3 Blind Mice

Last Saturday night my sisters wanted to dress up for Halloween. Personally, I'm not into Halloween at all.. but I'm always up for dressing up & having fun. So.. long story short- their friend who was going to dress up with them bailed and they needed another "mouse" to complete the group costume. Z and I were planning on going on a date that night, but he decided he'd take all 3 sisters out instead. So.. being the good sport that I am (wink..) I not only made the "ear hats" and tails, but wore them too.

{can you tell which one's which?? ..yeah, if it weren't for my more *ahem* mature features, no one could've either}

{caught mid-hip swing.. lol check out that tail!}

{getting a little cozy with the hubby.. (no, he didn't dress up)}

{gangster mice}

{walking into street lamps.. cause we're blind, of course}

{so glad to be back together again!}

Can. Not. Wait.

After work today I'm heading to my fave spa to relieve a little "moving process stress". I've got one of these:

{credit}

{Facial}

...And one of these

{credit}

{Full Body Exfoliating Scrub}

..scheduled. This day cannot go by fast enough! :)

:: Husband Down ::

I had plans to blog a bit more tonight & catch up on all of yours some more, but we had a little incident come up. Z hurt his back today at work. He came home early and once I got home, I took him to the ER.

Poor guy had to take a shot in the arm AND one in the... uh.. bum. They said it's probably just a sprain and put him on anti-infammatories & muscle relaxers. So.. he'll be out of work for at least a day or two.. or more. He's not doing too bad thanks to the drugs, but he's having a really hard time getting comfortable. No position seems to do it for him.. I'm afraid we won't get much sleep tonight.

Your prayers for his speedy recovery would be mucho appreciated. We'll be leaving for Maine in exactly 2 weeks, so we're really hoping he's better by then. A 21 hour drive would be NO fun with a bad back.

**************

In other news, I've started training a new lady at work to take my place. And let me just leave it at this: You REALLY should know how to ATTACH a file to an email in Outlook, & know the difference between SAVE and SAVE AS in MS Word if you want to keep an office job. I'm seriously questioning why anyone would hire someone without these basic skills for an office management position. Drives me nuts. My guess is once I'm gone they'll realize their mistake. Oh well. 2. MORE. WEEKS.

My house is a disaster. It's covered in boxes. And if you've gotten to know me at all.. you can understand how this causes my OCD tendencies to go nutzo. Oh well. 2. MORE. WEEKS.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! I'll be back with more interesting updates later, & again, your prayers for Z would be much appreciated! :)

Compromise

We had homemade pizza last night (yes I cheated and bought the crust), this is what it looked like:

Meat on the left. Veggies on the right.

Compromise is what happens when a former-vegetarian New England girl marries a meat-loving midwestern man. :)

Good Wifey FAIL

I was home sick from work yesterday- I woke up at 4am throwing up. Fun stuff. I did start feeling better later on though, and got some stuff done. I decided to clean out the fridge. So, since we believe in brutal honesty around here... here's the items I pulled out of the fridge that had mold on them. Eek.. can't believe I'm showing you all this...


This is my good wifey FAIL of the month. Gosh.

And you want to know what's worse??

Thought so.

That old guacamole fell off the stack of my leaning tower of shame and spilled on my kitchen rug. Thank the LORD it's black. Z doesn't know about that one.. let's not tell him, k?


Alright ladies- now that I've let you in on my shortcomings as a cute little perfect wife.. let's hear yours. If only to make me feel better...

What are your good wifey FAILs??

**PS- I added the "Organization" label to this post... Baahahaha.... **

Neck & Manners

Well, I finally found out what's wrong with my neck. 1st, I have what's called Military neck. Here's the normal curve of the upper vertebrae:
Mine looks more like this:
I've been in a few car accidents- one where I rolled an SUV twice down a hill.. so my Dr. thinks it's probably a result of whiplash.

In addition to this, my top two bones of my vertebrae are out. The top bone is out forwards and to the right. The second bone is out backwards and to the left. So.. they're going different directions and turning a bit in the process, resulting in a "bent" spinal cord and a lot of friction in the area. Usually both bones go out in the same direction. In my case, it's hard for the Chiropractor to adjust me because 1) When trying to get one bone back in place, he has to be super careful not to bump the other one further out in the process- since they're going in opposite directions, and 2) because my skull sits very low on my vertebrae, making it hard to even get to the top 2 bones.

Blah.. he adjusted me last night, but I've been in more pain ever since. This morning hasn't been enjoyable, to say the least. And.. Z and I have to move our living room furniture in tonight. Please pray that we get some help- I really don't think I can lift half a big leather couch on my own.

*********

On another completely unrelated note- I'm curious about something, and I want your input.

I was raised in an environment where manners were very important. Like, you use your knife to get your peas on your fork, NOT your finger. And honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Manners are no where near as important to Z, but he's come a long way in the past 2 years (almost) we've been together. The men at work, on the other hand?? Yeah. I think they know what the word manners means, but the see absolutely no use for it in the workplace.. at least when dealing with their office manager (yours truly). It annoys me big time when people are manner-less. On the other hand, I truly, deeply appreciate a courteous person. Maybe I'm old fashioned.. but that's why I'm polling you guys-

How big are you on manners? Do you put your napkin on your lap for meals? Do you say please and thank you religiously? Do you kindly ask people to do things, or do you tell them to do it? Do you say "Excuse me" when walking between people or accidentally getting in someone's way? Do you apologize when you accidentally mess someone up or just say "woops!"?

Just want to get a feel for the place of manners in today's society.. Is it a dying courtesy? Or will you stick to your manners like gum on bleachers (speaking of manners.. lol)?

The One About Gunshots at Our Wedding

I don't think I've ever told you about Z's plan to never let anyone forget our wedding. Let me just say that yes, I did know about all of this ahead of time, and yes, I did tell him it was okay. ...we're just crazy like that. My uncle was our pastor and he was in on it as well.

So let's go back to November 29th of last year at roughly 5:30pm.

We were married close to my hometown (in ME, his fam & friends are in OH) so most of the guests were my friends and family. And for the most part, none of them knew any of the groomsmen or our out of state friends.

The wedding party walks down the aisle. The music starts & my dad walks me down the aisle. I kiss him & my mom goodbye & walk up the steps to stand with Z. My uncle welcomes everyone and says, "If anyone has reason that these two should not be wed, please speak now, or forever hold your peace".

Just then our friend Lee (from Boston- no one knows him) jumps up, walks out into the aisle towards us and says, "Wait! C, I love you!!".

(My dad told us he was getting ready to stand up and punch the guy..)

Z then looked at his groomsmen and said, "Get 'em boys!".

All the groomsmen reached into their tuxes and pulled out cap guns and started firing wildly at Lee as he ran out of the church. The entire crowd erupted into laughter.

It took a good 5 minutes for everyone to regain composure and for the service to go on. My bridesmaids didn't know what to think, our parents were both shocked & relieved, and Z was basking in the glory of his perfectly executed plan.

It was the perfect way to lift the tension in the room. After that, everyone was smiling, and no one was nervous.

We got innumerable comments from people all night about how it was the most unique wedding they'd ever been to and how they'd never be able to forget it. I got asked several times if I'd known about it, and told how I was so brave to let him do it.

I should've known what a crazy ride the rest of our lives would be- with a beginning like that!

When I asked for Z's input on our wedding, that was his ONLY request. He didn't care about decorations or music or even food. He just wanted to do something that people would remember. And I believe it worked.

Chances are, whenever any of those 175 people hear the words, "speak now or forever hold your peace" at a wedding in the future, they're all going to look around and make sure there's no "secret lover" walking down the aisle. And that's just how Z wanted it. :)


And Lee, if you ever read this- you're the best & we owe you big! :)

Glass Lamps

Want some serious eye candy? Head over to Project Pretty & check out these glass lamps I've been eyeing.. and tell me if you fall in love too!

Picture-Packed Weekend

This weekend was a full one! It started off with the Tattoo event at the local Air Force Base. It was a fun night- we went with 3 other couples & enjoyed some sun (oh, btw- this is what my hair looks like straight..),
Parachute - jumpers while the national anthem was played(that flag was attached to his foot),


Fly-overs by some really neat military planes, a concert by country artist Aaron Tippin,


And a fireworks show.


It was a great time. The concert really wasn't impressive.. but then again, I'm not a big country music fan, so that might be why. It was really neat getting to see local military heroes honored on stage and new recruits sworn in. The radio said there were around 85,000 people there. It took us an hour just to get off base when it was over with. Craziness!

Anyway, Saturday night we had two couples over to our house for a barbeque. I made an enormous amount of macaroni salad, and whipped out 10 hamburgers! Yay! :) I still can't get over the layer of fat that sticks to your hands when you're done. Ugh...

Sunday afternoon was a baby shower for a friend of ours. I make a diaper cake stuffed with all sorts of baby goodies:
My cousin-in-law, Ally did an awesome job with the decor:


And my adorable little nephew made an appearance! I'm sure you ladies won't mind a few pictures:
Then somehow, my shower attire turned into four-wheeling attire. Z's pretty excited about his new ride, so he decided I had to hop on.
Z's cousin & his wife went too:


I ended up taking off my dressy shirt & threw on my sister-in-laws old sneakers since we were 1/2 hr. away from home.. and of course... Z got me dirty! At least those weren't new pants!!


Z can't say I'm not a good sport! haha.. Anyway, we had a great weekend, and only have 5 more days until vacation! What did you all do this weekend??

Summer Loves

Things Loved for Summer:


C.O. Bigelow Vitamin Mentha Tinted Lip Balm in Baby Pink Mint- a light lipstick, with the conditioning of a balm, and the tingly sensation of mint on your lips- love it!Summer Scarves- they just add oomph to every outfit! And my collection just keeps growing. :)

Summer Dresses- Thanks to my mom, I've also jumped on the Maxi Dress Bandwagon.. don't judge (& yes, I have a scarf to match).. :)

Jergen's Natural Glow Firming Lotion- pretty sure I already mentioned this, but it really works.. I've even seen a little more tone in the *problem areas* :)
Fresh berries- I can't get enough!! I just need to find a local place to pick them!

What are your summer faves?

Priceless

Made-Over Craigslist Dining set: ~$60
Placemats scored @ Marshall's: $3
Decorative bowls scored @ Goodwill: ~$4
Milk bottle vase from Dollar store: $1 (duh!)
Fresh flowers from grocery store: $3.33
Fresh fruit: $5

Getting your husband to eat more fruit because it's displayed prettily on the table: Priceless.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

PS- I just posted a new project on Project Pretty! Go check it out!

Call Me Annie..

Annie Oakley, that is. Due to the enormous amount of people that are apparently flocking to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park for Memorial Day, all the "normal" (a.k.a. front country) campsites are reserved. ALL. And it's a huge park. So, being the adventuresome duo that we are, we are resorting to back country camping. As in, you leave your car, carry everything you need with you, hike several miles, and find yourself a secluded spot off the trail to camp. No running water, no outhouses, no air mattress, no electricity, no anything.

Just me, my darling husband, a bazillion black bear that want to eat our food, a 50% chance of rain, and lots of bug spray, sun screen, and deodorant! What girl could ask for more? :)We'll be roughing it for one night, and hopefully staying somewhere with a shower night #2. Because this naturally curly hair does okay for one day without a shower, but more than that... well let's just say it wouldn't really give our trip that "romantic getaway" feeling we were going for! And cuddling up next to your hubby isn't quite as good with a rock in your back and a certain unpleasant odor wafting down to your nose.

But seriously though, I really am looking forward to the adventure of it all! I've done plenty of camping in my lifetime, and can probably set up a tent and start a fire faster than most men- thanks to my parents taking us kids growing up. I'm looking forward to checking out Z's mountain man skills as well! ;)

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekends!! I have a scheduled post for while we're gone, and I'll be back with lots of pictures on Tuesday!

Retro Swimwear

I'm absolutely in love with Jantzen's 2009 line of Retro Swimwear. In my opinion, it's very flattering & forgiving in structure. Yesterday after work I got the urge (or rather I gave into the urge I'd been having for weeks) to go check out our local Marshalls. It's a rare occurance that I don't find an amazing deal in there!

So I walked in and was immediately greeted with their summer display area- Better known as the "make you fall in love with a million things you don't need" area. And fall in love I did. I saw this & was hooked:
Then, I tried it on, and knew it was love (this from a girl who HATES bathing suit shopping). Talk about flattering- the way the faux tankini top comes down below the top of the leg opening is genious. I've never liked seeing that area of the thigh right along your joint & bikini line- on anyone. I don't know why- It just made me squeamish (could be because of one too many woman who don't know the value of a good bikini wax or shave, but we won't talk about that). Well, problem solved. I love the polka dots, I love the tie in the back, I love the sweetheart neckline, I love the 50's glam feel, I love it all.

It even has detachable straps, shown here, in red:
And, it also comes in solid colors (more shown here):
I can't remember the last time I owned a one-piece bathing suit. But I've been keeping my eye out for one lately, and this sealed the deal. Can't wait to wear it for our week on the lake this summer.

Oh, and I can't finish without talking about the price. If you buy it direct from Jantzen, it will run you $100. If you buy it through an online discount site, it'll be about $80. Any guesses what I got it for??
.
.
.
.
$25!!

Ridiculous, right?? I came home a very happy little wifey!!

ETA: Little did I know, this suit has actually gotten a good bit of publicity, shown here. I'm a wee bit proud I picked it out before knowing Elle & Vogue did too! ;)

Doggy Business..

As soon as Z & I get a house (we've been beat on 3 so far..bad market, my butt!), one of the first things we want to do is get a puppy. Every time we see a cute dog we just about melt! Z is convinced he wants a husky. Brett didn't help the situation much- with her adorable doggy pics and videos! I mean, look at little Ty:
But.. huskies get big. And I've heard they shed a lot. So I just don't know about that one..

So anyway, I need your input! Here's what I'd like in a dog:

• Small to medium sized- NO huge guys if they're going to be let in our house- We watched Marley & Me!!
  
• As little shedding as possible. We don't deal with dog hair well.
• CUTE. And no, I don't consider poodles cute. (Sorry!)
  
• Not a "yapper". I can't stand tiny dogs that just bark all. the. time.
• Did I mention cute?

I'd love to hear about your dog experiences! And pictures or links to pictures will probably sway me the easiest! I'm a sucker for a cute puppy!