Lick it List

I read this very adorable and inspiring article today.  Anyone who knows me know I love all animals but dogs tend to be a smidgen more my favourite and if I can help a child out I will definitely do so, this “Lick it List” is right up my alley.  This little boy wants to reward his dog, Bingo, with “Treats from around the world”

Reading the article you will see that this little boy has had his service dog Bingo for many years now and Bingo is responsible for saving the little boys life NUMEROUS times, she was even awarded a Purina Hero Recognition award.  Man, I love stories like that.  Bingo is now 13 years old and she is very sick, so the boy created Bingo her very own “Lick it List” which includes giving Bingo "Treats from around the world"  Totally adorable.  My dawg has her treats addressed and ready to be dropped in the mail tonight!  If you love dogs and want to brighten this little boy’s day read the article and send a treat if you can! 

Take Advantage of Free Tickets Offered by Friends! Lakeside a la Carte!

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to go to Burlington’s Lakeside a la Carte.  By all means, this is not a THRIFTY event.  AT $110 per person, it’s pretty high on the hog for me.  The thing is I was offered two free tickets through a friend.  I jumped at the opportunity to grab them as I know I would never be able to afford them myself.  I took my sister with me as she loves food and trying new foods.  (Hubby had to work and as he is the pickiest eater ever, he would not have enjoyed it anyways.)  I know this is not a thrifty idea, but I can’t stress enough that if you are offered an opportunity to go to an event for free, JUMP ON IT!!!  I was so glad we did as it was AMAZING!!!

My sister and I pretended we were “foodies” (I always associate that word with hoity toity food professionals; either chefs or fancy bloggers) and enjoyed some amazing treats: lobster rolls, pork belly sliders, prime ribs sliders, venison sheppard's pie, Dr.Pepper ribs, peach and blueberry cobblers, foie grois, to name a few. 

And lots of wine! Correction, my sister had lots of wine, I was DD and I don’t drink much anyways. At a $110 per person all the alcohol was included. 

We had a wonderful afternoon!  It was beautiful weather and we were at a beautiful park right on the beach of Lake Ontario. 

Great times and great company!

Make sure to take advantage of free tickets for any event offered by friends, you just never know how much fun you will have!!!

Hamilton Festival of Friends

http://www.creativearts.on.ca/

We stumbled across this amazing event last weekend: The Hamilton Festival of Friends. Mark it on your calendars for next August; it’s FREE to get in, $10 for parking. 

The most exciting part of the festival was all of the free amazing performers; check out this year’s list!  I was so excited!  I have been a huge Bangles fan since I was 5 years old.  My sister and I STILL listen to their CDs EVERY time we are in the car.  They are easily our most listened to band.  And my hubby likes them too!  So we drove up with some friends just to see the Bangles, and we were not disappointed as they were amazing.  Hands down the best concert I have ever seen.

In addition to the performers there were rides and tons of vendors for crafts, jewellery and accessories.  And don’t get me started on the food vendors, tons of yummy treats via trucks: cupcakes, deep fried Mars bars, fries, pulled pork tacos, corndogs, and roast chicken to name a few.  Yum!   It was a great night!  We only went the first night but it lasted 3 full days! 

People brought their dogs!  Children will love this! 

Clothing Swap and Potluck = Success!!!

I hosted some of my hockey ladies for a clothing swap and potluck. The potluck food all ended up being healthy and all had a Latin flare without our planning on it so that was really cool. All of the food was so yummy!  I invited 12 people and there was 6 including me in the end, I was worried it wasn’t going to work well without a lot of people, but we ended up with a lot of clothing!   

My Table before the food was put on it ~ Cheap decorating idea: The fuschia runner is really my scarf!  Also, the black candleholder was a $0.25 garage sale find I spray painted with leftover black spray paint!  Flowers from my garden and trivets from Dollarama!



One of my friends brought homemade Watermelon salsa - It was heaven!  Sweet, fresh and spicy!  I am still swooning over it!

I used my kitchen and tried to make it look like a classy little boutique.  It ended up resembling something more like a rummage sale but at least it was organized!  haha.  I used signs to help keep everything somewhat organzied like a store and drapped white table clothes and white bed sheets across chairs, a shelf from the basement, the kitchen table and the dog crate. 

I had a garbage bag from my Mom and a garbage bag from my sister in addition to the 3 bags I had. One of the other girls brought clothes from one of our friends who couldn’t make it.  Everyone brought clothing that didn’t fit them anymore or they just never wore, for 6 women, we had a LOT to choose from!

Everyone found a lot of stuff which is awesome! I was so happy! I think I got the most; I ended up with a garbage bag and a half full of clothing. This is awesome as my clothing has been swimming on me and I wanted to wait until I reached my goal weight to buy clothes. (Plus, I can't afford to buy the clothes right now... ) I got about 7 pairs of jeans which is wild as I can never find jeans to fit. I even got a pair of jean capris that I searched for all over the place at the beginning of summer and couldn’t find. I can’t believe it. I ended up with a few pieces that I don’t quite fit into yet but I snagged them as no one else wanted them, with hopes that in a few months I can fit into them! What a huge money saver! A lot of the stuff was brand new; people bought it and then decided to never wear it.

The leftovers will be picked up by the Canadian Diabetes association. We had EIGHT FULL garbage bags of clothing for charity! And most of it is brand new or newish stuff! How awesome is that!

This idea was so awesome, everyone had a lot of fun and everyone requested we do this seasonally. Plus the potluck was awesome as it was less work for me and it’s so fun to see all the different things people make and get to eat it! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!!! :)

You can do this for kids' clothes, men's clothes or for the whole family!