4 days left

It's 3am and I am rarely up at this house. However, this is not a  normal week. Paul and I are getting married on Saturday. In 4 days time. AND while I have most of the major prep done there are still many tiny details left to finish. Until the last couple weeks I had not felt stress, and normally when stress has appeared over the past few weeks I could shrug it off. Tonight it was much harder. Though now, 8 hours of wedding administration later I feel much less stressed. I have completed my seating charts; the arrangement, the individual table markers & seating board. I had already purchased all the cardstock to go with these documents so this week I can, at my leisure, put these pieces together. I feel much better.

Sarah and I went out for Japanese noodle. It was tasty and strange. It was also pouring out and we got very wet and 'Sweet Love' Morgan came to pick us up. I love him so much. He told me tonight he is amazed at how much work I have done for our wedding and that he has some big plans to show me how much he appreciates me....things like having my ring engraved (which he accidentally told me) and other things I do not know since they are a surprise. i feel very loved.

Paul's mom comes to town tomorrow. More family comes to town Thursday. All family will be in town Friday. Friday we will decorate the reception hall from 9am til 1pm. Then myself and my bridesmaids will make bouquets from 1 until 2:30. Then we will get mani/pedi's at 3. At 5:15 is the rehearsal. 7pm is the rehearsal dinner for our entire family; 60 people! I am pretty excited.

(Weird, as I type this I just had a major flashback to writing a blog entry when Jenna was getting married with a similar timeline)

Saturday Paul and I will sneak away early to have breakfast together before our big day, and after we part ways there I will not see him again until I begin to walk down the aisle. Oh!

I am so excited to marry Paul. He is amazing.

And now I should sleep as it is 3:15am....and I have a staff meeting at 10am....I will be waking up at 8am, spending time with God, going tanning, then bussing to get my car....THEN going to the staff meeting. Phew.

2 weeks until the big day!

Today is the only day of my life that I will wake up and realize that in exactly 2 weeks I will be getting married. Weird.

With this in mind I set off on to complete a marathon of errands...all while hanging out with amazing women, of course. I met up with my friend Mila (Paul’s groomsmen Daniel’s little sister) for breakfast at Bon’s (home of the $2.95 breakfast) and a trip to the printers to price our programs and table numbers. They were more costly than expected. Mila, being amazing, came up with a cheaper and better solution. I am in awe of her genius.

After a painful (but timely) visit to a beauty salon (for threading & waxing—my face is so smooth now!) I met up with my dear friend Stefany. Stefany is from Quebec and soon she will be heading home (Oh I hate to have that be true) but she has been living here since June and I have so enjoyed getting to know her. She has been so huegely helpful at every step of the wedding process. When I needed a dress fitting, Stef was right there to tie my corset & take photos. When we needed to register for gifts but Paul was getting tired of walking around the store, I took Stef with me on my next trip. Whenever I have a day full of wedding errands that I know would bore Paul, Stef is always ready and excited to come along. So today, as Paul is away on his Stag, Stefany and I set out to kick some wedding errand butt...and boy did we.

Errands completed:

· Bathing suit purchased—Addition elle on sale!

· Sundress for honeymoon purchased—Reitmans (Thanks Nancy for both of these!)

· Fabric purchased for pocket squares (and later tonight sewn) - Fabricland

· Paper purchased for card box (and later tonight box was wrapped & decorated) - Micheals

· Paper purchased for table numbers (though later realized I am short 10 yellow pages of cardstock, eep. Will finish buying yellow card stock tomorrow.) - Paper Poet & Micheals

· Wedding shoes purchased—Payless on sale! Came with 70% off another pair of shoes + 2 necklaces for half price

· Tie purchased (for Paul) - Walmart (will be covered with orange material to make it match my sash)

· Wedding favors priced out (at Superstore—unless the grocery manager was wrong, and I kind of think he was, Lyndors are super pricey, yikes).

· Home Décor bought on sale in antique shop in New West.

· Marble Slab Creamery ingested on sale! MMMM

· Guest book/photo frame for signing purchased—Micheals, also on sale!

 On top of all this Stefany and I (with the help of our friend Candace—who is also amazing) made tasty pizza’s and potatoe skins. We even tried a new invention: perogie pizza with real perogies boiled, fried, cut up and layered right onto the pizza! Tasty! We watched ‘When Harry met Sally’ and SNL while cutting papers, sewing pocket squares and wrapping boxes. Productive and fun.

As I mentioned earlier Paul is away on his Stag. He is away with his groomsmen, best man and father. My stagette was about a month ago and I went away with 15 of my female friends. We both got to do what we love best for our time of celebration. I got to enjoy telling stories, drinking martinis and hanging out with great friends. Paul is enjoying being in the woods (despite the pouring rain), fishing and being with his 3 best guy friends and his Dad. I always miss Paul when he is gone but I enjoy hanging out with girlfriends, and doing girlie things. As I write I am still at Stefany’s house. We are having a sleepover with Candace. While the girls are sleeping I wanted to take a moment to update here. It has been such a busy few weeks that updating seemed stressful and a huge goal of mine through this whole process has been anything that is stressful gets left until it is no longer stressful.

After today the wedding is very much still under control. There are still things left to do: pick dance songs, pick worship music & pick reception music (I have been putting off everything music related). We also need to finalize our ceremony details with our pastor (my uncle) and create a run-sheet for the day so that we have a plan for every detail. There are a few other details still left to work out but mostly we are ready. It feels pretty great.

I am so enjoying this final time of being single, while looking forward to a future with Paul. I feel badly for him though as he is finishing this school semester. He is finally done with his papers but now is entering a week of exams. He could definitely use any prayers you would send his way! I am enjoying cheering him up. It’s fun to learn how to love him when he is stressed.

Alright, It is late, and I should sleep. Good night all!

2 weeks until the big day….Wow!

I will quickly add 2 photos:

1 includes Stefany and I and was taken in December, hence my long hair. But it does show Stefany and I enjoying each other. Normally Stef is the photographer so this is a rare treat, seeing her on the other side of the lense, hence how not recent this photo is. And the second is of Lyndsay, Candace and I at a sleepover 2 weeks ago at Stef's. It was a great evening, almost identical to tonight's great sleepover, minus the lovely Lyndsay who is having a sleepover of her own in Port Moody with other friends. 

Pictures 3,4 and 5 are of a very happy couple. 3 is us posing of so naturally in front of water. 4 is us excited for marriage *wink*wink* and 5 showcases how much fun we are. 

Vein? possibly. In love? Definitely

27 days to our new home!

27 Days until the wedding! Oh my gosh; it's so exciting. Seriously I can not believe that in 27 days Paul and I will be married!

Yesterday Paul and I found our new home! It is a basement suite at 39th and Cambie. For those of you not from Vancouver that means it is in a medium nice area next to Queen Elizabeth Park (a beautiful park in the middle of the city). It is a 5 minutue walk to the Skytrain (which is like our subway but partially above ground), the 41 Bus (which goes straight to UBC - Paul's school) and Oakridge mall (which has shopping, food and grocery stores). 

Google maps tells me I am close to family and friends:

Driving Distances:

to Jenna & Colin's (my sister & her hubby): 5 minutes

to church: 5 minutes

to my parents: 7 minutes

to my aunt and uncles (many of our friends live on the same street): 7 minutes away

Transit Distances: 

Half and hour to all the above places!! plus 40 minutes to UBC

The place is a basement suite, 1000 sq feet, 2 bedroom, giant living room, dining area, kitchen and bathroom. There is shared laundry and TONS of storage. 

To top it off we get all of that, including all utilities, for $850 a month! This is truly a real estate miracle. Our God gives good gifts!

The only negative is we don't get possession until May 1st (the day of our wedding) so we will have to move in on the 2nd. Any help would be appreciated, eep!

The following photos were taken quickly on my camera phone. They are blury and full of the current renters eclectic belongings. Please see past the decorating to the house itself. Though I love the red walls in the master bedroom! It's totally made me rethink our bedding!

Master Bedroom

Paul's Den & Guest Room

Small living space or Dining space

Living Rom

Bathroom - Lots of storage space!!!

Kitchen - brighter in real life

Dining Nook or shelf space

We are very happy. 
We are about to be married. 
We are very loved by our God. 

Of sunshine and housing

It is a beautiful sunny day. I can hear the roar of lawnmowers outside my apartment. Recently my roommate changed the curtain in our bedroom; it is a beautiful dark green. It lets all the light in. Today I woke up with the sun on my face and a view of a spring day outside. I assumed all this would bug me but it's really quite lovely. After I woke up I took a bus to my chiropractor's (Dr. Dan) and thoroughly enjoyed walking outside. I came home to find a letter from my LeAnna in England. What a treat! I made a huge pita sandwich with sprouts, carrots, meat, lettuce & tomatoes and my tummy is happy. 


I am so glad for the peace of this day. 


After the craziness of working for the Olympics (in 15 days of work I worked 140 hours between the two jobs) and then preparing to go to trial (I was being sued for having sold a car to a guy who later said the car was junk but had never taken it to a mechanic before buying it - We won. Phew!) my body was not pleased with me. Though I knew God would provide and take care of us I was still stressed about the trial! My Dad is away for the paralympics (volunteering in Whistler) so I have been helping take care of my mom. These things added together to create a lot of stress. My body decided to shut down. I got infections, I got a cold, I got a stress migraine (which caused my arm to go numb, my vision to get blurry and me to feel quite naseaus), I got flareups of any and all ailments I ever have during stress and my siatica came back. The past 5 days have been quite rough, physically. Thankfully doctors exist and all these problems are well on their way to being gone. 


Needless to say today I am glad for peace. I am glad for rest. I am glad for sunshine.


I am a pretty lucky girl. I am marrying a man I love and respect who loves and respects me. I have an amazing family and am marrying in to an amazing family. I like my job and am excited to start a new job in May (who knows what I'll be doing then!). I love my home and am excited to find a home to live with Paul in. I am planning a wedding that is not stressful, only exciting. I have amazing friends. AMAZING. 


Ok Pollyanna, get back to the point:


We are househunting. Not to buy as we are students but to rent. Vancouver is a tricky climate to find housing in. 


Here is our wishlist:

1. Rent $950 or less all included
2. 2 bedrooms
3. Laundry
4. Decent Kitchen
5. Space to host
6. Located on or very near to a major bus route
7. Located between Cambie & MacDonald, between W 4th and 25th. 

Yes, we realize this is most likely impossible unless there is a miracle. Most 1 bedrooms in the west side of Vancouver (which is exactly where we are looking) cost about $950 before hydro/utilities. 

Our basic tension is this: for our budget we can get 1-6 if we choose to live closer to the Hood, where the Mitchell's live around 41st/49th and Fraser/Main. If we want to live on the lower west side then we need to sacrifice 2 and 5. 

We know that Paul will be attending UBC in the fall and hope to both be attending UBC's teacher education program late next year. We know we want to lead a lifegroup. We want our lifegroup to be in the area that we live. Do we feel that we are to be in the southeast or the west? Does God have a plan for this or is he just want us to make a decision ourselves? 

Hmmm....these are the thoughts on my heart. Don't even get me started on a job for May....I can barely contain all the what-if's in regards to housing let alone where I will be employed when my contract is up at the end of April!

I am off to ride the Canada line to Langara....Oh I love the Canada Line. 

Dating for the Olympics

So over the past few years I have found it hard to blog with any regularity. There was a time in life that I wrote every day or at least 5 out of 7 days. In the past years it was sporadic, monthly at best. When I started this blogger account I hoped to at least double that. I seem to have succeeded. I am often inspired to write by my friend Kim who writes daily, I very much appreciate her daily updates. I often end up bored and to know I can pull out my phone and click on the updated blogs app and there will usually be something new to read; mostly thanks to Kim, but also my other lovely blog friends, is wonderful. Boredom you shall not win!

It is Sunday; halfway through the Olympics. I have worked every day since the Wednesday before the Olympics. I have worked 11 straight days; one day even working 2 shifts! I am working in the days at Fuse (a little Pan Asian restaurant in Yaletown) and in the evenings I am working with Paul at the Hamilton Street Grill's beer & burger tent (also in Yaletown).

Both jobs have perks; at the tent I make more, it's simple work (pulling pints, yelling at Paul to get more burgers, chatting with customers), and I work with Paul, Prakash  & Kathleen. At Fuse I get to sit or stand for part of my shift in the heart of yaletown and watch all the entertainers and tourists, I learn to make all the cool pan asian recipes they have, and meet new friends.

They both have cons. At the tent I work with one lady and one man who are not very hard working, which I can get over as Kathleen & I are capable of powering through even though they seem to be MIA most of the time; it's sharing tip pool with them at the end of the night that is frustrating. Also since things could get stolen we have to take apart the entire contents of the tent each night. This lasts about an hour; by this point my feet hurt. Even at the best of times I am not that great when it comes to having to lift & carry kegs and tables, so this is a bad time of the night for me. At Fuse there is one boss who is kind of scary and expects constant hard work (which I would be fine with; except if i had been told what the job actually entailed (dish washing for hours at a time, cooking on line and barely any serving - I would have not taken the job. Plus she pays 8 an hour but expects you to work as if it's 15 an hour, if that makes any sense).

Paul & I have been tossing around ideas of where we will spend the first night of our honeymoon. We have talked about both a B&B and a hotel. We have a list of pro's and con's. What are your thoughts?

Today is my first day off. Paul is not working either (it was his stag last night). We have a date. We will be going down to robson square and joining in the olympic fun. We have only experienced it thus far through working. We received an early wedding gift of tickets to women's curling tonight so we are headed over to watch an Olympic game! So fun!

Alright, I am off to have a wedding hair trial (woot woot), possibly buy an Olympic sweater and get ready to meet Paul.

Wedding related update + Olympics

I only have a minute to write as I have to head out to work shortly but here I am writing from the heart of the Olympics! Living in Vancouver during these 2 week sure is exciting! Paul & I have both gotten jobs in yaletown (which is right near a few venues as well as where the opening & closing ceremonies are). While our jobs are only a block apart we work entirely opposite shifts. The restaurant I am working at has given me all day shifts and Paul works each night from 5pm until 2am grilling burgers in a beer tent. Oh well; we might not be able to see each other for 2 weeks but we are both working to save money towards our wedding, so we have a joint goal which helps.


Last night was an exciting wedding preparation night; I picked up all our centerpieces, and our wedding invites! Thanks to one of my amazing bridesmaids, Crystal, I was able to quickly label all the envelopes and last night put together many invites. Super fun! The more things we buy or book make this all the more real. We are getting married in 76 days (or so the top of this website tells me)!


We are having such fun planning; well lets be honest I am having such fun planning and Paul is enjoying talking over ideas with me, adding some of his own, and then letting me plan again. I <3 planning. Once the Olympics are we can start looking for a place to live. THis is Paul's big job. He is pretty excited. I love that he is doing that; I find looking for homes stressful. I am so excited to see what he finds us!


Alright, I am off to work until church; where I will not only get to worship God, see friends & family but also get to see Paul!


________________________________________________________________________________


Edited to Add:


Home from work & church: Both were good. At work I stood outside manning our kiosk; it was great, got to experience Yaletown in the Olympics. Buskers, tourists, breakdancers, etc; All sorts of fun! Church was also great; got to sit with Paul. Since we work completely different shifts this is the only time I will have seen him over this while. I miss my love.


We were supposed to celebrate Valentines Day after church but he had to work cause his boss' family member is in ICU. So instead of being sad I ate tasty garlic pasta, heated up by me, made by the the people who freeze vegetables. I am drinking Disaronno on the rocks and catching up on TV. I will go to bed & sleeeeeep and be ready for work at 9:30. 


OH and when I was buying groceries tonight I found out my debit card was cancelled! So now I have to go into TD in the morning and find out what's up. Ugh.


ANyways; I am happy. I am not hungry. I am excited to marry Paul. I am enjoying living in the Olympic city, though we don't have cable and therefore can't watch the Olympics. 


Alright. Bed. Night

Soup.honeymoon

1. The soup turned out fantastic! I refrained from making Tomato soup since my freezer is small and I can only eat so much soup in the week; SO i made one BIG jar (I don't know their measurements but each jar holds at least 6 hearty bowls of soup) of celery soup that will now be called carrot soup since it is orange and one BIG jar of Asparagus soup. As of lunch today I have finished the carrot soup. It was really good. The Asparagus soup shall wait in the freezer until I finish eating the vegetables in my fridge that need to be eaten in salads. When they are gone, the soup shall be defrosted. Mmmm....and then I shall make tomato soup. Oh it is fun to make tasty, healthy soup.

2. The following makes me happy:

4. I have so much fun with Paul. I am very much in love with him. I can not wait to be his wife.

4. We booked our honeymoon. We are going to Puerto Vallarta; Palladium Vallarta to be exact. We will be staying for 11 days at this all inclusive resort. I am so excited I can barely handle it. Paul's step mom is a travel agent and got us a great deal! It is official then; May 3rd to 14th we will be in Mexico feeling super fancy and relaxed.
Here, take a look:

 

As you can tell I have only just begun to learn how to post pictures....but hey.