Early Morning Sunshine

I had to be in town super early this morning for an appointment, so when it was over I rewarded myself with a large Double Double coffee (obviously).  The sweetheart on the other end of the drive through speaker took my order, and presented my coffee with a little bonus...

She drew happy face on my coffee cup lid!  Isn't that just the cutest?  

Awesome of the Week - 03/28/11

It is Stefani Germanotta's 25th birthday today (also known as Lady Gaga).  I'm posting one of her videos as the Awesome of the Week as my way of wishing her a very happy birthday. Have a good one, Gaga!

Everything is a Photo Opportunity #7

It is hard to believe that my last trip to Niagara Falls was over five years ago.  My bro and I went in early February 2006, which was a great time to go, as there were hardly any tourists and we felt like we owned the place.  It was a little cold and misty, but that only added to the fun!  That trip was my first time up the Skylon Tower and I have to say the view of the falls was definitely worth the price of admission.  This photo was taken from the top of the Skylon Tower and pictures the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls.  Even in photos, I still find the view incredible!

Surfing Saturday - 03/12/11

Surfing Saturday: a weekly round up of some of my favourite links on the interwebs.

Send Some Love

Sweet and adorable cake-pop star Bakerella, recently blogged from the hospital that she is having a serious health crisis.  Head over to her blog and leave her a comment with wishes for a speedy recovery.  Get well soon, Bakerella!


Arts and Crafts

I have been surfing through some card making sites this week with my favourite being Card Positioning Systems.  They post a design template and then show a number of samples for how the templates look as cards.  It is amazing to see such a variety of designs - great for when you are lacking card making inspiration!

Having some fun with Dollar Store Crafts.  They have tutorials and ideas for fun crafts to make on the cheap.  Have a bunch of old cassette tapes?  They have multiple ideas for crafting them - make a wallet, coin purse, or a lamp!


Fun and Games

The Infinite Cat Project is addictive and fun; just keep hitting "next cat" and enjoy the ride!

Don't have a buddy to play Rock-Paper-Scissors? Try out a simple online game here, or a sophisticated version here, where you can see what your computer opponent is thinking!

One For Three

It's Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim To Win time, and I rolled up the rim today and actually won!

After two requests to please play again, I was quite happy to see "Win Donut" on my cup this afternoon!  It isn't exactly the car or the BBQ I would have preferred, but I'll take a doughnut! :)

I've also been playing Roll Up Roulette online, and so far I have only been winning "fun facts".  The grand prize for the online game is "coffee for a year" which is awarded as $600 worth of Tim Hortons gift cards.  Some friends and I worked it out and that could buy over 1400 doughnuts!    Mmmm...Doughnuts.

Cat Yoga

This morning Gary thought she would help me do some Yoga.

Gary inspects my Warrior pose

Gary kicked me off the mat and began her own Yoga routine

Maybe this is the cat version of a Torso Twist?

Such flexibility!  I think Yoga is working for her...

Doing her cool down...

Awesome of the Week - 03/07/11

Regular readers already know I'm obsessed with the following video, but I had to make it my Awesome of the Week because I find it so frickin' awesome!

Ten year old Maria Aragon did an amazing cover of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", which led to Gaga inviting her to preform a duet at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto last Thursday.  This is the best video I have found of the performance (thanks Youtube!) and I get really emotional watching it.  At only 24 years old, and despite some outward appearances, Gaga is a really classy person and she did an amazing thing for this little girl.  Maria will never forget this experience and I'm sure it is inspiring loads of people to follow their dreams and pursue things they are passionate about.  Well done, Lady Gaga.

Home Baked Sticky Buns

Some days require sticky buns.

Brown sugar was on sale at Bulk Barn last week so I picked up a generous amount.  Any that didn't fit into my brown sugar jar - I put into sticky buns.  A brown sugar sale is win win!

I make the cinnamon bun dough in my bread maker, but there are tonnes of dough recipes online. Chef at Home has a good recipe for cinnamon buns if you feel like making some too.

After rolling out the dough, I spread generous quantities of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon all over it.  The more the better, I think!  


Before baking the rolls, I make the sticky bun sauce, which is made by combining 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup corn syrup in a saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until evenly combined and pour the sauce onto the bottom of a baking dish.  Set the ready-to-bake rolls into the gooey, yummy, sticky sauce, and then bake for 20-25 minutes at 350°F.  Right out of the oven, I collect any sauce from the bottom of the pan and baste the cinnamon buns in even more sticky bun sauce.  It is beautifully yummy!

I even sprinkled a cooked sticky bun with walnuts for an extra kick.  Double yum!

Not Kidding Around

I normally use store brand laundry detergent, but I recently got a super-coupon deal on Tide so I started using it this evening.  The jug said to "fill cap to line 2" for large loads.  I thought I had a pretty large load (roughly all the towels we own), so I filled the "2X Concentrate Tide" up to line 2.

And this is the sight I saw during the second rinse cycle!  Tide isn't fooling around! 

I put the towels through the second rinse cycle again to (hopefully) get all the soap out of them.

So... Tide works.  And almost too well!  From now on I'm filling the cap to Line 1 only.