Hang in there!

I will pick winners for the You! Lingerie giveaway on Monday! This weekend is the family Christmas with the in-laws, so it's kind of chaotic around here :)

I also have a review and giveaway coming up next week for Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Flakes (yum!), and that recipe for super easy microwave fudge on the way (seriously, it takes under 10 minutes).

Sibu Beauty Coupon Code!

Just in time for your after-Christmas shopping (in case you don't get everything you wanted!), Sibu Beauty is offering a coupon code for 25% off your skin care shopping online between December 26th, 2010 and January 3rd, 2011!

You may recall my review of Sibu Beauty products here.

In case you can't read the fine print, the code is BLOGHAPPY, and it's valid for orders up to $300 and packages are not included.

Have fun shopping!

Heads up - Hi-Tec is coming!

Remember how I posted about the awesome boots I was trying to win on Hi-Tec's Facebook page - and then I actually won (with your help! You guys rock!)?

Those boots came today (how fast!) and they. Are. Amazing. I love them! These are the Snowdonia boots from Hi-Tec...So full of awesomeness. Anyway, the point of this (besides giddy raving about a. winning and b. how much I love them) is that I wanted to let you know that next month I'll be working with Hi-Tec on a review and giveaway! I know you're as excited as I am now!

If you don't know Hi-Tec, they're all about quality outdoor gear from footwear to their new apparel line. I'm crushing on their parkas... More about this stuff later.

Meanwhile, there are still days left of daily giveaways on their Facebook page that you can go enter. And stay tuned for the Hi-Tec goodness that is coming right here :)

Night light

We need a little night light - so that nighttime nursing is easier. Baby will be sleeping in a bassinet in our room for the first bit, and I am hoping that the middle of the night feedings won't disturb my husband's sleep too much. I'd also like to be able to see, but not with a bright light that will be more of an awakening than either baby or I need.

Features that I'd like -

- relatively dim
- small, perhaps portable
- something I can easily and quietly turn off and on

I don't want the kind that plugs into the wall and stays on all night - just something small that can sit on my night stand or on the table beside the glider. My bedside table light is quite bright for reading and has a fairly loud, clicky switch on it. We have a Cloud B Twilight Turtle for falling asleep lighting in the nursery, which is very cool but not ideal for this purpose.

I have read that a red light actually doesn't trigger a light response in the brain, so that it's easier to maintain that half-asleep feeling and get back to bed without a full awakening.

I got all excited when I saw this:
Which is kind of perfect, no? Cute, but not branded, not too icky-sweet, and not girly. Fun, bright colours. Fairly small, touch to turn on. The only thing I don't love is that it's battery-operated, but I'm not sure what I would really expect as I do want something portable (a charging base, maybe?). The light is in the white 'stem' of the mushroom, so it's not really red (and hopefully isn't too bright).

I just bid on one on eBay :) Let you know how it goes! Even if it's horrible... well, it's only 1 cent plus $2.62 shipping!

A start on holiday baking

I've started making the treats for my holiday tins -

kind of a lousy photo, sorry!

Chocolate dipped pretzels - two kinds. These are super easy to do, and fun. I think next time I would use pretzel twists, I was thinking rods would be easier (and they probably were) but they are not quite as pretty.

Just melt 1/2 cup of chocolate in the microwave at 50% power for 3-5 minutes, stirring every minute, dip the pretzels, lay on waxed paper, and sprinkle. I used Belgian milk chocolate sprinkled with Skor bits for half, and dark chocolate-mint (mint-flavoured chocolate chips make that super easy) with sprinkles for the other half. If I were really fancy I would have drizzled with white chocolate - but I'm not.

Thumbprint cookies from the Canadian Living Baking book - made with brown sugar instead of white, and rolled in chopped pecans. For the filling, I did half the batch with Crofter's Europe Superfruit (pomegranates and black currants blended with red grapes and morello cherries), which wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped - the filling went really dark after baking, and the jam is so thick that it didn't spread out at all (they do taste great, though!). The ones that you can see in the picture are the other half batch, for which I used homemade strawberry-mango jam, and I think they were more successful. These were a bit of work for only three dozen cookies, but they are so pretty and delicious. You can also top them with chocolate chunks or Hershey's kisses - I was thinking how pretty and festive white chocolate or yogourt with a dried cranberry in the center would be, too. Lots of options!

The cookies go in the freezer for a few days until I am ready to make up the tins, to keep their freshness. The chocolate dipped pretzels can hang out at room temperature (freezing or refrigerating would make the chocolate "bloom").

Still to come - shortbread, ginger cookies, and super easy microwave fudge. I'll share that fudge recipe with you, too - it's so simple with great results.