Monday, September 30, 2013

Road Tripping.....Part I

This summer, Husband and I went on a couple road trips.  One was to the southern part of our beautiful province, first to the Valley and then across to the South Shore.

The best way to start a road trip, in my humble opinion, is with a little Michael Franti.


You also need your Lucky Road Tripping Mummy, of course.


Along the way, we stopped in the pretty little town of Windsor.


We grabbed a quick bite and then took a stroll, following our ears to a gazebo along the water where there was a bluegrass concert happening.


We listened for a while and then got back on the road.


One of the many cool things about the Valley and the South Shore, is the very old and very beautiful houses that are there.  The detailed woodwork on some of them is stunning and inspiring.  These three are in the tiny but beautiful town Husband grew up in, Bridgetown.




In fact, Bridgetown is host to many a beautiful sight.  The Annapolis River runs right through town.


And the sunsets over the mountain are nothing short of amazing.


Bridgetown is also home to one of Husband's and my favourite bookshops.  We go every time we're in town and we always leave with a heavy pile.  Just look how excited!


As all good things do, our visit eventually came to and end, but this time, we still had more adventures ahead!  Lunenburg, here we come!


Stay tuned, friends, for the gorgeousness that is the South Shore!

Till next time!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Xavier Rudd

Wow, so I'm finally getting around to trying to catch up on my blog posts.  We'll see how I do, considering I'm very behind, but here we go.

A while back - wow, way back on July 18th actually - Husband and I, along with our friends DW and B, had the great pleasure of seeing Xavier Rudd live at the Olympic Hall here in Halifax.  It was Husband and B's first time to see him, but my fourth and DW's second time.  I've been a huge, huge fan of his music for years now, and after seeing him for the first time at the Marquee Club, also here in Halifax, many years ago, I vowed to never let him come through this part of the world without going to see him.  That promise still stands.

Rudd is unlike any performer I've ever seen.  He's a true hippie, earth, animal and human rights activism, barefeet and dreadlocks and all.


He has this amazing vibe when he plays, sending out the very best energy, making everyone feel great, feel like dancing until your legs are sore.  While he plays and sings, you can often see him looking around at the audience, making eye contact and smiling his infectious smile.  He's just awesome.



I was super stoked that I got to bring Husband to a X show.  The first time I saw him, I went alone but made friends easily in such a crowd.  The second time, I brought DW, and the third time, brother D and I saw him play with his band Izintaba at the Evolve Festival near our hometown.  So it was awesome that husband got to see him this time!

Rudd is a multi-instrumentalist, so his stage is usually full of things to play.


He's usually by himself up there, but sometimes he's joined by a friend.


He also always makes his activism part of the show, often speaking out about protecting the earth and for Aboriginal rights.  He is clearly a person who cares about things very deeply, wears his heart on his sleeve and has a great connection to his spirituality.





If you can tear your eyes away from him on stage long enough to look around, you'll see so many different kinds of people, young, old, from preppies to hippies, at this show I think we counted seven very, very pregnant women, and everyone is dancing!  His music makes everyone happy.




Honestly, if you EVER get the chance to see him live, YOU HAVE TO GO!  He's amazing!  This is one of my favourite songs of his, Time To Smile, from his Kooyum Sun album.  Check him out:



Till next time, friends!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

She's Got a Ticket to Ride!

So a bit of a biking update.  It's been a month now since I got my bicycle and I've ridden it most days since then, with the exception of the week BF.....WAIT, he's not "BF" anymore.....with the exception of when Husband and I went away after our wedding (and yes, there will be posts about all that jazz too!).

I cycle to work each morning before 6am, which, as it turns out, is the best time to bike.  There's very little traffic and I can sometimes get half way to work without seeing a vehicle, which is awesome.  It gives me time to get used to the actually physical cycling part, get used to which gears are best to use when and so on.  The ride home is always at a busy traffic time, and so I have been getting used to that too.

It has gotten easier.  I still get nervous at times, when huge trucks and buses and the like roar by, but not as much as I used to.  I'm still not good at using the official hand signals, so mostly I kind of sidle of to the side until traffic is clear and I can just dash across, or even walk my bike across.  I'll get a handle on that eventually too, I hope.

Today was a great biking day here in Halifax, so Husband and I went to Quinpool to visit the Halifax Cycle Gallery for the first time - but not the last!  The guys at the shop were having a huge sale - 30% off bikes and 50% off accessories!  I've been needing a basket to carry my things in, so that was the reason for the visit, but when we got there, we realized there were all kinds of treats to be had.  Check it out:


So I got that great basket which snaps off so you can take it on your errands, which one of the gents at the shop put on right away. I also got a comfy new seat, which will make my ride sooooo much better, that super cute new helmet, which actually fits, a new bike lock that doesn't weigh five pounds (it's that pink thing in the basket) and a light for the back.  Whew, what a haul!  Husband got an awesome new helmet for himself too, with a light on the back for nighttime.

The guys at the shop were amazing too, which was such a relief.  They were super friendly and knowledgeable (the guy who put my seat on took one look at the old one and immediately knew exactly what bike it came off of originally - twenty-five years ago!) and helpful.  They put on the basket and seat for free, right then and there, without my even having to ask, and they knew everything we needed to know about everything in the shop.

Overall, it was a really great experience and I would so very highly recommend them if you need anything bike related!

The ride home was so much fun, with my new seat not hurting my butt as the old one did, and without a big purse slung around my shoulders, sliding around and weighing me down.  We stopped at a couple book sales and soon filled that new basket up with new reads too, haha.

Anyhoo, it's still bright and warm out there, so time to get back outside, maybe for another ride!  Hope you're enjoying your Saturday too!

Till next time!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The End, The Beginning, The Beginning, The End

It's all over - all the wedding stuff, our honeymoon, the summer, the weekend.  It's all happening - the start of our marriage, planning for the next big thing, the autumn, a fresh new week.  It's amazing how, when something big is going on in your life, time goes by at once at mach speed and sluggishly, and then when it happens and is over, things pause for a bit and then go back to normal.  The day after Christmas syndrome.

The last couple of weeks have been the craziest, most hectic, most awesome, happiest, most stressful, most love-filled weeks of our lives.  Last week we had a house filled with our favourite people, best friends and family from near and far, always around, helping out, celebrating, eating, drinking, talking, sitting around the fire, reminiscing, laughing....  It was amazing to have everyone there.

You're always aware of who you have in your life and what they mean to you, but events like this, a wedding, really knock it home to you.  Our friends and family gathered around us over the last while and made it so that our wedding day was the best day of our lives.  They traveled across our giant country to be with us.  They worked or attended school all day and then came over and worked at wedding preparations all evening.  They helped out in the kitchen all day to get our food ready.  They climbed atop rickity ladders to put lights around our tree trunks in the yard.  They made wedding cakes, batches of wine, films, planned parties.  They read Damn You Autocorrect aloud to a panicky bride as she got her make-up done and got down on their knees in their good clothes to put up a tent in the yard at the last minute.  They donated their time to take care of business on the day.  They rushed home from tour to play music for us.  They tidied up our crazy house.  They made us realize how damn lucky we are to have each and every one of them in our lives. 

Thank you to all of you, so very much for everything.  We can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate and love you all, and how frigging overwhelmingly lucky we feel to know you.  It's truly an honour to be able to call you our friends and family.


Till next time!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Eight

Eight is just a baby.


His real name is Elliot.  His older brother, Terrance, tricked him into thinking it was his job to stay behind and guard the fire hydrant, and now he's lost.  Don't worry though, his Mum will retrace her steps and get him back.

Till next time!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Buildings, Buildings.....Still Going

In April, I did an update post about the new library being built on the corner of Queen and Spring Garden Road here in Halifax.  This is what it looked like then:


And this is what it looks like now:


It's really coming along and looking super cool.  I still can't wait for the doors to open, what a great, exciting addition to our city!

In case you aren't familiar with what's being built, take this 3D virtual tour to see.


It's gonna be coooool!!

Till next time!