Short Run, Farrows, St Albert Trails and New Alphaflys! (Feb.4, 2023)

I slept in a lot later than normal this morning and we have an appointment at the bank at noon so that means I didn't have time to do my 8k run outdoors like I was planning just because I knew it would take me too long.

Jason headed out for a 5k run and I still went out for a walk thinking I'd at least still get some steps in.

I did end up doing a 2k run and OMG - it felt super tough for some reason.

The exercise details.

You can see my splits were pretty slow.

It was better than nothing though and I did get half my steps in that I needed for the day so that was good.

We checked out of our hotel room then walked over to Farrow's - a sandwich shop around the corner.

It's a funky little place - they have two locations.

We've been to the other location before but this was our first time at this one.

Jason bought a new hoodie and I love the color.

I was surprised because he isn't normally a hoodie guy but it looks really good on him.

We ordered the Corn to be Wild to share.

It had chicken on it but it was Vegan so some kind of Vegan chicken but it was delicious.

I've been thinking about it ever since.

There was a coffee place downstairs called Lock and Stock so I went down and got us a coffees.

They had some delicious looking treats.

Those chocolate cupcakes looked pretty good.

I'm a sucker for a scone too so I got the Apple butter one and the herb and cheese biscuit.

I thought we could share, each take a bite and throw the rest of it away but truth be told - I finished them both off tonight when we got home.

They had a pretty good looking menu.

They do biscuit sandwiches too which are right up my alley so next time, we may need to check it out.

We left there and went to the appointment at the bank to get me added to Jason's account.

It took a little bit but we got it done.

Then I had to make a couple of returns to Winners in the St Albert mall.

I had a look at the sneakers on sale in the Sport Check in there and they just so happened to have one pair of Nike Alphaflys and they were my size - what a find!

It must have been fate.

I took some pictures of them when I got home.

Aren't they pretty?

I can't wait to try them out tomorrow.

We decided to leave the car at the mall and walk over to the Italian Super Market to get Morgan a sandwich, we got mom a date square too for a treat.

It was such a nice day for a walk and they have some really nice trails in St Albert.

Someone lost their glove.

We did a bit more shopping then we decided to stop and have some ramen before heading home.

Kozoku is still our favorite so that's where we went and it did not disappoint.

When we got home, I texted Kody to see if Freya wanted to come spend the night and she did so he brought her over.

Jason picked out this dress for her today and I got her the shoes for Florida.

I wanted her to try them on to make sure they fit.

We were calling it a Wednesday Addams dress and she loved it.

She even slept in it.

We picked her up some more hot cheesies - we got through a lot of those around here.

She just loves them.

Look at her little red fingertips.

This cat reminded me of Paddington.

If there is an open suitcase on the bed then he is in it napping guaranteed!

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

House Hunting, Sepps and That Dress Costs How Much? (Feb.3, 2023)

Work was busy this morning.

I got a call from my boss letting me know that we'll be getting bonuses again this year.

We'll be getting less than last year but it's still better than nothing so that was good news.

Jason had lined up an appointment to look at a house in Westlock that his parents are interested in.

It was a cute little place.

The kitchen was a nice size.

It needed some work though.

The dining room had a whole wall of smoked mirrors - Not my taste but easy to fix I'm sure.

It had two bathrooms - a main one and an en suite off the primary bedroom.

A little out of date but workable.

The closets all had shelves in theme which was nice.

It had a pretty big back yard, a basement with all kinds of room - looked like the person who lived here prior may have done wood working down there - there were workbenches all over.

The garage was lined with shelves, so lots of storage.

It did need some work - the carpets would likely have to come up and then some of the electrical in the basement looked kind of sketchy but it could be a fun project.

Jason took some video to send to his mom.

We spent about a hour and a half in there then we headed into the city.

We made a few stops to do some shopping then we headed to Sepp's for some supper.

They just started doing a Vodka pie so we ordered that.

We also ordered our favorite Double Pepp too.

The Vodka one would have been better if it had less cheese - the cheese kind of overpowered the vodka sauce.

It was good but the Double Pepp is still our all time favorite.

I still needed a bunch of steps so we decided to head over to the West Edmonton mall.

Jason found this cute little dress he picked up for Freya for our trip to Florida which is coming up so fast.

I saw this dress and immediately loved the pattern.

It was little cats in astronaut uniforms.

When I saw the price, I thought maybe it was a mistake.

But there were three more of them on the rack and they all had the same price.

It was Gucci but still.

Completely out of my price range, that's for sure!

We checked out Sport Check - I was hoping to find myself a new pair of Nike Alphaflys but no luck.

I did manage to get all my steps in though so the trip was successful.

We headed over to check into the hotel - we are staying at the Coast downtown - I like staying there - it's a good place to go running and I'm planning on running outside tomorrow.

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

Freya Gets Crafty (Feb.2, 2023)

 It was another chilly morning out there - it is supposed to warm up a little today though so I skipped going for a walk in the morning, figured I'd go this afternoon instead.

Freya and Jason were busy crafting this morning, she made his hand into 'Thing'.

She just loves making stuff.

It turned out pretty good.

Jason ordered a watch with a tracker in it for Freya for when we go to Florida and it arrived today.

It's kind of amazing how quickly things get here sometimes.

Jason found some bran muffin mix on sale so he picked it up and he's going to make some.

I LOVE bran muffins but they are kind of high in points.

It did warm up slightly and I got out for my walk to the road and back this afternoon.

I was bundled up pretty good too.

Jason was going to drive Freya to dance in Barrhead but just before they were supposed to leave, she crashed.

She had a late night last night and they went hard all day so she was just tuckered.

So Jason decided to just let her sleep and skipped dance for today.

Jason cooked a roast pork for supper and he made salad and potatoes to go along with it, it was super good.

I had to run 2.5 miles today so after supper, I hopped on the treadmill.

I started off at a speed of 4.0 but the training schedule said 2.5 miles Easy so I decided to bump it down to 3.5 for the speed since that was the easy pace I ran at the other day.

It felt hard, not sure if it's because I ate supper before I worked out or if it was the speed.

Sometimes I find it's almost harder to run when you are going slower if that makes sense.

I got it done and that's the main thing!

I realized I messed up on with the dates and the marathon training - it's actually 14 weeks until the marathon and the plan is a 13 week plan so I'm just going to repeat this week.

I'm not sure how I managed to do that?

My video check in for today.

When I went upstairs, Haylee was there picking up Freya so I didn't really get to spend any time with her this evening.

I think we are going to take her with us to the city tomorrow night though so we'll have plenty of time together then.

Mel was able to get flights booked and she was working on booking Universal and Disney last night.

It's not very user friendly and she was having trouble with the last step for DIsney.

She was sending me screenshots and I think all looks good but she's going to call them tomorrow just to make sure.

Jason and I had some popcorn and watched some One Bite Pizza reviews before calling it a night.

I haven't been tracking as diligently as I should but I'm eating good - I think I'm staying on track but hard to know for sure when I'm not tracking.

We do plan on having a treat tomorrow night in the city - we are thinking pizza maybe.

Sepps is making a Vodka Pie now and we both would like to try it.

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

The Cold Winter Weather is Here....Unfortunately (Feb.1, 2023)

 Well we had a lovely January with really mild temperatures but the cold weather is here now.

It was -21 c out there today and a bit on the windy side so I just couldn't bring myself to go out there for a walk.

I dislike being cold very much!

Jason is off today and Freya wanted to go over to visit him - it was too cold for him to walk down to get her so I stopped and picked her up on my way home for lunch.

Jason made hamburger soup for lunch and I also had the other half of my sub from last night with it.

Yum yum!

Jason and Freya were hard at it playing after lunch.

He sent me a few pictures.

Trying on glasses.

(Haylee put some pink in her hair, it just washes out, and I think it looks cute).

He put a bunch of balloons full of colored water along the sidewalk this morning so they could freeze up for her and she could smash them but she just wasn't patient enough to wait for them to freeze all the way.

She still had fun and that was the goal so no biggie.

When I got home from work, I hadn't gotten out for any walks at all so I had a lot of steps to try to get in.

I hopped on the treadmill and walked for a bit.

Jason made us supper, chicken, salad and potatoes - I love when I don't have to worry about cooking a meal.

I had an FCSS meeting and even though it was still really cold, I bundled up really well and decided to walk over there because I still needed a lot of steps.

Mom had a hair appointment at the same time as my meeting so Morgan went with her and Jason dropped them off.

When I got to the town office, Darren was there waiting too but all the lights were off.

He called Trina and apparently the meeting had been cancelled.

Jason was heading to the store so I walked over there and met him.

It was the first time that Mom went to this hair stylist - she has a salon in her basement here in town - and mom really liked it.

She got a lot chopped off the back.

That's what she wanted - it will be much easier to manage for her.

It's hard for her to lift her one arm up very high so now she won't have to as much.

When I got back from picking up Mom, Jason was giving Freya a bath.

She had the jets on so there were A LOT of bubbles.

He washed her hair and just watched to make sure she was ok and I headed down to the treadmill again as I still need a couple thousand more steps.

It took me another 30 minutes of walking to finally get there.

Not doing that walk at work to the road and back really makes a difference.

My hip was bothering me as well so I was walking really slowly.

I'm not sure if it's better to walk slow and take longer or walk at a faster pace so I'm done more quickly?

Anyway, I finally managed to reach my 13,000 steps and it was pretty much bed time by that point.

I did brush Freya's hair and braid it for her before bed - she has school in the morning.

I also  had some snacks.

I picked up a bag of mixed nuts at the store and I ate the whole thing.

I didn't track it and I definitely went over my points allotment for the day.

Darn nuts - I must keep away from them, they are like my kryptonite - I lose all control when I'm around them.

Mel texted and said that her passport came today so she was going to go online now and start booking everything.

Yay - I'm so excited.

I would have been super bummed if she and the kids weren't able to join us.

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

Disney Parks Are Booked - The Countdown is On (Jan.31, 2023)

So kind of a quiet day over here today.

It was lightly snowing all day but that didn't stop me from getting out for a walk to the road and back this morning.

I probably should start wearing my winter coat - I was a little chilly but I survived.

I bought myself a new shovel on my way home at lunch time today - the metal on the one I have is starting to come off so it isn't working properly.

I thought that would give me incentive to shovel when I got home but it didn't.

It was still snowing so I figured I'd wait until after work and do it then.

Instead I went in and put a coat of black paint on the inside of the bells I'm currently working on (forgot to take a picture).

I picked up subs for Jason and I after work.

My plan was to shovel, workout then eat my sub.

It was still snowing though, the wind had picked up and I was cold so I scrapped the shoveling idea.

The snow will all still be there tomorrow.

Instead I went in and hopped on the treadmill.

I had to do a 5k run today.

I wasn't sure how it would go but it was pretty smooth.

I ran at a speed of 4.0 and even bumped it up a little in the last 5 minutes or so.

Love the feeling of a completed workout.

My video check in for today.

I was online today checking out prices for the Disney parks, Universal and Discovery Cove trying to see if I could find deals.

I really couldn't.

Discovery Cove ended up being 350 USD per person so I spoke to Crystal and we scrapped that.

That is just entirely too much to pay to spend the day at the water park.

We figured we'd find something else to do that day when my sister takes the boys there.

We did book Universal though and we got The Magic Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios booked as well.

I let my sister know the days we'd booked and she booked her and the boys as well.

Felt like a big 'OUCH' on my pocket book but it will be worth it.

The countdown is on now, only 14 days to go.

I still have a few things I need to do, like booking someone to feed our cats and renting a scooter for mom for the day she goes to the park but aside from that, I'm ready!

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