Some Christmas cheer

 I love Christmas, and I've really been feeling the spirit this year. It could be because the kids are at a good age and we got a little bit of snow over the weekend, but something feels a bit different this year. I wish I could slow things down...December seems to fly by and I haven't done all I want to do yet! I also haven't been blogging much as I try to do it...and having the flu didn't help much either. I'm back today though and the Christmas music is on in the background, Marshall and I are making cookies and Ella is enjoying her last day at school before the Holidays...(PJ day today..she was so excited). I'm looking forward to my parents coming for Christmas, and I am so feeling so blessed that the kids get to have their grandparents here at this special time.

This post will hopefully bring some Christmas cheer into your home with these great photos that I have collected from random places online. Enjoy!

I have some wonderful memories of going house to house singing Christmas carols by horse draw wagon in my hometown. It looked much like this picture in fact, right down to the Belgian horses pulling us along. I would love to do that again..

I love hot chocolate this time of year and we have been enjoying a lot of it here after playing outside in the snow and cold...complete with whipped cream on top, yum!

I thought this was a fun idea...frozen whipped cream that is cut out with cookie cutters to go in your hot chocolate. A good way to cool it down for the kiddies and it looks great too.

The bit of snow we got really made it feel festive here.

  

 

Don't these Peppermint Meringues look delicious? I'm going to try them out this weekend.

My favourite new Christmas song this year is this great tune:

Meaghan Smith - Silver Bells

 I just love it. :)

I hope you are having a great Holiday season so far...there's the oven, my sugar cookies are ready!

Merry Christmas to all! :)

Antiquing

I had some fun checking out the local antique stores this weekend. It's not an ideal activity to take the kids on but they were really well behaved. Ella was slow and quiet and had a blast checking everything out and finding things (dogs, horses, birds) that I told her to look for. Marshall was carried the whole time of course...way too tempting for a three year old and while he was heavy to pack around he was surprising good about it and also had fun pointing to and talking about everything.

This particular post is picture heavy and if you don't like the things I listed above than you probably won't be all that into it. Just as an FYI. ;)

These two prints I thought would be nice with a frame change. Not big on the old gold look, although it might fit into some people's decor...just not mine.

I kind of liked this wood duck print.

I kind of liked this pheasant too but it wasn't Chris's style at all...lol.

Loved this old tin and it came home with me.

Great American Cocker statue..I think it's Sandicast...it was big.

How about this Schnauzer? Also Sandicast I think.

Love the Shih Tzu. :)

I really like wooden ducks/geese and this Canada goose came home with me. When I brought it to the till it ended up being not only on sale but also an extra 20% off on top of that...just $18 which I was thrilled with. 

Fox print....it's 50% off right now.

I liked this old coaster...it had some writing on the back saying Happy Birthday to someone and was dated 1938.

Labrador sporting dog print. Signed and numbered.

Some fun really old school fox hunting prints.

Large whippet/greyhound standing ashtray.

English Bulldog

Dalmation

Pair of Scottish terrier bookends.

German Shepherd print.

Really liked this Labrador statue.

GSD statue

Setters, there were two exactly the same and were marked down from $18 to $10 each and then a further 20% off, so only $8 each. They came home with me. :)

Black Labrador, I think it was Sandicast.

Royal Doulton German Shepherd statue. A real collectors item...wish I had been able to find the Royal Doulton Doberman which is something I always keep my eyes open for when in antique stores.

Borzoi statue.

I love this Golden Pheasant serving platter and it's been in the store for awhile, but it's an expensive one at $165.

Setter head wall plaque.

Pointer/Irish Setter hunting print.

Serving platter with an old school fox hunting scene.

Decorative plate with a fox hunting scene.

That's it! I found all kinds of fun goodies but only brought home three very reasonably priced items (pats herself on back).

If you are local to this area and see something you like send me a message and I'll tell you where I found it and how much it was.

We got a little bit of snow here tonight so now feels like a good time to enjoy a hot chocolate and Baileys.

I'm going to have so many calories to run off come January.... 

The gluten free feedback

I've gotten a bit behind in my posting lately as I have just been so busy with Christmas plans and puppies. I haven't had much time for anything else but I actually feel like I may have gotten caught up these last few days. I'm still not quite done my Christmas shopping and have a bit of baking left to do, but I'm getting close.

So...gluten free. My plan had been to try it for one month and see how I did and if it made much difference to how I felt overall. I made it to three weeks. I didn't find that I had a lot of cravings for things with gluten, but I did find that I had to be creative in coming up with new ideas of what I could eat. I'm very glad I didn't cut dairy at the same time which I had considered, that would have made things very tough. I did cut most sugar though, and to be honest I found that the hardest of all. Apparently I have more of a sweet tooth than I thought.

I didn't find that cutting the gluten made that much of a difference to me, so I definitely don't have any sensitivities. At first I thought that I felt more energetic but I think it was really just the increase in exercise, that was also giving me a nice attitude boost. My main reason for going back to the gluten? When I cut it out my digestion pretty much came to a grinding halt...you know....as in nothing moving through.... Yeah....exactly. I just couldn't do it. I was taking psyllium husk twice a day, drinking tons of water, eating loads of veggies, and even resorted to drinking a diet tea that was nothing but senna leaf and things still weren't working the way they should. I went back to eating gluten and within two days I was back to being totally regular. The consensus? Go easy on the carbs for weight loss but gluten free doesn't work for me.

Now that wheat is back on the menu I have been enjoying Christmas baking with the kiddies. I would have baked with them anyway because it is such a Christmas tradition but it would have been very hard to not eat anything.

How cute are these two??

How are your Christmas plans coming along? What is your favourite Christmas music? I picked up Michael Buble's Christmas album last year and it's become one of my favourites. This year I think I will be adding Lady Antebellum's On a Winters Night album. I gave it a test run on iTunes and really liked it. I know Costco carries it so next trip there it will be coming home with me.

New hairdo and a great styling tool

I headed out on Saturday morning for my regular hair appointment with my long standing stylist Lucy. Lucy owns Thrixx Salon in Shawnigan Lake and always does an amazing job on my hair. This weekend was no exception. I came away with gorgeous new burgundy highlights and this great new wavy 'do thanks to Paul Mitchell's Clipless curling wand. Have you used one of these yet? It was new to me but I loved the result. Look at these great waves, and they lasted all day too which is very unusual for me:

This is the wand, which is now on my Christmas list:

The curls/waves are big and soft, hold well and don't look as tight and ringlet like as they do when using a regular curling iron. I love the effect.

Speaking of curls, did you know that perms are making a comeback in a big way?? Not the old 80's style super tight ones that you are probably remembering with horror but big soft body waves and relaxed curls. They have been renamed texturizing services and I'm seriously thinking of getting one. Misty at Thrixx is specializing in them so if you're thinking you might like to try this new trend be sure to give her a call: #250-733-2231

Hope you had a great weekend!

OOTD....kind of, my favourite lip colour and running!

As you might know from yesterday's post I headed out to go Christmas shopping yesterday, and I don't know about you but I kind of tend to shop for myself at the same time..haha.

This was yesterday's OOTD. I know, not very exciting and the shoes are not exactly fashionable but the weather was wet and nasty and they worked well for that.

Top: Joe Fresh - these are a new addition and come in a few different colours. I also really liked the white but it was sold out in my size. $16

Stretchy tank: Bootlegger - yes I'm obsessed with this mustard colour. It goes with anything!

Jeans: Warehouse One

Shoes: The North Face

Bracelets: George

I tried on a few different tops at The Gap:

I love the colour of the orange one so much I almost bought it just for that reason but it kind of clung to my "mummy tummy" and I'm very conscious of that.

And much as I love stripes on other people...on me....just no, especially with the wide open neckline, not flattering.

This top looked totally cute on the rack, but it fit so weird, like a potato sack...just hung there, all heavy and lumpy......and expensive...because it was the only one not on sale.

You have probably heard of buyers remorse before, usually it means buying something and then being unhappy with it and wishing you hadn't been impulsive. With me it's usually the other way around. I tell myself to be good and then go home and obsess, and wish I HAD bought it. Like the orange shirt above, I love it. Maybe I could just suck in all the time?

My moto boot search continues. How cute are these ones from Guess? I love them and they were on sale at The Bay too, $100, regularly $140. Unfortunately when I tried then on it was like strapping a block of wood to my foot. Not comfortable and they were also just a smidge on the tight side so I couldn't have fit an insole in there either. Darn!

Had to snap this great pic of the clock in the middle of the mall....so festive! Are you excited about Christmas?

I thought I would share my favourite everyday lip colour. It's the perfect finish to pull a look together when you want something pretty but not too bright. It really is the colour I use everyday. It's better than a gloss as it lasts longer and isn't sticky at all, but still stays fairly neutral like a gloss would. It's also the perfect compliment to a smokey eye.

It's Maybelline Colorsensational Born With It and the number is 015.

Running continues to go well. I went to the track again last night and this time brought my Garmin with me to see how far I was actually running and it turns out it was 7.3km, not just over 6 like I thought it was. I don't run the whole way, I'll be building up to that but I feel like I'm coming along quickly. One thing I have been working on is slowing down a bit. I tend to want to go too quickly and then I can't breathe. When you can't breathe it just feels like it's too darn hard and you want to quit. If I go slow and steady I can do it (tortoise and the hare anyone?), and when I do it...what a sense of accomplishment!

Speaking of accomplishments....I'm thinking of entering the VIRA - Vancouver Island Runners Association race series. It's eight races total (one is a half marathon..yikes!) and if I enter by the end of today I get the early bird deal of $120 ($15 per race). There is no doubt this would be a huge challenge. Am I up for it? Anyone want to do this with me? I know I have a few Vancouver Island readers on here....yes I'm looking at you...the one in the corner who won't make eye contact...

I think running the race series would be a great bucket list goal, so who's with me?

To keep you motivated and moving here's my current running list:

Classified - Inner Ninja feat. David Myles - I LOVE this song, it's my current favourite, running or not, a great tune.

Tiësto vs. Diplo ft. Busta Rhymes - C'mon (Catch 'Em By Surprise) - this has been on my workout list forever, it always makes me dig deep.

Drake - The Motto ft. Lil Wayne  - Explicit

Some Nights - FUN - I don't seem to get tired of this song, a great anthem type of song, reminds me of Queen.

 Bruno Mars - Marry You - another feel good happy running tune.

will.i.am - Scream & Shout ft. Britney Spears 

99 PROBLEMS  Jay Z - Explicit 

Lil Mama ft Chris Brown T-Pain - Shawty Get Loose 

Girl Talk- Cleveland Shake - Explicit

Nicki Minaj - Va va voom  

Chris Brown - Don't Wake Me Up  

Nicki Minaj - The boys - Explicit

Peace out!