And then Facebook came out with “Groups” and everything changed. Immediately, Erica took advantage of the groups and made a private ‘Sisters’ group made of just five members, which has truly changed the way we are able to communicate with each other. Our group is like a mini Facebook within Facebook that we can post pictures, ideas, news, gossip, reminders, suggestions, encouragements, and blog ideas to. I’m pretty sure that since the very day we started that group no sister communicates via messaging anymore.

The internal communication of our blog’s ‘business model’ is essentially Facebook, and that is working just dandy for us. Not that our blog has a business model; generally one of us will say something like ‘Do you guys want to do NaBloPoMo?’ and if that post gets four positive comments then it’s a go. Or, ‘Do you guys want to get rid of ads so we have more freedom in what we post?’ (which was a go, we stopped running BlogHer ads last year). Facebook has made it a lot easier for us to organize this blog somewhere between a business and a hobby.

Are you a member of any Facebook groups? If not, try making one! Add your bffs, or your family, or your committee/school project members, or your wedding party and see how much simpler and more organized it is to communicate many subjects at one time.

Since we’re spread out over the province and it’s not every day that we can get together, I thought I’d share some photos.

Lauren, me, and dad before we left. We were all each other’s dates (Kent was working, mom was in a play) so we thought we’d capture the moment.

Erica and Denis and our favours… personalized shot glasses full of watermelon flavoured shots. Lara is known for her love of shots so it was fitting.

Erica, Katelyn (please note the perks of breastfeeding here, ladies!), myself, and Lauren.

All of us with the mother of the bride and Lara.

Here’s a family secret: Get a couple of drinks into us and at some point in the night you will end up seeing the “(ourlastname) sad face.” It doesn’t mean we’re actually sad… I don’t know what it means! Every family has their quirks…?

Lauren didn’t catch the bouquet but she did manage to grab a few leaves. That must ensure her a couple of dates this year, right?

And the very cute bride and groom.

Congrats Lara and Ryan!

While the premise of our blog is us as sisters, I’ve noticed that we write about our individual lives, which naturally include each other as our lives intersect and we see each other often, but never about our relationships with each other specifically. I imagine that people might find it hard to believe that we are actually friends and don’t all secretly dislike each other, because I’m sure I’d be thinking the same thing - five girls? How can they actually all get along?

Well, as any sister to a sister knows well, the sister connection goes much deeper than things like “getting along.” We do, and we don’t, and then we forget that we ever didn’t.

Sometimes, there are moments that make me appreciate the sister connection that much more, and this is one of them:

Leah was visiting Toronto today, and while I was at work she texted me saying:

“I am at the one size fits all store!” (this is a clothing store I was telling her about last week, saying nothing about it except everything in it was one size.)

I texted back: “There was only one thing I really liked there, a shirt with a big flower on the front.”

Leah shows up at my door wearing the shirt she bought, before I texted her saying that I liked it:

 
Yes, we can go shopping in the biggest city in Canada, wind up in the same store, and fall in love with the same shirt. If that isn’t a sisterly connection, well then I don’t know what is!

Thing number two:

I walked into my living room after work today (while giving Leah a tour) to see this:

I actually had to read the card that came with it in order to remember what the occasion was – turns out, it’s my unbirthday!

The summer Kent and I started dating, we worked at a camp and I wrote down my birthdate wrong on some form at some point- I wrote 08/11 instead of 11/08. So on August 11, everyone at the camp was wishing me a happy birthday and I was so confused!  Kent even had the camp baker bake me a little cake and gave it to me, after which I had to explain to him that it wasn’t my birthday at all.

You can’t really tell from this picture of a picture, but it was actually a little four layer cake. Impressive!:

 
Funnily enough, all summer long we had been randomly singing the song from Alice in Wonderland: “A very merry unbirthday, to you, to you… etc.” So we were excited to actually be able to sing the song in context after determining that it must be my unbirthday.

Good job Kent, for remembering this little holiday.

And, the best part of the present? A little pre-emptive, but adorable nonetheless:

Here’s a little photo recap.

We took our friends dog, Eve out for a walk:

Coolest house on the block:

On Easter Sunday we toured the parliament. Lauren and I love the parliamentary library so much that we almost bought library shaped earrings at the gift shop.

Kent in front of the parliament:

Erica in the parliament’s Peace Tower (highest building in Ottawa):

We slept over at Lauren’s place. I’m sure you’ll recognize it even in this small picture as a typical student house. This is where we had sleepovers and watched way too much of My Super Sweet Sixteen.
Funny story: Lauren and I had the tv on Mean Girls when we left with mom to go shopping. Our dad was staying behind and when I asked if he wanted me to remote to switch the channel he said, “No, actually can you turn the volume up?” Despite spending a large portion of his life living with six girly-girls, my dad has managed to remain surprisingly manly, but even the manliest dad has his weak moments, apparently.

After Erica, Denis, and Kent left us on Sunday we visited the Nature Museum. Lauren and I had so much fun with all the interactive games where we got to tape ourselves making chimp calls and bird sounds.

Our not-so-blonde momma (don’t tell her that though):

Me, hanging out in a tree:

The photo ops really were endless:

After the museum we had some snacks at a market/bakery where apparently Obama had recently enjoyed some a cookie. Poor Obama probably felt like he had to order a Canada cookie to show his pride, even though the cookies looked pretty unappetizing and everything else there looked soooo good! At least he’s a good sport. Now they’re milking these cookies for every penny:

Thanks for being so much fun, Lauren! I LOVE Ottawa and will definitely be visiting you next year when I’m living only four hours away instead of nine.

That was our nontraditional Easter weekend, a far cry from our usual which always includes a 9am Catholic mass and way too many Easter dinners and easter egg hunts. I did make Kent an Easter basket though. I couldn’t help myself. I “apparently” didn’t warn him (ie. he didn’t remember me warning him!) I didn’t care though, I love giving him holiday gifts even if I don’t get any in return. My parents have always made us Easter baskets (and gave the three of us plus the two boys one to share this year) and later Kent was very apologetic and decided that he liked the basket idea so much that it will be a tradition from now on. Starting new holiday traditions is my favourite.

Check out the rest of our trip on my flickr!

Here is an excerpt from an entry in my livejournal from January 11, 2006.

i just watched the virgin suicides again, what an excellent movie.

it’s funny how it is just like our family, the story of five blonde daughters and their “mysterious existence”. the neighbour hood boys become obsessed with them and cherish even a discarded piece of paper, had it been used by one of the girls. That reminds me of the story [family friend, let's call him R.] told me, of how when he was younger and used to go dirt biking in our back forest but every summer would come to my house and ask my dad for permission. All my dad asked of him was to drive slowly down the driveway so as to not disturb/injure/scare his daughters and we would see R. making his was ever so slowly making his way down the driveway, literally going about 5 km/hour and we would laugh. he confessed to me later, when we became friends, that he always hoped we would be outside when he drove by so he could see one of us.

and even when he drives by my grandmas house, he always slows down to drive the speed limit, some sort of unspoken rule.

okay enough about that.

what i am really thinking?

i love the progression from thinking i need to write things down so we will have something to talk about, to thinking i need to write things down so i don’t run out of time to say them.
maybe that’s my favourite part … or one of them anyways.

Erica’s comment: Yes, we’re so similar to the movie aren’t we? Now about that mass suicide pact we have…

So, there is no mass suicide pact. Don’t worry. Maybe a pact to take over the world as soon as we all start exploding with babies, but that’s about it. God we are going to have awesome family get-togethers someday! We can watch our kids do all of the same crazy stuff that we used together.

And then a little about my budding relationship thrown in there, it was written about a month after Tim and I started dating. Aww! All I can remember about that time was how much fun we always had together.

ANYWAYS. This weekend was a wonderful one. I spent all of Saturday with Leah, we got our hair styled, went out for lunch with our aunt Rosie at Kent’s restaurant, and went to see Michael Buble in concert. He was so funny and fun and great and of course an amazing singer. We were among the youngest ones there but that is because we are old souls! ha. And have fabulous taste in music. He brought out the romantic in all of us, heck even Leah and I held hands for a bit. After the concert, we trekked through the snow down Richmond in our heels to a bar to see a bunch of old friends. We specifically wanted to see our friend Simon who is visiting from Edmonton, and shower him with love because he is awesome and the funniest guy alive. All in all….. We could not have planned a better girly day! Being with Leah always makes me feel good about life. I think that we bring out the best in each other – just like the right colour highlights bring out the best colour in your face. Then today, as every Sunday, I spent the day with Kent, and the evening with my sisters Erica and Katelyn, and the best yoga teacher in the world (in my totally unbiased opinion), my cousin Lara.

Last week after seeing 27 Dresses, Erica asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! I am super excited because of all of the fun things it entails – wedding shows (starting next Sunday!), dress shopping, bachelorette party, and of course the wedding itself.

This is a picture of Leah, our friend Simon, me, and my best friend Michelle from Saturday night. Look how happy Simon makes me!!

And another picture of us with Simon from a few years ago, this time with our little friend Jason!

We have some cool links for you today, a blog promotion tip, and – the best – ANTICIPATION! Kate and Scott’s Stag and Doe is this weekend. The planning and preparation is pretty much over. Judging from the last Stag and Doe we all went to, there will be some crazy pictures resulting. Plus, we’ll tell you how to plan a super-successful stag and doe / buck and doe / jack and jill / wedding social. Definitely the most entertaining way to celebrate and help fun your wedding!

Blog Promotion Tip

Are you on Facebook, and have a WordPress blog as well? Let your friends know about it by adding the WordPress app to your profile. We found a blogger who posted great instructions on adding the WordPress app to your profile. Thanks, Thomas!

Erica, Micaela, and Katelyn have it on their profiles, and FiveBlondes has seen a good amount of traffic come through from our friends clicking through. Thanks, friends! Now, go tell your friends who don’t know us, ok? OK!

Outblush

When it comes to shopping and fun finds, there’s one website I check every day: Outblush is “The Shopping Blog for Women” – what could be better? Outblush always finds the cutest and trendiest clothes, accessories, home decor, gadgets, books, and more! They have a newsletter and RSS feed so you can get the best stuff, however you want it. What’s your favorite item this week?

E-mail Icon Generator

Our fun online find this week is a custom email image generator. This is great tool to use for your blog or website – put it in your sidebar if you want to let people know how to reach you, without falling prey to an evil SPAM-BOT trolling the web for your email address! If you have an address with a common provider such as Gmail or Hotmail (check out the list!) , you can get an image with their logo on it. This is fantastic for people with visual memories! If your email provider isn’t represented, no worries – you can get a custom button made, and even pick your own colours. I made two – one for our GMail addy, and a custom button for our fiveblondes [dot] ca address.

Why don’t you email us? We’d love to hear from you.

Found a good (un-offensive!!) blonde joke today.

It’s right here. Scobelizer even likes this one, had it on his blog at one time (I can’t seem to find it anymore, though)

On another topic altogether (sort of), don’t you just love Legally Blonde?

Today, August 31st, is the third-annual Blog Day in the blogosphere. To join the celebration, bloggers are asked to post recommendations of 5 blogs with links and short descriptions. Five blogs…five blondes…is this day made for us or what?

Erica’s Nomination:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/

Personal finance for the rest of us! I love the advice that you can find on personal finance blogs; here’s one of the go-to resources for everything related to money, investing, debt, and saving. Yesterday’s posts included an article on wedding etiquette – addressing issues such as being invited to weddings far away, and making it as economical as possible for out-of-towners to attend your own wedding. Great advice for us!

Micaela’s Nomination:

http://paigesix.blogspot.com/

Though she hasn’t posted much over the summer, PaigeSix has spent the last 3 years chronicling her life and experiences in university – and now in the working world. She never holds back and is a fantastic writer. She went to the same university that I did, and Mic used to ask me jokingly if I saw Paige Six today…

Katelyn’s Nomination:

http://www.dooce.com/

Katelyn first told me about this blog because she found it inspiring – something to model ours after. I find it very interesting – whether Heather is writing about or taking pictures of her dog (who can balance the most impressive items on his nose), her daughter (adorable!), or her extended family (Mormons), she never fails to interest or amuse!

Leah’s Nomination:

http://scottage-cheese.livejournal.com/

Since Leah is moving today and is too busy to participate, I’ve picked an old favorite of ours. Scott Loudoun, aka. Scottage Cheese, is a crazy guy in Victoria, BC who is also a talented photographer. He used to have this obsessive online fan base (check out some of his posts from 2005/2006 when he was getting comments numbering in the hundreds – 747 on one in particular) but he hasn’t updated his blog since May. His photography alone is worth the visit – there is literally days worth of reading and admiring to be done! I highly recommend reading this hilarious account of mistaken arrest in particular.

Lauren’s Nomination:

http://kjerstiwoods.livejournal.com/

This is a joint nomination from Micaela, Katelyn, and Lauren – cute pics of Kjersti’s family, among other subjects!