Longlazysunday: Longworkingday

For those who celebrate Halloween: happy Halloween and for everyone else, happy Sunday! My long Sunday was not as lazy as I would have liked because both Mr. Pancakes and I were working. Which is alright because at least we are gainfully employed! Anyway in non related wedding news, my amazing godson started walking. He continues to be re cutest thing alive! I cannot believe he is almost a year old. Time definitely flies! He made my saturday fun!

Ranting & Raving Thursday: E-Pix

Initially i was against engagement pictures (e-pix) for several reasons some of them being: waste of extra money; Mr. Pancakes and i have tons of pictures already and i just didn't want to bother.   But as i started to look at alternative guest book ideas, i have been convinced that we need to do e-pix.  After making this decision, convincing Mr. Pancakes (he was actually quite agreeable), i immediately scheduled an appointment with a photographer friend who takes amazing and beautiful pictures (www.smartfotoonline.com) and now we have an appointment for our e-pix.  And i am pumped and raving about e-pics on this thursday.

Recently i saw some pictures of some friends' engagement pictures and i was in love with them.  The photographer was able to capture their love story in moments and experiences that were beautiful and beyond words.  There was this one particular picture that blew me away...they were standing on a pier and all around them was water.  It was gorgeous!

Of course, Mr. Pancakes and i's location is a little different because it is fall and there is no body of large water where we are going to be.  I was motivated to take e-pix because of the fooliage that were outside my window and it was amazing.  Since i couldn't have my wedding in the fall, i thoughts why don't i complete our engage pictures in the fall. 

Now the fun part picking our outfits.  I love the yellow dress and the brown colours in the picture on the side!  I will definitely have to incorporate our blue and yellow colours in there, right? I cannot wait to have my engagements pictures done which will translate into our amazing guestbook love story!

Tribute Tuesdays: GuestBooks

My Tribute Tuesday is dedicated to fun and alternative wedding ideas like the wedding guestbook!

I have seen most of the guest books available for weddings and of course i have not been impressed with any of them.   The silly little books with the silly little pens.  Gosh they look so ancient! Just not my idea of fun at all! I have also seen the wishing tags for wishing trees; the frame that guests can sign and the platters too.  All these items are just... not our style at all!

 I have always known that a regular everyday guest book was not going to do.  I want something unique, fun and reflects Mr. Pancakes and my personality.  Therefore, i have been searching for the perfect guestbook, not only where people can write their names but also leave a little message/well wishes for Mr. Pancakes and i to read and reflect on later on. I believe i have come up with several ideas and now we are in the process of coming with something that will do the trick.  I have looked at the polaroid picture guestbooks and i am not such a fan of this one.

But i have seen and want are guestbooks! I love love the idea of Mr. Pancakes and I having our pictures in a book and our guests sharing their thoughts, feelings and various ideas about love, marriage and everything in between.  I want a storybook about our lives that we can share with our guests:-)  Plus, what better ways to display our (yet to be taken) engagement pictures than through a storybook that will end up being our guestbook.  Sort of like a year book but with some class!
There are several websites with these wonderful ideas including mykolo.com, vistaprint.com and my fav by far, weddings.agentkat.com!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS guestbook alternative idea....did any of you ladies do something unique and fun with your guestbooks? And or have you been to a wedding where they had fun guestbook ideas! 

LongLazySunday: Sushi!

This sunday was not such a long lazy sunday which was a bummer! I had to work which was alright but working on sunday is never ideal for me.  Therefore, i did not get to enjoy my usual sunday of nothing but laziness.  But i am hoping that the rest of you had an amazing fun long lazy sunday! I just got home and i am going to enjoy my treat of sushi...my new thing which i have to rave about! I love love california rolls with fish eggs.  Here is to a shortlazysunday of sushi!
Happy Sunday Ladies!

Ranting & Raving Friday: Vendors

I started the post on Thursday morning but work was overwhelming, then we had a birthday party to attend and then came home and crashed. Therefore ranting and raving Thursday has been moved to Friday. Anyway ladies happy Friday and happy weekend. I hope it is a good and great! Ranting about vendors and being able to communicate with your vendors when you need them. I know my florist has been busy with events but to not answer emails when inhave questions, that's grounds for letting he go. This past Sunday, Mr.Pancakes am I went for cake tasting and there were many brides also cake tasting so for the vendor, their goal was to make and close as many sales as they could. Therefore, customer service, the warm and fuzzies all went out the window. The main person took us around the store and showed us the various cakes with her back to us and spoke in a really rushed tone and didn't leave much room for questions as if I should already know cake lingo! Needless to say, both Mr. Pancakes and I were not impressed and completely turned off. And to add icing to the whole thing, the cake tasting experience was not at all spectacular! So much so that we are thinking of a family member who makes amazing cakes do the wedding cake. I am raving about the venue vendor however who has been great so far! He was accomodating in getting us an extra room at the hotel, agreeing to have my favourite drink: Baileys at the bar on wedding day; giving Mr. Pancakes and I complimentary dinner. And above all being there to answer all my questions has been amazing. Did anyone have a bad experience with their vendors and if you did, how did you deal with it?

Tribute Tuesday: Wedding Traditions

Tribute Tuesday today is all about traditions! Traditions which are established pre-marriage including attending Mr. Pancakes high school team's annual Halloween football games and or treking to different family

members home during the holidays. But today I pay tribute to wedding traditions including the Something blue, something old, something borrowed, bouquet/garter toss, the father daughter/mother son dances, the first dance and a slew of other wedding traditions! When I first started blogging I reflected on the easiness of the wedding planning due to the deadlines and countdowns of various activities as your wedding date comes close. In many ways the traditions also help to organize the wedding day into a manageable day! There us also a sense if purpose to a lot of the traditions and most people I would like to believe buck the some wedding traditions. I know my older sister when she got married did not want to wear a veil however another family member insisted she had to wear a veil because it was... You guessed it...TRADITION! And although my sister was a grown woman and could make up her own mind, she went along with tradition! Why do I write a blog about paying tribute to wedding traditions? Glad you asked!
Mr. Pancakes is decided to forego some (although minor are still traditional to weddings) wedding traditions.  And as usual, as part of Team Pancakes, i have to be respectful and be a team player! Are you ready for it??
Mr. Pancakes has decided to forego the wedding traditions of wearing a boutonniere! There i said it! Most wedding pictures i have seen, every single bride is wearing one.  If it is not a flower, it is something unique to the groom and most grooms follow the tradition! I don't really care either or but i wanted to pay tribute to all things wedding traditions (i will probably rant and rave thursday about this!) because for some weddings are all about wedding traditions! For others, it is all about bucking those trends and definitely my future husband and myself are definitely okay with bucking trends! The wedding traditions that i am bucking are going to be: the garter toss--i really don't want Mr. Pancakes going up my leg, acting like he can't find it in a goofy manner--i have instead opted for him tossing a football to his buddies (as a way to pass on that fun, easy going life that is bachelorhood) and the holding of the bouquet during the first entrance into the banquet hall (why do people hold their bouquets? looks awkward!).  Kudos to grooms and brides that stick to all and or most of the wedding traditions!

Ladies, what wedding traditions are a must and or what wedding traditions did you and Groom buck??

Wedding Song for Me and My Mr.!

Mr. Pancakes and i have been doing well with most of the wedding plans. We have our venue, decided on the photographer, our bridal party and are still deciding on some of other important stuff!

One of the things that was fairly easy to decide on was our wedding song! I have a wedding song, which just sounds weird but I AM GETTING MARRIED!!!  I heard this song a few years ago and i have always loved loved the song.  Who would have thought that Mr. Pancakes would listen to it and love it too?! But he does. Get ready for it, Get ready for it....

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKYGFcTgmg

I love, love this song for all that it means and stands for.  The words are so meaningful because i truly feel as if Mr. Pancakes is the love of my life and i cannot wait to be his wife! And i truly do well as if our love was made and organized from above because we truly couldn't have met each other without God's intervention.
Anyway, the song is called We are Man and Wife and the artist is Michelle Featherstone!

The above song is our wedding song but we also have another song by Anthony Hamilton called The Day We met!  This song signifies before the wedding and our courtship and how it all transpired to us becoming Man and Wife!  The Day we Met talks about the dreams we had as a couple and how we hope to translate all these dreams into reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT_FmYJNJ3Q

Not sure why i cannot link the youtube videos, if you would like to check out the videos please cut and paste. Any thoughts, what were some of your wedding songs? 
Thanks for visiting!

MY DREAM BOUQUET!

Thought i would bring a little sunshine on this friday night!
This is exactly the way i want my bouquet to look like.  I love yellow and since yellow is an intricate part of the wedding, i want them to be all up in my bouquet.  Plus yellow roses will also pop against my ivory dress and the blue dresses for my bridesmaids.

Anyway these are the flowers that i want! They are yellow (DUH) calla lillies with cymbithium orchids (i love the the name cymbithiums)! Love the arrangements, the fullness of the bouquet and just the feel and look of it. It screams sunshine and smiles and just beautiful!


My florist says they are a bit on the high end but i am hoping that Mr. Pancakes can make it work for me!

TRIBUTE TUESDAYS: Wedding Bloggers

My Tuesday Tributes is a shut out to all the individuals that blog in the bloggin' world about all things weddings.  I initially started this blog in the hopes of writing,experiencing and sharing everything about my impending wedding planning process and truly i have not done a good job.  I have been sharing some of my wedding planning ideas however i have noticed that the wedding bloggers go ALL OUT!  And I am sure that is the purpose of their blogs and for this i am thankful and paying tribute! Here is to the bloggers that share ALL:

1) the steps in their planning process including amazing DIYs,

2) issues that arise with family and friends, 

3) pictures of their bridal showers and those that do research on flowers; and other decor ideas; 

4) search out unique ideas for the ceremony and reception 

5) finding vendors that i might be unable to find

6) all the other things they help us!

I have always loved watching wedding shows and reading magazines even before Mr. Pancakes and i ever met and or even became engaged.  I always loved all the prettiness of these wedding shows but never thought about all the research that goes into planning a wedding.  It truly is a blessing for someone like me that has no interest in doing all the research required to plan a fabulous wedding to have all these resources at my disposal.  

Here is the WEDDING BLOGGERS! High on my list is www.theknot.com which i love love love and have always loved because of the great things that they have to offer for newly brides-to-be!  Of course i love the www.weddingbee.com too however the ladies do come across too over zealous (for my taste but i still enjoy them)! However there are other mentionables that i have come across recently including D. Marie's www.TheWorldAroundHer.blogspot.com and www.EveryLittleKiss.blogspot.com among others; these ladies speak from the heart about their wedding planning experiences, which is great!. 

It is definitely refreshing to know that these ladies are passionate enough about weddings and wedding planning in order to assist lowly Miss. Pancakes plan the wedding of my dreams!  

Thank you wedding bloggers for making this wedding plan so very easy for the rest of the world!

Got My Gucci Fixed!

I made the almost hour trek out to the fancy frames place to get my glasses fixed...The Frame Mender.com! I got there, the older gentleman wearing spectacles of course took my glasses and told me how much it would cost and asked me to wait. I sat down and didn't even have time to pick up a magazine and decide on an article when he called me. I was afraid he would tell me it couldn't be fixed; Hold and be hold, he fixed it for me in less than five minutes. I left the frame menders a definite satisfied customer! There is still some sun out in my area so i have my Guccis back on, just in time!

LongLazySunday: Bonding with godson!

This long lazy Sunday was spent with my godson who is adorable beyond words. Well actually before I went to pick him up for the afternoon, I met with my potential florist! The appointment went well although I kept on changing my mind about my and the bridemaids bouquets. But I believe i made a final decision and now she is going to draw up the contract. It sounds so official. I will write am official blog about the flowers at some other point. This long lazy Sunday was spent mostly with godson. Did I mention how adorable he is? He just turned ten months and is percocious, funny, smart and just all around a good baby. He does not cry unless something is wrong and Mr. Pancakes is awesome with him. I think Mr. Pancakes likes him because he is so chilled. And I have to tell you today they really bonded. Godson loves to dance so Mr. Pancakes was the human beatbox and they were going at it for sometime. I loved seeing godson with Mr. Pancakes, it warmed the cockles of my heart completely! As it was Sunday, we went to see Granny (From Tribute Tuesdays) and she loved being around him too. Of course he tried to pull off her oxygen but overall he was good around her. She was like "if you guys ever have a baby, don't bring him around if he is a crier, I can't stand babies that won't go to anyone" I couldn't agree with her more. Overall it was a good Sunday. Mr. Pancakes and i are definitely not ready to be parents (God will bless us in his time) but it sure is nice to have some baby-happy baby- time with someone's baby. Now I know why grandparents love their grandchildren: because they get to give 'em back. But truth be told, godson does make it hard to give him back because he is so cute, well behaved and did i mention adorable! And in case you were wondring, of course he is our ring bearer, can you imagine how precious that is going to be? Can't wait! How wad your Sunday, hope it was long and lazy!!

Sister Wives Anyone?

Ladies, i am wondering if anyone has seen TLC's new show Sister Wives? Please share your thoughts with me? I know most people in the media are making it about sex and nothing but sex.  However, there are also some merits (according to some) about the idea of families working together to raise their children.  Also do not forget the notion of sisterhood and being there for one another in a sisterly manner.  Now i am not saying that polygamy is wrong and or right, i am just stating that there are both sides to the story. 
NOW THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MISS PANCAKES...
i would not be a sister wife if my life depended on it.  Mind you, i am not yet a wife and or a mother so i do not know what the sister wives are referring to when they talk about helping raise each other's children and taking care of the household duties and so and so forth.  Plus, sisters usually do not marry the same husbands.  My sisters and i definitely are not!  What i do know though is that i have fallen IN LOVE with Mr. Pancakes and to share his attention, time, love and looks with another woman would drive me crazy! It would definitely have me raging and raving on a regular basis.  Again, the polygamist families say that their lifestyle is not about sex and i respect that HOWEVER sharing Mr. Pancakes with someone is definitely NOT a lifestyle i would choose.  But to each their own. 
Needless to say, i will continue to watch the show.  It's like trying not to watch someone wearing a horrible eighties outfit at church (inappropriate right but yet so intriguing).  I will definitely continue to comment when need be about sister wives! watching trying not to stare when someone terrrible is hep else would n talking about related to helpingin regards to helping each other raise their children wives helping each other raising their children and also being a support for one another. 

TRIBUTE TUESDAYS: All your Worldly Possessions!..

Most mornings when i am driving into work, i will see several homeless men and women in the streets starting their day.  Most mornings i wonder what their stories are? Whose mother/father/sister/brother are they? What job did they have before they become homeless? What mental health issues are they dealing with? What addictions are they facing? And or were they just a paycheck away from homelessness and the check never came? I wonder these thoughts and  in TRIBUTE TUESDAYS, i wanted to shed some light and or sympathy on the issue of homelessness and factors that may cause and or add to it: mental health, addictions; loss of income and other related factors. 

Homelessness does not know age, sex, ethnicity and sometimes socio-economics.  For me homelessness is not too far from all of us and as lucky and blessed as we would like to think of ourselves, if we had mental health issues and were not dealing with them, we would also be unable to maintain jobs and our families and may potentially lose all that was important to us: our jobs, homes, cars, families and friends and with that our spirits to a certain degree.    

There is this one particular man that sits where all the political action occurs in the city and i always wonder "who is he?" Was he in politics at one point and he became jaded with the political system and something happened along the way? He speaks about political controversies every morning and always has some good wishes in the morning especially Wednedays which is always "Happy Wednesday!" And it usually is! All his worldly possessions are near this one tree and most of the homeless men and women i have seen have all their belongings on them in some form of fashion.  Can you imagine all your personal belongings on you at all times? 

I pay tribute to all the homeless men and women i come across on a daily day: the man speaking to the sky the other espousing words of wisdom to God Almighty; the old man i see sitting by the street asking for money holding a bucket with a stick attached to it; the ladies and the men sitting in the park every morning and the one i saw today lying in his make-shift bed in the middle of the street as i drove by. 

I Pay tribute to their plight and the experiences that they have gone through and continue to go through.  I guess i wanted to blog about this because as i plan our wedding, i am remiss to think of all the blessings God has bestowed upon me and hope that he touches everyone the same way, especially those with all their wordly possessions on them. I SEND THEM ALL GOOD WISHES!

LongLazySunday: Rainy Day with the Girls!

If there was anything i wanted to do more today, it was definitely to SLEEP! If i have not mentioned it before, i love to sleep and i love to sleep even more when it is RAINY! However, despite today being a favourite day, i had an agenda today. 
Today's Agenda:
1) Attend church on time--didn't quite get there on time but i go there
2) Go check out a new possible apartment--we did and it was a good possibility
3) Visit Granny--which we did and as always was a good time!
4) Clean kitchen--didn't quite happen but i cleaned the stove
5) Go Bridesmaid Shopping--which was the way my longlazysunday was supposed to end.

5)Go Bridesmaids Shopping:
I felt this part of my LongLazySunday was going to be the stressful part of my day however it was pleasantly not as bad.  The girls and i arrived...there were actually two out of the six girls.  One wanted to look sexy and show off her post-baby body and the other wanted to just show some skin.  Regardless of their hopes and wants, they were all in agreement with whatever i decided they should wear.  Although i wanted those expensive dresses for various reasons, i wanted to accomodate my girls and make sure that they were happy with their choice.  So on a long, lazy and rainy sunday with my girls (and my God son) we were able to decide on a dress that i believe will be the final dress barring any catastrophes! As much as sometimes weddings are all about the bride and okay groom...it does help to consider the needs and wants of the individuals that will stand beside Mr. Pancakes and I as we tie the knot!

Although, i didn't spend my LongLazySunday the way i REALLY wanted to, i spent time with my girls and may have possibly found the dress that my girls could potentially wear on our big special day!!


 

HAPPY OCTOBER

HAPPY OCTOBER FELLOW BLOGGERS!

I cannot believe a month has already passed since i started blogging and i have more to say!

I attended my first Married/Enegaged Couples Ministry at my church today and i had such a blast.

I will share some of the things i learned in my session tomorrow.

It's amazing how fun and funny church folk can be sometimes...i forget sometimes that just because someone attends church and is a member of a board and or ministry at church doesn't mean they do not know how to have fun! Anyway more tomorrow.  Off to bed! 

Again HAPPY OCTOBER BLOGGERS!  

A new month begins and new experiences awaits!