Ah... soothing crows. In case you didn't know, Steve takes all the photos I've been posting. Except the ones with him in them, which I usually take.
So where did I leave off... wow, does Baker seem like a long time ago.
Since then, as you might have guessed, my parents gave us their poor old battered jeep (actually a little Suzuki something) (since they got their beautiful new shiny one) so that we can use it to go into the mountains without doing damage to my little car. Thank you! The photo was taken just a few months before I met Steve, while I was in the Kootenays visiting. My dad and I spent a day getting firewood (hence the firewood glamour shot in the last post).
Here are a few more photos of the jeeplet with the doglet, taken while hiking on that same trip to the Kootenays:
Hard to imagine now that there was a time I hiked without Steve... Here is the photo that won Steve's heart (and which prompted his rather cheeky introduction "so, do you REALLY hike and camp?"
Anyway, I digress.
The weekend after Baker, we went into town to visit with John, Gayle & Lisa. They were looking after the boys, so we got to hang out with the triplets for the day, which was fun too. We received a wonderful surprise: Steve's Aunt Mary Jane and Uncle Doug sent us an engagement present! The backstory is necessary here: John's mum/Steve's Grandma, Louise, passed away this year. When John & Gayle had gone out during the summer, they had brought back, among other things, Louise's china for Lisa and Steve & I to share. It is beautiful and so very appropriate -- it's classic, beautiful shapes, but with PINE CONES all over! If ever there was a china pattern perfect for outdoorsy types, this is it. So yeah, we have china. And now, thanks to Mary Jane and Doug, we have beautiful candlesticks that match them. Thank you so much -- they're beautiful and perfect.
Here we are opening the present with a few boys to help:
And, on the subject of thanks, Mike and Laura returned for a sojourn up the Coast with the name of a pastery chef who -- duh duh DUH -- they are having make us a wedding cake as their present to us! Wow! Cake! We each tried a tiny little piece (our first sugar since January 6) and it was very good indeed. I think we're going for chocolate, which should surprise no-one. So, thanks!
And thanks, too, to Gayle and Lisa who made invites until their fingers were worn to the... well, until their backs hurt anyway. Thanks to them, those darn invites are more 'almost' than 'kinda'.
On Sunday, Steve went off to take photos of Chinese New Year and Andie and I hung out for the morning. We were supposed to meet up on Pender Street but the traffic was insane, and we missed our connection. Andie and I ended up back at her place in New Westminster, Steveless, leaving frantic phone messages at Steve's parent's house in Delta. I practically wore a path on the floor in anxiety. We finally met up and enjoyed a reward of Hon's chinese food. New Westminster is my old stomping ground, so it was nice to visit.
Here are some photos Steve took in Chinatown:
Back on the Coast, I had my first two weeks of Boot Camp. Since the foot incident on the West Coast Trail, I've been more sedentary than I wanted to be. A guy came around with a poster for a six-week training program -- twice a week for an hour -- and Steve signed me up as a birthday present. I figure that with only six weeks, the light at the end of the tunnel is visible before I even step foot into the darkness. I'm hoping to be as fit at the beginning of April as I usually am at the end of a summer of hiking, which would make the whole wedding/summer/Turkey thing just that much easier.
I won't let Steve take pictures of me doing the Boot Camp so you'll just have to use your imagination. But thanks, honey! What a great birthday present! I'm not going to say what I'm getting Steve as it's a surprise... shhhh ;-)
What else? We've been doing lots of walking, and eating a lot healthier. Diana gave us a lot of really helpful information about nutrition. We've been meal planning and doing some trial budgeting in preparation for married life, which will hopefully maximize health and minimize arguments.
This last weekend, we went to talk to the flower person, who was great. We're just having the bouquets and boutenthingies done by her, mostly in lisianthus, which is vaguely rose-like.
We also went to meet the cake lady ourselves (and had more samples! shocking!) and decided on cake. Mmmmm... cake.
This, with the invites being almost done, is giving a good sense of accomplishment, though the weeks are ticking away WAY too fast for comfort. Eeek! This was made even scarier by the receipt, in the mail, of Jody and Julia's invites for the 12th (!) of May, which is one week before our wedding. Oh my! We sent away our RSVP card like good little guests.
[Deep breaths]
Well, on the upside, the invites ARE almost done. Like going out this week done. We have a caterer, a florist, and a cake lady. We have a hall, and some clothes on the way. We have favours coming in the mail. We have a veil. Ok _I_ have a veil. We have china, and candlesticks, and... Oh, and we have wine labels! Finally!
And we will persevere on the invites.
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