Craving Cupcakes

In a Funk

2012-01-25T07:50:00.001-07:00

My 26th birthday is only eleven days away. Normally, this is a really exciting thing for me, as it means that I have an excuse to get friends together. I've usually already been planning some sort of celebration for a few weeks now. Nothing too exciting, just a nice dinner out or a get together at my house.

For some reason, this year is different. I'm not typically one to get depressed about turning another year older, but something is different this year. Thinking of my birthday is making me kind of sad, and I don't have anything planned. I have halfheartedly tried to put something together, but my friends and family are all too busy to see me, asking instead if we can do something later in the month. I think that this is exactly why I'm so unenthusiastic about my birthday this year; my friends are so difficult to get together. I can only try so many times before I give up.

Instead of a birthday celebration, I've opted to have a nice dinner with Stephen, and the sister (and her boyfriend) that lives with me. I couldn't even think of a restaurant that I wanted to eat at; nothing has sounded appealing. I've settled on The Keg, unless something better pops up in the next week and a bit.

I'm tired of feeling this way, so I need to do something to shake myself of this feeling. Have you ever been in a pre-birthday funk? What did you do to get yourself out of it?

Weekend Recap

2012-01-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

After a less than stellar week last week, I was more than ready for the weekend.
Stephen and I started off our weekend by taking our Little Brother to a Hitmen hockey game.

Actually, let's go to just before that. I met Stephen and LB at the train station, where Stephen informed me that he left his iPhone on the bus. Obviously, we were both rather upset by this, but there wasn't much we could do. Soon after telling me though, i received a phone call...from Stephen's phone! I had texted him just before meeting up with him, and the man that found his phone figured he would try calling me to see if I could get Stephen his phone. I was so relieved to get that call! We headed right over to that man's house and got the phone back. I'm so thankful that there are good, honest people out there!

Now that that ordeal was over, we were able to head to the game and have a good time. It was LB's first hockey game, so he was very excited, and full of questions! The hockey game was definitely not dull, as it was full of fights. Only at a hockey game would I ever point out a fight to a kid and tell them how awesome it is, ha! The Hitmen won; 5-1.

Saturday and Sunday were low key days. I did, however, get some baking in on Sunday. It's been forever since I've tried out some new recipes, so I was glad to get in the kitchen. I made some amazing brownies....

...that was topped with these Reese's peanut butter cups. Recipe to come soon.

I also made some caramel pretzel popcorn bars that are amazing to snack on.

Overall, it was a pretty good weekend! What did you do over the weekend?

7 Quick Takes (Vol 66)

2012-01-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I realize that today is only Thursday, and 7 Quick Takes normally comes on Fridays. For some reason, I'm just over this week. I decided to just go ahead and post this today and take a few days off from blogging.

1. The topic of the week in Calgary has been the weather, so naturally, I have to talk about it here. We've had a mild winter, so Mother Nature decided to get us back by blasting us with arctic weather. It's been hovering around the -30C mark, then with windchill added on, it's reached -40C.

See the overnight low in the picture above? I can hardly even fathom that temperature! I'm so thankful that I live close to work and spend minimal time outside.

2. Since it has been so stinking cold, I've been changing into my pajama bottoms at work. I love that I work at a job where I can hang out in my pajamas if I want to!

3.Baby E has started walking! He's been doing a 5 step shuffle for a couple of weeks, but yesterday, he started walking up a storm! It's adorable how excited he gets.

4. I feel like such an old woman sometimes. I've been going to bed by ten all week, yet I'm still exhausted when I wake up in the morning. I need to figure out what's going on and make a change in my routine, as this is getting ridiculous.

5. Tomorrow, Stephen and I are taking our Little Brother to the Hitmen hockey game. I think we're all pretty excited for it! Big Brothers Big Sisters Calgary makes various tickets available to matches to use free of charge, which is fantastic. It also helps on the wallet, since all costs are our responsibility. They encourage free activities, but it's nice to get out and do fun things like hockey games!

6.My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and for probably the first time ever, I can't decide what I want to do. Do I want to go out to dinner with friends? Have friends over to my place? Or just go to a nice dinner with Stephen? I have no idea what I want.

7. I haven't baked since before Christmas, and I'm just itching to get back in the kitchen. I've already bookmarked some yummy looking cookies this morning, but I'm open up to more suggestions. Got any recipes you're willing to share?

101 in 1001: My Last Update.

2012-01-17T07:47:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure if you’ve been following along with my project 101 in 1001, but I have my list posted in a tab, up at the top of my blog. (I’ll be leaving it up there for a few more days.) If you have been following along, then you may have noticed that my completion date of December 6th has come and gone.

Out of the 101 items on my list, I completed around 44 of them. While I initially thought that this was a failure (less than half of the items were completed), I realized that it really wasn’t. This was a learning experience for me, and every item completed was a way to make me a better person. Some of items were frivolous, but that’s ok. Every once in a while, we need to give ourselves permission to be more frivolous. Other items were intended to push me out of my comfort zone, and while those were the ones that weren’t completed, they were still in my mind. I’ve acknowledged the fact that I need to push myself out of my comfort zone, so that’s progress, right? Ok, maybe it’s just a teeny little baby step.

When I made this list, I was a completely different person; it was early on in my relationship with Stephen. While my relationship with him doesn’t dictate who I am as a person, it does shape it. My priorities have changed since we’ve become serious, so I feel like if I were to write a new 101 in 1001 list, it would be filled with things much different than what was on my previous list. They’d be bigger things that would change my whole life. I suppose that’s just natural, as I am getting older. I thought for sure that I would write a new 101 list as soon as this deadline is up, but I’m not sure that I will. I don’t want to fill it with silly little things that won’t be relevant to me in a year; but I don’t want to put such big items on it that I’ll have no way of accomplishing in 1001 days.

I think that this is where a bucket list comes in. It’s no secret that I love lists, so the thought of not having some sort of life list makes me sad. I like the idea of having a bucket list though, as there is no end date to work toward! I think that I’m going to start working on a bucket list, and when I have a few items on my list, I’ll share it here. It’ll replace my 101 list in the tabs at the top.

Have you ever attempted the 101 in 1001 project? Do you have a bucket list? If you do, please leave me a link to them in the comments. I love reading other peoples lists!

My Life in Instagrams

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some of my Instagram photos, so I thought I would do just that. I love using Instagram for every day picture taking with my iPhone. It’s so convenient, and a great app for keeping connected with other friend’s photos.
Side note: I’ve downloaded an app to help me attempt to do a 365 photo challenge. I tried it last year, but failed miserably. I’m hoping that this app will help me out, since you can set it to give you daily reminders. I don’t know if I’ll be sharing those photos here, but they may pop up occasionally!

Stephen and I took our Little Brother to Zoo Lights just after Christmas. This has always been one of my favorite light displays. Those monkeys you see up above actually move across that rope!

This was a small sampling of my Christmas tree decorations as I was taking them down after Christmas. I realized that they perfectly represent me, and the things I love: Paris, Coffee/Starbucks, travel and cupcakes!

Speaking of Christmas and cupcakes, I received this cupcake mug as a gift! The funny thing is, Stephen and I saw it in Walmart just before Christmas, and I told him that I just knew someone in my family was going to buy it for me as a gift. Good guess, hey?

Not too long ago, I finally bought the Nespresso machine I’ve been coveting for ages. This was my very first shipment of Nespresso pods. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning opening up all of those little boxes!

I found this bag tucked away in my closet, and used it to carry Christmas presents to work. I received it one year, from an old nanny family that had used it to hold all of my Christmas gifts. That bag has been put to good use.

That same nanny family brought me back a little gift from their vacation over Christmas this year. In case you can’t read it in the picture, it’s black popcorn kernels that pop snow white. They’re pretty awesome, and much crunchier than the regular popcorn we buy.

A little glimpse of one of my chores as a nanny. Baby E’s grandma had brought him a bunch of toys that she had collected from garage sales over the summer, and they needed a good cleaning since they were dirty. A quick run through the dishwasher saved me a bunch of hands on cleaning time.

Two weekends ago, Stephen and I took our Little Brother to the movies to see TinTin. Luckily, we had some movie coupons that made the night a bit cheaper!

This is a view of downtown Calgary this past weekend. We brought our Little Brother downtown to grab some lunch on our way to Tommy K Play. I miss living downtown.

Definitely one of my favorite recent pictures: Stephen’s birthday cake. It’s a Tuxedo cake. I normally adorn it with chocolate covered strawberries, but they’re expensive this time of year, so I left them off. They certainly weren’t missed, and the chocolate ganache looked perfect all on it’s own.
What have you taken photos of lately?

7 Quick Takes (Vol 65)

2012-01-13T08:22:00.001-07:00

1. As you may have noticed, it’s been rather quiet on my blog this week. I’m having a hard time getting back into the groove of blogging. I miss it though, so I do want to come back and post more.

2. I think the fact that I worked very few hours this week didn’t help my blogging schedule. Baby E’s grandma was in town, so I only worked about 4 hours a day. I’m used to blogging during Baby E’s morning nap, but didn’t get that time this week. I think I may need to rethink the time that I use to blog.

3. Stephen had an awful toothache this week, which lead to an appointment to get it pulled (it was a wisdom tooth). I was all prepared to hang out in the waiting room for ages, then struggle to get a drugged up Stephen home by myself. Turns out, it took less than half an hour from the time we showed up until the time we walked out the door, and he doesn’t seem to have much pain at all! Guess I didn’t need to go buy all that soup, popsicles and ice cream.

4. My youngest sister moved in last weekend. So far, it’s been rather uneventful, but I do have to admit that it’s been kind of nice having another person around that cleans up a bit! It’s nice having the company as well.

5. Tomorrow, Stephen and I are taking our Little Brother to some sort of indoor playground. It should be fun for LB, but I’m just a tad disappointed that we can’t join him in the fun.

6. Tomorrow evening, we’ll be babysitting our niece and nephew. I just hope they’re still awake when we get there, so that we can play for a bit! If I’m babysitting for free, I want to at least see these guys.

7. Next week, I’m finally back to my normal work hours. It’ll be nice to be making normal money again, because things were getting tight around here! I’m hoping next week also brings back my normal blogging schedule.

What are your plans for the weekend?

2011: A Year In Review

2012-01-09T08:41:00.001-07:00

a I realize that I’m about 9 days later than the rest of the internet in getting this post up, but they’re always fun for me to look back upon, so I’m putting it up anyway. You can read 2010’s recap here. As for right now, let’s look back on what happened in 2011.

January

-Stephen turned 24, so we celebrated by hosting a fondue party (oil, cheese and chocolate fondues)!
-Stephen’s Mom, as well as his Sister in Law and our nephew came to visit for a weekend.
-Since Stephen and I have birthdays only a month(ish) apart, and one of our good friends has a birthday the day before mine, we decided to combine our celebrations and went to a Brazilian steak house. It was my first time, and it was amazing!
-I got my hands on some old family photos and took a trip down memory lane.

February

-I turned 25, and celebrated by hosting a cupcake fondue party! Yes, it was as awesome as it sounds!
-I planned and hosted a Valentine’s day party for the 4 year old boy that I nanny. So much fun!
-My MWF nanny family decided to let me go. I’m still rather bitter about the way it ended, and miss Baby C quite a bit. What I didn’t know at the time though was that this would turn out to be a really good thing for me.
-I attended my first ever Calgary bloggers meetup! It was really neat getting to meet such a wide variety of bloggers.
-I finally bought my KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment. This may not be a noteworthy thing to most people, but I had been wanting it for ages.
-One of the girls that I used to nanny for stopped by for the first time since I stopped being her nanny. We spent the day baking.

March

-I found a new job! I started work with 3 month old Baby E. It started off with only one day a week (before finally moving on to full time hours later in the year).
-I also found a new family to work with on the weekends. When I first started with them, I would give up one or two weekends a month to work.
-I attended another Calgary bloggers meetup; a potluck that was delish.
-Stephen and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! Stephen surprised me with dinner reservations and tickets to the ballet. He’s a keeper.
-After a many years long struggle, I finally got my Proof of Canadian Citizenship. It’s something I never talked about on my blog, as it was a dark place in my life, but that’s no longer the case! This was a huge moment for me!

April

-We built a bigger cage for the guinea pigs. They took up a large corner in our living room, but it was so worth it.
-I rediscovered my love for the library, and was going at least once a week. I read a lot of good books this month.
-We celebrated my Dad’s birthday with a family dinner, then tried out a new board game; Quelf. It’s a fun one.
-Stephen and I started the application process to become a Big Couple with Big Brothers Big Sisters Calgary.
-My friend Hannah came to visit from Abu Dhabi.
-Stephen and I hosted Easter dinner.

May

-Stephen and I both applied to go back to school in the fall.
-We celebrated Mother’s Day by going to one of my favorite brunch spots (Cora’s).
-I went to the casino for the first time ever. I went in with $20, made it up to $30, then promptly lost it all. I discovered that I’m just not a fan of the casino.
-Stephen and I started our little balcony garden. We had Sungold tomatoes, some herbs, and a hanging planter of strawberries.
-Stephen’s Mom and grandparents came to stay with us for the weekend. We celebrated his Mom’s birthday by hosting a little get together at our place.
-We bought a membership to Costco. That may not be exciting to most people, but to us, it was a big deal!
-Stephen and I had interviews with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
-I had a craft night with my sister.

June

-I won a $100 gift card through a twitter contest!
-Some good friends of mine and Stephen’s asked Stephen and I to be Auntie and Uncle to their future children. (They were in the process of adopting.) This was a really exciting moment for me!
-We did some dog sitting for my sister. We had 2 big Boxers and a little Maltese/Chihuahua come stay with us.
-I started a Gymboree art class with the boy that I nanny. It was fun having that time out of the house together.
-The family made a trip to Taber to visit the place where my Grandma was buried. It was nice to have that family time and to visit that particular spot.
-I documented a day in my life through Instagram photos.
-The baby I nanny for started solid food this month. It was an adventure for both of us!
-Stephen and I attended a BBQ at a friend’s house, and I brought along cheesecake stuffed strawberries. They were a huge hit!
-My sister’s friend had her baby, and I attended her baby shower.

July

-We hosted a Canada Day BBQ at our place.
-We did some cat sitting for my nanny family.
-I made a really awesome Angry Birds craft for the boys that I nanny.
-I also did some ice cube painting with the boys.
-I reconnected with an old friend from High School. She lives close to where I work, so we started having regular play dates at the park.
-I ordered a pair of glasses from Clearly Contacts, and they only cost me $30! Amazing.
-I babysat at a wedding reception. It was held on a Monday evening (so I went straight from work to the reception), and was quite challenging. I did make good money though…
-I sold my first ever cake!
-I attended the Calgary Stampede with Stephen, his Dad and his Dad’s girlfriend. We tried a donut burger, a deep fried Snickers and deep fried pop tarts. All equally amazing.
-Stephen’s Mom got sick and was in and out of the hospital for a few days. Stephen went up to Edmonton for a week, then I met him there on the weekend. Thankfully, she made a quick recovery.
-Stephen’s brother’s girlfriend (Sharon) and our nephew (Kolton) were visiting, so I took them to the zoo with my nanny boys. Always fun!

August

-I went wedding dress shopping with my sister, and was surprised when she actually found the dress! We only went to 2 bridal shops, but had found it at the first one. It was such a fun day!
-I started a new work schedule. I went to 4 days a week with Baby E. My other nanny family went away for the month of August.
-An old friend of mine moved back home to Calgary.
-Stephen surprised me with a brand new camera!
-Stephen and I had a project weekend. We worked on my gallery wall and made some crayon art. We still get compliments on the crayon art when guests see it!
-A friend from high school passed away unexpectedly. We weren’t close in her last days, but I attended the funeral regardless, to let her family (and her) know that I was thinking about her always.
-Stephen and I were finally approved to start being matched to a Little Brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters Calgary.
-Stephen realized that he couldn’t get the money he needed to start school in the fall. His school plans had to be put on hold.

September

-I continued working 4 days a week with Baby E, but had to cut down to one day a week (from 2) with my other boys. The youngest started kindergarten, so my hours were being cut down anyway.
-I attend Calgary’s Pride Parade with my sister and her boyfriend.
-One of the girls that I used to nanny came over for a baking day; we made lion cupcakes.
-I revealed my gallery wall.
- I found out at the last possible minute that I applied for the wrong loan for school, and would have no money to pay for school. I had to drop out the day before classes started. I had a rough couple of weeks dealing with my feelings on this, but realized in the end that I was happy where I was in terms of my job. Maybe something bigger and better is waiting for me around the corner.
-Stephen and I attended Bacon Fest and had some delicious food from a food truck.
-We also went to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

October

-I posted about my love for ampersands.
-Stephen finally convinced me to play a computer game (Sims 3), and I actually liked it.
-I roasted my first ever pumpkin and made my own pumpkin puree.
-We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent’s place. I made some pumpkin pie cupcakes and pumpkin pie ice cream.
-Baby E finally mastered crawling, so my job got a whole lot more active.
-I got a raise from both of my nanny families.
-I had my first ever canning adventure; I made some apple butter, that I saved to give out as Christmas presents.
-Stephen and I found out that our landlord wanted to sell our townhouse, and that we had to be out when our lease was up, at the end of November. It was super stressful, as we had no intention of moving and hadn’t been saving up for that.
-We celebrated Halloween by carving some pumpkins and just hanging out at home. We only had one trick or treater; a little boy that wasn’t in costume and didn’t even yell out trick or treat! He was too busy eating candy, so his Mom said it for him. I was mighty disappointed.

November

-This was a month of packing and house hunting. We looked at 5 places, and while we were certain that we were going to get the first place we saw, we didn’t. In the end, it worked out for the best, because we ended up with an amazing townhouse that’s bigger (and nicer) than our last one.
-My uncle from Toronto came to visit us. Stephen and I had him and my sister and her boyfriend over for dinner. They showed up with cupcakes and Sambuca.
-The whole family checked out the military museum.
-I took a little road trip with my uncle to visit my great grandma and sister and Vulcan.
-Stephen and I got a call that we were finally matched with a Little Brother! We had our first outing together at the end of the month.
-Our good friends adopted their twins this month. We met them toward the end of the month, and I have to say that they are some of the cutest kids I’ve ever met. I seriously love them.
-Calgary had quite the wind storm, and it damaged our screen door. Gotta love having to repair things the weekend before you move.

December

-December was a chaotic month. We finally moved into our new townhouse, and began the process of unpacking.
-We were left without a garbage key, or a mail key for the whole month. Thankfully, we had a garage to stick our garbage in, but it was still not fun to deal with.
-Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Stephen was out of work for nearly a month (which started off in November). It was a pretty crappy deal at a crappy time of year, but he thankfully found another job.
-I worked extra long hours to make up for the fact that we were down to one income. It was stressful, but necessary.
-We hosted our first Christmas. The whole family came over on Christmas Eve to spend the night, then we had more people show up Christmas day for dinner. I baked an overabundance of sweets, and Stephen was a superstar chef! He made a Turchicken: a turkey, stuffed with stuffing and two chickens. It was the star of the show.
-Boxing Day was spent at my uncle’s house, where we had more good food and sang Christmas carols.
-Stephen and I did some dog sitting for my old nanny family.
-Stephen’s Mom came and stayed with us for a week and a bit.

2011 was quite the eventful year, but I’m glad that it’s behind us. I can’t wait to see what 2012 will bring my way!

7 Quick Takes (Vol 64)

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

1. I’ve only worked 3 days (including today) this week, yet I feel like time has been dragging. I guess it’s that post holiday limbo. It’s always hard going to back to work after 2 weeks off.
2. I took down the Christmas decorations last weekend, and quickly realized that our living room was lacking in light. We hadn’t noticed until now, because we’ve had Christmas lights up since we moved in. It finally started driving us nuts, so we went to Walmart for a quick fix. 3 lamps, on sale for only $39? Yes, please! They’re cheap enough that we won’t feel guilty about replacing them someday, if needed.
3. Stephen’s Mom stayed with us over the holidays, and just went back home on Wednesday. The house is feeling a little bit lonelier now.
4. Oh, and Bailey (the dog) went home on Tuesday. We were dogsitting her for my old Nanny family, and I never expected to be so sad when she left. She holds a special place in my heart, and in fact, always has. I would love nothing more than to get a dog of my own, but we’re not allowed dogs here. I can’t wait until the day we finally buy a house.
5. Stephen’s birthday is coming up this weekend; he’ll be turning 25! (We’ll be the same age for about a month!) We’re keeping his birthday celebrations low key and just inviting a few friends over for dinner and cake. He’s requested that I make a tuxedo cake, so I think I better start working on that!
6. We’re taking our Little Brother out to the movies this weekend. He wants to see Chipwrecked, Stephen wants to see Tin Tin and I want to see We Bought a Zoo. We’re still trying to figure out which one to see based on show times….I’m hoping that my choice will win out!
7. My youngest sister Jessica is moving in this weekend. She’s had bad experiences with roommates, so Stephen and I offered to let her live with us for a while. We can’t help her move in though, because we’ll be attending Baby E’s first birthday party! That’s right, the adorable little baby that I started nannying for at 3 months old just turned one yesterday! I can’t believe how fast time passes these days.

Bridesmaids

2012-01-05T10:04:00.001-07:00

I’m working on an end of the year recap, but (like everything in my life right now) it’s taking longer than expected. I usually like to have these posts up right at the beginning of January, but I’ve found myself with very little time lately.

Today, I have a random day off. Ok, maybe not so random; Baby E is turning one today and his parents wanted to be home with him. I’m putting this day to good use though and going bridesmaid dress shopping with my sister and the rest of the bridesmaids. Please keep your fingers crossed that we find something awesome and affordable! There were rumors that we’d be coming back to my place afterward for a Jersey Shore party. I hate to admit it, but Jersey Shore is a total guilty pleasure of mine.

This post is being kept short and sweet because I’ve got a million and one things to do before heading off to meet the bridesmaids. What are you up to on this beautiful Thursday? Back at work? Day off? Please tell!

Christmas Recap

2012-01-04T08:36:00.001-07:00

Looking back on it, Christmas was a chaotic whirlwind for us. Not only did we move at the beginning of December, but we decided to host Christmas. This was a pretty big deal for Stephen and I, so there was no way we were going to give that up.

My Christmas vacation started early, which was perfect, because I had a lot to get done around the house before guests arrived. We also did some dogsitting for my old nanny family, so this sweet pup showed up a few days before Christmas. Meet Bailey:

My family started showing up on Christmas Eve, because we all like to wake up together on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was filled with a ton of food, including way too many baked goods. We each opened up a present, which was our traditional Christmas jammies. We may have even tuned into the Santa Tracker channel on Telus TV for a late night round of Christmas karaoke. Despite our awful singing, it was absolutely perfect in my mind.

Christmas morning started off with Dad waking us up with a hand bell and a bull horn. I have no idea what possessed him to do that, but it was one heck of a way to wake up. We started off with stockings, then took a break for breakfast while we waited for Stephen’s Mom to get here from Edmonton. We opened up our presents (always way too many!) a bit later than normal (around 11am I believe), but it was so much fun. There were a few presents that stole the show: my Dad surprised my Mom with jewelry, which made her cry; the family all pitched in on an EReader for my Uncle D’arcy; and the family pitched in again on a TV and Blu-Ray player for my parents. While those were definitely the stand out gifts, everyone else received some awesome gifts, for sure.

This gift deserves a special mention…I was told that I have to blog about it or it gets returned, ha! My sister Jessica and her boyfriend Daniel went above our set present budget and got Stephen and I the Eye-Fi memory card that we had wanted so very much. It was unexpected, but such a welcome surprise. I can’t wait to get a moment to set it up and put it to good use. Thanks Jess and Daniel!

Christmas afternoon brought more guests: my other sister and her fiancé; our old roommate Cam; and my great grandma and her boyfriend. To add to the chaos, 4 more dogs showed up. If you’re keeping track, there were 5 dogs in our house, ranging from tiny lap dogs to giant boxers. Never a dull moment in our household!

Christmas dinner was a feast, and Stephen outdid himself. His original plan was to make a Turducken, but not enough people like duck for that to become a reality. Stephen revised that plan and made a turkey stuffed with two chickens. This crazy turchicken (as we so lovingly called it) was a beast, and required two people to lift it! We were left with so many leftovers that we could have easily hosted a second Christmas dinner with it.

The celebrations continued on Boxing Day with a family dinner at my Uncles’ house. There was a fun present exchange (where I won a lottery ticket) and more Christmas carols sung around the piano. It’s a family tradition that I look forward to every year!

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, then you have to know that this is only a sampling of the Christmas chaos at my place. I’m still recovering, even though I had two weeks off over the holidays!
How was your Christmas holidays?

Ten On Tuesday

2012-01-03T07:14:00.001-07:00

I'm easing my way back into blogging, and what better way to start off than with some Ten on Tuesday questions?

#112 at Roots and Rings

1. What did you get for Christmas?
A bunch of gift cards and some things to hang in our new place, along with a bunch of little things.

2. Have you taken down your Christmas decorations?
We did that yesterday. Our tree was dead and needed to come down, so I figured that I may as well take down the rest of the decorations with it.

3. What did you do for New Years Eve?
Just stayed home and celebrated with Stephen and his Mom. It was really low key.

4. Do you like accents?
Yes, provided I can understand them.

5. What kind of television do you have?
We've got a 42 inch Samsung flat screen TV. At least, I think it's Samsung? I don't pay too much attention to those sorts of things.

6. Did you make any changes at the beginning of 2012?
Not yet. Stephen and I do have plans of eating healthier, and just trying to lead an overall healthier lifestyle, but that hasn't started yet. I wouldn't call it a New Year's resolution though, it's something that we decided to do after the Christmas season is over.

7. What’s the last book you read and do you recommend it?
Confession: I can't remember the last book that I've read. It pains me to say that, considering how much I love to read. I resolve to read more this year though, and blogs don't count.

8. Do you stay current on celebrity gossip?
Not really, no. I usually hear of stuff through Twitter, and via Stephen, of he reads something good on Reddit.

9. Do you know the words to Bohemian Rhapsody? Gangstas Paradise? Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
I know most of the words to Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm fairly certain that I know all the words to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and I only know one line of Gangstas Paradise.

10. What is your favorite education television show?
Umm...I'm not really sure that I watch any educational shows, at least, none that I can think of right now. I'm a bit of a reality junky.

Product Review: Big Mountain Coffee

2011-12-31T09:46:00.001-07:00

I know that I’ve been a little M.I.A around here lately, but I really wanted to share this review for Big Mountain Coffee. We all know how much I love coffee, so I just couldn’t keep this to myself much longer! I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule next week.

I recently started following Calgary Co-Op on Twitter; it’s the grocery store that we frequented most often when we lived in the last townhouse. I didn’t think much of it, since most businesses that I follow don’t know that I exist. However, I one day received a DM from the person who manages Co-Op’s Twitter account (Hi Cindy!); I was being asked if I wanted to review some coffee. It didn’t take me long to get into contact with Cindy because, hello! I love coffee! After a few emails, Cindy wanted to meet up with me to give me the coffee. I haven’t reviewed many products here, but as far as I know, no one has ever wanted to personally meet up with me. It was a bit hard trying to coordinate our schedules, but we finally found a time to meet. Cindy even drove all the way to my house for this! I hadn’t even tried the product yet and I was already loving it.

I decided to wait until Christmas day to try out Big Mountain Coffee, since my house would be filled with coffee lovers. We made our first pot just after opening our stockings. We were all pleasantly surprised, the coffee was mild and delicious! So delicious in fact, that by the time everyone went home Christmas night, my family had gone through 3/4 of the bag of coffee beans. I had lost count of how many pots of coffee were brewed from this bag. Even my Dad’s Tim Horton’s coffee was left untouched, which is pretty amazing considering how much he loves that stuff. Guess we have a new favorite around here!

You know what I love about this coffee? It’s organic and sustainable. Big Mountain is a local roaster, and the coffee that I tried (Premium Member’s Blend) is brewed specifically for Calgary Co-Op. Even more awesome, if you ask me. What my sister’s boyfriend thought was really awesome is that it shows right on the package that you can follow Big Mountain on Facebook and Twitter.

I’ll definitely be stocking up on this blend, and even trying out new ones when the family comes to visit. It was a big hit for good reason!

Have you had any good coffee lately? What’s your favorite type of coffee?

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but I was provided with a free bag of Big Mountain Premium Member’s Blend coffee. All opinions, as always, are my own!

A Christmas Survey

2011-12-22T13:24:00.001-07:00

Once again, it’s Thursday, and I don’t have a recipe to share with you. I’ve been baking all week, but they’re all old favorites, and I’ve already shared those recipes here with you. I’ve seen this Christmas survey on a few different blogs, so I thought I would share it here. I like answering random questions!

1)Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
While I look forward to egg nog every year, and used to be crazy about it, it’s just not the same for me anymore. I still enjoy a small cup here and there, but would much rather drink a good cup of hot chocolate.

2)Does Santa Wrap Presents or Just Sit Them Under The Tree?
Santa doesn’t wrap our gifts. Same goes for stockings, nothing in them gets wrapped.

3)Colored Lights or White Lights.
White lights, and not LED white.

4)Do you hang Mistletoe? Nope.

5)When Do You Put Your Christmas Decorations Up?
Since we’ve moved the past few years at the beginning of December, it has taken me all month to get my decorations up. I do it as I’m unpacking. Next year though, we’ll for sure be in the same house, so I’m going to decorate at the end of November!

6) What is Your Favorite Holiday Dish?
I just love Christmas dinner in general, but if I had to choose just one dish, it would have to be the stuffing.

7) Favorite Holiday Memory as a Child.
I love how every year, my Mom made us girls all sit on the stairs and wait while she checked to see if Santa had come. Every single year, without fail, she would tell us that he didn’t come and we should all just go back to bed. She still does that to us! I wonder if she’ll attempt to do that this year, even though I’m hosting Christmas.

8)When and How Did You Learn The Truth About Santa?
I can’t really remember. My parents never told me that Santa doesn’t exist, I more or less told them that I knew he wasn’t real.

9) Do You Open a Gift on Christmas Eve?
Of course! Christmas pajamas.

10)How Do You Decorate Your Christmas Tree?
Last year, I was really anal about it. The lights go on first, then the bulbs (in order of size), then the rest of the decorations. This year though, we invited our Little Brother over to help us decorate, and everyone just did their own thing.

11)Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Dread it.

12)Can You Ice Skate?
Not well.

13)Do You Remember Your Favorite Gift?
I’ve received plenty of awesome gifts over the years, but I think my favorites were the first year that Stephen and I were together. He went all out and bought me all of my baking pans/utensils. Love that boy.

14)What’s The Most Important Thing About The Holidays For You?
Spending time with my family.

15)What is Your Favorite Holiday Dessert?
Pumpkin pie.

16)What is Your Favorite Holiday Tradition?
Baking during the week leading up to Christmas, Christmas movies and music, spending time with the family.

17) What Tops Your tree?
A star and a ribbon that lights up. They’re only temporary place holders until I find the perfect start that lights up.

18) Which Do You Prefer: Giving or Receiving?
Giving. I get so dang excited when I know I’ve picked out the perfect gift for someone.

19)What is Your Favorite Christmas Song?
This is tough, because I love so many songs! Probably Last Christmas.

20)Candy Canes…good or bad?
Good.

21)Favorite Christmas Show?
Rudolph.

22) Saddest Christmas Song?
Christmas Shoes; I cry every time I hear it.

Glittery Christmas Lights

2011-12-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I only worked for 3 hours before getting to go home early to start my Christmas holidays. Thank goodness for that, as I have a ton of baking to get done before Christmas! I decided to spend yesterday doing Christmas type crafts though. A while back, I pinned this idea from craftzine.com. I showed it to Stephen, and it’s been on my mind ever since. I didn’t think I would be able to find vintage Christmas bulbs to make over. While out at Wal-Mart last week, Stephen spotted some, and for cheap! Less than $2 for a 4 pack. You know what happened next? Stephen encouraged me to make these glittery Christmas bulbs. I love when he encourages the crafty side of me!

You’ll need to gather your supplies: vintage looking Christmas bulbs, glitter, glue and something to seal the glitter afterward. (Stephen picked out some low odour clear matte from Krylon, while I was off looking for glitter.)

This is a pretty simple craft. You’ll want to paint your glue onto the bulbs, then cover them with glitter. I just set them onto some parchment paper to dry. I did have problem with my glue sticking to the bulbs though (there were big splotches where it wouldn’t stick), but I found that spraying the bulbs with the clear matter, then dousing them with glitter worked just fine. Be sure to seal the glitter afterward, so that you’re not stuck with a glittery kitchen.

We also picked up a cheap glass vase while we were at Walmart. Fill it up with your finished bulbs, and you’ve got a great Christmas decoration!

I’ve seen this craft in quite a few places in the blogosphere, but I couldn’t resist sharing, because I just love it! This is such an easy craft. Hopefully it impresses my family as much as it impressed me!

Ten on Tuesday

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

#111 at Roots and Rings

1. What is your favorite online-only store? I don’t really have one that is online only, other than Etsy. I love browsing there for inspiration!
2. Do you enjoy wrapping gifts? Yes, I love it!
3. What is the temperature in your city today? It’s still early, but the high for today is supposed to be 4C. Nice and warm for this time of year!
4. What time do you eat dinner? Between 5 and 6pm. Ever since I became a nanny and started eating early lunches, I’m starving by the time 5pm rolls around.
5. Will you be making New Years Resolutions? I usually make one or two.
6. How old is your oldest pair of shoes that you still wear? I have my grad shoes that I’ve worn a few times since then, so about 7 years old.
7. Do you have any restaurant phone numbers saved in your phone? No.
8. What is your favorite and least favorite letter to write in cursive? I love writing any of the particularly loopy letters. I don’t think that there are any I don’t like writing.
9. Do you know any good riddles? Nope.
10. How do you feel about snow? If it’s only snowing lightly and it’s relatively warm out, then I don’t mind it. Otherwise, I hate it. I suppose that’s because we can get quite a bit of snow here, and it gets really stinking cold during the winter.

Weekend Recap

2011-12-19T08:35:00.001-07:00

Another busy weekend has come and gone. We’re down to less than a week before Christmas, and I have to admit that I’m still amazed at how quickly December has flown by!

Friday was a work day for me. Nothing out of the ordinary, other than this sweet little surprise waiting for me when I arrived:

How sweet is that? I received a card and some money, which is always appreciated at this time of year. My Friday boys are quite sweet.

Saturday started off with no internet or cable. Not exactly how I like to start my day, but it did force me to start working on my to-do list earlier than expected. I spent the morning baking cookies and wrapping up some gifts for friends.

Saturday afternoon, I went to pick up our Little Brother so that we could go bowling! I started off doing really bad, but I ended up coming in second place in the end. Not to shabby if you ask me.

The bowling alley was in a mall, so we decided to grab some dinner and wander through some stores afterward. The mall was packed, so I was rather grumpy by the end of it. Don’t worry, that was all rectified by an ice cream cone before taking LB home for the night. Stephen and I went and finished up our Christmas shopping after that, so I’m quite glad that I don’t need to go to another mall before Christmas!

Sunday morning was spent at a friend’s house with our niece and nephew. Their birthday is tomorrow, so Stephen and I wanted to bring over their gifts. We had such a hard time tearing ourselves away after lunch though, because we have such fun with the twins. Their enthusiasm for life is contagious!

Sunday afternoon/evening was just spent getting our house organized. I also snuck in some chocolate macaroon making, before pulling out all of our pictures/art work to start hanging on the walls. It was a busy weekend with hardly any time to rest, but luckily, I only have to work today and tomorrow…then I’m off till the New Year!

What did you get up to over the weekend?

7 Quick Takes (Vol 63)

2011-12-16T08:06:00.001-07:00

1. I drew the winner for the Shabby Apple Jewelry giveaway:

That makes Andi the winner! She picked the Oahu Turquoise earrings as her favorite item. Congrats, Andi! I’ll be sending off your address right away.

2. Big news first: Stephen found a job! He started yesterday in fact. He’s work on the opposite end of the city, but at this point, work is work. It’s with some friends of his that he worked with back when he first got into the cooking world, so I know he’s excited to be with them again.

3. Now that Stephen’s working again, I can stop accepting every extra babysitting job that comes my way. There’s been a few days where I’ve worked 10 hours with my regular family, then gone straight to another family’s house and worked 3-4 hours more. Needless to say, I’m way behind on life at the moment.

4. I normally send out Christmas cards to my blog readers, but this year, I decided not to do it. After the stress of the move last year and working really hard to get out cards, I was really disappointed to have half the people I was supposed to do an exchange with not even send me a card in return. Maybe that’s a tad selfish, but I just felt like if they said that they were going to send me a card, it would be nice to have gotten one! With the stress of the move this year, I decided to just go ahead and forget about it all together. Sure, my mailbox is feeling quite lonely at the moment, but I’m ok with that.

5. You’ll notice that once again, there was no post up yesterday. Thursdays are when I normally post recipes, and I still haven’t baked in the new townhouse yet. I’m itching to get in the kitchen, but I just haven’t had the time. My Christmas baking list is a mile long, so if I don’t get into the kitchen this weekend, there will be no baked goods over the holidays.

6. We’re taking our Little Brother bowling this weekend. BBBS provided us with cards that entitle us to one free game a month, so we’re planning on taking advantage of that. Apparently, the bowling alley only rents out lanes by the hour on the weekend, but they’re making an exception for us. So nice of them! I’m also hoping that I can convince LB to go see Santa while we’re at the mall. It might not work though, considering he’s 9 years old and clearly way to cool for that!

7. We’ll also be heading to our friend’s house to see our niece and nephew so that we can give them birthday gifts! Their birthday is so dang close to Christmas that we really had a hard time shopping for them. It doesn’t help that they’re twins, so that quadruples the amount of presents we need to buy! We figured that they’re still young enough that if their Christmas gift is a combined one, then they won’t mind. Their birthday gifts are separate, but more or less interchangeable. Once they get a bit older, we’ll be sure that they get separate gifts! Gah, I just adore those kids, and I’ve only seen them once!

What are your plans for the weekend? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?

Shabby Apple Jewelry Giveaway!

2011-12-14T09:01:00.001-07:00

Good news for my lovely readers…Shabby Apple contacted me and asked me to host a giveaway for a piece of their jewelry. Of course I said heck yes because I love having the chance to spread the love to my blog readers. While browsing the jewelry to pick out a piece to give away, I came across this beauty (click photo to enlarge):

Key to Wonderland

Beautiful, no? I (along with pretty much every other blogger) have a love for skeleton keys, so picking this piece to give away was a no brainer. I’d want one of you to own something that I myself would wear. It’s kind of a good thing that I didn’t have the option to pick something out for myself, because I would have snatched this baby up in a heartbeat!

Let’s get on to the giveaway details, shall we?

This giveaway is only open to those of you with a U.S. shipping address only. (Sorry Canadian and other international readers!) Leave a separate comment below for each entry completed.

Mandatory entry:
You must like Shabby Apple on Facebook. (1 entry)

Optional entries:
Visit the Shabby Apple website, then leave a comment here telling me what your favorite item is. (1 entry)
Follow Shabby Apple on Twitter. (1 entry)
Follow Shabby Apple’s blog. (1 entry)

You have a chance at 4 entries for this giveaway, just be sure to leave separate comments for each! Make sure that your email address is easily visible.
I’ll be drawing a winner on Friday morning, then emailing them shortly after to grab their address. If I don’t hear from the winner before Monday, then I’ll be drawing a new winner.

Good luck!

All images courtesy of Shabby Apple.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-12-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

#110 at Roots and Rings

1. How do you eat your eggs?
Normally, just scrambled.

2. Do you volunteer?
Yes. I used to volunteer quite a bit in junior high and high school, but then stopped for whatever reason until just recently. Stephen and I now both volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters as a Big Couple!

3. What’s your favorite brand of jeans?
I don't have one. I just buy whatever is cheapest.

4. What was your child’s first word? Or what was your first word?
I have no idea what my first word was, and it's too early in the morning to call my Mom to ask.

5. Can you french braid?
Not really, but especially not in my own hair.

6. Do you prefer wide rule, college rule, or blank paper?
There's something exciting about blank paper, but I typically use college rule.

7. Is there a specific treat you always make during the holidays?
Chocolate macaroons. My family loves them!

8. Do you have a KitchenAid mixer? Do you want one?
The only stand mixer I've ever owned is my black KitchenAid, and I seriously adore it! I just wish we had more money so I could buy more of the attachments. The ice cream maker is pretty amazing.

9. What kind of computer do you use?
An HP laptop that I got free from Telus. When we switched our cable from Shaw to Telus, there was a promotion for new customers to receive a free laptop.

10. Favorite Christmas movie?
I love so many of them! Elf, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman...

Christmas Tree Decorating

2011-12-12T08:23:00.001-07:00

Friday night, Stephen and I planned on having our Little Brother over to help decorate our Christmas tree. I had these grand plans of tree decorating, Christmas music listening and homemade hot chocolate. That went out the window when I got off work much later than I was supposed to, then I found out that LB had to be home earlier than we expected. I was starting to get into a sour mood, all before I even got home. I was just so frustrated that Stephen got to hang out with LB for a whole extra hour, while I just got to the tail end of it. While I was sitting on the bus, frustrated with everything, I realized that I was missing the whole point of this activity.

My original intention for Friday night was to get in the Christmas spirit, yet I was doing the exact opposite! Luckily, I had that bus ride home to turn my attitude around, so that I could be in a much better mood before I got home. I may have only got to spend an hour and a half with LB, but at least we got my tree decorated! It also may not have been done the way I wanted (so many clusters of ornaments, and patches where the lights weren’t evenly distributed), but I had to remind myself that LB had fun, and that’s al that mattered. He helped Stephen string the lights around the tree, and to see him look like he was feeling so important for being a special helper was all it took to make me not care about a perfectly decorated tree. At least we all had fun decorating it!

Our goal is to have a food themed tree (as if that’s really a surprise!), but of course, I have to have the obligatory Paris themed ornament thrown in there for good measure!

Here’s our little Charlie Brown tree. Stephen bought it for me (a surprise!) our first Christmas that we lived together. It was back when we lived in the condo, and we just didn’t have the space for a full sized tree. We also didn’t have the money for a nicer tree, but I didn’t need it. All I cared about was that Stephen was thoughtful enough to know that a tree was important to me, and he went out and secretly bought me this. I’m such a sap that pulling it out each year is such a special moment to me.

He also went searching for the perfect sized ornaments and lights to fit this tree. We added to them this year, with the sweets themed ornaments that we found at Walmart.

Do you have any sentimental decorations? Have you decorated your Christmas tree yet?

7 Quick Takes (Vol 62)

2011-12-09T08:54:00.001-07:00

1. We’ve been in our new place for nearly a week now. We’re nowhere near unpacked, but I’m madly in love with this townhouse. The natural light in this place is amazing! Our last townhouse had 6 windows total, throughout the whole place, but our new living room has more than 6 in it alone! (There’s 10!)

2. I’ve been working like crazy this week, picking up extra babysitting after work, which has lead to us being slow on the unpacking. Thankfully, I have tomorrow and Sunday to get a bunch of stuff put away. I’m tired of moving around boxes in the kitchen.

3. Speaking of work, Stephen is currently out of a job. There’s a bunch of stuff that I (nor Stephen, really) still don’t understand, that lead him to be out of a job. He was supposed to switch from one location to another, but somewhere along the line, rumours of some sort started and no one thought to confirm them with Stephen. It’s really tough because he has put so much in to this company, and they have given him nothing. It’s really hard on me to see him hurting over something so stupid. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that Stephen is able to find a job before Christmas.

4. We’ve got our Christmas tree up, but it’s not decorated yet. My Dad really wanted us to have a real tree this year, so he went out and bought one for us, then brought it over on moving day. We decided that we wanted to decorate it with our Little Brother, so he’ll be coming over tonight to help us out. I can’t wait for a little festive cheer in this house!

5. Christmas is creeping up on me really quick this year. We’ve barely even started our Christmas shopping (we’ve only bought 2 gifts!), and I haven’t started my Christmas baking. I have so many grand plans for baking that I really should have started last month. I’m going to have to turn into a baking machine to get it all done in time. I’m looking forward to being able to share recipes here on the blog again, I’ve really missed sharing them!

6. My Mom’s birthday is this weekend, so I think we’ll be having her over on Sunday to celebrate. I know that there will be cupcakes involved, from my favorite cupcake place in Calgary. My uncle in Ontario called me up and asked me to go by some for my Mom as his present to her. I can never say no to cupcakes!

7. While thinking through my weekend, I just realized that I’m going to be babysitting tomorrow night. Thankfully, it’s just for my nanny family who live across the field from me now! My commute to work is amazing, I can leave 10 minutes before I start. Guess I won’t have as much free time as I thought though.

What are your plans for the weekend? Does this holiday season have you ridiculously busy yet?

Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesdays

2011-12-07T09:48:00.001-07:00

I’ve got a bit of a thing for maps. Luckily for me, Stephen also has a love of maps, so I’m slowly incorporating more of them into our home decor. Here’s just a few of the map related things that I’ve been pinning lately.

Collection of globes. I would love to have a tabletop in my house filled with a collection of globes! How cool would that look? For now though, I’d settle for even one globe.

Where we’re from. Yet another idea for my gallery wall. If I could find some good printable maps of where Stephen and I were born, I would be all over making this. I also think that it would make a cute wedding gift!

Go somewhere. I have a love of typography, which naturally leads me to love scrabble tiles. This picture actually inspired me to create something for my gallery wall, pictured below.

Paris wall map. It’s no secret that I have a love of Paris, so this wall map really speaks to me. One day, when I own my own home, I plan on recreating something similar in my bedroom. How fun would that be?

What have you pinned lately? What are some things that you love?

Ten on Tuesday

2011-12-06T08:44:00.001-07:00

#109 at Roots and Rings

1. What are 3 things that are on your Christmas wishlist?
I've really been struggling to make a wish list this year. I feel like I'm at an age where the things I want/need are rather expensive. Regardless, here are three things: a new camera bag, bed frame and new flour/sugar jars for my counter.

2. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
I think it may be Last Christmas.

3. Do you have a favorite band or singer that sings it especially awesome?
I don't have one version that I favor over the others.

4. Have you heard about the website goodreads?
Yes. I have an account, but I haven't used it in months.

5. What are 3 books you want to read?
Bossy pants by Tina Fey, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and that's all I can think of at the moment.

6. Do you hunt deer?
No. I do eat meat, but I can't even begin to think about hunting.

7. Have you started Christmas shopping? Are you completely finished?
I suppose that I technically have started Christmas shopping as I have bought one gift. We wanted to wait until after the move to do the shopping.

8. Did you shop on Black Friday? What was the best deal you got?
We don't have Black Friday in Canada.

9. What’s one holiday tradition your family has?
We always open up Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve!

10. How many blogs do you read? Do you subscribe/unsubscribe often or do you purge every once in a while?
I don't know how many I read. I do a purge every so often, after I realize thy I've been skipping over certain blogs.

The Move

2011-12-05T08:39:00.001-07:00

The past week has been hectic, hence the silence on my blog lately. Not only were my nights filled with packing, but I also worked long hours (including a 16 hour day), right up until we moved. Thankfully, I had Friday off, so we intended to get quite a bit of stuff crossed off our list. We woke up bright and early to go take possession of the new townhouse, then went for breakfast. Before we even made it back home, I felt a migraine coming on. I haven’t had a true migraine in years, so Stephen kind of brushed it off. I went from bad to worse quite quickly, and I lost my breakfast (in public), before making it to the safety of my house. I’ve had migraines before, but this must have been the worst of my life. It completely drained me (aura, pounding head, clammy/sweaty, shaky, nauseous), and I had to spend the afternoon sleeping it off. I figured that the combination of stress and the crazy Calgary weather brought it on. Thankfully, I’ve got an amazing boyfriend who not only took care of me, but packed up and moved a load of boxes.

By Saturday morning, I was feeling much better, so we got an early start yet again. Our crew of helpers showed up by 9am, and I took the first trip over to the new place. The Dad that I nanny for had offered to help, but had to bring Baby E, so I took on baby duty and oversaw the Telus setup. With the amount of help that we had, it only ended up taking one and a half trips (we didn’t rent a U-Haul), and everything was in the new place by early afternoon. We paid our movers in pizza, then spent the rest of the day relaxing and did a bit of unpacking.

Sunday was spent at the old place cleaning, which took us longer than expected. By the time we made it home, it was too late (and I was too tired) to do any unpacking. We took showers, ordered Chinese food and watched half of Elf. This next week will be filled with boxes, but hopefully we’ll make good progress with the unpacking. Shall we move on to a couple of pictures?

The view from our big kitchen window half a floor above the living room. Notice the empty donut box? Or how about my coffee mug? Clearly, I’ve got our priorities straight.

This is the chaos of my life at the moment; no point in hiding that! I love love love all of the light that our living room gets thanks to the many large windows!

My kitchen is just as chaotic. We’re so happy to have nice appliances and beautiful cupboards though! The color, on the other hand, is going to take some getting used to.

Oh, and this is what’s going on in the garage. My Dad insisted on getting me a real tree this year, so he brought it over on moving day. There’s no room for it in the house yet, so we had to set it up in the garage until we unpack. I have to admit that it is rather lovely.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-11-29T05:52:00.001-07:00

#108 at Roots and Rings

1. Do you wear glasses, contacts, or are you one of those perfect eyed people?

I've been wearing glasses since the eighth grade. I've never worn contacts, nor do I really have any desire to. I think I'll just wear glasses my entire life.

2. What is the next item you are going to purchase?
I'm assuming this is referring to a bigger purchase, and not something that's not very exciting like food. If that's the case, it'll probably be Christmas gifts. Now that we're finally moving this weekend, I'll be able to start my Christmas shopping. Now, if this question is referring to something for myself, then it will most definitely be something for the house. I've had my eye on this large bookshelf for ages and I'm hoping to pick it up before Christmas.

3. Have you ever watched Judge Judy or any other real court show?
I did when I lived with my parents because they liked to watch those shows every so often. I'm really not a fan of them, so I haven't watched one since.

4. How do you feel about fake nails?
They're nice when they're a moderate length. I'm only assuming that though because I've never had fake nails. I imagine I'll be getting some for my sister's wedding in the summer because she just got certified to do nails.

5. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Hockey, but only in person. I can't stand watching sports on TV.

6. If you could create your own Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor, what would it be and what would it be named?
Here's the thing, Ben & Jerry have already created the perfect flavor: brownie cheesecake. Can't mess with perfection!

7. Do you have any scars?
Yes, several. None of them have cool stories though; I have several burn marks from baking (that counts, right?), and some on my foot from falling.

8. Does your pet’s name fit them? Is there a more appropriate name?
Piglet and Oreo suit my guinea pigs perfectly.

9. What is your favorite television show theme song?
Pretty much any theme song from the nineties! Shows nowadays just don't even come close. Stephen and I regularly bust out the Fresh Prince theme song. Actually, it's more like I start singing it and Stephen looks at me like I'm crazy. Good times!

10. What was your favorite activity on the playground?
Always the swings. Still is! I should know, I go to the park regularly. The joys of being a nanny!