The Prodigal Blogger Returns

I miss blogging.

There, I said it. Maybe now that I've put it in writing, I'll actually get my butt in gear and get back to posting regularly. Ha, yeah right.

The fact that this draft has been sitting in the depths of blogger-dashboard-draft-hell is probably an indicator that I'm not fully committed to returning to the land of blogging full time... but I'm feeling the blogiverse pulling me back in. So, I'm going with it.

If you're new around here, or if you just forget what my face looks like, this is a somewhat recent photo of me:

Where do I start? What do I say? What do I update you folks on? Well, on May 1st, Justin proposed, which is basically old news at this point, but that's kind of the last life event that you all know about... so lets do a quick recap, and maybe a picture dump, of what things have taken place since then. And, I'm opting to do bullet points, because I like them, and they're super easy (that's what she said):

• Justin and I moved into our own apartment
  (we were living with my best friend, Amanda, before that)
• We bought a brand new card (!!!)
• I am teaching Justin how to drive (this will probably be a blog post later)
• We took our first mini-vacation together (only to Seattle for a day)
• We've planned/purchased our plane tickets for Christmas in Nova Scotia, and Juliette's wedding in California. This means I get to meet and hang out with Lindsay & Sami (used to be Sami's Shenanigans)
• We've decided that we're getting married, next October, in Halifax instead of Vancouver (my parents are pretty excited about this)
• I've finalized my bridal party (and they all said yes!)
  

I'm sure there are probably 42 other little things that I could fill you in on, but why bore you with that nonsense? I'll just let all of these pictures do the talking, and hopefully I'll make an appearance around here again soon to fill you all in on the major life updates. Stay tuned.
Warning: You are about to see 1,274,682 selfies of us...

 This is what our living room/kitchen looked like the last night in our old apartment 

Justin was sick of packing

Remember Jennie? She and I made that Sketti vlog that one time. Well, she's MOVING BACK TO VANCOUVER AND I AM SUPER EXCITED.

Teaching Justin to drive, and not scared for my BRAND NEW beautiful car at all

Asking my girl to be my bridesmaids - ha!

Exploring Seattle

So.

Many.

Selfies.

Beautiful new car - I'll try and get better pictures of this beaut.

These are our 'Holy crap we just picked up our car!' faces

That's all for today, folks. I'll try and post again this week. Try being the key word here.

1, 2, 3, FOUR

Soooo, I wanted to come back to blogging at least 3 times a week but I somehow massively failed this on my first week back, and my first post is on a Thursday. But it's cool guys, it's fine. Because today I'm taking the cop-out route and doing the little questionnaire thing that Juliette tagged me in the other day. Side-note: it really hurts my OCD that I don't have pictures for all of the categories. But I've got like 50 million travel pictures, so I'm just going to go with it.

4 names people call you:
1. Faithy 2. Feewapchu (don't ask) 3. Fae-Hawn (again, don't ask) 4. Babe/Fiancée
4 jobs you've had:
1. Photo-lab Manager

2. Cashier @ Pet Store 3. Admin Assistant/Receptionist @ Sleep Apnea Clinic

4. Card Services Administrator (current role)
4 movies you've watched more than once:
1. Zoolander 2. The Wizard of Oz 3. The Hangover 4. Transformers

4 books you would recommend:
1. Still Breathin', The Wisdom & Teachings of a Perfectly Flawed Man - Brenden Dilley 2. Bossypants - Tina Fey 3. Shopaholic series (it's been years since I read them - but I LOVED them) 4. The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz

Bedford, Nova Scotia

4 places you've lived:
1. Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia 2. Bedford, Nova Scotia 3. St. John's, Newfoundland 4. Vancouver, British Columbia (and I've lived in 3 different places in Vancouver)

St. John's, Newfoundland

4 places you've been:
1. Rome, Italy 2. Athens, Greece 3. Ocho Rios, Jamaica 4. Krakow, Poland

Spoiler alert: In Poland, I got engaged. 

Then my dad killed him with a sword.

I actually don't remember where this was taken..
But I know it's somewhere in Greece!

Looking out over Athens from the Acropolis.

4 places you'd rather be now: (in no particular order)
1. Asleep, in the comfiest bed in the world 2. On a beach with a glass pitcher of sangria in my hand 3. In Halifax, hanging out with my family 4. In Paris, exploring the city with Justin

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia <3

4 of your favorite foods:
1. Pizza 2. Justin's homemade mac n' cheese 3. Poutine 4. Raincoast Greens Salad from Cactus Club

Raincoast Greens - GET IN MY BELLY

4 tv shows you watch: (this is a very hard question to answer - are these supposed to be shows that are currently on TV, or favourite shows I've ever watched? WHAT?! I'm just going to go ahead and pick 4 random shows I've enjoyed at any point in my life)
1. Sons of Anarchy 2. Friends 3. Gilmore Girls 4. Chuck
4 things you're looking forward to this year:
1. Going to California in September. Oh! AND MEETING JULIETTE! 2. Christmas in Halifax with my family 3. Kelly Clarkson concert in October (yes, I am excited about this) 4. My parents visit to Vancouver in August/September
4 things you're always saying:
1. A lot of tv show and movie quotes 2. "This is ridiculous" 3. "No, we have not picked a wedding destination yet." (kind of stealing this from Juliette) 4. "...what do you want for dinner?"

Once Upon A Time, I Got Engaged

I have been trying to figure out how on earth I'm supposed to write this story, but it has almost already been a week since it happened and I want to share it with the world. I've decided that I'm going to write this story here for me, (while the events of last Friday afternoon/evening are still fresh on my mind) so I can come back and read this story over and over again. Am I the only one who does that?

Sooooo let me start this post by saying I AM ENGAGED!!

For the record, I am still completely shocked and excited and freaking out JUST A LITTLE BIT (in the best way possible). I've done my fair share of posting mushy lovey-dovey stuff about my relationship with Justin on the blog so I won't bother you with that stuff right now, because Lord knows I could probably start rambling about why Justin is so amazing. But, I won't. All that I'll say is that I've just kind of been in a dazed state of love for the past week. Oh, and also, every time I look at my left hand - I let out a little squeal. I may or may not get distracted while driving, typing this blog post, opening doors, or basically doing ANYTHING that involves my left hand - whoops. 

It all started on Friday afternoon. Justin was planning on leaving work early to come home and meet me for a nice relaxing night-in. We were planning on a hot date of walking along the seawall through Stanley Park and ending with binge-watching Netflix in bed. I had a feeling like something was going on because Justin was acting a little bit strange all week (although if you ask him, he will completely deny this). When I was about 5 minutes away from leaving the office, Justin texted me asking if I had left the office yet and to give him a heads up when I left work - weird, but nothing too crazy. As soon as I told Justin I had left the office and was on my way home- he went radio silent.I didn't hear another word from him until I saw him about 3 hours later.

When I walked through the front door, this was the very first thing that I saw sitting in our living room. If we're being honest here, I really had to pee. I saw the whiteboard - didn't even read it - and immediately headed into the washroom. Once I came out, I read the sign and basically knew what was happening right away. Before I opened the envelope that said #1 on it, I had to fix my nails. Side note, I had an incident that afternoon with my pinky nail (on my left hand) falling into the toilet and being flushed away. As soon as I knew what was happening, my first priority was fixing my nail. Yes, I am a little ashamed to admit this, but it's FINE GUYS. 

So once I finally had these things out of the way, I opened the envelope. Inside was a puzzle piece with a picture of Justin, my brother (Christian), his girlfriend (Ashley). Once I flipped it over there was a note that told me to turn on the laptop and press play. This was when everything got really interesting. The video popped up on the screen and began playing - but it wasn't Justin like I had anticipated, it was Ashley telling me she hoped I was having an amazing day. After a few seconds, Christian pops into the video pretending to 'open mail from Justin' and inside of it was a video from my Aunti Jay (who lives on the other side of the world) playing on Ashley's iPhone. She directed me to find the next clue hidden in our apartment.

Once I found the next clue, I was sent on a scavenger hunt all over the city. The next step was to leave the house and head to Amanda's office to meet up with her. After I read the clue I was beyond confused and kept trying to message Justin or call him to ask if I needed to actually head to Amanda's office or if I should start searching her room. After humming and hawing for what seemed like forever,  I finally got my butt out the door and walked to Amanda's office. 

Once I was at Amanda's office, I was given my next clue and we were about to head out. Amanda needed to head back to our apartment to grab the first two puzzle pieces (because I was supposed to bring them with me but didn't know this) and she graciously let my change into something a little nicer so I ran a brush through my hair, put a maxi dress on, and headed out the door to my next pit-stop: to see Justin's Aunt Tracy. 

When I got to Tracy's work she had me facetime with my mom and dad and after stalling for a few minutes, they sent me on my way to meet up with Justin's brother, Rob. I had to look for Rob outside of one of our large stadiums, and I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to find him - but I saw him as soon as we got there. He had me call Juliette for my next clue - and she was a total jerk and tried to convince me that in order to get my new clue, I needed to know when "President Grover Cleveland died", but I called BS on her question and she finally asked my real question and then I was on my way to meet Justin's best friend, Barry. I liked this stop because we got to sit and chill and have a beer (which helped to calm my quickly rising nerves). After we killed enough time there I was heading to Justin's spot - where he and all of his friends have gone for years - their favourite bar (which has also kind of become my spot as well).

We entered the side door and I instantly found one of Justin's best friends, Desiree, and she was waiting to give me my next clue - call my BFF Jennie (who moved away and couldn't be here for the engagement). While I was on the phone with her, she had me put together the whole puzzle so I could see all of the pieces. 

After I was done the puzzle, Jennie told me to turn around. That is when I saw him for the first time in what seemed like forever. Sure, I had seen him only 12 hours beforehand when I kissed him goodbye on my way to work - but it felt like an eternity since I had seen him. The moment Justin smiled at me, my heart melted and everything kind of became a blur - it was as if the world around us stopped for just a few minutes. I think Jennie might have been talking to me but I dropped my phone onto the table and took a step towards Justin - who, might I add, had tears streaming down his cheeks at this point. As soon as he started to cry, I started to cry, and we were both a mess. He wrapped me in his arms and whispered a few super sweet things in my ear and then attempted to choke down the tears so he could spit out the proposal:

Baby, I love you more than anything else in this world. 

I wouldn't be the man I am today without you.

I feel like I've known you my whole life even though I've only know you for just over a year. 

Faith Alexandra Bowyer, will you marry me?

(I had to ask Justin what he said while I was typing this because I couldn't remember a word of what he said, it was all such a blur)

Obviously I immediately said yes and we hugged and kissed and laughed and it was the best moment of my life. Every single time I think about the moment he proposed, I can't help but smile. As soon as he slid the ring on my finger and we kissed again, the table next to us cheered and clapped and the guy sitting there yells to the whole bar 'SHE SAID YES, EVERYBODY!' and then the whole bar erupted into clapping and cheering and within 2 minutes our area was flooded with his family and our friends who had all been hiding on the other end of the bar, waiting to celebrate with us. Along with a round of shots!

We got to facetime with my family, and spend the night celebrating with the people we love. It was an incredible night and I can't stop reliving it over and over in my head. Also, I've probably taken about 500 pictures of my ring in the past week... here are a few pictures that I've loved.

I am embarrassingly bad at ring selfies. Juliette said I'll get better - I say she's full of lies.

I am kind of obsessed with this ring.

I was feeling slightly artistic, or something.

And there you have it, folks, we are officially engaged - and yes, I'm still surprised that this poor man has agreed to spend eternity with me. Call my optimistic, but I'm actually excited about wedding planning (for now... ask me how I feel about it all in a week or two), and I can't wait to marry this man. Is it October 17th, 2016 yet?

Comeback

HELLO BLOGGING WORLD!
(Hi Faith)

I have been missing blogging a lot lately - but every time I sit down and stare at this blank page/screen I just have nothing to say (which if you know me at all, is pretty rare). But I've been nudged (thanks Dad, Juliette, and a few random friends) to get my butt back in gear and post regularly, so this is my feeble attempt at a comeback.

Yesterday, over gchat, I made Juliette ask me a bunch of random questions that I could answer to help get the ball rolling. So here are the super random questions she asked me and I tag EVERY single one of you to answer these same exact questions, or something.

What kind of food have you been eating lately?

Ummm kind of whatever floats my boat. I know that's probably not the right way to answer this question, but it's true. I usually eat oatmeal with natural peanut butter and chopped up banana and berries for breakfast. Lunch is usually a salad - or chicken - or leftovers from the night before. Dinner is whatever I've planned ahead of time. This is a HARD question, Juliette. I'm over this. NEXT.

What's your current guilty pleasure? (and if you don't say the instagram one, I know you're lying in your post).

Note to self - never share secrets with JULIETTE. Ugh. Yeah, so I currently love browsing the hashtag #engaged on instagram. I love love. I love seeing peoples rings, and reading engagement stories. I've been browsing through this hashtag for like a month now - don't judge me.

What tv show have you been binging on lately?

I binge watch shows on Netflix and never usually watch shows that are actually airing on tv each week (because that requires too much of a commitment). I'm currently binge-watching Chuck, and when I'm not watching that, I'm finishing season 2 of OITNB.

What's something you've been stressing over lately?

Moving. Justin and I are moving into our own place and leaving Amanda ( infinite sad faces :( ), and despite the fact that there's ZERO pressure from Amanda for us to leave RIGHT NOW, it is still so stressful. We have fallen in love with a few places and didn't get them because we needed at least a month's notice for Amanda, and they wanted us to move in a week later. Ugh.

What' s been driving you crazy lately?

All the secrets and lies that Justin has been keeping. I KNEW he was acting weird, but didn't entirely know why. I know this is kinda vague, but I'll elaborate more on this tomorrow, or Thursday!

What's the best thing you've seen on pinterest in the last month?

They're both wedding related - because wedding pins are my favourite (usually).

This - I want this at my wedding.

And this! They turned their wedding vows into art.

What's your next vacation going to be?

Probably a trip to Halifax (Nova Scotia) to see my family.. or maybe California.

Are you still running?

Not as often as I used to, but I'm trying to run more. I'm usually averaging once or twice a week right now - I'd like it to be 3-5x a week!

Is your left wrist sore from having to carry your rock around all the time?

hahahaha - I had to include this one because it made me laugh

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That's it for now - but I really really really am trying to make a comeback! Who knows, maybe you'll see me around here tomorrow!

...Have You Ever Been So Tired?

Most days we're all pretty tired. Okay, maybe not most of us.. maybe just the some of us who have sleeping issues and don't ever get an adequate amount of sleep. Anyway, most days are just kinda groggy, and then after my 42 shots of espresso (this may be a slight exaggeration), I'm good to go. Well today is different. Today I'm struggling on a whole new level of tired-struggleness (see, I'm making up words), and I know you're probably all wanting to know why.

Last night I went to bed at 10, and I think I fell asleep around 11:00pm. Not so bad. If I slept 11-6 that would be 7 hours, and I'm totally good with that. But unfortunately that didn't happen. No. I woke up, thinking it was morning and time to get ready for work. Stood up, stretched, yawned, went to the washroom and saw that it was REALLY dark out. Darker than it should be at 6:00am, so I headed back into the bedroom to discover that it was 12:00am... MIDNIGHT. I had only slept for ONE HOUR. What the heck, self?

I obviously crawled back into bed because I had 6 more hours of sleep, but my body was all 'it's time to wake up, lets go' and I had a super restless rest of my night. I was wide awake until 2:30m woke up at 3, went back to sleep at 4 and woke up at 5, and then passed out until 6. Oh, how I hated my alarm on a WHOLE new level this morning.

Anyway, I've been doing some really stupid things this morning whilst being really really ridiculously good looking tired.. so I'm going to share those things with you. Because sharing is caring, guys.

So... have you ever been so tired...

... that you put your pants on backwards? Nope? Me neither.

... that you push and push and push on a door that says 'pull' and wonder why it won't work?

... that you put your contacts in the wrong eyes?

... that you drop something and pick it up about 10x?

... that you see the Google sign today and think 'aww look at those cute little cartoon broccoli's' and wonder what holiday or random day of the year it is that Google is celebrating.. and then remember that it's St. Patrick's Day, and those are clovers, not broccoli.

Whatever, we can't all be perfect and know what clovers are at 6:30 in the morning when we've basically had zero sleep. And on that note, I'm going to roll out before I fall asleep on my keyboard and miss work.

He's My Lobster

I always wanted to believe that there was someone out there for me, or that I'd find love/happiness/the crap that you see in movies. I've been photographing couples, weddings, families, etc. in my spare time for the past couple years and I've seen so many wonderful couples stand in front of my camera and I could see the love, I could feel the love - it was beautiful. But over the past 5 years I came to the conclusion that that kind of love wasn't for me.

But all of that changed one year ago - a wonderful man came into my life unexpectedly... and so ended my single life. In the past year I've experienced some amazing moments - I laughed, I cried, I stepped out of my comfort zone, I grew as a person, I opened up my soul to this man, and I fell in love. I found my lobster.

That bow tie was an inside joke between Justin and I before we met up for our first date, and Justin brought it along with him. That picture on the left is a picture that I took of Justin on our first date, and the picture on the right is the selfie that I took for him the next day to show him that I was happily sporting said bow tie.

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I'm going to take a minute to get super mushy, now is the time to scroll to a few pictures at the bottom if you don't want to read it:

Justin, 

You came into my life at the most perfect time. I knew I never needed a man, but I also started to believe I never wanted one either - you changed that. From the moment you sent me that first message, it was different. I blew you off (or so you thought) with my first few messages - but once we texted back and forth a dozen times, I knew I wanted to meet you. Our first date was the best first date of my life, and every time I think about it - it puts a smile on my face. 

This past year has flown by so quickly. It's weird - I feel like our first date was just yesterday, yet I feel like we've known each other all of our lives. I'm pretty sure you know me better than anyone else in this world, and I'm grateful that you allow me to be my true and honest self with you. You have seen me at my best, and you have seen me at my worst - and you still haven't gone running for the hills.. so I guess you're a keeper.

You know how to cheer me up after a bad day, you push me to work harder and be a better person, and you respect me and show me love. You're polite and caring, and you listen to my boring stories and lame jokes - even if you don't care about them. You tell me you love me every single day, and you make sure you tell me I'm beautiful at every possible moment - oh, how I'll never get tired of hearing those words come out of your mouth.

I love how you will sing Frank Sinatra to me as you force me to dance with me around our kitchen and living room and twirl me around and around - because you know it instantly puts a smile on my face. I love how you get me a glass of water every single night before bed, without me even having to say a word - because you know I'll get thirsty. I love how you'll write little messages on the mirror when I'm in the shower - because you know when I step out of the shower, it'll make me happy.

I love you more than I could possibly ever put into words - but, of course, you already know that. I look forward to all of the adventures that we're going to take together, and I can't wait to celebrate a lot more anniversaries with you - just like this one. 

 

Happy anniversary, bebee. 

xoxoxoxo

If you're not a fan of the show Friends (what is wrong with you?) then you may not understand my post title, or the whole point to this post... but essentially, Justin is my lobster. Watch the clip to understand what I'm talking about.