We Have a Winner! — Pandorah's Box

Feb 10

Feb 10 We Have a Winner!

And the winner of the Say Yes to the Dress poll is......

.......

This outfit!

Just kidding!! The black dress won, with 10 votes. I can't believe 30 people voted overall! I love every single last one of you. I am going to buy the dress next weekend. Eeee!! It's exciting to know which dress you are going to wear to get utterly wasted in, and barf all over the place! Thank you everyone, for your help. Stay tuned for the shoes now...

Looking for that dress found my sister and I at our old haunt: Bramalea City Centre. I hadn't been there in a while, since I don't live in Brampton and there really is no reason to go there when you have the Eaton Center here in Toronto. I used to spend my life in this mall. No joke. This is where I practically lived as a teenager. On the very odd occasion when I go back there it makes me a little sad to remember those days. They were certainly care free man. And very drug filled. This mall was my mecca when I was high.

It has changed so much, yet it still feels exactly the same. After my sister and I tried on dresses we gorged on Manchu Wok. Who needs to look good for this wedding? Not us!

My main reason for going to Brampton a lot these days is to visit my sister's best friend Joyce, and her sister Liz. I have grown up with these ladies and love them like my family, because they are. These two women make my life feel more complete and I would take a bullet for them. So now that my sister lives in the city and she visits them every two weeks or so, it's easy for her to swing by and pick me up and visit, and thank god for that! I am growing to need these bi-weekly girl fests.

One of the last times we visited, we drove through a RIDICULOUS snowstorm to check out a couple of the old houses we used to live in. I grew up in Brampton, so it has a lot of nostalgia for me. The house below is where my best friend Ciara used to live. She moved in just a few houses down from me when I was 11-years-old, and the rest is history. We have been sister's from another mister ever since.

This was my old house. Joyce and Liz and their family lived across the street from us (well, diagonally, not directly). Oh this house and it's memories!! This STREET and it's memories! We all call this street 'the Wonder Years street', because it really was. Back in the days when I was going to marry Joyce and Liz's little brother, and all the kids on the block would play hide and seek just before dark. I spent an entire summer grounded in this house (LAME, parents!!) and I would sit on one side of the door while Ciara sat on the other, touching hands because we couldn't hang out, and an entire summer was wasted. Ok, we never touched hands. Mentally maybe, but not physically. God aren't parents soooooooo dumb? Just kidding! I deserved it, I was an asshole.

And then we visited the house I was born in. Not physically born in, but it was the house I was brought home to. My dad planted that tree the year I was born. Thirty two years has treated it kindly. Going around to these places sparked some pretty interesting and deep conversations between my sister and I. Things like, what would we have done differently if we only knew as children what we would grow up to carry in our souls? It's pretty heavy to think about. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't have changed anything, because that is what made me the person I am today, and I don't want to be any different. Maybe a little naturally happier, but otherwise, we need to live and learn from our mistakes.

So....not to steer away from life's big mysteries, but....

I have decided to go blonde. Like full out. I just wanted to be a little more subtle about and went a bit lighter at first. But most likely the next time I go I will take the full plunge! So let's see if blondes really do have more fun! Thank you Joyce for once again making me beautiful. I owe you millions. If I had it, it would be yours.