The heat is (back) on!

So, we're totally brilliant. Before we left for Ontario and sent all the deposits off for the wedding stuff, we figured we'd put a couple extra bucks towards our utility bills so that we wouldn't be stuck out of money when we came back and it would save us some stress. Wrong.

It appears that we (I) paid one bill twice instead of putting an even amount on both our  power and gas bills. So we got back from the wedding and didn't really feel like going through the gigantic pile of mail that awaited. Plus, we have an equalized payment plan thing (or whatever it's called) so we know how much our bills will be and when they are due. No worries - la-dee-effing-dah.

Friday morning comes around - no hot water in the morning. My neighbor who's husband is away right now asked me to go over before going to work to watch her little baby while she showers. I figure I'll just go a bit early, shower there and ask Js to call CFHA this afternoon. It bugged me all day... what the shit could have possibly broken our hot water heater? It's really odd... Unless...? As soon as I get home, I rummage through the pile of mail and find three letters from the gas company notifying us that our account was past due. Damn it - damn it to hell!

Upon further online research, I find confirmation that :
A) I paid the wrong account.
B) They don't do reconnections over the weekend.
C) It's going to be minus one million degrees on Saturday night and Js is gone camping until Sunday.

Fail.

We got things figured out this morning and they were able to reconnect us on the same day. We're still out a couple hundred bucks but at least we won't have to worry about our electricity bill until next month. I think it's totally assbackwards NOT to call people or email or something. Please note I am aware that it's also assbackwards to pay the wrong bill. No need to rub it in.

We showered at our neighbor's house and wore hoodies feeling like total white trash all weekend. Ugh. Is that what they call married bliss?

PS: Also note that it's  August 31st and yes, our heat is on.

More pretty wedding-ness!

Last week, I posted some photos of our wedding from our friend Nick's Facebook album. It's been insane the amount of pictures that flowed through the interwebs since the wedding. I figured I'd share a bit more with everyone on here to keep you on the edge of your seat until we get our professional shots and can share them with the world. 

Worry not, if you hear a faint *squee* in the distance sometime next week, it's because we got the pictures. :)

As promised :

I highly enjoy this one simply for the look on Js' face. Relief? Whistling?

With my Mom and my Papa.

I really really like this picture Maggie's hubster got.

The last people standing - consists of pretty much my pretty peeps and my parents. :)

G'bye!

Most of those are from the Maggie Cam except the first one, I believe, which is from Js' cousin.

Food : "Pizza en Gumbies"

When we were little, Maggie's mom would make us "pizza en gumbies" and it was the most delicious thing. It's become a childhood staple and we still call it that every time we make it. I hadn't bought any in the longest time before moving to Saskatchewan because well, our oven was probably assembled by Mr Kenmore himself.

With the move out here, away from friends and family, nothing cures a homesick moi like a little taste from home. We started buying the kit to make "pizza en gumbies" as a once in a while thing but now, we always need a back stock of at least one box or Js fears for the future of humanity.

It should be noted that I've never actually made "pizza en gumbies" in it's traditional form for Js. We've always tried to make it a bit healthier by adding veggies and some lean pepperoni or something.

"Pizza en gumbies" is actually made with using only the ingredients provided in the kit. It has to be square and cut up in long rectangular shapes.
Like Gumby :

It sounds a bit lame but it's actually one of the best (and cheapest) comfort foods I can think of. I'll have to make some actual "Gumby Pizza" for Js and kick the whole "healthy" stuff eventually. I promise to blog about it when I do but until then, here's our latest chef d'oeuvre of home made pizza. Cheese stuffed crust with olives, onion, tomatoes, peppers, pepperoni and mozzarella.

*noms*

Crazy times!

These days have been crrrraaay-zay! Between getting back into the swing of things at work and Js organizing a camping trip for the unit - we've been running around like a bunch of headless chickens.

I just ordered about 100$ of labels and stuff online and I'm researching some hallowe'en recipes. Not sure if I should make the same delicious cake as last year or try my hand at something different.

I've been taking out my wedding-OCD on other random things around the house and it's going quite well.

Us : 1 - Wine Cabinet : 0

Over the last week and a bit, people keep asking me "How's married life treatin' ya?" or something to that effect and to be quite honest, I don't really know what to answer. Sure, there's some added romance in the air and all but aside from that, it's pretty much business as usual. We've been living together for so long, we have joint back accounts and all that grown up stuff. Doesn't leave much for some special treatin' from good old married life.

Tonight, tonight was different. Tonight, we build some Walmart furniture without screaming, throwing screws, breaking things or having to dismantle and start over because if misread instructions. Yes, ladies and gents - we have evolved as a couple! I felt like cheering, holding the teeny wine cabinet unit thing on top of my head like the Stanley cup and running laps around the Base.

It doesn't seem like much but it's EFFING huge for us. Me having control issues, OCDness and some pretty off the wall anxiety fits and him having pretty much the opposite of all of those - you'd think we just complete each other. That's now how it works at all. I want to organize my hair clips in order of size and color and he doesn't get why I need little storage components for each category. When we decided to start assembling, I'm going to be honest, I went looking for the paper bags. Not for my head - to breathe in. By the time I figured we were out (yeah - it's kinda bad) I turned around and there it was, our little wine cabinet thing. Mocking me.

Js' Dad said during his speech at the wedding :

...It's been great seeing them navigate the intricate process of planning a wedding, especially from a distance and to be quite honest, I have no idea how they managed it but they did. That says a lot about a couple and how they can work together through anything. At this point, they are almost ready to attempt putting up wallpaper together. That's when you know you have something solid.

That wine cabinet is our wallpaper.

CBC News - World - 100-km Chinese traffic jam enters Day 9

Yikes! I can hardly believe how these things happen. I complained about the traffic in Ottawa... read the article bellow and you'll think about it twice next time you're stuck in your car.

I wonder why most people haven't already abandoned their vehicle? If I stop and picture this happening in Toronto for a second, the city would be worried about how to move all the abandoned cars out of the way more than anything.

CBC News - World - 100-km Chinese traffic jam enters Day 9

If you were stuck in this traffic jam, who would you want to be traveling (or idling) with? What would you do - leave the car and run for the hills or wait it out?

Lost Season 6 - ALL MINE!

Guess what comes out in stores today... ... SQUEE!

All calls and emails will be returned when I'm done. Kinda like a cheap date.

Nick, if you get random texts during the evening, you'll know why. Kinda like a cheap date.

Va-va-va-vroom! OMG Shewwws!

My friend Lorrie is a finalist in a competition and needs your votes! She designed some fabulous shoes and I know you secretly want them :

Credits to Lorrie - Top 20 finalist in Upper Street design competition

If you believe these shoes are the most fabulous you've ever seen, here are the hot-steps to follow :

1. Go on Facebook.
2. Ignore all other notification - you're on a mission.
3. Look up "Upper Street" shoes or simply click here.
4. Fight the urge to tell me that you didn't have to follow steps 1 and 2 had you skipped ahead to step 3 and made your life much easier. Life's though like that.
5. Click the "LIKE" button on the top of the page because you have to like Upper Street shoes (who doesn't!) in order to help Lorrie out.
6. Check out the album AW10 Design Competition Top 20
7. Find Lorrie's design and click "LIKE!" because you obviously do.

 Voila, there's your good deed for the day!

Bachelorette on the loose!

It's a bit overdue but the photos are just finding their way on Facebook now. My fabulous, fabulous friends organized me the bestest best bachelorette party a girl could ask for the Saturday before the wedding. I wrote a bit about it here but I figured you would all enjoy some more pics and deets!

First things first, there was a surprise-shower part of it which family attended - more like the traditional wedding shower where we did funny games and ate cake. It was great to see family right the next day after my arrival in Ontario. We made some toilet-paper wedding gowns and I completed a "how well do you know your groom-to-be quiz".



When it was all over, I was kidnapped and decorated with balloons and some Bachelorette gear and forced to go downtown Ottawa for dinner and some good times (and by "times", I mean "drinks").





We headed out for dinner when I realized that I forgot my ID at Js' dad's house. LAME! My bridesman, Jf had been invited to join Js' bachelor party too so he knew where the guys were and when. We got a hold of them and asked Js to drop off the keys so I could go get my ID in case my "I got kidnapped this morning and I don't have my ID - plus, I'm old enough to get married you tool!" didn't work.When Js showed up at the restaurant, I truly enjoyed what I saw :

Js had a to-do list on the back of his t-shirt - pretty much all the boxes where checked by the end of the night.

The dinner went on with much fun, drinks and laughter. We made "male organs" out of napkins (just request it in a comment and I can post a tutorial), I got a t-shirt and some colorful gear to get noticed - and get free drinks - at the bar.

Yay!

The bunch at the restaurant - before things got soaked with alcohol.

Cheers to a great party with great people!

I made a wee-wee out of a napkin and my cousin got carried away.

Then, we hit the clubs - yes that's plural. We went a bunch of different places and finally settled on Whiskey bar. It was amazing how much fun we had - drama-free. Everyone got along and everyone was boozed up just enough not to care. It was nice to let loose and go nuts with my friends like when we were young (-er!! younger!!).

Throughout the evening, I kept thinking that it was awesome how Js was out with his buddies at the same time and kept hoping they were having as much fun as we were. I didn't worry for one second that he'd do something stupid or call me from jail asking me to come pick him up at 3am.

My party-party! :)

Love!

A picture of pure class.

That last picture is of one of my bridesmaid and me. If you look really closely, you'll see that she's holding a mickey of Malibu rum and I'm holding a shot glass. If you look at the photo again, you might notice that we are at an unnamed bar. Yes, throughout the night, she would not-so-discretely take out her bottle of rum and pour me a shot. Pure class! :)

Overall, it was an amazing night and official goodbye to Singlesville! :)

PS: All photo credits go to Maggie.

Back in the land of canola and kitty cuddles!

The title pretty much resumes our first day back in the prairies after our e.p.i.c. trip to Ontario to get wedding.

I slept pretty much the whole flight here. Note : Buy neck cushion for traveling. We got home, unpacked one of the suitcases as soon as Jack would allow it. We expected him to be in a pissy mood but he's been all purrs and cuddles like it's going out of style. Poor thing had never been left on his own this long before. We're picking up Nova from the kennel tomorrow morning.

After making the most delicious club sandwiches ever, I passed out drooling on the couch and slept until 8pm. I'm still kinda fuzzy on what time it is, what I should be doing and whether I should snooze on the couch or just go straight to bed. As much as we tried to rest and relax during our last couple days back home, we didn't. It's like all the stress accumulated over the last two weeks is finally catching up with us.

I promise to post more details of the wedding, photos and everything else that's going on right now soon enough.

It's so good to be home.

Wedding DIY Stuff

Now that the wedding preps and madness are over, I've decided to post some of the DIY stuff we put together to share ideas and stuff. We couldn't do as much as we wanted ourselves because we were planning from a distance but we tried really hard to give our special day a special, personal touch.

Here's what you've got to look forward to :

Invites : We made all our invites ourselves. We often wanted to just put our hand in the paper-slicer thingy-ma-bob just to end it all and have a good excuse to order them but we'd already started and it was too late (not to mention - too messy!). I'll post a short description and how-to plus some do's and don'ts.

Name tags : We half-DIY'd our name tags because my brilliant idea of sticking a teeny piece of paper into our printer was a bad, bad one. I'll show you a good way to get out of having to spend more money when you do something stooopid.

Seating Chart : We're also creating our own seating chart. Nothing too fabulous there but with the core of the project in Ottawa and all the pieces here with us in Moose Jaw, it'll make for an interesting read at least.

Favors : Maggie and I prepared some kick-butt ceremony favors together during Easter weekend.

Bathroom Baskets : Because our reception and ceremony are held at the same venue and we have many guests driving quite the distance to attend, we decided to offer them some freshening-up products.

I'm sure we'll need to improvise a ton of things when we finally get there and realize we forgot something important. Stay tuned for more! :)

Wedded!

Done.

I'm not really sure where to start and I'm still trying to take it all in and get used to being called something else that I have been for the last 26 years. It's still surreal but I wanted to share an update with y'all.

Everything went flawlessly. Everything was absolutely perfect. We weren't late - in fact, we were ahead of schedule for most of it. The weather was perfect, our vendors were fabulous, the food was amazing and the people were enjoying themselves.

There are already some pictures posted on FB but I'm anxious to see what our photographer captured of our day. I saw some teaser photos already (more on this later) and it all looked so magical! :)

Here are a few of my faves from our friend Nick's photos :

My Dad and I, walking down the isle.

Signing my life away.

Joel, myself and Nick - all smiles! :)

That's enough for now... ;)

Wedding Day!

Today, I'm getting married to the most wonderful man I know!

We both never could have imagined what we got ourselves into when we decided to go out for drinks after loosing touch for 4 years.

Now, here we are - getting married! Eeek! Have a special thought for us at 3pm EST and I promise to post pics as soon as I have them! :)


Obviously this entry was written days prior and scheduled to be posted today. I am not blogging on my wedding day... ... ... yet.

Wedding update : Hi, I'm a giant geek.

Seems like all I've been writing lately are wedding updates. I promise to try and spread them all over the next couple weeks so that I don't bore the living crap out of anyone. I've also been working on some scheduled posts for while I'm in Ontario getting ready for the big day so no one misses me too much. :)
Yes, I'm a giant geek like that. I should probably be thinking about what kind of flowers I want but no... no I worry about my blog while I'm gone.

Another and much much cooler reason why I'm a geek is that my blogging friend, Danielle will be attending our wedding. She's driving all the way from New York to meet us (yes, we've never met - added geekyness) and to celebrate our big day with us.

I am SO happy that she's coming to the wedding. There is a whole cocktail of people from different places coming so having her there will just solidify it all in knowing that there is someone there from each aspects/points in our lives.

We still can't believe that 100 people will care enough to attend our wedding - some coming from Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, New York and even some of our Moose Jaw friends will be there. Unreal.

Thegloss.com - Why men irritate me (and Nick)

Nick posted this to my Facebook wall a short bit ago and I thought it was quite ... ... ... interesting.

Source : Thegloss.com

Thegloss.com - Why I'd Be Offended If a Woman Didn't Take My Last Name

Snippet for your thoughts :

"Call me old fashioned. Call me traditional. Call me chauvinistic. Call me whatever you will, but don’t emasculate me. Leave my manliness in tact.

I do understand that for centuries women have struggled in a patriarchal society and that the last name is one of the final fronts. But please understand our plight. This isn’t about establishing a hierarchy in the relationship or taking possession of you. As deeply rooted as it is in our societal traditions, it is even more so in the man’s bible. It is a privilege for a man to take a woman’s hand in marriage, and an even greater honor of offering our family name as a token of our undying devotion. Arguably more so than a ring.

If you’re going to nag us about wearing our band during pick-up games and not leaving it by the bathroom sink after we wash our hands, then please remember to take our surname with you on your girls’ night out."

Source : Thegloss.com

My first instinct was to feel frustrated but the more I think about it, I pity the fool. How sad to feel the need to, like a little puppy, pee in every corner because it's his only way for him to keep what's "his". I hope you enjoy the single life, pal!

Here are more thoughts on last-name-changing practices I've blogged about in the past :

• Offbeat Bride - How are you judged for your last name choice?
• My decision making process - A rose by any other name...
• I also blogged about my decision to get a tattoo to reflect my maiden name and then flashed some newly inked skin.

Thoughts?

Lookism: OK If It's at the Hands of a Multinational Corporation | Bitch Magazine

Interesting article found on Bitch Mag's website :

Lookism: OK If It's at the Hands of a Multinational Corporation | Bitch Magazine

Snippet for your thoughts :

The fact that both AA and Abercrombie have lookist hiring practices isn't all that surprising. Certainly, on the notoriety level of poorly-made over-priced clothing both companies, though they target different markets, are some of the easiest targets. AA has been in the blogosphere time and again for its creepy sexual predator of a boss (among other things!), and Abercrombie has irked middle-class parents with its soft-core porn advertising for more than a decade.

Source : Bitchmagazine.org

Thoughts?

Good times grooOOoow in Ontario!

Yes, we're in Ontario now. It makes the wedding seem oh-so-friggen close and then we realize that it actually is oh-so-friggen close and the panic sets in.

We both had an AMAZING day yesterday. Our fabulous friends planned our Bachelor and Bachelorette parties perfectly. Everything was epic and turned out great. I will post more pictures as more make their way to Facebook. I was pretty much kidnapped so I didn't have my camera on me. I was able to take a couple with my camera phone but there are bad, bad, fuzzy pictures I drunkenly took of random things. Right on!

I sustained only one minor injury as we stumbled through downtown Ottawa in search of every bar who'd have us. I only noticed this morning when I took a loofa to my elbow that it was scrapped and it stung like the devil's pee.

Js has been sleeping since 4:30pm, it's 6pm now. It's given me the opportunity to show my step-mother-in-law (SMIL) my gown and such and catch up on some blogging/reading. The flight over here was okay a bit long but overall good. I'm still trying to get used to the time change - that should settle over the next day.

I should probably get some rest too... this week is going to be astronomically stressfull. Ugh.

Hemerocalis - Denialily

Oh my, what's this? A pretty flower? A pretty flower that bloomed from a patch of grass?! Well that's impossible, silly silly girl!

I promised I'd post a picture and I'm sure you all feel like cheering right now. Please do, I'll take a little pause.





Thanks to Basinah who identified the type of plant as hemerocalis or daylily, this plant is now called our Denialily plants.

They are actually quite interesting. They open up in the morning and close up at night so every time I step outside the house, I check on them and they're always different.

I win.

Wedding and blogging and hoping and praying...

Today, we're leaving for Ontario. We've been planning for this trip for over a year and it's finally happening. We're traveling back home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends. It's been a fun ride planning and it's almost - but not just quite - over yet!

I'm writing this post weeks in advance because I know it will be a crazy time for me and if I do post anything at all at this point, it'll be incoherent mumbles of madness. Don't mind if I do!

As you already probably guessed, my blogging will have to take the back seat for a couple weeks so that I can get my weddin' on! Most posts that will be published over the next little while - unless otherwise specified or obviously messy and unreasonable - will have been written in advance and scheduled for posting during this little hiatus.

I didn't want anyone to get bored or miss me too much or anything... Don't cry, I'll be back soon and I'm sure I'll have TONS to blog/rant/vent/bitch/cry/ramble about! :)

Wedding Stuff : SINGLE DIGITS! *meltdown*

I just realized we are officially counting down in single digits as of today.

Now, I need to get back to my procrastinating. We're just leaving tomorrow morning... there's still plenty of time!!

Denial Grass FTW!

I win. I win. I win.

My Denial Grass has grown some little buds of some kind. That's right, it's not grass. It's a plant. FACE!

Not the clearest picture ever.
Not the most useful caption ever either.

As you can see in the small picture (you can click on it to see it bigger) there's a stem with a couple buds of something just waiting for a couple more sunny days to enlighten us with their floral blooms.

I can't friggen wait. I let out a very loud "SNAH!" when I discovered them and Js followed with a whisper "Well, would you look at that..." of disbelief. Yes, would you look at that indeed! And there's not just the one stem mocking him, there's like two or three. Oh the happy dances that ensued.

When our friends came for a visit, it was the very first thing I told them when they stepped outside "Lookit! Lookit! It's not grass! It's not just damn grass!" and I almost forgot to post a blog update but Whitney was nice enough to remind me. ;)

SK Bugs - ew!

We discovered last year that the convenience and privacy of having your home right by a huge empty field comes with a couple not-so-great details. Aside from the massive snow drifts that take over our front yard and drive way, aside from the very strong winds, aside from having random dogs decide to jump the fence and come poop or play in our yard we have also noticed an in-sa-ne amount of weird bugs.

The most disgusting of them all have been the spiders that seem to live in the siding of the house. There's also a smaller very determined one that lives in the car's side view mirror. Everywhere we go, it's there even though we destroy it's web daily.

Last year, we found a huge muttereffer outside our bathroom window. I tried to get a good photo of it but it to send to Nick was too dark outside.  Anyways, when Js squished it (manly man-ness!) it esssploded of orange-yellow ooze all over. We think our yard is a spider breeding party.

That's a picture I took, for Nick again, of this year's mother-load of a spider and luckily, she built her cozy trap of doom right by the patio light. We haven't been able to squish it yet but I suspect her gigantic booty is just as gross and as explosive as the other one.

You're welcome, Nick!