Alice Valentine

Hello November.

The leaves in our neighborhood have turned an amazing shade of red so Jarod and I went out for a walk last weekend and I took some pictures. 

 

 

 

Jarod and I had another busy weekend. On Friday we went to the Flogging Molly concert and I got to experience my first mosh pit (with Jarod there to protect me of course). He suggested I wear old shoes that I didn't care about, so I wore a pair of white sneakers that had a stain on them. By the end of the night my feet had been stepped on so many times by gross, sticky shoes that they were now a not-so-lovely shade of brown. The concert was fun and Jarod and I had a nice evening out together.

On Saturday (Halloween) Jarod and I woke up and still didn't have our costumes decided on. We had discussed lots of possibilities (Archie and Veronica, Dr.Phil and Oprah, Dexter and a victim, etc.)  but just couldn't decide on any. We went to the thrift store to look for ideas but it was of course packed with people and there was hardly anything left, so we went to a party supply/costume shop. Jarod found a sailor's hat for cheap so he decided to go as a sailor, and I found a fake crow so I decided to go as a character from the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. 

I think it turned out pretty well! Our Halloween plans were to go see the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra play along to Nosferatu, and it was really fun. We went with our friends Paul and Jen and had a lovely time. We went out for a late dinner after at my favourite restaurant in Vancouver, The Naam.

On Sunday I had a ridiculous amount of homework to do but Jarod somehow convinced me to go see Where the Wild Things Are in the afternoon. It was a wonderful movie, and I'm very glad I went. Unfortunately I was up working on homework until 5:00AM this morning, and had to get up for school at 7:00AM. Luckily my teacher really liked my package re-design for Lay's Stax (Phewph!).

Tonight I have another major project to finish (I am totally procrastinating right now) so I think I'll be up super late again.

Halloween Plans

Jarod and I, along with our friends Jen and Paul, have tickets to go see the 1922 silent film Nosferatu on Halloween. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will be playing along with the film. I think it will be really fun! Nosferatu is the original Dracula movie. I've never seen it, but I think it will be a thrill!

I'm not completely sure what Jarod and I will be dressing up as. I think we may be characters from Mad Men. Jarod wanted to be Dr. Phil (he would shave the middle of his head bald) and he wanted me to be Oprah. That is so not happening. I've always wanted to be Snow White but the costumes are either rediculously over priced or really, really slutty.

A busy week!

Last week was crazy. I had so much homework that I was up past 4AM multiple nights working on projects.

My Wedding.

I have been meaning to do this since the day I returned from my honeymoon, but finally had some free time today to work on it. Here are all the things (and people!) that made my wedding day perfect.

My photographers were brilliant, fun, amazing.... I could go on and on. They are Kasia and Anna from Gucio Photography. I hired them about a year before the big day. They were the fourth photographers I had considered and I am thrilled I was able to book them. They also did an amazing engagement shoot, and I had them do a special boudoir session as a wedding gift for Jarod. Best. Photographers. Ever. 

I had originally planned on having a floor length dress. I tried on one that was beautiful at a bridal store but it's price tag was about $1200.00. While I was considering it I popped in to a Betsey Johnson store one day with Jarod and my friend Stacey and I saw my dress. Someone said I should wear it as a wedding dress since I love polka dots. I laughed it off, and left. I kept thinking about that dress though, so a week or so later I went and picked it up (it was less than 1/2 the price of the other dress). The guy at the counter asked if it was for a special occasion. I told him yes, for a wedding. I don't think he realized it was for my wedding.

I spent a long time looking for the perfect pair of heels. I knew that they had to be non-leather since I'm vegan, so that was the first challenge. I also wasn't going to spend a fortune on them, although I briefly considered splurging on a $200.00 pair of beauties. Since my dress was short the shoes had to be amazing. I had a hard time deciding between red and white. My heart said red, but my head said white. I went with my heart and couldn't be happier with the final shoes. Tip: Try your wedding shoes on before the big day (which I did) and go for a walk in them (which I didn't do). I was a bit late for the ceremony because we had to figure out how to punch new holes in my straps so my shoes would stay on!

I bought my cute garter from the talented Inka Finland's Etsy shop. A button broke in shipping, so I stitched on a new blue button (something blue: check!). My sister's boyfriend ended up catching the garter... do I hear wedding bells?

I bought my beautiful birdcage veil from q g designs etsy shop. It was even customized with little beads that matched my wedding colours... the perfect touch! Bonus: the flower is removable!

Jarod's mom recommended the makeup artist Chrissy from Makeup Infusion because she worked with her, and then Chrissy recommended the hair stylist Vanessa. They were a perfect team and managed to crank out two moms, three bridesmaids and one bride with full hair and makeup in under three hours.

 

I had a custom order done for the three great bridesmaids' dresses. The were made by Jiminie of My black Dress on Etsy. She was really friendly and helpful, and even searched for the perfect fabric for me. 

We had the ceremony and reception at the Scottish Cultural Centre in Vancouver, BC. It was a nice venue with a big stage. The managers were really helpful and answered several annoying e-mails from me quickly and kindly. 

I wanted to display pictures of our relative's on their wedding days, so I printed them at the drug store and put them in simple white frames that I bought from IKEA. They were put out on the guestbook table and looked beautiful. 

I designed and printed our wedding invitations and included RSVP postcards with each invite. I left one side blank and on the other side requested that the invitee write a note or draw a picture for us. We received some wonderful letters and adorable drawings. I put all of the RSVP's in a album I picked up from Michaels and displayed it on the guestbook table.

With my mom's help, I made each guest a magnetic button with their name on it to wear. I rented the button maker from Blim in Vancouver for a reasonable price. Sadly, the magnets I bought weren't very strong so the buttons didn't stay on very well. I should have used pin backs. I'll remember that for my next wedding (Joking!).

The band was amazing. I hired Blue Morris and he brought along two wonderful musicians, including a spectacular singer. Everyone loved the swing music and it made the day so much more perfect than a DJ would have. I highly recommend him.

The food, oh my gosh the food. I hardly had time to eat any, but from what I saw it was amazing! The brilliant Shanna from Out To Lunch Catering created an entirely vegan menu for us - even killer cupcakes! She also talked with the rental company (A&B Partytime Rentals) to make everything come together perfectly. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

One of the best ideas I had was to rent a photo-booth. It was so much fun and helped keep the guests entertained. Plus, it doubled as our favours. I put a box of props outside the booth to keep things interesting. I rented the photo-booth from Photobooth Vancouver and was really pleased with their service (I dealt with Angela and she was awesome). They were friendly and even let me design what would be printed on the bottom of each photo.

I handmade all of the flowers for the wedding using felt, wire, and buttons. It took a ton of work, even with a few helpers along the way, but it turned out great. My mom found white teapots at thrift stores to use as the base of the centerpieces, as well as doilies to go under them. Jarod's grandma bleached and starched all of them so they would be pretty. We also placed teacups full of candy around the centre pieces. 

Incase my shoulders got chilly, I bought an adorable red shrug from Anthropologie. It has the cutest buttons on one shoulder. 

I bought four beautiful purses off of Etsy. One for each of my bridesmaids as a thank you gift, and one for myself to keep my wedding day necessities in. They were made by the fabulous madebyhank.

I had Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest make a custom guestbook for us. At the wedding I asked the guests to write their names on strips of paper and drop them in a jar, and then get their picture taken in the photo-booth. Later on I received a disk of all the pictures from the photo-booth, so I had them printed, matched up the names with the photo's and put them in the book! Phewph! 

Bus. Bus. Bus. Home.

Today was a pretty good day at the design studio. I finished up several projects and even designed a simple website that the web guys got up and running by the end of the day. My boss was really happy with it and the client even wrote me a thank you e-mail. It seems I'm doing a pretty good job so far, which is relieving considering how nervous I was before I started this internship. 

On Tuesday a new intern started. Pam and I weren't told that there would be a new intern, so at first we were surprised and perhaps a bit upset that we would have someone else to 'compete' with, but I am getting to know her and she is super sweet and has lots in common with me. Her desk is upstairs with mine in the web department so it's nice to have another girl upstairs. She loves paper and books just as much as me : ) 

Anyways, the main reason I'm posting about my day is because of the adventure getting home. I left with the new intern at 4:30. She was going to walk up to Oscar's art book store and I was going to catch my bus on the corner. Unfortunately as I approached the intersection where my stop is I saw my bus drive by. I decided to walk to Oscar's too. We had a nice walk and chat, and then when we got to the book store I bought an agenda, a design book that was on sale for super cheap and a book on book making (my new love). She then went to catch her bus and I walked a few blocks to another bus stop where my bus stops. I waited for a while and boarded the bus when it came. But then we didn't move. The driver got off and was fiddling around with the bars that go to the electric wires above the street. He then got back on and told us that they were broken and to get off the bus. A number 7 bus pulled up behind us and everyone started boarding. I asked where this bus went and it was almost the same as my normal one but didn't bring me quite as close to my house. I got on the crowded bus. We drove for a while through lots of heavy traffic before the same thing happened. The driver got off to play with the wires and then told us to get off. Again, there was a number 7 bus behind us (still not the right bus), so we all packed on to it like sardines. I finally got as close to my house as I could get on it and then got off and walked about three times my normal walk from the bus stop to my house. 

Now I'm home sweet home and about to dig in to my dinner: a big yummy salad.

PS. Hello to Miriam and my mom, thank you for your lovely comments : )

Bike Riding & the Pride Parade.

Today Jarod and I put our bikes on the back of the car and drove to Science World to park and start our ride. It started off lovely as we cruised along the seawall. Here's a pic of my hubby on his fancy bike.

And one of me looking a bit grumpy from the heat! (Do you like my pretty bike?!)

Then we started coming across tons of people walking on the bike path and a crowd of people lined up along the street. Apparently we missed the posters saying that today was the Gay Pride Parade in Vancouver. I had actually never been before, so we stopped for a few minutes to take a look at the parade. Yesterday we were walking down Commercial Avenue to go to Black Dog Video (they have the best selection of old films) and to an antique store when we noticed a large amount of women around us. We had accidently stumbled on the Vancouver Dyke March and Festival. I didn't have my camera around yesterday, but I did for today's parade!

We eventually continued on our way. We had planned to ride around Stanley Park but by the time we made it through the crowds of people taking up the bike path we ended up getting a bit lost and decided to head back to the car. We'll try and do the full ride another day. I was wearing all black except for my purple shoes, which I suppose were perfect for the festivities. 

And then on the way home we stopped at Starbucks to grab my favourite drink to cool us down: a black, unsweetened, iced tea lemonade.