Things I Love - Post #4

It's been so long since I've posted, and for that I'm so sorry. Though, I'm not entirely and utterly sorry because I was off having family time and loads of fun with them, which was what I needed. However, I'm now back, have caught up with most of the blogs/people/messages/e-mails/etc that have piled up in my departure and now I get to post! (Which was the part I was really looking forward to doing. :D)

1. Poor Michael's Bookshop - In the small, tourist-y town of Onanole, Manitoba there's this jewel of a book store. Second hand books in the front and cafe/fair trade shop in the back, music plays while the locals chat over their favourite cups of coffee. I got the green bracelet while my dad got the dancing frog candle holder (he has this thing for frogs, IDEK), my sisters got bracelets and earrings, and my mother a ring. Then there was the ridiculously cute finger puppets. :) All in all: any time possible, I will be haunting this delightful treasure. The best part? We caught it on it's one open time during the off season for Easter weekend!
2. Scott Caan Photography - Okay, okay, okay. I know I've done nothing but talk about him (okay, this is only my third post with him included), but! For very good reason: this man is ridiculously, brilliantly, mind blowingly talented (and needs to shoot in colour more often). In that way where I actually want to go shooting with the man other than drool all over him because he takes beautiful pictures. And not just of things I actually expected. For the most part, his pictures have depth to them, which is something I'm always looking for in a fellow photographer, so I was more than pleasantly surprised. Some of my favourites:





3. Homemade Nutella - Found via Anthology, they posted about this (surprisingly!) simple recipe for homemade nutella. The ingredients, instructions, and images (see what I did there?;D) make it seem like a wonderfully fun and tasty thing to try out.
4. Voting in my first Federal election! Even though the party I voted for didn't get into power, it was still kind of exciting. :) (And that's all you'll hear on the matter.)


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Hope you found something you liked, and I am off to bed. It's late, I've been sleepy for the past....I don't even know how long anymore, and I have a busy, busy week ahead of me.

L is for ... Lunch

Grilled cheese sandwiches are one of my roommates' and my favourite things to make/eat. Not only are they super easy/cheap, but, hello! cheesy and delicious to boot. As college students, we really can't ask for much more.

A few weeks ago, I had some vegetables that I wanted to get rid of, but didn't know what to make, so I incorporated them into the classic grilled cheese. While it may sound/look a bit odd, don't disregard it right away. It's actually surprisingly delicious and adds an interestingly quirky twist on a cheesy classic. :)

After the tomatoes, I also put another layer of cheese on top.

Then in the oven for a few minutes on Broil - Low. Keep an eye on it and pull it out
when the cheese starts to melt/the bread starts to brown.

My lunch time set up. :)

And then for dessert....

Just needs a little bit of cream & sugar, and voila!
The perfect Saturday lunch.

C is for ... (Peppermint Hot) Chocolate

One of these days I will actually post pictures that I myself have taken. Except I've been feeling icky and sick and my camera's been taken out for pictures of the tree and my baby brother and I've been busy with all of them and cleaning and just with...with being home. And it's lovely and I wouldn't change it. :)

I don't know how many of you have made peppermint hot chocolate, but I've had about three cups of it today. All I do for mine is make myself a cup of hot chocolate like I normally do, and then add a tea bag of peppermint tea and let it steep. A nice touch to add is a bit of whipped cream on top with crushed candy cane on top. I'll be making up a large batch of it for my family tomorrow for Christmas Eve. I'm hoping they'll enjoy it as much as I have been. It feels like such a festive drink to be sharing with people. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic New Year. :)


I won't be around until after the New Year. I'm heading back home to visit friends after six months of being away, which I'm really excited for. :) Again, Merry Christmas and I hope to see you all in the New Year. ♥

C is for ... (Shortbread) Cookies

Christmas time = cookie time = shortbread cookie time in my house. Scottish in origin, they've been around for centuries, and were made famous by Queen Elizabeth. While I bought ridiculously expensive cookies in the mall, my father and I will always maintain that my Maman and Grandma make the most delicious shortbread cookies on the planet. While, of course, they can be baked any time of the year, Christmas is definitely the time of the year for them.

I'm finally home to enjoy them, too. It was a twenty four hour adventure to get here: two hour bus ride to Toronto, three hour plane ride from Toronto to Saskatoon, an overnight at my friend's place, and then a two hour bus ride to where my Maman picked me up and finally, finally got home. The morning after I woke up to four brothers sitting on me, waiting for me to wake up and welcome me home. That's definitely what I came home for. :) ♥

First on list of things I did today was head out to my brothers' hockey game. While they both lost and we left ET's game early, it was nice that they wanted me to go. I miss being the big sister. So I think tonight L, M, and I (and possibly their 'significant others') will be watching Inception, eating popcorn, and going to bed early. This is exactly what I came home for. ♥

C is for ... (Taste of) Country

I'd never heard of Taste of Country before Thursday, and it is officially my favourite place in the world. In my humble opinion, it's like heaven on earth. My first impression when I walked in was a Grandmother's exploded kitchen: every type of delicious baking imaginable at steals of deals (even though I'm leaving next week, I'm hoping to go back today to do some shopping. :D)


A firm believer in homemade food, but not quite the best baker I know (I'd give that award to either my Grandma, my mother, or my sister), being able to buy homemade baking at a price that I can afford on a student's budget is a wonderful feeling. Besides, Christmas seems to be that time of the year that everyone seems to crave things like that.

My mom finally booked my plane ticket for me. I'm flying home next Wednesday, which I cannot wait for! It was my brother's birthday yesterday, so I Skyped home for that, and ended up talking to people for almost two hours. My other brother kept poking his head into everyone else's conversation so that he could fill me in on something/share a picture he was colouring/etc. APPARENTLY I AM MISSED! Which I'm definitely okay with. Only four more sleeps to go now! Which also means that I should talk to my Software teacher about taking that exam earlier on Wednesday so I'm not stressing about missing my flight. :/ Oh school.

Anyways, there's a list of things that I should probably get done so that I really am not stressing for the next few days. ♥

C is for ... Celestial (Seasonings)

Everyone has that favourite beverage that they drink all. the. time. I've got favourites, but, as with everything else I like, I'm a little all over the place when it comes to what I like to drink. Some days I'm in the mood for coffee or hot chocolate, sometimes an iced cap, most of the time I'm up for some chai. When it comes to tea, however, I'm always up for my favourite: Sleepytime Tea.


I got it for the first time last year in my Christmas stocking. Since then, I've most definitely drunk it like it's going out of style. However, when I got to college this fall and went shopping for tea, I found a box of four different flavours: Bengal Spice, Chamomile, Peppermint, and Sleepytime. Depending on the day and how I'm feeling, all four boxes have definitely almost become depleted. (I left a box of Sleepytime at home for when I go back over Christmas ;D)

Celestial also has holiday herbal tea products that I'm eager to go pick up on my way home. Especially the Candy Cane Lane tea. Candy canes are seriously one of my favourite things about the holidays. ♥

I've got my own cup steeping right now, and friends coming over (we're going to be baking shortbread cookies!) All in all, today has been a lovely day: watched all the episodes of Sherlock (which is amazing!) and caught up on the Merlin finale (I almost died!! It was close.:D), and have been searching for Scottish music that I can relax to.

F is for ... Fine (Little Day)

As it's reading break and everyone escaped home, or at least away from the college, I've been spending hours by myself. Now, I enjoy spending time by myself, most of the time. However, this time around, I've been getting restless and easily distracted. (Seriously, I just got up and wandered away for a good few minutes before running back when I heard Slide by the Goo Goo Dolls and needed to restart it).

However, one of the things that I've been perusing, undistracted, for awhile now is Fine Little Day, written by Swedish photographer and designer, Elisabeth. You can tell she's a photographer because that's what her blog is: pictures galore with a few words explaining them at the end of the post. While both her pictures and her words are simple and to the point, their beauty is in their simplicity and it's what I love so much about her blog; she points out the simple things that make life life and finds joy and excitement in what others might describe as complacent day to day things.

Now, my attention span has, once again, told me it's time to find something new to do. I am off to go make Lazy Man Cabbage Rolls and figure out what I'm going to wear as my Halloween costume to my friend Brad's Halloween party on Saturday!