So last weekend Mason had to make a run to Value Village, and in the twenty minutes we were there I ended up walking away with five (new?) beautiful sweaters. Suffice to say that I was, you can only call it, elated. Literally dancing the happy dance of happy sweater joy in the change room. With my five sweaters (some still with the original price tag on them) and Mason's two new shirts, we spent all of $42. (I got a practically brand new cashmere cardigan for $8.00! The rest of my sweater finds were $3 - $5.00!) I don't think many people I've told really understand how exciting that is to someone as frugal, but also very clothes-loving, as I.

Nevertheless, after witnessing my apparently hilarious celebratory flailing, Mason came up with the brilliant proposition that henceforth we shall embark on a single Value Village excursion once a month. The trick -- I have a maximum of only fifteen minutes once we set foot in the store to race up and down the isle(s) of my choice (change room time not included), thus preventing me from very quickly turning a cheap, monthly shopping trip into a wild money-spending extravaganza. I have it marked on my calendar and I am pumped. Pretty clothes each month for me without breaking our money-saving budget! *Hearts* X3 I figure my best strategy to keep from running around and flailing wildly all over the store is to pick one section per trip. So next up... jackets! (Or shoes... I can't decide!)

I have a very busy weekend coming up. Dinner/gaming tonight, we're going bowling for Mason's birthday tomorrow, and then bridal fair number two is up this Sunday! We got the DJ down, maybe this time we'll win some cheap photography or maybe even *shiny* a dress~? *Prepares to wade back into the bridal fair fray!*

Yesterday I went to my first bridal expo, and I learned three things. Bridal shows are:

1. full of fun!
2. full of crazy!
3. full of spam (or more specifically, they give you a giant bag which they then proceed to fill with spam at every booth you pass.)

The crazy and spam were both good crazy and good spam though. It was such a fun morning of wandering around all of the vendor booths and gushing over all of the pretty set ups and decorations and dresses~ :3 I was all starry eyed with sparkles and splendor and spent a lot of time getting lost among the maze of tables and trying to figure out where I was in the giant sea of women (and very few men who I believe most of who were drunk.) Much love to wonderful family and friends who came with me and readily accepted jobs of photo taking and spam bag carrying, and even started the day with bringing tasty Timbits~ LOOOOOOOVE!

While we sadly received no exciting phone call yesterday saying we had won the grand $15,000 wedding and Paris honeymoon prize package from the bridal show, I'm still holding out hope that we'll win something, however small, from one of the other bajillion contests we entered while we were there. Free dress? Discount photography? I will even be giggly with delight if I win half price seat covers or something. C'mon little bridal fair fairies, sprinkle some of your magic wedding contest pixie dust!

On a sour note, the sizing band on my temporary engagement ring got all bent out of shape and is pretty much useless now. I almost lost the ring more than once on Saturday so instead of Ben Moss getting very angry with me when I loose their expensive jewelery, I put it back safely in its cute little ring box. Until my actual ring comes in (hopefully next week) my left hand is feeling a little bare.

Baaaah I have lots to update with on my wedding blog! XD Bridal show number two is up in two weeks!

I could do with another good week of relaxing. Seeing as that is not possible, however, I shall instead try as hard as I can to stretch out the rest of this Sunday evening. *Cling* Quick and dirty recap of my splendid -- but still much too short -- time off:

• Christmas was good. Got chocolate, a new digital camera, kitty fountains, big comfy blankets and *drumroll* a SHINEH NEW IPHONE! XD Love love loooove my new phone. I'm not sure how I ever managed to last this long without a smartphone.


• Went for a double feature movie day with Sister and friends. Movie one of two: Avatar in 3D. Loved it~ It was one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a while. It was a gorgeous visual feast for the eyes, and I really really enjoyed the whole Na'vi race and tribal culture and Pandora world. You can bet your bottom that I cried big sappy girl tears when they destroyed the Hometree. ;_;


• Movie two of two: Sherlock Holmes. Also very delightful -- and soooo slashy, lololol. Seriously, it was the most slasherific WatsonxHolmes crackfest ever. They bickered and nagged one another like an adorable old married couple. I mean, seriously: "My tongue is going numb. I'm not going to be of any use to you." SERIOUSLY? *BAM! Falls out of chair at BUBBLING HOT SUBTEXT PUNCH IN THE FACE* I kept squirming and imagining at any moment Robert Downey Jr. was going to shove Jude Law down on the cobblestones and have his sexy, snotty British way with him.
  
  EDIT: for Mike and Greg -- WE TOLD YOU!


• Watched the long awaited, two-part "End of Time" Doctor Who special and was left oddly disappointed. I think all of the over-hype killed it for me. It was cool to see The Master again and the -- extremely brief -- return of the Time Lords was kind of neat, but frankly I thought the whole story was pretty bland. Either way, however, Ten is now all gone and I shall miss him dearly while at the same time I try very hard to remain open-minded and give the new boy a chance. This courtesy does not extend to Eleven's new catchphrase though. ("Geronimo"? Really? *Makes a face*)


• Phoned Ben Moss regarding the status of my ring after already giving them over and beyond their original four week ETA, and they in turn told me that it wouldn't be ready until January 17th. *Deep breaths* If they hadn't sent me on my way with a temporary ring like they did, by now I would entering into that Royally Ticked phase.


• Royally Ticked phase was reached and surpassed after three different calls over the last week with Marks Work Wearhouse though -- when after waiting and waiting for them to order me in a size 9 pair of stylish winter boots, I was notified that no size 9's apparently exist ANYWHERE and I can expect them to be in about NEVER. D: Why did you waste all of that time ordering in the wrong boot style and not telling me certain stores had them in when they actually did, because now everyone else has bought my boots and they're all permanently sold out!!! ARRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH! Will never shop at Marks again. So angry. And now I have to find new winter boots that are not also piss ass ugly, which is no easy feat. The retail world was not kind to me this holiday season.


• Did not get H1N1 shot as planned. Did not play any Guild Wars. Did not draw anything. :x I did, however, do a lot of sleeping. So overall, my holidays were not very productive, but still enjoyable even if I was asleep for most of it. Upon reflection, it was probably a good thing I saved up so much energy sleeping, since I will now most likely need to conserve my strength for when I'm overtaken by a bout of deadly swine flu.

My Christmas shopping is officially finished, with a whole day to spare. Go me! Wrapping presents last night was a whole new adventure with the cat intent on trying to steal my tape, borrow through gift bags, and tear up my tissue paper. If my wrapping this year seems more shoddy than usual, blame Iroh.

I'm extremely sad that I still don't have any new boots yet. They originally arrived last week but unfortunately in a size that was slightly too small -- and I had them for all of twelve glorious hours before I finally relented and returned them and asking to re-order a half size larger. Hopefully the 9's they're sending me will fit perfectly. This is why I don't ever buy clothes or shoes online, I hate purchasing stuff before I have a chance to try them on. :P Boot fail.

With an absence of any of our usual big trips this past year, I took advantage of all of my saved up vacation days and am looking forward to a nice, extended Christmas holiday this season. During this time in between all of much tasty turkey gorging and shameless post stomach-full-of-turkey lounging, I am determined to:

• See Avatar (who wants to go with me? SOMEONE GO WITH ME!)
• Finally go and get my H1N1 shot so as to avoid dying of dreaded piggy flu.
• Play more Guild Wars. My warrior needs some loving.
• Sit back and finally get a chance to do some drawing. ;_; I miss drawing so much, I can't believe I haven't managed to get anything new done in almost a year. I had all of these wonderful intentions to draw a bunch of art pieces as gifts this year for Christmas, but as it is now nearing the end of December that plan has obviously flown out the window. Art fail. :x

OOH OOH OOH and there is a very strong possibility that I may have in my possession a shiny new iPhone by the end of the holidays~ However, this is still sort of teetering on the knifes edge considering the rational and very frugal part of my brain is overcome by guilt about such a frivolous purchase and the thought of a $20+ increase in my monthly phone bill. Inner turmoil, INNER TURMOIL!

Hold the phone... they're making a second Sex and the City movie? I've known that there's been rumors about a potential sequel, but how have I managed to go this long without knowing that it was confirmed back in February...? With a release date for May 2010, a mere five months away?! D:

I'm so torn on whether this calls for jubilation or dread. Obviously more SatC is always an enthusiastic fist pump; but the first movie wrapped up the girls' respective stories so nicely while managing to keep them all in character... I'd be afraid of what sort of silly, contrived plots would be concocted for the sequel for no reason other than to milk the franchise to a grim death. I really hope they don't turn the Carrie/Big dynamic all domestic with a crazy pregnancy plot twist like people are theorizing. Tiny, drooling Mr. Big's... That just seems wrong. Do not want.

Nevertheless, I'm excited and will see it either way. <3

Another one of our infamous Alberta winters officially arrived this weekend and has royally kicked our ass. My usual 45 minute transit ride home on Friday evening took an hour and a half, and there were some particularly tense moments each time our bus tried to pull away from a stop with its tires spinning frantically in the curbside snow drifts. I have to admit that one thing I really miss from condo living is waking up after a big snowfall and POOF! the walkway and parking lot had already been cleared by some unseen entity. Shoveling snow sucks. The fact that our driveway is freakishly long compounds on the suckage factor. *Pout pout pout* Where are all the tiny children who are supposed to ring our doorbell and offer to shovel our driveway? What a bunch of slackers.

On the upside from the past week, I finally got my (temporary) engagement ring! I still have to wait a few weeks for my custom-sized one so the one they gave me for now is like two sizes too large, but it has a little sizing bar bit that snugs it up to my finger enough that it doesn't fall off. Either way, it's pretty and sparkly and is something to show to people that says "Look look! I really am engaged, it's not a giant sham!" *Loves her new ring*

I finally sucked it up and ordered a pair of actual winter boots, as my kiss ass little dress boots that I somehow managed to wear all through last winter provide neither traction nor warmth of any kind to speak of. While it was a $100 I wasn't really inclined to spend right now, they're very cute and I'm excited for them to arrive (and I know my toes for one will be eternally grateful.)

Sigh. I can't believe how fast this month is going. December is so busy. It's dawning on me much slower this year that I really need to get a move on a buy some Christmas gifts. :x (0/6 gifts purchased... EEP.) It's going to have to be a very small Christmas gift-wise, what with mounting monthly bills, credit cards with some big purchases on them, and now we're saving for weddings and cruises; all the while with Mason back to school in his final year of school starting in March. *Must save save save save* :x

Ther33e was something else I'm sure I wanted to include in this post, butzzsssssaaaaaaa kitttttttasaaAAAATY HAS chosen thisppppppp mom ent to insist on trying to find a comfortable spot to lay directly upon my keyboarrrrrr55rrffvvvv-- /....... WTF kitty. I am giving up on any more of this,6ti