CHRISTMAS PRESENTS 2012

The three of us had our own family Christmas this morning at home and Leroy was quite excited.  We used Christmas as an opportunity to replace all of the toys he has destroyed over the last two years, (in particular, the Kong we bought when he was a baby and the nylabone from last year).  Here are a few before and after photos that are kind of funny.  Thank goodness he only chews his toys!  Seriously, did you ever see a dog destroy a Kong like that??



Before and after.

It's definitely a doggie choking hazard.

 

I have watched: Fred Claus, Four Christmases, Christmas Vacation, The Santa Clause, and Frosty.  I've devoured a box of Toblerone.  We're heading upriver to visit family this afternoon.  (Does it sound like we have some Christmas spirit?)  I plan on getting through more of the "Game of Thrones" series in the next week.  I'm almost done book two now!  Merry Christmas - more blogging to come over my break, I'm sure.

TURNDOWN SERVICE

This is my super quick study break of the evening.  I needed a little refresher because I am very consistently failing all the practice tests I've been taking!

We had friends over for board games and nachos last weekend (after the Santa Claus parade) and I started thinking about how I make the bed in a "fancy" way when guests are over.  Friends can very clearly see our bedroom if they're visiting because it is right beside the main floor bathroom.  When people are over I try to tidy up the bedroom because of this and that means making the bed!  I can't lie...many days the sheets are untouched after I wake up at the crack of dawn.

To me the perfect bed has different textures, colours, and patterns of linen.  Personally, I don't have the expendable cash to have as many pillows/sheets as I would like, but I make due with what I have!  (It took 4 years of marriage for me to finally buy a duvet cover.)

I like the contrast between our cream coloured sheets and the white/navy duvet.  Both are neutrals but the different palette adds some interest.  The white coverlet is knit which adds some texture and the duvet cover has a strip of rippled fabric.  If  I had patterned pillowcases, I would add them to our pillows for an added pattern but because I don't, I put on the pillow shams that match the duvet.  You can't see it, but we also have a grey bedskirt I "splurged" on when I bought the duvet cover.  When I'm making the "fancy" bed, I fold the duvet in half at the bottom of the bed to draw attention to the sheets and coverlet.  I know it's probably a little bit crazy and overboard (which is why I don't do this every day) but it makes me feel like my house is more put together when company arrives!

MAKING A HOUSE A HOME

Do you ever have days when you're just tired of the way your house looks?  For example, we haven't changed our kitchen at all since we moved in and the cupboards have old, chipping, painted doors.  That is so far from the to do list it's not even funny, but still there are days when I feel annoyed by the rooms we haven't worked on.  The bedrooms have old dirty carpet that isn't pretty to look at or fun to vacuum.

A friend of mine recently moved into a new apartment and is in the process of making it homey and cozy (and it looks so great)!  She inspired me to put up some more artwork and make the few little changes I can that are inexpensive, easy, and not time consuming.  After visiting her new place, I printed off a photo I took last summer on vacation in Prague and hung it in our bathroom.  There was already a hook there from the previous owners and I just hadn't taken advantage of it.  Even something as small as a new photo on the wall can give you a new outlook on your home.  (I keep running into the bathroom just to look at it.)

This is the photo I took at the John Lennon wall in Prague.

There it is on the bathroom wall!  Making things look cozy and lived in.

NEW MUSIC

Hi everyone!

I have been a horrible absentee blogger the last couple of months.  I started clerkship in September (AKA year three of medical school and the true beginning of clinical experience), and it has been very fun and exciting but also incredibly busy and tiring.  Shocking, I know.  I am hoping to get back to blogging but my life has been very un-artistic recently.  We have been eating frozen meals for the last month (although either my mom or myself cooked them), so I don't even have any new recipes to share.

What I do have to show you are some new musical selections.  My friend K introduced me to a few new things when she came to visit this summer.  Here they are!  (And for the record, the Miley Cyrus didn't come from K...just in case she's embarassed to be associated with Smiley.  It's a Bob Dylan cover and I think it's fantastic.)

 

Bryan and Katie Torwalt - Holy Spirit

Brooke Fraser - Something in the Water

Miley Cyrus - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

FLIP FLOPS AND CUT-OFF JEANS

I just discovered the problem with ripped jeans, (or in my case, jean shorts).  When they acquire a new hole you're totally oblivious.  We were away to see Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean in concert recently, (hence the new camo hat), and we did a little shopping beforehand.  When I was trying things on I realized my jean shorts had a hole right on the butt/groin region.  Quite embarassing.  I've been wearing those shorts all summer and I have no idea when this happened, so if you saw more of my bum than you wanted recently... I apologize!  In the future I will be counting the holes in my ripped jeans! :)

THE MARLEYS

Today my BFF stopped by for a few hours to go shopping and she left her two sweet doggies (my neph-poos) at my house with Leroy.  My brother was here so it didn't seem like much of a problem.  [Although it should have been a warning sign when Leroy marked his territory on a door inside before we left... I was in the kitchen and D yelled that Leroy had just peed all over the door/floor.  Apparently someone was feeling a little threatened.]

While D and I were in Chapters I got a phone call from hubby.  I think my brother called him in a panic because the dogs had destroyed the house.  Haha.  J went for a walk and when he got home the garbage and compost had been torn apart and were all over the floor.  Then one of the guys peed on the carpet downstairs.  I don't think Leroy had much to do with the garbage part since he has never done that before, but he certainly knew something bad had happened.  This is the face I saw when we got home.  (I didn't get a picture of the other two cuties because their poor mama wanted to get them out of here asap.)

Now I'm off to scrub my floor. :)  And seriously don't worry, D.  The neph-poos are still welcome here anytime!

THAT'S A FRAMER

When we were on vacation in June I picked up three postcards with the intention of framing them and hanging them in our kitchen.  Our kitchen is burnt orange, (we didn't paint it), so it is kind of hard to find anything, (artwork, curtains), to match the walls.  Everywhere we went in New Orleans there were racks of these cute little postcards and thankfully they matched orange. :)

The only downside to these cool little finds?  They were square so they weren't going to fit into a generic matte and frame that I could get for a steal.  Instead, I had them framed at Michael's last week so I thought I would do a little guide to framing!  Frames are crazy expensive, (I kind of regretted my decision and justified it by telling myself the postcards were three for $5 and we'd have the artwork forever so why couldn't I spend money on the frames, hmm??) so I want to help you figure out how to keep framing costs down!  I hope this is helpful to someone out there.

1. Select your matte(s).
I never knew you could have more than one matte in a frame, but you can.  This means you can pick colours that are complimentary to your artwork/photo and to your walls.  They can help you with this.  The first combo we tried was bright green, bright blue, and yellow.  The colours coordinated with the postcards, but weren't going to be very versatile.  So we went with the more neutral brown and yellowish beige.  Another thing to remember about multiple mattes: mo mattes, mo money.

2. The glass - high and low.
Michael's had a "high" and "low" glass option.  The expensive glass doesn't have any glare.  It really was amazing seeing the difference when both options were side by side.  If I had chosen this glass, you would never see a glare from the kitchen lighting and the photos I took wouldn't have a glare from the camera flash.  Kind of nice but there was a huge price difference from what I remember.

3. Frames.
At Michael's a rubber band was wrapped around each frame with a colour coded price range.  This makes a very big difference in your total price.  I wasn't aware of the colour coding at first and we totaled the cost with a more expensive frame.  When I switched to frames in a different range, the price was drastically different.  One cool thing about the frames I chose...they have a swirly detail that mirrors a detail in one of the postcards.

4. The mounting.
There were two different ways they could stick the artwork into the frame.  I can't remember the difference but since I was framing postcards, (and not family heirloom photographs or anything like that),I didn't care about the upper end option.  Selecting the lower option only saved me a couple of dollars, but why not?

This has nothing to do with cost or choices, but frames from Michael's have a lifetime guarantee.  So if we move one day and the glass is broken in the move, they'll fix it for us.  I kind of like that.  Again makes me feel better about spending all that money.

TRUE PATRIOT LOVE

Do you pin?  Pinterest has given me so many new recipes to try and I love it!  I had been dying to try this nutella cupcakes recipe (yum!) and so when we had people over a couple of days before Canada Day, it seemed like the perfect occasion.  Who doesn't love nutella, right?  I followed the recipe to a "T" but added my own patriotic flare by making red fondant maple leaves.

I used white fondant I had on hand from a bulk foods store and Wilton dusty rose food colouring that came in a cake decorating kit hubby gave me for Christmas.  I ended up with red hands, (should have bought food handling gloves), but that's okay.  Roll out the fondant and use a cookie cutter for the shape of your choice.

The recipe tells you to swirl nutella onto the top of the cake batter once in the muffin pan.  Next time I would completely incorporate the nutella into the batter when in the bowl rather than bothering to swirl.  I think I would like an entirely brown cupcake rather than the clump of nutella on top.  They were still good, though!

ATTACK OF THE KILLER VACUUM

Ever since Leroy moved in he has been terrified of the vacuum.  It's an irrational fear, really, but you can't tell him that.  When he was little he would lay on the futon while I vacuumed the family room and when I got close he would growl and bark.  Hubby thinks it's funny but I've always found it annoying...it makes it a little difficult to get chores done.  I've taken to closing him in a bedroom when I vacuum the entryway floor mat and vice versa.  When I was cleaning the spare room yesterday I happened to look out into the mud room and saw my baby like this.  It was so funny I had to grab my camera.

HEEYAH, GATAH!

More Big Easy!

We both agreed one of our favourite things from our trip was the swamp tour.  (If you ever go to NOLA, this is a must!)  It was an hour and forty minutes of air boat ride through the Louisiana swamps.  Completely amazing.  Gorgeous scenery for those of us who have never seen that kind of landscape, and alligators everywhere.  Hubby was very good at spotting them from far away - what a woodsman I have. :)  We were lucky enough to see a thirteen foot gator up close...directly beside us on the boat.  Captain Chip fed him/her raw chicken and marshmallows.  Everyone likes marshmallows!  He said you'll never see another gator that big in the wild again.  (And I believed him because when we got back to the bus, other groups said they never saw any nearly that long.)


Captain Chip feeding chicken to the 13 foot gator.

At one point Captain Chip got off the boat to pee (shh, don't tell) and a little guy started to follow him.  He just turned around, whacked it on the nose and said, "Stay back!"  Quite funny.  I can't imagine growing up in the swamps like that and being comfortable just whacking an alligator on the nose (he also kissed the really big guy).  When he came back from his, um, bathroom break...he was basically surrounded by alligators.  It was crazy!  They were all around the boat and on the ground all around him.  I snapped some great pictures and just tried to edit one in a cool way.  You'll see.  I think I'd like to blow up the nature scene (of the swamp) and put it in our dining room or bedroom.  It was my favourite photo of the trip.


These canals were man-made to dig for oil, although we went to more natural parts of the swamp as well.

This was when Captain Chip jumped off the boat to go to the bathroom.  I wouldn't want these guys in the bathroom stall with me...

IT'S A BIRD...

I was quite a lucky girl this week.  My friend K came to visit!  We met when I was K's RA (resident assistant) during her first year at university (and my second year).  Two years later we actually ended up being RAs together and we hadn't seen each other since I graduated.  It's so wonderful to catch up with friends, isn't it?  Our visit consisted of playing guitar outside on the lawn, being introduced to new music, going out for butter chicken, a long walk around a local park, youth group, henna tattoos, a movie, aaaand...flying a kite!  Apparently K did this a lot last summer and she reintroduced me to the art of kite flying.  I hadn't done this since I was a kid (and I remember most attempts being unsuccessful as Mom tried to run with the kite to get it into the air).  Somehow K had that kite flying in all of a minute and we had lots of time to take pictures.  It was sad for me to watch her leave today but we had a nice visit for a few days!  Thanks for coming, K, and we wish you well on your adventure. :)

BEIGNET DONE THAT

You're going to see New Orleans a little bit at a time.  Today: my favourite thing to eat in the Big Easy.  Beignets!  They are French doughnuts in the shape of squares that are deep fried and sprinkled (understatement) with powdered sugar!

These beignets and frozen cafe-au-lait are from Cafe du Monde, a well-known local cafe that has been around a long time.  Definitely worth a visit (or ten)!  While watching the New Orleans news one night the owner of Cafe du Monde shared the secret to the perfect beignet.  Beignets cooked later in the week with the older grease are more tasty because they have soaked up all the delicious flavours from the past week.  He was definitely right because the beignets we ate later in the week were darker than the first ones we had.  We brought home some mix I'll make at some point when we get a hankering!

BEACHY KEEN

At this point it must be common knowledge I'm not working this summer.  Since it's my last summer off ever (gasp) I decided to take advantage of it - especially since I've had a summer job since I was fourteen.  Why I started working so young, I'm not sure... I remember begging my parents to let me work that first summer.  Regardless, this is my last taste of freedom (and I can't afford medical school either way), so what the heck?!

My days consist of: waking up, driving hubby to work, coming home, taking Leroy for a run, making lunch, possibly having a nap, reading a book, gardening, running errands, picking hubby up from work, making supper, going to sleep.  Sometimes something fun is thrown in there like a lunch date, a movie, or a campfire.  It's a hard life, really.

We were in New Orleans on vacation last week (more about that later) and we sure missed our guy!  Since I'm home with him all day, I decided to take him to the beach today to celebrate our reunion. :)  It was our first beach visit of 2012.  The best thing about where we live is there is a beach very nearby.  It's wonderful for Leroy to be off his leash and chase the frisbee, and we have a lot of fun relaxing and looking for beach glass (sometimes while eating an ice cream).  The delights of summer. :)  Here are a couple of pictures of our guy chasing his frisbee today.

GRANOLA

Currently I'm back on "the wagon", if you know what I mean.  I'm just a running up a storm, eating fruit and veggies like they're going out of style, stretching every night...  The wagon is not a fun place to be.  :)

I kid; I kid.  The wagon can be okay if you make the best of it.  For instance, Leroy is getting lots of exercise on our almost daily jogs.  Yesterday we ran 5.6 km (and then we died a little when we got home).  Do you know what kind of food people "on the wagon" eat??  They eat granola!  So Leroy and I decided now was as good a time as any to try out this recipe I found on the Cupcakes and Cashmere blog (and she found here).

You'll need: vegetable oil, rolled oats, maple syrup, (I also used honey), brown sugar, shredded coconut, (I used unsweetened), slivered almonds, any other nuts you may want, and raisins.  I had a few pecans and walnuts in the cupboard from other baking projects, so I used those up.  And the recipe calls for 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp maple syrup, but I used half maple syrup and half honey.  The recipe also calls for salt, which I rarely add to anything, but strangely I decided to follow the directions this time.  I probably wouldn't add the salt next time.  You just don't need it, people.

The recipe is very simple.  Once everything is mixed together, spread evenly over baking sheets.  The granola filled two of my cookie sheets.

I knew before I started this was going to be a semi-difficult project just because it's the type of thing that can burn easily.  I swear I have the hottest oven on earth because it seems to burn everything!  I never had this problem when I lived at my parents' house.  Since every oven is different, keep a close eye on your granola!  The food network told me it should take an hour and a half to cook the granola but in my oven, it only took 45 minutes tops!  To be honest, I should have taken it out a couple of minutes sooner (although it's still fine).  The moral of the story...stir every fifteen minutes and be vigilant!

After it has cooled you can add raisins (if you like them).  Then enjoy!  I like to eat my granola with yogurt although I'm sure there are more creative ways to eat it.  Maybe I'll eat it as plain old cereal.  I'm crazy like that.  :)

1/2 M.D.

 School finally came to an end!  Can you believe it?  This was certainly cause for a celebration (or three).  Our class was treated to a BBQ by the staff immediately after our exam finished.  It was such a gorgeous Friday I actually was sweating outside (and got some colour)!  That evening we headed over to a classmate's house for a potluck and bonfire.  You have probably figured out we love our potlucks, considering we've had about five in the last two weeks.  That's a bit of an exaggeration but we have honestly had at least three...

The evening was a lot cooler than the day had been so we all had to cuddle around the campfire while we passed out our annual class awards - always a hoot.  In case you're wondering, I received "The Duchess" award for dreaming about the Royal Wedding for the past two years.  Well deserved, well deserved.



Surgeon cake pops our hostess made!  They were adorable!

Saturday we made our first trip to the market and then left for the cabins we had rented for the night.  About twenty of us went and we had a grand old time.  The cabins were on the river with a nice little beach so we were able to lay out in the sun, (fully protected with sunscreen reapplied many times), and have beach bonfires.  Thanks again to L who organized everything, (including renting the cabins, buying all the food, organizing the cooking, buying us an ice cream cake, etc).  You did a wonderful job and we had so much fun!  See you for Intro to Clerkship, 2014!



L and K's car loaded down with camping supplies and our class artwork.

HAPPY BIRTHING!

I have been dying to blog this photo and since I'm currently procrastinating, (my last exam is tomorrow), it seems like a good time!

My whole class has been very excited because one of our classmates is pregnant with baby number two.  I'm especially excited because J is one of my travel buddies from last summer and I love when people, (who are not me), have babies!  For quite a few months now we have been calling the fetus (ha!) Bubba - a nickname given to the baby by her four year old brother.  Somewhere over the course of the semester the nickname stuck and we're all anxiously awaiting Bubba's arrival. :)

Recently I hosted a non-traditional shower for J and Bubba.  It was more of a baby party, really, with our whole class invited - boys and all!  It was a lot of fun (and was by far the most people we've ever had in our house).  We ate all kinds of delicious potluck foods, played weird baby games, and opened gifts.  Leroy was there through it all.  He became the center of attention when everyone was playing the balloon game, (you know, where you hit a balloon back and forth without letting it touch the ground), and he joined in on the action.  He was jumping in the air and bumping the balloon with his little nose just like Air Bud.  We're so proud.  In all seriousness, it was quite a hoot.  (And hubby and I weren't the only ones who thought so!)

Aside from discovering Leroy's doggie basketball potential, the other highlight of the night came when J opened gifts.  One of the boys gave her a thank you card instead of some variation of the classic, "Congratulations!  You're having a baby!" card.  You'll see.

JW, you had already left by the time your card was opened, but you should know your card was a hit.  I haven't laughed that hard in ages.

MAX GREENFIELD'S GENIUS

Have you watched New Girl?

It is my favourite new show of 2012 and if you haven't seen it, you must!  If my sense of humour was a television show, this would be it.  I'm not sure how this is possible, but I find almost every line in the show hilarious.  Zooey Deschanel (you might remember her as the female lead in Elf) is, as they say, aDORKable and her three male roommates are laugh-out-loud funny.

One of the best lines of the season was, "Kitchen island?  Be a man.  Let your counters touch."  It still makes me chuckle to myself.

Zooey Deschanel has another interesting project on the go. Along with two friends, she has created a website called Hello Giggles where you can share and view funny videos, craft projects, beauty products, and various other cute things.  On this site I discovered this amazing piece of genius.  It.  Is.  Amazing.  If you love New Girl and/or love The Hills, sit down and get ready for the next two minutes to blow your mind.  Max Greenfield (who plays Schmidt) made this little video portraying what Schmidt's online dating profile would look like.  (And here's a link if you would like to see some other bonus Schmidt videos!)

SHAKE IT OUT

I have never jumped on the Glee train.  It's funny, too, because I love singing, dancing, and musical theatre.  The music covered piques my interest but every time I watch an episode, I find the plot boring.  For me, a youtube search of recent Glee songs is the best case scenario.  This way I can listen to their music and don't have to watch (what I consider) boring dialogue.  Last week during one of these searches I found "Shake it Out".  This is a song by Florence and the Machine (Dog Days Are Over, anyone?) and I absolutely love it!  In the last few days I have probably listened to this song (both versions) fifteen times.  The gals on Glee did an acoustic version, which adds a different dimension to the song.  Both are lovely so here they are for you to enjoy!

[In other news I ran 5 km with Leroy today.  Go me!  Running outside is a whole different world than the treadmill... The entertainment factor is there, but man, hills are rough.]

FLORAL DAYS AHEAD

In the spirit of spring, I wore my new floral tunic to school today.  It's bright and fun, and although it has long sleeves, it is very light material so it's nice and cool.  Today was a beautiful day so it just felt like the right choice.



Tunic from Modcloth, leggings from Lululemon, Toms shoes, sunglasses from Fossil.

And now I'm off for a run in this lovely 14 degree weather!  Hoping for another gorgeous day tomorrow!

FORGOTTEN GOD

A photo taken at a friend's cottage last summer.

 I recently finished "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan.  You may remember a couple of months ago I did a little review of "Crazy Love", also by Chan.  Crazy Love is a novel about how to go deeper into your relationship with God...how to take the next step and really follow Jesus.  Forgotten God is completely different and focuses on the Holy Spirit.  Chan analyzes the Holy Spirit's importance and role in our lives.

For me, one of the most interesting sections of this novel speaks about God's calling in our lives.  Often you'll hear people talk this way, saying God has a purpose for them.  Sometimes people claim to be waiting for this purpose to be made known to them.  Chan states waiting for God's calling can be an excuse Christians use.  He says God doesn't care so much what we do ten years from now, He really cares about what we do today.  By waiting for our future purpose, we might be making excuses not to take action in the present.

This reminded me of something my high school ISCF (Inter-Scholastic Christian Fellowship) leader/biology teacher told me.  When I was in grade twelve, I found deciding which university to go to quite stressful.  I had approached Mr. D for advice because I thought him to be a man of God (who had been making the same decision a few years before me) and I greatly respected his opinion.  As a seventeen year old, I did not expect the answer I received.

Mr. D asked me, "Have you prayed about this?"

My response was, "Well, of course I have!!  I want to know where God thinks I should spend the next four years!  He must want me to be somewhere specific!"

Wisely, Mr. D then told me, "God wants you to raise up your decisions to Him.  He wants to be a part of your life and He wants you to look to Him for guidance.  However, God isn't going to send you a miraculous sign from heaven to show you which university to attend.  He won't send a lightning bolt to University A so you know that's where you're supposed to be.  He wants to be included in your decision and He'll make sure the decision you make is the right one."

Wow.  As a teenager, I thought that was the most awesome thing I had ever heard.  I think he was totally right.  That's my "God's purpose" story.  God wants to be a part of what you do today.  You don't have to make decisions for the next ten years because you think they are part of God's will.  Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.  Allow Him to be part of your daily decisions and He will make sure you are doing as He wants.

And back to the Holy Spirit, remember: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control are the fruits of the Spirit.  I'm certainly not someone who memorizes Bible verses, (although I can paraphrase quite a few - ha),but in high school I took the time to learn these.  They're what you should be producing if you are living a life of faith with the assistance of my man, H.S.  They seemed like something to strive for and so I thought it was important I knew what they were.  Quite often I recite them to myself and think about the ones I'm not doing well (which is often all of the above).  Regardless, they're something to strive for!

SIGNS OF SPRING

I've been sitting home writing a paper today (we don't write many papers in med school) and looking out the window at the beautiful day.  Then I realized how close summer is!  I only have three more weeks of school (which include this paper, an exam, and a clinical skills exam) and then I'm free.  Once I realized this, I started to notice signs of spring everywhere.

1. BBQ.  Last week before my exam hubby made a delicious barbecued meal - the first of the season.

2. Watermelon.  This was my afternoon snack today.  It's one of my favourite seasonal foods!

3. Something floral this way comes.  This is the fabric of a tunic I just bought online.  There's nothing better than the day your online shopping purchases arrive. :)

4. Johnny jump-ups.  I'm not sure what their true name is, but I think this is what my mom called these pretty little flowers last summer.  These grow all over our yard and they're one of the only plants I haven't tried to dig up.

5. Car rides.  It's the season of "let's just go for a drive," isn't it?  It definitely is in our family!  A certain someone loves coming along.  When we say, "Do you want to go for a car ride?" Leroy will pace around the kitchen until we finally leave.

How are you seeing signs of spring?  Doesn't it make you excited?  This is a very fun time of year as school draws to a close and summer is just around the corner!

BLOOMING TEAS

Have you ever heard of this?

On the weekend we had a couple of friends over to play board games (Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan).  When M asked me to boil water for tea, I had no idea what was going to happen next.  From her purse she produced a clear mug to display her blooming tea!  I am not a drinker of caffeinated beverages, (other than Coca Cola, of course), so I found this product quite surprising.  It looked something like this, (and because it's a photograph, I mean it looked exactly like this):

What do you think?!  Have you ever seen anything like this??  I said it looked like an octopus and hubby thought it looked like an alien.  Would you like to see another view - this time of the flower itself?  Of course you would.

If you're a tea drinker, here is a link where you can buy something similar from David's Tea.  I think M had it right.  Something as strange pretty as this should be put in a clear glass for all to see.  (As an aside, I won the game of Settlers we were playing in the background of these photos.  That's a very important detail.)

AUSTRIAN STYLE

Today I was glancing through my photos from Europe last summer and came across this photo of a beautiful Austrian couple.  This was taken at a vineyard outside of Vienna and I love how chic this couple looks!  They could have stepped out of the pages of a magazine with their beautiful clothing and dashing pose.  Something about this is just incredible to me.

Sorry about the not-so-wonderful quality of the photo.  I think I was trying to be discrete and was less worried about clarity...

EASTER MONDAY TREATS

Last night I slaved over carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, using some fun baking supplies my mom brought me.  This included these sprinkles, these cupcake liners (shaped like a flower) and this cute little guy!

The carrot cake recipe is from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  I made this cake for Thanksgiving, but used a rectangular cake pan.  This was the first attempt as cupcakes and they seemed to turn out fine.

The cream cheese frosting (also a Betty Crocker find) is made by combining:

1 package of cream cheese

1/4 cup of butter or margarine

Vanilla

A very large amount of icing sugar (approx 4 cups)

After a couple of hours, a very messy kitchen, and sticky hands, this was the finished product.

Happy Easter until next year!

HAPPY EASTER - HE IS RISEN!

Happy Easter!

As I've gotten older, Easter has replaced Christmas as my favourite holiday.  It's so awesome to have this reminder once a year about how much God loves me (so much he calls me a child of God)!  I know it everyday, but on Good Friday and Easter Sunday it really sinks in that Jesus has saved me.

To celebrate, I wanted to share the song I have listened to probably ten times today (by David Crowder Band called "How he loves us").  My favourite line is:

If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking.

And thank heavens for grace!

MISH MASH

This post is a mish mash of things from this week!  First of all, I got a new haircut two weeks ago - my first ever dye job and bangs (for the first time since elementary school).  It was all very exciting.  As well, I have new RED pants.  They are kind of fab if I do say so myself.

Blazer H&M, t-shirt Smart Set, pants Tommy Hilfiger.

Onto the next item of business.  At school we drew names for secret buddies at the beginning of the year and we buy gifts for that person.  My wonderful secret buddy bought me a gorgeous hydrangea plant that I am in love with!!  Strangely enough, while grocery shopping the last two weeks, I have mentioned to hubby how much I loooooved the hydrangeas on display and how gooorgeous they were and how purple is sooooo wonderful.  Much to my surprise, my buddy bought me the exact plant I had been gushing over for two weeks!  This led me to believe hubby knows who my secret buddy is and gave them a hint.  However, he says this is not the case, it was just a coincidence!  How funny is that?!  Apparently my buddy knows me quite well.  They even (kind of) match my chairs!

And in case you were wondering, Leroy also liked my gift.

Finally, were you wondering where I was going in those fantastic red pants??  Hubby and I had a date night to a restaurant in the city we hadn't tried before.  We have our go-to spots we love (for sushi, Indian, Chinese, and Thai) but have decided to branch out some in the future.  We went to a little tapas bar we had heard about.  We ordered three dishes and enjoyed them all (although I forgot to take pictures of the last two...I was hungry, ok?).  The course I did remember to capture on camera is a lobster dip.  We also got bruschetta and chicken skewers - all delicious!  And there you have it.  That was Thursday.