An EXTRA Long Weekend!!

Bonjour!!  I finally found a few minutes to type up a post!  Life continues to be busy, but in a good way now, unlike a month ago.  So Monday was a holiday here in Canada which meant no work (YAY!!) and I took Friday off as well so it was like a mini holiday for me.  It also felt like Sarah-fest as my baby girl turned 12 on Friday and the “party” continued over the course of the 4 days.  
How it happened that she is already 12, I have no idea.  My hubby and I are stumped as to where the years have gone.  Yikes!
We had to go to Toronto on Friday for an appointment with Sarah so we decided to make a day of it.  We were done at the hospital by 11am and seeing as the weather was beautiful we walked a few blocks over to the Eaton Centre for some shopping.  I snapped some photos along the way…
    The kids were starving so we stopped at a random Swiss Chalet for some eats.  I rolled with a chicken wrap and side salad:
I didn’t care much for the white wrap; it was like glue on my teeth….but I did eat the insides.  Noah put back a 1/3 rack of ribs and most of his Caesar salad!  He was a hungry pussy cat!
At the mall we walked and shopped and walked and shopped some more!  My back was KILLING me by the time we left.  Look how tired everyone was!!  
I did find a few things that I bought which I think are pretty sweet!  These ever so comfy pair of Gee WaWa flats: The ever popular NARS Illuminator in Orgasm:
BTW, this stuff is GREAT!!  Totally worth the dinero.  And we couldn’t leave without hitting up Lululemon, of course!  I behaved this time and only bought a t-shirt and tank, both in red:

These are 2 of my favourite styles at Lulu.  The racer backs are AWESOME on their own or for layering.  The best purchase of the day made the birthday girl VERY happy; a Blackberry Curve! See that grin?  HA!  She had no idea we were buying that for her and was clueless when we went into the TELUS store because she though her Dad was buying a new case for his iphone!  LOL  We rolled into town around 6pm and made one last stop for dinner at Kelsey’s where I enjoyed a fresh, delicious salad: We did start the meal with some calamari; another b-day request!
Saturday was demo day…we’re redoing our rec room.  I’ve been taking lots of before, middle and after pictures for another post, but here’s a glimpse at what I spent most of the day hauling from the room up a flight of stairs to a dumpster in our drive way: Once we were showered and presentable we made a Costco and Home Depot run for BBQ and reno supplies.  We spent the evening thoroughly enjoying the nice weather out on our deck.  At 9pm hubby and I decided to go for a 4 mile walk while the kids watched Ace Venture: Pet Detective.  I swear they could watch that a thousand times and not get sick of it!  HA!
Sunday was family BBQ day for Sarah’s birthday.  We kept it casual with 3 salads (Caesar, pasta & corn), sausages, burgers and an Oreo ice cream cake; birthday girls choice.  Around the goodie table!!   Here’s a look at the pasta and corn salads:
I threw the pasta one together with ingredients I had on hand; 2 cups cooked pasta, 1 head of romaine, a yellow bell pepper, half a red onion, black olives, feta, cherry tomatoes, Italian parsley and green beans.  I dressed it with Kraft Fig Balsamic dressing.   The corn salad was from Eat, Shrink & Be Merry.   It’s got a Southwestern flair that I love.  Every time I make it the kids think I’m cooking tacos!  LOL  Table snacks included cherries (no photo), Food Should Taste Good multi grain chips and PB stuffed pretzels:    Here are some photos from the night!
Monday was a glorious, free day!  A no make up, hair in a pony tail, comfy clothes kinda day!  Our new windows were installed in the rec room.  They look awesome!  While my hubby and his buddy were at that I did some weeding, transplanted a few plants, baked 2 batches of muffins, read magazines that have been accumulating and watched TV.   Eats looked like this:
Before I take off I wanted to show you a little pick me up gift that I received in the mail from a fellow Canadian blogger!   Carla knew that April was a rough month for me so she hooked me up with a homemade coffee cuff and coaster! 
How awesome is that?!  She’s a great seamstress to be sure.  I also placed an order with her for a custom table runner for my new dining room sideboard:
I emailed her about this on a Thursday night.  By Friday morning she sent me some fabric samples, I picked the combo I liked and she had it in the mail for me by Friday night.  How’s THAT for great service!!  Check out her site; My 1/2 Dozen Daily….you’ll be glad you  did!!
Well, I’m off to get some blog reading done before I catch some zzz’s.  Take care!
Bye for now!!

Highlights

Hi!!  It seems like I’ve been gone from the blog so long.  “Busy” has been my middle name the past few days and I can guarantee  that I’m exhausted today.  I don’t have the energy for a huge post and wouldn’t do that to you anyways, so I present you with some highlights instead…
Wednesday
It was a typical day at work.  I did have a pretty decent lunch, though! 
Cottage cheese, blueberries, a peach and honey. 
I also picked my first spaghetti squash of the season from my garden.
I steamed half and topped it with salsa, a wee bit of sour cream and kidney beans for a great meal!
I bought these 2 chocolate bars that were just begging to come home with me: I’ve only tried the 64% with cacao nibs and its to die for!
Thursday
This was actually my Friday.  Amen!!  My belly was a little off all day so I decided to buy some chicken soup from Tim Horton’s instead of eating the tomato/tuna salad I had packed:
I kept dinner light, too with scrambled eggs and a toasted Ezekiel muffin with zucchini jam: We went to Costco after dinner to pick up a few pies for the hockey fund raiser Friday night.  Each family was required to bring dessert so we took the easy way out! 
Friday
DD had an appointment downtown Toronto so that’s where I spent my day.  Looks like a mall inside, doesn’t it?  After her appointment we grabbed some Starbucks and walked around outside for a bit.  I had a grande iced decaf Americano with a shot of vanilla syrup:
DS was pretty sure he was gonna “pet” one of these pigeons: Yeah, right!  :)  On the way home we stopped at Chudleighs apple orchard to see what varieties were available.   The one I love, honey crisp is due out at the end of September along with the kids fave, McIntosh.  I did, however, get my second fave: Friday night was the hockey party.   My babysitter bailed in the 11th hour so we ended up renting a room at the hotel that the party was held at.  One of the dad’s is the manager so anyone who wanted to have a few drinks got to stay at a reduced rate.  We stashed the kids with movies and what such and proceeded to have a blast.  Don’t worry, we checked in on them frequently.  I  knew dinner would be a late one so I had a microwave dinner before we left to tie me over: These are just a few photos from the night:
The evening was a huge success and a good time to boot.  All the parents on the team DS is playing on this year are fabulous people and I’m so happy to have made a new group of friends.  YAY!!
Saturday
I was happy to find a big pot of oats in the breakfast area the next morning!  I topped them with raisins and honey. Lunch was pretty great, too.  Kale freshly picked with tomato and tuna all dressed with some fig balsamic dressing: We went to a BBQ at the neighbours place last night.  I didn’t take any pics because I got the distinct feeling the the hostess woulda been offended.  I did take these over, though…
HA! I’ve consumed more alcohol this weekend than I have in 10+ years!!!
Today
We all slept in this morning, but had to be in the next city over by 11:30 for 4 hours worth of soccer.  Ugh…  At least it was a gorgeous day out!  We stopped for a very late lunch at Subway before coming home.  I think DS was famished even though I fed him hardboiled eggs throughout the morning!
I had a veggie & Swiss on a flat bread; This is my second go with the flat brad and I’m not convinced yet.  They just seem too gummy.  We also got cones at McDonald’s for the drive. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the cool rec room watching Eclipse.  The fam loved it, BTW!   I’m going to go scrounge up something for dinner.  Then I’ll be relaxing some more.  Don’t want to start the first full week back to work tuckered out!!!
Don’t forget to enter my CSN Stores giveaway!!!
Bye for now!!