5 and a half years ago, I met my husband, Nick. We met at work. We hit it off from the moment we met. We didn't bother with trying to be friends, we both knew that we wanted to be together from the day we met. He started hanging around on my shifts when I worked night shift, or staying longer when I worked the morning shift and he worked nights. He even showed up early to work just to see me.

We didn't tell each other we liked each other. Not right away, anyway. One day, near the end of August, he mentioned that he was moving and he had to find a place to stay for 5 days while he waited for his new apartment to be ready for him to move in. Being the person I am, I blurted out, 'Hey, why don't you stay at my place. I'll be sleeping while you're at work and you'll be sleeping while I'm at work. It works out. No need to spend extra money on a hotel or whatever'. SO, he came to stay with me. In those 5 days of him staying with me, surprisingly enough, we fell in inlove. I was never one to rush into relationships or even tell a guy I loved him. (I was 19 and had only told 1 other boy I loved him.)

The 5 days came and he slowly moved into his place. He barely moved in though. He ended up spending most of his time at my place. Any one of my friends could tell you that I was not the type of girl to stay in a relationship very long. I had the attention of a goldfish when it came to boys.. Kind of sad now that I think about it. But hey, I was a teenager.

On October 27th 2006, Nick asked me to marry him. To everyone's surprise, I said yes. Everyone told me I was rushing into it. I didn't listen. I loved Nick more than anything.

We planned a wedding for January 28th 2007. We had a small wedding in Coquitlam BC. We were surrounded by friends and family. All the people we loved the most. I wouldn't say it was the perfect day, I would have LOVED to have eloped in all honesty. But the wedding happened and it was great.

5 years from our wedding day and we are still so much in love. We are blessed with a wonderful son (Who was born 7 months after we got married. Best wedding gift ever! We found out 2 weeks after we got married). It surprises me that it's been 5 years already. It feels like just yesterday but also feels like we have been together a lifetime.

Happy anniversary, Babe. I hope our next 5 years are as fun and filled with love as the past 5 years.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling very homesick. Missing my family, friends but most of all, the scenery.

Home for me is BC. I spent my most important years growing up in the Greater-Vancouver area. In my mid-teens, my family moved to Vancouver Island. If you've never been to Vancouver Island, it's the most beautiful place in Canada in my opinion.

Yesterday and today have been spent looking at photos, remembering and missing my home and everything there. I pray that we can move back eventually.

Every Sunday we have brunch. I decided that I would make something special.

Friday I went out and got all the ingredients for a sausage and cheddar casserole. I found the recipe on the Whole Foods Market iPhone app. I prepped it all on Saturday afternoon. Here is the recipe


5 cups (1-inch) cubes sourdough or white bread
1/2 pound loose breakfast sausage, cooked (about 1 cup cooked)
1 cup spinach leaves
8 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Layer bread, sausage and spinach in an 8-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, garlic, salt, pepper and sage then pour over contents in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese, cover and chill for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover dish and bake until cooked through and golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Set aside to let rest for 10 minutes then serve.


It turned out amazing. I changed a bit of the recipe though. I used turkey breakfast sausage low fat cheese.

There were tons of leftovers so I got to enjoy some this morning. It tastes great the second day even!

I pledged to read 20 books this year. Anyone that knows me, know that I ADORE reading. I love getting lost in a good book. I have so many books sitting on my shelf that really need to get read.

I've started off pretty strong this year. I've gotten 4 books already done. Here are the books I've read so far.


I started off with Harry Potter and the philosophers stone.
My hubby got me the books and movies for Christmas this year. I was super excited to get reading them.
I read the book in a few days and truly loved it. It was great. Very similar to the movie.

Book #2 was Dead and gone by Charlaine Harris.
Book #9 in the series. Loved the book. I've loved all the books so far. Very addictive series.

Book #3 was Dead in the family by Charlaine Harris
Book #10 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. The books in this series just keep getting better my in opinion


Book #4 was Dead reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Book #11 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. This is the last book out in stores right now. It dropped hints like crazy for the next book. It was great. I can't wait for the next book to come out sometime this year.

And now, I'm currently reading

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. Book 2 in the series called The Infernal Devices.
I loved the first book, Clockwork Angel so much. I'm a prequel series to another series of books she is writing called The Mortal Instruments. There is a book from that series coming out in May, so that will be on my list of read books pretty freakin' fast after it's out.

Are you doing a book challenge? How's it going?

After being sick for 2 1/2 weeks, I was finally feeling better only to get sick AGAIN a few weeks later. Clearly my immune system isn't strong enough. My FIL was feeling a bit sick when we went for dinner last week, a few days later hubby was feeling sick, D has had a stuffy nose and then 3 days ago I woke up feeling I've death. Lucky me!

The first 2 days I couldn't get out of bed. Today, I felt so much better, I got up and actually got dressed and even put on makeup. Did some running around even! Tonight though, I feel completely worn out. I'm sure I will be feeling better in a few days.

When I'm better, I will be back on track on health and fitness and get a start on my cooking challenge.

Hope you are all keeping healthy and well.

Yesterday we started potty training Dechlan. We expected a huge fight from him. He hates having to take time away from his play time.

He did a lot better than we had expected. He had a few accidents but did well overall. Today has been a bit harder. This morning he used the potty without any accidents. This afternoon he had 2 accidents and has put up huge fights to pee on the potty. I hope he decides he wants to use the potty again.

He refuses to tell us when he needs to pee and refuses to poop on the potty. I really hope he comes around. It's still early in the potty training so I'm sure he will start telling us in no time.

Any tips on potty training a stubborn 4 year old?

                 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

I hope you all had a safe and fun NYE. We had a great time. Movies, food and lots of wine. It was great.

Like every year, I make 2 or 3 resolutions. This year I'm keeping it simple. I want to read 20 books and I want to lose 20 lbs. I also want to make 20 new dishes. I will make 1 new meal every 2 weeks and post how it went.

I'm fairly excited about it. I'm going to pick up a healthy eating cookbook and use that for my 20-dishes challenge. I love cooking so this challenge will help me expand on my skill level and love of cooking.

2012 will also be the year we potty train Dechlan. Already today he has used the potty once. Mind you, 5 minutes later he came into the room with wet underpants. He really hates the potty. He WILL get potty trained. I'm sick of diapers.

Do you make New Year resolutions? Anything special happening in 2012? I want to hear all about it!