technology has won this round...

my computer currently has a big fat nasty virus and i have no idea where it came from. i have 1 icon on my desktop (recycle bin) and there's nothing in the start up menu. so, blogging will be put on hold until my personal computer repair man (dyl) can come and fix it. blogging from my phone (for this post) is no fun. i'm still a terrible typer on my iphone. this is going on day 3 of no computer (thank god i have my phone) and it sucks; i'm definitely not one of those people who find it refreshing to detach for a few days!! haha hopefully everything will be able to be fixed and i won't lose anything :( the computer is only a year old :(

icefest...

this weekend was icefest in toronto; basically a little winter exhibit full of ice sculptures and a few food stands. me and my mom made it back to toronto on sunday in time to be able to check it out. it's nothing major, but it's pretty cool what people can carve out of an ice block.

 

baker street-another red velet fail :( the cake was very dry, but the icing was tasty.

...

a 'fire pit'

 hoot hoot.

so canadian.

the crowds were crazy (much crazier then when we went another year) and it makes me wonder how many pictures i'm in that other people took? haha 

ps. send me happy thoughts today..i have to work at another location (just today) and i'm terrified. really hoping for 5pm to come fast!

champagne birthday weekend...

i'm heading home this weekend for my friends 25th birthday and i offered to take care of the dessert. i'm going to attempt to make this cake and i'm hoping it works out. the recipe tells you exactly how many drops to add for each shade, but i have a paste, so i'll have to go by my eye. could be trouble, so wish me luck! in other news, my countdown is still going strong and i'm growing impatient.

 *65 days*

it's true. via

hope you all enjoy your weekend!

*p.s. in case anyone doesn't know what a champagne birthday is, it's when you turn the same age as the day you were born. my friend turns 25 on the 25th! mine was my 19th birthday; if only i had known about it back then!*

he gets what he wants. sometimes...

besides pancakes and anything red velvet, i also love poutine. i guess you could say it's the canadian in me. before dylan came up last time, we were chatting on gchat while he was at work and deciding what we wanted for dinner later. he suggested poutine and i gave him the virtual side-eye because it's something that just doesn't taste as good when it's homemade. plus, it was raining and i had to go out to get the stuff (also note: i walk to the grocery store). he even sent me pictures to try and persuade me. so what did i do? i walked in the rain to the grocery store to get cheese, fries, and gravy. i must love him or something.

 3 good things, all combined. also, forget plates! we don't need em!

clearly we did enjoy it after all, and it was as good as a restaurant. we polished off the dish ;)

more poutine experiences? a giant one that wasn't a hit for me, and a delicious one in old montreal.

pancake tuesday...

i love pancakes. i make them quite often, to be honest. and not just for breakfast, but for dinner, too. care to know my little secret? i never make pancakes without putting cinnamon and nutmeg in. i've done it for years and it's just habit now. if i have blueberries around, i throw them in, too.
monday night, not knowing that it was pancake tuesday the next day, i was thinking about making them for breakfast. when i woke up and found out, it was obvious that i would now have to make them!

 this was actually saturday morning (see, told you i eat them a lot), but yesterdays situation was pretty much the same.

i'm even contemplating making them again this morning. it may have something to do with the fact that i'm running out of breakfast food and i need to do groceries. did anyone else enjoy pancakes for breakfast/lunch/dinner yesterday?

snow pup...

you know how the weather network always calls for snow, and it never comes? just like they 'call for' rain and it doesn't rain, or they say it'll reach Xtemperature and it never does? basically, they're never right. but this time they were. we got quite a bit of snow a couple weekends ago, and i was thrilled. it's definitely the most we've gotten this season, and it finally seemed that winter had made its way to canada. if you can't count on snow for christmas anymore, you can always count on a storm around valentines day. seriously, there's been one every year i think. and chloe? well, she loves it.

ready, set...

GO!

my dad and his favorite (and only) grandchild.

"i'm back home, mom."

she's like a bullet running through that snow.

my little snowy nosed girl.

obviously, this wore her out, and she spent the rest of the day and night sleeping by the fire. oh, the life of a dog.

instagram round-up...

it's kind of nice having weekends off lately (ya know, like a normal person). i've been making myself french press coffee, pancakes, and overeating just a little bit. here's another linkup with jenni of some recent happenings.

 out for breakfast with my parents. and yes, he's sporting a black eye from horseplaying with a friend. grrr.

hanging out in the sink, i see.

last weekend at my parents; it didn't last very long.

delicious breakfast. there's potatoes in that white bowl; they're finger lickin' good.

  heart earrings for valentine's day at work; a bracelet from my dad (1995 i think) that says 'daddy's girl' all the way around and that i found in my dresser. it still fits my child sized wrists.

 the other days lunch; pizza from whole foods and a red velvet cupcake from my favorite bakery.

saturday morning snow, which was then replaced by wet, heavy snow, and then just rain.

...

my ridiculous bow to keep my ears warm, and OC marathons. i miss that show terribly. every thursday night, me and my 2 girl friends got together and ate nachos and cheese and watched it together. i can't believe that was in high school and so long ago.

i'm off to go watch more of the OC, drink a coffee, and maybe snack on some hershey's kisses. they're the best. oh, and one last thing - me and dylan watched the vow last night...umm it was not very good, not very good at all. i thought it was slow, boring, and such a letdown. the 2 minute trailer sure did a good job of making it look amazing and like i would bawl my eyes out. my eyes were dry as the desert. boo.

taken hostage...

our valentine's day was celebrated a day later. he picked me up after work, and we then went for coffee and a little bit of dessert; i got the carrot cake (delish) and he got the choclate chip banana cake with chocolate icing (also delish). as for cards, i had told dylan that i wanted him to make mine. but me? i just bought his haha

a single rose. which i prefer to a whole dozen any day.

'your boyfriend dylan has been taken hostage. have 300 kisses and all your love ready on february 14 @8pm if you want him to live. if my demands are not met, i will break his heart a little bit every hour until he dies, no police.' the heart on the right is actually painted on with his fingers lol he's definitely a creative one, that's for sure.

pucker up.

so, that was our valentine's day (on the 15th) in a nutshell. the next morning we got up bright and early at 7:15 and dylan left to catch the bus back home by 8:30. and then i worked a 9 hour day. fun! however, i do have the weekend off again, and it's 'family day' on monday (an ontario holiday where most people get the day off to be with their family), and i happen to have it off, and my girl friends have planned to come up for a visit. fingers crossed plans don't change and they can make it!

have a good weekend!

day of love...

even if dylan and i decided to only do cards this year, i still got a few little things from my parents. i'm not complaining.

a little somethin' somethin' for chloe-'chocolate' covered dog bones.

a chocolate 'baking' kit. too cute.

i also got a bag of suckers that i used to get as a kid (memories!), chocolate covered popcorn, a mound of cinnamon hot lips (my favorite!), and this bracelet. unfortunately, dylan and i both worked late on valentine's day and couldn't see each other, but we made up for it the next day.

ur cute...

first of all, happy valentine's day!

on saturday, the baking continued with shortbread cookies. these bring back memories of when i was a kid and making them for all holidays with my mom, and decorating them with all the colored icing. and it's also the easiest recipe, basically ever. i mean, there's 4 ingredients!! i had seen these conversation heart cookies all over the internet lately, and figured i had to give it a go. mine are nowhere at neat and perfect as others, but they were fun to make and look at it, and of course, they taste good, too.

you have my heart.

i always knew i had shaky hands, but boy was it evident when writing with icing in a tiny space.

yes, you are.

hello? yes, i'll be your valentine.

proud of my shaky and not perfect, but awesome cookies.

dylan took some to work, and apparently they were a huge hit. a few girls asked if i had a shop! haha maybe i need to start doing some baking on the side to pull in a little money and pay my loans off faster?? ;) needless to say, there's all of 3 cookies left. by the end of today, make that 0!