So, I think this weekend can appropriately be dubbed The Weekend of Weddings (at least for this summer) as there were two weddings for me to go to, one on Friday and one on Sunday, and if that weren't enough of a claim (I've no doubt someone out there can top that with a weekend of three weddings, or maybe even four - who knows!) the first wedding was one that I felt more involved than any other wedding before - one of my roommates for the summer got hitched!
It was on Friday that the roommate wedding happened, where all three of my current roommates were in the bridal party (as bride, maid of honour, and bridesmaid), so on top of getting to share in the build-up to the wedding as the bride and groom carefully poured over planning details on many a summer evening in our apartment over the past three and a half months, I also got to experience some of the excitement and fairly extensive preparations and work that goes on in pre-wedding week in order to pull off a big, formal event with guests from out of town. I did some cake delivery-ing and slicing (and thank goodness I did not a) do anything to damage the car I was lent to run my errand, nor b) do anything to damage the goods I was using the car to transport!), some flower retrieving, some guest-book attending, and some bevaerage making and some cleaning-up-ing. I can't even comprehend all the work and exhaustion that must come with arranging all the other details involved with a wedding ( I'm pretty sure if wedding time ever comes for me I'm just gonna do some sort of drive-thru ceremony with a 7-11 reception to follow;)
And the wedding I just came from was a lovely, in-the-country, outdoor-ceremony, barn-reception affair flavoured with details as unique as the couple themselves. I felt a bit Cinderella-ish at the end of the night - no, not that I had just had a lovely time dancing with a prince, but that I was leaving a bit earlier than I would have liked, but so it goes when depending on the good graces of others for transportation. Pretty sure the dance floor couldn't even handle me anyway, haha.
So, while I am feeling a bit exhausted at the end of this weekend (and I was only the roommate-of-the-bride and minor helper for one wedding, and merely a guest at the other!), I am also feeling very blessed and priviledged to have been a part of the unions of two very special couples, and to have been invited to share in their joy at such a momentous occasion.
And despite my feelings of being "weddinged out" that hit me at points during this weekend, I also had a moment or two where I considered becoming a wedding planner - yep, I'm still crazy...
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Timbits are scrapping about in my tummy....
A friend from Holland is here for the ensuing wedding of one of my roommates. She is great, we know each other from my first year in uni, and it has been lovely reconnecting with her. Being from Holland, there are certain foods she is excited about being able to have while here on her visit to Canada. We've already made serious plans to visit a Wendy's, and today she was very generous with her Timbits purchased from good ole Timmy's and I ate just a numerous few too many of those delicious little sugar bombs. We had another of her favourite not-available-in-the-Netherlands foods - perogies - for dinner, courtesy of the kindness and cooking skills of another one of my roommates, and these amazing, doughy pockets of processed potato and cheese mush were delicious and plentiful. Funnily enough, this Dutch friend of mine likes neither cheese nor fish, both well-known Dutch foods. But so it goes, and I'm glad she can be here enjoying our "Canadian delicacies" with me.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Falling into the end of summer
It felt like fall this weekend. Two very wet, cloudy and cool days, combined with the activities of picking crab apples and adding new sweaters to my wardrobe pretty much sealed the deal for me and induced many thoughts of turkey dinners, walks on dry-leaf lined forest paths, and cozy visits with friends over warm drinks in the ever more quickly fading light of evenings in autumn. Mmmmm, warm feelings, warm clothes, and warm spices. I really do love fall :)
Oh yes, but I must remind myself that it is only August 16th! While I had the first feelings of being ready for the coming of fall this week (and those before the weekend of cool weather set in even!) I still very much intend to enjoy the rest of summer, and expect that warm summer weather will return, at least for its allotted time, and know that there are still summer activities yet to be experienced with which I will fill these last days of this season. A season of rest and relaxation, of a different schedule followed and new connections made, of warmth and sunlight, of bike rides and short sleeves, of growing things and city festivals. It has been a good summer.
Oh yes, but I must remind myself that it is only August 16th! While I had the first feelings of being ready for the coming of fall this week (and those before the weekend of cool weather set in even!) I still very much intend to enjoy the rest of summer, and expect that warm summer weather will return, at least for its allotted time, and know that there are still summer activities yet to be experienced with which I will fill these last days of this season. A season of rest and relaxation, of a different schedule followed and new connections made, of warmth and sunlight, of bike rides and short sleeves, of growing things and city festivals. It has been a good summer.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Summer jury, now in session!
Today was a beautiful, sunny summer Sunday. It is August 8th, and as we all know, we're just around that time where we start to feel a bit desperate about this whole "summer" business; desperate that our summer isn't over yet and yet soon will be, that the days are getting shorter again already but, sadly, the amount of time we've spent in the sun is paltry in consideration of how drastically the sunlight to starlight ratio in summer beats the pulp out of that of winter. And in our frantic-ness to make the most of this summer, we are caught in a still-looping pattern that is a self-fulfilling prophecy time-bomb just waiting to happen: reckless summer-ing compounded by guilt-activated perfection pressuring.
Let me try to explain. We've been waiting for those perfect summer moments to happen to make the most of our summer, but by waiting, not only have we "ruined" the months that have already passed, we are also putting an unrealistic burden on the months we have left and will likely ruin them too: no redemption here! We feel the need to enjoy summer RIGHT NOW and not let it slip away ("I need control of this situation!"), but we still need to happen into just the right combination of circumstances, or be party to a most serendipitous chain of actions that will lead us to the perfect summer experiences, in order for that to happen ("I will leave control of this situation up to the Fates of Summer!"). We're waiting for the right thing to happen in order to enable us to do the right thing. We have not made the most of our summer and so are trying to figure out how to get rid of our guilt for those 40+ hours a week we just had to put in at the office for May, June and July and at the same time fully enjoy August like we didn't with those other months, optimizing what's left not just for what it is, but for what the rest of the summer wasn't- a double whammy, double the pressure, and only a quarter of the time. August is our chance to capture Summer in a tin cookie box and keep it from changing into the cool days and dying plant matter carpet of fall.
So, knowing this to be our current situation, and it being very much reality for me if not for "us," "we," or "our," how then did I spend this absolutely gorgeous, commitment free, high in Vitamin-D, increasingly becoming a rare item, Sunday afternoon of summer? WATCHING A SCREEN. In a basement. With the curtains closed. In my defense against myself, I, the defendant, would like to present the following pieces of evidence for my consideration:
A) it was a family activity with my roommates and co ("co" being the fiance of one of these roommates, who himself is practically a roommate with all the time that he spends here), and we haven't had that many of those; part of making the most of this summer is investing time into my roommates, as the end of the summer will bring the end of our roommateness as well.
B)did I mention that it was a lovely summer day? Well that means is was a HOT day... and at 2 in the afternoon, sitting in the coolest place one can find (ie basement lounge with the curtains closed) really does have an appeal to it, and can be quite valid as a summer activity.
C) I really didn't realize that the movie was going to actually be 4 hours long.
Ok, my guilt for wasting the day now being somewhat relieved, I'm now working ahead on the case I will make for how I spent the rest of this absolutely fantastic summer NIGHT: sleeping.
Let me try to explain. We've been waiting for those perfect summer moments to happen to make the most of our summer, but by waiting, not only have we "ruined" the months that have already passed, we are also putting an unrealistic burden on the months we have left and will likely ruin them too: no redemption here! We feel the need to enjoy summer RIGHT NOW and not let it slip away ("I need control of this situation!"), but we still need to happen into just the right combination of circumstances, or be party to a most serendipitous chain of actions that will lead us to the perfect summer experiences, in order for that to happen ("I will leave control of this situation up to the Fates of Summer!"). We're waiting for the right thing to happen in order to enable us to do the right thing. We have not made the most of our summer and so are trying to figure out how to get rid of our guilt for those 40+ hours a week we just had to put in at the office for May, June and July and at the same time fully enjoy August like we didn't with those other months, optimizing what's left not just for what it is, but for what the rest of the summer wasn't- a double whammy, double the pressure, and only a quarter of the time. August is our chance to capture Summer in a tin cookie box and keep it from changing into the cool days and dying plant matter carpet of fall.
So, knowing this to be our current situation, and it being very much reality for me if not for "us," "we," or "our," how then did I spend this absolutely gorgeous, commitment free, high in Vitamin-D, increasingly becoming a rare item, Sunday afternoon of summer? WATCHING A SCREEN. In a basement. With the curtains closed. In my defense against myself, I, the defendant, would like to present the following pieces of evidence for my consideration:
A) it was a family activity with my roommates and co ("co" being the fiance of one of these roommates, who himself is practically a roommate with all the time that he spends here), and we haven't had that many of those; part of making the most of this summer is investing time into my roommates, as the end of the summer will bring the end of our roommateness as well.
B)did I mention that it was a lovely summer day? Well that means is was a HOT day... and at 2 in the afternoon, sitting in the coolest place one can find (ie basement lounge with the curtains closed) really does have an appeal to it, and can be quite valid as a summer activity.
C) I really didn't realize that the movie was going to actually be 4 hours long.
Ok, my guilt for wasting the day now being somewhat relieved, I'm now working ahead on the case I will make for how I spent the rest of this absolutely fantastic summer NIGHT: sleeping.
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