Friday Love List

I am so freaking delighted that it's Friday today and somehow I ended up with the day off today. I don't know how that happened, I pretty much always have things booked but today I had NOTHING. I refused to acknowledge it until after noon today in case I jinxed myself.

So I took that opportunity to have my nails filled because I've decided having nails is sooo much nicer than having bitten ugly nails. It makes me feel pretty!

       

It's clear that pretty much everyone and their dog is obsessed with fall, so much so that there is a hilarious youtube video about it. Fall is definitely a favourite season and pumpkins are the highlight of it. I had a pumpkin spice latte craving yesterday, brought on by the stress of driving somewhere out of my normal realm of Port Moody to Maple Ridge. Apparently I am too used to the suburbs because I was like an old lady on the freeway yesterday, terrified, confused and slow. I decided a pumpkin spice latte was the perfect fix so I hit up a McDonalds (gasp) and I actually like their pumpkin latte better.

I am loving soup, I made chicken noodle soup two days ago and I'm making a different soup today, trying out a new recipe so hopefully it turns out!

On a scale of 1-10, my couch potato-ness in the evenings this week is about a 45. I fully blame all the shows coming back. When I get home from training clients in the evening I cannot wait to put on my comfies, slippers, light my candle and snuggle up with Leigh and watch new episodes after a whole summer of nothing to watch.

Also, one of my clients told me I simply need to be watching the Mindy Project. I read her hilarious book last summer and tried to watch a mid season episode but couldn't get it into it. For some reason I HAVE to watch a show from the beginning. So I went back to episode one and boom, obsessed. That girl is freaking hilarious and I love how normal and real her character is.

That's all for my love list today, hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. 

Happy Fall

Yesterday marked the very first day of fall. It poured rain, I snuggled up with Leigh and Layla, I drank a lot of tea and wore my Hunter's. Definitely felt like fall! Everyone is so fall crazy, I love it! I think it brings an air of excitement to the season.

To kick it off, I decorated my house with some of my fall decor:

I made a giant batch of this chili to feed my friends...

And bought some freaking amazing smelling candles.

                           

Seriously obsessed with the way my house smells right now. Pumpkin cupcake smells exactly how it sounds. Apple Ale smells kinda like apple pie/apple cider. They also have really cute candles in mason jars. Everyone is talking about this one, but I didn't really like it. Maybe it smells better when it's burning?

One of the best things about fall, finally getting to see new episodes of my favourite shows! Some of my favourites are starting tonight including How I Met Your Mother!

 I've been watching this show since the beginning and I can't wait to see how it all pans out. 2 Broke Girl's and Anna Faris' new show is also on my watch list for tonight. Sorry Leigh! :-P

In other fall news, the usual pumpkin craze is underway. I, however, am craving apple cider related things. Give me a caramel apple spice at starbucks over pumpkin spice any day. Although neither are drinkable unless they are half sweet or less.  I am really thinking about making these Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider cookies even though they're a bit time consuming...

I hope everyone is enjoying their fall kickoff, I look forward to seeing it all on Facebook and instagram! :-P

Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe on here, so here goes!

I actually caught this on Facebook the other day and saved it to a document so I didn't lose it. Anything that's this easy is good in my books! I got 5 servings out of this, but I didn't weigh or measure the servings. This was soooo good!! Leigh and I are so chickened out over here but this was amazing. I served it over brown rice. It would probably also be delicious as lettuce wraps!

Crockpot Honey Sesame Chicken

• 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• sesame seeds for garnish

1.  Put salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken, place in crock pot. Put the chopped onions over the chicken. I skipped this part because Leigh hates onions, it tasted fine without.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together honey, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic, oil, and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. 
3. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or High for 1.5-2.5 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and you can shred it easily. 
4. Take the chicken out of the crock pot but leave the sauce
5. Dissolve the cornstarch in 6 tbsp water and whisk into the sauce. Cook on high for 10 more minutes until the sauce has thickened a bit.
6. While the sauce is thickening, shred up the chicken.
7. Return it to the pot to toss with the sauce to coat the chicken. 
8. Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.

Make It Lighter:

I may attempt to make this recipe a bit more healthy, but one way you can cut calories is simply to limit the sauce. You could take a chicken serving and take out 1 or 2 tbsp of sauce and mix together so you aren't overdoing it with the sauce. I also may try using a bit less honey.

Let me know if you try it!

That Time I Bought My Dog A Birthday Cake

Yeah, this happened.

Let's just back up here for a second. There was a time where I would have raised an eyebrow at someone buying a dog birthday cake. It's one of those things that you think you'll never do until you actually get a dog. Pretty sure that list multiplies by hundreds when you have kids. My thinking on this is: Layla makes our life a million times better. She's always there for us, never asks for anything, is so fun and loving and is pretty much the best little bud ever. So why the heck NOT buy her a birthday cake?

This little celebration was so much fun. Leigh and I had a blast watching Layla go apeshit for this cake. 

So much so that she didn't even try to take her hat off.

Gotta love the icing on the nose.

Seriously love this dog.

My Best Friend's Wedding: Top 10 Reasons This Was the Best Wedding Ever

Have you ever had so much to say that it was too much for even a long Facebook post? That's how I feel about my best friend J's wedding this past Saturday. I have sooo much to say even yesterday I couldn't put it into words. I apologize for lack of pictures, but I didn't have my camera with me. Luckily, J hired the best photographer, Carol-Ann Photography, who posted this preview shot on her Facebook page:

This was, hands down, the best, most fun wedding I have ever been to. And here's why:

10. I got to be a bridesmaid, along with another bestie, Nicole, wear a super pretty dress, have my hair and makeup done amazingly.

9. When J walked down the aisle, literally all the bridesmaids were crying. For a wedding that's 8 years in the making, it's hard to keep your shit together. It was definitley an emotional heart-is-so-full moment.

8. Amaazing food. Not just dinner either - candy bar, popcorn, homemade pie, wedding cake - and a freaking poutine bar as a late night snack.

7. The speeches were seriously hilariously awesome. My favourite part: J's new brother in law: I love you so much, J...except when you take all the cranberry sauce at Christmas, that' really pisses me off."

6. There were SO MANY amazingly personalized details. Little chalkboard signs, amazing flowers, and centerpeices, photos everywhere, a handmade thumbprint guestbook canvas made by the groom's father. Also, the wedding music was awesome. The bridesmaids walked down the aisle to "Somebody's Getting Married" by the Muppets, and it was so much fun.

5. The wedding venue was outdoors at a friend's property and it was so amazing. There were white lights everywhere and candle's in mason jars hanging from trees. It had the most magical atmosphere.

4. J's Grandma did 2 tequila shots in a giant group shot. Nuff said. 

3. This was one wedding that did not STOP. It was seriously a non stop party without a dull moment.

2. The bride and her father did the traditional dance...and then the music scratched and they did this amazing montage dance to all these different songs. I had no idea this was happening and stood there with my mouth open, seriously the best thing I have ever seen at a wedding.

And the number 1 reason why this was the best wedding ever...J is the most amazing, selfless, sweet, fun person I know. She is honestly one in a million. I kept thinking watching this amazing day unfold so perfectly...that there is no one who deserves this most perfect day more. Her brand new husband is an awesome guy. He honestly makes her happy, and that makes me so happy.

Love you so much J! Congratulations!

Can't Stop Thinking About...

September always feels like a second chance at the year. The weather cools down and there's always a bit of excitement in the air, right up until Christmas. For me anyways. I LOVE September-December. First, the leaves change colour and make going for a walk feel like a beautiful, colourful adventure. Then birthdays, Thanksgivings, (we celebrate American and Canadian, it's awesome) and of course my favourite Christmas season.

Like I said, I am still enjoying Summer but I can't stop thinking about....school supplies. And how I want them. September feels like a fresh start and I want fresh school supplies. I mean grown up organizational supplies. Getting grown up organizational supplies is just the responsible thing to do. 

Some ways to get new school supplies adult organizational supplies for yourself without feeling like a weirdo:

Adorable printed binders can be used for recipes, budgeting spreadsheets and printed out articles.

I really love Martha Stewart's notebooks for making daily to do lists and shopping lists.

Honestly her whole line of organizational stuff is amazing. If you really want to get your shit together, head to Staples asap! She'll have your bills, cupboards and whole life organized! Or at least inspire you to attempt it.

I love these pens so much, and they used to be really cheap. They are not cheap anymore so I bought pretty much the exact same thing from the dollar store for two bucks.

I'm addicted to dayplanners. Recently I discovered Erin Condren's planners. They are seriously amazing. They personalise them for you. Warning though, they start at 50 dollars! Which seems like a lot, which is why I signed myself for the mailing list, I'm waiting for a kick ass coupon code to come my way.

Honestly though, all that stuff is great but what I really want is something I can't figure out a legit reason to buy:

If someone figures that out, please let me know. So far, I've got nothing.

A Really Late Weekend Update

Happy September! I love this time of year but I'm not going to talk about fall until it's actually fall. There are 16 days left of summer left, so no fall talk till then, k? K.

Anyways, I meant to post this on Monday, and then Tuesday. Really, I have nothing exciting to post because to celebrate Labour Day I literally did no labour. I was SO lazy. I didn't have any clients or work to do most of the weekend so I just rested most of the time which was fabulous.

I kicked off the weekend with the PNE on Friday night, which is a yearly tradition with my besties. I think we started going 5 years ago, I found this pic from the first one, which is also the year I went on the drop zone ride and the revelation. I also managed to get myself stuck on the drop zone somehow, you were supposed to stand on this thing and keep your legs straight but I didn't and as a result I was stuck in a kneeling position and they had to bring out their little machine to come get me down. Seriously laughing just thinking about that.

Anyways, fast forward five years and here we are! No crazy rides or any rides for these girls! 

We just like to walk around and eat, pretty much. Sno-Cones and mini donuts are my fave. I also maybe stopped by this food truck. To do more than take a picture.

                                     

We saw Martina McBride for the free concert. I'm not a huge country fan but Martina McBride has an amazing voice and her songs are always uplifting which I love.

The rest of the weekend was spent reading, napping, snuggling both husband and dog, sometimes against their will, and a couple restaurant trips. 

My favourite: dressed up with sangria

 We also went for sushi with our friends on Monday night, because who wants to cook on Labour Day? Nooo thank you. 

So that's my pretty boring weekend update, but I loved it. And now because I'm a bad dog mom, I leave you with this pic of Layla wearing my sleep mask.