Playback: Jan ’16

Oh la la! January was a nice and peaceful month for me with some much needed hermitting. I needed a recharge after a bit of a stressful end to 2015 and January gave me just that. Throughout the month I started feeling more and more balanced and ready to take on the new year. What an incredible feeling to have.

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Matthew and I took a little day trip out to Niagara Falls, visiting my parents and the outlets along the way. I’ve visited the falls a bunch since my parents moved west of Toronto, but I had yet to see them at night. It wouldn’t be much to see if it wasn’t for the changing coloured spotlights.

Niagara Falls
Spotlights on Niagara Falls

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAD2_WQLSis/

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Matthew took up a vegan diet at the end of 2015 so amped up my game testing out some transition recipes. I had a bit of a craving for buffalo wings (not so much the wings, more so the sauce) and remembered hearing how great cauliflower wings were so we decided to test them out. I found this great recipe on Hot For Food, a Toronto based vegan food blog/YouTube channel. So good! Now that cauliflower is back down to a regular price you’ve got to give them a try, vegan or not.

Vegan Cooking
Veggies are tasty… especially covered in sauce

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The winter has been pretty mild in Toronto this year so I took advantage and went on a bunch of walks throughout the month. I snapped this pic along the way one night.

Winter Walks
Winter Walks

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I kicked off the start of the month with a knitting spree, getting a couple hats under my belt including this little ditty. Cap seems to love hanging around the wool too.

Winter Knits
Winter Knits
Winter Knits
Winter Knits

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Andrew was in town for a night so he crashed at our place. I joined him and Chris after a game and because Chris is so busy with #content after the game he brought us up to his office while he wrapped up the night. As an added treat he gave us a little tour including his press-box desk. Pretty neat. #ProudFriends

Visiting Chris at work
Visiting Chris at work

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I’m back in school! I love school! I signed up for french classes and am working on building up my vocabulary again. It’s a lot harder to pick up things when I only have one three hour class a week compared to the immersion I did in Trois-Rivières and Quebec… but at least I’m back in the class! Now I just have to convince Matthew to accept my terrible accent.

Community College
Bean bags at community college yo

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My mom is the big sports fan in the family. Growing up the rest of us were pretty meh but mom always wanted to have the game/race/match on. The Leafs have been her favourite team since she was a kid but she had never seen them play. So, I figured I’d pick her up a couple of tickets to celebrate her birthday. It was a great night except they lost in overtime. But as we said, it wouldn’t have been a true experience if they would have won.

I will say, Matthew’s none too pleased that I have a Leafs jersey hidden in the apartment…

Maple Leafs
Game time
Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs game with momma bear

 

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You know what’s great? Living close to a rink! I was a little worried about using my speed skates so we visited a Play It Again Sports and picked up a pair of hockey skates for me. We got on the ice a couple of times during the month. We brought Matthew’s niece along for a skate with us one day which was a lot of fun until we were struck by a hunger fueled/tired kid meltdown. I will say, we handled it pretty well. Our team work skills were on point.

 

Skating
Skating

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Every so often I really need to hermit and not feel guilty about doing just that. And I didn’t. Do you ever get hit by that need? By the end of the month I was feeling more rested and ready to come out of my shell. So I got off my butt and start visiting with friends again. Yay friends!

Graffiti Alley
Graffiti Alley

February has been a blast so far and we have some fun adventures planned to wrap up the month, you’ll have to wait and see… #suspense

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Gamli
    February 17, 2016 / 3:17 pm

    Always fun to read your blog, keep it up.

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