In The Blink Of An Eye...

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I'm lounging in bed listening to Ray LaMontagne's 'For the Summer' and it hits me just how quickly this Summer flew by! I know we say this every year, but this year it has literally gone by in a blink of an eye! 

The photo above was taken one early Summer evening at the country house and Charlie and I were both enjoying just lying in the freshly cut grass, taking in all that is country living (and he was also on high alert due to all the bunnies hopping around us). 

Charlie loves going to the lake just as much as I do. He spent an afternoon swimming in the waves and it was like my 10 year old was a puppy again. I practically had to drag him back to the truck...he didn't want to leave!

I seem to have spent a lot of time at the lake this Summer.... Port Elgin, Sauble Beach, Bayfield, Kincardine.....the shores of Lake Huron are one of the places I love to escape to whenever I can.

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A friend and her family and I spent a day at MacGregor Point Provincial Park. We hiked along the shore line, waded in the water and had a nice relaxing evening by the fire.... It was time to put our feet up after walking 20,000 steps that day. We also watched the sunset and was it ever spectacular!...I've written about this before, but you will be hard pressed to find a more beautiful sunset then those you can watch along the shore of Lake Huron!

We also had our second annual Gals Week at the cottage in Sauble Beach. It was a week of amazing weather, lots of sunshine, sand between our toes, frosty beverages, some shopping and again, enjoying all the beauty that the shore of Lake Huron has to offer. It was such a great week and I can't wait till next year!

It was also a Summer of 'get togethers'....whether it was a potluck brunch at a neighbour's house up the street (isn't that a scrumptious looking spread above?) or a night with gal pals with pizza and taste testing some local craft beer, it was so good to be able to get together with those that matter most!

It was also a Summer that included a lot of gardening! The gardens at the Country House were expanded and we made many stops at local garden centres, such as Wild Things near Clifford Ontario, to help fill the space around the house..There's something almost therapeutic about getting your hands dirty, putting the plants in the ground, watching them grow over the Summer and seeing how the garden changes as the Summer extends into Fall.

And of course, it wouldn't be Summer without nights out on my back deck. I didn't spend as much time out there as I would have liked to this summer, but when I did, it was so relaxing and it allows me to forget that I live in the middle of a city.

I hope you had an amazing summer too....and cheers to the sweater and boots season that lies ahead!

RR

Anchored to Friends...

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I came home to this invite and bracelet in my mail box late last Fall... little did I know the Gals Weekend at The Rock would be as much fun as it was! You get 12 girls under one roof for a weekend and there's bound to be tonnes of laughter, great food and drink, amazing company and new friendships made.

I really only knew our hostess and had met a few of the other girls once or twice at a house party or birthday, but I knew any friend of our hostess would be a pretty cool gal and sure enough, what a fantastic group of gals it was! We even had our own hashtag and motto for the weekend... #livelifeanchoredtofriends ... 

This was the view out of the front window of The Rock (aka my friend's family's Lake House in Port Elgin). I always love getting to the lake in the winter as you never know what wonders Mother Nature may have in store for you. Their home is absolutely gorgeous and if I should ever build my own home, I'm going to instill the assistance of my friend's Mom in the design of it as every detail of this home is perfection! 

We even had a mascot for the weekend....

Meet Randy!! I think I need a Randy for my house!

This was a 'no jeans allowed' weekend, therefore, we lounged in our Lulu's, ate, drank, played card games, ate and drank some more, got to know each other, laughed, watched movies and ate and drank some more. Absolute girly perfection!

This is just an example of the scrumptiously yummy food we had in abundance all weekend! Needless to say, at one point I felt I needed to burn a few calories and went for a walk down to the harbour and main beach.

Winter along Lake Huron is always stormy and snowy, but beautiful! This is the lake town I frequented most often growing up, so it felt almost surreal to be on that beach all by myself. I'm used to being there in the summer with it being super busy (see this post from this past summer) but it was really cool to look around and be the one and only person there.

On the Sunday before we left we decided to explore Lake Huron...Literally on top of Lake Huron. The gals scaled 'The Twin Peaks' and had shot putt competitions with the gorgeous ice orbs that had formed.

Here is our hostess with the mostest (below), Captain Carlie.... Talk about a wonderful, thoughtful woman with a heart of gold who I am very lucky to call my friend!  Not only is she uber thoughtful, but her attention to detail is second to none! She got each of us a memento to remember the weekend by and according to the temp tattoos she also got for us, it was "Party Time" allllll weekend long!!

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Here we all are....... This was right before we jumped into a game of Cards Against Humanity.... Talk about a great way to get to know the people you're with!

I can't thank Carlie (and her family) enough for allowing us to spend the weekend in their home-away-from-home. It was a weekend full of so many memory making moments and I hope to see these gals again soon!

LIVE LIFE ANCHORED TO FRIENDS!!!

RR