Friday Favourites – First Snowfall, Dundas Shopping & Vintage Finds

Happy Friday! I hope you’re all having a great week. Have you had a chance to check out my Online Holiday Planner yet? I’ve been testing it out the past couple of weeks and I’m already finding it so helpful for my early holiday shopping. My family also has several birthdays this time of year, so I’ve been using it for that too. If you try it out, let me know. I’d love to hear from you!
November is normally a month where we stay holed up inside on the cold grey nights, but so far this year we’ve been go-go-go. Last night was the first night that I was actually home all evening and I made the most of it – baking cookies for visiting friends tonight (recipe on the blog soon!), catching up on TV shows and making plans for a little overnight getaway. The only thing that was missing was a cozy fireplace (but our mini heater was an okay substitute for now).

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Last week (after a chilly Halloween night), I woke up to snow falling down. Normally I get really excited about the first snow fall – it’s so magical and makes everything look crisp and clean. But…after our harsh winter last year, I’m just not ready for it yet (or ever?). Maybe it’s a bit of denial on my part, but I was completely unprepared for it. The winter coats (humans’ and dogs’) were still in storage and my car scrapper was hidden somewhere in the abyss that is car trunk.

Cola was probably the most confused out of all of us. We know he is from the West Virginia area, but we have no idea if he ever saw snow or if he’d even remember it from being so young. He kept trying to catch the snowflakes outside the window, and he’d follow them as they fell to the ground. When I took him out for his walk, he was slipping all over the place from the icy sidewalk. It was all pretty cute…but far too cold to stay outside in our light fall jackets.

The only solution was to bunker down inside for our Saturday morning. I worked on blog projects (coming soon!) and the dogs set up camp on top of the couch, where they could see the world go by. It was so hard to leave them to go run errands when they are being this cute.

While I was out, I got sucked into some of the holiday displays and ended up picking up a couple of these cute miniature sleighs for my Miniature Christmas Village. I think they’ll make a lovely little addition!

Last weekend I had the chance to visit a dear friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since the wedding (how was that almost six months ago?!?).

Her sweet little boy officially the youngest guest at our wedding, at a mere 6 weeks old. I didn’t get to hold him back then, so I was glad to fit in some cuddles this time around.

It was a really nice sunny afternoon, so we decided to pop into the historic downtown of Dundas, Ontario.

The whole downtown area is filled with cute shops, great cafes and interesting buildings. I loved it!

We stopped into Dolce Kimera and they had the nicest Christmas decorations. I picked up this set of sparkly glass wreaths.

I can’t decide if I want to use them as ornaments or as gift tags. I just love the way they catch the light in all that glass and glitter.

This little fella was such a good sport the whole day. He made friends everywhere we went. What a cutie!

My friend insisted that we also go to Valley Antiques, a super cool antique store filled with great vintage and retro finds. I was right at home! Everywhere I looked there was something cool that I wanted to snatch up.

They even had a big stuffed black bear – front and center. Even though I know it wasn’t alive, that whole fight or flight instinct kicks in when you see one of these guys.

I couldn’t resist bringing a few pieces home for myself. I found this old soda bottle crate for $20 and then just as we were about to leave I spotted a wall of real Scottish wool blankets and they had one in my family’s plaid. What luck!

It turns out I wasn’t the only one that was having some fun shopping this weekend. I stopped into see Garrett’s parents on Monday during my lunch break and his mom had picked up some cute surprises for me – an apron (to add to my colourful collection) and a cute vintage style milk bottle. I really need to find somewhere to hang all my aprons so I can enjoy all this colour everyday – it really brightens up those dreary November days!

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Lots of cozy, warm thoughts to everyone!