Prayers Requested...

I need to call on your wishes and prayers again. My lovely Granny is back in hospital awaiting heart surgery. I don't know many of the details yet, but prayers are very much needed and appreciated.

Thanks.

Steph & Jon's Visit & Stuff

Steph and Jon have already come and gone from their visit :( It was a short but sweet visit, a little sweeter knowing we will see them again in a couple of weeks for our wedding!!! Crazy to say a "couple of weeks" considering we have been waiting for our wedding day for 2 years! Eep!



We did tons of sightseeing and Steph did a surprisingly great job lugging her belly all around Victoria ;) Her baby belly is pretty cute ;)

We were able to do nearly everything off of our "Must Do" list, including Buchart Gardens (BEAUTIFUL by the way), as well as the Undersea Gardens and the BC Royal Museum (the wholly mammoth never gets old ;).

If you're interested at taking a peek at more of our pictures, visit this link:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118178&l=b363e&id=658325106


Our wedding invitations were sent out on May 1st (as I think I previously mentioned) and the RSVPs have steadily been coming in - which is a great benefit of giving a tight deadline for RSVPs being due. We only received one wedding invitation back due to incorrect address (I was off ONE number in the postal code…ie I put "6" and it should have been a "4") and have only heard of one invite not arriving. Once the June 7th deadline has passed, I'll be able to find out if any other invites didn't make it to their destination.

We're also busy finishing up last minute wedding things: escort cards, menus (which I just realized my first batch has a typo in it…mandarin is not spelled with an "e"! - blah), dress fittings, suit fittings, bridal shower favours, thank yous, music play lists etc, etc. But we really are on track - which is a good feeling. I know once we arrive in Ontario it will be full steam ahead getting things like our marriage licence, working on centerpieces, finishing assembling wedding favours…little things that can't be completed until we arrive…but I think we’re feeling good about things.

AND the fun stuff is just around the corner. Next weekend my fabulous work is throwing a Couple BBQ Shower for us - so excited! And once we arrive in Ontario there will be Bridal Showers & Bachelor Parties to celebrate - can't wait!

Then, the week after next our good friends Dan and Egg will be arriving for a visit…we'll be busy, but having lots of fun!

I love it when...

Harri gets mail that is addressed in the following way:

Mr Harri HisLastName MyLastName

Since we moved into the condo he has been receiving the odd piece of mail addressed this way…I love it! We both get a good chuckle out of it. It is even more fabulous when the telephone rings and someone asks for Mr HisLastName MyLastName.

In one month from today, we will *officially* be the HamiHarri's - we can't wait!

Non-Fat Means Non-Fat

With my dress fitting coming up this Friday, it is no secret that I am trying to maintain my weight…not necessarily lose weight at this point, but maintain it. To do this I need to have a certain calorie intake or else I will gain pounds and not fit comfortably into my dress - makes sense, right? I mean, I could do a little more exercise, but I'm not overly motivated to do so…I'd rather watch the cals ;)

Well, I am guilty of a daily stop at either Starbucks, or as a treat Mirage Coffee (my all time favourite café mochas are served there ;) So I meet up with Patrick for our little lunch date at Mirage - today seems like a good day for a treat ;) I order a non-fat, half-sweet, no-whipped cream café mocha. In my humble opinion it sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Not only does non-fat milk (aka skim) contain 63 calories a cup less than whole milk (the standard of which mochas are made at Mirage), but I also find it foams up better - which is a must if you aren't having whipped cream ;)

I ordered my drink at the counter, but noticed that although the cashier wrote my order on the paper cup he only called down "small mocha" without any specifications as to how to make it. Sure enough I had a scrumptious WHOLE MILK café-mocha - bah! I confirmed this by asking what it was made out of… I could have complained and had them re-make it, but if I did that I wouldn't have a post to write about ;)

Just kiddin'! - I figured I would let this one go and pray that the extra 100 or so calories wouldn't make my wedding gown pinch ;)

Too Cute!

A fellow Yorkie owner/lover emailed me this picture:



Too cute!

Central Vacuum Rocks!

So we've never had wall-to-wall carpet before. And, with two little doggies we were hesitant to purchase a home with it. Albeit the carpet is only on the second floor and the stairs - but still, that is a lot of carpet. We moved from a condo with concrete floor that were indestructible - to a carpet where a little bit of dirt can make it look awful (it is also pretty light in colour). However, some good things about it, is that it is Berber carpet, so, much of the dirt and potential dog hair stays on top of the carpet and doesn't stick to the individual fibres. Having carpet it the bedrooms also makes it seem very cozy when we get up in the morning. No freezing cold floors to put our tosies on. It has also allowed us to try out central vacuum - and whomever invited it, is a complete genius! It is so handy, and works amazingly well. We purchased it at a steal from The Bay Center…it is the Eureka brand and large and powerful enough for our nearly 1500 square foot home. It also came with all of these snazzy attachments to clean window ledges and upholstery - it is great! And anything that will get me vacuuming is a good thing ;)

The dogs are clearly still getting used to the carpet though. The other morning we were getting ready for the day and our little guy Beau was lying on the floor whining. We thought he was just bored or wanted attention or something. So, we told him to "shhh." He continued to whine, so Pat went over to him to see what the problem was and the poor little guy had somehow hooked part of his collar onto the carpet - he couldn't lift his head! We thought it was pretty funny, but quickly got him free.

My First Attempt At Pastry Ever!

Once we had moved everything into our new house (which we are loving so far :) we went to The Bay to pickup a few gifts that had been purchased off of our registry. They were from my Aunt Marcia and Uncle Jim, as well as my Aunt Mary :) I gave my Aunt Marcia a call to let her know that we had received them - but had yet to open them. I know there is different etiquette on opening (and using) wedding gifts before the actual wedding, but my Aunt gave us the go ahead to open them and begin using them - and we LOVE what we got - we are amazed at how generous our family is :)

I won't post pics of everything, but we are very appreciative :)



Seeing how my Aunt gave me the go ahead to begin using the gifts if we wished I couldn't wait to get started. We received an awesome Cuisinart Food Processor (whoot!). Until today I had never actually used one of these things (that I can clearly remember) and had always admired their abilities on various Food Network television shows. It is amazing what these things can do!

Seeing how Patrick and I have a bit of sweet tooth, I decided to try my hand at pastry - for the first time ever! Eek! And I made Raisin Butter Tarts - check'em out!



Another thank you to my extremely generous family - we love all of the baking/cooking items :)

The House Is Ours & Wedding Invitations Are In The Mail!

Yes, that is a missing kitchen cupboard door behind the basket - that we are NOT thrilled with, among many other things in which I will be blogging about later.

But for now, we will just enjoy having our new space :) More pics are coming soon…I promise!

AND in other very exciting news - the wedding invitations have been mailed! Whoot! Patrick and I popped them into the mail last night - yippee!