Let's just take a moment.....

Okay so I know that I've already picked out my wedding dress and all but.....



GOOD GOD IS REBECCA TWIGLEY'S WEDDING DRESS FREAKING GORGEOUS! 

Check out more pics here.


I can still admire other people's million dollar dresses right?

Hello blogging world!

How I have missed thee.

But there's been significant progress in our wedding planning so I have much to update you on!


THE DRESS HAS BEEN PAID FOR AND ORDERED!!!!! EEEEKKKKK!!!!!! Needless to say I am pretty darned broke at the moment. I was still 4 pounds away from my target goal weight when I ordered the dress last Wednesday but I didn't think it would be too much of a big deal. But. It kinda was. The sample dress they had me try on was technically a size 12 (meaning it was a 6 in real life) and the zipper couldn't make its way up my back for the top two inches, which I thought was fine. Then when the lady measured me, she told me that while my bust and waist were around a 12/14, my hips and thighs were a size TWENTY so they would have to order a size 20. In addition, that was considered el nacho grande so they would have to charge me a bit more money. Um. What? Yeah I don't think so. There's no way in HELL I was a size TWENTY and they better damn well recognize I ain't paying a single cent more for this dress that literally cost enough to feed the entire country of Lithuania. I said that I was never a 20 in my entire life and I planned to lose 100 pounds and I was happy for settling for the size 14 thankyouverymuch. The lady tried to convince me to go bigger but I stood my ground. I can see why the boutique wanted to make sure that the dress ordered was on the bigger side since you can always tailor the dress to be smaller but SIZE TWENTY? That's ridiculous. I think they're banking on making SURE that they get to charge me for some additional tailoring.... But whatevs. Little do they know I got my Korean peeps who run the dry cleaning kingdom who'll be taking care of all my alterations. Stickin it to tha man feels oh so good!!!! ;)

wedding invitations have finally been decided on!!!!! Brian was here last weekend and I dragged him to a few paperias and we sat down and looked through about 300 invitations and we found the magic one! Let me rephrase that: I found the one while Brian begged for me to just pick one already since they all looked the same. I will say the invitation I picked is like 98% me and 2% Brian. All you lucky ones will know what I mean when you get your invitations in Decemeber/ January! :)

The menu proteins have been decided! All the honorable guests will have the option of picking either fish (most likely halibut), beef (possibly sirloin), or vegetarian (which will be either a pasta or noodle dish). Yummy! How exciting is that! Brian and I have booked another tasting in December so I'm happy to see that all these major deets are well underway!

So..... I've hit a diet plateau. I haven't lost any more weight since my last weight loss milestone and Brian's visit didn't help. But! I'm ready to up the ante and add some actual weightlifting and workout sessions into my weeks now that I'm whittling down my shifts at the hospital. I'm hitting the gym tomorrow with Gracey for a heavy duty ass whooping at a fancy shmancy place in her neighborhood. Bring on the pain!

I think I've covered all the major points. I'm trying to brace myself mentally for this week since it's my all time favorite holiday -- Thanksgivingggg!!!! Must. Resist. Seconds. :)

Beautiful Victoria, BC Wedding!

Checks it out here!


Definitely one of my faves! I LOVE HER DRESS! So unique!


P.S. I just lost a major bet. I gave Kim Kardashian's marriage 100 and overshot it by 28 days. D'OH!


P.P.S. I've lost almost 15 pounds now!!!! Workaholic diet = success!!! On the flip side, I have to find a chiropractor/herbalist/acupuncturist to go to because I've been having THE WORST neck pains the past two weeks. Gonna go back to my roots and try some acupuncture!


Happy Halloween! I'll be working 'til 11:30 tonight so hopefully I'll have some interesting patients donned in scary costumes! :D

Laziest post ever. :)

For updates on Brian and my wedding plans here is Brian's sister's blog entry on their wedding food tasting weekend. Check her out because I know you're dying to know some wedding food deets. And also just because she. is. fabulous. :)




Gimme a break here kids. I'm workin' my ass off in the name of my wedding dress.


More wedding updates soon to come!

CUE THE ROCKY THEME SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOST MY FIRST 10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!

And I'm hardly even trying! :D


So I came back from Vancouver this summer at my heaviest EVER. But I've been losing about a pound or so a week and I'm feeling GREAT! A bit overworked, but happy!

Just got back from my clinical at the veterans' psych ward and now I'm off to work at the hospital 'til midnight!


A bit of bad news.... I relapsed on my coffee abstinence.... Gotta start afresh and get back to detoxing.

Hope everyone's doing well out there! It's a beautiful world! :D

Check this ISH out!

Dear Niecy Nash,

Thank you for changing my life with your out-of-this-world wedding shoes.

Not only are they maddeningly fabulous -- the designer is located in the one and only state of Delaware.

One-of-a-kind, custom created.

This is a SURE. THING.

Check out Glam-Luxe shoes.

Watch this clip to see these shoes featured on The View:

SHOE-GASM IS RIGHT, SISTA! :D

Wedding Samples and Quickie Update

What an INSANE MONTH.

I've been working my ass off like CUH-RAYZEE. On top of that, I was sick as a dog all last weekend and continued to work through it all (When I go hard, I go hard.). I'm finally on some antibiotics, feeling better and am still putting in 38 hours at the hospital/CIGNA on top of my full time school schedule. I go to work early in the morning, grab some lunch and head straight to clinicals til 9pm and then I come home and pass the eff out. And do it all over again the next morning at 5:30am. All in the name of a particular dress..... that I SAID YES TO! :D That's right! I found THE ONE! I had a rare afternoon off a week or two ago and on a whim just shimmied myself up to Conshohockon, Pennsylvania and found the dress of my dreams. I had seen it advertised before but wasn't really a fan. I am telling you brides out there: You just don't know until you try it on. SO. FREAKIN. TRUE. I had grabbed this one off the rack with doubts and BAM! Fell in LA-HUV. Butterflies, magical moment, my girlfriend getting teary eyed when the veil was on -- the whole nine yards. It's a bit steep on the price (still way cheaper than I would expected) but I'm still doing the sleazy thing and price shopping at several boutiques. I have not put in my down payment for two reasons: 1) I want to have the money in cold hard cash -- no credit card thus my recent bout of workaholicism and 2) most boutiques will measure you AS IS at the time of down payment. Which I completely understand. But I have every intention of losing 620 pounds so I want to hold back for a few more weeks. Speaking of weight -- I am back on my dieting trend and am shedding pounds again! Woo hoo! It helps that I have two part-time jobs now along with a non stop schedule in general so I barely have enough time to consume any legit calories. It's called the working-yourself-to-death diet. And it works like a charm. :P Anyways in more wedding news, I got some more wedding invitation samples! They are from an Etsy vendor called Beacon Lane and their stuff is adorbs! Here's a little teaser:

Okay, I guess it's not really a teaser because I'm pretty much sure I'm not going to order either of these samples. While I think they're quite cute, I just don't think they capture the "essence" of the wedding. I have a few more samples coming in the beginning of next week and I am SUPER excited about one particular vendor's.... I know! The suspense is killing you guys! Can't wait to finally get the invites out!

Brian just bought his plane ticket out here in November (I told him October would be a crazy one) and I'm excited to take some time off from all this madness and spend some fall times with the lover. I know that he's been feeling pretty neglected with me working like a maniac lately. But he's been keeping pretty busy at work lately (which is good because I told him he should ask for a raise/expect a bonus) so I know he understands. :)

Next week I'll be working most nights til 11:30pm so I'll do my best to at least put some short little posts up during the week. Please forgive me for my lack of bloggerism. I promise things will slow down and I'll be back to my blogging self shortly!

Peace and love.

Legit Grace

I love this picture.

Grace Kelly



Too gorgeous for words.

All work and no play makes Gina a sh*tty blogger...

My deepest apologies. I've been working like a mule because I'm so desperate to start ordering and shipping out invites!

I pretty much hated the sample invites that came in through via Wedding Paper Divas so I've moved on to some Etsy vendors that sell some BEAUTIFUL invitations (at least, that's how they seem online). I've ordered a few samples so hopefully they'll be in my eager little paws sometime next week.

As for my wedding dress search, I tried on some more gowns at Jennifer's Bridal Boutique here in Delaware and really found one Pronovias gown quite stunning. But alas, my heart thinks that it's not the one for a few reasons. Number one: it's totally not a traditional gown (which is what I personally like about it) but I don't think my parents nor Brian would be impressed by it. IN ADDITION. Let's just say feathers are difficult to pull off on a wedding dress. And I'll just leave it at that.

I'm really excited about an upcoming appointment I made at a boutique in Pennsylvania for Tuesday. I think I'll like a lot of the dresses they carry but we'll see when I get there! Keep your fingers crossed!

Okay I know I could blog on about a million more things that are going in my life but quite frankly I am just pooooooooped. I worked a 7am to 3:30pm shift at the hospital and then went straight to Cigna and worked until 8:30pm. So yes. It was a long day. Plus I have a raging headache (which I NEVER EVER get). It hurts to blink. :(

So this little lady is hitting the sack.

Updates to come when I can freakin' catch a break!

Remembering September 11, 2001

I was in the middle of Home Economics class during my sophomore year of high school. We were taking an exam when an administrator came in to talk to our teacher. I remember her gasping and putting her hand over her mouth and then the administrator left. We only had a few minutes left of the class but I could hear the kids near the front of the class whispering amongst themselves. The whispering eventually got back to us and my friend who sat next to me stated that there was some sort of bombing at the White House. The bell rang and I headed to my US History and government class where kids were already crowded around the teacher's desk. He got us to sit down and told us that he didn't have all the information but apparently a couple of planes were being hijacked by terrorists out of New York. Two or three kids immediately became upset and began taking their cell phones out. They stated that they either had family up in New York right now or that a family member was flying out of or into New York. One of them began sobbing because she had just received a text saying that were not able to reach her father yet and wasn't sure if he was okay. The teacher excused these kids to make phone calls in the hallway. He also announced that there would be no lesson plans today because the school was being evacuated and everyone was going to be sent home. Me being unable to grasp the gravity of the situation was ecstatic about the prospect of being able to go home for the day and my girlfriend and I giggled in excitement. Sure enough, announcements over the intercom began dismissals and I came home to see that my brother had just gotten back with two of his high school friends (We attended different high schools). We all grabbed some food and huddled around the TV to relax and have a casual afternoon. All we could see on every channel was smoke coming out from one of the twin towers. We weren't originally intending on watching the news but every single channel was following the attacks in New York. Within minutes of us turning on the TV, the second tower was hit. This was a bit of a reality check for me. I was thinking, "Holy shit, are they going to come down to Delaware and start crashing into our buildings as well?" We continued to stay glued to the screen and hear the reporters shocked reactions live and obviously our disbelief deepened when the towers began to collapse. It was surreal and I felt as if we were living in a movie. None of us in the room said a word. At one point the reporter began to call these series of events "The worst attack on Americans in history" and I remember thinking, "I can't believe I'm experiencing this. This is the kind of stuff I study in history textbooks." My brother's two friends eventually were being called home by their parents and my mother and father shortly arrived. They were particularly stunned and affected because New York city had been their home for ten years. My parents spent the rest of the afternoon calling all their loved ones in New York trying to make sure that they were okay. That evening, we gathered around the kitchen table and my mother asked us to join hands as she led us into prayer for those affected by the attacks. I spent the rest of the evening wondering why people would do such a horrible thing to us. If this was some sort of war-related attack, why were innocent civilians being targeted? Were the attacks finished or were there more on the way? I was so confused. I kept getting the feeling that somehow the world was now changed and it scared me. That night, I got up and knocked on my brother's door. He was awake as well and told me to come on in. He turned on his computer and we watched episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel-air that he had downloaded. As sleep finally began to creep in and blanket my perplexed mind, I gave up trying to make sense of it all and closed my eyes as Carlton busted out his famous dance moves in the perfect land of TV -- where planes were not hijacked, buildings did not collapse, and people did not die. Unlike many others, I would have tomorrow and many more days, God willing, to figure it all out.

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Warning: Bitchy rant ahead.

What a god-awful week it was. Like honestly. I totally could relate to the people who go on those random shooting sprees in public places. That's how bad it was.

Here I list my reasons as to why:

- I was overworked.
- I was sleep deprived.
- People be crampin' my style.
- PEOPLE BE CRAMPIN' MY STYLE.


Okay so this week was my first official week of clinicals at the hospital which wasn't bad at all. It was a 1:30pm to 9:30pm shift Wed, Thurs, Friday on the maternity floor. It was easy-peezy. Clinicals didn't add much stress to my day except elongate my stay at the hospital.

Working on the pulmonary floor which particular persons is what sucks beyond words (Well I will attempt to describe it anyways).

This week I worked an 8 hour shift on Sunday and Tuesday and then proceeded to work 4.5 hour shifts Wed, Thurs, and Friday. That's right. So on Wed, Thurs, and Friday I was scheduled to be at the hospital from 7am to 9:30pm because of clinicals. Lucky for me, clinicals ended an hour early on two of those days so I got to go home around 8:30pm. Needless to say, it wasn't easy. And I'm an idiot for scheduling myself that way. Never again.

Anyways, in my last post I sounded like my usual cheery and enthusiastic self about my new position and how I was absorbing knowledge like a sponge and how everyone was great and nice and sweet and smelled like daffodils, etc.

Well let me amend and update some of those statements.

A particular SOMEONE who I will call "JEMIMA ON CRACK" has single-handedly unleashed my inner rage. Jemima was assigned to be my trainer on Tuesday and from what I heard from other employees, she was a trip. No one would go into any details but one statement made was "If she's still working here, then don't worry about getting fired." I assumed that this meant that Jemima was a lazy worker. That was fine. I could deal with that. I could be lazy myself at times.

Tuesday came along and I was already off to a rough start. I clocked in two minutes late. Crap. You're only allowed to be late 3 times before the hospital fires your ass so I wasn't too ecstatic about it. Anyways, I met up with Jemima and she was nice enough. She told me to start getting vital signs and go around checking blood sugars which I did. I got the feeling that she was gonna make me do all the work which was fine since I wanted to try to be on my own more anyways. But every time I came out of the room, Jemima had a new task for me:

"Room 7 needs his sheets changed. He just soiled himself."
"Room 10 needs ice water."
"Room 11 needs to be turned to his right side."
"Room 2 needs to be bathed."
"Room 4 needs a bedpan."

And what did Jemima do? She just sat the the nurse's station chatting away with the other staff. I was a bit annoyed at being her perpetual gopher but I took it in stride and stayed on my toes. During lunch, one of the patients had to be fed. He was one of my faves (we'll call him Mr. Wilson). Mr. Wilson is a sweet 87 year old man who suffers from expressive aphasia (which means he can't talk) and he communicates by signaling thumbs up for yes/good or thumbs down for no/bad. He's the cutest thing ever and I loved going in there and sitting with him. Anyways, I was in there feeding him his soft/liquid diet when Jemima comes storming in the room. She says "What are you doing? There's a million things needed out there. Someone just pee'd themselves and needs to get changed." I reply "I'm feeding Mr. Wilson. He can't feed himself and he has to take it slow because he has swallowing issues. I'll be out there in a few minutes. We're almost done." And can you believe what Jemima does? She storms over and yanks the spoon out of my hand and says that we don't have time to be feeding every damn patient that can't help themselves and we for damn sure can't be giving them a hundred tiny bites. She spoons up a massive scoop of oatmeal and shoves it into Mr. Wilson's mouth. I swear to god, even before he has a chance to get it down, she spoons up another massive scoop and shoves it into Mr. Wilson's mouth. OF COURSE, he begins to choke and cough. His eyes bulge and he tries to lean forward. Jemima tells me to get up and grab a wash cloth and that she'll handle feeding him herself. I am reaaaallllly starting to dislike this woman now. When I bring over her washcloth I try to tell Mr. Wilson that I'll be back in a bit to check on him and Jemima swats me away saying that there is a person that needs to be changed and that we're not here to socialize.

Okay deep breath here. This lady obviously has been working as a tech way too long (She's been doing it for 15 years). I figure that I'm just going to have to suck it up and survive the shift with this lady and I'll be on my own in no time so it's not a big deal. No use in starting drama.

Towards the end of the shift, I find out some HORRIBLE news. Jemima overheard me asking the clerk how to sign up for the remainder of my week's shifts and Jemima took the LIBERTY of helping my manager sign me up for the rest of my shifts. And guess who she assigned me to? That's right. Jemima assigned me to herself for TWO MORE SHIFTS. I wanted to die. This bitch was making me her freakin' slave for the rest of the week.

I'd like to say the rest of the week got better. But it didn't. The next day was WORSE. Jemima thought I was spending too much time in each patient's room so she began timing me. She timed my patient baths AND she decided that she was going to "REVAMP" every skill I had learned thus far. So she would stand over me and watch me take vital signs and blood sugars and apply lotions, etc. But Jemima would never just watch for long. Without fail she would find one reason or another to stop me and do it "HER WAY." She would have this STUPID saying: "Girl, you gotta work SMARTER, not HARDER." In other words, she would find some shortcut or other to make the skill get completed faster. For example. if a oxygen monitor wasn't found in the room and I would go attempt to get one, Jemima would shake her finger at me and say "Girl please, we don't have time for that nonsense. If it ain't in the room, we ain't gonna check it." Um HELLO? We're on a PULMONARY FLOOR. These people can't BREATHE. They have OXYGEN DEFICIENCY. WE SHOULD BE CHECKING THEIR OXYGENATION LEVELS REGULARLY. And by "regularly" I mean once every FOUR freakin' hours! Geez!

Ah. WOOOOOO-sah.

Okay. Now I understand everyone has his or her own way of doing things. I get that. But this lady is freakin' brutal. It's DEFINITELY her way or the highway. But she is a snake. She would try to be my best friend and pretend to be looking out for me. Jemima would constantly reassure me that she had my back. That was the worst part. Every chance she got she would pull me aside and say "Baby girl, let me tell you something. I hear what everyone says out here and they all be sayin' some things about you that ain't pretty. I don't know if you're gonna make it. So you just do what I tell you to do because I've been here a long time." Of course this stressed me out to the max. Like how the HELL is that reassuring??? So by the end of the second day, I was ready to snap. I decided to ask my manager whether or not what Jemima was telling me was true. Of course it wasn't. My manager gave me a wink and a smile and said that I had nothing to worry about and that they loved having me so far. She also told me that I shouldn't let Jemima get to me too much and that trainees had complained about her before so they were aware of how rough she could be.

What a relief.

After that, working with Jemima wasn't as bad. In fact, I began to feel sorry for her in my head. She had no clue what people said behind her back. I'm not saying that I'm perfect or that I know better than she does but I think everyone has a right to determine what works best for themselves and I'm going to do just that.

Anyways. I was pretty much on my own yesterday and the day went great. I didn't have too many patients so I was glad that I was able to ease into it. I work a four hour shift tomorrow and an 8 hour on Tuesday but I don't plan on cramming in anymore crazy 14 hour days. The stress is just not worth it. And it really isn't fair to the people I love around me. I haven't been the happiest gnome in the garden lately.



In non-WORK/SCHOOL related news:

News #1: My brother left for Australia and just confirmed that he's safe in Brisbane! That lucky dog! He plans on living the life out there for the next three months. I think his course of action includes trying to get a work permit in order to extend his stay out there but in the meantime, he's just going to enjoy the ride! I'm so happy and just a tinge jealous of him!

News #2: My sample wedding invitations came in the mail!!! They're really cute and I have 9 to choose from but I like them all so I might have to start a random poll. I'll put some pics up when I get the chance!


Here's to a better week! The best thing about weekends is that you can start all over with a clean slate and fresh mind! :D

Student Nurse Extern Extraordinaire!

So tonight was my third night on the pulmonary floor and so far it's been a blast/dirty job/learning experience.

I've taken care of a whole array of patients. You name it, I've probably cleaned their poop.

So far, it's been a pleasant orientation and I know for certain that I won't ever want to work on a GI disorder floor (No offense GI ailers). I had the pleasure of having more than a whiff of GI bleed bowel movements and geez LOO-EEEEEZE is it unlike anything I've ever encountered before. Anyways, let me stop myself before I am in breach of any privacy policies out there.

Most everyone on the unit has been gracious and generous with their knowledge and I am grateful to be on a floor full of a fairly younger crowd (meaning early to late 20s). I am still three shifts from being on my own but I'm pretty much getting the hang of things. The job is really not difficult at all and it's a matter of being able to prioritize your tasks. Pretty much like every other job out there.

I feel so welcomed!!!!

The best part of the job has to be the patient interactions. It's great to meet people that appreciate and need your help because it really makes me feel as if I'm doing some good in the world. Yes I'm getting paid to scrub your back but I also am wholeheartedly hoping to assist you in your recovery. It's probably the best feeling in the world knowing that you're brightening up someone's day just by offering to brush their bed matted hair or help them put on some makeup, etc. It's amazing to see how much the little things mean to patients, especially the ones that are admitted on the floor long-term. It's no wonder that the majority of hospitalized patients have comorbid depression and anxiety. I would HATE to have to be cooped up in a bed with sickly, dying patients all around me. Sometimes it's depressing just working there!

Since I'm still in training and paired up with another extern, it's easy for me to catch some extra social time with the patients. I'm sure this won't be the case once I'm on my own and having to take care of double the patients, but while I'm orienting, I will take full advantage of the extra time on my hands and work on the humane aspects of care such as engaging in genuine casual conversations with people. This seems to make almost any patient happy. Most people just want to know that you're really LISTENING to them and not just another item on a to-do list. I don't want to call any nurses out but I am 100% sure that I never want to be hospitalized EVER and if I ever am, I want a friend or family member to be with me at ALL TIMES. I'm talking like, NEVER LEAVE MY BEDSIDE. I understand nurses are busy and have a ton on their plate but honestly, a lot of the nurses I've watched seem to be a bit... too nonchalant. They've seen it all so nothing ever phases them, nothing ever incites them to immediate action, which is good sometimes but other times it just means that these nurses are going to take their sweet ol' time doing anything. Which sucks when you're a 90 year old man that just wants assistance getting to the toilet because he's going to crap his pants. I swear the average wait time between you pressing the call bell for assistance and you actually getting someone to step into your room is like.... 10 minutes! Yeah. Painful!

Anyways, that's enough of that rant. There are some really good nurses out there and I'm going to strive to be one of them. And that's all I got to say about that.

Gifts from a dear patient. I was so touched!

Anyways, I get a day of rest tomorrow and will spend it doing glorious NOTHINGNESS.


I love life. And am thankful for my health.

My newest toy and FIVE more dresses!

Dude. I am totally converted.

I am obsessed with my new french press thermos (Thank you fabulous future sister-in-law).

So. Pretty.



Essential for my mornings at the hospital.

 Definite recommend.

So yes, I am back to my busy bee little self. I had an orientation this morning at a veterans' hospital for the psychiatric ward there and then I had the rare occasion of having the afternoon off so Anneliese and I decided to hit up a bridal boutique for some more dress try-ons! Yayyyy!

For your viewing pleasure:

I forgot the name of this brand but the company not in business anymore anyways.

A very popular Maggie Sottero dress.

Don't remember the brand but it was my first taffeta dress!

Such lovely details!

An older Maggie. Twas vintage-pretty.



Honestly. Mags has the BEST destination gowns!

 I think this brings my dress count total to.... around 80ish? I've tried on a CRAPLOAD of dresses! HOLY MOLEY. I am still feeling like I haven't found "THE ONE" but just like the whole venue searching fiasco, I'm sure I'll cave at some point and pick a dress that I'm content with and slowly fall in love with it more and more as we get closer to the wedding date (I'm ECSTATIC about our Vancouver Art Gallery venue now!). All I have to do in the meantime is start saving up for my gown down payment!


Other exciting wedding news: The first wave of invitation samples are being sent to my house on Wednesday! SOOOOOOOOO looking forward to picking out the PERFECT invite and getting them out to my guests. Brian is working on the catering options and we've pretty much narrowed down our choices to two caterers (Culinary Capers and Savoury Chef). I'm leaving it up to Brian and Mama Gregg to do the tasting honors and determine which is better! Hopefully the menu will be setttled upon within the month and I will be able to get the invites out no later than November!!! We are well on our way! :)

Tomorrow will be GRUELING. I work the morning 7a to 3:30p shift at the hospital and then have to trudge on over to CIGNA for a few more hours. It's pretty much gonna be a minimum 12 hour work day. Whelps. Gotta start makin' that dough in order to supplement my painfully fabulous tastes!  Cheers to makin' that PAYPURR. Let it rain! :)

Last weekend in Van City... :(

What a bittersweet weekend.

It was a good one though. Jam-packed with lots of fun.

I'd like to sit here and type out a detailed account of the weekend but I just flew home a few hours ago, caught up with my fam, and now am having a few moments to myself to update my blog. And I am POOPED.

So you'll have to forgive me for my lack of eloquence this time around.

Pictures speak so much louder than words anyhow. :)


THURSDAY NIGHT:

Request for a Korean style lettuce wrap dinner -- Success!!!

Brian likes everything. Except the kimchi.

My attempt to contribute. M&M Brownies!!!

Partial success. The M&Ms got burnt but the rest of it was DEEEEElicious!

FRIDAY NIGHT:

BBQ at Paulette and Craig's! Shannon and Doug joined us for a nice evening of food and fellowship!

Paulette shares one of her secret recipes. Not so secret anymore! :)

SATURDAY:

We visit Granville Island to see some Wooden yachts! It was kinda boring...

Then onto girls' night out with Melissa!

We obviously needed a photoshoot.

Natural pose.

Dinner at Earl's! Yummmyyy pastaaaaa.

At Caprice night club!

Was a packed house! Had a blast and too many hilarious moments to list!

SUNDAY:

Started off with a lovely service and communion at the Christ Church Cathedral downtown.




Such a pretty interior. We are to be wed here in a year!



Exhausted after a two hour paddleboard sesh. But happy!

Perfect day at the beach.

Our tired but happy feet. Right before our 5 mile trek home.

I was so sad to have to leave such a pretty city and a loving man but I'm ready to finish this program and get on with my life!

I have a decently hectic week ahead of me: First day of work at the hospital tomorrow, working at CIGNA on Wednesday, clinical orientations on Thursday and Friday. Hospital work on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! Whew!

I'm going to savor tonight and tomorrow morning for sure!

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED!!!!!

It's finally DONE!!!!!!!!!!

We are officially getting married at the Vancouver Art Gallery on August 4th, 2012!!!!!!!!

At long last!

That date is especially good for any residents of British Columbia because it just so happens to be a long weekend! :)

Brian and I have agreed that we couldn't have found a more perfect spot: It's located in central downtown, close to EVERYTHING and we get the ENTIRE art gallery to ourselves!

I don't want to give all the exciting details away but we also have our own private animateurs at our disposal and Brian and I plan to utilize ALL FOUR FLOORS of this beautiful gallery!

Oh and the best part??? Just GUESS who's being showcased that weekend?

Here's a clue for all the art lovers out there:

One of the GREATS! :)

I'm SO EXCITED I COULD DIE!!!!!!!!

So. Close.

Guess what?

The contract to our wedding venue is sitting on the kitchen table. Unsigned.

We're 90% sure we will sign it and turn it in but there are a few adjustments that we are going to try to make.... such as the price.

It is pretty steep.

We've already haggled it down but it's still a lot of money. And I think Brian's having second thoughts. I, on the other hand, have no thoughts. It's been a painful experience throughout this whole venue selection process and I am mentally done with it all. I don't care if we get married in a asteroid crater at this point (Actually, that would be pretty cool. Dusty, but cool). It would be disappointing if I left here without a confirmed venue but I guess there are worse things. It just sucks since we've managed to look at so many and the one venue we're BOTH set on, happens to cost an arm and a leg. I'm debating between setting up some more last minute venue options or just letting Brian make the decision himself. I cannot wait til this is all over!! And then I'm not thinking about wedding plans for a long long time!

Anyways, that's the update folks. I'll keep you posted as to what happens next! Hopefully my next post will be on how we FINALLY BOOKED SOMETHING!!!

This might be a slight overkill.....

So yeah. Wedding bands are supposed to be simple and symbolic within themselves but......


CHECK OUT THIS BEAUTIFUL BAND FROM DE BEERS. Buh-LINGGGGG!!!!

Hubba hubba.

Just sayin'. :)

10 Things You May Not Know About Me and Brian

10 Things You May Not Know About Gina:

1. My given name is Regina.
2. I can twist my arm 360 degrees.
3. When I was in 5th grade, we had to write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grew up and I wrote that I wanted to be President of the United States. I read it aloud in front my class and I remember this girl named Britney Boxx laughed at me. Now she's fat and bipolar.
4. I do not ride wooden roller coasters.
5. I love all potato chips except the salt and vinegar ones.
6. I have eaten a roasted silkworm. And lived.
7. I pray everyday.
8. I am afraid of the dark and sleep with the lights on.
9. I lie about brushing my teeth.
10. I cry during Mastercard commercials. Or any commercial narrated by Morgan Freeman. 


10 Things You May Not Know About Brian: 

1.  I have a phobia for mayonnaise.  It’s more than a dislike thing… I actually don’t like being around it.
2.  My middle name is Richard which is my grandfather’s name, however he goes by the name “Dick”.
3.  I used to be a pretty athletic guy until I got knee surgery and devoted myself to academia and the corporate world.
4.  I’m pretty tall but only when I’m standing up because my height is all in my legs.
5.  I am a bit OCD about any skin imperfections I may have.
6.  My favorite food is Mediterranean style.
7.  I would like to be an entrepreneur and own a business one day.
8.  I am the only person in my family with a graduate degree. 
9.  I am Christian.
10.  There are only about 10 Korean foods I like so far and I am hoping that I will learn to like more (e.g. Kimchi).

Another Fab Weekend!

Oh man. Brian is really itchin' to move out of his place.

It's not that there is any real serious issue with his landlady but I think she's just a little bit more involved than we're used to. We're still certain that she comes down to check on the suite when we're away but Brian and I have been making sure that the place is spotless before we leave. That's not too big of an issue. But lately she has been imposing a bit of pressure when Brian decides to cook with garlic or spices or any other odorous ingredient. Which I happen to love. She's never directly said that she disapproves. She just makes comments such as "I've noticed that you've been cooking with garlic a lot." or "I can smell the curry you're cooking from my bedroom. It's very strong." Anyways, on Thursday night Brian was cooking some of his delicious aglio e olio with a jalapeno kick when we suddenly heard the landlady begin to quickly lumber about and pace above us. All had been silent until Brian began frying up the garlic. I tried to air out the suite as much as I could by opening windows and doors and turning on fans but the bear upstairs continued to pace back and forth. So Brian turned the stressful situation into a romantic evening by announcing that we were going to enjoy our dinner on the beach and watch the sunset while we ate our pasta. We packed up all the food along with some fruit and crackers and the remaining pieces of our delicious banana bread and drove down to the Spanish Banks just in time to watch the sun set. It was a beautiful setting for an orgasmic meal.

Pics.

Picnic-packaged meal

Lovin' life.

To die for.

Not a shabby view.

Relaxed and landlady free.

So on Friday I almost died.

I made the stupid decision to have a three hour workout sesh at the gym (1.5 hours on the treadmill and 1.5 hours of weightlifting) and my body definitely felt the pain for the next few days. My calves were on FIYAH. Good thing I had a relaxing weekend in store!

Doug picked us up from the ferry terminal Friday night and we headed straight to our friend Genevieve's beautiful waterfront place where Jane and cutie Arfa was waiting. We indulged in tons of finger food and late night conversations before heading to Brian's parents' house to crash. 

The next morning we all got up to meet Brian's sister and others on Sidney Spit, a tiny island off the island. We had a bit of a late start and we missed the ferry that we wanted to take but we all eventually got there in one piece. It was the perfect day for the beach and minus the freezing water, it was pretty much a day in paradise. 

That evening, Brian prepped a lovely summer roll dinner for everyone that was an instant hit with his tandoori spiced chicken. The meal was followed by some delicious chocolate cake and by then I was ready to pass out. Everyone wanted to watch "River Monsters" and "Hoarders" so my social instincts were to join in but my eyes refused to cooperate. I was in the REM stage of sleep 10 minutes into the show. 

On Sunday, the major plan for the day consisted of an awesome blueberry pancake brunch with Heather and James providing the yummy yummy bacon. As the last bites of pancake were being taken, James generously offered one of his trophy salmon to be the main course for dinner that day so Brian and I extended our Victorian stay for the chance to partake in a sea-derived feast! And it was well worth it! We had pink salmon, corn, potatoes, carrots, quinoa salad, green beans, impromptu fried rice, and Bailey's milkshakes for dessert. I could barely move post meal but we had to get our hustle on in order to catch the last ferry off the island. We said our goodbyes and Heather and James were gracious enough to give us a lift to the terminal. It was 9pm and I was poooooped. But had a GREAT time with some GREAT company.

Visual aid.

Finally on the ferry to Sidney Spit!

Beach camp

Beach baby

Beach babes.

 Pico!

Doggy kisses!

Sibs

Super sibs

Ready to take on the spit

Le spit.

Fiance.

DINNER.

The angler and his trophy

Adventure baby!

HI ARFA!!!

Can we get a decent pic?

Lol. Nope.

Doug joins our predinner walk.

Super mom.

Will Doug eat the salmon eyeball?

Naturally.

Boys will be boys.

Gals will be lovely.  :)

So Brian and I have made it back to Vancouver safe and sound although I slept 75% of the way home. I was supposed to go kayaking today but it is probably the worst day (weatherwise) we've had in Vancouver since my arrival. It's gray and rainy and cold and just plain yucky. Melissa and I have postposed the kayak trip for another day and also scheduled in a girl's night out for Saturday. It'll be nice to go out with some gals and make some friends in the city before I leave so I'm definitely looking forward to it!

BIG NEWS!

Brian and I have an appointment with the events coordinator of the Vancouver Art Gallery this Wednesday in hopes to finally SEAL THE WEDDING VENUE DEAL. Holy cow am I ready to do this! And Brian is as well! And then I am not thinking about the wedding for a VERY long time! :D

As for my insomnia, I have been taking two melatonin pills for the past few nights and it seems to be helping. I wake up at a reasonable hour (6ish) and I try to go back to sleep but I still have these annoying fits of restlessness. What is up with that?? I'm still tossing and turning a bit in the mornings but Brian has learned to sleep through it. I'm glad my sleep duration has been lengthened and so far, no side effects of grogginess. Keeping my fingers crossed for full recovery! I am seriously considering getting a massage this week. Brian's insurance company has already agreed to let us use any medical resources necessary to  alleviate any physical symptoms and I'm thinking a deep tissue massage could definitely help my restlessness. I'll keep you posted!

Only one week left before I have to head back to another semester of craziness..... Sigh. Gotta enjoy the remainder of the summer!