10% and Lipstick Pink

On Tuesday (my birthday) I got weighed and am super proud to say - I am now at my 10% goal for a total loss of 18.5lbs in total. :) To celebrate I went shopping this evening after work with Erin and some really cute stuff. Yay!

Lipstick Pink you ask? On Saturday my bridesmaids and I went dress shopping at Sinders Bridal House in CP. We went at 10:30 thinking it wouldn't be too busy as they opened at 10am, wow...were we wrong! The place was packed and we had an hour and a half. Erin, Shannon, Melissa and Meegan (Christy was sick with the flu) went and started picking dresses off the racks that they liked and ended up with probably about 10 each. The change rooms were all full, but somehow the girls wound up in a change room for brides. They started trying on dresses and when one found one that was a possible yes she would rip it off, throw it to the next one and she would do the same. In the end (1.5 hours!!!) the girls picked a dress and a color that they all liked - woohoo! Super fun, super easy and I love, love, love both the color and the dress. I went into this telling the girls that I didn't care if the dresses were all the same or what the color was, as long as it was one color and the same shade. Mom also came with us and tried on some MOB dresses and there were two that I loved on her, but they were also almost $700...are you freaking kidding me?!?! Yikes! No way she will be spending that much on a dress.

Needless to say, I have an awesome group of girls by my side.

Thanks ladies for being so fantastic and making everything to date easy and not stressful.

What a week...

We finally had a 'quiet' weekend at home and were able to get some things done around the house. There is always more to be done, but it was a start. Wedding season is finally all done for this year and now we are working our way into Christmas parties. The weekends are already starting to book up with caterings (Dad), Christmas parties, etc. Hopefully it won't get too crazy...

Apparently my dear, sweet, angelic son is deeply emerged in the 'terrible twos'. How so you ask? He is hitting, kicking, hair pulling, head butting, screaming, throwing things, yelling 'no' over and over again. I must be overtired as this week has been the absolute worst for me. I don't seem to have any patience left and I keep breaking down and crying, super frustrating. I definitely need to figure out a way to deal with his anger and am definitely open to any suggestions on how to do this.

On a great note...this week I weighed in and was down 4.5lbs!!!! That makes a total of 17.5lbs since the last week of August. Hopefully I am able to continue this and get down further. It's motivating to see a difference in how my clothes fit for sure.

This weekend my bridesmaids will be dress shopping, hopefully everyone can find something that they like and decide on a color so that I can meet with Eileen and discuss decorating ideas. Super exciting! :)

Gobble, Gobble & Chicken Fried?!

What a great Thanksgiving weekend! We started Friday night out by having a 'date' night while the little on was at Nanny and Grandpa's. We went for supper at Mongolian Village and then went to watch 'The Hangover'. It was hilarious, Rye and I laughed out loud the entire time. Saturday we went to a wedding for our friends, Matt & Jamie. What a great time! The weather was great, the wedding was fun and the party was fantastic! The OWFC crew knows how to party, no question about it. There was a fire call around 1pm which put a damper on the party and left all of us ladies stranded at the reception. Rather comical actually and it really would only happen at a firefighter's wedding reception. The poor boys had a really long night. Sunday we headed up to my parents' place to see our wee man, have a delicious supper and spend some quality time with the family. All in all it was a great long weekend, but it ended way too quickly as always!

Back to work today...good news, I weighed in and was down 2 more pounds for a total of 13. Wooohooo! I also tried on my dress this weekend, it's fitting better and I still absolutely love it! I can't wait to try it on again. My next goal is to hit 20lbs and I would like to accomplish this by the end of October. Seeing as this was the last of our 11 weddings and the next two weekends are looking fairly quiet with little to no alcohol or eating out I think I might be able to do it with a little help from my dear friend Jillian...whom I have been avoiding since last week. I promise to see her soon...I bet I will pay dearly for avoiding her. All worth it in the end...

Mmmmm Tea

In preparation for our 'big day' and of course for the healthy lifestyle that I need and want, I joined Weight Watchers 6 weeks ago and to date have lost 11lbs...wooohooo! It's actually been pretty simple. I follow WWs idea of portion sizes and their point system and combine it with some activity. I have started to religiously do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (she's the mean personal trainer from 'The Biggest Loser' and I have been out walking often, plus - my fantastic neighbours gave us a treadmill. Here I come winter nights. Even better, I can still have a few drinks here and there :] I am losing the weight slowly and am going to keep it off. The best part, I can eat/drink what I want, I just need to keep it within my daily points.

Now to try on my dress again :)

Just wanted everyone to know - yummy tea giveaway @ http://maintenancewithashley.blogspot.com/2009/09/gluten-free-goodness-tea-and-awesome.html

Speaking of tea, I'm going to make one!

Blog Change

So I have decided that this isn't really a wedding blog anymore, it's more of an everything blog! Sometimes I just want to rant and rave about random things rather than just wedding planning and this is the perfect spot for it.

So baby boy Johnston started at the town daycare in CP and is enjoying himself after I leave from what I hear. When we pull into the parking lot he goes a-wall and when we go to enter the room with the kids he says 'No mommy!' and then sobs hysterically until sometime after I am gone. I know that he is in great hands and that he does actually enjoy himself, but I just can't help but feel like the worst mom for leaving him like that. I believe that he has actually started to resent me for this. We were away last weekend in Tremblant and when we went to Zia and Zio's place to pick baby boy up he gave me THE biggest crook eye and yelled 'Daddy, daddy!' and then stayed in Rye's arms all night. He would barely come near me. This behavior has continued every evening this week when I get home. He's not at all impressed with me and I am assuming it's because I drop him off (Evil Mom) and Dad picks him up at night (Super Dad). Oh well, what can you do? Some day baby boy will understand that I sacrificed my sexy bod for him and on that day I will be the best Mommy in the world, one that will not receive a slap in the face when he is angry or a hair pulling just because it's funny...someday.

Favors

YES!!! We did it!
We finally decided on our wedding favors. :) Woooohoooo!

Of course I can not tell you about them, that would ruin the surprise but they suit us and we are really excited about them. I know that many of you are going to love them too, I hope everyone does. So that's another thing off our checklist...next up - dresses for the ladies. I think that will get taken care of in October/November hopefully and then start all the little things. After that we have to schedule an appointment with Aileen (our decorator) so that she can have an idea of what we'd like, although weave no clue what that is - any ideas???? We are thinking butter yellow with a bright pink/fuchsia for an accent color but are open to other suggestions.

Ooooo - I tried my dress on again this weekend and am still completely infatuated with it. Can't wait to get it on again...lol. I'm going to have it worn out before the big day comes.

Anyways, that's about all of the exciting news to date! Ciao...

Busy, Busy, Busy!

There are not enough hours in a day I tell you. Not only has work been super busy (not complaining, I love it like that), but it seems like the evenings are crazy hectic too. Between trying to get some exercise in (thanks Katie for the awesome walks!), trying to find a dress for the wedding tomorrow and trying to be "pro-active" in planning meals for the following day and making list upon list of what needs to be done for this crazy long weekend, I have been short on sleep. Cole spent the week up at Mom and Dad's again - thanks Mom, Dad, Meegan and Norm for taking such good care of Cole...he definitely loves being up there (maybe because he is spoiled rotten?!?!). Mom brought him home on Thursday night and the poor boy, I haven't left him alone. I just keep kissing and hugging him...I missed him soooo much. He keeps swatting me away and saying "No, no, no!!!" He hates me now...

We are going to Chris & Mel's wedding tomorrow and I finally found a dress Wednesday night after an interesting trip to Bayshore with my sister Melissa. There is never a dull moment with Mel...she is somewhat weird...haha...love you Smell. Sunday morning we are heading to Shawville for the big fair and Erin's birthday, will definitely be a good night under the big white tent (as always). Seeing as we are going to be sooo busy I made Ryan help me clean the house tonight so we could come home to a neat house and not have to worry about tidying up.

I've been trying to really watch what I ate this week as I am sooooo excited to indulge in some Billy T's pizza Sunday night and possibly a beaver tail, oh - and maybe some mini donuts...I think that's it. Wait a minute, I forgot all the delicious, ice cold beer I plan to drink...mmmmm. Should be a good weekend! :)

Have a great long weekend!!!!

P.S. - I'm also going to put on my dress AGAIN!!! Hehehe... :)

I meant to add this yesterday, but forgot in all the dress excitement. Here is a link to our wedding website, nothing exciting, but here it is...details for all you lovies who are invited http://asmithandrjohnston.weddings.com/.

I woke up this morning (actually Cole woke me up at 6 a.m. - thanks sweet child of mine) and was a little out of it until I remembered that I bought my dress. I just about got up and danced around all excited, just about...but I didn't have the energy so I lay on the couch while my wild child played, screamed and jumped on my head.

I am in wedding planning mode like you wouldn't believe, I want to figure everything out now and not have to worry about anything. I think the next thing is dresses for the girls, then once that's figured out the colors will be finalized and we can go on with the decorating and favors. Speaking of favors, I am looking for some unique favor ideas...any suggestions?

Happy Sunday!!!!!!

Welcome Back!

So, it's been a while...let's get this started.

Engaged, check! Date, check! Church, Minister, hall, photographer, decorator, hair dresser, check! Sounds pretty good doesn't it?!
To top it all off, dress - CHECK!!! Woooohoooo. Today, my MOH (maid of honor) Erin and I went dress shopping for the second time. I had wanted to check out Mia Bridal, a store which I have been looking at online over and over again loving the 'different' dresses, so we headed there first. Such a cute little store, however, I was extremely disappointed in the service. I had check out reviews online, plus heard from a friend how great this store was. I found 2 dresses that I was interested in trying on, so I took them and tried them on with absolutely no help from the sales ladies who sat at the desk and whispered. One of the dresses I actually really liked, but no way was I about to ask questions when they could barely go out of their way to say 'Hello' or 'Can I help you?'. Needless to say, we hopped in the car and headed onto destination #2, Eternal Bridal. What a cute store, with beautiful dresses and amazing, supportive help. Imagine that! I tried on about 8 dresses and fell in love with the first one. Sooo cute! It's a Sottero & Midgley, discontinued and only available right in front of my eyes. Well, I bought it...right then and there in that size. Let's just say I need to work my butt off (somewhat literally!) to look HOTTTTTT on June 5, 2010. I honestly want to go and put it on right this very second and dance around. I have to take it to my parents' house as I definitely do not have the will power not to wear it on a daily basis.
Hmmmm, Rye is sound asleep on the couch, so maybe just this once...

She Said Yes!

For our 2 year anniversary Ryan asked me to go out for dinner with him and Cole. After supper we came home and I was getting Cole ready for his bath when Ryan asked us to come out into the living room. We did and he told me to plug in the Christmas tree and took Cole (I thought, could you not plug it in yourself?!). When I stood up from plugging it in, at eye level was a box in the branches with a ring in it. I turned around and Cole and Ryan were down on Ryan's knee and he popped the question. All I could say was 'Are you serious? Are you freakin' serious?!'. Obviously I said yes!

How We Met

Ryan and I met December 16, 2006 at my apartment on Fisher Avenue. Ryan was working with Dennis McCleary at the General Hospital as a plumber for Modern Niagra at the time (still is) and Dennis kept telling Ryan that he needed to meet his friend Ashley. Brittany and Dennis went to the Modern Christmas party and Brittany met Ryan and agreed that we should meet. On December 16th I was babysitting Dante and Roman while Melissa was out at her Christmas party when Brittany called me and said that Ryan was coming over to our place that night. I got home around 1:30am and Ryan was still there waiting, watching T.V. with Brittany and Dennis. We started talking right away (yes - he is just as chatty as I am!) and here we are today.

Welcome

Welcome to our wedding website! We are creating this website to keep all of you, our loving family and friends, informed on all the glitz and glory to come between now and the big day. We look forward to celebrating with you all and hope you will be able to join us for our wedding.
Ryan and Ashley