Tiny Entertainment.....

Everything has a positive side. Moving has been the prime example of that. In the midst of all this packing, unlabeled boxes, tissue paper & loading up the car we have come across this:
Yes, ladies and gentlemen a Super Nintendo. We are obsessed. He's been Mario. I'm Luigi. We do have so many games but Super Mario World is the one we've chosen to play. Over and over again. I remember SO many of the levels from my prepubescent years. J remembers that 3 Stars equal 5 extra lives. We have every Super Mario World. Even unreleased editions. All in one game. That we just blow on to get to work again.

I texted my sister to tell her of our riches. She texts me back, "All joking aside, bring it next time you come." Will we ever go out again?

101 Random Things About Me... cont

22. I did forget!

21. I am bored. Even though I have a list of things I need to do before the weekend.

20. My favorite beer is hands down the Hef at BJ's.

19. I'm SICK of wedding planning. Like dreading every second of it. I meant to send out my invites 2 weeks ago, but they still sit, unfinished, in a plastic container begging for my attention.

18. The Pug is sleeping on my clean laundry. His hair is everywhere already.

17. I don't like getting flowers, but I like having flowers in the house.

16. I fall in love with Gainesville more and more every time I'm out there. I REALLY hope this is where we end up permanently. It's a great place to raise a family.

15. Practically everyone I know is a new parent or pregnant. These babies and hormones are doing something to me. Waiting is no longer an option.

14. We are less than 2 months away.... I am in the beginning stages of freaking out. I can feel it brewing in me.

13. J love is awesome. I don't even remember what crazy thing he was doing, but my mom said we were made for each other. My heart is still swelling over this.

12. I miss my family. ALOT.

11. Everyone is always impressed with the size of our computer screen. I need something big to design on, ya know?

10. Every single time I come to write on this blog someone calls me & distracts me for a few minutes, or in Victoria's case, a few hours. I try to talk & type at the same time... that never works out.

9. This was far more annoying than I thought it would be.

8. I am about to voluntarily go spend a significant amount of time in Brandon. Away from J Love. I am afraid it will dampen my mood everyday. And how is going to live by himself?! He hasn't done his own laundry in 3 years.

7. On the subject of laundry, I have 4 loads of clean laundry waiting for me to iron, hang, fold & put away. Eh.

6. Dinner tonight is stuffed bell peppers, yellow rice & fresh green beans Disney style.

5. My favorite places to visit are New Orleans, Tampa, Chicago & NYC. All places with family.

4. I cried at my cousin's going away party. She's in the middle of her first week of college. She's scared, as we all were. I still remember her baby cheeks & curly hair.

3. I believe kindness kills.

2. I'm rereading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I still cry. The movie comes out in December. I'll be married by then.

1. I am constantly changing as a person. My mind is open to that.

Housewarming Party

This past Saturday J & I hosted our first family party together. It was our Housewarming Party. We invited all my family from Tampa. It was a good time full of food, drinks & laughter. My sisters got here early. Dani wanted to use the stand mixer & Booty was cooking. Booty was cooking!
The menu:
Mini Pork Tenderloin Surprises.... J's mom's recipe. My dad went crazy about them.
Mini Meatballs in BBQ... so easy in the slow cooker.
Caprese Salad on a Stick... spinach (I know it's supposed to be basil), mozarella & cherry tomatoes on a toothpick, because J could only manage to go to the convenience store for party supplies. We won't even talk about the no name ranch he tried to serve with the wings.
Chicken Wings... from BJ's at a Dani's request. Though J forgot the sauce and the ranch. Still they were all gobbled up.
Greek Potatoes... another one of J's mom's recipes. Not as good as I was not as liberal with the garlic powder and parmesan cheese as I should have been. And I made WAY too much.
Salsa...with fresh veggies, of course
Spinach Artichoke Dip... which was also a favorite.
Pepperoni Cheese Puffs... made by Boots. Completely from scratch. All by herself. She was disappointed with the tasteless results, but everyone else liked them.
Carrot Cake... by Dani. Another from scratch recipe. Came out AMAZING. Even non carrot cake lovers were raving.

Everything was made from scratch. Minus the wings. When I put out the meatballs someone asked what brand they were. I don't do frozen food for guests. Today the only remaining food is the salsa dip & spinach artichoke dip. I made plenty as we are big chip & dip fans. And now pictures....

The customary made by Dani Sangria. This drink's theme is the Gators. She called in Sangrigade (like Gatorade). It's Blueberries & Oranges. You can't see it but there's an alligator hanging on the other side. It was the cutest and most delicious thing.

Booty cooking! Crazy. She's my baby sister. And she's cooking.

A Post About Nothing

This is the second day in a row I've woken up before the sun. I love mornings. Not as much as I love sleep though, which is why I rarely have the chance to enjoy it. I love having coffee (or tea, which I am having this morning as we are out of coffee). I love reading the paper all the way through while I watch the Today show; then Regis & Kelly, Martha & The View. I love making breakfast; today, is cinnamon raisin bread with apple butter & fried green tomatoes. And since we live downtown the mornings are a little busy outside. I love the sound of passing cars down our street. Once in a great while I'll actually get dressed and head to Maude's for honey coffee and a pastry, but I don't actually like doing things in the morning. Not things that require me to get dressed.

I'm still on schedule as far as cleaning goes. Invitations are coming along nicely as well. Except I was half way into printing out the Accommodation info when a little birdie told me I had completely butchered the word: Accomadation. Yes. I am normally a good speller. In my defense I had 4 other people look at it, even J. Who didn't pick up the 'typo' until after 75 pretty little pages were printed out.

Working out is TOUGH! I went a good strong week, and then I went to New Orleans. All the fried seafood & fatty sweets have left me 5 lbs heavier after I lost 8 lbs. And now practically half my guest list is aware I DO NOT FIT IN MY DRESS! I'm the only one that isn't worried. But I'm getting there. Maybe I'll go for a run before it gets to warm outside. Who am I kidding? We all know I'm about to curl up on the couch with my breakfast and the paper. I've already missed 30 minutes of the Today show!

Sunday, Monday...Happy Days!

My schedule is pretty packed for me this week. My week is a mess! A structured mess, but a mess nonetheless. Along with the usual laundry, cooking, dishes & general daily cleaning...

TODAY: Kitchen-Fridge, Oven, Stove, Microwave, Blender, Stand mixer, Coffee maker & all other appliances, Cabinet doors & shelves, Shining the sink; Invitations-type out & print RSVP's. That means typing out 180 names & 117 addresses. Fun!

TOMMOROW: Living/Dining Room-Dust, Arrange bookshelves, Decorate plant shelves; Invitations: Print direction card, Cut map & direction paper, Attach to cardstock.

WEDNESDAY: Master Bed/Bathroom-Wash sheets & towels, Dust, Clean Fans, Tub, Sink Toilet. Not fun!; Invitations-MAIL INVITATIONS!!!!!!!!!!! My dad is bringing me some more furniture we left in storage. The house will be complete!

THURSDAY: Storage Closet needs MAJOR organization. Finally decorate the patio; Laundry Room still hasn't gotten cleaned since we moved in. Paint & reupholster window seat.

FRIDAY: While J is at work: Grocery shop; Prep food for Housewarming Party; Go to BBB for goodie baskets; Straighten up rest of house; Floors

When J comes home: It's our 3rd and Last Dating Anniversary!! Every married couple we know now measures their relationship my their marriage. As in, 'We've been married for this many years' So this will be the last August 21st Dating Anniversary. We actually just realized this was such while I was in New Orleans, so we have yet to plan to anything. The Catch? Joel works at night. I told you we just remembered, so he didn't schedule himself off. FAIL to us!

The Good News? HE HAS OFF THE WEEKEND!

SATURDAY: Our Housewarming Party! I'm pretty excited. I have yet to plan out a menu or make a playlist. I know I want to use one of J's family recipes. I want the food to mainly be finger food as many people will be standing & mingling. My family is driving 2 hours up here for it. My sisters are coming earlier. D wants to make something in my stand mixer.

SUNDAY: Really depends on how many people decide want to crash at our place. They'll definitely be brunch with mimosas, eggs, boudin, bacon & pancakes. Whether if it's for 2 or 20. We want to take Buddy on a walk. Can't decide if it will be a city walk or a woods walk. And dinner out. We never plan where because how do you know what you will want to eat a week from now? We always browse the internet & decide the day of.

And now it's 1 o'clock & I have much to do! J comes home in 3 hours, so I'll be working away while he entertains himself. Fantasy Football is coming up soon, so I'm sure he'll be busy! Dinner tonight is breakfast. I got some boudin when I went to NOLA, so I'm making a HUGE breakfast. Fried eggs, boudin, turkey bacon, hashbrowns & blueberry muffins. I can't wait!

Invitations, House Cleaning and New Orleans

...that's pretty much my schedule for the next week and a half.

Yeah, about the invitations. These babies started out as a labor of love. Now it's just labor. I'm at the Regretting-DIYing-stage of DIYing. The point where settling is okay. The point where any amount of money is not worth it. I am failing.

On to the house cleaning. Because I don't have enough to do, I invited all my family to our house the 22nd. We're throwing ourselves a house warming party. This I am excited about. As far as I can remember I will be cooking for my grandma for the very first time. Prepare to be amazed Mami Ana! Problem with this is the amount of dust in this house. There is a layer of dust on the plant shelf that is about 1/4 of an inch thick. I kid you not. There is dust piled all around the water heater. I kid you not. These are the areas that I have been avoiding. My last thing to clean. It's so disgusting that I've been considering hiring a maid service, but I don't want to let my mother down. On top of that I want to finish painting & reupholstering the ''window seat''. I also have to plan the menu.

And the part I'm most excited about.... NEW ORLEANS! Yes I'm taking another weekend trip to New Orleans. My cousin just had twins. Twins! My parents and Boots will be my travel companions to meet them. J will have to work. Of course. He has yet to visit my hometown. But we have been to Chicago 4 times. Hmmm? NOLA is now a short 8 hour drive from our new location. We have planned at least a dozen trips there that have fell through for some ridic reason. He has yet to meet half my family. I am not complaining.

PS::: We have an officiant! He is funny and warm and has a great voice and looks great and is young. He is perfect for us, just perfect! Funny story on the way to meet him we got pulled over. A tag transfer that we did from the old car to the new car didn't go through for some reason. J could've been arrested! But we were let off with a warning and an officiant meeting & hour later everything was all cleared up. The girl at the DMV straight out told us it was a stupid human error. DMV FAIL!

101 Random Things About Me... cont.

38. I did not forget.

37. I completely changed to look of a footstool/ottoman yesterday. I always forget before pictures.

36. I MIGHT be taking a weekend trip to NOLA. I have to see how far I get in wedding planning.

35. I watched Braveheart for the first time ever recently. It instantly became a favorite.

34. I made pork tenderloin surprises, but they didn't come out as good as J's mom.

33. We are throwing our first ever grown up housewarming/dinner party. The last ''housewarming'' that J had involved a keg and drunk people being thrown into the pool.

32. It's a family only party which is what the wedding has become. We had to trim most of our friends and J's coworkers out due to venue size.

31. We wanted to send out the invitations by tomorrow. That is SO not going to happen.

30. We have matching throw pillows. For the first time ever.

29. Our new favorite thing to do is sit on our couch and admire our home. We're seriously so vain.

28. My Pandora radio station is the best ever. Here I'll prove it: Listen To My Pandora Station

27. I have eaten more lamb this week this chicken & beef together. I LOVE it so much. It's soooooo delicious.

26. Our house is covered in frames & pictures of our favorite people. Everyone on display is family. And there are barely any pics of just the 2 of us alone. We live here after all. I won't forget what we look like.

25. We have NO acceptable pictures of Buddy to put in our doggie frames. I can only get pictures of him sleeping, eating or peeing. That is all he seems to do. And air humping Bertha, his stuffed sheep. I maybe should've kept that to myself.

24. This whole thing will be more interesting when we start popping out little ones. Which may happen sooner than we all think ;)

23. My favorite thing about Sundays are our weekly big breakfast feast and the ad-filled newspaper. This morning we had scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, mushrooms & cheese, turkey bacon (we are switching back to pig bacon ASAP!), toast & chocolate chip muffins. I also clipped a ton of coupons for things we don't need, but hey! there's a coupon!

... to be continued. One last time.

I am 2 sizes too big for my dress...

My knees are shaking (even while I sit). Sweat is dripping down my back. I'm finding it hard to type since my biceps are jelly. I have yet to regain my breath and feel on the verge of death. It's day 1 of Operation Beautiful Bride Body. A task that I enlisted Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred to aid in. I want to kill Jillian Michaels.

It was a short 20 minute workout, but I'm going to be feeling this all day. The workout is vigorous with NO breaks. A warm-up; 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute abs (repeat x3); cool down. Sounds easy, no? NO! I read reviews before I bought the DVD (more than a month ago). The workout left some people in so much pain going to the bathroom was out of the question. I'm not that bad, but I can see where they're coming from. Plus, I cheated and did nothing during the ab portions of the workout.

Watching what I eat is proving to be the hardest thing. Yesterday I ordered TWO entrees from La Tienda. Fried pork, french fries, fried yuca, black beans, marianted chicken & yellow rice. I also got a flan for dessert (that I ate first). Of course I didn't eat it all and J came home and polished off my leftovers. I also had 2 brownies right before I started the workout. And a big glass of whole milk, which may be why I'm feeling a little queasy. I just love food. Too much.

Tomorrow is Day 2 of 30 Day Shred. I hope it is anyway.

Where Have I Been?

Vacation...

Day 1: Excited. Sister drives us to airport. Goodbye. Excited. Picture on the plane. CHICAGO! Surprised with Blue Man Tickets. Dinner & the show with J, Rach & some guy that I'll never see again. Tired. No baby.

Day 2: Shop. Relax. Pork Tenderloin Surprises. Love J's family. No baby.

Day 3: J's parent's anniversary. Help is refused. Father & Son's Pizza. Navy Pier, a dozen beers & a scary ferris wheel ride. Hibachi grill with J, his parents, Rach, and mommy & daddy 2b. No baby.

Day 4: Bridal shower! Feel incredibly special all day. Gifts, gifts, gifts! Lucky! Keg empty before sun down. Games. Cops! Drama. Karaoke. Party until sun up. GREAT DAY! Sleep for a few hours. No baby.

Day 5: BABY DAY! Up early after daddy 2b call. Dunkin Donuts for holes & a box o joe. Hospital. Waiting patiently. Snoozing. Waiting not so patiently. BABY! Lorigan Ann makes her entrance to the world. Big & perfect & beautiful. Emotional day. So proud. Cry. Cry. Cry.

Day 6: Stalk Craigslist. Arrange meeting. Breakfast @ Eggman's. Goooood omelet. Visit the little angel. Hold her. Fall in love. Ask J for one of my own. Wrigley Field. Baseball lovers dream. 13 innings. Walk off grand slam. Fall asleep with a smile.

Day 7: More shopping. New mommy & daddy are tired. No baby visit. Ask J for one of my own. Nephew's Tball game. Fast kid! Playground fun. Blackmail video. Too late to a party. Drink. Switch locations. Ikea furniture! Is it really almost over?

Day 8: Visit mommy, daddy & Lorigan. Hold her again. And again. Want to take her with me. Sad to leave. Finish up packing. Getting upset. Ride to the airport. Cry. Say goodbye. Cry. Love my J. Love his family. Wishes we could all be together. Plane is late. Arrival in Tampa is late. Rent gigantic car. Parent's & sleep.

Day 9: Ikea. More furniture for the house. Where will we put all this? J's grandpa. Visit. Get bridal shower gifts. Storage. Run out of room in two cars. We will never get all our stuff. Hot! Sweet tea & ice cream. Begin road trip. Lots of rain. Trip takes 3 hours as opposed to the usual 2. Home!!! Set up furniture. Sleep!

Day 10: Redecorate the bathroom. Wait for momma. See momma. Go to BJ's. Rave about the perfection that is childbirth & my favorite baby. Back to the apartment. Set up bed with our new bedskirt, sheets & comforter. Sleep in luxury. Woken up by dad coming at 4. Sleep again.

Day 11: Kohl's. Load up on frames & other wants. Ross, more home goodies. Big Lots, love discount shopping. Home. Nail. Hang. Screw. Work, work, work. Momma too tired to drive home. Apartment finally looks like a home! J is impressed. Creepy movie. Sleep.

Day 12: Today. Have done NOTHING so far. Feels good. Officially caught up.