Catching up - my summer and beginning of fall

Alright, I know it's been a few months since my last post. I had an awesome and busy summer making new memories with family and friends. I played softball again this year with my mom, boyfriend, and a few of the people from last year's team. A few of us also joined the fall league but the last two games have been cancelled. The last games of the season are this weekend, which is sad but it's definitely too cold for out door sports.

The picture above is of the dragon bowl I made for dinner and lunches last night. I love the dragon bowl from Stella's here in Winnipeg so I dug around on the internet and found an awesome recipe. The sauce isn't quite the same but it's still delicious. Will post the recipe another time though! ;)

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks in case any of you care what I have been up to!

On Tuesday night my friend was my date to the Investors Group Comedy Night. I've been once before and it was a blast. My parents and boyfriend all abandoned me (for different trips) over Thanksgiving weekend but it was nice to hang out with my friend since it's been a while that we hung out outside of working together.

 

As mentioned above my closest people were gone so I was left to my own devices. My Friday and Saturday were pretty quiet, which was good because I've been sick for two weeks now. I went to the doctor last Thursday and he said, "yup, you have a cold." Which is what I was expecting but better to be safe than sorry.

Luckily I still have family here so I wasn't completely alone. I crashed my cousin's dinner on Sunday when her and her partner hosted his family. I had to bring a veg dish since she was worried there wouldn't be much for me to eat. However, I ended up being able to have the carrot salad, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes. There was bacon in the stuffing but I picked it out; this is one of the reasons I didn't want to commit to being vegetarian because I'm not strict about it. I realize there are still animal fats in the stuffing but I wasn't eating the meat... don't judge me. (I took the wine selfie when my parents and dad's family were messaging me asking what I was doing.)

My cousin loves snickerdoodle cookies so to switch things up she made a snickerdoodle cake!! It had marshmallow fluff icing and it was TO DIE FOR! I couldn't even finish the whole slice though because I had filled up on all the other delicious foods.

 

After dinner we all hung out and had cuddles with their many pets (two dogs and a collection of cats.) Wagner is a corgie-Australian shepherd cross and is just the sweetest boy. I don't feel like I've done anything special for him but he seems to adore me... and I love it! <3 He looks small all curled up like that but he's actually a good size.. with short little legs.

On Monday I headed out of Winnipeg to my aunt's place for dinner with her, her friend, my other Aunt and Uncle, and my cousin, his wife, and their kid. That day I brought chana masala (pictured above) which is one of my go-to Indian dishes because it's easy, fast, and tastes delicious. Not to mention is an awesome source of protein since it is made with chick peas. I brought basmati rice with it as well and everyone that could eat it loved it. It turned out fairly spicy so I had to warn everyone in case they don't like or can't handle spice. My aunt makes delicious pies and other baking so I indulged (again) in her apple cranberry crisp and her pumpkin pie.

We're having a lovely fall with it not being too cold and the snow holding off. Although, I'd almost rather it snow that be cold rain since I walk to work. I love the fall colors and the smell. I took this picture on my walk to work last week.

My boyfriend left for India last week and it's been harder than I expected. It's nice having someone to miss though :) So my first night alone I made rajma masala (kidney beans) and sat down with a glass of wine to relax for the evening. I haven't been working out much since I'm sick and it's recommended to not strength train when you're sick. I did a couple days of Fitness Marshall but I was almost get bored of that... or was just getting lazy in general. I did a strength workout yesterday and today I'm feeling more sick again. So today was another rest day. I'm definitely feeling gross from not working out and not being too strict with my diet. And I mean gross as in I feel unhealthy and fluffy. Time to get back 'er ASAP.

The other weekend some friends got married and it was an awesome day and celebration. So many friends together for one day and night to celebrate with such an awesome couple. The two ladies above are two of my best friends. The middle one, Amanda, and I have been friends for 24 years... that's since before kindergarten! And we've known Justina since then too but have been best friends since middle school. *And we're the three best friends that anyone can have. We're the three best friends that anyone can have. And we'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever leave each other*

And when the man wears a suit you have to take a picture :D

I did what we all do and bought way too much produce so I have to find a way to use it up. I'm also trying to eat more veggies as I always seem to be writing about. So I made this grilled veggie quesadilla the other week and it was amazing. In a pan fry up some onion and garlic, toss in chopped veggies, and cook until they're all soft and yummy. Take out of the pan and assemble your quesadilla. Grill on each side until the tortilla is crispy. Serve with sour cream and salsa, and/or guacamole.

I was worried I wouldn't make it to a Bomber game this year but my darling of a friend texted me last minute a few weekends ago and asked if I wanted her tickets. She often ends up with extra tickets and she knows I'll take em lol. So the boyfriend and I got to take in an awesome game on a beautifully sunny autumn day.

Here's that grocery trip I just talked about. I really have to start making a meal plan before I go because I start thinking about all these things I want to make and end up buying the entire produce section. I think the only thing that went to waste were the tomatoes though... but they went bad fairly fast.

The second weekend of September Tarun participated in the annual Dragon Boat races that Winnipeg hosts. It's an amazing fundraising event for CancerCare Manitoba and his team alone raised over $17K! I can't remember what the total number was but it's awesome that so many people gave to this great cause. It was probably the last HOT weekend in September as well so it was the an awesome time. I showed up in jeans and runners the first morning and had to walk back home to change into shorts and sandals.

This is from one of our date nights a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen each other in a few days so Tarun took me out on a date to Boon Burger. It's a vegan burger shoppe and their food is amazing. We've gone twice now and what we end up doing is each order a different burger and then split them so we can have a taste of more than one.

I hope you are all doing well, please let me know how your summer was and what is your favorite thing about fall?

Cheers,

Kelsey