Lots of bad news and a few good things!

Not much has happened in the past two weeks since my last post except for a lot of bad news. My grandfather is not doing well and my mom has been visiting him and my grandmother to help take care of them. They are now having hospice come to help (which I think is a great idea). It stinks that I have no vacation and can't get up there to help but at least she doesn't work so she can be there.

On another sad note, my old co-worker, Sarah's, father just died last Thursday. Some of my other co-workers and I stopped by her parents house on Saturday afternoon with coolers of drinks, celebrity magazines and cards and sat with her for about an hour. I plan on going to the viewing tomorrow but will probably miss the funeral on Wednesday.

On ANOTHER sad note, I got a call this morning from Tiffany and our friend Mike Hayes just had a heart attack either this morning or last night. He is currently in surgery to have a stint put in place and to see if he'll need any other surgeries. Hopefully, this all will go well for him. It's kind of scary to think that I'm at the age where heart atacks, although rare, are possible.

And, finally, on an EXCITING note, Steve's friend, Adam from Atlanta is visiting us this weekend. We'll pick him up from the airport on Thursday and he leaves on Monday. Steve and I will be going to his 10 year high school reunion on Saturday and most likely staying in a hotel in Springfield. And, Sunday, I'm planning on going horseback riding with my friend, Lisa, and some other people. I'm excited for that but not excited to miss out on some of the football games that day. Oh well, there's always highlights if anything that exciting happens.

And, on another good note, we got access to the website which holds our engagement pictures. I like a lot of them and don't like a lot of them but we have a lot to choose from and we already have our Save the Dates designed thanks to Steve. One day this week or next, we'll have to go into his office and print them all out to get them sent out by 2 weeks from now.

So, that's about it as far as anything new. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some pictures up here from when Adam visits this weekend.

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

It always seems like when we have a busy weekend, most of the busyness is always falling on the same day or time frame. This weekend was definitely one of those. Friday we had nothing to do, so we ended up meeting Nate (Steve's friend), Kristen and Jose up at Coastal Flat's. We ran into some old friends, Nate and Boone and stayed up there for a little while and then went back to our apartment where Nate came back and we played the Wii for hours.

Saturday is where all the time juggling went and I didn't manage it too successfully. We were supposed to go to Grandma Charlotte's house and help with yard work and then I needed to get a bridal shower present for Jessica and rush to her shower in Leesburg at a winery. There was also some Bull Run Beer Festival and my boss had a Liberian prenuptual cookout. It ended up raining so many of the things didn't seem like they were going to happen. The Bull Run plan was definitely off and I had already decided that I wouldn't be able to make it to my boss' party. We were supposed to be at his grandma's house by 9am but we didn't make it until 10am and got right to work. We finished up that by 12pm and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond where I thought my friend was registered but it turned out that she wasn't so I had to face the dreaded mall on a Saturday afternoon. After running around while Steve and Onyx sat in the car waiting for me in the mall I ended up leaving Williams and Sonoma with a bar shaker and a bottle opener which cost me about $80. That place is expensive! I decided that by the time I took a shower and tried to find this winery out in Leesburg, the party would be over. So, I watched the season premier of Grey's Anatomy that I DVR'd and took a nap and then met my friends at the bar next to our apartment. Steve stayed home (wisely) and slept.

Sunday, we went to my boss' wedding. It was very interesting to say the least. Cathy (her boss), Steve, Cathy's husband and I were easily the only white people there. It was fun though and cool to see other cultural wedding traditions. We went to the reception and left pretty early because we all had to work the next morning.

Nothing much has been happening this week. We met with our wedding officiant last night and liked him. We pretty much design your own ceremony with him. He gave us a packet and we pick out the parts and readings that we want included. I actually just emailed him to officially reserve him for our date.

Tonight, we are meeting one last time briefly with the photographer that we like so that she can include the album that we like in our wedding package. And, I emailed our wedding planner to go ahead and book the ceremony muscians.

So now, we have the following officially booked (or at least lined up):

*Ceremony & Reception Venue

*Photographer

*Officiant

*Ceremony Musicians

*My dress

We still need to book these pretty quickly:

*Reception Band or DJ

*Flowers

*Cake

*Transportation

*Bridesmaids Dresses

*Tuxes

Other than that, I think the rest is minor details like decorations, hair and makeup, etc...

I feel like I'm accomplishing things....and draining my wallet.

Here are some photos from my boss, Facia's wedding (we didn't take many and these aren't even from my camera):

This is my boss' boss, Cathy and her husband Bob:

Steve and I:

Facia (my boss):

Their first dance:

The butterfly release that the did (but it's a great picture of the head dresses they wore there):

More Wedding Stuff and Finally a Weekend!

Nothing much new going on. We met with another photographer from Dolphin Dance Photography and she was EXPENSIVE. She was about $1600 more than the last one we met with and I didn't think her stuff was as good of quality and her packages didn't include as much I didn't think. I think we have decided to go with Cynthia and hopefully we can do our engagement session in the next couple of weeks. This weekend we have a lot of things to do and unfortunately they all fall during Saturday day so I can't do everything I want to do. Tonight, I am running errands after work and then Tiffany and I will probably go to David's Bridal and check out their bridesmaid dresses. If I don't like any there, then I'm settling on the original ones from Bobbie's Bridal in some shade of green. Tomorrow, Steve and I have to go to Grandma Charlotte's house and help with yard work at about 9am and hopefully we'll be done in time for me to make it to my friend, Jessica's, bridal shower which is at a winery in Leesburg. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and Steve is supposed to be going to Bull Run for some beer fest. My boss is also having her Liberian cookout pre-wedding thing which we won't be able to make it to but it will still be unfortunate if it rains all day. And, finally, Sunday afternoon we'll be attending my boss' wedding in Maryland. So, by the time next week starts Ill probably be tired from the weekend and ready for another one. But, hopefully I'll have some new pictures to post!

Say Cheese!

Steve and I met with our first potential photographer last night and it went really, really well. I learned a lot about the different types of albums, what is included and costs. Her name is Cynthia Kirsch and we went to her home and she had everything laid out on the table that we could look through. She had a solid plan in case she had an emergency that day which made us feel good but she also said that she had never missed an event. I liked the quality of her work and her style and she lets us have a second photographer for free since our wedding planner is Stacey. And, I think her personality is good for me to have to get along with for an entire day. So, we are meeting another photographer tonight all the way in Dumfries and we're cancelling the third meeting with a last photogrpaher because I think we already want Cynthia and will have something to compare her to tonight.

After meeting with Cynthia, we went home and I cooked Chicken caesar salads (Steve's new favorite!) and watched the Jets/Chargers game and slowly watched me lose my work football pool for the week since the Jets got killed. Grrrrrr...

Wedding Planning Craziness

Now that vacation is over, we are going to have to seriously get our butts in gear with the wedding planning. Especially since there are only 7 and a half months left until May 9th. I can't believe it's that close already and I haven't really booked anything yet. We are meeting with a photogrpaher tonight, another one tomorrow and eventually a third one and picking between the three. Once we book one, we'll have to get an engagement session done ASAP. We are also meeting with an officiant next Tuesday and I think I'll like him so hopefully we can just go ahead and book him by next week. He's very laid back and thinks that everyone has their own beliefs and practices and doesn't put pressure on people to go by what he believes. I like that. The next thing I have to start looking into which has to start this week is looking at bands or DJs. I'm leaning towards a DJ but I've been going back and forth. A DJ is way cheaper so unless I find a band that I really like, I might just stick with the DJ. Other than that, nothing is new.

Steve and I went to dinner with Tiffany at Outback on Friday and then to the lake from Saturday to Sunday. I bought some fall work clothes at Kohl's and a few "fall" smelling candles. I love them! And, I love this cooler fall weather. I'm just not quite ready for winter weather and I know it'll be here in about a month. We barely get any spring or fall, just lot sof heat and then freezing weather.

I Wanna Go Back!

We are back from California after almost a week of vacation (for me) and sun and relaxing. We went to my friend, Lauren's, birthday dinner at the Gaylord National Hotel just across the bridge in Maryland on Friday night and left early so we didn't miss our flight. So, we left EARLY Saturday morning and jetted off to Long Beach Airport which is probably the tiniest airport I've ever seen. We met up with my old roomie, Megan, who drove up from San Diego. We went to the bar waiting for the hotel to let us check in to our ENORMOUS Conference King Suite and then went to the pool and then back to the hotel bar where we waited to have our other friend, Ryan, pick us up and drive us to downtown Fullerton area. We ended up staying there for about 2 hours until the jet lag hit us and went back to the hotel and passed out.

Sunday, I slept in and we met up with Steve's boss, Mike and his wife for drinks at the hotel bar since they arrived that day. They had a welcome reception that evening from 5:30-8:30 where people got rowdy. They had an open bar and DJ so I had to show everyone my dance skills when "I Like Big Butts" came on. After that, we headed to the inside bar and I quickly made my exit to bed.

Monday, I woke up feeling less than 100% and since Steve had to work, I slept in and then went to the pool. It was hot! The restaurant inside didn't open until 2pm so I waited until then and grabbed food there later. At night, we went to Outback with Mike and his wife, Karen, and Steve's other co-worker, Andy. We were all tired after dinner so I think we all went right to bed after dinner.

Tuesday, I felt better than ever so Karen and I went to the outdoor shopping mall called The Block and they had prety much just teeny bopper stores and we quickly made a trip around, bought a couple things and then ate lunch at a restaurant there. We got back and we had a group function that night and went to Knott's Berry Farm on charter buses where they closed the park down for us and kept a few rides open. Steve and I went on a couple rides and then found his co-workers and went to the make-shift casino where we played with fake money.

Wednesday, I went to the pool again for a few hours and then ate at the restaurant and took a long, much need nap until Steve got off of work. We went down to the downstairs bar and ate and then went back to bed so we could make our early flight home.

We ended up getting home at about 9:30pm last night and I could not fall asleep because I was still on California time and I think had gotten too much sleep. So, I'm back to work today and back to wedding planning again. That break was definitely needed though.

We're going to the lake tomorrow overnight and then football on Sunday! I'm still first place in Steve's boy league for fantasy football but I haven't won a game yet for my work pool.

Below, are some pictures from California from the first night. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking any other pictures from any other night. I'm getting really bad a remembering to take pictures!

Steve after spending the day at the pool with Megan and I catching up and talking about celebrity gossip. I kind of don't blame him.

Me deciding that I wasn't going to get ready until after we ate at the hotel restaurant but we ended up not ever getting ready before going out!

A weird picture of me and a decent one of Steve before going to downtown Fullerton.

Me, Ryan, Megan and Steve at a bar in dowtown Fullerton. Fun night and good seeing them again!

Pretend Children...Hmmm...

So, as usual being bored at work I go on wedding websites and read people's posts and ideas to get my own ideas. One poster on Wedding by Color used the website http://www.makemebabies.com/ where you can put in a picture of you with a celebrity, friends or your boyfriend and see what they think your kids will look like. I posted the pictures below. So, from these pictures I figure that my daughter is cute but may have a wonky eye like Dannielynn and I think they shouldn't have put the hat on the boy. Overall though, they are pretty cute.