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 :)