Wednesday 24 December 2014

Good Tidings!

The holidays have arrived and I couldn't be more ready and excited for some relaxation! We'll  spend Christmas Day with Eric's family and then he and I are planning a little getaway to Emerald Lake Lodge. The rest of our time off with be spent catching up with friends and being unabashedly lazy.


Here are a few tips for your holidays:

To make
Overnight Baked French Toast
If you're in charge of bringing a side dish, make it this one
Spiced cranberry sangria

To watch
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The World's Fastest Indian
This list.

To do
In your pjs:
Yogadownload
Barre3
In the real world:
Bowness lagoon is open for skating

I hope you a have a wonderful time spent with loved ones and good food!

Monday 22 December 2014

New Beauty Find

A few girlfriends and I did our annual favorite things gift exchange last week. One of the amazing items I received was a SpaCells Facial Sponge. It's a little exfoliating mitt that you use on your face and body and it is life changing! The more gentle face side of the mitt still seemed a bit rough at first, but afterwards, my skin felt amazing!


It's a perfect stocking stuffer for any last minute shoppers out there! You can find them in Calgary at Frilly Lilly or online.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Land of Nod Cinnamon Buns

There are a few staples in my family for Christmas morning breakfast. Christmas sausages from Camrose, Imperial cheese, wifesaver and/or pull apart cinnamon buns. We celebrated Christmas this past weekend and since I was in charge of brunch, my pick was gooey cinnamon buns.


This recipe couldn't be any easier and because you make it the night before, you don't have to worry about rushing around your kitchen at 7am. Bonus: your house will smell amazing when everyone arrives!

Land of Nod Cinnamon Buns
from the Best of Bridge

20 frozen dough rolls
1 c. brown sugar
1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix
1-2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. melted butter

Mix together the brown sugar, pudding powder and cinnamon. Place 10 dough rolls in a bundt pan and sprinkle with half the mixture. Pour half of the butter over top. Add the remaining dough rolls, sugar mixture and pour the rest of the butter over. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning the pan over onto a plate.



Forgive the paper plate. By the time brunch rolled around, no one felt like dirtying another dish!

Friday 5 December 2014

Local Gift Guide- Kidlets

Both of our families have agreed to only buy Christmas gifts for the kiddos. I have a hard time balancing wanting to be the cool aunt with not wanting to buy them more stuff that they won't use. I prefer to buy them an experience or something that I would've cherished as a kid. Here are a couple of ideas.


Books- everyone got a book from us this year. I still have my favorite childhood stories in a bin somewhere. We have a great book and toy store by our house called Monkey Shines. I also love Pages on Kensington and Shelf Life Books.

Blue Sunshine Dream Catcher- I've always been kind of a scaredy cat when it comes to bed time. It's totally ridiculous, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, my imagination runs wild. As a kid, I took comfort in knowing that my little dream catcher would keep the nightmares away. Calgarian Stephanie Nigh makes these beautiful catchers. They'd look gorgeous above the bed and there plenty of colors to choose from. Check them out on etsy.

Blocks- Simple toys are always the best. It helps that these blocks are nice to look at! Available at the Uncommons.

An Experience- This is my preferred gift for my nieces and nephews. I like to get them tickets to Butterfield Acres, the Zoo, theatre, the Science Centre or a Hitmen game. I like the fact that they're getting a memory instead of just another thing.

I hope these gift guides have been helpful. Good luck with your Christmas shopping and have a great weekend!

Thursday 4 December 2014

Local Gift Guide- for Her

The second local gift guide is for us ladies. If I'm being honest, it's pretty much just everything I want for Christmas :)


Plant Terrariums- Our house is filled with air plants and terrariums (mostly because they're the only thing I can keep alive). I love these hanging globes! Available at Plant 

Erica Weiner Jewelry- Erica Weiner creates the most beautiful and delicate jewelry. Although she isn't local, you can find her pieces at Purr

Pucker by Gwendolyn Richards- Calgary food writer and cook extraordinaire, Gwendolyn Richards, has just released her first cookbook. You can find a few of her recipes (I'm dying for these lemon cookies) on her blog Patent and the Pantry.  As a lover of all things citrus, this book is a must have! You can find it at Cookbook Co. or Chapters.

Gypsy Skulls Print (or an original)- I'm obsessed with the stunning dried flower prints by Calgary artist Ayla Graham. She does so much more than just skulls- which makes it even tougher to choose one! You can shop her website or check her out at Market Collective this weekend.

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Local Gift Guide- for Him

Last week I made the mistake of thinking I could quickly run to the mall. I just needed to grab a couple of things and it was the middle of the day- I was wrong. Parking was a nightmare, people were grumpy and the lines were long. It only reinforced my love for shopping locally. This week, I've put together three gift guides to help ease your Christmas shopping stress while supporting great businesses in our city. First up, one for the dudes.



Camp  Brand Sweater- the Livery Shop, the Uncommons, online

Homemade gin  kit- the Uncommons

Vinyl- Luke's Drug Mart

For his stocking- Zerrol ice cream scoop and $25 gift card- pre-packaged and ready to go at Village ice cream


If you're really on the ball, Eric and a bunch of his friends are really digging this craft beer advent calendar. Give Vine Arts, J. Webb Wine Market or Zyn a call to see if they still have them in stock. We're three days into the month already, but your guy will just have to play catch up ;)