Turning back the hour glass..

7,6,5,4,3,2,1....HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

January - Was a cold month in Manitoba, one that I felt would never end; I felt like we were in limbo, trying to figure out our place in Manitoba. Finally realizing that we need to move on, and we began to start the process to apply to come North.

February - The shortest month always seem the longest and the coldest. Lots of snow & -40 weather I contended with while driving back and for to Gimli. I was enjoying work and drinking plenty of coffee!

March - Hughie and I were ready for some American atmosphere and we took a trip to Minnesota to stay in a swanky hotel (St.Paul Hotel) where they valet parked my Sunfire *side note: Those who don't know, my Sunfire was a 96' and when it got cold the driver side door would not unlock, so you had to crawl thru the passenger side door!! We also went to a Minnesota Wild game, where they won & I saw DAUGHTRY and BON JOVI in concert!

April - Spring is starting to leak it's juices all over Manitoba and this was the month where I took a day off work because of a snowstorm/blizzard, the roads were so bad I couldn't see snowflake in front of me.

May - The biggest event was that I was turning 30. I was not scared of that magic number but more intriqued by what it held. I enjoyed my day with my Husband shopping in Winnipeg and making Chicken Nachos while celebrating with a quiet evening at home. Baseball started, with me being the pitcher, some games went well - others not so good.

June - June I always find a long month, the summer is starting to peak and Hughie and I were still trucking along hoping to find out whether not we were accepted into V division.

July - - Canada's Birthday! AND we got our first form for heading North, let the fun begin. I told work that I received the word that we were heading to KUGAARUK (WHERE THE HELL WAS THAT)!! My Inlaws came up to Manitoba for two weeks to catch the Swan River Rodeo's 100 anniversary & visted us at our quiet little home in Clandeboye.

August - Hughie's 30th Birthday. Went to Seether with opening band The Veer Union and drank our faces off at Moxy's in Winnipeg. Medical - Dental - Psychological was performed and forms submitted. The waiting game again. I believe we found out at the end of the month that we would be arriving in Kugaaruk by November 1st.

September - Minnesota Wild for the first time were having their training came somewhere other than Xcel Centre due to the democratic (?) convention. They held it at the RALPH in North Dakota - off we went to do both cheering for the team and shopping. The highlight of the trip was ordering superhot wings while watching the Minnesota Wild team chow down behind us...STAR STRUCK...oh and being extremely hung over the next morning.

October - Preparing for the move, shopping for winter clothes & Costco membership. The actual Kugaaruk move was on the 28th of the month with us arriving to a very cold climate on Samhain (check out my blog for the actual events)

November - Our first official month in the North. No personal belongings and roughing it with what we brought up and what we borrowed from the relief quarters.

December - Our stuff arrived December 1st! Yippee!! Our house became a home. First Kugaaruk Christmas! Real Christmas Tree arrives via the Inlaws from Nova Scotia.

Present Day - New Years Eve & Day - We spend New Years with friends and Boston Pizza. The Boston Pizza was ordered from Yellowknife, where they froze the individual pizza's and shipped them via First Air. It was a good evening with watching USA lose to Canada sending the Junior team directly to the Semi-finals and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake..mmmmm...cheesecake. One funny thing to report was when we were leaving Corey & Lindsay's a firetruck was driving around the community honking its horn, sirens and letting the lights circulate the landscape. When we gave a wave out popped Vince, local Hamlet guy and firetruck driver apparently! and this was how the community prepared for the New Years Eve snowmobile parade where they circle the town and then head out to the Bay. We did not attend as we didn't want to get sucked into the 2am SQUARE DANCING..... Yes 2am. The community doesn't sleep on Holidays however they sleep the following day away.

7,6,5,4,3,2,1....HAPPY 2009 - So what does this year bring, or what I hope it brings - WARMER WEATHER! What this year will bring is two IPA's *Vacations* a trip to Vancouver, pending no difficulties and hopefully a trip to Disney. Otherwise, I'm not going to speculate on the future as I will just live day by day in the present and maybe dwell a bit on the past.
I hope you all had a awesome New Years Eve and hope that you all have a safe and happy 2009.

New Years Resolution: To eat healthier, lose 20lbs more and maintain my happy go lucky chipperness.