My Favorite Picture

I haven't posted any pictures from the wedding here yet because I'm lazy, but I have started scanning them to my computer and here's my favorite one out of all the pictures:

If my dad wasn't my dad

Since Mike has left his wife home alone tonight & tomorrow while he goes to Nashville to watch Vandy play Alabama, I'm taking the opportunity to watch TV shows that Mike would never watch with me. One of those shows, which I have just recently re-discovered my love for, is Little House on the Prairie. Wow, I love this show.

Charles Ingalls (played brilliantly by Michael Landon) is one of the best TV dads. Ever. Now in the past if you would have asked me, I would have said Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith). But Mr. Ingalls has the edge for a few reasons.

1) He lives in the olden days and lives on a farm. My grandfather was a farmer (among many other things) and I just have a real soft spot for farmers.
2) He successfully raised three girls (I'm leaving out Albert because they adopted him later).
3) He always knows the right thing to say or do. Always. Of course so did Andy.

At any rate, if you've never watched Little House, I highly recommend it.

Also, I think Karen Grassle is one of the most beautiful women who was ever on TV.

Oh yeah, once when I was younger, I dressed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder for a book report on Little House on the Prairie. It was awesome. My grandma made me an outfit with one of those funny bonnets and everything.

Do you think it's bad luck/bad karma to kill bugs?

I'm not like some tree-hugging hippie, or even a vegetarian, but I always feel a little twinge of remorse when I kill a bug. One time a couple of years ago at the apartment complex where we were living, there was a wasp's nest on the railing of the stairs leading up to our floor. I got stung on the foot and came back with some bug spray and annihilated those suckers. Then I felt like crying. They didn't sting me to be mean. They were protecting their nest. I feel sad thinking about it now and every time I walked by that dead nest for the next few days I felt like I'd run over a kitten or something.

Also, I hardly ever kill spiders, if I can help it. Not only because they trap and eat other bugs (like mosquitos) but because I saw Charlotte's Web and it really resonated with me. (Aside: Last week we went out to eat and walked by a pet store on the way to the restaurant and they had little piglets. Piglets!!! I really wanted one but Mike said no. If I ever got one, his name would be Wilbur.)

Anyway, also, our volleyball coach says killing spiders is bad luck. I don't know about all that but I do know that unless it's like a black widow or something really huge and hairy I hardly ever kill them. If I see them in the house, I get a cup and a piece of paper (unopened mail works well) and trap it and let it go outside. Silly? Maybe. But it makes me feel a little bit better about myself.

I do discriminate, though. Mosquitos for example never get my sympathy. Neither do ants. Especially when they get into leftover chocolate cake on the counter that was really really delicious but you had to throw away because the ants got into it, and then you spend half an hour spraying said ants with bug spray and wiping them all up and wiping everything down because you don't want any bug spray residue on the countertop where you prepare food. That was just an example.

So let's hear it: do you feel bad when you kill bugs?

Cats in funny places & new stuff

So now that I'm a boring married lady, the exciting things in my life are, in no particular order:

-our new house
-our pets
-our new(ish) car

So here are some pictures of our cats, as well as our new house (and furniture).


Mike got a laptop in the mail from his friend and we left the open box on the table. This is where we found PJ when we got home. She was asleep before we so rudely interrupted her. And as I type this, here is what I see:

Right after I took that (with flash), I got the evil eye for a good 30 seconds.



"What? This is where cats go."


That's our new dining room furniture. It's "pub height" which means it's kinda like sitting at a bar.


That's the guest room. It used to have baby blue walls and ceiling. Yes, the ceiling was painted the same color as the walls, and it was all baby blue.


That's the guest bathroom. It used to be a bright aquamarine color.


That's our room. It used to be a taupe/khaki color and we painted it a light creamy yellow, although it doesn't show up too well in the picture. You'll have to take my word for it. If you don't believe me, well, I don't care.


That's the master bathroom. We didn't paint it but I just like it so I posted a picture. Got a problem with that?


That's our TV room/den/office/dog's room. That's also P.J.'s butt.
We moved our old couch & recliner in this room. It also used to be a taupe/khaki color with lots of holes in the walls where the previous owners hung stuff.
The dog has a better room than I did growing up.


That's our new sofa, chair & ottoman. And pillows. And a whiny dog. I can't believe she walked into the shot. She usually puts her tail between her legs and turns away from me when I have the camera. Definitely not an attention whore like P.J.


And that's the matching love seat. I always wondered why it's called a love seat. It's not really big enough for anything but sitting.

We still have a lot to do around the house (mostly involving hanging curtains) but it is really starting to feel like OUR house, finally. Especially since we have to pay the mortgage every month. And had to get the AC fixed when it went out last week in 105 degree weather instead of just calling the front office/landlord. But we love it and can't wait for people to start visiting us. That's a hint. Come visit us, damnit.

So I really slacked off on updating my blog on my honeymoon. I'm sure you'll forgive me for that. :)

As Mike said in his last posting, the ceremony at the Duke Gardens got rained out. I was pretty excited at first because it was nice and cool outside and kind of overcast which is the perfect weather for pictures, but when we started hearing the thunder rumbling as we were taking some pictures I started to worry. Then I felt a raindrop and we headed up to a gazebo to take shelter. A nice lady walking by gave me an umbrella to use and we ended up waiting for at least 30 minutes for the rain to pass. Well it only got harder so at 5:50 p.m. (the ceremony was supposed to begin at 6 p.m.) we decided to officially move it back to the hotel.

It turned out to still be a really nice ceremony. Everyone was able to sit down (there were only 50 chairs at the Gardens) and it was nice to be in the same location as the reception. The rain did pass while we were in the ceremony, so we went out to the courtyard area to take pictures and it was a lot of fun. At that point I just felt so relieved that the "formal" part was over that I started relaxing and feeling a lot better.

The reception was great, the food was outstanding, and I danced my ass off until the DJ left at 11:30 p.m. I also drank a bit too much but it was a lot of fun. The open soft bar was a big hit, as was the chocolate fountain, and the cake was delicious. I got to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a long time which was really nice and I think that everyone had a great time.

We stayed at the hotel bar after the reception until about 1:30 a.m. Needless to say we were a little bleary-eyed at the send-off breakfast the next morning at 9 a.m. but I wouldn't do anything differently if I could go back. Besides the rain it was just as I imagined it.

The honeymoon was really fun, too. We left for New York on Saturday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. and got to our hotel that evening around 6:30 p.m. We walked around the block and had some great pizza and then got some much needed sleep.

On Sunday, we had brunch at The View at the Marriott Marquis, which is a revolving rooftop restaurant. It was really nice, and then we went to a 3 p.m. showing of 'Curtains' with David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier). It was REALLY good - very funny with good songs. We also had tickets for 'Phantom of the Opera' for Wednesday night but ended up seeing a LOT more shows than just those two, thanks to the discovery of the same-day half-price ticket counter in Times Square.

We saw 'Les Miserables' Monday night, 'Inherit the Wind' Tuesday afternoon, 'Phantom' on Wednesday, and 'Chicago' Thursday evening. We also went to the ballet (Swan Lake) with Alexis, one of my bridesmaids, Tuesday night, went to the Bronx Zoo on Friday, and then stayed in the Bronx to see the Yankees play the A's on Friday night. Saturday morning we took a harbor cruise, and then flew back to NC Saturday evening. In between all that, we did some shopping and ate some really great food.

So now we are back in Birmingham and it's very strange to have all the wedding hoopla over & done with. However we do have some new excitement in that we closed on our house yesterday (Monday) and will get to start moving in next Monday.

I will probably post pictures from the wedding here as I get them.

I'm married!!!!!!!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'll pick up where Mike left off in the story. (If you haven't already read it, click on the link to his blog on this page and read that first.)

So throughout the whole wedding planning process I was relatively un-stressed. Strangely so, apparently. But let me tell you, it all caught up to me on Thursday & Friday. All of it.

Thursday started out well as our friends & family started arriving. I had a hair consultation to figure out how to fix it, place my veil, etc. on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and that's where things started getting stressful for me. I ran late at the hairstylist and then traffic was a beast and we ended up being 20 minutes late for the ceremony rehearsal at the Gardens. Also, it was hot. Damn hot. So I started worrying that it would be unbearable for our guests (and me) on Friday for the 6 p.m. ceremony.

The rehearsal dinner was really fun with good food and cake. Seeing all our friends & family mixed up and mingling for the first time was a trip. They all got along really well and had a blast.

Once we got back to the hotel, all the younger people wanted to keep partying, so we went on the hotel shuttle to the Carolina Ale House. A fun time was had by all, including me with too many drinks the night before my wedding. I wasn't drunk but I definitely drank too much. We got back to the hotel about 1:45 a.m. and my sister and I finally went to bed about 2:30 a.m.

We had 9 a.m. manicure/pedicure appointments so I had to be up early. I couldn't sleep, though. Is there any worse feeling than laying in bed, not able to sleep when you know you NEED to sleep, and worrying about dumb stuff? Well that's what I was doing. I was worried about tripping down the steps of the pergola (gazebo) after the ceremony. I was worried about my tan lines showing. I was worried about how I'd dance with Mike and my dad at the reception. I was worried about people having enough to eat. So all in all I got about three hours of sleep. Not fun.

Friday was a whirlwind. Me and eight other people (four bridesmaids, Mike's mom & aunt, my aunt, Mike's "sister", and a groomsman's wife) went for manis & pedis and that was very nice and relaxing. I couldn't really eat all day, though, because my stomach was churning so much.

Then at 1 p.m. I got my hair done, along with my sister, Kelly, and cousin (and bridesmaid), Karen. Once we were able to get out of the salon by 2:30 p.m. I started to relax more. So we headed back to the hotel (me with my veil in my hair and wearing shorts & flip flops) where me & Kelly had to pack up our room really quickly and move up to the honeymoon suite to finish getting ready. The makeup artist/photographer met us there and did our makeup, and did a really good job. Then I put on my dress, shoes, and jewelry, my mom cried a little bit, and we were off!

I'll leave off there and let Mike tell the next part of the story.

Tonight was Maggie's graduation at PetSmart training. It was a grueling eight weeks, filled with frustration, anger, and exasperation, but we made it! She was actually very well-behaved in the last session, probably the best she's been so far. Here are one of the few good pictures we got of her (Mike had to hold the cap on her head):



It was pretty cute and a fun time for all.

In other news, four weeks and two days til the wedding. Not that I'm counting down or anything.

Work is REALLY slow right now. Softball is over and we didn't have baseball this year, so we are already thinking ahead to football (ugh) and the other fall sports. Next year is going to be so different, adding football and playing in Division III instead of Division I. I'm not really sure what to expect. Oh, we're also adding men's and women's lacrosse as varsity sports in '08-'09. I know nothing about lacrosse, and even more nothing about the stats involved, so that's going to be an adventure.

Also, we're starting to look at buying a house. We met with a mortgage lender last week and we're meeting with another one tomorrow, and we've already been to look at houses with a real estate agent. We'll probably move out to the west side of Birmingham for a couple of reasons: 1) We can afford something much nicer out there and 2) It's really close to work for both of us. So far it's been a frustrating process because we initially found a house that we REALLY liked and found out somebody bought it the weekend we found it. That was disappointing but I think we'll find something else. It will be really nice to have a yard for Maggie and not live right on a busy highway like we do now.

That's about it for now. Probably the next time I post something it will involve wedding pictures. I'm going to be somebody's wife, how weird is that??? :)

And without further ado, here's Maggie!



Here she is chillin on her new bed we got her:



And so they don't feel left out, because I know they check my blog every day, here are the cats:



Continuing the previous theme of finding PJ in funny places:



That's it for now.

See, I told you I suck at blogging. Damn, it's been a while, but I'm back!

First things first: we got a dog. We got her last Saturday (March 24) and all of us (me, Mike, the dog, and the cats) are still trying to figure things out. The cats hated us and the dog for the first few days. Now they tolerate the dog and possibly still hate us occasionally, but are starting to get more comfortable. The dog just wants to chase and/or play with the cats, but of course the cats do not want this. Basically we are taking it one day at a time.

The dog is a 2.5-year-old Corgi mix. We changed her name to Maggie to give her a fresh start. We got her from the Shelby Humane Society. She was in the shelter because her previous owner gave her up because the kids wouldn't take care of her like they promised they would. How crappy is that? I call that bad parenting. Way to teach your kids responsibility.

Anyway, she's a real sweetie, but a bit clingy and whiny. We think this is because she's never been left alone and, living with kids, had tons of attention and constant stimulation before going to the shelter. We are trying to crate train her for at night and during the day while we're gone, but she's starting to hate it. Fortunately she is potty trained already - no accidents yet and she's great about going outside to use the bathroom.

Probably the best side effect so far of having Maggie is that we walk every day. I take her out in the morning for 20-25 minutes, and Mike (or both of us) takes her out at night for 20-30 minutes. Although I hate getting out of bed, it feels great to get out and walk. It is a lot of responsibility, though, and I still think I'm mostly a cat person, but I'm glad we got Maggie. I think once we move to a place with a yard, then the living arrangements with the cats will become a little easier.

Anyway, that's about it. I'm heading home to North Carolina this weekend for my bridal shower. Very exciting! It will be nice to spend time with my family.

I will post pictures of Maggie soon. She's a real cutie.

I suck at blogging.

I haven't posted for a mixture of two reasons: 1) I'm lazy; 2) I have a hard time thinking of stuff to write about. So here are some random things that have been going on.

We bought a camcorder. It's a Sony MiniDV Handycam and it's awesome.

We have gotten a lot of wedding stuff done: booked the photographer, booked the wedding coordinator, picked out invitations, ordered the bridesmaids dresses, bought my wedding band, found a rehearsal dinner site, reserved the florist... the big thing that still needs to be taken care of is the honeymoon. We can't decide between an Alaskan cruise or one of those all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. Any input is welcome.

I really like watching Scrubs reruns on late-night TV.

I watched the entire Academy Awards broadcast for the first time probably ever. It was pretty good but kind of long and boring at times. I thought the best dressed women were Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, and Reese Witherspoon. I didn't like Will Smith's double-breasted tuxedo.

The cats are playing with an empty Bud Light box right now and it's hilarious and weird.

Our apartment management people suck and I can't wait to get out of here. Our appliances are about 15 years old and starting to break down but they don't want to replace anything, just keep trying to fix it (i.e. our dishwasher). It also takes about three phone calls and a visit to the front office to get any kind of work order put through.

'Lost' isn't as good as it used to be and that makes me sad. I still can't figure out why they took such a long break over the winter. I think they lost a lot of viewers because of that. On the other hand, I love 'Medium', 'How I Met Your Mother', and 'CSI' (the original).

I really don't want to turn this into "My Wedding Blog" but wedding preparations are the most interesting things going on in my life right now.

The past few weeks have been really productive. While I was in North Carolina, we found a preacher and I got a dress. Then this past weekend I found shoes, and yesterday we bought my wedding band. It's really gorgeous - platinum band with channel-set princess-cut diamonds. It looks really great with my engagement ring. While I was there, I gave them my engagement ring to get sized down a bit, so I am without a ring right now. Maybe it's time to go out to some bars. Just kidding.

We are also about to send in the contract for the ceremony music (violin & cello), and I've found a photographer that I like. I've also been talking with a florist that I really like, and got a price list on that. So things are progressing nicely.

Other than that, I had two basketball games to cover this weekend, and we lost both of them. We're heading down to Charleston & Myrtle Beach this weekend for games and we'll be lucky to get a win down there. I know I sound negative but I prefer to think of it as realistic.

Oh, I did have some excitement Friday evening when a guy backed into my car while we were sitting at a red light. I got all his info and everything, and today I went to the Honda place to get an estimate: $750 to replace the bumper, plus the cost for renting a car for three days. I called the guy and he asked if I would mind getting another estimate at an independent body shop, so I guess I'm going to do that because I'm too nice. At this point I'm scared that he's going to try to flip on me and say that I rear-ended him.

Additionally, it has been in the 70s here over the past several days but all of a sudden it's freezing today with highs in the 40s and wind chills in the low 20s. At least it finally feels like winter.

Well, it's back to the old grind for both me and Mike this week. We drove back from N.C. to Birmingham on Thursday, and then I was supposed to leave with women's basketball for Savannah at 6 a.m. (6 a.m.!!!) on Friday. Well, I was all packed and ready to go, drove out to the school, boarded the bus, and there was barely enough room for everyone. There were 12 beds and about three couches worth of sitting space, when we had 20 people in the travel party (13 players, 2 managers, 3 coaches, 1 trainer, and me). Keep in mind that this is a nine hour drive, and after the Saturday night game, we'd be driving back all night, so pretty much everybody would want to sleep at some point. So, being the selfless person that I am, and also due to the fact that I felt like crap after being sick all week, I volunteered to stay back. I could work from home anyway. So it was a nice restful weekend at home with Mike.

The trip to N.C. was good. I got a wedding dress! It's beautiful. Now I need to find shoes and get it altered. We also ordered our cake and found a place to get flowers, although they were supposed to call me over the weekend and never did. So it was a productive holiday season.

The next big thing on my plate at this point is finishing the softball media guide. Once that's done I'm home free for a while. Except for wedding stuff, of course. What will I do with my free time once the wedding is over?

It has been a long eight days.

Last Friday (Dec. 22), Mike and I drove 2.5 hours from Birmingham to Atlanta, where we took a flight to San Francisco, where Mike's mom & stepdad picked us up and drove us another 1.5 hours to Mike's hometown, Stockton, CA. That's where we stayed for a week, including my first-ever Christmas away from my parents. It was a lot better than I thought it would be, as far as feeling like I was missing something, because we had a really good time. Mike's mom cooked some great dishes that she got recipes on from my mom, and we had In 'n Out Burger, which I love. We also got some good presents, I found a wedding dress I really like, and we went to a minor league hockey game, which was really fun. We also drank Fat Tire beer, which is delicious, and especially good because we can't get it in our area of Alabama. I think it is a West Coast/Midwest thing.

After we spent a week in Stockton, visiting with Mike's family and friends, we flew back from San Francisco to Atlanta this past Thursday (Dec. 28). We drove 2.5 hours to Augusta Thursday night, and drove the remaining several hours to my hometown, Richlands, on Friday. We're driving back to Birmingham on Thursday so we're not quite done with all the traveling yet.

Today was my Grandma Catherine's 90th birthday party, which seemed to be the event of the season. I think about 150 people showed up in all. My grandma, and my late grandfather, are both very well-known in the area, and I think I already talked about my grandma in my first blog post, about how independent she is, still lives on her own, drives on her own, etc. Anyway, it was a great party, and gave Mike a good chance to get to know that side of my family. We also talked to my dad's uncle, who is a preacher, and he agreed to marry us! He married my parents back in August 1975 so I think it will be pretty special to have him there.

We also spent last night in my parents' new house. They aren't completely moved in yet, but there are two beds and a couch so me, Mike, and Kelly (my sister) stayed there. It's going to be really, really nice when everything is done. It's really beautiful.

That brings us to now, and as of right this minute we have made plans to take my other grandma out to lunch tomorrow at Smithfield's, which is an Eastern NC BBQ chain with outstanding barbeque. We always go at least once every time we come home to NC.

That's all for now... no plans yet for New Year's Eve but I was never really hip on going out for that anyway. Overall it has been a really great first holiday with Mike. :)

Here is a picture of our new TV and TV stand:

And here is where I found PJ the other morning:

I forgot to write about it in my last post, but our most recent addition at home is this:






















As you can see, it is pretty badass. We don't have an HD cable box yet, but it's still a fantastic viewing experience, especially watching sports. Also, it's frickin huge. It didn't look huge at Best Buy but now that it's set up, it pretty much dominates the living room. We also got a free TV stand when we bought it, which weighed about 900 pounds and we had to carry it up to the third floor ourselves. And then put it together. But it's okay because like I said, it's really awesome. I'm kind of scared to see our next electric bill, though.

I'm back from Oregon, and thank god we made it. It was pretty much the worst work trip I've made so far, since I've been in this profession. It started out Friday, when we were supposed to fly from Birmingham to Chicago at 7:25 a.m. But as you may or may not know, Chicago had a snowstorm on Friday. And since Chicago is one of the biggest airport hubs in the country, if not the biggest, then the storm was affecting pretty much every flight on Friday. We ended up getting re-routed through Tampa (yes, we flew east on our way to Oregon), and we left for Tampa at 11:30 a.m., four hours after we were supposed to have departed for Chicago. All the flights out of Tampa were also on a multi-hour delay and we left Tampa at 5:30 p.m., made a short stopover in Albuquerque, and then landed in Portland at about 10 p.m. Pacific Time. We rented three 12-passenger vans (one of which I had to drive) and got to the hotel in Corvallis at 1 a.m. Pacific, which felt like 3 a.m. to us. We'd almost traveled for 24 hours. Not to mention the drive from Portland to Corvallis was sort of windy & very foggy. Not fun.

Saturday was okay. We got to sleep in, and ate at a Mexican joint for lunch, then had practice from 7-9 p.m. Sunday was awful. We got up early for a 9 a.m. shoot-around, and got demolished by Oregon State, 82-39. OSU led 20-0 before we even scored a basket. It was really not cool.

Monday was okay, although we ran late the whole time and I was really afraid we'd miss our flight. And considering we were on the last flight into Birmingham, if we missed it, we'd be spending the night somewhere. But we made it, and landed in B'ham about 11:30 p.m. Monday night, and boy was it great to be home. Oregon was beautiful but the trip really wasn't very well planned. There was so much fun stuff we could have done if it was better organized. But what's done is done.

Well, we ended up not doing jack-o-lanterns. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was waiting to hear about that. :) What else has been going on...

Thanksgiving was good. We drove out to NC on Tuesday, arrived in Richlands around 7:30 p.m. then had to leave Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. so I could get back and cover a women's basketball tournament we were hosting here. The food was great, of course, and my mom sent tons of pie home with us. It wasn't the same Thanksgiving I'm used to, though: my aunt & uncle recently separated. They have been married 19 years - I was a flower girl in their wedding. So it was really strange not having him around, and my aunt is really struggling with all of it. On the bright side, she recently won a brand new truck from the United Way, which is really nice.

I'm going to Oregon this weekend with basketball. That should be fun. And when I say fun, I mean it's a really effing long trip for one game.

I found some wedding dresses that I really like, but I still want to try more on. I also found bridesmaid outfits that I like. I feel cheesy when I talk too much about this stuff, though, so I figure if anybody wants to know more details, they can just ask.

We are going to go after Christmas and have a cake tasting! I am really excited about this. FREE CAKE!

For the first time ever I am not spending Christmas with my family. Instead we are going out to CA to be with Mike's family. I'm excited about it but I get sad when I think about not getting to see everyone at home. Fortunately, we're going back to NC on Dec. 29th for my Grandma Catherine's 90th birthday party on the 30th so I'll get to see everyone then. Yep, she's 90 and still going strong, I hope I got those genes.

Uhhh... what else... the cats are still hilarious. McKenzie had a milestone the other morning when she came and laid down on my chest/stomach while I was in bed. That was the first time she'd ever done that. Of course it was 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning but she's so cute I didn't get mad. P.J. is still as crazy and bitchy and demanding as ever.

I have a new office mate at work. She is our new women's lacrosse coach. I never thought I'd get excited about lacrosse but she's really cool and now we finally have another couple to hang out with.

That's about it. Hopefully I'll have more to write about so it won't be so long between updates next time. My life is truly kind of boring, though.

Mike already wrote about the Duke-Alabama football game on Saturday but I figured I'd mention it here. It was pretty bad. Well, not overall. First of all we had to park in a field and hike through a ditch to get to the sidewalk. That was fun. But the tailgating was cool. The food was pretty good and there was a TV with a satellite dish set up to watch other games that were on, and of course beer. Then we walked over to the stadium, which is pretty amazing. Our seats were in part of the new section and we had an awesome view. The people around us were nice, too, except for a punk kid behind us who was mad when Duke was winning and told us to shut up and "F*** Duke". Very original... maybe he's from Maryland? They love that phrase up there. Anyway, like Mike said, it was pretty painful to watch. At first I was really excited because I thought we might actually win. I mean, both teams were playing pretty badly, and Duke was actually up for a while, and then was only down by two until the fourth quarter. But after that they did some even more boneheaded stuff and Alabama took a bigger lead. Now I realize why I don't follow Duke football on a regular basis - it would drive me nuts.

We finally sent out the Save the Date magnets on Saturday, which is exciting because now it's like it's really going to happen. I'm going to have a husband. That is so weird. We finished up our gift registry at Bed Bath & Beyond on Sunday. Man, that was fun. I think we may also register at Pier 1 Imports but I'm not sure yet. We also decided not to do the whole fine china/crystal stemware thing after talking to several people who say they never use theirs. The pattern we picked out is really beautiful and I would love to have it but I don't think it is worth it. We picked out some nice everyday stuff that will be just as good and we can run it in the dishwasher.

I can't believe October is here and basketball season is approaching quickly. It seems like it was just summer, we just got engaged, I just had my birthday... but that was three months ago. On the bright side, I love fall. It was so nice at the game Saturday night to be able to put on a sweatshirt and be comfortable, even a bit chilly. And the holidays are probably my favorite time of year. We're going to carve a Jack-o-lantern this year, which I've never done before. My mom always bought pumpkins but we never carved them, they just sat out as pumpkins with corn stalks and Indian corn and stuff as a display. So this will be very exciting for me to do a real Jack-o-lantern. We're also planning on going to Richlands for Thanksgiving which is always a good time with all the food, and then going to Stockton for Christmas, then back to Richlands for my grandma's 90th birthday party. Fun times all around.

When I started this blog I really didn't want to become one of those once-a-month (or less often) updaters, but I guess that's what I am. :( Even Mike posts more than I do. Maybe it's because I don't really have much to talk about, or at least not much that's interesting.

Work is still work. We have a volleyball tournament this weekend. Wedding planning has sort of ground to a halt. We did book the deejay, so now we've got ceremony location, reception location, and deejay, but that's it. This weekend we HAVE to order our Save-the-Date cards. Have to. We've been meaning to do it for like a month now.

What else... we stopped by a pet shop last night (beside the restaurant where we were going to dinner) and they had kittens. I really wanted to get one. They also had a kitten and a ferret running around in the store, and they were playing with each other. I don't know why I found that so amusing, but even thinking about it now makes me smile. Of course they had tons of expensive puppies, too. They had some sort of Beagle mixes (supposed to be Puggles but I don't think they were) that were SO adorable. But no way am I buying any animals from a pet store, I just think that's wrong when so many animals are up for adoption through local rescue organizations.

I got sick earlier this week with a bad cold. It was not the right week to get sick. Tuesday we had a volleyball match that I couldn't miss, and then I pulled half-days on Wednesday and Thursday because there was so much to do to get ready for this weekend's events. Now I'm feeling better but my ears are messed up. They keep popping and making me dizzy, it's weird.

See, I told you I didn't have much interesting to write about. :)

It's back to the old grind for me... volleyball & women's soccer officially start up this weekend. Soccer is on the road but volleyball is hosting a mini tournament here on Saturday. I can't wait. This year is going to be better, though, because I got a raise! Unfortunately it was a result of my boss leaving, so now there are only two of us full-time in my department, but since we're going D3 after this year it means less work for us (if I'm still around after this year). Also since we're not fielding men's basketball or baseball teams this year that's a LOT less work for us (those are probably our two biggest/most popular sports). However we are adding indoor & outdoor track & field as well as women's lacrosse starting next year, as well as the monster that is football, so things should get pretty interesting come this spring.

Wedding stuff is going pretty well. We officially booked the ceremony & reception venues and we're about to book a deejay for the reception, so I think things are rolling along nicely, considering we're still 10 months out. We've also pretty much finalized the guest list (maybe a few more cuts), which was really painful for both of us. Well, at least for me it was. Our original list was massive - almost 200 people - which was unacceptabled considering we'd chosen our venues (and set our budget) with 75 guests in mind. So I adopted the mentality of "If I haven't spoken to you in person or on the phone since college, you don't make the cut." It sucks because that meant a good portion of my friends had to go, but oh well. My family is so huge that there will still be plenty of people there that I love. And from everything I've read, your weddings guests should be the people who are important in your life *now*, not five years ago. So that made me feel better. Plus we're going to have hometown receptions afterward which non-guests will be able to attend if they choose.

Other than work & wedding stuff there isn't much going on. Mike started back with his kids almost two weeks ago and it seems to be going pretty well for him. His schedule is MUCH better than last year, plus he has his own room this year, which is awesome. He also got a raise this year which means we're bringing in decent money as a household now. Too bad most of the extra will go to the wedding/honeymoon. I hope it's worth it. :)

The kitties still make me laugh every day. The other day I came home early and was just hanging out until Mike got home a couple hours later, which is when I realized I hadn't seen PJ at all since I'd gotten home. So we started looking for her, under the beds and whatnot, and I was starting to get worried because we couldn't find her. I was having visions of apartment maintenance coming in to fix something or spray for bugs and her darting out the door. That was until Mike opened his closet and she was in there. We have no idea how she got in there. Even if the door wasn't latched when we left, she would have had to pull it open, and then there would have had to been enough pressure for it to latch. It was funny because she ran straight to the litterbox when we let her out, and she hadn't used the bathroom in the closet which was good. I have no idea how long she was trapped in there but we came up with the theory that the other cat did it.

That's all for now. I wish it would cool down so our electric bill wouldn't keep going up every month. Stupid global warming.