Rainbow Haven and Two if By Sea

We drove over to Dartmouth to go to one of our absolute favourite coffee places, Two if By Sea. We got our coffee and scone to go and headed to Rainbow Haven Beach. It was such a beautiful day. I love just laying on the beach, listening to the ocean, and reading. It was the perfect way to spend a Friday and celebrate getting engaged!

Beach days

Sunny days in Nova Scotia are the best. We've been enjoying this long weekend immensely, but we particularly enjoyed Friday. We went to Crystal Crescent Beach, where the weather was absolutely perfect, and I even dove into the icy ocean! We laid in the sun, listened to the waves, and both ended up quite sunburned. Afterwards, we went to Dee Dee's for Mexican chocolate ice cream, which we ate at the Commons. Dee Dee's is probably the best ice cream I've ever had, so if you are ever in Nova Scotia, make sure you get a chance to try it!

Findlay Fridays

Findlay Bear is endlessly hilarious and handsome.

Green

Hello, spring. I'm so happy that you are back!

Spring on Jeju Island

Spring brought a riot of wild flowers and colour to Jeju Island last year. We began going to the beach on most of our days off, or sometimes exploring the lush, green forests close to our school. Many days were foggy with humidity, but we were extremely happy to see the cold wind leave in place of some warmer weather. Jeju is such a magical place! It's been on my mind a lot lately as the weather slowly starts to change here in Halifax.

Open City

Halifax truly is a wonderful place. Yesterday, Aaron and I spent time exploring Halifax and falling even more in love with this city during Open City. I've been pretty sick this week, but I am so glad that I sucked it up and went out anyways.  It was an overcast and windy day, with rain in the late afternoon and evening, but there were still hundreds and hundreds of people out, taking advantage of excellent food from restaurants and food trucks, samples of local cuisine, sales at local shops, music on every corner, yoga, hair braiding, face painting, free entry to museums, and activities like planting flowers for Mother's Day and sidewalk pottery making. There were coffee tastings and cooking demos, and it was all absolutely fantastic.

 

We started the day at the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market. It was so crowded and vibrant, I couldn't even pull my camera out. We walked along the Waterfront and stopped at lots of the shops along the way. We got coffee at The Smiling Goat and watched some of the food trucks begin setting up for the day in Bishop's Landing.

From the waterfront, we made our way to Argyle Street, one of my favourite streets in the city. It's packed with excellent restaurants and fun shops. We stopped and listened to some music by City Hall, then wandered down to Biscuit General Store. As we continued along Argyle, we got some tea from World Tea House (citrus mate for Aaron, Earl Grey with lavender and vanilla for me!) Aaron then ordered the best grilled cheese sandwich ever from Onyx: fontina cheese, proscuitto, and shallot marmalade on sour dough bread. We walked back toward city hall, relaxed on a bench and listened to some fantastic live music, and shared that fantastic sandwich while we sipped our tea.

From Argyle, we made our way to Brunswick Street and headed to Steve-o-Reno's. We split a brie, prosciutto, pear, walnut and dijon and agave dressing on a baguette, which was absurdly delicious. We stayed for the North Mountain Coffee tasting. North Mountain is one of our favourite local coffee roasters.

While at Steve-o-Reno's, we made plans to meet up with Aaron's parents, so we wandered back to the car, with a few more stops along the way. We shared a pita with local spit fired lamb with tzatziki, tomatoes, and red onion from the Argyle Bar and Grill. We then had some hazelnut gelato from Ristorante a Mano. It was delicious!

We finished our evening at Obladee with Aaron's parents. Even though the whole day was fantastic, this was definitely a highlight. I love going out with Aaron's parents, and Obladee is one of the coolest places in the city. Open City was such a fantastic day. I wish I hadn't been sick, because we wanted to go so many more places, but there is always next year. Halifax, I love you.

Flights booked!

I just booked flights to New Mexico for June! I think it will be the longest I've spent there since I moved away. It's certainly the first time I'll be celebrating my birthday there in at least five years! I'm so pumped. Aaron is flying down a little later than I am, but I'm just thrilled that he's going to be able to come! I can't wait to see the mountains and big, blue sky again. And to feast on green chile. And, obviously, to hang out with my family! We're taking Aaron rafting in the Taos Box, and (hopefully) to the Santa Fe Opera. June is always so hot there, I hope that Aaron will be able to handle it.

The photos above are from random adventures around New Mexico last time I was home in December. Photos include: The Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Santa Fe, Albuquerque sunset and city lights, Calvin, Turquoise Trail at dusk, Chama River, Ristra in Madrid, New Mexico, driving toward Santa Fe, and an Albuquerque sunset taken from the Turquoise Trail.