Listening to

"I know what I am" — Band of Skulls

Listening to

"Skinny love" — Bon Iver

Centennial Beach skimboarding

Luc and I enjoyed an afternoon at the beach skimboarding. There's been a lot going on with the wedding coming up, so it was nice to take a day to ourselves to hang out and play around. Centennial Beach is one of our favourite spots because when the tide is out, it is OUT! And we found a couple of deeper spots to relax with a drink in between running around. We've talked a lot about moving out to Tsawwassen, and days like this only convince me more.

Eyebrow threading

I have only one thing to say: do it, do it now! And obviously I'm going to say more than just that. I went to She to Shic Beauty Lounge for my first eyebrow threading this afternoon and I left a changed woman. Not only do I have a finely manicured brow for the first time in my life (for the incredibly reasonable price of $8) but I have a new monthly routine. I mean, she told me to come back every 2 weeks....but that seems like overkill. If I had a regular beauty regimen, this would definitely be number one on the list.

The eyebrow threading experience

When I arrived and laid back in the chair, I started to say that I didn't want them thin and I got as far as, "I..." before the woman cut me off saying, "NO! No, don't say anything...NO...." even as I tried to get a word in edgewise, she kept cutting me right off. Then she told me how messy my eyebrows were, how bad I was at plucking them, how they were two different shapes and then told me not to say anything...again.

My palms started to sweat and I was getting really nervous...letting her go wild on a facial feature—with no direction or indication of how I wanted them done—two weeks before I'm getting married. Not smart. But maybe I just have trust issues, because she did a fantastic job. I like it when someone tells you how it's going to be and they don't let you down. This woman just found herself a loyal customer!

Eyebrows are one of those things that you don't notice how bad they are until you see them looking good. So if you haven't tried eyebrow threading, here's all you need to know...

Eyebrow threading 101

-Cheap (mine was $8 at She to Shic in Kerrisdale)
-Takes about 5 minutes
-Yields unbelievable results
-Less painful than waxing
-Your eyes will water a lot

DIY Wedding Update

Things have been crazy busy around here with wedding planning fever. We've got 15 days until we say I do. I just wanted to share a couple of projects that we finished today.

Colouring books for the kids

I blogged about the colouring books a while back, and for a few good months progress stalled. They're pretty labour intensive, but after seeing the finished product, I know for sure that they were more than worth it. We also have princess crayons for the girls and jumbo crayons for the boys.

I used a long-arm stapler to bind the books and 3 layers of patterned japanese masking tape—polka dots for the girls, stripes for the boys—to line the spines. Our main wedding colour is eggplant, so I put a strip of solid colour over the patterned tape. If you want read more about how I made the books, check out my colouring book blog post.

Welcome bags for out of town guests

Since a lot of our guests are making the trek from Saskatchewan, we wanted to have something special waiting for them in their hotel room. We threw together a few food and drink items, a "Kristen and Luc" notepad, city activity info, map to the ceremony and reception, and a little note from Luc and me.

And as you can see, everything we do has the purple theme!

Oh the things you'll hear

There's nothing like the sweet giggles of a baby to warm the cockles of your heart. It's been sweltering in our apartment for the last couple of weeks, so each window is open to max capacity all day and all night. We hear a lot of interesting things—crows that sound like they're strangling cats, car alarms, lovers quarrels, people belching, cats meowing, our neighbour piping away ever so irritatingly on her recorder—so it's always nice when the sound floating through the window is a pleasant one.

Yes, there's nothing quite like the laughter of a small child to make me smile and calm my nerves, which have been frayed by the final days of wedding planning. Seventeen days, to be exact. Seventeen days of ribbon tying, cardstock cutting, decision making, organizing, and the never-ending emails that haunt me in my sleep. I finally understand why everyone says planning a wedding is so stressful. But take my word for it, it's only as stressful as you make it. I keep working away on these projects, thinking DI-Y the hell am I doing this? Why? Because deep down I love the frenetic pace of wedding planning and minutia that make the wedding day distinctly your own. And I don't think I've ever been so excited for anything in my life.

Listening to

"The Cave" – Mumford & Sons

Confessions

I just cried while watching an episode of Ugly Betty.

My Bridezilla Confession

By telling you this story I'm hoping to relieve myself from the residual guilt of acting like a total psycho. Luc and I agreed to forget it ever happened, but for me, writing about it is cathartic, and entirely necessary.

The bridezilla story

As many of you may know, Luc and I went to visit his family in Saskatchewan for a week. Our flight was on a Friday night, and since Luc works until 6 pm, he was taking the skytrain straight to the airport. I, however, was racing home first to check the mail (for the many wedding RSVPs I have been anxiously awaiting). Upon arriving home I realized that Luc had the mail key....at work....downtown....which meant the locked mailbox stuffed full of RSVPS (I could peer at them through the slits in the metal) would remain there for the week that we were away. The week that I planned to call the non-responders, start sorting out table arrangements, and generally get a hand on things that were guest-count dependent. 

I'm not proud, but when I realized that I couldn't get at the reply cards for another week, I kinda went crazy. First I called our landlord and asked if he could come to the building and open our mailbox. Not happening. Then I called Luc and strongly suggested that he leave work early to bring me the mail key. He thought that was a bad idea. So I called him again. And maybe a few more times after that. Finally realizing that he wasn't coming home, I grabbed the first few things I saw: a paring knife, a fondue fork, a bobby pin and tweezers, and walked as calmly as I could down the stairs to the lobby of our apartment building. And by calmly, I mean that I burst into the hallway brandishing my McGyver-esque weapons, eyes wide with delirium, palms sweaty with anticipation of busting up that stupid mailbox. Thank the lord none of the neighbours were around. Actually, they may have been, but I was too focused on the task at  hand to notice.

I proceeded to hack and pry into the mailbox, tearing up the contents with the surprisingly sharp prongs of my fondue fork. Using my mixed arsenal of kitchen wares and grooming products, I managed to partially wedge open the mailbox and pluck out all of the RSVPs. Granted, most of them were pretty messed up when they were finally released from the maniacal grip of my tweezers.

Standing in the lobby, surrounded by shreds of envelopes, I had an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. But after taking a moment to assess the situation and my bizarre behaviour, I felt like a total Bridezilla. By sharing this story, I'm hoping to wash my hands of this incident and move on. But after all, isn't there a little bit of Bridezilla hiding somewhere in all of us?

A few engagement photos

Slowing things down in the prairies

Luc and I are kicking back in Saskatchewan for a week with the family.

Each year his hometown has a party on the August long weekend, with a big beer garden, canoe races, karaoke and a volleyball tournament (which we won, yay!) Now that the festivities are over, we're slowly realizing how long it takes our old, decrepit, late-twenties bodies to recover from too much physical activity and too many drinks. And there's nothing quite like a golden retriever puppy bouncing around to remind you of how old and slow you've become!

Monthly Photo - August 2010

Mid-morning at Callaghan Lake. 

August 2010 Banner