the hunt...

yesterday, we made our way to toronto to meet a sales rep i had been emailing with and look at a few condos he had set up. as i mentioned another time, the service is free to us and he gets paid commission from the landlord when he gets a tenant. win-win really. he was a young guy, super friendly and knowledgeable and definitely not pushy. we really do love the condo and all the amenities it comes with (pool, sauna, squash court, party room, pool tables, gym, PET SPA..i mean..come on...), and the location. we looked at 2 units in the one building we liked and we're hopefully going back next week to look at a few more and make some offers. who knew you could negotiate what you pay when you're renting?! plus, it comes with parking spot, which is amazing because if it's not included, it's typically about $150-$250/month depending on the condo.

it's not a 2 bedroom like we have now, but it is a one bedroom + den (den basically means a 2nd room but with only 3 walls, so no door, and it's still open to the rest of the place). it feels smaller than what we have now, even though it's slightly bigger. other little things that we like - dishwasher (never had one!), en-suite laundry, and floor to ceiling windows. the only thing i wish it had was more counter space, but we'll make it work if we get into this place. oh, and it's all brand new.

we then took a walk over to this area to look at the huge canoe that we've seen for years when driving by. seriously, the walking we did yesterday, i'll be back in shape in no time.

testing out the panorama camera.

 oh you know, just a giant canoe. 

 city lovers.

 ray-ban selfies.

x2

we always get so excited when we see new places and it's so hard to try to calm yourself down and tell yourself, "it's not yours yet! anything could happen! relax!" but you know, fingers crossed.

peaks and pits...

time for another round of the peaks and pits of this week and the upcoming week...

peaks:

-we have a short week this week and next week with easter coming up. short weeks are always good. (how many times can i say 'week' in one sentence?)

-easter candy and chocolate.

-we've started to get the ball rolling on our condo search, which means we're moving in 2 months!!

-temperatures are pretty much on the up and up (slowly) now. yesterday was beautiful. 

-i've found yet another show that i'm kind of hooked on, only 2 episodes in - bates motel. oh and if you don't watch 'the following' already, get on it. it's seriously good. episode 4 (i think) went a little cheesy overboard, but it went back to it's draw dropping, edge of your seat suspense since.

-my boss being on vacation for 3 weeks starting tomorrow and leaving me pretty much in charge of the office. really though, it's only the 2 of us who work in the office daily haha and other board members pop in from time to time and for meetings. i've also got to attend board and exec meetings in her place. fun fun! what this all pretty much means is that i get to work from home the next 3 weeks and go in occasionally to check her email and messages.

pits:

-easter candy and chocolate. yes, it's under both categories. when you have no self control, it becomes a bad thing!

-i slept horribly the other night and it's still making me feel sluggish.

-we somehow didn't get around to doing groceries this week and our dinners have been pretty crappy as a result.

i guess it's a good sign when the 'pits' list is nice and short. happy hump day!

see? easter candy! (at my parents)

feel this moment...

i swear, these weeks are going by faster and faster. wasn't it just last sunday and we were eating delicious gnocchi?! i don't know where the days go. it was a low key weekend where i worked my final shift at one job, watched burlesque for the first time (loved it! christina looked so good the whole movie. her real life makeup artist should take hints. that's how you do a red lip, not how she wears it on red carpets.. yikes!), and made banana muffins where i gagged while peeling the old, mushy bananas.

lights out for earth hour.

warm from the oven.

a lattte.

this little one turned 5.5 years old yesterday!

here's to yet another monday and hoping this work week goes by just as fast.  (re: the title; anyone else love that song as much as i do?)

quittin' time...

just over 2 weeks ago, i quit this job and gave my notice. during the busy period of november and december, i was working crazy long days, working 50  hours a week, and taking pictures of kids and families all day long. come january, i had 3 shifts in a month. then in february, i had ONE shift. enough was enough and it was just a waste of my time. plus, there was enough that was going on within the workplace was BS.  i still have my office/social media job, which i quite like and often enough, it's a lot of fun, i just wish the pay was better ;)

via

c'est la vie. i'll find the right job for me at some point. 

spring in my step...

happy first full day of spring! however, it's -8 degrees C and they're calling for snow later today. funny thing is, on this day last year, it was about 26 degrees C! granted, that was a random, freak of nature, extremely warm day for this time of year, and temps went right back down afterwards, but it was a nice break in the cold.

 i remember...

 eating ice cream..

 laying in the grass..

and eating the best lasagna at the st. lawrence market.

it was a good day (full post here) and though i love winter, i'm itching for warm weather, because warm weather means we're closer to june, which means we're closer to moving back to the city!

gnocchi sunday...

just another sunday family dinner with a delicious meal. this week, my dad tried his hand at ricotta gnocchi..oh my god..delicious!! and easy. dylan also decided to make a quick 'home video' that day.

counting down until next sunday already...

bloglovin...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

i'm a little sad that GFC is going away, it's king of all i've known for the last few years. but i'm hearing good things about bloglovin, and i've already imported my contacts. hopefully things go smoothly come july. you can follow along  with the link above.

because you know you don't want to miss out on pictures of this sweet baby girl.

comin' home...

a couple days ago, we finally made the decision that we are officially moving back to toronto when this lease is up!!! (i could put one million more exclamation points, but i don't want to be obnoxious ;)) as you know, leaving was absolute torture, and i didn't enjoy saying goodbye. i love that city with all my heart and i'm beyond excited. dylan loves the city too, so i know he's really excited, the only reason he needed a little convincing was because toronto is one of the most expensive canadian cities to live in, so obviously out rent will go up quite a bit. I'm pretty much certain we won't be able to afford a 2 bedroom, which would be ideal, but we at least need a one bedroom + den.

we recently found out that you can hire realtors for free (!!) who work for condos and get paid by the condos when they get tenants. so, i'll still be looking online on my own, but hopefully we can give our "wish list" to a realtor in the next few weeks and start the process, & maybe they can find something that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

while we moved into our place now on july 1st, when we signed the lease, the landlord accidentally put june 1st. so a month earlier would be even better, however, if he realizes his mistake when we give him our notice, it's not a huge deal if we have to stay a month longer until july.

based on a july 1st moving date..omg!!

i cannot wait!! to be back in the city where i feel at home, even though technically it's not my home..i wasn't raised there, i only lived there for 5 years, but still.. i also can't wait to live in the city with dylan; he loves it there, but now he'll get to love it as someone who lives there, not just a visitor.

1 year away was long enough for me..the countdown is on!!

duck, duck, goose...

for the short period that the weather really warmed up on the weekend (12-15 degrees), we went for a walk down by the water, along with most of the city ;)

i think they were ice fishing?

less than one week until spring!

insta+lately...

a bit of what's going on in these parts lately...

 sunday dinner at my parents = cheese filled rice balls for appetizers.

sunday was also absolutely beautiful at 15 degrees (celsius) 

friday and saturday mornings.

me and dyl were close together looking at something, chloe felt left out, squeezed behind dyl and right between us. i swear, she can never be close enough; her teeth were just hanging out while lying on me one night and makes me lol every time i look at this pic.

the first 3 targets in canada had 'soft openings' about a week ago, so we checked one out; horses in coats, too cute.

about 3y/o here, holding a cigar, beer, chips, wearing overalls and no shirt..must be fun to do what you please to your kids and laugh at them haha; sick on the couch. boo.

instagram: breeslife

a keeper...

when you're couch-bound on a saturday with terrible cramps, and your man offers to make dinner AND cake, you take him up on it.

hard at work.

everything was delicious! thanks darlin'. feel free to do this more often ;)

welcome to the new age...

we were supposed to go to toronto for my friends birthday on saturday, but you know, plans change. about 15 of us met up beforehand the house our friend just moved into to eat some snacks, drink some drinks, and make another harlem shake video. what can i say, people were so jealous of the harlem shake we did earlier and all wanted to join in on one. unfortunately, i won't be sharing this one ;) we ended up hanging out at the house too long and by the time we left and got downtown at 11:30pm, of course, every place was at capacity. we ended up at the grungiest, most disgusting bar in town, full of scary/rough looking women who could possibly be crack dealers...lol but at least there was live music and dancing.

the outfit  (and dylan's housecoat on the floor...)

jello shooters with a spoon. good stuff.

mmm tasty.

ridiculously good looking.

do you think he's having a good time?

and dylan? he goes hard on the dancefloor. he takes the phrase "dance like nobody is watching" literally.

she's got a sparkle...

she's just way too cute not to share these pictures. hard to believe she's a couple weeks away from being 5 and a half! 

her scruffy, just woke up from a nap, pre-groom appearance.

after her groom looking like a puppy again.

chandler bing smile. showing her teeth.

i want to eat her up.

how anyone can live without a dog in their life is beyond me.

*post title in reference to the bachelor ;)*