.simply.girly.

we're homeowners!

2016-06-22T08:31:00.000-04:00

in early march, we got an email from our landlord letting us know that she was selling our unit. i promptly forwarded that email to dylan wherein i exclaimed, "WORST NEWS EVER!"

see, very shortly after we moved in here, we knew we loved this place - the unit, the location, the building itself, etc. we even said "imagine we could buy this place from her?!" but figured that would never come up.

i say "worst news ever" because based on a few units in our building that had recently sold/were currently for sale, i figured it would be way above our price range. and did i mention that buying a home was never our current priority? therefore, we had no down payment saved. on a sunday, our landlord's realtor came over to talk to us about showings and how they would go. i figured i might as well ask what it would be listed for and was shocked when she told us. was it possibly within our budget??! of course we also had to take into account the monthly maintenance fees. she said it would be listed the coming wednesday and that was that.

we talked to my parents afterwards and they knew how much we loved this place and were heartbroken to have to leave. they asked the price and we talked a bit more. an hour or two later, my parents facetimed us back. they held up a piece of paper with a dollar amount on it and asked if that would help us get this place. we couldn't believe it and were super thankful.

that night we crunched some numbers and made sure everything was doable and decided that we were going to put an offer in on wednesday when it went on the market. we called our tax guy (who is also a broker) first thing on monday morning asking how long it would take to be pre-approved for a mortgage, explained our situation, and asked if it could be done in like, 3 days! we got employment letters, pay stubs together, tax forms, bank statements and everything gathered as quickly as we could.

i then emailed our landlord and told her were actually interested in making an offer, that we were in the middle of getting our financing together, and asked if she could hold off on putting it on the market for one week to give us some more time.

to not turn this into a novel, the place did not go on the market that wednesday, but not because we had asked. the landlord had fallen off the earth and we were getting no replies to our emails. even her agent couldn't get ahold of her. weeks passed and nothing. we figured maybe we should start looking at other places. we knew if it went on the open market, that we would definitely lose in a bidding war. we looked at about 10 other units for sale and nothing really drew us in. we felt that ours had the best layout of everything we saw, the location was better, and it was actually bigger than everything we looked at! we actually did put an offer on one place, got into a bidding war, and were outbid.

we then realized that we were just out of budget of what we really liked and wanted so we made the decision to start looking at rentals instead of jumping into buying because we felt like we had to. another year of renting wouldn't be a big deal and we figured we could save more money. I looked at plenty of listings on my lunch time over a week or two and even the rental market is terrible! there's nothing out there. finally, dylan sent me to 3 in one day (2 in one building and another in a building I've loved forever). i didn't want to like the last unit because it was way more than we wanted to pay on rent but what do you know? it was the only unit i liked in the dozen or so i looked at. i didn't want to make a decision without dylan, so we booked an appointment again later that night so he could see it after work. we were walking home from our appointment thinking we were going to fill out the paperwork and take this place and we got a call from our realtor that our place was definitely going on the market tomorrow morning. after almost two months of nobody being able to get in touch with our landlord (including her realtor), she was finally ready to list it! now that it was back in the realm of possibility, we walked home in silence thinking about what we wanted to do. we talked about it in bed and knew that we had to try to get this place but that we would likely be outbid. the next morning it went on the market and we were getting showing request after showing request, which was making us nervous that there was so much interest in the place within the first few hours. luckily, because tenants receive 24 hours before a showing, we had a leg up on people to get our offer in. we met with our realtor that night, put in an offer, she countered, and we accepted! unfortunately, we still had to accept all showings until we waived both the financial condition and condo status condition (which took about 10 days). we had people going through our place for almost two weeks which was a little awkward because we knew it was already ours.

once we waived both of the conditions, we just had to sit and wait until closing day. that day has now come and passed (one week today!) and we're officially homeowners in a place we love. we really lucked out and even our realtor said that she lost out on about $30-$50k by taking our offer just below asking because she could have gotten a lot more judging by the market and all of the interest.

now that this baby is all ours, we cannot wait to renovate from the bottom up. in about a year or two, we'll be tearing this place up and making it all sparkly and new. until then, we can live with it as is and save some money do our dream renos.

but in the meantime, we're homeowners in toronto!

ICELAND - around reykjavic and our video...

2016-06-16T07:52:00.000-04:00

so now that we've been back almost 3 months, i guess i should finish my last post! we woke up back in reykjavic for our last day. our flight wasn't until 5pm, giving us a good portion of the day to walk around and explore. the city is spotless (literally no garbage) and so colorful and cute.

it feels like a lifetime ago since we were here. it's truly a magical and beautiful place and i only wish we had more time to explore more of the country. but that's just an excuse to back eventually, right?

and lastly - a video of our trip! (it looks best to change the quality to 1080p in hd).

ICELAND - the secret pool - seljavallalaug...

2016-05-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

the part of the trip i think i was most excited for was trying to find this secret pool i had read about online - seljavallalaug. it's one of the oldest pools in iceland and it was built in 1923. you have to park your car just off the highway, walk about 15 minutes, and cross a few streams. you literally are walking between these huge mountains and i was totally worried that we wouldn't find it, but all of a sudden it just appears. it was so nice to relax in this warm pool after our glacier hike. truly an amazing experience.

we were kind of following the people in front of us and hoping they knew where they were going.

heading back to the car.

the change rooms are less than desirable, but honestly, you're there for the views and the pool itself. close your eyes, change quickly, and get in that pool! it's surprisingly warm (not as warm as the blue lagoon), but it was so nice to just swim around and take in the surroundings. it was definitely one of my favourite parts of the trip.

ICELAND - glacier hike and skogafoss...

2016-05-13T08:53:00.000-04:00

after checking out the black sand beach, we headed on our for our glacier hike on solheimajokull glacier. i thought i would be totally fine because i walk everywhere in toronto, but guys, i was dying walking those inclines. i was slowing down to a snail's pace and just wanted to crash on a couch! but! we made it and it was a pretty neat experience and now we can say that we've hiked on a glacier.

it's about a 20 minute walk from the base camp to the actual glacier and that's because it's receded so much over the years. pretty sad when you think about it.

where the incline started getting to me.

see all that black in the distance? that used to all be glacier.

our next stop was skogafoss. there was a beautiful rainbow over the waterfall and the sun was shining. there just seems to be waterfalls at every turn in this country.

beauty, i tell ya.

ICELAND - black sand beach...

2016-04-28T08:53:00.000-04:00

sunday was another day to finish seeing what we missed on saturday and drive around as we please. the only thing we had planned was a glacier hike in the afternoon. after breakfast we started driving towards the black sand beach and, of course, stopped at a million places in between to take pictures.

where we rested our heads saturday night - fosshotel nupar.

waterfall on the side of the road.

i had read online to fill up whenever you pass a gas station (even if you've only used 1/4 tank) because you never know when you'll pass a gas station again.

moss covered lava fields.

i kind of forget what the story is here. there used to be a farmer here or something and everyone that passed the land to get to his house is supposed to place a rock on a pile for good luck? maybe?

blue skies and black sand.

the waves here are ridiculous! extremely high and powerful.

ICELAND - golden circle and jokulsarlon...

2016-04-22T08:51:00.000-04:00

our second day in iceland was our day to just drive around, do the golden circle, stop anywhere else that was picture-worthy (basically everywhere), and finish our night out by the glacier lagoon, 4 hours from reykjavik. we were originally going to make our way to the glacier lagoon and head back to reykjvik the same day, but we realized it would just be too much driving so we booked a hotel out that way. and it's a good thing too, because by the time we made it there, we were chasing the setting sun and it was about 8pm. we definitely would not have wanted to drive 4 hours back to the city at that time of night.

our car for the 4 days.

Þingvellir national park.

i think i said this before, but it really is like another planet.

we're in iceland!

be aware - the water is boiling and the nearest hospital is 62 km away!

the geysir erupts every 3-4 minutes and it's a pretty cool thing to see.

we got to the geysir around 1pm and in the main shop they have a cafeteria style restaurant with ready-made burgers, fries, pop, chips, etc to just pick up. we got ourselves a bite to eat (thankfully we did) and basically didn't eat again until the next day. once you leave the city, there's really not much in terms of food! more on that later.

gullfoss waterfall in all her beauty. also known as: the windiest place in iceland. seriously.

there are horses everywhere in iceland (in fact, there's about 80,000 in the whole country). when driving to our next stop, we just had to pull over and pet them.

look at that hair!

they are so short and stocky and incredibly cute and friendly.

i didn't want to leave them.

seljalandfoss - the waterfall you can walk behind (and get very wet).

there's dylan way down in the bottom in the green jacket.

and then you keep driving.

and i fall asleep in the car. typical.

the small town of vik. too charming.

we finally made it to jokulsarlon glacier lagoon.

so peaceful listening to the ice crashing, the water moving, watching the sun setting.

and then seals popped up!

the clearest of clear ice.

after the glacier lagoon, we had an hour drive to our hotel. we didn't pass any restaurants (ok we did pass one but it was $65 a person for a pasta buffet that didn't look good and i just wasn't willing to pay that) and we were pretty hungry. earlier in the day, we were at a gas station and i picked up a can of pineapples, you know, just in case we didn't pass anywhere else to eat. i also had peanut butter and soft tortillas in my hand, figuring at very least we could get some protein. but dylan didn't think it would be necessary, so i put it back and just got the pineapples. when we got to our hotel around 9:30, we asked reception if their restaurant was still open, but that was a no. we asked if they had any snacks for sale, but that was also a no. he said he would check in the back for any food and came out with two apples and this plate of fruit, which he called 'decoration fruit' that was from the dinner buffet and just sugested we 'give it a wash'. we couldn't stop laughing, bought some drinks, thanked him, and went back to our room. hungry. dylan is a slight germaphobe, so he didn't want to eat the fruit. me? i didn't care. i dug in. tldr: if you're going to be staying in the middle of nowhere, make sure you pack snacks before you leave the city! don't go hungry like we did. total tourist fail on our part.

ICELAND - the blue lagoon...

2016-04-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

to end our first day in iceland, we went to the blue lagoon. to sum it up in one word: wow.

a few things to note:

book your entry long before you go as they do sell out and you definitely don't want to be disappointed;
of the 4 price point options, we went with the second option ('comfort'), giving you a towel, mud mask, and your first drink free. i'm kind of glad we didn't jump to the next level thinking it would be great to have a bath robe to come out to because it probably would have been taken by someone else. when we got out, our towels were gone and all that were left were damp ones hanging up;
the whole showering naked thing that is required. so, about that. i'll be honest, i was pretty nervous about this and felt a little sick walking in thinking about it. i was totally not down with stripping naked in a room full of people. i heard there were some private showers, but that they were limited. i'm here to tell you not to worry about a thing. i saw the showers with curtains before i saw the public showers (in fact, i'm not even sure i noticed where those were?), popped in, used the shower quickly, and headed into the pool area;
i put my hair up as high as it could go as i read that the silica in the water makes it very hard and tough to deal with. my hair still got wet and when i was blow drying it back at the hotel after showering, it was felt like straw and it was awful. but i think within the next wash or two, it was pretty much back to normal;
it's awesome and you should go.

i had read/heard mixed reviews - people either loved it or said it was a total tourist trap and super packed and they were disappointed. we are definitely in the loved it camp. we didn't find it busy at all, but maybe that was just because of the time of day we went at. you see pictures of this place all over the internet and on instagram and you think that they must be photoshopped, that the water can't possibly be that blue in real life. it is and it's incredible. we got our drinks from the swim up bar, swam around to the different areas, and just kind of stopped and looked around and said, look where we are right now. seriously.

the first few pictures of the landscape are of the road leading up to the blue lagoon. it was one of the coolest things. they were also taken on a different day. we drove back on our way to the airport to get some better pictures since when we went it was 6:30 and we wanted as much time in there as possible (everyone has to be out by 8:30).

what planet are we on?!

it truly is this blue.

unfortunately, it was hard to keep the gopro case clean of steam and water droplets, so the pictures are a little fuzzy and it definitely didn't pick up the true color of the water. a lot of people brought their phones in with them, but i didn't want to chance it falling in the water. ready for a lot of selfies?

cheers!

swim on over to the station set up on the left hand side of the lagoon, dunk that ladle in the silica mud, and slap it on your face!

overall, yes this is a touristy place (i highly doubt the locals go), but it's so worth it. i feel like it would be going to paris and not seeing the eiffel tower, you know? by this point in the day, we had been awake pretty much since 6:30am the previous day (i have no idea how i was still standing, probably pure adrenaline), got back to our hotel by 9:30 and basically crashed. until our alarm went off at 7 the next morning, of course. no time for sleep when you only have a weekend in iceland.

ICELAND - day one...

2016-04-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

what a whirlwind of a weekend we recently had. after years of wanting to go and what felt like ages of planning, we were finally on our way to iceland over the easter long weekend. our flight was at 9pm on thursday and after about 5 hours, we arrived at the airport around 6:30am (2:30am toronto time). we picked up our rental car right from the airport and made our way to reykjavik to grab some breakfast. i'll be honest, for the first 2-3 hours, i felt so nauseous, so overtired, like i was going to throw up, and like we had made a huge mistake planning a full day straight until about 9pm on the day we landed. we barely slept on the flight and my body just doesn't do well when i don't get enough sleep. however, a tylenol, some food, and coffee later, i was feeling much better and was ready to go.

the first thing we did after breakfast was take a walk around reykjavik. it's such a charming little place and so colorful. we made our way towards the famous church that you're sure to see in all of the pictures of the city and waited in line to get to the top to see the best view of the city.

free alcohol in the lounge calm the nerves (i'm the nervous flier of us).

we made it!

so pretty.

a perfectly clear day to welcome us.

i think the entrance fee was about $6 a person. we got there around 10am and waited in line for 10-15 minutes.

after walking around a bit, we were able to check into our hotel a bit early, get ourselves freshened up, and make our way to our first activity of the day - a quad tour! we chose the twin peaks tour with safari quads and it was awesome! highly recommend checking them out.

all lined up and ready to go explore the mountains.

we chose to share a quad since i have no idea how to ride one. i will say, sitting in the back was actually very comfortable.

at the top of the first peak.

definitely having a blast.

the second peak was more of a city view, rather than just mountains.

you can see hallgrímskirkja (the church) in the very centre of the picture.

i will say that at the top of the mountains, the wind is unbelievable. i took my gloves off to take some pictures and they almost immediately froze! i could barely do my zipper back up after putting my phone in my pocket they were so frozen. that said, it really was such a great experience. it was a small group of only about 8 quads plus 2 guides which was nice. so, if you're ever in iceland, i highly recommend doing this tour!

parc omega...

2016-03-18T08:52:00.000-04:00

just before valentine's day, i had seen a viral video on the huffington post of a little girl feeding what appeared to be wildlife from the backseat of a car. there were plenty of comments saying how irresponsible the parents were etc. etc. but there was one commenter replying to literally every single comment saying "it's parc omega! these animals are totally friendly!" so i had to look this place up. immediately i knew it was somewhere i needed to go. i told dylan about it and he said we should go that weekend, but looking at the temperatures, it was supposed to the coldest weekend of the winter at about -30 degrees. but, the more i looked at pictures, i just couldn't put this place off. the next morning, saturday at 6:30am, we were packing up the car for a drive to montebello, quebec (about 5 hours from us) and then a night in montreal after the parc.

anyways, parc omega is a giant park that you drive through and feed a whole bunch of animals (you can buy carrots for $2 a bag at the gift shop). some are behind fences (wolves, foxes, buffalo), but quite a few just wander around. they are all super friendly and it's quite possibly the best thing i've ever done. we couldn't stop laughing the entire time.

they are everywhere.

here they come!

oh hello.

baby boars. they were so cute.

having the time of my life.

it was even colder in quebec than we imagined. it was nearing -40 and i've just never experienced cold like that in my life. that's coming from someone who actually likes winter and the cold over the summer. my nose immediately froze when we got out of the car and were walking up to the sugar shack and i started to panic because i couldn't feel it when i touched my face! we grabbed our maple syrup taffy and quickly went into the heated shack before running back down to the car.

be careful of these guys! they gave our car a little ram with their horns when they wanted more carrots!

trio.

and because 1 million pictures aren't enough, dylan put together a little video of our day here.

icewine festival...

2016-02-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

a few weeks ago we spent a chilly saturday at the niagara icewine festival sippin' drinks and munching on samples of yummy food. i love icewine and could have had many more glasses than just the two that i did! it was a pretty small festival and didn't take us very long to get through, but delicious nonetheless.

more please.

french onion soup. yum.

afterwards we stopped at a winery because my parents had heard about their icewine marshmallows. i was skeptical. i mean, how good could it possibly be? turns out they're really good.

caramelized sugar from being soaked in icewine. divine.

we're ready for the long weekend ahead of us, but we're unsure as to what we're going to do. we're sitting at -9 degrees right now (and the 'feels like' is -18) and tomorrow is supposed to be worse, so i guess we'll just see what the weekend brings. whatever it is, i'm sure we'll have 101 layers on.

2015 in review...

2016-01-19T09:07:00.000-05:00

i was walking the dog in the park over the weekend and i thought to myself, "i totally forgot to do a year in review post!" so here we are, nearly three weeks into the year and recapping 2015.

january

i was made permanent at work; i talked about us; we went rock climbing, and i started to perfect my chicken potpie.

february

we had a snow day, celebrated valentine's day, and went to niagara falls in the bitter cold.

march

we booked our first big trip, joined the adult world with a dining table, hosted a small dinner party with friends, and played catch up.

april

we celebrated easter and i started a paint by numbers (which i have yet to finish)

may

we went to montreal, we went to italy, and we moved.

june

i got my first gig as a bridesmaid. and apparently i was just busy with life, because i didn't blog much in june.

july

celebrated my birthday early with my parents, caught up with some summer happenings, went camping, and went to new york city for my birthday.

august

my mom joined me for a long weekend, we went camping in tobermory, dylan broke his ankle, and we went to a wedding.

september

it was my one year anniversary at work, we made delicious pretzels, chloe turned 8 years old, and my brother in law got married.

october

i got a new job, we dressed up as cartoon characters for halloween, and we went on a furniture hunt when our furniture broke.

november

our new furniture arrived, dylan got a new job, we celebrated 9 years together and had both parents for dinner for the first time,

december

we got ready for christmas, we had a potluck with friends, and another one, we went to ottawa for the day, we went to the christmas market many times, and of course, we celebrated christmas.

looking back, we really had quite the year. we moved, we both switched jobs, we went on plenty of trips...geez 2016, you have a lot to live up to.

we're going to...

2016-01-11T08:55:00.000-05:00

ICELAND! this place has been on my list for years and i'm beyond excited. when we decided to book italy last year, sure i was excited, but it was never on the top of my list. did it end up being the best 9 days of my life, thus far? absolutely. hands down. without question. and i hope to return some say, but after seeing a lot of other places first. but iceland? after dreaming about this place for so long, this trip feels like a dream come true.

we were originally going to make it a stopover on our longer trip later in the year, but dylan suggested that we just make a trip of its own and so that's what we've done! we're just taking a long weekend in march and adding on an extra day (that way it's only one vacation day from work) and we know that it will be a jam packed weekend! we leave on a thursday evening, arrive early in the morning on friday (especially when you consider they are 5 hours ahead of us), and leave around dinnertime on monday.

we already have so much tentatively planned and know we'll have to plan another trip in the future to make up for everything we will miss ;) renting quads and driving the mountains, glacier hiking, exploring reykjavik, horseback riding, seeing geysers and waterfalls, and (fingers crossed) seeing the northern lights. and hopefully we can make it to the blue lagoon, too. let the countdown begin. if anyone has been and has any suggestions, i would love to hear them!

christmas...

2016-01-07T08:53:00.000-05:00

two weeks after chritmas already? guess it's about time i get a post together, ya? on christmas eve, i ended up leaving the office around 10:30, rushing home to pack everything up, and head back home for a few weeks. we started off with a visit to my grandma's, then to dylan's aunt and uncle's place for the majority of the night with dylan's brother and parents. after that, we went back to his parents to his exchange gifts with them. then! after that, we went back to my parents' for the night.

it's like santa's workshop.

for dylan's side, we all had to wear onesies.

it's christmas morning!

books! i love my books.

i'll be honest. i was a little confused when i opened the fitbit. i had never mentioned one, didn't really even know what they were, and i definitely don't exercise. i had no idea why dylan got it for me and basically planned on returning it. then i started looking at it online, i realized i would give it a shot. i think it's fair to say, this thing has me obsessed with reaching all my goals! mostly the step goal. sorry for overreacting, dyl!

my mom really needed to replace her small purse camera, so an upgrade it was. along with a dvd and a bracelet. she's a tough one to buy for.

we tricked my dad into thinking we just got him a wireless speaker (he's wanted one since he saw dylan's)

nope! we had something big hiding in the bathroom the last few days.

a smoker! i think he was pretty stoked with it. and hey, dylan can't wait for some smoked meat in the spring.

now gifts from the parents. these iphone lenses are actually pretty cool and work great.

more books. i'll be kept busy for a while.

dylan's haul from my parents. games, video games, gift cards, luggage. he does well.

and finally some shared gifts. thing for around the home, gift cards, etc.

but the best gift...

was a beautiful hardcover flat lay book with thick pages of pictures of our trip to italy. amazing.

*book from picaboo*

well, that's it for christmas 2015. always a blast. until next year!

christmas eve...

2015-12-24T08:27:00.000-05:00

it's christmas eve! we stopped by the market one last time before it closed down for another year. this time i made dylan wait in line to get a cute picture in front of the heart. worth the 5 minute wait i think ;)

i hope everyone has a merry christmas! i'm off to work for a bit, but i hope to be gone long before the office closes at 1. we've got a busy day ahead and i can't wait!

potluck #2...

2015-12-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

i can never remember how long we've been doing this now, but i think my girl friends and i are on our 10th or 11th year of having a potluck. i remember last year being so incredibly hard to pick a date because we were all busy. it must have changed 3 or 4 times. this year, i started an event on facebook, offered to host, and picked a random date as a placeholder just so i could make the event. it was a christmas miracle because the first date i picked worked for the 5 of us.

the best scalloped potatoes. (i use this recipe)

my friend did a mighty fine job on the meat and cheese plate.

trying to use the timer app and set up my phone results in one person being cu off!

a night on the town afterwards.

having trouble keeping my eyes open. swear i'm sober.

how is christmas just days away??! i can't even wrap my head around it. unfortunately, i'm still at work this week right up to christmas eve. the office closes at 1, but i'm hoping to just go in, stay for maybe an hour and head home since neither of my bosses will be in.

ottawa road trip...

2015-12-17T08:53:00.000-05:00

after waking up early the morning after the potluck (hello too much wine), i kind of mulled around picking at leftovers and looking at the disaster that was our kitchen. soon after, dylan stumbled out from the bedroom. as i was sitting on the couch eating left over cake, i was thinking about making a day trip somewhere since my parents had chloe. turns out dylan had the same idea and we decided make our way to ottawa. after quickly getting ourselves ready and ditching the dishes, we were gone by 10am.

parliament.

an essential.

we really didn't have too much time once we got there, but we did get to see the beautiful 13 minute light show displayed on parliament. after that and a little window shopping, we thought what the heck, we're close enough. let's cross over to quebec and go to the casino. once we quickly lost the little money we gave ourselves, we found a poutine place because duh, we were in quebec, we needed poutine! after stuffing ourselves silly, we were back on the road by about 8pm, getting us home around 12:30 am and making me very tired the next day at work.

potluck #1...

2015-12-16T08:53:00.000-05:00

two weekends ago we hosted a potluck with 4 of our friends. we were so busy on saturday - cleaning, getting groceries, cooking, setting everything up (making the perfect christmas playlist;)), etc. you look around thinking, "is everything perfect? did i get that last dust bunny that's hiding in the corner?" but then you realize that's it's likely only you who notices that stuff. we covered the turkey, ham, wine, and dessert, while the others covered stuffing, potatoes, salad, buns, and cranberry sauce. we basically had a traditional christmas dinner covered. everything was absolutely amazing.

the only picture i have of the red velvet cake i made.

we even turned on the fireplace for our guests!

ready.set.go.

dinner is served.

we basically used every utensil, serving dish, plate, bowl, etc in our kitchen. it's safe to say it was a complete disaster the next morning. no doubt it's a lot of work hosting a small dinner, but it's definitely fun.

christmas ready...

2015-12-11T08:53:00.000-05:00

we put our christmas stuff up pretty early this year. i think mid-november we had it up, then it sat lightless (and ornamentless) for about a week until we bought a few more strands. when we knew the parents were coming for a visit, we knew we had to get out butts in gear and get it done.

we have light!

i actually started decorating the tree one morning before work at 7am and then i came home at lunch to do a bit more.

a sorrento souvenir tucked in there.

a little card decorating thrown in.

i'm in love with this little wooden and tree branch reindeer we picked up at the local market.

he's so cute :)

a little grinchmas.

presents are slowly getting wrapped.

i've watched approximately 84 cheesy made for tv christmas movies, with some classics thrown in, thus far. i just love coming home from work, turning the tree on, and cuddling up on the couch. it really is the best time of the year.

the christmas market...

2015-12-04T08:56:00.000-05:00

a few weeks ago we celebrated our 9 year anniversary. 9 years! we skipped dinner and went to the first night of the christmas market. we didn't stay too long because we knew we would be back the next day, but a quick spin around is enough to put a smile on your face.

so pretty.

the next day we had both sets of parents over. other than a handful of times meeting each other for a quick, "hey, how are ya" they had never really met. we figured 9 years in was a good amount of time. we hit up the christmas market again and then went back to our place to cook dinner for everyone!

a little drizzly.

keeping warm with mulled wine and fire.

cooks in the kitchen.

the parents got us this ornament. hint much?

happy to say that everything went well! we cooked a great meal (if i do say so myself), the wine was flowing, and we even played cards against humanity!

job change...

2015-12-02T08:52:00.000-05:00

dylan seems to be a fairly lucky one when it comes to work. only he could break his ankle, be off work, and get offered a new job. i'm happy to say that after nearly three months, at his follow up appointment three weeks ago, dylan got the ok to ditch the walking boot and start walking on his own with "pain being the guide." that following monday, dylan was happily back at work. and shortly after that, he was at his new job.

here is the funny thing. the same thing that happened to me, happened to dylan. his boss left the company a few months ago, and about a month ago he asked dylan if he would like a new job with him at the new company. it took some thinking, but after an an interview, a conference call, and some negotiating, he decided to accept it.

this was his first night back at work after the broken ankle. hooray!

they are currently in the process of setting up a new division that should be ready around march. that new division is the work that dylan did at his old job. until then, he is doing something slightly different that has him working days instead of nights. it is kind of funny, but we both felt that he had more time when he was on nights! his days now starts around 5am and he usually does not get home until around 5 or 6, but sometimes even 8:30! basically, he eats, watches a little tv, and goes to bed around 8:30 to wake up early and do it all over again.

i just think it is so bizarre that within about 2 months, we were both asked by our bosses to go to the new companies they moved to. i guess they kind of like us :)

living room makeover...

2015-11-20T08:53:00.000-05:00

after 4 long weeks (that felt like an eternity) our new furniture arrived on wednesday! we were so happy to get that broken couch out of our place (story of said broken couch here). a week after we ordered the couch and chair, we went to pottery barn to look for throw pillows and blankets and left with that giant new coffee table. seriously, we did not measure it in store for some reason. when we put it in our place, it was probably double what thought it would be! oops. luckily, it still works in the space. and of course, we left with no throw pillows or blanket.

the chair is probably me favorite addition.

a perfect reading spot.

we had our fingers crossed tightly that it would all arrive when it did since we have 3 or 4 christmas dinners with friends and family coming up (one tomorow). here is to furniture being delivered on time and kicking off the christmas season.

edit: we finally added a blanket and one colorful pillow. still on the hunt for more!

rick and morty halloween...

2015-11-02T08:53:00.000-05:00

i'm going to take a shot in the dark and assume that not many people have heard of, or watch, the show rick and morty. dylan and his friends happen to love it and some of our friends had a rick and morty themed halloween party where everyone was encouraged to dress as characters. we went as the husband and wife team, jerry and beth. we blew up a google image on regular size computer paper and then glued it to a foam-like bristol board from the dollar store. it really could not have been an easier costume. i also tried to make these pretzel spider webs to bring, but even after a few hours the chocolate just did not want to harden again. but of course, when waking up the next day, they were perfect. darn.

hi jerry.

behind the scenes of beth.

happy halloween!

brother-in-law gets married...

2015-10-26T08:53:00.000-04:00

i'm pretty delayed getting pictures of dylan's brother's wedding posted considering today is their one month anniversary! they had the most perfect weather (albeit a little windy) for an outdoor ceremony and they were one happy couple that day. because they didn't have a photographer, i had asked my mom to stop in when she dropped me off at dylan's parents and take a few pictures of everyone getting ready.

*picture overload*

brothers.

when your heels are digging into the grass...

yep, still rocking the aircast.

giving a helping hand.

and switch.

the fam.

snuck in to see the reception before ceremony.

selfie!

mom and son. adorable.

dylan with the mother of the bride.

anxiously awaiting his bride.

here she comes!

husband and wife!

yep, just a little windy.

he caught the garter! maybe we're next? ;)

furniture hunt...

2015-10-22T08:53:00.000-04:00

so what happens when you sleep on an ikea couch all day and all night for over 2 months because of a broken ankle? well your couch goes bust. it broke about 2 weeks ago but dylan turned it upside down and was able to "fix" it. we figured it was ok and we could start considering a new couch in the future. well over the weekend, dylan moved around and there went the couch. it was beyond repair (for anything more than short term) so we had to spend our sunday furniture shopping. unfortunately, almost every place we looked had deliveries in the 4-6 week range leaving us with a pretty tight timeline to order something. we looked at eq3 first, then continued on down the street to a bunch of other stores, but we liked what we saw at the first place best, prices were decent, and our new furniture comes with a 25 year warranty on the frame! woohoo. bonus? it's canadian made.

we decided to go with a slightly smaller sectional and because of that, we ordered a chair, too. it wasn't part of the plan, but while taking a walk around the store, this turquoise chair stood out to me. we have turquoise accents in our place and i knew we had to have it. had it have been black or grey or any other color, i probably would have walked right by it.

the winning couch.

that chair!

the grey swatch is what the couch will be and the turquoise is the chair (like above).

and now we wait until it's delivered. and hope our current couch holds up in the meantime.fingers crossed!

a new job...

2015-10-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

after one year at my job, i decided to make a change. was i actively looking for a new job or even slightly considering moving? nope. a few weeks ago, my one boss called me into her office (i work for 3 partners). well, let me back up. it was a thursday and my boss asked me if she could take me out for lunch because i had been doing so well. i was honest with her and told her that i have had really bad anxiety for quite a while and haven't actually been able to eat out at a restaurant since late summer (that's a whole 'nother story). she was totally cool about it and said we could just grab lunch in her office the next day.

the next day came and when we were in her office she told me that after 17 years with the firm, she had decided to move to a smaller firm and wanted to know if i would like to go with her. i was in total shock. she explained everything would be the same in terms of benefits, there would be a generous raise, the probation period would be waived and i would go right to permanent, and i had the weekend to think about it. i was completely flattered and knew it wouldn't be an easy decision. i work for and with some of the nicest people. i became pretty close to the girls in the section and i knew it would be tough to leave them. plus, i'm a creature of habit and i basically hate change. add in the fact that my anxiety has been really bad and hard to manage lately; was it really the best move?

i talked it over with dylan and we both agreed that it was a great opportunity. i'm going from a firm with 200+ lawyers and 6.5 floors, to approximately 60 lawyers and 1.5 floors. i'm leaving the heart of the financial district and working on bay street, and moving just a few blocks away. lucky for me, it's still totally walkable from home.

fun fact for those of you who watch the show suits: you know the main lobby that they film in? that's where i worked the last year (bay adelaide centre). we see them filming in and around the area quite often and i always get so excited. lucky for me, they also film around the office i'm moving to.

well, today is my first day and in the words of ruby sue from christmas vacation, i'm shittin' bricks.