The engagement - resolution?

And after all that drama...the Golf Course is completely booked anyways.
Go Figure.

The Engagement - Do whatever you want...

I'm exasperated.

Everyone keeps telling me to "do whatever I want", yet when I tell them what I want they make me feel bad as if I am just the other parties puppet to do with what they will.

ARGH!

It's so frustrating. What do I want? I want everyone to be happy - or at least pretend to be happy so that I can relax.

I'm not good at being selfish, at ignoring everyone close to me's feelings, wants and desires. Those things play a huge roll in my decision-making process, and for some reason no one's willing to give in and make me feel better, only give in and make me feel f*k*n guilty.

"Guilt is primarily an emotion experienced by people who believe they have done something wrong."
-Wikipedia

Seriously, I don't think I've done anything wrong and yet I'm so concerned for all of your feelings that I'm the one crying, racked with guilt because there is no possible way for me to make you all happy.

Shame on you!

The Engagement - The Family Argument

A good friend of mine is getting married this weekend and as such she has been planning her wedding for the past few months.  As I chatted away about my annoyances with wedding planning she told me that her experience and those of everyone she had talked to led to to one important piece of insight.

You will have at least one major fight with the family. 
It will happen.

It is inevitable.

You will figure it out & it will pass.

As I mentioned previously, one could say that my dad is mildly disappointed that I will not be having a large "do" for my wedding.  In fact I nixed the idea of having the wedding at his golf course before he had a chance to argue his point.  We don't even golf and we just aren't interested.

 

About a week after the initial discussion my mom approached me about possibly having lunch out rather than having it catered to the house...Now I'm sure you can see where this is leading.  They almost had me completely convinced that it would be no hassle to get everyone loaded up and to the golf course for pictures and food and that miraculously J and I would still have time for some serious mid-day relaxation.

 

After some chatting with J, friends and the like, I am not entirely convinced things will be so easy.  Nor am I convinced that I want the hassle.  The golf course is definitely beautiful &  I want my dad to have his glory, pride and excitement and of course the opportunity to show-off for his friends - but he pretty much has free reign with the Open House.

 

What to do...What to do?!
I guess it's probably time to head back over to Mom's for another chat...Wish me Luck - I know Dad's been on her back.

The Engagement - dress shopping

Now that we are officially getting married in just over 2 months, it is suddenly time to get a move on making it all happen. Of course one of the most important issues is the wedding dress. I wasn't particularly interested in getting a big poufy dress, but rather was hoping for something a little bit more hippy-casual. I was hoping for separates rather than a dress and just in general I just wanted to find something that suited my style.

So today, my mom, my sister-in-law and I headed out to wedding dress lane and proceeded to browse and peruse. We arrived at 10am, but it turns out that wedding dress shopping starts at 11am. No need to worry however, we didn't seem to have any trouble passing the time; we found some stationary to make the wedding invitations, and some great materials to make thank you cards. We found fabulous purses for my mom, and once she picks her outfit I'm fairly certain we will be back to buy her a matching purse.

We were back home by 1:30 and in that time, we accomplished A LOT. The first thing we found were the shoes (if you click the picture in the link you can see all different views) and as soon as I slipped them on my feet, I was an owner. They are beautiful, comfortable and will match anything.

We also found a dress, it's more traditional than I expected, but it suits my personality and style. Oh yes and did I mention it makes me look DAMN THIN!

I can't say too much more as J reads this too, and I don't want to spoil the surprise. Email me if you want more details, or maybe even a picture if your lucky.

Tags:/wedding dress shopping/

Spartina anglica

Work is great. I love my job.

Last week I spent three days roaming the local mudflats in search of Spartina anglica (English Cordgrass) an invasive, perennial, salt grass. Spartina is a threat to the biodiversity and productivity of our local estuary, due to their aggressive and opportunistic characteristics. Without any natural predators or disease, these plants quickly out-compete native mudflat species and can convert and entire area into a monotypic stand. Unfortunately, once this occurs it becomes nearly impossible to eradicate from an area.


Spartina
Originally uploaded by Dovekie.

Fortunately, Spartina was first found locally in 2003 and since then local groups (including the one I work for) have been working together to "nip it in the bud" so to speak.

Last week we walked the flats with handheld GPS units and mapped the location of Spartina clones, and in the coming months we will take to the flats and manually remove these weeds. The clumps larger than 3m will be removed using an excavator and buried far beneath the surface.

It's satisfying to know that the areas where these efforts were concentrated last year, showed very little re-growth.

It is possible - we CAN beat Spartina and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Tags: /Spartina/Spartina Busters/Invasive Species/Invasive/Stewardship/work/

The Engagement - admire my ring

Doesn't it just look perfect on my hand?!



This was less than half an hour after he put it there!

Lazy Food

Although close to comfort food, LAZY FOOD is not exactly the same thing in my books. You know when you get home and you are sooo tired that you consider not eating as a perfectly valid alternative to cooking? If you choose cooking, you probably pick lazy food.

Today was one of those days - I just couldn't get my ass in gear. Generally in these situations I will eat one of the following meals. I can't really say that any of them are my favourite, although I do tend to binge on one for a while and then switch to another and eat that on consecutive lazy days until it no longer feels like the enjoyment I get from the food outweighs the efforts of making it. At which point, there are always other alternatives.

• Ramen noodles with an egg-If you have never eaten this, I know it sounds a little gross, but MMMmmm it is DAMN good. Boil your water, throw in your noodles and sauce packet and when the water starts to boil again, crack an egg into the pot and stir it all up. Cook for a couple more minutes - throw in any leftover meat or veggies you may have on hand and enjoy. Delicious!


• Perogies and Cheese-Even if you don't have sour cream (although it is preferable) the enjoyment of the meal far outweighs the effort of boiling water and grating cheese. Once boiled, I always put a little butter atop those yummy potato morsels before smothering them with grated cheddar and sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper on top. Mmmm, perogies...*drool*


• Mac & Cheese-Seriously is it really possible not to love mac & cheese? Especially KD! I like it straight up plain with a bit of salt and pepper.

I bring this up because today I couldn't resist having a meal of mac & cheese at work (since fridge was grocery free I couldn't make a lunch) and then I returned home to a meal of ramen with an egg.

Two lazy foods in one day, I'm not sure whether to celebrate or hang my head...Nah, seriously it was a good day for food!

Tags:/lazy food/