Summer Lovin'

I must admit that at the beginning of this summer I was a little nervous.  Last year I had my waitressing gig to supplement my meager employment insurance benefits.  This summer I am not working at all.  I thought the lack of income might mean no fun for me and missing out on a lot of awesome things.  Luckily I can say that this has not been the case.  With summer break about half over I feel like not only am I surviving, but I am thriving.  Sure, I have to be a little more careful and can't be quite the shopaholic that I am by nature but I am certainly having a lot of fun!  I am crossing off many of my summer to-do list items and loving every minute of it.

A pretty pink poppy growing in my jungle garden.

Rockin' out to the sweet sounds of Silent Thunder at the third annual Max Mckeen Martin Golf Tournament

Two weekends ago I had the most fabulous weekend.  I was my sweetie's birthday and we had such a fun time celebrating.  We are fortunate to live in this wonderful city and there is always something great going on.  We celebrated with a yummy pasta dinner and vino followed by a walk along the waterfront to see the tall ships that were in town.  The best part of the evening was our fireworks cruise around the harbour on the Tall Ship Silva (which was a little suprise I had planned) .  We had a few beers, ate some chocolate peanut butter cheesecake that I made for the occasion and saw an impressive fireworks show.  It is at times like these that I am reminded how lucky I am, not only to live in such a beautiful place but also to have such lovely company;)   

It's a cheesecake and I made it!  First one ever!

 On board the Tall Ship Silva

Setting Sail

Oooh...Aaaah...

The next day we headed out to boyfriend's parent's house for some BBQ and a dip in the pool and slept over so we could get up and head out golfing (boyfriend's parent's gift to him).  It was my first time ever golfing 18 holes (with only one round of 9 holes, two years previous) and although I had no idea what I was doing, I really enjoyed it.  I did not wrap any clubs around trees, or have a hissy fit-meltdown when I totally sucked and had to take ten swings to hit the ball.  It is something I'd definately do again!

Check out that form!

This week I have managed to somewhat conquer my fears of driving my bike on the city roads (a bit overwhelming for this small town girl) and we headed down to Point Pleasant Park for a little picnic followed by ice cream. I have also been spending lots of time chillin' pool side with K-dawg and Judiful...it's simply divine and oh so relaxing.  On the rainy days I have been stitching up gazillions of owlies (in reality about 40) to keep busy.  I am enjoying it immensely since I have been on a bit of a crafty hiatus since Christmas.  I looking forward to this weeked so I can see my besties in Lunenburg and then head to Fundy National Park for some camping adventures!

Judiful

Hooters in various stages of development.

So that's it for my summer lovin' to date.  Hopefully after this long weekend I will have  a camping adventure post:)

It's Been a While.

I haven't posted on here for over a month!  I have been getting really slack.  I haven't been feeling overly inspired but a few fun things have happened and I have gotten a few things done around here.  It also doesn't help that report card time is creepin' up on me and is starting to consume my life.  Due to the fact that I am feeling incredibly lazy, here is the bulleted version of some of the things that I have enjoyed over the past month or so.

• Celebrating my 32nd birthday at a trashy dive bar.
• Being kidnapped and taken to a strip club.
• Trying out lots of new recipes (pumpkin enchiladas, hummus and avocado toast with roasted tomatoes, tomato, mozza & basil appies, sweet potato veggie burgers, rootbeer pulled pork, spicy chicken tortilla roll ups, penne a la betsy and jalapeno poppers to name a few!)
• A little bit of thrifting.
• Some cross stitchin'.
• Some incredible, unseasonably warm weather.
• Time with friends and family.
• Breaking Bad
• The Bicycle Thief
• The Shakedown Combo
• St. Paddy's day with friends.
• Thrifting
• Enjoyed a relaxing March Break
• The Hunger Games Movie
• Wearing bright colored jeans.

Some thrifted stuff and other pics:)

Old crafty "How To" book.

Thrifted beaded/sequined Top Shop tank.

Thrifted cross-stitched pillow cases.

My OneLine a Day journal that I have been writing in faithfully:)

Cross-stitch project.

Thrifted Steve Madden peep toes.

Birthday bling and other sparkly things.

On this day 31 years ago the world got a little weirder.

That's right peeps!  Today is my 31st birthday.  I celebrated last night with the ladies at an awesome new wine bar in town.  We got to Obladee at around 8 with no real plan...just have a few drinks and see where the night took us.  Well it didn't really take us anywhere.  We enjoyed the atmosphere at Obladee so much we pretty much just stayed there all night.  It was exactly what I wanted for my birthday.  A nice, laid back night with good wine, good friends in a place with a good atmosphere and nice ambiance. 

Photo Credit-Gavin Langille via Obladee website

My birthday chocolate dipped strawberry tower.

Tonight the fella and I are celebrating by going to a restaurant we really enjoy, Brooklyn Warehouse and then going to a movie.  I am excited and think it will be perfect since it is a school night and I am still considerably tired from last night.

31 feels pretty good so far!

Burgers, Buttercream and Birthday Baking

I've been wanting to try this idea I found a while back on Bakerella's site for tiny tiny realistic looking hamburger cupcakes.  So...when the BF's 32nd birthday rolled around last week I thought it was about time I gave it a go!  What could be more perfect for a man's birthday than little burger cakes. 

Before I show you my little burger I need to explain something.  This little burger has seen better days.  He was much cuter four days ago on Saturday when he was nice and fresh.  I had meant to take a picture of him when he was freshly assembled but someone...not saying who...went to a party on Friday night...had a few tasty beverages....shook her booty....alot....and....left her camera at the party.  So originally there were more than a dozen of these bad boys but they had to be fed to the guests of the birthday boy.  I did save this one to take a photo of but by the time this morning rolled around and I took the picture his icing was all melting together and the bun parts were a little shiny and sticky...but you'll get the main idea.

I also tried to make little sugar cookie fries like Bakarella did but in the hustle and bustle of cleaning up for the party and trying to multi-task I burnt them!  Oh well maybe next time.

I also made this pink ruffle cake for the party that someone went to on Friday and forgot her camera at (still not saying who).  It has vanilla and chocolate layers and is frosted with a strawberry-marshmallow buttercream icing that I got from my Hello, Cupcake! book.  The icing was only half homemade and was super delicious.  It was supposed to be just a plain butter cream but I added in the strawberry!

Almost Homemade Vanilla Buttercream
1 container (16oz) Marshmallow Fluff
3 sticks (3/4 pound or 1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1" pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (plus additional sugar if needed)
* I also added about 3 tbsp of strawberry jam and a little red food colouring to make it extra pink.  In hindsight I would've used a little less food colouring and kept it a bit more natural.

Spoon the marshmallow fluff into a large bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer on low.  Gradually add the butter pieces, beating well after each addition, until smooth.  Add the vanilla extract and the 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar.  Scrape the bowl well to incorporate.  Add more confectioner's sugar, if necessary to adjust the texture.

Enjoy!

30 Things to Think More Seriously About...

On Saturday I celebrated my 30th birthday. I had a lovely time with my close friends. We rented a cottage about 45 minutes out of the city and when I arrived my friends had it all decked out. It was a casual evening. We barbecued and played board games (the BF made an awesome 1980 Trivial Pursuit game in honor of my birth year)...and it was exactly what I wanted. My two amazing best friends got my the most beautiful, thoughtful and generous gift ever...my first diamonds ever! Knowing that in my 30 years of life I have never been in possession a non-cubic zirconia diamond they got me a pair of diamond earrings. Sooooo sweet! I love my girls:) The BF was pretty amazing too. He pampered me with Lush products, made me a delicious breakfast and took me shopping. He also got Susie's Shortbread cupcakes for my party which are almost too pretty to eat. All in all I feel like my 30th year of life is off to a good start. I am ever so grateful for all the amazing people in my life who help me along this great adventure and make it a lot more fun along the way.

Trivial Pursuit and candy!

String of particularly embarrassing photos!

Susie's Cupcakes

Fleurs

30 Things to Think More Seriously About Now That I am 30

1. Skin Care

2. Saving $

3. Buying a house

4. Traveling (which may make me do the exact opposite of number 2)

5. My biological clock...tick...tick...tick

6. Getting my masters

7. Exercise

8. Healthy eating

9. My overall health and well being

10. Having a side business

11. Becoming more actively involved in things I believe in

12. Keep on having fun!

Okay...so 30 became 12...but I think those are 12 good things!

30 is the new 20...right?

In just two short days I will be making the transition from my twenties to my thirties. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. On one hand I am of the mind frame that "age ain't nothin' but a number" and on the other I am a little sad because I had envisioned being a little further along in life at this point. I am in a definate transition phase...I have gone from having a full time teaching position to waitressing and subbing. In my head as I was going through school I had envisioned travels to far off lands and a husband and babies by this point. However, such is life. Things don't always work out as planned and all in all things are pretty good. I am in a better head space than this time last year dispite my lack of job security and do have a rather lovely life. I have amazing friends and family and my health...I guess when it comes down to it, that's all that really matters.

I will be spending my birthday at a lovely cottage with even lovelier friends.