A Few of My Favourite Things

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have written! Time just goes too fast for me, and I can never seem to keep up... 

There are always so many things that I like and would love to tell people about, so I too thought I would write a little list of my favourite things. Since it is so close to Christmas and Christmas is my most favourite time of the year, there may be a little bit of a Christmas theme to my list - just a little warning. ; )

1.  The Adelphie Dress from Club Monaco

I tried to find a picture of this dress that would do it justice with no avail. This silk georgette dress first caught my attention because it was navy - a difficult colour to find in cocktail dresses sometimes - and one that is currently absent from my collection. I have been looking for a navy dress. It is similar, but a nice alternative, to a little black dress.  : ) Another feature of this dress I really liked (which unfortunately isn't shown in this picture) is that it has a piece of the fabric coming up the one shoulder, narrow at the base where it attaches to the dress and gradually widening until it reaches its widest point at the top of your shoulder. It is distinctive without being obvious.  Lastly, it has a little grosgrain ribbon of the same colour at the waist, which I think is a sweet touch. 

Adelphie Dress, Club Monaco

2. Christmas Wreaths

Although I would love to have a beautiful real Christmas tree, living in an apartment, it isn't so easy... : ) Instead, I rely on pretty wreaths. I have a large window in my living room, and every year, I hang three wreaths on the windows, a large one in the centre and two smaller ones on either side. I also always put one on the front door. 

3. Ivory Poinsettias

Along with wreaths, poinsettias are another one of my favourite Christmas decorations. I like poinsettias in red too, but white is my favourite colour and the large majority of my decorations are white or ivory, so that's why I chose ivory ones. I place one outside my front door on each side, and  then multiple ones all throughout the inside of the apartment. I think they look warm and inviting at Christmastime. : )

4. Christmas Ornaments

Although as mentioned above, I don't have a Christmas tree, I do still collect Christmas ornaments whenever I see one I like, whether it be from a nice store or from Wal-Mart. : ) My intention is that when I have a Christmas tree, I wanted it to have a collection of ornaments from different times. Plus, usually they are just too pretty to resist. : ) Sometime I will show you some of my favourites, but that is for another day. 

I probably should be going to sleep now, for a day of baking to Christmas music tomorrow. : )

I hope you have the most wonderful holiday and receive all of your favourite things and more.

Merry, Merry Christmas,

xoxo

P.s. I forgot one of my favourite things! Silver Bells. As pretty as real silver bells are, what I mean is the Christmas song, it is my favourite one. : )

Christmas To Do List

So every year around the holidays I like the make a little list to breakdown everything that I want/need to do. This is really just so I don't get overwhelmed - which would lead to me eating cookie dough out of the tube while holding myself and crying....haha, no. but really.

Here's the ol' list and the progress I've made so far. Everything in red is still a TO DO item that has yet to be crossed off. With less than a week away from Christmas, I think I'm doing pretty well though, right? right?

1. Decorate house for Christmas. Put up Christmas tree, hang stockings, put up garland on stair railing, hang wreath on door - DONE-ZO, woo to the hoo

2. Make Christmas Cookies - This was done, but the boy ate them all, haha. I guess I'll need to make another batch. I think I'll just do the peanut butter kiss blossoms because I bought an extra pack of Hershey's Kisses last time. Also, they're the easiest and yummiest :)

Sorry for the crappy cellphone pic. Promise I'll get a real camera soon :)

3. Christmas shopping.....still not done, just need to get three more gifts and then it's on like donkey kong. That will happen tonight, so I will soon be able to cross this off the list - HOUZA!

4. Present Wrapping - half way done this one. I think I might need to pull a 5 hour session outta my hat tonight to get this finished. At least all the homemade gift tags are done...sort of ;)

5. Make a pseudo holiday dinner for the boy and I on Wednesday. Why Wednesday? It's the only free day we have this week...eek! I've got all the groceries for this and plan on making chicken breast stuffed with stuffing (possibly wrapped in bacon?), mashed potatoes, carrots,  and broccoli. Sounds pretty good to me :) This will happen on Wednesday so I can't cross it off the list just yet :)

6. Plan breakfast for Christmas morning - One more thing I'm done. YAY. I'm making this lovely looking thing from Bacon Time with The Hungry Hungry Hypo. She suggests to top it with some salsa which I love, but I think I might make some hollandaise to go over the top.

Yummmmy...how awesome does this look?

And that's it....I think. Looking at this list makes me think that I'm missing something. Any ideas as to what I'm forgetting?

Tata for now. xoxo.

Be back soon

Cookie Monster Jam

Seasons greetings everyone!

I just get so excited around the holidays. Although it does get to be a little stressful, what with the crazy crowds in the malls shopping for presents, the ridiculous amounts of money spent, and packed schedules of friend and family gatherings - but the Christmas season just makes me simply giddy!

This weekend, the boy and I are heading to a Christmas dinner party with some friends. Our friend is quite the chef extraordinaire. This is his current menu, NOT even kidding!

{butter basted roast turkey}
{slow cooker honey glazed ham}
{pork sage and onion stuffing}
{garlic mashed potatoes}
{red white and purple roasted potatoes}
{sweet potato pie with a bread crumb and bacon topping}
{onion and bacon topped brussel sprouts}
{roasted carrots with brown sugar and parsley}
{sauteed green beans}
{yorkshire puddings}
{country style bread rolls}
{and an entire vat of gravy}

Four types of meat (including bacon and pork) and three types of potatoes !! WOW, how delicious and massive does that meal sound (kind of like the 12 days of Christmas song. haha)? Needless to say, I am pretty excited to have my first Holiday meal with great friends!

So that's on the agenda this weekend. I am also hoping to get all my holiday baking done as well. That is if I'm not in a massive food coma that lasts the entire day on Sunday :) Every year I usually try and make at least 4 types of cookies, last year, unfortunately, I didn't have the time OR the kitchen space to bake them. I've got two that I almost always make and two new ones that I'm going to try this year.

Here's my list of cookies that I'll be making this year.

1. Candy Cane Cookies

These are my absolute favourite. We always made these every year when I was a little kid, so they make me a little nostalgic. You can get the recipe here.

2. Peanut Butter Kiss Blossoms

I discovered these AMAZING cookies a few years back and have been making them ever since. The peanut butter and chocolate is an option that everyone loves and the cookies are so moist and flaky. It's like a little morsel of Heaven on your tongue! You can get on over to that recipe here.

3. Gingerbread Snowflakes


Photo via Cupcakes and Cashmere

How awesome do these look? I cannot wait to decorate this sweet little morsels. Although I'm not the biggest fan of gingerbread, this recipe is supposed to be the "best", so hopefully they will turn out well and I will finally find a gingerbread that I enjoy. These are originally from a Martha Stewart recipe found here

4. Sugar Cookies

Last but not least will be some fabulous sugar cookies. I always have trouble with the easiest cookie known to the baking world, but I try them every year (usually a different recipe every year). I really just enjoy making sweet Christmasy shapes and decorating them.  Here's to hoping this recipe will become a yearly tradition.

Now all I need to do is find a cheap DIY option for wrapping these up for gifts. Anyone have any good ideas for me? Does anyone else bake their cookies all at the same time, or do I sound like a crazy woman?

Tata for now. xoxo.

PS. Just don't tell Cookie Monster what's going on at my house this weekend. Otherwise, he might end up like this. Haha, that gets me every time.

Countdown Begins

So every year around Christmas time, my girlfriends and I get together and do some sort of Seasonal get together/party/etc.

This year will definitely be something to write home about. We are calling it "365 days in 24 hours" or put simply "A Year in a Night". Since we've all started getting older growing up into adults (yikes!)and moving up and out with our lives, I thought it would be a sweet idea to have a party where we could celebrate all the holidays that we will otherwise miss together.

It seems like quite a bit of work, but my girlies are worth it! Here's what the rough schedule looks like so far.

6 PM - Valentine's Day / Birthdays

7 PM - St. Patrick's Day

8 PM - Easter

9 PM - Thanksgiving

10 PM - Halloween

11 PM - Christmas

12 AM - New Years Eve

And the rest of the night will be spent mingling and catching up. There might also be some drinking involved ;)

At least I have a rough idea of what I'll be doing. Although I'm not 100% on what every holiday will consist of, I know for sure that we will be doing this:

Cupcake Buffet via

Wish me luck.

Tata for now. xoxo.

Me Likey

Hello All,

Thought I'd write a little list of my favourite things right now. It's getting colder outside and closer to Christmas (already Dec 1st, where did the time go? eek!) and we had the first snowfall yesterday. Thankfully there's no white covering on the ground yet and it's a beautiful sunny day today. But still - SNOW! Anyways, let's get this started.

1. Blistex Lip Medex

Such an awesome remedy for dry, cracked lips as the weather gets colder. I always keep one of these in my purse throughout the Winter months.

2. Hot Chocolate

Nothing beats a warm, chocolatey, whipped cream topped treat when it's cold outside. I have been going to this little coffee shop near work almost every day to get a large steaming cup. Best hot chocolate I've ever had!

3. Furry Blankets

Luxurious and uber comfy at the same time. I just ADORE these faux fur throws that are popping up everywhere (first from West Elm for $129.17, second from ZGallerie for $149.95), but they are a little out of this cheap lasses price range. I am dreaming of creating a DIY version - I'll let you know if and when how I did it. Ugh, don't you just want to curl up on the couch with one of these sexy throws. RAWR

4. Storage Wars and American Pickers

Yuuuup! I am excited to see how the Storage Wars Texas  will fare. And I just love those goofy dorks from American Pickers.

And that's all she wrote. Hope you all like the run-down of my go-tos at the moment (and soon to be united friends lovers - and by that, I think you know I mean a faux fur throw).

Tata for now. xoxo.