For the last 7 years, our summers have consisted of…
Weddings.
Everybody goes through it. There is that decade that all of your friends, all of your relatives and pretty much everybody you know gets married, usually during the summer. Note: There are only 8 weekends in a summer and 2 of them are long weekends.
I loved planning my wedding! I am happy/sad that there was no such thing as Pinterest when I got married LOL.
There was when my sister got married though! Actually, 4 years ago this week! Happy Anniversary you guys!!!
I will be forever honoured that I was asked to be my Sister’s Matron of Honour. There’s a lot to that shit! The first time I was a Matron of Honour I was actually just a Maid of Honour LOL. My WpgBesty got married in March 2009. I was lucky enough to be her Maid of Honour. She, unfortunately was unlucky to have me as her Maid of Honour. She got married when HBear was almost 4 months old. Hers was the first wedding out of all our friends. The only one I had been to, let alone been involved in.
I failed her. I was just learning how to be a mother and my entire world was upside down. I tried very hard, I think I was up for 26 hours trying to make homemade truffles with their initials piped on. They were delicious but horrifying to look at.
I made little prizes and hosted a charming brunch at the Conservatory. It was wonderful. I made up special bingo and I had previously asked her Fiancé questions and then asked them to her to see how well they knew each other… They were spot on LOL
The funny thing is all my best ideas came when I was brainstorming with my WpgBesty. It was super hard to make up something super good without her super brain.
For my Sister’s wedding… WpgBesty was also a bridesmaid! So with the help of my Cousin, the other bridesmaid, we tried to throw my Sis a charming afternoon bridal shower 😊
The first question of course was where do we hold it? I live in BC, WpgBesty obviously lives in Winnipeg and my Sis lived in a tiny condo in Calgary.
My Aunt and Uncle had a beautiful backyard complete with a little babbling water feature and bridge! But… They were in the middle of a move. 😞
We thought of the park… But there was no privacy and you can never be too sure about the weather in Calgary. We needed somewhere that we could go inside if needed. Mom and I came up with the idea of renting a house. We went on one of those short-term rental sites and we found the perfect little house with a big beautiful backyard. We were so excited! Invitations sent!
Next we had to think about games, decorations, and of course… Food!
Once all that was figured out and we were a week before the wedding Mom, Hear, Baby Park (I was 6 months pregnant and we called “SBean”, Baby Park) and I drove out to Calgary and drove into this adorable gated community to our dream rental home.
When we pulled up and walked inside we knew our dream home was actually a hell house.
There was no furniture. The outdoor dining set included a chair and a small plastic table. The backyard had a decrepit swing set in the middle of it, a broken fence, a half torn down shed, the paint was peeling, and the grass had not been cut in probably 2 weeks. There were no pots and pants!! LOL, I can laugh about it… now. We called the owner right away. The pictures on the website were not the pictures of this house. She came over and brought 3 more chairs for the outdoor dining set and a vacuum?!
Despite the fact that it wasn’t a bright sunshiny day and the backyard was a disaster… it was filled with love, laughter, and really good food!
Everything was handmade. The fans, the picture clothesline, the pinwheels, the games, their props, and all the food. Everyone worked so hard to make it her perfect celebration 🙂
Our second game was Where in the World is KariSeb Diego? It was super awesome. My Cousin was the host and she did the whole original intro complete with a spotty connection!
All the places were South Korean landmarks they had visited when they lived there together. It was also where they met 🙂
Then she opened up her amazing, personal, and thoughtful gifts.
Oh and Flakey Lemon Tarts, Mini Cheesecakes, Mini Cupcakes and Strawberry, Chicken, Bacon Pizza!
Chicken, Bacon & Strawberry Pizza
Adapted from The Cafe Sucre Farine
½ cup strawberry jam
¼ cup red wine vinegar (Balsamic would be great here too)
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1 pizza shell (Make your own dough or use a nice flatbread like I did this time)
1 cup diced or shredded chicken breast (I used chicken fingers this time)
½ cup bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces, cooked and drained
½ cup sweet onion, diced
12 ounces shredded Italian blend cheese
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
¼ cup strawberries, diced small
Place pizza stone or sheet pan on middle rack of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 4 to 5 minutes or until reduced to half of the original volume and mixture is thick and syrupy.
Add strawberry jam and Sriracha and mix well. Set aside to cool.
Combine chicken with 2 tablespoons of the vinegar-strawberry mixture and mix to coat all chicken with sauce.
Pour rest of sauce onto pizza dough and spread to cover. Leave a 1 inch border all around the edge. Scatter chicken evenly over the sauce.
Place about ¾ of the cheese on top of dough and spread to cover sauce evenly. Scatter bacon and sweet onion over cheese to distribute evenly. Scatter remaining cheese over this layer.
Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Watch carefully, at this temperature it is easy to burn the pizza!
Remove from oven and let cool slightly, 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and fresh diced strawberries.
This was another week of Summer Adventure! SBean had her 1st camp! Dance Camp, theme: Circus Time!
This was the 1st time I left SBean at a class of any kind. It was harder than I thought. I actually had baby pangs when I walked out. Then I told myself to “get your fucking head out of your ovaries” and then I skipped the rest of the way to the van.
She was very shy at first 🙂
The Museum hosts a science hour once a week. My SIL & MIL took HBear and JQ to Colourful Things this week. HBear apparently got right into the character of the Museum lol.
Our grapes are beginning to grow! I see MANY raisins in our future 🙂
SBean made HBear a picture at art time 🙂
While SBean was at camp, HBear and I made Goop and Alien Brains 🙂
HBear went to Sleepover Camp for 2 nights and 3 days with SBesty. It was a gorgeous place and she had a fabulous time canoeing, doing archery, crafts, swimming and making new friends 🙂
SBean and I went for a bike ride to the park after nap and she refused to get out of “character” lol.
This past weekend we invited a few friends out for Ninja’s birthday. We had the best time! We have made so many great friends here, I feel truly lucky.
