Royal Wood

Saturday night Matt and I went out on a date, like an actual one, with grown ups and no kids. It was dreamy. Well, actually it was weird but you take what you can get.

Royal Wood was playing at St. Matthew's Church downtown, it was such a cool venue. Church by day and host to any number of things at night. We went with Katie and Brennan and sat in the balcony. They have concerts there regularly because of the size and the amazing acoustics. It was the best show I've ever seen, not just because of Royal Wood and Peter Katz, but because it sound so dang good in there with those high ceilings.

But about the weirder parts of the night, we decided it would be easier (famous last words) to get the bus downtown from Katie's place instead of looking for parking on a Saturday night. The bus was twenty minutes late, and the driver could not deal with it. She was on the phone/radio the whole time trying to figure out what she should do to make up for lost time. She then chased down the bus on the same route that was on time, flagged him over and tried to pawn her passengers off on him. When he drove away she honked the horn wildly. She chased him down again and we transferred buses. That was all fine, we were a bit later than we had hoped, the plan was to eat first but our dinner window was dwindling.

We get to our stop in front of the church and next to where we had planned on eating. After a fairly uneventful second bus ride, we thought we were in the clear of strange happenings until the bus driver called after Katie. Apparently he had directed a play she and I were in, in high school and remembered her! So weird. That Katie sure is unforgettable, even the director-turned-bus driver can't forget her, ten years later.

The restaurant was crowded and a waitress directed us to stand in the middle of it and wait to be seated. No one came so we left. How embarrassing. With a lineup outside of the church and not a whole lot of time left, we skipped food and went to get a coffee to warm up and kill some time. We sat at the biggest, most awkward booth and Matt had a bad encounter with a filthy bathroom. Told you it was a weird night.

Then it was concert time, finally. It was beautiful and huge and kind of novel to be attending a show in a church. Peter Katz opened and while I'd never heard of him before, I'm a big fan now. He was charming and told sweet stories and played lovely acoustic music. Once Royal came out, I realized we had seen him outside earlier and then spent the rest of the evening lamenting the fact that we hadn't said hello/gotten a picture or something. Either way, he was fantastic and engaging and I can't wait to see him again.

Next time though, we are driving and eating beforehand. Walking aimlessly in the cold looking for food at 10 p.m. on a Saturday in downtown HRM is not something I ever want to experience again.

Birthday Outing

What was up with Monday? It was like, 16 degrees all day, was it just for my birthday? Because, yesterday and today have been cold, wet and windy. Mother Nature, you crazy.

Since it was nice, and we've been cooped up for WAY too long, we took to the streets for a big dose of Vitamin D and some playground action. Katie had the day off, so she got to join us. We had the place to ourselves right up until the lunch bell rang and we were swarmed by school kids. That was when we went to stalk a potential new apartment to call home and grab some lunch.

doing their best Miley impressions.

E slept in her stroller right up until the food arrived. Smart gal. We hadn't really done much up to that point, but all the excitement or lack of excercise all winter, and I was spent. Thank goodness for downhill walks home. There was still plenty of ice cream cake left and two spots on the couch for the over 25 crowd to rest on.

Such an amazingly simple but fun day. Thanks for taking a girl out, Katie!

Happy Birthday to Me

Interrupting weekly weekend recap for a special announcement, today is my birthday!

We celebrated last night with a couple of friends, the babes and some ice cream cake. And, I got to open my presents early. We just got new dining chairs and it kind of kicked me into gear about re-staining our kitchen table, so Matt and the babes got me all the supplies to do it. No more excuses, kind of a brilliant/passive aggressive gift. Happy birthday, indeed.

the munchkins were SO excited to give me my presents

Woke up to actual Spring temperatures so thanks for the B-Day gift Mother Nature. We're getting out today to enjoy the sun and I'm not cooking a thing all day. This is going to be a good day, based solely on those two things.

Our best date

Since it's Valentine's week, (I'm making that a thing) I thought I'd share one of favourite dates Matt and I have had.

We were staying at his parents place while he worked in New Glasgow, since they're only an hour and a half away and always willing to have us, we stayed with them for the week last summer. They insisted offered to babysit so we could have a night out. They even let us take the convertible!

Jump to us running out of the house waving to the babes behind us and hopping in the car. We had no solid plan, we were just happy to be out together and in a really cool car. We're simple folks.

We drove for a while and ended up at a chinese restaurant that I use to go to all the time while I was in school in New Glasgow. The food is subpar, at best and the atmosphere is cheesy but I get nostalgic sometimes, is what. I ordered my usual and Matt (ever the adventurous eater) ordered some sort of shrimp dish. When it came, I was too busy devouring mine to notice he hadn't really touched his. When I looked up and saw that he wasn't eating and had this look on his face, something was up. His food was... not good. Let's leave it at that.

So we left, still early we got back in the car and drove some more. That's when Matt had the best idea. There was a new brewery in Pictou that he wanted to try out. OK! It was the cutest little place, run by a husband and wife team, the wife was actually the only one there and she was THE sweetest gal. She gave us a little tour and let us taste some beer.

It was such a simple date and even though the meal wasn't great, it was such a novelty to drive around with the top down and visit a cool new spot, just the two of us. All of our best dates seem to happen when visiting Grammie and Grampie. We never need to worry about the littles, they rarely know we're gone with all those aunties there and unlike Halifax, you really have to look for something to do, Which is the best part. We always end up doing something we could never do at home in the city. Like that one time we hit up the indie art gallery owned by Matts friend, or the time we got cheesecake to go and sat on the waterfront to eat it in the dark. Just cute little things that are hard to pass up when there is nothing else to do. Life in the city is so busy and there's so much to do here that we forget to not do anything sometimes.

We're struggling to come up with something to do on Friday that doesn't involve being shoved into an over crowded restaurant with a hundred other couples. Romance and all that. If only we could go to New Glasgow for the weekend.

T.G.I.F.

Its Friday, which means absolutely nothing to a SAHM. Well it means absolutely nothing to me. We don't have school or classes or pressing matters to attend to throughout the week, so everyday really bleeds together. I'm lucky if I know what day it is, ever. Regardless, it IS Friday which is exciting for most people.

This has been the WORST week. Ever. Period. No contest. It has drained the life out of me. A random, inexplicable illness has taken hold of my house that makes my kids whiney and unable to hear me. Or they've become possessed. Same difference.

Even though Friday is no different than any other day of the week to us, I'm glad it's here because it means I've survived this week from Hell and can try again on Monday, when Matt gets back. If I'm not shaking in a corner by the time he gets here.

In lighter news, look how cute my demon children were for about a minute.

Resolutions

With 2013 behind us I'm looking forward to making a few changes in the new year. It's a fresh start and I have big plans. With Matt working away, Ellie not on a proper sleep schedule and family coming to stay from out of town, life was hectic here. No routines were kept, not that I didn't try but it's so easy to slip up once and ruin the whole thing.

So, this is what I plan to do differently in 2014 :

+ Juice every morning - Matt and I got a juicer for Christmas from my Dad and I really want to use it everyday, not just to be healthier. I don't eat breakfast and I'm tired all the time. I'm hoping this will change things.

+ Plan weekly meals - I always struggle every single day at dinner time. I never know what to make or I haven't defrosted anything so it's noodles and butter again. I want to plan cook and freeze meals for the week ahead of time. I feel like this is why Martha has so much time to craft, she only cooks one day a week (or she pays people to cook for her).

+ Play school for Max - Max has one friend outside of his family and he only sees him once every few months. I figure a program or play school would be good for him, make some friends, learn to socialize (and share!) and learn new skills that I can't teach him. I didn't do this last year and I've been beating myself up over it. It's happening this time around.

+ Learn How to do one new thing - I bake moderately well. I have no other discernible skills. I'd like to have at least two things on my list. I'm thinking knitting? Maybe?

+ Read more/ Watch less - This one isn't just for me, Max watches entirely too much T.V. it's ridiculous. He's on his way to learning to read now so he'll be able to read by himself, and I haven't read a full novel since the babes were born. Biographies, essays and short stories I can do. Anything with a long complicated (or even simple) plot with more than one character? I get distracted and don't pick it up again for weeks, then I've forgotten everything I've already read. Fixing that.

+ Be in more pictures with my kids - I have a zillion pictures of the babes (duh) and half as many with Matt and the babes... and maybe a dozen with me. I'm the one behind the camera usually or I don't look presentable enough to be in the picture or a million other excuses. I want to be able to look back at pictures of all of us, even if I don't look my best. Ever since reading this article it's completely changed my outlook. Get ready for more pictures of me, World.

I'm sure I'll add to the list every other day but this is it for now, I figure since they are pretty simple I should be able to do at least half for at least a couple of months. Baby Steps. I don't have big expectations but at least I made a list this year so that's progress.

Have any New Years resolutions of your own?

Good start. 

On Old Souls

There are generally two types of old men,  the loveable, friendly, grandfather-to-all types (like my pops) and their ornery, cantankerous counterparts. I fall into the second category. Yes. I know, I'm not that old, nor am I a man, but hear me out (read me out?). My personality would tell a different story.

How I feel, most days...

While the grandfatherly type can usually be found on a bench -wherever there are benches, because they will always find them- mingling with other like minded gentlemen, the second type... my people... are on their own bench, complaining. How is it that every bench that has ever been, since the invention of benches, has had an elderly man on it, at all times? Oh, and they're usually complaining about my favourite things, in no particular order:

+ the weather

+ today's youth

+ their health

I'm not sour all day, everyday, but it's not unlikely either. Matt is the complete opposite, sunshine and rainbows to balance me out, it's why we work. When he's in the mean reds, I'm chipper and upbeat, almost alarmingly so. But, this works for me, being an old soul, happily unhip, tea drinking, untrusting anything new or novel. 

I will forever befriend the elderly man in my closest vicinity, it's like a habit at this point. We are kindred spirits, those grumps and I. And, once I'm as physically old as my demeanour, you will be able to find me on the bench, with the others.

Hanson

MMMbop, yeah I saw Hanson in concert last night. It was incredible and embarrassing all at the same time. I now understand how all those 1D fan girls feel, teenage Carla's dreams came true.

Surprisingly, I learned a few things from that concert:

+ the Hanson brothers are very awkward when they aren't singing

+ they haven't aged? Tell me your secrets Hanson

+ they kept making music after I stopped listening, in high school, not that I thought they'd stop because I moved on, but still....six albums!?

+ their fans (excluding me, of course) are absolutely nuts. Rush the stage, dance wildly in the aisles, sing at the top of their lungs, nuts. One  girl woman screamed "I'm going to cry!" Yes, alright Dear, get a hold of yourself

+ most people are willing to stand in front of a band and watch a concert through their phone screens, amazing!

Seriously though, they're really great in person, and did my old soul some good to get out with a girlfriend and stay up past 9 p.m. even if I did fall asleep during the opening act. In my defense, he had a soothing voice, sang slow songs and the lights were out. Basically lulled me to sleep. I don't even remember his name.