Dare # 46

Oh weekend! You end way too soon! I sure hope the week flies by again this week! I sure had an action packed weekend but that is for a later post.

How did everyone do at exercising last week? I did really good. I was up every morning at 4:30 and squeezed in a short work out! It was great. Come the weekend however I never got the chance.

Here is your dare this week:

Dare #46

Introduce yourself. Leave a comment (if not a member just hit anonymous) and tell me who you are and where you are from. It will be nice to "meet" you!

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

xo

Dress Re-Vamp

THANK GOODNESS IT IS FRIDAY!

Is anyone else as excited as I am to see the work week come to an end? I am in disbelief that this is the final full week of August. It is not that I am sad to see summer go it's just that now looking back it seems to have passed so quickly.

A while back I had purchased a dress on a clearance rack for $3.00. I loved the fabric and I thought it would look good on me. When I finally took it home I tried it and YUCK, it looked awful. The neck line was WAY to high for a big breasted woman like me!

I decided instead of throwing it out I would try my hand at my very first clothing alteration.

I went through my closet and found an old, black, button-up shirt that didn't even fit me anymore. Again another sale item that looked awful! The puffy sleeves were not flattering at all! I mean, who wants to look like a line backer? Bleh!

The first thing I did was cut off the bodice of the dress. I hated the little crochet part at the top so I just threw it out!

After that I cut off the sleeves and took in the raw edges around the arm holes.

And then....it sat for two months.

You see I wanted to shape the dress to my body but if you don't have a dress form to use it is really hard! I had heard that there use to be one at the old farm house where my brother lives. My aunt had it and she let me borrow it to complete my dress. One day I walked into my kitchen and this thing scared the bejeebers out of me!!

Finally, I was able to finish my dress.

First I attached the bodice to the skirt and sewed it together. At the same time I took it in a little on the sides and on the arm holes.

I looked back at it to inspect...something was missing. I decided it needed a sash. I had some extra black fabric left over from the diaper bag that I did. I made it four inches thick and sewed it inside out. Once I was done sewing I turned it right side out again and attached it to the dress.

I secured it in place and VOILA a brand new old dress!

I was pretty happy with the out come considering it was my first piece of clothing that I completed.

Before

After

I am currently starting a new dress from scratch. I guess I'm getting a little braver! :-)

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS weekend! It is suppose to be beautiful here and I intend on making every moment count in the last of this nice, summer weather!

xo

Dear....

Dear Jillian Micheal's,

You are a pain in the butt...literally.

My ass hurts today from your 30 day shred.

I know that it is a good thing but please

ease up a little won't you?

Would you be kinder if I bribed you with cookies...?

No eh? Well it was worth a shot!

Love, Sweaty-McSweaterson

Dear Summer,

I am SO over you. Don't take it personally but

you are so 2010! You need to stop and let your cousin Fall

make it's grand appearance. My boots, pumpkin recipes,

leggings, cozy sweaters, decorations, birthday and

fall smelling candles are patiently waiting to

make an entrance. Don't think I am taking you for granted!

You have been wonderful and full of memories,

thank you

but move on!!!

Sincerely, Fall Lover

Dear Ice Cream,

Can you stop looking so yummy?

Sitting in my freezer right beside your friend

Mr. Chocolate Syrup. I can't handle

your teasing and I think I might get in trouble.

I am in a relationship now with fitness and so

we can no longer see each other. I'm sorry.

If you are confused you can read letter to Jillian above,

it might explain better.

Thanks, Sugar Lovin' Girl

It's the middle of the week...woo hoo! Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

xo

Dare # 45

I don't know about you, but I am actually o.k to see the work week come again. After a successful weekend I don't mind going back to work. I spent most of my Saturday/Sunday cleaning the house and organizing a bunch of my stuff.

For some reason I am so not a "spring cleaning" kind of person. I guess it is because I am so busy at work that time of year the last thing I want to do is anymore work. Although it is still busy I feel as though have more energy in the fall to get the house clean and organized before being couped up all winter. It was a great weekend to do so as well being that it rained all weekend.

Anyways, on to the dare this week.....

Dare #45

Do some sort of exercise every day this week.

This one is going to be hard for me being that I have some activities during the work week that will force me to get up EXTRA early to work out in the morning instead...wish me luck!

Last week we were invited to a delicious supper at a friends house (Hi Sharon!) It was a colder evening so I got to put on some "fall" clothing. It was perfect for my dare last week. Basically my fall wardrobe consists of jeans and comfty sweaters! Like this....

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

xo

A Week Ago Today.....

A week ago today I woke up from an AWFUL sleep! I am never sleeping on the floor of my basement again, but maybe I'll sleep on the couches when they get here. Not to mention Friday was the last official day of my holidays!! Aww....

Ryan loves golf and being in the Golf industry I also enjoy a round every once in a while. We wanted to incorporate at least one game before our holidays were over.

We decided Friday was the perfect day and invited friends, Josh and Amanda, who were also off, for a game at the Pontiac Golf Club.

We were going to be playing at 10:20 AM so that we could have lunch after our 9 holes.

It turned out to be the game of my friggin life! ha ha I have never played so good in my life!! I guess the practising is paying off.

We all had a really great time! There were a ton of laughs! Amanda and I drove a cart and the boys walked so Amanda and I had lots of "girl chat" time while we waited for the boys to catch up.

Everyone played a really good game and we were done early enough to grab some lunch.

One of the reasons we chose to go to Pontiac was because the food is friggin AMAZING!! The Poutines are to die for! (For my American readers that is fries with cheese and gravy, yum!) All of the food is really good honestly, you can't go wrong.

After lunch and a couple of drinks (yummy Caesars) we headed back home for guess what...Another nap! (ha ha Ya we are an old couple Stacey)

When we finally woke up I made some homemade cheeseburgers, yum! We decided to finally dust off our ice cream maker and make our very first go of homemade ice cream!

We were a little worried that it wouldn't work but it did, very well!! It makes soft ice cream but you can save whatever you don't eat in the freezer! You make the liquid yourself (we made chocolate) and then pour it in, tour it on, and VOILA! Yumminess!

It worked so good in fact that we made more ice cream the other night (Aug.18th) for my mom's birthday!

After cleaning up a little, we changed into some comfy clothes and headed for Gatineau for something I have ALWAYS wanted to do......

Go to a drive in movie.

Not only did we see 1 movie but 2! The theatre that we went to offers two movies for 1 price.

It was such a neat experience. I was convinced that the picture quality wouldn't be great but I was wrong. You tune into a radio station and listen in the privacy of your vehicle to the show, nothing is more romantic! We packed our own snacks and drinks so it ended up being a fun, and cheap date! You know how I like to save money! :-)


In fact it came to a total of $20.00!

Friday was such a busy day but really fun because we did a lot of things that we have wanted to do for a really long time. I mean I have had that ice cream maker for 3 years and had never used it!!! We got to visit with friends, get some fresh air, make ice cream, and spend time together watching a drive in movie!!

What a great holiday!!!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a great weekend!!

xo

A week ago today.....

A week ago today I was thinking to myself, "OMG it's already Thursday, holidays are almost over, aww..."

I had a GREAT night sleep on Wednesday night. After the past two days that were full of activity I hit the hay pretty hard.

I slept in a little but not too bad. I definitely got over 10 hours of sleep that is for sure.

That morning Ryan and I had decided to go have lunch at one of our FAVORITE places. Pizza Hut. To be honest we don't even like Pizza Hut all that much but we love their lunch time buffet! You get a little taste of a bunch of pasta's, pizza, bread sticks, and dessert! Yum! So off we headed for the city and our lunch.

When we got to the restaurant we were the ONLY people there and the buffet had just began. It was great to have fresh, hot, untouched food. We got done super fast because we didn't need to wait on any one in line or food about to come out.

Since we were already on Merivale Road (a busy street in Ottawa) we decided to get some errands done.

First, we had to go to Petsmart to grab Tucker Beans some shampoo, a new leash, and a new toy! He was a happy puppy when we brought in his new toy!

Since we are ALMOST done the basement, irritated that the stupid furniture people keep pushing back the day patiently waiting on couches, we knew we still had to pick out an area rug. So, we headed to Alexanian Carpets where we got an awesome deal on an area rug. I would show you all pictures but you'll have to wait for the big reveal when the couches come!

A little piece down the road was Home Sense. And what is a trip to the city without a stop at Home Sense? ha ha! Ryan wasn't excited about this one but too bad. I got a whole cart load of stuff for the new basement. Mainly just baskets so that I can OVER organize everything. :-) I also got a couple of really cute Halloween decorations that were on clearance.

Before heading home we stopped in and got our weekly groceries.

When we did arrive home we were a little sleepy so we took a nap. Ha ha That is the best thing about holidays! Naps are amazing. We made supper that night, tidied up the house and decided to have a movie night.

You see, way back when we booked our holidays we were told that we would have the couches. We decided that one night during our week off we would have a movie marathon night and sleep in our new basement that we have spent so much time renovating! However, as you see above, we still didn't (don't) have couches. We still really wanted to continue on with our plan so we set up this.......

We slept on the floor! And it was SOOO uncomfortable. ha ha It was a great idea at the start but I had a horrible sleep on Thursday night.

We watch these movies:

Both were actually really good. Ryan didn't get the Time Travelers wife but since I had read the book before I gave him commentary throughout.

Thursday ended up being a relaxing but really accomplished day. Nothing that I like better than getting stuff done!!

xo

A week ago today....

A week ago today I woke up from a very long and restful sleep in Brockville! After going to bed at 9 PM and getting up at 8 AM I was energized and ready for another adventure!

We packed our overnight bags and got ready for the day ahead. We decided to just have the continental breakfast that they offered at the hotel instead of going to a restaurant. After all, it was included and it turned out to be delicious! Waffles, bagels, eggs, home fries, and cereal, yum!

With full belly's we checked out and hit the road for the 1.5 hour drive to Morrisburg, Ontario.

What is in Morrisburg you ask? Well Upper Canada Village is!

Upper Canada Village is a whole town of old/historic buildings that represent what it would have been like back in mid 1800's. There are people that work there that spend their whole days living like they did in the past. A school teacher, farmer, dressmaker, saw miller, baker, and tavern owner. You actually feel part of that time when walking through the Village, it is really neat.

At the Old Saw Mill:

When Ryan and I had decided that we wanted to make Upper Canada Village (UCV) part of our holidays my first thought was that I would like the boat tour so much better then UCV.

I thought that we would stop there for a couple of hours and then head home....WRONG!

I had an amazing time! I just loved imagining what it would have been like being back in that era! Living so simply off of the land and working as a family.

Ryan had really liked it too. We were watching one of the shows at the tavern and they needed "big/strong" men to take part. Being that Ryan towered over the whole audience he got to be part of the skit. Here are some pictures of his performance:

We were there for about 5 hours and would have been there longer but we wanted to hit the road to beat the traffic in Ottawa. Before we left we picked up some homemade bakery bread, made with wheat from the "grainery" in the Village. We also bought some old fashioned candy and I got a hot fudge sundae for the warm ride home.

We put the top down on the beetle since it was so nice out but I guess I forgot how hot the sun can get because I got a very nice sunburn on my chest! Ouch!

We had such a good day at Upper Canada Village and so glad that we decided to make it part of our holidays (it almost wasn't). We made it home that evening tuckered out again. We made an easy supper (Kraft Dinner, woo hoo!) and rented another movie before heading to bed early again!

I think out of all of my holiday days Wednesday was one of my favorite!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

xo

A week ago today.....

A week ago today I was glad that I had all of Monday to recuperate and relax. I think everyone needs lazy days where they don't accomplish much more than re-fueling. One thing we did do Monday night to get ready for Tuesday was pack out bags.

Thank goodness we did because at 6 AM we were on the road on our way to Gananoque!

We had a boat tour scheduled for 10 AM. Since we were making good time we stopped in Kemptville for breakfast.

After about another 2 1/2 hours of driving we got to Gananoque and immediately purchased our tickets for the 1000 islands/bolt island boat cruise.

The cruise took 5 hours. 1.5 hours there, 2 hours at Bolt Island and 1.5 hours back.

They gave history of some of the cottages along the way. And by cottages I mean MANSIONS! These places are beautiful, it doesn't look like they are roughing it, that is for sure!

We saw millionaires row, the bridge that crosses from Canada to the USA, some big ships, and of course Bolt Island.

Here is a link to some of the history of what the Bolt castle is. Very romantic if you ask me.

The place is HUGE and the landscaping is breath taking. 2 hours to tour the place is definitely not enough!! There is so much to look at and read.

I would recommend anyone taking a tour of the 1000 islands if you are in the area!

The ride back was a little boring since we had already seen everything on the way back but it was still relaxing.

Bored!

When we bought our boat cruise tickets they gave us a $10.00 voucher (each) to the casino that was right next door. Rather then let it go to waste we went and used them. We won $20.00 so we put that towards our supper that night!

We decided to stay half way in between Gananque and where we were touring on Wednesday so we checked into a hotel in Brockville.

On the outside of the hotel it looked warned and a little sketchy but the inside was beautiful! Completely renovated! I guess that shows you that you can't judge a book by it's cover, eh?

We cleaned up and drove a small piece to downtown Brockville where we ate at a little pub.

Waiting for food

Once our bellies were full we were ready to crash again considering our early morning. Ryan was laughing at me because I was falling asleep in the car on the 2 minute drive back to the hotel. I was sooo sleepy!!

It was such a great, relaxing, and interesting day. We got to spend time together on a relaxing boat while still learning some local history (love!).

I couldn't wait for our next adventure!

Have a great day!

xo

Dare # 44 and a week ago today...

Welcome back to the work week! I am so not happy to be back. Ha ha! Well I am because I do have a lot of work to catch up on here at the office.

Here is your dare this week:

Dare # 44

In anticipation of fall, go into your closet and try on a outfit that screams fall and colder weather! Tell me what your typical fall clothes consist of.

A week ago today Ryan and I were at home recuperating from a busy weekend. We watched/rented 2 movies and vegetated on the couches all day. We napped, tidied up the house and enjoyed having no responsibilities last Monday.

Sure wish I was doing that today too....

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

xo

A week ago today...

Sunday is here which means it is my last day of relaxation before I head back to work, which sucks!!!! I know I said on my last post that I would find time to post during my holidays and I never did, I'm sorry. I was so busy doing things, that I never even thought about blogging!

I decided I still wanted to fill you in on what happened on my holidays so everyday I will post a new entry about what I did a week ago that day.

Here is the first one:

Friday afternoon

Friday, right after lunch, we packed up the beetle convertible to hit the road. Our destination, North Bay, Ontario.

It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive but we had the roof down and the tunes up the whole time. It was a lot of fun! Thank you to Nicole (Hi Nicole!) for her game suggestion. I was the winner!!

When we got into our hotel room we decided to order in pizza and wings for supper. With full bellies and a comfortable bed we were asleep by 9.

Saturday/Wedding Day

We got up pretty early on Saturday morning because we were so rested. We got ready and headed down the the lobby for the continental breakfast.

A stop that we knew we really wanted to make was a visit to the Dionne Quintuplets museum. Since we had a few hours to kill it was our first stop of the day.

I love history and I love Canadian history. I remember watching the movie "Million Dollar Babies" as a young girl and being fascinated in the lives of these 5 little girls.

The museum was actually their house where they were born. It had lots of pictures and some outfits from when they were in the nursery that the Ontario government set up as an observation area.

After we finished at the Quint museum we decided to check out the mall. When we first walked in the door there was a sunglass kiosk that had all their glasses on sale, 2 for $20.00. Ryan and I decided to each pick up a pair of new sunglasses for our vacation.

After a fast trip through the mall we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding!

The wedding was in a Catholic church about 30 minutes from North Bay. It was a warm, sunny day. Perfect for a wedding.

Here are some pictures of the wedding....

In between the wedding and the reception Ryan and I decided to head over to a local pub for a couple of drinks and some snacks. I order and Ceasar and Ryan got a beer. As the waitress was bring the tray over to the table she dropped the whole thing, creating a pool of beer in my dress. Being that it was my only dress Ryan, being the sweetheart he is, went a bought me some perfume so I didn't smell like beer all night. It is actually my very first time owning perfume.

Guess who caught the bouquet?!?! ha ha

It was a fun night but I was ready for bed after a long, active day!

Sunday

After packing and having breakfast we left North Bay bound for the Algonquin park. It was a colder, overcast day so we kept the roof up in case it started to rain. I had never been to the Algonquin park and was amazed by it's splendor. It made me realize some of the most beautiful things in the world are just outside our back door.

It started to rain so we only got to do one small hike up to a lookout, over looking Smoke Basin.

We also checked out the Logging museum which is about the history of the early loggers of the area.

Just outside of the park we stopped at The Mad Musher for lunch. We were seated by a window overlooking a creek.

I love trying new places to eat and this was not a disappointment. The food was delicious!

We also stopped into a moccasin store that had over 1000 different kinds of handmade moccasins. They were beautifully crafted.

Once we finally made it home we were pretty spent. We unloaded the car, did some laundry, rented a movie which we both only got to see half of because we fell asleep.

Looking back now I am so glad that we started off our holidays by going away. It made the week seem so much longer and accomplished!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo