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

I'm sure that this same thing happens to me every year, but I'm feeling a bit stunned that it's already November. Wasn't it just the summer two weeks ago? How is it Christmas now??? November feels like the calm before the storm and I'm hoping to use this time to lay low and to also get organized. We've even already seen a bit of snow in Edmonton. So. Trying to wrap my head around all of that! At the beginning of October I was very excited to attend the Canada's 100 Best Dinner Series in Calgary! I had a lovely time driving down there (3 hrs) by myself and enjoyed staying at The Westley Hotel, a cute and hip boutique hotel. The multi-course dinner (with wine pairings) event at River Café was wonderful and I loved connecting with fellow foodie people, talking about my blog and representing Edmonton, and meeting the chefs. However, I was most excited to meet the magazine's editor, Jacob Richler (son of writer Mordecai Richler). This whole thing felt like my version of a business trip.

Next it was Thanksgiving! My parents came to our house from Regina to celebrate with us. We did our usual at-home Thanksgiving feast and it was very delicious. Tim and I plan the menu together, he cooks the food, and I create the atmosphere and esthetics. We're great at collaborating in this way!

I had my twice-a-decade salon visit! HA HA! But seriously, every four years or so my hair gets super long down to my waist and I get fed up with it. I get it cut and then the cycle continues! I'm really enjoying my shorter, lighter and brighter look!

Tim turned 41 in October and we had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday by spending the night at our favourite Edmonton hotel, the JW Marriott ICE District and having dinner at Braven, a fine-dining steakhouse located inside the hotel. Archie stayed home with my parents which was great! It was so nice to have a romantic adult night away to ourselves!

It was really great spending the week with my parents and having quality time with them. Tim even had the week off of work so that we could all hang out! We made our annual visit to Prairie Gardens to buy our Halloween pumpkins and it was a fun outing as usual. It doesn't get more quintessentially fall than Prairie Gardens!

Sadly, my Jury Selection date got cancelled and my dreams of getting onto a jury have ended. My fingers are crossed that I'll be summoned again someday! We carved our jack-o'-lanterns and decorated for Halloween... And I have to say, our place looked pretty amazing this year. We bought a 13 foot giant-sized animatronic Jack Skellington and HE'S THE BEST! He moves and sings songs. I was worried that the wind might knock him over because he's so tall but he was very sturdy.

We celebrated Rachelle's 40th birthday and it was a lot of fun to shower her with love and presents! Her restaurant of choice was Cilantro & Chive (which we all love) in Lacombe where she lives.

Other great friend hangouts included time spent with Mary (we usually do pretty well at getting together fairly regularly). And seeing The Rocky Horror Show with Nicole (twice!) which was a hilarious, ridiculous blast.

Then it was Halloween! We started the day by attending SONiC's annual Halloweenie Roast. This was the 20th one!! Hot dogs for breakfast on Halloween has become a time-honoured tradition. One of the announcers, Lauren, is known for building insane homemade Halloween costumes and this year she made an incredible magpie costume! It was awesome to see it in real life! It was a fun day filled with lots of treats. We went out trick or treating with Archie for about an hour and a half and it was a blast.

And finally, also on Halloween, Tim's latest video game; Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released! This is the 8th game of his career and we moved back to Edmonton for him to work on it. The game seems to be doing really well! I'm very proud of Tim and all of his hard work - it's been a long four+ years and he deserves a lot of credit for being an incredible Cinematic Director!

For a bit of menopause chat... I am still taking my Duavive hormone therapy and have been enjoying the positive results very much. I have also started to see the Nurse Practitioner at my Naturopathy clinic who specializes in bioidentical hormone therapies. I think that she'll be able to offer a much more personalized and specific plan for me (compared to my Gynecologist who I dislike and who is like "just take this, it's what everyone takes, I don't know what you need").

You'll probably recall that I had Shingles back in June. It only appears on one side of your body and for me it was on my left side. My case was thankfully pretty mild, however I have noticed issues of residual pain on my left side, especially in my lower back and thigh (which is where the shingles showed up). This is called Postherpetic Neuralgia. To deal with this I started going for Acupuncture! I've been to three sessions and it's some pretty wild voodoo. I'll lay there for an hour with 20 needles sticking out of my body! But I think that it's really working!! My lower back pain is almost completely gone! I don't even really understand how it works but I am seeing the results. I also went for my annual Mammogram and ABUS ultrasound (I have to do the ABUS in addition to the mammo because I have dense breast tissue) and both came back all clear! (I got the results in like an hour, which was very impressive.)

Life with Archie: Archie had his grade 2 school photos done and they turned out pretty great. He's such a cool kid!

Archie's school had a Backwards / Inside Out day and I feel like I've been preparing for this Kris Kross moment for my whole life.

He also had a very appropriately-themed lunch/snack for the last day of school before Thanksgiving. I love doing these.

Archie attended a Home Depot Kids Workshop and made a Fire Rescue Truck and also a LEGO Make and Take and made a Halloween Spider.

Archie was VERY lucky to attend the annual Edmonton Oilers Autograph Session at West Edmonton Mall... Because his mother waited in line for him for over eight hours while he was at school. (It was actually really fun.) This event is really crazy and people start lining up for it at 6am. Archie wanted to meet Zach Hyman and he did! In addition to being a hockey player, Hyman is an author of children's books. So Archie wanted to have his two books autographed. Hyman was really kind and took the time to write nice messages in his books.

Archie attended two birthday parties, one for his friend Graham and one for his friend Jonah. Plus he attended the BioWare Trick or Treat Street Halloween party with his friend Brendan.

Here are some other cute Archie photos from the month...

And then HALLOWEEN!! Archie dressed up as a Fighter Pilot this year which suited his love of aircraft perfectly! He had a Halloween-themed lunch/snack for school. And of course he had an amazing time trick or treating and collecting as much candy as he could. He came home with a huge haul that he'll be eating for a year.

I'm looking forward to November being maybe a bit more chill but I know that this won't last for long. There are always things on the go! We don't really have any exciting plans for Remembrance Day long weekend (Archie also has fall break from school at this time) but I'm sure that the time off together will be enjoyable. Around the middle of the month will be our 'Putting Up the Christmas Tree' day!!! How is this possible already?! It's one of my favourite days of the year but I honestly don't understand how it's already time. After that the festive events begin to start happening; the Winter Fair edition of the OddBird Art & Craft Fair (my favourite!), Winter Whyte Light Up, and Archie will go to see Santa at West Edmonton Mall. It's all starting to happen!

Wishing you all a great kick off to the holiday season!

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 37th birthday!

I feel like it has been way too long since we've connected properly and we should really fix that! You're a wonderful person who deserves nothing but the best and I treasure all of the special memories that we've shared. Like that time when we got lost and walked from one end of Langley to the other. I hope that you have a wonderful day and you're in my heart always. <3 November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 36th birthday!

Forever my little sis!!! You are someone who tries new things and jumps in with two feet. You're always open to a new direction even if it's scary. I have admired this about you and have learned so much. Your life is never stagnant and I love how we connect over our mutual zest for adventure. (I'm probably going to ask you to run away to Europe with me soon.) I hope that you have the very best birthday!! I love you the most Carrots and can't wait to see you over the holidays! <3