My weekend was so nice that I really wish it didn't have to end.
We didn't do anything too terribly exciting but we did get a lot of stuff done and even had some time to do very little, which was awesome.
For about 5 minutes we discussed going "somewhere" to do "something" because we felt like we should but in the end, we hung out with the dogs, spent some time on the deck and chilled out. I also feel good about reducing our carbon footprint by staying home instead of being out tooling around in the van for no really good reason. Yay us!
We did watch a movie on the weekend which I feel I should heartily endorse: In the Loop. A friend in the UK had recommended it and I found a copy of it so, we finally got to see it. I'm so glad that we opted to stay home and see it instead of brave the lineups for District 9 or the new Tarantino film. We laughed our butts off. The dialogue is both quick and witty and the story moves along really nicely. If you're a fan of the absurdity of politics and how the media machine really runs the agenda, you'll enjoy this. I want to see it again sometime soon because I know that there were things we missed when we were laughing - I can't say anything better than that about it!! Oh, except, yay, James Gandolfini is in it and I am a huge fan of his so that was like icing on the cake of an excellent movie cake type thing.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
sorting it out
Just to let you know that I don't only talk about weather when it's not being my friend, today is gorgeous. Sunny, breezy, hot but you can actually breathe so, yay!
Also, Mark went back to work today. I'm not entirely convinced that his stomach bug wasn't related to the heat and the migraines from last week but whatever the case, he seems to be much better and actually ate a proper dinner last night.
Given that the past couple of days have been so yucky, I hid inside, in the air conditioning and started to sort through the photos from our wedding. I've posted some of them on flickr already but will be adding to them. We didn't hire a professional photographer. Instead we asked my awesome brother and a fabulous friend to take photos for us. Not only did they take pictures, we've had submissions of photos from other family members and friends so I have quite a few to sift through. It's interesting to see different angles of the same shot. We're super happy and grateful to have had so many talented photographers at our wedding!! Anyway, without further ado, click here to enjoy!
Also, Mark went back to work today. I'm not entirely convinced that his stomach bug wasn't related to the heat and the migraines from last week but whatever the case, he seems to be much better and actually ate a proper dinner last night.
Given that the past couple of days have been so yucky, I hid inside, in the air conditioning and started to sort through the photos from our wedding. I've posted some of them on flickr already but will be adding to them. We didn't hire a professional photographer. Instead we asked my awesome brother and a fabulous friend to take photos for us. Not only did they take pictures, we've had submissions of photos from other family members and friends so I have quite a few to sift through. It's interesting to see different angles of the same shot. We're super happy and grateful to have had so many talented photographers at our wedding!! Anyway, without further ado, click here to enjoy!
Monday, August 17, 2009
sunny daze
I know that many folks around our little corner of the world complained about how cool and wet the July weather was. I wasn't one of them. I don't complain about cool weather because I cannot function when we get stuck in one of our humid heat waves.
Right now, we're in the middle of a doozy. It's been going on for several days now and the air quality is absolute crap at the moment. Last night, I was outside with the dogs before bed and I couldn't get over how hot it was, at 9:30 p.m. I dumped out their little doggie pool which Mark had filled up earlier in the day and this morning, there was still water on the deck where I'd emptied it. There is so much moisture in the air right now that the water was not evaporating. The outside of our house was dripping from condensation this morning, it's just nasty.
The weather is making Mark sick too. He had two migraines last week which, according to the doctor (and we really already knew this) were caused by the crazy weather. Today, he's sick with a horrible stomach bug. He was up all night last night and we're not entirely sure what caused it but I'm sure that the weather has at least something to do with it.
The only upside to this is that we caught up on some tv watching over the weekend (thank you A/C). We're completely up to date on our Coronation Street watching - although we found Steve and Becky's wedding a little hard to stomach and watched some movies we've been wanting to see.
Today, I'm back at work, slowly getting through 2 weeks worth of email. I may get through it all by the end of the day if I'm lucky. If I'm not, it may take me until sometime tomorrow. The break away was nice but honestly, if I'm hiding inside in the A/C, I might as well be at work, right?
/stupid rant about the weather
Right now, we're in the middle of a doozy. It's been going on for several days now and the air quality is absolute crap at the moment. Last night, I was outside with the dogs before bed and I couldn't get over how hot it was, at 9:30 p.m. I dumped out their little doggie pool which Mark had filled up earlier in the day and this morning, there was still water on the deck where I'd emptied it. There is so much moisture in the air right now that the water was not evaporating. The outside of our house was dripping from condensation this morning, it's just nasty.
The weather is making Mark sick too. He had two migraines last week which, according to the doctor (and we really already knew this) were caused by the crazy weather. Today, he's sick with a horrible stomach bug. He was up all night last night and we're not entirely sure what caused it but I'm sure that the weather has at least something to do with it.
The only upside to this is that we caught up on some tv watching over the weekend (thank you A/C). We're completely up to date on our Coronation Street watching - although we found Steve and Becky's wedding a little hard to stomach and watched some movies we've been wanting to see.
Today, I'm back at work, slowly getting through 2 weeks worth of email. I may get through it all by the end of the day if I'm lucky. If I'm not, it may take me until sometime tomorrow. The break away was nice but honestly, if I'm hiding inside in the A/C, I might as well be at work, right?
/stupid rant about the weather
Sunday, August 16, 2009
current weather
The current weather here is gross.
Hot, sticky, smelly and gross. We've spent the biggest chunk of today, cowering in the air conditioning. The breeze outside died mid-morning. Not fun.
Both dogs celebrated birthdays this weekend, Gracie on Thursday, Sammy on Saturday. They are both now 2. For their birthdays they got extra trips to the dog park and lamp chops. Not bad huh?
I'm back to work tomorrow. The past two weeks have flown by but I had a blast. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to going back but I can honestly say that it's not something I'm dreading. I'd just rather always be home with the doggies if I could be.
Hot, sticky, smelly and gross. We've spent the biggest chunk of today, cowering in the air conditioning. The breeze outside died mid-morning. Not fun.
Both dogs celebrated birthdays this weekend, Gracie on Thursday, Sammy on Saturday. They are both now 2. For their birthdays they got extra trips to the dog park and lamp chops. Not bad huh?
I'm back to work tomorrow. The past two weeks have flown by but I had a blast. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to going back but I can honestly say that it's not something I'm dreading. I'd just rather always be home with the doggies if I could be.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
hitched up
So, our anniversary party was actually a little backyard wedding. Yeah, Mark and I finally did it up legally with some friends and family looking on. We've been busy putting the house and yard back together since the weekend but I did write a little post for a bridal advice site that I've been hanging out on for a while. Thought I'd share it with y'all. Btw, it's hot and sunny 'round here and we still have lots of booze leftover so, if you're in the hood, pop by!!
My last day in the office before the wedding was July 31. All that week, I kept thinking that I should be making updates here but honestly, the week flew by in a blur.
Then, last week, when were running full steam ahead to get everything done and sorted, the time again flew and the next thing I knew, it was Thursday, August 6 and we were getting wed!
Over that weekend before the wedding (which was a long weekend in our neck of the woods), we slowly worked away at our chore list. I had made a spreadsheet which was divided up into tasks, some of them mine, some Mark’s and some for us to do together. I then divided them up into days and times so they were pretty evenly spread out over the days leading up to August 6th. We never really felt stressed out as I allowed us lots of down time in between things we needed to do.
Which each day that passed, as we crossed things off of that to-do list, I relaxed more. I must say, neither of us was worried about actually getting married but both us wanted the house and yard to look nice, and for the food to be great. I think we accomplished all of those things in the end.
On Wednesday, I went for a manicure and pedicure with my friend Annette (who was standing up with me) and my mum. I had never had a pedicure before and was shocked at how awesome it was. I was also shocked at how relaxed it made me, too relaxed actually. I wasn't able to get much done immediately after our appointment. Fortunately, Annette took me out for lunch so we both avoided our chores/errands for a little while longer.
My nails turned out beautifully. I had them done (fingers and toes the same) in a gorgeous shade of opal-y fuchsia which matched some of the pink in my dress. Even today, my fingers have just started to chip but my toes are still awesomely perfect. I must say too that I did a good job of protecting my nails with rubber gloves in the weeks leading up to the wedding. The person at the salon who did my manicure commented on how nice they were.
While I was at the salon, Mark was at home waiting for the delivery of our tables and chairs. When we got back to the house, they still hadn't arrived. Our 2 p.m. delivery didn't arrive until 5:30 p.m. To say that Mark was super pissed is a huge understatement. The 3.5 hours spent waiting around, trying to keep the dogs amused so they wouldn’t go ballistic when the stuff arrived, could have been a smidgen more relaxed. He just didn’t need the aggravation, I was annoyed too but I was already into my “go with flow” mentality which has served me so well at events I’ve worked at in the past.
While he was still angry, he started setting up the yard. The little canopies we bought had been put up on Tuesday so he placed the chairs in rows and we left the patio tables around the perimeter of the yard. Our plan was to move them under the tented area once the ceremony was over but they never ended up moving. When he had stuff set up, I took him out for pizza (we weren’t doing a big rehearsal dinner because we didn’t need to rehearse) and he was chilled out by the time we got home.
The actual day was awesome. All week long, the weather channel had been changing their minds about what the weather was going to do. It had been hot and super humid earlier in the week and, given that we were having our ceremony outside, we really didn't want it to rain. Fortunately for us, the humidity broke the day before and we had a gorgeous day.
The morning of our wedding was spent setting up tables in the house for the buffet, cleaning and picking up our catering stuff/ice and getting beer. I stayed home to finish cleaning the bathrooms and setting out the stuff on the various tables. Mark and our friend Tom went to Costco to pick up the last of the food (cakes, meat trays, veggie & fruit trays, etc.) and the beer. We had three food stations: sweet table in the living room, appetizer table in the hallway (in front of our fish tanks), main course dishes in the kitchen. It all looked and tasted great and we had plenty leftover (we were afraid we’d run out so we over-did-it I think). Fortunately, friends who are in renovation hell and who are without a kitchen took a bunch of meat and buns with them, we sent other friends home with desserts and pockets full of chocolate bars and ring-pops. We called the meal theme “picnic style” but really, it was more guilty pleasure/comfort food. Literally there was something for everyone!
Our ceremony was fun. We both cracked a lot of jokes and given that we had a smallish group (40 in total including us) it was sort of interactive. I’ll post the ceremony separately if anyone is interested in it. It seemed to literally take 2 minutes, and I felt like I was in a swirl while it was happening. I expected to be nervous and self-conscious but I was neither. Afterwards, there were lots of hugs and a few snaps (we didn’t have a professional photographer but are starting to collect photos from guests/family members which I’ll put up on flickr after I’ve sorted through them). Next was food and partying. We had a lot of fun and I think that our guests did too.
Sitting here, almost a week after the fact, it is hard to believe that it’s over but it is. We got some very lovely gifts (which I was not at all expecting). My Aunt and my mother arrived and asked where the gift table was and I stared at them both like they had 2 heads. It never occurred to us that folks would want to give us gifts. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness that went into the gifts and still cannot believe how generous folks were to us. I’m happy to report that the thank you cards are almost done (have about 6 left to do) and the ones which are completed have been posted already.
One more point before I end this. Our dogs were awesome. Our Eskie, Sam was pretty barky when folks were arriving (as he is usually) but they were both very well behaved during the ceremony and I’m sure that they scored some contraband food during the party. In the days leading up to the wedding, they knew something was up and that stuff was happening at the house so they were a little off of their routines. All things considered, they did very well and I’m really thrilled that we could have them participate in our wedding with us!
My last day in the office before the wedding was July 31. All that week, I kept thinking that I should be making updates here but honestly, the week flew by in a blur.
Then, last week, when were running full steam ahead to get everything done and sorted, the time again flew and the next thing I knew, it was Thursday, August 6 and we were getting wed!
Over that weekend before the wedding (which was a long weekend in our neck of the woods), we slowly worked away at our chore list. I had made a spreadsheet which was divided up into tasks, some of them mine, some Mark’s and some for us to do together. I then divided them up into days and times so they were pretty evenly spread out over the days leading up to August 6th. We never really felt stressed out as I allowed us lots of down time in between things we needed to do.
Which each day that passed, as we crossed things off of that to-do list, I relaxed more. I must say, neither of us was worried about actually getting married but both us wanted the house and yard to look nice, and for the food to be great. I think we accomplished all of those things in the end.
On Wednesday, I went for a manicure and pedicure with my friend Annette (who was standing up with me) and my mum. I had never had a pedicure before and was shocked at how awesome it was. I was also shocked at how relaxed it made me, too relaxed actually. I wasn't able to get much done immediately after our appointment. Fortunately, Annette took me out for lunch so we both avoided our chores/errands for a little while longer.
My nails turned out beautifully. I had them done (fingers and toes the same) in a gorgeous shade of opal-y fuchsia which matched some of the pink in my dress. Even today, my fingers have just started to chip but my toes are still awesomely perfect. I must say too that I did a good job of protecting my nails with rubber gloves in the weeks leading up to the wedding. The person at the salon who did my manicure commented on how nice they were.
While I was at the salon, Mark was at home waiting for the delivery of our tables and chairs. When we got back to the house, they still hadn't arrived. Our 2 p.m. delivery didn't arrive until 5:30 p.m. To say that Mark was super pissed is a huge understatement. The 3.5 hours spent waiting around, trying to keep the dogs amused so they wouldn’t go ballistic when the stuff arrived, could have been a smidgen more relaxed. He just didn’t need the aggravation, I was annoyed too but I was already into my “go with flow” mentality which has served me so well at events I’ve worked at in the past.
While he was still angry, he started setting up the yard. The little canopies we bought had been put up on Tuesday so he placed the chairs in rows and we left the patio tables around the perimeter of the yard. Our plan was to move them under the tented area once the ceremony was over but they never ended up moving. When he had stuff set up, I took him out for pizza (we weren’t doing a big rehearsal dinner because we didn’t need to rehearse) and he was chilled out by the time we got home.
The actual day was awesome. All week long, the weather channel had been changing their minds about what the weather was going to do. It had been hot and super humid earlier in the week and, given that we were having our ceremony outside, we really didn't want it to rain. Fortunately for us, the humidity broke the day before and we had a gorgeous day.
The morning of our wedding was spent setting up tables in the house for the buffet, cleaning and picking up our catering stuff/ice and getting beer. I stayed home to finish cleaning the bathrooms and setting out the stuff on the various tables. Mark and our friend Tom went to Costco to pick up the last of the food (cakes, meat trays, veggie & fruit trays, etc.) and the beer. We had three food stations: sweet table in the living room, appetizer table in the hallway (in front of our fish tanks), main course dishes in the kitchen. It all looked and tasted great and we had plenty leftover (we were afraid we’d run out so we over-did-it I think). Fortunately, friends who are in renovation hell and who are without a kitchen took a bunch of meat and buns with them, we sent other friends home with desserts and pockets full of chocolate bars and ring-pops. We called the meal theme “picnic style” but really, it was more guilty pleasure/comfort food. Literally there was something for everyone!
Our ceremony was fun. We both cracked a lot of jokes and given that we had a smallish group (40 in total including us) it was sort of interactive. I’ll post the ceremony separately if anyone is interested in it. It seemed to literally take 2 minutes, and I felt like I was in a swirl while it was happening. I expected to be nervous and self-conscious but I was neither. Afterwards, there were lots of hugs and a few snaps (we didn’t have a professional photographer but are starting to collect photos from guests/family members which I’ll put up on flickr after I’ve sorted through them). Next was food and partying. We had a lot of fun and I think that our guests did too.
Sitting here, almost a week after the fact, it is hard to believe that it’s over but it is. We got some very lovely gifts (which I was not at all expecting). My Aunt and my mother arrived and asked where the gift table was and I stared at them both like they had 2 heads. It never occurred to us that folks would want to give us gifts. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness that went into the gifts and still cannot believe how generous folks were to us. I’m happy to report that the thank you cards are almost done (have about 6 left to do) and the ones which are completed have been posted already.
One more point before I end this. Our dogs were awesome. Our Eskie, Sam was pretty barky when folks were arriving (as he is usually) but they were both very well behaved during the ceremony and I’m sure that they scored some contraband food during the party. In the days leading up to the wedding, they knew something was up and that stuff was happening at the house so they were a little off of their routines. All things considered, they did very well and I’m really thrilled that we could have them participate in our wedding with us!
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
checking in
We've been on vacation this week and have been very very busy getting ready for the party we're having tomorrow.
Tomorrow, August 6, is the 10th anniversary of the day Mark and I met. As I mentioned before, to celebrate, we're having a biggish (for us) house party. The little tents we bought are now up in the back yard. The sparkly twinkle lights are all hooked up. The table and chairs we rented have arrived (finally - 2.5 hours later than they were supposed to be delivered).
Most of the food and drink has been purchased (catering trays, ice and beer coming tomorrow) and the house is almost clean. It's clean enough. Not like I'd thought it would be but as long as folks keep their white gloves to themselves and don't look in the corners, it'll not be too bad.
Today, for the first time ever, I had a pedicure. I had a manicure as well but the pedicure, oh my goodness. I had heard that they were divine but I had no idea, really. I went with my friend and my mum and we had a ball. It was awesome and my nails are all a beautiful, fuchsia shade which has some shimmery opal stuff in it. Lovely.
So, I may again disappear for a few days but I felt I should check in and let folks know that I'm alive and tired and overall, pretty happy. Yay for anniversaries and parties and good people and pink nails!!
Tomorrow, August 6, is the 10th anniversary of the day Mark and I met. As I mentioned before, to celebrate, we're having a biggish (for us) house party. The little tents we bought are now up in the back yard. The sparkly twinkle lights are all hooked up. The table and chairs we rented have arrived (finally - 2.5 hours later than they were supposed to be delivered).
Most of the food and drink has been purchased (catering trays, ice and beer coming tomorrow) and the house is almost clean. It's clean enough. Not like I'd thought it would be but as long as folks keep their white gloves to themselves and don't look in the corners, it'll not be too bad.
Today, for the first time ever, I had a pedicure. I had a manicure as well but the pedicure, oh my goodness. I had heard that they were divine but I had no idea, really. I went with my friend and my mum and we had a ball. It was awesome and my nails are all a beautiful, fuchsia shade which has some shimmery opal stuff in it. Lovely.
So, I may again disappear for a few days but I felt I should check in and let folks know that I'm alive and tired and overall, pretty happy. Yay for anniversaries and parties and good people and pink nails!!
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