Summer Loving

I feel so horrendously out of touch, I haven't posted here in over a month and in that time I haven't even read any other blogs or checked my twitter and I've only given Facebook a glance in the past few days. I suppose, in a way, it's a good thing, I've been busy with family and friends, holidays and home, so I haven't felt too guilty about neglecting this blog for a little while as it's with good reason. But now I have a quiet few weeks ahead (and a list of potential posts as long as my arm!) so, dear readers, prepare yourselves for a blogging binge.
To kick off the post parade I'm going to transport you back to June 29th....

Bright and early, Arjan and I caught a train to Utrecht for a day of wedding prep-work with our friends, the betrothed Nikki and Pablo.
It was a hectic day to say the least, upon arrival we instantly went into productive mode and spent hour after hour sorting, baking, transporting, decorating, arranging, organizing and cooking, until we were all finally able to breathe a sigh of relief at about 12am.

The next morning it all kicked off again, the guys got showered and dressed and then were promptly exiled from the house so that the bride could be readied.
Like the happy couple, the wedding was a little non-traditional, and rather than getting their first glimpse of each other as Nikki walked down the aisle, they had a beautiful and touching moment outside of their canal-side home, whilst us girls watched on from above on the street and the photographer surreptitiously circled and snapped the whole thing.
We then made our way to the venue, a beautiful countryside barn in nearby Soest, as the couple went off to do photographs at a separate location.

The ceremony was very sweet, mostly comprising of touching and funny speeches from the best man, brother of the groom and friend of the bride. After the rings were exchanged and the bride was kissed (which earned a shout of "shall we leave the room for a bit" from a rogue uncle) it was party time!

There was cake, conversations, dinner, champagne, dancing to the most incredible and energetic band, and I crashed pretty hard by the end of the night.

As a wedding gift, Arjan and I offered to cater the evening do, making 4 different canapes for the 90 guests. We made mini courgette quiches, crostini with pea and mint mash, bruschetta with tomato and basil and the hit of the night, corn fritters with salsa (our friend Julia came to me at one point "Shonagh, these are amazing, I don't even like corn!"). Sadly, my camera batteries died shortly after the ceremony and I forgot to charge my spares, so I have no pictures of the food or the rest of the day.
Here's a few that I did get:

Literally translated this means "eat tasty" but it's just like saying "enjoy"

One dapper gentleman

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so glad to have been a part of it!

The next day, Pablo and Nikki left for their honeymoon in Spain and we got to house/kitty sit for them! We had a great time in Utrecht but I didn't crack out the camera at all. Most days we walked around handing CVs out as we're hoping to move there in the next month, I got an email back from a wine bar that is about to open and had an interview with the owners last week. I feel like it went really well and I'm so nervous to hear back, so keep your fingers crossed for me!