One of my favourite parts of blogging is the journaling aspect for me. I love to go back and revisit my more personal posts. I wanted to bring back my life update type posts. Yes, I'm working from home and life has slowed down quite a bit but at the end of the day, life is still happening. This morning was freezing, taking my son to school. It was -27 degrees celsius, and you know it's cold when the snow under your feet is crunching as you walk. If you live in a cold climate, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This cold is sticking around for a few more days, I believe. 

One of my goals for 2021 was to get back into blogging. I've been a blogger since 2009, my first blog was strictly book reviews and then I branched out to beauty reviews and now I'm somewhere in the middle. I still love both of those niches, but I want to include more lifestyle too. Be more creative in the content that I share, and allow readers to know who the blogger is behind the posts. 

This week I was really thinking about how life has changed since the pandemic. We haven't gone to eat inside of a restaurant for almost a year. Even when cases were low, we did take out or had it delivered. My husband brought home some Timbits (donut holes) for my son and he was so excited, he hadn't seen them in so long. It really made me think of how we use to frequently sit down at the Tim Horton's at the mall and go to these places on the weekend. We had no idea how these little things in life would be soon gone. I'm sure many of these things will eventually come back, especially with the vaccine being rolled out but life is still very different. You start to appreciate those smaller joys in life and I do appreciate the slowed-down life that we are currently living.

My downtime has been consisting of mostly reading- if I'm going to be more specific here; it's reading in my comfy chair with a heated blanket while my husband watches tv. After my son goes to bed, I love this time that we have together. I'm so happy that hockey has come back this season. It's that little bit of entertainment that we need. As for books, I finished Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, and it was amazing. So unique and well written. I'll be reviewing this one shortly. I'm currently reading How The Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior and the characters drew me in, right from the first few pages. I don't see how I won't love this book. As for shows, I'm not really watching anything. I did binge-watch the Bridgeton series on Netflix during the Christmas break. Yes, I loved it and I can't wait for a second season. I actually jumped into the book series and read the second book. I'll probably continue with the books throughout the year. I'm not much of a historical fiction romance reader but I do like romance reads when I'm in the mood for them. 

If you know me, you'll know I have a basset hound named Watson. He will steal anything he can reach. He will stretch his whole body, and jump real fast to get it. He will watch and wait until the perfect opportunity presents itself. This week he stole my entire basket of strawberries off the counter. These were the nicest strawberries that I was able to find all winter, and he had no regrets. None. If you know how hard it is to find nice strawberries in the middle of winter, you'll know how much this made me sad. It took me a few days to get over the fact that he stole them... Since I started working from home, this dog is so spoiled and very needy. 

I did receive my monthly subscription to The Dollar Tea Club. I really love their teas. They don't have added sugars or stevia. Each month, I receive three samples for 1$ and $4.50 is the flat rate shipping costs. I also added a full-size pouch of the Cookies and Cream, this is one of their newer teas and it's SO good. Caramel Corn is a new favourite and I added 2 pouches to my next order. You can add them to your subscription, so they ship with your samples or you can order them separately. It just depends if you're willing to wait for the subscription to ship out, and you don't have to pay for shipping a second time. I usually will add them to my next order, and wait. I do have a referral code if you're interested. It will give you 1$ off, and you will just have to pay to ship the samples. The code is REFZTPNTJUWG5. They are Canadian but also ship to the US. You can go to their site here.

I think that wraps up my weekly post, I sat down to write and didn't think I had anything to say. It's always like that. I hope you're doing well, if you're currently in a lockdown area, I hope you're coping well. It's not easy, but we're almost at the year mark and we do see light at the end of the tunnel. Protect your elders, be patient and don't be afraid to tell someone if you're not doing okay. We all have those days when we're just exhausted with this "new normal."