Life Right Now

Sometimes my husband and I go out to eat on our Date Night, other times I make a homemade vegan pasta carbonara and we have Date Night at home. Pasta, a glass of red wine and Pumpkin spice kettle corn for dessert equals an awesome Date Night in my world!

July and October are my favorite months of the year! I love enjoying the beauty of nature and going for bike rides in October. This is one of my favorite places to take a break in the middle of my workout and just enjoy the peace and quiet for a little while.

Going for an evening walk along the beach is another hobby of mine that I treasure in October.

October also means that I get to enjoy Pumpkin Spice Muffins as a sweet snack every week.

In between my sweet snacks I eat boring but healthy snacks like crackers with roasted garlic hummus dip.

On a rainy and cold Fall weekend I love staying indoors in my favorite home clothes; sweatpants and my husband's t-shirt. I light candles around the house and enjoy reading books or Home Decor magazines. Life is good!

The Workout

It's been rainy all week long but yesterday the sun came back out. I needed to walk to my Women Connect meeting in the morning so I was very happy about the perfect timing for this beautiful sunny day. After Women's Connect I decided to do a biking workout because days like these don't happen all the time, it's best to make the most out of them when they arrive. It was +24 degrees outside yesterday and clear blue skies, beautiful weather for a 60 min bike ride.

I went biking along the lakefront of Lake Ontario as usual, it's my very own "Day Spa".

Halfway through my workout I stopped to rest and drink lots of water on the beach. I also read one of the devotions in "A Fresh Infusion of Joy" by Sheila Walsh.

As it was time to head back home I felt very grateful for this enjoyable workout. Today my legs are soar so it seems like the workout served it's purpose, it gave me new physical strength and I got an opportunity to relax my mind and enjoy the nature around me. Today it's rainy and colder outside again so I'm glad I took the opportunity to enjoy the day yesterday.

Walks in nature help me relax

Ever since I moved to Toronto six years ago walks in nature have become one of my favorite ways to relax. I strive towards getting 2-3 nature walks into my schedule each week. Time spent in nature helps me stay balanced and feeds my soul.

My husband and I dream of buying kayaks one day. I feel like going kayaking together would be a fun and relaxing way to spend time together as a couple. I doubt we will prioritize buying the kayaks this year but it is fun to dream about the future, for now we will stick to nature walks, biking and hiking.

The Toronto Islands

One fun thing to do in Toronto in the fall is to take the ferryboat out to the islands just outside of Toronto. The view of the Toronto skyline is beautiful from the islands. The lineup to the ferryboats tend to be very long in the summer but in the fall you can get out there more quickly and enjoy spending the day strolling in the parks on the islands. My husband and I had a very nice day on the islands last week, we enjoyed the parks, the sun and the warm weather. The only minus was that there were a lot of bees flying around.

Just when we were about to head back to the ferryboats I felt some pain in my stomach. I lift up my sweater and on my stomach sits a bee that had managed to crawl up under my sweater and sting me. Unbelievable!! I mutter something like: "I'm SO ready for winter to come now, I can't wait for the day when all these bees will DIE!" We take the ferryboat back to downtown and enjoy spending the rest of the day around skyscrapers and people with no insects in sight. I love spending time in nature and I love the city!