Mimi Takes Five - #355

ONE // Royal Watching!

Well, I was back at it with the royal watching in person this week! The opportunities are few and far between, but I've taken advantage of it during my years in Ottawa. Living in the nation's capital has its perks - chances are it's always one of the stops on the itinerary for major royal visits. This week's visit was a historical one - it was the first time a reigning king gave the speech from the throne in person! The public was out in droves for the occasion. We got a bit of a military parade, a horse-drawn carriage, a 21-gun salute - the works! It was a glorious, hot sunny day without a cloud in the sky. I spoke to many fellow Canadians in the crowd and people had come from far and wide to witness the occasion. I spoke to ladies from Victoria and a couple from Niagara Falls. I also overheard someone say they came from the Yukon! There was a real buzz in the air and the energy was palpable. I'm so glad I decided to go out and be part of it all!

TWO // Fresh Flowers

I had gotten a bouquet of flowers in the (very) high hopes of getting to shake a royal hand. That was the strategy, anyway. Unfortunately, there was only one very short walkabout on Tuesday. While it happened near me, it was just on the other side of a police van... So close, yet so far! I knew it was a slim chance, but it was worth giving it a shot! In my excitement, I did yell out the name of one of the royal rota journalists and to my great pleasure she yelled back, "How are you?" as if she knew me! Lol! I was tickled! So the flowers came home with me and look beautiful on my dining room table. A little reminder and souvenir of the memorable day I had. 

THREE // Chocolate Factory

I got to visit a favourite chocolate factory of mine this week with work. It's our staff month, so we have a whole slew of activities throughout. My husband and I have been big fans of Hummingbird chocolate for almost a decade now, so I leaped at the opportunity to go visit the factory. I mean, is there a better work activity than sampling decadent chocolate? I think my favourite part was the sipping chocolate! It's basically one of their signature chocolate bars melted with just enough hot water to make it drinkable. It's basically a pure chocolate hot chocolate - such a treat! I also took the opportunity to restock our pantry with our favourite flavours - basically one of each, ha ha!

FOUR // Mystery Puzzle

A colleague had given me a bunch of puzzles a while back and I finally decided to pull one out. I started with the mystery puzzle that was in a Ziploc bag. I had no idea how many pieces there were or what the image was. I was up for the challenge! I sometimes rely a bit too much on the image to help me out. I started the way I usually do with the border pieces, but more importantly, I started with the bright green pieces. They stood out the most from the pile, so I started there. I then kept going with the colour strategy and quickly ended up revealing houses. I figured out it was the San Francisco painted ladies! I ended up really enjoying the puzzle! Based on the size and speed at which I was able to finish it, I guess it's probably in the 500-piece range. I suppose I could have counted the pieces, but didn't want to do the math. I'll be passing this puzzle on to someone else to enjoy. 

FIVE // Day Trip

My super busy week actually started last Saturday when we went on a little day trip to Merrickville. I love this quaint town not too far from where we live, but we hadn't been in a while! So, even if the weather was gloomy and overcast, we decided to go anyways. It was actually perfect because the town was very quiet - we practically had the place to ourselves! We took our time and hit up all of our favourite boutiques. We got some caramels and sauce from Pickle and Myrrh (the cutest sweet shop ever!), I got a body butter from Wick Witch Apothecary (major Practical Magic meets Good Witch vibes!), and finally I snagged this adorable apple purse from Anarchy Gallery (my OG favourite store in Merrickville!) My husband also got a leather belt from a local artisan and he picked up a few more vinyls from his favourite record store. We also got some dog treats and couldn't leave without a piece of Merrickville's famous fudge!