1 October

Here's yummy stuff for you (because it's been a while...)

2012-01-25T14:09:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Have a great Robbie Burns Day and Gung Hay Fat Choy...

Yes. It has been weeks since I posted so to make it up to you (I'm talking to you Victoria) here is a delicious recipe for soup and crackers from my latest Style at Home magazine. Andrew has made the soup twice (sooo good) and the crackers once (literally as addictive as I imagine crack to be, delicious crack!).

Roasted Red Pepper and Totamto Soup:
(Serves 4-6)

3 red peppers
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (evoo)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup diced sweet onion
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 28oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes, with juices
1 cup water or veggie stock
1 tsp Maldon sea salt
1 tsp granulated sugar

Roast the red peppers. Heat evoo in large pot over med heat, add garlic, onion and rosemary and sautee for 10 min until all softened and fragrant. Add the roasted peppers, tomatoes and their juices, the water or stock and the sugar and salt. Cook for 20 min, stirring occaisionally. Puree the soup in small batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. Serve hot with chedder crackers!

Cheddar Crisps:
(makes 4 dozen)

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp each Maldon sea salt and smoked paprika
1/4 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed
8 oz aged cheddar cheese, grated
3 tbsp cold water

Preheat oven to 375*F. Place flour salt, paprika, butter and cheese in bowl of a food processor. Pluse several times until mixture in crumbly and resembles cornmeal. Add the water and process until mixture forms a ball. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Divide the dough in half and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thick. Cut into 1" squares. Bring excess dough together and re-roll until all the dough in used. Transfer squares to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, placing about 1" apart. Bake 20-22 mins., until beginning to brown at edges. Cool completely and store in airtight container. (Eat them with the soup soooo good!!)

Andrew says to start making the cracker dough ahead of time due to the hour needed chilling, to make sure you roll the dough really thin and to cut the crackers like a grid not individual squares at a time.

Happy cooking!

Both recipies from Style at Home's Feb 2012 issue

Soup image via

Chedder Cracker image via

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff...

2011-12-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

...like bingle balls and whofoo fluff.

Centrepiece made from Value Village hurricane vase, dollar store candle, extra ornaments and old garland from Winners.

A candle tree and paper cone trees I made, the bigger paper tree took hours!

Shelves about the computer area with Boba Fetts, the Grinch and some gift candles

I made the wreath out of old garland, ribbon and some extra ornaments

Trim up the town with goowho gums and bizilbix and wums
Trim every blessed window and trim every blessed door

Jack-boy

Our 7' real tree! Only $35! The tree stand was $6 off craigslist last year and I made a lot of ornaments.

Hang up whoboohoo bricks
Then run out and get some more!

"Winter-Themed" Star Wars Lego

I added Christmas Cards to our photo wall

Whailand's countin' down

I was able to decorate a bit between end of classes and beginning of exam crunch time. Right now this is what I am looking at:

Cumulative Statistics Final! Whhhhyyyhyhyyyy1??/! :(

Pre-Christmas Diet and a Recipe

2011-12-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

So far this year I have lost 14 lbs. However, I have not quite reached my goal for this year of being right smack dab in the middle of the normal BMI range. This requires me to lose another 3 lbs. Big woop.

No.

Not big woop.

This is hot chocolate baking cheese milk cookie gravy butter potato cider chocolate candy face stuffing season and it will be a little bit more challenging than if it were January or another boring month. So I have initiated: Diet Phase Three. (A follow up to the 7 lb loss of phase 1 in the spring and the 7 lb loss during phase two in the summer, neither of which I ever referred to as phase anything it just sounds fun to call it that now.) I will diet for about 20 days stopping on Christmas Eve so I can enjoy stew and pancakes and also allowing myself one holiday party in the middle. Woo. The rules are: No sugar or dairy, at all, no carbs after lunch and no food after 8pm (with the execption of days when I am working until 12am.) I will also try to get a bit of exercise but not worry too much about that factor. Yesterday was my first day and so far so good. I made this for dinner:

Pear, Butternut Squash and Chorizo Hash

1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup chopped red onion
1lb peeled, diced butternut squash
1 large pear, peeled, cored and diced
6 oz soy chorizo sausage, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coriander
poached or fried eggs for serving, optional

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil until shimmering. Saute onions until soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the squash in a covered, microwavable dish with 1 tablespoon of water. Cook on high for 3 minutes, until just tender.

Add the squash, pears, chorizo, cinnamon and coriander to the skillet with the onions. Increase heat to medium high and cook for 5-8 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until heated through and browned.

Serve hot with poached or fried eggs, if desired

Recipe from http://www.carascravings.com/

I didn't measure things out perfectly, I used turkey chorizo instead of pork, I used a little bit of granny smith apple instead of pear, I didn't have corinander and I added some chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Still it was delicious. I had it with a poached egg and some spinach.

Stay tuned!

Gift Ideas for Your Man-Boy

2011-11-24T17:28:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you but I always find that men are incredibly difficult to shop for. My poor Dad always ended up with nuts, licorice or slippers because what else were we gonna give him? Thankfully, my husband is a little easier to shop for because deep down he is still a twelve year old boy who would play with Lego and talk about Star Wars all day if he didn't have all his other obligations. So the following are gift ideas that I think would work for any man who doesn't take himself too seriously. :)

Darth Vader Print

Mustache Pillowcases

Moose Trophy Head

Final Installment of the Family Guy Star Wars Episodes

Converse All Stars DC Comic Collection (They come in sizes from infant-adult!)

I love the justice leage vs. dc villains ones.

Lego Tower Bridge <-- This site also has a lego star wars advent calendar!!

As far as shopping for Dads goes, if you find it challenging you may want to consider a tradition my Dad and I started: A most ridiculous gift war. It began when he gave me an eraser shaped like a gorilla and I retaliated with a decorative toilet brush. Happy shopping, and don't forget manly wrapping paper!

Dear Santa...

2011-11-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. That time when you start getting texts/phone calls from family members asking you what you and your husband want for Christmas this year and you're all like "I haven't thought about it yet, I haven't even finshed classes for the semester!? Besides if I tell you then it won't be a surprise! Don't you have telepathic abilities that allow you to delve into the deepest depths of my mind and extract my unmade Christmas list?"

I understand though. They have Shopper's Block, a very serious consumer condition known to strike during the early winter months. The only known cure is 10cc's of X-mas List. So, for their sake and their sake alone I have conducted an exhaustive search of the interwebs (and my heart) and assembled here several items that would make me squeal with childish joy to unwrap. However, shoppers should note that I would also be happy with hugs and underwear.

Avalon Organics daily facial moisturizer. I love this stuff but it can be hard to find. Health stores and London Drugs are the most reliable.

Pretty little whale ornament, I've seen them at anthropologie and Urban Barn.

Ikea Gaspa Queen Size Sheet Set.

Harmony King Size Duvet (Cover) Set from nood. We buy our duvets a size bigger than our bed so that we don't have trouble sharing.

Ikea ALÄNG Table lamp, so we can see our pretty new bed spread.

PLASTIS Dishwashing brush, also from Ikea. I love these little guys but the suction cup always breaks off. :(

A Very She and Him Christmas C.D., I've seen it online at Anthropologie.ca

Yep.

Hunter Wellies, Black, tall, glossy, practical. (ohhi monsoon season)

These thermal p.j.s from Victoria's Secrect are really cute, and if I can't pull off the whole long john thing it's ok because no one (except poor Andrew) will have to see me in them!

Europe Part 1: South of France

2011-11-20T23:04:00.001-08:00

I am finally getting around to my Europe posts. Lots of photos!

In August Andrew and I went to Europe. We planned and saved for about 6 months, went way over budget and had a great time. Some of the sites we used were Travel Cuts for booking our flights, Eurail for train passes, VRBO for our rental in France, and hotels.com for our hotel and hostel bookings.

We were gone for 23 days. We left Vancouver Airport early in the morning on August 7th, the day after my mom's post-wedding open house. Our first 5 days were spent staying at a rented apartment in a small city, named Menton, in the South of France, right on the ocean, right on the border of France and Italy. We flew Vancouver-Calgary, Calgary-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Nice. From Nice we took a 90 minute bus ride to downtown Menton, where we go onto a city bus that took us closer to the apartment which we then walked 3 minutes to.

image via

We stayed in the eastern-most part on the city, it was a 5 minute walk to the Italian border from the apartment we rented.

We spent our days eating on our patio with an unobstructed view of the Mediterranean Sea, wandering around the old town, swimming, drinking our morning espresso, going on quick day trips to Monaco and St. Agnes, and even going for an afternoon walk to Italy (it was so hot out we didn't make it very far in.) I would highly recommend Menton, it's known as Nice's quieter cousin and is much cheaper to stay in. However, if you are going to stay there I recommend a dark tan, sparkly accessories and a tiny dog as must haves for fitting in.... Also, if French isn't your thing then learn some Italian as there were just as many Italian people/places as there were French.

On to the photos...

At YVR really, really early in the morning

Andrew and some beer at the Calgary airport.

Flying over Greenland

Andrew feeling like crap at the Frankfurt airport

My delightful snack on Lufthansa Air, my new fav. airline!

First Morning in Menton, looking towards Italy just after sunrise

breakfast on our deck

view from a cemetary at the top of the city

Ventimiglia

Risottos

The old town

Beach in Ventimiglia (northern Italy)

looking out over Menton

Beach in Monaco

Espresso and Pain au Chocolat at Amie du Pain, next to our apartment

one of the many creepy/beautiful alleys in old town

lots and lots of dogs in Menton

morning swim in the sea

emerging from the mediterranean sea just like ariel when triton made her human...

just for comparison, leathery tanned old man and my pale ginger husband

market

getting lunch

looking out towards old town at dusk

The school and city hall in St. Agnes and nearby mountain village, sooo pretty!

at the train station in menton, on our way to ROME!

Next up: Europe Part 2: Rome

New Blog Banner and Button

2011-11-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

so pretty la la laaa.....

Jess from IROCKSOWHAT designed my awesome new blog banner and this shmantastical button! Get your very own banner designed by her here, she also does stationary/invitations/etc. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like....mid-late November.

2011-11-17T16:54:00.001-08:00

Jack on Christmas last year

I just finished a rough week with two exams, a quiz and one of these awful class exercises we do in Stats where we have to work in a group with almost no time and we are all frantically trying to finish within our groups while ignoring the dull roar created by all the other groups who are frantically trying to finish... Anyways now that the week is essentially over for me I have time to day dream about the impending Christmas season! Planning gifts that I will (hopefully) make, deciding what day we will get our tree (December 8th, immediately after my Stats final in finished) and picking out the movie we'll watch with Andrew's family (a tradition.) I found a Christmas meme on IROCKSOWHAT and decided to waste some delicious time filling it out and sharing it with you and generally "gettin' all up" in the Christmas spirit!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate (just not Starbucks H.C., that stuff is chalky)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapping is one of my favourite holiday activities, I have a great time deciding what the theme will be each year.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Sometime in the 1st week of December. I think it's important the November stays a bit somber and comtemplative with Remembrance Day and all...

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Stew and Pancakes! (Another Gillott family tradition)

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? The annual Christmas party we had with some close friends of the family and their kids. We didn't have a lot of family in B.C. growing up so we made our own with these people.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I forget when, but I'll be you anything I employed inductive reasoning and established a strong, cogent argument to present to my mother and get her to admit the truth.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Our Christmas Pajamas! (Yet another Gillott family tradition)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Mine and Andrew's is red and white with some home-made pine cone ornaments, some wood textured ornaments and his ever growing collection of musical insturment ornaments. (He gets one from my mom each year.) Andrew's parents tree is all sentimental ornaments and my Mom's tree in a million feet tall and looks like something from a fancy mall display.

Andrews Parents house last year

My Mom's last year

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I LOVE snow! I saw two flakes yesterday. It was great!

12. Can you ice skate? I'm pretty decent

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't think I could pick an all time favourite but one of the best was for our first Christmas Andrew wrote and recorded a song for me and gave me the c.d.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family and traditions.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Cheesecake...

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love them all but pajamas are especially important: Getting them on Christmas Eve, putting them on and not taking them off until it's time for dinner on Christmas Day.

17. What tops your tree? A homemade snowflake last year, hopefully I'll find something I like this year, I am being picky because the tree topper is an important tradition to me. My dad and I used to put it on together every year.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving! It means I get to shop and not feel guilty about it!

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Meh

20. Favorite Christmas movie/show? The Family Stone, because I love the idea of big crazy Christmases with a big family.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Silent Night, but Sufjan Stevens does a really pretty/sad one called Sister Winter.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Fairytale of New York

A Friend Abroad

2011-11-16T19:28:00.003-08:00

Our good friend Tim recently moved to Africa to volunteer for a year. He's an awesome guy, he was a groomsman at our wedding and for some reason his nickname is Dad. You can follow his adventure or make a donation on his blog here. (I would advise that you do donate because he will be the Prime Minister of Canada one day, or at least a very important person, and it would be wise to align yourself to him early.)

Proud of you Dad

Sad + What you must do right now!

2011-11-15T14:09:00.001-08:00

On thursday my computer broke, yesterday we took it in to get fixed and today they called and said it's dead, bye-bye data. Bye-bye every university paper ever, bye-bye random photos too silly or personal to upload to facebook (and bye-bye the originals of those that were), bye-bye previous years' tax returns, bye-bye all our uplaoded/purchased on iTunes music, bye-bye just about everything.

We could have it sent to Vancouver to recover the data but that would cost about $1000 so unless we find a cheaper option its all gone for good. :( Thankfully wedding, engagement and europe photos were safe...but not a lot else was backed up. I had downloaded a program called SyncToy to start backing up but never got around to it. So. If your data is not yet backed up. DO IT NOW. STOP READING AND DO IT RIGHT NOW!!! If it is backed up then good for you. You are more on top of things that I am. Anyways, back to work saving tiny facebook photos onto my computer just in case facebook dies and all is lost.

P.S. Anyone who is interested can read this article that talks about a recent psychological study that showed we feel similar feelings of love toward our smartphones (and likely our laptops) as we do towards the people we love. R.I.P. Laptop, now I feel guilty I never even named you.

P.P.S. Yes I would wear a black birdcage veil to my computer's funeral...

Custom Slipcovers for Ikea Furniture

2011-11-13T14:04:00.001-08:00

I just stumbled upon Bemz a UK based website where you can order custom slipcovers for your Ikea furniture, even discontinued items. I was looking for a new one for our Barkaby chair whose slipcover is ripped and covered in muddy dog footprints that never seem to wash away (Jack uses the chair more that we do). The site is a bit pricey to begin with plus shipping and duty, but it's fun to look. :)

image captured from: http://www.bemz.com/en-gb/product-page/product/armchair-covers/id/bar1/barkarby/?gclid=CM_U69PLtKwCFQ40hwodbyu7GA

My new favourite dress...

2011-11-10T12:30:00.001-08:00

I just bought a Talula dress from Aritzia and it's pretty, simple, delicate and my new favourite dress. Just waiting for a good day to wear it...

image via

I could not for the life of me find a photo of it online, just the blouse version which is pretty too. The dress was only $75.00 which is pretty good for Aritzia.

2

2011-10-25T00:56:00.002-07:00

Today was our wedding anniversary...two years ago I married the MOST AWESOME MAN EVER!!!!!

...seriously he's like everything awesome, rolled into one. More awesome "than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk put togther."

anyways...

One year ago today we went for a walk at the beach and took cellphone pictures ("1" for 1 year...)

Today I had two exams and we went out for dinner at Bon Rouge (quite possibly the prettiest restaurant ever, definetly the prettiest patio ever.)

Us in our kitchen, obviously not Bon Rouge, our kitchen isn't that pretty, I know, you can tell me, it's ok...

...and then we took terribly executed self portaits while cracking open a bottle of champagne!

Love times infity plus one!!

Chalkboard Paint Kitchen Backsplashes

2011-10-13T10:14:00.001-07:00

I love them, especially how you could create a tile-like pattern if you were in the mood (or any pattern for that matter!)

via

Thanksgiving Recipes

2011-10-11T12:41:00.001-07:00

Here are the links to the recipes I used this Thanksgiving!

Crispy Sage Potatoes (From Style at Home Magazine)
These were so delicious, we had some leftover so we ate them fried in a bit of olive oil and sprinkled with seasoning salt for breakfast the next day.

Cinnamon Spice Carrots (From Style at Home Magazine)
These had a really unique flavour, we couldn't find heirloom carrots (big surprise) so we just used regular organic carrots.

Mom's Saucy Apple Cake (A Trish Magwood recipe found in House and Home Magazine)
This made a good breakfast the next day too and it's a super easy recipe.

"New" Nightstand

2011-10-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

Months and months ago when we decided that a dining room chair was no longer a suitable nightstand for poor Andrew (who before that had been using a bar stool) we went out to Salvation Army and spent a whole $6 on a real nightstand.

This ugly thing sat next to his side of the bed for a long time while the can of white spray paint I bought for it sat unused waiting for inspiration/motivation to strike. Finally, last week I was out for a brisk walk with Jack and I became suddenly energetic and proceeded to tackle a bunch of projects, one being the sprucing up of the nightstand. I used almost a full can of spray paint that we bought from home depot with a gift card I got from airmiles points. For the drawer pull I used a bit of black acrylic paint we already had laying around and then a tissue to wipe a bit off for an almost oil-rubbed bronze effect....

It's not perfect, but for $6.00 it's better than an old bar stool! Now I just have to do my nightstand to match.

Thanksgiving

2011-10-10T19:27:00.002-07:00

This year Thanksgiving was at our place. Eleven people in our tiny little suite! My Grandma brought the Turkey, stuffing and gravy, Momma-in-law made carrot cake and pumpkin cheesecake (a.k.a.thebestthingever), Mom brought salad, beer and wine, and I made mashed potatoes, crispy sage potatoes, cinnamon spice carrots and saucy apple cake. (Cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (as if we needed 4 desserts) were provided by Safeway!) Recipes to come...

Andrew and his momma

My sister Victoria

The Newlyweds

Supertable

Our post-dessert jam session (Andrew's brother Jon on Indian Accordion)

Table

Embarassing poseface

OM NOM (via)

The aftermath of too much food and wine...

Mom's Wedding Part II

2011-10-05T15:00:00.004-07:00

Now that you have seen the lovely wedding day 1 it is time to turn our attention to wedding day 2. Wedding day 2 was an open house on August 6th, the day after the official wedding day and the day before Andrew and I left for Europe. It was a busy time. The open house had guests from the night before plus a more extended group of friends, family and coworkers. There was lots of food, drinks, gifts and it gave everyone a better chance to get to know eachother and to just chat and relax. However, as fun as it was we all learned that throwing a big party the day after throwing a huge party is not the greatest idea. We were all exhausted and would probably not go the two night event route again. Anyways, on to the photos!

om noms

Jack and Bailie

Gifts Galore

Looking into the living room from the entrance-way

Patio people

The newlyweds in their kitchen

Yes, that's me and a blurry Boba Fett...I'll explain someday.

We hung the dress off the loft railing above the living room for a unique decoration.

Coming next...Europe Part I: The South of France!

Rosemary Chicken "Stew"

2011-10-04T14:06:00.002-07:00

Fall is here! The air is crisp, the leaves are turning and I am constantly craving stew! Last night I made this chicken stew by adapting a recipe from a Company's Coming cook book. It was supposed to be a slow cooker recipe but I never think far enough ahead to make those properly so I usually just end up making them on the stove as a "pseudo stew." Here's what I did...

Ingredients:
1 tsp Olive Oil
2 large chicken breasts
Salt, pepper and a pinch of rosemary
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 yellow onion (chopped)
2 chopped medium-large yellow flesh potatoes (chopped)
1.5 carrots (sliced)
1.5 celery stalks (sliced)
1 parsnip (chopped)
3 roughly diced cloves of garlic

1 can of cream of mushroom soup (10oz.)
2 cups chicken broth
approx. 1/4 cup of fresh rosemary
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup frozen peas
1 small lemon

Instructions:
Place chicken breasts in pan, spread olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary on top of them and bake in the oven until cooked through (avoid overcooking). Set aside until cool and use a fork to shred the chicken.

Place a large pot (one you might use for boiling pasta, best if it's one with a lid) on your burner and turn the burner to medium, add olive oil and diced onion, let onion cook for a moment before adding the other 5 vegetables in order listed, stir the vegetables and let them get nice and hot before adding anything else. Add the mushroom soup right out of the can and add the chicken broth, salt, pepper and rosemary, stir again. Drop the bay leaf in and place the lid on the pot. Cook over medium heat (the stew should be bubbling a bit) stirring occasionally until the potatoes and carrots are tender and cooked. (I wasn't really paying attn to the time but this could take up to an hour).

Mix the corn starch into the 2nd amount of chicken broth in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth and then add it to the pot. Add the frozen peas, the shredded chicken and the juice from the lemon, stirring again. Let the stew cook another 15-20 minutes until the sauce had thickened. Find and remove the bay leaf. This yields four huge servings or 6-8 servings if you are having it with something else.

Note: I adapted this recipe from a book and totally winged it from there. You can probably add or substitute whatever ingredients you want as long as they function in the same way as those you are replacing (eg. cornstarch thickens sauce so don`t sub it for sugar). Cooking times will also vary depending on your stove, pot and ingredients. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday 2...

2011-10-02T18:00:00.002-07:00

When we first met it seemed such a crazy coincidence that our birthdays were consecutive. However there were many more coincidences regarding our relationship that if I believed in fate I would say we were meant to be together. Sappy destiny talk aside celebrating our birthdays together is normal for us now, I get my day and then he gets his and for a few hours we have only a three year age difference between us. Today, I made pancakes and raspberry sauce for breakfast, Andrew may or may not have played with the Lego Star Wars set I got him, we went sea kayaking and then out for lunch at glo finally retiring to our warm apartment for a light dinner, race rocks amber ale and pumpkin pie. Happy 26th Andrew!

Every picture I took of him kayaking involved a ridiculous face.

A pump in case the kayak filled with water and a rope in case I "some how end up out of the boat."

I learned it is very hard to take a self portrait while in a kayak.

Happy Birthday to me...

2011-10-01T22:39:00.001-07:00

22 today! Tequila last night, pumpkin spice latte this morning, pumpkin patch this afternoon, drinks and appetizers at ulla and a decadent dinner with champagne and creme brule at Brasserie L'Ecole.

Mom's Wedding Part I

2011-09-27T12:02:00.003-07:00

I feel a need to break down our incredibly exciting August into more detail than one post as it was...incredibly exciting. To start lets cover my mom's wedding, day 1....

Who: My mom Mary Lou and her then fiance Eric, the family, some friends.

What: Their wedding

When: August 5th 2011

Where: Mom and Eric's place (amenity building)

Wedding Day 1

Let's start with the dresses!

My mom's dress is from the Blue by Enzoani 2011 collection, it's called Danbury.
My dress is BCBG, I think it has been discontinued as it was on sale about 75%.
My sister's dress is a Venus bridesmaid's dress style #1277

On to the decor!

There were over 50 rented white cane-back chairs, three big rented palm trees, tons of tea lights, white potted flowers, white linens and a patio set outside that came straight from their patio at home. It was classy and just a little bit old Hollywood glam which went perfectly with her dress and hair.

The food...

Food, tables and linens were provided by Marilyn Pearson's Cuisine and Company. They were fun and professional and the food was healthy, organic and delicious. They even set up a barbeque station on the playground outside.

Music

You have got to love my sister in this one, plus it's a good shot of my dress :)

Sufficiently embarassing shot of my mom and her new sister-in-law

Andrew and I (we hadn't slow-danced since our own wedding!)

Music was provided by my laptop and a hastily assembled playlist on repeat which no one seemed to mind. Some dancing was impressive (Eric and his sister's swing dancing was admirable) and some was just embarassing (My sister and I dance fighting? No one wants to see that...)

Two things you may notice about the video: 1. Yes that's the caterers getting down, we're just that fun. 2. I am not in the video, no way anyone needs to have easy access to that footage.

The photography was done by a talented friend of the groom and videography (not the dancing video though) was done by Andrew's dad Mark with the help of his lovely wife and assistant Eileen.

Coming up: a Wedding Day 2 post!

This summer in one sentence...

2011-09-17T23:24:00.001-07:00

Work, work, work, CAMP, work, work, work, MOM's WEDDING, EUROPE, work.

Camping near Sooke Potholes

At our favourite beach

Mom and Eric on their wedding day

Mom and I

The new extended family

Flying over Greenland

Menton (in the South of France)

Cote d'Azur

Beach in Monaco

Breakfast in France: Espresso and Pain au Chocolat

Medieval Mountain Village

Colloseum

Fontana di Trevi

Paris

St. Alban's Cathedral in England

Ben and the Eye

Bath, England

Stonehenge

Dublin

Northern Ireland

Sheep Island

Giant's Causeway

Downhill Beach

Knowth

Ode to Almond Milk

2011-06-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Now that I know that I should avoid dairy for the sake of my skin and digestive system I have had to find some substitutes for the dairy-laden meals I used to love. I have learned that with enough gaucamole cheeseless nachos are delicious and that high quality thin crust pizza with thinly cut salami can be tasty even if there is no cheese on it. Also, I discovered that in many situations Almond Milk can be a geat replacement for milk. I had tried soy and rice milk before and never really got on board but almond milk is by far my favourite yet! It's great in cereal or by the glass and I have even successfully used it in baking once or twice. My favourite kind is Silk True Almond Original. However, I also found a recipe in Chatelaine Magazine of all places for almond milk you can make yourself...

Homemade Almond Milk (Courtesy of Chatelaine)

1 cup sliced almonds
4 cups water
1/4 cup honey

Soak almonds in water overnight. In the morning puree almonds and water in blender for 3-5 minutes until very milky looking. Strain mixture into bowl through a cheesecloth-covered seive, pushing around the grounds with the back of a ladel to make sure you get all the "milk." Stir in honey and store in the fridge up to 3 days. Just make sure to give it a stir before you use it each time as it does separate a bit. Almond milk is super low in calories and carbs and doesn't have much fat in it at all. :)

image via

My sister is finally 13...

2011-05-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

I mean 19, she's actually 19, but she'll be a preteen in my mind forever. We celebrated with really good pizza, a mini pub crawl and late night waffles...

Andrew and Levi in deep discussions.

Sisters

Pizzasogood.

Our lonely table as we left...

Sally and Victoria

Victoria and Levi

Free Birthday Waffle!

Waffle!

We're moose.

A little late...

2011-05-06T12:41:00.001-07:00

My desire to blog comes in waves, sometimes I don't feel like it for weeks and then one day I'll will write five posts. Anyways, I never did do a final diet update so even though it ended a couple weeks ago I will update now. In about 33 days I lost a total of 11.2lbs. Now, about two weeks later, I have reintroduced most things (although I am staying away from dairy for the most part as I seem to have negative reactions to it) and I have manged to maintain my new weight. I would still like to lose another 7-10lbs but will try to do so over time, with gradual and permanent changes such as more excersise and clean eating as often as possible. It was a difficut five weeks but it was the first time I have ever been successful with a diet and it showed me that I have a lot more self control than I give myself credit for.

Dinner

2011-04-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

Tonight's dinner: Homemade turkey burgers with guacamole, mashed sweet potatoes and veggies.

Turkery Bugers:
Mix extra lean ground turkey with minced garlic, finely chopped white onion, chopped parsley and salt and pepper and form them into burger patties (or a heart like mine...) Cook burgers in a frying pan over medium/high heat about 7 minutes each side or until internal temp reaches 75'C.

Guacamole:
In a food processor blend 1 ripe avacado, 1 tbsp diced onion, 1 tbsp diced tomato, a small squirt of lemon, a generous squirt of lime, a dash of garlic powder, salt, pepper and chilli flakes and a little squirt of white vinegar.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes:
Wash and peel potatoes, chop into medium sized cubes, boil until tender, mash and add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Tomato-Eggplant...Thing

2011-04-17T14:02:00.001-07:00

Image Via

I have very few dinners that I enjoy and can have on this diet and Baked Tomato-Eggplant...Thing is one of them. It's essentially Eggplant Parmesean but without the parmesean, bread crumbs, flour, oil or egg. It's just baked eggplant, layered with homemade tomato sauce and whatever else I have laying around, usually topped with pine nuts or crumbled cashews to add texture that is then baked again. Here's how I make it...(Recipe makes 2 servings)

Ingredients
1 large eggplant or two baby eggplants
5 medium tomatoes
1/4 white onion
2 cloves garlic
Pine nuts or crumbled cashews
Italian herbs and spices and salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Sauce: Start the sauce early as it needs time to boil down. Wash and dice tomatoes and put them in a large frying pan or sauce pan over medium heat add some salt if you like. Let them cook for about 5 minutes. Then add chopped onion and diced or minced garlic. Let this mixture cook/boil down until after onion and garlic are soft. Then I like to puree everything in a food processor and place back in the pan to reduce and thicken more. (Careful-hot) Add herbs, spices, salt, pepper or anything you like until the taste of the sauce is to your liking. (I use basil, oregano, salt, fresh ground black pepper and dried chilli flakes.) After 1-2 hours of cooking the sauce should be ready, but leave this to your own judgement as I am not an expert, if it tastes too tomatoey keep cooking.

Eggplant: Preheat the oven to 375 C. Wash and peel the eggplant. (The skin is toxic when un-cooked so resit the urge to gnaw on it while cooking....) Cut the eggplant into discs approximately 1 to 2cm thick. I then place eggplant into strainer and sprinkle salt on it because I once read you need to let it sweat out its bitterness... Then I rinse and dry it. Place eggplant onto non-stick cookie sheet and bake in the oven 5 minutes on each side.

Baked...Thing: I use a meatloaf pan for the next step. Layer eggplant and sauce in pan. Sometimes I add spinach or chicken. When you run out of eggplant do one last layer of sauce and then you can sprinkle pine nuts or crushed cashews on top. The nuts brown nicely in the oven and add texture and more flavour to the dish. Place in the oven (which is still at 375 C) and bake for 30-45 minutes depending on how thick the slices are and how deep the layers go. You can serve it on a bed of fresh spinach for extra points.

WARNING: If you are not on a diet/lactose intolerant/allergic to gluten please eat regular eggplant parmesean and not this. Thankyou.

This week in one sentence...

2011-04-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Brunch for grandma, studying, freshly-groomed puppy, finishing my final final in under half an hour (!!!), sleeping in, hiking too hard and ending up with the hips of a one hundred year old woman, sleeping in, passport office, sister, sleeping in, cashew butter, sleeping in.... :)

Chips!

2011-04-17T13:31:00.001-07:00

I love chips. I haven't had real chips in over a month now. How do I cope? Yam chips. Like yam fries, but not. Andrew makes them for me which makes them taste better. They can be a snack or an appetizer.

Ingredients:
1-3 long(ish), thin(ish) yams (actually orange sweet potatoes, real yams have bark-like skin)
1 Tbsp Olive oil (or other veggie oil)
Salt, pepper and chiplotle seasoning (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to about 375-400 C. Wash and peel yams, and slice them into discs as thin and as uniform as possible so that they will cook fast and evenly. Coat a cookie sheet in a very thin layer of oil and spread yam-discs out in one even layer on the pan. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt, pepper and chipoltle powder. Place in the oven and watch closely. Cooking time will depend on how thin your yam chips are, usually less than 20 minutes will be needed. You can flip them if you want them crispy on both sides, I'm not picky. If some start to burn you can take them out and put the rest back in. Remove pan when they "look" crispy or when they have all browned just a bit. I love the burnt ones and the smushy ones. Let them "sit" for a minute to cool a bit and crisp up. Sweet potaoes have lots of carotenoids...which are good for you*...so enjoy!

*If you want to make this not-so-good for you deep fry them or have the chips with Chipoltle Mayo dip! One part mayonnaise, one part sour cream and chipoltle seasoning to taste....

Image via

Proud wife

2011-04-14T13:41:00.001-07:00

I am so00OOoo0o proud of my smart, talented and super-handsome husband. He just recieved early acceptance into the teaching program he applied to! Over 100 apply, they select 30, he was one. YAY!

That is all.

This week in one sentence...

2011-04-08T11:07:00.001-07:00

Saw my husband reunited with his BFF after one whole year apart (We'll never forgive Australia and it's seductive little Au Pairs!), had a very productive study date with a classmate, wrote and handed in a paper on "Abnormal Synapse Formation and Elimination in Fragile X Syndrome" (soO0oo interesting...), aced my Infant Development final, started studying for my Biology final (Boo) and tonight I will say Happy Birthday/Bye-For-Now to a very sweet name-twin. :)

Diet Update

2011-04-08T11:02:00.001-07:00

image via

I am still in the middle of a very stressful final exam period but felt obligated to post as I have reached the halfway point in my diet. I am on day 20, of 35, and I just reached 10.2 pounds lost! This week I had reached a plateau and wasn't losing, but I started working in a little bit of low-impact excercise (walking the dog more often, haha) and not eating after 6:30, rather than 7:00. My main craving these days has been for fruit, I eat so much fruit I sometimes wonder if it's healthy...It is still hard not to eat after dinner, but from the time I wake up until after dinner I don't even feel like I am on a diet. My favourite time of day is still in the morning with hot black coffee in my "You're my Favourite Deputy" mug, fruit and eggs. There's just over two weeks left and I think I am going to have to keep up the excercise, maybe introduce more, and even bump up my food curfew to 6:00 if I am going to keep losing and get to 15 pounds lost by the end. Wish me luck! :)

image via

Going home* vs. Going home**

2011-03-30T21:49:00.001-07:00

Only two more days of classes until I get a lovely weekend off to go home* and visit some family and friends! Then, of course, it's back home** to study like crazy for my week of final exams. And then...it's a whole summer of no school to just work and save up for Europe! I have always taken classes in the summer before because I could, because they are more enjoyable than fall/winter/spring courses and because I get great grades in them (something about how fast they go and how into the material you have to be...). This year, however, I have committed to just work and save money in the summeer and then finish up the last five classes I have left as two, part-time, semesters beginning in September....Speaking of going home* I am a little bit worried about my diet as I tend to be best on days when I am home**, I guess I will try to just work something out and not break routine. Anyways, I should go study for my test in the morning. I will do a "Two-Weeks-In" diet update soon and post about my adventures in chicken roasting as I have been putting off having to relive this.

(What going home*/** sometimes looks like)

* home meaning back on the mainland at our parents' houses
** home meaning where we actually live...I don't know when, if ever, we will stop referring to "home" as where we grew up and start referring to where we have lived for almost three years now as "home."

This week in one sentence...

2011-03-26T14:40:00.001-07:00

Dieting, cooking, cleaning, Shakespeare, then even more Shakespeare, and then a little more Shakespeare and then a party.

To Read or Not to Read

2011-03-25T13:04:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share a cool vlog (video blog) that my friend Alysha runs. It's technically a YouTube channel where she posts quick video book reviews. She's funny, insightful and never includes spoilers. If you're looking for a new book to read you can watch more reviews HERE.

She also happens to be the most energentic, positive and muti-talented person I have ever met!

Butternut Squash "Soup"

2011-03-24T17:58:00.001-07:00

I needed a clean eating dairy and sugar free soup option for my diet. So I improvised something delicious.

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash
1/2 a Granny Smith Apple
1/4 White Onion
1 Clove of garlic (minced)
1 small to medium carrot
1/2 a stalk of celery
Pinch of Cinnamon
Nutmeg to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
2-5 Tablespoons of cold water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stab uncooked squash with fork a few times and pop it in microwave for a minute. (This makes it easier to cut.) Then cut in half, length wise, and scoop out seeds and gross stringy bits. Place squash halves cut side down on cookie sheet (optionally lined w/ tin foil to prevent mess) and put in preheated oven for about 45 minutes. (This time will depend on how big your squash is.) Once cooked remove the skin from the squash and puree flesh in a blender/processor/with a fork.

Sautee sliced onion, apple, carrot, garlic and celery in a pan adding a bit of water to steam the veggies and help everything from sticking to the pan if you are not using oil. I covered my mixture with tin foil for a while and let it all singe a bit for a stronger taste. Then, puree this mixture in food processor. Combine it with the squash in a soup pot and add the salt, pepper and spices while stirring, keeping warm, and tasting. I think the nutmeg is what makes this meal but it is easy to add too much. If you find the taste too strong you can water it down or add milk or a bit of broth if you want. When it has the "right" taste you can use an immersion blender to puree further and get rid of any chunks. What you are left with is almost more like baby food than soup but I think it is delicious and it has been one of the meals that has kept me from thinking I am on a diet.

The recipe doesn't yield much soup but it's strong and concentrated so, as I said, it can be made more soupy with water/milk/cream/broth.

image of squash via and of the soup via

Diet

2011-03-24T17:29:00.003-07:00

On Sunday I started a diet - well more of an intense detox/diet. It's a low calorie, clean eating, dairy, sugar and wheat free no food after 7pm detox/diet inspired by Jess from IROCKSOWHAT. I wanted to wait until the end of the week to post about it but it has been pretty successfull so far and I want to share my progress. I have lost 5.6lbs in 5 days. I plan to continue the diet for approximately 35 days unless my goal of 15lbs lost is reached before that.

After the 35 days are up I will slowly reincorporate some of the foods I have been excluding. (However, my skin has been looking better too and if I have a bad rxn to bread or dairy being reintroduced I will try to keep them out of my diet for good as it may indicate that I am mildy "allergic" to them.) Also, I have been sleeping better as my stomach is never full when getting to bed and I am motivated to get in bed early so I won`t get hungry before I can fall asleep. I hope that the habits I learn from clean eating stick; like smaller portions and including waaaaay more fruit and vegetables in my diet. Here is, roughly, what I have been eating on a daily basis. Everything is made from scratch, at home and organic and local when possible. I try not to use oil when cooking but have used up to a quarter teaspoon when absolutely necessary.

Breakfast
- Cup of Earl Grey Tea or Black Coffee (Luckily I only like coffee with out cream and sugar!)
- Smoothie or Grapefruit or Fruit Salad
- An Egg

"Lunch"
- Hummus with Veggies or tiny bowl of Butternut Squash Soup

Dinner
- Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce and Meatballs or Moroccan Chicken with Steamed Spinach or Chicken and Chickpea Greek Salad (essentially just meat and vegetables)

Snacks are either fruit, vegetables or almonds and I drink tooooons of water during the day. I always drank tons of water so now its ridiculous, I could drown. I hope to add more recipies and updates later on including my traumatizing experience with roasting a 4.5lb beast of a chicken, I still want to faint thinking about it....

This diet is hardest when I am out of the house; shopping, at school or just driving past a McDonald's. I am also having a hard time with how my energy is easily depleated (could just be exhaustion from cooking and cleaning so much)... It is easiest in the morning when drinking my coffee and stuffing my face with delicious fruit and scrambled eggs.

One thing I must say is that I have never been so committed to a diet. There's something about knowing that it worked for someone else, seeing the effects everyday on the scale and the intense nature of it that has kept me going. It helps that Andrew has been awesome too. xoxoxo

Stay tuned...

Whailand

2011-03-24T13:18:00.001-07:00

I like whales. A lot. Therefore, I like whale art. I just added this guy to my bathroom today. I found him on Vintageprintable.com (a great place to get free art for your house). There were plenty more terrifying old drawings of whales to choose from!

I name all my whales Whailand...

Mismatch

2011-03-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

One of the most beautiful dining rooms ever.

image via

Update

2011-03-22T13:39:00.002-07:00

Added photos to "Our Home" page.

Jack Attack

2011-03-19T17:54:00.001-07:00

Our dog is cute. End transmission.

Brunch

2011-03-18T14:44:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I made the yummiest brunchy meal. Spread cream cheese on a toasted whole wheat english muffin, top with fresh spinach and two buttery fried eggs...Sooo good, the cream-cheesier the better.

This week in one sentence...

2011-03-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Thanked daylight savings for giving me more light to get home in, cursed class presentations for making me talk for twenty minutes without taking a breath, thanked PSYC 330 for being so easy, cursed St.Patrick's Day for making me sad, thanked Margheritas for making me glad, and Blue Valentine for making me sad again...

Japan

2011-03-11T16:10:00.001-08:00

To donate to relief efforts in Japan you can go to the Canadian Red Cross website here:

http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=002372&utm_source=donatenow&utm_medium=button_en&utm_campaign=onetime

This week in one sentence...

2011-03-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

Bio exam, belated birthday dinner celebrations with husband, baby sister and baby sister's boyfriend (b-day boy) (mmmmm burgers and yam fries and ice cream cake), discovered Rookie Blue, considered some new and crazy grad school options (MBA/M.ARCH/MSc<--NEUROSCIENCE, WHAT!?!), was shocked and saddened by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and subsequently stayed awake with andrew listening to the radio for tsunami alerts where we are, luckily was nothing serious by the time the waves reached us.

Update

2011-03-04T19:21:00.002-08:00

I added Engagement Photos to the "Meet the Gillotts" tab. :)

This week in one sentence...

2011-03-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

Write, research, write, family, cupcakes, Shakespere, rain, chinese food.

SMOOTHIES

2011-03-02T15:07:00.002-08:00

I am a little bit obsessed with smoothies right now. I have one probably every other day. I make mine with a few handfulls of frozen strawberries, half a banana (frozen or not), and a big splash of orange juice. I have also made mixed berry and strawberry kiwi ones. Its super easy, just throw it all in the blender for a minute and serve. Om nom.

Picture from: http://smoothiemag.com/recipes.html

This week in one sentence...

2011-02-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

Clean, sleep, couch, tv, blizzard, taxes, hermit, passports, so cold, movies, butternutsquash soup, skittles, sleep, puppy dog cuddles, groceries, sleep.

Awesome.

2011-02-23T16:06:00.001-08:00

People reenacting old photos of themselves:
http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

Dear husband,

2011-02-22T22:04:00.001-08:00

...you are so crazy brave that it baffles me. How you can get up in front of an audience of people (innately judgy people!) and do anything, let alone try to play a complicated riff or recite memorized lines, is beyond me. (Maybe it's just cuz you're awesome?) Anyways, I love you, I am proud of you, break a leg.

Meal Idea

2011-02-19T17:24:00.001-08:00

One of my favourite healthy and quick meals:

http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/grilled-chicken-with-spinach-and-whole-wheat-couscous

We just use olive oil instead of safflower and powdered ginger instead of fresh. Also, the yoghurt isn't important it's all so good on its own. Good thing Martha Stewart is a genius.

This week in one sentence...

2011-02-17T19:37:00.002-08:00

Study, study, study, MIDTERM, study, MIDTERM, study MIDTERM, sleep.

Marriage

2011-02-13T23:13:00.003-08:00

"The point of staying married until you die is to have a witness to your whole life, to the meaning you built. In the end, you can look at your spouse and say: Somebody knew me—and I knew them." -Rachel Combe (Elle Magazine)

Last year I remember laying in bed, reading an article about marriage in a magazine. I remember coming across a quote that I loved and that really struck a chord. I even read it out loud to Andrew. A few months ago I thought about it and went to find the magazine so I could read it again. I looked in every magazine I had around the house and could not find it. I realized I must have recylced it. Today I decided I was going to try to find this article or this quote online. Thank Google, I did. The article is called "Till Whatever Do Us Part" by Rachel Combe and it was from Elle magazine. You can read it here: http://www.elle.com/Life-Love/Sex-Relationships/Till-Whatever-Do-Us-Part/Has-America-become-too-blase-about-divorce-Read-More-on-Love-and-Relationships-on-ELLE.com The context of the quote was this:

"Yes! I thought, Fuck happy. The point of living isn’t to be in a perpetual state of fairy-tale ecstasy; it’s to find the meaning of life, the meaning of your life. And the point of marriage, I think, is to create meaning, with every happy and sad memory, every hardship overcome, every kind act, every moment of acceptance, every triumph (Gore will likely never get to have another wife watch him win a Nobel Prize), every child, grandchild, pet, and friend you accumulate together. The point of staying married until you die is to have a witness to your whole life, to the meaning you built. In the end, you can look at your spouse and say: Somebody knew me—and I knew them."
-Rachel Combe (Elle Magazine)

Last night...

2011-02-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

...in crappy cellphone picture form.

Dream Vacation Rental

2011-02-11T13:10:00.001-08:00

Andrew and I are planning a trip to Europe this summer and are having a great time looking at all the possibilities. Which countries to go, what to do there and where to stay. One thing is for sure, if we weren't starving students this would be it: http://www.vrbo.com/255275 It's a 400 year old cottage in the most beautiful village in France. You can even follow the extensive renovations that the owners (a family from the States) did on it at this blog: http://www.stephmodo.com/ We can dream...

Pancakes for Dinner

2011-02-11T11:48:00.001-08:00

I wanted to have pancakes for dinner last night, so I did. Now, I usually don't make pancakes because I fail miserably everytime. I can make waffles with my eyes closed but pancakes, not so much. Alas, I really wanted some I was going to try anyways. Guess what, I was successful! I think it had to do with an easy recipe, a hot griddle and a good flipper. The recipe I used was found online: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/pancakes-i/Detail.aspx It was great; simple, quick and yummy. Here it is:

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
(I also added a tiny bit of vanilla)

Directions

Preheat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, beat together egg, milk and oil. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
Pour or scoop the batter onto the hot griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. (Optional, make them look like Mickey Mouse...)

This week in one sentence...

2011-02-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Had a filling at the dentist where everyone marvelled at my young marriedness and my beluga shaped cavity prep, participated in a psych research experiment where my hands were hooked up to crazy sensors and I got to wear orange water-wing-esque attire, made some art, procrastinated studying, studied and made reservations for pre valantines day dinner tomorrow night. <3

I am in love with...

2011-02-05T17:45:00.002-08:00

"Ikat" patterns/fabrics. They are everywhere and are quickly pushing my monochromatic floral patterns out the door. It's pretty versatile too; you could have ikat patterned dresses, tops, flats, pillows, bedding, curatins, plates, lampshades, scarves, carpets, everything! I especially love the oranges, purples and blues and hope to get some pillows for the living room or maybe some new summery sheets in this pattern.

(Image from http://wallacecotton.blogspot.com/)

Anthropologie has a whole Ikat collection right now, they even have a sofa!

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/category.jsp?popId=HOME&navAction=top&navCount=402&isSortBy=true&pushId=HOME-IKAT&id=HOME-IKAT

This week in one sentence

2011-02-05T11:49:00.001-08:00

Aced a test, made some plans, changed some plans, ate spaghettini, headaches and a cold?? AGAIN, went shopping (a trip which would not haver been complete without my pina colada julius), had a good nights sleep.

Ocean

2011-01-29T11:53:00.003-08:00

We feel so lucky to live near the ocean, on any given day we can walk (from school) or drive (from home) to the beach for a walk with Jack, a picnic or even to swim (if we're brave as even in the hottest weather it stays bone chilling). Last weekend we went for a walk with Jack at the most popular dog-friendly beach and it was freezing and damp and windy but the beach was bustling with people (and puppies). In the summer we seek the more secluded beaches up the highway a little in the residential areas. For our birthdays last year we even went whale watching! It's nice to live by something that feels so vast and wild, you can always see jellyfish, seals and occasionally whales sometimes right from the comfort of a table at a cozy seaside restaurant. <3

Can't wait for spring...

2011-01-29T10:47:00.003-08:00

Because stuff like this just looks better without tights and a wool coat:

Koyasan Dress - $49.95 : Indie Dresses, Retro Dresses from Dress911: a state of indie

U'r My Popsicle Dress - Pink - $37.95 : Indie Dresses, Retro Dresses from Dress911: a state of indie

Plain Jane Dress: http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Dresses/Plane+Jane+Dress

I am a dress-a-holic. I'm addicted to dress-a-hol. Gotta love Dress911.com and Modcloth.com!

This week in one sentence...

2011-01-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Went to school everyday (finally), tried and failed to make Gnocchi, celebrated nothing with cupcakes and champagne and tried to ignore the dreary, foggy raininess that is January on the West Coast. (I'd much prefer snow.)

Wall Art

2011-01-22T13:30:00.002-08:00

It is amazing what a difference hanging framed art or photographs can make to a room! We're renting and so sometimes it is hard to make the effort to decorate and really get settled as you don't feel like your home is yours. It took us almost a year to fully unpack! We have finally finished hanging art on the walls and it really has made our space look bigger, taller, more put together and more personal. Here are some of the things we've put up:

This was the first up. It's a shadow box frame that I got from my mom at my bridal shower and I used to to hold some wedding momentos and photos. The cork is from our honeymoon and the ring is the fake one we used in the ceremony for me to put on Andrew's finger as his actual wedding ring had been stuck on his finger since we bought it a few months before. It's a good thing we liked it. The photos are held up with the same "pearl" topped pins that we used in the boquets for the wedding. This is in the kitchen above the sink.

Here is a another wedding related arrangement. This is in the living room above the couch, it has been growing for a year now. The two 8x10's are close ups of our wedding attire, the one with the thick frame is of some of our wedding party before the ceremony, then there's a picture of our shoes when we finally got to take them off, a photo of the reception area before any guests had arrived and two photos of me getting ready before the wedding one with and one without Andrew. I like how the whole collection is kind of mysterious as you don't see our faces in it. It highlights the feeling of the wedding rather than the actual event, which is why it feels more like art than family photos. Some of the frames we bought new, some were dollar store finds painted white and some were value village.

These are not wall art I realize but I had to show the frames. The lighter coloured one was from Real Canadian Superstore and the other was from N.O.O.D. (New objects of desire). They are on a side table by the couch.

This guy is in the bathroom and he made the biggest difference to how "finished" the room felt. Not bad for a cellphone picture on printer paper!

These are above our bed and we obviously took a different approach to hanging them. Since we can't afford to go out and buy a bunch of huge new frames we just hung them unframed (with sticky tack!). They are various drawings that Andrew and I have done and even though they are unfinshed looking they add dimension to the room and a focal point aswell.

This is on the dresser that is directly opposite the drawings above the bed. It is a white Ikea Malm dresser with a huge white framed mirror resting on it (found at a discount at Winners because it had a huge chip in the corner.) The white frames are actually covering said huge chip. One is just a group photo from the wedding and the other is a little project I did:

I made a word document with a bunch of vows or sayings I liked that I feel relate to Andrew and I and then added with a sharpie the first initial of our last name. It is a really attractive and personal alternative to photos and you could do it with anything on any scale.

(We also have an extensive collection of large mirrors just leaning up against walls here and there. They make a room look much bigger and brighter as they reflect light. We always keep an eye out at Winners or Ikea for damaged ones that you can get super cheap. For exampe we have a grey framed one that was originally $50 that had a teeny scratch in the frame and was on for $18 because of it!)

We also use the mirror for storage, there is a bunch of papers and old art hiding behind it!

Important Causes

2011-01-22T12:29:00.006-08:00

Bored? Visit these websites, donate, shop or sign a petition!

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees/?cl=914280418&v=8201

"Quietly, globally, billions of bees are dying, threatening our crops and food. But a global ban of one group of pesticides could save bees from extinction."
(photo from http://brsr.org/wp-content/gallery/bee-id---honey-bee/honeybee_020505_026b%20genehanson.jpg)

http://www.qentesociety.org/index.html & http://www.mosqoy.org/index.html

Q'ente Society is a textile reviatalization program, soon you will be able to buy textiles made by traditional weavers in Peru from their online website. The funds from Q'ente go towards the Mosqoy Foundation which provides good education for the local children and teens. You can also just make direct donations or sponsor a student from their website.
(photo from http://www.mosqoy.org/en/takePart.html)

http://www.shutdownpuppymills.com/

The next time you are thinking of getting a new puppy consider adopting one of the many homeless dogs in North America (and around the world). If you are buying from a pet store get a guarantee that they buy from breeders with high standards for the health and living conditions for their dogs.
(photo from http://canadianfreestuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/puppy4.jpg)

My Favourite Blogs...

2011-01-21T17:47:00.001-08:00

Blogs have become my preffered place to go for inspiration for decor, food, DIY projects and just about anything else. My favourites make me laugh, make me cry and make me want to reupholster something!

Young House Love http://younghouselove.com/

Funny writing, lots of great information for decorating/renovating, and all the satisfying before and after photos you could ever want. If they're not you're favourite yet then you're behind!

Sea of Shoes

http://seaofshoes.com/

This young lady has the most amazing shoe closet probably in the history of all time. Sea of shoes is a lovely place to go for fashion inspiration or just to look at pretty shoes.

Bower Power http://bowerpowerblog.com/

More funny writing, photography tips and jaw dropping before and after photos from the renovation of their adorable abode.

Spearmint Decor http://spearmintdecor.com/

A collection of pretty/useful/trendy/inspirational things reguarding home decor. There is also Spearmint Kitchen, Spearmint Wedding, Spearmint Baby and Spearmint Boutique.

Getting Started

2011-01-21T17:01:00.002-08:00

First post of my first blog! I hope that this will become a place where friends and family can follow our lives and all the milestones we have ahead!