Introducing: Wedding Planning 2011

The Date: July 2011 (we hope!)

The Theme: Rustic/Outdoorsy/Woodsy/Lakish/minus the bugs----"Feminine Rustique."

The Location possibility: Whonnock Lake Centre in Ruskin, BC

The Dress: Found it! Can't post photos though as RB reads this blog and he isn't allowed to see anything until the day---he insists as well! Let's just say it's beautiful.

The Photographer: Duncan Turner owner and operator of DLT Photo and you can actually see the front page are photos of my sister JCs wedding. Very vogue, Liv you'd like!!!

I've been busy as a bee since the proposal trying to find venues and tour them for the ceremony and reception. This is because as you well know, RB and I are travelling (moving) to Ontario this summer for 1 year and as venues must be booked at least 1 year in advance (for good venues) we will have to book while in Ontario. However, we don't want to book somewhere we have not seen so with two weeks to go until D-Day, we are booking tours to figure out the best venue.

We did look at one location, however it was far too pricey and while family will pay for it, I simply could not justify the costs.

There is one place though that months upon months ago I had thought about as a wedding venue. Being a girl I always thought of these things in my head...the "When I get married..." self-discussions. Whonnock Lake Centre is located in beautiful Ruskin, British Columbia up in the mountains near Stave Lake between the cities of Maple Ridge (my birth place) and Mission (where I grew up for many years). It is nestled in the trees among other lakes such as Hayward (where we go to swim in the summer) and Rolley Lake, Stave Lake where the Stave Lake Dam is. It's a wonderful wilderness area and Whonnock is just absolutely beautiful.

I always pictured myself having an outdoor wedding in the trees. I was never a groomed gardens type of girl or a golf and country club one either. I always pictured a wedding near water as I practically grew up on the Pacific Ocean. Woodsy was definitely the dream and RB is pretty okay with that, too!

If you check the link you can see photos of the centre though I will take some photos myself on the 14th of this month when we go for our official tour. It may be raining so we'll bring umbrella's. The centre has hardwood flooring with high ceilings and timber beams. On the one wall it's floor to ceiling paned windows that look out onto Whonnock Lake. Often this is where the head table goes. What a sight!

Outdoors there is a dock that goes way out into the lake and is great for photos. There are also many garden areas around and nooks and crannies for great photography.

The unfortunate thing at this point is that I cannot book Whonnock until Jan 2nd 2010 9am when the phone lines open up and you must must must phone right away to get the date you want. It is a popular venue. And as Lily says from the popular show "How I Met Your Mother" (my guilty pleasure), there is always one couple who wants exactly what you want and are always two steps ahead of you. We need to be that couple!

As far as everything else goes, we will start to plan once the venue is secured. However, we're always open to any and all ideas you have regarding anything---anything at all that pops in your mind that you would do if you were me or us or whatever. I will write it down!

Dum Dum, Dum Dum....

I am still in complete shock as I did not see any of this coming. RB totally got me and he is so proud of himself.

You see, yesterday it was my mum's 50th birthday and I had arranged for an outdoor professional photo session for the family as part of her present. My mum's big on the family photos and I thought on a beautiful 29 degree day it would be perfect.

We did a series of shots at a local park in my hometown in the early morning yesterday. I had arranged with the photographer to do "couple" photos along with the group ones--my mum and dad, my sister and her husband and myself and RB. When it came to myself and RB the photographer did a few photos of us and then asked RB to get on his knee for a photo. I laughed because him on his knee looked like he was proposing and I said "You know what that looks like". He laughs and the photographer says "Okay now look at each other". Rob looks up at me on his knee and says "Dawn, I love you so much, will you marry me?".

Did I smile? Did I laugh and shout yes? No. I took my right hand and pushed his face away and covered his mouth because I thought he was kidding and I was embarrassed and mad that he was joking about such a thing. I said "Don't joke about those things! That's not nice or funny!" and with a serious face he says "I'm not joking", and then finally I see the ring that was in his hand the whole time and my mouth drops, followed by a distinct Stacey London-esque "Shut up!" and "nooo" (as in no way!) and you hear my dad in the background saying "wrong answer!" and then I said "I mean yes, yes!" and then hugs, kisses etc etc.


Oh, so pretty! RB did it all on his own and apparently has had the ring for five months. He was waiting for my parents to come down to BC for holidays so he could ask them officially in person. My mum got me a wedding planning book with a built in file folder system for everything. It's awesome. RB's like a kid in a candy shop right now and can't stop talking about us getting married. Love him!

Announcement

O.M.G.

I'm engaged.

I'll elaborate later with pictures.

Now I must take a moment to catch my breath.

Take me home, down country roads...

Ava Lucy the darling 6 month old daughter of Karen and Phil

Baby Bokeh?

Lily Anne their other daughter who is 3

Fun times at the spray park.

Daddy's girl

Auntie loves her niece.

Hey everyone! So I guess I should update you all as to where I am now and what's been going on. I'm home from Yukon, and have been since Tuesday. I've been, reacquainting myself with RB, so to speak, and thus haven't been online much. I did, however, make a point of posting my cherry lemonade adventure as I thought it might be a surefire hit. It's pretty amazing juice let me tell ya.

So I'm home now, back in Beautiful British Columbia (just outside of Vancouver about 45 minutes) and enjoying 104+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures (40+ degrees celsius in Canada) + a great deal of humidity. I can't say I'm not enjoying it as I really truly am. I thrive on heat like a tropical plant.

I have been indulging in slushies, RB's air conditioned car, and new guitar strings. Remind me to post a pic of my lovely guitar for you all. She's a beaut. I've been spending time with my nearest and dearest of friends Debbi, Karen & Phil, and their two kids Ava and Lily. We're all a big happy dysfunctional family and we like it that way. We've been to the lake already and are going again today so it makes me happy. Nothing like laking it in British Columbia amongst the trees and mountains. Absolutely stunning and I'd never change it. If any of you have never been to BC I highly recommend visiting here. It's out of this world and I miss it whenever I'm away.

Monday we'll be celebrating my mum's 50th birthday. Happy Birthday mum! I won't update what we're doing on here until after as she reads this blog and only I would be silly enough to post what we're doing and she'd read it. Then she'd act all coy like she doesn't know. Silly mothers...

Life is grand right now!!!! How are YOUR summers going so far my dearest readers??

Sweet Cherry Lemonade, ya'll!

We've been getting really hot temperatures here in the last week. 40+ degrees Celsius or that's 104+ fahrenheit.

I am a fan of Paula Deen. I love southern cooking, and I think as Liv feels she was meant to actually be born in NY, I was meant to be born in the south, back in the 1700s. Wearing a white frilly dress with a parasol and lace up boots, eating fried chicken and biscuits, and collard greens drinking sweet tea on a front porch of our veranda on our plantation while I gossip with other women about the newest fashions and other women. Okay, clearly I've overthought this fantasy, so we'll move on.

I'm actually not a fan of fried chicken. In fact they opened up a popeye's restaurant up here in my hometown and it closed 2 months later due to lack of business. Canadians just aren't as into the greasy fried foods Americans seem to have as part of the culture--unless you live in America's skinniest city--Manhattan. Or granola-ville Seattle. But the point is, we just haven't been raised on it so we don't eat it much I guess.

However, that being said, I do enjoy other southern dishes including this Paula Deen one: Sweet Cherry Lemonade. So here we go, ya'll!

So one thing you'll notice is I won't try to make my kitchen look fancy and clean. Well, this is my girlfriend Karen's kitchen. However, I think that making your kitchen look perfect or non-existent in photos makes the process look maybe a bit intimidating? I just want to be honest---I make a kitchen mess and I don't give a hoot if it gives me a good result. I'll just get someone else to clean it ;)

So up above here we've got some beautiful and glorious Okanagan cherries. If you're from BC you'll know Okanagan cherries. British Columbia is awesome because we have different climate zones and physical regions all over the province. We've got warm, tropical, orchard-inspiring climates in the BC interior, with ocean and mountains on the coast. We've got coastal rainforests, interior desserts. and arctic tundra to the north. It's pretty much why we're considered Hollywood North other than the enormous tax breaks we give American and other filmmakers...we offer natural scenery that can immitate almost anywhere in the world without having to travel further than 12 hours of driving ---though typically only 3-4 hours.

Wow, that was a rant. So back to the lemonade. So I've got 2 cups of pitted OK cherries but you can use any sweet cherry that's available to you. The actual recipe calls for frozen cherries but not for this girl--not when you've got access to fresh. I used an actual pitting tool that you can see at the base of the photo. It's pretty awesome, and if you use one, I recommend pitting in the sink and holding it low as it sprays and you do NOT, I repeat NOT want cherry juices on your white summer clothing. Wear an apron if you have one!

Below the cherries I also added 1 cup of white sugar though you can adjust this to your taste. I just add 1 cup and then adjust the soda water I use.

Evidence of pitted cherries. And evidence of the spray.

Cool artistic shot of cherries in the blender.

This is my beautiful friend Karen helping me out juicing the lemons. These girls are rustic, so we don't have a juicer--not even a manual simply one. So, we're using the strength of our hands and the utility of a spoon. We need about 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

BREAKING NEWS: RESULTS ARE IN AND SURGEONS GENERAL WARNING STATES THAT USING FAKE LEMON JUICE CAUSES DEPRESSION, FREQUENT CRYING, AND SELF-INFLICTED INJURIES.

As seeds can be found in most lemons and I didn't want pulp in my lemonade we strained the lemon juice. We kept having to move Karen's young daughter Lily out of the way as she always wants to help, but 3 months ago when Karen was making her homemade caesar salad dressing, she grabbed the lemons then put her hands in her eyes and well let me tell you that was NOT a pretty sight. Not pun intended. Well, maybe.

The casualties.

Now pour the lemon juice into the sugar and cherries. Karen insisted I get her sparkly wedding ring bling in the photo so here's to her!

Next step you puree your cherries, lemon juice and sugar. Look at that colour(color) folks! I basically puree until the bits of cherry skin are as small as possible--1 minute.

Club soda (I grabbed 2 litres) and an empty juice jug or if you wanna get fancy one of those gorgeous glass pitchers one just doesn't own when one has children!

Now pour the blended cherry mixture into the pitcher.

Get all of that creamy goodness into the pitcher.

I never got a picture of it but you just add the club soda to the mix, slowly, while stirring continually. You want to avoid creating a lot of foam on top as it takes forever to come down.

VOILA! Pour your fab sweet cherry lemonade over ice and add a slice of lemon for garnish or to prevent getting swine flu.

Cheers!
PAULA DEEN'S SWEET CHERRY LEMONADE RE-CAP

All-Star Lineup

2 cups cherries (fresh is best but you can use frozen), pitted
1 cup granulated sugar (adjust to your liking or use splenda)
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice without the seeds.
5-8 cups of club soda (again adjust as needed or to taste)

1. Pit cherries and add to a blender along with the sugar and lemon juice.
2. Puree mixture for 1 minute or to desired consistency as per your blender.
3. Add mixture to pitcher and combine with club soda stirring continually.
4. Pour lemonade over ice or into chilled glass and add lemon (or a whole cherry) for garnish.

SERVE AND ENJOY!

We took this shot later in the day after we were at the lake. It tasted even better after sitting for a few hours. Or maybe just because I was bloody hot.

Leaving on a jet plane...

In less than eight hours I will be taking off from Whitehorse, Yukon and heading south back to my beloved Vancouver/Fraser Valley, BC. And of course reunited with RB and my friends and family.

Here's a map:

For those of you from down south this is mostly a map of Canada. It isn't in fact all bare up there hahaha. The red check marks are places I've lived. The black dotted line is my flight tomorrow morning--you can see how far north I was for three months.

The black hearts (not so fitting but what odds) are places where important people live, namely my best friend, my mama and Liv and Aussie Chic hahaha I thought they'd get a kick out of that. The red line is of course our road trip route that I am uber excited about. The red heart is where I was born and raised and my family is.

Well anyway back to packing, just thought I'd share my geographical skillz with ya'll.

Cheers, eh?
Dawn

Summer soundtrack

Make this part of your summer soundtrack if you love country music! My good friend Kristal Barrett's album High on Life can be purchased on itunes.

In particular I LOVE Tennessee, Feels like You, and Rhythm of Love is just AWESOME.