Weekend Reading : North America through the eyes of a European

Episode 4 : Hello Canada!

We finally arrived at Montreal Airport and headed towards the immigration office. And very nice they were too!

Our visas were handed over, our bags and boys man-handled (by us) through customs and our Canadian adventure had begun!

Weekend Reading: North America through the eyes of a European.

Episode 3 : Finding a temporary base

We'd found a super place, a fully furnished contemporary condo with big terrace close to all the main amenities, and we began to visualize life in Montreal. But we lost the option on the flat, and the second search for a “home-base” resulted in a great quality, but totally empty appartment needing fully furnished...and re-painted, before it would feel like home.

Live in the Montreal area & thinking of renovating your home?

Then take a look at www.planiconseil.com where Luc Gendron & his team at Habitation Plani-Conseil are waiting to transform your home...without the headaches.

Luc takes pride in estimating all areas of your project in detail, from A through to Z.  In reality that means that you may have a bigger quote than you'd hoped for, but at least you get to know exactly what's needed...and how much it's going to cost! 

Compact Living

I've lived in large & sprawling, seriously smart...& now I'm living Compact!

Outgoings & time spent cleaning, whether you're doing it yourself, or organizing getting it done, are non- comparable. After years of living with a luxurious excess of space we find we spend more time together as a family, & we love it!

However, keeping separate space is important: the parental bedroom doubles as the 2nd TV room, complete with a cosy couch and coffee table, & the smallest bedroom is taken over for the computers and a small working desk for one. The built in wardrobe, which was tight for clothes, becomes a great area to store paper-work and those ever present technical “bits” out of sight. Use open topped boxes (clear is good) to gather like-with-like and make searching for stuff easier. I designated a shelf for school related bits and get the boys to clear it out once a month...well that's the plan anyway!

Weekend reading: North America through the eyes of a European

                                          Episode 2: Going it alone

Our businesses were hit, our contemporary Danish furniture stores were hit and the belts began to tighten Europe-wide.

Worse still, my husbands company decided to put the development of new countries on hold. They needed to look after existing countries that were struggling before going out and spending to develop new markets.

A morally sound decision we couldn't argue with, but one that had potentially big repercussions on our life. Our move was off!

Or was it?....

Decision time. To move or not to move Continents...Without the safety net of an executive relocation?