House . Updates

Week 13

(Oct 16th - Oct 22nd)

One of the two pendants and our new popcorn maker (a.k.a microwave)

Every male must have one

love these!!!

cupboard jewelry from Restoration Hardware in Southcenter

Fab Kitchen Faucet

WEDDING WARRIORS

A few months ago, Nate and I received a really mysterious envelope in the mail. It was addressed to Katy (I'm Kate with an 'e') and Nathan Wieland (the 'e' and the 'i' were mixed up) at Majestic Paint (street name is Majestic Point). Inside the envelope was a full on wedding invite complete with a photo of two young people around our age smiling lovingly into the camera lens. It also included directions, time, date, gift registry - the whole meal deal. The one issue was that Nate and I had absolutely no clue who these two people were; yet, they seemed to know us, just not well enough to spell our names correctly. The situation was feeling kinda creepy in a twilight zone-ish way.

Now, in order to be fair, the next part of this story involves a bit of a history and/or cultural background. If you have ever been friends with or maybe acquainted with a person of Ukrainian origin, you will know that they are extremely nationalistic, very gracious and family oriented and really love to throw massive parties at monumental occasions with an overabundance of food - for example; weddings. I know, because being 50% Ukrainian, I had a little hunch that this might have something to do with an extended Ukranian family member. It turns out, my suspicions were correct. The boy in the photo was named Justin who also happens to be the groom and who is... wait for it ... wait for it ... my Father Don's first cousin, Gerry, whose oldest and only son is my second cousin... a.k.a Justin - who I've never met. So, being a part of this extended Ukrainian family my husband and I received an invite to his wedding without question or hesitation and to be honest it was also no question and no hesitation that my husband and I wouldn't be attending. House, work, free weekend, sorry, I don't think I've got the time.

However, after dinner with my parents one night, Nate and I were laughed about getting this random invite. My Dad looked up at me and said very seriously; 'well, you can't consider NOT attending. You and Nathan have been invited. You have to go.' 'Ummmmm,' I said; 'actually Dad, you CAN consider not going even if you have been invited especially since we:

a) have never met either one of them,

b) don't exactly have the time to six hours to Edmonton and back over the weekend for an early ceremony and a evening reception to celebrate someone's wedding that we don't know,

and c) Ukrainians won't have a vegetarian option on the invite. What am I supposed to eat?'

My Dad; 'Okay, (pause) well it's up to you (major sigh). But just so you know, it's extremely rude to decline to a Ukrainian wedding. This is your family. This is your heritage. This is your blood.' Then Mom pipes up; 'Yeah Kate. Please Kate, PAAAAAHHHHLEEEEESE????? I need you there, don't make me go alone. Think about how much fun we'll have. Think of the food and the dancing. Think of the wine Kate - think of the wine!!!' (I love you Mom).

Basically, after a few days of this thick blanket of guilt that Mom and Dad wrapped us in, Nate and I succumbed to the pressure and agreed to go to the Ukrainian wedding. Then, I figured that the smartest thing for me to do was to cajole (guilt) my poor brother Ted into coming too, which wasn't an issue for the family throwing the party. The more Ukrainians the merrier!!!!

So the Wedding night summed up into one word: WACKY. I say that in the nicest way possible because actually the people at our table were very kind and talkative which made it easier; but can I just mention that I didn't realize there could be so many interesting characters jam packed into one care center? Like WOAH. We now have some wild connections in Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan and talk about making your life more interesting in a matter of hours. If you're looking to do that, try to get yourself to a Ukrainian wedding pronto and just so you know, I can probably help you out with that if ya like.

Couples at our Table at the Ukrainian Wedding

(Some really nice and interesting people at our table - I talked to Trudy all night long, the one in the rose dress).

Week 12

House . Updates 

(Oct 9th - 15th)

A SEA OF CARDBOARD

Boxes, boxes and more boxes are making their way into the pad.  It's hard to believe that our 'stuff' has been sitting in these cardboard structures for over a year now.  If you think about it, last year in Sept '08, we packed up all of our worldly possessions, jammed it all into my parents basement, went on the huge sailing adventure and are only now unpacked bit by bit of it!  I'm saying this because as we move over our boxes of possessions, I have to ask myself; 'have we really been living out of suitcases all this time?  Literally over a year now?!?'  The answer is yes.  Crazy what the human is able to do and amazing what a new marriage is capable of withstanding.  

At the same time, it's also really exciting to open them all.  Early Christmas for the Weilands!  We're getting plates, wine glasses, sweaters, footwear, china, jogging shorts, napkins, gravy boats. It's all new!  Or semi-new.  It's like we won a lottery of items that we have all pre-picked out.  Some used, some gently used and some not used at all - can you believe we still have unopened wedding gifts two and a half years after the wedding?  Nuts.  

So, currently, our undeveloped basement is the storing house for these boxes which is also holding some of my sister-in-law and her husbands stuff - they live in London England.  We had two very kind Morman missionaries (I love those people) come over to assist in the moving of both our stuff and the Kolubinski stuff and the basement looks like a large sea of stacked brown squares among random pieces of junk - I mean, um, stuff.  You could have a wicked game of hide and seek in there.  All of this means we are getting into the space soon.  It's going to be such a great feeling.  House updates include a working kitchen chrome faucet, new hardware on the kitchen cabinets, a large leather sofa almost ordered from EQ3 and master bedroom painted an elegant dusty mauve/gray to go with our Parisian romantic theme.   

House . Updates

Week 11

(Oct 2nd - Oct 8th)

You know you're getting older when you blog about your new fridge.  

We've got appliances and they're oh so chromie - not a word I know.  To use some seriously opposing and conflicting words in the same sentence: our fridge is so hot.  It's got the useful shelves on the top and the pull out drawer freezer on the bottom.  Nate installed the microwave (how the heck would you even know how to do that may I ask), to allow the for the extreme 'popage' of my ultimate fave

 snack.   Also, the stackable washer/dryer set is ready to tumble and

 gently cycle to my heart's content and boy are we content.  WOO HOO!  The house is coming along!!!  

(sexy)

As the seasons change, so too shall the blog

HOUSE . UPDATES

Week 10

(Sept 25th - Oct 1st)

It is so stunning outside.  Fall is so lovely.  It's calming and crisp and colourful all at once - so pretty.  A few nights ago, Nate and I went for a long stroll in the early evening when it was still warm out. We crushed really dry large leaves underneath our feet and then payed extra close attention to the natural smells that hung in the air.  Bark, smoke, cold mountain air.  In that moment, I was reminded of how grateful I am to be living in Canada where we get all four of the seasons.  Autumn used to be terrifying for me because it meant that right around the corner was a thick quilt of cold winter misery ready to lay itself down and stay put for 6 months.  However, this year, I'm really trying to embrace the seasonal changes and accept and acknowledge that there is beauty even in the 'gross' stuff.

It's not just the tree leaves that are changing colour and leaving, the house is changing significantly as well...and hopefully we'll be leaving Mom and Dad's - yet again.  The appliances came on Wednesday (fridge, microwave, stove, stackable washer/dryer, etc) and the hardwood is now all done.  We were lucky enough to have Nate's poppy Rob come in to help out for a few days.  He's such an incredible man and we were lucky to get his expertise.