Fifty Shades of OMG! Movie and Pre-Release Review

Not sure where to begin and I feel so much pressure to be writing this review since so many people are waiting to hear about it! HA!
Well lets begin:
Book vs Movie:
If you haven't read the book, DON'T!  why you ask?  Well sorry EL James but you should have invested in an editor.  It was horribly written!  The movie on the other hand was great!  I dont know if it was great because my expectations were so low because a) the book was horribly written or b) because Charlie Hunnam wasn't playing Christian Grey.  With that being said Jamie Dornan did a good job, not what I expected but he filled the roll and Dakota Johnson did a amazing job as Anastasia Steele.
Also for all of you that are dying to know there was tons of nakedness!!!!!
So all and all I give the movie two thumbs up.  It is a good girls night out that will provide you with lots of giggles!

Pre-Release Event by Passion Parties
What a well organized and fun night!  Kudos to the organizers! Amy-Lynn Murdoch was a great hostess, (To book a party or order some great things just click on her name)  For a total of apx $19 that got you: admission, medium popcorn, medium drink and a pretty awesome swag bag.  Cant beat that price.
I will admit I was a bit sad that my swag bag didn't have the same as Danielle's, however a nice girl named Crystal up'd my SWAG!!

My swag bag 

Danielle's treat

All in all I had a great girls night out.  It was well worth $20 and I am looking forward to the next two movies.

This is the selfie that has won me the new nickname T-Rex Arms!
I will be purchasing a selfie stick ASAP <3

Fun and Eventful Weekend Away

I know....its been like what?  A month and a bit.  To be completely honest I have just been too lazy to type.  I hate the winter and it makes me not want to do ANYTHING other than hibernate and sleep.  I have done a few fun things though, and this past weekend was filled with tons of fun things Jason and I, along with some friends did.  Here is how our weekend went:

Friday February 6:
We left Renfrew around noon and traveled towards Kingston to meet up with our good friends Chris and Ashley.  Usually when we head that way we must make a mandatory stop in Balderson, ON.  Balderson has a cheese factory where they have fresh curds (one of my favorite treats) This time I opted for the garlic dill curds.  I swear we weren't even out of the tiny town and I had them all eaten!

If you happen to be in the area I highly recommend stopping in.  They have a ton to look at and so many yummy things to taste.  Check out their website and you can see what I'm talking about!  Balderson Cheese
After getting turned around in Perth we were back on track!  While we were in Kingston I wanted to make sure I stopped at Target to see if I could score any deals. :-(  No such luck!  Most things I wanted were picked over or still rather pricy.  We arrived at our destination at around 4:30 and spent the rest of the evening catching up and eating!!

Saturday February 7:
We left Kingston at noon and headed for Toronto.  We arrived to the Westin Harbour Castle at around 2 and checked in.  If you need to stay downtown Toronto I would highly recommend this hotel.  This was my second time staying and it did not disappoint.  You are only a 10 minute walk to the CN Tower, Air Canada Centre and the Ripley's Aquarium.  Plus the amenities are great.  I give THE WESTIN HARBOUR CASTLE, TORONTO Two thumbs up.  After we got checked in and situated we headed to Ripleys Aquarium of Canada.  One word: AMAZING!  I had goosebumps the whole time I was there.  I am sure my mouth was on the floor the whole time.  We spent a total of two and a half hours there and it was well worth the ticket price.  If I had to complain about anything it would be that it was so hot and we didn't find the coat check until we were leaving.  Anyways here are some pictures.  (Please note that I was so busy watching all the fish that when I did snap my camera the fish I was aiming at had swam away!)

I would highly recommend going.  There is tons to do and a family could spend a full day.  They have special showings throughout the day of them feeding the fish, play structures and your even able to pet the stingrays and crabs!

After the aquarium we asked a staff member for a restaurant recommendation.  Her suggestion was the old spaghetti factory.  It was again only a few blocks from the hotel.  By this time though it had began to snow heavily and by the time we arrived we were snow covered.  So pasta was a great choice as it was filling and kept us warm!
The restaurant was eclectic and full of energy.  We had a great dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we had a few drinks and headed down to the pool and hot tub.  We spent a few hours there and decided to hit up the lounge in the hotel lobby.  Drinks here were pricy but the atmosphere was fun.

Sunday February 8:
I dont want to talk about how crappy the drive home was.....lets just say we left Toronto at 10 am and arrived home at 5 pm.....Did I mention I hate freezing rain?

All in all we had an awesome weekend spent with amazing friends who we don't get to see as much as we should.  Thanks C & A for inviting us along.  We had a blast and cant wait for the next weekend adventure!
xo Shan

New Year, New Start

HELLO,

 Its been a long time since I have written anything but to be honest I haven't really had to much going on.  Christmas and New years were super fun and I loved spending the time with my family and friends.  For New Years we had a small gathering at our place and we did a snack pot-luck and played the ever "politically incorrect" game Cards Against Humanity.  I was kind of neglectful of my camera and only managed to snap a few pictures:

So since it is a new year I thought that I would put out my New Year wishes.  I choose to use the word "wishes" instead of resolutions so that I am not so disappointed when next month rolls around and I have failed at 99% of them!!!
So here is my "WISH LIST"
~Save $$$$ and cut down on frivolous spending
~De-clutter and purge and by this I mean GET RID OF EVERYTHING!
~Become active and enjoy it!  (Haha this will be fail #1)

So that my friends is some of my 2015 wishes.  All of the above are very do-able...if you have any tips on how I can achieve these before 2016 please let me know!  I hope by becoming more active I will have lots so write about and keep everyone entertained.

Until next time...

Shan

Mid-Month Review December

Hello, I have decided since this month I have tried a few new things and totally fell in love with them I would share them with all of you!

#1 WICKED MIX-SPICY HOT CHIPOTLE.  OMG, I am in love with this snack mix.  Only problem is I have no clue where to buy it.  It was in a gift basket at work and I ended up eating the whole bag!  If you find this mix when you are out, PLEASE for the love of God message me where you seen it!  I have emailed the company in hopes for a list of retailers in Canada!

Anyways this is a snack for anyone who like salty, sweet plus a lot of heat.  If you stop eating your mouth starts on fire and lasts up to a few minutes.  I am not normally someone who enjoys the burning sensation in my mouth but for some reason this is different.  The sweetness of the check mix keeps you reaching for more!  It has morsels of nuts, pretzels, and cereal squares.  DELICIOUS.  I wish I could offer a price point and retail location but that is TBD and I will update as soon as I hear back from the company.  I give this snack mix ***** (5 Stars)

UPDATE ON WICKED MIX- So within 24 hours I was contacted by Alex @Wicked Mix who delivered the following news :-(

"Thanks you so much for your awesome note! We are thrilled when we receive such great feedback. To tell you a little bit about us, we are a fairly new company (just about a year and a half old) and we make our product in Little Rock AR. WE have been growing like crazy since we started and are just ecstatic of how much people share our love for Wicked Mix!

The gift basket you received was our first introduction to Canada and would love to do more sales over there. If you have any suggestions of your favorite gourmet shops please let us know and I’ll be happy to contact them.

We are also working on getting sales through Amazon worked out."
So if you have any ideas or contacts with whom I could pass along to Alex as to where he could sell this product I am sure he would be happy.  In the mean time lets all take a second to hit the LIKE button on their Facebook page and tell them that Shannon Fraser sent you!!! Click this link to be sent to their page! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wicked-Mix/572040806175061


#2 St. Ives Even and Bright Pink Lemon and Mandarin Orange Body Wash

Want to feel refreshed and awake after your shower!  This has been my favorite body wash EVER! I will admit that when it comes to body wash I never really stick with one brand.  Also when you coupon you end up with many different kinds and cant be loyal to one brand, however! I think since I fell in love with this one so much I will be donating my stock pile because this is a keeper!
The website says: "Polish away little imperfections with new St. Ives^® Even & Bright Bodywash. This invigorating body wash blends just the right combination of Pink Lemon & Mandarin Orange with 100% Natural Exfoliants. Use daily with St. Ives^® lotions for even, brighter looking skin!"  THAT IT DID!!
It retails at Walmart for $5.47 which is very comparable to other body washes price wise.  I give this body wash ***** (5 Stars)

Let me know if you try either of these products!
xoShannon

Crock Pot Christmas Mix Recipe

1/4 cup melted margarine
1 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups pretzel sticks
1 1/2 cup salted peanuts
2 cups cheerios
2 cups shreedies
1 1/2 cups cheese bits/crackers

Combine first 6 ingredients and stir well.  Add the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Drizzle butter mixture over the dry ingredients. 
Transfer to slow cooker.  Cook on high for 2 hours making sure to stir every 30 minutes.
Let cool.  Store in freezer bags or air tight containers.

xoShannon

Christmas Baking Shannielle Style!

Ha!  Guess what we did this weekend?  If you guessed we made a huge mess then you are right!!  If you also guessed that I had a PINTREST fail, you are also right!! But, we had two kids that ended up in sugar coma's that said they had an awesome night!!!

Christmas baking was a success! Danielle and I planned what we were going to bake a head of time to ensure that we had all required ingredients.  We decided on easy recipes and also stuff we already had in our cupboards. 
So without further ado here is how our night went:
We started out with the most time consuming but funniest recipe to keep the kids involved:  No Chill Sugar Cookies.

Yes, Benny is baking in his underwear!

Arleigh hard at work

Before heading to the oven

In the meantime while the cookies were baking and cooling we started on a few other recipes.  Crock pot bits & bites and peanut butter rice crisp balls (this was my PINTREST FAIL).  After we had started the other two and put aside we had the kids start to decorate their sugar cookies.  For anyone who knows Danielle's son Bentley his middle name is Willy Wonka so he was in heaven with all the Cake Mate Scribblers icing!

After we cleaned the sticky mess we finished off the other treats we had on the go

Okay now for all of you who are interested in the first official Pin Fail here it is:  Mine is on the right and what it is suppose to look like in on the left.

 Anyways it may not have looked great but they tasted awesome!  And for our final recipe we decided on a Canadian favorite: Butter Tarts.

Once all the baking was done, cleaned up and the kids were in bed Danielle and I had a chance to decorate our own sugar cookies.

Danielle's

Shannon's

**If you would like to have the recipies that we used please leave a comment below

Shannon vs Pintrest Round 1

Hello All!
It has been a while since I last posted but to be completely honest I have never been so busy!  Working three jobs has taken up most of my spare time. 
Although I did manage to hit up the Eric Church concert (which I might add was AMAZING)
with some friends (The Rathbone's) for some much needed down time.

Anyways as promised way back when I decided to venture into the world of blogging I said that I enjoy challenging Pintrest.  So here is my first official blog attempting a PIN.
I was super excited when this project showed up on my home page and knew I had to attempt it for my front porch. (original blog where I got the idea: http://smartgirlsdiy.com/2013/12/7th-day-of-christmas-danish-nisse/)

Supplies:
~3 different size pieces of wood cut diagonal at one end
~White and Red acrylic paint
~3 pom poms for the noses
~6 buttons for the eyes
~Thick Christmas themed ribbon
~Glue gun
~Staple gun

I was pretty happy the way that they turned out.

A special thanks to Stephanie and her husband Keith for taking the time to cut the trees for this project!!
Please let me know if you get the chance to ad this project to your Christmas decor ;-)