Six years ago...

Six years ago tomorrow my life changed forever. Cliche I know but it's true.

On October 19, 2002, Denis and I went on our first date. I think it's a pretty great story so I'm going to share it with you here...

The Cole's notes "pre-date" version is that neither one of us was having any luck in the dating world so we decided to try our hand at Internet dating. We were both on Lava Life and I spotted him first. One look at those dimples and I was hooked.

We spoke online and on the phone for a good month before we could arrange to meet. I was a busy single girl on the prowl at the time and D was serious about his career and his hobbies.

We finally managed to set a date that worked for both of us. October 19.

We called eachother the night before to firm up plans and one quick phone call turned into eight (yes 8) hours on the phone getting to know one another. We were up the entire night.

Finally date time arrived. The funny thing is with Denis I seemed to break ALL of my dating "rules." It was like I new subconciously that this was different.

For starters I let him pick me up and who would have know that that in itself would turn into a story!!!

I got all gussied up and waiting on the front steps of my apartment building for him. He had a hard time finding my building and called from a few blocks away. I finally saw a vehicle approaching that matched his description but much to my dismay, he kept right on driving. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that he was no longer interested when he saw me. Turns out he was so busy trying to find the address he didn't even see me!

Upon jumping into "Cher" (his Cheroke) I was handed a dozen roses. One point D. We had decided on pool and drinks at O'Conners in Kanata. D took the long scenic route so we had some time to talk. We just clicked. We weren't nervous and the conversation flowed...

At the bar we played round after round of pool and I won. He was a good sport about it. He must have been feeling pretty good about things because after one of the losses he said "one day we'll be able to tell our grandkids that grandma beat grandpa at pool on our first date." WHAAAAAAAAAA??????????????

Normally a statement like that would have sent me running for the hills. But not with D. It all felt so natural, so right.

We ended up meeting an older, married couple, also on a date. It was like looking into the future (or so we hoped). I had a bit of a slip up at one point. While I was explaining to the woman we were on a date I TOTALLY forgot D's name. How bad is that??? I still haven't heard the end of it!

The night continued to go extremly well. Denis was a polite gentleman and we had lots of laughs. We ended up sitting on a love seat watching the hockey game. I kept waiting for a real kiss but all I got were a few on my forehead. It was wild because I literally felt butterflies that they always talk about in romantic movies.

We made our way home and I was crushed when there was no goodnight kiss for me. Although the date had gone well this worried me. I remember jumping on the phone the second I walked through the door and telling my sister and Jodi all about it.

As it turned out I had nothing to worry about - D was just being a gentleman!

I ended up coming down with a severe case of bronchitis the next day and was out of commission for a week. The next Friday night we planned our second date.

I went over to D's place (still wasn't feeling well) so we planned a low-key evening.

Our first kiss finally arrived and it was particularly memorable. Just as we kissed D started to vibrate...no, nothing gross. HIS PAGER WENT OFF! Talk about timing...

That was our first kiss and the excitement hasn't stopped yet.

We've had to overcome a few challenges.

I had to get used to sleeping with this on the wall beside me at D's house watching me as I slept (I still have nightmares about him from time to time)...

Denis had to win me over from other suitors (mainly his nephew Bobby)...Baby Bobby would get all defensive and "jealous" when D would come near me

By that Christmas (just two months later) we were as good as married...

And D was a big hit at my staff Christmas party...
We look sooooo young (and soooo drunk)!




He's always outdone himself when it came to "courting" me. My "big" gift that first Christmas was that he re-did one of his bathrooms so that I had a relaxing space to myself when I stayed at his place...


At the opening of Beckta Dining and Wine...
So much has changed. I went from a hot little red convertible to a more "family friendly" Jeep!

We've travelled far and wide together. These were taken on our first trip together to Toronto...
Check out the roses in the background! I think those cost about as much as a mortgage payment! When I stepped into the elevator with them as we left the hotel, two "much older" couples were in the elevator with us and one of the men told Denis he was making all men look bad! Ha - isn't that the truth!




And before we knew it it was time to make things official and on August 6, 2005 we were the married...

I thank my lucky stars every day that I found him. I feel like I got the best of the best and I look forward to many more exciting adventures together.

I love you baber always and forever (k)

Remembering Patrick

Forget it. I'm not saying "this is my last post" anymore. I am totally chatty tonight.

I just stumbled upon something that sort of kicked me in the stomach and I felt like I couldn't NOT post (if that makes any sense).

It's something very personal that I haven't really spoken much about on here but today seems like the right day and possibily one more step in the healing process.

Today, October 15, is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. In May of this year I lost our little pea, Patrick.

In April we travelled to Spain for Mabel and Paul's wedding and we consider that trip our second honeymoon. Something magical happened and we ended up pregnant. All of our dreams came true when that second line appeared on the test.

The very first place we went and the very first people we told were Denis' late father, Patrick, and his baby sister, Francine. Somehow in the back of my mind I thought it we put in a good word with the angels our baby would be safe.

In the few short weeks I knew I was pregnant I floated through life. I was sick and I was exhausted but I couldn't have been any happier. I was able to tell my family in person, something I honestly didn't think would ever happen.

By far one of my best pregnancy memories was spending an entire afternoon in Motherhood with my wonderful friend Jodi. I think I tried on half the store with that crazy little pillow that you stuff under your shirt. And Jodi tried it on and we laughed like little girls. I remember thinking how perfect it was to be sharing it with her.

Denis and I would write eachother notes and text messages from the baby. We planned what seemed to be our entire future.

And as soon as it came, it was all taken away.

Our hopes and dreams were crushed. We lost our little pea. Unfortunately Denis is no stranger to loss and he was my rock through it all. That had to have been the worst experience of my life and to be honest I never imagined being able to smile or laugh again.

But here we are just a few months later and so much good has come from the pain.

I left a job I was unhappy with and found somewhere I am appreciated. I got my creative mojo going again and have done more pages in the past few months than I think I've done in the past few years. I even got a pretty pink studio where I can escape and create to my heart's content. The experience brought Denis and I closer. Only the two of us could truly understand our pain and we lived through it together.

I think what I am most grateful for is the friendships I've made. The timing was perfect for Steph and I to build a friendship and I was able to laugh and escape my grief with her. She then introduced me to some of her friends and more new friendships were born. The second I met Katie and Rach I felt like I had know them forever and we are so similar at times it's scary.

We had so much support from our family and friends and for that we are forever grateful.\

We have always said that we'd name our first son after D's dad and although he is our angel baby, Patrick seemed like the only name for our little pea.

I love that Patrick was only around for a few weeks and although we never got to meet or even see him, he made such an amazing impact on our lives.

Tonight I'll dream of Patrick and say a special blessing for all of you parents out there who have lost your little peas...

Opinions please

For someone who wasn't sure she was going to write one post tonight, how exactly did i manage to end up with two???

And the irony (my life is so ironic lately i tell you) is that one of the reasons for my lack of wanting to post earlier was because of lack of photos. Turns out the entire point of this one is photos...who knew?

So we got an e-mail at work saying there is a fall photo contest. I decided to enter just for the heck of it. The big prize is a Canada mug (I know, fasten your seatbelt)...

Here's where you come in. I can submit two photos but can't seem to narrow it down.

Please leave me a comment with your two faves and I'll send those in.

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ok, this is g'night for real lovelies!

Wednesday musings

Hello lovelies!

I debated about posting tonight. You know why? I don't seem to have any yummy pictures to post!

It seems like all of the blogs I've been visiting are full of visual candy and I haven't really done anything creative for about two weeks now so I've got nada for you.

So I did a Google (or as Ginette would say Goggle) search for pumpkin and came up with this...

I couldn't resist. The truth is I am addicted to all things pumpkin right now. What's up with that? I mean, don't get my wrong, I've always appreciated a good pumpkin but this is seriously out of control!!!

I think my fave still has to be the Pumpkin Spice Latte though - talk about goodness in a cup. I've settled on a homemade decaf Starbucks with a little fat free vanilla cream.

In other fun news krazy katie found this:

It looks quite interesting and the timing couldn't be more perfect. That week my hunka hunka burnin' love will be freezing his tushy off in the bloody cold waiting for Bambi to walk in front of him so that he can have a few steaks hunting.

YIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I have been wanting to have fun with the strikeout for the longest time and was too lazy couldn't figure it out. Fasten your seatbelts lovely and get ready for strikethrough OVERLOAD!

I heart strikethrough. Does that make me a language geek?

Stayed tuned for a post tomorrow (or maybe Friday)...

We are celebrating six years of togetherness on Friday with a hot night on the town to the place where we had our first date...can't wait!

'night lovelies

Thanksgiving Monday and Heidi Swapp Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Gobble gobble!

It's officially Thanksgiving Monday.

Just one year ago we were in Vegas...wow! Where did the year go???

I have had the greatest morning...seriously. It's been all about being thankful for the little things and just enjoying an extra day of vacation...

As I said in my last post, Celine woke me by screaming in French far too early for a day off. I tried but was unsuccessful in getting back to sleep so decided to get my day going.

I cleaned the kitchen, did several loads of laundry, tried to figure out how to work the coffee machine (don't laugh, it's a complicated one but finally D taught me how), baked some cookies and took lots of pictures.

Here is a visual trip through my morning...

It started with coffee (well, once D woke up and showed me how to start the contraption that is our coffee maker). This coffee addiction is VERY new. Our coffee maker generally gets used maybe two or three times a year when we have company mostly...

But now I'm addicted and we're getting A LOT of use!

We purchased a few "extras" to add (no Katie, there is no Baileys...I know you are looking for it)!

I stole a "trick" from my mom's friend Herma and added some cinnamon to the coffee while it was brewing...EXTRA YUM!

From this...

To this...

We've stuck to decaf because otherwise we'd be bouncing off the walls!!!

After getting some coffee goodness into me I started a little treat I happened to find on Heidi Swapp's blog...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies...

First things first - every kitchen diva must have cute accessories...notice the pink measuring tools...

Colour coordinated mixing bowls...

ooooey gooooooey pumpkin choc. chip goodness...

And last but not least...the finished product!

Next time I will squish them down a bit and make them smaller. They are DELISH but I think they could be even better!

I think by far my favourite part of Thanksgiving Monday was having my sleepy faced honey wrap me in his arms for a wonderful hug. It truly doesn't get better than that!

Ok, can I just say the lovely fall aromas in the house are being TOTALLY RUINED because our windows are open and all I can smell is COW. We're not far from farm country and ewwwwww it really stinks!

The afternoon's activities are going to be simple...get my creative mojo going and catch up on some of my Design Your Life assignments. I may sneak in a little afternoon nap while I'm at it.

Just in case you want to try the recipe, here it is:

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 c. pumpkin

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

1 egg

2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. milk

1 c. chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla

Nuts (optional)

Dissolve baking soda in milk; set aside. In large bowl add pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg; stir. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees 10 to 12 minutes or until done.

And keep reading below...I posted about the rest of our weekend!

Have a great day lovelies,

gobble gobble!

A Thanksgiving Tradition...

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LOVELIES!

I am in the greatest mood this morning so look out!

It's Thanksgiving Monday and I have so much to be thankful for.

It has been a wonderful weekend and seriously the weather couldn't have been any better!

I'll do a post for Saturday and then I'm going to do a seperate post for Sunday. 'cuz I'm like that so THERE!

We dragged out tushies out of bed far too early on Saturday morning. Well, we didn't have much choice seeing as Celine started SCREAMING at us from our sound system at about 7:26 (we were supposed to leave by 8)! I'm not quite sure what that business was all about. I guess one of us must have hit a wonky button at some point and set a timer. But the music was SO LOUD.

The funny part is neither one of us has taken the time to figure it out so for the past three mornings CELINE HAS BEEN SCREAMING.

he he

We made ourselves beautiful as quickly as possible and then needed to make a pit stop at Starbucks for some pumpkin spice goodness. It was a wonderful EARLY fall day - the perfect time for some pumpkin. I have a SERIOUS pumpkin addiction this year but we'll get to that later!

We swung by and picked up mom and then made our way to Merrickville. It was a lovely drive through the leaves just chatting away and catching up.

I heart Merrickville. I REALLY do. I can't explain it really because so many of the stores have country-style products and that's not my thing. But there is something to be said for wandering around a small time at this time of year.

Denis took off with his gear and snapped a bunch of pictures while Mom Turpin and I shopped. And shopped. But we were both very good! I picked up a few early Christmas gifts (unheard of for me to get this organized) and a crazy halloween hat tea light holder.

Here are some pictures to tickle your fancy...

Taken in the first store we visited...just some wreaths on the wall...

Outside one of the restaurants...
Took this one for Rylee girl...she LOVES horses...

More scenes of small town Thanksgiving...

This is the witche's hat I bought - can't wait to light it up!

Denis being silly at the restaurant...mmmm...such great food, just like homemade.

One of the last stores we stopped at was a kitchen store and we bought THE MOST AMAZING garlic oil. I seriously could have bought an entire case. It is SO DELISH!

Then we headed to Perth to visit Grandmaman Turpin, Uncle Gil, and Marcel and Jane. It was a lovely afternoon catching up. Unfortunately Grandmaman hasn't been feeling too hot lately and she has had to go into a home. Friday was her first night there. She is SUCH A SWEETHEART. I adore her. She reminds me so much of my own nanny it's crazy. It was hard seeing her not feeling too great. We'll try and get back to visit soon. I took this pic of D with his Grandmaman right before we left...

I dozed for a few minutes on our drive back to the city. My entire week caught up with me and I just CRASHED.

We had a delicious supper at Mom's place (including some of the new garlic oil) and left shortly after supper. I was literally so exhausted I could barely speak. I was in bed just after 8 and asleep before 9:30. CRAZY.

Sunday we had an easy going day. I spent time doing more overtime (and I'm happy to report I managed to finish last night) and for a break we went to visit the CHEO dream home. It's a very nice house indeed but D and I were very critical as we walked through it and I dunno - it's over $1.3M and yet the rooms are more or less the same size as our rooms. There is SO MUCH SPACE *wasted* on staircases and landings. Empty, useless space. We did get a lot of great ideas for when we plan to finish our basement.

On our way home we decided to havef a Thanksgiving dinner for two at Red Lobster...YUM-O.

It was a zoo in there but we enjoyed our time.

Oh and while I worked earlier in the day, D started putting up halloween decor outside. I REALLY NEED to take some pictures!

I spoke to the family in Winnipeg and got Rylee and Hayden nice and hyper. Every Thanksgiving since they've been very young we play the "word of the day" game. Our word is turkey so whenever anyone says turkey you have to scream. Well they've never quite caught the concept of the game so they just say turkey over and over and over until I lose my voice.

This year was particularly fun because my mom got in on the action. I nearly peed myself. Her scream sounded like a halloween witche's cry to scare little children. Next Hayden insisted D come to the phone to play along too. When D started I thought Hayden would pee himself. He thought D was SO FUNNY and he was laughing with his entire body and soul. Is that a sweet sound or what?

Finally it was on to more work for me and some wiring for Denis...

ouf! What a great weekend...

Now for Thanksgiving Monday...

The ultimate October accessory...garland!

Is this a B O A or is this a B O A (no i'm not crazy I just don't write the word "boa" like the rest of you - blame it on Cawi).

The fact that shoppers were staring at me in Michaels like I was crazy was rather fitting for today...I DO feel crazy. Positively certifiable.

It's been on of those weeks. My days have been excrutiatingly long and although I don't have a physical job it is rather taxing on the brain.

In addition to my full work day I've worked overtime EVERY SINGLE night this week and it has made me loopy.

Ok, enough whining!

D and I decided to go out for dinner together to celebrate Friday and to actually have more than a "yes/no" conversation with eachother. It was great! I think we were able to speak more at dinner than we did all week.

I suggested we make a quick pitstop at Michaels on our way home because I knew that there were big sales on their fall/halloween stuff.

I wanted more garland for the house. Our current garland is looking...shall we say...a wee bit anorexic.

Last week when I was shopping at Michaels I purchased a few strands of garland but I dragged it behind me and I kept dropping it and tripping on it and I must say it was rather frustrating. Tonight I was feeling silly and loopy so I decided to throw it around my neck like a B O A.

G E N I U S

Indeed! Ok so a few people (specifically children) thought I was off my rocker. At one point I wondered if the manager would drag me into his office to check if I was doing ok. But I was. I was fabu! I mean come on...does it get any better than fall colours around your neck?

Oh - speaking of which...

As I drove along the parkway on the way to work this morning I saw a brutal site. About three or four cars ahead of me must have clipped a squirrel because as I approached the poor thing was shaking like he was having a seizure in the middle of the road. After flip flopping a few times it tried to run but was shaking too much so I just sort of popped into the other lane. I'm not sure what happened but it was rather disturbing.

Speaking of disturbing...I think I've met my match in the "it could only happen to you(me)" category. Check out what happened to Rach on her way to Halifax...crazy girl with a great heart!

I think I'm going to hit the sack. We're up early in the morning to head to Merrickville and then Perth for some family visits and a fall tradition.

The weather has been amazing and the leaves get more and more spectacular by the minute.

I think tomorrow calls for a pumpkin spice latte (or is it spiced pumpkin) I can never remember...

'night lovelies