Preparing for Amsterdam & Egypt!

I can't believe that we are 2 days away from a trip of a lifetime. Although before I can get officially into vacation mode I need to kick this cold I am fighting...I don't want to be the sick person on the plane for a 7 hour flight.

I've always wanted to go to Egypt, it seems like such a magical and historical wonder of the world. I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous about my tummy and the food. I know this seems rather silly but my stomach tends to be pretty sensitive and based on everything I've read, it seems everyone gets some sort of bug while they are there. Guess I'll just have to very careful.

Amsterdam should be fun too...I love all of the countries I've visited in Europe so I can't imagine that Amsterdam would be any different!

I'm also trying to decide when I should allow myself to test. Of course I would love to know as soon as possible but I also hate seeing a negative. So my conflict with myself is do I try and test on Thursday, the day we leave, when I'll be 10 DPO or should I wait until we get to Amsterdam and test on Christmas Eve...wouldn't that be a great present :) I guess it will all depend on strong my willpower is on Thursday morning.

Prenatal vitamins

I get it, I know how important it is to take them before you actually get pregnant but sometimes I feel well, resentful for having to take them. In a way I feel like it's a daily reminder how pregnant I am NOT. Not to mention they make me feel sick...I could handle the sickness if I knew I was growing a little human :)


I'm writing this post from my iPad which I absolutely LOVE since the moment I got my hands on it. I have to admit I was not really into the whole iPod obsession....yes I am a die hard BB fan....but since I got my iPad I have to say that I get it now....they are so fun and super convenient for so many things.


Anyway its snowing here, big white snowflakes and we're watching christmas vacation, my all time favorite christmas movie so with that I think I'll say goodnight!

Two week wait



Photo Credit: Scrap Matters


Before trying to conceive I had never given much thought to the two week waiting game, why would I. Then last month I introduced myself to this never-ending time period where something else takes over and you find yourself over-analyzing every symptom, consulting Dr. Google every hour and spending a small fortune on pregnancy tests, hoping you'll be one of the lucky ones this month and see that second pink line. No such luck for me last month which brings me to the beginning of a new two week wait.

This month I'm trying very hard to not let the next two weeks consume me like it did last month which is a challenge especially because everyone who knows me can confirm that having patience is not something I do very well. I also like to have control, especially when it comes to a matter of this magnitude and we all know no one but God has control over these situations so I'll just have to sit back with fingers crossed; hoping and waiting for my second pink line.  

I am thankful

I am thankful everyday for my job and the life that I live. Last November I started working with an amazing team of professionals and clients and the best part is that I get to work from home. At the start of my career I was working downtown for an agency where I met some amazing people and I loved the excitement of being downtown but I worked long hours, commuted and had no life during the week. Now I am so incredibly blessed to be able to make dinner at a normal hour, stay cozy in my house when the weather gets cold ( like right now!) and run an errand in the middle of the afternoon if I need to because I have the flexibility to make up the time in the evening or weekend.

Kevin didn't work today because the weather was too cold so we went into town to get our Christmas shopping done, it was wonderful and I am thankful for my job that allows me to have these moments, everyday.

The small things count

My dear husband.He is awesome and almost always demonstrates his awesomeness. We had a Christmas open house on Saturday with family and friends and we had a blast but because we live  out of the way, we had about 10 people stay the night. Why is he awesome?

• Gave up his spot in our bed so my girlfriends could have a better place to sleep. He ended up sleeping on the floor outside of the bathroom (not an ideal spot but really the only spot left in our home where there wasn't another body)
•  Got up early to cook a big breakfast complete with bacon and orange juice for our guests while I slept in the hopes of getting rid of the inevitable after math of drinking way too much red wine the night before and cleaned up the entire kitchen AFTER serving breakfast to our guests
• Brought me candy cane hot chocolate and cookies this afternoon before I got on a teleconference...yum!  

Those are just a couple of things that he's done in the last day to make me thankful to have him in my life everyday. 

Finding new music ( well new to me) that I love!

Music I love comes from all over the place...I don't think I could actually pick one "catergory" that I like best or least. Okay. Maybe heavy metal, that's not really for me but other than that my IPOD has everything from Dixie Chicks to City and Colour ( Dallas Green is definitely top 10, along with Jack Johnson) but I recently discovered a band I really like. Mumford & Sons. I heard people talking about them but didn't pay much attention and then Kevin had them on in the car the other day and White Blank Page came on and I was hooked...just like that. LOVE the sound of this song.

Cooking Thursday - White Chocolate Candy Cane Drops..hmmm

I recently came across Sandra's blog, Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and I've really enjoyed reading it and I especially like the food section. So because this is my first week with my blog I wanted to take an opportunity to post something on Cooking Thursday .

Kevin and I spent all last weekend baking hundreds of different cookies for our Christmas open house on Saturday. Our favourite is a recipe from Better Homes for White Chocolate Candy Drops...they are so yummy!

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter
• 1/2  cup  butter, softened
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 2    eggs
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 2-3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2/3  cup  finely crushed chocolate-filled peppermint candy canes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Chop 4 ounces of the white chocolate; set aside. In a small saucepan, cook and stir the remaining 4 ounces white chocolate over low heat until melted. Set saucepan aside to cool chocolate slightly.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in melted white chocolate. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in the chopped white chocolate and crushed candy canes.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around edges. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 50 cookies.
TO STORE: Layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

I love Lucy

Kevin and I are the proud puppy parents of Lucy, our 9 month old Great Dane. She's currently 100 pounds and is still growing daily! It's true what they say about Danes...they are such gentle giants....sometimes I wish she wasn't so big so we could cuddle with her more because she loves it so much ( who am I kidding we love it so much ;)

Even though we're currently going through what I am calling the "Terrible Twos". As soon as she hit 7 months she decided it was time to start pulling on walks with me...and when she pulls...she really pulls so right now walks with Lucy and I are a constant battle the whole way because I won't give in. I am hoping my perseverance will pay off or she'll grow out it soon because I really enjoy our walks when she's not pulling the whole time.


I also love her despite the fact that she makes my nice dark hardwood floors look like our backyard...dirt and all. At first I washing and vacuuming the floors 2 times a day but soon realized it was a waste of time so I had to learn to let go of my OCD need to have everything neat and tidy all of the time. I just bought a new steamer to help me with the grime and dirt that comes with having a dog and let me tell you, best purchase EVER. We bought the HAAN® Duo™ Steam Sweeper & Sanitizer and I am in love! I had tried every mop and product but nothing has made my floors come back to life like this product.

So despite dirty floors and dog hair, I love Lucy and I think everyone deserves to have a Lucy in their life.

Design Challenge

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm fairly new to this process and am just beginning to learn about how use/design my blog to way that I want it to be. I'm the type of person that likes instant results so I spent the better part of my day yesterday consulting google and reading things about HTML code, etc...I'm kind of hoping it's like driving or riding a bike and one day you just get it!


I love the design template that I'm using which I got from http://smittenblogdesigns.blogspot.com// Their stuff is so pretty and they were so nice in helping me with my template, thanks ladies!


I also found some really neat buttons at http://www.shabbyblogs.com/ so pretty! Now if only I could figure out how to change the size and style of the font....

Something new

I've been reading blogs for a while now, enjoying the honesty, ideas and how nice it is to read something from somone whom you have never met but feel like you know very well because they open up their lives to who ever chooses to listen. So after a LONG day of trying to set-up my very own blog, I think I've made it and now I find myself writing my first post. :)

To be honest, this is a purly selfish project that I've embarked on to reflect upon my day as I work my way through the early years of marriage to a wonderful man (married Sept 2009), build my home ( house bought July 2010)and start my family (TTC - month #1!). So I here I go...