50 Random Acts for Warren

A co-worker of mine has started an anywhere event on Facebook in honor of her late husband. He passed away in the Spring and she wanted to do something to commemorate what would have been his fiftieth birthday. It started on December 31 as an invite to the friends to do fifty random acts of kindness before her husband's birthday comes around in May. She has left the invitation open and today, while typing this there are 445 people who have responded yes. That is 22,250 RAK's!!

I did a couple myself today but I didn't really keep track and am not sure if I should count the coffee gift cards as one together or each, I think I will do them together.
I bought 5 Tim Horton's gift cards and handed out to various people. Among them a very frazzled looking mother at Costco, a dad who had his daughter and foster daughter at Costco and a truck with a Chive sticker in the window (KCCO!!). I also collected carts in the Costco parking lot with a delightful elderly fellow. The carts were spilling out into the roadway after the snow and it would have caused havoc. I smiled at all the grumpy looking people I saw and even got a few sincere smiles back.

I don't know if I will post every RAK I do but I will do a weekly post on the project because today I was in a great mood and I know it was because I was because of this.

Join us and do something, a smile can change the mood of a whole day, shovel a bit more, take a minute and offer to help load someone's groceries or buy a cup of coffee. There are a ton of websites with ideas if you're stuck.
Here is another blog written by someone else doing this project 50 for Warren.

Danielle never set out to do this for attention or to become a movement but in 4 days there are (now) 449 people from around the world committed, a TV interview set up and she has been contacted The Weather Network. She wanted to honor something her husband was actively working on and has done so much more good than she ever though.
Here is a link to the event if you want to check it out or get Danielle's story: Warren's 50th.

July 6, 2013

My best friend got married this passed weekend, July 6, 2013. I don't have a lot of pictures since I didn't have my camera with me but I will post a link to the (super awesome) photographer. Please note that throughout this post I will refer to her family as if they are mine. That's just how it is.

I got there the morning before so Candice and I went to check her flowers and her florist does the best thing ever for the bridal bouquet. They had her stand in front of a full length mirror with her eyes closed and hands out.

LOOK AT THAT!! she almost jumped out of her skin, it was gorgeous. Inside each calla lily there was a jewel and there were little red skulls scattered all over it. Jordan's boutonniere was a single dark calla with black skulls running down the stem....it was freaking awesome.

The ceremony was at 3 but since there was a bride, five bridesmaids and two mothers we started at 7am. After 8 hours of primping, and a little hanging out, she looked like this.

 She looked so great that my emotions wouldn't come out at that point, mom, step-dad and grandma were a completely different story though. They don't look like it below but they had pulled themselves together a bit.

The most amazing and surprising part of the day was that we were on time, all of us piled into the limo at exactly the planned time. We're awesome.
The ceremony was just......oh gosh. We joked for months that Jordan's mom would be the one to fall apart first but it was all of us. The door was opened for Candice to come in, we looked at Jordan (tears) and our tears started streaming. Maybe 10% of the people in the room weren't crying, the emotion in the room was just beautiful and overwhelming. 
We went and did out pictures the energy in the limo was a bit crazy. We were all so happy, pumped I think "Thrift Shop" and "Blurred Lines" were the songs of the day.

Are they beautiful or what?

I am always flabbergasted at what lighting and creativity can do to a kind of bland looking space. I have seen pictures of a ton of black, white and red and while they are really well done and classy this was classy and rock & roll. The planner captured them perfectly. There were so many emotional speeches and we all cried.....again. I might be getting teary talking about it, I can't even control it so I won't get into it too much. I think the day smashed my emotion floodgate.
The food was incredible. There were these perogies that one of the other girls and I considered hiding under the table to nosh on all night. Candice said they didn't even taste any of it and just chose, she stuffed her face lol. There were temporary tattoos, beer cozies, floral arrangements in grandpa's boots (he passed away in 2007) and someone's shirt on the ground in the morning. I'm assuming that things got extra fun after I went to bed.
I know I didn't get into a ton of detail about what was said and stuff but trust me when I say it was a very emotionally charged day and I don't think my heart could handle it so soon afterwards.

I really just love those two. Jordan has done so much for Candice, she was so lost and unsure of who she wanted to be and I am so grateful for him.

Take a peek at some of the pictures here: ENV Photography (facebook) and envphotography.com is the website.

This is FaBLOOMosity who did the incredible flowers, including Candice's hairpiece: FaBLOOMosity (facebook).

This is the planner, Sophia was wonderful and kept our heads in the game on the day of: Awespiring (facebook) and awespiringweddings.com. Sophia is up for an award!!

Thanks!!

Admission

I have something to tell everyone.
I think that the little guy above there is super creepy.
Someone got really upset when I said it one day and lectured me about having Christmas spirit. I have plenty of Christmas spirit, I just don't want that starting down at me from some random corner all day! Even if I did put it there. I also don't think a little doll determines how Christmasy a person is.
My oldest wants one though so I have to find a compromise.
There you have it  Elf on a Shelf is one creepy little dude and I hope one never shows up at my house.

On another note, we are going to the Spirit of Christmas at Heritage Park this weekend! Heritage Park is a historical village in Calgary, where I grew up. Every year they dress up the park for Christmas, have carolers, Santa, hay rides, a big train display and a lot of other things. There is more information their page here. We went every year when I was a kid and we just loved it. Jason was called up to work so I hopefully all the girlies behave themselves.

Have a great weekend!
Alisha

Broken.....But With Cake

Oh Dawn. I know you've heard about her a lot but she is just my sanity savior when I can't get to my childhood friends. On Monday, November 26 my dear friend stepped on the sidewalk goofy and fractured her ankle.
This happened at my front gate.
She didn't say a word and drove home.
In her standard.
What a bum.

Since we haven't had a date night in a while it seems like the universe is calling for one. Our date nights consist of a movie and something fattening to eat.
This time I made Miss Joy's Araby Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze.

Araby Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze
(from the Joy the Baker cookbook)


2 cups AP flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
 1 tsp lemon zest
 3 eggs
 3/4 cup buttermilk

-Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.
-In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
-In a stand mixer, blend the butter, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and lemon zest. Beat 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat for about one minute after each egg.
-Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture on low speed. Then add half of the buttermilk, the remaining flour mixture, and the remaining buttermilk. Beat until combined, no more than one minute.
-Spoon batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes  or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
-Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

The Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 Tbs milk

-Wisk together all ingredients pour the glaze over that cooled bad boy