Spice it up

Live to work or Work to LIVE!? Do you live to work? Well I don't! I definitely work to live. On the priorities list work is not number one... it would probably go something like this:

1. Family (hubby, mom, in laws, doggies, extended fam etc.)
2. Religion
3. Travel
4. Work
5. everything else...

It's not that I don't enjoy my job, but its not my be all end all. I do it to make money in order to have a nice life. If my full time job was just my side business I may be able to change my tune...I love wedding planning but I'm just not able to make that my full time career at this point! Maybe in a couple years! Here's hoping!

All that said, I decided I need to spice up my office a little to bring some elements of home and whats important to me to get me through the days.

So I brought in my Frenchie mug to remind me of my little yabbies!

Now every time I sip my tea I smile a little bigger!

I also brought in this painting that my auntie did of Katepwa valley (which is where our families cottages are located! It's such a beautiful lake and I just love spending time out there) 

Speaking of home decor, our basement is finally finished! So now it is time to paint, decorate and re-organize! I can't wait to get started, our basement has been in disarray for months waiting for this to get completed! Here are the before pictures, stay tuned for the after pictures!

Renos included: dry wall - mudded/tapped, half wall built, drop ceiling, pot lights (all on dimmers)

Doggy Woggy

Are you an animal lover? More specifically a dog lover? Well then you know exactly how I feel when you've been away from your dogs even for just a few days. While we were living it up in Bismarck our dogs were living it up at K-Lane Kennels! I never have to worry about our dogs for a minute when they go to K-Lane, I know they are so well taken care of and love life out there. 

Each dog gets their own private suite - they are all kept in a Quonset which has heated flooring to keep it toasty warm, and each suite has a doggy door to an outdoor run that is separated by chain link fence so they can see their other dog friends. 

 

They get some play time outside and lots of love.  Here are a few pictures of our Bobo & Rocky loving life at K-Lane.

The thing I love most about K-Lane is that they truly love dogs and they capture each guest every time they stay at K-Lane and then they post the pictures on their facebook page!! 

The BEST part about getting home from a vacation is seeing my babies or as I like to call them in my baby talk "Yabies" - don't ask why but I tend to add a "Y" in front of everything when I talk to the dogs. Rocky becomes Yocky and Bobo becomes Yoyo. Some may find that incredibly annoying but thankfully my hubby loves it and does it with me! We YOVE our YABIES!

Cuddle Bug

Yock

Yay Yay's

One more doggy woggy picture that I just LOVE - Bailey my gf Britt's YABY!

Happy Hump Day!

xo

L

Chantal O, Crazy Michelle and Perfect Emily

We all know last night was Bachelor Monday! Thank the good lord for that... Mondays are the worst and the Bachelor gives us all some good ol' fashion drama to look forward to.

Of course we all know Michelle mysteriously got a black eye "in her sleep" which is code for "from the make up artist on set." Michelle was acting crazy, what else is new? I'm bored of the one dimensional crazy jealous act, time for her to go.

Ashley H was acting pretty funny last night... I am 99% sure she was drunk on the group date. She could barely keep her eyes open and blurts out "this is going to be awkward" - ya you were going to get the rose until you just blurted that out.  But never fails, the crazy act did get her more attention from Brad.

 
Which of course made Michelle crazy mad... and finally someone called her out on her ridiculousness! The most level headed sane girl on the show. Chantel O!



But on Michelle's one on one date she pulled out her finest acting skills and got the rose. Damn.... remember how she was originally one of my favs and now I am wishing she'd get kicked off. We all know she'll stick around for a while because a) she's hot and b) she's adding some drama to the show.


But you know who's not causing drama? The perfect little miss Emily. You know why? Because a) she's not that into Brad and b) she's America's sweetheart and they are setting her up to be the next Bachelorette. 



I don't think these two have even had one in depth conversation to date... well besides Emily telling him her story about losing Ricky the love of her life. That is literally all we know about this girl so far.

Here's a sneak peak of what we have to look forward to...

Chantal O

Big Guns

This weekend I was in the US of A! We went down to the US for some good old fashion hockey (okay I'll be honest, I went for the shopping!)

Friday around 1pm we all piled onto the bus and headed down to the US... it's only about 2 hours to the border. At the border which is in a town called Portal I started asking questions... so this half of Portal is in Saskatchewan Canada and this half of Portal is in North Dakota, USA? So if you live in Portal do you have to have dual citizenship? Can you cross the town to get the duty free? Where else would they buy booze and cigarettes in this one horse town? No one else seemed to care about the answers so I was left pondering about Portal all the way to Minot.

In Minot we stopped for supper... as soon as we got off the bus we could immediately see the difference from Canada and the US. I'm not trying to be rude here, I am just making an observation but everyone is fatter! I don't mean there's a few people here and there but it is noticeable the amount of overweight and obese people that live in the US. Regardless we had our $10 buffet of all deep fried food and were on our way.

Saturday morning was the first game and the other assistant coach - TJ's wife (Neysa) and I decided that 8:30am was far too early to wake up for a hockey game on a Saturday morning. We would sleep in and meet everyone at the mall.  We hit up the first mall which was "walking distance" slash freeze your butt off, can't feel your face by the time you get across the highway distance. It was worse than Golden Mile (which is a dying desolate mall in Regina with one of two old lady shops) this mall - Gateway didn't even have that. We couldn't even find a place to eat in this mall. So it was off to the next mall which we hoped was better... Kirkwood Mall was a success. We got there around 11am and found there were a number of stores we had to hit! But first I felt as though I MUST have a hair cut... I had had my hair in a tight ballerina bun for the past 2 weeks and that's a key sign its high time for a hair cut. I thought I might find a decent hair salon in the mall but then I remembered I was in a small mid-western US town... Master Cuts it was.



This picture actually makes it look nicer than the one in the Kirkwood Mall



The sign read hair cut only $15.95... wow everything really is cheaper down south. I guess you get what you pay for... I sat down and the hair dresser started chopping. That's right, no wash just a dry cut! I would normally be a little more concerned but my hair had grown about 6 inches since my last cut and was half way down my back so I wasn't too concerned if she chopped it up since I was fairly certain it would still be pretty long... as she chopped away (which I am now certain wasn't an even cut job by any means) she asked me what I did for a living and I told her I wasn't from ND. When she found out I was from Canada she got very excited and asked all kinds of questions... like "what are the fashion trends up there"? 

I knew our conversation would get interesting when she asked me my age. I didn't lie I told her I was 26 years old. She said OH WOW, NO WAY! I thought you were my age. Which was? 19! So I thanked her for the compliment and she said "The water must be really good up in Canada" hahaha  okay enough said...

The boys wanted nothing to do with our shopping marathon so they headed back to the hotel for a nap before the next game. We had 4 hours to kill and were worried we wouldn't be able to find anything to do... we were wrong. From our $20 boots (regular $100+) to our Target escapades, we found plenty to do and even more to spend our money on.

Gotta love Target!

We raced to the bus to make it for the pick up time and made it to the second game... that's where we found out about the raffle. I got a little excited, who doesn't love a raffle? Well, they do a few things different down in the US... like raffle off over 250 guns at kids hockey tournaments. Yep, I'm not joking - I even took a picture to prove it.

Yes because America needs more guns!

I figured I needed a couple pictures to prove I was even in Bismarck and better yet at the hockey games.  So here I am checking out the teams, practicing being a hockey mom.

 Here's my hubby coaching away with the other assistant coach TJ!

Hockey/Cop Wives Club: Neysa & Lex

Our boys made it to the A Finals...

Nothing like a little pep talk in between the 2nd & 3rd period...down by 2! Come on boys!

Well they did well, 2nd place is nothing to be ashamed of!



Freaky

·        This year we will experience 4 unusual dates.... 1/1/11 (January 1st), 1/11/11 (January 11th), 11/1/11 (November 1st), 11/11/11 (November 11th)....NOW go figure this out...take the last 2 digits of the year you were born plus the age you will be this year...every single person will add up to 111 or 11 (if you're a baby)!

Bridesmaid of the Year

Don't be fooled by the title, I'm not being cocky & self proclaiming that I am bridesmaid of the year, it's more so the title I am aspiring to attain over the next year!! hahaha

I'm no Katherine Heigel in the movie 27 dresses, but so far I am at 3 dresses so far! :) 

I am so lucky to have amazing girlfriends! As chance would have it 5 very close friends and one cousin got engaged within one month of each other! Carly, Karlene, Lindsay, Britt, Emma and Laura!

Here are the beautiful newly engaged Brides to be:

This is Carly! We've been friends for about 8 years! She is currently living in Calgary with her fiancee. They will be married September 17, 2011! Can't wait for this beautiful event!













This is Karlene! We have been friends for 11 years. She has been with her now fiancee for almost 10 years! They have two children together - Brielle 6 years old and Channing 6 months old.  Their wedding is probably going to be destination the week of November 5th, 2011 with a reception/party in Regina New Years Eve - Dec. 31, 2011!








This is Lindsay! We have been friends for 5 years! She will be married on September 24, 2011! Her fiancee and her have been best friends since highschool, but only started dating about 3 years ago.











This is Britt! We have known each other for years but became very close friends at the Miss Sask 2010 Competition. You'd think two girls may be competitive for the title, but I honestly wanted nothing more than for Britt to win.  We shared a room and became so close. Her wedding will be taking place in May 2012.











This is Emma! We have been friends for about 6 years! We met in University and became very close.  She is planning a destination wedding in 2012.









This is my cousin (in law) Laura! She has been with her man for 9 years! We are so excited for their wedding which will be taking place in the summer of 2012!





As I was the first out of my circle of girlfriends to get married, I had never been a bridesmaid prior to getting married. I wondered and secretly hoped that someday I would get the opportunity to have the honor and experience of being a bridesmaid.  Well shortly before my own wedding my MOH (Maid of Honor) got engaged and asked me to be her MOH! I couldn't have been more excited and thrilled.  The excitement continues to grow as her destination wedding inches closer and closer. I am busy working on my MOH speech - Toast to the Bride and I have ENORMOUS shoes to fill as Kelly's toast to me was remarkable; funny and witty but also sentimental and heart felt.

We can't wait for March 4th to get here already so we can take off on our hot holiday and celebrate their marriage! And talk about a sentimental wedding date - the wedding will take place on March 9, 2011 which will mark Kelly and Colin's 5 year anniversary!

Karlene who was also one of my bridesmaid has asked me to be a bridesmaid for her! I am so excited to be a part of this wedding! I remember the moment these two started dating. Karlene was the new girl in school and Colin had his eye on her from the minute she stepped into our grade 10 Drama class! They have so much history and a beautiful family. It's truly going to be a special day when these two tie the knot!

Last but definitely not least! Is my beautiful friend Britt and her fiancee Justin! We have become so close over the past year and I was so touched and honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid! We all know she is going to look like the beautiful model that she is on her wedding day and May 2012 couldn't come soon enough!

It is truly such an honor to be asked to be in not one but three wedding parties over the next year! I feel incredibly lucky and hope that I can fulfill the role of bridesmaid of the year!!! hahaha

LOVE my gfs and weddings!! 



Bachelor Spoiler Alert

So I've done a little digging and have found out some key bachelor details... if you don't want to know then quit reading NOW!

Brad ends up with his final three of Emily, Chantal O and Ashley. Emily leaves him! He chooses Chantal.



Even Ali Fedowsky is giving things away! She tweeted during last night's episode:

AliFedotowsky Ali Fedotowsky

"LOVE Brad and Chantal together :) I just got all teary eyed watching them with R cause it reminds me of the connection I had with him :)"

Way to make it obvious Ali!!!

Also I still have hope for Michelle (not with Brad but just hope for her sanity) and that is why I am clinging on to the fact that she HAS to be acting in this season of the bachelor.  We do know that she is an actress and her character of "crazy psycho, hates all other girls" is a bit much and very one dimensional. I have also discovered that she is starring in a new movie called "Midway to Heaven" which will be in theatres Feb. 4th and on DVD March 29th.

 

Oh and I am predicting that the black eye was either self inflicted OR make up applied by ABC's make up artists!

So in the end Brad choose Chantal according to Reality Steve...

"Not sure about the Final Rose Ceremony breakdown, or how he arrived at the choice, but in the end, Brad chose Chantal O’Brien. Yes, the girl who slapped him. Of course, I expect plenty of you to doubt this because I was wrong on the Roberto/Ali ending last season, and that’s fine…How do I know this? Because on Thanksgiving, Brad was in Palm Desert, California with Chantal and her family celebrating Thanksgiving with them.”

This prediction somewhat surprised me, but at the same time not really. I think she seems to be a level headed girl, and more importantly a brunette... remember the last time Brad was the bachelor? He left two brunettes without a ring and a whole lot of hatred? Clearly, he is a brunette man!

I am excited to keep watching and see if all of these predictions come true!!

Emily wins!

I wish I was a blogger that had the inside scoop and could tell you that I know for a fact that Emily will win Brad's heart. But I'm just like the rest of you watching at home... however here's my prediction from the previews I've seen. I think Emily does win Brad's heart, but does Brad win Emily's?  I think she won't be ready for love because she still isn't over her fiancee Ricky! So she'll leave Brad high and dry.

Told ya so

Emily is still my number 1 but here's what I think, she'll turn Brad down, go home to be with her daughter, realize she does want love and voila your next Bachelorette is America's Sweetheart Emily Maynard!

So Therefore I have a new favorite...



Shawntel Newton!! She's been a quiet contestant until now, but I like her and hope she goes far!


I also appreciate when a girl says, look I'm just not that into you! Because really people how do 25 women just magically all fall in love with one man the first time they meet him? I'll tell you what, they don't! It's pure competitiveness and PERFECT dates that intoxicate all these women with the thought of love and being in love.


So thank you Madison McKinley for saying look, I'm not as into this and some of the other girls and leaving on your own. Good for you. You and Brad were not a good match to begin with. Although you are pretty hot when you take those crazy vamp fangs out!





Until next week Bachelor Season 15 fans!!


Let the drama continue!!!