Made my own guest book for the wedding

Here's pictures of the guest book I made for our wedding. If somehow someone finds this and wants a how-to of how I did it, email me.

These same pictures (plus one more that loaded sideways about 6 times on here so I left it out) and descriptions & information can be found here, too.










I really like it. I'm especially proud because Chris likes it, too.

The only part that is unfinished is the seam, because I need to be able to take it apart for the wedding. We are going to have the pages at each place setting, with pens on the tables, so that everyone can write whatever comes to mind, and we'll have more entries than if we leave in on a table in the corner.

I think we might put some pages in the for the wedding, and have it on display so people can write in it, too. Then I can take all the pages with writing and put them together after the wedding.

If anyone wants to add anything to it (pictures, etc.), the pages, when in the book, allow for a space of 5" x 7".

: ) I might put a picture of everybody from the wedding in the book opposite their entry!

Tomorrow's project: Programs. In 4 weeks: favors.

I uploaded photos

Sunset with crane, originally uploaded by theanykey.

On June 15, and 19.

Check 'em out.

And a reminder I have a new "daily photo" thing going:

blainesdailyphoto.blogspot.com

A pure sense of calm

I am starting to feel a very calm happiness in relation to the wedding, the wedding planning and all of the 'stuff' that still needs to be done.

I keep stumbling across articles that make me feel even better about the wedding we've planned. One is about anti-brides, women who like the idea of marriage and want a wedding, but aren't so keen to be the center of attention for too long. The article can be found here.

While the idea of needing to be convinced to have a wedding seems a bit absurd to me, I am very resistant to having a bachelorette party in any form. That's why we've negotiated a coed barbecue type party. More like a pre-wedding get together to celebrate the impending bigger celebration.

Something like that.

There are a lot of traditions that Chris and I are completely ignoring... We don't have ANY plans to do the garter toss thing. At all. Not negotiable.

Some others include the "groom cannot see the bride before the ceremony". Chris and I will be staying in the same hotel room the night before the wedding. If anyone can keep me calm, it's Chris. It makes sense to me that I should wake up with him on one of the most important days of our lives.

Of course, when I leave to go get my hair done, that will be the last time he will see me until the ceremony, but only because I want the whole hair-done-makeup-done-wedding-dress package to be seen all at once. : )

I am considering throwing a bouquet, when I previously rejected the idea completely. I always felt horrible as a single person being pushed up onto the dance floor, into the spotlight, to try to catch a bouquet. When I told others I wanted to spare similarly shy women from the same fate, it was met with absolute shock, even disgust.

There were a few more ideas I considered to avoid the bouquet tossing issues (I know some of the young single 'ladies' invited rarely act as, um, polite as expected, and anticipate a bitter feud for the bouquet if I toss it away from them.) including just announcing that we would appreciate if they didn't push people out of the way. BUT, I know it's supposed to be all in good fun.

I considered giving the bouquet to someone important, as a symbol of appreciate and to honour them, but I would need about ten bouquets.

The old traditional "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something new" is one I like and want to do: I am superstitious. While I know that Chris and I have a fantastic relationship and it's extremely unlikely that it will change into something unexpected, there's no luck like good luck.

So far, I have some ideas for some of them:

Old: ummm... No idea. I wonder if Mom has any memento's from her wedding that I could borrow? That would cover borrowed, too.

New: The dress, the veil, the shoes, the just about everything around me.

Borrowed: No idea. Mom might have a bracelet she said I could borrow.

Blue: Might take a ribbon from the bouquets I still have from my sister's wedding. Tie it around my bouquet, and presto! Something Blue.

There are some things that I absolutely love the idea of: Like saving my wedding dress for the future. Eventually I hope my daughter would like to wear it.

That's why I can't even fathom doing this.

I can understand the 'thrill' some brides might get out of wearing the dress again, but I would cherish the memories much more, knowing that someday, someone very special to me could wear my dress as her something old.

I would have loved to have worn my Mom's dress, but back when Joy and I were skinny teenagers, neither of us even came close to fitting into it. Then I hit puberty and my hips got way bigger, so even if I lost half my body weight, I doubt I could fit into it.

I've decided that I think making my own bouquets would be more satisfying than having them done. I plan to buy a dozen roses to play with, and then will see how easy or difficult it might be.

I'll post pictures, too. : )

Time for something new

I am going to try something, see how long it lasts, how well I keep up with it.

I started a photo blog.

I am going to TRY to post 5 times a week, minimum, and I can guarantee that will last at least a week.

No idea if I will be able to continue that trend as we move, I start working (already lined up a job to start right after the wedding - same place I was at before...) and other things start happening...

But I do solemnly swear I will try.
___

We went to the registries office on Thursday, and are now officially allowed to get married!

We have our DO NOT BEND Marriage License, and to me, this is HUGE. It makes it feel way more real, and the fact that today, there is 54 days left to the wedding, is sinking in.

Still don't have a florist. Might just have to go to Safeway on the day before and grab a few dozen roses! (Might be cool to see what they have...)

Still going to try to talk to a florist, but I know that if push comes to shove, I've got options. (And I know I would be happy with whatever I find, anyway. I haven't got any set idea of what I want for flowers, aside from colour preferences.)
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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! To all the Father's out there, hope you don't have to do any parenting today. :)
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If anyone knows of anyone who hasn't booked their rooms for the wedding yet, tell them that they have until the 23rd. On the 24th, the reserved rooms will be released and it will become impossible to find rooms in Jasper.

I can't wait. I've started to dream about the wedding!!! (All good.)

:D

My MEME

My MEME
Originally uploaded by theanykey

Because I love meme's and this is a great one!


The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image (like Ada, I checked the 'most relevant,' 'most recent' and 'most interesting' pages to see what I liked best).
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker (if you click my results image below, it'll take you to the Flickr page & the link to the mosaic maker is there).

The questions that inspire the photos:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Keeping in mind that I couldn't think of a specific celebrity crush, and the wine picture is actually from a search for Aaron Eckhart.

At the bunk house

At the bunk house
Originally uploaded by theanykey

I may or may not have been on a train, and may or may not have taken this photo.

I admit nothing.

: )

Went for a drive with Chris, around Edson, led all the way through back roads and ended up in Hinton. It was a beautiful drive, even with the eleven or twelve storms we drove through or past in the whole day. We stopped a few times to take pictures, check out a few things, and the picture was one of the cooler things.

The picture is taken from inside the cab of the train. Facing out from the chair / desk area for the Conductor (left side). The Engineer gets to sit on the right side, and there's a ton of buttons and switches and levers. No wonder they go through all of that training.

There's more to driving trains than just forward and reverse. Like a tool, the person who took the photos didn't get any pics of the engineers side, or the cab, really. It may or may not have been me.

Either way, I uploaded a ton of new photos on my flickr page. (Link on the right).
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I went for my first dress fitting last week in EDM, and am even more excited now that I see how well it is going to fit me... : )

AND, the jewelry I got to go with it look like it was MEANT to go with the dress, so that just made the whole trip that much better!
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Apparently while I was in Edmonton for the day (not even a full 12 hours gone), Marley made a huge fuss and was acting panicky and Chris brought her outside. As I was told by Chris, she dragged him straight towards the front curb, and walked up and down the sidewalk, looking for my car, whining.

Such a sweetie. She's really smart sometimes, and surprises us with very blond 'moments' sometimes.

Right now she's digging up a blanket, on a chair, trying to make it more comfortable, and almost fell off. Oh yeah, real smart. Real blond.
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We got the apartment set up great last month, unpacked a lot of stuff, and now, we are probably moving back to H-town. The Mountain town.

And we're moving right before the wedding.

Right after the shower, in Cold Lake.

So, yeah. I'll be distracted right up until the wedding. That should help with the stress!

Anyone want to help us move? We have much less stuff this time.

; )

Just kidding. We're probably good. As long as The Moving Company is better this time around.

Oh, god, I hope the MC is better this time.

...
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Dad's b-day party was awesome. I had a great time in CL, usually I go home more stressed out than when I arrived, but not this time.

(Thanks, Mom!)

The hot tub was great, and even though I used no sunscreen, I didn't get burnt at all after being in it for a few hours two days in a row.

And then, totally not thinking, on my last day, I went outside into the noon sun wearing a short sleeved shirt, helped Dad sort some bottles and stuff, and burned my arms, neck, face, and chest.

And then the drive home the next day, the sun was beating down on my arm the whole way home, and felt like it was against a hot griddle. I ended up covering my arm with my jacket, even though the car was HOT...

Oh, well. I put lotion on the burns every time they itched*, and it didn't even do the peeling thing. Now I have a nice colour on most of my arms, but it is still a pretty bad farmer's tan. And very noticeable when I am wearing my wedding dress. Going to have to figure out a way to fix this. : )

*6 or 7 times a day
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Everyone remember what happened to Pookie? Almost had a repeat in CL.

Joy and I went out the Saturday I was in Cold Lake, went to get a couple of bottles of wine...

When I got back I heard that Marley had run out of the front door while some guests were arriving (exactly why I tried to lock her in the bedroom). She almost got hit by a truck, and some people ran after her, and she ran back to the house after the guy driving the truck honked the horn.

I was kind of in shock after I was told by Dad, and I was glad there wasn't very many people around me, because it took everything I had not to break down.

All of the same feelings that I felt when Pookie was killed came rushing back, and I managed to hold it together enough to get downstairs with Marley.

I called Chris, and once it started ringing, I lost it. I barely managed to tell Chris what happened, and eventually, I calmed down enough to go back upstairs.

Marley wasn't comfortable around the amount of strangers that were there, so I left her in the basement bedroom with the door closed. I went down a few times through the evening and she was sleeping on the pillow each time.

Later on after only a few people were still over, I brought Marley upstairs, and she still stayed really close to me, and then sneaked* back downstairs again anyway.

*Did you know "snuck" isn't a word?

I got a lot of comments on Marley's weight: she's terribly skinny.

We keep her food dish full, she eats like a cow, drinks plenty of fluids, and unless she has a full coat, her ribs are visible from 200 feet away. She looks like we don't feed her, and yet we feed her PLENTY.

(VERY rarely she gets a human food treat, but that's mostly limited to either special occasions when we have Really Good Food, or when we are in Cold Lake. Because it's hard not to feed Patches, and you have to feed Marley if you feed Patches.)

She was about 5 pounds when we got her, she's now about 8 to 8 and a half most days. (If she's just eaten a ton of food, then she's closer to 9.)

And even at 9 pounds, she looks like she needs to eat. I think her goal weight will be 11 lbs.

And unless we give her a ton of snausages, I doubt she'll reach it until she gets older.
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Oh, and after we move and get a good fence up in the front yard, we're going to think about getting her a friend...

:)

Marley has an attitude problem

In Cold Lake on Mom's couch, finally out of hiding.

Longer post and many more pictures coming soon to a blog( slash photo page) so near to you, it's this one!

: )