halloween weekend in montreal

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge sports fan.  Sure, I like to go to the odd hockey game and cheer on my team... but that's mostly due to the fact that my husband cheers on the rival team.  Given this fact, it would seem rather unfair that I have had my share of good luck when it comes to working flights that are somehow sports related.   There was the time a couple of years ago when I was called on standby to work a flight to Capetown during FIFA.  Other crew members had spent the month trying to bid and swap for that very flight, and there I was, oblivious to the sport and off to participate in the fun.  

This time around, I was headed to Montreal to bring the city's football team for a big game.  I'd had many people offer to take the flight off of my hands, but I was looking forward to it and refused to let it go.  It was an early morning, but with coffee in hand I headed to work. I was lucky enough to have my husband drop me off at the airport, getting my day off to a great start. 

We boarded the plane and headed east. It was quite a different flight than usual, with lots of food to serve to hungry football players.  It was busy, but I know that there were many other flight attendants (primarily female) that would have loved to have been in my shoes.  

Once we'd landed in Montreal, the rest of the crew went to their rooms to nap, while I chose to shower and relax instead. I sipped coffee and stared out the window at the beautiful autumn colours that have long departed Alberta.  

We'd agreed to meet up later in the day for dinner.  By this point, I was starving. We returned to one of my local favourites, the Fireside Grill. I ordered my usual French onion soup, warming me up and satisfying my endless craving for soup.  Once we'd finished eating it was time to head downtown, seeing as how we had more time in the city than a typical layover.  We caught the metro, following swarms of people dressed in costumes as it was the Saturday prior to Halloween.  Though I wasn't dressed in costume, I'd borrowed a pair of high heels adorned with pink skulls from another flight attendant, making me feel a bit more in the Halloween spirit.  

Rule number one when planning a night out on a busy evening: Have a plan.  We learnt this lesson as we wandered the streets aimlessly in search of a venue that didn't have an outrageous cover charge. The girls in the group wanted to dance, and while there were few things that I wanted to do less, I tagged along because I didn't want to be the only member of the crew that was anti-social and alone in the hotel.  Besides, I'd read my horoscope on the plane and it had told me to go out of my comfort zone and have fun this evening. I couldn't argue that. My feet were throbbing as we continued walking, forcing me to trade shoes with the girl that I'd borrowed from in the first place.  Despite the other's frustrations at finding nowhere to go, I was happy to wander the city and take in the sights at night.  

Eventually, we came across an Irish pub that happened to play music that I was embarrassed to love. The high school student in me sang along and even briefly joined in the dancing, despite my blistered feet.  We were among the few that were not dressed in costume, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.  

Eventually it got late and we agreed to call it a night. By this point, the metro was no longer running, so we took a taxi back to our hotel.  We left at just the right time, as the streets were filled with party animals and things were getting rather crazy in downtown Montreal.  

I showered before bed to cleanse my dirty, sore feet after spending some time barefoot in the pub and wash my legs from the drinks that had been spilled on me.  I was so happy to finally crawl into bed, having been awake for nearly 21 long hours.  

The next morning I attempted to wake up for the free hotel breakfast, but sleep won the battle and I stayed in bed instead. The time difference meant that sleeping in until 11 was only really 9 am my time. 

I met up with a couple of the girls for lunch, at the food court of the mall. I'd been trying my best to keep up with my healthy eating, but that afternoon nothing looked more appealing than greasy Chinese food.

 The other girls returned to the hotel to nap and nurse hangovers, while I continued to wander the mall followed by a brisk walk through the autumn leaves. We had tickets to the football game, but given the distance from the stadium and the fact that we had to be to the plane much earlier than the players, we would have only been able to watch the first half of the game... and even that would have left us with barely enough time.  Instead, I watched the game from my hotel room.  At first there was little hope, but our home team worked a few miracles in the second half of the game.  With 2 seconds to spare, they had a chance to tie the game... but unfortunately were unable to do so.   It was a disappointment, but it also meant that we wouldn't have to stay late due to overtime.  As soon as the game ended, I had to head to the lobby to check out of my room and meet the rest of the crew.  It was time to get out of Montreal before a certain hurricane made its way up north.

We headed to the plane, got everything set up, and waited for the team. As I'd anticipated, there were few if any smiles during boarding.  They'd come straight from a losing game to the plane, and they weren't feeling too happy with themselves. I made it my mission the cheer them up, given the few resources that I had.  Trust me, extra cheese and crackers goes a long way.  

It was a long journey home, but we finally began our descent into Edmonton. In a brief terrifying moment, I was almost punched. You want to do something dangerous? Wake up a 250 pound football player from his slumber. His automatic defence reaction nearly kicked in before opening his eyes to realize that I was not someone invading his home and trying to kill him, but rather a flight attendant asking him to put on his seatbelt. 

Home sweet home at last, I said goodbye to my crew and hello to my husband who was patiently waiting for my arrival in a nice warm car!  

Before I Was a Flight Attendant...

Lately all of my parent friends have been posting these "Before I was a mom..." lists, summarizing how life has changed since they have had a child. This got me thinking about my past life.  I'm not trying to compare motherhood to being a flight attendant, but let me tell you... my life before this career was a heck of a lot different than the life that I know now! I decided to create my own list, of my life before I was a flight attendant.  So here goes... 

1. Before I was a flight attendant, sleeping in meant waking up at lunch. Now it means anything beyond 7:30 am.   
2. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never, ever used an iron or a steamer.  
3. Before I was a flight attendant, I packed everything in my closet for a weekend away.  
4. Before I was a flight attendant, I couldn't improvise. Freezing cold on a long flight? Fill up a (clean) diaper with hot water... disgusting? A little bit. Cozy and warm?  Better than a hot water bottle. 
5. Before I was a flight attendant, I spelled my name K-R-Y-S-T-A... not Kilo Romeo Yankee Sierra Tango Alpha.  
6. Before I was a flight attendant, I led a sheltered, untraveled life.  Now I've seen 36 countries.  
7. Before I was a flight attendant, I had a fear of public speaking.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome onboard, where you have no choice.  
8. Before I was a flight attendant, I had a few cups of coffee a week. Now I own my own espresso machine. 
9. Before I was a flight attendant, travel was a once a year type thing.  Now it's my life.  
10. Before I was a flight attendant, I used full names of cities rather than their airport codes.  
11. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never scavenge through dozens of used meal trays in hopes of finding chocolates that hadn't been consumed. 
12. Before I was a flight attendant, I could never look at something and know automatically that it would not fit in a certain space. Now, I beg of you... check your giant suitcases, they won't fit! 
13. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never walked in on so many people using the washroom. There is a lock, believe it or not. 
14. Before I was a flight attendant, I went to specific stores for specific groceries rather than foreign countries. 
15. Before I was a flight attendant, I worked the same hours with the same people every single day.  
16. Before I was a flight attendant, an airplane was an airplane... fuselage, ailerons, and horizontal stabilizers were all Greek to me. 
17. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never seen so many gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. 
18. Before I was a flight attendant hotels were a rare novelty, not a second home.
19. Before I was a flight attendant, I envied flight attendants and thought that they were the most glamourous people on the planet. 
20. Before I was a flight attendant, I envisioned pilots as dreamy, attractive men.  
21. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never stayed awake for more than 24 hours in a row.  
22. Before I was a flight attendant, I never had to be within a certain weight bracket for my job.  
23. Before I was a flight attendant, I never wore high heels or lipstick. Ever. 
24. Before I was a flight attendant, I never searched for emergency exits in large buildings or kept a fire extinguisher in my kitchen. Safety first!  
25. Before I was a flight attendant, I never used the 24 hour clock.
26. Before I was a flight attendant, I'd never even heard of some of the places I've now been to. 
27. Before I was a flight attendant, my blog was a boring documentation of my Monday-Friday life, and I had approximately 3 followers.  

I could go on, and on, but I've covered the main points. I hope that my fellow cabin crew members can appreciate and agree with me on these points... please... feel free to add your own in the comments! 

Life has changed, and I would not trade it for the world.  

bring your husband to work day.

Every job has it's share of ups and downs.... mine, quite literally.  We all have our good days and bad. Sometimes I run around in the sky for 14 hours, ready to collapse with exhaustion. Other days, it feels like a bit of a vacation. The latter was the case on my most recent pairing.

With winter looming on the horizon, there were places in the world that I'd rather be flying to than cold, snowy, Yellowknife.  However, when my husband made the last minute decision to join me on my trip, I didn't care where we were headed.  He went off to the airport to list for standby travel... one of the greatest perks of being married to a flight attendant. He was given a boarding pass right away and we were both excited about our mini-holiday.  

I was a deadheading crew member, thus sat as a passenger on the flight up. Once boarding was complete I spotted an empty seat next to Ryan and quickly swooped in to grab it. We sat side by side as the plane took off, for the first time since our wedding trip in April.  We shared our snacks and played games on his iPhone until we landed in Yellowknife. It was cold, but still warmer than it had been at home.  Ryan joined us in the crew shuttle and we headed to the hotel.  It was late on a Sunday evening, thus not a lot of action in the northern city. We agreed to join the pilots for dinner and the 4 of us marched through the cold to the only place open... Boston Pizza. After some French onion soup, beer for the boys and a caesar for myself, we left with full stomaches and returned to our rooms. Exhausted (I'd worked hard, after all), we curled up under the covers and had a long, wonderful sleep.  We woke the next morning with a full day of freedom ahead of us. Longing for non-hotel coffee, we bundled up and ventured into the cold. Our first stop was a popular coffee shop, were we sipped our morning dose of caffeine.  

Heading back into the cold, we proceeded to walk towards Old Town.  The wind gusts were bone chilling and I would have loved to have been indoors, but it was Ryan's first time in the north and I wanted him to enjoy himself. We walked up a tall hill with a great view of the city and the water.  Shockingly, neither Ryan nor myself had brought our cameras in the frenzy to get packed and head to the airport. We settled for iPhone photos, which was a bit of a relaxing change.  In the past, exploring meant spending forever trying to get the perfect shots.

We were both feeling rather chilly, so we decided to head back in the direction of the hotel and find somewhere to eat lunch.  We decided upon a Vietnamese restaurant. Few things are more comforting on a cold winter's day than a giant bowl of pho noodle soup.  

After lunch we stopped in a few stores in search of the perfect souvenir to bring home.  We ended up making our purchase at a pet store, where we found the cutest Canada Goose jacket... for Niko.  Now before you call me a crazy dog lady, understand that my puppy is a tiny little fur ball who can't cope with cool weather very well.  Having a cozy jacket will allow us to take him outside so that he isn't stuck cooped up in the house for the never-ending winter in Edmonton. Oh, and did I mention that I have an identical human sized version? (Okay, now you can call me the crazy dog lady.)

We retuned to the hotel to drop off our purchases and throw on a few more layers of clothing before venturing out again.  My favourite thing to do in Yellowknife is to walk the 7 kilometre loop around Frame Lake, and I was looking forward to sharing the experience with my husband.  It's tradition for us to write in the sand on every beach that we go to, so we stopped along the lake shore and attempted to write in the frozen sand.  After a failed effort, we gave up and finally decided to write the letters using sticks.... much easier than carving through icy sand.  

Continuing on our walk, Ryan was able to see why I enjoyed the trail so much. We climbed up the pink rocks, carefully watching our footing so as to not slip on the icy patches.  We walked and walked and walked, stopping for the occasional photo.  

Ryan raced down the boardwalks, sliding through the snow like a happy little boy.  He lives for winter, and I was happy that my job allowed us to both enjoy such experiences.  It took us a couple of hours, but we'd finally made it back to the other side of the lake. We picked up some sushi to eat in the hotel room, and then after much persistence, Ryan agreed to stop at the cafe for some more warm beverages. I was stuck deciding between a chai latte or a hot chocolate, so I ordered both, drank my favourite, and gave the other to Ryan. It was a delicious, creamy hot chocolate that made my day complete.  

We relaxed for a couple of hours before it was time to head to the airport to fly back home.  

The flight wasn't full, so Ryan had no issue getting on with a standby ticket. I was crew on this flight, and for the first time in 3 years of flying, my husband was able to see me at work!  Seated at the front of the cabin, he had front row seats to watch my safety demo, although he paid no attention so as to not distract me.  After a quick service, I had time to spare before descent, so I sat down next to him and chatted to pass the time.  I returned to work to secure the cabin before landing, and then we touched down in Edmonton. Home sweet home, where it was much colder than it had been up north! Ryan got off with the rest of the passengers as I headed for the employee parking lot, where I drove home and reunited with my furry little love, Niko. 

For a layover that I hadn't anticipated to be all that exciting, it had been a great trip! Everything is better with good company, and I felt so fortunate to have been able to bring my husband to work!  

newfoundland!

Once upon a time, overnight flights were life as I knew it.  24 hours of being awake was a completely normal part of my existence, and I shrugged off being tired and just accepted it as a trade-off for my awesome career.  Fast forward a few years, and whether it's a case of me getting older or just being acclimatized to more routine hours of consciousness... It's certainly not as easy as it used to be.
I found this out as I was halfway across the country, with hours of flying left in my duty day. I was en route to St. John's, Newfoundland, via every single city on the way. Okay fine, not quite... via the oil sands, Winnipeg, and Deer Lake. It was a long evening/early morning that was spent drinking mass amounts of caffeinated beverages, reading almost an entire novel, and walking aimlessly up and down the aircraft aisles between the sleepy, snoring passengers. We left Edmonton at 8 pm, and arrived 10 hours later.  It was a sunny morning in St John's, and I felt terrible wasting any time sleeping, but my body refused to go on any longer.  Before my nap, I made a quick stop to visit my friend Nicole, who was among the crew taking the plane we'd just brought over back to Alberta. We hugged and chatted before she returned to work and I crawled into my long awaited bed.  Ahhh, sleep. I could have spent the entire day lying there, but I'd made plans with friends and was forced to awake from my slumber.  My friends and former coworkers Apryl and Dave moved back to Newfoundland a few years ago, and have since started a family and a very successful photography business called Ray of Light Photography.  Dave picked me up at my hotel, with a Starbucks latte waiting in the vehicle. Step number one in becoming best friends with a flight attendant:  Offer coffee.
  I met the kids and we drove to their house where Apryl was busy working away.  Her project that day was a stop motion video with a friend and cervical cancer survivor.  It was a lot of work, but the finished result is going to be amazing.  I was happy to tag along and help out wherever I could.  The photos were taken in several different locations, which was a bonus for a tourist like myself.
We went into the city, and up to Signal Hill, which was a gorgeous spot overlooking the city and the water. I let the pro do her thing and went off to do my tourist thing and take a few of mine own quick shots... a few on my camera, and a couple of the mandatory Instagram snaps. 

They decided to wrap up for the day, but before returning home Apryl took me to a gorgeous little spot called Quidi Vidi. It was once a fishing village, and now home to a brewery, beautiful landscapes, and a couple of dream houses. Old boats lay scattered on the shore, and the ocean stretched as far as we could see! Being the photographer that she is, Apryl snapped some photos of me in all of my happy traveler glory.  As someone who generally explores new places solo, it's uncommon for me to ever have photos that I'm in. It was great to have something to say "Hey look, I was here!". I truly appreciate it, especially from a busy and talented photographer! Despite the fact that I'd slept only 2 hours, she managed to make me look good!  (If only Blogger wasn't so stubborn with photos...) 

We returned to the house where we caught up on the past 5 years and cheered on baby Kenzie as she took her very first steps! I felt so special to have 

been there on such an exciting day.  We spent a couple of hours chatting before we were treated to a wonderful dinner courtesy of Dave. My goodness, he can sure cook. I felt spoiled as I sat there sipping wine with old friends. Let's be honest... my job is awesome.  

I felt as though I might actually fall asleep at the table, and the next morning I'd have to fly home, so I taxied back to the hotel and retreated to my bed.  I was exhausted, but I'd had a good day in St. John's and I couldn't wait to return. 

The next day was a long one... 13 hours to be precise.  To make matters worse, I was forced to drink hotel coffee. Since my wonderful husband purchased a coffee bean grinder to go along with our espresso machine, I've been spoiled and I'll admit that I'm a coffee snob. Drinking hotel coffee was no easy task, but I needed it for the long day ahead.  Eventually we landed in Edmonton and I drove home and called it a night. I had the bed to myself for the first time since we moved in nearly a year ago, and I took full advantage of this by lying diagonally across it. As much as I love traveling to new places, I'm very excited about the fact that I now have 4 whole days off! Hello, relaxation!  

the sleep battle

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.

That is what I tell myself every single time that the alarm goes off. It's my own little pep talk. 

"You can do this Krysta. Sure, it's 3 am. Sure, every other person that you know is fast asleep... or in the case of my younger brother, just crawling into bed. Sure it's cold and dark.  But it could be worse. You could sleep a few extra hours and then head to a monotonous day job in an office. You have an awesome job, you spend your days in the sky.... this is worth it. Get out of bed."

This week has been particularly challenging. One morning, I had a 2:45 am check in.  Do you know what time you have to wake up to be at the airport for 2:45 am? I do. 1:00 in the morning.  I can think of few things more disgusting than that.  On the bright side, the Northern Lights were gorgeous as I drove on the empty roads, and even more beautiful from the flight deck at 30,000 feet. I survived the day with the help of my best friend in the whole wide world... caffeine.  My name is Krysta, and I am a coffee-holic.  Speaking of which, my amazing husband of 6 months (yesterday was our half-aversary) spoiled me with a top of the line coffee grinder.  Now I can buy whole coffee beans, grind them into espresso perfection, and make amazing lattes. 

That's what I've been doing this evening, in an effort to stay awake as late as possible.  I'm shifting my body clock in preparation for an overnight flight tomorrow evening. Ahh, the return of the red eye. It's okay if I've had adequate time to rest before hand, but I haven't. Just last night I returned from Montreal and I'm all out of whack. I want so badly to crawl into bed or cuddle up next to my husband who is fast asleep and snoring on the couch, but I can't. Not yet.  It's barely past midnight. Time for another coffee.  

My puppy is running around the house with energy that I can only dream of. When did I get so old? I used to call it a night at 5 am. 18 year old me would be ashamed of myself.  It's safe to say that tomorrow night is going to be a tough one, but when it's all said and done I'll be somewhere new and exciting and that makes it all worthwhile.  Despite my complaints, I really do love my job, I'm just rather fond of sleep as well. 

paid vacation.

Excuse the delay in posting about this trip, but I've been busy doing important things. Important things like stuffing my face with Thanksgiving food. Pumpkin pie, turkey, and stuffing make this one of the best holidays. How many days of the year do you plan for nothing but mass consumption of food? Since I'm now married and have 2 families to celebrate with... it's an entire weekend of excessive eating. I love this holiday.

Speaking of holidays.... my last layover felt a bit like a short vacation with the exception of having to work on the flights. On Wednesday I flew a couple of quick flights, ending up in Saskatoon.  Normally Saskatoon isn't a hugely exciting place to have a layover, but I'm fortunate to have friends there.  It was a short stay, designated primarily for sleeping. Despite this, I met up with my friend and former roommate Kimmy, along with her boyfriend Justin. They were in the midst of mid-term stress, so I treated them to their coffee and we chatted for awhile before I headed back to the hotel and curled up in bed.

The next day was an early, but an easy one.  It started out with free breakfast in the hotel. I'd packed so much food for this trip, completely unaware of the free meals available to me. Despite this, I took advantage of what was free, because like almost every other flight attendant I've met... I'm cheap.  My crew and I headed for the airport for my flight to Montreal. This flight was a deadhead, meaning that I was flying on another airline as a passenger, and not a working flight attendant.  It also happened to be via Edmonton, which was slightly annoying given that Edmonton is the opposite direction of Montreal.  I was not about to complain, because as it turned out, my entire crew had been upgraded to business class. The difference between business and economy class was like night and day. Sure, I've worked for a rather impressive airline with exceptional service in all classes, but I've sat in economy class my entire life and this was a first time experience for me. I was excited, but tried to maintain my composure so as to look like I fit in.  I'll be honest, it took everything in my power not to take photos of the menus, headsets, hot towels, and hot meal that were brought to my seat. All of these are standard service in the economy cabin of my former airline, but in Canada you pay extra for absolutely everything unless you sit in business or first class.  I enjoyed my meal, thinking of the poor people in the back who would not  be offered so much as a cookie on the 4 hour journey. I, on the other hand, was offered 2 cookies that were accompanied by a miniature bucket of ice cream.  I kicked myself for having agreed to the October no junk food challenge as I sadly declined the delicious treats that my business class ticket entitled me to. After being wined (or at least offered it, but I had to decline due to the fact that I was on duty) and dined for 4 hours, we landed in Montreal.  I checked into my hotel and was shocked at the size of my room. I had a kitchen, a living room, a separate bedroom and bathroom. All for me, all for a 14 hour layover. 

The other flight attendants were full from eating so much on the flight, but I wasn't ready to call it a night. I agreed to go find dinner with the captain, and we ended up at a restaurant close to the hotel. When in Montreal, it feels somewhat mandatory to eat French cuisine. I settled upon French onion soup. Delicious, cheesy, happiness in a bowl.  It was wonderful, and just what I'd needed.

 Returning to my room I popped a bag of microwave popcorn after confirming with my husband that it was allowed in our junk food free challenge. I realized shortly after making it that I wasn't in fact hungry and that it was more the novelty of having a room stocked with popcorn.  I took a bubble bath to relax after a long, ridiculously easy day.  I was feeling rather spoiled. I finished off my evening with a chat over Face Time to my husband and puppy, who was confused to hear my voice from the phone and not be able to find me at home. It was hard to force myself to sleep in a different time zone, but it had to be done. 

I woke up at 6 am, grumpy that it was actually 4 am in the time zone that my body was used to.  It doesn't matter how many early mornings I endure, I whine and think that my life is horribly unfair for the first 30 minutes of being forced awake.  Things got better as I remembered that there was free breakfast in this hotel as well... and not just a continental breakfast of muffins and toast. This time, I was having bacon and eggs and all in life was wonderful.  I actually do work once in awhile, as I was doing that day.  We flew to Thunder Bay, picked up more passengers and continued on to the Northern Alberta oil sands. With 6 hours between flights, we were bussed to the camp hotel where the workers stay on their rotations. It was a very strange place with long hallways and far too many corridors. I followed the rest of the crew, afraid of getting lost.  It was nice to nap for a few hours after such an early morning. When I woke up, it was time to eat again. I proceeded to the dining hall to load up on all sorts of delicious food at the buffet. If I work this pairing too often I may end up obese with all of the free food.  With full bellies, we proceeded to the airport, boarded our plane, and flew home. 

Home sweet home! It had been an easy few days with some of the best crew I've worked with in awhile, but it was nice to get back to my house, husband, and puppy.  I'll repeat this trip again next week!  

Still Thankful.

Since this blog began, it's been tradition to compile my list of things that I'm thankful for each and every Thanksgiving.  In all honesty, I should really do this more than once a year to truly put things into perspective.  My life is amazing and I am thankful for every aspect of it. There are far too many things to list them all, so I'll just stick with a few of the big ones... in no particular order. 

1. I'm thankful for Thanksgiving. Not only does it make me reflect and give thanks for how good I've got it, but it's a day that revolves around turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Days don't come better than that.  

2. I'm thankful for having both mine and my husband's sides of the family. They are all so wonderful and the added bonus of being married is that you get to celebrate holidays such as Thanksgiving twice.  I don't think that I need to eat for a few months after this weekend.  

3. I'm thankful for a warm home, in what my biased opinion finds to be the greatest country in the world.  

4. I'm thankful for my best friend - My husband, and the 6 amazing months of marriage that we've enjoyed so far this year.  Forgive me for sounding cliche, but he really does complete me.  I would be so lost without him.

5.  I'm thankful for my puppy Niko, for entering my life and making it so much better. I never knew how much I could love a little dog, and now that he's my very own I love him like he's my child.  

6. I'm thankful for my job, particularly after the beginning of this year when I was unable to fly and came to the realization of just how important it is to me. There is really nothing else that can make me as happy as boarding a plane and calling it work. Do what you love, and you'll love your life. 

7. I'm thankful for this blog and all of my followers... this will be my 300th post! Knowing that people read and await each post motivates me to continue writing them... and that's a good thing because I really do enjoy doing it. 

8. I'm thankful for my friends, near and far, old and new. Anywhere that I go, friends are never far away. 

9. I'm thankful for my health. This year I finally decided to stop taking it for granted after seeing so many people suffering and realizing just how fortunate I am.  Being healthy is the one thing that allows me to fully enjoy all of the other things that I'm thankful for.  

I could go on all day long, because I'm really that lucky and truly blessed. You probably are too, if you take the time to stop and think about it.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers, and for you non-Canadians, rest assured... I ate enough turkey for all of us over the past 3 days. 

october!

October is here! Is it just me, or has this year gone by incredibly fast? Do they all go by this fast? Am I really getting that old?  It's hard to believe that we are already well into autumn. It seems like not so long ago I was counting down the days until our Mexican wedding, looking forward to escaping the snow. As of this month, we will have been married for half a year... 6 months, already! I still love him just as much as I did that day on the beach, which I suppose is a good thing given that we're in this for the long haul.  

With October, comes another busy month of flying. I've got some fun overnights that I'm really looking forward to, as well as some long single day pairings... including one particularly disgusting 2:45 am check in. How do you wake up at 1 am feeling well rested? That, my friends, is a question I've yet to have an answer to... even after 3 years in this career. 

As some of you may have come to know in the years of following this blog of mine... I like stupid challenges that tend to frustrate me yet I still embark on. Challenges like taking a photo every single day, eating strictly paleo, or giving up chocolate for Lent. 

Thanks to an agreement with one of my husband's Facebook friends that I've never even met, this month is Junk-Food Free October. With the exception of Thanksgiving, there will be no chips, chocolate (a small dark chocolate square is okay when I'm in desperate need of a fix), soft drinks, alcohol, desserts, or fast food until November. It's a good time to do it... because presented with the same challenge in the Christmas food filled months of November and December, I'd simply give up on day one.  Oh, and coffee... coffee is allowed. Because let's be honest... I'm a flight attendant. This should always, always be an exception.  I do eat pretty healthy on a regular basis as it is, but I like a challenge. There is no better way to support my husband's weight loss goals than to give up the foods that we love together.  I'm all optimistic and determined today, but I guarantee you that by day 3 I'll by whining about missing cake and chicken wings.  The real challenge is saying no when you are in a metal tube in the sky, bored on a long flight with tempting food all around. I love food.

Anyways, since this is proving to be one of the most pointless posts in awhile, I'm off to take my puppy for a run.... which will turn into a walk once I get 30 seconds in and realize that I hate running. 

Happy October, my lovely, lovely followers!