I finally found it . . .

I found these little blue plaid shoes when we were in Las Vegas and Aubrey hasn't worn them a whole lot as I don't really have anything that they go with. But I was out shopping downtown this last week and found this little dress for $6 brought it home and realized that it was a complete match.

Photo Update

New carpet, so much nicer!

I just have one more wall to add a 2nd coat of paint to and then I'm done for now! I ran out of paint! I want to paint the kitchen but it doesn't have to be done right now and I'm not sure what colour to paint it, so it will have to wait. Aubrey finally fell asleep here today around 3pm until 6pm, so we had a late night! I made a bed of blankets and put it in the right corner next to the fireplace and she eventually fell asleep.

On another note, it finally snowed here today, on and off all day long. We have maybe 1-2 inches. I drove to the apartment this morning when the roads were clear and waited until Jared was off work so he could come and drive us home around 6pm. The roads were icier but the drive was pretty flat and it was no problem. People are sliding all over the roads tonight which poses problems here at the hotel for staff to come in for their night shifts so Jared has to start at 3 am to cover part of the night shift. People are leaving their cars on the I-5 and walking to hotels for the night. They had lots of people walking in off the street here tonight - people just don't want to drive anywhere and are staying put.

Christmas at the Olympic Hotel

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel does quite the Christmas decorating. They have a fesitval of trees like the Empress does but the trees are auctioned off and the money goes to a child at the Children's Hospital that each tree sponsors.

The small trees are fake but this huge 25 foot tree in the center of the lobby is real! I still don't know how they fit it through the doors!

In one of the suites on the 3rd floor they decorate as a Teddy Bear Christmas theme. The whole suite including the bathroom is decorated from ceiling to floor and wall to wall. It's open for anyone to come view.

Out of all the giant teddy bears, Aubrey liked the little one "baby" the best.

I'm not the only one who likes orange...

Aubrey is addicted to oranges, she's always liked them but not that Mandarin oranges are available, she can't get enough. She eats 2-3 a day - not sure if that's ok or not but she asks for them in her sleep practically. Today after church she saw the bag of oranges and asked for one. She grabbed it but we were busy taking off our coats and shoes and getting changed that it took too long for us to get around to peeling it for her. So she started peeling it on her own, she did a great job, peeled the whole thing, put the peels in the garbage and continued to separate out the slices on the table then ate them, all by herself.

Going for a walk

Tried to get outside today but it was really cold. It didn't last long and ended up at the library for a warm break. It's not as chilly as it is in Victoria I'm sure...just waiting for the snow to fall here. It's suppose to snow tomorrow and Monday. The movers came and picked up our stuff in Victoria yesterday and now we just wait and hope it clears customs! We are really missing our winter coats and a scarves!

My Favourite Salads

There are 2 salads that we get at the hotel quite often that are the best salads I've ever had. I'm not sure of quantity of the following ingredients, but I don't think you could go wrong.

Chicken Chop Salad

Iceberg lettuce
Diced chicken (great use for leftovers)
Grapes (cut in half)
Blue cheese crumbles (could use feta if you don't like blue cheese)
Candied walnuts
Chopped dried apricot (if you didn't know - apricot and blue cheese are GREAT together!)
Dried cranberries
Blue cheese dressing (or balsamic is great).

Indian-Spiced Prawn Salad

Apples and/or pears cubed
Mango cubed
Avocado sliced or diced
Cooked prawns
Cilantro
Indian spice (not sure what they use, it's not curry, maybe tandoori spice??)
If you wanted to add a lettuce I think butter crunch would be really nice.

Try making these and tell me how it went! I can't wait to try when I have a kitchen!

(Salads taken from the Fairmont Olympic Hotel)

I got my material in the mail today!

That was fast shipping! I got the owl and polka dot material and my vintage stripes and floral both in the mail today. They are just enough for some pillow cases. The polka dot orange one is brighter then in the image so I might just use it in the living room as it matches the dining room wall!

I finally found what I want to do in our bedroom. Our old bedroom had one dark brown wall (like our current living room) and the rest of the walls were a beige colour. Our headboard was a pea green that matched our curtains. Then new bedroom will be similar but an emphasis on blue than the solid brown or green.

I want this bedding from Linen n things and I love the whole room, so I bought a similar blue paint for the headboard wall and a really pail blue for the rest of the walls. I'll reuse my green curtains. I also want to make an upholstered headboard eventually, maybe a green. I wanted it something similar to this:

Our last bedroom furniture set was from Ikea and the cheapest one there and it lasted us 9 years. We gave it away before we moved planning on buying a new one, hoping it would last us for another 9 years - we'll see. The above is a 2 drawer dresser we'll each use as night stands.
And we'll each get one of these dressers as they're on the smaller size and but them side by side for a long bench of dressers.