Fighting A Cold and Birthday Festivities

 

Welcome back to the regular scheduled work week!! I wish I could say that I truly enjoyed every bit of this weekend but when you are fighting a cold and feeling pretty nasty, it’s hard to keep the party hat on.

Friday afternoon, everyone at the office spoiled me rotten with special treats and a special birthday lunch! We had nacho dip, tortilla wraps, tacos and yummy cake!

Friday night was the night that my parents, Ryan and I were going to go to the city to eat at The Prescott. Unfortunately, plans changed and instead Ryan bought pizza, we watched T.V and were in bed doped up with Nyquil by 8 PM. Exciting….ha ha!

Saturday morning Ryan and I had to get up in order for Ryan’s birthday plan to be successful!

We headed to the city for a morning of shopping downtown at the Rideau Centre. Where my husband spoiled me by buying me whatever I wanted. 3 pairs of jeans and 4 shirts later, my winter wardrobe is all set!

After a quick bite to eat at the food court, we headed to M.A.C where I had a personalized makeup lesson!

I had been wanting to graduate from high school makeup/skin care to somewhat of a more adult routine. I was a little worried as I watched all the FULL caked on makeup faces around me. However, my wonderful instructor listened really well to me when I said I wanted something quick and natural that I could recreate on a regular day.

Before

After

With new makeup and a fresh face we headed out for supper at one of my favorite places, The Keg!

A steak dinner was just what the doctor had ordered as we headed home and literally crawled into bed, again doped on Nyquil, at 7:30!! We were really hoping to sleep off our colds.

Both of us still feeling pretty down on Sunday morning I opted out of church and Ryan headed to hockey. After I finally got up, I practiced my new makeup routine, slipped on a brand new outfit, and headed to Mom and Dad’s for a birthday breakfast.

We chatted over bacon and eggs and then sat by the fire to visit.

Ryan and I headed home to relax by the T.V and do laundry around the house. We snacked on the most flavor filled ketchup chips ever and watched The Proposal.

Finally, again, we crawled into bed early with cold medicine in hand hoping for relieved symptoms for the upcoming week.

I had a great weekend, despite being sick, spending time with Ryan and family celebrating getting older!

Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go take some more medicine…*Achoo*

xo

The Big 2-5 !!!

 

Happy Friday everyone! Gosh, I’m glad to see this week come to an end! Although, I wasn’t wishing the week away because something special was happening on Friday…

My 25th Birthday!

 

Birthday cake on Wednesday at Amanda and Josh’s. Who are home for good from Calgary! Woo Hoo! Take about an amazing birthday gift! Having one of your best friends home and living right down the road from you!

The number 25 kind of scared me. It’s the number I always referred to as a kid…I’d spend time thinking about where I would be in life on my 25th birthday.

Thinking back to being a young teenager, I always though I’d be out of this small town and in the big city and making big bucks!

In reality, when trying out the big city life, I realized it’s not the life for me.

Ryan knows that I have been stressing a little about being 25 and asked me this morning, “So, how does 25 feel so far?”

My response?

“Pretty good. Besides this darn cold I don’t have much to complain about. I have a husband who loves me, a special puppy (I had just opened Tuckers gift to me. Sirius Satellite Radio, Thanks Tucker!), a roof over my head, heading to a job I love, an amazing family (on both sides) and amazing friends! What else could a 25 year old ask for?”

His reply, “True. All good things. But, you are still getting old! ha ha!”

Thanks for rubbing it in Hun! ;-)

I remember being a kid and thinking 25 was SOOOO old. When in reality, it’s not that bad. When you finally get to the age that you once considered “old” it doesn’t seem as ancient.

So, this weekend, I am going to celebrate like I’m a quarter of a century old! I am going to spend time with family and friends and not just celebrate my age but all my blessings as well.

Happy Friday!

xo

Reception – Part 2

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! This short week is sure to pass by super quickly! Yesterday, being at a golf tournament all day and then today skipping out in the early afternoon for an eye appointment certainly helps the days fly by too!

Last week, I left you off with part 1 of our wedding reception. Where we finally arrived at the reception to get the dinner started.

In between each course, we had a couple of speeches. We wanted to break down all the speeches so that they weren’t right at the end on top of one another.

First up, the maid of honor and best man!

The flower girls were so good during the dinner! Here they are at the children’s table I had set up with coloring books and crayons!

Ladies listening to speeches!

Next up, were the “welcome to the family” speeches from either side. Welcoming Ryan into our family was my brother Jared.

Welcoming me into their family was Ryan’s Aunt Lynn.

During Aunt Lynn’s speech, she read a beautiful letters that Ryan’s parents and his grandma wanted read to us for our special day. So special!

Ryan’s Aunt Lynn had another special surprise for him! Ryan always RAVES about his Auntie Lynn’s sticky buns and pretty much torments her to make them for him!

Aunt Lynn made Ryan a special “grooms cake” out of his favorite sticky buns!! He loved it!

Here are just some candid’s from during those particular speeches.

Happy Wednesday!

xo

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Tuesday everyone! Gosh, it feels so refreshing having that extra day to do as you please! Why can’t every week have a 3 day weekend attached?

The weekend started out with a quiet Friday night doing food preparation work for the coming thanksgiving feasts!

Saturday morning while Ryan and my brother were gone to compete in their first duathlon I sat out on the porch with my Keurig coffee (love!) and watched the turkey’s cross the laneway! It really felt like thanksgiving watching them!

Once the boys were back from their race, we got ready and headed over to my parents house for a thanksgiving lunch/dinner.

The boys and their metals!

Of course I couldn’t help but take pictures of these 2 cuties! Faith and Clark! They make the best models!

The whole family

The table was set and we all sat down and enjoyed a delicious meal together!

We were all pretty much in a turkey coma afterwards so we just sat, visited and played with the kids! It was a great time having the whole family together!

Sunday morning I decided to walk to church so that I could take a picture of the leaves while they are still on the trees. It’s a nice 10-15 minute walk to church and I love getting the extra fresh air.

After church, Ryan and I took a quick nap and then got ready and headed to his parents house for thanksgiving dinner!

I was amazed the first time I met Ryan’s family. They were so welcoming and still continue to be! It was great sitting, chatting and laughing with all the family!

Of course we had an amazing turkey dinner (as usual with Bev cooking!) and afterwards I was surprised with a birthday cake! Of course, as I am usually behind the camera, once I passed it to my husband this is the BEST picture he got…geez!

So, here is Ryan’s step brother, Kyle with his birthday cake! His birthday was on Sunday!

Monday morning Ryan headed off to go golfing and I got ready to head for lunch with Jilly and then off to a movie. We were originally suppose to see Trouble With The Curve. A baseball movie.

Well, not really knowing the name of movie, I looked up movie times thinking it was called Pitch Perfect. Woops!

But, it really turned out for the best because we both ended up LOVING Perfect Pitch. It was the “perfect” holiday Monday movie!

How was your weekend?

xo

Friday Recipe – Chicken & Sweet Potato Bake

 

Happy Friday! Finally, it’s the Friday before the long weekend! Doesn’t the fact that it’s a long weekend coming up make this Friday seem a little bit sweeter?

Today, I wanted to share with you a fairly new recipe. New, in the sense that it has been appearing at our house for under a year. It has quickly become one of our favorite recipes and I see it being around for years and years to come!

Chicken & Sweet Potato Bake

Ingredients:

- 2-4 Large sweet potatoes. Peeled and chopped into cubes

- 1/4 cup Italian Salad dressing

- 3 tbsp of brown sugar

- 1 tbsp of thyme

- Chicken thighs or breasts

 

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix dressing, sugar and thyme in large bowl.

3. Add potatoes and toss to coat. Transfer potatoes to 17x11 reserving the dressing mixture in bowl.

4. Add chicken to reserved dressing mixture; toss to coat. Place in pan with potatoes.

5. Bake for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender and chicken is done.

6. Enjoy!

Isn’t that one of the simplest recipes ever?!? The first time I made it I was sure that it would be way too plain for me. I like sauces and spices.

Man, was I ever wrong! This has easily become one of my personal favorite recipes! I am able to assemble it at night and bake it in when I get home form work.

The ingredients are so easy and mostly things that I have on hand. Not to mention, SUPER cheap to make!

I was never sure if I loved the taste of sweet potatoes but now I am a fan! The sweetest of the potatoes, with the added tang of the dressing and flavor of the thyme is amazing! The chicken absorbs all the flavors during the cooking process that makes it super moist.

As you can see, I highly recommend this recipe!

Wishing all my Canadians and very wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Weekend!

xo

Reception – Part 1

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! I’m still a little stunned that we are into the month of October! I know I have been dreaming of this month but it kind of snuck up on me over the weekend! I am so glad that it’s October and even more glad of this coming long weekend!

I wanted to share with you today the start of our reception photo’s. After an already busy day I was famished and SO looking forward to sitting down and celebrating our marriage with friends and family!

Pat, our MC began the evening with some house rules and then introducing the wedding party!

Jared and Amanda

Luc and Rebekka

Best man, Graham and Maid of Honor, Jill

Bride and Groom

Of course Pat started out the evening with some stories right away!

My bad driving skills and clumsiness were pointed out immediately. Here I am pointing out that it was in fact my arm that had to get stitches when I stabbed myself with a knife.

 

Our wonderful student minister then stood and said grace before supper was served.

While everyone was eating or waiting for food our guests had the opportunity to try to sink a put to make us kiss! It was a hit and so fun to watch everyone try to putt!

The result of a good putt!

I think my greatest memory was sitting back and looking out at all of our guests at the hall. All there for us! Wow! It was amazing sharing some stories about ourselves with our guests and enjoying good food and drinks with our friends and family!

 

Happy Wednesday!

xo