2 years

Today marks 2 years.

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Confused? Most of you probably are, since I’ve been hiding a bit of the truth. Two years ago today, Tyler and I officially got married. On a cliff. In the mountains. Next to a pile of sheep sh*t. It was magical.

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Crap, are you mad?? I’m not. We knew we wanted to be married after our second date, and the whole international barrier thing made the decision to go ahead with it much easier. But then of course we did the ‘real’ wedding about 15 months later–> read about it here.

I LOVE the way we got married. The only expense was the marriage license and there was no pressure because practically no one was there watching! (I’m sure that sheep was watching from afar). In turn, the day of the real wedding was easy breezy because all I had to do was show up in a white dress and say I Do…again.

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The only reason it was kept somewhat of a secret was because Tyler wanted to make sure that our actual wedding celebration would feel just as special. Soooo, I didn’t legally change my name until after our second wedding. At least state-side. And I got to call him my fiancé for a while, since we never really had an engagement.

Isn’t love romantic?

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Also, I get two anniversaries now.

THE WEDDING

I don’t even know how to actually WRITE about our wedding day. There’s just way too much. So here goes:

-I woke up at 6am to workout in the hotel gym. OBVIOUSLY. I focused on cardio and arms because um HELLO, I was wearing a strapless dress.

-8am, my bridesmaid Katie and I headed to Starbucks for some caffeine. Very important for the upcoming long day.

-9:30am me, the bridesmaid, matron of honor, mom, mother in law and godmother went to a nearby spa for a mini pre-wedding bridal shower/pampering session. AND YES THERE WERE MIMOSAS. LOTS OF THEM. We got mani/pedis and fueled up on fruit, yogurt, and baked treats. (let’s be honest, it was mostly mimosas).

-12:30 we arrived at the ceremony/reception location to have our hair and makeup done. (and still drink more mimosas). We took our time and had SO MANY laughs with our hair/makeup team. Katie even went to Panera to pick up our lunch…..and get more champagne.

-4:30pm Ceremony time

-5pm LET THE OPEN BAR OPEN THE HECK UP.

-5-10:30pm party party party. Lots of drinks, laughs and cupcakes.

And here are some pics so that I don’t have to write too much…

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Dress: Bell from Augusta Jones

Bridesmaid dresses: Clavin Klein

Jewlery: Handmade by my seamstress

Hair/Makeup: True Grace Makeup

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Location: Pruyn House

Florist/Decorations: Intuition Events

Favors: Coopers Cave Root Beer

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Caterer: Old Daley Inn I don’t have any pictures of the actual food, but it was REALLY good- especially since I’m really picky about food and tend to frown upon the typical event-fare. We had a lot of assorted cheeses, marinated goodies, sausage and pulled pork sliders for apps, 2 different family style salads (mediterranean and strawberry) and 4 entrees (tenderloin, salmon, veggie and chicken). Looking back, I wish I actually ate some of the food but A)my dress was tight to sit down in without stuffing my belly with food, and B) I was too busy chatting and drinking and laughing and having a good time. At one point, Tyler was actually feeding me bites of my entree to make sure I at least had something in my system.

10.20 wedding4We lucked out on our wedding day- the temperature in Upstate NY in the dead of summer can get NASTY. When we arrived on site the day before for rehearsal, we were sweating like PIGGIES. Then Saturday was super nice and perfect, and the day after (someone was getting married there the day after us) it poured.

We were originally planning on having the ceremony facing the garden, but it would have been in direct sunlight and probably uncomfortable for the guests waiting.

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In case you were wondering, I wore a pair of glittery Nine West sandals. I didn’t really need the extra height, but it was WAY comfier and easier to walk in the grass!

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All the ‘portraits’ we took were really quick to get through. I didn’t want to take a lot of time actually posing for photos, because I was really only wanting to get lots of action candids. Luckily our photographer understood and really worked with us on that.

Photographer: Sarah Smith Photography

I’m pretty sure she got at least a dozen or so photos with me flailing around in my thong as my mom and bridemaids were helping me into my dress. I blame this on 1.) all the dang champagne, and 2.) the fact that my only and FINAL fitting was in January (seven months prior) and I definitely put on weight/muscle. Not that I care about the weight thing, just wanted to fit in the most expensive piece of clothing I’ve ever owned, ya know.

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I’m starting to feel a bit full of myself from showing all these pics that I’m in. But I suppose that’s what you get when you have a party where you’re the center of attention. I’ll take it for one day…but that’s about it.

Funny story…my girls (we all went to the same college- I obviously live in Calgary, Kristin is now in Seattle and Katie is in Chicago) met Tyler for the FIRST TIME the night before our wedding. Crazy. But geography can get tricky. Tyler’s best man is his best friend who he was the best man in HIS wedding, and my pretty little flower baby is Kristin’s babe. Her pink dress was adorbs. I almost wanted to wear it.

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The day went by too damn fast. I want to go back and savor the crap out of it. Maybe dance a little more. And eat a cupcake.

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Cupcakes: Make Me a Cake Next Door

Cake: Made by my cousin

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DJ: All Around Sound

Awesome dance moves: Me (haha, no seriously)

The music was great- our DJ included every song I previously requested, and he kept the great vibe going the whole time. I think my dad was really into ‘getting jiggy with it’

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Not sure what song prompted me to do this:

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I personally love that I’m in my own little world and no one is minding.

Sorry the rest of these photos are not in little collages. Trying to keep this from being TOO long, but I can’t seem to compress the size, so now you’re gonna have to scroll…

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I feel like there’s probably a lot that I left out- only because I’ve gone over everything in my head lie A MILLION times. And sometimes forget what’s in my head and what I’ve put out there.

Also, way too many thanks to everyone who made the whole thing possible. Numero uno being my parents. It was NOT easy planning this whole thing from 3000 miles away AND in a different country- heck, I booked the venue without even having seen it first! My parents did a lot of the grunt work .

Also a huge thanks to my bridesmaids- they made me feel SUPER special on that day since we weren’t able to see each other in person AT ALL prior to the wedding to plan!

Hope you enjoyed taking a peak at our special day 😉

Things From the Weekend

Let’s talk about things from this weekend, shall we? We shall.

Friday after work, Tyler and I had pizza and beer and mentally checked out to watch The Purge and The Hangover III. The end.

Saturday, I got up early and cooked myself some bacon and eggs. I ended up only eating the bacon because I undercooked the eggs. Tragic? Not entirely. Me likely the bacon.

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Then I ran 5k. Balance is the key in life.

Then……I picked up my new car! My FIRST new car ever!

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(Yeah, that’s totally the picture they took of me at the dealership.)

I got a brand new Toyota 4Runner.. much better than the 1998 Toyota Corolla and the 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe- although THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR BOTH OF THOSE VEHICLES.

I love love love it.

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I sat in it in the driveway for like an hour yesterday. Totally obsessed. And the best part->

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Hahaha YES. A car with a Party Mode button is my kinda vehicle.

Afterward, Tyler and I met up with our friends Crystie & Greg for dinner at State & Main. We shared the Calamari and I had the Mahi Mahi tacos. It was all super delicious. AND they even had my Okanagan Springs Summer Weizen!

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Following dinner (And good conversation) the four of us headed to the theater to see Prisoners. It was pretty good, but a little gory. It also made me realize that I can’t sit in public for 2 1/2 hours. My ass HURT.

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Today, I did laundry (exciting), washed the floors (exciting) and cleaned out the Santa Fe to get it ready to sell (exciting)

*NOTE: Everything above was, in fact, NOT exciting.

I also ate a butt-ton of garlic stuffed olives and skyped with mom and dad for an hour

*those were fun.

I totally just remembered the whole Photo Booth thingy on my MacBook, so I thought I’d share a photo of RIGHT NOW. Disclaimer: I have googly eyes and Layla’s paw IS still attached to the rest of her body, you just can’t really see her.

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Now that I’ve remembered the Photo Booth thing, I totally have to share with you some of the pics I had my mom, dad,  and I take on my iPad. Pretty hilarious. And don’t worry, I won’t hate it if you can’t tell whose who.

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We are weirdos and I love it.

Other things of note for the weekend:

  • I signed up for my friend, Athena’s Fall Into Fitness challenge. Check it out if you’re interested!
  • I bought a jar of Nutella (worthy of mentioning, obviously)
  • I get my first month transit pass. Looks like I’m locked into public transit for my weekday commute for October!

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  • I FINALLY got my wedding photos! (They have a giant PROOF written across them in the digital gallery and she’s putting the disc in the mail tomorrow) I’ll post some later this week, just gotta figure a way I can get them compiled!

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  • You know the expression “does a bear shit in the woods?” It should be changed to “does Reggie shit in the basement?” Because yes, yes he does. All the time. It’s getting REALLY old.
  • My favorite pumpkin ale (in Canada) Phillips Crooked Tooth Pumpkin Ale

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And with that, I have procrastinated my workout long enough.

IN THE COMMENTS: 

What did you take away from this weekend?

 

 

Wedding Sneak Peaks

No words for today’s post, just some of the sneak peaks of our wedding that the photographer finally sent. Once I get all the photos from her, there will be a wedding post!

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Wednesday W’s

What I ate:
My parents and I returned to Rock Hill Bakehouse for a late lunch. I guess since its my last full day in New York I can tolerate both lunch and dinner with them today (oh and I can’t wait to tell you about dinner, even though we haven’t even had it yet!!) Anyways, this Bakehouse always has such delicious daily specials

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I opted for the salad special- with a cup of the vegan split pea soup. Bother we’re so delicious and I am now incredibly full and burping raw onions.

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Wedding:
Chose the hotels for our wedding. One of them wanted us to block 30 rooms! I was all ‘helllllls no.’ I talked to the curator of the property where we are having the ceremony/reception and she recommended 2 particular hotels that offer a free shuttle and great discounted rates since they often get wedding guests from their particular property. Doesn’t hurt that both are within about a mile of the location as well!

I was wandering the house as I was speaking to various hotels on the phone and I came across this little gem:

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That would be me when I was about 3 years old. The daughter of friends of my parents was getting married in Beverly Hills and I just so happened to be an adorable blonde-haired little girl that they knew! Lucky me. My resources mom tells me the guy she married (who I was totally afraid of because he was so muscle-y) owns a ton of Gold’s Gyms throughout Southern California now. Had I not recently moved to Canada, I would so be on the phone with him inquiring about personal training jobs. Could you imagine? Training rich, tan people in California? Ugh. I can’t think of it because its making me mad jealous.

Workout:
Oh yes, this is a great workout. I don’t know why, knock on wood, but lately I have been in love with my workouts. This is partly because of Best Body Bootcamp, part because of the new home equipment I have acquired over the past few months, and part because of my mentality towards each workout.

For the strength portion of today’s workout, I slightly modified some moves from BBB. The idea for the circuit was to run the clock for 15 minutes and get as many rounds of 3 exercises in as you can. I don’t want to give away the moves (it wouldn’t be fair to all the hard work Tina does with the program. If you’re interested though, click the link above to find out when you can sign up for the next round!) but the 3 exercises in each round focused on lower body and chest/shoulders. After completing the first round, I danced around to loosen up for a few minutes, the got right into round 2 for another 15 minutes of 3 different exercises.

The schedule also planned for some cardio intervals. I haven’t really been loving the gym here for my cardio workouts, and I have exhausted the option of using my parent’s treadmill everyday, so I changed this to my own AWESOME cardio bit:

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You see that? I did Tabatas! (Tabatas are 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes.) In the above picture, I alternated between two moves for each tabata. I also hopped on the treadmill for a quick 1/4 mile run before getting into the next tabata. All these, combined with the strength circuits really kicked my tush. And I loved it.

Edited to note: I actually subbed the 1/4 mi sprints with 10 stair runs between each tabata set. More sweat, more work! That’s what happens when you post about your workout before you actually do it! Never again, Jen. Never again.

And now, I leave you with Weird:

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Stuffed rhino head

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My 4th grade self.

Question: What exercises do you currently have on heavy rotation in your workouts?