Last new dress ever....gotta go out with a bang!

"Everyone needs a red dress!" I have heard these words for years and yet I never had the guts to buy one. I never thought iI could pull it off, or iI could never find the right red. You know what iI mean?

Gary's work Christmas party was was coming up, I was thinking days ahead, "it would be great to have a sexy red dress for that party" we were going with one of our best friend couples, we were cabbing it home, I had been working almost every night up to this day for the last month. This night called for a red dress. I had a staff meeting that Saturday morning then my plan was to go straight to the mall and start the hunt for my perfect outfit, and a little some thing for Gary too! I walked into the mall.... there was a new store there that I had never seen before, I mean I have seen it before, just not in this mall. I had to go in, this store is known for their perfectly made, fun and sexy dresses. I walked in, everything was so beautiful, perfectly placed on the tables and perfectly spaced on the racks. Only a few of each style on each rack, which I know they do to make you believe that is all that they have so you have to buy it before it is gone. I know they have more stock in the back, but it still strikes a sudden sense of urgency when I start scanning the price tags and size labels and especially when I see one I love. There are lots of black dresses, tan dresses a few pink ones and quite a few with busy patterns, they are all really short. Then I stop. It catches my eye. I reach for it. Dare I look at the tag? I pull the hanger off the wall display (the hanger is even nice) this dress is beautiful. "Can i help you?" a young, tall and extremely fashionable sales girl asks, I feel like I have been caught stealing or something. I said "ummmm yaaa I was just looking for a dress?." I explained that I was going to a Christmas party that night and I kind of had my heart set on a red dress and "I kind of like this one". I held it up. She was very helpful I told her how much I didn't want to spend she said "well all of our regular priced merchandise is 30% off!" Now I was excited. I "ok, I'll start with this one and you can pull a few more for me while I am in here. I got into the change room, yanked the heavy curtain across the doorway and stripped! I stepped into the gathered raw silk red beauty, slid the layered one shoulder strap over my left arm... I was in love. I think I may have even said it out loud... "How are you doing in there?!" I was snapped from my happiness only to be more excited for her it zip it up so I could see that it actually fit me like a glove. It was the perfect red dress. (you can ask Gary if you don't believe me :).

My New Desk

Well I finally got a photo up of my new and wonderful desk! can you imagine tossing this beauty?!! I have so much surface space now! Other then the fact that my office is a little jam-packed... it is well worth dealing with. I love my desk! Thanks Carolyn and Evan, you can come visit it anytime!

~tina.

He is my Perfection!

So not only is he the love of my life and the apple of my eye but he is Gary. My best friend, my partner in crime and my future. I love him. He keeps me on my toes, keeps my smiling and keeps me sane. He has taught me not only what it feels like to love someone unconditionally but so much more, he gives me hugs and kisses when i feel down. Talks to me about things that stress me out, even though he never gets stressed out he talks to me until i am calm. This picture was from my sisters 30th birthday party and if it weren't for him...that disco ball would have never made it to the party. People gravitate to Gary, he has a calculated opinion about every sports issue that could come up in conversation, knows where every hall in ontario is, and some how some way seems to know all the same people i know, and knew them before we knew each other?! We are tying the knot in August and we can't wait!! saying our vows on the beach is something we have talked about and dreamt about for the past 5 years and every day closer we get the sooner we wish it would come. Our engagement party was a taste of what Cuba will be and we couldn't be more honoured to have the great friends and family that we do. Gary will probably kill me for using this picture but like i said yesterday i am at my parents house and this is the only picture i could find of him on mom's computer.

love you babe!

tina.

My New Table/Desk

Now i know that the daddy and son shot is super cute and you just want to go "awwwww..." but look past the cuteness of daddy reading the paper to his first born and focus on the TABLE!!! ohh my little table how i have thought about you after leaving new years parties and brunches. everytime i took a cup cake off of you or a glass of wine, i thought "oh table you are so pretty, your owners must love you as much as i do, how i wish i had a table like you."

Then one day my wonderful table owner friend posted a picture of her "new kitchen table" with the comment "still looking for new chairs"..... I was beside myself, i couldn't comment fast enough. "what happened to the old table..?" hoping my desperation didn't come through too obviously. All i could think was what if that the table had been thrown in the trash or even worse..... left on the side of the road with an "i'm free. Take me" sign on it. (if i can't have it, i would rather it go in the trash. is that bad?) i am a furniture junkie. (try explaining it to my 800 sqft apartment, "all of these pieces will fit perfectly when i have a house." Anyway she responded saying that "the old table is in the garage awaiting garbage day". i took a knee. "no!!! i want it!!" and the excitement began.. then she said "there are four chairs too we just need to find new ones then you can have it all!!!" i was so happy i called gary right away, he didn't care, his one comment was..."uhhh where are you going to put that?" i hadn't thought about that...."uuuuuuhhhhhh i'll use it as a desk!" it's true i always wanted an old table to use as a desk, it would give me more room more elbow space. Anyway, today is the day!! i get to go pick up my new table i will post a pic so you can see what it looks like as a desk in my little office. keep in mind that it might take a few days to organize the room to be picture worthy....

bye for now,

tina

Dog sitting

so i am spending the week at my parents house taking care the house and dog. and by dog i mean the cutest puppy ever, and i am using my mom's computer so i have to find pictures on her computer to use in my blog till i get back home. obviously this picture was taking in the winter but i found it and thought it was too cute to not post. what do you think? cutest puppy ever?

In a happy place.

So i haven't been around for awhile, i know this. I have changed jobs in the last year and to be honest it is a lot of work, and a lot of time consumed. i love the people and the new faces every day and i love that a guest has a great experience on my watch, but the hours are killer. i have been trying really hard to work long days, filled with as much work as i can do to cut down on the amount of work i will have to do the next day...turns out the more work you do in one day doesn't necessarily free up time for the next day but creates more time to fill with more work. Does this make sense? is this just what a "real grown-up job" is? i don't know if i like it. i have decided to do the best i can do while i am at work, do a great job to the best of my ability and be a great leader and set a great example for my peers and associates. But when i am not at work. i am not at work. i have a family, a fiancee, great friends and a life. lately i have realized that i am not spending my free time the way that i feel like i was meant to. now i am not sure of what exactly that means except i know that i was meant to be happy, with my job, with my life and with my family and hopefully my family to be. I thought i was going to hate planning a wedding (Bess we talked about this) and since i have been so overwhelmed and over worked on the job, i find that planning my destination wedding is all i want to do on my time off. We aren't getting hitched till August 2011 and i have pretty much done everything i could possibly do, just so my time off is filled with something other then work. i look forward to when my dress comes in just so i can go for fittings, i look forward to every "update" from my invitation/website designer just so i can be reminded of our special week away, and all think about lately, even when running food out of the window at work is laying on the beach in Cuba, choosing my flowers the day before we say our vows, the breathtaking photographs that we will have taken in my one of my most favourite cities, Havana and the flickering black and white video documentation of us that we will look back on for years to come. So that is why i have started up again. my blog will keep me sane and let me talk about my wedding as much as i want and no one has to listen.

see you soon.

xo

tina.

Saving the WEEK!

So we sent out or save the dates this summer, i made them online through visaprint.com. i uploaded pictures we have taken over the years and then this is what we got! although we heard some people thought it was junk mail asking them if they wanted to go on vacation and they almost threw it out before flipping it over to see our names on it. hahaha needless to say i had to resend a few out.

So let the planning begin!! This is where we will be on August 6th, 2011. Iberostar Laguna Azul, Varadero, Cuba..... i can't wait! the pool looks like a big blue lagoon and there is a big waterfall in the middle of it. Then just a few steps away is the beach! this was the view of the resort from my room. I can't wait to be there with all of our friends and family!xo

Thanks Mom & Dad!

Dad was in his glory, all day making sure everyone had a drink in their hand and a plate full of food in front of them. thank you dad for being the best dad ever! (and for stringing lanterns all over the backyard with fishing line...i still don't know how they got over the pool?) :) <> Mom was happy to do anything and everything i asked. Enjoyed having both families together and didn't complain once about the clean-up that day or the next! love you mommy!

Let the Blogging Begin again!

I know, i know, i know... again i haven't been here since JANUARY!! wow i am officially the worst blogger ever. Since then Gary and i have been planning our wedding, working crazy hours and trying to stay sane. it's a hard road. here is a picture from our engagement party cutting in to our three butter cream cakes!! Yummy.

where have i been!!?

i know i have been away for a while and i really have no excuse except work is very tiring and when i get home i just want to lay down and fall asleep. As some of you might know i have been engaged now for a few months. October 26th was the day actually and here is how it happened.

At 2:30pm i came home from the mall, a relaxing day of shopping with a friend, picking up a few last minute halloween costume items. I went up to my apartment, put the key in the door and turned it.... it was already unlocked. i thought for a second that i had forgotten to lock it when i left at noon but i remember distinctly locking the door behind me when i left. I then thought maybe Gary came home for lunch, which he often does, but it was 2:30 his lunch ends at 2:oo, i was really angry for a second as i thought he forgot to lock the door behind him. This all went through my mind within a few short seconds. i turned the handle, opened the door to find Gary in my apartment on one knee with a ring box in hand! i stopped stunned in my tracks and asked quietly, "what are you doing?!" he looked as though he had just gotten down on his knee and as if he was trying to look the way guys are supposed to look when the propose to their girlfriends. He paused and with a slightly shaky voice he stated " i just wanted to know if you will marry me?" i was shocked !!! i asked if he was joking like 10 times then i looked at the ring and he wasn't. he had a wine, bread, cheese and procuitto picnic set up on the floor!! it was really sweet and i wouldn't have wanted him to do it any other way!! i love the ring it is exactly what i wanted. i love it!! we had a few glasses of wine and i cried uncontrollably.....obviously!! i said "oh my god!! who should i call first?" he said "everyone already knows!" so anyway i guess you all knew or knew it was coming so i wanted to tell you it happened. We went over to his house his parents were really happy and then we went over to my parents house had a glass of champagne and then we went for dinner and to see the David Gray concert at Massey Hall it was a great night that i will never forget. now on to the wedding planning.