122| lists.

clearly, i'm in a blogging mood today {i also have fifteen minutes to kill until the end of my work morning and the much anticipated lunch out}.

so, what did i do with the first five of the fifteen minutes? why, i looked at the knot.com, of course, like any insane bride would. right then. there are one-hundred-and-eighty-four things on my "list" to be completed. i checked off all the ones that i thought didn't apply to me/him/us/our wedding/our party {as my father is now calling it, because there are no aunts, uncles invited, and therefore it can't possibly be a wedding}.

there were still twenty-one things. more manageable, sure. but twenty-one things. it's still a lot of pressure to do and check and make and think and participate in this grand scheme.

actually, there were only twenty. i left one unchecked because i thought it was the most ridiculous thing i had ever heard. ever.

Brides: Choose your bridesmaids' accessories (shoes, gloves, etc.) and either purchase or pass along purchasing information.

you know, because my bridesmaid is not twenty-three and cannot make these types of decisions on her own.

when she {steph} was in town this week, we went to a nice trendy dress shop and bought her a nice, cute dress, that she looks incredible in. she wanted to buy it right away. i told her we should take a second look. and we did. but in te end, she was right. and i trusted her. and she will look incredible. without. doubt.

the strange thing about the knot is that it is so redunant. you're supposed to do the same things every month. it doesn't make a lot of sense. the words "submit your wedding anouncement" appears in five different sentences in five different months {although, i think the knot assumes that we are supposed to have engagement announcements and wedding announcements as separate entities. we have neither, thankfully}.

it reminds me of the instructions on a box of tea:

1. open box
2. remove sachet of tea
3. boil water
4. unwrap string from sachet
5. procure cups and teapot
6. place sachet in teapot
7. when water has reached its boiling point, pour water into teapot
8. let tea steep
9. once the tea has steeped to your liking, pour into cup(s)
10. enjoy
11. remove tea sachet before the tea becomes too strong

it's tea, for heaven's sake. and that's kind of how i feel about this wedding business: as long as i am married at the end of the day, and as long as i have had my share of cake and ice cream, i will be very, particularly delighted and it will have been a marvelous success of a wedding.

image my own {from where i hope to have our photos done.}

110| dress to impress.

found. one very lovely, well-priced dress, unique and ideal for the following:

• 3 weddings
• convocation
• countless brunches
• reading under trees.

hurray. now, if only they can special order my size!

103| five things...i want to cook this summer.

remember all that talk about my bookmarked links at work? i think half of them are recipes: wonderful things that inspire me at work and remind me "hey, you there, get back to work, because then you can afford groceries this week to make such lovely things as us".

specifically, there are five that i am thrilled about this summer.

• flammekueche
• cake pops {these will be coming out for my birthday}
• lemony ricotta pasta with basil
• gazpacho
• violet and vanilla bean macarons

om nom nom.

96| links, slink

at home, i have my links organized by purpose and in a hierarchal structure, such as:

• entertainment
• eating
• shopping

under eating, i have recipes, restaurants, and blogs, under recipes i have "wedding menu", "baked goods" and "mains". under entertainment i have a whole variety of subfolders, ranging from "museums" to "photography". shopping includes "online stores", "real stores" and "indie artists" as well as "wedding registry" for the time being.

this is part of why i love opera and safari, they are very user-friendly things for organizing your internets. at work, we use internet explorer. and usually the things i save at work as favourites are recipes, and blog posts that i want to export after my contract is over. that said, my favourites sidebar is becoming crowded with beautiful posts like this that i want to remember for the wedding.

how do you organize your links?

95| allowance, resolution

i have been forever spoiled {up until last october}. and i have ever frittered away my money, left, right, centre, and behind me in some cases.

i looked in my bank account yesterday and gulped. and then i freaked out. and then i realized that i am far from practical with my money, and that i don't fritter away my money on magazines and drinks as much as i used to {good}, but rather on housewares and clothes and other slightly larger purchases {bad}.

i admire rachel for not shopping for eleven whole weeks. i could not do that. but, i am going to be very strict with my money from now on. and very aware of my purchases.

my debit card, ladies and gentlemen, is not leaving the house unless it is for the express purpose of either taking out money, or making a planned purchase. i will take out a certain amount of money, and subsist on that for a week. and if i go broke before, oh well. too effing bad. i can't keep relying on my overdraft. i could. but i refuse to.

new rules to spend by...

• no specialty coffee, no breakfast pastries, no more $2 yogurt
• with the exception of a dress for the summer {i'm too small for my old ones, and i have three weddings and my convocation to attend}, spending on clothing will be limited to $50 per month, not a penny more {right now i'm spending very close to $200 without thinking much about it}
• i will not buy my lunch more than one a week
• i will not go out for drinks more than once per month {this isn't really a big problem for me right now, but once patio season begins}

this will be different {i hope}. {also, i hope that none of you are particularly bored by my discussion of money. i feel like it's a major elephant in the room for me right now, and i needed to get it out there. exhale. and now, on with the otherwise normal life that i lead. ha.}

73| arrival, springs.

+11 yesterday. +14 today. so what if it's going back down to +3 tomorrow? it's beautiful outside! i'm wearing the most adorable dress from allison wonderland today {see above}, and yesterday i could actually feel the start of spring on my shoulders!

which brings me to what i was talking about yesterday. things i want to do once spring starts.

• start my garden {see heart-of-light for possible planter solution}
• go shopping on dalhousie street with allyson {where i found the wonderful dress i'm wearing}
• wear flipflops
• drink coffee on the patio of planet coffee
• go out for incredibly long walks, like two or three hours walks through town.
• explore new edinburgh
• read at the arboretum

this is just when it starts. once it gets going, there's no stopping me.

72| blogs i want to write when i have time...

but for now, i guess i`m trapped by the proverbial pigeon of schoolwork.



• things i want to do when spring arrives
• things i need to do in the next thirty days
• books, what i will read this year.
• heritage minutes
• my photomaking trip with john
• buying wedding dress
• money {and how i finally have some}
• wedding playlist

in the meantime, ì blog about list-making. off to finish writing this paper. it refuses to write itself.

64| in creeps the morning, and another day's lost.

i slept for eleven hours last night. a new record for weekday sleep without sickness. i made up for all of this with some high-octance productivity.

• early morning class, on the wonderful and interesting topic of sex education, and the history thereof {side story: i very much got caught twittering last week in class, so luckily the topic was of adequate interest that my laptop stayed put. lesson learned}
• wonderful coffee with mikael, and talking of new york trip {eeeee.}
• finding out that i-got-into-grad-school {eeeee.}
• a nice, long, leisurely trip to fabric stores with the mother of a friend.

said trip led to a long, leisurely stroll through bridal stores. and finding a very wedding-y, very lovely dress. that i would never wear again. that is completely impractical. that made me feel like i was covered in this marvelous sugary wedding dust. i was in a daze the car trip home. this is everything that i do not stand for {also, it had a marvelous boustierre that made me feel so sexy, and like i could do anything and still look good}.

steph is right. deep down, i'm a girl. ick.

{practical stuff: the dress is only $450. the materials to make said dress would cost nearly $350. the shoppe selling it is barely breaking even. sure, it's four times what i wanted to spend. on the other hand, it's one-tenth what a friend spent way back when}

59| the incomporable list

i tend to make to-do- lists for myself on fridays, and these lists, unlike the lists of monday through thursday, are usually personal matters, cleaning, cooking, shopping, and so forth.

this weekend's list, which i'm making mentally and will probably put to paper {or blog} soon enough is a mile long. not conquerable, especially not if i want to have downtime.

• make dessert for tonight {step one, figure out what i'm making} [edit: done. getting cake. making lemon buttercream. getting blueberries.]
• decide on new phone plan [edit: done. $50 plan. but do i need voicemail? yargh. it's an extra $15 a month. hrm]
• clean out closet, take clothes to valu village
• fill in address book {so as to not scramble later in life for addresses}
• write to heli
• apply for three jobs
• [edit: new thing--redo banner for blog, because this is seriously boring in all seriousness]

i know it doesn't sound like much, but that's on top of the usual stuff, like schoolwork, going to the gym, and cleaning, and grocery shopping. oh, plus i want to blog a bit more. and i promised andrew i'd stay off the computer tomorrow...yikes.

52| i type in short form, when i am angry/excited/thrilled {pick one}.

i hate short form, especially in terms of chatting or instant messaging. i only use it, either when i am:

1. in a rush
2. incredibly angry
3. thrilled

my facebook conversation with steph was one of those occassions {the fact that this is worthy of a blog is a sign it doesn`t happen often}.

on my parents, money, and taxes:

me: he {my father} can`t give me money, because he has none to give, but won`t let me be financially indpt. or, rather doesn`t want me to see how much of my money he *actually* lost.

(oh, btw, my parents--the broke ones, as opposed to the rich
ones--are going to fìng hawaii for two weeks, like wtf?)

on my parents tendency to see me as a sixteen year old, rather than a twenty-two year old:

yeah, it`s not that which bothers me, as it is that they haven`t
gotten the memo that said `your daughter is financially independent of you,
therefore you have no right to criticize how she spends her money, nor can your
micromanage the rest of her life through infantilization"

okay, maybe i don`t use shortforms as much as i thought. i just type fast and try to be poetic.

|credit e3|

46| gadgets + weddings.

my favourite + my best and i have a very large selection of pots, pans, and odds and ends that make a house a house. we want things that will make our house more of a home.

a lot of the stuff are things which we brought from our singlehoof: his tv, his couch, my tea kettle, his coffee table, his bookshelf, my bookshelf, his poang chain, his plates. he lived by himself before we met, while i sort of just nudged my way after annuling a deal with roommates {i was spending four or five nights a week there, so it made more sense}.

i don't like the idea of having a wedding to get gifts, in fact i hate it {there's currently a couple who are asking for donations online. from strangers. yeah, i know.} however, given that our friends are too generous to just come to the wedding and hang out and eat and have a good time, we are creating a registry. also, my parents' 25th wedding anniversary is the following september, and there will be a joint party at their place, and there will be more people, and more opportunities for generosity.

but, we're happy with our ikea plates, and we don't have anywhere for a second sofa {as badly as we nede a new one}. a bbq is out until we buy a place. and quite frankly, we have more glasses than we can shake a fist at {but perhaps, if we shook a fist at them, some would break and we would need more}.

so, i've put forth the motion that we will be registering for four traditional items:

• an oversized afghan.
• taika cutlery {my family in germany has the same set. it is soooooo incredible}.
• a blender.
• a nice set of dishes that we can use for sunday dinners, with company, and with one another before we get to the sunday dinners and company stage of our life.

don't ask me where we're finding that last one.

other than that, it's going to be a bizarre collection of odds and ends, cute things that we don't need, but are nice-to-haves, and a selection of things that involve doing. camping. skiing. travelling. cooking {but, for us. cooking lessons, per se}. things we enjoy doing, things we will learn from, things which will strengthen us as a couple.

9| mimosas + marigolds

for the first time since before christmas, it is supposed to go above freezing this week. as much as i love, love, love winter in ottawa {and by winter, i mean the part where you eat hearty food and do amazing winter sports}, i am quite ready for some warmer weather thank you very much.

i don't remember who it was, but back in november, when i was just getting started into the winter season, someone wrote a post {in fact, i'm sure many people wrote a post} of things they would like to be doing in the summer, even though there was no summer to be found. at the time, i found the idea to be rather silly, since i was so thrilled to have winter plans, but now that winter is slowly winding down {what's that you say....six more weeks? heck no!} i am finding myself craving summer, and seed catalogs.

hopefully this summer will be long, because there is indeed many things i want to do.

• plant my garden with mimosas and marigolds--lots of marigolds-- as well as edibles
• take a photography course
• play ultimate twice, if not three times a week
• get out on my rollerblades (perhaps to and from work)
• get my ass to a bunch of outdoor concerts, festivals and shows
• volunteer in the lantern festival
• buy some raw wood pieces and finish them outside
• craft in the great outdoors with my niece
• use the patio furniture, even if we don't have a patio.

the list will get longer as the weather gets better, undoubtedly.

|credit smellyblog|