WHOA lansi

This month’s recap almost didn’t happen. I was thinking about a different post I’m working on, when today’s date popped into my head & I realized I hadn’t done this yet. Whoops! Needless to say, I’ve been a little bit preoccupied lately. Taking care of puppy has been a pretty big undertaking & I’ve mostly been doing it on my own. Luckily, we have some great family members who’s been willing to step in, & I’ve finally been taking them up on that offer. Next step, getting O trained enough that I won’t feel terrible if my friends come take care of him. He’s learning more every week. We’re almost a week into July already, which means Stampede is around the corner & then I’m pretty sure summer is going to fly by, as it usually does. Let’s take a minute here though & look back on what we got up to in June, according to Instagram.

1. I think Odin looks a little like Simba sometimes, so I couldn’t resist this shot of N with him. This was at the very beginning of June so I can’t believe how tiny he was!
2. Girls night in with Odin. We ordered thai, opened some wine, & spent the evening catching up with each other. I’ve known these girls since Jr High & am so glad we still make time to hang out even if it’s becoming less frequent.
3. Odin got to meet lot of friends & their babies this month! & I got to catch up with this awesome little family twice – once at our BBQ & once on this lovely morning when they made me breakfast.
4. I’m training for the SeaWheeze in Vancouver in mid August. Been getting some training runs in & working on being more consistent with my long runs. We’ll see if I make that goal in July.
5. I can’t decide which Odin photo is my favourite, but this one is definitely up there. I cleaned up my converse, put them on, & he immediately went for the laces. Everything is delicious when you’re a pup!
6. My boys. Odin isn’t often cuddly, but when we do manage to convince him, it’s pretty great. A surprise father’s day dinner wasn’t a bad way to spend our Sunday either!
7. I’m part of an awesome ladies’ brunch crew called Bitches be Brunchin’. Someone different hosts every 6 weeks. This month, Jan picked Raw Canvas for our brunch. I was initially a little nervous about how my painting would turn out, but it’s growing on me.
8. I can never resist Anju so when Heather & Brittany suggested we go to the Asian Association dinner, I couldn’t say no. H & I had gone in 2014 & it was incredible. This year didn’t fail to disappoint either – I’ll have to do another post about it (cuz I don’t have enough Anju posts! haha.)
9. I capped off the month with Meet.Eat.Compete. This time I went with some coworkers. David & Michael got a huge game (30 people!!) of Two Rooms & a Boom going. I love that game! We also played some Coup, Cartagena, & One Night Werewolf. Such an awesome start to the long weekend!

My social media has been entirely Odin since we picked him up two weeks ago. He basically consumes my entire life right now. The first day I went to work, N joked that he didn’t know who had worse separation anxiety, me or O. Going to work is a struggle for both of us right now, but it’s getting better every day. He’s still freaking out a bit, but is settling quicker. He eats his puppy pad at some point most days, but I’m hoping that’s just part of this little freak out phase of his. Enough about Odin though, I told myself this post wasn’t going to be about him. We got up to other things in May, pre-puppy things. Let’s take a look at this month according to Instagram.

1. I painted our bedroom! You may remember the walls were brown in here, like most of the house. Now they’re a nice bright bluey white. I absolutely love how they turned out! The room is so much brighter now. I’m such an amateur when it comes to painting that I was SO sore after doing this!
2. We went to Montreal with a big group of friends & had a blast. I love that city so much. Here we are in Mile Ex on an awesome food tour. That neighbourhood has so much cool stuff popping up & I really enjoyed exploring a part of Montreal I don’t know too well.
3. We went to so many of my old favourites while in the city! DDC! is always on my list when I’m in Montreal, & it never disappoints. I’ve really got to get a post out about everything else we did.
4. Always a sucker for a photo of one of these walls. I love wandering around a city & just exploring, maybe stopping for a coffee in a cute cafe or a beer on a terrasse. We didn’t do a ton of that seeing as we were such a large group, but we did get some in on Monday before flying out.
5. One of my best friends was in town for most of the month of May. I wish we could have hung out more, but every time we did was such a treat! Her sister celebrated her birthday with seafood at Rodney’s & some drinks at National. It was a great night!
6. We bought a BBQ! Woohoo! We knew we wanted one when we bought the house, but figured we’d wait until spring. N’s parents gave us some cash to put towards it as a housewarming gift so we splurged & got one I hope will last many years.
7. Mom & I stopped at a little winery near my friend, Heather’s, cabin on our way to pick up Odin. It’s such an adorable spot, right on the Shuswap, & their wines are really lovely. We both picked up a few bottles to bring home & I’m really looking forward to enjoying them!
8. & the Odin takeover photos begin. Our first little family photo outside on our back deck. That little face is my favourite right now. Sorry, N.
9. Dad & I ran the 10 km race at the Calgary Marathon. It was the perfect day for a run & I absolutely love this route. If you were thinking of running it, do it! It goes through some of my favourite parts of Calgary & is quite a well attended race. I ran with my dad for most of the race, which was a fun way to spend some time together! One year, I’d like to really train for a 10 km & see what I can do.

So that was May! I can’t believe summer is already here. N was home for most of the month & it was such a welcome change for us. It’s back to reality now though, & back to that part time single life. At least, I’ve got Odin to keep me company now though!

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.

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. 😉