Congrats to The Halls

On May 27th our friends Mr. and Mrs. H finally tied the knot! Our good fried Mr. P picked us up and we headed out to Studio City's Sportsman Lodge to celebrate their nuptials. We arrived at the beautiful location as the bride and groom were taking photos. We mingled with other guests and then took our seats to wait for the wedding to start. Twinkle lights decorated the aisle and gazebo, and trees surrounded the area. Soon the music started and we got excited to witness such a great event. Despite a hiccup with the D.J., we were suggesting that we all start to hum The Wedding March, the bride made her way down the aisle escorted by her brother. They exchanged vows, and gave each other their first wedding gift. A red rose. Whenever they wish to express their love for one another, all they would have to do is purchase a single red rose and display it in their home. I liked the sentiment of that! Once they were announced we all headed inside to sign the guest book and find our seats.

We were seated with many other friends and even people that we knew outside of the bride and groom. It's funny how small the world really is. We ate a wonderful meal and drank some good beverages. Of course, my hubs cheated a bit and after the open bar was closed he just purchased soda's and spiked them with SoCo from his handy dandy flask. Once the dance floor opened up, we cut a rug. A little Salsa and some swinging hips. During the money dance I stood in the groom's line first, knowing full well that I would dance with both of them. It's my tradition. I told him that I would spin her and dip her! He was very impressed! Haha. When I got into the bride's line, her brother came up and asked to cut it. I of course told him that it was fine. He stood their for a couple of minutes before he turned around and asked why I was in the wrong line. I told him that it was tradition for me to dance with the bride. She always has to win the money pool! It was my turn and I did as promised. I spun her and dipped her and then let the little boy who was behind me show me up! We ate cake, danced some more and then said our goodbyes.

Mr. P and D

Mr. H

Mrs. H and her brother

So pretty

AWE!

First Dance

Centerpieces

Of course I don't go to any wedding without making something. This time I quilted some custom place mats. Here's how I made them:

 

Supplies:
Enough fabric to cut 5" squares to make (4) mats: total 48 squares. (I usually use a charm pack for this because they already come pre-cut at 5", but couldn't find any so I just used 5 fat quarters and it seemed to be enough.)
2 yds backing fabric (will be enough for binding as well)
Quilt Batting

Directions:

1. Sew your 5" squares using a 1/4" seam in 3 rows of 4 across. Sew all rows together to make the place mat top.

2. Baste, quilt, and bind as desired

There it is. Wedding recap and place mats! I hope they enjoy them as much as did making them! May their life be filled with love, laughter and a happily ever after!

Vegas Vacation

Ok, so I finally had some time to do a recap of the trip. Between holidays and preparing for bridal showers and everything else, it seems time just got away from me. I have had the photo's uploaded, it's just getting the post written so....here we GO!

Friday night D and I went up to my parents house. They were going to be watching the pup for us and we needed to introduce her to their new puppy Gracie. Needless to say, human and beasts alike did not get much sleep for the 5 days they were together as playtime was every second of the day! Saturday, my mom and I had a baby shower to go to so D just vegged on the couch. Sunday morning, it was time to roll out of bed and play the trick the pup into thinking were in the other room game. We escaped successfully and were on our way. After a couple of stops, and countless license plates later; and a couple of rule changes by the hubby, we finally made it into Vegas around 12PM. We valeted the car and tooled around the hotel while we waited for our family to arrive; they were an hour or so behind us. We had some room drama, of course. They 'forgot' to check us in and after waiting over 2 hours we finally got into our 'non-smoking' room that smelled like an ashtray! So mom and B.I.L. called down and things were fixed....vapor thingy sent up, and price reduction of the room. Crises averted.....kind of. We all got ready and made our way over to the Bellagio for the "O" show. 90 minutes of acrobatics, diving, tumbling and many other things in and out of water. I was IN HEAVEN! The pool was on a regulator where it would get deeper or more shallow as each scene moved forward. The costumes and makeup were also perfect. With it being more like a circus, there really wasn't a plot so it was slightly jarring to not have a story to follow, but I thought it was so cool and I can't wait to see another Cirque de Soleil show!

Centerpiece in the hotel lobby

D on a bottle cap chair outside of House of Blues

Monday D and I awoke and went to Starbucks (You can get coffee there!) for some caffeine and food. Then we met up with the rest of the family to go to the Shark Reef. We were staying at the Mandalay Bay and that was one of the things that they featured. We wandered around the aquarium, taking photos of the various species of animals and touching the rays and horseshoe crabs. We stopped in the gift shop and took a peep at our souvenir photo. Not worth the 20 bucks so we moved on to the next task at hand. We decided to split up because D and I did not really want to go shopping and the rest of the family did. So at Caesar's palace is where we parted ways. D and I went around the Paris and the Venetian taking in all the architecture and culture there was to be had. D also wanted to get one of those giant margarita's that they sell in the casino's so we did that as well. We played tourist, because we never really have done that in the 50+ times that we have gone. Yes, we have done things, like the Shark Reef, and the Gondolas, and the zoo at the Mirage; but we never were the "Japanese" tourists before and wanted to capture some of the local scene. Break dancers, costumed characters, and too many Elvis' to count.

Lionfish at the Shark Reef

View of the Strip from our hotel

View of the Strip from our hotel

View of the Airport from our hotel

The Paris

D and his Margarita

Ceiling in the Paris

Break dancers

Details at the Venetian

Details at the Venetian

Ceiling Mural

We met up with the family after exploring for a couple of hours. I wasn't feeling well, probably too much heat, walking and booze. We went to the Bellagio for a buffet, and I tried my best to get the monies worth. D and I decided that after dinner we should make our way slowly back to the hotel and rest a little before we headed up to the Foundation Room. We stopped at the fountain and discovered many new settings on are fancy camera, so we clicked away. Once back to the hotel, we got cleaned up and headed up to The Foundation Room. It was a pretty cool spot at the top of the hotel, overlooking the strip. We both ordered a drink and wandered around and danced a little. We both noticed that the age group of the crowd was older than us. We had moved around a lot, but ended up by the balcony, where there was a lot of cigar smoking going on. I started to wheeze and was feeling bad again. Asthma combined with alcohol and cigarettes don't mix. We bailed and tried to head to the other club at The Hotel. Once in the lobby I had a full attack and we just called it a night. Funny thing, in the elevator on the way back down to the lobby from the club there was a gentleman with a FULL head of grey hair. We had seen him in the club and decided that perhaps this wasn't our scene.

Bellagio Fountain

New York New York

 

Tuesday D and I just wanted to chill at the lazy river. His dad thought the same thing. We got up, put on our suits and made our way to the pool. Bought some $25 rafts and just relaxed for hours. Despite the number of people there, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Around 4 we headed back to the room to get cleaned up for dinner. A high end steak dinner at Strip Steak. Great atmosphere and food, plus I had my very first real beer. I'm hooked.

Wednesday was check-out. We had packed the night before and really wanted to get home to our pup. We missed her furry face! Upon arriving in Tehachapi she looked so excited to see us home. Being it was a busy trip and a long drive, we decided to take a nap before we headed home. Once refreshed we thanked my parents for taking care of our pup, and not getting a lot of sleep. On our way down the hill we realized that we had the opportunity to take photos of the windmills that we see, always at night. We pulled over and got some shots and took some while driving as well. Due to high winds the Mojave desert was having a wind storm also so we got some shots of that as well. 

It was a fun trip and we got to do some new things too! Vegas is always full of experiences!

 

Naked

So last night I took all my jewelry off to clean it. Woke up early to go to Hell on Earth (the DMV) and forgot to put it back on!!!!! My hands and ears are naked! :-(

Cheap Orange Nailpolish

So, I have a habit of always having my toenails painted. Partly because a few years back I wore Ugg boots to Disneyland, in the rain, with no socks.....please don't judge me....and the slipperiness of my feet inside those shoes jammed my big toe so hard that it left a giant black bruise under my nail that refused to go away for about 9 months. So the only way to conceal it was to paint my nails a dark color. Since then my nails have been a little dry and don't look too attractive so I still paint them every 2-3 weeks.

This being said I get really sick of the same colors. I have a lot of cools; blues, greens, purples and a lot of pinks, but that is the extent of my color range. I have started to buy crazy colors, that are in a cheap brand so that I can determine if I like it or not. That way if I hate it, I didn't spend too much money. This was no exception on Friday. I went to my local Target store with my mom to get dinner and Father's Day cards. I wanted to re-paint my nails so I found a cheap pinky orange color. After we ate, I got out my tools for an at home pedicure. I sat at the dining room table....MISTAKE #1. Took the process of removing the old color with the nail polish remover, clipped my nails and began with the first coat of nail polish. Since I wasn't finished with the color I left the brush not screwed into the jar....MISTAKE #2. I needed to do a little touch up with some remover so I poured a little onto a Q-Tip over the table top....MISTAKE #3. As I poured I watched in slow motion as the liquid escaped the bottle and onto the top of my dining room table. I screamed and jumped up to get something to clean it with. Acetone eats wood and any finish. My mom grabbed paper towels and I got a dishcloth. She beat me back to the table and in the process of getting to the liquid, knocked over the orange polish onto our beige carpet. Splat! D wandered over to see the what the commotion was about, saw the orange stain and ruined finish on our table and I thought his head was going to spin off into another dimension! 20 minutes of scrubbing, 3 techniques and lots of acetone on the carpet, I still have orange stains and a spotted table top. We turned the table so it's not so noticeable, but the pain of knowing what happened will haunt me and my poor table forever!

Needless to say, that even after 20 years of doing my own nails accidents do happen regardless of how careful I am. From now on I will be doing my nails in the safety of my bathroom!

Slip of the Tongue

D: "What Harry was a clu clux??"
Me: "You mean a holcrux?"
D: "Thank you"
Me: "Harry Potter is not a member of the Clu Clux Clan!

Ahhhh the conversations that are had in my household!

Things of a mental nature

Ok, I know I promised updates on many other things first and I promise I will. I just have been needing to write about some other things that have been on my mind. Sometimes I read other people's blogs and see the lack of fear in writing about things that have happened in their lives. I wish I could be that person. One who could write down every single thought that has ever crossed their mind, but then I think about it and change my mind. What if I die and can't explain myself? No no no, some thoughts just need to be left in my head!

I have said that not much has gone on in my life as of recently, but that wasn't true. A lot has happened in my life, but I wanted to keep it to myself. Even though I have a blog and am not shy about certain things....I am a VERY private person. I have been open about other things however so I will share about my struggles.

It has been 14 months since my father passed. Let me tell you, that first year was the hardest I have ever experienced in my whole life. The first 6 months weren't too tough, but I think that I was just in denial. I didn't want to believe that he was gone. Right around his birthday, in September, it all really sunk in. I started to fall. Really fall into a deep depression. This I was also in denial of. Through October and the holiday season I truly felt so unhappy and sad, that I would come home from work and sleep. The only thing that made me feel better was the gym. D would try, but I wouldn't let him in. We had a really rough couple of months. This continued through March, fueled by many other things, but mostly on the impending anniversary. Memories were flooding in at an alarming rate and I was unsure how to deal with them. My world came to a stand still. Not moving forward, just saying in one place. Life was moving around me, but I didn't know how to get back on the ride and I so desperately wanted to. A friend emailed me with concern a couple months back. She has a degree in Family therapy and the things she said to me really stuck. I was in denial about my depression and really didn't want to have the stigma of a "mental illness" on me. She said to me that it's ok to ask for help, to acknowledge that I am going through a rough patch. The things that I was doing were not healthy; pushing people away, hiding out in my "shell."

I took her words to heart and really examined my life. Certain things happen and time does heal a little, but its taking that first step into understanding yourself that truly makes the healing process happen. I have examined myself, my life and the people in it. I have made the effort to show D how much he means to me, and am sorry for the way things happened. He is my rock. I couldn't ask for a better person to share my life with. We make the effort to do things together, and to truly enjoy our lives because we never know when our time will come. I have made the effort to let go of the negative energies that surrounded me, and spend my time with people who truly care and understand what I went through. I have re-kindled old friendships, made new ones and D and I can only ask to have wonderful people in our lives at all times.

Now that my mind is on the mend, I still have a ways to go but will get there, we can focus on what's truly important to us. Starting a family. This road has already been a long and rough journey, but we are willing to make the sacrifices so that we can have a family of our own. Things of the physical nature are finally starting to re-set and I am looking forward to the next phase in our lives. We welcome any challenge that comes our way with open arms and clear minds!

Thanks!

As we lay the Westinghouse to rest

Ok, I suck at follow through I guess. I promised you an update of our Vegas vacation 2 weeks ago and I haven't done it yet! SO SORRY! I have all the photos ready to go and in the post, I just have to write it! I have a couple more posts and some crafts in the pipeline too so bear with me!

Source

Anyways, I sit here writing to you today whilst looking at the computer on my 32" LCD TV in our bedroom. I received a phone call from my mom's bestest friend in the whole world from high school. Her daughter is getting married in August and her bridesmaids are just super busy. She asked if I had any bridal shower games and if I wouldn't mind putting a couple of them together for the shower in 2 weeks. UM YES! I have soo many to choose from! So while I was getting my brain focused and in order, I knew that the one game that I wanted to do, a music game, needed a little revision. It's done as a video clip now, and I needed to figure out a way to get it onto a cd form. While D fired up the computer we saw the magic thinking screen. Then all of a sudden.....blackness!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH our monitor went out! NOOOOOO! How am I to pin, and edit photos, and blog???!!!! Away I went looking at Amazon, on my handy dandy crackberry, to see how much new flat screen monitors are running. When D came home later in the evening (boys night out), I heard him shuffling around in the bedroom. When I came in, I saw him tearing apart the desk and hooking up the hard drive to our TV! Just so I could do the games for the shower! (and pin, and edit photos, and blog!) Greatest husband award goes to....buuudumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdumdum (this is a drum roll, I know you never would have guessed)......D!

This is only a temporary situation and we will need to get a new monitor, because sitting on our bed with the keyboard and mouse cords stretched out across the aisle really isn't good flow, but it works for now and we have a GIANT monitor! We can watch anything! The possibilities are endless!

Until next time, soon too! I promise!