Adventures in the Big City

Last Wednesday I finished work at the office job, headed home for a quick nap and then hopped on a plane to Ontario to visit H.. When we first started planning this trip we were hoping for a week long adventure but in the end our schedules only allowed for a quick Thursday - Monday visit. We crammed all the tourist highlights, lots of good food, hours of life chats, multiple glasses of wine and sangria and it was the perfect little getaway to transition from office life into part-time vacation mode before camp. 

I landed in Toronto at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and after a quick pitstop at H.'s to change out of airplane clothes we headed for Niagra Falls. We didn't stay long because the weather was cold, rainy and foggy. We hung out long enough to be impressed by both the falls and the amount of selfie sticks. So.many.selfiesticks. 

We called it a night early on Thursday because Friday we had big plans to hit up the Toronto Zoo and visit the twin panda cubs that were born a few months ago! It ended up being an awesome day at the zoo because it wasn't at all crowded and even though it was a little chilly it was perfect weather for walking and getting to enjoy everything opposed to thinking about how uncomfortably warm it was. In addition to the baby pandas we saw their parents and I think I could have spent all day just at the panda exhibit. I wish I looked that cute laying around all day eating. I could also spend all day watching meerkats, back in university I binge watched Meerkat Manor and ever since then I have been fascinated with those little critters. We also got to see the gorillas, which I've recently become more interested in after watching a lot of documentaries about the gorilla conservation efforts. 

Saturday we were up bright and early to spend the whole day in Toronto. We purchased City Passes, which gave us admission to almost all of the main tourist attractions in the area, we saved a lot of money and at a few places we got to skip the lines because we had already purchased our tickets! We headed to the Royal Ontario Museum and prioritized what we wanted to see, we easily could have spent the whole day there but we were kind of on a tight schedule. We checked out the dinosaurs, the Canadian history section, Chinese Architecture, Ancient Egypt, quick tours of the mammal displays and a few smaller exhibits. It was the first time I had seen dinosaur displays in person so that was really cool and the history geek in me was overly excited about all of the Canadian History stuff. 

From the ROM we headed back through the city with a pitstop for Poutine and another in front of the Toronto sign so we could take a selfie for National Wear Your Camp T-Shirt Day. Did I mention we spent the entire day roaming the streets of Toronto and all of the attractions wearing matching shirts so we could have photo ops? Because we totally did. And that's why we're besties. 

We went to the top of the CN Tower where I confirmed my theory that I did not want to ever live in a big city and then headed next door to the aquarium. The aquarium was a little bit of a hilarious experience for this east coast girl who grew up on the ocean. When we first walked in there was a big crowd around one particular tank so I got really excited thinking it was something really exotic....turns out it was a tank of halibut. I laughed a lot and then took a discrete photo of the hoard of people admiring fish that I have seen my entire life. It's the little things in life you never really think about being different from place to place. There were lots of other cool marine life, we were able to spot a turtle in the biggest display of fish, and turtles are always a highlight. They had several tanks full of jellyfish that were completely hypnotic. I kind of felt like sitting right there and spending hours watching them float around. 

By the time we got back to the apartment each day were were more or less exhausted and didn't have any interest in changing clothes and heading back out to supper. Which was just fine but us and it meant we got to spend time cooking and eat supper with H.'s boyfriend while telling him all about our days adventures. He only judged us a little bit for our matching outfits. We did eat out a few times  including amazing sweet potato pizza that sounds weird but was delicious. 

It was hard to say goodbye Monday evening, but hopefully it won't be too much longer until we see each other again.

Florida Vacation Highlights

I'll preface this whole post by saying that I am a full on Disney convert and totally plan on doing a full out Disney vacation at some point in the future. I was skeptical about the whole thing because I don't enjoy rides or huge crowds. This trip to Florida wasn't intended to be a Disney trip but since we were staying in Orlando we decided to visit two of the parks. Next time I do Disney I'll go full Disney vacation, staying at one of the resorts and visit all of the parks. 

This time we spent a day at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and made multiple trips to Downtown Disney  Disney Springs. The highlight of the whole thing was that I got to meet Meeko! I love Pocahontas and Meeko is my favourite is my favourite character. Prior to Disney I did a ridiculous amount of research and the consensus was that aside from Pocahontas the other two characters from the movie (Meeko and Radcliffe) are extremely rare and aren't usually spotted around the parks. So I was shocked when after being in EPCOT for all of fifteen minutes J. turned to me and said "It's that Meeko? That looks like a giant raccoon." I was mid-way through replying "Probably not." when I looked over and sure enough there was Meeko hanging out at the Character Spot. I waited in line for thirty seconds and then got his autograph and took some photos and the five year old inside of me was the happiest. Unfortunately the photos didn't turn out the greatest (I blame the way the sun was shining) but they're good enough and it was a phenomenally great moment. 

I really enjoyed EPCOT and thought the mini train tracks were the cutest. I especially enjoyed the little gecko who was hanging out on the roof of one of the houses. I was a little let down by Animal Kingdom but it was partly because a lot of it was closed for renovations, which is clearly a downside to visiting during the off season. The Lion King show was wonderful though and I'd like to go again and be able to experience the whole place. One of the most fun things we did was go on a mini date one afternoon at Disney Springs. We went bowling and I'd highly recommend it as a fun, low key and affordable Disney date. We also don't have a bowling alley around here so it was extra fun. 

Aside from meeting Meeko the food was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I finally got to try Chick-Fil-A!! It was everything I dreamed of and may or may not have had it three times over the course of our ten day trip. I also tried Panera Bread and was pretty impressed with the wonton soup thing that I ordered. I also got my fill of  Vanilla Coke and tried Vanilla Pepsi during the trip. And it wouldn't be a trip without the obligatory Starbucks in the airport photo. 

We didn't have great weather while we were there, but it was still nice to get away from the snow happening at home. We missed one full storm and half of another.  It was a little less relaxing because it didn't involve any poolside reading but it was fun to do a little extra sightseeing. 

On our way back we hit some bad weather and ended up stranded in Ottawa for the night. At that point I was totally done with travelling and really just wanted to get home. We got a hotel room for the night, ordered pizza and watched Oak Island. The next day we headed to the airport and ended up delayed again. When all was said and done we got home a full 24 hours later than planned which made this week much more hectic than I was anticipating. 

When all was said and done it was a good trip and I was really happy to get home.

Refresh

2016 has started off with a whirlwind of activity. On January 4th I started back at what I refer to as my "off season office contract job" because my off season office job has evening hours it meant I had to give up weekly Sparks meetings, which was sad and created a lot of chaos but paying work needs to come before volunteering. I'll help out when I can and if the contract happens to end in early April then I'll go back to weekly meetings for the last couple of months. 

After working two days I set off for vacation (it was all pre-approved before I started back to work) and landed in Florida on January 6th. It ended up being cold in Florida most days we were there so there was very minimal reading by the pool and a lot more driving around exploring. I did manage to make a pretty sizeable dent in some of the things on my 52 in 52 list, I'm planning on blogging more on that later in the month. I also went to two Disney parks and had a pretty great vacation from daily routine. I didn't bring my laptop of put a plan on my phone so I had pretty limited access to social media while I was gone and didn't read a single blog post. 

It feels like I hit the refresh button and am now fully ready to start a new year and get back into a routine. 

That's all I've got for today. I need to reply to e-mails that I've missed over the past two weeks, get a load of laundry in the dryer, make lunch for now and supper for work. Thanks to a snowstorm we ended up getting home almost two days later than planned so today has been a little hectic. I'm not too worried about it though, everything will get done. Plus the weekend is only 5 days away.

OLW, Treats and Disney

 Usually my weekends consist of one main event, a low key night at home and some odds and ends. This weekend it's all about the odds and ends. 

Friday night I went to Winner's with mom and even though I didn't buy it I fell in love with this wall hanging. I've unofficially participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word for a few years in 2014 I made  "Show Love" a phrase of the year and partnered it with "Brave". Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I dabbled in 'Peace'. This year I've decided to go all in with my word and following along with the months prompts. I'm not 100% of my word yet but the wall hanging holds a clue to what word I'm thinking about! 

Saturday afternoon I went to a Christmas craft show and invested in some amazing Reese's fudge. It was a layer of chocolate fudge on top of a layer of peanut butter fudge and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds. For my evening entertainment I headed to Chase the Ace, which is a fundraising phenomenon card game of sorts that has taken my corner of the world by storm over the last few months. I didn't win any prizes but I was fully entertaining for an hour and a half. I was home by 9:30 and in bed by 10.   

Sunday afternoon was Disney dedicated to Disney planning. After doing a lot of math and reading too many "Disney World Insider Advice" blog posts we decided that our best course of action is to visit two parks and forgo staying at any of the Disney resorts and make use of the condo we already have. The deals just weren't good enough to justify spending more money on a hotel room when we're already staying at a perfectly good condo. We're going to visit EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, I know there's a lot of people who claim that you can't do Disney without doing Magic Kingdom...but neither of us like rides, we have no small children who need to meet the princesses and there's no huge attractions that we are dying to visit. We know that we can easily and happily spend two days exploring EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and I don't think we'll have any regrets about not having the quintessential photo in front of Cinderella's castle. It's also worth noting that Pocahontas is my favourite princess and the internet tells me she hangs out in Animal Kingdom (although I'm not sure I'm willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to "meet" her). Chip & Dale also hang out in Animal Kingdom and if you've been around these parts for any length of time you know how much I love chipmunks/squirrels. We ordered pizza and garlic fingers to make the whole process a little less overwhelming. There's just SO much to consider and it feels like everyone has very strong opinions about everything Disney related. 

This week I need to get my snow tires put on and buckle down and get Christmas shopping out of the way. Apparently the mall is doing a fake Black Friday which sounds like torture so I'll be avoiding that...although I might be tempted to make a trip to Michael's. I'm anticipating blogland being pretty quiet this week since most people seem to be on a weeklong Thanksgiving break. Here in Canada Thanksgiving is a weekend thing and most people have the Monday off but based on blogland most American's have the whole week off? Enlighten me blog friends!

Linking up 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!

One Last What's Up Wednesday

Hello, Blogland! I had a fantastic vacation filled with sunshine, new adventures, piles of amazing food and scattered moments of peace & quiet. Check back tomorrow for a more detailed and photo filled vacation recap of sorts! 

Before I answer the usual What's Up Wednesday questions I should mention that this is the last "What's Up Wednesday" link up. I've only been participated in the link up for a few weeks but it's been such a welcoming and positive experience I'll be sad to see it go. On the bright side one of my most favourite bloggers, Shay from Mix & Match Mama, launched a new monthly "What's Up Wednesday" link up so I'll be participating in that starting next month!

Now, on to the main event! 

What I loved about the past week:
The highlight of my vacations was going to Busch Gardens! I don't to roller coasters, but I adore animals. The day we spent walking around the park looking at all the animals was fantastic. I was able to take a ton of photos, spend time with J. and just soak up everything about the place. I was also a big fan of the heat. The entire time we were in Florida the temperature was high 80s and mid 90s, which to this gal who hasn't felt warm in months was absolutely phenomenal. 

What I'm looking forward to:
I just got home yesterday so I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the week recovering from my 'Vacation Hangover'. Which mostly means spending time at home, doing laundry, making to do lists and getting back to the real world. 

What my latest obsession is:
Reading. I've missed reading. Also Publix Chicken. And amazing cinnamon bread that J.'s mom introduced me to. I also experienced the magic that is Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee. 

What I've been daydreaming about:
Not much of anything to be honest! I was pretty happy with living in the present while I was on vacation! 

What I'm craving:
I'm trying not to fixate on the fact it'll be awhile before I can eat Publix chicken. I ate it four times on vacation and it was so good. I want more. I need to stop thinking about it because it's making my mouth water. 

What I'm watching:
J. is a huge sports fan so we watched a lot of NHL Playoffs during our trip. When I got a turn with the remote I watched No Reservations and Bizarre Foods. Now that I'm home I have a few things on Netflix I want to watch; Chef's Table, Love Me and some other documentaries. 

What I'm listening to:
Not much of anything!

What I'm doing this weekend:
I need to figure out what needs to be done before I head to camp (Less than 3 weeks eek!!). I have a book I want to finish reading and I plan on getting some blog posts written and answer some e-mails. All while drinking coffee. 

What else is new:
I officially finished my contract and started looking ahead to this summer! 

Friday Farewell

My bags are packed with bathing suits, books and lots of sunscreen and I am ready for some serious vacationing! I ultimately decided not to bring along my laptop or phone along with me. I'm going full out vacation mode and removing myself from social media and anything that could even remotely be considered work. 

I'll be back the end of the month with tales of my adventures!

April Goals

My goals for April are very short and simple. For the first time in my life I have some legitimate time away from work that won't be spent job hunting. I'm going on a vacation and at no point will I be expected to babysit kids. April is all about enjoying this pause in life before camp season starts and things get crazy. 

J. will be doing some golfing on our trip during which time I will happily sit beside the pool and read. I have three books (you can see them here) chosen for vacation reading and I'm sure that I can find time to read another over the course of the month. 

After months of neglecting my camera a couple of weekends ago I was reminded how much I enjoy photography. Documenting life through photos is going to be a high priority this month. Obviously there will be lots of vacation photos but I also want to spend time documenting the every day stuff. 

Doodling, journalling, scribbling, typing. There are a lot of words in my head and I want them to be on paper. So I'm going to keep carving out time to make that happen. Last month my goal was to "put pen to paper for 10 minutes each day". I didn't do it every day, but every day I did do it I spent much more than 10 minutes letting my creativity and thoughts flow. Which to me is a clear indicator that it really is something I enjoy. Once I start I don't want to stop it's the act of getting started that is the hardest. So I'm going to keep being intentional and eventually it will become a daily habit again. 

I don't think I've done any major changes to the "About Me" section on my blog since I started blogging three years ago. It is begging to be spruced up and updated. This goal may not get accomplished until April 30, but it's something I will do this month.

Camp is just around the corner, there are a million things I could be doing to prepare...the reality is my contract doesn't start until May 17, which means I'm not getting paid until May 17. I refuse to let myself be consumed by the pre-camp to do list and let myself get burnt out before I'm even on camp property. There are a few camp related projects I will probably work on, but they're things I enjoy. Making welcome bags for the staff, decorating 'warm fuzzy' envelopes, nothing that is going to cause me any sort of stress. And if they don't get done, they don't get done. I will not feel guilty about it. I may have to keep reminding myself not to feel guilty about taking some real time off from work, but that's okay. 

What are your April goals? I hope spring is happening where you are...we're currently getting 15 cm of snow...that's a post for another day. 

March Goals 2015

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions. Or January goals. Or February goals. It's a trend I'm breaking for March. Time to be intentional about getting some things done and making myself make time for things I've been letting slide. 

Here's what I'm doing in March.

10 minutes of pen & paper... It doesn't matter if I journal about my day, write a poem, doodle hearts & stars, re-write the same word over and over and over again. I need to physically engage in being creative without technology. I love blogging, photography and all of that stuff but there is something extra healing about old fashion pen and paper. And I'm going to make it happen for at least 10 minutes each day.

Do yoga once a week... I'm not going to set myself up to fail and say I'm going to do this every day. I know I can throw on a yoga video at least once a week this month and give my muscles a good stretch.

Read 2 books... This is self-explanatory. By the end of the month I want to have two books started and completed.

Start trip preparations... Flights are all booked and accommodations are secured. All that's left is the fun part! Deciding what attractions to visit (and not visit). I get to make a packing list! Shop for a few warm weather necessities, get a hair cut...lots of fun preparations!

Get enough sleep... I've been working non stop. It's a make hay while the sun shines situation because once my contract ends in April I won't have the option of working over time, at the same time there's only so many hours in a day. Some of those hours need to be for sleep. I haven't been doing a great job of that lately but it's something that's going to change.

Eliminate 2 bags of clutter... I have a lot of "stuff". Clothes, hairbands, knickknacks, coffee mugs, shoes...and you know what, I don't need it (or in some cases use it), so I'm getting rid of some things. Our church has a flea market in the summer but I won't be around then so now is a good time to round up some donations. And make my drawers/closet a little easier to close.

Update planner daily... I always spend Sunday night updating my planner for the week, but I'm not great at adding to it during the week. I'll look at it but I don't necessarily update it, instead I'll wait until Sunday. Which is silly and I have no idea how I developed such a habit. Starting this month though it's going to be a part of daily life.

Follow meal plans...To be clear, I'm not embarking on any sort of Whole30, vegan, gluten-free, no salt, only eat foods that start with M diet plan. That's not the way I believe in eating. I do eat better when I plan out my meals in terms of knowing what I'm going to take to eat at work each day and prepare things in advance.

What are your goals for March?  I'm joining the #friendswithgoals link up to share my goals this months and see what other belongings are aiming to accomplish!