Live like there is no tomorrow

The coming of the new year is always a time to reflect on the past and this year has brought me/us some good fortune and some tough times. I just passed the 2 year anniversary of my grandfathers death and I am now watching a close friend deal with her fathers cancer. With times like that I decided that my New Years resolution for 2011 is to live like there is no tomorrow. I need to learn to take life by the horns and take advantage of what I have.

Notable times from 2010 include:

Buying our first home.
Brought our girl Chloe home (and dealt with her parvo) and got a cat.
Watched my little sister get married.
Lost my job due to the acquisition.
Did more wedding planning, found my shoes and most recently the dress.
Most recently M and I got our first new car (well not brand new but for us who are both driving cars from the mid 90's its a big deal).

Here's to 2011, a year that is shaping up to be one of the biggest of my life, the year I become a Mrs. Cheers to a happy and safe night!

Pressys

So I did not get everything on my list but I did get some great things. The first and foremost..

(via amazon)

My sewing machine. Yep that is my new machine! It is not a crazy electronic with a bunch of gadget and gizmos but this is going to be a perfect new toy. Also under the tree was some target gift cards that will help towards the chairs. Couple of these were received will help towards all of our house projects (hint hint M if you are listening please finally get the wire mess out of sight!)

(via lowes.com)

M tried to surprise me by having my earrings reset. The long story short, my 16th birthday from my Dad was my diamond earrings, well the setting was loose and I thought I lost one at one point (we later found it in the wash). But I was pretty devastated and I have not worn them since, about 6 years ago. So M had them reset so I could wear them again.

No rain boots, I might just have to pull the trigger, I mean pay day is in a day ;) And talk about using them, it has been raining like crazy!

Hope everyone got at least some things they desired. I am so appreciative for those things that I did receive!

Moving on...

Its over?@!#??? The thing about Christmas is that the holiday season is near the end and it makes me a little sad. The holiday season to me is a time to hang out with my family. This year also marks the last of the holidays with just my family. I love M and I am also a little selfish and it is going to be really hard to give up "my" traditions of being with my family during the holidays. Once we get married I have to give up "my" traditions and start ours, and this year was the start of it. Long story short, we started acclimating Christmas into our house and less into my parents. Moving on...

So while I was "gone" one of the things we did was go camping. I know how do you take Louboutins camping????? Well I left them at home and actually took my Keens, wait what? Who ever thought.  So for camping we headed up to the coast and got the best weather for the weekend. Bodega Bay yeah typically foggy, we actually got sun! My favorite part of the weekend? Watching these two run around like crazy dogs.

The entire weekend was a blast, it included a lot of beer, beermosas, food, cows, and cuddling with Chloe. And really just because I can:

And one that is not dog related.

Oh wait there are dogs, but also my sisters and "brothers" i.e. brothers-in-law and M.

Merry Christmas

 (google images)

All the presents are wrapped and well not under the tree cause the animals would be going to town. But M is making breakfast and we are enjoying our morning. This afternoon we will head to my Grandmas which I have done since I was a wee one. Tomorrow morning will be a bit weird since we are going to be in our house for the first time and not my parents. But as we grow things change.

So I am signing off until after Christmas. Hope you spend your holiday with everyone you love!

Christmas Wishes

So this year my Christmas list is a bit different from last years. We did get out house finally in New Year (January 2010!) I do find though that now I want things for the house, and my new creative bug that has hit do to house projects.

One of these would come in handy as I try to build furniture (and yes I added a bench to my short list of built items):

(via)

And one of these would allow me to give my Mom her machine back:

(via: google image)

And I would LOVEEEE two of these for our lounge area off the kitchen:

(via)

And of course could not forget the "necessities" and since it has been raining here for what seems like FOREVER and is going to continue to rain I really want a new pair of these:

 

(zappos.com)

And yes in auburgine please.

These too please! Ohhh I die!

(via)

And please excuse me California why can I not have python shipped here???? For the love of fashion!@#$!

Hope everyone has a great holiday, especially the Brown's whose year seems like it is looking to end on a good note. Congrats!

Bringing it back

I thought I was going to have a brief hiatus has now turned into 6 months, yikes! During that time I had my last couple months at my previous company to help with the transition, went on unemployment, and started working for my old boss at his new company.

Not only that, we bought a new car, I found my wedding dress, continued to make plans for the wedding (which I cannot believe is just over a mere six months away now), and started and actually finished some house projects.

As I work on getting caught up on everyones lives I will also update you on mine and hopefully that means returning to our normal programming.

Fit for a king

So this past weekend I picked up a ceramic garden stool for sixteen whole dollars and I log in today to One Kings Lane and what to my surprise? Garden stools! Only guess what I got my still about 80% cheaper then they were on OKL.  Ummmmm score one for me.

This past Monday I was at the vet with Chloe AGAIN. She had been sneezing repeatedly over and over so in we went. Turns out she didn't have anything up her nose but it was inflamed, another $400 later. Seriously dog, most expensive dog ever!

I think I might of finally gotten somewhere wedding wise with M! We are in process of making a decision on centerpieces. I was the one who really didn't want to spend any money on centerpieces, sure pretty weddings are particularly awesome but for me it is not about being pretty. M on the other hand really wants things like centerpieces and flowers, the flowers for me is a big waste of money. So I am thinking vases like this (they have a couple different designs)

(image from lunabazaar.com)

Then do simple baby's breath and then maybe some tea light candles inside mason jars. Or maybe do various size mason jars and the candle inside is based on the size of the mason jar? Thoughts please. Would be great to have a total plan figured out before I chatted M up and convinced him.

 

Ppphhhheeewwww, whirlwind weekend.

What a weekend!!! Taking off early Friday was awesome! I got home, relaxed, cuddled with the pup and started the crock pot with some delish chicken for dinner.  When M got home we took off for the open space for some QT with Chloe.

We have such great open space around us and Chloe is able to run around like a crazy girl off-leash. Which is a good thing, especially since what happened at our local dog park last week. Craziness I tell you!

On Saturday we had a quiet morning and then I took Chloe to her dog class in the afternoon. After class we went and picked up a life vest for her (for our canoeing and camping trip).  After that I made a few errands and found this beauty at Big Lots.

Seriously found this for $14.00, the color works great for the guest room right now since it is teal, but because it will  belong outside I plan to paint it green to go with some of our outdoor stuff. I also started another project for the backyard so more to come later on that.

Sunday was a "day of rest" well not really, we headed to church Sunday morning and I think we actually found one to register at so now its just moving forward with it. I also went to do a little dress shopping with the Mamasita and sisters and then came home and drank some margaritas. Seriously if you want to go the easy route but deliciousness of fresh home made margaritas try Tommy's.

(source: google image)

And while drinking some deliciousness the little sister helped me figure out the next center piece proposal to throw M's way. Hope everyone's weekend went well and here's to a hopefully good week!

Friday funday

It is Friday at 12:35 and I am outta here! Peace out work!!!!

Frogs and snails and puppy-dog tails.

That's what little boys are made of. Big boys you say? Well they are made of frogs and snails and procrastination.  Yep M is a major procrastinator when it comes to all things he even considers girly, example, everything wedding related. (Full disclosure you may choose to leave as most of this relates to that said wedding).

So six months ago when we booked our location I asked him if the church we had gone to together was the one he wanted to register at (we need to register to attend Pre-Cana in order to be married in the church), he said yes and so we continued about our lives. Skip ahead a couple months to actually picking up the registration packet and he decides nope, not the church from him. Excuse me?!?! Well then you find one! Still a month or so later now nothing has been decided.

photo from google image

Oh and he also didn't like the save the dates that I came up with so he is also now supposed to figure that out. M is a true believer in the phrase "whatever you want honey" and then turning around after and not liking it and changing it around after I put the effort into it. List of things that he decided to veto after I decided and he finally gave his input on.

1. Bridesmaids carrying clutches instead of flowers.

2. Decorations

3. Save the Dates

4. "Appetizers"

5. Kinda the most important the bridal party size (myself am only having 2, my sisters, he wants more but feels the need to have them even on both sides)

Needless to say I am about ready to give up or just make the decision and pull the trigger. And he wonders why there are some things I just do and tell him after (sort of like when I called the garage repair man to come replace the spring because after a month he still had not ordered the part). 

Ok I am off my high horse, now off to find purple ties and socks... so long lovelies!

Wedding Bells

No not mine yet, but M and I were in our good friends wedding this past weekend so I have been a little off the map celebrating and then recuperating from this past weekend. Pictures will come but probably not until I see everyone elses, or the professional since I certainly did not take any. It was a wonderful weekend and so full of fun.  Their rehearsal dinner was held at Campo di Bocce. If you are in the Bay Area and want a fun way to have dinner, it was a ton of fun.  The grooms parents set up a bocce tournament and picked names out of a hat. I had the grooms dad as a member of my team and M had the grooms mom. Crazy thing is we were the two teams who went to the championship. Saturday was the wedding and it was a veryyyyy long day. Sunday nap time! So lucky to have Miss Chloe stay with my sister because she was worn out from playing with her cousin and very kindly let me sleep all afternoon.

So yesterday I found the goody spin pin! I have been looking for these since I saw the commercial for them and finally found them at Walgreens yesterday.

(via: walmart.com)

Thus far I have to rate them really high. They are awesome. I have a ton of hair and a couple bobby pins never do the trick, well these do it for me, I really like them now and will probably use these going forward instead of throwing my hair in a pony tail. Magic!

Well not much else now, heading to get some fro-yo now though.  YUM!!!

Breaking news...

Well at least for Yankees fans. Steinbrenner passed this morning.

(source: NY Times)

Rest in Peace

Miss Cupcake

So I have some pictures from cupcake class! I also highly recommend it.  So its a bit pricey but you also walk out with about $50 in cupcakes so yeah my co-workers loved me. I previously talked about my sisters taking me to class as an engagement gift, so they decided that I needed an apron to go along with the class.

Future Mrs is what it says and I have cupcakes all over it. So I had to do a pose since we sent the picture off to M since I knew he would get a kick out of it. Yep he is a bit of a mush. So in class we learned how to make the vanilla cupcake, chocolate sour cream cupcake, vanilla frosting and cream cheese frosting.  We also got the recipes to take home and a bunch of goodies. Super fun, totally recommend.  Here is picture of the end of it all with our "teacher".

Ugghhh drives me bananas that I am the shortest, where did the little sister get her long legs jeans?

The weekend was pretty great, Saturday I ran over to Home Goods to find some finds for the house and then headed to TJ Max where I found this.

Chloe now has a "camelback" too. Well not really a camelback but she has a backpack and can now carry her own water when we hike. We are going to have an adjustment period because she just stood there after I put it on and refused to walk.  She looked at me like she thought she was incapable of walking with it on. On Sunday we went over to Point Isabel for Chloe and my sister's dog Layla to go swimming. Super great area for dogs, it is off leash and they can go into the Bay, so we threw some sticks in the water and off they went for them. We also got her a pool this weekend. So fun for future hot days.

Alright enough already, I could go on and on about my dog child. So signing off... Cheers!

Friday

It's Friday beeeaatches! and I am in love

Seriously so excited for the end of the day, and surprisingly I actually have done some work today, actually all day. So here are my loves.

1. Digging the music on my bose headphones right now. Seriously obsessed with Katy Perry's California Gurls right now. Even discussed it here. Also obsessing over B.o.B and airplanes, oh and of course Lady A's Need You Now.  Seriously rocking out and dancing in my chair at work, so what if I look like a fool!

2. Tonight, me, and my man watching Chloe run around the open space by our house.

(via)

3. Red Vines - Seriously I have finished a 1 lb bag in two days.

(via google images)

4. New followers! Well and old ones of course.

Cannot wait to get out of here tonight. Counting down the minutes. Finally got a couple pictures of our cupcake class. Those to come. Wooop woop to Friday.

Just one of those days

Today was a little weird, but not really weird just uncommon. Started the day with the Controller of the acquiring company coming up to me and asking to speak with me at some point during the day.  FINALLY! A little more details. Well when we met it was not really any new details just confirmation from the other side of what I already knew.

The hard thing is, what to do. If I wait it out until September the severance and stay bonus could be really helpful as we are planning our wedding and STILL paying Chloe's vet bills, oh and we both need new cars. But if I cannot find a job after then we could really burn through the money quite quickly. So the decision, how do I make it? Any suggestions?

The end of the day we were out of there by 4 pm. So was everyone else in San Francisco and Oakland. I do not think I have ever seen Bart that busy. The reason the Mehserle trial. For those who maybe are not Bay Area peeps this is a trial that was caused by a New Years killing of a man by a Bart police officer (Mehserle). It has been a big thing and last year there were some serious riots and a lot of disruption. So when people found out the verdict was being read people high tailed their way out of work to catch bart in case of any further riots. Anyways the long winded story of a day.

Ok so going to stop before I just keep going and going. So tooddllees. Would really love to hear thoughts on the job deal though!!

Tuesday is the new Monday

Yep that is seriously my thought on today. Not liking being here at work right now. So glad I am off in a few to go to cupcake class.  Yeah you heard me right, cupcake class, tonight from 5-8 I will be making some of this delishness

(via)

Since M and I have dealt with 2 moves, busy season at work and all his travel for work my sisters could not find a weekend to throw us an engagement party. So since they couldn't buckle a day they are being so awesome and taking me to teacake to take their cupcake class tonight. Of course you get to walk away with cupcakes in hand too! So today may have been a little lame but at least tonight will rock! Now only if they served champagne while we were baking... Suggestion Box!

COHEN

Nothing new nothing fun

Exactly my life. Work blows, yes I lived in it for a couple days, loving the lack of anything to do. Now I am bored out of my mind! Tomorrow I have another interview, this is number 3, but I am so done with this already. Not something I wanted to be doing at this point, and it just sucks, it is hard to get excited about possible opportunities when that is not something that I really want right now. So another interview tomorrow, I found out today that interview #2 wants me to come back in to interview with the owner and the staff that would be working for me, which is good news but then again uggghhhh, I just want it all to end.

This weekend, nothing exciting, I am going to try a new project for the house, still on the search for the perfect mirror for the hallway. Hopefully with the interview process my motivation is starting to come back, I need something to move me forward!

Nothing fun, nothing pretty today. Sorry dolls. Here is to moving forward with everything in life!

Repeat...

Sooo this is a little not out of the box but I think it is a little funny, yes yes I am totally biased but M has been on a take picture of the kids rampage.

Yep a small game of tug of war was going on last night.

I decided to give you guys a little preview of my beautiful wedding shoes.

Yep that's all you get, but they are beautiful and I cannot wait to wear them on our wedding day. The other shoes I will share once I wear them, they are pretty amazing too.

Off to bed!

Icarus

So I figured out that I have not introduced anyone to Icarus (yes that was M's decision, he named him after his parachute). I guess I realized to because he is being so sweet since we chopped off his balls yesterday (and yes I said that because it is more fun to say than the appropriate terms). So here are some great pictures that I love for you cat lovers.

This is Ick (his nick-name) just when he got to us, barely 2 lbs and tiny.

 After we introduced Chloe and Icarus. The are pretty much best friends now and of course when one wants to play the other, not so much.

And here is Icarus, tonight, just wanting love from me as I drink wine and watch the Real Housewives. M is out in the city so Ick is hanging with the girls.

That's about it, just thought I should probably show you all Ick since I have shown you all Chloe. Ahhh they are lovely, Chloe more so, but Icarus tonight.