My wedding ring.

It must have been a long week. Both bdot and I collapsed once we got home Friday night for naps. I know I was absolutely bagged. I don’t think either one of us is sleeping properly and I believe our bed is the culprit. However, with all the wedding and summer expenses, finding even more cashola for a new bed right now is unlikely. Gah. Zzz.

Saturday however we awoke with renewed energy. We wanted to cross as many wedding to-dos off as possible. We decided to try and finalize our rings then see what else we could get done. We both found rings we liked at a jeweller in Orangeville. I think I had to see my ring in person to finally decide on it. Seeing rings in catalogues or websites doesn’t cut it for me. I found rings are very different once you see them on. You can see the ring I picked above. It looks a little ridiculous because it appears to be glowing under a halogen light. Oddly the lighting in the jewelery store was really poor. Ultimately there were a few rings I would have been happy with. The jeweller mentioned how ring options for men have dramatically expanded in the past 5-10 years. We also finalized bdot’s multi-diamond channel set white gold band. It will end up having 13 diamonds. (The choice was 11 or 13) I insisted on 13. I thought it had a nice connection to the wedding day and for a few more bucks I wanted to ensure it would look right. Bdot wants the ring to look like it has diamonds all around it although in reality they would stop half way around. It is a pretty typical way of creating a ring. So yeah, rings, check, done.

Just down the road in downtown Orangeville is an amazing chocolate shop. We have stopped in there before and were very impressed. I think we will be using them for table gifts. The front runner is clearly individually boxed chocolate covered truffles. I think further investigation may be required however. *grin* (Their truffles are quite awesome. All the ‘flavours’ are yummy.) Not a check done, but I think this is largely decided. I like the store owner and she gives us free food every time we go there. Yes I can be bribed with chocolate. Mmmm.

Bdot has decided to create stain-glass numbers for the wedding tables. (I think there will only be 8 or so…) We sorted through tons of glass options and settled on a look and pieces. So this idea is also a go. I’ll likely have to crack the whip to ensure they get done however…I do not make anything with sharp shards of glass.

Come on Pilgrim

In the evening I drove to downtown Toronto to see my buddy’s Pixies cover band Come on Pilgrim play at the Central. I’ve never been to this venue before. The Central is a multi-level bar essentially right beside Toronto landmark Honest Ed’s. They had a busy patio that night in front and live music inside. When I arrived there was a band playing an acoustic set, I didn’t catch their name sorry. I did think holy crap this is a narrow venue. Initially I thought there might be a second stage somewhere. I wandered upstairs and found it was where a DJ was playing so… yeah that narrow space is the venue. I think that worked out well however…it made the show look like a busy sell-out. It also made it stupid hot with everyone crammed together. Oh well. Come on Pilgrim often play with Joy Division cover band Deutsche Vision. They alternate as headliners. Tonight Deutsche Vision opened and got the evening off to a rocking start. I was asked to film Pilgrim’s set, so once Vision was done I made my way to the stage. Wow. Shooting video in HD is awesome. I have not seen the video I shot, but if it looks half as good as what I could see on screen then I think the band will be pleased with the results. It was a fun crowd who were clearly into the music even sharing in backing vocals at times. *cough* It was a really late night. It was good to see some long time friends. Captain also made his way to the gig. I spent most of the evening talking with him. Good times.

Dupid bringing the Rock

Sunday morning my sister was in a Mountain Bike race at nearby Albion Hills. I don’t get to see many of her races so we ventured over to watch. It is remarkable seeing athletes performing their craft, cycling highly exemplifies this. First it was (or was near) the hottest day so far this year. Low to mid 30s. Just walking in the sun and you would sweat. So now imagine racing up a steep hill over and over under those conditions. Yeah pass right? Watching the will of the human spirit get these riders repeatedly up the hill was incredible. My sister did great. She ended up winning her category! Maybe she was inspired by an curiously flippant e-mail from the race chair the night before. I also got to see her eye of tiger race demeanour as well. Chilling! 😛

Eye of the tiger

After the race I watched some Euro Cup. Ireland v. Croatia and Italy v. Spain. Both games were pretty exciting. I think the honourless diving and rolling around on the ground (which drives me fracking crazy) has actually been reduced. I would love to see a card handed out for diving. Not so far that I’m aware of however. The evening ended with a delicious steak dinner with a baked Potato, grilled orange pepper, garlic brussel sprouts and caramelized onions. So good. That pretty much put me into a food coma. I think everyone had wrote the Devils off, including myself. They were down three games to none looking up at the upstoppable Kings. Well, now it is three games to two for the Cup and the Kings look beatable. Game six tonight… it would be awesome to see the Devils could force a winner take all game seven for the Stanley Cup!

Forgot my coffee at home this morning. The coffee I made tastes like sewer water sifted through a weasel’s bladder. I hate you Monday. Sigh.