A Summer Day

Summer in a small town can be quiet, there isn't festivals happening every weekend or outdoor concerts. The few annual events that we have are enjoyed and classed in the quintessential summer. In other words, summer isn't complete until we've gone to the rodeo or the parade, or sat in the car in our pajamas with blankets, out in a field watching the fire works at 11:00 at night. I made a little video trying to mark all of the little things that mark a classic summer day in our small town.

A Small Town Summer Day from Bronté Laurel on Vimeo.

Christies' Greenhouse

A little video of our greenhouse excursion this past May long weekend. 

It's so inspiring going to a greenhouse. You can't help but get excited about gardening, when you see all of those colourful palettes filled with beautiful new life.

                                   ...that is until you're a week behind your weeding and it all gets a little overwhelming...

I wouldn't know this from experience though. I'm very diligent...in the weeding...department...

Nevertheless, what a weird couple of weeks. Went to the city a couple of times and shopped till I dropped (yes, I did get that leather jacket from zara -- I know you were dying to know)! 

Also left my brother in the city, which was hard. It feels a little too empty here, and different.

The two week countdown is on now for my trip to England and France! WAHOO!!

The grass is green. The trees are budding out. The frogs are a little too loud in their midnight rendezvous. The geese are back. The farmers are in their fields. 

It's almost like everything is right in this world...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

Thanksgiving has come and gone. 

Christian and Blythe came up for the occasion, and we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the 2nd year in a row. 

Seventeen of us and a baby gathered at our house on Sunday.

The feast generally starts at 2 and we eat and complain about our bursting stomachs late into the evening until we begin to feel comfortable again and we bring it out for a second round -- the rational of this isn't very sound. 

It never seems to stop us.

Turkey and a full stomach, makes you groggy, but we always drag ourselves out for a walk in between dinner and dessert, when the kitchen and the dining room is somewhat orderly again. 

Mom and I were in charge of the dessert again this year -- lets just say we over estimated the ratio of desserts to people a little bit, so ziploc goodie bags full of their favourites was definitely encouraged!

It was a good time. 

Always a good time with family.

Class of 2013

This Saturday was my graduation...it was both very exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. I found out on Monday afternoon that I was Valedictorian, my first reaction was dread, then anger (because I was contacted so late) and then fear. I am not a lover of public speaking, thankfully I am pretty gifted in the way of writing so I knew I just had to write something short, witty and inspirational and read it verbatim when the time came! 

I started off my day with a bike ride to get rid of some nervous energy/destress. It seemed to help a lot because I was much calmer after that. My only feeling was okay-lets-get-this-over-with-already. 
Because I attended a catholic school, before our ceremony, we had mass. I had planned during rehearsal that I would read one of the readings to sort of warm up to my own speech. It worked out really good because it helped prepare me and I was therefore more confident when it did come to my speech.

My brother was my escort, and he supported me with sympathetic smiles and goofy facial expressions in the front row, while i waited for my turn with the rest of the graduating class (a whopping 19). 
I received two awards during the ceremony, The Governor General’s Academic Award, as well as a ring for receiving the highest mark in my Social Studies 30-1 class. I was very grateful and kind of embarrassed at the same time! 

Before my speech, a guest speaker chosen by the grads (a former teacher) began hers, it was quite long and she started to quote part of Ashton Kutcher’s Teen Choice Awards acceptance speech, I probably sat there all deer-in-the-headlights wide-eyed. By this time she had already gone on for quite a while and was quoting it word for word, and I was like, “oh no, oh no please do not say the quote that I used for my speech, please stop, oh good grief what am I going to do...” Thankfully she was going a slightly different angle with it and did not say the quote/punch line that I used.

I started off my speech kind of shaky I imagine...I still wasn’t extremely confident and especially after that scare. I ended up having to say “One of the most influential men of this century, Steve Jobs, said it perfectly -- as well as Ashton Kutcher -- *nervous laugh*”

Needless to say it was not as bad as I had anticipated it being, nor was it quite so scary. After the ceremony and saying goodbyes to my friends, we came home and had a little garden party with some extended family -- my Auntie Sheila, Ray, Jessica, Ward -- and his new born son Steele, Auntie Roxy and Uncle James, grandma and grandpa and of course our family. It was really nice, we had appetizers and then hamburgers for supper and a light no bake cheesecake for dessert in tea cups!

I was super exhausted after that stressful/exciting day and also really hungry because I was too nervous to eat too much beforehand, however it was a great day :) 
I took some pictures with my polaroid and my sister took some pictures with her camera, so here are some of my favourite shots of hers from the day...



P.S. I am writing this on my very own Mac book Air!! :D

A Birthday Cake

I saw this cake on Pinterest a while back and have always wanted to recreate it and I finally did on Mother's Day. It turned out amazingly and was such a light summery cake that when my mom's birthday came along we decided to make it again. I assembled the cake at my grandmas house on Mother's Day and forgot my camera and iPod so I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but this time I made sure to take get some good shots. I remember reading the recipe and getting the gyst of what was required for it and took it from there.
First you will need a really good/trusty sponge cake, the recipe I used was a double batch of the Lazy Daisy cake found in the Company's coming Cake recipe book. Poured into a 13" spring form pan and cut into three layers, I brushed each layer with a generous amount of simple syrup (equal parts sugar to water warmed up for a couple minutes in the microwave). I learned in my Sugar Baby recipe book by Gesine Bullock-Prado that bakeries brush simple syrup on all their cakes to help keep them moist! I would suggest letting that sit for a couple of hours (or overnight properly sealed up) so that it gets a chance to soak right through. The end result of the cake ends up being layers that consist of cake --fresh raspberry jam (for its tartness -- store bought black currant would be a good alternative) --whipped cream -- chopped pistachios -- blackberries (placed strategically around the edge so you can see them peeking through) -- and repeat for all three layers. For the top and around the edges I even sprinkled some purple rose petals on the one I made for Mother's Day.

I've also found that if you let the cake settle for a couple of hours before you cut it, it is much much easier -- this one was assembled before supper and eaten right after and it was quite the mess trying to get the pieces onto plates, the one we had for Mother's Day however was a breeze to cut but, it was sitting for awhile before we ate it.

This past week went by so fast I can't even believe it! I received my iPad mini on Monday which got me very excited to be able to be back on Instagram and twitter again - my iPod crapped out on me (it had gone through so much in the nearly 3 years I had it that it just had enough)! Anyways so that's one reason I kind of went MIA on the Internet the other is pure laziness I guess.
We have had quite the summer here, a mix of really warm muggy days and a generous amount of rain! I keep thinking I need to take a picture of the beautiful canola fields that surround our acreage before they are done flowering. They have been especially brilliant the past couple weeks it's been sunny with a few dark rain clouds so everything looks sort of gloomy but the sun shining on the fields makes the canola look as if it is glowing neon yellow -- quite the contrast to the dark grey sky! Perhaps that will be in my next post...
I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and let me know if you try out the cake!

P.S. The blackberry-pistachio cupcakes I featured on here a couple of weeks ago was the cupcake version inspired by this cake!

Beach Days

Better late than never I guess! These are some pics from the Canada Day long weekend. We spent Sunday and Monday lounging on the beach, and thank goodness we did because was it ever hot!

 

These two rascals came out of the bush on Sunday just as we were packing up to go back home and ofcourse that created quite the sensation with these youngsters! The deer at Shaw's Point are pretty tame until they don't want to be anymore so you should be pretty careful (as someone warned them after I snapped this shot).

Some of our extended family joined us on Canada Day and we got to enjoy some ice cream sandwiches that I made! They were pretty tasty!  I got the recipe from Martha Stewart and they were really easy to make actually. My favourite was the vanilla ice cream, coated with candied almonds, the one above is just mint chocolate chip.

What a busy couple weeks it has been! I just started my full-time job at the cooperators on the 2nd so a lot of my time and energy has been devoted to that. It was quite the shock information wise!! I came home my first day with a splitting headache and a dread to go back to work, because how was I possibly supposed to remember all of that! Well I'm just starting my second week and it has already gotten a lot better, I am still being "trained" but I am finding my way around.

From now on I'm counting down the days till the weekend...that will be my life :P On the plus side I'm making money and can look forward to a possible Europe trip in the spring(!?)

The end of the beginning...

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 

~ Winston Churchill

As of now I have one more exam left and then my High School career is officially over, it's definitely a bitter sweet moment. I have always loved school, learning, solving problems, writing etc. it's challenged me and I did my best to compete and reach my highest potential. I'm going to miss that I think -- the pressure and incentives that pushed me to reach new levels. In the real world you aren't necessarily measured on the same criteria as you are in school, you aren't "graded"per se. 

Right now, facing a gap year to work and perhaps travel, I know the thing I will miss most though is the social aspect of school. A typical day at school for me this semester was probably, 40% learning/working, 60% socializing/goofing around! Our teacher's are really cool, most of them anyway haha, I'd say about 30% of that goofing around was initiated by our teachers! It helped that our class was really small and chill, the teachers liked the break from the large and obnoxious freshman/sophomore classes!

I am uncertain about what will happen after this year is over. University has always been something I've wanted to do…I am also toying with the idea of Pastry school…a semester abroad…the possibilities are endless, and quite daunting I must say.

On another note the sun is finally out! We have had constant rain and overcast days for probably over 2 weeks -- it was starting to feel like winter on the west coast! The boys planted a vegetable garden a couple of weeks ago and Christian has been keeping it in pretty good condition so far! It will be interesting to see what comes out of it this summer. 

The past two weeks I've been baking on a more summery theme -- light and fresh -- it also looks like blackberries have played a role in executing that as well ;)

And this is a candid shot of Calder and Christian, messing around with my camera when I was in the grocery store! I think I just got the last laugh…haha

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week,

Bronté xo

It's a time of celebration...

The celebration of my brother's birthday that we had last week

The celebration of summer (I think we skipped spring)

The celebration of Cinço de Mayo

Last week was my brother's 22nd birthday! My mom made the cake and I iced the rosettes, we celebrated with our cousins, grandparents and aunt, meanwhile the wind was howling and snow was covering the recently uncovered brown grass!

Our cousin-in-law from England asked if I was surprised about the weather (because it was promising to be spring before this unfortunate event!), impulsively I said, "Yeah!" and then I thought for a second, "Actually, no…I'm not…haha" -- or we shouldn't be anyway, sad as it is. 

If you don't like the weather -- wait 5 minutes. 

And if that wasn't shocking enough a week later (Sun-Mon) we had +30 weather! You definitely don't get used to the strange weather in Alberta's fall/spring but you can't say that your ever surprised at the fluctuating temperatures. 

Sunday was Cinço de Mayo, did anyone celebrate? We always make a point to have some sort of Mexican food for the holiday every year. It's sort of a tradition I guess…

I am recently obsessed with the band Bastille! It's crazy how good his voice is and the style of the music is definitely right down my alley. These are my favourite songs Pompeii (this live version is awesome) and Flaws.

My dad showed me this commercial for Travel Alberta, it makes me feel proud of the country/province that I live in! It is seriously a beautiful place and if you ever wish to see more of North America, Alberta should be part of your itinerary!

Have a wonderful rest of the week

xo Bronté

To Grandmother's House we go...

“My idea of good company...is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.' 

'You are mistaken,' said he gently, 'that is not good company, that is the best.” ~ Jane Austen, Persuasion

I always have trouble trying to start off my blogs, in school it's been drilled into us to have good transitional phrases, a flow that will help the reader follow your line of thought. A hook is also essential, it grabs the reader's attention and if effective they'll keep on reading. This blog has really helped me develop my writing and kept me up to standard. I've finished my High School English and I miss creative writing, my favourite part of English was the short stories we read. You can read them in one sitting, they often have twist endings, cliff hangers. I guess I admire how one can convey so much in such a short piece of writing, how they grab the reader and suck them into a story so quickly. It's also one of my favourite things to write…maybe I will share one with you someday :)

Almost a week ago I stayed at my Great Grandma's house for two weeks while her daughter and husband (my Grandparents) were off gallivanting across the country side! They actually didn't go very far just to Fairmont Hot Springs with my Grandma's siblings and spouses. However my Great Grandma always asked, "I wonder where my little wanderer's are today" :) We spent our days, while I wasn't at school, reading, crocheting, baking and watching old movies like Anne of Green Gables and episodes of the Walton's.

Looking after my Great Grandma worked out perfectly, during exam week I could sleep in and walk to school when I was ready to study, I was able to bake little goodies for my Great Grandma and provide her company! We had a good deal of great times, times where we sat and I listened, where she would tell me stories of her youth, a sparkle in her eye. Times where we would eat pancakes for dinner for the third or fourth time, where we ate much too many brownies and rhubarb muffins. Needless to say, we had a good time :)

I'm home now and have 6 days off from school, yesterday I made some Macaron's and I've taken some pictures to share with you later on this week. I was so excited about them…but anyway I'll let you know how they went in my next post.

Well I am going to start some of the homework my teachers so willingly piled upon us before this long break. I hope you have a great day!

Bronté xo

P.S. If you follow this link you can see a photoshoot my mother and I did for her film project!

Sweet Madeleine

It feels like quite a long time ago since I've had a post up! I recieved a Madeleine pan for Christmas and so I made the Orange Madeleine recipe that they gave on the back of the packaging. I've never tried a Madeleine before so I wasn't sure what to expect, after reading some recipes online I found out I should have left the batter to sit overnight and then each cookie would be more fluffy and full/round (if that makes sense). My next attempt at making them will have to be a recipe I pinned awhile ago, which are Date Madeleine's with a sort of toffee sauce to dip them in. Now I could say that I made these sweet little Orange Madeleine's the other day but truth be told I made them during Christmas Break!  I also made these little oatmeal cakes for my Dad's Birthday on the 2nd with my mini bundt pan, I didn't get a good picture of them on the cake stand sprinkled with icing sugar because it was all ready dark by the time they were all done up, but I do have picture of them on my Instagram if you want to check that out.

Time just caught up with me I guess, January has been a fast month for me, we've been studying and reviewing in our classes, writing finals and Diploma's (provincial tests), so it's been pretty crazy I must say. Exam week officially starts today, which is quite ironic because out of the 6 tests I had to take I only have one left! Oh well, that just means a longer break for me before my next semester starts.

Saturday I packed up my things and moved to my Great Grandma's house for a couple weeks whilst my Grandparents are out. Up until this point I must say it was rather dreary and lonely. I had to get used to the sounds of her dog's and the general traffic sounds that you can here in town, so with some sleepless nights under my belt it was a pretty emotional day yesterday. I knew it wasn't that bad, but I wasn't sure if I could make it the two weeks. After a good night sleep last night and school to take up most of the day, I'm feeling a lot better now.

Last night the Edmonton Oilers played their first game, since the lockout, against Vancouver so I watched that. Tuesday night I'm going to go home for the evening and watch their first home game with my family, they usually make a big deal about the season starting just on an ordinary year but with the lockout lasting for about 130 days they've been anxious to get on the ice and we've been anxious to start watching them :) So that will give me something to look forward to.

I don't have to go to school in the mornings until Friday which is my last exam, then I'm off until next Thursday, when our semester starts (pretty random if you ask me). Anyways so I'll have some time to keep up with my blog. I took some frosty pictures the other day and I figure I haven't done a Pinterest Inspiration post lately so you now know what to expect in the next couple of days! I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week :)

Christmas Happenings

"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when it's mighty Founder was a child himself"   ~  Charles Dickens

Book page Table Runner made by my mom and I.

Monday night, for Christmas Eve, we held a Dinner for some of the family who had come early for Christmas Day. My mother made a wonderful Roast Beef dinner and then a Coconut Cake to follow. My cousin's wife, who is originally from England, brought a traditional English Christmas Cake to add as well. It was a really fun night, before the eating began a few of the bravest (or stupidest…who's ever judging!) went out for an hour or two and started a couple ski-doo's for a ride. As with many of our ski-dooing adventures, they spent most of their time trying to coax the oldest ones into starting. It's usually worth it but if I'm not mistaken it was at least 25 below, so if you had a full helmet you were fine, if you didn't…well you'd be lucky if you didn't get frostbite! 

Dinner proceeded and conversation's in the livingroom followed, when everyone headed out into the cold to go home, we opened our annual Christmas Eve present of pyjamas and got ready for bed!

1. Christmas Morning Aftermath 2. Seth enjoying his Christmas present and being able to stay inside :)

Christmas morning came and we were all up by 8:30-9:00 opening our stockings and then dad proceeded to play "Santa" and handed out presents one by one. This part usually takes quite a long time  as we take turns opening our gifts. By 10:30 we were all sitting down to a breakfast of orange buns, egg cups with hollandaise sauce and fruit! 

Noon was when we all filed out armed with stretchy pants and headed to Grandma's house to meet with family and have Christmas Dinner, scheduled for 3. The rest of the day we lay about feeling stuffed, eating whenever our stomach didn't quite hurt anymore, consequently setting it off again, playing board games, laughing and spending time with family.

I wanted to compile a collage of some of my favourite gifts I received for Christmas! Starting from the top left is a jar of M&M's from my Auntie who somehow got a picture of our faces on them! Then a book Calder got me, J.K. Rowling's recent adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, Jane-a-Day 5-Year Journal With 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, from Blythe. An antique mini Bundt pan from my parents, an Around The World 2013 desk calendar from Christian. Some assorted gel food colouring, for all of the many macaron's I will make ;) A Botanicals Labels & Stickers booklet also from Christian. Sense and Sensibility, from my parents, as well as the Madeleine Pan, Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado, and, the Golden Mint Humbugs and Peppermint Tea, found in my stocking. 

I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas and got to indulge in some holiday food that came with it as well as some special presents from your loved ones and got to act as a child again, if only for a couple of hours!

Let Earth Receive Her King

It's been a busy month full of tests, Christmas shopping/DIY-ing, and very little daylight! Thankfully from now on out the days are getting longer. School was out on Friday, we celebrated with Formal and a big Christmas Dinner for Junior/Senior High, followed by a dance. It was a good day, definitely started the Christmas holiday's off right :)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve already! We're hosting a dinner at our house for any family that's come early for Christmas Day. Some of our family are driving to town as we speak! I can't wait to see them, it's been quite awhile and long over due.

I hope each of you have a 'Merry Little Christmas' and enjoy not only the presents you receive, or the family that you love but the King who was born to die for you. 

"Let Earth receive her King: Let every Heart prepare Him room, and Heaven and Nature Sing..."

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Wide, sparkling fields snow vestured lie

Beneath a blue, unshadowed sky;

A glistening splendor crowns the woods

And bosky, whistling solitudes;

In hemlock glen and reedy mere

The tang of frost is sharp and clear;

Life hath a jollity and zest,

A poignancy made manifest;

Laughter and courage have their way

At noontide of a winter's day.

~ L.M. Montgomery ~

A couple of weeks ago we were able to fill our once empty living room with couches that our dad got from the city. It's one of our favourite rooms in the evening, where we can read and relax by the fireplace without getting distracted by whatever is being watched on t.v. 

Recently, however, in the evenings we've been enjoying watching episodes from the British television series, Call the Midwife, on iTunes.

It's funny how close you can tell it's getting to Christmas, everyone is posting pictures of Christmas tree hunting and decorating, Christmas music playlists are being made and the students at school are getting restless!

Our last day of school is on the 21st so we have quite a bit of time left before our Christmas Holidays. With diploma exams coming up in January (worth 50% of our overall mark) we're getting close to the wire, it hasn't hit yet though, no the pressure will start building once the Holidays are out of the way. 

For Christmas this year I think almost everyone from my dad's side of the family is going to be coming up. I can't help feeling this is going to be the last time we're all able to be together, so I'll be cherishing this Christmas for a long time. 

I've been working on some things for Christmas presents as well as getting my brother, Christian, who is in the city to pick up some things ;) if all goes well I'll be done and able to relax once we're out of school.

Yes I think all in all this Christmas will be one to remember...