Dress Shopping...for the Wedding.

YAY! It feels like we are finally making a bit of progress with the wedding plans despite both Tom's and my hectic schedules as of late.

This morning started out bright and early for myself, my mom, and the four ladies in our wedding party - Kim, Erin, Justyna, and Agnes.

We headed for our appointment at Taylor's Bridal - it was set for 9:00 am until 10:30 am. We all arrived just before the store opened and once inside were immediately set up with one of the wonderful consultants for looking at and trying on dresses.

Everyone was pretty much initially convinced that the dress chosen would be a shorter style - but after several dresses were tried on, it was suggested that a floor length dress be considered. Sure enough - the chosen dress is a beautiful floor length dress. Everyone will look great in the chosen dress!

Everyone got sized and placed their down payments on the dress - we were finished far sooner than expected. And we only visited the one store! My mom even had time to find a dress for herself which I know she is quite relieved about.

Since Agnes has lent me her crinoline to be worn with my dress I was hoping that the store would allow me the opportunity to try on the sample of my wedding dress with the crinoline.

Since we had completed the bridesmaid dress shopping with time to spare - the consultants made my day in allowing me to try on the dress. Its as beautiful as I remember and I think the crinoline will work wonderfully with the dress. Now I just have to wait for my actual dress to arrive in a couple of months :).

With shopping completed just after 11:30 am - we all headed over to the Black Forest Inn where we met up with Tom, my dad, and Erin's husband Darryl for brunch. Great food as always!

The day was super productive and for that I am very happy. The staff at Taylor's are simply the nicest and most helpful people and I am very glad that my dress, the bridesmaids dresses, and my mom's dress were all purchased here...they have made the process to this point very enjoyable and stress free.

Erin, Kim, Heather, Agnes, Justyna, Sandy

Go Snowmobiling!

So, if motorcycling wasn't enough, Heather's dad Jim (Skid) has now encouraged us to experience snowmobiling. We thought that the best way to get introduced to the sport would be to attend the "Give It a Try Tour" organized by the OFSC which we found out about at the January motorcycle show. That's where we signed up for a February 21 session to be held at the Wasaga Sports Park in Wasaga Beach.

We started the day by having breakfast at one of my favourite local establishments, the Cedar Barn. Shortly before 10, we were on our way to Wasaga Beach. The GPS took us through the fine Ontario countryside. We arrived at the Wasaga Sports Park pretty much right at the stroke of noon.

The afternoon session of Snowmobiling 101 consisted of 15 participants and 5 instructors, sufficient enough for everyone to have some one-on-one training. All participants were provided with free gear (clothing, boots, helmets etc.) as well as a new 2009 sled. Heather was given a Polaris 600 IQ, while I was given a Yamaha RS Vector.

The training consisted of various hand signals, basic controls and finally a couple of laps on what we thought was too short of a practice track. Heather actually managed to handle the machine better than me. My first practice lap was awful as I had trouble with the throttle and it was pretty much stop-and-go all the way around. Subsequent laps were better and I felt confident on the hour-long ride on the trails of the Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. Heather chose to be a passenger during the ride mostly due to anxiety than lack of skills. She received the thumbs-up from instructors to take part in the ride but in her mind she wasn't prepared enough to handle it just yet. The ride itself, which averaged about 25km/h with a high of 45km/h, was great with plenty of fresh snow and fabulous scenery along the way.

Once the ride ended, we retreated back to the clubhouse, cooled down a bit, picked up a bag of goodies (which included brochures, keychains, hats etc.) and, instead of going home, decided to finish our weekend with a night's stay in a Days Inn in nearby Barrie that allowed us to both relax and refresh.

Overall, it was a great experience and the event is a perfect way of introducing people to the sport at no cost. And it might keep our minds away from motorcycling during those long and cold Canadian winters.

Enjoying a little break during the ride

Adrian's Baptism

Today was our nephew Adrian's baptism. Adrian was born December 13th to my brother Wojtek and Wojtek's wife Agnes. Coincidentally, 10 days later Heather's sister Kim and Kim's husband Mike welcomed their first child Jolene.

The day started with an 11:30 mass at the Sacred Heart church in Kitchener. The baptism took place 10 minutes after the mass ended. It was a short ceremony but Adrian had difficulty staying quiet even though he made through the hour-long mass without making a single sound. Overall, it was a great ceremony and we couldn't be happier for Wojtek and Agnes as well as the Godparents, my brother Greg and his girlfriend Tina.

Following the baptism, all invited guests drove to Wojtek and Agnes' house in Elmira for appetizers before heading out to the Black Forest Inn restaurant in Conestogo for a dinner celebration. I should mention that the Black Forest Inn will be the site of our wedding this coming October.

While the day was long it was greatly enjoyed by family and friends who gathered together to mark Adrian's special day.

Agnes, Justyna, Greg & Wojtek with newly baptized Adrian

WELCOME!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our blog. Our names are Heather and Tom and we live in Waterloo, Ontario. We've been together since March 2007 and engaged since May 2008.

We started this blog as a form of self-expression. In the blog we hope to share our experiences, travels and other various events leading up to our wedding this October and beyond.

We hope to have a lot of stories from the road as we both own Suzuki Boulevard motorcycles. 2009 will be our second season owning these rides. Our first season was great as we managed to log a fair amount of miles for a couple of rookies like ourselves.

On occasion, we may post other musings, thoughts and opinions that we may find to be noteworthy.

Hope you enjoy it and come back often!

Welcome to our blog!