Here are my pictures from Quebec. I might come back later to have a little chat but right now the brother in law and kids are visiting and we will soon be enjoying home made meatballs.
Ignore the sunburn and enjoy the view above Quebec City
I found out this morning a friend of mine and my bf's family took her life. The day before we left on vacation apparently. She just gave birth a few months ago to her second baby boy...her boyfriend didn't treat her that well and ended up in jail a few times, her grandpa was in the hospital and she got pretty sick for a bit herself and she felt alone. I knew she was stressed...but I didn't know it was that bad.
I don't get it though...how could one think that that's what is going to fix the situation? With two little boys both less then 2 years old needing a mother to help them..why would ending your life be the right thing to do?
I understand that with depression reason goes out the window as it does with anxiety...but I don't get how it goes that far out the window. I don't get what pushed her to do that. She wasn't a best friend of mine but we were just building our friendship. She was 25...she was just starting to open up to me...if she could have waited a bit longer maybe she wouldn't have felt so alone?
I just want to understand what pushes someone that far....
So I figured I should fill you in on whats happened the last few days.
Wednesday we went into Quebec City to check out Old Quebec which is absolutely beautiful. My morning did not start that great when I reached into my backpack I got my finger stabbed by my name tag from work. the name tag got stuck and it was so painful I'm pretty sure it hit the bone. The man jumped quickly to the rescue though and pulled it out...and somehow I coincidently had a band aid and covered that bugger up.
We went to La Citadelle. Which is basically a British fortress (designed by a French guy) after the British conquered the area. This was to protect Canada from an American invasion (which has never happened since) It's an active military base and the Man was excited to learn that this is where 150 select Vandoos live and it's the second home for the Governor General.
We then ate lunch on the Plains of Abraham and headed into the old city to do some shopping and exploring. However my stomach decided this was a good time to have an attack which then brought on a minor panic attack but I must say I gained control pretty quickly and continued on for a nice afternoon.
Some of the view of the Citadelle
Thursday was a bit of a long day we went to Canyon St. Anne where we went on a nice but tiring hike. We then went across to Iles de Orleans and checked out another chocolate factory, and fromagerie as well as some art places. We came across a pottery place where we met this woman who has beautiful stuff I fell in love with. So we bought some mugs from her. She told us she had a place in Quebec city and would be coming to the art gallery back at home in three weeks. So we will be going to see her when she comes.
The Canyon
Because Old Quebec is so large we went back on Friday and spent the day there shopping and admiring the beauty of it. It's very European looking I can't wait to show you more photos.
Just a very small idea of what Old Quebec looks like
That's pretty much a summary of the last few days. I promise to post more photos but right now I cant use up any more of the Man's data plan :P
We come home tomorrow so hopefully Monday I can get some pictures up.
I realize this is my second post today. I actually wrote the other one this morning but we are using our phones to connect to the internet (because the info about the place said there was internet but there isn't) and this morning the mans Iphone didn't want to work.
So today started off pretty well it was very warm like VERY warm. We got all ready to leave at about 10:30 and headed out onto a river route. It goes through a bunch of towns along the river. We went to a cheese factory and a chocolate factory. Then drove some more and found a home of an artist that caught our attention so we thought we would check it out. I bought a beautiful photo windmill on one of the islands. I then went to a pottery shop and got a sugar bowl. We then did a ton of driving to later end up (almost an hour and a half away) at the river watching whales from a cliff. After that I was pretty tired and ready to go home we had been out pretty much all day it was about 4. Then, my dad decided though to continue exploring and drove us onto a ferry randomly so we crossed over into a place called Tadousac. It was cute but it started to rain so we checked out a couple shops but left. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant called Mikes the food was delicious. We got home late though around 9:30ish so im pretty tired here are a few pics of the scenery on the way.
Two days in a row I know! I thought I’d share a bit of my day yesterday with you. It started off slow no scheduled time to get out and about, which I like, it keeps my anxiety down I had some time to read a book, and play Fable 2 on my brother’s xbox. We had lunch here at the chalet where it was pretty chilly and grey and foggy and damp. After lunch we headed to tour a church called St. Anne de Beaupre. She was the mother of Mary This church is beautiful its so large like a cathedral it had wonderful architecture etc. But what else is significant about it is the crutches on the wall. Many people have gone in there and said prayers to St. Anne and have walked out healed or finding the strength to cope with their conditions. There truly is something spiritual feeling when you walk in there. I said a prayer asking her to pray for help with coping with the anxiety and my IBS. 4 years ago I had been there and said a prayer and although at the time I didn’t really associate it with the church I had started to learn to cope with it and had fairly good control of it until last summer. Maybe there was a reason we went back. For those of you who don’t believe in God or religion that is fine I understand, but if it makes me feel better to believe some higher power is guiding and helping me then what harm does it do?
We came home early and had dinner, we then played some more video games, had a nap and went to bed so it was a pretty easy day. A great way to relax.
The Church from the outside
A rainbow from our deck
I have to tell you that this morning the sun is shining and it is very warm here and the view of the St. Lawerance River is beautiful and clear. We are going to make today a busy day and make a trip through little towns to see museums and arts and cheese factories and such.
Good morning!
Today is day 1 on our vacation well yesterday kind of was.
We woke up at 2am and finished packing up and hit the road for a long drive. I'll tell you I was feeling a wee bit nervous slightly worried about my anxiety and my IBS.
So here is how I prevented it: at 9:30pm on Saturday i took a half a miligram of lorazepam before going to bed. When I woke up at two i made a tea my BF had found a long time ago, it's made by traditional medicinals its called Organic Easy Now its supposed to be good for your nervous system and keep you calm and relaxed. I think it helped.
The man made me sleep so I would stay relaxed for longer. He is so caring and understanding :) The drive went pretty fast early in the morning at about 9 we stopped just outside Montreal for breakfast at Cora's. We then decided we would stop in Montreal and visit old Montreal. However when we got there our GPS (aka the mans Iphone) and my parents GPS sent us in different directions. My parents went to an observation spot although they told us it was a building we would stop at so we drove past them twice. This frustrated the man because the drivers in the city are crazy and there were bikers riding in the middle of the road and would just randomly cut in front you so he was afraid he was going to hit one. Once we finally met up we decided to keep going.
Around 1 we stopped for lunch at McDonalds. The man and i ate some tuna I brought though so we ate healthy :) we also brought some cheese sticks and crackers and pepperettes as well so we had lots of snacks.
Most of the ride went well until we were about two hours and a half hours away from our destination when we hit some bad traffic. When we finally passed it we got into Quebec city and our gps' took us in different directions again but the man and I got ahead of my parents. until they insisted we had gone the wrong way so we got confused but i knew I recognized it from years ago when we came.
We were right. We got into the chalet on a mountain in the Charlevoix area around 5 and got all unpacked. We can normally see the St. Lawerance River from the dining room although this morning it is pretty foggy. Last night we all took it easy, had a steak dinner and watched some tv then went to bed nice and early. We are still trying to plan today possibly going to a church or maybe into the lower town.
Montreal
CBC in Montreal - I may one day work at the one in T.O so this was cool
...did you miss me? Probably not because I'm pretty sure that Zoe and my Bf are the only people who read this. But that's okay, I'm glad they do, and I still like writing because it helps me feel good.
So where have I been over the last few weeks? Working, a fair bit. I have been working diligently on editing the videos for the makeup artist and chiropractor which has been going very well. The first set are finished and after I come back from Quebec I should be getting started on the next set. check out one of the videos (best viewed in HD if your computer can handle it)
This week is going to be a very busy week. I am working today with one of my professors on some big video shoots for a nearby hospital so I should be busy with that all day. Thursday is my favourite day at the store its teacher appreciation day. At this point I am working a double because I always do our teacher appreciation day features showing off what our new services and products are, hooking them up with the best deals and showing them the ways we show our appreciation for them. Its lots of fun. But the schedule got mixed up so right now im working all day. Friday is another video shoot for the hospital so its gonna be long. Good thing I go for a massage on Wednesday. I've been getting some acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and massages lately as well. I have really bad shoulder problems but the treatments have helped big time.
Sunday morning at 2am my bf and my parents, little bro and I head out to Quebec so thats exciting as well.
I think part of the reason I am writing today though is to manage some anxiety. my levels have been high lately with all the working I have been doing, and some stress. One of my uncles is being a total ass to my mom and family and its driving me crazy. I have also had a lot of tummy troubles too lately so everything is adding up and making me anxious about being late to places, or messing something up, or having to leave early or the long 10 hr drive to Quebec. I feel like I'm losing some of my control of it again. I haven't had an attack really just a lot of the beginnings of one and then a constant feeling of being crampy, and tired and weak all day with the odd sensation of being outside of my body if that makes sense.
I need to figure out how to make that go away. That in itself makes me anxious.
For the most part I am excited about everything but there is just that subconcious thing.
Anyways enjoy my video there is another one on that youtube channel. Wish me luck this week, and I'm sure you will hear from me either during or after my trip :)
