It’s been nice to have some time off before the new year.
It’s been an interesting transition back to full-time work -I’ve gotten used to it quickly. So yesterday, after being at home for over a week, I felt a little stir crazy and decided to go to Value Village to look for a glittery outfit to wear for a big BodyJam-a-thon happening on New Years Day (that”s a 2 hour dance class with my best dance friends!!!).
I’m a little into thrifting, keeping an eye out for an occasional little treasure. I am dedicated to decluttering, but when I see something a little different, I
Which I did! These cute little tapas plates, Royal Doulton, cost me $12 CAD.
Full retail price online is $79 on sale. Score!
Also, I found this:
Super cute, eh? A lady passed by me when I slipped it on in front of a mirror. She said “I love that!” A solid endorsement, glittery and under $7. SOLD!
This is the first New Year’s Eve in years that we are celebrating alone, just the two of us, in the longest time. Both kids are off with their friends. A quiet evening as a couple. A glass or two of wine and some bubbly to ring in 2026. I’m happy with that.
What is up for you this New Year’s Eve?
Trying not to think about shopping. I decided to do another workout today, baby steps.
The thing that crossed my mind though?
That blue is really nice – I wonder if Adidas is having a sale?
I don’t feature much about the most important person in my life.
He’s quite private, he’s low-key, very hard to buy for because he doesn’t like “stuff”, and the stuff that he does like, he is quite particular about.
He’s my husband, and we’ve been married over 30 years. (I won’t go into how old we were when we met, but I was around my daughter’s age. So that’s a while).
For his birthday earlier this month, we decided we’d go for a nice dinner just the two of us. The kids weren’t home for the holidays yet, and we hadn’t gone out alone as a couple to try a new restaurant in a while.
But what present to get him? Other than dinner? I couldn’t think of an actual gift.
On the morning of his birthday, as I waited for the coffee to finish brewing before I headed to work, I pulled out one of my blank cards. And I wrote him a note, from the heart, about all the things I don’t say to him every day. It was a love letter. The kind we used to write each other when we dated long-distance and saw each other only on weekends, sometimes several weeks in between, and sent things to each other via snail mail.
When you’re together as long as we’ve been, it’s so easy to forget that how you feel, what you say, what you don’t say, really matters. The writing was easy for me.
I left the envelope propped up next to the carafe, knowing he would see it as soon as he reached for the coffee – the first destination of every day. In fact, he often can’t entertain a conversation with me until he’s finished his first cup of java. Me – I’m a morning person. Him – not so much.
I got a text from him later around 10 AM. He loved the card. He thought it was sweet. It made him emotional.
Have you ever written a love letter?
1/I woke up early yesterday morning at 6 AM for an 8 AM Meeting. It was a Friday work from home day so I decided to have my first cup of coffee and watch my favourite morning TV, and guess what I see when the screen comes up?
This is getting old. When will we stop with this vicious “KAREN” stuff ?!!
2/ We met my daughter’s new boyfriend this week. He visited us as a pitstop on his way home, further north of us. It’s a fairly new relationship, so we were looking forward to his visit.
He’s a nice young man, very personable. I can see why my daughter likes him. He engaged in conversation well, was polite, helpful (he was baking with her, taking orders, they were in the kitchen when I ran into the house while rushing to take my next zoom meeting in my office…). He seems sweet in an “awshucks” kind of way. I just felt I had to give him a hug after shaking hands. Is that weird?
It was fun to see them in the back trying to build a snowman, which morphed into more of a snow fight. I was their age when my husband and I started dating. It’s early days, but we already like him much more than boyfriend number one. Granted, the bar has been set a little low, but this is a vast improvement. Their first Christmas together, things look promising.
They must be on a new level of trust – my daughter is pet sitting his pet tortoise while he’s away. She’s perfect for that – remember we’ve had fish, hamsters, our beloved Cody and pet rats Milo, Theo and Darwin in this house. Why not something pre-historic?
3/ So happy that my daughter is home for the holidays. She took the lead and we started decorating for Christmas:
3) Office holiday party – I haven’t been to a company party in a couple of years, it was nice to get to know colleagues on a more personal level. I was asked to provide a slide to describe myself, which was an invitation I’d been waiting for because as the internets know, I like to share and showcased a few selifes. I love selfies. We had a white elephant gift exchange and fun lunch and I sipped some rose prosecco with lunch.
4/ White Elephant gift ideas for our family Christmas.
Any good ideas? We’ve decided to go this way for our family too. Ages from 13 to 88. Should be a riot, can’t wait to see my Mom’s reactions. No filter.
5/My son got home at 1 AM this morning. Yay! My heart and my house are now full.
I am blessed.
6/ Meeting friends again this weekend to catch up.
Very lucky indeed.
What is up for you this weekend?
I learned some sad news today. Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series of Chick-lit, passed away.
I read “Confessions of a Shopaholic” when it came out in 2001. It was such a fun read, I was hooked, and promptly flew through the next few of the series, and another fun one outside of the series called “Can you Keep a Secret”.
Her books provided some wonderful moments for me when my son was young, when I had the time, just wanting to have a break from daily grind of being a working mom. By the time they made the movie based on her first book, I didn’t appreciate it as much (although Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy are very adorable)
I moved on from her books as I got older, but in 2024 heard about her dealing with glioblastoma, and read her book “What does it feel like” (my review in the link) which seemed autobiographical, about a famous writer dealing with cancer. It was poignant, as I thought about what she was going through, writing about it while she was battling her illness.
Although glioblastoma is a devastating cancer, she seemed to have survived beyond the typical prognosis, but still … she was only 55, an accomplished writer, wife, and importantly a mother of 5.
Heartbreaking.
Something new that my kids introduced me to – my 2025 Apple Replay – guess everything is being tracked, and although fairly accurate, I only listen to Apple in my car. So I suppose these are great driving songs. Let the music play…
I see a common theme here – GIRLS!
Beaches …
The Beaches … (so happy that these local girls are having a moment, after some tough years, they are now hitting the stratosphere!)
And of course, the return of the OG of Girlpower – Sarah – what a great album. She’s better than ever.
What did your replay sound like for 2025?
It really feels like December today. Got my cozy socks and pyjamas on; sitting by the (fake) fire, ready to take in a good movie. The Christmas holidays are a few short weeks away.
No mantle this year, though. We usually hang stockings, so this year we’ll have to be creative.
Christmas decorations will be pulled from storage, and I plan to start decorating this weekend.
Are you feeling it yet?
At a time 
Merry Christmas workout
Well, at least there’s a lot of red and green!
I haven’t been to the gym regularly in a good 3 weeks – first it was the awful cold that I couldn’t shake! Then I went back for a few classes which was wonderful. Until it wasn’t. My son noticed that I was favouring one foot, hobbling a little, the day he arrived home almost 2 weeks ago.
I tried to ignore it, and went to another couple of workouts. Bad idea. I was hobbling around at work for the last week, avoiding stairs. Icing and heating, and even some Chinese Woodblock rub on the top of my foot. Is it tendinitis? A ganglion? Bone spur? I Chatgpt’d the symptoms and the first thing that came up – “quite common for those who exercise and dance”. Bingo – but how annoying.
This won’t be a “woe is me” post – I decided to ease into some BodyPump classes online. I enjoyed doing a little workout, something to wake me up while awaiting the rest of the crew this Christmas morning.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!!