Puppies, Birthdays & Addictions

Today was a good, lazy, at home to do nothing day. Other than dinner plans we really had nothing going on. Jon did laundry and changed the bed linens. I did nothing. No, that's not true, I relaxed and lounged and dilly-dallied.

Jon's parents volunteered to dog sit for their friend. While  this is a normal occurrence for them, it's a strange one for our cats. The kitties are friendly, but like to be dominant. They don't have the guts to be dominant against big dogs, so they do the next best thing- hide downstairs, howl and become very clingy. This is them while I was eating lunch. They are on the chair next to me...

We had a few hours today that we were the only ones home with all 4 pets. Since we live in the basement the dogs wanted to come downstairs with us. Sassy knows that down here is the cat's domain, and mostly respects that. She keeps a watchful eye out for Firefly who will enforce the space rules and chase her back up. Bailey, who is here for 4 days doesn't understand the rules. She just wants to play and be loved. Jon had a yogurt before lunch and was teasing the cats with it. They were begging like crazy, and, despite being strong willed,  he did eventually give in. While he was on the floor with them I snapped this photo....him and all 4 of the animals. Sassy looks a bit out of the loop all the way in the back, but she was so excited to steal the big cushion from Bailey....

I took Bailey outside for a bit and realized that she is the perfect dog for this kind of weather. She loves chasing balls and it is just warm enough outside that the snow sticks perfectly. We spent about 20 minutes outside, me making snow balls and her chasing them in the 4 foot deep snow pile we call a yard. She was in heaven, and was so tired after that she had a nice long nap, upstairs, and left the kitties alone! Perfect!

We went out to a great restaurant for birthday dinner #2 with Nicole & Greg since Nicole has to work on Saturday when all of us are going to dinner and the bar. We checked out Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria and loved it. We shared prawns and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella and then they brought my salad, Jon's sandwich and 2 pizzas. It was all really, really, really good! They picked me up the next two books in the series that i'm reading, which is awesome because I finished book 6 a few days ago. I am very spoiled...

I came home and sat down thinking I was going to do a quick post. Apparently I need to learn how not to get distracted (or ramble!) I did a quick check in with the blogs I follow and found a great link in Mommakt's Blog It is for a site called Pinterest, and people use it to create a photo catalog of things they love and where to find them. I have heard about it in the past, but have managed to never click to it. I know how easily addicted I get when it comes to pretty things and great photos. I'm not sure why I clicked onto it this time. My Etsy account now has 3 more favorite stores so I can order from them once we move.

Now to fight the urge to keep exploring Pinterest and Etsy and go to bed....maybe to start book 7.....must sleep soon though, gym time comes early in the morning...Goodnight everyone!

Sidenote....New Font

Jan 24th
Ok, so new font....Do you love it? Hate it? Care either way? I am currently undecided!
Feedback please!!!

Jan 25th
Changed it again....is this one better? I am strangely drawn to the fonts that look like they are handwritten...

Birthday Goodness!!

Today was my 27th birthday and it was a gooder! 

I got an early present from my aunts in Vancouver. They picked up a Clay Pot for me for Christmas and got me this recipe book for my Birthday. I flipped through it and am excited to try a bunch of the recipes out! There is one in the back for Maple Pecan Croissants. I have to find a gluten free croissant recipe to do it, but I think it will be worth the effort, they sound amazing!

Today started off earlier than I would have liked as I had to work, but we stopped off at Starbucks on the way and I got a treat- a Triple Caramel Macchiato. Work was good although the leaky ceiling was quite annoying. Jon stopped by to bring me lunch and brought me a surprise Americano from Transcend....so yummy! Then, about 30 minutes later Shannon also dropped in, with a Transcend cup in her hand for me...Yay for a 3 coffee pileup! 

Shannon also brought birthday goodies! An awesome t-shirt from ThinkGeek and a hand warmer. She stuck around for a bit of a visit and then went back to work.

Jon came to get me from work and had these lovely flowers sitting in the front seat. He went to Off Whyte Floral before getting me and Kristi put this pretty collection together! I love her! And him!

Since we were going to be home for dinner Sylvie made my favourite....lasagne! We were all out of gluten free lasagne noodles, so it was made with corkscrew pasta instead, but still tasted amazing! Before eating I opened up my gifts, it looks like the present fairy raided the Apple Store...I got a new laptop bag, a keyboard protector, an amp for my iPhone, and a wireless mouse and keyboard for my iMac. All of my Apples are feeling special now. The only sad thing is that my iMac is too old to have Bluetooth, so the wireless goodies wont connect. We'll bring them back tomorrow and see what other solutions they have for my strange workspace (the cords on my normal mouse and keyboard are too short for where I sit, my arms are fully extended when I am using them!)

We inhaled the lasagne before I could get a photo, but I did get the cake on record. Gluten Free Chocolate Oreo cake. So good!! We didn't have any little candles, so one big one was the way to go! Oh yeah, this is what I look like when I actually wear my glasses! 

This is what the inside looks like. It tastes as amazing as it looks!

And now, i'm curled up on the couch with my sweetie, our kitties, a bottle of wine and Dirty Dancing on TV. Life is good! 

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes today!

Cards and Crazy Weeks!!

This week flew past and despite the efforts to sit down to blog it didn't happen. I'm here now although I really should be in bed.
Monday started out with an evil cold & sore throat. A few days of sleep and lots of Veronica Mars and I am feeling better. The crazy thing is that it was the first really sore throat I have had since I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. I spent the first day trying to figure out what I ate the day before that caused the reaction. Once I woke up the second day I figured out I was just sick, not reacting. That was a bit better.....not much, but at least I knew I didn't mis-read any labels. I am back to being super careful about everything I eat.
The rest of the week passed by pretty uneventfully. Lots more snow, a few days at work and lots of relaxing. I finished Glee, sadly now I am dependant on the TV schedule for more episodes. It has reminded my why I like to watch old shows. TV on DVD means no commercials and it is ready to go whenever I am!

There were a few highlights though....

1. We booked out flights to Victoria to house hunt, job hunt and explore. I am pumped! Jonathan is pumped! We still need to figure out hotel when we are there, but that's the easy part!

2. I set up shop on the table today to make some cards. Jonathan saw what I was doing and grabbed all his models. He was building his Warhammer army, so we spent the whole day gluing, filing and creating together. 

3. I opened up an Etsy shop, check it out here! I started scrapbooking and making greeting cards a few years back and love it. In reality, I probably love it a bit too much, years worth of gathering goodies to use means a big backup of supplies and cards. I made a bunch of new ones today but the shop also has some older ones that I made multiples of. I love everything about Etsy and the fact that it is all homemade things. I have about half of my listings up, I am excited to see them fly!

I will be here more often, I promise! Thanks for reading!!!

Photos

I took a bunch of photos this week and meant to post them here. Other stuff and topics took over, so here is a collection of randoms with no other home!

My Mother in Law loves puzzles, and we got her this gem last Christmas. She just pulled it out of the box to do it again. It is all silver and the center is round. Awesome!!

 My cat (the annoying but cute Firefly) decided that she was going to help and rearranged a few pieces, but only after she taste tested one for Sylvie...the piece survived...kinda....

Firefly also decided to watch me eat my lunch from this perch....such a strange cat! I was sitting about 5 feet away at the table, and she jumped up on the bar stool for my whole meal.

My Mom's pugs decided that they are sick of being cold and started to sleep on the heat vent in the office at work. It makes them less whiny, but makes my office cold, so I'm not sure if I love or hate the idea.

 Edmonton has received an insane amount of snow this week. This is my front street. They managed to get the plows through last week right before the big dump, but it still hasn't been done a second time. We live on the edge of the city so the road crews take awhile to get all the way to us. 

 

 See, gross amounts of snow! It is at my waist, and came down some more after this photo was taken.

Another Townhouse

Oh no, a housing conundrum. I love, love, love the other townhouse I saw in Victoria, but my second cousin said he took a peek at it when he was moving there and didn't like it. The suites themselves are stunning, but the area isn't. He gave me a list of areas to look in, and then I found this gem.

More photos here!

I seriously need to get down there and walk through both of them and the areas. 

Also, I love the universe and all it's wonders. Kyle, my second cousin moved there a few years ago, and messaged me out of the middle of nowhere about 10 minutes after I said I needed to get in touch with him! Just goes to show, whatever you think about happens. Keep that in mind when running late and driving, think about the green lights not the red ones!!! 

Dinner and a Movie....

Today the store was insane. Not too busy, but everyone who came in seemed higher maintenance than they usually are. I think it was a slight sense of entitlement, they drove all that way to my store, how dare I not sell exactly what they were looking for and have it in stock!  So, needless to say, I spent most of the day looking forward to the evening. 

I went on a date....not with Jonathan (who got in some gaming time) but with Shannon. Dinner at The Local and then a movie. Dinner was awesome! We had minor heart attacks last fall when we learned that one of our favourite restaurants was turning into a sports bar. Really? Does Edmonton really need another sports bar? OPM was so yummy, kinda asian fusion, and a great decor. It's gone now, it turned into the Local. Why did we go there if we are so bummed out about it's name and menu change? Well, thank you for asking! They kept our favorite thing on the menu! Here is their description!!! 

Seven Flavoured Beef- Marinated in the fragrant blend of lemongrass, 

peanuts, wheat-free soya sauce, fennel, garlic, ginger & sweet thai basil.

Oh man....so good!!! I could live on it. I think in the short time I have had this blog I have already talked about it once. I can almost guarantee it will be in here again! Lots of good girl talk, trying to figure out my 27th birthday party, her 30th birthday party, both of our moves (she's heading to Kamloops in the spring) and debating throwing a joint going away party. She even braved a sip of my caesar, which was quite funny as her three least favourite foods are tomatoes, anything spicy and vodka. It was awesome...

If you have time to go to a movie, GO SEE THE KINGS SPEECH!! It was amazing! Such incredible casting and a storyline that literally took our breaths away. It is based on the life of George the 6th and the start of his reign as king. Amazing stuff, so empowering. Someday soon (possibly tomorrow evening) I will have time to sit down and do the research it made me crave! I knew that He was the first king to take over because of a scandal, and knew that he was one of the few kings to come into power and replace someone who was still alive and well (his older brother was king, caused a scandal and abdicated the throne) But I never really knew the rest of the details of his life. So good! I want to learn more about him and his speech therapist Lionel Logue.