today's thoughts.

Oh my goodness... we have just started getting back some of the photos from our wedding photographers, and they are awesome. Like, crazy good... our wedding looks like a fairy tale.  My wedding photographer husband even thinks so, and he can be a pretty hard person to please. I promise to share them with you all, once we have more.  Promise. 

Today I've been married for 2 weeks, and life is finally settling back into normalcy. Not that I know what that is.  I haven't had this slow-paced of a life in several years, and though I'm trying to make the most of it... I'm ready for excitement. The wedding was a good way to keep me distracted from the fact that I am, and have been in the same city for months.  I haven't been flying. I work a normal Monday-Friday job.  Things are looking up in terms of getting back to the skies, but due to the length of time that I've been on the ground, I'm going to be forced to re-certify.  That sucks. Training is not fun, at all, but if that's what it takes... sign me up. 

I'm going to be honest with you... this year got off to a pretty rough start. I was told that I couldn't work. The reasoning was ridiculous, and to no fault of my own. I was angry, upset, and things were feeling pretty hopeless. It's not often that you find a career that you love, and then have that taken away from you. I felt as though my entire identity was lost. I was Krysta, the flight attendant. I had been since 2009.  I knew nothing else, and I had no desire to.  I didn't blog much about it, because it made me so upset.  I picked up jobs that I hated, just trying to contribute to our mortgage payments on the house that we'd bought just months prior, when all in life was perfect.   I was planning a wedding, and questioning why the man that I was marrying still wanted to go through with it. I won't deny that I was miserable and not much fun to be around. I'm so thankful that he was supportive and loved me even when I was a grumpy-pants for weeks on end.  

Eventually, I found another job that didn't involve waitressing or working for minimum wage.  I actually enjoyed it, as much as possible for a job that didn't involve air travel.   I'm still working there, and content with my routine... but not-so-secretly yearning for the life that I had before.  

This weekend Ryan and I drove back and forth watching planes takeoff and land at the Calgary airport. We could have spent hours there. We were like 2 kids in a candy store.  Heck, we were like ME in a candy store.  It's evident that until I'm back in the skies, nothing will fill that void. I'm restless on the ground. I need the thrill of takeoff. I need some turbulence. I  need adventurous layovers that I can't wait to come home and blog about.  I need to be that girl that can inspire others to chase their dreams and believe that anything is possible. That was me before, and it will be again.  I just have to learn the art of patience.  

On another (completely random) note, I'm a married lady now, and thus Krysta Larson is technically no longer my name. Well, I've yet to legally change it, but I plan to. Eventually. In my personal life, I'll from here on out be known as Krysta Shippelt (which is still crazy strange, even just to type). I'm still torn as to whether I change it online or not. Also, someday when I'm a big shot travel journalist traveling the world with my travel photographer husband, I'll need to decide what is a better title to have on my published books and various articles. Any thoughts?  Krysta Larson.  Krysta Shippelt.  Which book would you be more likely to buy? 

newlyweds

We may have had a wedding in paradise, but we didn't get much of a honeymoon. Sure, there were the 2 days after the wedding that we spent in Mexico, but we were with friends and family both days... nothing spells romance like hanging out with your parents. (We love our parents... but you know what I mean...)  

To make up for it, we decided to spend last weekend in one of our favourite places... Canmore, in the gorgeous Rocky Mountains. It wasn't our official honeymoon.... that won't take place until around September, but it was still a nice little getaway for just the two of us! 

Rather than bore you all with my stories of our newlywed bliss, I'll just share some photos... 

could not ask for more.

This post is long... and full of photos stolen from various friend's and family's cameras... I'll post more once we get the rest back from our awesome photographers.

April 12, 2012 was by far the best day of my life. That's saying a lot considering the vast quantity of epic moments that have made up my 25 years.

I woke up after a sleep in my cloud-like bed and hugged my soon-to-be husband. It was our wedding day! We opted for breakfast at the resort next to ours, trying to avoid the giddy guests who were certain to shower us with attention that I wasn't ready for. I'm not a fan of being the centre of attention, so walking down the aisle was a great enough task in itself.

After a couple of delicious platefuls of french toast and bacon, we returned to the resort. It was time to part ways for the day! Since our wedding ceremony was so late in the day, we didn't feel the need to spend the night prior apart. I would have gone crazy. Enjoying our morning together was the perfect way to calm our nerves and begin the day.

Ryan was off to his parent's room, while I wandered the resort in search of friends and family. I'd managed to get a sunburn the day before the wedding, despite all of my desperate sunscreen applications in the days prior. Fortunately, it had turned into more of a tan overnight, and my friend Carley joined me in the shade for the day, nursing her own painful sunburn. We sat on the balcony drinking pina coladas and relaxing. I felt so fortunate to be able to just have so much time to enjoy my day. Weddings back home always seem so rushed and busy.

Around lunch time my friend Talin came to my room, along with our awesome photographers Dylan and Whitney. Talin made my hair big and beautiful, and I felt so grateful to have her there! I am completely incompetent when it comes to makeup, so I'd made an appointment at the spa right after my hair was finished. It was a bit tricky trying to communicate with the makeup artist who spoke limited English, but when all was said and done I was happy with the result.

Back to my room I went, trying to avoid running into Ryan in the process. I had time to spare, so I relaxed as Talin made my mom's hair beautiful. I watched the clock as the time to the ceremony grew closer. Before I knew it, friends were flooding into my room to see me and get in their photos before I was too busy taking photos with my new husband instead. With my mom's help, I put on my dress and felt like Cinderella as my friends helped adorn me with my jewelry... it was almost time to go!

As everyone headed outside to get seated for the ceremony, we did last minute touch-ups and waited for our cue. Unfortunately Talin had been so busy slaving over making my mom and I look good that she barely had time to get ready herself. When the wedding coordinator showed up to pick me up, she still needed to run back to her room (which happened to be on the other side of the resort) to change into her dress. I'm kind of obsessive about being on time, but this was worth waiting for. We appreciated all of her help and there was no way we'd start without her... besides, isn't the bride supposed to be late?!

Once she'd made it back in record time, I walked into the hallway with my mom on one side and my stepdad on the other. I heard the music start and it was time to turn the corner and walk down the aisle. My aisle! Oh my goodness, it was time for my wedding!

Grinning from ear to ear, I walked across the sand to my smiling fiancé. There were cameras surrounding us and the scenery was amazing, but I didn't see much aside from him. We stood hand in hand as we said our vows and officially became Mr. and Mrs. Ryan and Krysta Shippelt. (I'll have you know, typing that was extremely strange...)

Everything was perfect. The weather, the company, and the joy that we felt. It was better than chocolate and airplanes and skydiving and seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time... combined. It was the happiest moment of my life... and then we kissed!

We walked back down the aisle to glasses of champagne and proceeded to toast all 34 of our awesome guests.

After a few group photos we ushered them to the cocktail hour to load up on snacks and drinks while we headed down the beach with our photographers and got a few shots as the sun set behind us. We headed back to begin our reception... which was awesome, in my biased opinion.

It all began with dinner. I'd made up menus that were very aviation geek-ish and therefore great. We dined on a tomato and zucchini salad that was super yummy, followed by a beef filet tournedo with mashed potatoes and asparagus, which was incredible. Dessert was a hazelnut chocolate mousse. As we ate dinner, we squished sand beneath our toes and all was right in the world, if only for a night. Rather than clinking glasses to get us to kiss, we requested that our guests get on the dance floor, grab the maracas from the table and do a dance for us. This resulted in many laughs and a few hilarious videos. Once everyone was well fed, it was time to dance... on our light up dance floor. With our entire group barefoot, we danced under the stars, taking a break for cake... mocha flavour! I only got a few bites that Ryan fed me, and then it was back to the dance. I tossed my bouquet to Talin, and Ryan tossed my garter to Kyle. We carried on with the party, even extending it an extra hour because we weren't ready for it to end.

Finally, it was time to call it a night. We headed back to our room to drop off our stuff, found a bottle of champagne left by the hotel staff, and proceeded to the lobby to share it... we weren't ready for the party to end!

As people parted ways... some to bed, others to the clubs, we called it a night and retreated to our room. It had been the perfect day, and I felt like the luckiest, happiest girl in the whole world.

The next morning we awoke to our first day as a married couple. It was Friday the 13th, but bad luck was nowhere in sight. We ordered a feast from room service for a romantic breakfast in our room, and then enjoyed a morning of sunshine and cocktails. The wedding fun wasn't quite over yet... later that afternoon we got all dressed up once again and met up with our photographers for our trash the dress photo shoot. I'd been looking forward to it for months. We strolled the streets, taking photos as people drove by honking and shouting "Novio! Novio!" . After our city shots, it was back to the beach... and into the water. I'd got a ridiculously good deal for my wedding dress, so I wasn't at all afraid of getting it dirty and soaking wet. We sat in the waves, posing for photos not only from Dylan and Whitney, but also from amused passer-by's.

On the way back to our rooms to dry off and change, Ryan requested a photo of us making "sand-angels". I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of lying in the sand and flailing my arms, but I knew how happy it would make him and reluctantly agreed. Yuck! It was all worth it though, we'll do anything for a good photo!

I showered the sand off, wearing my dress, and then took it off for what may be the last time. The thought of that made me a bit sad, but we'd had an incredibly perfect wedding and I was so satisfied in how great everything had turned out.

We're married!!!

happiest girl in the world.

I'm married!! To my best friend!

Our day was perfect, more than I could have asked for.

I'm on my "honeymoon" now, so you'll have to wait to hear all about it!

mexicoooooo

Hola, from paradise!

On Sunday I woke up and celebrated the end of Lent by binging on chocolate for breakfast. After 46 long days without it, it had never tasted so good. Next on the plan for the day, was to fly to Cancun, Mexico with some of my best friends and family. I was clearly going for specific reasons, dressed in my "Bride" hoodie and sporting a veil that my mom insisted I wear for the duration of the flight. I'm glad she did, because with the many congratulations came a ton of free stuff from the awesome flight attendants... headphones, food, and drinks! 5 hours later, we were in Mexico and the madness began.

After a lengthy bus ride, we made it to our resort. We were greeted with welcome drinks and a sign that said "Welcome Shippelt y Krysta Wedding Group!" Yay! That's us! It dawned on me that the wedding was actually in our very, very near future.

The remainder of the evening involved indulging at the buffet and the start of what would be a week filled with cocktails. My friends got a little silly, and Ryan and I snuck to our rooms to avoid staying up until 5 am.

We woke up the next morning and went for a run to "earn" all of the bad foods that we'd consume during the day. In the lead up to the wedding I'm more motivated than ever before, and running on the beach is great... it feels less like exercise and more like vacation happiness.

We met up with our friends and family and spent some time playing in the waves of the beautiful, warm turquoise ocean. It will make such a beautiful backdrop to our wedding photos.

The day was spent as most vacation days should be... eating, drinking, and lying in the sun. Life is really, really rough here.

For dinner, Ryan and I went for a fancy meal, just the 2 of us. It's our wedding week, we deserve a bit of romance. We indulged in an amazing lobster and filet mignon meal. I hadn't ate so much in months, and despite my stomach saying no, I kept eating.

Things started to get a bit messy as the cocktails and tequila shots were flowing. Even Ryan's dad participated, and we laughed as he suffered through the tequila taste.

This is the life. It's now Tuesday, and I'm waking up for another day in paradise. As soon as I can drag my fiancé out of bed, we'll be on the beach. It's hard to believe that the wedding is the day after tomorrow. It's like, Wedding Eve Eve today. I'm so excited. I just can't hide it.

I never want to go home.

yay.

We're flying to Mexico in 4 hours!!!!!

That's all.

epic levels of excitement.

I've hit a record level of excitement, beyond anything that I thought was possible. Believe me when I tell you, when I'm looking forward to something I get so excited that I want to scream, jump, run, cry... turn into a bit of a hysterical mess. In an attempt to keep my fiancé wanting to marry me in 6 days, I've decided to blog instead. I thought that all of YOU might want to share in my excitement during what is going to be the best time of my life. OF MY WHOLE LIFE.

(Yeah, yeah... go on and tell me about how amazing it will be when I have kids... but that's in the distant future and this is now, and I'm really looking forward to it far more than labour.)

After 1 year and 4 months of being engaged, nearly 3 years of dating and 6 years of friendship, Ryan and I are getting married next week. Yeah, that's soon. Really soon.

It really feels like just yesterday we were on that beach and he was down on one knee. Okay, maybe not quite yesterday, perhaps more like last week. Regardless, time flies. On one hand it seems as though I've been counting down forever, on the other I'm wondering where the heck the time has gone and struggling to finish last minute details.

Our wedding is going to be amazing. Rain or shine, preferably shine.

We've put a lot of hard work into little details that are going to make the whole day so completely "us". I can't wait to see it all come together. I can't wait to wear a pretty dress, and I especially can't wait to see his giant smile at the other end of that aisle. I can't wait to share in such an important day with the people that matter the most to me.

I'm not just excited for the wedding, but for the entire vacation. The Mayan Riviera is basically paradise. I've been a lot of places in the world and I love to see new countries, so the fact that this will be my 4th time in Mexico must say something. I can't wait to lie on the beach with a pina colada in my hand. I'm excited for my friends. A lot of them have never been on a beach vacation, let alone to beautiful Mexico. I can't wait for them to experience it and start their very own winter vacation addictions.

We leave in less than 48 hours, and I still have a million things to do.

I just felt the need to procrastinate, and share in my happiness. So many of you have followed my blog since the beginning of our relationship! I can't wait to tell you all about the wedding!

my stagette & other fun things

Life has been busy lately. Good busy. Crazy busy. Right now I'm so tired that I keep thinking that I'm spelling busy wrong...

I've been working. A lot. Not flying. That's a story for another blog post, but let's just keep this one simple and stick with present time. I got a job at a naturopath clinic where I've been working for 3 weeks. It's interesting. I learn a lot, and it encourages me to live a bit of a healthier lifestyle as opposed to prior jobs where coworkers encouraged food and liquor filled layovers. I work with good people, I get nights off, and so far it's working out well. I miss the sky, but it's nice to have a bit of normalcy in a crazy stage of my life.

Last week I snuck out of work to go to the bank. I promised I'd be right back, but I hadn't anticipated getting into a collision while leaving the parking lot. Such instances are never fun situations, but I was just glad that I wasn't at fault and that unlike my last accident, this time the driver stopped and gave me her information instead of speeding away like nothing had happened. I have a nice dent in my back bumper. My car is sad, but I tell it that the new bruise gives it personality.

Fast forward to this weekend, and cue my excitement. My bridal shower/bachelorette weekend had finally arrived! Ryan and I packed up and headed to Red Deer, where we parted ways for the weekend. Much to my surprise, I arrived to my mom's house and was met by my grandma who had flown all the way from Ontario just to be there for my big weekend. I was shocked! It was an awesome surprise, and made the weekend that much better.

Together with her and my mom, we got everything prepped for the big party... and big is an understatement. We had about 30 people crammed into a rather small area. Everyone was dressed in black and hot pink, and I was showered with gifts. I felt so spoiled!

Each guest also brought me a pair of underwear, meant to represent their personality. I was left to guess who brought which pair, and hilarity ensued. Some of them were pretty, and some were ridiculous. Some will sit in my dresser drawer for years to come. Some were edible.... and I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

We stuffed ourselves with snacks and then headed out to the comedy club. I'd never been before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My friend Jake, who is gay and happened to be the only male in our massive party was the subject of 90% of the evening's jokes, much to my delight. He took it like a champ, loving every moment of being the centre of attention during what would humiliate most people. We laughed until our cheeks and abs were in pain, and then went out dancing until we couldn't feel our feet. My hot pink high heels caused me immense discomfort, but my feet looked so good that I couldn't take them off. You only get one stagette party!

We ran around the nightclub playing bachelorette games with ridiculous goals.... such as getting a guy to give you his underwear. Mission accomplished, in case you wondered...

Overall, the weekend was a huge success and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm a lucky girl to have so many awesome people that were there to celebrate my very last weekend as a single lady... aside from this weekend of course, but that doesn't count... we fly to Mexico this weekend!

Among my many great gifts that I was spoiled with were a ton of plushy towels in my favourite colours.. you can really never have enough. We got fuzzy blankets, kitchen accessories galore... and my dream gift... an espresso machine. Come over, I'll make you a latte!

The wedding is 9 days away and I'm still having trouble believing that. I have more excitement than I know what to do with. I want to jump and scream and laugh and celebrate. I'm so happy. Life is so good.

Oh, and if anyone has any good song recommendations for our wedding dance, send them my way!! I'm getting desperate! Not of that lovey dovey sappy stuff, we've got that covered. I need dancing in the sand with a pina colada in hand kind of stuff.