Weekend Recap!

What a busy, busy weekend!

But it's ok because this is a short week. Chris and I are only working until Wednesday and then taking off for a long weekend. We aren't going anywhere but there are big plans for sleeping in and tackling that wedding checklist with a vengeance. I can't wait.

My weekend started bright and early on Saturday when my mommy and I plus s0me girlfriends headed to Niagara for a girls shopping day.

It was a beautiful day for outlet shopping, not too hot and not too cold. I apparently was not in a shopping mood because I barely spent anything (extremely unlike me).

I did manage to pick up a cute photo frame from Stokes to put on my signing table

Mine is black and slightly larger than this one. And really inexpensive! I only paid 7.99, which is amazing.

After we shopped ourselves out we headed back home and met the fiance at East Side Mario's for dinner. I also should add that Saturday was the 6 month mark for our wedding day!

It's crazy how fast time is flying! I remember when we set the date almost 3 years ago and I was so mad because I was out voted and had to wait what seemed like forever to walk down the aisle. And now I will be doing it in 6 months!

Sunday also started early with a trip to Costco.

I could spend a fortune in that store. I think I was in there for about 5 minutes and had a list of 10 things I wanted.

I behaved and only walked out with two books and a Christmas present! I'm loving the fact that I started early this year. My goal is to not be running out Christmas Eve for one last gift. I'm going to get it done early!

We spent the rest of the day visiting family, watching football and doing a mini photo shoot.

How cute is my baby?!?!

I also ordered my Christmas cards! I ended up using Costco because of their location and prices. It was so easy. I literally uploaded photo's, attached them to the card, wrote a little message and they were done. I'm getting 50 cards for 15.00 which is perfect and I can pick them up as early as today. Super convenient which is exactly what I need in my life right now. I'm feeling very accomplished that I actually got off my butt and did it this year. I have been swearing to send them for years and it just hasn't happened.

I can't wait to get them. I will post pictures as soon as I hear that people have started to receive them because there are people on my list that read this blog and we can't ruin the surprise!

Mrs. Hangers

I'm absolutely in love with these


I have seen them in a few places while wedding planning and I really, really want one. The problem is they aren't exactly cheap.

So, me being all ambitious figured I would Google how to do it myself.

I should add a disclaimer at this point. I'm not what you would call a do it yourselfer. I much prefer someone to do it for me. I start out all ambitious and then it doesn't turn out quite how I imagined which causes disappointment and eventual quitting.

BUT I really want one. And from what I hear they are actually pretty easy to do, so I'm thinking I might give it a shot (I'm sure this is going to provide hours of amusement for Chris).

Did you have a name hanger? Did you make it? Was it hard?

Wedding Wednesday: Cake!

First of all, I apologize for the lack of blogging lately! I feel like I only post on Wednesday's. I have a million drafts of posts that I start and then give up on halfway through.

Lots to talk about, but too much going on to actually finish a complete post.

This week I actually made progress on my cake!

I should start talking about my cake lady. After much debate, Chris and I decided to go with a family friend to make our cake. She has recently started a cake business, he cakes taste amazing, and to be honest, her prices are a million times better than anywhere else we have looked. The cake it not hugely important to me. I want one, but it doesn't need to be 18 tiers with special filling and a fountain.

I'm very indecisive (you have probably picked up on that through this wedding planning experience), so I was having a really hard time deciding if I wanted an actual cake at the wedding, or cupcakes.

When we first got engaged I wanted a cake. I wanted to have something that I could put a topper on and cut.

Last year we went to three weddings and the cake got cut only once. Two out of the three couples ended up taking their entire cake home because the venue either a) forgot to cut and serve it or b) ran dinner too long so it just never happened.

After thinking that through I started to lean towards cupcakes. They are cute and super easy because people can help themselves. I figured we would still have extras but at least I wouldn't be forced to eat an entire three tier cake just so that I didn't feel wasteful.

I was still on the fence because I figured cupcakes would be way more work and therefore way more expensive. I was not willing to go over budget on the cake, it's just not worth it to me.

I also wanted something to cut.

After about a million e-mails between me and my cake person, we have finally narrowed it down.

I'm going for something similar to this:

This way I can have the top portion to put my topper as well as do the cake cutting ceremony. It will be decorated with blue and silver gerber's just to give it a little extra something.

The flavours will be chocolate with vanilla icing and vanilla with vanilla icing (I'm boring, I know) and she will be using blue and sliver cake dust (matching my colours of course) to help guests know which is which.

And to top it all off it will only be 25.00 more than a regular three tiered cake!

I'm very pleased that this is crossed off the list, that my guests will get cake and that Chris and I will not be eating it for the rest of our married lives!

Wedding Wednesday: To Do List

Since nothing significant has happened in the world of my wedding since last week, I figured I could use this week's wedding Wednesday to tell you about some of the things on my to do list. Maybe writing it down will motivate me to actually do some of it!

* LIMO, LIMO, LIMO: I seriously need to get on this one or I'm going to be walking to the church on my wedding day. No I still haven't made the decision between the party bus or the old car. Maybe if I got off of my behind and called for quotes this would become an easy decision.

* Invitations: I'm on the fence between being ambitious and doing it myself or being lazy and getting them done. Either way a decision needs to be made and soon.

* Favours: I know what I want. I know where to get them. I just need to order and pick them up. Who knew this would be such a problem

* Tuxes: Yeah this would be another must. My bridesmaids have dresses but at the moment the groomsmen are going naked. It's not like this is even difficult. It's just a matter of dragging our butts over there and making some choices.

* Alterations: Due to some dress drama (trust me, you don't want to know) I need to find someone else to alter the girls dresses. We are picking the dresses up on Tuesday so I have time.... right?

* Guestbook: We have our engagement photo's. I have pretty much decided on using Shutterfly to make it. Now I just need to DO it.

Like my shameless excuse to post another engagement picture???

Bachelorette Weekend: I want to go away with my bridesmaid and a select few of my favourite girls for a bachelorette weekend. Since I have had a recent MOH change, and the bestest has had a lot dumped on her, I am having a heavy hand in planning this little trip. So I need to find a place to stay, decide on a weekend and nail down a few other little details. Then my MOH and bridesmaids can go crazy.

Bridal Party Gifts: I have some idea's. Kinda.

Yeah this really didn't help.....and I'm sure this isn't even half of it. Cue Panic mode.

Some Friday Randoms

Seriously TGIF! This week has been brutal. I'm tired. And cranky. And just not good. Bring on the weekend!

The fact the I am having such a long, tough week is making me feel very old. Apparently I cannot party like I used to.

Another thing that makes me feel very old is the fact that I have spent this whole week looking forward to the weekend because we had no plans. Yup. I was highly anticipating two wonderful days filled with sweat pants, sweaters, the PVR and bed.

Unfortunately this is not going to happen because we all of a sudden have two birthday parties to attend and a movie date set up with friends. I don't know how this happened. Maybe next weekend.

I have a serious addiction to eating the Halloween candy. I don't know what it is about making chocolate bite sized that makes it so appealing. It's not like I'm eating less. In fact, I'm probably eating about twice as much. Seeing as my dress is coming in ANY day, this is really not a good time to go on an adorable mini chocolate eating binge.

Now that Halloween is over, my holiday gets to start. I'm ready to break out all of my Christmas stuff (I just need to find room). I have Christmas scented candles burning (Peppermint Snow...Yum!). The stores are breaking out all of their Christmas decorations, I have seen a few Christmas themed commercials and I'm already thinking about presents. For me, Christmas starts November 1st. I absolutely love everything about it.

Since getting my engagement pictures done I have been looking into photo guest books to display at the wedding. I want a book that will display both sets of our engagement pictures as well as leaving space for guests to sign. Problem? There are so many options! Shutterfly (Do they even ship to Canada?) Vistaprint? Costco? Walmart? (Quality....?) I just don't know. Did you make your own guest book? Who did you use???

On a similar note, I'm seriously considering doing Christmas cards this year (I know I say this every year....but THIS year I'm serious.) Same issue as above. Who do I use? Shutterfly? Vistaprint? Walmart? If I do them, I want them to look good.

Happy Friday everyone!

Wedding Wednesday: Lessons

When Chris and I got engaged almost three years ago I pretty much had my bridal party decided. I have three friends that have been like sisters to me since grade 9, so they were obvious picks. Chris' sister and my brother's girlfriend and I have gotten pretty close over they years so I knew I wanted them involved. And of course I wanted my big sister right beside me as my MOH.

My sister is ten years older than me but we have always been really, really close (I intended to have cute baby pictures posted here, but my scanner was being a large pain in the you know where, so I'm settling with those that I found on my computer)

Looking back through my childhood she has always supported me through any step I tried to take. Granted, being 10 years younger I'm sure there are times when I drove her absolutely crazy (stealing her clothes on a constant basis comes to mind) she was always right there when I needed her to be

I was her Maid of Honour when she got married to my brother in law 10 years ago, and it was always known that she would be returning the favour when that day came for me. I honestly think I was engaged for less than 24 hours when I officially asked her.

Probably the biggest lesson that planning a wedding has taught me is that absolutely nothing is perfect. When I first set out on this adventure I was convinced that by giving myself lots of time and micro managing every single detail that absolutely nothing would go wrong.

At this point SO many things have needed to be adjusted or changed, steering me away from my original plan and making me shift directions. Every time this lesson gets driven in just a tiny bit further....and it is now officially pushed as far as it can because......

.....my sister, and MOH, is 8 weeks pregnant!

Her official due date is June 4th, but because she had so many complications with Miss B. she will need to have a planned C Section, and from the sounds of it they want her to go 2 weeks early, which puts her right around my wedding day.

So this has forced her to drop out of my wedding.

Adjustments.

You have heard me talk about my bestest before, and how absolutely amazing she is.

We met the first day of grade 9 and connected pretty quickly over our mutual love of this boy

Over the course of our friendship we have survived 4 years of highschool

College

University

She's now almost finished teachers college and I could not be more proud of her!

There have been parties



Weddings

Broken hearts, stupid boys, arguments, experiences and far too much laughter.


I could honestly go on and on and on. She's the kind of girl who is always only a phone call away with ice cream, a girly movie and the ability to call whoever it is an asshole and take my side just because I need her to.

She is also the kind of girl who is willing to take on the responsibilities of MOH, including a shower, bachelorette and anything else that is required of her with only 7 months notice without batting an eyelash.

She is essentially another sister, and we have probably been through more together than some sisters have.

All of my friends and family expected me to flip when I found out that my big sister and MOH was pregnant. Like I said I have learned that weddings are about adjustments. My sister has already given me two absolutely beautiful nieces that I would give the world for. She is having a baby and there is no way I can be upset about that. If it means that she will be sitting behind me on my wedding day taking good care of my future niece or nephew then so be it.

Lucky for me I have an awesome best friend who can take over and who I know will do an amazing job.

So to my bestest... Thank you so much for stepping in. You know I love you and I could not be happier that you will be standing right behind me, supporting Chris and I on the most important day of our lives.

Tasty Tuesday's - Chili!

Remember last week when I told you I had Chili cooking in my slow cooker??? Well this week I thought I would share the recipe with you.

I subscribed to a site where they e-mail me a different recipe everyday because, let's face it, I'm working hard to embrace this whole cooking thing, but I'm never going to be the kind of girl who can look in the pantry and make something magical with the things that I randomly have in there.

A couple of months ago they sent me this:

Quick Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 5 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans with liquid
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with liquid
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute the ground beef for 5 to 10 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a slow cooker. Then add the onion, green bell peppers, beans and tomatoes to the slow cooker. Season with chili powder to taste. Cook on high setting for 4 hours, or until all vegetables are tender.

*NOTE* I totally suck at taking pictures while I cook. In my defense, I was doing around 15 things at once and taking pictures was not at the top of my list. I'll do better next time.

I made a few adjustments. Instead of 5 cans of kidney beans, I went with a 5 blend of chili beans. I just thought that 5 cans of kidney beans was a bit much.

I also used onion powder instead of chopped onions. The boy has a large aversion to onions, so if he saw or tasted any it would have been over. I'm not taking that chance so a dash of onion powder was used instead.

It turned out really good and it was super easy. It was my first time ever using the slow cooker and I must say I'm a fan of throwing everything into one giant pot, turning it on and letting it essentially cook itself. Definitely my kind of cooking.

I will suggest that of you like your chili really thick to either cut the cans of beans to three, or use a thicker blend.

Enjoy!