Meet the Party - Matron of Honour!

As promised in the last post, it's time to introduce you to our wedding party!  First up, our Matron of Honour, Gloria!

Gloria was a co-worker of both mine and Eric's at Fluor Canada Ltd. in Calgary.  There was a great group of young Engineers at Fluor for a while, and we spent time together both at and outside work.  Many of us don't work there any longer, including Gloria as she has moved on to another EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) company in Calgary.  You'll find that's a repeating theme in our wedding party.



Gloria is the lone westerner in our wedding party having been born and raised in *gasp* Edmonton.  She is a busy woman, and since I've known her has taken multiple dance classes, photography lessons, has gone on trips to scuba dive and bike, and is always doing yoga, reading up about nutrition or "yardening". 


Gloria and Jeremy



Gloria was already working at Fluor before I started, and one of my first thoughts upon meeting her was "wow, she knows her stuff!", which was quickly followed by "thank heavens someone else has a nose ring!".  Turns out, that's not all Gloria and I have in common!  We hit it off right away, and now that I think about it, I was with Gloria on my first hike in the mountains, my first showshoeing attempt, and she was slated to come along on my first cross country ski, though she ended up cancelling which made a little more room for... Eric!.



As a couple, Eric and I spent a good amount of time with Gloria and her husband Jeremy... even after Jeremy almost lost Eric in the backcountry!  In fact, Gloria and Jeremy (separately, but maybe as part of a conspiracy?) were among the first to suggest that we could have "long term potential".  Since Gloria is a smart lady, we never should have doubted that she was right!

- Erin

Fancy, Fun, and Functional Footwear!

Well, at long last a few items got checked off our Wedding checklist.  Our wedding party is confirmed and we are just delighted that the folks we asked are both willing and able to join us on our big day.  More on the party in upcoming posts.

My dress should be in the province sometime in June, and I've been trying to pick out some shoes so that when I went in for my fittings, I could get the length right.  If you know anything about my taste in socks (generally, the louder the better), you might not be surprised that I was having trouble figuring how to wear fun, but still beautiful and appropriate shoes.  After an email chat with my sisters where I was mostly kidding, I ended up settling on sequins shoes!  I don't intend to share all tiny details like this, but I needed an excuse to post this picture.  If you follow my sister Shauna's blog you likely have seen this already.  My shoes were shipped to Shauna's home outside Boston, MA.  Her daughter Norah, who is enthralled by all things girlie, just couldn't resist trying them on.  Word has it she approved of my selection, and is looking for a matching pair for our big day. 

Now sequins pumps are all well and fine - indoors.  However, even on a perfect weather day at Hatfield Farms there is always a reason to go outside as the reception is in one building, but the washrooms are in another.  Of course we are expecting a perfect day (what is the liklihood of another hurricane on the SAME weekend as last year?!), but I figured a back-up might be in order.  

Since it's been raining a lot here lately, these beauties have already gotten some use.  There was a temporary reprieve from rain this weekend, and Eric and I spent a good amount of it out in the yard - our somewhat soggy, though very green yard.  I think we won the first battle of the war with the dandelions, though it was not without injury on our side.  Our achey backs are proof of our hard work, but I'm sure we'll be ready for the next attack.

What a Year it was!

An anniversary has recently come and gone... Eric and I have been in Nova Scotia for over a year now.  It was a year of ups and downs, though certainly more ups.  Once we decided to leave Calgary, we knew it would only get harder the longer we waited... but that didn't mean it was easy when we did go!  We've got a great group of friends out there that we miss dearly.  Luckily, many of them have east coast connections, and we were lucky that some of them had reason to be in the area last summer, and hopefully some of them will make it for this September too!

It took a while for us to work into our new jobs and our new home city.  I'd say by now that the jobs are more or less sorted out, we know the city well enough to know some good brunch spots and where to go for live music, and we've connected with old friends and made some new ones.  Our home purchase can be taken as proof that we're confident saying we will be staying here for a while. 

The sun is starting to shine, there are only a few more rooms to paint, and BBQ season has begun!  Things are looking up!  If only the Habs had made it past the first round...

And lastly .... Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!  I know mine is likely on a beach soaking in some rays!  Proper thing!

Moved In, Moved On!

Well, with the help of my Popsy and Eric's parents, we are most painted and moved into our house.  We still have a few rooms to paint, but the ones we use most often are good to go.  Not that we're remotely settled yet... you can see in these pictures that there's not a thing up on the wall yet.  Baby steps.  Also in the pictures it looks like all of our walls are the same color - not true, our bedroom is a light brown, but the living room/kitchen area is actually a light green. 

And moved on!  Over the last week we finished cleaning our apartment and are now, as of today, officially no longer renters.  I feel quite grown up about the whole thing.  We're also moved on from living on the peninsula and being able to walk most places... but we've moved on to living right next to a great park (Shubie) in a great neighborhood in a house that we love.  AND we've moved on from our colds.  No fun moving and cleaning when you're coughing and sniffling.   

My wee wedding checklist has been neglected over the last four weeks or so, understandably, but I guess it's about time to start crossing items off again.  Not that there's anything too major left to do, but no point leaving everything to the last minute after all!  Maybe just paint one more room first... and set up the "office"... and get our vegetable garden spot figured out.... and... :)