Cold Weather Calling

It's coming!....



The weekend weather for MOA was fab! Plus 15 over in MN this weekend. Unreal for November. Made the shopping and hauling bags to and from the shuttle much more enjoyable. The weekend was a great success and I FINISHED (yup, completely) my Christmas shopping!

But, back to reality on Monday morning- no more shopping vacay. Actually, the reality of Winnipeg weather set in on our drive home as the last 2 hours was spent driving through a fairly heavy snow fall making the visibily pretty low. Only 7 hours away it was +15 and we were welcomed at the Canadian boarder with an hour long line up and a fresh snow fall. Ohhh Winterpeg!

The MOA is beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and the carols were blarring (literally!). It really got me into the Christmas mood. I'm starting the apartment decorating this evening and hoping to start the holiday baking this weekend with a few recepies I plan on sharing later in the week.

Winter Relaxing

Its currently snowing here (either though I begged and pleaded with Mother Nature to ensure the roads were snow free and safe for my long haul to MOA this weekend- there’s still time for it to clear out).  Snow always makes me dream of warm cozy winter evenings.  There just something about a cold winter night cuddled up by a fire with full bellies and a warm tea in hand watching a good movie.

Although I basically dread EVERYTHING about winter; however, I find cold winter evenings make me slow down and indulge in a nothing planned relaxing evening. Relaxing and taking a night off should be easy but, I think most would agree it’s not.  There’s always something to be done. And if you’re not doing it, guilt sets in.  Tonight I will enjoy the colder snowy evening and relax with the bf- guilt free!



(Don't) Let It Snow

Its official! The snow has fallen! It doesn’t appear to be here to stay but, nevertheless, it has snowed and that means I can officially start showing off my Christmas decorations.  Living in a place that has had snow EVERY Christmas since I was born makes prepping for the holidays sans snow rather difficult. Snow brings out the holiday spirit!

Nothing helps the holiday spirit grow like Christmas shopping.  Unlike most, I actually enjoy Christmas shopping for my family and friends.  Mainly because I start EARLY and plan out well suited gifts throughout the year as ideas come to my mind.  I already have plans for everyone and now it’s just a matter of purchasing the items.  

My Christmas shopping will be kick started with a weekend trip with the bf to the Mall of America! No better way to start (and most likely finish) holiday shopping! Hopefully the snow/ice can stay away for the next couple days to make our 7.5 hour drive painless.

Waiting on the Weekend

One of my best friends is in town visiting this weekend and I can’t wait to catch up with her.  We have known each other since we were 5 and even though she lives quite far away, we still manage to see each other 2-3 times a year.  Each visit feels like we have never spent any time apart.  Friends like that are irreplaceable and I can’t wait to see her!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. 

goodreads

I’ve never been a huge fan of reading.  I blame it on my long career as a student.  Reading always seemed to be a huge chore while in school and having time to read something that I actually wanted to was next to impossible.  Now that I am finished school, I’ve found it hard to accept reading as just a hobby, rather than work. 

My wish list for Christmas has quite a few books on it.  I am hoping that over the holidays* I find more time to read and find myself enjoying it (if I don’t,  I might end up with multiple gifted books start to a library that I never read). 

I’ve had a few people tell me about the site goodreads.  To be honest, I was completely turned off from the site when I signed up.  My attention span is small and if I can’t figure out a website/app/anything within the first 5 minutes of navigating I usually give up right away (maybe this temperament explains why I dislike reading so much…?).

What is the best way to get started on goodreads and find some, well, goodreads? Any thoughts?

*I am actually taking my first PAID holiday over the Christmas break!

Waiting on the (Halloween) Weekend

Although I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween, I'm excited to head out and see the creative costumes!! It really is amazing what some people can think of for a costume*.

My favorite part about the festivities HAS to be the little kids all bundled up in the cutest little costumes.  When I was a kid, my Mom had my costumes made 3x too large so it could fit over my snowsuit and sorels!! Kids do not realize how lucky they are these days to have above zero tempatures for trick or treating.

Happy Halloween (weekend) everyone!

*Maybe it isn't so much a dislike for Halloween in general but, rather, a dislike for how much more creative people are than I am when it comes to costume making.

Fajita Fridays

The new health kick requires new experiments in the kitchen.  Last Friday I decided to make Fajitas.  Mainly because they are quick to make and at week end I'm just too tired to care what I eat.  On top of easy,  Fajitas are basically impossible to screw up and can be quite healthy (minus the cheese and sour cream...but, those can be limited). I didn't use any particular recipe rather, I threw together a mash (and it literally looks like that as you eat it) of ingredients* and called it a fajita.

1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
1/2 of a small onion (I originally thought red onion would work best however, I used white as I already had one in my fridge and it worked just fine)
1 jalapeno
Just over a cup of sprouted beans
2 chicken breast
A bit of oil, spice and lime juice to marinate the chicken in

Once I had everything cut up and the chicken cooked, I sautéed everything together until it was just the right texture and full of flavor.  I threw it all into a flax grain tortilla, put a BIT of cheese, sour cream and salsa on top and enjoyed!!!



*Ingredients and amounts can vary

Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork

My recent health kick has me conscious (obsessive?) with what I’m eating for each meal and over the course of the day.  I am the candy and chip queen and I’ve been blessed with kind enough genes to allow my addiction to carry on for 20 odd years without any serious repercussions.

BUT all good things must come to an end.  I’ve gone cold turkey and cut out the junk.  It has been extremely* difficult but, the competitive nature in me has me pushing myself day by day to prevent myself from cheating. 

It has only been a few short weeks on the new and improved diet but, I cannot believe how great it feels. For any of you out there considering a new eating style- it’s totally worth it! I recognize I am saying this a week before Halloween (however I refuse to recognize how difficult it will be for me to not eat candy over the next two weeks) but, there’s no better time to make a change than the present.

I’ve had several people ask me at work how I’ve made the switch so smoothly (ps. it hasn’t been smooth AT ALL!).  It boils down to 3 easy points:

1.       Be organized: this means have your meals planned out on a day to day schedule.  That might mean you work on a variety of 5 types of meals and circulate through, or, as I have done, have a meal assigned to each day of the week.  Prepare these meals before you wake up!!! Eating right is only 40% of the difficulty, finding the time to prepare the meals has been far more difficult

2.       One is too many: Do not allow yourself even one dirty treat.  It cracks open the sweet tooth and spirals into uncontrollable situations

3.       Drink lots of water: and by lots I mean a GALLON A DAY. Yes, a gallon. Yes, that’s a 4L milk jug. Yes , I get up to go the bathroom 10+ times a day

*by extremely, I mean I’ve been incredibly bitchy and irritable and I often have headaches from sugar cravings (not exaggerating at all).

As of lately

I gave the blogging concept a try and got lazy real quick.  Yet, I still have time to read the 100 daily blogs I enjoy.  So I'm back at the blogging idea. And to my surprise, while I was away, I had plenty of "post view". Thank you to whomever you are.


Enjoy my first "as of lately" post:

The JETS are back in town and the city could not be more alive!! 

 I was lucky enough to have tickets to the first ever Jets WIN! On home ice! Great moment to be a part of!

 The leaves have fallen and its certainly getting cold quickly in Winterpeg

 Cold weather is perfect for learning some new recipes in the kitchen!

 As well as trying out new restys!



Waiting on the (long) Weekend

Long weekend ahead! Last one of the summer!

I'm heading to the lake, rain or shine! Ice cream, farmers markets, bike riding, steak dinners, beers on the the beach and spending time with family and friends.

Hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

On the Move

This month has been a crazy month for close friends re locating and moving into new beautiful homes! Although I'm slightly (ok, extremely) jealous of their new living spaces and all the great decorating they will get to do once they are settled in, I'm grateful that I'll have plenty of experienced mover friends to help me  along with the process when the bf and I are ready to take the pludge.  Not to mention, I'm grateful to know I'll have plenty of friends to return the favor and help me move all my stuff!


With all the moving, it has me inspired with ideas of what I'd love to make my living space into.  Of course, most of my inspiration will be long term as I'll need to take baby steps when first moving out.  Here are some images that I've found inspiring lately: (all photos from decorpad.com)

 I love how both these kitchen images take the simple, elegant and crisp white theme and combine them with sophisticated and modern dark accents.

What I like most about these bedroom is that they take simple and affordable concepts and combine them together to create unique spaces.  I hope to have unique personal pieces in my bedroom that combine nicely with fresh flowers and fancy picture frames! 

Green Thumb

I've taken up a recent interest in decorating with plants.  They are a fairly inexpenisve but, still an expressive way to spice up your living space! I do not have a ton of plant knowledge but, between Google and my Mother (who is a gardening freak), I've managed to find quite a few plants that work great!

Recent additions to my plant family:

 

This is the staple viney plant -The Pothos- that drapes so nicely over window siles and bookshelves.  For $8 how can you go wrong? These plants require very little work, minimal sunlight and I only water mine about once a week.  Mine has been growing really fast and I'm assuming I'll need to re pot it into a bigger "room" fairly soon.



The Dracaena has such seamless color coordination.  It manages to combine the most bright and feminin colors without being too over the top.  The ones I purchased were $15 each and were about 3.5 feet tall.  I've bought them at a young age and they will apparently fill out and grow quite a bit still.  I've decided to plant them in larger pots than needed at the moment so I do not have to go through all the trouble of moving the roots into a new pot. 

My very first plant was this guy:

I must admit, it looked really beautful and colorful when I first bought (and For $15 he was a perfect match!) but, a few weeks ago, it slowly started dying!  All the leaves were shedding off.   But, with a little TLC it has sprouted tiny new leaves and seems to do very well in it's new location with more sun light!  Apparently this plant requires more attention than it's tag let on.  It needs plenty of sunlight and watering every 2 days.

Waiting on the Weekend

With the bf out of town Monday through Friday, Friday's always have a buzz of excitment hovering over them as I impatiently await the phone call saying "I'm home!". 

For many other obvioius reason, Friday's have a buzz about.  And today, my Friday buzz is centered around helping my best friend move (To a home closer to me! Making it even easier for me to see her practically everyday), a lobster dinner on Saturday (I must confess, I'm truely not a lobster fan but, I've promised the bf to give it a second try.  I figure it's only far since, the first and only time I tried it and sternly concluded I disliked it was when I was 15), breakfast in bed one morning and a breakfast outing the next, and finally, relazxing and catching up on all the pathetic shows I watch!

Speaking of shows! I just stumbled across this fabulous new TLC show! I'm a serious TLC addict.  Any show they put out I somehow find myself growing addicted to.  But, this show is not the average show.  Yes, its the average home living idea that TLC loves to over due, but, its vintage and DIY home living style from scraps found on road trips. 

Check it out here!

These girls are very handy, not to mention adorable.  Reminds me a lot of the two girls from Oh So Lovely Vintage! Check out their blog. Its a daily must read!

Off to the Races

The races were fantastic.  Ran into plenty of friends, ate plenty of greasy food, drank plenty of beer and had plenty of fun! Wish I could say we won plenty of money but, this was not the case.  However, we all had a case of some small luck as the group of us walked out $15 richer than we came in.  Our winnings were celebrated (and spent) with more tasty drinks!

 The finish line!!

Sorry for the poor pictures, there was far to much movement for my handy dandy iPhone to pick up on a quality pic!

Waiting on the Weekend

For the entire summer we have had nothing but, hot, sunny weather that permits any type of outdoor activity.  This weekend calls for some rain on Saturday, which should be quite refreshing! Nevertheless, I still plan on outdoor events with friends! More specfically- the horse races!

Im attending the horse races on Saturday to watch a co workers horse run!

The races are the BEST reason to wear my large floppy hat!

 

 A rainy day calls for breaky with the besties!



Sad Story

For those in the Winnipeg area, I recommend you check out Aqua Book's EAT! Bistro by the end of September. Aqua Books is a book store that hosts a tasty bistro inside. They just announce that they will be closing sometime after September.  This newspaper article suggestion several reasons why.  The one that stands out the most to me is the fact that physical books are just not in demand anymore.  Which made me wonder- when will the day come when children no long know what holding a reading pages from a book is like? Scary!

Back to the first line in this post- EAT! Bistro is the delish gluten free option restaurant within Aqua Books. The menu is delicious and very reasonably priced.  It is a local shop that won't be around much longer and I plan on taking full advantage of it while it is still here.  Stop in and test out the menu.  Perhaps even buy a book!

Nice Life

I hope everyone had a relaxing and rewarding weekend! Mine was filled with soccer games, beach days and family suppers. Can you ask for anything better? Nice life!  

The weather this weekend was perfect: sunny, +30, with a very slight breeze.  A group of friends and I packed up our  towels and sunscreen and lay in the sun for the afternoon!

New Kid On the Block

I am very grateful to have had such a wonderful summer thus far with fabulous weekends filled with relaxing at the lake, drinks with friends, quality time with the bf and, what seems to be endless days of hot sunny weather. This summer I have really focused on trying new things, enjoying downtime (which as a fresh grad seems to be a luxury as well as somthing hard to allow yourself to do) and taking in every day for what it is.