Thursday Things

Well, I didn't intend to take such a long blogging break prior to my Florida post, but such is life these days!  I thought I'd play a little catch-up this Thursday, and share what's been up in my world since returning from our trip.

• As I mentioned yesterday, things have been a little wintery around here lately.  I thank my lucky stars that I actually enjoy the snow - and that I generally don't have far to travel in it - because it makes this time of year much more enjoyable!  If I'm being honest, I've always enjoyed winter more from indoors.  I like looking out the window watching snowglobe-snow fall, I like being cozy inside while I hibernate, making pots of soup, watching movies, eating popcorn, sipping hot chocolate, reading while hunkered down under a blanket... yes, I can romanticize winter very well!  
• But this year, I've also made an effort to start taking part in winter activities.  I joined our local community's non-competitive curling league, and then just last weekend I tried snowshoeing for the first time.  While I'm still far from being a good curler, I actually find myself looking forward to Thursday nights now instead of dreading them (I had a rocky start with the game, I was tempted to quit several times...) AND I absolutely LOVE snowshoeing!  So much so that I went on Amazon this week and bought my own pair.  I can't wait for them to arrive, and find myself hoping this snowy weather lasts a while longer so I can put them to good use.
  
• I mentioned in my post yesterday that I was all wrapped up in the book "All The Missing Girls" by Megan Miranda while in Florida.  I gobbled that book up like candy, finishing it in less than a week.  I did have extra downtime and reading time in FLA, of course, but I hardly ever get through a book that fast.  LOVED it.  I'm now reading "Reconstructing Amelia" by Kimberly McCreight, and having trouble getting into it.  I feel like it didn't get a fair chance, though, because the book that comes after a really amazing one almost always seems to fall short.
  
• You know what else is like candy to me these days?  Gilmore Girls.  LOVE my Gilmore Girls!  I can't wait to get home at night to settle in and watch a few episodes.  I'm about half-way through Season 3 now, and it just keeps getting better.  (I struggled through the first and part of the second seasons, but kept going because if Jimmy Fallon likes it, I MUST like it!)  Someone please tell me that Luke & Lorelai eventually get together... they HAVE to get together!!
  
• I finally sat down to watch Deadpool the weekend after we got back from Florida, and it was awesome.  I'm normally not much of a superhero-movie type of girl, but I think that's why this one appealed - it was kind of the anti-superhero-movie. With a little love story. And it was sooo funny.  Ryan Reynolds.  He's my boy.
  
• Speaking of Canadian Ryans... I also saw La La Land last weekend, because I have heard so much about it, and, well... Ryan Gosling.  It seems people either love it or hate it, and it's nominated for so many awards, I just had to see what it was all about.  I honestly came out of there not sure what to think... I liked it.  I wouldn't say I loved it, though.  It wasn't as hard-core musical as I expected it to be.  And the ending didn't quite go the way I thought it would.  But yeah...I liked it.
  
• And I know this is a tough debate, but in a head-to-head battle of the Ryans, I'm going with Reynolds.  I mean, in Deadpool, he had a pizza-face for most of it, and I STILL thought he was sexy as hell.  And that sense of humour... man.  Yeah. He takes it. (but Gosling ain't half bad either).
  
• I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and my tastes are evolving or what, but I don't remember ever being so interested in seeing so many of the movies nominated for Oscars before.  In the Best Picture category, I've only actually seen La La Land, but almost all of the rest sound very good and I'd like to see them, especially Lion, Hidden Figures, Fences, and Arrival.
• On a little downside, I'm having headache problems again.  I had a doctor's appointment before we went on our trip, and we discussed my headaches, which I thought were sinus related since i always feel like I need to sneeze but can't.  He prescribed me a nasal spray which I started using the next day, and did not have a headache the whole time we were gone, so I thought the spray was working.  Well, not so much.  Since we've been home, I feel like I've had a headache almost every day.  Not like a migraine - I can still function, I can still work, but it just nags away, this building pressure that no Tylenol or Advil or Magic bags seem to be able to relieve, and I can't seem to make myself sneeze.  It just has to go away on it's own. SO annoying.
• So, Valentine's Day was this week.  As we all know, not my most favourite day of the year.  I try not to let it bother me, but the mushy-gushyness on Facebook this year seemed to be extra ramped up.  And I don't blame them.  If I was in love, I'd be blasting it from the rooftops too.  It does make me feel better that quite a few of my friends reassure me it's no big day in their world either, and most of them don't do anything special to mark the occasion, but...yeah. It still kinda sucks.  No matter how hard I try not to care, to laugh it off, to treat myself and say "WHO NEEDS A MAN!" ...it's still kind of a blue day for me.  That said, it was very sweet to have a V-day surprise from Danica and Caden (and my mom) that morning, as well as a V-day treat from Sam when I got to work, and a V-day gift from my sister too.  Good peeps, all of 'em.
• I'm looking ahead at a pretty low-key quiet weekend, and I'm glad for it.  Tomorrow is my day off, and because it's the MVT Snowmobile Day, I'm going to meet them in Ladysmith for lunch, and possibly going snowshoeing tomorrow night.  I have a few recipes I want to try out over the weekend - one for Cream of Celery soup (my mom made this a few weeks ago and I've been craving it ever since), and one for Easy Pierogi Casserole.  And, no more ways around it - I've been avoiding it for too long - my house MUST get cleaned on Saturday.  Absolute MUST!!  Otherwise, it will be Netflix and movies and couch time for me. Just the way I like it. ;)

Happy Thursday, friends!