13/52

Last week, Brent and I totally forgot to post our picture! We need to get back on it! It's starting to get warmer lol I love how I say warmer when in reality its only just above zero! Anyways now that spring is slowly coming back, Brent and I have a bunch of ideas for outdoors pictures so we're excited :) 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! 

Yesterday my friends was a very special day! My main squeeze turned twenty five! Twenty five, you guys! He's half way to 50 now!! 

I met Brent when he was 20, so you can imagine how crazy I think it is that he has now turned 25! Time has literally flown by and there is no one is this world I'd rather have them fly with!

This year Brent had a few requests for his special day, he wanted to see family, eat some good food, meet up with friends and drink beers. I can say that all of those were accomplished! Since this year we're now living together, I wanted to have a little surprise for him in the morning! I made his favourite muffins, banana chocolate chip, and bought him a couple of shirts and a spiderman balloon. 

The big surprise though was tickets to Big Music Fest! We get to go in July and we'll be seeing Aerosmith and Slash! I'm pretty excited for my first rock concert... that'll be a doozy! 

Hooray, for another birthday! Here's to another year filled with happiness, health and lots of love! 

Also, today my old man turned 52 and gosh I love him to death, I am a huge daddy's girl. My dad is just the kind of man that I know Brent will be to his kids. He's so loving and kind, a little annoying but lets be real, what dad isn't? I just love him so much!

My mom and I often talk about how my dad and Brent are very much alike, maybe its because their birthdays are a day apart, they're the same sign (it's ridiculous that I'm even going there, I know) but seriously... My dad is such a good husband to my mom, he's so caring, respectful and loving and I am just so blessed that my boyfriend is the exact same when it comes to being a good "hubby". 

I am just so lucky and it makes me really happy that I have these two men in my life! I hope that everyone has a fun weekend, I know that I will :)

homemade applesauce

Hello Friends! 

I have been trying my darn hardest to stick to the healthy lifestyle, this weekend I may have had a few unhealthy foods but I don't feel guilty because it's all about a balanced lifestyle! I have been spending a lot of my time online these last couple of days. I just want to find recipes and more recipes that will help me make this healthy gig fun! I love to cook and try different things! Getting Brent to try new things is a bit of a work in progress but I'll hide a bit more vegetables in his food and he'll never know the difference! What a sneaky devil I am! 

This morning I woke up with this strange desire for applesauce... say whattt? I have no idea where it came from, I must have been dreaming about it! Naturally, I looked online on a homemade recipe because I had apples but no applesauce! I found that apple sauce is pretty much three things, apples, cinnamon and water! So here is my recipe, this recipe is a small serving because I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about it! 

Homemade Apple Sauce

• 2 apples, pealed and cut up 
• 1 tsp cinnamon (I love a lot of cinnamon, this one is completely up to you) 
• 1/4 cup of water

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling turn the heat down low (I put it at 3) and place the lid on the pan and let is simmer for 15-20 minutes. When it looks all soft and mushy, use a hand blender, processor or potato masher to mush it all up! Now you're all done and have yummy, healthy and homemade applesauce! 

Before                                                              After  

My apple sauce looks a little like you know what, but thats thanks to all the cinnamon I used! Next time I make more, I will use different apples. I used granny smith apples and it came out just a little sour (good thing I made a small serving, huh?) Although, I think it did taste delicious, I like a little bit of a kick, I do think that a sweeter apple would taste much better! 

closet shopping

It's sunday and I'm not even mad about it at all. I have had such a wonderful weekend, I seriously cannot complain! Friday night Brent, the boys and I went to this pub here in our town and I am SO excited about it. It is like the pub from How I Met Your Mother. It is so adorable in there, I can see us spending a lot of time there this spring and summer! Saturday we had a lazy day, Brent didn't work so the guys spent the day here with us and we just chilled out watched movies and laughed a lot. It's strange how special those guys have become to me, they are the brothers and best guy friends a girl could ask for. I wouldn't trade them for the world! 

Okay, so that's besides the point of this whole post haha but I'm so excited about it I had to tell you guys about it! SO I have had this awful itch to shop and I mean spend all the money in the world... I don't know what is going on or WHY I am feeling so compelled to spend money (that I don't have) this needs to end. My solution, you ask? Well I'm going to go shopping in my closet. I have SO much clothing its actually a little ridiculous... okay, really ridiculous. SO this afternoon I spent my time going through my closet and seeing what outfits I can find and trying to make new outfits! I believe that it's slowly curing my itch but now I realize that I definitely don't have the SHOES for all these cute outfits. GAH, I just can't win! 

Here are some of the outfits I was able to come up with! Whats your favourite? AND also if anyone hears of any GOOD shoe deals please let a sister know! I can always justify a good sale ;) 

There's actually a funny story behind this dress. This is my grandmother dress from way back when, for my 21st birthday we were having an ugly clothing party and I chose this dress, it was very long and box shaped I looked like I was wearing a sac of potatoes. Anyways, it turned out to look really cute after I cut it and took it in! It's funny how you can make something ugly look really cute!

100 happy days

Ooh my goodness gracious, how perfect is this?! 

As you all may know I have been on the mission to happiness ever since the New Year. The word happiness was my new years resolution goal and I have been sticking to it surprisingly well! I have seen this hashtag on instagram numerous times but I never really understood what it was all about, until tonight! I was looking at some blogs and came across this little number and I just got so darn excited! I'm joining the force and tomorrow I'll be joining the 100 happy days challenge, you can learn more and sign up here!

I know it'll get hard since not everyday is a happy day but I want to document and prove to myself that my life is beautiful even on the crappy days! So follow me on instagram @kathypaulo and join me on my journey to happiness! 

Happiness is a key component to a good life, so why not join too! I want to hear about your stories too! Be sure to add me on instagram and tag #thedaintykat100 :) 

get him dressed // 01

Okay, so when I was deciding about starting up my 'get me dressed' series, I was discussing it with Mitch (my sisters boyfriend) He is definitely one of my main supporters when it comes to this blog and I appreciate it greatly, it's always so nice when family supports one another... Thanks bud! :)

Anyways, I had mentioned the series to him and he said it was a pretty neat idea but since he's a guy he would like to see a 'get me dressed' for men! So being the good blogger that I am, I'm giving my people what they want! 

I feel like mens clothing is SO much more expensive than women's. It kind of boggles my mind how when a women's clothing store has a sale the discounts are HUGE but it's never like that for mens!  Since I am a cheap clothing kind of girl I decided to make a list of nice but cheap mens clothing and accessories options! It got approved by both Brent and his best friend Cale, they liked it all except for the shoes... but they're my fav haha oh well can't win 'em all! 

cargo jacket, jeans, watch, plaid shirt, shoes

21 days

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Did you know that it apparently only takes 21 days to make a habit? If not, now you know! As you may have seen in yesterdays post, I spoke about how I just haven't been feeling myself... I've just been BLAH. I still got my crap together and actually worked out and made a pretty healthy dinner. A round of applause anyone? No? Okay... Anyways, I sat down and really thought to myself, what do I want in my life? I have been going down the happy road and it has seriously been working but it's just not enough. 

I cannot complain about my body, I am fortunate to be blessed with good genes and a pretty quick metabolism but, yes there is a but, I have never been fully HAPPY with my body. Yes, I am skinny and yes I am lucky but I feel like my body can be MORE. I want to be FIT. I want to be HEALTHY. I have never posted about my insecurities and I probably will never really get into it on this blog but today I do want to tell you about the 21 day challenge. 

Last night as I was searching the web and bumming around I came across this 21 day deal and you know what, I think, no scratch that, I KNOW I can do it. I am NOT going on some intense diet, I am NOT doing a cleanse I am just choosing to change my habits a little bit. Eat a little better and exercise a little more. It's a little change but it's my very own. It's my project and I believe I can complete it and continue it. Don't get me wrong I will never EVER give up my burgers but a little cheat never killed anyone right?

SO on April 9th I will check back with ya and we'll see how it went! Maybe now that I've posted it online I'll actually stick with it! 

(imagesource)

Hello friends, 

I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday, it's super rainy out today and you know what I seriously cannot complain one bit about it, I love it. It means were making progress, it means spring is coming and summer will soon be here. I am so excited to finally wear shorts, dresses and everything summer. Oh the bliss of it. Okay, okay, enough day dreaming! 

This week I have been feeling all sorts of weird. I haven't really felt like myself, I haven't been bubbly or happy or anything, I've just been blah. I'm thinking its just one of those weeks. I have been procrastinating HARD on all of my goals lately and I just need to snap out of it. I'm procrastinating at this very moment, I should be working out but here I am writing a blog post. I have been finding all sorts of excuses to not work out and not eat healthy, I've been too tired or that burger looks too good. What in the world is going on in this brain of mine?

It's time that I snap out of it. No more of this blah crap. Happiness is what I'm aiming for so that is exactly what I will do, make myself HAPPY. So no more crappy food, no more "I'm too tired to work out" excuses and absolutely NO MORE being blah. I'm bringing my Positive Patricia persona back and she's gonna kick ass! 

  

get me dressed // 01

OKAY, so I have been meaning to do a post on fashion and style for a looong time! I am not a very fashion forward type of gal, I prefer comfort over being fashionable any day. You definitely won't find me wearing a cute leather jacket in -13 degree weather. 

I have SO many blogs that I love to follow but one thing that I find that they ALL have in common is whenever they do "what you should be wearing, what I wore etc" posts every item they have listed is usually SO expensive. Since I am a broke girl who loves clothes on the cheap I want to start looking for awesome finds that are also wallet friendly! I mean not everyone has money to spend $50 bucks of a plain white T. So here I am beginning a new series called Get Me Dressed! I hope you all enjoy it :) 

watch // overalls // booties // bag // bracelets 

Ripleys aquarium

Okay guys, just so you're forewarned this is going to be a very picture heavy post! Yesterday, the family and I made our way to Toronto for an AWESOME lunch and a trip to the aquarium! I cannot express enough how good of a day I had. I love spending time with my family so much, throw in Brent and Mitch and it just makes my day that much better! It's so nice to spend quality time with your family to do something different than staying home... it's just so good. I am so blessed with the family I have, we like to spend time together, we laugh at and with each other, we're just a good team. Slap me silly, I got lucky with them. Tonight Mitch and Philipa are coming over for dinner and a sleepover, it will be Mitch's first time over so we are pretty excited to have him here! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week! Hey, maybe it'll start to warm up a bit?! Wishful thinking, am I right?! :)

11/52

Ahhhh I know that I didn't get to add a picture last week! Since I was away I completely forgot :( Not going to let it happen again :) 

Montreal

My, my, my What an adventure this week has been! 

I know I have been pretty MIA from the blog lately, a lot of things in life have come up and I just haven't really been thinking about this little corner of mine. I promise, that is all about to change, I just need to get back into it! 

Last Saturday, I left for my first S-Trip as a Trip Leader. This new experience was a horribly amazing one. I find it difficult to explain what it was like because it is an experience you need to have to truly understand. It was awful in so many ways but extremely amazing in others. I have made many new friendships, learned MANY new things and I truly believe it has helped me grow as a person. 

As a Trip Leader you encounter many situations, you are faced with many decisions some difficult and others not. My patience was tested and I can say I did crack under the pressure of it but I regained myself and made the best out of this experience. 

Dealing with drunk people is always difficult, throw in emotions and whatever else a teenager goes through and it can be just mayhem. Yet, I learned so many new things... I actually can control my temper, I can deal with extremely difficult situations calmly, I can be a shoulder for someone to cry on and most importantly I CAN do anything I set my mind too. 

After my first day I was already ready to call it quits, when you and a group of 15 are in charge of about 400 or so students it becomes pretty stressful but today I can honestly say I would do it again. You learn how to be a team quickly and honestly better than any office environment could ever teach you. You learn how to quickly trust and rely on others help and that it is OKAY to ask for help. And overall you learn how to just be a better leader. I came out of this experience so sad that it was over (yet SO relieved) and I truly feel like this is one of the best things I have ever done. To be surrounded by students and so many different personalities is just so great.

I honestly think that the BEST part of my trip was when the students would thank me for helping them out. Be it in a situation of being too drunk, preventing a fight or just overall making their trip great. Those comments and thanks made it ALL worth it. 

I will admit that this job is NOT for everyone, like one of my coordinators said "it takes a special kind of crazy to do what we do." That being said, I guess I'm a special kind of crazy because I am excited to do it again (eventually) and excited to see what else I can learn! I love being around people and being on the go, I can't wait to meet new students and go on different adventures, after I get about eight days of sleep, of course! 

Bus number 5 are my students, ohhhh those students of mine. They were awesome and I am SO proud that NONE of them caused myself and the other Trip Leaders big problems, maybe a little bit of lip but what would you expect from teenagers? If any of you are reading this, I truly want to say thank you thank you thank you. You guys were awesome and made me feel so welcome and cool ;) I'm sending you lots of love and the best of luck for the future! You guys are all a bunch of wicked kids and I hope nothing but the best for you! Thank you for being rock stars! 

canada

Yesterday, I had the chance to sit through a Canadian Citizenship Ceremony. No, it was not fun. Yes, it was boring but you can bet I would do it again (eventually.) I went with my dads best friend, he has been living with us for almost a year now and was in the process of gaining his citizenship. Throughout this whole process, my family and I have been helping him out with becoming legal, mind you I have been the one to do a lot of the translating but I'm used to it. Being a first generation Canadian, you get stuck having to do a lot of translating and helping your parents out. I was literally raised to be a translator haha. 

Anyways, yesterday was kind of emotional and so very exciting! Having been a part of the process for so long seeing it finally come to an end where everyone is happy makes all of the headaches worth it. If you saw these people receiving their Canadian citizenship you would understand. They all looked so happy and finally relaxed. 

If you've never experienced the immigration process it is a long and very gruelling one. We have many family friends who are in the process and many of my parents friends are immigrants. The process can take many years and it is very stressful. So to all those who are becoming immigrants, be it in Canada, USA or any other country in the world. I wish you the best of luck and the most happiness! 

Canada is such a beautiful country and I am so fortunate my parents decided to immigrate here. I love how multicultural our country is and how accepting (most of us) we are. Welcome all new immigrants and all future immigrants! 

I hope that you all have had a wonderful week it's almost the weekend, yay!!!