Busy Week Leading Into a Busy Weekend! Phew!

Happy Monday everyone! Last week flew by in a flurry of activity. It all revolved around the arrival of the new flock of my brothers layer hens! 9000 in total….

Yes, I said 9000! That’s alot of birds!

But they are all in their new home laying away!

Friday was finally here and over before I knew it! I was SO looking forward to book club on Friday night! I had missed the last discussion and the book on the table to discuss that night was one I couldn’t get out of my mind!

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult was the book of discussion for Friday evening. It is the story of a high schooler named Peter who after years of bullying, goes into his high school and opens fire killing 10 and injuring many more. You read Josie and Peter’s stories and get an inside look at the torture that Peter faced. I had a very difficult time figuring out which side I was on. At one point in the book I hated Peter for the school shooting and then the next chapter I sympathized with him.

It was an AWESOME discussion on Friday night lasting about three straight hours! It was so great to reflect on the book and get other people’s opinions!

This weekend was the start of hunting season so Ryan was off to try to get a big buck on Saturday! I went and grabbed some groceries, stopped in at Ryan’s parents and then worked on some stuff around home!

That evening we left for Shawville to enjoy supper and then watch my brother in Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was an AMAZING show and the highlight had to have been when a friend, Phil, came of as pharaoh and then did an Elvis impersonation! It was epic!

Sunday morning Ryan and I helped set up for the church’s harvest supper and then I went to church and Ryan went to hockey.

As soon as we were both home in the early afternoon we headed across the ferry to celebrate my birthday, again! For my birthday Ryan got me hockey tickets and Sunday was game night!

We started the afternoon off by running some errands and doing some shopping! We then enjoyed an AMAZING (calorie free of course….) supper at Wild Wings!

Having some fun while shopping!

Finally, it was game time!! Sens versus Leafs! I was decked out in my white and blue and pumped for the game to start! We had great seats!

Unfortunately, the Sens won, 3-2 and it was a well deserved win! The Leafs looked slow last night! At least it was a close game which made it interesting! What made it even more interesting was the very drunk leaf fan behind me falling on me and pushing me into the next row after the 2nd goal! Geesh! Thank goodness for Ryan and the guy in the row ahead of us catching me!

It was a great LAST WEEKEND IN OCTOBER (holy moly!)! We got to see a great small town musical and celebrate my birthday with a hockey game!

How was your weekend?

xo

Friday Craft – Wilhelmina The Witch

Happy Friday everyone! Most weeks I am glad to see this day come and today is no exception!! It has been one busy week and a little rest and relaxation is going to do me some good.

A week ago today, after work, a bunch of ladies joined me at my house to come and do a craft! I usually don’t tell them what we are making just so it can be a little surprise when they arrive.

This craft I have booked marked on my computer under “crafts” for almost 2 years ago! I have wanted to make it but never could get around to doing so. Well, hosting a craft night is the perfect opportunity to get my butt into gear and try this craft out for myself too!

Here’s the supplies we needed:

- 4 mm Plywood

- 8 mm Plywood

- Orange, black, white, pink and skin colored paint

- Drill and screw (I used 3.2 mm bit)

- Flat and round paint brush

- Cotton balls

- Q-tips

- Green raffia ribbon

- Halloween colored ribbon

- Hot glue gun and sticks

- Standard wood sawing supplies

AND last but certainly not least, a VERY handsome assistant to help you with the whole cutting the wood/drilling part!

1. Print out pattern that is found on this website and cut it all out. Trace the pattern on wood and cut it out. Sand if necessary.

2. Paint ALL pieces with white as an under coat.

3. Paint the hat, shoes, bird and collar black. Paint the face and hands with beige. Allow to dry and then paint the sleeves and dress orange.

4. Go ahead and get your handsome assistant to screw an additional piece of unpainted wood to the shoes. This will act as your anchor.

5. Now, your ready for a girls craft night OR in other words doing the fun decorative stuff! First decorative step is to take a thin, flat paint brush and out line the black stuff in white and the orange in black. This will give your figure some definition.

5. Take a cotton ball and dip in black or white paint. Dap excess of cotton ball onto a piece of paper towel. Lightly bounce cotton ball on wood surface giving the figure a more aged appearance.

6. Draw on face in black with paint brush and dab Q-tip in pink paint to make round cheeks.

7. Cut pieces of green raffia ribbon for hair. Attach “hair” to the head of the witch with hot glue gun.

8. Now time to assemble! Hot glue gun the hat, collar and arms to witch. Allow to dry. Attach bird onto hands of the witch. Make a bow out of your ribbon and attack to the hat of the witch. Put a line of hot glue on the back of your witch and attach to shoes! Allow to dry.

9. Set Wilhelmina The Witch out for Halloween and enjoy!

xo 

Wedding Wednesday – Photographer

Happy Wednesday everyone! Not only is today Wedding Wednesday but there is also another neat thing about today….We are out of the 200’s people! Officially today there is 199 days till wedding day! Wow! I remember looking back at the number when it came under 300 hundred thinking “this is going to be forever from now” but in reality the days are passing by so quick!

Today I’d like to introduce you all to a very special woman. Her name is Julie and she is going to be our photographer for the big day. Let’s rewind shall we?

When I first started wedding planning we were looking at an alternate venue. I googled (of course) this venue for some pictures for inspiration. Well, one of the photos that I saved was by Julie C Butler Photography. 

Once Ryan and I decided we wanted to get married around home the planning process began. We picked our date and then the first thing I did was contact Julie. That’s right, before venue, catering or other I wanted to book my photographer! You see, to me, pictures really do last a life time. It might rain the day of the wedding, the flowers might not be perfect and the food could go wrong but the pictures are something that I want to be able to fondly look back on remembering the day.

Julie’s pictures on her website were amazing and I knew instantly that her style was what I wanted. The only problem, she lives over an hour away from home!  I nervously emailed her asking if she was willing to travel and she instantly said, “Yes”! Phew!

I met with Julie in April and instantly there was a connection. We agreed on a package and booked the engagement pictures for later that summer.

When that date rolled around Julie drove all the way to our home to take our engagements pictures for us! It was at that morning photo session where I got to know Julie better and now consider her a friend.

Here is a link to some of the pictures on Julie’s blog of our engagement session.

A lot more like this one to come!

There is a comfort level with Julie that I wish I could explain. It’s nice to know that on one of the most nerve racking days of my life (the wedding) that I have a comfortable and fun relationship with Julie and that alone helps settle the nerves.

Julie’s skill/talent is truly amazing! Many of Julie’s pictures have been shown on wedding blogs and magazines from all over! Besides her talent she is a beautiful person both inside and out!

I am so thankful to have gotten to know such a wonderful person both personally and professionally! Thank you Julie for being our wedding photographer!

xo

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday everyone! The weekend is over and it’s back to the grindstone, back to reality. It’s hard to believe that today is the last week of October. I’ve been dreaming of November for months now! It’s almost here.

Why have I been dreaming of November? Well, the summer and fall are especially busy times for Ryan and I. We are both looking forward to a little break, a little breather. In the winter months we have a more regular schedule and can actually make plans during work days.

This weekend’s weather was chilly! That kind of cold that gets you to the bone. You know the one, it’s where even when you enter a warm building you are still chilled.

The weekend started out on Friday afternoon after work. I prepared supper and then transformed the kitchen into a craft area. The ladies were coming over for another craft night! I was very excited for this craft because it was one that I have had book marked for a long time. I was excited to do this craft myself and share it with the girls!

More to come about that on Friday! :-)

On Saturday I was up early to get ready for the Ottawa Wedding Show with mom! Ryan lucked out of coming because he had a hockey tournament. I have to say that although we have most of the stuff booked for the wedding it was still fun to look around at other vendors. I got to meet the wonderful team who will be doing my hair and makeup and got an awesome coupon for finding a men’s wedding band…25% off if we get one from that store!

The best part of the wedding show would have to have been the fashion show!! Mom and I took our seats for what we thought would have been a 15 minute showing of some bridal gowns. Well, it turned out to be an very rehearsed, 1 hour show of groomsmen attire, flower girl, bridesmaids and bridal gowns. It was cool!

After the wedding show mom and I headed home to relax for the rest of the afternoon. I also got to do one of my most favorite things, assemble Halloween bags!! I have to say, we have have really good stuff in them this year!

Saturday night Ryan and I headed to Gavan’s for a stag honoring Krista and Kyle’s upcoming nuptials! It was a FULL crowd. The place was packed to the rafters! Everyone wanted to come out and support the bride and groom who are amazing members of the Pontiac community!

Sunday morning it was off to church for a chilling but eye opening sermon about loving your neighbor. Recent news events involving Jamey Hubley the teen boy who was bullied and took his own life and the Chinese baby who got ran over and 18 people walked by before someone stopped to help her. These chilling events made you think that these bullies and the people who chose to ignore the injured toddler were not acting like good Christians.

The rest of Sunday was spent resting and getting ready for a busy week ahead. How about your weekend?

xo

The Story Behind The Tin Foil Numbers

You might have noticed over the course of this little blog a certain birthday decoration that appears at every family birthday celebration.

The tin foil numbers!

You might be asking yourself? What the heck is the deal with this little piece of decoration? If not, well, I’m gonna tell you anyways. :-)

The story begins in the present day. As I have mentioned I own/work on our family farm. It is more then just a farm though. We do all of custom turf work for local schools and cities. We have 400 acres of sod and about 40 (amazing) employees. But it didn’t start out that way…..

In 1977 my parents started Mountainview sod farm. They were young, engaged to be married and broke! My parents still laugh at how they would save up for months in order to rent a VHS player and movie to watch on a Saturday night.

Many moons later in 1983 their lives changed when they brought home a healthy baby boy..AKA..my brother.  And their lives went down hill from there…

TOTALLY KIDDING! Jared’s not that bad! :-)

They began renovating one of the old farm houses that they lived in and so money got even tighter but they wanted to give their kid the best of what they could afford…especially for his upcoming birthday!

With a birthday comes the usual…food, cake and decorations. The food and the cake were simple for my Mom who loved to cook at that time. But the decorations were an issue and they didn’t have money to go out and buy any at that time. So, she got creative.

Out of an old cereal box she traced out Jared’s age. She cut out this number and sat back and thought it kind of looked boring. With no modge podge or glitter pens in those days she decided to take a roll of tin foil and wrap it around the number to give it a little sparkle. The perfect birthday decoration to hang over the kitchen table for Jared.

It’s been many years, and many birthdays since then.

Traditions have been changed or altered and Jared (and hopefully Ryan and I one day too) has started his own family with their own traditions. There is however one thing that still remains to this day at every birthday party….

 

The tin foil birthday number! It’s a simple decoration yet a reminder every year at the humble beginning my parents had and how to appreciate the things that matter most. Happy Friday!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – Videographer

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope the week is passing by quickly for everyone!

On Wedding Wednesday today I’m gonna talk about something that Ryan and I decided to splurge on. When we first got engaged I went google crazy! I looked up EVERYTHING. One of the websites that I encountered was a real life list of what brides wish they could have done differently about their wedding if they could.

There were many small things like, color, beef instead of chicken and etc. One thing that about 75% of the brides were consistent about was that they regretted not having a video to look back on of their wedding day.

Hiring a videographer is one thing that doesn’t actually come to a brides mind when you start the whole planning process. The top things (in my opinion) I booked right away, venue, photographer (more on that next week) and caterer.

After all of the above was confirmed it was time to move on to other details of the wedding. After reading all the encouraging words from other brides I had googled, I knew right away that it would be fun to have a video to watch of our wedding.

Ryan and I are small town people. We live and more importantly work in this small town. One of the things that we really appreciate is when we get local business. For the most part, as a company, we get a lot of local business. When we started this planning process we agreed that we would keep our business as local as possible for the wedding.

Unfortunately, in the small interior of our town there is no videographer. But, just a short piece down the road in a neighboring small town we found, Video Keepsakes.

I was a little unsure as to what to expect as far as a wedding video goes. The owner met with me here at our farm which really put me at ease. Now, let’s get something straight, I am not a crier. I’m not overly sappy and it takes ALOT to get me to cry! Well, the moment the example video began my eye’s started to tear up. Good sign.

I think about being a kid looking through my parents wedding album and now thinking about how fun it would be to watch a video of their wedding. That is not going to happen but I am so happy that Ryan and I will have such a precious keepsake to watch for years to come.

Videographer….Check!

xo

My Very First Car Rally!

Happy Monday everyone!! The weekend sure did pass by in a blink! It’s time to buckle down for a long week…no four day week this time!

This weekend was a busy one!!! Full of activity! It all started on Friday afternoon where left work early with Mom and Ryan to head down town to see my cousins art exhibit in the Gord Harrison art gallery! Carol Westcott is an amazing artist from Toronto. Her work in amazing and we really didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see her and her work displayed in Ottawa! We are all very proud of her!

Carol’s work

After being at the art gallery for a little while Ryan and I headed west for Kanata. We ran some errands and then met with our group of friends at Montana’s for a yummy….yet UBER long supper! Let’s just say our waitress must have been new and the poor thing had two big groups! It was a long night but we still had an awesome visit with friends!! Happy (belated) birthday to Stacy and Sharon!

On Saturday morning Ryan and I were up early to get ready for my very first Quyon Car Rally!! I was so excited! I had never been on the Car Rally before and I was anxious to get going! With the car packed up with snacks Dad, Ryan and I hit the road on our adventure! We were the very first team to leave for the day!!

And an adventure it was! Let’s just say the rally is not easy!! But half way through I kind of figured it out and we did pretty well placing 19th place (out of about 40-50). I can’t wait for it again next year!!

Sunday Ryan and I were up at our normal working time and headed to friends Shawn and Vee’s to give them a hand with some yard work! We enjoyed a visit with them but working outside when it was cold was weird! It’s really starting to feel like winter is on it’s way!!

The weekend is over but I had a couple of firsts! My very first experience at an art gallery and my first car rally! I can’t believe I have waited all these years to be on a car rally! What a mistake! I had an amazing time and can’t wait to do it again next year!

How was your weekend?

xo

Canning Gone Wrong BUT Cheez Whiz To The Rescue!

 

Happy Friday everyone! As short as the week has been I am still really glad to see it end! It’s been pretty gloomy yet busy around this little corner of my world!

I really am starting to like this whole growing your own vegetables and using them all year around thing. One thing I DIDN’T want to plant was tomatoes. See I’m not a huge fan of raw tomatoes and Ryan isn’t either. But we do like our fresh tomato sauces and I mix it into a lot of recipes to force a little veggies down Ry’s throat!

I decided to try my hand at growing my own Roma tomatoes this year in a few clay pots on my porch. For the most part they grew great and I had myself a little supply of tomatoes to try to can.

At the end of August I picked all my rip tomatoes to begin the process of cooking them.

 

Yup! That’s it…that’s all the tomatoes I got. Hardly enough to bother canning! So, I decided instead I was going to prepare them for supper and have FRESH tomato sauce! I pretty much thought I was a genius at that point……it didn’t last long….

The first thing I did was start boiling a pot of water on the stove. I then dropped my tomatoes into this boiling water for 1-2 minutes.

After sitting in the hot tub for a bit I dropped the tomatoes into very cold water. (You are suppose to put it in an ice bath but I didn’t have any ice).

Once the tomatoes have cooled down from the cold water the skin slides right off!! It’s like magic! So simple!

Now, time for the dirty part….Next I had to cut my tomatoes in half

and then squeeze the guts out of them…literally! Squeezed all the seeds and pulp out of those suckers!

Finally, they were ready for the pot! I stuck em’ in another pot and stuck it on the stove on medium heat. I didn’t have to worry about adding water because apparently the tomatoes have enough water in them.

I placed the lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 1 hour. Magically, the tomatoes broke down and were starting to look like sauce!

I put another pot on the stove to make some noodles because my special sauce was almost done!

Now, the recipe said to add 1/4 cup of sugar….so I did…..

Uh oh….I should of looked more closely...that’s 1/4 TEASPOON of sugar. I thought I would throw some spices in this very sweet sauce and you wouldn’t notice…WRONG! Bleh. It was awful! And now I had cooked noodles with no sauce. So, I quickly added some cheez whiz to these noodles before Ryan got home and VOILA “supper”. ha ha

After growing those tomato plants for months and spending over an hour cooking them it was all ruined because I didn’t double check the recipe….woops. Not quite the genius I thought I was…ha ha! Better luck next year!

Happy Friday!

xo

Wedding Wednesday And My Birthday!

Happy Wednesday everyone!! It’s going to be a short work week, thank goodness. I had a hard time realizing that today was actually Wednesday….weird!

But, it is Wednesday. In fact, its Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 or in other words…My 24th birthday! That feels so weird to type! No, I don’t think I’m “old” per say! I know I have a lot of years ahead of me but I still can’t help but have this, “wow I’m 24, that’s so close to a quarter of a century” feeling! I think about all that has happened in those 24 years of life and how it has brought me here today. I keep thinking, this is my last birthday as an unwed woman and that in it’s self is a little weird as well.

Maybe I’m facing the facts now. In a few (7 months as of today to be exact) months I will become a Mrs. I will no longer be a 23 year old bachelorette. This time next year on my 25th birthday (AHHH!!) I will have a husband. A husband!

So, being that today is my birthday and that actually entitles me to Princess status for the day…What? Just humor me ok? :-) And so I’m gonna fill you in on Wedding tidbits! You know, some stuff that doesn’t need a WHOLE post to talk about but that I don’t want to leave out!

Wedding Central:

This is my sunroom. It is right off of the kitchen and it is enjoyed 3 out of the 4 seasons. It has now been dubbed, Wedding Central. This is where all of the wedding “do-dads” are being put as a safe place until WDay.

P.S Wday is now my new short for version for Wedding Day for all those who I text.

MASON JAR CRAZY:

See those pretty gems sitting in wedding central? Well, within those boxes lies my future centre pieces. Yes, I wanted mason jars as centre pieces and yes, I made Mom freak out when I told her I didn’t need to buy them yet. Apparently, stores don’t carry a lot of mason jars out of canning season….who knew! :-)

SCREW YOU “NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING”! I LIVE IN CANADA NOT ZIMBABWE!

There are these awesome gifts that Ryan and I want to get the groomsmen! We sat down and prepared said gifts and clicked send. Well, of course this NEW YORK based company will not ship said gifts to me in Canada! I mean, HELLO…I can drive to your office in like 6 hours but you won’t ship me those items! Let’s see the geographical difference shall we?

That measly red line….THAT my friends is the difference! BAH! 

First dance blues:

For the life of us Ryan and I can’t pick a first dance song. We’re not overly mushy gushy about things like that and so we never did have a “our song”.

Actually that is a lie. We kind of have a song but it is SO not first wedding dance appropriate. Our first summer dating I was working with him one weekend. I was SO mad at him that afternoon for who knows what reason! When the song “Let It Die” by the Foo Fighters came on the radio Ryan started lip singing the song and dancing like a fool. I tried SO hard not to laugh since I was “mad” at him but he looked so silly that I burst into laughter.

“Why’d you have to go and let it die” doesn’t scream, FIRST DANCE song at our wedding for some reason. I guess we’ll have to keep searching.

There you have some random wedding thoughts on this random Wednesday that is also own as my birthday and Wedding Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

xo

Turkey Coma…..Can’t Think Of Title….

Happy errr…..Tuesday everyone! Another long weekend that passed by WAY too fast! Bare with me with any mistakes while writing this, I’m still in a self induced Turkey Coma.

The weekend started out on Friday night with date night “a la” Lindsay and Ryan. I had been looking forward to this date night for a year or so, which is when we had bought the tickets!

Well, of course this date that I was looking forward to quickly turned into a disaster date! It all started that afternoon when Ryan ended up having to work late. Between him being late, me just waking up from a nap, we were both on edge and both grumpy….not a good combination!

We showed up at the Centrum 2 hours till show time. Not ONE restaurant was available for us to eat at….not one! So, we decided to go ahead to the arena and grab a bite at one of the two restaurants there. We had lots of time so we didn’t mind waiting for a table.

I had assumed parking at the arena was $10, which is what it had been the last time I was there. Turns out it is now $11. With only $10.60 to our name the nice parking attendant let us go through anyways. I felt terrible.

Both restaurants had an hour and half wait time so we were stuck. Already parked and starving. We decided instead, let’ go grab a slice of pizza from inside, take our seats and visit. We get into the arena and the gates don’t open for another 40 minutes. AHHH!!!

That pizza tasted SOOO good when we finally got it!

The Cirque Du Soleil that we went to see was Michael Jackson, Immortal World Tour and it was AMAZING! It was so much better then the normal Cirque Du Soleil show. It was like the Cirque and a Michael Jackson concert all mixed together! Highly recommended for ANYONE to see it!

Saturday morning I was up early to make some fresh homemade buns for turkey dinner and my brother’s and his wife’s!

It was fun playing with the kid’s and visiting with Holly’s family! Not to mention the whole meal was AMAZING! A couple games of euchre ended the afternoon off right!

Saturday evening Ryan and I curled up to watch The Leafs vs. Sens hockey game where my team, The Leafs, did me proud and won me some bathroom cleaning from Ryan and a supper date with Jilly! :-)

Sunday morning I was up early again to get a head start on more buns for turkey dinner with Ryan’s family that night!

First it was off to church where I got to sit and enjoy the service as well as the amazing decorations that all the church ladies get together and do at Thanksgiving time!

After church I laid down for a wonderful Sunday afternoon cat nap! One of my most favorite things in the whole world!

Ryan woke me up and I finished the buns and then we headed to his parents house for a visit with everyone!! I SOOO love his family and feel so comfortable around them all!

After supper I was surprised by a birthday cake for me and Ryan’s stepbrother Kyle!

(Thanks for the pictures Melissa)

Monday was a busy day filled with helping friends Shawn and Vee out with some yard work but we got a great visit in!

I am amazed that I was able to write all that considering how busy the weekend was and I am so filled to the top with turkey! Besides turkey I love thanksgiving because Ryan and I get to visit with so much family all at one and we really gain an appreciation for what we are truly thankful for, each other and family/friends!

What are you thankful for?

Have a great day!

xo

Halloween Craft

Happy Friday everyone!! Today marks the day before the Canadian Thanksgiving LONG weekend! Heck ya!! Bring on some turkey, STAT!

A week ago today some of my closest and craftiest friends gathered at my house to start our craft night for the new season. I had decided since we were getting so close to Halloween it would be fun to make a new door wreath!

There is TONS of inspiration out there for Halloween wreaths so I just took a couple of my favorites and combined them! If you want to make one too, this is what you’ll need…

- Floral wreath

-Black cotton fabric

-Colored or Halloween themed ribbon

-Scrapbook paper

-Foam Board (or wood letters) spelling out BOO

-Scissors

-Modge Podge

-Paint brush

-Hot glue gun

1. First, take your black fabric and cut it into long strips. These strips should be long enough to fit around your floral wreath. I “guestimated” about 55-60 strips per wreath.

2. Begin tying/knotting these strips around your wreath until it is completely covered.  

***Special Note*****

The original idea was to use wood letters to spell out the word “Boo”. Well, do you know how much those friggin’ things cost? You know what works JUST as good at a fraction of the cost…Foam Board. $2.29 for the whole board which did all the letters for all the girls or $8.00 for EACH wooden letter.

3. Trace your letters on the back side of chosen scrapbook paper and cut.

4. Apply a thin layer of modge podge to your letters and then apply scrap book paper that you just cut out. Apply another thin layer of modge podge on top.

5. While waiting for letters to dry begin decorating your wreath with ribbon! We used floral ribbon (you know the bendable kind) cut into strips and wrapped around the wreath in various areas to add some interest and color!

6. Using this ribbon make a loop and attach it to your wreath. This is what you will use to hang your wreath with. If you want you can also add a bow to add some more interest.

7. Once your letters are dry, hot glue the letters to eachother. Wait for these to dry and then attach with hot glue gun to desired spot on your wreath.

8. Hang on your door and enjoy!

It was our first craft night back after a long summer off! I had fun making a craft with these girls but I have to admit I liked the company more!

Happy Friday!

xo