Meet Juanita Yoshida Zelesnikar

The other night, we went to Dave and Busters, the Chuck-E-Cheese for adults. I rock at the first person shoot em up games. I kicked Scott's butt on Ghost Machine and made it up the ranks so much faster than he did - ha! I need to buy one of these machines for our dream house.

There is another game in there called the Gene Machine. It takes pictures of 2 people and spits out what your kids will look like. This is kind of scary, but it was so much fun. Our friends (who are both very fair, and blondish) ended up having two children which they named Pedro and LaFonda. It's amazing how race has nothing to do with what your children will look like! We have fondly named our daugter Juanita Guadalupe Yoshida Zelesnikar. I'm just glad this child didn't get my egg shaped head - which I swear is not like that in person!

A little visit, and off to Sea World

Last weekend, Theresa and her family came to visit (Scott's sister). They are leaving their assignment in Hawaii and moving to upstate NY. I just can't imagine the shock their bodies will go through from living in Hawaii's climate for 3 years, to deplane into 6 inches of snow. I don't think I want to ever leave California after only 6 months here. I like having the option to go to cold weather and snow when you want it - not having Mother Nature force it upon you. We are planning on going snowboarding for Xmas - that's what I mean - go to it when you want it.

It was nice seeing everyone, and the kids gave Bear a full weekend. Actually, I think Bear behaved wonderful with the kids. He was so gentle and patient with then, even with the tail pulling, the teasing, and the occasional kick - which Jessica got in biiiiig trouble for. It's amazing how much I often say I hate the dog, I'm tired and frustrated with him - but when someone does something mean to my dog I go into protective mode. "DO NOT be mean to MY dog". But all my fears about how Bear will react with little kids have been alleviated. Once we break him completely of the jumping on people, he will be perfect with kids.

We went to Sea World on Saturday with everyone. It was a good day. Our only regret was waiting until the end of the day to get on the roller coaster, which got us completely soaked and frozen. We drove home in wet clothes. The neatest part of the park was being able to touch and pet the animals - like dolphins and sting rays. The shows were entertaining - here's a pic. I wish I went to Sea World as a 5 year old, and had the brains to look up the job posting for Sea World on the internet and base that on what I chose to major in school. I think I am going to push my kids to pursue their interests as careers very early on. Hmm, you like playing with legos, that's what architects do!

BNL is still the best

On Tuesday, Scott and I drove up to Santa Monica for Barenaked Ladies concert. It was the best BNL show I have ever been to (and this one makes 5, I think). The show was amazing - it was their Xmas concert. They did a lot of xmas songs, in the BNL style, of course - as well as some of their classic hits and one new song that is coming out shortly on the new album. These guys are just so much fun to watch live, and they had us both smiling and laughing throughout the whole thing. Once of these days, I would really like to be up front for one of their shows.

The opening band was a group called the LeeVee's. They were hilarious - they get together every holiday season and perform songs they have written about Hanukkah. We ended up buying one of their CDs as a present for a gift exchange we are doing some friends this week. The band then went out in to the hall and signed autographs, so she's getting a copy signed by 4 band members! That's a keeper! And it makes no sense, but we are exchanging Xmas gift this week with our Jewish friends. And this was their idea!! AND, Kara want to come over to help us decorate our Xmas tree!

While standing in line for autographs, guess who walked right by us and hung out waiting for her friend to come out of the bathroom? Tiffani Amber Thiessen!! Saved by the Bell, in person 2 feet away from us. I was kind of shocked that in the 10-15 minutes that we were standing next to her, no one said anything or approached her. Then again, neither did we. But that was kind of neat, right after Scott said during dinner "I wonder if we'll see anyone famous?".

And I really like the Santa Monica Civic Center. It was small, a great place to see a band perform. And we were able to park at the Center, walk down a few blocks onto Main Street where there were lots of little shops and places to eat. We then walked back to the Center for the show. It is neat how it is such a walking and small community, and it was 2 blocks from the beach. This beats driving to the metro, taking the metro to MCI, fighting the crowds and waiting in line for any type of food, and having seats so far away you only see the color of shirt the band members are wearing.

Overall, a great BNL experience - see you next year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi everyone - I wanted to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thank you for being such a huge part in our lives.

Here are some pics of the airshow that we went to down at Miramar (these are the Blue Angels, not the Hell's Angels as I always want to mistakenly call them), and really cute pic of the boys at Billy's wedding. The wedding was beautiful.

I'll write more soon - and Scott is finally getting back from 29 Palms next week. It'll be good to see him (I miss you, hon).

Welcome to the Kirby family

Ok - Yes, I am a sucker. Anytime an infomercial comes on TV, I always end up believing that this is the greatest product invented, and that I have to have one. Fortunately, my lack of motivation of actually picking up the phone and ordering something usually wins. Except for that one late, lonely night that I ended up ordering the Double CD set of 80's Monster Ballads - although it is a rockin' album.

Well, as cliche as this is going to sound, I had a vacuum salesman come to the door last week. Actually it was a woman, who said that they are doing a promotion and will vacuum and shampoo one room in my house for free. This is a promotion, and there is no obligation to buy anything - they just want to spread the word about their product and cleaning services. Then Joe, a really nice college guy looking to start his own business comes in and cleans the stairs. This vacuum is amazing!! In hind sight, amazing might be exaggerating a little, but it is a really good and multi-functional vacuum, shampooer, sweeper, and hardwood floor buffer. So 3 hours, a trip to go pick up Bear at the kennel, and $1600 later, I was welcomed to the Kirby brand family. Scott wasn't at all surprised when I told him I bought a vacuum (I have been eying the Dyson for months) but when he heard how much it cost - I could hear his eyes pop out of his head. Oh well, maybe this will be the motivation I need to try to have a sparkling clean house!

This darn PC

Ok - so when I bought this thing, I thought it was the coolest damn thing on earth. I would load all of my pictures on here, be able to edit videos that I take with the digital camcorder, store all of my MP3 files and learn to use my ipod... Endless possibilties, right?

Last week, the thing crashes. I am not doing a single thing - it' is basically just sitting there with the desktop up and no applicatons running. All of a sudden, I hear a pop and the thing turns off. Then it magically starts up again, then before Windows even boots up, it shuts itself off then starts back up again. I watch in horror as this cycle continues 5-6 more times. Then I turn it off, let it rest for a little bit, and try again. The cycle starts over.

I had to completely do a recovery on the harddrive, meaning that I lost all my pictures (which of course I deleted off my camera when I transfered them to the PC), and didn't have a back-up. Thanks to Brian who helped me find a way to get all the music that I had on the iPod back onto the PC - but still - I am pissed!

I have learned the lesson of backing up. The stupid eMachine didn't even do this in the 4 years that I owned it. Hmmmmmm....

Coronado - an island or peninsula?

This past weekend Scott and I decided to take a weekend for ourselves and have a little getaway. Scott was out in the field all week, and I was out most of the week in DC. We had to kennel the dog, and decided to let him stay the weekend and enjoy ourselves.

We went to Coronado Island for the weekend (which is really a peninsula). I cashed in tons of points and got us a nice room at the Marriott resort and spa for the weekend. It was right on the water (bay side, not beach side), and backed up to a trail that allowed us to walk along the water, walk to restaurants and bars, and a little shopping area. I booked us both appointments at the spa - thinking that Scott could use a massage after a strenuous and sleepless week in the field. Little did we know that the masseuse would be a large lady who liked to use elbows on his back. The poor thing looked more weary coming out of the massage than going into it!

All in all, a very nice weekend, and the dog got to spend a week at doggie camp. He was very well behaved the night we brought him home - but now he's back to his usual antics. We did get him into a 6 week group training course that starts this Saturday - so we'll see how that goes!

And they go round and round

I had another great time this trip back to DC (although the monthly meetings are starting to get old and pointless, and this flight is way too long to do every month). I came in a couple of days early to stay with Tricia, go to a Nascar race, see my family, and go out to dinner with friends. Other then the work stuff, it was a very productive coupel of days!

The Nascar race was in Dover, Delaware - the Monster Mile. Tricia was able to get great tickets, which allowed us to go into the pit area and our seats were in the suite. Nothing beats watching the race from an air conditioned room with free food and beer! So this Nascar experience was completely different from any other race I had been to. There was no tailgating, there was no paying $20 to park in someone's lawn and then walk a mile to the track, and there was no sitting in the sun wishing the race was 100 laps instead of 400. I still think the greatest part of the race is the flyover by the airforce planes. Another very neat part was being in pit row. We were there for the first part of the race, and were there when they yelled "start your engines"! We stayed there for about 20 laps or so, and got to see a tire change from right behind the stands.

Here are a couple of pics, and thanks to everyone for another great trip home (yes, VA is still what I call home).

So you wanna be a rock star?

Is anyone else addicted to Rock Star INXS? Scott and I are completely addicted, and we find ourselved having conversations about the show during dinner. Is this what married life is?

I do not want the show to end - what are we going to do on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednnesday nights now? We are going to have to fill the void with something productive, I guess.

Here are our thoughts on this - Scott and I actually agree:
Marty is going to be the big winner. (JD is too "fly by the seat of his pants", and Mig is too nice for them)
Jordis, Suzy, Mig and JD will all get record deals or start their own bands.
And honestly, if INXS chooses someone that they end up not liking or working well with, they can just fire them!

I do think Marty will win, but Mig is my favorite.

On to more practical topics! I am volunteering with our local humane society, and this past weekend we had a pet adoption at PetSmart. I was in charge of a little chihuahua mix, and he is so darn cute - I am tempted to adopt him myself. He is older - maybe 7-8 years old, but he is well trained and so cuddly. He sat on my lap in the car, and he seemed to really bond with me. He wouldn't walk with anyone else unless I was with them, and he kept looking up at me asking me to pick him up. There was one couple that was interested in him, and hopefully they go to the shelter and get him. Otherwise, maybe we'll take Bear and see how thy interact with each other. :-)

Labor Day weekend

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.
Here's a guick recap of what we did:
- we did not buy any more cars this weekend! yippee!
- we went to the "conert on the green". This is an annual orchestra concert at my parent's community. It was fun, and they played the exact same songs as last year. There was one song, that as they were ending I wispered to Scott "I think they are going to play Tomorrow from Annie next", and sure enough...
- we went to the San Diego Zoo. Scott says it was much more impressive when he was little, but we had a good time and it was nice to get out of the house and do some major walking
- we broke in our new patio fire pit. I love this thing. We took down the gazebo siding on our back patio, and now we have firewood for at least 5-6 burns :-)
- Bear got his first ride in the Xterra, when we took him to the dog park

Stay safe everyone - and I'll talk to you soon.

In fond memory of the F150

Well, we made another purchase and this one came much earlier than we expected. Scott and I have been talking about trading in his truck for an SUV since we moved out here. We were thinking that with the MINI, we needed a more practical car for the dog, especially since I would be driving it when he is deployed. A couple of weeks ago, I read a very good review of the 2005 Nissan Xterra, and we test drove one on Saturday. We went home liking it, said we would do some research and look into our finances, and the dealer would get back to us.

On Sunday, we decided to go see what the Nissan dealer down the street from us had in stock. We were just going to look. Well, we ended up going home to get the truck and have a trade in appraisal done, and then having the car that met the exact specs that we wanted brought up from the San Diego dealer's lot, and we went home driving our new Xterra.

We really like it - obviously. They have gotten so much bigger and sturdier than when they first came out. It's dark gray (called Knight Armor) and 4x4 with an Off Road package. The back is so cool, because there is no carpet and it wipes down easily, for muddy dog moments. There is a hidden storage compartment in the back, which is seamless, so we could even fill it with ice and keep our beverages back there :-)

Scott is going to dearly miss his F150, which has been good to him and brought us cross country. Who knows, we may see it again - apparently it is going to find it's way to TJ, Mexico and is going to be sold down there! I'll post a picture of the new car when I get a chance...

Mission AIRPORT, accomplished

I have drive to the airport and back, all by myself, and without rolling into any other cars. Mission accomplished.

I had to go back to DC for a work meeting this week, and I decided that I would try to drive the 40 miles to the airport myself, rather than take the shuttle that I have used the past 2 times. I was a little nervous, because I still don't feel like I know my way around, and because of the big hill I had to tackle on my way home from the airport.

I made it home - but I think I got lucky. I was fortunate to have a red light at the bottom of the hill, and when it finally turned green, I made it to the top of the hill for my next red light. So maybe I didn't achieve anything, but my mission was still accomplished!

PBR - no, not the malt liquor...

We've had the opportunity to do a couple of things these past 2 weeks.

First, we went to a Professional Bull Riding Tournament (PBR). It was actually lots of run, and this is so much more of a big deal to people than I thought. The one we went to was part of the PBR network, which is the national competition that is shown on TV. Everyone was decked out in their Western wear (hats and boots), and there were rodeo clowns and all. The overall winner of the night was the first to "ride" the bull in the bull's career, meaning that the bull threw every rider off and this was the first 8 second ride of his career. It was also neat to be a the DelMar racetrack, which is where Seabiscuit became famous. We need to get to a horse race one of these weekends.

Last weekend we finished off our bedroom (painting and putting the new furniture in), and treated ourselves to an evening out at the Carlsbad Art Festival. There were vendors selling art, photos, and other craftwork. Nothing really caught our eye, so we came home empty handed.

This past week, Scott was out in the field for a training excercise, and I had my first taste of being home alone with the Bear. He had his ups and downs, and Tuesday was the worst. I had to give him a bath twice that night beacuse he found a muddy hole with about 2 feet of water and tried to go "swimming". I also had a traumatic experience at the dentist that afternoon - 1 piece of advice, don't get a deep cleaning if you don't have to. It is miserable!

I've finally got some pictures to post! This new computer has taken me a while to actually break in. Here are pictures of my mini (which I am still thinking about putting bonnet stripes on), you can see the front of our house, and one of my silly husband!
Talk to you all soon.

Pirates - oh my

Friday, Scott cooked a wonderful meal for my first night back home from VA. Truly experimental, but it came out great - homemade guacamole, homemade pepper salsa, breaded pork, yum. The best part was the homemade (well, not the wine) sangria - I am addicted to this stuff!

Saturday, we went to see the Pirates of Penzance. We knew nothing about the play and what it was about, but the actors were very good and very funny. We saw it at a place called the Moonlight Theater, and they have shows all summer in the evenings in an outdoor ampitheater. It reminds me of a very small Wolf Trap. So we brought a bottle of wine and dinner, and sat on our blanket watching a play.

I'm glad we are finally going out and trying out some of the things this area has to offer. I am still feeling rather homesick and unsure about liking it out here, but we have our good days and our bad days. There is a bull riding rodeo this weekend that we need to check out!! yeehaw.

On my own...

Yes, I am a true slacker, and now don't apparently keep my word. Sorry - here's an update for you!!

Well, hills still scare me - BUT - I was able to drive all the way to Balboa Park and back. I even got on the highway. It was a madhouse - stop and go bumper to bumper traffic, so I did stall once on the highway because I forgot that I was in 2nd gear once. Any I thought I was leaving DC traffic behind.

I was in Silver Spring this past week for work, and had a great opportunity to catch up with my family and friends.
To my uncles and aunts - it is always great to see you and thanks for dinner. Please take care of yourselves, and don't stress out about walking the dog, you will all be fine. Just go on walks after the sun sets to keep it a little cooler.
Miss Tricia - I hope you had a wonderful birthday - it was great seeing you all.

We'll see what this weekend has in store for us - not much I'm sure...

It doesn't fit!

Ok - I've been a slacker, and thank you for everyone who's pointed that out to me!

Here are some answers to the questions that I get asked:

• No - we have not ventured out and gone into San Diego yet. We hope to do so in the next couple of weeks. Maybe dinner this weekend :-)
• Yes - I am getting the hang of driving my car, and I have ventured out alone. I need to get quicker at shifting, apparently I am the grandma on the street in a mini cooper.
• No - we haven't finished unpacking yet. There are still boxes everywhere, and once we buy some furniture, maybe we'll have a place to put all the crap that is still in boxes!
• Yes - I am slowly adjusting to working from home. It's a lot tougher than I thought it would be, and to all of you who think this is a sweet set-up, really it's not. You go absolutely stir crazy. I think I am driving Scott nuts, because I am ready to go out when he gets home, and I'm sure he just wants to chill out and drink beer on the sofa.
• I am going home at the end of July for a couple of days - home being VA. I'm not used to it out here.

Well, we did buy one piece of furniture. We have a 91" cut out in the living room for an entertainment center with shelves, and we bought this really nice one from a guy outside of LA. We went up there to browse, placed the order, and went up on Sat to pick it up. On Monday we brought it into the house and started setting everything up - and the darn thing is about 97"!!! I needed a stiff drink after that realization. So now we have an armoire to hold the TV that takes up a little more than half of the cubby hole, and the 2 shelves have been put next to each other and are serving as a china cabinet in the dining area. What were we smoking when we placed this order - and I took a picture of the catalog page and right there in front of us were the measurements and yup -too big!! So now people are going to think that we are strange and are trying to match every single piece of furniture in the whole house - really we're not, we're just stupid.

Another big purchase as of late - I got my own digital camera for my B'day (thanks, honey) and I gave in and bought a new PC. It's still in it's box as I wait for the office furniture to come in - but I can't wait to get that media center all set up.

On Sunday - we went to LA to visit my great aunt for her Bday. Every year they do a family reunion of sorts - and it was so nice to meet and see some of my extended family. These are relatives on my paternal grandmother's side - so a whole new world. They even got Scott his own cake and welcomed him into the family - we are so lucky to have such wonderful family who love us. I think all the little old ladies got a kick out of seeing him wear his uniform to the reunion (they requested that he do so!).

I guess it's official - I passed!

Well, I guess my name change is official. I got my new Social Security Card, but the one very important name change that really sealed the deal for me was - the new credit card. That means that now, I am really going to be known as Colette Zelesnikar, and every time I buy something I must now remember to sign my new name. It's hard letting go of a name that you had for the past 29 years.

AND - the big event of the week - I successfully got myself to the DMV, parked my car in the lot, and got a new CA driver's license!! I had to take a vision test and a written test, but thankfully no driving test! The DMV was actaully not too bad - I made an appointment, and they shuffled me through an assembly line of sorts. Total, I was there about a half hour.

On the drive home, I did stall twice. I was at a red light, and the cars turning left in front of me (onto the freeway, so a crowded intersection) blocked me in, so when the light turned green I couldn't go anywhere. I had to wait until my left lane was empty to try to go around the stupid car blocking the intersection, and as I was trying to go around it - I stalled. So I was then the idot blocking the entire intersection - because no one could get around me. I calmly started the car again and tried again - then stalled AGAIN! I'm so glad no one started honking. I started thinking, oh no - I broke the car, or something is seriously wrong. Then I realized my problem - I was in 2nd gear the whole time. But I made it home the rest of the way without incident - whew.

Earthquakes and McDonalds

My first earthquake!! Sunday morning about 8:30am Scott gets up and I lay in bed listening to him go about his morning routine. I hear him open the door to the garage, let the dog out, and put food in his bowl. He then puts on the coffee, as I try really hard to get another wink of sleep out before starting another poopy day (literally). Then, the bed starts shaking, and I think that the dog must have really gotten into something this time. But then I realize that the doors and windows are making noise too - then it just passes. I get up and ask Scott if he felt that shaking, and of course, he says no. Later that night, we find out that it was an earthquake in Palm Springs, and we could actually feel it out here. Pretty cool. Survive an earthquake - check.

Today, I drove (in my mini cooper) through a McD's drive through!! I did stall once, just as I was leaving window #2. But overall, a good trip - and I think I can do this by myself next time. Scott starts working on Wed, so I have to be able to go get food by myself soon - tuna sandwiches just won't cut it every day.

And now, what is the deal with McD's in S. CA? McDonalds - the icon of America. As you drive through any state in the US, you can see that familiar and loveable building from a mile away. The red roof with the yellow beams, the golden arches towering over the building like a light beckoning for you to come in. Sometimes if you are lucky, there is a Playland right outside, with the purple and the yellow plastic tunnel slides teasing you to come in and relive you childhood days. Well, Southern California apparently doesn't believe in this clever method of advertising. I see not familiar buildings, no red roofs, and no golden arches. Instead, they hide their McDonalds in spanish architecture or blend them into the details of the surrounding strip malls. I hate it - I ave to look hard to find a McDonalds!! I might be walking distance (but I do need the driving practice) from one, and not even know it because it's walls are terra cotta and it has a spanish tile roof!! Get with it, please, So Cal - for the love of those of us who can't seem to look at our surroundings because we are trying to look at the road, concentrate on pushing in the clutch, and not accidentally shifting into the wrong gear (because apparently I can't look at the shifter when shifting - but then how do I know what gear I am in!). Things are so much more complicated now.

Sick and Tired

Well, sorry for the long pause between postings. I came down with the flu or stomach virus - not a pretty site. So in between trying to unpack and working every day this past week, this sickness did not come at the most convenient time. I'm still getting over it, but I feel so much better than I did on Thursday!

This past week I was able to get a little driving in - I went to the cable office to sort out our high speed internet, drove home from my parent's house one night, and drove to the Chinese take out place. Scott say's I'm doing better than he expected, but I am still a little hesitant to go out by myself. Hills still freak me out - hopefully I'll get there soon. I see a trip to McD's by myself coming up soon!

Motoring

I am now the proud new owner of a Mini Cooper. I got a dark silver Cooper S, with a white top and sun roof. I will get the bonnet stripes put on later, since they are just decal work that can be done in about an hour (who knew!). It is a used car - but with only 4000 miles, it was almost new and fully loaded. It's got:
The premium package - dashboard computer, cruise, sun roof, Xenon fog lamps and headlights...
The Sport package - super charger, premium wheels and run flat tires, Dynamic Stability Control, etc.
Cold Weather package - which I won't need at all here, but it's got heated seats and other cold weather stuff.

It is a standard, so starting tonight Scott is going to have to teach me how to drive a stick shift. Yes, that means that I did not test drive the car, but Scott did and I totally trust his judgement. Motor on!

Day 9: The final day

We woke up pretty early and started our trip to Sedona. We made it out there and it is absolutely gorgeous - we need to come back and stay a weekend. It was so early when we got out there that the stores weren't even open, and we had to walk a couple of blocks to find a coffee shop that was open. We then tried to find the church that is built in the rocks, and we must have passed the turn off for it, because after driving about 10 miles or so we ended back on the highway. I figure we'll check it out next time we are here with more time, so we decided to take a back road onto the highway that takes us to I-40, rather than backtracking to Flagstaff. Well, I found out that what looks like a straight shot on the map, is actually a switchback back and forth up and down mountain ranges, and it took us about 2 hours to get 60 miles from Flagstaff. Damn maps!! But we drove through the town of Jerome, which I do want to see next time too - it's supposed to be a town that hippies overtook in the 70's and is now a very bohemian town that many singers (like Springsteen) go out of their way to hang out at.

We then got on the highway and made our way to Oceanside. We stopped at the AZ/CA border to get gas, and it cost $2.99 for a gallon of 87 octane!! Robbery. Plus, it was 103 degrees, and Bear was panting like you wouldn't believe from just walking to patch of grass to pee. We went through some intense fog when we hit the 15, and stopped for our first In and Out burger as CA residents for dinner.

We went to my parent's house to pick up the keys of our new house, and then made it over to 520 Dakota Way. We walked in, and it was exactly like Scott envisioned (I thought the place looked bigger on the Internet, but it actually does fit all of our belongings). Bear went to check out the backyard, loved it, then did a circle of the entire place. He then came running down the stairs, couldn't really catch his grip on the wood floors on the first floor, and came running/sliding to what he thought was the open sliding door to the backyard. I have not seen him do anything funnier - he comes full speed and crashed into the closed sliding glass door. He stops, looks up at me in a dazed way, and then walks very slowly around in a circle. I open the door for him and he cautiously noses the air and makes his way outside. I'm sure this will never happen again!!

We then had our very first house guests - Bobby and Tracy. We still didn't have any furniture, so we all slept on the floor in our respective bedrooms, but it does count as houseguests. They brought us a housewarming present of a shower curtain and hooks, so we were all set!! Thanks guys!!

The next morning we were entertained once again by the marvelous Bear. The four of us are hanging out in the kitchen chatting and waiting for the movers to come, and Bear decides to snatch his jar of Peanut Butter off the counter and make a run for it. He bolts for the backyard and goes right through the sliding screen door. Off it comes, and we now have our first home improvement/repair project to work on.

The movers came and brought everything in, and now we are sitting around mountains of boxes in every room. We have started unpacking the kitchen and living room, and I think we are really making some headway. I'm sure this will take weeks, though!! I'm glad to say that we are here and making this into our home - thanks to all of you who have called and written to check in on us. Please come visit!!!!

Day 8: ER in AZ

Well, we did no traveling today, but it was an eventful day none the less!

This morning started out with sitting in the ER for Scott's split lip. Can I just say, ER rooms are not very efficient.
Bear was of course acting up as usual, and he head butted Scott in the chin, driving his upper tooth into his lower lip bed. It started bleeding and looked pretty nasty. So we ended up at the ER at the Flagstaff Medical Center waiting around for 2 hours, for them to treat him for a human bite. They gave him a tetanus shot, and told us that they can not stitch wounds that are inside the mouth or on the lips - it will cause an abscess that will immediately get infected. So now we know, don't waste time going to the ER unless you have a wound outside of your mouth. But it does look pretty nasty (swollen and purple along his lip), and I am glad that we went for them to take a look at. At least no one thought that his new wife was beating him up - but Scott thinks that makes a better story... They told Scott to avoid solid food for a couple of days and sent us on our way.

We then went to eat lunch in downtown Flagstaff at a restaurant called Monsoon's. It was kind of like a Thai/sushi place with a modern flair. Of course, Scott didn't stick to liquids as he was told, and then ended up splitting his lip again on a chopstick as we were eating. But we enjoyed our meal of unusual sushi, soup, spring rolls and salad and started making our way to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon was amazing. I have never seen anything like it - and all the way there I kept looking for a mountain or something that indicated that we were getting close. I just figured that in order to go way down into the ground, we had to drive way up onto a mountain first. But we came upon it, and I think it's neat how you don't even really see it through the trees until you are coming on to the edge. For some reason, I also thought it was going to be a huge hole in the ground, not a winding gorge. Maybe I was thinking of something else entirely, but I thought it would be round and look like a huge crater where a meteor struck. I pictured us on the rim of the round hole, with a metal railing separating us from the deep fall into the middle of the hole. Isn't the Grand Canyon what they were driving to in the movie "Starman"? And didn't that alien ship come up and take him away from the hole in the ground? Maybe I was too little when it came out to really remember the details.

We did some light hiking, drove part of the Desert View Drive, and stopped to look at the Market area. I would really like to come back and actually camp at the ground and spend all day hiking. I wanted to take one of those steeper trails that take you down into the canyon - but we didn't really have time. Next time - good thing we got one of the National Park Passes that are good all year.

We are now back at the room relaxing and spending time with our stupid dog. We were so mad at him this morning, that we just left him in his crate all day at the hotel room, and didn't come back until about 8pm. He's actually behaving for the most part right now. One day, maybe he'll grow up.

We want to make an early start tomorrow, and try to hit Sedona and Jerome if we have some time. We then are on the last leg to Oceanside, and we will see our new house for the first time. So exciting!!

BTW - thanks to everyone who is reading this and posting comments. The Erie frog question is finally answered!! Thanks!

Day 5: CO / Day 6: NM/ Day 7: AZ

Day 5:
Today, we headed out to Denver to visit my friend Carrie. We left Casper, WY in the morning and took out time heading out to CO. We stopped by Target, and the mall in Casper - an obviously small town mall, but with some interesting things. Scott has been looking for a western shirt for a while, and he finally found one at the mall. It is blue and white striped(like most of the button down shirts that he owns) but with a little western flair to the buttons and the design. Very cute. Oh - and we went into a pet shop at the mall (that's our thing, we are always checking out the pet shops to play with the puppies) and there are very stange people, and animals at this place. There was nothing cute here at all (except 2 bunnies, which I think were meant for food, not pets). The place was full of boas and pythons, and there was about a 3 ft. alligator for sale in an aquarium!! And people were in there in awe looking at all these gross things. We couldn't get out of there fast enough.

We stopped for lunch at Arby's, and the manager was a hoot! There was a bit of a backup at the register because it looked like a baseball team had finished up a game and went to get lunch afterwards. She was on the only register, and she kept yelling at everyone who worked in the store that they were leaving her hanging and that she wanted to fire all of them because some customers were waiting about 10 minutes for their orders to be filled. Scott thinks it's her that should have been fired.

We then ended up in Denver to visit Carrie and Chris. They have done a great job with their house and it is so nice. We had a great cook out, and lots of wine. A perfect end to a great day (minus the 3.5 mile walk that we went one around the park - you know I hate to excercise!)

Day 6:
After a great breakfast at Carrie's, we went through CO Springs, drove through the Air Force Academy and saw the house that Scott used to live in, and stopped for lunch at the Pizza Hut in Pueblo, CO. So much for not eating chain food. There was a lot of fog all throughout CO, and when we got the border of CO and New Mexico we drove through a hail storm. It was so freaky, and it was coming down so hard that the ground looked like it was covered with snow. Once we got through that storm, the weather turned beautiful!

We made it to Las Vegas, NM - and our first stop was Montezuma Hot Springs. I really wanted to find a natural hot spring, and this was exactly what I was looking for. Basically, it was a hole in the ground (well, many holes since there were 4 different pools) with hot water in it. They were right by the river which was ice cold, and Scott was daring enough to do what "they" say you should do - go into the hot spring and then jump into the river and then back into the hot spring. There was one pool that was so hot that I could not get into it. But it was great, and we met some interesting people at the pools.

Then we checked into the Comfort Inn - showered all the icky algea off us - and then tried to find something for dinner. Since it was about 9:30pm, and this is a small town, we could not find anything. We ended up at a mexican restaurant attached to the hotel accross the street. We felt completely out of place in there - but when we were paying the owner started to talk to us. He said that Scott was the first white guy to come into the place in months, and that they are really hurting economically. He said a year ago, the place would have been packed and the highway busy all year round. Now, he says that there is not much traffic going through, and that everyone is feeling the effects of "that Bush". Too funny - and they were really impressed with my $4 tip - and even told me that I needed to come in there more often. I really hope things pick up for them. Oh - and he knew I spoke Spanish because he says that I look latin. I don't get it.

Day 7:
We left Las Vegas and headed to Santa Fe. We stopped along the way to check out the Pueblo ruins of Pecos. It was very interesting, and it made me feel very sad to see the effects of the Spanish invasions and to think of how the Indians must have felt about being forced to convert to Christianity.

In Santa Fe, we walked around the plaza and shops (fortunately, we did not buy anything!) and had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant called Coyote Cafe, on their rooftop dining area. We then headed west to Arizona, and had time to drive through the Petrified Forest National Park, and took some great pictures of the Painted Desert here. We then went on to Flagstaff, and are staying the night here at the Comfort Inn. We wanted to just chill and catch up on emails and such - so we ordered Chinese Food to the room and are wrapping our long day. Tomorrow - The Grand Canyon!! Good night...

Day 2,3, and of course 4

I really am trying to update this every day that we are on this trip, but with some of the motels that we are staying in and the slow dial up connections, it's just not worthwhile.

Day 2 - We started driving pretty early, and we passed Chicago. We kept on going and drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and made it to the border of Iowa. We ended up staying in Davenport, which is one of the Quad Cities.

I really wanted to try to not eat at any chain restaurants the entire trip, but sometimes that is just not possible!! We had dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse, which was pretty good. We spent the night at a Motel 6 - my first time at a Motel 6. Very easy and convenient because we know that they allow dogs, but we probably drove up to 5-6 places to see if they allow dogs before finding the Motel 6. It was a decent room, but the standing circular shower just cracked me up.

Day 3 - This was a really early start for us! We were on the road before 8am, and we really wanted to make it to Rapid City, so we just kept on driving and driving. We drove through Iowa and into South Dakota. We did stop at a great rest area that looks over the Missouri River when we came into South Dakota. We took some pictures and then got back into the car to keep driving. We stopped for dinner at a very very small sketchy little town Kadoka, but dinner was really good! I had a Buffalo burger and fries at Jigger's Restaurant. Driving through town, we didn't see anything that looked like it would pass a Health Inspection, but then we saw this place which looked ok, and it had a police car and a bus in front of it. If cops and tour buses stop here, it must be pretty decent, right? We made it Rapid City at about 9:30pm. We stayed at a Red Roof Inn, again, another pleasant surprise of a motel.

Day 4 - We got up in the morning and headed out to Mount Rushmore. They advertised a breakfast speacial - where you can dine with the presidents for $3.95. It sounded great, and would be pretty so we headed out there first thing in the morning. Mount Rushmore is spectaculiar. We got some great pictures (look for postcards in the mail from us!) and then headed out to see Crazy Horse. At first, I was not really interested in coming here at all, but when we got there and saw the place and the plans that they had, I was really impressed. It is totally privately funded, and they refused $10M from the goverment to work on the project. I find this admirable, and I'm glad that they are standing their ground and not loosing focus of what they are doing and why. Considering Crazy Horse was shot in the back by and American soldier, I think they are going about it the right way. Scott said he thought I would like this because he knows that I don't go for government funded projects as much as private organizations. I thought that was funny, and it's something that I didn't even think of until he said it. He's right - I guess I did marry someone who knows me well!

We then went for a wine tasting near Mount Rushmore and got a couple bottles of wine (Prairie Berry Winery). We then ate lunch in Hill City, SD. Again, another buffalo burger - I can't get enough of it! Then we drove to Casper, WY. We took some little back roads which were incredible - and boring (a little 2 lane road). But we saw lots of sheep, cows, buffalo, and antelope. Very neat. There's not much going on in Casper, so we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Bodiccelli's in downtown Casper, and then saw Episode III. Amazing.

Now, we are headed to Denver!!

Day one - Wed May 25 - Erie, PA

On Monday afternoon we started out treck cross country. We first went up to NYC to visit Bryan, Mark and Erica. We had a great dinner at a Tapas restaurant and then spent the night in Bryan's new condo in Brooklyn. It's a great place.

Tuesday took us to Binghamton for lunch, then to Rome for the night. It was nice seeing Scott's family (my family now!!) and it was a bittersweet departure this morning.

Today, we officially started out trip. We went from Rome, across the state towards Buffalo, and we ended up in Erie, PA. We are staying in a very small hotel room (with the dog) and are just starting to wind down for the night. The dog is driving Scott nuts right now. He's just acting up now for some reason.

We drove on Rt 5, which pretty much skirts Lake Erie. It's so pretty, and there are so many vineyars and grape orchards all over the place here. We passed a Welch's plant, so we figure that most of the grapes around here end up in juice and jam. We went out to dinner at a great restaurant called the Smuggler's Wharf. Dinner was great and we got to see the sunset on the bay over the pier.

Tomorrow we are going to try to make it to Chicago - and if we are making good time we might try to pass Chicago and spend the night in the next city that looks interesting.

BTW - What's with all the statues of frogs in Eria, PA?

Happily every after?

Scott and I woke up on Sunday, and we felt like there is nothing different at all about our lives. It's kind of funny how for 6 months we have stressed out about the one big day - and now that it's all over, it seems like nothing has changed!!

Scott said - well, I guess that means we had our stuff together! I guess he's right.
It is strange saying - this is my husband. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it. I never did switch from boyfriend to fiance. This one might take just as long! And getting used to signing my new name is strange, too!

We closed on my condo and just this past Monday we closed on the new house in California. We are officially home owners!! Next: the drive....

Marital Bliss...

The big day arrived, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Highlights of the day:
I was so relaxed, and I have never felt to calm and confident that I am going the right thing, with the right person, for all the right reasons. I love you honey!!
The timing of the ceremony was incredible. It rained before the ceremony, but as we were walking down the aisle the sun came out. Then as soon as we walked up the aisle to the tent, the sky grew dark and it poured rain. Someone was looking out for us that day.
Although the rain did put a little damper on things, the result was a full rainbow out in the fields with the Blue Ridge Mts in the background. We got some great pictures.
The end of the night with the sparklers was as amazing as I hoped it would be.
And last but not least, all our wonderful friends and family who came out and celebrated with us - we love you, and thank you for all your support and love.

I will get pictures up on here as soon as I can figure out how to link them to this website.
What a wonderful day, and a wonderful start to our new life together.

It's the Final Countdown

I can't believe it's a week away!! I have been a mix of emotions the past week or so.
I started out very calm, and had the attitude that we've got time and everything will be fine.
Then, it switched to a frustrated feeling, and that I am completely done with this wedding thing and everything that isn't done yet doesn't really matter. I told Scott, if he wants programs, a seating chart, and table card, then he has to do them because I am done.
Then, I got really stressed out because these things have to get done, and now there isn't enough time!! We still had to get our parents and attendants gifts, etc. I ordered them, now it's just waiting and hoping that they arrive before the wedding.

Now, I think I am a little calmer, we still have a lot of work to do, but I am in complete disbelief that we are a week away. This week is either going to fly by, or it's going to drag on like you wouldn't believe. We still have to do:
Seating Chart and the pictures and names of all the tables
Out of town baggies
Buy a slew of things (most importantly a Guest book)
Wash and put ribbons on all the guest favors
Do programs (if we have them at all)
Put together the CDs for all the music for the ceremony and breaks

My goal is to have all this done by Wed morning - but who knows if that's really going to happen. Tricia is great and is coming over to help on Tuesday night. Maybe that will force me to get my act together and at least have everything printed out.

This past weekend was Scott's bachelor party, and the girls took me out to dinner on Fri night, and then on Sat night. What wonderful friends we have!! And what a headache I had after Saturday night!! But on Sunday, Scott was so cuddly and sweet, and he seems really excited to be getting down to the BIG DAY. He is so amazing. I really lucked out in finding him.

Oh well - it's 6 days away!!!!!!

Houses come and go

Well, in one day, we bought a house and sold a house. Of course, nothing is for sure until closing day, but we accepted an offer and had our offer accepted in one day. REALLY. It was a stressful and long day!!

First - we found a house on the internet that looked nice. We first called our flaky realtor about it, and he made Scott mad which resulted in us using a different realtor. I told Scott months ago that this guy was flaky, but nooooooo.
The house is on a street called Dakota Way in Oceanside, which made me think that this was a good sign. My parent's first house was on Dakota Drive right after they got married!! BTW - they just celebrated their 31 year anniversary, which I am now appreciative of how wonderful that is! My parents went to see the house and they liked it - although it's going to need a lot of painting. We made an offer, and by noon the next day we found out it was accepted. Now we just have to go through the inspections and financing aspects of all this. We are scheduled to close on May 18th.

Second - my house went on the market on a Wed night, and there were tons of people who went through it all weekend. We reviewed contracts on Tues night (there were 8 that came in) and that night we found a great offer and we took it. It's amazing what people are willing to spend these days in my area. I almost had a heart attack when I saw some of the offers, and thanked god that I was smart enough to buy 2 years ago. I could not afford my own place now if I needed to buy it.

So now we have a place to move into when we get there. We talked about spending the first night there on the floor (since our furniture won't be there) and waking up the next morning and starting to paint. I think May and June are going to be lots of work......

Now, onto the next big thing - buying a new car!!!!!

Long due

OK - I am horrible about keeping up with this thing. Maybe that's why my diaries as a kid only ended up getting less than half written in before I threw them out.

So much time has past since my last post: where do I start?

- Wedding planning is moving right along, and I think we are in the less than 50 day point. So scary, and I've noticed that we are starting to bicker a little more than usual, and hopefully it's just the stress of the wedding day coming so soon. We've said so many times in the past month - why didn't we just go to Vegas???? But the invites went out about 2 weeks ago, and getting the response cards back is so exciting! Thanks to everyone who is planning on coming, especially those of you from out of town.

- We still have not found a house. Scott has started working with another realtor who seems to not be as flakey as our first one. But things are slow to come on the market, and things are still incredibly expensive out there. But hopefully things will fall into place as the school year comes to a close and maybe some military families move out for their next assignments

- I am putting my condo on the market. It has been a tough month trying to fix up and get the place all pretty. But with the help of my wonderful aunts and uncles, the place looks amazing!! And Scott remodeled the bathroom, and it looks so nice I don't want to move out now!! Actually, I don't even want to use the bathroom because I want to keep it looking clean and new.

- My girlfriends threw me a great shower at the beginning of May. A lot of people came from out of town from Scott's families, and I can't say thank you enough. Everyone went out of their way to visit and with all the presents, I truly feel loved. Part of that weekend also included taking a road trip to the vineyard to take another look at the place and try to plan the flower arrangements and pick the wine. We selected one red and two different whites to serve for the evening, and I know which will be my drink of choice that night!! They have a new apple wine (on the sweeter side) which is just great.

- Work is starting to get really busy, and my hours are getting longer and longer. Thank god it's starting to get lighter outside, and with the time change, I actually get out of here when daylight is still out.

- I have decided to also get rid of my car. We test drove mini coopers a few weekends ago, and I think we have decided what color and model we want - it's just a matter of ordering it and finding out where would be the most convenient place to buy from.

Well all, have a good night - and I'll try to be better about the updates.

Slow on the updates

It's been a long time since I've updated this - so sorry. If there is anyone out there reading these things, I am truly sorry!

Well, Scott finally got back from his 2 week trip to CA. I still think it was a vacation. He says that they did not have any fun out there, but I still think that skiing and snowshoeing is vacation.

While Scott was out of town I went to a cake tasting. It was fun, although I filled up after only 2-3 samples. But of course I forced myself to eat another 3-4 samples, all in the name of making a wise and knowledgable decision!! But my favorite was the Rasberry Vanilla cake. The only thing with this place is that we would have to pick up the cake the day before, because it's too far from the vineyard to make it worth it to deliver there. We are going to another tasting on Sunday, and I have a feeling that these cakes are going to be much more tasty. The lady who owns the business works out of her home, and is went to culinary baking school in London. She makes the cakes from scratch with all natural ingredients. I'm looking forward to this tasting.

As for the invitations, I found a gadget that rounds the corners of the invites, and if looks so much nicer!! I think what I didn't like about it was that there was no border, and it looked unfinished. But with the rounded corners, they look nice. So, I am hoping to get the invites out in the mail in the next 3 weeks or so. It's getting close!! 72 days until the wedding...

Invitations

Our invitations have come in. I think they look nice, but nothing special. I don't know why I feel so - mmmmm - about them. Maybe it's because the sample in the picture looked nicer. But hey, at least everything is spelled right!

I am still waiting to get the response cards, and we are going to make our own direction cards. I probably should start working on that, but hopefully it won't take as long as it did to make our Save the Date cards. Getting everything centered on those was a pain, and as many of you must have noticed, we still didn't get it perfect and towards the end we didn't care anymore.

Valentine bands

Happy Valentine's day.
Scott left yesterday for a 2 week trip for work. He will be spending a week in Bridgeport, CA and then heading down to 29 Palms. They are training in cold weather conditions and then training in desert conditions. I don't envy him at all, although sometimes the way he talks about the trip - it sounds like mini vacation. I know, I'm just whining because he is not home. And I have dog duty with no help. Either I will hate the dog after all of this, or we will finally get the bonding time that we need. Last night went well!

This past weekend, we picked out our wedding bands. It's so exciting, but then still a little surreal. To think, that this is the ring that we will wear for the rest of our lives. We are thinking about what to have engraved on the inside of them. Hopefully something meaningful will come to me. We got Scott a shiny simple band Titanium ring, he liked how it looks and how light it was. Because it's the hardest metal, you can't have it sized at all. So we had to order one in Scott's size - hopefully it can still be engraved... I got a platinum band with little diamonds on it - it matches my engagement ring beautifully, although I am still a little hesitant about it being too overwhelming. I am a simple person, as you all know. But it did look good on at the store!

After shopping, we went to Old Town and had our valentine's dinner at Trattoria de Franco. Great little Italian place - but the service could have been quicker that night. Other than that - absolutely no complaints!! The food was great, and I actually like Chianti!!

Invitations are ordered

After many months of looking at websites and through catalogs, I found an invitation that I am happy with. And - Scott and I agree about it and think it is the best one. Through all this planning and house hunting, Scott and I are realizing how different our opinions are about things, and that we don't have the same taste at all about most things!! Buying furniture is going to be a challenge when we move...

So the invitations have a little grape design on them. I thought it was fitting since we are getting married at a vineyard. I really wanted to go with a Hawaiian invitation - with plumerias or turtles or something, but since we are not having a Tropical theme wedding it just didn't make much sense. But those plumeria invitations I found are truly gorgeous!

The invitations should hopefully arrive in about 2 weeks, then we will work on addressing them and hopefully get them in the mail by mid March. I am thinking about learning calligraphy and just addressing them myself. We'll see how that goes...

House Hunting

Scott and I just got back from a week in CA. We were out there mainly to house hunt, but squeezed in some fun time with my parents and Scott's good friend Billy.

House hunting is exhausting. We went for about 2 and a half days, non stop looking at houses. And when we got home in the evenings, all we did was talk about the houses that we saw and the lifestyle that we would like to live. It's coming down to making a choice between living in Temecula or Oceanside. There are pros and cons to both, but really it comes down to what we see for ourselves in the next 3-4 years. Temecula is a family oriented area: bigger houses, bigger yards, but not much nightlife. It seems like everyone out there is married with 2 or more kids. Plus, it's a good hour's drive to the beach, and Scott's commute to work would be longer. Oceanside is much closer to the beach, my parents, and San Diego, but you don't get as much for your money and there are some sketchy areas around there. Picking the right street and neighborhood is going to be very important in Oceanside. Lots to think about in the next month or so - fortunately, the realtor will be doing most of the work from here on out!!

BTW - the bridesmaid's dresses are in!! They look great.

photos and food

It's been a while since I've updated this - sorry. If there is anyone out there reading this, I've been sick, and then got a case of the guilts updating this at work. I'm over it now!

Since I last wrote, we have signed a contract for a photographer and the caterer. Deciding on the photographer was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. We met with 2, and I thought I was going to love Tom. His coverage of a wedding was in a magazine (The Knot), and his website had great pictures. I thought I was going to love him, although I knew going into it he was over my budget. We met with Len, too - and this meeting turned out really impressing both Scott and I. He seems to be in the business because he truly likes taking pictures, and not because he wants to make money. He actually doesn't even sell albums or make the prints himself. He goes through a web photo site - and he says in the long run it will save us money and the control is really in our hands of what we decide to get. He just takes the pictures. Another thing that really turned us on was the ability to make these books, like a childrens storybook, rather than getting an album. I really liked how it turned out - and it seems much more practical than a bulky album that I will only look at a couple of times in my lifetime. So we went with Len, and I am thrilled about it.

Things are going well at work, I'm starting to feel like I know what I am doing and have the tools to get things done. And Scott and I are looking forward to heading out to San Diego to scope out the housing market next week. I think the whole marraige and move will start to seem a little more real after this trip. The only downside thing of this trip is that poor Bear is going to be in a kennel for a week. I'm sure he's going to love that!! I don't know who to feel more sorry for, Bear or the vet who is kenneling him!

Catering we go

Last night Scott and I went to a tasting held by the caterers. It was interesting seeing the people that were there with us. Most of them looked like couples getting married- some young and some old. Some were there with what looked like parents, but most of them did not mingle at all. I overheard one person saying that this was the second tasting with this company that she has come to. I think at that point, it's all about coming for the free food. I know the menu at the tastings are about the same at all of them - and how much wedding planning time do you possibly have? We're lucky we were able to squeeze one in!!

I am totally in love with one of the Event Captains that was there last night, Jim. He had a sense of humor, he knew the details of the food and could answer any question that we had. I really want him to work our wedding. Maybe if we can't get him, I might just invite him!!

Early Arrival

I started dress hunting before right before Thanksgiving. Every store that I visited stressed me out, saying that I had to place an order in the next week or two in order to have the dress arrive in time for alterations prior to the wedding. So I chose my dress, and went ahead and placed an order at Macy's. They said that I could expect to receive the dress in April.

Yesterday, I got a message on my vm at home saying that my dress had arrived. What is this crap?! This is starting to make me think that they were just trying to make a hard sell and pressure me into buying this dress, rather than taking my time and looking for a dress that I love. Don't get me wrong, I really like the dress that I got - it is by far the best dress of the 20 or so that I tried on.

When I tried to call them today regarding picking up the dress and scheduling a fitting for alterations, no one answered the phone. Whatever. So I am waiting until they call me back again. I am also not going to have a fitting until April, because I do plan on loosing some weight before the wedding. All this stress for nothing - the bridal industry really is taking advantage of people and emotions.

Bridesmaids dresses

I found my bridesmaids dresses. Here's a picture of them, although the color scheme is the exact opposite of what is shown. They are Jessica McClintock dresses, and they are rose colored with an ivory bow and trim at the top. We are also looking into getting ivory shawls to go with them, since they are strapless dresses. Thanks to Susan and Tricia who spent Saturday afternoon trying on dresses for me.

http://www.jessicamcclintock.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=73530&categoryId=10107&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10103

Bonding

I think there was true bonding going on this weekend with the dog. On Friday night, we sat down to watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (hilarious) and the dog jumped up on the couch and watched the entire movie with us. He had his head on my lap for the majority of the movie!

Yesterday, he chilled with me all afternoon, and even took a nap with me on the couch. He must not be feeling very well...

I hate the dog

About a week ago, Scott got my car brand new windsheild wipers. Thanks Scott!

Yesterday, on my drive to work, a huge rock hit my windshield and ended up putting a crack in the windshield and busting my driver side wiper. The rest of the way to work, I was driving with the rubber piece going blub-blub-blub up, blub-blub-blub down, not wiping a darn drop of rain off my windshield.

After work, Bear and I went for a ride to go run some errands. Auto Zone: new wiper Grocery store - peanut butter for the dog, and dog food. When I got back to the car, the stupid dog had opened the wiper box, ripped apart the instructions, and ate my new windshield wiper. I tried my hardest to put the thing back together, but when we tried it out it did not work. So at 9:30pm we are driving around trying to find a store open that sold windshield wipers. Finally - good old Target.

In the past week, we have bought 3 new windshield wipers for my car. This morning, I also heard Scott yelling at him because he jumped up on the counter and ate a whole stick of butter. I hate the dog (not really).

Pictures and jobs

So, this is day 3 of my new position and I feel like I have not done a single thing. Things will get better. I have a trip coming up on the 18th to observe a kick-off meeting, and I am sitting in on conference calls this week. I just don't feel like I have the tools that I need to get started doing my job - just lots of ideas floating around in my head.

I spent this morning setting up meetings for next week with wedding photographers. There is one called Bella Photography, which seems like a photographer mill. I'm not so sure how I feel about not meeting my photograhper until the day of my wedding. I get to see their website and examples of their work, and talk to them on the phone, but I just need that warm and fuzzy feeling you get from meeting someone. The cost savings are pretty big, but I also think that it might be a little risky going this route.

I am also considering switching to the Cingular/ATT GSM network. If anyone has any comments on this service (good, bad, funny) I would greatly appreciate it. My current plan is almost up, and I could get a free phone and 2 year service with them, or try to go a family plan route with Scott and his Sprint PCS service. Hmmm...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!
2005 is going to be a great year. There are many life changes happening this year, and I thought it would be a great idea to start a blog (although I said I would not start one of these, because I didn't think I knew anyone who would actually take the time to read it) . At least it's a place where my mom can come and look to see how the wedding planning is going, since she's not here to experience the craziness with me...

So here are the things that I have to look forward to this year (so far):
I am starting a new position at work with the start of the year
Scott and I are getting married this May
Scott and I are moving this summer

So now that I have some things to talk about, let the new year and the blog begin!!