Trying out the small town fair: Ilderton

Last weekend on September 29th, Aleksy and I had a free day to ourselves where we filled our day with a bunch of activities that were running for that weekend. One of the events that was running was Doors Open London, where we attempted to have a tour of Police Headquarters and Museum London, but there were long wait times and we ended up self-touring. We also went to tour the Palace theatre on Dundas St. downtown and we were a bit late for that as well. We did end up getting free tickets to 39 steps at the Palace Theatre later on Saturday night, which was a really good play!

Earlier on Saturday, we decided to head out to Ilderton to the fair. We decided that the Western Fair was great for concerts, but the Ilderton fair was more entertaining! We felt a little honky tonk...

 The Ilderton fair was very traditional and they had stands of competitions for things like 'best apple pie', 'best banana chocolate chip muffin', for children like 'best rock pet', and of course jams, and other canning items. They had ribbons for 1st, 2nd to 5th :) Here is Aleksy supporting the 1st prize winner of best vegetable display!

While we are mostly city people, we sure do love a good tractor and country song. Here's Aleksy checking out the display of tractors.

And our favorite part of the Ilderton fair (caution to vegetarians): smoked turkey legs!!! These were so scrumptious (and to my surprise super filling!). We coupled these up with a couple of beers for and all-round good turkey leg experience.

Other fantastic parts of the fair: deep fried mini-donuts and brought home a big tub of apple cider.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am blogging for the first time in a very long time because I was reading through my previous entries, and realizing how much I enjoy it, being able to remember what I was doing this time last year.

So I wanted to post to say Happy Thanksgiving! I like Thanksgiving because it gives an excuse for everyone to get together, catch-up and spend time together, which unfortunately doesn't happen as often as I would like. This weekend, Aleksy and I have 2 family suppers: one we had yesterday and the next with Aleksy's family is tomorrow. For tomorrows supper, my plan is to make a blackberry apple crumble... Mmmm. This is on the agenda for today: baking the crumble and purchasing pumpkin to carve. Fall weekends!

Update: My completed apple-blackberry crisp:

This is what's for dessert tonight! After our squash & burgers (not your typical thanksgiving Sunday supper!).

We Bought a HOUSE!

We bought a HOUSE! After months of saving for a down payment, we finally decided that we had enough to work with to start looking at houses. First, we went into the neighbourhood that is close to where we are living now in the Northwest end to see what the cost was for new builds. When we did this research, we came across affordable new build through fusion. This was within our price range and had many of the things we were looking for, open concept living/dining area, ensuite, walk in closet, garage. We wanted to do more research so we hired a real estate agent and started looking at other options. We looked at a bunch of 5 year old homes, but in each one there were things that we didn't prefer (i.e. layout, cabinetry etc.), and we kept keeping the fusion build in the back of our minds. It was an easy decision to go with the fusion builder - we get to choose all of our own colours for exterior/interior and build the house to our liking!

Next week we have our first colour selection appointment. We are choosing the exterior colours (the brick) and we have a few things in mind. We like the darker bricks so we're going to go for a red brick or brown. I'm really looking forward to selecting our cabinetry, ceramic floors, carpet and all the countertops! So much fun!

 On Wednesday we officially firmed up our purchase, provided our 5% cheque and it became official! The sales lady gave us the "Sold" sign to put on our lot sign because we were so excited!

The trees in the background are a great extra for a little, but an elementary school is reserved to go behind our house (which we liked so we wouldn't have neighbours all along our backyard). There is also a park going in just down the street with tennis courts, a soccer field, and lots of green space. There is a lot of development happening in this area, which is one of the reasons we chose it. 

For now, we just bought a lot of dirt, but on December 6th we will have a brand new home to move into!

A Grand Theatre Evening

On Friday April 27th, Aleksy and I attended our first Grand Theatre production in years (probably close to 5 years!). My friends Chels, Warren, Andzelika and Paul got me tickets to Hair for my birthday, which was more than perfect because we'd been wanting to buy tickets for some time. And the play was amazing! We arrived a bit early so that we were able to have a glass of wine prior to the show. For us, its not just about seeing the show, but also about creating a nice atmosphere and making an evening out of it. We did wine before, and a cookie break for intermission.

Hair was about a young man being recruited to the Vietnam war, and preaches the values of peace and freedom. It was a good progressive show which I think may have offended some of the general clientele of the Grand Theatre who are seniors. For example, There was a part where the actors dressed as nuns and sexualized the "Hail Mary" prayer. I thought the overarching message of the production was good. The front that we put on to meet societal standards does not serve a purpose, and can lead to harmful decisions. It put back some perspective for me of the things I should value (friends, family, life, relationships, time) and those that I sometimes place too much value on (things and money).

The Grand Theatre always impresses me with their plays. I look forward to the next play!

Upcoming Travel Adventures!

There are a couple of upcoming trips that Aleksy and I are looking forward to! Our first vacation is June 29th of this year and the next is in February 2013. Only 2 months!!! until our first vacation to:

Dominican Republic:

We are officially booked in for the Colonial Majestic in Punta Cana for the week of June 29 - July 6!! It is your standard all inclusive resort, but its a bit fancier than the others we have gone to - the pictures make it look beautiful. It is a common wedding resort and we are going for my friend Jenny's wedding! I met Jenny in my social work program at Mac so there will be a few friends there including My Nikki and her man Jon!! So excited for a vacation with friends! On the to do list for Punta Cana: ziplining for sure!!

After our adventures in Punta Cana (then that little things about saving for and getting a mortgage) we will start saving for Chile!

Chile:

On my Birthday, I got an amazing gift from our friend Alejandra who is going to school at UWO and is from Chile. She got my a travel book for Chile and asked for Aleksy and I to come to Chile for their wedding in February 2013, then go for a 3 week backpacking adventure around the Andes mountains!! Obviously I said a big fat YES and Aleksy and I are super excited to go backpacking in South Chile with Alejandra, her to-be husband and Warren and Chelsea! We fly into Santiago Chile, will be aorund Conception for the wedding then will rent a car and go South. Alejandra's fiance knows the mountains well and will be our unofficial tour guide.

TO DO: Brush up on some basic Spanish!!

My (broken) 26th Birthday!

This year, my Birthday was made out to be a whole 3 days since April the 2 is a Monday and we celebrated on the weekend. Aleksy arranged for a surprise celebration for the evening on March 31, starting with supper for 6:30pm.

It is tricky when you live with someone to hide things like having a party back at our place. Aleksy spent most of Saturday out shopping then this was set up before we left for supper. I figured it probably would be a good guess that we were having people over after supper...

This picture actually doesn't do justice for how nice this looked - pink napkins and plates because I love pink, 3 pretty (and fragrant) Easter flowers, and a tray to ice the wine.

Aleksy did end up spilling the beans as to where we were going to supper before we left. I'm not going to lie, it may have had a little to do with me being a crazy person and telling Aleksy I didn't want to go anywhere too fancy because I don't feel pretty with my MASSIVE cast and crutches. We ended up heading to La Casa at 6:30pm, where I walked by the window and SURPRISE, there's my friends at the table! It was so great for so many people to be able to make it (and for Aleksy to arrange it!)... I have pretty great friends & boyfriend!

Our meals were very tasty too (which they better have been for the price we paid!). Aleksy had duck, which I had a bite of and surprisingly was a red meat, which I figured it would be more like chicken. I had a seafood risotto, which was good, but not as good as Aleksy's duck and garlic mashed (although mine was 20 and his was 30). What I should have got: the spinach pasta that Sam & Steph got... I had a bite and it was delic! The people at the restaurant were super nice to my birthday party and brought me a piece of cake and everyone sang happy birthday! They also offered me a free shot of vodka to "take my mind off" my foot (because I had to put elevate it).

After supper, we headed back to our place for an after celebration and mostly everyone was able to make it out (except the Browns because they had to go on vacation..pfff). We played a homemade version of the game of  things, which was a lot of fun and then had MORE birthday cake!! (There has been lots of cake eating in the past couple weeks!). I was very happy that everyone stayed in the living room since my mobility was limited.

Happy 26 to me!

Hillbilly for a Night

Since we bought tickets to the Bull Riding on March 24th, we decided to make a Country evening out of it. More so, we ended up having a Country weekend out of it! On Friday night, Aleksy and Al went to some hillbilly hockey out in Strathroy, then after hockey we headed down to Cowboys to celebrate Aleksy's brother Andrew's 21st birthday! The next day we headed over to Al and Stephs for supper before going to see some bull riding! Before leaving, Aleksy made up a new country CD for out evening endeavors!

Al & Steph made up an appropriate supper for the occasion complete with fried beans, breaded chicken, corn bread, homemade wine, and of course plaid place mats! Some yummy Southern food to get us in the spirit!

After some supper and drinks, we called a cab to head to the JLC for some PBR!

On our way into the PBR, there were people picketing outside of the event because of the cruel treatment of animals. I didn't actually know that they use tasers to make the bulls angry before letting them into the ring. It made me feel bad throughout the entertainment for the bulls. This is us pre-event - with the trucks and dirt in the background!

At the start of the show they put gas down on the ring spelling out PBR - it was pretty sweet! And they introduced all the cowboys - from several different places - All over the states, Alberta, Manitoba, Australia.

The bull riding itself lasted not long at all. The goal was to see if the professional bull riders could stay on the bull for 8 seconds. Most couldn't, but some of the bulls appeared stronger than others. I could definitely see that it would be very easy to be injured during this process!

Cowboy boots, plaid and beer!!