THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - April Edition

AHHHH!!! That all just happened!!! This blog is 12 days late. And I’m currently suffering from some pretty serious jet lag. But I really wanted to finally write this!

Prepare for way too many photos.

We did spend a little bit of time at the beginning of March still in Montreal and doing Montreal things. We had visitors! AJ and Lenny visited from Halifax...

And Fraser and Katherine visited from Edmonton...

It’s always nice having some familiar faces around here!

And then we left on our big adventure! The beginning of it feels like ages ago now. It all turned out so well. We never ran into any serious problems, didn’t miss any flights, didn’t lose any luggage, no one got seriously ill... It was pretty smooth! The whole thing seems like a surreal dream!

First we flew to Bangkok, Thailand. That was an extremely long travel day, the longest of the entire trip. Bangkok was neat! There are a lot of beautiful and impressive sights there, but overall the city was crowded and smelly. It was also extremely hot.

Tim ate a scorpion... Because he's a man.

Next we took an overnight train up to Chiang Mai, Thailand. We LOVED Chiang Mai! If we ever return to Thailand, we’ll probably go straight to Chiang Mai and not bother with anywhere else at all. It’s a much cleaner and fresher place, it’s more about the outdoors and adventure and animals. We loved it all.

The elephants were a major highlight!

After that, we flew down to Krabi, Thailand and from there we visited the beautiful Phi Phi Islands (the island from the movie The Beach). We slept overnight on the roof of a boat, under the stars in Maya Bay. An unforgettable experience!

I truly utilized the Facebook photo albums as my travel journal, so you can see everything Thailand HERE!

Then we left Thailand and flew to Bali, Indonesia. I have always dreamed of going to Bali! We stayed in the town of Ubud, which was super adorable and artsy. We had one beach day where we went to the sea so that we could surf. Yoga is a huge deal in Bali, so I felt very much in my element there! It was extremely hot in Bali as well!

Spa day!

You can see everything Bali HERE!

After that we flew to Manila, Philippines. We made our way to El Nido on the island of Palawan from there. Getting there was very long and tiring. We wanted to go because we’d heard that it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. It certainly was a gorgeous place! It was very hot and we spent most of our time touring around the islands.

You can see everything El Nido HERE!

Then we were off to Japan, first stop Osaka! By this point it was April. Japan was much cooler in temperature, which was a bit of a relief. We planned the entire vacation around the timing of the cherry blossom season in Japan. This was tricky because there is no way to guarantee when they will be in bloom from year to year. I researched it so hard! It paid off because I picked the exact right week!

After Osaka we took the train to Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto is much more historical and traditional, so it was really nice to get to see that side of Japan.

Tim bought a beautiful chef's knife.

I ran into a friend of mine, Tyler (co-worker from SONiC) who was also traveling in Japan. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!?!

And then we took the bullet train over to our last stop, Tokyo, Japan. We LOVED Tokyo. It is such a vibrant, exciting, and alive city! It felt like a place that I could live in and I never wanted to leave! I told Tim to find a job there, ha ha.

Karaoke, of course!

You can see everything Japan HERE!

And then we came back home! It really was the trip of a lifetime. It had everything! And I’m so glad that I got to share it all with Tim and to have that entire uninterrupted month of time with him. It probably sounds silly, but I think that I love him even more now. :)

BABY WATCH 2016:

I know that you’re all probably wondering how “try #1” went! Well... My fertile days landed while we were in Thailand, so we had the sex six days in a row over those days. On about the 3rd day of trying I started noticing strange symptoms that I’ve never experienced before. Slight queasiness, tender breasts, a weird pressure sensation in my uterus. Maybe you’re not supposed to feel things right away, but I swear that I did. These symptoms persisted for a couple of weeks and I was 99% certain that I was pregnant. I just knew. Until suddenly, they stopped. And a bit later I started experiencing a lot of abdominal pain and discomfort. Then the day of my expected period arrived... And I didn’t get my period. I have never had a late period in my entire life. Even since getting off of birth control my period has been super regular, right down to the day. I took three pregnancy tests, all negative. Finally, four days late, my period came.

So here’s what I think. I’m pretty positive that I did get pregnant right away, within the first few tries. But it didn’t stick. I had been taking part in a lot of vigorous, high-impact activities... So maybe that’s why? It’s a bummer that it didn’t just work on the first try and we won’t be able to say that we conceived on our exotic vacation (I was looking forward to telling you guys about some of the funny places that we tried to conceive, such as, in the bushes on Phi Phi island...), but on the other hand, I’m not discouraged or disheartened at all. We’ll just try again this month! And if anything, I’m glad that something had seemed to happen on the first try, as opposed to nothing at all!

In other similar news, Jeff and Mya are expecting a baby now!!! I’m going to have another niece or nephew!!! Mya is about 12-13 weeks along at this point. I knew that this news was gonna drop soon!

There’s still half of April left. And as much as I’d like to, I can’t just take naps the entire time. I need to get my life back on the rails!!!

In two weeks... IT’S THIS AGAIN.

I cannot wait. Time flew by so quickly and it’s already tour time again! I’ve got Hedley in Montreal (I’m going solo, like an independent boss), followed by Hedley in Ottawa (I’m going with Enobong) on the next night! So we’re heading down to Ottawa for that.

And then the following night after that is this year’s Cabane à Sucre Au Pied de Cochon!!! The best eating feast of the year! So, so excited.

I feel like I’m floating in some sort of strange dream state right now. Not quite back in the real world and in a bit of disbelief about everything that I’ve just done. I feel very grateful for the opportunities that I have had to realize my dreams.

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

April 2nd is Jaelyn Leonard’s 34th birthday!

I hope that it was a super amazing day and that you got to feel very special! I hope that Joe spoiled you a lot! From what I heard, you had a lovely birthday campfire, and that sounds perfect. I’m coming to Edmonton in May and of course I need to see you! Love you lots!

April 7th is Melanie Watson’s 35th birthday!

I hope that you had a super fabulous day!! I know that you did! I miss you a bunch and I’m hoping to make a trip to Toronto in July. And you’re welcome to visit anytime as well! Love you!

April 10th is Amy Bull’s 31st birthday!

Yay birthday girl Ames! I hope that Ray spoiled you a lot. Your family birthday dinner sounded perfect! I am SO EXCITED to come and see you in a few weeks!!! It can’t come fast enough!!! CORE FOUR REUNITED!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

April 18th is Colen Quinn’s 34th birthday!

I hope that your day is amazing and that Jeff spoils you because you truly deserve every bit of it! This year is going to be amazing for you. Everything and more. I love you so much and am really looking forward to making some plans to come and see you in July!

April 18th is Nadine Ottenbreit’s 34th birthday!

I hope that it’s the best day and that Kyle spoils you! You deserve no less! Actually, I guess your Vegas trip was an early birthday present? That’s some pretty good spoiling. I’m coming to Regina next month and I can’t wait to see you! Love you!

April 18th is Lacey Suttie’s 36th birthday!

I know that you will have the most fabulous day, just like you! And Dallas will spoil you! You’re wonderful and I love you! I’m coming down to Calgary in May so I would love to try and make some dinner plans with you!