It's Official!

Just a quick post in between the millionth edit of my essay, and the 5 Shakespeare plays that I have to read before tomorrow to announce that I FINALLY made a decision and...

......We have a venue!!!!!

We went to an open house today at Oakview Terrace (C's first choice) and I got a chance to speak with several different vendors (DJ, Photographer, ect) as well as the owner of the venue, all of whom were wonderful with helping me sort out all of my initial problems with it and making a very happy bride. So.....

.....We booked!

I'm very excited. This just made it all seem real.

So I am happy to announce that I am OFFICIALLY getting married, May 26th, 2012.

A busy couple of weeks

Hello All!

This post is about last weekend, and it's almost this weekend. I really meant to post all of this earlier, but what can I say. I'm about to enter my last week of school and life has gotten unnaturally crazy.

Last weekend was CRAZY. It started Friday with C and I going over to the bestest's house to help her set up for a St Patty's Day party on Saturday (I should say I helped. C sat in the basement with another male friend and watched March Madness). This was pretty fun, it was me, the bestest and J another good friend from high school. It's always fun to get together with the girls and talk like nothing has changed.

So we ended up making green cupcakes:

Here they are all decorated

and of course it isn't a party without jello shooters, so we made those as well

And of course there needs to be decorations


These were all put up somewhere around the basement, which added to the overall environment.

So that takes care of Friday, which brings me to Saturday, the day off the party.
The party was fun, everyone had to wear green (of course) and everyone did. I have many pictures from that night, but I won't embarrass my friends with showing drunken pictures of them to the internet world. I will show you a horrible picture of C and I (please don't judge me. This was later in the night, and after quite a few, my hair is a mess, and I look horrible....This is not my normal appearance.)

And out bright idea to play with a pinata inside the house. *NOTE* I don't recommend this, it makes a HUGE mess. If it's too cold to do a pinata outside, I suggest not doing it.

And Sunday was V's bridal shower (Again, this one wasn't totally thought through. Bridal showers after party nights aren't always fun).

The bridal shower was interesting. Even though I'm in the wedding party, I really had nothing to do with it. Her family decided that they wanted to throw it, so they did. The shower was pretty standard with games, cake and gifts. We played the game with the pins and you can't say the word wedding (I am terrible at this game. How are you not supposed to say wedding at a bridal shower? It's impossible.) We played a memory game where a basket full a kitchen items was placed in the middle of the room and we had 60 seconds to look at them and then had to rite them all down from memory (I also pretty much failed at this one, I cheated of the bestest and still didn't win....epic fail). The final game was a quiz about the bride. I did decent on this one 8 out of 10 (one of the questions I'm calling foul on. How many facebook friends does she have? How am I supposed to know?) Overall, game wise, I'm not impressed.....I don't like to lose

Finally this brings me to Tuesday (not a part of the weekend, but I'm including it here anyway.)

For Christmas C got me tickets for Carrie Underwood, and the show was on Tuesday. She puts on an amazing performance and I recommend seeing her if you have the chance. I watched her all throughout American Idol, and I actually think she is the only one that won that I actually wanted to (Wait, I wanted Chris to win last year....Adam was overrated.) Anyways, I saw some pretty original things. Such as this:

This car ran on a track around the whole stadium, making even the worst seats worth it.

Her opening acts were also phenomenal. She had two, the first was Sons of Sylvia, who also does a duet with her on her most recent album ("What Can I Say"...really good song). I first I was confused, as Carrie Underwood appeals to a largely country crowd, and Sons of Sylvia were not country at all (I'm gonna say more rockish) but by the end, it didn't matter. They were amazingly talented, interacted with the crowd and put on a great show. One of the best opening acts I have seen ever.

The second opening act was Craig Morgan, who I also really enjoyed. I knew some of his songs (which always makes it better) and he was very personable, even getting right on the floor, into the crowd at one point.

So that has been my week (besides endless essay's and studying for the week of exam hell that will be next week.)

This weekend brings yet another trip to one of my top to venues. Hopefully this will help me make my mind up. Wish me luck!

16 year old me

One of my bloggy friends, Ella, took this from one of her bloggy friends and I think its a great idea. I was originally unsure if I was going to do it, but after thinking about it I realized that I had basically written the entire post in my head, so I may as well share it with all of you. I'm supposed to put a picture of me when I'm 16, but I don't have pictures that old (UGH!) on my computer. So I would need to find, and scan one.....WAY too much effort for me right now. Maybe I'll post one in a separate post when I gain more energy.

Dear 16 year old Leanne:

You will be amazed and shocked when you get to my place in life and see all that has happened and the person that you have become. There is so much that I wish I could tell you, but yet the journey to my current place was all based on experiences, something that I would not want to deny you, no matter how much it would change.

My first piece of advice would be to follow you intuition. Your a smart girl, and you know what you want, it doesn't help to question yourself all of the time.

This also applies to him. I know you think you can be with him and I know that you think you can change him, but trust me you won't. In the next couple of months he will betray you more than you ever thought possibe, but its not like that hasn't happened before. You know he isn't right for you, and you know that you can't force someone to want you who doesn't, all in all he is simply not worth the pain that he is causing you.

On the plus side, also in the next couple of months, someone new will enter your life. This man will be the complete opposite of him, and *spoiler alert* he is the one. This man will treat with more attentiveness and love that you have ever known. He is patient, kind and will know exactly how to make you laugh at any given moment. You will also have struggles in this relationship, but you need to learn and understand that all relationships go through these, the difference is doing it with someone who is willing to push through it with you. This man will teach you the value of forgiveness and the benefits of love. Learn to trust him. He loves you, and you don't need constant reassurance to know that. He will become your rock, and will support you through the deaths of three close family members, times in your life that you were questionable about how to go on.

The friends that you have now are your friends for life. I know many people have told you that you will go on to college and university and meet new people and forget about old ones. This isn't the way for you. You are overwhelmingly loyal and you will not abandon the people that you have grown to love, and I am happy to tell you that they will not abandon you either. The same rule applies here. Learn to trust these people, they won't judge you, and they will always support you. All three of them will be bridesmaids in your wedding, and you couldn't be happier.

On the same note, at the moment you are drifting apart from some old friends and this is hurting you. This won't change. You will lose touch with these people for many years, but its ok. It has nothing to do with you or even them. People travel down different paths and sometimes relationships just don't work out. You are no worse for it and neither are they.

Stay away from accounting, it wasn't a good idea.

Also stay away from tequilla, you can't handle it and you may as well know that now.

Don't worry so much about the future. Being diabetic won't hold you back. You are happy and normal, and your going to be fine. Don't question what you are good at because you worry you will be bored. Nothing in life is boring, and everything at some point will pose a challange.

You are currently a year away from graduating and two years away from walking down the aisle with the man you love more than life. You have two beautiful nieces, a supportive family and the best friends (both new and old) that you could ever wish for.

Finally, take chances! You only live once and the cautious, questionable life that you lead is not the way to go. It's ok to make mistakes, you learn from them and you become a better person. At the same time, trust your instincts, you know right from wrong.

Wonderland

First of all....Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!!

I wanted to blog today because the fiance and I went to see Alice and Wonderland last night. I have to admit I was pretty concerned just because we all know just how addicted I am to Disney, and I'm not normally very fond of change (why mess with a good thing?) I was also told that people either loved this movie or hated it, the pessimist side of me was convinced that I was going to be on the hate side.

I actually surprised myself because I really liked it. Tim Burton directed this film, so as you can imagine it's not your typical cookie cutter Disney film, but it was definitely an interesting take on it. In this version, Alice is older and she is returning to Wonderland for a second time, but doesn't remember anything from her first experience.

It was interesting, with lots going on, and they also went out of their way to tie in several aspects from the original film (making this avid Disney watcher very pleased).

Also the cast was amazing. I'm not going to go through them all, but I am going to say that casting Johnny Depp (*sigh*) as the Mad Hatter was one of the best decisions that the producers mad. His quirkiness and slight level of insanity make him perfect for this role, my favourite part of the whole film was probably watching him (but I'm not going to lie.....my favourite part of most Johnny Depp film is watching him).

So my recommendation is for people to go and see this film....and see it in 3D! The movie was filmed with the intention of it being shown is 3D, so as far as I'm concerned your not getting the full effect unless you watch it in the proper format.

I can't say it was as good as Avater (when considering the 3D) BUT it is still worth it.

I am slowly falling in love....

....with these
I have to admit it took some time. But with the rain that we had today I saw many variations of these, and have developed a liking for them.

On a similar note, all of the nice weather that we have been having, have also made me ready to pack away the Uggs and crack out these:

Top Two!

Hello bloggers!

We officially visited the last venue that we planned to see today and I am happy to announce that this is 100% NOT the venue. This is a good thing because I already feel SO overwhelmed with choices that I really couldn't afford to fall head over heels in love with yet another place.

The one that we saw today really just had too much going against it. A BIG thing for my venue is the grounds outside of it, and was nice, but definitely not even close to some of the other places that we have seen. They also tried to include everything in their package. This meant that they wanted me to get my cake, invitations, DJ and centerpieces through them, and if I didn't I was not saving any money. The same rule applied for the ceremony, we had to pay for it regardless of whether we were getting married there or not (C has a church that his family has been attending for years, so it is pretty important to them that we are married there). Anyways, all in all I was not impressed.

Which mean that I am finally down to the top two!

....and hopelessly stuck.....

I have heard listing pros and cons is helpful, so I though there is no better spot than here.

The first choice is Woodington Lakes.

I have to admit that this venue is my favourite. The grounds are gorgeous, they only host one wedding per night, the co-coordinator was amazing.....I could probably go on forever. This was the first venue I saw, and it was several months ago, so I could be blowing it out of proportion but I don't think so. The only Con that I can think of currently is that it is quite far away (about an hour from the church) and there are little to no hotel accommodations around it, meaning that my out of town guests would have no where to go.

The second venue is Oakview Terrace, which I blogged about here, and it is C's favourite.

The pros for this are a lot like the one above. The coordinator is amazing, the grounds are beautiful and they also do one wedding per night. To go along with this, they are much closer to our church (30 minutes) and their are at least two hotels very close to it, who provide shuttles.

The problems I have this place are small, and I'm hoping can be worked out with my coordinator. For example, I'm not happy with the placement of the DJ (On a small table right beside the head table), She mentioned leaving my cake on a table in the lobby and not in the hall, and there is a staircase to the bridal suite at the back of the room that bothers me (I'm picky!)

So I have listed my pros and cons and I still feel no closer to a decision. Any help, suggestions, tips would be GREATLY appreciated!

Favourite Fridays

A Girl in Pearls, one of the blogs that I follow has started a new theme called Favourite Fridays. Every Wednesday she posts a question and on Friday we answer it. I thought it would be fun to participate. This weeks question is Favourite Romantic Comedy.

I found this one tough. There are SO many options to choose from, and I change my mind SO often. I'm going to cheat a bit and list two

1) Made of Honor - mainly because its completely wedding themed and I'm wedding obsessed right now

2) P.S I love You - I always enjoy a good movie that makes me cry. I think it's good to cry occasionally.

Shutter Island

I have been meaning to blog about this for about a while now

I bought the book "Shutter Island" about a month ago because I knew C was going to force me to see the movie and I'm not a big fan of watching movies based on books without reading it first. I have to admit, I'm glad I felt forced to buy the book because I actually really liked it. The author is Dennis Lehane, who has written several other books turned into film such as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone.

"Shutter Island" was very interesting, I read it very quickly and it ended with an amazing twist that I completely did not see coming (I'm not going to give it away....I think I have mentioned in previous posts how much I hate spoilers). I definitely recommend this novel.

This is where the story gets entertaining. C and I were not meant to see this movie.

The original date that we had tickets was the Thursday before its release. C works for a movie distribution company, and we typically get offered little perks, such as free movie passes to advanced screenings like this one. The movie theater was downtown (about an hour drive) at 7, and we both worked until 5. We actually did make it on time, but unfortunately the parking lot that we typically park at was full, so we had to find another one. Amazingly we actually managed to do this, with time to spare, all we had to do now was walk 4 blocks to the theater and we were good.
.......doesn't C walk me four blocks in the WRONG direction. He does, and only realizes it at the end of the four blocks. At this point it is seven, and C is actually considering makingme walk the four blocks back to the car, and then the extra four blocks to the theater. For those of you that don't know me, Leanne is not a big fan of walking, and I flat out refused to do this, the movie wasn't that important. Instead we happened to end up right beside my all time favourite restaurant (Spaghetti Factory) and C decided to splurge for dinner. I can't say I was disappointed.

But C did really want to see this movie, so we decided on our anniversary that this is what we would do. This time the theater was closer, and started at 10. We left about 9:30, drove all the way to the theater only to find a friendly sign posted at the door stating that the movie had been scratched, and we could still see it but would be forced to watch it with a green line running through it. Again, I was being difficult, and refused to pay for a movie that was not perfect. So we left again...

At this point C was desperate, so he looked on his blackberry to see when it was playing at AMC and as luck would have it, it was playing at 11. Off we go.....again....this time we got in!

We line up to get popcorn, and for any of you that have been to AMC, they have this new combo deal where you can choose three items off of their menu for $7.50. We don't go to AMC very often, but we figured this was a good deal. We could get our popcorn and both drinks for $7:50.

Now as a side, C LOVES his popcorn. There have been several times that we have gone to a movie and tried not to buy popcorn, he normally doesn't make it past the previews before he caves. This is the picture of the popcorn that AMC offered.

This popcorn bucket was TINY, and the drinks were probably half the size of that. I think we finished it within five minutes.

SO our master plan to save money was foiled as C was out buying a proper combo before the previews started.

8 years ago today...

...I started dating the man I am going to marry.

...I met the only person in the world who can make me smile no matter what has happened (even if it is him who has me upset)

...I fell in love with someone who has taught me so many lessons: patience, laughter, confidence, and most importantly unconditional love

...I found someone who supports me no matter what choice I have made, even if he disagrees with it

...I found someone who is willing to be honest with me

....I met someone that I could be totally honest with

...8 years ago today I not only started dating a wonderful man, I also found my best friend

Happy 8th Anniversary C!