It’s a scene that repeats itself countless times: I stand in my overflowing closet and woefully conclude that there’s simply nothing to wear. The situation doesn’t get any better even after trying on a dozen outfits and to make matters worse, the room then looks like someone broke in to look for the Queen’s royal diamonds.
When good friends of ours extended an invitation to spend a few days with them in our nation’s capital, we jumped at the opportunity to take a family trip. We arrived in Ottawa at midnight on Saturday and settled in for a good night sleep. Refreshed in the morning, we spent the next couple of days out in the cold, partaking in Winterlude (Ottawa’s winter festival) and other winter activities. We ate Beaver Tails out on the Rideau Canal and took the kid tobogganing for the very first time. When our toes lost sensation, we went indoors to watch Olympic highlights and play board games. Despite the cold, it was a rather relaxing long weekend.
Huh, Valentine’s day is today, isn’t it? In the nine (plus) years Daniel and I have been together, we have never celebrated Valentine’s Day together. It’s one of the few holidays I’m not enthusiastic for. Give me chocolates anytime of the year and I’ll swoon; give me chocolates on February 14 and I’ll roll my eyes (surprise because I LOVE Christmas?). Don’t get me wrong, I’m a true romantic at heart, but I don’t find the pressure of gift-giving and/or the potential drama of being dateless on Valentine’s day romantic. Plus, the display of red and pinks (a colour combination I’m not fond of) and overly-sweet mush and gush. I may just be the Grinch of Valentine’s Day.
Hello 2014. You have not been kind thus far (I’m not going to mention the cold, though I’d like you to know I am not pleased with it). What really bothers me, is that you, with all your promises of possibilities, came around on New Years Day bringing poor health- fever and chills and runny noses. We later discovered they were the symptoms of a sinus infection. While the high temperatures ceded after the first week, the nasal swelling persisted. It was only about a week ago that we started to be able to breathe out of our noses again.
We kicked of the first month of Project UrbanSimplify with a challenge to establish a consistent wake up time of 7 AM. Now, I am not an early bird and waking up at 7AM was extremely difficult. The alarm would sound and I would ignore it. Daniel would tap me on the shoulder before getting out of bed, and I would ignore him. “I win this one… again”, he would tell me, and despite being competitive, I would continue to ignore him. I would continue sleeping until Daniel would bring a drooly snot-face toddler into bed; the little one is hard to ignore because he plants really wet, really gross open mouth kisses on my face and won’t stop with his “Mama, blanket off. Mama, wake up”, until I get out of bed.