CHRISTMAS CHEER

I've had a whole lot of Christmas cheer going on this week. Starting with Monday's book club and just continuing through the weekend.

Did anyone else notice the start of the 24 hour Christmas music being played on the radio? or is this just in Ottawa? Steve's theory was that it started with the first snow storm. We got 25 cm!

Happy Friday!

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Our book club meetings just keep getting better and better. This month we read Orange is the New Black. Our host Sarah dressed up as the memoirist Piper Kerman. Sarah's husband was dressed in a tux and served us cheesecake and champange. Yes I said book club- ha ha. It was a fun evening.

WW- WARM WELLIES

LONG WEEKEND

One of the perks of having Steve home on parental leave is taking a few long weekends. The rest of the time we keep the kids on a pretty solid schedule, which keeps our sanity in check. Last week,  we took an extra long weekend to Toronto/Guelph. My Sister-in-law through the most DELICIOUS  baby shower for my other SIL in Toronto. Champagne, decadent cupcakes, gourmet salads & spreads, we celebrated the birth of their preamie twins.  The boys had their own celebration lunch and were back in time to enjoy leftovers and the fancy cupcakes that Brie put aside for them-they were most appreciative. We headed out after receiving these really sweet Soma Tiffanys gift boxes ( so cute ) to spend the last two nights in Guelph with Grammy & Great Gramma and were home yesterday in time for our busy week ahead. Our nephews are lovely! I was able to visit them twice in the NICU. My cup runneth over for the entire unit and family strength. I can't wait until the boys are home with G&T this Christmas. Happy Holidays! Xo

TIME

BELIEVE

Fit Friday - Intention

Welcome to Fit Friday (read: Fit Saturday)!

Setting a fitness intention is key to success. And writing it down makes it more likely to be achieved.

An intention is meant to describe your fitness goal(s) for a period of time. Typically, I write in a notebook each Sunday my schedule for strength training, running, yoga and diet for the week ahead. It helps me to stay focused on my fitness goals and measure my success. Now, obviously life is spontaneous and sometimes, despite my best intentions, I do not achieve what I have written down. That's life.

However, more often than not I am seeing success - getting to the gym, relaxing in yoga and eating balanced meals. For me, the key to success is setting a fitness intention, writing it down and celebrating my success. 

We want to celebrate your success as well! Drop us a note with your intention(s) and let's support each other to achieve what we set out to do.

Xo

C & L

FF-ROAD TRIP

This week in run club we talked about strength training and how important it is to keep your body strong while doing sports. When I started running a few years ago I coupled my running with circuit training at the gym; Now that I have my little ones I want to be able to do a few strengthening exercises at home with them. The other day I taught Euan how to plank and we spent about 15 minutes laughing! It was a lot of fun and both the giggles & the planking were a great way to incorporate fitness into our week. 

We spent most of the day in the car yesterday morning on our way to Toronto. We stopped at Yorkdale mall to let Euan run free and I picked up a few Christmas gifts. In afternoon we visited our new born twin nephews at the hospital, they are little miracles. 

Happy Friday!

PETER PAN

WW- SANTA WELLY WADERS

LIBRARY GEM

At the Ottawa Public Library you can sign out museum passes for free entry into our city museums. Sometimes you get lucky and they have enough for the entire family, as we did the other day. You can find more info about this on thier website.

Last Monday, we picked up free entry to the Museum of Agriculture and Food. It was Euan's first time meeting cattle, dairy cows, pigs and sheep. He was mesmerized by the loud cow "mooing" at him and a little frightened of the proximity we were able to be in for the dairy cows. He ran so fast down the lane I couldn't get a clear picture. This was partially my fault, when introducing him to the first cow at the farm, the cow opened his large mouth and I freaked out and pulled Euan's hand back rather aggressively. The thought of a cow eating Euan's arm or feasting on his golden locks sent me into a panic. In my little experience I know two things about cows, One: field cows run away from you (Connor and I were forever trying to pet UK cows. Two- while in enclosures they nip your coat! 

My favourite thing about the farm was the brand new baby pigs, all 10 of them suckling on their momma under a warm glow of lights. It was a great day out for our family. 

THERE ARE SOME

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

We've had a restfully busy weekend. Steve decorated the outside of the house; he put lights on the house, the wreath on the door, lined our front walk with candy canes and decorated our front Japanese Lilac with white twinkle lights. I cleaned and decorated a bit of the inside.

This will be our first Christmas spent here in our home with the entire Gillespie clan, Connor arrives on Dec21-we will wait until then to decorate the tree with him. I have made plans with our friends to go to a tree farm this year, something I have wanted to do for a long time. I am looking forward to snowy family outings, more decorating, buying and wrapping presents and sharing joy with friends, family & strangers. 

To me, it always feels more like Christmas after the Santa Claus parade. This weekend we took Euan to his first, you could see the wonder in his eyes. Santa's elves handed out chocolate and candy canes which I quickly put out of eye shot. I said to Steve, "where is the Dentist float with all this candy?!" He just laughed at me. Euan was so distracted by all the novelty of it, he wasn't fussed about the disappearance of treats.

We have a busy week ahead!  I hope you all have a very happy Monday. xox

BRING ON CHRISTMAS

I am Christmas giddy after picking up matching PJ's for my bugs today! 

Steve and I bought Xmas lights for the house and are ready to get our decorating on this weekend. I really can't believe we are almost a month a way from Chrimbo! 

FIT FRIDAY- LOFT GIRLS

L introduced Fit Friday last Friday, a set of blog posts that we will be taking turns writing each week. My hope is that Laura's and my posts will help keep us motivated and maybe inspire you too.

A little bit of my story:

To say my husband enjoys being in the kitchen is an understatement. It's a blessing and a curse. There is never a shortage of bread, cakes or cookies in the house. Steve will make whatever I fancy on any given evening. About a month after meeting, Steve invited me to dinner at his home. He introduced  me to Risotto that night-  my god, it was heavenly.  By the time we moved to England together I was already up a dress size. While living in England and traveling through Europe, we easily over indulged in all the finer things in life-wine, cheese and fabulous puddings to name just a few. If you've been following my blog you already have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about.  Five years and two babies later, I hope to curb the over eating, and exercise. I don't have a lot of free time these days and my energy is pretty low. My children are 5 and 20 months.  Steve suggested I might want to join a run clinic. I had enjoyed the results of running in the past and I thought it would be a good start. On Oct 21 (my birthday), I started a running clinic at the Running Room in our neighborhood. This week especially was difficult for me- the weather hasn't been ideal, but I dragged my butt out of the house and worked hard. It felt great!

 Now if only I could control the sweet tooth and extra calories I've been eating while breastfeeding I'll be able to pull out some of my old clothes which have been stored in THE LOFT for the past few years.

SHARE JOY

Steve and I had a date with the kids today. We went to Stars and Strollers for the movie Thor and then we went to Starbucks (thanks Corena) for the Share Joy event running from 13-17 of November, 2pm-5pm, buy one holiday beverage and get another free. Steve tried the Peppermint Mocha and I had the Carmel Brûlée. To be honest, these special holiday drinks are way too sweet for me, one a year is probably enough. But for all you Starbucks keeners, this is a good way to take a friend out for coffee. Singles take note, fancy someone in the office? Why not drop a nice Christmas latte off by their desk. Laura, I hope you are able to take advantage of this. *wink* LLBC xo

WW-JULIE WEARS

LOve these Julie Wears Wellies looks! Maybe I should send her the pictures of L and I modelling our wellies for IKEA's Green Welly day. 

DEAL OF THE DAY

I went into Superstore to get some milk today and across from the milk was a horde of ladies surrounding a few racks. In my experience when there is any horde at the Superstore it means there is something useful on sale!  I spent 30 minutes checking the Joe racks out and came home with 9 sweaters, 2 pairs of jeans and 1 dress  all for $24.00 including tax!  The dress I bought was regular $70.00 I picked it up for $1.94 definitely the deal of the day! Joe isn't my favourite brand but I was able to score some pretty basic wardrobe staples. 

THAT FEELING

Fit Friday - Body Revolution

Welcome to Fit Friday! 

This series of blog entries was inspired on a fabulously fit hike at Pink Lake in Gatineau Park during my recent visit to Ottawa. Christy and I decided to collaborate on a series of blog entries dedicated to our personal goal to be fit. By definition, fit, means to be in good physical condition and in good health. Although our lives are in very different places – motherhood and professional consulting – we have always been cheerleaders and supporters for each other. The purpose of  Fit Friday is to share our successes and challenges, and inspire each of you to be fit.

Recently, in pop culture, there has been a call for a Body Revolution. The essence of this call is encouraging women to LOVE their bodies, just as they are. Now, although Christy and I will be focused on being fit, we must also remember to be happy with what we have, while we are working towards what we want (Quoting: Helen Keller). To help us, and you, love – appreciate – respect – thank – and nurture our bodies, below is a list of 10 Ways to Love Your Body. Try to practice a couple of the  10 Ways to Love Your Body and please share your successes or struggles. We will be there for you, either way.

See you next week for Fit Friday! 

Xo 

C&L

WINSLET WELLIES

PENNY FOR THE GUY

Happy Bonfire night! Stay safe friends. Xx

OMG PUMPKIN MUFFINS

It's been a few years since my "I love you my little muffin" post. Last week at book club our host Liz made the most delicious little pumpkin butterscotch muffins I had to try the recipe myself. Today I am going to Mary's Lia Sophia jewelry party-it's the perfect opportunity to try out this recipe. We stopped at PC land to pick up the muffin tins and ingredients on the way home from Sunday run club. I think I can hear Husband starting them now-my plan worked perfectly, feed Romilly and fingers crossed. Steve and Euan would bake. *wink*

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease mini-muffin pan with cooking spray.

Sift together the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, butter, and pumpkin in a separate bowl. Mix the flour mixture with the egg mixture. Stir in the butterscotch chips; pour into each cup of the muffin pan to about 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 (6 ounce) package butterscotch chips

HANDS TO

About once a month I get a little crazy about cleaning and unfinished projects; god help husband if he's anywhere near me. Today I sent them off to the museum while I got busy so that I wouldn't get distracted. win, win? maybe. The sad thing is I never know when it will happen. There is literally no warning signs, other than it's a new month and I start feeling like we haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked the month before. Hands to cleaning stations! Surely, I'm not the only one like this.

MOVEMBER

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

Movember is upon us men, women, children and maybe even our vehicles are encouraged to grow out their facial hair into a manageable moustache; hopefully all for a good cause. I've seen some very creative ways to sport this popular charitable tradition.  Happy November! Xo