Happy Dance

I was just as happy as could be today … I had found a new scrapbook store in my area and decided that since I had the day off work I’d treat myself with a caramel-pecan-gingerbread scone from Whole Foods and a few goodies from the LSS. Well, I think I actually did a happy dance when I saw the Jillibean Soup ‘Atomic Soup’ paper collection there. The inner nerd in my had been on the hunt for this collection since I first saw it … you see, I have a BSc in Chemistry and Biology and have spent the last 10 years working in a lab as a research chemist. So, these papers …

… made me smile.

And, I just had to get this itty bitty stamp set to go along with the paper …

I can’t say if I’ll ever use the ‘love potion #9’ stamp, but the little beaker, test tube and Erlenmeyer flask were just too cute to pass up!

I have a few layouts in mind for this paper … I have pictures from university and the research lab that I’ve never done anything with, so I’m excited to finally be able to do something with them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stylish Blogger Award

Aw, shucks.  A big thanks to my friend Sarah over at The Handmade Card Blog for sending me this lovely Stylish Blogger Award.  So part of receiving this award is telling you all a little bit about me … so, here are 8 things that you may not already know:

1. I’m a classically trained violinist

2. I’ve taken professional culinary baking course ... just for fun

3. I love refinishing furniture

4. I have dipped my toes in both sides of the Atlantic ocean

5. I’ve helped birth a litter of piglets

6. I’ve been on a plane that had problems deploying the landing gear and had to make an emergency landing ... I got to go down the inflatable slide

7. I have a ‘thing’ for stationary – I *heart* pens, notebooks, sticky notes and tabs

and finally ... drum roll, please ...

8. I’m a science geek (sorry, can’t help it ... that’s what happens when you spend 5 years studying chemistry in university and then spend 10+ years working in a lab)

That’s it … that’s me.

I’d love to pass it along to those who inspire me everyday with their fabulous blogs …

1. Erin: http://inked.papersweets.ca/
2. Nicole: http://gingersparkles.blogspot.com/
3. Lisa: http://notladylike.blogspot.com/
4. Nicole: http://myscrapology.blogspot.com/
5. Megan: http://maddmartha.blogspot.com/
6. Deb: http://sideshowdeb.blogspot.com/
7. Virginia: http://www.scrapalicious-creative.blogspot.com/
8. Heather: http://www.stampwithheather.typepad.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

Winterlicious

So, in  case you don’t know I’m a foodie at heart.  The food network is always on my TV, I love reading cook books and strolling through a grocery store or kitchen-type store makes me happy.  Why am I telling you this?  Just so you can imagine how gitty I was when my friends and I decided to partake in Winterlicious this past weekend. 

What is Winterlicious you ask?  It’s an awesome 2 weeks when restaurants in the city have special menus for amazing prices … it’s an opportunity to dine in places that would, normally, be too far out of your price range or were booked solid so you’d have no hope of ever getting in.

This year my friends and I decided to check out a restaurant called Horizons … not only did it offer an outstanding menu, but the dining experience was amazing.  You see, the restaurant is located 346m (1,136feet) above the ground.  Here’s the view from our table …

view of the downtown core from 346 meters

The dinner, itself, was just as amazing as the view …

Butternut squash bisque with toasted pecan crème fraîche

Niagara Pinot Noir Braised Short Ribs of Beef, Roasted Holland Marsh vegetables & Yukon gold potato mash

Dark Chocolate, Almond Cornmeal Cake & Lindt milk chocolate ice cream

After dinner we decided to take in more of the amazing views of our city …

view of the Rogers Centre from the observation deck

view of Rogers Centre through the glass floor on the observation deck

We had a blast and can’t wait to try another restaurant in a few months when Summerlicious comes to town.

Thanks for stopping by.

It’s been three years …

but sometimes it feels like it’s only been a few moments. Three years ago today my grandmother passed away. We were very close … as close as a grandmother and granddaughter could be, I think. You see, my grandmother helped raise me, so we shared an extra special bond.

She was always impressed with everything I did … and always made sure to tell me so (she cried like a baby when she saw me in my cap and gown when I graduated university). She taught me how to read when I was three and walked me to school everyday until I was old enough to do it on my own. She encouraged me to dream big and not to settle for less than what would make my heart sing.

She passed on her love of Cadbury chocolate, custard, scotch mints and sticky toffee pudding to me. She was a very special lady and I miss her terribly every day.

this was one of her favourite pictures

Sorry guys, nothing crafty today, but thanks for stopping by.

It’s here!

Yeah, it’s finally here. I’ve been wanting one for a while now, but it’s not available here in Canada. So, I finally found a deal that couldn’t be beat …

I’m super excited … not only is it pink, but there’s rhinestones on it too!

I’m hoping to have a few more posts soon with some of the projects I’ve been working on … thanks for stopping by!

New Goodies

I just ordered one of the new collections from Sassafras … Indie Girl. This will be my very first ‘wee bundle’ and embellies from them as a lot of their other collections weren’t really my style … I’m not a real ‘in your face’ kinda person when it comes to bold, bright colours. But, for some reason, this new collection has caught my attention. I hope you’ll have a look and check it out for yourself.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peaks

So, I’ve been seeing some of the new collections that are coming out at CHA this week and I just have to share some of my favourites …

Webster’s Pages Hollywood Vogue collection

and American Craft’s Dear Lizzy Christmas stamp set (I just love the mittens and the cup of hot chocolate!).

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Yeah!!!

I still can't believe I actually won. The very talented Bona over at keeponscrappin was drawing names for a custom made license plate name card the other week. When I saw my name being pulled out I was super excited. I haven't gotten it yet, but here's a picture she took of the finished license plate. I just can't wait to see it in person.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's really true!!!

I've heard rumors of it happening, but I've never seen it happen. That is until today. I decided to go for a drive this morning and went to a new Michael's. Since it was my first time at that particular store I decided I'd just wander around and look at everything ... and boy am I glad I did. This location still had some of the Making Memories Vintage Findings and Autumn Splendor items. Some of them had the clearance price stickers on them, but most of them didn't. I had picked up a couple of things the other week when they were all 80% off, so I was surprised to see that they still had some left.

I ended up picking up the Autumn Splendor 12" x 12" page kit for $2.49 ... and I think it was marked $14.99 originally.

And then all of the other stuff I picked up all rang up for $0.01. That's right ... each item in that pile only cost a penny. I got two packs of the Vintage Findings Trims (one cool and one warm) ... they were originally marked $6.69 and I only paid a penny. I also go the Spook Alley Mixed Media Spiral Journaling Book, Vintage Findings Glassine Envelopes and two of the Vintage Findings Medium Kit - Love. And finally I picked up the Recollections Chipboard Album Kit ... original price was $11.69 and I only paid $0.01.

Anyways, I suppose I've procrastinated enough ... I have to get back to finishing off the boxes for Christmas. I'm almost done, so hopefully I'll be able to post a picture of the completed ones soon.

I hope everyone has a great day.

It's Better in the Dark

Last night I went to dinner with a group of friends to a very unique restaurant ...

... it wasn't just a place to enjoy fine dining, but one that heightened all of our senses because we ate in the dark.

That's right ... in complete darkness. 'O Noir' is fairly new to my city, but it's concept can be found in other cities in Canada and throughout Europe. When you arrive you spend some time in a dimly lit lounge area where you make your dinner selections. Once you've placed your order you are escorted to your table by your guide who is blind. In fact, the entire waitstaff is blind.

Let me tell you, once that door closes behind you it is completely dark ... you can't even see your hand in front of your face. It is very disorienting when you first sit down ... we all had a 'dizzy' feeling from our eyes trying to get use to the absolute darkness. Then, when you are seated your guide explains the layout of your place setting. You are then brought your drink and a bun ... and it's up to you to find your knife and butter so you can eat. It is lot harder than you might think ... I ended up buttering my hand.

As the experience goes on we felt ourselves becoming a little more comfortable with our surroundings ... heck, drinking and eating a bun in the dark was easy. But, then came the main course. I had the steak with potatoes and vegetables. The steak was cut into managable sized strips, so it didn't have to be cut it with a knife ... I was just picking up things up with my fork and taking bites, which was harder than it sounds because I ended up sticking my piece of asparagus up my nose. But once I got the hang of it the food was really, really good. We all ended up using our fingers towards the end of the meal because it was the only way we could think of to know when we had eaten everything on our plate. The dessert course was next ... and that was just as hard and just as tasty as the main course.

the door to darkness


the view inside the dining room

Now I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday ... I'm hoping to get a few cards made and a couple of layouts organized. I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

It's been a busy week

I can't wait for this week to be over. It seems like I was always on the go ... and the worst part about it is that the rest of the month is looking like it will be the same way.

I'll fill you in on what's been going on this week. First I got a new vacuum as my other one broke. I have two cats so there's fur everywhere. I had a gift card to Lowe's that I wanted to use so I went there to see what they had. I ended up getting a Bissell Lift Off Revolution Pet which is fantastic. It has special attachment to get pet fur off of the furniture.

my new vacuum =P

It came in this pretty big box that my cats are having a blast playing in ... they're having so much fun that I haven't had the heart to break it down for recycling. I'll give them 'til the weekend and then they'll have to find somewhere else to play.

Smudge in a box

I did find a little time to work on some cards. I wanted to try some new things to see if I liked the way turned out.

snowflake card

snowflake card - open

That's all for me for today. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

A nice fall day

Today was a beautiful day here in southern Ontario ... the sun was out,the air was crisp and the sky was clear and blue. I decided today would be a nice day to go for a drive, so I took my mom out for breakfast. We went to one of my favourite breakfast places ...

My mom had never been, so I thought it would be a nice treat. Everything looks so good on the menu, but I'm a sucker for eggs benedict. I had the asparagus and swiss cheese eggs benedict and my mom had their 'buckwheat blessings' which is buckwheat pancakes wrapped around sausage. All of the dishes come with a nice assortment of fresh fruit ... and it always comes to you looking exactly the same as it does in the picture on the menu. Here's what our brunch looked like ... I say brunch 'cause we had to wait in line for a little while so by the time we sat down to eat it was officially 'brunch time'.

buckwheat blessings

eggs benedict

Well, now I think I'm going to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend watching one of my all time favourite shows ... Gilmore Girls. I've seen them all a bunch of times, but I do enjoy just putting the DVDs in and just watching the series from the beginning. I've just started season 3, so we'll see how long it takes me to finish them off this time.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

I'm back ...

And boy have things changed ... I swear the counter was under 100 when I last posted!!!

Anyways, it's been so long since my last post as we've had a friend over from Scotland visiting us so I was busy with that. I had everyone over for brunch on Saturday ... I love to cook so it was a great opportunity for me to try out a new recipe. I recommend anyone that's planning on having people over for brunch to make this strata ... it's super easy and it's made the night before, so all it has to do is bake in the oven while your guests are over. Actually, everything I made was prepared the night before ... all I had to do was fry the potatoes.

strata

fruit salad

home fries

I did find some time to make the cutest little treat holder for Halloween. I did make some changes from the design I found by Angie Kennedy Juda ... I added some sides, used a different punch to make the opening for the chocolate and I used google eyes instead of just paper.

I've been working on some other projects so I hope to have them ready to post soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm back

It's been a while since my last post ... I was in Vegas and LA for the past week and a half. Boy was the weather completely different down there. The day I arrived in Vegas it as 48'C ... when I left home the temperature was barely in the high 20s ... what a difference. I had a fabulous time seeing all of the casinos and entertainment Vegas has to offer. The trip down to LA was great too. Here are some of the highlights from my trip ...

Bellagio fountain

view of Hollywood sign

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

view from Santa Monica Pier

Now that I'm back from vacation I'm hoping to get some projects started ... I have a lot of ideas and now it's just a matter of sitting down and getting them started. Unfortunately, I'm still in 'vacation mode' so it may take a little while for me to get going.

Thanks for stopping by.