August 2026 Life Updates
- Ash
- 3 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Welcome back to another life updates post! What have Ashy, Benji, and Luke been up to this month?
This may be a bit shorter than a few of my other life updates, as I am working on separate travel guides for our time in Vancouver/Victoria, BC, Canada. We had loads of fun, and I hope to get those posts out this coming week (forgive me, the jet lag has been WAY worse on the way back than going there).
Previous 2026 Life Updates:
January 2026 Life Updates (8 min read)
February 2026 Life Updates (8 min read)
March 2026 Life Updates (8 min read)
April 2026 Life Updates (9 min read)
May 2026 Life Updates (7 min read)
June 2026 Life Updates (6 min read)
July 2026 Life Updates (7 min read)
PIN IT
August Life Updates
I had my haircut and colour with my hairdresser, who was joking that my pen pal in Canada was going to be a serial k*ller (ironically, my friend's dad said I was going to turn out to be a human traff*cker). Very weird considering now everyone meets online LOL.
Obviously, we had our trip to Canada! We went to Vancouver and Victoria, BC. I am currently working on some travel blog posts, so keep an eye out. We did A LOT, ate a lot, saw a lot, and walked a lot. But I will say this: Sydney Airport is the worst airport in the world, and I never want to go back there. It was horrible; we had SO much drama coming back from Vancouver - i.e., Luke's luggage was missing, then we found it in the most random place - on top of the carousel, I got told by a Qantas staff member that my "hidden disabilities" sunflower lanyard didn't matter if I didn't have a business class ticket who made me start crying in the middle of the airport, and we missed our first flight back to Melbourne. Oh my god, what a nightmare, but we did at least get put on another flight with no charge. And to the person who told me I wouldn't see any bears, b*tch, I saw one in the first week! I am definitely being a bit petty here. And we saw lots of hummingbirds too - anyway, the travel posts will have all that info!
Obviously I finally met my pen pal IRL and her partner! Luke described it as we talked like "old mates". Hopefully, they can come to Melbourne next - I think they'd really enjoy it here.
Benji had a bit of an injury while we were away, and it freaked me out so much. His harness started chafing him, and he had to go to the vet for sedation because he was very grumpy and wouldn't let anyone touch him where he was wounded. I also had some people online tell me how sh*t of a dog mum I was for going away, and yeah, I feel awful - you don't need to guilt me even more (but that was my first big overseas trip - as I've only gone between Aus and NZ). I got told Benji had a full-on operation, but he didn't even get stitches; it was literally just sedation and a clean-up. That was all I could focus on, and I struggled to enjoy the second half of my trip when that happened. I don't know if I will ever be able to leave him again. We also went to the vet a day after we got back & the vet said that Benji was all clear to take his cone off, so we've been using it a bit less and just putting it back on when we need to (i.e., if he starts scratching). He is his normal happy self, but yeah, I don't know if I even want to go to NZ and leave him again - that was way too much for me with my anxiety.
When we got back from Canada, we had our routine inspection and the real estate agent came quite early in the window (which was good), but Luke said she may have opened a wardrobe downstairs - which they're not supposed to do, so I am hoping it was just an accidental faux pas or she had to check the blinds in there which she should have said so if that were the case. She was much more thorough than some of the other agents that have been through, so hopefully everything is okay, and fingers crossed we can live here next year too, but I am guessing we won't find out until February. I really do not want to move again; I've already moved so many times since living in Melbourne, and I hope we can one day afford to buy a house so we have a home base all the time (hope that makes sense). I want to manifest a house we own in Williamstown - that's my favourite suburb in Melbourne. I want to be like Ken where my job is just beach.
I wasn't sure if our cockatoo friends were going to come and see us with all the stuff about bird flu, but they've come back twice now for some seed, so yay! We also had a pigeon randomly walk into our house, and I was very confused for a second LOL.
Step Counter Updates: As you guys know, one of my goals for 2026 is to walk at least 5 - 10K steps per day, so here's my August 2026 progress! We did a lot of steps in Canada, so I think some rest days are in order. I'll put the asterisked steps in once the month is officially over.
STEPS | MON | TUES | WEDS | THURS | FRI | SAT | SUN |
WEEK 1 | 5228 | 5785 | |||||
WEEK 2 | 13,917 | 30,621 | 16,610 | 26,682 | 17,884 | 14,722 | 22,373 |
WEEK 3 | 22,071 | 26,654 | 15,834 | 24,356 | 18,622 | 32,833 | 22,136 |
WEEK 4 | 16,925 | 24,881 | 22,180 | 0 (in the air) | 3229 | 714 | 2524 |
WEEK 5 | 5137 | 1390 | 6113 | 7156 | 5220 | * | * |
WEEK 6 | ** |
I haven't got any YouTube videos out this month, but I am working on a Canada snacks one, a Victoria BC vlog, and a Vancouver BC vlog. I don't know how good my footage is, but it's something! I have made some new digital prints for sale from our trip; you can check those out "here". As my blog is user-supported, any purchases you make really help me out!
The Freaky Friday Files I have put out are as follows: Disturbing Wikipedia Pages You Shouldn't Read at Night Part 4 // Yes, just one, as obviously I've taken most of August off of work. We're slowly but surely getting back into routine.
TV Shows that Luke and I have been watching are: We are mostly catching up on our favourites now that we are back - The Cheap Seats, HYBPA?, Spicks and Specks, Below Deck Med, and, oh, when we were in Canada, we watched a show called The Quiz with Balls and a bit of Forensic Files. Sidenote - I cannot believe all the stuff coming out about DV with Nathan from Below Deck Med, who thought we were going to come out of this season liking Joe?! Oh, and we loved going to all The X Files locations in Vancouver!!
I have only watched a couple of TV shows this month; one was Rooster on the plane because I couldn't sleep on the way (that was rough), but I binged the whole season, and I just started watching Reacher.
Unfortunately, I didn't get through any books this month, so I am going to have to combine my August and September 2026 book reviews. I hope that is okay with you!
SAVE TO PINTEREST
Australia had their census night, and we thought we had done everything for it, but apparently Luke had to log in while we were overseas and add in something else to say we were away. Fingers crossed that's all we needed to do.
One day, Luke and I were driving back from the coffee shop when a driver pulled out in front of us, made a 3-point turn, and completely cut us off. It was pretty scary, and the car had a CPV thing in it, so I'm assuming it was an Uber driver. It was very scary. I don't know how people can be allowed on the road when they drive like that?! We were driving straight, so we definitely had right of way.
Also, if you had been keeping up with the bank drama over in NZ, I closed that account down and now only have one open that's active for when we visit CHCH, but we also have Wise cards now so that will help as well with overseas travel.
We caught up with Luke's brother one night, but I was still so jet-lagged and exhausted that my conversation just sucked a$$. I am still feeling a bit blah and really struggling to adjust back to my normal routine, as I already mentioned.
Luke has gotten straight back into cricket training and cricket meetings (so much happening). Also, apparently he was meant to have a haircut this morning, which wasn't in the calendar so neither of us knew, and he got a text from his hairdresser saying "have you forgotten your appointment?" I would be very mad if someone sent me that because I am very Type A, but I think Luke is a better person than me.
Today is my mum's birthday; everyone, say happy birthday Nikki in the comments!
I had my first appointment back with my psychologist yesterday, which was good, and the first thing he asked me was "how was the 14-hour flight?" and I was like "dude, that's the least of my worries, the flight was fine, it was everything ELSE that happened around the trip hahahahaahahaha."
Things I am looking forward to in September:
The beginning of spring - lots of cherry blossoms and jacaranda trees.
Paying off our credit card debts from our holiday haha.
Our 4th year anniversary (Luke and me, if you didn't know, although it does feel like longer than that).
I have a haircut on the 25th (that's a PH here as it's the day before the AFL Grand Final).
Organising an appointment with the rheumatologist (although I just want that to be over; it's not very exciting when you don't really know what's causing crazy blood markers).
Luke and I also decided that we want to keep doing the bottles/cans deposit scheme for our shared savings, so if you have any, please send them our way!
Thank you for reading!!
Ash xx
PS: If I have missed anything, it will either be in the travel posts OR next month's life updates.
PIN FOR LATER
Comments