Etsy - An affair to remember

I just need to give a huge shout out to my good friend, Etsy. We became close while I was planning our wedding, but these days, with a new baby on the way, we've become tied at the hips. I have restrained myself in ways I never thought possible, but there is one (okay, maybe two, or three) things I could not pass up.

The thing about Etsy I love the most, is that you get creative, unique wonderful things, from creative unique wonderful people, all around the world. Just today I got a package in the mail that I had ordered weeks ago, from New Zealand, for our little girls room.

Thank you Miss Print from NZ, we'll enjoy this for years to come.

Stay tuned, in a few weeks you'll see more Etsy goodness when the nursery is complete.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are my favourite kinds of cookies, somehow I feel as tho, because they have oatmeal in them, how bad can they be!?

CHEWY OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick oats (raw)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups chocolate chips (can substitute rasins)

• Preheat oven to 375
• Lightly grease cookie sheet if not using a non-stick one
• Combine butter & brown sugar until smooth
• Add egg, milk & vanilla, beat until until smooth
• In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon
• Add oat mixture to butter mixture, mix until just blended
• Mix in chocolate chips
• Drop by tablespoon-fulls onto cookie sheets, 2 inches apart
• Bake for 10-13 minutes , or until golden brown

If you don't have a cookie scoop, I HIGHLY recommend getting one. They are great for cookies, cupcakes & muffins. 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This morning I woke up around 6:30, wide awake, and figured why not just crawl out of bed and get some stuff done around the house. By 9 am I had done some organizing in Alexis's room, did 1.5 loads of laundry, made 2 dozen muffins, 3 dozen cookies and cleaned the kitchen. Whew! Below is the recipe for the muffins, before you ask, most of my recipes include chocolate, no, not because I'm a pregnant women who should crave chocolate on an hourly basis, but because my husband does. Yup, I have a chocoholic hubby.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 lg bananas (frozen banana, thawed work best), mashed
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine mashed bananas, sugar, egg & melted butter in a large bowl and blend
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt, mix together
• Add dry mixture into wet mixture and blend until smooth
• Scoop mixture into muffin pans (either heavily grease or use liners)
• Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25-30 minutes.

Spaaahh Saturday

This weekend was pretty fantastic. My hubby thought I needed a relaxation day, and thought it would be nice if I could enjoy it with my also preggo friend Jordy, they are expecting a little boy in August.

First the boys sent us for a wonderful lunch at O Bistro, I've been there three times now and have never been disappointed. This time around I had the Fisherman's Crepe's, delicious! (I pulled a new blogger boo-boo and didn't take a photo). I must say, I was super jealous of all the customers around us enjoying a glass of early afternoon vino...

Next we were sent off to Verde Spa for some Mani/Pedi action. The music in the treatment room was so relaxing, and the disco like jet tub where my feet were planted was just fantastic! If I could remember the ladies names that helped us out I'd post them, but hey, I'm pregnant and can't remember a darn thing.

During the Mani/Pedi we decided, why stop here!? So we headed to Banff to grab a quick bite to eat in the Cascade Plaza food court, and then on to watch the movie Bridesmaids. To be honest, it didn't live up to the hype I had heard. Don't get me wrong, it was freaking hilarious, but not near as fantastic as I was expecting. That's the problem with hype, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't heard a thing.

Spa day for preggo gals = fantastic bonus points for hubby. { hint hint } 

Victoriously Long Weekend

I just love long weekends. Three days makes me feel like I actually accomplished something, as well as got a little relaxing in. In my world, every weekend should be long, but I guess soon enough I wont know what weekends are.

We woke up Saturday morning and decided to head into Cochrane as that's the closest Canadian Tire to us and Joshua needed some tools. On our way there we thought we'd try out Harvest Cafe's new breakfast menu, and let me say, it did not disappoint. I had the special, which was Strawberry & Mascarpone Cheese stuff french toast. While we were there the girls told us we needed to check out Great Things in Store, a consignment store in Cochrane that has loads of baby stuff, new and used. So we visited, spent a small fortune and decided it best if we never return.

On Sunday Joshua and I puttered around the house, cleaning out the basement to make room for what currently lives in our spare room, which is soon to become the nursery. After five hours of tearing the basement apart and putting it back together again, we were very successful, we made enough room and then some. Go team! We decided to put the dresser for the nursery together so that we, or should I say I, could start on the mounds of itty bitty pink, yellow,brown & green laundry we've been accumulating from our fabulous friends and family. I managed to get two loads done, which is only just the beginning.

Monday was animal grooming day. Petey got a bath, brushed, and both of them got their nails clipped. We had a bit of a panic attack, when for the first time ever I managed to cut the quick on Petey's nails. We cut them at last once a month, and there's never been an issue, but this time, the bad mother than I am, cut FOUR of his quicks! I was devastated, Petey didn't seem to mind to much. Whew!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!!

Cream Cheese Roll-Ups

Today was the last day of our six week pre-natal class, and we were on snack duty. Our friend June was in on it with us and she made some delicious preggo friendly sangria, I really should have taken a photo, it was pro. We brought some of the Chocolate Chip cookies I made on the weekend, and some Cream Cheese Roll-ups. People always love them, so I thought I'd post the "recipe" for others to enjoy. I use the term recipe loosely as I've just made it up, and am jotting down roughly what I use. Feel free to get creative.

CREAM CHEESE ROLL-UPS

INGREDIENTS

1 container of flavoured cream cheese (I use dill)
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup spinach, chopped
1/2 cup cucumber, shredded
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
3 green onions, chopped
1 package of full size whole wheat wraps (or whatever flavour you like)

DIRECTIONS

• Mix the cream cheese and yogurt in a bowl, until well blended
• Add all the veggies and stir until well blended
• Put about 1/2 cup of mixture in the centre of a wrap
• Spread the mixture out, leaving a space at one end (this will be the end of the roll)
• Roll the wrap up like sushi and place on a plate, or dish with the end down
• Continue on until the mixture is gone (should be 5 wraps)
• Cover the wraps, and place in the fridge for a few hours
• Cut off the ends, and cut pieces about as thick as your thumb
• Serve and enjoy!

I've made these in the past with smoked salmon and dill cream cheese, amazing! Get creative and have fun.

Furry Neighbours

For the past 12 days we've been watching our friend/neighbour Susan's bunnies. Those from Canmore are thinking, someone has bunnies as pets?! You see, Canmore has a bunny "situation", as in, one day, many many years ago some domestic bunnies escaped and now, by the 1000's, they live all around town, munching on grass, gardens, garbage, whatever they can sink their teeth into. Breading like rabbits has a whole new meaning here.

These bunnies are not wild tho, they are quite cute, and amazingly soft. They do however take a great deal of time to take care for (I'm talking as much as my dog), so in my opinion, I recommend NOT having bunnies as pets, unless you like everything in your house to be chewed and have little bunny terds everywhere, then by all means, go nuts.

Sambuca & Panda are BFF's...

Rascal is their arch enemy... (and mine to)

Muffin was my favourite, she had the most character, but was quite the little trouble maker. Every-time I'd feed her, she immediately flip the bowl upside-down, and I'd often find her toys in her water dish.

Panda seemed to be the only one that was to slow to run away while you were trying to pick him up, so Joshua had a few snuggles before we left. Susan is in Greece (bitch) and comes home really early in the AM, and then in just a few days moves out of town. We'll likely never see our bunny friends again, but hey, I'm ok with that, as long as I get to see Susan again.

Romantic Surprise

I got home this evening from work to find that my wonderful hubby had been using his romantic skills, he prepared a candle light dinner for two! It's amazing how such a small gesture could really perk up your day/life/mood.  Before dinner started Saber decided he wanted in on a piece of the action and pulled up a chair.

"Lazy" Weekend

What a fabulous weekend in the Mountains, the sun was shining, weather was great and we had a great time visiting with friends and family we don't get to see often. On Friday night my second parents, Aunt Edith & Uncle Will came to Canmore for a visit and some dinner. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon browsing Main St., taking Petey for walk and a fantastic dinner at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. Even tho we took a photo of us, I simply cannot post it, it's not flattering to anyone, really, it's awful. I do have a photo of the Ocean Wise pizza we ate... 

On Saturday we woke up and went to some garage sales, I just love garage sale season, especially with a baby on the way! Our friend Sarah was in town from Victoria so we had a lovely girls lunch at the Trough Dinning Co., then a short shopping trip in Banff, and a BBQ afterwards. Nothing better than spending the day with good friends.

Sunday I puttered around the house, sorting thru baby clothes, sorting thru piles on my desk, visiting with friends and baking cookies. My most favourite garage sale find of all time is a book called "Magnificent Cookies Cookbook", the name says everything. My favourite recipe from it is for some simple Chocolate Chip Cookies. I'll post the recipe below.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cup Butter

2 Cups Packed light Brown Sugar

2 large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 cups All-purpose Flour (I use 1 cup all-purpose white, 2 cups whole-wheat)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

3 cups Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 375

• Cream butter

• Add sugar and beat until fluffy

• Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until blended

• In a large bowl stir together flour, baking soda & salt

• Gradually add to creamed mixture and beat until blended

• Stir in chocolate chips by hand until they are evenly distributed

• Drop dough by teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheets

• Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden

• Cool on racks

Enjoy!

This is me..

I'm an avid computer user and long time blogger wannabe, my problem has always been a lack of what I thought people would like to read about, but I think I'm ready. Bear with me, I'm new here.

Originally from southern Ontario, I headed out to the Canadian Rockies 8 years ago this month. Living 15 minutes from the ever so popular Banff, Alberta, I live in quaint little tourist town, Canmore, Alberta, and couldn't love it more.

I have been living with Crohn's Disease for the past 10+ years and for the most part seem to have it under control with random minor flare-ups here and there.

My husband and I married two years ago here in Canmore, it was a fairytale rocky mountain wedding.

We have a Puggle named Petey and an adopted kitty named Saber. Even tho they pretend to hate each other, we often find them sneaking kisses, or cleaning each others ears.

We are expecting a baby girl around October 5th, 2011 and couldn't be more excited! I am currently 19 weeks 2 days pregnant, and feeling fantastic (for the most part). 

When I have time, which isn't often I LOVE to bake. Don't be surprised if you walk away from here drooling more often than not.

I'm generally often an avid snowboarder and biker, although you wont be seeing much of that for a while. We are so lucky to live where we do, all this is right in our backyard.

On top of all this fun, I am a full-time x 2 Graphic Designer. I have a full-time job designing flyers, and run my own Design business www.shannacremers.com. Busy yes, but something tells me I don't know the meaning of busy quite yet.

You can find my design page on Facebook here, and you can find me on twitter @shannacremers