And finally,

What you have been waiting for... I have uploaded the first of the wedding pictures. They're not the professional ones, Ron's mom took these. Nice shots. I just got the album from the photographer and those are absolutely FABULOUS! Here, have a taste of these...


A pre-ceremony, veilless shot.


My half of the wedding party and Ron watching me come down the aisle. Yea, pretty self explanitory.


Post ceremony, while we were posing for the photographer.

I love that we have so many pictures of the event, from so many different angles. At this point, we can put all the photos together to make a movie of the whole wedding! Lotta photographers out there. Hehehe!

Okay, that's all I have time for. It took me forty years to upload and shrink these to the right size.

Celebration's over

Yup, it was a happy 30th birthday indeed. My family and friends just keep showing me how much they love me. I'm going to try my best to remember this time when things get shitty and I feel like no one cares. I have a lot of great people in my life.

I guess this birthday bash is the end of the long celebration that began, it seems, right when I got engaged! It just got more and more intense as time went on. Now it's all over. All of it. I'm relieved and kind of sad as well. I suppose that's normal. Back to reality.

Ron is being a doll and doing the grocery shopping for me today. It's been a month and a half since we last did big shopping. That's a record for me. The longest I've gone is a month. I've just been way too beat to go to the store, not to mention it's a task that is way too easy to put off.

Well, not much to say. I'm tired, I think I'll go vegitate in front of the idiot box.

Later...

Hopefully back for good

It's been a helluva coupla weeks, man. I've been terribly busy with work and life and this and that and UGhghghghgh.... First off, Pickles is doing much better. After a week in the travel cage with regular daily doses of medicine, I am pleased to announce that he is using his leg and foot much better than before. So I returned him to his shared home with Punkin'. I'm so glad. He seems to be fine. Now his feathers will come back...soon.



Saturday is the big THREE-OH! YAAAAYY!! Going out to dinner with the two girls Cathy and Emily tonight. I'm very excited to see Emily, as I haven't talked to her in six years! We had a stupid misunderstanding a few years back and have recently gotten back in touch through Cathy. She and Emily have been friends for a long time. I'm glad I decided to email her. It'll be a blast catching up. I'm excited about turning 30. I feel right about it, like this is the beginning of a new phase of life for me. It's starting out on the positive side and I intend to keep it that way!



As for the title 'o this thing, I just got back from a business trip to Chicago. It was basically a sales and marketing trip. We had to meet with the people who carry our products in their catalogs. Each of the stores that we sell our product to belong to a certain catalog group and they're spread out across the U.S. Since we've had to make so many changes and costs cuts, this was an opportunity to further explain to our clients the changes and why we had to make them. We also showed them our new prices and some new products that we'll be offering. And see-ooo-oan und see-ooo-foath... Instead of sending our precious and expensive merchandise across the country, we decided to prepare a simple Power Point presentation. It was fun...at first... Heh. But I'm so glad I did this, it was good experience for me.

Well I gots to go to get ready for din din. Bye bye fer now!

Bad momma

I been a bad birdie momma, I have. *sigh* I guess it was bound to happen. I got too confident in letting the birds fly around the house and one of them got hurt the other night. Unfortunately, it had to be Pickles. Poor Pickles who has already been through so much stress in his short six years. He needed another reason to pluck.

Monday night Pickles, Punkin' and Toby were out for their usual playtime. I was doing my usual thing, puttering around the house. While I was washing dishes I heard the lovebird alarm/annoyed call, "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!!" Went to investigate and found Pickles with his toenail stuck on the front door screen. The weather has been pure hell this week, we're in the 90's again (This year has SUCKED with all its damn heat waves!) so I had the front door open to circulate the air. Nothing I haven't done a thousand times before. Poor poopie must have panicked like crazy because once I got him free, he couldn't move the leg that had been stuck. After comforting and calming him some, I put him down and he flopped all lame-like, not using the offending leg. I comforted him some more and put him in his little tissue box "bedroom" in the cage. End of birdie playtime. I kept an eye on him for the rest of the evening and noticed that he wouldn't use the leg and continued to nibble and preen it. Shit.

Next morning he was still limping around so I took him to work with me. The vet I needed to call to get a referral from (the one I take Stan to) didn't open 'til 8:30. I called the vets office and discovered the reason why bird enthusiasts always tell bird owners to find a certified avian vet ahead of time, just in case there is an emergency... That's me! I like to learn the hard way. The receptionist tells me that she can't give me any referrals just then because the doctor is not in yet and won't be in until 11:30 or 12 noon. Great. What the hell? One of the first things I had to learn about when I tried working at a vets office as a receptionist was the damn referral list. Anyway, I told her I couldn't wait that long and that I'd just find an emergency clinic myself. But trying to find an emergency clinic that treats birds is like trying to find a stand-up toilet in Beijing, China. And like the toilets in China, vets can either be comfortable to use or...



Ughckghghg... Since I couldn't wait, little miss receptionist actually had a suggestion...there was a vet that treated birds at an emergency clinic that was about 25 minutes from where I worked. Okay, it's in kind of a shitty area, but that means it shouldn't be too expensive. Thank you, buh-bye. I called the clinic to make them aware that I was coming with an injured bird and off I went. It was already starting to get hot as I drove deeper into the valley, reminding me that I cannot go another summer without fixing my cars air conditioner. I finally get to the clinic and after signing in, filling out the appropriate paperwork for new patients and then sitting there for the next 30 minutes pretending to care when all the stupid dog and cat people keep telling me what a lovely "parakeet" I have. I give up on explaining to the unobservant idiots in this world that there are other types of small pet birds besides parakeets. As the lady next to me continues to talk about her case of the shingles (gag) I get called up to the front. The receptionist who had told me to come in then explains to me that the only doctor there who treats birds is about to go into surgery and can't see Pickles until THE NEXT EVENING at SEVEN PEE-EM. Not even the next morning!!! "WHAT?! This is an EMERGENCY. I told you THIS ON THE PHONE!" Time to get pissed. Get me a referral, bitch, or I will break off your fucking blue acrylic talons and shove them up your giant nostrils. I swear, what IS it with women who think twelve-inch fingernails look good?! Uh...1985 called... Of course I was polite, but you know...I was a pissed polite.

I sat back down and stared at the piss on the floor for another ten minutes while they tried to find another avian vet. By this time I was really starting to worry about my poor little birdie. The entire time, on the ride there, during the endless waiting, I talked to Pickles and told him it was gonna be okay. He acted normal, except for the favoring of one leg. That and the plucking. Every time he gets stressed he just rips out patches of feathers. SO awful to watch. Talon girl finally give me the good news that there is an exotic vet, whose specialty is birds (YAY!), will be able to see Pickles. She too, was about to go into surgery so I had to get my ass there fast. So back on the hot freeway, past my work, to another vet in the valley. When I arrived I was happy to see that it was a nice office, not a shitty clinic. I was worried it would be expensive but I had no choice. The other place was gross and crowded with both clients and people behind the counter. This office was cool, clean and there were only two knowlegable receptionists to help me. All around were posters and information pertaining to exotic animals. There were even lovely arcrylic cages built into the wall with a couple of baby parrots for sale...at really good prices I might add. After filling out the paperwork I sat down next to a beautiful display with a Chinese water dragon in it.

Five minutes later I'm called into the exam room where a nice vet tech gently takes Pickles and weighs him. Two minutes after she leaves the doctor, who bears a striking resemblace to Glenn Close, comes in. I explain what happened in my guilt-stricken manner and she immediately puts me at ease. She gently examines Pickles' leg and finds the hurty spot (BEEP!! BEEEEP!!) right away. Truns out he broke his little tiiiiiny birdie femur. AWWWW!!! So Glenn gives me my options. They can either do surgery and put a pin in his leg or just let it heal on its own. She strongly suggested letting it heal on its own since he is such a small, light bird. I agreed because I didn't want risk putting such a small bird under. Not to mention cost. It would probably cost $300 to anesthetize alone. If I have to, depending on the prognosis of course, I will. But if I've got the option... She was very sweet and reassured me that he would be fine. It was a very good experience altogether. And not as expensive as I thought it would be. The good news, after all of this crap, is that I've found a very reputable avian vet...something I should have done a long time ago.

Now I have to keep Pickles in his carrier and give him medicine for two weeks. He is not allowed to fly or climb, two of his favorite things to do as a bird. Naturally. I feel so bad for him and I'm so pissed at myself. Another lesson learned the hard way. How many times have I said that? Great adventure huh? Just what I need. I hate to see animals suffer. Well, I'd better go home and check on the little bugger. Gotta make him as comfortable as I can.

Go away, please

Damn, I seem to be having picture posting troubles again. Let's see if it just goes away on its own, shall we?

More Honeymoon Fun!

Well, I've been back a full week already and have finally had time to scan in some of the fun pictures we took in Cancun. The parrot one was sort of the grand finale...these were taken a little earlier in the week. Don't worry, wedding pics are coming up. I just have to get them scanned and/or uploaded next. We saw so many that Ron's mom and uncle had taken when we went to my parents to open our presents on Saturday afternoon! Man, that was so much fun...

Okay, so imagine the scene... Ron and I had just downed three shots of tequila each after we had eaten some dinner. Good thing we did it after we'd eaten or we'd have been fall down drunk instead of silly buzzed! We walk outside and almost immediately get grabbed by a little high-energy Mexican dude (they we all over the place, go figure :P) who puts a hat and pancho on both of us in order to take these delightful shots...


AYEAYEAYEAYEAYEAYEAYE!!!!!!!!!!

Just look at that poor burro... Poor Pancho, poopsie. He's got that typical performing animal look in his eyes, "Get this shit overwith so I can eat!" Ron and I took turns petting his face. Lil' guy earns his oats and carrots.



HAHAHA!!! So much fun... Those damn buggers do this to the tourists on purpose, of course, because we just HAD to buy the shots after seeing them. Oh well, it was so worth it.

Friday was our horseback riding experience. These are the complementary shots they took as we rode the shore. First we rode down a trail through the "jungle", as they called it, even though there was no tree cover whatsoever. It was just dense and somewhat tall bushes and trees on either side of us. Ron actually saw an iguana. All I saw were leaves and bark. It was very relieving to get to the beach, where we rode for a bit before we all took a drink break. During the break, the group leaders took us in small groups to ride a horse bareback into the water. I hadn't come prepared, as I wasn't wearing my bathingsuit. But hell if I was gonna pass up such a unique opportunity! I joined the first group and rode a cute white horse (not the original one I was riding because only about four were used to taking people into the water) right on out into the beautiful warm water. Lemme tell ya, I've heard nothing like the sounds a horse makes as it acclimates its large, air-filled body cavity to the water! You know how you have to pop your ears when you're on a plane or underwater to equalize the pressure? Well, that's what a horse does with great burps and groans as it swims. And yes, the horse actually swam a little bit with me on it! It was so weird! Anyway, here are some pics from the day...


Ron on Camache... Isn't he handsome?! I mean Ron, not the horse. Even though that horse is a perdy one!


Me on lil' 'ol Freckles. She was such a sweet, well trained little girl. All she did was follow the others. Didn't give me any trouble at all. You could tell these horses were plenty experienced with that area, the people, the trail and themselves. It was so cute, everyone had their own little horsie pecking order. The whole horseback riding experience turned out to be well worth the few headaches it had... Like having to get up and out early, enduring a grueling, bumpy hour and twenty minute bus ride to and from the ranch (on the way there having to listen to the two nonstop chatterboxes behind us) and the heat. Notice I didn't say "unbearable heat". We were lucky, we were only experiencing "spring heat". BLeAcchHhhccCHh... Glad I don't live there. Yea by the end of the trip we were ready to come home. I missed my babies and having a dry scalp, Ron missed English speaking channels on t.v.

Okay, that's about it for now. Time to get on to the working out part of my day. I must work off the enormous linner (lunch into dinner, yes) we had last night. The Armenian Feast.

For another entry.

Soon.
*


*


*



Maybe

Real quick...

I just want to mention that through all of this wedding hoopla I've seen just what beautiful friends I have.

*sigh*

Thanks you guys, I love you...

You, me and birdie

One of my favorite pictures of Ron and I (of course) from our beautiful honeymoon in Cancun. Just look at those sweet faces. All of them. This one was taken on Saturday, our last full day there. In short, we had a blast. So many memories and laughs. The perfect beginning. Something to remember during the hard times.

Before I go, I must mention something we did on our trip that I am SO PROUD of. I went SCUBA DIVING for the first time in my life! We went down 30 feet! Breathing underwater? Piece of cake! I had always dreamed of diving and it just came naturally. But of course I was scared! We practed for a bit in a pool and then it was showtime. A half hour ride on a bumpy speed boat over the gorgeous, very rough, water. But it wasn't the perfect experience. I did get seasick...while under water! Who knew?! I stayed calm and enjoyed the scenery as much as I could before the nausia forced me to signal that I needed to go up. Dammit! And there's nothing quite like puking all over the surface. "If you need to trow out, trow out..." Very sound advice. The yellow-orange eggs and potatoes I'd had for breakfast contrasted nicely against the turquiose of the ocean, I must say. Thank God it was just Ron and I with the instructor. The other two pussies (both overweight men who spent the evening before drinking and partying too much) ended up staying on the boat while the three of us went down. Despite the sickness, I am certain that I am going to get certified. What a magical experience! It felt like a dream.

That's it for now. End of the month bullshit beckons.

I do...

Have pictures of the wedding and the honeymoon and all that fun stuff. Just no time or energy to put them up yet. I was so pissed off yesterday because I tried to take the day off and my boss wouldn't let me. She apparently couldn't get things she really needed to get done last week because she was so busy doing my job. The projects she has to finish are very time consuming and need to get done by next week. Of course I don't blame her, I was just mad that I had to come in to the office while I was exhausted and get completely blasted with tons of shit to do. But gee whiz, isn't that...LIFE? Yea, gotta get a grip. But first I had to come here and throw a little tantrum. I have had to learn to multitask a lot more in the past few months. I wasn't used to being this busy... Oh well, it's good for me. Anyway, I'm off to work. I think Ron fixed the home 'puter so maybe I'll get on there tonight and put some pictures on. Maybe. Right now it's back to work.

Please stop

FUCK!!!!!!!!!! It seems I Don't have time for shit anymore! WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP??! My fucking home computer is being an asshole so I'm taking my five alotted seconds to say I'm back and in a horrid mood. I really should have given myself more than a half day recovery. I'm back at fucking work and being BOMBARDED. I had a perfect wedding and honeymoon and now I'm back here being slapped in the face by reality. I hate this. I am so goddamned EXHAUSTED and I just want it to fucking STOP. But I can't. I have to go home and do a mountain of laundry. I'm too tired. It probably won't get done 'til this weekend. I need time to adjust! I'll write again when I have more fucking time.

T-minus two...and a new hair-do!

Two more days. TWO MORE. I'm at work today, unfortunately. Boss doesn't get back until this afternoon. Then I am FREE! FREEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I will come back a Mrs. Woowoooooo!!!

My previous entry got too long and I neglected to talk about a new toy I'd purchased during my bridesmaid shop-a-thon last Friday. I saved it for today...a day on which I simply cannot concentrate on work because I'M GETTING MARRIED.

Just in case ya didn't know... Yea...

*sniff*

SO...

As I was a-strollin' through the mall, I was stopped by a woman selling these flat-iron thingies at a kiosk in the middle of the mall. You know...one of those things that you just want to say, "NO, thank you.", and move along on your merry way. But something told me to listen as she asked me to sit down and let her try the machine on my hair. It looked like a flat-iron...like one of those crimpers from the 80's but with flat surfaces to fry your hair. It looks sorta like this...



That's just the thing though, this iron works with ionic technology. It doesn't fry your hair at all! The surfaces are ceramic, so the heat flows through them instead of intensifying like metal makes it do. The "ionic action" or whatever, with the ceramic plates dries damp hair, while retaining the moisture within. The results are amazing! I've never seen anything like it.

I sound like a fucking infomercial. I swear, I just typed everything out as it dun flowed outta my thoughts. How utterly generic. Especially those last three sentences! Now all we need is the voiceover,

"AND THAT'S NOT ALL! IT SLICES, DICES AND CLEANS YOUR BUTTHAIR! ALL WITH THE PUSH OF A BUTTON!"

*Canned laughter*

I'm so excited by this stupid thing because I'm no stranger to the ravages of not liking the hair God gave you. Born with kinky curls, wanting smooth strands, I used to chemically straighten my hair. For seven years I slathered that stinking, scorching shit on my scalp. Yea, I know... All for the sake of beauty! More for the immature, stupid desire to be like everyone else. I'd started out just doing just my bangs, the unruliest part of my head of hair, besides the crown (ugh!). I did it at home with one o' them thar kits. Ouch. Two years and many broken off patches of hair later (hmmm, what's that floating by me in the pool?) I decided to forego further hair and scalp damage get the whole nasty process done by a professional. You haven't experienced true vanity until a "beauty" product has damaged a vital body part. And by vital body part I mean MY SKIN. THE LARGEST ORGAN OF THE BODY. The memory of the frisbee-sized scab that peeled off my head like dried Elmers glue off the palm of my hand will be with me forever...or until my brain melts with old age, anyway. Ya know whut's kewl 'bout a head scab? It's got uh buncha teeeeny lil' holes in it! I had to kinda pull it upward through my hair. Gross, but at the same time, so very fascinating!

By year five my former bush head had lost most of its body. The heat styling I had to do! For two more years...every time I washed it. Blow dry. Fizzle. Curling iron. Fizzle FIZZLE. Never would I DREAM of letting it dry naturally after a shampoo, no NO! It'd take hours to dry and end up a frizzy, tangly mop. Think of the matted, grayblack strands of an ancient, filthy mop that's been sitting in a damp corner for ten years. I exaggerate, yes. Didn't SMELL like that, but it certainly felt and looked a helluva lot like that. I also couldn't dream of brushing it. Its elasticity was SHOT. Like brushing bubblegum, even when it was finally dry after the horrid styling ritual. Needless to say, I finally let the roots grow out long enough so that I could cut all the damaged, straightened shit OFF! I couldn't believe my hair after that. The curls had somehow become soft and manageable. My hair wasn't the dry, kinky mess I'd been battling to hide all of those years. Ahhh...hormones. Yes, I guess the 'ol raging teenage hormones had finally calmed down by then and changed the texture of my hair.

And now...now they have wonderful stying products and tools for naturally curly hair. So it only took me about 25 years to learn to style the lambs wool atop my head. Take a gander at the lovely results of the magical ionic styling tool...

Before...


(My hair was actually quite a bit shorter here!)

After...


(Aaaaaaahhhhh)

And another one with it pulled back...


Isn't that lovely?

Okay, now it's time to get things wrapped up at work. I am being a total space cadet today. Must. Finish. Now.

Less than

A week from now I will be a married woman. Wow. I will also be on a much needed vacation. A real one, not the week I spent at home in January, worrying about all the stuff I had to do. I can't WAIT. I mentioned we're going to Cancun, right? Yea! Travel to a new destination! My brain is already on vacation. I'm just a useless pile of romantic, excited thoughts. And tirednessessessss... I'm exhausted. Every day has been full. I'm not used to being this busy and I don't LIKE IT. MAKE IT STOP. It will, it will...

The weekend started with a shopping trip on Friday night. I hate shopping. I'd known that I had to get my bridesmaids gifts for the rehearsal dinner for WEEKS but waited 'til the last minute. Put it off 'til this past Wednesday, then Thursday and finally did it Friday because I'd painted myself into a corner. Originally, I was going to get the girls each an elegant pearl/swarvoski (however you spell it) crystal necklace to wear at the wedding. Then I thought I wanted to be original and get them pretty fish pins. You know me and fish... I wanted them to be tropical marine fish, hand painted or decorated in pretty sparklies or some shit like that. Waiting 'til the last minute certainly closed the window on that one. As I was shopping, I noticed many pretty, different looking necklaces. I finally came upon some gorgeous sterling silver and mother-of-pearl dragonfly pendants on delicate sterling silver chains. Four of them. ON SALE! Perfect. Not too fancy (they can wear them again!) and not too weird... It was like when I went shopping for my wedding shoes a few weeks ago. The light shone down upon them as the angels sang, "Ahhhhh-leh-loooooooo-YAaahh!!" The girls loved them.


On to the last official hoopla...the rehearsal dinner. Unfortunately, he garden area of the hotel where we will be getting married is not available for rehearsals (unless you check the last minute, one or two days before the wedding...yea right!) so my boss kindly allowed me to have the rehearsal in the parking lot/yard at the office. She's been out of town and it's just been me here, so it was perfect. Plus it's right down the street from the hotel. After running through the ceremony a few times (SO much fun!) we all headed to dinner at a cozy little Italain restaurant a few miles down the road from my work and the hotel. Rons mom did a BEAUTIFUL job on the dinner. She even made baskets of grapes, wine and cheese as center pieces for each of us take home. They were gorgeous! She'd made a larger, special one for the bride and groom! And the speech she gave! Then my dads speech! I was floored! It was just... *sigh* Perfect. I'm not used to being the center of attention, can you tell?

So I think I'm perdy much ready. Yea. Perdy much. Mmmm-hmmm. Gonna do all the last last LAST minute stuff this week. Can't forget to pack for the honeymoon! Woooooo!!!!!! I spent yesterday doing the housework I'd put off for weeks and weeks. Mainly dusting. I dusted everything, vacuumed, mopped and rearranged the clutter. Now I don't have to do anything but maintenance until things calm down again. Actually...until we move! Nope...haven't found a place yet. Thought we did, but the lady is being kind of flakey. We will really start looking soon. But I've started putting all my little knick-knacks in boxes and throwing things out. Prepping to move sooooooooon!

I'm s'posed to go grocery shopping after work today. It's been such a long and busy day that I think I'm going to skip it. AGAIN. I'm so bad. I know I'll have to go to get some essentials I'll need for the trip...deoderant, contact lense solution, toothpaste...I just don't want to get a whole lotta food that we won't be here to eat. I'd rather put it off until we get back, quite honestly. Well, put off the big shopping anyway. I will have to make myself pick up a few things. Just not today. My back and neck are killing me. I want to be laid out and stretched on a rack at this point. I need a chiropractor! I sound like a bowl of rice crispies when I move my arms, neck and upper body! That can't be good.

I go poddy and go home now. It's been a long day. 'Bye bye.

Dappled

When experiencing high levels of stress, imagine you are here...

You want some?

Pictures from the infamous bachelorette party... I've got a few of 'em, thanks to my lovely friend Rosemary. Melanie and Lisa are still compiling the rest of the evidence onto a friendly looking DVD. I must be patient. Until then, however, I would like to share a few pics...



I decided to make it a pre-wedding party theme...every time I receive a pair of thong undies, they go on my head. It was a beautiful outfit and I was even able to wear the sexy top that night...

Unfortunately, you can't really see the top in this beautiful group shot taken at dinner...



I was wearing a sweater over it. This was before I really started drinking and being an idiot.

Earlier in the day there was this guy, the lovely man who we asked to serenade the bride-to-be on our little old scavenger hunt walk. Yes, the activity for that Saturday was to run down a list of things that the bride was to do...



One of which was to have a guy, any guy, sing to me. We came up on this dude and just HAD to ask him. Yea, I know...it was great! Got the whole show, including boobie flexing. Don't ask me what song he sang though, sadly I can't remember! Later in the day we came upon a blues singin' dude with a guitar and everything! Got three songs outta him! Of course, that was because he wanted tips...you know, open guitar case and all...

Some other things from my to do list that I actually got done included:

1. Kiss a guy on the cheek.
2. Ask married strangers for their advice on marriage/good luck wishes.
3. Sing loudly, "Here comes the bride", when entering all establishments.
4. Find a man with the same name as the groom...I actually didn't get this one done, though I tried! Couldn't find ONE! Rons were rare in San Diego that weekend...
5. Remove bra from under shirt (while keeping the shirt on) in front of strange men...

That last one was the most fun. By the time we got to that one, I'd had a good amount of alcohol. I did it on the sidewalk in front a bar, into which we had gotten whisked by a lovely group of men enjoying a bachelor party... A very cute man by the name of Chad (was it?) bought us all a round of shots. Everyone in town was so friendly that weekend. There seemed to be a lot of bachelor/ette parties going on. After the shot and taking a nice picture with Rod (not Ron, DAMN) I went outside and did the bra deed in front of all these cute men, who were heartily cheering me on. Joyous. And we got it all on video! Then I put the bra on over my shirt and we proceeded back to the hotel for a much needed detox and rest.

Shit, I gotta go again. So much to do and I hate getting on the 'puter at night 'cause I've just been so tired lately. I wonder why...

ELEVEN MORE DAYS. Wow.

Well, just ONE thing...

...about the weekend. I made up a new dance!! It's called, "Taking A Crap". Go ahead and guess how it's done. Just guess! I think I've started a new craze...

Less than three weeks

This past weekend marked the three week countdown to the wedding. As of today, I have less than three weeks. I feel the same...so excited, so happy, SO READY FOR THIS SHIT TO BE OVERWITH. I'll just keep thinking about laying on the beach in Cancun. That's going to be soon...oh so very wonderfully soon. Then we get to come back and start looking for a place to move. Ah, moving...another fun task. Nevermind that, I'm getting ahead of myself.

This past weekend was also my fabulous bachelorette party weekend. Once again, Melanie and Lisa outdid themselves. It was perfect. I got to have some great fun with my beautiful friends. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write about it at the moment. I will try to come back tonight or tomorrow to bang out an entry about it. There are tons of hilights and tons of pictures. There's also more video! But alas, lunch is now over and I must return to work so that I can leave at a decent time to go shopping for more wedding crap.

Bye for now...

So what the HELL was that??

As the day went on yesterday, my cold got better. All of a sudden! I don't get it. What was it?! I am now left with the little remnants of a slight chest cold...what I like to call lung butter. Every now and again I'll cough a little buttery cough. Mmmmmm. Tasty. All right, I'll stop being gross. Really. I simply love discussing bodily functions!

Anyway, work is calming down a bit. Obviously...as I have a bit more time to stop by here to spill my thoughts. Everything is much more organized, like it was when I started here. It's so great to know what's going on! I know what we have, what we don't have and what we will be getting. Most importantly, I know the correct pricing! The owner will be going back to Poland to get things done at her company (well, more her husbands company) for a short time . She is leaving next Friday and will be gone for about two weeks. Something I am very used to...being left alone at the office! Hopefully we will not have any more fiascos while she is gone! At least the lil' 'ol shipping lady will be here to talk my ear off. I've found that it's better than being all alone. Sometimes. Heh.

Time to work again. I have to finish this tedious art project...fixing up our logo. It's giving me a headache! Later...

Okay then...

This isn't a pretend cold like I thought it was yesterday. No, this is the real thing. Shit came crashing down around 2:30 yesterday afternoon. *cough* *cough* *SNEEEEEEEEEZE**cough*!!!! I've been getting sick way too much lately. This has got to stop. I feel okay right now, but early evening is when I usually start to feel really icky nasty. I'll make it through the day.

Today marks one month exactly until the wedding. ONE. MORE. MONTH. I cannot wait. I've started to have several wedding dreams. The one last night was hilarious...I had to pee and I was wearing my dress. I run to a public restroom right before the ceremony. Looking for a toilet that's halfway clean, dragging my dress around on the dirty tile floor... Find a potty, pee and I still gotta go! Keep going back and forth from the ceremony to the bathroom! AAAAAA!!!! Then I wake up and realize I really do have to pee. BADLY. I hate those dreams. It's a good thing I didn't really pee...that hasn't happened in a very very long time.

I had another wedding dream a few weeks ago that was very disturbing...I was up at the altar with my EX! All the while I'm thinking, "What's HE doing here?? Where's Ron??? I wanna marry RON! NnNnnnnNnnnnnOOOOOooooOooOOooooo!!!!!" I suppose this is normal.

Anyway, back to work. Busy busy. Blah blah.

Oh what a beautiful moorr-*HACK*

It's springtime here in Cali and that means the weather can't decide just what the fuck it wants to do. Actually, that seems to have been the theme so far this year. HOT cold HOT HOT cold HOT (in January, HUH?) cold cold HOT HOT HOT cold HOT cold... So here I am with another of what I call the semi-cold. I'm not sure if it's allergies or what. It started out with a scratchy throat so I think it's more of a cold. Or maybe it's just an allergy-cold hybrid. Lil' mister new kind of virus. I don't know, but all it's given me are the drippies and the hackies. No head-in-the-clouds, tired feeling, no headache... Just gunk in the throat and sinuses. Yummy!

So I was going to talk about the lovely bridal shower given by my wonderful friends Melanie and Lisa... But before I do that, I must clarify something that I mentioned in this entry a little while back. First of all, I apologize for being a Mike Patton obsessed IDIOT. I'm obviously so obsessed with Mike that I don't know DICK about some of the very talented people that he works/has worked with. That guy with the stupid glasses in the black and white picture? That's guitarist Trey Spruance (AKA Preston Lea Spruance III) who Mike grew up with in Eureka, CA. Together they formed the wonderful brainchild, Mr. Bungle, my favorite of the Patton endeavors. Fuck. I'm so ashamed! With the internet and all of its information it took me THIS long to check that out. Mike Patton fan indeed! Trey is a lovely instrumentalist (one of my favorite forms of music) and is now working with Secret Cheifs 3. A fan made a video, Aged Spazz Dance, featured on YouTube of course. It's fucking hilarious!!!

Okay. Now you know. I have done my duty and can now move on...

My beautiful friends threw my bridal shower on Sunday, March 11th. All I can say is that they totally outdid themselves and made me feel like a queen. Both of them have known me since childhood and that was special in itself. Well they made sure to bring out all the warm and fuzzies that day. Oh yea, and that day was HOT. It was fine though because it was perfect weather for the occasion. Let me list the hilights:

~There were very special people there, Lisa's mom Peira, her aunt and cousins, her sister, all people who are like family to me. Then there was Tyra, a newer friend I met through Melanie. The three of us have hung out quite a bit over the past few years. Only one of the Cathies could make it, Cathy with "Y" was celebrating a very special birthday that day. Melanie and Lisa had moved the event to the 11th, thinking her birthday was on the 10th. My dumb ass didn't realize this 'til the last minute. Oh well, I'll see you at the bachelorette party, Cathy-poop!

~The minute I walked into the house I was adorned with a sash that said "Bride to Be"....heehehe! Then they whisked me into the livingroom where they took my picture with a polariod to add to the scrapbook they were working on at the table! I didn't get to take the book home, as it is a work in progress. People took pics with me throughout the day. Everyone is making a page for me and it's going to include the bachelorette party as well.

~Melanie and Lisa spent the entire day before preparing, the decorations were simply adorable. Melanie had even made special plates for me! Since they've both known me from childhood, they each had pictures from birthday parties, trips to Disneyland, etc. Melanie put colored paper with pictures of me at all ages, including pics of Ron and I, on the bottoms of clear plastic plates. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen! And they made me a special chair! They prepared all of my favorite goodies, including crab cakes, panini sandwiches, all sorts of cheese and crackers, a wonderful salad and...and I forget what that drink is with all the fruit in it? It's a sort of wine cooler mix and and and I can't think of the name of it right now but it's SO GOOOD... Uhhh...

~THERE WAS A CHOCOLATE FONDUE FOUNTAIN. WITH FRUIT AND PREZELS TO DIP. OH. MY. GAWD!!!!

~They had a video camera and filmed parts of the day, too! They told me of the disasters during preparations the day before and said they actual filmed that, too! They're putting together a DVD for me as well.

~Speaking of the DVD...the biggest highlight of the day was one of the games. First of all, we played three games. They were fun and cute and not cheesy at ALL. The best game was the biggest surprise of the day. It was sort of Newlywed Game style. They had met up with Ron at my house earlier in the week and filmed him answering questions about our relationship. They'd ask things like, "What is your favorite thing to wear to bed?" or "What is the song that you hate the most?" So they filmed all of his answers and played it back at the shower. Each time they'd ask Ron a question, they'd pause it and ask me the same question. Of course they filmed my answers. Then they'd play back what Ron answered to see if I got it right! I got six out of ten! Hahaha! It was great! I couldn't believe how sweet it was of them to do that...and how adorable Ron was in the video! At the end Lisa prompted Ron to talk about our first date. Of course he has to tell the "dirt surfing" story... That's for another entry though! So they're gonna splice it all together with the day before preps and the bachelorette party...I can't wait to see it!

Okay, that's it for now. I have a feeling I'm forgetting something though. But now it's time to devote my FULL attention to fixing this logo of ours. Me and my write a little, work a little, write a little... I'm being bad. Must concentrate now. Bye bye!

I need a reminder? I'm losing it...

I should SO be working right now. Remind me to tell you about the wonderful wedding shower my friends gave me this past Sunday. I almost forgot to write about it! I can't right now though. So I'll just squirt out a bullshit entry. *squirt* *squirt*

...

...

...

BULLSHIT.

Later...

You think you know a guy...

I know I shouldn't talk too much about work on here, but I just have to right now. Remember how my old boss just up and resigned at the end of January? Well, as the owner and I are cleaning up the mess he left, we have found out why he left in such a hurry. I don't want to list details, but the situation is very disappointing to say the least. Neither of us thought that he had the audacity to do what he has done. As we uncover things, however, it has all begun to make sense. All the little clues left over the years. I am hurt, insulted and appalled. The owner is all those things times 100. I can't believe he would do this to her.

Now, before I sound like a total brown nosing kiss ass, I will admit that I have thought and said some nasty things about the owner. I have admittedly been jealous of her riches and have recently told her so. But overall, I have always had a huge amount of respect for her in that she has accomplished so much in her life. She EARNED all that she has by herself! How many wealthy people can honestly say that?

So we are handling this the best that we can. Things are coming together. The owner has made me feel like I have been a great asset to this company, something that my old boss never did. Sure, he'd compliment the way I'd improved so much since I'd screwed up during my first year, but he never asked for help, never told me what was going on, never really COMMUNICATED with me. I've come to find that I really don't know what he thought of me. Oh well. Who cares now. I know what I think of him after all this...

Oh yea, one more thing. My biggest clue about his character? The one that made me think, "Hmmmm, there's something about this guy..." He doesn't like animals. Every time I'd bring up my birds or cat or whatever, he'd make a disgusted face. Sure, he had pets for his kids, but he didn't seem to respect them. The way he'd talk about animals I could tell, he had no respect for them.

Okay, that is all. I must order lunch now.

How does it feel?

Like my brain is drizzling out my ear. Life changes are SO FUN! I tell you! I can't remember where I put my toast. Where's my pen? How many peices of toilet paper are left? There's sludge in my head now. I've got pieces of April, too.

GROAN.

Picture entry!

Some fun pictures I found on my camera... The dirty Stan and Praying Mantis were taken on the same day. Stan destroyed the poor Mantis about 30 minutes after the picture was taken... We should have hid her when we let him out. Poor thing.

I must say I'm loving this busy at work thing. I'm getting SO much done! It feels great. I'm off to pack orders now, one of the last times I'm going to have to do that...for a while I hope. The packing lady is coming back on Monday.

Later!

What else can I say?

I've been sooooooooooo busy. I knew this would happen...no more time for blogging! OH MY GAAAD!!! I have like...WORK to do and shit. So I've got a few minutes right now while I'm eating lunch.

News of the week? Or...uh...almost TWO weeks? I had my first wedding shower this past Sunday! I've been to many, many a bridal shower and it was so much fun to actually be the bride this time! I've planned on having two showers, one given by my sister-in-law, Kristy and the other given by good 'ol Melanie and Lisa, my two childhood friends. The one on Sunday was Kristy's creation. She and three of my cousins, Cathy, Debra and Janine put it together and it was beautiful. The tables were set with gorgeous dinnerware, there were white balloons with curly strings hanging from the ceiling, flowers everywhere and not to mention the FOOD. The food was fantastic! Bridal shower luncheons usually consist of mostly salads and bread so this one was very traditional in that aspect. 'Cept the salads were each so unique. They went together very well. And there were chocolate covered strawberries! YUMMY!

I got lots of great gifts, of course. Things I'd registered for and things I had not. We made a nice pile of them and took a picture. Then I had my mom take them to her house because there was no way in HELL I could possibly fit all that stuff in my postage stamp house. Thanks mom! And Kristy gave me one of the best gifts of all... She got me thank you cards and addressed them to all the people who had come. She even included the stamps! She's so thoughtful!

Next weekend I'm hoping to get together with a few of the bridesmaids and my mom so that we can get these gorgeous invites out. Of course! That's another thing! The invites turned out PERFECT! I'm so glad I went with that lady instead of going to Kinko's. They are just precious! So original and just what I pictured.

The weekend after next is the friend bridal shower on the 11th. This is when time begins to fly fly FLY! I'm stressing and want it to be over already, but at the same time I'm very excited. Typical.

Okay, got loads to do. Later!

Working out the kinks

Happy day after stupid sappy hearts and flowers day. I hate Valentine's day. A stupid Hallmark holiday. Fuck, it's not even a HOLIDAY! A holiday, in my book, is a day you get to spend off of work, in your pjs all day, eating peanut butter out of the jar while sitting on the couch in front of the t.v. like a lazy slob. I told Ron, again, that he's done enough for me this year. He actually gave me an early V-day present, some more Mike Patton work...some Tomahawk CDs. I got him a nice card (damn HALLMARK, I still can't help it!) and I'm gonna make him a wonderful dinner this weekend. I always like to give him things he can use or do things for him. It's more fun that way.


Speaking of Mike Patton, haven't had a moment in a while. Let us have a moment, shall we? No, do not tell me you are sick of him! NO! Haha...


Who is the dork in the sunglass made into specs? I have no idea. But Mike looks so cute in this picture. Sunglasses guy looks lame. I hate it when people make sunglasses into glasses, it looks SO lame.


Ahem.



Hehehehehe...he looks wasted in this one!


One day last week, while browsing for more Mike pics, I came across a survey posted by some teenie bopper. It asked readers to vote on who is cuter, Mike Patton or Johnny Depp. After I finished rolling my eyes, I read some of the responses...


Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp...of course! Who doesn't think Johnny Depp is cute? Ugh...


I'm so fucking TIRED of Johnny Depp I can puke. I'll admit that I thought he was cute during his 21 Jumpstreet days. Had a magazine picture or two up on my bedroom wall... I also loved him in Edward Scissorhands. But now, he's played out. Yes, he's a good actor...but so many women list him as their celeb crush. *YAWN* I've always been the type to not like things that everyone else likes. If it gets too popular, I can't STAND it. Like those stupid fucking mini coopers I keep seeing all over the road. Those things are so trendy. I hate trendy shit! Anyway, I'm getting off on another one of my tangeants...

While we're looking at cute men. Let's move away from fantasy land.


Ronnie poop with his hairlip smile and me with a smile that doesn't show all my huge teeth for a change. 'Member this one? I think I posted it a while back. It's from the car show we went to over the summer. It was hotter than hell that day...


Now let's get to what's going on THIS week. Busy busy BUSY. Work is BUSY! And I LOVE it! It's so good to have the owner back! Working with her has been so productive. We are reorganizing this place and it's already much better. We communicate well and I actually know what's going on now. I still miss the old boss though, he was such a nice laid back guy. But he was a little too laid back. He wasn't very organized at all. Typical man. But he was a great salesman. You know how it goes. Different people are good at different things.


Enough about work. Always a bad idea to blog too much about work. What else is going on? Hmmm...well... I went to a preliminary appointment with a counselor this past Saturday. Whenever there are lots of changes going on in my life, I find it necessary to talk to someone. There's too much going on in my little mind. Marriage is right around the corner. That's the biggest thing on my plate right now. And I can't WAIT to move. I just keep turning the same crap around in my mind over and over and over. It feels good to get it out.


I also went to a massage therapist on Saturday afternoon to get some of these knots kneaded. It felt great! I was so relaxed on Saturday evening. I unloaded my mind and muscles. Then we went for an OUTSTANDING sushi dinner. So very relaxing... Though unfortunately, my back started to knot up again by Sunday night. We'd spent Sunday doing my least favorite thing...shopping. We just joined one of those wholesale warehouse clubs. And I thought regular grocery shopping was bad. Try shopping in a huge, crowded warehouse. What a fucking nightmare. But I now have enough cat food and litter for Stan to eat and shit for the next twelve years.


I can't believe it's Thursday again already. I should get back to it. I needed a break, as usual. Time to work. Oh yes, and I have a cold coming on. I feel like shit. I'd better go take an aspirin. Later!

Love you

Last weeks problems have been solved and it's on to this weeks problems. The owner is here with me at work. It feels so good not to be alone! We are going through issues one by one and methodically solving each. I didn't realize how much I had missed her. So far it's been great working with her. I feel like we are getting things done. And she really made me feel good when she got here, as she made sure to tell me that she was very impressed with the way I handled the window situation. Little by little we are cleaning this place up. My old boss is still working with us some, too. He and the owner are friends and he wasn't just going to leave us in a lurch. He's such a nice person, of course he's still going to help us! He'll just do it from the comfort of home.

Everything else is fine. I'm still stressed though. It's the story of my life. My back feels like one giant knot again. It's pulling in so many places. I need a deep tissue massage in a bad way and I think I might just take the time to get one. Someday soon. Before I lose my mind. I'm taking a little break from wedding stuff this week. But we have to get back on top of things next week. I expect to be able to pick up the finished invitations by next week and we'll go from there. I have to start meeting up with vendors again to get all the details worked out. Whoo.

So now I will leave you with some pictures from Rons camera. Yes, more lovey cute piccies. Yay!


The happy couple.


The other happy couple.


Kissy kissy!


Can't have enough pics of the fish tank!!


...or the cat.


Yea Stan... Stretch it!!

Back to work for me. Happy Thursday!

Early

It feels very early right now. Probably because I only got about three hours of sleep last night. Yes, the madness continues. My boss is now gone and I am alone at the office again. As I've said before, it's usually when I'm alone that the shit hits the fan. Or in this case, the rock hits the window. I got a call from our alarm company at 10:30 last night saying that the police responded to an alarm and found one of our giant front windows broken. The cops called shortly after that saying that they were at the office and waiting for someone to come file a report and take care of the window situation. Thankfully, Ron has been working days again this week so he was home and I didn't have to deal with this alone. We jumped in the car and arrived at the office 20 minutes later to talk to the cops. Turns out we weren't the only victims. Some dickhead had paraded down the boulevard randomly breaking windows in anger. There were several other incidents last night. I was relieved to find out that there wasn't any theft, just vandalism.

After the cops left, Ron and I entered the office to assess the situation. He started sweeping up glass and I got on the internet to find a 24 hour emergency glass/board up service. Something one doesn't know exists until there is such an emergency. You know that operator message that goes, "We're sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected..."? That's a terrible thing to hear at 11:30 at night when you're trying to get something of this nature resolved so that you can go the fuck home and get some sleep. After more than a few such messages I was delighted to hear an actual human being answer the phone. He took down my information and said he'd be right out. Yay. Except "right out" meant at least 30 to 45 minutes, as he was located about 20 miles away. Boo. He finally arrived at 12:45 a.m. By this time Ron had gone to sleep on the bed conveniently located in the upstairs office. Yes, there is a sort of bedroom here for the owner to use when she comes to visit from Poland. It's quite comfortable, I've come to find. So Ron is snoring away upstairs and I'm dealing with a little weird dude...he showed up in a cherry red, 1987 Honda Accord. Two giant particle boards sticking out of the hatchback. Oooooh...a professional! He was nice enough but...there was just something...you know...strange about him. Well, you gotta wonder about anyone who has a job like that. Boarding up windows in the middle of the night, what a lovely and upstanding position to hold. Again, I was so happy to have Ron with me, even though he was sleeping 'cause he had to get up at 4:30 a.m. in order to make it to work by 6 a.m.

Little dude took almost two hours to get the job half done. He was fucking around with his tape measure for what seemed like years before he finally got to work. About 45 minutes into the job he had to leave and get more wood from God knows where. He came back 15 minutes later and tooled around some more. I was pacing the office. I'd go upstairs and lay down with Ron for a bit and then go back downstairs to check on dude. He'd finally covered most of the window by 2:30 a.m. and told me he'd come back first thing in the morning to finish up and secure the thing. I told him to please come back at 9 a.m. As I'm writing this, it is now 9:45 a.m. and he's still not here. I've talked to the owner and she gave me the name of a trusted glass guy in the area. I called him about an hour ago and he said he'd be out this morning. So now I'm just waiting. And waiting. And drinking coffee. And thinking about all the things I still need to do before the owner arrives on Sunday. In my pj top and jeans. With no bra. I'm a quite a sight at the moment. Heh. I'm thinking I'll need to come in for a few hours tomorrow to finish some things. I can't really concentrate right now. I think I'm gonna call the glass guy again and see where he is. I need an estimate before I file a claim with our insurance company. We have quite the deductible.

I got to bed by about 3 a.m. Sleeping (or trying to sleep) in that bed was interesting. There's a down comforter on it. Those things are HOT. Especially when you're wearing a top, sweater jacket and jeans. I woke up sweating at 6:30. Had trouble getting back to sleep so I just got up. Now my eyes are burning and I have that awful, familiar no-sleep feeling. I can't wait to go home. Alright, it's almost ten and I've heard nothing. Shit. Maybe I'll be back later to talk about how the rest of my week has gone.