Anatomy of our Summer Break (including engagement photos)

Hello world,


Today is the last day of the first week of my last semester on the island (hopefully).  What have I accomplished for far this week?  A whole lot of nothing.  I can't seem to find the motivation needed to get over this final hump.  Fortunately (?), it seems that many of my classmates feel the same way.  Here's hoping that we all come out on the other side.


As you all know from Mark's last post, he and I went back to Canada for the break.  We saw friends and family in Toronto:

Bridesmaid dress shopping with Cruddy and Stef...

Dinner at Le Paradis with Greg...

and Faysal, courtesy of Derek and Wendy McLean.

Meeting babies Abbey and Libby at Ian and Kelly's house for brunch....

How cute is this photo!?!?

We saw our friend SJ too, who is studying Law in Toronto...however....we didn't take a picture with her, so I decided to just poorly photoshop Mark's face onto a picture of her with another ginger...

Toronto was a great little mini-vacation.  We stayed with Mark's brother Greg and his boyfriend Faysal, who were fantastic hosts.  I drank lots of Starbucks, went shopping, ate at restaurants...the usual first world stuff.  After 3 days there, it was off to Vancouver.

Vancouver was a whirlwind of To Do lists and food and visiting people.  In the interest of not turning this post into a novel, here are the highlights:

- seeing my family (duh)

- watching a friendship blossom between my brother, Derek, and Mark's sister, Jocelyn...even though Jocelyn kicked his ass at bowling (sorry Derek...)

- seeing old friends (you know who you are)

- buying a wedding dress (2 stores and 10 dresses later)

My beautiful entourage: my mom, bridesmaid Laura, and maid-of-honour Vanessa...
couldn't have found it without you guys...

- seeing our reception venue in real life

- picking a church (even though we got yelled at by a minister from another church...more on that another time)

- eating creme brulee 4 times

- trying on bridesmaid dresses for my wedding AND my best friend's wedding

Here are the colours I've chosen for the bridal party (except for the bouquets)...I am getting way good at this photoshopping stuff, don't ya think?

- Sousa/McLean dinner with my family & Mark's family

- getting engagement photos done by Jeff and Cat of Jeff Chang Photography (here you go everyone that harassed me on facebook...)

My eyes got more sparkle than a Stephanie Meyer novel...

I think this is my favourite...

Mark's favourite

A close 2nd for my favourite...

We have more photos, but I feel like this a good sample to keep you guys happy for now.  There is one more photo I would like to share though....it's a photo where Mark looks GREAT (like political-ad-campaign or toothpaste-commercial great) but I look like a mess....lol....so, I have modified the photo, just a little....

Well, this post is long enough for now...time to start studying....

I look forward to your comments on how Mark and I should quit our current careers and become professional models...

Denise.