Around This House

I've been wanting to start a post series to chronicle everyday life in our tiny home. I know that everything seems to familiar right now and completely "unspecial" but when I look back on these days I'll miss them. Having some small snaps of the tiny little corners of magic in our home will help me see them now, and give me something to treasure later. I hope that if I look back at them they'll give me a rush of the same feelings I'm feeling now. There's something so cool about seeing a picture, or smelling a smell, and instantly being transported back in time. So that's what I'm doing here, creating my own little time machine.

So without further adieu, here is what life is currently looking like around this house:

 << The perfect welcome home >>

 << The cosiest bed >>

 << Current reads inspired by watching Montage of Heck.  One is a fictional book about a girl who O.Ds and comes back to life with Kurt Cobain as her boyfriend- full disclosure: the idea is interesting but I'm still not sold on the execution so far. The other is a collection of Kurt Cobain's journals >>

 << Helping hands >>

 << Home Sweet Home >>

 << Demin jackets and summer evenings>>

 << Indoor not-so-wildlife>>

<< My favourite corner>>

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown

Time Traveler

Happy Birthday Shauna!

My wonderful best friend Shauna turned 25 this month and we thought she deserved an adventure. 25 is a big deal. A quarter century, ten years into our friendship, a time to celebrate!

First up for the day was a trip to Centre Island. While Toronto is an amazing, bustling metropolis, if you hop on a ten minute ferry you can get to a beautiful island with endless activities. We grabbed some drinks and lunch on the island before setting out to go canoeing and kayaking.

When we found out that our rentals would take a bit, we went exploring. We precariously climbed over rocks, trying to get as close to the lakes waves as we could. Surprisingly none of us fell in.

When it came time to get in our rentals we have one canoe, three single kayaks and one tandem kayak. We raced each other, we splashed around in some questionable water, and when we all got tired we linked ourselves up and floated next to each other in the shade.

What I didn't know was that there is a pirate ship that people can go on that lets you blast people with water. Unlucky for me, I was sharing a canoe with two other people. One of them was dead set on getting us wet, so under the wrath of water fire we went. I did not handle it gracefully but looking back it was hilarious, especially when we were getting so soaked that we couldn't see anything and we rammed our canoe into the boat and almost tipped. So many close calls with that mystery water that day.

After that we got ready for dinner and went out to Tequila Bookworm. We picked it because it had a patio that was the perfect little nook in the city for our dinner.

Of course we couldn't stop at dinner. Our original plan was to go go-kart racing but our timing was very off because by the time we got to Playdium, the go-karts were closing in 15 minutes. Instead we spent the night acting like children in the arcade, playing virtual reality games, and collecting tickets, which we eventually used to buy candy, like the true adults we are.

It was a completely wonderful day and I couldn't have thought of a better group of humans to spend it with.

I had to include the below picture because it's my favourite thing that I've ever laid eyes upon. Welcome to your 25th year Shauna!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Birthday Hype Man

Climbing Rocks

About a year and a half ago Jordan and I decided to join a rock climbing gym. We found Grand River Rocks in Kitchener and it has been one of the best places in the world to us. We've brought tons of friends to join us, I've started taking yoga, and we've really seen our skills develop in the time we've been climbing.

This past weekend we got the chance to move on to the next big, bad challenge: outdoor rock climbing.

Jordan had met a friend at tradeschool who had a lot of experience in outdoor rock climbing so we had a great guide for our first time climbing outside. We met in Milton and climbed Rattlesnake Point.

Let me tell you, this was WAY harder than I had imagined. This was definitely a step up from indoor rock climbing! When you're indoors you're following a set path that someone engineered for you. Outside, you pick the path, and that can make it a lot easier on you, or a lot harder.

I was climbing up a wall and following the crack of the wall when my instincts took me to the right. I found myself very far right from where the rope was, which meant if I fell, the rope would swing me back underneath it. The below picture shows in green where I should have been and in yellow where I actually was:

I was holding on to the wall trying to find my next hold and my legs started shaking. I didn't feel confident enough in my next move to just go for it so I decided I'd rather let go and be prepared for the swing. I sat back, let go of the rock and the rope pulled me quickly back towards the crack. It was a quick swing and I hit the rope on the way, almost pulling my belayer over. The hit didn't hurt and I mostly had control of my swing, not to mention my belayer quickly and confidentially handled the whole situation. It was a bit scary, but also exhilarating. That's just an example of how much harder outdoor rock climbing can be.

 All together it was an incredibly great day. It was definitely one of the toughest things I've ever tried, but I want more than ever to go back out there.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
The Girl Who Fought a Rope and Lived to Tell the Tale