Friday, March 30, 2007

Birthday Hangover

Do you ever get a birthday hangover? It has nothing to do with alcohol. It's just that general dreariness that you get the day after your birthday. Today I woke up and there was no song sung to me, no presents to open, no anticipation of a family get together... nothing. Just a regular old boring day.

So I'd like to institute a new tradition. You should be entitled to open one present the day after your birthday. It doesn't matter who it comes from or how much it costs but it should be wrapped (because unwrapping it is half the fun) and it should make the gift recipient smile.

Maybe it's a pair of yellow smiley face socks, or maybe a gift certificate to a bowling alley, or maybe a homemade card that just says "I love you". But whatever it is, it should bring the recipient some joy that they wouldn't normally have the day after their birthday. It'll make the transition from birthday to regular day a little less abrupt and painful.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Having a great birthday

This morning I was woken up by Vince & the doggies as they presented me with a birthday present. It was to "Mommy" from "Gilly & Mercedes, woof woof wiggle wiggle" LOL. I got a card and gift certificate for a one hour hot stone massage at a local spa. I can't wait to use it. What thoughtful doggies I have :)

Then Vince told me I'll get my present from him at lunch time (argh! I hate waiting LOL). So I said can I at least have a song? Then Vince sang the following...

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
You may be 33
But you don't look a day over 32
And I love youuuuuuuu

Is that the cutest thing? No wonder I love that guy to pieces. I think I'll marry him :)

Hope your March 29th is going as well as mine.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Farewell to Elton

Last Thursday we said good-bye to my dear boxer, Elton. Elton was very special to me and to many other people. We have shed many tears over his loss. Here is a picture that we took of Elton a few hours before he was put down.


Rest well dear Elton. We will meet again one day at the bridge where I fully expect to get one of your famous face washes :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Invitation celebrations and guest list woes!

Invitations are all out! Yippee!!! It seemed like such a simple thing.... address & send wedding invitations. However, it took about 6 weeks from start to finish!

It's the old 80/20 rule. 80% of them were no problem.... 20% were "exceptions'. The bulk of the invitations were addressed and mailed out 6 weeks ago. Some were hand delivered to close family and friends. Those were no problem.

But then there were the 20% of invitees that were tough to get ahold of. They were friends that we decided to hand deliver to but we didn't see them for a while and when we did we forgot to bring them their invitation. Also there were a couple of "did you invite so & so" comments from fathers (both Vince's and mine) so we had to modify the guest list accordingly and address new invitations to accomodate them and make sure everyone is happy.

Speaking of the guest list, keeping a wedding small is very tricky. You can go with ONLY immediate family and keep the guest list at about 10, the next step is close family & very close friends and the guest list is about 40, the next step is everyone you have ever met in your life and people get really upset if you don't invite them!

We tried to keep the guest list small, maximum 100, but it seems that unless you set rock solid boundaries the guest list will creep up on you. The guideline I came up with when deciding if a friend should be invited is "have I socialized with them in the last year?". If the answer was no then they were not included. Yet somehow, between Vince & myself, we have at least 50 people invited that either we have never or rarely socialized with but they were invited as we were obligated (for various reasons... I don't want to point fingers at any one person because each situation is different).

Luckily no one who reads this blog would fall in that category so I feel safe venting about it. However, if you are coming to the wedding, this is a fun game you can play.... "spot the obligated invitee" LOL!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Horray for Hot Tubs

We finally got our hot tub delivered on Saturday. It's lovely. How did we ever live without one? LOL.

Unfortunately it's not working right. We keep getting an error message and the heater turns off. The error message doesn't seem to be meaningful... just annoying. So right now (until the "hot tub dude" comes out to fix it) you have to plan your hot tub usage in advance. The heater is likely going to have shut off so you have to go turn it on, let it get the water up to a good temperature (could be a few mins or as much as an hour depending on how much it dropped), and then keep an eye on it while in the tub. It's a bit annoying so hopefully the "hot tub dude" will get here soon to take care of it.

Monday, March 19, 2007

What's up with the all the blender speeds?

I've been using my blender more than usual lately and, even with my frequent usage, I noticed I only use 3 of the 10 buttons on there.... pulse, a low speed blend, and a high speed blend. All the other intermediate speeds of blending are entirely superfluous!

And the labels they give these speeds are ridiculous... who actually needs to "aerate" or "puree" something in their blender and actually seeks out the right label and presses the right button? "Oh no, I needed to press the 'whip' button but I accidentally pressed 'liquify' instead! Now my recipe is ruined!!!" Trust me, it doesn't matter what they call it... if you press any button, whatever you put in the blender will be destroyed by the sharp metal blades that spin at the base of the unit.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Took a road trip :)

Vince & I decided to take advantage of the awesome weather today by taking the motorcycles out to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump (18kms NW of Fort MacLeod, Alberta). It was a nice ride... warm temps and clear streets but the wind wasn't much fun. Oh well, we got there, looked around for a while, then came home. On the way home we stopped in Fort MacLeod for lunch at a little diner on the highway. No kidding it was some of the best food I've had in a long time.

On another subject... I've given up on Weight Watchers for now (I've been basically the same weight, within 10 lbs, for about 18 months). So I'm trying a new plan. They said most people see results in 3 days so I weighed and measured myself 3 days ago and then again today. Imagine my surprise when I lost 3.5 lbs and a total of 4 inches in just 3 days! Now here's the funny part... I actually gained one inch on my bust line! If it wasn't for that I'd have lost 5 inches LOL!!!! Oh well, if you are going to gain an inch anywhere, I guess that's the ideal location.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By popular demand.....

Pics of me and Vince in our chaps :)



Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Brief update since my last blog....

Feb 14th... Valentine's Day. Had dinner with my darling fiance, Vince. We had a fight but then we talked about it and it's all good now :)
Feb 15th - 19th.... nothing exciting happened
Feb 20th... Vince fell down some stairs at work and they took him to the emergency room. I was there with him all day. I'll never forget when Vince had to go to the bathroom but he couldn't walk so the nurse gave me a "bottle" for him to pee in. I expected her to help him with it but she left me to, ummm, make sure everything was aimed properly for the situation. I have never felt more like a wife than when I was put in charge of that and then had to empty the bottle in the closest bathroom. It was seriously a very wifely thing to do.
Feb 21st - 25th... again, nothing really exciting happened. Vince had lots of doctor & physiotherapy appointments but that happened to him, not me ;)
Feb 26th... Sarah & Todd picked up their new van. That same day Vince & I bought a hot tub. It should be delivered and set up sometime the week of March 12.
Feb 27th... PZW wrestling show in Lethbridge. Vince sat back at the concession with me instead of being able to referee any matches. It was nice to have him there but kind of weird at the same time.
Feb 28th... bought a Yamaha 650 Silverado cruiser motorcycle in black.
Mar 1st... Vince bought a Yamaha 1100 Silverado cruiser motorcycle in silver.
Mar 2nd... my dad's birthday. I wished him a happy birthday. I bought myself a leather jacket. Vince & I went to see Wild Hogs. It was funny.
Mar 3rd... Vince & I picked up our new motorcycles. We rode them around for a while and enjoyed them. Vince can't ride a lot due to his back injury which is fine by me as I'm not into serious riding yet... I'm still pretty new to it.
Mar 4th... Vince & I rode some more.
Mar 5th... Vince & I rode some more. We bought leather chaps. I can't believe I actually own chaps. This is so not the image I wanted but there's no mistaking that they are very practical and better than any pair of pants for protection from the wind and small debris kicked up when riding.
Mar 6th... I'm in Calgary working today. I'm going to leave soon though as I don't want to have to deal with rush hour. Byeeeeeeee...... :)