A-Weigh We Go

I've decided to start Weight Watchers. Went to the meeting tonight on my way to dance class. Gonna officially start tomorrow. I weighed in at only 2 lbs more than when I started Weight Watchers 4 years ago. While it is high, not gonna say how high, at least it is controlled right? Thank goodness for dance class! If I hadn't found Classic Tap I don't know where I'd be right now.

photo via Diane Inskeep Photography

I'm looking pretty big there in the orange and 4 of those ladies have had babies. YIKES! Last time I did Weight Watchers I did pretty well, lost my 10%. Then my Paw Paw passed away and I quit, and it snowballed from there. But, enough is enough, and I'm gonna DO IT! You'll see one skinny bride on my wedding day, and healthy too. Stay tuned for progress reports.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I know, I know, bad blogger. Wondering if this whole blogging thing was just a fad for me. I haven't even read my favorites in weeks :(
Lots of changes around here. Our 2 foster dogs, Mick & Fly, have gone to a new home. They got to stay together, which is a good thing. I'm not sure they could handle life separated. They aren't too far away either. Already my house is headed back to a people house and not a giant dog house.
Change 2 my little sister moved from Eugene to Lake Oswego. She started law school at Lewis & Clark on Monday. And her man and 1 of their dogs moved to the other side of the country for a couple years. He is working on a Master degree and will be teaching beginning Latin.
Change 3 my FH's little brother and his girlfriend broke up over the weekend. They had been together for quite some time and have a little boy together. She's also supposed to be in our wedding next spring...so that's interesting.
Change 4 my mom slipped and cracked some ribs. OUCH!!!
Change 5 I will be teaching ballet again in a few weeks.
Change 6 Annie is probably preggers. Annie is our dog if you remember from my first post.
Change 7 I swear I'm going to start the 30 day shred on September 1. Oh, wait! That's my friend's birthday. Hmmm, maybe September 2.
Change 8 I am not doing the colorguard thing this year. New band director equals new staff.
That's plenty, don't you think? No pictures, I'm posting from my sister's place and using a mac.

Babies And A Wedding

Yes. I have been away for awhile. Recital and bbq are over. Then there was resting. Then there was work to catch up on from all that dancing then resting. Then we went to Reno for my cousin's wedding.

First Dance

Me & My Guy afterwards

Now I'm back. Oh, yeah, then there were new puppies.

Proud and Accessible Mamma.

Puppy Pile!!!

Funny story about the puppies...so Ginger (my mom and dad's dog) and McGuirk hooked up on Cinco de Mayo. My mom was so afraid that Gingy would have her puppies while we were in Reno that she had her x-rayed as soon as possible. No puppies! So we went on our merry way. We noticed that Ginger wasn't really acting like herself, but attributed it to a false pregnancy which is quite common. She was looking a little chubby, but that's not unusual for her, as she is the biggest Mi-Ki we have at the very top of the weight range for her breed. Well she just seemed miserably fat by the time we returned from Reno. So dad took her in to the vet to see if they could relieve the symptoms of a false pregnancy. The Dr. took a listen and heard a tiny heart beat. Turns out Ginger was carrying around 3 puppies all this time. I admit I felt a little guilty about giving her such a hard time about her weight. What a waste of $181 on the first x-ray, huh? The 3 puppies, 2 girls and 1 boy, were born on Friday July 10. Ginger ended up having a c-section and an ovariohysterectomy (she was spayed) at the doctor's beseeching. All are doing great! Puppies are up to 9 ounces a piece and mom is down a couple pounds. (which is a lot when you only weigh 8 pounds to start with) Ginger did have to go in for more staples because she hid under the bed and tore several out. Now she has to wear one of those silly lampshade things around for another week. I ended up staying over 3 nights on puppy patrol because I'm a crazy night-owl. FH is away for 12 days so someone has to look after our brood, my own puppy (more like poopy) patrol.

Testing. Testing. 1, 2, 3.

Hello everyone out there in blogland. Don't get excited. I'm just testing my new blog app for iPhone. Did it work?

That's A Wrap

We tapped, we jazzed, we hip hopped, we balleted, we danced our hearts out. The recital is over. Now I can start thinking about next year's. No pictures to show, yet. So glad the bbq is over too. So much work this last week...boo! Almost the perfect amount of food prepared. I did get to enjoy a delicious burger for lunch today. Way too much beer left. I really thought we would've gone through more, I guess a Sunday bbq doesn't call for much alcohol consumption.

Things I am currently coveting...
I simply must have one of these dresses. My only problem is which color to choose, they're all so scrumptious.

Butter by Nadia

And how much do I love this Balenciaga bag? Let me count the ways...

smartbargains.com

Of course I have no need for either of these things, but am I going to let the stop me? We'll see.

Under 300

So, we're down to 299 days, yikes! But, on a bright note, and I do mean BRIGHT, we have possibly decided on colors. We'll just keep them a secret for now though. I was inspired by some scrapbook embellishments, let's just leave it at that. Hope you don't mind.

Gumballs & Easter Eggs

It appears we have settled on a save-the-date design, now that we're down to 10 months away. Now we just need to finalize the ever-expanding guest list so we know who to send them to. We still need to decide on colors. I like all of them so it's a challenge. He thinks I'm gonna make it look like a 12-year old girl's birthday party, but I say more like a 3-year old...

via Creative Parties & Showers

I love this one too, but I must apologize because I don't remember where I found it.

You see among the many, many simple things that bring me great joy, colors and dots are two of my favorites. So how perfect are gumballs, M&Ms, candy dots, and balloons? Amazing! Now, if I can just get him on board we will be in business.


And one more, for good measure...this one came from the same place as the gumballs and I still don't remember where. My profuse apologies. I will try to do better in the future. Promise.

This one works on several levels. 1) Our wedding is the weekend before Easter. 2) We live in the Cherry City. 3) Dyed eggs are colorful and if you look at them from the right angle they are round like dots. 4) Plus, eggs are for fertility.

Does it matter that our save-the-dates have nothing to do with any of these ideas? I'm gonna say NO! What say you?

PS - He does like the save-the-dates.

Blink-Blink

Thought I'd spiffy up a bit. Grabbed that adorable I heart dogs blinky over at April Showers. Definitely check it out, she has some really cute designs. I am learning, please bear with me as I figure out this blog world.

Wedding Estimate

Thanks to Project: 10K Wedding I ran a wedding cost estimate, which you can do here, and this is the result:

Based on the zip code you entered for 97209 Portland, OR , the number of guests (200+), and the items selected, the estimated wedding cost is between $21,559 and $35,931.

I'm hoping to shave at least $6,000 off of that bottom line. Wish me luck!

Wedding Woes

Picking up my dress tomorrow. Thinking about trying a few on at a different store first. Why is it harder to commit to the dress than the guy? I really need to get crack-a-lackin' on the wedding plans. We haven't even agreed on colors yet. What I do have:
man - check
venue - check
date - check
dress - kinda
wedding party - mostly*I say mostly because he still has to ask his friends

I suppose I'm doing alright, it's still 10.5 months away. I wanted to send out save-the-dates already, but the guest list is still a work-in-progress. (read completely out of control). The months are ticking away rather quickly which concerns me. Hopefully after the recital, ahem June 7 ahem, I can devote more hours to planning this once-in-a-lifetime shindig.
The other question I get a lot is "where are you going on your honeymoon?". Great something else to plan!

Yo, Yo, Yo...I'm Still Here

I realize it's been almost three weeks since my last post.*sigh* I promised myself I wasn't going to do that. I'm also way behind on reading all your lovely and wonderful blogs.*double sigh* It's been busy around here. Between dog shows, birthdays, Easter, the recital coming up, and totally reorganizing the office I haven't had much down time. Haven't even made a single step forward in planning our wedding. Oh, yeah. Did I mention the landlord called and wanted to come Sunday morning to do an inspection? Well, she did. We kicked it into high gear. Carpet cleaners came on Saturday. Everything was then scrubbed from top to bottom. Everything except my craft room and his poker room. We passed, she even commented on how great the grass looks. Thanks Jacob's Landscape Corp. That's enough babbling for on post. I'll sign off now, but with a promise to do better in the future. Hopefully I'll have some fun wedding details to post. Nephew's 1st birthday party this weekend, maybe something fun will happen.

The Big 2-9

I haven't been up to much this week. We did celebrate my 29th birthday by heading to Portland for a Blazer game and other shenanigans. Our seats were heavenly, as in right next to heaven. Pretty uneventful game. After the game we Maxed it on over to Rialto for some billiards. Turns out the only open table was a Snooker table. Who knew Snooker was so hard to play? I did enjoy the yummiest potato rounds ever, a lot like potato skins. I also developed a new love for the amaretto sour. Delish! These are the only pictures I ended up with:

Waiting for the Max.

Waiting for amaretto sours.

Judging by the color of my face, I would say I didn't need that one. There is some video but nothing noteworthy so that is stored safely away on the pc.

Think Inside the Box

(Photo: Kool-Kini / Flickr )

(Photo: Kool-Kini / Flickr )

(Photo: Urban Space Management)

(Photo: Kool-Kini / Flickr)

via The Daily Green News blog

While checking my email I came across these lovelies. Truly inspired living. Green & Gorgeous. I want one!

Bye Bye Briezy

Dropped my sister off at PDX early, I mean early, this morning. She will be spending the next four months abroad. She will be studying in Athens for three months then backpacking around Europe for a month. Hopefully we can get over there for a visit. I have invited her to be a guest blogger here so we can all see what she is up to. She didn't take her computer so postings might be few and far between. I think her posts shall be titled "A Briezy Day".

Where:

We did it. We booked the Crystal Ballroom for our wedding. Now to plan all the other million details.

For Your Viewing Pleasure...Dogs

Thought this cartoon was too cute not to share. It's not unlike what I do for a living.

Dress Success

I set up an appointment to go wedding gown shopping earlier this week. I know the wedding is over a year away, but my sister (and MOH) is leaving for Greece on the 24th and will be gone until mid-July. Then she will only be home for a few weeks then it's off to some place for law school...Chicago, Pittsburgh, who knows? So, I thought she should at least see a few before she leaves. I made an appointment at a store in Keizer (I didn't like the vibe at the same store in Eugene when I was bridesmaid dress shopping), but I thought it was a good place to start. Surely this would just be the beginning of many, many shopping trips.
We (sis, mom, & grandma) arrived a couple minutes late because Brie (my sister) had a final in Eugene that morning. They seemed like they weren't expecting me. They left us just standing there for a few minutes, bewildered. Finally a sales lady came in from the back, where she had been eating chips & salsa. She asked what size pants I wear. I told her (blank), but when I bought a dress here before I needed size (blank) to fit my chest. She didn't even bother to look at the pictures they told me to bring of my favorites. I spent a lot of time and effort putting together a collection of favorites, hmph! She pulled a bunch of dresses, none of which were in my inspiration book. She asked what size bra, and of course they don't even make my size. So I had to make do with one about three cup sizes too small. I tried on dress after dress in a not quite big enough size. Did I mention that you can see straight into my dressing room from the front parking lot? Awkward! I told her I liked the skirts with the pick-ups but it was like she wasn't listening. I told her I didn't like the corsetted bodice, but half of them were that way. I don't want to feel like a rack of lamb or some kind of roast on my wedding day, or any day for that matter! My sister hated all the ones that the sales lady liked, I think that rubbed her the wrong way. Finally, we got her to bring a dress with pick-ups in the skirt...guess what? I hated it on me! Funny, I love that in the pictures. I also decided I like the corset because I can get a dress big enough for my chest but cinch it in around my waist, and I don't look like a roast. Now I just need to tone up my arms.
I ended up falling in love with the second dress I tried on. So she went back for the right size and laced all the way up and plopped the veil on my head. Awwwww!!! But I couldn't bring myself to buy it right then, even though it was on sale. I just thought no way! It's not this easy! I have to go to half a dozen other stores first, right!?! I always second guess myself anyways, and this is way too much of an expenditure to second guess. I did put a deposit on it. This did two things: 1)lock in the sale price and 2) left me with the feeling I had accomplished something wedding related. You know, other than the groom. Plus, this way if I change my mind I'm not stuck buying from that store, although my sister will be buying her bridesmaid dress there if that is the case.
You'll just have to wait for pictures though. We can't have FH (future hubby) seeing it before the big day! This is what it does NOT look like. Hehehehe.

via uglyweddingdress

For Your Viewing Pleasure...Dance

This is the first installment of For Your Viewing Pleasure. This guy's got some moves and his transitions are flawless! Please enjoy, I sure did.

Crystal Ballroom

This place will quite possibly be the location of our wedding. What do you think of the space?

Baby Ballet

Once my sisters-in-law-to-be got pregnant and had their little boys, I started to think why would anyone want to do this. The laundry-list of effects on your body was extremely unnerving to me. Then after they're here the little guys never stop crying. And we can't hop in the car and go somewhere without a trailer-load of baby accoutrement. How could something so small require so much stuff? Besides, I'm used to the dogs where you can just put them in their kennel and head to the movies. But then I began teaching ballet this year and when I saw my little ballet class in their adorable little ballet skirts with tiny little ballet slippers my ovaries skipped a beat. I teach Pre-Ballet to 3-4 year-olds (and a 2 1/2 year-old) and Ballet 1 to 5-7 year-olds. It is hard work, but now that I see that they are actually learning it is so rewarding. Granted some of the 3-4 year-olds don't grasp everything or even want to dance sometimes, still I love to see their smiles when we do our super-girl stretch or play ballet hokey-pokey. The older ones are amazing! They are like miniature ballerinas. They are fantastic at the barre and can even do some more complicated excercises. The recital is coming up on June 6 so I've been spending a lot of time cutting music (well, Scott has at least) and choreographing their dances.

Here is the costume I chose for the babies:

They are dancing to Hop Scotch Polka by Art Mooney.

Note: the girls don't like the above costume because it's not pink.

And here is the costume I chose for the older girls:

(From the front you can see that the green looks like leaves.)
They are dancing to Waltz of the Flowers from The Classical Child At the Ballet.

It was very hard to choose, there are sooooo many cute costumes. I was having second thoughts about the white one yesterday, but Jane, the owner, said they were on their way. Too late now. Plus, I think it's good to see them in little tutus rather than a dress. Don't you?

Brooke + Scott

I realize it's been a while since my inaugural post. I had hoped to post daily, but planned to post weekly and here it is nearly a month later...bad blogger!!! After reading my first post my fiance, Scott, replied dejectedly "You didn't even mention me". In an effort to make amends for this slight I shall now tell you the story of us. Scott and I met in the Oregon Marching Band. This was definitely by chance as I happened to join the only sorority that had a member who was in the band. I, being a dancer did not want to convert to colorguard, but my Big was in the guard and talked me into doing it with her. She quit after that year, but I stayed for 5 total...Yay free Nike gear!!! Scott played trumpet in the OMB, he noticed me, I noticed him, blah blah blah. After a bit of encouragement from our friend, Ray, and maybe a little stalking by me, we ended up on our first date. We went ballroom dancing at Gerlinger. And a short 8 years later, here we are finally planning a wedding for next spring.

Then...

Now...

BB + SO = LOVE

...and away we go!!!

I follow so many blogs now, I thought I should try my hand at writing one. Hmmm, I think I will start by introducing the dogs I live with, of which there are 5. First we have Annie Duke...She was our first house dog. She is the granddame of the house; wise, calm, and sometimes moody. She can also do tricks which I've never seen lapdogs do before, have you? Then she had a puppy that we couldn't resist keeping, Dixie...
She is a tiny treasure, weighing in at 3.5 lbs dripping wet. She's hardly any trouble at all, except when she sees a critter out the window. Her little bark is shriiiiilllll!!! Then came McGuirk (named after a cartoon character)...
Everyone warned us not to get a boy, they pee on everything. Boy, were they right! I've even seen him lift his leg on the girls. Then we ended up as foster parents of the twins, Mick & Fly...
These guys are, what's more than a handful?____ That's what they are. They manage to make trouble where no one could foresee trouble. They are why I can't have nice things. They've destroyed many socks, pens, rolls of stamps, etc. They can even find their way up onto tables and desks to get whatever their little hearts desire. But they are too cute for words; when they're sleeping!