My lovely friend Katie got me the above hanger to hang my wedding dress on. I love it, and it’s so beautiful, but I have to admit seeing my soon-to-be last name like that still kind of freaks me out a bit.

I actually went back and forth on whether I was going to change my name or not. For awhile I thought I wouldn’t, and then I thought maybe I’d change it personally but keep my current last name professionally, and finally I decided “go big or go home” if I’m going to change my name I might as well just change it! Hyphenation isn’t for me and neither is juggling two different last names depending on whether I’m in personal-mode or professional-mode.

Also, over the past 14 months of being engaged, something has shifted in the way I think about relationships and specifically my relationship. To me, marriage is so much more than just saying “I do” and some vows in front of family and friends. It really signifies a partnership and a team. Something like changing my name that didn’t seem that important 14 months ago has suddenly became very important to me because I want to go through the rest of my life with the same last name as my husband and the same last name as my (eventual, one day, far-in-the-future) children. I feel like it’s just another sign of our partnership and unified front. This is just my opinion of course, I’m not saying if you chose not to change your name you don’t view your husband/wife as a partner

At the same time, my current name is not “just a name” to me. It’s something I’ve had my entire life. It’s mine. It was my name when I graduated high school, university, received my first byline and more. So while I am excited for this next step in my life with my new name I am also a little sad to be letting my old name go.

So that’s kind of where I am on the changing name thing. I’m doing it. I’m excited to share the same name as my soon-to-be husband but I’m also a little sad to let go of a piece of me and my past.

Questions of the day: For the ladies, did you change your name or will you when you get married? For the men, did your wife? Did you want her to or did you care? 

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This is one of my favourite casual Friday outfits. Super comfy but still office appropriate!

Top: Costco. Scarf: Ricki’s. Jeans: Warehouse one. Shoes: TOMS.

This outfit was from about a month ago and the first time I wore capri’s this season!

Top: Ricki’s. Capri’s: Ricki’s. Cardigan: Costco. Shoes: TOMS.

I didn’t wear this outfit to a regular work day. About a month ago Eric and I had a formal dinner event to go to for my work so this is my formal/dressy attire!

Dress: Winners. Necklace: Stella & Dot. Shoes: Le Chateau. 

One of my very favourite work dresses! I wear this dress A LOT in the summer.

Dress: Joe Fresh (from Superstore). 

I really like this outfit! My mom actually picked all these things out for me when she was visiting a few weeks ago. The shirt has little ruffles on it that you can’t really see and I’m also wearing a knit cardigan (that you can’t really see because both it and the shirt are black!

Shirt: Winners. Cardigan: Winners. Pants: Winners. Necklace: Stella & Dot. 

Another dress picked out for me by my mom. I was seriously unsure about this dress at first but the consensus on Twitter was that people liked it and I might want to consider adding a wide black or brown belt next time to break up the pattern, which I think I will try. I got a lot of compliments the day I wore this dress so I guess it’s a keeper!

Dress: Winners. Flats: Shoe Warehouse. 

I LOVE this new blazer that I just got! They actually had a bunch of coloured ones there so I might go back and pick up a few more in different colours. It’s a fun way to add a pop of colour to a business-casual outfit!

Blazer: Winners. Top: Winners. Jeans: Jean Warehouse. 

As spring turns into summer my wardrobe will morph to lots of dresses, skirts and capri’s! I can’t wait for summer!

What kinds of things are you wearing lately? Do you find spring a hard season to dress stylish in? 

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Last night I tried Crossfit for the first time ever with Bronwyn! It was really intense, and really fun. I am planning to get a month unlimited pass and go 3-4 times per week. I need to get back into strength training and don’t seem to do it at home so I’m hoping this will push me. Plus it doesn’t hurt that I have this pretty significant event coming up in my life where I will be wearing a sleeveless dress all day long…

Crossfit last night was also my first workout since the marathon (well, if you don’t count mine and Eric’s dancing less on Monday night) and it was good to do something again. While I have really enjoyed being lazy, resting and recovering I know it’s time to get back into regular workouts. Plus I have NO energy when I don’t workout and dragging myself out of bed in the morning is the hardest thing ever. I still haven’t ran, but have a running date on Friday – in the trails no less so I’m jumping right back into it!

Right now I just want to focus on yoga and strength training and maintaining my running base (1.5 – 2 hour long runs + two other runs per week) until after the wedding. I am then doing the inaugural Kamloops half-marathon at the end of July with my girlfriend from Calgary (thank god Lisa talked me down from the ledge when I almost signed up for the marathon, which is 20 days after my wedding!) and I am also 95% sure I will be running the Kelowna marathon in October. Other things on the agenda are lots of trail running, gearing up for an 18K (or possibly 36K if I’m feeling ambitious and want to do two loops) trail run in September.

Originally I wanted to do another triathlon at the end of August but now I’m not so sure I will. I really did not enjoy triathlon training last year even though I loved the race itself. We’ll see. I’ll be digging my bike back out for bike to work week at the end of this month and then go from there.

So that’s where I’m at on the workout/training front right now! On one hand I’m itching to sign up for a race and dive into another training cycle but on the other hand I know that I should be focused on the wedding right now (and there is a lot to do, trust me!) so shouldn’t get myself too busy with *more* training.

What are you training for right now and/or this summer? 

I spent all day Saturday in a strategic planning session for work and then my friend Robyn, who was visiting me from Calgary this weekend, picked me up and we went out for Mojito’s! I had been looking forward to having dinner with Robyn and a few of my girlfriends  from around here on Saturday night but all of them “canceled” at the last minute. Heh.

Anyways, I came home from having drinks with Robyn to see Jen’s car in the driveway and then walked up the stairs into our house to 9 girlfriends in running gear, marathon numbers and wigs on yelling “SURPRISE!”

I was told to go upstairs and put on running clothes and was then provided with a mandatory wig and t-shirt to wear.

The running clothes/marathon/wig-theme was seriously SO AWESOME and FUN!

There was 11 of us total and you never would have guessed that most of these girls didn’t even know each other very well, most of them are all friends of mine from different aspects of my life. But everyone got along wonderfully!

After I got over my initial shock (and had a few shots) we headed downtown for the best part of the whole night: A SCAVENGER HUNT! Let me just say that scavenger hunts are the best thing ever. So fun! Especially as a party game at a party where not everyone knows one another very well! We were split into two teams…

…and sent off with a list of things to get – mostly things we had to take photos of.

Like girls planking.

Yoga poses.

A photo on the back of a Harley.

And some things that were a little too inappropriate for the blog It was a bachelorette party after all! Our team lost unfortunately. Probably because we got distracted by cute puppies during the hunt!

Then we all met up at a pub for more drinks, some food and lots of laughs before heading out dancing at the bar, something I hadn’t done in over two years!

It was SUCH A FUN NIGHT! Jen did an amazing job planning a party that was totally ME. I adored the marathon/running theme and let me say wearing running clothes to the bar is the best idea ever! So comfortable for a night of running around town and dancing. My friends are the best and totally spoiled me. Every time I turned around there was a shot or a drink in front of me. Sunday was definitely a hugeeee write-off.

Thank you again to all my fabulous friends who came out on Saturday!

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Questions of the day: What did you do for your bachelorette party? Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? I’ve never had one thrown for me before, this was so great!