Happy Monday!! How was your weekend?
I had a wonderful weekend, and loved celebrating my mom (and mother-in-law) for Mothers Day yesterday. Special moms should be celebrated and appreciated every day, but I love that we have a day just for them! You mommas are the real super hero’s, you truly are! I don’t know how you do it all.
I will say that Mothers Day (and Fathers Day) always makes me think of those who may be finding the day a little harder, as I know it can be one filled with so, so many emotions for others. So, if this applies to you, I see you, and my hope is that the day went quick for you, and you were able to experience some lightness in a darker day.
But before this turns into a different kind of post, I should stay focused on the task at hand today – April’s recap.
Can someone explain to me how April is already behind us? I’m actually ok with that because April here in Newfoundland can be rough, and this month was no exception. The weather was horrible. I always say the spring months are harder for me than the winter months. We get so much rain and fog (or ‘RDF’ as us Newfoundlanders say – rain, drizzle, and fog), and it’s just depressing. It also doesn’t help that April is when the rest of the country celebrates the beautiful spring days they have. Ugh!
A rare sunny day in April
The biggest thing that happened this month was….
I cut my hair! 11-12 inches came off, to be exact.
I still can’t believe I took the plunge because a lot of times I felt really attached to my long hair. Turns out, I wasn’t attached as what I thought, and now I’m actually starting to think I care more about my hair color than I do the length. Tell me, when it comes to your hair, what are you more particular about?
Thanks to Chantal at the Hair Factory
I was wanting a change. The last hair appointment I had was 9 months prior, so I was in desperate need of some kind of hair refresh! My hair had gotten so long and had no shape, and I just felt like it was taking over my face. And don’t get me started on how much I hated washing, brushing, and blow drying it. It was pure, pure torture!
I decided I was either going to get it cut to around my armpits or go crazy and get it cut to my shoulders. I was seeing so many nice short hairstyles on Instagram and, again, I was craving that change! The night before I made up my mind that I was going to get my stylists opinion. If she thought short hair was a good idea, I was going for it! And sure enough, she did! (I was a little surprised because a few years ago I mentioned going short and she thought I wouldn’t be very happy with it where my hair is really thick). Chop, chop, chop she went!!
Just look at that difference!
And I really like it (I was going to say ‘love’, but we’ve had a few moments!).
It’s been less than a month since I’ve had it done, but so far no regrets. I especially love how nice it feels, and how easy it is to blow dry it (the biggest win here!). I will say that I do miss my long ponytail and I do feel like it always needs to be styled, which is a bit of a pain in the butt, but the good news is that it takes a quarter of the time to do so. I guess….balance!
Now I just need to master those cute hair styling tutorials I’ve been watching! I’m still working on those!
My IG caption for this picture was: What’s that saying again? Is it “A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life”, or “A woman who cuts her hair is having a midlife crisis”? You tell me!
The most talked about thing that happened during the month was the solar eclipse. On Apr 8th, the solar eclipse crossed North America and many experienced partial to total darkness when the moon aligned perfectly between the sun and Earth. How was your experience?
Newfoundland was in the path of totality, but here in St. John’s we were told it would be about 99% totality.
I was so curious to see what it was all about! I rushed home from work and stared out the window for a half hour. I watched as it slowwllly got darker (probably a smidge darker than dusk time), and then went back to normal within a few minutes. It’s neat that we got to experience it, even if I was a tad bit underwhelmed for the week-long hype!
Apparently the next one won’t happen again for another 50 years.
Moving on to something so much more groundbreaking – this was the month that I started painting my nails again. I’m not kidding when I say it’s probably been three years since I’ve done this! I’ve been so slack with doing little things like this, and I forgot how much these little things can make a difference. I’ve been setting time aside on Sundays, and I love having nice looking nails for the week ahead.
My go-to colors this month were: Zoya’s Madison and Essie’s Daily Grind
But gosh did I have a hard time getting the nail polish to set correctly. I did super thin coats, gave myself plenty of time for them to dry, and I even did the cold water trick, but after three times of going to bed with beautiful looking nails and then waking up only to find scratches and dents in them, I bought Essie’s speed setter, and that has seemed to do the trick!
We got out to our cabin the middle of the month (the snow finally melted for us to get in in a vehicle), and we planted some trees.
We went to the Duke of Duckworth for fish n’ chips. If you’re in St. John’s and wanting good fish n’ chips, this is definitely your place. It’s only a small place, but it’s both a tourist and local favourite.
We went to various places looking at hardwood flooring (but that will have to be a post for another day as my brain is still rattled over finishes, woods, and grades, and of course…price!).
April was also the month when I switched my blog from blogger to wordpress.
We also painted our front door – you can read all about that here.
This was a great month for tv (you can laugh!).
First up was the Golden Bachelor. I know it aired a while ago, but after watching Joey’s season I wanted to see what this one was all about. Y’all, I swear….I watched the finale one night, and the very next morning Gary and Theresa were announcing their divorce. Are you kidding me?!
I thought the show was far better than any bachelor/ette show I’ve watched in a such a long time. The majority of the season Gary had me charmed (this went away though towards the end), and the cast of ladies were so fun and honest, and not afraid to be themselves (you have no idea how many times I said I wanted to be friends with them!). The idea of them ‘wanting to find love on a show’ seemed much more believable than watching those in their twenties.
I liked it so much in fact, the only criticism I had was that they shortened this season, and I really wish they gave us more because it felt rushed and the relationships didn’t seem developed enough (even in Bachelor-time!).
As always, my favourite part about watching these shows is listening to the Dear Shandy podcast where they break down every episode. Sharleen and Andy are both funny and intelligent, and I like how Sharleen uses her experience of being on the Bachelor to help decipher things (especially those sneaky editing tactics!).
But, what in the world happened for them to get married and divorced all within a couple of months? Yikes! I’ll be honest and say that news did damper my feelings on this season.
Next up was Coda, a movie about a girl who is the only hearing member of her deaf family and her struggles between helping her family or pursuing her own path in life. The story was so simple and heartwarming, and the performances were amazing. If you’re wanting a feel-good movie that will make you both laugh and cry, this is it!
Last, but definitely not least, was One Day, a show about two people who meet on the night of their graduation and we follow them over the next twenty years. Oh my, I absolutely loved this! This series is based on a book and then a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. I never read the book or watched the movie, but I’m a-okay with that as this show was enough for me! The actors were so captivating and I am now obsessed with both Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, or Emma and Dexter as we know them.
To help counteract all that tv watching, I did also read three books in April.
Oh, and I bought the ACOTAR (A Court of Thornes and Roses) box set. I just started in on the second book of the series so I can’t wait to share all about that soon!
Until next time, friends!
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