Christmas Charms are Here!

Christmas earrings and stitch markers are now available at RJ Charms... with necklaces coming on Monday!







Select from 6 charm designs. And don't forget all items ship free within Canada and the US!

Honeymooners: Day Two

Day two of our honeymoon was a busy sightseeing day and included our only scheduled event - Alcatraz!

We wisely listened to the many suggestions that we pre-buy tickets for Alcatraz, and are sure glad we did when we arrived ten minutes before our ferry was scheduled to leave to find a super long line-up.


First view of the prison.

A very bumpy 15 minute ferry ride and we were on the Rock. We spent a full three hours wandering around, both with and without the audio tour. It was an amazing experience, so full of history {much more than just as a prison}. Both the mister and I agree that it was money well spent and would highly recommend the tour.


The tiny cells were stacked three high inside the main building.

Having never really been inside an actual prison, combined with the weather and time-worn aspects of the buildings... it was just a haunting experience. Not to mention that this prison was built {and used} when rehab was not part of the vocabulary. Just amazing.


The hole at bottom right on the back cell wall is where the "escape" from Alcatraz happened.

After a short ferry ride back to main land, and a delicious crab chowder {in a sourdough bowl!} lunch on the wharf we took a "cable car" ride through town.



Of course this was a bus-style cable car, but we saw parts of town we wouldn't have otherwise and enjoyed a trip across the Golden Gate bridge. A totally "tourist" thing to do, but the mister and I both agree it was well worth it... plus we were the only ones in the car for half the trip. Bonus!


Posing on the 'cable car' under the Golden Gate bridge.

After a long day full of fresh air and seeing the sights we found a great sushi place around the corner from our hotel {score, they'd only been open for 2 weeks!} called Miyabi. Then headed back to the hotel bar for some delicious martini's.


the Golden Gate bridge.

Again, you can click on any of the photos above the see the whole set - I took tons of photos, and had a hard time choosing which Alcatraz ones to share!

Previous Honeymooners posts:
Day One: Cutest Hotel Ever and the Wharf at Sunset

The Banana Bread Experiment

Tired of unpacking boxed, and with a bit of time on my hands before the Mr. arrived home I decided to whip up a loaf of banana bread. Mainly because I had three over-ripe bananas on hand... but as it turned out, that was almost all I had on hand. Begin the banana bread experiment!

I went to my go-to cookbook, the BH&G New Cook Book and used their recipe for banana bread, substituting as required by what ingredients I had on hand.



Ingredients:
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour (my sub for 2 c. flour)
1/4 c. quick oats (my sub)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. mashed ripe bananas (the recipe called for 5 medium, I had 3 large-ish ones)
3/4 c. honey (my sub for 1 c. sugar)
1/2 c. melted butter
chocolate ships to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of loaf pan (I used a 9x5x3), set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder & soda, salt, cinnamon. Make a well in center and set aside.
2. In a bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar and butter. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into loaf pan.
3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (if necessary cover with foil for last 15 minutes of baking).
Enjoy!

My notes: I googled substituting honey for sugar and learned that it's recommended to cut back on wet ingredients to account for added liquid. I took a chance that my substituting w.w. flour and adding oats would be enough. It wasn't quite, so next time I'd cut back on the butter a bit and add a bit more oats. Despite a slightly mushy center, the loaf is delicious and you can't tell it's whole wheat at all!

Honeymooners: Day One

Still waiting for our professional photos to arrive, I figured why not share some honeymoon snaps.

Since my last honeymoon post back in May our flights were changed, oh, at least five times by the airline (not cool) and we bought a house. So we decided to re-book with a new carrier and cut the trip short by a few days in order to come home and deal with the new house (ie. paint) before we moved in.

Out first day was a travel day - starting with a fifteen minute flight at 6am (no, that is not a typo, we flew from Buffalo to Rochester - R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S!) and included a 3+ hour delay at Ohare due to a mechanical issue on the plane that was to take us from Chicago to San Fran.



But we arrived safe and sound, and with plenty of time to check into the cutest hotel ever and enjoy the sunset from Fisherman's Wharf.

If you're ever in San Fran I highly recommend the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf - we managed to get a great deal on it, it was in the perfect location and was the cutest thing ever (I think I said that at least 20 times during our three day stay).


Cutest hotel ever! Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf


First view of Alcatraz, from the wharf.


Fishing boats at the wharf.


One of the rows of salt water taffy flavours, we couldn't resist!

You can click on any of the images above to see the full set... I'll be back tomorrow with day two - Alcatraz and a cable car ride!

A Moment of Silence...

In memory of my great uncle Clark and all of the other brave soldiers who have fought and died since World War I.

Bride on a Budget: Fun for the Guests

The week before our wedding I sent out an e-mail to all our guests, inviting them to participate in a little wedding fun - a photo contest!

All attending guests were invited to submit up to two photos from the weekend for a chance to win not only a $10 Shutterfly g.c., but some serious bragging rights! We have so many fabulous photographers amongst our friends and family we just couldn't resist! And we received some great pre-wedding response too!

The entries are starting to come in... and silly me totally forgot to include a deadline for submission, so I'll be sending a reminder out soon. In the mean time here are a few of the entries...

Yes this bride wore rubber boots! It had been raining all week and I didn't
want to wreck my fabulous shoes! (photo by the best man)

A fabulous vignette at the candy bar, by the bride's Aunt L.

A shot of me and my groom at the rehearsal dinner, enjoying cigars. (photo by MIL)

You can see all of the entries here.

It was a beautiful fall day...

Well mostly anyway. It rained on and off on our wedding day, and was far too chilly to have our outdoor ceremony. But the weather held out long enough for us to take our couple shots outside, admist some beautiful scenery!

I'm expecting our professional shots some time next week, in the meantime here are a few snaps from the Best Woman, Shira:

My train getting fluffed by the photographer...
we had a beautiful backdrop - a blue lake and colourful fall trees.

Giggling after taking some balcony shots. Love how my groom is carrying my bouquet!

Is it on straight?