WHOA lansi

francophile, oenophile, logophile, turophile

Tag: anniversary

Happy Third Anniversary

A reading her vowsThree years ago, I stood in front of our friends & family & told you,

I promise to support your dreams – all of your dreams. Be your advocate, your confidant, and your biggest cheerleader.  

I promise to always let you have the bigger piece of bacon (as long as I can have the last piece of sashimi).  

I promise to share my many passions in life – even the silly ones. I want to eat, travel, and love our way through this life.  

I promise to continue our Nashville North tradition and two-step with you for as long as you’re willing to teach me.  

I promise to love, honour, and cherish everything that we have built and will build together, in triumph, but especially in failure.  

As long as we both shall live.

We’ve made some incredible memories since then, & I can’t wait to make even more with you in California over the next month & half, & then, wherever life takes us. You’re the best travel partner I could ask for, the most loving daddy to our fur baby, & the most patient Instagram husband. Thank you for going along with all my crazy plans, being willing to try anything, & always being ready to overeat our way through a new city. You’re one in a million. ( & it still makes me laugh that we both unknowingly promised I’d get that last piece of sashimi. Still the best deal going. 😉 )

I love you, today, & everyday,

xx

a

“Si tu pouvais lire dans mon coeur, tu verrais la place où je t’ai mise !”- Flaubert

Anniversary in Kelowna

Culmina-4

I promised I’d finally get to posting this now that my blog is up & running on again here. In typical Alanna form, we’re only 8 months late to the party. It’s a little ridiculous, I know, but hey, it may just be perfect timing for that trip to Kelowna you’re planning this summer! We’ll go with that.

N & I had decided to stick closer to home this year after our big Europe trip last summer. We were buying a house & knew we shouldn’t spend a lot of money on travel, but still wanted to do something to celebrate our first year of marriage. My childhood friend was getting married a couple days before our anniversary so it worked out perfectly for us to spend some time in Kelowna afterwards too.

The fires in Washington were pretty bad at this point, so our drive was like this for most of the way. Normally you can see for miles when you’re out on the Coquihalla, so it was surreal to have such poor visibility.

Drive to Kelowna

We arrived safely in Kelowna in the late afternoon & checked into our hotel. We’d stayed at the  El Dorado on our wedding night, but it was such a quick stay that we didn’t get to fully appreciate this gorgeous boutique hotel. We ended up with a gorgeous suite this time around (Thank you Hotel El Dorado for the incredible upgrade!) complete with kitchen, living room, jacuzzi bathtub in the bedroom (what?!), & incredible view of the marina & Lake Okanagan.

El Dorado Room

Our gorgeous suite

El Marina

The marina at the El. The haze from the fires was pretty thick all weekend.

Dress pre anni

Dressed up for a pre-anniversary dinner

Marina View

N & I Kelowna

For our pre-anniversary dinner, we decided not to stray too far from the hotel & made a reservation at their lakeside restaurant. Even if you aren’t staying at the El, I highly recommend having dinner there. They have a beautiful patio on the lake, & the restaurant inside is equally stunning. I’ve eaten there four times now (twice for dinner, twice for brunch) & have been impressed each time. The service has always been fantastic & the food is top notch too. This time we shared salmon gravlax to start. For our mains, N went with beef & I had the lamb. Both were beautifully prepared & came in huge portions. It made me feel better about spending a little more on dinner since we took home some amazing leftovers. We also splurged on a bottle of wine from one of my favourites in the area, Quails’ Gate.

Pre anni El dinner

My handsome dinner date with the Salmon Gravlax

lamb

My lamb

steak

N’s beef

We weren’t quite ready to head to bed afterwards, so we headed out to the patio for a few more drinks. The smoke on the water gave the lakeside such an eerie feeling. I almost felt like were in London on a foggy fall day, but it was actually quite warm & pleasant outside.

El Patio Drinks

Eery lakeside view

El Rooftop View-2

Rooftop peak

El rooftop view

For our anniversary, I had booked a Wine Tour  through the El Dorado. They arranged everything for us so all we had to do was mention which wineries we were interested in & be ready to go outside the hotel that morning. Our tour was called the Daytripper & featured 6 wineries as well as lunch at Terrafina at Hester Creek. We had picked that one since we were not very familiar with the wineries near Osoyoos & figured it would be nice to have someone driving us around so we wouldn’t have to worry about tasting too much.

Waiting for our ride

Waiting for our ride

Our tour guide picked us up early in a large van (apparently they do Bachelorette parties too how fun!). We had one other person on the tour with us so it was pretty intimate & he tailored our stops to our specific interests. It was perfect!

Our first stop was LaStella, a small winery just up from Osoyoos Lake. We opted to sit outside on their patio despite the smokey weather. They brought us out a lovely assortment of wines & talked us through each one. I truly loved them all, & found the naming of their wines after musical notes charming. We couldn’t resist purchasing a bottle to start our collection – something we continued at every stop.  We went with the Pinot Grigio – Vivace – & I just noticed that we still have it. We’ll have to open that when N is home next, I think!

La Stella

Hard at work

La Stella

LaStella

Our next stop wasn’t far down the road. Maverick is another small batch winery. Earlier that summer, they had come dangerously close to a wild fire. Luckily, the local crews kept the blaze under control & saved their vines & winery. You could still see the scorched earth up the hill. I can’t believe how close it was. We chose to take home a Pinot Noir this time. We’ve since enjoyed that bottle & I’m quite sad we didn’t pick up a few extra bottles at every winery.
Maverick

By this time, we were almost ready for lunch so we headed over to Hester Creek. They seemed to be bigger than our first two stops, but we enjoyed the tasting & the wines just as much. We decided to add a rosé to our collection here, as our tour guide enthusiastically recommended it. He also insisted we do one of the premium tastings, which was covered in the cost of our tour.

Hester Creek

Terrafina-2

Our lunch stop was at Hester Creek’s restaurant, Terrafina. Their menu & decor is inspired by Tuscany. You’ll find lots of Italian food here & they are pretty well-known for their pizzas, so that’s what N & I went with. The lunch size is perfect to keep you going through however many more wine tastings you have planned.

Terrafina

Hester Creek-2

Hester Creek-3

A at Hester Creek

N at Hester Creek

Next up, our guide had arranged a very special tasting at Culmina. This was by far my favourite tasting of the day. It was so private & intimate, just the four of us with Elaine Triggs herself & a new member of their team. Learning the Triggs’ story (yes, those Triggs) & everything that went into making this winery a reality was the most wonderful experience. Elaine is a fantastic story teller & what they have created as a family blew my mind. We’ve been saving their wines for a special day & I absolutely can’t wait to enjoy them again with N. If you do one wine tasting in the interior,  make it a Reserve Tasting at Culmina & sit down with these wonderful people.  You won’t regret it.

We purchased two bottles from Culmina because we thought they were both so unique. The saignée (their rosé) is one of the coolest bottles I’ve ever seen, with a glass stopper instead of a cork.

Culmina

Culmina-2

Culmina-3

Grape Vines Osoyoos-2

Grape Vines Osoyoos

The building is absolutely gorgeous too!
Culmina Building

Culmina Building-2

As a syrah lover, I was especially excited for our fifth stop: Burrowing Owl. They have some beautiful ones here! The views from this winery were said to be stunning & the food is supposed to be great. We may have to make a return trip when the area isn’t covered in a smokey blanket. This winery is also home to endangered owls, hence the name Burrowing Owl. This is another bottle that I can’t wait to open. We’ve definitely been rationing our stores – it’s hard to find so many of these anywhere but the actual wineries, so I have a hard time opening them.

Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl-2

The last stop on our tour was LaStella’s French sister – Le Vieux Pin. I had specifically asked to visit this winery before the tour. No only do they have the best Syrah’s in the area, but we also considered it for our wedding the year before. I had seen some spectacular photos of events on the grounds, but wanted to see it in person, & taste their wine.

Their goal is to pay homage to the wines & winemaking traditions of France, & I certainly think they deliver on this. They have three different Syrahs to choose from & we tried, & enjoyed, all three. We purchased a bottle of the Cuvée Violette, which we plan to age for a few years before drinking.
Le Vieux Pin

Vieux Pin Syrah

Six wineries later, it was time to head back to Kelowna. We were pretty tired after a long day, & I was unfortunately not feeling my best. (Great timing eh! Sick on our anniversary hurray!) We napped a bit on the way back & then got ready for dinner. I’d booked us a table at Summerhill to celebrate. We sat on the patio & reminisced about our wedding night. Once again, the food impressed me a lot. I had an amazing steak, complete with bone marrow on the side. N went with the duck. Once again, he thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great end to a fantastic day.

Summerhill Anniversary-2

Summerhill Anniversary

Summerhill Steak

The next day we were headed out to Vernon to see my grandma. We slept in & then stopped for lunch at Salted Brick in downtown Kelowna. They make their own charcuterie, so I opted for the ploughman’s lunch. N went with an amazing pulled pork sandwich. We sat outside on their front patio & people-watched as we ate, asking ourselves how it was that we still hadn’t started our own charcuterie shop (as we’ve so often discussed).

Salted Brick

We couldn’t go to Kelowna without stopping at my favourite pastry shop, Sandrine. They were responsible for our wedding deserts & make the most incredible macarons. If you ever happen to be there, I’d definitely suggest stopping in. The rest of their stuff is pretty great too, but I’m definitely partial to the macarons. Sandrine also happens to be from Lyon, so she’s the real deal when it comes to French pastries. 😉

Sandrine Macarons

I also really enjoyed their sign explaining the difference between a macaron & a macaroon, the former being far, FAR superior to the latter, of course.

Sandrine

So that’s what we got up for our anniversary in Kelowna. I love exploring the area & the wineries around it. I hope to get to do a lot more of it too – there’s still so much I’d love to see!

One Year

Wedding-Web-652

I can hardly believe we are already celebrating our first wedding anniversary. I’m always impressed by how much a year can alter things while simultaneously changing nothing at all. That is certainly how I feel about this past year: so much is different, but so much has remained unchanged. The most important constant though? I’m just as happy to be married to N as I was the moment the photo above was taken.

We’ve aptly chosen celebrate this first anniversary in Kelowna, the location of both our engagement & our wedding. Today we’ve treated ourselves to a day of wine tours. We’re taking advantage of everything this beautiful region has to offer, from amazing scenery to incredible local food & wine. I cannot imagine a better way to spend the day together.

I’ve also been meaning to share this video of our ceremony for a long time & today seems like the perfect day to finally do so. We didn’t hire anyone to do the videography for our wedding, however, we are very lucky to have some great people in our lives who made this possible. Thank you to our good friend, Kyle, for letting us use his camera & to Zevi & Nai for manning it during the ceremony. Thank you also to my amazing friend, Julia, for turning the raw footage into something beautiful. (Turn up the volume at the 2:30 mark to hear our vows – we didn’t have microphones.)

Finally, thank you to all our friends & family for making our Wedding Day absolutely perfect  & truly memorable. We are so lucky to have you in our lives.

Happy Anniversary, N. I love you.  xx

June in Instagram

I have been seriously neglecting this blog lately. I’ve taken so many photos and planned so many posts, but it just hasn’t come together for me when it comes to actually sitting and blogging. I’m even a few days behind on my Instagram recap here! 
Calgary was recently hit with some major flooding. It was unbelievable. I never thought it was possible for so much of the city to end up underwater. Luckily, we live up a huge hill (as do most of our friends) so we were virtually unaffected. Instead we volunteered our time to the families who were and I’m so proud of our city for coming together in such awesome ways. 
I have some flood pictures so let’s move on to the recap. I’m sure we’ll be talking about the Alberta Flood for a long time, but there were so many other great things that happened in June so I’m going to focus on those for now. 

1. We kicked off the month by climbing Ha Ling Peak. It was great start to the hiking season and I really hope it continues. There are so many great hikes in the area and sometimes there’s really nothing better than standing on top of mountain.
2. Fiasco Gelato opened a pop-up in the Bridgeland Market near our place. They gave out free scoops, so of course we had to check it out.
3. N and I celebrated 4 years together this month. We had a fantastic dinner at Cucina. I can’t say enough good things about this restaurant or about this amazing guy I’m with. Happy Anniversary!
4. Stumptown Coffee has opened up at Luke’s Drug Mart. It’s a stone’s throw from our house so it’s quickly becoming a Saturday ritual to stop in for some coffee and a treat.
5. The burpee challenge went on throughout June. I don’t love burpees. No one loves burpees. I hope I at least inspired some people to move a little bit more.
6. The flood. The photos are unreal, the damage is heartbreaking, the way the city came together is so inspiring. #CalgaryStrong.
7. I’ve been hanging out at Mission Fitness once a week, doing CrossFit. We did rope climbs last week and I loved it. (Obviously!)
8. Flood party with my Liver. She’s pretty freaking awesome. We played an #calgaryflooddrinkinggame cuz we’re…terrible people.
9. We spent the long weekend out at the lake with my parents. Lots of sun, boating, and wake boarding. I can’t get enough of it and am definitely disappointed to be back.

Alright, summer. Let’s do this. I’m more than ready for July, Stampede, my birthday, and all the awesome that comes with my favourite month!

Happy Anniversary!

The first summer we were dating. Bowview Pool Kegger.

Today marks four years of dating for N and I. It is also the first time we’ll be in the same province on June 14th since our first date. Somehow we’ve always managed to be apart for our anniversary.

After dating all summer and before I moved to Montreal
Visiting me in Montreal

The first year, I was living in Montreal and N in Calgary. He had just left for a Euro Trip with a bunch of his friends. I think we celebrated during one of his trips to Montreal earlier in the spring. 

My second year in Montreal

Quebec City for Carnaval

The second year we were dating I was still in Montreal. Since we weren’t together, we both didn’t even think of it until the following day when I was sitting on the patio at the Starbucks where I worked and one of the girls asked me how long we’d been dating. Suddenly, I realized it had been two years and a day. Whoops! I texted him to make fun of him even though I was equally guilty of forgetting. 

Supporting me at my first half marathon in Montreal
Skiing
Last year, we thought we’d be together and were pretty excited. Then N was sent to the Richmond office for work for a month and we missed it. We celebrated once he was back at the end of June. 
Nashville North. Aka our favourite. 
Stampede Week. Double fisting like champs. 
Hiking on my Birthday
H & Z’s Wedding
So this year, our fourth year together, we plan on grabbing some drinks after work and then heading over to Cucina for dinner. I’m really excited to spend the evening with N at a restaurant I love. He’s never been so I can’t wait to see if he loves it as much as I do. 
Happy Anniversary, N! I can’t wait to celebrate with you tonight. I hope you enjoyed the little photo recap of our relationship. xx
Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon
Christmas Ski Trip
Hockey 
Our house

trois ans

Three years later. Still laughing my head off when I’m around this guy. 

Happy Anniversary, Babe! Next year we’ll be together for it! xx

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