Christmas "Dream List"

Being that's it's the last day of November and it's
Friday, I feel like I can now get into the Christmas spirit.

December 1st is the first day that I think it's acceptable to plug in your Christmas lights, you can now set up your tree and decorate your home, start wrapping any gifts that you've bought or all of them if you are like me and it's okay to start listening to the occasional Christmas tune.

This weekend, I plan on wrapping all the Christmas presents, maybe setting up the Christmas tree and doing the house decorations.  I should be well prepared for our company during the holidays and still be able to continue wedding planning in the meantime!

So just for fun and with no expectations, I thought I would post my Christmas Dream List:

Nixon Small Player Watch in Rosegold



Dakine Luggage Set in Flourish or Vienna Print... not specifically these ones, but similar




Happy Camper Bedding Collection from Bass Pro Shop... or similar... for the camper!




Pyrex Glass Storage... I want to get rid of all my plastic storage



Happy Friday and Last Day of November! 

Have a good weekend, keep warm and drive safe!

~ Christine

The Week From Hell... and it's only Tuesday.

Today, my mom said that bad things come to me in 3's.  I said what if a 4th bad thing happens?  She said then you start counting to 3 again!

So anyway, it seems I'm on a streak of bad luck.  

NUMBER ONE

This started yesterday, I had a day off from work and I was looking forward to getting all my Christmas shopping done... which lucky for me, I did!  It took me 6 hours, lots of patience and determination, but I finished all of our shopping!  And to top it off, I was really excited to find new bedding for our new king sized bed, which was a big feat!

So I got home last night after shopping and was excited to put the new bedding on our bed.  I took it all out of the packaging, made sure it fit properly, washed it and was ready to put it all together!  But then I found a tear in the fitted sheet and to top it off, the fitted sheet no longer fit on the bed, despite me washing it as per the washing instructions on the label. 

So, being who I am, I got completely frustrated.  I spent so much time trying to find bedding that I liked, finally found it and it doesn't work out!  

So now I've ordered new bedding online and am waiting for it to arrive in the mail!

NUMBER TWO

Nixon woke me up at 4:30am, crying at the door to go out, so I let him out and he had a barking fit outside so I made him come inside.  I should mention, he rarely ever barks.  He ran inside the house and went straight to the living room window where he continued his barking fit... turns out there was a deer in front of the house.  He continued whining every half hour until 6:20am when I realized something wasn't quite right.  I jumped out of bed only to find out that Nixon had an accident in our living room on the carpet.  I should also mention he hasn't had any accidents since he was a baby.  So I spent an hour trying to get the stain out of the carpet and the smell out of the house, was late for work and then felt horrible having to leave Nixon home alone all day.  

NUMBER THREE

I got an email from our wedding venue this afternoon and the prices have increased!  Not impressed with this and want other people that are planning to know that this is very likely to happen to you too!  So don't necessarily choose based on the prices they show you because within a year of planning, they are sure to increase.  Be careful.

~~~

So here's hoping that this streak is over and things look up from here.  

~ Christine

Happy Friday and Merry Christmas To Us!

HAPPY FRIDAY FOLLOWERS!

Christmas has come early for the soon-to-be Temples

In less than a 12 hour span from last night til this morning, we bought a new king sized princess bed and a Canon Rebel T3I Bundle.

Have a great friday and goodluck to all the black friday shoppers out there!

~ Christine

American Thanksgiving

Happy American Thanksgiving!

I am thankful that there is only one work day left this week and that I have Monday off!

I am thankful for great friends, like Leigh and Tammy and their beautiful children Merrick and Lauren who invited us for supper after their friends bailed on them! :)  We are thankful that despite being their backburner friends, they still treat us like family... or maybe even better than family! ;)

I am also thankful that there was only popcorn on their dining room table and floor last night and not mine! :)



And I would be thankful if somebody brought me a perfectly delicious cupcake to brighten my dreary mood!



~ Christine

Sore Is The New Sexy

It's finally Wednesday! 

It feels like another long week of cold, snowy weather and too much to do without enough time to do it all.

Travis has been working extremely hard at losing weight and getting healthy and is doing an amazing job and I couldn't be more proud of him.

I've been working at maintaining my weight and hoping to lose just a few lbs in the next little while.

So we've been working as a team, and despite our weekend of indulging in Calgary, we've been doing great at eating well and exercising every day!

The past few days, Travis has said he's been feeling sore and today I found this picture...

Just a little daily motivation to keep us going and work through it!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

~ Christine

Decisions and King Sized Princess Beds

Good Morning Followers!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, it was a very busy day from 7:00am until after 11:00pm when I finally stopped working on wedding stuff.

I'm happy to say that Travis and I had a wonderful weekend in Calgary.  It was more or less a relaxing stress free weekend but we were happy to come home and pick up Nixon and take him home for a quiet evening of lounging on the couch watching TV.

On a plus side and downside, Travis is starting a new rotation tomorrow starting with a 15 and 6 and then he'll be in the office for a couple weeks and then back to 15 and 6.

It will be great to have him back in the field making job bonuses but hard to have him away again, although we think this is the best of both worlds and I think he will feel much more satisfied with his work on this rotation.  Here's hoping that this work rotation is a great option for us! :)

Books For Tall People

HAPPY FRIDAY! 

It's the end of the week and we have lots to be thankful for... well two things... Saturday & Sunday!

I'm posting this picture for my wonderful fiance who is a full foot taller than me!  This means that I have to wear really high heels for the wedding so that I don't get lost in the pictures!

Speaking of wedding shoes, I ordered what I hope to be my wedding shoes last night and I can't wait to get them! 

Travis and I are extremely looking forward to heading to Calgary tomorrow for the evening!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

~ Christine

Improvising... For Short People & Wedding Planning For Dummies

Good Afternoon... or should I say boring afternoon!

Travis and I have been living in the dark for quite some time now... most of the lightbulbs in the house have burnt out and we haven't replaced them.

Until now...



I needed a little vertical assistance due to vaulted ceilings and being 5'4'', so out came the step ladder, which just didn't cut it.  So what better way to add a couple inches than to use Travis' university text books (money well spent)!

p.s. Obviously 6'4'' Travis wasn't home, otherwise I would've had him do it.

It's borderline unbearably bright in the kitchen now but we see the light!

~~~~~

Last night I was wonderfully productive on the wedding front which pleases me to no end!

I really got a glimpse of the decor starting to come together and I am thrilled about it! 

Some things truly turn out better than you imagine.

On a side wedding note...

Christine's Suggestion:

ELOPE!

Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than a big beautiful wedding shared with all our family and friends and I wouldn't change the way we are doing things, although it has crossed my mind several (million) times.

Full blown traditional weddings are extremely expensive and time consuming and when you have a "slight" case of OCD, it triples the time consumption.

Now keeping in mind that I have already completed a ton of stuff, today I create a 6 page long (typed) to-do/check list and I'm certain that there's lots that didn't get on there.  Just so that you have an idea of how much planning goes into a wedding.

For all newly engaged brides and anticipating brides, you may want to rethink what you really want for your wedding, think about how much time and money you are willing and/or capable of investing.

Most of all, I wish you best of luck in all your own wedding planning!

~ Christine

Back on Track

I can't believe it's been 6 days since I updated the blog. 

I am finally back to work this week after more than a week off for recovery.  I'm feeling much better and glad that the worst is over.

My Dad was in for Room and Board on Monday night which was a nice pick me up!

Travis and I are in the thick of wedding planning lately... mostly me... but Travis gets stuck doing stuff every now and then!

Let's just say he's been learning new skills in the garage to help make my... I mean "Our" wedding day vision come true!  So far so good!

It seems we can't keep our feet on the ground so we're off to Calgary this coming Saturday for the night.  This weekend will include staying in a nice hotel room, ordering my wedding band, hopefully finding a wedding band for Travis and a little bit of mindless shopping, good food and good times.  This also means that Nixon gets to spend the night at Freedom House and play with other dogs for 2 days!

On the bright side of things, it's the middle of the week and the end of the working day so get your happy face on, go home and enjoy a beautiful Wednesday evening with the ones you love or doing something you love... you probably deserve it!

I found this picture this week and thought it was just adorable! 

I hope this is what my future holds! <3

Picture This...

Please Note... I do not write for sympathy, just for sanity.

It's 2:01am, Thursday, November 8, 2012 and I am blogging because obviously I cannot sleep.

I'm laying on our love seat couch in the living room eating Premium Plus Salted Top Soda Crackers with a microwaveable bean bag wrapped around my face.

Here's the the specific facts: 

* The couch seems to be the most comfortable place for to sleep and rest

* The couch is where I don't disturb Travis' sleep... or Nixon's

* I'm not so much eating crackers as I am letting them melt on my tongue then swallowing them to prevent getting them in my open sockets and because chewing hurts

* I'm eating the crackers in hopes that they help relieve my nausea which I've had consistently for 7 days

* The bean bag that I have wrapped around my face was lovingly made for me by my grandmother 

(Grand-Maman) probably 10 years ago or more.

* This bean bag was thoughtfully made from hippie VW beetle fabric because at the time I was obsessed with vintage VW beetles.  

* The bean bag has been my only form of pain relief (or temporary distraction from pain) since Thursday.

It has now been 7 days since the surgery and I have not made any progress in feeling better.  I write this because so many people said to me "oh you'll be fine", "just a couple days", etc.  Only one person was kind enough to tell me about her bad experience prior to my surgery and it wasn't until after my surgery that people starting telling me their bad experiences.  I'm a realist and I'm honest.  Let's not beat around the bush.  

Recovery from any surgery is different for every single person, some heal quick and some heal slow, there are many factors involved.  Hope for the best but expect the worst, that way you aren't blindsided when the worst happens.  

It's hard to explain to people that such a simple surgery can take so long to recover from.  My soon-to-be father-in-law had quadruple by-pass surgery exactly 4 weeks ago and is recovering amazing well, better than me who only had 4 teeth removed.  

Again, I do not write for sympathy, it's the last thing in the world that I want.  I just hope that people understand and don't judge.

Hopefully this is goodnight and I can fall asleep soon. 

~ Christine

Hi... high...

So the past few days have been less than wonderful since my surgery.  It's been a roller coaster of extreme pain, nausea and being stoned.  

I was originally prescribed Toradol and T3s, but the T3s weren't helping the pain at all and were preventing me from sleeping.  After talking to my nurse, she got the doctor to prescribe me OxyCodone so I've been on that since Friday evening along with the Toradol. 

So in other words, I've been stoned since Friday, trying to keep up with the pain and trying to counteract the effects of the medication such as not being able to sleep or eat and being nauseous 24/7. 

This is my personal army of medication.

This is what I see when I take my medication.

Nixon being super sweet while I lay lifeless on the couch.

He doesn't quite know what to do with me when I'm like this.

I've since taken a liking to watching mindless TV such as the Kardashians and Bill and Guiliana.

Bill & Guilliana

I never thought the aftermath of having my wisdom teeth extracted would be this bad, so now I need to decide when I'm going to be able to go back to work, because as it stands right now, I think it's going to be a few days.

~ Christine

Beautiful Victoria

As promised, I am posting some of my favourite pictures from my trip to Victoria. It was a short and sweet trip, filled with wonderful memories and gave me the desire to go back and see more of the island with my soon to be husband.  

If you want to see more pictures, please check my facebook as there are about 120 more pictures on there.

Horse and Carriage Down Government Street, so beautiful.

Our cousin, Yogi's house where she lives and takes care of her late Husband Rick's brother Donald.

Highlight #1 of the trip, going to Uptown to Cupcakes by Heather and Lori as seen as The Women's Network, known as The Cupcake Girls!

Gramma and I at Cupcakes... one of the few moments of that day when it wasn't raining!

Our Hotel, the James Bay Inn, downtown on Government Street.  A beautiful historic hotel known to be haunted.

One of the many unique houseboats at Fisherman's Wharf.  This was named the Diver's Den and these were some of the cellphones, etc that he found at the bottom of the ocean.

One of the beautifully designed houseboats that is docked and lived in year round.

Haha.

Love this sign that was posted in one of the windows of a houseboat.

One of the two beautiful seals at Fisherman's Wharf.  He has white fur and one eye and is entertaining and sweet as can be.  He's literally inches away from me.

His Mom, who I believe is named "Sally"  She's exquisite and might be anywhere between 30 and 40 years old.  

I just loved the seals.  They were Highlight #2 of my trip.  I could have spent the entire day just watching them.

One of Yogi's boats.  

Their Crab Boat

Fisherman's Wharf, a wonderful place that is a must see in Victoria.

The parliament building.

Highlight #3.  The Empress Hotel (Fairmont)  Where we had High Tea for a crazy amount of money, but worth every penny for the experience and memories.

A beautiful hotel from the outside in.

Our first course of High Tea, strawberries with real whipped cream.

Even the menu was beautiful, all just to tell us what kind of teas we could choose from.

Our beautiful lunch tray filled with so much delicious food.

Sandwiches.

Decadent Desserts.

Raisin Scones with Empress Cream and Strawberry Jam.

Our view from our table.

The Rogers' Chocolate Store.

Couldn't resist bringing my shirt with me.  Keep Calm and Chive On in Victoria, BC.

Yogi, Donald and Gramma

Donald and Gramma.

Gramma, Donald and I.

Bernie, LeeAnne and Gramma

My flight back to Calgary.  A stunning view of the ocean.

The mountains through the clouds.