Book Page Wreath

So as I mentioned in my last post, I recently had some free time on my hands which allowed me to get some time in for crafting!! A tradition that we have at our family reunion that I just attended is to have an auction and country store to help raise a little bit of money to put toward the next reunion. So I decided to make 2 book page wreaths as my contribution. They turned out really cute so I just had to make a third one to keep for myself. For step by step instructions on how to make these lovlies, go here! :)

Here is the wreath that I kept with a personalized monogram! 

And here is one of the wreaths that I took to the reunion 

(I forgot to take a picture of the other one, sorry!)

Happy Canada Day....4 days later!

Happy 144th Birthday Canada! 

Even though it's late,

 I have a good excuse. 

I was at my family reunion, 

the "Shields Stampede 2011" and it was a blast! 

We have them every 3 years (it's my grandpa's side of the family)

 and I haven't missed one since I was a baby.

 It is so fun to see all of my family 

that I don't see often enough and 

play games, 

have fun and 

catch up. 

Well before the reunion started last week 

I had some time off school so it gave me a chance to do some crafting. 

Here is what I created in honour of Canada's birthday. :)

PINterest

I love pinterest!!! It is like the best site EVER!! For over a year now I have made a hobby out of blog creeping and there are soooo many awesome ideas out there for diy crafts, decorations and so much more. But with creeping on so many different blogs, I was never able to remember where I originally saw certain projects that I liked and wanted to try.

That is where pinterest comes in. :) This site basically allows you to create your own account (you have to request an invite first, I guess that way you feel cool when they give you the go ahead to join) and then you have boards (you can make as many as you want and label them however you want) and you attach this pin button to your bookmark bar. From there, whenever you are blog creeping you simply click on the image you like and "pin it" to whichever board you want it displayed on. That's it!!! Now all of those great ideas are organized in one location!

Oh, and you can also follow other people's boards and they can follow you. This means that every time you go onto your pinterest account, the homepage shows you recent pins from you and anyone you follow. So if you see something you like, all you have to do is repin it to one of your boards!!

And don't worry about being stuck with a picture of the project you liked but not having the how-to instructions so that you can re-create it...pinterest links that site that you pinned the image from so you always have a link right back to the original post! Easy peezy lemon squeezy!! :)

Happy pinning!!!!

Anniversary

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it's only right

To think about the girl you love and hold her tight

So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime

And you say you belong to me and ease my mind

Imagine how the world could be, so very fine

So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue

For all my life

Me and you and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

I love to BAKE!!!

I really enjoy baking. However, there are two downsides to this hobby of mine. First, as a student I should be spending the majority of my time studying and working on assignments. Those of you who know me well, know that I am very good at avoiding these activities until pretty much the night before....oops! In order to avoid school work, I sometimes bake. The second downside to my hobby is that I also enjoy eating sweets...a little too much. And unfortunately for me, Bryan has A LOT more self-control in this department, especially considering her would rather eat a bag of chips than delicious brownies, cookies, cupcakes, etc. So the result of this unfortunate situation is that I somehow convince myself that it is appropriate to eat Bryan's share as well!! :S

Anyways along with my hobby of baking, I also like to decorate. I started with decorating cakes and have made a few for family birthdays. More recently I have jumped onto the cupcake bandwagon and have started making cupcakes more often...I haven't quite worked up the courage yet to really start experimenting like the wonderful bakers I often watch battle it out on one of my fave shows Cupcake Wars, but perhaps I'll get there eventually (not on the show, just in my own kitchen of course).

So here are some of the cake creations I have made over the past few years and I hope to make many more in the years to come!

Moonlight Run 2011

Well, we survived!!! Bryan, my mom and I signed up for the 24th Annual Moonlight Run this year and although Bryan and I were kicking ourselves prior to the race for our decision, it turned out pretty good (considering we didn't really train for it)!!!

In total the race was 6 km (3.73 miles) and included 1 km down the hill of death at the beginning of the race, and 1 km back up the hill of death at the end of the race. Let's just say I didn't think I would make it back up the hill and I was fully prepared to live the rest of my life in the river bottom....at least until Bryan made it up the hill, got the car, and drove down to rescue me :)

I would like to say that being the youngest member of our trio, I bet both my mom and husband, but unfortunately that is not the case. Bryan, who is clearly in much better shape than me, completed the race with a time of 37:51:35 and came in 354 out of 1488 overall. My time was 40:40:35 and I came in 496 overall. My mom's time was 40:51:30 and she came in 511 overall.

My mom pushed me the entire race, left me in the dust on the way back up the hill and it was only on the final turn that I found my only remaining energy to sprint ahead of her, barley beating her to the finsh. Lesson? I need to work out more.... :S

Overall, it was a fun night, even with the snow falling around us as we ran. At least there was no wind!

Meet Bella...

We have a cat named Bella....we love her!

She likes to sleep, eat and poop (sounds a lot like a baby if you ask me...)

She likes to sleep the most....what cat doesn't???

Well, she can't seem to make up her mind on where she prefers to sleep the most...so she tries a bit of everything...



Helpful Household Hints

So my mom has these books for

helpful household hints

 using SALT, VINEGAR and BAKING SODA!!

I borrowed them for a light read and found some pretty good tips!

So I thought I would share some of them with my faithful followers!! :)



1. Any spill on your stovetop can be cleaned up more easily if sprinkled with SALT first.

2. When you're faced with stubborn, baked-on food, add boling water and 3 tablespoons SALT, then let stand until water cools and wash as usual.

3. An occasional handful of SALT thrown into your fireplace fire will help loosen soot inside the chimney.

4. An iron with rough or sticky spots on its surface can be cleaned by running it, set at low, over a piece of paper with SALT on it.

5. Soaking in a tub of SALTwater can be a great itchy skin reliever. Just add 1 cup SALT to bath water.

6. The simplest remedy for minor sore throat pain is a warm SALTwater gargle. Just add 1 teaspoon SALT to 1 cup warm water, and gargle several times a day.

1. If your microwave is spattered with old sauces and greasy buildup, place a glass measuring cup with 1 cup water and 1/4 cup VINEGAR inside microwave. Boil for 3 minutes, then wipe inside of microwave with a damp sponge.

2. Keep VINEGAR in a spray bottle near shower and squirt shower curtains once or twice a week (no need to rinse) to help reduce soap film and mildew build-up.

3. Clean ceramice tile, linoleum and wood floors with a mixture of water and VINEGAR.

4. Make nail polish last longer by soaking fingertips for 1 minute in 2 teaspoons VINEGAR and 1/2 cup warm water before applying polish.

5. Sprinkle your pillowcase with apple cider VINEGAR to control nighttime coughing.

1. Stainless-steel sinks can be cleaned by sprinkling BAKING SODA onto a sponge or cloth and scrubbing the surface. Rinse and buff dry.

2. Reduce garbage-can smells by sprinkling BAKING SODA in each time you add garbage.

3. Once a month, sprinkle BAKING SODA on carpets, let sit overnight, then vacuum.

4. To eliminate odour from kitty litter boxes, sprinkle 1/2 cup of BAKING SODA.

Condo.....before and after!!!

Well, it is 2011...crazy! I can't believe how fast last year went by...I got engaged, planned a wedding and got married, attended 3 other weddings, finished anpther year of school (less than a year left!!!!), and we bought a condo!!

If you have been visiting my blog over the past almost 2 months then you would have noticed that it was somewhat neglected (Mom, I am referring to you here). Apparently when you have a month off school for Christmas break, it is easy to find other things to do rather than updating a blog....I did obviously!

Anyways, I finally got my butt in gear and dedicated some of my Saturday (which probably should have been spent on homework...oh well) to some much needed blog updates....either that or I was sick of my mom nagging me about how behind my blog was.

So here are some of the long awaited pictures of our new condo! We took possession of the condo 2 weeks before we actually moved in so that we could paint and put in new carpet. What a difference that made! we were so glad we decided to put the time and money into doing that because it made such a difference. So this virtual tour of our place is for those of you who have not had a chance to come see it in person....enjoy! :)

 Front entry BEFORE

 Front entry AFTER