An Extended Hiatus

I've been a horribly negligent blogger.

Sadly, when I look past the last month I don't really have an explanation. My hiatus started out with a week of wedding preparations at my parents complete with wedding crafts and meetings with the photographer, caterer, cake baker, etc. To be honest, I don't really enjoy talking about the wedding. Don't get me wrong, I love the craft projects and occassionally the planning too. However, I always feel awkward talking about the wedding, particularly with those that aren't invited.

Ever since then I feel like I've been playing catch up on everything else in life and just when I feel like I'm getting a grip on reality some wedding task comes up. For example, over the Victoria Day weekend I did gardening and made 100 wedding invitations. I'm hoping that this weekend is more productive in terms of regular life stuff.

Hopefully I'll have some nice posts starting next week!

Wedding Planning Recap - What Easter Weekend?

Due to being busy, I haven't had the chance to post about wedding planning in awhile. I will definitely say that it feels like wedding planning is ramping up, whether I like it or not. Easter weekend was the perfect example of this.

Over the Easter weekend we had lots of wedding stuff planned. Saturday we registered at one of my favourite stores, picked up some cupcakes from the baker we are considering for our wedding cake (Panda is travelling for work when we have our tasting appointment) and a bridal shower for me hosted by my aunts on my mom's side. Sunday we met with the minister that will be performing our ceremony. Monday we had our engagement photos. Oh, yeah plus Easter dinner and about 12 hours of driving. Amazingly enough it didn't feel too rushed though.

The bridal shower definitely made me realize how lucky I am because everyone was so generous. Since it was my first bridal shower, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I was amazed at the turn out and the gifts that I received from everyone. I'm actually still trying to find a home for everything. I have realized that we don't have nearly enough upper cupboard space.

We definitely had a realization over the Easter weekend that a farm wedding is not the same as having a wedding at a standard venue. So, we are hiring a day of wedding co-ordinator to make both our lives and our parents lives a little, but hopefully a lot, easier on the day of the wedding. 

Up and coming are some wedding DIY projects and engagement photo proofs.

I'm hoping to having Wedding Wednesdays return this week! Well, as long as I'm not working overtime...sigh

One is the Loneliest Number

What can I say, today has been all about recovery. Yesterday I drove Panda to the airport since he has to work in California next week. It's nice that he has a work destination that allows to him visit his family, which is probably why he was so excited to get there around lunch time. However, it also meant that he wasn't thinking about what time he needed to leave Ontario. So, I was up at 3:30am on Friday and walking the dog at 4am in order to have Panda to the airport for his 6 something am flight. I also discovered that the parking garage at work doesn't open until 6am...sigh.

So, it is a little lonely around here. Thankfully I have Molson here with me, although Molson has been high maintenance since Panda left. I swear he knows to act up just for me.

I know I've been a bit negligent about posting, but work has been busy with the hearing and decision writing. Just when that ends it is wedding planning road trip time, so that will be exciting. However, I need to get organized in order to make the most of the time I have down there.

This weekend I'm hoping to get some wedding projects done and some photos taken for some renovation posts.

What have you been up to?

Juggling Life

Would you believe that I actually do have things to post about? Particularly involving the bathroom renovation and the master bedroom decor. I just need to get the batteries in my camera charged and then I can do some great update posts. I'm really happy with how both rooms have turned out, so I'm excited to get to those posts. I tell you though, work and the wedding are really cramping my style when it comes to home renovations and blogging.

On the work front, I'm finally out of hearing but in that twiddling of thumbs phase where I await instructions.

On the wedding front, I'm heading to Southwestern Ontario this weekend for Round 2 of bridesmaid dress shopping. Hopefully things will go well and dresses will be ordered shortly. I'm most excited about seeing everyone though. I'm not excited about the drive down though. After work I have a 7 hour drive ahead of me once I load the car. I'm just hoping traffic will be good and I won't run into any snags (better known as Toronto).  I hope to get serious about wedding planning this weekend and get a plan in order, I feel like I've been neglecting the wedding for so long.

Aside from wedding activities, it is looking like I'll be getting to hang out with my sister this weekend. We are signed up to go to a beer and cheese tasting which I'm really excited for. It sounds so delicious! Also, we are tossing around the idea of going to see The Hunger Games at some point. I think it'll be great since we read The Hunger Games together two years ago while travelling around Spain. It only seems fitting that we see the movie together.

I'm trying not to have expectations going into this movie. Here is hoping that I am pleasantly surprise. Do you blame me for being skeptical? How can they properly film a book that is based on kids killing other kids?

All in all, I'm hoping for a great weekend!

What are your weekend plans?

Wedding Wednesday: A Whirlwind Until Spring

Fortunately, I've gotten back to posting before an entire week elapsed. It's been pretty busy for me since I last posted.

This past weekend was Round 1 of Bridesmaid dress shopping. I headed to Toronto to spend the weekend with Bridesmaid L and Bridesmaid T to look for dresses. I loved spending time with them, but 10+ hours in my car by myself can be a little rough. Let's just say I listed to my new Adele cd a couple of times.

Heading into bridesmaid dress shopping, I though the Alfred Sung line and the colour Quarry were pretty much decided on. You know how it goes, life never quite turns out the way you plan. First, L & T seemed to like the Alfred Sung line. Second, the colour and fabric were not what I expected. Online when you search for grey dresses, the colours Dove and Quarry pop up. Online Dove looks like a silver and Quarry like a pewter. In person, Dove looks like a while silver and Quarry looks like regular silver. On top of the colour surprise, I learned that there are two fabrics that we can work with: Dupioni and Peau de Soie (amazing how it sounds so fancy, but translated it is Skin of Silk).  Dupioni comes in Quarry and Peau de Soie does not. The Dupioni fabric has a heavy appearance similar to drapery fabric, which just looks very wintery to me and likely will be uncomfortably hot for the girls as well. On the other hand, the Peau de Soie has a very summery and airy feel and look to it. So, what do we do since Peau de Soie doesn't come in Quarry?

As we were looking around we came across another grey colour that does come in peau de soie. Ebony, which I would have found had I searched for black dresses. Now, I thought Ebony meant black, but I guess it doesn't because this Ebony looks like pewter in person.

So, this is going to be the fabric and colour the girls will be in:

The styles of dresses are still yet to be decided although I think I know what L & T are leaning towards. Now it is just seeing what S & J are thinking 3 weeks from now.

Also on the wedding front, since my mom had been asking about registries I tried to get started. Thus far I've registered at Sears and Home Outfitters. The whole process is so much harder then I ever thought pretend shopping would be. However, I always operate with a healthy dose of reality and I just couldn't register for a $80 ironing board in good conscience. I've still got some work to do and want to talk with A about things before they really get underway and people start buying things.

I think another trip to Sears and Home Outfitters will definitely be in order. However, since they will be closing my 'home' Sears it makes registering more challenging because I can already see the stock within that store diminishing.

One day at a time and one task at a time. ...

March is Coming in like a Lion

So, hopefully this will mean an early spring?

Last night as the wind and snow wreaked havoc outside, I settled in to getting a few things accomplished last night. It is amazing how fast an evening can go when you are working away at things. While doing laundry and catching up on The Biggest Loser (PVRs are amazing), I worked away on props for the photobooth at the wedding. Using pictures like the one below for inspiration, I attempted to make my own props. However, you'll have to wait until Wedding Wednesday for more detail.

To relax later in the evening we watched Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt.

It's based on the story of Billy Beane who was the General Manager for the Oakland A's in the early 2000s. They've just lost  the season to the New York Yankees who have a salary budget of over $100 million while Oakland was working with less than $40 million. After being denied access to more money, Beane (Pitt's character) goes against anything everyone has ever done in planning a baseball team. He hires a man with an economics degree from Yale and plans a team based on statistics.

This movie far exceeded my expectations, but I don't know if a lot of this has to do with the fact that the movie had an economics twist to it. I highly recommend this movie. A and I discussed how little we know about baseball during the 2000s, believing that we generally lost interest after the strikes in the 1990s. I used to be a huge Toronto Blue Jays fan growing up and remember venturing into Toronto as a kid with my parents to go watch a game. Maybe I should give the game a second chance?

What movie have you watched recently?

Wedding Wednesday - Register Me this, Register Me That

This past week I was talking with my mom and she was asking what my availability is this spring because my parents' group of friends wants to throw me a bridal shower. Then, a couple of days after that conversation my mom asked me if I was coming home for Easter because my Aunt J wants to throw a joint bridal shower for my cousin's fiance and myself. After asking when Easter was and being told that Good Friday is April 6th, it dawned on me that maybe I should start thinking about a registry.

I would say that A is sort of anti-registry. Whereas, I view them as inspiration for people which may or may not turn into a shopping list for them, but they have the ability to choose. Sometimes I will buy straight from the registry and sometimes I will use it as a jumping off point. Either way, I feel that having one makes those giving gifts feel like they aren't guessing at what people like and those receiving gifts feel like people won't be wasting money on them. Sure, some gifts may not be perfectly the recipient but life isn't perfect either.

Thus far, I've only been doing research about what to put on a registry and where to register. To be honest, it's a bit of a challenge to register as someone in their 30s. I've already worked my way through most of my hand me down kitchen appliances, and purchased newer things. Although my grandma's 1970s toaster oven is still going strong, so clearly I have some items that might need an upgrade. At this point in my life there are so many other things that would be great to register for that relate to my home, for example a nice pre-hung door, a couple gallons of paint,  door knobs and about a million other home renovation items. Alas, that isn't the case.

So, back to my options. After seeing bridesmaid L get married and register at a lot of American stores, I can certainly see the lack of selection in Canada. I don't like the idea of having guests shop at a particular store. I'm the type that does research and shops around for the best price. So, I figure most other people are like that too, especially with the way that gas prices have been increasing. I'm aware that money may be tight for some people, so to register at The Bay bothers me when I know their prices are really marked up.

The regular Canadian options are:

These are the options that are the most accessible to Canadians. Although people in rural areas will need to travel to larger centres for The Bay and Home Outfitters most likely.

There are some new registry options on the scene that have been imported from the United States, they are:

Now, if I want to register at either Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn or Williams-Sonoma then I need to travel to Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto or Vancouver just to create the stupid registry. Montreal isn't even an option! Even though the ability to buy things online for guests would be a huge plus, I have to be able to get to the store to create the registry in the first place and not all my guests are going to want to purchase items online (if that is even an option for them).

In terms of Bed, Bath & Beyond, I haven't been particularly impressed with that store. It is really expensive and they occassionally send out coupons. Yes, I understand how that is how the United States generally works and people like coupons but Canada doesn't and it bothers me to knowingly submit that kind of pricing to friends and family.

It is looking like I'll be going with Sears and Home Outfitters as the main registries. Plus, I think I'd like to add some independent stores from back home.

Now, to figure out what to register for, what would be on your list?

Wedding Wednesday - Bridesmaids

Yes, I'm a day late publishing but I'm still getting into the swing of things.

Bridesmaids are one of those things that you can hear amazing things or you can hear horror stories about. For me, choosing my bridesmaids has been one of the easiest parts of the wedding process. Scheduling everyone to meet at once is a whole other issue.

Since we are getting married in August, I was told that bridesmaids dresses should be ordered by the end of March to give enough time for them to come in and alterations to be made. When I tried to organize everyone to get together sometime in March there were no common weekends that everyone was available. So, I'll be heading down to the GTA one weekend for two of the girls and down to my hometown for the other two. Hopefully it'll work out well.

It is looking like we've chosen the Alfred Sung line of bridesmaid dresses in Quarry.

Maid of Honour S's top choices are:

D500

D448

D447

Bridesmaid J's top choices are:

D500

D528

D504

Meanwhile Bridesmaid T likes D500 and Bridesmaid L likes some of the ones that have already been selected and just thinks pockets would be good.  Interestingly enough D528, D504, D500, D448 and D447 all have pockets, so L's request maybe easy to fulfill!

It is looking like the girls are mainly on the same page which is a good thing. I'm hoping people aren't selecting the exact same dress except for one of them. We will have to see how it goes!

Wedding countdown is on!