This weekend I spent a lot of time at the St. Albert Curd Festival – a festival dedicated to cheese curds? Sweet! I love cheese and I love curds! This week friends said they would be going to the curd fest and I thought, why not?

St. Albert is about 40 minutes from Ottawa and, no surprise, is known for the cheese.

Booths are set up with various local produce and goods.

Some local Alpaca were around to pet – they were so soft and cute!

On Saturday we enjoyed a cheese tasting which included 5 and 6 year old cheese as well as curds and different cheddar cheeses.

On Sunday I went with CH and NM to watch CH’s brother and his band perform. They played some fun upbeat folk music. It was fun to be there with her family.

During the second set, one band member called sets while the others performed. La Ligue du Bonheur put on a good show and it was a great way to end the weekend.

This week at work was very exciting because there was a film crew in town shooting a movie. In the afternoon everyone took a break to watch the filming for a few minutes (see Wordless Wednesday: Movie Madness).

On Wednesday, my friend GSL and I were enjoying lunch over in the park by our office. We were talking and then noticed a guy who looked a lot like Garrett Hedlund walking in the park. Since I was looking at the photos I took from the office window the night before I was pretty sure it was him. Since we were heading back to the building we decided to walk by on our way. We asked if he was Garrett Hedlund, filming in Gatineau and wouldn’t you know, he was!

Garrett (if I may be so bold as to use his first name) was super nice and took the time to chat with us about the movie, Tron and let me take a few portraits with my Holga. I was very excited and glad to get a photo with this lovely actor, it really made my day!

I’m definitely looking forward to getting my next roll of holga film developed!

This week I saw that I had several old bananas sitting on the counter and I thought, these shouldn’t go to waste so I did a bit of a searching to find a good banana muffin recipe. I have been doing so many cupcakes recently but I also love a muffin. I did a light pecan streusel  on top.

I have been working on several sewing projects and today I got to work on reconstructing a pair of old jeans. They were my favorite but after several years got worn out. Today they are new again as a jean skirt.

I cut off the legs near the knee and then cut the bottom leg apart. I cut the seams of the legs and sewed them in place.

I am excited to wear my favorite jeans again and that this project worked out. It was simple to do and only took about an hour to complete.

Our backyard is full of wildlife and after the chipmunks that have moved in, I love the bunnies. This year buns, the resident bunny, had babies and this one I call baby buns. I often find baby buns in the backyard in the afternoon when I get home from work, sometimes I don’t even see baby buns because she is SO baby!

Since we stopped weeding the backyard baby buns comes to munch on the dandelion leaves, which works out quite well for me.

I love having so many wild animals around to watch and photograph…I just wish I could capture the beautiful deer that also live in our neighborhood!

It has been ages since I’ve done a sewing project, years in fact,  but recently I’ve been wanting to do something with all my old t-shirts so I’ve been looking up projects to reuse old t-shirts.

I want to make a giant lounging pillow for my office so I’ve gotten a bunch of my favorite old shirts that I want to use to make a quilt of sorts…anyhow I’m designing the project and will post about it later.

I decided that my first project would be a t-shirt dress that I saw here.

So I got an old t-shirt that I silkscreened that was looking a bit tired.

It’s an old ad for getting live seahorses in the mail.

Then I got an XL navy t-shirt. I cut the bottom of the fitted shirt and cut out the neck of the XL t. Then I measured elastic and pinned the 2 shirts together and the elastic.

The fitted shirt is right side out inside the XL shirt. I used a stretch stitch to go around the elastic. I used a regular stitch around the pockets. It was relatively easy but I did have a challenge as I’ve never had to do this kind of sewing before.

At the bottom of the dress I cut 2 small slits in the bottom and with the left over fitted shirt cut a long piece of shirt to feed through bottom so I can fit it.

Here is a side view of the dress.

Here is the front view with no belt.

I used the leftover fabric to belt where the sewing is and give it a more finished look.

I will try to post a photo of the whole dress soon. I’m wearing it now and it’s very comfy!!

So Thursday night when I was walking home I could see a tiny animal running around in circles in the driveway…this was strange behaviour I thought. At first I thought it was a baby mole but as I got closer I could see it was a baby mouse.

I could see it was running in circles because it’s front paw was sore. Could I be responsible for the death of a baby mouse? All I could think about was a story that a Buddhist nun told me after the passing of my aunt about a mouse. I had to help it. I tore open a box I had from the grocery store and emptied the contents and carefully scooped the baby mouse into it.

Then I got an old fish tank and toilet paper, raw sunflower seeds, dish of water and a toilet paper roll to make it a temporary home. I can’t keep this mouse I said to myself.

I can’t keep this little mouse…but I can name her. So meet Juniper. I’m hoping that by the end of the weekend her little foot will be better and I can release her back to the forest. I know there are several mice that live back there so hopefully they are her family and she can just go back with them. I have been careful not to touch her or anything like that.

She really is so sweet – it will be nice to have a second pet, even if it’s just a few days. I love animals!

We’ve been planning a small sliders and ciders party. What is this, might you ask? We made LOTS of sliders and everyone was asked to a bring a side and some cider.

We decided on five flavors:

- The Titan: feta cheese, tomato and tzatziki

- LP’s Mango Chutney: avocado, mango, cilantro and lemon juice

- Mexican Fiesta: Avocado, salsa and sour cream

- LW’s BLT on a chicken burger

- Classic Cheese: cheese slice – the simple classic!

Here are the ladies preparing the Titan with avocado, salsa and sour cream finished.

Here are the finished sliders – yummy if I do say so myself!

Once everything was ready we laid out the spread – DELICIOUS local corn with butter, sliders and all the extra sides for the large burgers.

It was a fun night and ended with us sitting around singing and just having a relaxing night!

Today after soccer we took some time to hang out outside. I was lying out with Lily curled up at my feet. As I took in the sun and listened to nature all around us I remembered doing the same thing when I was a kid. We would lie out on loungers and watch the clouds, sometimes read or nap. It was so nice to take the time to do it again and just relax!

This past week, I finally got to go to Shanghai for Karaoke.
When my roommate, LB and I were at University we enjoyed many a night of karaoke at the local pub and since she was visiting with her husband I thought there would be no better way to spend a Saturday night than going to Ottawa’s coolest karaoke place.

Shanghai Restaurant has been a fixture in Ottawa’s Chinatown since 1971, and boosts as Ottawa’s first Chinese food restaurant in Chinatown, and recently has gotten a lot of attention for their karaoke night with China Doll. I have to say, there is nothing more fun that an over-the-top host calling you a poodle or fortune cookie and we all just wanted to get up and sing!

We have eaten at this restaurant several times but never made it out for karaoke. The walls are covered with art by local artists and no two tables are the same, as each has its own art lacquered into the top. It’s a family affair with parents and children all working to serve drinks, make food and host. It serves delicious Chinese and Asian food (I love their pad thai) as well as a variety of drinks at the bar and smoothies.

We had a blast and I loved chatting with China Doll as I performed my “paparazzi” duties. Interesting fact, China Doll is interested in toy cameras and bought some on holiday.
Here are some memories from the evening:

I’ve talked about Lily before, my little Maltese dog. Whenever possible we try to bring her with us to where ever we are going so that she doesn’t have to be alone during the free time we have to spend with her. She is, however, a little bit crazy. Lily is very particular about many things, I know what you are thinking, she is just a dog? And while several years ago I would agree with you…now, I know better!

Do I treat Lily like a person? perhaps.

Is she a product of my own craziness? perhaps.

Should the Dog Whisperer come to my house? likely.

All that said, she is my little buddy and companion. She is the example lap dog. When we go in the car she sits with me  and looks out the window, or hides (in her pillow case or blanket) or sleeps.

When we were in Toronto visiting family she got to meet (for the first time) her dog cousin Winky. Winky is a lively Jug (Jack Russell/Pug mix) who really enjoys the company of other dogs. Lily on the other hand is a loner who wants nothing to do with other dogs. We spent a pleasant afternoon of Lily yapping at Winky everytime Winky moved and Winky trying to be submissive to Lily and Lily not understanding. In this picture Lily looks happy, Winky a little bit fed up.

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We decided to travel to visit my family in upper New York state for a relaxing weekend of visiting. Of course, Lily came with us. She loves visiting my Nanny and will sit with her for hours.

On the way down we decided to stop at an outlet mall. With the heat wave upon us we determined it was far to hot to leave Lily in the car so my husband suggested just carrying her around with us. I thought of one better, tucking her into my bag…that’s right, I spent an hour walking around with my dog in a bag, wearing sweat pants. Sigh. Fortunately, Lily seemed to enjoy being in my bag and smiled and let people pet her. This was very fortunate indeed and made the trip so much more eventful. Nothing like trying on clothes with your dog hung up next to them, smiling.

Some people may think Lily is only a dog, but she is more than that to me.