Winter in Newmarket

My Dad's flamingo feels a little out of place in the back yard now.


The trees are beginning to feel a little heavy.



The neighbours kids built Mommy and Baby snowmen.
And, I have to admit, it comes in very hand having neighbours with snowplows!

They are calling for a lot more snow in Newmarket this week, so stay tuned for more snow pictures.

Spa night at the Evans house

Sarah and I had our own little spa night together. We did jasmine & lavender face masks and mini-manicures.


*mwah!*

Camping in November

I took a much needed day off work and Kyle and I headed up to Oliphant to camp on Stephanie and Ian's property. This is the view of the lake at the end of their street.


Me - Fire builder extraordinaire!


Our spot all set up


I don't think Kyle will put his stereo on the ground ever again.


Kyle singing along with his funk music.


Displaying his handy work.

Kyle and I

All dressed up for the Ben Harper concert at Massey Hall.

Counting Down...

Kyle and I are so excited to be flying to Costa Rica to be part of Kimberly and Todd's wedding. We'll be spending a week in Liberia for the festivities!

Raspberries

Kyle, Sarah and I took advantage of a beautiful day and went raspberry picking at a Mount Albert farm.


We were a too late for the train ride, though.


A ladybug landed on Sarah - That's good luck!


Me and my littlest sister.


Sarah tries out her photography skills, and takes a picture of Kyle and I sporting the latest trend in basket gear.


The haul! Six pints of juicy, yummy raspberries.

Sauble Beach
August 2007


Kyle gives his nephew Eriks a lift on the beach


And his niece Natasha weighs her real estate options



Me trying not to get blown away on the beach




Kyle and I enjoy the famous Sauble sunset

Guilty

Of blogger negligence.

But I'm working on it.

Now that the summer's pretty much over, I've got mixed feelings about how I spent mine. I didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked, but I suppose I did as much as I could considering I'm working two jobs.

We went camping in Kingston for the May 2/4 weekend, which Kim and Todd flew out from Victoria to attend. Cameron and Kelly drove down from Ottawa for the weekend too, and it was fantastic to have the gang all together. Kyle took me camping and to a show for my birthday, and we went to see Blue Rodeo play a gig in Orangeville. We managed to get up to Rice Lake for a weekend at the cottage with my family, and up to Sauble for a few days with his. We made it up to Mike's place in Ottawa for his annual birthday bash, too. Ben Harper is coming to Toronto at the end of the month, and we've got tickets to both his shows (dorks) and are going to an end of the summer BBQ with a bunch of my extended family I haven't seen in a while.

My little sister also got engaged this summer, so I've been doing a lot of planning for that, and am trying to convince her to have the wedding in Ontario and a reception in Trinidad (with her fiance's family) instead of doing the whole shebang down south. It'll take a lot of work, but I think it would be worth it.

Kim and Todd also got engaged over the summer, so Kyle and I are planning a December trip down to Costa Rica to attend the wedding there. Tickets are all booked and we are just so excited. We're planning on a zip-lining tour, snorkeling, and lots of other touristy things. Kyle (the best man) is already worrying about what to say in his speech, and I'm trying on every dress I can find - Fall and winter are definitely NOT the optimum times to buy a dress for a Caribbean vacation.

I've got a few pictures from the summer that I want to post, and I'll upload them when I get home from work. :)

Quarter Century

I turned 25 on Wednesday. To celebrate, I took three days off work, rented a car, and Kyle and I camped at Sauble Falls. It was so relaxing and wonderful. We spent hours upon hours hiking on trails through the forests, swimming in waterfalls (well, Kyle did - I was too chicken) and sitting by the campfire all night long. I have many, many pictures that I will *TRY* to post once I get them uploaded off my camera. It was so nice to be able to spend three days with Kyle without either of us having anything else to do or anywhere else to be.

At the stroke of Midnight on Wednesday, Kyle gave me my birthday present - Tickets to see "We Will Rock You" for that very night! It was a whirlwind day, getting home, locking myself out of my house and driving around Newmarket looking for my Dad to steal his keys, taking the car back, etc, and we were about 2 minutes late for the show. I was scared they wouldn't let us in, since a lot of theaters don't let the audience in after curtain (since it distracts the players and all). But thankfully, the guy at the door let us in and we found our seats. The show was very high-energy, and the singing was phenomenal. The storyline was a little cheesy, I'll admit, but the show overall was entirely entertaining! I had so much fun!! So yes, if you're looking for a fun show, go see it!

People at my office decorated my desk with balloons and streamers, and Hayley took me out for dinner at East last night, which was sooo yummy. We're having dinner with Kyle's parents early next week, and this Sunday is my birthday dinner at my parent's house, too (dessert crepes for dinner = happy Michelle!) I'm such a lucky girl! Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes! :)

A Wee Update...

Yes, yes, I know. It's been a long time. A very long time. I've obviously been back from Grand Cayman for a while now. But apparently my laptop doesn't realize that. It hasn't worked since I've been home. Which is not so great for picture-posting purposes, seeing as they're all on there. But once it's fixed I'll be posting pictures galore.

I finally landed a job when I got back from Cayman. Granted, it's not anything even remotely event-planning related, but hey, it's a job. I'm working at and Adjusting firm in downtown Toronto in their "Claims Creation" department... which is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying "Data Entry." It's not hard by any means, but it does get a little boring at times. Though some of the claims I have to process are pretty strange... Like the car rental company who found their renter dead of a heart attack in the car's back seat, or the 90 year-old Montreal woman who found a condom in her muffin.

Anyhoo, just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still around and still reading, and once my laptop is better I'll be posting again too! Take care!
:)

Sting Ray City
December 30th, 2006

On Saturday afternoon we took a tour with Red Sail Sports to Sting Ray City - A place where you can go and swim, touch and even feed sting rays. The area they're in used to be used by fisherman as an area to gut and clean their catch, and they simply tossed the fish remains overboard. The rays quickly learned to go there for an easy meal, and have been frequenting the area ever since. They are totally domesticated and are very used to people.


The view as we sailed away from shore...


Steph watching the waves as we head out.


Tony and the mast of our ship, called The Spirit of Poseidon.


Me, Kyle, Tony, Diane and Ian on the boat.


Me on the boat.


In the water! It was amazing!! Tony, Diane, Ian, Kyle and I all got in the water while Steph stayed aboard with the cameras. The sting rays were very hard to get used to - your instinct is to get away from them, not to touch them. But once you get used to them around, it's really quite the experience. They feel soft and slimy like a wet mushroom, and when you feed them, they suck the food out of your hand like a vacuum, and you can really feel the power of their suction. It's bizarre, but so amazing!


They opened up the bar on the way home, so we sailed back and had some rum punch.
Sting Ray City is an amazing place, and I will never forget it!

Welcome to Grand Cayman
Day one - December 29th, 2006

Kyle and I arrived on Grand Cayman on December 29th. We left Toronto at 6:30am, and had couple hour stop-over in Miami on the way. Stephanie met us at the airport and said that she was taking us to a Turtle Farm on the island.

Kyle is excited about the Turtle Farm, can you tell? Behind him, Stephanie (his sister), Ian (her husband), Tony and Diane (Ian's parents, visiting for Christmas) watch the Turtles swimming.

Steph and Ian look at the Kemp Ridely's Turtles...

... They are the most endangered species of turtle in the entire world.

This is the main house at the Turtle Farm. Note the garland on the poles. There were huge wreaths on the front doors, too.

Turtles!

More turtles! They were so colourful!

Steph and Kyle decided that the sidewalk is for suckers.

He was impressed with the Turtle Farm.

I was too! I'm so excited to be in Cayman!

After the Turtle Farm, we went to a small beach to look for shells. This guy came riding by while we walked.

There was so much junk on the beach (like this green giraffe head) that washes up on the beach. The majority of the garbage come from the visiting cruise ships - things that fall overboard end up here.

Our first day on Grand Cayman was absolutely fabulous. Exhausting, but fabulous.
Stay tuned! There are more pictures to come!

Happy New Year's Everyone! :)