In Costa Rica today it's 32 deg and sunny

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…

Costa Rica!

Woohoo!

Thanks Murphy.

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...

Fingers crossed :)

Into the woods and home before dark...

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!

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!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

While most holiday trappings I can generally do without, there are a few Christmas things I really like, the tree being high on the list.  I've always had a tree -- even living in my tiny little apartment I had a pocket-sized tree with micro decorations.  Just makes me smile when I walk in.

Unfortunately this year, our house is in a state of chaos and not all that tree-suitable.  So I was thinking of just a little one -- it could fit on our coffee table even :)   Reasonable, and would still make the house smell Christmasy.

So Chris does the smile n nod thing and we go to Home Deopt (of course, where else would you buy a Christmas tree?  Silly me for expecting a garden centre...) and walk right past the tiny trees.  Because you see, our coffee table is fairly valuable real estate at the moment, so we may as well get a real one.

Okay great :)  I loved last year's tree.  All good.  But wait, it's highly plausible that this will be the last year we have the awesome high ceilings.  It would be a shame to waste the opportunity.  We should get a big tree while we can.

Cool -- I move over a few aisles to the 6-7' range.  Find a good one and we start to leave with it.  But...  Why not get a *really* big one?

Hahaha indeed.  We walked out with the biggest of the 9' ones we could find ;)   Chris trimmed it down a little so he could get the star on top -- it's a little lopsided as it bumps into the ceiling beam ;)   But I feel it gives it character.   What we didn't entirely account for is that with height comes width.  And while our living room is very high, it's not terribly wide.  hahaha going to be fun navigating for the next couple weeks.  It does make Chris' ridiculously large TV look a little more proportionate though.  Clearly time for a new TV ;-P   Or maybe not.  Definitely not.

Can't get far enough away to get *both* top and bottom of the tree in the pic ;)

But as excessive as it may be, the tree is awesome and makes the house smell amazing.  The dogs are a little confused, but, let's be honest here, that's a pretty standard state of affairs.  Now just have some wrapping to do and then good to go :)   More excited than usual for Christmas this year.  AND I actually get it off.  What a luxury!

Friday Flash #62: Good Fences

"Are you moving?"

I stopped myself from uttering the sarcastic response that sprang to mind in light of the moving truck and obvious packing going on, and settled instead for a brief nod.  The elderly busybody thrived on knowing everybody's business, whereas I thrived on privacy.  We'd never gotten along particularly well.

"Why?"

"I'm concerned the cops will discover the bodies in the basement."  Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.  I left her standing there and went to collect the next box.  I wondered what it said that she was at least contemplating believing my wild fiction.

"Where are you going?" she asked as I returned.

"Away."

She waddled in front of me, so I had to either step through the gardens or push her out of the way to continue being productive.  I rolled my eyes as I finally met her gaze.

"Where?"

"I don't know," I told her, and I wasn't entirely lying.

"Well where is the truck going?"

"It's taking my stuff to storage.  If I ever get it packed…"

She didn't take the hint.  I can't say I was surprised.  I took a deep breath in an attempt to give my internal censors time to work.  I shook my head and shoved past her, closer than would ever be deemed polite, but not so aggressively that she lost her balance.  When I returned, she'd removed herself from the path, but still watched every move I made.  Her husband sat, as he always did, in his rocker across the street.  In five years, I'd yet to hear him say a word or see him venture farther from the house than his porch.

In truth, I didn't know where I was going.  I just felt immensely dissatisfied where I was and had deemed it time to move on.  My job allowed me to work from anywhere with a decent internet connection.  I had vague plans to drive south and east until I found somewhere warm and sunny.  This town, which had once seemed so quaint and peaceful, had been plagued by the same issues as small towns everywhere and the novelty had worn off.  But worse than boredom inspired drug use and a disproportionate number of teenage pregnancies, people had been going missing.  As the anxiety rose on the streets and local news celebrities had been replaced by state reporters, it occurred to me that nobody would even notice if I were to disappear.  Work would clue in eventually -- but I doubted they'd do anything other than have HR fire me via email.

So I decided it was time to go.  Start over somewhere that I wouldn't have to shovel the driveway.  Maybe a city this time, where anonymity was the expectation rather than the exception.  Somewhere I could pay an exorbitant amount for an average latte served by a barista who can't spell.

By the time I finished packing, my own personal neighbourhood watch had her lips curled in tightly and anger creased her forehead.  It became a stubborn point for me not to address her.  As I climbed into the truck, she never moved.  I didn't say goodbye and she didn't wave.  I just left her standing there glaring as I pulled out.

A few days later I found myself on the other side of the country, contemplating options for my next home.  I sat in a busy sports bar and half-heartedly watched the tv while I awaited my order.  Football switched off as two talking heads appeared.  Breaking News!  The national anchor started talking, her words transcribed on the bottom of the screen.  Husband and wife serial killers arrested.  Parts of dozens of bodies spanning a time period of decades found in their basement.  Neighbours describe them as quiet, loving, and part of the community.

On the screen showed the house across the street, the porch swing now empty and still, accompanied by a mug shots of my nosy neighbour and her quiet husband.

Do it again, only better.

So Mum sent me my horoscope yesterday and it made me smile:

 

"Don’t waste time wishing you were somewhere else or doing something else. The fact is you are exactly where you need to be and you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. So do it some more, only better than before."

 

hahaha awesome.  Will get on that.

Because apparently people want stories about the girl side of my life ;-P

So I've been informed that wedding planning is to be blogged about ;-P   Apparently, there's an entire industry based off it.  But if that's so, I really shouldn't need to should I?   Sadly that logic didn't hold, and since I do print my blogs, some day I imagine I'll want to look back and read about it…  So without further ado…

Let's see…  So far we've got the engagement, which was amazing, but already has a post. (Rereading it still makes my heart race!).  We had the dress shopping, which is done.  And in the end my awesome mother bought my amazingly gorgeous dress for me.  One that wasn't even *in* the original dress shopping blog.  hahaha I took Mum to see the "top two" -- and in both stores they recommended others.  This was one of the others and I'm actually super excited about it -- still seems so surreal.  Alas, it has not yet arrived… :(  My bridesmaids both have theirs though (or rather, Steph does.  Jen's is still in my closet waiting for me to mail it to her.  Oops. That'll be on Wed.)   Chris has the guys under control (as far as I know).  So really, what else is there?

Right.

Have you ever planned a vacation before?  How about a party?  Remember all those stupid little details…  Now try a vacation party for 25 of your closest friends and family and 25 people you've met once ;-P   I am not even kidding.  Picking the location was easy -- of our short list of two places each, Costa Rica was the one both Chris and I wanted to go to.  Picking the hotel was slightly harder as we wanted a price range that would allow most of our friends and family to come.  While the resort we chose probably wouldn't have been our personal first choice, it did let some people we really care about come who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford it.  It also looks all kinds of civilized and had really good reviews -- including from our travel agent who's actually been there.  We've since met a surprising number of people who've stayed there and have yet to hear anything negative, so getting super excited about the whole thing!

As for the date -- well a beach wedding should really be in the winter.  And two of my closest friends work in the Greenhawk marketing department, so we had to time it around their calendar so they'd be able to come.   Ummmm yeah -- or we can go with the idea that it's Chris' birthday.  And his parents got married on his father's birthday.  And that was just all sorts of cool.  But, you know, whichever option works for you ;-P   Regardless, the date was set.  The only catch is, it's a Monday -- and we have to be in the country three working days before the wedding.  So we'll be leaving the Wednesday before.  Which, it turns out, all sorts of people are happy about because apparently it's easier to schedule vacation mid-week to mid-week than for a normal Mon-Fri.  It gives the appearance of only being away a couple days.  All-round win!

So we have a date and a location -- all we need is invites.  Right.  Google "wedding invites" -- I dare you.  In fact, go one better and Google "beach wedding invites".  Thousands of options and none of them quite right.  Even harder when Chris and I had to agree (I tell you, if you can plan a wedding when both partners have strong and often opposing opinions, you definitely earn a sticker. A big sparkly one.)   And then there's the fact that we're on a fairly tight budget.  Remember I *just* got reemployed…  So things that were nice enough were too expensive.  Finally I found one that was *almost* right.  Suited both of us, was from a company in California (they should know about beaches right?), and in our price range.  So I contacted them to see if the changes we wanted could be made (very simple changes -- with the original file I could make them in Photoshop in about a minute).   Yes, no problem.   Sweet.

Right.  Sure enough the design changes were no problem -- they did a great job of that.  However, that company in California?  Yeah, they were outsourcing somewhere on the other side of the world where English might someday be a second language for the people I was communicating with.  Which meant getting our text sorted out was a nightmare.  I just wanted a couple simple changes (we're talking text here -- it's not complicated).  They'd change one and not the other.  Then they'd change the other but revert the first.  Then they'd make up something entirely different.  Every change with 24-48h turn around.  It. Was. Atrocious.  Eight revisions for the original two-word change.  I was seriously ready to bang my head against the wall.  But eventually we got them.  And they were lovely.   

Not positive if this was the final draft or not, but close enough!

Now you can't just send invites…  Oh no, even though you can RSVP online (oh yeah -- we had to create a website too!), you still need to send RSVP cards.  And for those who don't know how to use the internet, a self-addressed, stamped, envelope.  Seriously.  Chris had an idea that the RSVP should be a boarding pass.  Actually I think originally that the wedding invite should be, but it morphed into the RSVP.  This I found some examples of online as well, but I didn't like any of them.  Not even close enough to ask for changes.  And, well, I was a little gun shy after the last round.  So I designed them myself.  And, tbh, was really happy with the results! 

This was way more work but significantly less stressful

So on a nice spring day, we spread a blanket outside and assembled all our invites.  Who was on the list?  Anybody we or anybody else really wanted to be.  One advantage of a destination wedding is that we didn't have to restrict our invitations.  It's a big beach :)

Now part of the package we purchased includes the service of a wedding planner.  She, unfortunately, seems to be rather useless.  Enough that she's about to earn her own post.  But since in the end the hotel does everything I figure worse case I'll spend the first day of the trip tracking down the onsite wedding person and arranging things the way we want them.  We've got the day, time and location booked.  Everything else can be negotiated if necessary.

Let's see, what else…  There was the not-shopping-shopping.  I think I wrote about that before -- registering for gifts.  Which seems both awkward and particularly pointless since with a destination wedding we're not expecting gifts.

Although people do still give them, which meant thank you cards.  My design abilities were used up and fortunately it was a quick and painless search that found the ones we bought.  We even agreed reasonably quickly.  Simple and clean.  The only thing is, online it looked as though it'd match our shade of red just about perfectly, whereas the ones we got don't.  Boooo.  They're still okay though so we're good to go there.

So some things still aren't planned which is pretty thoroughly frustrating.  There's also all the trip stuff too -- trying to remember to buy everything we'd need in the summer for the trip since beach stuff in February is hard to come by ;)   I got the vacation time from my new job, so that's one stress gone.  Hahaha  So that's where things stand.  The key details are settled.  The small details are nagging me, but I'm trying not to stress too much.  Still need to figure out jewelry - hmmmmm…  But I actually have shoes ;)   Wanted to get married barefoot, but by all accounts the sand's too hot.  Mostly though, no matter the details, so long as Chris and I are both there we're good to go.  Can't wait!

First world problems

Today started out alright -- got up, never my favourite thing to do, but on time.  Did my mini-exercise (10 minute fitness -- I try to get that, at least, in before work so if I'm exhausted after and don’t do a real workout at the end of the day, at least something will have been done.  I am, after all, getting married on a beach in February ;).  Got dressed and ready to go…  And then should've gone back to bed.

Starting to pack for work the failures began.  Step one -- I couldn't find my kobo.   I knew I didn't have it with me when I went to read it on the weekend, but I figured I'd just left it in my work bag.  Nope, apparently not.  No time for a thorough search, so simply kobo-less today.  Booo.   Making lunch I realize I left my lunch container at Chris'.  Frig.  And then, worse, as I went to leave the house I realized my gloves -- you know, the ones I *always* leave in the car -- are also in Paris.  Not good as it's all kinds of miserable out.

Driving to the train station, I get stopped at a train crossing.  Nbd -- unlike train crossings at the barn which can take upwards of half an hour, this one is almost always GO or Via and lasts about long enough to pause momentarily.  It was, in fact, a GO train, but not one that had any interest in actually going anywhere *sigh*   It slowed to a complete stop, immediately before the crossing.  It was not the train I was aiming for, rather the one before it, but still had the potential to make me late for mine.   Eventually it deigned to move on and I was able to continue on my merry way to the station.

Well apparently when it snows, everybody takes the train.  Which strikes me as odd because I distinctly remember horrible traffic on snow days when I drove in so clearly there are still people driving…  Regardless, the floor I usually park on was full so had to go up a level.  Nbd -- just have to remember when I come home!

So I swipe my presto card and…  Nothing.  Hmmmm Okay fine, dig it out of my wallet and try again -- this time it worked.  Why it wouldn't deign to work in the exact same spot in my wallet it's always in?  I have no idea.  But even with the time delay I made it.  Sweet.   And even with the excessive number of extra people, I got a seat.  Helps knowing exactly where to stand on the platform ;)

But then the woman next to me started humming.  I'm not even kidding.  Older than me, sitting on a rush hour train, humming away.  It made me long for an overly rude and obnoxious cell phone user just to drain her out.  The whole ride.  And it was an extra long ride as we had to stop twice to let other trains figure out where they were going.

Eventually got to work.  I like work.  People don't hum there.  Things should get better right?  Well yes, except apparently my computer felt the weekend shouldn't quite be over.  It's a reasonably new and quick, albeit heavy, machine -- but it took a solid 25 minutes and three tries to boot up.  I was about thirty seconds from calling tech support when it finally deigned to bring up anything other than the login screen.  Fortunately that was counteracted by my first meeting being cancelled so the time almost exactly balances out ;)

Any of this a big deal?  Nope -- not even slightly.  The subject line should've portrayed that ;-P  But I'm sad and I'm stressed and I really can't wait for life to even pretend to stabilize a little.  It's definitely on the right track, but like that train this morning, just not moving quite fast enough...

Lifestyles of the rich or moderately well connected

I thought, over the years, I'd seen just about all the Royal has to offer.  But last night, all those experiences got one-upped ;)   Rebecca invited Chris and I to join her and Mike in the Greenhawk box -- which in itself is all kinds of awesome!   Esp as I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get to go at all this year (can hardly take a day off when I've been here less than two weeks!)   So we'd planned to go for a fancy dinner at the Tanbark club (all kinds of exclusive in that you have to have box seats to get in).  But then, plans changed…   We found ourselves invited to the President's Dinner?

What's the President's Dinner?   Yeah, we didn't know either.  Google proved to be a complete fail on this one.  But it is very formal and your name must be on the list -- in the most literal sense.  Fortunately due to the magic powers of Rebecca's connections, it was.  Woohoo!

So -- planning.  I was coming straight from work, so Chris stopped off and picked up my clothes on the way.   I randomly decided that if I was going to get dressed up, I was really going to get dressed up -- there have to be *some* advantages to working downtown.  One of which is a reasonably high end hair salon that's literally across the street.  Called them at 9am -- they don't open till 11.  Hmmmm  Left a message saying that I'd really like an appointment for 12:15 for an up-do if they had anything available, but I'd be in meetings till noon so if they could please just leave me a message either way.  The message said 12:15 wasn't available but 12:30 was.  Okay -- I didn't have another meeting till 2, so nbd.  Just wanted to go on my lunch break (who needs to eat?).   Called them to confirm and they said "well actually they finished early, so you could come any time."  Perfect.  Lock up my computer and I was there in well under five minutes.  I wasn't sure at the time exactly where it was, but turned out to be like three doors away on the other side of the street.

Hairstylist was not chatty -- I really liked her.  Hahaha asked me what I wanted. Ummm roughly I want the front pulled back and I want curls.  Other than that?  Pretty much up to her.   Okay well did I want it up or down.  Down.  And away she went.   A little while, some hair magic, and a couple bottles of elite hair cement later and we were done.  Do you know they paint grey hairs?  ;)  hahaha I was so amused by that.  Yes, the last few months has given me some, but she hid them beautifully.  Needless to say, I was rather overdressed for my afternoon meetings *g*

This is clearly how I go to work every day

Took the indoor route to the train as I was trying to avoid the windstorm's battle with the hair cement.  Had to find a train that actually stops at the ex -- all the ones I usually take are express.  But once that was set, good to go.  Actually got there within a couple minutes of Chris.  So we got all dressed up (yeah for the surprisingly roomy Greenhawk change room ;) and then had all of about half an hour to wander around.  That is not nearly long enough *sigh*   Can't say I actually saw anything and I certainly didn't buy anything.  But such is life.  Completely reminds me of the year I was shopping for horses I didn't actually own yet *g*  That was a fun trip.  And actually rather the extreme opposite of this one.

Anyways -- today's story.  Eventually it was time to go, so we followed Rebecca to a secret passage that lead upstairs to places only special people know.   Okay that might be slightly exaggerated, but not much.  A woman sitting a the desk checked off our names -- well really, Rebecca's name -- and gave her her tickets for the evening show.  We would be at table 6.  Sure -- can't say I had any preference.

People were very well turned out -- complete with the woman with the long white kid gloves.  We were offered champagne pretty much as soon as we walked in and there was live music playing off to the side.  We were the youngest people there by at least a generation -- in some cases two or three ;)

Eventually we were asked to find our seats and we introduced ourselves to our table-mates.  All super welcoming and an interesting combination of people to talk to.  Beside Rebecca and Mike was her boss (who shared his tickets) and his step-daughter.  Next to Chris and I was the VP of marketing for Pizza Pizza and his wife.  And between them the ring steward for the Royal and his wife.  He had to leave early to start the show but we saw her again later.  Very cool combination of people.  There was a brief introductory speech after which we were all asked to stand for the arrival of the Lieutenant Governor -- she gave a speech which was more interesting than I'd anticipated.   We were served three courses of fancy food -- well two fancy ones and one steak ;-P   And endlessly full glasses of award-winning wine.  Might've been a good day to take up recreational drinking ;)

Dinner was concluded with a video and another short speech and then it was horse show time.  Box seats at the royal are exactly the same as regular seats -- just wrapped in red.  Hahaha awesome.  But the show was good and we were late enough from dinner that we missed most of the boring classes.  Watched two coach drivers collide -- seriously?  How does that even happen?  It's not like they were going fast or there was a lot of traffic.  All were okay so not tragic.

Horse show was a horse show.  They're way more fun to play in than watch, so if you're interested -- catch it on TV or online -- I hear GH was live tweeting the event ;)   Afterwards we had to fight the crowds and convince some very frustrated security guards to let us back in the booth area to retrieve our jackets and, more importantly, keys!   Fortunately Steph met up with us and had both a pass and the key so it wasn't that hard a sell.

Even the traffic cooperated.  Once we got out of the immediate area, was a fairly easy ride home.  Of course then I was wired!  Suffice to say I went to work with basically a power nap today ;)   But what an amazing experience.  So much fun :)   Huge thanks to Rebecca for letting us tag along!