Where we are going, we wont need roads...

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As we get closer to the new year I am looking back at all that has gone on in the past decade and all the ways the world has changed. I remember in junior high reading about flying cars and all the things that would be different by the time I graduated college. HA! Flying cars, the FAA would love that! I remember in politics classes talking about how America was not ready to have a black president. That was only 5 years ago. Times have changed.

So with that I started to think what has happened to me in the last 10 years. I can't believe how much has changed in my life! I would like to take a moment to go over some of the highlights:

- I graduated high school, YEA HIGH SCHOOL
- I lived on my own in college in Philadelphia, where I knew no one
- Studied in Rome for a semester and traveled Europe
- I got my first apartment in Rittenhouse Square and was so "Sex and the City"
- Worked at City Hall in Philadelphia, for the now Mayor
- Graduated from college
- I decided after a drunken talk with my sister and brother in law that I should love to Texas, and did so
- I drove cross country with my mom in my 1995 two door jeep, so much fun
- I got my first job out of college
- Bought my first car, yea Saturn! 
- I found my first love, Harry, at the SPCA and have been obsessed with him since
- I got fired from what I thought was my dream job, but ended up much better off
- I met the man of my dreams
- Got engaged
- Became and Aunt two times over
- And am generally much happier than I ever could have imagined!

All in all I am blown away with all that has happened in the last 10 years. I just can't imagine how I got so lucky to have such great people in my life. I don't know what possessed me to move to Austin when I did not have a job or anyone other than my sister. I don't know if I could do it again honestly. I love my life here and I know with my fiance at my side I could do anything. But all alone and no job? WHAT WAS I THINKING!? Guess I knew good things would come.

Other food for thought as we go into the new year, where do you think you will be in another 10 years? What do you think the world will be like. That thought blows my mind. Honestly though, I know I have so much more to offer this world and the next ten years will be great!

***I am a little sad, I lost a follower today. Am I sucking at this blog thing? 

Confession

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I am green with envy:

I read this girls blog and think, "My God woman!" She her husband and her parents must be super wealthy. Please check out her blog posting of her Christmas visit to her moms house. Note they have a formal living room tree and what I can tell a "casual" living room tree? It makes me want to be a stay at home mom and have all the time in the world to plan crap out like her and her mom (might I mention and unlimited bank account to go with that stay at home thing too). UGH!  Glamorous Life 

I secretly wish I had been really good about working out and being healthy like Kelly because I am terrified of what I will have to stuff my body in for NYE. I fear I might look like a stuffed sausage in my tart outfit. I wish I had the drive like she does to keep up the working out and cooking she does. Also I heard from my bridal store that my dress will be in next week, AWESOME! But now I am super worried it wont fit and then I will have a break down.

I have secretly not being focused on anything but wedding stuff while at work for the last two days. I have been looking at honeymoon locations and hotels. I have been picking flowers and talking to my officiant about the ceremony. I guess I should include blogging as well. I wish I had the creativity of some of these other brides.

And I am back!

As some of you know around this time of year I go to see my sister and her family in Houston. I always kinda go MIA for about a week or two and get lost in the wonderful life of being a stay at home mom. My sister has two really cute kids, Annabelle and Declan. I don't post many pictures of them out of respect for her but let me tell you the are REDICK! I have so much fun playing with Annabelle and snuggling little baby Declan. I just can't take it when Bee (that is what I call Annabelle) tells me "I youuuu" (I love you in her words). I never want to leave them.

My mom and dad flew in from Alaska, yes Alaska, for the holiday so I got to see them. My mom is the most amazing mom I could ever ask for and I am so happy I got to spend some quality time with her relaxing and shopping. She is even cool enough to help me pick out some new panties that miss Amelia told me about from Nordstrom, Hanky Panky, and she told me I have to inspire my future husband! Here is what we picked out. We will see if they are as great as everyone says, if so I will buy more.

I love my mom. We got some wedding stuff done yesterday and I helped her find her dress for the wedding. I must say it is very "Mad Men" of her and I LOVE it. The picture does not do it justice. The best part of it is that it does not look like a mother of the bride dress! Check it out:

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My mom and I both fight our weight issues all the time. Last year she got to her goal weight and has since had some medical issues and gained a bit back. The both of us plan on doing WW together via online tools. I know she is going to look great in this dress!

The holidays were great and I am so bummed they are coming to an end. I am already looking forward to a great NYE party and relaxing next weekend with my Fiance! 

Confession

I may or may not have tried to wear sweatpants leggings to work for the second day in a row. I then decided people might judge and changed last minute.

Good thing I did because today was also the office group picture day and my short ass was put right in the front of the picture. DARNIT!

Sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me...

 

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There is a new lady in our office. She is horribly annoying. She seems perfectly nice on the outside. She is an assistant to someone and seems to be doing a good job of not getting fired. A+ for that. But she has a dark side to her and evil side that likes irritate me beyond belief. I must blog about this because if I don't let my frustrations out I might just say something really mean to her.

Let me take you into my world. Every day I come into my cube and drink my tea and do my job quietly. One day this new lady was hired and put int the cube next to mine, so now she shares a wall with me. Fine whatever, I have a new neighbor. Well then I noticed this lady coughs a lot. At first I was like hmmm I feel bad for her because she was sick, but three weeks later and she is still clearing her throat. I have deduced that this lady dose not have a cough, no, she has a tick. A horribly annoying tick in which she constantly clears her throat. ALL. THE. TIME. Every 30 seconds to a minute like clockwork this woman clears her throat. It is disgusting and so irritating. I want to throw a bag of cough drops over the wall and tell her to SUCK ON THAT Biatch. Am I a horrible person? Should I be more understanding? Maybe?

BTW - In the time that it took me to write this post she cleared her throught 6 times. Yes 6. Oh my god.

"Your Little Girl's Day Thing"/ The drunk florist situation

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Last night WF and I were in the kitchen cleaning up after a disaster of a floral appointment (which I will get to) and just after we finished watching the movie,"The Hangover". I love that movie it is freaking hilarious and WF loves Vegas and it got him all pumped up about his upcoming bachelor party in Breckenridge. As we are chatting I ask him if things are going to get out of hand at his party in March and he said "Well I know we will have fun, just like you will have a good time at your little girls weekend thingy you are doing" REALLY?!? That's what he thinks of my party. Plans are not totally set but now I am determined to make sure us ladies have a great time and there is nothing "little girls weekend thingy" about it. His friends really know how to have a good time and I know that they will have fun skiing and burping, farting and scratching together. But MY party will be a fantastic time. I have the best friends and big sister in the world. They know me so well and I have full faith in them. UGH men think we can't hang, I will show him.

Anyway, moving on to the florist appointment. OMG ladies you would not even believe what happened. Last night Janet and I drove all the way to Round Rock for an appointment with a company that did a friends wedding. They came VERY highly recommended and I have personally seen their work and was super excited about this meeting. Well I called 3 times and sent an email to confirm my appointment with them at 630, I got nothing back from them so I thought ehh maybe she is in another appointment or something. So Janet and I get to the house and ring the bell, Janet and I bother were thinking it was weird she had no light on in her house. She answers the door in her PJ's and slippers, and just stands there. I am like "Hi, I am looking for a florist, maybe I have the wrong house." She goes , "Oh no, I am a florist, sweetie do you have an appointment?" No lady I just like to show up to peoples homes asking for appointments for florists. So then she let's us in and proceeds to mention this is a really hard time of year for her and her family, her husband just died, WHAT? Oh my gosh I felt horrible. She was telling us she could still do the appointment though, meanwhile she is pulling out her appointment book and talking to us about her dead husband. She then tells us that he died last year at this time and she was really sad. Clearly she had taken some sort of pain killer and she was not all there she was kind of acting lost and or loopy. She then pointed to a picture (or shrine) on her wall and talked about him like he was alive. It was so weird. So I insisted we not have the appointment and we could reschedule (I am totally not going to that appointment though, sorry but it was a bad first impression). Janet and I then ran out of the house looking at each other like WTF? Most of all I am pissed I sat in traffic for that and wasted a night I could have been productive. On to the next I guess...adventures in wedding planning.

Save the dates ordered!

The save the dates have been ordered! Whoo who! I ordered them through vista print like so many girls suggested I do. I would have saved even more money if I had not have to rush order them. For a total of $37 I think we did pretty well. On the front I wrote "Save the date: Christine and P***** are getting married!" below the our wedding date and location. On the back we are using a stamp and adding a personal touch by signing each one like a Christmas card would be signed. Since we are saving a buck by not sending out Christmas cards and sending these out instead. I am really hoping that they come out well. Here is the picture we used on the front:

We then wanted to use one of the more "artsy" pictures Carli took on the back. I added this one which will be printed in black and white:

Its very "us" as we both love to drink wine and we are both actually just smiling at each other and not posed. and I and hoping it shows up well on the back of the card! 

I will let you know when I get them in. We will be sending them out this weekend and then I can check one more thing off the list. In the mean time I have a meeting with another florist tonight. Fun stuff!

Behold: My New L-O-V-E-R

Ladies (and maybe one dude who reads this) I give you my new vacuum cleaner:

 It is the Lift-Off® MultiCyclonic Pet Vacuum, and it is AWESOME. I seriously love my new vacuum. Let me tell you a little bit about him (yes he is a he and no I don't really know why). He is not only a regular upright vacuum, no, he has a lift off feature so then I have a small hand held vacuum for those hard to reach areas. I love this. I can take the little part off and go behind toilets and furniture with ease. I then can attach it and suck not only the dirt out of the carpet in my home but of the home in the apartment below us. This baby sucked up so much dirt (which totally grosses me out when I think about it) that I had to empty the tray 3 times just after a basic run through the house. I can turn on and off the brush so when I am on hard floors the hair and particles I am trying to pick up does not spray everywhere. It blows my mind. I am so excited I am going to use this thing on everything when I clean the house this weekend.

I must thank my future mother in law for buying this beautiful baby for WF and I for Christmas. I am in love with it and cant thank her enough.

Ouch, ouch really ouch...

The girls kicked my butt the other day and I am still reeling from the workout. They put me on circuit training and some light cardio. It was a lot of fun though and I am hoping that this might be come a weekly meet up.

The first day after the workout I was not that bad. I could tell I was hurting but ehh I could walk it off. I felt like HA see I am not out of shape I am just not toned. So this morning I woke up and OUCH! I hurt everywhere! I tried to got pee and it hurt, and I tried to step into the tub and I hurt, I tried to hug WF and it hurt. Oh my gosh, the workout was not THAT bad. I feel so silly that I am this sore.

I am hoping that I can walk down the stairs if there is a fire later tonight. In the meantime I am keeping my fingers crossed that the next workout will not be as bad.

Terrified

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Two of my bridesmaids have decided they would like to kick my ass tonight and I am a bit scared. Kelly and Janet both work out quite a bit. Kelly is some sort of freak Olympic swimmer who on her off days lifts weights and runs. REALLY? And then there is Janet, who is like 10 feet tall, looks like a model and kicks some ass at the gym on a regular basis while still looking totally hot. REALLY? REALLY?? Then of course there is me. I have not gone to the gym in a year. Yes I know it is shameful but that is how I roll. I used to walk my dog at town lake almost 4 times a week but now nothing. I got on WW, lost almost 19 pounds and was like well this is MUCH easier than going to then gym. So I gave up on the gym totally. Well now i have gained 4 lbs back, and have totally hit a wall. I know it and so does my butt.

Well with my last post on their minds Kelly and Janet have decided to "help" me get back on track. We are meeting at my apartment's gym, that by the way is super nice and brand new. They are going to show me how to really kick some butt. We will see if I can walk tomorrow...

Confession

I am slowly falling off the Weight Watchers bandwagon. Since Thanksgiving I have gained 3 to 4 pounds from my lowest weight. I am feeling really out of control and I am terrified of being coming the "fat" girl I was a once point about a year ago.

This weekend I have done nothing to help my situation. I ate cookies, pancakes, pei wei and lots of my moms wonderful pumpkin cranberry bread. Even with me knowing my weight is slowly creeping back up I have done NOTHING to get back on the band wagon. With wedding planning, holiday parties, friends birthdays and so much else this month I am worried I wont be able to get back to a WW meeting to get me back on the wagon like I normally do before the New Year.

I am so scared.

Yankee Deep Thoughts

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 For years I was this hard core Yankee that would walk literally 3 miles to the subway in Philly and the walk to class in the rain, snow, sleet, heat or whatever mother nature threw at me. I had like 40 coats, jackets and sweaters. I would wear a hat that had some sort of snow ball puff on the top because it was piratical and would bust out the mittens with the fold down top so I could have easy access to my credit card while buying a cup of coffee from a street vendor in the freezing cold weather. Fast forward five years... and I am officially a Texan (at least when it comes to weather everything else I am still working on).

Last night it hit about 39 degrees here in beautiful Austin Texas. And that means freeze warnings, heat on and people panicking about the possibility of snow. I drove home Tuesday night freezing my butt off, it was 45 out, I can't believe I thought 45 was THAT COLD! Then I ran inside not wanting to let my dog out because it was so cold (I did by the way). I then ran back in and changed directly in to my flannel pajamas. Last night I turned the heat on and slipped into some seriously comfy Eagles sweatpants and my big Temple University hoodie I used to wear almost everyday and took a minute laugh as how "soft" I have become. I came to the following conclusion, its OK, because I genuinely like Texas and I have had so much fun living here. I resolved myself to the idea of never really having a white Christmas again but then again, who really likes to shovel the sidewalk anyway?

So I guess in 4 working on 5 years I have lost more and more of my Yankee tough exterior.  I don't like the idea of having to run my car 30 minutes before I can touch the steering wheel, and I am not a fan of my snot freezing in my nose the second I step outside in January, I like being able to feel my face after walking to the car in the Target parking lot. Ladies, I think I might be coming around to this whole not so cold winter thing you all have going on here.

I live in santa's workshop...

We got most of our Christmas decorating done this weekend. WF's family was in town and insisted they buy us a good grown up tree. So here is what we bought this is pre decorating:

We then laid out all of my nutcrackers and all of our other decorations here is one shot of the mantle. I have over 50 nutcrackers, thought I should spare you pictures of all of them:

 And here are some shots of us decorating our first tree together:

WF has decorated the outside porch and the windows. I will get you pictures of that soon! This really is my favorite time of year. Everything is about family, faith and togetherness. I love lots of cookies and hot coco. What are your favorite treats? Do any of you like Christmas time as much as me?

Tonight Kelly and Janet are coming over for dinner. Janet's birthday was this weekend so we are going to toast her and catch up. After all this lovey dovey family stuff I need some good old girl time. 

One Heck of a Thanksgiving

I know you all have been waiting anxiously for my Thanksgiving update. So without further ado I give you my Thanksgiving...

The day started off with cooking some corn bread and a sour cream coffee cake for breakfast. We then moved on to the pies, crusts made from scratch. Then creamed onions, mashed sweet potatoes and carrots. We bought the turkey pre-cooked, and it was super yummy. Took about an hour to reheat and it was so much less stress on me to cook the turkey. We then set the table and laid out my handmade place cards made from cloves and oranges. It was a lot of fun to see everything come together. My mother in law was so helpful and really took great care to make sure everything came out really well. WF's poppy snacked and talked with me while I cooked. All in all it was just the best way to cook my first holiday dinner.

Here is the day in photos as I am not going to be able to full go into detail of everything.

The table before dinner...

Place setting before dinner...

 The centerpiece with leaves from Crate and Barrel

Wonderful Fiance and our first turkey!

Cutting the turkey...

Dinner waiting for us...

My yummy honey cornbread muffins...

I cant wait to cook my next Thanksgiving dinner! I already have other ideas and want to try new things. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday with your family. Next up Christmas decorating!