Author: ALONG WITH B.

“Will you marry me?”

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So I would not be in this incredible stage of my life without that one pivotal night of September 28, 2013. But wait for it, because it’s truly legen…

After Sean and I`s first date, I knew that I wanted to spend my life married to this man, my best friend. Luckily he was on the same page as I was. As crazy as it sounds, 3 months into the relationship we were both talking about how we wanted to get married, own a house have a family and grow old together.

When August 2013 rolled around, I started getting antsy to be honest. So when I went down to Toronto to visit my family for Labor Day weekend without Sean, I had a sneaky suspicion that he was going to find my ring. So since I had gotten home from the long weekend away, I made sure that my nails were always well manicured and painted (*hint hint). After that, every time he would take me out, I would be holding my breath, hoping that that night would be “the night”. So when 25th of September came around, and Sean wanted to take me to Juliette & Chocolat on an inconspicuous Wednesday night, I was nervous but ultimately I was soooooo ready! To my shock, Sean and my parents set up a plan to surprise me with a new car… not quite what I expected but nevertheless still an awesome surprise. After that night, I stopped expecting the proposal and just went back to simply enjoying our date nights.

So when that Saturday night came along and we had gone to a fundraiser at some bar, I was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt… I definitely was NOT expecting anything for once. So when I was peeling off my dingy black nail polish and Sean asked me if I wanted to go to Mount Royal because it was such a nice night (which it was), I still wasn’t suspicious to anything. I figured he wouldn’t ask me to marry him looking like this. So off we went, a little drive up to the mountain. When he parked, he went to grab his jacket in the trunk… and still I was clueless. So we walk up and there must have been a field trip or something because there were SO MANY PEOPLE at the lookout!! It was only when I wrapped my arms around him and tried to get into a comfortable stance with my arms around his hips that I noticed his resistance in me doing so. A light bulb finally lit up in my brain that “HOLY CRAP… THIS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE IT”, followed by “CRAP…crap I am so not dressed for this.” So when he told me it was starting to get chilly and that we should go home, I’m not going to lie… I was disappointed!

On the drive back home, I was hiding my feelings, so it was only when he took an unexpected turn towards the same park that went ended up on our first date that I looked at him and was instantly overwhelmed by happiness. At that point, I knew! So when he parked the car and started his speech, I started to cry. He came around to open the door for me and barely had the chance to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him when I picked him up and started shouting “YES!“. I was so over the moon happy and it was the most incredible moment of my life to this day!

And that my friends, is the start of our story as Mr. and Mrs and to me, it is truly… dary, legendary!

The Road to Daigneault

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So let’s set the mood… Sean and I had already been engaged for about 4 months and we thought it would be a fun weekend activity to start going to look at some houses. We knew that getting married would hopefully lead to us having a place to live in of our own. Me being VERY superstitious and paranoid, I was pushing for a new house because me and my imagination could not shake the whole “potential ghosts haunting the home” factor, but in all seriousness I would have been very happy living anywhere with my husband-to-be!

It all started as innocent fun, we were going to houses that we both definitely knew were out of our budget… drifting off into dreamland you would say, but as time went on, we both realized that this was a project and an adventure we both wanted to embark on.

One thing you have to know about me is that I have very traditional values. I never wanted to move in with a boyfriend/fiance before getting married, so to me… looking at houses was just a distant dream considering that originally we wanted to get married in August 2015, which at that point, was over a year and a half away. I also knew that on my wedding night, my dream was never to go to a hotel, but instead, sleep with my husband in our house for the first time, sleep in a house that we together had already made a home without even having slept there yet.

So as the days passed, I knew that if I wanted to turn this dream into a reality, we had to get moving. Sean and I were discussing if buying a house was actually a possibility for us, talking about all the “fun stuff” such as: money, finances, budgets, etc. Once we came to an agreement, we started actively looking for our potential new home. Without much success, my dad told us to look at this one place, and having driven by the area, i’ll be honest, I was opposed to it (also the fact that I hate when my dad is right haha).

At this point, it’s the first week of February and Sean and I finally decided to give it a shot, considering we would have no back neighbors because of a future golf course, and we had a distant view of the water. We also weren’t being taken seriously or having much success anywhere else, so we decided to take a look. We go to the main house, where someone accompanies you to the model home, and when we walked in… Sean and I both knew, this felt like home! We got back in the car knowing this is what we wanted, so the whole ride back we were discussing if we were really ready for this (to be honest, no one is ever really ready). We went to visit a couple more times, once with my parents, once with his parents, and even Sean’s grandfather (who used to be a real-estate agent). After truly over-visiting the house, we asked ourselves “what are we waiting for?” and made a trip to the bank to start the necessary steps and paperwork to make this house a home.

… And by mid February 2014, Sean and I were officially home owners, and were about to start the selection process of choosing all the details that would make my dream of sleeping at my soon-to-be husband and I’s home on our wedding night… come true! 🙂

Easy Rosemary Roasted Tomato Chicken Thighs

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So like any Portuguese woman would tell you, this recipe is “very easy”… but this time it actually is. I make up all my recipes on the spot with whatever it is that inspires me! The first time I made this recipe was in the oven in a glass pyrex, and had been a bit more complex than this past time, and the flavor was the same even with my simplified method… even better!

First off, what you have to know is that I had made this at my Fiance and I’s house (very limited cooking appliances. You’ll come to understand why sooner or later). So all I had was an electric skillet..that’s it!

What you’ll need:

  • Kraft’s Sundried Tomato & Oregano dressing
  • Chicken thighs ( I used 6 thighs for the 2 of us)
  • Grape tomatoes
  • A whole head of garlic
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Directions:

  1. Spread about 2-3 Tbs of the dressing on the bottom of the skillet.
  2. Place the thighs in the skillet making sure to swirl it around in the dressing so that the bottoms are well coated.
  3. Smash (not chop or dice, just one quick hit with the ball of your hand) every clove that is in the head of garlic (so to release all the flavor from it) and evenly distribute it in the skillet.
  4. Next off, drop in the cherry tomatoes to your desired preferences ( I love tomatoes so I put in the whole container).
  5. Peel the rosemary leaves off of both sprigs and sprinkle it over everything.
  6. Lastly, cover all of the ingredients in the skillet with enough dressing so as to ensure all the chicken is covered.
  7. Cover the skillet, set the skillet to 450F and let it cook for about 20 mins while flipping the chicken in between to make sure both sides are getting a nice color on them.
  8. I then lowered the temperature to 250F for another 10-15 mins to make sure the chicken would be tender (but to be honest chicken thighs are the most foolproof to cook of the poultry family).

To serve, I put the thighs on a plate and spooned all the sauce, garlic and tomatoes on top.

And Voila! An easy recipe idea for hump-day! Also, if you do decide to try it; tag me on instagram @brbd10 & hashtag #beingbrittney.

Bonne Appetit