If you want to jump ahead to the photos of our new house, go here.
Months before the wedding, we'd discussed selling our current house and finding something larger in anticipation that we'll have kids someday and the 2 bedrooms we currently have just aren't going to cut it. We'd thought about moving out to Oakbank but the commute is too long. Then we thought about going to East St Paul, but the houses are too expensive. Then it was St Andrews, but it tends to flood in the spring. We're starting to sound like Goldilocks eh? Too soft, too hard, just right.... We eventually agreed on the Kildonans and Transcona so we looked online at the MLS listings and Comfree for places within our price range that met our criteria (3+ bedrooms, 1.5+ bathrooms, double garage, quiet street) and went to some open houses. I won't go into too much detail, but some of the houses had some "unique" odors associated with them. Mildew, curry, and dog pee in some of them. We fell in love with a house on Alberhill and met with the seller's agent and had him draw up an offer to purchase, but unfortunately, lost the bid by $13,000.
Undeterred, we went back online and I found one on Kijiji.com that had had an open house the weekend before. We called them and arranged a meeting with the sellers to tour the house. It was 7:00 at night and on a street only blocks from his parents house (and where an ex-gf from high school lived). The online photos were truly terrible and we were both completely unmotivated to go see it and had convinced ourselves that it'd be another awful place. But, after touring through it for a half hour, we were absolutely in love! It doesn't photograph very well so please don't judge it from the slide show. It's a 4 bedroom (3 upstairs, 1 basement), large kitchen with newer KitchenCraft cupboards, new laminate flooring, A DINING ROOM, a fireplace, 1 full and 2 half bathrooms, and a walk-in closet in the master bedroom. House is 15 years old and a former Kensington show-home and the current owners are our age and we got along with them really well. While we were touring through, another couple came over to look at it, which was particularly awkward because we were filling out the offer to purchase and the deposit cheque! We discussed the details with the sellers and they called the other couple to find out how interested they were. They weren't seriously intersted so we got the house for $7k over asking price.
We finished the offer to purchase with the caveat that our lawyers would have to approve the offer, which is where things went off the rails. Our lawyer and their lawyer had communications problems but after 3 days of relentless phone calls and meetings, everything was approved and the house is ours!
We take possession on Feb 26th and aside from wanting to repaint the master bedroom and the second bedroom (the one with the exercise equipment), there's nothing much for us to do except sell this place. We're going to try doing it ourselves since it worked so well already. We're listing for $150,000 with possession after March 1st, so if you know anyone that's interested in a 2-bedroom, 1 bathroom, 750sq. ft. house in the West End near Polo Park with 2 parking spots, new eaves, new windows, new shingles, new insulation, new a/c, new monitored alarm, includes fridge and dishwasher, shed, patio, landscaped with perennial gardens and AMAZING neighbours on either side, give us a call!!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Honeymoon!
If you want to skip all the reading, just go see the photos here.
We went to Puerto Plata in the Dominican for our honeymoon. We stayed at the 4* Gran Ventana resort and we can't stop talking about how amazing the resort was. On the flight over, we got to talking to other passengers who were going for their second, third or tenth time. One woman we met goes to this resort four times a year for 2 weeks to 2 month stints! I want her retirement plan!! We got the VIP treatment right from the start, with personal check-in service from the manager of the hotel, to an upgraded room with ocean front view, a bottle of rum and a fruit basket waiting for us. The room was great but the tv turned itself on and off at random times and the a/c broke twice in the first week so we got moved to a different room where the a/c worked but the tv had terrible reception. Oh well, can't win them all.
It took us about 4 days to unwind completely and get into the "groove" of the whole honeymoon. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all buffets and the food was spectacular. We never ran out of options. The coffee was the BEST I've ever tasted, but probably it's because the beans are freshly picked and roasted from the local plantations. All our food and all our drinks were included and after a few days, all the staff knew who we were and always greeted us with a loud "OLA!!" and a big smile. We spent most days lounging by the pool, reading books, playing volleyball, swimming up to the bar for drinks from the best mixed drinks from Sanchez, and just generally, RELAXING. It was awesome.
We took three excursions from the resort. The first was the Outback Safari that showed us around the real Dominican. Parts of it were really sad, from seeing the "house" (more like a shack) without running water or electricity and using straw to cook dinner, to the schools, churches and hospitals that the Outback Safari company pays for, learning about how people make about $2/day but with a few cows and pigs that they can work their way out of dire poverty, the skinny kids running after the tour bus, to driving in the city and seeing the difference between rural and city living. We got to see a working plantation organized by and run by local women that grows sugar cane, tangerines, grapefruits, papayas, coffee, cocoa, pineapples and coconuts to sell at market to put their kids through school. We went on a brief river boat tour and a bumpy ride through the country to learn about the different species of plants and how their used by locals, and see the huge tracts of land bought by foreigners for their own personal resorts. Finally, we went boogie boarding in the surf at Carabrete beach, which was AWESOME!!
The second excursion was into Puerto Plata city. This was a disappointing tour since the tour guide wasn't the least bit interesting and it was more like a shopping tour than a city tour. We saw (and bought) rum from the Brugal factory, amber and larmar jewellery & hand rolled cigars (we got totally ripped off on these because neither of us like haggling). We also saw the Amber Museum (completely boring), the city centre (where we were swarmed with people trying to sell us stuff), and then went to the top of Mount Isabella by cable car. That was scary but cool. At the top was a statue of Jesus the Redeemer, but a smaller version of the one in Rio.
The third trip was to Ocean World and it was amazing, but ruined by the annoying and obnoxious guys from VIP World that kept harrassing us to go see the marina and buy into their time share. I've never in my life wanted to punch someone so hard as the forty-millionth time that Giovanny stood in front of me and kept saying "My Canadian friends...come come with me". Ugh. Aside from my violent tendencies towards the VIP World staff, the rest of Ocean World was really wonderful. We feed the love birds (they particularly liked Brendon's hat), swam in a pool next to tigers and watched the tigers have lunch, snorkelled in an artifical coral reed and Brendon got to touch a fish that was, no kidding, 2' wide! We watched the sea lion, parrot, shark and dolphin shows, watched a dolphin encounter (at $150 per person, we opted to watch rather than participate), and generally just enjoyed ourselves at the park. It was rather empty so there was lots of room to get up close to the animals and talk to the trainers.
We went to Puerto Plata in the Dominican for our honeymoon. We stayed at the 4* Gran Ventana resort and we can't stop talking about how amazing the resort was. On the flight over, we got to talking to other passengers who were going for their second, third or tenth time. One woman we met goes to this resort four times a year for 2 weeks to 2 month stints! I want her retirement plan!! We got the VIP treatment right from the start, with personal check-in service from the manager of the hotel, to an upgraded room with ocean front view, a bottle of rum and a fruit basket waiting for us. The room was great but the tv turned itself on and off at random times and the a/c broke twice in the first week so we got moved to a different room where the a/c worked but the tv had terrible reception. Oh well, can't win them all.
It took us about 4 days to unwind completely and get into the "groove" of the whole honeymoon. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all buffets and the food was spectacular. We never ran out of options. The coffee was the BEST I've ever tasted, but probably it's because the beans are freshly picked and roasted from the local plantations. All our food and all our drinks were included and after a few days, all the staff knew who we were and always greeted us with a loud "OLA!!" and a big smile. We spent most days lounging by the pool, reading books, playing volleyball, swimming up to the bar for drinks from the best mixed drinks from Sanchez, and just generally, RELAXING. It was awesome.
We took three excursions from the resort. The first was the Outback Safari that showed us around the real Dominican. Parts of it were really sad, from seeing the "house" (more like a shack) without running water or electricity and using straw to cook dinner, to the schools, churches and hospitals that the Outback Safari company pays for, learning about how people make about $2/day but with a few cows and pigs that they can work their way out of dire poverty, the skinny kids running after the tour bus, to driving in the city and seeing the difference between rural and city living. We got to see a working plantation organized by and run by local women that grows sugar cane, tangerines, grapefruits, papayas, coffee, cocoa, pineapples and coconuts to sell at market to put their kids through school. We went on a brief river boat tour and a bumpy ride through the country to learn about the different species of plants and how their used by locals, and see the huge tracts of land bought by foreigners for their own personal resorts. Finally, we went boogie boarding in the surf at Carabrete beach, which was AWESOME!!
The second excursion was into Puerto Plata city. This was a disappointing tour since the tour guide wasn't the least bit interesting and it was more like a shopping tour than a city tour. We saw (and bought) rum from the Brugal factory, amber and larmar jewellery & hand rolled cigars (we got totally ripped off on these because neither of us like haggling). We also saw the Amber Museum (completely boring), the city centre (where we were swarmed with people trying to sell us stuff), and then went to the top of Mount Isabella by cable car. That was scary but cool. At the top was a statue of Jesus the Redeemer, but a smaller version of the one in Rio.
The third trip was to Ocean World and it was amazing, but ruined by the annoying and obnoxious guys from VIP World that kept harrassing us to go see the marina and buy into their time share. I've never in my life wanted to punch someone so hard as the forty-millionth time that Giovanny stood in front of me and kept saying "My Canadian friends...come come with me". Ugh. Aside from my violent tendencies towards the VIP World staff, the rest of Ocean World was really wonderful. We feed the love birds (they particularly liked Brendon's hat), swam in a pool next to tigers and watched the tigers have lunch, snorkelled in an artifical coral reed and Brendon got to touch a fish that was, no kidding, 2' wide! We watched the sea lion, parrot, shark and dolphin shows, watched a dolphin encounter (at $150 per person, we opted to watch rather than participate), and generally just enjoyed ourselves at the park. It was rather empty so there was lots of room to get up close to the animals and talk to the trainers.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thank you thank you thank you!!
I can't say it enough, but "thank you" to everyone who came, everyone who helped, everyone who wished us well, to everyone... just one huge THANK YOU!!!
We had the rehearsal Friday evening and it went much faster than we'd anticipated so once we'd done a "dry run" of the ceremony and decorated the church, we headed over to Boston Pizza. Two problems. 1) There were 21 of us and we'd made reservations for 16 and 2) we were there an hour early and during the dinner rush. So we stood outside and waited, but it was worth the wait. The staff was great and the food was really good. We gave all the groomsmen (including Francis and Ash) Buck knives as their thank you gifts while the girls got a shopping basket with local, organic and fair trade chocolates, pastas, coffees, teas etc.
Neither of us really slept the night before, despite taking a sleeping pill. We were both up and nibbled at breakfast by 6am. Kathy picked me and the rest of the girls up before 9am and we headed to Puressence Salon for hair and makeup. The guys came over to our house to get ready. Chelsey, our photographer extraordinaire, met the girls at Liane's house and we did some candid shots in Liane's basement and back yard. Keith came and got us and took us to Assiniboine Park for photos of the wedding party together in the conservatory. (We're not superstitious or honestly believe that our marriage is doomed if Brendon sees me in my dress before the ceremony!!) We did photos for about two hours, took a break for cokes and granola bars, before heading back to the church. The next hour was a bit of a blur as I waited downstairs with my parents and my beautiful bridesmaids while Brendon and his guys were in the rectory, joking around with Father Mark. All of a sudden "it's time" and we heading upstairs to start the walk down the long long long aisle. It's a lot longer when people are staring at you, instead of when you're there on any other Sunday!! The ceremony was quick, or it seemed quick to me. Ash did first reading (Ecclesiastes 4:912), my parents did the psalms (34) and Francis did second reading (John 3:18-24). Father gave a wonderful sermon before it was time to exchange our vows. We were both tearing up at this point but we hadn't started crying (yet!). When it came time to sign the license, my hands were shaking so much that I misspelled my name. Yeah, I signed it "Elean" so I had to ink in the missing "i". Whoops!!
After the ceremony, we did more photos of the family at the church and headed over to the Irish Club for the reception. Just like last night, we were early so the dj hadn't arrived yet and there wasn't any music. We hid inside the coat closet while we waited for the dj to arrive, then the mike broke, then he blew a fuse so we waited a little longer for him to fix that. We did our 'grand entrance' and started the evening. Ash was our MC and he did a fantastic job, from his hilarious opening speech, to getting people up and playing charades to cracking jokes the whole way through. I'm still hurt that he thinks I'm a pizza hut driver.... (PhD... LOL). Francis gave the roast to the groom while Kathy gave me her roast. Both speeches were absolutely hysterical and everyone was laughing! We did our first dance (Faber Drive's When I'm With You), and were then joined on the dance floor by the wedding party. The dance floor was full the rest of the night and we closed the place down with people still on the dance floor! Leave it to my girl friends to make the night truly special!!
The Irish Club came through in spades for us. We had our concerns about them hosting the reception, but we couldn't have asked for a better spot! The food was absolutely indescribably delicious. Perogies, baked chicken and cabbage rolls; it's a Manitoba dinner at its best. Everyone was having a great time, mingling, drinking, eating, dancing.
My only regret is that I wish I'd spent more time going from table to table seeing family and friends but there was so much to see and do that night. If I missed talking to you, I'm very sorry and I'm very thankful that you made it to our party. Thank you for making it a wonderful night!
I could write on and on thanking everyone in turn for everything they've done to make our wedding day the most amazing, special and fun time we've ever had and making the day so memorable. Thank you!
We had the rehearsal Friday evening and it went much faster than we'd anticipated so once we'd done a "dry run" of the ceremony and decorated the church, we headed over to Boston Pizza. Two problems. 1) There were 21 of us and we'd made reservations for 16 and 2) we were there an hour early and during the dinner rush. So we stood outside and waited, but it was worth the wait. The staff was great and the food was really good. We gave all the groomsmen (including Francis and Ash) Buck knives as their thank you gifts while the girls got a shopping basket with local, organic and fair trade chocolates, pastas, coffees, teas etc.
Neither of us really slept the night before, despite taking a sleeping pill. We were both up and nibbled at breakfast by 6am. Kathy picked me and the rest of the girls up before 9am and we headed to Puressence Salon for hair and makeup. The guys came over to our house to get ready. Chelsey, our photographer extraordinaire, met the girls at Liane's house and we did some candid shots in Liane's basement and back yard. Keith came and got us and took us to Assiniboine Park for photos of the wedding party together in the conservatory. (We're not superstitious or honestly believe that our marriage is doomed if Brendon sees me in my dress before the ceremony!!) We did photos for about two hours, took a break for cokes and granola bars, before heading back to the church. The next hour was a bit of a blur as I waited downstairs with my parents and my beautiful bridesmaids while Brendon and his guys were in the rectory, joking around with Father Mark. All of a sudden "it's time" and we heading upstairs to start the walk down the long long long aisle. It's a lot longer when people are staring at you, instead of when you're there on any other Sunday!! The ceremony was quick, or it seemed quick to me. Ash did first reading (Ecclesiastes 4:912), my parents did the psalms (34) and Francis did second reading (John 3:18-24). Father gave a wonderful sermon before it was time to exchange our vows. We were both tearing up at this point but we hadn't started crying (yet!). When it came time to sign the license, my hands were shaking so much that I misspelled my name. Yeah, I signed it "Elean" so I had to ink in the missing "i". Whoops!!
After the ceremony, we did more photos of the family at the church and headed over to the Irish Club for the reception. Just like last night, we were early so the dj hadn't arrived yet and there wasn't any music. We hid inside the coat closet while we waited for the dj to arrive, then the mike broke, then he blew a fuse so we waited a little longer for him to fix that. We did our 'grand entrance' and started the evening. Ash was our MC and he did a fantastic job, from his hilarious opening speech, to getting people up and playing charades to cracking jokes the whole way through. I'm still hurt that he thinks I'm a pizza hut driver.... (PhD... LOL). Francis gave the roast to the groom while Kathy gave me her roast. Both speeches were absolutely hysterical and everyone was laughing! We did our first dance (Faber Drive's When I'm With You), and were then joined on the dance floor by the wedding party. The dance floor was full the rest of the night and we closed the place down with people still on the dance floor! Leave it to my girl friends to make the night truly special!!
The Irish Club came through in spades for us. We had our concerns about them hosting the reception, but we couldn't have asked for a better spot! The food was absolutely indescribably delicious. Perogies, baked chicken and cabbage rolls; it's a Manitoba dinner at its best. Everyone was having a great time, mingling, drinking, eating, dancing.
My only regret is that I wish I'd spent more time going from table to table seeing family and friends but there was so much to see and do that night. If I missed talking to you, I'm very sorry and I'm very thankful that you made it to our party. Thank you for making it a wonderful night!
I could write on and on thanking everyone in turn for everything they've done to make our wedding day the most amazing, special and fun time we've ever had and making the day so memorable. Thank you!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
7....
days left. What happened to the time? Seriously! It doesn't seem like it's been more than a year since we got engaged!
I picked up my dress on Thursday. It fits perfectly and it's safely in storage right now at a friend's house because if it were here, I'd be wearing it every day!
Brendon's tux should arrive this week. Can wait to see him! I think he's going to look like this...
Only with an dark rust coloured tie and vest. :-)
I'm going for my hair and makeup consultation in a few hours, then to the airport to pick up my sister and her family. They'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling to get here and it looks like the snow has held off long enough for them to enjoy a Canadian autumn. Just hoping in the next week, the snow continues to hold off and we can have some outdoor photos too!
174.25 hours left until we walk down the aisle. Exciting!!!
I picked up my dress on Thursday. It fits perfectly and it's safely in storage right now at a friend's house because if it were here, I'd be wearing it every day!
Brendon's tux should arrive this week. Can wait to see him! I think he's going to look like this...
Only with an dark rust coloured tie and vest. :-)I'm going for my hair and makeup consultation in a few hours, then to the airport to pick up my sister and her family. They'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling to get here and it looks like the snow has held off long enough for them to enjoy a Canadian autumn. Just hoping in the next week, the snow continues to hold off and we can have some outdoor photos too!
174.25 hours left until we walk down the aisle. Exciting!!!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Fittings
So I went for my first dress fitting yesterday. I was pretty anxious about it because of past experiences with wedding attire fittings. At one wedding, about 10 years ago (I'm not saying which of my bridesmaid's wedding it was), our dresses were made by the mother-in-law and there was a "communication problem" about my measurements, so the MIL made the dress relative to the size of my chest. There was so much extra material that the MIL ended up having to crawl inside the dress (while I was wearing it) and sew the dress onto my underwear to keep the dress in place. The front of the dress was so low that the 'girls' made an appearance while I was signing the guest book. My mother was there to photograph that incident. A few years later, as a bridesmaid for my sister's wedding, we were getting our fittings done at the Bay where the crazy Russian saleswoman kept commenting about how small my chest is (the same chest that was too large for the previous dress!) and how large my gut was. She recommended that I invest not only in an super push up bra with extra padding, but a girdle to hold my pot belly in!
Yeah, so there was a fair bit of anxiety when I tried my wedding dress on again. I haven't worn it since February when it fit nicely, a little loose up top, but the rest hugged me perfectly. We've been doing the P90X exercise videos for 8 weeks now and I've lots a total of 4.25" in my chest/waist/hips measurements. The dress is still snug in the hips (despite them now being 1.25" smaller) while the rest needs to be taken in only slightly. I didn't think it needed to be taken in that much, but the two seamstresses kept tugging and pinning and poking and commenting, and ummmmm, manipulating (is that the right word??) my chest because "they're so big but your waist is so tiny". LOL The dress will be ready in 2 weeks, so hopefully I don't change size too much in the next 14 days or else I'll have to pay another $200 in alterations!
Yeah, so there was a fair bit of anxiety when I tried my wedding dress on again. I haven't worn it since February when it fit nicely, a little loose up top, but the rest hugged me perfectly. We've been doing the P90X exercise videos for 8 weeks now and I've lots a total of 4.25" in my chest/waist/hips measurements. The dress is still snug in the hips (despite them now being 1.25" smaller) while the rest needs to be taken in only slightly. I didn't think it needed to be taken in that much, but the two seamstresses kept tugging and pinning and poking and commenting, and ummmmm, manipulating (is that the right word??) my chest because "they're so big but your waist is so tiny". LOL The dress will be ready in 2 weeks, so hopefully I don't change size too much in the next 14 days or else I'll have to pay another $200 in alterations!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Gov't paperwork
We picked up the marriage license from Vital Stats today. It's a very long boring piece of white paper. I'm rather disappointed that something so important is amongst the large stacks of other boring-looking white pieces of paper, like the ones to register births and deaths. I don't know what I was expecting, considering it's a government issued document. I'm so used to wedding related stuff having tacky doves and roses and embossed rings on them that to see the *actual* marriage license is just a bunch of check boxes and fill-in-the-blank boxes (in French and English) is a bit unusual! Course, because it is a wedding related item, it cost 10x more than what it is worth!
Have you seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff13zZ0h0k
Yeah, it`s like that. LOL!
Oh well, at least my PhD has pretty embossing on it. Cost me 150x more than the marriage license did so it should have some gold stamp on it!
It is weird to think about, that in 32 days, Derek and Jen are going to sign the license and make it a legally binding boring-looking document.
Have you seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff13zZ0h0k
Yeah, it`s like that. LOL!
Oh well, at least my PhD has pretty embossing on it. Cost me 150x more than the marriage license did so it should have some gold stamp on it!
It is weird to think about, that in 32 days, Derek and Jen are going to sign the license and make it a legally binding boring-looking document.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Dinner menu
We met with Anne (events co-ordinator) and Tony (semi-retired caterer) at the Irish Club to go over the reception details. Here's what's for dinner:
- Oven baked chicken
- Vegetarian cabbage rolls
- Green beans almondine
- Honey glazed baby carrots
- Perogies (fried, with onions)
- Sweet & Sour meatballs
- Pasta, tossed and caeser salad
- Apple Crumble with vanilla ice cream
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)