puppy: Glorious Peonies | A Lifestyle And Beauty Blog

Today is my 100th post! In honour of such a momentous occasion I wanted to turn the spotlight onto the cutest boy you have ever seen: my puppy Charlie! He's been with me for 9 months and as mushy and cliche as it is, he's changed my life!
Ever since I was a little girl I can remember just begging for a puppy but never being able to be as convincing as I needed to be. I waited and waited. Being an only child can get pretty lonely and I knew a puppy would do the trick. Last year a few months before my birthday I was able to have a bit of sway with my parents and we started looking online to see where we could find just the right pup. My mom was very specific: she said if we were finally going to get a puppy, it needed to be fluffy and all kinds of cute. After searching for weeks and not having any luck, we struck gold! I saw the sweetest picture of a bichon poodle mix boy puppy and my heart melted. We got in the car the next day to take a look at him. My heart was set so there was no way I would walk out of there without him in my arms!

I can remember getting out of the car and being so surprised that the puppy was so tiny. He was playing a play pen on the grass and I wanted to cry (I'm extremely emotional!) The breeder let me hold him in my arms and he just sunk right in. My dream was finally coming true! Funny thing is that the breeder did a little test so that she could figure out how easy he would be to train and she says "oh, well you've got a feisty one on your hands!" She was right - but I figured that out eventually! We of course took him home and the car ride was a walk in the park. No puppy accidents (check!) and no biting which made me think he was perfect. I had been traumatized as a kid when a dog bit me and I'd always been afraid of them. Makes you wonder why I got a dog right? But it really did help me get over my fear.

I'd been going over names in my head for our new puppy before we even met him. I had names like Max, Mac, James Bond (haha!) but ultimately, that little cutie was a "Charlie" right from the start. The first few weeks were pretty much a struggle. Once Charlie got acclimated, he became quite the character. Biting toes, grabbing anything he could find, lots of puppy accidents. Typical puppy things which I had no clue how to handle! I was so scared of my 3 lb dog at the beginning that I wore rain boots in the house because I didn't want him to bite my toes... #pathetic.

Charlie in action playing fetch!

Months later and lots of lessons learned, I couldn't be happier with our sweet pup. He's got some incredibly cute quirks and he just loves a good belly rub. It makes me so happy to get home from a long day of classes and have him barking out of excitement before I even knock on the door. He's got this really weird spidey-sense with all of us. Any car can pull up to the driveway, but he knows exactly when it's us! I love him so much and couldn't imagine not having him with me.
The whole "man's best friend" thing is so true. He may get himself into trouble sometimes but he loves us unconditionally. It's so funny that I've learned so much about life from a dog. I went from walking on the other side of the street when they were coming near me, to loving all kinds of dogs and animals like they were my own. Charlie is my bestie and I can't wait to see what he'll do next!

This past Monday was Thanksgiving which is one of my favourite holidays! Why? I love spending a day with family and friends and just being thankful for everything that happened in the past year. But, the other reason I love it so much is because of the FOOD! I love getting to cook and bake for Thanksgiving (since I'm the only one willing to follow new recipes in my household). Before I impress you with my baking skills (haha) I will say that I can only make the things I make because of Martha Stewart. Ever since last year, I've been obsessed with their site whenever I have the chance to cook and I've found some great Thanksgiving recipes that I continue to use every year.

I realize that these recipes are obviously a little late for Canadians to make Thanksgiving dinner, but don't fret! You can use these recipes for Christmas dinner too and Thanksgiving in the States is not for another month ;) -- a little early prepping never hurt anyone, right?

This year, I decided to make their Roast Turkey with Herb Butter, which is delicious and super easy to make. For sides I made their recipe for Perfect Mashed Potatoes and an easily thrown together tomato and cucumber salad, and for dessert (my fave) I made Pecan Pie and Apple Pie. I had one of my best friends over and she said everything was delis, and since she's a huge foodie, you can take her word for it!

TIPS: The pecan pie recipe calls for 3 cups of pecans but that's way too many for the amount of filling so stick with around 2 cups and a few more. If you want the pie to slice more easily, try chopping up half of the pecans and decorating just the top with the pecan halves -- I may need to take my own advice on this one for next time! This recipe doesn't say to pre-bake the crust but I would definitely encourage you to that way the bottom crust doesn't get soggy. Bake the bottom pie crust with aluminum foil filled with dried beans (so it doesn't get random air bubbles all over) for about 10-15 minutes and them put the filling in and bake for the remaining time or until the pie is slightly jiggly in the centre. Don't worry it firms up as it cools. Then you'll have the perfect pie!

Here are some pictures of the result of my hard labour! (btw, the biscuits are Pillsbury - I didn't have time to make my own rolls for Thanksgiving this year #lazygirlprobz)