Trip to C-bus

Jake and I ventured to Columbus with my Mom and Aunt to visit my Aunt and Uncle. We were at their house for about 4 hours. We got some Boston Market for lunch (yum!) and we just sat around and chatted. After we left their house, Jake and I headed over to Easton Mall to meet up with Jess and Josh. We poked around Barnes & Noble while we waited for them to get there. We at dinner and The Cheesecake Factory (Jake and my first time - it was tasty). After dinner, we stopped at the Godiva store (a must) and picked out a couple of chocolates. We swung over to Jess's apartment so she could open up her Christmas present (oh yeah, she gave us our presents at the restaurant - I got a cool wall hanging for my kitchen that says "Never trust a skinny chef" and some neat decorative oil bottles with colorful veggies and stuff in them; Jake got a Donatello wrist band :D). After visiting for a bit, Jake and I headed back home. It was a fun trip but I wish we could have done a little more shopping before it got too late. But, there is always next time!

Christmas loot

This year for Christmas I got a PURPLE KITCHENAID!! I also got a set of metal measuring cups/spoons & a church key/bottle opener with purple handles, a vacuum (by my request - you can tell when you've grown up when you have something like a vacuum on your wishlist!), some cute shirts/tops, some pretty purple jewelry (a purple necklace and a cute flower ring), a potato masher & egg slicer, a grocery list pad, a set of heavy-duty drinking glasses, a quesadilla maker!, a book, The Princess and the Frog DVD, some bathroom soap & lotion, & some really good-smelling Bath & Body Works stuff! I think there is more but I can't remember it all! I think I must have been a pretty good girl this year!

Christmas break!

Tomorrow (technically today - 12/22) is my last day of work before my 11-day Christmas vacation/break! I haven't had that long of a break since...high school? It's been forever! I'm so excited to have the time off, but I know it's going to fly by, like every other vacation does. I just hope that I get to enjoy it before it's gone!

Happy Holidays, all!

Busy, busy

I've been really busy over the last week and a half! I'm not really sure why because the "holiday madness" is not upon us just yet, but it feels like I haven't had much time for browsing the internet lately (not that that's entirely a bad thing).

My internet was down on my laptop for 2 days last week. After spending an hour and 15 minutes on the phone with tech support (and having the call disconnected/dropped/whatever), the problem still wasn't fixed. I was afraid that I was going to have to purchase a new laptop (which my budget would NOT have allowed). Fortunately, Saturday morning I was able to "diagnose" the problem and fix it (well, the computer fixed itself, really). I'm sure that some of the things that the techy had me do helped, but I was just so glad that the problem was solved!

I hate waiting...

That's one of the two things I hate about ordering stuff online (the other being having to pay extra for shipping)! I wish that I could just order the stuff and have it magically appear at my door a few minutes later!

B-Dubs!

We're going to Buffalo Wild Wings today for a late celebration of my brother's and my other brother's girlfriend's birthdays. I'm so excited! I love B-Dubs!

Countdown to Christmas

Only 22 more days & 2 paychecks until Christmas! AHHHH! I still have so much to do & so many people yet to shop for! There never seems to be enough time or money this time of year. I put stuff on layaway for the 1st time ever this year. It feels weird to not have that stuff here to wrap. Hopefully I can get that picked up next weekend & get it wrapped up & under the tree. Maybe then I'll feel like I actually have some of my shopping done?

Black Friday Spoils

I wasn't crazy enough to stay up/get up and go out to Walmart or Kohl's or any of those store for their Black Friday doorbuster deals this year. I did get up around 4 am to try to order some things online, but I couldn't find any of the things I wanted in stock, so I gave up and went back to bed.

Mom and I hit Meijer around 11 am and we got some good deals on a few items. I didn't really get much of my Christmas shopping done, but I did get a few things. I picked up 5 or 6 kid games for $3.99 each (5 went to work for our Community Service Project -we adopted a family for Christmas- and 1 went into the White Elephant gift exchange at my family Thanksgiving/Christmas). I also got a 9 picture frame collage for $9.99 (which was at least 50% off the regular price). I had originally intended to give it to my Secret Santa person at work, but now I'm thinking that I want to fill it with pics of me, Jake and my brothers and give it to my mom. :)

Mom and I went halvsies on a couple of purses (buy 1, get 1 for $1), so I got something for myself, but at least I got a really good deal on it. :D

All-in-all, it was a decently successful trip, AND I didn't have to worry about being run over, bitten, slapped or kicked by anyone since the sales were mostly done by the time we got there.

Thankfulness

I truly have a lot to be thankful for this year. Being able to spend the holidays with family and friends; spending time with Jakey; my cats; my apartment; my job and coworkers; a warm, comfy bed...the list is pretty long.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving this year! Mine was pretty good, but the 4-day weekend wasn't long enough (it never is though!). Now I'm looking forward to our Winter break!

It's almost here!

It's almost my 4-day weekend! I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! Not looking forward to all of the driving I'll be doing on Thursday and Saturday, but I am looking forward to hanging out with family and eating good food. We'll be combining Thanksgiving and Christmas on Saturday for my mom's family, so that will be interesting. But, it means that we get Christmas cookies early, so it won't be all bad! ;p

I'm undecided as to whether I want to shop on Black Friday this year. I'm sure that I could find some good deals, but I'm not sure I want to fight the crowds to save a few bucks. Maybe I'll check some of the local stores' Black Friday ads to see what they'll be having and then decide?

Sad Day :(

Last night I brought a kitten home from the farm (Jake's family farm) to try and nurse him back to health. They had been calling him Frankenkitty because he had drowned and Jake's mom and cousin were able to bring him back to life. I thought that he seemed to have been improving last night while I was feeding him some kitten formula, but when I got up this morning, he was gone. Unfortunately, he could not fight this infection/cold/whatever. He was pretty weak when we found him yesterday, so I spent yesterday evening making him comfortable and trying to keep him warm. I'm glad that I was able to give him a warm, dry spot to spend his last night in.

R.I.P. Franky! Love you!

Hanging out...

Down the street...The same old.. Wait, that's not where I was going with this post, but that theme song just popped into my head. :)

Anyways. I was hanging out with a couple of friends earlier and we had dinner at El Azteca and then browsed around Walmart for a bit. I had forgotten how much fun wasting time could be! It seems like I'm always rushing around and trying to "get stuff done" these days. It was nice to be able to just dick around and goof off for a bit. I should try to do that more often!

Jingle bells, jingle bells...

I've been listening to Christmas music at work for the past 2 1/2-3 weeks and it's really getting me in the mood for Christmas! I've already got some presents bought and wrapped! I know that people are driven crazy by people like me because they think that we're "rushing" the holiday or something. Actually, I'm not trying to rush anything. I just happen to have a huge list of people to find gifts for and I like to start that early so that I don't go broke trying to get it all done 2-3 weeks before Christmas.

I used to look forward to Thanksgiving, but this year it's going to be weird. My Mom's family is having a combined Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration this year. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. Not having the Elliott Family Christmas on Christmas Eve is going to take away some of the "magic" and excitement of the holiday for me. We always had the Elliott Christmas on Christmas Eve. I mean, my Mom is having dinner at her house for us still, but it just won't be the same. But, maybe we'll be able to start a new family tradition now?

Halloween Costumes

So, I decided to make Jake's and my costumes this year because it was easier than trying to find the items in stores. So, we went as Gnomeo and Juliet. I made my vest, skirt & hat along with Jake's vest, G belt buckle & gold vest clip & his hat. I sewed everything by hand because I don't own a sewing machine. Up close, I think they looks a little "juvenile" but overall I think they turned out well.

 

Sorry for the quality of the pic (it was taken with a cell and the room was kinda dark), but you can get the general idea.

This is Halloween!

Love that song!

Anywho. This year, I've decided to make Jake's and my costumes. Since I don't have a sewing machine, I'm sewing everything by hand, so it's not going to look professional, but I'm happy with how things are turning out so far! My costume is done with the exception of buying some white tights. I have a couple of things to make for Jake's costume & we need to pick him up a pair of gray pants and then he's all taken care of as well.

In case you are wondering, we're going as Gnomeo and Juliet this year! It was Jake's idea and I love it! I'm so excited! Hopefully I can post pics this weekend!

Frustrating!

Jake and I really need to find our wedding venue soon because I can't book a lot of the other vendors for the wedding without a location. We had a couple of places that we were going to look at but the one doesn't rent out their facility for weddings and we haven't been able to schedule a time to check out the other. If that one doesn't work out, I'm not sure what we're going to do. Ugh!

Boredom

There's really nothing on TV and not much left to do on the internet. Now what? I collected some leaves yesterday. I guess I could start pressing them in some books to see if that'll work to preserve them. But that sounds an awful lot like work, lol!

Wishing you all a...

Happy October 1st! It was pretty cold today, but it wasn't rainy, so I was actually able to be outside long enough to appreciate the beautiful fall-colored leaves on the trees. I'm actually considering going out and collecting some to try to preserve for my wedding next year. I saw lots and lots of beautiful colors and I would love to incorporate them into my wedding decor (especially since they're free!). :)

It's pretty sad when...

the highlight of your Friday night is shopping for ribbon and yarn. But, that perfectly describes my Friday night. I did find some yarn for my DIY cardbox project and I also found some yarn to start baby Norah's (Jake's cousin's baby girl) baby blanket. :)

Well, the weather is definitely changing...

because my throat is dry and scratchy and I'm all shivery. I feel like I'm getting a cold and it sucks! I hate being sick because I never call off work, so then I get to deal with kids all day while I feel like total crap, so I'm even more exhausted at the end of the day. It makes it a lot harder to get over being sick when you can't let your body rest like it needs to in order to recover. But, knowing my luck, I'll be sick all weekend and be perfectly fine by Monday. And then I won't have an excuse to call off work. Darn.

Weird news...

not bad, just weird.

I was up in Toledo yesterday with Jake visiting with her cousin and her baby. We had gotten up there kinda late and I have pretty much no signal in the hospital, so I didn't realize that I had a voicemail/missed call until we left around 7:30 to go grab some dinner.

Well, I checked the voicemail and it was from my biological father. He was telling me that he gotten engaged to his girlfriend. Now, I'm happy for them, truly, but I was taken by surprise by this announcement because I never, ever expected my biological father to get married...EVER!

I'm curious to hear the whole story & find out exactly how the question was popped and all of that, but I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that he's engaged...it's just weird.

T.G.I.F.!

I'm SO glad that it's the weekend again! I wish I had the supplies to work on one of my many projects. I probably could run to the store to get some of the stuff, but that requires effort and I don't know if I want to be lazy or productive tonight. ;p

S.T.D.s! (the good kind)

I ordered some business cards last night on Vista Print. I got 250 free! I just had to pay the $6 shipping fee. I'm planning on buying some magnet paper to turn the cards into fridge magnets. And viola, Save-the-Dates! Of course I will also get some envelopes for the magnets that have to be mailed.

I'm super excited! I feel like this is something that I will be able to work on to keep myself busy for a little bit but it won't cost me an arm and a leg (like my DIY card box potentially will, depending on how crazy I get with the decorations ;p).

Feeling...blah

I'm not sure what it is about today but I'm feeling really blah right now. I don't know if it's because it's been somewhat gloomy outside for the last several hours or if I'm tired, or maybe a combination of several factors but I just can't shake this feeling. I'm also getting a headache, which isn't doing anything for my mood. I hope this mood goes away by tomorrow.

End of vacation

It saddens me to say that my vacation is now over and that I will have to return to work tomorrow morning. I feel like I was just finally able to enjoy myself and then BAM, it's Sunday. All I can say now is "Is it Christmas break yet?" ;p

It's a little bit funny...

So, I've been hearing the Elton John version of this song on the radio quite a bit lately, but I always, ALWAYS envision the Moulin Rouge scene when I hear it. Love it!

It's a little bit funny
This feeling inside
I'm not one of those people
Who can easily hide

I don't have much money,
But boy if I did
I'd buy a big house
Where we both could live.

If I was a sculptor, (but then again no)
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show

I know its not much,
But it's the best I can do

(Starts Singing)
My gift is my song
And this one's for you.

And you can tell everybody
That this is your song.
It may be quite simple but
Now that it's done.

Hope you don't mind,I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world.

Sat on the roof
And I kicked off the moss.
Well some of these verses
Well they, they got me quite cross.
But the sun's been kind
While I wrote this song.

It's for people like you
That keep it turned on.

So excuse me forgetting,
But these things I do.
You see I've forgotten
If they're green or they're blue.
Anyway the thing is,
What I really mean,
Yours are the sweetest eyes
I've ever seen.

And you can tell everybody
That this is your song.
It may be quite simple,but
Now that it's done.

I hope you don't mind,I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world!

Canceled cable

I canceled our "fancy" cable so now we just have basic so that I can check the local weather and delays when the snow starts flying. One of the ladies on my wedding month board informed us that her work place is going to be featured on the new episode of "4 Weddings" and now I'm sad because I can't watch it! It figures that a couple of days after the cable was canceled, there would be something on that I actually wanted to watch!

New Favorite Dessert Recipe

So, I found this tasty sounding dessert recipe on food.com and decided to try it out on Friday when we had Jake's parents over for dinner. The recipe is called "Dialysis Peach Blueberry Crisp", so you know it HAS to be good!  When I was baking the crisp, the whole apartment smelled delicious! Jake asked me to make it again for his parents' cookout tonight, and I was happy to oblige because I've been craving it ALL DAY today!

Here's the link for the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/dialysis-peach-blueberry-crisp-91280  I hope that you try it out because it's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Day 2 of vacation

Today, Jake and I are planning to drive up to Toledo to meet his cousin's little baby, Norah! We haven't been able to see her yet (she was born on August 6th) because Jake's and my schedule haven't been working well together lately. But, I'm excited to see baby Norah in person and to finally get to hold her! I can't wait until she gets to come home so that I can spoil her rotten and buy her cute little girl outfits and frilly things! :D

While we're in Toledo, I'm going to drive down the road from the hospital to the David's Bridal that the website says should be there (the map says it should only be about 10 minutes away from the hospital, so we shall see) to order a bridesmaid dress for my friend's wedding in April. I really hope that the store is actually where the map says that it is because it would be so nice to get the dress ordering over with while we're already in Toledo rather than having to drive to the nearest store at a later date (the nearest store is about 75 miles/an hour and 20 minutes South of me...boo!)!

September Bulletin Board

I'm currently working on a project to put up on the office bulletin board at work. My plan is to have the kids all paint Dora (for the girls) and Diego (for the boys) pictures (with a lot of help for the little kiddies) and then to cut out the faces of the characters and put a picture of each child's face in the corresponding character.

It's all coming along nicely (I only have to take pictures of a couple of kids tomorrow and only have a couple more that will need to paint their character pictures). I have to get the board title together and get the names typed out and painted. Oh, and printing out the kids' pictures and cutting them out.

Overall, I think it's going to be a really cute and fun bulletin board. However, I'm not going to want to look at Dora or Diego for at least a month afterward, haha!

3 more days!

I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I have a ton of stuff that I want to get done on my vacation, but most of all, I want to have FUN! I can't wait!

Curriculum change

So, we're going to be completely changing the curriculum at the daycare where I work. It's not going to be an immediate change. Actually, it's probably going to take at least 6 months to a year to get everything where it needs to be.

I'm really excited about the possibilities that this new curriculum will bring, but I'm also really nervous about all of the changes. I'm still not sure how this new curriculum is going to work with my age group.

So, I'm really curious to see what is involved. I have a book that my boss loaned me that I really need to read through. It will probably answer a lot of my questions. However, it's a pretty large textbook and it reminds me too much of college...so, I'm not too keen on doing homework now that I'm out of school. However, I really do need to read this book so that I can begin to make the changes that need to occur in my classroom.

But, in the true college spirit... I'll start it tomorrow ;p

14 days left

I'm getting super excited about my vacation now! I'm SO ready for this break! I realize that this means that I have less time to get stuff done at work (I'm in charge of doing the bulletin board for September), but I can't help but look forward to the break from work!

Speaking of work...I'm going to have long days next Monday and Tuesday because we have a staff meeting on Monday after work and then on Tuesday, we're having a meeting with all of the Infant/Toddler teachers and our boss. So, that means I'll be at work for about 12 hours those days...yay.

I wouldn't mind 12-hour days if I was getting paid the whole time I was stuck there. But, we won't be getting paid for the meetings, unfortunately. I guess I'll have to bring something to keep me busy while I wait for the meetings to start.

DIY: Card box

So, I went to 3 stores in Lima yesterday trying to find all of the supplies that I need for my wedding card box. I was successful at finding the fabrics and some of the "accessories" at Joann's. However, I was unable to find all of the ribbon that I wanted and I couldn't find any of the right sized boxes at Joann's, Hobby Lobby or Walmart.

I'm planning a return trip to Hobby Lobby, probably on Wednesday, when I'll have more time to browse the whole store (I was only able to be in there for about 15 minutes because I got a call from Jake saying that he was on his dinner break and I had to rush out of the store) and hopefully find what I'm looking for.

I also need to pick up some adhesive spray for the project, so I may end up checking out Lowe's today. Maybe they'll have the boxes that I'm looking for? That would be awesome. :)

21 days...

until my vacation!

I'm so excited! I'm not even going anywhere, really, but I get a break from work! Yay! I've been so stressed out lately! I'm looking forward to a break away from work and hopefully lots of chances/opportunities to get some things done. But, since it's a vacation, I'm not planning on working too hard. :)

Less than 450 days!

I can't believe how fast the time is ticking by! In about a year and 2 months, it will be WEDDING TIME! I still have a lot of planning to do and (after my car repairs) no money to do them with. However, I'm looking forward to all of the planning, at least for now. ;p

Once this October comes around, I'm sure it'll become very real, and I'll probably shift into "hyper drive" and really start to panic! But, for now, I'm going to enjoy being excited about it and try to get as much done before the panic sets in!

470...DOLLARS?!

So, it's looking like my car is going to cost me close to 500 bucks for repairs...this blows! I mean, I want my car back, but I could kick myself for not taking it to the shop when I first started having issues with it. I could have saved myself about $350-400. *stupid, stupid, STUPID*

Car trouble

So, I've been without my car since the Friday before last. The ignition decided to go out and, so far, it hasn't cooperated with the people that were working on it and it's still not fixed. I had called a mechanic yesterday and basically set up and appointment to bring it in today, but when I got home, she decided that she really didn't feel like shifting into gear, so that didn't happen. Hopefully my mom can catch the mechanic in the morning and have him tow the car to his garage where he (crosses fingers) should have whatever tools/supplies necessary to fix her.

State! Eek!

We're having a State inspection tomorrow at work. I'm so nervous! I mean, I'm confident that I'm doing my job right, but I hate having someone watch over my shoulder because then I get nervous and am likely to mess up. Ugh...I hate the stress and the anxiety of it all!

Lord, please just let me get through tomorrow!

Couponing

It used to be that spending 30-40 minutes combing through the coupon books in the Sunday paper would yield a nice stack of money-saving coupons for an impending shopping trip. Now, thanks to the super couponers shows on TV, it seems like they're putting fewer and fewer coupons in the paper. This really sucks for people like me who need those coupons to save a few bucks on groceries. Sure, I can still save myself some money, but not on actual food items. Just on stuff like toilet paper and paper towels.

3-day weekend!

So, because this will be 4th of July weekend, I will get to have Monday off. Normally, 3-day weekends are awesome, but they fly by so quickly that I feel that I don't get to enjoy them. This weekend will probably be no different than any other.

However, I have this feeling that the children at work can sense that all of the teachers are eager to get work over with tomorrow so that we can start our weekend. And by them sensing this, I feel that they will make our days drraagggg by, and probably stress us out so that we need to utilize our Saturday for a "recovery day"!

Bridezillas

I'm watching this show on TV. I don't really know how I can watch it because these women are so RIDICULOUS! I'm really surprised that they all make it down the aisle without being strangled for their bad attitudes!

Hopefully someone will slap me if I start acting like this when my wedding gets nearer!

Now Taking Applications...

For a Good Downstairs Neighbor!

Our crappy neighbors are moving out and I really hope that we get good ones now! Or maybe none at all? I know that won't happen, but I can dream, can't I? ;p

R.I.P. Bizzy

Bizzy passed away this morning. He had Parvo, and it took hold of him quickly and he just wasn't able to fight it. We will miss him terribly, but now he's up with Dad.


Bizzy & Me (10/27/10)
Love you, Bizzy Boo Boo!

Okay, that's it...

The maid is fired! Lol!

Our apartment is in desperate need of cleaning! And I'm feeling really lazy today. Unfortunately, they haven't invented self-cleaning apartments yet.

Wedding favors

I ordered our wedding favors today. They may seem like a small part of the whole wedding experience, but, little by little, everything's becoming more real. I'm glad to have that checked off of the "to do" list. I just wish that we could accomplish some of the bigger items!

New babies

My mom and I are currently caring for 4 2-week-old kittens from the farm. Their mommy got hit and I couldn't just stand by and watch them slowly starve to death. So, I Mom took them in and I've been helping her feed and care for them.

Last night, I got the bright idea of sticking a stuffed cat in with them to help settle them down. Mom said that it worked like a charm. She said it's the fastest she'd seen them calm down/go to sleep since we brought them there the night before!

We're only fostering them for 3-6 weeks, until they're able to eat hard cat food. Once they're on that, they'll be going back to the farm. They're so stinking cute, though, so it's going to be hard to let them go! But, Mom doesn't need 4 more cats (on top of her current 5), so it's gonna have to happen, lol!

Got my swim on today!

I finally made it to the pool today! I sucked it up and went ahead and bought a season pass so that I don't have to pay 5 bucks a visit this summer. I also think that having that pass will motivate me to get my butt out to the pool more often.

Today was so freaking hot! It was nice to hop into the pool and cool off after work. Since tomorrow's supposed to be even hotter, I have a feeling I'll end up in the pool again. :)

No pool :(

Well, unfortunately I didn't make it out to the pool at all this weekend. I had planned on spending a good portion of Saturday and today poolside, but it just didn't work out that way. I did hang out with my family yesterday and a friend today, so the weekend wasn't wasted or anything. I had just hoped to finally get in the pool.

Oh well. Maybe next weekend?

Step 1: complete!

So, step 1 in my plan to give my current wedding photographer "the boot" is complete! I contacted Jake's cousin's husband's cousin through Facebook and asked her if she would be available/able to be our photographer, and she accepted!

Now, all I have to do is figure out when I want to break the news to my coworker about her being out of the job. After what she did, I'm really tempted to be mean, but then I remember that I have to see her at work 5 days a week. So, I'll probably make up a nicer reason, rather than tell her my real reasoning. But at least I'll know the real reason and have the satisfaction of getting her out of my wedding!

My Daddy

So, I've been thinking a lot about my Dad lately. Last Tuesday (5/24) would have been his birthday, and Memorial Day applies to him because he was in the Navy. My Mom has also been thinking about him a lot, which also adds to my thinking about him.

In all of this thinking, I realized that I never explained why I decided to go with a rainbow theme for my blog.

When I was little and we lived in Florida, my Dad and I used to always go hunting for rainbows after the rain. It was something that we did together, just the two of us. I now regret not continuing that tradition with him when I got older. I mean, we would comment to each other on rainbows that we'd seen independently, but we never went hunting for them like we had when I was young.

I hope that this is a tradition that I can pass along to my children and grandchildren, and hopefully to each subsequent generation after that. Every time I see a rainbow, I will think of my Daddy. Rainbows may not hold the same meaning for my children, or their children, or their children's children, but hopefully it will mean something positive for them.

I will always cherish them memories that I have with my Dad...I just wish that we would have had more time to hunt for those rainbows.

Sun and heat

The sun has been shining for the past 4 or so days and all I've wanted to do was jump in a pool and cool off. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone with a pool (or at least, nobody close enough for me to make the trip over to swim every day). And it sucks that I only live about 3 blocks away from the outdoor pool, but since they don't have a designated swimming area that's deeper than 5 feet, you can't really "swim" there, anyways.

I'm still considering buying a pool pass and working on my tan this summer. Even if I only get to swim on weekends, it'll be worth the $50 for the pass instead of paying $7 a visit, or whatever it is now that they've turned it into a "water park".

Large donation

Jake and I got together with my biological father and his girlfriend yesterday for dinner. His g/f called me earlier in the day to remind me that it was Jim's birthday, so Jake and I stopped and got him a card and a gift card to Coldstone. I felt like I owed him at least a card after all that he has bought me/done for me since he's been in my life. I wanted to get him a gift, also, but I don't really know what all he's into, so I figured that ice cream is usually a safe bet, so we went with that.

His g/f, Jill, just had a "home reception" for her daughter, who recently got married in Iowa. So, she's in "wedding mode" and was asking me a bunch of questions about Jake and my wedding. We ended up staying out there longer than I had planned because I figured Jake would be tired after having worked all day, but we were having a good time, so the time just flew by.

Before Jim had to turn in for the night, he took me aside (in the kitchen) and handed me an envelope of money and told me that it was for Jake and me to put toward the wedding or honeymoon. We opened up the envelope when we got home and there was a sizable amount of money in there...enough that it makes me feel guilty for accepting it.

We really do appreciate the donation, but it sorta makes me feel bad that he gave us THAT much. I really hope that he does come to the wedding so that he can enjoy the experience with us, since he's helping pay for it now. I know he still feels awkward around my mom, but hopefully he can get passed that, at least for one day.

Zumba

I was watching an infomercial on Zumba today and I have to say that it actually looks pretty fun and like something I would like to try. Unfortunately, I have issues with committing to exercises and feel like if I spend the money on the DVDs, it will all be wasted when I lose interest in it about a week later.

Has anyone had any experience with Zumba? I'm curious to know if it worked for any "real life people".

Does my subconscious hate me?

I think it might because I've been finding bruises on my arms lately and don't remember what they're from, so I think my subconscious might be making me beat myself up in my sleep. ;p

Motivation

I was over visiting with our neighbors (Jake's cousin and her husband) and they're purging a lot of their extra stuff and getting rid of things they don't need. I was helping sort stuff into the "keep", "toss" and "donate" piles and it made me realize that that process needs to be repeated in my apartment. I have totes and totes of extra crap that's taking up our limited space and I honestly don't know what's in most of them anymore.

So, my plan is to go through at least one tote every weekend and try to cut back on my excess crap. And then next, I'll have to "crack the whip" on Jake and make him go through his stuff. ;p

News flash

There are only 515 days until Jake and my wedding! I still think that 500+ days is a really long time, but I can't believe how fast the time has flown by since we picked our date!

The number of days between now and the BIG DAY keeps dwindling down and I feel so unprepared. Even though we have started looking at ceremony/reception locations, we don't have anything picked out yet (mostly because we've only actually looked at one venue so far and it didn't seem big enough to hold our guests). A lot of the ladies on the wedding board that I'm on for the month of October in 2012 have their venues picked out, as well has having their photographers, DJs and cake-bakers.

All I really have so far is my dress... Hopefully we'll be able to "kick it into high gear" this fall and really get things done!

Amazing Cakes

I've been watching a couple of episodes of "Amazing Cakes" today and I can't help but think "Sure, those cakes are cool looking, but fondant tastes disgusting and I wouldn't trade one of my Dad's cakes for 10 of the cakes on the show!"

Unfortunately, Dad's not around to make his cakes anymore... The more I think about this, the more I feel like I should try my hand at cake decorating. Sure, I'll never be as good as Dad because he could literally draw anything on his cakes and I'm not an artist, at all. But there are some cake decorating techniques that I think I could learn to make decent cakes.

I've always thought it would be cool to make my kids' birthday cakes and stuff like that. I just wish that I had a reason to practice my skills (or lack thereof) now.

Laundry day

I'm over at my mom's doing laundry right now. I'm almost finished with it, thankfully. I really would like to have my own washer and dryer, especially since it's getting warmer outside and I sweat my butt off toting all of my crap down to my car and then from my car into mom's, etc. Unfortunately, adding a washer and dryer would also increase our electric bill (but not water since water's included in our rent :D). So, I plan to see how much the bill goes up with us running our ACs and then maybe we can determine whether we can afford the additional money to run our dryer.

I really, really hope that we can because, even though I don't mind spending most of the day on Sundays over at Mom's, it's really a pain to have to lug everything over here and I would rather just be able to throw a load in the laundry whenever I needed to and not have to worry about having to wait until I have enough to "make it worth while" to take over to Mom's house.

So, I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed that the bill is low enough that I can justify purchasing a used washer and taking Mom's extra dryer over to the apartment so that I can do laundry as needed. :)

Pirates 4

Last night, my friend, Katy, paid for Jake and me to go see Pirates 4 in 3D! She felt bad because she didn't get us a card or anything for our engagement party a couple of months ago, and also because she never did anything for Christmas presents this past year. I was totally not worried about it, but she offered and I knew that Jake wouldn't turn her down, lol!

So, last night, we went and saw the movie. It was Jake's first time seeing a 3D movie in theaters. I have to say that it was really good, though I was left with some unanswered questions at the end. I'm hoping that these questions will be answered in the next movie, though I'm guessing that they won't be.

I would totally recommend this movie to pretty much anyone! It was different from the first 3 movies because it lacked the Will/Elizabeth element, but after 3 movies of that, I was totally okay with that! ;p

Glee

So, this show is supposed to be based in Lima, OH, which is a city that I live close to. I haven't really seen anything in the show that I recognize as being from Lima. This is part of the reason that I didn't really want to watch the show in the beginning. I figured that it wouldn't really do anything to showcase Lima, OH (not that Lima is super exciting or anything, but I thought that they must have had some reason for picking that city to base the show in).

However, every time I watch an episode, I find myself being drawn more and more into the show. I've even started watching the first season on Netflix because I missed it on TV. I'm not a total "Gleek" yet, but I really, really like the show (except Rachael annoying the crap out of me all the time, but I suppose that's what her character is supposed to do).

Two can play that game...

I'm considering "firing" my coworker as my wedding photographer because of some stuff that went down at work the other day. It wasn't really as big of a deal as it seemed that day, but I'm still considering not having her take the pictures at my wedding. Why should I do her a favor and pay her to do that after what happened?

Sorry about all the vague-ness, but I really don't want to get into details about what happened, I just wanted to share the whole "you pissed me off so now I'm thinking about cutting you out of my wedding" thing. I've been thinking over the past few months that it seems like a lot of the photographs that she takes are the same poses over and over, so I was kinda, sorta wanting to go with another photographer, anyways. This may just be the fuel in the fire of that decision.

New purchase

I was at the store today and saw that the beverage dispensers that I wanted to get for the wedding were $3 cheaper than the last time I had looked at them. Normally I'd hold off and see if they'd go down even more, but since there weren't a whole lot of them left, I went ahead and grabbed the 2 that I needed. This is what they look like, though the spout is a little different http://www.walmart.com/ip/Better-Homes-and-Gardens-Beverage-Dispenser-Clear/16517673.

I need to put some water in them and make sure that the spouts work like they're supposed to while I have the option to exchange them if they do not. As long as everything works okay, they'll probably be packed away in a wedding tote until I need them. Perhaps I will get them out a couple of months before I need them and take them for a "test drive". :)

Baby baptism

Today I went to a baby baptism and the party that followed the church service. It seemed like EVERYONE had a kid or was pregnant! It kinda makes me want to have a child of my own (even though I know that we're not in the best financial situation right now). But part of me thinks "if all of these teenagers that are now getting pregnant everywhere you turn can handled raising a baby, why can't I?"

It's really important to me to be married before I have children because I want to do things "in the right order" and not the reverse order that many people my age have been following. I want to be a family, where everyone has the same last name. It's not that I'm afraid of what people will say if I have a child out of wedlock, because I really couldn't care less about their opinions, but it's just always been in my "life plan" to have the wedding and then the kids.

I wish that there was a way to move the wedding closer so that I could start try to have a baby sooner, but I know that's a selfish wish and that I need to just hush up and be patient. It's just hard to do so when I see people every day that are pregnant, not to mention the fact that I work with infants at work, and it makes my heart ache for a baby of my own...

Trying something new

So, I've decided to make pizza burgers for dinner tonight. From the way the recipe sounds, it's going to be somewhat like a sloppy joe, but with pizza sauce instead of sloppy joe sauce, and then you melt mozzarella cheese on top of it. I really hope that it turns out well! I'll probably cheat and buy fries at the store and throw them in the oven to go along with the burgers. I don't feel like putting in the effort to make them from scratch today. Oh yeah, and we have IBC Root Beer to go along with dinner tonight!

Wedding Ideas

Okay, I know that I still have over a year and 5 months before my wedding, but I'm still kinda obsessed with visiting theknot.com and checking out wedding ideas and checking my wedding month board to see what other brides sharing my wedding month are doing or have done already.

I was looking at an article on the site about wedding bouquet ideas, and one of the ideas suggested adding flowers that mean/meant something to the people you care about. For example, you could include a flower that your grandmother had in her wedding bouquet, or pick a flower that means something special to your parents, etc.

I really like the idea of incorporating a flower from my grandmother's bouquet into mine. I was always really close to my grandma, so that would mean a lot to me. I'm also considering wrapping a cameo necklace (which I got out of her jewelry box after she passed away) around the stems of my bouquet. It's nothing special or antique; it's just an Avon necklace that has the white cameo of a lady on the pendant. What's neat about this one, though, is that the background is a pretty orange color, instead of the traditional dark blue that you see with most other cameo necklaces.

Since it does have orange on it, it will tie in really well with my wedding color scheme (dark purple/eggplant and burnt orange, along with a bunch of other fall shades), but I think I would use it even if it clashed horribly, because it was hers.

I think I also would like to have an honorary bouquet made up for family members that have passed away and cannot be physically present at the wedding. I do intend to have a memory candle there, as well, but I'm thinking that a memory arrangement/bouquet would be nice.

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In other wedding planning news: I actually got Jake out to the VFW hall to check out their rental hall to see if it would suit our needs. It seems small to me, even though they say it can hold up to 180 people. I just can't envision how we would fit 150-180 people in there, plus a DJ booth, plus a dance floor, plus a head table, plus food tables. I think that we need to keep "shopping around" to see what else Wapak has to offer.

Another change

I was thinking that since my blog title involved rainbows, I would try to incorporate that into my background. I have to admit that I'm not in love with the current background, but I do like it better than what I had before, which was somewhat plain/boring.

There really isn't much to report on in my life right now. I've just been working, basically. This past weekend was busy with Easter celebrations, but most of my weekends are spent in front of the TV lately. This upcoming Saturday, I do have plans to have a movie marathon with a couple of my friends, so that's something to look forward to.

Vacation

So, I will find out how many vacation hours/days I get this year when I get my paycheck this Friday. I think I get a week/the hourly equivalent of 5 work days, but I can't remember for sure.

I've never worked a job where I've had paid vacation time before. I don't have the money to actually GO anywhere, so I'm really not sure what I'll do with said time off. It would feel weird to just take a week off and sit around the house, but that may end up being what I do, lol. Unless someone has some suggestions as to what I should do with my vacation this year?

New look

Well, I decided to change the look of my blog for this Spring season. What do ya think? I know it's not much different from what it was before, but I'm hoping to make more dramatic changes for summer!

Obsess much?

So, I was reading a post on a discussion board on a wedding website, and this person asked how much other brides had gotten done as far as planning their weddings for October '12. Now, I've purchased my dress and found my photographer (and paid the deposit), and I've been researching bridesmaid dresses and possible venues, as well as caterers and DJs, etc, but some of these women that commented on this person's post, geez!

Some already have deposits down on their reception halls/venues, deposits for their photographers, DJs, and cake bakers. They have their centerpieces started and have their flowers and such for bouquets, etc.

I've definitely been thinking about all of this stuff, but in my mind, I keep thinking "Oh, I've got over a year and a half, so I have plenty of time to get all of this taken care of." Apparently some of these women are obsessive-compulsive or something because they've darn-near gotten most of their planning done already.

Kinda makes me feel like a slacker. ;p

Weight loss goal

I've discovered that every time I try to set a weight loss goal for myself, I always fall short of achieving it. However, I am going to give it another shot; actually, 2 shots, technically. I've decide to try and lose 20-25 lbs by September 1st (2011). And next year, I will try to lose 20 lbs by August 1st (2012). If I meet my goals over the next year and a half, then I will have lost at least 40 lbs before my wedding, which would put me at a decent weight.

So far, all I'm really doing to achieve my goal is cutting out fast food (for Lent, but I might try and continue it after Lent is over) and trying to take 1-hour walks at least 4 days a week. When it FINALLY starts warming up and turning into Spring, the walking goal should be a lot easier to meet and I might even be able to increase it to either have longer walks (like 1.5-2 hours) or increase the amount of walks per week (I think 5-6 days would be my max because I know that I won't make it out 7 days a week every week).

I really hope that I can stick with this plan because it's really important for me to lose this weight before the wedding so that I can fit into my dress and feel comfortable in it. But, even if I only drop 20 lbs, that's still going to be better than where I'm at now.

WTF SNOW?!

Okay, so, it's almost April, right? Not January, right? It just seems like we're moving backwards with this weather situation. I'm ready for the 70s and here we are in the 30s and 40s with snow! This is bull!

A taste of Spring

Over the last couple of weeks, we've had decent-weather days. It really started to feel like we were actually moving into Spring, finally, and leaving the dregs of Winter behind us. Unfortunately, it seems as if Winter has found it's second wind. When I woke up this morning, it was only 23 degrees outside. A week ago, I was able to go outside and not wear a jacket. Why must Mother Nature tease us so?!

Blog look

So, it just occurred to me that my blog still has the same look as it did LAST Spring. I really need to change it, but I'm just too lazy. Maybe I'll get it updated for Summer?

Set the date!

We finally set the date for the wedding a couple of weeks ago. Jake and I will be married on October 20, 2012! It's farther out than I wanted, but at least it's a date! You've gotta start somewhere, I guess. ;p

Boring Life

So, it's Saturday again, and once again, I'm sitting on the couch in front of my lappy/TV. I lead such an exciting life. I just don't know how everyone doesn't want to be me, lol!

Unfortunately, I have no money to do exciting things with. Also, since most of my friends live far away, I also have nobody to meet up with to find cheap entertainment. It really sucks that I work all week and STILL have no money to do things on the weekends. Since gas prices jumped up even higher, it seems like 1/3 of my paychecks are going to filling up my gas tank so I can get to and from work.

One option for fixing this problem would be to get a second job. Unfortunately, that would mean that I'm home even less than I am now, and that's not worth it to me. Plus, I would want to find a job that I enjoy doing, and since that's not looking promising, I guess I'll just have to get used to doing nothing on my weekends, because that's all I can afford.

Training

The training tonight was pretty good. I learned new things and feel like it was worth the time. Oh yeah, and we got to leave an hour early! Yeah!

So now, I'm sitting at home, surfing the net, and watching Bones on TV. Much more preferable to sitting in a room and learning stuff, lol!

Long day

I'm working my normal hours tomorrow (7:15-3:30), but I'll probably end up getting out late, as usual. Normally, that doesn't really bug me, but I don't just get to head home when I clock out because I have a training to attend from 5:30-8:00. So, I'll have been in Lima for about 12 1/2 hours by the time I'm ready to head home tomorrow evening. That stinks!

The next day, I won't have to be to work until 9:30, which will be nice on the one hand because I get to sleep in a little, but not so nice on the other hand because that means that I stay until close (5:30-5:45). Work gets pretty crazy the last 2 hours or so of the day, so I don't usually look forward to closing, but maybe I'll get lucky and everyone will show up on time to pick their kids up? Not gonna hold my breath on that one, though.

This training tomorrow was supposed to be my last one, but since the one before this was cancelled, I have to attend another at the end of March. Woohoo... I just want to have these done and over with so I can put it all behind me. Until next year, that is.

Internet!

We finally got Internet and cable in the apartment a couple of weeks ago! I have to say, it's been really kick a$$! I never knew just how boring it was to not have those elements available to me whenever I wanted to use them. I wasn't able to check my e-mail or hop on Facebook as often as I wanted to. Flipping on the TV for background noise (or to drown out the annoying voice of the downstairs neighbor) wasn't an option because it just takes too long to pop a movie in, lol!

I'm probably online or watching TV too much now that we have them, but at least I'm getting our money's worth! Eventually the novelty will probably wear off and I will be able to function without checking Facebook at least twice a day or without watching a marathon of HGTV shows. It might happen. Until then, I'm just going to enjoy our new amenities!

Ms (pseudo) Independence

It's been over a month and a half since Jake and I moved into our apartment. We lucked out enough to have 2 beds, a couch, a recliner, a TV and stand (both very old, but they still work so I'm cool with it), a kitchen table and 5 chairs, and various other pieces of furniture and accessories. We were given a lot of these items by family members and friends. It's really nice to know that we have so many generous people in our lives! I mean, yeah, it's stuff that they weren't using anymore, but they offered it to us instead of giving it away, so that works for me.

We have some pictures on the wall now, mostly in Jake's "Man cave" (aka: the spare bedroom), but it doesn't quite feel like Home yet. But, it's getting there. I have some plans for some art to hang up in the kitchen, and I have a framed "Starry Night" poster still at my mom's that I want to hang up, so things will start coming together soon.

I just can't wait for the snow to finally melt and for it to warm up so that I can move the rest of my stuff over! We almost have too much to fit in this apartment. There's a fine line between "feeling homey" and being cluttered. So, once we get everything here, then we'll have to start investing in storage containers so that we can at least hide everything away so we appear nice and neat. ;p

I've never had my own place, but I have to say that it's pretty cool to be out of my parents' house. Everything we have is hodge-podge and thrown together, but it's ours, and it feels really good to be able to say that.