Engaged

Yes, engaged....but not the married kind. The busy kind. That's my excuse for being such a lax blogger. When I was home over Christmas, someone told me they check my blog every so often. Another told me she searched and finally found my blog site. How wonderful that people actually read it!

Here's a quick update of the past few months....

In August 2007, I quit my job at MEDA. After 12 years, it was time to do something new! I decided to try freelancing (graphic design/web site design). Because it takes time to build up a business, I decided to continue living in Nicaragua. Mostly because it's cheap...or at least it can be. Partly because I wanted to keep my distance from another Canadian winter.

Went home for brief stint in August to buy a laptop and to vacation at Effingham Lake. Here I am with fellow Monopoly and Life enthusiasts. We had so much fun. And I think I won most of the games, right guys? :)



On Labour Day weekend we were a crowd of 12 or so. That included Stan and Yvonne Madigan who flew their Piper plane in from Peterborough. Stan gave a couple of us rides…what awesome views!

I flew into Nicaragua on September 4, the same time that Hurricane Felix was whipping up trouble. Felix did a lot of damage on the northeast coast. Managua is on the west coast and only suffered lots of wind and rain.

New Roomie
In September, I moved into a new place with Megan Gavin. Megan is a former Peace Corps volunteer who now works at The World Bank. In February 2008 she starts a new job for American Institutes for Research (AIR). She's a great roommate. I love her! And as an added bonus, I also got part ownership of chiquia, nuestra gato favorita!


New Work
I did intensive Spanish classes in mid-September until the end of October. It was great and I learned a lot, but I had more freelance work than I thought I would starting out…so it was busy! I decided to call myself Little Lake Graphics (my website is under construction).

New Age
“Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing.” (Jerry Seinfeld). I tried not to think of my sad, pathetic life for a day...and actually did have a happy birthday on November 4th. That thanks to my wonderful friends in Nicaragua (especially my roomie) who threw me a fiesta divertida at the very fine Seminole Hotel.

In December, Megan, Kyra, Shannon and I flew to Little Corn Island on Nicaragua's east coast. It was a blast. We stayed at a place called Casa Iguana, and spent our time relaxing and laughing and eating. I tried scuba diving for the first time and loved it!