Friday, November 29, 2013

Life Lately...

I know, I haven't been posting regularly at all. I've been super busy and haven't really had much to post about...

Last week, we lost my Grandma Sheppard. It's a sad time for the whole family, particularly her kids. We lost my Grandpa over 6 years ago and I think it was really hard for her to go on so long without him.


This is a pic of my Grandma with my Dad (on the left) and my Uncle Bob at Leigh and I's engagement party in 2009.  I have lots of good memories to remember both Grandma and Grandpa Sheppard by, and it comforts me to know they've been reunited.



The service was held yesterday, and they had one of my Grandma's dolls that she made on display. This one is Shirley Temple, who I love. I remember watching the movies over and over when I was younger. I'd forgotten she made this doll. So much talent! 

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We have a tradition with my Grandma Raisen, starting last year, of putting up her tree for her. This year, Leigh came with me to help. Thank goodness, because that big beautiful tree is complicated.



After the tree was up, Grandma fluffed all her bows up and I put them on the tree. Leigh snapped this pic of us without me knowing.


I forgot to take a pic of it all finished, but I found this one from last year.

In other news, I have already decorated my house for Christmas as well. Like it or not, Christmas is coming early this year. This weekend I have a cookie exchange and American Thanksgiving so I did it last weekend with my mother in law's help. More (and pics) on that later.

The other day, I was at Walmart and found the cutest little Christmas nightshirt. Their PJ stuff is so cheap, I got my mom one too so we're matching :-P
 I wear Christmas PJS right out by the following year, so it was needed for the next month until I get Christmas Eve PJS.



I'm up to my eyeballs in baking stuff at the moment, I've got a cookie exchange to go to tomorrow and Thanksgiving Dinner with the Evans family on Sunday. I promise I'll be blogging more regularly now that it's the Christmas season since you guys know I can't shut up about it!



Monday, November 18, 2013

Dear Santa....

I must admit, I am rather like a big kid when it comes to Christmas. Or just in general, really. I do absolutely adore shopping for other people, I am the type of person that tries to listen all year for the perfect gift idea. Buuuuut there is something SO fun and childlike about making a wishlist list for Santa. Especially when your husband may or may not be reading. ;-)

So here is my list of things I'm wishing for.





1 & 6. I went an entire year without needing any jacket/hoodie type things due to my trainer uniform. Now as a self employed trainer, I`m craving comfy hoodies all the time. Love this American Eagle one and always, always wishing for a VS Pink hoody, they are so soft and nice fitting.

2. The perfect leopard scarf, goes with everything but ever elusive. Why can`t I find you?

3. I cannot think of anything more perfect and year round festive than red polka dot PJS.

4. I found this picture of how to make your bed look like a hotel bed and it`s my new life goal. To make this happen I need a coverlet set like this one. Which is much more pet friendly than my white duvet cover.

5. I have the cropped version of these tights from American Eagle and they are amazing. However always wishing they were longer when I`m wearing my rainboots.

7. A Naked Palette has been on my wishlist for so long that they now have two sequels, Naked 2 and Naked 3. They are the prettiest, most foolproof colours, I think even I can pull it off.


What's on your wishlist to Santa?



Monday, November 11, 2013

Life Lately

I have been really bad with posting lately. I was sick for a week this past week and I felt like I was in a daze. I trained my clients and slept and did pretty much nothing else. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better. On the downside, I gave my cold to Leigh.

This past weekend, I attended the craft fair with my mother in law. I got a few cute things but I'll wait to share them when I have my Christmas decor up. Which I am trying to put off doing. It's not going well.
After the craft fair, we popped into Art Knapps, which is always so festive. 


I'm pretty sure I need my own reindeer.



They have the most beautiful displays (and cute clothes, oddly) and I just love to wander around there.


I love Christmas villages, when I saw this Christmas vacation house I almost bought it on the spot, until I looked at the price. 200 dollars for a Christmas decoration is not happening. Dream Christmas house, I will find you for cheap if it's the last thing I do.


Then, because we hadn't had enough festiveness, we went to Target. This is the first Christmas we've had a Target in Canada. While the US one blows us out of the water, it's nice to have one close by.


I saw this snowman I had tried to resist earlier last week. When I saw he was 5 dollars off, I decided he was coming home with us. 


I totally forgot to post this photo of my outfit for my sis's birthday dinner at Kobe's LAST weekend. I loooove this zip dress. I ordered it from an online boutique called Sugar Love Boutique like three months ago. It came wrapped in pink paper with a lolipop, which I ate when I got stuck in traffic. Just all around awesomeness.



I also have to share this pic of my lovely friend Hilary and I. I love this girl. She sends me the most hilarious messages daily and our conversations are just awesome. Also, this is my go-to outfit for anything. I can't find any other tops that I love as much as this one.



We had an awesome family dinner at the Keg last night for my Dad's 60th. I didn't take many pictures, but I did snap one of my Dad blowing out his candles on his Valley Bakery cake!




Sunday, November 3, 2013

My Solo Adventure and a Mermaid

So my Erin Condren planner finally arrived...but I had shipped it to post office box at the border. That I had never been to. I couldn't wait to go pick it up, but I also couldn't find anyone who could come with me. I decided to be brave and cross the border by myself. For some reason the idea of entering another country solo (despite the millions of time I've been with others) really freaked me out.

I got a Starbucks to keep me entertained in the lineup, and off I went. Annnd I promptly got stuck in the longest border lineup I've ever been in that I remember, about an hour and a half. I actually enjoyed some time alone.

let's not discuss my disastrous hair and no makeup. 
Once I crossed the border, I excitedly picked up my package. The girl at the post office said she loves seeing Erin Condren boxes because they're so pretty and I asked her if lots of people order them, and she said mostly just bloggers! Haha! I guess we're a special breed of dorks with our personalized planners and coloured pens.

Since I'd already come all this way, it only made sense to keep going and have a little fun time at the mall, right? It's only like 20 minutes from the border. I thought I would be bored shopping by myself, but I was seriously like so gleeful, I was prancing around the mall, birthday money in my purse, having a blast. I didn't really buy much though, but got some great ideas for Christmas! Now that I've done it before, I'm going to go do my shopping on a weekday alone and get it all done nice and early! 


In other news, Halloween was fun. I took full advantage of the fact that I have someone to dress up aka Layla. By Halloween rolled around, she actually had two costumes. One I bought early and the other I bought right before Halloween because it was on sale. The mermaid costume was 4 dollars, who could resist? We took Layla on our annual walk down Starlight in Coquitlam where so many houses are decorated amazingly. 

thanks to Amanda for sending me this!
Now that Halloween is over, of course everywhere is already gearing up for Christmas. This is my official stance on the matter. Now is the time where I enjoy PREPARING for Christmas. I do not enjoy stores like STARBUCKS pretending like it's already here. Because the best part is the buildup to Christmas, and it kind of brushes over the whole build up. I am, however going to my favourite craft fair this Saturday so I will probably be really excited after that. But I'm still staying away from Starbucks for the next little while. You guys know I'm Christmas crazy, but we need to keep it more special and starting everything November 1st makes it a little less special. In a few weeks I'll be joining you.