Tiffany, red wine and Manny...

So typically February is a non-event, boring-type of month, but thankfully this year I've managed to dodge the late-winter blues and the month has flown by quickly! 

Keeping busy with friends and having a lot of events to attend seems to have made February come and go in a flash...can I get an Amen for that!

Valentines was a blast and our friends Nick and Voula hosted a 34th b-day party/Valentines day dinner party at their home for my girlfriend Dana. 

Red red wine on Valentines!

Four of us girls decided to get together and buy Dana a few pieces from Tiffany. The birthday girl laughed and cried...there's a whole lotta emotion that comes from a little blue box!

Last weekend was the Family Day long weekend where we live, which is really just a made-up day off (because February has got nothing going for it and the local powers that be figured that people needed something to look forward to, but I'll take any long weekend I can get!)

We went over to our friends Dina and Joseph's for dinner, he's a great cook and he whipped up some avocado and shrimp appetizers. They were beyond delish,,,this will be one of my new go-to appies.

So tasty...check out the recipe here

It's Manny from Modern Family with my Kid #2...no I joke, but Dina's 13yr old son is a dead ringer for Rico Rodriguez, in my opinion anyway. So cute!

Am I right or what?...

Happy end of February, hope your month has flown by quickly too...I'm ready for spring now! 

Go Glam or go Home!

So tonight as I sat sipping a nice big glass of red wine* and tuned into the Golden Globes, I couldn't help but think that this years dresses were really beautiful.  Nothing was totally hideous (Tilda Swinton is always excused because her acting makes up for it...) and most of the ladies put in a solid effort.
*(note, award shows offer a diet exemption to drink wine)

 I won't go into a full-on snarky yet overly detailed analysis of my top fashion winners and losers (I'll leave that for the serious fashion bloggers), and instead I'll share my fave few. Simple enough!

{Ok, so before you go all whoa; why the brainy teen from Modern Family?? It's because Ariel Winter looked absolutely adorable and yet totally age appropriate. Love the shoes, the rich shade of purple and the demure yet glam hair.}
If the skirt could be modified towards less ruffle and more of a fitted style I'd wear it in a heartbeat! 

{Elle Macpherson looks like a bit of a frilly confection here but she pulls it off like almost no one else can. Her hair and the flare on her dress are the size of Texas. Big and bold...super glam, no!?}

{Jessica Alba was perfection in Gucci, the powdery purple of dress doesn't really come through in this pic but it looked amazing on TV, most definitely my favorite gown of the night.}

{My honorable mention goes to the always amazing Sofia Vergara, her sapphire blue Vera Wang was a super bold mermaid silhouette but as always she worked it and then some. Gorgeous without too much cleavage.}

There you have it, short but sweet. A simple round-up of what caught my eye at the Golden Globes.
Who were your favorite stars of the night?

back in action!

Hello lovelies! It's been a while but I decided to plant my rear in front of this computer and get back to blogging regularly. We had a fantastic Christmas and New Year minus a few run-ins with the evil Norovirus (aka near-death stomach flu.) 

 We're all feeling better now and I'm looking forward to an amazing 2012. I won't lie, 2011 wasn't my favorite year (fairly poopy overall) and I wasn't sad to see it go so here's hoping that 2012 brings on many bigger and better things...

However we did attend a super fun New Year's Eve party at our friends Angela and Peters house...things got kinda crazy (in a good way) and I finally decided to pull the kids away at 3:00 am (yup, our crew parties with their kids included) and my 2 little guys would have gone all night long.

{We were ready for the big countdown}

{kid #2 might just have a minor video game addiction}

{Kid #1 got his party-on!}

{drunk Greeks are the most fun Greeks!}

Hope you all had a great New Years shared with the ones you love! 

This week was back to school and back to reality including the kick-off of 

Massive Weight Loss 2012 (an annual tradition, obviously some years are more successful than others...pfftttt.)

 I've kissed carbs, alcohol and pretty much anything that's tasty goodbye and I'm begrudgingly saying hello to the elliptical trainer. Most of my girlfriends are back on the wagon too, so I'm fairly sure Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig are laughing all the way to the bank this month. 

~Here's to a healthy, happy and skinny 2012!~

elf shenanigans and more...

Hello lovelies! Let's get down to brass tacks here shall we. This month has been super busy (isn't everyones December? Rhetorical question...) 

I've been mailing out Christmas cards, attending concerts, baking (yes me actually baking!) shopping, decorating, getting together with girlfriends...all the usual poosual stuff.  But it's that busyness in combo with my addiction love of my new iPhone that's made me dump my home computer completely- the computer I blog from. 

I guess thats my excuse for spotty blogging but allow me to share what we at Casa Del "D" have been up to...

Note, all pics in this post have been taken by my beloved iPhone. I always wondered why people would post janky phone pics to their blogs. Now I understand, it's so fast, easy and yes lazy. I'll go back to my Nikon DSLR, someday...

{Last weekend I drove Kid #1 to Medicine Hat to visit my bestie Dana from high school and her 2 adorable kidlets}

{Kid #1 and his brother from another mother, Carter- building the best gingerbread house around, so they say}

{Dana and Carly doing what we girls do best (after the kids are in bed), drinking plenty of vino}

{Behold! 2011s "real" Christmas tree. Yes its real, as in it once lived in the ground}

Unless you've been living under a rock, any parent around could tell you that this years hottest toy, 'The Elf on the Shelf' is an absolute God-send and Mama finally got her hands on one. As explained in the children's book its sold with, the elf has magical powers and is a representative of Santa. Each night he flies back to the North Pole to report back to Santa all he's observed while spending the day in your home. Were the kids naughty or nice, either way he'll let the big guy in red know...

{ok, so that's not his tag-line but it is according to me!}

He's a mischievous little elf and the kids wake up every morning to find him in a new spot in the house getting up to all sorts of shenanigans. His magic seems to be working, I love this elf!

Check out what he's been up to...

{Just hangin' in the plant...}

{Relaxing with a beverage...flying to the North Pole can make an elf thirsty}

My kids are in Christmas countdown mode to the baby Jesus' arrival and I'll admit I'm really looking forward to spending some downtime with family.

My shopping is finito and I'm feeling pretty good, not fried yet anyway...hope you're all feeling the same!

Halloween hangover...

Halloween was fun fun fun this year! I swear I'll never outgrow it. Never. Here's some pics from last weekend. We went out Saturday nite for a drink or 6 and then on Monday night I took my little monsters out trick or treating. My sugar binge is finally over. I think my skinny jeans are crying right now.

{Avast ye matey! This pirate likes a party...argggg.}

{my God-daughter is the cutest cupcake, AND bunny around}

{super fun Halloween party at "Craft", love the John Cusack's character from Say Anything holding up the stereo over his head-with fake arms of course.  The Madhatter made her own costume including the hat, she won best costume of the night!}

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Onto the kiddos, I took them trick or treating in my parents neighborhood first...let's just say they made off with toys, full-size candy bars and left feeling like Halloween kings! (There's almost no kids in my parents neighborhood so our kids were treated extra special!)

Then of course we headed back home to raid our own neighborhood and then dove into the sugar stash they collected...

{Halloween extravaganza in my parents neighborhood...}

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween, I'm looking forward to next year already!

Dancing Greeks and a Halloween Birthday...

Well hello there! It's been a few days since I've posted but in my defence it's because things have been busy-busy lately. LET me reiterate my love for this time of year...so many parties, events and things to get all involved in! We were invited to possibly the cutest ever birthday/Halloween party for a 2 year old. Her mama went all out to create a fun, kid friendly party with a Harry Potter wizard and witches theme. 

{there's a spider in the house...}

{these wizards and witches came to party...}

{ I die! This birthday girl was rocking her pearls, tutu and a sassy hat}

{Cheesecake "shots", mini-donut witch booms and custom cookies. Her mama has skillz!}

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Last Saturday night Husband and I joined up with 300 of our closest Greek friends to dance the night away in  honour of St. Demetrios. (A great saint if there ever was one!)  As always the wine brought on the dancing and the band played till 4:00 am- no big deal.

{self portrait time...why does drinking always make it seem like a great idea?}

{These Greeks got down to business,,,dancing, drinking, singing, drinking. Repeat.}

Alright all you witches and wizards, Halloween is only 3 days away. The count down is on and tomorrow night Mama is going out for drinks with the girls in full costume. Are you gonna get your BOO-on and go out this year? Don't tell me you're too old...you're never too old! 

Thanksgiving indeed!

This weekend was Thanskgiving (here in Canada) and we took time to give thanks for all the good stuff by eating, relaxing, eating, spending time with family and eating some more. Three guesses as to who has a diet and cleanse in her immediate future...

But it's all good because a weekend filled with turkey, wine and good times is always worth it.

{Fall decor...wherever possible!} 

{Brother and dad -dinner at the parents}

{younger brother was a "turkey assassin" with all the wrong moves}

{older brother's best "Blue Steel" for the camera}

{Mom trying to get us to "eat more!"...as always}

{relaxing post dinner with the football game and more drinks}

Happy Thanksgiving long weekend to all my fellow Canadians...we have so much to be greatful for!