This month in a capsule

Wow, has it already been a MONTH?

I used to update this blog almost daily. What has happened to me?

Life, that's what. And I don't even have kids! I know you'll find it hard to believe that someone without kids could be THAT busy that they couldn't update their blog. Actually, some of you will think "Who the F cares about a blog? I don't know why she keeps it anyway."

Well, I keep it because I want a record of life. I want to remember what I was doing when and how I felt about it. Granted, I do have a journal that I keep, but it doesn't have links and pictures. It does, however, have more juicy details. But even IT is not updated very frequently. But it does have this month chronicled for the most part.

Wedding thank you's

I finally ordered the photos for my thank you cards. Then realized I didn't have enough thank you cards and made some. This stuff is addictive. Next, I'm thinking photo books! By the time I'm done, you MIGHT receive your thank you card before the new year. It's not likely though. Seriously. So you might as well take a look at this card until you get your own.

It's not that we're not thankful. WE ARE! But I have been ridiculously busy (and it's American Thanksgiving this weekend!) and put this one off to reduce the stress. Now I'm all embarrassed by how long it's taken me. Really, I'd given this task to someone else, but they figured out how to give it back to me. HRUMPH.

Classic Frame Thank You 3x5 folded card

Create custom thank you cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Is this the honeymoon period?

It's funny sometimes when people talk to me wistfully about the "honeymoon period" that I'm apparently going through right now.

I think our WEDDING was the honeymoon period. It was the best and I look back on it and try to internalize that feeling of happiness and already it feels like it is a million years ago and I haven't even gotten the thank-you cards out yet. I think meeting and falling in love was the honeymoon period.

Mac & Cheese and Sick Days

Macaroni and Cheese
Originally uploaded by stevendepolo

I'm sitting in my chair. At home. Reading about Mac and Cheese.

I'm sick. My body aches and feels heavy. But one can only sleep so long. At least, I can only sleep so long. So I'm up and brain-dead in a quiet house with the clicking of my laptop keys.

I wonder, vaguely, why I'm looking up mac & cheese recipes. Although, really, why wouldn't I? Wouldn't everyone if they had the time in their day? But I'm not going to make it today. I just want to salivate, apparently. It all started when I went to AllRecipes.com to look up a way to use up the open bottles of red wine that I won't drink. And there was the ad: Chuck's Favourite Macaroni and Cheese. It looked like heaven. I wanted Chuck to come over and make it for me. Immediately.

Oh ya, more wedding posts

So remember how I said I was going to post more about the wedding? Ya, that was two weeks ago.

Totally feels like a million years.

What have I been doing since then? Well, collecting photos from the wedding, of course. You're allowed to SEE them of course. They're pretty much all here on our Picasa album. I don't have everyone's. I try to download as much as I can from various people's albums on Facebook and other Picasa albums and consolidate them in one place. But it's a lot of work. I come home pretty much every night I don't have something else going on and work on that.

Well, that and uploading them to Shutterfly where I'm going to work on a photo book and some cards and some photo prints. I was trying to get in on a sale they were having but I just couldn't get it all organized in time. What can I say? We're busy people.

Mr. and Mrs. G. Polevoy. WTF?!

To Mr. and Mrs. G. Polevoy.

It was right there in my hand, freshly pulled from the mailbox when we returned from our honeymoon. (Oh my goddess, was that two weeks ago already?) Incidentally, it was the invoice from our wedding venue. Gordon kept that envelope. I felt a little weird flutter in my stomach.

No, I did not change my name. (I'm still Webgoddesscathy.) But yeah, I did get married.

Oh goodness, did I.

After months of planning, worrying, researching, working, obsessing, list-making and -checking, sleeplessness and nausea (only towards the end)... I am a Mrs.

It's never been my goal to get married. In fact, there were times I thought I wouldn't. And then I met Gordon and things just sort of clicked. Even though I didn't really want them to. Really. I actually didn't WANT to date seriously. But it was too good to not.

Wedding plans, the update

Wedding Ring Heart
Originally uploaded by Troy B Thompson

Two weeks.

All I can say is: thank goddess for lists.

We've all got a number of items on the list. I'm checking em off, slowly, slowly.

DJ confirmation of music - check
Vows - check
Flowers - check... well, I left them a message at least.
Last room - uh, we're working on it.
Kid food - working on that one, too.
Outfits - yes, yes, yes!
Hair - chosen and booked
Makeup - check
All the stupid little details - mostly check
Honeymoon bookings - check

Now all I need to do is have a bachelorette, not get a migraine, and get these goddess-damned renos done. Check, check, check this week, apparently! WHEW!

I have a sink, though it doesn't actually shoot water out of the tap or drain or anything. I have a vanity that's right-side up. I have a fan and lights that don't turn on. But it's definitely shaping up. Supposed to be done Thursday! And window installation starts tomorrow and should be done Wednesday. WOOT!

And I'm sure the flowers will work out too.

It's all coming together

Who thought that planning a wedding and house renovations at the same time was a good idea? I'm sure it wasn't me. I'm sure my fiance didn't say, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Oh wait.

In any case, it's happening.

In my defense, the bathroom was supposed to take about three weeks. I'll admit, I tacked an extra week onto that estimate in my head. Did I think it was going to be TWO MONTHS?! Not exactly.

But here we are.

I really know how to party

Meet my chimney.

Until this weekend, we hadn't been very well acquainted. And now? Well, now I'm sad that no one willl probably ever see my chimney except in this blog post.

Previously, the chimney was falling in. It was in sad shape. I knew it when I bought it. I was told again when they were working on my roof last fall. And now I knew it was time to do something about it.

Meet my dad and my uncle. They arrived Saturday morning, sussed out the sad state of the stack. Ensured that it was sufficiently safe to get up there. And told me that if I hadn't done something soon, then one day we'd have died of carbon dioxide poisoning.

"Mind you," says my uncle, "If you're going to go, it's a good way to go."

Good to know.

YAY birthdays!

When our initial plans for a birthday camping trip in Niagara fell through, I was happy enough to hang out in the city.

Yes, even though my bathroom was a black hole.

And even though it was supposed to rain. And even though I didn't have anything in particular in mind. So we stayed. And it turned out to be one of the best ever.

Elements?

birthdays and bathrooms

My bathroom's under renovation.

It was going to go camping for this, my birthday weekend, but it fell through. No big deal. Now I get to spend quality time at home.

There's lots of stuff here I could talk about: the weird window situation. The heating duct that goes nowhere. The raised floor over old reno garbage. The sketchy wiring. It's OK though. I knew it would be the case. So we're redoing it all. And it'll be lovely.

In the meantime, I share my toilet with our back office. But I get a view of the backyard too, so it's not all bad.

And I got a birthday pedicure, so it's actually all good.

busy schedule?

busy schedule?
Originally uploaded by flik

You know you're busy when you stop blogging. And stop thinking about blogging.

What have I been doing?

How I know

There are days, you know, when things suck. I've had a few of those. Just take a look at a few of my Facebook statuses. On those days, I wonder what the hell I'm doing.

And then there are these days -- stretches of time, really -- when it's just all so sweet. When things are right.

I guess I wondered how I'd know when it was the guy. I mean, THE guy. The ONE. And people just said, "Oh, you'll know." Which I thought was pretty unhelpful, really.

And then I have weekends like this last one. It was restful and fun and silly. I never know that Gordon is the guy MORE than when I'm with family. It's just right. And I just know, without even thinking about it. (Even though I'm not supposed to talk about him on my blog, I figure he won't mind this one much.)

Happy Canada Day. I hope everyone had as restful a time as I did. Though less hangover would have been nice.

Gee: 8 things you should do at a world leader summit

What a strange weekend.

Unless you're living under a rock or in another country and don't really care (which would have been me last year, the year before, and pretty much every other year) you'll know that this past weekend, Toronto played host to the G20 Summit.

Honestly, I'm not sure why one would ever do such a thing. I can't imagine what they were thinking.

Deep breaths

I'm sitting here in front of my computer on a Saturday morning.

It's quiet.

I can actually hear my computer humming. My stomach gurgling, telling me it's probably time to eat breakfast. I drank my homemade london fogs this morning while looking at the grocery store flyers. I wrote my list of to-dos. Thought about going to the contents-sale around Withrow Park. Decided I really just wanted to sit here. In front of my computer.

meshing and... stuff

meshU photos - May 2010
Originally uploaded by themeshgroup

Last week was pretty busy. It enhanced my enjoyment of the long weekend (see last post).

I was working and attending a conference pretty much full time. The conference took place at the MaRS Centre, so I didn't have far to go.

The best part, I'll say, was day 1, meshU. Here I am, listening to my friend Meredith's session on The Principles of Design. It was my favourite session. Why? Well, number one, I got a cupcake. Two, in fact. Homemade cupcakes. I'll be honest, I ate them BOTH.

The second reason it was my favourite? (As if the cupcakes weren't enough!) I actually learned some stuff!

Lazy sunny days

Ah, May 24 weekend.

1 car rental
2 stops for gas
3 nights in Washago
4 trees we carted off to burn
5 dips in the river
6 toasted marshmallows
7 glasses of wine
8 amazing meals
9 magazines read
10 fingernails painted

Basically, it was the perfect weekend. I think I worked for maybe an hour, helping them clear out some fallen dead wood. The rest of the time, I lounged on the dock, read, chatted, or ate.

All with the most amazing people. And no cares. Sigh.

Carmel Beach

Carmel Beach
Originally uploaded by amayu

This is where I was yesterday.

Eating a picnic lunch of amazing bread and cheeses and wine. On the beach.

It was pretty much majik.

And then we drove further down the coast towards Big Sur for some breathtaking views.

More to come on the whole trip to California, but I'm on the way to the airport for an entire day of travelling now. Good times.

(I don't want to leave.)

A day can make it all better, until it goes to poop again

View of Toronto from Ward's Island
Originally uploaded by **Mary**

Last weekend was amazing.

Seriously: I'm looking back on it today with a certain wistfulness. Right now, all I remember are the smiles and misty-rosy-joyous memories that are coloured by my crappy cold-sore-covered workday, and it was really quite wonderful.

In actuality, there was a moment on Friday night when I worked late that wasn't so shiny-happy. Although coming home to watch Glee pretty much fixed it.

And Saturday morning was slightly marred by some panic and consideration of staying home and doing chores. Thank goddess that didn't happen!

wedding dress

wedding dress
Originally uploaded by thisyearsboy

So I bought it. The dress.

I tried on a lot. And none of them were better than this dress. And it was only $200. So there we go, done deal. Ordered.

My mom's good for that: getting me to DO stuff. Another item I can tick off my list. And we had a lovely day together. Really quite relaxing and fun.

And some other items off my list:

Anywhere but here

On the dock, Canada Day Weekend
Originally uploaded by webgoddesscathy

This is where I want to be right now.

OK, maybe not with this particular weather pattern. But you know what I'm saying? I just wanna be somewhere else that isn't here. And I want to have this smile on my face. My shoulders decidedly dropped away from my ears. Perhaps a lovely magazine or cheesey book on my lap. And no plans but to read 'em.

I've been having issues with sleep lately. With Spinning-Head Syndrome. A touch of Butterflyitis and preoccupation. Lacking an ability to focus.

I woke up this morning (Saturday morning) at 7am. Just opened my eyes. My stomach immediately started churning. Groan. I'm awake.

Chocolate covered WHAT?!

Chocolate covered bacon cross section
Originally uploaded by gtrwndr87

Sometimes you just have to do it.

You know it's bad. Naughty. Wrong, even. But you still need to know.

Can bacon really be eaten with chocolate? I'm here to tell you it can.

It started with a birthday party for a beloved who adores, as you can imagine, bacon. Because who among us does not, really? Even the vegetarians out there secretly love bacon. They munch on it back-alley-styles. I'm not naive; I know it happens.

But they've never been brave enough for this. As soon as Amie suggested it, I knew I was in. My place.

Planning

My grandmother's wedding rings
Originally uploaded by winged photography

I guess I expected my wedding to be different.

I'm not a bridezilla. I haven't been thinking about this since I was seven.

I thought: we have a small budget, surely there must come a lower number of silly details that can go wrong.

No chance. Smaller budgets mean that people work harder to figure out how they can get a piece of it and loosen that budget up. I guess there are those women who will shrug and lay down the cash. I'm not one of them.

Food just makes it all better

Roast butternut squash ravioli and red pepper coulis
Originally uploaded by chatirygirl

I have had a very good food weekend.

Check this out:

FRIDAY:
Homemade Thai red curry (veggie) over mixed grain rice

SATURDAY:
Pad Kee Mao (Drunken noodles)

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Pancakes with homemade banana caramel sauce

Lunch - Grilled goat cheese and pear sandwich

Dinner - Homemade squash (OK, pumpkin from my parents' garden, but close enough) and goat cheese ravioli with homemade tomato sauce (inspired by recent restaurant meals this week).

Sometimes I'm just that good

I don't know what happens sometimes. But sometimes I'm on fire.

It seems like it has a lot to do with productivity or at least perceived productivity. But check out this weekend of ass-kicking:

My own personal olympics

I'm on vacation this week. Skiing in the Rockies, if you aren't on Facebook (otherwise you'd know - or you might gather that by looking at the photo).

It's something we do each year, my family and I. Sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less of us.

I'm not the greatest skiier -- I learned in my teens, I guess. But I never did much after that. Not until I started up again about 10 years ago. I tried, briefly, snowboarding. Two bruised hips, black-and-blue wrists and lessons later, I wondered why I bothered. Why put myself through the agony when I already knew how to ski?

So I bought the skiis. Online, cheap. And boots. And out I went.

I'm watching

Olympics rings Vancouver
Originally uploaded by adrian8_8

I'll admit it.
I'm watching.

I don't own a TV, but we have a computer with a good screen. And I'm not sure how it happened, but I guess my fiance loves me SO much that he'll even watch figure skating with me.

We've watched moguls and snowboarding and hockey and figure skating (pairs and men's) and speed skating. All of which I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a crap about.

But we've been watching a little (to a lot) each day.

For someone who's planning a wedding, running a website, renovating, getting ready for her vacation, volunteers and does all the other usual stuff including cooking and sewing, I'd say it's pretty impressive that it's all getting done. (Thank goodness for Family Day!)

Yes. I just said I'm making time to watch TV.

geeking out

computer girl
Originally uploaded by herbstkind

Sure. I work on a computer all day.

I could be said to do "geek work" by some. But that's really only if one doesn't know what I do. Yes, I do some HTML. I find and resize relevant Creative Commons graphics. I even create social media accounts and utilize their widgets in my own professional sites. I test features and submit bug reports and teach other people how to do the same. And to blog and use a content management system. I figure out how to make point-and-click softwares work together.

But mostly I work on online strategy, which is basically communications that just happens to be online. Different, sure. But communications all the same.

Alone

2006-04-23 We all want eternity
Originally uploaded by [ henning ]

Sometimes I want to be alone.

It feels almost as if I'm sick. The tug in my stomach is insistent, but not always specific. I don't always know it's time. But I always know there's something wrong.

It's a wonder with all the amazing people I know and how much I truly do value their presence that I could possibly feel that sometimes it would just be better to be unknown. Because it's not just alone that I want. Or silence. It's being around those I don't know. Being anonymous. Wandering. With no expectations. Allowed to be selfish. Or not. But as I choose.

I do need to have more time for myself and my thoughts. For nothingness. For lack of things to do. Without guilt.

Thinking

pocketcanoe
Originally uploaded by pocketcanoe

I do my best thinking when I'm walking by myself at night. And tonight I was thinking a lot.

I was thinking that I've been all stressed out lately. Overwhelmed. A little bit short-tempered. A wedding, a renovation, a work situation that's impossible to win right now. It would do it to most people, I'm sure.

And then I went to teach. And my learner, well, he's been doing something thinking too. About what he's going to do with his life. Or just about how to get a job. Or even some work in general.

wedding dresses

wedding dresses
Originally uploaded by killrbeez

There are a lot of wedding dresses in the world.

Most of them are:
a) Not in my budget
b) Not my style
c) Pretty, but not sold in shops I've been to

So where does that leave me?

Resolutions: Finding joy

I've been thinking over the past week about the holidays. And life.

Life was pretty stressful prior to the holidays. I know what you're thinking: "Didn't you just go on holidays to wonderfully warm resort island?"

Why yes, we did. And it was lovely. And I did relax quite a bit. But I got back to work for a week and it was all undone for me. I scrambled to see everyone I could for the holidays and get shopping done and baking. Not that those things are tough things to do, but they took time -- time which was in short supply and meant that I had a deficit of time for myself.

The holidays, thankfully, supplied that. Time to myself. But also time with family. Time to pretty much do nothing. And it's a good thing, too, because that luxury won't be afforded to me again for a very long time. Why? check out my list of "things to do this year" :

Winter Wonderland overcomes winter blahs

Winter Wonderland
Originally uploaded by justingaynor

I'm sitting at home now, in front of my computer with my Christmas tree lights on, drinking mint tea.

My toes have that itchy feeling they get after they've been really cold and wet. Like they're defrosting.

I've just been stood up by my learner. I'm a literacy tutor. I teach on Tuesday nights, usually, unless my learner cancels. He once asked me why I do this for free -- what do I get out of it? I get a different perspective on life. I get to remember what's really important. I get to feel like I'm making a difference in someone's life.

None of them small things, to be sure.