Camping at Sauble Beach

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. This weekend I went to Sauble Beach in Ontario Canada. I have gone there for camping once before with my family and it was good to be back. We were camping from Friday August 16th, to Sunday August 18th. It was my parents, my sister and both our partners came along too. We used two campsites beside each other and had three tents and a kitchen tent. It is always a lot of fun spending time together camping and it is a trip I look forward to each summer. We have been going as a family for over 20 years now. It is so nice to be outside in nature and just sitting reading magazines and books,and chatting. The food was so good too. My mom and dad prepared shrimp and potato and onions and mushroom with salad the first night, a veggie hot dog for lunch the next day and a veggie burger for dinner. My dad made scrambled eggs for breakfast Sunday morning. Both mornings we had coffee that my dad made on the Coleman stove. That is very appreciated and it is nice that we still can have our coffee in the morning.

 We went to the beach on Saturday and it was such a beautiful day and we were happy to have a hot and sunny day that we could go to the beach and enjoy it. Many years camping at Craigleith in Collingwood, Ontario we did not get really nice weather to go to the beach and would go when it was cloudy and cool but this year we felt more inspired to go into the water and jump with the waves and just enjoy the day.

Sauble beach

Messy hair don't care

Liam and I got a new tent from Canadian tire for this year for the trip. It is a Coleman 6-person tent and it held up really well on our first night through the thunderstorm. I was really happy with how spacious it was compared to our 3 person tent we had been using before and that was too small for Liam as he is pretty tall!

Our big red tent in the distance

My parents getting breakfast ready and their tent

We went to check out the Sauble Falls and they are so nice and it was peaceful there. There were a lot of people walking in the falls and jumping off to swim which we thought was dangerous to do. In my opinion the falls should just be enjoyed at a distance and not be a swimming pool for people.

Sauble Falls

Sauble Falls

My dad getting shots of the falls

My sister and I snapping selfies 

I didn't bring my knitting with me on the trip which was odd for me I just did not get organized soon enough. I brought my book I am currently reading The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory and it was the perfect book to bring on the trip as it is so fun and light and keeps me interested in what happens next.

How is your summer going?

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!

Vacation in Myrtle Beach, Knitting Updates, and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I just got back from a week long trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We stayed at the Sheraton Broadway Plantation resort with Liam's family. It was so fun and I enjoyed going down to the pool every morning and especially enjoyed the lazy river. It was so hot and humid each day but I got used to it by the end of the trip and just going to the pool and spending time in the air conditioning on and off. I really feel like I needed this trip right now because after starting the new position at my company I hadn't really taken a break and this was the perfect trip for some rest and relaxation.

I also got quite a bit of knitting done on the spiral sock I started while down there. I knitted a lot in our room and on the balcony at the resort and also knit by the pool. I am using the Patons spiral socks pattern and it is such a good sock project for me to take on vacation because it is simple and fun to knit. I also love how the sock is turning out with the self striping yarn. The yarn I am using is Patons Kroy sock yarn with 3.25 mm bamboo double pointed needles. Click here to see my notes on the socks on Ravelry. I also finished knitting the second dishcloth I mentioned in the last blog post. I will share the finished dishcloth in my next post.

Knitting by the pool = the best

Knitting on our balcony with a refreshing drink

I had a great time going to the pool, going on shopping trips and Target especially, spending time with family, and mini putting.

Didn't win but had fun!

Golf shark.. he beat me!

Enjoying drinks from our pineapple glasses at Sweet Carolina's at Broadway at the Beach

Selfie at Broadway at the Beach

Every morning breakfast on the balcony, my favorite

I finished reading A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult. I really enjoyed this book because it was really focused on the controversial issue of abortion and the two sides of the argument on the topic. It also explained the position from both pro-choice and pro-life activists. Jodi Picoult explains at the end of the book that she interviewed both pro-choice and pro-life to understand their perspectives in order to write this book and also witnessed actual abortions, she really researched for the book and took this important topic seriously.
I started reading The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory while I was on vacation. It is such a cute and fun book so far. I am enjoying reading about the topic of weddings as well because my wedding is next year and I am getting excited.

What are you working on and reading right now?

Joining along with Ginny over at Small Things for her monthly Yarn Along.

Have a great day!

Trip to New York City and a Few WIPs

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. My boyfriend and I recently went on a five day tip to New York City. It was so fun to see the sights and eating at different restaurants. I met up with my friend who was also going to New York at the end of the week. I thought I would share some photos from our trip below and also some photos of the knitting projects I am working on will be right at the end of the photos.

There was a sculpture called the LOVE sculpture at W 55th St & 6th Avenue and people were actually lining up to get photos in front of the sign. Of course we had to get in line to get this photo too.

Photo of us infront of the LOVE sculpture.

On our first day in New York City we took this photo while in Times Square. It was so hot that day and so busy! It was fun looking around and ducking into stores for air conditioning every so often.

Liam and I before hopping on the ferry to go to visit the statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

 We went to a great pizza place called PN Wood Fired Pizza on 2 W 28th St. The photo I took is dark and not so great but the pizza was delicious!

 We had to visit the Statue of Liberty and I am always amazed and look up in awe every time I see her. This time we walked around the grounds with audio devices so we learned a lot about the beginnings of the statue of liberty and the impact she has had.

 Liam and I in front of the New York City skyline. It is so beautiful and it was such a perfect day for taking the ferry and being by the water.

 We went to pay respects to those who died on September 11th, 2001. We went to ground zero and went up to both of the fountains. I really looked at some of the names and took in the huge loss of all of those individuals who died. There were some paper flowers placed into some of the names and I read on a plaque that when it is their birthday, carnations are placed on their names to celebrate them which is so sweet.

We went to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. This was a highlight to the trip for me. I really enjoyed going through the museum which was built underground and there were still some remains of the building structure intact way down there and a supportive wall to help block water from damaging the World Trade Center towers. When you are down there, you really stop and think of how many lives this affected and how surreal it all still is that this was a place where people went to work everyday and it lingered with me the rest of the day. When we took the subway back afterwards, I thought of the people who took the subway home after working at the World Trade Center everyday who are no longer with us. The photo below was my favorite artifact and has graffiti on it and photos of firemen who died. It was a remaining support beam from the wreckage.

 Later that night we went to meet up with my friend who was also in New York City on vacation visiting a friend. We went for dinner at Beyond Sushi on 229 E 14th St. This is a vegan sushi place. It was very good. We ordered sushi rolls and dumplings to share.

 We went to Central Park on our last full day in the city and it was so nice to walk around and look at nature.

 We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of the highlights was the room where they displayed fashion and gowns. This one stood out to me and so many others snapping photos of her. The dress is gorgeous and the gold headpiece was amazing and love the wings. The photo below was a wedding dress by John Galliano of the House of Dior.

 On our final day in New York, we went to the Nintendo store. I really enjoyed going there because I have always enjoyed playing Mario games growing up and today.

This DK looks like he wants to start a fight with my boyfriend, and that kid on the stairs is cute

Toadstool and Luigi!

 For my knitting, I have really been enjoying knitting the first finger-less mitten and loving how easy and fast I can knit it up. It has been perfect company for when I am binge watching The Handmaid's Tale.

 I have not worked on the decadent sock since the last post. I will be working on it more this week.

I finished knitting the two pieces of the tank top by Wool and the Gang. I have to sew the seams together to complete the top.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend so far and have a great day! 

Weekend in Montreal, Dining and Sightseeing

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I just got back last night from a wonderful trip to Montreal with my boyfriend. We spent the weekend eating delicious food, sightseeing, and catching up with an old friend of mine. Visiting Montreal is like going to a second home because I grew up in the west-island in Quebec and my family and I made many trips to Montreal over the years when I was growing up. Whenever we go to Quebec to visit family and friends, we also make a stop in Montreal and get some dinner or look around. It means so much more to me now that I got to spend more time just being a tourist in the city and taking it in, whereas when we usually come to visit, we only spend a couple of hours in Montreal to fit it into our plans as we are only there for a few days on our visits. We stayed at The Sandman in Longueuil because it was close to the metro and it was available at a good price. We really enjoyed our stay, the room was comfortable and clean, and we had a good time there. Being a metro ride from the city also encouraged us to see how the metro was in Montreal which neither one of us had explored.

First day: 

We traveled from Toronto on the VIA Rail train, leaving at 11:30 am and we arrived at around 5 pm. This travel took most of our day, but we made the most of our evening in Montreal once we got there. We got downtown and looked around while on our way to eat dinner.

Old Montreal

Walking to Modavie

Charming building in Chinatown

 We first walked past the Notre-Dame Basilica and the architecture of the church is so beautiful. I read online that Celine Dion got married there. It is beautiful on the inside from photos I looked at online. We did not go in this time, but hopefully I do at some point on another trip there.

Notre-Dame Basilica

At the front steps of the church, and people lining up to get a tour of the inside

We had made a reservation at a wonderful restaurant called Modavie. I had found this restaurant online and it looked like it would be nice to go to. We made a reservation for 8:15 pm and we got seated at our table with excellent service right away. I loved the ambiance and the live jazz music playing in the background was so enjoyable. It was someone's birthday there and the singer sang happy birthday to them and I thought it was so beautiful and that it would be so nice to spend a birthday celebration at a place like that. We ordered a charcuterie plate to start which was a lot of food for the two of us but so delicious. I ordered a seafood linguine dish that was so delicious. My boyfriend ordered the lamb burger with fries and really enjoyed his meal. 

Dinner at Modavie: Seafood linguine and the Modavie Punch 

After dinner, we walked to the harbor and watched a video being projected onto a wall. This resembled projections at night we had seen in Ottawa and Dominican Republic. My favorite has to be in Ottawa when a video about Canada's history was being projected onto the Parliament building.  We took some photos and enjoyed the beautiful weather. There were a lot of people around there and things going on. It was fun to just walk around there and enjoy the evening.

Display left over from Canada's 150th birthday! I was also here that weekend

Second day: 
I was in love with this view in the morning from our hotel window at the Sandman. It is such a perfect view of Montreal.

I loved this view!

We went to Terrasse Place D'armes for lunch. It is a beautiful outdoor restaurant tucked away on a terrace on 8th floor of the hotel. It was a beautiful view, overlooking part of old Montreal and it was a perfect day to be out on the terrace, the sun was shining and it was warm. I ordered the pulled pork poutine and my boyfriend ordered a burger and fries. I loved the poutine there, it was so delicious. 

My view from our table, facing Notre-Dame Basilica

Then we walked around old Montreal, went into some shops, and then got some ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. As we were eating we watched a performer stepping up on a ladder with swords sticking into it. He had the crowd engaged but did not too a lot of acts, more talking we thought than anything. 

Then we went on the Metro to St. Catherine's St.West to shop. We did not to do much shopping while there on the second day more just walking to see what was there and Simon's was closed that day so we went back the next day. After 6 pm, we met up with a childhood friend of mine downtown and went to Cafe Parvis for dinner. It was a lovely place, there were plants up towards the ceiling hanging down and it had a very relaxed atmosphere. I didn't take any photos while there but the pizza I had was so delicious. I ordered the cresson pizza that was topped with tomatoes, avocado, sour cream with green onions, jalapeno vinaigrette, and feta. It was so delicious, I will need to go back there again. It was so nice meeting up with my friend we all had a good time. 

Day Three: 

The third day we went to Dunn's restaurant which is famous for their smoked meat sandwiches. They were so delicious and we ordered a poutine on the side as well. My dad said the cheesecake was so good there too, but  we will have to order it  next time, because we were too full after our big lunch.

 The rest of the time we walked around St. Catherine's street again and I popped into Simons and this is probably one of my new favourite stores now because I loved everything in there and wish I could bring it all home. I can't wait to go back there and shop some more. We picked up our luggage from storage and got onto our train for the 4:40 pm departure and got home to Toronto around 9:50 pm. I did some knitting on the train ride and finished knitting my first sock which I will share with you tomorrow. I really liked the train rides to and from Montreal because it gave me so much time to knit and read.

Working away on the sock

The trip to Montreal was wonderful as always and I can't wait to go back. There are so many more places to explore and if we had more time I might want to go up Mount Royal, I have been up there with my family it is such a beautiful view of Montreal. I think it would be a lovely place to visit in the Autumn when the leaves are changing colors. Have you been to Montreal before? if so what were some of your favorite restaurants or places to visit?

Thank you so much for visiting my blog, I hope this inspires you to check out Montreal some time! If you would like to keep updated on when I post on my blog, please follow me on Bloglovin' and Google Followers!

Have a great day!