My 5 faves

I'm going to start this by saying, I am not proof reading this post. I will check spelling and that's it!!

1. Last Weekend - July 23 & 24 2011.
One of the Best Weekends EVER!!
I had my surprise shower! It was amazing, my best girl Darcey did a killer job. It was a 1950's New York, Mad Men theme and everyone had to bring a food dish from the 50's. Awesome. I got so spoiled. Thanks Darcey - love you!!
And, I had my first wedding dress fitting!!! I went to visit my seamstress and it's coming together beautifully!

2. Reading.
Yep, I'm a nerd. I really like reading, but I need to read books that capture me quickly. I am a very creative, imaginative person and there's always something going on in my mind. So, if I can't create the story in my head, then I'm screwed. I typically tend to read "chick lit, you know the stories - girl moves to the big city to get her dream job, has to fight for it, falls in love with the dreamy head honcho, goes through all sorts of crazy things, does embarrassing things and then the story ends with a they lived "Happily Ever After". For example, Confessions of a Shopaholic (see #4). I believe in happily ever after and all that jazz, so how could I not love books like that?
I started reading a book called Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler last September, yes September 2010 - I'm still 34 pages in....it's a hard read! I'm really interested in it, but I just can't get into it. That leads me to #3....


3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
A co-worker to me about this book turned into movie. It sounded really interesting to me. 
It's set in the early 1960's in Mississippi and is told from the perspective of three women - 2 maids and 1 college graduate that doesn't understand why the maids get treated the way they do. That's an extremely short/awful review (review is a strong word!), but check it out if you want a longer more detailed plot summary.
But I pretty much haven't put it down since I got it.

4. Shopping.
Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm a shopaholic. 
Just kidding it's not that bad. I'm actually very responsible with my money and don't waste it. I just really like shopping. The end.


5. Cereal.
I LOVE cereal! I go through phases where I tend to...for lack of a better word, obsess over certain foods. For instance, awhile back I ate fake peanut butter and jam sandwiches everyday for almost a month, then I got sick of it and moved on. My Our (my fiance is on board with this too!) new love - cereal. We just can't enough!!
His favorites - Captain Crunch, Froot Loops etc.
My faves - Mini Wheats (but only Blueberry and Cocoa) and Raisin Bran.
Yum! I think I need to go have breakfast!!


Happy Weekend to everybody!
And to my fellow Canadians, have a safe and fun long weekend!!
xoxo

Top 5 part 2

Last week it was so easy to do my Top 5 list of things I like. I think I did it on Tuesday....This week has been a rough one (lots of family stuff going on) so it's been hard to find lots of cheery things!
But that's life right? With the good comes the bad.
Enough of that!

Here's this week's TOP 5:

#1 -
Golden Girls!!!!

I LOVE the Golden Girls - they're the best. I'm actually watching them right now. Sophia is my favorite! I also like it when Stan comes over to visit and when they open the door he says, "Hi! It's me Stanley." ha ha ha ha ha!
Ok......

#2 - Songs with whistling.
It seems that there are so many songs right now with whistling in them. It's awesome and summery and makes me happy!

#3 - My new radio!!
I had to move desks at work and my new spot is so quiet (and kinda lonely) so I got a radio. I'm the kind of person that NEEDS to have background music. I always have music or the TV on. So I got this wonderful little radio last night and now I can listen to my favorite radio station 100.5 The Peak (http://thepeak.fm/) while at work.
They play such good variety of music! And it's work appropriate. For the most part ;-)

#4 -Ximena Sariñana
This ties in with #2 and #3 - I actually fist heard her on the peak ^  and the song I heard has whistling in it!
Here's her website: http://www.ximenamusic.com/
And there's a video for her song Different on the main page - love it!

#5 - My friends!

I love them so much. They have been so supportive and caring during all the stuff that I've been dealing with.
And look that - this ties in with #1 the Golden Girls!

Top 5

I've decided that every week I am going to do a top 5 list of things I like.

# 1. Nail polish. I seriously cannot go to a store without looking at nail polish. I never have naked nails. i just can't do it. My usual color is red, but I am currently obsessed with the Sally Hansen salon effects.

 

 #2. All things nautical - stripes, boats, anchors, art, sailors, the ocean. I love it all. Especially this dress....

http://www.thefashionpolice.net/

#3 - September 3, 2011 - Our wedding day <3

#4 - Zooey Deschanel - She is by far one of my most favorite singers and obviously has a great sense of style. I wish I could pull of her bangs. Unfortunately I can only do short Bettie Page bangs or long side swept. Maybe I'll have to try them again this fall.

#5. http://hellogiggles.com/ 

This is actually ties in with number 4. It's a relatively new (I think) website that was started by Zooey Deschanel and 2 of her friends - Sophia Rossi and Molly McAleer. It's awesome. I could tell you about it, but I think it's best if you just go check it out :)

Hope you enjoy!

Summer....are you finally here??

Yesterday was the first day since the official first day of summer that it actually felt like summer. We have had a rough spring and start to summer - part of the fun of living in Vancouver, BC. I really don't care though, I love Vancouver.
Maybe it was due to the fact the yesterday was Canada Day. I love 3 day weekends especially when I get paid for them :)
In all reality, I think this is what made yesterday feel like summer:

Granville Island's False Creek Raspberry Ale. DELIGHTFUL!!!
If you can find it, I highly recommend it!!

That's all I have to say today - I have to go get ready for NOFX tonight!!

I have fallen in love....

with this website:
http://emmalinebride.com/
It is AMAZING!!! Seriously check it out! It's full of so much pretty stuff - weddings, shoes, cupcakes. What more could you want??!!

Well I just had to share that :)

Old lady talking cake on a Friday night??

I just read something funny on a wedding forum, it said - something like, "I remember when my Friday nights used to begin at 11 pm, not end."
I laughed a little, actually a lot when I read that. We (me and the future Mr.) often have that conversation. When we first started dating, we were out every single night. Now 3 years later, we sit at home on a Friday night watching Sex and the City and American Dad marathons playing Tetris and blogging. Oh, and making a Saturday To Do list. And you know what? I wouldn't change it for the world :)

Speaking of To Do lists, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrows list - it involves shopping!!
It's one of the first weekends in soooo long that we can just do what we want. So, because we're getting married in just over 2 months, we thought we better do some wedding related stuff.  That's where the shopping comes in. We're heading to this wonderful store called Dress Sew. It's this huge fabric & notions store that has everything! We're going to get ribbon and "pearls" for our cake (I'll get to the cake in a minute). We met with our cake lady a few weeks ago and decided on everything.
Our cake lady is great! She's been friends with my mom since they were  little kids and makes cakes as a hobby and because it's a hobby, she only charges for supplies - we're getting an amazing deal on a 4 tier cake :)

Cake time!!

After searching through a bunch of pictures, we came up with a few that we liked pieces of. Here they are:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

We really liked the designs of the first 4 (minus the swirly designs, bows & fruit etc). We liked the polka dots (for lack of better words) and the pearls around each tier. And picture #5 we liked the design and the ribbon (minus the flowers).

Our cake:

• It's going to be 4 tiers with 4 delicious flavors:
  Tier #1 (bottom) - chocolate with chocolate cream filling
  Tier #2 - Vanilla with buttercream filling
  Tier #3 - Lemon with lemon custard filling
  Tier #4 (top) - Rice Krispies!! This is something that the Mr. joked about. We then decided it was an awesome idea! We're going to take it back to the hotel with us after the wedding :)
• The cake will be covered in white fondant
• She's going to put charcoal ribbon around the bottom of each tier and then pearls (fake of course!) around the ribbon - like pic #5 except they won't be icing
• And then she's going to put the pearls randomly all over the cake

I think it's going to be beautiful!

But I think our cake toppers will take the cake - wow that was cheesy and bad, even for me....
The cake toppers are a surprise just because they will be so awesome!

All this talk of cake, makes me want some!!!!
Yummy!

Adventures in Being Engaged - Part 1

I’m pretty sure 90% of my blog posts either start or end with an apology – "sorry if  it’s all over the place or sorry, that was all over the place". So to keep the tradition going….I’m sorry about my rambling, especially if you’re left scratching your head wondering what I'm talking about or how it's possible to get so off track☺


Oh, and it's a long post.

So here's Part 1 -

So my dear boy and I recently celebrated our 6 Month Engagement Anniversary (AmanDave (yes, that's our names combined) tidbit - we celebrate everything and by celebrate I mean make jokes about it, but still mention it because it's cute and important. I know, we're ridiculous!)
We’ve been engaged 6 months…that’s crazy. What’s even crazier is that we’re getting married in just over 2 months!!
Being engaged has been awesome.
It’s weird because even though we were 100% committed to each other before getting engaged, now it’s like it’s really for real. We’re both ready to take the next step and start our own little life and family. It’s exciting. 
People always say that things change when you get married and of course I believe them, but it’s hard to know what they’re talking about until you’re there. If being engaged has changed us this much I can’t wait until we’re married.

*Insert any cheesy cliché you can think of! *

Wedding Planning:
Planning our wedding has been so fun!
It was our goal to be stress free and have fun while planning.
We got engaged December 17, 2010. It was great timing because we were both about to start our 2 weeks of Christmas Holidays.
Before New Years Eve, we had our venues and photographer booked and my dressmaker was already thinking about my dress. By April, we had all the big stuff done – caterers, DJ, flowers, favors, candles, center pieces, hotel, wedding rings, hair & makeup, people to marry us etc.
So many people made fun of us (mostly me!) for getting things done so early. But now, as we sit waiting for the day to come, we have very little to do. So….Mission Accomplished – stress free ☺

The people marrying us are actually dear friends of ours. I’m excited about that because I really wanted someone we knew and felt comfortable with to do the deed. To me (actually both of us), the ceremony is the most important part of the day.  It’s really what the day is about. Telling all of our friends and family that this is it, we’re in for the long haul.
Here’s a bit of info about our friends - they are in their early 50’s, have been married for 30+ years, have 4 kids, 5 grandchildren and are so ridiculously in love….it’s almost sickening! They are the epitome of marriage “role models”.
I know that sounds dumb, but it makes sense in my head ;)
 
Before they marry us they require us to do pre-marital counseling. We were totally OK with the idea of pre-marital counseling. We’re big talkers, we’ve covered pretty much every subject possible. So why wouldn’t we want tips and tricks on what to expect and how to deal with the hiccups that come with marriage?
So far it’s been great – a big learning experience for both of us.
After our last session, we were just chatting with them over coffee. We were talking about the wedding and our priorities.
I mentioned that I’m beyond excited for our wedding and can’t wait to be married and be D’s wife.
I explained that all the details are just that, details.
K (the wife of the operation) made a really interesting comment that I found to be so true. She said, “You’re not in love with romance, you’re in love with D and that’s great.”
And I agree, it is great!

On that note....what was the most important thing to you on your wedding day?

xoxo