That's how I greet the chickens nowadays. They love it!

It's really hard to get back into the swing of things after vacation, but there are a lot of people out and things are really mellow today, so that's good.

The extended long weekend was fabulous.

Thursday was our anniversary, so right after work we hopped in the car and headed over to Glory In Andover. It was a really pretty place with great ambiance. I splurged for a glass of Veuve Cliquot, which was fabulous. Our first courses were great - I had the goat cheese salad and he had the calimari. We had a hard time choosing entrees since the menu was a newer one than was posted on their web site and had less appetizing choices. I settled on the lobster and he had the steak. I have to say that the lobster was great, but underwhelming in a way. The sauce was a simple tomato with corn and it seemed like something I would have made for myself at home. Jim wasn't thrilled with his over-priced steak. We skipped dessert and I had a yummy chocolate covered cherry martini.

On our way out I stopped in the ladies room which didn't match the ambiance of the restaurant. The walls were decoupaged with italian movie stars and it smelled like my grandmother's basement.

All-in-all it wasn't bad, but it wasn't what we had hoped. We probably wouldn't go there again unless they had a better menu selection.

On Saturday we were up bright and early to pick up our friends (John and Kristen) and hit the road, arriving in Montreal just a smidgen after two. After settling into the hotel we hit the city for some lunch, settling on a pizza joint a block away from our hotel. We were seated right at the large open windows looking out onto the street. We had pizza and yummy sangria and were entertained by the world cup soccer fans cheering next door.

After lunch we headed to the Jazz Festival and met up with some more friends (Tim and Sarah) at which point the girls hit the shops and the boys hit the beer stands and jazz. We browsed a few stores and I have to say we spend the majority of our shopping hours in the grocery store. We were all enthralled by all the different kinds of foods that we can't get back in the States like ketchup potato chips and many different types of chocolate.

We met up with the boys later on and had dinner at a little Thai place that we had to ourselves. The boys were a bit loopy at that point and the two bottles of wine we shared at dinner made all of us very loopy. The boys went back to the jazz and we walked around the city looking for an acceptable crepes place. I had the first of five crepes that I would have over the span of three days, this one with nutella. It was to die for.

On Sunday, Kristen and I got up early for a walk around Vieux Montreal while the boys slept off their hangovers. I took a few pictures and bought a few souveniers and on the way home we hit the grocery store. Again.

We met up with everyone for lunch at Le Jardin de Nelson. It was a gorgeous place with tons of flowers and jazz and the best atmosphere and food of all the places we went in Montreal. Crepe #2 of the Montreal trip has portobello and oyster mushrooms with brie and garlic. Very filling and decadent with a side of carrot slaw. Yummy!

The girls shopped some more than headed back to the hotel for a nap and met up with everyone else for dinner at Modavi. Jimbo and I had eaten there two years ago during our first Montreal trip and loved it. I wasn't as impressed this time around, but they did make one hell of a mean martini.

After dinner, the boys went back to jazz and the girls hit the streets. We ended up at a Hookah bar. It sounds pretty dirty, but really it's just a place where people go and smoke flavored tobacco from the tall water pipes. I wasn't going to smoke, because I'm a good girl like that, but it was very different from smoking a cigarette and I actually liked it. Our hookah tasted like fraises (strawberries) and it was delish. Next was crepe #3 (nutella) then bed.

Monday morning Jimbo and I headed out for breakfast on outdoor patio where I had crepe #4 (nutella and bananas) and then hit LUSH before we got on the road. We stopped right before the border at a teeny little crepe place for crepe #5 (nutella) where we met an adorable long-haired cat who walked around with a bit of his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog.

Tuesday Jimbo and I slept in and then did some much-needed grocery shopping and chilling before headed out for dinner with his brother and friends. We ended up at an Indian place in Lowell and it was the first time I had ever had Indian food. I loved it!

That's it for the vacation. I'm back at work today. I'm skipping Weight Watcher's tonight because I obviously wasn't counting points for the past week. I'm sure I gained more than I care to know.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention the insanity that was the house situation. Remember the house we loved? The adorable little gingerbread house? Yeah, it's what the inspection guy called "lipstick on a pig." It's all pretty and nice on the inside and freshly painted with stainless appliances. Well, it has no insulation (AT ALL!) the front and the back decks need to be replaced as well as the plumbing and the electric and just about everything else you can think of. I blocked my ears and yelled "I can't hear you, naaa naa naaa, I can't hear you" after about five minutes of hearing about what awful shape the house was in.

Needless to say we rescinded our offer and it's back to square one. This happened Wednesday and I hadn't mentioned it because I was sick to death of talking about it and everyone telling me that there will be another and blah blah blah. It just took the joy right out of home-buying for me.

So, a week has gone by and Jimbo and I are again looking at houses. We did some drive-bys yesterday, but we're really not going to look seriously until we get some solid interest in the condo. Otherwise, what's the point?

Today we have the third showing of the condo since Thursday. That's about it. How was your Fourth!?