On Saturday, I attend the Governor General's Gala.  It's a formal, annual event held in Ottawa where they celebrate great Canadian performing artists.  The evening started with mingling amongst appetizers of sushi, mini quiche, bite size salads, small bbq'ed veggie skewers, rice balls on a stick and more.  The drinks were flowing and everyone was out in their best attire.

After about an hour, we were ushered into the large theatre where we watched different presentations, dances, speeches, the orchestra performed, etc. to celebrate each of the artists being recognized (I think there were seven of them).  There was an intermission and more recognitions, but the best part was the VIP After Party on the roof top.  Keep reading below for more...

The boys coorindated the rental of a limo for our evening to make it extra special, however, upon arrival, the A/C wasn't working.  It was one of the hottest days of the year and just standing around on the front stoop here, we were melting.  Can you imagine piling all these peole into an un-air-conditioned limo?!  Yikes.  In the end, we ended up driving ourselves there.  Sad faces.
Again with the Baguette-Me-Nots photo ops.
Once there, the food and drinks were flowing.  On the left is the dessert table which was served at the end of the night with huge cheese platers.  It was also my first time trying les macarons (they were ok).  On the right is a duck confit bite-size salad which I could not get enough of--I must have ate about five of them!
 The entire group, clearly having a great time--please note the drinks in hand.
 Nearing the end of the night as we can tell from the tie situation.
A panoramic view of the roof-top tent area.  Hard to see but there was a ton of food, drinks (they were strictly serving Belvedere vodka, if you wanted vodka #ohyoufancyhuh), a live band that included a celo, beautiful chandeliers, and just a great time overall.
And a fun shot of Eric Peterson and myself.  He is a Canadian actor on the television show Corner Gas and was being honoured that night.


See more (and different) pictures on Instagram under our make-shift hashtag #SkyboxGovernorsBall2013



(All photos taken with my iPhone 5 & a friend's Android).

So this totally happened tonight!  I have a friend (of a friend) with a motorcycle and we went for a ride tonight.  Amazing.  I have rode a motorcyle before, but I've never been on the back of a sport bike

What a thrill! 

We had a great time, took a long ride up in the Gatineaus, sat and watched the sunset and came back into town for some patio action. 

My summer was just made.


This summer, for the first time in my life, I have gone out almost every weekend, spent countless hours with my girlfriends, and experienced heart ache as well (it's not all roses, that's for sure).  

I never really went out a lot when I was younger; I was in a serious relationship, and happy (with no regrets), but as that has changed, and I'm single, it's like I'm making up for lost time.  It's nice to get dressed up and hit the town with my girl friends.  Dance.  Laugh.  Have some drinks.  (Make videos).  Enjoy the summer nights.

As I will be going out tonight, I compiled a post of most of the summer night outfits I've taken out on the town (which I typically post on Instagram and sometimes you see in my Weekend Recaps).  Some were for going out dancing, some were for simple girls dinners, nights in or dates.  Cheers!

I went out with some friends last night and we had a great time.  We just went to a local restaurant / pub and they had a live one-(wo)man band and the game playing as well.  Not typically my scene, but with the right company, any place can be fun!   I found this picture on my phone this morning from last night and have no idea what it is.  See?  Told you, good times!

A couple weekends ago my girl friend took me out to Mangia for an awesome birthday dinner.  I'd never heard of the place before, let alone been there, and it was a fabulous experience.  It wasn't too busy for a Saturday night, but the service, food and decor were awesome.  The place is decorated with deep red walls, a dark wood bar area, chic cream chairs and a couple buttery leather booths in cream.  The food is Italian and the atmosphere is chic, modern and casual fine dining.  We had one of the best seats in the house, right beside the window and had such a great evening.  Thanks CB.

{ deux castors }

I'm a few days late, but over the holidays, my BFF had a birthday and we celebrated in style.  She invited a slew of people out to dinner at a chic new-ish restaurant in town and we dined on tuna carpaccio, assorted olives, the best meatballs in town (stuffed with ricotta) and an amazing mousse-pudding like dessert that came in a jar topped with shaved almonds.  I think everyone had a great time, the food and company were certainly delicious and it was of course nice to celebrate such a special evening with such a special friend.  Happy (belated) birthday, Beavs.

 Old Navy oxford (last seen here), Do & Be studded dress (worn as a skirt), 
unknown tights, Aldo booties (last seen on my birthday) & Forever 21 cuff

We went out last night to a club in town where hubs' Best Man was DJ'ing.  I was able to get one lonely shot from the entire evening, and here it is.  Share-worthy, I thought.  The high-light of the night was probably hearing this song, which we'd never heard before (is that weird?) and hubs and I burst out laughing.  It was great.

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