Photo An Hour

I did a photo an hour a couple weekends back. I finally just got around to uploading my camera and sorting through those pictures. So, this photo an hour is actually from my Saturday, May 11. It was a relaxing day hanging out with Aaron and the cats and doing things around the house.

6am: I woke up and looked at the sun rising from our window. The sunrises have been really pretty lately. Our bedroom window is facing east so we get the full blown sunrise coming into our room in the mornings. It's actually really nice. I'm a morning person and I love how much sun comes through that window and how much it brightens the upstairs in the mornings, I find it relaxing. 

7am: Drinking coffee and going online as we usually do in the mornings. I'll either work on blog/photo related things, read stuff online or attempt to organize things on my computer and external hard drive. Things of that nature. There is always something to do and/or distract you on the computer.

8am: I head to the main floor and open up the blinds to get some light in the house. I also opened some windows as it was a gorgeous day outside. Hobbes and Madison are both sitting on the counter near our kitchen sink looking out the open window here. There is a tree right outside this window and usually either some birds, squirrels or rabbits hanging out around the area.

9am: My breakfast. I only eat omlettes once in a while and this was one those times and damn it was good. I looooove broccoli and cheese omlettes, they're so delicious!

10am: Time to do some tidying up. There was a pile of dishes to be done, so I did some cleaning around the house for a bit while listening to some music.

11am: I stepped outside to put out some food for the animals and saw this guy. I usually toss some vegetables, seeds or bread out in our yard for the animals. I love watching them! A few summers back I had a rabbit eating out of my hand, it was awesome.

12pm: Aaron teasing holding Madison and showing her the backyard she is so longing to go out into. Since it's been nicer outside, she gets extra lovey towards us because she wants us to take her outside so she tries to heat us up a bit. That and she beeps a lot. It's pretty cute actually.

1pm: Time to make some bean salad for the week.

2pm: We decide to take the cats outside for a little dip. Madison is on the leash, while Hobbes is allowed to go free because she's good and listens to us. She doesn't run away or anything. She also likes lounging in this tree in our front yard, so adorable.

3pm: I decide to go through a bag of clothes a friend of mine gave to me to look through, just stuff she didn't wear anymore. I recently brought a couple bags full of clothes to her place (and I still have more) so we were doing a bit of a swap. It was awesome, there was lots of good stuff in there and I especially fell in love with these high tops, so good! There's another pair that is a purple/burgundy colour as well - sweet! I ♥ high tops.

4pm: Went to visit Hobbes and found her sleeping in this chair, one of her favorite spots. I love the second photo of her yawning, she's so sleepy!

5pm: Time for a bubble bath. I love taking super hot bubble baths, it's so nice. The candles are a nice touch as well. It's a good way to unwind.

6pm: I made some stir fry for supper. Loads of veggies and chickpeas in a hot/sweet type sauce over top of some barley. Mmm, yes!

7pm: Watched The Breakfast Club for a bit as it was on TV. I own this movie so I could really watch it whenever I want but I still get excited when my favorite movies are on TV. It's sort of funny because this picture was picture #420 on my camera and looking at what scene it is... they just go together so well.

8pm: The sunset from our office window and time to go chill out and watch some episodes of 30 Rock. Yes, we've been watching seasons of that lately. Such a good show! I really love it and especially love Liz and Jack, they're the best.

Have an awesome day!

xoxo

The Little Things...

...like pulling a Breakfast Club and fist pumping the air after getting a bottle of wine.

I made this GIF from a video taken in 2010. I don't know exactly what's going on except that Aaron is carrying a bottle of wine in that bag. We obviously walked to the wine store (there is one right near our house) and bought a bottle of wine to drink on this fine summer day. I am personally not a wine drinker. I enjoy some spiced rum myself so you'd find me Breakfast Clubbing like this with a bottle of rum in hand. But this is pretty much the best thing ever. LOVE.

Enjoy the day!

xoxo

Recipe: Smoothie

We love drinking smoothies. We always have one for breakfast so I'm making these all the time around here. I don't have a specific recipe with exact measurements for the smoothies I make. I just use certain ingredients all the time, switching up some of the stuff each time, which is why this recipe isn't very specific but more of just a basic guideline.

These are the ingredients I have been using lately the most. I'm hoping to try some new fruits and vegetables in the mix soon, but these ones are always a great choice. A friend of mine told me she used chia seeds and almond butter in one of her mixes and it was really awesome and she felt full for a long time, so that's definitely something I want to try out.

I don't necessarily use all those ingredients I've listed. I make different combinations of everything, depending on what we have in the house or what I'm feeling up to. Anyways, this is how I make our smoothies:

Liquids

apple juice

orange juice

cranberry juice

carrot juice

soy milk (regular or chocolate)

water

Fruit/Vegetables

bananas

apples

strawberries

mango

spinach

cranberries

blueberries

frozen fruit of any kind

Other

protein powder

honey

yogurt

 fibre one

 

• I start by pouring a little bit of liquid into the blender. Sometimes I'll use a little splash of a bunch of different juices, sometimes just one, sometimes I want it to be more creamy so I'll use soy milk and so on. I fill the blender up about 1/4 of the way with a mix of liquids.
• Then I throw in some protein powder. This is just something we use after we workout and to put in our smoothies, but totally not necessary.
• Next I'll toss in a generous amount of frozen fruit, fresh fruit, spinach and any other ingredients I might want, such as a little bit of yogurt, some honey or sometimes even some Fibre One cereal. You're basically just filling up the rest of the blender with this stuff. Not quite to the top because you need some room to move, but just below.
• I always use lots of fresh spinach, not matter what kind of smoothie I'm making, it's included. You can add tons of this stuff and you'll never taste it. So, throw in a lot of spinach because it's good for you!
• Once that's done, blend it all together until nice and smooth. If it seems a little thick, you can always add a little more liquid to it. Grab a spoon and push things back down into the blender if they get stuck. I know that happens a fair bit with the spinach for me. 

It's super easy to make smoothies. I love switching up what I make, trying new combinations and having fun with it. They're packed full of awesomeness and taste great as well.

Enjoy!
xoxo
 

Photodump: Yard Clean Up

Seeing as the snow is finally gone, we've been trying to clean up the yard as much as we can. It's quite the process. Our yard is big and there are lots of trees, so that means a ton of leaves. I think we're going to look into getting some trees removed/pruned this year to help take away some of the mess it makes.

We usually end up filling 70-80 bags of leaves from our yard each year, but we've already got 50 and not even started the front yet. So much to do! I'm hoping we can tackle the rest of the yard in the coming week and get it ready to enjoy during the warm weather. Here are some photos of the yard clean up and just taking the cats out for the first few times since it's been starting to get nice out.

Oh yeah, those fifty bags jammed up are in our garage right now. We moved them in there because it was going to rain and we didn't want the bags to get soaked and fall apart. Our garage is literally jammed to the max!

Hobbes is so much easier to photograph than Madison. Madison is really excited outside and prances around like a fool where as Hobbes kind of just lounges and basks in the excellence. Aah, so happy to be able to go back outside and enjoy it.

Have an awesome day!

xoxo