What I'm Loving In May

On the road in Turkey

Here's what's making May a happy month for me.

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Istanbul and it's shortly approaching midnight. I've been on the go since 7:00am and the day has included a palace, a market, climbing WAY up to get great views of the city (twice!), two huge meals, traditional painting, and a rather dramatic thunder and lightning storm. I'm due to get up at 4:00am to catch a flight to the city of Riza for another full day of travel. And it's awesome!

Tasting rye for the first time.

I never thought rye would be my thing - and truth be told I was a little intimidated to try. But with Ryan by my side for moral support, we headed out to one of Ottawa's nicest restaurants, Social, for a Rye tasting with Canadian Club. It turns out I wasn't alone in my rye-phobia - TONS of women are discovering it for the first time. We had a fantastic night with friends and great food and we tried some of the smartest, sexiest cocktails ever - including learning how to make a perfect Manhattan! 

The return of "Chippy" and getting the backyard ready for spring.

Sweeping out our backyard and getting rid of the old brush and twigs has been an oddly exciting projects. We've been so happy to see how last year's stone work survived the winter in such good shape and it's such a relief to get things done early in the year. And best of all - Chippy has returned! Our sweet furry friend is once again at home in our backyard. Stay tuned for more backyard pics thoughout the summer!

Acting like a lady

My good friend Jo, from Frugal First Class Travel, came to town and we went for tea. High tea, that is, at the very ladylike Chateau Laurier hotel in downtown Ottawa. And it was absolutely lovely!!! It's definitely one of the best things to do with your girlfriends. 

Hanging out with rock stars

So what am I doing here with Drew and Mick? Why, hanging out with my own real life rock stars at the BConnected Conference. I spoke about breaking into travel blogging but I took home so much more. It was so inspiring to be in a room with so many incredible bloggers that I look up to and they have me fired up to be a better blogger!

In case you missed it, here's what January 2015, February 2015,  March 2015, and April 2015  were like.

Tell me about your May. What's making you happy and what are you looking forward to?