I'm Back

First of all I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

I was supposed to be blogging more over my holiday and somehow that failed horribly. Work has officially taken over my life, and even though I only have a week left of my break, I feel as though it hasn't even started. But that's another post for another day.

I haven't posted at all about Christmas, even though it is my absolute favourite time of the year. I have a few traditions that I love, and it was my every intention to space this post out over several holiday themed blogs, but yeah...that didn;t happen...so you get it all at once!

Probably the best Christmas tradition for me is cutting down our tree. We get a real tree every year, and for me it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. I love the whole experience. The whole family drives to the middle of nowhere, in freezing weather to find the perfect tree to cut down and bring home. Once we get it home and set it up and fills the whole house with a pine scent, that despite C's arguments cannot be duplicated by any over the counter spray can.

This is a picture from this years hunt (that is C's cute bum cutting down our tree). Not enough snow this year, we normally are knee deep in it, making it all the more fun!

Another favourite Christmas tradition would have to be baking. My mom, Sister, mom's best friend and I always do a baking swap. We get together the first or second week of December and bring a pre made treat, as well as a recipe for us to all bake together. It is a lot of work, and normally takes all day but it is always good fun. This year was especially fun because the bestest came over to help me make my pre made recipe.

We made sugar cookies with marshmellow creme in the middle. This recipe is good, but creates a gigantic mess, especially when two girls with limited cooking knowledge attempt it. Despite this it was well worth it, creating a lot of laughs and good memories.

The bestest is also a part of my next tradition. For the past three years we have taken our gift giving to a new level and made it easier. Instead of pouring over lists and stressing over what to give each other, we instead pick a night and go out together to a local mall. We have dinner, window shop, finish some of our other Christmas shopping and finish the evening by buying each other a new sweater (so far either Holister or Abercrombie). We always pay for the other ones sweater (it's not a gift if you buy your own!) but they are always equal value, and it provides us with time to catch up, as well as making the gift part of this season easier. Although the bestest is the bestest, she works and I go to school, so life occasionally gets out f hand and we don't spend as much time together as we would like to or as we probably should, so this is something I look forward to ever year, not just for the sweater (although it is an added bonus) but also to catch up with someone who is immensely important to my life.

I think this post has become long enough, but I will finish with one final Christmas favourite. I LOVE Christmas eve, probably more than Christmas day. I find Christmas becomes so hectic with the visiting, and traveling, cooking, cleaning, ect. that the day is essentially over before you even realize that it began. Christmas Eve on the other hand is more relaxed. I spend every year with C and his family, which is much smaller than mine. They have a smaller dinner, which is normally over by early evening, leaving C and I the rest of the night to be together.

Anyways thats enough for now. I can't promise I will post again before, so I will wish you all a Happy New Year now, just in case.

I would also love to hear some of your favourite traditions

Random Fact Friday #2

Busy, busy weekend ahead of me but I couldn't break my new theme on the second week.

So for my random friday fact, I'm going to stick with Fiance's theme of this week (for those of you that don't already know, fiance blogs here),

I refuse to eat frozen vegetables. I think they are gross. They have a different texture, and a completely different taste. C has tried every way imaginable (including making Sheppard's Pie earlier in the week, with frozen vegetables and claiming that I wouldn't even taste them.....yeah....I did....) to get me to eat them but I just can't.

Don't get me wrong, I like vegetables (ok....SOME vegetables...) but they need to be the canned stuff. Actually to make this Friday even more random, they have to specifically be Green Giant canned vegetables. And yes, I can tell the difference, and I challenge anyone (UHHUM C...) to test me :)

It's official....

.....I'm on Christmas break!!!!!

I did my last presentation today and needed to share this with all you lovely bloggers :)

I love Christmas, so expect more Christmas related posts to follow.

Best of 2009: Dec 5,6,7 and 8

December 5th: Night Out: Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the hightlight of the night?

Starting with an easy one! I would have to choose C and my joint birthday party at the end of August. We always throw a party together because our birthdays are so close together, but we normally do something small, including a BBQ, maybe bowling or just hanging out with good friends. This year, C really wanted to get a large group of people together and go to a local club, so that's what we did. We got all of our friends together and spent the night drinking, dancing and having fun. We booked a private table in a semi private area so we had a place to sit at all times to rest from the level of dancing that we were doing. I don't think I can narrow it down to one highlight. The entire night was awesome, spent with the people I love most and don't see that often.

December 6th: Workshop or Conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial. Where was it? What did you learn?

I don't go to workshops or conference, I go to classes, so we're going to pretend that that are workshops. My favourite "workshop" this year would probably be a lecture that my books and bookmaking prof gave. He was discussion the life of publishing now that we have certain tools such as ibooks and was making the claim that this kinds of internet online tools could harm the publishing industry. I found this lecture interesting as my favourite part of buying anew book os spending hours in a chapters searching through shelves and shelves of books, and almost always leaving spending way more money than I should have. This lecture made me think, as if all of the books begin to be sold on ibooks, and not in stores like chapters, my favourite part of reading will be taken away. What will that do for my love of books as a whole?

December 7th: Blog find of the year: The Gem of a Blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year?

I didn't start blogging until this year, so I guess you can say all of the wonderful blogs that I dutifully follow. In light of answering the question I will list a couple of my favourite blogs and why. My first would be Miss Mojito over at With this ring, I Thee Blog mainly because I am obsessed with all things wedding and she keeps all her followers constantly updated on her fast approaching day. My second would be Christine at Lost in Transition She is so creative and is constantly updating pictures and the processes of things she makes or does for her own house. I simply like living vicariously through her blog because I would NEVER be able to create the things she makes, but would rather try, fail, give up and go out and buy it. :)

December 8th: Moment of Peace: An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of you breath? The state of you mind? How did you get there?

hmm...This one is difficult. I rarely relax alone, and between school, work, and wedding planning, my time of solitude is getting less and less. I guess I would have to say when I'm looking for quiet, alone time I take a hot bath (preferably with bubbles) and curl up with a good book. When I get a chance to do this, I often lose track of time and find myself sitting in cold, bubbleless water.

Random Fact Friday

Two posts in two days! Its amazing what procrastination does to me!

Anyways I've decided to start this little Friday tradition. It's going to center around random facts about me, because there are a lot. It also will have nothing to do with the wedding (which I'm sure your all sick of) and will promote me to post at least once a week. It may also result in me embarrassing myself, and you all leaving me because you consider me a freak. But I guess I will take my chances!

So my random fact for today: I'm hopelessly afraid of Cotton Candy. No I'm not kidding. I literally run away from it. My friends make fun of me. And before you all ask, no I do not think it will harm me or anything along those lines.

It just doesn't look natural to me. It's fluffy, and colourful and it looks like a big gigantic cotton ball that has been used to take off pink or blue nail polish (yes I have thought about this often).

It just isn't right. And I don't care how good it is, I can't convince myself to eat it.

Best of 2009

So I just worked an 8 hour day and then came home and put in a good 5 hours of homework. I'm tired and deserve a break.


I saw this challenge on Ella's blog over at Here.There.Everywhere and thought it could be fun, so I'm going to try it! I'm also going to warn (like she did) that I can't promise to blog everyday (I'm a busy girl!) but I will answer all of the questions even if I need to join some of them into one post.

So here goes!

December 1st: Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?

C and I don't really go on MAJOR vacations, but rather go on several mini trips throughout the year to local areas around us. My favourite trip from this year would have to be the one we took to Toronto at the end of January. This was fairly easy to narrow down not only because C had an action planned weekend set up, which included a Raptors game, Jersey Boy tickets, shopping and skating at Nathan Philips Square, but also because it was the weekend her proposed. The fact alone makes it the best trip of 2009, hands down.

December 2nd: Restaurant Moment: Share the best restaurant experience that you've had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

hmmm....this one is tough. I eat out a lot, with many different people, it's hard to narrow down one specific restaurant outing. Being forced to do so I guess I would have to go with The Old Spaghetti Factory downtown. This restaurant is amazing and I look forward to it every time we go, which isn't often. I was actually sick this year and still managed to force food down just because I wouldn't forgive myself if I missed it! We typically go about once a year, around our birthday's (mine is the 28th of August and C's is the 31st) with C's family. This is something I anticipate as the date gets closer and closer. He has a smaller family than I do, so the meal is less chaotic, and it's nice to spend time with his parents and sister. And have I mentioned that the food is Amazing! I have been going here for a very long time (longer than I can remember actually) and the food still floors me. The Old Spaghetti Factory has not conformed with our generations fascination with "fast food" and instead takes there time ensuring that they provide a quality meal. I recommend the Lasagna (it's huge but it is SO good) and definitely get extra bread (it's free and you won't get better anywhere else!) I think I have adequately made my point!

December 3rd: Article: What is an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you delicious'd and reference throughout the year.

This is even more difficult! These people are making me think! I can't say I read a lot of articles. I prefer books. I do read articles for school, but half of them don't keep my attention for longer than a page. I guess I would go with an article that I read a couple of months ago in my local papers that was about some schools wanting to band "To Kill a Mockingbird from their curriculum due to it's content. This article did blow me away, but I wouldn't say it was a good thing. "To Kill A Mockingbird" is one of my favourite novels of all time (not just highschool) and I can't imagine the justification for banning it. The article also stands out because the author shed no light on the topic, did not offer his opinion and rather remained neutral about a topic that I believe demands much more attention. This is becoming a rather large issue in our culture specifically with books. I mean people wanted to ban Harry Potter because they believed it promoted witch craft?!? The article made me realize that if protests like this continue, some of the best literature of the past is going to become extinct. That isn't a thought I like.

ANNNDD Because its past Midnight, I'm going to get ahead of myself and do the next one

December 4th: What book - Fiction or Non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

Wow, this isn't an easy question. I'm going to begin with stating that I think all books touch us on some level, isn't that why we read them? I'm going to name several because I can't decide. For school first year we had to do a unit on the Holocaust, and in it read "The White Rose" by Inge Scholl, which covers the journey of Sophie and Hans Scholl, who were involved (and led) the White Rose Movement, a group that attempted to stand up to Hitler and his policy's and both of which met there ends fighting for the cause. The book is graphic, and describes in detail the methods of their deaths and the heartbreak of those that loved them. There is no reason to explain why a book like this is touching. Along the same lines, I also had to read for a Children Lit class, "The Devil's Arithmetic" which is based on the same subject matter, but aimed for a child audience. This book didn't touch me as much as disturb me. It was also graphic, and in fact gave a detailed description of some of the main characters walking into a gas chamber. This book bothered and upset me, I can't imagine reading it to my child. Finally, on a more pleasant note, I also felt quite touched by "The Time Traveler's Wife." It's obviously not a dramatic or serious as the first two, but I thought it was a beautiful yet heartbreaking love story mixed together, something that makes you laugh and cry, which I think all books should do.

Songs

So I have failed miserably at posting more often. I suck. I'm sorry.

In better news I am officially on Christmas break one week from today! Hopefully my blogging will get better when I'm not stuck in exam hell!

Anyways, A few weeks ago, Christine over at Lost in Transition (I really hoped that worked....it's the first time I tried it without C's help) posted a couple of weeks ago about her and her hubby's wedding song, which got me thinking.

I am finding it SO hard to narrow down any music for my wedding. C and I seem to change our song almost daily (ok so it's definitely more me...).

We do have an official "song" which is Shania Twain's "When You Kiss Me" but to be quite honest I don't even remember why it is our song. I really think we just picked it one day when we were in the car.

We also have a song that we danced to the first time, which is Trisha Yearwood's "How Do I Live," but of course I'm a picky bride who wants to be "original" and I think that song is way overdone (We actually danced to it for the first time AT a wedding!)

And then there are songs that I just like, and there are so many of them! For example Big and Rich "Lost in This Moment", "Paul Brandt "I Do", Savage Garden "Truly, Madly, Deeply", Elvis (Yes Elvis, we both grew up with a WIDE range of music) "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" and the list seriously continues (I could list several Backstreet Boy contenders....I mean come on they were my childhood!.....but I highly doubt C would agree, so I won't bother). How do you choose?!?

Seeing as I'm on the topic of wedding music, I also want one of those fun reception entrances where the Bridal Party (who I do fully intend to introduce to all of you wonderful bloggers one day) comes out to a different song (I also want them to dance and do something fun, maybe give them a 30 second window, but am not entirely sure that all of the BP will be on board....another post for another day!). But again, song choosing issues! I think that I should leave it up to the BP to pick their own song (with me obviously holding some level of vito power) C, on the other hand, thinks that we should pick the songs and just tell them what they are coming out too.

Decisions, Decisions.....

What was Your Wedding Song, and how did you choose? And what do you think about fun reception entrances?

Wifely Duties

It has been forever since I last blogged! I apologize, school is starting to catch up with me, bring on Christmas Break!

I have so many blogs running through my head right now, so I think I'm going to break them up, hopefully blog a little bit more!

I'm going to start with New Moon. I have seen it, but I'm not going to write an entire blog about it. From what I have seen recently, everyone has blogged about it, so you, like me, have already gotten major plot points, problems, excitement or any other major emotion that those that saw it have felt, I don't think you all need to read anymore. So I leave you with my opinion that the movie was amazing, so much better than the first one and definitely worth seeing.

Moving on.....The topic of this blog has been running through my head for about a week now, waiting for me to find the time to actually write it.

With my upcoming wedding getting closer (less than 1000 days now!) I have been thinking a lot about wifely tasks, specifically those I cannot do.

I can't cook. I'm not even going to try to skirt around the topic, I literally cannot cook. Dinner to me is typically KD, maybe I'll get ambitious and make myself eggs or grilled cheese. C is the cook, typically picking me up from school, take me back to his place and come up with something for us to eat. This is backwards, I SHOULD be able to cook.

Last week, C picked me up from school, and I figured the night would be as usual with him making dinner. It started this way, he got out all the stuff and turned on the over, I sat in my chair with my book and waited to be spoiled with whatever yummy thing he was making. AND THEN......he finds that something has gone bad in the fridge and immediately turns into OCD "C" determined to fully clean out the fridge and find the problem. He is cleaning and cleaning, and there I am, sitting nervously on my chair, looking at the evil oven which is slowly burning my dinner.

This is where I developed a small accomplishment, and actually took over! Now as a side note: I'm not implying here that I managed to created a gourmet, five star meal. I mean lets be honest, on this particular night we were eating sausage rolls, mozzarella sticks and rice (microwaveable) but that is not the point. The POINT is that I actually managed to take over dinner, finish it, and manage to serve food that was eatable, while not burning the apartment down. Point for me! Granted, I did SLIGHTLY burn the sausage rolls on one side, but I flipped them all over, only showing the pretty golden brown, perfectly cooked side, and hoped he wouldn't notice.

Anyways, the point of this blog is that I really think this is a problem. C is joining the RCMP, and I'm figuring he is not going to always be home to cook for me and I cannot raise our children on KD and the occasional grilled cheese, that's just not healthy. Sp here is my blogger promise, I am going to learn to cook!

And I'm asking for your help. Do you cook? Any recipe's (go easy people please, I'm a work in progress) that you'd like to share?

Some Random Thoughts

This is going to be one of those completely pointless posts, that tell you nothing, and is basically here so that I can try and sort out my own craziness without enlisting the help of an expensive therapist. In other words, read at your own risk, I can't promise this will be interesting.

I am an extreme over thinker and I have recently come to the conclusion that it is becoming a problem. For example, I run over every small detail of my life (unless of course that detail involves a Coach purse or a cute pair of shoes. Swiping the credit card seems to take little to no thought) over and over and over, looking at it from different angles, and attempting to analyze it in every way possible, until I make myself (and those around me) crazy.

This is causing issues. As we all know, I am currently in my third year of Professional Writing at York University. This is obviously a program that relies heavily on essay's and I am a large procrastinator. But I get around feeling bad about it because I am always thinking about my essay (Note to those who think this is genius.....you never think it's quite so smart when you realize you have just spend two weeks contemplating the essay and are now forced to write the whole thing in a night.)

This also causes me to read into everything. I literally stay up at night thinking "what did they mean by that" or "is so and so going to like such and such." I have been with "C" for almost 8 years and I still do it. Sometimes I wonder why he puts up with me (there I go again!)

It also causes problems with forgiveness. I will tell you I forgive you, we can move on, but it's never totally gone. It's always running through the back of my mind, in different situations, ready to be used when necessary. Like I said, it's a problem. My wedding is still 2 years away and I think I have run through every possible emotion. I don't know how I'm going to survive the rest of the wait. I'm not kidding, I have had cold feet, been extremely excited, been extremely nervous, run over every little detail or problem that could possibly occur and had terrifying wedding nightmares that I have been told shouldn't be happening yet. And I still have another 2 and a half years to live with this.

Yeah so this got me nowhere. Maybe you enjoyed my useless babbling?

Help!

Ok so I have this friend....if you want to call her that....

Background story: I have known her (I'm going to refer to her as "N") since I was seven or eight. As kids we were best friends, and did everything together. We lived on the same street, went to the same school, same house at night, sleep overs on weekends, basically inseparable. Of course this story changes, I moved, we went to different high schools and as expected grew apart. We managed to hold on to a distant friendship for a while over internet, phone, occasional visits but over the last couple of years we barely spoke. She has met "C" only a handful of times, and we have both developed a much closer group of separate friends.

Here's where the advice is needed. I recently found out the "N" is pregnant. She did not call to tell me, but in her defense I didn't bother to call her when "C" proposed. I found out about her pregnancy through my sister, who was told by "N's" mother. I saw her for the first time on Halloween, when I was out trick or treating with my nieces. Needless to say it was awkward. She was shocked about the engagement and I was surprised to see my former best friend very pregnant but I figured it was over for another year, when we would repeat the awkward updates of our lives. I was wrong. Today I received an invitation in the mail for her baby shower. I was pretty taken aback. We don't talk and as far as I'm concerned the friendship is as good as over. My sister and mother were both invited, so I'm going, and I'm fine with that

My issue is, after long and careful analyzing, I decided that we were no longer close enough friends and did not include her on my wedding guest list. Now I am getting conflicting advice. Some people tell me that because she still considers us close enough to invite me to the baby shower, I should include her on my wedding list...

....What do you guys think? Do I invite "N" to the wedding just because she invited me to her baby shower?

I have some catching up to do....

Wow!!

I can't believe that the last time I blogged was before Halloween! Time really gets away from you. So I guess I can start there, seeing as I showed you my adorable boots, but you never got the end result.

So here we are! "C" decided to go as a dirty old man, and I was a cow girl (Note the adorable boots!). The party was fun and crazy as usual, but I have to admit, as much fun as these parties are, my favourite part of the whole thing is the day after. "C" and I typically stay the night at my best friends house so that no one needs to be concerned with driving, and the morning after routine has pretty much been set in stone after all these years. We get up with just enough time to hit McDonalds for their breakfast (I guess you can consider this my "hangover" food) and then the rest of the day is spend relaxing in bed. Its nice to have nothing to do and just lay in bed all day and sleep, so this is really what I've come to look forward to when there are parties.

Other than this I need to be honest and admit that not much has happened. School has gotten crazy, and I am procrastinating BIG time. This year seems to be particularly worse than normal. It's my third year, and I can definitely see the light at the LONG tunnel that has been my education, but I just can't seem to find the motivation to put the work in that I normally do. I can't explain it, this year is no different from others, I like (most) of my classes, I just can't seem to force myself to do the work that is needed. Hopefully I'll snap out of it.

In movie news: I can't even remember what movies I have seen since I last posted. Couples Retreat comes to mind, and I'm probably going to be a major disappointment right now because I REALLY didn't like it. I found that most of the funny parts were in the commercials, and the rest of it I found depressing. Maybe this is because it is coming from a person who is getting married, and therefore watching four couples who pretty much hate each other and their lives together for two hours just isn't funny to me. Or maybe the movie just sucks, I dunno...you decide!
We also saw Law Abiding Citizen. This is a good movie, and I'm not only saying this because I think Gerrard Butler is drop dead gorgeous :). I found the concept to be something entirely different, not falling into the same old plot lines that we are all bored with, while at the same time not going to far and becoming unrealistic. Gerrard Butler did a fantastic job, he played his character perfectly, leaving you wondering for the better part of the film if he was insanely smart or just completely psycho. I one hundred percent recommend this one!

This post is bordering too long again, I have a real problem with that. BUT just to finish up, I have a book I want to talk about. We had to read a book called "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall for school, and I'm going to admit it is exactly the kind of book that I would never look twice at if wandering in a book store for myself. I was surprised when it actually caught my attention, so much so that I had trouble putting it down. I'm not going to give anything away, but will warn that it is different, probably unlike anything most people have ever read. It revolves around a kind of psychological shark that feeds on memories and knowledge, to the point where the recipient forgets everything and is forced to begin life and relearn everything all over again. Like I said...different. It is difficult to get into originally, but in the end it is worth it!

I'm also attempting to read Jane Austen's "Emma" for my Film and Lit class, and I am having trouble. I read fairly quickly, as long as the book interests me, and I have been working through this one for a good two weeks now and I'm not even 100 pages in. I had this problem with Pride and Prejudice when I attempted to read that about a year ago. I guess Austen is simply not my forte

Has anyone else had a problem with her novels??

I'm a Problem Solver!

I have labeled myself the Halloween Scrooge. I have never been a particular fan of this holiday, even as a kid, dressing up wasn't my favourite thing to do. I would always pick the prettiest princess dress or fairy costume (no I never went as something scary, I was almost always a princess) and the excitement would begin. Then it would become apparent that I live in Canada, and Halloween is in October. Cue my mother forcing my beautiful princess dress, over a snow suit. Not exactly the vision on Cinderella that I had in mind when the costume was bought. So anyways, Halloween, not exactly my cup of tea, but this year I have been particularly bad.

My best friend always has a Halloween party, which typically ends up getting pretty crazy, and costumes are always mandatory. Years before this I would complain slightly to the fiancee, but in the end relent, buy the costume and pretend to be happy about it. This year I took a different route. I tried everything from refusing to dress up (I'm going as nothing, I told them), to putting off costume hunting to the last possible minute, to being absolutely miserable. Can you believe nothing worked?!? They didn't give in and insisted I dress up, even if it meant I would be impossible to live with. So Tuesday fiance decides we're going costume hunting (cue enthusiastic YAY!). So after being at school all day, he picks me up and the hunting commences. I'm going to be honest, I did not go out of my way to make this fun. I whined (a lot), I complained about the ridiculous prices and insisted that I refused to pay them, I got mad at the store for having a fog machine (why am I walking through fog? I can't see the costumes? How can I spend $60.00 on a costume when I can't see them?), and refused a few more times stating that I wasn't buying a costume period. So needless to say, after three stores, fiance was getting annoyed.

This is when my idea came to me!

My biggest issue with this whole costume thing was the fact that I was being forced to spend money (at least $60.00) on something I really didn't want, need and would probably only end up wearing once. Then I found these:

These are cute, practical, and could obviously be worn again, and they were only $50.00! Problem solved! Take my costume money and buy these very cute boots, and go as a cowgirl :). It's simple...... jean skirt, tank top, some kind of dress shirt tied at the waste and new very cute boots....done! Now everyone's happy, I'm dressing up and not being entirely miserable about it making fiance and friends happy. I got new boots and didn't have to buy some stupid uncomfortable costume, me happy.

I'm a genius!

Engagement Photo's

Hello Bloggers!

This week has been absolutely insane! I've labeled it hell week, as ALL of the prof's at York University decide to make all of their assignment due at the exact same time. So needless to say, I have spend the better part of the last week ripping my hair out, having minor breakdowns and living off of high sugar snacks to ensure that I remain functional until at least two in the morning. Anyways...There is a light, I am handing in my last mid-term today, and I can go back to relaxing.

But before I put my feet up, I did promise you bloggers a post about engagement photos!

We finally go them!!!! I only had to wait a week, but it seemed like forever.

We had them done last Sunday, the 18th, by a friend of ours that is taking a course in photography. She is extremely talented and gave us over 300 proofs completely free. We also got the benefit of working with three different photographers, as she brought a friend of hers from school, as well as a semi professional that she has been shadowing over the summer. So needless to say we got a bunch of photos.

We took the photographers out to farm land that "C's" family owns, and which we hope to eventually live on. It was a lot of fun, and the location had meaning to us which made it all the more special.

The photo's posted in my previous post were taken by the professional photographer the came along. These photo's are taken by our friend. I have so many favourites, so I won't be posting them all, but let me know what you guys think. When I get the photo's from the third photographer I'm sure I will post more!

That being said...Here they are....







I have such a hard time narrowing it down! There are SO many more that I wanted to post, but this is all the space I have!

Busy, Busy

The Fiance and I have had a busy weekend. But before I get to that, I realized that I never actually posted my official engagement story. I'm still not going to do that because Shaba, over at A Blog of her Own, did it for me! So thank you to her for including our story in her proposal project!

Now back to my weekend, starting with Friday, I officially got to go bridesmaid dress shopping! No, no not for me. I am a bridesmaid in a friend's upcoming May wedding (I'll call her V). But even though we were not dress shopping for MY wedding, it did give me the wedding gratification that I was craving in my previous post. I got to try on several pretty dresses, and of course I spend a good part of the day eying wedding dresses while the current bride was distracted. But no worries fellow bloggers, I stuck to my guns and did not try a single dress on. I'm being strong. All in all, I feel much better about my own wedding and am now busy throwing myself into my upcoming bridesmaid duties. Stay tuned for updates.

Saturday: A group of friends and I went to Halloween Haunt. For those of you that don't live around me, this is a kind of giant Haunted Carnival, that our amusement park (Wonderland) throws every year. The open the park only at night, and have several haunted houses set up all throughout it, as well as costumed characters walking freely on the grounds. This (like scary movies) is not really my thing. But (again) the fiance absolutely LOVES it. Despite my fear of things, we did have a good time. It was freezing, but we toughed it out, and the rides throughout the park are all still running, so there is something for everyone. Definitely worth checking out if you live in the area!

And today was our engagement photos! This is deserving of it's own post (partly because I want it to have its own post and partly because this blog is long enough) but here is a sneak preview of some of our favourites:


These are only a few that were sent to us by another photographer. Let me know what you think! More to Come later!!

What did everyone else do with their weekend??

Patience...

I always told myself that I was perfectly fine with a long engagement. I had plans as a teenager to be engaged by 21 but not married until 23 or 24. I thought that this was the best way to do things, give myself time to plan and organize...... now I'm not so sure.

When "C" proposed it was obviously a moment in which I was overwhelmingly excited. The moments that followed are pretty much a blur filled with excited phone calls to multiple people that included the congratulations and then the dreaded question....."so when's the big day?" Seriously people, I've been officially engaged for a total of five minutes, you think we already have a day set?!?! So "C" and I took the easy route to answer this question and responded with "oh we are thinking probably 2011 or 2012." TRANSLATION: I'm thinking 2011, he's thinking 2012. To make a long story short, I lost, our wedding date is now May 26th, 2012, and again, I spent a good amount of time thinking I was ok with this.

Lately this date seems SO far away and I'm losing my patient optimistic attitude. Don't get me wrong I understand the mother and the fiance's reasons for wanting to push it back. There's the RCMP issue, as we still are waiting for "C's" interview, there's the financial issues (money is important), "C" likes the 2012 date because that means that we will be getting married during out 10th year of dating (kinda cute right).

But I don't know. As much as I understand the reasoning for waiting, and as much as I always thought that I would be fine with waiting, 2012 is SO far away. I'm anxious to go dress shopping and cake tasting, find my venue, book the church. I'm also excited to start a new chapter in my life with the man I love. House hunting, kids, jobs...stuff like that. (Just so you are all aware, "C" will read this and probably have a heart attack, so my wedding may never happen)

I felt like whining today....sorry!

Am I being unreasonable??

Fall

First and foremost Happy Thanksgiving to all those fellow Canadians out there!

I'm not going to lie, I am a complete summer girl. I love flip flops, cute dresses, skirts, tank tops and ballet flats more than anything else. I could spend hours laying on a beach in the sun working on my "tan," reading a book or just simply relaxing. But I live in Canada and therefore, unfortunately, have to endure three other seasons. So I guess if I need to pick a second favourite I would go with fall. Here's why....

I LOVE the colours. I will admit to getting extremely excited when I notice the the trees are starting to change and the world is transformed into different shades of red, orange and yellow. I have taken particular notice of the trees this year due to my upcoming engagement pictures.

As much as I love my flip flops and ballet flats, I'm also quite partial to boots (I'm not going to lie, I pretty much like shoes in general). I enjoy making new fall outfits, with cute sweaters, boots and scarves.

The T.V becomes amazing! This year is no exception. I feel like I can't make plans to do anything because I'm going to miss some particular show, and that's just not o.k. Some of my addictions this season include Eastwick, Flashforward, Vampire Diaries, Ghost Whisperer and Medium (the last two are oldies but definitely goodies!).

And I guess I should include Halloween in this list. The fiance LOVES Halloween, and every year it's a major ordeal about what we are dressing up us, what we are doing and how we are decorating. I have too admit, Halloween is not my favourite in the world. I'm more of a Christmas person. But seeing "C" get sooo excited and child like every year is kind of fun!

I guess that's it for now!

I'm Sick.....

yes that's right.....I'm sick. I have the random cold that has been spreading around. I believe the love of my life gave it to me. So here I am, in my PJ'S, tucked under my huge duvet, all alone ("C" avoids me like the plague when I'm sick) and figure that my time is better spent watching re-runs of "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Rich Bride, Poor Bride" and blogging, rather than working on the two essay's I have due in two weeks.

I have a few things on my mind that are blog worthy. Engagement photo's (!!!!!!!), Fall, school, and so on. I'm not planning on doing all of that today. My drugs will kick in shortly, and then I will be useless, so I'm going to start with school.

This year, I am taking a film and lit course, as part of my English requirements. I like the class so far, but my class on Friday provided me with a bit of a devastating moment. To start, I should mention that I LOVE "The Wizard of Oz." I have read the book several times and have seen the movie at least a million times, both when I was young, and now again with my nieces, any time they want to. I was under the impression that there was nothing that could be taught to me about this book/movie, I knew it all, and figured even going to the class would be a waste of my time. I should have gone with that initial impression.

So Friday I excitedly take my seat in class thinking that I am about to have a worry free two hours discussing the best movie of all time. WRONG!. Instead, I spend the better part of the next hour, talking about how the film made the character of the lion blatantly homosexual. Now as a side note, I have literally no problem with homosexuals, but people this is a CHILD'S movie. I am fully floored that people watch a movie such as this one and pull these kinds of things out of it. I mean I watched this movie from the time I was two or three, all the way up to about a week ago, and this have NEVER crossed my mind. I love the lion, I think he's cute, I really don't know what to make of this. Now that the evidence has been forcefully thrust in my face I don't think I will ever be able to watch this movie in the same light. It's been changed for me. I'm heartbroken.

I'm curious, am I the only one who has over looked this detail of the movie for the last twenty four years?

How I Pass the Time in Boring Classes

I apologize for my recent blogging absence. My only excuse is that I am a pretty big procrastinator, and have spent the better part of the last week trying to will myself to start and complete an assignment that I had due today. I am proud to announce that I started the assignment at about 11:00 last night and officially finished it at about 10:30 this morning. I am currently sitting in my boring Substantive Editing class and trying to successfully waste three hours. This is my thousands of dollars in tuition money being put to good use!

I have a couple of things that I have been thinking about blogging about, so I figure I will break it up into several different blogs. "C" took me to Niagara Falls this weekend, so I may as well start there.

We left Saturday evening and came home Sunday evening and overall we had a nice weekend. Niagara is somewhere that "C" and I have been going to for some time now, and we always enjoy ourselves. By now I think we have seen every "touristy" thing you can possibly find in Niagara, so this time we kind of stayed away from all of that. We didn't go down to the falls, we didn't walk Clifton Hill or any of that. We went down specifically because we had tickets to see a show, I wanted to shop and "C" wanted to go to the casino, so that's what we did.

So we started off Saturday night at the Casino. I hate the casino. Not just Niagara's casino's, pretty much every casino. I can't justify putting twenty dollars into a machine to watch it spin around for about five minutes and that's it. It's just not something that amuses me. "C" on the other hand LOVES the casino. Problem is, he's not very good at it. He has absolutely no will power. This particular time he put a twenty dollar bill in one machine and withing five minutes was about around two hundred dollars. Now in my mind....this is an excellent time to cash out and leave. Technically he did what he came to do. He won money! But he's mentality....completely opposite. He instead wants to believe that the machine's want to give him money. So he continues to play....and play...and play...and play. So yeah, two hours later he walked out forty dollars down and in a bad mood. I don't get it.

Moving on to Sunday. This is when we did my favourite thing....shopping! This is also where "C" and I switch roles. In this situation I am pretty much out of hand. I can convince myself to buy pretty much anything, and make it so that I "NEEDED" it, not just that I wanted it. "C" on the other hand take son my role in the casino by following me around and making comments on the fact that I am wasting my money and could be spending it on better things. I disagree. So I mangaed to do some damage. And (here is some exciting news) I GOT MY BOOTS!!!! You might remember me blogging about them earlier. I did not get the exact same ones that I showed you, but I did get similar ones, for about sixty dollars less. Here's a picture:

I also splurged and bought these:I love shoes, these are adorable and they were ten dollars. This needs no justification!

I also bought a pair of skinny jeans and several new shirts.

So yes, we both ended up spending more money then we had and therefore, all in all, had a good weekend!

Killing Time

I feel like I'm extremely bad at this whole blogging thing. I follow other blogs, and they seriously write something every single day, I just don't have time for that. Anyways this is completely unrelated to what I planned to post today, just thought I'd share my inner blogging thoughts.

Back to the topics on hand.....right now I'm at school in the middle of a three hour break and desperately looking for things to waste time on, as its only week two of classes and I have nothing better to do with my time. So I figured all of you were in need of an update on my interesting life! here goes.

I don't remember if I have shared this with you before, so if I have...sorry...if not.... the fiance works for a movie distributing company (I know, fascinating, right?) Anyways, the point of that little piece of insignificant information is that because of said job we get to see a vast array of movies...for free, due to screeners, free passes and whatever other little perks "C" gets from his friends at work. So last Monday, "C" informs me that he got a free screening pass for us to go and see "Paranormal Activity" in the theaters. Now here is a side note, I HATE scary movies,"C" loves them, causes some tension in the whole movie going experience. Anyways, me being the idiot I am decides that I will go with him to this movie, asking myself "how bad can it really be?" Yeah, the answer to that question was REALLY bad. The movie scared the crap out of me. I'm 23 years old and I slept with my door open and the hall light on like a big wimp. I also informed "C" that I hated him several times and that I was never going to another scary movie again. Anyways, since this screening was a premier of sorts, there were a bunch of media people there who were watching the movie in order to write reviews on it later. I made a joke that I should talk to some of them to help advance my career (writing of some sort.....I think....) and fiance decided that I should use my blog to write reviews about movies occasionally, since I need to write play reviews for a Shakespeare class I am taking and it would be good "practice." So I'm open and willing to try anything, but I'm not starting with Paranormal Activity, because I think the review would be highly unfair as I spent the majority of the film with my head buried in "C's" chest and my hands over my ears. (yeah yeah I know...chicken right?)

But I have managed to see two other movies since last Monday (like I said...we see A LOT of movies) and figure I'll try and give you my opinion on them. The first was "The Time Traveler's Wife." I saw the movie only after I finished the book, something I'm pretty big on. The book was amazing, and I recommend it to anyone. (oh, another side note....I HATE spoilers, I don't agree with them and I don't read them, so anything I write here will not give anything important away, just tell you my opinion of the work as a whole). The book is sad, but worth it, and managed to keep my interest throughout it's entirety. The movie was also really good, but I recommend reading the book before you see it. They left a lot out (most movies do now) which is understandable because the movie would need to be five hours long for them to include everything, but I felt like it was a bit rushed and they skipped over or changed some pretty significant parts, in my opinion. All in all it's still an amazing story, and worth reading (or watching if you really don't think you can make it through the book).

The second movie we saw this week was "Jennifer's Body," which I know is a total contradiction of my previous statement of "never seeing another scary movie again." Anyways, I saw this one with "C," my brother and his girlfriend, and it was probably the stupidest movie I have ever seen in my life. It was not scary at all (this is coming from me people!), the dialogue was horrible, and the acting (specifically Megan Fox) was even worse. The whole point of the movie was to put Megan Fox in slutty outfits, kissing girls and acting stupid so little boys can have something to get excited about (Oh and a note for the boys, that cute little outfit that they have her in on the movie poster, she doesn't wear it so don't bother!). Completely pointless and a waste of money, if an apparent horror movie doesn't give me nightmares than it doesn't qualify as horror.

Anyways, enough movie talk for now, my break has only an hour left! I think this was a good waste of time.

Wedding updates: there are none! I've gotten really lazy as far as this wedding is concerned. "C" wants to meet with more venues and it's my job to get in touch with them, and I was doing really good, and then something happened......
But on the plus side, I have been refusing to look at wedding dresses because I'm afraid of falling in love with one so early, but the dress that Rachel McAdam's wore in "The Time Traveler's Wife".....completely fell in love. Gives you an idea of what I'm thinking right now anyways!

I know I just posted but.....

......I saw these boots online (Le Chateau) and I want them. Now how to talk fiance into buying them for me :)

This is what I do when the Fiance tells me to be productive.....

So it is my last official day of summer. Tomorrow I go back to York University, and back to the day to day stress of school. I'm actually kind of excited. I'm the type of person that needs to be busy or else I go completely stir crazy, and being stuck at home with nothing to do doesn't help. So I believe I was driving the fiance crazy with the endless text messages while he was at work, so he told me to do something productive with my last day off, and here we are!

So I figure lets give an update on my oh so interesting life since the last time I blogged.....

I believe we can start with the birthdays! My birthday was the 28th of August and I turned 24 and the fiance turned 26 on the 31st, so it was a bit crazy but lots of fun. He got me Britney Spears tickets as a end of school/birthday present so we went there on the 20th. On a side note, I LOVE Britney Spears! She reminds me of my highschool years, and I think she really gets the raw end of the deal with the media and such. But yeah, I love her and I'm not afraid to admit it. So the concert was slightly out of town and we had to drive there, and of course, the concert falls on the one day where tornado's decide to land in various places all over the GTA. I'm Canadian, I'm not accostomed to things like tornado's, so naturally, this scares the crap out of me. I did not get the pleasure of seeing an actual tornado, but we were driving in the biggest thunder storm I have ever been in my life.

The above picture is out of the fiance's car window on the drive up, at about 5:30 in the evening. So yeah, despite the fact that the fiance insists that he is a good driver and that we were perfectly fine, I was terrified. But in any case we survived, I got to see Britney (which was AMAZING by the way....well worth the money that fiance paid to take me!)

Next were the family parties, a must in both of our families. On my actual birthday "C" came over and brought me pretty flowers..........and then took me shopping (spending more money) and then back to my house for BBQ and cake, not really all that interesting or worth writing about. Saturday was the exhibition, a tradition for our birthdays with the fiance's family. Again lots of fun, but not overly interesting.

Last Sunday was the friends birthday party (we did it on a Sunday because Monday is a holiday here). So we had people over for a BBQ and then went to a club afterward. My friends, being the loving people that they are proceeded to get me smashed, which is not difficult because I don't drink well. Anyways it was a fun night of drinking and dancing. nd of course, I got presents (are you getting that I LOVE to get presents?) Not going to show them all but here is what my bestest bought for me:


Hence why she is the bestest!

Anyways, I guess this has wasted enough of my day and I should probably find something actually productive to do on my last day off!

Wedding Stuff

So lets talk wedding!!

I am getting married May 26th, 2012 and of course I am super excited and have begun planning already. I have been told that this is ridiculous as the wedding is three years away and I have "lots of time," but I believe I have valid reasons for beginning my plans so early.

First, I'll repeat, I am SUPER excited, and have talked nothing but weddings since I got engaged in January. I believe some of my bridesmaids may be contemplating killing me if they have to hear the words wedding, venue or dresses one more time. But anyways, I have been hypothetically planning this wedding in my head for as long as I can remember. So now that I'm allowed to actually plan a wedding I can't wait to start. So I have.

Secondly: Because I have been thinking about this wedding for so long, I have pretty specific demands, such as the venue, and I want to make sure I can have exactly what I want without much compromise.

Third: C is joining the RCMP and will be going to Saskatchewan within the next couple of months and will be gone for 6 months. Because C is very concerned about my spending habits, he wants to be very involved in the planning of this wedding, and wants to definitely have a say in our church and our venue, so I need to decide where those are going to be before he leaves.

So yes, planning three years in advance has just been fully justified.

So C, My mother, my MOH, and I have spent the better part of August researching different venues, and have actually made appointments to see three out of the seven that we are interested in, one of which I will not blog about because I was not impressed at all.

But the other two......

....I did exactly what C told me not to do and fell completely in love with both of them and am now torn.

The first is Woodington Lakes, which we went to see two weeks ago. Here are some pics:

They have Swans, an obvious plus!


View from the outside, across the
lake



View from the entrance, looking into the reception hall



I should also point out that this was C's number one pick, although I'm not entirely sure that he was as sold as I was when he viewed it in person. Either way, I loved the scenery, room, wedding co-coordinator and everything else that this venue included, especially the option of fireworks! But then today happened.....

...we went to The Royal Ambassador, which was my first choice. Again some pics:



C and I

Me dressed up ready to go


Outside


Inside

So, just as pretty, and probably a little bit more expensive, but again I'm in love. C says I can have it but wants me to cut our list....dramatically. And I won't be allowed to have fireworks......

So what do you guys think???

I like them both!

Camping

So the fiance and I just got back from camping with another couple.

Before I get into the details I think I should point out that I in no way claim to be an avid camper or outdoors person. To be quite honest, I suggest camping every year, and every year we go, and every year I learn why I wanted to come home so badly the last time. Don't get me wrong, I did have fun, but I am not meant to sleep on an air mattress, or go without showers, it's just not in me.

Anyways, we left on Friday, and began with C and I having the normal camping arguments, which typically revolve around me packing too much. And I do pack to much, I'll admit it. But this all goes back to me not being a good camper. I take everything with me. This includes full makeup, hair products, skin care products, hair dryer and straightener, a couple pairs of shoes and half my wardrobe...just in case. This drives the fiance crazy. This year I took 4 sweaters for four days, two zip up and two hoodies, and let me tell you when he found out he was not impressed. Anyways, we survived and he got over it.

I also decided that I was going to get a tan this weekend because this summer has been crappy and I haven't been able to yet. We went to Turkey Point, which is just outside of Port Dover and is right on Lake Eerie, so we had a beautiful beach to relax on. Unfortunately, because I was SO determined to tan, I refused to put suntan lotion on, despite the fiance's constant pleading. I was convinced I wouldn't burn and would tan nicely and be happy. I was wrong, he was right. I am burnt and in quite a bit of pain at the moment. This mixed in with the 20 bug bits I have all over my body and the exhaustion from the lack of sleep has reminded me once again that I am a city girl, who is not made out to "rough it." So lesson learned? I have to be honest and say probably not. Next year around this time I will most likely be trying to convince C to take me camping making the claims that it is so fun! Ah well, I guess that's life.

In other news, we have recently been venturing out and looking at venues for our wedding. I'm not going to say much about it now because I think this post is long enough, but we have already gone to see C's number one choice, and we are going to go and see mine on Wednesday, so I will post more then!

Introducing....ME!

So where to begin?

I guess I'll start by mentioning that I am extremely new to this whole blogging thing and am still a little unsure about it. This can probably be attributed to one of the following.

a) Although I am currently enrolled in the English and Professional Writing program at York University, I am still very self conscious about my own writing and rarely, if ever, let anyone read anything that I have written.

OR

b) I am doubtful that I have anything relevant or interesting enough to say about my life that would make people want to read what I have written.

Despite both of these things, I have several friends that have gotten into blogging, and have suggested that I try it. So here I am, giving it a shot... I guess we will see what happens!

So a little about me:

The biggest trait that I have is that I absolutely LOVE to shop. I can spend an entire day in a mall and find about a million things that I want to buy and then randomly and quickly find about 10 reasons why I need to have it. This has resulted in my bedroom becoming overloaded with useless crap that I don't need, a closet that I fight with, constantly when trying to put clothes in it and a fiance that has taken an active interest in my spending habits, especially when it concerns our upcoming wedding.

Speaking of my wedding, it is probably the biggest topic that this blog will revolve around. I have been engaged for just over 6 months to my wonderful fiance who swept me off my feet almost 8 years ago, and continues to surprise me almost daily. I will refer to him as "C." Since "C" and I got engaged, I have become obsessed with everything wedding. I think this is not only driving him crazy, but also all six of my bridesmaids. So I apologize ahead of time to anyone else that reads this for my endless rantings about venues, dresses, cakes and budgets (which have become quite an issue in wedding plans as I don't exactly work well with budgets and tend to forget they even exist... "C" doesn't exactly love this particular trait and is trying to push for "numbers".... something I'm not ready to give).

Anyways, I will cease rambling about the wedding for now and by just saying that I am pretty much a typical girl. I love purses, shoes, clothes and am anxious to finish school and move on with my future plans.

And that is pretty much it for tonight.