Vivaldi's Seasons by Candlelight (Nov.25, 2021)

 It was a very busy day today with work, packing and cleaning.

Jason worked on getting the sliding door kit put up on the pantry.

It looks good but I forgot to take a picture of it.

We were heading to the city and I was hoping to get a work out in before we left but that didn't happen.

 

I did manage to get a shower in though and got my hair did!

Excited to be off to the city for a few days.

There were really bad icy conditions this morning and a lot of accidents but luckily it had warmed up by the time we headed in and the roads were good.

It was 5 degrees Celsius so not too bad for the end of November.

Jason got us tickets to see an all female string quartet play Vivaldi's Seasons by Candlelight at the Pioneers Cabin in Edmonton.

I'd never even heard of it before - It's along the river valley in Edmonton and the view of the city from their parking lot was beautiful.

That's the Walter Dale bridge there to the left, I think it's such a pretty bridge.

The building is an actual log cabin that was built somewhere else (Pigeon Lake I think) then dismantled, moved here and rebuilt.

It was an intimate, cozy setting.

This is the platform for the performers.

The whole thing was just over an hour.

They performed all four of Vivaldi's seasons plus a couple other extra pieces.

My favorite movie of all time is Anne of Green Gables and the soundtrack includes both Vivaldi's Spring and Fall pieces.

So I just love them.

I really enjoyed the performance - That's one thing about living in a city, you have more of an opportunity to attend things like this.

After the concert, we stopped by the West Edmonton Mall.

I wanted to get some candles for Christmas presents and even though Black Friday is technically tomorrow, the sales at most spots have already started.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the stores tomorrow so I thought I'd just go and at least get that done.

It was 9 pm by the time we checked into the hotel and we'd still not eaten supper nor had we worked out.

The gym at the hotel closed at 11 and the restaurant closed at 10 so we opted to eat first.

We got this meat and rice dish that was ok but very expensive for what it was.

We also shared the chicken flatbread.

It was pretty good.

I was actually considering not running today but Jason talked me out of it, he said I was already 24 days in on my challenge of running 5k each day in November so why would I quit now.

So even though it was the last thing I felt like doing, I sucked it up, got ready and headed to the hotel gym.

There was only one treadmill so Jason let me have that and he took the recumbent bike.

It's backwards but you can see on the clock there that it was 11pm when I finished up.

I did 3.67 miles or 5.9 k.

After I finished, I was really glad that Jason talked sense into me and that I got it done.

Jason sent this to me while we were at the gym.

It's his sexy gym selfie pose - ha ha ha.

He was being goofy on purpose - love that face.

He cracks me up.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Christmas Tree Has Been Procured (Nov.24, 2021)

Freya got her school pictures and I LOVE THEM!

I can't believe she actually left her ponytails in.

All the same pose, just different backgrounds.

I like the one with the year on it.

It was cold out there so treadmill run it was for me today.

I did 3.354 miles or 5.39 k.

That felt like enough for today.

I was pretty sweaty so that equals good workout to me.

Kody dropped Freya off for a sleep over.

He and Haylee are headed to the city to see a City and Color concert.

When I finished work for the day, we hopped in the truck and headed to Barrhead to pick up a Christmas tree.

There seem to be shortages on everything this year so we wanted to make sure we got one.

Freya fell asleep immediately - before we even got out of town.

I hate seeing her little head roll forward like this - I was afraid she couldn't breathe so I took her hat off of her and unzipped her coat a bit.

She slept for the whole hour long drive - hope that doesn't mean we are going to have a late night.

We picked out a tree - we won't put it up quite yet but at least we have it.

We did a bit of shopping and then we headed back home.

Just chilling with my girlie!

She sure loves her bubba.

I did a little more decorating tonight, not much.

I'm just about done though.

There'll be more pictures to follow when I'm done.

I have never in my whole entire life ever wanted a cropped top so this just made me giggle.

OMG, ha ha ha.

We used to count satellite dishes when we went on long road trips, the big giant ones people used to have.

How's that for entertainment?

We fought a lot too - one time my mom even put us out on the side of the road - that sure scared us straight for a bit!!

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Christmas Gifts are Trickling In (Nov.23, 2021)

I had a couple meetings this morning then I spent the rest of the morning entering work orders.

I had quite a stack to get caught up on - it ended up taking up most of my day.

It was chilly and windy out there so I opted to hop on the treadmill again today.

I was feeling much better than the last time and was able to run at a faster pace.

I did 4.455 miles or 7.17 k.

I love getting sweaty from a work out - the sweatier the better.

Makes me feel like I worked my butt off.

I did pop down to the office briefly this afternoon to pick up a parcel that was on my desk.

I've been ordering Christmas presents online and they've been trickling in.

After work, I got back to decorating.

It's looking pretty good.

It's hard to believe but I scaled back a bit from last year - really!

I am loving it - I also can't wait for it to be done.

I have one more container to go through with some Christmas dishes and things in it then I'll haul all the containers back down to the basement and put them away.

Another area that's complete although I was thinking about taking the brown cupboard in the bottom right corner down to the basement for the season to give us some extra space.

Even my bathroom got some decorating.

I had these on my tiered tray last year but I like them better in the bathroom, they fit perfectly.

I love these little ornaments I made of the kids last year - I think I should make them every year.

Freya.

Declan.

Hunter

Alivia

Ethan

I'm getting so close to the finish line - just a few more things then I'll be all done.

Except for the tree but since we get a real one, that will have to wait a little bit.

My plan is to put it to the right of the fireplace and the couch is in a perfect spot now for me to be able to just sit and enjoy the tree (which is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time).

A funny for today.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Good Weigh In Day (Nov.22, 2021)

 So today was weigh in day.

Full disclosure - I've been weighing in every day this week so I had a pretty good idea how it was going to go.

I was 183 lbs.

So that's down 7 lbs since last week's weigh in which I was happy with.

I tracked my WW points all week long and I can report that I don't mind the new plan so far.

When I saw that I only had 23 daily points I was concerned but with eggs, shrimp and chicken being 0 points and earning points for eating veggies, I've pretty much had extra points every single day.

Plus I earn extra weeklies for activity and I had a boatload of them that I didn't use - seemed like too many to me in fact, like 135 points or something like that.

It seems like a huge amount and I didn't really use any however, I am running every day so maybe I should try to use some of them?

I'm not sure, I'll try another week or two and see how things go then maybe adjust if I need to.

It was pretty nice out there so I got out at lunch time for a run.

I kind of changed things up a bit today so I had no idea how far I'd run - honestly I thought it was more than 6.5k but I was happy with that too.

My exercise details.

The snowy, icy conditions on the roads in town have really affected my average pace and splits but there isn't too much I can do about that.

It will likely stay that way for the whole winter too unfortunately but I still like getting outdoors for runs so I plan to as much as I can throughout the winter months.

It's so weird, I've always been team Treadmill but now I think I prefer running outdoors.

It's harder physically but I think running on the treadmill is harder mentally.

Don't get me wrong - I still love my treadmill and I'm so thankful that I have it for a back up - I don't think I'll ever be without one for the rest of my life!

After work, I continued on with my Christmas decorating.

It's coming along.

I was watching some Rachel Maksy while I worked - that's her on my tv screen!

Someone posted a picture of this dresser they painted for their grand-daughter and I think it looks so darling.

I love the colors - I'm totally a pink girl for sure.

What a neat idea - I was thinking about looking for some stuffies, then cutting them in half to make a couple of these.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!