Once upon a time in Tokyo...(an engagement story)

Once upon a time, James' parents asked us to join them for an amazing nine day vacation in Tokyo for Christmas. Although I love Christmas with my family, I knew that this little jaunt to Japan was going to be the trip of a lifetime.
Our first day night in Tokyo was jetlag citaayyy (please see image below)

This is James and I trying not to fall asleep in the Hard Rock Cafe

Christmas Day was the best! I always love Christmas Day and while this one was untraditional, it was my favourite! We woke up and went to Christmas Mass (which featured some sick electric guitar solos) and then did a nice long walking tour of the Hikawa Jinja (Shinto shrine across from the Armingtons' apartment),

the Akasaka area,

and Hiro-o (where they used to live).

We enjoyed our first helping (of many) of my favourite food (well, tied with popcorn and cheese...duh)

Ton Katsu Curry...it tastes at least 40,000x better than it looks...I promise.

and enjoyed looking at how everything in the entire city of Tokyo is adorable!

Example #1 Teensiest box of cereal ever

Example #2 Juice boxes

Example #3 Manhole cover

Example #4 Bus seat fabric

We then returned home to get ready for a lovely Christmas dinner at the New Sanno Hotel (American military place). We had a little bit of time to waste so James asked me to join him on the rooftop terrace (which looks over the Hikawa Jinja shrine and the Akasaka area of Tokyo) to see what we could see since it was dark when we went up there the night before

On the way up in the elevator, I told James that I was going to marry him one day. Once up there, I took some pictures of us with the beautiful view in the background

Ahahah he knew what was coming...

The next part went a little bit like this:

• James: Trace, were you serious about marrying me one day?
• Me: Of course, babe!
• James states that he is nervous, gets on one knee, reveals the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen and asks me to marry him

I then proceeded to jump around like crazy saying "REALLY?! REALLY?! REALLY?!" (I may or may not have actually said yes...I don't remember. I don't think there was a doubt in his mind though...). James put the ring on my finger (after I told him to do so...he forgot that part..hehe) and we then resigned to sobbing in eachothers arms (sappy I know...but I was asked for the details!)

The ring and my freshly painted nails...strange because I barely ever paint my nails...my subconscious must have known that my hands needed to look good!



Crying with happiess :)



Happy Cat!

And more tears :)

Basically, it was the most beautiful and amazing proposal I could imagine. I had no idea it was going to happen on this trip but it definitely made an already amazing trip the time of my life :)

...more on the rest of the trip later!

xoxo, Tracey and James

Christmas comes but once a year, now it's here, now it's here...

Oops...I neglected this blog big time for the past 2 months! My bad.

But December is definitely worthy of a post because I LOVE December because I LOVE Chrsitmastime!!

The Christmas shopping is almost complete, the Christmas lights are ghetto-rigged (avec le duct tape) on the balcony:

and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care:

In hopes that St.Nicholas will NOT soon be here...because we won't! We will be in....drumroll please...

TOKYO!!!!

Although my favourite day of the year is Christmas because I absolutely love sitting in the living room with my family in our PJs, drinking coffee, exchanging presents and enjoying eachother's company, this year Christmas with the Kennedys will be a couple of days early (which, if you know how good horrible I am at waiting to give people presents, you know that I am excited for this!) for Jameso and I! Then on the 23rd, thanks to the ever so generous and lovely Armingtons, we will be off to Japan for a wonderful 9-day excursion! I am very, very, very excited!

So...what would you like from Japan?! Hello Kitty stuff? Engrish shirts? Perhaps a nice Yukata or Kimono?

Tokyo or bust!
Love, James and Tracey



The Most Perfect Sunday

Today was my dream Sunday. It was just lovely. Let me break it down for you. First of all, we woke up at 11!! That's a big sleep in for us. We ate breakfast and had a lazy Sunday morning complete with coffee (him) and chai (her). Then we head off into the crisp 50 degree fall weather for a trip to the pumpkin patch...complete with baby animals, the "largest cornucopia in America", THREE corn mazes spanning 40 acres (in the shape of a moose, a bear and an eagle with a fish in its mouth), apple cider and a hayride to the pumpkin patch where we picked our perfect little pumpkin straight from the vine :)

This evening we headed over to my parents' house for Canadian Thanksgiving. I brought my mommy a butternut squash and some Indian Corn from the patch.We had a lovely roast (grocery stores don't have turkey right now...but the deli dude said three people asked today!), mashed potatoes, candied yams and wine. Apres dinner we enjoyed a few wonderful rounds of euchre, some scotch and some laughs.

And now, we are at home, in our pajamas with the balcony door open listening to a train whistle through the rainy night. Perfect, perfect.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! 

The New Digz.

FINALLY!
Charger: found.
Video tour: HERE!
Pictures: ready!

Please see the little guided tour of the new apartment above and see the pictures below! Enjoy :)

New couch (with newly recovered cushions!) from the lovely Brandons :)

The Living Room

The Kitchen

The dining room with the our brand new tables and chairs (thanks Mal for your table but after not finding cute chairs we decided to go for a "big kid" set!)

The bedroom...what do you think of our headboard? Should I put something in the frame? Something on the sides? Is it all good? Tell me!

The patio with our groovy chair.

That's our ga-rage.

SOOOOO what do you think?! What else does it need (obviously more artwork...any suggestions...and obviously the pile in the dining room gone...or do you like that one)?!

Thanks for your opinions, suggestions and comments. So excited for our new home :)

xoxo, Tracey and James

I've Got Two Turntables and a Microphone...

Once upon a time, I loved colours...actually I still love colours. But once upon a time I loved colours on my furniture! Bright ones! Lots of them! Lookin' like one of them change-colour disco floors. Well, as all of you know, James and I are now college graduates so my disco tables would just not do for our new sophisticated lifestyle. No. We needed more subdued colours...like gold and silver...which still may be in disco floor patterns... So the moral of the story is: we've gone from '65 to '75. And we all remember just how much more sophisticated and posh '75 was. Alright! Here we go...

Before:

These little twinsies were found on the side of the road...bad, bad water stains

The disco floor table itself.

Pssshhh so '65.

Drum roll please....


AFTER!:

Gold/silver makeover!

Silver paint over gold. I love this.

What does square equals square mean you ask?...

...it means it was inspired by our new TV table (from Craigslist)

LOVE this one.

Golden beauty.

So there they are! The new tables for the new apartment near our new jobs!

Also, the Brandons gave us their awesome couch whose cushions had a little run in with the dryer...so I refinished said cushions (sorry, no before picture):



So...what do you think?! Are the squares on the long table weird? I haven't decided... I love feedback. Thanks!!

A Three Year Recap

Today is the day! James and my three year anniversary! So, in honour of the big day, I'm going to give you all a little recap on how this magic started ; )

Once upon a time James came to Colorado to attend University of Northern Colorado. He lived in the dorms and liked to skateboard in his room. This disruptive noise made him form a great friendship with the girl who lived below him, Heather. After their freshman year, Heather decided to transfer to CU in Boulder and work at BD's Mongolian BBQ which, coincidentally, is exactly what I was doing! We became the best of friends. Then one day, I realized how much Ram Pride I had and decided to transfer to CSU. James had just made the same realization. We both reported this overwhelming pride to Heather and she told us that we should be friends. After about a week in Fort Collins, we decided to meet up at the LSC to get football tickets for the up coming game. I got my ticket and then got really shy. I didn't want to leave though because I did want a friend in Fort Collins. So instead, I just hid behind the stairs. After a few minutes, this cute boy in Levi 501s and a Liverpool jersey approached me exclaiming "There you are! I didn't think you were here!". After telling each other some awkward Popsicle jokes, we decided to go get coffee at the Alley Cat where I revealed that I am Canadian and played hockey in high school...James' dream girl! ...or at least big points. We also found out that we liked all of the same music so I invited him to come with me and some friends to Monolith Festival (R.I.P.) at Red Rocks. After a football game, some walks around Old Town, some more coffee at Alley Cat, and a weekend spent at a music festival and treacherous mountainous race, we were officially dating. And such was born "Sniffs and Grizz" (our rap group), the CATS, and the Pup and his Bone : ) And the rest is history! I will now sum up our three years together in a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy:



September 16th, 2007 - Monolith Festival - Morrison, CO



March 2008 - Virginia Beach, VA

June 2008 - Battery Park, New York, NY

September 2008 - A Tree in Red Feather Lakes, CO

January 2009 - A ship in Baltimore, MD

March 17th, 2009 - Winter Park, CO

May 14th, 2009 - Fort Collins, CO

July 3, 2009 - Ann Arbor, MI

July 2009 - Toronto, ON

January 2010 - Woodbridge, VA

January 2010 - Woodbridge, VA

May 14th, 2010 - Fort Collins, CO

July, 2010 - Canadian War Plane Museum - Hamilton, ON

July 2010 - Lake Couchiching - Floral Park, ON

September 2010 - Tour de Fat - Fort Collins, CO

I love you, CAT! Happy Anniversary!! xoxox