Kate Spade at Chapters (What?!)

Being an avid reader, I check out the Chapters website probably multiple times a week. Well this week I was super excited to see a Kate Spade collection at Chapters! I recently discovered Kate Spade when I got this amazing bag as a gift.

I seriously adore this bag, and it's amazing quality. I needed a good bag for work that would fit my client's training files and 500 tape measures and this is perfect!

You must check out the Chapters site to see all the Kate Spade girly goodies but here are a few of my favourites:

bow paper clips

daytimer/agenda

notebook

mug

coasters

Fall Hair & Other Randoms

Whenever I go too long without posting, I have to do a randoms post, because there is too much to post about individually but just enough to cram into one.

First -  I got new hair! K, it's still my hair but it's a new colour. I had the ombre for months and months, so it was definitely time for a change, back to all dark. Thanks of course to my amazing sister Jenn, who is also my hairdresser. I am loving the dark shine!

Just for fun, my fall header from 3 years ago.

I totally missed my 3 year blogaversary! Can you believe I've been blogging for three years? You'd think I'd be better at it by now! Haha. But seriously, blogging is one of my true loves and I honestly do it for fun because I love to talk and write and I like pretending that I'm talking to my readers in person. So thank you all for keeping up with my craziness.

The THIRD Bridget Jones book is out today. Seriously. Bridget Jones was probably the first chick lit book I ever read, probably because it kinda started that whole genre from what I understand, considering the first one came out when I was 13 and still reading Sweet Valley High. But seriously, who doesn't love Bridget Jones? The only problem is, Helen Feilding (the author) recently revealed what the premise is for the third book, and well, you're not going to like it because no one does. Only click that link if you want to prepare yourself!

My bestie Hilary got me hooked on Nashville. This is separate from my training client getting me hooked on the Mindy Project. Officially watch too much TV for a personal trainer. Although I am usually cooking and cleaning while I watch, so it doesn't count. It does, however, make me really want a sparkly dress. Let's be real, I've always wanted a sparkly dress.

In other awesome news, tomorrow is Friday and this weekend is Canadian thanksgiving. Yay 3 day weekend!

Happy October & My October Goals

WOO HOO OCTOBER!

Seriously that's how I feel right now. Bring it on. I never used to get that excited for Fall, and then one time almost ten years ago, my family was planning my brother and sister's "surprise" 19th birthday party and I realised how much I LOVED that excitement in the air that came with October. In my family and best friends alone, it's my birthday, my brothers & sisters (twins), my brother in law, and my one of my best friends. There are also a million other people that I know with October birthdays (don't even get me started on November). And then, we've got Halloween excitement. It's all just too much for my festive little heart to handle. But I'll manage.

Rather than making a "Fall Bucket List" I'm making October Goals.

*Visit the Pumpkin Patch, preferably without at a time when there aren't hundreds of little munchkins running around. I love munchkins in small quantities, like my two adorable nephews, but anywhere that's child attraction based scares me a little bit. 

*Go applepicking. This is not only a fun fall activity, but you totally get the hookup for cheap apples for thanksgiving pie. Score.

*Visit Leigh's Uncle in the Land of Great Shopping...aka USA. He has a super cozy house with a wood fireplace that I know is going to make me fall asleep approximately 7 minutes after plunking down next to it. 

If you've seen this episode, this is definitely my birthday behaviour.

*Have the best birthday ever. My birthday is on a Saturday this year and I am going to enjoy every minute even though I feel too old to go clubbing and dance all night, sadly.Everyone who knows me knows I'm a self-crowned birthday princess. Whatever, I love it.

*K, I know I say this all the time but I reaaally want to get super organized. I am constantly making progress on this. However, I have a deep rooted fear of any kind of paper, so that needs to get tackled.

*Finish THREE DIY projects. Doesn't matter which ones. Or how big. My list of projects that never gets done is ticking me off.

*Wear some cute fall outfits. I've actually bought some really cute fall stuff and because my job pretty much only allows workout pants and runners, I rarely get to dress up. This is my goal to dress up at least a few times this month!

*Join a gym. Haha. No seriously, I don't own a gym membership. At first when I left my gym job, I did lots of walks and home workouts. I was really sick of the gym vibe. Now I'm finding that it's way too easy to just sit down for just a minute before the next set. So I'm joining a gym down the street to re-energize my workouts.

*Go trick or treating with Layla and Leigh, kind of. If you've seen this post, you know that I am a crazy dog mom. Since I don't have a kid, this is my right. I may or may not have purchased a costume for Layla and I may or may not take her trick or treating and by that I mean a walk around the neighbourhood while everyone else is trick or treating. You may not judge me.

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Also in a non-October related fashion, I would like to announce that I have officially kicked my Splenda habit. I now put only Stevia in my coffee. Sometimes I put a tiny drop of honey in and it really makes a difference and kinda masks the stevia taste. Yay me!

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.