The One With Thanksgiving Weekend

For those of you who may have been confused about the title of this post, no I have not time travelled! Here in Canada-land Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October. If you're the history buff type you can read up on Canadian Thanksgiving here. 

On Thursday J.'s Mom had a knee replacement so Friday afternoon I met up with J. to visit her at the hospital. We had a little visit and then J. & I went and had lunch at Boston Pizza afterwards. When we arrived I realized that a contributing factor to choosing Boston Pizza was the Blue Jays game. I'm pretty sure I am the only person in Canada who is not at all interested/entertained by the Blue Jay's winning streak. Regardless of what was happening on the TVs we had a pretty good meal. And by meal I mean we shared the appetizer platter which is really the best. When we finished eating mass quantities of finger foods J. had to head back to work and I headed to Michael's. I was planning on using my 50% off coupon to purchase a Project Life core kit to use in 2016, but when I got there the albums were buy one get one free so I ended up getting those and using my coupon on a stamp. Next week I'll use the coupon for the core kit! I'm not sure what my plan for the two albums will be, I'm thinking that the black one with the cameras all over it will be used as a traditional photo album, a place to store all of the "extra" photos that I take/print but don't fit into Project Life albums or scrapbooks. That leaves the striped one to use as a Project 52 type album. 

Albums via Becky Higgins

Saturday I spent the day at home. I did some research on extra Crests & Challenges for Sparks and ordered activity books and post cards from Veterans' Affairs for Remembrance Day. I decided to go with a "Pumpkin Party" theme instead of a "Halloween Party" so I've been brainstorming and Pinterest-ing some fun pumpkin ideas. 

Sunday is when the real feasting started! My grandmother went all out this year and made five different kids of pies. Which is crazy, but also awesome. Lemon pie is my absolute favourite but I also like a piece of pumpkin since it's Thanksgiving and all. Prior to all the pie eating I ate my fill of stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and homemade rolls. 

After we ate J. and I went for a walk and I snapped a few photos. Only a few though because it was starting to get chilly outside. We drove the long way home because fall leaves are pretty but the leaves are only just starting to turn. By next weekend they will be full out red, yellow and orange but this weekend there is still a lot of green. J. continued on to his parents to visit with his Mom who, thankfully, was discharged from the hospital and is continuing to recover at home. 

Monday I ventured up to our attic and got my camping gear out in preparation for this weekend. I still need to find a few more things that I am confident I own, just very unsure about where they are in my house. We had a low key turkey dinner with J.'s parents and I was home in plenty of time to crawl into bed by 10:00. 

This week I have a financial training meeting for Girl Guides on Thursday and on Friday I'm going camping for the weekend with a group of Girl Guides and Pathfinders. I'm also way behind on my October Goals so I should probably do something about that too!

Hello, Friday Favourites!

I was going to take the day off today but then yesterday I saw that Oh, Hey Friday had a new button that I am totally in love with and really wanted to use and so a post was born. 

So that brings me to my first favourite of the week:

The paisley and the colours...the best. Tied into this favourite is the fact that I'm writing this blog post because I genuinely want to and not because I am consumed with guilt and determination to blog a bunch of times in one month. 

My second favourite this week...

J. came home from Florida and brought me my beloved Vanilla Coke (some of which he put in his fridge for me so it would be cold when I went over last night) and a super cute bag. I told him numerous times I would have been perfectly happy with just the coke but his extra thoughtfulness is also appreciated. Last night we had pizza and garlic fingers then went for ice cream and watched some Jon Oliver. Definitely a low key night but a great way to spend a Thursday evening.

My third favourite this week...

Wednesday I went to a local farmer's market and I bought this amazing cupcake. It was a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. My mouth is watering just thinking about the icing. Seriously, it was the most delicious dessert I've ever tasted. I would eat it by the spoonful if possible. I need to stop thinking about it now because I'm just making myself sad that I don't have another one to eat right now.

My fourth favourite this week....

Tuesday I spent the day at my grandparent's house and took a bunch of photos. There's something magical and therapeutic about adventuring with my camera. I looked into taking a photography class this fall but it's on Saturdays and I've already committed myself to some Guiding events so I know I'd have to miss classes and it just doesn't seem logical to sign up when I know I'll miss classes. I'm hoping that they'll offer it again in the winter because I'd love to learn more about my camera in a more interactive way. Pinterest and photography blogs are great, they're just not the same as an actual class.

My fifth favourite thing this week...

Pinterest

I love summer. September is stressful and a huge transition month, but October...October I can get on board with. The leaves are pretty and I do enjoy sweaters and boots. And hot drinks and loads of fresh vegetables. I like Octobers. This year I'm hoping to make a trip to the pumpkin patch with J. and do lots of hiking and camera adventures in the midst of all the fall leaves. 

Bonfires & Burgers

For the second time this summer the stars aligned and session break fell on a weekend. I drove home for the weekend since this is our longest break of the summer and pulled into the driveway at 7:00 Thursday night, perfect timing for a long weekend to officially begin. It's also finally starting to feel like summer around here. May and June have been cold, damp and rainy. We've spent a lot of time indoors and when the sun has been shining it's often still too cold to be outside without pants and a hoodie. Being able to wear flip flops without fear of frost bitten toes was a true highlight of this past weekend.

The focus for Thursday night and Friday morning was rest & relaxation. I took a nice long hot shower complete with great water pressure. I then proceeded to bed where I stayed until 9:00 Friday morning. I leisurely spent the day Friday drinking hot cups of coffee, finally catching up with blogs and enjoying every minute of being on having some real time off and away from camp. J. was house sitting this past weekend at his parents so I headed over there Friday evening for BBQ Burgers and maybe most importantly, Salted Carmel Ice Cream with chocolate sauce. I cohersed him into watching Love It or List It with me and then we got sucked into the last hour of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 that was playing on a different channel. Even with all that excitement I was home in bed by 11 p.m.. Sleep was very high on the priority list this weekend. 

Saturday morning I got laundry crossed off my to do list and enjoyed drinking hot coffee for a second morning in a row. J. and I had supper at Boston Pizza and then headed back to his parents for a bonfire. I'm not a huge fan of toasted marshmallows, I enjoy two or three and then after that I just feel gross. We toasted a few obligatory marshmallows and then opted to eat more salted carmel ice cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. And for the third consecutive night bedtime happened before 11:00 p.m. and all was well with the world. 

Sunday involved a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for camp and then home where I Skyped with H. & R., ate supper, prepared some blog posts for the week and watching the Food Network. All and all a great weekend, and it's not over yet. I'm not heading back to camp until Tuesday which gives me another whole day to focus on rest and relaxation. 

Linking up here.

Camp Friday Favourites

{one}

Camp Sunsets.

I can almost guarantee camp sunsets will make an appearance on every single Friday Favourites/Friday Five List I make this summer. No further explanation required. 

{two}

J. stopped into camp for a quick visit on his way home from his sister's graduation Thursday. Long enough for me to give him a quick tour of camp, enjoy a meal at the diner close to camp and spend a few minutes reconnecting in person opposed to via technology. Plus he brought me Reese's Peanut Cups and our diner lunch involved Chicken Strips. I was a very happy girlfriend.

{three}

I've become very aware of the fact grocery shopping is my happy place. Being in the kitchen cooking makes me feel calm and relaxed and I love a trip to the grocery store. My big activity for the afternoon is going to be browsing the flyer, making a grocery list and slowly wandering through the aisles. My meals at camp are technically all taken care of by our camp cooks. But there are some times I don't like what's being served. (Shepherd's Pie is the devil as far as I'm concerned.) I like to have some individual freezer meals stashed away for those times and also for times when I just don't feel like eating grilled cheese for the hundredth time this summer. 

{four}

Speaking of food at camp...Clif Bars are going to be a saving grace this summer. I try to avoid the standard pre-packaged quaker type granola bars because it's basically like eating a chocolate bar. I realize the Clif Bars aren't super fantastic amazing food. I feel a little better about eating one of them though opposed to something else. Plus they taste amazing. I'm a big fan of the Chocolate Almond Fudge and Crunchy Peanut Butter. I can't see myself getting on board with Oatmeal Raisin Walnut or Blueberry Crisp. 

{five}

I'm not sure why I'm struggling to come up with a fifth favourite thing this week. There's certainly been lots of good moments. I'm looking forward to the summer. I feel like things are under control, the chaos is organized and the pieces are all falling in to place.

 

Early Nights & Date Date

Friday night I kicked off the weekend sitting on the couch with a bowl of chips, glass of pop and the Food Network. That is until 9:00 p.m. when I promptly got into bed and watch last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy. I won't even get into that because I don't understand what's happening or why it's happening.

Saturday morning I woke up early, made coffee and did some reading. I didn't explicitly write 'savour the moment' on my list of May Goals, but it's something I'm keeping in mind over the next couple of weeks before I head to camp. I'm working on enjoying uninterrupted hours of quiet, even when there are still things on my to do list. Saturday afternoon I went out for lunch with my mom and then walked through the mall. My main motivation for the mall was a trip to Bath & Body Works to pick up my summer supply of Coconut Lime body wash but there was none to be found. I'm hoping it's just a fluke and the scent hasn't been discontinued. I'm going to check back later this week and hopefully I'll have more luck. Saturday night J. had plans to watch the fight that was apparently a big deal. I'm interested in a lot of different things, but I will never be interested in watching two grown men punch each other. Once again I was in bed and asleep by 11:30. Judge me if you must but I think there's something extra wonderful about an early bedtime, even if it's a Saturday night and I'm 25 years old. 

Sunday was a little more action packed. It was gorgeous outside and it was the first day that it felt like maybe spring is going to happen. I went for a walk and then came home and got ready for date night with J. We went out to dinner and then went for a drive around the harbour to check out the sunset and ice. It might be May but there's still so much ice in the water you'd think it was February.

Once the sun went down we headed to DQ where I finally got to try the Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard. It wasn't the most delicious salted caramel thing I've had but it was pretty good. After ice cream we headed to the movies. I'm not a big movie goer. I think they're ridiculously over priced and most times the one movie theatre we have doesn't show movies I want to watch. Regardless we went and watched Will Ferrell's new movie "Get Hard". I thought it was just okay. The beginning started off really good but then it went down hill. I was happy when it ended and was definitely ready to go home and get to bed. 

This week I've got a few things on my must do list including completing some paperwork before the summer and appreciating the warm weather by sitting on my deck with a good book. 

Linking with B Loved Boston.

Favourite Florida Photos

It's going to be a post of few words around these parts today. Yesterday I wrote about my Florida vacation and today I just wanted to share five of my favourite photos from the trip. I didn't take an abundance of photos. Partly because we did a lot of relaxing and I didn't feel compelled to document me reading a book by the pool and partly because I really tried to focus on enjoying the experience and not getting the best shot. I've recently realized I absolutely love wildlife/animal photography. Busch Gardens was the highlight of my trip and a contributing factor to that is certainly because that's where I got to take the most photos. 

{one}

This meerkat was bopping around with a flower on it's head. I'm choosing to believe that it was on purpose. A little flower tucked behind her ear as a little pick me up because who doesn't feel extra fabulous with a flower (or bow) in their hair!? I love meerkats regardless of their accessories and this one was just the best. I could have happily stayed next to the meerkat display for the entire 8 hours we were at the park!

{two}

Apes and Monkeys are high on my favourite animal list but this Mama and Baby Gorilla kind of stole my heart. It was so sweet to watch them interact and to watch the little one explore its surroundings.

{three}

I don't share a lot of photos of me on the blog and as a rule I avoid posting photos of others without their permission but I'm sharing this one because it makes me happy. Without getting into a super mushy aside about blown away I am that I found myself on vacation with a fabulous boyfriend I'll just say that this guy makes me happy. I'm so thankful our paths crossed (in the most unexpected of ways)!

{four}

I'm not sure why I like this photo so much. Tigers aren't top of my favourite animal list and there's nothing particularly extraordinary about this photo but I really like it so I'm going with the flow. 

{five}

I really like turtles. One of my favourite parts about Florida was that there are turtles everywhere! I didn't go a single day without seeing multiple turtles. I thought this guy was hilarious. After a very long winter I sort of felt the same way as this fellow when I reached the Florida sun. Stretched out as much as possible to soak up maximum sunshine!

I'm a little bit stunned over the fact April is gone! I swear I blinked and now it's May, which means my pre-camp to do list needs to be tackled. I'm excited about by May goals though (check back early next week) and I'm going to continue to enjoy this mini-vacation until camp is in full swing! 

Stuff & Things: Florida Edition

For ten hot seconds I had elaborate plans for a lengthy vacation recap post full of giant high resolution photos a detailed itinerary of each day and overflowing with "must sees" and "must dos". And then I realized that sounded like a huge chore and something I didn't actually want to spend hours doing. So instead here's some Stuff & Things I ate, did and saw during my time in Florida!

What I Ate

Photos taken from company/brand websites

Publix Chicken, Cinnamon Swirl Bread (Toasted for Breakfast), Peanut Butter Cup Oreos (Plus a bag to take home and share with H. & R. when we reunite!), Dunkin' Donuts Coffee, Applebee's Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken. 

I'm aware of how super nerdy it sounds but a visit to the grocery store was so much fun. The food lover in me was fascinated seeing all the different things that just aren't available in Canada. I had that Cinnamon Swirl bread toasted almost every day for breakfast. And we ate Publix chicken no fewer than four times over the course of 10 days. I didn't make it to Chick-Fil-A but there's always next time!

What I Did

I spent a lot of time by the pool at the condo reading and lots of time in the pool. The highlight of my trip was probably the day we spent at Busch Gardens! I know there's a lot of controversy around SeaWorld, however there are two sides to every story and I'd never been before. I'm glad I went and experienced the park for myself. Plus, we got an awesome package deal on tickets to Busch Gardens and SeaWorld buying things online definitely pays off. I also spent a lot of time at Siesta Key Beach after a very long winter it was lovely to feel sand between my toes again!

What I Saw

Alligators, Palm Trees & Turtles! I love animals and spending time in a place where it's perfectly normal to see turtles every time you leave the house and spot alligators hanging out in people's backyards was super cool. I'd also never seen palm trees before so I happen to think they're pretty cool as well!

I didn't take as many photos as I had planned. I was nervous about getting my camera wet or full of sand when we were at the beach. And I really wanted to experience things more than I wanted to make sure I had photographic evidence I was there. I did snap a few photos (mostly of the animals at Busch Gardens) and I'll be sharing my Favourite Five tomorrow on the blog!

Easter Weekend Love

I officially love Four Day Weekends. 

Friday my day started with a trip to the nursing home with J. and his family to celebrate his great grandmother's 92nd birthday. It wasn't anything elaborate but I enjoyed eating cake & ice cream and chatting with his family. When we left the home we headed to Easter Dinner #1 at J.'s parents. Even though it was Good Friday they had a big turkey dinner that day because J.'s sister had to head back to university Sunday morning. While we were waiting for supper to cook we were entertained watching a group of deer that were hanging out in the backyard. 

Saturday I had a really low key day. I woke up feeling really well rested and felt totally relaxed and fulfilled as I drank my coffee and ate my breakfast while reading through so many blog posts about 'Silent Saturday'. This is definitely this first year I've done any reflecting about Saturday as a waiting day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I spent a lot of time journalling and I finally joined the She Reads Truth bandwagon. I'm still on the hunt for a new Bible though. I would love something soft cover, with margins and I'd like it to be around $20-$30. Almost all of the ones I've seen on line have been well over $50 and that's just too far out of my budget.

Since we had Easter dinner with J.'s parents on Friday he joined my family for our Easter dinner on Sunday. I did J. up a little Easter basket using a baking dish instead of a basket because I knew he needed a new one. There wasn't anything super elaborate inside, chocolate, chips, gum, his favourite protein bar, sunscreen and a few travel sized toiletries he can use during our trip. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. This was J.'s first time meeting my extended family and it was nice that it happened over a meal. We had birthday cake for dessert as a belated birthday celebration for my grandfather. I had my camera and planned to go for a walk after we ate to take some photos but it was so bitterly cold outside that it turned into a pretty short walk. There wasn't much to take photos of anyway. Everything is still covered in snow and ice. I heard on the radio last week that based on the mathematical equation for figuring out snow melt we can expect to see snow on the ground until May 18...

I also accomplished one of my April Goals and revamped my blogs About Me page. I'm really pleased with the change. I will probably tweak a few things about it over the next little while but it's a big improvement on what used to be there and I'd love for you to check it out and tell me what you think! Today I'm working on crossing off some things on my pre-camp list such as making a Facebook group for the staff and sending out an email to introduce myself to the new counsellors. Nothing strenuous but it's nice to have an extra day to focus on that kind of stuff. 

I'm linking up here & here to share my weekend! 

Totally Awesome

We got another 10 cm of snow last night and are forecasted to get another 10-15 cm tomorrow night. It's time to forget about the cold and celebrate some awesome things happening right now. Join Rebekah  and Anne and share what's awesome in your life!

{one}

Salted Carmel. I don't know who I have to thank for this trend but they are an awesome person. I recently discovered Lindt Sea Salt & Carmel Dark chocolate bars and no other chocolate bar will ever be the same. And Tim Horton's has Salted Carmel donuts right now, so yummy. Rumour has it they have salted carmel Timbits too, but I haven't tried those yet. I've always been a salty over sweet type of gal and this salt trend is right up my alley. I hope it continues for a very long time.

{two}

J. is not the inventor of salted carmel (in fact he thinks the concept is weird and not at all delicious), but he is still a seriously awesome person. He gives me butterflies and makes me feel the best combination of feelings. I'm so excited to go on our first vacation together! Only 45 days until sunshine, sand and adventure!

{three}

These Julia Child quotes/philosophies on life & cooking. Someday when I have my own kitchen I want these quotes displayed somewhere where they are always in my eye sight.

Pinterest

(What would be even more awesome is if I could find the original source and get my hands on these. I think they might have been a limited edition print though and are long out of stock.) 

{four}

Sundays. Specifically Sunday evenings. Lately my Sundays have involved planning for the week ahead, enjoying supper with the family and cuddling with J. while we watch Friends. It's the most awesome way to start the week.

{five}

Coffee. This needs no further explanation. Coffee is awesome. Always. 

{six}

Spring rain is on it's way! I hate snow but I love rain. I can't wait for spring rain to wash away the snow and give me a reason to wear my rain boots!

{seven}

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I've been feeling sort of run down lately, tired and overwhelmed a little more anxious than usual. Spring is just around the corner though. A new season, new camp year, time to step back and evaluate some long term goals. Knowing all that is on the horizon is an awesome feeling.

{eight}

I've recently become borderline obsessed looking at home decor for mudrooms/porches and kitchens. I'm not sure why this interest has developed, but I have an ever growing love for browsing Pinterest searching for ways to make kitchens feel warm, welcoming and homing. And how to organize mudrooms and still keep them functional. 

{nine}

Having time to cook. I love cooking and with my crazy work schedule I don't have time to cook and prepare food the way I used to. My cooking is limited to prep work on the weekend and quick meals during the week. I can't wait to get back to making real suppers and cooking the family!

{ten}

The number ten spot is reserved for all of the awesomeness that is hoodies, jogging pants, comfort, relaxation, reflection and blogging.

Happy Tuesday Friends! What's awesome in your life today?