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

IT'S GONNA BE MAY! May has been my favourite month for as long as I can remember and I am so looking forward to warm springtime weather. The days are already so much longer compared to the forever-darkness of winter (the sun sets after 9pm these days) and it's so nice to see the light again. This is going to be a fun month ahead! April was a bit of a low-key month, which was actually quite nice. Things are going to be picking up for us soon so we purposely welcomed a few chill weeks. Tim is also very, very busy with work at the moment and has been putting in a lot of overtime hours. The good news is that he should be finished making his current game soon! Our cat Pixie turned three years old! She's totally the fourth member of our family and we love her very much. She's the best cuddle cat.

That super cool solar eclipse happened except Edmonton was NOT AT ALL on the path of totality. It was still neat to see a partial eclipse though. The footage that I saw from the east looked absolutely incredible. I don't know about you, but I found the energy very strange that day. I also listened to the song 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' one hundred times.

Tim and I attended the annual EDify Best Restaurants 2024 event and it's probably my favourite food event of the whole year! A collection of the city's best restaurants gather to serve small tastes of their best dishes. This year there were 19 things to eat, even more unlimited desserts, and a bunch of different drinks. As usual, I had a wonderful time eating everything!

And then it was Record Store Day, another annual event that I enjoy to partake in! For those who don't know, bands/musicians come out with special vinyl releases on that day, in-store only. Each participating store gets very few of the releases in stock. Armed with my shopping list, I woke up at 5am and lined up at my favourite Edmonton record store, Blackbyrd Myoozik on Whyte Ave. I was 22nd in line! Hundreds of people lined up after me. It's always fun to hang out with that community of music-lovers while we wait for the store to open at 10am. I was able to get everything that I wanted to buy! Archie says that he wants to wake up and come with me next year. I'm excited about next year because it'll be 30 years since 1995 - SO MANY of the best albums of all-time (IMO) came out in 1995. So I'm looking forward to some pretty epic re-releases.

It was also a great month for friend hangouts! Candice came to Edmonton from Saskatoon with her family and we enjoyed a really nice brunch with them. It was so nice to connect with Candice. <3

We celebrated Amy's birthday at her restaurant of choice, a Mexican place called The 3 Amigos. We had so much fun!! We actually had two Girls Nights this month, which was pretty great.

I went out for a nice brunch with Mary and Andrea. Our sons all went to preschool together (but now all go to different schools). It was great for the three of us to reconnect! (Although I see Mary all the time. We now have a routine on Thursdays where we go to yoga and then sit in a cafe afterwards. It's really wonderful!)

And I think that I'm actually friends with Konzy now?! She's Archie's ex-kindergarten teacher and we now make plans to get together and it's great. I always knew that we had a lot in common! I told you that this was going to happen! (It helps that she's a total foodie.)

Dustin was also in town from Vancouver and it was nice to have an adult dinner with him!

We've been trying to get outside as much as possible to enjoy the improving weather. Going on family bike rides has quickly become one of our favourite activities!

Perimenopause chat! My period has continued to not maintain a normal cycle. I am on day 47 of my current cycle. BUT I am feeling a bit more clarity about it all. At this point I have seen my Family Physician, a female Family Physician, a male OB/GYN, my private Enobong OB/GYN, a Naturopathic Doctor, and a Certified Menopause Practitioner. I also attended the virtual Modern Menopause Summit. I had a routine Pap test done and it was normal. I did all of this in the hopes of better understanding what is going on with my body and to feel more clear about how to best support myself. I think that I have finally arrived at a good place where I'm comfortable with my body and what it's doing. I am experiencing perimenopause and my period is slowing down. It's completely normal and natural and there isn't anything wrong with it. I do experience some other perimenopause symptoms but they don't bother me, nor does my irregular period. I am ready to accept that this is what it is. I'm not going to have an IUD put in because I don't actually need it.

So that was the month! I continue to be very grateful for our full and happy Edmonton life.

Life with Archie: At the very beginning of the month we were still coming off of Easter so Archie went to school dressed appropriately and with a themed lunch/snack!

They had a spirit day at school called "Anything But a Backpack" where the kids had to bring their stuff to school in something that wasn't a backpack. I saw some pretty hilarious ideas like kids with garbage cans. But I think that Archie nailed it.

Archie is great at riding his bike! He's really comfortable with it now and we have been having so much fun biking together, as mentioned above!

Archie attended another Home Depot Kids Workshop and built a Lattice Planter.

All of Archie's spring programs have started up and he has a FULL course load. I love that he always has a wide variety of experiences on the go. I also ask him all the time if he enjoys being so busy and doing all of these different things and he always tells me that he loves it. He's a lot like me in this way. For spring he's got: Bigger Beats Drums at Backbeat on Mondays. He has now completed their vocals and ukulele programs and is trying drums next!

Age 6-8 Cooking at Little Kitchen Academy on Fridays. This program is my FAVOURITE. Over the five weeks the kids learn to cook savoury meals, breakfasts, and desserts. The kitchen is gorgeous and looks like a Top Chef kitchen. And they get to wear adorable chef coats. It's so high-quality and I love everything about it! (This program also exists in Vancouver, Toronto, and Vaughan - highly recommend!)

Junior Riders at Whitemud Equine Learning Centre on Saturdays. He has done their week-long summer camp twice before and has been asking to ride horses again. So we thought that he was ready for the full-on program this time.

Swimmer 1 at Confederation Leisure Centre on Sundays. We just always keep swimming on the docket. You know, for not drowning.

Archie also had a great month for friend hangouts! He was really cute with Candice's kids, Carter and Rhys. They seemed to have a lot of fun together. Plus his friend Brendan slept over at our house. I'm always so impressed at how they both go to sleep instantly when we put them to bed. And he went to his friend Cohen's birthday party, which a bunch of his friends from his class also attended.

I can't believe how close the school year is to being finished! Didn't it just start?! It is absolutely wild that grade 1 is already coming to an end.

And now it's time for May things and there's kind of a lot!! First of all, Sarah is coming to Edmonton from Regina this week and we are going to attend a Spring Spa Retreat together on the weekend. It's a two-night yoga retreat that includes; a healing womb grief ceremony (I have been joking that this is a womb grievance ceremony and that I have many grievances to take up with my uterus), several yoga and meditation classes, a cacao ceremony, a four hour traditional Moroccan hammam spa ritual, professional massage, mineral salt hot tub, wood-burning sauna, cold plunges, nature walks, delicious farm to table food, building our own yoni steaming stools... You know, all of the hippy stuff that we love! I'm really looking forward to it! The musical RENT is going to be playing in Edmonton (it's one of my top three favourite musicals) so I got a ticket and I'm excited to see it! Then my parents are arriving in Edmonton from Regina! We are all going to be flying to Vancouver together and spending five nights in VanCity! We're staying at a super cute Airbnb in Kitsilano, literally like five doors down from where we used to live, no exaggeration. It'll be so nice to be back in our old neighbourhood, a five minute walk to the ocean! We'll be in Vancouver for Mother's Day so it'll be nice to spend it with my mom. We're going to go to BOTANIST for their three-course Mother's Day brunch experience and I can't wait for that! Of course we have a TON of Vancouver things that we want to see and do and eat and I also really hope that I'll be able to see as many of you Van-area ladies as possible while I'm there. I'm looking forward to the whole thing very much! Tim and I also have tickets to see The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie while we're in Vancouver, which we're pretty pumped about! This concert was the whole reason for the trip in the first place. (And conveniently my parents will be there to stay with Archie while we're at the show.) We don't have any big plans to do anything for Victoria Day weekend. Although Archie and I are signed up for a Kids Baking Beginners class at Duchess Atelier on one of the days that he has off of school. It's definitely one of our classic busy months full of exciting things going on!

PS - My Bird Buddy bird feeder is still amazing.

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: May 14th is Heather Petrychyn’s 42nd birthday!

Wishing you a most wonderful and special day where you get truly spoiled and celebrated by all of your boys!! I love our chats so much, whether it's solar panels, traveling, or Disney, ha ha! You've been such an important friend to me for so many years and I am incredibly grateful for you. There's no one else I would rather be stranded in the Toronto airport with, eating 3am cake. I love you so much always! <3 May 18th is Nicole Thibault’s 42nd birthday!

My sweet Nicole! BAYBEEEEE!!! I have no clue what I would do without you! I love when you show up randomly on my lawn and I love wandering around Costco with you and trying ALL the sampies (and also getting way too excited about that one TV). You are the best and I treasure you beyond measure. I cannot wait to celebrate you very soon! I love you I love you! <3 May 27th is Krystie Shirlaw’s 38th birthday!

I am so happy that we are still a part of each other's lives and that it's just like old times whenever we're together. You came into my life at a time when I needed you the MOST and that will always mean so much to me. You're such a beautiful person, inside and out. You deserve nothing but the most wonderful birthday! I hope that this coming year is packed full of concerts and that your New York trip is everything that you've dreamed of! Love you! <3 May 28th is Heather Petrychyn's 13th wedding anniversary!

Just a couple of children! I hope that you and Curtis have a chance to celebrate your day of romance! May 31st is Susan Murphy's 11th wedding anniversary!

Just a couple of children! I hope that you and Matt have a chance to celebrate your day of romance! (Even it's from afar!)