niagara falls...

it seems kind of rare that we have a good impromptu weekend, where nothing was planned head of time, but it all seemed to work out so easily. with dylan's schedule being so all over the place, it's hard to make plans. we were trying to decide what to do saturday evening and dylan brought up the casino; normally the cheap one, i surprisingly agreed. we set a very modest budget and decided we'll head to niagara falls for some slots and tables.

our deal was that anything we were up, i would hold on to, and dylan would continue to play with what we brought. we did a spin around before settling on some 25 cent slots we felt lucky on. i put my $20 in (personally, i can only stomach to throw that much away), and while i went up and down a few times (highest up to a whopping $21.50), i eventually lost it all. meanwhile, dylan put in $20 and won $123! we cashed out immediately, i held on to that ticket, then dylan spent the rest of what we brought on the war table. unfortunately for us, our luck ran out. but we walked out with $3 more than we came in with, so win!

afterwards, we decided to take a walk down to the falls even though it was dark and cloudy out. we couldn't see much, but we kind of always forget just how big and awesome the falls are. and since you can't do the falls without going to the main strip, we made our way over there, too.

while in line for the ferris wheel, we remembered that we had taken a picture in front of it way back in january of 2007, when went to the falls for our 2 month anniversary. we tried to recreate the picture, but iphones just don't do the trick in the dark and the guy we asked just wasn't very good/didn't focus.

 january 2007.

september 2014.

there were no big winnings for us at the casino, but we enjoyed a nice night out reminiscing about the first time went to the falls together.

on top of the world...

i feel pretty confident saying that this was a productive weekend. between a mexican dinner date night before dylan left for work friday night, spending saturday at my parents, meeting up for a coffee and a little shopping with daniela on sunday, i still managed to get a big chunk of homework completed! how's that for balancing work and play?!

 sangria, maragaritas, gaucamole; i'm ok waiting for my tacos when i have this in front of me.

 my parents went baking crazy on saturday; all homemade, down to the pumpkin lattes. (along with chocolate chip cookies not pictures because they're not pumpkin!) all 3 things shown taken from the pumpkin recipe booklet i mentioned and linked to here.

 a little belated birthday treat, which he got a bite out of before the picture :)

look at that tongue action. she was pretty excited. she's 6!

hope you had a good weekend, too! i just realized that the next few weekends are pretty much booked up. and then i have my week long break near the end of the month, so i'm basically just counting down to that.

crowd ball...

look at me go, i went to my second baseball game in 2 months (first time here) after having never gone to one in my entire life. dylan was given 2 tickets from a guy at work who couldn't make it, so we headed on over to the game for a (free!) friday night date. there were lots of "crowd balls", as i called them (because i have no idea what the real name is), you know, where the ball goes into the crowd and people freak out over catching it. personally, i think it's terrifying and i don't want a hard ball flying at 90mph coming anywhere close to me. every time it happened, i said, "crowd ball!" and dylan got a little chuckle from that.

 friday school plus night out outfit. gotta love forever 21 for the $15 jacket.

 closed dome for a cold night.

 color coordinating. not planned.

 saturday morning doughnuts before back to homework. i needed some fuel. top: nanaimo, bottom: fluffer nutter. we cut them in half and swapped.

big as my head.

5 more days until the weekend. let's do this.

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.

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!

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. 

life's crazy...

on saturday, after dylan woke up from working nights, we went out for a little coffee date to a cafe we've become quite fond of. we got to talking about life (like we do a lot nowadays) and how things are really changing for the good. in his first month at his new job, he made more working part time than he did at his full time job (which could afford me to stay home while looking for work for those 2 months after we moved) that he lost in july. and this is just the training wage! he's through about 1/2 of the hours he needs for training and then we'll  be living the good life.

the most incredible carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

we both put together a 'wish list' of things we would like to buy, for ourselves and each other. it was pretty exciting to know that in a few short months, pretty much all money stress will be eliminated.
this post isn't meant to come across as bragging or gloating. it goes to show that you never know how fast life can flip around and you never know what to expect.
in july: we moved into together, dylan had a full time office time and i was looking for work. we were doing good with the one income. then later in the month, he lost his job. at the very end of the month, i started working a few hours a week doing some tweeting and facebooking for an office.
in august and september: we had to use some savings for bills and such, and dylan decided he was going to go back to school for a week long course, in an industry his friend has been in for years and begging to join him. end of september, dylan took the course.
in october: dylan started his new job and at the end of the month, i got a full time job, while still doing my other part time job.

bottom line; things will always work out. and maybe quicker than you think.

my heart...

i must say, i thoroughly enjoyed this weekend. we spent saturday in toronto and wandered around the city enjoying the brisk fall weather. a couple months ago, moroco chocolat held a s'mores contest online, and the winner would get an $80 dinner, including a piece of s'mores cake and the tabletop s'mores. turns out only 4 people entered, and i was the winner! we decided the cooler fall day would be the perfect one to visit the city and make it a date.

as for the food, i ordered the truffled mac and cheese (absolutely to die for), and dylan got the burger, which he said was awesome. my meal was so rich and heavy that i had to stop half way, knowing that a decent amount of dessert was on its way. (my mom and i went in the summer just for dessert; see here.)

fall outfit of black jeans, sweater, jean jacket and scarf.

 excited to be going back to toronto!

 bull dog coffee.

 it looks a mess, but it's a molten cake, topped with a piece of graham cracker, then a big toasted marshmallow on top, covered in salted caramel and pecans. oh my word.

 tabletop s'mores!

 intensely toasting my marshmallow.

photo booth love.

on the way home, we were listening to the new mumford and sons album (it's good), and for some reason, it made me so emotional. so much so that i started crying thinking about  how much i miss toronto, and how i just want to be back. crazy city; the love runs deep.