June & July in a Nutshell

The highlight for me was setting our wedding date -- the big day is on Sunday, May 18, 2008 of the long weekend.

Also, Birthday wishes to Cindy, Josie & Charlene.

I'm way behind on blogging, but the wedding planning has taken on a life of its own!

I've been on hiatus but here's a snapshot of what I've been up to:

Go-kart racing -- revving engines, burning rubber & exhilarating speed. What an adrenaline rush!

Chatting about work, love & life with Aileen over Thai dinner.

Running wedding errands with Cathy. Picked up photo props, brainstormed on favors and peeked at our decorators setting up for a wedding above Mario Gelatos.

Swingdancing at Diavolos.

Oh! Need to work on that follow-through. Hit the tennis courts with Kristy & Frank.

Winding down at the Pub.

Wedding dress shopping. I must have tried on about a hundred dresses by now. Having bought my first dress on impulse, I'm on the hunt for my second one. It's a long story...and I'm feeling guilty.

Kim-Anh & Michael's wedding was lovely and full of emotion. The guitarist did an excellent job. The games were entertaining and I overindulged on the ten course dinner.

Watching the fireworks with Frank, Nicole, Kenny & Wade.

Watching an outdoor concert by "The Fray" with Nathan, Nicole & Kevin. The spoof on Shakira's "Hips don't lie" was hilarious!

Catching up with Linda & Earl who were visiting from Calgary.

Looking forward to having Shawn in town so that we can work on the guest list.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. We celebrated the special day by having lunch with the mom's in our family.

Weekend at Harrison Hotsprings

Shawn flew into town on Friday. I took the day off work so that we could visit the 7 wedding venues on our list. It was a productive day. In the end, we narrowed our decision down to two choices which both had very different offerings.

We suspended our wedding planning and turned our attention to our weekend at Harrison Hot Springs paid for by my company. This was an appreciation gift for our hard work contributed towards reaching last year's revenue target.

Highlights of the weekend were getting to hang out with Shawn and introducing him as my fiance to coworkers (I'm still getting used to that), dinner and dancing in the Copper Room, soaking in the hot pools and enjoying an Aboriginal cultural cruise with Sasquatch Tours.

Our tour guide retold stories that had been passed down to him through his elders. It was beautiful listening to a prayer in their native language while he beat on a hand-made drum. The beats symbolized the beating heart of his nation.

We also had a chance to shout into the mountains and hear our echos. Embarrassing I had to shout twice before my echo came back. If only we had someone in our group that could've yodeled ...yodeleyheehoo!

Busy weekend

This weekend was spent catching up with friends. The last time I saw Karen was in December and she was not dating anyone seriously. On Saturday morning, I met up with her and her new fiance for brunch at La Bretagne Creperie. They shared the story of their whirlwind romance -- which I am such a sucker for.

This past New Year's Eve, Karen's friend invited her to a party wanting to set her up with a friend. The friend showed up and brought Abe with him. Karen and Abe had an instant connection. He proposed two weeks later, and they have been inseparable since.

It was nice to chat to them about wedding planning. They are way ahead of us with their bookings. After their wedding next year, Karen will be helping Abe expand his business and they'll be travelling to Germany, France, New York and Calgary over the course of a year.

After brunch, I met up with Andreana. Our company was treating us to a weekend get-away and we needed to get dresses for the cocktail reception. We spent a lot. Andreana bought a beautiful, chiffon Max Azria dress. When she stepped out of the change room, I couldn't help staring. At 5'10" she looked like a supermodel. Gorgeous! The $500 was well spent. She helped me pick out my third pair of wedding shoes.

On Sunday, Bruce, Raymend and I played a round of golf at scenic Northlands Golf Course. It was a gorgeous day to play outside. It was a tough, uphill course but we a great workout. The views were stunning and we even caught a glimpse of a deer. My game definitely needs improvement. Luckily I didn't lose all of my balls :)

Kim's Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Kim's 30th. It was the first BBQ of this year and there was so much delicious food. I totally over-indulged. It was nice to see everyone and catch up. We chatted and ate...and hung out...and ate some more. It was also fun to watch the poker players and their intensity!

Weekend in Whistler

It was Christl's last weekend in Vancouver before heading back to London, so we (Amanda, Lauren, Nicole and Shannan) decided to head up to Whistler for the Telus festival. Chrissy had also been dreaming of making snow angels, so she was psyched to see snow and play in it. (Snow is a bit of a novelty if you're from South Africa :))

We managed to get free accomodation for the weekend in a house just a 10 minute walk from the Village. It was Christl's first time skiing and she did really well. We even managed to get down some blue runs. We had some good laughs watching the girls 'helicopter' wipe outs and rolling down the hill (reminded me of my first time skiing!). The girls were such troopers! A couple of us got some minor bumps and bruises, but it was great hanging out and sticking together on the slopes. We got to play in the snow and had a great workout.

We had a delicious dinner at the Keg and shopped before heading home on Sunday. I was happy to hear that our trip was one of the highlights of my cousin's trip to Vancouver.

Easter in L.A.

Weekends in L.A. are always jam-packed and over in a flash. Shawn booked me a super-early flight, leaving Vancouver at 6:00 am so that we could make the most of the time that we had together. It was nice to have Shawn's brother, Gabe, for company on the flight.
One of the highlights was celebrating Shawn's grandpa's 90th birthday with the family. Pops' mind is still sharp as a whistle and as witty as ever. He walks on the treadmill at the gym every morning, checks his email at his office and is still driving around. It was really emotional during the speeches, and it was wonderful to celebrate our engagement as well.

On Saturday night, we met up with friends at the Spanish Kitchen, a trendy restaurant in West L.A. There was great food and conversation. I really enjoyed getting to know them better since I only get to see them a few times a year.

Sunday...we finally had a day all to ourselves. We didn't want to spend too much time on wedding planning, so it will have to wait for another month.

Back in Vancouver and I miss him already!