Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas!

So much has been going on over the last little while that I've been neglecting my blog, but I've been enjoying life and taking pictures so I can share. The Christmas season is a wonderful time to celebrate and spend time with loved ones and I been doing just that.

So here is my "share" for today...

Veronica, Kelly and I started a new Christmas tradition last year of going to the spa to spend some quality time together and this year we thoroughly enjoyed a whole day at Ste. Anne's Spa in Grafton, ON. It was my third time visiting and every time I'm always sad to leave.

The three of us spent the morning enjoying the outdoor, yes I did say outdoor, and indoor hot tubs, the steam room and the sauna. After working up an appetite (ha, ha) we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the dining room - you can even wear your robe to lunch, but we opted for our lululemon pants (surprise, surprise - they are the best pants EVER!).

After lunch it was time for our spa services. Veronica and I both tried out a new offering at the spa called the Chakra Balancing massage. We weren't really sure what to expect, but afterwards we both agreed that it was FABULOUS!!! It was a combination of massage, reflexology and energy work - a great option if you are going to Ste. Anne's just for the day and want to try out a couple of the services they offer. I didn't want to get off the table at the end of the hour session - I was sooooo relaxed and very tempted to just drift off to sleep. To be honest, I think I may have for a few moments!!!

Naturally after working up an appetitie again (ha, ha) we returned to the dining room for afternoon tea. What a delicious afternoon! There was a selection various teas - I had pear something or other which was very good - and there were scones with cream and preserves, brownies, cheese with crackers and grapes, cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon rolls, cookies and more. I would go on, but I am making myself hungry!!!

Next we headed off for our group meditation class. So I knew this class would be relaxing, but with the pillows, blankets, dim lighting and music, how was I not supposed to fall asleep?!?!?!?!? At least my friends didn't have to wake me up at the end of the sesssion - cough, cough, Kelly!

Thanks Kelly and Veronica for an amazing day! I'm definitely looking forward to continuing the tradition!

To the rest of you reading this entry, I definitely recommend this spa if you have the chance to go. This place is amazing! Check it out http://www.steannes.com/

Christmas is coming....

Can you feel it? I sure can.

A Creative Weekend

There is a drive inside of me to create and this weekend I was lucky enough to do just that with some amazing women.

Saturday I spent the day scrapping while being distracted by laughing, shopping and eating muffins & fruit salsa - I blame the snacking on the chef - thanks Lori!!! Your treats were delicious.

During this time, I added a few more pages to the mini book I created at the TSF retreat. Here's a peek at my "award-winning" mini book. LOL.

Last week I also designed a Brizezilla and Bridesmaidzillas layout that definitely captures some of the fun we had getting ready for Sonia's wedding this past September.

On Sunday, a few of my friends from university and I continued with our yearly tradition of baking and decorating Christmas cookies together. I was a little disturbed that we were doing this in November!!!! but managed to have a wonderful Christmasy time anyway. They even made me listen to Christmas music, which I typically refrain from until December 1. Don't get me wrong, now that it is December I am fully happpy and prepared to start celebrating the Christmas season, but November was pushing it! LOL!

Brian and I nibbled on the cookies on Sunday and Monday evening and then my coworkers got to enjoy the rest on Tuesday morning - welcome to December!

Retreat in Grand Bend

140 crazy women, 6 delicious meals, 2 spa visits, too many prizes to count, endless scrapbooking ... one fabulous weekend!

Upon our arrival at the inn, Veronica and I rushed over to the spa to begin our weekend truly relaxed. We were lucky to arrive just in time for our appointments despite our slight "detour" on the way to Grand Bend... I didn't even know a town named Seafoam... I mean Seaforth existed and now I can say I've been there! LOL! Our luck continued with our accomodations as we were randomly selected to stay in one of the 2-bedroom cottages for the weekend... equipped with living/dining room, full kitchen and even a fireplace. As fun as sleepovers can be, I think we both really enjoyed having our own bedrooms... especially since I didn't go to bed on Saturday "night" until 5 a.m.

I must have been so pumped from my table's group challenge win that I had enough energy to scrapbook all night. If anyone can provide inspiration, it is the the fairest scrapbooker of them all... the third scrapbook friend that we created that night!

I was doubly lucky the next day to win the product challenge with "my scrap family" mini album. If you want to see a hiliarious picture of the runway walk I took with my prize, you've gotta check out the Two Scrapbook Friends blog - LOL!

Thank you to everyone who made the 2SF retreat in Grand Bend an amazing one!

Let's reveal!

Here is my layout for Sketchabilities this month. The photo was taken this summer in Huntsville and the lovely lady by my side is Sandra, a friend who also used to be a coworker of mine many moons ago. I am so glad that Sandra and I have kept in touch, she is a wonderful person and despite our age difference we are definitely "two peas in a pod."

Be sure to check out the Sketchabilities blog to see what the rest of the team created this month!

Sketchabilities Reveal Day!!!!

Tomorrow is reveal day at Sketchabilities. Be sure to drop by to check out the team's layouts.... I can't wait to see what everyone created!!!!

It's reveal time!

It's reveal day at Two Scrapbook Friends and I am honoured to be featured as a guest designer this month!

Here's a look at my creations using this month's kit, which featured the Basic Grey Indian Summer line. Please visit the TSF online gallery to leave some love for all of the talented designers on their team! Once again, they have created some beautiful creations!

Happy Halloween!

Here's my latest Halloween layout that was my October layout for the Sketchabilities team!

The team has created some wonderful layout this past month based on the always fabulous sketches from Karan Gerber. Check out Sketchabilites to see all of this month's layouts!

Memories of the Manor...

What can I say? My weeked stay at Memories Manor was amazing thanks to the hardwork and kindness of our hosts - Deanna and Jan - and of course their sister Mariah! Thank you ladies!!!

As soon as I left, I knew what I'd miss the most.... our hosts coming in to ask me to join them in the dining room because my lunch or dinner or snack was ready! The food was amazing!!!! And they even emailed us the recipes so we could enjoy them again and again. The only thing they wouldn't share was the salad dressing recipe - it's a family secret. I tried to find a loophole, because this was some delicious salad dressing, but it's like trying to crack the Caramilk secret!

On Saturday, Karan, Terry and I took some great outdoor photos of us enjoying the fall weather! I'd love to share the photos with you, but you'll have to wait a couple more days as they'll be part of my November 1 reveal for my guest appearance on the Two Scrapbook Friends Design team. Until then, here are a few shots of the manor itself! The scrapbooking parlour is a dream! Enjoy!

P.S. A plan to head back to the manor will soon be in the works! So if you're interested in coming along, let me know!


My scrap area for the weekend - 6ft table, executive chair and bright desk lamp - my seat was the further one to the left in this photo.... with my own personal napping window bench (did I mention I stayed up to 5 a.m. the first night and 3 a.m. the second night scrapping?!?!?!?)


Sinclair - my angel room for the weekend!


My favourite bathroom - I totally want to recreate this bathroom in my own home someday.... but I'll add a jacuzzi tub of course!

Sonia and Shawn's Big Day!

One of my best friends got married a few weeks ago and what a beautiful day it was! The sky was blue, we had tons of fun and best of all it turned out just as the happy couple had dreamed! The ceremony and reception took place on a boat on the Toronto Harbour - a beautiful back drop for their beautiful day! Here are a few highlights from the day... can't wait to add some of these to my scrapbook!

The Bridezilla and her Bridesmaidzillas... lol!


The Ceremony...


The Happy Couple...


The Girls...

Brian and I...

Congratulations Sonia and Shawn!!!

Sassy Sonia!

I loved putting together this layout featuring my sassy friend Sonia. The photos were taken during our trip to Vegas in May. We took a day a trip out to the Grand Canyon and stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way there (and on the way back too actually). We had to climb a substantial amount of stairs to get back to a our rental car and Sonia was not too pleased - she whined, complained and called out to her then finance (now husband) to carry her. This all from the long time aerobics instructor - lol!!! I love her sassy attitude!!!


This is my first entry as as member of the newly formed Sketchabilities design team and I'd love to hear your feedback! Check out the Sketchabilities blog to view the rest of the team layouts.

Sketchabilities Design Team

I was so excited to receive an email a couple weeks ago from the very talented Karan Gerber to congratulate me on my acceptance to the first Sketchabilities Design Team!

Our first layouts will be revealed September 15!!!! Take a look at the Sketchabilities blog to find out more!

Found!

I found it! I found it! And the weirdest part is that it just appeared out of nowhere and was sitting in plain sight on my desk.... my mom tells me to thank St. Anthony, so thank you.

Lost!

I hate the feeling of losing something and not being able to find it... it occupies my mind and drives me to keep looking even after I think I've exhausted every last nook and cranny. Today's culprit is my little black notebook. For the life of me I can't find it. I can picture it in my mind - the cover, the pages - but I've looked all over without luck and I'm starting to go nuts... have you seen it???

I woke up in the Chateau Frontenac!

I just realized I had this post saved in my drafts and it never got published... better late than never!
I woke up on my 30th birthday in the Chateau Frontenac and a delicious room service breakfast was delivered just for me!

It was a long drive home and I drifted in and out of sleep as we drifted in and out of rain storms!
I was fortunate enough that night to meet up with a few of my friends on a patio in Bloor West for some drinks, some snacks and some laughs! Thanks everyone who came out!




And also thanks to my family who saved my bday cake for Tuesday night - I love when birthdays last a whole week :)

Birthday Celebrations - Take 2

The second part of my bday celebration involved an "almost surprise" trip to Montreal and Quebec City with Brian. I say "almost surprise" because although he was doing an amazing job planning the trip on the sly - he slipped the week prior about our destination and without me even prying! We had an amazing time even with the rain. My biggest complaint is that the trip wasn't long enough! Love you Brian for planning such an amazing trip! And for your best effort to communicate in French throughout the weekend... I think we did pretty well :)

We left Friday afternoon when Brian showed up a little before quitting time at my office. Our bags were packed the night before and we headed towards Montreal, stopping for some 'Wendy-goodness or badness' for dinner and a bathroom break/leg stretch in Kingston.

After checking into our hotel in Montreal, we wandered over to the Jazz Festival just in time to grab a couple of drinks and catch the last band of the day.

The next day we got back on the road and headed to Quebec City, I hadn't been since my Grade 8 trip, which now was a really long time ago! To my delight, Brian had booked our stay at the Chateau Frontenac! I definitely felt like royalty...

On the way to the Chateau we stopped at Ketto Designs, a fabulous artisan shop that I discovered years ago when they were visiting TO for the One of Kind Show. I spurlged with some bday money and bought a really fab handpainted vase along with a few smaller items. We also stopped by Rose Bouton. I wasn't familiar with the shop but as soon as we drove by I yelped STOP!!!! I knew I had to go in... they had some really unique and amazing jewellry and purses and such. I purchased a couple fantastically original necklaces. While chatting with the store owner, I discovered that she actually used to work at Ketto AND funny enough she was also playing the same CD that was playing at Ketto when we were there minutes before. We couldn't help but notice, because it was this really weird but cute song, I am a Vampire... you're listening to it now.

For dinner we ran through the rain to Aux Anciens Canadiens - the oldest house in Quebec City that is now a restaurant serving traditional Quebecois fare. It was yummy, but WAY too much food and the restaurant doesn't allow you to take your leftovers home with you!

The next day Brian had arranged for us to take two guided tours - Old Quebec City in the morning and the neighbouring countryside in the afternoon. The Old Quebec tour was very reminiscent of my Grade 8 trip - showing us several points of interest relating to Canadian history and beautiful views of the St. Lawrence river.

Between tours we had time for a quick bite at Chez Ashton - be warned that their regular-sized poutine could feed a family of four - be sure to order the Bebe or the Mini instead!

The afternoon tour included a visit to Montmorency Falls, a Bronze Artisan, le Chocolaterie de l'Ile d'Orleans, Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré Cathedral and a stop for some maple butter on freshly baked bread - delicious!

After a jam-packed, amazing day, we treated ourselves to the most delicious 8-course dinner at Le Champlain... amazing service, amazing food, amazing view! What more can I say!

Of course the night would not be complete without a champagne toast and an evening stroll... all and all an AMAZING DAY!

More on the the rest of the weekend next entry...

The sweetest thing...

The sweetest thing happened when we were attending Karan's class at 2SF on Wednesday... Joanne's family surprised her with a birthday cake!!! We all got to sing, "awww," eat goodies and celebrate such a wonderful moment with Joanne.

Happy Birthday Joanne! Hope you had a wonderful day - you deserve it!!!


The class was lots of fun too - thanks Karan! I do, however, have a signficant amount of "homework" - perhaps I was having too much fun during the class?!?!? SOME PEOPLE (cough, choke, Lynn) were way too well-behaved and completed the entire layout. What a teacher's pet! LOL!!!! Just kidding Lynn!

I'm a Puma!

Yes, it's true, I just turned the BIG 3-0 one week ago today! And apparently, that makes me a Puma! It's like junior Cougar - lol!!! Watch out - I'm gonna start wearing animal print and sequin bustiers out to the bar.

Honestly though, I really don't want to be this age - it's a little scary. I know age is just a number, but this is not a number I like.

On the plus side, there was a lot of fun celebrations to commemorate this unsightly occassion...

Birthday Celebrations Part 1:
A pre-30th Girls weekend at the cottage, that featured delicious drinks and fat-free food (lol), a trip out on Party Island, dolphin performances by Tonia, Rock Band, a way too intense game of Monopoly, crazy dancing on the deck and three ... yes three, princess crowns worn throughout the weekend by yours truly...

And to top it off, some wonderful gifts.... including the Cricut bag!!!!

Thanks ladies for great weekend!