Canada 150 Weekend

Last weekend was Canada's 150th Birthday (the birthday of Confederation - obviously the land mass is much older!). July 1st is also my eldest son's and my mother-in-law's birthday and since it's a Statutory Holiday, it's always a big celebration day for us. It was a bit quieter this year than normal but we did have our family barbeque at my son's house and it was a lot of fun, laughter and food!  Iain is my oldest son on the right in the photo below.

It was extra special because my sister is here from Dubai and is staying with us for a week so she was with us. She is 36 weeks pregnant so the heat outside was a bit overwhelming but she was set up nicely on  chaise lounge under an umbrella and my sons were only too happy to keep refilling her glass with lemon and water and bring her whatever her heart (and stomach!) desired. They absolutely adore her. They grew up with her as sort of an older sister as she is 15 years younger than me and they are excited to have another baby cousin. She already has a 2 year old son.

Saturday morning I did a 5k race with another WW friend. When we arrived at the park to pick up our chips there was a long line at the registration desk. They had over 250 people register last minute.  This was at a park that was also hosting a big Canada Day celebration all day and was right on the waterfront and with the special-ness of the day and the medals, I think it was reasonable to expect a huge turnout.  As walkers, we crossed the finish line at about 58 minutes and found there were no medals left, due to the large late registrations of runners who crossed before us. This has never happened to me at any race before. It was very upsetting because the medals were commemorative for this year and because walkers deserve the same respect as runners.  We pay the same fees to enter and for those of us that registered in advance it was a slap in the face to have our medals go to runners who registered last minute. I did email the event organizer as this organizer hosts many of the races I attend all year. She said she is trying to get more medals from the manufacturer as there were just under 100 of us who did not get medals and she was very nice about expressing how they were overwhelmed and unprepared by the last minute registrations and assured me that they have every respect for all participants.  I know it's not a big thing, but it was important to me.


We skipped the fireworks this year as we were all over tired and just went home and watched Netflix and were in bed by 9:30 p.m.

We spent all day Sunday at Niagara Outlet Malls (Canada side) where my sister spent lots of money!  She had a great time buying all the things that are 1000% more expensive in Dubai. I bought a few things as there were a lot of great sales.  On Monday we made the trip across the border to Buffalo and went to Galleria Mall. Not so much shopping, although the sales were also good and the mall was deserted!  With a 37% exchange rate right now, the deal has to be amazing! I did find a really awesome pair of brown sandals that I have been looking for / wanting for a few months at a really good price at Macey's so I bought those and picked up a few camisole type tops (to wear under cardigans/blazers) from WalMart.  We had lunch at the Olive Garden. I had forgotten how heavy their food is!

I took yesterday (Tuesday) off just to take care of stuff around the apartment and run some personal errands (pedicure/manicure, groceries, laundry - urban domesticity at it's finest!) and am back to work today!

WW Canada has a 50% off deal right now and I think I am going to switch to meetings.  I struggled in June to stay on track and am struggling this first week of July. I need to do whatever it takes to not falter.

P.S. The formatting of my blog is all effed up since the background was deleted.