Friday Favourites - 2016 Edition

Linking up with Erika, Andrea and Narci for Friday Favourites.  

A few favourite things from this past year:

Song - This is a tie between Work by Drake and Rhianna and Work from Home by Fifth Harmony (they have similar lyrics).  Unfortunately it looks like Drake and Rhianna have now broken up and he's dating J Lo?  Also one of the members of Fifth Harmony has now left.  

I love that this video was filmed in Toronto.

More ridiculous dancing in this video.

Movie - Like in 2015, I didn't see many 2016 movies in 2016, but I did catch up on some 2015 ones.  One of my favourites was Brooklyn, an unfortunate side effect is that I start talking in an Irish accent both during and after the movie.  I have also enjoyed the new Star Wars movies.   BB-8 is a great addition to the Star Wars landscape, and Rogue One was good too.  

E's birthday cake this year

TV Show - I loved Making a Murderer, in fact I think every conversation I started in the beginning of 2016 was "Have you seen Making a Murderer?", that's all I wanted to talk about.  Another great Netflix series is The Crown.  It has filled the void left by Downton Abbey.  I love the history, and of course the accents. 

Book - Of all of our book club books, I really enjoyed Requiem.  I wrote about it here.

Sport Moment - The Raptors had another great season and made it all the way to the conference finals when they inevitably lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  However they weren't swept in that series and we were lucky enough to go to Game 3 of that series when they beat the Cavs.  It was such a great atmosphere!

YouTube Video - I loved this video for the start of the Blue Jays season.  It got us all pumped up and the Jays did have a great season.  

Meal - Way back in January I made this Jamie Oliver dish of carbonara pasta with sausage and pancetta.  I just had it at a restaurant and was reminded of this meal, mine was better!  I am excited to make it again soon.  Another meal is the grilled pizza I made a few times this summer.  It was fun to put the dough right onto the hot BBQ grill.  I am still trying to figure out which toppings work the best with this method.

Drink - Being pregnant for most of the year meant I was relegated to lemonade and fizzy water (or sometimes fizzy lemonade, woot woot!).  When I was finally able to drink, I was happy I had stock piled some special wine, including a bottle of L'Acadie Blanc that my mom brought me from Nova Scotia.

New Clothing - As of this Christmas, I am the proud owner of a (baby) blardigan.  We finally got Nordstrom in Canada and I could go to the store to see what all of the fuss is about.  The blardigan (the term coined by Sheaffer) is so cozy and soft.

Toronto Moment - Drake Day.  This was the day Drake released the much anticipated "Views from the 6", the Raptors were headed for the playoffs, the Blue Jays season was underway and there was a buzz in the city.

Canada Moment - The nationwide CBC broadcast of the Tragically Hip concert.  I'm not a huge Hip fan but I know the songs and I appreciate the talent and how much their fans love them.  We tuned into the concert like everyone else and enjoyed the nostalgia.  Plus Ron MacLean threw to the concert from the Olympics, it couldn't get anymore Canadian than that.

One of my favourite Hip songs, an obscure one.

House Thing - Dave worked hard on our basement all year and it has turned out beautifully.  There is a beautiful clean laundry space with new machines, a cozy guest room, shiny bathroom, heated floors, a work space, bookshelves, and new stairs. Dave designed and implemented the plan by himself and I am very proud of him.  I did a house tour here including photos of the new basement.

New Restaurant - Buca.  This is not a new restaurant but this was the first year we actually visited.  I would say this is definitely the best Italian restaurant in the city, and probably in the top five.  I can't wait to go back now that I'm not pregnant so I can enjoy some of the unpasteurized things, not to mention the wine.

E Moment - The morning I spent with E in Ottawa.  We were there for the weekend so Dave could run the half marathon.  After we dropped him and his cousin Adam off for the run, we parked, got a coffee, watched the runners, and then walked up to the Parliament Buildings.  It was fun to walk with him and chat with him about things.  I wrote about our entire trip here.

Q Moment - When he was placed on my chest when he was born. It was pretty quick between the time they started the c-section and when he came out, but it was still a relief to hear his cry and know he was out safely. 

Dave Moment - When I thought back to all of the great things about Dave from this year, a lot of them were him taking care of E so I could rest.  Being pregnant was rough this time around and I wasn't able to do all I wanted to do this summer, but Dave would take E for a bike ride or swim or to the playground and it was nice to have quiet and rest time for myself.  However this doesn't seem fair to pick a time when Dave and I were apart so a favourite time of when we were actually together was the day after Q was born.  E was at school, the grandparents had come and gone, Q was sleeping, and we just got to hang out and watch the Ryder Cup on TV.  We noted that it felt like we were on vacation and it was like hanging out in the hotel room relaxing.

You can read my favourite parts of 2015 here.