Prayers on Thursday

This month seems like it has been a little darker than other months - literally in terms of daylight, but also with world events.  I thought it was time for some prayers.  Please feel free to add your own in the comments. 

Thanksgiving 

The Eras Tour bringing joy to our city 

Friends

Playing Mario Kart 

Access to vaccines

The ability to workout on a regular basis

Having trips to plan

Petitions (for specific people)

Those who find the holiday season hard - missing family members or feeling financial strain

Those who are in the midst of uncertainty

Those who have mental illness

Those who are finding it hard to afford groceries and basic necessities

Those who are suffer from chronic pain

Intercessions (for the wider world)

Israel

Palestine

Ukraine

Taiwan

United States

South Sudan 

Lord, hear our prayer.

Christmas Wish List

 

 

I'm usually concentrating on that presents I need to buy for others so it's fun to switch it around and think about what I want :) (and need, to wear and read)

Want

I love these wine glasses in white and red with the flat bottom, I have seen them at a few restaurants but could never find them in stores.  But last week at The Library Bar they had them so I took note of the brand.  

Need

I am almost out of my Dry Shampoo.  This is my favourite brand and the smell reminds me of my trip to San Francisco in 2019.

Wear 

This Athleta Turtleneck would be good for skiing or just a cooler winter day.

Read

You know what? I can't find any books that I want! That is rare for me but I don't see any new ones that interest me, and since I get my books at the library anyway, it's hard to pick any on my reading list that I think I need to own.  I'll have to come back and update this later if I come across anything in particular.  However, I will never turn down a book as a gift, so we'll see if I get any. 

Weekend Recap

Hi there! We had a great weekend, what about you!? I love this time of year, golf is over and skiing hasn't started, so although we keep busy there isn't anything that is set in stone like those other parts of the year. 

On Friday Dave and I got our flu and COVID shots.  Remember when we used to hype this up? Well I think it still deserves a photo.  

Friday was pizza night so that meant we started our night with a cocktail - Negroni for me and Boulevardier for Dave.  They are actually the same drink but Negronis have gin and the other one has bourbon. 

We enjoyed our new couch and watched some more of the Eras Tour while we waited for the oven to heat up for pizzas.

The skeleton from Halloween is still kicking around.

Despite some trouble with my dough, I still think my pizza was pizza of the week! I love the fresh basil.

On Saturday we got a lot of things done - including getting the kids' flu and COVID shots.  No one likes shots (including me) but they both did well and were treated to an ice cream cone afterwards.  Then Dave took the boys swimming and I did some cleaning.  Q's room got straightened up, including new sheets and a good vacuum. 

I put most of his stuffies back in the bins, but kept out a few special ones.

I also tidied E's room and folded my own laundry.  I also made this pumpkin pie with Oreo crust. I didn't get a photo because I wasn't sure how it actually turned out, but it tasted delicious!!

Then a friend texted Dave to see if he wanted Leafs tickets for that night, um, yes please!!  Dave and I rallied and headed downtown.  We didn't run into too many Taylor Swift fans since most of them were already downtown when we were on the subway and then the game ended before the concert did.  

Will never turn down tickets to sporting events, it's always fun to get out. The Leafs were playing the Oilers, it was fun seeing McDavid in real life, he is fast!

And an overtime win for the Leafs!

The kids were actually in bed when we got home, although they did leave behind a pile of Halloween candy wrappers! You win some, you lose some!

On Sunday afternoon we were back to another hockey game, this time to the Marlies, the Leafs AHL team.  This is our fall tradition as we always get free tickets from our neighbours who give them out to trick or treaters. Our friends joined us and we met some other neighbours down there.

Cheers!

More friends!

A fun afternoon! And another overtime win for the home team! 

We didn't really need dinner after all of the snacking at the game, but we did have a piece of that pumpkin pie! We officially kicked off the Christmas movie season with The Grinch and then got everyone to bed.

Friday Favourites

Happy Friday!

Taylor Swift is in Toronto!  I am not even going to one of her six concerts, but I am Taylor Swift adjacent since my office is downtown and this week we hosted someone attending Night 1 last night.  I've also been faithfully listening to her music this week. 

These signs are in Union Station so the horde can make their way to the concert venue.  Seems like a good way to kidnap young girls, haha. 

On Monday for Remembrance Day I wore my poppy and my grandfather's Royal Canadian Air Force pin. 

On Tuesday the subway had some delays on my way home so I walked for a little bit.  Between Ossington and Dundas West stations there are so many cute bars and shops.  I stopped into one shop and decided I needed to come back another time for some gift shopping. 

E stealing my phone while I'm eating dinner. This was accompanied by about 20 selfies, I will spare you!

The boys got their first report cards of the year.  Although Q did have one poor mark on his reading and writing, the rest of their marks were pretty great. More importantly both of their teachers only had nice things to say about their behaviour in class and the kindness they display to their classmates, you can't ask for much more than that.  

Some of Q's artwork in the hallway. 

People just named John Krasinski the Sexiest Man Alive this week, and okay, sure he's a good looking guy, but I dont' think he can ranked "Sexiest" when Glen Powell and Jonathan Bailey exist. 

Have a great fall weekend!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Let's Look - Gift Ideas for Men

Today we are looking at gift ideas for men.  Men have a reputation for being hard to buy for but I have been lucky to buy lots of great gifts for Dave over the years (if I do say so myself!).  And lots of these ideas come from these lovely ladies - Shay and Erika - with whom I am linking up today. 

The links to the products aren't vetted, I just googled them, so I'm not sure if they are for US or Canada, but you will get the idea.  (I also am not influencer level enough to get any sort of compensation for these products.) My other caveat is that I enjoy many of these gifts myself, so although they were gifts for Dave, some of them are household items now :)

Theragun Mini - this mini-massager is good for the athlete in your life (or those over 40, haha) to help with those aches and pains.  

Food Thermometer - This is great for the BBQ or just chicken fingers.  Not sure how we cooked without it, just hoped for the best that everything was cooked (or more likely overcooked certain things just to be sure).

Headphones - Dave actually got these for me, along with a pair for himself, and they come in handy at home on conference calls but also on the plane.

Vuori Clothes - You can't go wrong with joggers or a t-shirt, good quality and soft material.  I also got Dave the Echo Insulated Jacket and he loves it. 

Workout stuff - free weights, a barbell (that was fun getting into the house after it got delivered to the front door and Dave was set to get home in a few minutes! I somehow got the box into the front hallway and then took it all apart, carrying each component separately downstairs and then putting it back into the box in a place where it could be hidden, phew!), foam roller, yoga mat, workout towels.  If you're into Peloton, I can confirm that their clothes are nice.

A few stocking stuffer ideas - Cord Collars and Magnetic Cable Cords

And two things that can never go wrong for my husband - a nice bottle of scotch or a box of ProV-1 golf balls. 

Hoping I can come up with something good again this year!!

Weekend Recap

 We had a fairly quiet weekend which was well deserved.  I met with my law school friends for dinner at La Plume.  We had a delicious meal and best of all talked about where we were going to go for our next trip in the Spring. 

We all got to sleep in on Saturday morning since we had no plans. Dave made French toast for breakfast.  We had lots of leaves to rake so we went outside to do that.  Then the kids and I delivered the invitations to our annual Christmas party.  We always invite our entire street and since I don't have everyone's email or phone number, a paper invite does the trick. 

What a beautiful morning.

It was chilly but Q was fine with his short sleeves.

We didn't want to waste the afternoon inside so we decided to go for a bundled up bike ride and find some geocaches. 

We went down by the Humber River.

We had to give up on one but found a few others.  When we got home Dave and I went out to do some grocery shopping and then I made French Onion Soup for dinner. This is a favourite fall meal.

Needless to say after a day like that, I did not make it through the movie that we put on.  I don't think I saw more than 10 minutes! 

On Sunday morning we commemorated Remembrance Day at church. 

It was a rainy day so we liked that we didn't have anywhere to go.  I suggested we take our Christmas card photo posed on the couch so we did that and then I spend a lot of time after that designing and ordering our cards.  Then I made an apple crisp and some chili for supper. 

Q did some reading. 

And E did some schoolwork.

We even finished our puzzle and played some board games.

Dave and I started The Diplomat this weekend and are flying through that!