Of Gingerbread and special dates

This weekend rocked. Straight up. 

First my weekend started nice and early. Friday I had to work for a few hours and then I was headed off for a Gingerbread Luncheon at the Sutton Place Hotel. They are one of the vendors we use for travel and they woo their corporate customers each year with a big lunch, open bar and gingerbread house making. It is one of my favorite new events of the season. 

I headed over at 11:30, put on a plastic apron (classy) and joined a team to get started. I joined a team with representatives from HeliJet and Pacific Destinations. They were a lot of fun. We made a great team and got to enjoy some fun conversation. Here is our gingerbread house!

Some of the other teams were UBER prepared. I mean, baking for a week before hand, prepared. So we were obviously not going to win - since there was a Woodwards Building, an Eco friendly cabin (complete with water wheel and solar panels), an UP house and a replica of the Sutton Place Hotel. 

But we had fun; Look here we are with our gingerbread house!

After the creativity it was our turn to sit back and be spoiled....lunch was amazing. Plus I got to have a wonderful conversation with one of the ladies there and it made my day.

Then it was back to work for an hour, and then off to my hairdressers to get ready for my 4 year anniversary with Paul. 

I had a great chat with my hair dresser who I feel like is a friend. We always have so much to talk about. And she always takes the time to teach me again how to use a straightener to curl my hair (one day I'll get it!) and always makes sure I leave feeling great. 

Paul picked me up at the hair salon afterwards and we headed out - we ate at "X-Site" in Burnaby. It's a bit of a hole in the wall pub but we love it, the portions are huge and all the meals are under $10. 

Then when we got home the living room was transformed! Well kind of. 

While we were out Paul had had my sister Jenna come in, set up a mattress, pillows and blanket, as well as some wine, Salt & Vinegar Chips (my favorite) for us to watch "What to expect when you're expecting." It was awesome! I felt so thought of. Not only was it romantic but it showed how much Paul really thought of me in this - some girls want to dress up and go out dancing or other things, I want to be comfortable and curl up with my husband. I love having a drink, and I love love love Salt & Vinegar Chips. So this was perfect. We put on PJ's and laughed our way through a great movie. A perfect date night.

After the movie Paul fell asleep on the makeshift bed, so I watched half of Grey’s Anatomy until I was too tired to keep watching. It was perfect. I got to watch my show cuddled up with my hubby, but didn’t have to listen to him mock it. Best of both worlds.

Saturday morning we slept in a little bit and then joined our friends Stef and Jodi to help them move. They are moving in with another good friend of ours, Lyndsay. It was raining and we were very glad we’d come to help them! I love the new place the girls are in.

Then we headed to Starbucks to meet up with a new friend from church, Rachel. Rachel will be moving in with us in January and we couldn’t be more excited. We were meeting up to talk Vision, details and just get to know each other. She was so much fun to talk to and it sounds like us living together is an answer to prayer for both of us.

Then we headed home. Paul had a day of homework ahead of him and I needed to go to Costco, then come home and pack. I wanted to stop at Jenna’s to drop something off. And then I ended up staying there for an hour and a half. But oh, I enjoy my sister. Connor cuddled with me. Jenna and I talked. It was raining outside and we were warm outside. Technically it was a waste of time, but in reality it was sooo appreciated. I ran off to Costco and Superstore then – not realizing that Superstore was having a no tax sale, and that this was a Saturday in December, the shopping experiences can only be described as “hellish” however I got what I needed and returned home in one piece.

Then I was supposed to start working on dinner. But I was bagged. And man, shopping with frustrating people is exhausting! So instead I had a beer and read a book for an hour, curled up in the living room with Paul doing homework near me and by the end of that I felt SO MUCH better. And then I made up some food for dinner. My friend Sarah came over for dinner – we had such a great time of talking and laughing. It was a good night.

Sunday, though, was productivity time. We wanted to get our storage room totally emptied out, then pack everything we’d emptied into boxes and then fill the room back up. This is our “packed boxes” room. Whenever a box is packed it gets put in this room. This is not only a good strategy for any move, but especially helpful since we are moving all our furniture on Friday December 21^st and then moving our boxes on Saturday December 22^nd. We worked as an awesome team and got it done way faster than expected. We also purged crap that needed purging and organized a lot of other stuff. Now each day I can pack one box and just add it to the room!

Then we stopped by the Mitchell’s to welcome my cousin LeAnna back from England and meet her new baby Walter. He is very sweet and I can’t wait to get more time with him! Then it was on to church, where I hosted. And of man, I love hosting. Though it makes me think I’m funnier than I am - I tell a joke and 150 people laugh. That’s a rush, I tell you what.

After church it was out to the Morgan’s for a birthday dinner for Paul and Kevin (Paul’s step brother). It was a great night – amazing food (as always), fun drinks, great conversation, and a rousing round of “Tri-Bond”. I love getting the chance to hang out with the family and continue getting to know this side of our family. It’s still so weird to have a whole new family context!

Monday I tried out my crock pot again (more to come on that tomorrow) and had amazing success. Then it was time for a Deacon’s meeting. This meeting was full of fun conversation, prayer, great dialogue and lots of good people. I repeat again, I love my church family.

Tuesday night I was serving Broccoli, Rice & Chicken Casserole. I made most of the stuff for it Monday night. Which mean Tuesday wasn’t too rushed and I managed to make sugar cookies and Peanut Butter Fudge for LG as well. Jodi was making mini apple pies (amazing) to add to the spread. On top of it being great to be with LG it was also exciting because we had 17 people in the house! Dang! And we had amazing conversation in our time together. We broke into small groups and it got even better. Then after people were leaving, a few people stayed behind because they were having great conversations as well. How amazing to get to put aside that time to grow together in Christ.

Last night after work I headed to Richmond to Old Navy sparked by a blog I’d read that morning (more on this again tomorrow). I did some crazy fast shopping and then headed back into Vancouver to kits to meet up with Paul and some classmates at “The Cove” for Wings and Beer. This was something I was really looking forward to; not just because it was Paul’s bday and it’s fun to celebrate him, and not just because I like Wings and Beer (though I really do) but also because I love getting to know Paul’s classmates and seeing how they see my husband. They all like him a lot, and it’s fun to see “school Paul.” We had a great night – they were very generous and covered our bill for Paul’s bday, and it felt like a perfect evening. Paul kept telling me what an awesome way it was to spend his birthday.

Tonight we’re off to another vendor Christmas function – it’s our travel agents Christmas Event. We are very excited! We always feel like nights like this are free dates and we enjoy them as such. I am looking forward to hanging out with my boss and her boyfriend, and to spend the evening eating great food and enjoying good conversation. And then it’s Friday and then it’s the weekend! More packing to come. Yikes!