50 Things to Do When I am 50: Run a

Some of you may not know or find it hard to believe (haha) that in my 20’s I did run some marathons and a few half marathons—continuing until I had 2 kids. Then it just became harder because it takes a lot of time to train for longer races and sadly it was an activity that I got away from as the years went on. Which is why running a 5k was on my list to see if it could spark something in me again.

What is really awesome about this run is that it fell on my 10th anniversary of working for lululemon and what is more lemony than that? Running a 5k with 12 friends past and present from lululemon!

What a good looking bunch—and fast too!

We ran the Brita Night Run which was so well organized and fun—I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone. Of course we got a race tee but we also got a fun headlamp (which you really did need!), a completion medal and a beer!

Scouters really wanted to join me (haha) so I had to share a pic of us together. He was very excited for me!

The best part was spending time checking this off my list with a bunch of past and present lululemon friends. Some of these people I have known for almost 10 years and it’s awesome to see how our lives have changed but we have stayed connected over that time.

Every relationship is what you put into it and these people have played a part in my story and being able to do this run with them was awesome!

I will give you 5 points if you can guess which feet are mine?

We were all there to support each other—some of us ran the whole thing, some did a combo walk & run (which was me but I still finished in 42 min, so not so bad for being a lazy ass the last 3 years) and some of us walked! But we all met up at the end and celebrated each other!

There is also a really cool energy about sharing an activity with hundreds of other people and creating a collective memory. I forgot how much I enjoyed that.

Post run high, red cheeks and a beer!

The beer at the end was a fun motivator! And hey, did I mention I saw Brad Pitt?

Side Note: Shepard and I went and saw this movie, Heart of the Beast, and I quite enjoyed it. I mean Brad Pitt and a dog for 2 hours? Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours!

And did I mention that headlamps are fun? haha! I think I am going to enjoy using mine in the future.

There was live music and tons of photo opportunities and you know I cannot resist a photo (or a microphone as you would know if you read my last 50 Things Post!).

So there you have it! This ole body held up to 5k and surprisingly I didn’t even feel too bad the next day! And I am able to check another thing off my list and have created even more memories. My heart is full.

50 Things To Do When I am 50: #43 Karaoke Night!

Hi friends—I have had a lot of you ask me lately how many things I have checked off my list. Some things are on going but I have been consistently doing them so I am going to include those in this tally along with the ones that have been checked off. So right now I am currently at 24 things—so almost half way! I have some plans to get a few more completed this fall so make sure you are following along on my journey!

Karaoke night was so much fun and it was also Alysha’s bday and I would definitely say we brought the energy—not the talent! hahaha! Alysha has some friends that can actually sing and I am not that gifted but I do really embrace my song choice! Thanks Tanis for suggesting that I add this to my list! Surprisingly, I had not ever Karaoke’d out in public before, only at friend’s houses.

We kicked the night off by singing Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, hahaha!

We also sang some Kelly Clarkson ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and my personal fav song to sing (I always crank it up in the car when I hear it) ‘What’s Going On?’ by Four Non Blonds. And I think most karaoke night need to include a little Whitney Houston.

Disclaimer—do not listen to this for quality instead enthusiam!

I have always been a fan of a microphone—one of my first jobs was at Fuddruckers and I loved being on the mic calling out people’s names when their food was ready. I have also had the pleasure of MC’ing a wedding and bringing out my karaoke microphone at home to host bingo nights. Even if I didn’t have a microphone at Alysha’s karaoke bday party, I was still singing!

Reese was my personal Uber driver for the night and we even convinced him to some inside and sing a few songs with us. We ended the night with a little Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It definitely a song for any generation. And arguably one of the best songs ever written.

I also love having adult kids who are willing to do things with you! Honestly, give this gal a shot and a microphone and she will bring the fun!

I am definitely up for another night of karaoke—let me know if you want to join me!

50 Things to Do: Host a Scrabble Tournament #34

Do you have a board game that is nostalgic to you? For me it would be Scrabble. My grandma Nelda (my dad’s mom) and I would spend a lot of time together, especially in the summer time. I loved going to visit them in Southey, Saskatchewan. My grandma always made me feel like she had the time for me and one of the ways we spent time together was playing card games and board games, Scrabble being my favourite.

One of the first things I wanted to do add to my 50 Things list is hosting a Scrabble Tournament.

I have a fancy swivel version of Scrabble but I did decide to go out and buy another one (we needed a few boards).

Christina also brought her board—there are so many different versions of this game which has been around since 1948!

I love board games and want to host a board game night in the next couple of months where we could be playing a few different games and just enjoy all being together. That is what it’s all about right? If you are interested, let me know—I think it is the best cooler weather activity.

I few of my co-workers from Lululemon and teaching joined me for this fun Saturday afternoon. We discovered a few things about Scrabble—people play with different rules (seems simple in Scrabble but you would be surprised—you know who you are!) and while using my vintage 1996 Scrabble Dictionary was initially frowned upon, it did end up coming in handy. And people like to WIN!

We played in teams and the team names were Scrabblicious, The Tile High Club, We forgot the Q and The Buzzwords. Christina set up a bracket (not sure if it worked in the end as we ended up adding in a final round) but it made it feel official, hahaha!

It was a really fun afternoon and Jac & Jen —aka team Scrabblicious, ended up being the winners in the end (at the end of the bracket, it was me & Christina—I had prizes and felt bad winning so we played one more round to make it legit and Jac & Jen defeated us).

I think they were pretty excited about the bragging rights and the Starbucks gift cards :) Got to combine all the things I love!

But the losers also deserved a photo too (I am questioning some of the scorekeeping—you know who you are! hahaha!).

And I will say it again—the best thing about this list is the people who are showing up to help me make it happen. You know who you are :)

50 Things to Do When I am 50: Try a new ice cream shop, #37!

The point of my list that I created back in January was to have some new experiences. To motivate myself to try something new. To get out of the safety and comfort of doing the same things and the same places.

To be frank, my marriage ended in 2023. It was a couple of years of ongoing emotional distress, dots connecting, facing realities and having to embrace being separated and a single mom. It took me a couple years of therapy to even identify myself as a ‘single mom’.

So what does any of this have to do with ice cream? Growth. Finding a new spot, a new experience that hadn’t been shared with that old version of me that was gone. The wild amazing freedom of ‘I can do what I like with MY time’. This is a mind blowing realization when it hits. I am the creator of my life and experiences. I can try out this new place and know that the memory of it is solely mine.

I mean come on…look at this ice cream. And yes, I am always a double scoop kind of gal. 2 reasons—you only live once and I cannot usually make a decision on flavour! I want to try them all.

This particular afternoon took me to Annie Rue’s ice cream. I place that had been referred to me by some friends. When I turned down the street in the Parkallen neighbourhood, I was like “What the…”. This cute little street also houses The Columbian (an awesome coffee shop), an adorable flower shop and some other cute stores—I was blown away. I have lived in Edmonton for 25 years and had never been on this street.

This was the power of my list. I discovered, not only an amazing new place to get ice cream but a whole part of my city that I had not discovered!

In case you are wondering my ice cream choices were—-a chocolate nib flavour known as Delavoye Death by Chocolate (this is actually a collab with a local chocolate maker on 124th street) and Lemon Cream Pie (absolutely delicious and worth every calorie!).

I also had some awesome company to enjoy ice cream with. Bailey got the Pina Colada and Wyatt had strawberry. We gave this place a solid 10 with Bailey even taking a few pints home.

We enjoyed the little patio out front and marvelled at the fact that we didn’t know this gem of a street was hiding right off 111th.

And we deciding to wash our ice cream down with a couple iced mocha’s (truly the best in the city) from The Columbia.

So what does ice cream have to do with starting life over in mid-life and turning 50? The experience. It’s all about the experience which has become my motivating force this year. And I can officially check # 37 off of my list.

Thanks for following along my journey!

50 Things to Do When I am 50: Ride a Horse # 40

I think I have mentioned this before but the BEST part of this list, is the engagement from the people in my life who are stepping up to help me accomplish my goals. It is the best bi-product of this list that I never quite imagined!

So when my friend Lauren said “I can help you ride a horse” I was so excited! Lauren owns a beautiful retired horse, Sierra, who she jumped with for years. Sierra is gentle soul and Lauren described her as ‘loving people more than other horses’ which I thought was the opposite of some people who love ‘animals more than other people’…hahaha!

Back in November I was in Vegas for a Stampin’ Up! convention and they had a cowboy hat bar hosted by the Feather Hat Bar (from Utah I believe). We got to pick and decorate our own cowboy hat! They added branding (the other side of my hat has a B and a star) and it was just such a fun event.

I have been looking for a reason to wear my cowboy hat ever since! Hahaha!

Lauren invited me out to the stables were Sierra lives for a little horseback riding! It was obvious how much love and care Lauren gives to Sierra and how passionate she is about her horse and riding. She shared all kinds of interesting things with me about the world of horses.

I have ridden horses before but only in a trail riding situation so this was fun to be up on one by myself. Although I didn’t have the confidence to let Lauren let go of the lead, it was fun and relaxing to walk around on Sierra. I trusted her to lead the way as I think she knew I was an accommodating passenger with no game plan on where to go. Maybe next time I will be more confident!

The view from up top! Look at those ears, they just look adorable with her little tuft of hair!

It was funny because when I showed up Lauren said “I should have told you not to wear white!” and I laughed and said “I always wear white, hahaha!”…which is true if you know me. I have a very healthy supply of white tank tops and tee shirts. I was like “how dirty can I get?”…which was not any because Sierra was so accommodating!

Sierra was such a good girl so she also deserved a little treat of some crunchy carrots. We also fed her and got her bug blanket on after our walk (the mosquito's were next level annoying).

It was a really gorgeous morning for a little horseback riding too. I loved petting and scratching Sierra’s neck and I did lead her back to her enclosure after many stops to eat some grass, which is her favourite snack.

Thank you Lauren and Sierra for letting me check #40 off of my 50 Things List! I need to find my horse stamp sets so I can properly record this memory in a scrapbook page!