We have been looking for Reggie, the Roomba iRobot for quite some time. Before Christmas, actually! Well, we finally found a refurbished 530 model (pictured above) on the iRobot website essentially saving us about 40%! We put our buddy to the test, and we were amazed with the results!
He picked up so much dirt and cat hair. After the job was done, it just felt so much cleaner in the basement (where we currently live, waiting for our house to close). He did unfortunately have a run-in with one of the cat toys. He decided to eat the strings and take some time out from work.
Reggie is very brilliant when he comes up close to objects, he slowly and softly taps his surroundings. He did get a little destructive when it came to cat food. He hit the bowls down and ate the little pebbles. I guess that long trek to get here made him a little hungry. All in all, this is a great product - and I would highly recommend it for pet dander and daily cleaning ... I will admit I am not much of a vacuum connoisseur.
When the iRobot is tired, he uses his cycloptic info-red eye to find his sleeping station - to rest up, and recharge for his next day's cleaning task. I will have to take a normal vacuum to stairs and such, but I am mighty impressed at this little guy! You should check the iRobot site and see if there are any great refurbished deals, or if you want to pay full price for any model, I highly suggest this purchase!
Yes! I must get away one last time before little girl comes into the picture! :)
My hubby likes to visit L.A. a lot, or did before he had to steer his trips over to Canadaland after meeting me. So, a proper local, he is taking me around to his favourite spots to eat, a couple hotels and to introduce me to a couple of great friends in the area for the May long weekend!
We are staying a couple of nights at The Farmer's Daughter, which I was crazy excited about - just for its decor and American Southern comfort vibes. Apparently they have a great breakfast and it's right across the street from The Farmer's Market and The Grove. It's good to book your rooms early, as you get great prices if the booking is made and paid at least 3 weeks ahead of time.
The other 2 nights we are staying at Andaz, which is also in the West Hollywood area, with great reviews and has more of a modern, contemporary vibe. But still quite nice. Again, great deals when booking online ahead of time. The hotel was voted among the Top 10 Trendiest Hotels in the United States 2010 at TripAdvisor.com.
It would have been awesome to go to the vineyards and wineries this trip, but I have to be responsible and not have any sort of alcohol. I guess I could do a little swoosh around the palate and then spit it out *single tear* :)
I am really excited to visit out West, as I have only been to the East and South of this continent, so Westsiiiiiide, here I come!
I will say that Europe is ahead of the game in most things, especially when it comes to Induction stoves. This is an amazing luxury that I had to leave behind in my old kitchen. It heats food up by magnetic burners that connect ot the pot from instant hot and boiling water. When you move the pot off of the stove-top, you can actually put your hand right down on it. It will be hot, as the pot was just there - but it won't burn you, as it's just magnetism.
Unfortunately, even though we did find a couple of induction stoves here, they were way out of our price range, as it seems very new in North America. We found a beautiful Electrolux induction oven, but in the end decided to go with the dual-fuel of gas/convection instead. The ovens look very similar, which is a plus, so we eventually went with this one; the Electrolux dual-fuel Wave Touch range.
It's awesome because you can also cook on the bottom level (the "drawer" at the bottom functions as a second oven), which I have never had before - and the classic European convection heat is also nice. Electrolux isn't really all that expensive in Norway, but here it seems to be pretty dear.
We got a good deal at Sears (in-store is actually cheaper) and I am pretty excited to have some proper dinner parties when we move into the new house!
I thought I would share my very first and only video with you! I am obviously having too much fun! The camera on this computer is amazing, and I will probably be posting a lot from here in the future :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! :D
After a friend in Norway sent me many, many baby links, this one stood out to me for quite some time! It's a steamer, blender, warmer and defroster all in one! From the wonderful French company Beaba, they finally introduce (some time ago, now) in North America - the Beaba Babycook! I actually found it on eBay from a very sweet lady who only used it a couple times, but decided making the baby food wasn't her thing.
This little baby machine does everything! I am really excited to make more organic style food for the little one, and with little multiportion food trays that can be saved and stored in the freezer for future dinners and little snacks for up to 3 months!
You can easily reheat the food in the Babycook or just in the microwave (I will go for the latter choice). I am sure it will be a little hard to get into it, but if I make large batches of food once a week and freeze it, I will save some money while the baby is having healthy meals! Mmmmm. Just thinking of all that tasty apple sauce!
All of the Beaba products are BPA free (the bad stuff in plastics) and offer a great recipe book from a French father who loved to cook so much, he wanted to pass his Babycook recipes to his child. It is now available in English as well :)
You should check out their amazing site. I want EVERYTHING!!! :)
Here is a little explanation with pictures from Youtube.
After having a lovely dinner for my parents' 35th anniversary, we decided to hit up chapters across the street so I could get my Starbucks Green Tea Latte with soy milk. There was a group of people with telescopes outside, with this one big telescope sitting there and a super nice man looking in and adjusting the lens.
I said, "Can I take a look!?" and he said of course you can! I got to see what seemed like every single crater on the moon and it was such an awesome experience. It was a group from The Royal Astronomical Society, and they said they will be out all night this week from 8 o'clock until late. So if you are in the Masonville area, you should check out Chapters and get a glimpse of the moon and stars! So lovely :)
Here is a picture from the camera phone on our way out (yeah ... it was getting dark and the phone cameras suck in general).
So over the last couple of days I have heard people wondering why I haven't posted any pictures of me on here! I guess you could say I am just busy and pregnant. It's not the hottest feeling. I don't care what anyone says.
I am sure, as I actually support some sort of bump - that I may feel a little more glamourous, but for now I have my hot car to ride in and hide in ;) I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and this freakish Canadian snowy cold weather! It will get warm again, real soon!
Amazing!!! This video made me smile today as I am still totally in love with Hanson, not to mention my huge past with Weird Al Yankovic! I know all of his songs off by heart!
Enjoy the boys in their new and lovely video! Hot! Hot! Hot!
Thanks to Macrumors.com and my brother giving me an early morning email yesterday to tell me that the new MacBooks were FINALLY updated, I decided to trek on over to Apple.ca to have me a look at the upgrades. I have had my eye on the 13" for quite some time, but was a little saddened that they didn't update that model with even an i3 chip.
I was thinking of upgrading to a 15" to get the i5 chip, but it was also $700 more and not as portable as the 13". I thought about it for a few hours and weighing the pros and cons of each, I decided to opt for the 13". I went with the basic update as it was $300-400 more for the upgraded 13" and I have been reading many complaints that it wasn't worth that difference. I'd rather pay less and upgrade a little earlier.
I am also building a stationary home studio computer, which will be Windows-based and chock-full of the proper goods I need for recording. I needed a laptop, as I had most of my keys remapped (from my last red wine incident) on my old computer; the Norwegian letter keys I never use became the "Enter" and "Shift" keys. It was bad news :)
The 13" was upgraded quite a bit, and although they didn't have the new i5 or i7 chips (or i3 for that matter), I am still quite satisfied with the price and the mobility. I can play "The Sims" with 10 hours of battery life (insane!).
And I got the MagicMouse and a cute Abbi case for my own indulgence. Although the wait was long, I am happy with the result. Should be coming in the mail any day now!
If you ever heard of Berklee College, you might recall the school based out of Boston, Massachusetts. Well, I obviously can't attend the actual school, but they offer an amazing award-winning online college program with online teachers, lectures and weekly chats.
The Online school is a proper accredited school, so if I ever wanted to take my certificates to a college or a university in the future, it counts :)
Right now, I am studying Pro Tools, which is a little overwhelming at the moment, but I am only in my second week so I am sure I will get into it. It's a lot of techinal talk to process, but I am sure it will start to flow later on.
My teacher, Andy, is pretty awesome and very understanding. My classmates are great and all very helpful, so it's a nice community, especially for future connections. This Pro Tools 101 course will last for 12 weeks, then I will take a 6 month break to have the little baby girl and then I will jumo back in for a 3 year run and receive my Masters in Writing and Producing.
Hopefully, by that time, I will be on a songwriting roll with better production skills under my belt to pitch to other artists. It's a process, as I have to find a new publishing deal, but I am sure I will be ok :)
I guess those are my serious career plans of the future, but one step at a time. :)
This is basically the first time I have ever owned a car, not counting the Smart car we had back in Norway - because it wasn't really my own. One of my life-long car dreams came true when I officially became a part of the Mini World, as I got to buy a brand new Mini Cooper and drove it home yesterday!
I just have just a cell phone picture, as it was too rainy to take a picture today. The drive is amazing; it hugs the road while I sit very comfortably. It's also spacious, while still giving me the impression of driving a very sporty car.
Although these cars are made in Birmingham, UK, the insides are that of BMW. What I love about this car is that I can really feel the road and my surroundings. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to own such a sweet ride!
I want to give a shout out to Ron at BMW Mini in London, Ontario, as he was the best salesman anyone could ever ask for! I picked up the car with a wonderful gift basket complete in the boot of the car. It really made my rainy day!
One of the many things I love about the inside is the panoramic windows, so I see lots of sky. They both open, which is also nice! The car has the ISOfix connectors for easy clip-in-and-out for a baby seat in the back - which surpisingly has amazing room.
All in all I am very happy with this purchase and if you are thinking of a Mini Cooper, I say go for it! You'll love the ride!
After posting this cute video of Tobie on Youtube, I was approached by Jenny from her super cute floppycats.com site - and I was very honored to let her know a little bit about my baby Ragdoll boy. You can read all about him here!
This weekend has been so ridiculously busy, which is why I was sans post yesterday. I have to write two weeks worth of baby blogs and such.
I start my first day of school tomorrow, which makes me pretty excited/nervous, but good to start back into the music industry again!
OH - and I bought a brand new car yesterday!!! I get to pick that up on Wednesday and I will let you know about that as soon as I have it. I'll give you a hint ... I've named him Sgt. Pepper!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter weekend!
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