Lost Weekend (and oh hai! long tiem no seez!)

OK so guess where I was last weekend:


HINT: this little monkey was NOT with me...


Tokyo? Perhaps Washington, D.C.?


Nah. Beautiful B.C.! I went home for 48 hours for the sole purpose of being at my best friend's wedding.

Hi Jube!

We've been friends for, I' not kidding, 33 years. We were THREE when we met, okay?

We have way too many photos of each other in our, er, formative (and by formative I mean style-challenged and by style-challenged I mean EWWW) years.

ANYWAY - when I got a text sometime in March that the wedding plans changed, of COURSE I jumped on a plane.


Years of friendship aside, can you see why? Are they not the most ridiculously adorable couple EVER?


Plus they got married under a big tree in Stanley frickin' Park. The photo ops alone were worth the trip:




Plus there was lots of smooching. It was that kind of ceremony.



The best wedding I have ever been to, not even kidding. See how happy she looks?



It was small, it was simple, it was perfect. And SO THEM. You know what I mean?








Congratulations lovebirds. One of the best days of my life - so glad I could be there.

Between the ceremony and the reception, I got to hang out with this girl. Hi Jaime!

Can you believe we're related? Uh huh! Sisters no less. I may be a bazillion years older than she is, but she still likes to spend time with me. Especially when I buy lunch.

Even more so when I forgo my beloved White Spot for high tea at the Secret Garden...





Yes, delish. Not triple-O, but it was worth it.

Not pictured: after lunch I took her out driving in my best rental car EVER - a Kia Soul. It was the most fun I've ever had behind the wheel, so naturally I had to share that with my sister. We found an empty parking lot at UBC and she tooled around for the very first time. OK, tooled might be an exaggeration - I think she hit 30 km/hr when she was really flying. Anyway, we survived and she even had fun.

Also not pictured: the amazing manicure/pedicure/eyebrow wax/bonding time with my Mom on Friday night. Also hanging with my Dad on Saturday and big family lunch on Sunday before I flew back. So great to see my grandparents and wish them a happy 65th wedding anniversary in person. Also so great to see my other sister (the one who used to blog that I keep pestering to please blog HERE) not to mention her passel of young'uns who each made me an awesome card. Original artwork! Except Xavier who made my day when he solemnly explained that he didn't make a card for me because he was with is other grandparents and I got a big hug instead. He's 8 years old! Love it.

So... what's up with you?

In other news, our child is pretty much potty trained. I say that with a wince because it all feels so tenuous. We started Easter weekend (a.k.a. WORST WEEKEND EVER) and they continued at daycare and it feels pretty on track now.

You know what I didn't know about potty training? It's HARD. I mean, you know it's going to be a project, but you don't realize the psychological consequences of what you're trying to do. It's hard to be patient with your child who can't seem to grasp what seems like such a simple concept. It's hard not to stress out about cleaning up poop. About not going out anywhere because you might have to clean up poop from someone else's carpet.

It's also hard to be having a bunch of other stuff going on at the same time which I think is why it was such a chore. Stéphane was in interview hell for his new job (hooray! he starts tomorrow!) and if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I've been up to my ears in work for the last few weeks but Easter weekend was smack in the middle of the worst time ever.

So all this to say, it's done. My advice to anyone planning to potty train is to relax. Take of the diapers and let it all hang out. Literally. Be committed and get it over with. Buy some good wine because it'll take the edge off, plus you deserve it. Voilà.

I'm sure I have a million more things to share, but this post is already LOOONNNGG (and possibly boring?) so to sum up: we're good, Stéphane got a new job, the wedding was amazing, so great to get away (thank you husband for encouraging my lost weekend!) and man I'm glad spring is here.