A very busy weekend

Sheesh!  Just when I’ve been trying to get in to the swing of things when it comes to school work, I land with the first of three very busy weekends for me in September.

Friday night was the QPT AGM and BBQ.  It was really good to spend some time hanging out with that crew, especially since I haven’t seen quite a few of them since we did the show in June.  It was good – we had lots of beers (sweet beer) and lots of food.  Shout out to Amy and Peter for being our gracious hosts in their new and almost renovated house.  In the end, we also got some business done.  We collectively elected a new executive board, and I’m proud to say I will get to sit on it for another year.  It’s good because even if I don’t have too much time during school, I’m still helping plan events and I’m a part of the club!

Saturday was good – It started of easy, I slept in a little bit.  Then I got up and did some reading for tomorrow, before I had to get showered and head to KW for Roshan and Stephen’s engagement party.  It was a good road trip as Nick and Rachel came along too.  We hit up the party, which was expertly planned, but a tad overwhelming at the BBQ got moved inside due to the rain, and there was about 65 people there and kind of loud.  But it was good – the soon to be Chancellors and the Barons decided to sit and have a nice chat on the front porch while periodically making food and drink runs in to the house.  We left in the early evening, and made one other quick stop before heading home – ok, wait two.  The first was Value Village – a treat, seeing as the ones in Toronto are usually super picked over already by the hipster crews and such.  I managed to find two sweaters, a scarf, three pairs of earrings and a brooch for 25$.  Sweet!  Nick also found some duds, which was good.  After that our last stop was Dairy Queen before heading back.

The drive home was rainy, but good.  We were glad to be back, we Wii-ed it up a little then settled on watching Vantage Point on Rogers on Demand.  Very good movie.  It’s a little stressful at first, and a little overwhelming to constantly be changing perspectives, but I enjoyed how it played out in the end.  And really, it’s a pretty clever concept.  I recommend it.

Today was even crazier.  I got up at 7:30 to start my reading.  I managed to get quite a bit done.  Then it was showering, hitting up the bulk barn and heading to Rachel’s sis’ place where were hosted a bridal shower for her.  We had a great showing, not too many cheesy games and lots of great food.  We had girl time and Rachel got spoiled with some great gifts that I’m positive Nick will appreciate too! 

Tonight was also a busy one.  David did his last sermon as senior pastor of FT.  It’s sad to see him go, but he’s got some new adventures to pursue.  Plus we’ll definitely see him and Jen around town.  They’re not moving to Siberia or anything.  It was a good celebration, and a good close to a chapter in the life of FT.

Baby steps from here.

Today’s a crazy day, but yesterday was good

It’s been a pretty busy day at work – I’ve been working on emails not stop for about an hour and a half now, but that was too be expected because I’m getting a bunch of vacation requests.  Phew – glad it’s almost over!

Yesterday was good – Rachel, Hannah (Rachel’s sister) and I went fabric shopping to get something that all of us can use to make our bridesmaid dresses.  It’s gotten to be an easier adventure because now we’re all matching – so it made sense that we went looking for one piece of fabric.  Rachel’s mum and sister can do the other girls, and my mum has graciously agreed to help me make my own verzion of the dress of my dreams.  Luckily we found some great polyester imitation silk-type fabric that doesn’t wrinkle much and is the perfect colour – and it wasn’t too bad in price, especially because the staff were awesome enough to let Rachel use Nick’s membership card.    Now all I’ve got to do it wait for the dress patterns I won on ebay so Mum can start on the dress.

It was also lucky that by chance we passed a store that was selling shoes at a very reasonable price.  Both Rachel and Hannah found the white shoes they were looking for for the big day.  Yess!

I’m getting excited!

The hunt is on!

I’ve been finally allowed to share the great news – Rachel and Nick are getting married – which is super exciting, and it’s going to be awesome.  In true FT fashion, Rachel and Nick are toying with getting married in the reasonably near future, because sometimes, it just makes sense to do that.  If you know, you know, so why wait?  It’s great!  But it does me that the time has come to search for something very, very important: dresses!

I’ve been super honoured with being asked to be Rachel’s Matron of Honour.  And Rachel, being who she is, has already got so many great ideas for the wedding party, etc.  Yesterday we chatted briefly about the bridesmaid dresses, and she gave me some great ideas to work with.  There’s only one snafu: Rachel has her heart set on me wearing yellow, a hue that can sometimes make me appear sickly, so the hunt is on for the perfect shaped and perfect coloured dress! 

Last night, I decided to do a little online research for a yellow dress – I searched for “yellow dress”, “mustard yellow cocktail dress”, “yellow cocktail dress”, etc and quickly began to realize that this isn’t something that is easy to come by.  It’s not an overly popular colour in the recent fashion world, unless it’s for a mini dress, and well, I’m not in to that, and neither is Rachel. (Praise the Lord!)  I did, however, find some awesome inspiration by searching on ebay.  I managed to find a seriously awesome 50’s inspired vintage dress that has a silouhette that I love!  I mean, seriously.  It’s awesome.  Plus, as Trinny and Susannah very snarkily point out scoop necks work really well for those of us who have a bigger bust (see their rules here – N.B. don’t open the first page at work!)

Seeing as the colour picture might not work for me – I’ve also taken some time to check out some great fabric colours that might better suit my skin tone – and I found one I really like, even if it is a little steeper in price.  It’s also a bonus that it’s a silk and not a cotton like the fabric used on the pictured dress, so I can possible plan to get someone to make me a dress inspired by the one in the picture.  How awesome would that be?  Seriously.  And it might end up being way cheaper than buying something, especially if I find a similar fabric that’s going for less.  I’m really excited! 

Woot!

A short week

It’s always strange to have a holiday week because the monotony of your regular schedule is interrupted.  Luckily this past week has been relatively calm at work, so it hasn’t had all the frantic energy that past holiday weeks have had.  However, all the same I am very please to have the weekend coming up just so I don’t have to sit at a computer all day long.  Plus I have wedding to go to, and M and I are celebrating our 6th month of being married.  Woo!

This week was also strange because I had yesterday afternoon to get a few more details of my school stuff in order.  I had to go to the doctor again, check on my medical forms, and then I went to register and get my student card.  It’s weird!  I’ve got a U of T student card now.  It’s one more step to the reality that I’m going to be a nursing student in about 2 months!

I guess it’s just another step in my drastically and ever changing life – it’s been a big 2 years!

Blondie: Brad&Jana: New TV

This past weekend/week beginning has been full of activities.  Yeesh.  It’s no wonder I’m feeling the need for coffee this morning.  (Starby’s, of course).  And now you can read all about it!

Friday, as announced, M and I travelled to Casino Rama after work to hit up the Blondie concert.  I’ve never been to Rama, let alone Orillia before – so it was a new adventure.  Rama was cool enough – lots of very gambling oriented stuff (obviously) and lots of grey hair.  That’s not meant in a mean way, just a truthful one.  We had dinner, then headed in to the seemingly empty theatre for the show.  Our seats were pretty decent, and we spent the pre-show prep time playing a game of “spot the people younger than us!”.  Then the show started at about 9:03 (on time!  WOW!) and we were launched in to the awesome vocal stylings of the amazing Deborah Harry.  I couldn’t believe it!  She’s 63, and she’s still looks like she just walked on to the stage at CBGB.  Too cool!  Her voice was fantastic – and the band was great too – some of the original members and some new young’uns.  The drummer was really good – the only complaint was that the one guitarist was a little loud (even for M, so that’s saying something!)  The other thing I was totally impressed with was how much of a show the crew put on!  Everyone was wanting to address the crowd, and well, they looked damn good!  But then again, I’ve always maintained that Debbie Harry is one of the sexiest and coolest women in rock and roll!  Seriously.

After the concert, M took driving duty and we headed to KW to crash at Mum’s place.  (I, as per usual, fell asleep in the car and was a terrible driving buddy).  We got in around 1:00, and got up early the next morning so we could get on the road to Leamington for Brad & Jana’s wedding.  We managed to get organized and get out the door around 10:00, which worked out well for the long drive.  We got to Leamington around 1:00 in the afternoon, and we glad to see the hotel let us check in early.  We also got a chance to relax a little before heading out into the very warm day for the ceremony.

The wedding overall was a beautiful, love-filled day!  The ceremony was very special – the couple was married by one of Jana’s best friends from UW, which was really sweet.  Every little detail in the church was covered, and it was just beautiful.  After that, they had all of the guest hang out in little groups so we could chat and get a nice candid picture with the bride and groom.  This was fun because M and I fit into the “School and Toronto friends” group – and seeing as he knows Jana from school, and I know Brad from school, and we have intermixed friends, meeting up with everyone and meeting new people was a breeze!  None of the awkward weird wedding feeling was present.  Definitely good. 

The reception was wonderful – it was in a giant tent in the back yard of Jana’s parents.  There was tons of food – each being served from a themed station (ie. Country Menonite, Greek) and the appetizers were spring rolls and edamame because it was the first thing Brad and Jana made together in the kitchen.  (So cute!)  The tables were family style, the wine flowed at a good rate, and it was all about having a good time.  The kissing game was particularly inventive as you had a choice to do one of two things: 1) act out a kissing scene froma movie and watch the couple perform it or 2) make a charitable donation and pick a theme for the couple to act out during their kiss.  M and I donated to ALS research and got them to do “awkward 7th grade first kiss where you’re braces get stuck together”.  Hilarious!    Dinner wrapped up and we got to enjoy the musical stylings of Franklin’s Fault who had a reunion for one night only.  We danced away and kept it going for as long as we could before we needed to get to sleep!

The next morning we all met back at the tent for a brunch to help eat up all the leftovers!  Super smart idea as there was still tons of delicious food to eat.  M and I headed out right after eating, as it’s a long drive home – which I admit I was awake for most of – and we got back in Toronto with enough time to relax a little before I headed to church and M headed back to work. 

Monday, we barely had time to recover!  After work we had dinner, then M and I headed to the new Future Shop at Dundas Square to get him something he’s been eyeing for a while – a new flat screen TV.  After much debate (even a rebate), we settled on a new Sharp Aquos which got set up last night.  It’s way cool and it’s going to be even more awesome when we have time to sit down and watch it.  Last night we spend a good chunk of the evening cleaning/organizing and buying a new TV stand from Ikea.

Tonight – Dave Matthews Band at the Ampitheatre (interestingly enough with Brad and Jana and some others).  More news to come!

It’s good to have a “life” back!

One down, two to go

I’ve been a busy little bee the last week and a bit – I’ve been working my tail off to get all my course work done.  Looks like I’m pretty closely on track to my goal of being done this weekend.  There’s only one snag – I’ve got a take home exam for my Women’s study course that’s six mini-essays, and I’m running out of time to get that done, plus my term paper, finish my physiology course work and write that exam.  Looks like I might be writing a little be next week, but I’m going to try and crank out those essays as quickly as I can.

Good news – my sociology class is done!  I wrote the exam last weekend – and it went really well – my hand was uber cramped after I wrote for 2.5 hrs straight, but it’s all good.  My essay is written – and it feels good to know I finished the course – and to quote my tutor, in record time!  Woo hoo!  Now I just hope the marks come out as stellar as I want them to be.

On another note, my good friend Ann Marie and Kyle also got married this weekend – that’s awesome!  It was a really nice, laid back wedding.  Plus the weather was awesome on Saturday afternoon!  They’re heading off to India and Nepal really soon – I hope everything goes well.

That’s about a wrap for me today.  I’ll post more once the whole work adventure business is over.  I’m off to learn about vay-jay-jays.  Yep, you heard right. 

What’s in a name?

The wedding plans are coming along – we get married in just under two months, and I find myself relatively calm. M and I have our moments of freaking out, but overall, we’re getting everything sorted. For me though, I’ve got one other thing I need to work through: changing the name.

I don’t think as a little girl, or even a year ago, I could comprehend what it means to say you’re going to take on the name of the man you are to wed. It’s not a new concept, and it’s not even a strange one. In fact, it’s a tradition I kinda like and have never had the intention to go against. But now that’s it coming down to crunch time, I find it’s making me jittery and I’m getting a strange case of cold feet.

And the worst part is – I’m not sure why! Obviously, it’s a HUGE change. I won’t be “me” anymore – but I’ll be something new, something different – a new covenant. And that’s sooo awesome. But still, I’m finding it hard to look at my name – the name that I have come to know and love for 26 years, and I think “I won’t be that anymore!”

Girls out there – how have you deal with these mixed feelings? Seriously. (This is of course going on the asumption I still have readers – it has been AGES!)

I’d love to get some feedback!

Man and Wife

Last night the associate pastor at Freedomize married a very lovely woman. It was beautiful! Congratulations David and Jen McGhee!

Honestly, last night was a very moving night – it was hard to get too swept up, seeing as most of us were working hard serving and organizing food for the reception, but all the same I was glad to be there. I’m relatively new to Freedomize, and I know David as just a little bit more than an acquaintance, and Jen even less well – however, this doesn’t stop me from knowing what an amazing blessing this marriage is for the both of them, and yeah, even for the rest of us. This marriage is full of life!

Just about two weeks ago, I was able to sit and listen to David speak about Jen and his upcoming marriage. It was so inspiring and so exquisite to just be in the presence of a man so completely in love, but so completely in Godly romantic love. He talked about the blessings that Jen brought to his life, and how grateful he was to know he was soon going to be calling her wife. He talked about the little joys, like her setting up their apartment while he was gone for two hours after they moved house. He talked about the fact that it felt right, and that there was even a spiritual connection that just seemed to highten intimate moments when they were together. He said “This relationship makes me feel alive!” And I thought to myself, “That must be true, because this relationship is making me feel full of life by just listening to you, David!”

In this world, I fear it’s rare to have that kind of a relationship, not because God doesn’t want it to happen, but because the world doesn’t want it to happen. The lines of marriage are blurred and have a focus that tends towards a legal declaration of love rather than a joining of a man and woman in the blessing of God, the Father. (Don’t get me wrong, these marriages are still very valid and full of love, but…)

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

There is power in asking God to bless a union because if a relationship is meant to breathe life into you and your spouse, it HAS to come from God because God IS life.

Amen to that!