Time truly does fly!

You don't realise how fast it really goes by...time that is.. It's been 7 weeks since the last time I posted something! There has been so much that has happened in that time that I'm wondering how I'm going to put this into one blog entry. In my mind each of the events that happened really deserves it's own blog but, lesson learned for next time.... Post more often! In the meantime I'm going to take a lesson from my sister and do this in a very organized fashion! So here is what happened in chronological order.

First on the 25th of September we had a baby shower for Sandra a dear friend of ours. This is their first child and we couldn't be happier for them! She is expecting a girl and they have already chosen the beautiful name Mia Josephine. You have to understand Sandra, she is my go to girl for cooking, baking and crafts! So you can imagine how excited she was when she knew she was having a girl! It was a great afternoon where we could shower Sandra and Mia with our love.... and food and gifts of course! :)

I agreed to be the photographer so that Sandra could look back at these memories. Plus gave me a chance to try out what I have learnt on the SLR camera. Here are a few shots that I've pulled from the day.






Mommy to be!

Jenn who is in the picture just above hosted the shower for Sandra. She really did a fantastic job! We definitely did not have a shortage of great food.

So one of the activities we did was we each painted/decorated a onesie for Mia and then the grandmothers and great grandmother to be were going to judge which was their favorite. There were some great ones, this was just one of my personal favs! You can tell how seriously the grandmothers are taking this! They were all super cute and the winner was one that said "Grandma's Little Princess" Why didn't I think to put grandmas name on mine! Rookie mistake!

The next couple photos are some of my favorites. Sandra opening the gifts, Nonna to be talking to TJ (Jenn's son) and of course the kids making Sandra's mandatory shower hat! Then of course there was the cake! Sandra's mom made a beautiful tiramisu with a little doll that use to be Sandra's when she was little.

Can you believe Sandra has never heard of the Baby Shower hat tradition!

Don't worry now she knows and as you can tell she loved every minute! lol You look cute Sandra!

So you know it's been way too long since posting because since then we welcomed Mia Josephine to the world on Saturday November 12 at 11:10pm weighing a healthy 9lbs 5oz. WAY TO GO SANDRA!

We can't wait to meet her and stay tuned for pics!

So next we have Thanksgiving! Well this wasn't the traditional Thanksgiving with the extended family but definitely lots to be thankful for.  Danny and I decided that we wanted to go on a road trip somewhere mainly because we just got our brand new car and it needed to be christened! Where to go? Well we settled on Niagara on the Lake with a little cross border shopping. DONE and DONE!

So we packed up the car and we were on our way!

Our first stop was some of the most well known wineries in the region. We visited Pellar Estates, Hilldebrant, Chateau des Charmes and Ice House Winery. We had such a beautiful and crisp fall day and were ready to start tasting and learning about wine!

By far the best tour was at Pellar, for no other reason than our guide reminded us of Tony Danza!

Hilarious and very generous with the wine.

Here are a few cool things we learnt while on the tour.

1. Niagara on the Lake is at the same latitude as Tuscany, Italy and Napa Valley California!

2. Niagara on the Lake produces 80% of Canada's wine!

3. Each ice wine grape only gives 1 drop of ice wine!

4. Canada is the only place that gets cold enough and for long enough to produce ice wine.

5. Ice Wine is delicious!

Here are a few more shots I liked and wanted to include from the day.  

Outside the winery

Love this decanter!





Me making Danny pose outside the Shaw Cafe

Needless to say it was a lot of fun and we did discover that we like Ice Wine.. a lot! We also did purchase a bottle for my mom but it still hadn't made it's way to her! Hmmmmm subconscious? I think so!
Our next stop before helping to rejuvenate the American economy was of course to Niagara Falls for the night. We had a nice dinner, went to a show, had massages and played the slots! And in true Danny and Michelle fashion we had the most fun at the wax museum!! Check out the stars we met...

  

If you've made it this far then you have to finish! Finally the last event that happened was Halloween. Better know as one of my FAVORITE days of the year.  If you watch Modern Family, then I'm Claire when it comes to Halloween. To my shock and horror I found out that my husband has never carved a pumpkin! So because I wasn't able to decorate or give out candy then the least we could do is carve a pumpkin, roast the seeds and watch a horror movie! I really can't wait until we have our house for next Halloween! Danny took me by to see one of the best haunted houses I've ever seen in Thornhill Woods. Check out his blog and pics it really is so cool! http://www.thornhillwoodshauntedhouse.com/

Here are some great pics I took of Danny carving our first annual Smolyar pumpkin!

Phew for just over 7 weeks which seemed to fly by there sure is a lot to tell. It really goes to show that time is really precious! In the short time that has passed we welcomed Mia to the world, carved our first pumpkin, bought a new car and discovered how much we like ice wine! I'm going to enjoy every minute and be thankful I have my best friend sharing it with me.

A night with the stars!

On Monday September 13, myself, Danny, Jackie and Dave had the amazing opportunity to go the Toronto International Film Festival and watch the North American premiere of Black Swan. Starring Natalie Portman, Wynona Rider, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel. The film is directed by Darren Aronofsky who is best known for films such as Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Pi. Here is a little synopsis of the movie; "Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her."

I felt so posh as we arrived at Roy Thompson hall with our "Priority" tickets... thanks to mom!! There was press everywhere and just crowds of people hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite stars. I held Danny's hand so tight as he guided me through the crowd because I was watching for famous people!

All of a sudden he said, "there they are!" of course I get all excited and this is what I see!

OK not someone famous but they'll do.... :)

Oh I forgot to mention just before meeting up with Jackie and Dave, Danny and I had dinner at one of my favorite places Lone Star where I ran into my best friend from grade school!!! It was so amazing to see her and connect, brought back so many fantastic memories. We truly were partners in crime and I promise I'm going to find those old pictures of us and post them! I am definitely going to make an effort to reconnect with her.

Back to the main event... we get let into the theatre where again I'm wandering the hall looking for famous people. Danny got to see Kevin O'Leary from Dragons Den, who I missed because I was escorting my lovely sister to the bathroom! Well at least Rick the Temp made an appearance in our picture!

Finally they let us into the main theatre where we grab seats in the third row!!! Thanks again to priority seating.  I spent the next 15 minutes people watching...the fashion was unreal, everything from evening gowns to leather and lace! Danny who sat next to me was trying to figure out with Dave how they could possibly get close to Natalie Portman and then there is Jackie, who I think was more excited about the mars bars she smuggled in her purse!



Dave the floating head!

Then after a little while, from stage right (like that professional talk?) a bunch of press came out and stood right in front of the stage. They also brought out a podium at which point this very nice man who I didn't know welcomed us and began to introduce the movie. Before we knew it out came Darren who was very humble and well spoken. He then introduced his cast of stars, who one by one came out on stage.



I really like this picture with the silhouette of the press...only if it was clearer!

 So the last few shots of the cast unfortunately aren't that great and the reason for that was 1. my little canon is good as you can see but not amazing. Number 2. there was a big giant blonde oaf of a photographer blocking my view and 3. the two girls in front of me with giant heads! (think they are in every picture).
It was regardless very cool to see the stars up close. Wynona was miss crazy eyes, don't know if you can tell in the pics but it was very creepy! Barbara Hersey who I loved from beaches, looks like plastic surgery gone wrong! Vincent Cassel was a handsome older man, too skinny for my liking! And then the one Dave and Danny have been waiting for Ms Natalie Portman...she looked alright... fine she looked amazing! Bitch!

Well like I said earlier it was quite the posh and memorable evening! The movie was a nail biting thriller that had the entire theatre gasping and jumping in their seats. By the end of the movie, which by the way the cast stayed to watch received a standing ovation. Definitely worth seeing in the theatres and you should check out the trailer! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/videogallery

My First Post...Our Trip to Banff!

So this is my first ever blog.. call me a blog virgin. It took me 15 mins before I had to go through the tutorial to see how to actually post something. Here is the outcome! I hope you enjoy reading as much as I had putting it all together!

Well, where is a better place to start then our trip to Calgary, Drumheller and finally Banff for the wedding of Seth & Michelle, two amazing people who we hope to visit again really soon.

So we arrived in calgary in the early morning and decided that since we couldn't check in to the hotel, we might as well head out to Drumheller to see the dinosaur park... which to be honest was very cool!

The whole drive was really quite boring! partially because I wanted to sleep so bad but I  couldn't do that to Danny, who very sweetly agreed to drive!
The whole drive was fields and fields of these yellow flower crops which we both took guesses on. Later we found out from Dave Eamor that it was Canola Oil... Cool!






After a 2 hour drive we arrived at the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller Alberta which has some of the most amazing fossils found in Alberta!

Hey did you know that i'm not even 2 meters tall?!

Ok I'm such a kid but this honestly was so much fun! It was in the kids area where you put a nerf style ball into the tube which sucks it up and shoots it out at another random end! I LOVED IT, GIGGLED LIKE A SCHOOL GIRL!

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This t-rex was very cool, it reminded me of the t-rex from night at the museum.

So we finished up at the museum and it was such a beautiful day out! I loved this pic of Danny!

From the museum we did the drive back, well Danny did the drive back and I tired my best to stay awake. And of course we had to stop and see the biggest dinosaur in the world!

We stayed in Calgary for the night, not too much going on that night, but we were excited to get an early start to the day and head off to Lake Louise and then to Banff! So lets take a look!

This was taken on the drive there, not the nicest day but still such an amazing landscape and I didn't do too badly on the photos.

So our next stop was Lake Moraine. I wish we had a clearer nicer day but was still beautiful. I found some very cool facts about Lake Moraine and where it has appeared.
A little "did you know?" for everyone plus some pics!
Lake Moraine appeared on:
On the reverse side of the 1969 and 1979 issues of the Canadian twenty dollar bill.[8].
In one of the main preview pictures for Google's new mobile-platform Android, Moraine lake was used as a background picture.
In one of the backgrounds available on the Blackberry Pearl.
In one of the backgrounds available on the Palm Pre
In one of Windows 7's backgrounds in the "Canada" series.
As the Bing homepage on 10/13/2009.

 Rain was not going to ruin our day! You like the patriotic hoodie?

Our next stop was Lake Louise, where we not only saw the lake but had lunch at the Chateau. I have to blog about my lunch there because the food was delish! I had 3 sliders; one bison with brie and blueberry compote, the next a lamb slider with articoke and garlic puree and finally an Alberta beef slider with roasted red peppers and a garlic mayo aioli....wait for it....all served with killer sweet potato fries..mmmmm
Danny had a chicken club with a fig spread, grilled veggies and again a side of sweet potatoes....honestly all I remember is that it was too figgey for us both but still very good! Here are some of the better pics from there!

After a nice night in Lake Louise we finally headed to Banff where we would meet up with great friends and celebrate the marriage of Seth and Michelle, the real reason we came out west!  I forgot to mention that this was Danny's first time to Alberta and all he had read and heard about, was about the wildlife he would see along with the stunning views.... He was definitely amazed by the views but in the 2 days of driving we had already done, still no wildlife... Danny was not happy about that and determined to see something!

Last time I was in Banff which was way back at the beginning of my WestJet days we had tried to go on the Banff Gondola which takes you to the top of Sulphur Mountain, where there is suppose to be an amazing 360 degree view of Banff and surrounding areas. Unfortunately we got there and it was closed and we were only there one day, so c'est la vie I would do it again sometime. Little did I know next time would be with my husband many years later...I'm glad I got to experience it with him! Again it was overcast but still pretty breathtaking! Here are some pics of that.

FYI from the top of Sulphur Mountain this is far it is to home!

I had to take a picture of this little girl, so adorable trying to coax the chipmunk out from the garbage can :) These little guys were everywhere on top of the mountain! Danny was not as impressed and wanted to see a "real" animal! 

 Ok so this post is way longer than most but I promise going forward that they will not be this long. We did have so much fun with the camera and great scenery! Plus this is the first one, I'm learning here people, but I digress....

After checking out the views from the top of the mountain we headed down and were off to the The Rimrock, where the wedding was going to take place. It was a beautiful resort that was nestled in the mountains of Banff. As we are driving to the hotel,  Danny stops and makes a sharp right turn, of course I freak out until I see why!

Finally not more than 10 feet away is this beautiful creature... totally minding his own business as people stop to take pictures. Now, I say creature because there was later argument as to whether is was an Elk or Deer?

If any animal enthusiast know, please help me win this argument!

I really love Banff it reminds me of this cosy little ski town much like what I imagine Vermont to be like. We had the most amazing dinner in Banff at the Maple Leaf Lodge where we both had Alberta Beef of course! In that restaurant we saw this amazing huge canvas on the wall as you walk in that I fell in love with and the hostess gladly told me where I could purchase it for the reasonable price of $6000.00...so long story short, the artist does not do prints and I will appreciate his art on my blog!

Artist: Glenn Payan
You really have to see it in person to appreciate it!

In the heart of Banff

Saturday July 24th, the wedding day! First of all, they had the most beautiful day ever! Hot but with a breeze, it couldn't have been more stunning. Danny and I both agreed, next to our wedding on the beach that this is the next best! The hotel was buzzing with wedding excitement it was such the perfect day!

The hotel has a dessert chef who has displayed an amazing piece in the lobby completely made out of chocolate! It truly was remarkable! mmmmm chocolate.....

Danny went to meet his boys in the lobby and to make sure Seth wasn't getting cold feet ;-) This set of pictures were taken on the lobby balcony... Looking good boys!

I met Danny downstairs a bit later when we were heading to the ceremony, it was held in an open area with the most amazing mountain backdrop you could ask for. Here are a series of pics from there.

MAZELTOV GUYS!
I love Weddings :)

Ok the best part of the wedding reception!!! They had been taking dance lessons for maybe a month before the wedding. We were at dinner with them 2 nights before the wedding and Michelle was telling me how nervous they were and they kept changing their minds about whether they were going to do the dance or not. Obviously by the pics they did it and it was amazing!!! They were so perfect and it was so romantic! Awwwww so cute you two! And of course it would not be a proper party unless Seth brought out the wicked dance moves!!! So awesome!

Love the argyle socks by the way Seth!

Well the next day came too soon and we were saying our see you later and on our way back to Toronto.

We had such a blast and can't wait to go and visit soon!

This is the part where I'll wrap it up by saying, it was a great time with some really great friends. Another fantastic memory to add to this crazy adventure of our life! I know it's a little cheesy but even today only over a month later, I still look at these pictures and I can't help but find myself grinning ear to ear and thinking about all the memories...

Maybe that's another reason I love these photo blogs so much, I may not be a professional photographer and I don't have to be. But the pictures do exactly what I want them to do for me, they bring me back to some of the best times in this crazy life!

If you've made it this far, thanks for the checking out my blog and I promise they won't be this long all the time! Either way I hope you enjoyed a little expression of myself and will come back for more :)