Un Cafe avec Julie

This morning, I met my friend Julie for coffee!

at william's coffee!

[How’s THIS for up-to-the-minute blog posting? And so spontaneous of me, too!]

I wore my skirt!

i could use a few more summery tops to mix n match with!

Kate and William weren’t the only special people who arrived in Canada on Canada Day – Julie and her two sons flew in on July 1st, too! (Hubbie, Craig, will follow this weekend). I almost wrote that Julie “flew home,” but considering Julie and her family have lived in France for 8.5 years, that country really is their home, now.

Je pensais si je devrais écrire toute cette pièce en français, aujourd’hui, parce que j’ai rencontré Julie à l’université de Waterloo pendant notre première année de l’école, là. (Ok, I’ll stop there. My french is rusty and I don’t want to embarrass myself. Plus, inserting all those accents is driving me nuts).

I ♥ having Julie as a friend because out of all my friends from over the years, I’d say Julie and I have the most in common and are the most alike:

• both our moms are retired kindergarten teachers with the Waterloo public school board
• both of our dads worked for insurance companies in Waterloo
• Julie and I are both the eldest in our families (except I have The Brother, and Julie has two younger siblings; AND The Brother and I both have names that start with “C;” Julie and her sisters all have names that begin with “J”)
• we’re both Type A personalities, are very organized, outgoing and personable
• Julie’s birthday is January 3rd, and mine is January 9th – > born in the same year, too!
• we both love to run (Julie has access to the coolest race events over in France. For example, she recently completed the Tour de Canton held in Geneva)
• we both took piano lessons as youngsters
• after graduation, we both landed French teaching positions at private schools
• our wedding days were only three weeks apart, back in 1995!

As I was saying, above (in case that was all greek to you), Julie and I met at the University of Waterloo during our first year of studies in the French Teaching Specialization. We were friends for the entire five years of our program. It is no exaggeration to say that Julie’s friendship and support helped me get through our four months of teacher’s college at Brock University in our fifth year (a “life chapter” to talk about another day). We did our practice teaching in the same high school during that time. Fond memory: our routine was to head to the St Catharines YMCA for a workout after teaching concluded for the day, then we’d head home to our respective on-campus townhouses.

We figured out it’s been about four years since we last visited in person. Man, you would never guess it! Our conversation gushed forth at hyper-speed for our coffee visit!

you guessed it - self-portrait!

Like Gina, I so appreciate that Julie prioritized getting together today. Julie, it was sooo awesome to visit in person! Enjoy the rest of your Canadian vacation!

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Yesterday was a day. Pretty much the antithesis of July’s goal to R E L A X. I realized early on, that a visit to Toronto was just not going to fit in. That meant that I was home last eve…so guess what I watched??! … Yes! The Top Chef Canada finale!! *spoiler alert!* I was on pins and needles as the three final contestants (you’ll remember that would be Connie, Dale and Rob) stood before the judges. In third place…Connie! [I was 99% sure they wouldn’t pick the female to win]. That left my two guys!…

the tension was high...

In the end, Dale emerged victorious, with Rob as a solid second place finisher. Man, I wish I had bet money on this contest!

Top Chef Just Desserts begins Monday, July 11 – it’s on my calendar!

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Would you ever consider moving to another country to live? I wonder if Julie and Craig ever anticipated that 8.5 years later, they would still be Canadian ex-pats!

I would totally move to Moab, Utah or anywhere in Florida in a heartbeat, if I could work there. As much as I love Aruba, I honestly don’t think I could live there…but it’s a great place to visit!