Our trip in paintings

Adam and I just got back from camping sans enfants, a decadent trip back to the old days when it was just the two of us. We ate what we wanted, slept when we wanted, and did whatever we wanted without the constant threat of whining and boredom.  This also means I had the opportunity to carry some tiny canvases and paint with me and create artistic renderings of scenic vistas.

First we stayed a couple nights at Cyprus Lake in Tobermory.  As you can see, the water was turquoise, giving it the feeling of a tropical paradise.  A few steps from where I painted this is a waterside cave called The Grotto.  The Grotto is the most beautiful place I have ever swum.  With water so clear that you can see the bottom far below you. The white rocks have a bluish tinge, reminiscent of a swimming pool. The icy water will forever be our benchmark against other swimming temperatures. As in: "The lake is cold, but at least it's not as cold as the Grotto" or "This pool is way warmer than the Grotto." We got used to it very quickly and had a beautiful and refreshing swim.

Next, we took a glass-bottom boat to Flowerpot Island, named for the bizarrely-shaped rock formations.  On the way, the boat passed some sunken ships.  Our boat didn't sink though, and we made it safely to the island for a nice hike.  I regret not taking more time here. We booked the boat back after the recommended 2 hours, but next time I would bring my bathing suit and stay the whole day.

We said goodbye to Tobermory and took a Ferry and then drove to Killarney Provincial Park. Above is a painting of Killarney at night.  As you can see, the night sky and trees looked gorgeous reflected in the water. I needed a flashlight to paint in the dark, but when I had it on some of the stars would disappear. Light pollution in action!  Adam took some breathtaking star pictures.

We did a lot of hiking in Killarney.  The hiking "trails" were actually just mountains with trail markers on them. There would always be a nice easy meandering path to your right, but the trail marker would point to the left, up a cliff made of jagged boulders.  The most difficult of these was the Crack, which I'm sure was named because you could easily crack your head open if you lost your footing.  6 kilometers, culminating in the aforementioned jagged-boulder mountain.  At the end of our climb, we were treated to a breathtaking view (above) which I painted quite accurately even though I almost lost my canvas and brushes to the wind.

We rented a canoe and explored some of the islands in the area.  Once we got out into the bay, the water became too rough, and we were afraid that we would capsize and destroy our expensive electronics.  So our  canoe trip was brief, but we stopped on one of the pink rocky islands to eat lunch and paint a picture of the view.  Later, we took a longer canoe ride and went fishing on the water.  I couldn't catch anything, but Adam managed to snag a trout, a small-mouth bass, and a catfish.  As usual, nothing was large enough to keep.  We stayed until dark, when the fish stopped biting and bats began dive bombing our heads.

And now we're home.  Just for one day though and then we're off to Pinery Provincial Park to camp with the kids.  I don't think I'll bring my paints this trip.  Maybe some crayons and paper.

Harold in the Hammer

For the past seven weeks, I've been attending a course in long-form improv, under the wise tutelage of Scott Lloyd of Flint Improv Co.   As you might have guessed, long-form improv is just like short form improv only longer.  I've learned a lot, set painting, building relationships, some other stuff that I forget at this moment. I've also had a lot of fun (I always have fun when I learn).

Well tomorrow night the long-form improv classes are putting on a show. My four classmates and I make up the improv troupe HUGE Pimpin'.  The other two teams, Know Konsensus and JJJAWSS are made up of highly talented people I know from boot camp. (A lot of them have been in shows already and they are all sure to provide oodles of awesomeness).

I wish I could pick out the best scenes from the past few weeks and put them in the show, but improv doesn't work like that.  No, everything will be made up on the spot (which is easier than it seems, and yet requires more preparation than you'd imagine). We are all capable of greatness, and we've gotten better and better the more practice Harolds we perform. I'm a little nervous, but I think we'll kick butt together.

If you are in the Hamilton area and want to come and see the show (and you do, trust me), then call Staircase and reserve your tickets.  They are a steal at $10 ($8 if you are a poor student).  The big production starts promptly at 8 and should go for an hour, hour and a half, something like that (I dunno, it's improvised).

Fun stuff

I told Adam's iPad the plot of a Star Trek episode to test out the dictation software. This was the result:

What time there was a man named Capt. Jean-Luc Picard became the board the enterprise for the very first time to meet his crew and then cute came dressed as an army guy and then he was dressed as a judge and he said that humans are a savage race and you wanted Chad put up a force field so they couldn't get any farther in the universe and up Mccard Said No Way, José that is not fair at all. Thank you told them that their mission at FarPoint would be a perfect test of whether or not they were astonished right so they went to Farpoint Station and then that Ryker there and Card showed in class of the previous episodes we would be up to speed and then they went down to the planet and Cassie trying started feeling so sad because you fell sadness for Madroad all and then there was a spaceship they came and started shooting at her. Thank you told in the bay should be Montborne the station and check it out and selling again and when they got there they found that counts actually got really really mad and she was super super angry like the whole time she was there and then they realize that they shed and dad station on the planet we're both aliens once they realized that they shot the aliens alien on the planet full of energy so that it would be not sick anymore and they flew in love into the sky and turned into two really weird looking jellyfish and they found joy and gratitude according to count to Troy and Q said that was a good you passed the test see you later and that the and of encounter at five.

Also, today I went to the Zoo.  I plan on posting two videos for your enjoyment but youtube is taking its time uploading them and I'm beginning to lose interest. I'll post them here later.  Maybe. I'm tired.


Here are the videos!

Campaigning again

Remember a while back I participated a blogging campaign with the goal of having fun, attracting readers, and creating blog friends?  You might remember that this involved lots of flash fiction stories.  Well, I'm going to go ahead and do that again.

This means I'll have a lot of new people visiting my blog.  Hi new people!  Some days this blog is about writing, sometime about whatever, but most of the time it's about my kids.  This is my life, unedited. I recommend you watch the silly trailer I made for my new book (coming in 2013). It's up in the top right corner. I also recommend you read a couple of the earlier posts, as the required "Hey, I'm in a campaign" post is never my most inspiring.

Incidentally, the stories from the last campaign have been published into a book that you can buy and all the proceeds go to charity (no, the charity is not me, an even worthier cause).

Nice to be appreciated

I recently received a prestigious blogging award from my friend Sharon over at Romance & Beyond. Thanks Sharon! Award, meme, same difference.  Anyway, here are the rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.  (Check)
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.  (See below)
3. Pass the Award on to 10 deserving blog buddies. (10? Really? Kind of cheapens the whole award that I have to send it to that many. What makes you think I even have 10 friends, let alone 10 friends with "Irresistibly Sweet" blogs?)
4. Contact those buddies and let them know. (Meh, if I feel like it)

Now 7 random facts:

1. I have a preference for brightly coloured clothing, particularly red.  Sometimes I even dye my hair red and then wear red pants, a red shirt, and a red jacket.  Totally stylin'

2. I am easily distracted and enjoy all kinds of computer games. They keep me from productive activities including (but not limited to) laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, writing and painting.

3. I have green eyes, but my husband and kids all have brown eyes.

4. I love karaoke.

5. My favourite show is Star Trek: the Next Generation

6. I sent an e-mail to my husband today telling him how much I appreciate him.  This was today's part of the 59 seconds perfect diary.

7. I got 90s in math in high school and found algebra to be kind of fun.

Ten deserving blogging buddies: Natalie, BlagHag, Zydeco Fish, Sylvia McNicoll, Design Chicks Blogaboo, Space Craig,  A.J. Mullarky, Alex J Cavanaugh, Glitter Word, Tracey's Tavern

Some of these bloggers I know, some I only feel like I know because I read their blogs. Check them out. If you feel like it, let them know you got there from my blog (mention the award in case I don't get around to it).

Sexy Clown Fish, Stubborn Machines, and Doggy Boils

I don't normally buy books at the dollar store but when I saw "So Many Ways to Reproduce" I couldn't leave it behind.  After all, there is nothing more fascinating and entertaining than the intimate relations of our animal friends. Just now I read an interesting tidbit about the clown fish. They are hermaphrodites at birth, but here's the weird thing: if the mommy dies, the daddy will turn into a female, and one of the babies will turn into a male to become the new daddy. Seriously.  I'm imagining an alternate version of Finding Nemo.

I went to the dollar store because I had to renew the licence sticker on my car so I went to that kiosk in the mall.  You can theoretically renew your health card, licence, whatever at this stupid little machine without the ordeal of actually having to talk to another person. Unfortunately it didn't work, as it rarely does.  Apparently it didn't have stickers for the date I wanted, which is right now, so I honestly don't get it.  I went to the dollar store and to buy a treat for my reasonably-well-behaved three-year old (and also so the trip didn't feel like such a waste). Tomorrow I'll talk to a real person and get a new sticker and renew my daughter's health card (fun).  I would have gone today but the office is closed on Thursday.  Yes, they are open Monday through Wednesday and Fridays.  The universe is clearly against me getting any errands done.

I did manage to get to the vet so they could examine a lump Worf had on his shoulder.  Either it's something harmless that dogs get all the time, or its a hideous cancerous growth.  I paid $260 to find out which one it is. In  the Dominican Republic dogs live in the streets like overgrown rats and here we pay hundreds to investigate their boils.  (Stay tuned for more about my recent Punta Cana vacation when I feel like writing about it).

Oh, Christmas Time

Having junked our artificial tree at the end of the season last year, yesterday we went on a mission to chop down a real one. We took a tractor ride into forest of pint-sized pines, whereupon a grumpy farmer told us he was only making one trip because the ground wasn't frozen enough. We looked at three different types of trees; green ones, blue ones, and more green ones.  Finally we settled on green.  We wandered through the rows of pines, rejecting some, picking out maybes and then forgetting where they were.  All the while Jadzia was kept in low spirits due to the cold, a lost candy cane, and general three-year-old crankiness.  We finally found the perfect tree (we got cold and hungry).  Adam sawed it down and then we bought hot dogs and chili at the farm store.

It's been a week of Christmas memories.  On Friday we had lunch with Santa at the community centre.  By we, I mean William and Jadzia. Santa doesn't feed grown-ups.  My children were the only ones who opted for food before seeing Santa. It meant that Jadzia had chocolate brownie up her nose when I snapped the Santa photo, but I don't think you can really tell in the picture.

Thursday was William's Christmas concert at his school. He chose a bright green shirt to wear and stood out beautifully.  His class recited a poem called "I don't want mittens for Christmas" and sang "Mittens and Gloves". Not exactly old chestnuts, but they did very well.  I was able to enjoy myself despite the overtired three-year-old on my lap, who wanted desperately to go on stage with her brother.

In other news, I was sort of tagged in a Christmas Meme (as part of my writing group) and it seems appropriate (appropriately lazy) to answer those questions here.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?  Hot chocolate tastes better, but egg nog is more Christmassy. Never make hot chocolate with water. That's blasphemy (and not in a good way).

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both.

3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white? Coloured.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?  Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up?Sometime in December/ when we feel like it.

6. What is your favourite holiday dish?Christmas log.

7. Favourite Holiday memory as a child? The memories I had this week are right up there.  I guess I`m not technically a child though.  So I`ll go with this one: My grandparents celebrated on Christmas Eve. On years that we stayed at their house, we would hide in the kitchen, then Santa would ring a bell.  We would run into the living room and all our gifts would be laid out.  We never saw Santa, and I swear the whole family was in the kitchen, all adults accounted for. It must have been the real deal.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I consider myself a Santa Claus agnostic.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?Except when we went to my grandparents, we usually opened Christmas morning. Although we got one gift (always a book and occasionally a book and pjs) on Christmas Eve.  My inlaws also celebrate Christmas Eve, so there is present opening at their house then, but at our house Santa`s presents get opened on Christmas Morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? The Christmas decorations box pukes all over the tree and we call it done.

11. Can you ice skate?Since I was two.

12. Do you remember your favourite gift? My daughter, Jadzia. Born 5:15 am, December 25th.

13. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family. Warm fuzzies.

14. What is your favourite Holiday Dessert?I told you! Christmas log.

15. What is your favourite holiday tradition?I love everything except the financial stress.

16. What tops your tree?A slightly dilapidated red star from an Ikea ornament set.

17. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both.

18. What is your favourite Christmas Song?I used to like `We Three Kings` because of the camels with sneakers.  `Santa Baby`is a good one.  Also `Here Comes Santa Claus`. Edit: Oh! I totally forgot about Tim Minchin's White Wine in the Sun, which is both funny and touching and very well captures the meaning of Christmas.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?I can take them or leave them.

20. Favourite Christmas Show?Will Vinton`s Claymation Christmas Celebration which my family watched every year from the time it came out in 1987, until it faded into obscurity.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Christmas songs should not be sad. They should be joyous.  Songs about war and hunger are okay as long at they are upbeat. There should never be any songs about a little boy using a sob story about his dying mother to scam someone into buying him an expensive pair of shoes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Jadzia's 3rd Birthday Party

Before you have an aneurysm wondering where the time went, I must tell you that my Christmas baby won't be three for another few weeks. We had her party early for obvious reasons.  We did what we always do for birthdays.  We invited everyone she loves to our house and ate food while the kids played.

The most stressful part of a party is the before party clean-up.  My husband did most of that (yes, and you can't have him), while I prepared a cheese plate, a fruit plate, a veggie and dip plate, and spaghetti casserole. The kids helped me bake a cake. Jadzia asked for strawberry so I added strawberry jam to my usual half-butter half-icing sugar icing. The result was so sweet I got a sugar rush just from licking the spoon (and I have a fairly high tolerance).

We didn't plan any activities beyond eating and opening presents, but everyone had a great time anyway (or pretended to).  Jadzia's Babcia was there, and her Omi and Opa, her aunties, her uncles, her cousins, and her friends.

She got an obscene amount of gifts, and each one was carefully chosen by someone who has loved her since she was a baby.  I know from experience that the present a child is excited about when they open it, is not always the same as the present that she plays with on a daily basis.  She chose gifts in boxes over gifts in bags.  She didn't really care what was in them.

Until her friends had left, of course.

Just before bedtime we drove to that insanely decorated house on Spruce Street.  The perfect end to a perfect day.  (And to think, I still have leftover Brie).

I've found my new Monday Night Activity.

Improv!

I discovered a five-dollar drop-in improv class at the Staircase Theatre in Hamilton.  Yesterday I was browsing online, looking for classes that I might want to ask for for my birthday.  That's when I saw the drop-in boot camp.  Monday night, I read, (Hey, it's Monday today).  Five dollars (Hey, I have five dollars in my wallet right now!) I've always wanted to take an improv class (by "always" I mean that I once thought about it for five seconds).  I mentioned the class to my friend Columbia and she enthusiastically agreed to come with me.

Holy Spock, we had so much fun!

There were twelve people in the class (I know because the teacher, Devlin, counted us).  There was an equal mix of men and women and I was neither the oldest nor the youngest, in fact I was right in the middle (I know because we lined up by age at one point.)

My favourite game (I won't bore you by describing the whole class) was "Emotional Symphony".  Four people on stage were each given a word and an emotion. They would then have to say the word in the emotion they were given whenever the conductor pointed to them.  The conductor could raise her arm to make the person emote more, or lower it to make them emote less.  Conducting is WAY more fun than it should have been.  SUCH POWER!

The sketches were my other favourite.  I got to throw a temper tantrum, sing a song, scream at the top of my lungs and pretend to have an orgasm.  I was often paired with Columbia, which is great because we work well together. At one point we were doing a sketch exercise with two guys.  The floor was divided into three sections, each with a designated emotion: depression, lust, and hate. The teacher had to stop the scene; the boys had forgotten to emote hate, because they were too busy watching Columbia and I in the lust section.  Hilarious!

There were two classes and we had so much fun we stayed for the second one too. I don't know if I've found a new career as a sketch comic, but it is definitely a great way to loosen up and get out of Mom mode for an evening.

Balade sans enfants



Today is my husband's birthday, so what a perfect time to tell you all about the romantic bicycle ride we took last week at Niagara-on-the-lake. The town boasts a smooth, meandering bike path along the Niagara river, under the shade of mature oaks (and other majestic trees). I couldn't keep the smile off my face, and not just because of the beautiful scenery.

We travelled from our hotel past Fort George (headquarters of the British Army during the war of 1812) where I posed suggestively on a cannon:

Imagine always having to be the responsible one;  the person to decide "yes" or "no", whether an activity is safe, what volume is acceptable, and even which jokes are appropriate.  I didn't realize that's what my life is until that weight was lifted.

It reminded me of when my husband and I were dating, when we used to hang out, just enjoying each others company. For a moment I remembered what my world was like before my adorable, yet highly dependent offspring.  I remembered why I married this man in the first place.



We have fun together.  Fun. Remember that? Without the constant threat of over-tired tantrums and demands for snacks.  We biked to Brown's Point, and I have no idea if that's an accomplisment or not.  It didn't feel like a strenuous journey.  It was perfectly easy-going.

On the way back we stopped at a store advertising fresh cherries and shared a pint.  Nobody whined about their hunger until we were forced to stop, we just got a treat for ourselves and enjoyed it together.  Best. Day. Ever.

I love you, Adam.  Happy Birthday

The end is near.

Well I finally did it.  I asked Lil' Monkeys staff for their WiFi password.  I finished today's wordcount and I wanted to message my husband to see if he would be late.  I just wanted to know if I had to rush home to make dinner.  Now I have opened a pandoras box that can never be closed.  Pretty soon, I'll be getting the WiFi passwords for all the play places, and then my writing productivity will take a dive.  I'll be facebooking, blogging, and online gaming instead of working on the great sci fi novel that would have one day made me a gazillion dollars. 

On the plus side, this means you, my blog readers, will probably be hearing more from me.  If any of you happen to have a gazillion dollars, please click the donate button in the side bar and share it with me.  Or give me the whole thing.  The world is ending on Saturday anyway.

Extra Children: The Sequel

Natalie's boys are here again.  They'll be here over dinner today, which should be interesting due to a shortage of both chairs and dinner-enthusiastic children.  I have no delusions that any of the boys will eat supper as William, Luke, and Patrick are currently eating the sandwiches Natalie brought (and it's only 3:30).  Also Willliam never eats at dinner anyway.

Natalie has been gone about fifteen minutes and there's already been some hostility centering around William's Buzz Lightyear car that he got in California (and has recently resurfaced).  Some of the conflict I presume was the result of low blood sugar.  Hence, the sandwiches.

Tomorrow will be pay back time as I pawn my children off on Natalie so I can go to the dentist.  It's my first appointment in a decade, which I thought was long enough to forget how much I really hate the dentist.  It's not.  I'm not afraid or anything; that would be silly.  I just don't like when someone pokes at my gums with a pointy metal object and then claims it's my fault when they bleed.    And we pay good money for this.

I'm hoping I can convince them to take off my permanent retainer.  The secretary already tried to talk me out of it.  Apparently as soon as the thing comes off my teeth will sproing out of alignment and I'll be as buck tooth as I was when I was ten.  Instead, they'll cheerfully give me some floss threaders and encourage me to use them to torture myself every day, so that the torture in the dentist chair won't be so bad.

Mom/Auntie Jen duties I've performed since beginning this blog entry:

• Comforted Luke because Willliam "hurt him".  I determined that this was another fight over the Buzz Lightyear car (even though we have a hundred similar hot wheels).  Suggested to William that he really doesn't need to hold on to his car while he uses the computer.
• Moderated a disagreement between Luke and Patrick after Patrick claimed the chair that Luke was sitting on.  Since we only have two child-sized computer chairs, I stacked some throw pillows for Luke.  He seemed happy with that, though he stole the chair back at his earliest opportunity.
• Put the Buzz Lightyear car away after the boys continued to fight over it.
• Played blocks with Patrick.
• Played Elmo videos on my iPod for Jadzia.
• Changed Jadzia's poopy diaper.
• Changed Patrick's poopy diaper.
• Helped Luke on the potty.
• Helped Jadzia brush her teeth (at her request).

The boys have now gotten the Buzz Lightyear car out by themselves (a process that involves climbing on a chair).  I told them if the can't share I'll take it away again. And now I must go.  Patrick is on the dining room table.

Edit: the boys won't be here for dinner after all.  Their sister's parent-teacher interview was finished early.  Both William and Luke were crying when Natalie walked in the door. Luke pushed William off a chair as his way of enforcing the "don't eat the cookie batter" guideline.  I was hailed babysitter of the year.

Ottawa Weekend Gettaway

Adam's friend-since-elementary-school Chris and his beloved Lisa are getting married in September and this weekend was their Stag  & Doe.  So my parents watched the kids for the weekend and we high-tailed down to our nation's capital to enjoy the party (and more importantly to enjoy a kidless weekend).

About halfway throught the 6-hour drive, Chris called to tell us the Stag & Doe had been cancelled.  The Maid of Honour/sister of the Bride had gone into labour 27 weeks pregnant and Lisa had gone to Toronto to be with her.  We found out later that the baby, Liam, was born 2 lbs 10 ounces with lungs strong enough to cry (I'm no expert, but I think this means he's going to be okay.  The really horrid complications from premature birth are usually from lack of oxygen due to under-developed lungs.)

Anyway, while I missed the opportunity to dance with my hubby, we got a lot more hanging out with Chris time than we would have had the Stag & Doe gone on.  The cancelled event would have included lots of people we don't know, and I would have spent the evening convincing Adam to get on the dance floor, while explaining to random strangers that we really are good friends with Chris and Lisa even though we have lived in different cities for years and years. 

Instead, we played boardgames at Chris's apartment, went out to dinner, then saw the most horrible movie imaginable: Clash of the Titans.  We were expecting a plotless action flick with over-the-top special effects but what we got was a really really plotless action flick with worse writing than is usual for the genre, under-whelming special effects, and bad 3D.
If I can be allowed a brief digression, some ideas for improvement (warning spoilers):

• Have someone who knows how to write go over the script, and remember show don't tell.  For example, the talk Perseus has with his father about how he really does love him even though he's adopted, could have been said with a look and a hug.  His father's speech about being angry with the Gods was just embarrassing.
• Actually film the movie in 3D, instead of doing a bad convert of a 2D flick.
• Make Olympus look more awesome and heavenly, instead of an over-exposed version of the counsel of the Jedi.
• Eliminate the character of Perseus's mother's husband.  The back story is okay, but why have him come back for revenge?  Can't Hades summon giant scorpions by himself?
• Only once should we be told that Zeus feeds on love but Hades feeds on hate.  After that, we get it.
• The whole plot with princess Andromeda should be either scrapped or built up so that we actually care about her being sacrificed to the giant octopus thing.  Seems like a no-brainer to me that we should feed her to the Crachen to save the city, what took them so long?  Instead we killed off five guys and a tree-monster trying to get Medusa's head.  That's just not good economics.
• The two hunters that join the team but don't actually do anything after that (beyond ride a scorpion) should be part of a subplot with Andromeda and we can have fun getting to know them.  In fact, all the characters should be developed better.
• Perseus should die at the end.  The fates said he would, so he should.  He's a demi-God, so he can come back to life if they really want.
• Longer fight scene with Hades at the end.  The guy is a GOD people!  Just because Perseus killed his pet monster doesn't mean he should suddenly be able to go down with one quick jab to the gut.  Even I could have lasted longer against Perseus (who is about as Godly as my pinky toe BTW). 

Anyway, we had a great time staying in a hotel without our children.  I mean, I love my kids, I really do, but they can be mood-killers.  In any case, the break was nice.  The next day we had a delicious breakfast at a restaurant Chris recommended and then saw the Aviation museum.  Lots of planes, but a distinct lack of fun interactive exhibits.  Not the most fabulous museum I've ever been in, but definitely more well-put-together than Clash of the Titans.  Perhaps I should see the original movie...it has to be better.

After the museum we drove home to Burlington.  Not only did our children not miss us, but William has been asking all day when we are going back to Omi's house.  My parents took the kids to the Science Centre and to High Park and they may have had more fun than we did.  They definitely did less driving.

Conclusion: MORE WEEKENDS AWAY!!!

Congratulations Eireann and Craig!

Here's something I should have blogged about days ago. My bestest brother Craig and my bestest friend Eireann got married on Saturday. As you can see, Eireann looked gorgeous (she always does, but there is something about the whole bride get-up that brings beautiful to a whole new level). Oh and my brother looked pretty good too.

They say that rain is good luck on your wedding day. If that's true, Eireann and Craig must be the luckiest couple in the universe. Torrential downpoars (mother nature didn't get the memo that it's August) forced us to have the wedding indoors (instead of under the terrace where we'd planned). Thanks to a parade of umbrellas, none of the girls ruined our dresses or hair. But the father of the bride, and the youngest groomsman, came out a little damp.

We walked down the aisle to the sound of bagpipes and, after a short ceremony, we were all ready to take off our shoes. Of course we had to have pictures taken first, and then ate deep fried pickles (and some other stuff), and then had a receiving line, but by the time the speeches started and dinner was served, I was barefoot. (Heels are for girls).



We had a great time dancing the night away. Especially since William was staying over at his Babcia's and we didn't have to worry about him until the next day. When the party was over Adam and I drove the happy couple to Niagara Falls, where they will spend honeymoon #1. Honeymoon #2 will take place next week in sunny Greece.

Congratulations guys! Oh, and Eireann, if you're reading this, I still have your dress.