[talk: The Bike Park.]

Every Christmas I give my my mom and mom-in-law a photo album from the kids.  I got smart last year, and simply uploaded my digiscrap pages into a 12x12 Blurb book and it was PERFECT. But this year, I have somehow fallen behind my own personal scrapbooking (gee - I wonder why?) and am frantically trying to choose pics to digiscrap so I can order these albums and have them here on time.

That means that I also have to edit and have the pics READY to scrapbook.  I have hundreds of photos of things going on around here ... so I'm having to be pretty choosy.  And so last night, I was on a mission to get some done - and I did.

So ... I thought I'd share some of the pics ... that are in the process of being digiscrapped *grin*.  Those pages to come ... 

But first ... the bike park.  This was the HIT of the fall ... after our 7 year old FINALLY got brave enough to ride his two wheeler.  I think the pressure of our 4 year old riding HIS two-wheeler was some good incentive *wink* ... 

There's a bike park close to our home ... and the boys would BEG to go, rain or shine.  And we would go.  My hubby even brought his own bike a few times *grin*.

It became the place to go after dinner ... and great motivation for the kids to finish up their food in a timely manner *grin*.  Even Katia liked the park.  She did a lot of climbing ..

And now, it's wet and cold ... and we will have to wait until the spring to go again ... and honestly?  I can't WAIT for them to get out there again and challenge themselves.  I love it when exercise wins *grin* ... 

Have a great one!

[redhandedphotography: Silence Equals Busy.]

WOW.  What's going on here??  No blogposts from me?   Can only mean one thing ... busy, busy, busy.

I'm almost caught up on my RHP work (phewf!!!) - just before another bunch of shoots are headed my way ... but I'm looking forward to that.  The shoots are fun - it's the editing and burning disks and blogging that take up so much evening time ... 

There are a few shoots on my RHP blog that you may have missed ... Joel and Angie's newborn/family shoot ...

... and Kevin and Dawn's family photoshoot ...

... and I entered the "I Heart Faces" contest with a "Bust a Gut" image ... info about that HERE ... 

What else?   Well ... I'm alllllmost done my Christmas shopping ... just a couple more things to get.  I'm planning on wrapping them all up tonight.  And I have my Christmas cards all ready to go ... um.  I just have to stuff the envelopes, return-addy them ... and address them.  And stamp them.

Hmmm.  

Maybe tonight??

OHHH ... I should show YOU what my cards look like this year!!  

And I've had soooo many questions about my new "Litebook" lamp ... I'll post on that soon too ... 

Yes, next post *wink*.

Gotta run - heading out the door for a morning of kid's-Christmas-outfit shopping with my mom and Katia while the boys are in school.   Then I'm playing/singing at a friend's grandpa's funeral this afternoon ... so glad the sun is shining for their family today!

Hope you have a great one!

[talk: A Very Happy Thirteeth.]

As many of my readers know, the grey winter days can really drag me down.  And I find that I feel poorly about myself, about my role as a wife and mother ... I get more overwhelmed and tend to feel disconnected.

My hubby's and my 13th wedding anniversary was on November 21st ... and the week prior, I decided that I really needed to make it a priority to reconnect with him and sort-of "reboot" before the hectic Christmas season.  He was in total agreement.

Now, like most women, I love it when HE plans something.  But, if I'm honest, it's not really my hubby's strength ... it's mine.  So, without feeling like he didn't really care, or whatever, I put matters into my own hands and booked a hotel, made dinner reservations and bought movie tickets online.

So on this past Thursday afternoon, my hubby and I drove into Vancouver and headed straight to the St. Regis hotel in the heart of downtown.  

It was a perfect location - we didn't have to worry about  in the Vancouver rain because the mall was right across the street.  And my hubby and I wanted to get some of our Christmas shopping done together ... 

So we did some shopping and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner ...

I had made reservations at a brand new restaurant called "Black and Blue" from the Global Group of restaurants.  My hubby and I LOVE these restaurants ... Society, Glowbal, The Italian Kitchen - just to name a few -  ... and they are all excellent.  Black and Blue was their latest addition on Alberni Street and let me say - it did NOT disappoint.

It was lavish, had high quality service and the food was absolutely divine.  DEEE-VINE.

It's a steakhouse - which I thought my hubby would love - but it was trendy and sophisticated.    The atmosphere was buzzing with toe tapping music (can't go wrong with Michael Jackson remixes ...) and the menu?  You can see it HERE.  Now, this is not a place that you would hang out on a weekly basis ... this was a special occasion and it was an expensive meal.  But my hubby and I enjoyed our conversation and the food so much ... 

Did I mention the cure-house located in the centre of the restaurant?  Yup ... the meat is THAT fresh ... 

We ordered salads to start - my hubby's caesar was prepared side-table - then we ordered steak *duh* and shared the broccoli side and fried macaroni (oh my WORD ... I only ate one but it was crazy-good).  For dessert, my hubby had a sundae and I chose the Bananas Foster - again, made side-table.  Butter, brown sugar, bananas, bourbon ... and a match.

We were feeling so much better already ... you couldn't wipe the smiles off of our faces.  And we pretty much needed a wheelbarrow to carry us out ... 

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to get into more comfy clothes and discovered that the elevator was broken. And we were on floor 5.  Ah well ... we needed to burn off a little of our dinner *smile* ... 

Then made our way to the movie theatre, to which I had purchased tickets for online.  But when we got there, they informed us that the movie wasn't playing anymore due to a glitch in the system.

Oh.

There wasn't anything else we wanted to watch ... so we headed back to the hotel - thinking we could maybe buy an in-room movie.  But alas, there was nothing we wanted to watch there either.  So we watched "The Mentalist" on tv (which we've never seen before, and kinda liked) and enjoyed the luxury of an early bedtime.

I slept like a rock.

We woke up the next morning at 8:30am (oh, WOW) and made our way to the hotel's complimentary breakfast ... which was SO good.  Plated food ... fresh omelettes, bacon, potato hash-browns ... we filled up and, packed up, and then made our way into the glorious sunshine for a morning of Christmas shopping.

WIth my very first Skinny Decaf Eggnog Latte from Starbucks in hand, we walked down Robson and stopped and tried things on, and bought gifts for family members.  It was heaven.

We headed home after lunch and even though we were only gone 24hrs, we were so excited to see our kids - and our moods were totally rejuvenated ... I am so, so thankful that we were able to do this.

During our pre-marital counselling, I remember something that Chuck Swindoll had written that we read ... He said, "... the average family has 2 weeks of vacation per year.  One week needs to be with the family, the other - just with your spouse."  He talked of the importance to regroup and  reconnect ... 

Obviously, there are many reasons why some are unable to do a full week alone ... finances, work schedules, child-care.  But one night - just one - is doable for most.  And my hubby and I realized the importance of this, more than ever.  I believe it has totally redirected our home before the frantic Christmas season, and will allow us to be a better team ... together.

So.  Yeah.  That was our anniversary. *grin*

And I wish you and yours a GREAT one today!

[cool products: Oh Boy. Polyvore.]

So.  I've discovered the addiction that is Pinterest ... you can follow me by clicking the "pinterest link" on the right side of this blog ...

It's addicting and fabulous ... it lets you basically see the very best of the best, and use "boards" to save and organize images (that are usually linked to the webpages they're from) ... like having a million magazine subscriptions and pulling out and filing the pages that you want.

There are recipes, style and fashion ideas, home ideas, organization tips, "do it yourself" ideas ... and a bucket-load of "why didn't I think of that??" stuff.

Confused?  Don't be ... try it out ... I dare you *grin*.

And - my friend Shawna just told me about Polyvore.  Yee gads.  Its a place where you can create a group of images ... with links ... of things that you like or whatever.  Like this one I quickly put together just to show you.  There are hundreds of different templates ... I just quickly chose this.  You can hover over the images, and they link to where I found them ... 

This one's a grouping of some of the fun things I found on Pinterest ... 

I'm still just figuring things out ... so I'm sure I'm not doing everything quite the way it should be done ... but whatever.  You get the idea *grin*.

Have a great one!

Why I Love Polyvore by homemakingirl on polyvore.com

Inside My Dream Home
pinterest.com

Style ...
pinterest.com

[talk: Trader Joes.]

Yesterday I had my first "official" trip to the States for a grocery shop.  Dozens of my friends do this every month - but I do not.  I had a miserable experience once at the border, where the border guard made me return my purchases to Costso (with proof of receipt) - with an emphasis on the fact that I had 18 eggs, instead of the 12-egg-limit.

Ugh.

Needless-to-say, I haven't gone back.

But yesterday the kid's school was closed due to a power outage, and I thought it would be a "day out" for all of us.  I headed south with a van-full of kids and made my way to Trader Joes.

I've been to Trader Joes in Phoenix, but never in Bellingham.  I picked up organic milk, free-range eggs, the best kettle-corn popcorn (100 calories a bag, YUM), two boxes of peppermint green tea (oh.my ... it's THAT good), a brie cheese log ... and some other nifties.

I also headed to Costco and bought various cheese, a big bag of chocolate chips, a quinioa/rice blend ... some bread.  And a bag of white-chocolate-candy-cane-covered pretzels.  

Yeah.  I'm a sucker for peppermint ... mmmmm.

Even the smell of peppermint gum makes me giddy.

*drifting of ... *

ANYways ...

I headed back home and was nervous about the $190+ I spent on groceries, even with the four of us being in the van.  I approached the border guard and she asked the same-old questions ... "no booze, no tobacco" ... she asked how much I spent.

When I answered, she started jotting something down.

Oh no.  Flashbacks to my miserable experience ... 

She looked at me and said, "So ... do you think you'll do this often?"

To which I replied, "You know - I'm not sure.  It took me a lot of time - and I could've gotten some work done at home.  And I found myself buying things that I normally wouldn't spend money on.  It's a lot of work coming down with three kids ... (blah blah blah ...)"

Her posture changed with her, "You're the FIRST person to ever say that!!" She laughed. "I don't get why people come from North Vancouver, give up an entire day to sit 3 hours at the border to save $50.00.  It's not worth it to me ... "

I was home free.

SO ... will I do it again?  Oh probably ... when the kids are IN SCHOOL and Katia and I can have a date *grin*.  Next time I'll definitely bring a list as apposed to shopping with my eyes.  I, for certain, saved a lot of money - specifically on cheese ... which I'm not eating anyways.  Still doing no-dairy, no-wheat, no sugar as much as I can ... down 5.5lbs - but that's another blogpost ... 

AND it cost me $60.00 to fill up my van, which was 3/4 empty.  A full tank costs me about $120.00 so THAT was worth it ... may just do a gas/milk/eggs run every week.    We'll see.

And that's my post on Trader Joes.

Thank you. *grin*

Have a great one!