A Year Ago Tomorrow

First of all, a big thanks to those uber cool sisters at painfully hip for featuring me again in their 'thrift stars of the day'. Thanks for mentioning my blog too! I feel verrry flattered :o) Here was the wardrobe that brought me my fame ;o)

As of tomorrow we will have been in Canada for a year! Here is a little catch up for those who are new to me and aren't sure what our story is.

Shane and I are from Belfast, Ireland . When I graduated from my degree in 2006 we decided to sell everything we owned and take off traveling. We booked a flight to Vancouver and planned to backpack all the way to the tip of South America. A week into our trip we discovered that North America is NOT set up for backpacking. So we decided to splurge and by transport that we could sleep in too. We bought a mini-van chucked out the back seat, laid down our sleeping bag and this was our home for the next 9 months (4 months in Canada, 5 in the States).

Enjoying the sunset at the remote Big Bend National Park, West Texas.

On our trip we fell in love with Canada, we were utterly homesick for it the moment we crossed over the border. to the States We loved the wide open spaces, the slower pace of life, the breathtaking landscape and the amazingly friendly people.

Banff National Park, oh Canada.

Fast Forward - we returned from our trip to partake in some further education. Shane was to do a PhD at Kings College London, and I was going to train in law at the College of Law, London (this is what got me passionate about law). As we roamed around London, looking for a place to live, we felt claustrophobic, daunted by the rat race and overwhelmed by the cost of living. We very quickly (within days) decided this was not for us. And what better time to step out and live our dream of moving to Canada? We booked a flight and left London as fast as we could. We chose to lay down roots in New Brunswick, the most overlooked province (what can I say? we are Irish, we love the underdog). It is breathtakingly beautiful here, spacious and friendly.The road to Fredericton, NB
(we saw a baby bear on this road once)

We already had some great friends here that we met on our trip, and that circle has blossomed in the last year. We used the inheritance money I got from my mum to buy our beautiful little house with a stunning view and we renovated it big time and furnished it with yard sale furniture.

The view form our living room!
the fog hovers over the river in the morning sometimes

So one year later, we are living in pennies and still unable to work. But we don't regret this decision one bit. We are still in love with the little spot on the earth that we call ours. And we are part of a caring community that know how to party. With some friends

** apologies for the length of this blog! I tried to liven it up with lots of pics :o) Just feeling a little reflective today.

Tonight I am getting together with my peeps to watch the masterpiece that is Donnie Darko for the umpteenth time. I will never grow tired of it!