So here’s a rundown of what’s been happening;

Bridal Shower: My lovely sister/maid of honour has put together my bridal shower! I’m excited, (and slightly nervous). She was trying to keep all of the details from me, I wasn’t even allowed to know where it was or see the invites. But one trait that Lindsay and I share is a crazy curiosity.

We cannot rest until we know.

Every Christmas I have to try and find new and better hiding places for her gifts because she will search … everyday… until she finds it. That being said, the invites are beautiful, and its next weekend, somewhere in town that I am still trying to figure out.

Invites: I have printed and assembled ALL of the invites with the help of my mum. They turned out better than I expected and I’m soo happy I chose to do it myself.  I am only waiting for one piece (directions etc) that Peter will be creating for me. Then my dad will be handwriting all of the addresses on the envelopes and they will be ready to go. They should be out by next week. Yay!

Dress: My dress arrives in about 2 weeks, so I will be going for a fitting shortly! I’m excited, but seriously nervous that I won’t love it as much anymore. I will be bringing my bridesmaids and mom and mom#2 for some support.

Favours: I haven’t started, but I’ve had lots of interesting ideas from friends and family.  I definitely want them to be personal, but probably still pretty low-key.

Music: I’m not sure why, but this is the one thing that has been on my mind the most for weeks now. The first dance, the ceremony, what do I walk down the aisle to? Cd or live music?

It’s absolutely driving me bananas and costing me a fortune! I keep downloading stuff on iTunes.

I had the pleasure of being at my best friends wedding (post about that soon!) a couple of weeks ago, and she did an amazing job of picking music that was pretty and unique and most importantly for me personal. I am not opposed to traditional classical music, I just want it to be symbolic of us. Ideas anyone? I did find an instrumental version of a U2 song(all i want is you) …  and a nice version of The Cures- Just like heaven. How perfect is the opening;

“Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream” she said
“The one that makes me laugh” she said
And threw her arms around my neck
“Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I’ll run away with you
I’ll run away with you”

They don’t seem right yet though, especially because I’m pretty sure Peter doesn’t know who The Cure is. I know I am picky too, but is it so hard to ask for a song that is not cheesy, and sweet and more on the upbeat side?

Church: I am starting to get a little worried with this church because they have very minimal hours (Tuesday-Friday 8-12). So it’s hard to get a hold of them, and they don’t seem to like to return messages. Annoying. I have tonnes of questions for them that I need answered before I send you all the invites. I did find out that they apparently have bells at this church! How sweet is that?? I definitely want to be walking out of my wedding to the sound of that! I love it.

Other Stuff: Peter bought his suit! It was slightly painful process (I’m pretty sure I picked my dress in less time than he did his suit). But it was worth it, he looks ammmazzing in it.

I however am having the most difficult time finding shoes that I can walk in and won’t want to punch people all night in.

I’m sure that I have forgotten something … as usual.

P.S – This is completely random, but I am amazed at how hard it is to write properly these days. On so many occasions I have written LOL at the end of a sentence, or ppl instead of people.

Crazy … Just thought i’d throw that out there. T2ul.

I actually have a lot to write about.

I need to start writing things down though. These ideas pop into my brain occasionally and I think “I have to tell them that!” Then a day passes, and I forget.I have the memory of a goldfish.

I will update you shortly on the wedding-planning-progress, there has been a lot done and a lot still to do, and the day is getting closer and closer! (Specifically 83 days!)

For now though I just wanted to show you this … I finally have a decent makeup organizer that holds my crazy amount of stuff (as opposed to the coach bag I was using to hold it all in one large jumbled mess. I got it a the new Storage solutions store in town – which can I just say, amazing… Maybe its this unknown domestic side of me, or it’s that I have a home to think about now, but I just never realized how much fun you can have picking out different forms of storage. Then again maybe I’m just a dork.

This is actually 2 organizers, and there were still a couple of pieces I had to leave out due to the size of them. Still, I think it looks pretty sweet…

And yes I know…

My name is Janice and I have a makeup addiction

P.S – Ana Bee is the coolest chick ever. That is all.

It has completely consumed my mind and energy as I have never been so upset, or have felt so disrespected by a company.

It started with the launch of the iPhone. I was in line at 6 am on the launch date. I was 4^th in line and given a ticket to speak to a specific associate.  I waited with said associate for about 45 minutes as he fiddled with the computer only to have him tell me that their systems were apparently not working and that I would have to return around noon.

I returned around 1 pm and they were still not working and to try again later. So I decided to call customer service while I waited, to see if they would remove an “early upgrade fee” that I was told I had to pay. The associate on the phone told me that it was possible as long as he took me off my corporate plan. I said, “great, go ahead then”.

At around 7 pm someone told me that they had just come from Rogers and had their phone activated thus I went back to check for mine.

This is where the epic Rogers Fail really begins.

The girl who was “helping” me was incredibly rude, constantly texting and would leave the iPhone on the counter and just walk away. She was having some difficulty finishing my transaction so she called the  “manager”. He told me that I was not eligible for an iPhone at all as it was not coming up as an option on the screen. These 2 associates were perfectly happy to leave it that, and send me on my way, but after I pushed for some investigation (and after I called customer service) we figured out that the associate who had removed me from the corporate account had somehow caused a problem that had to be corrected by the I.T department.

The manager’s lovely response? – That I had given the associate permission to alter my account because I was trying to save some money and sometimes “you just have to suck it up”.

After having waited at 6am, been back 3 times, wasted a total of about 6 hours of my day and received the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced I left that night without a phone, being told that the ticket had been sent and would take approximately 3 days. I went back in on Tuesday, checked and again nothing, he suggested I try again on Friday. I left again.

Thursday evening I got a voicemail from the manager, saying that “We will not get more iPhones in stock until we sell yours, but you will be the first person we call when we get a new shipment”.

Unbelievable that I lined up at 6 am so that I could wait a week to get a phone (never mind how much longer).

It was the worst experience, for something that should have been fun and easy.

The most irritating thing about it all is that I can’t think of a phone company that I haven’t absolutely hated, or felt ripped off by or abused. Why is that? Why can’t we change it?

110 Days!!!!

Ps- Im afraid I’m not gonna like my wedding dress anymore when I go to the fitting. Is that normal? What if I dont?

This past weekend was my birthday, the big 2-7 and it what seems to be becoming a tradition the man and I traveled to the bi gNYC for it. We stayed with his brother and lovely wife right In Manhattan.

Jealous? I know right.

I think Peter goes to NYC for me mostly, I’m not sure he loves it quite as much as I do.  I could live there, I like the pace and the convenience of everything and the fact that there always seems to be something to do or see.

The thing that I love most is that every time I go it’s a completely new experience for me.

The first time I went was with one of my best friends, we stayed in Long Island with some members of her family. We got to experience traveling on the amazing train/subway system. We explored 5^th avenue; crazy crazy canal street (where I was actually kind of frightened for my life) and we got to enjoy life outside the city.  It was amazing.

The second time I went I explored central park and had dinner in Times Square. It was a slightly more romantic setting with Peter. We got driven around in rickshaws enjoyed walking around the city and just exploring.

This time we got to stay right in the city (where I slept like a baby btw). We explored the MET and woke up at 4 am to take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge. We explored Soho (which I love-although we both forgot cameras and were kicking ourselves for it).

Every time there is something new and fun and I love it.

I leave you with some pictures from our trip ( and c’mon I am totally getting better no? – go back to my flower pictures and see! )

]]> http://whitedressformula.com/?feed=rss2&p=268 4 http://whitedressformula.com/?p=261 http://whitedressformula.com/?p=261#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:37:55 +0000 jany http://whitedressformula.com/?p=261 Guess what? Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be turning the precise age that I told myself I would be married by when I was a little girl. Its kind of crazy how that worked out.

I remember when the thought occurred to me actually. I had a favourite kindergarten teacher. Her name was Miss McCabe. She had big poofy hair, and loved to wear dresses with big shoulder pads in them. She was totally 80′s and I loved her. I remember we had a supply teacher for a while that I did not enjoy and when I asked why she was there (in my crazy spanish accent at the time) they told me it was because Miss McCabe had gotten married. I was very sad those 2 weeks.

When she came back she sat us all down in a circle on the floor, we all asked her where she had gone, if she had fun etc. Im not sure if someone asked her or if she just told us but at some point she said ” I’m 27″. That somehow made its way and found a home in my brain. Because ever since that day I have always thought that a good acceptable age to be married was 27, not too young, not too old and well if Miss McCabe thought it was good then it had to be.

So yes there it is, I will be the big 2 – 7

As much as I say how sad I am that I am getting older, I think I still have the same amount of excitement around my birthday that I always had. Maybe I’m not counting down a month before like I used to, just the week before now. Maybe 2 weeks depending on what else is going on around that time.

Anyway, I’m gonna leave you with this oldie, sorry about the quality.

This was me and my girlfriends about 10 years ago! (it really seems like just yesterday) …

no idea why the guys are there, fyi

Kissing in the Tdot

There are 131 days left until my wedding day and I’ve had a couple ideas, notions, things just swooshing around up there. Ive had encounters with interesting people so i decided to make a list. Here goes.

What not to do when someone you know is getting married:

– Don’t assume that you are invited. If you are invited the bride or groom, will hint at it. They may even straight out say it before you get your invitation. But if say the Bride hasn’t spoken to you in 4 years, and sees you randomly one day and tells you shes’s getting married, and you say “Ill make sure me and my date have that day off”. Well that just makes things all kinds of awkward.

- Don’t assume you will get a Plus One. Weddings are expensive. Each person costs anywhere between 85-150 + dollars depending on your wedding. So sometimes the invitation is for you alone (particularly if you are going to know other people at the wedding as well).

- Don’t impose your opinions on what you think a wedding should be. When you get married you will get to do it your way, but otherwise the fact that you think cupcakes aren’t a “real” wedding cake. Well keep that to yourself. (Unless specifically asked).

I feel soooooo much better now ! Ok pants rant over. For now.

Im sure that I will have more of these! But for now how about you write some?! No really. See I love this blog (my interval between some posts is in no way  reflective of my enjoyment of blogging).

As much as I love it, what I really like is just talking to people about this stuff. I want to know if I’m being crazy or it really just is the rest of the world. I want to know what you think and why? Maybe it will help me too. So write your comments. Those that are already married, maybe there are some wedding day “dont’s” you wanna share???

xoxo

P.S. – Someone’s birthday is coming up in 4 days. Ahem.

Exciteedd!!! NYC here I come!

Very Pretty

So one of my best friends  (and bridesmaids) Donna is also getting married this year, a couple of months before me. And one of the really awesome things about being engaged at the same time as your best friend is that you get to share all the same stuff at the same time, looking at magazines together, figuring out budgets and guest counts, deciding who to invite and who to leave out. Finding everything that would make our big day(s) perfect…And well pretty much you have someone that you can talk to about wedding stuff alllllllll the time and they wont get sick of you!

Donna is currently in the midst of trying to find the right hairstyle and hairdresser for that day, and that can be kind of scary because so much importance is placed on how you look, so trial runs are a MUST.

Personally (and any haridressers that wanna disagree with me feel free) I think that trial runs should be free of charge. I mean you are basically auditioning for the job. No one gets paid to audition. If that was the case Id be on every season of Canadian Idol.

If after the trial I feel you have done an amazing job, I may leave you a tip. But that’s all. So when Donna mentioned that her trial with one particular hairdresser was going to cost her, I felt that maybe this wasn’t a good idea …

But we’d heard good things, and had this woman personally recommended by someone. So Donna decided to give her a shot. We stopped by this womans home and she had a little corner set up with a chair a rather messy collection of product and magazines. She told us that she had been doing it for several years and she used to be a platform artist.

Side note- I’m still not sure what that means. What kind of platform is it? Do you put yourself on this platform or people vote you in? Are there prizes? Recognition? Awards?

Anyway, she was nice.

I use that term loosely.

Because actually I think she was a little vulgar. I’ve never heard anyone swear that many times in an audtion. And talk about too much info! I know things about this woman that I really shouldn’t. I had to fight every muscle in my face from reacting to her on several occasions.

But putting her slightly out-there personality aside, she seemed like she might know what she was doing.

This was the end result.

Speechless? yea me too

Enough said? I thought so.

Sooo My mother has given me her veil to wear on my wedding day. Let me give you a little history on this veil.

This veil was handmade by my great grandmother, whom I am named after. My great aunt handmade the tiny little embroidered flowers that my great grandmother sewed on all over the veil.

My mother wore this on the day she married my dad, and then her younger sister wore it on the day she married my uncle.

Is that not the most beautiful thing ever?!!! I was so excited when we had it shipped from El Salvador.

There’s just one thing of course …  its too long.

It was designed for a dress that has no train, and is supposed to serve as one thus is super long.

My dress already has a small train, and it would be a shame to cover the back as it’s very pretty.

I spoke with my sister about cutting it, there would still be a second piece long enough for her if she wanted a long veil.

But I just don’t know, it’s a little heartbreaking to think about cutting it. But it’s more heartbreaking to think about not wearing it.

Opinions anyone?

Rose Haven has a good system in place, see you don’t have to make all your decisions in your first appointment; they give you a week and a second appointment in which to finalize everything. And Thank GOD! Because boy did we need the week.

I mean we discussed our choices with everyone possible until we were blue in the face. We went back and forth on what we could do ourselves, and what we definitely needed. What we couldn’t live without and what was just an extra. We talked to his parents, my parents, friends and the lovely people at Rona.

We debated the cost of installing hardwood ourselves, and whether or not we would actually get our lazy butts in gear to do that. We were looking at prices for things I never thought I would care about, ask me about hood fans, I know stuff!

SOOO I know you’re all curious about what we picked, we ended up going with dark hardwood floors, granite countertops and a beautiful copper backsplash for our kitchen.  (we said no to the extra wide handrail and the super gourmet hood fan…but we took the faucet). Im sorry these pictures are such bad quality, they were taken with my trusty Blackberry.

This is our kitchen, the back splash is metallic and beautiful!

Bathroom colours. LOVE

On another note, It’s officially 5 months until my wedding!  I am super excited now, all of my deposits have been paid and contracts signed. I am currently in the process of trying to find invitations that won’t cost me a ridiculous amount.  I received a few different samples but I am actually in love with a set that I found at a local craft store! It includes everything from the invitation to the Thank you cards; I just have to print the info on them myself. It would cost me about a third of the cost of regular invites!

Lemme know what you think >>>

Too frilly?