With all the bad weather, and vacation plans, and being sick, and wedding thoughts....I completely missed our House Anniversary.
As of January 16th we've owned our own home for a whole year! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Wedding plans? Have we made any? What's the deal?
The deal is this... FH has himself a deployment he's dying to go on later this year. Of course, in true Navy fashion he has no idea whether he will actually get to do it. So we are in slight limbo. If he goes, he'll leave in November and probably get home in March or April.
So we are aiming for Summer 2010. I actually like the idea of September...Autumn is pretty everywhere and won't be too hot or too cold....I hope!
But it's sooooo far away. Further than either of us would like...neither of us are big fans of the long engagement and that pushes to almost two years....not ideal, but we don't want half-assed plans either. It's truly all up in the air. So be it. At least it provides lots of time for extra savings and arrangements.
It is a bit of a logistical nightmare too. We live in Halifax...and although we have some very important people here, neither of us have any family here so it's really not the ideal place to have the wedding. We don't feel right asking 90% of the guests to travel thousands of miles and spend tons of money. I, of course, would love to have it in Victoria since the majority of my family and friends are there (or at least within a short drive or ferry ride away). FH would love to have it in Winnipeg as he has his son, some family and some very dear friends there. Having said that his Mom is in Ontario, his Dad is in BC, and he also has some great friends on the island. Talk about wide spread!
Simplicity says have a destination wedding. It's the thing to do now, don't ya know? Vegas would be hysterical and memorable. A beach would be lovely. But the con to that is that a lot of people wouldn't attend due to time constraints and finances (which is the same issue we have with a non-destination wedding anyway). Besides, we are really looking forward to a big party! And honestly if we do a destination wedding it means we would probably have to wait another year for the honeymoon... that just drags it all out even further.
We'll work it out! Just brainstorming in black and white here. Many of you have asked for the scoop and this is where it stands just now. It's only been two weeks of engagement though...so we've got time! :)
The deal is this... FH has himself a deployment he's dying to go on later this year. Of course, in true Navy fashion he has no idea whether he will actually get to do it. So we are in slight limbo. If he goes, he'll leave in November and probably get home in March or April.
So we are aiming for Summer 2010. I actually like the idea of September...Autumn is pretty everywhere and won't be too hot or too cold....I hope!
But it's sooooo far away. Further than either of us would like...neither of us are big fans of the long engagement and that pushes to almost two years....not ideal, but we don't want half-assed plans either. It's truly all up in the air. So be it. At least it provides lots of time for extra savings and arrangements.
It is a bit of a logistical nightmare too. We live in Halifax...and although we have some very important people here, neither of us have any family here so it's really not the ideal place to have the wedding. We don't feel right asking 90% of the guests to travel thousands of miles and spend tons of money. I, of course, would love to have it in Victoria since the majority of my family and friends are there (or at least within a short drive or ferry ride away). FH would love to have it in Winnipeg as he has his son, some family and some very dear friends there. Having said that his Mom is in Ontario, his Dad is in BC, and he also has some great friends on the island. Talk about wide spread!
Simplicity says have a destination wedding. It's the thing to do now, don't ya know? Vegas would be hysterical and memorable. A beach would be lovely. But the con to that is that a lot of people wouldn't attend due to time constraints and finances (which is the same issue we have with a non-destination wedding anyway). Besides, we are really looking forward to a big party! And honestly if we do a destination wedding it means we would probably have to wait another year for the honeymoon... that just drags it all out even further.
We'll work it out! Just brainstorming in black and white here. Many of you have asked for the scoop and this is where it stands just now. It's only been two weeks of engagement though...so we've got time! :)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Holiday Recap
Better late than never, right? I've just realized that I meant to get caught up on my posting from the Christmas season, but what with the engagement and all the hub-bub I almost forgot! But I'm here now and that's what counts right?
I worked the first week I was home visiting, but of course still managed to find fun stuff to do in the evenings. The weather really foiled a lot of plans, but I was still able to get almost all of my visiting in and still had a great time.
One evening three of my girlfriends (Kickboxing girls!!) had planned to go to Butchart Gardens for the Christmas display and a yummy dinner...but the snow was so bad that they actually closed the highway for a bit so we opted to stay in the city (Butchart is out in the boonies). We hit up one of our favorite Italian restaurants and had a great visit....even if our meals for some reason were only mediocre...weird. Our waiter got a good laugh at us all making sure we got our pictures with each other...and even offered to take one of all four of us.
This is pretty much how I had to dress every time I headed outside. Each day I did it to get my coffee fix though!
Oh, and this big bugger was built by our friend's adult son while he was visiting her....
I worked the first week I was home visiting, but of course still managed to find fun stuff to do in the evenings. The weather really foiled a lot of plans, but I was still able to get almost all of my visiting in and still had a great time.
One evening three of my girlfriends (Kickboxing girls!!) had planned to go to Butchart Gardens for the Christmas display and a yummy dinner...but the snow was so bad that they actually closed the highway for a bit so we opted to stay in the city (Butchart is out in the boonies). We hit up one of our favorite Italian restaurants and had a great visit....even if our meals for some reason were only mediocre...weird. Our waiter got a good laugh at us all making sure we got our pictures with each other...and even offered to take one of all four of us.
This is pretty much how I had to dress every time I headed outside. Each day I did it to get my coffee fix though!
On the weekend my girlfriend threw her 4th Annual Gingerbread House party. Love it. I would have been sooo sad if I'd missed out but she made sure to plan it while I was home on vacay. What a girl. I stayed in Victoria a day longer than I might have had there been no house to build, but I wanted my house dammit. :)
Worked out perfectly since Saturday night there was a big blizzard and the weather on the Sunday was almost blizzard-like so I would have likely had some serious trouble getting up island anyway. Instead I was able to catch a ride with my hostess and her honey on the Monday, and the roads were lovely and clear for us (until we were about 20 minutes outside of our hometown and there was a crazy long detour due to a bad car accident). It was an adventure, and the view on top of the Malahat highway was incredible. It's not often at all that I've seen the Malahat covered in fresh, beautiful snow.
I took a few pictures of the snow at my Mom's just to show the insanity. This is Nanaimo people! Beautiful Vancouver Island where we rarely got much of a Winter, let alone ANY snow when I was growing up. And this year it just started dumped and is still really showing no signs of stopping. There was about four feet while I was there (and Mom told me that they just had another dump the other day that was so bad she couldn't get her car up her street for two days). I didn't realize that I was travelling all the way from Halifax in order to have to shovel my Mom's driveway. Nutters I tell you.
Oh, and this big bugger was built by our friend's adult son while he was visiting her....
Christmas this year was just the immediate family, and honestly at first I thought it would a bit weird and maybe boring. But it was fantastic! In fact, best Christmas we've had in years. None of my Mom's foster kids, no uncle's girlfriends, no extras...just us. Nice. Maybe we all felt a little closer because my Grandpa is showing signs of dementia recently and we were all glad to have him home, or maybe we're all just finally growing up! Even my younger cousins are both teenagers now and it's nice to have them be a part of the "adults" instead of the little kids just causing a ruckus. Any way you look at it, it was a really nice year.
It was a whirlwind of a trip and I'm glad for the downtime I got with my Mom over week I spent with her. There's something to be said for a couple of lazy, quiet days hanging out with my Mom. :)
I went back to Victoria for one night before my flight, and as much as I had grand intentions of trying to see everyone again before heading out I chose to enjoy a quiet night in just visiting with a bestest girlfriend again. It was what I needed after all of the activity. Next year I won't for as long, even if I have to suck it up and pay extra for my flights. 16 days was just too long to live out of a suitcase and rely on friends and family for rides. I guess these are the things you learn when you move away from home and have to start doing the visits...know your limitations!!
Having said that, I already miss everyone! Thanks to everyone that put up with me and helped me out. See you again next Christmas!!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy Hali-versary!
One year ago today, FH and I arrived in Halifax for our new adventure. My how time flies!
We arrived at the tail end of a snowstorm. Lucky us. This is the view from the hotel room we stayed in for the first 10 days.
Here's Stoopy happy to be released from the tiny carrying case he spent about 12 hours travelling in. (I flew with him....FH drove.)
We arrived at the tail end of a snowstorm. Lucky us. This is the view from the hotel room we stayed in for the first 10 days.Here's Stoopy happy to be released from the tiny carrying case he spent about 12 hours travelling in. (I flew with him....FH drove.)
Here's our Mojo happy to curl up on the floor instead of in FH's car.
FH's car was very very salty after driving it across the country during Winter.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Story You Have All Been Waiting For
Most of you already know from Facebook that DBF will from now on be known as FH...Future Husband!
I thought you might be interested in how it came about... :)
So, it's Dec-30th. DBF and I have both arrived home at ungodly hours from our individual family Christmases. Mine obviously in BC, his in Manitoba. We are both exhausted and I'm slightly airsick. So we go to bed at 8am and sleep most of the day away. He gets up around 2pm and I remain snug under the covers until about 4pm when I decide to drag myself into the shower and try to feel human again.
Since there is no real food in the house and I really have no desire to cook we head out for a quick dinner at our local greasy spoon and stop by Wal-mart to look for New Years decorations. I want to go shopping for New Years party food but he convinces me to wait because we don't have a confirmed number of guests. So we get ourselves a cheap bottle of red wine and head home to exchange our Xmas gifts...we've been anxiously awaiting our own little Christmas.
This year we agreed to a $100 limit on our gifts. He's been telling me for a couple of weeks that he was happy to find something under the limit. He also told me it required some assembly so it wouldn't be wrapped and that he was quite happy with the choice because he felt it would be something I could use every day. Needless to say, I had no freaking idea what it could be. Let me just also note that I stuck to the budget....
I've told you all of this so that you understand that to me this was just a tired lazy day that I expected to end without much to-do. I was wearing my Lulu hoodie and mucklucks for crying out loud!
For whatever reason he goes first. He asks me to go upstairs while he brings it out because it's not wrapped....nothing odd about that so up I go. I can hear him downstairs in the basement but that's not odd because it's where his den is and I know that's where he hid the gift. So a few minutes later he calls me back down to the living room....
...and hands me a treasure map clue!
Yup. He handmade clues for me to follow. He wrote each one himself. Each well written in ye olde pirate speak, rhyming and everything, and each one with a bit of a personal touch. I find my way to clue #2 on the back of his favorite guitar, then clue #3 in my pantyhose drawer, #4 with our beloved Mojo's ash box, #5 leads me to the furnace room (where there was a lovely bottle of wine with the next clue)....then I was stumped for a few minutes by a name in the clue that I didn't recognize. He planned it that way...stumped me so we could stop for a drink. :) While we let the wine breath I figured it out....the artist that did the print in our living room...hello clue #6 which led me finally to the basement again....where I found a candlelit "x marks the spot" hiding my surprise....an engagment ring!!
There...standing in the storage closet doorway...we became engaged. :)
I thought you might be interested in how it came about... :)
So, it's Dec-30th. DBF and I have both arrived home at ungodly hours from our individual family Christmases. Mine obviously in BC, his in Manitoba. We are both exhausted and I'm slightly airsick. So we go to bed at 8am and sleep most of the day away. He gets up around 2pm and I remain snug under the covers until about 4pm when I decide to drag myself into the shower and try to feel human again.
Since there is no real food in the house and I really have no desire to cook we head out for a quick dinner at our local greasy spoon and stop by Wal-mart to look for New Years decorations. I want to go shopping for New Years party food but he convinces me to wait because we don't have a confirmed number of guests. So we get ourselves a cheap bottle of red wine and head home to exchange our Xmas gifts...we've been anxiously awaiting our own little Christmas.
This year we agreed to a $100 limit on our gifts. He's been telling me for a couple of weeks that he was happy to find something under the limit. He also told me it required some assembly so it wouldn't be wrapped and that he was quite happy with the choice because he felt it would be something I could use every day. Needless to say, I had no freaking idea what it could be. Let me just also note that I stuck to the budget....
I've told you all of this so that you understand that to me this was just a tired lazy day that I expected to end without much to-do. I was wearing my Lulu hoodie and mucklucks for crying out loud!
For whatever reason he goes first. He asks me to go upstairs while he brings it out because it's not wrapped....nothing odd about that so up I go. I can hear him downstairs in the basement but that's not odd because it's where his den is and I know that's where he hid the gift. So a few minutes later he calls me back down to the living room....
...and hands me a treasure map clue!
Yup. He handmade clues for me to follow. He wrote each one himself. Each well written in ye olde pirate speak, rhyming and everything, and each one with a bit of a personal touch. I find my way to clue #2 on the back of his favorite guitar, then clue #3 in my pantyhose drawer, #4 with our beloved Mojo's ash box, #5 leads me to the furnace room (where there was a lovely bottle of wine with the next clue)....then I was stumped for a few minutes by a name in the clue that I didn't recognize. He planned it that way...stumped me so we could stop for a drink. :) While we let the wine breath I figured it out....the artist that did the print in our living room...hello clue #6 which led me finally to the basement again....where I found a candlelit "x marks the spot" hiding my surprise....an engagment ring!!
There...standing in the storage closet doorway...we became engaged. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
