WHAT A Weekend!

Saturday was my 25th birthday. So I am now a quarter of a century old.....

So needless to say this weekend was nuts and I am now in full recovery mode.....until I go to work at 5.

We started off the celebrations on Friday when C managed to surprised me with this:

A brand new camera which he hid in the glove compartment of his car and tricked me into going in there to get him a napkin. My camera has been acting up for the past couple of months, so I had a good idea that I was getting a new one, but I was still shocked to see it there for some reason, probably because he gave it to me a day early.

The reason I got it early is because he knew I wanted to use it on Saturday for the big day that we had planned.

We started the day with a Jays Vs. Detroit game

Awesome panoramic pictures that the new camera takes.

Ace, our Mascot

My camera has a self shot setting where it won't take the picture until it recognizes two faces. I had to try it. Please ignore the stupid look on my face...I was concentrating.

Beautiful Day so the dome was open

After the game (we won!) we met C's parents, sister and her boyfriend at the one and only Spaghetti Factory.

We had cake

C's birthday is tomorrow, so we share a cake

And then we headed to the ex, for a fun night of shopping, games and food (sooo much food, I don't think I'm every going to want to eat again!)


Sunday we had my family party:

Which meant more cake:

Vanilla with Kisses

Chocolate Banana (SO GOOD!)

My parents bought me this beautiful Guess watch

Also, to make the weekend even more crazy, today is B`s 2nd birthday.

It`s amazing. I remember when she was this big

And here she is today (with the other two birthday people of course!)

So big! So today I am wishing my beautiful B a very very happy 2nd birthday!

Sorry for the post heavily loaded with pictures, but it was a weekend that was heavily loaded with pictures.

Book Review: The Heart of the Matter

The first thing I want to say about Emily Giffin's books are that they definitely inspire me to write but yet I still can't pin down my exact opinion of them.

Let's start with the positive.

There is no doubt that Giffin is an amazing story teller. Despite my impression of the plot, characters, behaviours and so on, she keeps me enthralled from page one. Just like the last one I read, I could not put this book down. The writing is amazing, she knows just how to balance the right amount of character development and conversation so as not to make the book novel. She also keeps the right amount of action so that the reader is dying to know what will happen next. I have come to associate her books with good gossip. The kind that you really don't want to know about but you can't help but listen to.

Which brings me to the bad.

I just can't get over the subject matter of her novels. She seems to have such a pessissmistic attitude towards relationships. I have read two of her books so far and they are all about cheating husbands of wives. People who mkae bad or stupid decisions and then spend the rest of the plot piting themselves and trying to pass the blame. It's just not something I can relate to. Maybe is has to do with the current status of my relationship (reading these books while planning a wedding is kind of a downer) or the fact that I have strong opinions about cheating, feeling that there is no excuse, and it is unforgiveable. Either way, both books have really bothered me, and I found that I had a lot of trouble understanding the characters in them.

My Basic opinion of "Heart of the Matter" is that it is the kind of book that creates paranoid housewives, basically giving the insinuation that all men cheat. I was also really not impressed with the ending, but I won't give it away.

The bestest is a big fan of Giffin's novels, and has told me that I need to read the "something borrowed/something blue series." For those of you that have read them, are they anything like this one? Should I give them a try?

Wedding Wednesday: Father/Daughter Dance

Centerpiece update: There really isn't much to share here. We realized a few days after my first post, when Walmart still hadn't called me back that my sister's best friend works for head office. So I have her looking into it and am now just playing the very-frustrated-bride-patiently-waiting game.

I have been stressing for the last couple of months over the song for my father/daughter dance.

I should start by saying that my relationship with my dad is an interesting one. My mother tells me that we are exactly alike, both immensely stubborn and headstrong, which therefore causes us to clash on many things. Despite that I have been known to fight him to the death over the littlest things (stubborn...I can't help it) I am also a pretty big daddy's girl when it comes down to it. Like I said, interesting.

So, needless to say, I have been having a ridiculously hard time finding a song that I felt related to me and my father. I have listened to probably 50 songs and every single one would warrant the same reaction, it's nice, but I can find something better. So, finally, after weeks of frustration I decided to actually bring my father into it and give him a choice.....
.....now I have too many options and I can't choose.

My mom and I like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIBPC4YUUqY

- Steve Kirwan - My Little Girl
I have no clue how I actually found this song, I just found it in my music list, probably from one of my crazy downloads where I was downloading anything and everything that had to do with daughters. I played it for the first time with my mom and it brought us both to tears, and I still can't get through it. I think it's perfect. My dad.....not so much

He likes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab4VRWX8y1A

-Heartland - I loved her first
Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful song, and I was considering it for a long time, but I get the feeling that it's a bit overdone....?

I also like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KHAaRxyuQk

-Chuck Wicks - Stealing Cinderella
This one kind of goes with the whole princess themed wedding which mine is becoming. When I first heard it I was SURE it was the one, but now I just don't know

I also stumbled across this one a few months ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4W68_h6rw

-Taylor Swift - The Best Day
At first my mom wasn't too thrilled with this one, but she called me yesterday after listening to it again and told me that it made her cry and that she really thinks that it could also work. GRR. I think this one describes a father/daughter relationship perfectly, and it's different.

So now I'm totally lost. My dad and I will not give over on our choices, so one of us is just going to have to pick. And in case you haven't noticed...I'm horrible at making decisions.

So yeah, that's where we are. We went from zero songs, to four and are still no closer to making a decision.

What did you dance with your dad too? Are there any other ones that I should consider??

PS- I hope those youtube links actually work. Let me know if they don't

Day 30: A Dream for the Future

It's the last day! I may not have done 30 posts in 30 days, but I did manage to do them all which is an accomplishment.

Right now I have one dream for the future. To marry C, but a nice house somewhere in the country and start our family.

Day 29: Hopes, Dreams and Plans for the next 365 days

1) Graduate! - In September I will be entering my fourth and final year of English and Professional Writing at York University. I'm on mixed feelings when it comes to finally being done school, but I know one thing for sure, I am definitely done! I briefly kicked around the option of teachers college, but that is no longer in the cards for me. I've been in school long enough, I've spent enough money pursuing higher education if this can't help me find a career then I am not meant to have one.

2) Find a Job - This may be wishful thinking in today's economy, but I desperately want to work somewhere else. At this point I would be willing to become a garbage woman rather then continue at my crappy retail position which I have held for the past 7 years

3) Eat Better - I seriously need to crack down. I'm constantly just driving through somewhere because it's so much easier, but if I want to start looking for wedding dresses, I need to be at a weight I'm comfortable with. I also want to feel healthier and that is not going to happen with fires and burgers

4) Exercise - Same reasons as above

6) Cross some serious items off of the wedding list - Major things include photographer and DJ

7) Save money

That's all I can think of right now. 365 days from today I will be about 9 months away from my wedding day, so I'm sure my hopes, dreams and plans will have changed significantly. Maybe I will repost this again a year from now.

Day 28: What's in your handbag/purse

...This could be embarrassing. I joked with C yesterday that I was going to clean out my purse before I did this post. I tent to just throw things in there and forget about them, so who knows what we will find!

That is everything that is currently in my purse. I consists of:

*My Sunglasses
*3 lip glosses

*3 wallets/change purses (The Coach one holds change, the XOXO one is my main wallet with cards, money and other crap and the Louis Vuitton literally has nothing in it, I don't know why it's there)
*My blackberry
*Keys
*Hair Clip
*A pen cap (don't know where the actual pen is)
*45 cents
*A Metro receipt
*A Freshco receipt
*A McDonald's receipt
*A Dollarama receipt
* My Camera and a book - Two things that I never leave the house without
That wasn't too bad.

You would think I would take this opportunity to actually clean the purse out. But no. I just casually shoved everything back in.

A different problem for a different day.

Day 27: My Worst Habit

I can think of a few:

-I pick at my nails constantly. Even my fake ones. I have also been known to bite (horrible!)
-I procrastinate. A lot. I will know I have a paper due in three weeks, but yet I will still only be starting it the weekend before. I have always been like this. I have come to the conclusion that I work better under pressure, so I just go with it.
-C has pointed out in the last week that I was the word 'like' constantly. I will be telling a story and repeat a conversation by saying "then I was like" "then she was like" and so on. This is another thing that I have done for years, I don't even notice it anymore, and I can't help it.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Day 26: Your week in great detail

I'm posting from the boys computer tonight because I was too lazy to bring my own, so this will be a picture free post.

I don't think I can remember everything I've done for the last week, and I'm way too lazy to write out everything that I can think of, so your getting this post in point form.

Saturday: C's grandfather's memorial (very early day!), lazy day at home with C which included Wendy's, a nap and The Perfect Storm

Sunday: slept in, spend most of the day reading my book, showered and got ready for soccer, headache from hell, McDonald's, bath, bed

Monday: I worked late, and I was still recovering from above headache, so I spent most of the day in bed. I finished my book, worked customer service from 5 - 9, C picked me up and we spent the evening with my daddy, until my brother and his girlfriend came home

Tuesday: A typical day with B and K. Breakfast, t.v, N came over with baby B and we walked to the grocery store, as well as shoppers. I wanted to deposit a cheque I had but I forgot it at home, stopped for pizza with the girls and spend some time catching up with N. C picked me up at 5 and we went to his house for the evening

Wednesday: Same routine with the girls. Finished another book.

Thursday: I worked late again, but I actually tried to be productive during the day. I got some stuff done for school, including applying for my bus card, and looking up my book list. Went to work at 5, C picked me up at 9 and dropped me off at home, and I spent the evening scanning his baby pictures for our wedding slide show.

Friday: You can read about Friday here

Saturday: Today has been pretty quiet. I worked (of course). C and I have spent the evening on our computers (me pricing my books for school, and he's fixing his mom's computer)

This was actually pretty boring. My week has been relatively uneventful. Sorry!

Laziness

I'm not even going to try to make an excuse this time. I just haven't been motivated at all to blog.

I have been busy, busy searching for and scanning pictures for a slide show for the wedding. I have some adorable ones of baby C, that I'm trying to talk him into letting me post.

I'm starting to come down from summer, and realize that back to school is just around the corner. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Normally I'm super excited to go back to school (I'm a loser like that), I'm normally stir crazy after a couple of weeks, looking for something to occupy myself, but this year seems to be different. I don't know if my classes just aren't appealing to me, or if I've been on break for so long, I've forgotten what school is like. Really I think I'm nervous going into my last year. As soon as April comes I will actually need to find myself a real job. No more sleeping in until noon, time to grow up. Anyways enough about that, I again have some catching up to do. OH and this is my 100th post! (never, ever thought I would get here). I know most people do something creative to celebrate, but I'm just not that talented. Suggestions are welcome, anything you want me to write about? answer? whatever.

Day 22: A Website: I'm pretty boring. I have three websites, that I visit frequently, Facebook, blogger, and goodreads. Other than that I only look elsewhere for research, or if C tells me to go there.

Day 23: A Youtube video: Look above, I only go in youtube if someone sends me a link. My brother did show me this one yesterday which I thought was cute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee6ieYi7hkM
....I hope that worked

Day 24: I live in a city just outside of Toronto. I can't really say much about it other than that C and I have big plans to move. It's not what it used to be, and I'm actually a bit of a country girl at heart (although I would never give up my high heels and cute summer dresses for jeans and rubber boots). I would love to move to a small town, own a bunch of land and have a huge country house. With horses. And possible pigs because I think they are cute.

Day 25: My Day, in great detail: Are you sure you want to know? I woke up at 7 and got myself ready to go to my sisters to watch the girls. I got into a slight argument with my mom before I left the house (I won't get into it) and had to stop for gas on the way there. I'm not great at getting gas, in fact I pretty much hate it. I picked a shell station which I thought would be fairly easy to get in and out of, and pulled up to a pump, but my gas tank was on the wrong side. Fine, I move, and get to a pump that is pre pay only (this happens to me EVERY time. I swear pumps in which I can go in and pay don't exist anymore) Now I'm pretty annoyed, but I figure I will just put the gas on my debit card and keep the money my dad gave me. Fine. I enter the amount, wrong, so I had to cancel, which takes a lifetime. I finally get it all figured out, get my gas, and try to leave, finding out the the exits from said gas station are only one way.....going the WRONG way. Now I'm fully in a bad mood. I get to my sisters, and lay on the couch, hoping that B, who normally sleeps until about 9 will sleep in today because of the little sleep I had the night before. Nope. Today she decides that 7:50 is a great time to get up. I get both the girls and myself fed and dressed, talk to the bestest on MSN for a bit (she just bought a car! very excited for her) then head out with an old friend, N and newest addition baby B, for a walk to the bank. While out I decide to stop at McDonald's to get a drink for K and myself. We walk home, I say my goodbyes to N and baby B, get in the house, only to find out that I was given coke instead of Diet Coke I can't drink regular, I'm diabetic.) Not my day. I make lunch (mac and cheese) and put B down for a nap (not going to lie, I napped with her. Had a few fights with a 16 year old trapped in a 5 year olds body. Drove home, made dinner for C and I, watched Degrassi, and Say Yes to the Dress, while C fixed my computer which decided it no longer wanted to start about 3 this afternoon, and am now blogging, and getting ready to go home for the night. I've had better days.

And Finally, Favourite Fridays at Jen's blog

This one is probably over done, but I loved the shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella. I found the writing hilarious, especially the situations she got herself into. I could also really relate to her, because I can find any way to justify a purchase. I will literally talk myself into it, using the most ridiculous excuses imaginable.



Another one that I read recently was Marrying Up by Jackie Rose. I got this book for 5 dollars at Chapters, and was actually pretty word about it, but it turned out to be really good. It's about a girl who writes obituaries for a living, who decides to write her own as a therapeutic exercise. She decides from this that marrying rich is the way to solve her problems, which leads her on an hilarious journey with her best friend to find the perfect rich man, which of course leads her to the exact opposite.

I think that's enough for today.

Playing Catch Up.....

.....So after that weekend I obviously fell behind on my 30 Days of Blogging.

Day 18: My Future Wedding:

When I first got engaged my wedding involved this:

Casa Loma in Toronto. Beautiful venue, but way too ridiculous with the restrictions.

And this:

I haven't totally given up on this one yet, I'm working on C.

My actual wedding will be held here

The goal is to have a beautiful reception, filled with lots of flowers and candles. I will still have a slight princess theme and wear a poofy dress, and probably a tiara. Despite what a lot of my friends think, I don't want anything over the top. My wedding will be fairly big, but I want to keep it as simple and traditional as possible. For example, I don't want a 10 tier cake with a fountain and bridge. I more attracted to a simple three tiered cake with flowers and the traditional bride and groom sitting on top.

Day 19: A Talent of Yours:

I don't consider myself very talented. I used to dance (Jazz, ballet, musical theater, acro, lyrical) but I stopped when I was 13 so I don't think it counts as a talent anymore. I like photography, but I don't consider it a talent, more of a hobby.
I;m pretty good at remembering song lyrics and naming songs just from listening to the first few bars. I don't know how many people remember the show "Don't Forget the Lyrics" with Wayne Brady, but I used to watch it religiously and I was pretty good at it. C used to joke that he was going to put me on it, because I would win. So it's kind of odd, but I guess it can be considered a talent.

Day 20: A Hobby of Yours:

As mentioned above, I consider photography a hobby. I like it, but it's not something I would pursue professionally. I also like to scrapbook. I find it relaxing, and a good way to preserve memories. Most of the time I can't be bothered to drag out all of my stuff to do it, but when I do I always enjoy it.

Day 21: A Recipe:

I have covered many times on this blog my lack of cooking ability. I don't deny that I am hopeless in the kitchen, and that if it weren't for C, I probably wouldn't eat. One recipe that I did find, and that I do enjoy making when I feel motivated it Ranch Chicken. It's pretty easy (it has to be, if I'm going to do it)

You need:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Ranch dressing
Italian Bread Crumbs

Take the chicken and dip it in the Italian dressing, then roll it into the bread crumbs. Place the chicken on a tray (I would put tin foil down or they will probably stick)

Cook on 350, for about 45 minutes.

It so good and really easy. I normally make either scalloped potatoes, or rice to serve with it.

Weekend Updates and Injuries

What a weekend.....

Friday my sister, brother in law and I took these two monsters to wonderland for the day

The day was beautiful, and SO hot. We spend the day riding the rides


Playing the games, and winning toys




And painting faces


At 5:00, my mom picked up two very tired little girls, and C met us for some adult amusement park fun.


I used to live at Wonderland but I must admit it has been a long time since I have gone there and spent the whole day walking the park. Needless to say when I got home Friday night, I took a long hot bath, got a heating pad for my back, fell into bed feeling like death and repeating to myself over and over again that I am WAY too old for this crap.

Saturday was C's grandfather's memorial, so my alarm went off at about 6:40am (not a nice time on Saturday). So I drag myself out of bed, stand up......and almost fall flat on my face. Apparently while dragging myself around Wonderland the day before I managed to pull a muscle right behind my right knee, and I cannot put any weight on it....awesome. I managed to make it through the service (in heels) but I was finding that the pain was getting progressively worse as the day went on. We were supposed to attend a birthday party Saturday night, but the birthday girl decided to cancel. This was alright with me because not only was I exhausted, I also couldn't walk. So C and I grabbed dinner, went to his place to eat and took a four hour nap. We then woke up and watched The Perfect Storm (awesome movie) and he rubbed my leg, helping to work out a huge knot. I can know walk, with minimal pain, so whatever he did, it worked.

Yesterday we had a crazy day weather wise. It was hot and humid, and cloudy then sunny, very confusing. I have always suffered from headaches. Typically they are fine, and I can live with them without medication. Occasionally I will need to lie down for an hour, close my eyes and wait for them to go away. I woke up yesterday with a slight headache, but nothing to be concerned about. I spent most of the morning in bed, recovering from the past 2 days, and finally decided to move at about 4 to get ready to go to a pick up soccer game that was planned that evening. I still had the headache, but it wasn't nearly as bad as any headache I'd had before so I decided I was fine to go. About halfway through the game I was finding that that pain was getting worse and worse, and decided that I probably needed to eat something. At this point there was thunder and lightening, so we collected the boys from the field and headed to McDonald's. I got my food, and it seemed to help for maybe 10 minutes. Then I got the worst headache I have ever had in my life. I don't like using the word migraine, but I honestly think that what I was dealing with is what people who suffer from migraine's deal with. Every time I moved my head I had a wave of nausea, I thought I was going to pass out, and the slightest sound made pain shoot through my entire head. Not fun.

So all in all my weekend was fun, but painful. Hopefully next weekend goes better.

Day 17: An Art Piece

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm a person that is interested in Art.

I like photos. My room is covered with pictures of friends, family, my nieces, or C, but nothing artistic. I assume when I get my own house and have more walls to fill I will buy photographs of artistic scenes. I like landscape photos, things like beaches, forests, old cities, sunsets. Here are some examples:

*All photos were found through google. I do not claim to have taken any of them*

I think this is about as artistic as my walls will ever be.

I have a very busy weekend coming up. C and I are taking K and B to Wonderland tomorrow, then we have his grandfather's memorial and a birthday party on Saturday, plus soccer on Sunday, so busy, busy, busy. I'm hoping to keep up with my 30 days of blogging while all of this is going on.

I also managed to finally get out an see Charlie St. Cloud with a good friend on Tuesday. I read the book, and was less than impressed. I found the narration very sporadic, and confusing. Time jumped without any warning, and half the time I was questioning whether the characters were alive or dead. Overall I was pretty disappointed with the book. The movie was 10,000 times better (Zac Efron may or may not have had something to do with that). I found it really different from the book, but for once I thought it was a good thing. It flowed so much better, and just generally made more sense. I teared up several times, but you will recall from my list of 20 favourite things that I enjoy movies that make me cry, so this was a good thing. So for the first time in my life I am going to advise you to simply skip the book and just see the movie.

And I think I have gone on long enough for today.

Day 16- A Song That Makes You Cry (or nearly)

Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses.

This is a very popular father/daughter song at weddings, and I have yet to make it through the entire song without balling like a big baby (this includes hearing it in random places like the car, malls, my house.....). I can't explain why. It's just such an emotional songs.

I did have a much longer post planned for today (in which I would have mentioned a lot more songs that bring me to tears...I'm a emotional person) but I for some reason can't keep my eyes open for any longer today. I'm exhausted. So I'm going to pop a movie into my DVD player, climb into bed and will save all of my useless information for tomorrows post.

Until then!

Yet another fail....

I feel like I haven't been on blogger in a lifetime, and it's only been 3 days!

I missed a couple days of my 30 day blog challenge. I have no excuse other than the fact that life got away from me. We have had a busy weekend, which ended yesterday with a surprise 20th birthday party for my brother's girlfriend. So today will be spend playing catch up.

Day 13: A fictional book.

So seeing as I have talked about my favourite fictional books a few times on this blog, I figured I would use this topic to tell you about a fictional book I just finished reading.

Stolen is the second book in a series by Kelley Armstrong. I read the first book, Bitten, and had a hard time getting into it. I found a lot of it was character development and much of the action didn't take place until more then halfway. So I was bored for the first half, but once the action picked up I was hooked on at least giving the second book a chance.

Stolen was completely different and had me completely entranced by the first page. In Stolen, sole female warewolf, Elena, is captured and held hostage by a group of humans who are studying her for research purposes. While in captivity she meets many other kinds of people from the underworld, including witched, demons, shamans, and, of course, vampires. Stolen was filled with action, and kept you guessing about the fate of all of the main characters the whole way through. I have basically decided that these books are Twilight for adults. They deal with the same subject matter but are written in a much more mature manner, and deal with heavier subject matter. After reading Stolen I definitely recommend giving these books a shot.

Day 14: A Non-Fictional Book:

I have to admit that I don't read a lot of non-fiction. Most of what I have read has been because some teacher is making me in school, and I probably didn't pay as much attention to it as I could have. One that did stand out to me was was "The White Rose" which I had to read in my first year of university. This is the description of the book, which I took from Wikipedia:

a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator Adolf Hitler's regime. The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo (German secret police) and they were executed by decapitation in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke out of Germany through Scandinavia to the United Kingdom, and in July 1943 copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled "The Manifesto of the Students of Munich."

The novel "The White Rose" went into specific details about the capture and execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl, a brother and sister who were two of the six main members and who were both beheaded on the same day.

The White Rose is graphic, it offers a different perspective of Holocaust literature then we are used to, and it leaves a lasting impression on its reader.

Day 15: Your Dream House

This topic comes at a perfect time, seeing as C and I went for a long drive yesterday, on a hunt for some of his family history, which landed us on some country roads. One thing I love to do when driving in the country is to look at all of the houses, and yesterday I came across my perfect house. It had everything, and of course, it didn't occur to me to take a picture as my mouth his the car floor and I started to drool a little. So I figured I would describe some elements that my dream house must have (all of which this house did).

-I'm a white picket fence kind of girl, I think they are adorable.
-A Wrap around porch.

This house is actually pretty close to the one I saw yesterday. Isn't it beautiful??

-A balcony coming from the master bedroom:

A window seat

I am back to being officially caught up. Hopefully it stays this way!

Day 12 - Something you are OCD about

Do you have all day?

I like to consider myself borderline OCD. I have many, many, many things that cause me unnecessary stress and drive C nuts. So I'm just going to list a few things that immediately pop into my mind.

1) My books: I'm obsessive about my books. I'm careful with them. I don't like bent covers or pages. Loaning my books out is rather stressful because I never know how they are going to come back (I should show you what "The Time Travelers Wife" looked like when my sister gave it back....). When I'm finished with a book it goes straight onto my shelf.....which is in order by height. It took me hours, but it is now a favourite part of my room. I'm hoping for a new bookshelf for my birthday because mine is now too full, causing me to double the rows. This is greatly upsetting my OCD and it needs to be fixed.

2) My DVD's/CD's: I have a slight problem with lining things up, as C puts it. It makes me happy. So my DVD's are all arranged on my shelf in alphabetical order. Followed by my TV seasons (also alphabetical), then VHS (again, alphabetical). My CD's are also in their stand in alphabetical order. It's just so much easier to find things this way. C used to have his DVD's all over the place, until I also got a hold of his stand and fixed it too my liking. He doesn't keep his as pretty as mine. I've been noticing lately that things are a little messed up and will need to fi it shortly.

3) My pictures: This I completely admit is a problem. I take A LOT of pictures, and I am crazy about how they are organized. Pictures on my computer are renamed by date (year, month, day). event. People found in photo. They are then organized into separate files on my computer, based on who is in the photo (friends, family, C, K, B.....). I also get at least 75% of my photo's developed. They are then sorted and I decide which photo's I want in frames or to scrapbook and set those aside. The rest of the photo's go into an album. The album has to be one that has the lines on the side for me to write on. I write the date of the photo, the event and the people in it. Once a photo goes into an album, it does not come out under any circumstance. If I change my mind and decide that I do in fact want to frame said photo, I will develop a second copy (This doesn't happen often, I have my system down to a fine art).

4) My morning and bedtime schedule: I have a schedule. I know exactly how long it takes me to do everything, and any blip in this schedule is cause for a bad mood all day. I also have odd bedtime habits. Things like needing to have a drink of some sort on my bedside table, every night, even if I'm not thirsty and closing my closet door every night right before I get into bed. I cannot sleep with the door open. It's a childhood thing. C doesn't get it and I can't explain it, it's just the way it is. If I am in bed and the closet door is open, I will not be able to sleep until I get up and close the door.

I know there is more but a) I can't think of them right now and b) you probably really don't have all day, so I will stop here.

Hope everyone is having an excellent weekend!

Day 11 - A photo of you recently.

Today is much better.

This is the most recent picture of me and a couple of friends at a soccer game.

C and I at SM's wedding

Today is also Favourite Friday, over at Jen's blog. I realized I haven't played in a really long time, and need to get back into my regular blogging habits. Today's topic is favourite FRIENDS character.

I was a big Rachel Green fan. She was so cute, quirky and fashionable. I also loved the whole Rachel/Ross plot and always hoped they would end up together, which of course they did.

Head over to Jen's blog to play.

Day 10: A photo of you taken over 10 years ago

I can't believe I'm doing this.

I cropped my friends out of this picture because, be be honest, I'm not that cruel (you all can thank me later). 10 years ago was 14/15....and very awkward.

All I have to say is thank god for makeup, hair straighteners and a better fashion sense...

Wedding Wenesday's

I've decided to limit my wedding ramblings to a specific day.

First up: Continued centerpiece frustrations.

I finally found the perfect vases for my centerpieces. They are exactly the right size, look exactly how I envisioned them and were right in what I consider to be a perfect price range. Your wondering where I found these perfect vases right??

Believe it or not I found them at Walmart. Here they are:

They are absolutely perfect. So you would think the rest would be easy right? Just go over to Walmart purchase a large quantity of shown vases, and be done with this whole nightmare.....right??.....wrong!

of course they don't have nearly enough stock of any of the sizes. So I'm told I need to contact a specific lady in the morning to inquire about ordering the quantity that I need. Fine. I purchase one full set so I know exactly what I'm talking about when I call. I pick up the phone at 9 this morning and start calling. Apparently the people who work at Walmart don't believe in answering phones until 11.....I'm slightly annoyed at this point...but ok....at least they finally got around to answering. I get transferred to crafts and give the lady that answered the phone the name of the person I was instructed to speak with. Apparently this lady only works from 8-2 each day, and at 11 had stepped out for a couple of hours.....fine....I leave my name and number and a message for her to call me. It's now 3:30...do you think she has called....nope!!!!! Now I am downright pissed. I'm on the verge of returning the above set and taking my business elsewhere, where I may have to pay more money for the same thing, but will at least receive adequate customer service.

If I do end up keeping these sets, the plan is to put white calla lilies in the large and medium sized vases

And a Gerbera Daisey in the smallest vase.

This is where the other problem comes in because I am having a ridiculously hard time finding the exact shade of purple that I want.

I'm guessing the colour closest to the one I'm picturing is either the one in the top right, or the one that is second last on the bottom right. But honestly I'd probably be happy if they were a shade darker. My MOH and I also hit a florist yesterday to find out if I can even get Gerbera Daisies in that particular shade, and whether it would be cheaper to use silk flowers instead of fresh. I am currently also waiting for a phone call back about all of this.

Hopefully I will have all of this sorted out by next Wednesday so I can move on to bigger and better things.

Day 9: A Photo That I Took

I take a lot of pictures, so narrowing this one down was difficult.....But the winner is....


I took this picture at the cottage in 2008 (I like to take pictures of the lake). I like it because of the fluffy clouds, as well as the positioning of the canoe and paddles kind of make it look like a postcard.

A close runner up was this one from SM's wedding:

This happened during their first dance when SM's new hubby decided to dip her. I think the way that he is looking down at her is just adorable.

Day 8 - A photo that makes you sad/angry

Today has been a bit of a rough day as we found out early this morning that C's grandfather had passed away. I didn't know him all that well but C and him were pretty close, so it's a bit of a difficult time. My day 8 post is going to be short and sweet because there are other things to focus on right now. Hopefully I will still be able to keep this up in what is bound to be a crazy week.

Day 8: A photo that makes you sad/angry:

This is the last photo I have of my uncle before he passed away. It was taken Christmas 2007 (I was shocked to see it had been that long, it really feels like only yesterday). He died about 6 months later.

This man was truly the life of the party. He was never angry or in a bad mood, and always treated those around him even better then he himself would want to be treated. He was fun, loving and friendly to everyone, and I doubt I could find a person that knew him who would be able to utter a bad sentence about him. Even more so, I have learned in recent years that he was the glue that held our family together. He loved family, and did not tolerate hatred, and while he was alive family gatherings were a regular thing in which everyone enjoyed the company of those around them. I won't get into the details and air dirty family laundry, but life in my family has changed dramatically since his sudden death a big reason that pictures like this one upset me.

His expression in that photo describes him perfectly. Although the photo makes me sad because it is obvious that he was taken far too soon, it also makes me pleased to know that he was happy, and the same man that I knew and loved right to the very end.

I will miss you forever

RIP.

P.S I apologize for the ultra sappy post. Tomorrow I will try to be better.

Day 7: A Photo That Makes you Happy:

This one was hard. I love all of my photos.

I thought about using one of the girls, but it was impossible to narrow it down to one. Same with photo's of C and I. Or my family or friends. Then I thought of this one.....

This is probably the stupidest photo ever, but every time I see it, it makes me laugh.

The photo is of my brother, C and a good friend at the cottage last year. I will admit, the boys in this photo are slightly intoxicated, and for some reason found something (I can't remember what) so funny that they literally could not stop laughing. This scene probably went on for a good 15 minutes, and is probably my favourite cottage '09 memory. Pictures like this make me happy because they not only make me laugh every single time I come across it, but it also reminds me of the good, random times that I have with my friends whenever we get together.

C is downstairs on the phone fighting with the cell phone company, so I can take this time to do a weekend update.

Saturday we went to the drive in with some friends, because they were doing a long weekend special and showing three movies. We saw Grown ups, Salt and Karate Kid. Grown Ups was hilarious. Everyone should go and see this movie. It was not only funny (I mean it had Kevin James AND Adam Sandler...can't go wrong) it also had a really cute girly message to it about relationships and life in general. I found that it was funny but it also made you think.

We all already know my opinion about Salt, so I won't go there again.

We only ended up seeing half of Karate Kid, because C's battery decided to die after the second movie, causing us to call CAA to ger a boost, and making me terrified of turning the car off again, having it die....again...an being stranded at the drive in at 3am. From what I saw it was good, but no different from any other Karate Kid movie ever made. In my opinion it's a rental.

Sunday was spend recovering (I'm not a 3am kind of girl) and not doing much. Those are my favourite kinds of days. The most exciting part of Sunday was that Shark week started! I LOVE shark week. I watch it religiously, making sure I'm home by 8 so I don't miss a thing. Funny thing about this is that I am actually terrified of Sharks, so much so that I refuse to swim in any ocean. So I'm really just scaring myself, but whatever.

Today is technically a holiday in Canada. For those people who work regular 9-5 jobs, like C. For people like me on the other hand, who work a crappy retail job, we are open and expected to work. So I had to drag my butt to work at 8am this morning. But I'm home now, and planning an exciting evening filled with sharks, finishing my book, and fighting with cell phone companies.

Until next time!