Where I've Been!

Alright, it's been TWO MONTHS!! since I've posted anything at all.  Usually a break like this means 2 things for a blogger:

1) You're taking time off to write a book

OR

2) You're having a baby (like the lovely Kimberly at Bugaboo, Mini, Mr. & Me!)

Well, I'm doing neither! HA!

In the last few months I become a single entity again (sometimes things just don't quite work out), AND the really big news......

I BOUGHT A CONDO!!

Yup! a place of my very own!  And now for the fun part! Over the next while you all get to join me on my journey and adventure as I transform and create my own space!

I have a lot of fun projects in the works and I'm really excited to get back to here and share them with you!  I have a few other things up my sleeve, but I'll wait to announce those when I know they're going to happen! :)

For now, I leave you with a pic of my place on my possession date - my shiny new kitchen to create lots of yummy things in!  It doesn't look quite this clean anymore! :P

Also coming up soon - I'm joining in Kimberly's "Gift It Good!" series!! I'll be sure to update you on that too!

Pet Peeve...followed up with some humor!

Alright, first with the pet peeve - "Pin now, read later"  I don't know about you, but I rarely find I have the time to go back through my pins and read them later, if I didn't already do it when I pinned it (other than for reference - like I'm going to make something or try a recipe)  I try to take the time when I pin them to visit the original site to make sure it's a "good pin" (ie the link goes somewhere, and it's the original site) I do this because I know I will likely never go back to check. 

And isn't everything kinda "pin now, read later"?  If you're not going to come back to it, why are you pinning it?

Anyway, this wasn't to make a whole bunch of people upset, it's just me venting a little because I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. 

I know I'm not the only one because I found these... (no...I did not just go and make them myself!)

This however is a real concern:

Especially because I have a board titled "Corgis" and then "Clothing DIY" It makes me think of this:


(I apologize it's only the audio, couldn't find a good video)

Last Day of 2012

Right now I see a lot of Top Posts of 2012, or New Years Resolutions posts.  I don't really intend to do either.  

Last year I made a "poster" of a bunch of goal words I wanted to achieve and set it as my desktop background.  Unfortunately I think I was a bit over ambitious, and there was just too much to do.  

This year I'm keeping it a bit simpler.  I have 2 things I want to focus on, and I think through those two things, the rest will come.  

1) Go to more yoga classes.  This is something purely for myself, and I always leave feeling fantastic.  Giving myself this time seems to help put everything else in persecutive!

2) Read more.  I'm a bit embarrassed to say that over the last couple years I really haven't read that many books.  I find that my attention span for reading blogs or anything else for that matter has gone down the drain and I think it's because I just don't do enough reading.

So that's it.  Two simple things.  

And now for some fun, Friend Makin' Mondays over at All the Weigh - I read Kenlie's blog daily, but can honestly say this is something I've never participated in.  

2013

1. Share one thing that you plan to do for yourself in 2013.  As stated above, I intend to go to more yoga classes.  I'm a fitness instructor, and the gym I work at has a million classes a week between 3 locations (2 of which are convenient) so there really is no excuse! 

2. Share a good habit that you will continue doing into the new year.  I started eating gluten free this fall and love it.  I fell out of it over Christmas time, but intend to go back to it after Christmas.  I just like the way I feel when I cut out the carbs!  I intend to try to share more recipes on my blog too! 

3. Do you make new year’s make resolutions? If so, do you typically stick to them? Yes and no.  I don't like the idea of "resolutions" because no one sticks to them.  The word has come to mean "goals we know we're going to break" where as I prefer goals or intentions.  

4. Do you have any health goals for the new year?  I want to continue to eat gluten free, drink more water, and go to more fitness classes (yoga & others)

5. Share one thing that you plan to do in January.  In January I plan to go to some Zumbathons put on by friends of mine to network more with my fellow instructors.  

6. Do you have any travel plans for the coming year? If so, where are you most excited to go? My boyfriend have pretty big plans for the next 12 months!  We meant to go to Vegas in the fall, but somebody *cough, cough* didn't have his passport.  So we intend to go early this year.  He also has a work conference in Orlando, which i think I will join him there after for a tiny vacation (DISNEY!!!!!) and then in January 2014 he has a cousin getting married in Jamaica!  

7. What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? I'll be spending it with my favorite people, at Amy's house eating yummy things and playing games.  

8. What are your resolutions for 2013? More yoga, more reading!

9. What are you looking forward to most over the next 12 months? I'm really looking forward to finishing up with my dad's estate.  He passed away  in November 2011, and it's been a pretty long road to getting all this done.  (Side note to everyone out there - please get a proper will done, I can't stress this enough!)

10. Share something unique that you hope to do in 2013.  I hope to branch out and start running some of my own fitness classes and expand my business this way, starting with running some bootcamp classes in the park by my house with a friend over the summer.  This is super scary but it'll be a big step for me! 

Lastly, what are my plans for my blog in the new year?  Well, I'm going for simplicity in all aspects of my life, and that might mean that this blog gets a little neglected.  I have a great series of home staging from when I sold my dad's condo that'll be coming up in the new year, AND since I moved in with my boyfriend, I plan to share some of the home renovations he/we have done here.  I intend to share GF recipes as much as I can, AND it's a year of 'crafting with what I have' (I'm doing a bit of a personal stash-bust) so there'll be some of those crafts too, really getting back to the "envirocrafty" spirit! :)  I hope you'll stick around! 

Temple Gardens Getaway

As I've mentioned a briefly, my boyfriend and I have had a very stressful last few months with my dad passing away in the end of November and his aunt getting sick recently.  We decided we needed a bit of a getaway.

We went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to check out the mineral pool at Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort.    They have a huge indoor/outdoor mineral water pool.  We made sure to spend plenty of time soaking!

This photo of Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort is courtesy of TripAdvisor

In addition to doing a lot of that (aka nothing!) we spent a fair bit of time trying different places to eat.  We went for lunch at the Copper Cafe in the Yvette Moore Gallery (which is in the old Land Titles building - very cool!)

This was probably my favorite meal.  Adam ordered the Saskatoon berry iced tea and then I was jealous!

The maple apple cider I ordered was good but couldn't compare to the iced tea!

We both ordered soup & sandwiches.  I got the egg salad which was everything egg salad should be - fresh bread, creamy inside, crisp lettuce! YUM!!  The mushroom soup was wonderful as well!

We spent time looking at the art too.  There were a bunch of pieces like this which where really cool!

There was also pottery and jewelry done by other artists, and I happened to find the perfect birthday gift for my sister! :)  Even though her birthday is on February 6th you'll have to wait until March when I go to visit her to see what she got!

We spent a fair bit of Saturday just wandering the streets.  Moose Jaw has some cool old buildings!

I was highly amused by the POLICE globes!

One store on the main street sold a few antiques.  We were going to hit up a couple other stores, but they were closed by the time we got there.  There's also a place called The Antique Yard just on the outskirts of town that sounds intriguing - I guess we'll have to come back for that!

Gorgeous tea cups!

The casino is attached to the hotel and you wouldn't even have to go outside if you didn't want to.  We stopped in for a bit just to waste $15 each! ;)

(if you didn't already know, slot machines with the real pull handles are the best :P)

There was definitely a lot to do and we didn't do it all!  I think we'll have to come back to do some antiquing!  

I had heard that Nit's is really good - both rated well on Urban Spoon and recommended by a friend of mine who lives in Moose Jaw.  It looks interesting because it appears to be in a building that was a theater! Next time I'll for sure have to try this place!

I hope you enjoyed this little look into our Moose Jaw getaway! We had a great time!

New Years Wedding!

I got to ring in 2012 at my best friend's baby sister's wedding - and it was the perfect way to start the new year.  

It feels like I've been to so many weddings lately & I've learned that something (maybe multiple things) will always go wrong, but it's the atmosphere of the wedding that your guests remember.  This wedding was so beautiful...LOOK!

Prairie Shadows Imagery

The picture doesn't even do it justice!

And the couple is so fun and have an easy-going, light-hearted approach to life, and that's what they will be remembered for.  I mean, have you ever been to a wedding where you got Rick-Rolled?!!? (seriously, the groom incorporated the lyrics into his vows & the wedding party walked out to the song! It was awesome!)

Prairie Shadows Imagery

Alright, now for some fun candid shots of the night!

My lovely sister Leslie (who came to "crash" the dance) and my bestie Amy!

That's better...but blurry!

Amy in her MOH dress & me (this dress was actually a Christmas gift from Adam!) - one shouldered dresses, so hot right now (Zoolander anyone?)

Adam & Amy's husband (also the best man) Landon

Eeeeeee!!

Ooooooh!

Happy New Year!  



 

New Years Resolutions

For my view on resolutions check out my post from last year here.

This year I saw a really cool idea over at One Tough Mother.  She made word art with all her goal works on it over at picnik and printed it out to hang where she'll see it regularly.

I liked the idea so much that I  made my own but instead of printing it, I'll be saving it as my desktop picture so I see it every time I turn my computer on.

I pretty much followed the directions she gave, but as for the size I found out my desktop pixel dimensions (if you have the white macbook it's 1280x800) and made a blank template in paint that size.  To get a colored background, use the duo tone effect and choose the color you want as your second color.  

Do you have any goals for 2012? I'd love to hear it! Even better, make your own word art and share it!

Thank You Cards

Alright, so some of you may have noticed that I have seemingly fallen off the planet lately, and in some ways it feels like I have.  My dad's been in the hospital for the last 5 weeks, about 3 of those were in the Intensive Care Unit.  My dad is doing better, but it is still a long and uncertain road to travel.  Things are somewhat getting back to normal, but still pretty hectic!

My family and I have been completely floored by how amazing the ICU staff have been.  A few years ago my grandma was in ICU at a different hospital in the city, and it was a very different atmosphere than this time.  The staff caring for my dad have been amazing.  My sister and I made cards for dad's nurses, and some of the other staff who were fantastic.

Here are the ones I made.  A couple of them are from my Pinterest card inspiration board.

Inspired by this card

This one is created with the scraps from that Bo Bunny Layout I did at Think Pink 

This card inspired by this one

There just aren't words to fully thank the incredible nurses who took excellent care of my dad, but I hope that they enjoy these cards!  Nurses are often overworked and under appreciated, and it's definitely something that I wouldn't be able to do, and it makes me appreciate them that much more!

Don't forget to thank people who are important to you!!


     

iphone & blogging?

Alright.  I did it.  I finally bought myself a new cell phone, and and iphone 4S at that!  

Absolutely no buyer's remorse whatsoever!  I'm already a bit of an apple enthusiast (she said as she types this on her trusty macbook, while charging her nano...) 

Loving everything about it so far!  

BUT I thought because this is new territory for me I thought I'd check in with all of you.  Do you have an iphone? Smartphone?  

Do you use it in your crafty-life?  How?

I've only downloaded a few apps (Michaels and pinterest to list a couple)

Are there any apps you can't live without?  

Let me know! I'd love any advice!

Labour Day Trip

For Labour Day my boyfriend and I took a little road trip to Edmonton - mostly to go to West Edmonton mall and IKEA (the boy had never been there before!?!?!)

(image)

We left early-ish Saturday morning, and had a fairly uneventful drive (in this case uneventful is good!  Seeing as how my car already had hail damage from a storm a few weeks ago...but details on that at another time!)

When we got in we were told our hotel room wasn't ready yet (1/2 an hour before official check in time).  So we went for a drive.  Now I'm familiar with parts of Edmonton because my sister went to school there for 2 years but because back then I wasn't ever driving, I really didn't know anything :P We went the only way we could (gotta love one way streets :P)  and soon ended up at my sister's former school.  I decided we should go exploring!

This is me in our traditional dancer pose, with bad turnout and my weight too far forward.  And yes, Grant MacEwan Arts Campus is ORANGE on the outside!

I found these neat art projects along one of the walls

The assignment was called "Dreamscape" and was a first year project based on surrealism and aboriginal culture.

I was particularly drawn to this one

How cute is this?!?!

Eeeee! Baby cakes (not just a term of endearment anymore :P)

The artist here was Katie Miller.

Other things of note: This giant guitar!

Anyway, it was a good trip down memory lane, I'd been to the school many times before when visiting & to see my sister's performances.

By the time we got back we could check into the hotel.  It wasn't long before we decided to hit up the mall.  

If you've never been to West Ed it is probably worth your time.  It's big, and there are definitely some neat things, but I do have to admit I was more impressed by the Mall of America.

THE highlight of the mall for me was discovering there was an Anthropologie store.  I had no idea.  And I found out it is as wonderful in person as it is online.  Actually, even more so.  

It's one of those bloggy things where you spend so long idolizing it that when you finally get there you think you're going to die.  Like if I were to meet Jen of Tatertots and Jello in person.  



Even Adam liked it!  Although his degree is in Anthropology, so I don't know if there's some kind of connection ;)

When it was time for supper we checked out the restaurants there, but they were all packed and had a wait.  Adam had overheard the front desk girls talking about the hotel restaurant being really good, so we decided to head back and try it.

We were not disappointed!!

It was called Home Fire, and when we walked up to it (it is detached from the hotel) it smelled like campfire due to the wood burning stove - I'm already sold at this point!

We normally aren't "appetizer people" but when we saw that bannock was an option, we had to try it.  It showed up warm & with maple butter! YUM!  I thought I was going to die of amazingness and happiness!

Adam went with the pork ribs which were incredible!

I decided to try something that I'd never had before - bison meatloaf with Saskatoon berry sauce!

Who orders meatloaf at a restaurant?! ME! And it was DE-LIC-IOUS!!

Other things that I liked about the place?  I overheard them telling other people that they don't serve fries! Now that's refreshing! 

The next day we went to IKEA and hit up the mall again!

No big purchases at IKEA, but we started the day off with meatballs! (We missed $1 breakfast :(

Thanks for checking out our Edmonton adventure! 

The ones that got away

The other night I was shopping at Plato's Closet - a second hand store that pays you for your brand name clothing but not like a consignment store, you get your money on the spot!

I love checking out this store because things are always changing and they're 'one of a kind'

I found these shoes

A-MAZ-ING  Right?

Yup.  But I didn't buy them.  I was being "sensible" and thought they were too high.  BUT they were only $13.  However, I used to be known for buying a lot of cheap shoes and then never wearing them and I got rid of all these only a couple years ago, and I have since tried to avoid that.  

I spent all the next day thinking about them.  So I went back for them. 

They were gone! *insert the sound of my heart breaking*  

Well, I've learned my lesson.  I hope.  Just wanted to share these amazing shoes with you.

Busy-but AWESOME-weekend!

This weekend was incredibly busy for me!  Busy and FUN!!

The fun started on Friday night when I had the opportunity to go to the Saskatchewan Roughriders game in Regina.  Aka leave work early & drive about 250km (160 miles) to go watch a football game.  I know. Sounds crazy, but people here do it all the time!

We have a fan base like nowhere else.  Sadly, the team has only won 1 of their 7 games this season (yikes!).  But people still come out in droves to see them.

here's a picture of the other side of the stands that I took at the game - Sea of green, right?!

Yeah, pretty incredible.  I'd be willing to say that 90% of people there were decked out in Rider gear!  I can't explain it, it's definitely one of those things you just need to experience!

Right now the boyfriend and I love that we are child & pet free and can take off at the drop of a hat to do things like this!  By the way, we acquired tickets from a co-worker of mine who has season tickets & couldn't make it and was trying to get rid of them (11 hours before kick off!)

Saturday morning I had to be up early (after getting in late!) to teach my fitness class.  I love the people who come out on Saturday mornings, and it really wasn't so bad!

Saturday afternoon I took a trip out to see my bestie Amy to start planning our next dinner party! We're pretty psyched!

Here's a couple inspirational pins to make you jealous! (p.s. K.O. If you're reading this, do a little happy dance, you and your man are on the invite list!)

It's a vintagey "shabby chic" potluck.  More details to come! (P.S.  K.O.  we've already discussed that you need to bring macaroons, or whoopie pies!)

The rest of the night was pretty low key.

Sunday I got to go to WICKED the musical.  It was great! I knew the premise of the show, but I really didn't know the story which really was my favorite part.  It was cleverly written and really plays on your knowledge of the Wizard of Oz.  It really is quite brilliant!

I ended up buying myself this cute tee! I'm not usually a merchandise buying person, but this time I just HAD to.  And I found out when I got it home that it's organic cotton.  BONUS!

My mom and I went to the show together, and then went for supper.  It was a really good night!

Now it's time to do some more laundry and have a bath before heading back to work tomorrow!