Domestic diva at your service

Another holiday almost over. No wait, four more days! Four!

It's been delightful so far. Lots of relaxing, movies, fun times with friends and family... So nice when people come "home" and can get together for a little visit. Here's a mini reunion we had here.



Also, I've been doing lots of cooking/baking. Yes, that's right, me. In the kitchen. Doing stuff. It's all because Geoff and my mother got me a new appliance for Christmas. See how pretty? Now I can mix things to my heart's content.


For instance, I made shortbreads with the thistle stamp I got from Aunt Cathy. Neato!


Tonight, I made baguettes and spaghetti (not shown!) for Merrideth and Mark who came over. I felt the baguettes were a bit dense, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.


I also made fudge (not with the kitchen aid), Moosewood Restaurant BBQ beans and brown bread which were tasty too. The brown bread was sort of like corn bread but sweeter, and went well with the more savory beans. All in all, a hearty meal to be sure.

Holiday puppies!

Luna and Kanoa videos

I made Kanoa a video, as his BDRA "update". Apparently, the music is lame, so you can mute it if you want to. The point is that the doggie is cute and thriving.




I then made a Luna video, more to get used to imovie and just for fun. Guess I'll have to make a Sola one next!

NYC trip

Trip to NYC with Merr. So cool, but yet feels like it never even happened.

Bryant Park in the evening

Beautiful NYPL

Coney Island

Shoot the freak @ Coney

Back at the hotel- I'm proud of my Village Voice and black and white cookie.

Dream job.

Cute pic of Merr in front of the Cyclone roller coaster, Coney Island (PS- I LOVED Coney Island, it was spectacular).

All love in Brooklyn.

Kinda had to do it...

Theatre where we saw Mary Poppins.. Was really great!

We were in Central Park for part of John Lennon's 70th birthday celebration. What a freakin' crowd.

This just makes me want a croissant.

Requisite pic of Times Square.

The original Nathan's, Coney Island.
Enjoying some lemonade and fries.

Me at "fancy brekkie". You could have a caviar breakfast for USD $250. I opted for the $12 eggs benedict, which were fabulous.

Summer's end

First off, trip to Québec City, Mont-Joli and Rimouski for work.

Restaurant covered with cutesy bird houses.

Why we're all here

Cégep de Rimouski

Fleuve Saint-Laurent

Danielle and Danielle- her wedding reception after "real" wedding in Las Vegas

Geoff and I at Meg and Colin's wedding!

We're so precious.

Cake dunk.

Moi- the matron of honour.

My babies, with bandanas from LeeAnne after the dog show.

He's probably the cutest ever.

Or maybe Luna is!

I almost stole this Pom from the dog show.

What a rig.

My beautiful sunflowers!

Walk in Boisdale :)

Love my boy!

Angèle and the world's cutiest chihuahua! This was at our first fundraiser for BDRA.

We did pretty well- we raised $137 for Blind Dog Rescue Alliance. Not bad for the first run!

Kanoa and I on the way to the fundraiser. He's a great ambassador!

Outdoorsy

The garden is actually doing pretty well, considering we haven't been doing a ton in terms of weeding and talking to the veggie nubbins...

Here we have some carrots, echinacea, and beets!





Geoff and I started making the raised dog dish holders today. I hate sanding, it's the worst! I was even using an electric sander, which in theory is easier than sanding by hand, but this contraption makes your hands go numb and your back ache. Oh well, we have one finished, except it's not stained yet. It's going to be a reddish mahogany colour I think. Turned out pretty well, at least better than I thought it would!

If I had a tail, I'd wag it.

Some happy dog tales for a change. Kal (now Odin) was adopted on Thursday! He's doing really well in his new home, and pulling the old "if I wait under your coffee table I'll eventually get your popcorn bits" trick already. I'm so happy for him, finally a wonderful forever home where he'll do lots of hiking and do all kinds of fun stuff.

Yesterday Erin and I went to check out a new boarding place, Grand River Dog Chalets
Wow, what an amazing facility these people have. I'm very impressed. The doggers will be staying there for a weekend as a trial run. If all goes well, they'll stay there when we go to Mexico for Meg's wedding. I think they'll have a ball; huge area for Sola to run, for Luna to sniff, and Kanoa to explore at his own pace. Great!






Speaking of Kanoa, before we left for Grand River (which is just over an hour away), we went to the Farmer's Co-Op, to buy dog dishes for the raised dog dish stand Geoff and I are going to build as a raffle item for our BDRA fundraiser at the Farmer's Exhibition in North Sydney. Angèle and I have a table, and she's even more excited than I am. River Pet Supplies is donating a raffle item too, and said we could have treats and toys on display as well. I just have to give Larry a list of items next Saturday and we're in business! At any rate, I took Kanoa to the Co-Op, and Erin was looking at me a bit skeptically, thinking a) you're not allowed to take dogs in the store and b) it's Kanoa, he will run into things and be a terror. But to her surprise, Kanoa was perfect, just sniffed to his heart's content, and didn't make any "nervous messes". He's getting a lot better. He got lots of treats from Larry at River Pet Suppy, and did really well there too! We took him to the beach in East Bay on the way home, but he didn't want to get in the water this time...





It was also our wedding anniversary on Friday. We made Tarka Dhal, basmati rice, and parathas... Was sooo good! We just took it easy and had a bonfire after dinner.