Month in Review: November 2022

Can you believe we’re almost at the end of 2022? I swear I’m still writing “2021” anytime I have to fill in a date. While November has absolutely zoomed by, I couldn’t be more excited to share this post from our new home!

All right, let’s get into everything that happened in November 2022:

Highlights

One of my favourite memories from the month was a big family dinner with my husband’s dad’s side of the family. It was so nice to catch up with relatives, most of whom we haven’t seen since the summer, and enjoy some delicious belated-Thanksgiving-early-Christmas holiday food with them.

We also watched a few live performances this month, which was a ton of fun! It allowed us to take advantage of the fact that we were only a 15 minute walk from the big theatre and arena.

We saw Jesus Christ Superstar and chatted about all of our favourite parts on the way home (no offense John Legend, but this Jesus was better!). And we also watched a Canucks game. While the Canucks did lose (what else is new?), it was a high-scoring game which was fun to watch in person!

And while November gave us some rainy and cold weather, we also had a few beautiful, sunny days. It was nice to enjoy a bit of dry fall weather before things get too wet in Vancouver!

Of course, my last big highlight of November was moving into our new home! We moved just at the end of the month and, surprisingly, our moving weekend went quite smoothly. It’s been really fun to get organized, decorate and feel like the space is ours. Photos to come!

Lowlights

The big focus of November was moving into our new place. It felt like we’ve spent ages prepping for it – probably because our move in date date got pushed back three times! So that meant a lot of packing, organizing and stressing about moving all month long.

As excited as we are to be in a new home and have the chance to settle in, it is bittersweet to be leaving our old neighbourhood. We were so lucky enough to be able to stay in a beautiful place and will miss walks along the water with Ellie. (We can still get to the water from our new place but it’s a bit of an uphill trek to get back home!)

Best watch

We finally finished The Mentalist after starting the series a couple of months ago. I really loved it and am glad Colin introduced it to me. So naturally, it was my turn to introduce Colin to a show and we’re now two seasons into Jane the Virgin. I also hate-watched the latest season of Love Is Blind this month. It’s horrible, but you know I’ll be back for season four!

What’s cooking?

A few standouts from this month include:

• Getting my first Starbucks holiday drink of the season. Yes, I know I can order a peppermint mocha anytime of year but there’s something so special about getting it in a festive cup!
• Enjoying sushi and udon on chilly November nights.
• And all of the delicious food we ate at the Marriott family dinner!

Posts from this month

This month on Teaspoon of Adventure I published:

• 11+ Things to Do in Ghent, Belgium
• How to Explore All of Europe While Visiting Brussels

Check out any of the posts you’ve missed and enter your email address in the box on the sidebar (or footer bar) to get notified whenever I publish something new!

For my throwback post of the month, I’m going back to my European Christmas Market Road Trip Itinerary. Back in December 2019, Colin and I did a road trip through the Christmas markets of Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Munich and Nuremberg. It was the most magical Christmas time! If you’re planning a trip to Europe this winter, check it out!

Travels

While we didn’t do any travelling this month (besides “travelling” 20 minutes to our new apartment), I feel like travel was a huge part of the month for me. I spent many hours of November planning our big trip to New Zealand in April 2023. We have our itinerary all figured out and lots of things already booked. I cannot wait!

PS: If you’ve been to New Zealand, I’d love to hear all of your travel tips!

Where we have travelled in November:

• NOV 2016: In 2016, my friend Emilie and I found a great flight deal to Vietnam and took off for our first adventure together – and first trip to Vietnam. We had an amazing time eating street food in Ho Chi Minh City, marvelling at the shops in Hanoi, sailing through Ha Long Bay, exploring temples in Hue, and getting custom dresses made in Hoi An. I can’t wait to go back to Vietnam one day!
• NOV 2019: Colin, Ellie and I spent a winter weekend in Cesky Krumlov in November 2019. Since it was off-season, we had this medieval city all to ourselves! Then we ended the month with a visit to Rome and Naples full of pizza, history and ancient buried cities!

Gratitude

While we’ve been so lucky to live in Yaletown for a year and have a temporary place to stay between apartments, Colin and I are so grateful to finally be moved into our new home. Life has felt a little unsettled these past few months so I’m really looking forward to fully setting up our apartment, getting to know our new neighbourhood, and feeling a little more rooted in our Vancouver life.

Coming up next

Less than a month until Christmas! I can’t wait for the holidays – seeing family, twinkling lights and any excuse to drink hot chocolate with extra marshmallows!