Runs on Coffee and Cream

We hit up as many comic book, tabletop gaming, video games, and toy stores as we could fit in. I also squeezed in a visit to MAC makeup and Forever 21. Checking out these stores led us to purchasing some great things too.

I finally had the chance to check out Silver Snail's new location. I loved their Black Canary Cafe inside.



I also drank quite a bit of bubble tea while we wandered the city. There's a bubble tea place on every single block it seems and I had no self control.



We also played Pokemon Go for a good chunk of time. All the walking helped us hatch some eggs and we finally caught a Doduo there!



I insisted on finding a bakery nearby that sold French Macarons since we don't have any bakeries that sell them in Sudbury.


They even had a pumpkin spice one!


Second Cup doesn't have a stand alone location in Sudbury. It's inside the university here. So I've never tried their pumpkin spice latte. Well I stopped into a Second Cup in Toronto to finally try it and it did not disappoint! It's so creamy and spicy and was definitely better than Starbucks' version in my opinion.


I still feel like my body is recovering from this trip. The walking kicked my butt and I find I never sleep well anymore when I'm not in my own bed. It was a fun mini-vacation though and the perfect way to spend a couple of days at the beginning of the fall season.

xo Jen

By this point I got in trouble for taking pictures instead of picking blueberries.. whoops! It was just so pretty. I felt like I was in a magical forest at some points.





I don't know if we'll get a chance to go picking again. But we did much better this Summer than last year since we knew what to look for and where to go!
xo Jen

Recently we headed out on an afternoon walk at College Boreal, which is fairly close to our apartment. The property surrounding the college is beautiful. The fields are filled with wild flowers, and there are ducks and a dam in the water on the property.

 





 

I hope you're having a great week!
xo Jen

And it seems fitting that today we faxed off our final paperwork on our first mortgage. We bought a house and we move in this Summer! It happened so quickly and I'm beyond excited to move into our first house!

I have so many ideas and plans for decorating and DIYs, and you better believe I'll be sharing them with you!

I hope you are having a wonderful day. We went to the beach earlier for a picnic and are staying in this evening with homemade pizza and margarita cupcakes.

xo Jen

Growing up I took figure skating lessons. I did it for years and really enjoyed it. Since then, I've skated on and off at public ice rinks and it's crazy how quickly and easily I remember how to skate. And now we live in a city that is full of outdoor skating rinks. You can skate on the lakes or on one of the man-made rinks. We checked out a track that they flooded to make into an ice rink a couple of weeks ago. I was nervous about skating after not doing it in years. But I quickly got into the rhythm and not once did I fall.


Our next ice skating adventure will be on Ramsey Lake. I've never skated on top of a body of water so I'm excited to head out on the lake!

Recently we also took a walk through Nickeldale Conservation Area. The walk started off with me trying to climb through 2 feet of snow to get to the trail. I lost my footing and fell into the snow bank. And then I couldn't get up because I was laughing so hard. Anyways, it was a great walk. The snow's incredibly deep throughout the conservation area now. But there are snowmobile tracks everywhere which luckily packed down some of the snow so we had a fairly stable path to walk along. Though, we did have our feet fall through the path a few times and we'd almost fall over.


A part of the path takes you behind a cemetery. It looked incredibly beautiful covered in snow.


The only wild life we saw... a gorgeous bird trying to blend into its surroundings.

February is more than half over which means we don't have much more of Winter left. There's still a couple of outdoor adventures I want to go on before the snow disappears. So I have some planning to do!

Have you been on any outside adventures recently?
xo Jen

A couple of weeks back, we decided to go for a walk nearby our place. I had no idea where Adam was taking me since we didn't hop in the car. We just started walking and after about 15 minutes or so, all of a sudden College Boreal appeared in the distance and there was a pathway off the sidewalk. The area surrounding the college is gorgeous! I didn't know this pathway was near us and right off one of the main streets.




We found a beaver dam but there was no beaver to be seen.


There were super tall dandelions and tons of wild flowers everywhere!


It was an absolutely perfect day! I have another outdoor adventure planned for us this week which I'm super pumped for!

xo Jen

I guess I'm getting sick of Winter and the cold, messy weather outside. I'm starting to feel the Springtime itch. My email inbox is being flooded with newsletters from websites that are advertising their new Spring clothing/crafts/recipes.

There are some many things I want to do this Spring, including some day trips, crafts, recipes, and places I want to explore. I want to drive with my windows down, have the sunshine flood my apartment, and have a reason to wear sunglasses everyday.

I cannot wait for Spring weather....






Are you looking forward to Spring?

 xo Jen

Moving day is this Saturday which means our new life adventure starts really soon.... it feels surreal that the move is less than 2 days away and then we won't be commuting an hour to visit family and friends. And that we'll be back in a big city, and not in a tiny one. It feels weird.

Our apartment is currently filled with boxes everywhere. We still have the TV and computer hooked up so I do have a form of entertainment but getting to the washroom or kitchen is an obstacle course. And I need to start cleaning which I have no energy for.

But to think that in 2 days we can start to unpack and organize our new home makes me excited. I love that we're moving on a long weekend which gives us Sunday and Monday off to start making this new place our home.

I should be back to blogging on Sunday. The Internet/phone line company is coming by late Saturday afternoon so we should be connected quickly. I'm excited for our new adventure in a new (old) city.



I took this in the midst of packing up the kitchen, which was a nightmare because there's so many breakables!

Have a great long weekend everyone!
xo Jen

Life has been quite the adventure lately. Adam is close to finishing his program and this means he's been applying for jobs all over the province. It seems surreal to think we could be moving anywhere. On one hand it's incredibly scary, but on the other I'm excited for a new adventure, a fresh start.... I can't wait to look for a new place to live, buy a few new things for our new home, and the biggest thing? Moving somewhere new means Adam would have a job and that opens up a whole new life for us. We've been used to living like poor students since my day job doesn't pay big bucks, though we get by comfortably. A second income, however, would allow us a bit more wiggle room and that excites me. I'm hoping it lifts some stress from our shoulders as well.

Because he's been applying all over the province that means we've been going on road trips over the last couple of weeks for testing for these job positions. Last week we headed up to Sudbury, which is the furthest we've had to drive so far. I've only been up North, on the Canadian Shield, once in my life which was last summer when we went camping. It's absolutely beautiful watching the trees change and the rock formations getting larger on the side of the highway. I also didn't realize how rocky Sudbury was. Homes are up on hillsides and there's a large mountain in the distance. I grew up with the Hamilton escarpment, but that doesn't compare to seeing the snowy mountain in Sudbury.


We passed Canada's Wonderland on the way and it makes me want to go again this year. They're advertising for their dinosaur exhibit they have for 2012.


Blurry car snacks... these have to be my favourite Easter treat. I hold Mini Eggs close to my heart, but these bunny candies don't give me a tooth or belly ache. Unfortunately, I can consume a lot of them.


It was weird seeing so much snow considering Southern Ontario has nothing left, except for some small, dirty snow piles at the end of parking lots.


The view out front of the Sudbury Value Village.


Me, enjoying our hotel room. We spent the morning watching the Disney Junior channel. Well, I did while Adam looked over our maps.

Tomorrow we're headed to Kingston, which is another far drive. At least it's supposed to be a beautiful day. I can't wait to drive with the windows down and maybe convince Adam to pull over for a Slurpee on the way home.

 xo Jen