How's your summer been so far? We've been enjoying our yard, friends and the city's festivities.  On Canada Day, we had a wiener roast and a Canadiana quiz with Ice Wine, Maple Syrup and Cheezies for prices -

And then we headed off with some friends on their boat down the river to get up close to the fireworks. It was a gorgeous night.

Happy 150 years Canada!

A few days later, we celebrated Chris' birthday. I took him to Violino's, a delightful Italian restaurant in town (we went there last year for his birthday too). Chris had the chicken alfredo and I ordered the mussel and clam risotto. The food was rich and delicious, a perfect birthday lunch.

And since Chris is a big fan of root beer, I picked up a root beer making kit from Silk Road Spices. It was fun to make, but we both agreed that it was a bit too "authentic" ;). 

Mickey loved the tissue paper left over from Chris' treats so it was kind of like his birthday too. 

After lunch we FINALLY went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2. OMG, Baby Groot!

For dinner, we went to our local pub for Wing Wednesday and some of our friends and family joined us - 

Above, Chris with his Dad and sister. On the Friday, we had Chris' band over for a jam and they brought their wives for birthday burgers in the yard. Another stellar night.

My Aunt Pat from Florida & my Aunt Diana from Calgary came up on their annual visit to see us. I made more clotted cream & strawberry jam for the occasion and we spent lots of time in the yard catching up. Love these gals! 

My Aunt Pat brought up her groovy seed bead bracelets. She's a big fan of beads too, I guess it runs in the family. 

She also brought her dog, Toby and Mickey fell in love with him instantly. He was hugging and rubbing his face on him... actually it was a little awkward, but Toby tolerated it as much as he could -

And then another visit from my dear friend Tricia along with her husband, Mike and their wee baby, Sully up from Calgary. Tricia and I went to see Matchbox 20 at the new Roger's Place. We got a kick out of the super long escalator - 

The rest of the weekend we spent out in the yard enjoying Sully's sweet smiles and the warm weather - 

With a visit to Mom's so she could meet Sully (and smother him with kisses too) - 

Since then, we've squeezed in a few more outings (Taste of Edmonton, K-days parade and fireworks, Meatball Madness, an Escape Room date with friends...) and I've also been on a few country drives because with the rain we've had, everything is lush & scenic - 

Ah, summer.

I've basically taken July off, but hopefully this break will recharge the creative juices and when the days start to cool a bit, I can get back to work.

Oh, and if you managed to make it all the way through this post, I have a little offer. We had an advertisement in the Edmonton Horticultural Society Garden Tour brochure - 

I still have the discount running so if you use the code word FLOWERS at checkout, you will also receive 20% off all your jewelry purchases until the end of August.

Enjoy the cat... err I mean dog days of summer.