Hey Twilight fans… I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. This is actually the first set I’ve visited on Eclipse so far… even though it’s been filming for a couple weeks. I’ve been SO busy with work and personal stuff that I haven’t had a chance yet to visit all the sets… so, perhaps this is the beginning of the end for me? Ahhh, that’s how it always is with Twilight sets… down the rabbit hole.

I got the chance to visit the set of the Graduation Scene in Eclipse today after work. I heard that Rob, Kristen, Ashley, Jackson, Peter and others were on set today filming the scene. Sadly I only got there for the tail end of it, so here are some of the photos I captured.

Here’s your first look at the cap and gowns they are using for the graduation scene! Very cool. Should make for some colourful scenes on film… very excited to see. They had dozens of extras on sets today… maybe around 50 people? Old people, young people, and tons of young actors dressed up as other graduating Forks High School kids. Here’s a look at what they are wearing. Very yellow! Must have been a lot of work for the costume designers.

And of course, sexy sexy Billy Burke all dressed up in costume as Charlie Swan. Here’s your first look at Billy! We haven’t set him yet on set so it’s pretty excited to see him all dressed up. Digging the blazer and the shoes… very Charlie Swan.

It’s no secret to my friends that I dig older men (Allan is quite a bit older than me)… and well, Billy Burke… yeah, he sure fits my taste in men Older, rugged, and sexy. Mmhmmm.

Here’s a mystery actor. Only the main principals get the “umbrella treatment”. Your guess is as good as mine. Judging by the shoes and the jeans it looks like a man, but I don’t think it is Billy. Who do you think it is?

The graduation scene was shot indoors in this school, filmed in the auditorium. After that, they moved to a park nearby where they proceed to shoot a different scene.

There are no vampires in this scene, only the Forks humans, Kristen, and Billy. Sadly no sightings of them for us. They had a number of extras on the field milling around, talking to each other… apparently they were congratulating each other after the ceremony.

Here’s where we enter the “bad reporting” zone, and I show you pictures of people who could be certain actors. Please note that I was only told who these people are, it’s quite hard to tell from the photos since they are blurry. Apologies, but hey, it’s better than nothing and I’m just getting back into Eclipse!

I am told this is Anna Kendrick (Jessica). This is not for certain.

I am told this is Ashley Greene (Alice). This is not for certain.

I am told this is Jackson Rathbone (Jasper). This is not for certain.

Hopefully I have better stuff soon. Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my other Twilight posts from New Moon filming, and follow me on Twitter.

Thanks for visiting You’ll see more soon.

There was a time, when being a nerd was not cool at all. These days, it seems like being a “nerd” or a “geek” is pretty socially acceptable. My whole life I’ve pretty much been a nerd of some sort, and while there were times when it made life hard… but mostly I am glad for it.

I think most people in the social media space, or bloggers, consider themselves to be nerds of some sort… I mean writing about yourself on the internet was pretty nerdy at one time! With Facebook, Twitter, etc… I think it is safe to say that it’s mainstream now.

There are many different kinds of nerds…

Computer Nerds: Programming geeks, internet geeks, forum geeks, hardware geeks etc…

Social Media Nerds: Bloggers, Facebook power users, Twits, Dating-site geeks, the social media nerds that join every social networking site…

Music Nerds: Piano geeks, musical geeks, musical theatre geeks, composers, DJs etc…

MacGyver Nerds: DIYers, LEGO geeks, Robotics geeks, A/V geeks, etc…

“Fandom” Nerds: Sports geeks, WoW guild members, Twi Hards, Star Wars geeks, Trekkies, etc…

Gaming Nerds: Board game geeks, Xbox, Playstation, PC… you name it…

Academic Nerds: Book nerds, Smart geeks, PhDers… etc…

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I think I’ve been a geek in just about every category there at some point in my life… I’m not really embarrassed of it anymore, but let’s face it… it used to be hard to be a nerd!

So, this blog post is for all the nerds out there! I want to explore some of my nerdy past, and I hope you share yours with me

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Let’s start backwards with those categories.

I’ve always been an Academic Nerd. When I was younger, I used to read a book a day. I spent most of my days in the school library. I was a Librarian’s Assistant at one point, haha. I still love reading even though I don’t have as much time for it anymore. I cared a lot about school. I studied a lot. I got straight As. I was made fun of in elementary school and high school like most nerds. I graduated from university with an Honours Business Administration degree from Ivey at Western. I generally preferred studying to partying.

I love Science World, the Planetarium, the Aquarium… anything science-y and geeky!

I played innertube waterpolo in university. Haha!

I’ve always been a Gaming Nerd. When I was little I used to play Pacman and Hangman on my old 486 computer. I played King’s Quest, Monkey Island, and all the old Sierra Adventure games. I played Math Blaster.

Eventually, I got an Xbox, and then an Xbox 360. I was part of an Xbox gaming clan for many years. Yes, I even went to Xbox gaming conventions. I pretty much played my Xbox 360 all through university, even when we’d have parties over at our place.

I love all kinds of games. Fighting games, shooters, music games, MMOs, RTS… you name it. The game I’m looking forward to most right now is Gears of War 3. I worked in the video game industry for several years.

I even got into shooting rifles because I loved gaming so much. No, not at animals or people. Just targets.

I love trivia games. I pretty much live for Cranium.

I dressed up as “Cortana” from Halo for Halloween.

I’m a bit of a “Fandom” Nerd too. I’m a big Twilight fan (a “Twi Hard”)… I set stalked, I blogged about it, I read Twilight sites every evening.

It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge Canucks fan since I was little.

I’m a bit of a Star Wars geek. I own Star Wars LEGO. I decorated our kitchen in university with Star Wars comic books.

Yes, I even visited the Star Wars store in Aberdeen, Washington. I think the store owner’s Carrie Fisher tattoo is pretty rad.

I thought getting a Star Wars 3D puzzle for Christmas was awesome.

I’m a bit of a MacGyver Nerd.  When I was little, my dad cut the telephone line to our modem in my room because I surfing the internet too much. I found his soldering iron in the garage and I soldered all the wires back together and got on the internet again.

I used to patch cables from my computer to an old TV and an old VCR to do old school video editing. Yes, I was even part of the Robotics club in high school. And yeah, I loved the LEGO Mindstorms kits and frequently built robots with my little brother.

Believe it or not, I was also kind of a Music Nerd. I played piano and went to piano theory classes. I got up to Grade 7 RCM in piano. I kinda hated it though. I was a big Musical Theatre geek too. I played dress up. I played silly roles for musicals in high school. I was a geek.

I consider myself to be a bit of a Social Media Nerd. I started a home grown blog (no Wordpress or anything like that back then) in 1998 when I was 14 and had my own photo blog for several years! I had a 6-digit ICQ number. I met my first boyfriend in a Yahoo! chat room when I was 12. That was kind of awkward. I still use IRC, and of course I’m on the mainstream social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr etc. I’m not as much of a power user anymore, but it’s still fun.

And last, but not least, I am definitely still a big Computer Nerd. My computer is still my most valued material possession in my life. Here’s a shot of the old computer I built when I was younger. I had a blast going and getting all the parts and putting it together myself. I still build my own computers (I need a picture of my new one!).

I buy shirts off ThinkGeek. Yeah, I have a “No, I will not fix your computer” shirt.

When I went to university, I actually hand-packed my hard drives for my carry-on so I could bring my desktop computer, instead of buying a computer on the East Coast or getting one of those new-fangled laptops

I thought visiting Microsoft was the coolest day of my life. Bill Gates is my hero.

I drove all the way to Portland to pick up a Zune when it launched! I love my Blackberry, and I own a ton of different gadgets and techie tools. I even owned a Palm LifeDrive at one point… haha. I’ve gone through 4 different sets of the Logitech diNovo Keyboard/Media Pad.

I usually have 25+ tabs open in my Firefox. I love video editing. I love PhotoShop. I used to design and build webpages and graphics for money. I used to FXP and I still FTP. I’ve been a member of several internet forums since I was 12 years old.

I’m a bit of a photography nerd too.

I met people from internet forums when I was only 14 years old. I still meet people from the internet and internet forums. Hopefully I get to meet all of you soon too!

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Phew! That post turned out longer than I meant it to. Guess I’m a bit geekier than I thought. I’m sure most of you reading this are pretty geeky yourselves. As you know, it can be hard, especially when growing up. But these days I think it’s easier to be a nerd and easier to be proud of it!

I’ve had my lunch stomped on, I’ve had people break my glasses, I’ve been called four-eyes, I’ve been called a bookworm, and I’ve definitely been made fun of for all my nerdy things throughout my life. I’m sure most of you can relate… it just makes us stronger! While I’ve had my share of self-esteem issues because of it… today, I feel very comfortable and strong in my own skin. I’m really thankful for all of those experiences growing up.

So let’s celebrate our nerdiness! Who else is a nerd? What kind of nerd are you? Please share your story!

Something I rarely get to do when I cook for Allan and I, is make a proper meal with courses. Usually we cook up something relatively quick for dinner, and even when we do make a nice lunch or dinner, we rarely make appetizers or dessert.

This weekend, I was determined to cook up a proper 3-course meal: appetizer, entree, and dessert. My plan is to post my recipes for these in the comments below when I get home tonight. For now, you can check out the pictures to get an idea of the process.

On the Menu:
1. Appetizer – Butternut Squash Velouté with Parmesan & Black Truffle crisp, topped with wild mushrooms
2. Entrée – Handmade Spinach-Striped Wild Mushroom Filled Ravioli, with a Filet Mignon topped with sundried tomatoes with red wine jus
3. Dessert – Fresh Lemon Mousse topped with home grown raspberries

We headed to Gourmet Warehouse (one of my favourite stores) and Granville Island and we were set to start cooking!

Up first, the soup. Halve the butternut squash, clean out the seeds and chop the flesh into cubes.

Sauté the squash in some butter and shallots. You’ll see in this picture the fancy new “Scanpan” saucepan that Allan bought us from Gourmet Warehouse! In LOVE with it! It’s titanium with a ceramic non-stick surface so it is non-toxic, unlike Teflon. It’s also very light and a pleasure to use, and made in Denmark.

Add hot vegetable stock and cover, let simmer. Add cream, seasoning, fresh herbs, and then transfer the squash to a blender. Blend, add more stock/cream as necessary for the right texture. Strain for smoothness (for a real velouté) or if you like texture, you can serve it as it is.

Sauté wild mushrooms with butter and parsley for the topping. Grate some black truffles for the Parmesan crisp.

Use real Parmigiano Reggiano for the crisp. Sprinkle onto the pan, top with black truffles, cook over high heat, and then flash under the broiler to brown.

DONE: Appetizer – Butternut Squash Velouté with Parmesan & Black Truffle crisp, topped with wild mushrooms

Next up, the entrées.

Start by making regular pasta from scratch. Use good Italian ‘00′ pasta flour and extra large eggs, and high quality olive oil. Knead until pliable.

Steam the spinach for the spinach pasta, and then transfer to a blender. Puree, add the eggs and flour, blend again… and then when thick, pour onto the counter and knead in flour until you have the right consistency. Use a pasta maker or rolling pin to make long thin sheets of pasta.

Use a good assortment of fresh wild mushrooms for the filling. I used local Chanterelles, Portobello, Shiitake, and Enoki mushrooms. Chop the mushrooms very finely. Also chop up some leek.

Fry up some pancetta for the topping. Sauté the filling in oil from the pancetta, butter, herbs, and seasoning and let all the water evaporate.

In the meantime, start making your red wine jus. Use good quality red wine, good quality balsamic vinegar, beef stock, shallots, garlic and a full sprig of rosemary. Add in stages and let reduce until dark and thick. Strain.

Start making your cream sauce from scratch. Use good Parmigiano Reggiano, lots of herbs and seasoning, butter, and a good thick cream. Stir in a good amount of fresh basil just before adding pasta to the saucepan.

Keep on making that pasta… use the pasta maker or a knife to make thin fettuccine-sized strands with the spinach pasta.

Lay on top of the plain pasta sheet to make stripes. Run it through the pasta maker to smooth down. Use a cookie cutter or pasta cutter to make the shape you want for the pasta. I used a round cookie-cutter here. Keep going until you’ve cut out all your pasta. Save the waste and roll it out so you can use it to make pasta again later. Spoon generous amounts of filling into the ravioli and dip your finger in water, run around the rim of the ravioli, and then press the two sheets together. Press firmly to seal the edges.

Boil up the pasta! I was very surprised how well our pasta turned out. It didn’t fall apart in the water at all! Very happy!

DONE: Entrée – Handmade Spinach-Striped Wild Mushroom Filled Ravioli

DONE: Entrée – Filet Mignon topped with sundried tomatoes on a bed of spinach with red wine jus (not pictured because I forgot it for the pic …)

Hopefully the day before you’ve made dessert Here’s how to do it.

Start shaving off some lemon rind (for flavour and colour). Make your lemon mousse from scratch… whipping cream, eggs, vanilla, fresh lemon juice, and lemon rind. Fold in homemade sweetened whipped cream.

Add good quality lemon curd.

Pour into serving bowls. Pipe some of the extra whipped cream onto the top.

DONE: Dessert – Fresh Lemon Mousse topped with a lemon slice and home grown raspberries

Hope you enjoyed the photos and the story! I’m hoping to post my recipes in the comments when I get home

Sunday was absolutely fabulous! Everyone had such a good time at the horse races. So, finally… here are the photos! This is a heavy photo post so please bear with me.

Here I am at the races with my fancy hat from Edie’s Hats!

I got some cheap fake pearls from the mall, but I thought they looked pretty vintage! I also had a dress from Le Chateau, shoes from BCBG, and scarf from Club Monaco.

For bright red lips, I got some Nars lip liner and lip gloss. I’ve never worn makeup that red before, and it took some getting used to!

Allan looked great. His outfit was an Etro dress shirt (Looooove Etro!), shoes by Paul Smith, and hat by Robert Hall. Check out my previous post on both our hats.

Allan and I… mostly I love this photo because you can see the netting pattern so clearly!

The Hasting Race Course was a LOT of fun. Gorgeous scenery and backdrop for the races… we had a sunny day with a slight breeze and great box seats. Couldn’t have asked for a better day at the races!

Here we are all sitting in our box seats!

The races were exciting. We saw about 8 races that day and each one was a race to the finish. Some of us ended up and some of us ended down… I won $15 on one race! But I ended up down $5 overall. One of our friends ended up with winnings of $65!

Alissa’s purse… soooo pretty!

Bonnie, Alissa, and Ranelle…

Chad, J, and Tom…

Max, Sarita and Mike…

Let’s just say there were lots of pitchers ordered.

I also got a chance to take some portraits of everyone. To see all the photos, check out my Flickr as I didn’t have enough room for them all here. Here’s Kim looking very pretty…

Allan looking dapper…

Sarita is glowing…

J looks cool…

Here I am trying to look demure but ultimately looking confused, haha.

The MASCOT race! Haha… so much fun. We bet amongst ourselves, and the most unlikely mascot won. It was pretty hilarious though. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

The ladies with the Mariachi band! I love this photo of the girls!

I stole this photo from Amy’s Facebook album… I really like the silhouettes and the perspective on this shot.

Group of the guys…

The entire group that went that day (less one girl who had to leave early). What a great group of friends to see the races with!

Would I go to the races again? DEFINITELY. I highly recommend it as a fun summer activity to do with friends. And besides, who can resist the urge to dress up?

As I mentioned in my previous post, Allan and I are heading to the horse races today (down at Hastings Racecourse) with a group of friends. We get all dressed up with big hats and fancy dresses (dress clothes for the men) and even rent box seats!

Allan and I decided to head down to Edie’s Hats on Granville Island after Googling for a hat shop in Vancouver to pick out some hats for the races. Please note that I wasn’t asked to write this blog post and it isn’t sponsored in any way.

It was our first time in the store… and we were blown away. How could so many hats be in one store? So many different kinds.

After trying out dozens of different hats, I finally saw the one I wanted… it was gorgeous. Except, it was $330. Ouch! Too expensive for me. So after talking to one of the salesgirls for a while, she helped me find a similar hat that was plain, and I was thinking that I would just add some of my own touches to it. I asked if they did any custom work on the spot, but Edie (the owner) was in the store and kindly told me that unfortunately because it is such a time-consuming process they are not able to do custom orders in such a short period of time. She then saw the stack of hats in my hand and offered to help me choose.

Let me tell you — Edie Orenstein knows hats. She has been designing haute couture hats for the past 20 years, and gives off the vibe of an incredibly motivated entrepreneur. Definitely an inspiration, as I want to own my own business one day too. Edie helped me pick out a hat, and then said she would help me by showing me where to pin the netting. Before I knew it, her hands were whizzing around my head and she was pinning netting and velvet bows everywhere. The salesgirls were standing around completely shocked… and Edie told me she never does this, but that she was inspired! I felt incredibly fortunate and grateful.

While Edie was designing my hat, she told me all sorts of stories about famous hat designers, and even hat etiquette!  She told me of a famous London hat designer back in the 30s  (unfortunately I can’t remember the name now), who was designing a hat for a London female aristocrat attending a ball. The designer created the hat out of all sorts of materials in about 30 minutes, and then when the aristocrat asked the price, she was sticker shocked. She said, “All that money for 30 minutes of your time and some basic materials?”… the designer said, “Well, you can have the materials for $5, or you can have it like this for $175.” (A lot of money at the time) When the aristocrat realized she would never be able to replicate the intricate pinning and design of the hat, she gladly paid the full amount.

I definitely realize where Edie was going with this story! I felt very lucky to have her help designing my hat. She offered to just do the pinning for a small fee if I was willing to do the sewing myself. I gladly accepted.

Here is Edie with the hat all pinned together. It took about 45 minutes in the store. I loved it! It was exactly what I was hoping for. She made sure to give me some tips on how to eat, kiss, and walk around with netting and a huge hat. So neat!

Allan didn’t walk away empty handed either… he purchased a beautiful Robert Hall genuine fur felt Porkpie hat with feathers…

… as well as a Peter Grimm plaid fedora.

Edie’s Hats is really a fun store to be in. I highly recommend it, whether you are buying a hat for the street or for a special occasion!

I looooved these feathers…

The whole store is a “shabby chic” or ecclectic-lovers dream! Loved the old lamps in there.

When I got home it took me about an hour and a half to sew it all together, but I am really happy with the finished product! I can’t wait to wear it today! Pictures from the horse races will be coming up soon, probably Monday!

Edie has a new project called Qortezan which is her new store in Yaletown. It is for both men and women and the tagline is “Live Royally”. I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet… but I would imagine from the pics on their website it must be really cool. Has anyone gone inside this store? If so! Please let me know. I am hoping to visit soon.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!