I got tagged

So there I was minding my own business reading Kish's blog when I see that I have been tagged by her. So for the sake of being a good sport I shall play along.

1: 4 jobs I've had:
Receptionsist at a massage therapy place
Waitress
Balloon Animal Twister and trainer
Kinderfoto photographer

2: 4 Movies I would see over and over again:
The Princess Bride
Beaches
Pretty Woman
Pete's Dragon

3: 4 Places I've lived:
Vallejo, California
Napa, California
Fullerton, California
Culver City, California

4: 4 Favorite TV shows:
Grey's Anatomy
Nip Tuck
Desperate Housewives
Scrubs

5: 4 Places I've been on Vacation:
My Parents House
Brad's Parent's House
Las Vegas
Santa Barbara

6: 4 Favorite Foods:
Nachos
chocolate
Fritos
Steak Burritos from Baja Fresh

7: 4 Places I'd rather be:
Italy
Australia
Any Six Flags Theme Park
Disney World

8: 4 Sites I visit:
Woot
amazon
all my blog friends
craigslist

9: 4 Other Bloggers I'd wish this upon and also visit:
I think they have all done this
except Susan.

10: 4 Things I'd rather do than answer tags:
eating Brownies
in a bubble bath
Sleeping
getting a massage

Sneak Preview

So this is a picture of what our wedding is going to look like. So those of you who have wanted to see pictures of me in my dress or Brad in his tux, here you go. Don't we make a cute couple. Anyway I have got to go we have friends coming over in an hour and the kitchen needs some help. 

I didn't die.

This is a picture of Brad and I in New York in November. It was freaking cold! I think it is a pretty decent picture of us though. Anyway this is just a quick post to let you know I am alive, just been very busy catering this week. Today Brad and I are going to the Horse Track with the MINI club, this is the same event that Brad proposed at last year. I plan on doing a bigger post later today to tell you all that has been going on this week. I am very happy right now just busy so I will be back to share my happiness. 

umm, Help

Mommy please put down the camera and help me. I don't want my picture taken, this is embarrassing. Ok you obviously don't love me enough to help, so I will have to figure this out myself. Damn this is why i hate having my picture taken. Oh well at least maybe for once you will post a picture of me somewhere. 

Don't you want to zerbert this tummy

I was just looking through my pictures and I found this one. How can you not fall madly in love with such a cute girl. Perhaps I should consider taking her lead and find a good place for a little zzzzzz 

Sometimes I think it would have been easier to elope

So I waited and waited for Brad to take care of booking the rehearsal dinner because it was his job. We found where we wanted to have it and it would have been ideal in many ways. Brad called and left them a message the day after Christmas and they called him and left with a message in return. Then he ignored the whole thing. So this weekend I took it out of his hands and called myself. I left a message for the lady in charge of big groups and she called back today. She just booked that day and if Brad had returned the call in December we would have gotten the place. I am annoyed. So now we are scrambling trying to find a place that will hold 100 people. We will see what we can do.

So I started to write this and Brad came home and we went out to dinner. While we were out my regular client called and asked me to cater tomorrow and do data entry in the afternoon. I already had promised the Temple this evening that I would help them out tomorrow morning so I guess now I will be doing both. I am a crazy woman. So I frantically ran to the grocery store and bought the stuff I need to do a deli platter for tomorrow. I will be running non stop. This client called yesterday at 4:45 and booked me for today and Thursday. I need the money so I am taking the jobs, but geez people a little warning. So if I don't respond to you all don't be hurt I will talk more on Friday if nothing else books. I guess I may be able to buy Brad's wedding ring afterall.

This weekend we had friends over and played games. I love games especially card games like Uno. I should say for the record I have mad skills in the card department and I very rarely lose. It has always been like this and so I brothers and cousins never liked playing with me. One time when I was like 6 my family was trying to teach me poker. I looked at my hand and asked my grandma, "Ma what does it me if you have Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten of all the same suite?" My cousin who was the oldest, I was the youngest, threw his cards across the room and yelled "She has a royal flush and doesn't even now what it is, unflipping believable!" I have never lost this luck. So the friends that came over didn't know about my gift in card games and so they brought over a new card game for us to play. I can't remember the name of it, but I ruled it. I so completely dominated the game that everyone else's levels combined where still lower than mine. I guess they may have thought that this was a fluke and another card game was suggested called worst case scenario. We all played but again I won. I think they now see that I dominate in card games. Unfortunately this usually means they will never play with me again. So do any of you think you have what it takes to beat me?

The outside of the freezer.

Ok so the following pictures are for my fellow bloggers that are posting their walk of shame. This weeks challenge was pictures of the refrigerator. Since the outside of mine is almost as cluttered as the inside I have given pictures of it is well. Please keep in mind that food is my life and I have to fit a lot into a little space as our kitchen is small and fridge space is premium. I am still trying to figure out how to post multiple pictures in one post, but as all my pictures are now in picasso I couldn't figure out where they were to post them other than using the blog this button on Picasso. So anyway have a laugh at my expense and know that your fridge is cleaner and more organized than mine. 

The Freezer

Here is the freezer. It could also use some organization 

Big Fridge

Ok so here is the big fridge and it is a mess right now. I promise I will be cleaning it out tomorrow. 

More Little fridge

Here is the inside of the little fridge. 

Refridge

Ok so here is a picture of our little fridge and our um beverages. 

Mom, I am too cool to have my picture taken!

This is my cat Zacchaeus, she did not appreciate the flash in her face last night. I have mentioned that she has a two tone nose, I offer this as proof. I think she is the prettiest cat in the world but she assures me that she is the coolest. She is not a cuddly cat, we have Pixel her sister for that. Yesterday we went to the grand opening of the Pet Smart across the street and got the girls new toys. We found this glove that has mice dangling from it and each of them are attached to elastic. They had a alot of fun attacking the mice and stretching them out from the fingers. So yes our cats are spoiled. Now that we have the Pet Smart across the street we have 3 chain pet stores in the 1/2 block radius of our house. Then in addition to that we have 2 more aquarium stores, a groomer and at least 2 vets within 2 blocks of our house. All three of the chain stores have cat rescues on the weekends to help adopt homeless cat's. So I guess I live in a good neighborhood to be a pet.

So I am sure that the angel you see is confuse about her name. You see I give pet names to her all the time. Really I only call her Zacchaeus when I am calling her to come from far away. I call her Zacchy, Z-Bear, Tubba Bubbas, Bubbas, ZZ Boom, Bear, Big Girl, Zacchy the Wonder Cat, Squeeks, and probally many more that I can't think of right now. I have a sickness. I wonder if I will do the same thing to my human children someday? I guess time will tell.

Things are Rosy

So I talked to my mom this morning and MaKayla was released from the hospital this morning and is back home. She is doing great and they feel she will be fine. This is apparently a very common fracture of the skull called a ping pong fracture. The hospital in Tampa was awful and they were made to stand in a hall waiting for medical attention for 4 hours after they arrived by ambulance. My brother is writing a stern letter to the powers that be about the conditions of that hospital and how unsanitary it was. A man was bleeding in the hall and a nurse came by and wiped the blood up with a piece of gauze and no cleaning product was used on the area. In short the hospital was not one I would want to be at. Once they got to the pediatrics things were a lot better and MaKayla got the care she needed. They will have to have x-rays done in 2 weeks to make sure she is heeling ok but it all looks good. Thank you all for your prayers for her.

When they got home they got a call from the hospital in their town. It seems as though there is a Medical that MaKayla and Megan qualify for and that they will pick up the tab for all the expenses of yesterdays emergency. This is not the first time that MaKayla has had to visit the hospital in her 7 short months of life and every time in the past when they asked about getting coverage they were told no and my brother has paid for the bills. They are all very relieved that they have found a solution and that the baby is now covered. I still can't believe the grown up circumstances Megan has had to face in the last 30 hours. I can't tell you what a relief it is that Megan is not going to have to pay off all of these medical bills.

In other completely not relate news, I love this whole wedding present thing. It is so exciting to go into the living room and look onto the patio and see a package I didn't know was coming. Yesterday I looked out and there was a big box and on the side it said it was a Meat slicer. I was so excited. This was the thing I registered for that I wanted the most and that it came now before I have all the catered lunches in march is perfect. You see it is a meat slicer like they use at deli's to slice thin sandwich meat. I just happened to have a smoked pork shoulder in the refrigerator that I need to slice and freeze that I had procrastinated slicing. SO I hooked the thing up and sliced all the pork shoulder. It was great. I am so going out today and buying a big thing of meat to slice for sandwiches at home. Brad's aunt and uncle are the greatest. Don't get me wrong I have loved all the other gifts we have received, but this was the thing I wanted the most that I had registered for.

Thank you all again for all your well wishes and prayers. I have never seen something answered so quickly before. You guys are great and I love all of you.

I need your thoughts and prayers

I received a call this morning from my Mom. She had been called by my oldest brother to let her know of an emergency. My great niece who is now 7 months old rolled of her Mom's bed this morning and landed on the tile floor below. They rushed her to the hospital and had x-rays done. The babies neck is ok but she did crack her skull. They then put the baby and my 17 year old niece and sent them to the Hospital in Tampa which I guess is a couple of hours away. The hospital in Tampa will be keeping an eye on her and holding her overnight. They will also make a determination as to whether or not the baby will have to have surgery. The baby is currently responsive and happy so the first hospital thinks she will be ok but a cracked skull on a baby is not something you mess with. There is however another problem in all of this, my great niece has no insurance. You see there is a hole in the system that makes the baby no one's problem to insure. She is not my brother's child so his insurance will not pick her up. Since my niece is a minor and still my brother's dependent Medicaid or other government insurance programs won't insure her either. So this is going to be a very costly day and my poor niece will be paying for this for a very long time. Not the best way to start your grown up life. So for all of this I am asking you guys out there to keep baby MaKayla and her young Mother, Megan in your thoughts and prayers. I will update this post as soon as I hear more.

update: The doctors in Tampa have examed MaKayla and they think that the fracture will heal on it's own. They are keeping her overnight to keep an eye on her. Aparently MaKayla is a very active baby and they were surprised this is the first time that this has happened. Hopefully this will teach Megan to use the playpin and not her bed as a place to leave the baby to hang out.

A case of the Blahs

I am in kind of a weird mood. I am not unhappy in anyway but I wouldn't say I was happy right now either. I feel blah. I thought about posting something witty and creative but the truth is I am just not feeling it today. Brad is sick with a very minor flu bug, but of course that means the sky is falling. It is hard for me when he gets sick because we deal with it so very differently. My Mom was more of the type that would be, oh your sick, well you can miss school when you are dying but if you are going to live then go get dressed. Brad's family was more the type that if he feels sick he should stay home and rest so that he can heal. Really I am not sure which is better. I sometimes feel as though he makes a bigger deal out of a little sniffle than is necessary. He feels that I try to do to much and that I don't take proper care of myself. So what really happens is that one of us gets sick and both of us pay for it. It really isn't pretty.

I have been thinking back to some of the stupid stuff I did in the past. I wonder what on earth made me think about doing some of those things. Like why on earth would I pierce my nose when I am allergic to all the metals used in jewelry and can't even wear earrings. When that turned out horrible and wouldn't ever heel so it had to come out, why would I then go pierce my bellybutton. Once again it never healed and was very painful and had to be pulled out. I look at those things now and know that it was a sense of rebellion that I did them, but at the same time a wish to fit in somewhere. It seems like most of my youth was spent never quite fitting in. I wanted to be lots of things but I was never quite a right fit to who I wanted to fit in with. Even among the people that I hung out with that were my group of friends I never quite felt I belonged. Like I was forcing myself upon them. I think that this was in some way confirmed when I left school and none of them kept in contact with me. I am not saying this at all because I am throwing myself a pity party. I say this because at this stage in my life I no longer feel like I am standing on the edge trying to be apart of the action. I feel like the people in my life now are a part of it because they love me and not because I am trying to be who they want me to be. I am now old enough that I would never do something just to fit in. So in some ways I am grateful to the girl in me that went to such extreme measures to fit in because today I know that I like who I am, and that there are people who like me when I am living in my own truth.

The Guitar

Brad and I bought a guitar to share for our anniversary. So now we are trying to learn to play. We suck so it is going to take a lot of practice. Got to go I have more practicing to do. Someday I will even be able to play a song.

The Anniversary

Brad and I met June 11th, 2000 at the icecream parlor at Disneyland. This is a story into itself that I will have to tell some other day. We went on our first date one week later on June 18th and well we have been together ever since. I had always told Brad not to propose until he was ready because once he did we were setting a date and it would be all systems go on the wedding. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Then all our friends started getting married and I hoped Brad would get a hint, but I still waited. Then in August 2004 our close friends and my now trainer, who started dating two weeks before us got married. I began to see signs that Brad was ready to make the same plunge. He asked for our parents to meet and was very insistent on it. He came home with a premarital counseling book he had gotten from the newlyweds. He started taking more of an interest in my finances. Well lets just say there were lots of clues. I knew that Brad would buy me a ring from the family jeweler in Philadelphia and so when in November 2004 Brad went to Philly I was convinced he would come back with a ring. When he came back home I waited for him to go to work the next day I searched through his luggage. I didn't see a ring anywhere but I was still convinced he had come back with one and had hidden it somewhere. I felt to guilty to look any further so I gave up. I should tell you Brad is terrible at keeping secrets from me especially when it comes to surprises and gifts, so I really didn't think he could keep the surprise for very long. We went and spent Thanksgiving with my family and no proposal. Then Brad says to me in December, Let's go to Disneyland. Ok I was convinced he would then propose. We are at Disneyland and Brad says, let's have dinner at the Blue Bayou, which is where Brad said he would take me in order to get my number on the day we met. Brad asked for a table by the water and the mood couldn't have been better, I was sure that this was the moment, I was wrong. We left Disneyland that night and I was still not engaged. I was pissed! The next day I called my friend and cried that he was never going to propose and he was so dense he didn't even see what he had just done to me. She told me to wait it out and maybe he would propose at Christmas or at New Years. I was positive he would never propose on Christmas because Brad hates that day with a passion. So I held out hopes for New Years. It came and went with no proposal. I felt then that it had passed and there was no way that Brad had come back with a ring and had not given it to me by then. I again called my best friend and she said to wait until my birthday and see what happens, but I really needed to decide if I was ok if he never proposed. I gave it thought and I knew that I loved Brad with all my heart and if he wasn't ready I would be ok with it. So I gave up the notion of being proposed to at this juncture.

On January 15th we had a picnic scheduled with the MINI car club at Santa Anita Race Track. Brad had been really excited about this event and I thought nothing more of it. Brad's mom was going to fly in that weekend and visit her friend and they both were going to join us for the picnic. AT the last minute plans changed and Brad's mom couldn't fly out. We then had 2 extra tickets to the picnic and so I asked Brad if it was ok if I invited my brother to the event because he lives in the same town as the race track. I had no idea how glad I would later be that my brother was there to share that day with us. Word spread around the group that there was going to be a raffle with lots of prizes for the MINI's and a grand prize so big that they couldn't even tell what the prize would be. This was a normal thing at MINI events so again I didn't think that much of it. Brad had given me a ticket and told me to hold onto it. I hate holding things so I kept trying to give it back, after all if a prize was won it would be for Brad and his car anyway not for me. Brad told me to just keep the ticket. SO they said it was time for the special raffle and they started calling the numbers, OH MY GOD, THAT"S MY TICKET! So I went up to claim the prize, shocked that for the first time ever I had won something. Our friend Don was there to greet me and he said, Ok Karin, your prize is Brad. I was confused, Brad knew whet the big prize was and didn't tell me, how odd. Then I saw him coming around from behind me with a little box in his hand. I knew that this was the moment I had waited a lifetime for. I fell apart, my ears stopped working and it was an extreme effort to remain standing. The voices in my head were screaming at my ears to pay attention and not miss this. My ears flatly refused, instead they let a sound in roughly like the adults speaking in a Charlie Brown movie. Ok though my eyes were still working so I would use those. My brain screamed to them tell us when his lips stop moving. They stopped so I blurted yes. Now I was convinced that the ring wasn't going to fit, because as I said the other day I have short, fat, dumpy fingers and a standard ring size is too small. I knew if the ring didn't fit it would break my heart a little. I gingerly took the ring out of the box and begin to gently try to get it on my finger. It slipped right on, a perfect fit. Brad did so well. I spend the rest of the day on a cloud of euphoria that I have never been on before. The only thing was I couldn't reach even one person I knew that wasn't with us including my parents. Come on people answer your damn phones, engaged woman calling. Finally I reached people and crying and screaming ensued.

Now I look back upon that day a year ago and kept believe it has been a year already. Things have happened so fast. I think I can say I really never left that cloud of euphoria and I have been riding it ever since. I feel in many ways that this has been the most amazing year of my life. Through everything I knew that Brad was standing beside me holding my hand. When I lost my job I felt so low and worthless, yet it was then that Brad said in words unspoken that he believed in me and knew it would be ok. When I opened my business I was so scared I could hardly see, yet Brad was there helping me through. I feel like this year has had it's trials and tribulations but I knew for the first time, with all my heart I wasn't walking alone. There have also been so many amazing moments when I sit there and wonder what I did to deserve a life so great. I wonder if it is my life I am living and then I look over and see Brad and know that this moment is real, and we have just made a memory that we will share. I really don't know what made the difference in this year, whether or not the change in our titles from daters to betrothed, or if this year we lived to a fuller extent of ourselves. What I know for sure is that this year has brought so much joy to me that when I think of it I start to cry tears of joy. I feel as though this year has brought us to a sense of we and a future more clear.

I look forward and see that in 4 months I will be a wife and a new journey will commence. I am so unbelievably lucky that I will take on this journey with such and amazing man. I think back to the years before Brad and the hopelessness I felt. Through the college years and the roommates years dreaming of the man I would some day marry. I became convinced that the man I dreamed of simply did not exist. I thought that people had changed and a love as strong as my parents just wasn't possible in today's society. When I met Brad, I began to see the qualities I had been waiting for, but waited for the bottom to fall out. There was no way that this loving giving man, could be so smart and so my vision and not have a hideous secret or not find one in me. Each revelation I wondered, if this would be the one that would send us screaming away from each other, yet we both stayed and allowed those things to entwine us to one. I started to realize that the other shoe wasn't going to drop and that we were no longer separate but now together as a stronger version. I am now a complete version of me when I am with him. I do not hold pieces of myself back away from sight. I know that I can begin this marriage with him in confidence because he has seem all of me and is still here.

In short I suppose what I am saying is "I LOVE THIS MAN!" And to you Brad, I say, I love you, Monkey!

Party On Dude

We have a very busy weekend planned and we are going to have a lot of fun. Last night we went to a midnight showing of Ghostbusters. A local theatre runs studio cuts of films that are a cult classic every Friday night. Brad loves this movie as well as many of his friends. It is hard for me to go to a movie that late, but then the movie didn't start until 1 so of course I fell asleep in the theatre. I am so rock star. This morning we planned to stay in and do nothing but at 8:45 we got a call from Brad's best friend and she and her girlfriend were in town for the afternoon and wanted to do brunch. We were quite excited about this because she lives in Ohio and we don't see her very often. We then thought about going back to sleep when the phone rang again and it was the in laws calling about wedding stuff. We got of the phone and decided it was time to get up and get showered and dressed. We then left the house and met up with the friends and had a nice brunch and then we walked around Venice Beach. Tonight we are going to a concert by Tenacious D and Friends. There will be more details on this tomorrow I think. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the day Brad proposed. I can't believe it has been a year already and expect a post tomorrow all mushy and stuff about the events of a year ago. Monday Brad, my brother, our friend Gordon and I are going to go pick out tuxes for the wedding. When we come back we are planning on having a barbecue of pulled pork. It should be a lot of fun. Well that is about it for now expect a post tomorrow.

I want to be a super model

Ok so when I surveyed all the wedding tasks, I thought some would be fun and some would be awful. So far I have been wrong about just about everything. Registering for gifts sucked and was way more work then fun. I dreaded having my photos taken and thought that the whole day would be one hell ride after another. I had a blast. They had me swinging from trees, climbing up rocks, Going into lifeguard stands, and running through the ocean in my jeans in January. I felt so pretty and special. We had a million pictures taken and we will get them back in 2 to 3 weeks. I can't wait to see them. It will be nice to have a decent picture of myself. After the photoshoot Brad and I were starved so we went and had lunch at the Skirball Center. The food was really good especially the fried artichoke hearts. We then went to the gift shop and ordered our ketubah, Jewish wedding license. It is kind of funny that we went there with my jeans soaking wet from the ocean because the first time we went there to look at the ketubahs it was pouring down rain and by the time we got in the shop from the car I was drenched. So now I guess we have a tradition. By the time we got back home we were both exhausted, we sat on the couch and played video games for a while, and then Brad went upstairs to call work and send a few emails. I intended to come down and blog about the experience but I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up a little while later and Brad came downstairs saying he was hungry. We decided where we would go to dinner and went out to eat. We got home after 8 and Brad went and watched Smallville and I stayed downstairs and answered emails and then made sure no one died in the blogging universe. I then went upstairs and watched TV with Brad and then we cuddled in for a nice nights sleep.

I am sorry I didn't blog sooner but I felt like I made a whole post in the comments on Wednesday, and I took the day off yesterday. I shall try to behave better so yall don't worry. I have to go get abused now by my trainer so I may come back later with some of the random things I have been thinking of blogging about.

Whose hands are these?

So I went and got acrylic nails put on today so that my ugly dumpy hands will look a little better for the photo shoot on Thursday. The thing is that with my nails on I don't recognize my own hand. My fingers look longer and more feminine, perhaps even thinner. It is very weird. The other thing is it is a lot different typing with nails on and I shall have to get used to this. It is so funny now that I have nails on I feel like I should go put on makeup and do my hair and try to resemble an adult female. I struggle with this because I don't think I ever completely grew out of my tomboy phase. Thank goodness Brad didn't want a girlie girl.

SO I think that the UPS man thinks I am totally crazy. This afternoon I was downstairs on my computer when I heard a knock on the door. A knock in the middle of the day only means one thing, we got a package. I run upstairs to answer the door and I see in the ups mans hands a box with my name on it. I scream myyyyyyyyyy shooooooooooooooooooes!!! I am practically bouncing, I take the box from him and sign the form and try to calming tell him that these are my wedding shoes. He nods with a little relief and asks if the wedding is getting close. I tell him yes and let him walk away. I ran to the couch and start to open the box. I was a woman on a mission to see my precious little shoes. I opened the box and they are perfect, even better than they looked online. So I begin to try them on a little nervous about whether or not they would fit, I have a semi wide foot and it isn't always easy to fit into shoes. I slip it onto my foot and look at it, perfection. I am a happy woman I have my entire wedding outfit all done. Go Me!

There really isn't much else to tell you. Well there is one thing that happened today but I am not sure how to take the whole thing so I will leave it alone for now. No matter what the outcome of it is though it really isn't that big of a deal and if I have to go another direction I will. I am sorry for being so cryptic but I may have read the whole situation wrong and if that is the case I don't want to make a big deal about it. No it does not involve anyone who reads my blog so if you are worried I am talking about you rest assured I am not. Have a good day I will blog to you later.

Shopping

Today Brad and I went shopping for clothes for our engagement pictures on Thursday. I went to a great store called Torrid and found so many very cute clothes. Brad was so patient and critiqued each outfit and we left with several new things for me that I will be able to wear for the photos and other prewedding stuff. Normally when I have to shop for clothes it is a very long ordeal and Brad is ready to commit harry carey before we find something. Today I was the easy one because we went to Torrid first. Then we had to go and find stuff for Brad that coordinated with what I had already bought. We went to several more stores and then found what we wanted at Old Navy. We are going to be so stylin.

Brad is so funny, he keeps me laughing all day. Sometimes it is the silly little things like looking the wrong direction when a neighbors garage door opens, but most the time it is because Brad is like a real life Jack Tripper. He will be washing his car and drops the hose and squirts himself or the neighbor standing near by. He will lose his glasses for weeks and then find them when he goes to wash his car again and sits his other pair of glasses on top of them. We will go to a comedy club and Brad will have a second drink and then lose control of his hands and send his drink flying. I am a lucky girl, because he understands why I am laughing my butt off and won't be hurt by it. I am also lucky because his klutzy moments never take me down with him.

There are times when I get very annoyed or uptight with Brad, I wonder if the little things will ever change. The thing is do I really want him to change the annoying little things? You see in all the big things Brad is exactly who I wished he would be. He rides the rollercoaster of my life and emotions with me, sitting side by side still silently holding my hand. When I feel ugly he tells me how pretty I am. When I am lonely he sits by my side or we go out together with friends. When I need to go shopping he goes with me. In all these things he is my hero and champion, so the question remains would I notice and appreciate all these things if there wasn't the little things that remind me he is human. In anycase though sometimes I may gripe like any good woman does, I am very lucky, and I love my man.

Cars, BBQ and comedy what more does a girl need

So today we went to the Los Angeles Car Show and looked at all manner of cars, new, old and concept. We didn't see anything all that special because most manufacturers would rather release stuff at the Detroit Auto Show, but whatever. Brad really likes a concept tricycle from Volkswagon. I took the time to look at all the brands SUV's to use as my new work vehicle. I don't know how much longer I can run a catering business using a compact 4 door car. I am in love with the Nissan Murano and have said for quite awhile that it will be my next car. Today though I looked at the Toyota Rav 4 and it has come along way and I like the way it looks now and the functionality the new ones offer. It is also 10 grand cheaper and as a smaller vehicle it will probally have better gas mileage. So test drives will be in our future. I really like the horse power of the Murano because I am sick of having a car with no oomph. We shall see. After the boys looked at all the cars we went downstairs and looked at the accessories. Well Karin plus holiday money and neat stuff means Karin buys new toy. I live across the street from the grocery store and Target and I don't like driving across the street to get groceries, however it is too heavy for me to carry back. Well the fine people at Zap have solved my problem by making the Zappy3 a motorized scooter that I can put a basket on to carry the groceries back home in. I was very excited about this. Then the guy tells me it is over half off and like many women I couldn't pass up the bargain. So I spent $250 on my little scooter that will be shipped to me this week. So there went my holiday money. We left the auto show and went to this little hole in the wall BBQ stand we know in downtown LA, yummy. Tonight we are off with friends to a comedy club and the friends are driving, life is good.

Caution Bridezilla prone to frequent violent mood swings

Ok so I am a little wedding detailed out right now. My Mom made a innocent demand that we not serve hard alcohol at the wedding only beer and wine and I lost my nut. I started crying uncontrollably because she didn't think we needed hard alcohol. The funny thing is I don't even care about the alcohol, and I would only be drinking wine anyway. I also understand her point that the added expense and logistics of having a full bar really aren't worth it but for some reason this little demand is what today sent me over the deep end. What a little whiney baby this wedding has reduced me too, why can I not be rational? Ok so in the end I agreed with my mom and no hard alcohol will be served but a couple of bottles of rum will be held in the bar area for the few people who can't partake in the wine or beer but do like rum, you know who you are.

Yesterday I was set off by a very innocent email asking about the progress of the chupa. I know that it was sent in the kindest and most loving of matters by my fmil but again I lost my nut and I think that the email I responded back in wasn't very well worded. I will say that I lost my nut on this one not so much because of the question but because this is Brad's project and it seems that all the things Brad is suppose to take care of have to happen with a lot of nagging and I am just not up to the task any longer. I am sorry honey I know you are reading this but you know you are having problems following through with things. I suppose though I need to go back to my fmil and apologize for losing my nut in the return email.

So all in all I would guess that this weeks blogs have really been about the desperate search for the return of my nut, and a strong glue to keep it in place. I am not sure anymore what kind of nut I used to have so that might be a problem.

Waiter I will take another shot

So I didn't make it to the store to buy the much needed drugs so I went with an alternative measure. I had some drinks. Ok they were smoretini's I had left over from New Years and I really drank them so I could watch dancing with the stars. Ok I am sorry if you like the show but it was slow painful torture for me to watch but you see I had to watch because my hero was on the show. You see I love Jerry Rice, I think he is the greatest man to ever play football and I loved to see him play. I could go on and on about my long term love of Jerry Rice but I think you get the point. I really am not the hugest football fan but I watch it when it is on and I get very animated while I watch which annoys the heck out of Brad. So when I saw that my hero was on Dancing with the stars I was a little saddened but I had to watch to make sure he didn't make a fool out of himself. He did really well and so now I can walk away and never watch that show again. Good Luck Jerry but if I have to watch one more episode I think I will have to put red hot pokers in my eyes.

My parents went out to dinner tonight and found the company we will hire to BBQ our wedding. I am very happy that this is one more detail of the whole wedding that is done because it means one less thing to worry about. I am not kidding this whole wedding thing is stressful. Every time I think we are ok I am reminded of something else that has to be taken care of. I wish the wedding would just get here already so that whatever is done is done and what is not we do without. I guess the main problem is that I anyways thought that I would have lots of girlfriends around that would be thrilled to help me do all this stuff, but the reality of the situation is all my close friends live far away and so I feel like I am doing everything by myself. On the other hand I am lucky because I can talk to Brad about the wedding stuff and he tries to help where he can but it isn't how I thought it would be and I feel so alone and empty searching companies on the internet and making long distance phone calls trying to find out if they are the right company. I just feel so frustrated and lonely. I really only have myself to blame because I could have made friends by now here but I never bothered. It is funny to me that in our daily life Brad was always enough for me but when I go to marry him I crave my girlfriends to deal with the wedding. Ok I am probably going to regret this post in the morning but I suppose this is what you get with alcohol and no sleep in a week.

Security Blanket

Ok so here it is my sad little confession: I have had the same pillow since about 1990 and I don't go anywhere with out it. It is a feather pillow and over all these years it has seen better days. It is barely a pillow anymore and I can squish it into the smallest of bags. None the less it is my pillow and I can not sleep without it. Brad thinks it is very funny that I am so attached to my sad little pillow and teases me about it regularly. Well I know it is time to get rid of it and get a new pillow that resembles something like a pillow. I thought I would ease into the process by registering for new pillows and hopefully sometime before the wedding someone would get them for us. So I dragged Brad to Macy's to add to our registry. Once there I found Calvin Klein duck down pillows on clearance for 9.99 so of course we bought them instead of adding them to the registry. So when we got home Friday night I was all excited about the new pillows and so I stripped the pillow cases off all the old pillows including my precious and put the new pillows on the bed. I knew I would have a night or two of restless sleep but I thought I would then get over it and be able to sleep. So I put the old pillows in the protective plastic casing the new pillows came in and put them up on the highest shelf in the closet so I can't reach them. All this I think was a good plan in theory, however it is now Wednesday and I haven't had a restful nights sleep since last Thursday. Brad says I should just get precious down from the closet and get a good nights sleep but I think that that will just make adjusting to the new pillow even harder. SO now I am thinking about taking something like Tylenol PM. I have never taken a sleeping aide other than Nyquil so I don't know if it will even work but the fact is I am getting desperate. I need some sleep. I miss my stupid little near pillow. Ok so now that you all have read this you will know how truly immature I am. Anyway I need some sleep, let us all hope that tonight is the night.

Welcome 2006

So wow nelly what the heck happened to 2005. It seemed like it just started a few days ago. On the other hand so much has happened this year both personally and in the world. I have to say that even as quickly as this year seemed to pass I am happy to see it go. I don't say that because I found this year to be bad, not really in any way, but because this year brought with it so much hope for my future that for once I am happy for the future to come. I can't believe that we are now standing in the year I will finally walk down the aisle, boy does it feel like I have waited my whole life for this year in some way or another.

I would like to make note, however on the down side of the quick passage of time. You see I am now realizing that I am no longer in my 20's much less my teens. You see now if I don't add color to my hair every couple of months Brad will say to me, um honey don't you want to try a new color for your hair. His oh so subtle way of telling me he can see all the little gray hairs that insist upon invading my head. Speaking of hair it grows long where I didn't invite it, like in the middle of my cute little mole on my chin, what the heck is a 3 inch hair doing there and how did I not see it before? Ok and now I wake up and I hurt for no apparent reason, it is obvious from looking at me that I didn't go out and exercise in my sleep. But my favorite thing about time having past is that I will walk in to a room with great purpose and then not having any clue what I was going to do, come on what the heck did I come in here for? I can only assume that as time continues to fly at such a rapid pace that the signs will only grow worse. So I will say to you all that I will blog more tomorrow, if I can only remember what I came to say.