It Feels Like I Spent My Weekend In My Car

 

As I think I’ve mentioned before, during the winter months it is a lot quieter here on the farm. Even though there is still a lot of work to do, the phones are quieter. Because of this my brother takes Fridays off and I take Mondays. So far, it has been heavenly being able to sleep in on Monday and then I have designated doing something wedding related while I am off as well.

Yesterday was no different. Luckily, yesterday morning my day started out with a hair cut (trim) at my hairdresser and friend, Lisa’s. The appointment after me was Jilly, who is also off on Mondays. It was great spending the morning with the ladies catching about the weekend.

I had great intentions on writing my weekend recap yesterday but girl gab took over that but I still wanted to do one this morning.

I like to pretend Friday didn’t happen. It was one of those days where it seems everything goes wrong and some things did go REALLY wrong.

Saturday morning I visited with Dad who was over to work on my new office and then headed to a shower for Amanda, the soon to be bride!

It was fun watching Amanda open her presents and the food…omg, the food! What a spread there was! The ladies did a great job hosting such a wonderful shower!

It started to snow like crazy and I headed home instead of heading to Ladysmith to visit Bekk because the roads were too snow covered.

Sunday morning, Ryan and I were up BEFORE the birds and on the road at 3 AM! I mentioned before, here, that we had this awesome gift for the groomsmen but that they didn’t allow international shipping. The closest location was 6 hours away in New York state. So, Ryan and I took a road trip.

It was my first time crossing the border near Ottawa and I never realized how close it was! Such an easy drive! Unfortunately, the simple 6 hour drive there took 8 because of snow and traffic. A stop at the Olive Garden (Canada totally needs one!) for supper and another 7 hours to drive home our mission was complete and the groomsmen gifts are now done!

I can’t wait to show you all what it is someday soon and I hope the guys all like it too!

How was your weekend?

xo

Reason #3 Why I Love My Small Town

 

Happy Friday everyone! It has been one heck of a busy week that I am kind of glad see come to an end! I hate to wish the weeks away right now but this was one that I just wanted to get under wraps!

It’s suppose to be a fun filled weekend and I can’t wait for it to get under way!

Reason # 3 Why I love My Small Town

It might not seem like a reason but you really have no idea how grateful I am for this particular item. It also may sound a little selfish but still so true.

I love the fact that my parents and Ryan’s parent’s live so close to us!

Silly reason? Maybe. But it is still one of the highest things on my list!

Ryan and I both know that both sets of parents are just a phone call away if we ever need anything! My parents live pretty much 30 seconds away and Ryan’s 10-15 minutes down the highway.

I am kind of a chicken! Especially, since I live by myself. I’ve been known to pack up Tucker and drive down to Mom and Dad’s during a bad thunderstorm! For some strange reason I feel safer there then in my own house.

There’s a comfort knowing that now and in the future that we have the support of our parents who love us and would be there on our door steps in an instant if we ever needed them.

I LOVE that about my small town!

Happy Friday!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – Saying “Yes” To Another Dress

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! It is VERY believable that the week is almost over. It’s been a very busy week already so far and I imagine it will continue to be until the weekend! It’s tradeshow season in our industry so I am on the roads lots now!

I am slowly but surely crossing off items on the wedding to-do list. Although, still alot of items to take care of but I feel in control again. This month has been CRAZY for getting things done! It’s been item after item that had to be taken care of immediately.

As I mentioned last week one tradition that Ryan and I will be doing is the “Last Dance”. The Last Dance will happen towards the end of the reception, after the midnight lunch, at probably 1 – 2 AM. Ryan and I want to depart for our honeymoon when we still have guests there but not leave too early as to miss the party!

In the final moments before we leave to start our honeymoon we will say good bye and thank you to all of our friends and family. We will then share one final dance at our wedding and leave together to start our new lives together.

A little corny, yes. But I really want to soak in those last few moments of our wedding!

The last dance isn’t a tradition that is very common now a days. Being that Ryan and I decided to leave on our honeymoon immediately this posed a problem with my wedding dress.

I didn’t want to have to wear my beautiful wedding dress to the hotel and then on the plane. What would I do with that dress all week?

That’s when my Mom suggested that I do what she did when she got married and change into a “going away outfit”. I thought that was a great idea. I would change into my going away dress before Ryan and I have our last dance. Then, my wedding dress would be left with Mom and would be safe and sound!

Once that detail was decided it was time to find another dress.

I didn’t want to get another white wedding dress. I wanted to get a dress that was classic and that I would wear again.

I had lots of intrigue during the time of the Royal Wedding. I love everything about Kate and her style.

When Will and Kate visited my own neighborhood of Canada, she wore this beautiful navy lace dress by Erdem. It was a classically beautiful dress. It looked vintage inspired yet still very “now”. When researching for a going away dress I thought this would be perfect!

Of course, the original is both unavailable and way too expensive but now that the dress is famous there are a couple of knock off’s. One being at Macy’s. Luckily for me, Macy’s now delivers to Canada!

I ordered the dress in my size and in less then a week it was on my door step, woo hoo!

Yesterday was the first time I tried on the dress even though I’ve had it for a week (yes, it’s VERY busy) and I am so happy to report that it fits like a glove! The navy lace is soft, delicate, and goes perfectly will my wedding shoes!

It’s a very special dress that I believe I will get alot of wear out of. It will always have special meaning between being a replica dress that Kate Middleton wore in Canada as well as the dress I will wear as I leave for my honeymoon!

xo

Being An Apostle

 

Happy Monday morning all and welcome to the last full week of January. The winter is passing by way too quickly!

Friday night Jilly and I headed to the city for supper! I had been craving Montana’s hard core and with Ryan gone to a “boys camp night” Jilly agreed to come to supper. We laughed so hard, had a couple pickled Caesars and ate WAY too much food. It was nice chatting and visiting!

At this household we are currently working on House Renovation Project Number 204…Well no, that’s an exaggeration but this is actually the LAST room of the house to be renovated so the end is near! 3 years later and the process of making my parents old house my own is almost over. And just in time for a wedding and a husband to move in! :-)

Saturday Dad and I worked all day at painting the new room and removing the old floorS it was a long process but the room is small and a little progress makes a big difference.

We parted ways but later I saw my Dad again at Gavan’s where we (and most of the town) gathered to celebrate with the soon to be husband and wife, Luke and Amanda!

I had fun chatting with the girls at the stag and was SO surprised when Ryan showed up! I wasn’t expecting him home till the next night!

Sunday morning I headed to church with Mom. Nancy, who I wrote about here, is our student minister. Nancy is also a blog reader and you can see some of her comments on alot of my blog posts! Nancy had me reflecting yesterday about being a follower of Jesus. I have mentioned on here before that I am a Christian. 

Nancy spoke yesterday about being a follower of Jesus. She mentioned myself, Jill’s and Stacy’s blogs and how us talking openly about about faith on blogs makes us apostles.

What is an apostle? Well, a Christian Apostle is someone who convey’s the “message”. Thus, a messenger in common translation. A messenger who who is “sent away” to tell about the good news of Jesus Christ.

At first I was taken aback. I know some people (AKA my parents) think blogging is silly. So, for Nancy to stand up in front of the whole congregation and mention how proud she was of us girls for openly praying and telling of our faith on our blogs was amazing.

I shook my head when she asked me if I knew I was an apostle. Of course, I never considered the words that I write on my blog about my faith to make me an apostle but I quickly learned otherwise.

I am a Christian, I am a follower of Jesus and now I have another title, I am an apostle too! Thank you Nancy for a wonderful sermon, it has really made me reflect.

After church, Mom and I joined the boys for breakfast and then after a long relaxing morning the renovations continued on for the remainder of the afternoon!

How was your weekend?

xo

A Very Random Friday!

 

Happy Friday everyone! Are you as excited as me to see the weekend finally arrive?

I feel like I’ve been kind of scatter brained lately. It’s like I have a hard time focusing on one thing right now! Different thoughts keeps twirling and whirling around my wee brain! I thought I’d give you an inside look.

- I thought January was suppose to be the month where you get back on track and get more fit/organized/financially smart? Nope not me! My theme this month is the more scatter brained the better, apparently. Between wedding to do’s, stupid year end work, new fitness from hell video, and other random requests, I literally feel dizzy some days!

- I know I've said it before and I’ll say it again…I HATE SNOW!

I know this isn’t new news to you all but I’ve discovered a new reason why I hate snow/winter...

It makes me lazy!! There’s nothing more that I want do on a cold, snowy, winter day then curl up on the couch (with blanket, of course), eating chips and watching mindless T.V. I look out the snowy window and laughed to myself thinking I fooled winter from making me cold! Ha!

- Speaking of mindless T.V…I watch ALOT of it. Here’s the short list:

Say Yes To The Dress, Four Weddings, Toddlers In Tiaras, Duggers, American Idol, Biggest Loser, Teen Mom 2, Jersey Shore, True Life, Rich Bride Poor Bride, Cake Boss, X-Weighted, Bulging Brides, Moving Up, Bachelor, House Hunters, Property Brothers, Property Virgins, Sarah’s House, The Challenge, Survivor and Hoarders.

Like I said, that’s the short list! :-)

- Yesterday, I got my wedding shoes in the mail! All of my mail comes pretty much right to where I work, in the office. So, when my shoes arrived yesterday I just HAD to try them on! But, it didn’t stop there, I then had to prance around the office to test out how comfy they are!

They fit like a glove and are surprisingly very comfortable! Bad news; they seriously clash with my work uniform!

Happy Friday!

xo

Wedding Wednesday – Traditions We Will Be Keeping And Ones We Won’t

Happy Wednesday everyone! Another week flying right by us!

I’m a pretty traditional girl. I think most of you know or could have guessed that! I like things how people did them in the past. I don’t like to sway to much to “trends”. I like traditions. Scratch that. I LOVE traditions. I can actually get quite anxious at the thought of something being out of the ordinary for me.

So, no doubt, when we began this wedding planning process I wanted to keep a lot of things traditional, but not everything.

Traditions We’re Keeping:

Asking Father’s Permission:

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Before this whole process began my future husband and I had talked about getting married before. During that conversation I had mentioned it was important for Ryan to ask Dad for his permission to marry me.

It may have been very old school but I’m a Daddy’s girl and it was important to me. Luckily, my fiancé obliged and Dad said “yes”.

Wearing White:

As daunting as the wedding dress shopping was at first, I was able to cross that very important item off my list and say “yes” to my white wedding dress! I couldn’t (personally) imagine getting married in any other color.

Tossing Of The Bouquet and Garter: 

I will definitely be carrying a bridal bouquet and wearing a garter.

That’s my new garter that I got at this AWESOME etsy shop called the GarterBoutique.

I loved that it was very affordable and in my wedding colors! There’s 2 pieces to it, a keep and a toss garter.

So, at the end of the night Ryan and I will be continuing the tradition of tossing the bouquet and garter.

Last Dance/ Leaving For Honeymoon:

One tradition that was important to me but that I had noticed wasn’t common anymore is the last dance and sending off.

My mother still has her “going away” outfit that she wore back in 1978.

Back when my parents got married my Mom changed out of her wedding dress and then into a going away outfit. Then, Mom and Dad shared a last dance before leaving to go on their honeymoon!

Being that Ryan and I plan on leaving right away on our honeymoon we thought it would be nice to be able to share one last dance together. We will then say farewell to our guests and leave, symbolizing starting out lives together as husband and wife.

Wait till you see my “going away” dress. (Next week)

Traditions we won’t be keeping:

The Trousseau Tea:

I was so confused when my mom told me about the Trousseau Tea. I even gave her the “what the heck are you talking about” look!

Apparently, this is a party that is hosted by the bride’s mother; with neighbors and acquaintances who are not on the wedding guest list. The mother of the bride would lay out the brides trousseau (bridal shower and wedding gifts) for the attendees to admire. It would be set up for about a month after the wedding so that people can stop in at anytime to have tea and admire all of the gifts and give their blessings to the bride and groom.

Mom stated that this is what happened to her. In fact, my grandma opened all of Mom and Dad’s wedding gifts while they were on their honeymoon so she could set them out to begin the trousseau tea while they were away.

Although the thought is nice it’s just not common anymore and a tradition we won’t be participating in.

Wedding Matches and Fruit Cake:

Although I did cave to the whole napkin with your names on it thing. When I was told you were also suppose to give away matches and fruit cake at your wedding, I said no.

For one thing, I don’t know that many people who still use matches.

Also, I hate fruit cake. It’s a taste I never became accustomed to and will not be serving. 

Now that the wedding get’s closer and closer the small details are needing to be taken care of. It’s the things that you never thought of and last minute details that have to be looked after. As daunting as the tasks can be it is so important to stay organized, use your gut instinct to make your decisions and always consider what is best for you!

Happy Wednesday!

xo

Food On Friday

 

Happy Friday everyone! I don’t know if it’s because it’s the New Year and I am feeling really ambitious but lately I have been trying new foods and crafts!

As some of you might remember from this post, Ryan and I LOVE pizza. Especially homemade pizza. It’s our Friday night tradition. Every Friday I go home and make homemade pizza for supper.

I developed the homemade dough recipe when Ryan and I were really counting our pennies and buying a pizza from the local pizzeria for $20 (or more) dollars. Spending that much money on one meal was just not affordable for us at the time. So, I merged a few dough recipes together and we had a new favorite meal and tradition.

We love our pizza but sometimes it’s nice to have a little change but still keeping in the Pizza Friday tradition. So, one evening I made….

Pizza Bits

Here’s what you need:

- 2 cans of Pillsbury flaky biscuits

- 1 can of pizza sauce

- Pepperoni

- Butter

- Parmesan Cheese

- Parsley Flakes

- Oregano

- Garlic Powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl mix together 1 tbsp of Garlic, Parsley Flakes and Oregano.

3. Grease your Bundt pan. Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese at the bottom of your Bundt pan.

4. Open your can of biscuits and cut each biscuit in half.

5. Flatten out that piece of dough into a small circle. Place a piece of pepperoni in the centre and then fold over the dough and shape into a small ball.

6. Dip your ball in the butter and then in your bowl of spices.

7. Continue until you have used all of the biscuits and they are all evening distributed in your Bundt pan.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let it rest for an addition 5 minutes. Place a plate upside down over your Bundt pan and carefully turn your plate right side up again, turning your Bundt can upside down.

9. Place a small bowl of of pizza sauce to the side of right in the middle!

10. Tear apart piece by piece and ENJOY!

This recipe was SO yummy and so easy to make ahead and then put in the oven before supper! Not to mention it isn’t to expensive either. It was a nice change from our regular Friday night pizza and most importantly, it was Ryan approved! 

I hope you all pass a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday!

xo