Cut my own hair about a month ago and it’s growing nicely. I’m not sure how long I intend to let it go but this is the longest, strongest, and darkest it’s been in over a decade. Started using a lightening spray I found in the cottage bathroom and one of my cottage friends asked if I had my hair done! ? I’ve had bleach blonde hair for so long but I actually really like how it is it now with the roots.
Ran 4.5km in the morning and did some work for a couple of hours. Emily arrived mid-afternoon and hung out in the kitchen with me working on her crafts.
Repotted my aloe plant that was busting out of its pot, growing roots with tiny pups all over the place. Checked Pinterest for what to do and I really hope they all live through the process! I have a Plants & Garden board on Pinterest here with all kinds of resources for growing indoors, outdoors, and plant care. Over the pandemic, I’ve been propagating my pothos plants and have two that are really starting to grow in their pots after growing roots in water. Come winter, I hope to live in a greenhouse!
I’m a nature-loving Taurus and I love taking care of my plants!
Slept in. Watched Netflix. Took naps. Made vegan spaghetti. Ate snacks. Did some work.
All around lazy Sunday. It was really hot and we stayed inside the whole day, lazying on the couch in front of the fan. It started raining as I was heading to bed, it’s gonna be a great sleep.
Tomorrow Emily’s mum is dropping her off to spend a few days up here with us. I think my sister might visit for a day this week too. I’d really love to see her!
We went for a nice slow cruise around the lake in the morning. It’s very hot this weekend!
In the afternoon, we ventured out to Bracebridge, visited a couple of shops, got groceries, and had some lunch. Wherever we go to town we try to stick to the list and be efficient, by the time we get home we’re exhausted. Shopping and getting supplies during quarantine is stressful. I used to love going to the grocery store and dilly-dallying around the aisles but it’s not like that anymore!
Found a cute second-hand shop inside the Muskoka Natural Food Market called Revolution with heaps of nice clothes. I didn’t get anything but I might take a few nicer items from my closet to donate. Check them out on IG at @revolution.mnfm.
Yes, I wore my fav outfit 2 days in a row. ?
At night we had a little hangout with some cottage friends on the lake. Sometimes I miss being in the city but I love being here with Sean so much. ❤️
I ordered this outfit at the start of quarantine and tbh it’s one of my favs!. Sean likes to say I’m riding in the Tour de France in it haha.
We’ve got a pretty nice indoor garden growing in the kitchen now. I put a little disco ball in the window and each day around 4 pm the sun hits it just right sending glitter dots all over the room. It’s a simple thing that makes me smile!
This is the most populat tweet I’ve had in a while. I had a little meltdown about a project but everything was a-ok. Sometimes you just need to cry it out and make yourself a bowl of tiny pancakes.
Today I was having a meltdown about a project, had a cry about it, then made a bowl of tiny pancakes. By the time I was done eating I found a solution to the problem. ? #TGIFpic.twitter.com/kKYSASRfOq
In other news, my roots are so long now that I had to get darker bobby pins! I don’t mind the way it looks now it’s just a change, longest and most natural I’ve had it in over a decade! I don’t think I’ll be having a hair appt for a while so I have to get used to it. ?
Spent the night watching Love on The Spectrum on Netflix and had a Facetime hangout with two of my BFFs. Feeling good!
Sean has been kayaking in the morning since spraining his ankle last week. Today he came back with a beautiful water lily for me! They symbolize pleasure & peace and are so beautiful. Heaps of them blooming on the lake right now.
I haven’t been running as much the past week but after sitting in my workout gear all morning, I did 3.3 km at 3pm.
In other news, Taylor Swift put out a new album today called Folklore.
I’ve been reading a lot over the last few months. Since I haven’t been working as much I’ve tried to make the most of this time with workouts, clean eating, creative projects, and books.
I’m registered as a Professional Reader on NetGalley, a media review site for writers to receive advance copies from publishers around the world. I mostly stick to the same types of books including suspense/thriller, or female focussed adult fiction. I finally got around to putting a few book recommendations a list, see my favs below!
Here’s a list of a couple of books I’ve enjoyed over the last two months. They’re all linked on Amazon and listed on my Amazon Book List here.
This was a great book, perfect summer 2020 read! The characters were interesting and I loved the element of drama, talk about influencers, and how the author described the locations there were. It was easy to follow and I couldn’t put it down! You can find this book at your fav bookstore or on Amazon here.
Highly recommend! I can’t imagine going through the tragedy that these families face and then all the other secrets, lies, and things they deal with on top of that. I was hooked from the first page and read this book every chance I had to finish in a couple of days. This book is out mid-August, 2020 and is available for pre-order.
I didn’t realize this book was part of a series but it is definitely good as a stand-alone read. It follows a detective and the murder of three girls in the spring. As they try to finds the Spring Strangler they talk to one of the survivors and hope to find more details about the killings. Good read!
This is SUCH a great summer read! Three wives, one man, a thrilling story of their escapades, deception, lies, and love. I finished it in 2 days. It’s the kind of book I wish were longer because I don’t want it to be over. It would make a great movie! FYI this book comes out on September 29, 2020.
This book was really well written. It started a bit dark but once I got past the first chapter I loved how Liz, the main character started to start taking charge in her life and making decisions based on what SHE wanted to do after the death of her husband. After spending the last 20 years as the wife of a pastor, she forgot who she was. Felt empowered by her strength and was happy with the ending.
I’m currently reading Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewel (Oct. 2020) a suspense thriller and The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by which is like ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ for the ‘Instagram generation. If you have any recos for me, I’m all ears! Send me a tweet or DM on IG.
Today was so nice out, perfect weather. Haven’t been feeling the best this week and have slacked a bit on my workouts. I feel sluggish but I’ll get back to it, I feel like this happens every now and then.
I took Sean for a wakeboard and then sat in the hot tub for a bit before it warmed up outside. This is my new fav swimsuit, Giant Tiger $10. Best store around these parts!
For lunch, I made a delicious beet salad with pecans and goat cheese. Sean grilled beets on the bbq last night and had them in the fridge. I love beets!
I’m onto another book today after just finishing The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry. It comes out in August and I received an advance copy via NetGalley. Highly recommend, it’s about a tragedy three friends face when an accident happens with their kids causing injury and death. I sped through it in a couple of days. My next read is The Broken Hearts Honeymoon, a more lighthearted feel-good summer read.
Jen made us vegan spaghetti & meatless meatballs for dinner and we had rosé. At night we watched the sunset on the dock, had a fire, and listened to music.
I’m still a few days behind on updating last week’s daily diary but I’m working through it. I have an exciting post about my first trip to a spa where I had a couple of treatments AND an announcement about a cool project I’ve secretly been part of during quarantine. Lots to share!
Today we had our first summer guest since the start of quarantine, the one and only Jen Kirsch! Jen and I have been friends for years, we’ve travelled to Spain, New Orleans and been to hundreds of events together.
She’s been isolated with her dad in Richmond Hill and we thought it was a-ok to finally have her up. We played games in the living room, danced, and went to our Monday night regular hangout, ‘Vinyl Night’ at Communist Daughter via Zoom. It was so much fun!
Sean asked if I wanted to go get tacos and the obv answer was YES. We took a nice drive up to Port Carling and had a late lunch at Tilo’s Taqueria which used to be Grand Electric Muskoka. The food was great, the booths were outside and distanced. It was quite cloudy but the rain held off enough to still sit on the covered patio.
Tomorrow Jen Kirsch is coming up for a couple of days, our first guest! Looking forward to surprising the Vinyl Night crew when we show up on the Zoom together.
I can’t believe it’s been 125 days. I started this Daily Diary part of the blog thinking it would be a couple of weeks, months, maybe? Sometimes I’ll be doing something and totally forget how the world is so different now. Then I remember and feel overwhelmed. One minute I’m doomscrolling and having anxiety and another times social media gives me a great place to escape.
I feel uncertain about everything today. Given that the world has changed so much in the past six months, it’s impossible to predict what will happen next. What tragedy or terror will we face? Apparently the worst hurricane season is on its way, there are UFOs, and second waves of are COVID happening in multiple countries.
I’m grateful to be at the cottage and have Sean by my side but everything comes with challenges. What you see on the internet is only a small slice of someone’s life, the curated version. I haven’t posted much on my Instagram this month, I just haven’t felt like it. I’ve been a rollercoaster of emotion since June and I’m really hoping this ride slows down a bit in August.
If you are reading this any feeling any of the same feelings, please know you are not alone. I welcome you to reach out if need/want someone to talk to, I’m a great listener and am usually good for a laugh. Send me a DM on Instagram, a Tweet, or an email. I’m almost always on the other side of the screen, wherever you are, right here in your phone or on your computer.
