Left Coast Mama

Shutterfly: A Review and Giveaway

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Gwen

Last year I was given the opportunity to make our Christmas card at Shutterfly and for the cost of shipping I received 50 cards. I worked really hard on the cards and I think they turned out really well. They certainly reflected us and I was impressed by the quality of the cards and how easy they were to make. They still cost about the same as if we bought some store made cards when you took in the shipping costs to Canada but they were so much more personal and beautiful.

This year we still need to take our family picture and I am not sure which card I will use. I am partial to folded cards because I like to have room to make each of the cards personal. While all of them will have the same sentiment inside, I also like to take the time to write a bit of a letter to the people we send the cards to. It is one of the best things about the Christmas season for me. I love that people take the time to actually write to each other. My boys love opening cards from back east and the letters that I write every day for advent.

I have a few cards picked out and I am hoping that you will help me choose a style. I love our card from last year but I am hoping for something a little different.

I like the black and that the card has room for a few different pictures. It works as a card to go to friends and family with different religous views and it should be meaningful to everyone.

I like the simplicity of this card and it also has room for lots of pictures. I have cute kids and a tonne of pictures I can use.

This is also a simple card with room for lots of pictures. I think I like it better than the previous one because of the square picture format. I think this would be great for my instagram pictures.

This card appeals to me for its design. I love the red and the way the banner scrolls over the pictures.

Lastly this card is simple and beautiful. If we can get a good picture of either the boys or all four of us I might choose this card.

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If you would like a code for 25 free cards, I have 3 to give away. Simply leave me a comment on this post by November 7th and I will choose 3 winners at random. The code can be used for any 25 cards on the Shutterfly site. They do not need to be holiday cards at all.

I recieved a code for 50 free cards again this year, but all the opinions are my own. I was very impressed by the cards we received last year and even more impressed with the photobooks we had made (at our own expense) to commemorate our big roadtrip this year.

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Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

Posted in Advent, cards, Christmas, Contests, reviews | Tagged Christmas Cards, Contests, Holiday Cards, Shutteryfly | 5 Comments

Meet my new computer: Wesley

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Gwen

A few years ago Anthony got me the best Valentines day gift ever, my netbook Cordelia. I loved my Cordelia and she worked really well for me until she didn’t. I started having issues with her when I went to blogher in New York, luckily it was just a power cord issue, or so I thought. For the last few months it seemed like I had another power cord issue, but it was more than that. So after a lot of hemming and hawing I bought myself a 11.6 inch HP laptop.

The hardest part about getting a new laptop was trying to find a new name that fit with our home network names and until Cordelia actually dies I can’t see reusing her name. We have a Giles, Lorne (The Host, named so because the mythbox was the host and I liked the in joke) a Willow and of course a Spike. I still can’t make myself call one of our computers either Xander or Buffy, but not because I don’t like the characters. Wesley or Fred were my choices for this computer and Wesley won out.

Why Wesley? Well I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I love Firefly and liked Dollhouse. I love Joss Whedon and his cast of writers and the smart sense of humour they bring to his shows. Wesley was one of my favourite characters and I especially like the way his character grew over the two series. He starts out as a bumbling idiot who is so full of himself to one who is calm and self assured and is incredibly smart.

Why a new computer now? Can’t I just keep using the big laptop? Well yes I guess I can, but I am trying to be more consistent in my writing and I had stopped writing while the tv was on in the background. I need to be able to write while I am out. I now have 4 hours during the week to myself. I can use that time to write, but I also want to spend that time out of the house. I do not want to be worrying about dishes or vacuuming or the like. I want to write. I want to write well. If you are reading this you may be saying, well you may want to write we but that is not what you are doing. Yes, you may be right, in fact I know that you are right, but I know that when I write more often I get better and better. This is why again for this November I am committing to NaBlaPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. If you write it will get better. Some of the stories that have been languishing in my drafts folder will get the push they need to get out of the draft and onto the blog.

Wesley get ready for some real work, you are in for a wild ride.

Posted in blogging, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Create, Gwen | Tagged BTVS, Computers, NaBloPoMo, Wesley, Writing | Comments Off

Happy Hallowe’en or Halloween, however it is spelled now.

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Gwen

My boys love Halloween. I love Halloween. Anthony likes Halloween except when we get a parking ticket. Our love of Halloween and the relative closeness of Quinlan’s birthday gives us a week or so of Halloween celebrations.

Ghost train theme this year: Circus of Disaster.

We have Quinlan’s Halloween themed birthday party, other Halloween activities like the festival at Aidan’s school and the Stanley Park Ghost train and of course trick or treating. We also added a Halloween themed geocaching weekend in the mix.

Quinlan picks up a geocache on our Geo Monster Ball weekend.

Aidan and some of his friends at the Halloween Howl at his school.

On the weekend we had Quinlan’s birthday party at the pumpkin patch and came home with four pumpkins.

Four Muddy Friends

Aidan already had a pumpkin from his school the week before so we had a total of five. The upside to the plethora of pumpkins is that everyone got to carve or plan the carving of a pumpkin. We had Quinlan’s scary faced pumpkin. (I wish you could see the face and hands to go with the pumpkin, but alas we did not get a picture of Q describing what he wanted Anthony to carve for him.)

Quinlan's scary pumpkin.

We had Aidan’s self carved (mostly) ghost pumpkin. We had my double duty robot and owl pumpkin, and a quickly carved Frankenstein’s monster pumpkin. Last but not least was Anthony’s adrino powered pumpkin complete with fading lights and sound.

Halloween dawned bright and dry but cold. Aidan was happy to be able to wear his wizarding cloak and hat to school, and Quinlan was happy to be a robot on our way to swimming lessons.

Boys ready for some trick or treating fun!

I love how many people smiled and let Quinlan know that they thought he had the best costume. Mostly because he was making so many people smile and he was happy, but also because except for the head, I made the whole costume and it was a lot of work. Once we had a decent supper in the boys we headed down and parked near the coop and started our trick or treating about 6:30 pm. The coop went all out again this year and by the time we were finishing about an hour later lots of houses were running out of candy. After we finished we headed back to the car where a shiny parking ticket was waiting for us. It looked like Easy Park was not being charitable this year and all the cars had parking tickets. Happy Halloween to us.

Posted in Aidan, Anthony, Family Time, Gwen, Halloween, Quinlan, Vancouver | Tagged Halloween, Pumpkin carving, Pumpkins, Trick or Treating | Comments Off

Happy Birthday My Little Man

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Gwen

Dear Quinlan,

I love you, happy birthday my little man. I can’t believe how much you have changed over the last year, you have gone from a toddler to a little boy. You are my sunshine and your smile lights up the world. You make so many people happy with your smile and your laugh. Having cuddle time with you makes my day better and your hugs are one of the best parts of my day.

Quinlan on his 2nd birthday.

Quinlan you are growing so very fast and changing so much. Last year you didn’t even want to get in the pool and now you are a little fish taking lessons in the big pool. You are now in preschool, ballet and in January you will be in theatre school. I love how enthusiastic you are about learning new things. I love how much you love ballet and how hard you try.