My Drunk Kitchen: Poutine

I freakin' love this girl!
This is in honor of my recent Canadian vacation.

Five Favorites

1. Hempz Pomegranate Lotion

Years ago, when I was a single gal who spent money a little more freely I used to buy the regular hempz lotion all the time. I even started buying it by the gallon because I used it so much. Then I got married and found it hard to justify spending $24 on a single bottle of lotion "but it smells soo good!" just doesn't cut it. It has been a few years since I have bought it, and I recently renewed my love for it with this new pomegranate version. I still couldn't bring myself to spend $24 on a single bottle of lotion (Karl's frugalness has definitely rubbed off on me). Lucky for me though, I found a bottle of this stuff on the shelf at TJ Maxx for only $13. Score!

2. Tzatziki

More specifically, Hannah Tzatziki from Costco. I love tzatziki sauce and when I saw this at Coscto I impulse bought it even though I didn't think I'd even come close to using all of it up before the expiration date. I was wrong! I use this stuff on everything! I use in place of mayo for things like tuna, sandwiches & wraps, on burgers, etc. Anything that needs a little something else, this is perfect for. And the best part is, it's a lot less fattening than mayo.

3. Harmon's in Farmington

I love Harmon's but there wasn't one in my immediate vicinity so I rarely shopped there. That has changed now that Harmon's has opened up a location in Farmington. It is right across I15 from Lagoon. Still not really close to my house but oh so worth it. I never thought I would LOVE a grocery store so much. I love the deli, bakery and just their overall selection of everything is amazing. It is a bit more expensive than other places though, so I just get the things that I know I can't get anywhere else.

4. Eyelash Extensions

This is definitely a splurge, but totally worth every penny for me. I don't like to wear make-up very often anyway, and usually don't wear it at all on the weekends. Having eyelash extensions makes me not feel like a complete scrounge whenever I skip the make-up. They are always perfect and ready to go! Not having to curl and put mascara on in the morning before work is a huge time saver, especially since chances are I'm probably running late anyway!

5. My Mom

My sisters, nieces, mom, and I just got back from a weekend trip to St. George. It was a blast hanging out with just all the girls. We went to Little Mermaid at Tuacahn and shopped our little hearts out. My mom is so funny. Whenever we get together I know at some point I'll be laughing so hard I'll cry. We just have a good time together. Here's a funny story (maybe not as funny to others as it was to us) from the trip:
My mom is driving and we pass an exit that is closed,
Mom: " That exit is closed! Now where do I go?!"
Me: "Was that our exit?"
Mom: "No, it's the next one"
Me: "Umm....keep going and take the next one"

Love ya mom!

Vacation Post

WOW! I don't know how else to describe our trip to the Canadian Rockies, (Banff, Jasper & Yoho). It was absolutely amazing. It was well deserved, long awaited, and a little pricey, but totally worth it. I have so many pictures it’s ridiculous, so I’m only going to put my favorites up and you can see some more on my facebook page by clicking here. None of these photos have been altered at all and they don't really do the scenery justice.

One of my top 2 favorite pictures of the trip. This is Lake O'Hara and it's pretty hard to get to. They limit the number of visitors, so you have to call months in advance and by a ticket to take a bumpy bus ride up to it but it was worth the hassle. I totally lucked out and called 2 days before our trip and got someone's cancellation.

This was our first full day on our trip and it was FREEZING and rainy! We went from 95 degrees in SLC to about 37 degrees and wet at Lake O'Hara.

Ahhh, Lake Louise.

This was my absolute favorite hike. It's called the Plane of Six Glaciers and you hike up behind Lake Louise about 3 1/2 miles to this tea house. At the top you have a view of 6 different glaciers and you can have a cup of tea, but we had chocolate cake and coffee :)

The people that work at the tea house have this cute dog. I love this picture because if you look very closely toward the right of the picture there is a little chipmunk. The two of them were having a stare off and it was so funny. We finally just left, not sure who won!

Picture with one of the 6 glaciers in the background

The super cute and cozy little cabin we stayed in for part of the trip
(sorry about the cheesiness of this photo)

We saw lots of wildlife, but this monster was probably Karl's favorite. Look at my facebook photos for pics of a mama bear with 3 cubs (freakin' adorable, but crappy pictures), big horn sheep, and a nice deer in velvet

Mini icebergs! (broken off from the glacier above)

My 2nd favorite hike was Mount Edith Cavell. You can see the glacier right above my head. It was making all kinds of loud cracking noises. We thought for sure we were going to see a huge chunk break off and fall into the lake below, but no such luck.

Karl bought a cowboy hat. He really is a total hick.

So that's a little taste of our vacation. I will hopefully have a video coming soon that I'm putting together. It started off a little rocky, when we got to the airport in Calgary the power was out. It was creepy being in an airport with no lights! We finally got our rental car and started driving to Banff. It sucked because we couldn't see any of the beautiful scenery because it was so foggy. Karl is a different person while on vacation, and I like it! He's laid back and not cheap which is opposite of the norm for him. He just justifies everything he does and the money he spends with "I'm on vacation!" Karl even turned his phone off for the ENTIRE trip. That is huge people!