Happy Birthday My Love!

Today is the Hub's 27th birthday! We started the day at MIL's for a lunch BBQ, because they're the best and work around my crappy schedule... He got some great gifts and we got to spend more time with our nieces and his sister.

Then I had to go to work. :(

Here's my favorite picture of the birthday boy. Probably cause he's smiling, and he rarely smiles in pictures.




HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE! I love you!

Looking back on the best day of my life

I know I had my anniversary post not too long ago, but I saw this on Alyss Amazing's blog and decided to copy it here.

1. Where did you and your husband meet? Thru mutual friends


2. How long before you kissed? Hmmm... a few months (not after we started dating, but after we met). We didn't start dating right away, we were friends first.


3. Who kissed who first? He kissed me. I'd never make the first move!


4. How long from the time you met until you were engaged? 3 1/2 years!


5. How did he propose? On Easter. We woke up a little hung over from going out the night before. He went out on the balcony of our then tiny one bedroom apartment to smoke his morning cigarette (or so I thought), and I came and sat on the couch. He comes in with an Easter basket and says "Happy Easter my love!" I start looking thru it, just knowing what was in there. I start opening up all the fake eggs just to find jelly beans. Then he hands me the stuffed Easter Bunny. It was holding an Egg that zipped open. At this point, I'm super nervous cause I know he's about to propose, and I'm almost shaking to the point I can't open the stupid zipper! So he opens it, pulls out the ring, gets on one knee and says, "Girlfriend, will you marry me?" I start giggling uncontrollably as he puts the ring on my finger. It was so cute.

6. Did he pick out the ring or did you? He picked it out and did a great job!

7. Do you still like the ring? Of course!


8. Where was your wedding and reception? We had our ceremony and reception at the Glendale Civic Center.

9. How many bridesmaids did you have and who was your maid of honor? 5 bridesmaids - My sister Lindsey was my MOH

10. What color were your bridesmaid dresses? olive green


11. What was your bouquet made of? white and green roses, green ranunculus and hypercum berries


12. Who gave you away? Dad


13.Did you cry during your wedding? No. I was way too nervous to have everyone watching me! I thought i'd be a mess, but my nerves got the best of me. Both of us, actually.

14. What style was your dress? I wore Maggie Sottero's Grace Lynette. It was a gorgeous champagne colored dress A-line dress, with an ivory lace on top.


16. Who caught your bouquet? KAYA! My 9 year old niece. haha

17. What flavor was your cake? We had 3 layers, all of which were different flavors - The first layer was white cake with fresh berry filling. 2nd layer was chocolate cake with chocolate moose filling (with chocolate shavings!) and the top layer was strawberry cake and fresh strawberry filling.


18. Did you smash the cake onto each other's faces or feed it to each other nicely? funny story. We had planned (and I BEGGED the hubs to be nice), but then Darryl (his boss) literally came up to me and said, "You gotta smash him with the cake." Me, "No no no. We agreed to be nice." Darryl: "I will pay you $50 to smash him. But you gotta get him GOOD!" Me, "hmmm... ::giggles:: okay! It's on!" And smashed i did. it was awesome.

19. What was "your song" that you danced to at your wedding? "Underneath It All" (acoustic version) by No Doubt

20. What did you serve your guests to eat? The food was delicious. We started with a southwestern ceaser salad, main course was grilled chicken with a chipotle cream sauce with seasonal vegis and twice baked potato on the side.

21. Where's 21???

22. What was your favorite wedding gift? They were all great, but I gotta give it to Judy (and Sarah, and whoever else who helped). They got us a gorgeous hotel suite at The Point Tapatio Cliffs for two nights including the wedding night. They decked it out in rose petals, and there was a plate of chocolate covered strawberries with champagne on the coffe table. It was awesome.

23. What was the worst wedding gift you got? There weren't any! We got double of a lot of stuff, but no biggie, cause we returned the doubles. :)

24. Where did you go on your honeymoon? We took a mini moon to Sedona for a few days. We were supposed to go to California, but it was kind of on fire. :/

25. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about your wedding? Yes. I think I wouldn't have done pictures first. I didn't like that everyone was standing around outside so everyone saw me before the ceremony. And because there were so many people around, it didn't make the "seeing hubs for the first time" that special. I probably would've chosen another venue. The venue was fine, but the caterer was a nightmare! They were just horrible to work with. Food and service the day of was great, but getting to that point was not easy.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We put up our Xmas decorations this past weekend! Again, just like the Halloween it's not much, but it's something, and it makes me feel good! I think it makes the hubs feel good too, although he won't admit it. He got really excited about putting up the xmas lights. YOu should've seen him! He didn't want to be done! He kept adding more. He liked it.


Like in AZ fashion, putting up Christmas lights in shorts and jeans is a must.
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The doggies are so helpful


Lookin all GQ with his sunglass tan. ;)



TA-DA!




And my inside decor:












And last but not least, our Christmas tree. It's a sad little 6ft fake tree, but it's all we got. And you'll notice that the bottom is rather empty. Well when you have 4 animals that love ornaments, it kind of has to be.

Santa is a Dick

This is too funny not to share.

Awesome Website Find

So I was on The Nest on my favorite board, D&R(Decorating & Renovating), and someone posted a link to a piece of furniture asking what we thought of it. This website is AWE-SOME! It's an online outlet! So much good stuff at unbeatable prices!

Check it out!

Some of my favorites:

This wall cabinet/shelf thingy:


This chair. Two of these and a small table would be perfect for our family/future game room!



This Chandelier - WANT!


This bookcase (although I wish it came in black)



And much much more! So much good stuff. Check it out! http://www.homedecoratorsoutlet.com

Thankful

Okay. So I know this is late, but that's how I roll.

With everything going on right now, I've been feeling really, worried, stressed and pretty much depressed lately. I know things really are not that bad, but i've been in a funk and just can't seem to pull myself out of it. So, in leiu of Thanksgiving (and just to make myself feel better), here's what I'm thankful for...

1. First and most of all, my wonderful, caring, hard working, loyal husband. I do not know what in the world I would do without him. He is my rock. My BETTER half. Even though we can drive eachother crazy sometimes, I know he loves me unconditionally, and I can honestly say that I am so in love with him after 6 years together. He is my life and I don't know where I would be without him.

2. Our jobs. Even though I complain sometimes (okay most of the time) about how much my job sucks, I am so extremely lucky to have one. And I'll be here a year come January. That's a world record compared to the last 2007! With being in the mortgage industry the last 6 years of my life, when that started to take a dump I was laid of 3 times last year. I finally said screw this, took a paycut and changed industries. Which was a good choice. Although I took a paycut, like I said, I still have a job. Same for the hubs. I am SO thankful that he's kept busy in this economy. Hoping and praying that it'll continue throughout 2009.

3. Family and friends. They're the best. Love you guys! I must say that I have the BEST inlaws too. MUAH!

4. Our house - love it and it means so much to us to finally be homeowners!

5. Our dogs - they are my babies and I love them. They make me laugh every day, even when I'm having a bad day. I see them more than I even see my husband most of the time. They're my bestest friends. haha

So there you have it. I may be a complainer sometimes, but I am a greatful person, I swear!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving before I forget. I would like to address what I'm thankful for, but I'm not in a good mood today so I'll save that for another day. >:/


Anyway, I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving. We have a lot of work to do to get the house spic and span. Here's my little to-do list.

* Clean the kitchen - Done!

* pick up bedroom - started today by hanging the huge pile of clothes that were on top of the dresser.

* Vacuum and steam clean Lily pee stains on carpet in the office.

* sweep and mop tile/wood floors

* clean guest bath

* PURCHASE THANKSGIVING FOOD! Yes, I do things at the last minute. So what?

* (optional/if there is time) put up xmas tree - i usually do this the day after Thanksgiving, but since we're hosting I think it'd feel more festive if I went ahead and decorated.

So as you can see, I have a lot to acomplish in, um, one day. Yikes.

Just Checking In

Things are still around these parts. The Hubs has been working 7 days a week again, and will continue until after Christmas. :( I mean, it's a good thing that he has all this work in this economy, but at the same time I miss him so much.

Anyway, it's FINALLY cooled off here. Woo hoo! No more A/C = lower electric bills! Although it did go back up to the high 80's again this week. Boo! I have been taking advantage of the cooler weather and taking Gizzy hiking. Here are some pics of our last trip.








Other than that... hmmm... Oh! We got new blinds for the living room. So that was why my mom was bugging the shit out of me about blind measurements. I thought she just really wanted us to buy some from her. Turns out she bought us some for our anniversary present!

Before: Ugly old broken tin blinds




After: New pretty faux wood blinds!



Speaking of our anniversary, we finally remembered to defrost and eat our top layer of our cake! I could've sworn it was supposed to be carrot cake, but it was strawberry... either way it was good. Didn't taste like cardboard at all. ;P




Lily is growing so fast! I notice a difference in size each week! We're going for her third shot tomorrow. Only one more after that! Can't wait. She needs daily walks and I'm too paranoid to do that until she is fully vaccinated. Girl has so much energy she doesn't know what to do with it! She's a total diva too. Such a brat! But at the same time she's so sweet and cuddly. She's already crate trained, except it's been getting too cold in her crate at night. She'll start whining and crying until I take her out and put her in bed with us. Then she just goes right underneath the covers and passes out. I think i need a heated blanket or heating pad for her crate.

So today's my Friday. Yay! Another busy weekend for me. Tomorrow I'm waking up early to get some free stuff from Federicks of Hollywood. Apparently they have an annual thing where the first how ever many people there get a free bra and a free $25 gift certificate. Awesome! I could use a new bra and I'll take free anything! Then I am taking Lily to get her shot, then I'm going to hang out until the hubs gets home. Saturday I have another wedding, and I've been invited to stay at this one. It's going to be awesome and I can't wait to see how it all turns out! What are your weekend plans?

Hope everyone has a good one. Thanksgiving is officially ONE WEEK AWAY! Yikes!

I'm joining the challenge! Er... a little late.

The cleaning challenge that is! The Hyper Homemaker has a Fall Cleaning Challenge going on. If you know me, you are probably thinking, yeah right. I hate cleaning, why would I want to take up a challenge? Well, all the ladies have motivated me. My husband will love you for it! I think he's falling in love with me all over. I started late and slowly. I don't have a whole lot of time to do ALL this cleaning, but I'm doing bits at a time. The challenge started at the heart of the home... the kitchen. Here's the to-do list from The Hyper Homemaker:

Day 1 - Conquering the Kitchen

Make sure daily is done:- Clear off all counter tops
- Load dishwasher
- Handwash any dishes needed
- Wipe down sink
- Wipe down stovetop
- Wipe down all the counters
- Swiffer the floor

Pantry- Take everything out of the pantry.
- Wipe down shelves.
- Toss old items and donate unused good items.
- Repackage all messy items into nice containers.
- Place all items back into the pantry in an organized fashion.

Fridge
- Take everything out of the fridge and freezer (placing items in a cooler with all the remaining ice.
- Scrub down the inside and outside of the fridge, shelves, doors, ice maker and freezer.
- Replace water filter if you have one.
- Clean fridge condenser coil.
- Toss old or useless food.
- Place everything back into fridge in an organized fashion.

Cabinets- Take ALLL your items out of all your cabinets and drawers. Yes... ALL!
- Wipe down the inside of all cabinets and drawers.
- Wipe down the inside of all containers such as utensil holders.
- Store items not used in over 6 months, or summer seasonal items.
- Thinking logically (ie - potholders next to stove, towels next to sink), try to put everything back in a more useful and purposeful place, and in an organized fashion.
- Scrub down the cupboard exteriors, from to of the kitchen to bottom.

Yikes. That's a lot of work. I got the first two done today. The basic kitchen cleaning chores. Dishes, clearing the counters, emtying and loading the dishwasher, whiping down the counters etc. Then I decided to tackle the pantry. When we moved in I was the worse packer and even worse at unpacking. Our kitchen is so small that I just didn't know where to put stuff, so instead of organizing everything, I kind of just threw stuff in the pantry. Here's what it looked like.

Dun dun DUN! Scary!



All of this was on the very top too. I started removing stuff then remembered to take a before picture.



Eeek! The last of the blue carpet! Let's just pretend you didn't see that. (Note to self: get the hubs to install that tile soon)



We don't have a medicine cabinet. You know how most people have a cabinet over their stoves? We have an ugly spice rack. So the medicines have to go in the pantry with everything else. Cool thing, is I found this little basket in the pantry filled with random stuff, half of which I threw away. It fit our medicines perfectly!


And here are my AFTERS:

I put our jars that hold our flours and sugars in the pantry. Our kitchen is SMALL, and they take up way too much needed counter space. I like them much better in here.


I put all the cleaning supplies in the laundry room. We have extra cabinets in there and it's a huge room. We should utilize it more.


I also cleaned the top of the trash can and vacuumed that ugly carpet.


I would say this looks much better. Look at all that space I have! Almost a full shelf! I really wanted to clean out the fridge but I didn't have time. Doing all that took me about an hour (meaning the regular kitchen cleaning and the pantry cleaning/organinzation). Not bad! But I did have to go to work. I will tackle the fridge tomorrow.

What do you think? Did I do good?

LOLZ Zeeba

Okay, so I have two cats. I don't post about them much cause I really don't like them that much. There. I said it. I don't like them. I love them, but I don't like them. I don't really like cats anymore. Funny, because my friends used to call me "crazy cat lady", because I loooooooved kitties! I wanted all of them! I think the thing is, is that I loved(and still do) kittens. You know, they're like puppies, except they're easy! And when you're 19/20 years old you want easy pets. :/

Now that I'm done sounding like a totally horrible pet mommy, I'd like to show off my Zeeba. Now Zeeba is not any ordinary cat. He LOVES attention. He's VERY vocal. Dude won't shut up. It's non-stop meowing at my house. Always has been. And if you ignor him, it only gets louder. He's also very curious and adventurous. He used to play fetch w/me before we got Gizmo. You know how that goes when you have a dog and a cat who hate eachother... You throw the ball, and the dog wins. He also likes to hunt. He's a major hunter. It isn't too bad anymore now that we moved, but at our rental it was BAD! He brought us a ton of presents. I mean, birds, lizards, bugs, BUNNIES! Poor bunnies.

Anyhooters, the other night we were lounging (when I say "we" I mean, me, two dogs and Zeeba). I look over and saw Zeebs on the chair looking really cute. Thought it'd be a good one to send to icanhascheezburger.com. So I quietly got up and grabbed the camera. I snapped this photo and sent it in to icanhascheezburger.com. Now, I doubt I'll make it on the home page. It's cute, but not very original. But it's still funny to me. :)





Go vote for him!

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=2467461

Happy Halloween!

I know I'm a couple days late, but I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We laid low. Just stayed in and handed out candy. I was a little disappointed that there weren't many trick-or-treaters. We only had a handful of them. Our neighborhood is very family friendly, so we figured there would be a ton of kids. I think everyone went out of town. I know our next door neighbors did. Anyway, we still have a full bag of candy left, and we only bought two bags! That tells you right there how many kids we got.

We sat outside with the dogs and handed out candy of the few kids we did get. Drank our pumpkin beer and relaxed. It was fun.

Gizzy and Lily had a good time!







Pooped after "trick-or-treating"
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Oh. And here are some crappy camera phone photos of our jack-o-lanterns. Unfortunately our digital camera sucks and doesn't take pics w/out a flash(well, it does but then it's really blury) so we had to resort to the camera phone.
I carved the pirate skull and Brian did the spider web.

One Year Ago Today!

I married the most awesome person in the world! After a year and 1/2 engagement, and 5 years of dating, we were finally married! We were married on October 27th, 2007 at the Glendale Civic Center. We chose the date because we were never really sure when our dating anniversary was. We knew it was somewhere between my birthday (the 10th) and Halloween, so now we have an official anniversary!

The day was perfect! I didn't sleep at all the night before, but who does right? I was extremely nervous. Brian and I both are a bit shy and don't really like to be the center of attention, so I know that we were both more nervous about standing there in front of 120 people than we were about actually getting married. It was a beautiful day, and everything turned out absolutely amazing! Here's a slideshow and a few photos of the day:

***Update*** well apparently I can't get the slideshow to work, so here are some pictures...

Getting ready & ceremony:








Formals & Reception: