Month in Review: August 2022

Can you believe that summer is almost over and we’re going into fall? The beginning of 2022 really dragged but this summer has sped by!

I had planned to get this month in review post up last week, but my final week of August was so busy that I didn’t have time to get a post ready. But here we are, better late than never, and jam packed with everything I got up to this month!

Highlights

August had so many wonderful highlights starting with a belated birthday dinner with our moms at Seasons in the Park. The view was stunning, the food was delicious and the company was awesome!

Speaking of great company, we got to catch up with my Auntie Deb and more family members at a big family dinner in Richmond this month. It was fun to see everyone and eat some awesome Chinese food.

August was also a big month of live theatre! Colin and I saw a comedy show with Celeste Barber and then cried, laughed and cheered our way through Come From Away (thanks to my dad & Ali, who got us tickets for my birthday). Then we went out with our friends Emilie and Jon for sushi before watching We Will Rock You at Theatre Under the Stars. We also went to a baseball game at Nat Bailey Stadium, which isn’t live theatre, but was another fun thing we watched in August too!

On August 25, we flew to Toronto to celebrate my friend Lea’s wedding. It was so wonderful to see friends and share in Lea and Petar’s special day. Plus, we made the most of our time in Toronto catching up with so many friends and family members!

Lowlights

For a while, it looked like the only downside to August was the on-again-off-again heatwave. There were a few scorching afternoons but luckily, we have fans and AC units to keep us cool indoors.

But sadly, we had a real lowlight towards the end of the month when our landlords informed us that they would be ending our tenancy and moving into the unit themselves. We can’t blame them – it’s such a great apartment!

We’re bummed to be leaving this awesome space and are now trying to enjoy as much patio time as we can before our moving date. Luckily, we were able to find a temporary living situation (and thank you to all who helped make this happen!) but it’s still been stressful days with more stress ahead as we pack by mid-September.

And as much as we loved our time in Toronto, it was exhausting to have so many social events in such a short period of time. Plus, every time I visit Toronto I always get pretty sad flying away from so many loved ones.

Best watch

The majority of August saw us trying to keep up with Survivor South Africa, which aired four nights per week! Luckily, it was an incredible season and so much fun to watch (and listen to podcasts about!).

When we’ve wrapped our weekly Survivor coverage, Colin and I have started working our way through the entire series of Criminal Minds and The Mentalist. We’re on a psychoanalysis/crime kick!

What’s cooking?

My favourite meal of the month was definitely our delicious dinner at Seasons. From the beef carpaccio starter through my delicious duck entree and all the way to our four desserts, it was so good!

Outside of our Seasons meal, we also ate some awesome meals in Toronto like family BBQ at my dad and Ali’s house, a seafood buffet at Lea’s wedding, delicious Thai food with Kim and Joe, and Chinese take-out with my Auntie Grace and Uncle Bing. So much good eating this month!

Posts from this month

This August on Teaspoon of Adventure I published:

• 21 Things to Do on a First Time Visit to New York City
• My Favourite Annual Weekend at Pender Harbour
• Our Atlantic Canada Honeymoon Itinerary

Check out any of the posts you’ve missed!

For my throwback post of the month, I’m going back to a post I wrote in August 2020: 11 Things You Must Eat in Spain. I chose this post in honour of my mom’s upcoming trip through Portugal and Spain. She and three of her girlfriends are spending 8 weeks travelling through Portugal and Spain this fall and I could not be more thrilled for them – or more jealous!

Reads

This month, I’ve finished reading:

The Catch Me If You Can by Jessica Nabongo
I’ve been following Jessica Nabongo on Instagram for a few years, watching as she became the first Black woman to visit every country in the world. I was super excited to read her book and hear about so many of the different places she’s been. It was especially insightful to hear about less travelled countries and to hear about Jessica’s experience as a Black, African woman travelling the world. I listened to this book on audio, and so got to hear Jessica herself read it, but I did miss out on her beautiful photos. I’d love to get my hands on a print copy one day!

Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod
Did you know “Americans who move to Paris” is like a whole genre of books? I sure didn’t! But this book falls squarely in that genre and I enjoyed it. It follows Janice as she gives up her copywriting job to travel through Europe where she ends up falling in love and making a new life for herself in Paris. I loved how much of this book was focused on Janice’s writing and how she really made the most of her life abroad. Though for the first half of the book I kept screaming, “What about your visa situation!?!?” To my relief, Janice finally addresses this in the latter half of the book.

A Killer by Design by Ann Burgess
Ann Burgess is one of the founders of the behavioural analysis unit at the FBI; basically Criminal Minds wouldn’t exist without her. I’ve read a few books about the behavioural analysis unit at the FBI but it was really interesting to get a female perspective, especially of her experience as one of very few women on the team, and her focus on victimology. The stories she shared were, of course, horrifying, but it’s an interesting read if you’re into psychoanalysis and true crime like I am.

Travels

This month we travelled to Toronto for five days of family, friends and food!

Where we have travelled in August:

• August 2013: While interning in Eswatini (then Swaziland), my friend Ale and I decided to spend the final weeks of our internship on the beach in Durban, South Africa. We took a very long bus from Mbabane to Durban, met up with friends from UBC we had met earlier in the summer, and spent a week cage-diving with sharks (at an aquarium!), hanging on the beach and eating great Indian food.
• August 2019: While living in Prague in 2019, I took a solo trip to Stockholm, Sweden over the summer. And it was awesome! I completely fell in love with Stockholm and highly recommend it as a summer solo trip destination. I’d love to bring Colin back one day.

Gratitude

Mid-month I decided to start a daily journal practice and so far, it’s been great! I’ve committed to writing one page per day and writing anywhere that isn’t my work desk. I am letting myself skip my journal on travel days, since I usually keep a travel journal anyway, but am otherwise enjoying this daily practice and time to reflect.

This month I’m also very grateful for all of the friends and family who hosted us for meals or rearranged their schedules to see us in Toronto. It was so nice to catch up! And special shout outs to my mom who watched Ellie while we were away and my dad and Ali, who run the best bed and breakfast in Etobicoke – car rental included!

Coming up next

Well, September is going to be a big one! We’ll spend the first half of the month packing up our apartment and getting ready to move. Wish us luck!

And then for the second half of the month, we’re off to Paris, Amsterdam and Belgium. I can’t wait to get back to Europe and celebrate our first wedding anniversary abroad! PS: Husband, if you’re reading this, I’d love to make it a tradition to celebrate our anniversary abroad every year!