Pinterest Lovin’

 

Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone’s week passed by super quickly and that everyone has a wonderful weekend planned. Around these parts, it’s Canada Day long weekend! It’s a pretty big deal in our small town. We may be small but we have a lot of love and spirit when it comes to our Canada Day festivities! Can’t wait to get the weekend started!

Way back when the whole Pinetrest fad started it took me a long time to climb on board. I just didn’t get what the hype was all about.

A while later, I was hooked. Come follow me!

I love all things crafting and creating. It’s kind of my way of relaxing after a long stressful day. Nothing is more satisfying then starting a project and completing it! Pinterest is like fuel on a fire! It makes me want to create even more.

The recipes, the organization tips, beauty tips and crafts. The ideas are endless.

Here are some of my most recent finds that I have actually re-created.

Printed, framed and on display for Canada Day!

Via

Made for new little baby Neve

Via

Shower thank you cards!

Via

Had this with cookies for our wedding midnight lunch! Yum!

Via

Tried it for supper…FAIL! Both Ryan and I hated the taste!

Via

Supper SUCCESS! So yummy!

Via

I really do love my Pinterest! It’s a great resource for literally everything! Some things work out great and others can be a complete fail. But it’s trying new and different things that is so fun!

In other news, I tired this yesterday and was in heaven! It is the absolute perfect summer beverage! Not too sweet, not to sour…just right!

 

Tim Hortons frozen lemonade!

If only we had a Timmy’s in our home town I would be having one every day!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday and a great weekend!

xo

Wedding Party Gifts

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! The hardest thing about a long weekend (Can anymore say, Canada Day? WOO HOO!) is that the week before seems endless! Ryan and I have been keeping ourselves busy though between putting wedding gifts away, visiting with a special (and new) little lady, supper out and in with a friend! Lots of activity makes things go by a lot faster!

Since getting our wedding pictures in our possession last week I have been thinking alot about the wedding and our wedding experience. I honestly think a big part of your wedding experience has to do with your wedding party. My girls were there for me every step of the way. I can’t even put into words how unbelievable they are and were throughout the whole wedding process. I know Ryan feels the same way about his groomsmen.

Being the overly organized person that I was, I knew I wanted to get all of the wedding party gifts done and ready WELL before it was rehearsal time, when we would be handing them out.

The Guys

The guys gift was the most difficult! When we first got engaged, I had picked up a Southern Wedding magazine to browse through. In this magazine, Ryan saw a picture of groomsmen with custom Nike shoes. He immediately pointed them out and said that that was going to be the groomsmen gift.

I couldn’t argue because I loved them too. We finally decided that if we got them in black then they could also act as their wedding shoes!

It was tricky getting their sizes (thanks wives!) and telling them to just buy whatever black shoes they wanted, so that they didn’t think we were purchasing any shoes.

The even trickier part was buying them! You see Nike.com would not allow for international shipping. After lots of phone calls we finally drove the 5 hours to the closet location in New York and bought them. The store that we dealt with in White Plains, New York was wonderful! They even agreed to ship them to us (by Purolator) when they were ready so that we didn’t have to make that long drive again.

The guys loved their shoes and they looked great on the wedding day!

We also got a pair for Ryan to wear and as a gift for both Dad’s.

We also bought all the guys (Dad’s included) their ties. The groomsmen also received matching pocket squares. They all looked so handsome on the day of the wedding!

The Girls

Maybe it’s because I’m a girl myself but girls gifts are SO much simpler!

I knew I wanted to get my girls a special piece of jewelry that they could wear on the day of the wedding with their dresses. It was difficult finding something I loved so I contacted, Brittany at BrittanyChavers who custom designed and made all the pieces for the girls! I have bought some beautiful jewelry from Brittany’s etsy shop before so I knew they were going to be wonderful. The best part though was how patient she was with me over the countless emails back and forth trying to find the perfect shade and shape of yellow flower! Thank you Brittany!

All of my wonderful girls received a pair of earrings, bracelet and necklace.

The flower girls also received a matching necklace as well!

Into the night I wanted to make sure the girls had something to carry (besides a bouquet!). That’s when I found these adorable clutches!

Via

The set contained different prints and different shades of yellow so that each was right for that certain person!

The flower girls weren’t left out either and they got adorable silver purses from Claires.

The Mom’s were not forgotten either and I found some nice jewelry for both of them to go with their dresses.

My Mom received a black pearl necklace (for her v-neck dress) and earrings from TreasuredAdornment.

And Ryan’s Mom received a black pearl bracelet and earrings from luminajewelstoo.

Etsy is so amazing for finding some amazing things!

Finally, I didn’t want to leave the ladies out of getting some special footwear! So, when I placed my order for my Toms (dancing shoes) I also order matching silver Toms for my wonderful bridesmaids.

Mini silver toms for the flower girls, that they wore throughout the whole day and looked adorable!

And black sparkly Toms for the Moms!

It was so fun getting to purchase, wrap and then present the gifts to our wedding party. It really was just a small token for everything they had done for us throughout the whole process. We were so thankful to them for their love and support and wanted to show a bit of our gratitude.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

xo

Shannon & Casey – June 23, 2012

 

Happy Monday everyone! This weekend was so wonderful and revolved around one thing… The marriage of my cousin, Shannon to her beau, Casey.

As first cousins (our mom’s are sisters) who are also very close in age, Shannon and I grew up more like sisters. We did EVERYTHING together. Constant sleepovers, dress up, driving around the farm. Our summers were spent at each others houses. It was a great childhood and most of my most fondest memories has Shannon in them.

Shannon in the middle

To say that I was excited to watch her get married to the love of her life is an understatement!

It was a beautiful day on Saturday as everyone gathered at a park in Aylmer, Quebec. The groom was looking excited for the big moment when he would see his bride!

In entered the cutest little flower girl and the rest of the bridal party!

Finally, as Shannon made her way down the aisle with her Dad she was beaming. Absolutely glowing with happiness and love!

 

It was a quick and meaningful ceremony and finally the moment came where they kissed and were announced as husband and wife!

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the bridal party getting their pictures taken.

So, as pictures were being taken a bunch of us went out for a nice supper before heading over to the reception hall.

We had a great time that night dancing to the live band, having a couple drinks and visiting with our friends at the table!

It was a great day and night celebrating with the new happily married couple. The best part for me was getting to watch as Shannon marry her best friend! Ryan and I were so delighted to be there to celebrate with you! (Love you Shan!)

Wishing Shannon and Casey a lifetime of happiness together!

xo

Oh Hot Damn, This Is My Jam!

 

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone’s week passed by fairly quickly and you all have wonderful plans for the weekend ahead!

In the old part of my home, in the basement, there is a storage area that we the “cold storage”. Basically, it’s a cellar that my ancestors who lived there before me used to keep all their canned goods. Sometimes I can imagine what it was like to live there and I can see it filled with canned jams, jellies, pickles and veggies.

I am so thankful for this area and I love to fill it every year with my canned produce like my pickles. Another thing that I fill the cold storage with every year is homemade jam.

I am a huge homemade jam fan. As a kid I never had store bought jam, ever! Mom made strawberry and raspberry jam every year and that is simply what we ate.

I guess throughout the years my taste buds have been spoiled to the taste of homemade jam. My mother has since retired her jam making skills but I have picked up this tradition ever since I have had my own home. This year is no different.

On Monday I had talked about how I had gone strawberry picking with the intention of making my jam that weekend. While making this jam I thought I would share the recipe that I use. Jam is seriously one of the easiest to make!

Homemade Cooked Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:

- Cleaned and hulled strawberries (one patch calls for 3 1/4 cups and I made a double patch)

- Lemon juice

- Sugar

- Liquid pectin

- Sanitized mason jars and lids

 

1. Sanitize all of your jars and lids.

2. Take the required amount of strawberries and mash away! Mash to your liking. Some people like big chunks of strawberries so mash less. I like fewer big pieces so I mash my strawberries like a crazy person! :-)

 

3. In large pot add mashed strawberries, 7 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of lemon juice. (I made a double patch so I had to add 14 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of lemon juice). Stir until all mixed together.

4. Place pot onto stove on high. Continuously stir until mixture begins to boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.

5. Remove from heat and stir in pectin.

*Some people don’t add pectin. The old traditional jams were made without pectin but it takes a long time to boil down enough to thicken into jam consistency. Pectin is a natural product derived from lime.

6. Continuously stir and remove little the bit of foam that forms on the top for 5 minutes. You want to keep stirring (while once in a while removing foam) for the full 5 minutes because you don’t want your jam to set with the fruit floating on top. 

 

You can eat the foam if you want to. It’s delicious!

7. Spoon in jars leaving 1/2 to 1/4 inch head space (the top part of the jar). Clean the exterior of jar if any jam spilled. Tighten on lids. Leave jars to rest for 1 hour.

You will begin to hear your jars popping. You know they have sealed when that little bubble in the middle of the lid cannot be pressed up and down. If for some reason they did not seal add to water bath (big pot of boiling water) for 10-15 minutes. I’ve never had to do the water bath. They’ve always sealed themselves.

My two patches did 13 jars and I also had enough strawberries left for two big baggies of frozen strawberries for smoothies!

It’s tasty, simple to make and just as cost efficient as the bought jam. There is something about the taste of fresh homemade strawberry jam that just screams summer!

When canned, a taste you can enjoy all year round!

Hope you have a great weekend!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – Sneak Peek

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! This is an exciting Wednesday for a few reasons.

The number one reason in this lady’s book is that I have today off of work for a dentist appointment. What makes this even better is the fact that I got to sleep in AND Ryan also has a dentist appointment today!

So, a WHOLE day with just me and Ryan…Oh…and a little dentist work in there too. But that’s minor, right? :-)

I’m at work usually pretty early. I am up by 4:30 (that’s a lie, I snooze till 4:50) and then putter around getting ready before walking to the office to be there for 5:30 AM.

It is kind of an ungodly hour in the morning but I’ve grown to like it. I get to sip on a coffee and be by myself for a good 30 minutes before the guys start to arrive for work.

Usually, the time between 5:30 – 8 are uneventful. Answering phones, making invoices and getting the guys on their way. Nothing too major.

This morning however? I had a REALLY hard time focusing.

This morning my friend and wedding photographer posted our wedding on her blog with all the sneak peek photos!

I was pretty much a goofy smiling, tear jerking, unfocused ex-bride, now wifey…Who was sitting at her computer focused on nothing else!

It was like reliving the whole thing over again! I remember the day but to see it again captured that way was amazing. The action shots are the ones that really got to me. That feeling of pure joy that I felt like I was going to explode with came back while looking at all the beautiful pictures.

So, without further adieu I wanted to send you all over to her Julie’s blog to take a look for yourself! I am so blessed to have such amazing imagines of our day and I can’t wait to see the others!

Julie, I feel so blessed to have gotten to know you over the last year and a half. Not only are you talented but you are also so passionate about what you do. Thank you for everything!

Please check out the blog here!

Happy Wednesday!

xo

Father’s Day Weekend

 

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had as wonderful of a weekend as I did. Even though mine passed by in a blink, it was such a fun filled time!

Basically, Ryan and I spend our weekend with this guy….

Caleb. Ryan’s nephew!

Caleb had celebrated his 13th birthday that week before so Ryan and I knew we wanted to have him over for the weekend to celebrate his big birthday!

Friday afternoon started out with another special birthday here in the office for Claire! It involved a special lunch and yummy blizzard cake!

Friday evening we headed into town for a Q & A meeting for the building of the new town hall. It is so exciting to know that in the near future we are going to have a new building! All the committee members should be busting with pride. I know I am extremely proud of them all for them for all of their hard work.

A big donation was also made on Friday night.

Saturday morning as Caleb and Ryan went on the truck to make deliveries for work I headed across the ferry to Kinburn Berries.

I was on a mission to get my annual strawberries picked! In record time I had my three baskets picked and heading back home!

After a quick stop in at my Mom and Dad’s I headed home and Ryan headed to get his hair cut. Caleb swam for about an hour while I got some sun and reading in!

After Ryan got home we loaded up the car to head to the city to start the birthday celebrations. First stop, Carlingwood mall so that he could pick out his own birthday gift!

Then we headed to Lonestar for supper. The biggest reason for going here was so that Caleb could wear the big birthday cowboy hat! He was pretty embarrassed when all the wait staff sang to him! haha

After supper we headed to the movie theatre to watch a movie of Caleb’s choice. His choice…

The Avengers

Such a boy movie (which Ryan was excited about) and I have to admit it was pretty good.

Heading home, we weren’t even on the road for 5 minutes when we heard little snores coming from the backseat. Ryan and I were proud that we could tucker out this 13 year old!

Saturday morning I got up before the boys to start on hulling my strawberries and making the jam.

That afternoon, it was time to start the Fathers day celebrations. It involved a Fathers day scavenger’s hunt (made by Caleb), pool, beer and BBQ supper.

Of course a special Father’s day dessert too!

For a very special Daddy! :-)

It really was the perfect weekend! Ryan and I were pretty tired keeping up with Caleb but we had such a blast spending time with him. Then we got to have some quality time relaxing by the pool all afternoon celebrating such a wonderful man!

How was your weekend?

xo