Playback: April & May ’16

Catch up time! April was a bit of a blah month for me, quite uneventful in terms of fun activities as I spent a good chunk of the month sitting on the couch and visiting doctors due to my back issues flaring up again. I had hurt my back at the end of March and spent the first three weeks stuck on the couch/in bed. I struggled for a while with how to write about this. I typically choose to highlight the more fun aspects of my month, hence the term highlights 😉 but this has been such a focus over the past few months that I can’t not write about it. When we look at our lives shared on social, we see things through this picturesque lens, we want so much to look back at our shared moments and memories with a happy filter applied. I do this here too, I highlight the fun moments and choose to not write about others, for example, how many episodes of something on Netflix I binged. While we’re striving to find happiness in everything we do, we also have to learn to embrace the regular moments and even to embrace the ‘suck’ when it comes along. Well, here’s my suck. The reality of my April, May and even now in June is that I spent a lot of the time upset and tearful at times, tears from the pain and tears out of fear and frustration.

In the grand scheme of things, there are much worse things and people in worse situations but that doesn’t change that its been a hard time. It’s been a while since I’ve had a bad spell with my back and I really struggled with some emotions that I don’t typically face on the regular. It was tough, simply put. Our health is so important to our lives. It shapes our experiences, how we see the world and how we experience happiness. Last year my friend Asad asked if I would free-write about health for a curation he was working on. I believe most people who read this know about my history with my back but for those who don’t you can read more about it here.

Anyways, it’s meant a lot of time  on the couch cuddling this kitten, slowly working on building my core strength up again and being super thankful to have such a supportive partner to help me out along the way.

Back in April the Icelandic Club of Toronto ran its annual Þorrablót and I was asked to whip up some pönnukökur. I had agreed weeks earlier and committed to making about 10 dozen. So, in order to get things done, I placed a chair by the oven and put on a serious face to get the job done. This was a good life lesson for me. In the future, if I’m having an issue with my back, I need to say no and put myself first. Oh life, you’ve got some good lessons in store for me don’t you?

I made my way to the event to drop off the pönnukökur and to see Anders accept his grant for the Snorri Program. He’s in Iceland this summer with the same program that I participated in 2012. In fact, we’ve actually planned a little trip over there too this summer so we can travel together! We’ll be flying over at the end of July! Fun!

I’ve been called a dork for this but it’s the truth, a highlight of April for me, in all seriousness, was receiving my Vitamix. Actually. I love this bloody blender.

On a better day, Matthew and I made our way over to Evergreen Brick Works to check out the market. We’ve made a note that we have to head back to walk the trails when I’m back in walking form. Before we left we grabbed a couple casseroles for our dinner with Anuj and Yana from Doug McNish’s Public Kitchen stall. So good and such a fun night!!

We ended up looking through some old family photos with Matthew’s family when we were all talking about how much Matthew’s nieces look like their parents. I just can’t not share this picture because look at Matthew! What a freaking cutie! Turns out he’s always been a little ham.

We had a little babysitting adventure with this little one and it was a blast. A walk down to the water, playing at the playground, visiting with the cat, snacking, lunching and sleeping. Ah, the day in the life of a two-year-old.

To wrap up the month we hopped in the car and checked out a coffee shop in the east end and of course, snapped a sunny picture.

As May rolled around I started to be able to walk a little more. I took advantage of a day that I was feeling good to walk down to the water during a conference call and enjoy the weather and view.

With cherry blossoms blooming, Matthew and I took a trip out to Burlington to spend time with my parents on Mother’s Day. It was a good time with lots of food and walks. Classic family times.

I channeled my Russian roots and tested out my cooking skills with a big batch of homemade perogies! They were surprisingly easy to make and turned out really well. They’re stuffed with sweet potato and sauerkraut #yum. Check out the recipe here.

I spent the Victoria Day long weekend at home with my parents catching up and doing family things. We went on a couple drives, walks and worked on some DIY creations 🙂

Living so close to the beach I figured I might as well walk down to the water to check out the fireworks. I left the house with no more than five minutes to spare and just like that I was with the crowd enjoying the show. After years of watching the fireworks from the dock in the County I love being so close to them!

To wrap up the month I had a girls weekend with Hayley filled with laughs and fun times in the beach. We also had a brunch with some lovely ladies! Yay friendship! 🙂

And that was April and May and now June’s almost done. Wild times.