What a great day it was.

All our wedding photography is by Dave Biesse and Charlotte Leonard. They are amazingly talented and very fun & personable photographers…who became our friends!

We had a fun anniversary breakfast this morning…

Peanut Banana Butter Love Muffin Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 2 love muffins
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1 spoonful chunky peanut butter

Directions: Slice muffins in half. Mix the mashed banana and PB together and spread onto muffin.

Along with chocolate dipped strawberries!

Chocolate Coconut Maple Dipped Strawberries

Ingredients:

• 6-8 large strawberries
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Directions: In a small bowl place the chips and coconut oil into the microwave for 30 second intervals until chocolate is melted. Stir well. Add 1/2 tbsp maple syrup and mix. Dip strawberries and swoosh all around to coat. Sprinkle with nuts or coconut if desired. Place in freezer for 10 minutes or so to set. Enjoy!

This was such a nice treat this morning.

I don’t want this morning to end, but work calls me! Have a great day.

Hey everyone!

What a crazy busy week this has been. Sorry for my MIA status yesterday. I was just itching to post, but time was not allowing me to!

If you remember, back in the summer I ran the Summer Glow Boot Camp! The top prize was a photoshoot with the amazingly talented Dave and Charlotte!

Dave and Charlotte shot our engagement (view slideshow here):

As well as our wedding (view slideshow here). We also did some fun Bridal Modeling with them too!

What they do is truly outstanding work to say the least.

As a bonus, they are also super friendly, down to earth, and just all around cool people to hang out with. Oh and did I mention they are also engaged and super in love? Ok, I’ll stop gushing now!

Sarah was the winner of the photoshoot and I am happy to reveal some of our favourite shots of the day!

First, this was Sarah’s winning entry for the contest:

Dear Dave and Charlotte,

As a Toronto native, I was immediately struck by the beauty you capture in local settings before noticing people! I attribute this to the Landscape Architecture graduate program I’m currently completing. I was never content with Toronto. We take many field trips there year-round. Visit new sites such as the Brickworks and Tommy Thompson park continually shows its its magic! There’s no ocean or mountains – but I’m finally seeing a metropolis humbly boasting 1st place for multi-culturalism in Canada! In your Toronto pictures, I proudly recognize parks and locations. Wow, what vision! You seamlessly use lighting to create moods from dreamy to hot&steamy to vibrant to dreamy.

I am Indian+African by heritage. Growing up in Toronto (I’m 23!) I was the odd one out because of my culture/celebrations and skin tone. I’m beginning to embrace my distinct, strong, unique heritage and celebrate it from within, to glow outside. I’m appreciating my distinct features and feel prettier everyday based on my own honest opinions, not what others think. I’m petite but have enviable tanned skin, full lips, large and dark fawn eyes and thick straight black hair and eyelashes! Soon my inner glow will never be dimmed, but spread to show as my outer confident aura. D&C, you are so talented in depicting the cultural vibrancy and quirks of Indian celebrations. Everyone looks beautiful. Your pictures speak to the viewer. Capturing in film my features and Indian heritage as a backdrop  in my native city will allow me to celebrate myself and my culture, and announce that I AM beautiful and proud of my ‘differences.’ The photos will be like bottling the moment of change toward self appreciation, to announce my future holds nothing but a positive, confident outlook.

Sarah ended up winning the contest (by a reader poll) and I am happy to show you the shots from the photoshoot!!! They turned out incredible. Right out of a fashion magazine!

PS- I love those shoes…!!! Must get some asap!

I think this is my fav shot!!!!!

I could so see that in Vogue!

This is one of my favs!!

If that isn’t a summer glow I don’t know what is!!!!!! She is just glowing, isn’t she???

Here is what Sarah said about her experience:

Hi Angela!

Dave and Charlotte were a great team! They worked incredibly well together and made me feel comfortable right from the start, when Charlotte greeted me with a big hug. When we arrived on site, several film crew trailers were parked along the curb. Perhaps I got mistaken for a celebrity during my shoot… haha The photographer from the crew recognized Dave right away!

To start off our session, Charlotte specially did my makeup for photography!! I really appreciated this. Thanks Charlotte! I felt comfortable immediately and I’ve never done anything like this before. Charlotte is a pro in posing/staging so I trusted and followed her cues. I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do otherwise. They had me laughing, entertained and relaxed the whole shoot. I was willing to try anything they suggested and was glad we shot at a few different spots on site. It was so cool to be part of a professional photo shoot and see how it’s done. Their talent and love for what they do, and their focus on lighting from the way i was staged to taking test shots was so apparent through the whole shoot. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, and to have worked with Dave and Charlotte specifically!

Thanks for the compliments on my pictures Angela. My favourites were at the lion + on the bridge. Their eye for detail is impeccable.. I love the posing at the lion and how the geometry of the bridge plays off my shoes! I’ve never felt THIS good looking at pictures of myself!!! I had so much fun with them and am honestly so grateful for this opportunity. Just like you, I’m hoping for an opportunity for another photoshoot soon. I’ve never had that much fun being in front of a camera!

Thanks again for everything. And happy 1 year blog-iversary! Happy Hallowe’en!
Sarah

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

A huge thank you to the amazing Dave and Charlotte for so generously donating this Photoshoot for the contest! I am so thrilled because I feel like this contest achieved exactly what it was supposed to- to encourage women to feel comfortable in their own skin and to embrace their GLOW!

If you guys haven’t checked out Dave and Charlotte‘s blog you definitely should! They post all about their amazing shoots and travels all over the world. I’m super addicted and stalk their site frequently. haha.

~~~~

Have you ever had professional pictures taken of yourself? Did they meet your expectations?

What happens to a man is less significant than what happens within him.
- Louis L. Mann

……And she finally gets a post up!

I spoke to my brother in law today (who lives out west) and he said, ‘Geeze, Ange no post from you again this morning!!!!’. lol. My sister Kristi and family couldn’t make it to the wedding so they were anxiously awaiting a recap!

The wedding was a lot of fun. My brother Chris and his long time girlfriend Nicole got hitched yesterday! Chris is my half brother (same with my sister Kerrie) and he is the last one of my siblings and I (me, Kristi, Kerrie, Chris) to get married!

We arrived at the Hilton Hotel around 1pm. The hotel was quite nice and very reasonably priced for the size of the rooms. We got this mini suite (2 rooms) for $110 CAD which is pretty much unheard of in the Toronto area. We lived it up!

The bed was so comfy!!!!

See, I really did try to blog from the hotel room…I just never got around to it! lol.

Eric is always a bit stressed when he has to tie a tie. lol.

We also had a great view! The weather was picture perfect as you can see. A gorgeous late summer day.

I curled my hair and did my make-up. It was nice that we arrived early so we could get ready in the comfort of our own room (and also not wrinkle our clothes in the car).

Eric got this funny picture of me putting on mascara. That is one of those super magnified mirrors (love/hate those! lol).

Come on ladies, you know you make weird faces when you put on mascara too!

Me after primping and prepping:

This dress is 8 YEARS old! I had only worn it once (to my mom and stepdad’s wedding reception) and it still fit like a glove, so I thought why not save some moula and wear it!? I forgot how much I love this dress! It is so me- plunging neckline and nice detail on the back…you know how I love my deep V’s and interesting backs!

Eric looked hot as usual.

Around 3pm, it was time to pick up my Grammy + her partner and head down to the ceremony!

My Grammy just GLOWS doesn’t she???? She doesn’t look it, but she is in her mid-80’s!!!!!! Doesn’t she look amazing? I can only hope and dream I have skin as nice as hers when I am her age! Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!

I love my Grammy so much.

The wedding was big- 248 guests! It made our <110 wedding seem tiny!

My brother is a firefighter and he wore his firefighter suit + white gloves. He looked so handsome.

Beautiful flowers too!

The beautiful bride Nicole and her dad and stepdad walked her down the aisle.

They poured sand into a jar as a symbol of their love…

It was a very nice ceremony! I teared up of course (but had no tissue- eek!).

After the ceremony Eric and I went to the hotel room to grab a beer and then headed down for pictures.

I still can’t believe how good Bud Light Lime tastes! Officially obsessed…Any other fans out there?

The beautiful wedding party…

My bro and I…

Then it was cocktail time. We each had a Coors Light.

And then it was time for dinner and dancing! Yawhoo!

Their cake was crazy!!!!!!!!!

Dinner was a cream based soup (which I skipped), salad, and they served me a ‘vegan’ pasta (that had cheese on it, lol) so I just picked around the cheese. Eric had chicken + roasted potatoes + veggies.

After dinner, we danced the night away! Everyone danced at this wedding- I just love a good party-hard crowd!

Kerrie, myself, and a bridesmaid cutting up a rug!

Let’s just say I was a VERY bad influence on my brother in law Steve!!!! LOL

I had everyone doing vodka shots…

I’m always up to no good, aren’t I? *devil grin*

Eric and the firefighters!

Someone get this girl to bed ASAP!

Eric and I danced from about 9pm until 1:30am. We both love dancing.

After the reception was over, we hosted an after party in our hotel room until about 4-4:30am!!! I kept telling everyone that I was getting up at 8am to run.

That SOOO didn’t happen!

We woke up starving for breakfast this morning, and met everyone downstairs. I feasted on whole wheat toast, fruit, water, and two cups of green tea:

My plate:

Vs. Eric’s plate: LOL (then he made me go up for him and get him MORE French toast!)

I was so happy that the Hilton carried TAZO green tea!!!!!! Usually hotel teas are WEAK if you know what I mean.

I had about 2 bottles of water and 2 cups of green tea. Then an apple on the drive home and more water. I think I am finally replenished!

Surprisingly after only 4 hours of sleep, I am not doing TOO badly. Eric is currently passed out on the floor and Sketchie is sleeping on him (would you expect anything less??).

Our house is a disaster so I am going to try to muster up the strength to unpack, clean, and make a super cleansing dandelion green monster in a bit.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Coming up MONDAY:

• I will be telling you what new pets Eric and I brought home today.
• A HUGE Barney Butter giveaway (6 jars!!!!)

Despite what they said, we made it!

[Only joking of course]

A year just flew by. Eric goes, ‘Really? It felt SLOW.’ What a jokester, eh? [That was my ‘I’m not pleased face’]

Marriage is knowing that you can be as weird as you want with someone and they cant really do much about it or judge you for it. After all, they married you, right?

We’ve had a fun and productive anniversary.

The Wedding Registry

Off we were to Toronto again today!

Much like on our wedding day, the weather was absolutely phenomenal.

I love visiting Toronto.

I love living in the country, but I do like having the convenience of being so close to shopping, sights, and entertainment.

There are so many great opportunities for photography.

Off to William Ashley’s we went!

We were registered here for our wedding and we hadn’t been back since we created the registry last May 2008! Luckily, they still had us (and purchased gifts!) on file.

Look at all the green monster makers they had!

The goal today was to regroup, assess the money we had to work with, and then SPEND EVERY CENT.

I was like a kid in a candy store.

We finished off our china place settings and silverware.

I joked with Eric that these were perfect:

We’re just in love with the design we selected. We wanted to go with a very simple china pattern so it hopefully won’t date itself as quickly as some of the others.

Our china: Classic silver rimmed

I also love the unique look of the cutlery- slender, modern, and sleek looking. We figured since we went with such a timeless china pattern, we could get away with a bolder silverware.

How cool is this silverware?! And is it this normal that it excites us so much? I guess that’s what living off mis-matched hand me downs will do to a couple.

The Wedding Cake

We also took out the top layer of our wedding cake from the freezer (yes, it was transported through our move too!).

Let’s just say the cake wasn’t any better than when we had it on our wedding night.

The wedding cake was a huge DUD on our wedding day. Dry, dry, dry.

But like my mom says, ‘Ange, if that was the only thing that went wrong on your wedding day, consider yourself lucky!’

I whole heartedly agree.

Eric took a tester bite and said it was the worst cake he’s ever tasted so we tossed it out. I certainly was not surprised. And 1 year in the freezer didn’t do it any good. Even the rose didn’t save it!

Onward and upward!

I love roses.

We have them in the house maybe twice a year and I savour every minute with them!

The gifts

Eric and I always give silly cards (but then write mushy stuff on the back). This was the card I got him. It was perfect! You know when you read a card and you say, ‘That is so us!!’ ?

Finally, I can unveil the gift I have been working on for the past while!

I made an anniversary capsule!

I thought it was fitting for the paper tradition.

I had so much fun putting this together!

The idea is, each year we will complete 1 page for our anniversary. I think it will be so awesome to look back over time and see how we/times changed.

Things I included:

• Prices (gas, loaf of bread, etc)
• What we did that whole year (this took the longest because I had to find exact dates!)
• Current picture of us
• What we own
• Our favourite things (songs, TV shows, movies, etc)
• In the news (thanks for your help!)
• The year, our age, and what the tradition was (this year was paper)
• Weather report

I also got him a security camera that he has been wanting for ages, but I knew he wouldn’t ever buy it for himself. It hasn’t arrived yet, but hopefully in the next day or two.

Then, it was time for my gifts!

For the paper theme, he blew up a bunch of our wedding pictures. They looked great! We need to get some frames and put them up.

And then I almost had a heart attack when I opened my next gift. For the longest time I have wanted a macro lens for the SLR camera. Macro lens are great for close-ups and are used a lot for food photography!

Well…behold…my new lens…

We’re off to watch some TV. Just an old married couple now, ya know?

Just a quick note to tell you that I have updated the Green Monster Movement with new reader recipes and stories! Many more to come all week (I have 64 in my inbox in queue! lol).

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Missed The rehearsal, Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3?

Why hello…

By the time we arrived to the reception after photos, I was ready to EAT and party!!!

Time to kick back and relax…

I was so excited to see the wedding favour cookies I made all placed at everyone’s table. Most people had already eaten theirs! hehe. I was a proud cookie mama.

I can finally show them to you now that the wedding is over! I wanted the bride to be the 1st to see them.

She had her children that she teaches write special messages on the back of each tag. Kids say the funniest things! We had a few ‘doosies’ at our table, one of which was ‘Love is…stroking your pet’.

My child wrote something very deep and wise…

I made Leah and Steve special cookies with their initials:

To my delight, everyone raved about the sugar cookies!! I had several people come up to me and tell me how much they loved them and how they gobbled them up. I was beaming from ear to ear! It was a good 4 days work or longer to make them! All the work was worth it.

Leah didn’t have a full head table, so the bridesmaids got to sit with their dates. We had a FUN & young table!

I started with about 4oz of wine:

They brought out a mixed green salad to start:

And then I was brought out a HUGE vegan stir-fry. It was quite possibly one of the best stir-frys I have ever tasted!!! I ate every single bite. I was starving!

I was asked a few questions about being vegan from people at my table and everyone was really cool about it! No mean waiters here!

Drink #2:

Carley and I:

Love that girl!

We tucked in our halter straps for the reception. One dress- TWO ways!

The boys at our table got a little rowdy! lol. It was such an entertaining table of people.

This was the regular dessert, Ice Cream Crepes!

My vegan dessert, a lovely fruit salad with raspberry Sorbet:

So so so good. WOW.

Eric and I got Tequila shots for Steve and all the Groomsmen (from the UK). It was a fun way to bond, lol.

My shot was put in a GLASS and I think he gave me way more than 1oz!- it was more like 1.5 oz!!! Gross!!!

Me with some Brits:

All smiles before…

Ouch! That one hurt.

Then it was time to boogie on the dance floor!

Rach’s hubby, Shaun, was a wee bit comical. He had us laughing the whole night with his dance moves! There’s one in every crowd, eh?

Cutting up a rug. Not sure why I am all by my lonesome! haha. Loner bridesmaid alert!

Leah and I BEFORE the photo op (or so we thought). I checked her teeth! Oh my gosh this picture is so wrong!!! What are friends for, eh??

After the dentistry, we rocked it out on the dance floor to that Paparazzi song!

I love dancing so much! Anyone else?? Such great exercise too!

Of course I also danced with hubby. We got to dance to our wedding song- Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. Brought back some great memories (our 1st anniversary is the 31st!!!).

I was quite happy that I didn’t go overboard with drinks! I was actually in much better shape than most people were. Wink, wink, @ Eric…Shaun…

It was a magical day and couldn’t have gone any better. I was so happy for Leah!

~~~~~~

See you guys later for my thoughts on some Healthy Living Summit sessions I watched all afternoon Saturday! I also have a really fun hot topic coming up based on some issues that were brought up in one of the sessions. I can’t wait to hear your feedback on it!

I will also be announcing the winner of the Summer Glow Photoshoot winner too. Exciting stuff!

Missed The rehearsal, Part 1, Part 2?

At 2:58 pm, we made it to the ceremony location!

Love the classic roses!!!

Just look at their getaway Cadillac!

We were riled up!!!

Thank you to Eric for shooting all of the ceremony pictures with our SLR (note how I now say ‘our’ and not ‘his’- haha!).

The beautiful ceremony spot:

Me walking down the aisle…dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, DUN…

I was looking for the line to stand on!!! lol.

I spy a beautiful Bride and her daddy!

Leah looked STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I admit I was CRYING when Leah walked down the aisle! She told me last night seeing the BM’s made her cry! haha.

I love this picture!

I cried during the ceremony too…lol

I love these shots by the fountain Eric got:

Beautiful!!!!

Husband and Wife!!!!

I love these candid shots Eric took of us silly bridesmaids.

Carley and I were saying, ‘I’m SO hungry!!!!!!’ lol

He’s such a good photographer, no??

After the ceremony, we headed to a cemetary to get some cool shots.

Hubby and I

Love this shot!!!

Click to enlarge…

See you for Part 4- The reception! You don’t want to miss these pictures (haha).

I am getting back to watching the Healthy Living Summit Live Streaming (loving this, anyone else???). Today I watched the sessions on Natural skin care (!!!! more on this later!), Operation Beautiful, Zesty & Blogging 101, and the fitness talk. I was SO happy to be able to watch this live…it is so awesome!

Last night I was feeling VERY nostalgic!!!

Eric ended up working until 10pm last night…so I skipped the biking to take a ‘walk’ down memory lane.

And I began looking through our wedding pictures. I can’t believe it but this Saturday we will have been married 300 days!

We have been together for over 9 years now.

So here are some never before seen Wedding Pictures!

First things first. When we arrived at the wedding rehearsal the day before the wedding, we had to go over some wedding business with the venue planners!

Notice who is sitting closest to the planners…THE BRIDE!

Here I am thinking…his mouth is moving but I’m not hearing the words…

I’m only joking! lol. Eric actually had a BIG hand in all of the wedding planning. Because I was so busy with grad school and my job, he actually did most of the planning! I know, I know, unheard of right! He went to the taste testing without me!!!! And I trusted him. I was busy working on my thesis and couldn’t go.

MY MIL and SIL made all of the decorations themselves!!! They did all the centrepieces as well as these ceremony arrangements and bows!

The location of the outdoor ceremony!

The ceremony spot went from this…

To this:

Little known fact…this beautiful chiffon draping below was FREE! The wedding organizer called me the morning of the wedding and asked me if it was ok that the wedding following us set up their drapery early!

Ummm..I think you know what my answer was!!! Those things are like $4000 just to RENT!!!!! There is no way we could have afforded anything like that (we did all of our decor ourselves), so it was true wedding luck!

Time to practice the ceremony…

If they look confused, it is because they WERE!

Let’s hope the big day goes more smoothly…lol.

My stunning (yet clearly confused) wedding party went from this:

To something straight out of a fashion magazine!

Any rehearsal day doubts all but vanished and their true inner goddesses emerged!

Seeing these boys like this cracks me up. In real life their personalities are soooo laid back, casual, and so not ‘suit types’.

My dad and I went from this…

To this…

Thank God he made me laugh while walking down the aisle because I was SHAKING like a leaf!!!!!

My mom and I went from this…

To this…

Eric and I went from this…

To this…

As I was coming down the aisle…

Tears and lots of them from the groom. I was SHOCKED. Eric doesn’t cry…ever!

Am I sick that it makes me happy when he cries? bahaha.

Our photographers had us all running on this steep hill. We were all good sports- even me in my high heels!- because I knew what kind of pictures they would produce. And ever fearful step was worth it.

Many of you ask me who our photographers are.

Well, they are hands down some of the best photographers out there- Dave Biesse and Charlotte Leonard. We have never met such a genuinely nice, down to earth, and friendly couple.

Check out their website!

Also check out the engagement slideshow + pictures they put together for us.

Thank you for letting me take this trip down memory lane and show you the happiest day of my life.

+++++++++++

Green Monster Movement:

This morning, I was organizing my Green Monster emails and it occurred to me- We don’t have any GREEN MONSTER t-shirts in my clothing shop!!!

I have 3 NEW t-shirts to reveal to you today!

Tee #1) Green Monster, anyone?

Tee #2) Join the Green Monster Movement

Tee #3) Green Monster Lover

V-neck Tee description:

This long-cut, form-fitting t-shirt for women comes with a deep v-neck. It is made from a fine, soft material of 100% cotton.

I am personally a HUGE v-neck fan. I find it is the most flattering neckline on a woman.

I think I am going to order tee #1- ‘Green Monster, anyone?’

Pssssst- I am adding new tee’s- check em out! Caitlin suggested a great one…that is now added!

Click here to order your own!

Do you have something you want on the tee- leave it below!!

+++++++++++++

OK, see you beauties this afternoon! Off to bake up an order…

Hey there!

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday. Today I ended up researching recyclable bakery packaging for 3 hours!!! I had no idea it would take that long.

Glo Bakery Packaging:

I want my bakery packaging to be 100% recyclable, so that means finding a packager who will fit this bill.

I spent some time on the phone with our local waste management department, talking about what types of materials were and were not recyclable. I want to make sure that I do this right! I also have contacted about 10 packagers across North America inquiring about their products.

Two things I have found so far during my search:

• There is not an abundance of information as to where one can buy biodegradable or recyclable bakery packaging
• Many packagers in the US do not ship to Canada- blech!!

Right now it looks like www.uline.ca will be my choice as their bakery bags are 100% recyclable. Their bakery boxes are too, you just need to remove the inner liner.

Eventually I would like to switch my packaging to 80-100% recycled post consumer packaging, but at this time during my start up, I don’t see it as feasible money wise. The start up costs are just too great. Once my bakery is successful, I will likely be switching to completely recycled packaging. I am really excited about doing this. If I can help the environment even just a bit, it is so worth it!!

I still have some research to do. I think the hardest part is that I now have to choose what sizes of bags and boxes I want! You have to order in bulk quantities from these places (150-200) so I would like to order just 2-3 for now and see how they go. The lady I spoke with said that they have a 30-day no questions asked return policy so if I don’t like it then I can just return it. Luckily, uline.ca is only about a 45 min. drive from me!

I was not impressed when I saw the state my running beast was in today!

Just look at all that dust!

Eric has been sanding in the sunroom and family room the past 2 nights. Holy moly the dust is everywhere. It is seeping into the office too! I wake up each morning and I am all stuffed up and congested. Can’t be good!

I still managed to have a good workout, even though I think my poor lungs are filled with dust now!

The workout:

• Duration: 50 mins.
• Max heart rate: 153 bpm
• Avg heart rate: 138 bpm
• Speed: 4.0 mph, incline 9%
• Feel the burn: 370 kcals

Guess what I did today? I did some running intervals! I ran very slowly at 4.2 mph for about 1 min. intervals. I probably did about 7-8 of them? It felt good! Since I was going so slow and at a large incline my feet were only coming off the treadmill a few inches, so it was very low impact.

I had a quick carbohydrate packed lunch before my workout: 2 vegan carrot muffins and a small bowl of spelt cereal. The muffins are even better the next day! I think I may tweak them a tiny bit though next time I make them. I might reduce the cooking time a bit and I might add a banana for more moisture.

I was not impressed by what I saw in the office today!!

YUK!!!

We’ve removed about 5 of these in the past week! Blech. I can’t handle spiders. I really can’t. Especially these thick looking ones!

I’m going to end today with another wedding picture:

This amazing photo was taken by Dave and Charlotte. I love it! That was the veil I was supposed to wear on my wedding day. lol. It is gorgeous.

See you tonight for some good eats and more wedding pictures! I’m off to order some packaging soon…

PS- Oprah has a great health special today on anti aging! I am going to check it out and hopefully do a recap.

Hey guys!

You know the song Glamorous by Fergie?? That song pretty much sums up our day!

Wow what a day it was!!!

Eric and I are both exhausted. It was such a fabulous day and such a great opportunity! We met so many cool people and had such a blast modeling for everyone.

It was truly a glamorous day!!!

I am really tired- it is 9:30pm and we just got home…I have been up since 6:30am and haven’t sat down except for dinner!

All of the following pictures were just from our point and click camera…professional ones coming soon!

As I said my hair turned out better than I expected. It took me 1.5 hours this morning to curl it all!!!

I was happy with the outcome!

Luckily most of the curls stayed in fairly well (with the exception of a few curls) for most of the day (until 6:30-7pm!). So that was all I could ask for. I used tons of hairspray this morning!

Sans make-up because I was having my make up done for me there:

Doing some Charlie’s Angels before we left…lol:

Little did I know I would be doing some Charlie’s Angels poses with the other two models! Pics to come…

The weather was GORGEOUS as promised and the drive into Toronto was beautiful:

The CN Tower:

We were pumped on the drive there!

After make-up, Waiting to put my dress on…

Why hello there Mr. Husband…

After putting the dress on…

It FIT…but there is a funny story to go along with it…(stay tuned for that tomorrow!)

That is the Italian Handmade cathedral length veil I originally purchased for my wedding but didn’t end up wearing!

Our photographers got some BRILLANT shots with me and this veil…I can’t wait to show them to you!

In these shots I am wearing the veil that I wore in my actual wedding. It was actually longer than it looks here because in my wedding I had it placed underneath my up-do so it was much lower on my head.

We didn’t stop most of the day- all I had for lunch was a small salad and 1/2 a baked potato (plain) because I didn’t want to be busting out of my dress!

Needless to say I was starving come 7pm! Same with hubby.

We decided what a better time than to use our Keg gift card (It is a super good restaurant). Our real estate agents had given use a $100 gift card for The Keg so we decided to go!

So we went out for a fabulous + romantic + relaxing dinner. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

Me with a 6oz pour of Wolf Blass Chardonnay (my fav white wine):

Our meals plus lovely Eric:

I got a yummy spinach salad to start (garnished with clementines, walnuts, and cranberries!) and for my main I had a sweet + spicy Salmon and STEAMED Asparagus (and to my delight they didn’t even put butter on them! who hoo!).

Eric had ribs and Garlic mashed potatoes….and an entire garlic cheese loaf for a starter! lol.

Oh to eat like a man, eh?

The drive home was filled with city lights:

The CN Tower above at night.

My poor camera couldn’t handle the car and got motion sick:

Well guys we are BEAT! Going to watch some 24 and then hit the hay I am NOT looking forward to taking off my fake eyelashes! lol. I may just leave them on tonight and deal with them tomorrow morning.

Today was everything I could have imagined and MORE!

I have much more to tell you tomorrow (when I have more time) and there will be lots of professional pictures from the day coming SOON!

All I can say is that all my hard work the past 2 weeks was definitely worth every minute.

I have a new respect for models now- it was HARD WORK! I am sore from having to position my body in weird ways and weird bends!!

Night!

Good morning health lovers!!

Wow tomorrow is Friday- where has the week gone?? I will admit I am starting to get nervous about the wedding modeling on Saturday. I am a fairly shy person so stepping out into the limelight will be hard for me! Last night I was up til about 1:30am thinking about it. lol. I’ve never had 12+ photographers all shooting me before so I hope I am not too nervous. Eek!

Wedding Dress Fitting #3

I had dress fitting #3 today! I figured with two days left this would give me the last boost of motivation that I need to make the next 2 days great. you can click on the images to see full size.

There wasn’t much change since my last fitting (not surprisingly) and I still have a ‘butt crack’ where my dress zips up. lol. Nothing a little tucking in won’t fix I guess!

Note: None of the buttons are done up over the zipper. Of course on Saturday it will lie flat!

Luckily, Eric said, “What about the veil?” I almost forgot! It was a good thing he reminded me because they need to be steamed. They are so wrinkly.

When I purchased my wedding dress, I bought a beautiful handmade Italian cathedral length veil to go with my dress. It was only after trying it all on together again, a few months later, that I decided I didn’t want that veil anymore. [Insert Bridezilla here]. I just found that the lace competed with the detail of the dress.

It is such a gorgeous veil though (and expensive!). Instead of wearing this on my wedding day, I bought a shorter veil with a simple silver pencil edge.

However, I am going to bring both veils to the shoot Saturday because I know my photographer is going to have a FIELD DAY with my cathedral length veil. He is going to be like, “Why the heck didn’t you wear this on your wedding day!?”

My photographer’s vision is Hollywood Glam:

• Hollywood Starlet
• Long, loosely curled hair
• Fake eyelashes

It should be exciting! I hope they don’t overdo it on the make up though. I was really anal about my wedding makeup because they always had a heavy hand. I did most of my wedding make up MYSELF in the make up chair! lol.

I hope I can calm these nerves!!!! Geeze I feel like it is my wedding day all over again.

Wedding Dress Plan:

The plan for the next two days is to be on my best behaviour with eating and exercise. I won’t be having any sugar and I am going to have 2 green monster’s each day.

My diet will be mostly fruit and veggies with grains and I will avoid processed foods. Nothing really out of the ordinary, simply making some lower calories substitutions when I can!

As for the skin, I have already started exfoliating my body while in the shower with an exfoliating glove so my skin is smooth and glowing. Last week I used my favourite REN peel mask and my Neutrogena microdermabrasion a few times in the past week. I will be doing the REN mask one more time today or tomorrow as well as the microdermabrasion to ensure NO flakes for Saturday.

I am hoping this will leave me feeling energized, GLOWING, and confident for Saturday!

Yoga Progress:

I made some progress with a yoga video last night!

Thanks to Maggie’s suggestion…I love this video by Sadie Nardini:

Last night I did part 1 (10 mins.) and it was HARD. My arms were shaking and I had to come down a few times. I loved it though! I am going to do part 2 and perhaps part 3 today!

The workout plan today will likely be my treadmill at home since I am carless. Unfortunately we are about 15km from the city so walking/biking is not an option (at least in this cold!!!). I am probably going to do hill walking.

Well I have lots of test baking to do this morning! Stay tuned for some yummy pictures this afternoon! Oh and I need to go make a green monster. All I have had to far is this lovely English Toffee tea in a cute handmade ceramic 2 in 1 teapot!

Question for everyone who uses Live Writer- Do you ever have problems with your pictures roating upside down when you paste them or drag them into the post? 50% of the time my pictures drag in upside down (even though I have already manually roatated and saved the picture!) Any ideas?

Also, how do I insert tags? I tried buy going to ‘Insert’ –> ‘Tags’ –> and then using Technorati but it looked all messed up when published. I need Heeeeeelp. Please?

“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” ~ Gloria Steinem