Summer 2023 in Review

“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” – Ann Patchett

I can’t believe it’s the end of summer. It feels like we blinked and went from camping trips and sunglasses to school days and rain on the horizon. But summer 2023 is over! I can’t say it was the best summer I’ve ever had but there were definitely some stand out moments. That being said, bring on cozy fall!

In addition to the end of summer, today is also Colin’s and my wedding anniversary! We’re celebrating two years of wedded bliss with many more adventures together to come. But before we head out for an anniversary dinner, let’s recap this past summer:

Highlights

Summer started with one of my favourite local travel traditions, going to Pender Harbour with Colin’s family. Every July long weekend we head up to the Sunshine Coast to spend time with family on a beautiful property, enjoy the views and great cooking, and take part in the annual horseshoe tournament. It’s such a nice, relaxing weekend and I look forward to it every year.

Back in the city, it was a summer of theatre, which is my favourite kind of summer (after travel, of course). My mom took me to my first Bard on the Beach show for my birthday, an awesome Beatles-inspired version of As You Like It, and we saw Matilda at Theatre Under the Stars with some friends. Colin and I also saw the Barbie movie and loved it as much as everyone else!

Other summer 2023 highlights include meeting up with international and local friends in Vancouver, seeing family and meeting my best friend’s new baby in Toronto, and turning 31!

Lowlights

In July we got some bad news, which definitely put a damper on my summer. I’m starting to realize that I’m not the biggest summer fan. Summer used to mean no school and freedom but now it’s just uncomfortably hot and I still have to work. I did not enjoy the mini heat waves Vancouver experienced this summer (though we didn’t have it as bad as many other places in the world). Next summer, I want to take off to Alaska! (But seriously, an Alaskan cruise might need to be on our 2024 calendar!)

Despite the long hot days, it still seems like I blinked and summer was over. I was shocked when we stumbled into September so quickly.

Freelance life

I called summer 2023 my Summer Slowdown when it came to my freelance work. It seemed like a lot of my clients decided to take it easy for the summer, which meant my workload was quite low. On one hand, I enjoyed taking it easy and dedicating more time to my other side hustles and hobbies. But on the other hand, I’m a bit nervous about continued slowness into the fall…

To combat that, I set myself a mission to apply for one new thing each weekday, whether that was pitching a story, applying for an employee position or applying for a freelance gig. While I’m not swimming in offers, it’s been a really good practice in putting myself out there and looking for opportunities. With that being said, if you know of anyone looking for a content or copywriter, let me know!

In good freelance news, the piece I wrote for Tripadvisor back in the spring was finally published! And not only was my first article published but they’ve commissioned two more from me, which I’m so excited about!

Binge watches

As usual, Colin and I have been watching way too much TV. Summer 2023 saw us revisiting some old favourites like Amazing Race Canada, while I binged the new seasons of Sweet Magnolias, Heartstopper and And Just Like That. We also finished an entire Sex and the City rewatch for me and first watch for Colin, which was fun, but jarring for me as I was watching AJLT at the same time.

We also picked up a few new shows this summer, enjoying the strategy of reality shows Claim to Fame and Traitors (US, UK, NZ, AU, etc). And in Toronto, we started watching Only Murders in the Building, which we’re totally hooked on now!

Memorable meals

If anything, summer 2023 sure was tasty! Some of my favourite meals included:

• Malaysian food at Banana Leaf twice in one week – once with Twitter friends from the UK and then again with my aunts visiting from Toronto
• Splurging on steaks at Elisa for my 31st birthday
• A Greek BBQ courtesy of Grill Master Colin that my mom and I loved
• Persian food enjoyed with my great aunt and uncle at their condo
• A cold noodle dish I’m still dreaming about from Suika where I had dinner with a friend
• And Portuguese pasteis de nata (egg tarts) that we picked up in Toronto because they’re so hard to find in Vancouver

Book club

In an effort to not only watch TV together, Colin and I decided to start a book club this summer. It’s extremely informal (no set meeting dates) and exclusive (we’re the only two members). We started strong, choosing a book, reading together on the patio and discussing it when we reached the mid-point. But then things started to fall apart when I finished the book while Colin has yet to. Here’s hoping our fall book club will be more successful!

Otherwise, this summer I’ve finished reading:

America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson (4.5/5)
I really loved this book – a modern, feminist take on a travelogue through some of America’s national parks. It was hilarious with great storytelling and also lots of incredible research on important topics like feminism, sustainability and Indigenous rights. I think this was my favourite book of the summer!

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis (4/5)
I don’t usually like historical fiction or dual timeline books but this one worked for me. I enjoyed following this family’s history through the New York Public Library, from living in its secret apartment in the 1930s to a missing book mystery in the 1990s.

Have You Eaten Yet? by Cheuk Kwan (4/5)
In this book we hear stories from Cheuk Kwan’s travels around the world filming a documentary about Chinese restaurants from the Chinese diaspora. It started in Canada, which gave me a great personal connection. I really enjoyed learning how Chinese food and Chinese people have adapted and thrived all over the world. I listened to this one as an audiobook, which I think made it a bit hard to keep all of the names straight as the book travelled around the world.

Arsenic & Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (3/5)
This was our book club pick and while it started out strong, I actually didn’t love it. I liked the representation of a multi-generational Filipino family but the writing was way too YA for me with really cringe-y dialogue. The mystery plot picked up more in the second half but I still had to suspend my disbelief for a lot of the dialogue and content.

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp (4/5)
Intrigued by the cozy kitchen mystery genre of my last read, I picked up this book and, thankfully, enjoyed it much more. The writing was a lot better. I really liked the small town baker with a deadly and magical pie making side hustle premise, romance elements and casual mystery.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (4/5)
I really enjoyed this dual narrator story of Mukesh, a recently widowed grandfather who has decided to take up his late wife’s love of reading, and Aleisha, a reluctant librarian, as they make their way through a mysterious reading list. This book was so well-written and both Mukesh and Aleisha had such rich inner-lives and were really well fleshed out characters.

A Good Day to Pie by Misha Popp (3.5/5)
After enjoying my first Pie Before Guys cozy mystery, I just had to read the second in the series! This time Pie Girl finds herself on the set of a baking competition show (a la Great British Bake Off) and solving a mysterious death or two at the same time. While this story was engaging and I liked the TV show setting, it was hard to keep track of all the characters and the mystery wasn’t as good as the first book.

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar (4/5)
I watched the Duggars’ reality show growing up, oddly fascinated by their huge family. But in recent years, I’ve learned a lot more about the cult-like IBLP religion they followed and horrible way the show and parents treated their kids. So, of course, I couldn’t wait to read this heartfelt tell-all memoir by fourth daughter, Jill. It was wild to hear what was happening behind the scenes and while I don’t agree with everything Jill believes, I was very impressed by her bravery in telling her story.

Blog posts

This summer on Teaspoon of Adventure I published:

• The Ultimate Cross Canada Road Trip Itinerary
• 28 Things to Do in Rotorua, New Zealand
• What’s It Like to Cruise in Milford Sound?
• 28 Scenic Stops on the Drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound
• What to Expect on a Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise

Check out any of the posts you’ve missed!

In addition to new blog posts, you may have noticed something else new around my site (unless you have an ad blocker on), ads! I recently joined SHE Media Collective and am experimenting with their ads on Teaspoon of Adventure. I know no one loves ads but it’s a great way for content creators to make a little revenue while still providing lots of great, free content to their audiences.

And my most popular blog post of summer 2023 was my 7 day itinerary through Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. I think with the Paris Olympics coming up in 2024, Paris posts are going to be more popular than ever!

As seen on social media

Can’t get enough of Teaspoon of Adventure? Want to chat travel or look at pretty travel photos? Follow me on Twitter (I’m not ready to call it X yet) @tspadventure and on Pinterest.

My most popular tweet this summer was…

It seems like people have strong opinions on Paris.

Do you love it or hate it? Does the City of Light & Love do it for you? pic.twitter.com/lnhdnrAjfK

— Riana | Teaspoon of Adventure (@tspadventure) June 21, 2023

And my most popular pin from summer 2023 was…

Travels

This summer we had our annual family trip to Pender Harbour plus another local camping trip to Hedley, BC. We also flew back to Toronto for a long weekend full of family goodness! It was a super short trip but so nice to see a few loved ones and meet my best friend’s new baby.

Favourite travels from summers past:

• Every July: Pender Harbour! As I shared above, this is an annual family trip that Colin has been going on since he was a baby, and I’ve been so lucky to join him since 2015.
• Summer 2007: For six weeks between grade nine and ten, I joined my aunt and her side of the family for a trip through the Philippines and South Korea. It was the longest trip I had ever been on and the longest time I had been away from family. While I wasn’t old enough to make the most of all of the awesome places we saw, I do remember lots of delicious meals, cool temples and nice beaches.
• July 2012: This was the summer I took off for my first trip to Europe and my first solo trip ever. I say this was the trip that started it all – the trip that ignited my love of travel and has inspired me to keep travelling ever since.
• August 2019: During our expat year in Europe I headed to Stockholm, Sweden for a solo trip and had the best time exploring this cool city. I’ll definitely have to bring Colin back one day!

Top 5 of summer 2023:

All right, I’m wrapping up my summer in review post with five favourites from the season, in no particular order, and that I haven’t already mentioned above:

1. Our AC unit: I am so grateful that we have an AC unit. It made this summer bearable and allowed us to fall asleep in cool temperatures, because nothing is more uncomfortable than a sweaty sleep.
2. Digging Up the Duggars: I found this podcast a few months ago and have binged every episode. I had a weird fascination with the Duggars growing up and this rewatch/hate-watch podcast is speaking to my soul. Plus, it inspired me to read Jill’s book!
3. Therapy: This is the summer I got back to therapy! It’s been so awesome meeting with a counsellor every few weeks and making some positive changes in my life. If therapy is available to you, I highly encourage you to seek it out.
4. Weekly date nights: Colin and I have recommitted to our goal of having weekly date nights, taking turns planning the date. It’s been really fun discovering new restaurants and activities in our neighbourhood and, of course, spending time with my husband.
5. No Instagram! Shortly after my first therapy session in early July, I decided to stop going on Instagram and I haven’t been back on since. I don’t think I realized how much the comparison game of social media, particularly Instagram, was affecting me. So it’s been really awesome for me to leave that platform behind.

Coming up next

This fall I am looking forward to sweater weather, cozy baking and hopefully booking our first 2024 trip (it’s wild that we don’t have anything booked yet!). But mostly, I’m looking forward to our October trip to Arizona with my family from Toronto. It’s going to be so great to spend time with my family as we explore the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Antelope Canyon and more!

I hope you had an awesome, not-too-hot summer 2023 and an even better autumn ahead!