Diane-Fest!

This was a weekend to remember! Turning the 'next number old' has always been a bit daunting for me but not this time! For some reason I was totally excited about this birthday age and planned to do what I wanted to do most....scrapbooking with friends. In fairness, Kristin came up with this idea for her day in February and I was totally envious. When her's didn't go ahead it was fair game to become mine ;0P I have scrapbooked and made cards for about 15years, my Dad is a great scrapbooker and he is big on memorabilia in the albums too!

Jenn and Kristin joined me in our amazing room. There was enough room for about 20 people (jammed in!) but we had it all! Our men were great with the idea and brought us sustinance and fun notes in the bottom of lunch bags for our humor. The weekend was fun as we all had fun stories and complaints and nothing seemed to be off-limits. What is said in the scrapb0oking room stays in the scrapbooking room!!

Dinner on Friday night was at the Rim Rock Cafe and was so much fun. We managed to drive out the sour-puss people in the corner with our laughter (they were jealous!!!). On Saturday we were at Bearfoot Bistro, which is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. The 5 course chefs tasting menu was enjoyed by all and to my absolute delight they had my favorite sweet wine on hand for the Fois Gras course, Brandenburg No 3 by the Venturi-Schultz winery. The entire evening was AMAZING!!! The weekend was UNFORGETTABLE and I still have a smile on my face when I think of it!!

Blogger currency

This is taken, sort of, from Kristin's blog.

We like to know who's visiting us. Make sure you leave us a little message to let us know. I've enjoyed blogging but seriously, it's good to know that I've got people reading who care about us and what we do.

So tell us who you are...it's blogger currency you know!!

It's our time!

IT'S OUR TIME!!

That has been the catch phrase for the past few years as our community fights for University status. Today the Premier, flanked by his cronies, was at UCFV to announce that it is in fact our time! The University of the Fraser Valley is now an actual thing. YEAH! My Dad has been at the forefront of this battle and has put in many, many hours to achieve what I believe is for his grand kids. Dad, your efforts did not go unnoticed by those that love you (however the committee failed to recognize you) and we appreciate all you do on a daily basis for our city and our family! YEAH...it's our time!! (does that mean our kids will be living at home longer....eeeegads!).

Here is a video of the announcment!

Time out....

Time out from the NYC blogging to bring you this important message....


Sarah got her braces off!!


We have been counting down for the last 48 days and it's finally here! A mere 17 months ago the brackets were attached and life with these began. It has been a trying time at some points for her with self-esteem and whatnot, but we continued to remind her that she is beautiful (because she is!).


She spent the morning checking out the 'new' teeth! It was great!

Way to go Sarah! You did this in record time and you have grown and changed so much in the 17 months since you got them on.

Still as beautiful as ever!!

New York journey

Here we are on April 9th overlooking Times Square at a great hotel. This has been a 'journey' so far. We arrived late on Sunday evening after a lovely (that's for you Dan!) flight, it truly was great. We flew Cathay from Vancouver to JFK with all the old fashioned service we used to get on flights. Upon going through customs and getting our first stamps in our new passports we picked up our luggage and got into the que for a taxi. Our driver was nice and got us to our hotel in about 1/2 an hour. We were booked into the Roosevelt Hotel. Very near Times Square and other places. Within an hour of checking in we had called the front desk to have maintenance come up and figure out what was wrong with our a/c unit. Needless to say, we moved rooms at 1:30am (keep in mind, Dwayne and I unpack everything as soon as entering a room!). On our first day out we scouted out a new hotel and moved on Monday afternoon. We are now at the W hotel at 47th and Broadway! It is lovely too Dan!


On Monday we picked up our pre-arranged tix for the double decker bus tour and did the uptown tour. It was brutally cold to be in the open top, but we bought gloves and saw lots!

Out for a nice dinner and to a club for a drink before turning in at 2am.


Tuesday, we took the bus again and stopped at the Empire State Building as well as Ground Zero. We toured through St. Pauls church that is adjacent to the site and was a 'clothing' up area for firefighters and police. We tried to take the subway back uptown but there was a track fire and the E train was delayed so we jumped in a cab.

Chicago was our destination for Tuesday night and Dwayne had once again surprised me (or maybe us both!!) with front row center tix. It was truly amazing. We had a great dinner at Bobby Vay's and then wandered back to the hotel.

Wednesday morning we set off for more sightseeing but didn't get a whole lot done...sort of! We went to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Lady Liberty is beautiful and Ellis Island is a place where the wonder and amazement reigns. Dwayne had a great-grandfather (x3) come into Ellis Island so we were on a mission of discovery. Alas, we didn't find what we sought but it was amazing!

The EO group is now in town for tomorrow's session with Seth Godin so we met Chris and Shannon for dinner in Little Italy. Who needs to travel all that way when it's right here. Dwayne is sure a couple of the 'cousins' were talking in Italian about a recent hit!!!

I'm alone tomorrow to shop and hang out. Maybe a manicure is in order!