I am a huge advocate of sunscreen! When I’m out in the sun, I reapply every couple hours without fail. When swimming I reapply as soon as I’m out of the water. But I had no idea that sunscreens are damaging to the coral reef! This landlocked lady LOVES the ocean! We travelled to Hawaii often as kids to visit…
Yesterday was a big day for me, it was when I officially received my Bachelor of Education from the University of Lethbridge. You would think that a second degree wouldn’t feel as momentous as your first, but it absolutely does! Especially in my case when this was the degree I’ve always wanted. If you follow me on social media, I…
This post is sponsored by Bayer. To be sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label. Summer is right around the corner and with the warm weather and I’m already sporting what I like to call my clown nose. You see, I have super sensitive eyes to light and sunglasses are an absolute MUST if…
Ladies and Gentleman, I am very excited to present my son Tynan! For those wondering where we got the name Tynan, it’s my Irish maiden name and I am so happy that this name will live on with my child. I won’t be turning this blog into a mommy blog but there will be baby posts once in awhile, just…
I knew that I wanted to do my maternity photos in the mountains pretty much from the moment it was confirmed I was pregnant. Is anyone surprised? A couple weeks ago, I headed to Waterton with my friend and talented photographer Jenna and we played around to get some AMAZING photos that I will cherish forever.
The weather held out so I was able to make it into Calgary for the 2018 Calgary Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show. The last couple years were snowy and stormy, though we did drive through snow in Nanton. My cousin Jenn and I road tripped up and met with Keirstyn for a day of laughter and fun. We started off…
This post is sponsored by Bayer. To make sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label. I am an avid winter lover but once March 1st hits I get into a spring mindset. It’s a bit premature though as winter here in Alberta can last as long as late April-early May. But I can’t help…
This makes year four I believe where I have been partnering with the Calgary Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show to give away tickets to Better LIVIN readers. I love the Calgary Outoor Adventure & Travel Show but I swear to you, every year a snow storm hits and the roads to Calgary are bad on that weekend. But this year…
Some readers may have noticed crickets on the blog and my social media accounts the last couple of weeks. I’ve been trying to get it together after the sudden loss of my beloved grandma and my online life took a backseat to what was going on in real life, (which is how it should be). The last couple weeks have…
This blog post took a long time to write. How do you write about something that makes you cry every time you think about it? That causes an ache in your chest when you think about it? Two weekends ago, Ryan and I went to visit with my grandma (who I visit 2-3 times a week) before heading to Waterton…
I love that my friends are up for anything, it always makes for fun times out. Most women go out for drinks and dancing on girls get-togethers, we go paddle boarding, cross country skiing, or in the case of last week, axe throwing. After a quick dinner at Moxie’s (shout out for the table made guacamole!) we crossed the street…
Last year my intention for the year was to stress less; to take things as they come a little better and not spend time worrying about things out of my control. I was very happy with the outcome and would grade myself at a solid 70%. The other 30% was my failure to go with the flow more, which is…
For 2017 I didn’t set any resolutions, just a mantra, a goal to live by, and that was “stress less“. “This is the year I keep to a budget, manage my homework load, stick to a workout schedule, work part time, and manage my household without losing my mind. I’ll do all this by repeating this mantra, staying in a positive…
2017 was a tough year, which I knew it would be. I went into it planning to take summer courses to finish school by December and knowing that I had two teaching practicums, one of which was full time and four months long. This heavy school workload limited the adventures, but I still managed to fit in some amazing hikes,…
WOW! Life has been interesting in my 32nd year. I went into it knowing it would be tough since I planned to take summer courses to graduate in December. Reading through past birthday recaps I’ve watched the ups and down each year brings. In this case, 32 has brought some high high’s and some low low’s. This birthday marks some…
They say life never goes as planned and boy has my life been proof of that lately. My miracle baby was a completely unexpected but very much wanted surprise and it threw a wrench into my plans. I had planned to get a full time teaching job as soon as possible and establish my career. This would give me a…
Remember the awful saga of Apollo’s infected foot last summer? You can read a little more about it HERE but basically he chewed up a torn pad, it became infected, and it was two months and $1800 of hell! After all this happened, I vowed that as soon as I was back to work full time, pet insurance would…
You may have noticed a complete lack of fitness-related posts on this blog or social media accounts, but there’s a reason for that. I have been so crazy sick from the moment I wake up until I go to bed that it took all I had to get through my day of teaching. My weekends were spent lying on the…
In life us human beings have an end goal – to live a life filled with love, purpose, success, freedom, more time and happiness. But, before having love, purpose, success, freedom and more time we must first conquer happiness. We first need to find the happiness with what already is, what we already have right now, and what our circumstances…
After a couple years of chronic foot pain, I finally went to the podiatrist to get things checked out. You can read the full account of how I hurt it HERE. But to summarize, two years ago I kicked a chair wearing flip flops and broke and dislocated my pinky toe and needed 5 stitches. I was on crutches for…