Bling, Pearl and Elegance

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days. I have soo much to tell you. But really no time. I promise soon.

This is probably bad, but since I got engaged I spend a lot of time researching wedding EVERYTHING at work. So what am I doing today.....jewelry.

I will be wearing pearls everything. I think a bride in pearls is classic! I am also loving handmade things. Something I won't see everywhere.

Here are some ideas.

Necklace

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Earnings

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What do you think?

Damask Dream

When I first got engaged I knew right away that our wedding would focus around this beautiful bold pattern. It was exactly what I want. The pattern will be black and white. I will accent it all with red roses.I won't go crazy with the pattern, just enough, but not too much

Here is my wedding inspiration board.

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Shoes Shoes Shoes

Today has been a very long day. I worked all day, went to the gym and did my back workout with some cardio. Came home, designed a Thank You Card for a client and then a Wedding Invitation for another client. Somehow between all that I managed to make myself a quick dinner.
 

 Grilled herb chicken, baked garlic/paprika sweet potatoes, steamed kale and roasted red pepper.

 I also managed to try another wine from the festival!

 This one was sooo great! I love it!

Look at all the colours!

I have been researching shoes I wanted for my wedding forever! I was pretty much looking for shoes before I even looked at dresses. I 'heart' shoes! And the best part about them being my 'wedding' shoes is that I can spend a load of money and my fiance will be okay with it *bonus*.

I have gone back and forth about the height of the shoe, my fiance is 6'3 and I am 5'4.5(that half inch is very important)...that's almost a foot difference. Jennifer has tried to convince me to be more "sensible" with my shoe choice. but let's be honest, nothing about me is sensible, so height it is!

Colour....well the colours of our wedding is a black and white damask pattern. My bouquets are red roses. I could do a red shoe, or a Christian Louboutin black peep-toe shoe. But I'd have to order the Louboutin's online as Winnipeg is too small of a city to have a store carry them. And that makes me nervous as I need to road test them.

With much deliberation, I have picked my shoe. And they are beyond perfect!

 Can you tell I have been wearing them all ready?

Looooove them!!

jambalaya love

With all the wines I got this past weekend I needed to create equally amazing meals to match with them. I got this great fresh Pinot Gris called "Mount Fishtail Wine". It is dry but finishes very smooth. LOVE IT! The weather today has been horrible, living in Winnipeg it can snow one day, be +20 the next day and rain with a +10. Well today was a rainy, cloudy day. And I needed a little 'heat' to make me feel better about it.

What better way then to make some hot YUMMY jambalaya!!!

 

      Spicy Jambalaya Love

      Adapted from Eat Live Run

      

      Yield: 3-4 servings

• 3 Cajun hot sausages, chopped into bite-size pieces(remove from casing)
• 10 medium shrimp
• 1tbsp EVOO
• 1.5tbsp of whole wheat flour
• 1 large onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 2tbsp of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• half of a red pepper, green pepper, orange pepper, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 1.5 cup of cooked brown long grain rice
• 1 16oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1.5 tbsp of  Thyme
• 1tbsp of Chili Flakes
• 1-2 Drops of Hot Sauce to taste (optional)

Cook brown rice as per directions, fluff and put to the side

In a pan heat oil and add chopped sausage. Brown and lower heat.

In a large sauce pan, cook oil and flour over medium heat to create a roux, when it is golden colour toss in your garlic, onion (small dice), peppers (with seeds removed) and celery. Sautee your vegetables until just tender. Add cooked rice, can of tomatoes, chopped parsley and spices. Cover and cook on low-med heat for several min, string occasionally.

While your rice is simmering, add shrimp to your cooked sausage, pour white wine over top and cook only for a min or two making sure to flip the shrimp. Don't over cook the shrimp as it will cook quickly and you don't want it chewy. Once done, add to your rice pan.

Cook for another two minutes stirring with a spatula.

Add hot sauce if desired and serve!!!

 

 It was so full of flavor and colour

 My fiance suggested next time we put it into a yellow flour tortilla.

Writing this blog and editing the photos, I realized I haven't introduced my helper. She is always in the kitchen with me while cooking or sitting on my desk helping me edit or write. Her name is Tia!! She is almost 9 year old and a bengal kitty!!

 She is also such a showoff!

Isn't she just way too cute?

what I look forward to

Saturday was one of the weekends I look forward to EVERY year! It was the Annual Winnipeg Wine Festival. They have 500 wines from all around the world. You taste, spit(if you're this type of person) and ENJOY or not enjoy. Honestly it is soo much fun!! Every year I go with my mom and it ALWAYS lands on Mothers Day weekend. Seriously, for a mom that loves wine, this is the easiest mothers day gift ever!

What sweetens the whole deal(if that is even possible) is you can PURCHASE the wine that you like there. So trying to stay relatively sober and with a plan you venture into this.

Total craziness!

I did really well! I left with 7 bottles of wine and many more that I know I enjoy :)

 

That Heavyweight Red has the coolest label. They have a series of labels for their wine!

Only 362 days left till next year!

Momentary Disaster

At the end of next month my fiance's mother will be throwing me a bridal shower. My original plan for a shower was a smaller, more intimate gathering of some of my very close ladies in which I receive some lingerie(note: I actually don't OWN a single pair of lingerie..Jennifer thinks this is very strange). It appears some more traditional bridal showers are much larger, and include all the females invited to the wedding.  So with much consideration I will be having a larger shower................and a intimate shower(yeah that means 2 showers!).

One thing I have learned is the 6 months before your wedding, getting much breathing time is very limited. I took a week off after the social, and now I am RIGHT back into the planning. This time even more so it seems.  One thing that needed to be hashed out right away was my guest list. As this Bridal Shower isn't getting any farther, this needed to be done. I am happy that I had already previously designed my shower invites. This made the rush of everything a little easier.....however when I went to send my invites to get printed at my regular print shop...THEY JUST CLOSED!!!

So in a rush of panic and sweat I searched and called local print shops. Now sure we have lots. But I also needed one to replace my regular print jobs I do for my design clients. This couldn't be a temporary thing.

I have indeed now found one, I ran and I mean I RAN to the bus stop on my lunch break to pick out some stock paper. Good thing I wore flats to work as I didn't have much time. I pick them up tomorrow. Here is the design :)

I love love love it! Can't wait till I pick it up tomorrow!!!

This past Saturday we celebrated my brothers 21st birthday!!

I cant believe he is already 21!

It's Wrinkled

Happy Good Friday Everyone!!

I hope for those of you that are off today that you are having a wonderful day!!

Earlier this week I got a phone call from my Bridal Dress Salon...and guess what?

MY DRESS IS HERE!!

I couldn't believe it's here already! When I ordered it at the end of January they told me it would be 6-8mths, which btw totally freaked me out as my wedding was in 8 mths!! So the fact it is here now is fantastic.

Last night, with my soon to be mother-in-law, baba(my fiance's grandma), Georgette(soon to be sister-in-law) and her crew(Georgette's two adorable daughters and amazingly cute little boy) we all went to try on my new dress. My first reaction after it was on was.........

It's wrinkled

My dress has pleating across the top, so when the pleating is going into every direction then it's supposed to...yeah.

Plus since I have been working out lot's, I have lost the chest that I have allllllways had. Even when I was 110lbs. But I suppose now that I am working out and burning fat....they have left me. I will need to have these bra cups with padding sewn into my dress, as well as the straps will be shortened and taken in.

The bottom of my dress has pick ups, but because of the wrinkles.....it was just bunches of fabric.
I know I love my dress and I know how it look's on me. But the excitement quickly left when I saw it. I also know that when the alterations are done and it's steamed. It will be just as it looks in my head.

Now let's talk about this

   Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

        This recipe is from allrecipes.com

I stacked the pancakes with cut strawberries, kiwis and blackberries.

Poured pure maple syrup on top

 Yummmy. These photos make me want to make it again tomorrow.

Yep, making it again tomorrow!

Have a great long weekend!