Better than Christmas!

Today marks the start of an incredible 3 day wonderful, fantastic time! First today. As I write this, someone is cleaning my house! Since D has got so sick it has been incredibly hard to keep up with the housekeeping. Whenever I tried to clean, he would get upset that I was doing all of the work. He would try and help only to have to stop after an hour of cleaning. He would want me to take a break with him so that he wouldn't feel guilty. So since our entire house takes more than an hour to clean, only parts of it were getting looked after. So my mom came to the rescue! She has sent us her cleaning lady for the summer to help us out. For which, I am eternally grateful. As if my mom doesn't do enough for everyone, just one more thing to add to the list of why my mom is the best in the world.

Then tomorrow! Harry Potter Day!!! My bestest friend, J, and my bestest sister, H, and by bestest fiancee, D, are all going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have had this day mapped out for weeks. How J is getting our house, who is standing in line, I even bought the tickets last week. Tonight I am going out to buy special themed movie snacks, that's how excited I am for this movie. I am very happy that this has been something that has brought my sister and I closer together. HP is something we have bonded over. We have gone to see every movie together within the opening week, it has been great.

And After Harry Potter? How can it get any better?? Why another shower of course! This time it is with my family. I will know everyone, there will be some people there that I haven't seen in a long time. There will even be people there that I have seen recently, but only in unfortunate circumstances, it will be so nice to have a happy occasion to share with them. It is going to be so much fun, I can't wait!

At a loss for words

My first job in my field came with a really amazing boss, Mr. Ken. We used to fly paper airplanes between our offices and giggle like school girls when the documents we were reading said erection when refering to erecting a tower. Since I quit, we have tried keeping in touch, emailing back and forth a few times a year to see how everyone's doing. The other day he found me on facebook and the first thing he says is Hey Ms. Erin, how is life treating you?


How exactly do I answer that? On one hand life is great. I am in love with an amazing guy, we bought a townhouse and are getting married in less than two monts. On the other hand, life sucks. The amazing guy I am in love with is incredibly sick and may be required to have surgery.


So when I answer, do I leave out the bad? Do people really want an honest answer then they ask how you are, or are they happier to hear that everyone is well? Lately I have answered honestly where ever possible. At my last shower, I made a point of telling people that the wedding plans were going so-so because D's health was touch and go. I wonder if they felt I was bringing the spirit of the occasion down. I feel bad for doing that, but also feel bad for denying my feelings if I pretend that everything is peachy keen.

It's all a blur...

Ever flown somewhere just for the day? I'm not talking about flying in the night before, having a day at your destination, and flying back. No. I mean fly in and out in the same day. Most sane people probably wouldn't attempt to do this, not unless your destination was somewhere like Timmons ON, where there would be a high likelihood that you could see most of it in one day. But what about someplace like New York City? Okay, so aparently my family is insane, because that is what we did this weekend. My parents, my sister and her finacee and I flew to NYC at 8 am and flew home at 8 pm (well 10 pm because the flight was delayed). Are we crazy??

Crazy or not, it was a lot of fun and extremely tiring. The day started very early. Up at 5 am to be out the door at 6:15 am to be at the airport to catch the flight at 8:30 am. We landed in NYC just before 10 and by the time we got off the plane, checked in for the flight home and made our way to Grand Central Terminal, it was nearly 11 am.

From there we split up, the boys went to the MET while the girls went shopping to find mom a dress to wear to my wedding in Sept. The shopping leg of our trip was a bust! First we went to Filene's basement, thinking they would have designer dresses on the cheap. However, they had NO dresses! None at all! That was a huge disappointment. From there we went to TJ Maxx which was just upstairs, and they didn't have much either. We decided to head up to Macy's. On the way there we stopped in at the Burlington Coat Factory. Mom tried on a few things, but nothing worked.

Then we saw a David's Bridal and thought we'd check that out. We did not expect to not be able to wander the store and just see what was around. You had to be escorted around by a consultant. So annoying! And since we are polite Canadians mom tried on a bunch of dresses even though she didn't like any of them. By this time it was getting close to lunch so we used that as an excuse to leave the store, finally! But we did not have enough time to still go to Macy's and meet the boys for lunch at the Empire State Building.

Lunch was at Sbarro's at the base of the Empire State Building. Basically, it is a pizza joint with a salad bar. We all had a slice of pizza that wasn't very good, in fact, it was only luke warm. So far the day wasn't turning out as we had hoped.

After lunch we took a cab down to Battery Park to catch the ferry to take us to Liberty isl and Ellis isl. The ferry was fun, we had a great spot to see everything, and even though dad lost his sunglasses overboard, it was probably the best part of the day.

Dad with sunglasses.... and without!

Our first stop, Liberty Isl. On the island we each got an audio tour. The amout of American patriotic propaganda on the audio tour would have been funny if it weren't so annoying. It was like they were tryng ot make you weep with American pride or something, but if you aren't american, it does nothing. I ended up skipping most of it, and as a result, I skipped the only part that I would have found interesting... the architecture and engineering of her.
Just as we stepped back on the boat to head over to Ellis Isl. there was a sudden downpour. We were happy that we decided to stay inside near the door instead of out on the deck like we had on the way over. Because of the rain and becuase that audio tour took so long, we decided not to get off the ferry at Ellis Isl. Instead we just saw it from the boat. When we got back to the main land we walked up to Ground Zero to have a look.

Then tried the NYC Subway system to get up to Times Square.

We spend a whole 10 min in Times Square before it was time to head back over to Grand Central Terminal to catch the bus back to the airport and head home.

High Tea

A couple of weeks ago, I had my first bridal shower. it was a wonderful tea party hosted by D's aunts complete with little finger sandwiches and big hats. I have been meaning to write this post for a while, but life has got in the way too many times.

For me, the shower was a weekend long event because my bestest friend J came to visit all weekend! The festivities started on Friday when I picked her up at the train station and we went shopping for our weekend project, a bird mobile. We headed over to Len's Mill Store and bought a bunch of retro cool fabrics to create our little birdies. Once home we ordered pizza, watched movies, and started sewing.

Saturday morning we went to the Farmers Market with my friend T and ate dumplings for breakfast and enjoyed the hustle and bustle and sunshine of a local Farmers Market. In addition to our bird mobile, we had another mission we had to complete before the shower. We needed a hat, because who has a hat fit for a fancy tea party hanging around any more??

Value Village was our first stop to try and find cheap big fancy hats. They had nothing. But they did have the Fisher Price Roller Skates that J and I used to have as kids, and believe it or not, I could still get my feet in them! It was, albeit, very tight and once my feet got too sore from skating around the store, we headed for Wal-Mart where I had previously seen hats for under $10. Sure enough, we found a couple of big floppy hats that were on budget - Mission accomplished! Back home to make more birds!

Sunday was the shower, it was so nice to be surrounded by the people closest to me and my new family and to be welcomed in so warmly. The food that one of the aunts prepared with her neighbour (a complete stranger to me) was fantastic! And there was sooo much of it with so may choices. I didn't get to try one of everything, but I'm sure all of it was just as wonderful as what I did try.

There were fun games and prizes, and the gifts that I received were wonderful. I have already put most of them to use, however, the lingerie will have to wait until after the wedding right??

When I got home from the shower, I pulled up to the house and called in for D to help me unload the car. No Answer. I could hear the TV on in the bedroom which meant that he was watching it from in bed instead of on the couch. Generally, that's an indication that he is not feeling well or is in pain. So, since the car was parked on the street, I unloaded it before going up to check on him. When I got upstairs, he was indeed in a lot of pain.

I have to say that the best gift of the day was not wrapped in paper, and it did not have a bow. It was a hand made card from D's cousin's daughter.

Weddings are when a

princess falls in love with

a prince and gets married

Everybody is happy to

see you get married.

True loves forever.

Have a good wedding.

The true gift of that card was when I showed it to D, and through all of the pain, he smiled and said it made his day.

45 Life Lessons

This was posted on the fridge at work today. I don't know who wrote it, or where it came from, so I apologize for any plagiarism.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to wast time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with Someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in Miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children only get one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you are loved.
39. Get outside every day.. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab our back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

While I may not necessarily agree with a few of these (if you know me, you know which ones) but there are many of them that I could take to heart.

Why children should write for Hallmark.

Weddings are when a

princess falls in love with

a prince and gets married

Everybody is happy to

see you get married.

True loves forever.

Have a good wedding.

Lazy Post.

I am going to ignore the fact that you are taking my picture. If I don't look at you, then you aren't really taking it.


Ok, ok, I'll indulge you... but don't expect me to look at you for long. I have things to do, butts to sniff, smelly things to roll in.


Who's there?? You didn't see that little photo shoot did you? I'm so embarrassed...