Birthday, Freebies and the Ocean

We had a really nice week as my stepdaughter flew into town for five days and we managed a brief holiday from work to spend some time with her.  This week:

BC Ferries - the Comox to Powel River Ferry

• I celebrated my 45th birthday.  Along with my mother and stepdaughter we went to my favorite hole in the wall Chinese food restaurant (they don't take credit cards and service is brisk but efficient and the food incredibly tasty) and then went to a movie theatre to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  None of us were expecting much but each and every one of us enjoyed it (ages 16, 45, 52, and 71).  Seeing as how that was the first time I have paid to see a first run movie in a theatre in 1.5 years I am so glad we all liked it, and if you like Bradley Cooper, this is possibly his most adorable role yet (speaking only).  My birthday just happened to coincide with discounted rates for Tuesday night so that was nice.  I also signed up online earlier in the day to accept emails from the theatre and as a reward was given a coupon for a free medium popcorn which hubby and Stepdaughter enjoyed. 

Guardians of the Galaxy

• I took advantage of some birthday freebies:  a smoothie from Booster Juice, 50 swagbucks and 8000 Shoppers Drug Mart points, no purchase required.

New Birthday Bedding, sorry for the lousy picture, this was the one hubby got to approve the pattern

• Finally found a bedding set after a two year search, and paid for it using a gift card my stepdaughter and stepson gave me for my birthday.  I really like the bedding, but why do they have to include so much packaging?  I managed to recycle 100% of it but still, lack of packaging is one of the primary benefits of why I shop thrift stores.  I had been hunting for something with a bit of turqoise, light green and black as we have two original paintings purchased from local artists in our bedroom and I was trying to match something to that.  This fits the bill perfectly.
• Had a mooch around the local thrift stores.  I found nothing (that sometimes happens unfortunately) but my Stepdaughter found two shirts to add to her wardrobe that I bought for her.  I am so proud that this beautiful 16 year old girl likes thrift stores, something that I can say was 100% influenced by ME!  Her mother wouldn't be caught dead in them and hubby has only recently started liking them (my influence as well).  When she was young and over for the weekend I would often drag her along to the thrift stores.  She says it is so hard to justify buying new clothes when she can buy a complete wardrobe at a fraction of the cost.  Smart woman!  She also shies away from expensive brand labels - so refreshing as most of the rest of the world is caught up in that!  I did find a couple of thrift store items last week that I will share with you in my next post.
• Spent lots of time by the Ocean.  We went shell picking at the beach, had nachos and beer (hubby and I, pop for stepdaughter) at a Oceanside cafe at Qualicum Beach then wandered around the small town like tourists. I bought two books from a used bookstore, hubby and stepdaughter bought two items from  a thrift store.  Cause that's how we roll :)

Seal right in front of my kayak

• Took my stepdaughter sea kayaking for the first time.  She liked it and we were so fortunate to see a family of four seals catching a 20 pound salmon and eating it right between our kayaks.  At one point three seals were directly below my kayak, as shown in the picture.  I took a couple pictures but then my battery died-lesson learned, always carry spare batteries for the waterproof camera.  It was something that you so rarely get to see in nature and we sat and watched them for 20 minutes as they completely disregarded us while finishing their dinner.  The salmon are running in the river that leads to the ocean right now or this sight likely never would have been possible.

4 Seals sharing a large salmon right under/beside my kayak, click on picture for larger image

It was a very nice week but now we have to get back to work as have an extremely busy fall planned with our business.  Have you enjoyed any last of summer outings?