5FY

1) Our kitchen experienced a major overhaul in the last few days. I'm all about living in a space and moving and rearranging to make things more functional. Hopefully the changes I made are actual improvements. Right now it just annoys Fitz because he has no clue where to put away clean dishes.

2) The polka-dot Ikea chair was meant to be mine! I picked it up last week and have been admiring it ever since. As much as I love polka-dots, I decided they were too juvenile and peeled off the slipcover to reveal a neutral cream colored base. Good enough for now! Eventually I'll recover it myself or buy a new slipcover from Ikea.

3) Kid/dog/house sitting was fun. And relatively uneventful. These two are always on their best behaviour with babysitters and they adored their time with us. Lots of video games, lots of jumping on the trampoline, lots of street (driveway) hockey, and lots of book reading. We'll be babysitting the same kiddos for 10 days for a yet to be determined date so this was a positive trial run. Mommas will be glad that we haven't completely written off the idea of procreating.

4) I hosted an impromptu dinner party for three tonight. The three being Fitz, Q, and me. It was awesome. I made pasta primavera with breaded chicken breast and garlic bread. Mmm, carbs. I'd give you the recipes, but all of it consists of throwing things in a pot until it looks  pretty and smells good.

5) I bought a pair of jeans for $9 today. I feel the need to mention this because it is the cheapest pair of jeans I can recall purchasing... ever. My usual price for pants is $20 with clearance sales (if I didn't need to buy them long I could get pants a lot cheaper, darn long legs), so this was exceptional. I was disappointed when I couldn't find more than one pair in my size.

the puppies love Fitz

5FY

1) Fitz and I are house slash dog sitting for a few days. Our friends decided to take their kids and run to Vancouver while they had the chance so we get to take care of their labs and watch obscene amounts of cable television for 48 hours.

2) Next weekend we're house slash dog slash kid sitting. If you had ~36 hours with a four and six year what would you do (besides trying to convince them that sleeping is the best thing in the entire world)?

3) I'm hoping for a call back about a sweeeet IKEA chair listed on Craigslist. It's polka dot. I'm guessing I'll lose out on it though since "like new" $250 chairs sells fast at $35 or it's not actually "like new."

4) The weather was a sunny 53F today. I really wanted to sit outside with shorts on and dare the sun to burn tan my pale European complexion, but in the end I couldn't convince myself that it was really sitting out weather. 

5) I asked Fitz for a fifth and final thought. I'm getting nothing, but blank stairs. Apparently cable is more interesting than blog. (Sometimes I just might agree with him, heh.) 

the end

Three more from the drive home.

love. love. love.

5FY - post vacation edition

1) An eight hour drive seems like a relaxing afternoon of sight seeing compared to the twenty hour drives Fitz and I have made between our childhood homes. I'm rather happy that this is the longest distance we'll be driving in the foreseeable future.

2) I have several more gratuitous mountain pictures for tomorrow.

3)I have unpacked our bags, washed three loads of laundry, and completely reorganized the bathroom since arriving home two hours ago. Call it an early start on spring cleaning.

4) I completely forgot to wear green today in honor of my Irish heritage by marriage. Thankfully Fitz didn't notice and/or chose not to pinch me.

5) Happy Half-Birthday to me! Only six months until the slightly dreaded 25th birthday.

5FY - vacation edition

1) Sight seeing - breathtaking. I love the city and I love the mountains. Even more, I love that we can have both within a hour of each other.

2) Shopping -  therapeutic. I haven't bought a lot (surprisingly), but I have enjoyed seeing different stores and just having the opportunity to look.

3) Weather - beautiful. 45F everyday with little wind. Spring is definitely in the air.

4) Food - ah-mazing. Sushi, wings, burgers, steak, stir-fry, nachos, cheesecake... if only every week offered food this good.

5) Family - second to none. Now we just need to get the rest of the Fitzes to join the westcan fam.

the sites

Banff, Alberta.

I want to live here.

Lake Minnewanka

The brown cabins are ice fishing lodges.

We drove the back roads hoping to see elk, but alas the only animal we crossed was a mountain goat. 

Bow River

We spent the day exploring the mountains with Lou as our guide. Shopped and ate on the main street in Banff, drove the back roads to Lake Minnewanka, enjoyed the hot springs, and took hundreds of pictures. 

Now we're eating pizza (after watching the pizza delivery guy get a parking ticket, ha) and watching cable. I dare you to find a better day than this. 

Beautiful weather for our drive through the mountains to Calgary. Just four hours from home... makes you want to visit me, doesn't it?

t-minus 3 days

Fitz's packing list:
- Levi's
- other Levi's
- plaid shirt
- other plaid shirt
- zip-up hoodie
- other zip-up hoodie

My packing list:
.
.
.
.
.
... I'm still lost in my rather unimpressive closet trying to determine if I own even two things that match. I don't. I should go shopping. 

5FY

1) I went shopping today with big dreams for the westside. It was a bust. Eventually I bought q-tips and called it a day.

2) I'm saving a trip to the east side and the real stores for Monday. Lucky Fitz.

3) Also, I'm getting my hair trimmed Monday. It's long overdue.


4) Have I told you that we're taking a vacation to Calgary next week? We leave in six days!

5) It was almost Spring today. Sunshine and blue skies... if only the temperature would get a little higher.

Dearest Father,

It is 42*F. I am wearing flip-flops.

xo xo,
The one who has always hated wearing shoes

5FY

1) It has been one week since I even looked at the blog. Whoops. I can't even blame it on a busy life since the past week has been relatively uneventful. My deepest apologies to the parents.

2) Fitz and I got library cards today! I'm so excited to have access to a myriad of pointless books that I love flip through at the bookstore, but would never dream of purchasing. Cook books, decorating books, teen novels that I read in high school and love rereading... and it's all free!

3) Fitz and I got to try out parenthood last night with our first dual babysitting gig. It was delightful. If I had to base my view of co-parenting off those five hours I'd say that we'll be a pretty kick-a team. I am realistic enough to admit that life will rarely be as blissful as those five hours were though (especially considering the kids were sleeping for five of them), but it was fun to pretend. Also, having cable TV for three hours was awesome as always.

4) I feel like life has been quite comfortable and not too busy for the past month, but we're staring down the barrel of what is turing out to be an insane spring. Multiple trips to Calgary, one to the lower mainland with a van load of teenagers, and then the grand finale east coast tour. Fun fun.

5) 18 to Life. On CBC. New favorite show and you should check it out.