A Sad Time

A lot has been going on here and while Mr. Milk and I are doing well, the island is in a bit of chaos.

Last week, several containers of ammunition – part of a stockpile of 98 containers confiscated in 2009 from an Iranian ship heading for Syria – exploded at the navy base near a coastal town. Thirteen men were killed including twin brothers who were helping their commander and six firemen put out a fire that was threatening the containers. The naval base was destroyed, and the brand new power station right next door – responsible for delivering over 50% of Cyprus's electrical power – was so badly damaged that it will have to be rebuilt and this will take months. Nearby houses and villages were extensively damaged and sixty-two people were injured, one remains critical.

Despite numerous reports from the Base Commander and other senior officers stating that the containers were deteriorating and that urgent action needed to be taken, nothing was done. And a brush fire, so common during these hot summer days, triggered a catastrophe. Due to the integrity of the base commander, who ordered hundreds of conscripts packed into trucks and evacuated rather than sending them out to fight the fire, the early hour of the morning, leading to a nearly empty motorway rather than one packed with commuters, and that it was not a weekend, packed with people at the beach and local fish taverns, this tragedy is still not as bad as it could have been.

Everyone here is angry. This being such a small country, most people somehow know someone who was affected by this. Even if you weren't directly affected, the wipe out of the new power station means that the entire island is being rationed electricity because the two remaining power stations are old and cannot keep up. We have our electricity cut one to two times a day, for 2hour time periods each time. Some areas have cuts more frequently. For us this is just an inconvenience. These are the hottest months of the year, with temperatures easily reaching well over 100F, and obviously the power cuts occur at times where air-conditioning is most in demand. Business are also affected as the power cuts are unpredictable and half way through their day they are rendered useless, as so much of what we do is dependent on electricity. Not to mention what this is doing to the economy, which up until this point was doing relatively ok all things considered. For the families that lost loved ones or have had people injured, the power cuts are a reminder of what took place a week ago, and the stupidity of the people who placed these 98 containers right next to the biggest power station and the naval base, and left them unprotected in the smoldering heat for 3 years!

Every night there are protests at the presidential palace asking for the president and his ministers to resign. For the most part these are happening peacefully, but every now and again some asshole ruins it for the rest by throwing stones at police or setting trash cans on fire.

Here are some pictures of the area before the accident:

And after the accident...

The area marked with the white square is where most of the damage is. The charcoal colored mark in the left half of the square is where the containers were and now is a 160 foot deep crater. 

For the meantime we are trying to stay cool without using airconditioning and are waiting it out to see what happens. Luckily we are going on vacation soon and will be out of this heat and in a place with electricity! 

Thank You Nadal

Why, might you ask, am I thanking Rafael Nadal? Well, because of this...

Steak Diane

King prawns and crab

Rib eye with twice baked potato and spinach

So the hubs, my sister, and I all had a bet on who was going to win the French Open final, Nadal or Federer. Mr. Milk went out on a limb and bet for Federer while my sister and I played it safe and went for Nadal. The bet? The loser prepares dinner. But this was too much work for Mr. Milk, so he decided that if he lost, he would take us out. Taking advantage of his vulnerable position, we opted for a classy steak house! Initially we were joking about the location, but since Mr. Milk is a bigger steak fan than my sister and I put together (yes she had prawns and crab!) he started to enjoy the fact that he was losing! So after a little debate on how we should just go somewhere more casual and cheaper, we ended up here...

Columbia Steak House

Very nice restaurant and very, very good food! Even my sister who didn't initially want steak ended up finishing off mine! We toasted Nadal over and over :)

Remnants of dessert! Key lime pie and chocolate volcano!

We had intended of getting before pictures too, but once they came we all dived in! Needless to say we debated getting dessert initially and some of us played hard to get (Mr. Milk!)!

Trying To Go Meatless

In an attempt to be more informed consumers and more conscious about the things that come into our home, Mr. Milk and I have decided to limit our meat/poultry consumption to at most twice a week, including weekends. I've always tried to buy locally grown produce (and with the sun out 80% of the year, we really have no excuse not to have local produce!) but we haven't always paid as much attention to the meat/poultry that we buy. So I've committed to buy only free range eggs, and I'm always looking for free range chicken, which isn't as readily available. Luckily we aren't big meat eaters, and living on island gives us the opportunity to have fresh fish more than average, but even this requires more effort, meaning going to the fish market instead of buying it conveniently from the grocery store. 

So this meat-only-twice-a-week business is trickier than what I thought it would be! It's not always easy to find alternatives and it's sooo easy to to turn to sweets and carbs when you want a snack! A well stocked fridge and pantry are in order if we are to avoid snacking on choc-chip cookies and having pasta for dinner every night! And like any habit changing attempt, it's easy to forget and go about your business as usual. For example, the other day I went out to grab a sandwich for lunch while doing a grocery run. Even though I filled the cart up with fruits, vegetables, legumes, and beans, I just as easily picked up a chicken avocado sandwich! Not until I had taken the first bite had I realized what I'd done. While telling Mr. Milk this later in the day, he quite arrogantly pointed out that even though he had the option of putting chicken on his salad at lunch, he hadn't. Only to later realize that he had added ham to make it a "more balanced meal!" :)

So needless to say we both need to work on this before it becomes second nature, but in the meantime, I am discovering new dishes to make that will satisfy us and help us not miss chicken and meat! 

Like this pizza! With roasted eggplant, onions, pesto, and ricotta cheese :) Of course if you ladies have any favorite veggie recipes, please feel free to share! We can use all the help we can get! 

Need Your Advice

Hi ladies (and guys if there are any of you reading this)! I wanted to interrupt the wedding recaps to ask for your advice on a wedding/etiquette related matter. Mr. Milk and I were recently talking about this issue, and although we don't have to make a decision immediately, I thought it would be interesting to get your input. So here goes...

We have been invited to a wedding of a first cousin of mine that will be taking place in June. While the couple and their families (i.e. my aunt and uncle) live abroad, they are having the wedding here, since the majority of the extended family lives here.

These family members were invited to our wedding. Between our invitation being sent out and the actual wedding date, my cousin got engaged. So I made sure that they knew that her new fiance (I had no idea she was in a relationship at all) was also invited to the wedding, even tough his name wasn't on the original invitation. I need to mention that we are not close. I haven't seen them in years and years, and we have always lived in different countries. Only my aunt came to our wedding. We heard nothing from either of my two cousins, even though we had phone and email contact written on our invitation. 

We have four weddings to go to between May and Sept of this year, all of close friends and family that attended our wedding also. My cousin is holding her wedding in a remote location where hotel accommodation is extremely expensive, and driving back home after a long night is not really ideal.

So here comes our dilemma. Should we attend this wedding? Yes it's family but to be honest, I personally feel no obligation to be there. When we take a step back and look at all the expenses of the four weddings we are already going to attend (one is in the UK), its a heck of a lot of money! And for people that made zero effort when it came to our wedding (I mean even just an email, forget paying to come out here for it) I'm leaning towards a no. The catch is that it is first line family, and our absence will be noticeable since mostly everyone else (I think) will be there.

What are your thoughts? What would you do?

I've Missed You

Hello lovelies! I have missed you so! I have no internet in the new apartment and it is driving both Mr. Milk and I a little bit crazy! Unfortunately we won't be getting it anytime soon either! Since it is a new building, with 4 privately owned units, they have yet to connect the phone/cable company to the building, and our request is the first one. Everything shuts down here in August, so we are looking at September to be reconnected. I'm really not sure how Mr. Milk will survive this - most likely he will be searching for someones unprotected wifi connection :)

How are you all?! I have tried to read and comment as much as I can, but between moving, unpacking, multiple trips to IKEA, final wedding tasks, and the lack of a computer/internet, there isn't much time left. There are a few updates to report, so I will briefly mention them here and then elaborate more as soon as I have more time.

• I have decided to keep my blog public. While I would still prefer it to be more private, I think doing so would make it more difficult for all my great readers and followers, and thats the last thing I want. Decision made!
• We have decided on favors and are in the middle of ordering everything for them. All I can say at the moment is that they involve chocolate!!
• Moving into our new home is going well. The apartment is starting to look and feel homey but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. We got most of our furniture delivered and all of our appliances, and I spent 2 days setting up the kitchen. It is almost ready for our first meal :)
• Mr. Milk set up his bbq within 2 days of us moving in, and so now has a new baby. He is very proud

• We have planned and booked my bachelorette weekend/party. It is taking place from the 3rd to 5th of Sept at a villa with private pool at the resort where the wedding is taking place! Can't wait!
• Mr. Milk has also planned his bachelor party and is the same weekend as mine, which I think is very convenient. He is going to Budapest!
• People have started RSVPing and we are excited that many also want to stay at the resort.
• I have turned into bridezilla lately and am trying to keep her under control! When too many people get involved it drives me a little crazy!
• I bought my garter set and gifts for my bridesmaids. Will show you soon. 
• Flowers are still in the works and although I am not loving the lady who is in charge of weddings there, I am trying to work with her. 
• There may be some good news brewing for me on the job front, but its too soon to tell just yet. Fingers crossed.

So whats going on with all of you? How are the wedding plans coming along? Congrats to all of you who got married while I was away from blogland!

Updates

Sorry to have been MIA on you guys. There isn't really any particular good reason for this. I think we are just adjusting and getting sucked into everyday life. Mr. Milk is getting along well in his new job. He's realizing how much learning there is to do in a new job, especially one that involves a bit of a career change. I have total faith that he will overcome all these mental hurdles very soon, just as he typically does. I think the fact that we are apart again and don't have our own space is also adding to the stress. But we are making do with frequent visits. We've spent every weekend together so far, and have even gotten a few mid-week visits in. I've also had the flu the last 4 days. I don't remember the last time I felt this bad! Luckily though I am feeling better today, and even have a bit of an appetite!

Anyway, we are finalizing the contracts on the apartment I showed you in the previous post. Some of you thought it might be by the beach and all I have to say to that is "I WISH!!" :) There was so much sand around because its a new neighborhood without many buildings next to it but some construction nearby. I was able to get the interior pics from Mr. Milk, so here they are

The kitchen (it's open plan with dining and living room)

The living room (I have my back to the kitchen when taking the pic)

Dining room (as you can see there is still work going on). The smallish balcony will quite comfortably host Mr. Milk's brand new bbq!

This is the balcony from the 2nd bedroom. It's larger than it looks from this picture. We are planning on using this room as a spare bedroom/office and using this balcony more than the one next to the dining room. 

For some reason, neither of us thought it was important to take a picture of the master bedroom! Go figure. Oh well, you get an idea of what the apartment looks like. I went to a furniture store with my mom the other day to have a first look. I have to say, it was a lot of fun! There are so many options out there and I can't wait to go with Mr. Milk  and pick some things out. 

On the wedding front, there is no news. There is a list of things we need to do (that couldn't be done from Canada) and I am planning on starting on those within the next week. There are just over 3 months left until the wedding, so its definitely turning into crunch time :)

Airport Drama - Part II

In my previous post, I started to describe our airport drama. Here's what happened next...

I grab my wallet and go on a crazy hunt for a luggage store as Mr. Milk and the lady try to sort things out.

I asked the first person I ran into if they knew if and where there was a luggage store. Sure they said. Downstairs. So we run downstairs (me and one of our friends) only to find the luggage conveyor belts. We look to the left and see a luggage storAGE place. Obviously I needed to be clearer. So we run back upstairs and go into the international terminal. We look around but nothing. We ask someone else, they tell us we passed it on the left. We were clearly looking and would have pounced on the darned store if we had seen it! We start to walk back and finally see an information booth with a lady who knew what she was talking about.  All along the store was right next to us in the domestic terminal! We get to the only luggage store in the whole damn airport and start looking for a suitcase like crazy people. Lifting them up, looking at size and price. I can hear our friend yelling prices out, all ridiculously pricey. I think we found the only suitcase in the store that was less than $100! The salesperson clips off the tag and our friend runs it over to the counter while I pay.

It then became a mad rush of unlocking all the suitcases and unpacking enough items from each to balance out. Mr. Milk was thankfully still allowed 32kg, which we would have to pay $225 for. We were already paying an extra $50 for my second one at only 23 kg. But there was noting else to do. Our friend placed each suitcase on the scale and took out enough items to pass over to me to place in the new suitcase. We came out at exactly the maximum weight for each piece! I can't even explain to you how grateful I was at the time. While I would love to break that damn scale over Mr. Milk's head, I will refrain from doing so, and instead track down the manufacturer and write a very very pissed off letter of complaint! In my fantasy world, they give us back the $225 for the extra weight and $85 for the new suitcase! We knew we had extra weight and that's why we shipped 3 other items a few days before with air freight! If the scale had been accurate, we would have just sent more items that day since it was so much more cheaper than doing it this way. Oh well. What's done is done...

source

But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that i had a suspicion that our bags were too heavy. I've flown enough to have a sense of what 23kg feels like. While I'm no body builder by any means, I can typically lift a 23kg suitcase with one arm with mild - moderate difficulty. I needed both hands to lift these up and that was with considerable effort! I should have said something. We'd sold our regular scale, so I'm not sure what we would have done, but worst case scenario, we would have bought one and returned it. Better safe than sorry right... But alls well that ends well.

We also realized that we had less than an hour to make our connection in calgary. As if this wasn't stressful enough, we were told that it was snowing in Calgary! It's almost June for crying out loud! If there were any kind of delays we would miss our connection for sure. Luckily everything went smoothly after this and not only did we make our connection, but we made it home safe and sound, with all our gazillion pieces of luggage!

Airport Drama - Part I

There is so much to tell you all about the day of our departure that I'm not even sure where to start...

We had our alarm set for 6.30am on Saturday morning. Mr. Milk woke up without the need for an alarm several minutes before it went off. I'm actually surprised he slept at all. By the time he got out of the shower, I too was awake but still lying on our airbed. He came over, said good morning and started to tear up. My heart broke for him. He started to tell me about the memory he'd just had of when he'd first arrived in Canada. He was in a similar situation, lying on an airbed in a place that had very little, and he was eager to get started. He recalled the smells and sounds. The same was happening now, only this time it was goodbye. We cuddled for a bit, both with tears streaming down our face...

We got up, got ready, packed the few things that remained, toiletries, pj's, packed up our bedding, and waited for two friends to come pick us up. We wanted to get an early start even thought our first flight was a domestic one and we definitely needed two cars to fit our things. It was raining outside. Not atypical of Vancouver and quite fitting I think. I remember taking our luggage downstairs to be stuffed in the cars and just taking a moment to look around. People walking their dogs, staff in the supermarket downstairs getting ready to open, the shops and restaurants around that were still closed, and thinking, this is it. We are actually doing this. I felt a little panicky at the thought to be honest.

I tried to take in the short ride to the airport. Looking at the houses, the greenery, the rain. Mr. Milk was in the other car. It was a quiet ride on my end.

We got to the airport and went to check in at the business class counter. Mr. Milk's constant traveling has earned him the perk. And thank god!!! We have never needed it more than we did then! We had been weighing our luggage as we packed, trying to ensure that we were within the allowed weight. We used a piece of crap nifty little tool that Mr. Milk had brought home not too long ago that looked similar to this

source

Pretty harmless looking right?

Oh no! That piece of junk had it all wrong!! We put the first suitcase on the scale and the damn thing reads 34.8kg!! I can't be bothered to do the conversion, so let's just say we were only allowed 23kg! So the lady kindly informs us that we need to remove 2kg from this bag and place it in another one.  Obviously the math doesn't add up here. That's because Mr. Milk is actually allowed 3 pieces at 32kg. So I think, ok... We got one wrong. Still have room to play with. That was until he put the next suitcase on the scale. And the next. And the next. And the next! All 5 bags weighed around 32 - 35kg! I felt the pit of my stomach drop. How could a scale be so wrong! It wasn't like we could move a few things around and be ok. We had another suitcase worth of stuff!!

Stay tuned for what happened next...

Whats On The Schedule For Today?

Although Mr. Milk is still technically working, he will be leaving early from work today to come pick me up so we can get some more necessary chores done. He'll be borrowing the truck from work to help us out.

source

We need to load and deliver our couch to a friend of Mr. Milk's. We might also have a buyer for the kitchen table who will need it delivered. While it is a bit of a hassle to be doing the delivering, we are thankful that they got sold!

We have 3 boxes that we will need to ship by airfreight. That includes our invitations. While I am still a little hesitant about this, we have no choice, so I am letting it go and hoping for the best. As you might recall from my previous airline rant, passengers are now only allowed one piece of checked luggage for transatlantic flights. Luckily, we just found out that Mr. Milk's elite status transfers to our Lufthansa flight so he is actually allowed 3 pieces. This makes things so much easier as we only have to pay $50 for one extra piece of checked luggage, bringing the total to 5 suitcases. I was able to squeeze my dress into a carry-on bag, so that will work out too. Anyway, we need to take our 3 boxes to the freight company and get that shipped off. It takes about 5 days, so not bad at all.

Then we have 2 large boxes of household items which we will be donating to Gather and Give, an agency I found online which donates the items to low income families and those in need. We then head to our local food bank to donate some non-perishable food we have left over in our cupboards. 

A friend is coming over later in the evening to pick up our bed. Luckily we have an aerobed we can sleep on on Thursday and Friday nights. We'll then leave that with a friend, as well as the bed sheets and such, for him to donate. 

Anytime left in between will be spent cleaning and packing the rest of our stuff. Hopefully by tomorrow night, most things will be done, giving us some time to chill out on Friday and maybe even enjoy our last day in Vancouver. Our flight is at 8am (PST) Saturday morning, when the dreaded long flight back home begins. 

I will hopefully get a chance to post something tomorrow before I say farewell to you ladies from this part of the world. But rest assured I will back as soon as possible, even just for quick updates.

Thanks for following along on this non-wedding related journey! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well in the next few days :)

4 Months!

Yup thats right! We are down to the 4 month mark already! I don't know where the time has gone! The last month or so has been consumed with the move and getting everything sorted out for that, that there has been no wedding progress. Not that there's a problem with that. I feel we are on a good path. The only thing that I wish I had finished was the invitations for the reception. But I will get my mum and sister to help assemble those, which will also make it more fun. What do we still have let to do? Well...

- Get a videographer. Hopefully this won't be too difficult
- Decide on favors and purchase them. Also favors for kiddies
- Talk to our florist about the flowers, centerpieces, boutonnieres, decor, 
- Get venue lighting sorted out
- Find people for hair and make-up
- Seating chart and name tags as it gets closer to the date
- Send out rest of wedding invitations. A lot will be hand delivered too.
- Wedding cake
- Get a garter
- Gifts for groomsmen
- Book a HONEYMOON!
- Welcome baskets for our guests
- Transportation for OOT guests to wedding if they need it. 
- Decide on a guest book
- Get a marriage license
- Decide on TTD/Location shoot for the next day. 

source 

Thats the gist of it. Once we get settled in I'll get back to work on this and try to get as much done as possible over the summer. Plus I need to get a tan! And look for a job! I anticipate a lot of interesting times ahead...

News From the Chocolate Milk House

I have beef with the airlines. Can someone please explain to me why airlines think it is logical to only allow you one bag for transatlantic flights?! Don't we pay enough for tickets as it is? We will have a minimum of 5 suitcases by the looks of things! I'm looking around and kicking myself for not shipping more stuff! There is a box that is just wedding invitations! I was nervous shipping them in the container, but now we are looking at shipping them by TNT or UPS or something. Dumb cause now we need to spend more money doing this, when it wouldn't have cost all that much to add to our initial shipment. Oh well. We are learning the hard way.

We still have a bunch of stuff to sell, namely the bed and the kitchen table. These are the last 2 large items left and then we can rest a little easier. We have a ton of photo frames, plants, a couple of phones, fans, and so on, but these things can be given away for free or donated. We've decided to donate our towels, quilts, and bed sheets to the RSPCA. I'm sure they can use all those things for the animals. I also found a charity that will give household items to families in need, so we'll be giving them all our kitchen items, cups, plates, cutlery, pots and so on. 

Luckily Monday is a public holiday here in Canada (Victoria Day) so Mr. Milk will be home, giving us 3 days to get a lot done. I've found that its hard to pack his stuff. I'm not sure what he will need cause he is still working and needs work clothes, he has a ton of shoes, some of which he may be donating, or what he wants to wear on the plane. It was so much easier when I was moving from San Fran and it was just my stuff. 

So I've decided that today I will watch trashy tv, read your lovely blogs, go to the gym, do mindless chores, and take on the bigger stuff come Saturday. Also, I picked up my dress yesterday afternoon! Initially I was kind of blah when I went into the store to get it, but when I saw it all steamed and looking lovely it put a smile on my face.  I will (hopefully) take some pics of it to show you gals. 

Hope you all have super weekends!

Crazy Weekend

This weekend we had an open house in an attempt to start to sell our stuff. It was a huge success, but left us exhausted. Poor Mr. Milk has to be at work today for a board meeting too. All that is left to sell is the bed, kitchen table and chairs, a swivel chair, and coffee table. The rest is just small things, like frames, plants, phones, that we can give away if they don't sell. We had people coming from 11am till about 6.30pm. The apartment looks so different, so bare. Sigh. I don't think either of us will be wanted to spend too much time in here over the next couple of weeks. 


Ironically, we invited a friend over for a bbq to celebrate his birthday, and the first thing that sold was the bbq! Smart huh!? Luckily our building has one in the communal garden that we were able to use. We'll keep posting until everything is gone. We have two more weeks so hopefully we'll be able to sell what's left.


On a brighter note, the bridesmaid's dresses arrived and I picked them up Friday evening! They look great! I love all the colors. I'll take some pics and post them soon for you all to see. 


Hope you all had good weekends!

A Technology Free Weekend

This weekend Mr. Milk and I decided to try to put our technology addiction aside, and see what it would be like to live without these things for a couple of days.

No cell phones

No computers

No internet

So that also meant no facebook, messenger, twitter, and all the other countless apps and ways every single person in your life can reach you! It was great!

We woke up, grabbed some bagels for breakfast, went to the bank to get some chores out of the way, donated some clothes and shoes to charity, went for a pretty drive, and grabbed some burritos for lunch. We just hung out, chatted, laughed, window shopped, and had some real alone time. Sunday consisted of some grocery shopping, assembling invitations (pics are on Mr. Milk's camera so will get those ASAP), having some pizza, and watching TV. I think we both needed and enjoyed the detox. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Have you tried being sans technology for a bit? How did it go?

Exhausted!!

We spent the entire weekend packing! We are exhausted! We have 24 boxes and 4 suitcases full of our crap stuff!! The irony is, since we aren't taking any furniture, the place doesn't look any different! Oh well...

This is exactly how I feel!

Next Saturday we are getting up at 8am and taking all our boxes to the freight forwarding company. We don't leave till the end of May, but we figured we should give our stuff a head start as it can take 40-60 days to get there. Poor Mr. Milk has been on the go for the last 2 weeks and there's not letting up either. Hopefully next Sunday we can have a super lazy day! This week I will continue to assemble invitations, and maybe show you a sneak peak :)

In the meantime, don't forget to enter my giveaway! TWO lucky winners can win a pair of these gorgeous rollable flats in the color of their choice! You have until the end of today PST!

Pottery Making Class

Mr. Milk and I were given a gift certificate for a pottery making class at Christmas. We'd been postponing it as neither of us was overly excited about it. Ok, maybe I was less excited than he was, but its not like he was doing somersaults!

So since our time in Vancouver is dwindling down, we thought we might as well go get this over and done with try this. We were the only ones there with the instructor, and I think we both had more fun than we thought we would! Here's some proof.

Mr. Milk making a bowl

Getting there

Look at that!

Me attempting to make a bowl

Shaping up nicely. Its so much harder than it looks. 

The end result!

Now the bowls need to dry, be put in the oven, and we get to go back in a week or so to paint and glaze them! Thats the part I am looking forward to. We made some other trinkets but they are kind of crap not worth showing!

Have you guys been up to anything you don't usually do? Or been surprised by an activity you thought wouldn't be that interesting?

Just Stopping By...

...To say a quick hello to you ladies! 

Sorry to have been MIA on you again, but as most of you know this is a super busy time for us. Our best man is in town until Saturday and we were on a trip to Portland over the long Easter weekend. I have been reading along and staying up to date on your blogs but just not commenting very much. 

I did want to quickly share with you that I checked one more thing of our to-do list! My wedding band! And it looks something like this...

source: Google Images

I am so excited to wear it! I love all the bling! 

Hope everything is going well for you ladies and I will be back to normal posting by this coming week.

Our Trip To East Coast Canada

So as usual I am late with our trip recaps! It was nice to spend 10 days straight with Mr. Milk and Monday felt kinda lonely! Lame I know. Anyhoo, here are some pics from our trip. Since we are total foodies, most of our pics revolve around that! :) (click on pics to enlarge)

So this is milk in Ontario. It comes in plastic BAGS! I about lost it when I saw this! Never seen this before! Anywhere! Most people have one of those pitchers that you place the carton BAG of milk, snip the corner, and pour in your coffee, cereal, whatever. I think its more environmentally friendly so kudos to them! 

We went to this amazing chocolate store Soma Chocolatemaker in the beautiful Distillery District in Toronto. Well no need to say that this Chocolate Lover felt like she had died and gone to chocolate heaven! We got spicy hot chocolate, almond caramel clister, dark chocolate truffle with aged balsamic vinegar (doesn't sound so great but tastes de-lish!), an espresso truffle, and dark chocolate with caramel and fleur de sel! Yum-O!

The Montreal Biodome was a fun place and great experience for any animal lover like myself. Look at that little monkey in the middle there! So cute! And those in the bottom right corner are King Penguins (a la March of the Penguins). They are huge!

We went to the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal and it is ridiculously stunning! I think its one of the most beautiful churches I have seen!

So this is Mr. Milk and I being pigs! We couldn't just order those yummy chocolate drinks at Juliette & Chocolat. Oh no, not us! We had to order couldn't resist the semi-sweet chocolate fondue! I'm drooling just thinking about it!

So this was a wonderful boulangerie (bakery) a block away from our hotel called Premiere Moisson. I swear if I could have bought one of everything I would have! Their chocolate croissants were divine! Should have brought a bunch of those back here to freeze...

Looking For A House

So since things are happening so quickly with the move and Mr. Milk starts his new job only a week after we arrive, the task of looking for a place to live falls in my lap. Ideally we would like to rent a place for the first few months, find our footing, and then look for a place to buy. We have been renters for so long and sometimes feel like that was money wasted that could have been going towards a mortgage payment. Either way, the idea of having a place of our own excites me! So I've gone on this wild search looking into properties, decorations, bathrooms, and my most favorite, kitchens! The two rooms in the home that I really really care about and want to make beautiful are the bathroom and the kitchen!

The one thing I have always wanted in a kitchen is an island with the stove on it! Look at some of these beautiful kitchens I am dreaming about. 

I love those counter stools around the island! So comfy and friends and family can hang out while you cook and nibble (source)

This one is funky :)

Not sure about the red but love the feel of this kitchen

I love wood, stainless steal, and glass together (source)

I love to tease Mr. Milk that we will have separate bathrooms! I want my bathroom to be a little spa-like sanctuary! And frankly, if you are sharing with a boy it just can't be!

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love this tub!

This one needs a little more decor but has lots of potential!

What are your favorite rooms in the house? Any dreams or plans for your kitchens and bathrooms?

The BIG Announcement

As some of you may remember, I pulled a sneaky move in this post and told you I had a big announcement, but left you hanging a little. Well, its time to reveal all.

Mr. Milk and I are moving! We are so excited about this as it has been a work-in-progress for some time. Where are we moving to you might ask? Right here:

CYPRUS

Yup! Thats right! We are moving back home!

We have been talking about this for many many months and although it was tough coming to the decision, we both feel a lot of relief now that its been made. We will both miss North America greatly (me mostly the US and Mr. Milk Canada) but we are just too far away from our friends and family over here. If you recall the family health issues we had over the Christmas holidays, well those pushed us further towards this decision. 

But lets start from the beginning. Back in September, Mr. Milk was faced with a job opportunity that he wasn't quite expecting. Accepting it would mean that we would be spending the next 3-5 years in Canada for sure. While the job offer was enticing, there were other issues. I for one am a visitor here, hence can't work. It would take at least a year for me to become a permanent resident and be allowed to work. I was already feeling restless at home as it was. And then there was the question, if we stay now, will we ever go back to Cyprus? It's hard enough to leave now, neither of us could imagine how much harder it would be if we had established careers and potentially kids. 

Luckily Mr. Milk had a lot of time to think about this and while we were in Cyprus over Christmas, he started looking into potential job opportunities there. While the economic crisis is starting to improve over here, there it's probably at its worst at the moment. But it seems like we are truly blessed because a few weeks ago he was offered a job at a company he was interested in and he has accepted! All the T's have been crossed and the I's dotted! We are both very grateful that at least one of us will have an income going back. I have applied for a position at a college/university there, so fingers crossed that it goes well!

So when is the big day? May 29th 2010 will be our departure date from Vancouver. Not a lot of time!

In the meantime there is sooooooo much to do! We need to sell off all of our furniture, purchase some things that are cheaper to get from here (hence the upcoming Portland shopping spree), pack the things we are taking, get rid of the things we are not, get quotes from freight companies, and so on and so forth! Aargh! 

I am sure my blog will come to reflect the chaos that will be my life in the next couple of months, so please bare with me ladies! 

Getting Fit

I have always been one of those people who needs someone else to motivate them to go to the gym. I just get so bored in a gym, so if I have someone to go with it becomes more of a social affair and I enjoy it more. I enjoy outdoor activities but once winter comes around, they are less than appealing! 


We are lucky to have a small gym on our floor in our building. It's nothing fancy but has all the basics, a treadmill, stationary bike, pilates balls, free weights, and one of those combo weight machines which I never use. So we have no excuse for not going. Mr. Milk and I both want to use the wedding as the excuse to get us leading a healthier lifestyle. Of course we both want to look great on our wedding day, but we also lead pretty sedentary lifestyles which are only made worse in the winter.


I'd seen a few of you bloggers recommending Sue Flemings book Buff Brides so I thought I'd give it a go too. I work better when I have a routine to follow at the gym and that's exactly what her book offers.

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There are two programs to follow, a 24-week one and a 12-week one for the bride in a hurry. I am on week 6 and let me tell you I have noticed a difference. My goal was to tighten and tone up,  be more heart healthy, and have my clothes fit better. I haven't lost weight but I am definitely tightening up. I see the muscles in my arms developing, my legs are stronger, and I feel better. And because I am seeing results, I am encouraged to go back and workout. Going with Mr. Milk makes it fun too. We tease each other, have friendly competitions, and whine at each other to get our butts of the couch and into the gym!

So what do you ladies do to stay healthy? Do you have trouble getting motivated to work out?