Weekender

This was a weekend I could definitely repeat. I did so much- and all such different things that I feel happy and fulfilled. Only thing that would have made it better was if I could have had some more time with Tyler.

Friday: Pancakes. Duh.

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During Wes’s nap, I made a batch of protein balls that are SO YUMMY. I’ll be sharing the recipe this week, so stay tuned 🙂

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We headed out to the mall to grab some groceries and also pick up a stick of body butter from Rocky Mountain Soap Company. They were having their Toxin Free Days- where members get a free gift when they stop by a store, so I had to take advantage!

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While Wes was down for his second nap, I whipped up this delicious AND EASY Moo Shu Chicken for dinner. I hate when I work nights, because I usually start at 5pm and need to eat dinner beforehand which a) sucks, because I have to have something ready to eat EARLY, and b) sucks because I’m usually hungry again afterwards and by then it’s too late to eat.

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It was a great night at work, so no complaints from this end!

Saturday: Wes and I headed to the library after breakfast for the Baby Bookworm program. There were about a dozen other babies and Wes was really entertained by the singing and reading and….other babies. One little boy sat on the blanket next to him and even held his hand! My heart melted and I desperately wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to freak the other mother out. haha

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There are 4 more ‘classes’ in this session and I’m excited to see him interact! PS: I’m a terrible mom and hardly have Wes in situations where he is around other kids his age. Part of it is because I’m a germaphobe, part of it is because I don’t want to pay to participate in activities, and part of it is because I just don’t want to put up with a crank monster if any activity throws off his schedule!

After the library, we walked back home and I quickly got ready and headed back out to meet up with some of the BLOG SQUAD for a tour at Tool Shed Brewery. You guys…I have been on a ton of beer tours. And this one was by far the best I’ve ever been on. They are just so damn passionate about beer. From how it’s made to interacting with others involved in the process, to interacting with the local community. I was just blown away by the enthusiasm and ingenuity the Tool Shed guys have.

Plus, the beer is pretty damn tasty.

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We got to sample each of their 3 core beers plus a limited edition brew. AND THEN….once the tour was over, we got another beer of our choosing! I mean, yeah the perk of a brewery tour is getting to sample their product, but I really gotta say that the information on the tour- and how it was presented- was the highlight of the afternoon.

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The space is pretty neat too! (My kinda decor!!)

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I ended up leaving with 3 6-packs of the Gose and a 6-pack of their People Skills Cream Ale. YUM.

PS: If anyone in Calgary ever wants to go on this tour, I WILL GO WITH YOU. I loved it that much. Seriously.

After the tour, I headed home and quickly changed to head off to work. I felt like I was super busy for my shift but didn’t make as much as I thought. Ok, ok, so I’ll tell you where I work now. Brewster’s! They have a location close to my house and I get 3 serving shifts a week. The staff is all incredibly friendly and it’s such a nice atmosphere that I find time flies. Plus, the social interaction is nice. So are the tips 😉

When I got home, Tyler and I watched Deadpool and drank some Tool Shed. The movie is so funny-one of the best ones I’ve seen in a while. Ryan Reynolds. That is all.

Sunday: I met up with the BLOG SQUAD at Illume Hot Yoga for a private Surf Set class (more on that later this week, I promise). It was a fun workout! I still did my 22 Minute Hard Corps Workout earlier in the day, and the added core strength required for SurfSet was no joke. Obviously because of the name they also offer Hot Yoga which I’m hoping to try in the near future.

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Later in the afternoon, I headed off to National Westhills with Wes to attend the Beer Master BBQ co-hosted by Phillips Brewing. I love this National location because it is family friendly and I could bring Wes with me to a beer event. Never mind that I was pretty much the only one there with a kid, but who cares!

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Phillips had some amazing beers for us to sample and National provided a delicious BBQ spread that I was able to share with the kiddo.

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YES the food was great. And YES the beer was great. But what really stuck out to me was the customer service. I can’t stress enough how friendly the staff was to me throughout the event. They were always checking up on me, asking if there was anything I needed, and even brought an extra umbrella out to keep Wes in the shade. Plus, they actually got my food and beers for me so that I didn’t have to keep getting up and down with Wes in tow.

I’m pretty sure they’ve made a customer for life out of me. Insane craft beer selection + yummy food + exceptional customer service= mother BLEEPING bliss. HIGH FIVES TO YOU, NATIONAL WESTHILLS.

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The BBQ had live music, games and prizes and I would have LOVED to have had Tyler or friends accompany, but it was so last minute. Oops. There was even a candy table and balloon decorations (some event goers and staff cut the balloons down to give to Wes. And they gave him stickers. LIKE SERIOUSLY- WHAT CRAFT BEER ESTABLISHMENT LOVES KIDS SO MUCH?!!! I wanted to stay there forever.)

Ack, back to the beer. I was able to sample the Pilsner, Sax in the Dark (Dark Sour Ale…MY FAVE), Electric Unicorn White IPA, and the Short Wave West Coast Pale Ale. I was told by the Phillips rep that the Pilsner was a newer beer that was ‘extremely crushable’. In lay mans terms: it’s easy to drink a lot of. Lay-er mans terms: you’ll get drunk off this beer. Ha! So true, it was crisp and clean and delicious.

Wes fell asleep on the way home and I rounded out the weekend with a quadruple decker Oreo. Because, YUP. Oh, and I walked the dogs. But that’s not exciting to read about.

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Weekender {Baby, Fitness, Beer}

Well, it’s been a pretty unproductive weekend over here. I’m hoping with the upswing of better weather this week, we’ll have more on our agenda in the coming days!

Friday: We didn’t get out of the house until after lunch. It was really only to head to the mall and return some stuff…so nothing majorly fun. Womp. Wes was a grumpy mister- he really doesn’t like being in the stroller especially when it’s not moving at a constant, rapid pace.

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He fought against an afternoon nap, so he was going a bit stir crazy just about the time I had to leave for work. Pro: I didn’t have to deal with a grump baby for a couple of hours. Con: I left my mom to deal with it and felt a bit bad. Ha! Tyler is still chugging away at the multiple home projects (not jealous of that, either).

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We didn’t really plan out dinner, so I threw together a bacon grilled cheese sandwich before heading off to work.

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Work went pretty well, until I noticed at the end of my shift that I made a big mistake with some cash. It didn’t negatively impact my employment or anything, but I felt pretty crummy about it. Luckily, my boss also felt bad about the mixup and bought me a beer before I headed home.

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Saturday: We had a pretty good morning- lots of floor time and snuggles. After breakfast, my mom, Wes and I headed to a used kid’s sale and scored quite a few clothing items for only $5. Only downer was that we were there while it was Wes’s nap time so he was a lovely mix of grumpy and sleepy. He ended up going down really easy once we got back and I was able to take the dogs for a nice long walk.

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My mom was able to get some work done too. We have a makeshift sweatshop set up in the guest bedroom so my mom can sew sew sew.

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Before I left for work, I got some more snuggles.

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My shift this time went a lot better. Thank goodness!

Sunday: I slept like a rock the entire night (this is a rarity lately) and didn’t even hear Wes wake up. I finally opened my eyes at 8:30. Love good sleeps like that 🙂

After Wes’s first nap and a patio picnic lunch, my mom and I walked to the grocery store for dinner stuff. Tyler has been replacing our flooring, so the main living area has been a disaster zone. We have been trying to keep Wes entertained either out of the house, or in alternate rooms- which is a bit tricky.

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During his afternoon nap, I was able to walk the dogs and enjoy some sun (AND CAKE) on the patio.

Then it was time to head to the swings!

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For dinner, we had chicken kebobs and pasta salad which Wes eagerly attempted to steal off my mom’s plate.

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And that’s it! Weekends just fly by I tell ya.

Some other random stuff:

I’ve completed the first four weeks of 22 Minute Hard Corps and love the extra strength it’s given my core, arms and glutes. I’m excited for the remaining four weeks to see if I’ll continue to improve! (PS: If you’re interested in this program… message me for more info!)

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The Grapple Toy Tether giveaway is still open! There have only been a few entries, so PLEASE check it out and enter!!! I mean, c’mon who doesn’t love free stuff??

BEERFEST is next weekend! I am judging during the Friday session and working the Saturday session. This is pretty much my dream- not only do I get to taste beer and decide which are best, but I also get to hand out beer to fellow enthusiasts! Man, I’m really loving this whole not-going-back-to-my-desk-job thing.

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And then to top off next weekend, I have been given the best Mother’s Day gift ever–> I’ll be going on the Spirit of Alberta Tasting Tour hosted by Calgary Brewery Tours. YAASSSS. I am beyond excited for this and can’t wait to fill you guys in with more info next week! 🙂

So all this talk makes me think about how random my blogging topics are- I am obsessed with 1) my child 2) fitness, and 3) craft beer. I think it’s a pretty healthy balance (plus, it’s my life so it’s not like I have to please everyone) but then it makes it a bit confusing to readers. Right? I’ve found that my instagram is pretty much all things Wes while my Twitter is beer beer beer. And then I snap (snapchat: nutcaseinpoint) fitness type photos if I remember to take any.

I just wanted to bring it up because I am guessing the variety has caused me to lose some readers? I thrive on the connections- plus, I spend a lot of time typing these things up(!!!) and I feel like I haven’t gotten any of that lately. This might sound selfish to ask, but I LOVE hearing from you guys! And I do my best to try to engage on others blogs as well. Keyword: try.

All this blabbing and I guess all I’m trying to say is I’d love for some feedback! Anything you have to say would be appreciated. Unless it’s nasty, then keep it to yourself 🙂

 

Week + Weekender

Whoa..talk about a wonderful and crazy week! The amazing weather hardly makes it feel like the weekend is winding down and having my mom here with us makes it even better! I didn’t get to do a recap of the week on Friday because I posted Wes’s first birthday (which I think is way more important) so let’s see what I can remember. Apologies in advance for the excessive photos 😉

Monday: From all that I can remember (eek) I got my workout done in the morning and we walked the neighborhood in the afternoon- making sure to hit the playground before returning home. Chicken caesar salads for dinner!

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PS: No joke, I was doing the second week of 22 Minute Hard Corps this week and could already see the changes! My core is much stronger and my arms and butt are getting more definition! (I think I might chat about this later this week since it might also be due to some hormonal changes…man, you just never know! But these workouts feel GOOD!)

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Tuesday: My mom flew in! We haven’t seen her (or my dad…but he stayed home. boo) in just over 6 months. It really is 100% no fun to live so far away from family. I crave moments where I can just have mom and dad come over for dinner or to watch Wes for an afternoon. But…it is what it is right now.

We headed straight to Costco from the airport to stock up on essentials, made homemade chicken tenders for dinner, then called it an early night. Not without a glass of wine first!

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Wednesday: We considered Wednesday our ‘transition’ day. It was nice for just the three of us (me, my mom and Wes) to hang out and get into the rhythm of a slightly different weekday now that grandma was in town! We did manage to get out of the house and run a couple of errands which was nice. Lots of snacks and maybe even a couple of presents for Wes!

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We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and hit the hay. Wes really took to grandma so fast and has been super bubbly which has been great!

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Thursday: Wes has his one year appointment at 10am, but woke up so early in the morning that he was already down for a nap by 9am and I had to wake him to put him in the car to go. I hate doing that, but I knew that it was still early enough in the day that he would get a good afternoon nap in anyways.

He wasn’t too happy at the appointment and wanted me to hold him the whole time. I didn’t mind at all since I rarely get those good cuddles, but I didn’t like seeing him saddish.

We headed to the Tim Horton’s drive through on the way home for a couple of coffees and picked up a timbit for Wes since it was his birthday eve. No shocker- he gobbled it in two bites!

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He was still pretty clingy the rest of the day and snuggled with grandma throughout the afternoon. Heart=melted.

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Tyler picked up a pizza on the way home from work for him and my mom and I was out the door by 5:30 to attend a winemaker’s dinner at Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse (more on that later this week!)

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Friday: My baby turned ONE! We celebrated just as the sun came up with balloons in his crib and he LOVED them. Poor Tyler’s alarm still hadn’t gone off yet and we were making so much noise. Whoops!

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We had pancakes for his birthday breakfast (my idea, obviously) and Wes hung out with grandma to play. They even facetimed grandpa for the Happy Birthday song!

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I think we walked over to the shopping center to pick up a couple of things too. It must’ve happened, because there’s photo evidence!

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After his morning nap, I attempted to take his one year photos and was so excited for him to wear some new garb! Luckily, I have come across so many great small shops lately that I was able to assemble something rather last minute. I absolutely loved each piece 🙂

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The leggings are from Baby H Designs (she made the leggings/hat Wes wore when he came home from the hospital), moccs from Posh Panda, and bow tie from Will & Co

After a somewhat successful photo session, all clothing was removed so he could enjoy his very first cupcake! I would have preferred it to be something I made myself (I am anti-any-baked-good-from-a-store-since-homemade-is-better) but I thought this was too cute to pass up when I stopped by Crave.

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IMG_4688 from Jen Linton on Vimeo.

We had to take a quick bath after that because it was a bit messy and Reggie was losing his mind over all the potential frosting to lick. We opted to all stay shirtless after the fact (plus, it was warm out) and I whipped up these amazingly delicious baked chimichangas for dinner. Best part? We had leftovers which were easily wrapped up and thrown in the freezer! Edited to add: I just remembered that Wes ZONKED for nearly three hours after noshing on the cupcake. It was a great little break for me and my mom, but it made for a less fun night of trying to get him to bed…almost 9pm!

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Saturday: Even though Wes went to bed so late on Friday night, he was up at 6am on Saturday. No fun for this mama because my eyes just felt heavy as bricks! I made sure to get both our breakfasts ready before getting him from his room and we hung out in the living room for a while. On one hand, early mornings are no fun because who wants to get out of bed, but on the other hand, I absolutely love those quiet morning hours with Wes when it’s just me and him….and maybe one or two of the doggies who make it out of the bedroom.

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The little guy is getting more adventurous in his eating and was asking for a lot of my mom’s cereal. So cereal he got! Afterwards, he was back to sleep for almost another 3 hours! Although I didn’t want him to miss out on the gorgeous weather, I knew he needed the sleep and it was nice for us all to be able to do our own thing for a little bit.

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After his nap, we spent a long time hanging out on the patio! When it’s this nice out, it’s a sin not to sit outside and enjoy it! He really loved the fresh air and looking out 🙂

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Once Tyler got to a point in his renovations where he could take a break, we had cake! Well, technically only Wes had the cake. No party this year for the birthday boy (1. Because he won’t remember it, 2. Because we have no family around to come and my girlfriends all live so FAR AWAY, and 3. Because umm…isn’t cake enough??!) I sort of feel bad about it, but so long as he’s happy that’s all that matters. He really enjoyed the cake even though he really didn’t understand the concept 😉

Also, I really need to dress nice for some photos, but can’t see the point when we’re just in the house! Besides, DOG. HAIR.

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Timing worked in our favor this time and he was in bed at a relatively normal time! We had lasagna for dinner and watched Ride Along 2 before getting in bed.

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Sunday: I heard Wes stirring in his crib at 6am and of course he went back to sleep but I couldn’t. I laid in bed for a few minutes before getting up to start coffee, make waffles for everyone, and fix my BAE breakfast.

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At 8:30 I decided to put Wes in the stroller and walk to the library to return some books and maybe stroll around the neighborhood for a bit. I was walking one of our usual loops and just before we got back to the house, he had fallen asleep. Since Layla is a barking beast when we get to the front door, I opted to keep walking throughout the neighborhood until Wes woke up. Cut to one hour later and I finally decided to just throw in the towel because my fitbit died haha.

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I had him bundled in the stroller because there was still a tiny nip in the air, but by the time we were back at the house it was practically HOT out. I changed Wes and we hung out on the patio for a couple of hours..and even managed to have a picnic lunch.

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I even braved to snag a few photos in our backyard. It worked out pretty decent- the grass is (dead) nice and dry from the warm weather, and there was no dog poo! I should probably mow it sometime soon, but we’re never back there. Oops.

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Layla is such a great pup with Wes. He loves her so much and is always grabbing for her and hugging her and even just laying on her and she takes it all like a champ.

We came inside for a bit because it was getting a bit too warm and I took the dogs for a long walk. After coming home, Wes went down for a nap, I worked out, and finished up the laundry.

Then it was a nice naked afternoon of crawling, climbing, babbling, and giggling.

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Tyler made burgers on the BBQ for dinner and we all got to sleep pretty early after all that sun, exercise, and renovations (for Tyler).

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It looks like there is still more sunny weather ahead this week, so we will be having many more outdoor adventures. I can’t wait!

 

Weekender

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Do anything fun? We’ve had some pretty good weather here and it only seems to be getting nicer over the week. I’m really excited to get some outside time with Wes!

Friday: Pancakes to start the day… per usual. Now that Wes is eating solids, I’m afraid I’m going to have to start sharing! Instead, I gave him half a banana blueberry muffin with peanut butter. He inhaled it PLUS half of a banana! Kid loves his fruits.

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He ended up fighting his normal nap schedule and took a super long midday snoozefest. I can’t complain- I got a lot done around the house! Afterwards, we ran errands. Nothing fun but at least we got some fresh air, so that was nice! I picked up a few beer goodies for Tyler and we inhaled pulled pork quesadillas for dinner.

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PS: The beer on the left, from Dandy Brewing Company (local to Calgary!) was really good. I first tried it at National Beer hall a couple of weeks ago and wanted to have Tyler try it. Definitely need salty snacks when drinking! The beer on the right is from Dead Frog Brewery (in BC). I LOVED this beer- it was so tasty and you can really taste the real peanut butter come through. I wish I bought two of these!

Saturday: Not much happened! We got a lot of cleaning done in the basement…..and.that’s.pretty.much.it.

Tyler ran out to pick up a prescription and returned with a couple of goodies for me! Can alcohol be a love language? Because I think that’s ours.

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He then made us pizza from scratch and we enjoyed a cuddly night with our little guy. Also, I’m a great multi-tasked (see below).

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Also ALSO, I need to step it up in the appearance department. I’ve been too busy with Wes and crap around the house to even look in a mirror. Maybe that’ll be a goal for this week..

We watched Black Mass and a couple episodes of The Last Kingdom before going to bed.

Sunday: Another super low key day. Once Wes went down for his morning nap, I threw myself in the tub and watched a Netflix movie in the dark. It was glorious! …Until I had to get out.

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To celebrate the Superbowl, we made wings and potato skins. And Nutella muddy buddies. I’ve already had Tyler hide the bag of muddy buddies because they’re LIKE CRACK. So good.

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Before Wes went to bed, I put together his alphabet floor mat from Christmas and we played with some Mega Blocks! Confession: I played with them- he tried to eat the mat.

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How was your weekend? Make any good Superbowl food?