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

Welp. Just when we thought that we were settling into our happy Edmonton life... It seems like we are going to be moving again. Tim has taken a new job at Microsoft in Seattle. APRIL FOOLS'!!! (But I mean, with our tract record it wouldn't be unbelievable. HA HA.) Not much new to say about the pandemic except that it continues to be "over." I have been living my life entirely normally this past little while. People continue to catch Covid (not us) and don't seem to be getting very sick. In the "before times" we used to catch colds and flus all the time and it was never a big deal. Covid seems a lot more like that now. We might be going into a "6th wave" but I'm not overly concerned. Hospitalizations are still stable in Alberta and are trending down. Archie received his second dose of Pfizer exactly eight weeks after his first and he is now fully vaccinated. It feels great to know that all three of us now have maximum protection!

At the beginning of March I was surprised with a 40th birthday party which Tim organized. <3 It was held at Biera, one of my favourite restaurants. Up until this point restaurants weren't allowed to seat groups, so that's why Tim postponed the party until it was allowed. I felt very loved and it was wonderful to celebrate my milestone birthday with my very favourite Alberta people. Lacey even came all the way from Canmore which is a 3.5 hour drive away! <3

If this is 40, I'm good with it.

I mentioned a few blogs ago that I won an award from Yelp (it's called a Yelpie) for Photographer of the Year 2021. I finally received my trophy (plus they gave me a whole swag bag full of neat stuff). I made sure to take a picture of myself with the trophy while I was all done up for my birthday party! So there you have it. I'm an award-winning food photographer now. :P

We found panda Mei on the Turning Red Canadian Tour! (We also watched the movie on the same day and enjoyed it a lot.)

St. Patrick's Day happened! We did our usual traditions; Lucky Charms for breakfast, green eggs & ham for lunch, McDonald's with shamrock shakes for dinner, green beer... It was a fun green day.

Just need to share this pink on pink on pink action with you.

The biggest excitement this month is that our new car arrived! You might recall that we ordered it back in September. They built it especially for us with all of our specifications and we finally received it five months later! I've bought brand new cars before but I have never "built" my own car. It felt really good to be in a position where we could get exactly what we wanted (and the highest trim level!). The car is a 2022 Hyundai Tucson Ultimate Plug-in Hybrid AWD. We're very happy to continue on with our second electric car and will never buy a gas-only car ever again. The colour is "Deep Sea Blue," which I picked, and I love the Grey 2-Tone Leather interior. I was also able to negotiate an incredibly good price for the trade-in of our IONIQ. (Me. Not Tim. I'm the assertive one in this relationship, ha ha.) So we are very happy! We finally feel like we own our perfect car!

Another cool thing that happened this month is that I was invited to participate in the Media Blackbox Cook-Off Competition, which was being held by Sorrentino's (an Italian restaurant in Edmonton) as a part of their 30th annual Garlic Fest. I was invited because of my food blog and it felt really great to be considered worthy of an invite. I was allowed to bring a guest (thank goodness!!) to cook in the competition with me. As you know, I DO NOT COOK. I only EAT! Tim does all of the cooking (he's actually passionate about it) so it was a relief that I was able to bring him! We competed against seven other teams and we each drew a dish out of a hat (we got arctic char). Then they gave us a box of ingredients to use and we had 45 minutes to cook. We did our best! Unfortunately, our dish did not win. But we had so much fun and it was such a cool experience! The main benefit for me was just to be able to represent my blog and to be in a room with other local foodies. It was a great networking opportunity and a great chance to make myself someone that these other food people have heard of.

Our arctic char dish, which I thought tasted really good!

I am loving that we're out and about, doing things, having adventures... I certainly won't take this kind of "normal life" for granted ever again. Life with Archie: Archie has been a busy boy with various things. His class had a Beach Day where they dressed up for the beach and made their own ice cream at preschool.

Then they had a GREEN DAY for St. Patrick's at preschool as well.

And in general Archie just continues to love preschool a whole lot. He gets so much out of it and I really feel that it's setting him up so well for kindergarten.

On actual St. Patrick's Day Archie was very green yet again. (Apparently he owns a wide array of green clothing items.)

I was going to get a pedicure done and Archie said that he wanted to have a manicure. So of course I was all for it!! He said that he wanted rainbow nails and he got them! First professional mani! I am very happy to encourage that there is no such thing as "girl things" or "boy things."

To kick off Spring Break Archie's class had a Pajama Day for their last day of school. They were allowed to bring a stuffed toy and they all cuddled up to watch a movie and eat popcorn together. So cute!

Archie also completed his snowboarding lessons. I'm so pleased with his progress!! By the end of the four weeks he was able to go down the small hill all by himself, can get on the magic carpet by himself, and is getting better at using his edges. If this is already where he's at at five years old, I can't imagine how awesome he'll be in a few years. It's going to be so much fun!

And lastly, Archie has been having a great time meeting up with his friends. Over Spring Break he has had a lot of fun friend dates and it's so nice to feel comfortable doing these sorts of things again.

April is going to be a lot of fun!!! Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Vancouver for five days!! We wanted to do something fun for Spring Break and Vancouver is a relatively easy place for us to get to. Plus we haven't been back in a long time and we miss it a lot! (We will be doing a tour of all of our old cities this year and this is the first stop.) We're looking forward to seeing friends, eating in the restaurants that we miss, and doing fun activities that Archie will now be old enough to enjoy and remember. It's cherry blossom season and I miss the mountains and the sea! I may cry. CAN'T WAIT! THEN two days after our return... I am leaving for Vancouver AGAIN for another three days with Amy and Nicole. Ha ha ha! We very spontaneously booked flights within about five minutes of discussing it. Ha ha. We'll be there for Amy's birthday so she is essentially planning the whole thing. Then it's Easter and I'm looking forward to all of the Easter traditions that we like to do. Archie is very excited about the Easter Bunny. Very pumped about springtime travels and getting out and doing things! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

April 2nd is Jaelyn Leonard’s 40th birthday!

Wishing you a very special milestone birthday and I hope that you get to feel truly celebrated! We must get together as soon as possible! For as close as we live to each other, we don't see each other nearly enough! I would love to come out to Beaumont and for you to show me around. Looking forward to hugging you SOON! Love you! <3 April 7th is Melanie Watson’s 41st birthday!

You're someone who knows how to have a good time so I have no doubt that your birthday will be a ton of fun! I'm so sad that I was supposed to see you at Christmas and that the pandemic ruined all of our plans! Thankfully I'll get to see you this summer and I can't wait. Miss you and love you very much! <3 April 10th is Amy Bull’s 37th birthday!

I am SO EXCITED that we are gonna celebrate the shit out of your birthday this year!!! I will be with you from the moment that you wake up and until you go to bed. It won't be creepy at all. HA HA HA! I love you SO MUCH and I am so glad to be back in the fold with you. <3 April 18th is Colen Quinn’s 40th birthday!

It goes without saying that you're my soul sister and I wish you a most wonderful milestone birthday! I hope that you get absolutely spoiled and celebrated! You know the rules: Cake for breakfast. I can't wait to spend some quality time with you this summer, and yes, I intend to move into Chez Quinn. Ha ha! I love you so much and can't wait to hug you. <3 April 18th is Nadine Ottenbreit’s 40th birthday!

How on earth are we all 40?!? HOW??? Wishing you a truly special milestone where you get to feel adored. You are such a treasured person in my life and I love you so much. I'm sad that our plans to see each other at Christmas were ruined but I cannot WAIT to celebrate our birthdays in style in Mexico!! (Also, you're gonna be my hotel roommate. 'Cause that's how we roll.) <3 April 18th is Lacey Suttie’s 42nd birthday!

Can I just say that I'm so glad that we have actual current photos of us together finally?? I hope that you're planning a party this year because you do them better than anyone. I love that we get to be closer again and I can't wait for more quality time with you. You're a mountain mama that I am constantly inspired by. Wishing you a most magical day and I love you! <3