Wine Night

January 25
Another wine night... next time around we're putting a limit on the consumption.  Geez.... I'm such a nerd I need rules at my drinking nights.  I love my friends, they are a blast. I also love these thin little breadsticks stuck in a wine glass.

When we were still classy

Nerding it up

Cacti

Love these little gaffers. Brightening up the living room in some planters donated by my super-boss. Cacti are literally the only plants that have ever survived in my care. And to be fully honest, even some of the cousins of my current wards have not made it to an extended life due to over-watering. I've learned the secret though (or so I believe), only water once a month. Strictly. Even if it appears they're begging - don't give in!  Of course, some of them look like they're shrinking.... sigh.

Work

I am extremely blessed with my workplace. My boss and co-workers are wonderful and we work in this great condo loft style building with big windows.  It makes a difference trust me!

This is how things look for me on a daily basis

The smiling faces that surround me:

The worst site in the morning - work begins... now.

Chores

Holy cow, for shame.  I promise I won't always whine about this but I'm having real trouble remembering my camera! I went shopping with J-sis yesterday and it was my full intention to snap a heck of a lot of photos on our crazy mall experience. Did I remember it? No! Were there many photo opportunities? Yes! I had to make a big complaint everytime I saw something photo worthy, I guess this is why people have smartphones... On the happy side of things - we had a wonderful time and finished the evening with tea and Downton Abbey - classic good times if you ask me.

January 21

This is one of those 'household items' shots. Laundry. Why is it the worst chore ever? It literally never stops. We have about a 30 min window where we sigh and say "the laundry is completed!" only to discover a full hamper the next moment. I hate laundry the most and I'm not even sure why. As far as chores go it's really pretty low maintenance. You put your stuff in a machine and walk away... not difficult. But then - don't you know - you have to fold it! And that is sincerely irritating. So most times, I, rather than being an adult, act like a spoiled child and wait for days and days of having the laundry sitting in the basket until it's thoroughly crinkled and then I Hubbers and I will begrudgingly dump it on the bed and sift through the remains. It's silly really - just get er done!

The offensive room - also, that laundry is the clean stuff.

This one looks like it's from the 60's because that's what era I feel like I'm from when I do laundry

Light of my Life

One of my most favorite possessions came from my Mama back in the day; this light fixture has lasted me a couple years... I think at least 6 or 7 and it still fills me with warm fuzzies. I turn it on virtually every night when it starts to get dark out and it casts these beautiful shadows on the wall and sends rays of lovely warmth all across the room.

I love the light :)

On another note: Mama got these tear off doodle placements from J-sis on Christmas and she let us have two the other day.  They start a doodle for you and you finish it; here's Shawn's:

The bus and spectators were already there, he added in the rest...

Family Visit

January 18
On Saturday we went up to visit Hubber's family for his Dad's birthday and were greeted by this little guy:

Hubbers spent the day snowmobiling and watching TV while I visited with his Mom and Sister. It was a nice time and a hurried drive home to make our previous engagements!

Pomelo

January 15

Ok, ok, I have decided I'm just not going to post every day's photo - I mean come on! This week I've taken pictures of my fridge, beer cans, and this guy:

A pomelo... asian fruit similar to grapefruit... pretty tasty and different!

All that to say, some nights I either have nothing much to report - or I've forgotten to bring my camera out with me and am left taking pictures of the counter items. So if that happens, I just may not feel the need to share that on my blog! This pomelo was cool though - you have to google how to get into them and once you peel it you're basically left with a grapefruit sized fruit.  I guess you don't even really want to eat the white membrane around the juicy parts so you end up having to peel that all off. Sounds intensive and it is a little, but it was fun. I made the peel into a pomelo simple syrup which I am currently enjoying in a cocktail so hooray - I'm a winner!

Weekend at the Slopes

January 11-12, 2014

Holy cow, I am having the time of my life snowboarding this year. Black diamonds all the way!  I finally am able to hold my own and can hang out with the 'big kids' :)
We spent another weekend there - this time, we drove up at 5:00am Saturday morning, snowboarded all day in the blowing snow, stayed the night - snowboarded all Sunday in the beautiful sunshine and then drove back home.  It was glorious. Fresh powder, learning experiences, drinks and food with friends... what more could you ask for?

Some fun edits:

Original

Fun Edit... wish I could take my silly face out!

Edit - like the colours and the sharpness - that's how the air felt - sharp and crisp

Candlelight

I'm a little disappointed in myself in regards to my resolution - I've only missed one day but I've also been forgetting my camera everytime I go out somewhere.  My photographs that I wanted to reflect my daily activities are instead reflecting whatever is sitting on the counter that day!  I hope to change that and to remember to bring it with me on my evenings out...

January 10, 2014
Bath and Body had their annual clearance after Christmas sale - which is when I tend to go in and buy enough soap to last me until the next year. This time I couldn't resist their 3-wick candles as well. Yummy!

Jewels

January 9, 2014

One of my more useful craft projects was this necklace/earring holder I made ages ago. Some corkboard covered with wall vinyl with little metal bits sticking through to hang necklaces or string earrings across (I so badly want to stick a frame around it to complete the look... just haven't yet!). It sits behind our bathroom door and everything is so easy to see it makes my morning routine much easier. Lord knows nobody got time to sift through a drawer full of earrings.

It's beautiful in its own special way too.

Jasper - Land of the Free

January 8, 2014

Hoh man! We're heading to Jasper again this weekend. Just for a day - which means super early morning - long drive - snowboard all day - long drive home - sleeeeeeeeeeeep.  So stoked. In honorarium I did up the dining room chalkboard in the likeness of myself on the slopes (dream on sister):

Definitely prefer this edit - neon style

Let's get some sweet detail shots shall we?

Ummmm yeah! This chalkboard is the bomb socks. I love it and all it's details.. though it is getting pretty dusty.  Does one vacuum a chalkboard?

Stone Grill

January 7, 2014

One of the gifts I got for... Christmas? Birthday? Wedding?  At some point, some time from Hubber's Mom was this stone grill contraption.  A marble slab that you heat up in the oven then place over those flame burner thingies and it acts as an indoor grill. It can make for a fun night with friends - or in this case I hoped with Hubbers (he was distracted due to an ebay mix up and I was grumpy due to work so it wasn't as fun as I had hoped!)  The lack of fun was not stone grill's fault however and you can see all the 'options' that it comes with below:

We used steak and peppers on the grill - wouldn't recommend chicken as it takes too long to cook

Many spices and options for the steak

Hubbers biting his lip in concentration

Everything sizzling away

Plates

Plates - colour inverted - cool!

Running Out of Household Objects

January 6, 2014
So there are some days where I get really close to forgetting about my 'picture a day' challenge. This day was one of them (6 days in.... this may be tough)- but I shall not give up! So I snapped a photo of the bar because I think it is so pretty.
Here the little pretties sit, it was quite dark and I didn't bother to turn any lights on as I was just too lazy at that point! Now having seen these...I'm off to make a mojito!

Saturation galore

Old Timey bar

Dinner Time

January 5, 2013

The family came over for dinner tonight and I had a blast making various culinary delights. Minners showed us her pictures from the recent trip to Cuba, it looked awesome! We ate a stuffed pork (looked like a cinnamon roll) with potato salad (including apples) and broccoli (drizzled with truffle oil of course).  A frozen key lime pie for dessert and we were set.  A little bit of game playing and we called it an early night to sit on the couch and chillax before our week ahead.

Some photos of prep and dinner:

sigh the greenest of broccoli

Some whipped cream for key lime pie

colourful potato salad

Hubbers took this one...

chowing on dessert

I can't tell which of these edits I prefer, but I love this picture of Mom and Dad:

I also find I tend to overdo it with the 'saturation' of photos, but it's hard when it looks so pretty with all the lovely colours getting brighter and brighter... I can't stop!