Life needs to slow down!

Seriously, I'm the worst at blogging when I'm busy. Things have been nuts, as usual. We finally listed our place. We saw a dream house and were outbid on it (sigh), so back to the house-hunting drawing board. People think the market has cooled, but when you're actually in it, it doesn't seem that way. We sent 10 listings to our realtor to go and see, and only 4 were left by the time we got to the weekend.

 

We spent the entire weekend cleaning and clearing the place up. My dad came over to bring us a closet shelf that he made when we failed to find one that fit our closet (so he made a custom one within a few days), to do a few last minute fix-its, and helped me move some furniture since husband was fasting.

It's a relief to finally have our home listed - felt like it would never happen!

 

This house buying/selling is very time consuming, and is frying my nerves, but I'm trying to operate on the "everything happens for a reason" mantra, and remind myself that there was a reason that we didn't get that house we wanted so badly.

 

In other news, I am being sent to Winnipeg for a conference for work, so in a few weeks I'm off to the prairies!

 

 

Doesn't look too prairie-ish! Photo found here

 

 

 I've never been to any other provinces, despite travelling in many other parts of the world, so I'm excited to go. Even though it might be very cold. I should probably unpack my winter coat. Goodness knows how deep that box is buried in my parents basement. We were a little starry eyed and didn't think about closing dates while we were packing everything away. So at least it's just at my parents and not in a storage locker or something.

Even though it's only October 3rd, I feel like time is just flying past and October will be over before I know it. I'm looking forward to November and December (short trip to Miami, office closed for two weeks over Christmas, celebrating the holidays in general, etc). October just feels so busy.

 

Last nights dinner was quick, easy and super delicious. I used a recipe I found online at myrecipes.com that and can be found here

and let me tell you - it was the best fish I've ever made (that wasn't deep fried and served with fries that is). We had a wild rice and quinoa blend with it and some broccoli on the side and I could have eaten 10 more pieces. I am not a seafood lover by any means, but we do try to incorporate white fish and shrimp into our meals because chicken and beef become boring very quickly.

 

Anyways, the recipe had very few ingredients and was ready in 20 minutes. it was super easy to coordinate everything to be ready around the same time too. I'd highly recommend giving it a shot. I gave up looking for gluten free recipes a long time ago for meals and now just search up what I want and modify it. For this meal I omitted the lime juice (because I hate the taste of lime) and used gluten free breadcrumbs. Easy peasy! While I am happy to see so many gluten free recipe websites around, they often require way too many ingredients or finicky cooking. For baked goods I think gluten free recipes are needed but for dinners, the substitutions are generally pretty easy. I have only had issues when I come across something that has to be made to be gluten free, like hoisin sauce. That can add a lot more time to cooking.

Today I have to bring our curtains in and exchange them for longer ones. Our ceilings and windows are such a ridiculously random height that nothing works. I think it's better to have too long than too short though, so back to bed bath and beyond yet again. The house we buy had better have good curtains because I don't want to deal with curtains for a long long time after this.

Well, I'm off. Wanted to check in for a random Tuesday post. I will hopefully be able to post more this week. I was especially bummed out to miss my Friday Favourites, because I love that post (and it gets a lot of traffic :)!)

Till next time!  

 

Back to school, back to fall

Yesterday was the first day of school for many and Fall has definitely been in the air. There's still something magical about the back to school feeling and the way the air smells.

So even though I'm not "back to school" I can still enjoy my own September-based nostalgia.

The weekend was a busy one for sure. We saw lots of friends and family and had some great times. One of my friends really outdid herself with an amazing BBQ - the food was unreal. She's one of the few people who can make pinterest-inspired food actually turn out the way its intended. So delish!

Everything was gluten free, including the croutons on the salad. Homemade croutons!

We also did some more packing and storage. I'm always amazed at how much I can fit into my little car. The hatchback is ugly but it definitely has more space (I only got a hatchback so my bike would fit - priorities!)

My dad is coming over next weekend to help with the finishing touches and then we should be ready to go. It's just small stuff now - we've finally got the bulk of the stuff out. I set up the second bedroom bed yesterday and you can't even tell that it's an air mattress instead of a real one. Just need to steam those curtains out now and add some bulk. Our windows are just ridiculously wide -- I don't understand who thought those were a good idea. So standard curtains just looks sad and sparse (as you can see). I'm going to buy sheer panels to add in the middle and it should look nice and full. I have hope that one day I will have a week where I do not have to go to bed bath and beyond and curtains and packing are only a distant memory.

Yesterday was go-go-go with a day full of meetings, a new haircut and colour (bye bye greys) and dinner with a friend who is going to be several hours away for a few weeks. It was also a day where I didn't have time for a workout and I ate two meals out (ick! Always try to avoid that). Tonight I have a run on the schedule and tomorrow the gym. The weather is cooling down enough that I'm willing to consider hot yoga again, but I just don't like the location I'm at right now. Unfortunately, my whole reasoning behind my membership was the fact that I was getting the gym, pool and hot yoga in one membership for less than I was paying for all three separate. Sigh. I'll have to suffer in silence for now #firstworldproblems

My last open water swim was this past Saturday and IT.WAS.COLD! We have been fortunate to have lovely water temperatures this whole season, but Saturday it was windy and the water was freezing and wavy. Every time I lifted my face to breath, I got a mouthful of water. So gross. While I was standing outside, freezing my butt off and trying to wiggle into my wetsuit, I definitely wondered why I do this to myself. Of course, afterwards it's a different story. It's true what they say about the only workout you'll ever regret is the one you didn't do. So I'm glad I went, cold as it was. Oddly enough, I stopped dreading the OWS after the breathing thing was sorted and actually enjoyed myself. I'm sure next season will start with some anxiety around getting back into the open water, but who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself after swimming all fall and winter. Now it's time to patch up all the holes I put in my wetsuit this year and pack it away for next year. Now husband can stop complaining about finding it in the shower. Unfortunately the goggles and swimcaps in the sink aren't going anywhere anytime soon ;)

It's the perfect time of year for running, so I'm really looking forward to tonight. I'm feeling a slight burning in my throat so hopefully I'm not getting sick.

Hope all of your Wednesdays were splendid! The weekend is almost upon us again!