Really, once a year

Life updates! 

• I got married! I don't have my professional photos back yet, but I am so happy with how everything turned out. As I mentioned in my last post, I had a "DIY-heavy" wedding. I made our flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces and boutonnieres out of paper, and I made our wedding invitations as well. I loved using the Silhouette Portrait machine, and I also used a laminating machine to apply some toner-reactive foil to the invitations. I put together our wedding favors as well, and did a DIY Mercury glass effect to the centerpiece vases. I haven't really touched paper since the wedding has been over but I'm sure I'll come back to it eventually.
• We bought a house, renovated it, and moved in. I love having my own home, and finding things to make it feel comfortable. We used a lot of furniture from our condo, but we bought some new things too, like a kitchen table from structube, and a chaise lounge from Ikea.
• We have a cat. Well more accurately, we are looking after my brother's cat for about a year or so. My brother recently had a baby, and he was concerned that he wasn't able to give her any attention (she's a very social and needy cat) and that she was licking the baby bottles when they weren't looking. So I have her for a little while, and things are good. I actually made a couch cover for my Ikea Tidafors sectional because I was worried she might use my couch as a scratching post (and I have wanted a removable cover for quite some time).

It's not perfect, but it's not bad. It looks better in real life, I think.

Hobbes is our new tenant

• I think that's all the big, fun life updates for this year. Till 2018!

My annual posting I guess!

Well it looks like this blog is purely a "once a year" gig.

• After my boyfriend and I moved in together, he proposed in April! I was really surprised and wasn't expecting it, so he did a good job of hiding it! We were in Montreal, QC for our 5th anniversary and he popped the question while we were at the Tower at the Marguerite Bourgeoys museum. We're planning a 2017 wedding. 
• I'm making all my flowers and invitations for my wedding. I invested in an electronic paper cutter called the Silhouette Portrait - BEST crafting investment thus far. I've used it so far for cutting out some of my paper flowers (Some need to be cut by hand), as well as all of my Christmas cards this past year.
• Still working. Whoo hoo, haven't been fired yet! However, I have to say, this year I've gotten even MORE jaded than I was last year. However, I'm trying to change that, so stay tuned. 
• My exercise regimen has fallen to pieces - I was really good about exercising last year, so I'm trying to get back into it. I just hate it. Ugh. No, that's the wrong word - I'm just super unmotivated, but I really need to so that I look fab when I get hitched. 

First post in 2 years

I'm really bad at this blogging thing, apparently...

Not that anyone reads this anyway.

It's now 2015. I guess you could say a lot of happened since my last entry (circa 2013...)

• I've been a full time RN in the ER for the last 2 years - about 6 months after being part time I got full time. I shouldn't complain, since it's an extremely stable job prospect and since I've been there I have learned so much, worked with great colleagues, and I continue to learn every step of the way. However, there are also times when I wish I had a "normal" 9-5 job. I have to say that the BIGGEST perk of doing what I do, is in fact, the shift work. Many of you will disagree and wonder what the heck I'm talking about. Well let me ask you this: It's Monday, and what are you doing? You're probably at work. You probably got up really early too. Guess who's blogging in their underwear and got to sleep in? Me. Guess who gets to do it again tomorrow and the day after that? Me. Yeah. You think about that.
  
• I've gone on a bunch of vacations - I never used to be someone who "craved" vacation - I was very content to stay home and sleep in and eat cheese. But this summer we had to go to Jamaica for Gerald's friend's wedding, and it was amazing. Working full time is tiring and exhausting, and after a week of sunny Jamaica, coming back to frigid Toronto was terrible. I was immediately craving another vacay, and went to the Dominican Republic with Gerald and a few of his friends in October for less than $350 per person. BEST vacation ever.
  
• After being together for 4.5 years, my boyfriend and I finally moved in together. We wanted to move in together for a while now, but combination of being busy (one of the key reasons for wanting to move in - ironic) and my mom freaking out about it, we didn't until this past December. My mom has since handled it well, and I daresay is even happy about it.
  
  I think one of the nicest things about moving in with someone is how much better you come to understand them. There hasn't been a lot of adjustment needed on either of our parts to moving in with each other - but the fact that I get more "face" time with him now and we can talk (even) more freely with each other about stuff is something we didn't have before. There have been extremely minor instances of disagreement - mostly concerning putting furniture together or doing things on an empty stomach. But seriously - things are going well.
  
• One of my girlfriends is getting married in May, and I'm a bridesmaid. we're trying to do a bunch of DIYs to save on costs. So far I've made her Save the Dates, and her cake topper. I also purchased a bunch of frames from Ikea to serve as placeholders for the table numbers. I recently got fitted for my dress (Dessy 2894) and booked my hotel for the event - phew, weddings are expensive!
  
• I'm planning another trip in May - this time, a 2 week vacation to the UK! My best friend lives there right now, and I thought it would be spontaneous and ballsy to go visit on my own. I've never gone travelling by myself, so it's a little new and scary for me, but thank god for the internet - I'm looking up everything I want to do, and can start budgeting out costs. So far, I'm looking at about $3000, but that's also including some other tours to see Ireland and Stonehenge. I'm really excited about this!

Anyway, that's about it for now. We'll see if I can manage another post before 2015 is over :p

Whoa long time no see

Ooops. Clearly I've been neglecting the blog again. oh well. Here's my life in bullet points since Dec 2012:

• My cousin got married and I made her cake topper! I think I'm retiring or taking a long hiatus from that business for a while. 
• Turned 26. Officially getting older and heading towards the big 3-0.
• Officially done HFO and now am permanent part-time staff. I've been pretty busy as part time, so I don't mind that I'm not full-time at the moment. I've been working solo for the last 2 months and been doing "amazingly" according to many co-workers. It's nice to be acknowledged by your peers. 
• I ventured into other creative avenues and started making screened/printed T-shirts/tanks for fun. I did a couple for myself (with really cute dinosaurs), one for the boyfriend, and one contracted out. Not doing anymore for a little while.
• My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years. Awww. Yay!
• Went and came back from a weekend trip to NYC with my closest girlfriends. We had an amazing time shopping and sightseeing! I would definitely go back but I think I'd like to see other nice places in the states too. 
• My boyfriend has officially completed school (round 2!) and has a job! It's been such a tiring process - I had no idea Paramedics had such a hard time getting job. It's like a 4 step interview process and it's complicated by the fact that we only really have like 5 regions for EMS, so that basically means you have only 5 (maximum) chances to get a job. In contrast, Nurses are hired in clinics, hospitals, camps, etc... and there are TONNES of openings. So I am extremely proud of him to get his first choice. 
• I've started to workout at the gym during my night shifts. I used to work out prior to going to work, but I'm starting to realize I NEED my sleep post/pre-night shifts, so I am willing to bring my stuff to the gym to workout during my 2-hr break at night. I wouldn't be sleeping during those 2 hours anyway, so might as well. I slacked off exercising properly for a while, so it feels good to get back into it. Pretty convenient, actually, having the gym in the hospital, because I can shower after and then eat a bit before returning for the last 4 hours of my shift. 

That's all for now...

Baking, makeup, and updates

On Baking:
I've never been much of a baker - I'm more of what you'd call the "Out of the Box" baker. Give me a box of mix that says "Add water" and I'm all set. So this year when my friends decided to make a Holiday cookie exchange instead of gifts, I decided I would do something AMAZING -- pretty ambitious for a novice baker, right? Maybe. But I watch enough Food Network shows that I like to think that at least I know when something looks right or wrong.

I decided to try to make classic French Macarons! They're basically whipped meringue sandwich cookies. My first batch turned out pretty good, albeit a little underwhipped. My second batch was almost a disaster - I tried to reduce the amount of sugar, didn't let them sit out long enough prior to baking, and I might've also had the oven temperature too high... so they pretty much all cracked and didn't have the feet or the ruffle that you see on typical French Macarons. But.. my third batch! Worked out pretty well. Sweet.

I wanted to make them Christmas themed, so I dyed the macarons pink (supposed to be red) and green. For the filling I used 3-fruit citrus marmalade -- it's so delicious and perfect! I will post a picture after my cookie exchange!

On Makeup:
I posted in September that I liked the Maybelline Dream Matte Powder -- well I've finally started hitting the pan after using it daily since I bought it in late August, so I bought a new one to use when it runs out! I rarely buy things again unless I actually like them, so this is a big deal, especially for powder, since I've pretty much ONLY used Cover Girl Clean powder since I was in grade 9 (That was about 11 years ago, folks). I also purchased another Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer in Radiant - I'm about 50% done mine, and while I kind of hate the pen-brush design, I like the product, so I am repurchasing. I use it pretty much exclusively for my under eyes, but occasionally I use it around my nose.

Updates:
Still waiting for my CNO General Class license. It took them a week to mark that they'd received my mail application, and an additional 12 business days on top of that to even charge my credit card. Ugh. Still waiting. Hopefully it should come next week.

I bought some clothing off ShopBop.com because my friend told me about their free express international shipping on orders over $100. I find that I'm in great need of more "adult" looking clothes, as I don't think it's all that classy to be wearing beat up t-shirts, hoodies, and yoga pants to parties/get togethers. I bought (prices in USD):

• an Alexander T Wang draped jersey skirt in Orchid ($98)

• 2-pocket Henley Jersey shirt by Splendid in Jade ($44)

• Serina sheer Jersey Top by Velvet in Blueberry Jam ($48.30)

Yeah.. my purchases weren't exactly cheap, but they are well made and nice items, and they were actually on sale. So I feel like these purchases will last for many years with the proper care. I actually feel like Forever21 stuff is SO inexpensive in comparison, so I can't really complain about prices of clothing there. I definitely won't be shopping at ShopBop all the time, but I do recommend them! Their sizing is accurate and true to size, good quality, and AMAZINGLY fast shipping. I placed my order around 7:30 last night, it shipped around 9:30 that same night, and arrived to my door this morning before noon. Amazing.