Opt for a 'Stache

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I didn't sleep very well (my cat running around in the middle of the night may have had something to do with that), and the moment I got up, I knew I was grumpy.

I took a nice long shower and used some Bath & Body shower gel, hoping it would relax me. No dice. I decided to pretty up and pair up the outfit with some power heels, but again no dice. By the time I was out the door and on my way to work, I still couldn't shake off the grrrs and umphs.

When I got to my desk, I did my best to stay quiet and hoped that I could get through the morning without biting someone's head off. Unfortunately, I had a meeting at 11 that couldn't be avoided, so I put on my best pleasant face and sat quietly through the hour. Not easy, but at least everyone kept their heads.

Then I returned to my desk and found an e-mail from my co-worker and I finally cracked a genuine smile.



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Created by Humunga, it's a toy for your dog, and endless laughs for you! And if you're one of those cool offbeat brides who are planning to incorporate moustaches into your wedding, hopefully you'll have a dog available who can partake in the fun.

Regardless, wedding or no wedding, this is still pretty damn funny, and just the remedy I needed!

Quality time with MOH

If your weather was anything like Toronto's this passed weekend, chances are you were out taking in the sun and enjoying the early Spring weather. We Canadians covet a nice warm day anytime we can get it :)

With Office Groom busy with a convention all of Sunday, I thought it'd be a great chance to get together with my MOH and spend the day out. Since she's got wheels, I suggested that we head out of the city for a mini break-away, and she was all for that idea.

We ended up in Unionville, Ontario. If you've never been and you're in the area, you should definitely pay a visit. It has a small town appeal with loads of charm. There are some great little shops and restaurants along the main street - just perfect for the kind of quick get away we were looking for!

In the first boutique we dropped in, I found a great pair of black cowboy boots for $20! Hellz yeah! After a swipe of a my debit card, and a new pair of shoes in my possesssion, we continued along the main street. When we caught site of a couple of bridal boutiques, we knew we had to go in! MOH hadn't picked out her dress yet although she had a few ideas after looking through the Dessy website. As I've mentioned in a previous post, I've decided that girls would be S.B.D. - Same But Different. I picked out the line (Dessy), the colour (Midnight Blue) and the fabric (Matte Satin) and the rest is up to them!

The first shop was a total flop. I won't mention the name because despite the constant "Fails" I saw on the clothing rack, the women were really friendly. However, I can't understand how so many hideous dresses could all be in one location.

The second shop was different though. At first it didn't appear to be a bridal store, but in the back of the room the walls were taken over by formal gowns. AND - Dessy gowns on top of that! By chance, a few of the dresses that MOH was interested in were there, so I hurried her over to a dressing room to try them on! I was surprised at how much fun it was to sit back and have someone else model dresses :) She tried them all on, some were better than others, and when she came out of the dressing room in this one, we both knew she found the winner:


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Absolutely stunning, isn't it? And to think that we just happened to walk into the store, not knowing that we would find her MOH dress! Although she didn't buy it then and there (it wasn't the right size or colour) she at least knows that this is the one for her, and I couldn't be more happy about that! It's gotten me really excited about the other girls now!

And this morning, an e-mail from her at work confirmed it even further for me:

"PS: I can’t stop thinking about the dress. It makes me feel like a movie star! I don’t know that anyone on earth has ever said that about a bridesmaid dress before…LOL"

One dress done. Four more to go!

Cheers Boys!!

Another set of gifts taken care of yesterday! Some plans fell through for me yesterday after work and I had some time to kill before meeting up with some friends later in the evening, so Office Groom met up with me for some early dinner. After our yummy Movenpick sandwiches, I still had an hour left, so we thought a visit to the brewery, which is only a hop & skip away from our offices, would be a nice time killer.

Renovations inside the brewery are looking really good and a lot has been done since we last visited only a month ago. They are building an entire floor above the retail store, which will be used as a lounge (and lucky for me, it will also be used as the bridal party powder room for our wedding!). But we were there for one (ok two) things. Beer steins for the groomsmen and a free sample glass to down while we waited :)



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Mmmmm...you can almost taste and smell the yummy beer, can't you?

We thought the steins would be a nice memory keepsake for our big day, and it's definitely something that all of our beer guzzlin' groomsmen can use long after the wedding. The glass will also serve as the "gift box" as we will be stuffing some other fun and fab items inside.

More to come as we keep on shoppin'!

Stain Glass Goodness

One more gift purchased this week! For Office Groom's mum!

Knowing how much she loves stain glass windows, Office Groom and I had a look through Etsy (that's right ladies, my man is an Etsy shopper!) looking for unique stain glass gift ideas. Overwhelmed by the 567 pages to go through, we realized that we needed to narrow down the choices.

At first we thought a small art piece that she could hang on the wall was the way to go, but that seemed like the obvious choice. Plus she already has quite a few pieces hanging up at their house. We wanted something that was different and unexpected but still fell under the same theme.

So we started perusing different jewellry pieces that had stain glass pieces and we struck gold! This appeared on the first page of our search and we knew it was the one!


The artist, Anne-Marie, owns an Etsy shop named Color Shoppe Studio. According to her page, she's a member of the Stained Glass Art Association, and Self Representing Artist, so you are guaranteed that all her pieces are handcrafted by her in her studio.

There were so many other pieces we loved like the stained glass leaf and "Solitude" (OG actually wants that one for himself!), but we decided on this one because of the colour combination and the way the glass seems to reflect different shades in the light.

We're very excited to receive the necklace in the mail and even more excited to give it to his mum at the rehearsal dinner!

Now on to my mum's gift. Ugh! Pressure!!!

The "Budge" in "Budget"

If yours is anything like ours, it's not budging anywhere anytime soon.

I had a few hours to kill this morning while I was offsite from the office, and luckily I brought my lap top with me. Two hours later, I found myself with two lists - the LISTS OF ALL LISTS.

One of them is a complete breakdown of our budget. The estimated cost. Deposits. Actual Cost. Once I had all the numbers infront of me I was a bit in shock.

"It's costing THAT much?" I thought to myself, panic stricken.

The estimated total was a bit daunting, but it wasn’t factoring in what our parents have and will contribute. It’s just to give us an idea of what this whole thing could cost. But, nonetheless, it’ll give us a good idea of what we’ve spent so far, and what we should aim to spend. The latter part being the most important of all.

What do we dish out the cash for? And what do cross off the list and save for a rainy day (or maybe for our 10th year Anniversary?!). It's a tough call when you want everything, isn't it? We get it in our heads that without every single detail, somehow the day just won't be at it's full potential. Or that people will notice something's missing.

While I'm not quite ready to give up and face the fact that we may not get everything we wanted, I am sure of two things, and laying out the budget confirmed it for me - As long as we have enough to spend on good food and good music, then at least we're guaranteed a good time. Those are two items that would definitely go noticed if missing! If we can't afford the extra candles, washroom baskets, and Out Of Town Guest Giftbags, than at least we'll know that all of our guests were well fed and boogin' on the dance floor :)

If you are currently looking for a budget template, you don't have to look much further than Google. Google Docs, that is. Everything from budgets, schedules, to do lists - they're all there, and free to download and use.

There are also some great inexpensive wedding planning books that help with budgets. Within the first week of our engagement, my MOH bought me "Wedding Planning on a Budget." It had a As Seen on Oprah sticker on it, so she knew it had to be good, lol.

I ended up making one of my own (I'm not the Office Bride) for nothing, mostly because there are unique items to purchase (mainly books, and book related things). However, I'd be happy to share with anyone, if it will help you create a budget of your own. Whatever you use, I strongly suggest that you get one sooner than later, as to avoid surprises or disappointments later.

And who knows? Maybe we'll be able to afford custom made stamps and a projection screen. Just maybe!

A music playlist that'll get you pumped

A while back I did my annual check up only to discover that I was officially over weight. Needless to say, the news bummed me out and I promptly went to the hive to pour my heart out to the ladies. Afterwards, I made the decision to make better health choices - regular physical exercise and good eating habits.

Since then I've been going to the gym 4-5 times a week (with the Office Groom - best motivation I could ask for!) and opting for walnuts and soda water over chocolate bars and beer. While I still indulge from time to time, I don't binge. And you know wat? I feel great! My biggest challenge was on Sunday when I was at a pub with my friends watching the Canada vs USA Hockey game (YAAAAY Canucks!!!!) and I didn't have a single pint of beer. And trust me - that's big for a beer guzzlin' Canadian chick such as myself :)

I also found that setting goals has helped. Obviously the wedding is a huge incentive to get fit but that's just one day of lookin' good. I've decided to set myself some physical challenges as well. This coming April I will be participating in my first CN Tower climb. That's 1776 steps to the top! And I'd like to accomplish a 5k run this summer too. And way beyond the wedding day, I hope I will continue to set myself new goals and challenges!

But enough jib jabbin' about all this! You're reading this to get a kick ass music playlist for your workout! I usually start out with 45 minutes of cardio; 30 min on the treadmill and 15 min on the eliptical. Since I go in the morning, I need an extra boost of energy, which I get from music. It gets me pumped and motivated and helps "kill time" (instead of constantly looking at the timer and thinking "Oh God, 10 more minutes...uuuugggghhhh").

Here's the playlist that'll get you pumped! And if you've noticed, it's in alphabetical order because the itouch automatically lists it that way when a playlist is created. It just so happens to work perfectly!

"Acceptable In The 80's" - Calvin Harris
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" - Lenny Kravitz
"Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix A Lot
"Bad Boy For Life" - P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family
"Bang" - Rye Rye ft. MIA
"Block Rockin' Beats" - Chemical Brothers
"Business Time" - Flight of the Conchords
"Canned Heat" - Jamiroquai
"D.A.N.C.E." - Justice
"Funky Cold Medina" - Waxing Off
"G-Stro" - Busta Rhymes
"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" - Will Smith
"Give It to Me Baby" - Rick James

Put on your headphones and get ready to move your bootay! And have an awesome workout!

Photo from Fitness Health Zone

Micro Managing (a wedding, that is)

When the wedding planning began, one (unsurprising) quality about myself became very apparent: I like to plan.

Parties. Dinners. Shows. Outtings. I like to plan 'em all whether it's for myself or someone else.

However, with a love for planning comes one slight drawback - I like to control.


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I can't help it. I get this idea in my head and I am determined to get it done myself. Not that I don't trust the opinion or talents of others - far from it! But I like the doing part of it. I consider myself a jack of all trades (master of none) and I love the satisfaction of completing a task.

The thing is, when the Office Groom and I decided that we wouldn't be having a small wedding, I knew that doing everything on my own would be impossible. Once that realization sunk in, we worked out a To Do list to divvy up the tasks. And - so far so good! We have rarely stepped on each other's toes but have always made sure to keep the other one in the loop. This, however, doesn't mean that I won't have a post in the future about all the silly squabbles we've had over the last year and a half of planning :)

The real challenge for me was how to let someone other than myself or OG do something for us. Working with professionals is one thing, but having a friend or family take on something is something else.

And after a few admitted slips on my part, I drew these conclusions:

- Ask them to do something they're good at. Your friends and family or more likly to get the job done and do it well if they themselves enjoy the task and have knack for it. If your MOH has never stepped foot into a kitchen, you probably don't want to ask her to make 150 cupcakes for your guests.

- Don't micro manage. If you truly can not let a friend or family member do the job without micro managing then either get a pro do it, do it yourself. Remember - they are doing YOU the favour, so ease up! Checking in every so often is fine. Breathing down their neck as they make your bouquet, is not.

- Be realistic with your requests. If it's a big job, get more than one person to help out. Folding 200 origami Swans needs many skilled hands.

- Know your place in the wedding planning. The day itself is all yours to plan. However, Bachlorette parties, Jack and Jill's, wedding showers, are not. While you can certainly hint that you would like or not like any one of these (or all) and provide a guest list, the actual planning is not up to you. It should be the honour of your Maid of Honour to plan this for you with the help of others. As is the case for the Best Man - he is what he is because he's the best man for the job :)

- When all else fails, remember that you have a whole slew of other brides to vent with at the hive!