Spruce Meadows

My company sponsors one of the events at Spruce Meadows so we got free tickets. Katie, Will, Shannon and I and one of our friends from work headed out there on Wednesday night for a beautiful evening of show jumping. It was cool to do something different.

Shannon, Katie and Will

Apple Blossom

We held our 5th Annual Calgary Apple Blossom Festival last weekend. Check out the story and pictures on the Apple Blossom Website.

Game 4

Katie and I went to Game 4 of the Flames vs. Red Wings last night. What an awesome game! I got goosebumps when they were playing the opening thingy, done in the style of "300", the crowd (all wearing Flames shirts/jersey's) was going insane. It was so loud in there, I've never heard anything like it. I got a little weepy during the national anthem, for a number of reasons, and by the end of it, the crowd had completely drowned-out the singer. I hope they go on to the next round and I can get tickets again, it was one magical night!

Opening faceoff

Katie and Ed

Katie and I

Catching Up Again

I finally downloaded the pictures off my camera from the last few weeks. Here's what I've been up to:

The Quilt

Katie and Gillian working on the quilt

A few of the girls pitched in to knit a quilt for Ruby, Dino and Becky's baby. We knit a few squares each and then got together at Helen's to sew them all together. We wanted it to be very hand made and patchwork looking and I think we achieved that very well. With so many different people working on it, the results were cool. We hope that Ruby will think of her Aunties every time she curls up in it... when she's old enough to know that there is a world beyond eating, sleeping and crying.

Katie, Gillian, Tamara, me, Helen's mom, Helen, Helen's sister

The Gala

Dessert, complete with edible Pengrowth logo

Pengrowth had their Long Service Awards Gala on March 16th. Katie and I brought Tamara and Anne as our dates and had a ladies night out. The evening was hosted by comedian Jebb Fink, and featured an Irish band and Irish dancers. The free drinks were pretty good too! Tamara made friends with the president of Pengrowth, and by the end of the night was calling him "Jimbo." For a company function it was a really fun night.

Katie, Tamara and Jimbo

The Shower

Becky opening the quilt

I finally got to meet Ruby Petrakos when I attended Becky's baby shower on St. Patty's Day. She is oh so cute! She's got beautiful olive toned skin and perfect little features. And now she's got a boat-load of stuff to pamper her for the next couple of years (including a beautiful quilt!)


The Visit
I finally got to hold Ruby when I went over for a visit on my own. I got some quality Ruby-Kate bonding time in (although she was asleep for pretty much the entire time). It was a lovely visit.


The Picture Night

Tamara had to take some pictures for her photography class so her and I and Katie headed down Highway 22 in search for everything Alberta. Here are the results.

Casino Night

Last night was the Second Annual Casino Night in celebration of John's birthday. This year was even swankier than last year as John and Gillian have made huge renovations to the basement. The mood was set with lots of Vegas-themed music and movies. They had also set up poker, craps and blackjack tables. I eventually lost all my money but had a great time doing it.

Going over the rules of poker.

Paul, sipping wine.

Dino and I playing blackjack.

The Vegas staples, high-rolling oil tycoon, middle-America gambling addict.

Big-D (soon to be Big-Daddy!)

Chris, the "Don"

"Goul-et!" The birthday boy!

Brian, the winner of the Big Money.

Queen Annapolisa made another appearance and ended up being the third place winner.

Shenanigans

Our dear friends Anne and Katie both turned 25 the other day so Katie's mom threw a party. The wine was going down very easily so I got pretty tipsy really quick. We went to Molly Malone's after (which doesn't wreak of cigarettes anymore) and good times were had by all.

Classic D'Entremont

All the girls

Me, Chum, Paul and Katie at Molly's

Birthday shots

Initially the waitress was pissed of that we did this, but then she dropped and shattered them both, so we all had a good laugh!

Flames 4 Blackhawks 1

I went to the Flames game tonight with Katie. Her brother and one of his friends were also there. It was a good game, even though I was out getting nachos when they scored the first goal!

Chaos

I went to Banff on Saturday night to see K-Os with Cory and some of his friends. The concert was at Wild Bills, which seemed odd. We had dinner and drinks at Cory's place in Canmore before squishing into a cab and heading to Banff. We continued drinking when we got to the bar, with the end result of everyone being extremely hammered.

Although the venue wasn't the best, the concert was great. K-Os put on a good show, although he didn't play Crabbucket, which is a kick-ass song in my opinion.

I woke up this morning feeling really good, and wishing I had brought my ski gear with me. The story from everyone who had gone was that the hills are in really good shape. Oh well, I'll head out next weekend, or perhaps sometime this week. At least I can feel good about the fact that I practiced some restraint.

Film Fest

Katie, Tamara and I headed out this weekend to the Banff Mountain Film Festival. This is my fifth year in a row! After some kitty struggles on Saturday morning, we got a late start to the weekend, but we only missed a couple movies. After the films we checked-in to the Bow View Hotel picked up some wine and dinner and proceeded to get shitty. We went to the Rose and Crown and danced 'til we were sweaty to the funk and soul sounds of Urban Divide.

This morning I woke up with a touch of a hangover but got over it quickly. We caught all but the first and last of the Sunday movies, including the People's Choice Award winner "Asiemut." This was a fantastic film made by a young lovely couple who biked 8000 km across Asia. They were such captivating people and their love was so strong, it was so moving to see them succeed. I also really enjoyed the 12 minute film called "Ride of the Mergansers", which documented the challenging first 24 hours of a hooded merganser's life.

In all, the films didn't have the oomph of previous years, but they were all really great. I will be sure to be there again next year.

Holy Fuck!

I went to see the Cat Empire tonight and they managed to overtake Gogol Bordello as the best concert I have ever seen! They were absolutely bitchin'!

East Joins West

Yesterday I had the privilege to attend the wedding of my friend Sylvia (Alberta farm girl) and Daryl (Newfie). It was a lovely small wedding, although it was a full-on Catholic mass so I just followed everyone else's lead with the sitting, standing, praying, etc. Unfortunately the weather was kinda rotten, windy and freezing cold, but I think they got some sunshine for the pictures.

What I gained from the whole thing: love is not just a feeling of excitement or desire, or something that just feels right, it's a choice we make; also, I am done with going to weddings alone.

Sylvia and her parents coming down the isle

Sylvia being "given-away"

Doing the deed

The boy in the background cracks me up, he has a different look on his face in every picture. I think he was enjoying himself

Now you may kiss the bride

The new Mr. and Mrs. King

Rather than clinking glasses, they had fortune cookies. To get the new couple to kiss you had to get up and read a fortune, followed by "in bed." It was a really great idea.

How well do they know each other? If the answer was Sylvia they raised her shoe, and Daryl's shoe for him. It was an amusing little game. I believe the question here was "Who kissed who first?"

The first dance

Two-stepping with her dad

Sylvia's niece and shoes

"Save a horse, ride a cowboy"

I was unaware of the hand placement

And now a serious shot

It's not a wedding until someone wears a tie on his head

Sylvia talking to Pete on my phone