It’s not a sentiment that I express out loud very often, because when I do I usually get the look.

You know the one I’m talking about. When people look at you as if your forehead just sprouted a second pair of eyes or you just uttered your intention to drop-kick a kitten.

Not that I’ve ever done either of those things, so relax. I’m just using my imagination here, folks.

But you know what I mean. And you probably know why, too. Because, really, who actually enjoys paying their bills?

Well, to clarify, it’s not the actual act of spending my hard earned money that I enjoy. Instead, what I love is the act of putting that money in all of the right places. When pay day rolls around, I revel in the time I spend sitting down and moving my money to where it needs to go in order to attain the goals I’ve set out for myself; x amount to cover my bills, y amount to debt repayment, z into saving, RRSP, etc. I’m very hands-on with my money and I’ve got a system that works for me. To see it in action is incredibly satisfying.

“I’m here to help, I swear! Oink!” – Financially Responsible Piggy Bank

In the past couple of years I’ve become really interested in personal finance. This is an impressive thing when you consider how little background or interest I had in the topic for most of my life (hint: none). But there’s something about hitting your 20s, graduating and being thrust into independent adulthood that puts money front-and-centre for a lot of people.

Or, at least it should.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea here – I’m not judging you or anyone else out there if you don’t have your financial ducks in a row right now. I’m definitely not judging anyone for being in debt. The fact of the matter is that a lot of young people just aren’t as familiar with the ins and outs of their money as we should be. Heck, I’ll be the first person to admit that I kept myself blissfully ignorant for years (and in so many ways I still am). When I finally wised up it became painfully clear that I hadn’t been doing myself any favours by keeping my head in the sand.

For the past couple of years getting a grip on my finances has been one of my top three New Years resolutions. In that time I’ve made progress that I’m really proud of – I paid off my credit card and finished paying off my car a full two years earlier than projected. Now I’m on a mission to have my student loan paid off by the time I turn 30.

All of this plus navigating the scary world of RRSPs, TFSAs, insurance and more seemed extremely daunting before I got started, but that didn’t make it any less important. When push came to shove, all I had to do was start; somewhere, anywhere. I think it’s safe to say that the same goes for all of us. The more you do and learn and apply yourself to figuring out how personal finances work, the easier it becomes.

So, do you find yourself wanting to take the plunge and start whipping your money situation into shape but don’t know how to get started? I know how you’re feeling. Truthfully, I’m far from being the right person to dole out advice on the subject, but I can recommend a few of people that I turn to when I’m in need of financial information and inspiration. All three of the following people use real talk to share valuable advice, which makes what they have to say handy for both beginners and old pros (plus they’re all Canadian! Huzzah!)

So here we go:

#1: Gail Vaz-Oxlade

If you’re Canadian, you’ve probably heard of Gail before. Between her hit shows ’Til Debt Do Us Part, Princess and Money Moron to her many books on personal finances, she’s kind of the money wizard of the Great White North. She’s dedicated to teaching people how to make our money work for us, and she’s not afraid to lay on the tough love to make us take it seriously either.

Confession: When I first saw an episode of ’Til Debt Do Us Part I panicked and turned it off within the first two minutes. I was still a post-secondary student at the time and was so afraid of my financial situation that I thought a show like that would only serve to remind me of how screwed I was. It wasn’t until I started dating Luc that I finally forced myself to grin and bear it when he put it on TV one evening (the things we do for love) and I can honestly say that my life has never been the same.

Since that day, Gail has been my go-to-gal for all things money. I’ve learned so much from her (I’m a big fan of her no nonsense approach). If I could recommend only one of her many resources to check out, it would be her latest book Money Rules. In it she’s compiled 261 of her rules about money and explains them in language that anyone can understand. This thing has become my finance bible.

It’s got a permanent place on my bedside table because I’m always referring to it for one reason or another!

Follow Gail on Twitter.

#2: Cait Flanders

I only discovered Cait and her blog Blonde on a Budget a couple of weeks ago and the moment I did I wished that I could have been a dedicated reader from her very first post. Two years ago, 20-something Cait found herself almost $30,000 in debt and made a commitment to do something about it. She used her blog to document her journey to becoming debt free, a goal she finally attained at the end of this past May. She’s 27-years old.

It’s cool when your role models are also your peers. I think we can all learn a lot from Cait’s experiences (image via BlondeonaBudget.ca)

Like I said, I wish I could have followed her journey along as it was happening but the blog is still there which means we can all benefit from reading her story from start to finish. Cait’s ambition and ultimate success is something anyone can learn from but stands as an especially inspirational tale for anyone in their 20s that feels like they’ll never get their debt under control. She’s not a professional, nor was her experience a perfect one, but that’s what makes it all so damn relatable (she also happens to be incredibly nice, which is… Well, nice).

Bonus! As of this point, Cait is continuing to maintain her blog. This is awesome for two reasons: 1) New and regular readers can continue to read her stories and engage in the community that she’s built over the past two years, and 2) We get to follow her along through her post-debt experiences as well, something I think few of us really consider the implications of. Girl is kind of taking on for the team when you think about it.

Follow Cait on Twitter.

#3: Melissa Leong

It just occurred to me that all of my personal money mentors are all women.

Sweet!

Anyway, Melissa is a journalist at the Nation Post who writes on money matters. She’s young, smart and very funny. I mean, let’s be honest, personal finances aren’t the most enjoyable subject for most people. Getting to laugh while simultaneously learning about how RRSPs work helps to take the edge off.

To accompany many of her articles, Melissa also produces quick and quirky YouTube videos that are part of a series entitled Save your #@%* money! which are as funny as they are informative:

Follow Melissa on Twitter.

So there you have it! My three favorite money mentors that I both personally look up to and that I feel will help painlessly introduce even the most skittish of us to personal finances. Remember: you don’t have to wait until you’re making a lot of money to start getting your finances in order (and please don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s a good idea to put it off until you’re “older”). The sooner you get started, the better off you’ll be! If I can do it, anyone can

What about you? Who and/or where do you turn to when you need financial advice? Are you just getting started, an old pro, or are you someone who hasn’t really thought of it yet? (No judging! We all have to start somewhere!) Tell me about it in the comments!

No part of this post was sponsored or endorsed in any way. I speak from my own experiences and have offered opinions of people that I truly think are great!

Is it still a “moment” when it stretches on for more than a week?

Probably not, but still.

That’s where I’ve been lately. I want to write. I want to blog so much. But when I sit down to make it happen? Nothing.

I’m generally the first one to tout the blogging guideline of not trying to force anything. Most of my favourite posts come from that moment of inspiration – that spark that hits you, generally at the most inopportune moment, and forces you to sit down and write your heart out.

Sometimes whilst sitting alone in a public place and snickering over your own cleverness and subsequently creeping out everyone around you.

People that don’t blog are seriously missing out on some good times, guys.

But when that spark is missing? Uhg, it sucks.

You’d think that having a blog that’s not genre-specific would help, and sometimes it does. But sometimes it doesn’t and instead it just leaves me feeling a little directionless.

In my mind, I want to be a regular blogger. I want to be someone who writes a lot and shares her stories regularly. Sometimes I wonder if I get too hung up on telling complete stories that I neglect the incomplete moments and thoughts that fill a lot of everyday life. It’s as if there’s a voice in the back of my head that tells me that if I’m not leaving my readers with some kind of take-away then it’s better if I don’t blog in the first place.

Except that I don’t really believe that and so I’m trying to shake that feeling because I think it’s holding me back. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs where the authors clearly aren’t afraid to plant their flag and claim that space to write whatever matters most to them. It’s inspiring and it makes me a bit jealous because, after all this time, I’m still struggling to do exactly that.

To help, I’ve started keeping a journal. Not a diary but just a place to jot down thoughts as they come to me just to get used to the idea of pouring all of the junk in my brain space into words in hopes that it will become a habit. I also want to do more in life to provide me with material and then give myself the time to put it all into words. It’s not like my life is boring or anything but I guess I just need to get out of my comfort zone a bit more. Maybe finding some more blogs to get me going would help too.

What about you? If you’re a blogger, how do find inspiration? What gets you writing? What holds you back? Leave a comment and definitely include a link to your blog so I can check you out!

I was injured for a while, but thankfully that came to pass. Then I think I just got lazy. Even though I loved every run I managed to go on, I had to force myself out the door. As the weather got nicer and I saw more people running past my windows, I really started getting restless. I wanted to get out there but the motivation just wasn’t there.

But then June rolled around and my calendar cheerfully informed me that I was 11 short weeks away from my next big race: all 30kms of Toronto’s Midsummer Night’s Run on August 17th.

Suddenly, I had all of the motivation I needed. The best motivation I’ve ever needed, really.

Fear

Yup. Call it negative if you want but nothing gets me moving like a healthy dose of fear. I fear a looming race date, especially when it’s a longer distance than I’ve run before because I’m afraid that I won’t be able to do it.

But it’s not all doom and terror. I’ve beefed up my iPhone with a few apps that are really brining the love back into my 30km training. If you’ve been having your own problems feeling motivated with your running plans, maybe consider giving them a try!

Zombies, Run! 2
Available for iPhone and Android
Cost: $3.99 CDN + for extended missions (author’s note: worth it)

A new take on my all-time fav running app, season 2 of Zombies, Run! was release back in April.

I had a number of people that were thinking about purchasing ZR2 ask me whether or not it was worth it as they had heard some mixed reviews. Based on my own personal experiences (as well as what I was hearing from the community) a lot of the negative feedback was coming from people that were resistant to change (between some major upsets in the story-line, losing your original base, and even changes to the user interface, there definitely are some big differences in season 2).

If you’re unfamiliar with ZR, it’s basically a fitness app that doubles as a game, which you play simply by getting up and moving. Run, walk, bike or blade your way through an engaging audio story (if you listen to music it will play between songs. If not, the story will play periodically throughout your run). You’re Runner 5 and each run is a “mission” in which you work to rebuild Able Township and get to the bottom of what’s caused the zombie apocalypse.

The major differences that ZR2 brings with it include old and new characters interacting in a richer, and even somewhat darker story-line that continues directly off of season 1, and a more immersive base-building experience that gives you more control over how you rebuild Able Township (Yep: rebuild. You’ve gotta play through season 1 to get the deets though!). Much of the original features of the app have been improved and the stats tracking, zombie-chase speed intervals and ZombieLink connection all remain the same. The app includes missions from season 1 and 2 (some of which you need to purchase), side missions, race missions and extended radio mode.

Rebuilding Able Township

If you’re the type of person that finds you need more mental stimulus to get out there and run (especially for longer distances), this app is totally worth checking out.

(Also, while I’ve never tried it, ZR does have a 5km training app for beginner runners. I’ve heard from a number of people who’ve used it though and every one of them have loved it. If you’re just getting started but are worried the full app may be too intense or too expensive, give that one a try!)

Lululemon’s SeaWheeze Tacklebox
Available for: iPhone
Cost: Free

I honestly just discovered this one this morning. It was 5 a.m. and I was lying in bed, checking my e-mail in an attempt to wake myself up enough to get out for a run. Now, I don’t often check the multitude of e-newsletters that I get on a daily basis, but I do check Lulu’s because I have a problem.

Anyway, lo and behold at the bottom of today’s newsletter, there was a link to their new “half marathon training app”. I clicked, I downloaded and now I’m pretty sure my life will ever be the same.

When it comes to training for a long race, I have a love-hate relationship with training plans. On one hand, I lack the willpower to just fly by the seat of my pants and run all willy-nilly when I’ve got a race coming up. I need some kind of structure. On the other hand though, I find that most training plans out there are overly complicated to the point that they tend to suck all of the fun out of it (for me anyway).

Lulu’s app is, in my opinion, a perfect balance between providing focus but still keeping things fun and easy to follow. It’s obviously been designed for people training for the annual SeaWheeze Half Marathon in Vancouver but the app’s 10-week training plan can easily be applied to whatever race you’re training for.

This week’s training schedule!

The app includes week-by-week, day-to-day training schedules that offer flexible options for both beginner and intermediate runners, and it switches things up between running and cross-training to ensure that you’re getting a good, well-rounded fitness experience. The schedule gives you the option to do whatever activities you prefer on your cross-training days, but if you’re like me and need a bit more direction, it also links to full yoga workout videos (as well as videos for things like dynamic stretching!) Other cool features include a variety of music playlists, links to the SeaWheeze community and event details for those participating in this year’s race.

This app is perfect for anyone looking for a focused approach at training that is fun, easy to follow and super clear in its instructions (and yes, it’s both dude and lady friendly).

Simple Interval Timer
Available for: iPhone
Cost: Free

I heard about Jeff Galloway and his patented Run/Walk/Run method for race training when I first signed up for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon at Disneyland. That said, I never gave the method any real thought until my friend Dan recommended it to me about a month ago.

“In over two years of running I’ve never had any injuries and I’ve gotten faster using it too,” He told me.

After a rough few months and results I wasn’t happy with, I finally found myself willing to give it a try. If nothing else, I figured it might at least help get me back into the swing of things.

I wasn’t willing to pony up for an expensive running watch (especially when I wasn’t sure it was something I would stick with long term) so I found a free app to use instead. There are a lot of interval timing apps out there, many of them free. I chose the SIT because it was incredibly simple. You choose your run and walk interval times and number of sets. The app runs seamlessly behind any other app you might be using (including RunKeeper and, yes, Zombies, Run!) There are distinct audio cues to let you know when to walk and when to run again and it will even play through your music.

They weren’t kidding when they called it “simple” but in the grand scheme of things you don’t need anything overly complicated to do run/walk/run intervals.

I’ve used it a few times now with no complaints. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I think I’ll probably stick with the Run/Walk/Run method! (You win, Dan!)

What about you? Are you a runner that sometimes has a hard time getting motivated? What do you do to get out of the slump? If you use apps to help train, what are your faves? Let me know in the comments!

Also, obligatory note: No part of this post was sponsored or endorsed in any way. I speak from my own experiences and have offered opinions of apps that I personally use and think are great!

Meow.

I haven’t gone into a whole lot of detail about the situation yet, but ever since making it somewhat apparent that I brought a cat home with me last Thursday (kind of like a “happy birthday to me” sort of thing expect not really because, like I said, she’s “Jasper’s”) I’ve been getting constant messages about it. Everyday it’s anything from “How’s she doing?” to “What were you thinking??”

So, fine. I get it. If cat stories are all I’m good for now then IT’S A CAT STORY YOU WILL GET.

I will begin by making it clear that this is all Jasper’s fault.

You see, he’s not the most extroverted dog in the dog park (in fact, he’s so apprehensive in overwhelming canine social situations that I don’t even bother. He’s the most introverted dog hanging back unhappily just outside of the dog park silently begging me with his brain waves not to make him go in there. So I don’t. I’m merciful that way). Still, when another animal does manage to win his favour, he quickly becomes all about them.

It began with Donny, my landlady’s son’s dog that spent a few months living  in her downstairs apartment. Jasper and Donny became inseparable and he took it pretty hard when Donny and his owner moved to a new place. Then there were my aunt’s miniature schnauzers whom he spent a week living with while I was in Winnipeg, and don’t even get me started on Luc’s mom’s cat. That cat is the meanest creature on four paws but Jasper adores her and, amazingly, the feeling seems to be mutual.

Donny & Jasper: Bros 4 Life

It was hard not to notice that Jasper would sometimes get a little downcast after spending good amounts of time with these other animals. He gets kind of lonely sometimes. You would almost think the fact that I work from home a lot would help provide more companionship for him. Unfortunately, dogs have a hard time grasping the concept of “bringing home the bacon”. Unless of course you actually are bringing home real bacon, in which case they pick up on it pretty fast. He just can’t wrap his adorable doggy brain around why I would be home and yet not be spending every waking moment with him.

And so the guilt has come to set in.

I knew that a second dog was out of the question. Despite access to a big back yard, my apartment is still small and Jasper is always big. There’s only enough room for one beast in the back seat of my little Pontiac and it’s already hard enough finding a sitter for that one beast when I go out of town.

But a cat…

See, despite common misconceptions (generally related to his size) Jasper doesn’t actually want to eat every cat he comes across. Nor is Luc’s mom’s cat the odd exception in all of this. He loves them all equally and very enthusiastically.

In fact, this enthusiasm is often his downfall when it comes to making feline friends, as cats don’t generally take too kindly to being playfully pounced by a 96 pound wolf-dog. PLAY BOW BE DAMMED.

Still, given enough time, they all generally warm up to him and I like to think that both parties are better off in the end.

So I started musing about the idea of getting a cat. Initially I figured that a kitten was the way to go – it would grow up around Jasper, something I hoped would help them to bond. But the more I thought about the associated costs of a new kitten – adoption fees, getting it fixed and its shots up-to-date, all on top of buying it the necessities and then the time/frustrations of kitten-related “accidents” – the more I realized that it was an idea that would have to wait a bit longer.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Luc’s mom reached out to me with a lead on a cat that was soon going to be in need of a new home. Its owners were retiring to Mexico and therefore were desperately seeking new accommodations for their three cats. The cat being proposed to me had been raised around two medium-sized dogs. It was all caught up on its shots. It was de-clawed and litter trained. Was I interested?

Without trying to get anyone’s hopes up, I agreed just to meet the cat.

I met Hastings on Wednesday, May 22nd.

On the afternoon of Thursdays, May 23rd, she came home with me.

Not. Amused.

On the evening of Thursday, May 23rd, I was disinfecting a claw mark down the length of my forearm wondering whether or not I had really thought this through.

Don’t get me wrong: Hastings is wonderful. She certainly wasn’t trying to give me cat scratch fever. No, dear reader, Hastings wasn’t the problem here: I was.

Nothing quite says “Thanks for taking me in!” like cat scratch fever.

I think it goes without saying that I am a dog person through and through. I’m a fan of the dog’s zest for life and the way it craves affection almost as much as I do. In the grand scheme of things, they’re pretty cool about most things and adapt to change fairly easily.

Cats do not.

Jasper was stoked the moment he realized that had come home with a kitty. I kept them separated for most of the evening, until I eventually figured that she was calm enough with me that I could attempt to casually introduce them. I cuddled her tiny curled-up body on my lap while Jasper eagerly sniffed and licked her fur into mats.

Now, to be fair, she was a real trooper. Despite being clearly unimpressed with the amount of slobber she was wearing, Hastings put up with the abuse and did little more than hiss whenever Jasper’s nose got too close her face. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jasper has boundary issues and, as previously mentioned, he is very enthusiastic about cats. Eventually she just snapped (who could blame her?) and I learned the hard way that being “de-clawed” only generally refers to the front paws.

I went to bed that night feeling absolutely defeated. I lay awake for a long time, mulling over the same three thoughts again and again:

1. I know very little about cats.
2. There was one cowering under my bed and I found that fact to be somewhat unsettling.
3. That cat hated me with the white hot intensity of a thousand burning suns.

The next morning I did the research I should have done before I brought her home and learned that it would probably be a full-on week of her doing nothing but hiding in a quiet, secured room before she would maybe consider coming to me willingly, forget the dog.

I’ve had her set up in my storage closet ever since.

Except that it’s less of a closet and more of a tiny spare room. Either way, it seems to be doing the trick.

Jasper waiting outside of Hastings’ door. He really, REALLY wants her to like him.

So now, we wait.

Every morning, while Jasper is outside, I sneak into her room to feed her and clean her litter box. I’ll poke my head into whatever hiding spot she’s squished herself into this time and say a quick hello so that she gets used to me. Sometimes I’ll leave a treat behind in hopes that maybe one day she’ll love me too. Or even just pretend that she does. I’d be cool with that too.

People keep asking me how she’s adjusting and I’ve got nothing new to tell them. She remains in total isolation mode. People ask me how it feels to have a cat and I tell them that it’s like suddenly finding myself rooming with a moody, homesick exchange student that doesn’t speak my language and just wants to be left alone.

I’ll be honest: This may turn out to be the biggest test of my patience yet.

It feels strange knowing that there’s a living creature hiding in my closet. I feel pretty useless knowing that there’s nothing more that I can really do for her but give her space and hope that she comes around (more for Jasper’s sake than my own, really). Cats are just weird, man.

So there you have it, dear reader: the story of my (Jasper’s) new cat. Cross your fingers for us – hopefully I’ll have an actual update for people sometime in the near future.

Popping out to see what’s up. This is progress for us.

That means this past weekend was also my birthday (because I said so), and one of the best parts about it was the fact that my father from Winnipeg was in town on business, one brother was home from the northern wilds of Alberta where he works, and the other brother made the trip down from Ottawa. FOR ME! Mwa ha ha!

Kidding. Sort of. It was really just a good opportunity for the four of us to spend time together, something that honestly hasn’t happened in about 15 years (Note: I had originally written 115 years there and I almost considered leaving it because the idea of implying that we’re a family of vampires was pretty funny to me. Then I wondered if everyone would automatically jump to the same “vampire family” conclusion or if they’d just assume I’d typo’d. Which I had, but that’s not the point. Anyway, I changed it but I figured you’d appreciate the side-story).

So, understandably, it was pretty great. It also inspired me to write the final installment in my Operation Motherland blog arc.

Because so much of the four days Tyler and I spent in Winnipeg were filled with SO MANY stories, many of which include family that you, dear reader, don’t know and therefore probably wouldn’t really care about (Not that I’m implying that you’re insensitive, dear reader. I’m just bein’ real here) I think a bulleted summary is in order:

• I was both nervous and excited to return to my hometown for the first time in over a decade. In a way, a place like that can be completely unfamiliar after so much time but it’s also amazing how quickly it can start to feel like it’s yours again when you come back.
• On that note, Winnipeg totally gets a bad rap that I legitimately don’t think it deserves. I’ll be honest: we got lucky weather wise. It was perfectly clear, no snow and temperatures sat comfortably between 14 and 18 C each day that we were there. Sure, everyone told us that we just missed the snow and cold but whatever, it was nice. So were the people. There’s nothin’ like that western Canada hospitality.

Plus the wildlife is super cool.

• My cousin’s wedding more or less doubled as a family reunion, with people coming from as far as England for the festivities. I got to see people I haven’t seen in years, all at once and in the same place. It would have been overwhelming if it hadn’t been so incredible.
• Part of the wedding was held at the historic Hotel Fort Garry and so the whole family just stayed there for the weekend. The Garry, built from 1911 to 1913, is one of those old CN hotels that you find in all of the capitals across Canada near the original train stations. It’s fancy in a way that made my want to bob my hair, drink a lot of gin and listen to jazz all of the time. I got used to feeling like a big deal and therefore was pretty sad to leave (Tyler may have done some calculations to determine how much it would cost to move in. In conclusion: too much).

Hello, my name is Garry and I am FANCY (I also bear an uncanny resemblance to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror…)

• The hotel was also totally haunted. Not in a blood-in-the-hallways kind of way. It was more of a casual, “Oh yeah, of course this place is hunted. DUH.” sort of situation. Unfortunately I didn’t have any encounters of my own, although not for lack of trying. Obviously this means I need to go back (Which is exactly what I wrote on my feedback card when we left. Management clearly approve of that idea because I just received a letter the other day from them enthusiastically inviting me back. No joke! One could probably just argue that all they want is my money but I choose to believe that they’re relieved to have found someone willing to root out those pesky specters and tell them that it’s time to pay their tab or GTFO. Think positive, people.)

Yep. Totally haunted.

• Aside from being haunted, the Garry was also directly across from one of my all-time favorite places in Winnipeg: The Forks. Tyler and I spent a lot of time wandering the market terminal (and enjoying ourselves immensely) only to discover near the end of our stay that there was SO MUCH MORE that we hadn’t even realized was there (Like a Sugar Mountain store in an old train car! Delicious AND fun!) Again, it just means I’ll have to go back. Shucks.

We spent a LOT of time here.

• I think it’s fair to say that my cousin’s wedding was the most amazing wedding I’ve ever been to, and I’m not just saying that because she’s family (It wasn’t because of the open bar either, I swear.) The ceremony itself was at a small church and was short, sweet and had all kinds of thoughtful personal touches that got even this unfeeling creature a bit weepy. Then came the reception, which was held in a massive ballroom at the Garry complete with great food, hilarious speeches and even a late-night poutine bar. You read that right, dear reader: Poutine. Bar.

Quite possibly the closest I’ll ever get to being a Disney princess.

• I’m going to get a little cheesy here and say that I was really touched by how obviously and undeniably in love my cousin and her new husband are. I know everyone says that at weddings but, again, I’m a pretty cold-hearted creature and even I couldn’t help but think that, if you were the type of person that didn’t believe in love, seeing these two would totally change your mind. It was nice and I’m super happy for them. *SOB*

Lovebirds <3

• Throughout the course of the weekend a certain member of our party (I’m not going to name names here but I can promise that it wasn’t me. I’m just not this cool unfortunately) spent time slowly and completely inadvertently turning others onto drinking gin and tonics at the various celebrations we attended. By the time the wedding rolled around, people were so hooked on them that the bar actually ran out. Twice. Personally, I think this feat is pretty impressive and that the originator should be pretty proud of himself/herself. (I’m serious – it totally wasn’t me but I thought it was pretty funny. Then again, maybe this is one of those “you had to be there” stories… Feel free to ignore).
• My family does NOT mess around when it comes to the dance floor – a statement that is not restricted to any particular age-group either. If that kind of gusto is what I have to look forward to when I get older, I’m going to be a pretty awesome old dame. LOOK OUT FUTURE, I’M COMIN’ FOR YOU AND I’LL BE DANCIN’.

Wow, this post wound up being way longer than I anticipated… TL; DR I had a amazing time visiting my family in my hometown and the experience was totally worth spending 50 hours in a car. Thanks to EVERYONE that was a part of it, because you guys were definitely the very best part <3

This is definitely safer than trying to fit 28 candles on top of a cake.

There’s something weird about the idea of being 28 that only really started to dawn on me this morning. Not that I’ve given much thought to the idea of myself turning 28, but the idea of being 28 in general has always seemed like a the beginning of a bigger transition to me. Unrelated: Let’s see if I can break a record for the amount of sentences in one post featuring the number 28, shall we?

Carrying on.

Maybe it’s because this is the point we can fairly call the beginning of your “late” 20s, but 28 always struck me as the point at which I’d begin to feel old. Not to be mistaken with old-old. Nay, not even the type of old with which comes some wisdom. Instead, I’ve always though of 28 as being the type of old where a person can begin looking back wistfully and say “I’ve seen some things” without it being quite as ironic or insensitive as it was when you had just graduated.

Now that I’m here though, 28 doesn’t feel that old at all. Maybe the fading of my disillusion comes from watching many of my friends moving into their 30s and beyond and realizing that they aren’t undergoing some crazy metamorphosis or anything, so what reason did I have to think this would be any different? Perhaps I’ve subconsciously shifted that point of “old” up a few years because 28 doesn’t feel the way I expected it to (but when does aging another year really feel the way we expect it to, amirite?)

What’s more, instead of thinking of myself as being that much closer to 30 and therefore closer to a new decade and all of the existential crisis that (according to popular opinion) comes with it, which is totally how I expected to think of 28, I’m finding that I’m looking at myself as still being two years away from it. As in, I’ve still got time and just enough of it. More time to enjoy and be gobsmacked by the quintessential experiences that come with being in your 20s; continuing to flesh out who I am as a person, complete with all of the ups, downs and surprises that come with taking chances, making mistakes, and having fun.

Kind of like Miss Frizzle without the red hair and magic school bus.

But a girl can dream, can’t she?

I’m sure I’ll have the same sense of disillusionment shattered two years from now when I realize that I still don’t have it all figured out and that 30 feels nothing like the movies or sarcastic birthday cards had led me to believe. Until then, I’m just going to enjoy what’s left of my 20s. Because, as it turns out, I totally can.

As for my “special day”, I’m off to finish my to-do list for the workday (because my boss is awesome and all but told me to bugger off) and then spend my afternoon getting my teeth cleaned (*internal screaming*) and picking up a surprise for Jasper (details to come). If that sounds like a less-than-thrilling way to turn 28 to you, don’t worry – I rented a cabin in the woods over the long weekend and was able to enjoy a few days in the middle of nowhere with some of my closest friends and it was awesome (especially because we didn’t die at the hands of the evil dead despite the fact that a certain someone broke 3 of the 5 anti-haunting house rules. Some people just want to watch the world burn).

Our home for the long weekend. Not a bad place to ring in 28 years!

I won’t tell you which rules the offender broke. It’s funnier this way (which it totally wasn’t at the time).

(Were you counting? I got 12. I think.)

It was also just over a week ago now that I woke up with what has come to be known as the “Wawachoo” – the resilient cold that turned me into a veritable snot factory and became the excuse I’m using for why it’s taken me so long to recap Operation Motherland.

Wawa has a thing for big geese.

The driving to and from Winnipeg made up half of the experience and memories I have of the trip back to our hometown. For a couple of reasons, we chose to take what turns out to be the longest route between point A and point B; not down through the U.S. and not the strange remote route through northern Ontario either. No, Tyler and I took the long way that traces its way up and along Lake Superior. Retrospectively, it was kind of a poor choice, but at least it was scenic.

We left very, VERY early Wednesday morning. As in, I woke up at midnight to finish packing (I can’t pack before a trip to save my life) and was on the road by 1:30 to pick Tyler up in Ottawa for 4 a.m. Yes, I drove two and half hours in the wrong direction to pick him up, but he’s a poor university student so give us a break.

We traveled 18 hours in that first day, and I drove all of it (Tyler, a city boy, doesn’t have a license anymore. But he did stay awake with me for the whole drive so there’s that). The thing about travelling that far, for that long, essentially for the first time, is that you have no real concept of distance. It certainly didn’t help that we started the trip feeling pretty squirrely on lack of sleep and adrenaline. We definitely thought we were already pretty far gone by the time we were passing along the northern boarder of Algonquin Park.

It would take approximately another five hours to realize just how wrong we were.

The Trans Canada highway was fairly desolate all things considered. We skirted along and through places like North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie and slowly we started thinking less in terms of how far we’d come and more about how far we had left to go. It played games with our minds, guys.

SUPER reassuring, White River. Thanks for that.

It wasn’t until we hit the tiny community of Wawa 11 hours into our trip that we came up against what we figured would be the toughest push of the whole trip – the barren and quasi-remote seven-hour stretch to Thunder Bay, which we had decided would be our stop for the night. Just to add some excitement to the mix, we lost cell phone signal for that entire stretch, adding a perilous sense of isolation and crazy to the whole thing. It was Thunder Bay or bust at that point.

The route itself was so spectacular that you could almost bring yourself to forget the fact that there was still snow on the ground in places. Driving up and down through the Canadian Shield is quite an experience. My only regret was that we couldn’t afford the time to really slow down and enjoy it.

Except when there was a moose. I always have time for a moose.

Hey gurl. How you doin’?

By the end of day one I can honestly say that I’ve never been so happy to see a motel room. Exhausted as I was though, I laid awake for a while obsessing over how much more difficult the day had been than I had expected. I felt a little hopeless every time I thought about the fact that I not only had another seven hours to go but also that, in a few more days, I’d have to do it all over again.

Yet aside from waking up to snow the next morning (seriously, Thunder Bay? Seriously.) the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Seven hours is nothing compared to 18 and civilization came by a little more regularly. Rolling into Winnipeg for the first time in ten years was pretty surreal, but I’ll save all that for my next post.

I might have wept a little when I looked out the window in the morning and saw this.

Rest assured, we learned our lesson from the trip out. We got a lot more sleep before leaving and split the trip home much more evenly, stopping in Wawa for the night.

All of this said, as far as driving a third of the way across the country goes, we probably couldn’t have asked for a better trip. The weather was beautiful, we hardly hit any traffic, and the moose maintained a respectful distance. Even Tyler, despite his lack of license, made a really great travel buddy and navigator (except for that weird Google Maps “country road detour” debacle). Anyone that can laugh along when the fatigue makes you crazy and NOT leave you for dead when you start wailing every Disney song you know the words to is definitely someone you want riding shotgun on a trip like this.

Coming up next, I’ll be wrapping up Operation Motherland in a post I’ve already decided to call Family, Gin, Ghosts and a Wedding. Stay tuned! (Or don’t. My feeling won’t be hurt. Jerk.)

EDIT: I’ve been texting with a friend of mine who lives up in the area and I now feel like I need to add a comment here. The non-stop driving? Brutal. The areas I drove through? Amazing. Seriously. There were many times during the trip that I lamented the fact that we had to speed through and didn’t have the time to stop and explore. You want wilderness? You want nature and raw Canadian beauty? Take the long way to Winnipeg – it’s worth it.

Guess.

I’ll give you a second.

Assuming you choose a route that stays in Canada, you’re looking at 2,174 km (1,351 miles for my American friends. That’s just to get to the next province over. Sheesh). That’s the distance I’m looking to cover in the next couple of days as my youngest brother, Tyler and I set out on an epic road trip back to The Motherland.

Dang, Ontario…

We were born in Winnipeg, you see. Hence the, uh, Motherland bit.

Not only were we born there but our cousin also happens to be getting married there this Saturday. Seeing as round trip plane tickets are going for around $700 EACH (Riddle me this, Batman: WHY is domestic air travel so DAMN EXPENSIVE here in Canada?) we’ve opted to take the vehicular pilgrimage route instead.

Things I’m excited about:

1. Getting to see family that I mostly haven’t seen in over ten years.
2. Watching my cousin get married.
3. Visiting The Motherland, even if most people don’t consider it to be an exceptionally exciting place.
4. Going on a road trip with my brosef.
5. Seeing parts of Canada that I’ve never seen before.

Things I’m not excited about:

1. Spending around 50 hours total in a car.

Truthfully, right now I’m excited about all of it, including the 50 hours in a car. I like road trips! I like going places! I am, however, fairly realistic and I think it’s safe to say that about 5 hours into the trip I’m going to want to crawl out of my own skin.

Maybe we’ll see some exciting wildlife along the way.

Anyway.

We’ve got a strict 4 a.m. departure time (everyone thinks I’m joking when I tell them this, including Tyler. I get the impression that he still thinks it. Sucker.) For the record, that’s 4 a.m. after I make the trip to Ottawa to collect my travel buddy. If luck be with us, we’ll make it as far as Thunder Bay in Day 1 before I give up in a spectacular display of sleep-deprived rambling and flailing limbs.

I’ll keep you all posted.

My battle station

It’s been pretty quiet around here lately.

Between double screens, long hours and to-do lists the length of my arm, there hasn’t been much time for blogging.

But it’s all been coming down to this week, my friends.

This, the last week of the semester. My students will be doing the big presentations and handing in their final assignments so that I can put my nose to the grindstone one last time this spring in order to get all grades submitted by the 24th.

This, the week of a much anticipated presentation that my boss and I are doing at Kingston General Hospital tomorrow for Queen’s University’s Pediatric Grand Rounds. It’s kind of a big deal and it’s all that will be on my mind for the next 24 hours.

So, yes, it’s been quiet around here, but it’s all been leading up to this. It’ll be a week of flurried excitement and grand finales; of and timely transitions and exciting new things! So, here’s to the final home stretch! I’ll see you all on the other side…

At least as long as I’ve known her, Kerry has had a heart for all things vintage and a talent for thrifting. With this in mind, her idea for a store bursting with classic thrifted finds and chic, lovely merchandised just made sense. There’s a lot that I loved about the concept from the get-go but I’m especially enamored by this “six-point product checklist” that all Chickadelic products must meet:

* Does it inspire creativity?
* Does it embrace the environment?
* Does it empower women?
* Is it locally or Canadian made?
* Does it celebrate loveliness?
* Does it bring people together?

After months of build-up online through Facebook and Twitter (as well as booths at shows and sales along the way. Oh, and some giveaways and contests… What can I say? The lady is a pro!) I was really excited to score an opportunity to attend a pre-shop event last weekend ahead of this Saturday’s grand opening.

Chickadelic’s pretty storefront in the pretty village of Stirling. Everything about it is pretty!

Located at 34 Mill Street in Stirling, Ontario, Chickadelic is like Pinterest come to life. As I walked in the front door the first thing that went through my mind was, “I feel like I’ve stepped into the pages of a magazine!” Everything is just so whimsical and inspired!

One of the displays. I want that apron! (Or at least one like it!)

Can’t you just picture everything about this display in your home? I know I can…

There’s a great mix of new and vintage products throughout the store that evoke feelings of days gone by. From jewelry and clothing to lifestyle goods for around the home, this place has everything a girl could want to add some lovely to her life. It’s also a DIYer’s haven, with supplies and ideas and even a workshop at the back. I brought home a card of upcoming workshops (I’ll probably be hitting up the Gatsby one!)

Upcoming hen parties!

I can think of a few people that I know personally that are probably going to want to spend some time getting creative in this craft room! P.s. It doubles as an event space! (Oh, yes!)

I wanted a little bit of everything but I managed to reel myself in. From one trip alone I know I’ve got plenty of reasons to keep coming back. It definitely didn’t help when Kerry mentioned that there was more stock coming for the grand opening… My wishlist is long, my friends!

My first haul: a used copy of a book I’ve been wanting to read, organic goat’s milk soap, and an Ecojot notebook (with dogs on it! And they’re wearing SWEATERS!)

If Chickadelic sounds like your cup of tea then you’ll definitely want to swing up to Stirling this Saturday, April 6th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the grand opening! If it’s anything like the pre-shop event (and if this blog post is to be believed, it’s going to be even better) then you’re in for a real treat.

Want to sweeten the deal? I’ve got a $10 giftcard for Chickadelic Salvage and Design up for grabs as a giveaway! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post about why you love to live creatively! I’ll draw a winner tomorrow, April 5th at 8 p.m EDT! Exclamation points!

And we have a winner! Thank you to everyone that left a comment – I’m glad to see that you’re all as excited about this as I am! But alas, there’s only one gift card and it’s going to… *drumroll*

Congrats, Joni! Happy shopping

Yaaaay! Congrats, Joni! Be sure to check your e-mail to find out how to claim your prize! As for everyone else, I hope you’ll still head out and check out all of the wonderful treasures that Chickadelic Salvage and Design has waiting for you! When you come back, leave a comment and tell me about your haul!

Chickadelic Salvage and Design is the brainchild of Kerry Ramsay!

Author’s note: I did not receive compensation for this post. Kerry is a friend but my opinions are honest and my own (and if those opinions can help support a friend’s endeavors: bonus!)