Spring Has Sprung

I have never been this busy. Never. With my new job (which I adore) and wedding planning (just over 6 months to go!) it seems impossible to have a free evening to myself. Luckily, I think I’ve found some paper flowers which may do for the wedding. 

Matt has also undertaken a crazy exercise regime, he’s at the gym pretty much every single day! But don’t worry, he’s still my dorky sweetheart. 

Oh, and did I mention we’re shopping for our first home? Also, old homes don’t have closets, I’m learning so much! Busy busy Thimble Thief household. Ok, lets mellow from the craziness, here’s a bunny: 

So as far as wedding stuff is concerned, Matt and I have assembled our invitation pockets and embossed them on our very own. I may have done the bulk of this work whilst watching Silence of Lambs which infused the entire undertaking with undertones of horror, but helped keep me from feeling overly girly. And yes, those are my feet, and yes, my tights matched our invites. 

We also spent a fun weekend in Toronto and went to the new aquarium were where saw a a tank full of these happy little guys! I promise I'll be back before another 2 months go by!

Microsoft Surface and Skating

So for Valentine’s Day this year my sweet Matt (and my wonderful parents) joined forces and got me an awesome tablet (though Matt gets angry when I call it that because he says it’s actually a tiny laptop). It was WAY too much for Valentine’s so it’s also going to be for my upcoming 29th birthday. I’m still trying to figure out everything awesome this little guy can do but so far I’ve fallen deeply in love with a program called FreshPaint. 

It’s basically just the program paint x 1,000,000. And since I have a little pen with my tablet it’s like I’m just drawing/painting on a piece of paper. I can’t wait until I’m in meetings at my new job and appear to be diligently taking notes but I’m actually drawing a skating rink. 

Oh and on that note, I’ve joined a hockey team (though, I still scream slightly when the puck comes near me) and can almost skate backwards. I've never had hockey skates before, only figure skates, but I love them. Happy Family Day all my Ontario readers! Matt and I are off to the rink.

Overdue Update

Normally I’m not one for explaining absences on my blog but this is the longest one yet so…deep breath, and here we go:

#1) I’m an AUNTIE! Little Jack made his entrance into this world at 2:14am on January 19th. He’s healthy and perfect and I love him. Sara is also doing great and is my new hero after going through 25 hours of labour and then having a c-section.

#2) I’ve started trying to make paper flowers…the results have been mixed (please see point below).

 

#3) Floral tape is Satan's adhesive. Seriously, why when I google “why does floral tape suck so hard?” are there not way more results.

#4) I’ve joined Instagram.

#5) I got a new job, at my company (but with the bigwigs in Toronto), which requires me to travel to Toronto once a week and around the world periodically. Does anyone know anyone in Thailand/Hong Kong/Boston/London UK who is cool to chill with?

#6) I’ve joined a rock band called The Dicklers. Don’t ask about the name, it’s what happens when all the members of the band are men except you. Our logo is a green hotdog with a crown.

#7) Matt built me the most amazing peg board to organize my craft space. He continues to prove that he is the perfect man.

For a girl who is not awesome with change, it’s been a crazy start to 2014 but a wonderful one too. I also think I need to reiterate here how absolutely fantastic Matt has been. Over the past few weeks I’ve gone from dizzying euphoria to uncontrollable sobbing within approximately 3 seconds (plus back again) and he’s there with celebratory wine or compassionate snuggles as the occasion calls for. How did I possibly get so lucky that I get to marry a guy like this?

Goodbye 2013

This past year has been an exciting time preparing for some big changes happening in 2014. In a couple of weeks we’ll be welcoming little Jack, the first member of our family’s next generation, later this year Matt and I will be getting married, and it seems like there might be some exciting career news in the coming days for yours truly. 2013 has been a year filled with family and friends and lots of happiness. I can’t wait for all the adventures 2014 holds for the Thimble Thief home. A very Happy New Years to all my readers! (note: how amazing is it that we live in a world that produced the below card?)

Christmas Eve 2013

Once again the Dungavell ladies donned our gay apparel for Christmas Eve. I’m always amazed with how well getting bizarre outfits works.

This year, a few days before Christmas Eve, Matt and I went into a tiny Goodwill shop and promptly found 4 Sari-like garments. Now finding 4 of these outfits was good luck already but then the fact that these 4 fit us 4 perfectly was a Christmas miracle (especially considering that one of us is 8 months pregnant).

As always it was a wonderful evening and Granny and Poppa even called in by skype to sing carols with us. It’s crazy to think that by this time next year Matt and I will be husband and wife and little Jack will be with us, I’m going to dress him as a sushi roll.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas from the Thimble Thief household! More on our Christmas eve celebrations soon, until then, here's a festive Gracie and her favourite Daddy.

Wedding Rant (1 of 9,000)

Anyone who has ever had fun planning a wedding (specifically their own wedding) is a psychopath. It. Is. Horrible. It’s like as soon as I make one decision, all these other possibilities are closed off. Yes, handmade pine cone bouquets would be lovely, BUT WHAT ABOUT FELT FLOWERS?! WHAT ABOUT THEM?! With less than a year to go, real decisions need to be made and I’m begrudgingly making them. The Save the Date magnets are at the printers (also, fun fact, when you stick a note about the Save the Dates with a short form on your desk, people think you have a venereal disease!). Here’s the mock-up:

Pretty cute huh? I blurred out the date at the bottom because I don’t want to look at it AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU! Oh well, I have accomplished one wonderful thing in the past week. I booked a “day of” wedding coordinator. Her name is Amy and she runs Unmistakably You and I am in love with her. Anyone who is even remotely thinking of having a wedding should call her for the sake of their mental health. Sigh…back to my lists.

Whimsical Reassurance

I had a job interview in Toronto yesterday. I had to wear a suit, I had to commute from home on the Go train, I had to navigate the financial district downtown; it was a big day. The interview went really well, they even took me out for a two hour lunch afterwards. The thing was, the entire time I was there, everything felt bizarrely surreal. Everyone (even the people younger than me) seemed so professional and busy; I couldn’t help but feel like everyone I saw was just playing pretend at being uptight adults. Then I started worrying that I should be a serious person, that I had maybe missed something integral in the growing-up process. Luckily, on my walk back home, I saw this sign at a construction site and felt like the world was an ok place again:

Happy Thanksgiving

Matt and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend full of family and yummy food. We went to 3 different Thanksgivings over the weekend and managed to see both our families. At one of our dinners, we always go around saying what we’re thankful for and Matt said he was thankful for all the support I give him (I was trying not to cry). I’m very lucky to have such a wonderful person in my life and I’m thankful every day for my family and friends. I just wanted to post a quick happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian followers!

It's a...

BOY! Matt and I are going to have a little nephew named Jack come January-ish. I can’t wait to meet this little guy. Now I just need to trap my sisters back in Ontario somehow…any ideas?

Back to Work

Turns out RMC was having a reunion which meant all the good haunted B and B’s in Kingston were booked-up. So instead of Kingston, this past weekend Matt and I headed to Niagara Falls.

It was a wonderful trip. We went to a bunch of our favourite wineries and picked-up enough bottles to be set for the next few months (we hope!).

I was driving this time so Matt was in charge of the tastings which makes me excited to try out some of the different ones he chose.

The weather was cool and breezy but the sun was shining every day of our weekend. We did some of the fun tourist things that we’d never done before like travelling behind the Falls (which was scary and really neat).

I have this irrational fear whenever I’m at Niagara Falls that I’m going to end up going over them somehow. Does anyone else get this? Matt says I’m crazy. Anyway, it was an amazing weekend and I’m very sad to be returning to the real world today. Sigh.

Cottage Weekend

Matt and I spent the weekend up at a cottage with my parents. It’s a beautiful weird old cottage that’s the perfect mix of comfortable without just being a normal house by the lake. 

The family that built it, and still owns it, is Dutch which is evident throughout the place (I’m still not really sure how wooden clogs can be considered a viable footwear option). 

I think my favourite part of the cottage are the awesome stained-glass windows. There was even a hibou in the bathroom wall! The walls were built to accommodate the different windows which makes me wonder where they came from originally. 

It was cold and rainy all weekend but it was still lovely to snuggle up next to the fire and play cards with my family. We played Cards Against Humanity, which if you’ve never played, you should. 

I’m really big on family so living in a different city than my parents is tough sometimes but it makes weekends like these even better. I hope all of you had a wonderful autumn weekend as well!

#8) BAM!

While you’re reading this post, please have ‘Eye of the Tiger’ playing in your head. I did it!!! 365 days of photos have been taken! This has been a pretty big week for crossing things off my list what with Velma and now this. I must admit, this was an extremely fun challenge (especially once friends got behind the undertaking). There were lots of pictures of my wonderful and super handsome fellow (this is only a sampling):

I seem to have taken an unreasonable number of the sunset/pretty skies: 

Of course there were lots of my favourite little critters (only some featuring alcohol): 

Finally, there were a bunch of mini-themes that were found throughout, including my puppy, my ring, and my feet! Unfortunately whenever I took pictures of my feet, I always thought of that Lost in Translation quote “I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet.”  Oh well. 

I think my favourite thing about taking the pictures though was capturing an entire year of seasons. Looking back through pictures I’d taken the month before always reminded me that whatever season it was wouldn’t be forever. Yay, all done!