Every year, my father, brother, and I do some kind of a "hike" (read - long walk in a provincial park). This year we did a nice short one due to the 35+ degree  Celsius weather. I always enjoy this tradition since I get to spend some quality time with my dad and brother!

1. Pembina River!

2. The flowers were super nice!

3. My brother and I always joke that my dad's "spirit animal" is a bear since he always seems to find wild berries, nuts, and mushrooms (don't worry, he doesn't eat them unless he's positive of what they are). We'll be walking and suddenly he'll be like, "Ooh! Berries!" and he'll stop and munch. It's hilarious.

4. It was hot. Like, super hot.

5. We usually tend to talk about science-y stuff on these walks.

Summer is quickly coming to a close and it's been a busy one. Here are some of my adventures (via Instagram).

1. Suntanning with teacher-friend Kristin

2. Fresh strawberries

3. Les Miserables! I never thought I would see it live!

4. I had many cooking adventures, including these delicious snacks (even though they did not include a lot of cooking, lol).

5. (Some) Running (not as much as I should have done...)

6. Went to Waterloo for a conference and a fellow teacher kindly took me on a tour of Toronto!

Lately Shoes and I have been going on lunch dates, either on Fridays (when he has the afternoons off) or Saturdays. I much prefer being out and about during the day and then at home at night.

We've also been trying new restaurants, which I also vastly prefer to our old system of just going out for the sake of eating. Suddenly 'going out' goes back to being special and fun, like a date. On this particular weekend, we went to the Modern Taco Company. It was AMAZING. The tacos seem very small but after 4, I was definitely more than satisfied. They had interesting flavours and combinations, not just your typical ones (bean and cheese, cheese, bean and cheese and meat, cheese and meat... you get my drift). There were vegetarian options and, best of all, they had Sol (which Shoes loves) and Coca-Cola in a bottle. What else could a person want?

If you're in the area, try it out!

A few weekends ago it was my brother's birthday. To celebrate, we had a fun evening BBQing Innis & Gunn burgers, eating taco dip (recipe to come, lol), and enjoying a few brewskis. Also, my cousin got really, super drunk. It was hilarious.

And then we watched Tron. Wow. Family of nerds.

A little while ago, my father, brother, and I went strawberry picking. We thought it was going to be a much brighter and hotter day but instead it turned out to be cloudy and windy. It actually rained for a bit but we kept working through it. Good thing we did; the skies cleared and we picked 44 litres of strawberries! If my family is anything, we are accomplished berry pickers!

The best part of berry picking - eating the berries as you go.

Summer is fun right now. So much fun that I have apparently had no time to update, so here's the first thing! Canada Day celebrations included a fun trip to our friend's place for some s'mores! They are extremely delicious, even more so when over a fire. Even Shoes had some fun, even if we were outside rather than inside (ha ha).

So summer has been terrific thus far and it's only been 3 days! I've had an excellent time making cake pops (more tomorrow!) and spending time with friends. More in the next few days when I have some time to relax! For now, I have to work (blaah).

I was going to wait until the first day of summer vacation... but I'm not. I'm too excited. I currently have no marking and nothing to do in the downtime of my evenings.

Remember "Summer of George" from Seinfeld? Well, this summer will be the Summer of Liz!

- Trip to Grand Forks (which will happen in the first or second week of vacation but I thought I'd mention it)

- Beach

- Cycling trips w/ Dad & Matthew

- Fun restaurants with Matt

- Goldeyes game (ha!) during the day (there's one game... must go!)

- Pedicure/Manicures

- Paper crafts/Project Life (scrapbooking! Because I'm cool!)

- Bake & Cook

- Photography adventures

- Set up house/organize

- Working dates with Kristin

- Gelati outings

It's going to be totally awesome! I look forward to fun days in the sun, productivity, and relaxation. :D

I went on a shopping trip last weekend. I didn't take a lot of photos because we were essentially just shopping for, like, ever. It was a little different from what I'm used to - I usually go on the rides at the Mall of America, or we end up taking a ride to Red Wing. A little while ago, we went to a Stone Sour concert, which was amazing.

In conclusion, I'm used to the shopping being a little more broken up. But then, I guess this was a serious shopping trip with some serious shoppers.

I bought quite a bit (in my defence, however, a lot of it was at Target buying $30 worth of fun Keurig coffees for Shoes). Some notable pieces were a new pair of Sorel's for half of the original price (yay... ready for next winter!) and some new khakis from Gap (yay... new work stuff!).  Pictured above, however, were my two favourite purchases. My first favourite is a new pair of sunglasses. I had bought a pair from Target last year and lost them (as per usual). I was devastated but determined to find a new fun pair at Target. Much to my surprise, they had the exact same style available this year. I decided to go with the tan instead of the black, just to say they're different.  My second are a new pair of boat shoes. I was going to get new Vans or Toms. Vans look good with jeans, but not tights. Toms look good with tights, not jeans. And then I found these - an excellent combination of the two and would look like I just got off a yacht (because apparently I'm going for a hipster-prep look... whatever that is?).

So there we go! The trip was fun, albeit different from my usual forays to the States. I didn't get to eat at some of my favourite restaurants or stay at my usual hotel. So, to make up for it, I'm planning a trip out with Shoes this summer! It'll be like our mini-honeymoon before we go on a big one sometime next year!

Happy Easter, everyone! I am back from Minneapolis, happy to be home. More on the trip (or rather, my awesome purchase, since I didn't take any pictures) later, as well as some other stuff from later on in the week.

So my week off is done. I am super happy with how it went. I did a lot of baking and "cooking" and enjoyed my time in general. Time to go back to work tomorrow!

Day 2 was as productive an awesome as Day 1... kind of?

9:30 AM - So I wanted to get up and go to yoga by 9:30... instead I slept in. Good for me.

10:30 AM - So instead I decided to go to the 11:30 class.

2:00 PM - I nearly died. I needed a Starbucks to revive me. Good bye benefits of 90 minutes of exercise!

3:30 PM - I am consuming all beverages in this teal blue plastic cup. #fancy

4:45 PM - I made cupcakes which I will feature on this blog sometime this week or next. (PS - they were delicious). I needed them to cool fast so I could ice them, so I stuck them outside. Also, notice the snow. So sad.

6:30 PM - Delicious dinner with Courtney at Boon Burger. If you're in the area, go and enjoy!

Tomorrow is the last day to do productive stuff until the big trip to Minneapolis!

A day in pictures. Kind of.

10:30 AM - I messed up on the times. This was done closer to 9:30 (good job me). Cup of tea. Updating my blog because I was so excited that I had done something to do so.

11:30 AM - So yeah. This was actually 10:30. Anyways, I am going on a trip to Minneapolis with a friend this coming Thursday so obviously I was planning out which shops I wanted to go in Albertville. Because apparently I have that time?

1:30 PM - (Actually 12:30...). Lunchtime consisted of leftover scones, salad, and chocolate milk. Yum.

4:00 PM - (This is accurate). Shoes came home and we went out to pick up a few ingredients for tonight's dinner. I'm ready to go. He's looking for a book to bring for the car ride because he's 5. I'd like to note - I went out without socks. That's how anxious I am for summer.

4:10 PM - At Bulk Barn and I found Root Beer flavour. Is this the same as root beer extract? Who knows! I'm making these tomorrow so we'll see!

4:45 PM - A shopping trip is never complete without a trip to my second home.

11:30 PM - After doing a load of baking and cooking (because apparently that's what I do...), I decided to sit down and do some actual work. Listening exclusively to Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake. It was a party.

PS - everyone loving that awful manicure job? Go me.

Tomorrow starts the new school year. We're starting off the year easy with an inservice, so it's not too bad, but it's still going to be a start.

It's been an awesome summer full of ultimate, adventures with my brother and dad, wedding stuff, and general fun. It was a great rest and I'm excited to go back!

Today Shoes and I went with his family to his grandfather's farm. It was a fun experience. It was the first time I went out there. It definitely reminded me of my uncle's farm with a lot of mismatched old furniture and other hilarious items. It was a fun day but I didn't have two of my favourite objects: my camera and my disc. It was unfortunate, but I made do with my phone. Here's what I got...

(1.) There's the birdhouse and the farm behind that. (2.) They have a pond (!!) in the middle of their field with a canoe. (3.) This is the cannon they shot...twice. I'm just so relieved that everyone got out of their with all their limbs. (4.) This is the photo for the challenge today which was "Dad". Here is Shoes with my future father-in-law. (5.) Right after they shot off the cannon. (6.) Shoes is riding in the tractor. They went up to the creek. (7.) Random items in the farm house. (8.) Apparently this side of the family enjoys hunting...

It was a terrific day, all-in-all!

As previously mentioned, here are the very few pictures that I took at ultimate frisbee!

(L-R, Top)
(1.) Lined up, waiting for the pull. (2.) Luke has an amazing vertical. Here's a poor image but I thought it was kind of cool. He looks a lot less graceful than he usually looks. (3.) My bro (in the corner) and Guida (in the foreground). (4.) The team (Kristin, Dennis, Joel, and Shan along with the other team). (4.) Luke, ready to pass off the disc after his catch from 2. (5.) Dennis, running for the disc. (6.) Jamie, doing some terrific defence with Kristin in the background.

Madeleine, Gennie, and I went on an adventure through the Exchange. It was super hot and super sunny so in my books it means it was super fun.

From left to right, top:

(1.) Lunch at Peasant Cookery was fantastic; I can't wait to take Shoes there! (2.) Gennie trying to figure out what to eat. Also, there is a lot of chicken-type "stuff" all over. I wish it would have been appropriate just to walk around taking pictures of everything. (3.) At one point we got really thirsty so we made a stop at Don Pedro's for adult beverages. (4.) There are so many fun colours in the exchange. I loved this blue building. (5.) Artwork is everywhere in the Exchange. (6.) Gennie with her adult beverage. (7.) We also made a stop at Cake-ology. So cute and sweet! (8.) We went to a shop called Rhymes with Orange which is adorable. I found vintage Pyrex (one of my absolute loves) and I bought this beautiful casserole dish. I will be going again!

This past weekend was the ultimate frisbee championship weekend. It was a lot of fun but very tiring, particularly on Saturday. It also marked the end of another season of ultimate (and therefore another summer). It's been an excellent season and I'm very happy how it went. Both of my regular team played excellent considering the conditions (sunny but windy). My Wednesday team tied for third (weird set-up) and my Tuesday team got fourth in a very hard fought bronze place game.

I have a few pictures that I will put up but I'm either playing or concentrating on the play that I never get pictures (or good ones). A teammate from my Wednesday team did get pictures and has posted them up on Flickr. And the great thing...I'm actually in the pictures (never happens, haha!)

Shoes and I went on a burger adventure yesterday. I have just been hankering a hamburger. A nice, juicy burger with chili and mayo... We tried to go to Red Top but apparently they close at 2 on Sundays. We then headed over to VJs which is literally a hole in the wall. You know that it's going to be a good burger when it comes in foil and you can't fully take it out otherwise it will fall apart! It was a lot of fun.

I enjoy these days where I get to go out on dates with Shoes. It's fun and it truly is what I imagined my grown up life would be like.

Smokie's, a photo by edgeandvertex on Flickr.

My dad, brother, and I went for lunch at this awesome poutine place. I love summer Thursday lunch days with my dad and bro!

It's August 1. That means summer is almost over soon and it's back to work in 17 days (well... going in for periods of time, I mean). I should be working now. In fact, I will be right after this post. I am going to go to Starbucks to do some work (the best way to start up again). I took some pictures at the beginning of the summer when Matt and I went for ice cream and I thought I would post them, just to remind me that, one, the summer isn't over and two, even if I'm working again, it's been an awesome summer.

*Edit: How spoiled do I sound?! "Oh, boo hoo, I have to work again..."  Yeesh! I guess that's what being a teacher is all about!