We're on our way!

Early morning flight, stop over in Dallas and we're in our way... So excited to finally be going!

Yep. That is ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE {we're both wearing small backpacks in this pic}. We're travelling carry on only - and I'm stressed already that I've brought waay too much stuff! It's going to be an adventure.


Ps. We're having a debate on the value of upgrading to first/business class. I vote it's worth about $100/hour of flight time. {So a 2hr flight is worth it of its a $200 upgrade.} Buuuut... I haven't quite shifted my mindset to someone with no job! What do you think??

Van Sold, Party Had

Hey Friends!

Holy crap - countdown is almost done! 4 days until departure for us...crazy. All of our last-minute stuff is almost done, except packing of course. We sold our van (Yeay, another $1000!), so now we officially own nothing that doesn't fit into a backpack. (Or a small storage locker)

We went out with some friends to celebrate our going away, had some beer at a German pub called WURST. If you're in Calgary, it's a great place - the basement is a Beer Hall. I already love beer, now I love halls. They play games like 'Stein-Holden' where you have to hold a one litre mug of beer out in front of you. Last one standing wins beer...

We both lost. Also this happens every weekend:

It's been a surprisingly emotional week saying all of our goodbyes. I guess we've been so excited, and a touch anxious about the details of our adventures, that we haven't really thought about saying our farewells.... So, while everyone we talk to asks us if we are going to miss the people at home we never really thought about the fact that they might miss us. Quite unsettling.

But, the world is small and technology is fast and amazing. Everyone has our skype/facetime/email/facebook/twitter/blog information to contact anytime. Now it's up to us to try to stay in touch as well.

Countdown is on, we're nursing some mild hangovers today and spending all of our time with family and friends...

D&J

Road Trip: Portland

Hey Friends! We're back with more of our Pacific NW Road trip.... and it's Portland Time! We added Portland to the trip because we heard (a) The Beer is Good and (b) It's like Seattle, but weirder. I'm here to tell you... both are true!

Where we stayed: 

AirBnB! This was our first experience staying with an airbnb host... and it was great. It was cheap ($50/night) and close to Hawthorne (trendy area filled with food and shops). The house was weird, but I figured we were just getting in the spirit. Also, our awesome hosts gave us some great food recommendations...

What we ate:

What didn't we eat? Ha... I'm going to YOLO my way to obesity while travelling. Anyways, we mostly just ate to justify all of the beer we were drinking.

Full Sail Brewery ~ We sold our house here!! This was the first of many brewery tours, and gave us a great reason for celebration.... Juliano votes LTD5, Dana loves the Amber. Yum.

Hair of the Dog Brewery ~ Another awesome microbrewery, with 5 extra points for the name. Juliano's favourite by far. Also... two the plates of JUST MEAT that we ate for lunch were beyond delicious...



Awesome Oddities
I know that everyone says the Portland is weird, and Portlandia rings true... well my friends: They are right. Portland is a crazy, awesome, hilarious place to be. Somewhere in amongst the face tattoos and the organic street food - we fell in love. 

Here's some awesome moments courtesy of Juliano's camera addiction!

Road Trip: The Drive

Hey Bloggy Friends,

{I hope all my Canadian Blog Friends had a great long weekend!}

Remember that time I said we were going on a road trip? And then I told you we sold our house while on a road trip? Except I never really told you anything ABOUT the road trip? Yup, it's because I'm a crappy blogger. As it turns out, keeping a travel blog about preparing to travel comes a lot easier to me than a blogging about actually traveling. Strange.

Anyways...We did it. We went on a road trip! The first leg of our journey was from Calgary down to Sandpoint, ID for one night. It was a gorgeous drive through the foothills and into Rocky Mountains. Turns out I might not hate road trips as much as I was expecting to... {so cynical, Dana}. Here are some fun facts about our trip:

3350 Km driven

6 Face tattoos spotted

5 Nights in AirBnB homes

3 Nights with friends

2 Professional sports games attended

1 Sorta hitchhiker

Waaay too much beer sampled...

On the way there...

USA border security confiscated a bag of oranges we had in the car. Sad, because I was hungry later. The cheap motel we rolled into late that night was 50s themed. It was hilariously amazing.

On the way home...

TMI: I'm a horrible road trip partner because I probably have to stop for a pee every 2 hours or so. On the way home, while enjoying the gorgeous drive down the Coquihalla Highway, I forced Juliano to pull over at a rest stop for a 'break'. While slowing down to pull over - we passed a speed trap {moral of that story: my tiny bladder saved us a massive ticket!}. At the rest stop, a teenaged guy approached us and this happened:

Guy: Umm... excuse me? Are you guys by any chance driving to Calgary?

Me: Yep. Why? Is that your car over there getting towed?

Guy: Yeah, well... technically it's my mom's car getting towed. I was driving my girlfriend home to Kelowna.

Me: Ah ha ha.... that sucks. Hey - did you know that today is Mother's day?

Guy: Really? Shit. I don't have any cell reception here.

Me: You should call her.

Guy: Yeah, I know. Can I please get a ride with you? I can pay for gas or whatever.

Me: ha ha ha...I don't need your gas money. But I feel like this will be hilarious, so hop on in!

And that is how we picked up a sorta-hitch-hiker in BC and brought him all the way home. Turns out getting your mom's car towed on Mother's day is not really appreciated by your family - his dad was pissed. It was hilarious. Also he was quite polite and friendly {Canadians...} and complimented my taste in music {which made me feel young and trendy} - overall success on our part.

Some random notes about road tripping...

- I know the words to A LOT of songs. What a waste of brain space, I should be fluent in Portuguese by now.

- Trains are cool, bridges are awesome. Train bridges = super awesome

- Road side {and river-side!} picnics are the best

- I don't know anything about geography. Seriously, I'm lost about 90% of the time.

- Farmers Markets are cool in every city. And the food is always the best there.

- There is no chance in hell that I'll ever be able to translate USD-per-Gallon to Canadian-Cents-per-Liter for gas comparisons. You literally need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. I give up. But still:

Most expensive gas: 1.47/Liter in Vancouver, BC

Cheapest gas: 3.71/Gallon in Sandpoint, ID

- Cheap motels always have free breakfast and wifi. Fancy hotels make you pay for both. Why?


I know this post was a bit scattered, but I'll be back with more about Portland, Seattle, Vancouver and Kelowna soon!

Cheers!

OMG. WE BOOKED A DATE.

Holy Shit Friends. We've done it. We Booked a DATE.

Pause.  Rewind.  Review.

It was almost a year ago (Nov 2011) that we first had the discussion. We talked and talked and decided that maybe this Calgary life wasn't exactly what we were looking for right now. Maybe, we should take this double-income-no-kids moment in our life as an opportunity for something crazy instead of a stepping stone to the next inevitable 'phase' in life. We asked each other what our goals were if we were to give up the fairly awesome and successful existence that we had earned ourselves... these were our answers:

Dana: Adventure. I want to travel and see the world. 

Juliano: I want to be financial independent, debt free and ahead of the game. 

Those goals are not usually compatible. But we got some inspiration together, and we threw around a few ideas that might work. The Big Idea came up, and both of us thought "noo... that's crazy!". But soon, 'no...that's crazy' starts to turn into... 'what if...'  which turns into 'could we really?'

Friends, let me tell you - What Ifs can take over your life. Literally. What if we made money while we were traveling? What if we could travel indefinitely? Eventually... What Ifs turn into Could We Really?s. Could we really sell our house? Could we really move away from family? Could we really quit our jobs?

We just started answering YES to every question. YES, we could make money and travel at the same time. YES we could sell our house. YES we could move away. YES is a very powerful word, so it seems.

We began to secretly put a plan into place to move us closer to this goal. We saved money, and sold our stuff. We didn't buy or receive any Christmas gifts that year. We only told a few people about our 'crazy' plan.... and then we listed the house. And sold more stuff. And moved. And saved. And waited.

What started out as a silly idea between two people turned into and HUGE project that we felt was taking all of our time and effort. Now that we're close to the finish line, this plan has taken on momentum of it's own and is snowballing ahead of us, dragging us along for the adventure of lifetime.

We're excited, anxious, busy with so many details and a touch overwhelmed. But we really wanted to solidify the plan and make it a 'Real Thing' in our minds. So we bought our plane tickets! Yep.

We are now the proud (VERY PROUD!) owners of two one way tickets from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to the yachting capital of North America - Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. We leave...

September 22, 2012

Holy Shit. It's less than seven weeks away. We're moving this weekend to live in a condo with some friends, and we'll stay there until we leave. I still have to give notice at my work, decide on a packing list (yikes!), register for some courses, book a place to stay, organize our finances here (will share that with you!), finish a million detail of our lives here and about eleventy-million other things.

Let's get this party started!

Cheers, D & J

Who Travels with you??

There’s so many ways and combination of groups that people travel in – how do you travel??

Where we went: Work travel only! I’ve never extended a work trip, or really tried to enjoy the city I’m working in. Work travel is rare for both of us{yearly?}I'm not the expert, but I'd like to explore my independent solo-traveling side a bit more!

Just the two of us! This is my favorite way to travel! Juliano is a great travel partner, he never gets lost and picks great places to eat. I find the best stuff to do, and am way better at bartering.

Where we went: Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, Seattle, Montreal, lots more!

Pros: Sharing a bed saves money, less compromise on what to do, being together

Cons: Not meeting many new people, being with your spouse 24hrs a day can make you crazy, hard to get pictures together.

 Couples travel! This is really fun if you go with a couple who has similar interests as you and you get along. Bonus points for being able to split up into guys/gals… hello shopping and spas!

Where we went: Las Vegas, Baby!

Pros: Sharing bottles of wine means you get to taste more, shopping and spas (as above), great ideas/suggestions from another perspective

Cons: What if the other couple is horrible?? Or wants to eat MacDonald’s EVERY day? Are they swingers? You should know this.

Ahh… the most ‘local’ way to travel – and you get to visit your family! Staying with family is (a) almost free and (b) fun in the short term. Depending on your family – this arrangement has a serious expiry date, stay within it and all is fresh… even a day over and you’ve got sour milk.

Where we went: Ottawa, Brazil

Pros: Free food, free lodging, free showers, free local guide, free car to use, seeing your family!, living like a ‘local’

Cons: Do NOT overstay your welcome, family can be crazy, sometime you never get to leave the house because it’s like herding cats {I mean that in a very loving way}

This differs for Family Travel, because everyone is traveling! This was our first year traveling with family – and we went the ‘holiday’ route.  Highly recommended. Most families have a variety of people that like different things…. And that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want most days. Picking dinner plans should not be a HUGE fiasco.

Where we went: Cozumel, Mexico

Pros: family bonding time, vacation, mom probably pays for stuff

Cons: these photos will be on your mom’s wall forever – don’t get a bad haircut, family can be crazy

Pretty much vacation + friends + wedding = super-fun-drunky times. You get to meet people on the fringes of your social circle, and go on a holiday with a bunch of other people that you like! And a wedding – it’s a party within a party!

Where we went:  Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, Seattle/Oak Harbor, WA

Pros: lots of drinking buddies, vacation, wedding events, usually nice locations

Cons: no choice of time/location for your holiday, maybe you have a black heart and don’t like weddings, family will be there – family can be crazy {other people's families included}

Pretty much destination wedding times a zillion, minus the tuxedos and grandparents. This is the spring-break style travel with lots of pictures and slightly less memories. It’s all about group dynamics… so good luck with that. I recommend lots of extra food, extra booze, easy bathroom access and no couples with drama.

Where we went: Houseboating on the Shushwap Lakes, BC

Pros: so much party, lots of fun people to meet/hang out with, probably very little responsibility

Cons: holy crap – can all these people co-exist? Who had to organize this??

Soo..That's how we've traveled in the past! Our future travel includes road trip travel, staying with strangers, living on a boat... and who knows what! How about work-stay or study travel?  Let me know what your favorite travel group/style is!

Roadtrip! Pacific Northwest

Happy Holidays Friends! I hope the bunny sends you some tasty candy eggs :)

Anyways - after our oh-so enlightening 'live on your own terms' revelation this week, we decided we STILL want to travel, and if we can't do it BIG... we'll do it small{ish}.

 So, we're going on a Road Trip!! Juliano has been pestering me to do a road trip forever. He thinks they're awesome... I'm skeptical to say the least. Being stuck in a car for hours and hours just doesn't sound like fun. But, in the spirit of:

- trying new things

- traveling on the cheap

- visiting friends all over

- flexible schedules...

I've given in. We're doing the PACIFIC NORTHWEST LOOP {It's not a real thing, I just named it that} and it looks like this:




Calgary - Home

Kelowna - Friends Just had a baby {hi Felix!}

Vancouver - Juliano's never been!! He's been to the Maritimes and back, but never West.

Oak Harbor - More visiting Friends {aka. free place to sleep, what up Burkeys!}

Seattle - LOVE LOVE LOVE this city. Pike Place, coffee everywhere, gelato, chocolate, etc. Anything here that you think we just CAN'T MISS?

Portland! - I'm so excited! This is our first time visiting Portland and I've heard so many great things. We've got a couple of brewery tours on our 'to-do' list, voodoo donut eating, but we need more! Also, we'll be spending our 4th Anniversary here so one swanky dinner is on the list. Help us ~ any suggestions??

Vancouver-Kelowna/Kamploops-Home - We'll see how long we stay in Portland vs. our drive home {2 days or 3??}. I'll need to get some books on tape or something...


We'll keep you posted of all of our springtime {aka rainy} adventures on the road - probably going to be going the second week of May. Also, in the spirit of adjusting ourselves to a more 'communal' living situation {good thing about our suburbs life.. SO. MUCH. Privacy.} we'll be staying with friends, or AirBNB homes.

What would you do on a Pacific NW road trip for a week??

Living on Our Own Terms

 Whats Up Bloggy Friends,

Sorry I disappeared on such a cranky-old-lady note!  I put on a grump face and couldn't shake it off... It got us to thinking and talking, and we've been guilty of one thing that we think has been sabotaging our success...

we keep living for tomorrow

How many cliche 'live in the moment' posters/quotes/inspirational cards have you seen?? A million?? MORE? Because we're so excited, and so motivated to 'move forward' with our plan, and to sell sell sell, move move move, we have been compromising our own decision-making skills for the benefit of getting to tomorrow faster.

How?? We accepted a conditional offer on the house that was lower than our financial base. Not by much, but it was more compromise than we were willing to make. We put a deposit down on a storage locker that we don't need yet. We keep hurtling ourselves forward without a thought or a care to the consequences, as long as it feels like we're moving forward.

We had to step back and realize that we are not leaving the life we have as refugees, but rather as emigrants looking for a new life. 

We still have our jobs, and we can afford to keep the house for as long as it takes to sell - on our terms. This entire BIG IDEA has been built around living our lives on OUR TERMS and not following the path laid out for us... and we have to start applying that decision making philosophy to our everyday, and our choices.

Here's to living live on our own terms 

~ big and small ~

Vlog: Banff & Lake Louise

  

We told you back here about buying our video camera,  so here's some of the first results - enjoy!

Have you ever been to the Alberta Rockies? Do you snowboard or ski?

Why do you love it?

We're Divers now! Cozumel Mexico

Hello bloggy friends! Sorry for the absence, we are actually back from Mexico and alive! We’re trying to catch up on everything all at once – and as usual, it’s crazy. Anyways… about Mexico!

As I mentioned before, this trip was quite ‘sponsored’ by Dana’s family… so we got all swanky with our travels and indulged in some of the luxuries of all-inclusive vacations. {thanks mom!} Aka – food. And Drinks. And Food while drinking.

Lin-Sanity: Focus & Go Crazy!

Have you been watching the awesome classic underdog story of Jeremy Lin? He's a nerdy Harvard grad, exactly the same size as Juliano, taking the NBA by storm. He was undrafted, sleeping on his brother's couch and waiting for his chance to step up. And he did. He hit 109 points in first 4 starts (games as a starting player) best all times in NBA (Better than Michael Jordan - Lebron James). People love him!

Juliano: He made the Knicks win -That's the most impressive since the Knicks suck!

Haven't hear? Check him out here or here or here.

You don't need to be a basketball fan to love this - we all go through our lives talking about being the best we can be - but few of us actually Prepare, Stay Focused and Go Crazy with the things we want to accomplish.  Best part of this guy? He's smiling and clearly enjoying every second of it. 

Things learned from Lin-sanity:
Always be prepared - Do you daily work and prepare yourself so when your opportunity comes up - take advantage of it!
Stay Focused - Study hard so you are mentally focus on your task
Go Crazy - Be confident and believe you can achieve anything and once your time is up -  Explode

Lin was a sidelines guy - with the skills and drive to be the best. Sometimes you have to wait for your opportunity - but when it comes along, you'd better be ready.

Until then? I'm buying the T-shirt:

Top Photo Credit

Stop Being Complacent!

 
House Update: We dropped the list price by $7000 in an attempt to speed up the process.

Honest Moment: I've been feeling really complacent lately.


With no offers on the house and not much going on adventure-wise - it's been easy to lose sight of our goal a bit and get comfortable with our lives here again... it's a trap I don't want to get stuck in. So, to combat this: I want to move forward with things we need to do anyways! I know the house isn't sold, but packing up might send out some good intentions to ol' universe...

I got all of our boxes from a nearby wine store... we didn't drink all that booze. Unfortunately.

Cheers!

Money Update - Saving 101

Hey Friends. I hope you've been enjoying seeing us spend all of our money lately. What's that you say? Spend it on what? How about macbooks, video cameras, scuba lessons, sports games, trips to Banff, snowboarding, and more. We've already told you where we make our money, and our long term plans for our money, but how do we SAVE our money??

This part is simple, but not easy. Necessary, but not fun. Also, You've already seen my love of Starbucks here - so this is not just 'latte factor' tips. Because for me - lattes are a must have. Sorry BUDGET, you lose!

Tip #1: Know about the money you HAVE.
I think I've mentioned how much I love Mint.com. It's the best! I think money should be EASY and LESS COMPLICATED than it usually is, and Mint does that. It automatically syncs with your bank accounts, and all your smart-devices to keep you updated. Guys - It texts me when I spend too much on gas.

Tip #2: Learn About Money.
Ever notice that if you 'window-shop' enough you'll have a house full of stuff? Yep, what you soak in is often what you end up with. Visit money websites to help you keep up to date on the financial products available to you - and to get lots of great tips and advice. Here's some of my favorites, easy to read websites:
~ Get Rich Slowly
~ I will Teach You to be Rich : Amit is hilarious, and super smart. Follow him on twitter too.
~ LifeHacker:Money : Loads of tips+tricks to help you save money everyday.

Tip #3: Have Goals
Saving just for the point of saving is boooring and hard to stick to. Have some goals or rewards to help you move forward! We are saving to help us with our new adventure, and to have a stable retirement in the future. We are also working towards being debt-free. And trust - when we're there, a well deserved bottle of wine will be consumed.

Tip #4: Budget + Automate.
The future is here peeps - and that is automated banking. First, Budget your money. Start with the total amount you make, and fit in all of the expenses you have. That's the basics. Now look - is SAVING in there? No? Put it in. Make sure that you are budgeting for less than you make, and that you are including some frivolous spending. Starbucks is going to happen - don't let it screw up your entire budget. Here's more on that.

Next: Automate! Set up automatic transfers according to your budget. Your bank will auto-transfer that amount into your savings account or RSP on a regular interval (monthly/weekly). It's like you're saving money in your sleep! Here's more on that.

Tip #5: Review It - Business of Life Meetings.

Once you create and automate your budget with a friendly software, don't forget about it! Make monthly or bi-montly meetings with yourself or whomever you share your money with.

Your financial life (single or married) is a business. Having 'Business of Life' meetings together keeps us on the same page, and helps us track our goals and spending together. A quick monthly review of our budget keeps us on the same page - and keeps communication open.

We treat it professionally - sit down at the table, no distractions at a set time. One hour is usually enough to get everything done. It's a HUGE lifesaver for both our marriage, and for our financial life. We'll let you know how this continues as we begin our travels and our financial needs change and adjust to our surroundings.

Go Save your millions!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Day of love....and lattes? Yep. Is this a day of cheese and superficial materialism? Yep, that too. Buuut... despite knowing that - a little part of my lady-heart loves it. Okay, a big part. Not for the gifts (we're not big gift-givers) but for the cheese!! Romance and glitter! ha ha...

This valentine's day I want a cupcake from Crave bakery, a glass of wine, a season of Friday Night Lights and quiet evening in with Juliano! 

We have been together for 9 years. Four years ago we jumped into the crazy adventure of being married, and now we have another amazing adventure planned together... Can't wait! 

I hope you all have lots of love today, wherever it comes from!

xoxo,

D & J

SPLURGE! Macbook Air

They finally arrived! Our little 11" twin babies! We're so excited, it's like Christmas day around here... Here's the scoop:

We had some problems that needed to be fixed:

• Our laptop was almost 5 years old, and dying a slow dinosaur death.
• We needed to be able to communicate to each other & home easily and simply
• I want to continue keeping up this blog - photo saving/editing/organizing required
• Juliano wants to create movies using his video camera - video editing required
• I wanted to promote synergy with music, communication, email/Internet use, photos & videos
• We needed laptops that fit in tiny spaces, and were light & portable

Solution: 11" MacBook Air for each of us! Yep, two of these sweet ladies are now part of our family. We bought them refurbished, so we saved some $$ while still getting awesome computers.

We're hoping that we will be able to:

• Communicate with each other and our home through facetime or skype
• Organize and share our pictures - update: we still have to use flikr to share them
• Create fun movies using Juliano's camera or even iPhone videos
• Share one iTunes account to enjoy music
• Communicate re: budgeting and money through Mint
• Loads more fun stuff and work stuff that want/need to do

Communication is a huge deal for us on this adventure - both to connect with our family and friends at home, and to stay in contact with each other as quickly and easily as possible. There may come a time when we're not in the same place at the same time - and we want to be prepared for that...

For now - We play around and Enjoy!

Update: Stupid Updates! I just deleted my entire itunes catalog while updating my iPhone to iOSX, in order to integrate with iCloud. Damn you technology. Damn you. Going to the Apple store today to see if I can fix it.

Update Update: Those guys at the Mac store fix everything. High Five!

Princess Bride Wine?!

"Mawage, that bwessed awangement. That dweam within a dweam!"

I used to work in a wedding invitation store and I swear that someone once used that in an invitation. Coolest people ever. Now two of my favorite things: the movie Princess Bride and wine drinking. What happens when someone decides to combine two already awesome things??? Princess Bride Wine. An explosion of awesome: As You Wish Chard! Inconceivable Cab!

I've never wanted to live in Texas more - The Princess Bride Quote-Along & Feast!! I want to go SO BAD!

Oh, Westley.

Cut the Bullshit

We try to strive everyday to cut the drama and bullshit out of our lives. I think there are 3 categories all of the people and events in our lives can fit into:

1. Bullshit - these are things that drag you down, or use up your energy in negative ways.

• Other People that are emotionally draining to you. These people can be friends or family, but they cause you more grief than good. They continually stir up problems for you.
• Outside Situations these are often necessary, and harder to control. Horrible commutes, filing insurance claims, getting speeding tickets. These activities just add to your stress load.
• Yourself. Yep, this is usually the hardest to accept - but sometimes YOU are the eye of your own hurricane creating the drama around you. Own up to it.

2. Average - these are 'bullshit neutral'. You do them because they are part of your day, but they don't add any enjoyment to it, or take any away. For many, your job falls here, or doing dishes or eating.

3. Awesome - These things make you HAPPIER. They are people that inspire you and lift you up, surroundings that you enjoy, activities that move you. Fun times and unicorns.


Most people have too much Average. Everything is mundane, and life rarely changes. This is usually fine.

LOTS of people have too much bullshit. When you continue to be surrounded by bullshit situations, dramatic people and reflect that in your own actions... you end up with this:

The elusive 'majority of awesome' isn't free or easy. It takes work to cut out the things you don't want in order to get a good balance, and a happier life.

We strive hard to keep the bullshit quotient in our lives low. We identify and minimize our interactions with the people/situations that cause us drama and headaches.We fill our time with positive activities that move us toward our identified goals.

Cheers to goals, charts and awesome things!

Banff & Lake Louise Tourists

Even though we're in the mountains at least a couple of times a month, we rarely go as 'tourists' and see the fun stuff! We were happy to have my wonderful sister-in-law from Ottawa come to town with a friend who'd never been here... I always love seeing people experiencing the mountains for the first time.The super swanky Chateau Lake Louise has outdoor skating, ice castles and winter magic aplenty. Banff Springs Hotel is also amazing [we even got to stumble on a winter wedding!]

In Banff we got to try traditional Bannock, eat loads of candy and relax in the hot springs [if you go, please rent a 'heritage suit' and wear it - you'll make my day].

Happy Winter Tourists! Also, we got to finish the weekend off with a basketball game, huge dinner [16 people!] at my house with family. I love it. I'll miss being close to my extended family when we're away.

Holiday!!

If we took a holiday - Took some time to celebrate - Just one day out of life
It would be, it would be so nice -  Holiday! Celebrate!

Ha! That's going to be stuck in your head all day... Too bad though, because we're going on....
 a Holiday! To Mexico! Arriba!

It is -35 degrees Celsius today. I'm frozen, and I take the train to work in the morning! Brrr....

But lucky for us - We have something to look forward too! I know that it seems crazy for us to go on a holiday in the middle of planning such an adventure - and it is. We have the best deal ever though... My parents are going on a trip through their work, and with a sprinkle of magic and a dash of air miles - we're crashing the second half of their holiday!
UPDATE: My brother's coming too! It's a family party!

We're going to Puerto Morelos, Mexico - about halfway between Cancun and Playa de Carmen. Here:

It's all sunshine, beaches, good food and open bars..countdown is on! We're staying at the super-swanky Now Sapphire Riviera Cancun. We'll tell you all about it when we get back!

 

Ps. I thing there's a big divide to be made between traveling and vacationing. I'll post more about that later.