Life is getting back into that busy routine, of school, tutoring, gym, repeat. I've started everything now, except the American School, which goes back in October. I'm working an extra afternoon now at the nursery school this year which is great, and have less tutoring this year, which should also help minimize the craziness that tends to ensue when I end up working six or seven days of the week (depending on what replacements I do at the gym).

Erik has been busy as well, off to Valencia for a week long conference (which the lab secretary forgot to pay for...) where he enjoyed a visit to the aquarium with his boss and enjoyed a beer while watching the dolphin show. Then he had a work retreat last week for three days in the south of France where he wowed his lab with his superior presentation skills.


In other news, upon returning from Japan, and deciding that we were probably going to have to stay in our apartment for at least another year, we decided that it was time to get a new bed. We've spent the past three years sleeping on a rock hard mattress on a trampoline like frame of springs. The only thing that made it possible to sleep on it was the fact that we stored our suitcases under the bed and they provided enough support to keep us from constantly rolling together into the middle of the bed.

When we were in Japan, Erik decided that it was more comfortable sleeping on futons on the floor than our bed, and hence dragged me out to Ikea the Friday that we returned. Let me tell you, if there is anything that you should avoid when jet lagged, it's shopping at Ikea. It's guaranteed to drive you crazy and test your relationship on a good day, but when you're just barely managing to keep your eyes open it will likely end in one party not speaking to the other, and leaving the store with some random things that serve no purpose whatsoever to improve your sleeping situation.

We returned the next day (a Saturday, aka the worst day to visit Ikea) purchased a bed frame and a mattress, waited thirty minutes for it to come out of the warehouse then promptly lined up to have it delivered (although we seriously considered trying to bring it on the train--it was only 30 kilos. We're tough, right?).

Sunday was spent dragging the old solid metal bedframe and rock slab mattress down 6 flights of stairs and out to the curb, then hauling the new mattress back up the stairs (luckily the frame, in it's handy Ikea sized boxes fit in the elevator.) Erik enjoyed an evening of bed construction, and I like to think that we've been together long enough to know that it's best if we don't try and do that kind of thing together. I mean, he actually reads the manual! And uses tools other than the Allen key! Who'd a thunk?

*****
We've also finally figured out what we're going to do for Christmas. After a couple of months of tossing potential ideas around, and watching ticket prices get steadily more expensive, we've settled on Ottawa. Erik's family will all be there to join in the fun, and I'm looking forward to being home for the holidays for the first time in five years. I'm not so much looking forward to the cold however...