Wedding Talk // My Ring

I just realized that I haven't posted anything at all about my ring on here yet! I didn't post anything on any form of social media for the first few months because I was a little selfish, I wanted to keep it to myself and really enjoy being engaged. 

My ring is an oval shaped solitaire with diamonds all along the band. It is rose gold and extremely dainty, it's perfect and completely me (haha I'm not perfect though). I had given Brent some ideas and dropped a lot of hints about what I wanted and what he got me was beyond my wildest dreams. I am so in love with my ring and what it represents, it is a symbol of Brents love for me and a symbol of our future together.

We've been doing a lot of wedding planning in these last few weeks and it has just made us so excited about our future together. I just can't wait to be his wife! 

Hope you all have a happy Friday! It's the weekend now so enjoy it! I'll be back in Canada soon... I can't (and can) wait! 

xo

Travel Diary // Palacio de Seteais - Hotel Tivoli

Wow.

Those are the only words that I have for this hotel. It was a five star, beautiful and authentic palace. Brent mini surprised me with this overnight stay and boy am I glad he did. 

The palace was built in 1783 and 1787 for a Dutch consul. It was filled with elegance and class and I have to admit I felt a little out of place. I always feel like because we're so young, we aren't entitled to the goodness of these delights. It's silly I know but as outgoing and loud as I may be, in certain situations I can feel so quiet and small, haha hopefully a habit I lose with time. 

Walking around the beautiful grounds we found an amazing view of the serra (the mountains) and found a pretty cool maze made of shrubs. Inside, there were paintings and gold covered things everywhere. The walls had all sorts of painting of mythical creatures and exotic plants. It looked like tacky wallpaper but not tacky, if that makes any sense? Knowing that it was painted way back when, by some French artist was pretty neat. Brent and I are pretty geeky when it comes to this stuff. We just love the history that all of these places hold, we geek out hard. If we could have a super power every time we come to Europe, it would be the ability to touch something and see its history. How cool would that be? Like hey, lets touch this wall and BOOM you see a king and queen in that room doing things that kings and queens do. Ha! I'm inappropriate. 

// our view //

Guys, our room was something else holy crap. We had a beautiful queen sized bed with our windows facing the view of the Palacio da Pena and Castelo dos Mouros high up on the mountain and we even had our own TERRACE! I swear we had the best room in the whole palace, we were so spoiled. 

We had dinner in town though because with a five star hotel comes a five star restaurant and we are not fancy 28 euros Duck eaters lol so instead we found a really cute indian/italian (don't ask) restaurant where we had pizza and delicious butter chicken for dinner. Our waiter was so friendly and kind, I spent most of the time talking to him since Brent has the whole speaking portuguese problem and at the end of the night our waiter gave us a free desert. It was a traditional indian treat, we kindly took a bite but it just wasn't our cup of tea... so we hid it in my take out bag haha. At least we tried right? 

Breakfast came included and god, it was unreal. In Canada and the US, we're used to those crappy continental breakfasts... OH NO, not here. We had a huge buffet of fancy foods. We had all different kinds of cheeses and cold cuts, a huge variety of fruits, cereals and yogurts and an UNREAL spread of pastries. Brent and I did not hold back, we stuffed our faces and loved it.

All in all our trip to Sintra and our stay at the Palace was a success. It was beautiful, relaxing and exactly what we needed. In the future we will definitely go back! 

xo  

Travel Diary // Sintra

// palacio da pena // 

Since today is Wednesday, why not talk about our trip to Sintra that we went on last wednesday?! It's never too late! We went to Sintra to work on some of our wedding planning. We took the nice long and windy drive up to the Palacio da Pena to inform ourselves on how much a ceremony would be and unfortunately in order to do the ceremony you need to have the whole wedding there. For $150 per person, I can honestly say it was not worth it at all. 

Although we felt a little defeated it's okay because slowly the plans are all coming together but more on that later! ;) 

// palacio da pena //

So, about Sintra... Man, it's a magical city. It is one that we both truly love and will always hold our hearts. Brent instantly fell in love with it the first time he visited Portugal and he has said that each and every time we visit Portugal we have to go to Sintra, he loved it so much that our wedding ceremony will be in this beautiful town. 

It is such an old town filled with palaces and a very large castle, it's like you're instantly in the past (if you ignore all the tourists and small boutiques). The town is known for its 19th century Roman architecture and let me tell you, the architecture on its own makes the city. The homes and palaces have such a unique look and beauty to it, it's something that you just need to see in person. 

// yep, brent took this one // 

If you want to learn more on the history of this beautiful town please click here. 

Anyways, Brent and I spent the majority of our day walking around all the cobble stone roads and sidewalks and just looking at all the beautiful and colourful buildings. There is something magical about being in a place so different from what you're used to. In Canada, you just can't find stuff like this. You can't find buildings that are filled with edges and curves and stone shaped into beautiful designs. It's all so dreamy. It takes you into another world far away from the responsibilities and stress that happen in the real world. If only we could stay here and live forever... Sigh, a girl can dream. 

// I mean look at that art work, you just can't find this stuff in Canada // 

I have to admit that not many pictures were taken in the small town, only of the Palace but Brent and I decided that we needed to enjoy the town without distractions. We wanted to just take in every moment we had together in a foreign country. We think its important to take pictures and make memories but it's even more important to just disconnect from technology. 

I will be returning to Sintra once more on Saturday, to finalize all of our wedding plans. It's a bittersweet feeling having to leave. I am so excited to go home and back to Brent but I am so sad to leave my beautiful and historical Portugal. 

Hope you are all having a wonderful week. Happy hump day friends! 

xo

QOTW

This quote really struck a cord with me today. It is so true. 

In a time where we are so social media obsessed we are always thinking about the next best picture or post should be. We often forget to just enjoy what's right in front of us. 

Sometimes it's so nice to not have your phone or camera, to just take it all in and enjoy life without any distractions.

Last week, Brent really made me take a step back and enjoy our moment together. He put his camera away, grabbed my hand and said "babe, look at how beautiful this is... Let's take a minute to really enjoy this because in a month we're going to look back and wish we were still here." 

I think that taking a step back from our busy lives to really appreciate those moments is really important. Be it travelling, hanging out at home or laughing so hard it hurts at some stupid joke.

 We should really just embrace that moment because it won't happen again.

Travel diary // Up North

Hello, hello, Hello!!

Wow, am I the worst or what?! So much for keeping up with the blog... I guess my only excuse is I've been enjoying this beautiful country and for that I am not sorry. 

These last two weeks (I've been gone for only two weeks?!!!) have been filled with delicious food, a lot of travelling, wedding planning, a visit from Brent and family time. It has been pure bliss! 

Last week Brent arrived on Saturday and although he already left on Friday we had a very very busy week! I'll obviously divvy up the trip into several posts ;) 

On Monday we drove up North to a small town called Orjais. We spent a night there and went sightseeing to the castles in the surrounding towns and we also visited the mountains. Although we have plenty of snow in Canada (I heard we got a lot more this week, yuck!) we still took the trip up into the mountains and it was breathtaking! I have never seen mountains before so it was so nice to experience it. I have to admit I was relieved once we finally got to the bottom of the mountain, we were driving so high up and looking down seriously made me dizzy! What a diva, I know! 

All in all, the trip up north was excellent. We had so much fun and definitely made some beautiful memories. 

There's something about travelling with your significant other, it makes the experience that much sweeter and so much fun. I really wish Brent had stayed another week because having him leave really sucked! 

I hope you are all having a lovely week! I'm going to make the best of my last week here and I'm going to try to post a little more often! Gotta try and take this part time job a little seriously ;) 

Xo 

// A mix of castles at Belmonte and Sortelha // 

 

// Top of the Serra da Estrela // 

 

// it was just a little windy up there.. //

// Open your eyes Brent! // 

portugal

Greetings dear friends! 

I'm across the ocean and loving it. Europe is my safe haven, there is nothing better than good food, good wine and family. Today is my first day that I have actually been home doing nothing and relaxing, I know that there is a lot of sight seeing to be done but I needed a day to just recuperate. We have been driving all over the place these last few days seeing family and getting things done for the wedding. 

This is such an exciting time in my life, I get all teary eyed just thinking about it. Seeing my parents acting giddy and excited about their first child getting married is pretty amazing. I love that I am sharing this amazing experience with them. Brent arrives on Saturday and I am literally counting down the hours! I found a venue that will most likely be our wedding venue and I just can't wait for him to see it. It is everything that we have ever wished for and it works perfectly with our budget. 

I know us getting married in Portugal seems like a bit of a stretch, it seems like it will be expensive and in hindsight if you factor in all the flights people will have to pay for it technically is a bit out there but in reality it's just a fun vacation for everyone! I am so incredibly over joyed with the amount of support we have received from friends and family for doing the wedding here. If we didn't have this many people on board I don't think it would be possible. I am so grateful and so excited and I can't wait until Brent gets here so that he can get a taste of the excitement! 

I hope that you are all enjoying your week and just remember its almost the weekend! More updates will be on their way but for now I'm just enjoying this magical time with family. 

xo 

wedding talk // Kate spade

kate spade bridal 

Holy crapola. 

Did you guys know that Kate Spade has a whole entire bridal section?! I had absolutely no idea and now that I have found, I've gotta say I am obsessed! Although, everything is way over priced I have to admit there are a few things on there that I am interested in. Bridal gifts anyone? ;) A few of the items above were my favourite things, the bangle comes with engravings for your bridesmaids or maid of honour and that "mrs" necklace calls to me "kathy, oh kathy.. you NEED me." 

Kate spade is my favourite. I have never bought a purse because they're hella expensive and I haven't had the "right" moment to buy it. I told Brent that kate spade to me is a poor girls Birkin. I just watched the episode on Gilomore girls where Logan buys Rory her Birkin bag and its a big deal... You know what I mean? I dropped some hints. Maybe for my birthday I'll get one?! We shall see ;) 

Side note: I just arrived in Portugal this morning at 4am (canada time) I'm finally winding down from a long day of seeing family and catching up. I am running on no sleep, the jet lag is totally getting to me right now. It's only 9:30pm (portugal time) and I'm already heading for bed! I am so excited to be here and to start wedding plans, this is such an exciting and crazy time for us! I can't believe its all happening! Have a wonderful week friends!

xo

Marriage talk // Dresses

Hello Chickens! 

Today is a snow day for me, we got about 15 centimetres last night and there was no way I was driving out of my driveway. Not to mention that I have a full blown cold today. This is my second cold this year and I have to say they are not at all my favourite. I feel like I'm permanently underwater and that my head is going to explode. 

Anyways, I know my posts have been sparse but here I am back at it! Today I wanted to talk wedding dresses. Two weekend ago, I went dress shopping for the first time. The first day experience was unbelievable, for the first time I felt like a bride. It was the weirdest thing standing on that podium with a wedding dress on, it really took my breath away. Brent and I are one step closer to getting married, like this is a big deal guys! 

At the first bridal boutique I was treated so well, the lady who helped me was so nice and spoke so much to me, she made me feel special and beautiful (I know they're looking for a sale but still) and it was just a very great experience. I found a couple of dresses that I thought were nice but nothing really stuck with me. 

On the Sunday we went to a little bridal boutique in Toronto, I have to say it wasn't my favourite experience. I was rushed in and rushed out and I was left feeling pretty frustrated with the whole appointment. I found a dress that had I been treated properly would have absolutely been a top contender but instead I was shooed out and left mind boggled by it all. It's funny how places treat you differently and how much it really affects your experiences. 

Oh well, this Sunday I will be leaving for Portugal where I'm positive I will go dress shopping again. I know I am becoming one of those girls who needs to try on a lot of dresses but I honestly have had an image of how I want to look on my wedding day and unfortunately none of those dresses really made me think "Omg, this is THE ONE" I will get there I'm sure. But the next time I go into a bridal boutique I now know what to expect and I will definitely be more vocal about my wants. I'm hoping that I will soon find "the one" but until then the hunt continues! 

Hope you all have a great week! 

xo