Dreamy

How beautifl is this clutch? Love it. It's from Etsy seller :http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5134169 sassidesign's shop. I think it's perfect for my dress and I haven't found anything I like as much. I think this will be my next purchase after my dress comes in next week.

My Ceremony Sandals Arrived

I'm so excited, my sandals I ordered for the beach ceremony arrived today. They are really beautiful and just what I wanted. I also got a call from the Bridal Salon that my dress was shipped today and will be there no later than Tuesday. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by.

Invitations

These are the invitations I love. These are the invitations I'm about to spend a lot of money on so everyone can fill out the little enclosed card saying "no, we will not be flying out to Kauai for your wedding, your just not important."

"Save the Dates"

Regardless of the ever shrinking guest list, I am still planning my wedding as if people will actually be attending. So, a few months ago I sent out these "Save the Dates" along with save the date magnets. People called me right away to tell me how much they loved them.

So about this wedding...

The original plan was that Tony and I would go to Kauai alone and get married and have our honeymoon. This idea did go over too well with family and everyone asked us to please invite family and friends. We went back and forth on this for a few weeks, until we settled on the idea that yes, we would invite everyone and whoever can make it, will be there.

To be honest, I still feel like I'm not doing the right thing. Most of Tony's family say they can't afford to go, and none of my siblings are going either. In fact some days I'm down right depressed and the number of people who aren't going. I keep trying to remind myself that we originally were not planning on inviting anyone so even if just a few people go, that's more than enough.

It's just really hard to plan the little details I would love to have, when everyday who is going changes. I try to stay positive, but it's hard.

Location, Location, Location....

We have are using Diana Gardner of Aloha Weddings http://alohanaweddings.com/index.htm who is handling basically everything. She has been amazing. We have already boked the minister, musican, photograher and bakery. With her recommendation, we are getting married at Shipwreck Beach in Poipu and the Dinner at the Plantation Gardens nearby.

http://www.pgrestaurant.com/html/weddings.htm

Getting Married!!

Wow, once again it's been a long time since I've posted. Things have been crazy, but crazy in a good way. On August 1st 2009, after nearly 6 1/2 years together, Tony asked me to marry him. Officially. We had planned on getting Married in April 2010 so I knew it was just a matter of time before he asked me with an engagement ring.

My birthday is August 3rd an Tony surprised me with the most amazing suite at the Plazzo in Las Vegas. I knew the weekend was going to be amazing and I knew there was a good possibility that my birthday present would be an engagement ring. Surprisingly, I was as calm and cool as the summer breeze. I can't say the same for Tony though. He seemed very nervous and anxious the first two days and I knew something was up.

The morning of August 1st, Tony asked me when I wanted to ride the Gondola at the Venetian. We decided to have dinner that night and go on the Gondola. Long story short, we had dinner and went for our Gondola ride. Mid way through the ride, I looked in the water and noticed all the pennies people had tossed in. So I asked Tony if he had a Penny, I could toss to make a wish.

He reached in his pocket and handed me what I thought would be a penny, but instead it was my diamond engagement ring.

I cried the rest of the ride and so did he. We went out for drinks and desert to celebrate and I think I have been smiling since.

Now we are planning our Kauai Wedding and it's been an emotional roller coaster as we go through the process of what has now become a desitination wedding.

Easter Party

What a great day! Tony and I hosted our families for a belated Easter party. The weather was perfect and our yard was looking good. Everyone had a great time and Tony and really enjoyed showing off the gardens and the improvements we've made to the house. We also had a water balloon fight but unfortunately I was having way too much fun, to stop and take photos.

I purchased a ham from Honey Cuts Farms in Murrieta and it was the best ham I have eve had. They definitely have all my future business. We also had potato salad, fruit salad, chips and dip and cup cakes. Oh, and Tony made Margaritas and lemon aid for the kids. More importantly, we had great company. Everyone enjoyed the sun and fun and I can't wait to have everyone over to the house again.

My brother in law and his "mini me" Noah. No, the diet coke is not for the baby.

Tony's wonderful niece and nephew inspecting the contents of the eggs they found on the egg hunt.

The fruit salad turned out really yummy. I took a 1/2 cup of sugar and blended in some chocolate mint leaves I grew in the back yard and mixed it in with the fruit. So good.

I made jumbo cup cakes and created pastel frosting by adding colored icing to white frosting. I thought I had food coloring and had to use the icing at the last minute. I am super happy that it worked.

These lanterns I found at Pier One look great on the upper level patio cover.

Tony and I found these fabulous chairs at CVS on Friday and they were the perfect pop of color

I found these buckets at Target and painted the kids name on them and stuffed them with goodies.

I never thought I would love gardening so much

Tony's "burt" tree in the ground

Side Garden next to drive way

Back yard roses in bloom

When I was little my mom would drag us to the nursery almost every weekend. I can remember the smells, the warmth and the hours she would spend just walking around calling out plant names. She would pick up the plants in their plastic cans and hold them up to the light. It seemed as if she took the time to get to know the plant before taking it home; wondering if it was the right fit for a certain location.

We would drag our feet behind her wondering how much longer the process would go on. Our impatient attitudes never seem to phase her, she was in a bubble and no one could pop it. My mom obviously loved it so much it became her career, and now as adult with my own yard I truly understand why.

There is a feeling that comes over me when I garden, a sense of peace and happiness that I have never felt before. The idea that you sit in the sun surrounded by beauty waiting for you to remove their plastic cans and place them in a permanent location. Trimming back a rose bush in hopes of creating the perfect rose, come next season or watching a bare tree fill with leaves, is absolutely fantastic.

When we first moved into the house, Tony and I actually fought over who would get to do yard work. Looking back at those first few weeks it's quite funny. It's great that Tony loves it too and we each have our own thing we like to focus on. With Tony, it's trees. Palm tress, maples and the plum tree. He also seems to really enjoy excavation. In the beginning I would wake up and wonder where a certain bush suddenly went or why a certain location seemed suddenly bare. He had a vision and I now see it coming to light. However, I have to say, I am a little palm treed out. We have a running joke that the side garden next to the drive way is obviously mine because it has no palm trees in it.

Cleaning up

Ahh, the house is finally being put back together. We have painted the base boards in the living room and office and move the furniture back in. I will post pics of the rooms soon. Meanwhile, I am getting ready for Easter. I have been making these cute eggs to hang from the plum tree along with pretty lanterns. The koi pond is loving the sun and the fish have come out of winter hibernation.

It's 85 degrees here already, it's going to be a hot summer.

Yippee for a newly painted house!

Back of the House Before and After

Before

After

French Doors Before and After

Before
After

Before and After outside paint

Front of the house before

Front of the house after

I can see!

The plastic and tape have been removed from the windows and the painters are almost done. Once they leave, I will begin to take pictures. I can tell you now that it looks AMAZING! The dark brown against the brick is so pretty and really gives that natural effect we were going for. The Brown is exactly the shade we wanted and if anyone has experience with painting, you understand my excitement. Pictures to come very soon.

This isn't fun anymore

I think I hit the renovation wall. The painters arrived at 7 am this morning and I was happy to see them. However, by 6 pm when they were still here, I just about lost it.

The windows and doors are taped up and you can't go in and out of the house. So when I arrived home at 3:30 pm after a long day; once I got in, there was no going back out. We can't open the windows and I am starting to feel like a caged rat.

I just happened to go and check on the Koi pond, when I uncovered one of the painters sweeping dirt into the pond. Then I see that my pond pump is off. Nothing nearby was unplugged so I started to freak. Of course the painters had no idea why my pump was off. Fortunately one of them finally admitted that they unplugged something on the upper level patio. Sure enough, that was the problem. I have no idea how long it had been turned off, but I was not too happy and they knew it.

It probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't been living in a renovation zone for the past week. The living room still has no furniture back in it and until the job is complete, the master bedroom is our domain. I just keep telling myself it will all be over soon.

Vegas Baby!

So as you may already know, we decided to put tile in another hallway. I'm not sure why we didn't think of it before we started, but oh well. Unfortunately, the vendor we used did not have any more pieces or our tile in their California store. They did however have our 28 extra pieces in their Vegas store.



Not wanting to drive to Vegas I spent all day Wednesday driving from tile store to tile store, looking for a match. After hitting up 30 stores, I admitted defeat. I had no idea how many different variations of the same tile type there are out there. There is different finishes, colors, patterns, colors all which can be a close match but not close enough when the tiles are up against each other.



So on Thursday morning we drove to Vegas to have some fun and pick up our tile. We stayed at my most favorite Vegas hotel, the Paris and had a great dinner and some drinks. Before we went to bed, we picked some Keno numbers and waited until the morning to find out if we won.



Holy Crap! I won $400.00 bucks. Well that was fun.



We picked up the tile at 10 am in Henderson and got home about 3 pm. When we came home we were happy to see a good deal of the work was complete.

Moving right along

The tile in the kitchen, entry and living room is complete. We are also the proud owners of new base boards.
The grout is done and the tile is polished.

Now we just need to paint the base boards to match our new shutters.

Renovations Day Two

The Bathroom Wall tile was laid today with the trim and bullnose.
Bathroom wall tile. We went with a slightly darker color.

No longer are we the owners of tile smaller than my feet. Now we have big beautiful tile.

Living room is cat approved.

Renovations Day 1

I can't tell you how impressed I was this morning when the tile man showed up on time at 8 am on the dot this morning. When I came home at 4 pm this afternoon, to my amazement, 80 percent of the tile was laid. It's beautiful, and it makes the living room and entry look much bigger. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Renovations

This week we are starting some renovations on the house. The tile guy comes out tomorrow and we will be replacing the nasty old ceramic tile with big beautiful travertine tile with a chizzled edge.

We have also decide to take out the carpet in the living room and take the tile all the way through. It may take some time getting used to not have carpet in the living room, but I think it will be much better.

Now more worrying if the dogs will track in mud from the back yard onto the carpet.

We will also be taking out this ever so lovely builders quality vanity from the guest bath and replacing it with a new modern one.

This tile is as small as my feet and the grout I'm sure was white once when they first installed it 20 years ago.

Now it's grey.

Better view of ugly tile in kitchen

Hi

I know, I know. I am the worst blogger ever and never update. But then again, no one actually reads this blog so I guess it's not that big a deal.

I am back on the work out train and loving it. In the mornings the dogs and I walk two miles and in the afternoon, I hit the gym. I ran 5 miles on tuesday and today I attend spinning at my new gym. I have been working out consistantly for the past month and I feel so much better. I am trying to get my time down on the 5k to under 29 minutes. It's hard as I really am a slow runner. So I have been doing some treadmill work at least thee times a week.

The house is going to be painted on Sat. I am so excited to see the results. We have been talking about this for almost a year. I say almost because we moved in on April 15th 2008. I can't believe our first year as home owners is almost up. I have to be honest, it was one hell of a year. It had more ups and downs than a roller coaster. However, its been a fun ride and I would have changed a thing.

So it's exterior paint on Sat. and all new tile in the entry, kitchen, living and guest bath on Monday. I will post before and after photos for your enjoyment.

Ugh, Hills

Did I mention my new community is all hills? The first mile of my daily run is straight uphill. I'm thinking it will be another two weeks before I don't have to walk any of it. Today I only walked two times so I can see the progress. The only good part is running back down the hill.

I did 3.2 miles on Friday and have been doing 1.8 miles on the week days. I'm pretty pleased considering I didn't run for almost a year. I can't imagine where I would be if I hadn't been walking so much. Thank go for two hyper pups. Speaking of Pups, I have to say that Norco and Ally also love this new routine. Norco likes to pick up the pace going down hill and his ear flap in the wind and his smile gets wider. Then he comes home and crashes for about an hour.

Norco is definitely going through the naughty adolescent phase. On Sunday, I reached my wits end and took him to a trainer for an evaluation. I had no idea there was this fantastic obedience school just down the road. Very cool. The trainer loved Norco and said he has an amazing disposition and would be a great therapy dog. He just needs training. So the training has started.

Here's a photo of Norkie a few months ago.