Dear Faithful Bombshell Diary Readers. Please accept my humble apologies but my monthly diary appears to have become a bi-monthly look at my occasionally interesting, sometimes fabulous life! Summer has begun in earnest, however, I want to share some of the adventures I have had during the months of May & June. Both months were filled with family celebrations & exciting new work adventures.

May 1 ~ Happy Birthday Caitlin

17 years ago today a beautiful, spunky (& occasionally trying) being came into the world! (Boy does this sound like my March entry or what?) But hang in there! I am talking about my daughter Caitlin. Caitlin truly is a May Day baby! Originally this referred to the Celtic celebration of Beltaine (a pagan festival) and more recently to labour solidarity celebrations. Caitlin, a Taurus, is firmly rooted in earthly delights and has a true sense of justice and fair play! I think her birth date is appropo. She is also drawn to the Wiccan religion which is pagan in its roots. I left off in the last diary with Caitlin's full-blown Hawaiian theme bbq with friends. Well the celebration continued with her family birthday dinner on her actual birthday. Her boyfriend - Jeremy - joined Nanny, Nicholas, Joe & me in wishing her many happy returns. Caitlin is a vegetarian, which can sometimes be a challenge in a meat-eating household, but in honour of her birthday we had a pasta with a rose sauce, crusty bread & a salad. The birthday cake was a continuation of her never-ending cake from her birthday bbq! Hawaiian theme! Happy birthday Caitiedoo! Mummy & Daddy love you!

May 4 - Wingfield Returns

Joe and I went to the Royal Alexandra Theatre to see the play Wingfield Returns, a one-man show. It was quite entertaining, however, lacking sleep due to work, birthday parties etc. I could not stay awake for the second act and therefore left! Horrors! Not that it was a bad play, just not action-packed enough to keep me stimulated. Oh well, win some you lose some. Mirvish Productions

May 6 - The Backyard Reno Begins!

Many of you will recall our kitchen & dining room renovations of last summer. Well this spring & summer we decided (well mainly Joe) that the backyard was in need of some updating. We added another dog to the family in February and have found that our neverending battle to grow grass in the backyard had become a real losing proposition with the addition of Onyx. Our little miniature schnauzer Buster was one thing, but the addition of a female giant schnoodle has meant that our dream of a grassy backyard had to be revised. But what to do! We love the outdoors and love lots of greenery, however, the constant seeding, sodding, fertilizing etc. was demoralizing. On to Plan B.... no not paving the whole thing and calling it quits, but a compromise. The ever-resourceful Joe had brought home a load of free paving stones late last fall. We decided to create a curvy addition to our lower patio area and still keep a little bit of grass (yes we're stubborn!). I have included before & after pictures so you can see what we did. We are quite pleased with the results as we have additional seating space and a lovely area around our chiminea. (More backyard renos later on in my diary!)

May 13 - Pole Dancing Party!

Well, you may recall I attended a pole dancing party earlier in they year. I had such a blast that Suzanne & I decided that we had to have another party and invite more of our friends. We planned on holding the party at Suzanne's house, but it turned out that her ceilings were not high enough. They need to be at least 8' high. Hers were an inch short. So.... last minute change of plans and we were pole dancing in my kitchen. It is always amazing to me who has an inner pole dancer just waiting to come out. It is never who you think it is going to be. Anyway, lots of fun & laughs had by all.

May 14 - Happy Mother's Day!

My darling children presented me with beautiful cards, flowers and a cake for Mother's Day! Maybe it was worth the hours of labour having the little imps! Ha!

May 19-21 - Backyard Reno's continue

As I mentioned earlier in the diary Joe decided to overhaul the backyard. The first phase was the additional patio stones and the second was building a deck over top of our existing brick patio. Joe insisted that this was a safety issue as there was quite a step down from both our patio doors to the old brick deck. The new deck is almost level with the doors and in fact we have gained extra space. Joe & Caitlin worked together on this project and re-faced the old fence. Voila! Brand new upper patio area!

May 27 - Vann's Wedding Shower

My niece Vann is getting married on June 24th therefore my mother & I decided to host a wedding shower at my mother's back patio in Kincardine. It was an opportunity to invite family and friends to celebrate Vann & Bob's upcoming nuptials. Vann's mother (my sister Chris) passed away five years ago so preparations for Vann's wedding shower & wedding were bitter-sweet as we all felt the loss of Chris. Her friends shared some memories and I created a "Memory Book" for Vann of her mother that included pictures & stories about Chris' life. Enough of the melancholy! I also created a slide show that featured who else - Vann, called a "Bride is Born". Lots of fun dredging up old photos and of course the slide show co-starred Bob - the groom-to-be! I think much fun was had by all as we had shower attendees playing traditional bridal shower games (i.e. drop the dime in the bottle, memory game & wedding word scramble). Now we just had to get ready for the wedding day itself!

May 30 to June 1 - Winnipeg bound

My client CAIC decided that it would be a good idea for me to attend the CCINC (www.communityinvestment.ca) AGM as we had just become new members and spread the word about CAIC. It was my first time actually staying in Winnipeg (I had only passed through previously) and I really enjoyed exploring 'The Exchange District' and had a fabulous dinner with other conference attendees. I co-presented a workshop 'Sharing Stories of Collaboration' with Cecilia Protz, (www.fcem.qc.ca) a CAIC borrower. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet Cecilia face-to-face as we had only spoken via telephone previously. We managed to overcome the language barriers (Cecilia is learning English & I have very limited French) and have a great time together!

June 8 - Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me

You either love Martin Short or hate him! Luckily for me it was the former. I took Suzanne with me (as Joe is of the latter category) and we had a hoot! I was afraid Suzanne & I were going to be asked to leave the theatre as we kept bursting out laughing at the most inane or should I say insane things. Truly warped man - that Martin Short. My kind of guy.

June 10 - Brenda Darling's Cottage

I joined the Fabettes (of those Famed Fabulous Four - now Five) for a weekend in the Muskokas. Brenda Darling's cottage has been in her family for ages and it was very charming. We all had a terrific gabfest and somehow found ourselves into Numerology. It turns out that we are all pretty amazing and powerful women (what else is new?) and are set to take over the world at any time.

June 22 - Nicholas' Graduation Ceremony

Well, we had our doubts at times that this day would ever come but Nicholas graduated from high school! Joe, Caitlin & I were were beaming with pride as Nicholas crossed the stage to receive his Diploma. Next up on the agenda - a year of working to save money for college! That's right my baby wants to go to college. He is hoping to attend Fanshawe College's Music Industry Arts program in the fall of 2007. Yippee!

June 24- Vann & Bob's Wedding

Well the big day finally arrived and a gorgeous one it was too! That was lucky as the wedding service was held outside on the site of the former Robson's Greenhouse in Kincardine, Ontario. Vann's dad Rick and his wife Donna Sue had outdone themselves getting the grounds ready for a picture-perfect day. Vann was absolutely radiant and I thought Bob was going to faint when he first laid eyes on her walking down the aisle. A truly special moment. The wedding reception was aptly EmCee'd by none other than moi! Auntie Val - Mistress of Ceremony. Enjoy the pics! (Vann & Bob Wedding Album )Best of luck to you - Vann & Bob. Love ya!