Life, Lately & A Giveaway Winner

I haven't done a "Life, Lately" post in a long time so I thought I'd let you guys know what I've been up to this summer which will explain the lack of blog posts lately ; ).

Left to right, clockwise, starting from the top left: D. and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary back in June and after we went to dinner to celebrate we went on a hike. It was during the summer solstice and it was still extremely light out at around 10 p.m. which is when D. took this photo of me.

- I went horseback riding with my friend Alanna (in the photo) at my brother and sister-in-law's place. It was so nice out that day! Gotta love those big, blue, Alberta summer skies!

- I have been eating this Mexican quinoa salad every single week lately! Recipe here.

- It was great catching up with my friends Janis and Caroline : ) How cute is Janis's bike?

- Received a fun package in the mail from Swimco!
- Bridal hair trial. My sister-in-law is very talented ; )
- Yummy eats at Noorish - that's a raw pizza and delicious quinoa salad.
- This is my BFF's little girl Violet who just turned one! Isn't she adorable?? Look at those cheeks!

- For my stagette my bridesmaids arranged a pole dancing lesson at Pole Junkies during the day, it was so much fun but really hard! You need a lot of upper-body strength. I was so sore the next day but it was worth it ; )
- Me with my beautiful bridesmaids Kristin and Jenessa that evening. "Burlesque" was the theme ; ). They threw a really fun stagette for me.
- For my bridal shower my Mom made these cute gluten-free cupcakes and arranged them so they looked like a wedding dress!
- And Kristin's mom made me a gluten-free and dairy-free cake which was delicious. I was eating desserts all night.

- This past weekend I hosted a "Meet the Blogger"/styling event at Le Chateau in West Edmonton Mall which was a lot of fun. Thank you to those of you who came out!
- Okay, I NEED those beige heels from Le Chateau!
- Lunch with my Mama at The Next Act. (I had the veggie burger, gluten-free bun.)
- The staff at Le Chateau who were wonderful to work with last weekend.

Speaking of Le Chateau, the winner of the $200.00 gift card is Eva Mitton-Urban. I will be contacting you shortly. Congratulations! And thank you to all of you who entered! 

*all photos via instagram. Follow me at @mariealamode if you feel so inclined ; )

xo