InstaFriday

Happy Friday Christmas style! Did you have a good Christmas? We did! Here are a few photos:

1. All of the personalized Christmas cards we received this year! I love that our friends also like to send out personalized cards. I wonder if it is a generational thing.

2. We are smoothie obsessed. I feel like it is so fefreshing before and after big meals to have balance in my life.

3. The weather was beautiful in BTR before we left so we got in a power walk!

4. I finally finished Bringin Up Bebe. What a great book! You should read it.

5. I love my new Kate Spade watch! Isn't is pretty?

6. Cutest kids ever! What happened to us?!? This is my fave ornament.

7. We had a sample of our wedding cake that has been in the freezer for over 2.5 years! It still tastes amazing. The pumpkin is so flavorful, you can taste all the spices, and it is so moist! We will definitely be eating more of this over the next week.

8. My "new" china! I have known for many years that I was getting my grandma's Royal Albert china. We packed it up to store with my parents until I have space for it.

Have a great weekend! Mine will be busy visiting with friends!

 

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anniversary #2

I cannot believe B and I have been married for 2 years. It has gone by so quickly! For our anniversary we went to Gino's as recommended by some classmates of mine.

The restaurant had a beautiful rustic vibe with excellent service, a great menu & extensive wine list. We enjoyed a bottle of 2008 chianti.

 For our appetizer, we each had the house salad with green olive vinaigrette and fresh anchovies!

 I went for the house lasagna for dinner which was delicious. B had the special: osso bucco!

Finally, we shared the chocolate mousse cake for dessert!

We both said we will go back to Gino's anytime we want Italian food. If you come visit us, we may even take you to this hidden gem.

P.S. For my anniversary gift, B got me a card, green juice, and pimento cheese. He knows the way to my heart... oh and Michael Buble tickets for the concert in NOLA in October!

anniversary #2

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

What have we been up to? Well B finished his PhD, we moved to a different country, traveled to 4 new countries plus tons of domestic trips, I am half done my MSc and.... well that's about it. Its been an amazing but busy 2 years but I would not change a thing.

Thank you for being you.

Anyone want to predict what we will accomplish this next year? I honestly have no clue!

Tsunami

For our first anniversary dinner, B and I went to Tsunami. We love sushi and used to have it frequently in Edmonton so it was nice to get back to an old tradition. We also had some great recommendations from friends! Conveniently, Tuesday nights have lots of drink specials and discounts on sushi rolls. We figured we could not go wrong being this close to the gulf... we were right!

The view from Tsunami is amazing. It is downtown Baton Rouge on the 6th floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts. They have a patio with a view of the river and lots of places to lounge. It was fun to take a moment to watch the boats on the river before starting dinner... even with the crazy wind!

We each had a couple drinks to celebrate and shared a couple amazing dishes:

combination tempura: mixed vegetables and shrimp tempura with tempura sauce

seaweed salad - our fave!

don tuan: cream cheese, tuna, crunchy shrimp, cucumber on inside, snowcrab and avocado on outside with spicy graham cracker served with kazan sauce and siracha

dynamite roll: diced tuna, yellowtail, fresh salmon, avocado, and spicy sauce

vegetable roll: cucumber, pickle dikon, avocado, yamagobo, kanpyo

atmosphere: check

food: check

service: check

 

It all ended with some cupcakes we picked up earlier in the day to eat in lieu of cake. Unfortunately, our cake is still in Canada in my parents deep freeze so we had to improvise!

We will definitely be back to Tsunami on future Tuesdays for some great eats and a great view. Anyone want to join us next time?

1st Anniversary!

Today is a special day! One year ago I married my best friend.

We've had a crazy year! We went to San Deigo, San Jose del Cabo, Paris, Baton Rouge, and Houston, moved 4000km to a new country, B started working, and I took a break from the working world.

I cannot wait for many more years of traveling, quiet nights at home, and everything else the world sends our way!

P.S. Still working on the name change. I did not think it would take this long! Can I please send a big shout out to CAOT, United MileagePlus, and the Louisiana DMV for being on the top of my list of easiest places to change my last name. I appreciate you.

Houston highlights #1

If you saw my post on Friday you would have noticed my packed weekend bag! We went to Houston, TX for the weekend to celebrate B's birthday and our two year engagement anniversary! I have been to the Houston airport 5 or 6 times when flying through but never to the city itself. It was fun to explore a new city and see some place that were new to us. 

 The drive was about 4 hours. We saw some great signs like DeQuincy, LA and Gladys Ave! Luckily I am fast with my iPhone to catch moments like these.

 We stayed at Aloft by Sheraton in the Uptown by the Galleria. The location was perfect for everything we wanted to go to, the staff were nice, the pool was small but had great music playing, and the rooms were modern and comfortable. One of the elevators also had a really cool floor with blue water that would save your footprint!

We shopped at the Galleria where we ate breakfast at La Madeline and browsed the many stores. We also went down the street to West Elm, Crate & Barrel, and Central Market. We bough a couple things at Crate & Barrel for our kitchen! We LOVED Central Market... I will tell (and show) you all about it on Wednesday!

Before we drove home on Sunday we stopped at IKEA for breakfast and to pick up some much needed household items! Guess what! IKEA in Houston has legit eggs! Unlike Edmonton who had eggs that tasted like they came from powder. It was a very exciting moment for us. Finally, on our way home we stopped at Rayne, LA at Candyland Cottage. It has the worlds largest gummy bears (obsessed!) and delish ice cream. We each had some ice cream (some more than others) to enjoy for the drive home.

We loved our weekend in Houston. I cannot wait to go back again. Seriously, we said this so many times all weekend. There are so many places to explore in this city and its close enough for a weekend trip! I apologize if you do not want to hear more about our trip... but I will be posting about our vacation everyday this week! I took tons of photos and we went to so many amazing places I could not jam everything into one post!

Top 3 wedding photos

Here are my top three favourite wedding photos:

Just a tease

I could not wait to share this:

Can't wait to share more soon!

2 months ago today

Two months ago today I married my best friend. So far its been the best 2 months of my life. I could not ask for anything more. He laughs at all my jokes, reminds me to stay grounded, and always has an ear to listen. What more could I ask for? Nothing!

The next morning, we ate chocolate chip cookies provided by the Manteo Resort in bed. B was in heaven.

Did I mention, this was the view as the sun set? Summerhill Pyramid Winery is amazing!

Of course there are some photos of me talking...  I always have something to say. Thank you to whomever captured this classy look.

But seriously, what was I saying?
a. These flowers are going to look crazy bright in photos.
b. Someone get me over to that wine, a spider tried to crawl down my dress mid ceremony. (true story - lesson learned - when scared of bugs, do not plan an outdoor wedding at a vineyard)
c. I just love to talk.
d. Where's my husband?

P.S. Is two months really an anniversary? Why not!

Engagement Photos

B & I had our engagement photos done in Kelowna in April when we were out completing wedding plans. The day was beautiful, the location was surprising, and the photos turned out amazing!

I cannot wait to get the wedding photos back to post!

C

Sharing Dad's Day

For those of you  who don't know... I am getting married today. Today is also Father's day. Being a daddy's girl my whole life it is nice to be able to share my day with my dad. He will be there to walk me down the aisle (with mom of course!). I am very lucky to have my dad at my wedding as some people are not so fortunate. B says my dad's biggest gift today is getting to give me away to someone else who will spoil me.

Thanks again, dad, for sharing your day!


By the way - all he wanted for father's day was a rotating hot dog roasting stick! He got two... because mom needs one too.

Wedding Stationary!

I picked up our wedding stationary last evening. Since I am a visual person I like things to be aesthetically pleasing. I also love crafting, so I refuse to pay anyone to do the assembly! I have been very busy completing the finishing touches on the day of stationary. This involved tying tags on the favor boxes and rounding corners on various programs, cards, etc.

All I have left to do is assemble the ceremony programs fans and finish knitting the basket that will contain them. Simple? Sure! Why not? I love the dandelion theme.

Can't wait for everyone to see the final product at the wedding!
Thanks E for all your help with these!  Thanks B for helping with assembly!
___

In other interesting news, I ran the stairs in 1:03:06 last evening. It was a new personal best for me. I was quite impressed with myself as I did not stop the whole time. I love seeing improvements!

Have a great day!
C