Bad Child

I've talked before how lucky we are to have been blessed with such a good dog.  She really is wonderful and I really can't imagine life without her anymore, but lately she has been acting out. 

We went to my dad's last sunday for dinner and I brought her with us.  I took her out in his backyard and played fetch with her for awhile and she went to the bathroom while we were out there, so when we went inside I didn't really watch her (because I never do) and let her wander as she always does.  After we left I got a text from my dad letting me know that we forgot a couple of things there.  One was my sunglasses.  The other was the pile of dog doodie that Scout left in his computer room.  Oopsies.

Then last night, I noticed that my little angel had been chewing on the wall.  Yeah, you read that right.  In our new apartment there is this molding on the wall at the bottom that is in squares (really hard to describe) in the dining room.  At some point Scout had chewed off the corner of it.  Considering it is white and she chewed through to the tan wood, it is really obvious what she did.  Now not only are we going to have to pay for it, I have to walk by and look at it every day.

I know these might seem like minor things, but Scout has never taken a shadoobie in the house.  Ever.  Even when we first got her.  She pretty much never chews on things either.  I am worried this is only going to get worse.  If I had to use my professional pet psychiatry skills, I would guess this is due to moving and her being away from her buddy Baxter.  I hope she gets used to it soon.  I don't like being mad at her and we're not sharing custody of the kids with Kristen so things are not exactly going to change any time soon.

Bacheloretting it Up

Last night was my second event to celebrate my impending loss of my single status.  In order words, my second bachelorette party.

We had a blast in Vegas, but decided to go out once here for those who weren't able to make it.  We started with dinner at the 75th St. Brewery followed by drinks, drinks at Lew's and finally more drinks at Tanner's.  I had a lot of fun but learned one very important fact: I can't drink anymore.  I don't enjoy it, especially the next morning.  I have basically felt like crap all day today.  I think that two should be my limit from now on, unless for special occasions.  Three might be okay then.

I didn't take any pictures last night because my camera crapped out in Vegas and I never got a new one, so here are some pics from Vegas. 

Getting ready to leave and the view coming in:

Hitting up the airport casinos.
Does the real Caesar live here?

Swim up Casino, we should bring those here.

The two best things to do in Vegas: gamble and eat!!

So much time, so little to do... wait....

This week was spent trying to squeeze in final meetings, finalize lists, finalize music, finalize programs, you know the drill.  I think I am finally ready for this.  We met with the reception hall, the caterer and the florist.  I've set two hair appointments for the next two weeks (final cut/color, practice run), final dress fitting, meeting with the cake lady, another wedding to attend, AND another bachelorette party for me.  Oh yeah, somewhere in all of this I'm pretty sure I still have a job to go to (god I hope I do).

One HUGE gripe from this week.  I swear if I hear, "sure, but that will be extra" one more time I'm going to hurt someone.  They don't tell you all of this a year ago when you book them.  They say things like, "ok", and "I'm sure we can figure something out."  FYI - if anyone ever says to you, I'm sure we can figure something out, that translates to "we can do it, but you're going to be paying for it, and we're not cheap." 

If we can get through the next three weeks without killing each other and with at least a little scrilla to take on the honeymoon, I feel like I will be a much more relaxed person after this is all over.  Speaking of that, I thought of something yesterday which had never hit me.  What am I going to do when we're finally married?  How will I spend my lunch breaks, evenings and weekends?  What will people talk to me about?

Waiting

I feel like we're playing the waiting game.  Waiting for people to RSVP (please reply, don't you like me?  Don't you want to come to my wedding?  Even if you don't want to come, at least tell me.  I just want to know.)

Waiting to pay final bills.  Actually, dreading paying everything off.  Hoping to get everything paid for.

Waiting to move.  That is right, we are moving in the small amount of time between now and when we get married.  I can thank my lovely future husband for that.  While it will be nice to come home from our honeymoon to our lovely apartment that is all ours, the thought of the hectic moving process being thrown into all of this is daunting to say the least.  Terrifying comes to mind.

Waiting to get all of the players in our wedding nailed down.  Again, that is right.  We have had more than one person who is in the wedding cancel on us in the last week.  Awesome, perfect timing.  I thought a wedding, in part, is supposed to be a reminder of everyone in your life that loves you and all of them coming together to celebrate you and your union.  So far, a large part of me is not feeling the love.

Waiting to be married.  I'm ready.

RSVP

We finally got our invitations sent out last week, after much stress and hair pulling (me doing my own, not anyone else's), and I swear it felt like I gave birth.  I know that sounds like a scary analogy, but for months these invitations have been like my children. 

I spent weeks making decisions about them.  While it didn't take long to pick them out, deciding on details like what color, what wording, which map, etc. was total agony.  Then when I did finally pick them out, they showed up in about 8,000 pieces.  Matt's first words when we got them were, we spent how much and we still have to put them together ourselves?  (Stupid men.) 

So after all of the decision making came all of the manual labor.  Hours went into putting them all together (all 8,000 pieces) and making sure the response cards were stamped and ready to go.  (Can't forget stamps, big no no.) 

Then came the waiting.  We had someone address the envelopes for us and the waiting game became almost unbearable.  Days went by, then weeks with my beautiful invitations just taunting me from the table.  I was terrified that someone would spill on them or one of the dogs would get to them, so then they went into the guest bedroom.  This made me sad too because then I didn't get to see them (trust me, if you spent the time/money I did on these bad boys you would want them constantly around you as well.  See, they are like kids.)

Finally last week the envelopes were in, we got them all stuffed and stamped and out they went.  Besides a few forgotten boyfriends/guests I think they went out without a problem. 

I got home from work yesterday and on the table with the mail were the two most beautiful envelopes I had ever seen.... two responses!  They were both yes, so that made it even better!  I have no idea why I got so excited, but it was awesome.  I can't wait to get more! 

Oh my god I get married in like 40 something days.  Has it really gone by this fast?  Am I really getting my dress fitted this week?  Did I seriously buy my shoes last weekend?  Are those my bridesmaids gifts in the mail?  Where has the time gone.  Hopefully I still have some hair left by wedding time, and I haven't pulled it all out because of stress!!

I Had a Panic Attack, So I Watched Television

As of yesterday we are under the two months mark.  This may still sound like a long time, but for someone who has already been engaged for fourteen months less than two is like a minute and a half.  I am starting to freak out.  Who are we kidding?  I did that a long time ago....

More wedding updates:
1. Matt and I started our marriage prep classes on Sunday.  Four weeks for two hours every Sunday.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this class.  We do two sections of the book a night.  We start with a small video (which is the only part I don't like because the videos are from the early 90s and are super boring) then fill out questions in our book that pertain to the video.  After we have answered all of the questions, we talk about our answers together.

Matt and I have been dating for over three years so I like to think that we know each other pretty well.  After looking over these questions, it is almost scary how well we know each other.  They were still super interesting though.  They were for the most part things that we would never have discussed on our own.  The second section last night was about baggage and how our personal baggage from the way we were raised can be brought into the marriage and can affect it.  For one question, there were about 30 charactaristics listed out and we had to check off all of the ones that attracted us to our partner.  Then of the check marks, we had to circle the ones that we might be worried about in the future.  (Basically, things that we found cute in the beginning but might eventually cause problems.)  Very insightful.

2. Number two wedding shower is this weekend in Iowa and I am super, super stoked!  Getting more stuff is only one of the reasons why I can't wait!  We are also going to the Iowa state fair and I cannot wait to see some cows made out of things!  Also, I checked my registry again (see previous post as to why I am a crazy stalker) and our family must really like us because there are some really good things are on there.  Makes me really excited to get a kitchen full of brand new stuff!

Now on to the television part...

Bachelor Pad started on Monday and good lord it was awesome.  I made the mistake of venturing over to realitysteve.com so I read some spoilers (by some I mean I pretty much know everything that happens) and it was still totally awesome. 

Crazy Michelle from Jake's season was back and she did not disappoint.  When she locked Tenley in the bathroom saying things like, "you should have never started a rumor about me" I was nearly crying I was laughing so hard.  I only wish she could have stayed longer.  And when Jesse Kovacs was making fun of Elizabeth to Dave, "why didn't you ask me about my date yet?" "Because you were only gone for four hours", Kristen and I were both dying. 

This show is like an updated version of the Real World/Road Rules challenges on MTV, only with people that are slightly less annoying but bring a whole lot more crazy to the table.  The geniuses at ABC also realized what the slower individuals at MTV have yet to figure out: the challenges are secondary to what people really want to see, which is drinking and a whole lot of bootie.  The "challenge" of this week's episode was a giant game of Twister.  It took up all of three minutes, and the other one hour and fifty-seven minutes could be devoted to drinking and fake romance in the making.

Real Housewives of New Jersey was also on, but not much to say other than let's pick it up ladies.  I was not very interested and frankly started getting bored towards the end.  Who takes that many small kids on a cruise around Europe?  Apparently we now know.

Television Update

Unfortunately for me, and Matt and Kristen, I came down with a serious case of hives last night so I didn't really get much good television watching in.  It was the weirdest thing. 

I came home from work totally fine.  Sat down on the couch to watch some tube with Kristen (typical evening activities) and my stomach started to itch.  I figured I attained another mosquito bite and didn't think twice about it.  And then my whole stomach started itching, along with my back, and my arms, and a little bit on my legs.  Hives had taken over my entire mid-section and I was not having it.  I tried taking an oatmeal bath with some Aveeno stuff I happened to have and it did not seem to do a whole lot. 

So I swallowed a bunch of Benedryl and decided to sleep it off in an allergy coma.  When I woke up this morning, nada.  Nothing.  Not even a tiny bit itchy.  The whole thing was very strange....

The one show I did manage to watch last night before being knocked out was Big Brother.  Dear lord I don't even know what to think about this show anymore.  Rachel has become the newest addition to the punching list (someone that if any of us run into them in real life, we have to punch them.)  She gets worse every week!  And did anyone else scream out an exaggerated nooooo when Brendon told her that he loved her last week??  And finally, when they won the movie last night, Brendon talks about how excited he is to take his girl out to a movie.  Am I crazy?  Are these people obnoxious about their three week old romance??

My new pick to win: Enzo.  Love that crazy bastard.  I used to think that it was weird that he named himself Meow Meow, but I recently realized that I absolutely love that he did that.  Him and Lane's reaction to the cat fight last night was priceless.  Love them both.  Final Two!!