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Archives for March 2019

Why I Prioritize Self Care

March 27, 2019 21 Comments

Someone once asked me if I was doing enough for self care, my response was surprisingly quick. “Honey, I’m the QUEEN of self care!”. I said it with such confidence that I think it takes many people off guard. Only a few short years ago, this was not the case for me! Self care is something I have had to grow into doing and choose to prioritize for the sake of myself, and my family.

We have become conditioned to the thought that we need to go, go, go and give, give, give without investing in our own wellbeing. I can sit here and tell you that at some point, you WILL burn out! In a day and age when more is expected from parents than ever before, it is impossible to keep up with the demands and not feel depleted, very quickly. And worse, when we do try to carve some time out for ourselves, we can be judged for it. It sometimes seems like a lose-lose scenario! I’m hoping to inspire you today, to make yourself a priority! I’m giving you permission to spend time, attention and even money on YOU! And yes, I KNOW how hard that can be!

Here is the thing! Self care can look very different to different people. There have been days that for me, self care meant taking a shower AND brushing my teeth, or doing the grocery shopping kid free (which let’s be honest, lowers the stress factor by at least 80%!). These are very basic examples, and obviously don’t cost much at all. I really want to encourage you to think bigger than that! Some friends enjoy carving out time for the gym and are investing in their physical health, and I applaud them! Lately I have been splurging more on myself with “luxurious self care” by taking a full day at the spa to relax and unwind or attending a weekend women’s retreat, and I have to tell you, it is incredible! These are not every day activities, and as such I feel SO much more rejuvenated when I am able to partake in them!

A few years ago, when it first occurred to me that I would benefit from a day away from all the responsibilities that come with parenthood, I was overwhelmed with guilt! I felt like it was “wrong” of me to want to take a few hours to myself and spend so much money that could be used in other ways, it almost ruined the experience. I even had people make snarky comments about being away from Arthur for so long, and about spending so much money on myself. That’s not what “good moms do”. It was very hard to put that out of my mind, but what I realized is that my value as a parent is not measured by the hours I’m near my family, but the way I treat my family when I’m near them! I shared in my Survival Tips for Solo Parenting post that self care is not saying “me first, but saying me too!” It can feel selfish, but I think showing up as our best is actually one of the most important things we can do for those around us!

I’m so far from the perfect mum, but even at a young age, Arthur recognizes that when I take time out for myself, I am better at doing my “job” as his mother! I want my child to grow up in a home where he learns the importance of doing things that fill up your cup, so you can be the best you possible! I was recently diagnosed by my doctor with anxiety. Self care has been so critically important in coping with my emotions, and I’m not about to feel ashamed doing something that I know is so good for me, and by proxy, my child.

This is a topic I’m quite passionate about, self care is one of the greatest tools I have to keep me sane in a busy season of life! I am very protective of it and I hope that by sharing openly, I can be an encouragement to other people, to take back that little bit of whatever feeds you! I’m looking forward to writing more on this topic very soon!

Love ya,

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Parenting Tagged With: anxiety, boy mom, great mom, health, Mental health, self care, Spa day, Thermea, Thermea Nordic Spa, wellbeing

Staying Out of Trouble

March 22, 2019 12 Comments

Welcome back to my travel series! Today is exciting for me as I am writing all about our tour of Belfast and the Antrim Coast in N. Ireland.

Arriving in Belfast we didn’t have any set in stone plans, but knew we didn’t want to waste our time sleeping off the jet lag in our AirBnb, although, boy was that tempting! Before we left Canada, my parents gave us a very generous gift, which allowed us a little more freedom in our experience planning. We decided hiring a private car for a tour would be a luxurious way to spend a day! This also sounded great because we had no plans of renting a car or driving ourselves in N. Ireland. (If you’ve never driven on the wrong side of the road, I would not suggest doing so for the first time while jet lagged…. or in Belfast. They drive balls to the wall in that city!)

A quick google search brought up Paddy Campbell’s Famous Black Cab Tours. We made arrangements for an all day tour to see Belfast and drive up the coast to see the Giants Causeway! I think the full day was somewhere around £200 or £250… converted to Canadian dollars I think we dropped over $400! It felt like a lot of money, but I’m SO happy we didn’t run at the first instance of sticker shock! It was worth EVERY SINGLE……penny! (or nickel, for everyone reading in Canada, where pennies are no longer a thing).

Our tour began the moment Ciaran, our driver, picked us up at our AirBnb in the morning and lasted until 5pm when he dropped us off. A full day of touring was such an incredible way to see the city and the countryside. To be honest, I didn’t know much at all about the “troubles” in Belfast, and Ciaran answered all of my questions from his perspective as a Catholic kid growing up in what was essentially a war zone. This feels like a great spot to make a note, that the Nortern Ireland accent is SO MUCH HARDER to understand than the accent we heard in the Republic, and let me tell you, it only gets worse the more passionate they become! But that really didn’t take away at all from the experience here! I totally understand why so many families choose to “World/Road School” I learned more in a 9 hour tour than I ever would reading about it in a book!

Tribute to Bobby Sands, who died in prison on a hunger strike

After seeing many colourful murals, some we saw on our walk the day prior, and learning the history of Belfast, we headed north! The only other request we made was to see the Giant’s Causeway, everything else we left up to Ciaran to decide and he did not disappoint! Our first stop out of the city was at Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The views were spectacular, very much similar to the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia! We opted not to cross the bridge, no regrets there, but I’m glad we were able to see it!

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Next we were off to see the first, of two, filming locations for the show Game of Thrones. Although Taylor has seen a few episodes, I never have, so while this didn’t hold a lot of significance for me, the locations were beautiful, and I can see why they were chosen! The first was the stunning harbour in Ballintoy. Apparently if you are here at the right time you can spot some sea lions! We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife at all unfortunately. After a little while spent exploring the beautiful harbour. we hopped back in the cab and continued on!

Ballintoy Harbour

Next on our trip along the coast, we saw beautiful sights while listening to stories all about growing up in N. Ireland, and learning plenty of its history. Taylor was in his element! We skipped lunch, eating snacks out of my purse as to not waste any time, after dropping that much dough, we were determined to get our moneys worth! Our next stop, was the Giants Causeway! Ireland’s only World Heritage Site, the pillars of rock were formed by volcanic eruption, but folklore talks of Giants placing the strange towers of rock as a path to Scotland.

Giants Causeway

There was no cost to access the site if you don’t enter through the small visitor centre and gift shop, to ride the bus (recommended) from the gift shop to the site itself was around £2 a person, so this was over all a very inexpensive additional cost to our tour. I really enjoyed climbing the rocks, I think Arthur would have a lot of fun here too. While I’m glad we stopped, to say I’ve been, I wouldn’t spend any more $$ and we were ready to leave after maybe 25-30 minutes of looking around. There are hiking trails that would be worth while if you had more time to dedicate in each place. It was also one of the only “crowded with tourist” spots and that really does take away from the experience. Perhaps in the off season this would be more of a hit!

The beautiful Antrim Coast

We saw beautiful beaches and coast lines, but in May at around 20º not very many swimmers! It was such a stunning drive. We made a quick stop at Dunluce Castle, and learned about the tragic night the kitchen collapsed and fell into the ocean, killing the kitchen staff. What Ciaran may have taught us, was really only second to knowing the Irish Rovers song about that night, it is kind of cool to put the two together, listening to the song as a child and seeing the site in person!


Dunluce Castle

One of our last stops on our tour was the “Dark Hedges” near Stanocum, the second GoT’s filming location on our tour. The road and trees were beautiful, but my memory here was of another tourist (it really wasn’t too busy) shouting “Go Jets Go” from down the road! It was the play offs, and on Game Day, Taylor and I each wore our jerseys! We just so happened to bump into a family from Winnipeg traveling with their teenage children! The son ran up to us, asked for a photo and then scurried off! I think anyone else looking on was just plain confused… but we were in the playoffs baby!

The family from Winnipeg, in the Dark Hedges.

We ended our tour with a quick 20 minute stop at Carrickfergus Castle. Prior to our trip, I tried to familiarize myself with some of the landmarks in Northern Ireland, and happened to watch a documentary on this particular castle! Taylor was quite excited to see it as well, (I’m sure the Netflix show had something to do with this too!) Again this was a landmark we would have loved taking an afternoon to enjoy, but our busy tour schedule just didn’t allow for that. We did meet and chat with the VERY friendly museum staff, and if I find myself back in Carrickfergus, I will likely prioritize an hour or two at the castle! It looks to be quite kid friendly as well!

To say this was a memorable day is an understatement! It was truly the day I fell in love with Northern Ireland. It was absolutely a highlight of our trip (and trust me, this trip has many highlights!). After thinking that N. Ireland was going to be my least favourite spot on the trip, I was blown away by how wrong I was. It was beautiful, the people were so friendly, the food and sights were breath taking. If you are planning a trip to Ireland, do not skip Belfast, and certainly don’t skip the Antrim Coast! If there is any way you can take one of these tours, I say they are well worth the money and the perfect way to see and learn all about Northern Ireland!

Let me know what part of our tour you think you’d enjoy the most! Do you watch Game of Thrones? Do these scenes look familiar?

Love ya,

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: canadian blogger, family travel blog, Game of thrones, Ireland, mommy blogger, northern ireland, Paddy Campbell's Famous Black Cab Tours, tour, tourist, travel, travel blog, travel ireland

The Belle of Belfast City

March 13, 2019 Leave a Comment

Today marks the first official post on my blog about our travels! Anyone who knows me knows how strong my wanderlust is! Give me an opportunity to road trip I’ll take it…. over 9000km… with a toddler…. why am I NOT deterred yet?!!? Yeah it’s true, I’ll take any chance to travel, by plane, train, or automobile! So after sharing with you recently about winning airfare anywhere in the world, you can see why this was SUCH a big deal! Today I am going to take you on the first leg of our trip last spring! Belfast, Northern Ireland, specifically today, I will be talking about Belfast Castle! I hope that by sharing our experiences and the story of our trip it may help you with planning your own travel itinerary, or at the least give you some new travel goals! While writing I’ve been asking Taylor to also reflect and share his favourite parts of the trip. As you will soon discover, we are both known for being a bit long winded… so I will do my best to break these posts up into more bite sized pieces!

We departed Winnipeg on Mothers day, for what was by far the longest time spent apart from Arthurbear. There were many tears, all of which were shed by me. He could not have cared less. Something tells me he knew he was in for the better part of a month of “Yes, Arthur, whatever you’d like, Arthur!” from Grandma and Grandpa! It did ease my mind a little to know he was being so well taken care of, but it was hard either way!

I just want to take a quick second off topic to acknowledge that everything you see in the above photo, is all I packed for 18 nights of travel! But I’m confident there will be a post dedicated to this all to itself! Now, back to your regularly scheduled travel blog:

We landed in Dublin, Ireland early Monday morning, and immediately took an Uber from the airport to the train station! I had purchased our train tickets ahead of time and they were mailed to my house weeks in advance. Clearly not understanding how Europe works, this was entirely unnecessary. We ended up transferring our ticket to an earlier train anyway, from Dublin to Belfast in Northern Ireland. The train ride itself was an incredible introduction to the Emerald Isle. It was also especially lulling after a sleepless over night flight from Canada. Train travel might be one of my favourite ways to get around abroad.


Arriving in Belfast, to be honest, I was least excited about the Northern Ireland leg of our trip. This was, in my head, for Taylor’s benefit as he was interested in the history of “The Troubles” and had several castles in mind to see. Looking back, I’m SO glad we didn’t skip over this place as a destination to spend a few days of our trip! It was the most affordable of all our destinations in terms of accommodations and offered some of the most beautiful sights, both inside the city and all the way up the Antrim coast!

Belfast Castle

Our first full day in Belfast we started off with the destination of Belfast Castle in mind. It was a really comfortable 17°C and in an effort to save money on transportation, we decided to walk a few blocks from our AirBnb to hopefully lower the cost of an Uber. Well, a few blocks quickly turned into walking the whole route! Guys, if you learn nothing else from my blog, take this away: wear comfy shoes, this will save you everywhere you go! It ended up being about a 10 km walk! Which doesn’t sound too bad, but once you account for strolling around the castle grounds, and if you’re a real crazy person (like my husband) a hike to the top of McArt’s Fort, I think we totalled closer to 20km on foot that day! All I can say is WORTH IT! (I’m being informed I walked 18+km, and Taylor walked 24+km!) Walking gave us a really lovely opportunity to really see some of the city, that would have been missed if we had gotten a ride.

Built in 1870

The castle itself was beautiful! We toured the main floor and upper rooms and learned about the gardens. This is far from the oldest structure we would see on our trip, but it was lovely none the less. There are 9 representations of cats throughout the garden, and it was a fun challenge to look for them all. I’m pretty sure we missed one or two!

One of the garden cats

I decided trekking across Belfast was enough exercise for one day, and although I explored some of the gorgeous forest around the castle, I left Taylor on his own to climb to the summit of Cave Hill, where he enjoyed McArt’s Fort. I did peek my head in to the “adventure playground” which made me, for the first time on the trip, desperately wish we had found a way to bring Arthur with us, and then enjoyed a delicious coffee in the Cellar Cafe while I waited for Taylor to complete his hike.

Cave Hill Adventurous Playground
*Note if travelling with children, there is an admission fee to access this play area.

While I don’t feel like it is necessary to put in quite so many kilometres I absolutely recommend taking a couple hours to stroll about the castle and it’s grounds! Some time spent in the Cave Hill Park is not wasted either! I do think this is a very family friendly spot, there isn’t too much to read or do indoors, and the space and setting are great for little legs to stretch and move around! Kids would also love searching the garden for all of the cats! I could absolutely see Arthurbear not wanting to leave this place!

Spending our first day in Belfast at the Castle was certainly a lovely introduction to Northern Ireland and set us up perfectly for our “grand tour” the next day! I will be sharing about that in the next instalment of our travel series!

I hope you enjoyed today’s feature on Belfast Castle! Let me know in the comments what information you think is most helpful when planning a trip to a city or country you’ve never been before! I’m always happy to dive a little deeper into a specific part of our travels, whether it’s the sights, attractions, accommodations, cost, etc. You choose the adventure!

Love ya,

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: air canada, Antrim Coast, belfast, belfast castle, Belfast Northern Ireland, canadian blogger, Cave Hill, Emerald Isle, family friendly travel, flytheflag, Ireland, mommy blogger, N Ireland, northern ireland, travel, travel blog, wanderlust

When Good Things Happen

March 8, 2019 Leave a Comment

Today I wanted to share the first part in our Ireland/London adventure with you! It was almost exactly one year ago when I received a message on Instagram “Well hey there! We love the Olympic spirit!…” it started. “You are an eligible winner.” Surely this was a scam! A few days prior, I had entered a video of Arthurbear in a contest run by Air Canada, and while I thought it was the cutest entry they could possibly receive, it was still a shock to read those words. The prize, 2 round trip tickets, anywhere in the WORLD, their airline flies, these are the things dreams are made of! The message went on to ask for me to send some additional information to the customer service rep, and while still suspicious, I decided I’d play along, at least until they asked for my credit card number and my mama’s maiden name! Turns out, it was the real deal, we were WINNERS!

You can watch the video here, of the prize winning performance!

At the time of the contest Arthur was obsessed with The Hockey Song by Stompin’ Tom. He would play his little guitar and sing his heart out. I figured, why not capitalize on his new found desire to perform and share a video with my sales group on facebook! It was fantastic, there was so much positive response and Arthurbear really seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention (as if that was new around here). My friend Kaitlyn saw the video and encouraged me to enter the Air Canada contest, and the rest as they say, is history!

Now I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, we are so grateful and still in complete disbelief that we won such a significant prize…but… it came with some big decisions to make! First of all, who would go? Could Taylor get the time off work? We were not planning a family vacation last year, so there was no budget to dig into for a third person. We also were dreading the idea of traveling abroad with a car seat using child. So after much discussion, Taylor and I decided that Arthur would stay behind and enjoy a staycation with his grandparents, as well as a pretty epic shopping spree at the LEGO store, while we used the prize!

After considering black out dates (which put us in most hot destinations over their winter), and vacation days from Taylor’s job, as well as our budget for food and accommodations, we ruled out a few dream destinations like New Zealand (too cold), and South Africa (too pricey)! One location we both were very interested in, was Ireland! When Taylor learned that he could get time off over their first ever Spartan Race he was sold, and when I saw how affordable flights to London were in time for the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle… it was a done deal! We booked our trip and started planning!

On Mothers Day 2018, we set off on an adventure I want to share with you here on my website! I soak up any opportunity I have to travel, and have learned many lessons along the way. There are things I think we did right, and others where we made some mistakes that ended up costing a whole lot more money or wasted some precious travel time! I hope that in sharing my travel stories, you will be able to avoid the same mistakes and enjoy your own travel experiences to the fullest! Get ready in the next few weeks to hear more about this, as well as some other of our awesome travel adventures!

Leave a comment below and let me know where would you go, if you won free flights anywhere in the world?

Love ya,

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: affordable travel, air canada, blogger, contest winners, fly the flag contest, free travel, Ireland, lego, london, mommy blogger, music, stompin tom, travel, travel tips

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