NITRO premiere

Monday was a day for cleaning (starting to get things organized and re-arranged for the baby room), then cleaning up and going to the premiere of Nitro! It was at Place des Arts and we had to walk the red carpet to get to our tickets - very glam. Those funky cars are called T-Rexes and they have a pretty big part in the film. The evening was a huge success, the people loved it and the party afterwards was super fun. We stayed out until almost midnight! The office was pretty quiet this morning, let me tell you...

I'll let you know when the English version comes out and where.

St. Jean Baptiste Part 2

After the parade we headed out to visit Stéphane's parents at their campsite which is about an hour outside of Montréal. They will spend most of the summer out there and as you will see in the photos, they have quite the comfy set-up! We BBQed burgers then headed into Valleyfield to visit with Stéphane's Uncle Pat and Aunt Jeannette until it was time to watch the fireworks. Here are some photos of the campground...

Happy St. Jean Baptiste!

We celebrated St. Jean Baptiste day yesterday by going to the parade and waving our Quebec flags proudly! Here are a few pictures...

Tummy at 23 weeks

My sister has been bugging me for more tummy pictures... They are self portraits that I took in the bedroom mirror.

I had my monthly doctor's appointment this morning and all is well. I'm not gaining too much weight (only 4 pounds this month!) and baby and I are in good health. I just love hearing the heartbeat!

So I have noticed a couple of fun things about being pregnant... One is that I have a new love of watermelon. I never have really liked it but lately I can't seem to get enough of it! It's so yummy and juicy. The other thing is that the hair on my legs seems to have stopped growing. It's great! This is part of my new resolution to enjoy my pregnancy. Luckily my hormones are cooperating so I'm so much happier these days. Plus it's so cool to feel her moving around more and more. I feel like she's doing aerobics in there!

It's a long weekend coming up here in Quebec (St. Jean Baptiste Day) and we have some fun stuff lined up. We are planning to go to the St. Jean parade on Sunday then go visit Stéphane's parents at their campsite for BBQ dinner and fireworks. Monday will be all about getting stuff organized around here. I feel like I can't buy any baby stuff until I have somewhere to put it so we (I) really want to get that going.

I'll post some pictures of our long weekend activities. Time to have a little ice cream before bed :)

Shoe closet

I just wanted to share this picture of Stéphane's super method of storing our shoes in our too-small closet. Just hoping that we will be able to keep it up! Especially since I can see that soon I will have some trouble not just reaching my toes but actually seeing them...

We have made a plan for how we are going to reorganize and streamline and going through the shoes in our closet today (and adding a bunch of stuff to the growing garage-sale pile) is a good start. That's been the highlight of my day. I also got my hair cut which feels good, too. It's hot here and pretty sticky so I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the evening.

In case anyone is wondering, I have about 25 pairs of shoes but I've mostly been wearing my croc flip flops recently. They are SO COMFORTABLE and that's my #1 priority these days!

While I'm at church tomorrow morning, Stéphane will meet up with our friend Kevin who is in town for a friend's wedding and so sweetly brought a baby seat and stroller all the way from Halifax for us! He is my dear friend Julie's husband and we wish they (and their adorable children) lived in Montréal... After that we'll do some grocery shopping and we're off to take my in-laws out for dinner for Father's Day. They have kindly agreed to let us store our camping stuff in their storage space since we are on a mission to make room around here and I'm thinking that we're not going to get much camping done this year :)

Yay, I finally LOOK pregnant!

Today was an exciting day because for the first time, someone offered me their seat on the metro! I was so excited that I think she thought I was a little crazy. I posted this picture of myself so you can see what I'm wearing today - new outfit that I got at Motherhood in Toronto last week. I didn't take her seat because we were close to my stop but it was totally satisfying just the same. Something about actually LOOKING pregnant to other people makes it so much easier! Just that little gesture really changed my attitude. That and a pep talk from my sister :) Just enjoy it! Enjoy all the good stuff that comes with being pregnant! That's my new goal.

Tummy at 22 weeks

Stéphane took this yesterday on our balcony. I'm having a crappy pregnancy day thanks to these wonderful hormones. I think I definitely need to go to bed early again tonight. It's a little hot around here too which makes me kind of cranky. I think the fact that I really have nothing to whine about just makes it worse! I'm sure it will all be better in the morning!

Quick Trip to Toronto

I was in T.O. this week partly for work but mostly to finally see my Dad's feature film "Almost Heaven." The distributor did a test screening and my Dad came to Toronto also so it was a no-brainer for me to book a trip! The movie was AMAZING. You can screen the trailer by clicking here: http://www.norstarfilms.com/film_almostheaven.html

No news yet of when it will be released but I'll be sure to update y'all as soon as I hear.

The people in the audience laughed a lot (which is good beacuse it's a romantic comedy) and I completely enjoyed it. It's a pretty trippy experience seeing your Dad's film on a big screen like that. When you share the same DNA as the person who wrote the movie, it means that you pretty much laugh at all the jokes and choke up at all the right places because it was like it was custom-made for me. I took these pictures of my Dad at the theatre - the Silver City at Yonge and Eglinton:





We stayed at the Delta Chelsea hotel and this was the view from my 26th floor balcony:




We had breakfast in the hotel and we got someone to take this picture of us. Note my super"double-chin" pose... We Piercys have a habit of making that special face in photos sometimes.... Matthew knows what I'm talking about :)


If I also seem a little sweaty in that picture, it's beacuse it was about 30 degrees and very humid all day Friday in Toronto. I didn't fly out until around 9PM on Friday so once my meetings were done and Dad was on a plane back to B.C. I had time to do a little shopping... Who knew that the Gap has a materntiy section! So does H&M! I knew Old Navy had a maternity section and since I was there, I stopped in and picked up a bathing suit for $20. I also found a new store called Motherhood that has lots of great stuff and I got some really good deals.

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean today and I'm sad to say that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first two. Or the first one I should say. Just not as well written and not as many good moments, savvy?

Now it's past 10Pm which means lights out for me... Our new air conditioner is working well so I'm getting lots of good sleep.

Promise to take a picture of my baby belly this week. Today I am offically 22 weeks along - more than halfway!

Santa Monica, Venice Beach and The Doors

We got to Santa Monica around dinnertime and once we had checked in, we took a few photos and hopped a shuttle bus thingy (for a big 25¢) and headed to Venice Beach.



These are some photos of the pier and other things around our hotel on Ocean Blvd...






We strolled along Venice Beach and were drinking it all in when suddenly we heard the music of the Doors. Now, just to clarify, we were mainly visiting Venice Beach because it's where Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek got together and decided to start the band. (Besides the fact that it's a cool place to hang out). We headed towards the sound and found a café/bar where a Doors tribute band was playing. Turns out that this band (The Peace Frogs) plays every Sunday! We actually ended up sitting with a guy who was from Montréal and we stayed to hear the whole set. I scarfed some excellent nachos and we COMPLETELY enjoyed the whole experience. Let me tell you, there are some really special people that hang out down there! Here is a picture of the sign on the sidewalk and a not-so-good photo of the lead singer who didn't look so much like Jim (although he was wearing all the right stuff) but his voice was almost dead on. All the chiquitas grooving in front of the stage didn't seem to mind :)

We finally left there at around 9 and cabbed it back to our hotel and strolled along the Third Street promenade. We had a delicious dinner on Ocean Blvd (mmm, crab cakes), stopped at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (where I bought a bunch of stuff including a dragonfly tea strainer) for coffee and finally crashed at the hotel. I took a few pictures of our room because it has been so beautifully restored. You could just imagine all the stars taking their morning coffee on the porch across from the ocean. Back in the day, this hotel is apparently where everyone would come to escape the heat. It's been declared a heritage site so it's really well kept-up. Love that art deco look!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and headed to the airport. Everything went smoothly and we had some time to kill at the gate so I bought a few last minute souvenirs and then it was all over. It went by so fast and yet we got to do so much that it felt like we were away for a long time. We got back to our apartment around 10 on Monday night and promptly went out for poutine. Our last treat before coming down from planet vacation!

So that was our trip. Back to regular posting as of tomorrow. I've been having some serious fatigue lately (slept 11 hours on Monday) but hopefully that will pass. I can feel our little kiddo moving around now which is fun and I feel like I look more pregnant now (instead of just fat). I'm only nauseous when I'm overly tired so I just have to make sure to not overdo it.

Speaking of which, time to wrap it up!

Last full day of vacation

After the wedding we said goodbye to the newlyweds and our new friends and headed back down to spend our last night in Santa Monica. Stéphane was a little tired so I took the wheel and really enjoyed the drive. I have been having this weird pregnancy craving to drive a standard car but just driving (fast) was very satisfying...



My frog prince:) We took this at the Santa Maria Inn before leaving.

We didn't get any pictures with the happy couple the day before so we grabbed one before we hit the road.

Our hotel in Santa Monica, right across from the beach.

Eric and Tina's wedding

Exactly two weeks ago we were in Santa Maria, California and at the wedding of our friends Eric and Tina. We stayed at the Santa Maria Inn where the wedding was held and completely enjoyed ourselves. Eric and Tina were surrounded by their friends and family and they promised to love as long as they live, and live as long as they love. So sweet! Here are some of the photos...

Yes, those are enormous chocolate covered strawberries! That was the best wedding cake I've ever had!

The official wedding videographers...

Tina's adorable mother Jeanette made the beret I'm wearing and she gave it to me!

We actually took a quick trip up the road to Pismo beach earlier that day. It's a lovely little town on the ocean and the beach was gorgeous. It was a little windy and chilly but the kites were beautiful.

We ended the day sneaking out to satisfy my new In-n-Out burger craving and I learned how to order it "Animal Style" which means that the patty is cooked in mustard, they load on the pickles and the onions are grilled. Thanks for the tip, Vicky! Go to the In-n-Out website, click on menu, then on secret menu. There are just so many reasons to love that place...

http://www.in-n-out.com/