Valentine's Day

While this Valentine wasn't from a student, but rather a Brownie (I'm a Brownie/Guide leader) it is still my first teacher oriented Valentine, hooray!

Halloween Prep

Last Halloween was a bit of a bust, while Greg and I carved pumpkins (well it was really squash since the pumpkins were all sold out), gave out candy (to five children despite living close to 3 schools) and decorated the house (but not enough so anyone could really tell from the road) it just didn't seem to really do the day justice.

This year we have learned from our mistakes: we've purchased pumpkins in advance, have lots of decorations to catch the eye of passing trick or treaters and of course have time to make great costumes (last year we moved from Saint John to New Glasgow on Halloween weekend and unfortunately costume making wasn't high up on the to-do list. I really didn't know where my sewing machine was at that point).

This weekend I started to put together my costume after finding all of the pieces (well enough to get sewing). I am going as Little Red Riding Hood and this is what I started with:

I picked up both of these dresses from a second hand store downtown and was happy at how they fit and that I don't have to do much tailoring.

The red dress came with really awesome shoulder pads which I promptly cut out and tossed in the garbage can. I also snipped off the little black bow but kept it just in case it seemed to fit the costume somewhere else.

I cut off the cream coloured dress just above the stitching at the high waist, that way I didn't have to hem anything there. I did have to sew in a draw string to pull it snug around my waist (top picture below). The embroidery is covered by the leather 'belt' I also made. Rather than hemming the cream dress I gathered and sewed to give an 'older' feel to it, I'm not sure why this was something I thought necessary but I think it turned out okay (bottom picture):

I'm not done the dress, I still have embellishments to add and I also have to start the hooded cape but I'll give you a sneak peek of what I have so far (keep in mind that yesterday was particularly cold so I'm wearing leggings which won't be part of my costume, and that Greg wasn't home to take my photo so I had to take matters into my own hands):

I'm not sure about the boots. I also have black shoes I could wear but I will be making that decision when everything else is done.

So there is my costume so far, let me know what you think!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday this year and it was a pretty great decision, cooking and eating this much needs a 2 day recovery period.

To spruce the place up for fall we picked up some gourds from the market and I finally moved the dried hydrangeas to a vase:

Our neighbour gave us another bouquet of dahlias for our Thanksgiving centrepiece:

We ordered our turkey from the market and picked it up from the farm this past Tuesday, it was great to be able to pick it up from the farm rather than the freezer at the grocery store:

Our guests brought a diverse and yummy spread of food, we will have left overs for days (HOORAY!)

Valentines Day

If you have me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter you might already know that I'm a fan of Valentine's Day. I like pink, hearts, treats and love. I'm also a sucker for any sort of 'holiday' where I can make themed garland to hang out the place (I'll post pictures of that tomorrow).

I have a few others to add, but I thought I would post these pictures since today is actually Valentine's Day. After school today I volunteered to help set up for a charity event at Glasgow Square, my friend Cheryl was the lady in charge and despite her busyness she had a minute to pose for a hilarious photo - we were both wearing pink, it made sense.

Oh and the event was Valentine's Day themed (hence the hearts in the background) and that explains the heart shaped bowl we're holding, we're nerds.

We got a little silly, it was bound to happen

Valentines Day Details

With the next 'holiday' around the corner I should start getting ready, here are some adorable ideas:

1. Clips (click caption link for a tutorial)

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2.  Other felt hearts

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3.  Nerd cookies

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4. Printable valentines (ROAR!) click the caption for the printable

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5. Valentines Day wreath (tutorial in the caption)

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Christmas Decorations

Since I have a door that goes directly outside for the first time since 2005 I'm pretty pumped about having a wreath. But a lot of the wreaths you can buy are either really tacky or really expensive. So I made my own:

Now lets hope there are no crazy neighbourhood wreath thieves and I'll be a happy lady.

Christmas Parade, New Glasgow Style

I cant' believe I didn't post this earlier, you'd think I had a busy week but I didn't do much out of the ordinary so I'm not sure what's up - my apologies.

Here we go, Greg and I took in New Glasgow's Christmas Parade last Sunday. It was a great day for it, the first giant snow fall hadn't happened yet so there were lots of dry places to sit on the sidewalk (or in the case of many children the place to run/roll around), the sun was out and it was pretty warm given the date.

There were standard elements to this parade: gymnastic teams, schools, fire department, food bank, etc. I took pictures of a few notable 'floats' or things I wanted to comment about:

Clowns, why does every parade have them?
What do they have to do with Christmas??

The Fire Department rolls up in style and with a Dalmatian!
I thought that was an old cliche that was no longer in style?

Ye olde timey vehicle, classic

It's easy to forget how simple it would be for a horse to crush
you, but from this close it seems like a possibility

Only in Nova Scotia: a herd (about 20)
bagpipers playing Christmas tunes

FINALLY I got candy, I'm not sure why the folks handing it out
feel adults shouldn't get it, I mean...come on! It's a parade!

The best and most terrifying way to end a parade - with taxidermy!
For real, those were living deer at some point, now they are
wrapped in strings of lights and posed in awkward positions.

I hope whatever Christmas Parade you made it out to this year was full of as much hilarity as the one in New Glasgow!

Wise Words from William Shatner

Now, I haven't really thought of deep fryer fires at Thanksgiving being a concern, but perhaps that's just because it's not as common in the Canadian celebration of Thanksgiving as it is for Americans. Or perhaps it's because deep fryers are not part of the Hutchings family Thanksgiving tradition.

Whatever the initial reason for people deep frying their turkeys William Shatner has some wise words to share about safety while conducting this fat infused meat preparation, take note:



I have also learned from this week's episode of New Girl, that it is also unsafe to thaw a turkey in the dryer. I normally would never have attempted such a crazy act, but it's good to know it would just ruin the turkey.

Halloween Birthday!

The downside to moving to a new town a few days before Halloween is that every store is sold out of pumpkins. But that didn't stop Greg and I! We bought squash to carve and it worked out pretty well:

Buttercup and acorn squash

The top of a buttercup squash is very similar to a cork

Greg started with the acorn squash...

But ended up with the buttercup...it turns out buttercup are
SUPER tough to carve, so Greg helped me out :)

My pumpkin! The top kind of looks like
this could be a Sherlock Holmes pumpkin

Despite these being squash there were a lot more 'guts' than
I thought there would be

Smiling buttercup full of candle light

YAY! Halloween is saved, by squash!

Squash by daylight, ready to go on Halloween

Some of you might know that Halloween happens to fall on my birthday, yes you read that right. So we pulled out the Happy Birthday banner I made for Greg's Birthday and hung it in our barely unpacked apartment, it worked:

Despite having just moved into a new place AND Greg having worked on Monday he pulled together a very awesome birthday complete with a yummy meal, drinks, desserts and presents:

Halloween cupcakes (and there was lactose free ice cream to
go along with it)

Part of my present...CANDY!

Greg also was thoughtful and remember WAY back when I posted about wanting a tripod and that's what he gave me - yay!!

Overall an awesome birthday and Halloween

Halloween + Crocheting

Browsing craftgawker I spied this excellent 'last minute Halloween costume' - or at least it will make a warm hat for trick or treating!

Yet another reason to learn how to crochet:

Source

There was also a recommendation to braid yellow yarn (in thick bundles) to make a sweet lady viking hat. Awesome? Yes!

Wreaths

I have a soft spot for wreaths and they are always out in full force at Christmas.

While walking around both Saint John and Fredericton over my break I took a few photos of various wreaths.

Maybe one day I'll have a proper door to hang an awesome wreath on:

Twin Wreaths - Saint John

Not a house door wreath, but still a nice one - Saint John

I LOVE both this wreath and the door - Fredericton

One of the biggest wreaths EVER!
This picture doesn't really do it justice. - Fredericton

Very tiny wreaths - Fredericton

Classy Glassy wreath - Fredericton

Wreath in a bucket? Saint John

Wreath and very cute display - Fredericton

Christmas Crafting

I like crafting and I like giving people presents. So it makes sense that I give homemade Christmas presents.

It took a little while but I managed to make all that I wanted to. Here are some photos of a few things I made:

Aprons!

New Years 2011

We rang in the new year in Saint John feeling full and sleepy - staying up until midnight proved difficult!

Greg and I ate an incredible meal at Thandi, which is in the Uptown just down the street from Greg's apartment. Our reservation was for 9:30 and the restaurant was packed! Lots of people were wearing their New Years best, Greg and I opted for the dressed-down cotton look.

I had Banjara - Om Nom Nom!

Greg had Vindaloo!

After dinner we had planned on going down to see the fireworks, but after cozying up with CBC's programming we lost track of time. It turns out that we could actually see the fireworks from Greg's back window!

The photo is horrible quality, but our view was much better: