Introducing Our Newest Family Member… Indiana! March 18, 2013

I had posted in my last blog that Jano and I were on the search for a new pup. This search ended up spreading much more than we thought… We live in Southern Ontario. We had originally expanded our search area to include parts of Michigan. In the end we adopted our new baby boy from Ohio! 

Meet the 1 year old Shepherd/Retriever we adopted, Indiana aka Indy: 

We have had him in our homes and our lives for just over a week now, and its going GREAT! He and Dav have hit it off almost instantly as long lost best friends… They play together constantly, cuddle together when they’re tired and squeeze themselves into our bed at night. He’s also a TOTAL Daddy’s boy! 

 

Goodbye February, Hello March! March 2, 2013

I haven’t been on here much at all in February. The reason? February SUCKED in our household! I mean REALLY sucked! In the span of what is the shortest month of the year it seemed like everything was going wrong, from deaths in the family (that’s right, more than one) to food poisoning and everything in between.

One thing that I do think deserves its own special mention on here, as I do discuss our little family quite a bit, is the loss of one of our fur kids. At the beginning of February my husband and I had to put our baby girl Chloe down due to a brain tumour. This was a VERY hard time for us  and we are both still heartbroken about it. She was a sweet dog, always wanted attention and  loved cuddles. We do take comfort in the fact that she is no longer suffering as she was getting very ill the last few days, but we miss her SO much! Love you girl!

All in all I am happy to be starting a new month. Here’s hoping that this one is full of fun, adventures, good news and good times! As you can imagine we were in a bit of a funk around our household, but now that we’re back and moving again I will be back on with more crafts, recipes and good stuff to share!

Stay tuned!

Ice Wine Festival – Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Canada January 27, 2013

Its been awhile since I got my butt on here to post for all of you, sorry for the holdup! Between computers breaking down and things getting CRAZY busy I haven’t been able to get anything done!

One thing we did do during that time was attend the Ice Wine Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The weather this year was STELLER! Usually this is a festival that’s held in the ice and snow, all bundled up… instead we dressed in layers not sure what to expect and were even stripping off our coats on a couple occasions!

We picked up enough passes to visit 8 different wineries. Each winery offers one of their ice wines to taste (sometimes 2) as well as some sort of food to compliment it. There was everything under the sun for foods from chocolate fountains and roasted marshmallows to pulled pork sandwiches and seafood chowder.

Just a few pictures of my husband Jano and I enjoying this year’s wine fest with our friends Jenn and John:

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel which I HIGHLY recommend. The breakfast buffet there was steller, the best I have had in all the travelling I have done. The staff were very friendly, and we were upgraded to a jacuzzi room free of charge. The room was clean and well kept. The package deal we got also included a dinner voucher for either of their associated restaurants (The Keg or T.G.I.Friday’s) as well as 2 passes for the shuttle that goes to the casinos.

The nice part about where we stayed was that we were also walking distance from the falls themselves as well as the local attractions along what they call ‘Little Las Vegas’ on Clifton Hill. We were able to the wineries on Sat afternoon, take a short nap then head out and enjoy the local attractions that evening and Sunday before leaving.

(Excuse my hair in the last one, we were as you see right by the falls, the wind there is a little crazy… but I thought I should atleast put up one photo showing my husband did go with me lol)

All in all it was a GREAT mini vacation and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a weekend getaway! For more information on the Ice Wine Festival itself, and to purchase passes, visit their website: http://www.niagarawinefestival.com/

Cheers!

Movember November 25, 2012

How many of you are either participating in Movember this year, or have a spouse participating?

My husband started his own team this year – 50 Shades of Mo. Its a small team but they are bringing in donations and making a difference which is awesome! Not sure I am a fan of the stache (he looks like Ron Burgundy when he gets a suit on for our business meetings and seminars) but it is for a good cause…. right?

Yup that’s my handsome husband I’m all his stache glory! But sharing the picture isn’t the only point of today’s post…. The question I want to ask you is when was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone to do something for someone else?

I have posted a lot lately about RAK (Random act of Kindness) and I know it has prompted some of you to put your best foot forward by a lot of you still haven’t taken that step…

I got a message the other day from a woman I have never met in person but have been talking to online for well over a year now. She told me about how she works with a woman who due to differdnt circumstances is responsible for her adult children and her grandchildren while still struggling herself. They had a work function and this woman had asked her to help her sneek out 2 plates of left over food as without those leftovers they wouldn’t eat that night. This person I was now talking to told me that she had come from a family that was pretty well off and never experienced this kind of thing first hand but all this talk of RAK prompted her to reach out and make a difference. She arranged for all the leftovers to be packed up and sent home for this woman,enough food for days. This woman found the two plates she requested ontop of all this boxed up food and with it some gas money.

The woman messaging me thanked me for inspiring her to be a bit better person that day…. Well to all my readers let her and my husband inspire you today.

I challenge you before you retire to your bed tonight, find one person you can help in some way shape or form. It may be something as simple as ho,ding the door for someone with their hands full, or paying for the person behind you in the drive thru… but reach out and touch someone’s life today…

We can’t change the world alone, but we can all make a ripple of a difference today… and just imagine what waves we will make when we put that all together!!

Professional Photos!!! November 11, 2012

So excited to announce that Danielle Tremblay Photography posted a selection of our professional photos from the wedding today and I LOVE them! They did an AMAZING job!

For those of you who follow me on here but don’t necessarily have me on Facebook, here are some of my favourites:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) November 7, 2012

As we are now quickly approaching Thanksgiving for my American friends and after that the Christmas season, I want to throw a challenge out to all my blog readers. Its SO easy to get caught up in the pity party around the holiday season about what you don’t have, you’d like a bigger house, more gifts, you have to travel too far to visit family, etc…

Its easy for us to forget both that there are others out there FAR worse than we are, and also that its really the small things that make a difference!

Do you remember the last time you found a $5 in your pocket that you didn’t know was there? Remember that feeling? You were on top of the world, grinning like a fool for HOURS over $5… Its not that you likely even NEEDED that $5, but just the act of finding it brought joy. Well that being said, why not give others that joy?

Whether its paying for the person behind you at the drivethru, or slipping $5 bills into a friend’s pocket when they aren’t looking and you’re near their coat in their house… Remember that its those little things that matter!!!

I clearly remember Thanksgiving 2002, and will likely never forget it. I was 16 years old, my father had passed away February of that year. We were in a grocery store trying to pick up everything that we needed for Thanksgiving Dinner as a family (I have a brother and a sister as well) and it wasn’t easy. My mother had been a Stay at Home Mother until my father passed away, and was then thrust out into the working world. We never ‘needed’ anything, she somehow always managed to provide, but money was definitely tight. That day while standing in line at the checkout a gentleman infront of us struck up a conversation with my mother about being brave bringing 3 kids to the grocery store on her own (I mean we were more preteens/teens but still). She mentioned that Dad had passed away, so she did all the running around with us. When we got up to the cashier that day the gentleman loaded his groceries in his cart, then waited and informed the cashier he would be covering our bill. I don’t know his name, where he is now, anything… but I will NEVER forget that act of kindness….

So I challenge you, all of you… Go out and perform your own RAKs. Then come back here and report back to us on how they go! Share your idea of different RAKs, how it made you feel. Also if you are the recipient of a RAK, share that too!

Lets see how many heartwarming stories we can bring together during this holiday season!

Letter from Ines # 1 October 20, 2012

Sponsor Child! Ines

I decided if I am going to share with you guys all the different ‘important aspects’ of my life, then I need to include Ines as well. I have sponsored Ines for just over a year now, and its been SUCH a rewarding experience. For anyone reading this that is considering going the sponsor child route, I go through Compassion Canada and would recommend it in a heartbeat!!!!

When I first signed up to have a sponsor child I got my first little package full of information about her, and about the country she is from Burkina Faso.

At that time I also got a picture of my beautiful little sponsor child.

We write letters back and forth, and I send cute little gifts her way like stickers and bookmarks. I always know what her favourite stickers in the pack are, as she’ll use the rest of them to decorate my next letter and keep the ones she likes most 🙂

Recently as we hit the 1 year mark I got an updated photo. She’s cut her hair and looks like she’s grown quite a bit, not surprising considering her age! I also got an updated ‘About Me’ with the photo.

I will also share the latest letters, but as a separate post as I want to put them up large enough for you to read it! My husband also has a sponsor child, from the same country. The goal is some day to take a trip over and be able to meet them. I know that Compassion supports that idea, so we’ll make it happen!

Got A Teaser!!! October 9, 2012

Having just gotten married 2 weeks ago, we haven’t seen any of the professional photos from our wedding yet… Today our photographers put up a teaser! I absolutely LOVE it! Can’t wait to see everything else they have!!!