A quick Christmas recap...

Wow - can you believe Christmas has already come and gone? It seemed to go by especially quickly this year as I was sick and basically house-bound for the last ten days leading up to the big day. I seemed to miss the craziness and excitement that is Christmas.

Despite the yucky laryngitis and strep throat we still managed to have a pretty wonderful holiday.

It was VERY low key. I stayed home on Christmas Eve to try and feel better for Christmas Day and to keep my germs to myself. Denis headed to Mom Turpin's for some family time and the chance to celebrate his Godson Kyle's first Christmas. We had SO MUCH FUN spoiling him rotten!!! I just couldn't stop myself. I love spoiling kids at Christmas. LOVE IT!

We had a fantastic Christmas morning just the two of us. I was heavily sedated on Nyquil so we slept until after 10...TOTALLY UNHEARD OF FOR ME. Usually I'm up before 6 a.m. I'm like a little kid. Denis was the little kid this year! He woke up several times during the night hoping that morning had come...

We took our time getting up, sipping coffee and making a big apple pancake together. It was FINALLY time to open presents. I think this is the first year it has been just the two of us on Christmas morning and there was something really special, romantic and enjoyable about it. We took our time, sipped our coffee and just enjoyed.

A few of my presents had not yet arrived (Internet purchases from the US) so Denis printed pictures and stuffed several envelopes with them!

He got lots of little fun goodies for my stocking and TONS OF CHOCOLATE. Just call me Willy Wonka!

With our pre-Christmas purchase we have now moved into the world of Blue Ray and I got a few new movies. My biggest gift was a storage system for all of my scrapbooking paper. Denis keeps saying he's going to make me something but just doesn't have the time for it so he broke down and bought me a pre-made modular system that I can build on. He put it together over the weekend and I TOTALLY love it. I've organized all of my paper in it already!

Here are some visuals to give you an idea of what Santa brought...

Here is a picture of a bunch of the pieces he got me all put together - this is just the ad - this isn't what my room looks like! (not pink enough!!!!)

I also have some new comfy duds for cropping...A carrying case for my Clip it up (I LOVE THAT SUCKER)And two new cartridges for my Slice...
Mom Turpin joined us later in the afternoon for a Christmas sleepover. All I can say is thank goodness for Supperworks!

We feasted on chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta, spinach and mushroom in pastry, brocoli casserole (the best we've ever had) and mom's stuffing. Desert was an apple peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

I had to cut out of the dinner early to lie down because I was feeling horrible. After a few hours I perked up and we played some Wii. We bought a third set of controllers for when mom comes over so we can all play. We also picked up The Price is Right for the three of us and threw in some Mario Kart for good measure.

Mom totally spoiled us rotten and she found the COOLEST gifts!

I got this jewelery box of wine - HOW FUNKY and SO ME!

And a close up of what the bottles look like...

She knows we have a bit of a Starbucks addiction right now so she got each of us one of these...
I have been looking for a nice big chunky mug like this forever - this is just perfect. As I type, we are sipping this puppy and I have to tell you it is SO YUMMY...

And the smallest gift that I think I am most excited about..

A STARBUCKS CARD!!!!

I have been meaning to get one of these for the past few months to feed my Starbucks addiction! I can't wait to break it in!

Denis got clothes. Lots and lots and lots and lots of clothes. He has enough new boxers for a cross-country road trip with the runs!

We did score a great deal on the Sunday before Christmas. My mom saw a set of dishes with deer and moose on them by Gluckstein and suggested I might want to get a set for D for Christmas. I didn't get around to buying them until Sunday. Good thing I waited. They were all 50% off. We broke them in at Christmas dinner. They are pretty cute and rather festive...ours are all black and white..

We tried to do some shopping on Boxing Day but I wasn't feeling too hot and there weren't that many great deals to be had. He did treat himself to a new receiver so that we have surround sound with our new tv and blue ray. He has a new toy to program. He'll be smiling (and busy) until next year.

I picked up a few new articles of clothing and a few new CDs. I'm not sure our neighbours are too happy with us right now. We are "trying out" the new CDs on the new receiver and seeing just what it can do...at 11:17 p.m. - hey, my lucky numbers!

It almost feels like New Years Eve tonight.

Speaking of which. We're having a quiet night in. I'm still not 100% and I'm honestly looking forward to some chill time for just the two of us. We may plays some games, watch a little Dick Clark and if I'm lucky I'll get a smooch at midnight!

So there you have it. The Christmas roundup 2008.

I hope 2009 holds many big (and hopefully some small) surprises for us all. I wish you health, love, adventure and lots of creativity.

Until next year my lovelies, ,

Diva Loca

I'm a "Tia" again...

My very good friend Lucia gave birth to her second son in Spain yesterday. Apparently labour was quite long and ended in a c-section. I've chatted with her brother and husband online briefly in the past couple hours. Both mama and baby are doing really well. He's totally adorable. They named him Javier - after his dad.

This is so bitter sweet. I'm over the moon excited for her because she is an amazing mother. She got pregnant with her first on our wedding night. Funny story - she wanted to start trying for her first on their trip to Canada for our wedding. We put a "loot bag" in their hotel room including Materna vitamins (they don't have them in Spain). She got pregnant the next night.

When we went to Spain earlier this year she said she was ready to try for her second so we took along another 3 bottles of Materna with us. She took one and well...here's Javier!

The reason it is so bitter sweet is we got pregnant at the very same time. Our little guy would have been born some time in the next 10 days or so...we were thrilled to be pregnant together and had so many hopes for our little ones to grow up and be good friends.

Little Javier has an angel buddy watching over him...

Here are a few pictures I stole from her Facebook page...

I just can't wait to meet him...maybe we need to plan another trip to Spain! Ole!!!

A Very Merry Chirstmas from our home to yours...

Hi lovelies.

Merry Chirstmas Eve!

I was hoping to say that I'm as good as new today but unfortunately that's not the case. I'm still feeling rough although my voice has made its way back (after 10 days)...

I had a horrible night tossing and turning and coughing in D's face and he somehow managed to sleep peacefully through it all...

I hope you all have a very safe, healthy and happy Christmas.

Here are some very long overdue pictures of the decorations at our place...enjoy!

Our fireplace with decorative stockings hung - are real ones stay hidden until Chiristmas Eve...

The Christmas Village

Our family tree full of ornaments from the years of our lives...


Family tree all lit up in the family room

The main tree and staircase

Mirror at the front entrance...

All white tree in the living room...i love the reflection in the table in this shot

you can also see our Christmas Card tree on the right

more white tree

and again...

a vase of red and silver ornaments with white lights

Our newest tree this year - a pink tree for my pink studio

The pink feather boa tree decorated in pinks and black

A black wreath - i added the pink ornaments

A close up of the wreath - there is some glitter and bling in there too!

The "Turpin" Tree in our master bedroom nook...

A glittery T from the Turpin tree

Funky shot of the main tree

and another

Spare room green tree

Happy Birthday Miss Thang!!!

I want to wish the wonderfully, amazingly sweet, spunky and creative Miss Thang, aka Katie, a very Happy Birthday!!! I hope you get spoiled rotten with hugs and kisses today girl!!!

Welcome to my world...

Yup - still down and out

I've basically just been getting through the past few days with easy access to Dr. Rachel. She's been giving me lots and lots of great advice on how to ease the pain a bit. We called (well D called because I have no voice) Telehealth this morning and they suggested I get back to see a doc within four hours.

We got ourselves ready and headed straight to the clinic. D worked from home today just in case I needed to go back (thank goodness).

The doc took a look at me and said my throat was "crazy red" now and although I have significant pain in my ears it's all from my throat - I don't actually have an ear infection. He didn't want to bother doing a swab because the results would take 48 hours and he didn't want to wait that long. So...he put me on antibiotics immediately along with some stuff to gargle (to freeze my throat and try to ease some of the pain) plus he's upped my Tylenol to T3s. You know what that means? I'll be sleepy even more. I say sleepy and not sleeping because I'm having HORRIBLE nights. D has taken up permanent residence in the spare room so he actually gets some sleep.

If this doesn't start to break within 48 hours I have to go back to the clinic on Saturday for more tests. YUCK. This is the last thing I need the week before Christmas. We may have to celebrate Ukranian Christmas this year!!!

The worst is that I'm in so much pain and discomfort I don't feel like doing ANYTHING other than lie around watching tv/movies and taking a bath.

The doc also said it may take a while for my voice to come back and that I'm not supposed to try to speak or even whisper...hey - come to think of it, maybe that's Christmas gift enough for D!

My "nurse" has taken a much deserved night off tonight to go and play poker with guys from work.

Oh man - no fair. All the commercials are for food and I haven't really eaten much "solids" since Saturday...this is one way not to gain any weight over the holidays!

'night lovelies

Merry early Christmas to us...

Denis just came home with our early Chirstmas gift to eachother...

Considering he is the most high-tech person most people know it's nearly a miracle we've been living with "old school" tvs in our house for this long. If you can believe our first and only flat screen to date was in my scrapbooking room.

Until just now that is...

Future Shop was having an unbelieveable two-day sale and we decided to take the plunge. The set included a 42 inch LCD HDTV, a blue-ray player and 3 blue-ray discs.

I'm pretty excited about this...hopefully we'll have lots of time to snuggle up and watch movies on it over the holidays.

To be honest, right now I'm doing a whole lot of nuttin'.

I tried to get supper started but had to sit down because I'm too weak. All I've had all day is a yogurt and a tea. It took me about a half an hour to get the yogurt down. D just came home with a Wendy's frosty for me. Actually, he came home with four of them so we can keep them in the freezer. They are about all I can get down right now. Even water hurts.

I hate that I'm getting worse instead of better and it's very frustrating. I managed to get some online shopping done today for D's Christmas gift. Thank goodness we have already finished everyone else's gift...

'night lovelies

me

Enjoy the silence...

Every man's dream has officially come true for Denis. I've totally and completely lost my voice. I can force a slight whisper but that doesn't last long and it's pretty painful so I try to stick with typing messages...

I went to Urgent Care tonight and it turns out I have an upper respiratory infection. By the sounds of it I'm going to get worse before I get better. I'm in so much pain and can barely swallow. The doc says my ears and throat are quite swollen and I can expect this sore throat to carry on for a few days followed by a week or so of coughing. Good times, good times. Just before Christmas. Lovely.

And the hardest part it the only thing he could give me was pain meds. So I'm on Tylenol 2 every four hours just to get through it.

And rest. Lots and lots of rest and fluids.

Lucky me I have the hotest nurse out there and he's taking such great care of me! He just went out to get me a humidifier and a milkshake (my best friends right now)...

I wish I had something more exciting to report...

'night lovelies
me

I've been a bad blogger...

But with good reason I think.

It's been busy. Oh so busy. But great!!!

My weekend in Toronto was even more fun than expected. I had an absolute blast with Chris and Cawi and even Cathy and met some new friends. I can't say enough about how great it was.

The shows were AMAZING and oh so worth it. We had a psychic come to Chris' house and that was pretty wild too.

We laughed a lot and smiled a lot and saw a lot and drank a lot and didn't sleep nearly enough!

I totally loved the One of a Kind show although I did not buy a single thing if you can believe it. I had this weird "out of body" experience where I felt I just needed to be surrounded by all of the creativity and take it in rather than turn it into a shopping day. It was a pretty wild feeling. I have something brewing in my head. Something creative. Although, I'm not quite sure what it is just yet. And the show just stirred that up even more. Like I say, pretty wild.

I was absolutey spoiled rotten by the girls between welcome presents and birthday presents. Man oh man. They are two of the most generous people I know.

I made us some "party" kits including custom-made Rockstar shirts and red feather boas. We wore our boas EVERYWHERE all weekend long. It was hilarious. We turned many heads and made many people laugh.

Here are a few shots from the weekend...


Camera war


Purdy girl

Silly sisters

Chris' friend Heather played guitar and we "sang"

Making out with Glen

Dirty girls see Dirty Dancing

I carried a watermelon...(or in Cawi's case a water bottle)

It took me most of the week to recover from the weekend. Cawi and I went to bed at 6 a.m. Saturday morning and were up by 9 a.m. for our marathon day...

Along with recovering this week I had to get the house ready for a very special Christmas gathering on Friday night.

I invited the girls over for a Very Merry Christmas Crop and slumber party.

Katie, Rach and Steph came over after work on Friday for some Christmas cheer. We all brought different appetizers and Rach also hooked us up with some crazy amazing desert. We talked, laughed and just enjoyed eachother's company. The girls did some scrappin but I wasn't in the mood so I mostly watched while flipping thru some magazines.

It was an awesome night with many laughs and you'll have to take my word on it because we didn't take any pictures!!!

We decided that rather than exchanging gifts we're all making a donation to the Children's Snowsuit Fund. There are so many kids that need much more than we did this Christmas and it's a great charity that keeps the money in our city.

We got to bed pretty late and had to be up early because the girls all had a busy day ahead and needed to get an early start on the day.

D and I made a really nice brunch together with leftovers and just hung out. We had high hopes for the day and getting lots done but in the end we were rather slothful and lazy. I had to madly rush to get ready for my Christmas party...yup - that's how slothful we were.

I wasn't sure what to expect of this year's party. It was held at a Moroccan restaurant in Gatineau. I was very pleasantly surprised. The best part of the night was reigniting an old friendship and meeting her new beau. The four of us laughed so hard the entire night. The food was great and there was even a belly dancer.

All in all much fun was had by all!

Yet another late night...

D and I slept in this morning and then got up to make brunch together once again. Just a few minutes after putting some stuff in the oven the power went out. GRRRR. We were supposed to have the power shut off from 6-10 a.m. but then they called back to say it wouldn't be turned off. Shortly after 11 down it went. Denis quickly built us a fire to keep us warm and we kept the stuff in the oven long enough that it heated although it wasn't on!

It started to get REALLY cold down here so we went up to our room and D rigged the gas fireplace on. Ah...a nice snuggle under the covers with a fire - Sunday afternoon doesn't get any better now does it?

The day was to get even better...Cawi was back in town for the weekend and we had a date planned!!!

She was dropped off late afternoon and we had a tea while catching up. Wow, what a concept. A non-alchoholic beverage!

Next we headed to Rangoli for Indian Food with Sara. I haven't seen her in a year either and it was so nice to be able to catch up.

Unfortunately the food took FOREVER to come so we had to shovel it down as quickly as possible so that I could run Cawi to the airport to catch her flight.

I came home to a roaring fire (at this point we're going to go through the wood by January) and D and I are chillin on our laptops tonight. He's working on something rather exciting...he's doing some preliminary work to get our "side business" up and running.

He's just doing a name search as we speak.

Exciting. Very exciting.

I wish I had more pictures to share but I just haven't been very shutter happy this weekend.

So there you have it. A much OVERDUE update.

I have another Christmas dinner date planned with Steph and Janet for Tuesday evening - CAN'T WAIT!

hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is brutally cold here and if it's cold where you are too then snuggle up with your sweetie and stay nice and warm.

'night lovelies!

I am alive...

Just working on recovery this week...

and gearing up for yet another crazy weekend.

pray for me

will write soon!!!