The Month Of Montréal: July 2024 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Investing, Keto, Net Worth Update, Relationships, Travel
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This month my Partner and I headed back to Montréal! We visited last summer for a month and loved it so much we wanted to come back and visit again for longer this year. So let’s see what I got up to during this month in Montréal, Canada!

I Moved To Montréal

When we lived here last summer, I loved the sunny weather and the fact that there’s almost too many free activities going on at all times during the summer. Last year we couldn’t see all the festivals that happened in the month even though I have unlimited time 🙂 . There are also delicious restaurants absolutely everywhere and the city is wonderfully walkable and transit friendly.

It also was wonderful how far the dollar can stretch given the ‘25% off’ CAD to USD exchange rate. Anyway, enough gushing about Montréal. I wrote all about it in my Slow Travel Review last year:

I had a bit of an adventure trying to get to Montréal this time however. The full story is in the post below and a summary is in this Instagram post about my bus experience:

I Hung Out With People

This month involved some of my usual virtual meetups, such as that weekly Spanish call with my Mom and Weekly Movie Nights where we watched the below. If you’re curious about my ratings of these movies, I have a Letterboxd account here.

  1. Influencer
  2. The Abyss (1989)
  3. Source Code
  4. The Abyss (2023)
  5. Working Girl
  6. The Bad Guys
  7. Dumb Money

We also had multiple friends come to stay with us in our second bedroom! One friend came to stay for a week, which was a lot of fun. I’ve booked Airbnbs with more bedrooms than we need in the past because I like them, but it was awesome for that other bedroom was put to use as more than a second closet 😉 .

I also realized that this is the first time that one specific friend of mine has been able to stay in an actual separate bedroom when visiting me and not on the couch of my NYC studio for example. I’m really living it up in retirement 😉 .

I Played Video Games

There was another Sims sale so of course I couldn’t resist 🙂 . I bought the Eco Lifestyle Expansion Pack for 60% off and for the first time – I regret my purchase. It adds some small cool things to the game, such as solar panels and water collectors so you can live off the grid easier, but overall this expansion pack makes the game worse in my opinion.

I Read 16 Books

That sounds about right. I’ve been reading more on a couch under sunny windows this month and loving it.

Here were my favorite reads this month:

  1. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation by Dr. Jennifer Gunter
  2. If We Survive by Rianne Elizabeth
  3. Hidden Scars by Andi Jaxon

To see the other books I read this month and my ratings of them, I have a Goodreads account here. Overall I’ve been continuing my new trend of DNF-ing (Did Not Finish) books if I’m not enjoying them. I used to be a completionist and think that I can’t properly evaluate a book unless I finish it, but there are too many awesome books I want to read so I no longer make myself finish one I’m not enjoying just to then have to give it a low rating. That’s no fun for anyone.

However, one fun thing about the books above is that the second one is actually written by someone I was following on Instagram for their interesting and thorough book reviews and then I was curious to read her writing debut. First books are tough, but I thought she did a great job and am excited to see what else she’ll write. Overall I was shocked that following someone random on Instagram led me to a new author I enjoy – the internet is wild 🙂 .

I Wrote 5 Posts

In case you missed it, this month I published the below posts:

  1. The Month Of Upstate NY: June 2024 Recap
  2. Cheers To 6 Years Of A Purple Life!
  3. Review: Greyhound/FlixBus – Albany, NY to Montréal, Canada
  4. Cronometer: The Best Free Food Tracking App
  5. Slow Travel Review: San José, Costa Rica – The Land Of Pura Vida

In addition to all that, I did a live Q&A for Women’s Personal Finance, which was a fun time. I also recorded a podcast and I’ll let y’all know when that’s live.

I also met up with 5 readers and 2 bloggers in Montréal this month. I think that’s a new record! It was awesome talking to people that reached out mentioning I’d be in their city and I had no idea there were so many people living in Canada reading my words. As always, it’s lovely to meet y’all IRL and see your city through your eyes. Thanks for reaching out!

Physical

Sleep

My sleep was good this month. There were a few nights where I weirdly couldn’t sleep, but those aligned with the hottest days of the month during a heat wave. I had the AC on but I guess my body still wasn’t loving it. Other than that though I slept really well.

Food

Eating this month was lovely. I had some fantastic adventures that I’m way behind on posting to Instagram and still ate keto for 61% of the month and only took 12 days off keto.

Surprisingly, after 2-3 days off keto in a row, I was thinking about getting back on it early despite my previous plans. I just feel so much better when I don’t eat carbs and sugar – it’s really wild to feel the difference. I did end up ‘sticking it out’, but I didn’t enjoy the carby food as much by the end.

I found this interesting because my enjoyment of eating carbs seems to have a short lifespan and it’s possible that it became commonplace instead of something special. All that to say I think my plan this year of taking a few days off keto here and there might work psychologically in addition to physically. It helps this food feel like a special treat instead of something normal so I appreciate it more.

Exercise

I ran less frequently this month, but I supplemented my runs by walking all over this city so I’m still happy with that. I’ve also continued with my yoga routines at a minimum after all my runs and often more frequently than that. I’ve found that it helps me feel limber and centered and only takes a few minutes. Great ROI 😉 .

One new addition to my exercise routine is meditation. I was debating which section of this post I should put this in, but decided on this one because it’s a mental exercise. I was originally planning to fully dive into meditation and focus on it next year, but I got interested in joining my Partner’s meditations and I found it super helpful. Meditating regularly helps me not be swept up in unhelpful anxious thought spirals.

I haven’t meditated regularly since it was actually a weekly scheduled activity at my 5th job aka the first one I had in Seattle that I talked about below.

That was a 30 minute guided meditation and it really helped me focus in the middle of a hectic workday and get more done despite the time spent.

Back in 2024, I started with a random YouTube meditation (below) that I enjoyed:

Then I downloaded a few free meditation apps that were recommended highly on Reddit to try them out for myself. When I decide which one I like best I’ll be sure to let y’all know in case it will help you as well. And if you use and love a free meditation app, feel free to let me know what it is and I’ll add it to my list to investigate!

Mental

Learning

So it’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For! Here’s what I learned and explored this month:

Montréal, Canada

  • I was a bit thrown off in the grocery store check out when I was asked in French if I wanted a receipt and they said facture which technically translates to “invoice/bill” according to Google Translate. Luckily I recognized the word because of its Spanish equivalent (factura) and was on my merry way after jotting down that that’s what’s used in Montréal for the receipt
  • July 1 is Canada Day, which I was told by locals isn’t really celebrated in Québec and that instead the population leans towards the French holiday of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day on June 24 as a big celebration. Good to know!
  • I was sitting in a coffee shop and heard a barista move seamlessly between speaking French, English and Spanish and then later discovered that 21.5% of the Montréal population are trilingual. Y’all are making me look bad 🙂

Flora

Montréal is covered in beautiful flowers. Here are the ones I learned the names of this month:

Common Milkweed, Common Jewelweed, Wild Carrot, Purple Loosestrife, Chicory, Sugar Maple, Common Selfheal, Purple-Flowered Raspberry, New England Aster, Red Clover, Bittersweet Nightshade, Spotted Joe-Pye Weed, Canadian Bunchberry

Source

Birds

This month was a sparrow bonanza. It was sparrows and pigeons/doves everywhere. Here’s what I saw:

Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, House Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Rock Pigeon

Creativity

My creativity this month was alright. My blog posts seem to be getting longer and longer, which obviously takes longer to write and edit so I found myself having to be really aware of when I would carve out time to write since days can slip away from me quickly when I’m hosting someone or exploring a new place.

I’m currently brainstorming how I can prepare to continue blog posting weekly and also posting pictures on Instagram while traveling more quickly this fall. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know 🙂 .

Emotional

My emotions were good this month. I got a little reflective when I realized that my experience of visiting Montréal is a great example of how far I’ve come. When I originally visited this city in college, I had very little money and as a result slept in a sketchy hostel in a tiny room with 3 bunk beds.

I remember that any wasted dollar haunted me – and I still remember each one to this day 🙂 . For example, my Partner lost his metro card during that trip and we stopped everything to look for it because $20 was a large amount of money to us.

Contrast that to this visit. I awakened one morning in my unnecessarily large two bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood and headed out to meet a reader for coffee across town. I had originally planned to take the metro, but that morning I didn’t feel like it. So I called a ride share, spent $20 and didn’t even think about it.

So much has changed and I want to make sure I don’t lose sight of how lucky I am and how different it feels to not worry about money.

Money

Speaking of money, it continues to feel like pieces of monopoly paper. This month I reached another all-time net worth high of $843,591.03, which my brain couldn’t help but contextualize this way:

And despite the market going down a little bit since that high in the middle of the month, I still ended July as a Canadian Millionaire:

That was helped along by the fact that I received my Q2 Dividends at the beginning of this month and continue to feel like money is landing in my lap through no work of my own:

And finally, I kept track of every cent I spent while exploring Québec this month to provide an example of living expenses around the world:

Overall, money continues to be “no object” and that sentiment is absolutely wild to me 🙂 .

Conclusion

And that’s what I got up to during July! In August I have one more month in Montréal living it up as a lady of leisure. We’ll see what next month brings. Until next time!

If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:

Weekly (2020)

  1. Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
  2. Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
  3. Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
  4. Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
  5. Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
  6. Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
  7. Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
  8. Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
  9. Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
  10. Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
  11. Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
  12. Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday

Monthly (2021)

  1. The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
  2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
  3. The Month of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)
  4. The Month of Atlanta: Early Retirement Month 7 (April 2021)
  5. The Month of Portland, Maine: Early Retirement Month 8 (May 2021)
  6. The Month Of New Hampshire: Early Retirement Month 9 (June 2021)
  7. The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
  8. The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
  9. The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
  10. The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021 Recap
  11. The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap
  12. The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap

Monthly (2022)

  1. The Month Of Freezing My Balls Off: January 2022 Recap
  2. The Month Of Thailand: February 2022 Recap
  3. The Month Of Spring(?): March 2022 Recap
  4. The Month Of México: April 2022 Recap
  5. The Month of Mérida: May 2022 Recap
  6. The Month of Seattle: June 2022 Recap
  7. The Month of Washington State: July 2022 Recap
  8. The Month Of New Hampshire: August 2022 Recap
  9. The Month Of Maine: September 2022 Recap
  10. The Month Of Acadia: October 2022 Recap
  11. The Month Of Argentina: November 2022 Recap
  12. The Month Of Holiday Cheer: December 2022 Recap

Monthly (2023)

  1. The Month Of Snow: January 2023
  2. The Month Of New Hampshire: February 2023
  3. The Month Of Sea: March 2023
  4. The Month Of California: April 2023
  5. The Month Of Seattle: May 2023
  6. The Month Of Chicago: June 2023
  7. The Month Of Montréal: July 2023
  8. The Month Of Troy, NY: August 2023
  9. The Month Of Australia: September 2023
  10. The Month Of New Zealand: October 2023
  11. The Month Of Puerto Vallarta: November 2023
  12. The Month Of Warmth: December 2023

Monthly (2024)

  1. The Month Of Family: January 2024 Recap
  2. The Month Of Costa Rica: February 2024 Recap
  3. The Month Of San José: March 2024 Recap
  4. The Month Of The Solar Eclipse: April 2024 Recap
  5. The Month Of Arizona: May 2024 Recap
  6. The Month Of Upstate NY: June 2024 Recap

What’s a fun fact you learned this month?

10 thoughts on “The Month Of Montréal: July 2024 Recap”

  1. Your posts never fail to bring me joy. I loved this one and now I have Montreal on my list to visit. Euro trip is right around the corner!

    Reply

    1. I’m so happy to hear that – thank you! Montréal is a hidden gem for sure. And woohoo – I’m excited!

      Reply

  2. Thanks for your detailed posts Purple, love reading them. I forgot to comment when I read it Tuesday morning lol. Anyway, Montreal seemed like a blast and congrats on your new NW high! 🙂

    Reply

    1. No worries! I’m so happy you enjoy the details 🙂 . I wonder sometimes if I’m getting too into the weeds so that’s good to hear. Thank you!

      Reply

  4. I went to Niagara Falls at the start of the summer, and one thing I noticed was how nice everyone in Canada was. It’s not just a stereotype, Canadians really are that friendly and polite. It made the trip more pleasant, even at parts that would otherwise be stressful, like waiting in line at the border crossing.

    It must be the universal healthcare.

    Reply

    1. That’s awesome! I haven’t been to Niagara yet, but I can attest that Canadians are lovely. And haha yeah it might be the healthcare – we should get us some of that 😉 .

      Reply

  5. Sounds like you had fun in Montreal, which is great! Even if the journey to get there was not so fun 🙁

    Also, OF COURSE you picked the purple-flowered raspberry in the ‘Flora’ section. I’m almost surprised that you didn’t pick one of the other purple ones from your list, like the New England Aster (never heard of it – that’s interesting!) or the Bittersweet Nightshade (PSA: poisonous, do not eat the berries!).

    Heat definitely screws with your sleep; not surprised you had issues on the really hot days. Glad you slept well the other times to make up for it! Aren’t you glad you’re retired and don’t have to go to work and deal with people after sleeping poorly?

    I noticed you got a pack for The Sims that allows you to live off the grid easier – and immediately followed that up with books. This reminded me of a novel I read recently, that caught my eye at the local library – Aurora by David Koepp. It’s about a series of three extremely strong solar flares that hit Earth, fry most of the electrical grid around the world, and most people have to learn how to live without electricity. And a wealthy tech founder who *thinks* he was prepared, but found out the hard way that things don’t always go as planned. It was well-written but also thought-provoking – you might like it!

    Reply

    1. Yeah – it wasn’t the worst experience I’ve had, but was less than ideal.

      Haha – you got me! I did have a hard time deciding which purple flower to feature 😉 . And yes indeed I am so happy I don’t have to deal with people after sleeping poorly AND that I can just take a nap later.

      That’s a cool concept for a book especially from the guy that wrote the screenplay for Jurassic Park with Crichton. I’ll check it out – thank you!

      Reply

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