sundays are for cuddling

I have what seems like an infinite number of photos of Abby in this last pose. Sulking, all day long. Just look at those eyes and tell me how you could bring her back to the shelter. Abby was adopted and returned at least twice before we met her. I just don't get it.

On to happier thoughts...

My plans for the rest of the night consist of sipping vanilla nut cream tea, while watching my new obsession, Sherlock, on Netflix and pretending I don't have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh, and cuddling up with my two housemates, one furry and the other not so much.

What is your favorite Sunday night activity? Tell me.xx Janelle

PS - try to ignore the terrible white balance in the photos above. D bought new lightbulbs for the living room but we still have the old, yellow light ones in the office. my camera doesn't know how to handle that. haha.

details : food, games & family

I know those of you who read a lot of blogs are probably sick of hearing about the holidays, but indulge me a little on this one, okay? I'm not quite ready to share my intentions for the new year. Plus, my boss surprised me today by saying that the new office is not quite ready yet, so we have until Monday off. If you're back at work right now: I would hate me too.

The picture above is one of the Rifle Paper Co holiday postcards I picked up from the paper & other handmade goods emporium Inkwell Boutique. I had big plans to do our first holiday postcard complete with a personalized photo of D, Abby and I, but when I saw these postcards, I decided they would work perfectly. Less of a time-crunch, less stress and postcards are always fun to receive.

My grandmother made this ornament for me and my sister when we were younger. The other side has another photo of us together. Nearly all of the ornaments on my family's tree have always been handmade or gifted to us by family, friends and family friends. I love that each one holds a memory and reminds me of special times. I'm looking forward to having room to put a tree up, so I can mix in some handmade ornaments with the store-bought ones. I love a tree that's coordinated, while also being sentimental. 

Yes, just like last year, we played Scattergories again. We played a couple of games actually. The second one was LOUD and I kind of needed an Advil, but that's Christmas with my family... Haha.

Cake baking with my mom for our last family dinner of my stay. Her icing recipe is yummy and crazy easy. Shortening, icing sugar and cocoa. Mix it up and it's done. So easy.

Testing out my brother's gift to me - a raclette! It's kind of like a fondue, in that you prepare all of the raw ingredients. Then you fire up the grill which has an element that runs along the bottom. When you're done cooking your meat and/or veggies on top, you put rice in these little shovel things, top with sauce and cheese and then heat it up underneath the grill. So delicious! Mom couldn't stop raving about how great it was that we could sit down and cook our supper. All of that Christmas hosting had her feeling a little wiped.

And we topped off my last night with a game of Mexican Train. There are many different versions of how to play. In this one, we use little tokens or figurines to signal that others can play on our "train". Mine was a miniature angel, while my Grandmaman had a donkey and my mom had what looks like the big bad Wolf. I have no idea where these came from, but thought they looked cute and oddly enough their hands (and paws) are in the same pose.

I think these pictures are a fair representation of my holiday. A lot of food, a lot of games and relaxing time with the family. I'm feeling pretty lucky. 

I hope you had a great Christmas holiday too!

The series: Life is all about the details - the moments. Over the next few months I'm going to test out a series called details. Since I don't have instagram or a smartphone to capture my daily life, I'm going to rely on my trust Sony P&S and will share the photos here. I hope you like it!

a Christmas surprise

This is what happened when I surprised by parents by coming home a day early. They were expecting me home on the train in the evening on Dec 21st.

Backstory: So that night we cleaned the kitchen and dining room and the plan was for me to hide in the spare room and then come out and say "what's for supper"? Instead, what happened was Mom and Dad were so surprised by the house being clean, that they thought something was up. E & M (my siblings) could not stop smiling. So this lead my Mom to ask where all of the clutter was and for my Dad to suggest that they had put it in the spare room. Here comes my Dad sauntering into the room to find me crouching in the dark in the corner. Instead of screaming or laughing, he starts clapping and tells Mom that they did put all the stuff on the bed. Mom's reaction is the best! When my mom is excited or happy she just laughs. It's the cutest thing.

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

these two

D & Abs couldn't drive up because of the winter storm that hit the Maritimes last night/today. This means I am without them until Monday when we will meet in Moncton for New Year's Eve. I am enjoying spending time with family but I feel like a part of me is in Nova Scotia. I keep thinking I'm forgetting to take the dog out, but D is being a "single [dog] dad" for now. I keep denying that I treat my dog like my baby, but I think the joke is on me...

My new toy kept me busy this afternoon - I got the Bamboo Create tablet for Christmas. Now I can add my handwriting to my photos. So you can expect to see a sequence of photos with quotes or sayings on them in the future. I'm exploring graphic design with baby steps. There is definitely a steep learning curve, but I can't wait to practice more. The picture you see above is the result of a large number of tries.

I hope you're all doing well.

merry christmas & a virtual hug

 

I hope Santa found you and that you're all enjoying time with family and loved ones today. We hosted our annual Christmas Eve celebration and are hosting Christmas dinner in about an hour or so. I'm hoping my man and Abby-dog will be able to come up for the weekend, but a storm is brewing. Northern NB always gets hit hard with snow around this time of year, and 30cm is nothing to laugh at. We're trying to work something out so that we can keep our plans to celebrate New Year's Eve in Moncton with some of our closest friends.

Speaking of friends, a big congratulations to my "sucia" Em & her new fiance (!!) on their engagement yesterday. To quote my favorite Christmas movie, love really is all around.