Monday, July 21, 2008

3 Weddings in One Week




My week of Weddings began Sunday July 6, with a early drive to Calgary! My good friends B & C have been engaged for over 18 months and it was a highly anticipated event. We got a little lost along the way and walked in while they were saying their vows but the sight was spectacular. They married in a park, overlooking the calm river. It was such a beautiful day, the perfect weather. The reception was at the Calgary Zoo, very classy! B's colors were brown and pink, they had the cutest little cake with polka dots and home made cinnamon buns to complement the cake. All in all a beautiful day, with a fun filled dance at the end to top it off!!!







Next wedding was in Edmonton for my longest known friend A. Saturday, July 12, another beautiful sunny day. I only wished the wedding would have been outside like the other two were! But A's dad built her the most amazing gazebo which made being indoors not seem as bad. A looked like a princess, and her groom R was beaming the whole day. When it came time to "Kiss the Bride", A practically jumped into R's arms and their kiss brought forth many an "awe!" from the audience!
The reception was very PINK! I got to eat chicken fingers as the meal had a cream sauce which I am allergic too. The speeches were very heartfelt and brought a few tears. I am so happy to see my forever friend happily married and ready to start this new chapter of her life!

The following day, Sunday July 13th, I boarded the plane with my 7 month old Dex in tow, and flew to Kelowna for my cousin M's wedding! I arrived in plenty of time to make it to the 4pm ceremony. Upon arriving at the location of the ceremony, my breath was suddenly snatched up. It was the most beautiful location for a ceremony I had ever seen. The guests sat on a grassy hill looking at the "Island Stage" which was decorated beautifully. It was an extremely hot afternoon, I believe 31 Celcius, so I was originally up higher on the hill in the shade of a tree. As soon as the ceremony began I knew I had to be closer to the beauty. 7 of my cousins were the official "bubble blowers" who stood in front of the stage blowing beautiful bubbles into the wind while the bride was entering to the left with her father (my uncle) on her arm. Just the sight of my cousin brought tears into my eyes. I'm not one to cry at weddings but just looking into my gorgeous 20 year old cousin's face brought the tears flowing. She looked absolutely stunning, and so happy. Her dress was absolutely REGAL.

I loved how casual the wedding was, for example, the bridesmaids walked to the stage barefoot and stepped into their shoes when they took their positions on the stage. Best Ceremony Ever. The reception was also quite breathtaking.....mainly the AMAZING FOOD, hand made perogies, 3 delicious salads, cabbage rolls (my favorite), BC cherries picked off the tree that morning, all in all a delicious buffet!! I prefer buffet to plated meals any day, because I can be quite picky with my food/allergies! The speeches from the parents were really sweet, and my aunt made everyone laugh with her speech chalked full of stories from when M was a little girl. The bride and groom ended the night by running to their car while all the guests waved sparklers in the parking lot. It was so beautiful.


And that concludes my beautiful week of weddings!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

my half-year old child



so Dekker will be a half-year old tomorrow, and he continues to amaze me each and every day! he has sprouted a wee tooth within the past few days, so is dealing with some teething pain. thank God for the creators of ORAGEL, to whom i am forever greatful.

Dekker also has this notion inside his head that its time to learn how to crawl. he certainly didn't get this notion from his mother because i am NOT the proud owner of a crawl-proof apartment (yet). but every day, this little tyke wakes up, twists onto his belly, and hoists himself up on his haunches. then he proceeds to lunge forward, his heavy head often planting itself onto the ground....then he manages to creep forward in a "crawl" like stance....oh its so cute.


Not so cute? Dekker falling asleep holding onto my bag of chicken wings...i'm so famished and want to eat them so bad....but its not worth pulling out of his grasp for fear he will wake up and be crabby for the next few hours because his nap was cut short. Oh well i'll finish off the Lactose Free ice cream in my freezer and hope the wings aren't soggy when i eat them in a while!


the dreaded BIKINI!


so i'm invited to my dear friend's lingerie shower this friday, it is a tropical hot tub party! i'm looking forward to it, but i realized i don't have a decent bathing suit. in my genes, i won't say which side...but i'll just make a blanket statement....some of the ladies in my extended family are blessed with rather disproportionately large rumps. now because of this, i have always been a little self conscious about my own. subsequently, i have never actually been brave enough to don an ACTUAL BIKINI! its always been a tankini with board shorts.
now since i've had a baby, i'm still the heaviest i've ever been in my life (save for when i was pregnant of course), but i actually am proud of my body. i don't care so much about the rump area, and my husband assures me its a really decent rump. i guess just the fact that i was SOOOOOOOOO freaking huge while pregnant, i feel so skinny now *haha*. so i am going to wear a bikini for the first time in my life, in public. i scoured the mall for some good bottoms and found these cute pink plaid ones on sale for $10!!! not bad not bad! they kinda look like granny panties in this picture, but i assure you they are cute little booty shorts so my whole butt isn't hanging out but its a vast improvement from board shorts that hang down to my knees! the brown halter is a walmart special i've had for a while, of course always wearing it UNDER a tank-top in public. but i'm gonna let it all hang out come friday at the hot tub party. go me!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

silly saturdays


This Canadian May long weekend is a scorcher! last May long was a mix of snow/rain/gloom.
In no way am I prepared for this weather. Living on the 4th floor of an apartment complex with no air conditioning...I should have been better prepared. My baby Dex was grumpy indoors, and the only way he fell asleep tonight was with a borrowed fan from a friendly 1st floor neighbor! When the hot sun went down a little, I took my baby to his swing. He loves his swing, and I especially love the tree behind his swing. So we both smile and the heat is now pleasant.
I do need groceries though...something about heat makes me lazy...and somewhat messed in the head. My dinner consisted of Alphagetti...I added toasted mesquite walnuts (gotta have that crunch), Bullseye BBQ sauce (gotta zest things up a tad) and ketchup (can't go wrong with that quality redness). My poor husband...this is the kind of food I pride myself in. Oh well, when we get paid on Tuesday I'll make something a little more complicated!



One thing I'm especially happy about today, my dad brought over a bike for us to use for the summer! TAKE THAT high gas prices!! Now I just need to track down a "chariot" or "baby bike trailer" so I can take Dex on some quality bike rides.
One of my dear friends Jo is always on the go with a new project. She makes chalkboards from scratch for goodness sake! I added this picture of my BENCH so she could get a laugh.



Jo, this is MY project....putting together my child's Noah's Ark inspired park bench! I know I know....it requires a handful of screws and a screwdriver....but ask me if I have those handy? I'm embarrassed to answer. Anyways, hopefully next time you bring your beautiful baby girl by, the bench will be all ready for her to sit on.
Tomorrow, off to Calgary for the long weekend to visit one of my best friends...my 76 year old Oma!

Friday, May 16, 2008

behind a paper thin door

wednesday i was getting on the elevator with the stroller 'n Dex after our lovely walk, when I heard loud yelling which caught me off guard . I snooped down the hallway of the apartment complex and stood in front of the door from which the yelling was coming from.
I felt like a snoop, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure no one was getting hurt.
It was a man shouting very loudly at his very quiet and frightened wife. He was yelling and cursing up the ying yang. He was so loud that I wondered why no other neighbors were coming out of their suites and wanting to know what the ruckus was about.
I suddenly heard the woman say in a small timid voice "you're scaring me!", so I took my key, and proceeded to unlock the boiler/laundry room door which was situated directly across from the Yelling Man's suite. I opened and slammed the boiler/laundry room door shut 3 times, very loudly and obnoxiously. My plan worked and right away Yelling Man opened the door of his suite and popped his head out, asking me if I was having a problem with the laundry room door. I told him the only problem I was having was with how loud and rude he was being. I told him that he had woken my baby (wee little bluff) and that living in a building with other people means you have to show respect and not just be YELLING so loud at others! Yelling Man was extremely upset with what I said to him. He told me I have no business talking to him about this, but that I had 2 rights, the first to call the police and the second to call the landlord. (Little does he know I'm a relative of the building owner/manager, so if he would have tried anything I could have him kicked outta there in 2 shakes). He was right about those things and so I didn't put up anymore arguement on my behalf. I was trembling though. He started closing the door of his suite and said "let me show you how to properly close a door" and as I walked away I retorted back "let me show you the proper tone to speak to people with you F*$%-ing LOSER!"

So now I have an enemy within my building. I did not hesitate to call up my trusty landlord and Yelling Man is now getting served with a noise disturbance warning. Plus I realized Yelling Man is the loser who's always smoking weed by our vehicle outside, so he's getting a drug warning too. I hope his poor wife is alright. No one should have to take such verbal abuse!