50 Things to Do List--Attend a Cooking Class #48

My friend Donna gave me this idea to add to my 50 Things List and I had the opportunity to attend a class while in Mazatlan on the Fun in the Sun Crafting Cruise I was co-hosting!

Along with Sheryl, Tricia and Bonnie we attended a ‘Salsa, Salsa and Margarita’s’ cooking class. It was AMAZING! We learned how to make 5 different salsas, a guacamole and 2 different kinds of margaritas. It was so fun, well organized and delicious!

All of the ingredients were fresh and we did all the steps from start to finish and of course there was a lot of taste testing. I do love salsa so it was interesting to learn different styles, ingredients and methods to creating it. We had homemade taco chips, cheese taquitos and cheese quesadillas to try along with our salsas and guacamole.

I had never made a salsa verde before so I really enjoyed this!

The two gals leading the cooking and margarita making were awesome! They were funny and engaging and explained all of the steps really clearly. We definitely learned a few tricks for creating salsa at home.

The venue was a hotel in Mazatalan that had a nice pool just steps up from the ocean! We had a break mid-way through and after the class had a chance to take advantage of the pool and ocean.

We made a lime margarita and a strawberry margarita from scratch and learned about different tequilas (by taste testing of course!) and the drinks were bottomless!

Our final salsa was a dessert salsa that they served with vanilla ice cream.

Overall it was a really great excursion and I am so happy I had such a unique way to check ‘Take a Cooking Class’ off of my list of 50 Things!

Relaxing by the pool and taking a dip in the ocean was definitely worth its after all of the chopping and mushing we did, hahaha!

Thanks for following along! I am definitely up for another cooking class in Edmonton if anyone wants to join me!

50 Things to do When I am 50--#23 Go to at least ONE Target store!

I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote this one…ONE Target store? Who am I? Hahaha!

Actually when I did make my list back in January, I was not sure if visiting the US was on my docket so one did seem reasonable. But I should have know better. If you have seen my Instagram account lately (if no, go give me a follow @stampwithbrenda) and you can see my full reel of my Target adventures Los Angeles and San Diego.

Fun Fact: There are 17 Target stores in Los Angeles!

I will say that a fun goal could be visiting all of the Target stores in a major city like that…maybe next year? hahaha!

So how did I end up here? I recently hosted a crafting cruise with Royal Caribbean to Mexico (yes! Another List item checked off that will get its own post) and my awesome friends Sheryl & Tricia and I decided we needed a little California adventure before boarding the ship. So we planned a Girls Trip (I have previously checked this one off already but I think it deserves another nod for being #19 on my list) to Disneyland and to hit up some Target stores while we also traveled the coast to San Diego. Sheryl was our chauffeur for the week and initially I do not think visiting 6 Target stores was on her list, hahaha! But she was a good sport as Tricia and I just needed to 'go to one more…it’s so close’! IYKYK

The first one is always the most thrilling—especially if it’s been a while! Tricia and I were together the last time I was at Target (in Vegas in Nov 2025) so it has been 8 months!

The next question I am frequently asked is—what do you get from Target? Well, Target tells me what I need! Haha! I do follow a few accounts on Instagram so I usually have an idea of some of the fun stuff, but honestly each one has similar but different things in the Dollar Spot Bins. And I also really like to just look at all the stuff that we do not have in Canada!

I always get a photo or two with Bullseye! And sometimes the Target balls!

My kids usually have a list of fun candy for me to bring home but honestly, I buy a lot of things for my Stampin’ Up! business. I like to give away things at events so often I will find things that fill that need. Which is why I usually end up visiting so many is because I need to buy a certain # of things so it requires visiting a few locations!

I have been in Target stores that are all different sizes like the teeny one on the Las Vegas Strip to this two story one on Sunset Boulevard! The two story ones even have an escalator for your shopping cart which is actually pretty cool.

What how my cart meets me at the top!

AND if you didn’t know…Target’s almost always have a Starbucks inside so it’s a mandatory stop! hahaha!

We were really excited that our last Target of this trip had a view of the Hollywood sign which we have just visited. We were all pretty excited about that!

I managed to add a couple more things into my suitcase at our last Target as the Halloween stuff was being put out and I will admit, I wished I had a whole (third, hahaha) suitcase with me that I could have filled with all the stuff. Occasionally, one does need to have self control! haha!

I did make a stop at the Starbucks in the airport to see if I could snag a Hollywood ‘Been There’ series mug for my growing collection as the one at our last Target Starbucks did not have one. While waiting in line I had a great conversation with another Brenda and she gave me her spare set of WINGS! Isn’t this amazing?

And yes, for the record, I did wear two hats onto the airplane! What is a girl gonna do? I needed to get my ears home safely!

Thank for you for following along as I document my 50 Things List journey. One day my kids will read this and will know that there mom was really making the most of this milestone year!

50 Things to Do List--#41 White Water Rafting!

While we were in Banff National Park—having experiences and checking what we can off my 50 Things List we added on White Water Rafting on the Kananaskis River with Canadian Rockies Rafting on our way home.

But before that we did another little hike around the town of Banff down from Main Street to Bow Falls. The town had an awesome market set up that morning so we did a little shopping (I added a wooden spoon to my collection —its official I know collect wooden spoons from my travels along with Starbucks mugs) and some new jewelry! So far I have wooden spoons from Norway, Windsor Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Munich and now Banff!

Support local—you are literally making someone’s hopes and dreams happen when you buy from a local artisan!

Banff National Park is truly amazing and I know why people travel the world to visit. Sarah had the fun idea to book us into a Hostel! Which I HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED—seriously, you think I didn’t have any fun in my 20’s! Well here we are the 50 year old crowd, staying at a hostel!

Don’t ask why there is wrapping paper in my hands…ok ask. It was a good deal. Enough said, hahahahaha!

But we did enjoy the hostel, we booked the room to ourselves so it was just us and I showered across the hall. It was another experience I can now say I have done!

Seriously, look at how gorgeous! Notice the Canada Goose in the corner, they were all over this path!

I will have so many great photos to scrapbook! We had the most amazing weather for this trip. It is like the universe wanted me to have this experience.

On our way along the path to Bow Falls we stopped so many times for photo opportunities and to just look at the beautiful world.

I don’t know why, but isn’t the sound of rushing water to a waterfall so amazing? It reminds us of how powerful this force of nature is and every drop that falls is different and creates its own ripple effect. Maybe that is like people?

After our hike back to our car it was destination WHITE WATER RAFTING. I think it was along this drive that Sarah casually mentioned we needed to wear wetsuits. WTF. Let me tell you….

Getting that wetsuit on was an EXPERIENCE (this deserved capital letters). We basically needed to help each other wiggle, pull, push body parts around to get into these things. And the booties…I was momentarily concerned they were going to be a permanent part of my body. And these are the only photo evidence you have that we did this! The rapids were class 3 so despite my desire to document things, we didn’t. We lived in the moment and locked the experience into our hearts.

Peeling off the wetsuit was also not for the faint of heart. But I am happy we had them on because the water was still pretty cold and we were able to get out of our raft at one point and swim around!

Overall, these 3 days with these 2 girl friends, doing all the things was amazing. Coming home with windswept hair and a sunburn and a heart full of memories was just what I needed.

50 Things to Do List--Biked the Legacy Trail #13

You what I love about this list? I am not doing anything in order—when I wrote this list in January, I wrote a list of the all the ideas I had for myself to try and accomplish this year. Things that had been on my mind, things that I had put off for 1000 reasons, things I wanted to experience again and for the first time.

Usually I am a pretty methodical person, but this list is an experience and I will take the opportunities as they arise!

So when Sarah, Kelsy & planned to ride our bikes on the Legacy Trail (from Banff to Canmore) we added in as much as we could including the Nordic Spa (take me baaaack!) and whitewater rafting to finish our trip off! The bike ride deserves its own post!

We rented E-Bikes from Banff Cycle which was incredible! We had our bikes from 9 am to 7 pm and we used almost every minute of our rental.

The start of the trail is right outside of Banff. These were E-assist bikes which meant we did have to pedal the whole time. I will admit, the first 10 minutes I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into as one way of the trail is 26.8 kilometres and its been a hot minute since I have been on a bike! Hahaha!

The trail was so picturesque with the trees and mountains and just really feeling like a part of nature. The trail was steady but not in a crowded way. I actually felt connected to all the other people riding by on their bikes too.

We had a good pace but none of us took any notice of the time to arrive in Canmore or return to Banff! We just enjoyed the scenery and making some photo pit stops along the way!

Banff is absolutely gorgeous and I don’t know what it is about mountain air and seeing the mountains, but it is so good for the soul.

Across Canada in our parks you can find over 400 red Adirondack chairs that are placed in peaceful and gorgeous locations. It is always fun to come across a set as they demand a photo! So we were excited to find this pair on our way to Canmore!

We were so excited when we say the ‘Welcome to Canmore’ sign! Haha! Half way was done. We decided to bike into town for lunch and got a recommendation from a local. Their Main Street was shut down to traffic so we also enjoyed doing a little shopping! The bikes had some storage on the back which was great for our purchases!

After lunch we headed back to the trail for some more amazing views! We even saw a bald eagle on top of a tree right along the trail!

On the way back, we took a little detour (with no idea where it went) and emerged at the most amazing place known as Cascade Pond! I cannot believe that I have been to Banff so many times and did not know this place existed! The view was so fantastic, there was a little waterfall and tons of picnic benches and another set of red chairs!

Like, come on! Look at this! The water was like glass!

We road around the pond and found this bridge, I don’t know what it is about a bridge but one must cross it!

I think this picture captures how I felt about this whole awesome day! My heart is so full to finally! FINALLY! After years of driving by people on this bike trail and looking out my window and thinking “I want to be like them” to actually doing it with my friends!

Finding another set of red chairs was awesome too and we spent some time sitting, relaxing and visiting.

We when headed back into town we stopped by the ‘Welcome to Banff’ sign (you can see it across the road) and then decided to ride around town and find the big BANFF letters that have been relocated by the train station (they are a huge tourist attraction and the original location was causing traffic jams and parking issues). It’s definitely a must do photo opportunity when you visit!

After we dropped off our bikes a drink on a rooftop patio was required! It was a great way to end an awesome day!

I am so proud of myself for making this happen. It was one of my most desired experiences to check off my 50 Things List and my heart is so full knowing I have had the experience and the 600 photos to prove it. I will not be running out of scrapbooking content any time soon!

Thanks for being a part of my journey as I will be sharing another hike and white water rafting next (#41 ) soon!

50 Things to Do List --#24, #25 & #28

Hey friends! Just me over here having the best summer EVER as I continue to check off some experiences from my 50 Things to Do list! The absolute BEST part of this whole ‘list’ experience has been how many friends have reached out with either ideas of things for me to do or to say “Hey, let me help you with #….”! This has been the most gratifying part of this whole idea! I am just over half way through my 50th year and it could not be going better!

One of the bucket list items that I added to my list was one that I have wanted to do for so long—visit the Nordic Spa in Kananaskis. This is #28 on my list! It did not disappoint! We decided to do the Twilight Soak and it was such a perfect evening after our hike at Lake Louise. As no phones are allowed you will have to search for images online of what things are like on the inside. It was such a calm evening, just a smidge of a breeze and it was so peaceful being in the water surrounded by trees. We did 2 full rounds which included a COLD PLUNGE —yay! #24 is officially checked off!

What to say about the cold plunge? Surprisingly, it wasn’t my nipples or lady bits that I thought would freeze off, it was the inside of my upper arms. I started counting to get to 120 seconds (2 minutes is recommended) and honestly, my brain could not do it! hahaha! I got to about 60 seconds and then my brain could simply not count anymore! hahaha! But I can now say I did a cold plunge—2x!

A couple years ago in May I took the kids to Lake Louise and we started to hike the Tea House Trail—we were unable to make it more than half way because there was still too much snow (we saw an avalanche across the lake) and it is something I have wanted to do again. However, this time the trail was closed because of the amount of water/flooding we have been getting in Alberta. So we settled for hiking around the lake but I am going to count this as an attempt as we still did a beautiful hike around the lake.

If you have never been to Lake Louise—add it to your bucket list. I think it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I am so privileged to only live a few hours away.

Isn’t this a gorgeous view?

The water is an amazing color and the way the mountains come together is spectacular! In the winter you can skate on the water which is something I have also been lucky enough to do a couple of times.

It’s a pretty easy hike to go around the side of the lake and I was surprised to find there was a huge sand bar at the end. There was still water trickling down from the mountains to fill the lake, it was so pretty.

There was a bit of an incline to get up to this point but nothing to challenging—seriously, I have not done nearly as much activity as I would like this year, so coming from me—you could do it to! hahaha!

We decided we needed to climb up the mountain side for a view and a drink!

I mean how often can you say you enjoyed a beverage on the side of a mountain with some of the world’s best views with your friends?

We found someone also walking by that offered to take a picture of us which was so kind. I love this picture of Sarah, myself and Kelsy!

Cheers!

Day 1 was the start of our adventure and while I was preparing to write these post I was reflecting a lot on being able to have the experience. The mobility to do it, the time and money and the blessing of friendship.

For the first time in several years, I am starting to feel like myself again. The person who enjoys trying new things, is happy and alive, has confidence and is proud of herself.

Thank you to every person who has contributed to helping me get here along the way.

Stay tuned for Day 2’s experiences as I checked something else off my list!