Worked from the cottage today to avoid long weekend traffic back to the city. It’s been so nice being up here the last few days. I know I’ve said it a ton of times but I love it up here so much. The lake, trees, garden, long walks in the woods. Have you heard of ‘Forest Bathing’? Originating in Japan, it’s known as Shinrin Yoku which translates to “forest bath”. The practice of “bathing” in the atmosphere of the forest. To partake, simply walk through the woods, enjoying the presence of the trees and absorb the quiet benefits of forest therapy. Highly recommend spending a few days in the woods, it will do amazing things for your soul.

Years ago I was with Sean and Emily at a family media event and one of the hosts was going around asking people their favourite activity. Most people said a sport or hobby and when they came to me, I said ‘sitting‘. She said ‘that’s not an activity‘, but I beg to differ. I love sitting on a couch, plane, boat, bike, beach, pretty much anywhere. The art of sitting and being present where you are takes practice. I’ve wanted to get a nice patio set for the cottage for a while and today we found one on sale at Canadian Tire. The photos above are me in the front seat with a huge piece of the set and cushions around. I am very excited to sit on this down by the dock! Reading outside is one of my fav activities up here and our new set has enough room for at least two people to fully stretch out.

Comin’ at the live from the lake! Set up my WFH space on the dining table and had a productive day at work. It’s so nice to be able to work from anywhere. I’m really enjoying my role at Funday and what we’ve been creating with Hvr. The view here is absolutely stunning! We’ve been visiting this same cottage on Stoney lake for about 4 years. How about this for a view? haha. Did a poll w/ this filter on IG. I made a kinda hot dude, bit of a Bieber vibe. On the way home, we stopped by Cityplace, Sean and I both used to live here in these neighbouring condos. We passed by Michelle’s place to meet Beau, her new puppy, so cute!

Today is Sean’s birthday and we lazed around the cottage all day. It’s been such a nice time and the internet is good so we’ve decided to stay an extra day. Gonna work from here tomorrow. Nothing quite like lazing on a Sunday afternoon!

Spent the last week at the cottage and it was so nice. Worked s few days and had 4 days of vacation. I needed it. I had burnout. Last night I felt refreshed and got a jump on work for the week. I was excited this morning. Aside from the fact that I have a torn muscle in my leg and have been limping for a couple of days. Been really trying to rest it as I’m booked to walk in a big fashion show on Friday for Evan Biddell. Ahhhhh! In other news, our plants are really growing + she’s back from burnout, ready to blog again.

You’re looking at the face of a Toronto woman who is fully vaccinated. Had the afternoon off work to get my 2nd dose of Pfizer and biked down to St. Joseph’s Hospital for my appointment. Pretty smooth process, everyone was nice, I wore a dress. On my ride home I stopped into my new favourite takeaway shop in Roncy, Sunnyside Provisions. It’s really cute, they have heaps of local food, soups, sandwiches, snacks, beer & wine. I got the roast beef sandwich (incredible!), local fish for dinner, a couple of cocktails, and a Flake bar for dessert. (As kids we used to get Cadbury Flake bars sent from our fam in New Zealand, they were so hard to find here!) Sean is still up at the cottage until tomorrow. I’ve got a half-day on Friday and plan to do next to nothing all weekend. My reaction to the first vaccine was brutal and I was sick for three days. Really hope that doesn’t happen again but if it does, I’m prepared. Please stay safe out there. This weekend we pass 500 days and the sooner we all get vaccinated, we can hopefully have some type of normal-ish life. Whatever that means, I’ve never been normal! Sending love,

Woke up thinking about our dinner at Sabai Sabai last night, the food was incredible. Sean came back from the cottage for a hot minute before heading back up north with Emily. He showed up with flowers from the garden for me, so lovely! What a legend. ? I biked over to Parkdale in the sun then went for a long walk with Sandy to Lakeshore. I am living for this weather and hope we see lots more sunny days. I was at the cottage for most of Summer 2020 so it’s great to appreciate Toronto summer and explore the city.

We decided to spend an extra day at the cottage to avoid long weekend traffic. Took sean out on the wakeboard at lunch and soaked up some sunshine. I find it a bit hard to work from the cottage so Sean let me usehis office setup and it made everything better. We know it was going to rain so took the boat out of the water in the evening and as we were getting back to the cottage it started POURING. We both got soaked but I didn’t mind, something magical about a warm summer downpour. Always loved this song, it this came out in 2000 when I graduted high school & started college, Summer Rain by Carl Thomas. Not sure when I’ll be back up north this month. Looking forward to being at the house, catching up on blog posts I’ve missed the last little while, and focusing on work. Will be nice to see friends and ride my bike around too. Sending sunshine your way. hope things are looking up!

A couple of years ago I was doing yoga almost every day with Sandy at Yoga Yoga in the Junction. I hadn’t seen her in ages and this morning to text me about going for a walk together. It was perfect timing as I didn’t have plans and Sean was back at the cottage. She said ‘Meet me in the park‘ and we decided to hang out on the grass at Sarauren Avenue Park. Idk why I’ve never really hung out there as it’s such a nice park. Bellwoods has been really busy lately, this week there was someone with a gun, and people keep leaving garbage there. Nice to discover a clean & safe place right around the corner from our house. One of my fav sunset views is this one along Dundas West right at the top of Sterling Ave. It’s not exactly spectacular but idk, I just like it. I biked home feeling energized and inspired. It was so nice to laugh with Sandy again. In other news, I ordered THE CUTEST set from Aerie. I posted to my Story and ended up sending the link to a bunch of friends when they asked about it. I ordered another similar set in blue. It fits so nice and the material is very stretchy, kind like a swimsuit. Week is off to a great start! I took a vacation day on Friday so it’s a short one! Weeee!