I want this!

This is a cross stitch kit called "Silhouette Collage" - designed by Eva Rosenstand. Its a huge project at 50 x 40 cm but it appeals to me on so many levels - the monochromatic imagery broken by the flowers in the centre. I love how the primary colours contrast with the black and white. And the subject matter is so sweet. Its a little expensive for me right now, so I will just have to dream about it for now. 

Our Wedding

Here is a small selection of pictures from my wedding.

It was photographed by Nika and Dusan from Wild Orchid Creations. They were wonderful and I would recommend their services. I found them to be very well priced - their work is very good and they were extremely helpful and professional.

My mother lent me an opal ring she wore on her wedding day. My engagement ring is a deep blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds - I love this ring (I basically had it custom made) and there are 15 diamonds which happily turned out to be our wedding date. This ring makes me smile whenever I see it.

My bouquet - It had ferns, ranunculus, lilacs, and some other flowers I can't remember now! It was beautiful, much beyond my expectations. It lasted all day and I was able to preserve it using silica gel - the colours are still vivid. I owe all my flowers to Roxy from Flower Parade.

Here we are at the church during the ceremony. D doesn't like the idea of being online so I don't want to show him much. Sorry! Rest assured he is very handsome :) I went through the RCIA program at this church so I was baptised, received my first communion and confirmed here. D received all his sacraments here too so it was important to us to be married here. Father Luigi performed the ceremony.

Here is a picture of me at the Presbyterian church at Black Creek Pioneer Village, where we had our pictures taken. This was the highlight of the day for me (you know, besides getting married). I love the history and the charm of the village. My father and I visit every year at Christmastime so to be able to take my photos here was a dream come true for me. It was annoyingly expensive and they have a lot of rules, but to me the pictures were worth it. Plus my bridal party, especially the guys and the children, were entertained by the village - this was a plus since they do a lot of waiting around.

Here is the cake with my beautiful cake topper. The cake was really tasty and decorated very simply. I ordered it from Just Temptations and I was really happy with them. The first two layers were "strawberry shortcake" and the top layer was chocolate mousse. We saved the top layer and I can't wait to eat it. I don't think I will wait the full year, though. I heard that 3 months is the max you should leave it frozen.

Here is the head table at Europa Catering, the hall where we had our reception. It was an old-school Portuguese hall, which was perfect since I married a Pork Chop. The food had to be perfect so we went with one of the best places food-wise. The hall was the nicest one I saw, since other banquet halls in the suburbs are all huge modern gymnasium-style complexes. Europa was in the city, and there are only three spaces that can be rented. We had the main room and I loved it.

Here I am with my Father. We danced to Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely? since I wasn't up for a sappy sad bastard father-daughter song. I am a really emotional person but at the same time my Britishness refuses to let it show. I knew if I had anything sentimental I would lose it and I wanted our wedding day to be happy and not a tear-fest. I am really glad I went with this song! All in all the day was great. We set a small fire in the church and burnt the altar covering and my dad got lost for an hour on the way to the hall but beyond that things went well. No disasters, no freak-outs. Our guests enjoyed themselves and D and I got married! Nothing could top that :)

I am in a funk

We are finally out of the basement and using the brand new kitchen!

Our fridge (or should I say the MIL’s fridge) was back ordered forever, and then the replacement fridge we ordered took another 2 weeks for delivery. Screw you, The Brick!

Anyway, its here and its a nice KitchenAid with the freezer on the bottom. I spent all of Sunday bringing up the stuff from the basement – food, pots and utensils. Then I put everything away in the fridge, freezer, drawers and cabinets. It was a big job and I was exhausted. I had to basically organize the new kitchen with someone else’s belongings!

It was really annoying and intimidating. Annoying because I wasn’t really up for doing that – like am I a built-in servant at this house now? (Wow that’s really grouchy of me!) And intimidating because the MIL will be back next month and I am sure there will be endless discussion of my choices, and I am not up for that either.

Basically I am in a funk about living in a house that isn’t mine. I feel like an outsider and I can’t get comfortable here. I hate cleaning stuff that seems like it was designed to need the most amount of cleaning possible. For example the vanity in the main bathroom is three tiers of glass, topped with a glass bowl. It shows everything. From the moment I clean the darn thing, it looks dirty again in a few hours. I can blame D. for picking that thing out when he re-did the bathroom a few years ago. It seriously haunts my nightmares. Plus it is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen.

Ugh I am seriously on a rant here.

I have been wanting to be a “good” wife but its hard to balance my ideals with my reality. In reality I get hyper annoyed by every little thing. In my ideals I can cheerfully maintain a comfortable home, cleaning and all. I think I need to grow up.