– Isla’s swimming lessons ended a few weeks ago and we haven’t been swimming since. On Tuesday a friend from out of town wanted to go with her two girls (aged 3 and Isla’s age) so we loaded up the swim bag and went. Isla loved it more than lessons! I don’t know if it was because there were less kids at the pool, but she was splashing, jumping into the water, walking around in the shallow end, and even going under the water all by herself! We’re definitely going to have to go more often.

– Since Kyle and I finished painting our bedroom, I’ve finally been able to start thinking about artwork for our walls. I was holding off because I wasn’t sure what colour we were going to paint the walls and I didn’t want whatever artwork I bought to clash with the new paint on the walls. Ya’ll, artwork is expensive, even the mass-produced prints you can buy in stores. Then I was reminded of this easy DIY project on Pinterest and figured, “Hey! That’s totally easy to do and I can make them whatever colour I want! So, after a trip to the dollar store for canvas ($2 for a 16″x 12” canvas!) and a trip to the craft store for some acrylic paint ($0.99/each!), I was able to get started on my $10 masterpieces. I went with two grey canvases and one brown one to match our curtains. I just need to attach hardware to hang them, and we’re set! Here’s a photo of my creations:

– I didn’t have a yoga class this week, so I took it upon myself (and a little reminder from Krysten that I owned the DVD) to do Jillian Michael’s Yoga Meltdown. I haven’t done it in AGES and I quickly remembered why – INTENSE. My muscles are definitely not used to repetition and while I understood all the yoga stuff, I struggled with the sets. By the end of the workout when it came time to do side planks, my arms were ready to give out. Ha! Either way, it was a good time and I felt great afterwards. I even celebrated with a flexing selfie, which will never happen again ;) (For the record – My body HURT the next day.)

– This afternoon my mom is picking up Isla when she gets off work and Kyle and I get to have a little bit of a kid-free evening. We’ve decided to go watch a movie (300: Rise of an Empire) since we can’t remember the last time we went. I’m looking forward to it!!

– Isla has this cute little song that she sings to herself. I have no idea what it is and don’t recognize the tune from any of the shows she watches, but it’s adorable and got it on video yesterday morning during breakfast. Bask in the cuteness:

– Finally, as a member of BzzAgent, I received a sweet campaign offer to try out Lavazza, a new coffee brand that has come to Canada. I received two bags of ground coffee – Gran Aroma (medium roast) and Gran Selezione (dark roast) – and they are pretty tasty! The true test will be Kyle: He can usually taste when I’ve used a brand other than our usual, so I’ve been prepping the coffee maker for the morning while he’s not home.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend – Happy Friday Lovelies!

– Isla has swimming lessons twice a week at the city-owned tournament centre. While I can’t stand public pools, I go because it’s good for Isla to get used to a water and she likes hanging out with the other kids her age in the pool. What adds to my dislike for pools is the way people act at this facility. To start, parking is a nightmare. You literally have to stalk someone who’s leaving and wait for them to leave to find a parking spot some days. The way people drive through the parking lot is also sketchy sometimes. On Tuesday, a man was driving the wrong way down a one-way parking “ally” and I mouthed “Wrong way” and pointed the correct direction to him. He rolled down the window, I’m assuming to talk to me, but his wife (who was in the passenger seat) yelled at me, “F-YOU! HE KNOWS IT’S A ONE WAY!” He just told her to relax and proceeded to drive away and turn around so he was the right way. So that was lovely. Then, after Isla’s lessons were over we were going into a change room and the floor was disgusting: hair and dirt everywhere and a FAKE FINGERNAIL was just chilling out on the floor. If my stuff wasn’t falling all over the place I would’ve switched rooms, but that was just gross.

– One final gripe about going to the pool: There are two banks of family change rooms with signs stating, “Priority goes to parents with young children” posted outside of each change room. For whatever reason, the elderly like to use these rooms as well. It doesn’t bother me so much when they walk out of the change rooms since they may have not been anyone waiting. It’s when they go into a room ahead of parents with young children. This happened to me last week and it seriously aggravated me! I should have said something to the woman but she had already shut the door – I was too shocked to get the words out in time. Oh well.

– To bust out of the fury that I experience everytime I go to the pool, here’s a cute photo of Isla playing with Playdoh. She loves this stuff, and amazingly, has only tried to eat it once.

– Onto a happier note, my laundry room is finally back to normal! Kyle and I finished putting up some new pieces of trim (which were destroyed by Campbell during the first and only time we locked him in the room while we were out of the house – always, ALWAYS use a crate!) and I painted it and did touch ups on Sunday. I’m so happy to have it all looking normal again, after having it in shambles for nearly 9 months. Our next project? Repainting our bedroom!

– My cellphone was away for 4 weeks getting repaired and in the meantime, I was using my older smartphone. It was slow and cranky, and it did its job, but I was SO happy when I got a call on Wednesday stating that my Galaxy S4 was fixed and ready to be picked up!

– Last week I finished reading The Rosie Project (review here) and so this week, I started reading The Husband’s Secret. Funny fact: They are both set in Australia. That is all.

– I am seriously falling in love with yoga. Last night’s class was full of balance and strength poses, and even though I tend to be a little wobbly, I can’t get enough of them. My favourite right now? Dolphin pose to headstand. It’s going to happen. I’m going to make it happen! I can’t even remember the last time I did a headstand, so it should be a fun and challenging venture!

I will do this one day.

Image via here

– I’ll leave you with this heart warming and tear jerking video by the Wake County SPCA: Puppies, kittens, bunnies … what more you you ask for??

I feel like I’ve been a little absent on the blog lately, other than the odd Project 365 post here and there. So today you get a list. It’s not much, but it will do for now.

– Isla started swimming lessons on Tuesday. Actually, they’re on every Tuesday and Thursday until Feb. 14. Anyway, she seems to like them but her attitude is definitely different than last year’s lessons! She was OK walking down the ramp and into the water on her own but once she started to become buoyant, she pretty much freaked out and clung onto me for dear life. Once she got used to it though, she loved it! Although she’s not so crazy about being on her back (she doesn’t even like it in the bathtub though) or being dipped under water (who would?) I’m sure she’ll pass with flying colours though! (Who would flunk a 19 month old anyhow?!)

– Kyle and I got a new kitchen sink and faucet installed on Wednesday. You know you’re an adult when these these get you excited! Our old one was looking a little skuzzy so we made a trip to Home Depot to pick new ones. It’s shiny and beautiful and I almost don’t want to do dishes because I don’t want to ding up the new hardware. But I will. Boo.

– My new tattoo is pretty much all healed up and OMG IT ITCHES SO MUCH STILL. Ugh.

– The rear-facing camera on my cellphone had something wrong with it (weird black specks) so I had to have it sent away for repair. Except it wasn’t that easy of a task to get done, as it turns out. First, I go to the mall store where I bought it and it turns out that they don’t do warranty stuff and directed me to the downtown location to have it sent away. Fine. I loaded Isla up into the truck and went downtown. Then, because for whatever reason my maiden name is on my account and not my married name, the girl downtown needed a piece of ID with a name that matched the account. She gave me their phone to call customer service and have my name changed. Except it’s apparently not that simple either. The guy on the phone said I had to FAX my marriage certificate AND birth certificate in order to have it changed. (WTF, especially since I changed my name on my CREDIT CARD without providing any of that?!) Clearly, I was not impressed and told him that. Then, while I was on hold (again) so he could talk to his superiors to see if something else could be done, the girl and her boss were discussing my issue and suggested I just add my married name as an authorized user on my own account. So I did that. I’m authorized to use my own cellphone account, YAAAAAY! Oh, and it will take 2-6 weeks for my phone to be fixed. Bastards.

– Sidenote: Why do cellphone providers in Canada screw you so badly? We pay an arm and a leg for their services and they still find a way to dick us around. Asshats.

– I have hit a meal planning slump and I feel that I’m making the same thing over and over again. Please feel free to comment below with links to your favourite recipes! You can only browse Pinterest so much before everything just starts looking the same.

– That’s about it for today. Happy Friday!! I’ll leave you with this music video by Sean Paul, because an old J-School classmate of mine posted a photo of some if his lyrics on a karaoke machine and I had no idea what they even said. $100 bucks if you understand this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Q0Fc7bH8A