Alot Has Happened In Two Years!!!!

Two years ago from today (well actually it was the 28th, but two years ago that was a Thursday)...Brad and I had our first date!!!
Wow!!!

Her Story, the nutshell version:

After a week of talking on the phone, Brad finally convinced Stacy that they should get together for an actual "date". Stacy of course was very amused..intrigued perhaps by the past week of telephone conversations and agreed. Stacy wondered if a home-cooked meal at her place was perhaps moving a little too quickly...however, she figured, what the heck does she have to lose...?...go for it... She purposed the idea...he quickly agreed. The next night they had a dinner date set! Yay. Stacy was, probably for the first time in her life, perhaps a little nervous about a date...Was it the subject himself...the pressure of having to cook dinner...? What was it...?
Well here we are...7pm on a Thursday night...Doorbell rings...Oh my goodness...she feels FAINT...she might actually pass out...Doorbell rings again (and if you know Brad, you know it rang several times after before Stacy got to the door)...
Stacy answered the door (looking totally radiant - of course), perhaps a little hesitant (cause of course, although she had talked to him several times on the phone since they had met...would he in fact be as "cute/hot" as he seemed that one fateful ... ok two fateful nights they had briefly met at Gracie's)....
Oh wheeewwwwwwww.....Not only is he "cute/hot"...he is tall , dark and totally Handsome. Somethin' to write home about perhaps...?...So far so good Stace.
Well normally this (where she has answered the door and he is standing there with a bottle of wine and flowers, looking SO handsome) would be an awkward part in the date...BUT, not so much. She invites him in, he accepts...gives her a hug...proceeds to the kitchen to poor two glasses of wine and check on dinner...He's been here a mere few minutes and has made himself at home...Excellent!!!
Dinner that night, if I do say so myself...was pretty tasty...The wine was..uh OK...hahah it took Stacy about 6 months to tell Brad that she really did not like red wine that much. That said, she has grown to like it more...
They did the dishes together that night and then headed off for a few hours to the Casino de Lac Lemy. It was a great first date.
They didn't by any means come home from the casino rich that night but they did end the evening with plans for another date...
Brad and Stacy spend alot of time together that Halloween weekend...things never felt awkward, they talked and laughed and well...that was the start of many more dates and alot of good times...
Both of them discovered early on that they had "found the one"...and they have already been married for 3 months and 1 week!!! YAY!!!
So will they celebrate? Nah...probably not formally since now they will get to celebrate their wedding anniversary every year in July...BUT, the anniversary of their first date will always be fun to remember as it has turned out to be the best date ever for them both.

Happy First date Anniversary to us!!!!!

Brad, Madison and Adam

^Aunt Dorothy/Grandma with Ethan^

Not too much to update on the blog today :( ... Last week was a pretty quiet and LONELY. Brad was away for business in Toronto from Wednesday morning until Sunday afternoon. I was left to fend for myself. booo... I'm writing this entry so I must have done OK. BUT, I REALLY miss my husband and it is really good to have him back home. I think he missed me too.

Saturday night I had a great supper with my friend Claire who I work with and some of her friends...It was a celebration for her birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY (again) CLAIRE!!! Sadly, I bailed on the bowling activities...I hope it was a hoot though!?!?!?!?

On Sunday, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Bob hosted a wonderful Lunch and had us all over as Christopher, Miranda and Ethan are home for a visit. It was our first time meeting ... or should I say seeing Ethan (as he was asleep nearly the entire time we were there). He is a gorgeous little boy!!! We are VERY happy for Chris and Miranda, proud parents of Ethan...Congratulations again!!!

Sunday evening, we spent some time at and had a very yummy Italian supper at mama Chris's and Papa Jims - Thank you!!!!

Well, That about sums up the excitement for now. I'll aim to be a bit more exciting this week. Sadly, I have no pics from the weekend (What the heck?!?)! Someone email me some ...

New Side Bar Feature...

...Every so often I will update and or add some features of the sidebar (located on the RHS of the page) on our blog...make sure to check it out once in a while...

Recently I found a cool little Polling tool (copied from a fellow blogger friend of ours)...
Anyway...it's just for fun...I will try to update the questions on a weekly (maybe bi-weekly) basis.

Also...I want to see MORE comments posted for us in the "chatterbox"...also located in the sidebar! :) Pllleeeaaase!!!! :) I REALLY look forward to reading them!!!

Happy Humpday,
The Mrs.
:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Papa Jim!!!

Some Pics from the BIG birthday Party:

Brad, LIAM & Kim

Happy 60th PApa JIM!!!

Darren and Melissa

*** A special THANKS to Scott from the AGAVE GRILL for taking such good care of us durring the birthday celebration!!!

It Fit !!!

My husband has been VERY determined to get the garage organized in such a way that we would be able to fit the car into the garage!!!

....and TA-DA!!! Even before the first official flurry!!! YAY!!!

October 8, 2006

Madison and Uncle Jim havin' a chat:
Auntie Stacy and Logan:
Brad, Stace, Ali & Mama Chris:
"THE GIRLS" (Alison and Abbie):

THANKS Mama Chris and Papa Jim for a wonderful thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night!!!

Mama and Papa Light, We missed you guys ALOT!!!

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Earle, WE MISSED YOU TOO!!! Aunt Kathy...Feel BETTER soon!!! xoxo

Grandpa, Nanny and Baby Logan:
Brad & Stacy:

October 7, 2006

The O'Neils

King Mountain at Gatineau Park

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...for the CANADIAN side of the friends and family...!!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday (LONG) Weekend!!!!

Happy Turkey eating!!! YAY!!!

Love Stacy & Brad
xoxo

The T-Fal Ultraglide iron

During "the merge" we came out with two irons!!! Excellent...Just in case there was ever a mad dash down to the laundry room for a great iron-off...!!! Yeee-ah!

Sadly, within a week...both of our irons kicked the bucket. Imagine...we had planned one of them to go in the Spring 2007 garage sale we plan to have. Not so much.

Anyway, we did purchase ourselves a NEW IRON over the weekend...and I MUST say... I REALLY LIKE IT...especially the ultra glide feature...our cloths practically iron themselves!!!

So...if you are in the market for a new iron (and the less expensive of those in the iron world), i would recommend The T-Fal Ultraglide Iron!!! wooo hooo!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AL!!!

HAPPY THIRTY-SOMETHING BIRTHDAY TO AL!!! Hopefully even after all the drama and excitement you still had a good birthday!!!

Al's first BIRTHDAY as a HUSBAND!!! His wife, of course as always...spoiled him (rotten)!!!

Al's idea of Birthday fun....A GAME OF MONOPOLY!!!!

THESE are the "HAPPY" Monopoly Pictures...

...As we like to keep the content of the blog somewhat uplifting and positive...I will only touch briefly on the outcome of monopoly...

...Lets just say...even a monopoly game played in our "thirty-somethings" can not be played without lying, cheating, stealing and / or fighting ...

It was not a happy ending, at least for the Monopoly game. The boys retired to the living room to watch sports of sorts. The girls put on their party cloths and headed out to Grace O'Malley's (former stomping grounds) for a couple drinks.

Thanks to Mike for driving us there...and of course thanks to brad for coming to get us and making sure (even after all the Monopoly drama) that we lovely ladies made it home safe.

Also Thanks to the Mc - Papineau's for Supper on Saturday AND Sunday night!!! :)

CIBC FUNDRAISING UPDATE!!!

Edited on: October 2, 2006

Well...WE DID IT!!! Even through the rain...and the chill...!!! We walked our 5 km and lived to tell about it!!! It was a great walk and for an amazing cause. It was emotional (reading about 'who' people were walking for...some survivors, some who sadly did not survive...) but inspiring to see all the people (14,000 participant at the Ottawa runsite) who came out to participate...I am glad we participated! Papa Jim even walked with us!!!! YAY!!!

AGAIN, We just want to thank EVERYONE who has supported us in participating in this event (especially through your donations to us)!!! So far we have raised $725.00 between us towards the CIBC RUN FOR THE CURE!!!

Please remember that donations will be accepted for this event online until October 31st!!!

Here is a picture of us at the end of our walk!!! Wooo hooo ... WE DID IT!!!

Mama Chris and Bradley:


Some runners...if you look REALLY CLOSE...you might be able to spot Mama Chris, Papa Jim and myself:

More runners (going up Wellington):

This was on the way to the walk...all us Happy Little Campers in the RAIN:

Mama Chris and Papa Jim in the backseat on the way to the race...SHHHHhhht...BE GOOD BACK THERE!!!!

Ahhhh... What a morning!!!

And last but not least I shoul mention...

...We hope Mama Chris enjoyed her BIRTHDAY brunch (compliments of Chef Brad) Chez O'Neil!!! Ummmmm Bacon and Eggs!!! Again... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA CHRIS!!!!!

Diefenbunker Museum

The Diefenbunker - Canada's Cold War Museum

On Sunday afternoon we took a drive out to Carp, ON and went on the guided tour of the Diefenbunker. We had a very enthusiastic guide Brian Jeffery who is a long time volunteer of the museum. It was very interesting and a highly recommended activity for those looking for something to do whether you live in the Ottawa area or if your are coming here to visit. The guided tour lasts just under two hours, but goes by very quickly.

Saturday we were supposed to go to friends of ours out near Belleville. Unfortunately, on Friday we heard that Amanda (the birthday girl) was not feeling well and suspected she was either down with the flu or had a case of food poisoning. :( We certainly hope she is on the mend by now and able to collect on all her birthday presents!!! Happy Birthday Amanda!!! Your present (shown below) now sits on our front step here in Ottawa!!!
Saturday was a day for inside stuff as it rained pretty much all day!!! This giving me the perfect excuse to sleep in!!! I did eventually wake to have some breakfast, but only to go back and have a short nap!!! Not sure what the heck Brad was up to during all of this, but when I woke up and went out to the garage to see what he was doing...there he was all proud-like pointing to the car (parked in the garage) and looking very proud of himself!!! Yes...this is pretty exciting for us, the fact that the garage is slowly getting organized enough that we are able to park the car in there.

With only a couple hours left in the retail world, we did go for a little drive to do some window shopping. We looked at some furniture, but in particular, dining room tables...yay!!! We now have a style in mind and it will just be a matter of finding the right one for the right price at the right time!!!

Movies we watched on Saturday night and both decent rentals:

RV

and

Luck Number Slevin

Supper with Friends From T.O.

Friday night Sue and Leo were in town and we were able to catch up with them for supper, a few drinks and a wonderful visit!!! Thanks again guys...it was so awesome to get to see you again and Leo, it was really nice to get to know you a bit better!!! Here are Sue (better known as Susie Q) and her fiance, Leo!!! Sorry about the terribly blurry photo :(

The Blue Cactus

Fat Tuesdays

The Heart and Crown

This past weekend two biggest accomplishments:

The building of the loft in the garage!!! Looks sturdy, seems to be holding and displaced all the "stuff" from the floor to the ceiling!!! Even after this... and much more organization...I have decided that the arranging and re-arranging of a garage is indeed a never ending task.



During this time...The great closet purge of Fall 2006 took place on Stacy's side of the closet!!! Yay!!!

Saturday was turned out to be a very productive "house day" chez O'Neil!!!

Our Reward: Dinner out at our local "Dinty's" (Rating: 7/10 food, 5.5/10/service) ... Then out for a few drinks and a bit of comedy at "Absolute Comedy"!!!

This weekend we thank:

The McPaps Res for good food, good company and sharing the wedding and honeymoon video with us on Friday evening!!!

Also we thank mama and papa McCready for a delightful Sunday super...DELICIOUS!!!

Darren - thanks for our latest donation towards reaching our funraising goal for the CIBC Run For The Cure!!!

I should mention that we got to see our very cute nephew Logan on Sunday as well...he is just 2 months old and growing SO fast!!!

CIBC RUN FOR THE CURE

OUR PREVIOUS POST

WE ARE GETTING CLOSER...little by little...bit by bit!!!

So far, together we have raised $425.00!!! YAY!!!

There are two weeks left to make it to our goal of $1500.00...(ok ok...perhaps we aimed a little high?!?!?) We'd be really happy if we could make it at least half way to our goal...and we would be super super tres happy if we made our goal!!!

We thank everyone who had donated to us both so far...and we encourge those who haven't (and would like to) to please do so. The easy links to our donation pages can be found on the right hand side side bar of this blog!!!

Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation

Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation

at the Highlander Pub!!!

Papa Jim and Uncle John:

Brad and Uncle John:

CIBC RUN FOR THE CURE

To Support Stacy in the "CIBC RUN FOR THE CURE (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation)

To Support Brad in the CIBC RUN FOR THE CURE (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation)

Hello Friends and Family!!!

On Sunday October 1, 2006, we will be participating in the CIBC Run For The Cure (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation). We have joined my team here at GOWLINGS and we have set a combined goal to raise $1500.00 in the next 3 weeks for this cause!!! If you can, please help us reach our goal as we gear up to participate!!! Thank you all in advance,

Love, Stacy & Brad xoxo

More Congratulation!!!

...To Chris and Miranda who welcomed a baby boy as the first addition to their family!!! Ethan Christopher Roy arrived on August 31st a very health 8ish pounds!!! Mom and Babe are both home and doing well!!! Congratulations to you all!!!