Balloons!!!!!!!!!!

This bride (from cake-layers) had her bridesmaids hold balloons down the aisle!

I love, love, love the balloons and how beautiful they look with the bridesmaids dresses.

It is just whimsical and fun! I want balloons at my wedding because i think it will be fun but unfortunately i am not having an outdoor wedding.

Even before i saw this picture...i wanted to walk in the midst of balloons toward Mr. Pancakes!

Cheesy i know but i loved the idea! Maybe it won't happen because i am having a church wedding but i will I continue to dream about walking tdown he aisle in a beautiful cascade of blue and yellow balloons!

Would anyone out there think of doing this? Or do you know someone that has done this!



LongLazySunday: Accessorize!

This has been a longtiredsunday but lazy right now because i am watching The Fashion Show on Bravo (some mindless TV) and the football game, DC against Minnesota (trying to see if i can catch a glimpse of Mr. Pancakes and Papa Pancakes since they are at the game; still haven't seen them but i'll keep on looking!)

I am also taking a break from cooking dinner.  I am trying this new stir fry veggies and chicken to go with couscous--which is my new rave (mmmh maybe i will rave about it in my Rant & Rave Thursday). 

I am also looking through bridal magazine and websites trying to come up with accessories for myself and my bridal party.  I know, i know, multitasking but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Anyway accessorizing has never been my thing but i know that i need some accessories for my dress and i have come up with several simple but very elegant ideas for me.  I know i want shoes that pop! I love high heels, i have a lot of them but i don't really like wearing them but i know for the wedding, i do need some nice classy heels in blue! Initially i had certain shoes in mind but i am back on the chopping block as those shoes were not doing anything for me.  I am hoping i find better shoes like these (with sensible heels)! They are Badgley Mischka!

Other accessories i have been looking at include a necklace and ear rings! I like simplicity so i thought about perhaps diamonds just to add a little bling to add to my dress withoutt it being overpowering. 

I was looking at these items from Ann Taylor.   I love the pearl earrings and necklace because of the ivory colour (the picture didn't come out well) and the bling.  Then there is this necklace with swarovski crystals which is also beautiful.  Both will look fantastic with my wedding gown....decisions, decisions!   

I don't think i will do a bracelet because Mr. Pancakes and my wedding band should be the only thing that  shines that day!

All in all, i am excited about all the accessories that add to my wedding dress to add to me being a beautiful bride! One of my favourite accessory that i wear on a regular basis (besides my engagement ring) is my star necklace that Mr. Pancakes purchased for me on my 30th birthday...maybe i can wear that on the wedding day!

Hope your sunday has been long and lazy and not tiring!

Do you have some accessories which you are crazy about?

Happy ThanksGiving....

Officially i am still Canadian and celebrate Thanksgiving in October however now that i reside in the great USofA and about to be an American, it is only appropriate that i
i also celebrate Thanksgiving in November too!
I am very thankful for many things this year. 
I feel completely blessed to have my health, family, friends, a great job, the financial ability to pay for the wedding to a wonderful Mr. Pancakes!
God has blessed Mr. Pancakes and continues to bless us in so many different ways
i cannot begin to name them individually
i can only be more thankful each and everyday i open my eyes...
Even to be able to blog on the worldwideweb has been a blessing in disguise!

Hope all of you have a wonderful and safe thanksgiving.
If you choose to participate in BlackFriday,be safe and save save save...hope you get some great deals!

Please share some great things you found on deals???

I have yet to venture out during blackfriday...perhaps next year!

Tuesday Tributes: Important Details...

This Tuesday Tribute is a little venting session and a little focus on the important details of weddings and marriages!

Today is exactly five months away from the big day! 

The day i move from Miss Pancakes to Mrs. Pancakes! 

Right now according to my handy dandy countdown:

 I have 150 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes and as of right now 35 seconds to marrying my best friend and the seconds continue to tick away!

Generally we have the biggest things completed, the venue, the dress and we are plowing along with other tasks. But to be honest i am not a stressed out bride as most brides are, which i believe makes me sort of "whatever" about the whole wedding process.  I am excited about getting married to Mr. Pancakes and continuing our lives as Team Pancakes!  

However, the more wedding blogs i come across and more posts i read, the more i realize most of these girls are insane and overly involved in their wedding process.  These girls appear to be consumed with all things wedding!   The more posts i read the more irritated i become at how these girls allow themselves to become soooooooooooooooo overwhelmed and stressed out that nothing matters except for the wedding planning.   

I just hope that they are also planning the post-wedding-THE MARRIAGE! Maybe i am a little bitter---that's not even the right word--but maybe a little jaded because i feel like so many girls focus on ALL these unnecessary aspect of the wedding like the invitation.  I was on the weddingbee.com and it appears that every single bride on there is attempting to out-do the other with the details of their wedding.  

Or copying each other's ideas!

My question of the day is how many pieces of paper do you need to invite someone to a wedding?

Who really needs all that extra paper including: SAVE THE DATE, FORMAL INVITATION, RSVP CARDS, RECEPTION CARDS, ENCLOSURE CARDS--what happened to going GREEN people??!! Just because they suggest all these items does not mean you REALLY need them!  

There is a lack of respect for the most important part of the wedding invitation that of the actual invitation: asking guests to join you in the celebration of marriage between you and your beloved! Truth be told, most people only care about that aspect of the wedding invitation anyway.  

Over the last couple of months (since really searching wedding blogs), i have found that there is an increased focus on unnecessary aspects of the wedding planing which bothers me.  Now don't get me wrong, DETAILS are a significant part of the wedding however i feel like TOO MUCH emphasis is placed on these details unnecessarily. 

The commercialization of MARRIAGE is part of our society and hence online.  But planning my own wedding has made me aware of the amount of money that wedding vendors and providers make.   How everything is marked up because it a wedding and how society places pressure on certain things as a REQUIREMENT to plan the perfect wedding.  The biggest diamond ring, the most expensive dress and shoes! Flowers all over the ceremony and reception sights.  The wedding industry has commercialized marriage to such a degree that the sacredness of marriage has been eliminated! 

Perhaps all of this came forth because recently we were in couples ministry at our church and after being around couples that have been married for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, MARRIAGE is really put into perspective!  Some details are definitely more important than what our wedding invitations look like and or how our tables are decorated and or how big my engagement ring is.  Most of these couples the detail that spoke volumes to me was the simple wedding bands that each of them wore.  A simple wedding band is the only detail that i need to see to put everything into perspective.  As i reflected about marriage and the  wedding planning process, some of the important details for me include but not limited to:

1) The vow that Mr. Pancakes and i will make to each other 150 days, 11 hours, 42 minutes and 50 seconds and as of right now 35 seconds 

2) The details of bringing our families and friends together to celebrate our marriage is significant! 

3) The joining of our two families

4) The joining of Mr. Pancakes and i as a family!

These are some of the details that i am focusing on during this time as we plan our wedding towards MARRIAGE! 

This was a long blog post but sometimes you need to get it out!

Don't get me wrong, I am not a hater--brides should do what they want to do--focus on whatever details they believe are important for them and their significant others! But i feel like it is my civic duty to write about the commercialization of MARRIAGE and the need to pay attention to the important details during the

 wedding planning process and not get lost in all the other stuff which is just commercial! 

The wedding is only one day but marriage is forever (cliché but so true!) 

I want to send a shout out to Alida, a new follower to my blog, who has been married for 29years! Go Alida! You give me something to aspire to!

LongLazySunday: Let's Get Physical

My longlazysunday was excellent as i had an event at church that i was part of so guess what? I made it to church ON-TIME!!! It was amazing and since i am in a ministry at church i really do need to attend church on-time regularly!

After church, i decided to go for a work-out as i had a blast last night eating loads and loads of carbs. One of my friend's made this delicious rice dish and it was soooo good...i was not greedy but i enjoyed myself! The work-out was good.  I was on the bike for a while going at full speed at certain intervals and i only managed to burn 160 calories.  Now i am no expert but i sometimes wonder about the way the workout machines calculate calories and such.  But i digress...at least i had a good work-out!

Granny Pancakes is home from the hospital so we are having dinner with her.  Last week we brought combination rice from our local Chinese Restaurant and she went bananas over how good the rice was! She is too cute.  I think tonight we are having pizza!

I know, i know more carbs hence why i worked out today...the calories in and calories out don't match up but at least i sweated!  Anyway ladies hope you enjoyed your longlazysunday! 

Did anyone do anything fun with their longlazysunday?

Lose some to win some!

I am really thankful to all the bloggers who continue to give me advice and suggestions to all my meanderings including my rants and raves! Sometimes it is not everything you want to share with friends so it's definitely been helpful to blog about issues that are going on in my life with Mr. Pancakes. The last post was very difficult for me because it was a very personal conversation but I am glad i did because I was able to get a lot of great feedback! The advice that stuck with me was you have to lose some to win some because this is so true! Most of the time I am trying to win the argument all the time so the idea that sometimes I should intentionally lose an argument to win is completely foreign! But it's brilliant because i before we get married I definitely need to learn this art of communication. I believe I have done this but perhaps not intentionally so it's really on now. In marriage there are going to be many Grown-up conversations hence this conversation was needed so that I can learn this art of argument. One of the great things about the pre-marriage is getting to know one another and then I guess post-marriage, there is more getting to know one another! My big sister once told me that marriage is all about learning about each other everyday. I thought that Mr. Pancakes and I were ALL good in the communication department but we've just started I suppose! Again thanks fellow bloggers for the ideas and suggestions.

Yet to Be Married: Grown-Up Conversations

I believe Mr. Pancakes and i had our first marital conversation that i would like to refer to as Grown-Up!  We have been doing really well with discussing how we want our lives to go (as much control as we have over this seeing that i do believe God is in control of the direction of our lives always). 

We had discussed how we wanted to first two years of our lives to go including getting married, becoming debt-free, saving our emergency fund, moving and then starting the business.  Initially after we saved up for our wedding fund, we would work on getting completely out of debt before purchasing a house and or starting our family business! As can be seen on the right hand of my blog!

Therefore, imagine my surprise when Mr. Pancakes informed me he had found a building for our business a few days ago! WHAT?! Of course my first reaction probably wasn't as supportive as he would have liked.  Immediately i wanted to know how he was going to afford to rent a building for a business??!!! Then tonight, the topic came up again and Mr. Pancakes informed me he wanted to start the business now rather than later.  He had thought about the finances and one of the caveats was that provided he had a certain amount of customers per day, he  would be able to make the rent and everything else in between. 

Which sounded farfetched to me so i countered back with my WHAT IFs...what if we don't get enough people coming into the store and what if we could make other house-related payments because we had to pay rent on the store? What if there were other risks we couldn't see? and What happened to being DEBT-FREE?!!

Of course as soon as i said this, i could tell that he had shut down to some degree.  I wanted to discuss it more but he didn't because as he put it "i can't make willy nilly decisions anymore, i am almost a married man now!" Which is true but then i also do not want to be a DREAM-KILLER because i do believe in Mr. Pancakes and all the business plans and i do want us to become business owners! However i want us to start this business with little risk as possible.  I know in business there are always risks but if we can limit the risks to a minimal, in my mind that would be ideally the right way to go. 

I want more than anything for Mr. Pancakes and i to start our marriage and famil life of well with as little risks as possible.  I want us to have a plan for everything including starting our business and as much as i don't want him to think i am a kill-joy, i feel as if i have to stand up for what i feel is right for our family!

What would you do if you were placed in this Grown-Up Conversation?

Would you support the person completely reglardless of risk?

And or stand up for what you think is right?

FINALLY....phew!

Big Thank you to fellow bloggers for all the well wishes...IT WAS APPRECIATED!

I have a confession to make...the engagement pictures process was not as nerve jarring as i thought it was going to be! It was very painless and actually fun! Mr. Pancakes and i thought the entire process was hilarious especially the staged poses! We both couldn't help but laugh throughout the first half.  We were laughing so hard (naturally we like to laugh but this scenario added to the whole hilarity of the situation!) the camera-man made a comment about how we liked to laugh.  We felt as if we were being reprimanded so we tried to get serious again but throughout the entire process we were laughing.  Some of the laughter could be translated into some nervousness especially when we had to do some really awkward poses suggested by teh camera-man. 

Overall some of the poses were traditional (the lifting one--which Mr. Pancakes got into with his football stance--it was so cute!), the walking, stopping and kisses ones! The huggy, passionate and loving ones! But i had to put a stop to some really cheesy ones like reaching my arms around his neck while standing with my back to him...cheesy! I have to admit, we had a blast!

Mr. Pancakes was a trooper..he really took one for Team Pancakes which was much appreciated! Even the camera-man complemented him that he did really well and had a good attitude the whole entire time (i suppose most men he's taken pix of haven't been as easygoing) I can't wait to see the final results! I know they will turn out great!

And although i was worried about my chin...i forget everything and just enjoyed the moments that Mr. Pancakes and i were sharing.  To keep us going we continued to tell each other that we would only have professional pictures taken like this only twice (again during our wedding day). 

Of course i didn't tell him we will probably do this again someday when we have a family of our own...FAMILY PORTRAITS!

Sshhhhh....don't tell Mr. Pancakes! 

LongLazySunday: Taking E-Pix

Today is the day! I've been nervous, excited, worried and everything in between about everything turning out well. I will be taking the pix and sharing it all the good news with my fellow bloggers sometime today or tomorrow, depending on how it goes. It's suppoosed to be. A nice, warm fall day so this should allow for beautiful pictures. Here is to my chin behaving! I think Mr. Pancakes might be excited too, he won't say it but I know he is!

Crossing Items of the Wedding List in October...

In October i wanted to  complete certain wedding tasks having to do with the wedding.   Here are some of my recaps! My wedding barometer is not reading too well...but i am trying real hard!

1) I was supposed to decide on the bridesmaid dresses and at this point, i believe i had solidified and made a decision where all the bridesmaids are happy and excited about the dress.  It is a little sexy, a little sassy and AFFORDABLE. Thanks to my blogger friends...i was able to reconsider and look for an affordable dress that had everything else i wanted.  The colour of the dress will be royal blue so it is very exciting

2)  Mr. Pancakes and i still have not decided on the exact wedding guest list.  However we are aware of the exact number! Now it is just a matter of confirming the actual individuals.   Which i hope we do by sometime this month!

3) I met with the florist and although i have not made the final decision, i am decided on Susan the florist from Baltimore.  She was reasonable and since we do not want to spend a lot of money on flowers, she is the top person right now.  Oh by the way, Mr. Pancakes says he knows a guy but still has not called him!

4) Pick the DJ! A DJ that is going to be able to play music for the young, old, funky, jazzy, r&b and reggae and some good African tunes.  I hope there is some good DJs out there.  Oh right...i am still reminding Mr. Pancakes to call the DJ since that is his task!

Just a quick digression, Mr. Pancakes has been somewhat involved in the planning. I am always asking him what he thinks about things therefore involving him in the wedding planning process.  However, although he has taken on finding the DJ, transportation and finding a florist, he is not on a deadline like i am! I would perfer if we had everything set up and ready to go by the end of December.  But i am quiet and just wait for him to get his stuff togther.  Generally, he has been helpful, i just wished, he would move as quickly as i am.  I guess that will never happen but i can hope huh?

All in all, it has been a productive month but there are still a lot of things that need to get done.  I even managed to add to the wedding-to-do list including E-PICS, which i am so excited about but that's another day of blogging! Here is to hoping it continues to be an even more productive November!

How do you keep track of things that need to get done wedding planning or not? 

Any advice and or suggestons would be helpful!

LongLazySunday: Computer is KaPut for NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to touch base on how my LongLazySunday has been.  Unfortunately my internet access on my computer is not working and as much as I love my new iPhone, I do not feel like typing on here for an extended amount of time. So here is to hopping that my computer starts working. By the way long lazy sunday was spent well: church, visit to future father in law, he made us brunch, then visit to granny, then Mr. Pancakes went to get a jacket then home, cooking then dinner then football! But hope your day went well! Have an excellent week!

Tribute Tuesdays: Co-Workers

I've had several cute incidences with some of my co-workers about getting engaged and the planning of the wedding and everything in between.  Therefore this weekend, i wanted to pay tribute to each one of them for their good wishes, advice giving and suggestions about wedding planning, weddings and everything in between.
A little disclaimer, i work with ALL FEMALES, which can have it's disadvantages however i must say that these group of women have been great!

Even before Mr. Pancakes and i became engaged, my main boss was always asking when i would become engaged.  Therefore, it was no surprise when i returned to the office in June and announced to Boss Lady that Mr. Pancakes and i were engaged! She gave me the cutest engagement card--the only one to do so! I was completely touched by her kindness and warmth.

Another co-worker has been giving me advice about marriage and children and planning for all of it even before i was engaged--which is so sweet.  She likes to impart her wisdom about the importance of planning whether i want to be a stay-at-home mother or a working mother and how to plan financially for this.  Which is great because as a mother, she is wishing that she would have planned better before she had children.

Another co-worker had a friend that became engaged around the same time i did so she has been checking in with me on a regular basis, which has been sweet.  One of the things she did for her friend (which i wish my MOH had thought about) was to buy her a whole bunch of bridal magazines!

Another co-worker who got married a few years ago shared with me some of her wedding pictures and ideas about wedding planning which i thought was awesome.  She is always checking in with me to see how things are going with wedding planning.

I truly do appreciate all my co-workers questions and everything else in between.   I have always had  a small group of friends around me so for these ladies to engage me in the wedding planning process has truly touched me.  They are all wonderful in their own special way and i would truly love to invite every single one of them!

Due to this, they should definitely be allowed to share in my wedding day.  After all, these ladies i share most of my day! And i am hoping that i can make things work so that i can invite them all to celebrate in my wedding day!