doga!

I just saw Doga featured on Martha Stewart today and I thought it was so cute I had to share. Doga is a form of partner yoga with modified poses to include your dog. It was so truly ridiculous I just had to try it.

So here we are doing a version of Happy Baby pose modified to 'Happy Puppy'. This one is definitely Tot's favourite!

Last Friday marked Nuno & myself celebrating ten years in our relationship. Our lives have really developed together and I constantly think I'm incredibly lucky to have found someone like Nuno. Not only is he an amazing person, but he and I share so many common interests and life goals, it still shocks me how similar our thoughts, taste and ideals are.

Since the lay-off it's really nice to have a house husband right now. Things are getting done around the house during the week which means we can enjoy more free time on the weekends. I come home every night to a completed homemade dinner. I love doing things around the house, but it's nice to have a break and enjoy more leisure time. My job can be so demanding and draining, having a break has left me feeling more upbeat.

We spent a good portion of the weekend watching season 1 of Mad Men. Watching it reminds me of my grandparents in Toronto as their home is pretty much a time capsule of the era. Even some of the references and ideas of the time are things I've always heard growing up through my parents. And of course, another connection I have to this show is their dramatization of the advertising industry cliche’s from college. Anyways, I'm so hooked on this show. We have 3 more episodes of this season to finish and I hope to get through them tonight.

I need an economic bailout

I was holding back from posting about last weekend, waiting for some photos to be emailed to me, but it doesn't look like they will come through anytime soon. I think photos would really add to my post about my cousin Jess' surprise birthday party.

I guess in the meantime I'll blog about things that have been going down lately - in a nutshell - not good. Our furnace broke down last Wednesday (the coldest day of the year). Nuno was home all day working on a storyboard and he could tell the furnace hadn't kicked in as the temperature was dropping. Since we have the gas fireplace, we took a chance and decided to be sure it was broken by sleeping the night on a mattress on the rec room floor by the fire. It was really fun, like when you're a kid having a sleep over. Just an evening watching blu-rays by the fire. But the fun ended the next morning when we stepped out of the rec room to a house reading 11 on the thermostat. We called in service and they came to fix it within a couple hours. My god - the bill is insane. They had to replace a motor, so there isn't anything we can do but chalk it up to a home ownership expense. But what would be just a small issue kinda turned into a financial burden when the company Nuno works for went bankrupt this week. Therefore Nuno is on unemployment for the time being and there's a slight chance that a new investor will take over the company. Everyone is laid off until further notice.
Not to despair, we did our math and we should be just fine - but our weekends of gallivanting all over Ontario and New York are on hiatus. It's been good to re-evaluate the new year. I have a personal goal of no soda or alcohol, something I've been wanting to kick but never had a good reason to stop. I've been drinking tons of water which has been making me feel amazing so I hope to stick to this new lifestyle.

So much happened over Christmas, I'm not sure it's possible to share all the stories but I wanted to share a few highlights.
I'll start with my most special Christmas gift,
Leslie made this apron, and I'm still in shock of how generous this gift is. I love it! Isn't it perfect with the ruffles and rickrack? I always see those average aprons at Olsons or other specialty stores and somehow have never picked one up. How fortunate to have my very own special one now. It's so nice I almost want to wear heels and pearls and pull a June Cleaver... no, I'm not serious.
Christmas Eve was spent with my inlaws. My nephew Ronan is the most perfect child - oh, ever. He wore his santa hat and gave out everyone's gifts. For the first time he knew who we all were. Then, out of no where, he pointed at Hot Tot and said her name. I nearly fainted!
Christmas Day was spent with my Durant family in Toronto. This one is a bitter sweet Christmas because my grandma plans on selling her home (where my dad and his siblings grew up) and moving to a bungalow. She'll still be in Leaside, but it's sad to think there won't be any more photos like this in the same house.
It was a wonderful Christmas and now with this week off I've been reorganizing the house to fit all the new gifts. The big one this year is a Bluray player, which is so worth it if you don't already have one. I never imagined movies could look this amazing.