Happy 5th!

Today is the hubster and I's (that doesn't sound like proper English) 5th Wedding Anniversary! Happy Day to us!

We have no plans. Unfortunately, life is very busy. Hubster is off work today until 7pm. I'm working all day and off at 7. Go figure!

We started it all off with a beautiful beach wedding in PEI with a small group of wonderful family and friends. And I've been thinking about what we've done for 5 years since:

- We went camping and forgot our first anniversary until the day was half over.
- We vacationed together alone and realized we need to vacation in a group to maintain our sanity as our views on vacations are quite different!
- We vacationed with a group (Phew! That was better!)
- We bought our first house.
- We had our first baby.
- We bought a business.
- We moved our family back home to Newfoundland.
- We bought another house.
- We await baby #2.

And in between all of that:
- We have laughed and cried;
- We have snuggled on the couch or sat as far apart as possible;
- We have talked or kept silent;
- We have argued and then kissed and made up;
- We have shaken our heads at each other in both joy and annoyance;
- We have judged and understood;
- We have questioned and relied on the sanity of the other;
- We have shared happiness and sorrow;
- We have lost and gained;
- We have withheld and discovered;
- We have coldly folded our arms or warmly opened them to embrace;
- We have been frustrated and relieved;
- We have opened and closed doors;
- We have felt, depending on the day, that 5 years is short and long.

Through it all, I think Dave Matthews sums it up very well:
"The space between the tears we cry
Is the laughter keeps us coming back for more..."

Happy Anniversary Jamie! Here's hoping for many more years of all of the above, with enough of the good stuff to keep the scales tipped in our favour!

#88. Make Wedding Cake: Jason and Holly - Cupcakes

Congrats to Jason and Holly who were married this past weekend, July 10th, here in wonderful west coast Newfoundland.

Holly asked me to make her a cupcake cake and after some research, trial and error, here's what we came up with...didn't they turn out awesome?!




Photo Courtesy of Jason and Holly's wonderful and amazing photographer, Christa Hann...Thanks Christa!

Cupcake cake idea courtesy of Kylie Lambert at Le Cupcake.

Cupcake stand tutorial courtesy of Cake Journal.

For more info on how you can order your very own cupcakes (or other yummy stuff!) contact The Chocolate Moose Bakery and Cafe at 709-453-2262.

Author: Krista D. Ball

We met back in the early 90's, mid-teens, starting to experience glimpses of life outside the confines of a parents wing. I cannot say I remember where we met, under what circumstances, what we said.

What I do remember is the letters. I loved to write, she loved to write. We were instant penpals, scribbling frantically back and forth week after week, talking about boys and school and disagreements with our friends. I was the pristine penpal - excellent penmanship, floral stationary paper with matching envelopes, stamp placed perfectly square in the top right corner.

She, on the other hand, wrote as she thought - much too fast for her hand! She would start out in "proper" form with "Dear Myrna, Today I ...blah blah blah..." and then suddenly you could see her thoughts taking over with no care for aesthetics. There were circles of words, words written off the page, sentences run out of space and continuing down the outside, flipped over to the back of the page, upsidedown. Stationary and envelopes were often recycled before recycling was the "in" thing - it was crumpled brown wrapping paper posted in an envelope someone else had sent her, turned inside-out and taped back together.

I loved receiving those crazy letters - I looked forward to the mystery that was inside, piecing together the details of whatever fantastical highschool journey she had been on that week.

And so, I was not surprised in the least, when we "met" again on facebook after several years, and she was in the middle of working towards her first published novel, "Harvest Moon".

Let me introduce to you my friend, Krista D. Ball, in her debut blog tour interview:

A Writer's Essential Blog Tour Foods

Hello everyone! I’m Krista D. Ball, a science fiction and fantasy (SFF) writer from Edmonton, Alberta. Today begins my blog tour, which I’ve seriously named “Krista Taunts the Internet: The Officially Unofficial Blog Tour.” Between now and August, I’ll be visiting a number of different blogs all over the web and doing guest spots.

Now, blog touring is a lot of work and a girl has to keep up her strength. My emergency blog tour snack kit will include:

· (Canadian) Smarties
That’s right. Smarties are not the same the world over. This shocked me to discover on my first trip to the US. Then, people tried to convince me that our Smarties were like M&Ms. Oh heavens, no! For maximum blog touring energy, Smarties should be mixed with ice cream.

· Walker’s Shortbread
There are very few store bought cookies that are better than homemade. Walker’s Shortbread is at the top of that elite list. Leave it to the Scottish to make the best cookie on the planet. Do not purchase if you are on a diet.

· Poutine
French fries. Gravy. Cheese curds. It’s gooey heaven. One of the best things about cooking a turkey is that you can use the leftover gravy to make homemade poutine the next day. Yum!

· Newfie Screech
As a writer, I believe it is important for me to continue the stereotype that all writers are half-cut most of the time. Being a Newfoundland gal myself, I would be remiss if I didn’t have a 40 ouncer of Screech in the cupboard. In case of emergencies, of course. Not for 10 am drinking.

· The Spud’s Onion Rings
There are only 5000 or so people in the world lucky enough to have visited The Spud. It’s like a chip wagon, only in a building. They make onion rings so good that I have been known to arrive in Deer Lake, NF after a 10 hour flight and asked the cab driver to take me straight to The Spud, even if it’s 2am.

· Mc Lobster
There is something so awesome and terrifying about eating lobster at McDonald’s. Yet, every year, McDonald’s in the Eastern Provinces (and I’ve heard some US states) serves up its famous McLobster. It’s been a decade since I’ve had one, but I demand several to survive a summer tour.

With this group of foods, I’ll make it through this summer tour with flying colours!

A special thanks to Myrna for letting me kick off my tour on her awesome blog.

For more information on Krista or her upcoming novelette, Harvest Moon, check out her website at http://www.kristadball.com/