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?