Chirstmas Wreath

Hello,

With Christmas just around the corner I thought I should share some of my Christmas decorations and gift ideas that I will be using this year. Seeing as this is the first year that I won't be going home for Christmas until boxing day I thought I should do a proper decoration of the flat and buy my first Christmas wreath!

I thought at first that I would make one but as it turns out, making a wreath is around the same prince as buying a pre-made one. So the boyfriend and I went to HomeSense to start our hunt! I really love that store and it just feels like Christmas walking into it. They also have a huge selection of wreaths to choose from. We ended up getting one with big bells on it, which I love because every time you open the door it rings :)

What do you think? I really love the mix of red and green :) Stay tuned for home made gift ideas!

Till then,

B

Lucy

Hello,

As you may know we have a cat named Merlin. He's a great cat but always thought that he was a little lonely and have talked for a while about getting another one. We also heard that our local animal shelter had a lot of cats and kittens up for adoption at the time. We did a lot of research about adopting a second cat and how you have to introduce them very slowly so it isn't threatening in any way.  So about a month ago we adopted little Lucy!

She's a calico cat and is also poly dactyl which means she has extra toes :) When we first got her she was only 3 months and her mother wasn't around. She also had an upper respiratory infection so she had to go on antibiotics, because of that we took extra time making sure it was fully gone before we slowly started to introduce them to each other.

 Since her cold has fully gone away and they have both met, I'm so glad we got her. They get along great and love to cuddle together. They do play fight sometime that we have to break them up but it's very rare. I love the fact that we could save another cat and that Merlin now has a little friend. (Don't worry Merlin is fixed and she will be too as soon as she's old enough)

 

Thanksgiving in Bancroft

During the thanksgiving weekend, I went with my boyfriends family to Bancroft were they rented a cottage. It was so beautiful there with all the different colours of the leaves. Fall has to be my favorite time of year in Canada for this reason alone! Here are some picture from our trip :)

Nature Walk

We went for a nature walk a couple weeks ago and I thought it was just beautiful! Fall has to be my favourite season with the crispness in the air to the multi-colored leaves. Here are some pictures from our walk :)

Whats your favourite season?

Loving This Nail Combo

 I really have been loving this nail combo. I ended up wearing this to the wedding this past weekend (more on that later!)

My base coat is one of Revlon's nail enamel. The colour it was rubbed off so I can't tell. If you know let me know! The top coat for my ring fingers is Sally Hansen's 590 Blush Over Hue. This has to be my favourite all time sparkle colour!

What's your favourite nail combo?

Merlin

Hello,

I thought I should properly introduce you to my cat Merlin.

He is the newest member of my family; we rescued him from the local animal shelter in March this year. If you have ever been to an animal shelter you know how hard it is to leave all the other animals behind and to just pick only one. My boyfriend and I would like to get a dog in the future when we have a bigger place to live and right now being in an apartment we thought we should probably only get one cat. I feel as though he picked us in a way. When we went to his cage he was very cute and little shy compared to the other cats around him. I asked if we could take him out of the cage to have a better look and he just came up to both of us and licked us. It was the most adorable thing! He let us pick him up and just started to purr! I knew right then that he was for us. Since that day we have never had a boring moment in our household! Yes he is adorable and cute but he's also very playful! When we got him, the vet guessed he was only around 12 months old and he was just left outside the animal shelter. Very sad when you think about it but I'm happy we were able to give him a loving home.

Merlin is still shy at first when you get to know him but after a while he warms up to you. He's kind of like my little shadow; he follows me around the house where ever I go.

The only down side is that he's a morning bird! He likes to be up first thing in the morning (5:30 to 6am!) We are trying to get him to sleep in until we get up for work but it's tough.

 So here he is, just thought you should know this little fella if he's going to be popping up in my blogs!

Also if you have any animals or blog posts on your pets, please let me know! I would love to have a look :)

Till next time,

B & Merlin.

Favorite Teen Books

Hello,

So I would like to ask a question to anyone who reads this. For my job I have to read a lot of books and mostly young adult books. I was just wondering what your favorite YA/teen read is? I know it's really hard to pick just one, I have a few I really love but I would be really interested to know what everyone else is reading out there!

My top 5 Teen reads (in no particular order) are:

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolken

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

I really love all these books and felt such a strong connection to the characters. I would really recommend reading any of the books listed above! (Be forewarned to have tissues ready for Second Chance Summer and The Fault In Our Stars...) 

So what is your favorite books? Thanks for reading!

B

Source for all Pictures

Goodreads

Hello!

So I thought I should talk about the website goodreads. It has to be one of the coolest websites out there for book lovers! Basically you create a profile and then you can select a book you have read or are currently reading and rate the book based on what you thought. It also gives you a change to create your own reviews. For those of you that don't know, I work in a library and have to say this website has helped a lot! You can check out certain books and then go to the reviews at the bottom to see what the majority of people think about it. I also like the fact that you can look up a list of a genres (mystery, fantasy, young adult etc.)  to see what people think that top books are. You can also follow authors and see their list of books. I would really recommend checking this out if you love books, or even if you're going back to school in the fall and have to do any kind of book report, this would be a wonderful place to find information. (Of course always check out your local library! But this is also a good option!)

Here is an example of popular young adult fiction on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/young-adult-fiction

If you like to learn about more book sites, please just let me know and I'll do a review/ information post about them.

Currently Reading: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson and A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin.

Till next time,

B 

Ballet Beautiful Review

Hello,

So as you know I am a bridesmaid for my friend's wedding, because of this I've been trying (and failing) to workout. I have joined a local gym but found its so much work just getting there when I'm not working/planning the wedding. So I have been reading a couple of reviews on workout videos and came across 'Total Body Workout' by Ballet Beautiful. It's a ballet inspired workouts that are done by former ballerina Mary Helen Bowers. She has trained celebrities such as Maggie Gyllenhaal and also Natalie Portman for her role in Black Swan.

This DVD has 6 target workouts to choose from. I like that fact that each section isn't so long and it gives you a chance to rest in between. There is also an option to customize your workout. So in this you can pick the ones you like best and put them together. In total if you were to do all the workouts together it takes about 60 minutes.

I have just finished the doing all 6 workouts and let me tell you, it burns! I have done my share of workout DVD's and if you think this is just a ballerina workout, it won't be that hard. You are wrong! I never thought just small movements like that could workout as much! I feel like this is very targeted to specific muscle groups and the way she has it laid out you really do get a great workout. For beginners it might take a while to get use to how she's moving but you can go slow and take rests as you need them. If you like Ballet or have always wanted to try I would give this a buy!

I found this copy on Amazon and it was only about $7.00 Canadian. You can find it here. I hope this helps if you are looking to get a workout DVD that doesn't cost an arm and a leg! I will try to keep doing it 3 days a week and let you know how it's going!

Till next time,

B