This weekend was full of taking it easy which was exactly what I needed. I’ve been talking a lot about self-care with healthcare professionals this week. I decided to take their advice to heart and spend some times doing things that make me happy and bring me joy.
I spent time reading. I’m currently making my way through Big Summer (affiliate link) by Jennifer Weiner. I’m a big fan of hers, so I was pretty sure that I would like Big Summer. So far I haven’t been disappointed. I haven’t been able to figure out the ending yet, though I do have my suspicions. I wonder if I’ll be right. Here’s the synopsis from Goodreads:
Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.
Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.
Self-care also meant working out! I did a quick upper body workout on the Peloton app. It felt good to get moving and work hard even if it wasn’t for too long.
Sunday afternoon I ended up going for a short hike with my dad and brother in Kananaskis, about an hour west of Calgary. My brother wanted to go check out a hike at the site of an internment/POW camp from WWII. There were a few of them in Alberta, and Camp 130 was in Kananaskis.
As for the hike, it was relatively easy. The path was pretty well defined and tree lined so while there were pockets of sunshine, most of it was in the shade. It was the perfect fall weather to spend some time outside.
The first half of the hike was all uphill.
The leaves have started to change color here. While we don’t get the pretty orange and red colors that they do in eastern Canada, I still thought that the leaves were pretty.
Falls are typically pretty short here in Alberta, so I’m all about taking advantage of the cooler weather before the snow arrives. Being able to spend the afternoon with my dad and brother in the mountains was perfect.
The mountain parks were shut down for awhile at the beginning of the pandemic. They’ve opened up since then which I’m grateful for. A lot of the parking lots we passed for other hikes were packed, so I was very grateful that there were only two other vehicles in the parking lot for this hike. We didn’t actually see anyone else on the trail which was perfect. I think part of it is because there are obviously no international tourists, as borders are still essentially closed.
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Is it starting to feel like fall where you are? How do you practice self-care?
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