Oh Johnny and An Engagement

Last night was the night Amanda and I had been waiting for since we bought the tickets for the Johnny Reid concert back months ago! We went together last time he was in town, which was about a year ago, and this time was SO much better!

He was exactly what I want in a concert: entertaining, played the song I really wanted to hear (Let's Go Higher), and he was personable. I love when I walk away from a concert knowing something that I didn't know before. Like about his uncle that came home from a cider tasting and his aunt asked what happened to the man I married, the man that used to wine and dine her, and take her breath away (the inspiration for That Man Is Me). Or hearing about his "gran," what she meant to him, and the song he wrote for her. Of course it reminded me of Grandma, and I was really close to letting the water-works flow.

Lot's of times when I go to a concert it's actually more to see the opening band. I always feel so bad for them, nobody is there to really watch them, there's people milling around getting drinks/food/finding their seat. This time, I hadn't heard of the openening act, The Stellas, I had meant to do a little youtube research on them, but didn't have the time (did you catch the Johnny joke?). When their CD comes out in the new year, I will be running out to get one; they really blew me away. And they told stories! They have a new fan!

Last Friday, Corey proposed to Nicole! Justin and I had been waiting for this for awhile now. I remember a few months ago, him and I discussing their future: we were ready for them to get married, Nicole brings out the best in Corey - and we decided some time ago that we weren't getting rid of Nicole! The Tuesday night before he proposed, we all went out for supper together. Corey and Justin went to London Drugs while Nicole and I waited for our meal to arrive. Corey was on the hunt for a coffee maker, and I suggested to Nicole that they just register for it instead! That night Justin and I had yet another conversation about their relationship: were we wanting this more than they did? Nope, Corey had picked up the ring, and it was just a waiting game at that point.

Justin called last Friday, just to talk about the get-together we were planning for Saturday. When Justin asked what they were up to, Corey must have said about his proposal, since I heard Justin say, "oh really, congratulations." When he got off the phone, I was SO happy, but wanted to make sure that is really what they were talking about before I texted Nicole. Trying to get a straight answer out of Justin is like pulling teeth sometimes; when I questioned him, he said that Corey just bought a new truck - with a convincing look on his face. I was already preparing my text to be sent, then I saw the twinkle in Justin's eye. I told him I was going to send the text, and my hunch better be right, then he admitted the truth. A little bit later is when Nicole asked me to be a bridesmaid! And Corey asked Justin to be his best man Saturday night.

We are unbelievably happy for this engagement/pending wedding! We know all too well how hectic, crazy and stressful planning a wedding can be, and we're here to do whatever they need, and support whatever ideas they have!

After the concert last night I met up with Nicole and Morgan (another of the bridesmaids). We needed to celebate the engagement the way only girls can - by going out and dancing! It was a fast night, but an amazing one. And let's just say, I feel a whole lot better the next day than the last time the three of us went out together!

Last Thursday

Justin was away in New Brunswick from sometime in the early hours of Tuesday morning until he arrived back home late Thursday night. He was working on a job at the McCain french fry plant in Florenceville (the french fry capitol of the world). He wasn't really impressed with the town, his hotel, his alarm clock, and the length of his flights. Being the only one that his work sent to do the job made him lonely, and I'm sure he would have enjoyed his time more if he'd had someone to hang out with! Thursday morning he planned to get up early, pack his stuff, then have a nice drive back to Fredericton, stopping along the way to take some pictures. When his alarm didn't go off that morning, and he woke up an hour and a half later than he wanted to, he had to rush around; leaving no time for photo taking, or souvenir buying. So, no pictures and no shot glasses!

Justin got back home at about nine, and I picked him up from dropping the work truck off at work. He told me the basics of his trip, but immediately when we got to the house, he was ready to look at our wedding photos (I e-mailed the photographers at the beginning of the month and they e-mailed me early this week with them completed - check that off my list!). Justin and I promised each other that we wouldn't look at them until we could look at them together (we did the same with our engagement photos), but this time I had to sneak a peak at a few of them, shhhh!

There we were, sitting in front of the computer looking at the most perfect day ever. What I learned: I danced an awful lot that day - most of it was improptu dancing by myself!! It was a crazy day, and when I'm stressed out, I feel the need to dance to release the tension (I've been doing alot of this again the last few days - dancing in front of the computer to random songs on youtube!). I want to get a disk made up with all the photos on them, then I'll post them here. This one is our favorite:

I can see a trend that's happening with these monthly anniversaries: low-key nights that involves just hanging out together and enjoying the little things in life! Count me in for many more of them!

Accomplishments

Justin called me last night while I was still at work, and asked how happy I'd be if happy found the memorey card that has all of our honeymoon photos on it. Of course, I'd be exstatic, but I didn't beleive him. When he convinced me, I immediately started crying - I was SO happy - I honestly thought it was gone forever, and the five photos I printed off would be the only ones we'd have. I asked him where he found it, apparently I put it in "a satchel" and left it in the pantry. Yup - I don't think I ever would have looked there!

And, the night before Justin found $500 that had somehow been misplaced since before the wedding. We'd searched for so long, and finally gave up - deciding that the money must have gotten spent along the way. Then, when Justin was looking in my coat pockets for the memory card - he felt what he thought was a wad of reciepts. What he felt instead was a wad of cash! We were VERY happy to find the money.

Now, with having the task of finding the memory card officially crossed off the list, I finished up our thank-you cards. They are in the mail, and you should be getting one shortly! I'm so happy to have gotten these done before the two month mark (that was my goal)!

Of the 44 cards, I wrote all but one of them - I wanted Justin to at least write the one to his mum! I just really hope none of them get returned to us for insufficient postage - some of the buttons were really thick, and I'm a bit worried that might have made them need two stamps instead of just the one - hopefully it all works out!

A Little Bit Of Dirty Dancing

I find it hard to scrapbook when I'm in love with the last layout I made. I always feel the next page never messures up, and am never happy with it, but can never figure out why I don't like it. This time around I wanted to ignore the feelings that a new page wouldn't stack up to the last one. I decided I wouldn't compare the two pages, and just create. I took my time with the previous page and decided I would do the same with this one.

On your next layout: scrapbook a photo that you love, but isn't perfect; one that just gets your creative juices flowing, and means something to you.

I knew exactly which photo I wanted to use for this layout. The photo is really blurry, but the feeling and emotion behind it are what moved me and made me want it in my wedding album. When I had my eyes closed in bed one night, all of a sudden I saw the photo in a pile, with more of the same photo - some in black and white, some in colour and all different sizes. The next day I made my trip to Walmart, and printed off what I had seen in my mind.

I already had a colour-scheme for this page: I'd previously decided that I would make a wedding album and use the colours from the last layout, and carry those colours through the pages. I slowly gathered my pile of goodies: paper, brads, a pin, and the stick-on pearls. I started layering the paper.

With the layout almost finished, I decided to use some chipboard. I looked through my stash and found some cute hearts that I liked, but didn't feel were perfect. I had a 40% off coupon to my local scrapbook store, so I set off to see what they had. That's when I bought these butterflies. How have I not used butterflies much before? I'm in love with the light, airy feeling they give the page - exactly what I was trying to create! I almost bought some pink coloured ink, then decided to paint the butterflies instead - I love the added texture that added to them. I also bought the Thickers while I was there too - I love the sparkles on them - and somehow the sparkles don't flake, fall off and create a huge mess!

The page was laid out on my scrapbook room floor, when I tried to find a spot for the journalling. I knew I was going to use "Time Of My Life" as the title; Dirty Dancing is my favorite movie, and this photo screamed that to me. I set to work writting up my journalling one night, watching clips of the movie on youtube to be inspired. When I found the only spot that worked for the journalling, it made sense to add the title the length of the page also. Once again, these page aspects feel incorperated and not floating.

Journalling says: It's the music, a feeling, the “ga-gong ga-gong” of our hearts beating. Our moment to be dancing on the stage and not sitting in a corner. We took each others hand, just let it go and weren’t afraid to lose control. Just remember you’re the one thing I can’t get enough of, and I’ll tell you something: this is love! `Cause I had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you.

While looking for ribbon, I found some white tuille and layered that in amungst the photos, and enjoyed the softness that added. Originally I had it overtop of the black and white photos, which I found was nice, but was distracting, so I placed it underneath and had parts of it poking out and held in place with a couple brads.

Let's see what you can create with a not-so-perfect photo! Leave a comment with a link, and let's inspire each other.

Can It Stay Like This Forever?

I love days like today: when the sun is shining, the weather is perfect (I saw 31 degrees on the thermostat when I was driving) and you can put the pedal to the metal and get out of town for a bit. My cousin had a tupperwear party this afternoon on her farm, and her sister was the demonstrater. Got to see Tyson and Makayla (who is growing up too fast - it's only been two months and she's SO much bigger than when she was first born). Played with Amanda's cute little kittens (and tried to teach Tyson how to pet and hold cats - to no avail).

My plan all day was to stop off the side of the road on my drive home and shoot some photos. I was searching and searching when I left my house for a spot that wasn't too close to the road, and was picturesque. I started debating my plan, and then found some grain bins right along the road, so I quickly pulled off and parked on the backside of them. Luckily there were no house around, so I set the camera on the hood of the Blazer and did my thing (photos 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 13).

10 October Goals

Okay, I must either have completely lost it, or I'm feeling overly creative. Here we go again, another addition - monthly goals (number of goals based on what month it is - to a maximum of twelve). This time I was inspired by Amy Tan. Here goes nothing.

1. Enjoy married life with the best husband! As long as Justin and I aren't sick, I can see us going out for supper this time on the 21st.

2. Pester our photographers for out wedding photos and scrapbook more photos.

3. Go to Calgary to see these two fabulous people! It's been over a month now since I saw them, and that's far too long!

4. Complete and send out about 45 thank-you cards for gifts from the wedding.

5. Scrapbook at least two pages off of my list:
New Years party
100 days
3 months
May Long weekend
branding cattle
Justin's stagJulie's staggette
bridal shower
July Long weekend
street wheelers
Makayla

6. Deep fry a turkey and invite these crazies over to enjoy it with us:

7. Continue practicing my photography and doing project 13. (Photos 9, 11 and 12 from yesterday.)

8. Plan a trip to get out of town for the weekend just Justin and I (I was thinking just down to Great Falls - but Vegas would be sweet - photos from separate trips in 2008 and 2009).

9. Think up our halloween costumes for Chelsey's party on the 30th. (Photos from Halloween 2008 - we dressed up as Hutterites).

10. Find the memory card with our honeymoon photos on it.