Engagement Photos

Talk about leaving it to the last minute, last Saturday we had our engagement photos taken. I know that it is something you are supposed to do around the time you get engaged, hence the name Engagement photos... however, with D's health, we kept putting it off, and putting it off, hoping that at some point he would feel well enough for the shoot to not be torture for him. That day never came. We had to get them done soon so that we could have a few printed up in time for the wedding in 2 weeks later (OMG!!! 2 weeks!!!).

Saturday was a beautiful day, it seems like summer has finally arrived! The 3 of us headed down to Goldie Mill Park in Guelph. Yes, 3 of us… Jak came too! I wanted a few good shots with him since he is so hard to photograph normally.

Goldie Mill Park is a really nice setting for photos because it provides so many different backgrounds. First we started in a more traditional park setting on a park bench. Then we headed over to the ruins of the old Goldie Mill. Pictures were taken outside the mill in one of the windows, we then moved inside against the stone walls. At the park there is also a river and some bridges that also provide nice areas for pictures.

I was thankful for the river because I was a bad dog owner that day and we forgot Jak’s bag with his water and stoop-and-scoop bags… oops! at one point we had to go down to the river’s edge and let Jak have a drink and cool down. Black dog + hot sunny day = no fun for Jak.

On Sunday night I received an email from our photographers to let us know that a sampling of our photos is available to preview on their website! Already!! One of the photographers is going on vacation this week and wanted to get them done before she left, so we got lucky to get them so quick! They sent a CD with all of the edited shots from that to me in the mail.

This is my favourite shot of the whole bunch...

He actually looks like he's happy. Happy, for the first time in months. And they were able to capture that on camera. Frozen in time. Even if doesn't happen again for a while, he was happy once, and I have proof.

Birthday-Harry-Potter-Wedding-Shower-Extravaganza!

Awesome Weekend. The best one I have had in a long long time. It started on Friday when I went to the movie theatre straight from work to get in line for Harry Potter. I knew it was going to be a packed theatre and I needed to get perfect seats. My Sister picked J up from the GO station and met me at the theatre after I was seated. In honour of J's birthday last week, I treated both of them to dinner and a movie. Dinner consisted of Hot Dogs and Berttie Botts Every Flavour Beans aka Jelly Belly's.


Harry Potter was an awesome show; the best one, in my opinion, other than the first one. I liked that although it dealt with some very heavy subjects, there was still a lot of humor. I had read some reviews that were knocking it because the audience was expected to know who all of the characters were and that the movie didn't do enough to bring in new fans. But really, if they had, it would have been a 5 hr movie! Be realistic people... with a book that big, things will have to be assumed and parts are going to be cut. There was really only one scene from the book that I really missed in the movie and that was Dumbledore's funeral. The end of this movie could have been a real tear jerker if there was some effort put into it.

The next morning J and I went for a walk with the dog down to a local hippie coffee shop, and then to the park to sip our cappuccino and eat muffins. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and it wasn't too hot or too cold. The dog was behaving, even catching the Frisbee a few times AND BRINGING IT BACK occasionally. We made our way back to the house past the beautiful gardens and huge houses that surround our little townhouse complex, and I was reminded of how much I love our neighbourhood.

Soon we had to get going to my Aunts house for my final (finally) bridal shower. On our way I had to stop quickly at the mall to find a sweater to wear over my dress because I am always cold. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to find a white cardigan sweater in July?? We had to go to 4 stores and were 'fashionably' late to the shower. Oh well, the party doesn't really start until the bride gets there anyway right?

I have been looking forward to this shower most of all. The others were wonderful, but there is just something about sitting in a room surrounded by people who have known you your entire life. These people all remember 'little girl' me and are now getting to be a part of 'grown up' me. There was even a surprise guest; J's Nanny was able to come down! I have only seen her at funerals lately, and other than that and J's practice wedding, I haven't seen her since I was about 8. She still remembers me as the little girl who got chased by their golden retriever. That was so nice, I'm happy that she came.

I was also happy that my own grandmother was able to make it down. When I had talked to her last she wasn't sure she was going to make it. She doesn't like to sleep at either my mom's or my aunts house, so she was planning to drive down and back to her house, that's 2 hrs there and 2 hrs back. We were all impressed with how well she behaved. My Grandma likes to be the center of attention. I'm not sure if it's a form of dementia or the start of Alzheimer's or something, or if she has always been like this and I'm just becoming more aware of it as I grow up, but when the focus of conversation is not on her, or on a topic that she choose, she can't stand it. At one point near the end she did go and sit outside.

After the party, one of my other aunts went over to my moms house and us girls, my mom, my aunt, my sister and I, sat around and chatted for hours. We ordered Swiss Chalet for dinner and I didn't get home until 11pm. So tired.

Amazing day. Amazing weekend. Thank you.

Rain rain go away...

It's a rainy morning here in Ontario, but you know what they say - April showers bring May flowers! 

Well, not exactly...  Actually, I don't believe that for a second.  

Spring is my least favourite season. I know, I know, people are supposed to like spring. Yes, it does bring to mind Easter and baby chicks and tulips and the re-birth of everything that went dormant in the fall... and I like all of that and those thoughts do make me happy. However, along with all of that comes the seemingly never ending rain. It's always dark out, it's still cold, my hair goes frizzy and the freshly thawed ground turns to mush.

April showers bring May flowers?

I think spring and I could get along if it really only lasted a month, but around here it seems go on for more than 2 starting in April and not really ending until the middle to end of June sometime. Spring seems to have come early this year, it started warming up a couple of weeks ago. All of the snow is now gone from the ground and in its place is 5 months worth of road sand and dog poop. There are many streets that look like they don't even have grass along the road because it is completely covered in dirt and our yard is one giant toilet.  

We moved into our house at the end of last May, so we have not really experienced spring there, but I am not looking forward to the amount of mud that the dog will track into the house now that the ground had thawed and the rain started. Is there some variety of grass that will grow without sun and with all the abuse that the dog puts it through that can keep the mud outside where it belongs?

People are quick to remind me when I express my disdain for all things spring, that it's better than the snow storms. I disagree. After the rain all that's left behind is mud. Dirty dirty mud. Mud that gets all over the car, in the car, in the house, all over the dog and it's ugly, it's brown, everything is brown, the trees are still brown, the ground is brown, my white carpet turns brown. Brown, brown, brown and dirty. But after a snow storm, the world sparkles. Everything is blanketed in a clean white sheet and the trees are decorated with white ribbons and when the dog rolls around in the snow I don't have to take him home for a bath.

My dog hates having a bath.  In fact, he thinks I must be torturing him.  My scaredy-Jak is afraid of all things water.  A bath, the rain, the lake, it doesn't matter, it is scary.  This morning when I let him out to do his business, I opened the door, he stuck his nose out and took a step back.  Do you really think that I am going to go out there and get wet?  What are you, crazy?!? I'm not going out there!* Eventually he will go outside, but if he could cross his legs for the next 2 months, I know he would to avoid the rain.

As I finish this post the sun is peeking through the rain clouds and I finally see it.  I see the silver lining. The hope that comes along with all this muckyness. Summer is coming, it's right around the corner.  I just wish it would hurry up already!

*now that I have started this blog, I am going to have to start to take more pictures of him and his "you have got to be kidding me lady" expressions.

Poo, Poop, Shit, Doo-Doo, Ca-Ca

What ever you call it, my yard is full of it!! When the snow first started melting I went out and picked up as much poop as I could. I filled 3 bags with snow and doggy-doo. Then the rest of the snow melted and I went out again, this time with the intention of reclaiming our yard and hoping that the turds would still be frozen enough that they would be easy to pick up and not too messy. They were frozen alright, frozen to the ground... I actually broke the piece of shit pooper-scooper on a piece of shit! This weekend I finally bought a new scoop, a bright turquoise one! Never before have I been excited about a pooper-scooper, it works like a charm, I don't have to touch anything except the handles, and it's pretty.* 

On Saturday I got the yard cleaned up as best I could. Between the trees, the house, the fence and the "good-neighbour" fence on our deck, our little postage stamp size patch of lawn gets little sun and grows hardly any grass. Add the dog to that and this year there is even less grass. It was hard to tell some of the brown patches apart. Am I digging a hole in the ground, or removing the mud-pie? For now the yard had been reclaimed... until next week. 

* I never thought I'd say that about something that picks up poo.