bye bye bye

tomorrow morning we leave for mexico and i am beyond excited! i will try and update people on our trip while we are there but i am not making any promises since we have a very busy week. maddy and brian's wedding is on wednesday so we will probably have a pretty packed schedule until that is over. we have planned one group trip which will be happening on friday; about 12 of us are going to do a day trip where they take you to snorkle/ swim in a cenote which is like a giant fresh water pool in an underground cave or something... i am not completely sure but it definitely sounds fun and a little freaky.

i am pretty excited since i have never been to an all inclusive resort. i have searched the website and the resort looks fabulous; there are various restaurants, clubs and pools. i am sure that is pretty standard for an all inclusive resort in mexico but since i have never been to one it is all new and exciting for me.  from what i have seen on the website, i am most looking forward to laying out in these weird half submerged lounge chairs that are built into the pool. brian, who has been at the resort, said they are not overly comfortable, but i am determined to find out for myself.

today, all of the girls are going to get their nails done: pedicures and gel manicures. i am sort of nervous since i have never had fake nails. i am not really the kind of person who generally gets fake nails but i think they could be fun for the trip. i figure if i like them i will keep getting them done until my wedding in september and if not, well, i learnt that i don't like fake nails - live and learn. while the gel manicure is kind of making me nervous i am definitely looking forward to the pedicure. maybe i will get a really cute design... i will obviously post pictures.

wahhh

i am currently waiting to write the last ever scheduled final in my university career. i did the math last night (being honest, sarah, my accounting friend, did the math) and i only need 8% on this exam to pass, 31.5% to get a C in the class and 53% to get a B+. honestly, this is a good thing since this test is going to be horribly hard.

last night we went for dinner at jesse's parents' place - it was delicious as always. it was nice to see everyone, including his uncle billy, who we rarely see. when we got back i checked my email to discover we had a new picture of emi; the message said that we were able to bring her home any time now. i had to remind the breeder we wouldn't be able to take her home for another couple weeks since we will be going to mexico in about 12 days (not that i am counting or anything). it made me incredibly sad that i could have her now but i know it is the responsible decision to wait until we get back from our trip so that she isnt emotionally confused.

ugh, it is almost 8 am - wish me luck...

2 down, 2 to go

i know, i have been mia this week. i have had way too much studying to do lately to find time to blog - i wrote 2 finals this week and will write 2 next week. for some reason, although i know they are coming every single year, i am never fully prepared for exams. i hate them. personally, i feel like exams make zero sense for english majors. we are trained to write essays not memorize facts. i just do not understand how they evaluate what we have learnt over the term with a multiple choice test but, whatever. the two i wrote this week seemed to go alright but they were definitely the easier of the 4; i still have a lot to do this weekend and next week but, like i have said about 100 times recently, i am almost done... forever.

while i am studying all day tomorrow jesse will be holding a mini sticks tournament in our unfurnished living room. completely ridiculous. when i was nagged him for living room furniture two mini hockey nets were not exactly what i meant. i am terrified that the boys are some how going to dent my walls or even worse, break my front windows. i just know something will get broken. thank god jesse can fix whatever they ruin. i will let you all know what damage is done later this weekend.

jesse attempting to keep me from taking a picture of our new living room accessories

so, now that the end of school is near i feel like i can start thinking about this wedding. this afternoon my mom and i are meeting with a florist from occasional bloom for a consultation. apparently, they were recommended by a few people - there are not a ton of pictures on their website but from what i have seen i like. they seem to do more modern arrangements which is exactly what i am looking for. i think it will be interesting. i have an idea of what i want, but generally i have expensive taste; wedding flowers are totally over priced (in my opinion) and i am incredibly cheap so we will have to see how it goes. i definitely want to go with fall colours; i think that the rich burgundies and oranges combined with the green is beautiful.

i am thinking something in this colour palette 

after flowers i feel as though i will be able to make more decisions regarding the decorations. i have been having trouble committing to anything lately, decorations, invitations, favors etc and i think (and hope) that the fact that i have not chosen flower type or colour was a major contributing factor to my indecisiveness but i guess we will just have to wait and see...

sunny sunday

we have officially christened our new patio furniture. this afternoon it was a balmy 12 degrees and sunny so we decided to have a couple people over for an afternoon bbq. i probably should have done some homework but really, it was the first nice afternoon in what has seemed like forever so we had to enjoy it. it was extra special since derek brought kayden over. he is getting so big and beautiful it blows my mind. i love him.

the beautiful kayden james - he's going to be a heart breaker

so, the patio furniture worked well. we bought and 8 piece set and it is still not big enough. we only had a couple people over and we still definitely did not have enough seating. luckily, the previous owner left 4 plastic reclining chairs that are in pretty good shape; i figure i can buy some outdoor pads and they will be great extra seating. also, jesse, caleb and derek are currently designing me a crazy folding picnic table which we are planning on putting on the concrete pad in the back (apparently, it has to be folding so that we can bring it camping and to revelstoke? haha). our back yard will have more furniture than the rest of our house combined at this rate...

yes, there is still snow on the ground

 it was only about 10 degrees out this afternoon but the dark wood on the deck made it feel even warmer. i am beginning to worry about how hot it is going to get back there when we start getting some seriously warm weather. oh well, it will be perfect for tanning!

once everyone left i checked my email and our breeder, lianne, had sent another update with pictures of emi. she is even more beautiful than i imagined; apparently, her eyes are officially open and she is steady on her feet now. jesse is really excited because it looks like she has blue eyes. unfortunately, i have a feeling that puppies are like babies - 90% of them start off with baby blues and then they fade with age. only time will tell.

lil emi: 3 weeks old

she's a curious little monster

ridiculous, i know. i already set up emi's little spot

all and all we had a pretty good weekend.  yesterday night we went out with my parents and sister for mama jones' birthday (happy birthday mom, i love you!); we went to kefi, an amazing greek restaurant here, and it was really fun. the food was fabulous as always but since it was mama jones' birthday we got to dance and sing and break a plate - definitely an experience. that coupled with the bbq definitely made for a nice, relaxing weekend. unfortunately, i didnt seem to get a ton of homework done this weekend but after my busy week last week i think i needed a bit of a break.

saturday

today was a busy day. yesterday jesse had the day off from work so, with the help of kev, he rewired and switched out all our old, yellow electrical outlets and toggle light switches for new, more modern white ones. anyways, since they rewired they switches yesterday, jesse and i spent a good hour and a half putting all of the covers back on. i never thought that white light switches would be exciting but let me tell you, they really were. after living for 2 months without plate covers in nearly every room of your house you really begin to appreciate how little things, like plate covers, can make a room feel just that much closer to being finished.

half way through changing the covers jesse got tired and had to take a little nap

so, while jesse napped i finished putting the covers back on. while i was finishing putting the plates back on in the basement i realized that we had not yet posted pictures of jesse's magnificent man cave. ironically, the man cave is the only room in the house that is more or less completely finished. i guess jesse had been collecting various man cave material for years - luckily, it payed off in the decorating department.

this is our bar - pretty bad ass, i know

now that the light switches and plug in's have been changed over the man cave is almost finished - all we have to do is spruce up some of the shelving units in the back and it will be completely finished. it is nice to have almost a whole room exactly how you want it when everything else is such a mess. honestly, it is getting very overwhelming; my list of things to accomplish after we get back from mexico is getting longer and longer. i really want to be able to get registered and send my invitations out by end of may/beginning of june, but i also need to train emi and finish unpacking. there are still tons of boxes left to up pack and a few rooms left to organize...

slowly but surely things are getting done though. i am starting to really like my kitchen. my mom kindly bought me some awesome green placemats that match the new table cloth i bought perfectly. jesse hates the table cloth - frankly, that is just too bad because i love it. i think it brings colour into the room and that is always a good thing.

lastly, we also finally set up our patio furniture! i love it. i wasn't able to take pictures of it yet though since we didn't build it until later in the day and were running late for mama jones' birthday dinner. tomorrow i will take some shots and upload them to show everyone.

engagement pictures

So, recently i was informed that we had more readers than we initially thought; so hello, to all our extended family and friends that are following as well - it is nice to know that people other than our parents are interested in our shenanigans. anyways, it got me thinking, that we had not really shown/sent out our engagement pictures. we had two sessions done, one was taken by a good friend of mine, kaylee lowther, and the other one, a test shoot for our wedding photographer, christa harriman. we loved pictures from both shoots; here are our favorites. enjoy. 

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

kaylee lowther

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

christa harriman photography

count down

14 days until i am done university forever.
23 days until MEXICO for maddy and brian's wedding.
35 days until we bring emi home.
169 days until our wedding.
yikes, that is enough time to plan, right?

black thumb

so, i have come to the realization that i may have a "black thumb". i never thought that having house plants would be such an ordeal but honestly, it really is. i mean, ferns have been around since the dinosaurs but i cant seem to keep mine alive. its unbelievable. also, my wandering jew has become a withering jew. its just pathetic. it seems like they are either over watered, under watered or needed watering. black thumb, im tellin' yah.

seriously, if i cannot even keep simple house plants alive i have no idea how i am going tackle our actual gardens. the previous owner did an amazing job from what i have seen in the real estate photos and what is slowly but surely popping up around us as spring attempts to break through; i have this paranoia that my black thumb is going ruin all her previous work. maybe, if we had one garden in the back it wouldn't be as overwhelming for me but, we don't: we have three giant gardens. yikes.

front yard

back yard

i guess this black thumb paranoia of mine all started because jesse and i bought new patio furniture this weekend; i am seriously excited since we got such a fabulous deal. luckily, we knew someone who worked at home depot that was able to hook us up with a fabulous deal!  unfortunately, i guess we offended someone by buying patio furniture too early because it immediately started to snow after we purchased it. i am hoping that the weather will be good enough this weekend that jesse will be able to assemble it for me! its pretty much a given that people will be at our house almost every weekend this summer so we figured a new patio set was a must; we have been told that people will be here barbecuing, having fires and taking advantage of our awesome deck, concrete pad and developed backyard all summer rather than asked but we don't mind. since people will be over here all the time we are obviously going to have to do some serious landscaping - a thought that is beginning to terrify me. i am positive that i am going to be the worst gardener in the world... oh well, chances are that most twenty-some year olds wont notice, right?

so, while this above photo is not a photo of our patio set it is where we are possibly going to be putting our new patio set. we haven't decided yet; we also have a wooden deck on the other side of the house where the barbecue is, so we are probably going to be putting it there for easy access. here is the set we bought:

we were debating between two different sets but eventually chose this set because the chairs looked the sturdiest; lets face it, we have a lot of heavy and clumsy friends who could potentially do some serious damage to furniture. so, this is the newest addition to the house. we are super excited and will update everyone with photographs as soon as it is all set up!

busy b

i have been unbelievably busy lately which means i have had little time to blog. sorry folks.
this week alone i have had a research essay due worth 50% of my grade, 2 presentations and an assignment. yikes. i still have to complete the assignment and do one of the presentations tonight... it seems like i have non stop homework. i keep telling myself i only have 16 more days until i am done university forever. unfortunately, those 16 days are packed FULL or projects, essays, assignments and exams. yuck.

anyways, i decided that i needed a bit of a break; hence, the blog entry.

this weekend, although i was incredibly strapped with school, i did manage to run one errand out of necessity - i was able to pop into crate and barrel with jesse to get a gift card for a bridal shower i had to attend. generally jesse hates crate and barrel trips. i can understand his hate - although i love almost everything about crate and barrel trips (honestly, the store is just full of such beautiful and interesting things), 90% of the products they carry are incredibly over priced "wants" rather than affordable "needs" that they seem to do an incredibly good of job brain washing you into believing are a necessity in your home.  well for once, i was not the one that was brain washed by their incredible merchandising skills - jesse was. i know, hard to believe. i never thought the day would come that jesse of all people would get sucked into the crate and barrel vortex but it has happened. on saturday morning, we were not able to leave the store until he bought an incredibly cute set of dog bowls for emi. to his credit they were on sale, but since everything is super expensive they were still over priced considering emi will only be able to use it for maybe 6 months.

so, these lovely dog bowls are sitting in my front hall closet anxiously awaiting the arrival of their owner just like us...

puppy update

today i received new puppy pictures from our breeder lianne; i am so excited that she is so on it with updates on emi. apparently, emi is trying to open her eyes! she also included three photos of her face; we are so excited about this because we had yet to see her face - the only photo that we had of her was the one i posted in a previously entry. ironically enough, jesse was going on last night about how badly he wanted to see a picture of her face. i guess he was worried she had some sort of face deformity since lianne hadn't originally sent us a picture that included her face, only her back haha i think he was being slightly paranoid because although she is still all squished and the photos are not the best quality i think she is pretty damn cute. enjoy!

look at those claws!

she's so much tinier than we imagined

too cute!

we cannot wait to bring her home! we were actually surprised by how small she is; for some reason, i expected her to be bigger. i found a great dane growth chart on a website and it said that when we bring her home she should be between 20 and 30 lbs! does a puppy still count as a puppy if she weighs more than most full grown dogs? i think so!

diet

so, since we are going to mexico may 1st to 8th for maddy and brian's wedding, it is coming down to crunch time for getting our bods into shape for the beach. i was talking to my manager about how i would love to drop about 5 lbs, just to tone up, before we go and she told me about this colon cleanse she does every couple months. at first, i wasn't sure. i am not a believer in these fad diets that claim you will loose ten lbs in ten days; the reality is, you probably will loose ten lbs in ten days but you will just turn around and put those 10 lbs back on over the next ten days and in twenty days you are back where you started with nothing to show for your efforts. anyways, she printed the diet off for me and after reading it i think it would be a good idea to do in preparation for mexico. what's the worst that can happen? i loose 10 lbs for mexico and then, when i gain that 10 lbs back while in mexico staying all inclusive (lets be real, its inevitable staying all inclusive), i will be back where i started instead of up 10 lbs!

heres the deal. the cleanse was created by one of my manager and her husband, a doctor at the clinic where i work, cardiologist friends for his patients who need to loose weight quickly and healthily in order to qualify for heart surgery. it is not one of those sketchy cleanses that you hear all the celebrities promoting where all you do is drink some weird beverage-like concoction of maple syrup, lemon juice, water and cayanne pepper all day for a week, although it is sort of a liquid diet; basically, the bulk of what you are going to be consuming over the week detox is this natural, veggie soup you make and drink as much of as you would like over 7 days in combination with a daily food menu. this "daily food menu" is as follows:
day one: eat all the fruit (minus bananas) you want, drink as much soup as you would like
day two: eat as many veggies as you would like (minus corn, beans and peas), drink as much soup as you need
day three: combine day one and two, eat a large sweet or regular potato for dinner, drink as much soup as you like through out the day
day four aka "brenna's day from hell": eat as many as 3 bananas, drink as much milk as you would like, eat as much soup as you need. disgusting, i will be sticking strictly to soup.
day five: eat as much as 10-20 oz of chicken, fish or beef and at least six, large, fresh tomatoes, consume as much soup as you need
day six: eat as much meat, brown rice, veggies and soup as you would like
day seven: brown rice, veggies, chicken, fish, fruit and soup

also, you are allowed to drink black coffee (good thing i recently converted), tea, water, and non sweetened fruit juices. basically, you are cutting out alcohol, simple carbs, carbonated beverages etc. you are supposed to loose six pounds by day four and twelve pound by day seven. my manager says she does a modified version of this diet and only does day one through four, takes five to seven off, eating healthy, then does day one to four again. i think we are going to attempt to do the full week next week, eat normally until maybe two weeks before we leave, then do the modified version my manager suggests. jesse seems game but i am not sure if he will be able to stay strong with the lack of protein. i think it will be manageable since you are allowed so much soup, i think that i am going to make it chunkier rather than a thin, drinkable liquid - i just think that it will be more satisfying this way.

i will keep you posted on this diet attempt through out the week; i have a sad feeling we will be unsuccessful simply because we love food too much... we will see.