Things I Never Said Before We Had a Dog

I have noticed lately that I speak to our 1 year old Dachshund as if he can understand exactly what I am saying. I tend to ask a lot of ridiculous questions. I think this is just a sample of what it is going to be like when darling husband and I have kids. I wanted to share a few of my best questions and ridiculous statements from the last few days with you because frankly, I'm crazy and I think it's funny. :)

"Stop eating the toilet paper!"

"Did you steal my sock? Is it under the bed or under the couch? Or the table? Is it under the table?"(spoken while crawling around on my hands and knees in my work uniform)

"You can't have any of my banana because you already had too much cheese today, plus all that grass."

"Did you pee? DID you PEE?! YAYYYYY!!!" (this one was at the top of my lungs after we got back from a very long, annoying walk)

"No thank you! Private time!" (said while in the restroom and Archie was scratching at the door to get in)

And from my lovely husband...
"You're my favorite little poopface, you know that?" 

Too Cute Not To Share

I spent a good chunk of today taking and editing pictures just to get some practice. Luckily for me I had a willing model waiting in my living room! The amount of pictures I have of this puppy is borderline ridiculous :)

Woah!!

I can not believe that I didn't post anything for the entire month of March! I guess that just goes to show how busy we have been lately. I'll just put a few highlights for now, but will DEFINITELY start updating more often.

*I have finally purchased my first "professional" camera. Ethan and I have been discussing it forever and since we had a little surplus money these past few weeks we decided that we should just go ahead and buy it. I've been having fun playing around with it and taking pictures of ridiculous things, but I'm ready to start practicing on people now. I have some "photo shoots" set up with some of my friends and family so I just need to get going!
*I am still working on my weight-loss goals. I'm holding steady at 18 pounds gone and I have renewed my motivation this week to get to that 30 pound goal! I have begun working out again and I have to say it really helps me to re-focus and work toward my healthier me.
*This weekend Ethan and I are heading to the Keeneland horse races in Kentucky. I have never been to a horse race before and I am really looking forward to it. We are taking a bus down with a bunch of E's friends and then going out to dinner afterward so it should be an amazing day! I just need to remember to get some pictures while Ethan and I are dressed up :)

That's all I can think of for right now so until next time!

Great Expectations

In addition to being the book that I am currently reading (as part of my New Year's Resolution), this phrase has really started to describe my life recently. I am actively pursuing a few different endeavors and so far my most successful one is working to lose 30 pounds by my first wedding anniversary. I am ecstatic about my progress so far (I'm less than a pound away from losing 5% of my starting weight!) and this experience is really proving to me that I CAN accomplish my goals if I really put forth the effort. I have a bunch of little projects going on right now and I am so optimistic about my ability to get them all done!

My current projects:
-Finish organizing and turning our spare bedroom into a home office/guest room
-Finish my wedding scrapbook (that I have been working on since waaaay before we even got married!)
-Work on my reading list
-Buy a camera and secure an internship so I can finally quit waitressing
-Complete my Daily Challenge each day

I have a lot more going on, but these are my goals that actually have a tangible result :) I'm going to keep working on these and all other projects that come my way so I can be as proud of my progress as I am of my weight loss!

My Book List

Okay, I think I've finally decided on the list of books that I will read this year! I will keep this list as a reminder, but I may end up substituting some of them for other titles during the course of the year (this is what happens when you come from a family of people who are all as obsessed with reading as you are- you get stacks of free books!).

My List (For Now)
1) "Emma" by Jane Austen (I'm currently reading this so I added it)
2) "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
3) "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larrson
4) "Frida" by Kahlo
5) "Michael Jackson: A Life in Music" by Geoff Brown
6) "I'm Not the New Me" by Wendy McClure
7) "Eight Cousins" by Louisa May Alcott
8) "Planting Dandelions" by Kyran Pittman
9) "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
10) "Why Do Catholics Do That?" by Kevin Orlin Johnson
11) "The Miracle of Saint Anthony" by Adrian Wojnarowski
12) "Lucky Man" by Michael J Fox
13) "The Fallback Plan" by Leigh Stein
This is as far as I have gotten... if anyone has any good books I can add please let me know! :)

2012- The Year of Actually Keeping My Resolutions :)

So every year I make a New Year's resolution. Usually I try to keep them very vague so that I'm not disappointed if I end up breaking them (eat better, walk more, read more, etc.). Not this year though! I have made two resolutions this year that I plan on keeping.

1) Lose thirty pounds by June 4th. This will be my one-year wedding anniversary. I want to be more energetic, have less stress about my clothing not fitting, and just be healthier! On January 1st I joined Weight Watchers online and I am already working towards my goal. I will be weighing in every Sunday morning so I'll update on my successes(or lack thereof).
2) Read twenty-five books. I find myself spending a lot of time staring at the tv and not really getting anything productive out of it. My plan is to make a list of the twenty-five books that I have always wanted to read and then work towards accomplishing this goal. I have the time to read and I should do it now as a stress-reliever instead of wasting time watching reality tv shows. I will make my list some time in the next few days and post it here.

These are my resolutions and I am excited to say at this time next year- goals accomplished!

I Won!

After much asking and begging and bargaining with my darling husband, I have finally gotten him to cave! I have been wanting to put up our Christmas decorations for WEEKS now and he was being very stern about the fact that decorations are not to be put up until the first day of December. I, on the other hand, have always thought that the day after Thanksgiving was the Day of Decorating. That's how it always was in my family and I always loved that the holidays just moved right from one to the other this way.

To cut a long story short, after a very unfortunate (for him) instance of him needing me to scratch his back and me threatening never to do it, we are now going to be putting up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving! I am so happy! I have been picking up some random things for the house over the last few weeks and now I finally get to put them to use. I can not wait! I work 9am to 8pm the day after Thanksgiving, but no matter what I WILL have Christmas decorations up in our house by the time the day is over :)

Growing up in my family, my parents had a tradition of buying my sisters and I a new ornament each year. Our tree always looked a little crazy with all of our different choices but I loved it and I plan to continue that tradition with my own family. This year Ethan picked a few ornaments because he didn't have as many as I did and I bought my pick last week. (Click on the links to see pictures of our ornaments!) 

Music Memories

Today I have been thinking about a lot of songs that remind me of times in my life. It started this morning when I was in church and the song "You Are Mine" started playing. This song always make me remember my Granny D who passed away last February, but it also reminds me of my wedding day because we had this song as part of our ceremony. So I guess this is a very bittersweet song for me :)

I love music very much and I tend to associate music with a lot of memories. For instance, when I first started dating my husband three years ago I found a song by my absolute favorite band that would always make me think of him and it still does whenever I hear it today. The song was never very popular but I still love it and feel like it describes him perfectly... it's "Bliss" by Muse and I love it! WARNING: the video is weird and is NOT part of my association with my husband :)

I have other songs that make me think of my sisters and best friends. Erasure's "Take a Chance On Me" reminds me of my oldest sister Amy and the times that we sang this in the car when I was a kid. Pretty much any Madonna song reminds me of my sister Julie, especially "Like a Prayer" and Lauren will always be associated with anything Disney or Lion King-related :)

What songs remind you of other people? Are they funny memories or serious?

New People, New Places

It seems so strange that E and I have only been married for a month. Not even a month yet! It feels as if this is how it has always been... us going grocery shopping together, taking turns loading the dishwasher, doing each other's laundry, coming home to be with each other. I love my new normal :)

This past week I started my new job. I call it my new job, but really it is the same job I have been doing for the past five years, just relocated to a new building and with brand new co-workers that I do not know yet. I actually do find myself liking it though! It's not where I want to work forever, but the transition has been so much more easier than I was anticipating.

A week before I left my old store, I had a conversation with one of my managers who had just started in her new workplace. She told me that the first day is always hard, but if you let people see your true personality right away it gets much easier. I am generally a shy person when I first meet new people(especially in a new place where I know only one person) but I took her advice seriously and it really worked wonderfully! I haven't necessarily made any new best friends yet, but I am definitely comfortable talking to everyone and I think I might had made a good impression. We'll just see what happens :)

Wow! I Own a Lot of Junk!

So today I am dedicating myself to finally finishing the packing that I started last week. Friday is the big move in day for me, so I think it might be best if the things that are supposed to be moved were actually IN boxes rather than scattered around my parents' house like they are now(I know the people who are helping me move will appreciate this). :)

I actually don't mind packing because it means that I am going somewhere and I am that much closer to living with my soon-to-be husband. It's the sorting out part that I'm not so fond of. I am a notorious pack rat and it's hard for me to get rid of things that have or had an emotional attachment for me. HOWEVER, this week I have realized that since we are combining two lives in a matter of a few days, I absolutely CAN NOT move all of the crap that I've accumulated over the past 24 years.

I am now proud to say that I have filled not one, not two, but FIVE boxes full of things to either be donated or sold at a garage sale. I have also thrown away almost three trash bags of things that I (at some point) had some connection with, but I've had them for so long that I don't remember what the connection was!

I think I've finally broken the pack rat curse!

Patience is a Virtue

I never realized just how stressful these last two weeks of May were going to be. E and I are now only TWO WEEKS  away from our wedding, I am meeting with my new manager this coming Monday to talk about my transferring to a new store, I am trying to get everything packed and ready to move by next Friday, and there's that pesky final that I should be studying for, but have not yet begun to do so. Phew!

I have never and will never be mistaken for a patient person. I am the girl who expects a response to my text message within 2-3 minutes of me sending it. I hate waiting in lines, I absolutely can not stand waiting for people at restaurants, and I want to kill whoever coined the term "fashionably late".

However, I feel as if I am getting better at this whole patience thing... mostly because I have been forced to. Things do not always get taken care of right away in the world of wedding planning. I have been trying not to get too stressed out over the tiny details of every single aspect of the wedding, mostly because I am not usually so OCD and I don't like that I have become this way. I like to be laid back, but only as long as things are getting done. I know, I contradict myself. I can't help it.

So now I have decided that this is the weekend of taking it easy... partially because I have an upper respiratory infection (for which I blame this dang wedding) and partially because I need to relax and not be such a crazy person for a few days. Ahhhhhhhhh. It does feel better already! :)