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

"Hello darkness, my old friend..." We have now entered DARK season where we wake up in the dark and then it's pitch black outside by 6pm at night. Hibernation mode is upon us. The month of October started with a fun weekend visit with Carrie! She stopped over in Edmonton and stayed at my house for a weekend on her way from Vancouver to Regina. We had a total blast together getting up to the silliest nonsense!! From girl dinner in sparkly dresses to Labubu madness to spraying every perfume in Sephora to Korean face masks... Carrie is now in Morocco living her best surf bum beach life!

The teachers in Alberta went on strike (and rightly so!!!) so Archie was back at home for a total of three and a half weeks (which ended up being 15 days of missed school). It felt like we were in a weird holding pattern and I did my best to keep life on track. We felt pretty fortunate to have me at home and available - the strike wasn't that big of a deal for our family. Ultimately, the shitty provincial government ordered the teachers back to work and gave them a crap deal. Most people are pretty furious about this outcome, myself included. However, I'm also glad to have Archie back in school where he belongs.

We celebrated Thanksgiving! It was a quiet and low-key holiday for us but I loved getting to enjoy our usual turkey feast! Tim does such an incredible job preparing the entire thing for us every year and I am eternally grateful to have a husband who cooks!

We had our annual family photography done!! This year I was very excited to book us in with Wally & Roops Pet Photography, a photographer who specifically takes photos of people with pets. Her stuff is hilariously amazing and I absolutely LOVE the whole cheesy-ironic esthetic! It'll be pretty difficult to ever top this year's photography, that's for sure.

Edmonton had a Municipal Election! We were voting for the city's Mayor, City Counsellors, and School Trustees. I am very happy that our new Mayor is Andrew Knack, whom I voted for! Edmonton always elects really progressive candidates and I love that.

We celebrated Tim's 42nd birthday! He took the day off of work (and Archie was home because of the strike) so we decided to have a fun family day together! We went to Activate for the first time and had such a fun experience there! Then Tim chose to have dinner at Fox Burger because he wanted a really good burger for his birthday dinner. It was nice to spend the day together and I think that Tim really enjoyed his day!

This month's awesome food writer victory comes courtesy of Duchess Bake Shop, who invited me to come check out their newly renovated space. They told me that there would be a special treat waiting for me... And it was the cutest customized cake! I've been a massive fan of Duchess ever since they first opened and it feels pretty great to know that they're a fan of me as well!

We made our annual trip to Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm to buy pumpkins and to take in their top-notch fall atmosphere. It's a tradition that I love very much! There are goats!!

We had an amazing double date night with Mary & Jonny where we ate dinner at our favourite Czech restaurant Bistro Praha and somehow all dressed in a coordinated way without planning it. We love our time spent with these guys!!

The Core Four celebrated Rachelle's birthday at 53 on Ross in Red Deer, which was the restaurant that Rachelle chose. The food was really good and as usual, the four of us had the best time together. <3

Then it was Halloween! We carved pumpkins, Archie dressed up as Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog, and it was nice that he was back in school in time for Halloween as well. We paid a visit to the annual SONiC Halloweenie Roast, as is tradition. And Archie enjoyed a really fun night out trick or treating with his school friends.

I have been continuing with my weekly weight lifting Lift and Yap class and I've been doing it for seven weeks already! I have certainly started to see a difference in my strength and endurance. I've also noticed that I'm stronger in my yoga practice because of it! The heaviest weight that I've lifted so far as been 85 lbs. It feels great that I may finally be on the correct path to ultimate health!

Life with Archie: Archie had Cubs Fall Camp at the beginning of the month, which he always enjoys. He has made a really great friendship with a boy named Everett through Beavers/Cubs and the two of them have a great time together. I know that these weekend camps are creating some really special core memories for them.

Archie also spent plenty of time with his friend Jonah over the time that they were off school, which included attending Jonah's birthday party!

Since Archie was off of school for most of the month I pretty much reverted back to our summer vacation schedule just so that we had some semblance of a routine. So I brought back our weekly cookbook baking as one of our activities! I'm always so impressed at how well we manage to bake shit!

There were also a bunch of building events to keep the month interesting! Archie built a Haunted Candy Box at the latest Kids Workshop at Home Depot and a Gaming Controller, Rangoli Mosaics, and a Witch at three different LEGO free-build events.

Archie has continued to learn piano and seems to be catching on really quickly! He can already play songs with both hands and he put on a mini performance at Backbeat to show us how well he's doing.

There were two holidays this month which meant two special themed lunches for Archie! (Even if one of them was just at home because of the strike.)

And finally, Archie had the best time on Halloween and loved getting to trick or treat with his school friends this year, which we've never done before. Seeing Archie hit the streets with his friends was so amazing! He's got such a great crew. He ended up with way too much candy as usual. (We only just finished last year's candy like a week ago!!)

The fact that it's November already is freaking me out a bit. I feel like I'm staring down the barrel toward Christmas and I'm not sure that I'm ready for all of this already! The first interesting thing that is happening this month is that Tim is off to Guildford, England (just outside of London) for five days for a Cinematic Summit at work. This same week Archie will be off of school for the fall break. I was initially annoyed that we couldn't join Tim and that it'll just be more of the Archie and Mom show at home. However, I know that we'll make the most of our week as well. We're going to put up our Christmas tree mid-month (a day that I always enjoy, especially with all of our traditions!) and then Christmas will really feel real! Then all three of us are off to Montreal for four nights! Tim was invited to the Battlefield 6 release party in Montreal and Archie and I are tagging along! (This is also why we couldn't join for England, because we already booked Montreal. Unfortunately, we can't do everything.) I'm really looking forward to being back in one of our former home cities which we love very much. We're spending two nights at Hotel Birks (paid for by Tim's company) and two nights at Lofts du Parc LaHaie (in Mile End where we used to live). I'm sure that we'll spend the majority of our time seeing and doing and eating all of the things that we love and miss. Plus Archie will get to practice his French in real life. However, I am MOST excited that I got us a reservation at Mon Lapin (!!!) a restaurant that was recently named the #2 restaurant in all of North America by The World's 50 Best Restaurants. It was also the #2 restaurant in Canada this year on the Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list. (And #1 in both 2024 and 2023.) This place is basically the hottest reservation to get in Canada right now and I'm SO EXCITED TO GO!!!!! The ending part of the month will surely start to lean into the Christmas activities; like the Oddbird Winter Art & Craft Fair and the Winter Whyte Light Up. It should be a fun and exciting month and getting into the Christmas mindset will be really wonderful too! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 38th birthday!

You'll always hold a special place in my heart and I hope that life is giving you only the very best! I would love to make a Vancouver trip sometime soon and to make some time for us to reconnect! You are always such a champion for your friends and you have such an adventurous heart. Love you forever! <3 November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 37th birthday!

I love everything about our friendship so much and I am so grateful for the bond that we share!! You really are my little sister and an honourary part of my family. The number of incredible memories that we've made together; whether it be on a beach in Portugal or in a hostel in Berlin or sitting in Bushwakker at Christmas in Regina... It's too many to count! I love you SO MUCH and I hope that you have the BEST Moroccan birthday!!! <3