The Reaction...

This is Mom's reaction when she drove up to the party. A little background: Mom thought that my sister was having some of her friends over to the house for their annual "farm party."

Shhhh... It's a Secret!

October has been a very busy month! It started with a bang by throwing my Mom a surprise 60th Birthday Party. It was a VERY big surprise because her actual 60th birthday is still months away. It is in the dead of winter and too close to the holidays to really have anything exciting so we tricked her by throwing it really early.

Everyone waited on the front porch for her to arrive. We had somewhere between 40 and 50 guests so, a great turnout.


Mom arrived with her sister who helped us to distract her with shopping and errands. My Dad happens to represent a product line that includes large sign boards. She didn't even notice the giant "Happy 60th Geri" sign in the background.


Her Mom, sisters, and childhood friend surprised her by driving down from Nebraska for the party!

The kiddos were very patient waiting all night for the cake :)

Master Bedroom Facelift

When we moved in to this house 2 years ago (wow... time flies!) the master bedroom was painted a goldish/yellow color. It is a perfectly fine color and not nearly has offensive as all the brass and navy carpet. We just didn't like the color. We bought the below bedspread for our queen bed to try to make it work for a few years. We didn't really like the bedspread but it was an affordable temporary fix to the problem.


We recently painted the room 'Iced Chocolate' by Valspar. We LOVE the paint+primer mix and only needed one coat (with a few touch-ups). We replaced the fan which was previously white and brass (shocker!). We purchased a king bed from overstock.com and mattress from costco. We have been very happy with both. The bedding is from Macys at about 75% off! I picked a very versatile wall color so I can change the bedding more often. I will probably look for a more spring-look sometime soon.

Canada - July 2010 (Part 3)

The next port was in Quebec City, Quebec. This town was VERY cute and VERY French. We explored upper and lower old town and enjoyed a crêpe or two. We took a boat tour that took us to a neat waterfall and explained some history of the town.

Montreal was the last stop on the cruise. We stayed a few days here and really enjoyed the city. Our hotel (Marriott, of course) was located right in the Old Town. It was also very French and beautiful but Old Town was a bit touristy. We visited the 3rd largest botanical garden in the world. I was pretty impressed by this! We also visited the Olympic Stadium, where they hosted the 1976 Olympic Games. The site also included a Biodome, which was unfortunately closed at this time. The rest of the trip we explored various neighborhoods in the city and got to experience some of the best cuisine on our trip so far!

Notre Dame:
Olympic Park:

Botanical Gardens:

Bonsai Trees (they had a huge exhibit of these):

Canada - July 2010 (Part 2)

Our favorite port was in Prince Edward Island. We docked in Charlottetown, where we opted to rent a car and explore the island on our own. The entire island was incredibly picturesque... beautiful green fields, sheep, farms, amazing houses, and beaches.

We headed straight to a quaint fishing village and captured some great pictures. Then we drove through Avalonea (Anne of Green Gables tourist trap) and headed to Cavendish beach. It was BEAUTIFUL! There were quite a few more stops that included fields, farms, lighthouses, and lunch. It was a great day (except for the panic in the end that we might miss the boat). Evidently, our "scenic" route included a detour around a closed bridge where we made the cutoff to be back on board by only 10 minutes!

Fishing Village:

Anne of Green Gables "Drive By"

Cavendish Beach:

The next day we were at sea. The ship itself was a bit smaller and older that we were anticipating, but the cool thing about a smaller ship was that we passed under a few bridges. At one, we only had 1.5 meters of clearance and many of the guests went rooftop to see the narrow clearance. As expected, the other guests on the ship were well past our age group and many of the shows and ship activities catered to the older crowd. We spent the majority of the day poolside with a book.

Canada - July 2010 (Part 1)

J and I just don't like the heat of summer. We often discuss the fact that we want to live in the mountains or a lot further north (like Canada). While we don't actually plan to move, we did enjoy a trip to Canada to escape the heat of July in the Midwest. This was another "Marriott Sponsored" vacation for us. J's intense travel schedule has few rewards but we definitely take advantage of the miles and points. This time around Marriott bought us a 7-day cruise through NE Canada with a few extra days in Boston and Montreal.

The cruise left from Boston and headed to St. John, New Brunswick for our first port. St. John was a beautiful, quaint town that was very appreciative of their US tourists. All the women from the ship got a rose and the men got a pin when they got off. It happened to be the 4th of July when we ported there and they had some festivities for us, which included complimentary cake and a pretty crazy gospel acapela band that definitely stuck in our heads for the remainder of the trip. We spent the first part of the day exploring the town, but unfortunately most of the shops were closed on Sunday. They had a central market where we explored some unusual local food. The locals frequently snack on dried seaweed and we were offered complimentary samples. We immediately drank our entire bottle of water to try to get the taste out of our mouths! We ended the day back in the downtown area where we enjoyed the gospel band over a few of the local beers.

Market:

Gospel music, seafood, and beer:

The next stop was Halifax, Nova Scotia. For a city of only 100,000 people, there was a very urban feel and many trendy shops and restaurants. We spent most of the afternoon at the Citadel - an old fort that was used during wartime that is now open as a museum to tourists. The Citadel is located at the top of a hill that offers the best views of downtown and the harbor.

After Halifax, we headed to Sydney, Nova Scotia. At this stop, we embarked on our only excursion offered by our cruise ship to the Bird Islands. Our tour guide was a local father and son run business called the "Puffin Express". They were very knowledgeable about the birds in the area. Many of these birds are drawn to the islands to feed off of the bait used in the lobster traps. This time of year we were able to see thousands of birds, many including Puffins, Razorbills, Galemuts, and many varieties of Gulls. Our guides have been very concerned in recent years due to the overfishing in the area. This has caused the lobster season to end sooner that normal and the birds have to start searching for food farther away from their nests. This leaves their next unprotected and brings Bald Eagles to the area. We were fortunate enough to see approximately 35 Bald Eagles on the trip, which was a great experience for us, but very concerning fo the future of our guide's business.

Great Summer Meal

It sounds fancy (I don't claim to know what "Coulis" is) but it is quite easy to make with very simple ingredients.Sea Scallops with Corn Coulis and Tomatoes (adapted from www.epicurious.com)

• 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup corn (from 2 large ears)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil (divided)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• 1/2 lb plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• 1 lb large sea scallops, tough muscle removed from side of each if necessary (also good with a scallop & shrimp combination)
  

Cook shallot and garlic in 2 teaspoons oil in a small skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Add corn, 1 T. basil, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is tender and beginning to lightly brown on edges, about 4 minutes. Add milk and scrape up any brown bits from bottom of skillet, then remove from heat.

Toss tomatoes with remaining 1 T. of basil and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

Pat scallops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté half of scallops, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. Sauté remaining scallops in same manner.

Reheat coulis over low heat, covered, then spoon 2 tablespoons onto center of each of 6 plates. Arrange 5 scallops per plate in a circle on coulis, then spoon tomatoes into center.