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Ah yes, so Larry won the kitten battle. We officially have a new member to our little family. Meet Gambino!

You see I always find myself checking the SPCA website ever since we got Pachino. At first it was just because I wanted to make sure all of Pachinos littermates got adopted and then it just became habit. Well I noticed Gambino come on the website with her two little brothers about three months ago. She was cute, and I wanted to pick her up even then. About a week later she was adopted. Imagine my surprise when I checked back about two weeks ago and saw that she was back on the website! Her adopted family had returned her. I felt so badly for her!

So on my co-workers birthday all the gals from work had a plan to head over to the SPCA to get her a kitten. While we were there I went to pay a visit to little miss Gambino in her cage. She was there, all by herself, snoozing the day away. The moment I picked her up she started purring, and that’s when I knew I had to take her home.

A quick phone call to Larry who eagerly agreed we should adopt her and I was in the adoption room signing her papers.

Her and Larry are already good buddies. We picked up an air purifier ASAP and I am very happy to re-port Larrys allergies are no longer bothering him. Zero, zilch, gone. He says he hasn’t breathed this well since before we got Pachino!

Pachino took some time getting used to her, but now they’re romping around the apartment playing with one another and trying to steal food out of eachothers bowls.

Some quick sidenotes:

Our Christmas tree is up!

Oh yes, that is Skyrim playing on the tv. Larry and I are addicted and currently taking turns playing.

Another game addiction of mine is the new Sims Social for Facebook. I worked very hard on decorating my house, so I must show the progress so far! Love the Christmas tree the most.

That’s all for now folks. Hope you’re all enjoying the December festivities and snow!

XXOO Danielle

So I have been thinking for awhile my blog is lapsing behind in my social media schedule. For some reason I have announced everywhere else I participate at that I AM ENGAGED!!!

Haha sorry for the use of caps, but that is just how strongly I feel about the subject. Perhaps I’ll go into the details in another post. Once I have more pictures of my ring and what-not.

This post however is in regards to a thought I had last night. I got a bit snotty with Larry because the man has an unfortunate habit of taking items of mine to work with him. For those of you who don’t know, Larry works out of town and is usually gone for weeks a a time. So as you can imagine this somewhat inconveniences me.

So as my evening was coming to a close and I sat there thinking about how bad I felt for getting annoyed with him I thought to myself… You know it doesn’t really matter if he takes my things or not. Because this is the first time in my life I can honestly and whole heartedly say they will always come back to me. Larry will never leave and not come back. This is it. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.

And I got really really happy when I thought of that.

XXOO Danielle

A new Simons Cat! I love this series, everything reminds me of Pachino so much.

Larry is still pestering me for another cat. Quite frankly I think the man is insane. If he is home for more than 5 days in a row his allergies kick up so badly the man can hardly breath. I guess he loves our kitten so much he just doesn’t care. I still stand firmly that our apartment is much too small for another animal, and that he’ll have to at-least wait until we move to a larger place!

XXOO Danielle

Sorry to use the Game Of Thrones catchphrase, but I just couldn’t help myself.

It seems these past few weeks there’s been a mass hysteria in Edmonton regarding how much longer our first snowfall will hold off for. Well I am more than prepared, a fuzzy new North Face Parka is in my near future.

I think Preparing for a winter in Edmonton doesn’t have to be an unpleasant task. For example during the winter months I enjoy stocking up our little apartment with yummy spicy teas from Steeps as well as Cardinal Hot Cocoa, complete with the little marshmallows.

For me winter is a time to spend indoors so burning candles like Winter Night, Marshmallow Peppermint, and Hot Buttered Rum from Bath And Body Works; cuddled up with a fuzzy blanket and a good book become a way of life.

Looking out the window and walking along a road where the trees are covered in beautiful White snow is also something to be appreciative for. It’s easier when you’re warm, so I suggest everyone gets their warmest gear together in preparation.

Here’s to the winter months ahead!

Danielle

Although this video isn’t directed at the artistic medium I work with, I found it inspiring nonetheless.

A couple of things struck me about Mr. Vidal Sassoon. Firstly his hands. You can always tell someone is a true master artist by the articulation of their hands. The bony, sandpaper, and dexterous kinky layout of the fingers. I hope in 20 years time I can have hands like that.

About what makes this man a visionary. He saw something he wanted to change and he wasn’t afraid to send people away if they didn’t want to be part of that. I respect that. In my field it’s constantly hard to do because now-a-days everyone thinks they can design. Maybe next time a client asks me to make their logo bigger or why a blue on purple on black color scheme is impossible I will send them a link to some highschooler who has just learned the ins and outs of photoshop and tell them to take it from there.

Anyways that’s just my two cents. I’ll get off the soap box now!

Danielle

A homescreen wallpaper for the iPad I whipped up. Just click on the image for the larger version.

Enjoy!

Due to my starting up at my new job this past summer, any vacation plans Larry and I had were ex-nayed. It was a sad state of affiars and both of us felt the need to get away. So off to Banff Hotsprings it was.

Larry was a valiant driver and made the whole trip by himself. Very chivalrous!

After exclaiming that I would love to see some mountain sheep on the way there this lovely lady graced us with her presence. Her hubby and kid were just up the road, and she needed to get back to them. Adios!

We arrived early at the resort so we hung around and took some touristy shots. I love all the wood and stone they incorporated into the place. It really feels like it’s symbiotic with the mountain forest.

I call this one the Marlin Brando.

Awesome light fixture they had in the lounge.

We grabbed some drinks to help us relax after the long drive. It was such a beautiful patio.

Then it was out for some poolside lounging while we waited for our room. Bliss!

I haven’t been in this pool since I was about 7. Brings back memories!

Some snaps of our room. Because they were only able to lodge us for the one day we got a pretty sweet deal on the honeymoon suite. No pun intended!

Larry made very good use of this.

After some more fun in the large pool and a good nights rest we packed up and headed just up the road to our campground. We quickly unpacked and got set up for the night and then asked some locals what the best hot springs was. Located in Whiteswan Reserve and a very sketchy mountainside drive we located a natural hot springs by the river. It was so beautiful and picturesque!

The were many good perches to be had.

This little dude had it right.

We soaked up some rays.

On the way back we stopped off and visited some Hoo-Doos.

And a a space ship.

And then we went To Market.

It always a big deal that I get to stop off at roadside fruit stands as we drive through BC, and I was so afraid I wouldn’t get to as we weren’t going far east enough to get to orchard country. However the lovely gentleman than ran this shop helped an Albertan out. He loaded and drove all the produce himself to bring fairmont it’s own little fruit stand, complete with deli.

I even got my BC peaches.

Peppers.

Melons.

And our haul. We came back as we were leaving the next day and stocked up and Jams, honeys, sandwiches, and fruits. Larry and I both agree this is going to be a regular stop on our way through BC from now on.

Then it was back to the campsite to cook up some smokies, crack open some Mikes Hard, and listen to some ghost stories by campfire.

Sampling some loaf.

Night came.

And that concludes our trip. I think it’s so important to make regular getaways. It keeps you fresh and you don’t burn out at work.

XXOO,

Danielle

Sometimes in a relationship you just need to do something romantical. Upon our lazing around in bed and mosh-posh of plans on what to do this weekend I declared that I wanted some romance and therefore we were go out for a nice long dinner just Larry and myself.

So we rode our bicycles through the ledge grounds, did some purveying of downtown and then the Saturday market on 104th. Then it was time for dinner at LAZIA. Admittedly I have never been a big fan of this restaurant, however they have a Macadmia Nut Colada that I am in love with and was craving on today’s hot summer day.

How did I bag such a handsome man?

Calamari was OK, again Lazia food is not the most amazing.

The decor is quite unique though. Not the best for shitty iPhone pictures (turns everything orange) but the ambiance is nice. FYI apologies for the crappyness of the pics. I’ve left my SLR a work and haven’t brought it home yet.

<3

Larry has recently eclipsed me in our wine drinking adventures. I am still solidly a white dinker, and he has moved onto bigger and better things now experimenting with reds. Oh well, more Riesling for me!

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Trying to show my blinged out nails. I’ve recently stumbled across the major blogger Xiaxue and upon watching her guide to life videos and reading her hilarious rants I wanted to try something a little bit crazier than normal on my nails. Can’t really tell here but they are super Chio!

Not 100% what I was doing here. I think I was trying to show how yummy my lobster was going to be in this melted butter. Epic Fails…

Lobster was a big overcooked, but satisfied my craving nonetheless. Asparagus was perfect!

Nothing beats Lazia creme brûlée. Super yummy and rich. It was a lemon flavor this time which I wasn’t expecting, was very nice though.

After food we lounged around a bit reminisced about old times and enjoyed the rest of our wine.

I have a rather funny story to report. Upon leaving the restaurant I noticed Larry acting a bit odd. He veered off to the side when we were leaving the main doors and was acting very fierce for the next couple steps. When I asked him if everything was ok he said he thought he just saw his ex. Much to his displeasure I burst out giggling and quickly walked back to the Lazia entrance again. I have heard so many crazy stories about this girl (badly covered up bulimia, recovering addict, user & abuser, and grizzly adams pubes just to name a few) that I couldn’t help myself. Needless to say she was already inside the restaurant when I got to my vantage point so I was quite sad about not finally seeing the epic craziness that is this woman. I suppose I should let everyone know that Larry only dated this mess for all of a month, so I don’t judge him too harshly.

After apologizing to him for my embarrassing behavior we left the mall laughing and had a nice leisurely ride home.

To getting rid of our crazy exes, romantic dinners, and true loves,

Danielle

Had to share this. Larry may be slightly peeved at me put I think it’s just way too cute not to document.

We went off to United Cycle this past Saturday to pick up his new bicycle. A Trek Bodega, it’s a pretty sleek classy bike for a mountain city hybrid. I’ll have to get some pics of him on it before he heads back up to work in a few weeks time. Anywho we had some time to kill so after heading over to the antique mall to check out some nice rings so we rode this slingback bike and also one of those bicycles built for two. Super hard, but also crazily fun.

Ciao!

Danielle