Sunday, March 30, 2008

Ring-a-ding

Today was a good day. We purchased our beautiful gold wedding bands. We really wanted to get the traditional gold bands that both our parents had, as it seemed like the quintessential sign of the wedding. Last week however we had to have a change of heart when looking at the budget, we could not afford the bands we wanted. But then five days ago -- WOW! the cost of gold sky-rocketed. We stopped in at the jewelery store tonight to see if the ring prices had also changed. No they were doing that in TWO days. We looked at a couple of rings, then decided it was something that we really did want to have, so we took the plunge, even though the final bill would be over 700 dollars.

When Doc was just about to press OK on the debit pad to purchase our beautiful 5mm 14K gold rings, I looked down... What was that??- a sale on gold wedding bands. 20% off the last ticketed price which was already 50%. The price was right, and I mean really right. We had to give up a mm of gold for about 250 dollars less per ring. So in the end, the final bill for our beautiful 4 mm bands (which there was two identical ones, which was just good luck) was about $500 less that what Michelle was about to press OK for. It was meant to be!

Team Stray Dog!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Team Stray Dog

Doc and I go for an evening constitutional (walk) as many evenings as we can. It is always positive time for us-- even though we have to get past the fact that we look like an old married couple in our sneakers, jeans, and kleenex in our sleeves to catch the drips from our noses.

Tonight though something incredible happened. Well, first we saw a falling star, sparkling, beautiful, and quick- but that was not the incredible part. Immediately or simultaneously after the star, we saw a small black stray dog. It looked and felt old, and clearly was not supposed to be wandering the streets alone. We decided that we must find its way back home. With the help of some very nice neighbours who let us use the phone, we were able to call the city and find the phone number of the owner through the dog license number. Well, when the man answered the phone, you could tell he had to be a century old. He was so upset that his dog was missing and so freaking relieved (weepy relieved) that the dog was found. I promised we would walk him home safely.

As we approached the house an SUV was pulling up, it was the man's daughter who was rushing over from the other side of the city to help her ailing dad find his dog. Well, to make a long story short, we were able to return the dog to Mr. Rivers who was 87 years old, lives alone, recently had a stroke, and his best (and perhaps) only friend got out of the yard when he went out for a pee.

It was a good night.

We are now--- Team Stray Dog!!!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Bridezilla

By looking at Doc and I, you would never guess that I was marrying a Bridezilla, but I was surprised to learn that I may just be marrying a butch-version-bridezilla. All the characteristics of those brides you see on TLC, only in butchy form.

Who knew that she had such a clear idea of her dream wedding? And perhaps even more surprising,--who knew that she could pout like that if we strayed too far away from her "ideal". That pout would have made Tyra say "fierce".

The good news is that in the end, we had a tonne of good laughs over it all, and I think we have made decisions that take us both closer to our dream wedding.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Not a registry. Not a wishlist.

Doc and I have been talking about what we should ask for for our wedding. We actually feel kind of strange asking for gifts but my understanding is that you get gifts anyways, so you might as well as let people know what you would like. And by the way, you cannot ask for money--Although I think that gift cards will be quite plentiful as we have to travel between provinces.

I want to be clear that we are not getting married for the presents. We try to avoid talking about it at all costs--- So I guess then it is a little strange that I have decided to break the ice by talking to the world wide web about it.

Anyways, we are very open to suggestions. This is what we have come up with:
--- four slice toaster, any small contribution to patio furniture, a push shovel----

Do you think those ideas will suffice?

A snow day. The perfect day to plan a wedding.

Today is a snow day. I actually never knew what a snow day was until I moved to Southern Ontario. As far as I can tell, a snow day occurs when the snow is above your knees, the snow covers the door handles of the car, and the snow is still coming down fast enough that makes you dizzy and discombobulated.

Unfortunately, the snow day was on a Saturday. Now, that is unfortunate.

Also unfortunate is the fact that we had no food in the house. No food! I had to go to the Hasty Market and pick up supper. I bought two packages of frozen french fries, two bags of potato chips, M & Ms, milk and eggs. I think that should keep us alive for a little while.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Invites versus guests are two very different numbers.

The guest list is set, we think.

Figuring out how many guests to invite, who exactly to invite, and how to find balance in the guest list, has been challenging.

First, the prairie versus Atlantic challenge. It was difficult to decide where to have our wedding, and in the end we decided on the prairies-- where I am from. The problem is that it is expensive to have people fly from Eastern Canada to a little "town" in the prairies, so sadly, many of Doc's people may not be able to travel so fewer people may be coming from her list. This imbalance is further complicated by the fact that I come from a big family, and Doc comes from a small family.

We have talked about who to invite. At one point it was a handful of people, but the problem is, we want to have a party... a serious celebration. We do not want a wine and cheese, we want a party. So in the end, we just went nuts and invited everyone (cousins, friends, family, colleagues...) --- whoever comes will be welcome and will be shown a good time, and we will miss those who cannot attend.

In the end, I think we invited 140 people!!! I think only around 60 or 70 will be able to attend. If they do all attend, we have the room but we may be serving coleslaw to everyone for dinner.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Wedding Music

Choosing music. That is not my task, but Doc's. She has a music collection that puts HMV to shame because Doc loves music... Doc loves loud music. My only music related job is to give the final approval.

Doc has a wonderful sense of music, and I love learning about music from her. In the last four years, I have learned to love music (still limited to quiet music, however).

Wedding music... a whole new arena. We have the perfect song for the first dance...we have the perfect entrance song.. but tonight we sat down and listened to her short list of music for the big exit after the ceremony.

I will start by saying I loved some of the seven songs that Doc short listed for the exit, however some of the shortlist was surprising. Doc, like me, is excited about getting married, and knows that we will be so exuberant after we have been hitched. As such, she chose to reflect that excitement in the music. Two of these such choices were "Cherry Bomb" by Joan Jett and "Break Out the Make Out" by The Maynards. Although both of these songs are likely to reflect our emotions, I thought it was best to reflect more accurately the emotions of the "congregation", as indicated by my final approval.