My Weekly Adventures #50

The big 5-0 for My Weekly Adventures. With my sporadic pieces, this really doesn’t mean anything much.

However, with the change of some key elements and the situation plaguing me lately, it become apparent that this little serious and important hobby (that I want to believe is much more) will have to have definite changes. I’m sure you’ve all already noticed obvious but gradual changes going on here. You can head to the serious talk at the end and I’ll explain everything there.

Rainy Boucherville 15K 

Boucherville 15K for my friend ended up landing on Labor Day weekend, which coincidentally was the day that the tail end of Hurricane Harvey hit Canada which really was just heavy rains. It was definitely a milestone for my friend mostly because he’s always been fortunate to not have to deal with rain at any of his races. Maybe misty drizzle but never full on downpour. I am very grateful that we didn’t get the whole deal because looking at the devastation in Texas and the disaster Hurricane Harvey did just breaks my heart and my best wishes extend to everyone that has been affected by it. And also to those people affected by Irma as well.

Dreamhack Montreal 2017

Game Warp was incredibly lucky to get our press pass for Dreamhack Montreal 2017. Our focus was definitely on the indie game zone. However, its a great opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and check out the competitions and e-sports things. A definite eye opener experience. If you missed the quick coverage post which was really just a video I compiled. You can find it below. Its short and sweet, hopefully.

Brunch with Friends

Things really don’t get better than hanging out with my girlfriends. We had brunch which was great because of the company. The food at this place honestly isn’t anything special especially when their selection of tea is still just Red Rose. We ended up spending a good part of the afternoon together just window shopping as one of us has also recently become a homeowner so furniture and fixture shopping are in progress.

Serious Talk & Decisions

Its been a few weeks that I’ve been talking about personal stuff bothering me. Just talking about my current situation. I don’t believe in anyone having to help me solve my problems since they are my own. With that said, the big issue looming over our heads have been of the home renovation variety, notably our roof. For other homeowners (or anyone whose been in a house), its something we know very well that these things that cover up our houses and shelter us from all kinds of stuff is really expensive to replace. While I’ve figured out my financials for now, its obvious that there’s a whole lot of cutting of expenses. I’ve been gradually anticipating this renovation and been changing my spending habits. For the most part, its been successful however this renovation came earlier than we expected so now, it has become even stricter about everything. Although, I have already been doing a lot of things to save up like working mostly with Netflix and digging through my TBR books and existing unplayed games for Game Warp.  Its one of the reasons why I’m also incredibly grateful that I’ve gotten the press pass for Montreal Comiccon and Fantasia Festival and lately Dreamhack.  Tranquil Dreams isn’t going anywhere. We just adapt and change to the current situation.

Game Warp will also be a huge focus in my life. We are also very lucky to meet certain people in our Game Warp gaming life. If you are into gaming, go and give our friend Slay aka Insomnia Knights a follow on Twitter and/or subscribe to his Youtube channel. Slay has been a fantastic friend to us and helped us out a ton even if he doesn’t know it. Meeting a lot of great individuals is one of those incredibly rewarding things about being in this online space and it motivates me to keep going.

With that said, while the roof situation seems to be getting some kind of resolution, another huge decision has come to light. This week has been a constant wrestle with making what is the right thing to do. I talked about it last weekend. While the factors have changed a little, the fact of it coming up has really made me consider what is the best way for this. With that said, I’m still pondering it however its something I’ll have to decide and conclude one way or another on my own. Because being in constant emotional dilemma is just not something I’m okay with (probably no one is).

However, this week’s posts has been light and easy so I’ve managed to keep up but I apologize again and in advance if ever things do fall behind again. I’m trying my absolute best 🙂

Cute Kitty Pic

Upcoming:

• TV Binges
• Double Features
• Fun One-Shot segments

Hopefully you are all doing fantastic!
This wraps up this Weekly Adventures!
I’m honestly hoping next one will be less “adventure” and more tranquility.
Sleep deprivation and stress is really not doing me any good…

The Progression of the Ongoing Snowstorm…

Today, I feel a need to take a slight detour from normal programming to show you all the monster snowstorm that we haven’t seen in quite a while. Talk about winter going out in full-on style.

Here’s last evening when I left work. Thanks to changing our clocks the weekend before, there is still light.

Here’s when I finally made it back near my place.

Last night we shoveled the driveway once and I didn’t capture any of it. But this is what we woke up to…and theres my husband shoveling and you can’t see but our darling neighbor eventually lent us his snowblower to get rid of the few feet of snow we had.

And now..back to that (almost) same shot when I left work but this morning getting back to the office…

The storm is still going on right now so I’m not exactly sure when it is supposed to stop. I heard it should some time today.

Were you hit with this storm?

My Weekly Adventures: Christmas Prep and Decorations (plus a new DIY skill)

C’mon! You knew this weekly adventures was all about Christmas 😉

What other time would I be able to, right? This year, I actually got my house decorated earlier than two days before Christmas.  Last year, we took so much time looking for decorations and ribbons and beads to decorate the tree that it took us 3 weeks to get it all done. This year, I did my shopping on Black Friday weekend and took care of mostly everything.  We did the outdoor decorations just this past weekend and its also the reason why I only did the update now.  Plus, we’re right on track! Remember 1st and 15th from last post where I was going to attempt this new schedule for Weekly Adventures segment? Right on time! 😉

Its these little achievements that make me happy!

I’ve rambled enough! Let’s talk Christmas! 🙂

1) Christmas decorations around Montreal!

Le Atrium @ 1000 de la Gauchetiere West

Place Ville Marie

Restaurant Costa Del Sole

I know I know…its so little.  I haven’t really had a lot of wandering adventures yet. At least not a lot of new decorations so I’ve already talked about it in previous years.

2) Salon des Metiers d’arts de Montreal (aka Montreal Arts and Crafts Show)

I go to this show every year. I’ve probably talked about it before and showed you my purchases.  The show seems to be getting smaller and smaller but this year, there was quite a few new vendors and they had some rather awesome new products.  We usually go for the foods, snacks, wines and ice cider varieties. Mostly because those are great for parties and gifts for family and friends. This year, I had set a budget and it got me this loot right here (plus a co-gift for my chiropractor which is not shown here).

Starting from the top left to right and next row, here are the items:

• Des Glaces, Ice Cider, Cidrerie du Minot
• Cidre du Feu, Fire Cider, Union Libre
• Bise d’Automne, Vendages Tardives (“late harvest”)/dessert wine, Domaine du Ridge
• Cidre Feu, Fire Cider, Domaine Labranche
• Peppermint Bark, BLINK Chocolate
• Honey and Almond Soft Nougat/Lavender Soft Nougat, La Nougaterie
• Champagne Lychee & Cranberry Jelly, Nutra-Fruit
• Shortbread: Sugar Plum, Almond and Sugared Rose, Pecan, Coach House Shortbread Company

Ice Cider is kind of a Montreal thing.  Quebec has a ton of apple orchards and a bunch of them will also produce ice ciders.  As of last year, Fire Ciders came onto the market from Union Libre and I just loved it.  That’s why it was on my hit list for this year’s show.  Much to my surprise though, Domain Labranche is a new vendor and has this product too except they chose to give us a second option of trying it heated it.  He described it like drinking Sake.  Now, I’m not a fan of sake because its too strong for me but this one tastes absolutely fantastic.  As I drank it, I could picture heating this up, stirring it with a sprig of rosemary or thyme or cinnamon stick (as he suggested to us), and sitting by the fireplace while watching an awesome movie.  Look, if your product can give me a vivid image like that, I just couldn’t refuse getting it. Blink Chocolate is dark chocolate and lactose free and it taste so good.  Its good for little tastes of dessert. As for La Nougaterie, I just love their products.  Last year, I was introduced to Coach House Shortbread and I gave all of them away.  This year, its going to be also a little dessert with tea or coffee or something like that.  It’ll be so awesome.

I’m loving my purchases so far.  This year, there’s not so much about gifts but thinking about how to be a great host for the Christmas party.  I think I’m set! 😉

3) Christmas decorations at my place!

Last year, we just bought the house and I hadn’t moved in yet so all we did was put up a Christmas tree.  This year, since I’m around, I stepped it up.  We took two weekends or so to decorate.  The first to go up was the Christmas tree and some little decorations, then I made a new wreath (I’ve already shown you my other wreath last year so I’ll skip that), and finally some outdoors decorations we set up this past weekend!

Berry Sprigs with Color Lights in a Vase

New Wreath: Blue and White theme

Inflatable Santa with his little companions, Polar Bear and Snowman

Its always nice when plans happen to work out. I still have one more garland to put along my inside stairwell.  I also showed that last year. I have a little bit of rearranging for that one before putting it up.  We’re still debating whether to wrap a ribbon around the Christmas tree.  Those outdoor setup looks really nice. Our area is all about side entrances so no one uses their front doors.  Its a little weird but hey, Santa’s guarding it for me 😉 And my fave goes to my husbands idea of having a few layers of lights on the bay window: clear lights surrounded with a backdrop of blue lights.  I love it! 🙂

As for the last minute addition right before sitting down to draft this post, its the book shelf.  Its newly installed and I just arranged all the TBR books that I own, so the bookworm in me felt like it deserved a little decoration. I guess its also a sneak peek of next year’s reading list, if you can see the titles 😉

4) Making Ribbons the FIRST TIME! 🙂

As you can see that I made a new wreath up there, I had to learn how to make a ribbon.  Last year, I was super lucky and one of my girl friends made it for me.  Hers was much more complex and its on my older wreath thats also hung up somewhere else.  But, I just had to make one this year so I chose that simpler model and found a link on Pinterest that I followed.

Here’s the zoomed in version of the bow:

DIY Bows for Wreath

Pinterest instructions: http://lizoncall.com/2014/09/17/how-to-make-a-big-bow/

Its not perfect, but its my first shot and took me like 20 minutes or something to get it looking fairly balanced.  I’m starting to think it looks a little oversized for my little wreath.  But hey, for a first time, I think I did decent. I’ll give it another shot next year and maybe change to another ribbon if I have to 🙂

5) What is going on with the Weather!?!?!

Its more of a thought than an adventure but I don’t know about all of your whereabouts since I’m guessing it varies but we had one little sprinkle of snow so far and all we’ve gotten was rain.  Last Friday, it was 15 degrees Celsius! That’s a little crazy for being in winter and all.  For my guests sake, I really don’t want to have a storm on Christmas day but I would like to see some snow on the ground by then.  Maybe its just me being Canadian…

The best part however is that the mild weather gave me a chance to go out this past weekend and clear out the rest of my pots on my patio that I didn’t get a chance to do before.  And guess what I found: mint growing in my garden…. Its December and my mint thinks its still okay to grow.  Yikes! Mojito anyone?

6) Upcoming: CHRISTMAS!

You know what? Its Christmas month pretty much with a few days of like after Christmas posts and before New Year’s wrapping up the year posts for that last week.  That’s what you’ll be expecting here.  I wrapped up the first round of Netflix.  The Random Chat Show also kicked off our Christmas Show. I have a few movies planned but this year, I want to get back to DIY crafts and baking so it’ll be a mixed bag.  I’ll have a few really overdue book reviews and extra posts going up that I promised I’d do. My guess is the next weekly adventures I’ll get to talking about plans for next year and 2015 recap and all that good stuff. I still can’t believe there’s only 16 days and 2015 ends! Its a little crazy!

FINALLY…

To wrap it all up, an adorable and somewhat hilarious video of NHL Montreal Canadiens doing a rendition of Frozen’s “Let It Go”.

Happy Tuesday, my lovelies! 🙂

How Running With Me Looks Like and Challenge updates

A mid week workout update? Just to show you how sporadic things are over here. I’ve been working hard to get all those posts I promised to bloggers on top of that. Lets hope I clear some stuff off my to-do list this weekend, while having family visit and fixing the house and trying to finish up a work deadline, oh, and those darling income taxes. Maybe thats why I’m writing about working out because thats been the most calming time.  I don’t even need music to do it anymore.

As of the last post, the weather has been ridiculous.  For one, we had a snowfall with a bit of accumulation last week so forget about my following that Walker to Runner routine.  I had my first run two weekends ago because it was lovely weather and being the amateur I was, I went out running in a sweater and man, I heated up so quick. I did for a short 3km walk/run in the early evening. On that same day, I came home and did Day 1 of the Beach Body Challenge!

Today, I just finished Day 12! A little recap on progress.  I’m starting to really feel how I haven’t been training doing push ups in a while so even 30 is slightly hitting hard, but I know I’m improving.  Bicycles, crunches and planks are all just testing my abs and its muscular endurance.  So far its been pretty good.  2 mins planks near the slightly shaky phase.  I’m not a huge fan of tricep dips as they are my weakness so its good to get back into doing those, same goes for wall squats.  I can’t imagine Day 14 coming up and I have to do a minute of those.  Burpees are pretty tough too.  I never had to do 50 in one go so thats the biggest challenge.  Aside from that, I like the cardio inserts with butt kicks, skaters, jumping jacks and high kicks.  Tiring and refreshing at the same time 🙂 So far, it seems that I feel like its a bit more promising on me completing this. Thats already a pretty good start!

 

As the weather warmed up and the snow went away, rain stopped falling and chilly winds moved away a little, Saturday cleared up and it was a lovely day.  I mean, it was a no jackets day pretty much or have a jacket but don’t zip up type of day.  After all the house errands were done, it was early afternoon and I went out for a quick jog and to get some images in for the #RunWithMe event thats going on in Tribesports.  I sent them in and here’s my GIF that defines me as a runner.  Credits to my boyfriend for being a champ and walking behind me and snapping random shots 🙂

 

Isn’t that pretty cool? Now, what is your running story?

Maybe you’d like to join into the Run With Me campaign and get your own little GIF to motivate yourself and other runners. Click on the image to get the instructions on where to send your images and they’ll do this for you 🙂 Other than my best friend and my boyfriend, Tribesports has been immense at keeping me motivated with everything.  If you are on Tribesports, add me! By the way, thats my Twitter contact there but I’m @kimtranquildreams on TS community 😉

I’ve only done two jogs in 10 days but thats already better than last year’s 2 jogs in 3 months. I’m really seeing the appeal of it.  I’m ver much still a beginner at this and I’ll figure out what works best for it but no doubt, its a amazing feeling and I look forward to training to be a better runner. As the weather warms up and my lungs can deal better with it, I’ll be getting a bit more intense.  Right now, I’ll take it a little easier and build up slowly 🙂

Things are definitely getting back on track with my work out motivation after a month of break.  I’m ready to take on this summer!

Here’s to running more and building a better balanced lifestyle.  Its only the first step. I’ll be back in 2 weeks with another update probably! 🙂

What are your workout strengths and weaknesses? Are you a runner? Are there exercises you absolute love or hate doing?

Let it Snow!

I’m trying to get through this Christmas marathon and the weather now is starting to cooperate. We had snow (and rain) coming into this week.  This evening and tomorrow should have actual workable fluffy snow, at least I keep hoping for that.  Its the main reason why the winter photography has slowed down.  However, last weekend, I did step outside without a coat at my front door and snapped a picture that I liked of the drifting snow.

I wish to have the feeling of fluffy snow covering every corner of the lawns and the pavement.  Opening my eyes to a brighter sky in the middle of the night just by its reflection is one of the best feelings of winter.

 

For now, I’ll take this! While I wait for the probably storm coming tonight.  Tomorrow its the Chinese Winter celebration, so with snow, it’ll just complement it.

Anyone out there have more luck with snowy weather? Do you like snow? Or maybe you prefer rain?