And the Blue Jays win!

I grew up hearing about the Toronto Blue Jays, recognizing their logo from the t-shirts, ball caps, and banners that my older brothers had around the house.

I also played baseball - at school, at home. Spring had sprung when you could take a bat outside and send a ball whizzing across the still-brown grass towards the little lumps of dirty snow still left in the field. My best hit of the season always happened that first day.

I attended a ball game out in the Dominican Republic with my service team back in 2009, but this was my first real-live Jays game. And they won! They made those last few innings very exciting to watch.

Oh, and I think after that one game, Ed might know the rules of baseball better than I do. Must be a guy thing to catch on so quick....

Oh, and why were we there, might you ask? My staff decided that a ball game would be a great year-end staff social. It was. Dinner afterwards was fun too - a more relaxed setting in which to talk shop :)

In the Roger's Centre - Jays up to bat.

Watching baseball in the shadow of the CN tower

Lawrie up at bat - Jays logo backing him up :)

Blue Jays win! (says the running banner on either side)

An Easter Holiday

Here I am.
I'm smelly (like smoke & a beginning-of-season cottage) and itchy and my hair is limp and tangled and, let's face it: disgusting.
But, I'm also rested, relaxed, and so glad to have spent the celebration of my Lord's death and resurrection with a good group of friends (old & new) in the midst of yet another part of God's glorious creation.

Here's a summary of our holiday:

Friday:

1. Shaun, Joel, Kim, Sandra & Ed arrive at mine & help pack my stuff into our two vehicles.
2. Stop at Reinink's to pick up Etta; help her put two kayaks on her car.
3. Try out Lambert's new creation: the dune buggy. (It just brings tears to your eyes, it's so wonderful.)
4. Get to the cottage by dinner time. Unpack. Heat the place.
5. Eat Joel's spaghetti dinner.
6. Walk down to the beach to watch the sun set.
7. Chill in the living room, play Apples to Apples (I win! I'm refined, poplar, stunning, misunderstood & something else...apparently.)
8. Bedtime, in the loft for me & Etta :D

Saturday:

1. Lazy sleep-in
2. Omelette breakfast by Ed.
3. Morning kayak to the islands with Ed, Shaun, Etta & Joel (Ed & I try out our kayaks for the first time!)
4. Lunch; Mike, Lambert & Sharlene arrive
5. Hike at Bruce Peninsula National Park( a separate post on it's own!)
6. Burgers for dinner - Etta's meal.
7. Campfire on the beach
8. Euchre
9. Showers
10. Sleep time!

Sunday:

1.  Up early; pancake breakfast by Shaun
2. To church in Owen Sound
3. Lunch @ Reinink's
4. To church in Owen Sound
5. Back to the cottage
6. Bring out Ed's Aussie-rules footie; play at the beach (I waded to the sand bars in my wellies)
7. Eat Kim's delicious dinner
8. Say goodbye to Etta :(
9. Hang out inside, take naps & crash.

Monday:

1. Sleep in; Eat bacon cooked by Sandra.
2. Take a nap
3. Do devos with Ed
4. Walk to the beach to find the others; they're not there (yet) so we chill & enjoy the beautiful weather
5. Leftovers for lunch; pack up & clean
6. Drop Etta's forgottens off at Reinink's
7. Nap in the van.
8. Drop me off. Get weekend pics from Sandra & Kim
9. Change facebook cover photo & profile picture.
10. Shop for jelly-beans. Walmart has none.
11. Procrastinate on report cards by blogging...

Now I'm going to shower. This will be edited with pictures soon. For now: it is being posted as-is.

Guests & a New Recipe

Tonight I had a lovely evening. John & Michelle are up from Pennsylvania for a week and so they stopped in for dinner! I've never actually seen them in Canada before - sounds a little funny, doesn't it?

Anyways, because I knew they were coming, I raided my pantry & freezer and found exactly the ingredients to make the chicken parmesan I'd seen on this blog a couple of days ago. Since I also have made it my goal to try at least two new-to-me recipes each month, it sounded great & perfect for a dinner.

I had to cut the chicken into pieces and sub the mozza cheese with marble, but this was a delicious meal that looked wonderful over some pretty bowtie pasta. The only thing I'd do differently next time is make mine with more sauce. I dug a tub outta the freezer, but it was a little less than we could have had to go with the pasta.

And, after dinner, we played "Take One" (similar to Bananagrams, only with 7 tiles to start) and I did the un-hostess-like thing and won smashingly. But only after I fretted and pulled apart my game and rebuilt it and figured out a way to use the J, Z, X and both Bs, an F, a V, 2 Cs, and a D or so, with very few vowels. I've never called "Take One" so few times in a game and so I thought for sure I'd lose. Especially when I got the 'J' as my second-last tile. But apparently having letters worth so many points worked to my advantage (especially against John, who got stuck with all but two of the I's.) But, I was pretty proud of it - especially with words like brevity, maze, and prose thrown in!

Thanks for coming out, John & Michelle - I enjoyed seeing you again!

And seriously, you guys should try that easy-peasy chicken parm recipe!