Summer: Part One

My summer, this year, is divided into three distinct parts. We are solidly in the middle part, our vacation to Saskatchewan, but I wanted to write about the first part of the summer, and what it looked like. This is a bit like a "life lately" post, except this all happened the first few weeks of July, so it's not all that "lately."

We hosted four of Rachel's friends for a belated birthday sleepover, followed by a pancake brunch. 

 

Sam and Rachel headed off to a youth sleepover. Poor (or "lucky"?) Rachel had two sleepovers in a row. Phew.

I made strawberry freezer jam with Janice and Rachel and I helped our pastor get ready for Vacation Bible School (VBS).

We headed off to a Blue Jays' game with the kids to (sort of) celebrate our anniversary. So romantic!

We had our summer kickoff "strawberries and ice cream for breakfast" and watched the Blue Jays dominate on Canada Day!

 

We cheered Canada on in World Cup soccer and were so excited about how well they did. 

We checked out a Buttertart Festival with Tim and Janice. 

We sent Sam off to camp for two weeks. 

Rachel volunteered at VBS and started summer school (online) and I walked her back and forth almost every day. I visited with a few friends, and I spent a lot of time reading on the deck.

I also took care of my daylilies (a daily task when they're in bloom) and worked on growing grass (a lot of watering!). 

 

I unpacked more boxes and set up our games shelf. And encouraged Sam to unpack all his Lego cars before he left for camp.

Rachel and I made an Earl Grey Tea Cake with Blueberry Cream Cheese icing for a "cake break" at a cafe in our downtown which was super fun!

 

I got into a new podcast, Acquired, and Dave, Rachel, and I had to make a stop at Starbucks while listening to the episode about Starbucks.

We had lunch on the beach and enjoyed a beach day on Lake Erie.

Dave worked at his company's local office for two weeks while I unpacked boxes in his home office. I made a lot of progress which was so exciting!!!

Lucky Rachel got to start her Saskatchewan vacation a few days before the rest of us! She flew on her own for the first time and did an excellent job!!! And then sent many texts of all the fun she was having there without us :)

Dave and I listened to the Acquired podcast on IKEA as we drove to IKEA to buy some more shelves, and a few other things, for our new spaces. Then we went out for supper and saw the musical "&Juliet" as a more romantic anniversary celebration. I've been singing late 90s/early 2000s music ever since!

We picked up Sam, with a new haircut (!!!), from camp, and got ready for Part Two of our summer: Saskatchewan vacation!!!

 

The first part of our summer was filled with fun, relaxing on the deck, getting things done, catching up with friends, reading some books, and it was just what I needed after finishing a very busy school year.

Wednesday Hodgepodge (On A Friday)

Even though I'm on vacation in Saskatchewan, at my parents' house, my mom asks every morning why there's no new blog post! I guess I'm too busy relaxing! Hahaha! So I'm linking up, a few days late, with Joyce at From This Side Of the Pond for the Weekly Hodgepodge. Find Joyce here.

 

image from here 

1. Do your goals and dreams energize or exhaust you? Elaborate.

Honestly, sometimes it's both. I get excited about dreaming about vacations and places I want to travel. Travel planning almost always energizes me!

However, some of the goals I have for our house exhaust me sometimes. For instance, this summer I'm trying to unpack and clean some of the areas affected by our renovation, and our yard needs a lot of attention, and I find those things tiring. Once they're done, I'll be really happy about it but the thought of having to do the work is what gets me down. I do find that once I start a project, I have new energy for it, which helps me finish it, so that's good!

2. July 23rd is national lemon day. Are you a fan of this flavour? What's a favourite dish or beverage you enjoy that calls for lemons?

I love lemons. I love all citrus flavours but lemon is up there as one of my favourites. I really love lemonade and I love lemon on fish.

3. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...is this something you're pretty good at managing? Have you had to do this recently? If so, tell us about it.

I'm not great at making lemonade out of lemons. I'm trying to get better at it but I don't adjust well when my plans get thrown off. This is maybe reaching a little but one thing you should know about me is that I dislike being in the car and we've had to do a few longer drives recently. I discovered a fascinating podcast about the story behind businesses so on these drives we've listened to Starbucks and IKEA. We've got a few more long drives this summer and we're planning on listening to the Costco episode next. The podcast is called Acquired and Dave, Rachel, and I have all been enjoying it. This is one small way I've made lemonade out of lemons this summer.

4. Something you love that is lemon yellow in colour?

Since we've been at my parents' house, I've been enjoying watching the goldfinches feeding at their feeder off the deck. They might be hard to see in these pictures but I've been loving them! I also love that we've hit Saskatchewan while the canola is in bloom. This is one of my favourite times to be in Saskatchewan!!!

Do you see the finch on top of the metal hanger as well as the two on the feeder?  

I haven't gotten any canola pictures yet this year so these are from when we visited during canola season in 2023.

5. How would you describe your attention to detail?

I used to have amazing attention to detail. I think menopause messed with some of that and I'm not as good at it as I used to be. I still find random typos in books all the time though, which I find really irritating. When it comes to words, I will almost always find the mistakes :) Not so much when it comes to crafts though. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our summer vacation this year is visiting my parents in Saskatchewan. I've been loving it and we've already enjoyed so many Saskatchewan things, with more to come!

 

Left: flying into Saskatoon with the fields spread out like a patchwork quilt below us; right: the official Prosecco celebration of being all together again! Note: Sam came home from camp with a new haircut! Hahaha!

  

Left: picking Saskatoon berries; right: inventing new drinks; this one is called Moon Lake Madness and has Saskatoon berries in it, of course!!! My parents live near Moon Lake, and we picked the Saskatoons near that lake, so the name is appropriate :)

  

Left: actual buffalo in a field near my parents' house; right: a  metal sculpture of a buffalo at Wanuskewin, an archaeological site and cultural and historical centre of the First Nations, just outside of Saskatoon

I love visiting Saskatchewan at any time of year but there's something extra special about being here in the summer!

I'm off to enjoy relaxing for the rest of this Friday as we've got a full weekend ahead of us so I need to rest up! Thanks for reading my blog today :) I'm hoping that early next week, I'll have a combination "life lately/summer report" post to share with you. Our summer is in three distinct parts this year and I want to document Part 1.

Share Our Lives: Favourite Room In Our House

It's been awhile since I've linked up with the Share Our Lives bloggers. However, this month's topic is "favourite room in our house" and I thought I would use this as an opportunity to share some post-renovation pictures. The Share Our Lives bloggers are Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.)

I'm cheating a bit here because honestly, right now, my "favourite room" is our deck! Can a "deck" be a "room"?!?!? It's where I spend the bulk of my time when I'm at home these days, moving my chairs around to stay in the shade. In fact, I'm writing this post on the deck, after we ate supper on the deck!

 

  

Just a few photos of "deck life." 

My second favourite room, and it's an actual room this time, is our kitchen. I fell in love with the variety of tile in Portugal when we visited there last summer, and it inspired this room for sure!

The window in the middle of this picture is where the stove used to sit. I love having it fully uncovered!

We went with two different coloured cabinets, which I love, and then our back splash is a little wild, just like the tiles in Portugal. The countertops are white with some light flecks in them.

This is my favourite corner in our kitchen with my mug cupboard, the glass doors so you can see my Fiestaware, and our new coffeemaker.

A closer up view of our glass cupboards and the back splash.

A closeup view of the two windows. My dad made all the stained glass and I love it.

 

I also wanted to give a shout out to our powder room. It is a little narrow space, but I absolutely love it.

My mom and dad put the cabinet together when they were here in June and hung the artwork above the toilet. The mirror is one we bought for Rachel at Target and she didn't want it in her new room. I thought it added a touch of whimsy to this bathroom.

Again, the flooring was inspired by the tiles in Portugal and the bathroom colour was picked to match the blue in the tiles. This room is a little wild but I really love it! 

So those are some of my favourite spaces in our house, thus far. I haven't figured out my favourite winter space yet, but I'm sure I'll discover that in the coming months! I'm guessing it won't be the deck! Hahaha!What's your favourite room in your house?