Workin' It Wednesdays - Cozy homes

 Today's link up is all about coziness and the home and I am someone who loves everything cozy! There are five things that I believe every home should have to appear and feel cozy.

 

1. Blankets

 

I love a good blanket - my linen closet full of blankets is proof of this. I have been given many knitted and crocheted blankets over the years and have made my own as well. I also love those soft blankets with the fluffy inside, and electric blankets? I can't even. They're just the best. There is nothing better than laying on the couch with a good blanket.

 

The blanket in this picture took me way longer than I'd like to admit to make. I had to take out and redo many parts and connecting the pieces was a pain in the ass, but the results were awesome! We call this the napping blanket, because if you pull it over you, you're sure to have a delicious nap ahead.

Blankets just make a room seem cozier. I also equate coziness with warmth, so it's a good blend :)

 

2. Fireplaces

 

Since we bought a condo, and most condos do not come with fireplaces, we purchased a standing faux fireplace as part of our tv stand. I love that I can turn it on with or without the heat because sometimes I want the warmth and other times I just like to have the effect of flickering flames on a cold day. One of the things our new home must have is a fireplace, preferably one in the bedroom. I wish wish wish we could have a real fireplace, but they don't build homes with those anymore and the houses that we are looking at are in relatively newer areas (probably no older than 20 years), so they don't have those amazing real fireplaces that need chimneys and firewood.
I don't have a picture of our fireplace turned on, so I'll leave you with this photo of it that I found online

Not bad for a fake fireplace amiright?!

 

3. Candles and Diffusers

 

Not a particularly good picture (at all, really), but I recall this evening as super cozy and the photo evokes those same feelings. Plus the smells are amazing. The middle one is custard!

Oh how I love a good candle. We always have an abundance of candles and I burn them all day - usually in the fall and winter (summer doesn't really feel like candle-time) and always the fall scents with pumpkin and the winter scents of either apple cinnamon, or vanilla (vanilla Noel from bath and body works is forever my favourite). At night I diffuse lavender in the bedroom. There are conflicting views about the safety of essential oils for cats, so since our bedroom is largely off-limits to the felines, that's where I diffuse. If I'm resting in the bedroom, which is pretty rare, I'll diffuse frankincense. I love that scent and it just screams cozy to me, but it is so expensive that I don't want to use it, haha. I also love the sound that the diffuser makes. It's got this soft bubbling that reminds me of using a humidifier when I would have a cough/cold as a child. That sound always comforted me because it felt like healing. Doesn't really make sense but there we are. It's hard to control smells when you live in a condo, but we do our best to make sure our home always smells inviting and candles and diffusers help immensely!

I love how you can actually see it diffusing

 

4. Warm drinks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's nothing cozier than curling up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea. Tea is always my preferred warm drink at home, but every now and then the husband and I will indulge in a hot chocolate (only in the winter) with marshmallows. There's something incredibly cozy about sitting on your coach with a warm drink while snow and wind blow around outside. I also love sitting in starbucks with a good friend and enjoying a chestnut praline latte in the winter. Warm drinks = cozy!

5. Seasonal decorations

 

This is something I've just recently gotten into (aside from Christmas and Hanukkah) and am loving it! Husband is not loving the money spending aspect of it, but that's nothing new. I think there's really something warm and inviting about a home that is decorated for the season - tastefully. This is more specific to fall/winter, because spring and summer aren't really known for coziness. But I love having little accents of fall around the home. It brings a room together and makes it seem more welcoming, but also more comfortable. I think the idea of the colder seasons alone has something inherently cozy about it to most people, so those little extra bits just take it the extra mile. I definitely feel a little more love for our home when it's decorated for the holidays, so now I've extended it to the whole fall/winter season. Cozy cozy cozy!!

 

When it comes to cozy, I can't get enough. It's my favourite feeling and something I strive to achieve. I love sweaters, blankets, hot tea, Christmas movies, fluffy socks, and delicious scents. Check out the other blogs in this link up to see more posts about coziness!

Short weeks are the best weeks!

 

 

Hoping all of my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend. I know I definitely needed this long weekend and a break from the craziness that life has been! Saturday started out relaxing, but around 1pm we found out that we had a viewing of the condo at 5 and from that point it was madness. We were cleaning like mad (a lot of cat hair accumulates in a week) and on top of that, I had an on-call volunteer shift that started at 4. Of course I was called at 4:45, just as we were trying to get the cats out of the unit, so I was juggling my phone and a terrified cat who was yowling while making my way to the basement. We ended up just waiting in the car - didn't make sense to go anywhere for an hour. The cats were not happy at all. We don't remove them from the condo often. Twice when we travelled we brought them to my parents house, but now my sister just comes and stays at our place when we're away. So they were both meowing loudly and angrily all the way down to the car and then snicker stared at me with hatred while ginger hid under the seats. Poor kitties will have to get used to it till we sell though!
You can see their fear and anger below.




Sunday was another busy day because we went to my parents house for thanksgiving. Dinner was delicious - we wait all year for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner! We had a great time and somehow, despite having a very sedentary morning, I was able to get my steps in.
Yesterday was looking to be a sleepy lazy day, but husband wanted kale pasta for dinner and I typically only buy kale the day I know we will eat it - I find it spoils quickly. So instead of driving, I walked to the mall (grocery stores were closed) and got the kale. Was able to hit my steps no problem! This is the last week of my step bet and I'm still trying to decide if I want to do another. You don't make much money - I think I've calculated about $6 US -- but it's more the motivation of the $40 you have to pay to be a part of it. I really don't want to lose that! So I've still got my rest day for this week and don't plan on using it until Friday. We have a work event for husband that evening, so I can't be sprinting around his boss's home in my heels trying to get my steps in. Plus, my heels are super painful (though beautiful!) so there won't be much walking at all.
One thing I am super happy we did, is we slept in every morning this long weekend. So all that sleep we were missing was recovered. I was super tired heading into Friday, so even with an earlier than usual wake up today, I still feel pretty awake.

My new fall jacket is coming today and I am so excited. It took me forever to pick one, so I'm really hoping it fits nicely. It's a pea coat, but it has this gorgeous hood and I am in love. It also came in the most lovely shade of blush pink, but I had some concerns about matching so I went with black. I had my last pea coat for ten years so it's looking pretty tatty and sad this year. I'm happy to be able to move on :) The new one can be found here





I tend to keep coats for a long time, so they're a pretty good investment for me. I typically buy fairly expensive coats but that way they last for the whole time I have them. I think my other pea coat was probably ready to go 2 years ago, but I was in a crap job where I didn't care how I looked/dressed so I carried on with it. Three cheers for job happiness now!
My doTERRA is also coming this week -- I only ordered one oil for myself - Marjoram. I am trying to collect all of the oils I need for a blood pressure oil. I want to make one for myself and for my mom. I don't have high blood pressure on a steady basis, but it does tend to creep up now and again (genetically I'm screwed). Fingers crossed that it works. I currently have 2/5 oils so still a ways to go. I also ordered for two other people who wanted to try out some doTERRA before joining, which is a great idea for anyone on the fence.
They've come out with some special Christmas oils and other goodies that I'm super excited about!
I don't know if posting this will work, but I hope it will. Feel free to visit my page or send me a message if you want to learn more. Using oils has made a huge difference in my sleeping habits, how long illnesses last, getting rid of rashes/skin irritations and even in my digestion. I use peppermint for headaches instead of advil and 90% of the time, that's sufficient. It also has oils that promote weight loss, help reduce/eliminate acne and dry skin and open your chest for physical exertion. The benefits and possibilities with the different oils and blends are innumerable. I'm all about seeing what other options there are to modern medicine because I react quite badly to a lot of medications, so this has been a real eye-opener for me!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5F8zgz360PNcjFLaTBZRXdjRmc/view

I can't manage to get an image up, so that link will have to do. It's worth a click, I promise you!

Anyways, went off on a bit of a tangent there!

I am volunteering tonight with my teen group and looking forward to seeing the other ladies. We have been off for the summer and I missed the first outing because of work, so tonight will be like the first day all over!

Enjoy your short week! I can't believe it's already Tuesday!

Oasis Zoo Run 10k Race Recap

 Happy Monday! I have so many late nights this week for work that I am just counting the days till the weekend! I feel like I'm already sleep deprived (last night there was a spider web in my room and I of course knew there was a spider lurking somewhere and thus couldn't sleep).

I am excited to give a race recap of my Oasis Zoo Run 10 k this weekend though!

 

#realtalk

I haven't done a 10k in so long, that I actually can't remember when. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably within the half marathon I did in May 2016 so y'know ... it's been awhile. So I did my 8k last Monday, felt good and knew I could have run 2 more kilometres.

Saturday was an early start. We left our home around 6:15 because the race was pretty far away and I needed to do day-of race kit pickup. Because we got there around 7, the parking situation wasn't bad. We were in a traffic line up to get in for about 5 minutes and were able to park with no problem. The downside was that we were SO FAR from the actual race start. I guess the later people got the closer spots, which seemed unfair ;)

 

The line up for kit pick up was insane. We waited for about 30 minutes and it really felt like it could have and should have been more efficient. They had to delay the start of the race by 10 minutes and I'm thinking that crazy line up was why. The t-shirt in the race kit is so lovely, but that's really all that was in there aside from the chip, an Oasis juice box and some hand cream.

 



Photo link here

 

Then we went onto the porta potties. I can't stand them (who can?), but it was a long drive and frankly, I had no choice. We had to wait another 20 minutes to get in to use the porta potties so despite getting there an hour before the start, I ended up getting to the corral about five minutes before the start of the race (that was before the delayed it). They started the groups in waves that were about 3 minutes apart. which was a nice way to start without giant crowds. The first 4.5k of the run was animal-free which was kind of disappointing. We were basically running through backroads of the zoo. But at about 4.5 I saw the baby panda bears and nearly died because holy bananas they were cute!

 

So hard to get pics with this glass wall
 

I wish this was a better photo. They were adorable!

 

 

I had to stop to adore them for a minute and snap some pics through the glass. They were just sitting there all fluffy and eating bamboo. Oh I could have stayed there forever! I eventually dragged myself away and went back on my route.

 

I also stopped briefly to see the two humpback camels, flamingos, a leopard (jaguar?), red tree pandas (oh so adorable) and llamas. It was actually really fun to run and see all these different animals but the hills... Oh gosh those hills. They warn you before you begin that the route is hilly, but wow it was harsh. I didn't exactly hill train so let's just say there was some walking up hills involved.

 

 

Red tree panda!

 

As for the actual run (minus my brief animal stops), I stopped quite infrequently. As I result, I probably didn't drink enough of my electrolytes. I stopped at about 3, 7, and I think 9 for fuel but probably only for about 30 seconds. I also walked up some hills and tried to drink at those times as well but didn't always. I had a really bad headache later on in the day which was probably from dehydration. The water on the course also tasted terrible. I'm not sure what was wrong with it but it was nasty. I was glad that husband found a water bottle after because instead of passing them out to finishers, we got more cups of the weird water.

My official time was 1:06:48, which I was actually pretty impressed with, given that I stopped several times for animal pictures, and walked up some hills. And of course because I didn't exactly train for it. Doing races again has definitely amped up my motivation to run, so I'm going to register for a half marathon in the winter (chilly half) and try to keep it going. It's not about timing for me right now, but more about learning to love running again. So I know my speed will come back eventually, but right now I want to enjoy my runs rather than suffer through them. I think this will help me to move forward in a more positive way.

 

 

 

I was so exhausted after the race that I actually took an afternoon nap, which I rarely do. It was awesome and super cozy with my dim bedroom and frankincense in the diffuser. A delicious Saturday for sure.

We met with a realtor on Friday who we really liked, so we are now in the process of looking for a house to buy. While he wants us to buy first, we are going to try to list and buy somewhat simultaneously. He has a good track record and comes recommended from husbands work. Our goal is to be in our new home by Christmas. So keep your fingers crossed! We are going to look at houses next weekend, which makes me excited and nervous. Even with a decent budget cap, we are still looking at insane prices. The market is slowly dropping, and more and more houses are up for sale. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of people are stuck with insane mortgages on houses that have probably lost a significant amount of value now that the market is cooling slightly. So they are still trying to sell for close to what they paid. I'm not sure how the offers will work on those. I guess these are all things we'll find out!

Well, that's all for today! Have a great Monday!

 

 

 

Monday, we meet again

Well, what a whirlwind of a weekend. Saturday I had a planned open water swim and let me tell you -- if there wasn't any accountability, I would have stayed in bed. Mornings are always hard for me - 4 hours of sleep is even harder to get up from. However, I know myself, and so I had people that were waiting on me and that got my butt out the door. It was only 9.5 degrees when we arrived and we quickly put our wetsuits on just for the warmth. I don't think any of us were keen on actually getting into the water. Thankfully the water was significantly warmer than the air and it was just gorgeous to swim in. Mary and I did a 1km loop together, and our friend Krista did 2 loops in preparation for her half ironman coming up. Then we met up with our 3x Ironman Cathy and went for breakfast where we all talked about past races, upcoming races and what 2018 holds. Even though they ran out of gluten free pancakes, we still had a great time! There's not much time left for open water swims, so we will definitely be going this week and that might be it. Then it'll be back to the pool.

 

 

Would have missed this gorgeous view if I slept in

 

 

After I was home and changed I packed up a few more boxes and husband and I headed to my parents house where we had a wake for Molly. My dad spread her ashes around the backyard that morning. The backyard was her favourite place to chase rabbits and squirrels, bird watch and just be nutty, so it was the perfect place to let her go. We talked about some funny/happy memories and how sad we all were that she is gone. I brought over some pictures that I'd taken over the years and my dad took one to keep in his locker at work. We all miss her terribly. My dad has decided to wait until January to get another dog - in his words "2017 is Molly's year". Can't argue with that.

Sunday was a productive day. I volunteered in the morning while husband worked and then we got into full "gotta get out of this condo" mode. He finally finished putting the bed together (which is too big -- sigh) and I cleared out our bedroom, and vacuumed in places that I'm fairly certain have never seen the vacuum since we moved in. So much dust! Our room just needs the curtains to be changed (which means I need to iron the new ones) and for me to wash and put the new bedding on and it's ready to go. The second bedroom will be a little more work. With the bigger bed, we need to re-evaluate the furniture choices so it doesn't appear too cramped, and I need to iron those curtains as well. I wish they just came flat.

While I was clearing out our room, I used the doTERRA easy air in my diffuser and it was such a pleasant smell (and really kept it smelling fresh and clean. Obsessed friends -- Obsessed!! I'm putting in an order this month for a few more scents (that I've been dying to get) -- can't wait!

 

 

Today I'm going to go on a run after work (and after picking up some necessities) and see what my knee feels like doing. That 10k is looming closer and closer and I've heard it's a hilly one!

 

One day closer to the long weekend! It's going to be a busy one, but I'm ear-marking that Monday as a (hopefully) big ol' day of NOTHING. I can't even imagine the delicious-ness of a "nothing" day. Fingers crossed!

 

Reminiscing about Park City

 The packing debacle continues. Yesterday I packed up our snow globes (we collect them when we travel) and our dresser, which had far more on top of it than I'd like to admit. However, things are starting to come together, so I'll keep trucking along.

My doTERRA came yesterday, and I diffused some peppermint while I was packing, and lavender for sleeping. the diffuser is such a comforting sound and the scents are diffused instantly. Husband had a migraine and the peppermint oil (applied topically and diffused) allowed him to finally fall asleep (during my packing). I swear I'm going to start applying the one to help with snoring when he's sleeping. Snores like a buffalo, that man.

 

Today, I'm remembering my trip to Utah. Last night I was watching videos from the concert and it still shocks me how close we were to Maroon 5, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. The trip itself though - incredible! We were in Park City at the Stein Erikson Lodge and it was just unbelievable. The room was bigger than our condo. it had two bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi, a master bedroom, a murphy bed that looked like a giant bookcase in the living room, a full kitchen, three fireplaces (1 outside -- 2 wood burning, 1 electric) and even a hot tub on the balcony. When we arrived, it was to a bottle of champagne on ice and chocolate covered strawberries. I wish I had pictures of the room, but sadly I only took a video! However, I did take a picture of our view!

 

 

The first night we went to an event that was basically centered around Rose wine/champagne. It was magical. There were women with skirts holding champagne glasses, people on stilts, big billowing tents, bubbles, and so much food and wine. It was truly something out of a movie!

 

 

 

 

The next day we went horseback riding through the mountains with blue sky ranch. We did a lot of practicing before we went out and then had a 3 hour trek through the mountains. It was so beautiful to see Utah from so high up, but omg was it ever hot!

There were some parts where it was kind of frightening - steep inclines and declines and sometimes the horse would slip slightly on the rocks. I also had a horse that would try to bite other horses that came up behind it, so that was startling the first time it happened. It was crazy to go through random areas and see different animals just hanging out. We saw deer, and lots of cows. At one point we were at an area where the horses could drink, and these bulls just came charging out of nowhere. I swear I almost jumped off the horse and ran away - which really wouldn't have achieved anything since those bulls were fast. Luckily they took a quick swerve and ran into the buses. By the time we finished our mountain ride, it felt like I'd been riding a bike for 8 hours. Every movement ... pain inducing.

We went back for lunch and they also brought in different birds to check out. Birds freak me out but I did check out the owl because it was so little and cute.

 

Later that night we had dinner at Grappa, which was just okay. I had pasta with a mix of lamb, beef and pork Bolognese. They used the type of rice noodles you would see in pad thai, which was a little bizarre. There were also no veggies, so I had to order some on the side. They did have a fair amount of gluten free options, but it wasn't for my taste. I can admit that of the other five people I was with, no one was particularly impressed with their food.

We were beat from all the sun from horseback riding, so we missed the night at the club. Apparently it was a good time though.

The following day we went into Park City (it was also our anniversary) and because we were still too full from breakfast, we just had ice cream to celebrate. Definitely the most low-key anniversary we've had so far, but we were on a trip!

That night was the awards ceremony (the whole reason we were there) and after the dinner we went to a party at another location. That party included the US offices and was a good time. They had unlimited drinks and a make your own smores station, with mini fires and piled high with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.

 

The last day was pretty low-key. We went into park city again for a little while but had to come back early because we had to transfer to salt lake city for the concert. His company had booked the entire stadium, so when we arrived we were able to have food/drinks at any of the pavilions, but they also had a buffet set up as well.

They even put decals on the stairs with the "U Rock" slogan that was used throughout the week

We had VIP seating from my husbands particular ranking, so we were able to snag spots right on the barricade. Blake Shelton performed first (I don't know any of his music). He had excellent stage presence though. Gwen Stefani was second - also amazing on stage and sang a lot of No Doubt songs and the more popular singles from her more recent days. Maroon 5 was next and to say I was excited was an understatement. I just LOVE Maroon 5 -- I have since they first came out so many years ago. So the music itself was good, but Adam Levine didn't have much of a stage presence. He mostly just segued from song to song. There was a little bit of banter, but not much. I think he's used to playing to massive crowds and not a stadium with maybe 500 people. Regardless, the show was still incredible and his performance still made me so very happy! I'd love to see them live again with a full stadium and see his stage presence.

After the concert we headed back to our hotel in Park City and the next morning we were up bright and early to head home. I think we got maybe 2-3 hours of sleep? It was a painful morning, but we made sure we had time to eat breakfast before we left - best idea ever. With the flight and the time difference, by the time we got home we were ready to eat. I'm always very diligent about eating prior to flying and bringing plenty of snacks, because you never know which airports will have gluten free foods that aren't processed.
Side note: the airport in Detroit has a ton of gluten free options!

 

The trip was amazing and I am so grateful that we were treated to such an amazing time. Thanks to my husband and his performance at work, we got to enjoy a trip to a place we'd never go on our own, and have experiences to last a lifetime!