Happy Birthday Rachael!

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It's our very own Rachael's birthday today! Wishing her lots of love, happy times and hoping she has the loveliest of days! 

You know when you first meet someone and you instantly know that they truly are someone special? This is exactly how I felt when I first received an email from Rach, and then even more so when we had our very first tea visit. I knew that I wanted her to be a part of my team instantly and I'm so glad that she said yes! 

She is truly an amazingly kind, hard working, and wonderful lady and I'm so happy that our paths crossed and we get to work together. 

P.S. She has great dance moves too ;) 

Wishing you the BEST DAY EVER Rach! xoxox 

Love Tam xo  

Bloglovin... my new favorite app!

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a blog junkie. :) I have certain blogs that I've followed faithfully over the years, as well as new ones that someone will recommend or catch my eye. 

A few months ago when I got my ipad, I was looking for new apps to try and install. This one is by FAR my very favorite! I no longer have to have them all bookmarked on my computer or my phone, I can just open the app or the website on my computer and all the news and creative projects from my favorites are all there! I can save them for later, or mark them as read once I'm done with them. Yep, I am a big fan :) 

I listed my little Blue Lily blog on Bloglovin as well so if you want to follow me there you can as well! Click on this link to follow me on Bloglovin :) 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

And if you're looking for some interesting blogs to follow, check out my list below :) 

• Bleubird Blog 
• Archive Vintage Rentals 
• Creature Comforts 
• A Beautiful Mess 
• Ruffledblog 
• Delighfully Noted 
• Oh Joy
• Eat Drink Chic

and if you want to see my complete list of who I follow click here...

Hope you all find a few intereting things! 
Tam xo

Glorifying Busy.... a note from Rachel xo

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I've always been a busy person. I've always been at my happiest when I'm busy. When I'm watching TV (having down time), I'm either on my iPad researching something, planning my week, or writing a list (I am a to do list geek) to keep my crazy self organized. I'm not good with idle spare time, I find I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm learning to change this and appreciate the quiet times. I've learned that sometimes you need take the long way home to enjoy the beauty of the countryside, sometimes the laundry or dishes can wait, and it's okay to say "No" sometimes. 

I recently experienced the loss of an old friend.  I hadn't seen her much in the last few years, life just always seemed to get in the way and coffee dates and visits seem to go by the wayside. I thought of her often and would have loved to see her, but all those pesky tasks and life just seem to be there waiting for me and I always thought I had more time. I realized I was wrong, and things need to change.  I'm making the effort to take time for me, time for my family, time for my work, and time for the life I want. 

It was perfect when Rachel sent me this post about her and how she feels about being busy. ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. I love this girl and agree with her completely. Thank you Rach for the lovely words, you have no idea how much they have hit home, and how much I think we all need to take care of ourselves, take a step back and just breathe. 

Love Tam xo 

~A note from Rachel ~ 

Isn't it funny how we can so easily get caught up in the “have to’s” of life? Constantly thinking about what is the next big deadline or appointment or goal we have made. We drive ourselves nuts with an abundance of ‘important’ commitments we make and must follow through with! When we finally squeeze in time with friends, we find ourselves reciting the same old update – “I’m doing well, but I am so incredibly busy lately.”

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are glorifying busy.

This is a phenomenon recently brought to my attention by none other than my amazing and intelligent mother. We are glorifying busy. It is too easy to say that we are ‘too busy’ to go out, ‘too busy’ to try something new, ‘too busy’ to just let ourselves relax for a day. We get ourselves so wound up on teams, committees, work commitments, and projects that we have no time to really relish in the things that matter most –

We do not make time to enjoy the life we are working so hard to secure for ourselves.

Interesting, isn't it? It seems so simple when we say it like this. We should be taking time to enjoy the things we like, and not simply grinding through the things we feel we need to do.

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The purpose of life is to be happy, after all.

After having this idea presented to me, I was all too eager to make a change. I want to build the life I want – and not the life I think that I should have. I want to do things I enjoy simply because I enjoy them, and not to get ahead in any sort of way.

I’m ready to make a change!

So I challenge all of you beautiful individuals who have stumbled upon this post to do one thing a day just for you - for fun – for the heck of it! Do things that make you happy because life is short and you are never too busy to have fun!

Love Rachel xo 

New Year.. new start... new me :)

So this might be a little late for a New Year's Post, but I've been thinking about this since the New Year so that has to count for something right? Like many people, I think of Jan 1st as a new start, a clean slate, or at the very least something fresh. In years past I've made resolutions and some have been kept, some not. I am happy to say that I got to cross a few things off "my list" last year and met some goals so that was nice. :) I'll take my "wins" no matter how small they seem to be. :) 

I've been doing some thinking, reflecting, and maybe even some "growing" this past little while.  I've decided that this is my year. My year to work hard, play hard, really look into what makes me happy and make the most out of every day and every moment I have. The above photo is my new desktop. It's all pictures I found on Pinterest and the words kind of hit home with me. Sometimes you really do have to stop and just be grateful and take ownership of your life and how you're living it. :) I know I've said it before, but I really mean it, I've met some amazing and wonderful people on this little adventure, and even on the days when the bank account is thin, the days are long and I feel a little overwhelmed with my list of things to do and people to see, I'm so grateful to be able to be doing the things I love. :)

So here's to new beginnings, old and new friends, working hard, enjoying all the lovely things and moments life has to offer and just being happy. :) 

I hope your year is full of love, happiness, hard work and exciting adventures! 
Love Tam xo

What's on my table... Thanksgiving edition

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Thanksgiving is one of my most favourite holidays. I love how it's simply to be thankful for what we have and to appreciate our loved ones. In my family, it's kinda turned out to me be "my holiday", which means that everyone comes to my place for dinner. Suits me just fine! :)

I kept my table fairly simple this year. Keeping with my "Frugal but Fun" budget, I didn't want to spend too much on decor but wanted to make sure it looked lovely at the same time.  I am a true believer that you don't have to spend a fortune to make everything look wonderful!   Plus, there was going to be 15 of us, and 12 feet of table in my dinning room! Kinda a tight squeeze, but we made it work. :)

Vintage brown bottles filled with craspedia, wax flowers and sunflowers added some colour to my table. They were simple and small and didn't take up the much needed room for food and my guests! Plus I thought they looked sweet. :)

I finally got a chance to pull out my new wine glasses that I got on sale this summer. LOVE them :) Harvest gold napkins tied with twine completed this look. The family loved it and I think it turned out nicely. 

Wishing all my friends south of the border a very happy Thanksgiving for next week! 
Love Tam xo

Jenal's No Fail Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart Recipe

I'm cooking dinner this weekend for my family and I was looking for some new recipes to try. They're pretty particular and love the traditional dinner we do, so I don't want to stray too far, but I thought one or two new things would be great. I asked on my facebook if anyone had any no fail, super yummy recipes and this is one that I got back from my friend Jenal! She was such a doll to send it to me (in the facebook comment section no less)! I thought I would share it with all of you! 

Thanks so much Jenal! I'll let you know how it turns out! xoxo

White Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart

40 gingersnap cookies
½ cup melted butter

Filling

2pkg unflavored gelatin
¼ cup dark rum (or spiced rum) or water
4 eggs
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp each ground ginger, nutmeg and salt
2oz white chocolate finely chopped
½ cup pasteurized egg white
¼ cup sugar
½ cup whipping cream
2 cups of pumpkin puree (not the pie mix)

Crust

in food processor grind gingersnaps, add butter. Press onto the bottom of cheese cake pan. Bake 350 for 10 min

Filling 

In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin over rum, set aside. In large bowl beat eggs and brown sugar until pale, beat in pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Transfer to sauce pan cook over med heat, stirring constantly for about 6 min. Remove from heat add gelatin mixture stir until melted. Add whit chocolate stir until melted. Scrape into large bowl, refrigerate stirring until slightly colder than room temperature, about ½ hour.
In medium bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks. Beat in sugar 1 tbsp at a time until stiff and glossy.

In a separate bowl whip cream then fold into pumpkin mixture. Slowly fold in egg whites. Scrap on to crust, swirl top chill for 4 hours (better if chilled over night)

Marshmallows, bubbles and sunshine.....

Happy Sunday Everyone :)

Hope you all got out and enjoyed this much needed sunshine this weekend :) I had the nicest day today :) I got the dreaded task of mowing my lawn out of the way at 9am this morning. I'm sure my neighbors were loving me, but at least I waited until 9 :) After the lawn was done, I set up camp at the picnic table on my patio and got down to some business. I have a wedding that I'm doing in a couple weeks, and I needed to put the final touches on my spreadsheet and just make sure all my ducks are in a row. Feeling good about it all, it's going to be tons of fun and I can't wait! I'll share all the details with you once it's done!

My little 3 year old nephew Caleb came over this afternoon for a playdate and we had the bestest time! Had a campfire and roasted marshmallows, put our toes in the lake and blew some bubbles on the dock. We got some "Auntie/Kid" time in today and I loved every minute of it. :)  Here's a few pics from our day :)

{ Bubbles on the dock }

{ Someone had a marshmallow and apple sauce face }

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and enjoy your evening!

Love Tam xo

What's on my table...

I'm very fortunate to be blessed with so many wonderful friends. :) I wish I was able to see some of them more often, but even though I don't get to see some of them as often as I'd like, I love them just the same :) Everyone has been so busy with the holidays, switching jobs, and their families that we thought it was time for a quick little get together. A few girlfriends and one certain Mr. came by for lunch and a visit. Was really great to see everyone, it's been a while since I laughed that much and it was just what I needed!

It's always nice to try and make your table look pretty. My best friend Kim gave me a great tip for keeping your table festive and it's super cheap. Instead of using whole table cloths, which can get pretty pricy and take up alot of space, (believe me I know), she suggested just using bits of cloth for table runners. It's great because you can always find bits of fabric in the discount bin, or because you're only making a table runner, you can splurge and get the fancier stuff that may have been too pricy if you were making an entire table cloth!

What's on my table:
Swatch of navy blue with white polka dotted fabric
Vintage milk glass vases from my personal collection. (one was a gift from Emily)
Yellow mums from the grocery store. ( I think they're mums)

What was on the menu:
Carrot, Yam, Apple and Ginger Soup
Spinach, Bacon, and Feta quiche
Spinach salad
and Caramel Apple Pie Crumble for dessert! (from Safeway, not homemade but sooo yummy)
oh and white wine of course ;)

Have a great night everyone!
Tam xo