Market.

One of the first dogs I saw at the market today, was this awesome little guy with the best dog-goatee.

Then I told this lady I loved her mod dress (also her straw shopping bag) while she was in line for waffles.





And this dog, Scarlett, made my day. PANNIERS. On a dog!





Hung out with an iced coffee. I wore the ridiculously fantastic anchor earrings Leanne got me for my birthday.





Then ran into Dave Berry! He is an old friend from newspaper days and recently interviewed me in his piece for Avenue Magazine.





I recall photographing this pretty girl at the Al Fresco event earlier this summer. Must be her awesome choppy short hair. I could never pull that off.





We took the train home, fed Dexter some lunch, put him into little swim trunks and took him to Bonnie Doon park for a mom's group reunion.

This park is awesome because it is a spray park!





So much fun.








Here is beautiful baby Irene.





And Dexter, unwinding after his splash session with some blueberries.





We played for a little while before leaving.





With fellow baby, Matthew.





And they rode a big dinosaur together.





After I went back to work in September it became increasingly difficult to find the time to take Dexter to mom group. The ladies are all super nice and it would be great for Dexter to be around other babies more often, but the life of a working mom is sort of crazy and hectic. This little reunion was perfect for us. No stress. Lots of fun. All the babies have grown up so much and are very hilarious.

Have I mentioned that being a mom is the best? It really is.

Lunch and the Mobile Office.

I had lunch/sandwich plans with Kris today. Rode the Amsterdam because it was so hot out. On days like today I'll forego the Pashley for something lighter and less sweat-inducing.

But look who I ran into...

Raffaella on the foldy! What a happy coincidence. Turns out she and Lisa had scheduled a meeting and some afternoon work.

Nate mused about the day's sandwich selections. I had the BBQ pulled pork shoulder with tasty hot sauce. I was instructed to eat it donair-style. Mess and all. I miraculously didn't get any of it on myself.

I took a picture of this girl's vegetarian sandwich. She was having lunch with Sharon of Only Here for the Food. When I first rolled up I said hello to Sharon and went inside to enjoy elm's air conditioning. Once Kris had arrived he commented to me that Sharon's friend was actually Ellen, a girl I knew in high school.

Weird!

Mostly because I am very very sure that Ellen had a problem with me in high school. I confronted her about it once, and asked what specific thing I had done to offend her and how I could stop doing it so as to put an end to the hate-vibes. She said nothing was wrong.

That was amongst my first brushes with passive aggressiveness. Up until then it was a foreign concept to me. In my family everybody just tells you when they have a problem with you. It's just all out there.

So I know I'm far from perfect and am capable of rubbing people the wrong way. But I really wish people could bring this to my attention when it happens so it doesn't fester for over a decade and then result in weirdness when I'm at elm café.

Or maybe I'm wrong and there really is no problem? I went out to say hi to her and apologized for not recognizing her earlier. The exchange was civil enough.

But talk about a blast from the past. Funny how all this stuff can bubble up to the surface with a happenstance run-in.

My plan after lunch was to hack away at my paper. I went to the park to set up a mobile office and got to it.

There was a super cute old couple riding a tandem.

My friends came with.

And on the way I finally met Fiona! She was lovely and had a sweet vintage Raleigh. She also lives in a building that I really like, it's the same apartment that my friend Crystal and I had a lot of good times in. It was too bad I couldn't stop for long, but standing around in Edmonton these days usually results in swarms of evil mosquitos coming and drawing your blood. My friends were also mid-ride and I didn't want to keep them waiting so after a quick hello we had to move on.

Fiona, I'll see you again soon:)

Then we parked. And sprayed ourselves with tons of bug spray.

My "office chair" is my tummy.

Kris listened to tunes and did some writing.

I wrote.

Then the time came to leave the office behind.

Packed up my things into my red pannier.

See you later, cubicle mates.

Picked up a few groceries and went home to make cornbread muffins for a dinner party. I had done one of those stupid things where you buy everything you need except for one key ingredient? I forgot the cornmeal. Curses!

Luckily I live in a super wicked neighbourhood. The kind where I can go across the street and ask my wonderful neighbour, Jean, for cornmeal. She saved the day!

Don and I went over to our friends' for supper. We got to meet their new baby! What a cute, snoozy little lady.

Apparently Dexter was standing up on his own! I was too late to catch it on camera.

Despite what everybody keeps telling me, Dexter isn't into walking yet. He just doesn't care. But being around other kids who are motoring around bipedal-style seems to inspire him. I don't really care when he wants to walk. When it happens it just means I won't have to wipe his hands down quite so often.

I had switched purses today and forgot my fan in my old one. I was offered this adorable wooden fan to use instead. How "Miss Sarah."

The food was amazing. We ended the evening munching on loaf.

That was Friday. A little lunch. A little trip down memory lane. Some work. Muffins. And supper with friends.

A Day Off.

Don had another day off. Praise!

We got up to some family-via-bike shenanigans. Very casual. Very fun.

Since Don was around I made him ride his old GT mountain bike and tow Dexter.

Don had to buy some pedals at redbike so we stopped in for a bit. I noticed this very pretty Steel Wool bike and commented on its awesomeness. I was then informed that it belonged to my friend, Euna.

Euna. Nice bike. Very nice!

Love the herringbone.

We made some rounds. Went to the library, the dollar store, the post office...

Then lunch at Upper Crust.

I always forget about the ridiculous array of desserts available here. We didn't end up getting any (so sad) because we were full up on potato salad. It's sort of silly to be excited about potato salad but the Upper Crust one is very tasty.

We also ran into our neighbour on our way in. He was picking stuff up for their road trip out to their cabin. Love these happy run-ins. They remind me that people who live near me likewise frequent the lovely independent establishments in and around our 'hood.

Cake cake cake.

Pie!

Two pies.

It's still summer.

Patio season in Edmonton is wonderful. A real celebration of the good weather we're starved for most of the time.

Dexter was incredibly good at lunch today. We had a little booth so he would lay down and sit up an drink his milk with his daddy. Ate his blueberries quietly. Only climbed up on the table a few times.

Very civilized.

I could definitely get used to Don having more time off. It's leisurely and fun and it's really good to do normal things together. The consequence of being really busy people with wacky schedules is we don't get to see enough of each other. Afternoons spent doing normal, boring stuff is actually a treat. Family time? Yes, please.

It's also nice to have an extra set of dad-hands around too.

I can't believe July is almost done. WAH!

Taste(s) of Edmonton.

Dexter and I took the train to see daddy for lunch today.

The Taste of Edmonton is set up in the square right across from city hall so we strolled over to sample the goods. The nice thing was being able to eat whatever you want in one space. The bad thing is crowds of people who don't know how to navigate in a crowd. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say I've been in far busier places where the flow of human traffic is much more organized. No sudden stopping without pulling over. No startled and incredulous looks when people notice you're standing behind them. That sort of thing.

Once we steered clear of the masses I saw this adorable old man sitting outside the Winspear Centre. I don't know what it is about Chinese seniors. They really tug at my heartstrings.

Dexter had his first fried ice cream.

He looked envious of people playing in the pool outside city hall.

Later that evening Dave and I took the train again, this time for dinner without the crowds.

We went to Moriarty's.

I look out the window.

Menu time.

And wine time.

Dave's sandwich.

And mine.

Cream puffs. They were huge.

Then Don stopped by after his meeting.

He was on the Batavus all day.

But opted to take the train home with us.

It was a yummy Wednesday.