Dairy Free Betty: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Looking forward…

I’ll be honest, 2009 and 2010 were the 2 hardest years of my life so far… which makes me hopeful that 2011 will be AMAZING!

How can it not?

It’s starting off tonight with some of our favourite friends…

(source)

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Then there is our wedding in Mexico!! Smile I can’t even begin to imagine how awesome it will be to celebrate with 30 of our favourite people! It’s not very often you get to spend a whole week with your hand chosen favourite group of people!

I get emotional every time I think about the day that we all show up!! Our group of 10 arrive at the resort around 12:30, and the next groups follow at 4:30, and then 8:30… followed by D’s family coming the next day! I’ll probably cry with each wave of people that show up!! Some people I haven’t seen in years!

Then there is that whole “Marrying my best friend thing!!” Winking smile I can’t wait!!

Also, I am also SO grateful that my DREAM photographer will be at my wedding. She has been friend forever, but we weren’t sure how to get her there, but everything has worked out, and she flies in the same day we do AND she is staying the whole week with us!

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There are 2 VERY special babies being born into our lives in 2011!!

(source)

One in April and another in July!! (Not ours!)

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I will be graduating late Spring from College!

(source)

and possibly continuing on after I finish up!!

1 course at a time until I am done my degree!

Because I am enjoying school so much!

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I know there will be tons of other excitements during 2011, but these are some of my highlights that pop up right now!

A little inspiration from one of my favourite blogs, something to go forward into 2011 with…

“I am capable of so much. And I am excited at the opportunity of new challenges, more love.”

What are you looking forward to in 2011??

xo much love,

Jess

ps. please be sure to get home safe tonight…

Thursday, December 30, 2010

I’m back……

Hey guys!

Sorry for the absence… we had Christmas, and then we jetted away for a few days at a lovely resort for some R & R!!!! I didn’t hardly take any pictures at Christmas, so I’ll just give you a re-cap of the R & R few days!

I HAVE to do a review of the amazing resort we went too, as it was a wonderful experience!! We saved up some money over the last year to indulge in an after Christmas stress holiday, as we did it last year and it was a fantastic stress reliever.

After being recommend the Tigh-Na-Mara resort by many friends, we decided this was the place!!

Here is the view from our Ocean View, Jacuzzi tub, room!

So beautiful! Usually the beach goes out for miles and miles and you get tons of gorgeous sand bars, but it only went out after dark for us… I got a few snap shots before the sun went down though…

Such a lovely spot!!

I even met a new friend…

My camera has terrible zoom, so I was actually this close to him, we did a photo shoot – I have about a million other pictures of him too!!!

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Two of our friend joined us at the resort, and we went out for a fancy dinner… which of course was lovely.

There was nothing on the menu that was dairy free, so I asked the waitress if possible to create me something seafoody/pasta ish. And I got a fantastic pasta dish loaded with crab, prawns, scallops, clams, and a great tomatoes sauce!!

It was delish… and the company was pretty alright too! Winking smile

We found this lovely gazeboo and tried to take a few later night shots… which worked out ok!!

Our lovely friends!!! She’s got a bun in the oven, and we are SO EXCITED!!!

Overall… this resort was amazing… the rooms were stunning, views amazing, food fantastic… staff were amazing! It was a perfect get away!!! We are hoping to go back in the summer time, as it looks like they have lots of fun things going on during that time of year!

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We spent the second day spa-ing it up! D had a massage, and then we played in the mineral pool.

Then we went for the ultimate foodie experience…

Endless tapas in the Tree Top Tapas Lounge! (in our bath robes and flip flops, which was required attire!)…

For $45 per person, we got to sample all of the following (They were awesome too and made all of them except 2, dairy free for me!!) Plus there were 2 deserts!

I’m noticing now that there are a few on here we didn’t try, but we got them substituted for other things!!

It was foodie heaven, I’m telling you!! It was SUPER dark, but I snapped a few photos!!

Flatbread with hummus and balsamic/olive oil!

One of the best soups EVER – Carrot and Butternut Squash with corn relish.

My favourite dish of all – Cilantro Sticky Rice, Seaweed Salad and Marinated Squid

I stopped taking photos, as it kept getting darker and darker.

This was one of my top 3 favourite restaurant experiences, hands down… especially because of our amazing server Christopher! We will be going back again for sure!!

Anyways, if you live on Vancouver Island, or are looking for a beautiful/romantic get away this is the place!! They didn’t miss a beat and it’s oozing amazing West Coast flare.

Check out the link to the Tigh-na-mara You will not be disappointed!!!!

~We paid for all of our services, food and accommodations, this review is strictly from our personal experience.

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas holidays!! I will be back tomorrow with some more foodie goodness!

xo Jess

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve 2010

Hey guys!

Can you believe today is Christmas Eve?

I’ll give you a recap of what we get up to in the next few days!!

So you know awhile ago, I sent out a Canadian Secret Santa request and a few

ladies jumped at the opportunity!! Want to see what they all received?!

(source)

Ali’s Fit to Fat – a lovely gift full of Christmas goodies!

Jolene from Every Day Foodie – got a PERFECT foodie gift!

Jenny from Da Rock – got a super sweet gift!

Heather at Simply Raw got Choco Coco Goodness

I got a LOVELY tea for one set!

Kris from I Heart Wellness got a gift too but I just don’t know what yet!! (sorry Kris I missed you!)

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I’ll keep today short and sweet and a recap of the last few days!!

Thursday - Daily Eats (with yummy recipes)

Wednesday – 3 Super Easy, Super Fast Holiday Treats! (Perfect for Gifts)

Tuesday – LOVE Affair Cookies – possibly the best cookies EVER! (and pretty too)

Monday – A Relaxing Post – perfect to read if you are feeling stressed!

Enjoy all the posts! I LOVE hearing from you, so comment away!! Also, I appreciate each and every one of my readers SO MUCH!

Your comments and love keep me writing and loving every second of it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you, I hope it’s an amazing holiday for you, filled with lots of love and happiness!! (and good food!)

All the best,

Jessica

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A few daily eats!(and a few recipes!)

We’ll it’s been FOREVER since I have done some daily eats posts!! I am loving posting every day, it feels so good!!! Smile

Anyways, here are some things that have been on my plate lately!

Red Thai Curry – you can find the recipe here!! This is one of my favourites!

This one was so spicy! I guess I mixed up the mild/hot spice levels (oops)

Also some more Mac and Cheese!! Click her for the recipe!

I LOVE this recipe!!

Although it only seems to be good right away… not so good as left overs!! Boo… Maybe if I kept the pasta and the cheese sauce separate?

Also, a little bit of B.L.T action…

Yummers!

Last but not least… I wanted to share a very special note from a friend…

She was in Hawaii, and saw this and thought of me…

She made her BF go back when she had a camera, because she knew it would be special for me…

Closer view… so sweet.

“The best thing that one can do for the self, is to help another be an angel, and commit a kind of selfless act today. Imagine if we all did this, we would transcend this world into what it should be – HEAVEN and we would be what we all should be… ANGELS in HEAVEN!”

So special! Thanks Tash! xo

Enjoy your day!

xo Jess