Last night a friend came over.  We are co-hosting a baby shower and needed to get the invites out.  Since T was coming over to help, I mentioned I now had my dress and needed some help getting in it.  She offered to help although I probably wouldn’t have let her leave without helping. 🙂

After addressing the invites we banished M to the den and headed upstairs.  I grabbed the dress from the guest room closet and headed for the bedroom.  I put it on and told her it might not zip.  I sucked in a bit, she looked at it, “yep it’ll zip”, ZIIIPPPP, and it was on.  With NO back fat!   YAY!  I had her take some pics of me in the dress since my mom still hadn’t seen it.  And well I’m not gonna lie, I want to see what I look like 😉

The dress still looks amazing and we decided to go ahead and cut the flower off.  Now I can begin my NEW hair idea.  🙂

I’m just happy the dress fits, and Zips!  And it appears that I may not really need any alterations done, YAY!

I would post some pics but I know that M is a loyal reader and well we can’t have him seeing me in the dress before the wedding.

~k

Over the weekend I finally made M go to Target with me to register.  He moaned and groaned some until we got to the kitchen stuff.  (I knew we should have started there :))  I was really just happy that he went with me and had some input about things we might like.

We also needed to run to Lowe’s to get new air filters.  I’m not sure how this came about but our current filters were pretty dirty and needed to be replaced.  As soon as we pulled in the parking lot I told M I was going to look for some plants.  We’d been to Lowe’s a few times since the doctor told me plants were good to have around and would help purify the air.  I headed to the garden department in search of my latest victims.  HA!  But really I am awful with plants.  So after much consideration of price, who wants to kill something expensive, easiness to grow, water and sunlight I settled on 2 little viney plants.  I guess they are ivy’s?  Who knows because I don’t.  The little illustration on the back of the card with a thumbs up for “easy to grow” had me.  I picked up a pot for one and got some potting soil.

Once we got home I grabbed my plants, potting soil and Julio and sat down on the deck.  After reading the potting soil instructions I felt I was ready to re-pot my plants.  I added some new soil to the pots, carefully broke up the roots and inserted into pot.  Added a little more dirt, gave them a gentle watering and they were ready.  Currently both plants are in the bedroom and still look pretty good.  I know it’s only been a few days but I feel good so far.  And if they don’t die anytime too soon I will be pretty happy with myself.  🙂

Last night M decided to meet up with the guys to watch some football.  I decided to bring out the wedding stuff and see what I could do.  After the mini-panic attack about ribbon yesterday I realized the ribbon I bought looks amazing with my flowers.  So I decided that was that!  It took me several tries before I finally got the ribbon to look somewhat acceptable.  Then I tried and tried to figure out how to attach the brooch I bough to the handle.  I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I just can’t seem to find the end of the pin once I get it in the ribbon.  I have a feeling I’m going to have to get creative with this if I want the brooch on there.  Oh well, I have 6 whole months to figure it out.  I’m just happy to have it mostly complete.

~k

Any good southern girl knows this phrase from Steel Magnolias. And today I am channeling my inner Shelby.  During lunch I ran to Michael’s, yet again, to look for ribbon for my bouquet.  I finally have my sash so I wanted to match the ribbon to the sash.  Well this seems as though it might be an impossible task.  After much debate I finally decided to go with a lighter brighter pink.  I like the color and it seems to match a bit better then the other pinks I found.

I feel like my wedding is going to end up having about 50 shades of pink.  I know this stuff can’t match exactly but still I was hoping for something a little bit more uniform.  I guess this comes from jumping the gun and buying a lot of things at the beginning.  But I love my invitations and those can no longer be found.  So I guess I will have to wait til I get home and see exactly how all of this goes together.  Hopefully it will all coordinate and I can stop stressing.  Until then I’ll just keep looking at my shades of blush and bashful (seriously I have no idea what the colors really are) and try to fight off the anxiety.

*In other news hurricane Tomas hit St Lucia over the weekend.  I didn’t realize a hurricane was down there til another knottie starting talking about it was headed for Jamaica.  After that I saw that St Lucia had been hit.  Thankfully our TA updated us to let us know the resorts were fine.

~k

Last night was the NC State FSU game.  This was a huge game for the Wolfpack.  I was a little reluctant to go to the game since M and I just had just gotten home.  But I decided to go for a while.  Since M has the rest of the week off, he decided to meet some friends and start tailgating early.  I had to wait til after work to head out.  Thankfully the stadium isn’t far from my office.

Anyway, it rained a little yesterday afternoon so as M and I walked into the stadium he told me to grab paper towels from the bathroom to wipe off our seats.  I went to get paper towels out of the dispenser and hit my finger on the handle.  I realized I hit it but I didn’t notice the blood running down my finger until I was waiting for M.  I pulled a piece of tissue off and wrapped it around my finger.  That did the trick for a while.  Then I managed to hit it again.  Ughh!  I decided to run to the bathroom and find the first aid tent.  One band-aid later and I was good as new.

Needless to say I am pretty accident prone.  I am constantly running into walls, bumping into things, tripping – not necessarily even over things, you get my drift.  Luckily I’ve never had to get stitches and I’ve never broken anything.  Well at least nothing the doctor would diagnose.  I fell one night walking in Austin, I basically walked off a curb.  My foot hurt pretty bad and I was in heels.  The people I was with wouldn’t listen to me and proceeded to drag me around town for several hours as I hopped and hobbled around.  When I went to the doc a few days later she said nothing was broken and nothing was wrong.  I still disagree with her answer.  I could feel something in my foot popping.  One day it finally popped and felt better.  It was like something was out of align or broken!

As a kid there were several trips to the hospital for x-rays from falling off my bike.  I fell off a piece of wood playing teeter totter.  I busted both lips in one season of softball.  I’ve kicked myself with an ice skate.  Burned myself on a motorcycle, with the iron on both arms, and numerous times from the oven.  Personal fave, grabbed a cast iron skillet right out of the oven.  How I have no scars from that still boggles my mind and OMG that hurt!   Nearly cut the top of my toe off after I tripped over a sign holder in the side walk.  Fell off the back of a bus, more like flipped off.  (That’s another story ;))  Slid down the stairs in front of the Haley center in Auburn.  That was fun.  All is hear is “damn.”  HAHA!  The list goes on and on as you can imagine.  Those are just the ones I remember off hand.

Here is to an accident free weekend!

Happy Friday!

~k

That’s right, I’mmmmmm BACK!!!!  Technically I’ve been back since Tuesday.

Last Thursday morning, M and I packed up the car and headed for Atlanta.  Well we tried.  Before we were even really out of our neighborhood, M was going through his OCD check list of things and said, “Julio didn’t escape.”  Umm, WHAT?!?!  K -“Why would you say that?”  M -  “I don’t know, just did you see him in the house?”  K -  “No.  Where would he be?  Why would you say that?”  M -  “You want to turn around right?”  K-  “Yes please!”

Yep, that’s how our day started.  Julio was of course in the house, so it is now a rule that unless we want to turn around, M is to NEVER question if the cats are in the house.  🙂

We arrived in Atlanta around 4 and pretty much missed most of the heavy traffic.  Since M’s brother Patrick lived right around the corner from Guthries we went there for dinner.  I’m not sure any of us were too impressed but the Texas toast, fries and special sauce were delicious.

Friday morning M and I were up and at em and on the road by 10.  On the way we stopped in Birmingham for lunch.  Since M loves me he found a Whataburger not too far away in Birmingham.  We stopped and enjoyed a delicious chain hamburger about the size of my head.  I was pretty hungry.  :)  We did get caught in Birmingham as there was an accident that had shut the highway down.  Thanks the the miracles of modern mapping, the GPS lead us to an alternate route.  This was apparently the preferred route for EVERYONE in B’ham since it took us about half and hour to go 3 miles.  Oh well, the burger was worth it.  We were then on our way to MS.

Friday afternoon was spent catching up with family friends, Cindy and Jack, and my parents.  I also managed to have Cindy make my bouquet.  It looks AMAZING!  I am so happy she was able to do this for me.

I need to wrap the handle but I’ve been waiting to get my dress so I could match the ribbon to my sash.

Saturday two very important things happened, my cousin got married and Auburn played LSU.  Since there was a wedding I’ll say that was the more important thing.  ;)  M and I were also forced to go and see my grandmother that morning.  She proceeded to ask M exactly ONE question about himself.  She also managed to completely ignore my engagement ring and asked nothing about our wedding!  She seemed to be more upset she wasn’t invited to my cousin’s wedding, a cousin she DOESN’T know!  Anyway, whatever I know she is that way but it still pisses me off and makes me extremely mad we took the time to see her (which I didn’t want to do) and she said nothing.

When we got home from lunch, we started to get ready for the wedding.  The Auburn game started about the time we headed to the wedding.  We got to my cousin’s dad’s house and mom and I went to find her.  I had my camera so I managed to snap a few photos.  And I must say she looked beautiful!

Not sure if you can see the hanger I did for her in the background. 😉

Anyway, the wedding was awesome.  They had a prefect day for an outdoor wedding.  Once the ceremony was over and the reception was starting to die down, my dad noticed the Auburn game on the TV inside.  M had been updating me of the score.  We went in and caught the last few minutes of the game.  WARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yep, Auburn won.  And there should be a great pic somewhere of me yelling that with my cousin.

Sunday M and I got up and headed back to Atlanta pretty early.  We had some friends to meet for dinner and wanted to have a little time to relax before we had to meet them.  On Monday Patrick, M and I all went to the Georgia Aquarium.  The aquarium was pretty cool.  I actually got some pretty good shots even though layers of glass.  They are posted on my photo site in case anyone cares.  Here is one of my favorites.

Tuesday morning M and I headed back home.  It was so nice to finally be home.  I know Julio missed us, Hal not so much.  Anyway I didn’t cover everything from the trip but these are the “highlights” as they were.

Happy Thursday!

~k

Today is my Friday!  YAY!  Since M and I will gone for a few days there will be no blogs.  :(  I know you guys are super sad.

Yesterday afternoon M sent me a pic of Halle and Julio.  I immediately knew something was definitely up in the Casa.  Because THIS  NEVER HAPPENS!

They are touching!!!!!!

Once I got home M told me that Hal was on the bed, Julio jumped up and he kind of moved Julio, they stayed and he took a pic.  So all is still right in our house.  🙂

~k

I haven’t written about Julio in a while and since his 1st Birthday is this week I thought I should.  Plus he and Halle have been nothing but cuddlebutts this past week.  I’m not sure if they know something is up or what.  M and I are going to MS this weekend for my cousin’s wedding so they will have a long weekend at home alone.  Minus the petsitters that are coming and M’s parents dropping by.

Anyway, this past week Julio has been unusually cuddly.  I mean sleeping in my lap, sleeping between M’s legs the past few nights.  Even Hal has found her way to my lap for cuddles and I have woken up several nights to find her beside me purring.  Something is not right in the casa!  🙂

I love that they have been such cuddlebutts the past few days.  I will miss them while we are away.  I am also amazed at how BIG Julio has gotten.  And by big I mean tall.  The little rascal can almost see the over the counter in the kitchen if he stands on his back feet.  And if he is standing his front feet are a bit taller then the counter.  When did our cute little kitten turn into a lion?

As you can see he takes up a whole couch cushion.  Plus he is just adorable!

This post might get long so I will apologize in advance.

Yesterday my cousin’s FB status said something about being “uninvited.”  I figured there was a story behind this so I asked.  She explained she had a “friend” that was causing some drama about her upcoming wedding.  This made me think of a good friend I used to have.  S was probably one of my best friends for several years while I was in Austin.

Our friendship started when she hired me to work for her.  Shortly after I began working for her I found out she had MS.  Most days she was good but as the months went on her condition seemed to worsen.  I always thought she had a great life, despite her illness.  She had a wonderful husband and 3 great kids.  Her husband always seemed very supportive of her and took care of her.  For a while things were really bad and she was forced to work from home.  During this time she was re-diagnosed with something different and was given a 10 year life expectancy.  I was upset to hear my friend could die within the next 10 years.  During this time frame a lot happened.  I would get late night phone calls from her or her husband wanting me to talk to her to calm her down.  After a few late night calls I was forced to turn my cell off before I went to bed.  While I wanted to help, being woken up in the middle of the night on a regular basis was not something I could handle.

I would go months sometimes without hearing from her.  But when I did hear from her she would have the latest hospital story to tell me.  She was in and out of the hospital alot.  During this time, I had other things going on so I don’t know all the details.  I know that somewhere along the way she lost her job since she was no longer able to work.  The new diagnosis disappeared and numerous other things happened.

I was shocked to get a call from her one day before a birthday party for a friend, with S telling me her husband had left her.  WHAT?!?!?!  They seemed to be the perfect couple, at least in my eyes.  To this day I have no idea what really happened.  There were accusations of drug usage on his part and other incidents that lead to her being arrested (so she said).  There was a supposed car wreck that her and the kids were in.  So many things it’s hard to remember really.  While I had always believed in my friend I began to start to question different things.

One day she called me and asked if  I still had some left over pain killers.  I asked how many she needed, thinking it would be one or two only to have her ask for 18.  Ummm, I didn’t have that many to start with and even though I still had nearly a full bottle I told her I’d thrown them away.  That was my first hint something else could be going on.

Again, although I considered her a good friend we never talked daily.  I never truly knew what was going on in her life.  Normally it was to talk about the latest crisis that had happened.  So when I moved to NC, I finally realized it was time to move on.  Her drama was all consuming and while I loved her I couldn’t deal with the drama so I began to pull back.  At that point she started to friend a girl neither of us had liked in the past.  Her excuse was “getting info” but it didn’t seem that way.  Not that I have any say in who she can be friends with but if she was only fishing for info she should have stopped talking to her when I said it upset me.  That was really the final straw and we haven’t talked since.

Being the nosey person I am I began to dig around a little and see if I could finally find out what was really going on with her.  I stumbled across a blog written by her little sister a few months before talking about her sister’s “drug additcion” and the pain it had caused the family.  Finally my concerns were verified.  And while I feel bad we are no longer friends I still find myself wondering how she is doing and if she is okay.

This morning I searched for her on FB and nothing came up.  So of course I googled her and found she is now re-married.  I wish her luck and I hope for the sake of her new husband and kids she has worked through everything.

I just know I will jinx something with this post but here goes.

Since I haven’t had much wedding related stuff to talk about lately I thought it was time to throw some out there.  Lately it seems that a lot of knotties are running into huge issues with vendors, family, friends, etc….  M and I have been fortunate so far that the only issue we’ve run into was with his grandmother’s hotel room which was easily solved.  Maybe it’s because we haven’t gotten far enough into the process to run into a lot snags yet or maybe we are just lucky.

I know that using resorts and hotels seem to be a little less stressful as everything is right there.  So once you find a place with a price you like you just go with it.  M and I aren’t being extremely picky about our wedding either.  We went with the “free” wedding package for a reason.  I don’t care to deal with centerpieces and flower arrangements and well he just doesn’t care.  I’m sure our wedding will be nice.  Will it be very personalized, doubtful.  But in the grand scheme of things we will be married.  No one will remember what our centerpieces looked like….or at least I hope not.  Unless they are amazing, which I assume they won’t be.  🙂

We’ve yet to send off our paperwork for the expedited wedding ceremony.  This allows us to skip the 3 day residency restriction in St Lucia.  Money well spent!  And we’ve yet to actually start planning our reception.  Who knows what we will run into when we actually start to plan that.  Which really she should probably start thinking about.  🙂

I think this post turned more into a check list of things to do then what I had originally intended.  Oh well.  That’s how these things go.  I just write and see what comes out.  Lately it’s mostly boring random stuff.

Yay Friday!

~k

It’s a rainy Thursday, I don’t feel good and I feel like I could pass out on my desk.  So I have a feeling this post will be short and sweet.

This morning I woke up to thunder, lightning and a downpour of rain.  I mean the bottom just fell out right as I was about to get up.  Since it’s not really safe to be in the shower when it’s lightning I decided to lay back down for a few minutes.  Just about the time I got comfy the rain let up.  Oh well.  But M and I figured this will probably let us know if our leak is fixed or not.  Hopefully it is fixed and we won’t have to worry about it again.

I am super boring lately.  It seems like nothing is really going on although I know stuff is.  No wedding related updates today but that gives me an idea for tomorrow.  :)  I know you will be on pins and needles til then.  hehe!

~k