Herein lies another filler - I'll post actual pictures for Sunday, today, and whatever other days I miss before I get to it soon.

Dogs and dresses

This is Friday's picture, AKA Luigi. He is the most hilarious min-pin in the world. He has also decided that Mike, who is allergic to dogs, is his new best friend.

But now onto what everyone really wants to know about (all two of you): wedding dresses! I found my wedding dress today. Clearly I'm not putting that one up - no one but bridesmaids and the mamas can see that one until the day - but here are the ones I didn't pick:

That one was too...I don't even know. It's meant to be goddess-ish, but it felt way too casual.

I didn't like the straps on that one, and (as the super-hilarious and fun employee who helped me out - Denise - pointed out), the fabric feels like a nightgown.

This one was unbelievably gorgeous, and if I hadn't found the one I am getting, this would probably be a contender for THE dress along with one other.

No details about the dress I picked, but stay tuned - just under 13 months until I get married and everyone can see it :-P

Yesterday was a loooooooooooong day, so no post. I did take the pic though, so that one will go up with today's when I post later. I can't do today's just yet because it's going to be a whole bunch of wedding dresses. Not the one I'm getting, of course - can't have that seen before the big day...

So I'm cheating a little today. This isn't a picture of anything I did, or saw. Just something I thought about it. It's the view from behind the waterfall where Mike proposed. I can't wait to take our engagement pictures there!

Good fortune?

"Trust him but still keep your eyes open." "You have ability to sense and know higher truth."

My fortune cookies had a theme tonight. At least it's better than the one that said "Alas, you are the apple of my eye" or the one that said "Eat your vegetables to grow big and strong."

I scream, you scream

You can't see from the picture, obviously, but I put fruit cocktail in the vanilla ice cream, and I had chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. Which leads to two questions: why is that note worthy, and why is the picture in sepia?

I spent a decent amount of time at my grandmother's when I was a kid. When my parents worked, and sometimes for a weekend visit. And one thing we always got to do when we went overnight was have an ice cream sundae. Grandmother would buy the tropical fruit cocktail, and we'd put that on vanilla ice cream, along with bananas, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream.

I forgot about that quite some time ago. And then I wanted ice cream. I had some left over from making punch. But I had nothing to put on it. Except fruit cocktail. And then I remembered. You know what? Now that my ice cream is gone, I think I'll go call my grandmother...

In 13 months (exactly), I will have a room that looks something like this, all for me. Well, Mike and me...

It's spring! Yay! But it's spring in the snow-belt for me, which means there are no fresh flowers outside. There are, however, fake flowers in a vase of dried roses on my dresser. So here they are instead:

Saturday night's alright for fighting

Role-play fighting, that is. Yes, I am a giant nerd, as evidenced by the composition book below. It houses all the information for my DnD character.

What's that you say? None of you are surprised? Oh right - my entire audience is me, and occasionally my mother. We both already knew.

I will fully and freely admit to having been one of those people who associated a huge "ick!" with DnD until college. I pictured the stereotypical losers in wizard hats sitting around a table and arguing about their stats (my apologies if you wear a wizard hat while you play DnD - I have nothing against that).

Then I started dating Mike. I will never pretend to be interested in something for the sake of someone I'm dating. But if it's something I'm not interested in and they are, I will at least try it so I can get a feel for it. If I don't love it, no big deal. (As evidenced by the fact that after 6.5 years with him I still can't stand watching football.) And this one I happened to like. I've always been kind of obsessed with any non-toxic form of escapism: books, movies, computer games, etc. And this is another of those. For a few hours once in awhile, I can shoot eldritch energy from my hands and knock bad guys out just by looking at them the wrong way. I have adventures, and I have fun hanging out with my friends. Sure as heck beats playing beer pong or going bar hopping.

I told Mike that when we have kids, he has to teach them to play. It teaches math and cooperation, it develops imagination and critical thinking. The only caveat is that he also has to teach them to play football.

My purse-onal opinion

Life is like a purse. No, really - hear me out. Most women's purses are too large. We carry around things we don't need. We take them everywhere, and all we really get for our troubles is a sore shoulder. Everyone is carrying around something that they could - and should - take out of their "purse." A co-dependent relationship (or many) where you feel responsible for the other person even though they're an adult. Old grudges. Attachments to old relationships that were unhealthy. Notions about ourselves that we need to get rid of before we can change for the better. Ideas, stereotypes and opinions that we only think we believe because we were raised that way.

In the spirit of getting rid of junk I don't need and carrying around less, I made a symbolic gesture. I went from this:

to the purse at the beginning of the post. Did I get rid of all or most of the stuff in the big one? No. I managed to fit most of it into the little one. But I had to get rid of a few things. So I'm going to let my purse choice inspire me to cut down elsewhere. Get rid of feelings/ideas/people who aren't good for me. Get back to basics.

Here's my t-shirt for the day. I feel like it's self-explanatory. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In the closet

That's my bathroom cupboard. I didn't take a before picture because it would have made me cry. It was a hot mess. Half an hour later, it looked like the above. All is right with the world. Or at least with my bathroom.

P.S. That Dial refill bag is awesome. I don't think I'll ever buy a bottle refill of soap again.

Les Yeux Sans Visage

"Eye" told you I'd be back today. Oh, aren't I just so punny...

So why the eye? I'm not Catholic. I was raised that way, but I haven't been for the better part of a decade (and yes, I am going somewhere eye-related with this). Despite this, I have decided to observe the giving-up part of Lent this year. I'm giving up make-up. Mind you, I never wear foundation or powder because I don't want children running and screaming when I take it off because they have no idea how I really look. But I almost never leave the house without at least some bronzer (because I'm super pale) and mascara (because my eyelashes are short). But I think it's time to give my face, my eyes, and my morning routine a break. I need to start liking my face just how it is on its own. So for 40 days (well, nearly so - I started a few days late), what you see will be completely me.

I hate not finishing things I start, even when I have no audience. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to get back into this. It's not going to be perfect, but then again I already started a couple weeks late.

These are pots and pans:

I hope I didn't just tell you anything you didn't already know. So what makes these pots and pans special?

I made dinner tonight for Mike and one of his friends. We had burritos with tons of toppings and homemade cilantro-lime rice. Super delicious, and I LOVE cooking for people. It makes me happy. Imagine how much happier it made me when, with no prompting, both Mike and his friend began doing the dishes after dinner. That made the night perfect :)

Blediting

I have always loved red pens. They're bright, they're vivid, and something crossed out or written with one has authority. I had a teacher in high school who called it "bleeding all over your papers" when she would grade. I found that delightful.

Now, at work, a red pen is what I use to denote changes, things that are important, etc. And once in awhile, if they ask, I'll bleed all over someone's paper/screenplay/story for nostalgia's sake.

This picture doesn't need much introduction. The soup with gnocchi (broth and gnocchi both from scratch) was a success:

One of our friends hung out with the fiance & me today, and we all had nice hot soup for dinner. Good food, good friends, and lots of relaxing. It was a good Sunday.

This will show as Sunday, but I promise it's Saturday's pic. This is my hand:

Why my hand? Because today I spent hours rolling and cooking homemade gnocchi so I can make soup tomorrow with the turkey/veggie stock I've been letting simmer periodically over the last few days. I'm happiest when I'm doing something with my hands. Sure, I'm a desk person. But there's nothing like doing something that yields an immediate result, something I can feel, to make me feel good about the day.

Cold subs

I've finally resigned myself to the fact that double (or triple) posts are going to be the norm. I'm not good at the every day thing. So for that reason (and also due to the fact that you, dear reader, do not exist), I will no longer apologize for them.

Thursday 2/24/11 - the highlight of this month (aside from getting my job) has been the fact that a foot long Subway Club is $5. It's the only sandwich I really like there, and it's been my regular since my age consisted of a single digit.

And speaking of food, today there was someone who was clearly in desperate need of it. It's near blizzarding outside; so imagine my surprise when I saw this little trooper:

My guess is that he's either Italian or a college student. No one else would risk this kind of weather for food.

As a counter to the cold (and as a nod to the fact that I'm Italian, much like the bird may be), I've spent the better part of the day simmering homemade stock. It's full of celery, onions, garlic, and a turkey bone with some meat (leftover from my faux Thanksgiving dinner awhile back.

The house smells heavenly, and on Sunday I'll use it to make turkey stew with homemade gnocchi. Mmmm...is it Sunday yet?

"This? This is ice. This is what happens when water gets too cold."

By sheer coincidence, dear hypothetical reader, this week appears to be ice week. Before going up to look at wedding dresses (I think I found the one), I walked through the town square, and saw that there were ice sculptures around the gazebo. Here's a peek at a couple:

Diamonds are a tree's best friend

Yes, dear hypothetical reader, I am aware that I did iced tree pictures yesterday. However, you will notice one critical difference. Yesterday, it was snowing when I took them. Everything was cold, blue, and glittered with a soft subtlety. Today, it was sunny. The trees took on an entirely different persona - proud, harsh, and glowing as though their branches had been dressed in the purest amber. They looked warm, despite the evidence otherwise. It was breathtaking.

Nice day for a white wedding

So, Sunday - my fiance enjoyed going to the bridal show. Not only did he agree to go, but he enjoyed it and is willing to go to more. I'm marrying an awesome guy. We had great food, saw some cool stuff, and got a bag o' swag.

Today was a day off for me, and for Mike as well. I was going to leave my phone off because I didn't on Sunday like I usually do. I decided to turn it on, and 5 minutes later I got a call that my supervisor couldn't come in. So today I got extra hours, and I was greeted outside the office by these:

Now, I've mentioned before that I can't stand winter because I have to drive in it. Granted, Mike scraped my car for me this morning, but still. However, while I don't like 4" of ice on my car, I love it on trees. So gorgeous.

Springtime = bringing out the flowered bedspread. Yes, I know it's not spring yet. But I want it to be, so I'm giving mother nature a hint via my linens.

No pennies in the fountain - just geese

Today it was warm enough that I actually took (part of) my lunch outside. SPRING IS COMING!!! This is the fountain, clearly OOC at the moment, that's outside my window at work.

Today's picture is kind of meta. A picture of a picture. Why? Because the funniest thing that happened to me involved mention of a chipmunk. And I can't find any outside when it's winter.

Gleeful sunset

Sorry for having another double post, but last night was date night, and I wasn't going to waste a single minute of it posting online. Mike bought me the first season of Glee last year as a gift, and I persuaded him to watch it with me. He loved it, so now Tuesdays are date night. Last night was Glee & burritos with homemade cilantro-lime rice. Good times.

Today was, in a word, productive. I had everything on my giant to-do list crossed off by 10:00am. I caught up on cleaning and bills, and I made 4 appointments to meet with wedding reception venues. Then I ran errands. Afterward, I went to my sister's to hang out with her and my niece. This was the view out the window:

Gorgeous sunset, Chinese food, and my family. Couldn't have asked for a better wrap-up on this day.

Scent may be the strongest sense tied to memory, but silly songs/sayings are a close second. Take this, for example:

I was in the dollar store getting cleaning supplies, and I saw it. Immediately I began heaing in my head:

Comet, it makes your mouth turn green

Comet, it tastes like Listerine

Comet, it makes you vomit

So buy some Comet and vomit today

Never heard it? My cousin used to sing it. And thinking about that led me to other gems from my childhood, courtesy of my uncle: "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you should never pick your friend's nose."

The point? I don't have much of one - just that remembering those little things made me smile.

Three dog night

Another 3 day post because I was too wrapped up in other stuff to put up pictures for the last two days. Let's start with Friday. I give to you a picture of a wretched abomination:

Friday I spent 9 hours watching the twins again. They were a ton of fun. Full of energy and hilarious. After that, I was looking forward to hot chocolate and rest. However, I went to a bridal thing at the mall instead. It was kind of insane. They had one of those booths where coupons/money blow around and you try to catch them. It's harder than it looks. I wound up with a few bucks and a gift certificate for a spa pedicure. Not too shabby. But then I had to stay at the mall for another 3 hours because they weren't drawing for the free wedding stuff (and the diamond dig - trying to find a diamond necklace and valuable free wedding services in cupcakes) until 8:30.

So I went to Dillards to look at bridesmaid type dresses and maybe a few styles for wedding dresses. Mind you, in my sweatshirt with my hair pinned up, no one helped me. I then left to do some other shopping. In the process, I took my hair down and got a cute shirt for $5.70 that I put on. When I went back to Dillards, I was helped within 2 minutes. Joke's on you, Dillards. No matter what I'm wearing, I never buy anything in your store.

So now to the picture - in the midst of looking at dresses, I found this dress. Seriously - people buy that for prom? It looks like Tinkerbell started hooking. Honestly - it makes my eyes hurt.

So then there was Saturday. I've been babysitting my mom's co-worker's kids for the last decade. Not all the time, of course, but often enough. So Saturday night I went and hung out with them. A whole night of nothing but board games. That's why I love babysitting them. They don't get glued to the TV or video games - they actually interact. We had a ton of fun. And at the end of the night when their mom got home, I got roses. So sweet!

Which brings us to Sunday, and lunch/dinner at my parents' house.

February 13th was my grandpa's birthday. He died when I was 3, so I didn't know him well, but all the memories I have of him are good ones. So we all got together and mom made pasta. Good times, good food, and I had a stuffed belly for hours. Followed by loads of Buffy with Mike, it made for a great end to the weekend.

Old habits don't die

I mean it - they really don't. From November of 2002-August 2004, I worked at Giant Eagle. I started as a bag girl and wound up as a cashier. It was a fairly awful, thankless job. The hours were bad, and I was always getting yelled at by rude, obnoxious customers for things over which I had no control. Oh, the price came up wrong? Yeah, sure, the cashier is the one who does that. I'm sorry, your bag is too heavy after you told us all to put everything in one bag? That must be my fault and not yours. I should know how much you can comfortably carry. I should also be able to read your mind when you want a product and can't give me a description. At any rate, that's enough complaining. Point is, I was there awhile. And apparently my brain hasn't gotten over that. I wasn't really paying attention on my way to Wal-Mart. But I pulled into the parking lot, and got out, only to see this:

Apparently that's where my auto-pilot takes me. I wish I had gone to Wal-Mart. The cashier was rude, and looked as though she couldn't be bothered to even pay attention as she rang things up. No one offered to help me bag my groceries even though there were multiple people, and not a single employee smiled at me, despite me smiling at all of them.

Oddly enough, it got me missing my job I had there. Because even with crappy customers, cranky bosses, bad hours, etc, I worked with great people. I had more fun at that job than almost any other job I've ever had. Inside jokes between cashiers, hanging out in the parking lot after our shifts, buying each other mint oreos on our breaks. And, ok, occasionally whipping the cart tethers at one another. And you know, I'd rather have a crappy job and work with great people.

And thinking about that makes me even more grateful that I have a job right now where I love the people and the work. I am truly blessed.

Open up and say "ah"

I don't think this pic needs much explanation. It's the tiny arm of an adorable child I babysit feeing her dog some of her milk because apparently he was thirsty. She also intermittently gives him her pacifier. So stinking cute!

Escape

You might assume from the picture that this post has something to do with music. You, sir (or ma'am), are incorrect. It has everything to do with stories. See, I don't have a lot of music on my mp3 player. But I do have quite a few audiobooks. In fact, I just downloaded the first two books in a fantasy series last night. Normally I'd just read. I vastly prefer a book in my hands than one on a computer, and I usually hate being read to. But as long as the narrator is a guy (I find them easier to listen to that way), audiobooks are great. For example, tonight I cleaned my room & bathroom. I certainly couldn't read a book while doing that, but I was able to listen to one.

I mentioned before (in my library post) that books are my happy place. A good story can take you out of things and let you be somewhere else - albeit vicariously - for a few hours. My life has had a lot of ups and downs recently (I honestly can't even put a date range on that), and it's mostly been downs. There are three things that help with that: Mike, my family, and my stories. Today the stories win by a nose, but only because my mp3 player fits in my pocket.

Sticks to your ribs

It's a little early to be thinking about certain parts of my wedding. I have more than a year, and we won't even have a reception hall nailed down until probably sometime in March. However, today I encountered something rather perfect - an obnoxiously marked-down dress that would be perfect for the rehearsal dinner of a woman who is having a wedding full of peacock-feather colors. That, of course, would be me. And this, of course, is the dress:

It was in clearance, so there were only 2 left. One was a 6 - my size! Hooray! Well, the score on this one came away Lauren Conrad (the designer - and oh my did I hate liking one of her dresses. I couldn't stand Laguna Beach or The Hills) 1, Stephane 0. Why, you ask? Am I one of those women who constantly claims to be a size 6 despite all evidence to the contrary? Alas, dear gentle readers, no. When I'm skinnier, I'm a 4. At this weight, I'm a 6. However, I have a problem - I have an exceedingly large rib cage. It gets in the way of many, many things, and even makes measuring for bras nearly impossible to get right. And today it caused the zipper on this dress to stop 3" from the bottom and not budge another millimeter.

It was then that I found the second one, but, alas, it was a size 16. I'd be willing to take in something 1-2 sizes bigger, but not 5. So I found a size 10 in the dress my sister had just picked out (also Lauren Conrad) to wear post-pregnancy. I wasn't sure about it because I generally hate myself in strapless, but I was outvoted 2-1, thanks to my mother. At $18, I suppose I can't really complain. It's a size 10, so it's going to need some altering, but it's doable. However, if I find the dress above in a size I can wear for half or less of the usual $60-70 price tag, I'm buying it. No matter how cute the black one will look with purple heels and chunky teal accessories.

Triple Play

I've been remiss here - for the last few days things have been rather hectic, and I haven't been posting my pictures, so here you have the last few days.

Friday:

On Friday, I had the adorable twins again. Fortunately, they're both feeling better - their parents just want to keep them out longer so they don't get sick again. They were babbling all over the place, and one of them was "hiding" her stuffed dog with her dad's baseball cap and then playing peek-a-boo with it. Too stinking cute. As for the picture, the dad is a huge tea drinker, so I always have a cup in the morning.

Saturday:

Saturday I went to my first bridal show with my mom & my mom-in-law to be. I'll admit, I was vaguely terrified. Wedding list issues aside, I'm a fairly laid back bride-to-be. I wasn't sure what I'd be up against. I don't want to get tackled because some bridezilla wants something more than I do. Fortunately, it was at the mall. Low key, low stress, less pressure. I got tons of swag, and I'm entered to win about a billion things. I'm also going to something on Friday where you get a chance to try to dig a diamond necklace out of a cake with other women. You find it, you keep it. I'll probably come away with scratches, bruises, and no diamonds. But anyway, should be fun.

Sunday:

Today is the Superbowl. Lots of good food, lots of good commercials, and me leaving the room for the actual football parts. And that's my weekend in a nutshell.

Bravo Lima Oscar Golf

I won't lie to you, my dear fictitious readers - I'm getting kind of sick of this. Not the picture taking. It's fun, and kind of challenging. But actually having to load the pictures and put them up. I'm going to keep doing it anyway, as I'm very bad at not finishing what I start. However, today I give you, without much ado, the military alphabet that hangs in my cubicle.

Let it snow - but I'm not going to watch

This is one of my curtains:

Well, part of it anyway. Today was so gross and cold and icy and snowy and windy that this red beauty pretty much stayed shut all day. I didn't even want to look at it!

Got a photograph, picture of

(Note - this is the pic for 2/1/11. I took it yesterday and forgot to post when I got home)

Kind of my motto going on there. I found it fitting, given that yesterday was my first day at my new job after nearly a year of unemployment. I like everyone so far. I can't say much about whether I like the job though. I was training, and without being able to access the computers (that comes Thursday) I can't do much. But I'm really excited. In the meantime, hopefully my avalanche of applications elsewhere will yield something. I'd take full time, I'd take part time that I can work around the current part time schedule. Anything, really, just so it pays the bills.

And for anyone wondering, the text underneath the headline is "Go over, go under, go around, or go through. But never give up."