two years happy.

We've officially made it past our 2 year anniversary! I'm kidding, obviously we were going to.

Gift giving was an unspoken 'yes' because I knew that even if I tried to enforce a 'no gifts' rule, dC would still go ahead with his own plans. It seemed pointless.

Glad I didn't fight it because I'm so excited about what I got:

It's a Fuji Instax Mini 8 - who knew polaroid-type cameras still existed! It's super cool & I'm so excited to use it! I just need to remember that I only have one chance at taking a good picture, unlike what I'm used to. Haha!

Naturally we went for dinner - I don't know why it took us as long as it did to make a decision but we finally went to this Brazilian steakhouse we'd been dying to try.

If you love meat and have never been I urge you to go to one right.now. Similarly, it's a vegetarian/vegan's hell so might want to stay away if that's the case.

The premise is that there is a buffet for salads & apps, and servers come to your table with skewers of meat. Until you feel like you're going burst, because it's all you can eat meat (and salads).

I was too busy with my steaks and filet mignon to take my own pictures of dinner, but I think this is all you need. At your table. #omnomnom

{via}

Full or not, we still came home for our champagne & slice of cake...

Happy 2 years to us :)

Anniversary morning & anniversary evening...both sleepy haha :)
[with the new Instax of course!]

two years strong.

I can't believe how fast time has flown by, how much has happened and where we were two short, long (that's not a typo) years ago.

All I'm sure of is that there's no better partner for the roller coaster of ups & downs that we've experienced & the ride ain't over yet!

Happy June!

And Happy Saturday! :)

Happy May!

May is probably one of my favourite months of the year. 

Warmer, sunnier days with the anticipation of the whole entire summer ahead of you.

Weekends spent outside, evening walks, gelato, patios...the list goes on!

Plus, Orthodox Easter falls in May this year - coming up this weekend! - so I'm looking forward to that!

May also has a couple of special milestones for me - my 3rd Bloggy Birthday & two years since dC & I went on our first [non]date. 

Needless to say, lots of excitement :)

Happy Wednesday & 1st day of May!

New me, New things

On Saturday, I finally got my hair done after many months of contemplating.

I'm allergic to hair dye so I really wanted to try the 'ombre' style, and I finally went for it!

I really really like how it ended up turning out.

Naturally, I had to treat myself to a shopping trip afterwards.

I've been on the hunt for nice black boots (riding-style boots I suppose) for over a year now and I finally found a pair that I like on SALE! Like, 50% off on sale.

The fact that they had these left in my size was pretty much a sign that I should buy them

I'm also telling myself that I will commit to starting and enjoying going to the gym when I start this new job (there's a gym across the street) so I picked up these Nikes to help with the motivation.

I don't know why the lighting is so weird in this picture - they have purple detailing.

I swear I'm actually going to give this gym thing a go! Really!

Now here's to surviving 4 more days of this job...

Awesomeness Comes in Threes

At least it did for me this week.

I'm foregoing my usual Friday link-up fun to tell y'all about it.

#1

This guy moved in & now we're roommates!

We're not roommates yet in this picture but everytime I remembered to take one this week, I was already in my PJs with my makeup off and that just wasn't happening lol

He doesn't actually like when I say we're roommates though; "What, we're just roommates now? That's it?"

Umm no, silly. It's just fun to say. Mr. Serious over here.

#2

My Nexus 4 arrived in the mail!

It's not that my old phone died completely but it was not built for my level of usage [#nerdalert] & this brings me just a little bit closer on my quest of being contract-free!

Needless to say, I love it.

#3

I got a new job!

That's right - all the stress I've felt because of work will be over in one short week and I am extremely happy & relieved about that.

This was yesterday's song of the day:

Have a happy weekend y'all!
Stay safe & warm if you're in the #snowmaggedon belt like me!

On Santa's Nice List This Year

I'm not even going to pretend that I didn't get spoiled this year by fam and fantastic boyfriend.

Here are some of the highlights, even though there are more...

 Clockwise from top left:

2013 Wall & Desk calendars

Stress relievers

Sewing machine

Iron & ironing board

ABBA Just Dance for Wii

Kobo eReader w/ cover

Guess what...It's not even over yet! There's another gift exchange today and a couple more on the weekend.

Just too much...but secretly, I can't wait :)

Hope everyone's having a great holiday!

Have a Very Merry Christmas

Wishing the very best to my bloggy pals & readers!

Hope you all have an amazing holiday with family & friends!

Holiday Yummies

I'm so pleased with how this past weekend turned out - holiday errands and relaxing. I got all of my holiday baking and treats done as well as the majority of gift wrapping. Christmas productivity always feels the best.

This year I cut the treats down a bit by skipping the sugar cookies (because no one really cares about those) and last year's failed attempt at no-bake cookies. They weren't so much a failed attempt as they did not live up to their description and were not worth the mess and hassle.

This year's Christmas treats menu:

* Almond Biscotti *

* Shortbread Cookie Bites *

* Peppermint Bark *

* Chocolate Covered Pretzels *

* Breton Brittle *

If you have questions about any of the recipes, let me know! :)

Peppermint bark
Various chocolate covered pretzels
Some chocolate-y shortbread bites

Almond Biscotti
Shortbread bites

Breton Brittle

Don't worry, I'm not eating all that myself, although that would be a personal record. I've made up a couple of tins for family, taking some to work & bringing them to Christmas parties.

I also wish I could send some to all my lovely blog readers :)

And now that most of the gifts are wrapped under the tree, it's that much prettier!

I can't believe there's only one week left until Christmas!. This time next week, it'll pretty much all be over which is crazy! All the built up excitement and anticipation, over with just a rip of the wrapping paper. But for now it's all about the anticipation... :)

Candle Countdown

My big annual day is coming up - that's right, my birthday is just one month away!

I know most of you want to get started on my gifts so here's my list. I actually had a hard time coming up with a list this year because I really truly do not 'need' anything. It's a good thing that this doubles as a Christmas list (because let's face it, that's just over two months away!) so I only have to go through this process once. LOL

- Xena: Complete DVD Collection
- Sewing machine
- Fun Stationary things (pens, stamps, etc)
- Jewellery dish
- Pandora charm(s)
- Super nice candles
- Super nice bath bubbles & salts
- Cute dangly earrings
- Starbucks gift card
- Michael's gift card
- H&M gift card

I'm normally not big on gift cards but I've gotten picky and I understand I can be hard to shop for sometimes. I'm not that picky with presents either way, I just like getting surprises :)

Happy Shopping!

Walk off the Earth...Amazing!

I am beyond happy that we managed to get tickets to this show last week because it was down right fan-fucking-tastic!!

Check out the getting-pumped-up post here.

From the venue (very fitting) & opening acts, to the performances and music - just crazy good.

Here are pics from the show. When I figure out how to upload to YouTube I will show you a live performance of this awesomeness.

Opening the show

WOTE!

Marshall :)

Gianni :)

They let giants balloons go!

The famous 5-people-1-guitar performance of  'Somebody that I used to know' (video to come!)

I know this looks like dust, but there was also CONFETTI!!!! I may or may not have saved some...

Since I only shared covers with you last time, here's an original - love this song!

Walk off the Earth...Tonight!!!

No, please don't go and actually do that. It's a band. A band that I'm going to see tonight. A band that I've been waiting to see since February!

They are a Canadian band (from Burlington, near Toronto) so some many of you may not know them but you really need to give them a listen. The covers are my favourite and what really got me into this band; I love covers in general so that was easy. I've been listening to their original stuff in prep of the concert & they are just as good! 

Below are my favourite covers to get you started, but check out their YouTube page!

Their amazing 5-people-1-guitar cover of Gotye's overplayed 'Somebody That I Used to Know' really got their name out there

Tied for first place in my favourites is their genius cover of Rihanna's 'Man Down' - way better than her own version

And the second #1 favourite has to be LMFAO's 'Party Rock Anthem' - totally changed the song for me!

They've even covered Adele's 'Someone Like You'

And most recently they did Maroon 5's 'Payphone' - a song that so so annoying in its original form

All of these are a MUST WATCH and I promise promise promise it will be worth it! If not, I will reimburse your time. Yes I will.

Today is the day!

The day that dC comes home! When I wrote about him being away for 12 days, it seemed like a lifetime! As noted, July is pretty much over now and that in itself feels weird [where is 2012 going?!], but the 12 days have now passed.

I won't say it was super easy, but it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the following for that:

Whatsapp

Skype

Gtalk

Honestly, we couldn't have done it without technology. With the video chat, sometimes it barely felt like he was away! But there were plenty of times when I wish dC was there to share in the moment & he wasn't, so  I wouldn't want to do it again. His work needs to really discover video conferencing for themselves.

Another thing that helped was the to do list I set for myself originally. To be honest, I usually fail when I set goals like these for myself so this is actually an epic accomplishment - take a look!

The things I didn't get to were least important but the stuff I actually accomplished I'm so proud of.

#1 thing I'm proud of is this:

My hanging collage of postcards - both sent to me & picked up on vacations. I love love love it & is even better than I had hoped!

And now it's time to celebrate dC's return...

Can't wait for him to see that when he gets home as I won't be there... :)

All grown up & ready to bake!

A couple of months ago I wished my sister a very happy 18th birthday on the blog. Now it's even crazier that she's officially done high school & went to her prom...

I graduated 8 years ago & had the exact same ceremony in the exact same hall...

My little Prom Queen :)

No the matching was not on purpose, I swear!

Now it's time for this little apprentice to get down to business & start mastering delicious treats like these:

Source: mikadoweddings.com via Brittany on Pinterest

              Source: secretstoves.net via Veronica on Pinterest

              Source: pinnedrecipes.com via Claudine on Pinterest

         Source: inspiredbymichelleblog.com via Jacqui on Pinterest

She didn't make this one, the name is a coincidence!

Can't wait to have a full blown Pastry Chef in the fam! dC has already volunteered to be a professional taste-tester haha