Wednesday 28 December 2011

Blazer - Holiday Outfit Inspiration

I love the holidays for many reasons - one of which is dressing up! I am a girl that loves clothes, jewellery, accessories and makeup.  The holidays are a time full of parties and gatherings that permit combining my loves!


Blazers Inspired me this season 

 My outfit for the Volunteer Firefighter Christmas Party

Want list - Bright colorer Blazer
Kourtney Kardashian is always a fashion inspiration for me.  
Her style is so chic and simple yet sexy and edgy - I love it

Sunday 25 December 2011

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to All!
I hope everyone has a fabulous day full of all the things you love! xo
Benson family Christmas

Monday 19 December 2011

Baking Confidence

So excited right now I just cannot contain it! I just finished baking my first ever batch of homemade cinnamon buns!!!!
I have had a fear of making homemade (completely from scratch) buns and bread for sometime now.  Today I decided to just go for it.  We are having my family over for Xmas even brunch and I really wanted to make these so today was my trial run.  I don't know what I was so scared of - they turned out fantastic!!
It was a little time consuming but in the end so worth it
Kevin can hardly wait to get home from work since I've been texting him pictures of these

The process

Final product

May add some icing for extra sweetness for our brunch
If anyone would like the recipe I would be happy to post it (From Whitewater cookbook)

Take chances in the kitchen friends, it is well worth it!!!

Sunday 18 December 2011

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Although Christmas seemed to really sneak up this year we are really starting to get into the spirit around here!
Just wanted to share a few pictures from our home to yours!

 The cutest little Christmas birds that my cousin Carly gave us :)

 Kona loves snow and Christmas!

 Our new sparkly silver place-mats really make our dinner table feel festive (oh man that pizza was delicious!!)

 Kona sleeping by the fire

Our Christmas tree finally has some gifts under it

 Having so much fun skating on the rink Kevin made this morning
 Fun in the snow! 

Goofing around

Have a wonderful Sunday evening everyone - we are off to my parents house for dinner and Christmas tree decorating!

Friday 16 December 2011

Coffee

Mmmm Cappuccino
I got this delicious cup at The Parlour on Main Street


Wednesday 14 December 2011

Fun, Food & Fashion with Friends!

What a wonderful evening that encapsulated many of the wonderful things in life - fun, food and fashion with great friends!  Okay so the focus was more on the fun and food with friends but fashion is always in the back of my mind.  However did purchase a sequin shirt from Joe Fresh yesterday that I rocked tonight (not the best picture but you get the idea)
Emily & I

Tonight we dined at Segovia which is a Spanish Tapas bar in Osborne Village.  The atmosphere is fantastic, the service was great - although we (especially Jesse Matas ;) ) were disappointment we didn't get one of the legendary male servers) and the food was out of this world.
Tapas consists of small portions that you typically share - between the 5 of us we enjoyed such dishes as:
*Tuna tartar
*Grilled octopus with chorizo romesco sauce, fingerling potatoes and capers
*Butternut squash gnudi with ash aioli, pumpkin seeds, brussel sprouts
and many many more

For dessert we sampled:
*Cinnamon churros with spanish hot chocolate (To die for!!)
*Toasted almond and apricot pie

 Steph & Kendra
 Jesse looking so wise
Lovely evening with lovely people

xo

Monday 12 December 2011

Tis' the season for sparkles

I love decorating for Christmas! You can go with the classic red and green color palette, white and silver, gold and red - really any color scheme can work during the holiday season in my opinion.  This year I am all about the red, white and sparkles!

I wanted to share with you a few Christmas touches from my home to yours 

This is my current dining room table centre piece

 Reindeer :) 

My favourite Le Creuset Pitcher (thanks Mom!) with red and pearl berry branches from Michael's

Friday 9 December 2011

6 months till our Wedding!

December 9th marks 6 MONTHS till our Wedding!

So as you can well imagine I am spending my days daydreaming about all the little details...
Obsessed with these - Probably going to make my own but can also be purchased on Etsy

There will be coloured straws and mason jar cups at our wedding - likely grey & pink straws 
Check these out on Etsy

Etsy.com for those of you who do not know is like a huge online craft sale.  Check it out!!


These are the Christian Louboutin dream shoes - a Little out of my budget but a girl can dream!!

These shoes are a close second - Badgley Mischka

xoxo Danielle (Dreaming of weddings!)

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Boots - Can you even own to many pairs?

As most girls do - I LOVE BOOTS.  I love how they are so versatile and can make any ordinary outfit into something magnificent. Today I wanted to share with you some pics of my favourite boots:
These are my 'go-to boots' I purchased them in Vegas last year and have definitely gotten my moneys worth out of them. I love wearing them day to day with jeans, in the fall with a skirt or in the summer with dresses.  I even wore them in our engagement photos this past summer (see below photo).  I will be sad when I wear out these puppies

 Recent Grand Forks purchase - my first pair of 'motorcycle boots'
Also a recent purchase - I am IN LOVE already. I feel like these go with anything...

My question to you - how many pairs of boots do you own and is there such a thing as owning to many?

Danielle (15 pairs - including winter boots)

Friday 2 December 2011

Morning dilemma - Milk vs. Eggnog

I consider myself a pretty healthy person - I exercise, I try to eat healthy and make good choices related to my health and wellness.  However I sometimes struggle with these choices when faced with delicious holiday related food and drinks, such as eggnog.
My latest dilema: Morning coffee with 1% milk or Morning coffee with Eggnogg (Aka. Noffee)

It does not help that Kevin is eggnog crazy starting around mid-November so it is ALWAYS in our fridge.
Yummy!

If you have not yet tried a Noffee I highly recommend it - warning it is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! :)

Cheers!

Great Leadership Video

Morning Peeps,

As many of you know I love personal development, leadership and anything that challenges people to push their limits and achieve their goals :)
Here is a great video that got sent it me - It's 18 mins but worth a watch if you love personal development like I do...

http://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4

Enjoy!