A belated photo essay of the past month

Back in early September, I took Jesse to meet my great Uncle Murray. He's 92 and still lives on his own in this apartment! He kept telling Jesse how lucky he was to have me. "Is he a good guy, Kathy? Good!" So good. Uncle Murray is the only person who is allowed to call me Kathy.

Before we visited Uncle Murray, I had taken Jesse to my brother's home in Port Perry to meet him and his family. I must have been having too good a time, because somehow I forgot to take pictures there. Sorry Allen, Carolyn, Tevin, Brayden, Jaiven and Eden! Well, we had a good time talking with A&C, playing the kids' version of baseball, eating Carolyn's plethora of good food and baking, and hanging out with my cousin David and his wife Zena and their kids, James, Emily, and the soon-to-be born Alexander.

After visiting Uncle Murray in Toronto, we headed downtown to visit with other friends. We had sushi with Jason, coffee with Keturah, and had a lovely stay at Matthew and Laura's (shown above). They are some of the most hospitable and wonderful folks alive. If you don't know them, you should.

Besides visiting my brother, the main reason we went to Toronto was for Justin & Joanna's wedding. It was cute, honest, special and entirely them - a true inspiration for Jesse and I as we ourselves head toward holy matrimony.

In between J&J's luncheon and after party, Jesse and I took advantage of the walking-distance proximity to go suit shopping in Kensington Market. We even managed to find him a pair of vintage shoes at Bungalo. Jesse will be one handsome groom!

 Some other Toronto highlights included ice cream with Adrienne in Kensington, coffee with Megarrah and Matt, and bringing some Protestants to their first ever taste of a Sunday morning service at an Orthodox church. Three of my friends plus one of theirs joined Jesse and I at St. John's Orthodox Parish/Mission. That place is quaint and nice, but has the strangest looking paintings I have ever seen. Angels with six fingers! You really would have to see for yourself to understand. Anyway, we followed up the service with giant muffins and americanos from Dark Horse, then said goodbye to our friends and Toronto.

Last weekend we had an engagement party. This was an awesome mix of both Jesse's and my friends. Thanks a million to the Jeremy Scratch family who let us use their cool house to host this event.

See, a cool home! And cool people! And delicious food!

There was music...

And blurry people in the kitchen...

And some violent people in the dining room...

And some funny teenagers who took all of the blurry pictures...

and a blurry dog, Deacon, who decided the party sucked and ran away. Fortunately he was found later that night. Unfortunately he refuses to come to any more of our parties. Apparently they aren't good enough for him.

Clearly, we had a really great night, stoked to be engaged and celebrating with all our folks in Ottawa. Thanks for coming out!

One last photo: This is the church hall we hope to transform into vintage/eclectic/wedding/party awesomeness. Yesterday Jesse and I spent two hours here, brainstorming, setting things up, measuring and more. We hope talking early saves stress later.

Th-th-th-that's all folks. Hope you enjoyed my photo essay. Until next time, Peace. Love, Kat.