What Gives? And Assorted Ramblings....

Feb 18th POD - What is UP with these nails of mine? They have never been this strong or long...that I can remember, anyways.

For years (almost a decade), I have worn acrylic nails on and off (mostly on) because I was tired of having a less than perfect set of nails. There was always one or more that broke once they got a little length happening, which meant of course that they all had to be cut down to size. (See above: obsession with achieving nail "perfection" at all times.)

The other great thing about wearing acrylics is that the polish stays perfect until you want to take it off - no chipping!

Now, for some reason my nails are all long strong and perfect. This sent me to the Net to research what I could be ingesting that would result in this change. Looks like Biotin is the likely suspect, but where is it coming from in my diet?

I take the following supplements religiously - fish oil (because of my bad cardiovascular genetics), vitamin D (because my doc said so), evening primrose oil (because I read in Prevention that it could help with my thinning hair), and a daily multivitamin (just because). Could they be contributing? Because I really don't think I've changed my diet all that much over the past few months.

Oh, to keep them looking like this till the wedding day!

Speaking of, I have been thinking a bit about footwear, now that I have THE DRESS. I am thinking of wearing shoes with colour, specifically pink....because I love pink, and they would add a flash of whimsy with the dress.

I already own a beautiful pair of pink leather sandals, by Franco Sarto. I've only worn them a couple of times and the heel height is nice and low so they are more comfortable than sky-high stilettos.

Only problem is I can already imagine me sinking into the grass during outside photos, thanks to the little spike heels. (And Mizz J is urging me to buy new shoes to wear on my wedding day, so there's that to contend with as well. LOL!)

If I could find the perfect pair of pink peep toe wedges or flats, I think my problem would be solved. In the meantime, these sandals (Feb 19th POD) will be my backup plan.

What about pink running shoes? I can see me wearing a cute little pair, ala Cybill Shepherd, (in)famous for wearing sneakers under her gowns when she walked the red carpet in glamourous gowns. I've been racking up the steps on my step counter lately, and comfort in walking/standing is becoming of prime importance! Feb 20th POD - steps so far today....

Well, enough blogging - time to get walking. Need to hit at least 10,000 steps today!

I have entered a world of pain, and it hurts so good

Feb 17th POD - Personal Training with Jackie - Abs workout

In about 90 days I go for my first fitting of my wedding dress. If that isn't inspiration to work out and eat right, I don't know what is.

Yesterday my date with Jackie involved my (non-existent) abs. Well, I am thoroughly convinced of their existence now, let me tell you. Keepin' my eye on the prize as I struggle through the workout, telling myself it will be so rewarding when I can actually do the full set with good form!

Feb 18th POD - Same DVD, this time the Upper Body Workout.

Not quite the same struggle as with the abs.

Despite feeling the muscle soreness (Hello muscles! Ah yes, I remember you now...), it does feel really good to be working out again.

Why do I stop from time to time? And why do I have to keep relearning this lesson? I AM worth the time to do this, no matter how busy life gets.

The Dress

(JD, if you ever take the notion to start reading this blog, please look no further!)

Well, knock me over with a feather. I have a dress.

First dress shop, first dress I tried on.

The consultant pulled this one for me, after she quizzed me about what I was looking for and sized up my personality and body type. (Man, she IS good.)

Of course I tried on many dresses after that, but none could compare to that first dress. Mizz J was with me and knew it was THE DRESS when I had it on.

I tried it on again, after all of the other dresses. Mizz J clinched it for me when she said "Mom, I would get married in that dress!"

The dress does wonders for my current (abundance of) figure. I ordered it in my current size, knowing that even if I didn't lose another ounce, I would look and feel as good as can be in that dress.

And the consultant assured me it could be taken down 2 more sizes if need be. What more can anyone ask for? Plus it was within the "budget", coming in at well under a thousand bucks.

Three months from now, the dress will come in, and I will go for my first fitting. Now I have a goal to work towards.

The dress is white.

Some people say that second-time brides should not wear white, but some people say that anything goes anymore and women can wear whatever colour they like, even white for a subsequent wedding.

I chose white because my husband-to-be asked me to.

Here is the dress (Feb 16 POD):

Dinner and a Movie Night

Feb 15th POD - Menu from Princess Cafe

The Princess is an independent movie house (now with cafe!) in a City Near the Village. JD and I do love to go to the show, but aren't always quick enough. Hence the movies we want to see sometimes have cleared out of the mainstream theatres by the time we're able to go. This is what happened with Up in the Air.

After a quick search on the Net, we found it is was still "around", playing at the Princess. We decided it would be fun to ask good friends of ours (plus we had an ulterior motive - mwahahaha!) and they said yes to Dinner and a Movie at the Princess.

Mizzus J also said yes to my ulterior motive: asking her to stand up with me at my wedding! She has been a very close and "stand-up" friend of mine for over 25 years now. Been through all my trials (lots) and triumphs (few) with me, always had my back. Our kids grew up together and our sons are still close friends. It is only fitting she stand up with me yet again on this special day.

Valentine's Day Inspiration

Yesterday it was finally time to say good-bye to Christmas. A last look at this years' Swarovski before it got packed away (Feb 14th pic).

Some may think it strange that we keep the tree and decorations up this long afterwards, but one year they stayed up till Easter. Which was just a bit too long, even for me. It felt like the Christmas decor was preventing Spring from coming!

JD's mom (who passed away shortly after we started dating in 2002) used to keep a little tiny tree up all year long, as a reminder for her family to keep the Christmas spirit in their hearts every day of the year. I wouldn't mind doing something similar after the move to our new place. JD's dad still keeps her tree up, as well as buying her a single rose every week and placing it next to her urn on the mantel. Very sweet.

As I was dismantling the tree and packing the ornaments carefully away, I was inspired by the colours in one box of ornaments:

These are the colours I would love to have incorporated into the wedding decorations, flowers and invitations. Soft pinks, creams, gold, silver...even some lavender. Now I have a definitive colour scheme and my artistic and crafty friend Mizzus K and I can go shopping for invitation-making supplies!

It's Time to Get Serious...

Feb 11th POD

About fitness and the wedding, that is.

Purchased a few cheap exercise DVDs to spur me on. Two for kicking my butt, and one for STRESS RELIEF! With a bonus talk by the Dalai Lama on meditation....how could I pass that one up? Plus, did I mention it was cheap?

Feb 12 POD - Catching Olympic Fever - Go Canada!!!!!

Since paying attention to my eating and trying to ramp up the activity (thank you Pedometer!), I have been feeling so much better and I have lost 2 pounds to boot! My body really does want to heal itself, I just have to give it a chance.

I started off slowly, by just increasing the amount of time and intensity of walking Mizz Lucy. Now I am adding workouts in the pool (sprinting laps), elliptical trainer, and DVD workouts.

Feb 13th - Date with Jackie Warner for a 15 minute total body circuit training session. Oh my goddess....I have no core strength. Sad. But I certainly have progress to make in that area, and that will be rewarding to note of as I get stronger. No wonder I have been struggling so much with most belly dance moves!

Who knew you could get so much done in 15 minutes? I am impressed. And pleasantly sore 2 days later. Not crazy-Frankenstein-walk soreness, but just enough that you remember you worked your body good.

Wedding planning got kicked off into a higher gear this week. We met with (and booked) our photographer, the lovely Jillian. Who was a fountain of wedding advice, due to her experiences at weddings of all sorts. And we also met with Tracey, at the Village Hotel, who was/continues to be also most helpful! Things are starting to come together, that's for sure. And about time.

And, in talking things through with these two, we are slowly developing the picture of what we want our guests to experience. We've nixed the DJ/Dance idea in favour of live music and hope we can find someone to fit that bill. Guitar, piano...someone who sings too would be wonderful.

Otherwise we just may be recording hours of our favourite tunes and investing in an iPod and some speakers. We've also decided against a receiving line. The guest list is small enough that we won't have any problem mixing and mingling with everybody immediately afterwards and during the rest of the night. Wedding dress shopping starts tomorrow. Things are starting to come together, all right!

Edward Gets Confused

Feb 9th Pic of the Day - Our newish car (bought Nov 09)

JD and I are fans and consumers of Toyota products. We recently traded in our beloved 2006 Matrix and bought our second Toyota, a 2010 Prius. I secretly (well, guess the cat is out of the bag now) refer to the car as Edward....because the Blizzard White paint job is pearlescent and sparkles in the light. Thanks to Mizz J for introducing me to the Twilight series et al, and that reference!

And now Edward is going to be recalled because of a braking problem. We hadn't experienced it until just this weekend, when JD was braking and went over a bump. Ooops, Edward got confused apparently and the braking just cut out. Thankfully we were going quite slow anyways and there was no one ahead of us.

I do hope Toyota learns from this experience and comes back stronger and more quality-focused than ever. We do think they make excellent cars (well, excellent for our needs...reasonably priced, durable, reliable) and I personally love our dealership - which has besides exemplary customer service, a cafe and quiet room with internet....you really don't mind waiting for the car to be worked on. Oh yeah, and let's not forget the complimentary car wash, so Edward can continue to be sparkly!

Feb 10 POD - Maple Quinoa Cereal

I recently made this recipe, from OhSheGlows, a wonderful website with many great recipes. Vegan baker Angela comes up with cool ways to eat healthy.

I've gotten a lot of great ideas from her site, including the whole Green Monster smoothie crush I'm currently experiencing!

The cereal was easy to make, quite crunchy and nicely sweetened with maple syrup and spiced with cinnamon.

It did keep me full longer than a regular bowl of flakes, no doubt due to the high protein content of the quinoa.