Our love story

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I have seen this done on quite a number of blogs and thought I would play along too! So here it goes!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We will be celebrating our 13th anniversary this coming May! Wow!

2. How did you meet? What’s your “love story”?

We literally met 'on the road'! My best friend and I used to drive around aimlessly listening to music and just hanging out. There wasn't much to do in the small city we lived in and we weren't quite 18 yet, so we weren't allowed in the bars. Noel and his friend drove up beside us on their motorbikes and we stopped in a parking lot to chat with them. Noel and I exchanged phone numbers. We went on our first date a few days later and the rest was history!

3. How long have you been married? If not married, is this the guy you hope to marry?

We will be getting married in August and we seriously can't wait!

4. If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?

Being that we will be having a destination wedding we are only inviting about 80 people, but we expect between 20 and 25 people to actually come. In October we'll be having a reception back home where about 150 people will attend!

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

I usually call Noel babe and he usually calls me his beauty. We also call each other mom and dad when we're talking to Jackson.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

I love that he's so hard working and takes such good care of Jackson and I. He has unconditional love for us and for both of our families. And I adore his love for kids - he's going to be a terrific dad someday!

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

Noel proposed to me on my 30th birthday last year. Early in the day Noel had gotten me a dozen roses and then right before we were going to go to my birthday dinner he gave me a single pink rose. He said the first 12 roses were for the 12 years we had spent together and the single rose was for all the years we'd spend together in the future.
He got down on his knee and pulled out my dream Tacori ring that I had my eye on for years! It was perfect!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He is definitely a flowers-type guy. He spoils me often with flowers. I feel so lucky. I got these pretties today!


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

It really depends. I love both! Just depends what kinds of mood I am in and if we're celebrating something particularly special or if it's just because.

10. Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Top of the list for me is to have kids. I cannot wait to be a mom and I know Noel will make the best dad. I also look forward to travelling with him. My top destination is Italy!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine’s Day.

Noel is actually working nights right now. But this morning he gave me a card and sent flowers to my work. We will probably have a dinner at home before his shift tonight.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine’s day?

Nothing! Just time with Noel! But he has already spoiled me!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Communication is key. And of course you have to sprinkle in some fun and laughs too!

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Three things Thursday!

Happy Thursday everyone! I remember my alarm going off this morning and wishing that it was Saturday so I could sleep in! By this late in the week I am ready for a sleep-in day!

Here are my three things on this beautiful sunny Thursday!

1. I am really excited to take Jackson to his first doggy daycare this weekend. We are going to let him try it out for an hour or two to see how he does with the other dogs before signing him up. I'm excited at the thought of him being able to play with some doggy friends during the day instead of being home all by himself!

2. We are going to look at wedding bands this weekend! This makes my heart smile! I love doing this kind of stuff and Noel is super excited to go too! He's really getting into the little details of planning with me. I never thought he would be this way. But I love it!

3. I am so looking forward to dinner tonight. As a matter of fact it's all I can think about this afternoon! We are trying a new recipe in the crockpot called Buffalo chicken. Toss in four chicken breasts, mix up 1 cup of wing sauce and half a package of powdered Ranch dressing and pour over chicken. Let it cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add two tablespoons of margarine and shred chicken. Serve on a bun, with some cheese and lettuce. We'll also be having a salad. Yum! I will let you know how it turns out.
We are also going to be trying another recipe called Drunken Roast this weekend which uses a whole can of beer! I love my crockpot!

Make it a great day!

Bad blogger!

I seriously am a terrible blogger. I read blogs almost on a daily basis but often feel like my life is not overly exciting and that I never really have exciting things to talk about.

Today though (and probably straight through until October when our reception is) I will chat about wedding!

I am truly loving every single minute of wedding planning. Sure, there have been times when I have felt overwhelmed and somewhat stressed - probably because I'm planning two separate things and because Noel is always so busy with work that it feels like we have a small window of a few days each month to make decisions together.

But I am feeling much better these days because all of our big stuff is booked or in the process of being booked.

We of course have decided on a place to get married as well as a wedding date - hello Hawaii can't come soon enough, especially when we saw temps of almost -50C last night with the windchill! Gross!

We are in the process of booking flights and our hotel, which will be done on Noel's next set of days off. We have decided on what hotel though! We have booked our photographer and a musician (a ukulele player to be exact!) for our ceremony. We are in the process of booking our flowers and a dinner after the wedding as well. Our invites have been ordered and will be mailed out as soon as we get them. They are gorgeous and exactly what I wanted! I will post them when they get here. My dress has been ordered as well. I still need to book hair and makeup for the morning of our wedding.

We have booked our reception for Oct. 6th where we will invite all of our friends and family! We have booked a live band which we really have hummed and hawed over for the last six weeks. But it's done now and we are excited! They will also bring a DJ to play in between their sets and after as well.
We are gathering ideas for decorations for our reception but we have a pretty good idea of what we'll be doing. A family friend is making our favours for us as we speak - pineapple jelly. We will also be bringing a pineapple spice back from Hawaii to add to the favours as well.
We still have to book a tasting for our reception, but I think beef will be on the menu.

And we continue to work hard and save, save, save for both our wedding and reception. Going into the planning we only had one rule - we would not put a single thing on credit. We don't want to be paying for our wedding for the next year. It will be all paid in cash and that way we can just enjoy the moment as it comes!

We are so happy and continue to get more excited every day!

Welcoming 2012!

What a whirlwind the last couple weeks have been! Between Christmas and New Years, getting together with friends and family, travelling and trying to relax somewhere in there, I can't believe we've already hit 2012!

I have BIG plans for this year! Of course we are getting married! We have actually set the date. We will be getting married in August in Hawaii! We are extremely excited!

The reception will be booked by this weekend. Noel is coming home tonight and is on his days off so we will be getting to work. We do have two venues on two different days tentatively booked though so I feel good!

Wedding planning has been somewhat stressful. It has been fun for the most part but I am basically planning two different weddings - or so it feels like - so the coordination of a ceremony and reception in Hawaii and then a reception here has been somewhat trying on my nerves at times. All of this while Noel works away 90% of the month so I am really on my own when it comes to getting things done.

2011 was a great year as well but I am definitely looking forward to 2012! For some reason I feel like it's a fresh start and it's time to turn over a new leaf. I'm not too sure where this is coming from, but I have never felt it before when another year has gone by.

I don't really make resolutions per se, because I think for the most part you are setting yourself up for failure. But there are some things that I want to work on this year and they include of course continuing to live a more healthy lifestyle, being more financially responsible, saving more, trying to not let the little things bother me as much, relaxing more and continuing to appreciate what I have on a day to day basis.

Here's to 2012!!!!

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, where has the last couple of weeks gone? Forget that, where has 2011 gone? I feel like I'm flying around like a crazy woman - not because I'm not ready for Christmas, because I was a while ago, with the exception of baking, which I plan to start on tonight.

With Noel only home for a short time we are trying to enjoy the holidays and plan our wedding! I would love to have something booked in terms of a wedding site ideally before he goes back to work, which isn't too far away now. This would be made much, much easier if people would get back to me! Argh! It is very frustrating actually. All of our current decisions hinge on hearing back from the venues and people we have left messages for.

We are looking to get married in Hawaii hopefully next September-ish, followed by a reception back here at home. We are still wading through the guest list (oh my was that ever NOT fun)! We seem to have two different ideas of who should and should not be invited. Going into planning I decided right away that I would pick my battles so to speak, but the guest list is something the neither of us are giving up on. I know it will all work out and we'll both be happy campers at the end, it's just tough trying to get there.

Anyways, so that is that for now. Nothing else is really new. I'm super excited for Christmas as my sister, her husband and my niece are coming. It's my niece's first Christmas (she was born in January), so it makes it all the more special!

What I'm lovin' today!

There are many things that I am loving and thankful for today, but my biggest love is that I found my wedding dress on the weekend! I feel a sense of relief, excitement and even more realism that I am actually getting married!

After a not so successful first trip to a local bridal store, where the consultant may or may not have been pushing her side business of wedding planning on me the entire 90 minutes, I left feeling a little defeated. I didn't love any of the dresses I had tried on and there were many that I didn't even like. Wedding dress shopping fail.

So on a whim, my mom and I decided to shop on Sunday. We went to a second bridal store and it was a totally different and pleasant experience. The consultant asked me what I liked and what I didn't, how I envisioned myself on my wedding day, my budget, etc. None of these questions were asked at the first place and my mom, former dance teacher and I had to pull all of our own dresses! Anyways, at the second store, the consultant pulled everything for me and she hit the nail on the head with every single dress.

Funny side story - after my first failed experience, I was online looking at a photography blog and came across a dress that I saw that I immediately fell in love with. I emailed the picture to my mom and told her that was exactly what I was looking for.
Well low and behold, the bridal store we went to on the weekend had the EXACT dress and it looked great. I felt great in it and it's definitely a "me" dress!

I am so excited that we have made the big purchase! I can't wait for it to come in and actually fit me! :)

Other things I'm loving today are the guy at the grocery store telling me to get Chinese Christmas oranges and not the Japanese ones because they are much tastier right now. At $9 a box I would have been disappointed if I got home and none of them tasted good.

I'm also loving the warm weather we've been having!

I'm loving that Noel has been home the last two nights (although he has a nasty cold that I'm not loving!)

And finally, I'm loving that my house is being cleaned today! Yay! I love when the cleaning fairies come every couple of weeks!

Hope you all have a great day!

Christmas blog swap!

I came home yesterday and I had received a package from my blog swap partner Destini!

I was so excited to open it as I love, love, love getting things in the mail besides bills!

My package was perfect and I can't thank Destini enough! In my package I got an advent calendar - yum! Chocolate every day is amazing! :) I also got some yummy gingerbread spice tea that I opened up right away and tried. It definitely tastes like the holidays! She also gave me a Starbucks gift card and How the Grinch Stole Christmas DVD - love this movie and I am really looking forward to watching the cartoon version! (I've only seen the version with Jim Carrey). And I got a really cute card as well!

SO THANK YOU DESTINI! I LOVED IT ALL! :)




We got a ton of snow over night. I'm guessing we got about a foot in total. It made for a yucky drive to work this morning. The weather is supposed to be on the plus side tomorrow. I'm very much looking forward to that!

We also bought a new Christmas tree yesterday! I am so excited! It's an eight foot tree so it seems huge to us! Our previous one was a six footer. It was our first Christmas tree together, so it does hold some special memories. But the best part about our new tree is that it is pre-lit! You cannot beat that! If there is one argument that Noel and I get into every year it is about Christmas lights when we're putting them on the tree. We both get frustrated with the pesky task and usually take it out on each other, so goodbye strings of lights!
I will post a pic when we've got it all decorated.

Have a super day!