Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Perils of Flying

So my flight out to Vancouver was utter hell. Arrived at the airport at 6:20 am and arrived in Vancouver 12 hours later. Probably the worst travel experience I've ever had.

Showed up a smidgen too late and ended up missing my flight. The most aggravating part was that I was in line waiting to check in and I missed my cut off. Found out that if I ended up checking in online I would have probably ended up catching it.

Thankfully got on the next flight and was relieved to find out that there was ample room for Audrey and me. Too bad the plane had to get a thingamabob fixed on it which meant that we all needed to deplane. Worst part was that I was walking all over the terminal without my stroller and with the heaviest backpack EVER (have no clue why I packed that laptop).

Begged a flight attendant to let me on the next flight. Unfortunately, my bags would have to follow from the other plane. Got squeezed in the very back beside a overly chatty woman who would not stop talking (at one point Audrey was so tired that she wailed in the woman's face, begging her to shut her yapper so she could have a moment of silence to sleep).

Ended up needing to wait for my bags in Vancouver. The ironic part was that they came only 30 minutes later. If I had just ended up waiting, I would have saved myself a ton of grief.

Patience is definitely not my best asset.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Freaky Flying

Wondering why I picked the 7:00 am flight to Vancouver.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Flying With a Toddler, Part 1: Pick Your Stroller

I'm planning on flying to Vancouver with Audrey on Thursday. Audrey's done more flying than my 40-year-old brother has done in his lifetime. I myself am a pretty seasoned flyer. But this is the first time with just Audrey and me. Usually my husband comes with. I'm a little panicked. So I'll post a few tips when travelling with a toddler throughout the next weeks.

Tip 1: Travel with an umbrella stroller

When Audrey was born, our only extravagance was the red Bugaboo Frog. We thought it would be great walking the dog at the beach and around the neighbourhood (and it was and is), but its collapsibility was killing me when travelling, not to mention while storing at daycare. (More about that in a later post.)

So I went out and bought a Maclaren.

I don't regret buying the Frog, but I will say that tooling around town in my new Maclaren Quest is a dream while shopping, and the breakdown a breeze. I'm sure it will be a hit when walking up to the plane. The Frog breaks down in two extra parts. We didn't want to bother with the travel case so we strap the seat to the frame before we board the plan. That's ok for my husband but it will be a big pain in the butt when I'm by myself dealing with a toddler. I also won't need to hassle with reassembling the stroller when leaving. Or be concerned that the wheels will be in Toronto while the seat will be in Vancouver.

More travel tips in the weeks to come...

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Climbing


Older photo and a bit blurry, but I still love it.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Hello World

So this is my very first post. Don't know exactly what this blog is going to morph into, but I've been wanting to capture not only some of the small yet huge achievements of my 18-month-old daughter, as well as balancing my life as a working mom for a large organization in Toronto.

I've recently left my job at a medium-sized interactive agency. I was only there a year. I didn't want to go; I just felt that I had to. I was working in a director-level role in this very fast-paced, growing company. When I joined, the company's Toronto location was only 8 months old. Ten months later, the office represented 20% of its total sales. Yup, it was nuts.

I went into my job fully thinking that I could keep my priorities straight. The only thing I'd have to do was "manage expectations" upfront about when I would be coming and going. "Set boundaries" of when to call it a night. And it worked for a bit. But as my job got more and more demanding, I found that my work performance was suffering and I was still rushing home just to barely tuck my little girl into bed.

So no one was winning.

Anyway, I decided to leave that place in search of a challenging job that would still let me be a mom. Today, I'm signing on the dotted line for a new role. I'm starting in two weeks. I'm optimistic that this will be the one.