Weekend Wrap Up

It's that time again....Monday! Hello, old foe. It's actually not so bad to see you. It's a gorgeous sunny morning...the sun is shining into my flat, I have tea, and many things to look forward to this week!

I get to see Lindsay tonight! She is in town for work, and I am super excited to see her and catch up. We're having dinner at Melissa and Andrew's place and it's the perfect for a BBQ on their sunny deck! September is really serving up some amazing weather this year {and every year, really}. It's a fine time to be outside as much as possible before the season changes and the days get colder.

Tomorrow night I start knitting lessons, and Wednesday afternoon I take my first (round 2) of beginner guitar lessons. I had a moment of apprehension about that last night - what if I start this, and yet AGAIN, I give up on it? And I thought to myself, I guess it doesn't matter, as long as you try. I'm not setting out to be an insane guitar player - I just have these visions of playing along to my own singing. Which means practicing. A lot. Which means giving up some of my spare time to do that. The spare time in which I watch TV, my drug of choice. It's necessary to get a new hobby. So, I hope that I have some kind of sticktoitivness this time.

So, my husband turned 35 on Friday. THIRTY FIVE! What on earth? That's a weird number. It sounds so parent age. I've known this man since he was 15, and have been with him since he was 18. How crazy is it that we are basically going to spend our whole lives together, minus a few years? I love it. My parents have been together since they were about 14, so this theme runs in the family.

My husband is a hilarious guy. He LOVES to have fun, and he is super social. We hadn't had a BIG house party since I turned 30 {yes, several smaller gatherings here and there for sure, but no ragers in a while, so I kind of felt like it was overdue. We love hosting parties, even though we are not rich with space in our condo. But, since that's never stopped us before, I went ahead and organized a soiree for my awesome husband that turned out to be a seriously fun time {I also bought him tickets to see The Smashing Pumpkins on Oct 7th, which is a band that we listened to a lot at the beginning of our relationship - we're pretty excited!}

About 40 friends attended a Laser party for Laser Jams (a nickname). We rented lasers and a fog machine. We had electronic music with sick beats {and maybe some Gangam Style}. We had a tonne of food. There was dancing. Laughing. Shake faces. It was SUCH a fun night. I'm always so surprised the police don't get called, as it was SO LOUD, and the lasers could be seen on the street, but as usual, the vast majority of people were gone by 12:30 am, with the last guests leaving around 2 am, so it wasn't out of control. And, the next day, after the floors were mopped, our house was cleaner than it had been in 6 months. Nothing like a slightly drunken party clean up to whip the house into shape! Had I known all I needed to do to get James to finally mop the floors {my one HATED task}, I would have thrown a party ages ago :)

Laser Jams, Party People, Dancing

So, as you can see from above, it was nothing but awesome. Never have a house party without lasers, by the way. At about $10 a pop to rent, it's money well spent, CLEARLY. We missed a few regular faces, friends who have recently moved, and friends who are away, but overall it was a great crowd and we had SO MUCH FUN. Our friends are awesome.

I was a understandably a little tired on Saturday. I woke up at 7:30 am, as per usual, despite not going to bed until 3 am. I hadn't had too much to drink the night before, so I was feeling okay, just tired. James was playing in a golf tournament that day, so I had the day to myself.

My little brother came over from Vancouver for the party times, so my mom and I took him out for lunch for his birthday, which is next weekend. We hit up the Tibetan Kitchen, which is always amazingly delicious. We had a feta and goat cheese salad, pork momos, a chicken curry, and a vegetable curry. The food is insanely good. Please check it out if you haven't. The chicken curry is to die for.

We then walked around downtown Victoria, checking out the chalk art festival, and perusing the stores. It was seriously nice to spend time with my mom and my brother. I wish he and his wife lived in Victoria, though I am grateful that Vancouver is not too far away.

Watermelon+Feta Salad and my new tea cozy!

Later that afternoon, I went over to my friend Dee's for tea. We were casually celebrating Mrs. Browne's birthday with a few cuppas, some chats, and entertaining baby Christopher, who continues to get more and more adorable, if that's possible. Our friend Jennifer had also just hit her due date, and was there hoping that that day would be THE day, as she is more than ready to meet her little baby boy. She looked...uncomfortable. And not for the first time, I felt relief at NOT being pregnant, as I have often wondered about the toll it will take on my body. How weird am I? One day I want a baby more than anything, and the next I'm thinking "meh, I love my life just as it is!". September is one of those months where I couldn't care less. Perhaps it's because I am appreciating the ability to do what we want, when we want, and spend our money on concerts and vacations and not diapers. I like months like this. Not caring is SO much better than caring to the point of insanity.

Case in point, Sunday. My FAVORITE day of the year.....Vancouver Island Feast of Fields.  It's a gorgeous festival celebrating the local food and drink scene. Each year it's on a different farm, and this year it was at the beautiful Alderlea Farms in Duncan. This is our 4th year, and it never disappoints (though this year I felt like there was more drink than food, though certainly neither was lacking in abundance).

We met up with a group of friends at Mayfair Mall, to catch the Feast buses. It was a seriously gorgeous day - almost TOO hot for my northern European blood. I'm glad I wore minimal clothing. The bus ride up was uneventful and enjoyable, until our bus driver didn't take a turn wide enough and we ended up in a ditch...in a yellow school bus. Since we were at the back of the bus, we took the opportunity to use the emergency exit and booked it to the entrance of the farm so we could get our feast on.

There were some amazing delectables this year, as every year. Some highlights for me included bacon baclava with blue cheese ice cream, emu pate with cherry chutney, yellow curry soup, peach cobbler, tea and gin, and mini sausages on buns. Crazy crazy good stuff. And of course, all of this washed down by table after table of wineries, breweries, and a distillery or two.

Local breads, tents of food, feasty friends, and a baby water buffalo!

Beautiful scenery and Saltspring Island Brewery!

Bus times, miniature pony rides for the kids, feast accessories!

Old timey soda pops, sausages, a seafood bake, cookies! 

YUM, right?! So much yum. I can't wait for next year!

We ended our weekend with a movie, and hit the hay pretty early. A lot of sunshine and fun was had this weekend, and I am grateful for the company I keep, the place that I live, and the fun things that are available to us - it's a rich life.

x h