Reader, I Married Him.

What can you possibly say about your own wedding? It was incredible. More to be found on Flickr, but I'll warn you now that I don't have ALL the wedding photos up. I wanted to knit a shawl for both of my lovely maids of honor, Jen and Monica. I needed something that I could do without needing to look at a chart most of the time, and something quick- cue Wisp. (Jen getting totally choked up during her speech at the wedding.) Pattern: Wisp Needles: 5 mm Yarn: Elann baby cashmere in 'Calypso' and Kitten Mohair in 'Navy' Mods: None. Notes: Loved knitting these. The pattern is so easy to memorize and I found it easy to knit them even while standing on the subway (I consider standing the entire time on a subway without holding onto a pole an urban form of pilates)I apologize for the lack of photos- in the craziness of the wedding itself, I forgot to say that we needed some good pictures. I'll have to chase up Jen and Monica for better photos soon. The Elann baby cashmere was a dream to work with, and the kitten mohair behaved well. But after baby cashmere, everything feels like sandpaper in your hands. I was really disappointed that I didn't manage to finish knitting an all-white version of Stefanie Japel's two toned shrug to go with my wedding dress. I was really close, but it just didn't happen. Running out of the yarn and not having time to go get more may have contributed to this. It's still not finished. The night before we left for our honeymoon, I could not for the life of me find the knitting I wanted to bring (the final sleeve of this beast). This is what happens when you have held your own rehearsal dinner in your apartment and at the last minute crammed everything into any random nook or cranny your could find. We actually left for the airport later than we intended because I was having a Nothing Suitable to Knit meltdown- basically, none of my WIPs I could find were portable enough, I didn't have a suitable new project to start, and we were in the final hours of the all-nighter we had pulled after our wedding to get to the airport for 3:00 a.m. (ugh, don't ask). And then I found it- the skein of Misti Alpaca laceweight I had purchased at the Purple Purl last spring, and had earmarked for the Swallowtail Shawl. And even more amazing- I could immediately find the pattern in my apartment. Ah, knitting bliss. We went on our honeymoon to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. It was.... okay. G got heatstroke, I got food poisoning, and we both got sunburns, but we laughed about it all and had a good time. That's something great about being with him- we're always having a good time, no matter what. A big wedding budget post will be forthcoming shortly, for those who are interested in how well I pulled off a $5k wedding in ten weeks.

VANcation in a Nutshell

Click to view whole Flickr set Our goal of eating as much fish as possible was met at Pings Cafe, Toshi's and Guu. Toshi was the roe on the fillet, hands down. Their black cod dish takes 30 minutes to prepare and melts in your mouth. No teeth? No problem! I'm salivating just thinking about it. Man, I want to go back. T and I biked around the city a lot took the seawall up to Stanley Park, once got super lost but took some great photos. Ended up on Hastings, the street you can identify from the bum stench alone. I was shocked to see the blatant and rampant drug use. People shooting up in the street. People shooting up as they walk. In Toronto they at least try to "hide" it. In this little quadrant it's a junkies dream. No wonder they don't give a shit about pot, there are much bigger issues here. I wonder what they will do come 2010. (Set them up with a hotshot? That's what a few locals told us they're betting on... scary to even think imo.) Now, since VAN is known for it's rain, we weren't sure what we'd get. It was sunny all but one day. They knew we were coming. When on vacation, I expect sun. It was even mild enough for Kev to skate at the famed "Skate Plaza" for a bit. Had we more time and less skateboarders I would have liked to set up a good shoot for him. Next time. For the first and last leg of the trip we were graciously put up with our friend Claudio. He's into juicing for breakfast and wow, carrot juice isn't bad when mixed with citrus. I felt healthier than an ox after a cup of that. It majorly helped us gear up for Whisler. The drive there was breathtaking. Majestic mountains melting into the sea, great beasts of trees reaching for the sky... green everywhere. We visited a waterfall, which happened to be the one from Twilight (girlysquee!). Stopped in Aquamish, where Kevin and I ate a whole dominos pizza while we grocery shopped. We're sexy like that. Claire (Becca's God sister) and Jeff hooked us up with a chalet that was walking distance to the Creekside chairlift, not to mention that it was a freakin mansion. I was probably being anti-social but I spent a lot of time reading and sitting by the fire. We homemade sushi'd up the first night and played hilarious rounds of Balderdash until we needed to pass out. Couldn't be tired for the first day of riding. We lined up at the crack of dawn for a program called "first tracks" which is basically buffet style breakfast and early admission to the hills. After ghetto-ly stashing a croissant for later we hit it. Oh man did we hit it! Never, ever, EVER have I seen or felt powder like this. Hot knife + butter = me + whis We rode the Peak2Peak a few times just for the view. Hit up 7th Heaven, on Blackcomb, which is the #1 best riding terrain. There was powder up to my chest, making falling fun. I could have not died happier. Honestly, I think I cried a bit at points, cheering out and just plain maniacal laughing at our good fortune. People must have thought I was nuts. We couldn't have asked for more on this trip It was the time of my life

quickie post!

Julie gets married today! Send happy thoughts around 7pm! xo Jen

With sights like these...

(Kev, Claire, Me, Jeff, Becca) How could one not want to live in Vancouver British Columbia? I can't remember seeing so much green in my life. Not to mention all their plastic bags are biodegradable, their transit system is electric (save for a few buses) and they have the best tuna tataki I've ever tasted, oh and you know, Whistler. Which is only two of the most beautiful hours you've ever spent in a car away. I only went a week, but suddenly Toronto doesn't feel like home. It's familiar, sure, but I left my heart on the west coast... and my blackberry. D'oh :( I hope to post a gallery of the trip soon, once all the photos have been processed by T.