hello, 2012!

happy new year! 

boy, have we been busy the last two weeks. i have decided i was far too ambitious by attempting to do a blog post every day for the entire month of december. personally, i do think i did fairly well for about two weeks... but, i still failed miserably at reaching my one month goal. i hope that i stick to my various new years resolutions a bit better. i know that traditionally you are only supposed to make one new years resolution but i am far from traditional and have about half a dozen. maybe multiple resolutions will lead to multiple successes? unfortunately, this is probably doubtful haha but it will definitely increase my chances of at least sticking to one of them!


1. i want to cook more meals at home. i am obsessed with the food network (iron chef, chopped, eat street etc) but have a very limited amount of dishes that i actually know how to cook. i would like this to change. both jesse and i really enjoy cooking and making new dishes together but it is just so much easier to grab something already made - we just haven't been making cooking at home a priority lately but this definitely has to change. this goal also helps with my next 2 - 3 resolutions...

2. i want to spend money less frivolously. although jesse and i are fairly thrifty, we do tend to spend a bit too much money on eating out and on "wants" rather than simply what we need. i want to really concentrate on only buying what is on sale, using coupons and collecting more airmiles. obviously, if i cook more meals at home i will be spending less money on lunches, wing nights and date nights. two birds with one stone?

3. i want to eat healthier. i have never been one of those people who believe on eliminating foods that you love from your diet but lately we have been eating a bit too much of what we love: pizza, nachos, ice cream, mcdonalds, cheese and bread. i am not going to say that i am not going to any of those foods for an entire year but i do want to try and consume them less often this year than last.

4. i want to drink more water. i am a coffee junky (4-6 cups a day) and i do not compensate by drinking more water. i wake up dehydrated with leg cramps on a regular basis. i am going to bring a water bottle to work and try to drink one bottle in the morning, one bottle in the afternoon.

5. i want to exercise more often. although i am active daily (i take emi for an hour long walk everyday, religiously) i want to prioritize going to the gym again. last year i was working late, in the north, and was not getting home until 730-8 o'clock but this year i am off at 4 and could easily start working out after work 3 times a week. i just need to choose a gym...

6. i want write more. not just blog but also work on short stories and outlines for novels. i seem to go in spurts - sometimes i will work on one idea for months at a time and then abandon it completely. i want to be more confident in my writing abilities and actually follow through on some of my ideas and maybe even produce something tangible.

i guess that most of those resolutions are rather stereotypical but whatever, those are my new years resolutions!

jesse and i had such an amazing year in 2011. we bought a house, got married and bought a puppy! obviously, we had a lot to celebrate on new years eve! we went to 1410 beerhaus with about 40 of our friends to bring in the new year and boy, did we celebrate! this was definitely our most grown up new years to date - we had a sit down dinner and everything! i had the tomato bisque soup to start while jesse had the scallop mousse and both of us had the AAA beef tenderloin and the ginger cake for dessert. oh, and a bit too much champagne!

all dressed up =)

too much fun!

what handsome fellows!

another milestone we accomplished in 2011 was hosting out first christmas dinner. thankfully, we had a ton of help from our parents; pretty sure that they made way more food than we did and it was all delicious! honestly, i think we only made a cheese plate and the turkey... kind of embarrassing! oh well, it was probably for the best, because the meal was absolutely mouthwatering, far more delicious than anything i could have produced alone!

mmm mmm!

carving the lamb!

delicious, right!?

very helpful parents!

straight out of the 50's

christmas puppy!

getting into trouble, like always.

she is getting sooooo big!!

hopefully you had as amazing a holiday season as we did! 

have a happy, happy new year everyone!

dog shampoo

today, in my daily bath, i accidentally used emi's dog shampoo. not only did i use her shampoo but even after noticing that it smelt a little off i proceeded to use the conditioner as well. i know, i got suckered by the sales man with the dog conditioner... what can i say, i went a little crazy with puppy accessories when we first got her.

anyways, now my hair smells like 3 month old emi (yes, that was the last time we were able to overpower her into the bath tub - she hated baths): a mixture of coconut milk, oatmeal and petland.... kinda gross to be honest. on the upside, this puppy shampoo and conditioner contains "only natural ingredients meant to moisturize skin, eliminating dryness while producing a healthy, shiny coat".

aweeeesome.

new addiction

i have acquired a new addiction and it is a glorious one.  if you are a frequent reader you are a well aware of my incredibly addictive personality (ex. words with friends, tassimo skinny lattes, various books and foods); i seem to become consumed / obsessed with things rather easily and find myself unable to get enough of them. well, the most recent subject of my addictive affection is the piping hot bubble bath.

i know for most people a daily bubble bath is essential - well, i have never been one of those people... until now! my dear friend maddy, a ritual bather, would be incredibly proud of my new routine. when i get home all i want to do is light my candles, fill the tub with steaming hot water and calming lavender chamomile bubble bath. so, that is exactly what i do: come home from work, take emi for  a walk, prepare dinner, eat dinner with jesse and then sit in the bath for an hour or so.

it is fabulous.

first day

today was my first day at my new job. i was fifteen minutes late. you would think after all my amazing math skills in 43, 68, 20 i would be able to arrive on time. well, that was before it decided to snow a foot over the weekend and turn the roads into one giant ice rink. it took me fifteen minutes alone to get out of deerrun; the hill in front of the lights at bow bottom and canyon meadows was like glass - only two or three cars were getting through per light. needless to say, it was incredibly mortifying having to call my boss on my first day to let him know i was going to be late...

as it turns out, my coworker (who has worked there for five years, i might add) was also fifteen minutes late on her first day with the company. this made me feel a whole lot better. everyone seemed to find this incredibly funny since she is the only other girl at our office. i am not even kind of exaggerating - there are legitimately only two of us females in the entire alberta branch. i don't mind, we have our own incredibly clean bathroom which is quiet the luxury after sharing a bathroom with three stinky male doctors and hundreds of incredibly sick patients at my old job.

thankfully, she is also my age and incredibly out going. i actually had fun on my first day, something i thought would be virtually impossible considering i have 175 pages worth of safety regulations and protocol to go through, 35 pages of paper work from human resources to complete and about 3 hours of shadowing andrea (aka attempting to get a grasp on what the heck i am going to be doing). unfortunately, this will probably be the last time i write about my new job because today i had to sign a contract saying that i would not discuss anything to do with our company on any social media sites including a blog. so sorrrry folks!

dragon tattoo

i am attempting to read the girl with the dragon tattoo. i say "attempting" because i have only read maybe, 75 pages in two weeks. this is "attempting" because i can easily read a 250 page book in one day if i am into it. i just don't know what it is about this darn book but i just cannot seem to get into it. i honestly feel like i am back in 402 english struggling to get through novels that were written by foreign authors in every language imaginable other than english. yes, i am aware that this novel was originally written in swedish so this feeling is obviously justified but struggling through the foreign names of people (there is not a single character with a simple name like "smith" or "jones") and places (unfortunately, i know nothing about swedish geography) is nearly painful. i think the awkward names of people and places are what is making it incredibly difficult for me to connect with the characters - i cannot seem to picture or place them at all. reading this book is not pleasurable and everything but leisurely - the two things i want from a good book. it is an international best seller which means everyone else around the world seemed to be able to get into it - i think i just need to pull up my big girl panties and get over it.

so, you might ask why i am still "attempting" to read this book? well to start off it is the first of a trilogy. lately, i have been trying to avoid reading single novels; it is a rare occurrence that after finishing one novel i feel satisfied. the majority of the time i find myself annoyed that it was over so soon so i have decided that i am only going to read novels that are at minimum a piece of a trilogy.

secondly, they have decided to make a movie out of the novels. yes, i am completely aware that they have already made a movie version of all three novels in swedish; to be honest, i had zero desire to watch the subtitled versions but i recently saw the trailer for the american version and it definitely looked intriguing. so, before i watch the movie, i have to read the book because any time that i ever watch a movie then read a book i find myself falling back to the images of the characters as they were in the movie rather than really picturing the characters and places as the author intended for them to be portrayed. i feel like this is cheating and unfair to the poor chap (or chapette) who spent so much time and effort creating and describing these characters and places just so. plus, i personally love seeing films that were originally novels that i have read. for some reason i get a sick amount of pleasure from critiquing/ comparing the novel to the film. oh, and, did i mention that daniel craig stars in the new american film adaptation?

lastly, everyone who has read the book raves about how amazing it is - i would hate to miss out on an amazing novel. yes, the majority of them say that you need to give it about 150 pages before it gets "amazing" (so, at this rate, i guess i wont start enjoying it for another two weeks...) so i have decided that i will "attempt" to read it a little bit longer...

successful saturday

i had a very successful saturday. my mom and i met val for lunch at this place called cravings. val suggested that we go after she went with some other friends. honestly, i didnt even know it existed - i had always thought that it was a health food store. i am really glad she suggested it because i loved it. this restaurant was such a cool concept; there are multiple "stations" where you can order everything from pizza to pasta to salad to burgers to dessert and everyone gets a little card that they swipe when you order and at the end of the meal you pay off your balance at the till. it is kind of like a high class, made to order buffet in a weird way. i got this delicious pasta with garlic, pesto, tomato, onions, chicken and cheese - too good.

after that my mom and i decided to do something completely insane - we went to chinook mall on a saturday in december. it was even crazier than we thought it would be but we really had no other choice: i needed big girl clothes to wear to my big girl job on monday. four hours later we emerges with 4 blazers ( one colbalt blue, one camel, one brown and one grey), two tunics (one grey and one multi coloured purple), two pairs of boots (one pair of high black, one pair of low brown) and a sparkly head band for lazy hair days. see, successful saturday!

a lot like xmas

we just finished decorating our christmas tree (i know, i said i wasn't going to decorate my tree until the tenth but we are having people over and i needed to get things cleaned up and organized)! although we still need to get a few more ornaments it is looking amazing.  i know that it is traditional to do red and green at christmas time but i just hate the combination too much to even think about going there.  so far we have gone with a blue, red and silver theme. the red was actually a compromise, if i had it my way we would have done blue, silver and gold (maybe i really am a scrooge?) but jesse pushed for the red and i am glad he did because i think the red really pops - i love this combination!

we currently have one string of white tinkle lights, twelve red themed bulbs, twelve blue and silver themed bulbs, five sparkly nut crackers, five red bows, three silver bows, one santa star and my personal favourite, the "our first christmas" ornament. we still need to get a star to top it off and an ornament for emi!

putting on the first few bulbs!

aww =)

jesse hung the red bulbs...

...while i hung the blue and silver

i dont normally like bows but these are growing on me

the only star on our tree at the moment

traditional

how pretty!

 so, apart from the tree, i am probably not going too crazy with the christmas decorations around the house. we hung two stockings from the mantle for ourselves and the one from the fire poker stand for emi. i know, i cannot believe we are now "those people" who buy their dog a stocking but we are...

isn't that stocking ridiculous? if you think her stocking is bad just wait until you see what we got emi for christmas! i am sure that this will not be the last entry about our christmas tree or even christmas in general so i apologize if you are getting bored but 'tis the season. i guess i am finally getting into the christmas spirit!

ps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favourite little brother, duncan! we love you, big guy! xoxo