Catch'up!

Youpi! Finally a moment to catch up. There hasn't been a post here for a little while cuz the Pineault's were on the move once again! I continue to have this love/hate relationship with moving. I love that I've practically got packing & cleaning down to a T. I love that I can get rid of old/unused things. I hate that it's SO physical!! haha but it's all good :)

Our new home, for the next 21 days, is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l also. It's outside the city so at night we keep the windows open and listen to the sound of nothing and we love it! We moved in with the Healy's. They have been nothing but wonderful to us. Darlene sells capital equipment to hospitals and does realestate on the side and Jamie is an equipment manager for the Columbus Blue Jackets. They have a gorgeous home in New Albany only minutes away from downtown. They also have a DOG!!! Darlene is from Louisiana so their Cocker Spaniel's name is Louie! He is currently at my feet sleeping while I blog. I will post a pic of him a lil later!

The weekend is here. It's been a long week in our lovely "hockey life", so I'm very thankful to be able to have two full days off with Adam...sweet! Update of stuff that I forgot to include in other recent updates. The heart & stroke relay went super well ~ it raised over $60,000.00. Hats off to my family!!! Secondly, the summer Olympics rocked!! Adam and I watched all that we could every night. It never ceases to amaze me the talent, the perseverance, determination, and dedication any Olympic athlete must put forth to even be where they are.

Last Saturday, we went to see the Jonas Brothers. It was a fun concert. We got to meet them after the show (Adrianne kissed Joe Jonas) lol. Other randomness, Special K -> Vanilla Almond flavor, is my latest cereal love affair. Yummy, so good. Ok, this is ridiculously long. SORRY! Ahhhhh, thank goodness for trusty ol' Friday. Have a good LONG one everybody!

A Run To Remember

A very special event is held today and tomorrow for my cousin; "The Bruce Hadley memorial run for heart"
"The Inaugural Bruce Hadley Memorial Relay Run for Heart is the first partnership of its kind between the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This event is being held in honor of Bruce Hadley and the many others who have lost their lives as a result of heart related issues. On August 25th 2007, Bruce passed away as a result of a heart attack. It occurred while he was jogging, something he loved to do on a regular basis. Bruce was only 32 and was from Bathurst, he sadly left behind a loving wife and two young children. As an RCMP officer, he touched the lives of many people and for these reasons, his family, friends, and co-workers have decided to organize this run in his honor. "

My mom practicing for this special day

"The run will start at 8 am on August 23rd, from the RCMP headquarters in Fredericton. The run will go overnight and end in Bathurst on August 24th. This run is a non-competitive event, but each leg will be timed, and closely supervised by the RCMP. The total distance of the run is approx. 250 kilometers. The course will be broken up into several shorter legs (ranging from 5km to 17km), which will allow runners of all skill levels to participate. Each relay team will be responsible for having their members arrive at their specified leg, at the specified time."

Bruce enjoyed running

"Bruce was a role model employee for the RCMP. He worked in the Fredericton, Bathurst and Edmundston areas. Prior to his passing, Bruce was a member of the drug section in Bathurst. Bruce enjoyed giving back to the community by being involved with various groups including Operation Red Nose, minor soccer and Drug Abuse Resistance Education."

Press Releases

http://www.heartandstroke.nb.ca/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=kpIPKZOyFkG&b=3652361&ct=5592643

http://www.heartandstroke.nb.ca/site/c.kpIPKZOyFkG/b.4007417/

This weekend, all my thoughts & prayers along with my energy is sent to my family back in New Brunswick who is at the relay. I love you guys SO much xox

Weekend Update

The classic arm shot -- driving to Ann Arbor last Friday

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So, 187 miles later, we are back in Columbus. It was a fun trip to Ann Arbor!! Adam and I toured Pioneer high school where he went to in Ann Arbor. We also visited the rink, where he joined the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. We enjoyed a nice Mediterranean meal on the patio at Mediterrano. Then, Adam surprised me with a reservation at the Oasis Hot Tub Gardens. Who knew these hot tub rentals excited?!? We had the "Manitou" which was so peaceful and relaxing. Day two was good too, but not as many stops. Adam golfed at Barton Hill Country Club designed by Donald J. Ross with Mark Smith and I did a bit of shopping at the Ann Arbor mall. In the afternoon, we spent time with Adam's first billet family, Jim and Julie and ate dinner with Mark from his 2nd billet family while his wife Linda was out of town. It was nice to get to know them all! On Sunday, we drove by Mark & Linda's house to visit with the girls. They are so CUTE. Adam hadn't seen them in years and the girls were so young back in 2003 - 2004.

Happiest little girls -- Stephanie & Courtney

We couldn't stay as long as we wanted because of our drive to the Nascar race. Yes, another race! During the drive to the Michigan International Speedway, Adam and I decided we wanted to spend more time with the Smith family so we called and said, we will spend the night! At around 5pm, we were back and Linda made us a fantastic dinner. It was great to catch up with them and the girls. And the final part of our trip was also too short, we spent the day with the girls and before we knew it, it was time to hit the road again. What a wonderful time we had and I thought Michigan was absolutely b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l... Well, there's our trip in a nutshell. It was a great one!!!

More pictures will be posted on http://adammonique.spaces.live.com/

Michigan Bound!

Bout' to leave to head up north to Ann Arbor, Michigan. The sun is out right now so it will make for a fun drive. I'm excited for this little road trip to see where Adam spent a few years of his young life! Must go...errands to run before we leave :) Happy Friday!!!

PS... To all you Maritimers back home Bonne Fete des Acadiens ~ C'est l'15 Aout!!!!

Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Happy (milestone, ahem!) Birthday to my sweet 21 yrs old friend Kelsey!!!! I met Kelsey in January of this year when she was a new transfer from Columbus to Syracuse. We both had lots in common, so we were able to spend fun times together in good ol' "Cuse". And that was the beginning of a special friendships! Since then, we've done so much.

The very fun trip she and I made to visit New York City in May 2008. Of course I wish I could be there to celebrate. Happy Birthday and I miss you!!

Potpourri Posting

Things are going good here in Columbus!! It's amazing how busy I feel and I've been despite not doing the 9 to 5 thing... What can I tell you - hmmm! Well, I "Craigslisted" for the first time ever today. I love this little corner of the web. You can find ANYTHING at all here. What brough me to visit this site is a, once again, search for a place to live. We are currently renting from. Blue Jackets, Ole Tollefsen and his fiance Guro who are spending their summer home in Oslo, Norway. They return to Columbus August 27th - I believe. It's not official yet but I think (cross my fingers) that Adam found a spot for the pending 20 days that we need a place to live!! This will mark our 4th time moving in 6 months :S I can fit all my stuff in two plastic bins and a gym bag. Pretty good, a?... While I am typing away at this blog, I'm uploading some of our wedding pictures to "adammonique.spaces.live.com". It's s-l-o-w....to say the least! Think I might give up soon and upload more later. I have to type up a fancy schmancy review for our wedding coordinator. She would like to post it on the resort's website. I've been typing and typing but I'm not feeling it. I'm putting itty bitty parts of my time there! I am sooooo procrastinating on that one....Shhhht! I'm exploring shutterfly.com to create our wedding albums, so far so good!! The more serious part of my day is spent making sure we are properly preparing for my application towards a dual citizenship and working visa. I should have studied that in school....geeze! All these forms and BIG words lol but we are learning and doing our best. Adam, on his end, has a gazillion hockey pamphets to sign. I tried to help him but that didn't work out well haha!

So... Here's a pic when we drove down to Indianapolis for a full day of Racing Extravaganza. In other words, like 12 hours of heat, fast cars, a glimpse of some B-list celebrities, AWESOME people watching, and Jimmie Johnson winning the race... my brother was in HEAVEN! Here is a picture of Adam and I "with the racetrack and cars behind us" (which WAS pretty incredible - faster than it looks on tv = scary to drive and do corners at 200mph!). We escaped once in a while in the a/c suite in an attempt not to get heatstroke haha. I must admit, it was pretty fun. Especially for my brother's "hero" to win :)

Well that's about it!! Have a good one...

One World One Dream

I was absolutely astonished as I watched the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. I was amazed and wondered how they could pull off such a remarquable ceremony. A gigantic scroll, sparkling Olympic rings, acrobats created a Bird's Nest out of the human body, martial artists, dancers and drummers performed....well actually more than 20,000 highly skilled individuals performed!! I wasn't the only one watching, a whopping 840 million television watchers tuned in to the ceremony throughout the world.

Drummers are pictured during the Opening Ceremony

I was reading that the first half, "Brilliant Civilization," highlighted the past 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, and the second half, "Glorious Era," would exhibit the great achievements and the new look of modern China, portraying the Chinese nation's dream of building harmoniously with the people of the world. Must have took so much time and effort to put this unique ceremony together!!! I "heart" the Olympic :)

We found one

Who knew that only 8 little miles from us a Dunkin Donuts existed!! Our friends Shelly & Eric took us to lunch and through conversations they told us that, well in deed, our favorite coffee shop was around the corner on Dublin Granville Rd. We took no time deciding when to go...right after our lunch HA! The red light was long cuz we still didn't think that Ohio had one but to our disbelief, there it was. Of course we ordered our usual ice hazelnut coffees. We will surely make it a weekly trip!!!

Yahoo!!! It's out...

That's my hard working man's rookie card... How exciting!!! He's been champing it trying to crack a spot on this team. He is slow to complain and still glass-half-full about it all. I LOVE this quality about him! Always finding the silver lining, the best in people, the good :)

Congrats sweetheart!! I'm so proud of you xox

Precious Smiles

While we were hanging out this past week, Adam asked me what I thought about going to visit kids in the oncology/hematology dept at the Nationwide Children's hospital. ...We'd just finished having a convo about "why we complain for the smallest things" and/or "take things for granted". I thought it was a fantastic idea! So, Adam came home after practice on Friday with a whole bunch of hockey pucks. It was a spontaneous venture that we were both not too confident about cuz it wasn't "pre-organized", but it turned out to be SO wonderful!! Adam delivered personalized pucks and the kids loved it. As I jabbered on and on to nurses over our visit about how we appreciate them letting us do this, I just felt this wave of gratitude come over me. We are so blessed to have such amazing things in our life....

Adam, Adam, Adam...he is amazing! Getting his hockey pucks organized and ready to hand them out.

The Blue Jackets created this room at Nationwide Children's Hospital for the families. The idea is to create an environment where leaving the comforts of home making this challenging time as comfortable as possible for them. As we were leaving, twelve years old Seth (diagnosed with lukemia) and his mom where on the couch watching some sort of cooking show together.

It was a friday afternoon so very well spent!

Day on the lake

For our one week wedding anniversary, Adam and I went sports sailing on our friends catamaran boat and it was so much fun. This boat doesn't have an engine and totally relies on a windy day. Unfortunately, it wasn't windy but we actually had a really nice day. My favorite part was just holding on when the sails would catch a bit of wind and the boat would lean over. Let me reassure you that we were strapped into this cruising sail cat. I usually get really sea-sick on boats but not this time.

It was a great time on the water!!