It’s been a bit of a crazy week around here. I started it off with some really sore muscles from a weekend of painting our master bedroom & bathroom. I ran into some hiccups on Saturday & then powered through with painting all Sunday. I was at it for about twelve hours straight, not the smartest decision in hindsight.

Tuesday, things got pretty scary as the wildfire burning in Northern Alberta intensified & the entire town of Fort McMurray was forced to evacuate. It’s hard to imagine going through that type of situation. My heart goes out to those families who’ve lost so much. N works in a camp a couple hours north of Fort Mac & was evacuated on Wednesday morning to make room for some of the 88,000 fire evacuees. I’m glad to have him back in Calgary & even further from the blaze. He was scheduled to fly home tonight, but I’m glad he could give his room up to someone else in need. I hope they can get control of the fire soon!

On that note, let’s talk about what we got up to in April, according to Instagram.

instagram 2016-05-04

  1. Visiting with my godpuppy, Willow. She’s a rescue & I just love her!
  2. We had to say goodbye to an old pal. N’s family  made the extremely tough decision to put their 17-year-old bichon, Lucky, down this month. He lived a good long life. I love this photo of N with him from Christmas.
  3. I attended the Bite Me More book launch party for their new book: Lick Your Plate with H. They had some delicious treats & drinks for us to try, & we ran into some friends too!
  4. My first recipe attempt for our new Bon Appetit subscription was Tuna Poke. A little bit daring with raw ahi tuna, but definitely worth going out of my comfort zone.
  5. Trying to keep up with my running goals & go three times a week. Sometimes I’m all over it & other weeks, I have to count my bike rides as a work out. I should take more running selfies though; they’re kind of hilarious to me.
  6. I joined the Beakerhead photocrew & the rest of the social media crew for a sneak peak into what’s coming this year. Whitehall unveiled this year’s Engineered Eats theme, MILK, with the coolest rice pudding I’ve ever seen!
  7. I scored an invite to the awesome Poutine Week event, the Gravy Bowl, at Anju & had the opportunity to meet my favourite Chef, Roy Oh. This is totally my idea of celebrity!
  8. One of my favourite simple meals is mussels. Satisfying, quick, & so easy – I’m always blown away when we remember to make ourselves some of the beauties for dinner.
  9. I couldn’t recap April 2016 without mentioned the weather, no matter how cliche it is. In the 20 years since we moved to Calgary, I’ve never seen a spring like this. Trees are blooming, I’ve got a bit of a tan, & I’m addicted to biking to work already! Perfection!

That’s it for this month. How was your April? Any exciting plans coming in May? We’ve got some big ones, but I’m keeping them a secret for now. 😉