What's Up Wednesday

 

What we're eating this week...
Sunday - Chicken thighs and lemon parm pasta
Monday - Natasha's Chickpea and Carrot Salad
Tuesday - Picnic supper at the ballfield
Wednesday to Saturday - Dave and I will be in California so looking forward to some fun nights out.

What I'm reminiscing about...
My trip to San Francisco in 2019 (read about it here). I love discovering a new city, but I also like going back and feeling familiar with the area.  Excited to try those Irish Coffees at Buena Vista again!

What I'm loving...
Backyard (and front yard) drinks with neighbours! We have been able to do this a few times in the last couple of weeks.  We are so fortunate to live where we do!

What we've been up to...
Golfing! Dave has been out several times, several! And he's taken the boys out a couple of times, and I've even been out twice, with another tee time booked for next week.  Golfing family, it's all happening!! (Almost Famous reference)

What I'm dreading...
What I was dreading was yesterday, the day before leaving for holiday.  It always seems that things come out of the woodwork while you're trying to go away - work was busy, trying to pack and tidy the house was busy, and we had two evening sports and we had to get my mom from the airport.  It is always worth it in the end of course! 

What I'm working on...
Packing up our house for our reno, making some preliminary design decisions, and planning a going away party for friends. 

What I'm excited about...
Summer! I love summer, it is my favourite, and the weather is finally here. Toronto in June is the best.

What I'm watching/reading...
Dave and I are finally getting on the Succession train, as everyone else is getting off.  We are also enjoying The Diplomat and although we haven't seen the Ted Lasso finale yet, we have loved Season 3. 

I shared my May books earlier this week here. 

What I'm listening to...
Tuesday's episode of The Bridge was such an interesting listen.  Peter's guest was a Canadian who has volunteered with the Ukrainian military to fight the Russians.  He has a bit of a sorted past, and you can tell he thinks on a different wavelength than most people.  He was very candid with his experiences and his stories were fascinated. This may be one that I listen to again. Check it out.

What I'm wearing...
While I was packing for our trip it seemed that apparently I love Nordstrom (and Nord Rack!) more than I thought as most of my clothes are from there - Zella, Vuori, Madewell, etc. I may have to branch out! Or go there when I'm in the US this week. 

What I'm doing this weekend...
Berkeley and San Francisco :) (Without the kids)

What I'm looking forward to next week...
My birthday week!!

What else is new...
Closely monitoring the forest fires in Nova Scotia. I have family members near both fires and the photos and videos are frightening.  Hoping for rain soon! This is the lighthouse in the Shelburne Harbour, looking at the smoke to the west, and the water bomber from Newfoundland reloading.

I'll be back next week!

Linking up with Shay.

Weekend Recap

We finally had some real summer weather this weekend and we enjoyed every minute of it. 

On Friday I walked the kids to school, even the littles.  I don't get this opportunity often, it's so nice to be out in the morning. 

A little horseplay on the school field.

We had plans to go out for dinner, but instead we just stayed at our neighbours and they fed us instead.  I did contribute some Gin and Tonics .  Have G+T, Will Travel.

Pre-dinner popsicles.

I also brought over this bottle of rose.  It's so tasty and a bit more affordable than the original Whispering Angel.

I actually just sent E over to get the wine and some extra tonics.  He's so helpful ;)

On Saturday morning we thought that Q's ball hockey started at 10:00 so we got there a bit earlier than usual but it was actually rescheduled to 11:00.  No big deal though, we found some friends to hang out with beforehand. 

Shaking hands after the game.

We did a few errands on the way home, including ice cream.  I was going to get one but they didn't have mint chocolate chip so I figured I would forego getting one. 

We watched the F1 Qualifying, and I did a Peloton ride.  Then we all went to play golf!  Dave has taken the boys but I have never joined them.  Both boys played pretty well and the weather was perfect. 

We hurried home after golf to get changed and then go out to meet our friends for dinner.  

We enjoyed our meal at Alma.

Dave golfed on Sunday morning and I took the boys to church.  The service went longer than usual because we had confirmation and communion, so we were running out at the end to make it to E's baseball game.  We pulled into the parking lot exactly at 12:00 and he didn't miss any of the game.  I do hate being late though.  The boys were upset we didn't stay for cake after church, but then later in the afternoon, one of the church ladies delivered cake to our house knowing we hadn't been able to stay.  Isn't that so nice?! The boys day was made. 

Our afternoon plans were soon hijacked by an impromptu neighbour hang-out.  The kids went over and then we joined to say hi to the parents and didn't leave for several hours!

Porch drinks. 

We did drag ourselves away eventually and made it home to have supper.  Then we turned on the F1 Monaco Race. It was slightly boring at the beginning but did get a little exiting when the rain started. 

May Books

I read two books from my reading list this month.

First up was Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.  

I really enjoyed this book. We start in the early 1900s with a young man moving to Canada from England, then fast forward to an author who lives on a lunar colony, and doing a book tour on Earth, then citizens of a different moon colony.  It sort of reminded me of Cloud Cuckoo Land.  I don't like giving too much away about these types of books because there are elements of time travel.  Usually time travel hurts my brain but this time I didn't seem confused by it and I just went with it.  I read this author's previous novel, Station Eleven, pre-pandemic, and it was about a pandemic. This book also had a pandemic feature to it and I feel like we have all realized that this will be part of our lives from now on.  A worthwhile book to pick up.

Next was Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb.

 

This is a non-fiction book. Lori is a therapist who lets us into her some of her sessions with her patients, as well as sessions with her own therapist.  

I have never gone to therapy and I have recently wondered if I should be, especially given the various "Better Help" ads on podcasts where it seems everyone should be going to therapy. I'm sure there are things I should 'work through' but to what end? I marked a few passages in the book that I felt could be explored more, and I made note of them to go back to later.  One of the myths that this book dispelled for me was that therapy is intended to have an end.  You should not think that you'll need therapy forever, rather you work through the thing you want to work through, and then come up with a termination date. So that makes me feel a bit more open to it because you don't need to think of it as something you need to do forever, but go, get the tools you need, and then apply them to your life without attending a session each week. 

Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday! Wrapping up a short week for us Canadians, and the start of a long weekend for the Americans. 

Dave and I celebrated our anniversary on Tuesday.  I was actually golfing and both boys had sports, so instead of a big night out, we shared some wine and this charcuterie board in the evening.  Cheers!

My first round of the year with the Scarlett Woods Ladies' League. I got one par, but we won't mention the rest of the scores :)

Speaking of firsts, Q had his first session of t-ball.  This is instructional league at High Park so it's pretty basic for now, but he had a great time.  E and I helped out with the coaching.

The tree in front of our house is in full bloom.  I love how the trees here go through cycles so there is always something pretty in bloom even as the others fade.

Check out my workouts on Peloton this month. I'm very proud of myself :)  Yesterday I did a 60 minute bike bootcamp with Jess Sims, it was good but I was beat at the end!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika today.

Monthly Musings

 

Linking up today with Holly and Patty for this month's Monthly Musings.  It is all about Memorial Day this month, but since I'm in Canada, I've adjusted the questions for Victoria Day weekend, which is what we had this past weekend.  The holiday is meant to mark the birthday of our sovereign but since Canada didn't want to have to keep changing holidays based on who was King or Queen at any given time, we chose Queen Victoria's birthday as the stand-in for all. I just learned that this week on The Bridge podcast.  History lesson over.

1. How are did you spending Memorial Victoria Day Weekend?

We went to a Blue Jays game, had dinner at the golf club, and saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

2. Favourite ice cream?

Mint chocolate chip.

3. Memorial Victoria Day travel or hang at home? 

We usually hang out at home, there is always enough to do in Toronto.

4. Burger, hot dog, both?

Burger

5. Favourite cookout BBQ sides?

Coleslaw, sweet potato salad, grilled vegetables. 

(We don't call it a cookout here, we say we are having a barbeque or we are barbequing burgers/sausages/steak/whatever.)

6. White before or after Memorial Day?

Before is fine as long as the weather is warm.

7. Memorial Victoria Day traditions?

We often go to see the Blue Jays if they are in town, or just try to get some outdoor time in.

8. Share a summer recipe.

This Zucchini Butter Pasta is one of the most delicious things I have ever made. The zucchini is cooked in an obscene amount of butter, cooked down to be so soft. The fresh basil on top finishes it off. 

9. Parades, fireworks, or cookouts?

None of the above.

10. Show us your red, white and blue.

Victoria Day isn't a patriotic holiday here, so we aren't wearing red and white.  I did buy a pretty blue dress that I wore on Sunday.

Design Ideas

I thought I would share a bit about what we are doing for our renovation.

You can look back at the last home tour I did in 2021, not much has changed since then. Our basement is not being renovated as it was done a few years ago and is still suitable for what we need.  We will be living down there for the duration of the reno, I'll give you a tour of our new living quarters when we get settled in.

The main floor layout will not be changing, and the kitchen itself is staying as is.  The people that lived here before us had done the major work of adding a one-storey extension so that the back of the house has been updated.  The front of the house is still the original (1928) plaster and lathe walls with no insulation, so it needs to be taken down to the brick, insulated, and have drywall put up.  The entire main floor will get new hardwood. Our windows were replaced 6 years ago and we don't need new ones.  

The second floor will have the most change.  We will build back over half of that one-storey extension to create a room for Q. Our current bathroom will be truncated and redone to be the boys' bathroom.  Q's existing room will be our ensuite.  And our room will get a walk in closet.  There is a bit of reconfiguration with the closets, and then we will put down new floors and do the insulation and drywall.

Q's room, to become our ensuite bathroom.

This will become a walk through to Q's new room towards the back of the house.

The sink will go where this dresser is.

Walk in closet to be added where dresser is now.

Because of the new storey being added to half of the current back addition, we will lose the big lofted windows in the back of the house, but we will keep some of the height and add some skylights, as we do really like that extra daylight.  

We have hired the contractor that did our neighbours' entire house last year, but we have not hired a designer (at least not yet).  We have a few ideas for what we want to do with the new spaces. 

We have a lot to do, but the end result will be worth it.