Mom's Wedding Part I

I feel a need to break down our incredibly exciting August into more detail than one post as it was...incredibly exciting. To start lets cover my mom's wedding, day 1....

Who: My mom Mary Lou and her then fiance Eric, the family, some friends.

What: Their wedding

When: August 5th 2011

Where: Mom and Eric's place (amenity building)

Wedding Day 1

Let's start with the dresses!

My mom's dress is from the Blue by Enzoani 2011 collection, it's called Danbury.
My dress is BCBG, I think it has been discontinued as it was on sale about 75%.
My sister's dress is a Venus bridesmaid's dress style #1277

On to the decor!

There were over 50 rented white cane-back chairs, three big rented palm trees, tons of tea lights, white potted flowers, white linens and a patio set outside that came straight from their patio at home. It was classy and just a little bit old Hollywood glam which went perfectly with her dress and hair.

The food...

Food, tables and linens were provided by Marilyn Pearson's Cuisine and Company. They were fun and professional and the food was healthy, organic and delicious. They even set up a barbeque station on the playground outside.

Music

 You have got to love my sister in this one, plus it's a good shot of my dress :)

 Sufficiently embarassing shot of my mom and her new sister-in-law

Andrew and I (we hadn't slow-danced since our own wedding!)

Music was provided by my laptop and a hastily assembled playlist on repeat which no one seemed to mind. Some dancing was impressive (Eric and his sister's swing dancing was admirable) and some was just embarassing (My sister and I dance fighting? No one wants to see that...)

Two things you may notice about the video:  1. Yes that's the caterers getting down, we're just that fun. 2. I am not in the video, no way anyone needs to have easy access to that footage.

The photography was done by a talented friend of the groom and videography (not the dancing video though) was done by Andrew's dad Mark with the help of his lovely wife and assistant Eileen.

Coming up: a Wedding Day 2 post!

This summer in one sentence...

Work, work, work, CAMP, work, work, work, MOM's WEDDING, EUROPE, work.

Camping near Sooke Potholes

 At our favourite beach

Mom and Eric on their wedding day

Mom and I

The new extended family

 Flying over Greenland

 Menton (in the South of France)

 Cote d'Azur

 Beach in Monaco

 Breakfast in France: Espresso and Pain au Chocolat

 Medieval Mountain Village

 Colloseum

 Fontana di Trevi

 Paris

 St. Alban's Cathedral in England

 Ben and the Eye

 Bath, England

 Stonehenge

 Dublin

 Northern Ireland

 Sheep Island

 Giant's Causeway

 Downhill Beach

 Knowth

Ode to Almond Milk

Now that I know that I should avoid dairy for the sake of my skin and digestive system I have had to find some substitutes for the dairy-laden meals I used to love. I have learned that with enough gaucamole cheeseless nachos are delicious and that high quality thin crust pizza with thinly cut salami can be tasty even if there is no cheese on it. Also, I discovered that in many situations Almond Milk can be a geat replacement for milk. I had tried soy and rice milk before and never really got on board but almond milk is by far my favourite yet! It's great in cereal or by the glass and I have even successfully used it in baking once or twice. My favourite kind is Silk True Almond Original. However, I also found a recipe in Chatelaine Magazine of all places for almond milk you can make yourself...

Homemade Almond Milk (Courtesy of Chatelaine)

• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 4 cups water
• 1/4 cup honey

Soak almonds in water overnight. In the morning puree almonds and water in blender for 3-5 minutes until very milky looking. Strain mixture into bowl through a cheesecloth-covered seive, pushing around the grounds with the back of a ladel to make sure you get all the "milk." Stir in honey and store in the fridge up to 3 days. Just make sure to give it a stir before you use it each time as it does separate a bit. Almond milk is super low in calories and carbs and doesn't have much fat in it at all. :)

image via

My sister is finally 13...

I mean 19, she's actually 19, but she'll be a preteen in my mind forever. We celebrated with really good pizza, a mini pub crawl and late night waffles...

Andrew and Levi in deep discussions.

Sisters

Pizzasogood.

 Our lonely table as we left...

 Sally and Victoria

 Victoria and Levi

 Free Birthday Waffle!

 Waffle!

 We're moose.

A little late...

My desire to blog comes in waves, sometimes I don't feel like it for weeks and then one day I'll will write five posts. Anyways, I never did do a final diet update so even though it ended a couple weeks ago I will update now. In about 33 days I lost a total of 11.2lbs. Now, about two weeks later, I have reintroduced most things (although I am staying away from dairy for the most part as I seem to have negative reactions to it) and I have manged to maintain my new weight. I would still like to lose another 7-10lbs but will try to do so over time, with gradual and permanent changes such as more excersise and clean eating as often as possible. It was a difficut five weeks but it was the first time I have ever been successful with a diet and it showed me that I have a lot more self control than I give myself credit for.