HOME!!

I am very happy to announce that I am back home for the festive period, until 6th January. Very good times ahead. Im also very happy there is no snow!!

Staff Retreat, headbands & getting lost.

We all went away on our work staff retreat Tuesday to Friday. It was so much fun, a great time to build relationships and meet new people. We went to a conference centre in Guelph which is about an hour south of Toronto. We had to bring a couple of crazy customs with us for a quiz and one of the meals which was entertaining. There was a speaker from New York talking about emotionally healthy spirituality and time to hear more about what is on the cards for Muskoka Woods in the next wee a while. Not to mention time to hang out, play games and some competitions!

Work itself is still going very well; I’m looking forward to getting stuck in when I get back in the New Year. Muskoka Woods is an amzing place to work very relaxed and friendly. Not to mention having a great vision and mission. I have also found somewhere to live. It’s in the beaches in Toronto, 20 minutes from work. A newly converted, Ikea furnished basement and will be ready for me to move into when I fly back after Christmas. The best part was I didn’t even have to look for a place the owner approached me about it. I will have my own space but there is also an amazing family upstairs that will be there if I need anything or to spend time with. Best of both worlds I feel. I should also have my car soon so it’s all coming together very well. God is good.

Here’s to searching for the mighty craic, Rosie’s 12.15am birthday celebrations, winning a basket full of games, Mike pranking Jogn with Blackberry's, Tina trading and getting a tin of spam, late night laughs and chat times with Lisa, Catherine and Leslie, Josh and Rebecca dressing up as Wolverine and Jane, going bowling, making Christmas hampers, to “this is the table of hate!”, crazy air hockey matches, the story of the lips, playing headbands for hours, playing extreme guess who, Matt getting very frustrated playing headbands, John making us go outside with no coats on, to Lisa getting us lost on the way to Ikea, dinner at my bosses house, watching a high school basketball game, seeing Alice, AC, Claire and Arlene on Wednesday, Going to Romania in May and to coming home very soon.

Pictures: Top myself in search of the mighty craic, The guys in tux's are directors at Muskoka Woods and were are valet parking and door men when we arrived at the retreat. The guy second in on the left will be on the team im going to Romania with, then there is us playing headbands [so much fun- I will buy it!] then Heather, Kate and I carrying on during bowling.

Snow ploughs, flags & jig saw puzzles

I was up north at camp this weekend for the last weekend of Fall rec staff, it was a long, fun but tiring weekend. The weather/roads were really bad. I left the office in Toronto at 4.45 and arrived at 11.30pm most the way we were behind snow ploughs which is not a bad thing considering the snow storm that we were driving through!

One thing to note from this weekend was on our last night we decided it would be a good idea to prank the general manager. So at 2am in the middle of a snow storm we walked down to the flag pole and took down the Canadian flag and put up the Northern Ireland flag and put the Canadian flag in Don’s pigeon hole. Was good banter the next day, However I was told today that the cable ties we used to put the Canadian flag back up snapped so I’m sure when I see Don tomorrow at our staff retreat I will take some abuse!

Here’s to “This is Rachel, she’s from Northern Ireland and she got the job your boyfriend applied for!”, “Surely in a mini van you would just sit up to get attention!”, to getting my Blackberry, “should be fine”, Cleaning up Hazelwood, convincing Joel that Quizno's is a clean place to eat, “is this the stuff that tastes like candy?”... “Its water!”, to playing settlers with constant accent abuse!, going for the last Bent River dinner for a while, “Did someone say there was vomit? No they said they were GOING to vomit”, to Second cup choco mint chillers, “ No no… its either black or its white” “oh I just wrote on my forehead!”, Staying up until 3.30am to finish a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle to find my next secret angel clue, convincing Alice and Arlene to walk up to golf at 3.30am to get the next clue, to Alice and Arlene freaking out walking up to golf and to the Irish contingency.