C'est L'Halloween

C'est L'Halloween, c'est l'Halloween, hey! Did anyone else have that song in French class leading up to Halloween?

Since I already showed you what I dressed up as this year, I figured I'd show you some ghosts of Halloweens past.

This one was from 2008 and it was our first Halloween together. Nick's costume is obvious...I was a ballerina (aka, I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about or making this costume).

The next year, Nick let me dye his hair blonde so we could be Posh and David Beckham. I did not allow my hair to be dyed, so I was the blonde Posh (yes, she was for a brief and shining moment).

In 2010, we got a little more creative. It all started when I realized (sadly) that with air dried hair, no make up and my normal glasses, I have a strong resemblance to Garth. I made Nick's Wayne's World hat myself, and even cut bangs for this one.

Keeping up with the tradition of dressing like a man for Halloween, the next year we went as Mario and Luigi. Based on the availability of overalls, Nick had to be Fire Power Mario. Not gonna lie to you, that was one comfortable costume. Dressing ugly has its benefits.

So tonight, we're going to line up some classic Halloween movies (I'm hoping for Ghostbusters) and hand out candy. Oh handing out candy...fun for the first 10 adorable babies, and then I just get sick of answering the door. 

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

xx E.

Ps. I plan on being a total old lady about the 15 year old boys that show up without a costume begging for candy. Guess again teenagers!

Halloween Celebrations

Over the weekend my friend hosted us for a Halloween celebration.

We decided to do a group costume, and go as the characters from the board game Clue (or Cluedo for my Brits).

We used these character cards as inspiration:

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I offered to be Mrs. Peacock :)

Here's the result:

it was Mrs. Peacock, with the candlestick, in the living room

Ever the good host, Laura made the best party food, including these little gems:

pumpkin cheese ball

mummy dogs

Now all that's left is for the poor little trick-or-treaters to venture out into the storm on Wednesday for candy.

xx E.

Ps. My dog's costume :)

he wasn't thrilled

Fashion Friday: Bachelor edition

I hadn't done a Bachelor Canada episode recap, but after watching this week's episode, I decided to make it a Fashion Friday post instead.

Why you ask?

Because I witnessed one very horrendous dress on this week's episode, and I'm sorry Laura B, but it can't go unmentioned.

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Oh yes, I'm referring to the dress on the left. What is that? No seriously, what IS that?

I can't even find a picture of the front (I now regret not snapping a pic of the tv). The front was a corset style, with the same random animal print pattern in a smaller scale and....wait for it...jewels. I've seen some questionable fashion choices on the many seasons of the Bachelor, but this one takes the cake.

I was distracted through most of the episode from the horror. Ok not really. In other Bachelor news, poor Chantelle lost her grandfather and decided to leave the show (much to my disappointment). I was also surprised he kept Gabrielle around...but it looks like her family will make for a pretty interesting segment of the home-town dates.

This has to go on record as the fastest season of the Bachelor ever. Down to four girls in four episodes? He's moving faster than a 35 year old single woman on the hunt for a baby-daddy.

Have a great weekend!

xx E.

Ps. did Brad's sad moment remind anyone else of another bachelor?

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A Couple Videos

Today I thought I'd share a couple videos that I've come across in the last few days. They're totally different, but equally entertaining. 

Video One

This one hits home. My obsession with Instagram (here and here) is a little over the top. These girls take it to the next level :)

Video Two

This is probably the most you'll hear/see out of me in terms of the presidential election. This is a great song and an even better message. My personal fav is "get your rosaries off my ovaries" 

Have a wonderful day!

xx E.

Ps. it's Thursday...the week is slowly coming to an end thank goodness.

California Dreaming

In a few weeks (24 days to be exact) Husband and I will be on our way to sunny California. We're taking a road trip from San Francisco to San Diego.


Here's a little map of our route. The stars are where we're stopping overnight.

We're really excited to see the big sights, like Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge, but we've got a lot of ground to cover. So, I'd love to know - what are your 'must see' sights (oh and 'must eats' too) of the California coast?

We'd love some advice!

xx E.

Ps. We're also going to do this cave tour :)

Little Brother

Do you have younger siblings? I have a 'little' brother. I love to call him that, because he's anything but. Probably for the last 10 years at least, people have asked if he was the older one. 

he was the mc at my wedding

Growing up, we drove each other crazy (and my parents crazy at the same time). We used to fight like cats and dogs. I recall throwing a toy at him, missing, and breaking a window...I had to resort to throwing things because I couldn't get to close, or he'd have a shot at me. I had no advantage being the older sister :)

celebrating st. paddy's day

But between all the fighting, we were friends. We used to play apartment (where we got to split up the family room in two, and the little pathway behind the couch was the 'phone'. Or we'd play Big Brother, Little Sister where I got to be the baby sister, and he was the big bro. I was a cool sister too - I played Lego and stuff.

one year he visited me for my birthday at university

I have many happy, funny, and sometimes even annoying memories of us, but they are all great ones. 

at a costume party

Today he turns 27 (calling him little brother is getting a bit silly) and I'm wishing him a very 

Happy Birthday!

Love you Chris! 

xx E.

Fashion Friday

All you need to get you through the fall and winter are a couple pairs of great ankle boots. Here are my top 10 booties:

1. John Lewis suede booties, // 2. Christian Louboutin suede booties // 3. RAG & BoNE Red classic Newbury booties // 4. GUESS  // 5. GUESS short boots // 6. Red Herring stiletto high heels // 7.Calvin Klein mid heels  // 8. ASOS low heel boots // 9. Dolce Vita ankle booties // 10.via pinterest

Low booties look great with skirts, dresses, leggings, jeans, dressed up, dressed down, I could on! My absolute favs are #10...and go figure, I can't find the source! If anyone knows where to find these beauty booties, please let me know.

Have a great weekend!

xx E.

Bachelor Canada Recap Ep. 3

Last night, on the Bachelor: one girl accuses another of being on the show for the “wrong reasons”. Whitney’s team loses a competition and she subsequently loses her mind. Chantelle announces that she’s a virgin. Just like any other episode of the show - yup, that pretty much sums it up.

the lumberjack competition - whitney (pink top, far right) expected to win...

I suppose I could go into a little more detail…

Although Bianka has been accused of not really liking Brad, I think she does. She’s lovely and has a good head on her shoulders. She shouldn’t be criticized just because she isn’t gushing over him after knowing him for 5 mins. Geez ladies, relax.

Bianka and Brad on their special one on one

The reaction on Brad’s face when Chantelle came clean about her virgin status was hilarious. It was just one big pause and a look of confusion. He seems to be ok with it though – we’ll see. I’m still a Chantelle fan (which is odd for me, since I’m not religious, and usually super sweet people annoy me). 

Whitney said she wants to be on his mind 24/7. She is scary. If he picks her, she’s going to be a crazy stalker wife. Just sayin...

this group got cut by 4

Brad threw a curve ball in there by cancelling the cocktail party, skipping straight to the rose ceremony and deciding to send home not two, but FOUR girls. Evidently, he’s on the accelerated version of the Bachelor.

Next week, he’s sending four more home?! WTF folks?

xx E. 

Ps. Kara got the only 'official' one on one and I was also happy about that - she's a cool chick.

all photos via city tv

Guinness Chocolate Cake

For Nick's birthday, I always make him a chocolate Guinness cake. When I found this recipe for a cake with Guinness in it, I had to make it - he LOVES Guinness and has got me loving it too. 

Evidence: Us drinking Guinness at the brewery in Ireland.

         

This cake is and chocolatey, without being too sweet and it's frosted with cream cheese icing. Let's be honest, I would eat cardboard with cream cheese icing on it. The Guinness keeps it nice and moist (and I hate that word and only use when there's no other word to describe something). I would highly recommend trying this cake. 

After making this cake each birthday I wanted to change it up a little bit this year. Since Guinness looks so beautiful when poured in a glass, I wanted the cake to mimic that look. If I could have baked the cakes in pint glasses, I would have, but knowing that would end with shards of glass in the cake, I opted for everyone's favourite: mason jars.

ingredients

sterilized and filled jars

baked cakes; piping in the cream cheese icing

finished product!

I would have liked the cakes to fill the jars a little more, but I ran out of batter. There's always next time!

xx E.

Ps. a real poured Guinness (obviously I drank it while icing the cakes

Husband's Birthday

Wishing a very HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY to my loving husband!

This is very much a day worth celebrating, because I am so glad and so lucky he was born :) I love you Nick!

xx E.

Ps. details of the cake tomorrow :)

Pumpkins

Since we're about two weeks away from Halloween, I figured we'd better get some pumpkins outside, or else people wouldn't want to trick-or-treat at our run down little house.

So off to the farm we went. As much as I used to love carving pumpkins, cutting them open and spending an hour scraping out the gunk inside really did not appeal to me this year. Luckily, Pinterest to the rescue! We decided to paint them instead.

What you need:

• Pumpkins (cleaned)
• Spray paint
• Thumbtacks 
• Some outdoor space

Clean all the dirt off your pumpkin, and head outside to spray paint. It was so nice and warm on Sunday, which made it a heck of a lot nicer for doing this outside.

Once they are dry - trust me it didn't take long - you have two options:

Option A (aka Type A personality, aka my way) - lightly draw your lettering on with a pen/pencil so that you have a map of where to put the push pins.

Option B (aka Husband's way) - just grab the pumpkin and start putting those pins in.

And Voila! I actually prefer Husband's way (that's one for the record books folks). I think his looks bolder and cooler. I wish I had watched him before starting. 

Happy Pumpkin decorating :)

xx E.

Ps. Thanks to Husband for being the hand model for this DIY

Bachelor Canada Recap Ep.2

So to start off, Brad took 8 girls to New Orleans. When the date card said they were going to The Big Easy, not one of them knew where they were going. Sorry loves if you didn't know that either, but come on, not one of them figured that out?

Anywho, I was pretty impressed that they all stepped up to the plate with the burlesque dancing. I swear, if someone sent me to a burlesque lesson and then expected me to do it in front of other people, while being filmed for a tv show, I would have been beet red and I probably would have run away.

Chantelle, the Pastor, doing her best burlesque

I'm really not sure how I feel about Whitney. I think she's really beautiful, and at first I thought her mono-tonal voice was cool and low key...but now I think she might be a bit of a villain in disguise. And she gives one evil stink eye.

How funny was it when he woke up Ana for her surprise date, and she just pulled the covers over her head and rolled over. It was cute of him to take her out though, since he made special effort to keep her around but didn't invite her on any of the dates. That would have been a bit douchey otherwise.

I'll give Brad credit, he seems to be really open to a lot of the girls. They are all quite different (ahem, playboy model vs. pastor). But let's be honest, Melissa Marie's (playboy model) aggressive attitude made things a little weird, so I wasn't sad to see her go.

xx E.

Ps. With all the product placement I feel like I'm watching an episode of America's Next Top Model.

all photos via city tv

The List

Recently I watched a movie called I Don't Know How She Does It. It's about a woman, wife, mother, investment consultant, friend, etc etc. The idea is that this woman juggles so many activities each day, and it eventually catches up with her.

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The part that really stuck a chord with me was when she would lie down in bed at night. She would talk about how she (like many women) don't sleep. Instead they just lie there, going over The List. I too end up going over the list and most of the time, it's what keeps me up in the middle of the night.

• Make an optometrist appointment
• Call so-and-so at work before 9am
• Take something out of the freezer for dinner
• Did I give the dog his antibiotics?
• Oh...we're running out of milk
• Check the calendar for what might be happening this week
• Have we mailed a birthday card to 'insert name of upcoming birthday recipient' ?
• Pay phone bill
• I made a to-do list...must check that for anything I am missing
• Have we received a hydro bill lately?
• Drop off dry cleaning

The list changes from night to night, although the dry-cleaning still isn't dropped off and I have yet to get my eyes checked...

I have heard of sleeping with a pen and paper beside your bed, so you can write things down and go back to sleep...but I'm just not sure that would work for me. I have a phone with a notepad on my nightstand, but that doesn't help.

I just found it funny to watch that movie and think...hmm...if they made a chick-flick out of this, I must not be the only one with a List. 

xx E.

Ps. I'm this bad now, and I don't even have kids! It's only going to get worse...

Thanksgiving Feast

After a weekend of movies, reading, relaxing, wedding-going, and partying, we capped it off with a delicious Thanksgiving feast. 

Because we had attended a wedding on Sunday night (congrats Roundells!!) we were not in top form on Monday. Normally I'm a pretty decent Thanksgiving dinner sous chef. Not so much this year. Luckily, my mom had it all together, so all I really needed to do was set the table (flashbacks to my 8 year old self).

my table setting

the feast! stuffing, green beans, gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes, turkey

the family!

Not shown, was the most delicious butternut squash, apple and beer soup - a new addition to the Thanksgiving table. 

my chocolate tart with gingersnap crust...not as pretty as the original recipe here but just as rich

my mom's stunning apple pie. i can't make pies because her's are too good :)

Juney - you outdid yourself this year!

xx E.

Ps. I've got a major turkey hangover today

Giving Thanks

I can't believe we're already at Thanksgiving weekend (for Canadians). It's one of my favourite holidays. There's something about the fall, plus a glorious family dinner that make it all-around perfect.

Since the premise of Thanksgiving is to give thanks, I was thinking about all that I'm thankful for. It's really easy to come up with a list of all the wonderful things that I'm so lucky to have. But when I really think about it, what I'm most thankful for is the people (and pets) I'm surrounded by.

To the lovely and wonderful people in my life - it's you that I am truly lucky to know and love.

So I'm wishing everyone a beautiful, thankful weekend, filled with the people you love, and some yummy eats too.

xx E.

Ps. I promise to share the highlights of June's (my mom's) Thanksgiving feast next week.

The Bachelor Canada

Well my lovelies, as we all know, my obsession with the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise is still going strong. Obviously with last night's premier of the Bachelor Canada, I was front row center with all my girl friends, ready to take it all in.

We already knew it was Brad Smith...former CFL player and son of a Canadian Senator (when announced, we realized none of the 6 girls watching even knew we had Senators in Canada - besides the hockey team)

He seems cute enough, although was over doing it with hugs and was a little too into the dresses. But let's leave poor Brad alone for now.

As with every new season, there are new 'characters' that make us roll our eyes, or cringe when they step out of the limo. But honestly, it seemed like there was only one or two girls on the entire show that didn't make us cringe.

I only want this post to be so long, so I'm going to focus on a select few:

Gabrielle - the villain. She's already been pigeon-holed as the mean girl .Calling other girls skanks (when a quick look in the mirror would have confirmed that she too, was looking pretty skanky)

She's mean and seems high-maintenance and gives girls from my neck of the woods a bad name. The verdict - Don't like her.

Bianka - the girl who dated Chris Humphries (aka Kim Kardashians ex hubby) and actually, she looks a lot like Kimmy K. I think she handled herself with a lot of poise. Showed up in the best dress and shoes by far and is a front runner in my books. Don't let me down Bianka!

Chantelle - the innocent one. She's studying to be a Pastor and it seems like this is the first time she's stepped out of the convent (I know, I know a Pastor isn't Catholic it just seemed like the right thing to say). She was so surprised to learn how many of the women had breast implants and she could not stop giggling about everything. She pretty much had this same expression on her face the entire show.

Last but not least, my personal favourite - Kara. She was fun, down to earth, naturally pretty and so I'm keeping her in my picks for the front runners. Her little baseball glove, game of catch stunt was well done and not at all corny (unlike some of the others...ahem...the cheerleader...)




My overall impression is that Canada has a ton of beautiful, funny, smart, talented women and I was disappointed that they chose such a random group of crazies (a server from a strip club, and a playboy model? did they really need both?) I personally know girls that would have made for great tv and be great potential wives and I would have liked to see a better representation of Canadian women.

xx E.

Ps. Who the heck is the host? And as my friend Ginny pointed out, why did they choose someone so tall? He makes Brad look weirdly short and that's just bad casting.

all photos via Bachelor Canada

Fashion Monday?

I know that I normally reserve Friday's for fashion related things, but today, I had to comment on something I witnessed this weekend. The Ryder Cup.

Husband is an avid golf watcher, so I'm no stranger to the game. However I've never sat down and actually enjoyed watching golf until I watched the Ryder Cup. At first I was forced into it, because I was trapped on the couch, sick. But then I started to like it. It was pretty exciting - and especially great watching Europe come back for the win!

The one thing I knew about the Ryder cup, is that they get the players to dress the same. Fitting, since they are playing as a team.

One thing I didn't know, is that they also make the wives and girlfriends dress the same for the events.



European Wives vs. American Wives at the Opening Ceremony

For the opening ceremony, I definitely preferred the European's dresses to the American's. If I were a young hot WAG (Wife and Girlfriend), I wouldn't want to be wearing that weird I'm-a-dress-but-trying-to-look-like-a-skirt-and-top-wife-of-a-conservative-politician dress.

The outfits didn't get much better over the weekend as the women were forced into sporty-ish, come soccer mom clothes. 

 

Euro WAGS watching the match

 

nothing but love for Amy Mickelson...but no love at all for her choice of shoes



Luckily, they were allowed to wear different evening gowns.



my pick for best dressed Euro WAG - Kristin Stape (Graeme McDowell)



my pick for best dressed American WAG - Amy Mickelson (Phil Mickelson)



Hope everyone had a great weekend.

xx E.

Ps. Chances are, I was alone in wanting to watch the closing ceremonies just to see what they made the WAGS wear :)

First photo via; second two via; last three via.