Save The Date!

I sat down after work one night and decided to try and design our Save The Dates by myself. It worked out prettttty darn well and I'm very happy with them :) Allison is still designing our invitations and those are coming along so nicely. It's also time to send these out because we changed the date of the wedding about 3 times. Some venue changes happened, so we weren't sure, but there's a deposit down and we're locked in this time!

I've come across trouble trying to get these printed out properly. It's making me a little nervous how I'll print the invites, but I'll tackle that when it comes. The print center keeps sending them back to Staples with proofs even though I've asked and asked to just print them because they're fine and I like them. I was supposed to mail them out on Sunday, but obviously that didn't happen. Today is Wednesday and I get to pick them up (hopefully) tomorrow.

So here we go:

How do you like it? It's simple, but it incorporates our colors! I'm so excited for everyone to receive and open their envelopes containing them!

xo. Nicole

Giveaway Review!

I was the lucky winner again! I'm starting to like this whole "enter a giveaway and win" thing...maybe I'll keep it up. This one was was hosted by the lovely Clara from That Girl Magazine who I met through Blog Trends! 

The coolest thing about this iPhone Glow Skin is that it glows in the dark (duh!). Really, I had no idea it did until I shut off my lamp one night with my phone charging underneath the light. Not that the name of the product was a major hint or anything...

Also, Clara and I have somewhat matching Glow skins on our iPhones now. Jealous?

I had a hell of a time getting the side stickers on and you can clearly tell by the crap job I did. I also think the dimensions (er-measurements?) of the buttons were a bit off for my 4S. It hasn't bothered me since and I'm quite proud of how well I actually stuck the skin on, all even and stuff.

You should probably check out Clara's blog because her posts are pretty funny. She's in college and eating a lot of ramen, so it's fun to read about.

xo. Nicole

Booking Our Honeymoon

We booked our honeymoon!

Mind you, we currently don't have anything planned while we're there, but what's wrong with a little R&R? I'm super pumped because I have this weird fascination with hotels. And of course, because it'll be our honeymoon...We have the King Jacuzzi Suite. It consists of a king size bed, two-person jacuzzi, and a fireplace. Who wouldn't love that?

We (or I) found a good deal at the Rundlestone Lodge in Banff, Alberta! I've never been to Banff, even though I've been almost all over Alberta. I hear that it's beautiful and a good time to go (in June). We leave two days after our wedding and are there for 3 nights. They had some honeymoon special, but it was an extra $300 for only 2 glasses and 1 bottle of champagne. I could buy that cheaper and just bring it in the room. So I decided to write in the 'additional comments' section when I booked it, "HONEYMOON!!!" Do you think they'll know it's our honeymoon?

I was also looking at good deals and honeymoons in Jasper, Alberta. I talked to Nicole from Gypsy in Jasper and she offered to cook Rob and I dinner one night! One of the many reasons I love blogging is the community. I just couldn't find anything as good as this deal, in Jasper :( One day we'll meet up!

It feels so good to know that our honeymoon is booked and out of the way. Now we can figure out how many days to take off of work and such. 

Where did you go for your honeymoon?

xo. Nicole

Photos courtesy of google and rundlestone.com

Feelin' Crafty

Lately I've been feeling pretty crafty! That's good because there's going to be a TON of crafts coming up for the wedding. So, I decided to put my 'crafty-feelings' to good use and I made a pillow!

I thought it would be pretty simple until my sewing machine wouldn't work how I wanted it to, so everything was hand-sewn. Here's hoping it stays together and that the cat doesn't think the bunting is a toy...

I also finished our Save The Dates! I'll share them with you on Tuesday when they've been mailed out :)

Have you done anything crafty lately?

xo. Nicole

Weekend

This weekend, my cousin came out from Alberta and we decided to venture downtown as she had never been to Vancouver before. We did the whole experience, which included the Skytrain. We even went in the Vancouver Public Library, something I hadn't done before!

We saw the Olympic Cauldron and then we went to Elephant & Castle for some nachos. It was a really great visit :) I promised that next time I would have an itinerary planned and that she should come out longer.

What did you do this weekend?

xo. Nicole

Wedding Weight Loss

Right now, I'm not sure "Wedding Weight Loss" is the correct title. It's not going to be so much about how much I weigh, but how I feel. I have a wedding dress to fit in to in 5 months, guys. I need some more serious motivation, so why not blog about it?

Also, if it bothers you, pardon my writing right now. I could only sleep for a few hours last night and then woke up and fell asleep again. I'm pretty sure I'm still sleeping right now.

I'm choosing to not put pictures up just yet. When I feel how I hope to feel, then I'll probably put pictures up from the beginning to the day of the wedding. 

So, as I currently stuff my face with leftover potato soup (don't judge, bro) (it's needs to be eaten for me to not eat it eventually, right?) I'm figuring out a gym plan. I was given some free month passes to a gym up the street and I'm putting out every excuse in the book to not go. That needs to stop! One of my resolutions for the new year was to work out at least once a week. Tomorrow will hopefully be that day for this week. No sorry, tomorrow WILL be that day for this week.

You see what I did there? But knowing me, it still might not happen. I need a giant kick in the ass.

How did you get motivated to go work out?

xo. Nicole

Crock Pot Potato Soup

Ooooohhh my goodness! I have never been so in love with a recipe. I came across THIS recipe for simple potato soup and I knew it had to be done. This post may not be wedding related, but I feel it's marriage related. What's a marriage without a yummy potato soup dinner?

We decided that this crock pot should be put to good use. If we invested in it, might as well use it as much as possible. It came in handy the other day with we both worked 8 hours and got off at 4pm. We woke up at the same time, enjoyed a cup of coffee together, and then started dinner before we left. I made a pot roast and holy snickers, it was delicious! It was so nice to come home to the smell of dinner cooking. We brought it over to Rob's parents and they loved it.

Now, back to the potato soup. I followed the recipe pretty good, but I definitely recommend putting the hash browns in first instead of last, like I did. I also decided to up the amount of black pepper. The soup hardly had any flavor, so I also put a bunch of garlic powder and bacon bits. It's soo yummy. Garnish with green onions and grated cheese.

Have you tried any recipes lately?

xo. Nicole

PS: Do you like my new blog design?

Headphone Case DIY

For Christmas this year, I made almost every gift that I gave. From making all of the gifts, I learned so much about sewing and realized that my favorite fabric is felt. This particular felt is "eco-fi" meaning it's ALL made from recycled products. It was a good choice for making things out of.

For my friend Rachel, I made her an iPod cozy and a little case for her headphones. We all know how tangled those can get, so at least this way, the headphones aren't all over her purse!

The pictures are pretty straightforward. I'm slowly learning how to make a tutorial, but I hope you find use out of this one! :)

1/ I cut a rectangle shape that I thought would come out long enough for half of it to be folded. I didn't measure the exact dimensions (sorry!)

2/ I used a blanket stitch around the 3 edges. It would also be a good idea to sew the button on, just under where the pin is, during this step (I didn't and it was hard to sew it on after I sewed the 3 edges).

3/ I cut another piece of felt to match the inside of the flip cover. I made sure to cut out a little mustache and sewed it on the outside of the blue before sewing (with a blanket stitch) the brown piece on.

4/ After the brown piece is sewed on to the inside of the front cover, make sure you cut a small slit so that you have somewhere for the button to push through and stay so that your case will stay closed.

Congratulations! You made a headphone case! She loved her gift and I've considered making bigger versions as clutches or cases for other items, like a laptop. My mind races with random ideas all the time and then I realize I don't have quite enough fabric or patience...

If you have any questions about how to make this, let me know! My tutorial skills will improve over time so be on the lookout for new and improved DIY's :) 

Did you make any gifts this year?

xo. Nicole

2013

Do you know what's happening in 2013?

 I'M GETTING MARRIED! 

2012 was such a great year. I earned my Child and Youth Care Worker Diploma, Rob and I moved out on our own, we got our kitten, and a bunch of other amazing things! I am so excited to see what 2013 has in store for us. We're going to be getting married in 5.5 months, getting our puppy in 1 month, and then moving in to our own apartment (no room mate!) in September. 

I decided that even though I never follow through with my New Year's Resolutions, I still want to make some. So here they are:

• To plan this wedding with everything I have
• To work out/run at least once a week
• Lose some weight so that I look and feel prettier in my wedding dress
• Visit my mom more than once a month
• Earn some more money so that I can contribute more to the wedding and household
• Visit family in Alberta
• Be more reliable
• Put more effort in to A Broke Bride
• Save more money

Source

xo. Nicole