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...