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

My biggest objective right now is to return to myself. (Seems like an opportune time with it being the new year and all.) I feel like I’ve had to put myself “on hold” for over a month in order to facilitate moving and Christmas and everything. Now I need to get back to me. I haven’t been to a yoga class in ages, let alone a studio that I can attend regularly and call “home.” I didn’t write any restaurant reviews in December because I decided that I needed to take the month off from it and not put that added pressure on myself.

I want to get back to all of these things that I love and need in my life.

And I want my house to feel like our home again. Immediately. We’ve been working so hard to make that happen as quickly as possible.

December was a lot.

We attended Ubisoft’s Kids Holiday Party. It was super cute. Plus I got to see Tim’s new office. It’s located in an area called Wallace Emerson, which is toward the west end of Toronto. (Which makes where we live ideal, because our house is even more west.)

Tim started his job and has been very happy so far. He says that certain things are different with this company compared to what he’s used to but they all sound like positive differences. In terms of video game developers in Canada, Ubisoft Toronto is known for it’s excellent work/life balance. And that’s something that really matters to us now.

Tim's first day of work photo!

I went to another book signing to see famous Montreal chefs David McMillan and Frédéric Morin. You’ve probably heard me talk about their restaurant Joe Beef as one of the best restaurants in Canada. They were also close friends with the late Anthony Bourdain (our hero). It was really nice to see them and to get both of their books signed. And they LOVED Archie, of course.

Note my appropriate shirt (it's Tim's). They obviously noticed and loved it. Fred follows me on Instagram now!

We also tried to cram in ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS THINGS!

We set up a tiny Christmas tree in our apartment because we had to have something!

We took Archie to see Santa because of course he needed a Santa photo this year! I was told that this would be the year that he might cry and freak out, but he didn’t! He was totally into it! (We took him to Yorkdale Mall and I was impressed at how good this Santa was. High quality!)

I was also SO EXCITED to go and see Fashion Santa!! There was a ton of buzz about Toronto’s Fashion Santa a few years ago and I’ve been dying to meet him! He’s basically a sexy, well-dressed version of Santa. I thought it was super funny because last year in Vancouver I took Archie to see Scuba Claus at the aquarium... And this year in Toronto I took him to see Fashion Santa at a fancy hotel. This all makes perfect sense.

We attended Ubisoft’s Studio Holiday Party and it was super awesome! So fun and fancy and and an insane amount of things to see and do and eat! I love going to these video game parties so much!

We went to the Toronto Aurora Winter Festival with Sarah and her family. It was a lot of fun but very cold!! (Archie needs to own proper winterwear. He currently doesn’t! He needs a snowsuit.)

I got to hang out with a bunch of you guys and it was the best.

Being with Sarah and Sarah together was awesome and weird! When I moved away from Toronto in 1997 I always thought that it was funny that I left Toronto Sarah only to immediately become friends with Regina Sarah. I’ve got some good Sarahs! (2018 VS 1997)

Being back together with Sarah and Colen is everything. You guys are my very oldest friends. ♥

I went to the Stars concert, stood in the front row, rocked out like crazy, hung out with the band after the show, and generally stayed out way past my bedtime. :P

Amy Millan is my favourite Canadian vocalist. She's the best. She follows me on Instagram now!

Sarah and Shane lived at our apartment for the beginning half of December, until they checked into the hospital for Sarah’s In-Utero Fetal Surgery for Myelomeningocele. It was like we were all on a weird, not-actually-fun vacation together, ha ha. I’ve really tried to be there for Sarah and to hold as much space for her as possible. Being one of her support people in Toronto has meant a lot to me. She’s such a freakin’ champion and is doing so amazingly.

We celebrated our own little family Christmas the weekend before leaving for London. We like to have our own family celebration and we just tell Archie that Santa is making a special early trip for him. (Not that he understands yet. But we’ll continue to do this.)

We also got in a visit to the Toronto Christmas Market (loved it!) and I got to give Sarah her Christmas gift in person (which hasn’t happened in years and years!).

He's an expert at carousels now.

Then we left for London which is a convenient two hour drive away. We spent five days there with the whole Golem crew celebrating Christmas. It was tons of fun but also exhausting with all of the kids! Archie really enjoyed spending time with his cousins.

Archie's favourite Christmas gift!

Then we drove back to Toronto and got possession of our new house! The movers moved in all of our stuff and we’ve been trying to set up our home ever since. It’s a very big job. At this point the main level of the house is pretty close to being complete but the upstairs and the basement are still a disaster. We absolutely love the place though! I can’t wait to just be done so that I can get back to my normal life without house things to work on.

Then it was New Years Eve, which was super low-key. We just invited Sarah and Shane over to hang out in our mess. But we did stay up until midnight which was at least something!

Also. Jacob Hoggard got married on New Years Eve. This makes me happy.

It was a big month with barely a moment to breathe! I’m glad that we survived it all!

Life with Archie:

Things have been pretty steady with him, despite all of the commotion going on with us.

He’s starting to use a few more words and is starting to use words more purposefully. It’s still not tons but we do see that he is making progress, which is great to see. He knows lots of the letters of the alphabet now and loves to shout out the letters when he sees the ones that he knows. He’s getting really good at being able to do things that he is asked as well. For example, if I tell him to “put his boots on,” he’ll get them out of the closest himself and try to put them on. So he definitely understands everything that we say!

We’ve never lived in a place with stairs before so we were worried about Archie’s safety around the stairs in our house. But he’s already pretty good at them! He still needs help to go down but he’s getting used to them a lot quicker than I imagined.

He’s been referred to the Preschool Speech and Language Service in Toronto and we’ll be going for our sessions at The George Hull Centre. They’re supposed to be calling soon to set up Archie’s first appointment. I’m relieved that everything seems to be working out with that.

January is a pretty busy month for us!

Laura was in town from Ottawa at the beginning of the month. Enobong is coming to town from Ottawa this weekend. I have a (late) Christmas party with my Toronto friends this weekend as well!

Next week is my birthday! I’m going out for dinner with my Toronto girlfriends on my actual birthday. Tim is taking me out to Alo Restaurant the following week because that’s the only reservation that he could get.

Then it’s Archie’s birthday and we’re throwing him a party at a kid’s gymnastics gym since he loves those places. He’s already TWO!! I love that he’s getting older and I love learning more about his little personality. He’s so much more interesting now!

Then we’re off to Vancouver! Just straight back to where we came from, ha ha. (I’ll probably cry.) We’re meeting my parents and brother there, spending a few days in Vancouver, and then heading up to Whistler where we’ll be celebrating Christmas (late) with my family. Plus we’ll be going snowboarding! While in Vancouver we’re inviting all of our friends to dinner so that we can see everyone one last time.

Then from Vancouver, I’m flying with Archie and my parents and brother back to Regina. Tim will be going back to Toronto. I’ll be in Regina for about two weeks? I’m not entirely sure. We haven’t booked my flight back to Toronto yet.

So yeah. Just a little bit going on. I’m definitely hoping that we’ll be finished with our house before we leave to Vancouver.

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

January 30th is Enobong Anstey’s 37th birthday!

I’m so excited to see you super soon! Welp. It’s January which means that it’s time for us to get older again! I’m back in the province of Ontario and I’m sure that we’ll have plenty of opportunities to see each other again! I hope that Ian treats you like a queen on your special day (steak and lobster) and that the kids let you sleep in and relax! Love you!! ♥