sick days

I haven't had a single flu, cold, virus or other sickness this whole winter and I was so proud of my immune system until last week. When you're working with toddlers it is easy to be contaminated with their sneezes, kisses, and little hands covered in saliva baring all sorts of lovely bacteria. The second day of work i woke up with an ominously sore throat. I stuffed myself with all the remedies i had in the house but i still got hit with a flu.

That first Friday i came home ready to throw myself into bed. Hunter had other plans, plans that involved delicious soup. He bought this Old Fashioned Beef Barley soup mix and the ground beef from our local butcher's, and had it slowly simmering on the stove when i walked through the door. I was so happy he found an equally comforting alternative to chicken noodle soup since i've found out i'm allergic to chicken.

The soup mix, Mitchell's, is made on The Island from local and organic ingredients. It's wildly popular in this area and i can see why. It was delicious and exactly what my tired body needed. Thank you Aunty K and family, I'm sure it tasted better because it was cooked in my gorgeous dutch oven!

Since then we've bought three more mixes (the butcher was having a sale): Fully Loaded Potato soup, Ginger Coconut Dahl, and West Coast Seafood Chowder. I'm excited for a rainy day when we can try them!

We drank obscene amounts of ginger, honey, lemon hot water and i was better in three days! Equal parts fresh chopped ginger, honey and freshly squeezed lemon juice in hot water and repeat until you're better. It also helps to have a warm body to snuggle and a good tv show/movies to watch.

I also tried the wet sock treatment on my landlord's recommendation and even though it felt weird the first night it wasn't that bad and i think it helped me speed through my flu. If you're interested, google it and you'll find lots of info! Socks need to be at least 90% cotton and wool, respectively. My cold socks weren't dripping wet and i didn't use any essential oils, but it seemed to help and my bed was completely dry the next morning.

What does your family do when someone's sick? Secret home remedies? Go-to cough syrup brands?
I hope you're all staying healthy.
xoxo, a+h

February through my phone

I promise I'll have a more substantial post up soon. Hunter decided he wanted to get more involved in the blog (yay) and so he'll edit the photos he and i have taken before i post them here. However, his schedule is crazy right now because of his job and that means no photo editing has happened yet. Soon though, i'll tell you all about what i've been making/doing with the many gifts i've received, I'll tell you all about our weekend in America where i celebrated my 21st (a little too much celebrating), what i'm doing academically this month, Hunter's new job, and other tidbits about our lives.

 

 

Pictured
1.  Lunch at Whole Foods before heading back to Squamish while we were moving all our stuff at the beginning of February- crazy more than a month has gone by of us living in our little Vancouver place!
2. The remnants of flour-less brownies. Make 'em with black beans and no one will know!
3. Planning dinners for the week.
4 & 5. Hunter and i at Bestie for my birthday dinner.
6. The Tuna Tataki lunch set at Basho cafe. The most adorable little family run cafe and it is so close to our house! We've already been there a few times and they just opened mid-February.


Not pictured
1. The bounty of gifts I received for my 21st.
2. Hunter getting a job!
3. Our trip to Bellingham.
4. Getting an internship!
5. Giving our landlords a cheque for our second month. Our lease here is month-to-month so every month they still want us to live here and we still want to live here is exciting.
6. Snow in Vancouver! The first day of our three day snow "storm." I miss real winter snow that is dry and sticks to the ground for months and makes the cold temperatures warranted. Also, snow makes winter brighter which makes me happier. Without snow winter is grey and flat.

January through my phone

Pictured
1. Getting groceries from the local "country market" in Squamish, On the Farm.

2. Double grilled cheese date night at Lucy's Diner. We went for the mini burgers with goat cheese, but they were out of mini buns so we got grilled cheese, it was ok. This grilled cheese foodtruck is so much better.

3. Having a delicious lunch of sausage (!) at Bestie with my siiister. Super adorable decor and such tasty German-inspired food. We didn't realize until afterwards when we checked out their website that we were served by the two owners! When we went to pay we pulled out our debit cards from our small town credit union and our server asked us if we were from Nelson! We were so surprised, turns out he is from Castlegar and recognized our cards. We later found out it was Dane, one of the owners. I'm definitely going back and chatting them both up.

4. I was talked into the icrecream sandwich at Bestie. Creamy vanilla icecream between two house-made ginger cookies. I was in heaven.

5. Hilarious sign in a bathroom. Suffice it to say, Beyonce's latest album has made me into a full blown fan.

6. Date night at Stepho's. Huge portions of yummy Greek food for a super reasonable price point, the cheapest drinks in Canada (also maybe the worst. I don't recommend the cocktails), and a bustling vibe on Davie St.

7. So excited to open this care package from Georgia on my last day of class.


Not pictured
1. New Years Eve in Nelson. We all went out to dinner and then Hunter and I fell asleep/succumbed to our food comas before we could head out and party with our friends. So embarrassing.

2. What felt like never ending house hunting, and then finally finding our little gem of an apartment.

3. My little brother turning 14. Fourteen! Having a life crisis because i can clearly remember me at fourteen and that was 7 years ago.

4. Packing up all my things to move to Vancouver on February 1st.

I hope you enjoyed my horrible cellphone pictures!

Care package 3.2

I am thankful for a lot of things in my life, the biggest would be my "network". The family and friends who are closest to me, who love and support me, and who show my how to live my life to the fullest.

I often take this network for granted, but when i receive something as full of love and personal attention as a care package, i have to stop and appreciate my situation.

Over the past three years Georgia has been sending me little (actually, often large) packages stuffed full of things that I've treasured: the latest package was delivered to Quest the day I was moving out.

Yes, most of that chocolate is gone.

I put this de-odor-cream on my feet this morning, we'll see how they smell tonight! I have high hopes that it'll be a wonder cream, my blundstones are beginning to smell a little funky. So far, i love the packaging and the smell is nice.

UPDATE: after walking around and traveling a bit today, my feet smell amazing! I saw the same product, but a different scent, on Kate's shelf (also c/o G) and I'm going to have to try that one tomorrow morning. I like it a lot as well, i love citrus scents.

Again, thank you Georgia for the thoughtful packages, and thank you to all who love and support me!

*G, if you don't want me writing about my next package, lemme know and i wont!*

The apartment: pt 1

I went a little picture crazy, but i just wanted to show it off! I love it, Hunter loves it, and it is very slowly but surely beginning to feel like OUR place.

One of the last jars of canned cherries i made a couple summers ago. Georgia, do you think they're still ok? I was hoping to give a jar to our landlords!

The kitchen. Mamma, notice the dish dryer we got with the Cottonwood gift card? I love it. It is the perfect size for our dishes and is so aesthetically pleasing. Georgia, I've been finishing up the bottle of Prairie Doctor tonic you sent me a while ago- the stress of moving is making my throat tickle.

 

I know it's dorky to have a picture if our food shelf... but i get to post whatever i want on here :)

I snipped the labels you wrote Georgia, and tapped them to my little containers!

The best salt IN THE WORLD. Thank you Mamma!

Our big soaker tub. I love it. Paired with the bath salts/bombs 

Georgia's given me = relaxation at it's best.  Hunter's a bigger fan of baths than I am,

he's particularly stoked on the lavender bath salts.

Love love love the citrus one. Thanks G, i'm still using the refill bottle you got me.

The best (and worst) part about our apartment? The heat is radiant, meaning the floors are heated. All of them. all the time. Really heated. We don't control our own heat, so sometimes it's lovely and toasty, and sometimes its more like a sauna and less like an aparmtnet in February.

I don't want to overload you all with pictures, so I'll give you glimpses into our living room and bedroom soon! Also, the internet is still a snail and uploading pictures to my blog practically crashes my computer. Ah, the woes of the 21st century.
Take a look at us moving in.

Hope you're all enjoying February, lots of love from us, xo.