Honey and the Moon

When the craziness of the wedding was over, I was so glad we decided to take a week off and go on our Honeymoon right away. There's no way I could have come back to reality the day after. That definitely would have led to a breakdown of some sort that may or may not have involved a newly married woman and an entire tub of chocolate icing.

I don't want to be that person who's all like "come on over for dinner and I'll make a fondue and we'll look at the pictures from our trip!" Instead I'll be all like "come on over to my blog and you can look at the pictures from our trip if you so desire and you can even dip bread in cheese for all I care." 

We decided to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake and then Niagara Falls. How you can be in Niagara-on-the-Lake (or NOTL as we regulars call it) and not fall in love with the place is beyond me. It is the most beautiful place I've been. It's super romantic with its bike rides along the river and its wine tours and sprawling vineyards and jacuzzi suites and adorable lamp posts and amazing restaurants.

I wanted to do it all. And since I was still kind of playing the "I'm the BRIDE" card, we did everything I wanted to do.

We biked along the river.

We strolled the ridiculously sweet main street.

We had an amazing dinner at a five-star restaurant.

We learned how wine is made (and tasted!) at a vineyard.


 

We ventured to Niagara Falls where we did all the typical, touristy Honeymoon stuff (although I was rolling my eyes, I have to admit it was super fun.)

 

We spent the last night nestled among the trees at Deerhurst Resort.

 

We returned home as husband and wife feeling absolutely refreshed and ready to begin our lives together. 
 

Hands down, best trip ever.

New family tree

I have been trying to come up with the words to tell you about my wedding day, but it hasn't been easy. I never realized how hard it would be to a) remember all of the little details that made the day amazing, and b) be able to put those details into words.

 

So, until I find a way to do my wedding justice with the beautiful post that's floating around in my head, I will share this little tidbit.

 

Like most brides in these Internet times, I got a lot of my ideas from Pinterest. When I saw this one, I knew I had to do it. 

 

My sister drew the tree, and the lettering, and then my guests laid their hot little paws all over it. It turned out even more amazing than I imagined. 

 

I can see the smudges from my small guests who could barely reach the table. I see a few water droplets from my guests who maybe left their stamp while drinking a beer. Or maybe they were so emotional that they shed a couple of tears. Knowing my guests, though, I'm gonna go with option A.

 

When I got my wedding decorations back, I sat and stared at this for about 30 minutes. I pored over all of the signatures and the thumbprints, shades of green, all different sizes. Some perfectly stamped, some overlapping, but all making up what has become my favourite thing from that day (besides my new husband.)

 

The print is hanging in my living room, where I can look at it every day and think about all of the wonderful people who were there to witness the best day of my life.

 

I'll cherish it forever.



 

 

 

Just for today

Today, 33 years ago, my mama walked down the aisle and married my pops. In three weeks, I'll do the same. Well, minus the marry my pops part. Like her though, I'll be marrying a bearded, plaid-wearing man who is cool for not trying to be, who loves me, who makes me laugh. Like her, back 33 years ago, I'm getting nervous and excited and extremely happy. Three decades ago, she started her life with my dad, and started a chain of events that changed many lives for the better. 

As I prepare to do as my mama did 33 years ago, I'm feeling poignant. Although my dad tells me all the time how like her I am, this is the first time I know for sure that we've felt the same feelings. Now, we've both picked a man to marry, picked a white dress, flowers, a DJ. 

There'll be no room for sadness on my wedding day. It'll be a happy, happy, happy day.  But today, just for today, I'll allow myself to think about my mama - how sad I am for her that she'll miss it, how much she would have loved Damien, how excited she would have been. How she and my dad would have danced all night and how he would have told her to stop looking so good, cause she was outshining the bride. How she would have laughed and rolled her eyes, but then held him a little closer.  

How beautiful she would have been, 33 years later. 

Birthday Face

 

This is Dame's "holy crap I'm 35" face. Coincidentally, it's also his "in yo' face," face, his "I ate the last ice cream sandwich" face, and his "I've had 8 beers and two rum and cokes" face. I like to think it's his "in two months I'll be marrying the woman of my dreams" face, but I have to admit I've never seen him make this face in that context.

 

Happy Birthday to my sweetie, who has the best outlook on life, who is super happy to be turning 35 because that means he can now play Oldtimers hockey. You're definitely a breath of fresh air, babe. And I'm so happy to be at your side.

 

Post-rain

Today, I went to my Dad's to celebrate Father's Day.

It rained all the way down in the car, but stopped as soon as I got there.

After it stopped raining and before the mosquitos came out and carried us away, I snapped some photos of the flowers in Dad's yard. They always look so bright right after it rains.

Introducing...



The newest member of our household - Jacques! He's a Betta fish and I think he's so pretty. Plus, he won't bite our hands or chew our boots or our Dad's drywall in his brand new house, or make total fools of us as he races around the yard while four grown adults chase him aimlessly. We don't have to buy him fresh veggies or chew toys or cry when he grunts and attacks us with sharp little teeth when all we're trying to do is love him.

So we can't cuddle him or watch TV with him curled up on our laps but, you know, TOTALLY COOL WITH THAT.

Still in recovery mode

As we have done every year for the past seven years, a bunch of chicks gathered last weekend for the annual May Run Girls weekend. It was an amazing weekend as always. Here's a peek at the craziness that ensued when seven girls from Toronto, one from Timmins, one from Ottawa, and one from Cochrane showed up at Nellie Lake.

Make sure you watch the video in Fullscreen mode.

Soundtrack is the Star Wars Theme and Get Lucky by Daft Punk.