Family: Going "Home"

Going "home" is something that is foreign to me. It's one major thing that my husband and I don't have in common. He grew up in the same house for his entire life, went to the same schools, and has parents that have been married for 29 years. I've lived in 10+ houses over the span of my life. And I know I'm not done yet. In one day Tom and I are off to Windsor. The place I spent 9 years of my life and 4 houses of my life. When I lived there I felt trapped. I had moved away from everything I had ever known. We moved three weeks before my 10th birthday. It was tough. I went with my Mom, but my Dad stayed in Calgary. I felt like I had been cut in half. Now I need to admit something. I've spent years hating Windsor. Hating it for existing. Hating it for taking me away from the city I loved. The only thing that anchored it to me way my Mom. Now I'm going back (I've been back plenty of times), but I want to reflect on what it truly meant to me. Honestly I think it's probably a really beautiful place. Filled with history and sights to see. So I'm going to put myself in Tom's shoes. I'm going to SEE it for the first time. Something tells me I might actually love it. It won't just be the place my Mom is, but the place that contributed my history.

Craft: Jewelry Box Fix-up

I find jewelry storage one of the hardest things. I'm the type of person who if I don't see it, I forget I have it, so I only wear like two necklaces. I got an old wooden jewelry box from my stepmom a few years ago and spray painted it. I never really liked it. Case in point:

This is what happens when you succumb to free spray paint! You get a booger coloured jewelry box . Anywho, I decided to fix it so I can store bracelets, earrings, and rings in it. So a few coats of turquoise paint and some mod podge later and here is what I have:

I'm cooking up something to hang my necklaces on now and will post when I've got it on lock!

Craft: The Wedding

The decor was perfect! The only issue was that those napkins were supposed to be grey, not purple. I only noticed when we sat down for dinner. Tom chuckled because he picked up on it when he got there for the ceremony and knew I would be a bit ticked. Purple really didn't look that bad anyways!

We had two guest books. The first one was a photo album with our engagement photos to sign. We also had a calendar and asked people to sign their birthdays so we could celebrate them throughout the year.

Our guest favours were these adorable personalized tea bags. We got them online HERE.

Our table numbers were just wooden hearts I got from Michaels, painted and strung ribbon in our colour. Our table wine was the perfect place to hang them.

I made a wooden box for our cards and put it on our gift table. Instead of a slide show (which I personally hate) I wrapped foam board in fabric. I then printed off growing up pictures of Tom and I and made boards of just us. Then one of the two of us together. People could look at it when they wanted to.

I got these cute lanterns from IKEA and they made the best centrepieces. Our hall had a no open-flame policy, so they added a little romance to the table.

For our dinner game we made Union Jack flags and Canadian flag and put them on all the tables. Our fabulous MC, Peter, asked questions about Canadian and British history. The first table to get the right answer got to line up for the buffet! It got a BIT competitive.