First time :)

We got our new Espresso machine on Boxing Day and I set it up a few days later, made the counter area a little mini coffee bistro :) I have been scared to try it out, so last night Amy read the little book that came with it, and made Tim and I our first lattes from it. Not too bad, a bit weak, but right now it's trial and error. So today when we got home, I wanted to try it myself, and boy did I make a mess.




I did manage to make 2 little cups of espresso, to add to our lattes, I made Tim's his usual caramel, and he said it didn't turn out too bad, just have to get used to heating the milk up hotter is all, but it foams so much, I have to figure that part out. But just for the espresso brewing part, look at the mess, argh, hopefully that gets better as we go too.





And talk about milk spillage, just a bit on the base, the counter and the cloth, I am sure I will get better at judging how full is too full to make the little steamer jug. I know it says half way, but that doesn't fill the travel mugs, so I did 3/4 full, and spilled a bit, but it was the perfect amount of milk.






This is my drink, I used eggnog as the milk, and added gingerbread syrup (don't tell Jordyn, since it's hers from a Christmas gift... :P) then added some whipped cream, and it turned out pretty good I must say.








A view of our brewing station...can't wait to see what other combinations I can come up with as I get more confident with our new machine.

And a big thank you to Linda, my mother in law, and my dad whom helped us out with the purchase of this via Christmas money :)

Project Life

Yay!!! it finally arrived today. I ordered it in November, and the shipping date kept being changed due to production setbacks....but as promised it did arrive before the new year :) I wanted to get a few photos of it just out of the packing box and before I started to put it all together. There is just so much fun stuff that I am sure I will add more photos later...but for now, here is what I saw :)

Dec 26th

When I made my Dec Daily, I was following Ali Edwards lead and only did pages up til the 25th. But today I decided since boxing Day shopping isn't always something we do, I would add an extra day to my album so I could make a fun entry about the craziness of it all. We planned our day last night, left the house at 5:45am and headed right to the electronic stores, Future Shop, Best Buy and Walmart, all looking for TV DVD boxsets....lots of the ones on our lists were found for good deals, some were not. For Amy and Tim, a trip to EB games rounded out their shopping for the day, while for me Walmart and London Drugs were my stores of choice. I managed to get lots of paper and ribbon for next Christmas, some sales on my favorite treats and even a great deal on a pair of boots...the only thing is, Jordyn worked today and didn't come with us.


Here's a look at all the bags and stuff one we came home with it all.



Me and all my goodies :)


Tim with all his great deals....and he has been playing Skyrim since we got home.


And Amy, well, she did the most shopping with tons of DVD's and Games...



Tim and I have wanted a Espresso machine for a while, so the money my dad sent us and Linda's gift we managed to buy a machine without spending too much of our own money.

We got home with the truck so full of stuff that only Linda could fit in the back of the truck with it all, and Amy was squished up front with us...I do have a photo of the truck on my iphone which I will get off and print for the actual page. It took two trips each for us to get it all into the house, and then at least half hour each to go through it all, and show each other our loot. We spent 6 hours shopping and by the time we got home just after noon, we were all ready for a nap.

Jordyn had to work today from 8 am until 4pm and decided to stay at the mall for a while to get a bit of her own Boxing Day shopping done, so when she got home, I sat with her and Amy and we checked out her newest goodies...lots of stuff from Bath and Body Works, and 3 books which were on sale as well, plus some Purdy's chocolates, gotta love chocolate on sale for half price. :)

Dec 25th

I am torn as to my entry today...because the one thing I really want to have in here is the fact that I actually got to see my parents on Skype today and enjoy seeing them on Christmas morning, something I haven't been able to do since they moved away many years ago. Now before we started talking, I knew I wanted to get a picture, but then the craziness of Christmas morning happened, and before I knew it, we had spent 20 minutes talking to them and then we said our goodbyes...and afterwards I remember I hadn't taken a picture, I had planned on getting one looking right at them on the screen and one with the girls talking to them...but I don't have them, but have the memories,so I may just still have it as my entry, and maybe stage a Skype conversation with them again on New Years day, and use that photo as my photo for today...but if nothing else, I will have tidbits of our conversation to share on my Dec Daily.....here are some of the highlights.....

Talking way too loudly, mom moving the wrong way all the time so we only saw half her face for most of the conversation :) walking around with the computer to show them the mess of all the unwrapped gifts and mounds of paper and bows. Jordyn showing them the Christmas tree in her room, Dad showing us the mini fishing rod he got, and Tim teasing him about it, Tim talking with my parents for a few minutes and laughing and joking. Them telling me how by lending out their chairs so their landlord could have enough for company, that the landlord broughts them all the fixing for a yummy Christmas dinner, and mom didn't have to cook any of it :) talking about and thanking each other for our gifts...but most of all, seeing how happy my mom was to be able to spend some time with us on Christmas morning....love that my first time on Skype wasn't as scary and awkward as I thought it would be....<3

Dec 24th

Traditions, some old, some new, some past down from generation to generation...and Christmas Eve for us is a combination of all. We did something new this year, as a family and went to the aquarium, we had our traditional dinner, our big spread of food, and the girls got to open their one gift, this year, warm blankets...so we have something new, something old, and something pasted down from Tim and I as we both opened gifts on Christmas Eve as well...so generational traditions...love that traditions have history, but also love that they can start whenever you want them to, and make them a tradition by repeating them each and every year.






Amy loves Zebra prints and Jordyn loves anything Leopard print, so how lucky was I when I found both of this warm soft blankets at JYSK....and a great gift for Christmas Eve, to curl up with while we watch our Christmas movies.

Dec 23rd

As long as I can remember, I've loved baking at Christmas time and then giving it to those who are in our lives that are special too us...when we all lived in Victoria, it was a lot of family and people I worked with...now it's friends who we love and care about...this year, I did up 3 boxes of goodies, on for our friends the Mitchells, Cathy and Kyle and our newest friends, Sarb and Suki...something just warms my heart when I give the boxes out.



Cathy was a sport when we went to their place and enjoyed a visit, and let me take a photo of her with her box of goodies, specifically so she could be my photo for today's December Daily.



this is the box I did up for Sarb and Suki, and once again, we enjoyed a visit with them when we dropped it off.

Dec 22nd

Steph has been a part of our lives since her and Amy became friends early in High School...and when she got her puppy for Christmas, she just had to come and let us enjoy him too....what a total cutie :) and I just love the smell of a new puppy. This is Skyler, and he's only 6 weeks old here and look how big he already is.





Amy and Jordyn are going to be good doggy aunties :)

Dec 21st

Since the girls we little we have always dedicated one night close to Christmas to go and look at Christmas lights. We always enjoy each others company, a Starbucks and usually grab something to eat, this year it was Subway.

I was lucky enough to capture photos of me and the girls and one with Tim and the girls. I also included a few of the houses we saw tonight, and may include more of the photos once I get them put together on the physical Dec Daily.

Dec 20th

Should I or shouldn't I??? That is the question I have been asking myself since Erika gave me this huge present so nicely wrapped last night. I am always one who loves to wait until Christmas day to open all my gifts, but since this is so big, I am almost wanting to do it...but I'm sure I will wait.



Now doesn't it look pretty all wrapped in red and white...and as always a little love written on the tag, something I will for sure include in my actually Dec Daily album, I just love her handwriting :)

Now what I can't include in today post is the photos I have of gifts yet to be wrapped for me to bring to her...waiting patiently for something to dry is the only hint I am giving ;p And if we are lucky enough to have a free moment before Christmas day, I would rather sit together and open gifts at the same time, so that is secretly why I am waiting to open the gift from her.

Liar! Liar!

Amy is in the Creative Writing program at Capillano University in North Van. Tonight was the launch party for their literary magazine called the Liar. Not only did Amy work on getting the magazine published, she also had two pieces accepted, one a poem and one a short story. She also had a piece of artwork picked which is one of my favorites that she has done. When she got home tonight, I snapped a couple of pictures of her.



I am so proud of her accomplishments and enjoyed her reading me the two pieces tonight, even if I have no idea what her poem meant...lol. She is going to send me the copies of her poem and story so I can share them with you later.

Dec 19th

The cookie exchange was an idea I came up with for me to get to share my love of baking with my friends, and luckily Alyssa and Alison thought this was a great idea too. So we each made 3 dozens to exchange with each other and 3 different kinds. We also included Erika in this process, although with the move and the baby, she was the honored cookie guest who got to go home with goodies, but didn't have to bake.



This is all my cookies as they were cooling on the racks after a day of baking.



The cookies I made after all had been packed up. Looks so fancy, made me proud to give these away looking so awesome.



My wonderful group of friends, Alyssa, Erika (with sweet Evalie) and Alison



All the cookies on display for a reminder of the love we shared with each other through our baking.



Merry Christmas my dear friends, thank you for a wonderful evening of cookies, tea, and laughter.

Dec 18th

So Amy and I have started a new holiday tradition, going to Superstore in the wee hours of the night. Last year we went the night before my big baking day at 2am, and didn't get home til like 3:30 :) so this year we planned for the same kind of adventure, but did go earlier and ended up home by 1am. This is the major reason for our shopping trip, my baking supplies and our Christmas Eve assortment of food.



then today we stay home all day, no errands just stuff around the house, for me, baking and cleaning, for the girls sleeping in and vegging and for Tim football. And then what do we decide to do at 9pm when most people are winding down for the day, we head out to Chapters to take advantage of them being open late. Here's the score :)




I think I will call today Crazy shopping hours....lol

Dec 17th

So today's post is not something that ordinarily happens around our house, so it's a must for my Dec Daily album. This year, we actually are buying alcohol in the forms of bottles of Captain Morgan's Rum, Irish Creme and Kahlua :) and a case of Sleeman's as well as a few bottles of wine that have been gifted to us. And although Tim has a drink socially once in a while, we are not one's to ever have booze in the house, so it was kind of fun and a bit daunting to walk around the liquor store tonight and try and figure out what to get to stock up. This year we are hosting lots of family on Boxing Day, and wanted it to be fun. And I'm not promising anything, but I may even have a drink.


Of course when we picked up Amy from work, and she had read my FB update about spending over $100 at the Liquor store, she thought her parents had been replaced with replica's...lol..and she was sad she hadn't been there to laugh at us and offer suggestions.


And knowing this would be my Dec Daily entry, I had to take a few good photo's of the booze...Happy Holidays.

Dec 16th

This year I wasn`t going to make cards, I was sure I had bought a few packages last year on Boxing Day, but low and behold, I forgot where I put them...no surprise there. Anyways, I ended up getting a free gift from the local scrapbooking store of a pad of Christmas papers and I knew they would make great cards...so a few evenings of creative time with Amy, and voila homemade cards.



One of the things I have to do every year is make a note of who I am going to send them to, because I will always forget people, usually have to add people to the list many times...lol..I have no memory, really, kind of scary, and I will be walking around the room and go ``Duh`` forgot that person...



When all is said and done, and I hunt down all the addresses I need, via FB usually,I get them already for the mail...and every year while addressing them I have two thoughts, one, I really need an address book, and two, I really need return address labels..

Dec 15th

Time for the bows and ribbons to be added to the girls gifts, always something I sorta like but sorta dislike, not sure how to explain it. I like how it looks in the end, but really don't like the time it takes to get there.


The big bunch of presents after they have been glammed up for the holidays.


Now it's always a bit tricky getting them under the boughs of the tree as our tree is full and awesome, but has hardly any room underneath it for gifts.


And I am even happier that I also got the stocking stuffers wrapped early too, no more stressing on Christmas Eve to get them done. For years I have wrapped each girls stocking stuffers in on kind of paper, this is Jordyn's


And this is Amy's paper....