I forgot...

How completely amazing Love Actually was...

just missed it...

via The Not Wedding

See what all the fuss is about...

Last night, I had a dream..

Everything was beautiful.. Martha & I were having a crafternoon... Then I woke up, wishing I had a pen nearby... I forgot everything she taught me..

I am disappointed.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack...

After a little bit of the blogger blues, I'm back in full force.

Stay tuned for extreme goodies galore!!

Is today really friday?

What a week.. I still can't believe the holidays are over.. at least I have a couple things to look forward to in the coming month. My beloved and I are leaving on a jet plane (after a 3 hour drive to Syracuse) to embark on our very first long term vacation.

Our destination you ask? The City. (hehehe get it?)

I am so excited to be spending 10 wonderfully packed days in the Big Apple. I am however devastated to leave my pride and joy behind. Our little Rufa-loo will be very anxious for our return, guaranteed. Wheaten terriers tend to have separation anxiety.. well ours does at least lol

Hopefully a dog sweatshirt with the words.. "I (heart) Chinatown" will make him happy ; )

We are so excited to be able to bring our friends with us as well! The first 4-5 days will be entertaining the guests, and the rest will be to explore the upper west side the way we want.

Magnolia's is down the street.. so you'll know where to find me!!

A quick breakfast at Tiffany's might be in the cards...

Happy New year!!

What are you New Years resolutions?

I have learned a very long time ago not to make them. I never keep end up keeping them anyways. Take it as it comes, things happenw when you least expect them to.

; )

What a month...

Thank God 2008 is almost over. A New Year will bring a fresh start to a tumultus 2008.
I will be taking a couple more days off blogging and posting all new things in the New Year.


Blog ya next year!!

In the last 48 hours...

1. Watched the windshield crack go from 10 cm to 30 cm.. (will show photos before the repair.. )

2. Manage to misplace half a prime rib (we think the dog ate it... but so far no evidence has turned up)

3. Made a home video remake of the in laws home movies.. (awesome day)

4. Got the beast to start for the first time in 3 months..

5. Drove around with the beast (no insurance/ no drivers license.. Rebel right here!!)

6. Stalled the Beast in the driveway.. back to square one..

7. Had Dim Sum with mom and baby bro

8. Felt bad for Britney

9. Found a box of old Diaries stored at the in laws

10. Went through the box of Diaries.. (at least I thought the entries were funny)

11. Played vintage video games on the wii (not so vintage)

12. Sorted stuff in the office..

13. wished for a snow storm to hit the city..

14. Listening to the freezing rain hitting the window.. (it begins)

Pretty productive weekend if you ask me... now If only I could sleep another full day...
Hopefully we get a snow day tomorrow...

A minute maid in time...

I don't usually watch Rachel Ray.. her raspy voice and crazy over the top personality drive me nuts. But I will chew my words.. riiiiiiight now. I have a lot of respect for this lady at the moment.

Let me take you back to an hour ago.

I was watching Ellen this morning (I love Ellen btw, anyways that's another story). And as it ended, I saw a preview for the up coming Rachel Ray show, and I was a little curious. They named the show, The brides of Harris County. I figured.. why not..

The show started off with several clips of "brides to be" detailing what their childhood fantasies of their dream weddings would look like. Non of these stories included a hurricane ripping through the county a mere week before some of them were to wed the men of their dreams.
Shortly after Hurricane Ike destroyed parts of Texas, 33 Brides received some devastating news. Their wedding venues were forced into bankruptcy. Which meant losing all the money they had put towards the wedding of their dreams ahead of time. Some lost up to $20 000.

(I don't know about you, but I would be in shreds if this happened to us)

The show chronicles Rachel Ray and her team and how they were able to throw the biggest mass wedding in the county's history. Many vendors saved the day by providing everything from wedding gowns, tuxes, catered food, professional photography, jewellery, flowers, decor... to top it off with an absolutely amazing set up on the baseball diamond at the Minute Maid Park in Houston Texas.

I usually hate watching shows like this... I always get really teary eyed and sometimes sobby... But what a story... You should watch it.. : )

41 days left..

I case you haven't already noticed, Christmas is around the corner.

I haven't yet embraced the idea of the holidays coming at us so fast, but I have somewhat adjusted to it. It only really hits when I take a stroll through the Christmas Alley at the mall. We'll see how I feel after my stroll today...

And it begins...

What a day.

The boy and I took the day off together (actually he took off. I already had the day off) anyways, we decided today would be a good day to stock up on things at the grocery store. It's been about a month since we've done a HUGE load of groceries so the pantry was a little bare.
Being a Tuesday afternoon-ish, we knew it was going to be quiet at the store.

Just the way I like it to be.

We start going up and down the usual rows.. Cereals, drinks, produce, frozen foods. And then it hits. When we first walked into the store, I thought I heard a slight hum of John Lennon's 'So this is Christmas' coming from the ceiling. I ignored it. "There's no way they're already playing Christmas music" I thought to myself, so I didn't really say anything about it and went back to picking out Beef broths for the stew I was planning for dinner.

Right when we were headed to the bread section for my pumpernickel loaf... the worst possible thing happened. (It's really not that bad, but still..)

Silver Bells came on the radio...

I was in awe. Now I don't know about you... but I think it's wayyyyyyyyyy too early to start thinking about the holidays.

My point is 4 folds.

1. No one should start decorating the house for the holidays before December 1st.
Decorating in November makes no sense to me. Halloween just ended.. give it at least a month. Our neighbours still have their Halloween spider bags on their front lawns... what does that tell you!

2. Early Christmas sales.
Don't you know they make these sales to get you to buy things earlier? They'll suck you back in 2 days before Christmas too!! And the day after that!! Don't believe me? Try this. Buy your spouse a gift now. (today, this second) I'm willing to bet you $15.00 and a piece of lint (it's all I have in my wallet right now) that you'll discard the gift and buy something else on Christmas eve. I've been there. Every year I do the same thing.

(I skipped 3, I wasn't inspired)

4. Santa photo op at the mall.
I actually secretly love these. I just tell people I hate them.
In high school, I used to skip school with my friends to sit on the creepy old mans knee for a photo. But here's where my beef with the mall Santa comes in... why is he only there at weird times?? Why be there at 1pm but not at 4 pm?? I just don't get it.

I guess I'm in denial. I'll probably be singing a different tune next week though..
It's just not the same without snow on the ground...

Amélie.. How I've missed you..

Last June, my better half surprised me with an impromptu birthday weekend trip to New Orleans, Louisiana.Not only was this trip my first ever trip to the Southern states, it was also my first ever plane ride! (What a city! If you've never been to the Big Easy, I highly recommend you book a getaway trip)

The first night we got to NOLA (Short for New Orleans, LA), we took a haunted walking tour through the French Quarter. Our tour guide Holly, a local, was very entertaining and knew a lot about the city your average joe wouldn't know. She told us stories about Muriel's restaurant with the lone table set aside for the ghosts (in order to stop them from stealing the restaurant guests bread), Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre actress.. She also recommended a few restaurants she thought we might enjoy.. (and we really did!!) While walking down one of the side streets, I noticed a very cute sign above a brick wall (cute things seem to stick out... I don't know why). The sign read Cafe Amélie. We took a quick peek inside, and we immediately decided to eat there the following night.

And we did. What a place.. cobblestones.. candle lighting, beautiful brick walls.. just beautiful. We ordered a bottle of wine (expected) and browsed the menu.. the smells coming from the kitchen were too good to not be tempted.

I'm gonna zip pass a few details to get to the crucial point of the story.

After we had finished dinner, we still had about half a bottle of wine to go. Coming from a household who tends to polish bottles before dinners end, we weren't going to let this one go to waste. To make things easier, my better half decided that if each of us took a sip after every toast we made, we would finish the bottle in no time. So one at a time, back and forth, we toasted to the city... toasted the cobblestones, toasted to Holly (for guiding us there in the first place), toasted the stars... toasted Brad Pitt (long story.. lol) and it went on and on... it was kind of slow going for a little bit. I almost didn't finish my last glass.. and then something happened.

To break the pattern, my better half says "I've save the best one for last..". I started to get antsy.. I think I got a little too excited for what I thought was going to happen.. I started smiling lots.. getting sweaty (don't get me wrong.. it was hot.. but I thought he was going to propose!!) He gets to his last sip, looks me in the eyes (by that time, I'm blushing so hard my head hurts)and says... "To Rufus". I don't think it registered, because all that was running through my head was.. "I'm going to be Mrs Bleep*.. OMG I'm going to be Mrs Bleep*." And then it hit me. He didn't propose.. He toasted to the damn dog!!! (* to keep anonymity!!)

I was a little surprised and confused.. how was that saving the best for last??So the night went on without incident. I really didn't bring it up because after all, he did plan this fabulous little getaway on his own and I couldn't have sulked the rest of the trip because of this little "oops" moment. We took a carriage ride through the French Quarter, went to Coyote Ugly for shots and hung out with the craw fish mascot at Bubba Gump & co. We even walked on the set of Carmen Electra's new Flick "Mardi Gras". Overall, a great drunken night.

The morning after. We get a frantic call from my mother in law. ( I call her that because I've been in the family for 4 years now) She was freaking out asking if he'd popped the question.. (see I wasn't the only one with that on the brain!!) So he hangs up the phone, turns to me and asks me where she had got this crazy idea in her head from.. so I told him I too thought it was going to happen.. I think he felt bad about the situation lol

And then I added "When the time comes that you are ready to propose, it better beat a candle lit dinner, in a cobblestone courtyard in New Orleans.. and it also better not happen over the jumbotron at a Senators hockey game".

I think he got the picture lol

Ohhh boys... How I love them ; )

Tele-drama!!

Lack of posts... omg, going out of my mind!

Let me catch you up to speed.

Reason 1.. not really a reason but here goes.
I have been sick for a couple months now, and I can't seem to shake this flu.

And now for the juicy parts..

The boy and I were watching TV last month when it went on the fritz. You turned it on, and all you could see was 1 line running halfway across the screen. Not cool considering we just pooled our pennies together to replace our previous car (see earlier posts). We were not looking forward to spending a ton of money on a brand new tv.

The better half decided to buy a second hand tube TV from some guy in the east end. BIG MISTAKE. Not only did the TV reek of cigs and was tainted yellow, ( non smokers here!!), but it was broke to start out with!! He asked the guy to show him if the TV worked, and hauled it in the car and off he went! The only feature he wanted in the TV, ended up being broken. He could not get his HD tv. (We discovered this after fitting the nook, and getting a couple guys to help moved the original TV out of it. btw, the original tv weighed about 300 pounds. Not an easy feat!!)

Soooooooooo my better half got this crazy idea to crack the back of the TV open to fix the HD input. I strongly advised him not to do it because if it broke, we would have wasted money. So what does he do? *all together now* He cracks it open!! What is most likely to happen when you open the back of a TV? *ready for this kids?* it breaks.

Like an idiot, I laughed. what else do you do after a half hour argument about NOT cracking the tube open??

So I had the upper hand and he cracked. We are now the proud owners of a BRAND NEW (emphasize the new) Toshiba 37" LCD television. I have vowed never to buy second hand electronics.. ever again.

This is where I can proudly use this phrase... I told you so!!! : P

Say Yes, well... maybe..

I'm a big TLC junkie. I love home decor, house flipping, wedding shows... but this one blew me off the shelf. It's Saturday morning 8am. Nothing else to watch but "Say yes to the dress". Seeing as I had never really seen the show, I figure.. why not?! Couldn't hurt right?

So basically, this is a "docusoap" that gives you an inside look at how things work at one of the worlds most renowned Bridal salons, Kleinfeld Bridal. This shop boasts itself as having the largest (most expensive) wedding dress selection in the world.

Being a self proclaimed wedding obsessed kinda gal, I really started getting into it. You see brides with different body shapes and sizes walk in and the consultants know exactly what to pick out for them based on their preference of price and style.

But here's my beef. (I'll keep it short I promise)

Why the world would you spend $27 000 (yes, twenty seven thousand) on a dress???!???!?!?!
Please someone take my hand and explain it to me.
I just don't get it..

Totally unrelated...

Just a quick post to say...

BYE BYE BEAST HELLO NIGHT-RIDER!!!

Yes, we have FINALLY said our adieux to the eagle summit. It was about damn time...

and yes, it will be missed...

Local gems...

Ottawa is pretty big on dividing the city in small 'village' like areas. The Byward Market, Sandy hill, Manotick, Somerset Village.. It never really ends.

My grand parents owned a beautiful house in Westboro on Caroline avenue until about 15 years ago. I don't remember much of what the inside looked like, but if we were to walk by it today, I would have absolutely no hesitation in picking it out. The really neat thing about Caroline ave is that houses aren't cookie cutter homes. Most of my fmaily has lived in westboro at some point in time. My parents had a brief encounter on Athlone ave, and my better half and I lived on the same street for a little while as well. This happened by fluke!

The greatest thing about living in Westboro are the little shops that line the main strip. You want detail? They can give it to you and then some!

It's been over 2 years since we've lived in the area, and we miss it dearly. We occasionally take walks around town for ice cream or check for Elvis sightings at the Newport restaurant.
We took a walk around the area yesterday, and there were many new faces and old friends still lurking about. Old favorites unfortunately closed but will always remain in our hearts. In an homage to Westboro, I thought I'd post our fave spots.

Bark and Fitz
http://www.barkandfitz.com/
We had to throw this one in for Rufus..
This place is crazy nice!! And all about your special pooch : )
Gourmet treats (we saw birthday cake shaped cookies yesterday), fashionable collars and leaches, amazingly soft doggy beds... A dogs dream!!

The Candy Store
http://www.blogger.com/www.thecandystoreottawa.ca
Only opened a few months, this store has already stolen the hearts of the locals westboronians. Amazing lay out, dreamy window décor and whimsical atmosphere. I saw the window display and wanted to go in so bad (to my better half's disappointment) BEAUTIFUL. I especially loved the decanters filled with bright colored hard candy (which I cannot sadly chew but I am more than happy to look at it) They also do custom gift baskets and beautiful candy displays for every event you can think of. I hope they stay in town for a while, I want to go back soon!

Newport Restaurant
http://www.newportrestaurant.com/flash/main.html
This one is a must. If you're from out of town and are visiting Ottawa, you best be setting your foot in this place.. Or else you'll regret it!! If you are adventurous, please try the Montreal Style pizza. When we first moved to Westboro, we decided to have a late night snack and picked this one.. (oh boy were we in trouble!!) We had no clue how pickles on a pizza would work, but it did!! Truly yummy!! (not for everyone) Give it a try!!
P.s. Elvis eats here too!!

Truffle Treasures
http://www.truffletreasures.com/
Westboro chocolate darling, Lara Vaarre, opened this little shop several years ago and has some of the yummiest truffle creations I have ever tasted. Have you ever had an Earl Grey Tea truffle? How about a Champagne and Strawberries Truffle? I know I haven't, but this will be on my list of things to do on my next trip to this shop. (which will hopefully be soon!!) (truffles to try: Chai tea truffle) P.s. Best damn Gelato in town!!

More to come...