playing around on the frozen beach after our tasty lunch.

while it's fun (and slightly dangerous!) to do a handstand on a frozen lake, i'm ready for spring. we're presently experiencing quite the cold snap (one of many). however, happy weekend activities made the freezing cold more bearable. and it's almost march!

weekend highlights: we played the most hilarious game with friends, went to go see the king's speech (definitely deserved best picture), i had a lovely breakfast with a friend, we signed up for our wedding registry (tiring, but fun), and spent yesterday evening honeymoon planning (me) and wedding website building (mike).

on monday, mike and i took a little trip to gimli, a small beach town about an hour outside of winnipeg. the aforementioned beach is obviously frozen over right now, but it's still a nice change of scenery. it also gave us ample opportunity to day dream about the upcoming summer. mike and i grabbed some food and then took a stroll on the frozen lake (photos of that later).

here we are with our tasty lunch. and yes, it is apparently possible my face to morph from normal - ugly in less than a minute (and put on my coat and glasses while i'm at it!).

hope you have a great weekend, friends.

white wedding flowers.

a few people have asked me if i'm going to be sharing about my wedding planning on the blog. i want to, of course, but i also want to keep things a surprise for all my friends and family who read my blog. so i will every once and awhile, and then talk about it way too much after the wedding is done!

as i briefly mentioned in this post, mike and i are collecting all things old for the wedding - brass animals, jars, books, cameras, doilies, candlesticks, trunks, and crates. as of right now, boxes of these treasures are taking over half of mike's room. it's going to be pretty funny to see the state of things come august.

i've decided something we need to do (soon!) is take an inventory of everything we have and better organize our items. it is a distinct possibility that i might buy three times more vases and bottles than we actually need. they're all just so lovely! and inexpensive!

which brings me to what we're going to put in all these old jars and vases - the flowers. i was showing mike some pictures i had come across on wedding blogs when he stopped me at this one. why not just a bunch of different white flowers?, he suggested. a perfect, simple, gorgeous idea. we've since decided that we're going to add some green to this mix (like green mums and bells of ireland). a friend of my mom is a retired florist, so she is going to make my bouquet, mike's boutonniere, and our moms' corsages. she is going to simply supply the rest of the flowers, and we will do all the arranging. any tips or advice in this department is more than welcome. it's tough figuring out the logistics of when to do them in order to maximize freshness...

i think i am honestly more excited for the flowers than anything else (besides marrying my best friend - just to be clear). now just about anytime i buy flowers, i buy white ones and try arranging them in some of our jars. and then i fall in love with the idea all over again...

red red red.

last weekend, we went out for a little dessert with mike's sister & her boyfriend. the colour red abounded.

valentine's day fort, 2011.

maybe the start of a new tradition?

hope your valentine's day was cozy and filled with people you love.

last week, mike and i had our "official" one year anniversary (the day he proposed to me was the one year anniversary of our first date. we officially started dating three weeks after that first date). since there had been so much celebration since the engagement, i wasn't expecting that we would do anything special for this milestone.

mike picked me up from school and when we got to his house, i discovered the most beautifully decorated tablescape. and then i realized he had made me dinner. and then i started crying a little bit. mike always claims he can't cook, but somehow whipped up a dinner of balsamic chicken breasts, lemon asparagus, and roasted baby potatoes. just when i think this man can't make me any happier, he does.

also: the table decoration gives you a bit of an idea of the sort of items that mike and i have been collecting for the wedding: brass animals, old jars, books, cameras, doilies and candlesticks. really, just about anything old. last weekend i spent $35 on the most amazing antique gold telephone. not very practical, but very charming.

and: thank you so much for your sweet words about my ring. i would love it even if no one else did, but it's always nice to hear that other people think it's beautiful as well.

i think the photos convey its loveliness without me going on about it.
absolute perfection. (thanks mike!)

ring by satomi kawakita.

balance.

when life gets busy, it is so easy to lose balance. in the whirlwind of wedding planning (so fun!), school and work (not so fun!), i'm sad that i haven't been able to give this little blog much attention. but don't worry, i'm still here.

on a different note, making food makes me happy. mike is always so appreciative & impressed - an added little bonus. (i made a spaghetti sauce on the weekend which involved cooking some ground beef and adding it to a jar of sauce - and that darling man was again so appreciative & impressed! i felt guilty taking his compliments!) cooking is again one of those things that gets put to the back burner when i'm running around like a crazy lady between jobs. but it is just so lovely when i carve out that time.

inspired by rachel's cute mini spinach quiches, i set out to make my own. a spinach quiche was obviously going to taste very... spinach-y but it was a bit too much for me. so i tried again - martha's crust recipe paired with a broccoli garlic quiche recipe from epicurious. broccoli and garlic, always a delicious combination. and it proved to be just what these flaky little crusts needed. definitely a perfect winter comfort food.