St. Patty's Day Parade!

These pictures are from a little while ago (2 weeks?) It took place on the sunday after st. patrick's day. Quebecers are crazy!

Break n'Such

Salut,

So I had a fantastic break, followed by a not so fantastic "stay in bed for a week because you're sick". Over break, I stayed in and lounged around, which was nice...in addition, I made some Cookies'n'cream Vegan cupcakes from the world famous "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" Recipe Book. They were So Delicious!

The Weekend before break was over, there was a HUGE 'festival of lights' called "Nuit Blanche" (or translated into All-Nighter in French). Nuit Blanche is a chance for all of montreal's artists to come out and show there work in an all night festival of madness! There were events all night long ( stayed up until 6am). I had a blast, but briefly after, I came down with a flu-like sickness that kept me in bed all last week. I am feel much better now, but I'm swamped in schoolwork for the next month!!!

Last night, a few friends and I went to the Ste. Emelie Skillshare. The skillshare is basically an art studio/work space where people can come and work on anything they want. or learn a new skill! Last night, they were having an event called "chosen family photos". We got to dress up in costumes that they had available and take pictures with friends for super cheap. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Not much else new is going on currently, but it looks like the weather is cheering up! I can't tell you how excited I am to go outside in just a sweatshirt and ride my bike to school. I just want to be able to hangout OUTDOORS for once. I'm getting very eager.

More news soon

-courtney

Spring? break.

Hello lovelies!

I am now officially on what I would call at home my "spring" break, but it's in winter. I am so happy to have a break from school...but there's a catch because I still have tons of schoolwork to do over the break! I really wanted to go down to new york (and maybe see uncle kevin and aunt anna) but I do not have the sufficient funds, nor have I expressed this to my relatives :) haha. It will be nice to relax for a little while. I think I am going to try and go to a few places/restos that I haven't been too.

This week I had 4 midterms! It was insanity. In celebration of finishing, I decided to make some delicious, vegan baked goods. I got a recipe from one of my favorite vegan books called, "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World". I made the Cookies'n'creme cupcakes....and let me tell you that they were a hit! I still have a few left that I definitely shouldn't eat. I'm sure I'll pawn them off on my friends :) I will post a picture of the cupcakes next time around.

Here are a few pictures from when Navid was visitng. That gross, sloppy looking plate of brown mass is what we like to call "poutine"...which is a traditional Québecois food. Fries with cheese curds and gravy on top (and other things if you're feeling like you can stomach it). The other girl is my friend Nicole, about to dive in to a 2:30am poutine.

There is another picture of me, studying child development in our coffee shop, java u.

The other picture is of Navid right before he dove into another famous Québecois food, smoked meat sandwich....from the famous "Swartz"

That's all I have for now. A bientot!

Pictures

Hey guys,

here are a few more pictures that I didn't get chance to upload! Some are from Quebec City and the others are from Lauren and Paul's visit.

Cheers,
Courtney

friends

Hey gang!

Thanks for waiting ever so patiently for my next blog update! I've been a very busy kid! So to pick up where I left off, here are a few pictures from when I had guests come to visit! While Pilar and Kristian were here, we went to a tea place in old port called "salon de thé" which had a traditional japanese tea drinking style. We each order different teas (as seen in the picture). We also got to go to an IMAX 3D movie about the ocean. It gave me a little bit of a headache, but it was worth it! We also went to the Basilica Notre Dame. It was beautiful inside! I don't have pictures of Paul and Lauren visiting right now, but I will upload those very soon!

Right now, Navid is visiting me. This past weekend, we got a chance to go up to Québec City to Winter Carnivale. We had a blast! Jenna came with us as well. There were so many things to do. I never thought I would be outside as often as I have been during this cold winter, but it has been so amazing. At the festival they had snow sculpture competitions, lumberjack acrobats, sledding, dogsled racing, an outdoor danceparty, ice slides, and everthing winter related that you could imagine. It was a perfect weekend get away. Québec City was GORGEOUS and I really hope to go there once more before my return (hopefully with Mom and Grandma!) I don't have enough room to post the Québec pictures today, but I will put them up in my next posting! homework awaits!

until next time,
courtney

Getting back into the Swing

Hello all!

School has started back up again and I am well overdue for an update.

I had pretty much all of December for holiday. Pilar and Kristian came and visited for 9 days and Lauren and Paul came to visit for 5 days. It was definitely nice to see them. I took them to all of the awesome places in Montréal. Hopefully they had a good time! Most of the things that we did involved food, but I don't think anyone complained! We got to go to Basilica Notre Dame. It was absolutely gorgeous inside. They had an organ with the biggest pipes ever seen in my life. It has been very white and snowy lately. Lots of wind and cold temperatures come with it.

I was definitely enjoying my time off. Hopefully I can get back into the school flow. I'm used to going back to school at the end of january so it feels weird starting so early in the year. Hopefully I can really focus this semester on school. I felt like I didn't do as well as I should have last semester.

Navid is coming at the end of this month. I am very very excited. We plan to go to Québec city for Winter Carnivale. It's a festival that celebrates winter. Dogs sled races, Ice sculpture competitions, Outdoor dance parties, and more! I think it will be a lot of fun.

Anyway, I've got to clean up the house before Ali gets home!! Pictures to come soon!

winter is a creeeeeepin'

The snow is here and so is the holiday cheer!....well, sort of. So it's been snowing quite a bit lately. There was about 1 1/2ft of snow a few days ago. Montréal is looking quite beautiful, christmas deco everywhere, but I can feel people's irritability from the cold. I've been staying inside a lot more lately, drinking tea and watching movies. I'm so happy to be done with this semester. Now, I am preparing for my visitors! I'm still trying to brainstorm on what we will do when they are here, but i'm sure I will come up with something.

Because It is getting into winter and it's holiday season, I am a bit homesick. I feel like it will be a good experience for me, regardless, but I get a bit sad when I think about everyone getting together and watching A Claymation Christmas with the California Raisons. I also miss sitting in front of the fireplace and watching movies with everyone. I'm sure I'll get to webcam with everyone on christmas day, which would be cool. At least I get to see their faces!

Ali is leaving in a few days and won't be back until the 6th of january. I'm gonna have the place to myself! I'm sure it will be a very quiet apartment while she is gone. maybe i'll host a movie night!

I've been making a LOT of winter soups lately. There's just something really awesome about hot soup in the winter. mmm. My friends and I plan on having a winter picnic soon. We are going to go over to mount royal, go sledding and then have a picnic at the bottom with some hot soup and perhaps some hot cocoa/cider/coffee. It's mind boggling how when it first started getting cold here, I was freezing my butt off (I think it was about freezing (32 degrees) ) but now it's a lot colder and when we get those special days when the temp gets back up to 32 its awesome. So if any of you are visiting during the winter, you're gonna need to bundle up!

Hopefully In my next update I can add some more pictures (perhaps from sledding?)

more to come!