Wedding Planning: My Dress Search!

Hey peeps! I hope everyone has had a good weekend and is enjoying the Superbowl (if you care about that!?). The fiance is a HUGE football fan so I'm sitting here trying to be (or rather look) supportive. I'm basically catching up on some emails and wanted to update you all on my dress search. 

I went to about 5 places to try on dresses. One of them was a blowout sale where my mom and I stood in line for one hour. Unfortunately I didn't find anything there but I had to try. I can't image spending $$$ on a dress and not being able to say, well ... I tried! I stood outside in the freezing Toronto cold for one hour but oh well I didn't find anything. 

So, like most girls I have a story about my dress. I bought it at the first place I went and it was the second dress I tried on. I should have purchased it right then but of course I wanted to be sure and went to a bunch of other places to try on more dresses. I love my dress and I like that my mom also pointed it out and insisted I try it on. I know that it is MY dress because I kept thinking about it and nothing else compares to it. I am so excited to wear it on my wedding day. Unfortunately, there's another six months  until it comes in and there will be several fittings before it's just right. 

My approach to wedding dress shopping was to go and try on as many styles as possible. I had spent hours on Style Me Pretty and Pinterest pinning dresses that I liked. Looking back it was fun but kinda pointless in a way because it's hard to really have an idea of what styles look good on you until you go out shopping. I tried on many dresses, some just for fun even if I knew I wouldn't even consider them. It was a fun experience and not as stressful as I imagined. I also kept it simple by going with my mom on one occasion, once with my cousin, once by myself and once with my mom and cousin. It's probably best to not go with a large group of people. Too many opinions!

Styles I tried... 

puffy/I guess a ball gown?

old hollywood

a line? I really like this dress.

lace with key hole back

Don't worry, I haven't spoiled the surprise by showing you anything close to my dress!

~B

Friday Night at the Market Kitchen

Last night I took the fiance to the Market Kitchen for a cooking class. It was a seafood class and on the menu were fish cakes, steamed clams in white wine with choriso, arctic char with veg confetti and a lemony pudding cake. The food was amazing and the Market Kitchen is so beautiful! It overlooks the St. Lawrence Market and has huge windows. We both had a lovely time and met some lovely people. I now have the food class bug!

Three Pics

sending out our save the dates

leather pants for a night on the town

Sunday morning waffles 

Happy Wednesday!

B~

My Wedding Inspiration!

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The last few weeks since Christmas have felt like a bit of a whirlwind. I've been busy supervising my new student at work and the fiance and I have spent some time looking into a destination wedding. We fully researched this option and spoke to a few of our friends and family about it. After sitting on it for a while we both realized that we would prefer to stick with our Hart House wedding. I even visited UofT yesterday and walked around the campus to remind myself of why we chose this venue. I also went to the various spots on campus that I would like us to be photographed at on our wedding day and I'm now more excited than ever. We've also decided to move our wedding date from December 21 to November 2. I'm super excited now and feel like I'm doing pretty good when it comes to wedding planning. We have a venue, a photographer and a florist. I guess it's time to start looking for someone who can actually marry us!

Well that's it for now ... I had a lovely day that started with brunch with some friends followed by spontaneous horseback riding. Now I'm off to get ready for an engagement party for two lovely friends who got engaged over the holiday. Super excited to celebrate with them!

Four Pics

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I spent mine helping my cousin move, doing research for our wedding and relaxing by our new TV. We have debated about getting a TV for a couple of years now and we finally caved in. I'm loving it, not for the 4 channels I get with our digital satellite but more for being able to watch my favourite shows on  a bigger screen as opposed to my laptop. Not to worry, I've being doing other stuff lately and here are some pics to prove it...

enjoying a cup of Soma hot chocolate
I spotted these huskies during a stroll in the Distillery District ... so beautiful
I finally got some new boots on sale ... first pair that's not solid black or brown
and of course our new TV!

I hope you all have a lovely week. I know that many of us are returning to work tomorrow and I hope that the transition goes smoothly :)

~B

2012

Happy New Year's peeps! I can't believe that 2012 has almost come to an end! I was just reflecting on the past year and I can't believe how fast the years come and go. Boy time flies! As I get older, I'm becoming more and more mindful of the importance of setting goals and having direction in my life. I guess I have this fear that one day I may look back and realize I never got around to doing some things I've always wanted to do/experience. I don't have a bucket list per se but I definitely have goals and certain things I would like to do and this is constantly evolving. 

I feel like 2012 was an important year for me professionally and personally ...

I finally landed a permanent job that I love and I feel stable in my career and feel really lucky about this! I  also started this blog which has been a creative outlet for me. It's been a wonderful and fulfilling experience to connect with other bloggers and I have definitely learned a lot from you all! 

I think we can all agree that in 2012 I ate a lot lol! I have been enjoying cooking and feel like I'm developing a passion for cooking and entertaining.

The fiance and I also got around to making our place feel more like home. We have painted, purchased furniture and hung lighting and as time consuming and frustrating as this process was at times it has truly been rewarding for us both. We feel like we have accomplished a lot and are both happy to be finished... 

well almost ... 

I am also grateful for the opportunities I have had to travel this past year. I love travelling and I can't wait for more adventures in 2013!!!!!

"Unfortunately" my passion for fashion is growing. Let's just say I've come a lot way from those UofT days when I walked around in lulu's and track tops!

I love stripes!

  This past year I also learned a lot of new things that I had been intending to do for a while, like taking an art class and also a knitting workshop. Next on my list (hopefully for 2013) is jewellery making and pottery. We'll see!

And how could I forget one of the most exciting things that happened to me in 2012!?! The fiance and I got engaged and have begun to plan our wedding. We are super duper excited for our big day and can't wait to get hitched!

Last but not least, in 2012 I have made a huge effort to practice self-care. I'm not sure if it's being a social worker and constantly hearing about and telling client's to practice self-care but I feel like for the first time I'm finally practicing what I'm preaching. This past month I've decided to take my yoga practice to a new level by practicing mindfulness meditation. It's really challenging and I took a meditation class as part of my master's degree about two years ago and just dropped it. Let's hope that this time next year I will be meditating regularly!  

Well that's my recap and reflection of this past year. I feel happy and of course am trying to be positive by only reflecting on the good things. No point reflecting on those sucky experiences! I hope you are all having fun and spending time with those that are important to you. Cheers to another year!

Happy 2013!!

~B

Christmas Baking

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/holidays!! It went by so quickly and I can't believe I am already back at work and back to "normal" life. I had a lot of fun with family this past Christmas. We did some baking ... 

Snowball cookies - I think it's my grandma's recipe

Brownie cut-out cookies (recipe from Smitten Kitchen here).

They make yummy Christmas ice cream sandwiches

A cranberry tarte (recipe also from Smitten Kitchen)

    Check out the Christmas lights on this house!!! Crazy but also really festive and fun to see. I even got

    out of the car to take this pic. It was blinding!

bon appetit!

We went to visit family on Boxing Day and ended up having to drive back in a snow storm. It took us twice as long to get home but it was all worth it AND the snow is really pretty. We haven't really had snow in Toronto for I think two winter's now so I'm enjoying it.

Happy Weekend!

~B

Wedding Planning: One Year Countdown!

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December 21, 2013!

Yup, you read that right! We are getting married in exactly a year today, four days before Christmas on Winter Solstice! We went back and forth on the date and had reservations that it is too close to Christmas. We figured that since we are having an intimate wedding and will be sending our save the dates way in advance this should work out just fine. We trust that those important to us will be able to make it. I didn't really think much about our wedding date being Winter Solstice aside from the fact that it's the shortest day of the year and we'll have to do our photos early. People have been telling me that it's a magical day and quite fitting for a wedding since Winter Solstice is associated with a new beginning. So ... I'm gonna go with that! The fiance and I will be beginning a new life(?) as man and wife in exactly one year! SO EXCITED!!!