And a baby shower for Kane, my niece, Chelsey and Steve's new baby): 

This is my other niece, Alex holding little Kane, she's a proud Auntie.

Cuddles from Gi-Gi ~ 

And this little baby managed a few cuddles too. 

I drove down to Calgary for a week in April to get my Bartending Certificate at Metropolitan School of Bartending with my friend Tricia. We had so much fun!

This is where we worked. All the bottles on the shelves are filled with dyed water to represent the various spirits we used to build drinks.

Below, our Instructor, Ian showing us a cool way to serve a hot drink.

Ian also recommended several cocktail bars for us to visit as part of our homework and being diligent students, Tricia and I visited several including The Derrick Gin Mill where the bartender likes to photobomb and did many cool flaring tricks. Tricia and I enjoyed critiquing the various bartenders and sampling their signature drinks. 

One night, I ventured to Major Tom, 40 floors up in a building downtown to "research" this cocktail, a peach old fashion (love the illustration!):

From this bartender, sitting at this bar: 

And staring out at this view:

What a stunning place! The poshest bar I've ever been too and currently no. 12 top restaurants in all of Canada.

On our last day of class, we wrote our exams and were tested on random drinks and our service -- we both got 100% 🎉 (must have been all that homework). Then Tricia and I drove to Canmore for lunch so I could soak in the beauty of the mountains before heading back to her place in Airdrie for a celebratory dinner and visit with her family.

Back home in May, I had to practice my skillz on May the 4th (be with you), by making these cocktails, called "The Child", a Star Wars reference to Grogu (aka baby Yoda) ~

And Mojitos (instead of mint juleps) for the Kentucky Derby ~

Chris even bought me a few new liquors as a graduation gift. Looks like Mickey does not share in my delight ~

But most of my time in May was spent outside in the yard getting it whipped into shape for summer. My front rock garden went from this: To this:

My Asparagus went from this: 

To this:

And now it's pretty much the size of a small shrub: 

I harvested a lot but left some because those frilly fronds will make dramatic fall foliage in my planters, just like last fall: 

Speaking of last fall, I planted some tulip bulbs in my yard to give it a punch of early spring colour:

I planted some in my Mom's yard too:

I think I'll add even more this fall to both our yards, they were bright and cheery! But so are all the other flowers: 

In June, Mickey and Daisy had their first "in pet" encounter, in which Daisy decided she wasn't too sure about Mickey and Mickey decided...

That Daisy's bed was payment for coming into his house:

It's become his preferred hangout, supplanting the beloved Amazon box that he's lounged in for the last 4 years!  

And of course, when he wants to be outside in his catio, it's essential that the bed comes too:

On the artistic front, Judy and I took a felting class one evening in early June where we could chose a bird to make. I picked the White-throated Sparrow which looks like this:

Here's my finished piece:

And Judy chose a Bohemian Waxwing, which looks like this:

And here's hers:

So what do you think? Should we stick to beading and painting? Haha!
I think so.

Here's a couple new projects we recently finished ~

Above, we call this squirrel Katie (long story) and I think we're going to frame her to hang on a wall - how delightful is that!? And below a new owl pendant necklace with a gorgeous citrine drop ~

Judy painted the squirrel and owl and collectively we designed them, with me doing the beadwork and making the glass cabochons. It's tricky and time consuming work, but we are liking the challenge!

Next up, we are going to see what comes from this zebra painting Judy made so  stay tuned!  

And in the meantime, peruse our new jewels and if you want to connect on social media, please follow me here on instagram. Thanks so much and have a relaxing summer! xo

Current view from my desk. 😍