Offers, Donations, and Gifts: Round 5

We are recovering from the holiday craziness  and hope that you are all doing the same! I woke up Boxing Day morning with what can only be termed a non-alcoholic hangover: I was grumpy, dry-mouthed, and had a headache; I realized that there was nothing fun left to go do, and that I felt sugar withdrawl coming on. I briefly considered going shopping with my gift cards, then read on facebook that Bayshore mall was so backed up with traffic, it was bumper-to-bumper up to the highway. Noooo, thanks. Bri had to work, Mo had family stuff, and really, I had to put some hours in for work, too. It's no wonder that this post-Christmas depression hits so many of us; if you're like Bri and I, you just spent four weeks' of evenings in your personal crafting sweatshop, meticulously gluing, painting, varnishing, cutting, and gluing some more...all this build up for a brief 24 hrs of revelry, gift swapping, and food, and then it's all over. I feel like an addict, craving just one more hit of glitzy decorations, jingle bell-y music, finger food, and wrapped parcels. I have actually considered just wrapping things in my apartment so I can tear them open again, though really, it's the giving of the gifts that I enjoy the most, and if I start wrapping up my lamps and books and giving them to friends, it'll end up being a costly thing to replace all those items.

Luckily for me and Bri, we do have the wedding to keep planning. This wedding is like Christmas, birthdays, prom, and a parade all rolled into one. Of course, this does beg the question: what will we do with ourselves after the wedding's come and gone? No, no...no time to worry about that now. Le'ts talk about the offers...

DECOR

Back at the beginning of December, we received a facebook message from a woman named Margaret Phillips. Maragaret is a decorator that lives up the valley; she's been planning the decor and layout of weddings and other events for three decades. Margaret is too far away to be able to work directly with our wedding, but she's offered her expertise in the form of a consultation via phone, which I am very much looking forward to. She also has suggested that we may like to have her and her daughter, both championship face-painters, come to the reception and paint up our guests...interesting! Margaret, thanks so much for getting in touch with us and I'm looking forward to chatting with you in the new year.

FASHION

Tamara H, my dear derby girl friend, has offered to make me a super-awesome, totally 'me' scarfy-shawl in green, to go with my white dress. She is an amazing knitter, and I LOVE scarves, shawls, etc. I love that this is totally DIY handmade, and I'm soooooo excited about it. Thank you, Tamara! You know you're awesome.


My dad helped us out last week by chatting with his colleague, Helen H. Helen works for a national museum and is the...well, I'm not sure what her official title is, but 'costume and seamstress extraordinaire' is how we know her in my house. Helen has offered to help us alter the white dress into the tea-length geniusy dress I have pictured in my head. Helen, thank you for helping this very special, very important, part of the day come together. I'd sooner wear jeans and a tee all day than wear a dress I didn't love, so for myself, this is a big, big deal, these alterations. Helen, thank you so much and I can't wait to meet and show you what we've got to work with!


OTHER AWESOMENESS

The Biker Church has come through again with something quite wonderful: Pastor Rob helped us to connect with Pastor Marty, and Marty has agreed to be our premarital counsellor. Neither of us are 100% sure what goes down in premarital counselling, but it's highly recommended by everyone who's done it, and we figure, stack the odds in our favour: let's try to do this right from the start, and get our marriage, not just our wedding, off on the right foot. Rob, Marty, and the Biker Church: thank you so very much! I feel I should note that premarital counselling with the BC is always free-of-charge; but not every offer for P:P has cash value...some things are worth so much more. This would be one of those things.

Katie Bonnar is a friend of ours; I met Katie when we bonded over our love of Jane Austen while she served me candy. Chatting with a foxy lady while she supplies me with chocolate and suggests Austen movies? Well, that just may be one of the most delicious moments ever. In any case, Katie has offered her labour for the big day, and we are eternally grateful. Not only will Katie be a major help, but she will naturally add a touch of classiness to the entire day, just by being there. Katie, thank you!!!

Brian made my day on Boxing Day when he came home with a business card for the Holland Cross Dental Centre. Dr John Hill and his wife were chatting with Bri at work, and Bri used to serve them at his old workplace. Dr Hill, out of the blue, offered something that I am SO excited about: whitening and polish for both of us. This is amazing; as some of you know, I have been working on quitting smoking this past autumn, and have now been four weeks completely smoke-free. (It sucks, I miss it everyday, and I'm still grumpy. But I can run a lot longer and I can afford to buy a magazine now and again instead of throwing all my pocket money into buying smokes.) Anyway, I told myself that when I quit smoking, I would reward myself with getting my teeth whitened; I suffered through four years of braces as a child, and I really do have great teeth, so I wanted to fully reclaim my smile in this way. Unfortunately, when I talked to my dentist just last week about it, it turns out that whitening is freaking pricey...certainly, I would have a hard time not feeling guilty for putting that money where my mouth is (ha ha) instead of where, say, my student loan is. I had just given up hope and was considering the less-effective home kits, when Brian came bounding in the door with this wonderful news. Dr Hill, thank you so very much for this. Brian, too, is about halfway through getting some major repairs done to his teeth, something delayed by waiting for benefits to kick in, so it'll be so amazing for Brian to have this whole new smile, with no cavities and now, a lovely bright grin. The Holland Cross Dental Centre has a website you can check out:

http://www.hollandcrossdental.com/

 MORE TO COME...

There'll be a few more offers to post any day now...some really amazing ones, too. Stay tuned, because one of them is also going to offer all of YOU a little something!

I hope you're all recovering from the post-Christmas blues; remember, there's always stuff in the stores, so if push comes to shove, go buy something and wrap it all up and give it to someone. No one says you have to kick this habit cold-turkey. Mmm, cold turkey leftovers....