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!