Lots To Look Forward To

It's the beginning of a new month, a month full of amazing events that I honestly can't wait for. Event number one, my husband and I will be celebrating our first year of marriage this weekend!!!! We just booked this amazing barn type loft, as seen above, in the Mendocino area. We plan on enjoying our time together lounging around this gorgeous little place and then adventuring out into the town and even heading up to Fort Bragg. All I need to do is get a gift for Dom. No worries though, I already know the perfect gift to get him, phew.

Next up on the list of events is seeing my mom!!! That's the two of us when we went to a work convention in San Francisco. She is coming to visit and bringing along the new little addition to the family, Piper. She is the one asleep on the desk. I can't wait to see this little girl. I figure my mom and I will knit, shop, and maybe cook. I am hoping she can try and teach me how to create something edible.

Only a few days after my mom goes home, my wonderful friend Brookie is coming up to visit!!! This picture was taken during my birthday trip to Chicago. I don't know how it all worked out this way but I am just too freaking excited to care. We will also be knitting, then beading, visiting a childhood friend of both of ours who happens to live by me now and who happens to be my hairdresser and will be cutting both of our hair while we visit, and chit chatting about any and everything. I am just too excited for words. When God wants to cheer you up, He really goes all out. :)

Good Husband

As a random post I would like to talk about my wonderful husband. Would you like to hear about how great he is? Well too freakin' bad cause I'm gonna tell ya. The other day, I think it was last Wednesday, Dom came home and gave me the usual kiss and hug and then disappeared into the office for a while. In the meantime I was warming up some leftovers for dinner, some nasty meatloaf I had made a couple days earlier. Side note: I have made that meatloaf about 6 times since we have been married and each time it has come out delicious and for some reason the culinary gods where not with me on this one. Anyway, as I am half way through warming up the first plate he says, "Stop!" I ask why and he says that we are going out on a date tonight. As my jaw is dropped, I stop the microwave and then give him a dubious look and say, "you're kidding." He just laughs and smiles as I continue to disbelieve him but he was actually serious. We went to the restaurant of my choice (CPK) got dinner and dessert and then went and saw The Book of Eli in theaters. This was just such a fun surprise!! Dom usually has a hard time totally surprising me but he definitely did it this time.

Thrift Stores

Today I went to Goodwill and although they tend to be a bit more pricey then local thrift stores, you can find some good stuff. I found a small tea light candle holder that is shaped like a present, for Christmas, with star shaped holes in it to allow the light to come through. Also, a neat pot and a small bowl to hold Scramble's treats. Now until we do get some good local thrift stores, I will just have to make due with Goodwill. I miss home where we had amazing thrift stores scattered all over the desert. When I go home I'll just have leave room in the suitcase for my finds.

Crunch Time

There are six days until Christmas and I am feeling the pressure. I have a few projects that I need to finish, well some that I need to start and finish, and some that I should have had done already. I just don't seem to have the motivation that I need to get the ball rolling. I have plowed through the entire 1st season of L.A. Ink and have now resorted to a terrible movie called Food Boy to assist in my procrastination, so instead of feeling the satisfaction of being done, I now have the desire for a tattoo and I'm hungry. Everyone has their presents, it's just that these little projects are the icing on the cake. Wish me luck.

Christmasy

I love Christmas time and I guess I didn't realize how much until I left everyone else who took care of the Christmas cheer for me. My mom has the best decorations to get you into the Christmas season and Mindy always has a killer Christmas playlist that played nonstop starting Thanksgiving night. Now, I am the one in charge of all that and I am finding that I can't wait to get it going. I had music on before Thanksgiving and a few presents under our tree the night it went up, which was before December even started. I have gone crazy with twinkle lights in the apartment and now have the beginning of a little Christmas village. There are two silver Christmas trees that I made out of mardi gras beads that sit over our stockings and Christmas themed dishes that are filled with Christmas candy. The tree is full of awesome ornaments and there is a plethora of gifts under the tree for Dom and I.

Before we had family dinner over here the other night, I was looking at a couple more Christmas decorations with Dom at the store and he said that if we tried to be anymore Christmasy that he would have to gain two hundred pounds and wear a red suit. I thought that might be taking it a bit overboard and decided that we had enough decorations for this year.

Pain

I can't move, just a touch to the skin kills, and going to the bathroom has turned into a work of art. Dom and I have played walleyball the past two days with his brother and cousin and since I haven't worked out since Dom and I got married, due to some knee problems, my muscles are in shock! Walleyball is volleyball played on a racquetball quart with a men's height net and you can use the walls during play. I had so much fun diving and hitting and playing with my husband, but in my current condition, I am beginning to wonder if it was all worth it. I have to use what's around me to lower myself into a sitting position and I have to make sure that my limbs don't rest on one another due to the sensitive muscle pain.

Playing volleyball again was like drinking a cocktail of happiness and adrenaline. I love the game and my sincere devotion only comes when it's played indoor and on a court, so this was right up my alley. As I recover, I think that I am learning to appreciate what it is to be "in-shape." Once I can work out again, I am going to make sure that a couple games of walleyball don't send me to traction.

The Sled

I have this other post that I have been working on slowly that updates you all on my recent trips but I know if I keep waiting to finish it I'll never blog again. I'll just update you on what happened today and if I feel like telling the story of my business trip to San Francisco or vacation to Napa Valley, Monterey Bay, and Atherton, or my trip home this past week then I will later.

Today Dom and I went to the mall to buy "Our First Christmas Ornament" and the first house of the village I want to start collecting. We live about a mile from the mall, if that, and we decided that with the holiday traffic that we would just walk there. Well, today happens to be our third rainy day this week and we got soaked but it was great fun. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to enjoy some goodies and then headed out into heavier rain.

We found our ornament at Crate&Barrel! We looked at Macy's, Sears, JC Penny's, and Hallmark before we found it. It's a wooden sled with little red mitten's attached to it. I am so excited about it and about starting this new tradition. I don't think I'll let this tradition slip away from me because it involves shopping. Unfortunately, we didn't have such great luck with finding the village house. My mom owns a small village, one house will fit in your hand, and she has a whole collection. The place she got hers from is closed now and all the ones we saw are about the size of my head and they light up. They look adorable but I don't know where I will put them once the collection really gets going. I think that I am going to give in though and buy a Department 56 village house.

All in all, I had another great day with my husband, especially since this was all his idea. :)

P.S. "Fail" I forgot to put up pictures from my last post but it's been so long that I didn't want to dedicate this title to my failure. :)