And the winner is Sy-den-ey! OK, so it might seem quite arrogant to equate my moving back to Sydney with Sydney's successful bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games but I thought it would be a fun way to announce it on my blog :)

Yes, I am moving back to Sydney in the 2nd week of September. Work-wise, the option is open to continue here in Canada but I feel that that the timing is right for the move back to Aus. I am glad that it's not until September though. It will give me time for a few more adventures and enable me to finish well here instead of in a big rush.

So here are the plans for the last 6 Canadian months (of which only 3 full months will actually be spent in Canada!):

• April and May I'll be here in Toronto. For a couple of weeks in June I'll be making a brief trip back to Aus for Mum's 70th (with a fun weekend in New York City, on the way back, with my Canadian friend Natasha),


• the 2nd half of July will include a visit to Portugal to see Nathan, Kathy, Abby and Noah (friends from Sydney now living in Portugal), a week in London (maaaybe getting to see some of The Ashes at Lords) and a week in France with my Mum, brother and others as we follow the Tour de France from Lyon to Paris!!


• In August I'll be working as much as possible and squeezing in a goodbye visit to camp as well as downsizing, packing and getting ready to come back to Sydney via a visit with Daniel, Jessie and bub in Indianapolis, in September. I'll be back just in time for Kate and Lindsey's wedding: yay!

Here's some photos from recent Winter adventures (even though right now, everyone is completely over snow here - it actually snowed this week (well, they call it 'flurries' as it was light snow) - crazy! (watch as is or click on the slideshow for a larger view)



See you soon (whichever country you're reading this from!) :)

Bec

Hmmm.....

Wow! I didn't mean to leave the blog for this long (the longest non-blogging since I started this thing!) but after a few hints from Thomas, here I am again :)

It's been a nearly 4 month period divided between 3 countries and 2 weather seasons. From the highs of spending time with friends and family that I haven't seen in nearly 2 years, to the lows of Australia losing the cricket to South Africa, it's been a great and busy time. Firstly, for my North American friends (and also any Aussies who want to see something cute) here's a video of my niece Rochelle and my nephew Josh singing the Aussie version of Jingle Bells on Christmas Day 2008 (let me know if you need a translation!):

After being in Toronto for near record snowfalls last winter it's been great to have a summery Christmas and New Years this year and I've been making the most of Sydney and northern NSW beaches while I'm here.

I've been able to catch up with friends from Bible Study, the Musical Society, church, uni, my godson Hamish and his family, SGCS (where I used to teach), the lovely ladies who were in my last Yr 12 Drama class at SGCS and Jenn (who I used to rent with in Sydney) and Liz - friends from uni. I had a great New Years with good friends and also got to go the the Sydney cricket test match. While I've been here I've been working (in my Canada job) and getting ready to conduct the musical Guys&Dolls when I go back to Canada.

Here are some highlights of my summer downunder (and in New York ;) ) - watch as is or click on the slideshow for a larger view:

So it's a pretty busy 3 weeks until I go back to Canada (to minus temps!) and I'm going to pack in as much as I can!

xoxo

Bec

PS One more crazy thing I've done was a Trapeze class with my niece. Here's me doing the catch on the trapeze!

Well, it's been a while (not one of those boring 'it's been a while' blog entries! ;) )....

About a week ago I got back from some fun travels with Donna in Italy, and the UK (and a few days with Mon&Fred in Lyon, France).

Here are a few of highlights:

Best pizza ever in Positano! The island of Capri The Pump Room in Bath

'Hamlet' at Stratford, Stanage Edge - The Peak District, 'Mr Darcy' at Chatsworth!

Aaaahh, Pemberley (ie Lyme Park)!, Alnwick Castle (ie Hogwarts)

Yummy Lyon + Beautiful Annecy with Mon, Fred and the Brodies

More Europe pix are here

The other highlight was catching up with my Mum's cousin, Janelle, and her family: why didn't we get any photos?! XO

So I'm now back in Toronto which is doing it's best to hold onto some nice weather despite being hit with the tail end of Hurricane Ike. I'm continuing my work with Tim, focussed on Central Asia. In November I'll be back in Sydney for the summer (but still doing my job online) and looking forward to Christmas with my family, celebrating my niece, Rochelle's 10th birthday and catching up with friends and new babies. I'll be back in Toronto at the end of Jan and hopefully visiting Em out in B.C in February. Then onto figuring out the rest of 2009 (which will include another trip (?) back to Aus for Mum's big birthday in June).

Keep in touch! xoxo Bec

Sorry, can't blog: eating ;)

Chuckie and I finally at camp together at the same time

(even if it was only for 24 hours :) )

Today is the last day before the craziness begins, so I thought I'd blog and give an overview of what's in store for the next few weeks&months - God-willing :)

Our production of Oliver begins on Tuesday 27th May, so this weekend has 2 rehearsals, then moving our set to the venue for our Tech rehearsal on Monday - whoa! I'm conducting the show and it's been a great experience with a wonderful cast, crew and orchestra.

Then, on Saturday, the day after the show finishes, I'm off to Central Asia (Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan) for 10 days with my colleague, Tim. I'll be seeing new places and meeting lots of Central Asia staff, who, until now, I've only known over email.

When I get back to Toronto (hopefully summer will really have arrived by then ;) ), I'll have some preparation for camp (where I'm teaching the F.I.C.S course at Leaders In Training) and a fun weekend with Natasha watching our favourite Shakespeare movies.

Then in the last week of June I'll move up to camp until the middle of August (with a quick trip to Ottawa for Canada Day :) ). I'm looking forward to LIT and to being back in the Muskokas.

On the 18th of August I fly to Italy (I've never got to say "I fly to Italy" before :) ) to meet up with Donna (from Sydney) and Jennifer (from Ireland). After some travel around Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast we head to the UK for lots of Jane Austen-esque landscapes and castles (as well as seeing Spamalot in London :) ). Then, I'll be seeing Monique and Fred for a quick visit in Lyon, France.

I'll then be back for a couple of months of normality in Toronto for 'Fall' before I'm off to Sydney (via New York for a few days) for a good old Aussie summer, from mid-November to the end of January - yay!!!!!! I'll be back in Toronto after that (for hopefully the last bits of Winter) until June (back to Sydney then, for Mum's 70th (!!)).

It will then be decision time again. By June 2009 I need to figure out if the trip back to Aus is the big move back or just a visit. Hmmmmm.....we'll see.

I'll be blogging as much as possilbe and posting pix of these next steps, so stay tuned :)

xoxo Bec