Monday Musings- Road Trip
Happy Monday ladies I hope you had a great weekend. My daughter and I spent ours on the road, heading for Vancouver. I was born in Saskatchewan, so as a Canadian citizen, I’m permitted to cross the border and go home, even though the border is closed to non-essential travel. We will be quarantined for 14 days in her 500 square foot apartment, which will be very closed quarters interesting. We picked up some supplies before we crossed the border plus she has amazing friends who’ve stocked some food in her fridge.
so here’s what’s on my mind this week:
AstroTurf
AstroTurf has come along way from the first time I saw it. You wonder why I know? Because it’s so hot where we live, that plenty of people use them for their front lawns and some of them are extremely realistic looking. My daughter and I stopped just north of Seattle to pick up a piece of Astroturf for her patio. 
Her pug doesn’t have to quarantine and she could hire a dog walker, but that seems like a silly waste of money because the dog doesn’t really walk. She has a neurological condition that many pugs have which means she only walks for a few minutes at a time. So we decided we would get creative and we bought some Astroturf to put out on her balcony which we can hose off. This is going to be a fun two weeks.
Rose Gold Kettle
I am a major tea lover and drink multiple cups throughout the day. I used to have whistling kettle for the stove but have long since given them up for an electric kettle. I bought this one in white a few months ago and could not love it more.
It’s very sturdy, boils quickly, and is nice enough to sit out on my counter. I don’t leave many things on my counter but my kettle does because I use it so often. These kettles come in an amazing array of colors but I chose white because it’s clean and goes with everything.
Last week, I ran across it in Rose Gold and my heart went pitter-patter. If I didn’t have already have a white one, it would be mine. It happens to be on sale as part of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, in case it catches your eye too.
They also have the Smeg toaster in Rose Gold which I am thinking about because my current toaster is old.
Protein bars
Life is so bizarre right now and a road trip is stranger than ever. We knew we wouldn’t be eating in any restaurants so we brought protein bars to keep starvation at bay. I have some of my own favorites, but because she is dairy intolerant we tried a few vegan alternatives…that tasted sort of like cardboard. I usually keep a protein bar in my purse and one or two in my car for emergencies, but for a road trip like this we stocked up a bit more and I’m glad we did. Which protein bars do you like? Do you have any suggestions?
So, could you quarantine with your son/daughter for two whole weeks? What would you do to stay sane? Thoughts, prayers, suggestions, welcome. 🙂
While stuck inside, you could make my favorite protein bars. They are called “Glo Bars” and the recipe was created by Angela Liddon. They are gluten and dairy free and oh so good!
Welcome to Vancouver! We are pretty warm for us right now but it never lasts long.
I don’t know if my daughter & I could quarantine together in such a small space!
Our son live in 500 sq ft. In downtown Van but I don’t think we could manage for 2 weeks.
Enjoy your time together.
We love Audible…it would be fun to listen together kind of a private book club.
We Iike “kind” bars. I buy them @ Costco.
Looking forward to your posts over the next 2 weeks!
Thank you Dianne! It’s pretty warm but gorgeous.
Ha! I’ve been quarantined with my husband and my daughter and her husband and her teenager sons since the beginning of this thing. Fortunately, we have a big house with multiple floors!
I hope you both appreciate this for the gift it is: precious time together in an uncertain world. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Right now, it doesn’t matter. Today matters.
You’re right. This time right now is all we are guaranteed.
My Mom and I have a favorite protein bar brand called, Perfect Bar. We get the variety pack at Costco, but Target, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme also carry them. They are always in the refrigerated section. You can also order them on-line:https://shopstyle.it/l/blISv
These look amazing! Thanks
Love the kettle!! Have fun with your daughter Jennifer. I could quarantine together with my daughter nicely as we are very close and good at giving each other space. We would listen to books on tape like “Shutter Island” and watch a ton of musicals and VERA. My son would go stir crazy; his idea of hell would be stuck inside with his mother that long!! He is the one who used to go surfing each morning around 6am before high school and leave before the sun came up, as he needed to get into the water before being stuck inside. Very difficult for me as my husband would be out of the country working and I would be terrified about sharks and creepy men oogling him, and drugs, and kidnapping (of course I did not sleep but waited for his call he was out of the water) but I had to trust him….but he has to have a project on the go. You could bring hand weights and commit to doing workouts 2 a day and think about gorgeous Stanley Park when your time is over …one of the most beautiful parks in the world. Take care, drive safe, enjoy m and d time 🙂
RX bars for me. I cut them into bite sized pieces on a cutting board & then eat the pieces with a toothpick. Otherwise they make my hands sticky. My daughter uses Costco’s Kirkland brand Premier Protein shakes, ice cold, so you’d need a fridge. Her favorite is Peach.
That’s a good idea!
I have 5 adult kids and I could quarantine with each of them. One daughter might be more difficult than the others, but she would just drive me crazy with questions about “ do you remember…?” I love her to pieces, but she had a memory like a steel trap. She will ask me about a certain game or a dress or a restaurant, something that seems very unimportant to everyone but her.
Hope you and your daughter enjoy your time together.
Thank you Norma
I love spending time with my girls. The 3 of us went to Ireland a few years ago and really had a good time together.
Like others have mentioned, RXBars. Love them. Very clean ingredient list. Chocolate sea salt and maple sea salt are my two faves.
Maple sea salt sounds amazing! Why have I never tried these?
Just the fact you were able to take a road trip sounds fabulous. I wonder when (or if) we’ll ever be back to normal. The protein bar I like the best (because they seem the most healthy) is the RXBAR. They have 5 ingredients or less (such as 3 egg whites, 14 peanuts and 2 dates). Costco has the best deal on them, especially when they’re on the coupon sale. But I also buy them individually at Trader Joe’s. My favorite so far is the Chocolate Sea Salt.
It’s a very strange time to be on the road but she had to get home and we did not want her to drive alone
Six years ago I had a stem cell transplant and could not be around anyone but my husband (who was my care giver) for two months at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix , so i know what it is like to quarantine. When I got home could not be around my grandchildren, animals, or mess with my plants or cook so know what it is all about. Luckily I have a wonderful husband of 51 years who did everything for me. (says he now understands when I can’t decide what to have for dinner as he got the same way after a time.) Luckily to have an eight bedroom home and four bathrooms so could stay away from others when they came to call on us. It is a lot of house to take care of so now keeps me busy in these days of staying home and the large garden which we give most of it away. Actually love the time with my husband.
I live just off I 5 in Oregon by Eugene so if you need a place to rest on your way home we are always here. Like I say have lots of room.
Enjoy your time together with your daughter. We are luck to have both our daughter and son very close by.
Love your blog and great ideas always..
You’re so sweet, thanks. You live in a gorgeous spot. I love Oregon.
For something to pass the time as you chat along with your daughter, you could learn to play Hand and Foot if you don’t already know how. Playing 2-handed with my husband has been fun most every day during our very odd 2020. There are many variations on the game, and easy to find the rules on the internet. We play with 4 decks of cards.
I’ve never heard of that game. I’ll google it, thank you.
Hi there Jennifer
WELCOME to Vancouver! Time will fly in quarantine. There is a good Yoga program on each day at 4:30 pm on One TV (Telus) Channel 349 (can be found elsewhere) – also other fitness programs.
Be sure to have dinner as a special event – set the table nicely etc.
I’m not a fan of bars – prefer the ingredients separately. Maybe you can come up with a recipe for a new one.
Enjoy those lovely moments on the balcony.
A lady I know gets an old book then she circles printed words on each page to make new sentences. She also paints/draws in the books. This will help you pass an hour or two.
Enjoy your together time.
Thank you Rosemarie. The weather is simply gorgeous right now.
How interesting to find out you were born in Saskatchewan Jennifer! I was born near Prince Albert but have lived in Alberta for over 40 years. Where in Sask where you born?
I could definitely spend a lot of time with both my daughters. We try to take a girls trip every year (except this one 😥). I love their company! They are both unique and so much fun to be around.
Have fun in Vancouver!
I was born in Regina. We moved to Toronto when I was very young so I don’t remember the area at all. Thanks Ruth
I need help with this darned Nordstrom Sale thing and you seem like the best person to help me figure it out because you are (usually) in the USA while your daughter is in Canada.There is a HUGE amount of hype about the NSale and so far I can’t see why. There are few Nordstrom stores in Canada and my nearest is about a one and a half hour drive or GO Train ride away…..so no opportunity to actually try anything on…..and no early access to the NSale because I do not have their credit card (why would I have that?). Nordstrom and MANY fashion bloggers approach the NSale with a lot of hype and pressure like it is some kind of marathon event that can”t be missed….kind of an exclusive “girls club” flavour. The fashion bloggers all try to showcase what we should be buying…..nice idea but there is a problem here. MOST items will be long gone when normal mortals get access to the NSale so no point wishing for an item. AND, the nordstrom.com site offers completely different items than nordstrom.ca so nothing a blogger highlights as a good buy is available to me. If there is something I have missed here that makes it worth my while please help me figure it out
The Nsale is a good time to buy things you need to replace from last winter at preseason prices. This year seems very different to me because so many of our lifestyles have changed.
I suggest online shopping at Nordstrom.ca and put things in your shopping cart that you love or need. They often restock so even if something sells out, you may still be able to get it.
My Nordstrom is very small and has very little of what I like so I always shop online.
I always buy cashmere that is marked down because I know I love it.
Don’t feel pressured to buy if you don’t want to. High pressure sales tactics just turn me off.
I’m a WW lifetimer so I look for bars low in points. Protein One makes a 2 point bar with about 10 grams of protein. Husband and I just returned from a 17 hour drive from the Oregon coast back to SoCal. Good to see so many young families in RV’s enjoying this beautiful country of ours. I kept myself busy counting Amazon Prime trucks! My daughter would love to be quarantined with me instead of her four very young children for awhile! We’re both librarians and I’m sure we would talk books.
Lol, I noticed a ton of Amazon trucks too!
I loved the rose gold and the flowered SMEG electric kettles you featured. It was a nice break from the fashion posts. Also the Astro turf info was interesting. It would sure make my apartment patio look different.
“What don’t I know about you?”
I asked my daughter that question as we began a one month road trip and visited my mother in NYC in June. My mother wasn’t doing so well in NYC, and daughter and I we were both not working, so we decided we better go help my mother. Altogether, it was 30 days joined at the hip almost the entire time.
It was a 6 day drive from California to NYC. We brought a bag of cleaning supplies to wipe down the hotel room, put a plastic sheet over the bed and slept in our sleeping bags, and brought all our own food. We shared my old room at my mother’s house for 2 weeks. The rest of the apartment was common space with my mother, so no one really had any alone time. And then we had the drive back. We were close to begin with but we acknowledged that this may be the last time we get such an opportunity for so much 1:1 time. We talked so much! About everything!
I got some surprising answers to my question over those 4 weeks. And she asked me the same. We asked each other a lot of “What if” questions. We also ambitiously started a photo project. Photos prompt a lot of conversation.
We opted to not buy protein bars, as they only last 3 bites. We chose to eat the same ingredients unassembled because they last longer!
Enjoy this precious time together. The limitations inspire some very unique things to happen.
I was wondering how the border crossing was going to work for you. My children both live in Montreal. One has permanent residency status and one has a student visa. I haven’t seen the oldest in over a year. I don’t think any of us are going to visit in either direction for awhile.