What's growing in my garden?

Last week I went to check out my very neglected herb garden and noticed something I was pretty sure hadn't been there before.

[caption id="attachment_779" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Open call to internets for advice![/caption]

It didn't seem like a weed, so I posted this picture to facebook to ask what the heck was growing in my garden. Garlic Scapes was the consensus and I got excited.  I clearly forgot that I had planted garlic in the fall but I was really excited with new development.  I harvested it all (love saying harvest for a small bunch o' scapes) and we made some amazingly potent pesto with it.

Garlic Scape Pesto

1/2 cup garlic scapes, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

1/2 cup walnuts

About 1/2 cup olive oil

The recipe said to blend certain parts first, but I always forget to read ahead so we just threw it all in together. We ended up adding some basil as well since we had some in the fridge.  And it was POTENT.  Like, killing vampire breath but since we werent trying to impress anyone (that jig is so up at this point) we loved it.  The recipe said that it keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge or you can freeze it. So we ate in with pasta one night and then froze it. YUM

[caption id="attachment_783" align="aligncenter" width="300"] When it comes to food processing anything Garret suddenly takes over and gets way too into it[/caption]

Buck and Doe aka now it's 93 days to gooooo

See what I did there? A little rhyming action? Cheesy, but it's good right? aaaand moving on...Last Saturday night we had our buck and doe/ Jack and Jill.  For everyone who isn't from a small town let me explain.  We pretty much had a dance party that acted as a fundraiser for our wedding.  I have been to roughly 500 of them in my lifetime and they are always so much fun! We have been looking forward to this for such a long time I can't believe that it has gone by already.  It was such an amazing night, and felt so good to be surrounded by friends and family drinking, dancing and listening to great live music (our friend's band 'Hewgie and the Dustjackets') We were up until 4:30am--the evening culminated with an impromptu hot tub party at my Mum's place. Thusly Garret and I have been haggard creatures all week. In fact it took until today for me to feel some sense of myself again. I guess that is a sign of getting old? What a great great night

[slideshow]

100 days til Walsh

My mum just texted me to say the wedding is in 100 days.  I think I have been so caught up with school and the buck and doe plans over the past few weeks I didnt realize it was so soon (sounds silly doesnt it?!)  I guess because we have been engaged for so long that it seemed so far off....and now far off is 100 dayssssssssssss!!!! yay and yikes all at the same time

Happy Blogaversary

[caption id="attachment_736" align="aligncenter" width="300"] It's your special day lil Blog[/caption]

A year ago today I started writing notes about our live in our new house!  One of my favourite sayings is "The days are long, but the years are short"  I feel like so much has happened in the past year, but at the same time so many things have stayed the same.  I can still vividly remember our excitement with the arrival of our first summer in our new home.  It still feels so new.  I was reflecting on how we thought about things last year and now want to laugh at us.  New home owners can be so naive and I can say that about myself.  We thought that by this time we would have done so much work on our little house, but I think neither Garret nor myself really knew how much time and money is involved with home renos!  We have done a lot of the technical stuff (changing out the plumbing and the wiring) which isn't something you notice, but is important!  Now we have so many of the "pretty" jobs we want to start tackling....the fun part!

Things I have learned this past year:

1. Everything (including changing a lightbulb) is going to take you roughly 3times longer than you think--budget your time accordingly

2. Everything costs more money than you think it will..budget your money accordingly

3.  Mosquitoes are not just found up at the cottage. Apparently Barrie backyards suffice

4. Our house is never as clean as when we are about to have a party. Which makes no sense because a bunch of people in the house inevitably = a mess

5.  Chalkboard paint may be trendy but it is a lot of fun

6. Having a designated spider killer is good

7.  None of our rooms are square thanks to the lack of rulers in 1908....

8. When painting Garret is way better at cutting in

9.  Sometimes, when picking a paint colour you just have to go with it and hope for the best. you can repaint if you hate it, and those little wee sample pots of colour really add up over time

10. Garret and I have less in common when it comes to decor and landscaping ideas than we had originally thought

11. Weeds grow MUCH faster than the pretty flowers I planted

12. Taking care of a giant back yard is less idyllic than I had originally thought

13. Good neighbours are a key to a happy life

14. Creepy basements take some getting used to, but it is possible to sleep alone in a house while G is away overnight. (this was a biggie ha)

15.  I would never ever go back to my little Toronto apartment even if you paid me

Lemony Snicket No More

Garret and I were having a series of unfortunate events when it came to vehicles in the past few months.  The truck blew up on us at the end of the winter and the Camry aka the Donald had been giving me nothing but problems.  I meant to write a post regarding the demise of the Donald.  We sent that beeotch for scrap metal at the beginning of April (RIP). As he was off travelling I have been driving my brother's death trap of a Focus since then.  As Taylor's return date from Thailand approaches,  G and I had to hop to it to find another vehicle.  Contrary to our usual method of impulsive/non-planning decision making, we have spent the past few months test driving and researching.  It has been a fun, exciting experience, but also a pretty scary one. I have never spent that much money on something I couldn't a) live in or b) get a degree from (that's right over priced education I'm talkin' to you).  But I digress...as usual...So we have now welcomed an awesome Chevy Cruze into our family. Pictures to follow, as well as anecdotes about G and I fighting over who gets to drive it.  We will be accepting suggestions on what to name this one.  (by we I mean me cause G doesn't really care that much on what we name our cars)