Birthday Celebrations - Take 2

The second part of my bday celebration involved an "almost surprise" trip to Montreal and Quebec City with Brian. I say "almost surprise" because although he was doing an amazing job planning the trip on the sly - he slipped the week prior about our destination and without me even prying! We had an amazing time even with the rain. My biggest complaint is that the trip wasn't long enough! Love you Brian for planning such an amazing trip! And for your best effort to communicate in French throughout the weekend... I think we did pretty well :)

We left Friday afternoon when Brian showed up a little before quitting time at my office. Our bags were packed the night before and we headed towards Montreal, stopping for some 'Wendy-goodness or badness' for dinner and a bathroom break/leg stretch in Kingston.

After checking into our hotel in Montreal, we wandered over to the Jazz Festival just in time to grab a couple of drinks and catch the last band of the day.

The next day we got back on the road and headed to Quebec City, I hadn't been since my Grade 8 trip, which now was a really long time ago! To my delight, Brian had booked our stay at the Chateau Frontenac! I definitely felt like royalty...

On the way to the Chateau we stopped at Ketto Designs, a fabulous artisan shop that I discovered years ago when they were visiting TO for the One of Kind Show. I spurlged with some bday money and bought a really fab handpainted vase along with a few smaller items. We also stopped by Rose Bouton. I wasn't familiar with the shop but as soon as we drove by I yelped STOP!!!! I knew I had to go in... they had some really unique and amazing jewellry and purses and such. I purchased a couple fantastically original necklaces. While chatting with the store owner, I discovered that she actually used to work at Ketto AND funny enough she was also playing the same CD that was playing at Ketto when we were there minutes before. We couldn't help but notice, because it was this really weird but cute song, I am a Vampire... you're listening to it now.

For dinner we ran through the rain to Aux Anciens Canadiens - the oldest house in Quebec City that is now a restaurant serving traditional Quebecois fare. It was yummy, but WAY too much food and the restaurant doesn't allow you to take your leftovers home with you!

The next day Brian had arranged for us to take two guided tours - Old Quebec City in the morning and the neighbouring countryside in the afternoon. The Old Quebec tour was very reminiscent of my Grade 8 trip - showing us several points of interest relating to Canadian history and beautiful views of the St. Lawrence river.

Between tours we had time for a quick bite at Chez Ashton - be warned that their regular-sized poutine could feed a family of four - be sure to order the Bebe or the Mini instead!

The afternoon tour included a visit to Montmorency Falls, a Bronze Artisan, le Chocolaterie de l'Ile d'Orleans, Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré Cathedral and a stop for some maple butter on freshly baked bread - delicious!

After a jam-packed, amazing day, we treated ourselves to the most delicious 8-course dinner at Le Champlain... amazing service, amazing food, amazing view! What more can I say!

Of course the night would not be complete without a champagne toast and an evening stroll... all and all an AMAZING DAY!

More on the the rest of the weekend next entry...

The sweetest thing...

The sweetest thing happened when we were attending Karan's class at 2SF on Wednesday... Joanne's family surprised her with a birthday cake!!! We all got to sing, "awww," eat goodies and celebrate such a wonderful moment with Joanne.

Happy Birthday Joanne! Hope you had a wonderful day - you deserve it!!!


The class was lots of fun too - thanks Karan! I do, however, have a signficant amount of "homework" - perhaps I was having too much fun during the class?!?!? SOME PEOPLE (cough, choke, Lynn) were way too well-behaved and completed the entire layout. What a teacher's pet! LOL!!!! Just kidding Lynn!

I'm a Puma!

Yes, it's true, I just turned the BIG 3-0 one week ago today! And apparently, that makes me a Puma! It's like junior Cougar - lol!!! Watch out - I'm gonna start wearing animal print and sequin bustiers out to the bar.

Honestly though, I really don't want to be this age - it's a little scary. I know age is just a number, but this is not a number I like.

On the plus side, there was a lot of fun celebrations to commemorate this unsightly occassion...

Birthday Celebrations Part 1:
A pre-30th Girls weekend at the cottage, that featured delicious drinks and fat-free food (lol), a trip out on Party Island, dolphin performances by Tonia, Rock Band, a way too intense game of Monopoly, crazy dancing on the deck and three ... yes three, princess crowns worn throughout the weekend by yours truly...

And to top it off, some wonderful gifts.... including the Cricut bag!!!!

Thanks ladies for great weekend!

Okay, okay...

... so I haven't blogged in a while, but I've been busy! I had a great weekend hanging out in with all the other trouble makers at 2SF - there was singing, there was dancing, there was scrapping! And some of us partook in some of those activities more than others.

And I couldn't resist sharing this one...

Summertime!

Summertime is so full of life and excitement. I think that's what I love about it. And as much as I love filling up my calendar with fun get-togethers, parties, and other social gatherings... I have to keep reminding myself to also set aside some time to relax and enjoy the weather!

This past week was filled with parties, movies and of course some scrapbooking - lol!

Went to a great card class at 2SF on Wednesday which was all about intricate cutting and stickles. I spent so much time cutting (okay, okay... I was chatting and laughing a lot too) that I didn't even get to the stickles until Saturday when I was back for a day of scrapping. Thanks to all the ladies on both Wednesday and Saturday that made the time so enjoyable! I even got to partake in the Father's Day card Make n' Take on Saturday - I feel so ahead of the game.

(New BFFs - Kelly and Veronica - LOL!)

Over the weekend I went to a Games/Birthday/Stanley Cup Final Party - although the objective of the party may have been confusing, we still had fun! And the birthday boy was so easygoing when I started a cake fight and got him really good in the face. He wiped a bunch of it off before I got to snap this photo, but you get the picture...

Saturday evening it was off to a Luau-themed wedding reception with frozen drinks, bright colours and even flowered leis as the couple recently got married in Hawaii. Good times, but sadly no pictures... I left my camera at home :(

The weekend wrapped up with a double feature at the cinema - I saw Up! in 3D (very cute and well done Pixar!) and The Hangover (humour geared towards 18-24 year old men, but completely funny if you're in mood for this type of movie).

Well I'm now off to work on my challenge for Scrapper's Island - got started on Saturday but still have some work to do, especially since I just missed on winning immunity tonight. Two mintues sooner and it would have been mine :)

Apparently life caught up with me... (AND pics from the Bahmas)

So I've been living "the life" lately - travelling the world, staying up late, maintaining my 'chi' and, well, trying to make the best of everyday life. But sadly, life caught up with me on Saturday night and I got the flu. Couldn't sleep all Saturday night and could do nothing but sleep all Sunday. I was really bummed out - I hate getting sick and I was so pumped to spend the weekend at the cottage relaxing, reading and scrapbooking. All I could do was sleep - oh well! What can you do?

So instead on focusing on the weekend, I'd rather share a few memories and some favourite photos from our trip to Bahamas. Travelling with 11 women (including me) proved to be both thrilling & fun, although I must admit we did have a few challenges.

The challenges...

• getting 11 women in the same place at the same time... and ready to go - LOL!


• delayed flights... we were so happy to get going!


• our flooded hotel... which did get us free massages (thanks to Jen's skillful negotiating)!!!

The thrills...

• swimming in our bar clothes becuase we didn't feel like getting changed!


• riding the banana boat led by George the "shark" and seeing a billion fish (sorry Tania)!


• getting into the 'local' club!!!



• watching the birthday girl perfect her acrobatic skills - way to go Kelly!!!

The fun...

• the Dollar wine - every night (you're listening to it now)!


• doubling as Atlantis guests - the tour, the aquarium, the shopping!


• avoiding getting beaten by the heel of Jen's shoe (sorry, inside joke for those who weren't there)



• Blue Ballz, Melon Ballz, Dirty Banana - these are all names of specialty drinks - just in case you weren't aware!

HAPPY 30TH KELLY!!!

I hope we created memories you'll never forget!

So much catching up to do...

I have so much catching up to do with blogging and photos...
Got back from Bahamas on Sunday night and then was off to 2SF on Monday night for a great class with Carolyn.

Back to work on Tuesday... which was a little shock to the body... I think I was meant to be independently wealthy and spend my life travelling, crafting and playing.

For those who asked to see some more pictures from the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon - please click on Grand Canyon Squirrel photo above to see more.

Off to the cottage this weekend, but I hope to post some more pictures from Vegas and Bahamas next week :)

Have a great weekend everyone!