A Pretty Good Day

A pretty good day:) It started with a beautiful view this morning!

All the snow is gone from the trees now as we’ve had beautiful sunshine all day:)

Reading:

I stayed in bed for an extra hour this morning reading the chick lit book I started last night.

This book, The Perfect Present contains three short novellas in one. Each is about 100 pages. The first story is A Christmas Layover by Rochelle Aleta, the second is The Christmas Lesson by Cheri’s Hodges and the third was Christmas With You by Pamela Yaye. I really enjoyed the first two stories, but didn’t really care for the third one. The first story has a teacher meeting a serviceman on the flight from LA, home to Chicago for Christmas. Yes it is quite amazing how easily it is accepted that she has brought a man home by a household of alpha military men, but at least the two main characters had a connection and were likeable. I also loved the large family atmosphere and the perfect family Christmas events:).

The second story has Kayla returning home to North Carolina after a nasty divorce. She immediately meets up with her best friend from high school. It turns out they both wanted it to be more than friends so the relationship moves fast, but still seems realistic. The story also features a sideline of a problematic sisterly relationship which gets ironed out. The main character of this story reminds me of a blogger I read:)

The third story, I found annoying and I found myself skipping paragraphs just to be done it. It has the magic moment across the dance floor, not once, but twice. Instantaneous attraction, a one night stand, and the obnoxious overbearing brother. I just felt like if the heroine was staying true to her character she wouldn’t have let her brother dictate her life. There were way too many baby’s and darlings and the main character didn’t seem genuine.

All in all, three quick Christmas reads to help anyone get into the Christmas mood.

I also got some more of my school book club book read. I just wish it wasn’t so sad! That’s why I had to read a chick lit at the same time! I’ll get it done by Monday though!

Socializing:

I had a date this afternoon for coffee with a guy I met online. It was okay, but I felt like I could have been talking to anyone and didn’t really feel a connection or like we had much in common. I had decided to try an older guy as everyone says I’m old, but I think ten years might be too much for me, but I suppose it really depends on the personality. Oh well, at least I finally went on another date, my friends will be happy. I just really shouldn’t have let my vanity get the better of me! I always wear heels the first time I meet someone as my height does come as a bit of a shock, but I didn’t take into account the puddles from the snow and I think I ruined my black boots:(. The date was not worth that!🤣

Cooking:

With the rule of having only soft, non sticky food until May I figured I’d better plan out some food! I was wanting to do meal prep for the week as I had gotten out of the habit and had noticed the scale reflected this. I now have six bags of cantaloupe for recess snack this week, seven servings of roasted veggies (I had to do something to make all the veggies I had just bought to eat raw with hummus work), and I put my granola into my yogurt so hopefully it will soften up by the time I eat it.

I have a plan to make blueberry muffins, but know I will want to eat one so I’ll try to do that for tomorrow at recess time.

Friendship:

I helped out my friend Sarah by going and letting her dog out this evening. Wilson is a very easy dog to take care of, but I almost lost him in the snow tonight! I had to wade in and get him and bring him back to the pavement!

Exercise:

I went on an awesome evening walk in the snow with Lyndsay and her son this evening. It was so quiet and peaceful as there were very few people out. We stopped at the ice cream store in the park and I managed to not buy ice cream. We were planning to hit up one of the brew pubs for a drink, but there was a line up at all of them:(. Neither of us were desperate for a beer, just for something to do, so we just walked back home.

The walk was good reconnaissance for the fact that the sidewalk is cleared all the way to the park, so I should be able to get a run in tomorrow morning:)

Knitting:

Wondering if I can get both of these socks done in four days, by the end of the month so I can enter them into a HPKCHC class?? I finished the heel flap of one today and will try to do a bit more tonight.

Well, not a super exciting day, but quite nicely full of fun things:)

Have fun!

AJ

Pleasantly Surprised

I was pleasantly surprised several times today!

Exercise:

I got up this morning with the intention of doing 10km. I tried to go with the mindset that this is longer than my usual run so it should also be slower than my usual run. I went out the opposite way as I usually do and was doing pretty well until my brain started thinking that I should try not to be slower than I was last time:(. I tried telling it to shut up that I was still sick (woke up with a sore throat again), but it was determined not to listen to me. I had been smart and changed my verbal prompts to only include mileage, so when I got close to the end I thought I was going to end up with it taking about and hour and twelve minutes. Imagine my surprise when my runkeeper program said, 1:07 and put off fireworks for it being my fastest 10km! It was such a pleasant surprise!!! I will definitely not do the route backwards again though as I like to be able to push myself to make up time at the end and that’s hard to do on the hilly part, though I definitely proved to myself that I could run further than I expected as I picked up the pace at the end! If I hadn’t been so slow at the start I would have made my goal of running consistently below 7min/km.  I don’t think I want to ever find out how slow that is in miles! I must say the view of the hillside this morning was awe inspiring. It kept me entranced for a good 2km of my run. I would have liked to have gotten a picture to share with you, but I was in an industrial area and the mill between me and the hillside would have ruined any picture:(. Besides runkeeper doesn’t seem to like it when I take photos:( Anyone know of a more reliable running app?

That is unfortunately the only exercise I got to today and since my eyes keep trying to close right now, I don’t think anymore exercise will be happening!

Eating:

After my run, I quickly showered and met a friend for brunch at Coquitlam Grill. I always seem to end up here! At least today, I finally found a breakfast that worked perfectly for me! It didn’t feel like too much food, but also felt like a treat. The sunriser jumpstart with only one egg. Yum!!!!

I wanted to make something out of my new cookbook, Gluten Free and Vegan Bread that I got last week at the garage sale, but I think it might have to wait until tomorrow. There is a cinnamon bun recipe calling my name though!🤣

Socializing:

I have done a lot of that today! I ended up spending most of the day with my fri be shopping. She was looking for a Halloween costume and I was along for the ride. We tried Value Village where I found an awesome tunic sweater that is super warm and soft and some new running capris and a long sleeve running shirt. I’m happy with all, but none are the sports bra I was supposed to be buying!!!

We then hit the mall where I managed to buy a mesh back cami sports bra from Walmart for $13! I’m going to try it out on my run tomorrow and if it works well I’m going back to buy it in every colour. Anyone have any experience with these cami bras?? In the past I’ve found that inexpensive sports gear often holds the smell so it’s been a lot of years since I’ve tried one, but I definitely need more and it was he right price!

I also managed to find two room scents for school and work at Bath and Body Works along with some Pumpkin Cupcake hand soap.  Everyone kept talking about Fall scents and I just had to look. There was a 50% off sale though so I don’t feel guilty and I didn’t realize it so it was a pleasant surprise when I got to the till:)

We then hit the dollar store and Claire’s where I managed to keep my visa in my pocket:) My friend did finally find a skeleton costume at Claire’s that she is happy with:)

The other socializing I did was with a guy. Yes, I had a date, a first date. I was really not excited about this date! In fact, I texted my friend moments before leaving to ask why I let myself be talked into these things???? It actually went well. We met at the local park and just strolled around. Thankfully we didn’t see any of my students! An hour and a half went by very quickly!! He asked what my plans were for the night, but I always think it’s better to leave them wanting more so I invented a dinner with a friend. I’ll go out with him again if he asks, even though he is not at all what I was looking for.🤣 I suppose he was a pleasant surprise too:)

Teaching:

I didn’t teach today, but I did run out to the other Walmart to pick up the bins we need for the school’s new stem materials.  The couple in front of me in the checkout were so kind. When they saw my big stack of large bins, they went and got a cart for me so I wouldn’t have to carry them! I love when people confirm my faith in kindness:). I’m just glad that errand is done and it allowed me a vision of this gorgeous sunset too!

Have fun!

AJ