Walking Close to Home

If you haven't visited Saint John, NB and the surrounding areas you should. I moved here for a year...something like eight years ago.

I remember the day I received the couldn't-pass-up job offer. I cried and yelled at God pretty much the entire five hour drive to what was then home, Wolfville, NS. I was going to spend the year getting back.

Image linked from
Vintage Bistro website.

And like I said, eight years later I'm still here. I no longer have that job, in fact I work remotely for a company based in Washington, DC. I own a house and co-own The Girls Bra Shop, a local bra boutique. Others would call this putting down roots, I call it adventures. I don't stay year by year because I have to, I stay each year because I want to.

It's gems like the Vintage Bistro & Lounge in Hampton, just outside of Saint John, that keep me here. "Trendy Ambiance with Small Town Comfort". I haven't had a bad meal there yet. The owners treat everybody like their next door neighbour. The performance room has some of the best acoustics. And the artists they bring in...wow! It's truly like going to StanFest every weekend.

Image linked from Carmel's website

Last night the girls and I enjoyed the music stylings of Carmel Mikol and Garnet Rogers. Carmel's lyrics and sound made me nostalgic for a life I never had. If I were a folk artist, I would want to be her. Such great stories mixed in a pensive sound. I came home with her CD.

And Garnet Rogers, well he never disappoints. Known as one of the "major talents of our time". I was mesmerized watching his fingers sore over individual strings on his multiple guitars. He even showed me that the electric guitar can be beautiful. None of this lazy slide screeching. He played it like the instrument I never knew it was.

Image linked from Garnet's website

I sat there trying to visualize what I was hearing and this is what I came up with. The guitar sounded like an underwater aria, delicate and light. And his voice was like a timber and metal ship coasting over it. A perfect marriage of sound.

I love to travel, but last night I was glad I walked close to home.

Tammy
One of the Girls

Cruise and Excursions Are Booked

This December I'm going with a friend on the Norwegian Epic to the Eastern Caribbean. This ship boasts an adult only pool area, great entertainment (Blue man group), and rooms for solo travelers.

And yes, even though I am going with a friend we opted for the studio rooms for solo travelers. Love the thought of after a long day of massages, pool side sun bathing, wall climbing, and kayaking I will have my own room to go back to. Giggle.

The trip is around my birthday so I'm going to live it up!