Category: whats new

What’s New and Exciting over here

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch today for their monthly “What’s new with you” link up. Since I missed the link up in September, I was determined to get a post up for this month!

If anyone who saw me this week asked me, “what’s new”, I would first tell them this ridiculous story. I left the house on Tuesday morning with the kids at 7 am and Brian left at 10 am to go to the airport. He was going out of town for work for one night. Typically, I am not an overly anxious person, but I do sometimes feel a bit of anxiety being in the house overnight with the kids on my own. However, I wasn’t feeling that way this day. I came home from work with the kids at 4:30 pm and when we pulled into the driveway, Molly said “hey, why is the front door open?” and I looked up to see that our front door was, in fact, WIDE OPEN. Cue panic. I called Brian right away and asked him if there was any possibility he could have left the door open (not unlocked, OPEN), and he said “well, yeah, maybe.” SERIOUSLY?! I was fuming and freaked out. I left the kids in the car and went through the house and everything seemed fine but I was still pretty freaked out. Move on to the rest of the evening and I am finally coping with the fact that our house was in fact safe all day long despite the front door being open for 6 hours and living on a bus route street up from a high school. Then I call my parents and tell them about it, and my dad says “I hope there aren’t any mice or rats in the house” and there comes another panic attack. #thanksdad I made Brian go on a pretty big hunt just in case any got in while he was gone. I am beyond grateful that we have a guardian angel somewhere keeping watch over our home because holy smokes would my husband have been in trouble if our house had been ransacked…haha.

Anyway…September was an absolute whirlwind, as I knew it would be. Molly starting school also meant a change in daycare for Molly (before & after school care), which was a whole transition in and of itself (and remains to be). As expected, our little scholar absolutely (seemingly) LOVES school. She is loving French immersion, she seems to really enjoy her teacher and has made some friends. She is happy to report on all parts of her day at suppertime each night, which I love. It has been wonderful watching her flourish in this new daily routine. She originally (and still) isn’t the hugest fan of the new daycare, but I think it’s growing on her. September also means that Brian is busy for 3 weekends straight with extracurricular activities, but I think that will be changing next year because it was insane this year.

Here’s a bit of a recap in photos:

Molly started school and a new daycare

Molly turned 5 🙂

We went to see Beauty and the Beast at Neptune Theatre

We went apple picking near my sister’s house in the Valley (1 hour away)

I ran my final 5k of the year (I am missing one in October to go to Calgary) and it was a fantastic race. Cool weather and finished it in 30 mins. Brian brought the girls out to the finish line and surprised me there, which was sweet.

Other than that, I also signed about a thousand papers for Molly’s school (I did NOT realize how many handouts she would be taking home), we revamped our closet to accommodate organizing all of the new paperwork, we went to a parade and saw a truck convoy (200 trucks!), we spent a couple of hours at the beach (loved it) one afternoon, and had a few movie nights at home. I also got my hair cut, which I am looooving. Here it is, straight, but I usually wear it wavy ish 🙂

I also flew through a ton of “fluffy” books in an effort to escape the stress of everyday life AND because I had a cold for a week. It was wonderful and I’ll be talking about all the books I’ve read lately on Tuesday for Show us Your Books.

Thursday Thoughts

It’s been a really busy week here on the family side of things. Molly started school last week and turned 5 years old on Monday. It has definitely been a transition going from full-time daycare in someone’s home to a before/after school daycare centre + school all day. Not only is there the transition of two different daycare drop offs/pick ups (Lucy is still at the in-home daycare), I have to be much more organized with what Molly brings with her every day. Her school lunch requires a bit more thought (but I think I’m figuring it out!). We get handouts and important notices from her teacher every day that need to be read, signed, processed, and put in a safe place. We hear about her day, for which I am grateful, but we don’t hear about all of it (that’s life!). It has been an exciting, emotional time, but it has been wonderful too and I’m so happy that she is doing well and loving school.

That’s the main “news” in our lives – Brian has also had an extremely busy week at work and we had a super busy weekend, so I’m playing catch-up this week. That being said, I am also taking a lot of downtime to read more and do yoga at home. My weekly yoga class with my amazing instructor didn’t have a summer session but it started back up again on Monday and IT FELT FANTASTIC to be back in that room.

Source
At Beauty and the Beast at Neptune Theatre

I also took a longer lunch break yesterday to swim laps for the first time in a LONG time. It was tough!! I swam in a competitive club from age 11-16 and in my last year, I was swimming 6-7 times/week and for at least an hour (usually 2) each session. Yesterday, 15 years later, I swam for a half hour and it felt tiring and not good. Obviously my body is a different shape than it was then, and my endurance is nowhere near where it used to be, but I would like to get back into this and feel more comfortable in the pool again. It still felt very natural, but I am excited to get better at it and develop more endurance in the pool. I also have a bit of a cold and my lung capacity is a bit off this week, which didn’t help my breathing while swimming (#excuses) ;). You could say I was a bit inspired by the Olympics to get back in the pool.

It’s feeling a little bit like fall in Halifax. Even though it has still been mostly warm, the humidity has gone down and it reminded me that this is my favourite season for running. I have a 5K next weekend and I can’t wait for it – apparently the route is gorgeous. We’re also spending our Saturday doing one of my favourite fall activities: apple picking in the valley with my sister and her family. The girls LOVE it because we get to see some farm animals, go on a wagon ride, and eat apples all day. haha.

Speaking of fall, I made a delicious AND healthier broccoli + cheese + vegetable soup yesterday modified from this recipe. It was SO good that Brian (and Lucy) had second helpings last night and I can’t WAIT for lunch time to enjoy some more of it at work. I’m hoping it also freezes well. I modified it by adding greek yogurt instead of milk, and greek yogurt cream cheese + 1 cup of extra old cheddar instead of the 2 cups of cheddar. I also added extra veggies, because they were all getting pureed anyway!

This month had a busy start, but halfway through it now, I am loving it. This is always my favourite month (+ October) in Halifax. Growing up, I never thought much of fall. In Calgary, the leaves just don’t change colour like they do here on the east coast. There is something really special about this season here, and I’m excited to embrace it this year before we are buried under 6 feet of snow in January. 🙂

Linking up with Kristin for Stuff & Things and Amanda @ Running with Spoons for Thinking out Loud.

July Talk (link up!)

July was a busy, busy month in our house…and August is shaping up to be busy too! That’s what happens in the summer around here. It has been wonderful too though – I am loving catching up with so many wonderful friends and family members. Our girls are at a great age to be “on the go” and that allows us a lot more flexibility this summer to skip naps, have sleepovers, and travel around the province a bit.

It seems like lately all I’ve had the time (or energy) to write blog posts about include this what’s new link up with Kristen and Gretch and the Show us your Books link up. Honestly, I think I’m just saving people time…I consolidate all of my life into two posts a month. hahaha. I’m actually hoping to start writing a bit more, but due to the busy-ness of life, it just hasn’t happened yet. And I’m okay with that. I just like these monthly link ups so that I can look back someday and see what happened 🙂

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch to share some of what we did this month:

Lucy got her first haircut (and Molly got an unpictured one too :))

We celebrated my mom’s birthday with my sister & her family (how adorable is my baby niece?!)

I stalked social media while Sidney Crosby (who grew up in the neighbourhood we live in) came home with the Stanley Cup, but we skipped the parade because it was SO HOT OUT and my kids are too little to care, unfortunately.

(source)

Ate a lot of kale caesar salad (the healthy version – I hope to share this recipe soon!) from our garden

Saw Love and Friendship with a good friend – the movie was super enjoyable!!

Went to a lot of Molly’s soccer practices 🙂

Took the kids to the beach by myself, which was fun but also a bit nerve-wracking. Lucy is absolutely fearless and does not understand that waves are a BIT scary for Mommy. haha.

Spent last weekend visiting good friends in New Brunswick which included Brian and his 2 best friends taking the kids out on their boat on a lake while I went to the mall with the women (what a nice break!)…also included a stop at a wonderful splash pad on the way home, which was SO fun for the kids.

excuse the random stranger (that’s not Brian)

Read a lot of great books which I’ll be chatting about next Tuesday including HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD ❤ which I obviously adored.

And that’s about it. I also read Molly about 10 Magic Treehouse books, watched a bit of TV with Brian, went for a couple of runs, went to a few bootcamp classes & spin classes, socialized with girlfriends, enjoyed time on the deck, nearly melted in the 100% humidity, made some plans for the fall, and deep-cleaned parts of the house (still more to go, though!). What a great month. August looks like it will be even better because it’s my BIRTHDAY MONTH 🙂 So…what’s new with you?!

Life lately (Link up!)

(Linking up belatedly with Kristen & Gretch to recap the last month!)

June was a busy month for our family, and I think it will be from now until our kids finish school. The beautiful weather gets us outside and socializing more. Summer sports and activities begin, and school finishes with all of the excitement that comes with that. This year, our babysitter was on vacation for the last two weeks of June and so we had some grandparents help with childcare & took time off ourselves too. It was wonderful because the weather was pleasant and the kids were happy. It also eased my transition back into full-time work from my previous 6 months of part-time, although I am finding that I do miss the extra time with the kids already.

Here are some highlights from the last month-ish:

  • Celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by going out for supper & going to a board game cafe (what an AMAZING date night). We tried 4 new games and had a wonderful time. The kids had a great sleepover with my parents 🙂
  • Ran a 10K race in EXTREME heat/humidity after slacking on a few weeks of training. Not my best time, but was happy to finish it nonetheless and proud of pushing myself. Next race probably in August 🙂
  • Finished my third 12 week yoga session with my amazing teacher. She takes the summer off teaching near me, but I will probably take a few of her classes downtown because I know I’ll miss it. Back at it in September because it has changed my life!!
  • Read a few good books but not as many as I’d hoped…and also started a big Harry Potter re-read 🙂 Come back tomorrow to see my reviews for Show us your Books!
  • Went to our first of several 2016 weddings, Brian’s cousin Laura and her new husband. This was the first wedding I’d been to which included a POEM that the groom wrote for his bride AKA I could not hold back the tears. It was a gorgeous event.
  • Celebrated Canada Day with friends and had a wonderful time! Went to the playground and had a picnic, swam in an outdoor pool, drank some adult beverages 🙂 
  • Got a new cell phone (LG G4) after dropping mine and shattering the screen – loving the new one so far & our contract was up so it was free (aka the best time possible to break my other one :P)
  • Spent some time with friends and family including an awesome outdoor birthday party with a beach volleyball court AKA a “huge sandbox” for my kids
  • Took in some awesome music with a wonderful friend at a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity called Raise a little Hellp. Really, really enjoyed this night out. 
  • Watched our older daughter “graduate” from preschool and tried not to cry 🙂 She is going to love school in the fall – she will be in French Immersion and we are all quite excited to see her grow!
  • Took a week off with Brian and the kids leading up to Canada Day and went to Upper Clements Park amusement park (2 1/2 hour drive away)…the kids LOVED it. 

And a couple more pics from the last month ish:

Sorry to be late to the link up; it’s been a busy few days!!! I have a few fun posts in the works for later this week and next week after taking a bit of a blogging break (I’ve probably averaged 2-3 posts a month lately…oops!!!) 
What’s new with you lately?!? 

MAY recap – (What’s new with you? link up)

Linking up with the wonderful Kristen and Gretch for their monthly What’s New with You? link up. Truthfully…what’s new with me is NOT MUCH. haha. I can’t believe how fast May flew by. We did do a lot of fun things, and enjoyed a lot of sunny days, but it went by fast and a lot of it was pretty relaxing and close to home. Here are a few things that my little family and I did in May:

1) We took Molly to her first theater production at Neptune Theatre for Shrek: The Musical. She LOVED it but it was 2 1/2 hours long and she was pretty fidgety by the end of it. My cousin played as a musician in the performance, and the music was phenomenal as was the acting. What a fun production.

I promise she was actually happier than she appears to be here 🙂

2) We took the girls to see Raffi in concert. Raffi is like a 5th member of our family some days and we listen to his music around the house constantly. Brian and I both grew up listening to his music and the girls love to sing his easy kids songs. We saw him in concert 2 years ago (left baby Lucy with her grandparents), and this concert was VERY similar to that one but both girls seemed to really enjoy themselves and it was definitely fun to sing along with him for an hour.

3) We celebrated Mother’s Day with brunch and lobster. Molly also made me an adorable sweater with the help of Brian’s mom. SO cute. I need to take a picture of it, actually…

4) I read a lot of great books which I will talk about on Tuesday Jun 14 for Show Us Your Books. We watched a couple of movies and a bit more White Collar.

5) I did not complete the 30 day yoga challenge. I know this is a total excuse, but I find it very difficult to do yoga at home sometimes. We don’t really have a conducive “always clean” location for me to practice in. If I’m doing a Fitness Blender or strength workout at home, I don’t mind if there are kid toys in the room or papers on the desk. If I’m doing yoga, I find all of the clutter around me really needs to be gone or I will stop doing yoga and focus on cleaning. I know this is really weird and I’m definitely working on making our bedroom (aka command central for laundry etc) clutter-free so I can practice yoga in that space.

6) I went for a few runs, but I’d have to say I dropped off this wagon a bit too this month and I need to get back on it for my 10K on June 26.

7) I booked my trip to Calgary (my hometown) for October for my cousin’s wedding. This will be the longest I’ve ever been away from my kids (3 nights/4 days)  and the longest time that Brian has been alone with them…so good luck to him! haha, just kidding, it will be all good. I am really, really excited to see all of my dad’s family.

8) Molly had primary (kindergarten) orientation this month. She is starting in French Immersion in September. We are really excited, and it also make me feel a bit nostalgic. She is loving chapter books these days too and we have read 4 Magic Tree House books in the past week.

9) We barbecued a lot this month and spent a lot of time in the backyard. SO enjoyable. You know what I love about barbecuing? NO (or very few) dishes.

10) We faced a few parenting difficulties this month. Nothing major, but just an overtired 4 year old who is trying to spread her wings and feels supremely jealous of her little sister. I am trying very hard to spend as much one-on-one time with her as I can when Lucy is napping or otherwise occupied, and it seems to have improved over the past week or two. The weekend that Brian was away was particularly challenging, and I yelled at her more times than I’d like to admit, but we have forgiven and moved on.

All in all, a pretty good but not SUPER SUPER SUPER exciting month. It was relaxing though, and I think we need that in our lives sometimes. I can already tell that weekend and weeknight activities will be picking up as the summer progresses, and that will be fun too. Our girls are at great ages to really enjoy the summer, so that’s what we plan to do!

Some other snippets from this month 

Check out what everyone else has been up to on Kristen or Gretch’s blogs today!!

April Recap (What’s New With You link up!)

I love this link up with Kristen and Gretch. It gives me a chance to blog about life. I realize I have a chance to do this anytime I want and I rarely take the opportunity (BUSY busy) but I like reading other people’s posts today too, so it’s fun to do it at the start of the month and look back on the last little bit 🙂

April flew by in a flash, as I knew it would. Honestly though, I feel like I gave myself a lot of downtime in April too so there is not necessarily a lot of SUPER EXCITING NEWS to report or anything. Here are some highlights from the month:

  • Finished Erin’s Book Challenge 4.0 – (here’s her final post about the challenge too) I’ll be chatting about the last book (The Nightingale) and my other recent reads next Tuesday for Show Us Your Books! Honestly, if you are ever interested in a book challenge, I *loved* Erin’s…the categories were broad enough that I found some incredible books, and the facebook group is really interactive. Plus, I love the 4 month time frame because I was able to read lots of other non-challenge books without feeling pressured. It was really fun. The next one is in July 🙂
  • Ran my second 5K of the year in a much faster time than I expected (30:30). It was a really interesting race through Citadel Hill, which is an old fortress in downtown Halifax. We ran through trenches (in the moat), up and down the hill, and along the rapports. It was super fun and I was really pleased with it all!! Next race is a 10K on June 25 🙂 
  • Joined the intermediate/advanced yoga class with my teacher instead of the beginner and am already starting to notice a LOT of progress. The class is a lot more yoga than the beginner class, which was a lot of the basics etc. I am really, REALLY enjoying it and only wish I could fit in another of her classes in the week (the Monday one is the only really close class).
  • Spent tons of time outside with the kids, including helping Molly ride her bike 🙂

  • Celebrated my beautiful niece’s baptism and became a godmother!! (no picture because she isn’t my kid ;))
  • Kept enjoying White Collar with Brian (we’ll probably finish the whole series by the end of May). By the way, it’s kind of sad that a show is a highlight of the month but we did get through 2-3 seasons in the last month and I am pretty hooked…haha. After this, we’re going to catch up on Brooklyn 99 AKA one of my favourite shows (SO FUNNY).
  • Had a brutal cough go through the house as well as the flu (just 2 of them luckily) and Lucy has 2/4 of her 2 year molars..so to say that I slept a bit less would be accurate too. OR alternatively just went to bed early a lot. haha.

And that’s about it – not a SUPER exciting month in some ways, but it was a good one overall! May is already shaping up to be awesome. We have a few busy weekends, but it is all fun stuff so I’m looking forward to it!! I am also doing a 30 Day Yoga Challenge this month…so wish me luck!!! I’m excited to see where it takes me.

Linking up with Kristen ❤ and Gretch today!! Go check out the link up!

What's New With You

March recap (What’s New With you? Link up)

I read something great lately (I can’t for the life of me remember where) about perceptions of being busy. These days, when someone asks “what’s new” or what I’ve been up to lately, my default response is to say that we’ve been busy. And yes, in some ways that’s true. I’ve been busy filling up sippy cups and cleaning up spills and doing laundry and cuddling with a sick toddler and trying to maintain a life for myself and spend time with my husband and see friends and family. But that’s just life right now. It’s not necessarily busy. 90% of weekday evenings I have nothing planned besides cleaning up, reading, working out or watching TV with Brian, and an early bedtime. I am blessed to have tons of quality time with a lot of the people I love and value the most. I’m really trying to shift my thinking to realize that yes, there are moments when life feels VERY busy (i.e. getting home from work and trying to get supper on the table 10 minutes ago and chopping vegetables while two little people pull on my legs), but I don’t want BUSY to be my default answer. I am finding that by saying no to some things, I am able to say yes to things that I love to do.

Anyway, that might not have made sense, but there it is. I’m linking up today with Kristen and Gretchen for What’s New With You? and I’m sharing a brief recap of the month of March in the life of Heather 🙂

March was a great month, and I feel great heading into April…in some ways.

Here are some highlights (in random order):

Lucy turned 2 on March 31 and we celebrated last week on April 1 with family. She is doing great at chattering more now that she has the tubes in her ears (I think) and she is getting along reasonably OK with her big sister. She really enjoyed her birthday and although she hasn’t had a chance to try it yet, she seems to like the balance bike we bought her.

I had 2 half-days and one FULL DAY home during the week on my own because I had extra vacation time to use up before the end of March and we have to pay our childcare provider whether the kids are there or not. I got some house stuff done, got a massage, napped, read, etc. It was amazing. Definitely some much needed “me time”.

Brian and I finished Love on Netflix and House of Cards season 4 (MUCH better than Season 3). We just started White Collar and I am loving that so far. What’s not to love?!

The kids had a ton of trips to the playground and lots of play dates and time with grandparents. We read lots of kid books, made a lot of crafts, and had a lot of fun as a family. We got to spend a lot of time with my adorable baby niece and sister.

Daddy even came with us one time!!
Fun with our umbrellas

Easter was a fantastic weekend full of friends, family, and chocolate. The girls were a great age for egg hunts this year.

Literally the best picture of the two of them out of about 10 choices

I had an awesome reading month which I’ll be talking about next week for the Show Us Your Books link up. I really prioritized audiobooks this month and got through a few of them. I also only have one book left (The Nightingale) in my Book Challenge by Erin list. I am really proud of myself for reading some books lately that I might not have otherwise sought out or that have been on my TBR list for a long time. That’s what I love about book challenges 😉

I didn’t run as much as I would have liked to, but I did make it out a few times at 7 pm because it is light out now at that time! I love it. I am easing back into morning workouts a few times a week, and I’m still really, really loving yoga class once a week but it’s obviously not enough.

Here’s to another great month in April 🙂

Wanna know what’s new with some other bloggers? Head over to Kristen or Gretchen’s blog to check out the link up today!!

What's New With You

February Recap

Kristen and Gretch have a fun link up today called What’s New With You? so I thought I’d take a minute to recap the last month of my life (mostly for myself to look back on ;)).

What's New With You

My blog was down last week and it was a very simple fix but I just couldn’t seem to find the free time to read about it and figure it out. I’m still not exactly sure what caused the “error” but it seems to be working OK now with the exception of some formatting along the sidebar…but at least you can read posts OK now!!

February was an INSANELY busy month for me for some reason, but it was fun too. What have I been so busy doing? Mostly, mothering and decluttering. haha. I SERIOUSLY underestimated how much I would get done on my extra two days a week at home with the kids. They require constant, constant attention. Although I LOVE this extra time with my girls and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, by the time Tuesday morning comes, I am more than happy to pop into work for 3 days. It has been a total whirlwind.

Some events from February:

1) Fell in love with Persuasion (book + movie). I will be talking about this more next week for the Show us Your Books link up! I honestly did not get through very many books this month at all, partially due to being exhausted by 8pm many nights, and partially because one book I read was long!! I also invested a bit of time into Netflix which cuts out time for reading and I am commuting to work less so there’s less reading time then too!! Right now I have about 8 books on the go at once, so hopefully I’ll finish one soon…LOL.

2) Spent some time with wonderful friends, spent Valentine’s Day with my entire extended family at my parents’ house

3) Celebrated birthdays in my immediate family (brother, sister, dad)

4) Threw out a TON of stuff and donated 4 huge cardboard boxes of toys/clothes/books etc to Goodwill. I am still working on some more but this was MAJOR progress for us.

5) Caught up on Suits on Netflix (which is still a season behind regular TV)…Brian and I both love this show 🙂

6) Lucy had another ear infection AKA didn’t sleep well for about 2 weeks 😉

7) Lucy had her surgery to put tubes in her ears so that the fluid will drain and she will a) have less ear infections and b) be able to hear better AKA talk more. It was very minor surgery and it all went well. We are already noticing an improvement in her speech!

8) Molly is loving preschool and is learning how to read! She can read us about 5 books now #proudmom

9) Registered Molly for real school & we will register her for French Immersion on April 1.

10) Missed 2 yoga classes due to weather & a holiday but feeling much more flexible after doing it at home occasionally too!!

11) Started bullet journaling and fell down a rabbit hole on Pinterest. I am still not sure if my life is busy enough for it, but I like combining a journal and a planner in one book, and I like that it can be whatever you need it to be!

12) We replaced the floor in our kitchen. Brian has done most of it himself and he is ALMOST done but our entire main floor has been complete dusty chaos this week.

***ALSO, today marks the anniversary of the day that Brian and I first met 6 YEARS AGO!!! I wrote more about that experience 2 years ago here. Happy meetiversary, babe!! xo

Head on over to Kristen or Gretchen’s blog to check out the link up today and see “what’s new” with everyone else!!

“What’s New With You?” link up with Kristen & Gretchen

What's New With You

When one of your favourite bloggers announces a fun link up idea, there is really no question about whether you’re going to join in or not! Kristen and Gretchen just started this link up to chat about anything you’d like. They are following the idea that when you run into someone you haven’t seen for awhile in person, you usually ask “so, what’s new with you?” but these kinds of posts don’t always happen frequently in the blog world. I wanted to link up today with some things I’m currently enjoying or thinking about 🙂 Go over here to check out some other bloggers’ posts…I know I’ll be snooping through the link up!!

I’m CURRENTLY….

GRATEFUL for the fact that Brian was able to find the diamond from my engagement ring after it fell out of the ring setting last week. I had a panicky, anxious day looking everywhere in the house for it and when he came back from work, he unscrewed the trap from the kitchen sink and it was in there. PSA: If you have a warranty on jewelry like this, DO THE INSPECTIONS. Part of why I felt so bad was that if I had kept up with the bi-annual inspections, they would have replaced the diamond for free if we hadn’t found it. I will absolutely be doing this from now on (also, it might have never fallen out in the first place…)

READING Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah…it’s my first book by her and I’m reading it for Erin’s Book Challenge 4.0. My plan is to read The Nightingale by her too. 

LISTENING TO: The Arkells, all the time. Their concert here 2 weeks ago was AMAZING and I can’t get their songs out of my head. My top three are Michigan Left, Book Club, and 11:11 right now.

DRINKING: Water, water, water, water and water. Plus 2 coffees and a decaf tea per day (on average). It’s Roll up the Rim season here in Canada, so a Tim Horton’s coffee isn’t a bad thing occasionally too 😉

EATING: As many vegetables as possible. And a lot of protein too. Still loosely following IIFYM and trying to pick healthy choices whenever I can.

LOVING: Working part-time. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I love the extra time at home to a) love on the girls, b) read millions of kid books every day and c) clean/meal prep/exercise/run errands during the daytime. I am also LOVING yoga once a week, but that is a whole separate post. It has been AMAZING for my mental and physical health.


ANTICIPATING a fun get-together with friends this weekend, spending more time with my baby niece this month, and a possible local weekend getaway with Brian in March


RECOMMENDING Modern Mrs. Darcy’s podcast…I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s just so good! We also just started Season 2 of Serial. 

WORKING TOWARDS completing Erin’s book challenge by the end of April. So many books that I requested ages ago at the library are available now, so I’m balancing reading those with challenge books, but I have a few categories completed and hoping for a few more by the end of Feb!!

CRAVING just a little bit more sleep, or an extra hour in the day 🙂 Preferably an extra hour of daylight so that I can get a run in before bed 🙂

IMPRESSED WITH MEC’s organization of their race series. My 5K run this past Sunday was a trail run on snowy, icy, trails, but it was fun, it was extremely well organized, and the ice obviously didn’t bother me, because I ran the same time (35 mins) as I did 2.5 years ago at my last 5k. I am SO excited about all these races I have going on this year and feeling very motivated to keep running.

So, what’s new with you lately???