Playback: June ’15

June is always a standout month and this one certainly was as well. With the weather warming up, it was a perfect month to spend outdoors, walking around and exploring.

Hayley, Jordan and I decided to get up early for a proper breakfast in High Park. Brunch is too lazy and we wanted to seize the day with an early 8am start! After a lovely breakfast and walk around high park, we made our way down Roncesvalles, grabbed some donuts at Glory Hole Donuts (they have delicious vegan donuts!), bought some rackets and made a ruckus in the park.

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There are a lot of reasons why I love walking. One of the major reasons is that it helps keep my sciatica in check, but another is that it allows me to explore new places and see different things, all thanks to my two feet. With big changes happening in June, I wanted to make sure I explored my neighbourhood as much as possible… which often led me to exploring other neighbourhoods. Taking in new views is always a good time.

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I had been a bit of a slacker making my way over to visit my friends Karen and Einar and their little baby boy, but I finally got to meet this little one and boy, isn’t he a cutie. Super calm babe. Looking forward to seeing him and his personality grow.

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The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, was doing a bit of a Canadian tour with visits to Ottawa, Montreal and a final stop in Toronto to discuss the environment, and specifically the northern climates. With his visit to Toronto, the Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto decided to host a special lunch in his honour, and had a special celebration for the members of our club who were celebrating their 90th birthdays.

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Like every June, I celebrated my birthday! I’m usually a low key birthday kind of girl. I typically like to spend it by myself and with nature. The past couple year’s I’ve had some really great friends (Hayley and Jenna) make the day pretty special by surprising me (Go Train ride shout outs, cake while watching The National and surprise balloons, cake and champagne to start off the day)… but this year I proactively started to feel an urge to spend it with friends. Matthew had booked Saturday as our day to celebrate together and then I started to invite friends to have an afternoon picnic with me on the Sunday…. Except as part of Matthew’s excellent planning (trip to the islands and dinner at Grasslands) he planned a surprise party for me! I was not expecting it at all, in fact it took me a minute to clue in that it wasn’t a coincidence and that everyone was there for me, including my brother! I dare say, it was the best adult birthday I’ve had. Thanks Matthew and Hayls for planning and to everyone who showed up! (He also got me a gorgeous ring by my favourite Canadian jewelry designer, Justine Brooks)

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Over the past year I’ve had the pleasure of becoming friends with Louis, a key player in our knitting club and all round great guy. His year in Toronto wrapped up and as a goodbye, we hit up a Toronto staple, Sneaky Dees. Fun friends and way to much food is a winning combination. Looking forward to Montreal visits 🙂

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It’s been 3 years since I lived in Quebec City and it’s always great to meet up with the friends I made there. Janet, Aileen and Katie ended up in Toronto so we had some reunion beers reunion at Mill Street and Pacific Junction. (I love Pacific Junction!)

https://instagram.com/p/4SppOAwI_J/

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June also happens to be when Matthew’s birthday lands. With him being from Montreal and his birthday being St. Jean Baptiste, I decided to plan a Quebec themed birthday. We had dinner at Lou Dawgs which is noted as having one of the best poutine’s in the city, watched the Montreal Impact take on the TFC and my present solidified my theme. Boom. Birthdays. I think I nailed it, especially when he saw his present (jersey below). 🙂

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Guess what else happened this month? I moved! I packed up my stuff and made my way out to the Beaches to live with Matthew. Check out what my place used to look like here.

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Matthew went away for a boys weekend and I had a girls weekend with my mom. While the weather wasn’t the sunniest, we put on our shoes and took advantage of the boardwalk.

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It’s a rule that during the baseball season, you must attend one game a month at minimum. #fact What better way to wrap up the month?

https://instagram.com/p/4kz56-DyR5

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Now that I’m living in a new part of town, I’ve got some settling in and exploring to do.