Tuesday 29 November 2011

PRETTY BAUBLES

Maybe I'm posting too frequently about Christmas, especially considering it's still November.  Even though I'm having that thought, it isn't going to stop me!

A quick trip to Michael's on Saturday night found a few great items.  First of all, this "fishbowl" that cost $6.99.  I also bought the baubles inside it.  Both the large glass ornaments and the smaller ornaments were on sale - 40% off the large ones and something similar for the small ones.  After some strategic placement I added Mardis Gras beads that friends brought me back from New Orleans this summer.  I should also mention the candle holders and candles are also new.  The holders were $7.99 and $9.99 from Winners Homesense and the candles (sugar cookie scent) were even less expensive than that.


 

OH DEER

On Sunday night I decorated a little bit for Christmas and I realized I don't have much by way of place settings... I have been collecting my china pattern since we got married but I am quite lacking tablecloths and nice napkins.  (We received a tablecloth as a wedding gift but I don't have any linen napkins.)  I have also been thinking about Christmas centerpieces and I am personally loving bright and fun!  You can find all sorts of fuschias and teals for Christmas these days.  More about that later!

So I got to thinking it might be fun to use vintage figurines on your table.  A quick hunt on etsy found these brass deer:


$12.00 for the pair.  Find here.
$30.00 for the pair.  Find here.
$100.00 for the pair.  Found here.

Saturday 26 November 2011

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS

Freedom!!

My exam finished 2.5 hours ago and I have already: bought a Christmas wreath, sat down to eat a meal with my hubby at the dining room table, done two loads of laundry, watched the Santa Claus parade, cleaned dog hair out of the car, and dusted the bedroom furniture.  Now - off for a nap!!  But in the meantime, here are two photos of Leroy from today.

I came home from my exam to find out Leroy had turned into a reindeer!


Leroy went to the parade with us and was very well behaved.  He even let some children pet him (and didn't bark)!  This was my view during the parade.

Friday 25 November 2011

WHERE'S THE LESION?

That's the crazy game we've been playing all semester.  You say a neurological symptom, I tell you where the lesion is.

E.g. Right sided weakness.
Left primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus).

Pretty gross, right??  In honour of the end of neurology tomorrow (already done exam one of two) here is a funny take on how the brain works.  Sad thing is when I first watched this video I thought I had completely missed the point of this semester.

See you on the flip side!

Wednesday 23 November 2011

LEROY'S FIRST SNOW STORM

Today we got about a foot of snow... Good old Canadian winters bringing us buckets of snow before December hits.  This was Leroy's first real snowfall.  The first week Leroy moved in we had a little bit of snow (it was late March) but maybe only six inches at most.  As an eight week old puppy he was so cute bounding through the snow so while I was at school studying today I couldn't wait to go home and watch Leroy play!

He spent some time staring at the window and thinking, "Mom, can't I please go outside to play?"


And boy did he have fun once he got out there!


Tuesday 22 November 2011

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

It is slowly approaching and I have made a list of things to do when I can once again smell freedom:

1. Eye appointment
2. Dentist appointment
3. Buy and decorate a Christmas tree!
4. Bake something - anything!
5. NAP
6. Massage
7. Go to the movies
8. Laugh again (that was a joke)
9. Use my gift card from Joe Fresh
10. Make a Christmas greeting video like this one

Sunday 20 November 2011

THE PERFECT SHOE

Sometimes I'm reluctant to buy accessories and I include shoes in that statement.  I just find accessories expensive considering they're just supposed to compliment an outfit.  They don't keep you warm or cover up any key parts.  That being said, I do like belts, jewellery, shoes...I just don't often purchase them myself.

I can also partially contribute that to being a tad picky.  When hubby and I were dating I told him I only buy "the perfect shoe".  It's out there, folks.  You just have to look long and hard.  It is perfectly comfortable, perfectly stylish.  Anything less and I just won't pay for it which leads me back to my first statement of "I'm reluctant to buy accessories".  (That is called circular thinking - neuro exam FYI.)

This summer I bought a pair of red Toms and love them.  You've heard of TOMS right?  For every pair of shoes you buy, they send a pair to a child in a third world country.  And currently they have a few Movember styles.  Here are some finds from their website that I'm currently loving (and you can find them here, here, here, and here).  Also - people often say to buy them in a half size smaller than you would normally wear because the canvas stretches a bit.  I bought mine in a 7.5 when I normally wear an 8 and I have found them to be just right.

Saturday 19 November 2011

ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID

I have known my best friend since grade five when she transferred to my school from a local private, Christian school.  Hers was the first (and thus far only) wedding I have attended as a bridesmaid.  When D and her husband moved into their first home two years ago I knew I wanted to give them a special housewarming gift.  When I want something like this to be extra special, I always default to handmade - in this case, a drawing.

I searched through all the photos I had taken the day of D's wedding (of which there were many) and found a head on photo of her bouquet.  After cropping the photo, I had it printed in I think a 5 x 7 size so the details of the flowers were easy to visualize.  Then I bought myself a set of pencil crayons from my local art supplies store and went to town.

My main piece of advice when you are creating a painting/drawing (or even if you are enlarging a photograph) is buy the frame first!!  It can get very pricey to have anything professionally framed.  One year when hubby and I were dating I made him a drawing for Christmas.  It was a fairly large drawing and the cost of framing was somewhere between $100 and $200.  My trick is to check out the prints section of Winners/Homesense and find the approximate size frame you would like.  These prints are fairly inexpensive and almost always come framed AND matted.  Therefore, if you custom design your artwork to fit in the frame you have a relatively inexpensive frame and matte!

Friday 18 November 2011

FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Look what I found from this etsy shop!

It's a bookmark that looks like the Wicked Witch of the East!!  (West was the one who melted when Dorothy doused her with water.  East was the sister of West and was crushed by Dorothy's house.)  Want to see another view??  I thought so.


This combines a couple of things I enjoy - reading and the musical Wicked!  Here is a photo from Times Square summer 2010.  Hubby and I saw Wicked and loved it.


To incorporate a Christmas theme, this etsy shop has other bookmarks including Santa or an elf's legs.


I think this could be a great stocking stuffer.

Thursday 17 November 2011

S.C. - SANTA CLAUS OR SPINAL CORD?

Today was an incredibly long, school-packed day.  It began with a psychiatry clinical skills session from 8:30 - 10:00 with a lunch break to follow (filled with studying) and then resumed with a second clinical skills session from 12:30 - 3:30.  I spent the rest of the afternoon studying neuroanatomy and then looked at microscope slides in the anatomy lab from 6:00 - 9:30.  Believe it or not I then came home and watched more recorded lectures.  My brain is full of...the brain.

To unwind I'm doing a quick little blogging session and thinking about Christmas!  Knowing I can prepare for Christmas once my exam is finished is one of the only things keeping me going!

I know everyone likes Christmas but I LOVE Christmas.  Really, really love it.  Don't believe me?  I feel so strongly about Christmas that I have been known to say wistfully, "I miss Christmas..." at fairly regular intervals throughout the rest of the year (probably at least once a month).  I have been listening to my new Amy Grant Christmas cd since October.  I keep Christmas music on my ipod all year and when the shuffle button reunites me with these songs on my mid-July jogs, I don't change the song.

Are you convinced yet?

One of the things I remember most about Christmas as a child is my mom reading my brother and I (and eventually our sister) Christmas stories before bed.  I emailed my mom this week and asked for the titles of some of our family's favourite Christmas books.  Here are a few truly wonderful additions to your holiday collection!

The Smallest Elf - a story about an elf who isn't as talented at toy-making as the others.  When Santa proposes a contest to create a special toy for a lonely little boy, Elvin discovers what the boy really wants most of all.  [This might be my absolute favourite.]

The Advent Calendar: Pop-up Book - my grandparents bought this story for my brother and I.  It's nice to have a version of the Christmas story to read as a family during the holidays and this one is especially fun because it's a pop-up book.  We read this on Christmas morning for a few years before we opened gifts.

The Sweet Smell of Christmas - have you ever owned a scratch and sniff?!  It may just be the most fun thing ever!!  Even now I love to scratch the pages of this book even though they have looooong ago stopped smelling.  This is my little sister's favourite.  It's about a little bear and his family's activities during Christmas.  There are scents for the fir tree his family chops down, candy canes they put on the tree, hot chocolate for the carolers, an orange in his stocking...you know the deal.  I will always love smelling this book.  Is that weird?

Tosca's Christmas - for the cat lover in your life.  This little kitty, Tosca, doesn't understand why there is suddenly a tree in her living room or pretty paper on the floor.  She is scolded throughout the book and I can't quite remember the ending but I'm sure it's happy.
 
 



Wednesday 16 November 2011

BEDSHEETS AND BROOMSTICKS


Where do the broomsticks come into play you ask?  Well...they don't.  Just bed sheets!  I think Bedknobs and Broomsticks is an old Disney movie so I was trying to do a little play on words there.  Did you get it?

This duvet cover was made by a very talented mom from this blog that I found yesterday.  Her son designs his own pokemon characters which she used to make stencils for this hand-drawn bed sheet.  Step 1: convert the pokemon to black and white using photoshop.  Then she printed them off and traced the little guys onto this duvet cover using a fabric marker.  I think this is so cool!!  How neat would it be for a kid to have their own artwork on their sheets?  I am definitely keeping this in mind as Christmas approaches.  For detailed instructions for this project, look here.  Warning - the tracing apparently took her a very long time (something like 8 hours for this queen sized duvet)!

Tuesday 15 November 2011

DEALS

If you shop Old Navy online right now you can get 25% off your order.  Hubby stopped by the store on the weekend and picked up a new pair of sweatpants and a shirt.  He received a $20 off coupon when you spend $40 in the store next weekend.  Looks like we'll be heading there for a study break this weekend to cash in!  Here are some things I'm looking at.

Monday 14 November 2011

TIME OUT

Are you allowed in the planter??

......No...

When we were away for Med Ball last weekend Leroy's babysitter texted hubby this picture.  She told us he was in time out which was a joke.  She let him outside a few minutes before she went out and he found his way into a planter.  I think this is the most hilarious/adorable picture ever!  He looks like he was caught doing something naughty.  What a guy.



Sunday 13 November 2011

CRAZY LOVE

I recently finished all of the novels on my book club's list (and then some).  When we were in Europe, my friend S was reading "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan and so upon completion of my current reads, I asked S if I could borrow both "Forgotten God" and "Crazy Love".

I started with "Crazy Love" because I think it was written first.  The tagline for the novel (if novels have taglines) is: overwhelmed by a relentless God.  This was written for Christians who want more than what they are currently getting in the church our society provides.  In the foreword Chan says this book is for people who don't want to plateau.  Hey - wait a minute... I don't want to plateau!

In the first chapter Chan mentions attending his high school reunion where all of his old friends were amazed by his wife.  Apparently he's the one who married "up" in their relationship (there's always one).  His friends couldn't believe Chan ended up with someone so beautiful.  Although he was attracted to his wife and thought she was stunning when they were dating, some of her beauty had been lost to him because they have been married for years.  When you see someone every day it's hard to be in constant awe of them.

Sometimes when we have been a Christian for a long time, we can get in a similar rut with God.  We know God is awesome (the book makes note especially of God being holy, eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful) but as we go through the motions of our daily lives, read the Bible as we do every day, attend church like we have our whole lives...sometimes we forget just how awesome He really is.

Stop and think about it.  Really think about it.  God made everything - from the moons of Jupiter to the neurons of your brain (which I can attest are extremely complicated).  And He is eternal.  Eternal.  That means He has always been.  What's up with that?!  When you really stop and contemplate what it means to be eternal...we just can't comprehend.

Today why not stop what you're doing and ponder God and His creation.  Marvel.  That's what I'm doing.

Saturday 12 November 2011

NAPPING

I decided to study from home today which has its advantages and disadvantages.  I'm more comfortable at home but there are more distractions (like television, bed, Leroy, hubby)...  I had enough will power to refrain from taking a nap but someone else in the house succumbed to temptation.  When I was creeping downstairs to do some laundry Leroy was sleeping on the floor mat in front of the door.  I had to sneak back into the bedroom to grab my camera - I just couldn't resist.  He just looked so cute curled up on the mat!  (And that's why I have to vacuum it almost every day.)  The second picture is from a few weeks ago.  He just looked so twisted and contorted I had to snap a photo.  Apparently this is something I do often.


Friday 11 November 2011

STUDY ESSENTIALS

I'm at school bright and early on Remembrance Day to pack in a full day of uninterrupted studying since we don't have classes today.  During intense study sessions here are the items you can normally find me with:

Thursday 10 November 2011

THAT TICKLES!

I'm in major study mode for my neurology/psychiatry exam in two and a half weeks so my blogging has been a little sporadic and maybe uncreative...  Taking my little study break this afternoon I looked at all the usual blogs and stumbled across an ad for this documentary that is now on my must watch list.

This documentary, called Being Elmo: a Puppeteer's Journey is a story about Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo.  It looks like an amazing story of following your childhood dream and actually achieving it!  Very feel good.  I mean, come on... It's Elmo!  Go ahead and watch the preview.  You know you want to.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

EXPECTO PATRONUM

I found this HP video on pinterest and I must say it is more than I hoped it would be!  All I can say is, if I feel this sad about the Harry Potter books and movies being finished, I can't believe how these three must feel.  If you love these books as much as I do, you will love this video.

Monday 7 November 2011

RECYCLED ART

This summer we took a day trip to this store because I was on the hunt for a coffee table.  The woman who owns this store (Boutique Recycl'Art & Antiques) buys most of the furniture in New England at antique shows and then sells them in her boutique.  We saw so many fabulous things there including a pair of cast iron candlesticks and art deco nightstands.  However, we stuck to the original plan and came home with a coffee table (and only a coffee table).  It was kind of an interesting purchase because the base is made of carved hardwood and is antique.  It has great detail.  I believe the top is reclaimed wood that has been recreated into a table top.

The base of the table was turquoise and I thought it clashed with the new light blue walls of the living room.  I bought some paint at the Home Depot called Starless Night and painted two coats on the base of the table.  Now that the wingbacks have been reupholstered and have incorporated navy piping, the colour scheme of the room flows quite nicely.


Before
After

Sunday 6 November 2011

THE MED BALL BLUES

Last night at our school formal known as Med Ball the ladies were all in blue (mostly).  There were a few other colours but the weatherman was calling for a Blue Christmas, that's for sure.  The class of 2014 stepped it up a notch this year style wise.  Everyone looked incredible and as far as I know, everyone had a great time.  There's just something about dancing to the Spice Girls with your classmates that screams classy.

I wore a Very J dress I bought at Envy this past summer.  I bought the dress with no occasion in mind to wear it and then decided to save it for Med Ball.  The shoes are from Spring (bought two years ago) and I had new lifts put on the heels because the stiletto was worn down to the nail.  My earrings are from Mappins and were a Christmas gift from hubby a couple of years ago.


Unsure how to do the dip.
 

Friday 4 November 2011

NUMBER ONE REASON

Number one reason for what, you ask?  To be a princess.  And of course, the answer is - the clothing.  (I've already got the guy I want!)

I'm just thinking about my outfit for our school semi-formal tomorrow and wishing I had this gal's closet.  What a great repertoire of dresses she has.  I hope I do you proud tomorrow evening, Kate, but sadly I think I could do better on the budget of a princess.
My current favourite dress.  Such beautiful fabric!
A friend of mine saw Kate wearing this in Calgary, Alberta.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

HERMIONE



Ten things I learned from Hermione:

10. Everyone needs a break from school sometimes.
9. What your parents don't know won't hurt them.
8. Books can be your greatest asset.
7. Sometimes it's nice to fix yourself up.
6. Crying is allowed.
5. Be kind to everyone.
4. The smart girl can get the guy.
3. It's okay to be a rule follower.
2. Carry a big purse.
1. Even muggle borns can be destined for greatness.