Our Weekend

On Saturday I enjoyed a very Christmasy drive out to see Ryan at work. I met several of his coworkers and got a tour of the new dealership. It was so fun! After our little tour, we stepped out to grab lunch at Five Guys and O my.  I'm not typically and burger and fries girl, but Five Guys? I crave that place! Favourite burger and fries stop at the moment, for sure!

Sunday was low key with Ryan and Lincoln. Before and after church we enjoyed some time visiting with my mom. Two Starbucks before noon? I'll take it! It's Christmas after all ;) After visiting with my mom, second Starbucks in hand, we stopped in at several Best Buy's to purchase TV's for a giveaway Ryan's doing at work. Once the jeep was bursting with TV's, we headed home to play with the pup and settle in for what is becoming our Sunday routine: the movie marathon. 

Like so many days lately, it's honestly too cold to head down to the park and stay for a reasonable amount of time. So yesterday, we decided to make the most out of the lovely yard we have here at the cabin and play in snow! It was FREEZING, but so fun. Just what Lincoln needed to sleep soundly through our movie fest. 

And now it's Christmas! We're looking forward seeing both our families over the next several days. Hoping you're able to do the same!

Dashing Through The Snow

One of my absolute favourite things is watching Lincoln run with all his might towards me. It is seriously the cutest. If you can get yourself juuust far enough away before calling him, you're in for a show. So, today I decided to crouch down in the snow far enough away to catch a few seconds of his now infamous approach. The resulting pictures are pretty funny. The last one is a little blurry and I'm ok with that. I happily forfeited focus on that one for a camera and face not smooched by 150 lb. of puppy running in for some celebratory, behind the ear scratches ;) 

I should mention that when not sprinting towards you, Lincoln is often standing stoically, surrounded by foliage looking off longingly into the distance. Probably thinking of the mystical, otherworldly land he hales from. 

Love this little Gandalf we've inherited ♡

A winter to remember

December 21st, the first official day of winter, hasn't yet come and already this is a winter to remember. I can't recall a more relentless, snowy or colder winter than this. Honestly! The snow just keeps falling. Like today. Alllllll day. Snow, snow, snow. 

So what's making this persistent cold bearable, you might ask? It's pretty. And prettiness is one heck of a redeeming quality this silly winter has going for itself right now. 

So winter, you have until Christmas to keep up these shenanigans. Because right now, you're still all winter wonderlandy, baby its cold outside and the like. And that's cozy, considering its Christmas time. Come December 25th at the stroke of midnight however, I'd like a full on melt please. Or at the very least, a little bit gentler January, February and March. While not historically Alberta's nature, I feel like we've paid our winter penance a little early this year :)

baby, it's cooooooold outside!

At this point in the year its safe to say my winter hardiness has reached an acceptable level. So when I say its cold outside, trrrrust me… its cold! So cold that many of my friends and I have exchanged the odd and random text just saying…'its soooooo cold outside!!'. yep. no other reason for initiating contact except to say that I'm freezing my tail off and 'how are you? staying warm?? is that even possible right now???' 

It's THAT cold. 

and yet! dogs need to be walked. maybe for a fraction of the time and distance. but they still need to be walked. So Lincoln and I braved the frigid temps at the park yesterday to get in what walking we could. I totally turned around half way and proud to say it! Because of that, I still have my nose! And for that, I am so very grateful.

On the plus side, things are looking rather Christmasy. So we'll take that as a win! And we'll also take it from the indoors looking out. Because until cold snap subsides, we'll be hibernating inside, lighting fires and drinking far more eggnog than is socially acceptable. 

Our Weekend

This past weekend was a lovely weekend. Busy and sweet. On Saturday night we met up with Tara and baby Hunter at our most favourite stop, Cochrane Coffee Traders. With a hot drink in hand, we set out to wander main street. Cochrane Light Up was my first town event since moving here and it was lovely! The whole street was closed off to traffic, filled to the brim with people, bonfire stations, music and food. It was cold out but we bundled up and stuck close together. I loved it! Afterwards Ryan and I enjoyed a pint at our favourite pub in town and caught up after a long and busy week. Love nights like those. 

Sunday was lazy and perfect. We started with breakfast out and meandered our way through errands and a movie or two. Its been a while since our weekends were so leisurely and restful. It feels good to return to a routine where we dedicate some time each week to rest and reconnect. 

Our Weekend

This past was weekend was so good. 

Saturday was leisurely with some errands around town and a little work in the morning. In the early afternoon I made my way over to Kelly and Tara's (where Ryan was already happily perched taking his new xbox for a test drive with Kelly). We enjoyed a great visit, some delicious food together and one of our seasonal favourites, 'nogtails' (eggnog, rum and nutmeg). Tis the season after all! 

We also made sure we topped up on Hunter snuggles throughout the day because how can you not?? He's so stinkin' cute! Love this little guy! 

And Sunday? Well it was just the best. And while I only have this photo of us during the day to show for it, I'm going to take comfort in knowing we were having too much fun to document the rest of the day. I believe I said to Ryan, 'babe! lets take a pic!' and he was in the middle of saying 'but I'm on the phone…' Didn't deter me any. And thank goodness! Its the only photographic documentation I got of our day together :)

While we were waiting for Best Buy to open we popped into Ikea, Jugo juices fresh in hand. While perusing Ikea we came up with so many ideas for the new home. It really got us thinking… we just can't wait to start settling in to our own space! I've missed decorating and DIY'ing so much. It will certainly be fun to get back at it again in the new year! (Quick side note: after seeing the 30Rock episode about Ikea and couples barely surviving shopping trips there, we crack up every time we go. Listen to the conversations around you next time you go…its really true, Ikea provokes the combative, amateur interior decorator in many :)

After Ikea and Best Buy we had lunch at my Dad's place with him, Brooke and Tyrone. Memphis was there too! It was nice to see our little feline and my family. We got back to Cochrane in time for Lincoln and I to meet up with Crystal, Eli and Roman (Lincoln's wolfhound and great dane friends) for an afternoon coffee and muffin at Cochrane Coffee Traders followed by a walk at our favourite off leash park. Crystal is building in the same community as us so its always fun to walk the park together, knowing this will be our new normal in a couple months! 

The evening found us at our new favourite pub in Cochrane, enjoying a pint as we watched the final half of the Grey Cup and then the Broncos/Patriots game. It was especially fun watching Brady and the Patriots at our new little pub, in our new little life in Cochrane exactly one year after we watched them live at our first NFL game! Amazing that our first trip to New York was only one year ago this week! In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others it feels like a lifetime ago; considering how much our lives have changed in the interim! 

week of friends. weekend with ryan. ♡ perfect ♡

Last week my social life and I reconnected. After weeks of annoying myself (and other's I'm sure) by repeatedly saying 'maybe I'll have more time next week?', I was finally able to catch up with most everyone. With packing and moving and then RV'ing and moving once more, the last several weeks have been such a blur. I'm sure there's been more time than I felt like there was. But like I've said before, when going through change I tend to take care of the essentials and then recluse to cope as I become comfortable with my new normal. I'm working on that knee-jerk response of mine. In time, I'm sure I'll be able to carve out time for everything. But as things stand, I'm part extrovert part hermit. I am who I am :)

Anyway, over the course of the week I was able to see several of my friends. Soul food I tell you!! Reconnecting with my most favourite people is high on my list of life's best and most simple pleasures. Then, because the weather was so terrible on Saturday Ryan decided to work from home. Meaning he was home for two whole days over the weekend!! Big. Deal. And even though Saturday was mostly work for him, it was such a treat to have him around. On Sunday we had a belated and joint birthday celebration with Ryan's family for me and my mother-in-law. It was a lovely time with family. After that the boys went to the football game and I made my way over to my mom's new place to help  set up her tree and hang some pictures (She is still recovering from her broken shoulder so it's a good thing us four kiddos are around to come by and help her get settled. PS. Her new place is GORGEOUS. I'll share pictures soon!).

I wish I had taken more pictures last week but I was too busy gabbing my face off, lapping up overdue time with my favourites. So, the one snapshot of one coffee shop I managed to take will have to suffice. Also, and unrelated, but I am really digging the views on my drive home these days. I wish an iPhone photo could do the mountains justice, but take it from me…in person they are 100x bigger and 1000x more breathtaking. 

belated celebration // lincoln's on the mend

Soooo forever ago our realtor couriered a bottle of champagne to my dad's house (as ryan and I have anything but a permanent address at the moment). Its taken me this long to (a) finally go see our sweet little memphis the cat, (b) visit my dad and siblings at his place and (c) pick up that bottle of champagne. I am a procrastinator of epic proportions…I'm realizing *_*.  So on Friday night we had a very belated celebratory evening-in, courtesy of our realtor. We celebrated 7 weeks of being gypsies, Ryan's new job, the progress on our new home, and just how grateful we are to have each other to go through this experience together. Its been so random and so fun! Definitely worth celebrating. 

In other news, Lincoln is on the mend! We're even letting him have a little supervised time without the cone. And it is GOOD. Even little breaks from that crazy cone hitting everything in it's path…sweet, sweet relief for everyone involved. And I'm very happy to report he'll be officially cone-free after his final visit to the vet this Friday. O happy day!

Lincoln's First Surgery

Whew! It's been a week. But friday is on the horizon and so I think we've made it! We're 1 week in with the most jumbo of puppies in the most jumbo of cones and so far we're surviving. 1 week down and 1 week to go. This poor pup got cut something fierce last Monday. By Thursday evening, as best I could tell past his fur, it seemed like things weren't healing so well. So, I took him to the vet and lo and behold. The cut was more like a puncture wound. And it was bad. go figure? he hadn't whimpered once and from the outside, things weren't looking that bad. but once the vets shaved the area it was apparent he would need a little surgery. So, we sent the little trooper in on Friday morning and by Friday afternoon he was en route home all stitched up and in a fancy little neck brace. The vets originally fitted him with the brace because they realized a cone for Lincoln's size would be outrageous and difficult to deal with around the house. however once we got him home, we realized he could still lick the stitches past the neck brace. cue me driving back to the vet to pick up the cone. I had a real life laugh out loud when I saw the darn thing. it is ginormous! but, its doing the trick. so we'll live with it!

Also, these two together. I don't know what it is but something about Lincoln lying there all sleepy just suggests that you, too, should lay down beside him. perhaps it's because he's human sized? or perhaps, its because when you do, he puts his paw on your shoulder and literally hugs you for joining him. even foggy from sedation, he'll give you the paw. it is THE best. and there's no one he's quicker to throw out the welcome paw to than Ryan. heart *melt*.

We're looking forward to petting our pup without having various extremities scraped and scratched by that menacing and oh so unpredictable cone ;) But we'll live with it a little while longer because thankfully, Lincoln is on the mend.