Back to blogging

Somehow the summer has slipped away and it's been two months since we've blogged. Lots has gone on since then - I've started my job with JDRF, ran a 5k race, we took a vacation to Amsterdam, visited family in Bristol and hosted an unending stream of visitors. Instead of a long blog post I'll just post some pictures of the highlights from the past few months.

Now that I'm setteld into the new job, blogging should return to it's (semi) regularly scheduled programming. There should be lots to blog about as we're finally buying furniture and decorating our flat, planning some mini-breaks in the next couple of months and hosting more visitors from Canada. We've also been busy exploring London and I have a few blog posts saved up about must see and do things in the city!

Thank you to everyone who donated, offered words of encouragement and cheered me on at the race. I ran the Adidas Women's 5k Challenge in 39 minutes and raised £110 in support of Mind.

Call me crazy but I'm thinking I might sign up for a 10k later this fall and a half marathon in the spring!

Whizzing by James at the 4k mark



Damien Hirst's 'Charity Girl' in Bristol

James, Rachel and Maxine on the Gorilla Trail in Bristol



Manchester comes to London - Matthew and I at the Serpentine Gallery



Canada comes to London - Mariangela, James and I

James, Val and Scott at the market in Amsterdam



James and I in Amsterdam

 

Lunch with the parentals in Covent Garden







Help me help Mind

I've decided to give myself a challenge and signed up for the Adidas Women's 5k race this September.
I ran my first 5k last year in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and decided it was time to have another go at a race...and this year I actually plan to train for the event!

In order to participate, you are encouraged to fundraise in support of a charity and I have chosen to fundraise in aid of Mind. Mind is a mental health charity here in the UK that advocates for good mental health and provides vital services for people who experience mental distress. I had the opportunity to work for them for a short period of time - they do great work and are worthy of support!
You can sponsor me online at: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SarahTessier - no donation is too big or too small!

To learn more about Mind and the work that they do and how the funds I raise will help make a difference, check out this short video: http://www.mind.org.uk/thisismind or visit their website at www.mind.org.uk.
Thanks for your support!
Sarah

Happy....birthday???

This past week-end James and I celebrated our anniversaries...seven years of being best friends and two years as co-pilots in global explorations...or husband and wife.

We celebrated by treating ourselves to dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian. As Food Network obsessives we were giddy about finally getting to check out one of his restaurants and it did not dissapoint! We toasted the occasion with a few glasses of prosecco and dug into breaded cheese stuffed courgette flowers, cheese stuffed risotto balls, pasta carbonara, truffle risotto and a scrumptious chocolate brownie for dessert. Perfection!

While James was at work yesterday, I decided to get to work in the kitchen and surprise him by recreating our wedding cake. I baked up a small vanilla cake with lemon curd and raspberry filling and decorated it the way our cake was. I also presented him with a card in which I wrote lovely things and a bottle of prosecco to toast - all lovely gestures that I think are deserving of some sort of wife of the year award.

Exhibit A - Wife of the year handy work

James surprised me with this.........

Exhibit B - Proof that James might want to work on his literacy skills

Apparently he also surprised himself because he swears that when he bought it at the store it read 'I Love You' so he was a bit confused when he got home and went to sign it and especially embarrassed when he went to give it to me.

Happy birthday to the next year of our relationship and here's hoping it's just as great as the last seven have been!

London as a Local - El Camion

One word - Nachos!

Our love for mexican food has been well documented in this blog. One of my favorite things to do in Toronto was head down Kensington market on a week-end and hit up any of the Mexican restaurants in the market. Whether it was Big Fat Burrito or one of the food counters in the back of the grocery stores or buying all the ingredients and making our own ultimate supreme best ever nachos at home, I was in my happy place. So when we discovered that one of the 1# rated restaurants on Portobello Road is a mexican joint, I was giddy. James had the chance to check it out when I was back in Canada and hadn't been able to stop talking about their nachos and burritos. A few week-ends ago we headed there with our friends Michelle and Sean to try it out.

OH...MY...GOD!

A thing of beauty

They aren't  your standard tex mex nachos with the shredded lettuce, tomates, ground beef, etc. These are more like a nacho lasagna.

They are smothered in the most delicious queso and then topped with every type of dip you could want - guacamole, salsa verde, sour cream, red pepper salsa and black beans. Kudos for getting the queso all over the chips - the worst is ending up at the end of the plate of nachos with a whole bunch of dry chips and nothing left to dip them in.
We rounded off the meal with our favorite Portugese custard tarts....more on these later.

Hi ho, hi ho it's off to work I go...

temporarily anyway....
After nearly 8 months of freelancing from the comfort of my sofa I'm officially heading back to the 9 to 5 grind.

I've just landed a temp position with a charity here in the city and I start tomorrow with them for three and half weeks. As fun as working in my pyjamas has been, I'm really looking forward to being in an office again and being around people during the day.

As I get ready to jump back into the workforce. I've been reflecting on my mini sabbatical and what I've done with the time. Aside from getting us settled into the life in the UK I have taken up a new hobby with knitting and gotten pretty darn good at it, read loads of books, done loads of sight seeing around England, started to learn German, brushed up on my piano playing skills, and just generally enjoyed the chance to take a little break.

The search continues on for a permanent job, but the temp position will be a great opportunity to get some UK experience, which is currently lacking on my resume and something that employers seem to be looking for.

Fingers crossed that it goes well!

The whirlwind month of May

This might be a long one since I haven't done a proper post in awhile besides my last post celebrating the fact that I got my Visa. While I was home in Canada I kept myself busy while I was waiting for that precious piece of paper. Despite it being a longer than expected trip it was a great chance to spend alot of great quality time with family and friends that I wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to do.

I spent a good bulk of my time in St Catharines with my family and catching up with friends in the city. I headed to Toronto for part of my stay for slumber parties with my girl-friends and early morning getting ready for work dance parties -thanks Leah and Michelle for hosting me in Toronto!

While in Toronto I also made sure to pack in lots of my favorite things. Real Thailand for my favorite meal - Kand Ped Nuer, coconut rice and thai iced tea, Quesada for a chicken burrito, a beautiful yoga class at Kula yoga studio, dinner at the Red Room and an Orange Julius.

From Toronto I headed onwards to spend a week in Ottawa with my bestie waiting for her sweet baby girl to arrive. We used every old wives tale in the book to will her to come out...she decided to wait until the day I arrived back in the UK to bless us with her presence. I'm so happy she's finally here and can't wait to meet her and snuggle her in person in the fall...until then staring at her on Skype will have to do.

James joined me in Canada towards the end of the month where we met up in Kingston to spend time with his family and have an early celebration for the birthday boy with delicious gluten free brownies from

The Silly Yak.

We organized a lightning round catch up with friends on our favorite roof top patio, The Pilot in Toronto. Thanks to everyone who came out to catch this limited run engagement - it was so great to see you all!

We rounded off our trip celebrating Bryce and Mallory and their beautiful wedding on Toronto Island and then partying the night away to at C'est What - congrats you two and kudos for throwing an awesome party!

Cheers to weddings and cupcakes!

Adding some British Flair to the wedding festivities with a fascinator

Not really happy about this whole wedding party business

Now that I've been back in London for a week, life has resumed it's normal schedule I've hit the ground running looking for a job in the UK. I've registered with all of the charity recruitement agencies here and have started submitting my application for things. Fingers crossed I get something soon!

We've also been busy collecting furniture for our lovely little abode. We trolled Portobello market this week-end and found ourselves a lovely coffee table and added to that a couch that we found online and a wardrobe from IKEA. Slowly but surely it's starting to be a comfortable cozy home. Soon it will be all ready for all of the guests that have already made their reservation at Hotel Dixier. Bookings are now being taken into the fall so if you plan on visiting, which we hope you do...book your spot soon to avoid dissapointement!

Best email EVER!

I opened my email this afternoon and found the following message:

'Your visa has been issued. Please allow a minimum of 3 days for Priority or DHL to deliver your documents and before tracking your package with Canada Post or DHL. WorldBridge will contact you directly if you chose to pick up your documents in Toronto.'

All I can say is what a sigh of relief! Partially because it means I get to fly back with James to the UK at the end of the month and more importantly (sorry James) because it means I won't miss the Take That/Robbie Williams concert!!!!!

Can't wait to see them perform this live!