Tag Archive | Sephora

When Two Girls Hit the Road…

Day 1 – August 3

For the first time in OVER 2 years I had an overnight trip! What a rush! Karyn and I took a two day trip to see the scenic Wisconsin…. Ok so the scenery was MOSTLY corn fields (seriously – where were all the cows????)… and we had a ton of rain on the road… but it was so much fun!101_9527

We started out the morning of the 3rd all dressed up with a cooler full of drinks and a bag of snacks. We had over 4 hours on the road… first to the bed and breakfast and then on to Madison Wisconsin. Miss Echo had to show off her all in white fashion as well.

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Walking Iron Bed & Breakfast was lovely (HERE). We had the William Thompson room (HERE). Trust me the bathroom WAS decadent. What a tub!!! And so much space. We lucked out and the other guests were not yet checked in so we got a chance to peek into ALL of the bedrooms they have available. Ours was one of the smaller but they all were equally amazing. They certainly put a lot of work into each and every room in the house. The dining areas were lovely, the hallway and stairs so gorgeous. Check in was simple and after we brought in our bags and such we HAD TO take pictures. The B&B has a continental breakfast the morning we are there, a spa we did not use and complimentary drinks including tea and coffee 24/7. The wi-fi was a little wonky (they were having issues and trying to get it repaired) but otherwise our stay was AMAZING.IMG_4206 IMG_4207

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After properly photographing our temporary abode it was time to head into Madison for some shopping and dinner. There are some absolutely LOVELY craft stores to peruse in the capital city of Wisconsin. We started with art supplies and cross stitch bits. Our GPS sent us on a few adventures this trip. They led us right over to the WRONG mall which had us have the happy accident of finding not only Sephora but a food place called Potbelly that was absolutely amazing. Karyn had had it before in another state and was unaware that it was a chain. We had flatbread. So yum!101_9530 101_9537 101_9534 101_9541

I have to admit it was fun to be out and about without kids AND dressed up all fancy. I finally got to wear my birthday indulgences… my brand new rose patterned skirt and red crinoline. Not only comfortable but the compliments!! I lucked out and before Karyn got here found a fitted t shirt to match for now. I look forward to budgeting in a blouse from the Tatyana store one day!

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Apparently Madison Wisconsin is the place to go if you want to find an amazing selection of yarn. It was in a rather dead mall but well worth the bungled up GPS instructions. I could easily have indulged hundreds of dollars worth of amazing yarn. Restraint was hard to find!!! Thank goodness for a budget and the realization that we still had another day of fun in Wisconsin to come.IMG_4209

After shopping and dinner at Potbelly and MORE shopping it was time to find a 7-11 to try a slurpee. Not quite the same as back home but a definite improvement on the Icee! Almost a taste of home and an awesome reason for such a fun odyssey.

IMG_4210After all that fun it was back to the B&B for a well earned rest! photo 3a

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This entry was posted on 11/10/2014, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Shop Until We Almost Drop!

January 14-15

How to spend a Monday with a friend with a license and absolutely no familiarity with Minnesota??? Why go shopping of course, and NOT at a single place… we had to meander and travel and risk getting lost (though we didn’t). We started at one of the smaller malls and the Macs counter – too cool! And then really explored the mall… after lunch… INDIAN FOOD!

Yum

We tried out Torrid for Karyn and hit the jackpot…

Sorry this one is not the best quality… took with my sad little phone

In fact, we visited as many stores as we could, including Toys R Us (an independent store) and another clothing store Karyn was interested in.

We had Noodles & Company for supper when we realized that leaving when we were going to would have meant sitting in rush hour traffic…

NOODLES

And then we were off across the road to another mall and MORE shopping. We figured out that we were out over 7 hours!! Not bad!!!

PURCHASES!

Tuesday marked the beginning of Ken’s training for his job… which meant he was gone for his 12:30- 6 ish day leaving us home. With 7 hours of shopping behind us we just settled in and taught the children… well sort of, I woke up with ZERO voice after a week of sore throats so that did take out some of what I could do easily. Abbreviated day or not, I think we had fun! 

Dressed up and on his way

Emanuel and Echo spent their time together making Emanuel’s dinosaur bone poster to go over his bed! The stickers are supposed to glow in the dark and do slightly. I got to place some stickers too! It was so much fun! 

Ready for posting on the wall

The boys took turn reading to their new victim… I mean Aunty Karyn. She was thoroughly impressed by their improvement in the last six months (talk about a pat on the back for Mommy!).

Zander reading

We had to break for lunch… and some outside time. It was actually a rather nice day. All FOUR of the bigger kids went out in the sun, and drug Karyn out with them for a bit!

Out in the sun

Gavin has been taking advantage of his new portable easel and the cd that came with it and already created a rather… interesting… art piece! I think his tastes are MUCH more violent than mine!

Art by Gavin

Karyn brought the kids some Dollarama craft supplies so I let the little ones loose on them for the rest of their time to glue and play and generally make a relatively contained mess.

Crafting round table

I also finished the slippers Trinity DEMANDED Karyn have in the colour Trinity said they needed to be! This also triggered interest in ALL 3 boys… so more work for me!

ORANGE

Yup, we had our Karyn and a ton of fun too!

I think we wore her out!

Lions and Tigers and Bears… Nope Just Life in a Busy Home!

Today was officially a baking day for me. 2 dozen apple muffins, a batch of oatmeal applesauce cookies, a loaf of bread or two (in the breadmaker) and a double batch of sugar cookies. Thank goodness the weather was A LOT more baking friendly! Oh, and don’t forget the pie!

I tried a new recipe today – Jell-o Fruity Strawberry Pie off the kraftcanada.com site.

1 1/4 cups graham crumbs

1/4 cup butter

2/3 cup boiling water

1 pkg (85 g) strawberry jell-o powder

ice cubes

1 1/2 cups thawed cool whip whipped topping

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries (I ended up using more than that on top)

Mix crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate

Stir bowling water into dry jelly powder in large bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to cold water to measure 1 cup. Add to jelly; stir until slightly thickened. Remove any unmelted ice.

Add whipped topping; stir with a whisk until well blended. Stir in chopped strawberries. Refrigerate 20-30 min. or until mixture is very thick and will mound. Spoon into crust.

Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight until firm. Top with sliced strawberries. Store in refrigerator.

PIE

PIE

Our morning of schooling consisted of the letter T and colouring rainbows for our lapbooks. We have a rainbow up on the wall from when we did weather last year so the boys were quick to draw the connection and work out the colour order. (Though I did have to do Emanuel’s for him) Now that we managed to get some larger brads today I am hoping to start the putting together of the lapbooks early next week. Though we do need a few more activities to put in first!

Letter T

Letter T

For a baby who slept in until 9:30 this morning Trinity was a VERY angry baby… I think she is mad that we don’t have any 50% whole wheat bread made (we are out of honey). She would go over to where we have the bread on the board and make gestures for some and then throw it on the floor when she saw what it was!!! Well that got her sent to naptime and QUICK! She has made my spot in the livingroom hers now – crumbs and all… we are in a bit of a tug of war over my seat and my sewing things. She takes great joy in tugging down all my patterns onto the floor and examining my floss.

Into EVERYTHING... But With a Smile!

Into EVERYTHING... But With a Smile!

Ken had a banner day today – haircut (talk about yummy!)… and believe me it was BEYOND time for that, and then meeting his very first GP in Canada. The only times he has needed a doctor since moving here from Minnesota was in Emergency (there was the time he broke his toe on the twins’ cribs!) but the specialists he sees now wanted him to have a GP here in case of need. He had a very long wait in the waiting room but found that his experience with the doctor was a positive thing. Even though the doctor was super behind he took the time to talk to Ken and read through the faxes they sent with his information. He goes back in 4 weeks for another appointment.

Looking More and More Like MY Kenny Every Day!

Looking More and More Like MY Kenny Every Day!

Today was another stocking stitching day (when Trinity wasn’t grabbing things and running off), but Ken is well on his way to getting another pattern up for me to work on. I think it will be Tux (Linux) BEFORE the art by our boys, but I am excited. I am finding I have more and more ideas as to things I would like to do! I have this idea about a hangman piece (like the game)… hopefully eventually I will see other people’s work on my patterns!!

Our plans have been… altered for tomorrow… we are staying home. The meetings Ken was supposed to go to are… cancelled. I am a bit sad about this as we were supposed to head over to my brother’s and see our nephew… I know that he was excited about this, but no meetings = no gas money and it is a 3 1/2 hour drive. I am hoping to talk to my mom and see if we can get a day when she can go with us and share the cost of gas. So quite the downer – especially when you add all the baking I did today FOR tomorrow on top of it. Told my mom on Saturday she and Mike will take home baking.

I had a very special evening tonight. I had been saving 20.00 with my surveys and the like and today decided to spend it. So the whole family packed up in the van and headed over the THE Mall. I actually went into Sephora with the intent to buy! For 20.00 I got a nice little sampling of eyeshadow (and joined the free point club – spend 100.00 and get a free gift – going to take a while!).

I Love Fancy Bags Too!

I Love Fancy Bags Too!

I turned it over and SURPRISE there was also a little bit of blush and lip gloss! Bonus! So now I can play around with it and the next time I have some cash to spend on myself maybe get something more adventurous! (Karyn is rubbing off one me!)

Surprise!

Surprise!

Ken also surprised me with another of my favourites – the newest Gintama manga! I do so love this series… it is the only one out of the 3 or 4 I like to collect that I am actually still attempting to stay current with. So tomorrow morning I am going to take a little time and do a little reading in the tub!

WOOT

WOOT

So with our changed plans I am going to take tomorrow to get caught up… Ken is going to focus on doing some of the schooling with the boys on his own and I am going to attempt to sort out the weekend and house. I may have sold my two Kijiji adds to a lady as well! Not bad and definitely an incentive to post more! Just have to sort through our stuff and look for more hidden gems. Wish me luck!!!