And now, the end is near......

So now that I'm married I find I have nothing to say(at least about weddings!)

Looking back it was a bumpy ride, totally worth the ride once we arrived at the destination but boy oh boy there were times I was basically thisclose to checking myself into a "health spa".

Do I have regrets? Not for a second. I enjoyed trying on dresses that cost more than a down payment on a house but would I have coughed up the dough for one? Heck no! For me, personally, as much as I fell repeatedly in love with the gloss and glitter of the wedding industry I just couldn't get on board with spending so much money on one day. What can I say I'm cheap!


Eloping is not for everyone BUT I highly recommend it for those who it clicks with! Not one person who might have been upset by the surprise was(at least they didn't tell me they were!). I happen to think that anyone in my life who would have been upset by our eloping would obviously not have really known us. We'd been together ten years so it wasn't like we ran off in the middle of the night and got hitched!

I avoided family drama, which when you have a million relatives is pretty unavoidable! I avoided my mom showing up in a sequined red dress. I avoided having my sister have a nervous breakdown because she has a severe anxiety over making speeches. I avoided drunken relatives picking fights with other drunken relatives(oh it's happened at family weddings.)

I avoided everything that would have caused me to turn into a ball of panic and anxiety. I wanted to get married to the man I loved, simple really, so I did. It was awesome.

This weekend my the parents will have their first meal together as inlaws...should be interesting.

Oh and last weekend my lady friends had a dinner for me. So I'll recap that once I get over the embarrassment of the photos and video(errrgh so drunk.) and then....well then I have something up my sleeve...

What's that smell?

This past weekend my worst nightmare came true.

Just as we were about to go out for the evening our dog made friends with a skunk, just outside our back door. It pretty much got only her face, it may have sprayed her directly in the mouth actually. YUM!

Apparently when you smell skunk outside that is it after it's blown around, pure skunk smells more like a big pile of burning tires. The dog didn't appreciate the bath or the dunking with tomato juice(which only sort of works but at 9pm on a Sunday before Thanksgiving it was the only option...lesson learned? Keep a bottle of skunk odor remover handy always.)

The house smells just from it wafting in through the back door! I've been busy spraying every surface with skunk odor remover. Before the skunking I already had a paranoia of things smelling bad, so now that seemingly everything smells slightly skunking I'm driving myself(and others) mad.

My sister gave me a Lampe Berger and I'm simply in love with it. Although the current scent is a bit too perfumey I plan to switch it up soon to something warm for the winter. It seems to be working a bit to get rid of the skunky smell. I'm so thankful that we only have carpet left in one room and it will soon be gone. If we still had the carpet in the living room I would have insisted that we move out!

Hows married feel?

I've been a bad, bad blogger, I haven't wrote or read any blogs in a week! Life happens right? That's what I've heard anyhow.
Last week I went to my first appointment with a geneticist. I'm being tested for something rare and scary called Cadasil Syndrome. The geneticist said it was highly unlikely that I did have it so I'm not wringing my hands raw or anything.

Being married (for me anyhow) is very much the same as before except with more jewellery and tax breaks. Not that I'm being glib about it but when your with someone for ten years, living with them for most of those well...it doesn't feel much different. I'm married and that's cool, but life altering changing? Well not really. Although I'm incredibly relieved we eloped in the end because if we would have spend $$$$ on a big wedding I might have some buyers remorse right about now. We are slowly starting to throw around ideas for our party. We recently went to a beer tasting and the food was catered by a bakery and it was soooooo good. It was The Mister who even suggested we keep the name of the place!

jj

This is the photo that we will give to family and friends, as my aunt said "It's a framer!

I was asked by The Marry Melodies how it feels to be a Mrs, a whole bunch of people have asked me this since we got hitched. So I figured I'd write about it.

It feels pretty much the same. I joke that the only difference is I have more jewellery and tax breaks. Which is true but there is also something slightly different. A part of my sort of wishes there was something noticable. Something I could point at and go "aha that's what married feels like." but there isn't. Theres always a bit of disappointment when you have some big life event happen and afterwards your life doesn't become technicolour. I can fully see why some brides have the post wedding blues, all that hype and months planning and then after it's all over and the thank you cards are sent it's back to life as it was.

Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy we are married, but after being together for 10 years

This is the photo that is getting blown up, framed and given to friends and family. The orginal version is a million times better than this blogger shrunken version.

Waiting for the music to start.

Another oddball photo that I like. Although The Misters suit looks like an optical illusion it's a fine hounds tooth. In the cab over to the court house I nervously tugged at the sweet peas in my bouquet but they were stuck in there good so I ended up with stray flowers. I tucked them into the bouquet afterwards.

Because the ceremony was so short we only got through the first 3 songs of our cd....

1. Please, Please, Please(Let Me Get What I Want) String version of the Smiths song.
2. Northern Sky - Nick Drake
3. Time After Time - Dusty Springfield
4. I'm in Love With a Girl - Big Star
5. You Do Something To Me - Paul Weller
6. Never My Love - The Association (seriously check this song out for first dances.)
7. To The End(La Comedie) - Blur

Short and sweet.

The ceremony was short. As in I blinked back some tears and we were married short. She read some things about rights and houses, we held right hands(which was funny because it was like we were shaking on it.) He said "YES! I DO!!" and I replied "Thanks!!" I said the same back to him, we put our rings on and kissed. We signed more things, our witnesses signed things and BAM we were legally bound.
We took photos, we called our parents, we took more photos, we bought some pink champagne and cupcakes and hopped in a horse drawn carriage(something we've never done, too touristy.) and it was perfect. The horse tried to eat my flowers.
Here is one of my favorite photos. I like my photos like I like my men, a bit quirky.

Lets go to court (or my dad's middle name isn't Anne.)

We agreed to not see what the other was wearing. Which would have been easier if we had not been getting ready in the same room! We were going to meet at the court house at 1pm. I arrived back at the hotel at noon. I started my make up. I had brought my false eyelashes, something I'm a pro at putting on, but I hadn't been able to find the regular glue I use and had bought a different brand which was gummy so I decided to abandon them. I got everything else on and did one eye with liquid liner when I decided to look at the time. Some how it was 12:35, my witness was coming to my room at 12:45. Oh and did I mention that Mister was still getting dressed? Right then my body gave me a surge of adrenalin, which unfortunately for me causes me to shake uncontrollably until I work it out, which I couldn't since I couldn't really move from my chair! I wish it was a panic attack I can deal with those so much better!

Ever try putting on liquid liner when you are shaking like a leaf? Yeah, exactly.

My witness came and Mister left and finally I could finish getting ready. We left the room at 1:10.
Court house, up to the 3rd floor. I see the Mister for the first time and he looks amazing, like I knew he would. He always does though. He told me I looked really beautiful and hot.

Then we sat down with our Justice of the Peace, a woman named Nadia who had her two girls there with her that day. A sweet little girl around 6 years old and a girl who was maybe 13.

We looked over our information for mistakes. There was one. They had my dad's middle name down as Anne, the same as my mothers. After clearing that up they popped in our cd and the music started.

hoo

Flowers!

Photo by me, taken in front of the window in our hotel room. Sweet back lighting.

As I mentioned before I always knew I would do my own flowers. For a brief moment where I may have been temporarily insane I had a grand plan of waking up and going to Jean Talon or Atwater market at 7am and strolling around eating a croissant and picking out flowers. Luckily that notion passed and I realised that more than likely I would rather sleep in! Good thing too since we didn't go to bed until 3am the night before!

After taking stock of what was in perfect bloom in my garden I headed out the Friday morning to the local flower markets and bought about 35 dollars worth of flowers all in shades of purple. I got tiny white carnations that were streaked with purple, roses, pom pom dahlias, tiny kale, lisianthus and some filler. I went home cut some more dahlias and sweet peas.
Now if I was a good blogger I would have taken step by step photos...but alas I did not, so instead here is the play by play....

I stripped all the flowers of thorns and leaves, put aside any that were looking a bit sad and then starting with the kale I placed them in my left hand making X's with the stems and turning every now and then until I had what I wanted. Then holding it like a bouquet I decided if I needed to move things or add things and then about 15 minutes after I started I wrapped it in some floral tape, cut all the stems to one length under water and then set it in a vase with some water at the bottom for the trip. I picked tough flowers. Other than the lisianthus and sweet peas all the other flowers could take some beating. I also took along several extra flowers just in case and although I didn't need them I did remove one flower that got the droops during it's trip, since it was near the base it didn't even matter.

The day of the wedding I took them out of the vase, dried the stems with a towel and covered the floral tape with some ribbon that I just tied in a bow. I left the bouquet at the hotel taking only some roses to press at home. Also I'd like to point out that the 35 dollars I spent on flowers from the market gave me enough flowers that I could have easily made 2-3 smaller bouquets after making mine. Instead I threw them in a vase and left them in my kitchen.

As I mentioned before I always knew I was going to do my own flowers. For a brief moment where I may have been completely insane I had this grand plan of getting up at 7am and going to a Marche and just eating a croissant and picking out flowers. Then I regained my sanity and realised that more than anything I'd probably want to sleep in. Which was a good thing because the night before we didn't get to bed until 3am!!

By the time I get back to the hotel it is noon. The Mister and I had agreed not to see each other in our outfits and that we would meet at the court house at 1pm. Except he was still in the room and pretty much fresh out of the shower. So I stood around in the hall waiting for him to put on a robe and hide whatever needed hiding.

Ok so I had an hour to do my makeup and get dressed. Oh and I couldn't look at him. So I parked myself at the desk by the window and started doing my makeup. First I set out everything I needed in the order I needed them and then I started. I made sure not to turn my head to the left. I had grand ideas of putting on fake lashes, which I'm a pro at, but not being able to find my regular eyelash glue I had settled for a different brand and I hated it. It was thick and gummy and after two attempts at getting them on I abandoned them. I also decided that I would wear liquid eyeliner. Something I actually do not wear on a regular basis. I got one eye done and it was perfect but without being able to turn I was having trouble twisting my arm around to my other eye. At that point I looked at the clock. 12:34. I remember thinking "This eyeliner needs to be done in 6 minutes." as my witness was coming at 12:45.

Then I started shaking. Not a great thing to do when applying liquid eyeliner to the difficult eye. I wasn't scared or anxious this was the familiar shake of adrenalin. My heart was pounding and I was shivering in my chair. I managed to ride the surge out but I used up my 6 minutes of eyeliner time. I finished the eye, fixed it and made the other eye match. Phew. My witness came and The Mister left leaving me with 15 minutes to finish up.

We were running a bit late though and didn't get into a cab until 1:10.

Now I don't know if it's because the cabbie thought we were tourists since we were exiting a hotel but OH MY DOG did he drive sloooooow and no matter how many times we repeated the address, in both langauges, he acted like he had no clue what we were saying.

The Montreal court house is a very sterile looking office building. It's very out of character for the area it's set in, which is Old Montreal. We travelled up to the 3rd floor.

Who says you cantelope

So the only thing I didn't get on my list? Cardboard.

See under pressure = results!

I woke up on Friday morning at 7am and after a long breakfast, coffee and dog walk left at around 10am. By noon I had got everything and was sitting in a massage chair getting my nails did. After ruining my nails in record time(seriously does nail polish just not dry until you've messed one up?) I went home and packed, cleaned and made my bouquet.

Our witnesses picked us up and we drove and drove and drove and got to Montreal just before midnight, we would have got there earlier if Google maps hadn't given us the longer route and if we hadn't missed our last cut off. Luckily I know Montreal really, really well and guided our friend onto a faster route than turning around and doubling back to the missed cut off.

The hotel had upgraded us to a King suite which over looked the cathedral, which was so nice. We freshened up, changed clothes and went out for drinks at Le Cheval Blanche which is really cool looking inside, very retro. Surprisingly it was rather empty for a Friday night. We went bed around 3am.

The next day we got up around 9. I had a shower and headed to the hotel salon for my 10am appointment, my stylist was running late, which was fine a few minutes wouldn't ruin anything, I had tons of time. They served me an espresso and I sipped it slowly. She finished the girl she was working on at about 10:20. I switched into her chair and showed her photos and told her I wanted BIG 60's hair, the bigger the better. She started to round brush blow dry it and then about a minute of that asked me if it was ok if she finished another client who was getting colour done. Because I'm such a laid back person I said sure, figuring she was just going to blow her dry.

Nope, she was going to cut her hair and then style it and then the girl would say "oh can you also straighten it a bit?" as the minutes past I got more and more anxious. I hadn't ate breakfast and was already on my second coffee and OH MY GOD I WAS GETTING MARRIED HURRY THE FUCK UP!!!!! Finally she came back to me at 10:55.

She then proceeded to disregard the photos and when I said something she suggested that I just "wait and see, it looks lovely." which is also what she said when her two previous clients also asked for changes. The part I had questioned was the back, where I just wanted sleek and put into a french twist she did something "fun!" to which I replied that I "wasn't really a fun hair type of gal. I want big and 60's"

She finished my hair and then proceeded to spray it solid and I swear to God she purposely sprayed me in the face with hair spray. She wasn't nasty or anything, just the opposite really, and I was in such a good mood that I was letting things slide that I normally wouldn't. My hair took about 15 minutes to do. OH and about 3 minutes into starting my hair she told her manager that she could take a client at 11:30.

My hair was solid as a rock but it looked ok. Also it was $$$ which for 15 minutes of time and being an HOUR late sort of irked me, but I didn't complain at the time because I had a million other things on my mind. Plus it's just hair and I could fix what I didn't like, which in the end meant I ran my fingers through the tops and sides to unsolidify it and my veil hid the "fun" bit at the back. I hadn't wanted to look around for a salon, I wanted somewhere I could just wake up and go to and nothing was closer than in the hotel so really it's no biggie.

I then headed out to find myself some food. I found a turkey and swiss croissant at a Au Pain Dore and walked back to the hotel. It was yummy and I thought "I should get more updo's and eat more turkey swiss croissants while walking around." and then "This is the last bit of food I'll eat before I am married."

More later.

Married

So what did you do over the weekend?

TWO!

Here is my list of things to do:

Shoes
Sephora
Perfume
Spanx
Suitcase
Dye hair.
Clean house
Cardboard
Foot petals
Sort makeup
Laundry
flowers - floral tape
ribbon
Print hair photos

If I didn't work best under tight deadlines then I'd be worried, but I look at my list and think about all the times I've pulled off doing more in less time and am not worried one bit.

I'm super excited because I got some Polaroid film! Thank you hipster oasis that is Urban Outfitters! Sure I paid more than I've ever paid for it in the past...about double. The other night I dusted off my gaggle of cameras I think I'm going to bring my Fed5, SLR, Polaroid and digital. Yes I'm going to bring 4 cameras.

THREE!

Something I don't think I mentioned is that The Mister and I don't know what the other is wearing. Some brides would lose their shizz not knowing what the groom was going to show up in, not me, I can say without a doubt that The Mister will be very well dressed. He has amazing style when it come to clothes, in fact I'd say he's the more stylish one. Also it helps that he's hot, like rock star, woman check him out all the time hot. Sure he's not every ones cup of tea but he sure as hell seems to be a lot of ladies that like his particular blend.

I think he might be wearing brown. Yep that's it, that's all I might know and it's not a confirmed colour just something he mentioned a few weeks back. The only thing I said to him was "you don't have to wear a suit, just dress however you want."

So I'm going shoe shopping today. At first i wanted red shoes, but I think I might get purple. Really I'll just see what's in the shops and go from there. I was coveting some Kate Spades but I think I had a case of "It's my wedding so I should haves" you know, that weird sickness that brides to be get where we can justify anything because gosh darn it's your wedding!
A part of me would LOVE to spend 500 dollars on shoes, and trust me it's a really big part! But the frugalista in me says "but you could spend less and get XYZ as well and haven't you always really wanted XYZ?" it's a constant battle of the Chanel Angel on one shoulder and the Gap Angel on the other. And boy do they fight dirty!

FOUR!

In all my years of visiting Montreal it has never rained. Please go now and knock on wood. I'm looking at that forecast and thinking that Friday rain better stay put! I could deal with a bit few more degrees on the thermometer but 16 is pretty nice still. I'm praying (something I rarely do unless I really, really mean it.) that whatever system(a big L or H) moves swiftly through Montreal the rain is pushed off until Monday. Fingers crossed!

I figured out the dress issue. I spent all last night stuffed into Spanx and trying on every dress in my closet. I then flipped the original dress inside out and took a good look at the seam allowance. I stuffed it in a bag with my dry cleaning and decided if my seamstress could let it out by Thursday then it's sign. Really it only needs maybe an inch total not much.

So I went in and showed them the dress. We all stared at the seams and I held my breath.
It's doable! They can let it out, not by much, by about an inch!!!

I was worried that it would cost me an arm and a leg. It didn't even cost a pinky toe! I pick it up Thursday. Even though I said I wasn't freaking out having them say that it was doable felt like someone told me they could cure gray hair, just something I no longer have to worry about!

I wasn't freaking but I wasn't not freaking if you know what I mean.

FIVE!

What's that? Five days until I get married? Really? Huh! Doesn't seem like that long ago I was just tossing eloping around as an idea. And now? Well the cost of it showed up on my last credit card bill so there's no turning back now!

Most brides to be would be faa-reaking about not having a dress and I'm sure that a part of my brain is working overtime mentally running around shouting "FIRE!!!!" but I seem to have successfully learned to ignore it.

Thing is I know I'll wear something. Maybe it will be the original dress I bought, maybe it will be my Nanette Lepore, maybe it will be the pale blue dress that I've worn once, or the silk floral print dress I saw on the weekend....thing is I'm not going to end up going in my underpants(although the ones I bought a few weeks ago are fancy enough to get married in...)!

I've got options and maybe it's not the dress of my dreams, but my tall order for a perfect dress that was the perfect price just wasn't going to happen. The only way it would happen is if Coren Moore somehow found my blog, took pity on me and sent me her polka dotted Ruby dress via Fed Ex for this Thursday with a 60% discount or more. I mean miracles happen right?

Over the weekend I also figured out how were going to tell our friends and family that we went and got ourselves hitched!

I also decided to include geranium leaves in the flowers. I'm sort of in love with them and since I have tons of them in my garden I'll just bring some along.

Oh and I saw Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers running with some body guards by my work.

Eight days a week!

I'm trying not to stress out but with eight days(we leave in 7) to go I'm dressless, shoeless and eating candy non stop. I may or may not have started my day today with candy and coffee. Maybe.

I do however have a veil. I practically blinded myself making it. I've likened it to sewing fog with invisible thread. I mean if nothing else comes together then at least I have a veil! Oh and flowers I'll have those too and big hair and makeup and rings. I'm just missing the clothes.

One of my BFF's Savs (who sometimes reads this here blog HI!!!!) and I were talking on the phone yesterday and she asked me if I had my something old, new, borrowed, blue and I was all "yeps got it covered!" and then I thought about it more. I have my something old, my Nanny's charm bracelet, I have lots of new, I'm going to wrap something blue around my flowers....but borrowed....I don't have anything borrowed. I can't even remember what any of my married friends had for their borrowed things....I'm guessing jewellery? But I only want to wear my Nanny's bracelet...I do have my ears pierced but borrowed earrings? Isn't that like borrowed mascara?


What can I borrow?

A girl has to eat.

I did so much research into where to go for dinner. I bookmarked reviews, looked for photos and blog postings, read menus and assembled a list.
The Mister emailed a dj friend of his who grew up and lives in Montreal and asked then for recommendations. She came back with one or two and like a dog with a bone The Mister would not even consider any other place except for this one that she mentioned.

L'Express. A Montreal "institution". A place where a trusted critic last reviewed in '05 noting that they served about 400 plates a day and some of those are pre-prepared and microwaved(shudder) but when it became clear than all of my deeply researched restos were not going to even be considered I threw in the towel and told him to go ahead and make reservations, which he did in flawless french.

I'm really, really, really hoping that the food isn't awful. They do serve a big jar of cornichons(baby pickles) when you sit down. Luckily I love cornichons so I could easily fill up on those.
They don't have a website so I can only go by a menu I found on Flickr but it's classic french bistro. I just keep reading review after review that notes about the rudeness of the service and my go to for foodie advice, Chowhound, well...every time a tourist says they are thinking of going there the foodie locals point them in another direction.

Maybe I should just insist on poutine.

When I woke up this morning the Mister turned to me bopped me on the nose(we tap each others noses and go "bop!") and said "Only 15 more days!"

Make it big.

I'm still congested. It's something that happens when I'm sick I stay congested for a good few weeks after. Not fun but at least my nose is no longer bright red and covered in scales. GROSS!

So here I am 16 days from getting married. Yowza!

I have a hair appointment at the hotel salon that morning. Seeing as I've never been there or met the stylist I admit to being a tiny bit anxious. But since I tend to be a wash and wear ponytail type of gal anything will pretty much look better than what I normally look like. I know I want volume, something my hair fine hair does not naturally give me. I know I want big, big hair with some curl or wave? Something like these......

But I'm unsure if I want a half up do, I'm pretty sure the down part would become limp fairly soon after leaving the salon. Also, I don't know why but a full up do feels a bit more...special to me. Something like these...

I'll bring all these photos along so the stylist knows I'm not exaggerating when I say I want BIG hair.

I fought the bra, but the bra won....

Today I went for a proper bra fitting at a lovely little shop called Brava. As I mentioned before The Mister gifted me with a gift certificate so I could "get something hot for our wedding night" so I went in to get fitted. If you haven't been fitted for a bra before I highly suggest you do, you might be surprised to find out that you are wearing the wrong size! The very first fitting I ever had I had been wearing a 36A(this was a very, very long time ago.) when I was sized it turned out that I was actually a 34B. I usually get fitted about once a year. The last time I was fitted was sometime this past winter, I was a 38C.

Today I was told that I was a 36D. Wowza. Shrunk some and gained some! The lovely lady who helped me try on various bras made me feel at ease, which is not always something I feel when a stranger sees me half naked. She brought me an assortment of lovely bras to try on and helped me get in them, you would think that after so many years of bra wearing that you could do it yourself, but alas the put it on backwards, spin it forward and flip it up method was not going to fly when faced with a 200 dollar brassiere. She had me put my arms through the straps and then lean forward so everything would fall (quite literally) into place as she did me up and adjusted things.

Some bras were instantly rejected for just looking odd or doing nothing for my figure. One bra even gave me points! I instantly fell in love with two. One a lilac coloured leaf embroidered number and one that was a sheer blue lacy number. Lilac won. It was close though if they were the exact same price I'd probably still be flipping coins in the change room! Lucky for me though the blue bra was 198 dollars and the matching pantie a mere 98 something that made me blink and wonder if I was seeing things. 98 dollars for one pair of panties? Do they know I can get a 6 pack of cotton Hanes for 10? I can see though how a gal could easily become addicted to wearing pricey lingerie. The fit, material and detail are all so much more better and sexy than the beige run of the mill everyday bras I've been wearing most of my life. Plus knowing that your rocking something exquisite under your clothes is a bit of a thrill!

I also bought a silk negligee, that was 30% off, it's sexy, probably the sexiest thing I'll ever wear to bed. It wasn't really in the budget but heck a married woman needs a negligee!

I smell something.

Something I've been thinking about is what scent I'm going to wear. Some girls have a signature scent, a classic go to that they wear either daily or seasonally. I on the other hand have a perfumery. At one point I had about 50 or so perfumes all of them kept in a dark box in a cool spot and rotated at my whim. Theres the perfume that I was wearing during our early courtship, Lolita Lempicka, along with a subtle violet scented body cream from Boots which I've never found after that first jar. I had a variety of Demeters, which were great because they were cheap and cheerful and wore off somewhat fast so if I tired of smelling like a cinnamon bun in the morning I could easily smell like gingerale(everyones fave, people would stop me and ask what it was!) in the evening.


My next "real" perfume was from MOR which I discovered in one of my favorite lady stores (as the Mister calls them) it was the bottle which caught my eye, then the name and then the scent.

Marshmallow oddly enough is a floral. Go figure. It has a slight sweet candy smell too it but nothing that would hint at actual marshmallows. But isn't the bottle so purty? They just recently relaunched it and although the bottle is still the same the label is different. Hopefully they didn't mess with the formula.

Did I mention that other than the Lolita Lempicka every single other perfume I have ever received has been a gift from The Mister?

Currently I'm wearing Estee Lauder Pleasures Delight. Which was bought for me even though I had only read the notes! I knew it would smell wonderful and mentioned the notes to The Mister and it magically appeared! Every time I hug someone they tell me I smell so good and go in for another hug, so I obviously made a good call.

Wow I ramble.

The point(yes there is a point!) of this is I'm wondering if I should get a new perfume to mark the occasion. Something truly special that will remind The Mister of the day we got hitched every time I wear it. I recently tried on one of the Tom Ford Private Blends, Neroli Portofino, and it was glorious. It blended down into a warm sensual smell that made me want to wrap myself in silk and cashmere and drink champagne. At 200 dollars a bottle though...might be something to put on my Christmas list. Then theres Bvlgari Jasmine Noir, with notes of gardenia, jasmine and licorice just smells sexy.

Then theres the coveted Chanel Exclusifs Boutiques range...that I have only smelled once but was enamored at first smell. Or the many Bond.no9 that I have exhausted my nose smelling.
How is a girl to choose?

Two good things in two days!

Right now I'm dying. Sick, sick, sick. My face is full of grossness and I'm cold and then hot and then cold and seeing bright lights due to the cold medicine I've taken. Weeeee!

Yesterday The Mister cheered me up by surprising me with a gift certificate for a very fancy lingerie store! I'm going to be rocking some fine french underpants on our wedding day!
Going there next week for a proper bra fitting. I've had it done before but it's been a while, should be interesting to see if theres a difference.

Today we went and picked out rings. At first it looked like we would have to have mine custom made which was going to cost $$$. The guy helping us was the owners younger brother(I think) and they were just opening when we went in. It looked like we were going to be dropping some large bills on my band(dang custom engagement ring!) then The Mister points into a box and goes "what about that one?" and of the little brother pulls it out for me and it fits perfectly and looks perfect with my ring! Hooray!

The Mister went with titanium. Small thin band. He decided on titanium due to it's strength and durability. It's plain and simple just like he wanted. My band is a white gold knife edge to match the band on my engagement ring. Both rings came in at.......240, the fact that I found something that was in stock and didn't have to be custom made just resized saved us about 400 bucks!

So thank goodness for The Misters eagle eye!

Twenty Four (it's a good show I hear.)

Twenty four days.

About this time 10 years ago I was writing sappy, love struck, melodramatic things in my journal. Something about his blond curls or blue eyes or his perfect lips. Oh and I was moving back home in a few weeks. We both knew this but it didn't stop us from hanging out all of the time. It was a feverish end of summer affair. I think at first we both thought that I would leave and that would be the end. Except by the time I did roll out of town I was praying to every God that would listen that he would call me soon. He called the next day.

My friends and my mother told me to forget about him, move on etc. But I knew. I knew already.

He asked me one night during one of our hours long phone calls if I'd be his girlfriend, something a guy hadn't done since...hmm maybe early high school? Heck it might have been even grade school! I giggled and said yes.

We declared our love about a month after that, the first time we saw each other since I'd moved.
We moved in together 5 months after that. We haven't been apart since.

Ten years. Not always perfect or easy but what relationship is? We have our problems and issues and we work through them because we love each other so very much.

Ten years and 5 days after he asked me to be his girlfriend he's going to promise to be my husband.

Let there be music!

On Friday we got a registered letter in the mail confirming that we are indeed getting married on September 19th. It had some useful information (seriously that's what it said!) like we should arrive 10 minutes before our ceremony, bring two witnesses and ID and that we could bring a cd of music to play! MUSIC! OF OUR CHOICE!!!


I already know what the first song on the cd is going to be.


A string version of Morrissey's "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"


I love this song with the lyrics but they are a touch too....maudlin for a wedding. Without lyrics and with strings it becomes incredibly beautiful and perfect.


I'll also include "Time After Time" no, not that one from the 80's that we all know and love but the older jazz standard sung here by Chet Baker. We have a version of Dusty Springfield singing it that is phenomenal.


I remember being young and thinking the Beach Boys were a lame band. Of course this had to do with my limited knowledge of them and thinking all the songs were like Kokomo or Barbara Ann. The Mister opened my ears to Pet Sounds and Smile(put out by Brian Wilson.) if you have never heard either of these albums do yourself a favor and give them a whirl. The most heartbreaking of songs though has to be "Our Prayer" to think that this is the same band that later put out the schmaltz that it Kokomo is flabbergasting. (apologies if you happen to like Kokomo.) The Beach Boys also have the song "God Only Knows" how perfect is that for a first dance?


Then some classics from MGM musicals...


"Love Is Here To Stay" sung by Gene Kelly from An American in Paris...

"All Of You" sung by Fred Astaire from Silk Stockings...

"Moon River" sung by Audrey Hepburn(who else?!) oh and "He Loves, She Loves" from Funny Face of course!


Oh and then some Big Star "I'm In Love With a Girl"

I could go on and on and on but I'll save it for another post!

I'm not sure how long to make the cd, I think I'll only need about 30 minutes but just to be safe I'll probably put about an hours worth of music on there, then when we have our reception party next year I'll already have an hours worth of cocktail music!

31 more days!

I had a semi wedding related dream last night. I was looking for the perfect lipstick and I had found it, it was a little pot of glossy rosy/brown/gold colour and when I tried it on it made my lips full and perfect. It was magical. So of course I was going to buy it but then the sales lady gave me the wrong one. She gave me a glossy Barbie pink pot and told me it was the one I had tried on. I was so distraught, mostly because I had of course left this until the day of the ceremony.

Of course I haven't found the perfect lipstick. Although it might be somewhere in the suitcase sized makeup case I have or the smaller (but still bigger than a shoe box) sized case. I have a lot of makeup.

I've had this photo in my folders for a while now. I'm not sure where it's from, I had Googled "Classic makeup" and it came up.

It's a pretty straight forward look, easy to pull off but also easy to mess up. The lips could be too red and the eyes too dark instantly giving off an 80's vibe. I'm fairly confident in my makeup artist skills, I have after all done the wedding makeup of all my friends for the last ten years as well as all the special occasions that have come up in the past...oh 15 or so years? Not to mention all the ladies nights where I plastered on the slap to various girls working from books and magazines to achieve a certain look. These nights were sometimes disastrous as a few drinks in I find I start going a wee bit over board!

Makeup is something I enjoy doing. I don't do it professionally, although I did go to school for hair and makeup I found I didn't really enjoy dealing with strangers. Guess all those years of being told not to talk to them really etched itself into my brain!

The next photo(from the same folder, from the same search.) Is a variation on the look above. It's obviously more glam but really the only difference is a darker lip and eyeliner. Perhaps a different shade of eyeshadow. I love that the simplest changes in tone and colour and such make for a completely different look.

It's classic. It's glamorous and it's sexy. I'm a big fan of a dark lip. This look is also much more matte than the previous. Something that may be hard to pull off mid September when the weather can still be hot and humid. I wear matte foundation in the winter months only. Once summer comes the slightest hint of humidity and that results in a weird cakey mask of oil and sweat and makeup sitting on my face fighting each other. No one wins that war.

Once summer comes I mix up an spf moisturiser with some foundation and a pearly highlighting cream. It's sheer and illuminating and keeps the cancer away.

Ahh the smokey eye.

Who doesn't think it's a sexy look? If done properly it looks stunning...if not...well I see a lot of girls who don't do it properly and I want to scrub their faces clean. A proper smokey eye shouldn't look like you got into a fight with a can of black paint and lost. Eyeliner is not a right it's a privilege! You can barely, barely see the thin line on the top lip. and the bottom is just smudged with the same grey silver shade. It's lovely.

The lips are barely there, a shimmery gloss is all that's needed and there's a hint of blush.

It is sadly probably a bit much for a 1:30 elopement but perhaps a quick trip to change right before dinner that evening could be arranged. Although a trip to the hotel after were married...well...uh..er..I might have to do my makeup.

Dress hunt continues.

The dress hunt continues....
T minus 5 weeks to go.

My friend E (who is also one half of our witnesses) saw the dress in the previous post and confirmed what was already swirling in my mind, that although it was a lovely dress that cut was bound to just make my large hips look even larger, she didn't say it like that of course.

Sigh.

Then today I went and tried on a similar dress at BCBG and it was not nice so it's vetoed.

I know exactly what I would like just from all the various dresses I did try on.

• Sweetheart or V neckline.
• corseted back.
• A line or empire waist.
• Something floaty and swingy.
• Not much bedazzling(a little bling is nice.)
• Something with dots would be extra nice.
• Knee length or floor length.

If you know of a dress that has at at least two of these assets please point me in the right direction!

On a whim I went into a bridal shop near my house that has samples for sale. I wasn't going to try one one but I did. It was beautiful. It was also half price! Unfortunately the original price was 2700 dollars. Sigh.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

The form that the Montreal court sent back needed to be signed by a witness in front of a notary. The Mister called a few places and they were all in the 40-50 dollar range. Thank goodness for Google because I did a search for a notary near my work and found one that was close by AND only charged 12 dollars.

The forms were signed and stamped in about 3 minutes. Imagine paying 50 dollars for that? I'd feel robbed!

So it's official. We elope in Montreal in just over a month! EEEEP!

I have a confession though. I cannot stop looking at dresses. This Mori Lee on the right recently popped up on my screen and I kind of love it. It's plain as can be and floaty. As we all know I will be retrying on the dress I bought next week. If I love it again then HOORAY!!!!! But if I still want to cry then....well this Mori Lee might be getting get an owner.

Photo from Mori Lee

Backyard reception!

Oh my sweet Sunday! This wedding is everything I want my reception to be!
Sweet, lovely, small.

Seriously check it out....

Once Wed

and from the source....

Scout Holiday

Photo from Scout Holiday

I love seeing backyard weddings like this. It gives me hope for planning ours!

How does your garden grow.....

I have always known that I would do my own flowers. Flower arranging is something I've always been rather good at right up there with flower growing. For years I even arranged flowers for the office I worked in, I was given a budget each week and I would trek out to the flower markets on a Monday morning and then make a different arrangement every week. Clients always asked what florist we used. When I was a kid I would check out books on flower arranging from the library on a regular basis. I would love to be a professional florist maybe that's my calling.

In spring I planted a whole bunch of dahlias and in the past week some of them have started blooming. And boy are they beautiful. As an organic gardener I'm never sure how something will turn out, I'm constantly at war with various critters who think I've planted a delicious buffet just for them. I use companion plants that are known to repell inscects and other beneficial bugs that come in and eat the bad bugs. I'm the captain of my own lady bug army!

I should be able to use all flowers from my garden for my bouquet(fingers crossed that theres no freak hail storms!) flowers a grew myself that will be back every year around the same time so I can create my bouquet every year for free!

Got a letter in the mail...

This morning as I got off the subway my cell rang. The Mister is home this week installing our new wood floors(YAY!!!) and he was calling to tell me that we got some mail.
From Montreal.

Apparently we need to fill out one more form, one that when we called before they told us NOT to fill out. Sigh.

BUT...we have lots of time to get it back AND more importantly we have a date and time booked just for us!

September 19th at 1:30pm!

Only a half hour before 2pm, the time I dreamt we had! Ohhh!

We are going to call them tomorrow as I am also home and sort out this mystery form, but other than that slight(please, please let it be slight!) snag it's all a go!

Wow.

I'm getting married.

In 44 days.

Day by day.

Since not fitting in my dress a few weeks back I have been looking a backup. Just in case. Which led me to this dress. From BCBG. You cannot tell from this photo but it has polka dots. swoon.

I said I'd give my dress a month to fit. So I still have two weeks to go, but everything feels so urgent and well in my case it is!

We still haven't heard from Montreal. Every time I check my email or my phone rings I think "Please let it be someone french."

I'm getting increasingly anxious by the day!

Luckily Mother Nature has decided ease my nerves by springing into action in my garden. It's bursting with blooms! Did you know Chocolate Cosmos smell like chocolate? Brilliant! The dahlias are delectable! And it's all going to get better!

Is that a four?

I'm sitting here staring at that four. I haven't been below 155 in a very long time. I'm thrilled and excited even though I'm only like .2 away from 155 it's still very satisfying to see that four appear.

I started the Wild Rose D-tox on Monday. I thought it would be harder and that I would be starving and craving and grumpy. But I'm not. Nope I feel amazing.

In the past 5 days I have slept better than I have in ages, I've got more energy than I know what to do with and I'm eating foods I really enjoy.

As part of the "moving is losing" regime I've started doing squats after every time I go to the washroom. Weird I know, but why not? While I'm drying my hands I do 15 squats if there is no one else in the washroom. Luckily I only work with 6 other girls so there rarely is. Since I drink a lot of water, I'd say about 15 SIG bottles during work, I use the washroom A LOT. At least 8 times a day. Which means I'm getting in 120 squats a day and it takes about 30 extra seconds or so.

I'm also stretching a lot more. For about 30 minutes in the evening while watching tv.

I do The Reg that I mention last week then I do a bunch of tricep moves then lots of stretching. Everyone should stretch, it's really important, probably more than we know. It keeps us limber and makes our muscles less likely to spaz out and cause us pain. It also lenghtens our muscles, it's one of the reasons ballet dancers and yogis always look so amazing! So if you do one thing this week stretch!

Let them eat cake!

One of the easiest choices to make was to get a cake or cupcakes from Cocoa Locale in Montreal.

The last time we went we trekked up to this bakery with intentions of getting some cupcakes, instead we got a wee cake! It was beyond delish and our intentions of saving some for the ride home were quickly thrown out the window! I think we had a banana cake, but I remember for sure, we are suckers for a good banana cake! It's a one woman show at Cocoa Locale, everything is baked fresh each day and once she's sold out the shop is closed..and apparently she sells out often!

(Both photos from Google images.)

Look at how cute the shop is too! It's beyond adorable! Obviously some photos need to be taken in there! I hope they aren't sold out by the time we get there!

Waiting and waiting....

I'm sitting here compulsively checking my email and cellphone waiting for the folks up at the Montreal Bureau de Mariage to tell me if we are getting married and if so at what time!

I had a dream that they called me and asked if I wanted 9am or 2pm, I picked 2pm. Except they won't ask me what time I want they will just give us the slot that is open. Every day that passes makes me more anxious. We are at the mercy of a civil worker!

AAAAAH!

One of the things that I think is quite cute about getting married in Montreal is that the courthouse has a room called the Salle de Celebration! Literally the Celebration Room! Who wouldn't want to get married in a room called that?

September is tumbling towards us at breakneck speed. In fact if everything goes to plan I will be married in 53 days. Five Three! Woah. Funnily enough I didn't even realise how many 9's were in the date. 9/19/09!

I admit that I've had some jitters. As we all know I'm a bit of a flake sometimes, most of those times seem to happen after seeing a beautiful wedding on a blog with photos that are stunningly beautiful. Then I snap back to reality when I remember that a) those weddings cost pots of money and b) I'm still having a reception at some point(most likely next summer)

The fact that it's all in someone else's hands (for now) makes my shoulders fall back from my ears.

I do know some things that will be happening in Montreal. I will eat all my favorite things! I will be happy to be in my favorite city! I will drink many different beers! I will sleep in the same hotel that John and Yoko did so many years ago!

I want it!

Several weeks ago I attended one of my bff mom's 60th birthday. It was at this party that her older sister let me take a look at her camera. It was at this party that I started mentally trying to justify going straight to the nearest camera store and buying it. Let me introduce you to my new obsession.....

The Canon G10.

It's 14 megapixels! It has a manual option! I can buy different lenses and filters for it! It has a hot shoe! It's like an SLR without the neck pain!

Oh and it's over 500 dollars. Wahhh.

Now I have a digital camera. One that was really good when I bought it 4 years ago. I held out for a long time on the digital camera so I did a lot of research before actually buying one. But recently it's been acting crazy. It seems to zap the power out of batteries in a New York minute and some times the photos are just not there or the memory card acts like a jerk. So many signs that it's nearing the end of it's short technological life.

I have a film SLR which The Mister bought me for my birthday one year and I was a film purist up until the digital. I used to even develop my own film in a dark room and everything. I can still smell the weird vinegary scent of the chemicals! I like that film is film, I never had to buy a new camera because it became obsolete after a year.

Then one day I was going on a trip. There would be hiking and lots of walking and maybe it was wiser to just get a small digital camera. My analog days were numbered.

I still love film. I have several vintage cameras and a medium format camera and toy cameras that make photos look really cool. I miss the days though when I carried a camera around with me all the time.

I would really like to have this for Montreal. A good camera makes all the difference.

So I really want the Canon G10, maybe I'll luck out and it will go on sale for half price!

It's back!

I didn't take a pic earlier this week but it read 159 on Monday. This week I have cut back on the sugar, sodium, flour, coffee and processed foods. I clocked in at least 10000 steps a day each day, one day I even came in just over 15000. I read somewhere the quote "If your moving your losing." and I keep repeating this in my head. Which is probably why the mister is giving me weird looks because I'm doing squats and crunches while watching tv! I feel better already, although I swear if you opened my fridge you would think I was nuts! I've got about 10 containers of berries in there right now and several containers of nut butters and so much fruit!

One of my best friends is back in town and I'm hoping to cheer her up with some physical activity outings. Some girls need ice cream and a bottle of wine but Savs is basically a guru of healthy things. She's a Kundalini yoga teacher, extremely talented tarot card reader, fitness buff and all around awesome woman. She's the one that taught me "The Reg".

What is The Reg? Well she learned it from when she was taking Gatka (seriously she's a ninja!) and it's pretty much awesome!

You start at 10 reps and each round you do one less.

So you do 10 squats, 10 push ups, 10 crunches, with no stopping between.

Then 9 of each, 8, 7 and so on, at around the 7 or 6 mark you want to cry then once you hit 4 your like "this is cake!"

It takes about 7 minutes or so and when your all done you've done 55 of each.

The Reg is the reason I can do push ups on my toes now!! I decided last night to do it every day maybe even more than once or I might tweak it a bit and do two sets of each number. I added weights to it last night doing squat presses etc. I highly recommend it to everyone, it's simple, fast and you don't need anything but yourself to do it!

That sound you heard...

If by chance you heard a noise last night that sounded like a mix between growling/sighing/despair it was probably me. I decided last night to try on my dress.
I hadn't tried it since I bought it so I thought I would.

It didn't fit. It didn't zip up and it wasn't just me being awkward with the self zipping of a dress there was no way in hades that it was going to zip. AND my hips looked like two giant shelves. My waist looked tiny but the hips were like I shoved two extra loaves of bread up under the dress, giant loaves of yummy italian bread..mmmm. um.
My waist was itsy bitsy though. I kind of looked like this....

image from Google.

Which really isn't the look I want at all.

Honestly though if I've gained weight since then it's been very little, maybe a pound or two, but I've gained muscle and things have shifted around a bit and the dress...it doesn't fit or look nice at all.

My first instinct was to burst into tears. Because that is the rational thing to do right? I didn't though instead I took the dress off, swore under my breath, hung it back in the closet and gave it some thought. Then I watched Coraline in 3D which took my mind off it for a while.

Then I laid in bed coming up with a plan. That's all I need right?

I've got just under 2 months. I work well under pressure!

This whole week has been spent just weaning myself off coffee and eating incredibly healthy. I've barely had any sugar, flour or processed foods. I'm preping myself for the detox kit next week. I'm going to continue eating this way for the next two months. I'm going to hit the gym more and start doing some exercise in the morning. I'm going to see where I am in terms of the dress in one month.

If I still am not feeling it I'm going to start looking for another one.

The main thing is that I don't panic. Instead I need to let this kick my butt into high gear.

Two dreams...one comes true!

Last night I had my first wedding dream......

The Mister and I were in Montreal at a Marche shopping for cheese and suddenly I realise that we are suppose to get married that day! I ask for the time and it's 4pm and I know that the last civil ceremony of the day is at 4:30pm so I go "Well I guess were not getting married!"
Then suddenly I'm thinking "I don't even have a bra to wear! Oh well I just wear the one I'm wearing, even though it's dirty." I woke up and instantly thought "Oh yeah I have to buy a new bra!"

When I was a little girl I was obsessed with what is now known as the Fairmont chain of hotels. In Toronto it's the Royal York, Quebec City has the Chateau Frontenac and in Montreal the Queen Elizabeth. I don't remember who but someone told me that when Royalty comes to visit that is where they always stay! I was in awe of these hotels because they were giant beautiful old buildings that had balls for important people and in my mind were the fanciest hotels in the world. I desperately wanted to stay at them. I tried in vain to get my parents to stay in them for just one night, but we never did.

Where am I going with this? Well I have been looking for a hotel for the last week or so trying to find a good deal. For some reason Montreal is one of the more expensive cities for hotels. We got every year and every year I find a deal for a room for under a hundred dollars. We don't spend much time in the room so we don't really need to have much more than a bed and a washroom. Thing is we also tend to go during off season, so everything is cheaper.
Nothing was coming up. Or more correctly lots of horrid hotels were coming up. As much as I would love to stay in a one star hotel with reviews of dirty linens, mean staff and loud neighbours.

Then last night I was on hotels.ca and I organized my search from low to high in price and what should come up? The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth! For 95 dollars a night! It was some timed deal so we booked it right then and there!

So finally I get to stay where at one of my childhood dream hotels! Not to mention this is the hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their famous bed in! This is the hotel where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance"! Best of all were saving over 250 dollars on our stay!
That's 250 dollars I can spend on shoes!

Red shoes!

Type Z "Jade" $39.55

RSVP "Lexi" $15.62(on sale!)

Promiscuous "Celebrate" $59.00

Delman "Sema-T" $184.30(on sale, normally $354.00)

All photos and shoes from Zappos.com
All prices in USD.

After realising that my dress wasn't made of crocheted rope I instantly started focusing on accessories. Because I know I'll have a hard time finding them I started my search for the perfect red shoes. Just like finding the perfect red lipstick, finding the perfect red shoe might be a difficult task. Do I want a deep red or a bright red? I thought I was going to go with satin, but I'm also drawn to the suede shoes at the top!

I have to admit my biggest crush is on the Delman. First off they are practically 50% off, I'm not sure I could spend 354 dollars on shoes, but 184 for shoes that are worth 354 well that's a deal that I dig.

I've never bought shoes over the internet, I have a hard time buying shoes in person. My foot fits shoes from size 8 to size 10! I know most sites offer no hassle returns so that makes me feel slightly better!

Here is the Delman from the front and top, just so you can see the detail on the toe....

And I exhaled and all was well...

Funny story....

I picked up my dress and saw it for the first time since the previous posts photo was taken.
For some reason in my head I had transformed it into a thickly crocheted lace dress, probably because The Mister mentioned a doily and I started thinking about how doilies look and how thick they were and how they were never white they were always off white and I transformed that dress in my head into a sort of ropey thick crocheted thing that I was sure was going to be off white. So I was actually surprised when I pulled back the garment bag and saw that it wasn't thick crochet lace but very thin delicate silk threads that made the lace and it was diamond white. I don't know how I could mutated it in my head so badly! Oddly enough I don't think it really looks like it does in that photo! I literally sighed with relief when I saw how beautiful it was! Phew!

As both The Canadian Bride and Always a Bridesmaid commented it doesn't need any embellishment, which I knew in my heart, but when you get on Etsy you suddenly become irrational and want practically everything! I doubt I'll wear the organza lab jacket or convert it into something else. I might pick up a nice light summer cashmere sweater because it could be chilly in the evening and my body temperature is always out of whack!

The only jewellery I'm going to be wearing is going to be my Nanny's charm bracelet. I'm not sure if I'll wear it on my wrist or wrap it around my bouquet but I need her with me. It makes a lot of noise but every charm on it has a story and it was my favorite thing in the world when I was small and I'd beg her to show me the charm bracelet and tell me the stories of each charm. She gave it to me the year she died and I've never actually worn it in public, I'm terrified I'll lose it but I always knew I'd wear it on my wedding day no matter what my outfit.

I don't really wear jewellery that much, even though I do have a really amazing pink pearl necklace that I got for Christmas one year. Which was really a surprise as I had seen it in a Birks ad in the Globe and Mail and just sort of randomly pointed at it(which I do a lot!) and said "Oh that's nice!" and then completely forgot about it! I also have a silver Tiffany's bracelet but I don't really wear that either.

I'm now on the hunt for shoes, definitely coloured shoes, that's something I always wanted no matter what! I'm also thinking I may need a pair of flats for walking Montreal in, I'm determined to wear my outfit all day!

I'm thinking of making my veil/fascinator but as I said Etsy lures me with it's Siren song!

I've got two months. Plenty of time right!

I feel like there may be some voting going on though because I like opinions and sometimes I'm easily led astray!

A little oh la la!

Remember this dress? The one I bought that the Mister saw and said it looked like a doily? The one I actually haven't seen since this photo was taken because it's been in the safe keeping of my bff?

Well I'm finally picking it up this weekend and bringing it home.

And I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm going to see it again and be underwhelmed by it. Although I keep scrolling up and looking at that photo and thinking "Dang I look hawt despite my mutton leg arms"

But I feel like I need to add something to it.

A belt that ties in a bow at the back? A pretty shrug? Some wrist length gloves? I'm completely unsure what but I feel it is lacking something.

It does come with an organza jacket that looks like a lab coat. A very pretty lab coat but a lab coat none the less. I'm wondering if I could rework it into something less....medical and into something more unique and sofisticated. Like this.....

From Etsy seller Modern Romance

Who also made this one which is simpler so it probably would look better with my dress....

That second one is all sorts of dramatic and I like that. A lot. If I'm going to elope I'm going to dress as eccentric and dramatic as possible! If I'm going to take that leap I'm going to do it my way!

You only live once right?!

Game changer.

I've probably mentioned it before but I LOVE Montreal. From the very first time I ever went when I was 14/15 I was smitten and have visited about once a year since then. It's "our" city, a place that is close to home but also seems worlds away and over the years we have become Montreal connoisseurs, trekking all over the city to find what we are looking for which in most cases is something edible. We routinely return home with our bags full of beers, bagels, cheeses and anything we have never seen in Ontario.

Le Cheval Blanche brewpub. Photo by me.

We visit brew pubs, bakeries, markets, churches and generally wander around in bliss. When we first got engaged we wanted to get married there but the requirements and laws sort of made it hard. You had to go in for an interview with a clerk before getting married and then they would let you know if your date and time were accepted. You could not change the date, place or time the ceremony HAD to take place when and where you said it was going to be or else! It was a lot of stress that was unnecessary.

Then I started planning something else, which as we all know didn't work out either. In fact the anxiety and misery wedding planning caused me was greater than I've ever let on here. It wasn't that I didn't know what to do or what I wanted, in fact right now I could easily plan out about 20 weddings if someone asked me to. As long as they weren't mine, it distressed me that the Mister had no interest in our wedding and I was left to do it all by myself without any feedback. I admit I was crying at work and in public, it was not a very good time for me. So I cancelled everything.

I cancelled it all and was instantly happier. Just last night a good friend even said "You know I said to my husband, haven't you noticed how much happier she is?" and he had.

So...uh...what was I talking about? Oh Montreal! This year for the first time we are going with another couple, who are excited to come with us because of our extensive knowledge and love of the city. We decided to go in September, too many festivals during the summer and the weather in September is usually always perfect.

I jokingly said to The Mister "Too bad we can't just elope then. Silly laws!" Two days later he forwarded me an email which had a bunch of attachments I opened the first one. "Dear Future Spouses" it read, "We have recently changed the laws and no longer require an interview"

Game changer! Yes there are still a bunch of rules and laws that have to be followed. We are still unsure about what were going to do. I have visions in my head of what I would want our wedding to be but I also just want to get married and get on with life, there are houses to reno and babies to be had and careers to work on. There are things that I'm not willing to wait for and things I am.

Will we elope? Were not sure yet. But it's definitely in the cards now.