Wine, Cheese, and Cloud Computing?

I'm one of those people who are lucky enough to be able to say that I love what I do. Last month I arranged a wine and cheese/Cloud Computing discussion for a company that I contract to called Think Communications Inc. "Think" is a computer reseller/technical services company here in Victoria and I feel really fortunate to be able to say I work for them. The event was held in an office here in Victoria and had a selection of Thinks top clients in attendance. Speakers from IBM, VMWare, and Double Take were there to educate everyone on some of the industry's newest technology and to show them just where the IT industry is headed. Even if you're not a "tekky" like me, it was really interesting. ;)

An amazing selection of Vancouver Island and the Okanagan's best wines were paired perfectly with cheeses from Hilary's and bread from True Grain in Cowichan Bay. Special thanks to Patty from Hilary's for the superb job she did for me! The event was a hit! The speakers held everyone's attention and sparked some new ideas, and the food and drink were exceptional. I had tons of fun hosting the afternoon. You know it's a wonderful day when you're able to spend it doing what you love and for an amazing group of people :)

Hope you all have a lovely evening!
Tam xo

A vintage lavender wedding....

This has taken me a while to post, but i'm so glad i've finally gotten to it! In August myself and my incredible team of ladies hosted a beautiful vintage themed 3 day wedding! We had been busy for months planning, shopping, crafting and prepping for the event of our season and the time was finally here!

The wedding was a 3 day event. Quite a few of the guests travelled a great distance to be with the bride and groom on their special day, so they decided to make a weekend out of it! The bride's family is Jewish, so it was wonderfully interesting to be able to incorporate some of the Jewish traditions into the ceremony and reception.

The wedding took place at the beautiful Damali Farms where the lovely Marsha, Dave, and Allison were the most gracious of hosts. We pretty much took over their home for the weekend and they were extremely welcoming and accomdating. We so very much appreciated everything they did for us. :) Not only does the farm look beautiful, but the smell of the lavender is all around you and so inviting. There are chairs placed around the property just waiting for you to sit and enjoy the view and take everything in.

The details are what really made this wedding special. We made all 48 of the centerpieces using home grown flowers from the groom's family garden and vintage tins and bottles that were collected from various thrift stores all over the island. The bouquets were also made by Blue Lily using lavender from the farm and home grown flowers. Flags and large pom poms decorated the veranda. There were board games, croquet and other activities to keep the guests busy. Little quiet areas were created and books and traditional Russian blankets were provided for the guests to enjoy. The food tables were all beautifully styled using vintage linens and dishes, flowers and labels.

The guests danced to the sounds of lively Jewish music down the hill to the ceremony. The bride and groom were lifted into the air for the traditional chair dancing, and patio lanterns lit the dancefloor under the stars.

Dinner was catered by Equinox Catering. So very tasty! and the chef and staff are outstanding! The wedding photography was done by Jenn Violet Photography along with Bonnie of Bonnie Rose Photography for the styling shots of the decorations and table settings.

The days were long and crazy busy, but honestly it was so much fun! There were times I think we could have fallen asleep while standing, but it was so worth it! I think my "wow" moment was when my friend Vina looked at me and said "Tam, this is magazine pretty" :) I knew at that moment I had acheived everything I wanted to with this event. :) I could not have pulled this weekend off without each of my ladies, I am eternally grateful for all their help. I am truly blessed to have all of them in my life. Love you Bons, Jen, Lisa, Vina, and Britt! Thank you so much! xo

These are some of our favorite pics. Super excited to share them all with you!

Love to all

Tam xo

Lavender wedding snap shots part 2...

Pickle Fest 2010....

I can confidently say that my mom makes THE best pickled beets ever! I've never tried pickling and Lisa and I were keen to learn so we asked if my mom would teach us. We went over to my parent's place and spent the next 12 hours.... yes... 12 hours pickling everything you could possibly imagine! So much work, but so much fun as well.

Did you know that the secret to crispy dill pickles is to soak them overnight and right up until you're ready to put them in the jar in basins of ice water? Seems reasonable, but we had no idea.. :) It was a really nice day spent passing down family traditions and recipes and with good friends. This is a photo of our finished product :)

Hope you all have a good night!

Tam xo

There was lego everywhere.....

We were so excited when Connor and his family asked us to come back for his birthday again this year. This is the 3rd party that we've done now for them and each time we seem to have more fun than the last. Connor had let us know back in January when we were there for his sister Sophie's birthday that he wanted a Lego party for his next party and sure enough 9 months later, he still wanted it!

It was so much fun! These little boys have so much energy, and we knew we'd have to keep them hopping, so we jam packed our 3 hours with all kinds of fun and high energy lego activities.

Not sure if any of you have seen this before, but I think it's quite possibly the most incredible invention ever! Lego Candy! that's right folks... you can build with it AND eat it! We had all kinds of goodies for them to create with. The candy stacks just like real lego and we had icing to use as glue to stick all the other goodies on with. So much fun!!

We had a lego relay race where you had to see which team could fill a bowl with the most lego, using no hands and carrying it under your chin. We had a contest to see who could build the tallest lego tower with only having the tower no more than 2 pieces of lego wide. There was lego bingo too! My most favorite activity though, was seeing who could pick up the most lego pieces during a set amount of time using only one of those sticky grabby hands from the toy store! Fairly entertaining ;)

Special thanks to Connor and his family for having us. The kids were really great and we had a fantastic time. Can't wait to see them all again at Sophie's next party!

Big Hugs,

Tam xo