Friday Favourites

Happy Friday! 

This week was like I was on a work trip but got to come home to sleep in my own bed. It was the annual mining conference, PDAC, in Toronto. I went to the trade show on Monday, and then some social events in the evening, on Tuesday my company hosted a daytime social event and then I went to some things in the evening.  And because we had everyone in town for the conference, our executive team had two days of strategy sessions and crisis management training. So I am happy it is Friday and although will have some work to catch up on, appreciate it is a slower day finally.

One of Monday night's events was hosted at Canoe on the 54th floor of the TD building. I got there in time to catch the last of the sunlight, it's was so pretty.

Negroni? yes, please!

Caught up with a former co-worker on Tuesday night at Real Sports.

And somehow I ended up at karaoke in Kensington Market until very late, I won't disclose the actual time here, haha. My colleague and I sang a bunch of songs, including Shallow and it was so much fun! 

Wednesday was a bit of a rough day for me, especially since I needed to sit at a table with my entire executive team all day and be engaged in our discussions.  However the venue we were at had the Cloud couch from Restoration Hardware and I definitely took a little a moment to lie down when we had our lunch break.

On Thursday night we went to the new Piano Piano location in Bloorcourt. We did the family style menu and it was delicious, way too much food, and a great way to cap off the week.

With the family style meal everyone gets a glass of Amaro, a digestif. I have had this before and it really is a nice treat.  And the my Mexican colleague got us some tequila shots, and I said no way!! 

In case you missed it, I did a past yesterday, gratitude journal prompts, and on Monday I shared my January and February books.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Friday Favourites

Phew, first week back at school and work is always tough, but here we are, it's Friday!

We worked hard to put the house back in order and get the tree and other Christmas decorations taken down.  I like the decorations but it is nice to get the space back, and our tree was pretty crispy.  We were away from the 31st to the 4th, otherwise I would have probably taken it down earlier. 

We also got a bit of snow on Monday to start off the week.  Dave was at the office but I was working from home, so I shovelled after the snow had stopped.  I did pretty well on my own :) I had to send this to show Dave my work. 

I did go to the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today.  I enjoyed my cozy new sweater.  

We were disappointed there was no secret episode of Stranger Things, E was very up to date on the various theories and so-called clues and we were on Netflix at 8:00 pm on the 7th, but nothing.  I am happy with the last episode so personally I'm relieved nothing changed. 

Our amaryllis that someone gave us bloomed this week.  I think I'm too Stranger Things obsessed because I'm seeing a resemblance to a demogorgon. 

You can check out my Christmas recap posts here and here.  

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday! And Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans!

I went into my new office twice this week even though there is still a bit of work that needs to be done in the space, but it was nice to be out of the house and see some people in person. 

The skating rink will be opening soon.

I got our Christmas mugs out this week.  It's definitely more fun to drink coffee out of a Christmas mug. 

Look how pretty!! This is the ski resort town we picked for our March Break trip.

Big week for Q at school this week - the Scholastic Book Fair was in town! He was very excited to pick up the new Dog Man book.  They still sell posters, although no cat ones that I could see.

I picked up a few gifts this week and took advantage of Black Friday sales, but also bought myself a pair of sweatpants from Athleta.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

 

Friday Favourites

 Happy Friday!! It was a busy week for us. 

My office is finally ready for us to start going in so I went in on Wednesday (although there was still a bit of set up required and some electricians were still setting stuff up).  It is nice to be in a new spot with a new view, and more importantly new lunch spots to check out!

I love going to Freebird Market and they have a little spot downtown in the Path and I stopped there for my inaugural lunch at the new office. 

Piano lessons called for a donut beforehand!

Speaking of donuts, a new Tim Hortons opened up by our house this week.  I know, there are so many Tim’s, not to mention plenty of other coffee places near us, but I was still very excited about it.  

 

 

Hope you have a good weekend!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday.  I love November because it isn't an overly busy month. We are between holidays, golf is over (as of tomorrow) and skiing hasn't begun.  

I made a turkey pot pie on Monday with the leftover Thanksgiving turkey that was in the freezer.

It was Take Your Kid to Work Day on Wednesday and I finally had a kid in Grade 9 to take to work. Unfortunately, my actual office isn't open yet, but instead of just having him sit with me at the home office, we attended a morning event put on by the Law Society.

We did check out my new office location which is nearby.

Got some Tim Hortons before heading back home.  I made E wear his suit, with golf shirt, and although the other students were dressed in a variety of things, I was proud that he looked good dressed up. 

Our neighbour stopped by with some doughnuts which was kind of him! We enjoyed them after dinner.

I posted about our Blue Jays on Monday as we are gradually emerging from the depression of the World Series loss. 

We randomly watched The Lost Bus on Apple TV the other day.  It is about a wildfire in Paradise California starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferreira.  It was really well done, and actually premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. 

Join us on Monday for another installment of our Link Up Series - Sharing Our Lives.  We are going to be talking about our reading habits.

Have a great weekend.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Mexico Work Trip

Last week I travelled to Mexico for work.  I work in the mining industry and we have project sites and an office in Mexico.  My last visit was in 2023 so I was due for another visit.  I went with one of my colleagues.  He has been to Mexico multiple times and set our itinerary.  It was nice just following him along and not having to think too much about where to go in the airport or how we would be picked up. Since I’m the the one in our family who does the planning, I appreciated the break.  We also get along well and were good travel companions.  

We flew to Mexico City in business class, which was a nice treat for me.

I enjoyed my breakfast and watched Challengers. 

We landed in Mexico City and ran into a former colleague! I knew I was going to miss him on this trip so I was so pleased we got to have this quick visit.  The other gentleman works for us now and he was going to be meeting us in Hermosillo. 

We flew to Hermosillo that night.  They had these statues in the airport. 

We spent the night at the Hampton Inn and then after a quick stop at Starbucks, we hit the highway for about a three hour drive to Banamichi. Our company hires a driver and he drove us in a pick up truck.  

After we got out of the city the road was like this for half the drive.

Then we got into the mountains.  It kind of reminded me of the roads in Hawaii on Maui. Except these roads had guardrails!

We went through several little towns.  Finally we got to Banamichi. This is where we would be spending the night so we dropped off our bags at our hotel. 

Isn’t it adorable?

Comfortable bed.

I didn’t realize there was a pool, or I would have brought my suit!

Then we got back in the truck to go to the mine site. 

More twisty and turny roads. Some people get carsick but I was fine. 

In my PPE.

We had a meeting with the client, I got some documents signed, and we hung out with the technical group.   Then we went back to the hotel.

The land around the mine is ranch land and we saw lots of cows on our way out. 

That night was Game 3 of the Blue Jays/Yankees series.  We had the game set up on the iPad in the courtyard. 

Cheering on the Jays from Mexico. 

Our colleague went to get us some beer and chips.  And we met two other Canadians in the courtyard that watched part of the game with us.  

The next morning we headed back to Hermosillo to fly back to Mexico City.

Trying to capture the landscape but it never really comes through in photos.  We were in the mountains though!

Back in Mexico City and staying at a hotel by the airport. 

Another night of Blue Jays/Yankees, this time with a better result!

The next day we flew in and out of Zacatecas and spent the day at our office there.  I didn’t take any photos. I enjoyed seeing our Mexican colleagues and discussing some things that we could do over the phone or email, but is so much better in person.  When we finally got into our hotel that night it was about 9:30 pm.  I ordered some room service.

We were heading home the next day.  There was this F1 sim car and we tried it out. I kept it on the track but the settings didn’t require us to shift up or down so it was pretty easy.

Leaving Mexico City.  I did not have a business class ticket on the way home but I bid on an upgrade and got it so I was quite comfortable.

Six flights and four different hotel rooms, and a road trip of 3 hours each way.  Phew! But I enjoyed the trip and it was good exposure to what our people need to do to get to site.  I passed the time but binging Dept. Q from Netflix, a Scottish police drama.  I didn’t mind hopping on another flight because I got to watch my show!  I also had some episodes of Abbott Elementary for something lighter.