You know it's Christmas when..

Your Dog eats part of the Christmas tree as his main meal and 3 feet of garland for dessert!! :S

Family Parties..

Never a dull moment with the fam..

Christmas is around the corner.. let the craziness begin!

In exactly 10 days, Christmas will finally be knocking on our doors.. 10 days!?! I still can't believe it! Our first holiday party of the year kicked off the Christmas spirit train and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight! The house is decked to the nines and Rufus is finally getting used to having a real tree in the house.. it came close a few times, but he seems to be getting the logic behind having the tree indoors. (At least we think he gets it.. oh well!)

Christmas is usually an insane time of year for the better half and I. We spend %98 of the holidays running around with our heads chopped off and skipping from one family gathering to another.. we hardly get a chance to set our feet up.. it's exhausting. Since we have 3 families to deal with (a visit to my mom's for Xmas eve, my dad and in laws Christmas day) and if you add our extended families to the mix (a visit on the 19th and 26th respectively) it's really hard to find a second to tone down the crazy.

I thank my lucky stars, we have a bit of a break this year.. (more on that later)

Also, this coming year marks a huge milestone.. (well not huge but still, pretty crazy) it'll be the beginning of a new decade.. a Decade!! Now that's something to celebrate! We are really looking forward to a little New Years celebration in NYC with our dearest friends.. but don't worry. We aren't planning on waiting hours in line, like a bunch of cattle, in the freezing cold for a ball to drop in Times Square.

Any suggestions?

The Snow, The Snow is Here!!

Tuesday, Dec 8th 2009, 6pm EST
Outside the office...

Wednesday, Dec 9th 2009, 6:30pm EST

Outside the office..

The aftermath...

The first storm of the season came as advertised Wednesday with about 20 cm of snow and gusting winds that sent cars into ditches and jets back to their hangars.

I assume 20cm was more of a guesstimate.. The weather has been so disgusting today.. at 3pm this afternoon the big boss sent an e-mail to all supervisors to inform them their staff may leave for the day due to terrible road conditions.

I'm still stuck at the office, waiting for my better half to swing by and pick me up.

It is now 6pm.

Whenever there is a snow storm, us public servants are notorious for taking "working from home days" or as I call them "snow days". (hey! If the kids can stay home from school, we can work from home too!) Since it was very quiet in the office, I entertained myself by taking pictures of the parking lot outside my window every couple hours to see how much snow really fell...

Can you spot the differences?

At some point in the day, you could barely see the buildings and apartment complexes located across the street (which are usually very visible during a clear day).

ahhh yes friends... winter is finally back with a vengeance... *sighs*

And it begins...

17 days 'till Christmas... : )

December is here..

Today is December 1st… unbelievable… It snowed for the first time yesterday, but it's the kind of snow that melts away after a few hours. Usually, around this time of year I'd be concerned.. we've been without a good set of winter tires for a very long time to protect us from the dangerously slippery roads we get here in Canada, but this year, we will kick winter in the bum. Finally, 1 less thing to cross off the list.

The better half has also started a major project on the house. I've never seen him this excited to work on the house... ever…

He is channelling the Grizwalds..

Rufus is a star!!

Our lucky little guy was selected Dog of the week at the Ottawa Dog blog!!

We're convinced this shot won him the spot..

Ricko Sauve!

Tuesday date night...

At the Sens Game...

Wouldn't have it any other way.. : )

An open letter…

Night Rider..

You, were supposed to be reliable. You were supposed to suck it up and last for at least another year. You better have a good explanation as to why you choose this moment to quit on us.

Yes, you quit on us.. We didn't quit on you. We may not have been the best of owners in the year that you've been with us.. But you could have given us some warning signs that the honeymoon was over.

Well my friend, the joke is on you. We found another match for us. You are nothing compared to this one. It outshines you %100 and more…You are dead to us. So pack up your trunk, and leave my driveway for good. Just leave and don't look back. You are not welcome here anymore.

Good riddance,
Dom and the clan.


P.s. new car comes tomorrow.. PUMPED!!

How to Cheer me up...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.. I am a huge fan of Starbucks and their over priced drinks. I love how their cups of coffee (and staff) can turn any crap day into a perfect one.. Even if it's just for 5 minutes. The Red Holiday cups are finally out at Starbucks.. usually means the holidays are right around the corner (wither you want them to be or not).

p.s. this is a Peppermint Hot Chocolate... I suggest you pick one up when you have the chance... mmmmmmmm

They've also got their usual holiday inspiration quotes..

Soooo true right??

pp.s All my holiday decor boxes are ready to go, and I'm going to start decorating next weekend (you think I'm kidding?! Don't you!!) <- more to come on that later..

Carved..

I'm not gonna lie.. this year's "trick-or-treating" on Sunny B drive was a huge dud. Seriously, had less than 20 kids pop by the house.. 20 kids?!?! Back when I was growing up, we had 50 kids come every half hour!! Well.. with everybody getting sick these days, it's not surprising.. but you know.. I can only eat so much left over candy.. right??

About a week ago, friends of ours dropped off a little "get well soon" pumpkin at the house. (did I mention we LOVE these friends? lol) So they told us we better get our A Game on this year because the competition was going to get blown out of the water... they weren't kidding...

Our friends posted photos of their triumph...

kinda had to up our game on this one...

I started carving Halloween day at noon...

finished at about 3-4pm...

pretty proud of myself for winging Martha's design... it turned out pretty neat...

A for effort 0n our part... they took the cake.. honestly.. where do our friends dream these things up??

p.s. Introducing.. Crocodile Rufus...

A Sunday afternoon in Wakefield..

Last Sunday the better half and I took the steamtrain into Wakefield for an afternoon of fun...

There was some fantastic french canadian music (yes, to my better half's dismay, I was singing along)
the yummiest cheese bread we've ever tasted..
A delicious brunch at L'Hibou on the main strip.. (it had a vibe of Friends with owls all over the place... soooooo amazing) 
and we walked along the tracks through the village... (my better half pictured above)

fantastic day with my love.

This made my day...

"A photographer should never apologize for their work. Animals, still lifes and landscapes don’t complain, only people."

nuff said.

via here..

What's in my bag? {Sunnybrooke Edition}

Flickr has always inspired me to see things differently through my camera lens..
This project by Jason Travis inspired me to share the contents of my mess with you.. my life..
details below...

From Left to Right..
Oversized purse
Leather wallet (smells nice...)
Change purse (great for coffee runs when I don't feel like carrying the big wallet around)
Spare change left over from my morning coffee
Empty bottle of Advil cold and Sinus (not sure why It's still in my bag but... you know..)
Gravol (just in case..)
Pens (to write down outrageous things I see and hear everyday.. poor memory)
iphone (can't live without it)
wax case (blue) -> for my bottom brackets.. (yes, I have braces.. invisible!)
McD's Monopoly board chips (I {heart} monopoly)
Earrings (always need a backup, in case I forget to grab a pair on my way out the door)
Pete Yorn & Scar Jo - Break up (ahhhhh soooo good)
Keys - house/mailbox/petsmart discount pass (best thing ever)
ballmania lipbalm
Dr.Pepper lip smacker
Canon Elph
Iphone earphones
hair brush
day planner (can't go anywhere without it.. seriously)


my favorite sets from Jason's Persona project:
Christy
Berly
Hilary

Winter in New York...

January is a great time to visit New York City if you want to avoid the crowds, find great deals, and don't mind the cold weather.

hmmm... do I feel a trip coming on? I think so...

more to come...

quote via about.com

The view outside my window..

It's not really raining, It's pouring outside. Considering the beautiful weather we've been having these past couple weeks, I can't bring myself to complain as much as I should be. After all, one of my favorite things to do during the fall is take pictures of wet leaves resting beautifully on pavement. Yes, that time of year is officially here! It's about time too, they are calling for rain for the rest of the week. My old self would take a couple days off work and sit by the window reading a good book, sipping on tea and listening to the rain.. But since I've taken 4 sick days in the past 2 weeks, I think I would be pushing my luck a little.

I've finally managed to shake my cold.. It's still kind of here, but not as strong as it was last week. I've managed to get a few of my co-workers sick, but I know I'll end up getting sick in the end.. Again. It never fails.

Ahhh fall... how i've missed you!!

Tea, Hobbes and a box of kleenex..

Sick... sick as a dog. For the past week, I have been nursing a stubborn cold and more than ever it's putting up a huge fight and won't seem to take a hike. On days like this, I stay home pop in a Scene it DVD game and test my useless pop culture trivia knowledge. This time around, I decided to switch things up and play something different.. 

The brain game puts your brain to the test with quick speedy rounds jam packed with sudoku, problem solving and memory games.. at the moment, my mind is kinda fuzzy.. so playing this game for the first time proved to be a bit of a challenge. I gave up pretty quickly and went back to reading Calvin and Hobbes.. (let's just say.. being called a DODO bird because of low test scores really didn't bode well for my ego) 

i {heart} lomo..

was seriously excited to see this on UO this morning..

I've always been intrigued by Lomography.. you browse through flickr and see these wonderful highly saturated, blurry images and can't help to wonder how it's done. I could never really wrap my head around paying a ton of money for a 35mm lomo camera since digital post-processing has pretty much taken over the world at this point. However there is something to be said about photographs that leave a little something more than digital would..

I haven't dabbled with film in a very long time, so this might be a good way to experiment with something different for a change.. who knows.. my photographs might take a turn for the better!

Lomography film via Urban Outfitters

It is 2:50am..

I am currently sitting in my living room eating Rolo ice cream pops, drinking green tea and watching season 2 of Family Guy. It only seems appropriate that I watch Cartoons on Sunday...

As far as I can remember, I've never really had a hard time sleeping.. ever. But so far, tonight has just been one of those nights. It must be a combination of the sniffles, the better half's ridiculous snoring and copious amounts of dog hair in our bed left over from the beasts week long visit. {Not such a wonderful combination if you ask me}

It'll give me time to catch up on a few things.. maybe enjoy my tea on the deck and watch the sunrise..

another reason to love our neighbourhood...

For the past few months, I've been hearing the faint sound of "old Mcdonald had a farm" outside my home office window. Thinking it was our neighbour's kid playing around with a barn animal farm type of toy, I would just ignore it and carry on to what I was doing..

So last night, as we are hanging out in our driveway trying to plan out our evening (mostly going to the airport to pick up a package from FedEx - i love getting packages btw), we spot this ice cream truck slowly driving down the street.. with good ol "MacDonald" blaring through the speakers.. seriously?! When was the last time you saw an ice cream truck driving down your street? We never get this kind of excitement in our neck of the woods.

Our neighbours ordering dessert at the end of our shared driveway

I have never been so mad... well I wasn't mad.. just disappointed in myself. I love ice cream.. it breaks my heart that I only got to find out about this magical truck now. Hopefully he goes by again this weekend.. I would hate to miss it!!

Side note: from now on, I will always look outside my window when I hear unusual sounds coming from the street. Guaranteed!!

Fall is here…

Which means we are a few months away from this…

Scary thought right?

Weekend Surprises…

What a weekend!! Our annual theme park adventure was indeed a success.. but after spending an amazing 3 days in Montreal with friends, it was really nice to be back home and sleep in our own bed. But before heading home to catch up on our ZZzzZZZzz, we swung by the better half's parents to pick up Rufus, who spent the weekend, and some well deserved coffees. It was a long drive back, so coffee was appreciated.

After the coffees, we said our goodbyes, packed the dog and bolted home. We walked in the house and headed towards the kitchen.. And there it was..



The Dream fridge…

Turns out the in-laws had a little fun breaking into our place on Saturday. I almost had a heart attack when I first saw it. We had been saving for weeks/months to replace old betsy and in one day our in-laws swooped in there and replaced her with the MAC daddy of all fridges..

We were floored, overwhelmed and extremely happy to have such an amazing family that wouldn't have a doubt in their minds to do this for us. For that, we are so thankful!!! We couldn't be happier to finally be able to eat at home..

Just think.. We haven't done a grocery run in 8 weeks…

wow.

Turning leaves.. must be fall

What a summer.. August has been quite a hectic month (the lack of August posts should be an indication of that). I am truly very excited for the downtime in the coming weeks. The leaves are starting to change and sweater weather is finally here.. maybe I'll take a couple days off to wander.. {hearts}

p.s. It's finally here... we got her...

more to come tomorrow..

Trustfund.. you got one?

There is this little posh boutique tucked away in the market called Trustfund here in Ottawa.. no words can describe my feelings when I go into this store.. I go in, fawn over the clothing.. don't look at price tags and walk out. (it is essential not to look at price tags to keep from cursing out loud.) I'm not gonna lie, it's pricey.. but so pretty to look at.

Here are a few items that were "showcased" in the last e-mail newsletter...

Too much rain = flooding!!

Yesterday turned into quite an eventful day!

The rain still hadn't let out and there were record volumes of rain dumped over the city. There is a former swamp land not too far from where we live. No matter what happens, there always seems to be huge flooding problems when it rains like this in the neighborhood. Thankfully we probably won't ever see it get this bad around our home. *knock on wood*

After the sun peaked out for a bit we decided to take a drive around to assess the damage...

This had just happened as we were driving by.. pretty scary if you ask me! Everybody got out of the car safely.. unfortunately, the car wasn't so lucky..

Mother nature.. please give us a break!!

So we haven't had the summer we've been hoping for yet... it's pretty much been like this on and off since May.. kinda gloomy right??

I'm seriously in need of some fancy rubber boots.. hmmm

------------------------------------

(update Thursday PM) soooo apparently Rain is all we are going to be seeing for the next week.. Boy am I glad we don't have our summer theme park trip planned yet!! (but you know, a light drizzle wouldn't be too bad) You never know...

via the weather network

Mayor Naked Cowboy? Say it ain't so!!

{A friend and I trying to be zexy with the NCB}

So the big rumour today is the Naked Cowboy plans on running for Mayor of NYC in the next election! Seriously... He is a walking tourist attraction.. if you put a buck in his boots, he'll be happy to take a photo with you and whisper naughty things in your ear! (not kidding!) 

And you know what? He sure knows how to market himself.. The man makes more money busking in Times Square in a day than I make in 2 weeks working a 9-5 desk job, And EVERYBODY knows who this dude is...

If this turns out to be true.. I wish him all the best!! He is one hunky piece of meat!! ; )

Still not sure who this guy is, click here..

The story of a Duke, a Dom and their Rufus.

Before I met my better half, I was contemplating getting a pet. I wanted a companion so bad. But I wasn't sure how this would have really worked out at the time. I lived with 2 other girls and they didn't really care about anything else other than themselves. Looking back now, I'm very happy the puppy came much later.

After living with the better half for about a year and a bit, we finally looked in to getting a pet. We did personality assessments, researched many breeds and looked up many reviews and narrowed it down to 3.

1. Golden Doodle
2. Portuguese water dog
3. Wheaten Terrier

We decided to get a Wheaten terrier. We love the breed's personality traits and overall look. We didn't think this was going to be a high maintenance dog, but boy were we in for a surprise. There was the slight grooming factor we never really took seriously. But you know what? It isn't really an issue anymore. (save this for another post)

We called several local breeders and had not so good luck with them. The asking prices were well above what we could afford and there were also waiting lists for puppies that crept over a year of waiting. We didn't want to wait one year. We were dead set in getting a family pet by the fall. So the search went on until we found a website called "next day puppies"..

Ok, before I keep going with my little story, I know what you all are going to say… what the hell were you thinking?

Trust me when I say we did our homework. Buying locally would have cost us upwards to $1700 + vet bills.. And this would have guaranteed us a show dog and a certified pure breed stud (and to add insult to ingury.. a guaranteed crater sized hole in our budget). For one, we weren't ready to fork up that much money for a pet. And second of all, we didn't care about the show dog status.. All we wanted was a healthy pet we could spoil, love and call our own.

We narrowed it down to 3 breeders all located in the US that offered the breed for a more affordable price. We ended up interviewing all 3 breeders over the phone and asked for references before putting deposits down. I'm glad we did this, because 2 of the 3 did not rate very well overall. The people we called were all pleased with their dogs but something didn't seem right. The breeders were not registered and some of the vet documents were either missing or never provided (which apparently caused quite a raucous when it came time to vaccinate the pets).

The breeder we ended up picking, passed with flying colors. They gave us as many references as we wanted, most importantly from Canada which ended up being great for us! We were able to ask them questions about travel, paying duties on the dog when they crossed the border, what happens if the animal isn't in good health.. All the important stuff checked out. This put our minds at ease.. After a hilarious struggle with payment (which involved moving funds from 3 different accounts) we finally had a travel date set for our little guy.

Rufus in his crate at the airport

I remember being late picking him up from the airport in Syracuse, about a 3 hour drive from where we live. There was a little crate waiting behind the American airlines counter and we knew he was inside. The poor thing was covered in his little accidents and smelt reallllly bad, but we didn't care. He made it in 1 piece and in complete health. He was painfully shy the first time we took him out of his crate outside the airport. We held him like a little baby, and his little claws would come out and latch on to us every time a plane flew off the tarmac.. He kept trying to get back into his crate.. It was quite funny for me at the time, I had never really had a young pup like him before. Little did I know, the "fun stuff" was about to start.

More to come...