5 on a long-awaited Friday!!!

It's been a busy week with a few poor nights of sleep, but I guess that's my body just prepping for April! lol. I am so happy to see Friday :) I even noticed this morning that there seems to be a bit of spring in everyone's step. It's not super warm out, but it feels better than it has. Brian said this morning that he feels more rested and like himself than he has in weeks (I'm not really sure why he feels this way but good for him!) haha. I'm joining the usual Friday link-ups today here and here.

And here's a picture of Molly and puppy from this week to get things started ;)

ONE

I LOVED the Veronica Mars movie. If you haven't heard about how it was funded, check it out here...it was all through a Kickstarter campaign that was completely fan-supported. I am not under any illusion that the movie was award winning or anything like that, but it tied up a lot of loose ends from the show, it made me laugh, and I loved seeing all the characters again. It's a fun TV series that I could watch again and still enjoy. I also love the strong female lead and Kristen Bell totally fits the role of Veronica Mars to a T. There were also some funny cameos including Dax Shepard (Kristen Bell's IRL husband), and James Franco as himself. I am definitely going to watch the whole series again someday and the movie too - it was available for download on the day it came out in theatres!!

PS - Overall, I was happy with the ending, but I don't want to add any spoilers here!

We had planned to see Divergent this weekend in theatres, but I think we're going to let that go and just see it sometime after the baby is born. No huge rush...loved the book, looking forward to the movie, but just not up for another "opening weekend" movie event.

TWO

If you've never heard of PinterestFail, you are missing out. Basically, people post pictures of things that they pinned and they try themselves. Usually their version will say "Nailed it!" but it looks completely different, or very funny. This one here is a favourite of mine, hahaha. I've had this experience before myself...and I think here is my own Pinterest fail from this week:

Left is from Pinterest, right is two of our best attempts

Here are a few of the other shots that Brian (engineer, not photographer <3) captured of Molly and me and the baby:

Haha.  A few of them are a bit creepy and weird angles, and these have all been a bit edited, but overall, you get the gist. I don't know why I decided to take these after one of the longest workdays of my life...but I just wanted to get them before the baby arrives!! And Molly is pretty photogenic ;)

THREE

It's Burger Week in Halifax so 50 restaurants are selling burgers for $5 or more and some of the proceeds go to Feed Nova Scotia. So a few co-workers and I are getting burgers for lunch today...yum! Can't wait!

FOUR

I can't believe that we will have a new little life in this world in 3 weeks or less (they are letting me go about 1 week overdue MAX). I am so excited, a little bit anxious, but mostly very, very excited. The funny thing is that I am trying to keep our house clean "in case" I go into labour unexpectedly, but it is next to impossible with a little 2 year old on the loose!!! I guess I'll just have to do some cleaning when we come home from the hospital - or leave it to my mom when she visits in April ;)

Not the best selfie but this is today :)

I'm also bouncing on the exercise ball as much as possible, at work and at home...so let's move things along that way!! ;)

FIVE

Can't wait for the weekend...ours is going to include a playdate with Molly's future St FX boyfriend, a housewarming party tonight for an hour or so, watching Frozen and having popcorn with my little munchkin (we'll see if she lasts the whole movie at home), final hospital bag packing and some R&R!! :) One more week of work!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Weekend recap and countdown to Valentine's Day

Happy Monday! Mine was most certainly a "manic Monday morning" because my alarm didn't go off and Brian is working from home today, so he didn't have his set either! Fortunately, I was driving instead of busing to work today, so I still got here on time but I was a bit rushed getting out the door!

We had a pretty relaxing weekend, but I am still feeling tired this morning after sleeping for 9-10 hours last night. We spent some time with my sister, time with my in-laws and had some friends over for board games on Saturday night. We played the Settlers of Catan which is Brian's favourite game in the entire world (I have a whole post on that coming soon), and I won! I don't usually win when we play Settlers, so that was fun! The game requires at least 3 players, so Brian and I don't get to play it too often and he is always really excited when someone comes over for a board game and actually wants to play Settlers (it's definitely not a game for everyone, even though it's pretty straightforward and really fun).

We also had a lot of rain and above zero temps,so a fair amount of our snow from the blizzard last week has melted and the roads are all clear today.

Today I want to share a few fun ideas for Valentine's Day for your boyfriend/husband/significant other. My husband and I don't really celebrate it, to be honest, and I definitely don't expect a lot from the holiday, but we like to do a few small things and maybe get some take out or something or have a date night around the 14th. I took a picture of the kind of flowers that I would like this year for the holiday, haha:

Yum, chocolate roses :)

This year, I am thinking of making something like this for Brian:

(Via The Dating Divas)

I think it would be a fun thing for him to have. The only problem I'm having is that he is on a health kick these days (which is GREAT), so I don't want to deter him by buying a bunch of chocolate. I was thinking of maybe getting just a couple of chocolate bars, maybe some other healthier snacks (or even a stick of pepperoni or something) and some other fun items that can be rolled up into "flowers" such as small gift cards.

I like this idea too with a 6 pack of beer instead of root beer:

Via Pinching your Pennies

There are tons more ideas for DIY candy bouquets here.

Another idea from one of my favourite blogs last week is to snail-mail your Valentine a card at his office. I am definitely planning to do this because he won't expect it at all, but it's not too over the top either. What a fun idea if you want to surprise your partner a little bit. You can find some cute card ideas here and here or on my favourite inspirational website, Pinterest.

I am also thinking of doing some Valentine's crafts with Molly because she loves hearts (but doesn't really understand Valentine's Day, obviously). Maybe we'll make some heart garland or something like that...I haven't decided yet! We're going to send Valentine's cards to my parents and siblings from Molly too, just to spread a little bit of cheer and share her crafty side. ;) I'm thinking of a card like this one:

(Via)

Here's the card tutorial I followed to make Brian's card last year, if you're interested. 

I think that's enough lovey-dovey talk for one day...but it is kind of a fun holiday!! We don't get a February stat holiday from work in Nova Scotia (until 2015), so it's nice to find something to celebrate in the middle of the cold winter. 

I have an entertaining (haha) Tuesday Tot Talk all about #1s and #2s planned for tomorrow so check that out if you're thinking of potty training soon!!

5 on Friday the 8th!!!

I'm linking up again today for 5 on Friday with Darci and all her blog friends! The biggest link up around! I actually feel weird reading a blog post on a Friday that isn't in a list of 5...haha!

ONE

I started the Divergent series this week by Veronica Roth on my Kobo. So far, Divergent reminds me of the Hunger Games, which I love. It seems to be a fairly easy read, but definitely piquing my interest so far. I’ll post a review when I finish the trilogy (probably in a few weeks – I’m hooked now!!) The Divergent movie comes out in March 2014! PLUS, it’s great to be reading a trilogy in which all the books are already out, so I don’t have to wait for the next one to be released! It keeps my momentum up! Haha! Any other fans out there?

Image via Google Search

TWO

We got our appointment for my 20 week ultrasound today…it’s on Tuesday! Can’t wait to see the second little baby Hines kicking around! I still can’t feel him/her too often, and I can’t remember when I felt Molly moving, but I’m sure that once he or she starts kicking me, they will not stop! Right now, the baby is (apparently) the size of a hothouse tomato.

THREE

I did something kind of b*tchy today at work which I now regret. I went to look for my St. FX mug that I always use, and someone else had it…but it turns out that this someone else had also broken a couple of mugs this morning, so I think I made her feel bad asking for my mug back. A bit immature on my part in some ways. Ooops. I think it’s normal to want your own mug though?? I brought mine in from home so I didn’t accidentally use someone else’s mug!!

FOUR

Tonight Mr. husband and I are having an “at-home” date night. We are desperately overdue for an out-of-the-house date night, but I think this will actually be better for this weekend. We’re going to have homemade pizza (with Molly) and I picked up the raw whole wheat dough today from this amazing restaurant downtown for $3 a ball!! and either play board games or watch a movie of HIS choosing (usually I am a brat about our movie choice but tonight I told him I would watch anything that isn’t horror). I might also whip him up a batch of this as a special treat:

Christmas white chocolate popcorn Funfetti!

Recipe can be found here. Check out my other Christmas treats and inspirations on Pinterest!!!

FIVE

It’s Remembrance Day in Canada on Monday, so it is a long weekend for many people (including myself and hubby), but also an important time to remember those who serve for our country each day and the many who have served and died for Canada in the past. Whenever I think of Remembrance Day, a song by Canadian artist Bryan Adams comes to mind (really, I think it’s the only song I know that was written about Remembrance Day and it is a little bit catchy although I only listen to it once a year!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Someday...I will... (a link up with The Daily Tay!)

If you’ve never checked out The Daily Tay, you should head right on over and do that now. Taylor is REALLY funny…as in “laugh out loud” for real funny. She has a great way of poking fun at daily events and situations and she is a great writer. I love her stories about living in Chicago even though I’ve never been there. She is a gem in the blogging world, in my mind. When I saw that she was posting this link up, I knew I had to participate!!

Someday I will finish the book War and Peace which I have started 10 times but always put down because I lose track of which character is which. I mean, really…check out this character tree!

Via Wikimedia

Someday I will have the time and money to travel. There are countless places I’d love to visit, most notably Hawaii, Scotland & Ireland, Paris, Rome, New Zealand, Athens…etc etc. Those are just a few of MANY on a very long list.

Images via Google :)

Someday I will run a half marathon. My goal is for next October – but we’ll have to see how it goes (more on that in a later post this week!!)

Someday I will have a job either on my career path or one that I absolutely love. I still feel like this hasn’t happened for me, but I know it is possible sometime in the future.

Someday I (we) will take Molly (et al) to Disneyworld and Harry Potter world and probably have more fun than her.

Some E-cards

Someday I will take a romantic honeymoon with Brian and forget all of our worries and responsibilities at home (Ok…might not forget about Molly, but will relax on said honeymoon, haha!)

Someday I will own a piano and start playing more regularly again.

Someday I will get back into competitive swimming (at the Masters level) and improve my butterfly.

Someday I will watch fireworks in Halifax from a boat on the water.

Destination Halifax

Someday I will finish Molly’s baby book…

Someday I will take the hubby to a Habs game, a Blue Jays game and also take him to NYC. Wow, he is SO lucky!!

Someday I will...improve my photography skills. I've been really meaning to get on this one for awhile!!

Someday I will be a better blogger. I really want to, but I have to make the time for it.

Someday I will make everything I have pinned on Pinterest. HAHAHA who am I kidding? That will never happen. J

Thanks for the great link up, Taylor!! I'll be back later this week with some BIG NEWS!!