Grad Photos

A few posts ago I mentioned that I only have one term of school left. It really hadn't hit home how close I was to finishing until we went for grad photos a few weeks ago. Wow. That was reality check, only 4 months left.
Aaron and I went for Grad photos together. I am done in April and he is done sometime during the summer, so our Grad photos will appear right next to each other on the composite board (aww..).

And now a warning to future graduates, know what you are getting in to when you go for your grad photos. I was busy, I was naive, I did not take time to think about the meaning of grad photos. I assumed they were cap and gown ( so what I wore and how I did my hair didn't matter it would be covered). I also assumed the only purpose was for the composite board, so they would be very small. Ha. I was right about the gown, it did cover my outfit, one point for me. Reminder don't wear anything with a collar. So I get into the studio and see these pictures of graduates all over the place, big pictures, pictures were you can see flaws (luckily I had retouched my makeup before I went), with girls whose hair was curled perfectly and I thought Oh No.

The photographer tells me about all the different poses that we would be doing, and I am realizing how very wrong I was. These pictures are mostly to buy for yourself, to put up large prints on the wall.  Opps.

In the end they turned out not too bad, considering.

Academy

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Wedding Wednesday

Okay, so I believe the last wedding update I left you with what with 23days left and the ladies from Avalon Alliance had thrown me a shower. Now hopefully I can give you these updates in order, and not miss anything, but it has been a while so we will see how it goes..

I believe that the next big thing was the shower that the ladies from Ebenezer Baptist had for me. My Grandma was nice enough to take some pictures with my camera:

Group Shot of some of the ladies.

And the other side of the room.

The Eats

The Gifts.

My aunt and I grabbing some Grub. Man was I tanned back then !

Another generous group of ladies, and some awesome gifts.

Next week is the bachelorette party/ lingerie party.

Last Exam today!! Not a lot of time for a post, but this is to cute not to share:

More Christmas Fun

As I mentioned previously, we had another Christmas party to go to this weekend. In is an annual Christmas party that a friend hosts for friends from high school (and significant others).  There about 12 of us there and we had lots of fun. It is always nice to catch up with people that we haven't seen in a while. I made sure to take my camera so I could snap some pictures, but I forgot about it until later in the night (I missed the gift exchange, but I will show what Aaron and I got in the near future).

The host always puts on a great array of appetizers (because I forgot to take pictures it was a little picked over by the time I got a picture):

 The ham, onion and cream cheese rolls are my fav. So Delicious!! ( on the bottom left)

Another part of the tradition is to play catch phrase. I got a few photos of that, and a couple great game face expressions:

It seems that part of group was more animated than the rest.

 That was Saturday night. Then on Sunday night my office had  a little get together with great food and a gift exchange. Didn't take any pictures of this, but I got a little "pampering set" with body wash, lotion, etc.

And last but certainly not lest we finished off the night with the Survivor season finally. I am a little cheezzed about Sophie winning. I don't think she really did anything. I am an Ozzy fan, and he should have won, but at least he got fan favorite. All in all it was a good night with good company.

Source

P.s. Did anyone see the preview for the next season? If not, the two tribes will be competing against each other but living together. I am note sure what I think of this yet. Good idea for bad idea?

Wedding Wednesdays

Not falling asleep until early morning + getting up to early to study = No blog post for today.

I did however decide during my sleepless night that I would share wedding details and pictures on Wednesdays. It will be a little series until I run out of wedding stuff to talk about. I will start where I left off, which I believe was the shower with the ladies from Avalon.

So tune in Wednesday for the first batch of Wedding news.

Christmas Fun

Today is another study day, so this will be short and sweet.

One of my favouite things about the Christmas season is all the holiday parties with friends and family. So far we have been to two. The first was a gingerbread house making party (longest party name ever). It was so much fun. My friend homemade gingerbread houses, they even had "stained glass" windows. They were very cute (and delicious). Everybody brought a few kinds of decorations to share. It was a lot of fun.

Here is a before picture of a house that she made.

And the after picture of the house that Aaron and I decorated. 

Clearly we lack gingerbread house decorating skills.

And finally a picture of everyone around the table.

Our second Christmas party was for Aaron's basketball team. My camera was dead, so no pictures. We had a lot of fun though. His team is a bunch of great/ fun guys. 

This coming weekend we have another Christmas party on Friday night and I have a work gift exchange on Sunday. Hopefully I will remember the camera. And then we cannot forget the survivor season finally on Sunday night. How come they haven't voted out Coach yet!! It better happen, or else he will win, and that would be.. unpleasant. 

Looking forward to the crazy busy, but mostly a ton of fun (lets not forget about studying) weekend coming up!

I'm Back..Maybe

So term 1 of my last year of university is done! Just two more finals and then Christmas break! Wooo!

Clearly I have neglected my blog over the past few months. There were many time that I thought about it, but I knew that I would have time to keep it up. I am going to try to get in the habit of blogging over Christmas break and then MAYBE I will be able to keep it up during school.

It is also obvious that the blog needs a new name. The wedding is over and done with, and I am not counting down to anything. I have yet to come up with a good name, so If you have any ideas let me know.

Aaron and I are both so excited about our first Christmas as a married couple. I am especially excited to have a place to decorate for the first time. Last year after Christmas I bought lots of decorations and wrapping paper on clearance and it sure has come in handy.

Here is a picture of our tree this year.

It is just a little guy, that is all that we had room for.

This isn't a very good picture, but I love the way the tree turned out. The colours are silver, purple, blue and white. 

This is my favourite ornament:

It is like a mini disco ball. I just love them because they are so shiny and pretty. I had actually bought some for a secret Santa gift exchange last year and loved them SO much that I bought myself two packs. (After Christmas on clearance of course.)

Aaron's Mom got us this ornament for Christmas last year, so that we could hang it for our first Christmas. It is so cute!!

And lastly this is some garland we have on the TV stand which Christmas ornaments in it. It was intended to go on a ledge that we have in the living room (which I would have liked better), but it would not stay up, so it was relocated. I still love it and the Christmas feeling that it adds to our place.

I can't wait for next year when we have a bigger place and I can put out more decorations (insert Aaron's groan here).

Getting Things Done! --- 23 days

That sounds a lot more productive than it actually is. Mostly I've made appointments: tanning, make up trial, dress fitting, chiro, dentist ( those last two are not directly wedding related but I am trying to get the most of my parents medical benefits while I still can) and I'm sure I am missing some other ones, but it seems there is something almost everyday. Exciting and Exhausting.

Last I left you was the night before I had a bridal shower. The women were so generous, there were about 15 of us there, and many women who were unable to make it sent gifts. Aaron and I really appreciate their thoughtfulness as we could never afford to start out our life together with such amazing things for our kitchen (not that our wedding/marriage is about the things, but they sure do and some "glamour" to our very un-glamorous student lifestyle).
Here is a picture of the gifts spread out after I got home:

Favourite shower gift to give:

Tea-towels, we will have new tea towels for many years into our marriage. If I am lucky Aaron will get lots of use out of them.
Most interesting gift goes to my grandma (although the idea did come from my aunt). She bought us a cake pan, printed out a recipe, bought the ingredients for the recipe and wrapped them all up together:

This was so great for us, as we didn't have any groceries before the shower and this gift gave us some essentials like salt and baking soda in a creative way.

Tonight marks the beginning of Aaron's bach party, he won't be back until Saturday afternoon. I probably should have used the time to work out some wedding details ( we are running out of time fast), but instead I sewed some more cushion covers (equally good use of my time?) Here are the completed ones so far (I have 3 more to do):

The yellow one is the one that I mentioned in my previous post, and the other three I made tonight. I certainly have gotten faster since that first one, but I'm not sure my skill has improved. I realize this is not a good picture, but I was taking the picture in my room and they really don't look good in there. The purpose of the picture was to show you the fabrics, and when we move into our new place I will show you them on the couch where they belong.

Happy Canada Day long weekend !

Neglected--- 26 days

Today's word for the day: Neglected
Definition: My Blog.

I feel like So many things have happened I don't know were to start, and yet none of it is overly exciting. I have often thought about the blog, and how I should update it, but obviously I never did. Aaron and I have been soo busy. It seems like there is a never ending stream of wedding things that need to be done.

Today I had the day off, which was awesome. I had a chance to sleep in and get a few projects done. For a while now I have been collecting cheap picture frames and spray painting them white. Today I finished the majority of them.

These two are a garage sale find and I love the way they turned out.
Before:

After:

A close up of the pattern.

The rest:

 I also love this one. Another garage sale find. They said it was from Bali. I love the detail!

Soon I will be able to show a picture of them hanging in our new place!

I also managed to finish my first pillow cover today, but I did not have time to take a picture, maybe tomorrow I will share that project. After all my "hard" work we spent the evening with our good friends, welcoming there new "little girl" into their family:

Her name is Rose, and she is a sweetheart. If Aaron is lucky, she will change my view of dogs.

Last of all a couple little updates:
1. We get possession (I don't know if you actually say that when you are just renting...) on Sunday evening,    and we are both so excited.I have some things packed already and I am looking forward to unpacking them and setting up our new home.  Hopefully I will have some pictures to share soon.
2. Tomorrow evening the ladies for Aaron's church are throwing me a shower. It is so thoughtful of them and I am looking forward to getting to know them a bit better and to having a fun girly evening

TA DA!! -- 46 days

Today I say Ta Da for two reasons, 1 Aaron and I found a place to live and 2 my first "big" project is complete.

Starting with our place. The building is a duplex, the basement is divided into 2 suites and we are renting one of them. It is located in Sutherland, and there are fantastic bus routes to the university so that is awesome for us. It is a really small place, but it seems clean and there are a lot of big windows so we will make it work. The craziest part of all of this is that I haven't actually been in the place. Aaron had a few days off work and went to see some places, I happened to be working when he looked at this place so I couldn't go. He though that it was a good idea to get it so I trusted him ( and the pictures that I saw). He has some pictures on his blackberry, I will post them sometime.

And the second thing, my first "big" project. I put big in quotes because it is my largest so far, but it really isn't that big.  I got the idea for the end table off of an episode of marriage under construction on HGTV.  I got this end table off kijiji for $15:

I took it apart and spray painted it in "aluminium". Ran into a a couple of hick ups (won't bore you with details), worked them out.

The top is covered with a mirror that I found at stokes for $35. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I knew that it was perfect.

I have yet to glue the mirror to the table top. I think it is safer to wait until after we move, but this is what it will look like:

I absolutely love it. I think it might have even turned out better than my inspiration one.
All together it cost me almost $60, more than I was anticipating spending, but still much cheaper than buying an end table brand new (and I wouldn't like it half as much) so it is worth it.

58 days --- Finding a Place to Live

For us getting married ( which is less than 2 months away!!) also means moving out for the first time.For months we have been casually looking at places for rent on kijiji, getting an idea of what is out there, what we want.\, and what we can afford.  Now the hunt is really on. We are looking for a place that we can begin renting in July ( If anyone knows of any places, please let us know). It is an exciting process, but also a little daunting. We looked at one place earlier this week (it was a bust), and tomorrow we are going to look at another place.

Some of decor, including a few of my DIY projects will depend on the place that we get.  It would be nice to know what it will look like and how much space it will have.

Does anyone know of good places to look for rental properties other than the paper and kijiji?

59 days --- Life.

Well, I did get quite a bit done yesterday. Not as much as I hoped to, but more than I thought I would actually do (LOL, if that make any sense). Most of it was leg work for things that we will finish in the future, which makes it seem like a lot less was accomplished.

We also began marriage counselling last night. It was great to finally get it started. It went really well, and we came away with things to think/talk about. I am really excited to continue to grow in our relationship as we prepare for marriage and life together (I know that sounds cheesy, but its the truth).

In more exciting news, I got my laptop back today. I realize that I am probably the only one that fins that exciting, but I have really missed it. It also makes blogging a lot easier. Apparently all they needed to do was update the system, seems to have helped.

Thats all I've got for today. Hopefully I will get started on some of my projects soon, and will have more interesting things to blog about.

60 days --- Edmonton

We are back! Actually we were back late Sunday night, but this is the first chance I have had since then to blog. We had a great trip and it was really nice to be able to spend so much time with Aaron.


The main reason for our trip was a reception for the daughter of some family friends of the Moffatt's. It was a very nice reception and the couple are really cute together. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Aaron's dad did take one of me and Aaron, so if I can get my hands on that I will share that.


Our second reason for going to Edmonton was IKEA! I have loved that store as long as I can remember, but this is the first time I have been there when I actually needed furniture. We spent about 3 hours there, and ended up with a couple great pieces of furniture. Some day I would like to go there with out a budget!!
Our two main purchases were:


A Couch


IKEA

 It looks like a sectional, but it actually a love seat and chaise that can be built together to look like a sectional. It is great because if we move to a bigger place you can add on pieces to make it look however you want. The cover is also removable so it can be switched if we get sick of it or it get wrecked.Every computer I look at it on the colour looks different, the actual colour is a really dark grey.


The second piece:
Dining Room Table

Our friends have the same one, and it is great for little spaces. But if you have people over it can fold out to seat more people.

IKEA

We also got a few little knick knack things, which includes 7 accent pillows. They don't have covers, but they are a fantastic price, and I am really excited to be able to pick out whatever fabric I want to cover them with.


I can't even begin to describe how great it was to have 4 days off in a row. I can't remember the last time I did, but I certainly needed it. But the last day of a little holiday always means there is a lot to be done. I have a lot of little errands to do today (mostly wedding related, so that makes it a little more fun). I also have a DIY project that I want to start today, and Aaron and I start pre-marriage counselling tonight. So I better get off the computer and get going.

65 days --- Another Long Weekend

When I started this blog, I thought to myself I will not be one of those bloggers that goes a long time without writing a blog. Turns out that is not true. Not much has been going on, but it seems that I am always busy. My computer has also been acting up so I had been using my computer as little as possible. Yesterday I finally sent it in, so now I am using my fam's computer which makes it even harder to get to blogging.

I know in my last blog I talked about my three day weekend, this is going to make it seem like I never work, but I have a 4 day weekend this weekend. I am soo excited. Aaron and I are going to Edmonton for Sat and Sun. He has some family friends there that got married in Mexico a couple weeks ago. Now they are having a reception in Edmonton. While we are there we are taking a trip to Ikea, which is super exciting. I love that store, and I finally am close to having a place to furnish. Hopefull this will provide more for me to blog about after I get my computer back.

73 days ---- Weekend

It is late, and I am tired. I have been meaning to blog for the last couple days and have either run out of time or energy before I got around to it. So here was my 3 day weekend in a nut shell:

Saturday

This is easy I spent ALL day (7 hours) at the Montgomery garage sale. It was fantastic. My big find of of the day..well I am not really sure what to call it, but it has a couple of shelves and glass doors in the front (my guess is it is out of the 70's or 80's, but I really have no idea). I LOVE it. At the moment is not overly pretty, but I have plans for it and I think it will turn out great. I will post pictures once I start the project. 

Second greatest find of the day, a garage sale were the lady used to be a sales rep for some cosmetic companies. She has thousands of samples left over that were in the original packaging and she was selling them for amazing prices. I stocked up on a few things.

Sunday

My family took a day trip to Moose Jaw to see my Grandma. It had been quite a while since I saw her, so it was nice to see her again. Although I do feel sorry for my family. Walking around for 7 hours on Sat left me VERY tired and VERY sore, and I was not in the greatest of moods. 

Monday

The best day of all. I spent the entire day lazing around reading my book and catching up on sleep. By "my book" I mean one that I bought at the garage sale on Sat, started reading on Sun, and Finished on Mon (I told you I love to read).

Project 2 --- 78 days

5:30 pm marked the beginning of my three day weekend. I am so excited. I can't remember the last time I had that many days in a row off without the thoughts of school or finals looming over me. I don't know if I will know what to do with myself (in a fantastic and hopefully relaxing way.)

Despite being completely wiped from my first week of work (not to mention fighting the flu), I decided today was the day to finish my 2nd DIY project. (The one I started on Sunday..really it was about time).

DIY Project 2: A Mirrored Vase

I started out with 5 square mirrors and a plastic patterned place mat (all from dollarama). 

I cut the place mat into five squares the same size as the mirrors and used double sided tape to attach them to the inside of the mirrors. Then I used a hot glue gun to glue the mirrors together into a vase. And the final Product:

The mirrors are really dirty, I thought about cleaning them before I posted pictures, but if that were the case the pictures probably wouldn't make it up here for a looong time. I am pleased with the final product. It is quite a bit larger than it looks in the pictures. I got the idea from a design blog I like to read Prairie Perch. I decided to line the inside of the vases so that if it is not full I wouldn't have to look at the backs of the mirrors.

I have 5 more mirrors that I plan to make into another vase. This one I will actually use as a vase, so it is really a two part project: make the box and design a flower arrangement for it.

Second on my list of things to do on my three day weekend: attend the Montgomery Community Sale tomorrow. Every year on the first Saturday in may the community of Montgomery hosts a community garage sale. It is fantastic if you like garage sales. So many all within walking distance. Hope to see you there!

Simple Tips --- 80 days

A couple of tips from "Debt-Free Forever" by Gail Vaz-Oxlade:

1. Did you know that everyone is allowed one free credit check per year for their personal use. This is a great idea so that you know were your credit stands and how you can improve it.

2. For those of you with multiple sources of debt. (First of all I recommend you read the book) Pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first (even if it is the largest debt). Make the minimum payments on the other debts and put all remaining money that you can afford to use for debt repayment towards the debt with the highest interest rate.

Sick --- 81 days.

Turns out a good nights sleep was not all that I needed. I still felt like crap this morning, and called into work sick. In the movies they always make sick days seem so great. They are not. I have a pile of things to do, but didn't get around to hardly any as the almost the whole day was spent in bed or laying in front of the t.v. and I missed out on a days pay. Sick days are not fun!

In more happy news, today for the first time since hurting my knee I was able to sleep on my stomach. This may not seem exciting to most people, but it is my favorite way of sleeping, and not being able to do it for a month was a real pain in the but. I also see it as a sign of healing, which is great. Next week I start physio, and I am super excited to starting getting the use of my knee back.

On to another topic, I love to read. Being in school and being forced to read textbooks does take the fun out of it, but as soon as summer beings I start reading for my own enjoyment.

My first book this summer:

I realize this may not be everyones idea of an "enjoyable" read, but it is a fantastic book. My dream career: Personal Financial Advisor. I find finances very interesting, and I am passionate about managing them well (maybe even to a fault).  I have found some of this book a little inapplicable because of a lack of debt. It is still very interesting and is even a motivator not to go into debt, as she does many interest calculations that are shocking.

She has written the book in a way that is very easy to understand and work through, even if you are not knowledgeable in the area of finances. There is also info in the book about creating budgets and planning for the things that you want that are useful to everyone.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone interested in controlling their finances and especially to people who are in debt ( even if it is just a little bit). That is were I will end it, to avoid getting into a rant about finances and debt (it is on the tips of my fingers).

Short and Sweet --- 82 days

I was determined to get blog posts written two days in a row. So here it is. This one will be very short though.
So yesterday I was complaining a little about working. I should mention that I am very grateful for my job and for full time hours during the summer. As for my first day, worse than I could have expected. I woke up with a sore throat this morning, by the time I got to work I was achy everywhere, and it just got worse throughout the day. But I stuck it out, and even mustered up enough energy to go vote. Hopefully after a good nights sleep I will be good to go tomorrow. My man, and the slur-pee he brought me, really lifted my spirits this evening. He really is fantastic, and in only 82 days he will be my husband (Woohoo!!).

Working Girl --- 83 days

Writing posts every other day has not been intentional, just the way it has worked out so far. My goal is everyday, but it is starting to seem impossible. Maybe I will get into the swing of it, or lose my steam. Its hard to tell this early.

This afternoon I stated my second DIY project. After accomplishing a couple steps I went back to my computer and started looking up other projects. This is typical. I like to start things, but completing is a lot more difficult. Hopefully I will get around to it in the next couple days and then I will share the details. 

Finishing school felt great, I felt fee, thought I would have so much time. But, starting tomorrow I am working full -time at Leon's. I know working full time is a normal part of life and must be done... for many years, but I am not looking forward to it. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't felt so excited to be done school only to have the freedom ripped away (LOL. I realize that is  very extreme). Hopefully I can get used to the routine quickly, and the money will be nice.

Well, I best get to bed to start out the week with at least a little energy.

For all you Canadians don't forget to vote tomorrow!!

Done!! --- 85 days

Wow. Today was a really busy day! I started the day with a 9am final, my last one. I am officially done 3rd year,  and it feels great. Aaron picked me up and we ran a bunch of errands, which included ordering my wedding band (YEAH)! We also looked at wedding bands for Aaron, he found a couple he likes but has not chosen "the one" yet.

On to more interesting things. On Monday a friend and I went shopping at Dollarama, where I proceeded to spend over $80. I didn't even know that it was possible to spend that much at Dollarama! That doesn't even include what I spent on decorations for the Wedding. This is what $80 at Dollarama looks like:

It is a terrible picture, but you get the idea. Limping around with this many bags is NOT fun. Thankfully my friend is great and took more than her fair share.

 I guess I just got "in the zone" and I couldn't stop stuffing things into my cart. Most of it was on stuff that I planned to use for my DIY projects. I was really excited when I got home, so I got to work right away.

 My first project: Coasters

I bought these plain cork hexagons and  glued scrapbook paper, that I already had, to the top.

I then covered the top with a clear plastic adhesive (like mac-tac) which I also found at dollarama.

And the final product:

They are not perfect, but I am quite pleased with my first attempt at DIY. I realized after I made them that the cork was a little to thin. I will probably end up gluing two together to make them less flimsy. That means buying another pack of cork so I end up with 6. All in all it will only cost about $5 for 6 coasters, I think that is pretty good.

Pilot --- 87 Days

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now, but I have never gotten around to doing it (and didn't think that I would have anything to write about). A couple of days ago I decided that I would take the plunge into the world of blogs. In true Britni fashion I procrastinated it, so here I am starting today. I figured it was as good a time as any to start, and if I don't have things to write about now I never will.

For now the blog will be about the lead up to my wedding. This is a very busy and exciting time for us and I hope this results in  lots to write about. I hope to use this blog to share wedding plans, plans/ projects for the place we will be living (although we have not found it yet), and anything else going on.

I am really excited to finally have my own place and be able to decorate however I want. We are on a budget however, and I have come across a few DIY projects that I would like to do to save us money and make our decorations uniquely us (/me, we tend to have very different tastes). I have completed one already and will share it soon.

Well, I still have one final on Friday so I better get to work on that. Hopefully after Friday I will have more time to work on my hobbies/ projects.