Life and Stuff

Hello it is me! The MIA blogger!

I thought I would give an update into my life the past few weeks.

Wedding stuff has been going great and not-so-great.

Great stuff first!

1) I got my "real" ring
When Cam proposed he used a fake ring, and then he and I went together to the jeweler to design my forever ring. I ended up modelling the real ring to look very similar to the one he had picked to propose with- it basically has a different setting for the main stone, which is traditional at first glance, but very modern from the side angles. I love it!! It finally got it a couple weeks ago.

2) I BOUGHT MY DRESSSSSSS!!!!!!!

Ahhhh I am so excited! I went to about 4 stores, and still had the first dress I ever tried on in my mind, but then I stepped into a dress at the last store and immediately knew it was the one. I wouldn't say it was a huge, crying spectacle like what you see on TV (at least on my part, haha, not naming names on others who were there :P), but it was very beautiful, comfortable, in budget, and there was nothing I didn't love about it so I said yes to that dress! Clearly I am not going to show it here, so here is a dress that didn't win, from The Brides Project. The store is actually a charity that gets donations of wedding gowns from brides and from stores and sells them for a minimum 50% off and the proceeds go to cancer charities! I didn't end up buying from there, but maybe I will end up donating my dress or time there. It really is a great idea and I recommend people try it out.

The Bad:
Cam and I have been having a tough time with venue hunting. I thought we had finally found one that seemed in our budget and I loved everything about it, and then I found out that they had a minimum spend on Saturdays that put it way out of our budget. Work has been pretty stressful lately (we are in a huge crunch time), and the stress of venue hunting has NOT been helping!! Thankfully Cam is actually pretty into wedding planning so he has been so supportive and optimistic. But ya, I cried over that venue. I need to get my head back on straight.

However in good news we go to see another venue next week that we both have a really good feeling about so fingers crossed!!!

Now moving on from wedding stuff...

I ran a marathon last weekend! Naw, just kidding. I actually paced my friend Steph in the last 11.5km of her 3rd marathon. I dressed up like Pikachu and was waiting for her at km 30.

She did so so well! She trained so hard for this race, but race day ended up being unseasonably warm and humid and basically her body couldn't take it and she didn't hit her goal time (which she totally could have on a better day!), but she DID finish. Honestly, running a marathon is super hard in and of itself on a good day, but running a whole marathon when everything is going wrong and your body is rebelling against you?? That takes way more guts and deserves way more admiration in my opinion. She never gave up!! I am so glad I was there to help (in whatever way a girl dressed as Pikachu yelling motivational phrases at you for 11.5km can help).

I also was part of the RunTOBeer cheer squad at km 5.5 and it was a lot of fun! I made a sign that said "My Fartleks are powered by Beer" (fartleks being a type of run training). However it rained the whole time we were there so my sign got kind of ruined. Even if you have no inclination to run, cheering at races is a good time! The runners love it too!

I still don't have my next big goal race booked. I have a 10K in December though! But I think I would like to give the marathon another shot some time. Steph has also been dropping hints about a 50K trail race next spring, and I must say that I am intrigued... I actually have been taking it pretty easy on the running since my half in July. I did a couple 20 km runs with Steph, but my knees definitely disagreed with that and I was pretty spent by the end. I need to start getting back into it! And weight training because I have a wedding dress to fit into now!!

Engagement Photos!

We have not yet booked a venue for the wedding, so we do not yet have a date, and therefore we have not yet hired a wedding photographer, but Cam and I both wanted to get our engagement photos done on the Toronto Islands before winter hit. Thankfully my cousin is a professional photographer, and he offered to come out and do the engagement photos for us before we ran out of time!

The islands are actually a very special place for Cam and I- we love to visit there whenever we can. Cam actually planned to propose there a couple weeks before our trip to Nova Scotia, but I cancelled on him to go to RunTOBeer with my friends. Oops :)

I was hoping the fall colours would be out, but it looks like the leaves are either late or not happening this year. Oh well, at least everything was still green and pretty! We had a great day on the islands with my cousin, Steve, from Mint to Be Photography. Steve was so great in helping us laugh and look less awkward (Cam and I are the epitome of awkward when a camera is out) and we had so much fun. It was so cold and windy, but the photos turned out absolutely amazing and it was all worth it!! I wanted to share a sneak peek at the few I have gotten back from him with you guys!

The last one is one of my favourites!! The sun was setting when we were on the beach and it was a beautiful sunset so we just lucked out (no photoshop!). However it was also SO COLD and windy and my hair was unruly and it took forever to get this shot- but I love it!!

I know Steve is my cousin, and I am undoubtedly biased, but he really did an amazing job. He is so funny and personable, in addition to being a great photographer, and I would recommend Steve and Jennie at Mint to Be to anyone for their special event!

Adele!

Way way back in the early days of December 2015, my friend messaged me to see if I wanted to try and get tickets to Adele. My work is a bit more lenient about taking time out of my morning to try and get tickets online (ha!) so I said I would try to get us a pair. By some miracle, after over 45 minutes of waiting in the Ticketmaster queue, I actually managed to score us a pair for the nosebleeds section for her last Toronto show!!

Well finally, after over 10 months of waiting, Adele finally came and we got to watch her live! It was honestly such a good show. I wasn't the biggest Adele fan (only knew her couple #1s), but I bought a couple of her CDs last winter and really grew to love her music by the time the show came...however I didn't expect her to be so personable! She is really funny and loves to talk between songs- she really is quite the entertainer!!

I've never really been to a big "real" concert before and I really enjoyed it- especially since there weren't many theatrics, no costume changes or backup dancers- just Adele singing and talking with a few special effects now and again.

A proposal!

Actual water pouring around her during "Set Fire to the Rain"

 

I hope to see her next time she is in town!!

Wedding Planning!

I've been engaged over a month and have thus far not really written much about wedding planning on here, so get ready for an update!!

Cam and I have decided to get married next summer so we are busy looking at venues. We are both fairly frugal people, and Toronto wedding prices are NOT for the frugal-hearted, so it has been a bit of a challenge but I think we have found a couple of good options and will be able to book something soon! Then I can actually have a date to tell people instead "...oh next summer sometime".

We also have our wedding bands (we each have a family heirloom as our bands), so that is at least one thing off the list while we figure out venue! I also have a lot of other fun little things planned in my head for the wedding to make the day very special, but not break the bank- but I kind of want to keep them a surprise for our families!! I have been having too much fun on Pinterest.

Oh and last weekend I went dress shopping with my girls and my mom and Cam's mom!! I don't want to share a lot of photos because a lot of dresses were in a certain style and I don't want to give it away, but, here are a few no-gos.

My career is modelling is really promising

Dress shopping was so much fun!! I found so many that I liked and one that I really really liked- but I want to check out a few more stores first! We had a great time though- the girls all had little paddles to hold up if they liked or disliked a dress. The consultant was not at all pushy and never pressed to end the appointment or anything (I think we were there for almost 2 hours) And the prices were all so reasonable! I totally would recommend Bliss Bridal to anyone out in Whitby!!

And then on Sunday my mom threw me a small engagement party! It was really a chance for both sides of the family to meet and to get the wedding party together (though a couple of groomsmen couldn't make it). My "team" is my sister-in-law Tammy, my best friends since grade school, Ginny and Steph, and my best friend from Toronto, Jeni!! They are such great ladies and already so helpful with everything. Plus they are all the same height, which will be nice for photos :P

The engagement party was also sooo nice! My mom made a slide show of all these photos of Cam and I from babyhood to now- which was totally adorable and sweet!! We had a great time chatting and eating our way through the afternoon. It really makes me excited to have everyone together for the wedding next summer!!

My cute flower girl on the right

My Stepdad and Mom

showing my future brother-in-law the wedding dresses I tried on

Mother in Law and Mother!

Daddy-o and my Brother

My other little flower girl 

Champagne toast!

My little ring bearer in front!