I miss you...

I miss you, loyal reader.  I know there's only one or two of you out there but I still miss you.  I will be back soon.  Once things settle down.  I promise.

OMG I "won"!!

Got a call from Table Charms today and apparently I won a draw that I entered at a bridal show. What did I win, you ask? Well I won the right to go to a 90 minute presentation where they try to sell me over-priced pots and pans and then they give me a g/c for $250 worth of rings from JVL Jewellery (which doesn't have any rings myself or FBD likes) and a 3 day/2 night stay to a hotel in North America. Sounds pretty good, eh? Well I did some research ('cause I'm hella skeptical) and found out that yeah you get these things but you have to pay a deposit to get the hotel and they get to choose where it is...oh and you pay the flights.




Thanks for the offer Table Charms but I'll keep my Friday night for myself.

MIA...my life has exploded.

Dearest loyal reader,
my life has exploded lately.  We've been having our house shown (the landlord is sellin' 'er), FSIL is having a baby, there are birthdays up the wazoo and my uncle is in a coma.  So basically my head is trying not to explode.  Because of all these wonderful factors coming together at once I will be posting few and far between for a little while.  I'm just going to try and get my life back in order.  I'll try to pop by for Wedding Wednesdays and Friday Fives but I can't promise a whole lot else until these shenangins are sorted out.  Thanks for bearing with me.  I'll see you on the flip side...

BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy birthday to my younger sister and one of my best friends Kelsey!! Kels is turning 23 today! wo0t!!

She was not impressed with me when I took this pic....

Wedding Wednesday ...

My 6 Challenge

I have 2 weeks down and 4 weeks left on my 6 challenge.  I'm happy to report that I've been exercising MUCH more, eating all my fruits and veggies and living a healthier lifestyle.  I haven't lost any more poundage since the last time I weighed myself but that could just be because (TMI WARNING!) of where I'm at in my cycle currently.  I find I weigh a little more during that week or so...so yeah...sorry about that.  LOL

Anyways, my current plan for the week is to continue with the healthy eating.  Tonight after dinner I'm either going to take up some yoga or head to the gym for some weights.  I haven't actually been to my gym in a week but I've been supplementing with free weights at home, yoga on demand and lots of walking and swimming.  Tomorrow Mr. Dan and I have a swim date and Saturday is yard work day.

So that's the update for now.  Hopefully by next week I'll be down a lb or two!

Baby!!!!!!

No.  I'm not pregnant.  But my future sister in law is.  YAY!!!!

I've never really thought about being an auntie.  I've always wanted to but I know that my sister isn't really sure about kids and my brother is only 20 so he's no where near the "kid phase".  I've got some great friends who have wonderful children.  I love them all to death but it's not the same as having your own lil niece or nephew.  Mr. Dan and I are already spoiling this child rotten - he, or she, has all new bedding, pjs, toys, bath stuff, books and there's more coming!  I'm very excited and just wanted to share my news...before I run off to the baby shower.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Lest we forget...

Thank you to all our Armed Forces.  Thank you for the sacrifices you have made, the dedication you have showed and the courage to continue fighting for us. 

Wedding Wednesday- Ladies' Attire Edition

It's that time of the week again, Wedding Wednesday!!!

This past weekend the ladies and I went dress shopping (for them).  We were all anxious to get some wedding fun going and they all wanted to get the dresses sorted out so myself, Kim (my BFF and MOH), Kelsey (my sister and BM) and Maris (my BFF and BM) headed out to look.  Kaylee (my rockin' friend and BM) couldn't make it this trip.  But she's got something in mind, and I'm happy as long as she's happy!

So the only parameters for the dresses were that they be knee length and in cherry red from Alfred Angelo.  The ladies were supremely happy that I wasn't being fussy and all got to pick dresses they loved!

So without further ado here are the dresses:

This is the beautiful Maris modeling the color we will be using.

Kim aka MOH in her dress.  Doesn't it flatter her?! LOVE it.

Kelsey in her lil number.  I had to hold the back closed b/c
her boobies are too big! (ZOMG did I say that?!)

Maris in this REALLY cute one-strap.
Coincidently it's in the color we'll be wearing for her wedding! haha

So that's Wedding Wednesday for this week. What do you think of our dress selections?

The challenge of sixes!

So it's still raining.  What a drag! You'd think I live in England or something.

Anywho, I wanted to chat today about my new goals.  Every so often a set some goals for myself. I think it's good to have something to shoot for.  It keeps me motivated.  Lately they've been healthy lifestyle goals.  This one is no different.  I want to make it a healthy lifestyles goal - and I'm going to do it with the help of my team over at Spark People.  (No this isn't a plug, it's just the site I use....)

Moving on....between Sept 1 and Oct 25 of this year I lost 10 lbs.  wo0!! Okay, enough of my attention hoaring, now I've decided that since I wasn't really even trying to lose weight that I could probably do it again.  So I've set some new goals for the upcoming months.  The challenge started on November 1 and will run until December 12 (Mom's birthday!).  I want to eat 6 servings of veggies/fruits per day (thanks for this one Mrs. Mutley) and I'd like to lose 6-10 lbs.  That gives me 6 weeks (from the start) to get 'er done.  I don't think it's an unreasonable goal.  6 weeks, 6 lbs, 6 veggies.   I think I'm also going to do a weekly update...so look for my update next week to see how my 6 Challenge is going.  And feel free to join in!

What are some goals you've recently set for yourself?

Rainy days in our future...

So it's been raining non-stop for what seems like days now.  Everything is wet and Environment Canada says it's going to last until at least mid-week.  It makes me not want to do anything.  Seriously, I just want to stay home with soup and hold-up in our flat until it all clears.  The dogs aren't much for it either.  They go out, do what they need to do and run to the safety of the doorway.  Mr. Dan doesn't seem too bothered.  He's waiting for the new Call of Duty to come out so he's doing research on all the neat little things this game can do and playing demos and whatever else video game guys do while they wait for the next "it" game.  However, I'm going dress shopping with 3 of my 4 wedding party ladies today...should be interesting! You'll see a post about our successes (or lack there of...it all depends on today) on Wedding Wednesday.  Wish us luck...oh and hopefully everyone brings rain boots! We're gonna need 'em!

Keep the Large's in your thoughts...

Mr and Mrs. Large of (near) Truro, NS won $11.2 mil in the lotto this summer. (Click here to read the newspaper article)  They have spent it all.  But none of it was spent on themselves.  Every penny spent was given away.  Churches, fire departments, family, charities, hospitals...everyone got a slice of their good luck pie.  Now they are facing another challenge - Mrs. Large has just finished cancer treatments.  I'd just like to ask everyone to keep these wonderful, generous, good-hearted people in their thoughts and prayers.  May they enjoy many more blissful years of marriage together.

Wedding Wednesday - Advice for brides to be...

Usually on Wedding Wednesday we concentrate on all things shiny, pretty and wedding-y.  Well this week I thought I'd take a different route.  I have a few friends that are getting married in the (nearish) future and for some reason I've become the group "expert" (I"m using this term VERY loosely) on weddings and wedding advice.  I'm not really sure how this happened.  Maybe it was my time on The Knot...or just my general "I need to know everything about this subject before I dive in" attitude but I've been getting some questions lately so I thought it might be neat to address some of them here.  So here we go:

Q) When should I order my wedding dress?
A) You should try and give yourself enough time that your dress can be ordered, made, shipped and altered without panicking the week before the wedding.  A good rule of thumb is order 6-9 months out.  Some designers take up to 6 months to create a dress and ship it, while others can rush it in a few months.  Either way, unless you're buying a sample right off the rack I would give yourself lots of time.  Better to have it sit in your closet for a month or two, then to be calling the store the month before the wedding.

Q) When should I ask my wedding party?
A) I'm a big believer in waiting.  You need to at least have a firm date and a venue before asking your party.  This means your contract is signed and it's a done deal.  We asked about 10 months out.  Normally I would say, again, 6-9 months out.  You don't want to ask too early because, let's face it, relationships can change.  But you also don't want to leave it to the last minute and have people scrambling for money.

Q) What do I need to do first?  What needs to be booked and when?
A) Big question.  Number one thing you need to do is the budget.  You need to know how much you are working with and then go from there.  After that you need a guest list and then move on to the date/venue/caterer/etc.  The Knot has a great checklist.  Or check out my to-do list on mine and Mr. Dan's  planning site.

Q) How many people should I invite? How do I know how big to make my guest list? Who goes on it?
A) That's a really personal question.  How many people do you want there? How many people can your venue hold?  Never invite more people than your venue can hold.  If you invite more and they all show up...well basically you're screwed!  I would suggest making a guest list with everyone you want to be there.  Make sure you ask mom and dad/future in-laws for names as well.  Then, if it's too large, go through and start removing people that you aren't that close to, or people that you haven't seen in X years, co-workers, etc.  Also, please don't make an A and a B list.  That is so rude.  It's like saying to the B list "You weren't important enough to come but now that one of my A's can't come...would you like to?".  RUDE.  And it would piss me off.  I'd rather not get an invite, personally.

Those are my basic wedding questions for today.  Please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail if you have any other questions!