September

I finally have two days off! September was a busy month full of family and friends. I totally lacked on posting this month, but October will be better (I know, every one says that...). I have a bunch of canned pears and I know I want to make something with them. Has anyone ever made a pear pie? Maybe if I added some raspberries in there, too...

1/ Koshka's like any other cat and looovveess boxes 2/ Lace and bows

3/ Perfect mug for fall 4/ Do it Starbucks style! Tights care coming back for Fall

5/ Full moon on my way home 6/ Koshka being Koshka and my lack of smile

7/ Izzy (my dog at my mom's) sunbathing 8/ More vegan cupcakes!

There's September in a couple pictures. A lot of my cat, my shoes, and the moon. I'm excited for what October has to bring :)

xo. Nicole

Wedding App Review

The day after Rob proposed, I went crazy and downloaded a bunch of apps on my iPhone that had to do with weddings. A bunch of them were the same thing, so I ended up deleting more than half. Out of all the wedding apps on my phone (6), only 2 of them are actually useful to me. 

I thought it might be helpful for all the brides and future brides (or grooms) to have a little review of the helpful apps instead of purchasing a ton of useless ones. (Mind you, I'm not very good at doing reviews)(Don't blame me if one turns out to be the greatest wedding app ever invented but I gave it a sucky review so you didn't download it and now your wedding is ruined) :D

Brides 3.0 - FREE

This app is quite helpful in the way that it has a LOT of dresses, options for jewelry, shoes, vendors, etc.. I found it nice (before I found my dress) to browse through all the pictures when I was bored. If you allow your location services, it's accurate in showing you which vendors and other wedding things are around. It's not a checklist-type app, it's more of a find-what's-around-and-book-it-all-for-your-wedding-type. I really like the design, too. 

Wedding Complete - FREE

I thought that this was my favorite one...until it started crashing on me whenever I tried to open anything past the countdown. Guest list? Nope. Checklist? Nope. RSVP? Nope. There really isn't any point of me having it anymore except for the cute design for the countdown. When I could open the parts of the app, the guest list and seating chart were really simple to use and were helpful.

Wedding DIY - FREE

I really like the notebook feature because you can take pictures of something and then label it as what it's for.  I feel as if I should be taking pictures of every list that I make. I keep losing them. If you click the checkmark on the bottom of the screen, it emails you a PDF of a checklist. Though, I've done this a few times and I have yet to receive my checklist.

Wedding 911 - FREE

The Knot is an awesome site and it's app isn't too far behind. My only issue with The Knot is that it doesn't offer anything for people living in Vancouver, Canada. The app, however, is basically just questions and answers so your location doesn't really matter. The answers to some of the questions are really traditional, so it's helpful that there's a basis to go off of for your own wedding (did that even make sense?). You can even ask your own questions! I've never asked, so I'm not actually sure how long it takes to get a reply or if it will even be answered. This is a really helpful app to have while you're planning your wedding.

WedHappy - FREE

This is (by far) my favorite app for planning a wedding! The task list is very, very helpful and it shows you the deadlines based on the date of your upcoming wedding. As you can see, I'm about 3 weeks behind (lol). I highly suggest this to anyone planning a wedding!

So there's my little review of a few of the apps I'm using to help me plan my wedding! I believe they were all free, but none of them (if any) cost more than $1.99. 

What apps are you using to help plan a wedding?

xo. Nicole

Shelby and Erik's Wedding

My friend, Shelby, recently got married and has let me share some of her pictures with you! Her photographer, Jennifer, did an amazing job (All photos are credit to Jennifer). 

I am totally in love with the honeycombs and the colors of their wedding. Shelby has been amazing in helping me with my wedding, like offering any of the decorations and any help I may need. I am so excited to get together and craft!

I'll add some more pictures in another post, but don't you love it?! Her wedding is very inspiring and it looked like it was a lot of work. They were even under budget and spent under $10,000! Shelby recently started her own blog, which I linked above, and from the looks of it she's going to have some pretty yummy recipes up there! There's already one for some lamb in a crock pot - yum. 

xo. Nicole

A Family BBQ

While my dad and his fiancee were out, we went over to my dad's aunt's house for a little family get together. My younger sister, Aimee, is an aspiring photographer so she took her camera along. She hasn't emailed them all to me, but here are the one's she did.

My dad and his uncle.

My Aunt just recently remodeled their kitchen and it's gorgeous. So here's some food.

Redneck Albertans and their cigarettes..

LOL funny face time apparently. (That's not how I actually smile...I'm in the middle)

Aimee and my dad.

This past weekend, I've gone through periods of being pretty sad because they left Friday afternoon after I went to work. Apparently I just get cranky instead of crying, so Rob's had to deal with that a bit. I know it's a 'see ya later' instead of a goodbye, as they'll for sure be out again in June for my wedding, but it doesn't make it suck any less. 

We had a really awesome visit. It was really nice to have them stay at our place instead of at his Aunt's. I got to wake up every morning to my dad tiptoeing around trying to work the coffee maker, while Rob and I slept on the couch. I admit, when I was younger, I always expected a new toy or a new outfit when we saw dad, but since I've grown up, I just look forward to the time spent together. I really did not expect anything when they were out, but they stocked up our toilet paper, paper towel, and our fridge! 

:)

I've got a couple posts coming up. I was just very busy the past week between work and my parent's visit, so I haven't had time to really be online. I received one of my giveaway prizes all the way from England! It was from a giveaway on Second Thoughts. 

Stay tuned. x

xo. Nicole

Why I've Been Absent

Heyyyyooo! I haven't blogged recently because my dad and his fiancee have been out since Saturday night. I'm embracing the time that we have together rather than worry about going online. They've gone to bed so now I can play my Facebook game and relax on the couch :)

Dominoes! Mexican train dominoes, to be exact. It's the one game that gets played every time we see dad, grandma, or aunty Pearl. It's really fun. We tried playing it tonight, but our brains all hurt after one round, haha!

This is my view every morning while my dad is out. We offered them our bed as they're older and their backs aren't in as good of shape as ours. The couch is pretty comfy...the only thing keeping us awake is the Netflix and cat jumping around doing her random night time craziness.

I finally put up our picture frame! I had had pictures printed a couple months ago, and I even put them in the frame. Our only problem was finding a good spot and having the tools to do so. Three pictures of my nephews, one of my sister, one of me, two of Rob and I, a pictures from Christmas, and then my dad and I at my high school graduation. I want more frames!

Rob had Tuesday off, so it was our only day for the four of us to go out and do something. We couldn't decide what to do, but eventually we decided on going over to Victoria to walk around. Turns out we missed the 1pm ferry and had to wait for the 3pm. We browsed the gifts shops and got some gelato while we waited. It was then a 2 hour ferry ride, so we essentially drove in to the first city, had dinner, and then raced back so we wouldn't miss the 8pm ferry (which we thought was the last one!). We made it on to the 7pm one in the bottom part with all the big trucks. 

 On the way there...

 On the way home...

I guess we just took the 2 hour ferry ride to have dinner and take another 2 hour ride home. Dad and Christie were just happy they get the time with us and finally got to visit the island and take the giant ferry.

So far, it was been a great visit! I'm not really looking forward to work on Friday afternoon, but at least they'll still be here when I get home. They're leaving Saturday morning when I go off to work. 

I also received my giveaway prize in the mail! I'll be doing a post soon. It came all the way from England :)

xo. Nicole

Really, The Best News Ever...For A Broke Bride

I recently started my new job as a part-time residential care worker. I work in North Vancouver on the weekends and work with adults who have special needs. It's really good and came at an awesome time! It's obviously not all about the money, but it sure does help. Rob is also a care worker, but at a private home for a young adult who has a disability. Just the other night, Rob went to pick up his client from a wedding. He got to talking to some of the people there and I guess they liked Rob and what he was doing for their family because they made us an amazing deal. 

I was doing my best google searching for the best deals on renting those giant white tents, chairs, and tables. They were pretty expensive at $275 per tent, $8 a table, and $1.25 a chair. We need at least 2-3 tents, 24 tables, and roughly 130 chairs. That adds up pretty darn quickly.I was starting to lose hope in how we were going to afford everything, but then Rob called me when he was at the wedding, waiting for his client. 

Are you ready for this?

They told Rob that we could rent everything we needed (as in 3 tents, 24 tables, and 130 chairs) for only $200! Yeah. That's awesome.

Place we were considering getting our stuff from: $1,180.

The amazing people that are letting us rent everything we need: $200.

So essentially, we're saving: $980.

Hello caterer! Now we can have food at the wedding (ha).

But really, now I can think about the other things involved in a wedding, like Rob's ring. We're also going to need to budget hair and makeup, flowers, programs, fabric, lights, dance floor (?), etc..

source

source

source

source

It's so hard to come to a final decision about anything. Really.

xo. Nicole

Wednesday

I did a little bit of baking today while I stuffed my face with chocolate that Rob found. I was feeling pretty blah because we didn't have any creamer or milk to put in my coffee...so I didn't have any coffee. I needed sugar! Being the butthead Rob can be, he told me he had hid the Christmas chocolate from me on purpose. So naturally I stole some.

I've baked these before and I still used Chia seeds because we were out of eggs. This is a much healthier version anyways, so there are no complaints. Except that no eggs means that I don't get scrambled eggs and cheese tomorrow morning for breakfast. Wah.

Geez. Can you tell it's one of those days for me?

xo. Nicole

The Furry Life

Ah, the life of a cat. 

1/ To be able to stare intently at your owner without it being too creepy. 2/ To hide under a mat and it not be questioned because you're a cat. 3/ To worry your owner about your whereabouts and sit there silently laughing while you shed in Rob's shoes, waiting to be found. 4/ To tell us that the light is too bright by being cute instead of clawing us. 5/ To pass out on the couch after a day of catnip and chasing fabric.

Basically, Koshka's being cute and I wanted to share it with all of you. Why should I keep this all to myself? I'm also very tired and I find this acceptable for a 1:00 am post while she punches me in the face with her face, a.k.a cuddling.

xo. Nicole

Guest Post - Rebecca

I've got a special post for you guys today! Rebecca from Revkah is telling us the story of how her and her long time love came to be! They were both quick to be in a relationship just like Rob and I were. I'm very happy for them and I hope you enjoy her post :)

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So before I start boring you all with chapter one of my relationship with my boyfriend, I'd like to say a very big thank you to Nicole for allowing me to guest post on her beautiful blog.

This picture was taken only a month ago, in the beautiful city of Rome. 

That gorgeous blue eyed man stood next to me is my boyfriend. After having a do-nothing-all-holiday break away last year, we decided it would be fun to have a city holiday this year. We celebrated our 27 month anniversary whilst away. 27 months, it's not a milestone, but we got to spend the happy date whilst on holiday together. Roughly 30 months prior to this day, we knew nothing of each other. An old friend of mine was acquainted with a friend of David's, so that's how I came to get to know this particular circle of friends. I spent two months hanging around with the same group of people as he, but never really met him. Properly, anyway. 

Roughly 28 months prior to this day, sometime in March (after David's birthday) we met. And of all the romantic places anyone could bump into the love of their life in, we met in a pub. And said boyfriend was relatively drunk. It wasn't a particularly nice encounter; the day we actually met was the day an individual from my past had passed away. So really, I was set out to get drunk, ignore everyone and not be hit on by any men. In rolls David. Drunk as a skunk. Sits on my knee. So you can imagine the mood I'm in, right? Upset, emotional, angry and drunk, too. So I shout at him. I cuss, I tell a mutual friend to keep him away from me. All sorts of melodramatic. We spent the remainder of the evening separated and keeping out of each others way. Well, you know how friends have that knack of reminding you about every detail from the night before?  My then friend reminded me of my callous attitude towards David on this particular evening, and I felt inclined to apologize. In steps social networking. Facebook, to be exact. And you know how you're always magically friends with someone prior to even meeting them? And you have no idea when you even accepted/requested friends? This was the case. So conveniently I didn't have to go through the whole embarrassing "request friendship" lark. "David is online". Open chat box. I apologized - and so did he for his drunken behaviour. And from that day, for about a week or two, we chatted as friends.

I spent most of the time at home as I'd nearly finished the last year of college, so I was off most days for revision, and he spent his days at university chatting to me online. There was several nights and events which we were both attending, like one night where he kindly bought me a drink and I disappeared (accidentally - friend in need and all that) for half an hour leaving him looking a little silly. So at these events we'd kindly speak, exchange words and jokes. And that was about it. It came to a point where I asked for his number from his close friend and text him after returning home after such an event. 

It's a good job he'd already asked for my number also from the same mutual friend, otherwise his response to my text asking "guess who" could have been so very wrong and so very disappointing. About another week after that, after enduring a kebab night with David and this mutual friend (who really, David and I owe everything to, because he was acting as Cupid throughout most of this), we organised a double date. David and I, and two friends. Of course, in true friend style, they both dropped out leaving David and I to go on a double date... Just the two of us. So a date really. We went for a few drinks and then to the cinema to see Shelter - and I still have the cinema ticket in my purse - how crap is the film Shelter?! I remember fiddling with his ring he was wearing, that it came off and bounced under the seats in the cinema. Of course, that caused a laughing fit. I also remember him moving in for the first kiss and then walking out of the cinema hand in hand. That was April 14th, 2010. 

 By April 21st, we'd been on our second date to Chiquitos and were in an official relationship. Quick mover, isn't he. Or perhaps I just was't willing to take what was blossoming for granted. And now our relationship is 28 months old, and every single moment has been great. Don't get me wrong - as with any relationship, there's ups and downs. But this is a happy story, about how we met. Chapter one, shall we say. I'm waiting for him to make a trip to a jewelry store for chapter two to start. And I hope you've enjoyed reading!

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Thanks Rebecca!

xo. Nicole