Category Archives: Life

Nothing to see here

Posted in Life by

Quite literally.

Checking back, I haven’t posted a single word since January(!), and I don’t even feel particularly sorry about that. For whatever reason, today is the day where I finally felt like I had the time and energy to pop in and say hello and give a quick update.

Life has been good.

My job has been keeping me busy and I’m so very grateful for it! I have very few complaints (aside from the AC breaking down this week during our current heat wave) and I can’t say enough about how perfect it fits in with our family’s lives.

The girls have been AMAZING. They are now officially on summer break and we are SO happy that they had a full school year of in-class learning, with not a single Exposure of, well, you know, at their school. We are excited for September to come already!

Isla has been dancing her heart out over the past year and Kyle and I are both super proud of how much she has embraced her passion. She’s been able to take part in a lot of great opportunities and they continue to pop up for her.

Norah has grown SO much since kindergarten started in September; both Kyle and I were shocked by her teacher’s comments in her final report card and we’re so amazed by her every day. She continues to be such a wonderful light in our lives.

Kyle and I celebrated 10 years of marriage last month and while we were originally going to celebrate by going to the lake by ourselves, we ended up taking the girls (and Lars) for the weekend and they had the BEST time. It was definitely worth it and I’m so glad we did. (Except for when we came across a family of bears while walking the dog. That was not ideal, to say the least!)

I am now considered to be fully vaccinated and with BC’s rules and regulations lifting it feels so good to be able to do “normal” things. The girls were able to have actual birthday parties with friends this year and I’m so thankful for that. I hope the population continues to be smart about their health so we can continue on this positive change of events.

One of my closest friends had a baby last month (on Kyle and I’s anniversary, actually), and she is the most lovely little human ever! I should also add that her and her husband both moved back to Kamloops and it’s been so wonderful having them here again. (Also, it makes getting newborn snuggles much easier too, I won’t lie.)

A local trail race organization was able to host a live, in-person race last month and it was SO GOOD to have that vibe again! It was brutally hot and I definitely suffered from heat exhaustion afterward, but it was still great to have these events back for real again.

I won’t deny that there have been a couple of downs here and there, but for the most part they aren’t even worth dwelling upon. I’m not one to be all hashtag: Blessed but overall that’s kind of what it feels like!

So there you go – I’m alive and very well and hope you are too! (The former, especially!)

Tell me something good going on in your life in the comments!

Dust Bunnies

Posted in Life, Recap by

Is this thing on?

Pardon me while I clear this space of the cobwebs and dust bunnies that have accumulated over the past few months.

I could use the excuse that life has been busy AF and I just haven’t found the time to sit down and blog, but that’s not 100% true. While life has indeed been busy with work, kids, and everything in between, I just haven’t felt a pull towards this space. Neglected, it certainly was.

I won’t even go to say that 2021 will be a turning point for the blog. After the manure-filled dumpster fire that 2020 was, I’m not making any promises. But – I do want to do a least a little better and make a valiant effort to at least park my ass at the keyboard at least once per month.

And so, here I am!

Since my last few posts of 2020 mainly consisted of book reviews, I suppose I haven’t really given a life update so to speak. I’ll see if I can summarize things the best I can …

Norah started kindergarten in September and it has been WONDERFUL for her! She’s grown so much intellectually and I’m so thankful that school was able to resume for the students. I honestly don’t believe virtual learning would be the best option for her, and her teacher is absolutely the BEST.

Isla started grade 3 and she’s loving it as well! Being in a 3/4 split class has been great for her, however, I’m apprehensive of her befriending the “older” kids in the class. We’ll see how this pans out in the long run, I suppose.

Both girls started dance in September as well, Isla in her 3rd year of ballet and Norah in her 1st season ever. Norah is really enjoying it, more than I had anticipated, which is great! She seems to really enjoy tap dancing (no surprise there) so I’m curious to see if this is something she continues to do.

Isla was also offered the opportunity to do a solo routine, and she’s doing really well! It’s hard to say what the festival season and year end show will look like right now, but it’s teaching her discipline  regardless, which is a bonus.

Over the summer and into the fall, I managed to get in four running races! One of the local running organizations busted their asses to put together a handful of COVID-safe races, and each one was amazing. I managed to finish in 2nd place for the 5K distance for females, so that was definitely my humble brag moment of the summer.

I’ve missed a few book reviews, but I did manage to finish reading 27 books last year in total. It’s likely peanuts compared to most, but I’m happy with my reading routine and the pace works for me! I don’t have a set goal of how many books I’d like to finish this year, but if I made my way through 25 I’d be happy!

2020, of course, was not all sunshines and rainbows. If you follow me on Instagram, I had posted that we had to say goodbye to our wonderful rescue dog, Campbell. The vets found a cancerous tumour on his spine and after a few weeks of keeping him comfortable,  we felt it was his time to cross the rainbow bridge.

Christmas, as it was for mostly everyone, was oddly quiet this year. While it was a nice change, we certainly missed the chaos that surrounds the day and look forward to the potential of being with our friends and family this year. The girls were spoiled rotten (likely to compensate for the lack of family time, lol) and I couldn’t have asked for a better holiday for them.

So there you have it! The last few months of 2020 were pretty great overall. While it’s dumpster fire is still smoldering a lite, hopefully it gets put out fully sooner rather than later in 2021 and we can return to whatever “normal” was.

I’m here.

Posted in Life by

Why, hello there. Long time, no actual post.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted something other than a book review so I just thought I’d stop by to say “Hi” and that I’m indeed still here.

Life has been … as much as you can expect right now. As much as I’m sick and tired of hearing the phrase “unprecedented times” and “time of uncertainty,” it really sums it up. I’m trying to take everything day by day and just do my best to keep things as normalish as possible.

I’m trying to think back to when all of this COVID stuff touched down. Things started getting a little worrisome right before spring break. Isla actually missed the last two days of school before the break because she got pink eye (hurray!), and then both her and Norah went to daycare/day camp the following week because I had to work. During that week, everything kind of went to hell in a hand basket and boom – schools closed, I started working from home, and I haven’t given my mom a proper hug since who-knows-when.

I miss hugs.

I know things could be way worse. My family is fortunate enough to one, be healthy. That’s the main thing. Second, Kyle and I are both still able to work our normal schedules and receive our normal wages. For that, I’m HUGELY grateful and I don’t want to disregard those who have been laid off. But working for the head office of a national company is tough when you’re doing it all from home while trying to teach your 7-year old fractions and making sure your 4-year old doesn’t rot her brain on the iPad all day. By the end of the day I’m pretty much done and the last thing I’ve wanted to do is sit down and blog.

I’m also pretty thankful that Isla’s teacher from both school and dance are doing their best to keep things normal for all of their students. Between online class meetings and lessons, this whole “new normal” hasn’t affected her too much. Isla’s smart and dedicated enough to guide herself through her schoolwork with very little help from me, but Norah has a harder time focussing. She needs that authoritative figure to get her to be engaged and learn. They both, however, miss the normalcy of being able to play with their friends and hug their grandparents.

There’s a lot of hope that things will go back to normal, but I’m not holding my breath in anticipation. I look forward to the day we can just be again.

Until then, I’ll be here until we’re given the clear not to be. Virtual hugs, high-fives, and fist-bumps all around.