EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.

Bryan's First Day of School

2012-01-09T19:13:00.000-05:00

I believe shortly after the wedding I blogged about how difficult it was to decide what our next step was because we felt we were being pulled in so many different directions. That is still true. It seems like every passing month there's a noticeable increase of the subject of children in our conversations, but we know that although we love our life just the way it is now, we're not ready to bring children into it. There are things we want to work on in our careers, our relationship, and our lives in general.

The number one object of our attention is our careers. Right now we both have stable jobs in large corporations that pay us well for the fact that we don't have much(in my case) or any(in Bryan's case) college education. While this has served us well until now, there are a list of reasons why it might not be enough in the future:

Kids are expensive.
Corporations are evil. Although right now we're safe because we're the worker bees, if we ever tried to move up in the corporation to management or some other higher position, they're always the first on the chopping block when it comes to lay offs and 'reorganization'.
Most women I know around my age that have kids were not happy as full time working mothers with their children in daycare. We would like to have the ability to drop one of us down to part-time work at least -you know, just in case.
Our house will fit two kids well enough in the beginning, but eventually we'll outgrow this house.
I went to Disney World for the first time 3 months ago, and dammit, my kids just aren't going to have to wait that long!

Doesn't he coordinate so well? He didn't want to take the blue car for fear of looking like an idiot.

So, I am very proud to say that today was Bryan's first day of college! He's going to a community college to get his associates in network engineering and his hope is to be able to get a job at a school district or college so he'll have the same schedule as our future kids(see how everything comes back to them now... when did that happen?). I'm so proud of him for going back after so long and wish him the best of luck!

I may be biased...

2011-12-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

But I think it's safe to say that I have the best husband in existence.

This morning I woke up horrified after having a dream that he suddenly died. I called him crying, trying to tell him about my dream between sobs. After speaking to him, I calmed down enough to crawl back into bed to cuddle with the puppies and lay restlessly. Sure enough, after he finished the job he was at, he took the 30 minute trip from where he was in Maryland and came home with breakfast in hand.

It made me think about how just earlier this week I was whining about how the best part of our relationship can also be the worst part. The best part of our relationship is that being together is so effortless. We love each other so much and get along so well that every day is just like hanging out with the best friend you've ever had. My complaint was that we often get too comfortable and other important aspects of our marriage fall to the wayside, but one thing I've always promised myself I wouldn't do is take what we do have for granted. It's always easy to point out the things that aren't the way we'd like them to be and dwell on them, but we rarely sit and think of the things that are oh, so right. My husband is, by far, the best thing that has ever happened to me and without him I wouldn't have any of the things that I love so much about this life we've built.

I don't know why I felt the need to share this with all of you, but I mean, look at the man. Sometimes his praise just needs to be sung!

Welcome to the world, Liam Clark

2011-11-12T21:23:00.001-05:00

Earlier today, our newest nephew was born! 7lbs 6oz, 20.5", and perfect in every way. After Bryan got out of work, we drove up to the hospital to meet him and visit with his family.

Little pumpkin hat!

I absolutely love Jude's expression in this picture.

He definitely has the potential to be the most awesome big brother.

"And as they held you
close they whispered
in your open, curving ear,
'We are so glad you've come!'"

Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?

2011-11-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

Remember in January when Bryan got attacked by the dog that belongs to a lady down the street? And she followed us to our house acting like WE were to blame? Good news: after that incident, our interactions with her have been great! We've had no more problems with the dog and she's been cordial each time we've crossed paths.

We thought things were finally looking up for us in our neighborhood... until I came home from eating lunch with Bryan today. I was taking the trash can back up to the house from the curb when I noticed two large holes in our yard. It just so happens that the muddy tracks from said tire marks led directly across the street into our neighbors lot.

Here we go again.

Once again, we play that sensitive game. We could call the police, but there's no way to prove who did it and the marks might be just far enough over to be on the strip of land that doesn't technically belong to us(we use it anyway). We could march over there and question them for something they may not have done. Start a war. Start a fight.

So, here we are, yet again, pretending that it never happened. The only difference is this time I started a notebook and backdated it for the first two incidents with devil-dog so if anything happens, we have documentation and pictures. Take THAT neighbors from hell.

Disney and our actual anniversary.

2011-11-05T11:11:00.011-04:00

We absolutely LOVED Disney World. We soaked up every minute of it - opening the parks up in the morning and shutting them down at night. There are only a few rides we didn't go on, and a ton of them that we rode 2-4x. Our absolute favorite part of the trip was our first night there. We arrived to a torrential downpour - it literally took 4 days for our clothes to dry out. Did that stop us? Nope! We went to Downtown Disney with Linda and her group and when they ended up going back to the room, we took the shuttle over to the Magic Kingdom. We rode almost every popular ride(except Splash Mountain[because we were wet enough] and Pirates of the Caribbean[because we didn't see it]), and got to see the castle for the first time lit up in all it's glory!

Our second favorite day was our anniversary. We spent the day in Epcot because Bryan made us reservations at a restaurant called the Coral Reef. So, we enjoyed all of the rides, had a marvelous dinner, got a delicious free dessert(that we were ALMOST too full to eat), and made it out of the restaurant in JUST ENOUGH time to get a good seat for the fireworks show. Afterwards, we made the trip back to our hotel and invited everyone in to enjoy some cake.

Another question people always ask is our favorite rides, but it's very hard to pick just one. It would probably be the tower of terror because I think we went on that 5 times, but here is how I like to break it down:

Magic Kingdom:
Rides - Splash Mountain(Bryan's absolute fave), Space Mountain
Food - Casey's hot dogs(we at there 4 times - they have amazing hot dogs/corn dog bites, and cheese sauce for the fries... YUM! The tables outside were also a great vantage point for the fireworks show and parades), and Aloha Isle for the Dole Whip ice cream!
Show - The fireworks behind the castle

Epcot:
Rides - Soarin' and Test Track

Hollywood Studios:
Rides - Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror(My absolute Fave)
Show - They had the absolute best show - Fantasmic!

Animal Kingdom:
Rides - Dinosaur, Mount Everest, and it's tough to be a bug
Food - Flame Tree BBQ

We also went to Universal Studios which was a bit of a disappointment on the day we went. The biggest roller coaster was out of order all day, the park closed early which caused long lines, it was not nearly as organized and flawlessly operated as Disney, and we could only get into one side of the park. We both liked ET the best.

We plan to go back often. NEVER have we wished we had kids more than we did when we were there.

Mohawk No More

2011-10-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

Did you notice anything else about the pictures from our anniversary dinner? The blue/green mohawk is no more!

I know what you're thinking, but it really wasn't my idea. I'll be honest and say that it WAS getting on my nerves. Not the color or the mohawk, persay, but when he wasn't wearing it up or wearing a hat(which is 90% of the time) it was just this long, gross, and usually greasy mess of blue/green hair. Let me assure you that it is not something that makes you look at your husband and anticipate getting him into bed later that night...

His own reasons were that he didn't want to scare any kids at Disney World, he didn't want to have to get it trimmed and re-dyed before our trip, and he wanted to look nice for our anniversary/pictures from Disney. Last night when I told him how handsome he looked, he just smiled and said "See, that's why I cut the mohawk!" Will it be back? I'm sure it will. And hopefully it will be orange next time!

Our 1st Anniversary - At Home

2011-09-30T20:03:00.004-04:00

Today we celebrated our one year anniversary at home. We got dressed up and ate at a fantastic Italian restaurant called Soffritto’s. When we got home we ate the actual top tier of our wedding cake from our freezer(which was surprisingly still moist and delicious) and reminisced about our wedding day.

Our first year as a married couple wasn’t that much different than the 3 years before besides the fact that people were calling me Mrs. Wilson(it STILL sounds weird) and Bryan wears a piece of jewelry other than his gauged earrings. Don’t get me wrong, it was an absolutely GREAT year, but how was this year EVER supposed to top the year before? What could really top all of the planning, presents, excitement, love, pampering, and traveling that we did the year before? It couldn’t. More than anything, it’s left us wondering what’s next for us while wanting to do everything at once. College, babies, traveling, etc.

I’ve realized that our first anniversary is less of a celebration in our marriage as it is in our relationship as a whole. To think back on how long we’ve been together, the things we’ve been through, and the life we’ve made together is what’s really rewarding. Last week Bry hung some pictures up in our room that I had found from years back. One of them was a picture of us on our first dating anniversary where I decorated the frame with little stickers that said “Wouldn’t it be nice”. It really brought me back to the time when that Beach Boys song was our anthem. The days when so many people didn’t want us to be together and we clung to the idea that one day when we were older we’d be able to be together and no one could stop us. To think that we’ve made it to this point through so MANY pitfalls, speed bumps, and sticky situations and still came out with enough enthusiasm and love for each other to get married and still believe we may have a “happily ever after” is amazing. Sometimes we’ll think back on some of the situations we’ve been in and wonder why we didn’t throw in the towel, but we’re so glad we didn’t.

Bryan's response to this when I showed it to him really said it all: "Awww that makes me so happy :) it's all so true! We need to try and make every year of our lives exciting and do things to make every year memorable!" Well said, Mr. Wilson, well said.

Happy Anniversary, my love, and here's to many more memorable years!

My weekend consisted of a little of this:

2011-09-25T21:46:00.005-04:00

(Edward 40 Hands...)

And A LOT of this:

This:

And this:

I was able to knock out a lot of projects on my list!.... But, I still have many more to go.

16 Days Until Disney!!!!

2011-09-22T21:31:00.001-04:00

Soooo when we finally called to make reservations at one of the restaurants, they were all booked already! We have been so bummed out about it… until today! I was searching online to figure out the best way to defrost the top tier of our wedding cake when I saw someone’s post about their first anniversary at Disney. They said that the restaurants in Disney will recreate the top tier of your wedding cake for you which sounded like the perfect idea for us! We were never thrilled about having to make a timed reservation when we’re not quite sure what our days will look like once we get to Disney. Plus, depending on which park the restaurant is located in would dictate which park we would have to visit that day. While I’m sure it wouldn’t have been an issue, it’s certainly easier to be able to do whatever we want during the day/for dinner and come back to the hotel to find a fresh cake waiting for us! I think it will be the perfect way to make sure our actual anniversary doesn’t go by unnoticed while we’re entranced by the most magical place on earth.

Problem solved.

Peace offering.

2011-08-27T13:16:00.000-04:00

Jude's Dress-Up

2011-08-26T21:31:00.005-04:00

Last night, my husband and I had dinner with his sister and our nephew, Jude. We walked to a nearby craft store afterwards and got onto the topic of Christmas. She mentioned a few of the things she wanted to do for Jude this year and one of them was a trunk of dress-up clothes. Well, I gladly accepted that challenge! With the pile of quilts and other long projects I'm always working on, having quick little projects to bust out periodically will be a breath of fresh air.

I was so excited that I already started today! My sister-in-law also mentioned that he might be acquiring a kitchen set. While I was searching the web for dress-up clothes tutorials I kept coming across aprons for kids made out of dish towels. I scrounged through our stack of dish towels and found this one(that I don't even think we've ever used) that seemed like the right amount of adorable without being feminine. I whipped this out in about 15 minutes loosely basing it off of this tutorial. It turned out pretty damn cute - if I do say so myself! I only hope that his recently vegetarian mom isn't turned off by the cheeseburger motif...

I love Shutterfly

2011-08-23T13:49:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I went out to lunch with a very good friend of mine. After lunch, she showed me the choices for her daughters 1st birthday party invitations and we got into a conversation about how much we love Shutterfly(although, agreeably, it’s not cheap). She told me about the free prints and photo books she gets because of ordering from them so often. Ironically, a few days ago I got an email offering my first free photo book! Poor Bryan fell asleep off and on during the two hours it took for me to pick my 20 pictures and arrange the book perfectly to my liking. Yeah, it was unfortunately only 20 pictures, so of course we made one of our dogs(I promise, one day we will have kids and will in turn become slightly less lame). I got an email today that it’s on its way! I can’t wait to see it! Plus, it was great practice and will pay of to have a sample before my sister gets her wedding pictures back and enlists me to make her an album.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Disney

2011-08-12T09:13:00.004-04:00

So, I figured I could elaborate more on Disney.

Part of the reason that our wedding date was so perfect was because the following Monday was Columbus day so we didn't have to take as many days off of work. So, we decided to do the same thing this year. We'll be in Disney World for our 1st Anniversary! I've never to Disney World and Bryan hasn't been since he was a toddler, so we're both very excited. Even better, we convinced my sister to come along, so we get to be there while my oldest nephew experience's the magic just before he gets too old for it to be magical.

We're staying at the pop century resort within the park and I'm super excited about it because I'll get to see this(and others like it):

We've been busy reading books that people have let us borrow, making plans/reservations, and talking to people who have already been for good advice. We're currently trying to find the perfect place to enjoy a romantic dinner on our anniversary. We're trying to find the place that falls perfectly in between the 12-course meals in the uppity restaurants and restaurants that people will pack with their screaming kids. I know - dream on, right?

To anyone who has already been - suggestions?

2011-08-11T18:35:00.002-04:00

It's official. It's booked.

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-05T18:02:00.001-04:00

Quite possibly one of the saddest blogs ever.

http://dearphotograph.com/

I do want to find something to submit, though...

This is my husband... after too much to drink.

2011-07-30T02:44:00.000-04:00

But you still have to love him.

Finally - A quilt for me!

2011-07-24T11:50:00.006-04:00

For our engagement party, Bryan's aunt bought us this amazing sheet set with orange and white fish on it. We absolutely LOVED it! The only problem was that it didn't match anything else we owned. So, since we only ever use the fitted sheet anyway, I decided to use the flat sheet to make a quilt! I found this quilt pattern online, and decided to give it a go!

Beagle tested and approved.

We love the way it turned out! Of course, it matches our sheets perfectly, but it also matches the pillow that we bought to match our sheets. Now if only I wasn't a blanket stealer so we could actually have it look this pretty on our bed all the time...

Presents are always fun.

2011-06-18T15:13:00.005-04:00

But homemade presents are the best, aren't they?

I've been spending most of my craft energy on making things for other people lately. It's so much more fun to make something for someone else! I have a stack of projects I've started for myself or Bry, but instead, I have visions in my head of projects for the upcoming nephew and Christmas. Here are some of the things I've made in the past few months:

A pillow for my Aunt's 50th birthday. That's our song ;)

A toy box for Mason. (Ok, so this was Bryan's craft, but I helped)

A birthday quilt for Olivia(by far my favorite quilt I've made)

A "welcome to the world" quilt for Mason.

North Carolina, a birthday, and a new arrival.

2011-06-18T12:27:00.004-04:00

Two weekends ago Bryan and I made a trip to North Carolina to visit his family. We strategically planned this trip to fall on the weekend of his niece's birthday part and a few weeks after the arrival of his newest nephew. We had a really REALLY good time.

Bryan has always felt disconnected from his niece, Olivia, since they live so far away, but it didn't take long for her to warm right up to him(after she insisted he put on a hat to cover his scary green mo hawk...). Also, prior to this trip, my mother-in-law owned a business, so when I went down, the trip consisted of sitting around in a coffee shop for hours out of the day while Bryan and his step dad worked on the Jeep they're building. This time we were able to do a little shopping(after I let Bryan pack... and by pack I mean I put our clothes in a pile on the bed and I trusted him to put them into the duffel bag... and only half of my clothes/items made it with us) and a lot of sewing.

Baby Mason and his crabby butt

The birthday girl!

"He can't be all THAT bad if he's willing to sit on the floor and play with girl toys."

Linda's Shower: Part II

2011-05-20T10:03:00.006-04:00

This shower had a lot of homemade/handmade pieces. We wanted the shower to be original, but amazing. We made everything right down to the invitations and the thank you cards.

(And I think the thank you cards are adorable...)

I also made shirts for the bride, bridesmaids, and matron of honor.

It was my first time every making an applique. The large portions on the characters are actually fabric pieced that get pinned down and then embroidered on the outside edges.

A girl I was good friends with growing up makes cakes for a living now! She gave us a good deal on a super-sweet cake(There's a better picture farther down).

These were supposed to be hot air balloon baskets. You get the gist, right?!

Of course, it was a rainy day. This was the picture I snapped of the "Yellow brick road" before the rain completely got rid of it.

Witch hat cookies! One of the bridesmaids made these. They were fudge stripe cookies, Hershey kisses, and frosting.

The favor baskets. They were filled with white and two different shade of blue M&M's.

The cake! The hot air balloon says state fair. It's hard to see, but the pink ribbon said "Congratulations Linda" and there are striped little witch feet and a witch hat on the bottom. Even my self-proclaimed cake connoisseur husband said this was the BEST-CAKE-EVER!

Food! Or most of it...

So, there you have it. Cute, huh?

Linda's Shower: Part I

2011-05-20T09:46:00.003-04:00

Last weekend was my sister Linda's bridal shower. We decided to have a Wizard of Oz theme since that's Linda's favorite movie. It was an EXCELLENT time! We had theme invitations, cake, shirts, decorations, and even made poor Linda wear adorable braided pig tails.

We had finger foods, games, and of course - lots of presents!

We had the toilet paper dress game - always hilarious. We also had a game where everyone had a small twirl lollipop and whoever said Steve(Linda's fiance) or wedding would have to give it up, and one of the treat baskets we made had a mini-Toto in it. Whoever ended up with the Toto and the most lollipops got a prize.

We also had pin the heart on the tin man.

It was super adorable.

Random Thought

2011-05-07T14:48:00.001-04:00

I could sit and look at clouds all day(especially when they're perfectly white and fluffy). To me, they're one of the most beautiful things on earth(although they're not really ON earth).

2011-04-21T22:22:00.004-04:00

RIP Nichols

You were the coolest cat in the universe.

Step 3

2011-04-21T14:24:00.001-04:00

Step one: Find the love of your life - Check
Step two: Build a life together
Buy a house together - Check
Get married - Check
Step three: ??????

Trying to figure out the next step is a roller coaster of emotions. Most days I'm content with living in the moment, but others I feel like I'm having a quarter-life crisis. Today is the crisis.

I(we?) felt like we knew what we wanted. We wanted to get married and live together and have this perfect little life, so we started the steps to get there. We made it up the first flight of stairs and now we're looking up at the second flight(what everyone expects the next step to be - children), but instead of skipping happily up the next flight, we'd rather bail and hide out on the second floor. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. We're still young and there's nothing wrong with taking our time. The only problem is that it raises the question, "what now?".

We KNOW that we have to do something about our careers. I hate my job, and he knows that he can't do his forever, but even thinking about going back to school sucks. I've always said that I'd go to school for accounting because I'll be good at it, it pays well, and the credits I've already earned would transfer over. I have a dream job, of course, but the pay is shit and I wasn't lucky enough to land a husband that was handsome AND wealthy. Plus, I’d have to travel to wherever the jobs are, and I wouldn’t want our children to grow up that way.

Currently, I say the best option is to move to Hawaii for 5 years. I can work at a sea turtle reserve or some similar line of work with wild animals and we can live in a small apartment. If it doesn't go anywhere, we move back and still have most of our lives to have kids, make careers, etc. What an experience that would be! Unfortunately, we're not that ballsy.

Likely, we’ll both work our way through college and travel on our free time/money or get knocked up and try to get through school without vacations. Sounds dreamy, huh?

Katy makes things!

2011-04-11T18:32:00.002-04:00

I've been on a roll lately! I have my two current quilts almost done, but as I need a break from them from time to time, I've been knocking out little projects! On Saturday, I made invitations for my sisters bridal shower. We're doing a Wizard of Oz theme since that's her favorite movie so they are yellow card stock that we made to look like a yellow brick road with a glittery red shoe and the words "Follow the yellow brick road" on the front. The back is going to be printed by one of her other bridesmaids. They turned out adorable. Also, for my birthday, my mother-in-law signed me up for yoga classes. I love it! However, it is a pain having to go to the classes after work lugging one bag with my change of clothes, water bottle, towel, etc, my purse, shoes(since you can't wear them once you're inside the studio), and my yoga mat. One of the ladies in my class came during the second week of class with a convenient yoga bag that she got off of Amazon for $20. I decided I wanted one too! During my online quest to find a suitable bag, I came across a tutorial for making your own(http://boredandcrafty.com/?p=2607 ). I made some slight adjustments, but there she is in all her glory. It only took me about 45 minutes to make it. It's lined with green fabric and it ties at the top. Obviously a cheaper alternative... it cost me about $6.

Speaking of birthday presents, I found a tutorial(http://notesfromaveryredkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/alphabet-bean-bag-tutorial.html) that I used to make what was supposed to be a birthday present for J-Man. There are 26 bean bags in the colors above. They all have a capitalized letter on one side, and the lowercase version of the same letter on the opposite. I started the project super early thinking that embroidering 52 little pieces of fabric was going to be a pain, and ended up getting them done fairly quickly. I took a few hours on two separate nights to get the embroidery done and the rest was cake! From what I hear, he loves them and wants to take them everywhere. I'm so glad that they didn't turn out to be something that seemed great in theory, but flopped. I'd love to be able to make them for our kids someday.

Christmas in March

2011-04-01T10:13:00.006-04:00

My good friend Sarah never fails to give us super awesome gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, etc. This last year was no exception. The only exception was that we didn't give them a present at Christmas...

Sarah and her husband welcomed their baby girl into the world in September and I wanted to give them stockings with their names embroidered. Now, if I've learned anything from my sister-in-law, its that some things are worth paying extra for. I feel that stockings are one of these items seeing as families usually keep them around for years and years. For this reason, I didn't end up buying the stockings to embroider until sometime in February(When Pottery Barn FINALLY put them on sale!). They turned out adorable!

I even made one for their dog, Charlie!

Next time I do stockings for someone, I think I'm going to try and make the entire stocking from scratch. It is SUCH a pain to embroider an already assembled stocking...

Of course, I couldn't get away without making something for baby Ava! Bryan's mom bought us both a pattern to make these little letter pillows. Since she has a super short name, I thought I would try them out. I made then in a fabric that I already had so they didn't cost me anything! Also, I picked a fabric that matched her room so they could use them as a decoration. They ended up going in her crib(that she never uses... lol).

Better late than never!

...Right?

Feeding of the puppies.

2011-03-29T20:29:00.003-04:00

Another nephew post. We had the littlest guy over again last weekend. He was over for just a few hours, but it was just enough time for him to make friends with the pups.

He was timid at first. They can be a little crazy when they first see someone. I don't think they've ever seen someone their size. The warming up period.

Jude knows where we keep our goldfish. Then he learned that Marsha likes goldfish too.

She was surprisingly good with him. He even went in and gave Cocoa treats in her cage(she's a little too crazy for little people).

By the time he left he was asking Marsha for her paw in return for treats. It cracked all of us up.

Help!

2011-03-19T13:29:00.006-04:00

Since the wedding and the aftermath of the wedding have finally died, it's been time to focus on other things. A very big piece of that is our house. So much of it has been left half finished or not touched at all. One of the unfinished(but REALLY close) rooms is our kitchen. Part of the reason it has remained stagnant is because we couldn't decide on artwork or a theme in general. You all have probably seen my kitchen before. We have cow potholders, a ratatouille clock, Darth Tater on display, and our paper towel holder is an elephant. We're kind of all over the place.

A few months ago we decided on a theme - CEREAL. I can't wait until we get some of the decorations up so I can share them... but this blog is about something in particular. We need help. Cereal themed decorations are pretty much non-existent(go figure), so when we find something we like or come up with an idea, it's amazing. I've found one cereal related piece of artwork. One.

I got so excited that I wanted to buy them right then, but I decided to wait until I got home from work so I could show it to Bryan first. Well... the listing was gone by then. Luckily, it was on Etsy so I was able to message the shop owner and she was willing to make us another set! Herein lies the problem - she gave us options! WHY?! She should have just said, "Ok. I'll make this set for you. I'll have a listing up for you soon." Instead, she said, do you want the monsters, snap crackle and pop, toucan Sam, Trix rabbit, etc. Ugh!

While we love the monsters, we were afraid that Frankenberry and Booberry weren't easily recognizable to most. So, we contemplated getting other characters but we couldn't choose! Bryan has literally stopped talking to me about it. He can't decide so he's tried to ignore my questioning in order to force me into making a decision. Here's where I need your help. What do you guys think would be amazing?

- Just go with the monsters. They're fun, most people will recognize them, and you've already seen the finished product!

- Go with Snap, Crackle, and Pop. They're adorable!

- Choose random characters! We already have Cap'n Crunch and Sonny the cuckoo bird, so the choices would likely be between Lucky the Leprechaun, Toucan Sam, Trix Rabbit, the Honey Bee from Honey Nut Cheerios, and Tony the Tiger.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

2011-03-17T20:01:00.002-04:00

Speaking of hanging out with nephews a couple posts back...

Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of watching our youngest nephew, Jude. I couldn't resist the opportunity to share this video that Bryan took with his phone.

Rebelution

2011-03-04T09:29:00.002-05:00

(Sorry some of the picture are so bad, but I wasn't willing to risk my camera so these are from Bry's iPhone)
Wednesday night, Bryan and I attended a concert at the TLA on South Street in Philly. It was the first time we've ever been to that venue, and we liked it very much. As usual, we were awkwardly early. We got there and had to wait 15 minutes or so for the doors to even open. It gave us a perfect amount of time to go upstairs and get ourselves shirts and we still made it to the stage in time to be right on the fence up front! Compared to the Electric Factory where we've seen most of our shows, the stage is lower and closer to the fence, so it made for a REALLY awesome show!

The first band to play was The Green. They're a reggae band from Hawaii. There's a cool backstory to explain a little bit of why we were so excited about them. When we were in the airport flying from Maui back to Oahu, we saw people checking in multiple guitar cases and ended up having a small conversation with the guy doing so. Well, not until we arrived at the show and saw the bands logo did we realize that it was the logo we saw plastered all over their instruments! Anyway, they were actually a REALLY good band and we ended up going back up after the show to purchase their CD. The band after them was called Giant Guerilla Panda Dub Squad. We were so excited to see them because they had such an awesome name, but they were VERY mellow(think Bob Marley) and very nearly put us to sleep.

Of course the last band, the band everyone was there for, was Rebelution. They were AMAZING! They played songs from both of their albums and even some brand new ones. He even played some songs on the acoustic which always makes me all googly-eyed.

I do want to express again how awesome of a venue we found it to be. We were so close to the band that when they got really close to the edge of the stage and leaned in we could reach their instruments. Then the security guard brought us free cups of ice water(I think for standing in the one spot the whole time and having to get kicked around as they tried to grab crowd surfers from directly above our heads). Also, after the show, the bands stuck around to hang out with the fans. One of their friends spun records and we were all invited to hang out and drink with them. We didn't end up staying very long because the bevy of 16-year-olds were driving us CRAZY! (And it was already 12, Bryan had to wake up for work at 5:30, and it was an hour drive home)

It was definitely one of the best concerts we've been to so far!

A day with my munchkin.

2011-03-03T09:41:00.003-05:00

I was only 15 when Xzairre was born. His mother was only 17 and still lived at home. I was a big part of his life and he was a bigger part of mine. I never felt so much love for anyone before in my life. I spoiled the crap out of him. I took him to the Zoo, the Aquarium, Disney on Ice, Chuck E. Cheese a million times, Toys 'R' Us a million times, the movies, the drive in movies, etc. He has his own designated, decorated room within my house for Pete's sake! Within the last few years, it has died down a lot. For one, my sister met an amazing man and now they take him to do fun things. For two, more responsibility in life makes fun slightly less attainable. I missed him to death.

Usually the only time he comes over or spends the night anymore is if my sister needs us to watch him. Sunday was another one of those days. Unfortunately, Bryan was working a side job, so it was just me and the kid. Well, I decided that this day was not going to be spent sitting in the house watching TV or playing video games. First we went to the route 40 park and he played there for an hour or two. Then we went to the movie theaters to see Gnomeo and Juliet(which was really cute! Much more than I expected it to be). Of course I let him get popcorn, candy, soda and whatever else he wanted. On the way home he said, "oooh ice cream"... so we stopped at Brusters and got him some ice cream. Then we went into the backyard with the dogs and played catch/kick with the football until his mom arrived.

It was so much fun for the both of us. The best part came when we were in the movie theater and he laid his head on my shoulder(which I took as a 9 year olds way of saying I love you without being embarrassed because one of his friends from school was there). LOVE THAT KID!

Hair, hair, and more hair!

2011-02-25T15:49:00.003-05:00

So I went to the salon today to get my dead ends trimmed. Literally, while sitting in the chair waiting for my hair dresser to come over, I decided I was going to just cut it all off right then.

IT FEELS AMAZING!!!!

Is that a horses tail or my hair?... gross.

A Spring Tease

2011-02-25T08:27:00.004-05:00

Last Friday was supposed to be 70 degrees and Sunny. It was nice out, of course, but the sun didn't come out until noon or just after! Either way, it was a wonderful reminder of what's to come at the end of a blistery winter. We took full advantage of the short break from Winter. Bryan got a clothes line from one of our neighbors who recently moved away, so the night before I asked Bryan to set it up. I remembering hating it when my mother would dry our clothes on the line because they became so stiff and coarse, but Bryan wanted to try it, so I used the nice weather as a trial run. It worked out well because the puppies wanted to stay outside EVERY minute! They played and played until they fell asleep. Then they woke up, and played some more! When Bryan came home, we took the dogs for a walk at the Rt 40 park and he cooked dinner for us on the grill as an homage to the coming of Spring!

The hardest part of it all was trying to keep myself from taking out all of my tank tops and wearing my flip flops for the next week. Of course, Winter bore its ugly head again a few days later with inches of snow just to further break our spirits. It felt like a tease, but it may have been just enough to keep me hopeful that Spring is right around the corner. I'll be rather glad when it's finally here!

The puppies enjoying the weather... and the lack of snow in the backyard

Wedding Album!

2011-02-24T21:56:00.001-05:00

Today, we FINALLY got a preview of what our wedding album will look like. We'll be making a few changes. For the most part, I can't wait to have it in my hands so I can look at it over and over again!

http://showmyalbum.com/lauranovak/katy-bryan/preview.html

My favorite picture from the wedding...

2011-02-16T19:24:00.002-05:00

Doesn't it look like a fairy tale?

Cool Kids VS. Old White People

2011-02-12T12:50:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I was sitting back and looking at our life as a whole. Of course I was thinking of how much I adore my husband, our dogs, our house, etc, but I HATE the fact that we never do anything! Bryan's excuse is always "I'm tired" or "We don't have a lot of money". OK, I get that. But what am I supposed to do when my husband is tired EVERY TIME I suggest doing something unless its going to Ryan and Alicia's or some family-type function or something with HIS friends. Also, I was getting tired of hearing weeks/days later, "Yeah, when you guys didn't come to -insert event here-" and it was the first time I was even hearing about it, and sometimes it was something I would have loved to do! So, once again Bry and I had a talk. It started like this: "I'm tired of never doing anything. If you're tired ALL the time, we need to figure out why. We need to give you a bedtime or go to the doctor and get you tested for iron deficiency, etc. If you want to be like our friends who have kids so they don't get out much, then maybe we should seriously talk about having kids so at least we have an excuse for staying home". I also told him that he tricked me into marrying him. He was like, "oooh look at me I'm so much fun" then I agreed to marry him and it's a different side I see(haha, I say that(jokingly) all the time).This came after we went out to dinner with his Comcast friends and then for a few drinks at Timothy's afterwards. They then went somewhere on Main St for a few drinks and he made us go home and I was bummed because I was having a lot of fun and drinking for the first time in a long time. I pouted ALL THE WAY HOME.

He listened stubbornly(as always). But, later on that night he had a revelation(after saying he went home because it was getting late and stayed up 2 hours after we got home anyway...), in his words "You're right. The old Fig would have stayed out anyway". So after that came a new promise which not only reinstated the "no TV" rule, but added that he'll try and do more fun things. It's been about 3 weeks now and we have had SO MUCH FUN! We've been bowling 3 times(which we used to love so much we did it 3x a week... he even has his own ball and shoes), out to dinner multiple times, out to the movies, to a play at DuPont, and we've made plans for two concerts, another play, and many, many other events. I keep trying to tell Bry that I want to have our lives in order before we have kids. I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about sitting back and figuring out what we want our life to be. What we want our life to consist of and making that happen!

I love this part of our lives.

Diamond Head

2011-02-05T17:24:00.003-05:00

So, remember my first Hawaii post? I showed you a picture of Diamond Head and said you'd see it from a different angle later? Here's your different angle! Any book, website, or person you talk to about Oahu has the Diamond Head hike on the "Must do/Must see" list. It's a very VERY tiring hike, but it's very much worth the sweat(and in my case, blood). Not only do you get a view of the "Diamond Head Crater", but you get a panoramic view of the valley behind you and Waikiki.

On the hike up!
The inside of the crater.

Waikiki. I can't point it out on this picture now, but when we were up there, we could find our hotel.

The houses :)

Did I ever mention how one of my favorite things about Hawaii was the clouds? The earth their is so wet that there are CONSTANT big, fluffy, beautiful clouds(P.S. I love clouds).

What would you do?

2011-01-28T18:28:00.002-05:00

During the summer of 2009 I was taking a walk with Marsha, my sister in law, and my niece. During this walk, my neighbors pit bull managed to get out from under the fence and attack Marsha. Luckily, I had been watching the dog and managed to pull Marsha up before she could do any real damage. We let it slide. They put stakes in their fence so that she couldn't get out that way again and Marsha didn't sustain any injuries so we didn't push the issue. Sometimes, dogs will just be dogs.

Today, Bryan and I were coming into the neighborhood from WalMart. The same dog was out running along the street. Being the good, animal-loving Samaritan Bryan is(and because we were assured the dogs problem is with dogs - not humans) Bryan got out of his truck to try and get the dog out of the middle of the street. Well, the dog started charging Bryan and sure enough bit him. Luckily Bryan was jumping back to stay away from the dog, but she still got through his thick Carhartt work pants and still managed to pull blood. Being the person I am, I stopped to tell the woman that she needs to try harder to make sure her dog doesn't get out, and she attacks me saying that she got out because of her kids and basically "kids will be kids - oh well".

Of course, Bryan refused to call animal control because he knows that since it's a pit bull it pretty much means automatic euthanasia. I'm not OK with that. The woman obviously isn't taking responsibility for the fact that her dog is attacking people and animals! I don't want to see the dog get put to sleep either, but whats it going to take? That dog attacking a child or killing another dog?! Ugh. I don't know what to do...

A square is a rectangle. A rectangle is not a square.

2011-01-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

So I decided some time in 2009 to make a quilt for my sister. I finally finished it

~~22. Make a quilt w/o squares~~

My newest obsession.

2011-01-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

Antarctica.

While online one of the many times I shouldn't be while at work, I ran into a slide show of an Antarctica cruise. It was breathtaking. The beauty of the icebergs. The vast untouched wilderness. The opportunity to be feet away from a society of penguins! I guess you could say it's #1 on my bucket list. I say bucket list because IT IS EXPENSIVE! The cheapest cruise we found(which is really the only way you can go if you want to spend a lot of time on the continent) was over 4k a person!

But, oh, it would be so worth it.

Pearl Harbor

2011-01-20T20:16:00.004-05:00

Of course, while in Hawaii, visiting Pearl Harbor was a must. We woke up bright and early(which was easy seeing as they're 6 hours behind us) and took the bus over to the memorial site. Even with as early as we arrived, the place was swarming with people. We received our timed ticket and walked around looking at all of the displays while we waited our turn.

The anchor from the USS Arizona

First, we did the Arizona memorial. It was very surreal to be able to see the sunken ship beneath us. Everyone was quiet and respectful and some people even brought flowers and lei's to toss into the water for the bodies that were still trapped beneath us.

The wall that contained all of the names of the people who were lost during the attack.

The Arizona Memorial

The second tour that we took was of the Battleship Missouri. Our guide was a man who actually served on the ship years ago, so it ended up being a great tour. He was super enthusiastic and had lots of fun stories. Definitely a must see in Hawaii. Bryan and I enjoyed this trip very much.

The huge guns

Bryan standing in front of the Mighty Mo.

The Dole Plantation

2011-01-20T16:38:00.008-05:00

On our first full day in Oahu we took a bus to the Dole Plantation. This was a part of the trip I was really excited about. It didn't really live up to expectations. It was a tourist trap. I mean, it might be good if you have kids. There's a maze and a train you can take around the plantation, but it just didn't do it for us.

The first exhibit we went into was the worlds largest maze. It sounds cool, but after 5-10 minutes you're ready to leave. To keep my sanity, I spent my time taking pictures of hibiscus flowers. Good ole Bry chugged along, though, and completed the maze. Then we went into the garden tour... that was literally a garden. You walked into a small patch of adorable baby pineapples, then you walk into a hibiscus garden, some other kinds of trees, and then you realize its retarded and walk out. One thing made it all worth it though, Dole Whip. Delicious mouthwatering pineapple flavored ice cream with pineapple chunks! Mmm! We had a pineapple float with fresh pineapple juice... and actually went back for seconds later on in the trip. So, moral of the story, go to Dole Plantation for the ice cream(you won't regret it).

A pink pineapple!

Amen, Mr. Dole, amen.

My silly husband...

The worlds largest maze

Bryan so diligently trying to read the tiny map of the maze

Me on the "guided tour"

Cute little baby pineapple

One of the many flowers I captured

The coup de grace - a pineapple float!

Hawaii

2011-01-20T15:46:00.007-05:00

I think it goes without saying that Hawaii was amazing. We both agree that it was the most memorable time of our lives and we wish we could move there to relive it over and over again. I've decided to break our trip down by event to share with you!

When we first arrived in Hawaii, we were on the island of Oahu and were taken completely by surprise. The Waikiki area is nothing like what you expect when you think of a Hawaiian vacation. We checked into our hotel(which was a little on the shady side, but we knew would be seeing as we decided to put most of our hotels on a budget in order to do more on the islands) and found out that we were on the top floor! Sounds cool, right? Not when you ride a rickety glass elevator all the way to the 40th floor... The room was mediocre, but the view was to die for! It had a 10 foot panoramic view of Ala Moana beach.

We enjoyed the hotel until the night that our neighbors intoxicated girlfriend was on the ledge of our window crying telling him that she was going to jump... I slept right through it, but Bryan was terrorized by it. He wouldn't talk about much else until we checked out(earlier than planned).

The view from our first hotel

So, our first night on the island, we were planning on relaxing. We put our bathing suits on under some clothes and decided to take a stroll. We stopped at a mall to get some face wash and found Ala Moana Beach Park. We ventured in to enjoy some sun, sand, and amazing views!

Bryan watching the surfers

Diamond head(which you will see from another angle in a different post)

The happy couple watching the sunset.

2011-01-20T13:21:00.006-05:00

This last month has brought a drastic change for Bryan and I. For the past year and a half we have been running around without enough time in the day to get everything done that we needed and still make time for ourselves. Those times have finally ended and a new question has arisen: Now what? I'll tell you what(and its not kids). It's time for us to rediscover things that we want to do for ourselves. Hobbies that we want to pick up or get back into, projects we want to start and complete. Reinventing ourselves or at least remembering who we used to be. For the first time in a long time I've been able to do things because I enjoy them instead of trying to meet a deadline. It. Is. Wonderful.

Bryan the drummer. His newest hobby.

~~29. Purchase a drum set~~

~~30. Learn to play the drums~~

2011-01-20T13:04:00.005-05:00

Hello to anyone who may still randomly read my blog!

I have so much to tell you! Most importantly: We're married! The wedding was magnificent as was the honeymoon.

Married life? It doesn't feel any different than engaged life or dating life. It still feels like we're not real adults and we're just playing house. And, we're not good at it! Our house is always a mess! Can you imagine when we have kids down the road? Yikes... I guess we'll be "that" house. We're good together, though. That's all that really matters to me. We never have to try with each other.

Anyway, I plan on being back. Look forward to much more from me.

Wedding Colors

2010-07-19T15:50:00.001-04:00

I was poking around on wedding sites at work when I came across this: What Your Wedding Colors Say About You(http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/what-your-wedding-colors-say-about-you). So I decided to look for my wedding colors. We’re using “fall colors” which ended up being 3 main colors(not including the brown in the men’s suits).

Orange: Spontaneous and daring, brides who choose orange are bold. Because orange is a happy and trendy hue, orange enthusiasts tend to be popular, have excessive energy and are part of a large social circle. From a bright and happy backdrop to an exotic, spicy richness, brides who prefer orange tend to be fearless and curious, with a zest for life.

Yellow: The color of a sunny day, yellow denotes happiness and hope. Exuding warmth and vitality and usually possessing a great sense of humor, people who love yellow have cheerful spirits and optimistic values. You tend to look forward to the future and are intellectual, creative and idealistic. Yellow represents enlightenment and spirituality, lending itself as a great color on your day of matrimony.

Green: Green shades symbolize life, freshness, nature and fertility. A common choice for eco-friendly brides, green shows that you value your health and the environment. A harmonized and balanced color, green is a mixture of warm yellow and cool blue, just like its admirers. A calming and tranquil hue, brides who select green are affectionate, frank and responsible. You seek stability and balance, yet remain fiercely principled and refined.

I think they’re all 3 quite fitting, actually. Well, maybe not the fertility part. We’re not quite ready for that, yet…

2010-06-30T13:23:00.003-04:00

“Without you in my life there would be no meaning. Baby, I’m yours forever.”
Bryan sent that Jason Mraz lyric to me through text message earlier. How perfect it was in lieu of the milestone that was hit today(that he had no idea about, I’m sure).

Today marks 100 days until our wedding. 100 gloriously gruesome days. I’m broken up into these separate pieces about it: excited for it to get here, ready for it to be over, and nervous as hell. Of course, I’m not worried about the marriage – only the wedding. I’m worried that something won’t come together. Something will be broken. A vendor/artist won’t show up. Something goes horribly wrong. I’ll forget about a huge piece of the wedding. Worries. Worries. Worries.

These are completely normal, I’m sure. Hopefully, once the day comes, I will be able to make myself let go of my need for perfection in details and enjoy the day for what it is – the day I marry my best friend for the past 8 years and the love of my life for the past 6. Nothing can mess that up!… right?

As far as being excited for it to get here and ready for it to be over, those emotions are just as strong. I can’t wait to stand up in front of our friends and family looking our best and then party the night away in true Bryan-and-Katy style. When I think about all of the little details we’ve pulled into the mix to incorporate our personalities, I get so excited that I can’t think straight, sit still, or sleep(depending on what I’m doing at the time). I think the ready for it to be over is self-explanatory. I don’t think you realize how much your life completely stops for a big occasion like this until you’re almost there. We’re both more than ready for our lives to go back to normal. Also... the honeymoon promises to be amazing :).

Let the final countdown begin!

Katy the Bookworm

2010-06-29T13:21:00.002-04:00

As a child, I LOVED reading. I was constantly teased by my siblings for walking off of the school bus with a book lifted to my face(and I’m sure I stumbled a time or two as well). Somewhere within the years of mundane English courses, I began to lose my love for reading, and instead turned into a math/science nerd. Since then, I’ve read a book or two here and there but never became fully immersed back into my old bookworm-self. Until now. All of a sudden in the beginning of this year, I decided to give a popular book series a try, and it sucked me right back in to a literary vortex. My poor fiancé has had to turn off/turn down the TV and/or radio to not interrupt my reading, spend hours in boring book stores, listen to me go on for hours about a particular part or hear me laugh to myself and be unable to understand what was so funny. On top of that, I have once while at work read my book while walking back to my desk after break(trying to finish the last few pages of a chapter) and was called out by a co-worker. It’s that bad.

I don’t mind it, though. I love reading and I feel excitement once I finish a book and I feel empty and useless until I find another to start. Once again, thank you TV curfew! Just help my fiancé to also find his way to the pile of books that he wants to read but refuses to touch. Please and thank you.

1. Marley and Me. I started this book and never finished the last bit, finally finishing the last 3 chapters sometime around the end/beginning of the year.
2. Twilight. I started this book sometime in March and within a week finished it along with
3. New Moon,
4. Eclipse, and
5. Breaking Dawn.
6. Wuthering Heights. Not long after finishing the Twilight books, I started this dreadful book.
7. Push. I read this book while reading Wuthering Heights(I needed a break).
8. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Read this just after finishing Wuthering Heights. A novella from the Twilight Series.
9. Into the Wild. After seeing the movie I was greatly inspired and wanted to get the full story. Love that crazy kid Chris Mccandless.
10. Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass(they were both combined into one book).
11. Wizard of Oz.
12. Currently re-reading Wicked since I got halfway through and then didn’t pick it up for a year and a half

2010-06-13T15:30:00.001-04:00

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. ~Albert Einstein

It’s been a little over a month since we enforced our TV curfew, so I only thought it appropriate to give an update. So far it’s been going very well! The first time we cheated was actually last Sunday(and in our defense I was hung over, sun burnt, and covered in painfully itchy mosquito bites and Bry had a mere 3 hours of broken sleep) and we pretty much watched TV all day. Every other day, though, we’ve stuck to the curfew. I won’t lie and say that every day we’ve been immensely productive, but I can honestly say that it has helped a lot. Here are some of the things that have happened due to our curfew:

-We joined and have been attending a gym
-Took a trip to Niagara Falls
-Bathroom work is well on its way(new floor is in the process of being installed)
-Cleaned up yard and planter in front
-We’ve been making more dinners(which means eating healthier)
-Spending more times with friends we don’t see regularly
-More training and quality time with puppies
-More time spent outside and walking at the park
-Started the process to begin volunteering for the Delaware Humane Association

It’s been wonderful. I still hope that we branch off a little bit more because we will still sit around and do nothing some nights, but baby steps are better than no steps at all.

2010-05-23T20:00:00.001-04:00

So Bryan comes up to me in this outfit and asks, "does this match?". At least he asks...

2010-05-05T11:14:00.001-04:00

"Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other." -Ann Landers

I personally find this to be particularly true in my relationship. When we were younger, before the mind-dulling fulltime jobs and other draining responsibilities of adult life, both Bryan and I filled our time with meaningful activities such as writing poems, playing musical instruments, skateboarding, playing sports, scrapbooking, etc. Now when we have free time we usually ask ourselves whether we want a movie or a rerun.

For the past few years, these activities have depressed me and made me miserable. I feel like we both lost who we were and part of what we so deeply loved about eachother(along with any shape/figure and talents we used to have). Now that we're turning the corner and plummeting toward our wedding day, I'm so much more concerned! If this is what we're like at 24 with little reponsibility, what will we be like in 10 years with the same responsibilities and likely having multiple children in school? I can't bear to imagine it...

On the other side - Bryan misses his old hobbies, but he's still 100% content with watching TV and movies all day. He LOVES it. Half as a joke/half ready to jump on it if he did agree(1% chance of that...), I told him yesterday that I thought the TV was evil and I wanted to get rid of it. His reaction was expected... He wouldn't even consider the notion.

What happened next was to MY surprise. After I got home, we ate dinner, gave Marsha her cake, and sat down on the couch to watch them eat it. On the weekend when Bryan is at work, I will literally go ALL day without having the TV on, and the second he walks in, he goes straight for the remote. Well, last night he didn't. Thanks to that, he ended up doing some dishes and we took the girls on a walk to burn off some of their cake. Small change, but a change nontheless!

This morning when I made my daily call to let him know I was on my way to work, I made it a point to bring up last night and how much I loved it as well as to see how he felt about it. He decided that I was right and suggested a rule that the TV doesn't come on until 9 o'clock! I can't say that it will definitely stick for very long, but here's to giving it a hell of a try!

Happy Birthday,Marsha!

2010-05-04T20:16:00.006-04:00

Today is Marsha's birthday. Our little girl turned two years old today and it was an event to celebrate!

Bryan and I took a trip to the beach on Friday(just for fun), and in Rehoboth, they have the cutest little dog shop on the main strip. We went in because Bryan told them he'd come back with a toy and treats for making them stay in the cage all day while we were out having fun. He kept his promise - but I also picked up a box of cake mix for dogs knowing that Marsha's birthday was right around the corner

So, Bryan whipped the cake up tonight after work and the dogs devoured it. Of course Cocoa had a piece, too. Though I'm sure if Marsha had a choice she wouldn't have shared...

Here was the cake finished. The kit came with everything except the candle and frosting ingredients(cream cheese and peanut butter).

Marsha's little slice of birthday cake.

"Dad, you don't have to hold me. Look at my face - the epitome of self control."

A short period of time later... "Oh God, it smells so good! How long is this freaking song?"

The birthday girl with her birthday cake :)

Wedding nightmare

2010-04-26T12:06:00.001-04:00

I started to have these dreams shortly after becoming engaged, but they seemed to disappear over the past few months. Last night they came back with a vengeance!

In this dream we didn't have music for cocktail hour, the photographer never took pictures of Bryan and I together, they set everything up at the wrong barn( a blue barn at that), and I had to get something from the store in the middle of the reception but didn't have a car so I had to walk back to the site. It was horrible, but even through all of that I had this wonderful and blissful feeling at the fact that it was our wedding. So even though I hope that the problems at our wedding are small and few, I hope even more that the feeling is there tenfold. It's just over 5 months away now and I can't believe it!

The little things in life...

2010-04-11T16:29:00.004-04:00

Bryan is definitely a man who loves his fitted hats(n. a baseball cap that is made without an adjustable strap; designed to 'fit' the head of the owner. "All my fitteds match my kicks, my wardrobe is tight!"). It started a few years ago when we visited my brother in Alabama and they ordered a fitted darkstar hat off the internet for themselves. It was all over after that. His collection has grown to include different colors of the rainbow and he literally has shoes and shirts specifically to match each hat.

Bryan's mom used to own a coffee shop in a small shopping mall in their small town in North Carolina. Their mall had a hat shop that recently closed down as well. As the owners were packing up the shop, she bought two hat racks from them for Bry knowing how much he LOVES his hats. She brought the racks up on her most recent trip, and it was even better than Bryan expected. He no longer has to worry about his hats losing their shape or being thrown around/falling on the floor. It did bring up one problem, though - he doesn't have enough hats to fill up one rack, let alone two! Luckily, that problem has an easy solution.

Save the date, ladies and gentlemen!

2010-04-11T16:19:00.006-04:00

Woohoo! Our save the dates arrived in the mail yesterday! Keep an eye out for yours soon!

I feel the need to take this time to rant about the Etsy website. My save the dates, invitations, and even the stamp we use for our return address(you'll see on the back of the envelope) were purchased from that site. I've got to say that I have LOVED everything that we've purchased and all of the merchants we've worked with so far have been GREAT. If you haven't checked them out, you're truly missing out!

Katy and Bryan first!

2010-04-02T10:14:00.004-04:00

Last night Bryan and I got our first tattoos!

My tattoo was on my right foot. Its a Beatles lyric from the first Beatles song I've ever fallen in love with and its become sort of a motto in my life.(the color on my foot is sharpie - not tattoo lol)

Bryan's tattoo was on the side of his right calf. His tattoo is an emblem from his favorite skateboard brand, Darkstar.

It was a great experience! Neither of us knew exactly what to expect. Poor Bryan went in the chair first and was visibly trembling until the needle touched him for the first time. I knew more of what to expect, so it wasn't so bad, but the foot has some VERY tender spots!

2010-03-18T10:22:00.002-04:00

I decided this morning to follow the girls outside and take a few picture of them. It was so beautiful out, and since the weather has improved, they've been wanting to be outside CONSTANTLY! This was my favorite one from the morning:

I also found out this morning that Marsha really DOES NOT like the camera. Cocoa was letting me take pictures no matter how close up I was but every time I got near Marsha she purposely started to walk away. Once I stopped using the camera, she came over to play with me and jump on my lap. Strange...

First attempt at placecards: Success!

2010-03-12T17:28:00.007-05:00

Today we decided to gather the missing pieces and make a sample placecard for the wedding. I saw this idea online months ago and thought it was adorable! Not only do I love pinwheels, but they keep that funloving spirit that we want the wedding to have. Despite the fact that the clear label tape we bought didn't work in our machine and we couldn't find the balls we purchased previously to make them spin, I think they turned out very well!

Today was a great day!

2010-03-07T16:03:00.003-05:00

Today has been such a productive, yet relaxing, day. I was able to accomplish most of everything I wanted to - Plus some!

I must admit, though, that my favorite thing about days like these is all of the quality time spent with the dogs. I often feel horrible about them spending so much time in the cages while we're at work that having them out all day is a treat for all of us. The day was so beautiful that I spent time here and there outside with them and that hasn't happened for months. I think they were appreciative. In fact, to show their appreciation they decided to sit on and knock over all of the clean clothes I had just folded. Oh well. A great day was had by all, and maybe we'll even be able to squeeze a walk in before the day is up.

Cocoa laying on Daddy's blanket. She's such a Daddy's girl.

Yes, Mommy. I do realize that you just washed these clothes and need to hang them up, but they're so warm and comfortable!

Guess who's back - back again.

2010-03-05T14:55:00.001-05:00

Dairy's back - tell a friend!

2010-03-05T10:45:00.002-05:00

Recently Bryan and I have begun to realize how old and boring we've become. Once we moved into our house, we've spent the majority of our nights on the couch instead of out having fun. Because of this, we've both gained weight, gotten lazier, etc. We're both tired of it! We're trying to make a conscience effort to get out more.

Last night ended up being a good example of this. Earlier on we registered at Macy's and since Bry's Aunt works in the registry department, she always tells us of deals and special they're having. Last night they had a 'sip and scan' event where they had vendors, finger foods, drinks, and presentations for ladies that came up to register. It was actually a nice time. We added a few things to our registry and they gave out gifts to all of the couples for coming out.

Following that, we went home for a little bit, but then we headed back out around 10:45 to catch the 3D midnight release of Alice in Wonderland. As you might remember from a previous post about Mary Poppins on Broadway, Alice in Wonderland was one of a handful of movies we owned as children. I think its a movie my mom bought us the first time we got a VCR(lol). I was very skeptical of this movie going in... but I quite enjoyed it. Unlike Charlie and the Chocolate factory that was irritatingly similar to Willy Wonka, this one was different enough that the movie wasn't spent making angry comparisons.

It was very enjoyable. I hope it just a sign of things to come.

Fischer Price Train Set

2010-02-21T13:51:00.002-05:00

Ok, ladies. My mother recently moved out of our place and when we were moving her, we noticed an old train set of my nephew, Xzairre. He is now 8 years old and is completely uninterested. Before we put it up on E-Bay or Craigslist, I wanted to see if any of you lovely ladies would be interested in having it for your little men. It's obviously a few years old now, but I think its great. They have very easy controls that are easy for kids to use, and if they don't want to use the controls, they can just push them along the tracks. Don't feel pressured to take it, if none of you would like it, we will sell it and give the money to my mother. If more than one of you want it, we'll come up with some sort of a contest :).

The above 3 pictures are some of the accessories that I found. The bottom is my favorite!

Here are the vehicles and the controls. The 4 in the middle are the vehicles and they're in front of their controls. The two on the side go with the packs, but they don't go by the controls. The controls have large knobs that you push up to turn on, and back to turn off. You can even make them honk!

The parts in the tub are the ones that you use to raise the track and the yellow pieces are adorable little guard rails

These are all of the tracks that it comes with. Straight ones, curved ones, bridges, etc.

Let me know, guys.

It wasn't a snowball fight... it was a WAR!

2010-02-11T11:12:00.005-05:00

#79 is officially completed. Anyone who lives in the area or keeps an eye on national news knows that our region has been smothered with feet and feet of snow over the past few weeks. This time, Bryan and I went over to Ryan and Alicia's to be 'snowed in' with them. Since we weren't technically supposed to be driving the roads, sledding was pretty much out of the question.

Instead, we decided to have a snowball fight. Bryan spent half an hour to an hour building bunkers for us to hide behind and Ryan put up a makeshift flag so that we could play capture the flag. It was a lot of fun, although we could have used half a dozen more people. By the end of the battle, we were raiding each others bunkers to smash their arsenal of snowballs and as a grand finale, Bryan and I decided to team up and raid Ryan's bunker together. To top it off, we went inside and were greeted by an amazing cup of Alicia's hot cocoa. It was so much fun!

Snow ice cream!

2010-02-07T00:49:00.004-05:00

When I was a child, my family and friends would go to a friends place in the Poconos to camp and vacation. We usually went during the summer, but on a handful of occasions, we went during the winter. They always had TONS of snow there. Once or twice I remember my mom making ice cream out of snow. Since we were stuck in the house for most of the day, I thought it would be something fun to try!

I happened to be on the phone with my mom when she reminded me of it and gave me the idea to try it, so she told me what to use and the boys seemed to like it, so it must have turned out well! I'm not a huge fan of ice cream in general, so I didn't eat a bowl, but they did and even went back for seconds. To top it off, my sister bought me a Smuckers ice cream kit for Christmas equipped with the adorable bowls in the picture and multiple toppings such as hot fudge, caramel, strawberry, and nuts/candy pieces among others. It was fun, easy, and definitely something I will do again!

Can you tell I told them to 'smile with their ice cream'? They both look so very excited lol

2010-02-06T19:09:00.014-05:00

I'm contemplating doing something I've told myself I wouldn't do.

I currently have my ears gauged. I was actually letting them close up a year or two ago, but it was also while I was making the transition to Bank of America and my dress code was drastically changed on a daily basis. I felt like I was losing a part of who I was. To counterbalance this change, I decided to re gauge my ears to keep a small bit of my punk/skater touch(damn the man!). Currently they're at what I consider to be a modest/tasteful size.

I once again considered letting them close up to be able to wear traditional earrings on my wedding day. I decided to keep the gauge and treat Bryan and myself to earrings from a website I've liked for a while. It's called Omerica Organic and they make wooden organic and handmade plug earrings. Due to this they're a bit pricey, but when I read on their site that their company is 100% wind powered and that for every wooden piece they sell they plant a tree, I was all about spending a little bit more money to support a business that's into giving back instead of only taking.

At first I was dead set on this pair: side hearts. They're tasteful and adorable. I would have to gauge my ears up one more size(which would barely be noticeable) and you can pick out what color wood for the plug and the heart inlay! The only problem with the earrings was that I was afraid of how noticeable the hearts would be on such small plugs. Would it even be worth it?

Well, I was at Alicia's on Friday and I was showing her the website when she pointed out these new plugs. They have BIG hearts and on the backside of the plug, it says LO VE! They'd be perfect! Then I checked the size... I would have to go up THREE sizes! That pretty much takes it from tasteful to "why do you have big holes in your ears". At one point, I'm thinking "who cares, it would be worth it for the earrings" but on the other side... I'm just not sure if I want to go that big! Bryan seems excited at the idea. He said, "Well you were going to have to gauge them to get the first pair, so do that gauge TONIGHT and see how you feel about gauging it even more!"

I'm not sure what I want to do. Thankfully I still have 7 months until I really need to have my mind made up.

To splurge or not to splurge...

2010-02-03T22:38:00.006-05:00

Every decision for our wedding is a difficult one. For every little detail we have to decide whether to get something normal or to get something with 'Katy and Fig' flair. The problem with deciding to get something to fit our personalities is that it usually takes a lot longer to find and the price tag is usually a bit more steep. On top of that, to find something over the top enough for us that wouldn't be tacky for a wedding is no easy task. Take toasting flutes for example, we could get the clear, elegant ones from Macy's(and hopefully have someone buy them off our registry for us) or we can buy ones like the colorful ones we found online that are nearly $50 more expensive. So for each and every detail we have to weigh the pros and cons, and let me tell you- it gets tiring! Oh, the joy!

I have one question:

2010-02-03T17:36:00.003-05:00

WHY THE F IS THIS STILL LEGAL?!

I've come across this picture and others before while online within the past two years. Sometimes I will do a google image search for beagles just to see how adorable other peoples beagles are. I assumed that since all of the pictures I saw were like this one(obviously from times long past) that beagle testing no longer happens. I mean, we couldn't still be that barbaric, could we? WRONG! I've cried for half an hour over a recent picture of a beagle with stitches going across its skull because they conducted a surgery to remove part of its brain so that it would no longer resist during their experiments. I've had to cover my eyes and ask Bryan to close out of a website for me because I was so nauseated and heart broken by what I saw. How can this still be happening? Who do I have to hurt to make it stop? Where are these laboratories so I can conduct a freedom mission?

I want it to end and I want it to end NOW.

What has to happen before people take animal cruelty seriously? OK, I get it that asking Ben and Jerry's to use human breast milk in their ice cream instead of cows milk is extreme(true story - PETA is a little over the top at times), but why are beagles and other animals STILL being hooked up to cigarette machines such as the ones in the picture while so many humans are willingly paying loads of money to subject themselves to the same 'experimentation' on a daily basis? Who thinks that this is OK, and if so, when is the last time you've had a psych evaluation? If I have to stand outside of some laboratory with a sign to try and help make this stop, then by all means - show me where to stand!

I am completely flabbergasted...

Theatre, not to be confused with theater

2010-01-21T21:40:00.012-05:00

A few years ago, Bryan and I made a weekend trip to New York and caught a show of the Lion King on Broadway while we were there. I was very skeptical at first seeing as the Lion King was my #1 favorite movie growing up. I watched it once a day for at least a year and a half... it was a bit ridiculous and my family still won't let me hear the end of it, but its a good movie. Can you blame me? Back on topic - I absolutely loved it. I felt like a starry-eyed child the whole time. Since then, I've seen three other Broadway shows. I love the theatre!

On our most recent trip to NYC, Alicia and I made plans to attend a show. We planned to see Phantom of the Opera, but we were unable to get the tickets ahead of time so plans changed. For most of the day it looked doubtful that we would be attending a play at all. We tried going into each theatre to purchase tickets, purchasing them online with Alicia's phone, and lastly we decided to check these TKTS booths that both of us have heard about. The line was long so we were hesitant at first, but it was well worth the wait! We were able to get excellent seats and 50% off the regular price! To anyone going to New York with plans to see a play - I would highly recommend using them! Although, it will be a little bit riskier if you have a particular play in mind - especially if its a very popular one.

We decided while at the booth to see Mary Poppins instead. I will tell you, it was not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It was cute - Don't get me wrong, but as a big fan of Mary Poppins, I was very disappointed. While we were very young, we only owned a handful of movies: Back to the Future, Crocodile Dundee, Alice in Wonderland, Sweating to the Oldies, and Mary Poppins(An interrupted recording from the Disney Channel), so understandably that movie was a regular during the early years of my childhood. There were many scenes cut out of the theatrical version such as the carousel race, the barn scene/penguin dance, laughing on the ceiling, the boat on top of the house, weird things were added like a dancing statue, a scene in a magical candy/conversation shop, an evil nanny(not just Katie Nana) and my favorite part, steppin' time, was merely tap dancing. I'm glad I saw it, I only wish I could show the producer how it should have been done!

The satisfaction of finding a really good deal

2010-01-21T20:55:00.005-05:00

I've been blessed/cursed with a groom that wants to be a part of the wedding plans. Because of this, I try to ask him about every decision that needs to be made about the wedding to see if he has an idea or if he likes mine. 75% of the time he only half listens to what I say and says it sounds great even if he doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about, but that other percentage of the time - He knows EXACTLY what he wants.

In May of 2008, Bryan was the best man in his sister Alicia's wedding. Instead of having everyone rent a tuxedo, they decided to have all of the groomsmen buy suits. It ended up being a good idea. The suit wasn't much more than Bryan spent to rent a tux for his brothers wedding months earlier, and I can count at least 3 occasions on which he's worn it since then. In the beginning stages of the planning process, I asked him what he wanted him and his groomsmen to wear. At that point he began to rant about how much he liked their idea/how much of a deal it is/how much he loved his suit. After a gentle reminder that some people may have a problem with the idea - the plans were set.

I could be mistaken, but I think it was actually Alicia and I that found the suits at Men's Wearhouse once when we were out about looking at dresses. They were perfect. They were brown just like we wanted and they were Sean John(which makes them even better in Bryan's eyes). For the last six months I've been watching the roller coaster prices on the stores website. Just yesterday I checked and the 'sale' was $399 buy one get one for 100. I didn't think the sale was going to change between today and yesterday seeing as it wasn't a weekend or a beginning of a month like most stores wait for, but I really didn't feel like working at the time, so I figured I'd check anyway.

Much to my surprise, they fell from $399 to $199 with the same BOGO deal! I felt like jumping up and shouting for joy! I was convinced that we would be lucky if we got them for $200 a piece, but $15o is that much better! That is literally only dollars more than what he spent to rent a tux for his brothers wedding. I think I'm almost as excited about the suits as I am for my own wedding gown! I am anxiously waiting to be able to pick the suits up and see them all try them on. Now I have visions of colorful ties dancing in my head. I love this part!

There's no place like home...

2010-01-18T20:01:00.007-05:00

It's hard to believe it - but in a matter of 2 months, it will be a full year since Bryan and I bought our first house. It often feels like we've slacked off and haven't been able to get much done, but in reality, we've completed a good bit. Lately, though, with planning/saving for the wedding and with my mom living with us, work has definitely slowed down if not stopped.

I've been itching to make more progress so this weekend after we got home from New York, Bryan and I finally got the motivation to work on one room that we had started on before. It was a room that we had set aside to be used for my oldest nephew Xzairre that spends the night often when my sister has to work. It has so often worked as storage for junk that didn't have its own place yet that the door was usually closed and the room was wasted. This weekend we finished painting the room and decorated it for occupance. We still have a few things to do such as purchase blinds, replace the receptacles/ light switches and their covers, hang more pictures/shelves, and take the sink vanity from in front of the closet and put it in the bathroom. At least now we can walk by the room and smile when we look in instead of closing the door in disgust. An added plus - he spent the night this weekend and was able to sleep is his own room!

One room at a time. It will get done eventually.

This is what the room looked like when we bought the house. It was known as the red room.

The room now. The walls are painted a flat orange that reminds me of Kraft mac'n'cheese and you can barely see them on the picture, but we painted stripes in the high gloss of the same color. It turned out very well although taping for all of the stripes was a huge pain in the ass!

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"

2010-01-16T17:35:00.006-05:00

Over the weekend, Bryan and I took a trip to New York with Ryan, Alicia, and Jude. I don't yet have access to the pictures from the first day, but I have some from the second! On the second day, we took a ferry from Liberty State Park NJ over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. I feel like a good percentage of people have visited one or both of these historical attractions whether it was with school or family - but I never have. It was very surreal. I would recommend anyone that hasn't been to go and if you went as a child, possibly even go again now that you might be able to appreciate it more.

The view of New York City from Liberty State Park

Our first stop on the ferry was Ellis Island. Due to the ferry schedule, we were unable to get through the entire museum, but we made it through the majority of the exhibits. It was all very interesting. Bryan said he went as a child but didn't remember much from it - completely understandable. It wasn't exactly the type of museum that would easily keep a child's attention.

This exhibit compared the ratio of male and female immigrants over the years. I was amused that the females were orange and the males were green!

The next and final stop on the ferry was the Statue of Liberty. This ended up being my favorite part of the entire trip. It was very surreal to see something close up that you've heard so much about and seen so much your entire life. It was definitely something that made you say, "Why did I wait so long to do this?" Once again, we were at the mercy of the ferry and we had to rush through the museum part of the monument, but walking the 150+ steps to the foot of the statue took the cake. It was an amazing trip and I plan to go back - most definitely.

2010 is going to be a great year...

I need your help and advice...

2010-01-10T09:41:00.006-05:00

So the wedding is now only 9 months away! Exciting? Yes! Terrifying? Yes!

Anyway, I've been trying to think of things we haven't tackled or even discussed yet and get them out of the way. Bryan and I(as I've mentioned before) are fans of cute, quirky little details. So one of the things we've been thinking about are cocktail napkins. Of course we could always do the monograms of your initials or use the cute little clip art-type piece that my brother is making us to go on our invitations and other stationary... but then I thought about something else. Tell me you guys think it's funny, cute, corny, offensive to some, lame, etc. If you like the idea and have any ideas for other quotes, help a lady out!

We would plan on using the colors for the wedding/the bridesmaids dress colors and shuffle the different ones together into one big colorful napkin stack. What do you guys think? Please be honest. The fate of my napkins are in your hands!

Everyone: Meet Cocoa Puff!

2010-01-04T16:42:00.008-05:00

We were supposed to pick her up on the 18th which ended up being the day that we got the largest snow storm we've had since the 90's. Needless to say, we had to reschedule the pick-up for Tuesday since they were actually driving her up from North Carolina. It was heartbreaking, but once the day finally arrived, she was just as wonderful as we had imagined.

Obviously, the name Cocoa won hands down in our poll, so we put our own spin on it and named her Cocoa Puff. Her nicknames currently consist of Cocoa, Cocoa Bean, Cocoa Butter(BTW Alicia, thats what Xzairre calls her and wants to call her "Butters" like her cousin puppy), Cocoa Chanel, Coco Roco, Coconut, Grumps, and Gremlin.

It took Marsha a few days to get used to the fact of not being the only baby in the house(Which is evident in the above photo. Check out the expression on Marsha's face - Priceless.) But before long they cried when one wasn't in the same room as the other and are constantly playing, cuddling, and following each other around. I don't know why we were putting getting a second dog off for so long. Of course there's the problem of having to train another dog, but Marsha is trained well enough to teach Cocoa most of what she needs to know.

This was them last night. They make my heart happy.

~~96. Get Marsha a brother or sister~~

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

This time last year I decided to keep a yearly planner. Since this year is coming to an end, I recently bought a new planner and spent some time copying over birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

I must admit that I'm very sad to see this year come to an end. I can recollect a dinner I had with a few girls from work earlier this year in which they were talking about the best year/years of their lives and this has honestly been the best year of my life so far. How are we ever going to top getting our first house, getting engaged, getting another puppy, and all of the other wonderful things that we've done this year?

On the other hand, when I got to October in my 2010 weekly planner, I had the pleasure of writing in things such as "rehearsal dinner", "OUR WEDDING!!!", and "HONEYMOON!". It felt very surreal. Even through all of the planning stages that we've already completed, it still doesn't feel real until something small like that brings it into reality. I feel as though we're currently going through those days of our lives that we will always wish we could have back, and they're going so fast that it's hard to be sure and cherish every moment.

Here's to the end of a fabulous year and the beginning of one that shall be just as momentous.

#79 PART B

2009-12-24T05:26:00.004-05:00

As a product of not being able to sleep, I came on and decided to update my 101 list. While doing so, I realized that part of one of my goals was completed nearly 7 months ago. Bryan and I hosted a Fourth of July party at our house for friends and family earlier this year. At this point in time, my brother and his family were up from Alabama and staying with us for a few weeks. To make sure that the kids had just as much fun as the adults, we filled up water balloons, guns, and anything else we could find and had an amazing water fight! Unfortunately, even though we got a lot of snow over the weekend, we were unable to complete the first part of the goal due to the snow not being snowball material. Maybe next time we'll get lucky :)!

89. Go sledding

2009-12-21T21:20:00.004-05:00

As all of you should know, on Saturday my area was slammed with a foot and a half of snow. Since my sister does snow removal in the winter at her job, I had my nephew the whole weekend, and took the opportunity to take him out sledding(I'm always looking for ways to keep him from plugging himself in to the TV). So Bryan, Xzairre, and I swung over to pick up Ryan and headed to the church/school on Polly Drummond Rd. It just so happened that while we were there, so was a photographer from the News Journal. He took a few pictures of the boys going down the hill, and even though I was completely disappointed that none of the pictures of Bryan and Ryan sledding together made the cut, I was enthralled to see that a picture of Xzairre made it onto delawareonline.com. He was photographed sledding down the hill with a friend he made while we were there. Don't you just love the excitement on their faces?

Marsha's first vacation/long car ride!

2009-12-14T00:45:00.003-05:00

We've had Marsha for about a year and a half, so she was due for her first family vacation/road trip. The weekend after Thanksgiving, Bryan, Marsha, and I went down to visit some of his family down in North Carolina. Marsha made the trip down seem twice as long because she didn't know where she wanted to stand - because she didn't want to sit or lay AT ALL. Her favorite position seemed to be standing on Bryan's lap looking out the windshield which didn't always prove to be the safest.

Up until then, Marsha had only been in the car to go to the park, vet, or some other fairly short ride. As with most dogs, her favorite part of the ride is sticking her head out of the window and sucking in all of the different smells with her powerful hound nose. Unfortunately, going over 70MPH on 95 doesn't exactly make this the most comfortable thing, so she had to settle for doing it only on the small side roads.

The ride home was much better. While in North Carolina, I made Marsha a soft dog bed out of fleece material. So that, mixed with the memory of how long the last car ride was, convinced Marsha that laying down was probably the better alternative for our returning trip. Plus, she was completely exhausted! All in all - a very successful first trip for our little girl(and some much needed alone time before bringing in a #2).

Oh, Christmas tree!

2009-12-09T20:02:00.007-05:00

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Bryan and I took a trip down to Coleman's Tree Farm in Middletown to cut down our Christmas tree. Not only is this year our first Christmas in our first house, but it's the first time we actually went to cut down our Christmas tree together. Some people are Christmas people and some people are not - we totally are. It is torturous for us to wait until after Thanksgiving to take out decorations and start showing enthusiasm(without being completely lame).

The following weekend we were going to visit Bryan's parents in North Carolina, so to prevent the disappointment of only being able to enjoy our Christmas tree for two short weeks, we decided to squeeze it in to our busy holiday weekend. After walking the whole tree lot, we found the perfect tree for our living room, took it home, and decorated it that night.

I love the smell of a Christmas tree and the glow of the lights!

~~90. Go to a farm and cut down a Christmas tree~~

Orange Wedding Shoes

2009-12-09T19:48:00.001-05:00

One of the things I decided early on in the planning stages of our wedding is that I would be wearing orange accessories. No only is orange my favorite color, but since we decided to be married in the fall, it was an undeniable choice for a main color in the wedding.

Believe it or not - orange shoes are hard to find. I guess not everyone has the same affinity for orange as I do... Imagine that. Throughout some intense searches, I was able to find two pair of shoes that I was willing to try out.

After trying them on, there was no question about which ones I liked better. I picked the shoes on the right. They're dressier, closer to the hue of orange I was looking for, and I think the shape is better. However, I am still going to stay on the lookout to make sure there's nothing better out there!

Merry Christmas to us!

2009-12-07T20:09:00.009-05:00

We're getting a puppy! While looking online we found a litter of beagle puppies from NC that were saved from a full high-kill shelter. We weighed the options, and in the light of the recent horrible death of my family dog(not Marsha - my dads dog), we decided that we should give another dog the chance to live the carefree life that Marsha has. So on the 19th of December, Bryan and I will meet up with the shelter rep to pick up the newest member of our family!

Her name is currently BeBe, but we're not looking to keep that name. We want to have a name picked out for her when she comes home and we're having a tough time picking one.

Here are some of the names that we either considered or are considering still:

Marla (Would be cute with Marsha)

Snowball (Christmas puppy, but doesn't turn into a nickname easily)

Cocoa (Winter name that goes well with Marshmellows.. get it?)

Mokey (From Fraggle Rock... I love muppets)

Wilma (Ok, this ones not serious. But how great would it be to yell WIIILMA when she's done something bad?)

Twinkle (Like christmas lights. Twinkie or Twinks for short)

Unfortunately, that's all we've gotten so far. Any suggestions or likes/dislikes would be appreciated! Poll on the right to vote!

2009-12-02T21:14:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of watching our youngest nephew, Jude, for a few hours. I'll admit that I was somewhat nervous seeing as the last time I watched a baby was my now 8 year-old nephew.. But I've still got it! It was actually reassuring. Just in case we ever became with child accidentally or we become the newlyweds who start seeing shades of blue and pink shortly after the honeymoon, it's nice to know I haven't gone all rusty.

Between the time Alicia left and Ryan arrived home, we had a small period of time to spend together. He's at the point now where he's getting a true personality and wants to play, so it was great to really get to enjoy him.

Here are the two pictures I snapped on my phone to send to Uncle Bryan:

On the floor playing with(or more like, chewing on) his shape sorter

Eating(or more like, playing with) carrots

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

2009-11-15T00:52:00.006-05:00

Growing up, my sister and I were very close. A little too close. We are 18 months apart and during school, one mere grade separated us. We shared a room growing up, shared a bathroom, shared the bus ride, shared friends, shared clothes - We shared everything. Inevitably, we fought constantly and through the years following middle school, we drifted apart more and more. It actually wasn't until the last year or so that two sisters forced to be so close for so long, finally started getting along again.

Luckily, it didn't take any time for everything to snap back into place. Before we knew it, we were enjoying margaritas around a bonfire trying to find the most embarrassing childhood stories to tell to our significant others(my siblings and I made plenty sure that life growing up was full of those stories).

As a toast to our new found friendship, I decided to do something special for her birthday in mid-October. There wasn't a doubt in my mind about what we would do once I saw a billboard above I95 advertising the DuPont Theatre's next big show. Ironically, they were selling tickets for a travelling Broadway show of my sisters favorite movie of all time - The Wizard of Oz. Needless to say, I purchased two tickets, and our mom even came along for the show. The cast put on a marvelous performance, and we were all as giddy as we used to be while watching it on TV years ago.

"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up: These are the best days of our lives."

2009-11-15T00:26:00.005-05:00

It may not sound like much to some, but one of the things that I look forward to most out of my whole year is our Autumnal trip to Milburn Orchards. I guess this started 3 years ago when Bryan and I first got into our apartment or right before. We went to Milburn's at the end of September with Ryan, Alicia, and Meghan to pick raspberries, apples, and pumpkins. We had a blast and Bryan and I make it a point to go back every year. I was lucky enough to go twice this year. The first time I went, it was just Bryan and I. We went on Friday not knowing that apple picking only occurred on Saturday and Sunday, so sadly we were unable to capture the full experience. We had to settle with picking out our pumpkins, cider donuts, and getting into the children's 'pumpkin patch' for free! Their painted photo-ops are so much better in there.

The second time we went was very spontaneous. My mother and I both love to bake, and since she's been living with us for the past few months, we both deemed it an appropriate time for her to teach me how to make her coveted apple pie and dumplings. We were both content with store bought apples, but when my sister came over to pick up my nephew one Sunday morning and mentioned shopping for pumpkins, we decided to make a family trip out of it. So, my sister, her boyfriend, Steve, my nephew, my mother and I all packed into our car for a lovely day of apple picking, pumpkin choosing, cider donuts, and getting stuck in the mud.

Oh, Autumn, how I love thee.

Oompa loompa doo pa dee doo! I've got another puzzle for you!

2009-11-14T23:58:00.012-05:00

This was another great year for Halloween costumes. I've got to be honest with you and say that Bryan and I didn't know what we were going to be until the last minute. We actually started working on the costumes the week of the party(procrastination has always worked well for me).

At first Bryan was going to be an Oompa Loompa and I was going to be Mary Poppins, but we both changed our minds and I think it worked out for the best.

I had a rough time picking out my costume this year, and I must say that I was pretty convinced it was going to be a flop, but it actually turned out to be quite the opposite. I went with the Oompa Loompa from the 1970's Willy Wonka movie and I must say, I had almost every detail spot on. It was a hit!

The original Oompa Loompa:My interpretation:

Bryan flopped around ideas for months until I mentioned the idea of a toy soldier like those from Toy Story. He loved the idea, and the costume was a very easy and successful attempt.

The real deal:

The replication attempt:
Of course, there was one more costume in our house that not as many people were able to see. This one doesn't need a picture for comparison - only a few lines from a song:

"We were at the beach

Everybody had matching towels

Somebody went under a dock

And there they saw a rock

It wasn't a rock

It was a rock lobster!"

She wouldn't keep the hood with the googly eyes on... actually she tried to eat the whole costume. She was adorable, nonetheless!

Our Engagement Party!

2009-10-04T21:12:00.005-04:00

On September 5th, Bryan and I hosted our engagement party. We held a picnic-themed barbecue at our home. Thanks to the help of friends and family, everything turned out great!

This was all of the delicious food. Bryan and I are very simple, easy-to-please people. We provided a smorgasbord of delicious food such as barbecue chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, meatballs(courtesy of Grandma Wilson), fruit salad, pasta salad, chips, dip, salsa, etc. Instead of buying a cake, our dessert consisted of a number of different flavored cupcakes that my family and I made. I want to save them for a separate post because I loved them so much.

These were the table decorations. To keep on with the picnic theme, we took baskets and filled them with a red fabric liner, squeeze bottles of ketchup, mustard, and BBQ sauce, a pail of flowers, plastic cutlery, paper cups, etc. We also had a different set of adorable salt and pepper shakers at each table and the classic picnic tablecloths.

Our plan was to make a very laid back party. We made plenty of different areas to sit at and even had a volleyball net set up - people seemed to love it! Hopefully it was a mouth-watering taste of whats yet to come!

How do you show your neighbor how you really feel?

2009-10-04T18:58:00.003-04:00

Mow the words "U SUCK" in their yard. A man in the front of our development did this to his neighbor. Completely hilarious.

Why going to the dentist sucks...

2009-10-04T15:12:00.003-04:00

That was Friday. My cheek is now bruised and it looks like I have a large gumball inside my mouth instead of a golfball. The joys of life!

93. Put up fence

2009-09-14T20:07:00.006-04:00

Bryan finally got around to finishing our fence yesterday! This project was not so much for us as it was for our darling dog, Marsha... and to keep mischievous kids out of our yard. Our dog is very high strung and has a problem with wanting to use the hallway as her toilet, so it's so relieving to finally have this finished. Plus, both Bryan and I were looking forward to being able to let go of the leash and let her run free!

This is Marsha trying so hard to contain her excitement so that her daddy will throw the toy for her!

Running back to give it a second try... I love it when she lets her ears hang low.

"Well, are you going to throw it, or what?"

She's so cute when she plays tug-o-war. She doesn't understand that a 200 lb man can easily over power a 20 lb dog.

My favorite picture of the night. It shows her true self - wild and crazy. All in all, the fence was well worth the wait.

More news about the wedding!

2009-09-13T12:59:00.004-04:00

Thinks are moving ahead, now! We've started our contract with Riverbend, had our initial meeting with the photographer and plan to have that contract done early this week, got in contact with the DJ my sister recommended for us, and I found my dress! The date has now been set for October 9th, 2010, so jot it in your date books, ladies and gentlemen. We also had our engagement party last Saturday! I'm just waiting to recieve the rest of the pictures from the party before I write about it.

Our decision on the photography package?:

Upon calling the studio, we found out that the photographer we planned on using was not available for that date. Fortunately, the person on the phone was the photographer that usually doesnt travel, and said she would be fine traveling to Conshohocken to document our big day. The great thing about her is that for a price in the middle of the two packages I listed on here, we get so much more!

Up to 7 hours of wedding day coverage by Katie Harker and an associate photographer
A 12x12 album with 32 pages and 80 images
Two 6x6 parent albums with 20 3.5x5 images each
A minimum of 600+ images in a proof catalog
Complimentary engagement session
A signature board from the session or wedding guest book

I am so excited to see how the pictures come out in the end! After all, what else do you have left after the day is over?

2009-08-23T12:27:00.006-04:00

Our wedding is trying its hardest not to become the everyday cookie cutter wedding. Bryan and I don't consider ourselves the cookie cutter couple. We have hundreds of hobbies ranging from extreme sports to granny crafts and we love each and every one. We tried to keep this in mind while planning the feel of our wedding. We also tried to include our love for cute little novelty items.

One of my first ideas came in the way of our placecards. One of Bryans old-man-hobbies started about a year and a half to two years ago. He would go to Michaels or Joanns to pick out a pre-built birdhouse and run home full of excitement to paint it. It didn't take long for us to have a table full of his prided birdhouses(and nothing to do with them). He even painted one as part of his sisters wedding present. Luckily, these two apples didn't land very far from eachother when they fell off the tree, so she loved it, but poor Bryan was, and still can be, the butt of many jokes.

All of this nonsense is just leading into the fact that we decided to paint adorable little birdhouses and adorn them with nametags to use as placecards. I finished the first mock-up last night and I am loving the way they turned out:

**Colors, shapes, and sizes may be subject to change.

2009-08-18T23:05:00.002-04:00

I would like some opinions from any married women. Now that we've found our venue, we've decided who we will use for our photographs. It was actually easy seeing as one person wouldn't go out of Delaware. The part that I would appreciate opinions on actually has to deal with the packages. There were two packages and they were approximately $1500 different.

Higher Package:

7 hours of coverage
600+ pictures in a proof catalog
65 pictures in an album
Complimentary engagement session

Cheaper Package:

5 hours of coverage
400+ pictures in a proof catalog
45 pictures in an album
Engagement session available for extra cost

So, questions:

Those of you who had an engagement session: Was it worth it?

Those who didn't have an engagement session: Do you wish you did?

Those of you who had pictures taken of you getting ready or of your whole reception: Did you love them? Were they worth it?

If you didn't: Do you wish you did?

You get the drift. Help a lady out!

Did we find our venue for the wedding? I think so!

2009-08-18T22:36:00.001-04:00

On Monday, my fiance(Bryan AKA Fig), his sister (Alicia), and I made our way up to Conshohocken PA to check out this place called the Riverbend Environmental Education Center. Long story short, we loved it! Here are a few pictures:

In October, almost a year to the day before we're planning on having our wedding they're actually holding their annual "Shiverfest" fall festival for the kids. I'm so excited to go visit to see if the leaves are changing and to see it dressed up much like the way we're going to!

Goodbye LiveJournal!

2009-08-18T21:58:00.001-04:00

I'm a traitor. I told my sister-in-law that if she made a blogspot, I would jump ship too. I stick to my word!