Over the course of a month...

So it looks like the last time I posted on here was a month ago, exactly. Now that's not too good since I said this was going to be a weekly thing...

So since my last post, here is what happened:

Aaron did in fact graduate. He was sent off  to Borden to wait for his next training, that we now know will be in January. I am not too excited about that since that means when can not be at home doing on the job training for a bit. Yes in the long run it is better because he will be done his training earlier but I was hoping for him to be home for a bit, since he has been gone for so long already and i'm sick of doing the dishes alone! At the moment, he is home for the holidays so I am taking advantage of the extra hands to help out around the house.

As far as wedding stuff goes, we have done a lot. I feel very accomplished and feel the doom of the planning process starting to slowly lift off my shoulder even thought it is still present. We have received the bridesmaids and grooms-woman dresses, we have finalized little presents, we have sent out our invitations, we have picked out accessories, etc. My list is getting shorter but I still need to finish favors, bake some goodies, finish up decorations, have my gown fitted, print out menus, and I am forgetting a bunch of stuff. We hope to have a rehearsal at some point even thought most of our wedding party is scattered through the country. Sadly, Aaron's brother wont be part of the wedding party as he is being deployed, bummer. I guess it will be an almost all girls cast! This upcoming Friday, we are having our menu tasting, one less thing to do!

Aside from all the wedding planning and trying to figure out what is going on with Aaron's career, I found out some pretty disappointing news medically. Nothing major but it does confirm something I had been suspecting which is that my body has a harder time shedding weight. I have been struggling for a long time with getting to the weight I want to be but learning that it will most likely always be an uphill battle for me is a bit discouraging. I am determined to overcome it and find my balance but I am not going to lie, I was a bit heartbroken. The diagnostic came with even less exciting news, but that will be for a later post, I don't want this post to be too gloomy!  I have good people on my side so I think I can learn to deal and adjust.

Oh and interesting tid-bit for those of you who didn't know, my neighbor is crazy! It a long story, and if you want I can share the story in a different post, but the main thing to take away from this is that he is definitely crazy, and not the good kind of crazy!

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No new videos for now on my YouTube Channel but i hope to make one for the holidays! You can find it here when it does go up.
My Channel! It's fun here...

And we are finally here!

Graduation day!!

It was great! That's all I can say. I was super excited and it did not disappoint.

You can see a little video of the day right here:

Aaron's Grad on my YouTube Channel

We ended the day with dinner with Aaron's dad at the restaurant and I drove back home very late. The next day Aaron had to drive to Borden but because there is a maximum of hours of driving that he can do, he stopped at home for the day and resumed driving on saturday. It gave us a chance to hang out for the day and spend a relaxing day together, we ended up doing a bit of shopping for the wedding (and found a few things) and went to see the Hunger Games. I was soooo waiting for that movie to come out.

Now he is in Borden. Waiting. We hope he gets some sort of training back home for the time that he waits.

Here are some good shots of the parade.

Since i've been lacking ...

I have posted two new videos on my YouTube account. Go check it out. Nothing Fancy.

Crazy fancy YouTubesss videos.

AND subscribe to my channel, because everyone knows I always have new stuff on there... but do anyways!

I have neglected you...

And I feel so bad about it! Blame it on the fall blues I say! 

So last time I talk to you guys was about a month ago. I really don't have a good excuse for myself but I do have a lot to share. 

So this past month I have confirmed our photographer! We met with him and we instantly felt super comfortable with him. It was like talking with an old friend! We have established with him the type of pictures we want and the location and he said it was all doable and also sounded excited to help us get the best pictures possible.

I ordered and received my shoes! I was so scared they were not going to fit. They fit perfectly and look amazing too. I ended up purchasing them from ModCloth and I am very happy with the service I got. I originally wanted to buy a half-size larger, just in case but by the time I decided to order they were sold out. Thankfully the size I usually wear did fit and the shoes were not made small. This is the first time I purchase shoes without trying them on first and I am so relieved they look good!

I also ended up purchasing a few more items such as jewellery and presents for our wedding party. We have those pretty much all figured out, we just need to go buy them and wrapped them up. 

As far as crafting goes, I did end up doing some. A lot of it, this past few days, has been for presents and not so much for the wedding itself. I am glad though to know that I will get some help from my grand mother who told me she would help with some of the outer wear for the wedding party, such as mitts. I am not much of a knitter and having someone who knows what they are doing really helps! Which reminds me.. I must call her... thanks internet! Oh and I ran into my aunt at Target (probably my new favourite store), who happens to be a hairdresser, a fabulous one at that, and she said she would help with my hair! So so so happy! Okay got a bit side tracked there... my dad is going to start working soon on our seating, now we just need to figure out how to transport the seats there. We almost decided to rent chairs but the quality and the price was just not worth it. So now that I have done a lot of crafting for gifts, I have to get back to decoration crafting. I still have some flowers to finish ... it's never ending.

Oh I almost forgot to mention! On November 10th we attended, with Aaron's mom and my amazing mom, the Vintage Show at the convention center here in Ottawa. There was so much cool stuff. We did end up buying a couple of nice things. but there were so many people, it was hard to really look at things, you were always being bumped into or had to look around someone. We really enjoyed it thought. My mom even bought me a nice clutch for the wedding... I guess it will be my something old (even thought I'm not much for those types of traditions)

Last basic training update from Aaron:

We made it!!! It is his last week. He is graduating on Thursday and I am so excited to go see him! He spent the last two weeks in the woods doing survival training, I assume. Or maybe they just roasted marshmallows.... He brought home his picture, he looks scary. He has his camouflage paint on and he is unrecognizable. Now we are a bit unsure as to what happens after this training is over. We know he has to go to Borden for a bit but hopefully something can be worked out so he comes home while he waits for his next training. He has been away for almost a year an a half and this lady is getting fed up!

I haven't really posted many videos as of late either but here's a link to my YouTube account anyways. I have some footage that I will be uploading soon, so subscribe (it's so easy) and you will get a notification once it is up. 

My Awesome Crazy Amazing YouTube Channel !!!

Subscribe!!

So in addition to having a blog, I have decided to start vlogging. I think the blog is a kind of open journal to keep family and friends updated on how we are doing and what is going on with our life as we go through changes. I think of the vlog more as a way to share fun times and keep video memories. You can find my YouTube channel through my Blogger profile. We have a few videos posted already and I am hopping to post more as we go. My hope is to be able to update this blog and the vlog at least weekly for now since Aaron is not yet home.  Once he gets home, hopefully we can make more fun vlogs. Go check out our funny videos and subscribe if you like them!

Here is a link to my YouTube channel in case you can,t find it on my profile:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPqO8LUuRwtEYuVJZei11eg

Now back to business. This weekend, even though we didn't have a whole lot of time, Aaron and I went shopping for some wedding supplies. I know.. it's pretty much all I do on my weekends. We had a great day even with mother nature's wild ride, and ended up finding something we had been looking for forever! We couldn't wrap our brains around how we would make part of our favors. We were looking for fabrics and just could not find the exact right one, until... MIRACLE! Fabricville happened. We thought for sure they would not have it since it's an odd fabric. Cheese cloth anyone?? Go ahead and try to figure out what this will be for! We debated for about 20 minutes while the girl at the store looked as us funny, until mister mathematician man agreed that I was calculating the right amount needed. Oh nerds!

We also did a lot of back and forth between stores to find one single pen! One lousy pen! It had to be that exact one, otherwise the effect we are looking for just wouldn't be there. It is a chalk pen.. ouhh more clues! I wonder, by the time the weeding happens, will someone have guessed our decor?

That was pretty much our weekend. It went by so quickly! :(

But hey great news.. I don't think I mentioned this yet, but we have officially booked our venue!! Yay! It is kind of last minute, but who are we kidding here, I am doing everything last minute it seems. I Like to think I am proving a point; I can and will have a wallet-friendly and not-over-the-top, planned-as-I-go wedding!

Now that we have the venue and the dress, I feel like the last big step is confirming the photographer and that is almost done. Once that is set, the rest will be fine tuning. Choosing the meal, adjustments on the dress, decorations, orders, wedding party attire and .. hold on I have way more stuff to do! Oh well, better keep on going then. Thankfully, a lot of people said they would love to help. Thanks guys!

Now for an update on Aaron: I was wrong last week when I said he was going to be in the woods. That is actually happening right now, so I can't talk to him :(. Last week was a normal week I guess, the excitement was on Friday since they had to do tear gas training. He enjoyed it, go figure why, but apparently not everyone did... he had quite the funny stories to tell. Next weekend, when he comes home, we sadly won't do very much fun stuff or even wedding stuff as we have car stuff to do.. I hate car stuff it's the worst!

That's it for now I guess... go check out my YouTubesssss !

Productive weekend

Well this was somewhat of a productive weekend... and we managed to not stuff our faces with turkey! Yay! We actually had Chinese food for thanksgiving.. it was absolutely delicious! Food aside, since Aaron got a long weekend, we managed to find the time to do some wedding stuff. I am actually quite pleased with what we ended up doing.

It was not #1 on my priority list but considering that winter is coming, it was probably a good idea to do this. What we ended up doing was our dessert stands. Since our theme is related to nature we wanted to incorporate nature into our decor. We ended up cutting up logs (or I should say Aaron did) and assembled them to make stands. We are very happy with the final product and I am especially glad we decided to do that this weekend. I did not want to be stuck with trying to cut logs by hand and I am not about to start handling a chainsaw. Also, considering that winter (and snow) is coming, we might have ended up with soggy logs had we waited too much longer. I am hoping that next weekend Aaron can start on the outdoor seating.

Top view

Side view

One more thing to check off my very long list.

I am also very pleased with my weekend since we managed to tentatively book our photographer. He has been recommended to me by a few people and I really do like his work. I got in touch with him a little while ago and he had sent me some sample albums to looks through. I was tempted to book him right away but wanted to explore all my options. When my mother and I went to the Bridal Show, I entered a contest to win a discount on a photo shoot and I did win $150, but through emailing the photographer we found out this weekend that she is actually booked for an other weeding on our date. We wanted to use her services to save a few bucks. I panicked a bit at first I wont lie, but I think it worked out for the best since I much prefer the work of the first photographer. I didn't think photographers would charge this much but having really good photos is very important to us. Shopping around, I found out that the photographer we want is on the lower price range for what he offers and the quality of his work, so I am very pleased. We just need to meet him and confirm, but he did say that he has put us in his agenda and is reserving the date! I feel like a weight has been lifted. This whole wedding thing is so stressful!! Thankfully, we also have a friend who is willing to take videos of our event. We are so happy he has agreed to do this for us. And it's all thanks to my amazing maid of honor and her awesome boyfriend! It is very fortunate for our budget friendly event!

Oh and here is a sneak  peak of our chosen wedding picture location. I just have to make sure there is no restrictions. How amazing would our pictures look if we did a few there? We want a few different locations but this one is just fantastic.

I can just imagine the light coming through the little windows in our pictures... I can't wait!

Update from Aaron: We had a great weekend but now he is back on the base. I believe this week he is doing in field training and he is really excited about it. I think he is welcoming the change of pace and not having to go through the same old stuff in the barracks, like inspection! Hopefully he gets next weekend off, we still have so much to do!! plus he said he would change my car's oil... oh men, aren't we glad we have 'em.

Ripped arms

Very short update...

It is october 3rd and I just did my first day of Shaytober. Check it out on youtube. I got a good workout done and I am happy with myself. I got a nice surprise when I got home. I had a nice letter from Aaron, it was like a reward for my efforts. Now I gotta keep going! I want to get back in shape and then hopefully get my arms all ripped for the wedding. Maybe I need to start doing push-ups before I open my letters from him!

I managed to get more flowers done for the wedding this week. I finally sent out my Save-The-Date emails! I am so happy with them! I got them to look just the way I wanted them and they reflect some of the decorations we will have at the wedding, so everything goes together well! I can't wait! Things are coming along. We almost have our venue booked. The gown is purchased, only need alterations closer to the date and a few more big things to decide on. Hopefully I can relax a little bit after that.

I already received about half of my save-the-date notices back so I have a good idea of how many people will be attending.

Oh I also got my frames done. One is gonna be for place settings and the other are chalkboards to give a few indications to our guest about different aspects of the wedding. I just need to get my hand writing all nice to write those messages with chalk.

Update on Aaron: He is hopefully coming home tomorrow for the weekend. His car broke down which sucks but he can get a ride. We will probably be talking with my dad about making benches for our guest to sit on during the ceremony. My dad and I collected some palette wood recently for this project. Aaron will have to do that project. That's mostly his only project. Good thing it's a big one that I dont care to do very much. BTW Aaron just told me to write, like right now on the phone, that theres a bunch of idiots on his platoon! And I can vouch for that, every time I talk to him, I hear morons in the backgrounds screaming like morons basically!

Oh and Robear is being totally adorable lately! I just love her!

No i didn't cry

Just a really quick update...

So since my other half came home for the weekend, I have been motivated again to do a lot of crafting and planning for the wedding.

We ended up going shopping for some frames we will use to decorate around our venue. I managed to get my craft on and actually ended up starting and finishing them pretty much in two evenings. We also had a chance to talk about some things that needed decisions to be made for.  This week I also created our save-the-date notices. I will be emailing those this weekend. I'm really happy with how they turned out. It only took one evening, but obviously my graphic design training came in handy. It gives me an idea also about just how long creating the invitations will be.

The major reason why I wanted to update is that tonight i found my dress. I went into the store not thinking I was going to be leaving with a gown, well technically they are holding it there for me until I am ready to pick it up for alterations. I was lucky enough to have a secret discount. When we went to the bridal show, I was given an envelope to open only upon my arrival at my appoinment. Turns out I got 200 bucks off a dress and some more goodies. They even gave me a gift, a cute pair of earrings. I felt a bit spoiled, which is great. My consultant was super sweet and very helpful. She pulled a dress, it was the 3rd one I tried one, so technically my 5th since starting shopping and jaws dropped. So yeah, i'm pretty excited for my man to see it! I love the way it looks and makes me feel. I guess that's number one!

Here's a picture:

... obviously I wasn't gonna put it on here, my other half could see it! 

They have a cute little sign at the shop for brides that find their dress, so I had to take a picture with it!

(that is such a weird pose... oh well)

Yep... I found it!

Update: So My other half now has weekends, not all but he can at least leave the base now. Also he was informed by one of the staff that he is doing great and that he just needs to keep up what he's doing and he will sail through basic. That's so good to hear. I did end up sending him letters. He had to do some pushups but not nearly as many as he should have because he apparently counted his push-ups in a way they like (go figure... he explained and I still don't understand). They asked who the sender was and apparently seemed surprise because he is anglophone, we live in a francophone town and I have a french name. I also ended up putting mad gabs on them but the staff didn't read them out loud. I guess they weren't that funny, but he enjoyed them.  

So family gatherings are great except...

Except everyone kisses and then you get sick! Yup, we say hello by giving cheek kisses and everyone is merry until, the next day you curse everyone for getting sick. So basically someone was sick but felt it was okay to kiss and spread germs. I know they probably don't mean to be rude, but if you ever see me refuse to shake your hand or kiss greet you, it's because I care about you and don't want to spread my germs on to you... I guess I figured other people did this too... -_-

So here I am, home sick from work, I figured I might as well update this blog-thingy.

So yes I ended up going to a family wedding and getting a cold, but I also got something else while there... I got insight on what not and what to do at my own wedding. Although, I guess I didn't learn that much because I have been ferociously googling everything wedding related. I mainly realized that on each place setting you're supposed to put a marker so that the servers know what each guest is having for dinner, like a star or a circle or something. The second thing I learnt is that this marker thing does not work! Everyone at the table had played or moved their place card. So I don't know how efficient that really is.

That was Saturday. On Sunday, I had a great day with my mom, we went to the BRIDAL SHOW!!! We got so much free stuff!!! My bag is so heavy! Mainly I got a lot of reusable bags, I guess I have a ton for groceries now! It was great 'cause we got to speak with photographers and that was really helpful. I also saw a good friend of mine at one of the booths so I got to catch up with her (Hi Lynn!!). And then Randy Fenolli was there, he was actually really funny. He spoke a lot about his background and then showed us some really nice dresses and gave us tips to help us find THE dress. I realized that I need to speed up my planning because I am going about things a bit last minute. Not that it adds to my stress at all... -_-

I actually didn't get very good shots of the bridal show, I didn't bring my nice camera since I figured I would be carrying it around along with all the free stuff. So no pictures to post. :(

This week I was really lazy and didn't end up doing much for the wedding in terms of crafting. The Bridal show was my project, let's just say...

Update on the man in this blog:

Apparently he has been doing crazy good in training. (or so he says) He seems to enjoy it so that's a plus. He sent me a nice picture on saturday to cheer me up. He looks so great in his uniform, a little skinny tho. Sadly I am not allowed to post any pictures of him during basic training on the Internet. He told me I can help buff him up by sending him letters. When they receive letters they have to do 25 push-ups to be allowed to open them, its 50 I think for packages. The leaders also read out loud to the platoon whatever is written on the envelop. So I plan on sending out some letters and I'm looking to find something funny to write on the envelop, embarrass him just a little in front of his platoon! :)

Off to my tissues ... -_-

Wedding bells

So lately, as I look around, all I see is weddings, weddings, weddings. Of course there's my own wedding planning that is ongoing, but today I got to attend my brother in law and sister in law getting married at city hall (it was really cute) and saturday I am attending another family wedding. Of course I'll be observing and comparing with my own upcoming nuptials, who wouldn't!

The very next day, I am attending, with my mother, the Ottawa Bridal Show! I'm kinda really excited!! I have never been to one and I sure hope there is plenty of stuff to win!!

As far as planning goes, I have been mostly firming up ideas on attire, gifts and jewelry. I received a few things by mail, always exciting to receive a package full of cool wedding stuff. I have enlisted the help of my dad to create some seating and we started planning how we'll be making it all. I also got my mom to help with some table number ideas. On my end, I have been knitting and shopping. I wonder how it must look from the outside, all the little pieces without seeing the entire idea, I'm sure my different projects probably don't make much sense together right now but it'll will be great, I know it!

The one big things I need to get done really soon is confirming the venue and sending out our save the dates, I need help from my other half to find out all of his family's emails.

Lately I have been feeling stressed and worried about making it all in time, but thankfully last night I lost power for the entire evening. Now at first that sucked, but halfway through watching a movie on my laptop with my little bunny running around me, I realized I felt totally relaxed. It was a break that was much needed.

As for my other half, he has been updating me a bit less lately, seems like he is getting quite busy in basic training. He has received his uniform and is spending a great deal of time polishing his boots. Seems like every time I talk to him he's polishing boots. He also spent time putting his name on all of his items.  Good thing he knows how to sew. Seems like his troop has reduced in size with people leaving for various reasons, I guess it's not all fun and games ... :) I still haven't received a picture of him in his uniform... I'm really waiting for that one.

It's harder than I thought...

That's what she said... no but seriously though, it really is more difficult than what I had anticipated.

For the last year, my other half has been away on training, 14 hours away! We did pretty good being on our own. I mean, yes of course we missed each other but we did good because we always talked, like always. Most of the time we talked everyday, some times we missed a day but we made it up the next day by spending even more time on the phone. We had a routine and it worked. We sorted things out with each other by email and texting throughout the day. It was difficult, but we made it.

Now that he is gone to basic training, he is way too busy to be able to spend time chit chatting with me. Yes I know.. I talk a lot, but I just wish I had more than 5 minutes to just say hi I'm still alive! With his day starting at 5 am and ending at 11 pm, filled with different tasks, I can understand that spending time on the phone is not priority numéro uno... but it's hard! On my end, I am bored and sometimes I just need to talk to him. I do a lot of outward stress relief, meaning (you guessed it) I NEED to talk about it to feel better.

We have been going through something kinda really hard lately and it is causing me a great deal of stress.  I am having a hard time not having him around to talk about it. I don't blame him one minute because ultimately, we chose this but it would make me feel so much better to have him around. I feel like I'm gonna deserve my own set of support dog tags at the end of this, just for making it through!

I am still trying to keep busy, but this kinda really though thing we have been going through is sort of on my mind 24/7... I guess I just gotta keep pushing through it. I have always viewed myself as an independent person, I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't carry along and learn to deal with it and make it better. I can do it.. I think.

But yes to keep busy I have continued with my crafting efforts for the wedding. This week I have accomplished a lot actually.

I have done 60 large flowers for my table decorations. And i am currently in the finishing touches for 50 favors boxes. I still have around 20 more large flowers and 10 more favor boxes to make. I have also taken the time to fix that awful list I posted about last time. It is now all clean, on my cpu.. it even has boxes to check! I'm in heaven!

Here is a look at the two major projects that should be complete in just a little bit.

(There are far more flowers than you would think on here!)

(These boxes were $1.25 each at Micheals. I got a free template online that I fixed up to my liking and printed on card stock, then cut, creased and folded. Nearly done, just need a few stamps here and there. Oh and yeah, ten more. The card stock was around $9 for 50, considering i'm making 60, i'm saving lots here! )

Still to make are more smaller flowers, invitations, place setting cards, signing books and much, much, much more! But I know I can handle it. My crafty is crazy, she makes me believe I can do so much, so I do!

Keeping busy

So while my other half is away I have been trying to find ways to keep busy. Since we are planning a wedding, there is quite a lot for me to do, which is great!

I want to share in all of me wedding planning endeavors since we are trying to do an almost all handmade wedding at the lowest cost possible. It helps to be crafty that's for sure. Basically I am making my flowers, my decorations, my deserts, my favors... you name it! This is when my list making abilities come into play. 

Here is just one of the many lists I have for the wedding. I wish it was neater. I do love lists with a passion and an un-kept list just bothers me. So this list irks me ... I  know, I'm a bit crazy!

It is so un-organised...  I can't, I just can't. 

The good thing is that we both agree on everything about this wedding and we did manage to get a few things done before he left for training. 

In order to make some of the things on this list I searched the many blogs and Pinterest and was able to find a lot. I will be posting pictures of some of the few crafts I have started. I say started because they are mostly started or halfway only. I'm trying to not get annoyed with one craft by rotating them. I also have to thank the many people who have been on hunts for supplies with me. Having extra hands is definitely going to make this handmade wedding possible.

Here is what i am currently working on:

- table numbers

- table number holders

- paper flowers

- favors packaging

- and obviously hunting for more supplies, it's an ongoing process.

That's about it for now. I'll be posting pictures soon. 

Good news: My other half and I can actually talk while he is in basic! Yay! Turns out they changed policies and the recruits can use their cellphones during off hours!

Setting sail ...

Well... he is off.

This won't be the first or the last time, but this departure is going to be one of the most significant ones for sure.

Last august my other half left for his career training. He was gone for a total of 11 months. He was 14 hours away by car and too far away for my heart. He had a few weeks off and some extra time back and forth between his place of training and home because of some bureaucratic "difficulties" on the part of an association that will remain un-named. But yesterday he left to accomplish the first major step in his military career. He packed his bags and left for St-Jean-sur-Richelieu for his basic military training.

I think I was and still am more stressed about it than he is, or maybe he is just really good at making me feel like he has it all under control.

Technically he has been enrolled in the military since last august when he left for his career training. We were basically told two days before he left that he was recruited and that the military would pay for his training. We were quite relieved. We learnt that last minute is how the military operates. Now this will be an adjustment for me, queen of planning months in advance. He is already a pro at dealing with last minute since he is a military brat himself. Though I am also a para-military child, I was fortunate enough to have never moved or dealt with such drastic changes as the military life has to offer. It is not all bad, not at all actually. Like I said, I have always lived here, in my home town. I have always been fascinated by traveling though. I have done some but not nearly enough for my liking and I am thoroughly looking forward to all the adventures that this new life has in store for me. Of course I am scared, but my dreams of exploration are grander than my fear of the unknown.

Documenting our journey will be for me a way to connect with family far away and close,  a way to reflect on some aspects of my life I have yet to share with you and a way to pass the time while my other half does push-ups! Or maybe I should be doing push-ups too! Well.. maybe later!