Special Anniversary Edition
Happy Anniversary to Markie & Steve!
This week’s blog is especially sweet! In honour of Markie & Steve’s wedding anniversary, we have shifted our focus to a more personal note. Steve took some time to do a short Q&A of our favourite requested questions about Markie! So, grab a Kleenex because a few of these answers might just bring on the happy tears (and definitely a couple laughs).
Favourite memory together?
Well I certainly do look forward to the many more memories we will share together as a couple I do have a particular experience I would like to share with you. It was early October 2019, I was working for Moosehead Breweries at the time and I won a sales incentive within the company for a weekend getaway up north in Port Severn at a resort that we transformed into the Moosehead Lodge. The weekend was the ultimate getaway for 20 lucky participants who won the experience from a contest we were running in our 24 packs at the time.
The weekend included a BBQ grilling class outside on the resort with famed Gastro Chef Matt Basile, an axe demonstration from a two-time Canadian champion and world championship silver medalist Stirling Hart. But by far the most memorable moment of that weekend was our first night where we were treated to an intimate performance on the water by the Canadian cover band known as Dwayne Gretzky. They performed for us a 2-hour set where afterwards they joined us around the fire and continued to play requests well we roasted marshmallow’s and enjoyed each other’s company.
Best recipe Markie makes?
When Markie isn’t working on a kitchen design more then often you can find her in our kitchen cooking or baking to bring the family together around the table. I don’t have one singular recipe that is my favourite but there are a few that stick out in my head, I will keep it focused on a recipe that we really enjoy in the spring and fall called Spring Chicken Pot Pie by Jamie Oliver. It’s basically a deconstructed chicken pot pie recipe that includes lots of garlic (Yum), chicken, lemon, potatoes and is topped with filo pastry to replace your traditional pie pastry. Follow the link to the recipe and give it a try, let me know in the comments if you like it as much as we do.
What is it like to be married to an entrepreneur?
Being married to an entrepreneur comes with a lot of highs and a lot of lows which unfortunately from the outside you don’t really see. It’s important to be there and support my wife through all of it and provide a solid foundation so she can continue to reach for her goals.
I often play devil’s advocate to provide a view that differentiates from hers and I do this because it allows her to take a step back and really understand the different outcomes that may arise from her decision. Now in saying that it’s important to allow her to make the decision she feels is best for her and the company even if I may disagree with them. Life often can be your best teacher and we tend to learn some of our biggest lessons from failure.
For Markie she doesn’t have the comfort of a past playbook to rely upon or even another co-worker or manager to help guide her into making the right decision, it all falls on her shoulder’s and that takes courage. Markie’s drive, work ethic and thoughtfulness continues to inspire me every day to be the best person I can be even when the road gets tough and I may not know the answer.
Who is more likely to survive on a deserted island?
Oh, this one’s easy and it would be me without doubt hahah. If you have been fortunate to work with Markie through a renovation you will quickly understand that she is by far the most organized person you have ever met, you can rest easy that she will manage every step of that process to completion. Me on the other hand, I hate planning and go with the flow with all that life throws my way and enjoy my time the most when I’m living in the moment.
For starters, if we were stranded on a deserted island there would be no planned accommodations which just wouldn’t fly with Markie. Not to mention, if this was a tropical island she would be afraid to get in the ocean if there were a lot of fish in the water as I still have some work to do to convince her to go snorkeling with me. Combine that with her fair skin, she wouldn’t last a day without sunscreen lotion. Although, her strength would shine through with preparing the best meals out of the ingredients presented on the island where I would have to resort to eating fish and only fish that I caught that day or having to resort to bugs and other island creature’s.
One song that reminds you of Markie?
Markie and I are both a lover of music and our interests stretch across many different genre’s, we may like certain genre’s more then the other but we both continue to draw our inspiration from the same artist pool. For today I will share the song September performed by the legendary disco band Earth, Wind & Fire. If you are familiar with the song it starts “Do you remember, the 21st day of September…”. For those of you who may or may not know our wedding anniversary is on September 21st, and this is a pro marriage tip being provided, if you can somehow sync up your wedding date with a popular song lyric you will never forget your wedding anniversary. Hahaha I’m just joking but it does have me reflect on our wonderful wedding day every time I hear it.