December 24, 2015

Shannon
Amazing how I've not been taking tons of pictures lately, yet I still keep taking ones of FOOD. These are some of the tasty chocolaty treats that we've been enjoying this holiday season. I don't think they will last too much longer, but I will enjoy them any time I can!

December 23, 2015

Shannon
I have been in pre holiday blitz mode, and not taking lots of pictures but hopefully that will change as it turns to holiday-ing mode! This was my lunch today. You know it's holidays when cookies make it ON TO your lunch plate.

December 22, 2015

Shannon
I've been working in some time for my wrap ups/reflections for the year, and as happy timing would have it, Good Reads just added the "See Your Year in Books" function which I love! I had already started working on my thoughts about books this year but I love the quick picture and comparative stuff here. I still have a few I want to finish this year (including of course War and Peace), so it's not a complete picture yet but it's still very cool to see.

Suzie

Hopefully had the last doctor's appointment of this year and got all our holiday groceries which took forever. Also woke up to find out there was snow on the mountains again! Starting to look very Christmasy up there!

December 20, 2015

Jamie

Yesterday was the big "pull out all the stops and bake" day. We had a lot of fun combining this with taking periodic breaks and watching A Very Murray Christmas. It's nice to get into the holiday mood!

Shannon
Netflix has some really odd Christmas/Holiday options this year, but I'm so glad we chanced A Very Murray Christmas at Jamie's initiative. It was a lot of fun. Dry humour, familiar faces and a fair amount of singing too. Fun times.

December 18, 2015

Shannon
Didn't take too many pictures today, almost none! Weird! So here is my MP picture. I actually ended up doing morning pages in another book, as this one got full and I realized the little books only last 2 weeks which isn't a heck of a lot. Anyhow, I might actually take off the holidays of morning pages and see how that feels. It is the holidays and all!

Suzie

There was construction work here so our power was out for 8 hours. To fill up our day, Reg and I went to see In The Heart of the Sea which was a very tough movie but very good. 

December 17, 2015

Jamie

It's been a really demanding time and I haven't been taking pictures at all. Hopefully as I ease into the season things will start to settle down. Yesterday I took some time for myself and also to be social! I had coffee with my journal at Futures and then went out for dinner and choir with a friend. It was a lovely way to spend the day.

 

 

Shannon
It's cookie time! I have been making this recipe for about 25 years now (aieeee!). I should do that kind of math anymore. Anyhow, little twist, this time I used the pizza cutter to make shapes, and it was pretty cool because I could maximize the dough from rolling it out to getting it in the oven. Still can learn stuff after all this time!

Suzie

Today kind of sucked. I had to cancel my first MeetUp meeting and had lots of stress and upset all day. At least I got my Star Wars Bossk Brownies post done.

December 16, 2015

Shannon
I've been feeling like the holidays are really here now and I am seeing signs of them everywhere, even places they technically aren't even suppose to be! Like these snowflake looking fellas that are actually speakers in an elevator.

Suzie

Most of my day was spent resting and/or waiting for our groceries to be delivered but I did have this cute moment with a squirrel. I have seen this little guy running around between the houses around here a lot and he just took quite a few minutes to sit on this wire and just chill. It was quite adorable.

December 15, 2015

Shannon
I'm officially past the halfway point in War and Peace, woohoo!!!! I'm still working towards finishing it by the end of the year, and I've found a pretty good pace for it that's a pretty enjoyable although still pretty dedicated. I'm working hard not to do the mental math each day on how much it left divided by number of days sans holidays, and that is HARD. I'm going to just trust that I can finish it at this nice pace, and deal with it if I don't (or not deal with it if I do). The book is pretty amazing, although I sometimes can feel that the author is telling the reading something an it's not the plot. I pick it up when it's overt, but other times I know I'm missing it. Oh well, I'm enjoying it and that's good enough for me!

Suzie

Haven't written a rant in a while but things have been so hard I wrote Merry Christmas & Kiss My Foodie… This hamburger at McD's was terrible, having to go to the hospital... I am really trying to not be a Grinch but it's been harder. Gotta work on that Christmas spirit.

December 14, 2015

Shannon
Holiday baking has officially started and the latest is white chocolate peppermint fudge! Crazy simple recipe, although technically it's cooking (stovetop only) not baking, but it did go in a baking dish... anyway, it tastes YUMMY and that's the most important thing. Woohoo to trying new recipes and liking the results!

Suzie

Saturday was such a horrible weather day. I went out for a bit and what a mistake. I came home as quickly as I could and got to work on making a minotaur for my friend Reuben. His minotaur character for D&D saved my character from being kidnapped so I made him this little gift. It will always amaze me how something that looks so ordinary suddenly transforms once you put a face on it. Oh and add horns and faux fur of course. He loved it and I was thrilled.

December 12, 2015

Suzie

Sadly, this is our back alley right now. All our neighbours have decided to put big pieces of furniture/appliances out and dump right outside their property. As far as I know, there is no pickup scheduled for this stuff. Going to have to call the city and let them know about it, it's just so awful! At least one neighbour finally got rid of their two toilets!

December 11, 2015

Shannon
I spent a lot of the day deep down the rabbit hole of researching Canadian Literature. Do you know how hard it is to find something from PEI that isn't Anne of Green Gables related? Way harder than I thought! Anyhow, between looking stuff up I took a War and Peace reading break and had some visits with Scout and Escher. So nice to have cats all around!

Suzie

Was not looking good for my Paladin Citrine! We hosted D&D and she got flattened ASAP and then almost kidnapped. Thankfully her gang saved her and then she blew the bad guys away once she regained consciousness. Scary stuff though!

December 10, 2015

Shannon
I thought I didn't have a pic for the day, but low and behold..... CAKE PIC. Yes, I always take pics of food to instagram and share on Facebook, so even if I forget to take other pics I usually have a pic of something I ate! This nutella cheesecake I made for Jamie's Bday and oh my...yummy goodness it is.

Suzie

Other than having the doctor's appointment from hell I also did a product review of these MASSIVE corn nuts! I am glad I managed to fit it in before the appointment. I am grateful for being able to do product reviews because my life is so full of tests and appointments... I never get a chance to make anything these days. At least I have corn nuts to write about, LOL.

December 9, 2015

Shannon
It was so much fun to chat together on stART! I had a blast catching up with everyone creative projects on our last ep of the year. And here is a behind-the-scenes look at the new place we are hosting the audio. So far, so good!

Suzie

Thank you all so much for the support yesterday. In so many ways. Love getting together for stART.

December 8, 2015

Jamie

This is actually Shannon's pic (I hope that's okay) of our fabulous night out at Birthday Bowling! OMG, it was so. much. fun. We had actually planned on a bigger, fancier place but it was booked solid so we ended up at the local spot and I'm so glad we did. It was so comfortable and fun and Shannon even learned how to keep score the way the professionals do. It was a fabulous birthday with lots of great memories. Suzie, I can't wait to get to the cereal box paper dolls. Thank you so much!

Shannon
Happy Bday Jamie!! This is us heading out to birthday fun times. I didn't notice the poster behind us til I looked at the picture later, and I think we took the message to heart!!

Suzie

Had my last art class. I had finished my painting so I just did some experimenting in class. I am surprised how far I have come with being adventurous with colour. It was sad to end the class though. I will miss it. It's been hard but I went to every single class.

December 7, 2015

Jamie

Well, the birthday celebrations began the night before. Justin and I went to the Christmas market in the Distillery district and then out to dinner at a lovely French restaurant there. It was absolutely packed! We had no idea that this was such a big thing with such a draw! This is the picture we took as we were leaving and everything was closed. It's amazing how magical things are in these moments afterwards. The tree was spectacular and dinner was a treat. My birthday is off to an amazing start.

Shannon
I'm very excited about my December Advent-Ture Extravaganza. This has all the big to do's that I want to do in December, and any time I get one done I get to colour in the image! I hope this will provide some fun, positive energy and incentive to get to do a bunch of stuff instead of it feeling more like 'just one more thing on the list'. Here's hoping!

December 4, 2015

Shannon
It was so much fun to all be together for Planning Day!! It was awesome to see so many people there and so many exciting things, tender moments and wonderful sharing at Planning Day. Way to go Jamie for knocking it out of the park for 2 years running. WoohoO!

Suzie

Once again, Planning Day proved to be a powerful force! I realized I did not want to plan my year as much as I wanted to figure out what to do with my year and that works even better for me. Scary that during such a risky year and time in my life the word "risk" seems to be the word for 2016. Thank you so much for such a profound experience Jamie!

December 3, 2015

Shannon
After month off my game of reading War and Peace, I have picked it back up. I would really, really, really like to finish it by the end of the year. Even though I already have a paper copy, I bought it on Kindle because it is so much easier to read a big book this way. And bonus, they had the exact same edition so the page numbers are the same and I can switch between paper and Kindle if I wish!

Suzie

We are still working hard at figuring out the sleeping situation for Christmas so we drove out to Coquitlam to buy a cot for Jason. We were going to get a fold out couch for Dad but I was unsure so we drove home. It was so dark and rainy but at least we got this done. Oh and my blood work. So sick of blood work.

December 2, 2015

Shannon
I still can't quite believe it's December already. Where did this year go? And, I was totally forgetting to take pictures again, but at least I got my Morning Pages pic this morning (I forgot the day before, can you believe it???). I actually am writing my MPs in a book because I ran out of loose paper. It's wild because that's how I used to always do it, and I slipped back into that way of doing it way easier than I thought I would.

Suzie

Tuesday I ended up getting a lot of stuff done, got out for a walk, came home cooked and then made an early dinner so we could go out to see The Peanuts Movie. I've always had a complicated relationship with this world. I always feel so bad for Charlie Brown but I am glad I watched it. It had heart which I was so happy to discover. A kid movie with heart that did not talk down to kids. Brilliant.

December 1, 2015

Jamie

Yesterday was an intense but beautiful day in the studio. I wrapped up the season with most of my clients, closed this season with Circe's Circle and started to turn my full attention to Planning Day, which is coming up Thursday. This is always the busiest week of my entire year. Luckily it is also full of love and hope and celebration.

Shannon
I was very off my game taking pictures on Monday. First off, I forgot to take a Happy Monday Everyone! picture to share, and then I didn't take any pics while making dinner. Weird! Well, here was what was left *after* dinner!

Suzie

Second last painting class yesterday and my night sky painting is done. I am feeling quite sad about class being over. It's been a frustrating experience but also nice to have something creative to look forward to every week.

November 30, 2015

Jamie 

The pipes are finally complete and this weekend we started the process of getting the house back in order. We're all exhausted, so it was also good to take some time for enjoyment and rest. Justin and I went to the local park to watch the tree lighting - yay - and then came home for hot chocolate and oatmeal cookies!

 

Shannon
One of the things I've been enjoying recently is playing Spooky's House of Jump Scares. It looks crazy old-school, has extremely simple functions, and doesn't take long to play a little bit and feel like a fun little break. You literally just go from room to room to room, and occasionally something jumps out (or tries to kill you). It's nice to have something goofy and silly, even if it's pop scares!

P.S. Sorry I've not been posting as of late, things have been a little crazy! Hope to be more timely this week :)

Suzie

I was the official photographer for Reg's kung fu school performance on the weekend! And OMG, it was exhausting and tough but awesome. I did a lot of running around, changing angles and stressing I would run out of space on my memory card but it's all good. Although I am crazy-sore today. Photographing food is much easier but this was a fantastic challenge and I learned a lot.

November 28, 2015

Jamie

Yesterday, as Shannon and I were hanging out, Scout jumped up on the couch, curled up and joined us! This is a first! Sometimes one of the cats might be on the couch and they might stay there when we arrive but he definitely wanted to hangout. He sat there purring and enjoying pets for the entire show. I'm looking forward to more moments like this!

Suzie

We hosted another epic D&D night and had a blast! There were so many snacks though that I was the only one who ate the creamy dill popcorn but that's OK. I really liked it so more for me! It's been amazing having people over.

November 27, 2015

Jamie

Yesterday I was filming a new Creative Living Bookshelf and Shibumi hung out. She's in love with these spongy soccer balls we bought and her new favourite thing is playing fetch, especially when the balls bounce down the stairs! It's hard to say if she's doing better. Her tests show that there's no bacterial infection. We just have to keep trying new food and using some Feliway spray to soothe her stressed out nerves.

November 26, 2015

Jamie

Gosh, it was so nice to take a day off on Wednesday, especially after all of the work on the pipes (which isn't quite finished but the end is in sight). We went to the Turner exhibit at the AGO and it was remarkable. There were paintings, like this one, that would draw you from across the room with their light and beauty. I'm glad too that we were able to get home early enough to give Dad a call to celebrate his birthday!

Suzie

Reg and I got out to see an improv D&D group at The Rio which we have been wanting to check out FOREVER! I put together a mashup of the fun stuff that happened that night. We would have bumped into people we knew but they were gaming that night, LOL.

November 24, 2015

Suzie

I posted my recent Gourmet Club post and video. People kept asking for more and more recipes but I am starting to think that isn't where the energy is. This was delicious though and I do hope people try it.

November 21, 2015

Suzie

Reg HATES peeling hard boiled eggs so he attempted this technique to see what would happen. With varying results! The only exciting thing that was supposed to happen was D&D at our place but it got cancelled. Ugh. Spent all day cleaning the house!

November 20, 2015

Shannon
The sugar after the storm. Awesome donut that was ...creme filled, banana, dulce delecte, coconut and at least 1 other thing. Really nice after the long day.

Suzie

As you both know I have a crazy-stressful day so I was glad to escape reality for a while and get to D&D where I broke a window, fell out of a window and could not bust my way through a closed door. That said, I am the one attacking the witch with green skin and white hair. Soon after this moment the minotaur came through the wall pushing me into the witch! Good times...

November 19, 2015

Jamie

I know you've seen this picture but there really isn't anything that better captures yesterday than this. A thin layer of disintegrating concrete over the sandy dirt of our home and the broken pipe that is now being prepared. You can clearly see why we need to keep the kittens contained, even though they find that stressful too. We spent the night with all three kittens closed in our bedroom. It went better than expected, truthfully, but I know that everyone will be looking forward to getting things back to normal. Hopefully better than normal with the pipes all fixed. Though this spare room will be pretty much unusable for a while.

Shannon
My set up for while things are in transition. It feels good to have the computer up and running, but I have to be careful not to spend too much time at it. It was nice to hang out with Jamie and the kittens (2 of 3 at least) which some of the craziness was going on, which thankfully wasn't that loud and I even nodded off with kitties right beside me :)



Not my best video but it is a super-fast tutorial on how to make your own homemade dashi. We also went out to enjoy the sunshine today. Been gone way too long.