The Wedding

What a wild and crazy day! I feel like I lived through a very surreal moment! You know - you go to weddings all the time (OK -- not all the time, but time to time), but you go to weddings, and they go through the formalities, and everything is beautiful. And you hope that one day your child(ren) will find someone they deem worthy of themselves to marry. 

And then it happens, and well—it was a beautiful day. Absolutely beautiful. But I'm going to start at the top. 

After writing the blog, Little Bear and I were out on the beach. That little guy is pretty funny! He's just so little, and he's like a chick magnet. Sorry if that term offends anyone, but you can't go anywhere with him without someone falling in love with him! 

Little Bear on the beach

And of course, the little guy overestimated the depth of a pool of water and fell in and then walked in the sand, and he was dirty. Well, I certainly wasn't giving him a bath, and thankfully, the sand fell off. I brushed off as much as I could, and I swear the rest fell off in the car when I went to pick up one of the guests at another hotel. 

OH NO -- Bear got dirty!!! 

A few of the guests joined M on the beach for early morning yoga. Bear and I hung around to get some pictures. I knew no one else was covering the event, so I helped out. 

Early morning yoga on the beach

Then I was off to Tofino and Rhino Cafe for my morning breakfast. Yes-- I could have eaten at the hotel, but riding the bike in was much more fun! DH brought Bear in the car, and they joined me. I hate when they put a pastry with lots of icing into a paper bag. You lose half the icing that way!! Anyway -- it was an apple fritter kind of day, and it was yummy. 

Bear and I are having our morning breakfast.

And there I am with my helmet on and my two jackets, but I was having an amazing time. It was so much fun!!!!

Happy to be riding a bike

I had to stop to take some pictures. That's the beauty of riding a bike; there is so much to see, and since you are much closer to things, you wouldn't see from a car. And since you are on a bike, it's super easy to stop and take pictures.  

A red poppy

This flower was from a huge flowering bush, and those blooms were as big as my hand. They were stunning. 

Massive pink flowers

And then I thought this was an interesting sign. Nicely made up, so it wasn't just a casual thing. I was tempted to take the bike and see just how deadly they were!!! I mean—don't you want to know what a deadly pothole looks like? Perhaps today I can find out!

What's a deadly pothole look like?

I stopped to take a picture of the hotel sign, but now realize, looking at it, there was too much shadow at the time. No worries—we have the memory. 

The hotel sign

At one point, I needed something from M's room—what the heck was I delivering or picking up? WAIT -- it wasn't that at all. I was trying to finish the ring bearer pillow, and they had goodies, so I stocked up for fortification while I finished the pillow. Yes -- it was a big day for pastries. I'll deal with the consequences when I get home. 

More pastries

And then Bear and I sat in the library and worked on the pillow. The pillow was done basically. I had to find someone to put their finger on the thread so I could tie it tightly, so I went to M's room, where some of her friends were, and one of them helped me tie it. That was to give the pillow a tufted center. 

Working on the ring bearer pillow

And there was Bear, and he sat between my legs on the chair while I tried different ways of attaching the pillow to his harness. The pillow just kept wanting to shift, but I think I finally figured something out. But as I sat there, two couples came by, took pictures of Bear, and asked all kinds of questions. And then they started asking about the puzzle that was still there. Oh my—I have work to do!!!! But you never know what's going to happen when Bear is around. He was such a good boy and patient as I worked on his pillow. 

Grandma says I'm a very patient boy, and I am!!!!!

Speaking of which, I had a near panic moment earlier in the day. It was a beautiful day. More on that in a moment, so Bear and I decided to sit in the lawn chairs near the hotel. Let me rephrase that, I decided to sit in the chairs and was hoping Bear would join me. He did stick with me for a bit, and then he started to wander around. I decided to get up to keep an eye on him, and all was good. 

Then he went left, while I went right, or he was looking for a quiet place to do his business. It happened so fast, I don't even know what happened. But all of a sudden, he wasn't there! OH MY GOD!!!! I'm not a panicky person, but I had a moment of panic, to say the least. It did NOT help when my phone rang —it was a call from M. OMG—I cannot tell her that Bear is missing. 

She was laughing and said that Bear was just around the corner. They had been watching me from their hotel window!!!!! PHEW --- saved by the onlookers, but busted as a trusted dog sitter!!!! We all had a laugh, and then I kept a closer eye on the little guy. 

This was Bear with all his wedding garb. He had on a white shirt, and I made him a green bow tie - more on all that another day. And then he had a new leash and harness, and his pillow. At one point, I think there was a corsage for him, but he had no more room!!!!

I'm a very handsome boy!!!!

The one thing that I am very proud of M for is her attitude towards the day. She has spent enormous amounts of time planning the wedding, and you could tell. Details were taken care of, some things probably went awry behind the scenes, but through it all, she was graceful, gracious, and so at ease. There wasn't a single moment that I felt she was "panicky" because something didn't go well. She said, " It is what it is." And that just made my heart sing. Be flexible, and nothing will ever disappoint you. I am so proud of her for that. She really and truly has grown up. But do your kids ever grow up in their parents' eyes? I am very proud of her for the woman she has become!

Thankfully, I'm a quick-change artist. I was watching some videos on my phone, and at 12:35, DH came back from hanging out with the guys. I was still lying on the bed with Bear, and we needed to be in the room at 1:15. Oops. I ran downstairs and grabbed a sandwich and a chocolate croissant for lunch. Then into the shower, but not before comforting Bear, as there was a tsunami-warning drill (no danger for us), and poor Bear did NOT like that. 

Anyway, I showered, blow-dried my hair, got dressed, ate my lunch, and still arrived at 1:15. There is no time to waste!!! Close friends and family members (ladies only) met in M's room, and when she came down the stairs in their loft room, she was radiant!!! The photographers and videographers captured the moments, and it was an unreal experience for all of us to share. 

But I have to include this memory here. I got my ears pierced years ago when I was a teenager. Over the years, I stopped wearing earrings, and one of the holes had closed. So I haven't worn earrings for eons. She had mentioned to DH that she wanted me to wear long dangly earrings, which - you know me - if someone asks me to do something, I tend NOT to do it. And can you believe that someone called me spiteful because of it!!! Well, we don't want any negative thoughts here, but the idea stayed in my head. 

One day at the mall several months ago, I spotted a place that does ear piercing, so I thought, "What the heck," and got my ears pierced. It didn't hurt nearly as much as when I was younger! Then, the day before we left, I hadn't bought any earrings yet, so I had to scoot to the mall, went back to the same place, and found some funky dangling earrings. 

I never told anyone about the earrings, and no one at home noticed that my ears were pierced! Now I can wear funky earrings -- yes -- I didn't need pierced earrings, I could have worn clip-ons. 

I wore them yesterday, and when we hugged when I saw her, we both started crying, which was OK for me but not for her! Her day was just beginning. But it was all OK, and I feel like we have cemented our relationship that much more! I swear the first thing she noticed was those long, dangling earrings! 

Then DH and I walked down to the beach where the wedding would take place. I wanted to get Bear prepared. When I came through the trees to the beach, it took my breath away. The view was stunning, and the weather was perfect. They could NOT have asked for a better day or place. 

The wedding venue

Just a side note: they had their first date on the beach somewhere in Vancouver. They got engaged on a beach in Maui and are now married on a beach in Tofino!!! The beach is their happy place!

Here is the arch that we picked up at the party rental place. The hotel did an amazing job of camouflaging it. 

The wedding arch

But seriously —look at that view!!!!

The view from our chairs

They had a commissioner do the ceremony, and it was beautiful. They did NOT want anyone taking pictures during the ceremony except one of their best friends. That way, they would get some immediate pictures of the ceremony. I had to chuckle because, from a couple that posts a ton of pictures on IG, to tell people not to take pictures was an oxymoron. But they had the professional photographers there, and the one friend who took some, so they could have some pictures of the ceremony. 

Why? They wanted people to be in the moment of their ceremony and to experience it through their own eyes, not through a camera's lens. I thought it was a brilliant move, but OH MY -- it was hard to sit on your hands!!! 

Anyway, the ceremony was beautiful, and the sun beamed down on them as the waves crashed behind them. We could NOT have asked for a more perfect day. 

Wait -- I'm coming to their picture. Here is a close-up of the ring pillow. And I love how the commissioner called it. The ring BEARer pillow. It was so adorable. 

The ring pillow

I had made some small (6") pillow forms way back when, and they were made to put some funky folky stuff on the outside. I used the satin from her dress and made a cover. I'll tell you more about that experience another day. The lace is the bits of lace that the dressmaker sent me, and I stitched it to the pillow. 

And there are their two bands attached to the pillow. 

The wedding bands

Once the ceremony was over, it was time for family and friends' photos. We had picked up a bunch of games at the party rental place, and so while the photos were happening, the games were used. And it was almost time to go before I realized that I did not have a picture of the happy couple!!!

The happy couple - Dillon and Madeline

They both looked amazing, and Dillon had a bespoke suit made —oh boy, it really makes a difference in the fit. And M's dress was covered in tulle and lace, and that was quite the task to wear that on the beach. While the beach wasn't very deep in sand, it was deep enough that it was hard to walk on with shoes. I went barefoot until it was time for pictures. And in all that—I do NOT have a picture of me in my outfit!!!

Dillon and Madeline

After pictures, we headed to the dining room for dinner. And I have stuff to share there, but not today. And after that, we went to another party venue on the property for the dance! Here's a picture of the first dance, and they have been practicing it, and they were so cute!!!

The first dance

We walked back to the hotel (about 5 minutes), and it was pitch black. No lights, but I have zero issues seeing in the dark. 

As we arrived at the hotel, I looked up and OH MY --- look at the stars. Yep -- this photo was taken with my phone camera. It's amazing what those cameras are capable of. 

The night sky

Bear hung out with me for most of the day, but he had a sitter from 4 - 10 PM. So that gave me a bit of a break, although he's no trouble at all. Just not allowed in the dining room! I came back to the room to get him and took him back to the dance. HEY -- I had to get some steps in somehow!!!! 

When we finally got back to the room, the poor little guy was exhausted. He went straight to bed and hasn't moved an inch. WAIT --- let me rephrase that. He's a snuggler, and I swear I woke up sleeping on the edge of the bed. But what a cutey and you can't complain!!!

Exhausted after a very long day

And there it is --- the wedding. It was perfect! The couple looked stunning; the weather was perfect; there was laughter and joy; all their close friends and family were nearby; and all the hard work of planning went off so smoothly that it was seamless. People kept asking me about details, but I had nothing to do with the planning. I may have helped with a few things, but it was all Madeline and Dillon. They did an amazing job. 

I am so proud to welcome Dillon into our family, and I wish them all much joy and happiness in their new life as a couple. Love you both to bits!!!!!

And a huge thank you to all the friends and family who came to the wedding. As mentioned last night at dinner, getting to Tofino is not easy, and it took us two days to get here. But it was so worth it, and it holds such special meaning for the happy bride and groom. We had been here 27 years ago with Madeline when she was little. I need to dig those photos out when I get home. And I believe they were here a couple of years ago or last year? I'm not sure about those details. I'm sure they will be back!  

On that happy note, I'm out of here. We are meeting some friends for breakfast, not in Tofino, and I might go for a bike ride afterward. I'll see how the day goes. 

There is lots more tos hare, but that's it for today. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

 

WOW - DESIGNER EPIC 3 is here!!!

It's been a long time since I have missed a day of blogging. Even when traveling on the Camino, I always managed. However, there is a very good reason I missed, and it's called -- lack of time. 

I was fast asleep in my bed (two nights ago) when I was awoken at 11:30 PM. What awoke me? It was the sound of SAWING. Yes --- it sounded like someone was sawing something. What could they be sawing, and where were they? I've no idea. But it sounded like they were right next door to me. So, sawing the bed apart? I thought of calling security, but I didn't. And after the sawing, I also heard voices in the distance and sounds of movement and moving things around, it stopped after 20 minutes, and I fell asleep. I know --- my patience level is way more than it should be. I SHOULD have called the front desk because whatever they were doing, they shouldn't have been doing it at 11:30 at night. 

Then I was awakened again at 12:39. Same thing, but it didn't last as long. However, this time, I could NOT get to sleep. I tossed and turned, read for a bit, and sleep eluded me. I was planning to walk with Claire in the morning, and I was finally awakened by her texts when they made it through my deep sleep. Too late to walk with Claire as by this time (6:45), she was already in the gym. 

I grabbed my clothes, and I went out for a walk by myself. I managed to get in 6,000 steps before breakfast. But there was ZERO time to blog. Yes -- I chose walking over blogging because I didn't have time for both. 

I happened to meet the person in the room two rooms from me, and she heard the same thing from the room between us. The front desk denied any work was done in that room last night, but I heard that someone else had to move because of noise, so something went on, but no one is saying anything. Let's say that last night was total silence. 

So the previous day, we had our certification training on the Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 3. 

The DESIGNER EPIC 3

I'm not even sure where to begin to tell you how amazing this sewing and embroidery machine is. There is a comparison list between the EPIC 2 and the EPIC 3. I had looked at it and thought to myself, yes -- there is plenty to make me want to switch. But we were one hour into an all-day class, and I had seen enough to make me switch! There is so much new that you will NOT recognize this machine. 

All I will say is WOW --  my mind was completely blown, and I sure hope I retain most of what we learned. Of course, sitting back in front of the machine will make me remember. It was an amazing day; we made a couple of samples - and, well --- I'm not going to go into details right now. 

But -- the presales are continuing until the end of this month. If you are thinking about it and it fits your budget, I'd go for it. This is a NEW machine with loads of bells and whistles. It is MORE than just an upgrade to the EPIC 3. 

After that day of training, we had a group dinner by the water. OK -- the pond. There are loads of ponds in this area. Are there alligators? Oh yes --- the place where we had dinner is called the American Gator Club. And we spotted this guy in the water. 

A gator

We never saw more than his head, and to think that Clair and I walked the grounds! But we weren't really near any ponds. 

After dinner, I needed to get out and walk, so I headed out to see if I could grab a geocache or two. I headed off to this garage. Of course, because of the ponds and some trees -- I was NOT cutting through trees in the dark, I had to walk a bit extra before I came to this parking garage. Yep -- only I would be happy to walk through a parking garage by myself in the evening. 

The location of a geocache

I did not find the cache at this location, but it was NOT for lack of trying. I was popping off these caps along the posts but found nothing. I did find a hole where I'm sure it was, but it was empty. So I moved onto the next cache, which was a bit further away. 

Searching for a geocache

Yep -- I got that cache, and I got my badge for Florida, as I had never found a cache in Florida before. Shoot -- I forgot to check if there was one at the Washington DC airport as there often is, and I missed that opportunity. I'll have to go back! I'm taking a different route to get home, so I will not be going through that airport. 

On my mad dash walk yesterday morning, I decided to walk along the road past the entrance to the gated community where the famous golf course is. There is a PGA golf course here. Actually, there are two golf courses. One is currently closed. I am not sure if this is the famous 17th hole or not, but it looks like it. This is NOT a course that I would play, as I would never get my ball to this green. OK -- I would never play golf! 

I had to cross the road to get that picture, and the grass was soaking wet. As I went into the bushes, I heard a noise. I did NOT linger! The dangers I take for you all!

A green on the golf course

Then, we were off to the convention area of this hotel to get set up. There are rooms and rooms of sewing machines that needed to be set up. Thankfully, they were all unboxed, as that would have been a very thankless job, and those machines are heavy. 

I was thrilled to hear that we were done shortly after lunch. I got my challenge pressed, and wait until you see what it was pressed on! I didn't get a picture, and the product is BRAND new, but I didn't want to post it today. Well, now that the dealers have arrived, everything sitting in that area will be all over social media, so I can probably share it later. 

Claire and I decided to go to the beach, while Margaret went for a tour of the golf course. Sadly, she only got a tour of the clubhouse, which is better than nothing. 

The first thing we saw on our way to the beach was this. Not a good start. 

At the beach

It's not that I don't like snakes -- well, I don't like snakes. Yep -- plain and simple. But we were able to bypass this guy, and we were good. 

The beach was amazing. That is the Atlantic Ocean. It was pretty calm yesterday, and the sand was so hard-packed that I was able to walk in my shoes. We got lucky that it was a clear and warm day. We had a beer at the clubhouse. OH -- we had to take a shuttle bus to get to the beach; while it's not far, it's far enough when you don't have a lot of time. 

The beach

The houses along that beach are HUGE!!! And there was hardly anyone on the beach. What you see above is pretty much how it looked the entire time we were there. EMPTY!

Back to the hotel and all dressed up for the GALA opening event. I wore my thrift store find for the event. Shoot -- I did not take a picture of my glitzy sequin top. I had a pair of fancy black pants with an organza skirt, and I was good to go! However, what does one wear for shoes? 

My shoes -- heels even!

Here are my feet after the evening. Not too bad, and I did NOT need to take my shoes off once. A heel and strapless, no less. We had a great dinner and met up with many dealers from Canada, so we had a great chat with all of them. We'll be seeing more of them today. Well, I guess it depends on which class we are helping with and which class they are in! But there are lunches, and I think we are free tonight to do what we want! 

I got back to my room, and before I went to bed, I had to clean the place. I don't get my room serviced every day. I hate having them come into the room. So, with the mad dash from the morning, there was stuff strewn everywhere! It looks much tidier now. 

OH -- I should mention that I'm not having the best time at this hotel. The night before, I arrived at my door, only to find the key didn't work. Turns out it wasn't the key card, but the battery was dead! And it's hilarious because my alarm system is giving me a low battery alert at home, which is just stupid since I changed the batteries before I left. I had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come and fix the battery. More steps as I had to go back to the lobby and then back to my room! I walked 15 KM yesterday!

On that note, I'm going for a walk this morning, and then we have an early breakfast, so we can get to the rooms to help out with the classes. 

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!