alone again.

i'm at work. this song is actually awful. but the name is kind of appropriate. maybe not what you would expect to hear from someone who just got married... but... i am referring to all of my house guests. it is nice to have the house to ourselves again. i don't think i am quite ready to blog about the wedding and what it was like. i think pretty much all of you know that it is a whirlwind and everything is over so quickly. so much work. and it is over so fast. but... it was the party of a lifetime. by far, the best party i have ever been to. everything was perfect. and i know it was a lot of hard work by a lot of who care very much about me (i don't think i could ever say enough to show my appreciation).

dessy left on tuesday. and when i woke up wednesday morning it was the WEIRDEST feeling to just lay there in bed and not feel like i had to get up and get a million things done or drive everywhere or take everyone everywhere. i just took a deep breath and layed there for a while. it was wonderful. although... it is strange in my head to not be worrying and thinking about so many things and planning everything that i have to get done. its nice. but weird. although... my house was the biggest mess EVER. seriously.

before gill left on sunday (while tyler and i were at my mom's to clean up there and open gifts) gill actually tidied up our living room and did all the dishes (which made it WAY LESS overwhelming to come home to). i wasn't expecting that. and it was fantastically amazing. on monday i drove jasmine home to vancouver. there and back in one day. i didn't get home till 11:30. i was exhausted. tuesday i woke up and was told about dessy and shelby's itinerary for the morning before she had to go to kelowna to get on her flight home. they wouldn't have been able to get it all done without me and my golf. so... i complied and helped them out. breakfast. and a few other stops. she still didn't get everything done. and as everyone left town... the sun finally came out and it warmed up. i spent tuesday afternoon with caleb and rhiannon and zach at the beach. it was nice.

wednesday life kind of went back to normal... with a big clean up... which we still haven't finished. i got so many awesome things at the bridal shower... but... i do NOT have the kitchen space to put everything away. i am still trying to shuffle everything around and figure out what i can get rid of to make room. its hard. i have such a tiny kitchen. there are lots of things i don't use regularly... but... that's because i hate cooking in my kitchen. i love my small kitchen appliances and gadgets, they are just a bit of a pain in the ass to use in my kitchen. there isn't enough counter space, and then they take up so much space to try and clean... the whole thing is just a process.

there is also one gift that there was no card for? we are still trying to figure out who it is from. it was like a woven looking black tray thing filled with some things wrapped in coloured tissue paper (a plate, 2 mugs, soap and lotion, and a couple of wall hangings... and a bottle of wine). if anyone knows who it was from...? help me out?

and now that all that is over... saturday started 36 consecutive days of work. i work every single day of july. no breaks. but i am not complaining! we need to save like another $6000 for our honeymoon. but it is looking like a go! we can make it all work. EUROPE IS HAPPENING!

to the sea.

my days are withering away.

yesterday was a write off basically. zach is here visiting layne. but layne still has to work. so yesterday i went to bootcamp in the morning (so i guess the day wasn't a total write off...) and then after i showered and got ready, i drove to kelowna to pick up zach. we went to the mall in kelowna to get him a new canucks hat (a necessity, as it was pretty much impossible to replace it in utah). then we drove back to vernon, and picked up rhiannon and andrew and headed to the beach. it was beautiful yesterday and it was my first time going to the beach to swim this year. we went down to my favourite beach, and then hiked over to where there are some small cliffs to jump off and some warm rocks to hang out on. we found this AWESOME spot complete with a floating dock that was anchored to the rocks. rhiannon and i hung out on the floating dock. andrew and zach did some cliff jumping. i took pictures of them. they will be on facebook.

at 2 we had to go back to my mom's because she had to pick up a lamb that she took to the vet, and, for some reason, couldn't drive the car AND hang on to the lamb at the same time. andrew took off when we got back, and zach went to help my mom with the lamb. my friend austin was there working on the pathway for us (yay austin!). i went home to make something to eat before i had to drive zach back to kelowna. i drove him back just in time to watch the hockey game with layne, and i made my way back home. i did my voice tracking for last night AND tonight (woo!) and then i went home too. i was really tired. wiped out from the sun no doubt. my shoulders even looked a little red (all gone now though). my freckles are officially out in full force. i like my freckles. they're cute.

so i was supposed to be washing windows today, but the big job rescheduled. instead i am going to meetings at the radio station, and then going to get zach again to do more hanging out. but today's hanging out needs to include some things that i have to do for wedding prep unfortunately. i wish i could just do more fun hanging out. but... the weather isn't that great today anyway... so... that makes it easier to do things i need to do anyway. my friend dessy who made my dress is getting here at 6 this evening. so i will take zach back when i go pick her up from the airport. friday i am going to vancouver after working in kelowna to pick up jasmine and bring her here. we have to leave vancouver at like 6 am saturday morning because i got offered a remote for saturday afternoon. a remote is an on location. and i get paid the big bucks to do that. i just couldn't turn it down... especially considering how broke i am right now because of everything i have to pay for. except i just realized i won't even get paid for it until after the wedding... bummer.

do any of you have white twinkly lights you could let us use for the wedding? i promise they will get back to you and in the same condition. thank you. that is all.

early mornings.

i was reminded yesterday when i came in to the station to voicetrack that i had to operate the morning show this morning. agh. i HATE getting up at 4:30 to be here at 5. its the worst. and my neck hurts...

the only redeeming part of this morning is... i have grapes! and they are a delicious snack.

yesterday my mom and i went to karen's and dug up some flowers and things in her yard. it was awesome. we got more than $100 worth of stuff for FREE. i love free stuff. i got a whole bunch of day lilies, which i filled the front flower bed with. everyone (karen and penny) keeps telling me to just water them a TON and they just might bloom. i'm not getting my hopes up. but the greenery looks nice. there are a bunch of buds on the irises around the yard though. and TONS of peonies. i think i already wrote that.... there are also a whole bunch of buds on the poppy in the side bed. those are my favourite flowers in the yard. they are so pretty. i really hope they bloom for the wedding.

the patio is completely finished. and the pathway is over halfway. we're getting closer and closer! i will take some more pictures today when i go over there of all the new flowers and green things we planted yesterday. i planted some day lilies in the giant rotting stump in the front of the house. tyler put a bunch of dirt in it. and i want to fill it with flowers. but... i realized i will need some more flowers to do that. haha. it seems we have a never ending need for flowers. there are two more beds on the side of the house that is facing the road that still need to be weeded and have a couple of things added. tyler has his next project lined up - building some benches and creating a seating area. and i think my next yard project after we're finished with all the projects is going to be getting some burlap and painting it. i want to make one outdoor rug for the "seating area" because the spot we want to put that in doesn't really have any grass... just dandelions. haha. and i want to make a backdrop for the "stage" out of burlap with a painted design on it. and then another one for the porch too... because the plan is to set up like a photobooth on the porch for people to take polaroids of themselves for our guestbook.... IF we can get a polaroid camera and film. that is still up in the air a little bit... i might try and get that done this week so we know if it is going to happen or not.

and... the dresses have taken a back seat for the moment. i got to a point where i knew gill's dress wasn't going to fit, and my mom said it was better to just leave it and alter it when she gets here so it fits her. dessy arrives a week from yesterday (so excited!!!) and so i will have help with them then. i really hope that they get done and look good... i don't know what to do otherwise... that makes me nervous.

and that's how things are going... i am covered in mosquito bites from my mom's yard. we have to get some tiki torches for the wedding so everyone doesn't get eaten alive... but... other than that i think that the yard is coming along swimmingly. haha.

don't worry.

tyler and i got some good work done on the pathway yesterday. and he feels better about it because brodie and brady thought it looked cool (that was a big 'told you so' moment for me, haha). he was too stuck in the mindset of what he was SUPPOSED to do with the bricks. oh well. i think it is looking really good. plus him and my mom took a chisel and broke one kind of slabs that we weren't going to use, and made hearts! its pretty cool. they look really nice in the pathway. a nice little surprise when you look down i guess. i think we might actually make it the whole way to the porch... and cover the big bald spot where no grass will EVER grow.

brodie mowed the lawn yesterday. its amazing how much of a difference that makes. it looks a hundred times better. it actually looks like a decent lawn. we just need a weed wacker to get around the edges of the flower beds and make it look really polished and lovely.

of all the lilies and irises that i planted last year... very few of them are actually going to bloom. it has been a big disappointment for me. the greenery looks nice... but i wanted COLOUR! we have had to buy big expensive developed plants to actually have any blooms. but i think we will have a few nice flowers for the actual wedding (please don't bloom too soon or too late!). its such a hit or miss thing with planning an outdoor wedding. you just can't rely on the weather. it has been so cold this spring that the lilacs are in bloom right now... usually they have already come and gone by now.

so... i guess the only update is that the yard is looking so good. i will take some photos when we are there today. i am hoping we can get another substantial chunk of the pathway done today. i want to get it done through the week and be finished with it. then the only building we have left is the shed... which i don't think is actually going to happen. i also have some bad news... the cake lady bailed. she gave me the name of someone else i could contact... but... i don't think i am going to. i might be able to get a good deal from a woman in kelowna that the station there deals with for promos and stuff. i am waiting to hear back on that... but if that doesn't work out, i have decided not to stress about it and just not have a cake. i talked to my friend natalie who is going to be making us the desserts for the dessert buffet, and if it comes down to it... she will make us a chiffon cake and decorate it pretty, and we will put our cake topper on that... but... it won't be the whole traditional cake deal. just a regular sized cake and a dessert buffet (which is going to be delicious, by the way).

i'm not stuck on all the things you're "supposed" to do for weddings. sometimes i forget that we don't have to do all those things. so... if it doesn't work out, thats okay. and i doubt anyone will miss it. wedding cakes are usually sub par anyway.

rolling in the deep.

so work on the yard and everything else is still in high gear. many many many flowers have been planted over the last week. and work on the pathway to the porch has started... i don't know if we have enough brick to make it the whole way... but... we'll go as far as we can. so far so good. i had to start it WITH tyler so he knew what i meant. he was stuck in the brick laying mindset that austin got him stuck in. that is not what we wanted in the first place. oh well. the big part looks great... and the pathway will be like a mosaic leading up to it. so far i think it looks great. i think i got about 2 feet of it done. haha. tyler is supposed to continue working on that today.

he thought my idea of how to do it was going to look awful... and then he filled in all the cracks of our first little bit with sand and even he had to admit it looked pretty cool. i am excited for it to be done.

my mom and i have been spending small fortunes on flowers lately. but we have several hanging baskets filled with lovely purples and pinks and whites. and i filled the 4 big flower pots that were painted last week. they look awesome.

the dresses have been less of a success. my mom helped me come to the conclusion that they can't be finished till the last minute. the patterns SUCK and i need them here so i can make the dresses fit. so... i am going to get them all started, and pieced together to the point where i can alter them and do the final assembly of the dresses when the girls are finally here. in the meantime, i can do rhiannon and megan's dresses. i am HOPING that dessy will help with my sewing endeaver. i feel pretty confident that she will.

also... my house has FILLED up. haha. the week before the wedding there will be 4 or 5 people staying with tyler and i. for those of you who haven't seen our place (well... probably everyone reading this minus my mother) it is SMALL. well laid out (aside from the much too small kitchen) and it has two levels, which i really enjoy... but it is small nonetheless. we will have dessy in the spare room with the sewing stuff. and then the living room will be 2 people sleeping on the couch, and two people on an air mattress... it will be one giant slumber party. tyler and 6 girls. HAHA.

i made a pretty delicious quinoa salad. really easy too. i cooked red quinoa, let it cool completely, cut up some cucumber and red pepper and avocado, and mixed it all in with some little creek dressing. SO GOOD. it would be just a little bit better if i could have found some fresh basil to cut up and add. but... i couldn't. and it was a last minute shopping thing when i got the veggies. i am trying to really watch what i eat for the next couple of weeks and snack on good things. basically i am going to eat soooo much quinoa. haha. but its cool because you can eat it with so many things, and its so good for you. there are endless delicious quinoa options. have i mentioned i love quinoa?

i went back to bootcamp this week on wednesday and friday. it was really hard. after being sick all the week before... my body just hasn't fully recovered. i am SO sore. and everything was so hard. i am hoping that this week will be easier... and i maybe i can even make enough time to throw a couple of runs in this week too. that would be AWESOME. i am finding that all my yardwork has contributed to sore body too though... brick lifting, and weed pulling.

bike to work week this week! i'm excited! if only it was a possibility to bike to work in kelowna... haha... but that would take me like all day... and i would NEVER want to bike home.

something to talk about.

look at me and 3 days in a row! haha. thanks to work... i have time to sit and write for a moment.

so... flower pots still aren't totally finished, but i am going to plant them tonight anyway. jordi said she would still come and work on them once they were planted if need be. i took mine home last night because jordi and ben were falling asleep on the couch while i was still painting (oops). i stayed up till about 1:30 watching friends and painting. i love friends. i just started season 6 last night. tyler and i decided that if we had to say we were most like a character on friends, i would be monica and he would be chandler. megan would be phoebe. tyler's friend kevin would be joey. other tyler would be ross. and i don't think we have a rachel... maybe erin. actually, i think erin is a good fit for rachel.

anyway... the flower pot i have been painting doesn't look that bad, i think. bethany, i think you might even give me a pat on the back for it. i am pretty proud of it, if you must know. although... it looks much more 60's/70's psychedelic than 50's vintage. but oh well. the colours are right, and i think the set of 4 of them look pretty cool. jordi started painting this really really cool looking peacock on one of them last night. i am really excited to see what it looks like when she is finished. it blows my mind how good she is... every time. i should just stop being surprised and expect it from her. she's so talented.

we met the cake lady yesterday! it went great. the price she gave us is under what i was thinking would be a decent price... so... that's awesome! and talking to her about what i wanted... we were on the same page. she brought me and tyler some goodies, and they were delish. suzanne was there too to help with some suggestions and whatever (and she had a really good one). we were talking buttercream icing, fresh strawberries, pureed strawberries to make a strawberry cake layer... and all kinds of delicious things. i am really really glad that is all out of the way. she is going to make us some samples this week, and then i just have to put a deposit down. woo!

tonight is a bbq at my mom's. i don't know for sure, but i think it is kind of a birthday bbq for layne. should be fun. brady and suzanne are going to come too (because tyler and i had plans with them before we found out about the bbq... and brady and suzanne are great) and andrew's girlfriend chelle is there too apparently. i don't really know her.

this week will consist of lots and lots of sewing, and maybe a few breaks from that to weed flower beds. haha. the yard is actually looking really nice. tyler is having a hard time feeling motivated to finish up the patio (and it's so close!) because there are gaps, and he feels like it doesn't look very good. but really... it looks awesome and he shouldn't feel bummed out about it. he has worked really really hard on it.

things to acquire over the next 2 weeks are white tarps, draping fabric, white twinkle lights... and i think that is enough. i'll probably add more things to that list. oooh... i need to make the hair bands for the flower girls and find better netting for my birdcage veil and make that. jordi and i tried with what i have... and it didn't work very well. so i am going to use that for making a skirt for one of the girls in my dance class instead. i think it will work better for that.

anyway... i should get back to, you know, working... seeing as i am being paid to do that and all.

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.