An Early Birthday Present

So after I got home from church today I was talking with Mom when Dad came home. He came in with a bunch of stuff. Amongst the things he bought was a ton of shrimp so we could have shrimp cocktail while watching the Rider's game this afternoon and he had this big box.
I was surprised to learn that the box was for me. It was my birthday present early! Yay for early birthday presents! Mom and Dad had bought me a new sewing machine. I am sewing some things for Mom right away so that is why I got it early. It is awesome. Totally computerized. Does embroidery and the works. I'm going to have to study the book before I use it, I've never had a computerized machine before.

This is Me at My parent's Back door

 

Strawberry Shortcake

Not the doll or the cake but that is what my nail colors remind me of. I kind of did a twist on the french manicure. I painted my whole nail a rosy pink and then tipped them with hot pink. I've been having a little my nails since I grew them out for my sister's wedding. Yes folks they are my real nails and not acrylic or gel! Who knew I could have such long nails. Well I did but I like to keep them about 2mm over the quick. 

Missing Things - WARNING - This article contains vivid language that may cause the reader to visualize things they don't want to

*Those with weak stomachs be advised.*

Usually I'm missing my bus or my brain but as of late I've been missing other things. I'm missing my friends, my aunt, Saskatoon in general and everything that I love in Sri Lanka. I knew it was going to be difficult to readjust to life here but it has been harder than I thought because I didn't come back to my normal circumstances. I'm not living in Saskatoon going to school, taking my midterms and doing papers. I'm in Grande Prairie hanging out with my Mom and scrapbooking. Weird. I was supposed to be working but I've been sick since I've been back in Canada. Hopefully I will be going to work this coming week. I am missing cash too. Not that I've lost any I don't have any to lose. I miss church too. Because I've been sick I haven't gone in 4 weeks. I could have been brave and gone but the thing is I never know when I am going to cough and when I cough I have to spit out junk and I'm not very good at spitting it out so I usually end up throwing up. I did this very thing when I was renting a movie with my brother last week. I was only out for a 1/2 hour but when we left the store I started coughing and puked pizza and phlem in the parking lot...it came on quick. Okay I'm done with the grossness.

Well goodnight my friends. I miss you all.

Sorry, No Pics!

Well I think that it is about time that I blog something...thought I'd tell you about my sister's wedding. Unfortunately I didn't think that it would be in good taste to carry a camera with me up the aisle so I don't have any pictures of the wedding.

My sister got in a week before the wedding and I must say that I have never seen someone so organized...ever. Because my sister doesn't live in the city in which she was wed she had to have everything planned ahead of time, meetings arranged with the JP, the DJ, the florist, you get the picture. Everyday we had a list of things that needed to be done and by golly we got them done and so there was not a lot of stress (except for the wedding dress! I'll get to that in a minute) close to the wedding day. It was nice to be totally relaxed, especially Thursday when we went to Rejeuve Spa for manicures and pedicures!

I'll skip ahead of all the planning things cause it's really not that interesting. Things really started to be real - my little sister is getting married - on Friday because family and friends all started arriving. Friday morning Tara (one of the bridesmaids) took Kay's dress in to be steamed. I spent the morning getting things ready for myself and then after lunch we all headed over to the hotel to decorate.

I was really amazed by the groomsmen. They did most of the table decorating; putting all the centerpieces, bells, favors, menus, candles and glass marbles on the tables themselves. We took a look through (did I get it right this time V?) later and only had to make some minor adjustments! I was really impressed. We didn't have a whole lot of decorating to do so we were just about finished by the time we had to leave for the rehearsal dinner.

We went home briefly to changed before the rehearsal dinner and Kalyn remembered that her wedding dress was still at the cleaners and Tara still had the pickup ticket!! Kay called Tara and was lucky to catch her at home so she picked it up and brought it over. Whew!

Ok. I know that normally you do the rehearsal and then go to the rehearsal dinner but we had to switch it around for some reason that totally escapes me right now. The dinner was at a Greek restaurant called the Acropolis. The food was absolutely amazing. We didn't get to linger long though because we had to go back to the hotel to have the rehearsal. We practiced a few times and then we went to the hospitality rooms to visit. I however went home at 9pm cause I had been sick for a couple weeks and did not have much of a voice. I was giving the toast to the bride at the reception so I wanted a good nights sleep.

The day of was an amazingly relaxing day. We didn't have to be at the salon until 9:30am. I got my "wedding" hair and makeup done. My hair looked good for a wedding but it scared me literally. I was talking with my grandma, cousin and sister-in-law when my hand brushed my hair. I didn't recognize it as my hair though because it was so far out from my head! I actually screamed and jumped! Yah, I rock.

After we were all beautiful at the salon we went back to my parents house where us girls were getting ready. The photographer had met us at the salon so the picture taking had begun already. The photographers name is April and she was really good. You hardly noticed that she was taking pictures. Tara and I were able to get Kay into her dress on the second try! It laced up the back and could be difficult to get it tight enough. We had to make sure that it was because it was strapless.

We left for the hotel (the Holiday Inn by the way) and whisked ourselves into our 'waiting room'. Once we were in Reg and the guys could come down and get themselves to their pre-ceremony posts. Kay was anxious to get the ceremony started. We were only a few minutes late of 3:30pm because of a few straggling guests. I did ok walking down the aisle but once I got to the front and Kay and Dad started walking down the aisle I just about lost it. I reached for the bridesmaid beside me, Sherry, we grabbed hands and held on tight until I had to go do my maid of honor duties. It really saved me. When we were done the ceremony and had returned to our 'waiting room' Sherry and I laughed about it. Kay and I hadn't gone through the procedures for the ceremony itself so when it came to me doing my duties I had no idea what I was doing! I felt like a retard up there. During the ceremony the JP kept saying her name wrong! She was saying it like kal-in instead of kay-lyn. Everyone was just waiting to see what Kalyn was going to do. She did well though and when Kay had to say her name corrected it and the JP did catch on:)

The pictures were the part of the day that was like work. It was quite chilly out and we had sleeveless dresses with no covers. Oh well we made it through and now just waiting to get the pictures back.

Dudes sorry this is so long.

The dinner was fantastic. I had to give my speech first. A toast is to honor and celebrate the person for whom you are giving it, so that is what I did. There were a lot of people crying. I didn't because I was trying so hard to keep my voice up. Skipper, the MC was awesome and so were the other speeches. Everyone was tasteful and respectful which makes the reception so much better.

oh...I gotta tell you about the Haka. Joe was awesome. If you go to my blog about the Haka, click the link and watch the video it was just like that except it was only Joe and not 15 scary guys. I talked with him later on in the night about cricket and stuff. He was really cool.

By the end of the night I had a huge headache and no voice. I had to scream all night so people could hear what I was saying.

The next day we had a gathering at the hotel and then later at my parent's house. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the whole weekend.

There is so much more that I could write but this is ridiculously long already.

Hey Cupcake

So my sister decided to throw (there are you happy now!!) tradition to the wind at her wedding and she had cupcakes instead of the wedding cake. We didn't know what to call it so I suggested "the cupcake giving". She has no idea what a delight that was and only which my friends in Sri Lanka will be able to fully appreciate:)
The cupcakes were very cute and very yummy. They were marble with green icing to look like grass for the yellow daisies. Kalyn's friend Susan came in the morning of the wedding to put all the flowers on the cakes and to decorate the table. Thanks Sue for doing such a wonderful job:)

Here's a Really Super Crappy Picture of My Manicure

My Bouquet

Sorry I don't have many pics to put up cause it was hard for me to take pictures being in the wedding party and all. This is my bouquet. It looked so beautiful with the dress color. The dresses were dark charcoal grey. The amazing part is that the bouquets were super light. Usually they weight a ton! I was very happy with that because I had to hold both mine and Kay's during the ceremony. 

PEZ-a-rific

This is the awesome new PEZ that my sister gave me. I love the flames!  

Wedding Update

So since Kay has been here we've been super busy. Everyday we have a list of things that we need to do. We've actually been able to get everything done each day so no one is really stressed. We have a big day tomorrow...manicures and pedicures! Fun! I think I might go with a french manicure cause I've never had one before. I've been growing my nails out and now I sound like Eva when I type:) We are also shopping for the bridesmaids jewellery. That should be interesting and hopefully fun but sometimes those little things can take forever.

Well that's a little update for now. If your coming to the wedding I'll see you soon.

The Shower

My sister's wedding shower or Bridal Shower if you prefer was yesterday. I've never given a shower before so I was a little nervous but everything went well. My Mom did all the inviting because I was still in Sri Lanka when the inviting needed to be done. We had lots of yummy food, mini cheese cakes, coconut cake, chocolate fountain, little sammiches, veggie plate and a bunch of other things. We even played some games which was fun...mostly cause I didn't have to play them! I had brought the prizes from Sri Lanka so they would be interesting and fun. The stagette was later that night. Tara, a friend of Kalyn's (my sister) and a bride's maid, organized the party. We all had to wear black tops and blue jeans. It was weird being in a house with tons of people all wearing the same thing! There were so many I didn't know and I couldn't remember who was who cause we were all dressed the same. I couldn't make little notes to self. I didn't stay for the whole thing cause I've been feeling really sick again lately (going to the doc on Monday) and I was beat. I hear that they had a lot of fun the rest of the night. They had a pinata that was shaped like a wedding cake and also played the adult version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey...pin-the-macho-on-the-man!! Not so sorry I missed that one!!