For sale: my wedding stuff

I've posted so much of my wedding stuff for sale: candle holders, candles, vases, a crinoline (that I didn't end up wearing), a ring bearer pillow (the one that wasn't used!), the pew bows.

I posted them on Craig's List and Wedding Bee. I just hope they sell fast! I posted them for a little more on Wedding Bee only because I will probably have to ship them in the price (most buyers on Wedding Bee, in my experience, ask for shipping included), so that'll cover the shipping.

I'm still not sure what to do with my wedding dress. Do I sell it? Preserve it? I can't see myself saving it for a potential daughter to wear - this hypothetical girl should pick out her own dress if she ever marries! I'm not ready to get rid of it (yet), but seeing as how I've already gained 10 lbs since the wedding (damn France honeymoon ... and lack of motivation since returning), so it already won't fit! So I'm not sure what to do. Thoughts?

If you're interested, here are the Updated links:

• Ivory roses in julep cups
• Eiffel Vases
• Silk flower pew bows
• Ivory candles in frosted candle holders
• Ring pillow
• Crinoline (petticoat)

THREE MONTHS!

We've been married 3 months today. But I haven't finished the recaps! (There isn't much left, mind you. But I need to get my bum in gear!
(Source: Unveiled Photography)

Planning

I love planning things. I always have. I tried to throw my parent's a surprise anniversary party when I was about 12 for their 15th anniversary. They found out, and asked me not to do it. But I had a location and a date, and I sent invitations with the help of my grandma!

So, on my drive back from Montreal today, I was thinking about when we should have a housewarming party. I was thinking late November, so we get settled in (we move on October 2nd). [When I got home, Wade suggested we do it on my birthday week-end, which is the first week-end in December. I like that idea!]

Then I got thinking ... we should have a first-anniversary party for our closest friends (bridal party). I remembered Wade will be in Dover, Delaware on our first anniversary. (What a bum! But I had over a year's notice of it at least.) And I was thinking that less than 4 weeks after our anniversary is Canada Day. So we're going to have a Canada Day / slightly belated anniversary barbecue at our new house! What a great idea! (And with our new pool in our new house, it's a great spot to have a Canada Day party!)

I'll be back soon to finish off!

Sorry about the delay in wedding recaps. I know I left off right before my dad's speech. I'll finish; just not yet. We have so much for the house sale to do that I don't have enough hours in the day! But I'll come back and finish off!

Wanna see our maybe new house?

Click here to see the house we bid on!

A slightly off-colour joke

A husband and wife are playing golf together. The husband is not golfing well, and his wife is doing very well. They have been married 25 years, but the husband has decided today he needs to tell his wife something.

The husband says, "Twenty years ago I had a brief affair. It meant nothing. I hope you can forgive me."

His wife was hurt but said, "Dearest, those days are long gone. What we have now is far more valuable. I forgive you." They embraced and kissed, and everything was fine. In fact, the husband's game improved as he was so happy to be forgiven!

Understandably, the wife's game was not going as well until they got to the seventeenth tee.

As the husband was starting his back swing his wife blurted out, "I'm sorry darling, I've been so conscience-stricken since you told me your news. Since we're being honest with each other, I have something to tell you also: 32 years ago I had a sex change operation. I was a man before I met you. I hope you can forgive me."

The husband froze at the top of his back swing, then threw a fit! He slammed the driver into the ground, kicked the ball into the woods, stormed off the tee, pushed the golf cart over on its side, broke the rest of his clubs one by one, then started on hers. He screamed and ranted, "You liar! You cheat! You despicable deceiver! How could you? I trusted you with all my heart and soul ... and all these years you've been playing off the ladies tees!"

Teaser Answered

We put a bid on a house.

Just to clarify: we already have a house. Well, to be fair Wade has a house. He bought it before we met. It's small (very small) but we intended on staying here for at least a few more years. But friends of his family have a gorgeous house, and they intended on selling in a few years. Wade mentioned to the friend to let us know when they're listing. Well, they changed their mind and listed this year! So they let us know ... and we put a bid on the house.

Our main condition is sale of our house, so our house is now listed. It'll be on the Canadian real estate website tomorrow and we'll have an open house on the week-end.

Our biggest problem developed today: a house very similar to ours listed today, too. Same price, appears to be the same size, same / similar set-up (from the pictures) but they have a finished basement (and we do not). Mind you, our neighbourhood always sells quickly ... but still, it's kinda scary.

I'll keep you updated! And I think I'd best start a non-wedding blog for all my random thoughts like this one.

P.S. Once our house is listed on the website, I'll show you our house!

Exciting News

... No, we're not having a baby. That's not in the works right yet, if you're wondering. (And many people are!)

We'll share our excitement tomorrow.

(Is that a teaser or what? I didn't give you any information!)

Did you read the news about the shooting in Pennsylvania?

RIP
Heidi Overmier, Elizabeth Gannon and Jody Billingsley.

RIP also: Rachel Scott, Daniel Rohrbough, Dave Sanders, Kyle Velasquez, Steven Curnow, Cassie Bernall, Isaiah Shoels, Matthew Kechter, Lauren Townsend, John Tomlin, Kelly Fleming, Daniel Mauser and Corey DePooter; Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz; and Justin Schwieg. And so many others.

None of you deserved what happened. Your families and friends did not deserve this.

May you be remembered by your families and friends not for how you died but for how you lived.

Random post about comedy and parliament in Canada

I found an amazing video from one of my favourite comedian's posted on my friend Groomsmen Greg's blog (a home improvement blog about his and his girl-friend, my maid of honour, Jocelyn's house).


Rick Mercer is an incredibly smart man who satirizes Canadians, Americans, politicians and anyone & everyone else. This video contains a very real lesson on the Canadian parliament. It's about a year and a half old (as you'll see with the reference to George Bush as the U.S. President). Canadian comedians enjoy much more intimacy with our politicians than our American neighbours do. For example, would this ever happen in ths U.S.:



(Yes, it really happened to our current prime minister.)

Want proof this is the norm? Here's our former prime minister (when he was prime minister) announcing his retirement at a news conference, when a cast member from the same show as above intervenes:

...

I can't think of a creative title, so that's all it is.

I'm trying to think of what to do next. In my wedding recaps, I am into the reception. I should finish up in a week or two, depending on my motivation. Then I'll put up our honeymoon pictures. That could take a while, or I could do it quickly, depending on how many pictures and stories I share! (We were gone three weeks, after all. There are lots of pictures and lots of stories.) ut beyond that, then what? I'm married, what else can I say on this blog?

Not much. So what do I do next? I am pondering that. I am loving the ability to write all the time. I love to write. This is a great outlet for me.

(Side note: when I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut or a writer. If anyone knows Roberta Bondar or Julie Payette, let me know. I'd love to ask them about their experiences!)

So, when the current poll on my blog closes on Friday (regarding how long it took you to get your thank-you notes out), I'll put in a poll on what you think I should do next! In the meantime, you can comment with any ideas / thoughts on what you'd like to see!

P.S. I ate two caramilk ice cream cones. The first one was so good that I had to have another. Except that I've felt completely "blah" the past two hours since finishing it. YUCK!

P.S.2 I did the 30-Day Shred video last night for the first time since my wedding day. Jillian kicked my butt!

Our to-do list

Do the following:
-Organize our unused `second living room` into a sitting room by:
-Removing futon sofa.
-Filling said sitting room with arm chairs or loveseat or something (to be acquired).
-And purchase a hutch or glass bookshelf or something in said sitting room to store wine glasses. And maybe china. (Yay, wedding gift money!)
-Install dish washer (requires re-organizing cupboards and acquiring hutch or bookshelf).
-Organize office into office-slash-spare room by putting futon in it (requires organizing office).
-Get new tv for living room (lower on the list).

And that`s exciting and overwhelming all at once!

... There's no crying in baseball!

This is our week-end:


Okay, not really. We play in a slow-pitch league (also referred to as three-pitch, meaning you have your own pitcher but you only get three pitches). I used to play fast pitch (softball) until I was about 19 or 20. Only when I was too only for the Junior Ladies league, but not quite good enough for the Ladies league (which was by invitation only) did I stop fast pitch (softball) Now that I play slow-pitch league, which is co-ed, I don't take it as seriously. I also had a couple years off. I'm nowhere near as good as I was: I used to be quite good defensively but only half-decent offensively; I am now okay defensively and bad offensively (meaning I can't hit). I will be honest: I miss the higher skill and competition of fast pitch (softball) and I miss the comraderie of an all-girls team. I was on the same team for several years, so we got to know each other well.

Anyway, the reason our week-end is all about baseball. We have a baseball tournament. All week-end. I'm quite stiff right now.

Here's our schedule (all games one hour or seven innings, whichever comes first):
Saturday
8:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
2:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
Sunday
9:00 a.m.
12:30 p.m. (Quarter final play-offs)
Then we'll probably play at 3:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals, and probably play at 5:00 p.m. in the finals. But that's a lot of baseball for one week-end, especially considering I missed most of June's games (gone for the honeymoon for 3 weeks and all!), and have only been able to make 1 game so far this July. (We have 1 game / week.)

Nonetheless, I still love the movie A League of their Own, as do most women who have ever played baseball or softball!

And now for something completely different ...

Well, not really. Kinda more of the same. But if needed, I have a comfy chair that's perfect for torture should the Spanish Inquisition require one. (And Bridechka thinks she's a geek. Kudos if you know the reference. Or maybe my sympathies are more appropriate.)

It seems that the majority of you sent out your thank-you cards in about a month. Although, 3 keeners sent out their cards about a week after the wedding. I'd like to know who you are, so I can marvel at your organization / enthusiasm! (14 have voted, which I'm pretty sure is enough for a significant sample size. Right? Okay, maybe not. But there are still a few days left to vote!)

And of the three of you who commented, it seems the next thing I should recap is the wedding party pictures. I'll try to do that tonight!

Kelly Hildebrandt, you may now kiss ... Kelly Hildebrandt!

No, this isn't like when Dennis Rodman dressed in drag and married himself!
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, google "Dennis Rodman wedding".)

You should read this article: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/090721/K072106AU.html. Now, I am not the biggest supporter of marrying so young (20 and 24 respectively) particularly after knowing each other for such a short period of time (they met last year). But it is a neat story.

Interviewed by Marie (really long, non-wedding post)

Marie was interviewed by Bridechka. And she offered to interview someone ... so I took her up on the offer!

1. For all those just about to be married, can you describe how you felt the night before the wedding?

The night before the wedding, I was so excited. I was a little nervous, perhaps curious, to find out what would go wrong. (I mean, something goes wrong for everyone, right?) So I was curious about that. I was mostly excited.

Now, an hour before the wedding – that was different. I can’t remember when I got nervous exactly. I think it was either just before or just after I’d gotten in my mom’s van to go to my parent’s house for family photos. It was at that point that I got nervous. I don’t know why. I think I just wanted to make sure I was at the church. When I did arrive at the church, I calmed slightly, and switched from nerves to ecstatic when I started walking down the aisle.

I don’t think my response is normal. Many friends have told me they were nervous. A coworker said she was scared for weeks beforehand at the thought of having to stand in front of people. That didn’t faze me in the least! Being in front of people does not bother me! But blogger Carly, who was also nervous about her wedding day, has said that everyone is looking at you with happiness and love. So if you’re nervous, remember that you invited people who you want to witness you say your vows.

2. Why did you chose to become involved in health and safety? Was it anything specific or did it just happen?

A little of both. I became interested in health & safety (H&S) when I held a summer job at DuPont. DuPont is a famous industry-leader in H&S. The training program for a 4 month contract was the same as for anyone else: 4 weeks duration. They consider the training worth it, because a huge focus on the training is on doing the job safely. I had that summer job for five summers, although for the last two summers I actually worked for Invista (Invista was a spin-off of DuPont that was sold to Koch Industries).

I realized H&S could be a career when I was looking at post-graduate options after finishing my undergrad degrees. The University of Toronto offers a degree in occupation health. It sounded interesting - the study of workplace hazards - noise, ergonomics, radiation, H&S management, and so on. So I applied. And I got accepted. And I do find it interesting. I actually find myself passionate about occupational H&S.

3. How did you and Wade meet? Sorry if you've already told us but I can't remember!

I don’t think that I did. During my second summer working at DuPont, I joined the work baseball league. I played on a different team than Wade, but many of our teammates knew each other. After one game playing each other, many of our teammates went back to their regular post-game bar and hung out. I got to know Wade, and his friends Mike and Kelly. I ran into Kelly another time, and we started hanging out. Since Kelly and Wade were friends, I saw Wade now and then. And that’s how we met.

I have to say, I thought Wade was weird at first. It turns out, he was trying to hard, and it creeped me out. But as he relaxed I was able to get to know him.

4. Why did you and Wade decide to get married in a church?

We thought about a few spots. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of getting married outdoors. Don’t get me wrong – I think the most beautiful weddings are outdoors. But I would be a basket case worrying about if the weather cooperated or not. So in a church seemed the next step.

I thought about the church I went to as a teenager. It’s on the water. It has stain-glass windows on the side facing the street, and clear windows overlooking the water. It’s stunning, but especially so in the morning at the sunrise services (which are only offered once a year, and I only attended a few times). Our reception venue is also on the water, so I thought it would be neat to have the church on the water, too. But the reception is in the east end, and the church is in the west end – probably about a 25-30 minute drive between them.

I also looked into the chapel on our university campus, which is much closer to our reception venue. We went to the same university, but a few years apart. But the chapel only holds 70, and our guest list was 100. In retrospect, we could have had a smaller service, but that wasn’t an option we explored.

I looked into a few other churches closer to the venue. In the meantime, my mom mentioned to me that she thought my grandma would be quite proud if we got married at her church. Even though the church is in the north end of the city, about a 15-20 minute drive from the venue, we ended up choosing this option.

5. What motivates you? A rather broad question but to me you seem very driven and great at achieving what you set out to do so I was wondering how you manage to do that?

I don’t know. I try to be organized. I was shocked to learn I have always been organized. One cousin who couldn’t attend sent my uncle a letter to read at the reception. My cousin, nine years older than me (actually, that makes him Wade’s age), remembers me as a little child organizing games. (I don’t remember that.) My aunt spoke of how I’m so organized that she knew everything would be wonderful. I was surprised to hear of this theme over and over.

I don’t like being unorganized. It makes me feel out of control. I had nightmares months before the wedding because I hadn’t done certain things yet. Once I started planning things, those nightmares went away.

In terms of what motivates me: my fear of feeling out of control, I guess!

Professionally, I’m motivated to do a good job. I feel that (in health & safety) I have the potential to impact people’s lives, not on what happens to them, but what never happens. If I do a good job, people should wonder what I’m there for.

Seriously. As I was told in grad school, the goal of a H&S professional’s job is to put him/herself out of business. The goal is zero workplace injuries, right? People question what you do and the necessity of training if there are no injuries. So my goal is for no one to get injured, everyone to know what they’re doing, and if that means people wonder what it is exactly I do, that’s fine. (As long as my boss likes my job!)

Personally, I’m motivated by my love of learning. I’m also motivated by my love of family & friends. I’m motivated by my love of travelling. I’m motivated to question everything, because I need to know the reason why things happen or how things work. I love museums – whether it’s a museum of science & technology, history, art, archaeology or whatever. I love reading. I love learning. I think that’s why I love to travel – because I learn so much and see new things and experience things I could never experience just be watching the Discovery Channel or surfing wikipedia.

So those are my five answers!

I offer anyone the opportunity! If you would like to interviewed with any five questions of MY choosing, just message me!

Delays in publishing

I have had the difficult task of selecting 100 pictures from the 2000 we received to put in the coffee table album we decided to purchase. This is a surprisingly difficult task that is consuming most of my time.

Re-caps will resume in the next day or two. I'm almost done picking the pictures, and just have to get Wade to "approve". (Meaning, he just has to see if I missed any of his favourite pictures. In all likelihood, he won't add anything, but I do want to give him the chance to add any he may want.)

So, I promise there's more goodness to come! (And lots of pictures. And I mean lots!)

Phone Call

Wade called me at work today. Just to wish me a happy anniversary; meaning we've now been married one month.

Things left to do (still):

-Get guestbook (yeah, yeah, I'm on it)
-Make programs (am awaiting some info from the minister)
-Get bathroom basket stuff

Um, I think that's it.

And Wade has to pack for both of us for the honeymoon. He's stressed by that one.

As I write this, I have Aquafresh Trays on my upper teeth and Crest White Strips on my lower teeth. I have two teeth on my lower mouth that the gums are *just* starting to receed, which makes them exceedingly sensitive if I whiten them. But I want to whiten them. My dental hygienist assures me that the home strips / trays are as safe as dental whitening or the dental prepared trays. She also says that efficacy (effectiveness) is about the same as the dental trays: in theory, they are less effective, but compliance is better, which makes them about as efficacious as the pofessionally prepared tras. Anyway, the reason I have the different types: the lowr strips are a lower concentration and are supposed to be used for two weeks. I'm only going to wear them for a few days, so it's not an issue. The upper strips are a higher concentration, so it works faster. And frankly, people only see your top teeth. (Oh, and I should also say - my dental hygienist also assures me they are safe if you follow the instructions, including not using them any longer or more frequently than recommended.)

Let me also say, I have whitened my teeth twice before over the past 3 years (much less frequently than the maximum). I am always happy with the results, but I already had pretty white teeth before I ever whitened my teeth, so "one shade lighter" is very noticeable.

Oh, and I shredded today. (I'm far too busy to find the link for you so you can see what I mean. Just google "30 Day Shred" to see what I mean.) It's totally getting easier. I tried level 2 on Sunday, but did level 1 with coworkers at lunch today. I kinda wish I had been this committed to my fitness a month ago, but oh well! The dress fits perfectly, so if I had done too much fitness, it might have been a problem.

Now I'm just rambling. Adios; I'll try to post tomorrow to let you know about my bachelorette.

Laptop Issues

So my computer has decided it won't start up. No idea why - and I hope it isn't permanent - but that means posting is light. I hesitate to post from work, so I hope to be up and running at home soon.

Have a safe week! It's NAOSH Health & Safety Week! (NAOSH - North American Occupational Safety & Health ... it's a joint week that was started as the Canadian Occupational Safety Week, but is now joint with the USA and Mexico, coorganized by the ASSE and the CSSE.