you see, where I come from, it is very wet. All the time.

At first, the idea of running away to get married, to somewhere not only far away, but far away enough to be warm and DRY, was very appealing.

Mr. Shortcake and I met at and both went to the University of British Columbia, where the average October - April day is spent sloshing through the rain, shivering in your wet, seasonally-inappropriate clothes during class until you can't stand it any longer, then sloshing back to your room, changing, and repeating the cycle ad infinitum.

However, as cute as my cheetah boots were,

( see, very cute )

I couldn't stand the thought of mucking through puddles while wearing them and a latex-coated, gortex-lined rubber wedding dress -and so we started thinking of getting married in Hawaii.

{ image by Jessica Claire, from here}

Hawaii was warm, dry(er - it does sprinkle every day), and beautiful. Mr. Shortcake was really into the idea of dressing informally, and I had visions of waterfalls, bridal leis of orchids, and a twilight luau with all our family and friends drinking pineapple punch and eating sandy ham.

Unfortunately, due to shaky health and old age, Mr. Shortcake's grandparents wouldn't be insured to fly to such a fete - and can't get married without them. And that's why I will probably end up wearing something like these:

{ image source here }

....because we're getting married back home in Vancouver!

Welcome to My World

(sung to the tune of the original 1980's Strawberry Shortcake theme song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu6Ul7Daxk4)

Who feeds her guests with a cake made of strawberry?

Knows she's blessed to "bee" a new little strawberry

Who's wedding obssessed, it's little miss Strawberry!
"Strawberry Shortcake"
Wouldn’t you know!

It’s love that makes her garden grow
With lots of pretty bridesmaids in a row
She greets each day with a berry glow
She’s Strawberry Shortcake
Wouldn’t you know?

What’s it like to stay in a cake made of strawberry?
Work and play in a cake made of strawberry?
Plan your Day like little miss Strawberry?
listen to Shortcake and you will know!

Dishes and Vaccuums and Weddings, oh my!

It was another grey and humdrum day when I became a bride-to-be. I would like to say it was a "dark and stormy night," but it really wasn't an anything sort of day, weather wise. It was grey, and would have been utterly depressing except for the fact that it was Mr. Shortcake's birthday.
Hooray for birthdays! Boo for realizing you're that much closer to being "OLD"!
We didn't have anything planned, really. He came over, we set up a joint bank account online in preparation for our moving in together, and generally acted as if we were retired 70 year olds with no energy. We were lazing on the bed together, exhausted from all that mouse-clicking and staring at the ceiling, when suddently Mr. Shortcake asked,
"Where's your Dad?"
That was out of the blue, and suddenly I knew just what was going on...he wanted to ask my father for permission to marry me!

Now, before anyone asks for tarot readings, let me clarify -I'm not psychic. Mr. Shortcake had let it slip at his birthday party a couple days earlier that his actual birthday was going to be a "SPECIAL day" and something in his voice clued me in that maybe, just maybe, it really was going to be special. That morning I was so certain that "today was the day" that I even used my extra special cupcake body wash. ("Ooooooooooh!" you say, and rightly so, that's SUPER special)


This much deduced, I excused myself to go to the washroom, and fiddled with my hair for ages, hoping that he would use the opportunity to run downstairs and ask Dad. However, when I came back to my bedroom, there he was, still hanging out on the bed. I lay down, now antsy and annoyed.
Mr. Shortcake got up, and kneeled by the side of the bed....
...and started to talk about things we still needed to get when we arrived in our new home. Dishes, cleaning supplies, the list went on, but when he started getting red-faced and nervous around "vaccuum" I knew exactly what was happening.
WOAH.
Now I was getting nervous as he continued.
..a lawnmower....dish soap....detergent...

And finally he came to the end of his list, and told me I could "I could cross something off" now.
I nervously joked back, "what, did you get another Magic Bullet?"
Mr. Shortcake shook his head, and fumbled for something in his pocket. He turned around, still on his knees by the side of my bed, and pulled out



a ring.
WOAH.
Even more surprising was the fact that I, dropper-of-tears-at-every-opportunity, didn't cry - not a bit! He asked me to marry him, I said yes, and kissed Mr. Shortcake and made him put it on my finger.



The family dog, Buddy, took the opportunity to run away with the empty ring box, and when we finally got it back, we ran downstairs to tell my parents, then drove to his house to tell his, and to phone every relative in his mother's phone book.


My engagement ring video. Because every ring deserves a movie without a plot (but tons of drama)