1) This was definitely the year of the wedding for us. The long weekend in August was hubby's step brother's wedding up in Leduc and we took the whole fam up for the occasion. Wow - whatta wedding! It was so great to spend time with family we never get to see.
Then, we dropped off the kids at my parents house and headed west for a wonderful vacation to Vancouver.
That is when the craziness began! Last minute wedding prep galore! Constructing centrepieces, trips to the flower wholesaler, making our bouquets, bachelorette party, rehearsal - it was one thing after the other all week. Super fun times with a group of girls I feel like I have known forever, but so exhausting!
In the end, it was such a great honor to get to stand up front with my best friend as she said her "I dos" I'm sure I have never cried so much at any wedding before...such joy.
And, at the very end of the ceremony, a jazz quintet appeared and we had a traditional New Orleans Second Line parade through the park. Very fun! It was awesome to have all of the little kids in the park running alongside our parade. I'm sure there videos of it on YouTube somewhere since many people had their phones out as we passed.
(On a side note - the dresses I wore to both weddings were Henkaa, a Canadian company. I am so in love with their stuff right now. So fun and versatile! I may or may not have just ordered my third dress!)
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2) While I was there, I was also able to have a couple of get togethers with a few of my YVR runner buddies - I met up with Brandi for the first time ever. We had dinner and did some shopping and talked like we'd known each other for years instead of merely minutes!
Then, later in the week, Nikki, Solana and I had a super fun evening of sushi and gelato. It was my first time meeting Solana but we've chatted online so much you would never have known it.
And there may have been some modelling happening on the waterfront that night :P
So fun!
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3) I truly cannot wait until October when I head back out there. Vancouver is my second home and I wish I could be there much more often than I am. I think hubby had a real chance to fall in love with it out there this trip as well - so I think we'll find ourselves heading out that way much more regularly.
In the meantime, I am nursing a HUGE Vancouverover that I believe the only cure for is another trip out west!