the candid files

Can you believe that voters in this country finally did something RIGHT?

ha – no pun intended.

But seriously, I’m twenty years old. I’ve voted it six or seven different elections, of differing degrees of importance. But this is the first time that the candidate I voted for actually made it into office. And Jim Flaherty, whose PC party leadership campaign I worked on, finally won the vote. Paddy Torsney’s reign is finally over in Burlington – and the ever-faithful Gary Goodyear is back in in Cambridge. Really, a whole bunch of good results all round.

And I don’t care if Stephen Harper’s got a dragon in his shed or even if he drinks his own blood. I think he’ll do a better job of presenting issues fairly to the people of Canada than his predecessor. I don’t even care that his hair looks like JFKs – just hope he doesn’t get shot.

Would a Canadian have that kind of gumption?

Oh, Canada – we’re guarded because of fools like thee.

Here I am!!! It’s the 23rd of January – have you voted yet???

Lots of things happening. Work is crazy busy – of course now, when Sarah’s off gallavanting or something on her honeymoon (I’m going to pretend that gallavanting means making sand castles on a beach and playing Monopoly all night) and we have twice the work and two-thirds the woman-power. But today went so fast, it was amazing.

The wedding plans are in full swing. Amazing how fast it’s come from “Why can’t you and Peter wait another year and a half or so until he’s done school?” to “Here, I picked up this wedding article for you – what do you think of this idea?” from my mother. We’re going a tad anti-traditional, ditching the expensive reception. Instead, everyone who comes to the wedding (even if you’re not on the invitation list, honest!) can stay for some appetizers and cake and coffee after at the church. That will last an hour or so and then we’ll head off to take some pictures and have a nice dinner with our closest relatives and friends. I’m excited about how simple it all is. Although I don’t get why Laura was all freaked out about dancing with some stranger. Have you never BEEN to a Dutch wedding? “Dancing leads to *gasp* sex!”

Actually, on the subject of dancing, I heard the funniest thing yesterday. One of Art’s friends, Kevin, who apparently is a Mennonite, told us just how much the Mennonites hate dancing. “Mennonites don’t procreate standing up – because it leads to dancing.”

I could have died. And this in the foyer at church just before the service.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ve found my wedding dress. I can’t say much about it – it’s a secret. But it’s white. Awesome, eh?

Oh, and my ring fits now – I’m doing my best not to turn into a wedding crazed bride-zilla, but it’s tough not to talk about since there are so many details. Pre-marital counselling starts next month at my church. It’s a group effort, with approximately eight couples tying the knot in the next ten months. Scary stuff.

Anyway have a good night, and down with the Liberals. Hopefully tomorrow we can all proudly wear blue to work. Wooohoo!!

It’s been quite some time since I updated my blog.

I was going to start off this post bemoaning how I gained so many pounds because of eating so much these holidays, but according to my scale, I actually didn’t – who knew? I think it was because I had a bad cold during most of our family smorgasborgs. In fact, I was feeling so crummy that on Christmas Day I was holding back tears by the time Peter and I pulled into my driveway after our second two-hour trek out to Exeter to visit his mother’s family. I was cold, bone-weary, and I just wanted to curl up with a hot drink, close my eyes, set my head on Peter’s shoulder, and let him just talk to me about the things he’s so good at talking about.

At that moment, however, Peter put the car in park in front of my parents’ garage and asked me to marry him.

I burst into real sobs. And then I think I said yes, and sobbed some more. Peter – you’re such a rock, have I ever told you that? – just hugged me really tight.

Eventually I realized that Peter was holding a ring out to me. After a lot of wiping tears away and such, he put the ring on my finger and here we are…

It’s about time, hun!

ps – I apologize to all you folks for how late I am posting this news. Especially Jo. Getting engaged at Christmas is a convenient time to tell your family, but it’s a hectic time to get ahold of your friends!