A new addition to the family!

Continue to read before jumping to any conclusions just yet. As I suspected in my last blog, I am getting my way in some fashion. As much as I would love a brand spanking new sewing machine, I am getting the next best thing, my mother's "gently used" one. I seem to remember buying this with her when I was probably in intermediate school and we went to the tutorial class to learn the basics of how to use it and I never think it got used again. Now, instead of making things like clothes and stuff (which I can't picture myself doing yet) I would like to start with simple things like dishtowels and bags or something to that effect. It can't be that hard right?

This weekend was Kristen's 30th birthday! I wanted to do something a little special and as much as I would have loved to plan another BBQ like we just did last weekend for Steve's birthday, the weather was crappy and I honestly didn't have all that much energy to pull it off again. So, we took her to Jackson's in Reston with Lisa Ryan and then we went to Brion's Grille for late night drinks. Tiffany joined us and we all crashed at our townhouse (pictures of the new place will be posted soon) and met my dad back at Brion's for lunch on Saturday. He came back to see the townhouse and we hung out there until he left and we went to bed soon after. Sunday, we cleaned up and recovered from the long bur fun birthday bash.

This week is going to be a busy one. Tonight, we are meeting the new DJ since the other DJ cancelled. Tomorrow, we are meeting with our wedding planner, Wednesday is my new pole dancing class and this weekend I'll be going down to the lake to see my mom, grandma and my new sewing machine! I'm sure that will be followed by a trip to Michael's or A.C.Moore. I'm thinking that the picture below might be my first craft. I may make one for each of my bridesmaids if I get really anxious.

Stay tuned for pictures of my new creations....

I have to do better...

This week I have literally been obsessed with reading blogs. In particular, one that I randomly came across. Many people follow her blog because she is a Christian, married, mother of 3 children under the age of 4 years old and is so creative and is always doing crafts that turn out so cute that I never would have thought of. She's cheap yet stylish, has funny stories about her kids and every once in awhile offers up a great idea for a recipe. I seriously want to take up some of the hobbies that she does and only wish I could be as creative as her. And, besides all of that, her children are ridiculously cute. She posts all the time so not only did it take me forever to read all about her but I feel like I know her after reading up on the past two years of her life and she inspires me to do more with my life because she has done so much with hers. So, I am vowing to take more pictures (even of meaningless things since those tend to somtimes be the most meaningful) and post more. She is one chick that has it together for real! However, I don't have pictures on my work computer so I'm going to have to start this at home since pictures always make a blog much more intersting, right?

Now, all I have to do is see if Steve will let me go buy a sewing machine since we have a joint bank account now. Or, maybe my fabulous mother will let me have hers that she doesn't use????? Stay tuned...

Valentine's Day & GMU Homecoming Weekend!

Friday was Steve and my Valentine's Day dinner a day early since Saturday was going to be a long day of drinking for Mason's Homecoming party at Brion's Grille. He kept the location a surprise and ended up taking me to Reston Town Center to McCormick & Schmick's. We got caesar salad, bacon wrapped filet, mashed potatoes, a vegetable and chocolate covered heart shaped red velvet cake all for only $30 a person. We also added to that pot roast nachos and a bottle of wine and left STUFFED! It was a good time and then we met Jamie, Kiser, Jere, and 2 of Jamie's friends at Martini Bar after a lot of persuading on Kiser and Jere's part. We were too full to go out but went for about an hour to say hi and then went back home. Before we left for dinner we had swung by 2 townhouses to possibly rent. I wasn't crazy about either of them from their pictures online but we wanted to see them anyway because we need to move out by March 15th. The first townhouse was about a mile from our apartment down Braddock and I did not get a homey feel from it. The only thing I did like was that it had a doggy door but that even walked out onto the patio where there was no grass for Onyx so we'd still have to take her out on a leash to grass. Anyway, he said that he was deciding tonight on tenants because he had a few applications already. I'm not sure if that was a lie or not but it wasn't helping in persuading us to fill out an application for it. So, we left there and went to meet another realtor at another townhouse across the street from where we are now. It was listed for only $1600 a month which is on the cheaper end of what people are posting these things for right now. I thought this townhouse would be worse than the first one because it had been listed since December and no takers, they had decreased the price, and they now were allowing dogs. And, the pictures online weren't great for this one either. So, we went there and it reminded me a lot of my old townhouse that I owned. It was cute, homey and had an awesome backyard and deck that walked down to the backyard which is rare for a townhouse. And, it's an end unit so the backyard is really big. So, we decided to put an application on the house and apprently the owners are thrilled. We're just waiting for the Property Management company to go through our credit checks and applications...yikes! Hopefully, if all goes well, we are moving in on February 28th. The same day as my pole dancing class!

Saturday day AND night at Brion's was a good time. I dont' need to drink that much again for a long time though. It was kind of like a block party where they had a tent in the parking lot and bands and the game on. So, when Sunday arrived, we definitely didn't do much besides eat brunch and pick up Steve's car. Now, with moving and the last 2 months of the wedding planning, my weekends are going to be very full. My bachelorette party is April 10th-13th and I don't know where they are taking me. I have a few ideas but no ones spilled the beans yet. We're meeting with Stacey this Thursday to go over what we need to be working on with the wedding for this month. Now, it's starting to get expensive. And, we are sending out the invitations in 2 weeks at the latest. I'm going to be stressed about that I'm sure!

this is outside behind the tent at Brion's grill. By the bar of course!

A normal picture still at the tent

Back at Brion's at night. I like this one case I look skinnier!

Steve being silly...

My favorite girl picture inside

Again, I look ridiculous, but skinnier than usual

I Love Fun Weekends!

This weekend was another great one! I started out on Thursday by having a "family reunion" dinner at Chipotle in Arlington with my old co-workers and I. Only Shannon didn't make it this time. Usually, it's most difficult for me since I live in Centreville an most other people live in either Arlington or DC. So, usually it's not what I'm most in the mood for on a week night but once I get there I'm glad I'm there to catch up with them.

Friday, a bunch of us went to Velocity 5 in Falls Church. The only bummer about that was that I put the entire tab on my card and they charged me twice!!! Grrrrrr....I'm going to have to take that one up with the bank since it was $175! It was a pretty fun night though and we got home safe and sound. I woke up Saturday and had to make it to my hair appointment. I went lighter than I have been for the wedding. It was an expensive $400 hair appointment. I will probably not be going there too much longer after the wedding when I don't care so much how my hair looks. After I got my hair done, Steve, his friend Kiser and Kristen and I met my dad up at Brion's Grille for lunch and drinks. That was also a great time. My dad is nuts and says the most inapprpriate things at the most inapprpriate times but if you can understand that that is just him, then you'll learn to see the humor in it. From there, we went back to our apartment (minus pops) and Kiser's fiance Jamie came over with their dog Johnny. He's a little pug and really cute. I'm usually not very keen on pugs but this one is a cute one. Sunday, since it was going to be in the 60's, we decided to go play golf (Kiser, Jamie, Steve and I). I felt like for not having been golfing since the fall and still being very new to the sport, I did decent (for me at least). I want to learn to get good and be able to play with other people that I wouldn't be embarrassed around.

So, we are now 87 days out from the wedding and I'm realizing how many more details we have to plan like Steve's wedding band, our honeymoon, and smaller details that I thought would be easy. I took a break since Vegas on going to the gym and now I'm trying to get back on the ball with it. I went last night to a spinning class with Jamie and I brought clothes today to work to go to the gym right from work but I am just not feeling like going. I will though! I've been getting compliments and it is all worth the effort. I just feel like I want to eat a big greasy cheeseburger right now...

Superbowl Festivities...

Last weekend was a fun one! Friday, Steve and I went with our friend Nisa to Velocity 5 which is the new hangout place in Falls Church. It's kind of far to get to but it is a pretty cool bar. It's very big so you don't feel cramped and they have a DJ and tv's everywhere. Friday was a blast and I did take some pictures...coming soon. I love hanging out with Nisa because when Steve comes he always seems to run into his friends from high school too so I don't feel like he's bored all night.

Saturday, was a day of recovery and cleaning. We were prepping our apartment for our mini Super Bowl party. A lot of my friends went to Velocity 5 and Steve and I decided to have a few people over at our place and I cooked food. I was actually really proud of "my spread". I went to Party City and got Steelers and Cardinals balloons and plates, napkins and made slow cooker BBQ pork sandwiches, spinach and artichoke dip and stromboli! We also had tons of chips and dips. Kristen and Jose brought some type of corned beef dip in a bread bowl, coleslaw, potato salad and macaroni salad. And, the amount of beer we have left over is actually sickening. It was a lot of fun and a GREAT game. I was pulling for the Cardinals since they haven't won a Super Bowl yet and was kindo f disappointed when the Steelers won but it was still such a good game until the very end.

Here are a few pictures form Super Bowl from Kristen's camera. I'll post mine soon!

What the spread looked like before the food came out!

The group minus me and Kristen

Me going outside

Awww, Hoe, Onyx and Kristen

Hoe and Kristen

Hoe and Onyx

Work, Gym, Repeat...

This month has been pretty uneventful until last week. Megan came into town the week of the 5th so that was fun to see her. We went to Ned Devine's in Herndon her first night in and had drinks with Kristen and then I saw her that Friday at Kristen's apartment and Brion's where it was a little crazier. I also ended up sick with a ton of congestion and was so tired and had the chills during the week she was here so I stayed home from work for two days, yay!

That weekend we reserved our rehearsal dinner location which will be at the American Tap Room in Gainesville, VA and stopped by Cold Stone Creamery with Tiff and got ice cream. I LOVE there cake batter ice cream, it's ridiculous!

Clearly nothing happened the following week since nothing comes to mind. We met with mny wedding planner that weekend at Cold Stone Creamery to figure out what to order for our ice cream wedding cake!! I'm really excited about it.

Steve and I need to move out of our apartment when our lease ends on March 31st so we've also been busy looking at townhouses to move into. I need a bigger kitchen and more space in general for us and our 80 pound dog. I saw a townhouse for rent behind Tiffany and Jessica's townouse and just spoke with the girl that owns the house to see if it might be a possibility. She doesn't sound crazy about us having a dog since her house is mostly hard wood floors but we are going to check it out this Thursday evening.

The 18th to the 22nd Steve and I went to Vegas for my dad's last convention (tear!). It was a great time since Kim and Chris went also. We saw the Beatles Love show which is a Cirque de Soleil show and it was okay but you have to LOVE the Beatles. No pun intended. We went to his retirement party the first night we were there and listened to some speeched for my dad and my dad even gave one himself. Then, they brought out the midget Elvis' which was awesome and so funny. Monday we went to the Beatles show and gambled during the day. Tuesday was my dad's Opening Ceremonies and Chris, Steve and I had stayed up ALL night the night before so I was half asleep. Steve and I slept all afternoon after that was over and then went to Margaritaville with Kim for dinner and went back to bed. Wednesday was our last real day there because we left Thursday morning and we gambled during the day and checked out The Wynn hotel (wasn't too impressed) and then went to the Spike Party at night where they had a Jimmy Buffet impersonator and then the Beach Boys. That was probably my favorite night there. It was too fun! We had a couple mishaps over the trip starting when Steve booked our flights out of National airport and we didn't know until we were at Dulles that morning. By some miracle we still managed to make our flight out of National Airport. And, on the way home, Steve had forgotten our backpack with his new iPod Touch, our relatively new video recorder and his work Blackberry. The cab driver somehow (I still don't know how) found it and found Steve's cell phone number, called him and we got it back before getting on our flight. Then, two days after we were home I realized that I had taken two $100 chips from Steve when he wasn't looking and pocketed them so I could surprise him later when I thought he would be down at the tables. Well....I managed to totally forget about them and forgot to cash them in. Oops! Oh well, things could have been worse. Steve ended up winning $400 without my $200 that I forgot about and I ended up down a little but it was still a great time. I also won a probably $200 drill from the Lowe's exhibit!

This week has been very uneventful. I need to motivate to go back to the gym again and start eating better again since I fed me face and drank a lot in Vegas.
Only just over three months until the big day! It's getting so close and I feel so unprepared! I need to work on that too!

Until next time, here are some pictures...

Jere and I on New Year's...

Kristen and I on New Year's

Awww, Stevie and I's New Year's Kiss...

Megan's first night back at Bungalow's

Former roomies!

Kristen's apartment before Brion's pre-gaming

When I finally got to Brion's after feeling like I was dying from the flu...

Typical Megan, Jenny and Kristen nights...

Beer Pong at O'Shea's when we first arrived in Vegas


Dad's Retirement Party

During Dad's Speech

After the speeches the midgets came out!

Before the Spike Party at Caesar's Palace

At the Jimmy Buffett cover band before The Beach Boys!!

Took me forEVER to get a picture with him!

His favorite daughter is on the right

The once a month blogger I'm becoming...

I don't know how I've consistently forgotten to post. I think it may be that with the holidays coming and going, I've had more things to do online than post a blog....like online Christmas shopping. Online Christmas shopping just might be my new way to do ALL of my Christmas shopping. It's even great when I buy for Steve because I can just have it delivered to my office. It was very stress-free except for the money being spent.

The holidays have come and gone and it was fun and now I have three full months until our next company observed day off which is Memorial Day. I am actually getting married before our next company holiday which seems crazy to me. Only 4 more months!!!!

Now, all we have to do is book the transportation, tuxes, cake and final details. Oh, and try to make some payments before they are all due at once.

I'd post some new pictures but they will have to wait until next time when I am not about to walk out the door to meet Megan who is in town! We are going to happy hour at Ned's in Herndon with Kristen and Tiffany.

On a side note, I joined Lifetime Fitness (a gym) in Ccenteville at the end of December right before Steve and I went to Raleigh. We have actually been doing pretty decent in getting our butts there considering that it's hard to make it to the gym during the holidays. We even went on New Year's Eve before going out!! Who does that? So, this week we are trying to make it at least Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully more but that is the minimum.