Books of 2012 and New Years Resolutions

Why Hello fellow Survivors of 2012!

This last year, I went on a huge reading kick. I didn't really start until over the summer when I was working 2 jobs. I found one of the things that really calmed me down during all that stress was reading and once I started, I couldn't stop! So here is a complete list of all the books I read in order of having read it. Note: Some of these are plays and I've marked them as such.

A year in books :)

1. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
2. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
4. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
5. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgentern
7. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
9. The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
10. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
11. The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O'Melveny
12. Pure by Julianna Baggott
13. World War Z by Max Brooks
14. Ragnarok: The End of the Gods by A. S. Byatt
15. The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
16. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
17. Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
18. The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
19. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
20. Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
21. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith
22. Love, Love, Love by Mike Barlett (play)
23. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
24. Amped by Daniel H. Wilson
25. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
26. No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz
27. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
28. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
29. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
30. Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
31. Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Faye
32. The Radleys by Matt Haig
33. Red Lips by Connie Gault (Play)
34. Lucky Bunny by Jill Dawson
35. East of Berlin by Hannah Mascovich (Play)
36. The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
37. When she woke by Hillary Jordan
38. Anna dressed in blood by Kendare Blake
39. Bright's Light by Susan Juby
40. Starters by Lissa Price
41. A long, long sleep by Anna Sheehan
42. The Snow Child y Eowyn Ivey
43. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
44. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I'm 5'3" (160 cm)  in case you wanted a reference

Now most of these books were pretty awesome but I definitely had a few favorites as well as... not so favorites.

Best of the Bunch (So hard to choose!):
-The Book Thief
-Cinder
-The Road
-The Snow Child

Worst of the Batch:
-Of Poseidon
-Bright's Light
-When She Woke


Choosing my favorites was really hard. I continually had to edit the list because all of a sudden I would have 20 books on the list!

I also figured I would quickly talk about New Years Resolutions instead of putting it in a separate post. In past years, I've never really given myself any resolutions but this year I decided that I wanted to make some changes in my life (that will hopefully be for the better). This year I wish to:

1. Incorporate art into my everyday life (not many people know but I used to draw quite a bit!)
2. Give myself time to learn about things that I find interesting
3. Incorporate music into my everyday life
4. Make time for mediation whether it's a moment of silence or writing in my journal.
5. Live a healthier lifestyle

Do you have a favorite book or a new years resolution? I'd love to hear from you so comment below!

Cheers,

Danielle

OOTD: New Years Eve

Hello Delightful Dolls! (And Guys! :P)

Wow! New Years Eve is here! I thought I'd celebrate with another outfit of the day (I promise I'll stop for the next little while!). This New Years Eve, I had a really laid back casual night that consisted of supper with family and then hanging out with friends to ring in the new years.

If you guys haven't guessed by now, I like to be really comfy so this hoodie and pleather jacket pairing were perfect. I wore a blue  t-shirt under both of these and my super comfy jeans that I've had for a few years now. For jewelry I only wore my watch and kept my makeup somewhat simple with winged eyeliner. I'm kind of upset that it doesn't show up better on camera but I also wore this super cool gold glitter mascara on my lower lashes.

 

So yeah! This will hopefully be my last OOTD post for a little while now. I have plans for more DIY and cooking posts in the New Year! What did you guys do for New Years Eve? Leave a comment.

Cheers,

Danielle

OOTD: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day

Hey Pretty People,

So with Christmas come and gone I decided to make one big outfit of the day entry with 3 separate outfits from Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day (is boxing day just a Canadian thing? Like Black Friday is the States?) Anyways! Here they are.

This Christmas Eve, my family packed up and drove to Yorkton to see my aunt and uncle on my moms side. Supper there is usually a bit fancier on the holidays so I decided to wear this peachy pink blazer over a light flowered top as well as dark denim. My hair wasn't really cooperating that day, probably because I had just been in a vehicle for a little over 4 hours, so I braided and pinned most of it back. For makeup, I decided to keep everything pretty natural and just do some winged eyeliner. My one piece of jewelry is my grandma's ring which is too small for any of my fingers so a necklace it will be!

 The next morning, we all woke up at my aunts house and had some breakfast before leaving to go home again. (They had to go see the other side of their family). I love this red sweater that I wore. It's super cozy and perfect for a cold winter day. I layered it over a black tank top and another pair of dark wash jeans. I kept my makeup super natural and wore a toque (pronounced two-k, which I guess other people call a beanie) to cover my day old hair. I think my favorite part about this outfit (other than the sweater) is the scarf. I got it as a gift this year from Emma and I've worn it quite a bit since she gave it to me! I decided to add a cool touch this time by sliding a ring onto the scarf and wearing it like a brooch!

On Boxing Day I had the day off work so instead of going shopping I went out for lunch and to a pet store! I should probably mention right now that I absolutely HATE Boxing Day. I've worked in retail for many years (shoes, clothing, etc.) and I usually have to work on Boxing Day which as most people know, is crazy busy...yeah, I'm just not a fan. ANYWAYS, so I went for lunch and afterwards I went to Petland and made friends with a young Jardine!

This little guy was super playful and loved chewing on anything shiny I had on me (I'm glad I didn't wear earrings because he literally tore a piece off of my watch!)

Speaking of what I was wearing! Boxing day was another dark denim kind of day but these ones are almost like leggings so they were ridiculously comfy. To keep with the comfy theme, I wore a super soft white t-shirt with a mint green cable knit sweater over top. Makeup was similar to Christmas Day but with a light coral lip. Accessory wise, I wore a simple watch and vintage looking black and gold necklace.

Well, that's all for now! Did you guys do anything fun or special this holiday season? Comment below!!!

Cheers,

Danielle

DIY Hollow book

Hullo Folks!

So I didn't realize how many gifts I made instead of buying this year until I started writing these blogs lol. Here is yet another gift that I made for someone. The ever awesome, Hollow Book!

Basically the idea behind this is to have a secret spot to hide a few items while people think that its a real book.

You will need:

• a hardcover book
• ruler
• box cutter
• pencil 
• glue
• sponge or brush

Start by finding a hardcover book to sacrifice. I tried to find some old books in my house but none of them were hard cover. If you run across that problem too, Indigo and Coles have sale sections where you can get a hard cover book for as little as $5! Measure around the edge of the pages to the width you want the edge to be. Draw your rectangle onto the first page of the book and cut out with box cutter. Continue until all the pages are gone. I found that while cutting the corners of the box I was shaping kept getting kind of messy.

 
I kept trying to fix them but eventually I just gave up and went with it! Depending on how thick the book is, it may take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours to get all the pages cut and get all the little bits that are left over out. Once that is done, apply glue to the inside and outside edges of that paper and allow it to dry with something heavy on it. The weight is to help the pages dry straight instead of getting wavy like wet paper usually does. Once it's dry you can decorate the book however you like. The person I made the book-box for has fairy simple tastes so I decided to leave the cover blank.

I tied it with a pretty ribbon that I found in my room (does anyone else save ribbons form gifts? No? Just me?) and it was ready to go!

If you guys try this out let me know how it goes! I'd love to see pictures of your project as well!

Cheers,

Danielle

DIY personal mugs

Hey Everyone!

This year I've been pretty addicted to Pinterest (so much cool stuff!) and I kept coming across sharpie markers being used to draw on mugs and plates and then baked to make the design permanent. I thought this was the coolest thing ever but instead of jumping right on the bandwagon, I decided to read a few reviews from people who had already done it and I'm glad I did. The consensus seems that if you used regular sharpies, the design will STILL wash off even after you bake it on. This was super disappointing because I had really been looking forward to trying it out.

Then, I was in Michael's and I spotted these glass and ceramic paints.

Basically, you paint onto a mug/plate/glass and either let it dry for 21 days (Ain't nobody got time for that!) or you let the paint dry and then bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. I think I left the store with every colour lol.

When I was in the store I also saw some oil-based sharpie markers which claimed to be super permanent (may have to try them out), but they were all sold out of a regular black marker so I left without one.

The paints were interesting. I thought they would be easier to write with considering they had a fine tip nozzle but it still took me a little while to get used to it. In the end I came out with 4 satisfactory coffee/tea mugs: 3 as gifts and 1 for myself. I still have LOTS of paint left so I'm excited to use them to stencil on a design or use with paintbrushes in the future.

The Finished four!

What designs do you guys think would look good on a mug? Comment to let me know!

Cheers,

Danielle

Christmas gift baking: French Macarons

Hey Guys and Dolls!

As I've said before, I love giving baking as gifts for Christmas or any other gift giving events for that matter! This time I decided to tackle something brand new that I've never tried before and was frankly a bit intimidated by and that is...... French Macarons!

Basically, what these little guys are are 2 meringue-esque cookies with some sort of filling in between. These seem like they would be really difficult to make but they were actually pretty simple! I found my recipe on Youtube from lovelyladycakes (check her out, she's lovely!)

The gist of the recipe is that you beat egg white and sugar together until it makes stiff peaks (like meringue) and then add powdered sugar and almond powder that has been sifted to get rid of lumps. gently fold it all together and add food colouring if you want it to be a fun colour!

After your mixture is ready to go, put it in a piping bag ( or a plastic bag with a corner snipped off) and pipe it onto a baking sheet. After these little guys are done baking, you can put the cookies together with some sort of filling.

For my macarons, I chose to make them teal and use nutella as a filling. If you don't know what nutella is, you must, must, must try it! Essentially, it's a chocolate hazelnut spread that is addicting!

As you can see, I made these guys gift ready with a nice little box from Micheal's craft store and tied it all up with a bow!(I really like Micheal's if you haven't noticed :P)

And there you have it! A super pretty gift that anyone would like to receive.

Hope you enjoyed this post and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Cheers,

Danielle

OOTD: Freedom Day (a.k.a. I finished exams)

Hello Friends!

So I decided to post an outfit of the day entry in honor of the fact that yesterday I wrote my last university final exam (hopefully) ever! In celebration, Emma and I had the most wonderful day. We went to her house where we had an awesome gift exchange and I got clobbered by two puppy dogs, then we had a delicious lunch at the Golden Pagoda (Burmese food. So good!). We followed that up with shopping at a few stores before heading out to an out of town dinner theatre where the food was Uh-mazing and the show was the funniest ever! (One of our university professors was in the audience and one of the actors pulled her up onstage to be part of the show!!) After having such a fun filled day most people would call it a night. Not us! When we got back into the city, we went straight to a wine and cheese party to hang out with a bunch of lovely people :)

During all this fun having, I wanted to be nice and warm. I wore a dark grey long sleeved maxi dress with a long sleeved patterned top over it and then a loose cashmere sweater to top it all off. I cinched it all with a skinny belt and added a black knitted infinity scarf. To add even more warmth I wore knee high socks and leggings under my maxi dress as well as knee high boots.

I hope everyone's finals went alright this last month and the happiest of holidays to everyone!

Cheers,

Danielle

My First Post!!: Christmas Baking (Matcha Rice Krispies)

Hey Everyone! Welcome to my blog!

Christmas is just around the corner and one of my favorite gifts to give is baking. Not only is it easy on my student wallet but I feel that it's a more thoughtful gift (and lets be honest, who doesn't love baking?!?)

The first thing I baked this year was for my friend Emma. Emma and I both really enjoy matcha green tea, which is a finely ground green tea that is used in ice cream and other treats not to mention drinks, so every year I try to think of a new way to incorporate it into my baking. Last year was green tea cupcakes but this year I found a really simple Matcha Rice Krispie Squares recipe online.

The recipe called for:

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 300 grams marshmallows
• 3 teaspoons matcha powder
• 4 cups rice krispies

Basically all you need to do is melt the butter and marshmallows like you normally would for rice krispies and then add 3 or so teaspoons of matcha powder into the pot, stirring it in completely before adding your cereal. I even decided to take this present to the next level by using cookie cutters to make the rice krispie squares into fun shapes!

Voila! The end product :)

 

To finish everything off and make this dessert gift-ready, I wrapped each treat in plastic wrap (so they wouldn't get dry), then put them in a box I bought from Micheal's craft store and tied it up with some Dollar Store ribbon.

 I hope you guys try this recipe out! I highly recommend them, especially for Matcha lovers!

Cheers,

Danielle