This is Shartey. A well-known cat on the block who likes to pay visits in people’s homes. She graced us with her presence one Tuesday afternoon.
As we continue posting about our adventures and fun discoveries, we thought it’d be good to share what the majority of our life actually looks like while here in Nova Scotia. To bring things back to reality a bit, we can’t actually afford to drive to new towns, try new food & drink every night, or stay in luxurious places all the time. So, we’ve been working very hard to make this new life feel more like home. This means getting a new routine, cooking meals at home, and finding a new community where we can get out and socialize on a regular basis.
The Week
So, let’s talk about what has become the normal but often quite enjoyable days. To start, we’ll wake up and get our coffee going and maybe do some cleaning up around the apartment to prep for the day. Then we like to sit by our window facing Preston Street to do our morning devotions, prayer, or journaling.
Sometimes, I like to get out for a quick walk around the neighborhood before starting the work day. It’s the same route, each time, and includes walking through the Dalhousie University campus, which we are fortunate to live only a block away from. It is a beautiful campus! If I’m lucky, I’ll get a visit from a friendly neighborhood cat, as well!
(Left) The Dalhousie campus. Only a 5 minute walk from our place. (Middle) Henry (we don’t actually know his name so he’s named after the street he is on) the Cat. (Right) Gem the Cat.
We live in a one-bedroom apartment on the third floor of a beautiful house. It’s within walking distance of several amenities as well as some local restaurants and breweries. We prefer to walk for the majority of our errands and really only use the car if our destination is outside of town or we need to do a big grocery haul. This happens maybe 2-3 times a month, meaning we do a lot of walking. I’ve really enjoyed this aspect of living in the city!
(Left) Our living room with a cozy reading nook. (Right) Justin carrying home some quick groceries. We walk to get a lot of our errands done, which is wonderful!
We each have our own desks set up in separate rooms inside our one-bedroom apartment. Mine is in the bedroom and I really enjoy how much sunlight I get through our windows facing the back yard. Justin’s is in the living room where there is a built-in desk, giving him plenty of space for all his monitors.
Although the idea of eating out by the waterfront every evening is very enticing, we do cook a lot of our meals at home to save some money, and we’ve really started to enjoy it! We didn’t cook at home this much when we lived in Winnipeg. Perhaps we didn’t have the time that we do now, but it has been very nice. Some of our favorite meals have been tacos, chicken soup, Justin’s homemade pizza, homemade sourdough bread, and we usually have pancakes on Saturday mornings.
Some of the delicious food we’ve cooked in our home, which includes our traditional Saturday pancake breakfast!
We have started to build a community of friends out here through a church we’re attending, so some of our evenings are spent getting together for a meal, a walk, or a game night. It’s really been exciting to see this happen over the last few months and we have felt very grateful for the new friends we’ve been making. Everyone has been warm and welcoming, which is not something we planned for but certainly are relieved to have.
(Left) One of the bigger gatherings our church did called “Day Away” in Hubbards, NS. (Right) Amy with some new friends on a beautiful hike at Long Lake.
The Weekend
We like to get away a lot more on the weekend! Often, our trips are pretty local. Maybe a nice dinner at a local spot, a visit to a farmer’s market, or a trip on the ferry across the harbour to Dartmouth. Overall, we are completely content exploring all that Halifax proper has to offer but do know this is the time to get away and really experience Nova Scotia.
On the weekend, you may find us visiting a local cafe, checking out the central library for a new set of books, out hiking on a trail, or taking a road trip to a nearby town.
Here’s some of the nearby spots we’ve visited on the weekend that we’ve enjoyed the most, so far:
(Left) A Christmas market we visited during the holidays by the waterfront. (Middle) Morris East – a pizza spot we love that is super close to us. (Right) Nine Locks Brewery – it’s a fun stop when shopping around Spring Garden.
(Left) Frog Pond park – this is one of our most scenic parks in the area. A short walk but very enjoyable. (Right) Lawrencetown Beach Cafe.
(Left) Dilly Dally cafe – just a quick walk from our place.
(Middle) A yummy pub we really liked in Lunenberg.
(Right) Mappatura Bistro – also a close walk for us. We went here on Valentine’s Day and it was very romantic!
With summer quickly approaching, we can’t wait to get outside more and experience everything unique this city has to offer. It’s been a long, often rainy, winter, and we are ready to see some sun peaking through the clouds. We’re proud of the home life and routine we’ve put together here in such a short amount of time, and before we know it, we’ll quickly be coming up on a year on the East Coast. There’s lots more for us to explore and we can’t wait to share it with you!
J & A's Adventure 
Leave a comment