a christmas glow...

it's not quite december, and i've already decorated. i really wanted to get us a full sized tree to decorate for our first year in our own place; i mean, that bay window is just calling for it. but i considered the cost of buying a new tree and then all new decorations and i figured we would just stick it out with my small one from my apartment for this last year and then buy new stuff once it's sale after christmas.

a pretty glow.

decorations showcasing things i love: coffee (and having worked at starbucks), eeyore, baking, and that's just me in the reflection of the silver ball ;)

chloe's stocking on the right hand side, which needs to be hung still.

some christmas scents mixed in.

around the house.

couldn't decorate without rum and eggnog.

every night, i come home from work and put the lights on, and watch some tv in the glow. now, i just gotta get working on the christmas shopping.

when you smile...

after a long, long day at work, we went on over to a dessert cafe we haven't been to in ages. they have the best desserts; fresh (made in house) ice cream, crepes, waffles, cakes, etc. the menu is seriously never-ending.

what to choose, what to choose.

a coffee that comes along with a mini biscotti.

dylan's bailey's cheesecake and coffee ice cream.

my mudslide cake; chocolate cookie bottom, chocolate ganache, caramel..oh my.

we left fully satisfied and stuffed, and headed home to bed. then i worked the next day (sunday). you win some, you lose some.

the little things...

like pulling down the sheets for bed and finding this...

//

the jolly guy...

my parents were babysitting their grandogger while we spent the day in toronto, and they decided to take her   for a little visit to meet santa at the spca. surprisingly, she doesn't look ridiculously scared and like she's going to poop on his white fur at any given second.

i'm pretty sure she couldn't be any cuter.

when we showed up to take her home, they had this frame waiting for me. i was so sad that i thought i had missed the santa visit, but turns out they had it covered. love that lil one to bits!

celebrating 6 years...

saturday was a much needed date day, in which we spent in toronto celebrating 6 years. dylan got home from nights at 9:30am, and without sleep, we were out the door shortly after. we had a day full of coffee, shopping, dinner, christmas lights, a so-so dinner, and more.

who needs sleep? not dylan!

my favorite.

reindeer on yonge st.

giant reindeer in the mall.

the mall also had something really cool set up that saturday; a place to get a flipbook of yourself! the lineup wasn't long at all, so obviously, we waited. you had 6 seconds to do whatever you wanted to do in front of a camera, then they could cut it all up, put a cover on it, and staple it, and it was ready 20 minutes later (this size). for FREE. coolest.thing.ever. we danced, and it's like, my favorite thing of us.

someone practicing for a show later that night.

city hall tree.

yay! we have topshop! (& j.crew as seen above)

i love christmas windows.

along with our anniversary cake ( seen here) we picked up earlier in the day, we tried a new cupcake place, too.

a little walkway i love.

'holiday magic' in yorkville, a lighting ceremony, with matt dusk singing christmas songs, and free cider and cookies. we've gone almost every year :)

all lit up.

we got home around 8:30, poured us each a glass of wine, and hung on the couch with some tv. within 30 minutes, dylan was out cold. i could see the wine glass in his hand tipping and when i tried to take it from him, he had a death grip on it. boy likes his wine ;) he certainly caught up on his sleep though, sleeping straight through till 9:30am. overall, a fantastic day spent together.

ps. happy thanksgiving to the americans!

Six...

6 years! wow. we've made it over half  a decade. there's not much new that i can say that hasn't been said in previous years. i love you, and i'm glad that the first time you talked to me, you invited yourself along to the mall with me. forward? yes, but it worked. our college days feel like eons ago..though i guess it was 6 years ago..

a kiss for the best mr.

our annual red velvet cake from dessert lady.

when you feel embarrassed then i'll be your pride

when you need directions then i'll be the guide

for all time

for all time

friday night fun...

friday night after work we went to my aunt and uncles where we met a new addition to the family; chloe got a cousin! he rname is 'fi' (pronounced 'fee') and she's a morkie and completely adorable and wild. chloe looked like an absolute giant next to her.

too adorable.

afterwards, we went out for a quick bite before dylan went to work. actually, dylan ate, and i just got a float. believe it or not, it was my first ever float. not sure how i made it 25 years without one. i went with what i think is the regular, root beer and vanilla ice cream, and it was pretty good. i don't feel like i've been missing out, but it was tasty.

check it out, a float!

and, i can't take this man anywhere without him getting stains. it's a problem. 

that time we got a deep fryer...

so, we now have a deep dryer. i, for one, am not thrilled at the idea. add it to the list of kitchen things we probably don't need (or have room for!), and is the worst thing you can get health-wise.  my parents decided they didn't want it anymore because they've had it forever and don't use it, and dylan snatched it up faster than you can you say "deep fried pickles." seriously, the next day we were at the grocery store buying wings and sauce. i had a girl friend coming over that night to hang out so dylan threw some wings in the fryer for us before he left for work. lucky for him, he still had a few minutes to shove a couple in his mouth before he left ;)

 the good stuff.

 batch #1-breaded. personally, i don't like breaded wings.

excited while waiting for the oil to heat.

 batch #2-non breaded and hot sauce! and wine, of course.

chloe's younger 'cousin' came for the visit, too. you can tell that (even after 2 years) chloe still isn't sure of little olive.

the goal? to NOT make the deep fryer a weekly feature. that would be bad. sorry dyl, there's restrictions!

everything at once...

whether you like it or not, christmas is invading us in all areas of life; the grocery store, the streets, the weather (cold, but no snow yet), and soon enough, the radio. i love christmas as much as every other blogger, but halloween is too early for it to be put out everywhere. so is before remembrance day. after the US thanksgiving, then it all gets a "thumbs up, go crazy" from me, even though ideally, i like to wait until december 1st.  here's a few ways christmas has been sneaking into my life..

christmas tree going up in front of city hall; street decorations.

my first red cup of the season (eggnog latte); christmas socks with flannel pjs tucked in.

a new cookie plate, candy bow, and candy cane hot chocolate; poinsettia from dylan (wish it said merry christmas instead of HH, though ;))

40 days to go? better get shopping.


(linking up with jenn :))

stiff...

working 2 jobs is kicking my a*s right now. between my new job (typically 10 hour days), and my other job, i`m lucky if i get one day off a week. i'm completely exhausted. at my first job (the one i typically work from home, tweet, facebook etc), my boss is away for 10 days and i've been left a lot of work to do. for one thing, we've got an event coming up, and i've gotta get all the posters and info cards out, and spread the word all over the city! i'm going into the office today (office to myself, woohoo!) with hopes that i accomplish a lot, and be home for dinner, or a bit earlier if i work hard; must keep focused!
i seriously come home from work and i'm ready for bed, but usually hold off until 10 or 10:30  ;) i keep telling myself things will get better/easier soon; lets hope i'm right. new jobs are tough enough as it is.

i've wanted to read this book for years. finally decided to buy it.

most of the time, i get home, watch a show or two, and then read a chapter or so. we're slightly lacking in the entertainment/date department lately with our crazy schedules. let's hope for an improvement in that sooner than later.

on living together...

i can hardly believe that we've been living together for 4.5 months now. things have been pretty good for the most part. sure, we have the odd screaming match (ok, maybe not screaming, but definitely quite heated), and we banter about something at least every other day, but overall, things are good. it's nice to come home to someone every day, to have someone to share a bottle of wine with, and to eat dinner with someone.

living with someone before marriage was never an issue for me. naturally, this just felt like the next step for us. i actually think it's been a good thing, us living together before marriage. we get to work out the kinks, argue about cleaning up, and where things go, and dishes and laundry now, in these first few months, instead of starting off our married life angry all the time that i'm the one doing the dishes 90% of the time, or over them not being rinsed. stupid things like that, that are trivial, but make me angrier than they should. slowly but surely, he's helping out more, and it's much appreciated. the days when i come home from work and the place is nice and clean..there's simply nothing better.

the one thing i was worried about was still having me time. we spent 5 years in different cities, seeing each other maybe once a week, i lived alone in those 5 years, and i'm an only child. so i'm used to my own space, to say the least. i'm happy to say i still have lots of it :) even if we're home together, dylan spends a lot of time in the office, playing video games and such. you know, boy things.

our place now feels like a home, and i love that. we have our furniture, our car, our shared bank account (i still smile when i see both of our names on our cheques), our dog; all things we share and can be proud of. i can't wait to decorate for christmas, for the snow to start falling, and to cozy up on the couch and spend the evening inside with the tree lights twinkling beside us.

so this living together thing, yeah, it's pretty awesome.