November 2016 – Page 2 – Just An East Coast Girl

Thanksgiving Greetings!

Celebrating with our American family & friends!

And in honour of your holiday…

we dressed for the occasion

we ate turkey complete with dressing and green beans! Well , it was chicken ( only two of us home tonight, so I didn’t roast a turkey) But then chicken is kinda like turkey…close enough, right?

And we relaxed in front of the TV watching a few SPECIALS…

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade screen-shot-2016-11-24-at-3-58-12-pm

and even a little football…

YES! I am a Cowboys fan!!! They are having an AWESOME year. 10 wins in a row!!!

and finished it off with the Disney Magical Holiday Celebration.

It was so much fun! There are so many great specials on TV on Thanksgiving Day. It’s really the kick off to the season! And the BEST part is, I feel like it’s a holiday for us too since my sweet husband doesn’t work tomorrow and it’s the beginning of a super fun weekend for us!! Yay!!!!!

Seriously though, we are so blessed in North America. There are so many reasons to pause and BE THANKFUL!!

Happy Thanksgiving USA!

Hot off the Press!

The first shipment has arrived!

Our youngest son James enjoys photography! He takes beautiful pictures as he travels. He travels almost as much, if not more than my husband and I. Just for fun he thought he would compile a few of those images, ” Dramatic Skies” into a 2017 Calendar. This is the first time he’s done a calendar and they turned out great! A perfect idea for Christmas gifts. There are photos from Canada, China, Brazil, Cuba, Australia, and of course a few from Nova Scotia.

I can’t wait to put mine up!

DWTS

Do you watch Dancing With The Stars? This is the cast for Season 23.

It is one of my favourite shows to watch…it reminds me of my Auntie Bea. It was her favourite show and she never missed an episode. Tonight is the season 23 finale!

There were a lot of favourites to watch on this season and tonight a winner will be chosen between the final three. I loved watching all three of these couples but two of them were so good all through this season and it’s hard to decide who I would like to see win.

The finale is held at the magical place called “The Grove” in Los Angeles. What a beautiful venue.

Will it be Laurie Hernandez, James Hinchcliffe or Calvin Johnson Jr.?

I’ll be watching tonight!!

——a little bit later….

O WOW!!!! That was THE BEST finale ever! It was so worth staying up til midnight to see it.

And the WINNER is…

Laurie Hernandez & Val

Yay!!!!! Goodnight all 😀

In between the showers

It’s been a rainy weekend and I really had hoped to check off “finish decorating for Christmas” from my “TO DO” list.

So in between the showers ( we were in and out numerous times) today my sweet hubby & I got it done!

It’s been so nice having him home a few extra days this weekend and the great news is that he also took a vacation day for next Friday. That means just a 3 day (crazy busy) work week!

So sweet

Family is THE BEST!

I don’t get to see my extended family that much. I suppose it is partly my fault. I could just jump in the car and go visit. BUT, I love family gatherings. Opportunities to “get together” Today was one such occasion. My Dad’s older brother turns 80! WOW, now that’s a reason to celebrate.

His wife called this week and said she was planning a little gathering for him and we said we would be there!

He’s just so sweet!

I enjoy the stories the brothers and sisters share of when they were kids growing up and out to work at a very young age. They were so poor and life was pretty tough back then. It’s nice to see them laughing and enjoying their time together. It was a good afternoon!

Happy Birthday Uncle Beverly!

Chips or Popcorn?

What is your favourite “go to ” snack if you want to indulge?

I tend to be more of a chips person and try not to eat too much corn anything. Although popcorn every so often is a treat.

There have been new flavours ” World of Flavours” on the market for these snack foods and we decided to test out a couple. Doesn’t maple and bacon just make your mouth water?

So which one do you think is the best?

Maple Bacon potato chips OR Maple & Bacon popcorn?

James & I voted the chips and David voted popcorn.

So we opened the bags. The initial “smell” gave the popcorn high ratings. While the chips were nothing special.

After doing a careful taste test , the popcorn came out the winner! You can actually taste the maple and bacon separately. Each handful is a little different and very addicting.

And the chips…I was disappointed. They just taste like a similar flavour ( sour cream and bacon) but this time with a different name.

So…our vote is Bacon & Maple popcorn! A delicious Friday Night movie snack! James said too much of either would actually make him sick 😦

Abby liked the smell and was eager to try them, however, she had to settle with her own treats.

Rainy Friday

It’s Rainy Friday. My husband is off today and while we were enjoying our coffee asked ” What will we do for adventure today?” He knows me so well! He knows I LOVE adventure in my life and enjoy doing something FUN with him! One idea I had didn’t pan out so we decided to get on our hooded jackets and spend the day doing errands in the rain.

Instead of grabbing a coffee break while we were out…we got some delicious treats and had coffee at home. Jam filled donuts ( and cinnamon buns), delish!

And then we went out again! I take horrible selfies. I always get just half of me and all of him, it’s never even. BUT David who usually does it for us was concentrating on driving… except for when I said “Quick! look!”

One of our stops and one of my favourite Christmasy places is the hardware store here in town. It’s so pretty in the Christmas village there.

After the hardware store we went to the mall. We ended up browsing a lot of the shops and actually picking up some Christmas gifts. We got a few people crossed off our list today! Yay!! christmas-shopping

What a relaxing fun day with no real agenda enjoying my husband’s company 😀

Full of beans

Remember how excited I was a few weeks ago to see these treats at Walmart.

I can’t believe they have THESE here….

Well, I picked up a box to try! And they are delicious. BUT they are full of beans ( on the top) which is ok. They are a bit different than the ones we had in China but enough the same for me to REALLY enjoy them and to be so thankful that this is another item I can get here.

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Happy Thursday…YES I am VERY happy because it’s the end of the work week. My husband is taking two days off, Friday and Monday. So…long weekend coming right up!

It’s beginning to feel like Christmas!

ONLY in my house and in the stores! CERTAINLY NOT outside!

We are having a mild week here. And today, very rainy. It’s funny how I associate Christmas “feel” with cold and a nice light dusting of snow… many parts of the world that celebrate Christmas don’t know what snow is! Even when we lived in Brazil I commented that it was a nice change (for one year) not to have snow. The things you can do with decorating in a mild climate are so different compared to when you have to worry about cold and snow. And…to be able to go to the beach on Christmas Eve…Day…New Year’s…that’s pretty cool too!

But here in Canada where we “live in igloos” and have snow all the time and our means of “transportation is by snowmobile and dog sled”…it’s mild! haha

It’s the middle of November and I am in decorating mode this week. Cleaning and putting up some Christmas decorations. Not as much as last year ( I don’t think) I can’t do the same thing every year. But atleast it is pretty and cozy and I can listen to Christmas music in the appropriate atmosphere while sipping a flavoured hot drink and enjoy the very short season that is Christmas on the evenings that get dark early.

So upstairs it’s a bit of red and green with an Asian flair since I have so many China things and downstairs…more colourful and whimsical to reflect the South American influence.

Even the laundry area got a touch…

There’s still a few more things I need to put up but alas… it’s pretty and cozy and I can listen to Christmas music in the appropriate atmosphere while sipping a flavoured hot drink and enjoy the very short season that is Christmas on the evenings (or days) that get dark so early. Now to get my outside lights up. BUT that’s a job for David 😀 (and there’s still LOTS of leaves)

Did you know?

Today is the Official “SendOff” for Nova Scotia’s tree to Boston. It was cut fresh yesterday. You can see the reason Nova Scotia does this EVERY year in last year’s post. Click on the link below.

A gift for friends

This year’s tree is from Cape Breton in Inverness County on the Northern tip of Nova Scotia. The 47-foot (14 metre) white spruce is from Crown land along Route 395 in Ainslie Glen, close to the Waycobah First Nation.

NEXT week there are so many fun Christmas things to be doing… it seems that the last weekend of November is the start of all the fun events we enjoy so much! Yay!! I can’t wait. Let the fun begin.

Have you started decorating for Christmas yet? Do you wait until December 1st?

Surprise!

Andrew’s wife pulled it off! She surprised Andrew, our oldest son for his 28th Birthday!

His Birthday is today, November 15th, but they are working today, so Sunday night she took him to pizza delight to celebrate. Unbeknown to him family and friends would also be there!

Surprise!

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