labour day weekend

 the labour day weekend has come to an end and september is officially in full swing. despite being sick since thursday, i was able to make the most of this long weekend.. but with lots of tea. i managed to do a lot of reading and watch a lot of buffy (yes buffy the vampire slayer.. 7 years ago it used to be my favourite show.. now its just absolutely hilarious to watch -  the outfits! oh the outfits!). i also went to the burlington rib fest, made some sangria, went on a roadtrip to stratford and took guinness on some nice long walks. 

rib fest wasn't bad. im not really a fan of ribs (i honestly detest eating anything off bones - ribs, chicken wings.. anything like that) but i do love barbecue sauce.. and barbecues.. mmm everything there smelt amazing! terry and i only tried the ribs from one vender (you are supposed to try a few and vote on your favourite) but we also didn't vote either.. oops. basically it was just a whole lot of people drinking beer and eating carcass - i feel its more a mans territory. 

on sunday we couldn't decide if we wanted to go rollerblading at the bayfront or go on a drive somewhere.. we decided on a drive and although terry didnt tell me where we were going at the time.. it ended up being to stratford. i had never been to stratford before - now i like it. it was my kind of town! used book stores and coffee shops and there was even horse and buggies (like the mid 18th century kind)..

i couldn't find the book i was looking for but thats alright.. terry ended up buying two books :)

         

yummm... chocolate covered espresso beans (some of the best!) and iced coffee

monday was spend watching the ti-cat vs toronto argo labour day classic and watching tv... it was a good long weekend.

underneath the sycamore

i thoroughly enjoyed my lazy monday off work and school today. although i wasn't nearly as school work productive as i had planned to be.. it was a beautiful day for a road trip and for spending some time with my sisters before they go back to their school year cities. i woke up to pumpkin muffins which my mom made, went to the gym (i haven't been in a month!) and did some readings for classes.. nothing too mentally provoking or anything.. then around 12 my dad suggested we make a trip out to the rockton fair.. but we decided to scrap that plan when we realized it was $13/ person. okay honestly!? for the 5 of us.. thats $65 dollars in admission fees alone! im assuming on top of that would be the price of parking and any additional costs for games/food/rides/purchases. 
since we had plans of doing something other than sitting around the house we decided to grab guinness and take a road trip to paris (with stopping for ice cream on my mind).. we get to the little ice cream/chocolate shop in paris and they are out of ice cream! im not sure if they dont serve in past labour day or if they were just out for the weekend but there was no ice cream there..
so we ended up going to marble slab creamery in guelph..
i got pumpkin ice cream and in it i put reese peanut butter cups.. sounds gross? nope it was delish. the lady there insisted that its far from the weirdest combination she has every heard.. apparently someone got pumpkin ice cream with mint aero and vanilla cake pieces.. sounds a bit strange also.

hes too cute :)

have a nice week!

i still like ice cream on chilly days

now its just the four of us: mom dad guinness and i. becky left for guelph yesterday and diana for st catharines today. its going to be how it is until next summer. at least i have a puppy this year! alright so anyways my parents and i walked around niagara falls today with guinness after dropping diana off in st catharines.

welcome to the falls

above the falls

the water looks gorgeous

the boat going into the mist of the falls

guinness needed a walk break

and i think all the people kind of scared him

*ive noticed that im always wearing this sweater in pictures.. although it is one of my favourites i promise i do wear other sweaters**

bridge to the usa and falls on the usa side

i claimed that this is a sad attempt at copying the cn tower in toronto but my dad informed me that this short cn tower look-a-like thing was actually built before the cn tower

downtown core niagara falls - where the casino, clubs and all the hotels are

incline railway up to the "downtown" - yeah i know up to the downtown doesn't make sense

 i had to post this.. we finally got guinness to look at the camera

i love long weekends and i love roadtrips to towns like this.. although it was pretty darn cold today it was still fun. i convinced my parents to get some ice cream and we walked around with our ice cream until we realized we should get back to the car before we get past the two hour mark and have to pay an extra $4.. stupid pay by the hour parking.. if you are even a minute past (like 2 hours and 1 minute) they make you pay for the 3rd hour. we drove home through niagara-on-the-lake (another town i love!) but we didn't stop.. maybe next time.

so that was my labour day.. now im just relaxing, waiting for my tea to be ready and maybe watch some criminal minds

oh but one last thing.. i have a slight dilemma.. greenland or brooklyn?.?.?

no not the place.. the jackets..

my first choice is the brooklyn (this) but currently they are showing its not available in a small in the black or grey. the only colour available in a small is a red colour which i definitely dont want..

my second choice (only if i cant get the brooklyn) is the greenland (this). the site is showing this is available in a black and a grey in a small.. but this is my second choice. its much shorter than the brooklyn..

do i wait to see if the brooklyn becomes available in more sizes and risk the greenland running out of my size as well or do i just order the greenland??

i wish the world was flat like the old days

pretty much each year in august my family and i go on a roadtrip somewhere. weve been to boston, philadelphia, maine, ohio, washington dc, pittsburgh and more then once chicago. chicago is probably my favourite and we were supposed to go this year but we ended up leaving it too late and all hotels were booked. plus its harder to find hotels that will allow my puppy in chicago. so this year we decided to stay in canada (guinness can't cross the canadian/usa boarder yet because he had his shots too close before). we drove to a place called la malbaie quebec and stayed in a fairmont: la manoir richelieu. it was the perfect place. 10 hours drive, pet friendly, rooms available, resort like (lots to do).. there was a bunch of hiking trails two of which we did. one was a 6km dirt trail (it said it was beginner but i swear it was advanced) and the other hike we did was up the mountain to a golf club house. we stayed at the hotel three nights. it actually was amazing how well guinness did.. i mean, hes only 3.5 months old and he walked with us on our hikes, never had an accident, got along with other dogs and people. oh and he also didn't make us stop every twenty minutes on the way there.. he barked at the car door or got obviously restless when he needed to go out and we let him out.

 our hotel front 

 hotel grounds

 the view from the hotel was beautiful

 we drove up to a little town and found a beach

guinness posed well for the camera

handsome boy with his new red harness and leather leash

view from golf clubhouse on mountain

wow notice the difference in picture quality (this one with my sony point and shoot, 

others with my nikon)

video (dont mind the wind in the background)

hiking up the mountain to the golf club house

at the top we got tea (my sisters and i) and beer (parents)

smile :)

tail waggin.. guinness is excited

lets pack up and drive.. 

puppy check

camera check

clothing check

ipod check

gas in car check

i think we got it all

i need a break from work. ive worked 42 hours this past week, 39 last week. i haven't had time to read, hang out with guinness or sit outside and relax for more than 20 minutes. we are going to quebec just for a few days. staying at a pet friendly hotel. driving. packing picnic lunches and bringing two or more books each. bringing bathing suits, cameras, jean jackets and summer dresses. im excited. much needed vacation. i mean its no chicago (where we were going to go before i decided to get a dog) but i enjoy quebec too. 

so im off in 6 hours

have an amazing weekend!

somewhere a clock is ticking

today meagan is coming to hamilton and we are introducing chloe (her little minature pinscher) to guinness.  im thinking we might go on a roadtrip to st jacobs.. i dont think we can go to the market with the pups but we can walk around the town. or maybe we will bake some chocolate cupcakes. i really want to bake and stupidly i have agreed to make 75 chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing for my boss's friends wedding and i think i should test out the recipe before actually making the wedding cupcakes. im also hoping chloe will help teach guinness to walk on a leash properly so im hoping we have time for a walk.

yesterday my walk with guinness turned into this

he didn't move once he was on the leash

id just like to add..

i like oreos and i like ice cream..

what better invention is there as: the oreo ice cream sandwich

perfect!

i love it

cookies and cream ice cream squished between two giant oreo cookie tops

happy tuesday! im excited i have today and tomorrow off work..