the late-night subs we had for dinner on our wedding night! It wasn't Jimmy John's, but it was yummy as always!

2010-06

One of David's birthday gifts that came a little late was a small remote controlled helicopter. Some friends of ours found a copter supplier online a while back, and this thing is more fun than you can imagine! I ordered one for David, but since it shipped from Hong Kong it took until nearly July to arrive. But it was worth the wait! Callie isn't so sure about it, but seriously, this thing is great! (Incidentally we also got one of these for dad's combined birthday/father's day gift, and it seems to have gone over pretty well!)





On July 1st, David and I took a couple of buses to Niagara Falls, Ontario, where we met up with mom and dad. We spent all day Friday and part of Saturday exploring first the Canadian side and then a bit of the American side. The Horseshoe (or Canadian) Falls were truly stunning, and we had an incredible day on Friday doing almost every tour we could fit in! We saw the rapids, took a ride on the Maid of the Mist (just... wow), went "Behind the Falls," and even experienced "Niagara's Fury"! We were constantly getting drenched, but the weather was perfect for it and we had such a great time!

2010-07 Niagara Falls

After the falls, mom and dad drove us all back to Montreal, where they stayed with us for a few more days. Unfortunately the city was hit by a freak heat wave, but we tried to stay cool however possible! We ended up getting an A/C unit, which has just made all the difference! (Thanks mom and dad!) We also went out for a few nice dinners, saw Toy Story 3, and of course watched a few World Cup games. It's been nearly two years since my parents were able to come visit, and we loved having them here with us!

For now, things have gone more or less back to normal. I am still working with the photo studio, and have recently started assisting with some fashion photography, as well as the product photography and retouching work that I started with. Graduate school is getting closer and closer, and although I haven't yet spoken to the studio about it, at the moment the plan is to start classes in early September. Meanwhile, David is busy as ever with coursework, research, and preparations for a conference next month. We are also looking forward to a visit from Derek and Hazel, who should arrive at the end of July! We are lucky that we've been able to see so many of our friends and family this year already, and although we miss you all, we are having a great time up here!

At last - an update!

I know it's already February (!!) but I feel that I should backtrack and discuss Christmas. Christmas was great! We planned carefully this year and managed to spend more than two weeks back home in Arkansas, and it made such a difference. In 2008 we had around half that much time, and it just wasn't enough! This year felt a little more manageable, and we had a wonderful visit with friends and family. As always there are tons of pictures, and you can find them here!

The day after our arrival was Derek's birthday. We had a nice walk around the lake with the dogs and took a few portraits, as well as a break to swing for a bit. (:



Then we had cake and presents, and ended up at La Hacienda for dinner. I hope Derek enjoyed it as much as we did - I know David and I were starved for some decent Mexican cuisine!

The next day, David and I went with my parents down to south-central Arkansas, to visit my Mamaw for her 90th birthday. It was really nice, and gave me a chance to see some family members who I haven't seen in at least a year, some much longer. Plus lunch was good ol' southern fare - a buffet of fried catfish, fried corn nuggets, fried everything! All Mamaw's favorites, and definitely not the kind of meal we can pick up in Montreal.



Andrew, Annalise, Chris and Laura joined us at Hazel and Derek's house shortly thereafter. There were lots of games played (including poker and Star Trek Scene It), as well as a trip to Lokomotion Family Fun Park. When we got there it was all but deserted, but the staff seemed more or less happy enough to set us up with go karts, mini golf and arcade games. The weather was gorgeous and it was a really fun afternoon!



We also visited Taste of Thai for dinner one night, followed by our traditional walk around the square to admire the (always beautiful) lights. Other activities during the week included David and his brothers playing frisbee golf, the ladies going out for shopping, and Derek and Chris repairing the ailing fish pond. We had a lot of fun opening stockings on Christmas Eve, and of course exchanging presents on Christmas day. Dinner that night featured Christmas crackers full of little toys and golden crowns - very regal!





On the morning of the 26th we headed over for Christmas at the Gieringer house, where Darby and Stephen joined us. Callie also met Dex, mom and dad's exuberant (and large) puppy, for the first time, and by the end of the week Callie had really put him in his place! But for the most part they got along just fine.



The family opened presents and had a really nice boxing day dinner together. Darby was still a little uncomfortable because of her foot surgery, but she looked cute anyway.



We also realized how much fun the Wii can be, and had a ton of fun playing the sports games. Turns out most of us are pretty darn good at Wii golf! (Although personally, I particularly enjoyed the archery.)



One night David and I walked through campus, and finally found our names on Senior Walk. I can't believe it took this long to go find them, but it was cool once we did. Especially since there wasn't too much ice on top of our names, and we were actually able to read them! (And if you're wondering, yes, Cara Gieringer is my cousin. Way to go, Cara!)





We also got to see some of our friends a couple of times while we were home, and it was really great to catch up. As always we would have loved to see them more! I also was lucky enough to get to photograph Courtney, Amos, and their two children Maddie and Jude in mom and dad's studio one afternoon. Those pictures are already up on facebook and flickr, if you want to see more of their beautiful family.





Our last evening at home was New Year's Eve, and we celebrated it with mom, dad, Darby and Stephen. Mostly we played Wii, and then raised our glasses at 12:00 to bring in the new year!



We left Arkansas on the morning of the 1st and came back to Montreal. Thankfully this year we had zero travel problems, and the trip went very smoothly. We were sad to leave, but so happy that we were able to have an extended visit.

Since we got back, things have been an odd mixture of busy and slow. January seemed to be the month of birthdays, so each weekend we had a celebration to attend. One weekend we went bowling downtown (under blacklight) in a trendy club, another weekend we went to see the opera Tosca, and still another weekend was a pancake dinner followed by a visit to an electronic music festival called Igloofest! It was cold and crowded, but very cool.



Other than the birthdays, the month was fairly slow for me. I tried to find projects to do around the apartment, including making a set of stairs for Callie to get on and off the bed with. I used some old shelves we had sitting around, and actually had a lot of fun planning and then building the stairs. And Callie seems to like them!



David has been very busy with work and school, but it seems to be paying off for him well. Recently a research project he is involved with was featured on a Quebec TV show! In that particular experiment, the lab was studying the effect of different musical styles on the physiology of listeners. It's actually an experiment that I participated in once, too, but I guess that was a different session than the one that was videotaped for this show! Stephen McAdams, who you'll see in the video, is David's advisor. Unfortunately the video is in French, but if you watch it you'll see David attaching electrodes to participants in the audience. :) Fun stuff! (Also, you really only need to watch about the first 1/3 of the video - the rest of it is just the talk show! But if your [Quebecois] French is pretty solid, then by all means feel free to enjoy it.)

See the video here!

In other news, I have finally gotten a job! A local photo studio has hired me to work as a studio photographer and assistant, and also as a 2nd shooter for wedding photography in the summer. On top of that, I will probably also end up taking on some administrative and managerial responsibilities within the near future. I got the phone call today and I will start on Wednesday. I am super excited, and SO glad that I held out, stayed (more or less) patient, and didn't give in and get another clerical job! This place seems like it could be a great fit for me, and I can't wait to get started.

Overall David and I are doing great, although the winter itself is as cold and gray as last year. Brr! Thankfully we have exciting prospects on the horizon, and that always helps to get us through the snow. The miles and miles of snow... (;