gingerbread + chocolate = perfection

Here's a real crowd-pleaser of a recipe for all of you to bust out at your next big party.  I know it's a crowd-pleaser because I have already pleased 2 crowds with this Gingerbread Dark Chocolate Trifle from the Food and Drink.  It's a bit of a production to make it only because you have to make the gingerbread, let it cool, make the custard, let it hang out in the fridge for a bit etc etc etc, but it's so worth it.  Each time I've made this there has been a chorus of ooh's and ahh's from all partyguests.  Trust me, make this and you will be the hero of the week.

design tots

So our favourite NYC blogger Abbey is having a baby!!  Congrats to her and her hubby on their summer baby!!  To pair up with her own great blog, she has also started a blog that covers all things cool, hip and design-y in babyland.  It's called Design Tots and even though I don't have a baby I already want everything she's blogged about over there.

molemolemole...

Our lovely Ottawa friends Sean and Leah got us this great little gift of a Mole package from Chili Chili's which is a great little spicy food shop in Ottawa.  Mole is tons of yummy but seriously, who has the time to make it what with all it's 25+ ingredients right?  This great little package comes with an assortment of roasted peppers, package of all necessary instructions, a wee square of chocolate and a couple of recipes.  Now we can have mole at a moment's notice!

it's the most wonderful time...

Oh holidays, you win this round!!!  I can't remember a holiday when I've eaten more, gone to more social functions, stayed up later or basically had more holiday cheer than this year.  Which is surprising to me because this year I was completely unprepared for all things holiday related.

To kick it off, we had a few doozie snowstorms leading up to Christmas and one of the worst ones came smack on Christmas Eve.  Not only did it make for a snowy, snowy Eve but we woke up to a picture-perfect Christmas morning.  Now, obviously as a Northern girl I've had more than my share of snowy Christmas mornings but this one was the most beautiful one I can honestly remember.  The sky was blue like you never see, all the trees were coated with snow from the night before and on our walk down to my parents' place it was too early for most people to have shovelled so it was all powdery and like a postcard.  There was nobody on the roads, no cars - just quiet.  Seriously, it was perfect.  According to the weather channel, this was the first time since 1971 that there was snow right across the country all at the same time.  I took about 100 pictures but here are some from my 'hood.



My snowy backyard -- sigh, if it wasn't so cold I'd want to sit out there all day.


And this is a shot of my folks' place.   They have the worst driveway for shovelling in the whole world and this shot pretty much sums it up.

All in all, Christmas 2008 was one for the books.  Highlights include:

• Drinking a good number of French martinis with Kelly and Steve, staying up late and sending Marc off to work the next morning while I slept peacefully;
• a crazy Christmas morning with my family and all my giggly nieces;
• Shadfest 2008:  our friend Shad (a.k.a Sean) has the unfortunate pleasure of a birthday on December 26th.  Shad also loves a rock band, especially when it's made up of his friends.  So a surprise party was planned with a house band made up of Marc, Dan and Al.  There was also a keg.  And porketta.  And dancing.  Band highlights include a great rendition of The Weakerthans "Plea From a Cat Named Virtue" and the girls 2 AM version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" starring Lisa as Boy George.  Next day was not so pretty but well worth it.  Thank God for greasy spoon breakfasts;
• our annual Christmas Eve tradition of hors d'ouevres for supper - Marc made prosciutto wrapped chicken skewers, beaufort and spinach puff pastry and we drank a delicious Sagrantino.  Then we opened our stockings and took Sadie for a snowy walk;
• all the open houses/parties we hit up with even more snacks available for the eating.

I hope everyone had great holidays and that Santa found everyone happy and safe!!!!

santa time!!

It's that time of year again and like most bloggers, us here at C.Y.G.T.S will be taking a bit of a blog break to enjoy the festivities.  All my gifts are wrapped, the house is clean, baking is moments away from being done, cocktails with Kelly have been drunk (drank, drinked) and everything seems to be more or less in order.  Here are some pics of Casa Tara all decked out for the holidays!

Kaili, note the teddy bear ornament fashioned by you for me in the mid-80's!!!  He's still in fine form!!
And this is a picture of our next-door neighbours house which is just the prettiest thing ever during the holidays.  The house is dripping in pretty white lights as are all the trees and window boxes.  The twinkliness of the whole place really doesn't translate in the photo but seeing it all lit up as we walk home every night really does put you in the spirit.  That, and makes our few little Christmas lights look pretty sad in comparison but what can you do.


Happy holidays to all of my readers and we send buckets of holiday cheer to everyone!!!!  See you on the flipside of it all!!

5 things I love everyday

So Jane tagged me to blog about 5 things I love everyday.  Her link is all pretty with a picture collage but I'm afraid today I'm frazzled with so many things to do I have about 5 seconds to do this post.  Oh the holidays!!  But in words, here goes:

1. Duh, of course one will be Marc.  I am a good wife and love him everyday.  Especially when he lets me sleep and makes coffee.
2. Miss Sadie-face.  Even though she's a total handful and tries my patience, her little face is 100% loveable at all times.  She's a furry living and breathing solution to all the crap brought by 2008;
3. Since the tag is actually about "things" I love, I'll follow the rules and also pick my engagement ring.  It's exactly what I would have picked myself and the fact that Marc designed it with Leif Benner, a goldsmith in the Distillery District in Toronto that I love, makes me love it even more.  What the heck, I'll find pictures.
   
4.  My moccasin slippers.  I know they're not the prettiest or the hippest but slippers like this are honestly the one thing that never changes in my life.  First thing on, last thing off every day of my life since I was a kid.
   
5. My Kiehl's moisturizer.  Without this, I am a giant scaly mess.
   

Wow...making this list makes me realize there's a ton of stuff I do love everyday. Picking 5 is hard! 

In the spirit of the post I also tag Kaili, La Belette Rouge, Shannon and Abbey!

Hot Bunny Radio Playlist for December 19th

CKLU 96.7FM

* denotes Canadian talent

So here is the playlist for my annual Hot Bunny Radio: Hot Bunny Christmas show. Youpee!!!

• The Decemberists - Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas) - Alternative Rock Christmas
• Luscious Jackson - Let It Snow - Alternative Rock Christmas
• The Specials - Holiday Fortnight - Alternative Rock Christmas
• Leona Naess - Christmas - Leona Naess
• Broken Social Scene - Handjobs for the Holidays - Broken Social Scene *
• My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday - It Still Moves
• The Bad Girls - Santa's Got a Brand New Bag - The Girls of Texas 60's
• The Hives & Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel - A Christmas Duel single
• Teenage Fanclub - Alcoholiday - Bandwagonesque
• Joni Mitchell - River - Blue *
• Sufjan Stevens - I Saw Two Chips - Sufjan Stevens: Songs For Christmas
• Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
• Gordon Lightfoot - Song For a Winter's Night - Gord's Gold *
• Roy Orbison - Pretty Paper - The Anthology
• Julie Doiron - Snow Falls in November - Goodnight Nobody *
• James Brown - Go Power at Christmas Time - The Christmas Collection
• Willie Nelson - Please Come Home For Christmas - A Very Special Acoustic Christmas
• The Vandals - My First Christmas (As A Woman) - NO HO HO: Alternative Indie Christmas
• Boney M. - White Christmas - Christmas with Boney M.
• Holly Golightly - Christmas Tree on Fire - Christmas Tree on Fire EP
• Josh Rouse - Winter in the Hamptons - Nashville
• Neko Case - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis - Songs of Tom Waits
• Danny Michel - Snowglobe - In The Belly of a Whale *
• Sloan - Snowsuit Sound - Twice Removed *
• Merle Haggard - If We Make It Through December - Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Let the Bells Ring - Abbatoir Blues
• Otis Redding - Merry Christmas, Baby - Soul Christmas
• Gary Glitter - Another Rock and Roll Christmas - NO HO HO: Alternative Indie Christmas
• The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping - No HO HO: Alternative Indie Christmas
• Pixies - The Holiday Song - Come on Pilgrim
• The Killers - Don't Shoot Me Santa - Don't Shoot Me Santa single

Notes this week:

• A Christmas Duel: You have to love a song that has lyrics about going down on someone's mom....
• My First Christmas (As A Woman): You also have to love a holiday song that manages to work in the word "vagina"
• It's not Christmas for me without that Gordon Lightfoot song or without "River" by Joni...
• White Winter Hymnal: easily one of my favourite songs of 2008;
• Christmas with Boney M: This album is permanently etched in my DNA after an entire childhood of Christmas with Boney M.
• I think that Neko Case cover might be one of the best Tom Waits covers I've ever heard;
• That's right, you heard Gary Glitter on my show. Don't get used to it.

Hot Bunny Radio Round-Up

So something else that fell by the wayside with all the confusion of the last few months is the posting of my weekly radio show playlist. Kelly e-yelled at me to get back at it so I have promised I will. However there's a pile of playlists next to me and rather than re-type all of them, I've decided to highlight some of the most notable new things and just things that I love in general.

On another note, tonight is my annual Christmas show so I invite all of you from afar to tune in online at www.cklu.ca and stream it live - it'll be great I promise. Songs about Christmas, holidays, snow and winter. Starts at 6pm sharp.

So here's stuff I've loved from October 9th until now:

• Still loving that Entire Cities record;
• Basia Bulat's Oh Darling record is too sweet for words;
• Belleisle = pretty, pretty, pretty;
• Jay Crocker's song "Tornado Warning" is a really, really good song;
• The new Jenny Lewis record - to be included in my Best of 2008 for sure. In a nutshell, I saved an iTunes gift card I got for my birthday in May so I could use it for the release of this record in the fall. Oh yeah, don't tell me I don't plan...
• Sebastian Granger & the Mountains - saw them blow the doors of a tiny bar in Austin during their afternoon showcase - so F-ing good! Death From Above who???? Forget them and run with this Sebastian!!
• Noah & the Whale - yup I like this record a lot too;
• Land of Talk and the song "It's Okay" - holy crap, this song made me stop in my tracks and just listen;
• Jenny Omnichord's new record Charlotte or Otis - an entire record of songs for kids, about kids etc all centered around the birth of her and her partner's surprise baby. The title track is heartbreakingly sweet. Perhaps a bit too heartbreaking for me but I still love it. A must-listen for all those expecting. Plus the record is chock full of celebrity friends....
• the new Amelia Curran record has finally made me pay attention to her. And man, am I EVER paying attention. War Brides is such a good record and the song Scattered and Small is one I need to listen to once a day at least.

That's about it in a nutshell. A teeny tiny nutshell. Be sure and listen for your fix of holiday cheer from 6-8pm tonight! I'll post my full playlist from that show I promise!!

weekend round-up

So my weekend round-up is late, I realize that.  There are various reasons for that.  First off, I started my Christmas holidays at approximately 5:01pm on Friday and as such, have taken a slight vacation from my computer.  You-pee!!  

I kicked off my vacation with Marc's staff Christmas party.  You'll remember what I reported

last year  after his party, well sad to say I have nothing as juicy to write about.  Everyone was very well behaved and appropriately attired.  Especially me in my fancy new black sparkly party dress I bought for the occasion, even though it never saw the dancefloor.  

Saturday we hauled our cookies out into the bush for our annual foraging for pine boughs to pretty up my window boxes.  Yeah, I'm so crafty.  We brought Sadie and she must have thought she hit the jackpot when we stumbled across a giant mound of deer/moose bones.  Marc and I were less impressed by the bones and more impressed by the giant bald eagle perched atop these bones.  Pretty freaking cool.  Anyway, crazy snow and a giant puppy made for some great photo ops -- see below.

Saturday also brought our first holiday non-work party of year with the annual open house at the Seatons'.  There were a wagonload of overly smart and hip children present telling hilariously inappropriate jokes and doing silly things with mandarins.  With names like Harrison and Sebastian and Beverly and Fiona etc these kids are easily the coolest kids in their classes.  Kids aside,  the party was also all kinds of fun for the grown ups and I may have had too many beers.  This was proven by the fact that when we were leaving I asked Marc if he had our booze bag (ie the bag we carried our booze over in) and on our snowy walk home from the party I thought it was hilarious to repeatedly refer to Marc as a "boozebag" and say hilarious things like "YOU'RE a boozebag."  Yup, hilarious.

On a fun sidenote, party host Rob is playing a show with his band The Statues at the Hamilton Convention Centre alongside Alexisonfire and The Constantines on December 19th for those of you in the area.

Sunday brought all kinds of fun starting with a second puppy party.  I think we'll make this a tradition as it's a great way to tire the heck out of Sadie and a tired Sadie is a good Sadie.  This party had an increased puppy count of 7.  Tons of fun in the snow with kids and puppies and even more fighting and biting than the last one. 

Then in the middle of the night on Sunday I awesomely got a vicious stomach bug and being a good wife, about 10 hours later I gave it to Marc.  It can be said that the true test of a marriage is 2 stomach bugs and 1 bathroom.  I would agree with that wholeheartedly.  Stomach bug pretty much kept us both out of commission for Monday and Tuesday, hence my late posting.  Oh and having a stomach bug and taking care of a puppy is just as much fun as you think it is.

pound puppy

This 3 month old Collie mix puppy is up for adoption at our local animal shelter. If we didn't already have Sadie, he'd have come to live at my house for sure. At least with a face like that you know someone will adopt him right quick...

r.i.p bettie page

Everyone is sad to lose the original pin-up queen. Not as sad as Marc though...

nice globes.....

Ahhh awards season....and so it begins. And so begins of of my favourite pastimes -- getting far too worked up over who gets nominated, who doesn't get nominated, who wins and who loses something that really means absolutely nothing.   I'm blogging from my radio show so I've got 2 full hours to get all worked up about today's Golden Globe announcements.. Unfortunately, most of the movies up this year I haven't seen yet as I live in a town that runs weeks behind everyone else in terms of movie releases. But I'll rant about them anyway. Not all of them though, just the ones I have the most to say about.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
1. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

2. FROST/NIXON

3. THE READER

4. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

5. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

I haven't seen any of these yet but have heard and read enough to know that it's quite a category. The cool people are all rooting for Slumdog Millionaire but the masses may not be able to resist the reunion of Kate and Leo in Revolutionary Road. Hmmmm......

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
1. ANNE HATHAWAY – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

2. ANGELINA JOLIE – CHANGELING

3. MERYL STREEP – DOUBT

4. KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)

5. KATE WINSLET – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

All the heavyweights with the new young faves. Star power indeed. Plus the Angelina means the public will go mad for her and Brad on the red carpet. My fave has to be Kristin Scott Thomas cuz she's easily the best actress of the bunch and people are crazy about that film. But it's hard to fight against the new Hollywood darling that is Anne Hathaway and a legend like Meryl. And poor Kate, well she's good but the girl never wins anything. Maybe this is her year...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
1. LEONARDO DICAPRIO – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

2. FRANK LANGELLA – FROST/NIXON

3. SEAN PENN – MILK

4. BRAD PITT – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

5. MICKEY ROURKE – THE WRESTLER

The academies do sometimes like the non-obvious so it might be the year for Frank Langella or strangely, Mickey Rourke. But given the critical frenzy forming over Milk and that this is the film's only nod, I think it'll go to Sean Penn. And deservedly so.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

1. BURN AFTER READING

2. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

3. IN BRUGES

4. MAMMA MIA!

5. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Sigh...this category blows. I want it to be Burn After Reading cuz the Coen's are my fave. Happy Go Lucky was the most annoying movie of 2008 and if it or Sally Hawkins wins I will boycott movies forever. And In Bruges??? Who even saw that movie??? Give me a break! At least the Woody Allen movie cushions this category a bit but man....we clearly didn't laugh much this year if this is the best we could do.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE DRAMA
1. TOM CRUISE – TROPIC THUNDER

2. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. –TROPIC THUNDER

3. RALPH FIENNES – THE DUCHESS

4. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – DOUBT

5. HEATH LEDGER – THE DARK KNIGHT

Give me a break with this category!!! Tom Cruise?!?!? I know everyone loved Tropic Thunder and RDJ's nomination is well-earned (cuz he's just great in everything he does) but Tom Cruise??? Even when everyone under the sun is saying that Valkyrie is shaping up to be the worst movie ever??? How could he get a nomination and not anyone else from Milk?? Awful, awful. Of course, it likely goes without saying the award will go to Heath Ledger. Tragic death aside, he blew the doors off that movie he was so good.

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
1. DANNY BOYLE – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

2. STEPHEN DALDRY – THE READER

3. DAVID FINCHER – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

4. RON HOWARD – FROST/NIXON

5. SAM MENDES – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

David Fincher = boo. I liked Fight Club quite a bit but the guy can't light a movie in any other way but dark, dark and more darkness. And Ron Howard? Bor-ing. Everyone is saying S.M is Danny Boyle's new return to the post-Trainspotting top but I haven't seen it so I don't know. So let's pick Sam or Stephen to win cuz I've liked most of what they've both done in the past. Most of it....

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
1. “DOWN TO EARTH” — WALL-E Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas NewmanLyrics by: Peter Gabriel

2. “GRAN TORINO” — GRAN TORINO Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael StevensLyrics by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens

3. “I THOUGHT I LOST YOU” — BOLT Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele

4. “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” — CADILLAC RECORDS Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street

5. “THE WRESTLER” — THE WRESTLER Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen

Duh of course we all want it to Bruce Springsteen! Who else? Miley Stupid Cyrus??? Ewwwww. But of course it'll be Beyonce cuz she's got those sweet, sweet moves.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
1. DEXTER 

2. HOUSE

3. IN TREATMENT

4. MAD MEN

5. TRUE BLOOD

Always such a great category and this year it does well, not overly well but well enough. Dexter and Mad Men are my faves - if I had to choose I'd choose Mad Men cuz I think Dexter is a bit too gory for the masses whereas Mad Men is just good for all. And it's got better wardrobe. And bucket loads of handsome men. Like Jon Hamm. Mmmm......Jon Hammmmmmm.....

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
1. 30 ROCK

2. CALIFORNICATION

3. ENTOURAGE

4. THE OFFICE

5. WEEDS

Again, always a great category and this year is really over the top with greatness. Hard to pick a fave cuz they're all so different but I always steer over to Weeds just cuz it's so much more different than much of what's on the networks. I just don't think enough people watch it for it to win. I call 30 Rock to win cuz there is just no stopping the Fey machine these days...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL
1. CHRISTINA APPLEGATE – SAMANTHA WHO?

2. AMERICA FERRERA – UGLY BETTY

3. TINA FEY – 30 ROCK

4. DEBRA MESSING – THE STARTER WIFE

5. MARY-LOUISE PARKER – WEEDS

If this category is anyone other than Tina Fey or Mary-Louise Parker I will lose faith in television. The Starter Wife is just a bad show and there is nothing innovative or exciting about it at all - it's a cookie cutter version of so many other things. And don't even get me started on Ugly Betty...

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
1. ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK

2. STEVE CARELL – THE OFFICE

3. KEVIN CONNOLLY – ENTOURAGE

4. DAVID DUCHOVNY – CALIFORNICATION

5. TONY SHALHOUB – MONK

Now I love me some Entourage but I think Kevin Connolly is the sure loser here. Not only is in not in the same league as these other guys, he's not even on the same planet. And he's not funny in Entourage! He's the straight guy. The other guys are the funny ones. This will be Alec Baldwin I think. I'd say David Duchovny but is it too soon after sex addiction for people to pick him? Hard to say...

And I think that's it for the rantings of someone who watches too much television and doesn't see enough movies....

the twilight before Christmas

Love this.....especially the "could you button your coat" part....

lookin fine in '09

So in the style of everyone's favourite Keep Calm and Carry On poster, here's a really great series of calendars in the same style over at Joanna's blog.

It's $5 for the PDF and you do the printing yourself.  I've always wanted the Keep Calm piece for my office wall but this could do quite nicely also.

weekend round-up

Oh weekend, why do you have such a hold on me????  It's cuz it's about 5 seconds before Christmas and I pretty much have nothing done.  Well, that's not true.  My decorations pretty much kick some huge ass but that's about all I've got to brag about really.

Friday we had our office Christmas party and this year we opted for low-key casual.  Instead of hitting the town, we started at about noon in our boardroom, ordered in take-out Korean food, played Wii games, drank cocktails and ate snacks for the evening and we all managed to be tucked in our beds before midnight.  It was pretty fun.  I've never played Wii anything before and I'm a total convert and it took all my strength not to go out first thing Saturday morning and buy one.  SOOOO fun!!!  MarioKart has always turned me into a bit of a roughneck with the swearing and Friday proved to be no exception.  I don't know why it does it but take me to the horseraces and you'll see the same thing.  It ain't pretty.  

Friday was also my big brother's birthday -- happy birthday to big brothers!!!!!!!

Saturday we had yet another giant, giant snowstorm and of course, we had a pile of unavoidable stuff that required us venturing out into the worst of it.  Thankfully, it was all pretty fun - a dance recital for Marc's 10 year old niece (adorable!!! and with baking!!!) and then on to a fundraiser for our college radio station CKLU and home to my very own Hot Bunny Radio.  Made it home in one piece but had to opt out of my bro's birthday party due to the horrible weather and me being exhausted and feeling crappy.

Sunday we froze our butts off doing all the stuff we need to do but thanks to a visit from our fireplace guy earlier in the week we were able to bust out our first fire of the season!!  It was also Sadie's first fire ever and as you can see, we think she's all aboard.  Like Cleopatra she was lounging so I threw down an extra pillow for her to look extra queen-like.  A visit from our friend Ben capped off the evening as we helped him drown his sorrows (his Aussie gal Fran has ventured home for a 3 month visit -- Fran we miss you!!!).

branching out

I saw this Manzanita Branch Candelabra while perusuing the pages of Real Simple at my hairdresser's this weekend and fell in love! So silver and sparkly and organic and just lovely, lovely, lovely. RS claims you can get it at West Elm but as with most things at the moment, they are sold out. Boo for Tara...

lacy unmentionables

The Pussycat Dolls (blech) just launched their new line of lingerie for La Senza. And while I hate The Pussycat Dolls (blech) I do like lacy underthings and most of it is actually pretty adorable. Here's what I think is cute and what I think is blech.

CUTE

BLECH

long lost lion love

OK, so animal lovers just stay with me for a minute. Michelle over at her blog posted this link to this great great story and if you don't tear up a bit watching this video than you are made of stone.   Kelly, if you thought that Iams commercial got you all weepy??  Please ignore the awful music though -- the story is enough on its own. Animals rock.

I would like a lion of my own now please.

cocoon living

Style North just did a great post about Futé Design - they threw a party the other night to introduce its new Cocoon line of daybeds and loungers.  If I had one of those cocoon loungers in my garden I might never get out of it.  I would sit in it all day and say things like "more tea please and please fan me more vigourously!"  Plus I think that screen is a picture perfect solution to loft living - so organic and pretty and yet gives the right kind of privacy.

art imitating life

This card is made for me.

weekend round-up

So this weekend -- what can you say about a weekend spent watching a real live episode of The West Wing unfold before our eyes? Canadian politics thrilling and exciting?? What's that you say? That's right - the shit is hitting the proverbial fan here in Canuck land and it's awesome. Who would have thought a phrase like "coalition government" would be so exciting??

Anyway, Friday Marc and I didn't do a whole heck of a lot except make some dinner and watch some The Wire. Not a bad night I say...

Saturday Marc, Sadie and I started the day bright and early with a lovely walk to the lake to watch the ducks. We spent the afternoon in the park for a puppy play date to end all puppy play dates. We met up with folks from Marc's office and their dogs and we pretty much watched the pups tear around the park non-stop for over an hour. We decided it was time to wrap things up when one of the dogs threw up from exhaustion. Vomit and all, it was pretty great and Sadie spent the whole rest of the day completely unconscious. I took my niece Sarah to see "A Year With Frog and Toad" at the theatre centre as a belated birthday present and it was pretty great. The kids were adorable with their big wide eyes and belly laughs.

Sunday we ran about 100 errands and took Sadie with us for all of them to get her used to being in the car. She did amazingly well and spent the time having a series of small naps while we shopped. We popped into the Linens n' Things bankruptcy sale on a whim and I'm so happy we did. I finally found a spice system I'm happy with!! We found this wall-mounted version with 5 simple spice jars that are exactly what I was hoping to find. We bought 5 of them and mounted them vertically on the wall and now we have a little spice work of art on what was otherwise a useless space of wall. I love it and think all the spices being visible like that looks awesome. Yay for bankruptcy sales!

Sunday I also bought all my garland for the mantle and got that all set up and it's so pretty I can't stop looking at it. I'm going to take pictures of the finished tree and mantle soon but I'm kicking around the idea of wrapping my stair railing too so I may wait until it's all done before I post them.  Oh, AND a Gossip Girl marathon on all weekend????  A marathon of Season 2???  AND Marc went out to get chicken-on-a-bun dinners from Deluxe???  My heart! It's too much greatness!!!

Monday brought the realization that like much of society, Sadie hates Mondays. She was a completely harpy on our walk Monday night after being a complete angel all weekend. Tonight we had a private lesson with our puppy obedience trainer to tide us over until classes officially start in January. Man, did she ever teach Sadie a thing or two about this whole biting thing and why it's not going to happen anymore. Sadie has spent the rest of the night tonight pouting as a result and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Times they are a changing Sadie-face!!!!!