I Have Been Up For 4 Hours So Far...

And it's only 8:30 am.

Yup, at the crack of dawn I was suddenly woken up by my cat and then for some reason the first thing that popped into my head was "Hair." And once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop.

Why I worrying about what to do with my hair (and my bridesmaids hair) at 4:30 in the morning, 3 months before the wedding, was beyond me. But there I was, fully awake in bed thinking about it while the Office Groom was fast asleep, peaceful and undisturbed.

The thought of trying to coordinate six women, including myself, and making sure everyone was pleased with the outcome filled me with anxiety. Time, money - throw those into the worry mix too. And before I knew it, the alarm went off at 6 am (our gym time) and it was time to officialy start the day.

Luckily for me, the Office Groom functions well in the morning, and when he woke up, he listened to everything I was worried about and offered some suggestions. I think more than anything, I just needed to say it out loud, and once I got everything off mychest, I felt a lot better.

However, I am now sleep deprived, and I have a busy day ahead of me with work and a dinner party we're hosting at our place later the evening.

Woooo.

Movie Review: "Knight And Day"

Last Sunday, after a relaxing couples massage at Novo Spa (Office Groom's birthday present to me), we headed over to the movie theatre and watched "Knight And Day." I saw the trailer a month ago and remember thinking "That's the Tom Cruise I remembered loving!" And while watching the film, I kept thinking the same thing.


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If you like a light hearted comedy with loads of action and eye candy, this is a great summer flick to check out. With friends, or on a date night, this movie will definitely keep you entertained for two hours.

There's great chemistry between the two leading stars, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and as I mentioned before, you almost forget all the "crazy" that Mr. Cruise has made himself out to be in the last few years, and fall in love with him all over again :)

How Do You Say "No"?

Without having to actually say it?

This is a question that most brides and grooms will ask themselves at some point in the planning, when friends and family members start volunteering ideas or services which they believe are "helpful" for the wedding.

Your aunt has a green thumb and wants to make your bouquet using her garden flowers. You fiance's cousin's husband plays in a cover band and wants to do the music for the reception. Your friend from university insists on doing your invites as her gift to you because she learned how to use Photoshop recently.

It's a tough call, because while on one hand we should be appreciative of others wanting to make a contrubution, there's also the risk that it's not the kind of contribution we needed in the first place.

And then there is the oh-so-awkward scenario when guests ask - sorry, tell -a couple that they are bringing a date, someone who wasn't accounted for in the numbers. That's a fun phone call to make, huh?

NOT.

"Oh...hi Jerry. Good, good. Things are going well! Hey, I noticed that you were bringing a date to the wedding? Oh, you met her in a bar last weekend? That's nice. Yeah, so about that..."

AWKWARD.

So...how do you say "no"?

Restaurant Review: Spuntini

Last night, I went out for dinner with the Office Groom and our families to celebrate my birthday. OG organized the whole thing and dinner took place at a swanky Italian restaurant called Spuntini.

PROS
Located on Avenue Road just north of the Yorkville action, Spuntini is a beautifully decorated restaurant with an impressive menu and wine list to boot. Many celebrities frequent the restaurant, as proof will show with the many framed photographs on the wall as you enter the restaurant. Johnny Depp, Kim Catrell, Matthew Broderick - we may have been seated at the same table as one of these stars :)

I enjoyed my Coda D'Aragosta - Cuban lobster tails, oven baked, and dressed with roasted garlic, butter, and white wine.

YUM!

Paired with a glass of Amarone ( Amarone Della Valpolicella, Luigi Righetti, Italy), it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I know this makes me sound like a total uppity snob, and I just want to point out that we don't eat like this regularly, lol. When I ordered the lobster my brother jokingly commented "Geez, you'd think this was your birthday or something."

CON
The service could have been better. The place got pretty busy by 8 o'clock and it was definitely under staffed. It took a while for us to order our meals and then to receive them. Our waiter was a bit snooty too, but at least he was nice about taking a group picture for us.

All in all, it was a great dining experience and I am so happy to have been with my family to celebrate!

A Happy G20 Birthday

Traffic jams. Gun shots. An unnerving amount of cops everywhere. And a security wall that eerily resembles East Berlin 30 years ago.

All thanks to the G20 Summit.

But, I'm not going to complain. Why? Because thanks to G20, I have the next two days off (as in, "working" from home), and today also happens to be my birthday :) Having grown up in Quebec, where every June 24th was a holiday (St. Jean Baptiste), it's nice having a day off to celebrate my 28th year in Ontario without having to take a holiday.

Dear God. 28. I'm not one for numbers. I still act like I'm 17 most of the time. But there's something about "28" that sounds so mature! Luckily, that didn't stop the Office Groom from getting the most awesome and silly birthday card for me...



And the fun continues all through the weekend. A fancy shmancy dinner awaits me tonight with my family. Tomorrow night my ladies have put together a Derby themed birthday party for me and friends. And Sunday the Office Groom is taking me to the spa for a couples massage.

I'm a lucky gal!

For anyone else celebrating another year today, Happy Birthday!!!

Earthquake in Toronto?

Just plugging away at work when suddenly I noticed my desk and filing cabinet shaking! Just confirmed that Toronto (and other parts of Ontario apparently) just had an earthquake!

Yeesh...G20...cops everywhere...earthquakes.

And my birthday tomorrow, lol.

Sigh...

Yesterday was the first time I didn't get a chance to blog. Boo. And there's a reason for it too. Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right, especially the things that were presumably suppose to be easy to accomplish? That was yesterday. Work, the wedding, personal stuff...it's like the day decided on it's own that it was going to be a bad one and forgot to send me a memo.

With regards to the wedding, the problem is that as we are getting closer to the date, more and more people are coming at all sides and trying to tell us how to run the show. Some requests are doable while others I just want to give the WTF look as a response. And such minute details! It's as if people have forgotten why we're doing this to begin with.

A part of me just wants to remind everyone that this is after all our wedding, and what we says goes. Deal with it. But then that lovely term "Bridezilla" would come outta the woodwork, wouldn't it? It just boggles my mind that people don't get it. Especially since by wedding standards, the Office Groom and I have been really accomodating and pretty chill about the whole thing.

I guess it's one of those situations that if the people who are suppose to be stressing aren't, someone else will find a way to make up for it, lol.

Sigh - I only hope that today goes a lot better than yesterday.

Source of Photo.

Catholic Wedding Ceremony Music

I was in the church choir when I was a teenager.

There - I said it.

And you know what? I'm glad I did! While it may have not screamed "cool," especially at an age when everything depended on whether it was cool or not, the choir I sang with was actually really good, and still is. Years ago, while I was still living under the same roof with my devout Catholic mom, going to church on Sunday was not questioned. After years of doing my best not to fall asleep during mass, I eventually realized that the best way to keep myself busy (and awake) was to join the choir.

To this day I can still sing along to most of the songs from memory. And while I haven't quite figured out how knowing the lyrics to "On Eagle's Wings" can help me in every day conversation, it has been very helpful as of late when deciding on the music for our wedding.

Our priest, who by priest standards is very cool and modern, requested that we either choose traditional music from the choir music selection or classical music. So far in my research, I've really grown attached to these pieces:

You Are Mine by David Haas

The Prayer by Sager/Foster

For The Beauty of the Earth by Conrad Kocher:

Lord Of All Hopefulness, a Traditional Irish hymn

Luckily, the Office Groom and I were able to sell him on the idea of playing the UP theme song (our favourite movie) during the signing. Hopefully our guests will catch on to what the song is and be as choked up as I will undeniably be lol :)

I'm not quite sure how many songs should be sung or played during the ceremony, so the search continues!

Invitations MIA :(

Canada Post - I shake my fist at you!!!

Trying to get ahead of the game, the Office Groom and I sent out our invites the last week of May. Several were received just days after they were sent out which was awesome. But others - all living in the same city - have not yet received anything!

Aaarrrrgh!

The only reason I know this is because in one example, certain members of my comedy troupe didn't receive their invites. I don't know whether to wait it out, or start inquiring if others have received their invites yet. My worry with the latter option is that people will think we're just asking ebcause we want them RSVP! But I'm also worried about invites that were sent to out-of-town guests! What if I checked in with them in August to find out they never recieved one?

Grrrrrr!

TGIF.

My First Wedding Dream

After planning a wedding for over a year, thinking about it daily at work and at home, bringing it up at least once in every casual converstion, and blogging about it for months... it was bound to happen. Last night I had my first wedding dream, lol.


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I was already at the church, waiting for my grand entrance. For some reason my MOH's dress was lying on a table. It wasn't the same one she's actually going to wear, but I got all chocked up nonetheless because it looked so pretty. I peeked through the doors to see the church and was overwhelemed with the "beauty" of the set up. Everything was dark except for a spotlight on a giant Christmas Tree at the altar covered in blush pink flowers. For whatever reason in my dream, I thought this was gorgeous, ha! Then it hit me. I had the sudden urge to pee, lol. So I ran downstairs where the washrooms are, but the women's washroom had the oddest toilets I had ever seen. They looked like buckets, and they were not hidden behind stalls. I considered it for a second but then thought against it. No friggin' way would I use something like that in a wedding dress, lol. So I spent the rest of the dream trying to find another washroom.

And then I woke up.

WTF? I have to remember not to have beer and chocolate before bed, huh?

If you have had any weird wedding dreams, please share!

Hasslebot - When you need a good reminder

Between getting assignments done at work, putting together a review show with my comedy troupe, and spending quality time with the Office Groom, friends and family, it's amazing that I find the time to plan a wedding! While we've been relatively on top of everything for the wedding, there have been days of slacking and putting things off.

That's where the Hasslebot comes in handy. HassleMe is an automatic virtual nagger. Need a reminder to apply for wedding licenses? Find a florist? Pay off your caterer? Just set up a hassle every few days reminding you to get them done via email! The nice thing about this is that it's essentially a reminder from yourself, so you can be as funny (or harsh) as you'd like in your message.

I had one pop up this morning reminding me to write in my blog :)

Radioactive Love

Love comes in all forms. Even radioactive. Check out this new blog put together by a group of very funny guys who also happen to be my co-workers!

It goes to show you that even the likes of Godzilla and Spiderman can find true love :)

Morning Cupcake!

Look what I found on my desk this morning!



Not a bad way to start off the week, huh? My co-worker Julie is making our wedding cupcakes and she dropped off these yummy treats for me and Office Groom to taste test (She's a techy wiz by day and baking fiend by night). Luckily I had the strength to put them in the office fridge right away otherwise they would have been entirely consumed (by me) before lunch lol.

Curious as to what they are? The cupcake itself is a decadent chocolate flavour topped with Italian meringue buttercream.

YUM!

I'll post tasting results tomorrow!

PS - If you're in the Toronto area and you're shopping around for wedding desserts, drop me an e-mail at officebride(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll pass along Julie's info!

GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL

What's one thing that the Office Groom and I have in common?

The love for the "beautiful game"! While we are staunch supporters of our local team, Toronto FC, there's nothing better than a good game of footy between different countries!

Today marked the opening game for World Cup, and the both of us are so stoked to cheer on our teams (England for him and Germany for me).

There is an energy in Toronto right now and it's undeniably Football Fever (I prefer the more appropriate name for the game, lol). A long walk around the city and you're bound to pass by bars in every neighbourhood cheering on for Italy, Portugal, France, etc. I love it!

For all other followers of the game out there, may the best team win!

BM Gift #3 - Custom Clutches

The third and final gift for the ladies arrived last Friday. I'm so happy with the end results!!

Some of you may be aware with the Etsy ordeal I had a few months back. Long story short, I decided to go with a seemingly professional Etsy seller who worked diligently with me to design the perfect clutch. Everything was going well until - she disappeared. *Poof* Just like that. While I was pretty upset at the time, I'm fully recovered from my first (and hopefully last) bad Etsy experience and I hope that the seller, wherever she may be now, is ok and has taken up a different hobby more suitable for her.

Thankfully, there are plenty of other fish in the Etsy sea, and I soon found myself dealing with the very lovely and talented Rena of ItsSoClutch. When I first messaged her I told her about my not-so-wonderful-previous experience, and right off the bat I could tell that she sincerely sympathized and wanted to make things better.

She was able to recreate what I had originally come up with, and then stepped it up a notch by using beautiful raw black silk (the original fabric was satin), adding a silver frame (the original design was just fabric), adding a removeable flower pin similar to my hair piece, and selling it at a VERY affordable and competitive price.


My cat is trying to sneak a cameo in this shot :)

I love them so much, I've asked her to create a clutch for me as well! Same design, only in blush pink - to match my shoes of course - with an ivory flower pin.

The clutch matched with the bedazzled mirror and crystal jewellry will be a wonderful gift to each of my girls, showing them my appreciation for all their love and support this last year and a half :)

The Symbolism Of Flowers

I stumbled upon this very interesting post today by One Wed, about the symbolism behind different types of flowers. If you're like me and love to find the deeper meaning / history behind things, you'll probably want to be sure that the flowers you've chosen represents "true love," and not "best buds for life" or something like that lol :) And I learned a few new blooms too!


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For instance..."Gloxinia"? Huh?! Beautiful flower, but I had no idea that was it's name, lol. And now I also now it represents "Love at first sight"!

So sweet!!

With This Ring...

Today during lunch, the Office Groom and I are meeting with a local jewellry designer named Dana McLaven. She's a friend of one of my co-workers and was highly recommended. Dana creates custom designed jewellry. According to her site, "because the “middle man” is eliminated, and there are no expensive overhead costs associated with traditional retail operations, Dana can pass on a significant savings to her clients."

Originally, OG and I thought we would just go to one of the big retail stores to get our rings, but the idea of getting custom rings came up after hearing about Dana really appealed to us. Something uniquely ours and one-of-a-kind - sounds good to us!

Today Dana will bring in some samples of her work, along with other samples that resemble the rings from inspiration photos we sent her via e-mail. Hopefully we'll be able to develop a design for both rings that will fit our style...and our budget perfectly.

Here's hoping!

Computer Abort

Grrrr. I wasn't able to blog all day because I kept getting a message saying that the site was down (????).

Quick update:

Cleveland trip was AWESOME.

My Bridesmaid clutches came in on Friday!! Post about that tomorrow.

Most recent honeymoon idea - Tuscany (Um, yup, you got it. The very FIRST idea we had when we started planning our honeymoon all those months ago. Sigh...there's something to be said about going with your gut feeling)

Rock 'n Roll Road Trip

This weekend the Office Groom is off on yet another awesome trip, this time to Chicago with his dad for some manly father/son time :) Office Groom is the first to admit how lucky and happy he's been this year to be able to go on all these great trips, and I'm equally happy for him!

However, not wanting to twiddle my thumbs waiting for him to return, lol, I decided that this weekend would be great chance to do a short road trip with some friends!

The destination - Cleveland.

Yes, I know it may not be the most exotic location, but the city boasts some of the most impressive museums in North America, most notably The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!


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Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn (or a couple of hours after it), I'm hitting the road with 4 other friends (2 are BMs), hoping to arrive at a decent PM hour to check out the museum and pay respects to our favourite rockers!

An added plus... A friend of mine who goes to Cleveland every year with his dad and guy friends for a sports event, highly suggested that we stay at the Embassy Suites downtown. While it's a bit pricier than other hotels, it's not so bad as group sharing one room (with two separate rooms). But that's not the best part. From 5-7 PM the hotel hosts a "Managers Reception" which apparently is 2 hours of free unlimited drinks!

Whhhaaaaaaat!!!

So, needless to say, while we're also paying homage to rock stars, we're also going to party like one :)

Have an awesome weekend!

Where Did The Summer Go?!

It isn't even officially summer, yet it seems that every weekend from now until September is booked up! A weekend at a friend's cottage, camping with my co-workers, going out of town to visit my Grandma, keeping days open for events that I can't know about (lol), yeesh!

When do I get any me time (as in - NOT doing anything)?

Why does it seem that when we've got something big to plan, there are a dozen other things that come up? And if I turn any of them down I feel bad or selfish!

Sorry, I know there are a lot of rhetorical questions being put out here, but I just had a look at my itouch calendar and was so surprised at how many different activities are lined up! I really shouldn't complain - I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life who all want a piece of the Office Bride action, lol. However, it can be a bit overwhelming when I realize I've got an hour here or there to myself.

Sigh.

Some More Food For Thought

Taste Test? Done and done. And such a great experience!

When the Office Groom and I arrived at the main office of Eatertainment, our day-of planner Jennifer brought us down to the Bloor Street Diner, located on the main floor of the Manulife Centre. We've been there before for a non-wedding related meal, and really enjoyed it, so we were already off to a good start.

We were seated at table right by the kitchen and half expected that other couples would be joining us. We've heard about other taste tests that happen in groups, but in our case, it was just us and the day-planner. Awesome!

No time was wasted to get started, which was fine by me because I was pretty hungry at that point (I made sure to show up with an empty stomach lol). The taste test was divided up into 4 parts. Cold Canapes (aka hor d'hoeurves), Hot Canapes, Appetizers, and Main Course. We had to narrow down the choices of the canapes (2 of each), the appetizers (1), and give our final stamp of approval on the three main course options (we're giving our guests the choice of chicken, fish, and veggie).

While I can go on an on about the food, I'll let the pictures do most of the telling. Here are a few pictures I took. I won't announce just yet what we decided on for canapes, just in case some of my readers are also my guests lol. You'll have to wait until September!

Cold Canapes


Hot Canapes


One of the Appetizer options


One of the Main Course options


Can you say "YUUUMMMM"?!

It was a great lunch and The Office Groom and I left feeling really happy with our choices. Hope our guests feel the same way :)

Taste Test Today!

The Office Groom and I have a special lunch to look forward to today. We're going to our caterer's main office to do our taste test! When it comes to food, I always get excited!

Choosing our caterer was one of the very first things we decided on since it would take up the bulk of our budget. That was over a year ago, and I can't believe how quickly time has passed that we are now ready to do this!

Since we decided on Steam Whistle Brewing as our reception venue, we were limited to a selection of vendors from which to choose - all of which have worked in the space before and have a special agreement with the brewery. We were totally cool with this because it narrowed down the choices of the hundreds of other caterers in the city we could have chosen!

After a lot of e-mail and phone convos, we finally decided on one called Eatertainment. We really liked the professionalism of our contact, Jennifer, and we found a lot of great reviews on-line about them (and her). And most importantly, their prices were very competitive and fit nicely within our budget.

Today I look forward to tasting all the delicious items that until this point, we've only ever known on paper! Thank goodness I went to the gym this morning and had a light breakfast.

Bon Appetit!