Today the vast majority of our group was going into town. I was late coming down to breakfast and both surprised and happy to discover that Chris had told them we were planning to stick around the resort; I figured he'd want to go. But I was really exhausted and honestly didn't want to do much more than find a chair at the pool and hide, so kinda grateful everyone else was disappearing. Jen decided it was our girls' day together -- it's sad how little time we've actually had to spend together :( She lives in France, so I don't get to see her nearly enough, and then flew all the way to CR to help me get married and I *still* didn't really get to spend time with her. So she claimed the day and we found a spot at the pool. C dropped by every once in a while to visit, and I spent pretty much the whole morning there -- it was wonderful.
Then in the afternoon, the plan was the same, but Jen realized how many stupid little things were still on my to-do list for the wedding and promptly took it over. Which was awesome and such a relief, but again completely detracted from our time together. Booo. In all her running around, she arranged for Chris and I to go have a massage on the beach. Sweet. I've only had one massage before, and it was more painful than pleasant, but figured at least it was time we could have alone together.
It was absolutely amazing. Turns out a massage for relaxation is a whole different game than one to fix problems. And way at the end of the beach, so all you could hear was the waves crashing. So nice and relaxing and wonderful. About half way through my brain even stopped spinning. It was so exactly what I needed.
Does it get any closer to paradise?
After the massage we went for a walk away from the resort. Past the locals' area of the beach and up a little road leading to the Monkey Bar. We didn't go for the bar, we went for the monkeys that frequent it. Yup, I finally got to see and watch monkeys in the wild. So awesome. And so much fun. So by the time we went back, I was recharged and feeling much better.
My first monkey!
We also found a place to rent horses on the walk back. Hopefully we'll get to do that later this week. Played in the water a bit, but the undertow was stronger than I was comfortable with, so I retreated to a beach chair and watched Chris play instead. Highly entertaining :)
Chris being swept away... And not by me ;-P
We had first dinner on our own at the sushi restaurant and then joined the group for second dinner at the main restaurant. All the parents (and aunts, uncles, etc) on both sides had disappeared to a la carte restaurants, so it was just the "kids" at dinner. I love that we still qualify to sit at the kids table :) We were there for a few hours; the fun of this resort is nobody seems to care how long you hog a table (or multiple tables). We just kept adding more tables as more people appeared.
So the day ended significantly better than it began. I can't believe I'm getting married tomorrow! And it makes me very happy and somewhat reassured to see how very excited Chris is about it too :) That has to be a good sign *g*
Got up this morn and went scuba diving with Chris, his uncle Dave, and cousin John. Was really nice to have time to get to know the guys and diving itself was so much fun!
The rock we swam around
About a 15 min boat ride to the site -- fortunately very calm waters. We found ourselves at a giant rock we were going to circle around. Our group was us and 8 Belgians. So we had our own guide just for us ;) I was a little stressed -- I *really* don't like masks. Jumped in first so I could have time to acclimatize myself, but sure enough found myself hyperventilating *sigh* Definitely not a good start. Had my breathing under control by the time the guys came in, but was having trouble getting down. Not good. And it was Chris' first *real* dive (sorry hon - pond in Ontario just doesn’t count!) so I really didn't want to hold them back with my silliness. I was disappointed in myself, figured I'd bop around the boat for a bit and hopefully manage the next dive. But the guide came back. He literally held my hand until we were down and I'd calmed down. Thanks to him spending that 10 or 15 mins with me, I got to really enjoy the dive. The colours weren't anything compared to what I've seen elsewhere, but the quantity! Wow. HUGE schools of fish -- just amazing to swim with. As C said, so many you expect to turn and see the shark chasing them. He ran out of air fairly quickly, so the guide took him back up, and I rejoined the others. Numerous sting and manta rays, all the types of fish ;) Really cool. It was a rock rather than a reef, so no exciting coral or colours, but a really nice swim with a good variety of critters. Got down a little below 80ft. I was impressed how much we could still see. Most of the diving I've done has been reef diving in the 30-40' range. The couple deeper ones were so dark I found them uninteresting. But this wasn't -- I hardly noticed the depth. I was also happy to discover I still had lots of air left when the other guide signaled us all to start going up. In the past any time I've been under, I've run out of air a lot faster than anybody else, so this was awesome.
All the pics are credit to Chris -- Ieft my camera on the boat. We came up, moved a few feet, rested for a while, and then dove again. Same concept, different rock. I'd say here there were even *more* fish! And I was over my temporary insanity, so able to go down with everybody np. Super happy I *still* managed to end with more air than most. Awesome.
On return had lunch and hung out by the pool for a bit, but I was wiped. Eventually gave up and returned to my room. A nap and some time with my book and I felt human again in time for dinner. Dinner was Italian, with a decent sized group. Ran into Aileen while we were waiting and convinced her to get the girls (Kerri, Em and Jen) to join us too which was super nice. Ended up with one person more than seats -- this was far more difficult to resolve than it should've been; our maitre d' was one of the few non-service-oriented staff I've seen. Ugh. Finally convinced him to let us put a chair at the end of the table. I mean really? Was that all that hard? In the end though had ridiculously tasty lasagna -- that, or I was *really* hungry. Both are plausible options ;) Moved to desert at the buffet and socialized there for a bit before turning in early. I wish I could go to bed so consistently early at home! Would make life so much easier :) Clearly I need to relocate.
Just got back from today's excursion and it was AMAZING!!!! OMG so much fun!
We booked this one before we left -- there were a few things Chris and I wanted included all in one tour, and while the resort ones came close, they all missed one piece or another. So our travel goddess did her thing and volia -- private tour for our group that included all the pieces. Amazing.
Early start -- breakfast at 7. Booo. Esp not fun as I wasn't feeling well last night -- I suspect dehydrated. Ugh. But it meant I was up before wake-up call anyways. We had quite the list of items to bring and the bus showed up on time. Two busses, mercifully smaller than the one from the airport and with big windows so my hopes of making it without getting motion sick went up exponentially. That was also improved with the random drugs Jen gave me ;) There were more than 30 of us on the trip -- awesome turnout. We filled both buses.
The drive was good. It's a gorgeous country. Our guide had a think enough accent that I had to pay attention, but he had interesting stuff to share. Less good about preparing us for what to bring on each phase of the trip, but nbd ;)
The first stop was ziplining. Debbie and Em opted out of this portion, but the rest were in. We hiked to the first platform. Saw a toucan on the way -- the guides were really good about looking for critters and pointing out what they saw. The trail was a well marked and had mesh over anything that might be slippery. Really nice walk.
At the first platform we got instructions and gear and were good to go. The guide took Chris' and my cameras -- between them, I'm pretty sure they got at least one photo of everybody, which was amazing! The first line was short and had a very gentle slope -- a really great start. Immediately upon landing, you were hooked onto the second line -- equally easy -- for another run. So much fun! At the end of that one we waited for everybody before climbing another short trail and a flight of stairs to the start of the main run.
Wheeeeeee
Following was a series of varying lengths and speeds. So much fun. One let two people go together -- I was slightly disappointed of the pic of C and I though as we were as far apart from one another as you could get. Sheesh. Far too independent ;-P The last one was the longest and so much fun. Only thing I was disappointed at was that when I let go and spread my arms out, I slowed down. Booo. So had to do the trip curled up in a tight ball to get some speed!
The final run
After ziplining we were all given a bottle of water. Some of the guys were joking with the guards in an effort to get cerveza instead. No, don't have any. As we pulled out, the guides saluted with their beers :) hahhaha well I found it amusing anyways. A short drive took us past stunning volcanic views to lunch. This was absolutely my favourite meal of the trip. Whatever they did to my chicken made it super tasty :) C's a food snob, and he definitely liked other stuff better, but for me, this was awesome. So good.
All kinds of full, it was time for more activity. Blah. Where was the siesta part of the day??? We were split into two groups here, based on which bus we were in. The other group got on a wagon and was pulled by a tractor off for their hike, while we loaded up on the bus again for a short drive to where the horses were.
I was pleasantly surprised at the healthy condition of the horses. And really impressed that almost everybody, even those we know have a reasonably seriously caution around horses, gave it a go. There were several I wasn't expecting to ride, but all of my family and most of Chris' did. Chris' dad even rode twice, catching a second ride with the return group later :)
Go Dad!
Robin seemed to take to the whole riding idea :)
So I was goofing around taking pictures of all the people I never expected to see on horseback, when I realized Adriana and Chris were at the front of the line and about to book it. Given the swat the guides gave their horses as they passed, clearly they were doing so with at least a degree of permission. So Jen and I quickly took off after them :) I looked back to make sure none of the other ponies were reacting to this and it was all good, so off we went! Adriana lost her hat, which Jen quickly hopped off to retrieve, and then it was game on, galloping up the face of the volcano. OMG So. Much. Fun. My little pony didn't have a ton of speed, but all the heart. Jen's was much faster, but ran out of steam half way, so she had to walk the rest. Chris and Adriana had a good head start on us, and while my horse tried valiantly, there was no way we were closing that gap. It was an awful lot of fun though. AND - my horse was gaited! How awesome is that?!? Had at least two super-smooth gaits I've never ridden before. The running walk, which I've now decided all horses should do *g* And something between a trot and a canter that I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on. His trot, however, was absolutely atrocious. Ugh, the worst! But hey, when you have the other options, who needs to trot?
We stopped at the top of the mountain -- the tractor was there and the path split so it seemed a logical choice. The horses parked themselves in what's obviously their usual stopping place. One of the guides caught up a few seconds later with a huge grin on his face -- I'm guessing they don't get to do that trail at a mad gallop very often ;) We hung out for a bit and took pics till the others arrived.
After our mad dash up the volcano
From the horses, we went through a little gap in the trees and followed a trail to some waterfalls. Very stunning. The trail traversed a reasonably impressive suspension bridge -- amazing view! Took some pics and hung out by the waterfall for a bit before we went back down. I was surprised the other group hadn't left on the horses yet -- apparently there was another trail. We were warned it had a larger suspension bridge, so a couple people opted out of that one and chose to hang out by the tractor instead. Chris, Adriana, Jen and I were all right at the front of the line, so I wasn't entirely aware of who was doing what at that point. This bridge was, as advertised, significantly more impressive with even more incredible views. Unfortunately it was also windy -- I wasn't comfortable enough to let go and take pictures! So that view lives only in my memory. All the more reason for you to go visit yourself ;)
This trail lead us to the type of waterfall you only see in travel brochures. Splashing into a calm swimming hole, surrounded by rocks. Absolutely stunning.
The platform the trail lead to was part way down the waterfall. AND from this one, we could jump in! I have no idea how high we were. Someone said 20', but of course that promptly got argued both up and down by various parties. High enough ;) So Chris did it, of course. And Adriana was waivering, so I convinced her to as well. And in doing so, realized all the arguments I used for her applied to me too ;) So in front of my entire family I stripped to my underwear and leapt off a cliff *g* Of our group the only other person to join the game was Jen -- she actually went right ahead of me, when I told her to either jump or get out of the way. Bahahah I know from past experience when I'm about to do something stupid I have about 30 seconds to actually do it before the rational part of my brain kicks in and stops it. You know, the part that says I don't swim very well and Chris (who'd climbed back up by then) had just mentioned the reasonably strong current. Hahahha ah well, I swam well enough and Jen waited at the bottom to make sure I made it. Neither of us had any faith in the rather dodgy safety tire the guide had up on his platform ;-P What a rush! It was amazing!
Chris' flying leap
Mum's comment took it though: "should I tell you you're jumping off another cliff on Monday?" bahaha - yeah well, as long as Chris and I do it together, it's all good.
We took the tractor wagon back down the mountain (I was glad we got wet *after* riding! Also glad we rode up the mountain -- down was apparently a sedate walk). And it was off for a short walk around the volcano crater and the bubbling mud.
Crater Walk
After the hike it was a combination of sauna, mud bath, shower in the explicit showers, and then relax in the hot tub. I'm not sure any of that but the hot tub really appealed to me, but I was there, may as well play. There were also critters around -- Costa Rica's version of the racoon and a very self-important peacock. Joe found a hammock -- when I heard about that later I was slightly jealous ;) But all in all a great wrap up to the day.
AND, on the way home, we even got to see a monkey! Finally!
So Wed we did eventually make it to the resort :) Chris and I went down to the beach to take sunset pics -- it was pretty amazing :) And then dinner. We started with three of us, and by the end had about 30. That seems to be how things are going, and as is was to be expected. After dinner, I cut out fairly early -- I think I was in bed by 10. Chris stayed out with the group and from the stories I heard, all had an entertaining night :)
Thursday started with the hotel briefing, which we'd already mostly figured out. We left that to go in search of our wedding planner. Spent the rest of the morning with her. It's so close to real now, esp as there was a wedding yesterday with the same setup we're having… We did paperwork, and fortunately Chris had to detour by the room for something, so I had a minute alone with Georgina to confirm the details for his party :) We also got a tour and a walk-through of how wedding day would go. There was another couple doing the same thing with a different co-ordinator. So far, I've been very happy with Georgina. Organized and speaks flawless English. She's also been super helpful with planning Chris' party alongside. I'm still a little concerned things will get switched (at one point she had the bday cake listed as the wedding cake) but even if it does, it's not tragic. Anyways -- it's paid for. Although the more than 1.5 million price tag made my heart stop for a moment. Mental note -- look for US currency, not local ;)
View from our room
This afternoon we enjoyed the stunning and flawless weather hanging out at the pool. Roasted the bottom of my feet slightly -- mental note, shoes are actually mandatory, even around the pool. But otherwise amazing. Chris nearly managed to lose his camera testing out the floating strap. It does, in fact, work. So well the camera floated away ;) Fortunately it didn't get far before its break for freedom was noticed. Later in the afternoon, Chris and I escaped to the beach for a bit. He us hats from the stand on the beach -- kinda love it. We're all about the wearing white this week. Then we hit up the surf shop to take out kayaks. That was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Not nearly as much of a workout as I'd expected. Admittedly we weren't in it for exercise -- was a lot of drifting, laughing, and taking pics…. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to paddle over the waves at all, so finding it no stress was nice. We went out past the point so we were out of sight of the hotel, not far, but was still fun :)
Water on the camera lens gave some interesting effects
I can hear monkeys! So cool! Have yet to see any though :( The bus on the way home from the airport stopped so people could see, but it was the other side and I didn't get to. Booo. We have seen ridiculously large iguanas and a little yellow bird lives over our balcony.
It's Tonya's birthday today. The hotel told me there'd be chocolate cake delivered to her room for her, but sadly it seems that never happened. Booo. Despite that, I think she had a reasonably good day :) Chris and some of the others spent the day trying to corrupt her. Take a drink, go to the casino. All fun :)
Evening we did wander over to the rather sad and small casino. Most of us played slots - I have to object that the penny slots cost 30c! That just doesn't seem right somehow ;-P But really, the only one who did well was Chris C -- he made enough on penny slots to go play cards, and came home with I think a little over $100. Not half bad :)
Ridiculously productive and busy for a beach day. I've yet to open my kobo. But so wonderful being here. The climate, the people, the food… Amazing.
It's been an *incredible* couple weeks :) Amazing and stressful and exhausting and energizing. The emotional roller coaster was a ride and a half. But we all survived and, well, the grin is still on my face ;)
And while I intentionally left my computer and all electronics (well, except my Kobo :) behind, I did bring with me the old school pen and paper. Over the next few days I'll post the "blog posts" as they were written, date stamped when they actually happened... As always, comments welcome!
Enjoy,
Laur
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So after months of planning and weeks of craziness, we're on the flight to Costa Rica. Continuing the stupidity that was last week, this morn did not go smoothly. Got to the airport with relatively little difficulty -- other than Tim Horton's forgetting Chris' coffee. Sheesh. But when we did, Dad realized he'd forgotten his heart meds and had to go home and get them! Suddenly exceptionally grateful for being there super early.
Chris and I with our shortcut pass, ended up through security long before our friends and family. And, I have to say, going through security with wedding clothes gets all kinds of smiles and nice comments. As hassle-free as I've ever traveled. Being through early, we went to find the fancy lounge we were supposed to have access to. Denied. Not amused. However, I called our own personal Goddess of Travel, Julia who worked some magic and shortly thereafter we were in :) Sweet. It was all kinds of civilized -- particularly the hot breakfast. We didn't stay very long though as we felt it'd be rude to abandon all our guests in the regular waiting area…
Still no sign of Dad, or for that matter, Chris' parents. We were relieved to get a text from Mum that they were almost through security, and on follow up, had also seen C's parents. Okay -- that's a start. We then discovered our guests had various gates listed on their boarding passes. Awesome. Following the one listed on the main board, showed the *actual* boarding gate -- but several of the people coming with us weren't travelers, so we went around and found everybody to make sure they knew where they needed to be.
Anyways -- on the plane now. Exhausted. Almost too exhausted to be excited. And sitting in the middle seat. Blah. But in about 4h we'll be in Costa Rica, and it will be warm, and the world will be good.
It is the night before I leave for my wedding. We're supposed to be going out the door in about seven hours. Which means about an hour ago I woke up ;) Classic eh?
It has been several days of craziness. Let's see *insert pause while I go see what I wrote about last*
hmmm Monday at work. Okay well the week was crazy, as expected. But in an awesome twist, on Thursday afternoon they had a surprise party for me! I was stunned. Like completely shocked, the idea had never even crossed my mind. I haven't been there very long after all, and they were smart about it -- took over a meeting that I'm in every Thursday :) Huge thanks to Janine who's meeting it *actually* is and who gave it up for my party. So I got to the meeting and the room still had people in it, so our guys were waiting in the hall. And there were a few extra people -- but as we were hanging out in the hall, I just assumed they were there chatting for a minute with whoever they were chatting with. Yeah - you scoff, but really - what else was I to think? Ish was carrying a box, which crossed my mind as fairly unusual -- a laptop is far more normal at these meetings. But again, I shrugged it off; maybe he hadn't had time to go back to his desk after running lunch errands. Seems plausible. Everybody else had laptops ;) The agenda had been sent out as always...
The room cleared and we went in. All good. But then the extra people came too -- okay, that's a little odd... And then there were more extra people. But then Janine started the meeting and I put it out of my head. Until she announced the change of agenda ;) Then the still more people who I guess were just slightly outside, joined in and it turned out the box contained cake -- addressed to both Chris and I, which really made me smile. There was also a lovely card with a generous gift inside. But mostly I was just astounded and thrilled and so happy. It meant a ton to me that this group of people, whom I haven't known very long at all, would go out of their way to do this for me. Pretty awesome.
They gave me the most giant knife to carve the cake.
Of course I was fairly useless for the rest of that afternoon ;) hahaha I got through this week by being extraordinarily busy and focused. If I was too busy to think, I could stay on task. Throwing in a wedding party with all kinds of questions about said wedding, and stories from those who've been married quite some time -- well suffice to say that bounced me pretty firmly out of the work bubble ;) Hahaha ah well. Friday was super productive though, so I'm going to claim that made up for the missing hour. That and skipping lunch all week *g*
For Christmas for Dad, I got him a shooting package at Urban Tactical. We had it scheduled for Saturday. On Thursday I get a call that they're very sorry but they have to cancel. Will reschedule anytime in the next two weeks.... Ummmm no, that's really not going to work. So I call them back hoping to negotiate a time *after* the wedding trip -- but then the person I spoke to said it was fine and we should just come on our original schedule. So while slightly dubious, definitely worth a try. Chris, Dad, Jamie and I all showed up at our designated time. The girl working the desk seemed a little confused, but she worked us in. We had a bit of a wait, but when we did get in, the guy working with us was awesome. We each shot multiple rounds from three different guns and had a good time doing so :) I learned that I have to shoot left because unlike the vast majority of right handed people, I'm left-eye dominant. And substantially so. "Well which eye should I look through?" *puzzled glance* "The target moves significantly depending which one I close...." Instructor has me do a little test, and seems very surprised by the results, but sobeit. You're not new here -- I never do anything the easy way :) Seems he was right though -- when I aim for the target with my left instead of my right it's exactly where it's supposed to be. The true shot of the day though went to Chris -- and was with a camera. He managed to get the muzzle flash from my gun. Very impressive!
Stress relief
We followed up the shooting fun and games with a BBQ. Really, what else could you do after that? hahaha We joined Chris' dad and brother and a few others at their local -- all kinds of award winning -- BBQ joint for a shooting-appropriate lunch. While tasty, arguably not the best plan to enable the dress to fit!
So while work was crazy but productive, and Dad's Xmas gift all kinds of fun, wedding stuff was... Not so.
Let's see -- remember the dress fiasco? Well would you believe it got repeated with my wedding ring??? Seriously -- went to pick them up on Saturday after lunch. "The wrong one was delivered." Ummmm what? Yup. Sent the wrong ring. *sigh* Of course they did. Chris' ring was correct -- but as he reminded me, that was the second attempt for him too. Sheesh. Ah well - back up plan, the trial one in the store fit me so worse case, I'd borrow it. But the proprietor said he'd get it to us in time. And sure enough, he delivered it, in person, to my parents' place in Oakville (his store's in Paris) about 3:00 on Tuesday afternoon. Cutting it close, but he did, in fact, get the correct ring to us in time. And he went impressively out of his way to do so.
Several other minor hassles that are really petty but just seem to add up... Spa appointment and several other things got cancelled due to the snow storm, Chris' truck wouldn't start, I couldn't get the ceremony music to download onto my ipod, I failed entirely at making the deliveries I'd planned thanks to the same storm, Jen's flight was delayed (she made it - woohoo!), tanning appointments for both of us got all messed up, and on and on. Fortunately nothing actually tragic or even important, just more of a "really???"
But now we're packed. Everything's done that's going to get done. And early tomorrow morning I'm off to get married. Excitement and terror take turns warring with each other. And then Chris does something that makes me laugh and all that's left is happy. Well and a strong dose of disbelief. That surreal aspect is definitely going strong. But then, I've never been one to settle for reality ;)
I'm getting married. In less than a week. And I don't think I've stopped grinning since Chris proposed.
And as I'll have no Facebook, cell phone, or blogging abilities -- the posts will be a *little* delayed till after we get back AND I have some time. Lots and lots of time. Tricky ;) But they will happen!
The countdown is on! We leave a week today and get married in less than two weeks. Omg. Yes, that is, in fact, sufficient to return me to a being a teenage girl. You could probably even add in a SQUEEEE! ;) hahaha wow. Was fairly amazed at the response my two-week’s to go Facebook status generated. Made me smile :)
Progress is being made. The ceremony’s been signed off on; all the paperwork’s been sent. Kind of random what information they wanted, but so be it. Was surprised at the details they needed for our witnesses. But it’s good to go :) Have to admit it made me all kinds of melt reading the ceremony. Sappy romantic side in full force – usually it only comes out watching a chick flick or reading a novel, but apparently my own wedding is fair game ;)
Went and tried my dress on for the last pre-wedding-day time. Seamstress did an amazing job. It is fairly stunning and fits as though it were molded to me. Has all kinds of complicated fastenings though – wouldn’t be physically possible to do it up on my own… hahahha yeah for friends to help!
Speaking of, had an absolute blast at my staggette the other day! Huge thanks to Stephy for organizing and to all who came – some from fairly long drives! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time… It all started with the hat… Oh dear… It was a pink and sparkly cowboy hat. I am not even kidding. It even had a veil on the back ;) I would’ve said the kind of thing that only Steph (or possibly Jael) could imagine, but clearly somebody else did too since Steph and Rebecca managed to find it for me. But much as it is so not my kind of thing, it really is part of the bride thing, and it made me smile to have it. Tradition counts for something :)
For the record - we banned cameras after the dinner portion of the evening ;)
The evening began with dinner and drinks. Our waiter was reasonably entertaining and seemed to be having fun with the whole staggette idea. After we were all caught up with each other (I don’t get to see my friends nearly enough these days!) we changed location and went out pole dancing. Yup, take a second and reread that sentence. It hasn’t changed. Hahaha was that ever entertaining. And there we learned that Kerri can *really* spin, those with dance backgrounds had a distinct advantage, and none of us should quit our day jobs. We *almost* made it out injury free except, well, Steph was with us… And Steph and gravity have never been on good terms.
Following the class of silliness, with the girls now outfitted with pink tiaras and chains of plastic beads, we continued our travels – originally searching for a pub, but finding instead a Demetre’s. If you haven’t been to Demetre’s, you’re missing out. An entire menu of deserts. Brutal for Paula who’s forgoing sugar for the month (silly girl!) but for the rest of us, pretty well the ideal end to the night… Mmmmm sugar…
So yeah, it was a pretty awesome night :)
As for the rest of the craziness – my to do list only seems to grow. Despite finishing things every spare moment I have, the list gets longer… I’m not quite sure how that’s happening, but such is life. Mum’s been helping me check some of it off, but a lot can’t be delegated. And all seem to take so much longer than expected!
And that’s in with things like going to the gym, and teaching, and tanning. Not to mention my day job ;) It is awesome and finally busy enough to keep me amused and focused during the day. But once I leave work – let the games begin. Tanning – that’s been an experience. I, of course, end up choosing the most expensive one around. Sheesh. It is, however, by every review and personal account I could find, well worth it. Their machines seem to take 1/2 – 1/3 of the time regular places take. Which, given my schedule, is a serious plus. The actual time in the tanning bed itself is nbd. The warmth really is instantly relaxing and puts me in my happy place. I truly love the sun, and the lights mimic that feeling far more than just being hot. The beds are also huge, clear, and very open so there’s no claustrophobic feeling. But I could totally do without the tanning lotion. Ugh. It’s got quite a strong scent, and it seems to get on *everything* -- probably because I put my jacket on after and then it transfers from my jacket to anything else I ever wear *sigh* But so be it – I *really* don’t want to be burnt in my wedding photos ;) Sacrifices must be made. First world problems eh? ;)
Last weekend I was so sick. I got sent home from work on Friday am – meetings with both people I report to and they both said go home. Then I thought the people I sit with just might revolt – one I’m pretty sure I caught it from and the others wanted nothing to do with it. So home I went. And I went to bed as soon as I got there and slept. Got up and relocated to Paris and went back to sleep. When I woke up that time I signed into work just to get a few things off that really needed to get done, then pretty much went back to bed. Brutal. Saturday a repeat. Left the house in the afternoon long enough to take Chris to his stag party (at which he seemed to have at least as much fun as I had at mine – but that’s his story to tell…) and then went home and back to bed for a few more hours. It didn’t help that both Sasha and Lexi were also sick. Frig. All good now, but was not fun then. Steph dealt with Lexi for me while Sasha and I consoled each other. Sunday, after having now slept for about 48 hours, I was feeling slightly more human and relocated to the couch. Completely and totally unproductive all weekend. Ummmm did you hear about the to-do list? Yeah. *sigh*. Ah well, the end result is I was feeling reasonably human again in time for work on Monday which, being my last week before going away for two, is chaos. And surprisingly, despite feeling completely horrid for the vast majority of it, was actually really nice to have a quiet, let’s not do anything, weekend with Chris. We don’t get those very often given the whole renovation thing.
So this week – a ton of running around, some last minute shopping, all the silly odds and ends, and then…
There are days I find it challenging to find something to write about. When work's the day-in day-out type of regularity, my horse is behaving herself, and life is generally quiet and peaceful. bahahha I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm sure that's happened at some point in my life, but I can't think of when. But really, there are boring meh days in anybody's life. That being said, during the last few months finding something to write about has been less of a challenge. Even the boring aspects of wedding planning seem interesting to a surprising number of people. Which, in turn, keeps me writing them. And other than firing the wedding planner (I *had* a whole big post about that, but I don't think I ever posted it), it's all gone reasonably smoothly. Right. Apparently there's a rule in the universe that wedding planning must contain drama. If the key players don't choose to instigate it, an external force will *sigh* I was pretty happy with how things were going. There are still way more things to do than time to do them, but all the key pieces are accounted for.
Then Murphy and Loki came to play *sigh*. Went for my dress fitting, remarkably excited even though it's still a chore. There's something fairytalesque about getting dressed up in your wedding dress. Still so very surreal. Anyways -- I went to put it on... And it promptly fell off again *sigh*
Okay fine -- go out holding it up, where the seamstress gives me an odd look. I haven't lost any weight since ordering it; it should fit better... The sample even fit better. Seamstress comes over and checks: size 14. Yeah. You could fit two of me in there. Sheesh.
So we get the sales-ladies involved. It's a mother-daughter team that run this store and while both were busy with other parties, both became very involved in trying to figure out what had happened. The mother was visibly shaking -- I'm guessing having the wrong dress a month before the wedding has a pretty strong Bridezilla potential ;) They showed me the paperwork, I guess wanting to prove they'd ordered correctly, and told me they'd call first thing in the am. They also checked every dress in the store - twice - to make sure mine hadn't simply gotten switched.
The seamstress, meanwhile, said if it was all we had, she'd make it work. But her eyes seemed dubious. We asked about the sample and found it was an 8 -- far more likely we could make that fit. So I leave figuring three options: either the right dress comes in, we take the sample and alter it, or I go back to the other store which had my size in stock of dress choice 2 and take it instead. Seriously disappointing but not tragic.
But of course it would happen to me. Sheesh. Was all I could do not to roll my eyes. Really? Awesome. Or the opposite thereof.
Anyways -- they did call me the next day. Apparently the dress that came in belongs to a woman getting married in April. Mine is there and ready, just needs to be shipped. I should have it on Tues. Trying to make another appointment with the seamstress on Thurs (Wed she's in Binbrook and I really don't want to drive all the way there if avoidable). So we'll see...
So yesterday it was -30 and extreme cold weather alert (of course that's the day I have an off-site meeting booked! Sheesh). In Costa Rica however, it was +32 and sunny. Have to admit, a 60 degree temperature change is a shock to the system I'm looking forward too :) And by the time we come home this winter stuff should've mellowed a little. Hey, this is my dream -- your reality has no place in it!
Stepping away from my fairy tale for a moment, I went to see Into the Woods the other night and quite enjoyed it. I'm reasonably certain I saw the stage play in junior high, but really remembered nothing of the story.
So, the story. I generally love retellings and creative adaptations of known tales. And this one was creatively convoluted merging of the well known stories of Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk, all held together with a new story, that of the baker and his wife who wish to have a child. It also occasionally draws in other characters -- one of the princes references giving up on Sleeping Beauty because there were always dwarves around. It was a lot of fun and particularly well done. While not quite Grimm's version of the fairy tales, it was more gruesome -- and more authentic for it -- than Disney retellings. Despite, ironically, actually being a Disney production.
*Spoiler alert* - If you want to see the moving knowing no plot details, stop reading here. Reread the first paragraph and envision the weather in Costa Rica instead. Trust me, it's worth it.
Okay for those still reading. I loved how the characters were aware of the absurdity of the tale. The narrator was sharp, moderately sarcastic, and well aware of the rules that dominate the genre. The characters themselves also seem to realize at times they're being ridiculous ("You can talk to birds?" Red Riding Hood asks Cinderella, looking at her as though she's lost her mind) and have a script to follow ("I'm in the wrong story!" the baker's wife - who as far as I recall never got a name - exclaims at one point). One of my favourites was "I need that shoe to have a child!" "That doesn't even make sense..." Most of the characters are fairy-tale stereotypes to the extreme and seem to realize it. Cinderella bemoans having to be "nice and good" while her horrid step-sisters seem to thrive. The princes (there are two, brothers of course -- one for Cinderella and one for Rapunzel), in particular epitomize the prince archetype. "I can capture my own damsel, thank you!" They have a great number being as classic as can be. The bad guys play their roles too: the witch is destructive and demanding while the wolf is seriously disturbing with seemingly no redeeming features.
So the characters all run around the forest playing out their stories. Cinderella gets her prince, Rapunzel escapes her tower, Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are rescued from the wolf, Jack cuts down the beanstalk, and the bakers get their child. "And all live happily ever after."
Or maybe not.
What gives this story depth is that it shows what happens after "happily ever after" and the disintegration of the stereotypes. The prince comments that he "was raised to be charming, not sincere," as he cheats on his princess. Red Riding Hood, wearing a cloak made out of the wolf, questions Cinderella's dedication to good and nice as they plot to kill the giant. The baker, until this point the stereotypical happily brainless oaf, learns to think and function for himself. The witch makes the valid point that she is "not good, not nice, just right." And yet, is the collapse of a fiction really tragedy? Rapunzel and her prince seem genuinely happy together while the other characters seem to accept being more well rounded and sort out a new version of happily ever after for themselves. Cinderella sums it up with something along the lines of "my father's house was a nightmare; the palace was a dream; I'd like to live somewhere in between."
Now of course, being as it a salute to the genre, as with all fairy tales, even this one has to have a moral or two. Several in fact, given the multitude of stories included. Lessons presented:
- Children remember what they hear.
- Wishes are meant to come true, not free.
- Straying from the path leads to the best flowers, but also to wolves.
- Blaming each other doesn't accomplish anything -- even if it does make for an entertaining song.
- Stereotypes aren't always accurate: Cinderella can be bad, the dwarf can be good and the witch can be right.
Overall though it was just a fun story. It is a musical -- so if you're not okay with people singing at each other, skip it ;-P But the writing was quite sharp and often humourous and most of the characters did a fabulous job of portraying that they were aware of the ridiculousness of their situations.
Not a bad way to spend a -30 evening. Now, off to get my dress altered. I'd really much rather be going for wings with Steph and Rebecca ;-P hahaha apparently I seriously missed the wedding gene. Or part of it anyways -- some things I love and I'm super excited for it, but this -- which is apparently a Thing -- is nothing more than a chore to me. I'm not convinced I understand the ceremony behind it. Ah well, will be made better by dinner with Mum and Catherine. Off to be a pin cushion.
Seriously, why are they smiling? I'm not convinced this looks like fun...
Happy New Year! Here's hoping it's as crazy, chaotic, and wonderful as the last :)
Year in review: highs (Chris proposed) and (I officially am no longer a part of GRS). Think that about covers the extremes ;) As to this year -- well I'm getting married in Feb, suspect that'll be hard to top *g*
Ah yes, the wedding… My friend Stef, also recently engaged, posted something the other day that really struck me. She wrote:
When people told me sarcastically 'have fun wedding planning..' with a smirk, I brushed them off. Wedding planning couldn't possibly be that difficult. Now, nine months before my wedding I am amazed at how quickly it became increasingly stressful and how much drama came out of the woodwork. Forcing myself to do some wedding planning today, opening this book it was a nice reminder to see this. It's not about who comes to your wedding or where it is or who gets married first or who has babies or what kind of centrepieces you have. It's about you. And it's about him. It's about looking up and seeing the person you promise to spend the rest of your life with. That's a big thing. It deserves to be celebrated. Without the drama. Don't let others ruin YOUR day.
And included this image:
Seems about right. It's amazing how easy it is to get sucked into everybody else's idea of what your wedding should be. But it's our day -- Chris' and mine. And every once in a while, we have to remind ourselves of that.
And then there's the fact that our trip includes a *lot* of people. 46 of us in total -- which, for the wedding, is awesome. But we were thinking through the logistics of day trips etc. And of course we want to go to everything… But realistically -- we have exactly three days for tours. We get there on Wed, so won't be able to do anything that day. Thurs is the resort tour meeting about what options there are for everybody. Also the day we meet with the wedding planner to finalize everything and confirm the details. All good, but another day we're not going anywhere. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are good to go. Monday's the wedding and Chris' birthday :) So yeah, it's pretty booked up. Tuesday, tbh, we just want to vege. And Wednesday everybody goes home. So three days. Tentatively -- in no order -- we're thinking the zipline/volcano tour one day and diving another. The third, Chris wants to go deep sea diving with his dad and some others. I, personally, would *really* like to go white water rafting -- which I feel reasonably confident I could convince some people to join me in :) And that eats up our days. But there's so much else I'd like to see and do. Also, I know from previous resort experience that some of these tours will likely only be offered one or two days/week. If they don't happen to fit in Fri/Sat/Sun we'll be out of luck :( Ah well - maybe a first anniversary trip then ;)
But a month from today we'll be on the beach :) I'm pretty super stoked about that. It does make January "recover from xmas" fitness plan a whole lot more intensive than it usually is though! But at least most of my friends are doing it too *g* The fitness center at work isn't open yet -- I hesitate to take out a gym membership when it sb available soon, but I need it NOW! *insert foot stomping* hahaha ah well -- it'll work itself out somehow. I'm also intending to pre-tan for this particular trip. I've never been tanning (of the artificial variety) and am not even slightly looking forward to it. Ah the things we do for fashion eh? Sheesh. But I really don't want to be either ghostly or bright red in my wedding photos ;) Went to the gym for the first time in a long time the other day. And then spent the afternoon tearing up hardwood flooring. Yeah, felt that a little the next day ;)
It was an exciting vacation let me tell you… Christmas -- both Christmas' actually -- were lovely. Chris' parents invited mine to their dinner as well, which was super nice. The rest of it though… Well the day before New Years Eve, our furnace gave its final notice. Effective immediately. NYE Chris' furnace guy was there all day -- took the old one out and put a new one in. Which, of course, meant no heat all day. About lunch time I gave up and took a space heater and Sasha and went and hid upstairs with my Kobo and a blanket. Hahaha that wasn't too bad. But by the end of the day when the new furnace was in both Chris and I were pretty cold and less than ambitious so we passed on NYE plans and went out for dinner while the house heated up instead. Sounds great right? Yeah -- except the house didn't do its part :( It stopped heating shortly after we left and then, being a Canadian winter, started getting colder again. Frig. At least we discovered it quickly -- would've been way worse if we'd actually gone out for the night.
Fortunately said furnace guy lives down the street and is a friend of Chris', so he left his own NYE party to come tweak the furnace so it'd work again. Apparently a known issue with this brand -- a safety feature in-fact, but one we could've done without! It was a cold night -- the heat was on, but it took a long while to warm up the house. Booo.
Then we spent the next two days pulling up flooring. I wasn't cold anymore ;) The dogs were very concerned about this activity. Sasha was entertaining -- the first few times I took armloads of wood to the truck, she came bounding along and went to circle my car, clearly expecting to be going somewhere. Then she'd come with me, but stop by the truck and look at me rather puzzled. By the end of the day, she just sat in the open door and watched me. Tucker spent the whole time alternating between running around the house checking out Every Single Thing that changed without his permission, and hiding buried in his crate for warmth.
Now about that flooring. When you pull up hardwood floors, esp hardwood floors installed by a do-it-yourselfer, there are nails. Lots of them. I don't actually have any form of work shoes, but I at least had runners on; I'd rather not be unsound for my wedding ;) And the inevitable happened: eventually I stepped on a nail. And since I had on said shoes, this was a non-issue. Pulled nail out and life went on.
Until the next morning. When I wore those shoes out to run errands. In the snow, slush, and freezing rain. Basic misery. And realized that when you poke a nail through your shoes, it leaves a reasonably sized hole in the sole... Fail. Fortunately the first stop was winners, so new boots and socks later and that problem was solved ;) Was a definite "stupid should hurt" moment -- I think I actually rolled my eyes at myself for that one.
Even though I haven't mentioned her, I still have Lexi -- she's in a new home where they take good care of her. In a perfect world I'll actually get to show her this summer ;) Interesting concept eh? Yeah, we'll see. Here's hoping! The wedding, obviously, is forefront of my mind these days. Hard to think of much past that. I *love* my new job. Going to see what I can do to push that along over the next few months :) Life in general is good. Last year was one of change -- mostly for the better. This year probably will be as well :) Stay tuned to find out what happens next!
“Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps." - George
“…I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” - Frost
The above tenets are basically how I live my life - much to the amusement of friends and family. Stared with documenting the life of an adult working student, followed through starting and running a riding school, and is now telling the stories of my adventures in adulting.
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