Dreaming of a Vanity

 I have always preferred to sit down at a desk, or on the floor and gotten ready than to stand in front of the bathroom mirror. It had never dawned on me until just recently that a vanity/dressing table would be perfect for me! Since then I have been dreaming of a vanity. Here are some inspiration pictures that I have pulled together.

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 Aren't those swoon worthy? Here is a little moodboard I put together using Olioboard to show what I'm thinking for mine.

Vanity, Mirror and Drawer unit from Ikea, Chair from Urban Barn

 

The lamp is from Plum 28 and far too expensive. I was just using it as an example. I'd add a tray to the top and some cute plastic organizers in the drawer with decals like this:

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And isn't this little jewelry box from Urban Outfitters so pretty?

 

Basically, there is my shopping list! Hopefully when we get a new place and get our bedroom set up I can get on that. Tomorrow I will be posting something very similar to this but to do with the bedroom plans!

Bridal Shower

My weekend wasn't that great, nothing really big to inform so instead I'm doing the post that was supposed to happen on Friday but well... I'll be honest... I got lazy!

The invitations have arrived and the rsvp's are coming in! Yes, my bridal shower is coming up. 

We are having it earlier than people usually do and that is because my Mom is only going to be here in September so that is when it will be.

Here are the invitations that we picked out which turned out so nice. I love them. 

They are from Wedding Paper Divas. They have so many cute invitations, I wish it was acceptable to give everybody a different one...

For the shower decoration, we were thinking just some simple milk glass bud vases with a single flower in them for the center pieces. I'm a no muss no fuss kind of girl so don't expect anything over the top with anything. Anyway back to the decor.... something like this (but just one and probably a different flower):

Then I saw this on pinterest and thought it was really neat so we are definitely planning to do it:

As for the food? We are thinking ordering some appetizer type stuff from the Portuguese bakery (every single person there minus maybe 4 people are going to be Portuguese so it is pretty fitting). I also think these wedding cake cookies are so adorable!

This cake is also kind of a neat design. I wouldn't want black as the base color though.

The colors? We're not sure yet. I have to go see the venue we booked. Apparently their napkins are red and blue (I'm guessing the dark versions like the American flag) so we will probably go with that to save money on napkin rentals. 

The shower is being held in a hotel to keep it easy. We invited a little over 30 people which was too big to be held in anybody's house. 

As for the games, I haven't quite figured out what I want to do yet but I for sure want to do this:

 

I've always been a fan of trivia type stuff :) I don't want any games that you do at every bridal shower but I also don't want boring games that my guests might find boring. 

Do you have any ideas for bridal shower games? Leave a comment below. 

Throwback Thursday

November 2006

 

Floor plans and more floor plans

As you may know, we have been looking for apartments in Burlington, On. It is where Brandyn works and we will save $300 on car insurance a month by moving there (where we live now is the highest rated city, don't even ask how much we pay it is beyond disgusting). With any apartment hunt you have to know what you want and how much you are willing to spend. 

Here is a breakdown:

Price: No more than $1200 (we would prefer it to be all inclusive with laundry if we are going to pay over 1100) 

 1 Bedroom

Ensuite Laundry 

Cats OK

Ample closet space/some sort of storage

Decent sized kitchen 

I don't think it is that outrageous of a list but that being said... I'm having a hard time finding ensuite laundry. I've found 2 buildings that I like, neither of them have units available so I'm just kind of waiting while still looking for others. Before I get into those floor plans, I wanted to show you floor plans of the previous apartments we have lived in because they have helped create this list.

Here is the first apartment Brandyn and I moved into:

It is not to scale but I think I did a pretty good job. Also, we had a balcony, I just didn't care enough to add it in there. There are 2 things on our list now that are not in this apartment: decent kitchen size and laundry. 

We had tons of closet space which was nice and I definitely missed that in our second apartment but as you can see by this floor plan, the kitchen was kind of a joke. We had to buy a little stand from Ikea to put the microwave on and I often used our table as a space for cooking and baking. 

Besides the laundry and kitchen which we made work, this apartment was actually pretty decent. The only reason we moved out of there was because they wanted to raise the rent and it became cheaper to rent our other apartment which was also closer to my school (so less commute time).

This apartment was our second one and a basement suite. I know these dimensions are all off because the bedroom is way wider than it actually was. Also I couldn't change the floor covering so don't worry, the floor wasn't actually green.

But yea so in this one there is an awesome kitchen but no closets! The "walk in" in our bedroom is the only closet and I say it with sarcasm because if you had clothes on both racks you actually couldn't walk into it. There was storage in the back of the closet which was nice (even though you had to crawl under the clothes to get to it). Also if you notice... the litter box is in the middle of the hallway.... our apartment always smelt like roses .... .....

So anyway yea those are the two apartments we have lived in. So as you can see, ample closet space and decent kitchen storage is a must on our list. If I look at an apartment with little cabinets, I move on.

I have basically picked out two apartments that I like so far. There are no suites available at either but if one opens up while I'm still looking I will definitely be applying.

Can you see what I love about this one? Eat in kitchen, good cupboard space, lots of closets, a washer and dryer and even a storage room so we can put the litter box in there!

This one is part of an older building and although ti doesn't have ensuite laundry, there are quite a few closets and the kitchen has a lot of cupboard space (although it doesn't look like it in the plan). This building is also right on the lake so that is really nice as well.

I also just found these apartments recently that ARE available. I just have to go see them. 

 I love that this one has a little breakfast area plus a dining room. It means we can just convert the dining room into a little office space. Plus a storage room!

This one doesn't have a storage space but it has a nice spacious kitchen and quite a few closets so I can use them as storage. See that second linen closet in the bedroom? That would be for my shoes ;)

Alright, phew! Now that I've got that all out of the way.... I'm hoping I can find a good place soon!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was the long weekend (which is why I didn't post on Monday). It was our Civic Holiday. I don't even really know what it is for... I just know that we get it! 

Friday night, Brandyn and I went to see 2 Guns which was actually a really good movie. The two were a good pair, I love them both.

On Saturday, my brother's soccer team had another team party so I went to that. We stopped at a grocery store and saw a horse and carriage (a rare sight for around here). Before the party I also went to look at an apartment which was nice but... I didn't really see us living there. It had ample closet space and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake turning it down but I think we would prefer an apartment again over a basement suite.

On Sunday I went to the field with my brother and we played some soccer and basketball and chit chatted for a little bit. Basically just hung out. In the picture are my old cleats that I dug out for such occasion. Those things are like 9 years old. We also went and saw the new Wolverine movie which was pretty good as well (PS for Canadian Cineplex goers.... I totally recommend a Scene Visa. You get points way faster and save a ton of money going to your free movies ;) )

Monday, we just chilled out during the day and then went to my brothers practice and Brandyn, my Dad and I threw a football around. Pretty standard weekend. Nothing too too exciting to report. I did a lot of apartment hunting again.

Save the Dates

When planning a wedding there are so many options of things that you can do; the sky is the limit it seems these days (as long as you have the $$). One thing I discovered throughout this whole process is the idea of Save the Dates. I had never really heard of these before until I started going into these wedding forums. I don't think the whole idea has really hit Canada yet because I have never got one.

Here are some examples of some cute save the dates:

 

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There is no denying that they are cute but at $1.50 a pop? 

I did some reading and researching and "etiquette" says to send these out about 4 months in advance.... and then you send your actual invitations 2 months in advance... So I wondered what the point is of even sending these things out.

To me, it was a waste of money. I can understand if you have the money, then totally go for it, but they didn't end up in the mailboxes of my friends and family. 

So yea, I just thought I would share because I know when I was first planning my wedding I was extremely confused and hopefully this will be helpful to you on deciding whether or not to spend the money on these because like 99% of your wedding.... they are optional.

Throwback Thursday

Huatulco, Mexico - November 2006

This place is the most exotic I've ever been. If you look on a map, Huatulco is very close to the Mexican/Guatemala border. Despite a lot of people's reservations about this area and really Mexico period... we did leave our resort and we were fine. What we didn't do was wander off on our own and we listened to the people at the resort. 

Also, it was very hot there. I remember lounging in my chair and sweat just pooling off me....and there were lizards everywhere which was interesting! Anyway here are the pictures :)