A Penne for your Thoughts: July 2012 Update!

Dear Blog,

I’m sorry you’ve been neglected lately. I’m just not that into you.

Just kidding. I am into you, but I have struggled with feeling inspired to write since my Dad died in April, although I have continued to meal plan, create in the kitchen and experiment with recipes. Have no fear, my family is still eating well!

Now on to the update! It has come time for me to go back to work. Maternity leave is over as of July 23 – boo hoo. I know, I know, I should feel extremely lucky to live in a country that allows a year off for new moms (and dads!), and I do, but I am still having mixed feelings about going back to work. I love being home with Oliver and will miss him terribly. I am very fortunate, however, that my one-in-a-million boss and employer have agreed to part-time to start. I’ll be working three days a week to ease back into things. Oliver will be in the capable and extremely loving hands of my Mom for the first three months as well. I’m so very grateful that she was willing to take the plunge and move to Hamilton after living her whole life in North Bay. I’m not ready to put Oliver in daycare yet, and there are a zillion other reasons why having your mom 450 metres away from you (according to Google Maps!) is a good thing. Thank you, Mom!

In other news, Oliver is walking now, and will turn one on July 29^th. We’re having a “small” (22 guests…) party with family and a couple of our closest friends at our house to mark the occasion. It should be fun to see O dig into a cupcake for the first time. I’ll be sure to post pics!

We also took a much-needed vacation to Nassau, Bahamas the first week of July. Yes, strange time to go to the Caribbean, but it was really great. My three boys (hubs and 2 sons) and I, my sister and brother-in-law and my Mom all spent a week hanging out by the pool and beach, having wonderful dinners together and relaxing. You can see my Facebook photo album of pics here.

As you know by now, I love food and cooking, and since one of the items on my bucket list is to be published, I’ve found a way to combine them both and have become a member of Gastropost. Each week they send out a food “mission” for members to complete. You blog your mission on Tumblr and if your post is selected it will appear in the print version of the National Post that week. How cool is that? I’m excited to say that my byline will appear in the paper this Saturday, July 21^st!

I still owe a post about my Dad. Something more positive and reflective than my previous posts. I am not quite ready to write it though. Soon.

That’s it for now. Happy summer!