In the Words of Diana Krall

I live a charmed, charmed life.

We spent the weekend on a private island in the middle of a lake. And no - it wasn't Gilligan's Island... It's a wee island that's been in Lara's family since 1927. And it's quite, quite magical. You see, Mister Man and I leave for Newfoundland soon, where the wedding preparations will continue in super high gear, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to chill out before we're right in the thick of it all. So, on Saturday afternoon, we made our way to Horseshoe Bay and began a beautiful adventure that had us waking up on Sunday in paradise. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's roll back to Saturday - late afternoon. The ferry schedule changed and we had a bit of time to do away with in Horseshoe Bay. Off we went to Troll's for fish 'n chips!

And then we walked onto the ferry as foot passengers. Annie and Lara would be waiting for us on the other side.

It gave us an opportunity to catch up on our reading.

It was dark when we reached Nanaimo. Annie and Lara scooped us up and we drove to Shawnigan Lake where we parked and transferred to a teeny tiny boat that cut through the darkness and took us to our island home. Despite the darkness, we sat on the dock and had a late night cocktail hour.

The next day we awoke to discover that we were, indeed, in paradise. Here's the ramp leading up to the house and the cabin.

The house. Constructed in 1930.

I awoke to a band of orange sunshine streaming in to kiss my eyelids. And, might I mention that we slept on what might be one of the most comfortable beds in the world?

Mister Man was in the kitchen, rattlin' those pots and pans. He was making quiche.

Golly, I love that guy! After breakfast, we headed back down to the dock for some more relaxing.

And a bit of swimming.

(Though this is the saddest woman in the whole world because no one would swim with her at this point.)

And then suddenly, it was noon!! (or at least it was noon somewhere) and time to crack out the holiday beer. This is my favourite photo from the weekend. (Before you worry about this image, let me assure you that we did proceed with caution!)

Mister Man was TOTALLY in his happy place.

As was this bathing beauty.

There was even fishing!!!

And staring off into space.

And pure, unadulterated joy.

Well - there was joy until we started the First Annual Pride Weekend Island Paradise Spelling Bee. But THAT really is another story and whole blog post unto itself. I think you can imagine what happened when 3 brutally competitive women were pitted against one another using the list from the famous SCRIPPS Spelling Bee..... and I can assure you that it wasn't pretty. Funny perhaps - but pretty? Never.