HB Asia

Hi!!! So I didn't post about my November trip to PEI.

Or our trip to Portland....which we didn't take any pictures of. But the Christmas lights were gorgeous...

I didn't even post our Christmas tree!!!

But today I wanted to publicly say...HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY ASIA!!!!! Yay! My favourite doggy!!!

Isn't she sweet??? And for her birthday she's getting new awesome dog bowls, some pigs ears, and a walk in the snow. Awwww....

A boring old witch?

Last weekend I went to a Halloween Party. Most people did. I went through various plans for costumes from Rainbow Brite to a witch. I have a cute black skirt I really wanted to wear plus I couldn't find Rainbow Brite's socks. A witch was plan until about noon Saturday.

I ran into the host at the market before the party. He said in not so many words he would judge me if I showed up as a witch. Hmmm, don't want to be judged and decided that I am boring.

So, creative as I am I was Glinda the Good Witch. And I had the perfect outfit. I re-purposed my wedding dress.

Fun! Bonus - the boustier bought for it was re-worn. I'm trying to depreciate it. Only 5 more wears and I'll consider it a good investment. :)

Vegan Diet Finish Line

Oops. The 2 month vegan diet challenge was supposed to end this morning. And it did, with cream in my coffee. But truthfully it ended on Friday at the Palate with the mussels in fusilli with a dill cream sauce. Yum.

And then on Saturday with the falafel wrap cover in tzatziki and garlic spread. And the cupcakes with 3 eggs in the mix. Oops. So good.

Of course, on Sunday we went to Cora's for breakfast and I got a crepe omelette's. Mmmm. With hollandaise sauce. Not vegan either.

I think I've decided that I am not doing a vegan diet again. We came out of it trying only one new recipe. And the one new thing we started doing, roasting veggies and tomatoes in the oven instead of making a pasta sauce, we did last night and added pesto sauce and sprinkling cheese on top, and it was so much more awesome.

Besides, did you know they make foam insulation for your house out of soy?!!? What can they not do with that bean. It's gotten a little scary!!

And after re-reading this post I think I've had a very indulgent weekend and need to hit the gym. Eep!!

Vegan Diet - 6 days left

Six days left in the 2 month vegan diet that I am sick of. Not that I'm craving chicken or anything in particular (maybe just chocolate and ice cream). But last night was awesome. I made a soup. A sweet potato, corn and jalapeño soup. It was thick and yummy and took very little effort. Also it was a nice change from the Curried Lentil Soup that has been a vegan staple. Once again I am delighted that I finally bought a hand blender. I use it constantly.

I used a recipe from 2 different sources and guessed on the ingredient amounts. I had 2 very large sweet potatoes to work with and the recipes differed in potato size and numbers. Everybody Likes Sandwiches was the one I focused on mostly because hers made more soup and I have a habit of returning to a pot of something I like until there are no leftovers for lunch. She got her recipe from the Wednesday Chef whom I have read religiously for about 2 years.

Try the links, try the soup. It's very passive cooking. I put on the onions and garlic to fry while Chris cut and peeled the potatoes. I added the broth, turned up the heat and let them boil for 25 minutes until I blended everything, added the rest of the ingredients and ate supper. Yum!

I'd post a picture but I don't have one. But I can verify that the sweet potato soup is orange and looks like a bisque. :)

Vegan Diet - 2 weeks left

We're 6 weeks into our vegan diet.

I don't think it's nearly as much fun as last time.

I'm super interested to see what kinds of habits we keep. I think I'll very quickly go back to drinking milk and eating eggs. Mostly because I don't drink a lot of milk. We have a ton of potatoes in the house from our CSA box and my favorite thing to do with potatoes is to put them in a frittata. And I can't do that. So we have a ton of really nice looking potatoes sitting in the kitchen. Just waiting for some sort of inspired idea. Vegan potato salad is pretty yummy. And they can be added to curry and chili. Ummmm..... and broccoli and potato soup. What else? Any suggestions? Please!

Also, I'm sick of pasta with roasted veggie pasta, lentil soup and couscous. Even though I made couscous just once, I find it bland. I'm still on board with the soy ice cream treats, hummus wraps and vegan curry. 2 weeks should be nothing. But last week I cheated a lot. I got home from the pasta buffet at the Delta on Thursday and I said to Chris, "The vegan pasta was super boring....and I think there was dairy in my cheesecake."

I think I should add an extra week just for that.

vegan diet

About a month ago Chris and I decided to do a two month vegan diet. We did it once before for 2 months. It was about a year ago that we tried it and we only had good memories. Although I recall missing eggs.

So we're a month into our 2 month vegan diet and I cheated. I ordered a veggie wrap and I was so careful to not get pesto on it because of the Parmesan cheese. Well that's great. But I was distracted and didn't noticed that it was made with mozzarella cheese.

I did not unwrap my spinach wrap to dig out the cheese. I ate it. And it was so good. I miss cheese. I am sad I can't buy home made cheese when we pick up our CSA box. I don't really care about eggs this time. And I certainly don't care about meat. But OMG I am dying for a dairy product or two...or three. *Sigh*

Wedding Album

I finally ordered and received my wedding album. Super exciting. It took a couple days to put together. It took a couple of months to work up the motivation. I love it. Too bad I didn't think ahead and decide to order a storage box. Oops. Either way its kinda gorgeous.

My parents still have their wedding album. My dad hauls it out a couple of times a year. :) I kind of wanted one to look at in 35 years too.

This is the front cover.

This is the back.

The inside is full of fun stuff too.

16

I'm having a crappy day at work. And it's dragging on. And for some reason the thought that popped into my head was that my 16 year old self would be pissed about my job. And that's true. But you know what 16 year old Jill would love? The fact I married Chris. I had a crush on him when I was 16. His friend's locker was just down the hall from mine and he hung out there for a bit every morning. And I'd pass him and think, "Frig, he's hot."

Dream

I had a dream that we got married again. It was totally planned. People attended both ceremonies that were supposed to be exactly the same. Except I forgot to have my dress cleaned. And I forgot to tell the minister. So my second wedding was a disaster. I don't think there was any alcohol to make myself feel better either.

Better just stick to the first wedding and not do it again.

Soap nuts

I'm a wanna be hippy. Total wanna be. My best friend in high school was a hippy and I loved that about her. I loved how she made her own pillows, was a vegetarian, made friends with random homeless teenagers and weird grassroots organizations. I was glad her patchouli faze was a quick one.

But I will never be a hippy. Used clothing stores drive my allergies crazy. I don't make friends with randoms. And I can't list any songs by the Grateful Dead. So when I find anything that remotely appeals to my inner flower child I am all over it. And that's what brings me to my love of soap nuts.

I came across an ad for them last year on kijiji. There are a couple of Canadian websites that sell them. I also found some at Plovers in Halifax and on ebay. Online companies give a ton of info on their websites about them.

Soap nuts are the seed from a tree called Sapindus and people have been using their shells to clean for thousands of years. I've been using them to do my laundry for about 9 months now, and while removing stains isn't their strong suit, they make everything smell fresh and clean and wonderful. And they disinfect. Apparently they're really good for cloth diapers. The big plus is you put a handful of shells into a wash bag and you can use it 5-10 times. Makes laundry easy when I'm in the mood to do any. :)

I think they rock and everyone should use them so I thought I would spread the word. They are cheap, have no phosphates, and come from a renewable resource. Therefore everyone should use them.

Yes, this may be my only hippy tendency. But I always worried my dad would yell at me if I got dreads. He's big and scary. However, I am testing out vegan-ism again, starting tomorrow. That so counts.

August 28, 2010

Happy Wedding Day, Marcelle & Chris!!!!

XO

Wedding Rings

My friend Jonathan Corey of Masterworks Jewelry made both my engagement ring and my wedding band. Chris helped design the engagement ring and I designed the wedding band. And they are both gorgeous. But the setting of the diamond ring is really high and I do a little physical labour at work. Plus I'm super clumsy and run into things. Anyway I decided the setting wasn't appropriate for my office. I didn't want it to get scratched or chipped.

When I designed my wedding band it was with a flat setting in mind. I had browsed Etsy looking for ideas and settled on something from My Heart Monster. Using those ideas Jon designed a ring with 4 aquamarines in a low profile setting. The aquamarines are Chris's birth stone which is super cheesy and awesome. :)

Anyway the rings were never designed to match, which they don't. And I tried wearing them together but the clashing really bothered me. So I put the engagement ring in a box. But I missed it.

About 3 weeks ago I decided that I would buy another wedding band. One to wear whenever I'm in the mood for a sparkly diamond ring. Crazy, I know. But it arrived today and it's perfect. Yay!

I can't wear it yet until Chris see it. But that should be in less than an hour. And then it will be 'the more rings the merrier'. I wonder if this means I'll have to do another Ring Warming Ceremony?

Our Traditional weekend trip

This weekend is a super huge weekend that I look forward to every year. Our annual trip to Grand Manan!!!! We're at the Hole in the Wall Campsite at Whale Cove Site 1. Yes, this site number is important. There's a huge bench on the campsite, next to the fire pit where you can look over the Bay of Fundy and watch seals eat herring. It's a good time.

The view from our campsite.

Friends Lacey and Jason having supper on the huge bench.

This is the first time Chris and I are going by ourselves since we started going 7 years ago. Which is weird. And so we're doing something different on Saturday night. We're going out to dinner. I know, not really different. But on the island we always eat at the campsite and this time we're going to a fancy restaurant. I think it's just down the street but I'm not 100% certain. They post their menu daily and right now I'm sorry I'll be missing tonight's haddock stuffed with crab and cheese sauce. Mmmm.

I can't believe it's only Wednesday!!!

Teamwork

Chris and I are normally an excellent team. We have very similar tastes and preferences which made wedding planning really easy. However we don't work well together on house projects. I don't like the professor voice he uses when he's telling me how to do things. It bugs me to no end. My first experience with this was 4 years ago when we moved in to our house together and started to redo the kitchen. Chris was lecturing me on how to put in the new flooring. I think we got about 4 pieces in before I gave up to save the relationship. Yes Chris, I stopped helping you for the greater good. :) Aren't I sweet?

Luckily most of our projects aren't so big that he needs help. At least that's what I told myself when he gutted the bathroom to the studs and rebuilt it. I said, "The bathroom is too small for 2 people to work in there at once."

However, we have been living in this blue house for a long enough time. It's a very ugly blue. I have always hated it. And when I realized that we had been living there for 4 years this month I decided that was far too long to live with a color you hate. And so we agreed to paint the house. A project much too big for Chris to do by himself, so we had to work as a functioning team. (My friend told me it would go much smoother if I didn't disagree with him and just handed him tools as he required. That is so not me.)

However, much to my surprise, we worked together really well. We were super productive and painted one coat on the whole house this past weekend. Crazy. No more ugly blue!!!! And we're still talking to each other. And nice to each other. And we even had a little bit of fun! Yay! Maybe afterwards we can take on redoing the living room???

This picture was taken after all the prep work had been started...and 2 of 4 sides painted. But really, this is the before picture. The fascia boards still need to be fixed, but the front window was stripped and repainted. Thank goodness Chris has no problem with heights!

Tada! Midway point. This is with one coat on the house. So one more coat to be put on. And then on will go the new mail box, new numbers, and new light fixture. Plus we're painting the door red when we (I?) get a chance. Awesome!

Home

I am really glad our wedding reception was at my parents house. I lived there until I was 25, I am the only person with a key to the front door, and I spend about 4 nights there a month. Not surprisingly it's still pretty much home. And it was perfect and comfortable for the wedding.

But I had dinner there on Saturday night, sitting at the kitchen table that displayed all of the food at the reception. And since then all I can think about are the cupcakes that looked so pretty and tasted so yummy. I only have 2 left in the freezer and they are waiting in the freezer until our two month anniversary.

What a shame. Maybe I'll have to place another order.

Wedding Recap

On June 22,2010 my day started with a cup of coffee and drive out to Rothesay with my sister and friend Robyn. We spent the morning getting pampered with hair, make up and manicures. I have no idea what Chris did all morning except he and my aunt hung pom poms from the trees at my parents house where the reception took place. They did a really good job.

When we arrived back to the house we quickly got dressed and met Chris, his best man and best lady, and our photographer outside at 12:30. We went uptown to make spectacles of ourselves. It was awesome. We had a tour bus full of people cheer for us while we took pictures in King Square. It was a fabulous way to hang out and wait for your 3 o'clock wedding.

We were uptown for over an hour and took pictures in 3 locations. This was fabulous and there were tons of pictures taken. My only regret is that we only bought the 5 hour package and I wish we had of bought the 7 hour package. We have a million bridal party pictures but are lacking on the reception. I wonder what I missed as I flitted from room to room, from lobster rolls to smoked salmon and back again.

* all photos by Julie A. Whitlock

Wine Country

After checking out all the fossils on the beach at Joggins we headed to Wolfville to spend the night at an the Olde Lantern Inn and the next day traipsing around vineyards. This was my favorite party of our honeymoon. Most likely because it was the most 'honeymoon-y' part. :)

We arrived around 8 and startled the girl waiting in the lobby. I think we may have been supposed to knock, but that didn't occur to us and we walked right in. She quickly showed us to our room, The Wine Cellar. It was super sweet. The pictures online don't do it justice. It had a great view of the vineyard and this sweet little door into the front garden. It was super cute. And outside was lit by an old fashion lantern with a candle burning. It was sweet. The girl gave us directions to a fancy restaurant just down the vineyard, called Le Caveau. The path was also like by candlelight. We both ordered a glass of wine and the tuna. I just looked up the website to see what kind of wine we ordered and I realized....we went back the next day and I bought the wrong kind!!! I am pretty certain I had the Seyval Blanc with dinner and I bought the Vidal Blanc to bring home thinking it was the one from dinner. Silly. I guess I'll know for certain when I open it next week (my one month anniversary plan). But right now I'm strangely disappointed. Le sigh.

Anyway, dinner was fabulous. We were both stuffed. The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the Inn and sat with an interesting couple from New Jersey doing wine tours for 3 days. We ran into them later in the day and the woman whispered to me, "This is the best winery yet!" Since she had been doing tours for days I could only assume she was right. We only toured 3 wineries, but the one she picked as her favorite...it was fabulous.

On the Friday of our honeymoon we toured:

Domaine de Grand Pré bought by a Swiss Banker in the nineties and completely restored.

Muir Murray Estate Winery owned by an Irish doctor.

And

Gaspereau Vineyards which is owned by Jost Wineries.

It was all fabulous. But I have to admit Gaspereau was my favorite. Just like the lady from New Jersey. When we arrived there we found out there wouldn't be a tour for an hour. So instead we tasted wines. The girl there let me taste all of their whites. Chris just wanted to taste the reds. I wanted to taste everything that Chris tasted. In the end Chris bought two bottles there, a red and a super expensive Chardonnay for me. Yay! He loves me.

After we tried all of the wines at Gaspereau the girl gave us a mini tour. She showed us the steel drums where they aged the wine. And then she took us outside the back of the barn and showed us some of the vineyards. They do a lot of experimenting at this winery. The location, on the sunny side of the hill is a great place to experiment. Which is why they have a chardonnay. Most vineyards in Nova Scotia don't seem to make it. It was interesting and so pretty. Part of the vineyard is int he picture below. The hill behind has the chardonnay grapes. Closer to us are the grapes for their L'Acadie wine. (Which everyone vineyard we went to bragged about but wasn't really to my taste. Ick.)

Joggins

On the second day of our 4 day honeymoon Chris and I went to the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia. The building is eco-friendly and super neat.They have little display holes in the floor. And they had a café with yummy seafood chowder. We registered for the 2 hour tour on the beach. It was guided by a guy who is a grad student studying Paleontology in Halifax.

Everyone on the guided tour had to wear hard hats on the beach in case of `rock fall`. Chris quickly informed the guide about his little encounter with rock fall this spring. You know, the one where he lost the tip of his finger. Ha. The guide did that thing where you`re so grossed out you do a full body shake. It was funny. And then we walked down the beach and learned about fossils. Mostly tree fossils. And some lizard footprints. No dinosaurs. I would have known that if I had of read the website beforehand, but I did not. Oh well, I had always wanted to go and I had a really good time.

But the seafood chowder at the café...yummy!!!

Entertainment

I was reading a new blog ROSHDAWG, sister of my favorite wedding blogger and today's post suggested going to your oldest email account and reading some of the emails you sent years ago. She suggests that this will be hilarious. I tried this but I must have deleted all the old ones because the account I've had since I was 18 only goes back to 2007. And was mostly about getting Jenn to fix my resumé. But I found a note to my grandmother about how I bought a new skirt...ohhh, fancy. I wonder if it was the one Chris bought me because I 'lost' my wallet?

Anyway, the email to my grandmother was attached to a forward from her. I thought I'd let everyone have a laugh and roll their eyes. Enjoy!

I urgently needed a few days off work,
But, I knew the Boss would not allow me to take leave.
I thought that maybe if I acted "Crazy" then he would tell me to take a few days off.
So, I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises.
My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing.
I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss might think I was "Crazy" and give me a few days off.
A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked,
"What in the name of good GOD are you doing?"
I told him I was a light bulb.
He said, "You are clearly stressed out."
Go home and recuperate for a couple of days."
I jumped down and walked out of the office...
When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her,
"And where do you think you're going?!"

(You're gonna love this....)




She said, "I'm going home too. I can't work in the dark.

Two Weeks Married

Chris and I have been married for 2 weeks and 1 day. Fun. On this day at this time 2 weeks ago we were packing up to leave the presidential suite at the Chateau Saint John. So pretty!!! And then we went back to my parents house for brunch and present unwrapping. So fun!!! Shortly after we began our excellent adventure and honeymoon!!! Starting with Treego!

What a weird thing to do on your first full day of marriage. But we had fun!!! And I barely whined at all. :) But I was too tired afterward to go anywhere fancy for dinner. So we drove 3 minutes to the Superstore and picked up sushi.

Back at work all I can think about it how much fun I was having 2 weeks ago. But it feels more like some distant past. I need another vacation.