don't let the sun go down on me.

so last night wasn't quite as productive as i hoped it would be... well... it was productive... it just took a hell of a lot longer than i thought it would.

jordi got a background painted on one flower pot... although i don't know that anything else will actually be painted over it. it looks pretty good as it is. she painted this light greeny browny flowery pattern all over it... and when i saw what she was doing i was like "i can do that..." and so i started painting one with light purple. it didn't look THAT bad. everyone told me it looked good... although i don't totally buy it. but it didn't look awful. it was abstract... so was jordi's... and sometimes i can do abstract. but i got like... a quarter of my flower pot done. ben did a metallic green triangle pattern on another one. and tyler insisted he was the entertainment and didn't paint a pot. haha. he wasn't all that entertaining either though - unless you think listening to harry potter dubstep remix on his phone is entertaining?

so today the cake lady is coming over after i'm done work. i am nervous and excited. haha. bummed that she isn't bringing samples for us to try today. haha. i am nervous that it is going to be way more than we can afford... if that happens... i think i will say screw it and not have a traditional-like fancy cake and just get someone to make a whole lot of regular cake that tastes delicious and call it wedding cake... whatever. it doesn't REALLY matter that much to me. i think i threw tradition out the window a long long time ago.

no sewing happened last night, because flower pots took us till about 11:30 and then i had to go to bed - because i arrived at work this morning at 5:30 as per usual. tyler and i did manage to flash clean our house because originally we thought jordi and ben would be coming over to our place (and 1 year old ollie too...) but then it was ollie's bed time by the time we started and so we went over to their place instead. but... i got a big load of dishes done (it was once again, ridiculous) and tyler vacuumed the house and put things away from the living room... it lookes a hundred times better than it did before. and now the cake lady is coming over today, and i don't need to freak out about a messy house when i get home from work. that's nice.

... of course there is always the laundry... agh.

born this way.

i'm at work... and while i really DON'T enjoy lady gaga... this song is the first pop song in a long time to have such a positive message. and i can get behind that.

this week has been a write off for me and getting anything done. i got really sick on tuesday and after that i mostly just hung around the house and felt awful. first it was a sore throat and achey feeling... followed by some serious congestion. and i was so careful to avoid ALL DAIRY as soon as i felt like i was getting sick. i hate being congested to the point where you can't hear things people are saying to you. its sooo annoying.

but today i am feeling a lot better... good thing i am stuck at work all day, right? haha. next week is the last week of dance classes - luckily i managed to finish the choreography with both of my classes this week so next week will just be practice practice practice. and then the following week we will have a dress rehearsal and performance! woo! and then... NO MORE DANCE CLASSES UNTIL THE FALL!.. what a relief. don't get me wrong, i have enjoyed doing them very much (both my classes are awesome girls), but it will just be one less thing on my plate and that is always good.

so i have set tentative dates for our honeymoon. sept 5 to oct 10. just over a month. i don't know WHY i picked those dates... they just sounded like good ones. haha.

tonight's goal is getting the flower pots that i bought painted so i can fill them with flowers. my neighbour jordi was supposed to help me... but i don't know if she will be able to. i might just have to paint them myself... i am SO not artistically talented... so... they might just be plain white or something boring like that. oh well. it will look better than the colour they are now. and they will match the house and stuff if they are white... so... no big.

i'll probably work on rhiannon's dress after that. maybe i can get it finished minus hem and zipper (which i don't actually have yet...). i was debating between a zipper and buttons... but... i made the bodice up (i tried the pattern and it looked AWFUL), and i can't quite wrap my head around an easy way to do a bracket and buttons and all that jazz because it has to overlap... plus, as my mom pointed out, there is less of a chance of a zipper coming undone at an inopportune moment - we don't need any wardrobe malfunctions at the wedding.

tomorrow is work all morning, and then meeting with the cake lady in the afternoon. i hope she isn't going to charge a small fortune for a cake... i realize they are expensive... but... it IS just a cake.

someone gave me a tip (slightly too late...) for making a dress for someone and having it fit (or i suppose even for myself...). duct tape dress form. GENIUS! i can't believe i have never heard of this before. basically you wrap yourself with a couple rolls of duct tape, and it can go from your shoulders and collar bone all the way down over your butt and your thighs. and you just cut it off up the back (probably smart to put a layer of paper under the tape so it doesn't actually stick to you) and then you stick it back together, and stuff it with news paper. take measurements and measure the dressform to make sure it stayed the right dimensions... and VOILA.... let me tell you... a couple of rolls of duct tape and some news paper are MUCH cheaper than a dress form.

i should have done that. kinda late now... but that would have made me much less nervous about not having them here to make alterations and make sure the dresses fit. agh.

anyway... i should actually do some work. that's where the progress is at...

i follow rivers.

okay sooooo... life has become one very busy blur. and also incredibly expensive with things we HAVE to pay for.

i met a woman at the farmer's market who is a german pastry chef... i am in the process of getting in touch with her for our cake and hopefully some tastings. i am sort of anti fondant icing, but it looks so nice and clean and all that... but... it just doesn't taste all that great. in fact, the fondant icing i have had has tasted AWFUL. but the farmer's market woman said that i have probably only had fondant icing from a bucket... and she makes it from scratch and it tastes good. so i am willing to give it another shot and see how it goes.

i have one month left, as of today. tyler and i are meeting after he is done work to go and pick up our marriage license. we have to get white tarps and a kind of fabric to drape inside the tarps to make it look fancy for the back yard. our rental stuff is all set up. tyler and i both have shoes. the rings are paid for. i have a hair style picked, and someone to do it. dessy's plane ticket has been purchased. annnddd... time off has been booked.

there are so many things that need to be arranged and organized and sorted out. i don't even know what they are. or how to organize them. or arrange them. or sort them. i THINK we almost have the dinner stuff organized. we are going to talk about the mc stuff next week with the one mc that lives in vernon. i am soooo glad i don't actually have to worry about the food. i DO need to get some stuff for gabriel (he is our ring bearer) and i need to figure out what is going on with the flowers... we haven't heard back from tyler's grandma... and so we might be doing them ourselves. but... i don't think it would be that hard to go to the farmer's market and just get a bunch of flowers in the colours i want and just put them together for the bouquets.

annnnyway... that's about all that is going on in my brain. and right now i should be SEWING... so... i am going to go do that.

and the countdown is ON!

my mom has been counting for like the last month. but i feel like i am actually approaching crunch time. and my life has becoming one solid block of booked times. so much work. more work. more work. yard work. sewing work. commitments. its ridiculous.

like today... i am working 9 hours straight at the station in kelowna, followed by jelena's birthday party (for which bozenka is making one of the menu choices for our wedding as the dinner... so we can try everything!), which we have to leave early because i am going to the ballet with my dance students.

tomorrow, i work my regular shift in vernon from 5:30 am to noon. go straight from there to my mom's to work on our patio (which was started on friday... bricks have officially been laid as of today...). i'll probably stay there for the majority of the day working on different yard things (once we run out of brick). i imagine i will be exhausted after all that... but if i can make myself do it, i will work on some sewing before going to bed.

monday will look like this: vote (AND I HOPE ALL OF YOU ARE DOING THAT TOO... VOTE GREEN!!!!), voice track in kelowna, work all day in vernon starting at about 2 going straight through till about 9:30 pm (hockey game and election coverage).

tuesday will be trip to kelowna to voice track some more (i'm voice tracked here in kelowna all week...), meeting in vernon at kiss, and i have designated tuesdays as my sewing days. so i need to make myself work very hard for the remainder of the day on my sewing.

you get the picture... i also need to add in a couple more hockey games through the week, some window washing, more sewing, more voice tracking... and who knows how many other things. friday is a particularly good day... i am operating IN KELOWNA starting at 5:30 am - that means i have to get up by at least 4 am to get here on time... and then i leave kelowna at 9 to make it back to vernon to be a celebrity caddy for a golf fundraising tournament.

... i can't wait for july.

true colours.

if you think cyndi lauper... you are completely correct. haha. i'm at work... once again. today we are having a bonfire/work party at my mom's to get some yardwork. i THINK we are going to have a pretty good turn out - although i have thought this before and then had 2 people come and everyone else bail at the last minute. i have had some last minute bailing happen this morning too... but... i still think we will get some good helpers out for a while. and probably more people coming in the evening just for the bonfire. whatever. it will be fun. jen and i planned to go for a run in kal park yesterday afternoon... planned is the key word. we went. but i had some killer cramps and it was killing me to try and run... so we mostly just hiked and did some lunges, and a little bit of running. i still worked up a sweat. and we went for a solid 45 minutes or so. i wouldn't say it was a completely lost cause. and above all, we enjoyed the afternoon (even with a little bit of sunshine) and had some good talks. i like hanging out with jen. we have gotten to be pretty good friends lately. its nice to have someone with similar career goals to hang out with. she gets what i am trying to do with my job. and we support each other and help each other out. its a nice relationship to have. jb, if you read this, i appreciate you and the things you contribute to my days. thanks. the days are quickly counting down. it is scaring me just a little.... or... a lot. i don't know if my mom has yet heard back from a lot of you about where you are wanting to stay when you come down here for the wedding. she had talked about booking group camping... and laura... i have yet to receive your rsvp. COME ON! haha. I NEED IT!... if you lost it, send me a piece of paper with what menu choice you would like. thanks! i haven't been working on the dresses as much as i should be. i will need to get my butt in gear over the next week or so. i feel confident that it won't take me very long once i hunker down... at least judging on how it has gone so far. my latest mission is finding andrew some nice slim legged dress pants with like... at least a 36" inseam. do these even exist? anyone have any suggestions where i might be able to find them? i will have to make another quick overnighter trip to vancouver sometime in the next week or so to measure jasmine and megan... so... going to vancouver is a possibility. things have gotten busy in basically every aspect of my life. tyler and i have been making an effort to actually do things instead of just hanging out at home doing NOTHING all the time. I have starting doing some windows for my parents. AND i have been doing some extra shifts in kelowna for operating and things. i am really liking working in kelowna. i am getting to know more people in those offices and i feel a little less awkward when i am there during regular hours. i don't mind my saturday shift there because... well... i am almost the only person there. i like that. haha. i don't have to talk to anyone or see anyone. i recently was asked if i would host a new friday night show there. it will be recorded, and i can do it from vernon so i don't have to drive down to kelowna another day every week. i'm pretty excited about it. its a great opportunity. plus, it means that i have been doing something right with the work that i have been already doing there. the music and the programming for the show isn't exactly something that i enjoy, and i think this show will be a bit of a challenge for me to do the way that they are wanting it... but... i am up for the challenge. the thought process behind it is that i am a young person, and what are young people gearing up for on a friday night... well... i am not your typical 25 year old, in my opinion. i am not into going to the bar or "partying". and listening to a remixed mix of music is not my idea of a good friday night soundtrack. that is actually the exact reason i really dislike going to the bar at all. but like i said... i will find a way to put my own spin on things and i am up for this challenge. its a part of the job. and being able to relate to an audience that i mostly consider to be very much unlike myself is what being good at this job means. and... here is a song i will leave you with.

the pack ad.

i was talking to the music guy at one of the stations in kelowna while i was operating for his show. i told him about this band when we were talking about music... and then i looked up some videos... and... well they were kinda cool so i thought i would share with any of you who might be interested in watching them....





hope you enjoy!

roller derby queen.

i'm not really a roller derby queen. you all know that. but i can dress up and be the roller derby mc queen, right? i got to do that last night. i had a whole bunch of really good one liners... with names like 'hurrican hannah' how can you not? and dixie drift... its just too easy! it has been some pretty crazy weeks. i think it will slow down a bit after this one... but not a lot. things just keep piling up and need doing. and there are more and more things that need my attention these days. i am leaving tomorrow to take jasmine a mattress as she is currently bedless. i am excited to be in vancouver, even if it will be very quick and a little rushed. i have also been requested to drop off a turkey for doug and delanie. and jasmine has requested the presence of my bicycle so we can go for a ride - which i will gladly comply with! i can't wait to go for a cycle with jasmine. seawall? yes please! also, megan gets back the day i will be leaving vancouver and i have my fingers crossed for a quick hug and a chance to take her measurements (she still hasn't had them taken for me... because well... megan can be flakey like that, but i love her for it). tap classes start this week too. i am REALLY excited for this. after all our attempts to try and make the class a minimum of 4... it is only 3 students (one of which is rhiannon...). but i don't really care. it is going to be a lot of fun. and i look forward to the 3 students i will have. teaching dance classes has been a nice experience for me. the girls are so sweet. and i like helping them succeed and its always rewarding to see how proud of themselves they are when they finally get a step after working very hard. it is interesting to me to watch the dynamics of the girls in the class too. i try to make my mark and help boost their confidence and self esteem in the hour a week i spend with them. it is great to see how they come out of their shells a little more each week. i look forward to teaching more dance classes in the fall. my earrings have been FLYING out. hah. that was a bad joke. but seriously... the last batch of photos i put up, were all sold but 2 less than 24 hours later. and there are people who would like to meet up this week and take a look at what i have. i had a bit of a panic and started frantically making more that same day, but i haven't been able to get brodie to photograph them for me yet. its pretty cool. i have been getting a lot of really nice compliments. i like making them. i like making pretty things. and it is even better when people like them, and there seems to be a demand. i have also ordered a bunch more feathers, and i am waiting (not all that patiently) for them to arrive. sarah, i hope to get yours in the mail this week. send me an email or a facebook message with your address!!! if anyone else wants some... let me know... i'll get those in the mail too! weekends are always so busy. i feel like i work straight through the entire weekend. all i do is sleep and work. yesterday in kelowna, quick stop at home before going out to mc the roller derby game, and then first thing this morning in the kiss fm studio. i love my job. and i like being busy... but sometimes its crazy. i don't like feeling like i never leave. ya know?