Busy Birthday Weekend!

How sweet it is! This is my birthday weekend. My mom arrived on Thursday. So we've been keeping busy.

We went to a baby shower for Brad's cousin yesterday. Then afterwards myself along with my mom and Brad's mom went over to Gaylord Texan to look around at the site of our  wedding. While standing there in the middle of the space where the ceremony will take place we brainstormed about possible decor options. The resort starts decorating for Christmas the first week of November, so once early November comes we'll have a better idea as to how much decorating will actually be needed for the ceremony.

Last evening Brad organized a get-together to celebrate my birthday. He ordered in lots of pizza from our fave pizza place. Then we had cake and ice cream then played games. A good time was had by all.

Thanks to my soon to be husband I am the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy tablet! Woo-hoo! To make this post I am using my Galaxy tablet for the first time. So sweet! Such an awesome gift from my sweet man! He's so great, he's done a lot to ensure I have a good bday.

p.s....Thx a bunch honey, I love you!

Wedding News (part 6)

Lots has been going on with the wedding plans.  I would say the wedding plans are definitely in full swing!  Last week I spent time checking on photographers.  Photography is certainly a bit more expensive than I thought it would be and it's a whole lot more expensive than my fiancé thought it would be.  It is the main physical reminder of our wedding though so it's one area I'm willing to splurge on a bit.  Within reason of course!

The other area I'm willing to splurge on is the cake...Come on folks, I love to bake.  So you can bet a high dollar amount our wedding cake will be sensational!  Prepare yourself!  Nothing less than 4 tiers!  I have decided to design it myself.  I have yet to take to the drawing board though.  That will come later.  I designed the cake for my mom's birthday party, it turned out quite well.  Fingers-crossed the wedding cake design fits the vision in my head.

As for this weekend we seriously need to decide on a minister.  It's been a bit of a lengthy endeavor.  For the last 3 weeks I've hoped that by the end of each week we would have it figured out.  It hasn't gotten figured out yet.  I'm extremely hopeful that by the end of this weekend it will be squared away! 

Long Night and I Shake My Fist!

Yikes, my Simmie-boo-boo was sick last night.  If only he could resist his urges to look at the outside as a buffet!  It was a long night!  I've been tired all day as I was up taking care of him until 2:30am.  Cody stayed up too!  Simon is better today.  He only got half of his normal breakfast amount plus a pepto bismol tablet.  This is funny...I threw the pepto bismol tablet into his food whole.  He got to the bottom of the bowl and I noticed the tablet was still there, he then looked up at me.  I said, "Eat it, Simmie!".  He leaned back down to his bowl and gobbled it down.  Lol!

Now for what I'm shaking my fist at....I'm shaking my fist at the new PAC 12 network.  No one can see me right now but trust me my fist is up in the air shaking in protest!  I just switched cable companies a few months ago, I was excited to finally have Fox Arizona and the NFL Network.  However, starting this week it appears all ASU football games will be on the PAC 12 Network.  Only being offered to viewers that live in a state that has a PAC 12 school.  Well that's not me, so I'm out of luck for subscribing to it.  Grrrr!  If you want your own network then go ahead and get one but at least make it so the whole U.S. can get it if they choose to subscribe to it.  So frustrating!

Another thing I'd like to shake my fist at is the NFL Monday night game schedule.  The Seattle Seahawks get a Monday night football game and my Cardinals don't.  What gives?  I'm not saying the Cardinals deserve to play on Monday night as that night is reserved for unique match-ups and elite playoff contending teams.  Much like the Cards I would not place the Seahawks in the elite playoff bound category. They were very similar to the Cards this pre-season, they hadn't named a quarterback until days before the season started as did the Cards.  Odd choice for the Seahawks to be on MNF.  Then again, they do have great fans and it's a fun city to broadcast from I'm sure.

Alright I'm done with all my frustration for today!

Fear Us!

Who strikes the most fear in our soon to be combined family?  Is it Simon?  It's certainly not Cody!  Storm can be on the defensive when kids are present.  She's not a fan of the younger generation.  But otherwise she's meek and mild. 

Possibly it depends on what it is.  When it comes to defending his mommie...count on Simmie!  When it comes to playing ball...fear Cody's skills!  When it comes to tuna...get out of Storm's way!  When it comes to picking football games....fear the soon to be married couple! 

My fiancé recorded his first football pool victory of the season this past weekend.  That's right folks we have recorded back to back victories in my fiancé's office pool!  Brad didn't even need to wait for the Monday night game.  He had already racked up enough victories by the time the Sunday evening game was being played!  Good job honey!  Fearsome football picking duo!...that's us!

Side Note:  The Broncos game, what a game!  I mean yes, it was horrible at the start for the Broncos but the fact that they came back just goes to show you how experienced not to mention skilled Manning is.  Atlanta letting the Broncos back in the game exposes their weaknesses! 

With A Smile On My Face!

With a smile on my face I will mark the Cards pick wrong!  Woo-hoo!  So glad they won!  I can't stand the Patriots!  I almost dislike them as much as the Steelers.  But the Steelers beat my Cardinals in the Super Bowl so I've got a bigger reason to not like them!

We've been watching the Philly-Baltimore game.  A very chippy game!  Lots of litle squabbles and pushing matches.  Good game!  It's a long game.  Still going on opposite of the Cowboys.  We're channel flipping!

As I type this the Cowboys game is starting.  I don't root for Seahawks like I used to when I lived there of course.  But I don't root against them either.  I'll be more for the Cowboys today obviously!  Since it's Seattle I am looking forward to the city sights the network shows when they go to commercial break.  I enjoy seeing the glimpses of a place I called home once a long time ago. Seattle does have some pretty sweet looking uniforms now too!  So far not so great for the Cowboys today!  Cowboys are in a hole and it's early on!  Where is the team we saw opening night?  It's early, time to catch up.

Our Anniversary Weekend!

It was 3 years ago tomorrow that my fiancé and I had our first date!  We will be doing the same thing that we've done each September 15th since then, which is to go to the same restaurant we went to on our first date.  So we'll be dining at Uncle Julio's a Mexican food restaurant.  Yum!  I will also be enjoying my annual strawberry margarita! 

This September 15th, means it's exactly 3 months until our wedding!  So that makes the date even more special.  Brad pushed just slightly for December 15th because he believes it will make it easier for him to remember those two dates on the calendar!  I'm sure he'll have no problem remembering.  Partly because I don't keep any of my excitement for certain special dates to myself! ;)  Oh and one more note about tomorrow, it's about to be the wedding anniversary of Brad's cousin.  His cousin is set to marry tomorrow afternoon.  Brad's family has 2 weddings to attend exactly 3 months apart! That just happened.  We didn't know what date specifically his cousin chose.  Not that it would've affected our plans anyway, it's 3 months apart.  

I'm so excited to give my anniversary gift to Brad.  Lots of thought went into it!  I had the idea for his anniversary gift for awhile.  Then I was trying to decide if I should give it to him on our annivesary or wait til the next occasion on the calendar.  When it comes to gift giving I'm typically a step ahead of the process.  I already have ideas for his Christmas gifts now.  I'm pretty lucky, gift ideas come to me rather easily for most everybody I shop for.      

Cody and Storm!

I have often said Cody could make friends with a tarantula.  Trust me, he could!  My big puggie man is super friendly.  He seems to get offended when people walk by him and not acknowledge him. 

He was certainly my pick to be the pug that Storm the cat would prefer.  We have recently noticed that Cody looks for Storm as soon as he arrives at my fiancé's place now. It's not that Storm and Simon don't get along because they do just fine in the presence of each other.  However, with Cody and Storm it's a little different, Cody makes more of an effort!  Simon is all about Simon!

There was one incident in recent weeks where Storm rounded the corner on full speed not knowing that Cody was on the opposite side of the corner.  She ran smack into him!  Neither cared too much!  She seemed apologetic with her meow and Cody wasn't offended one bit!  Another incident featured Storm sneeking up to Cody as he was drinking.  He was fine with her being right there and in turn she was fine with him unknowingly lashing her with his big wet tongue once he got done drinking.  I'm still surprised she didn't have a problem with him accidentally hitting her with his tongue.  She's a freak about water though!  Her focus was likely getting to the bowl when he was done.  And hoping he didn't drain it!

Both Storm and Cody share a passion for suntanning!  They both look for the places in the apartment or out on the balcony where the sun hits.  This weekend Cody was curled up in his bed sleeping in the sun.  Storm noticed he had quite the prime location.  She soon decided to curl up next to him.  When I walked by I almost couldn't believe my eyes to see the two of them laying directly next to each other.  They've laid close before but with a short distance between.  This was the first time they were next to each other.  Did I get a pic?  Nope, darn it!  Cody woke up as he heard me and then he followed me!  Oh well, I'm sure it will happen again.

We're just glad all of our animals get along!  I think the way we introduced them all to each other was key.  We slowly over time let them warm up to one another.  Slowly letting them see more and more of each other. There is no doubt that when we all are under the same roof the 2 pugs and a cat will be comfortable with it.

Opening Week of NFL!...I'm a big winner!

I started this new football season off right!  I won the football pool at my fiancé's work and our separate pick sheet.  Yay me!  My fiancé and I pick the games and then bet something each week.  So we compete in his office pool plus we compete against each other on a separate pick sheet.  I'm a double winner this week!  I don't get into a habit of changing many of my picks for the 2 different pick sheets but he enjoys mixing it up a bit.

Could opening week have gone any better?  The Cowboys won and the Cardinals won plus the Broncos won.  Now I don't consider the Broncos as "one of my teams".  But I keep a close eye on them since my mom is a HUGE Peyton Manning fan! 

Oh and the Sun Devils played on ESPN so I watched that game from beginning to end!  Loved every minute of it!  I'm still getting used to the abundance of maroon they are sporting these days.  It wasn't that long ago that the color they promoted the most was gold!  I know because I still have shirts hanging in my closet from the over promotion of gold! 

Who Was That Team?

Who was that team that played the Giants last night?  Will the real Dallas Cowboys please stand up?  Both of us were saying if we had known that Cowboys team was going to show up our picks would have reflected it.  The picks we turned in for the football pool at my fiancé's work did not have either of us choosing the Cowboys. 

The team we've seen in recent weeks through the pre-season had me thinking this was going to be a long and very frustrating Cowboys season to watch.  After last night's game I've got some renewed hope!  The Cowboys obviously didn't want to show their cards during pre-season.  Which is understandable!  First week and the last week of each season is the hardest to pick.  Some teams show up big time during the pre-season making their fans have a false sense of hope for the season then fizzle quickly as the real competition begins.  Then there's other teams that you have no idea what they will look like once the season begins, the Cardinals and the Cowboys fall into this catergory in my opinion.

I seriously hope the Cowboys team we saw last night is the one that can consistently be seen throughout the season.  We'll see!  Fingers-crossed!  Now next up is the rest of the NFL, who will come to play this Sunday?  As a diehard Cardinals fan I just keep my fingers-crossed for them to improve from last year and for them to stay competitive.  If some definite improvement can't be seen then Whisenhunt might need to hunt for another job!

Kickoff!

Woo-hoo!  September is finally here which means football season has arrived.  I did my picks last night!  Hopefully my fiancé has not noticed that I did not pick the Cowboys to win tonight.  Yikes!  I know that's horrible of me!  I have to be realistic!  Defending champs in their home stadium....it's a tough game! Plus the Cowboys are without a couple big name players!

Tonight my fiancé's dad is coming over too for the game.  I'm making jambalaya again.  About a month ago I tried my hand at jambalaya, it turned out well despite the fact I messed up a bit.  I put too much rice in it.  This time I will do it correctly!  I'm looking forward to the game and the jambalaya.  I love giving myself a new challenge with a meal and then working some to perfect that new meal. 

I have yet to find a NFL schedule I like online.  I have one site that's been reliable in the past.  But this year they've changed their format and I'm not so sure about it.  Well I have to get going it's time to walk the boys!  

Wedding News (part 5)

I continue to plan our wedding.  We finally have the colors decided!  They won't change this time! 

Now that I've fully figured out the colors, I'm working on deciding how the colors will be represented.  How they will work together.  I'm enjoying looking at floral arrangements along with other decor ideas.  Once I firmly decided on the colors my little brain has been regularly flooded with ideas for decor and table linens.  For the next couple of months my greatest pasttime is going to be daydreaming about our wedding.  As it should be!  December will be here quick enough. 

Not only have the colors for the wedding been decided but also the colors of the wedding shower.  We will be having a wedding shower instead of a traditional bridal shower.  The wedding shower means the groom is invited to come!  It will be a mix of men and women not just women like a bridal shower indicates.  The colors for the wedding shower will be....drum roll please.....red, black, and white.

Oh yes folks, I will be getting my red one way or another! As everyone knows red is my favorite color.  My original idea for our wedding colors was to have red plus a color I will not name right now.  However, that color plus red are the colors of one of the Cowboys rivals. Well we can't have that!  That reason plus a few other reasons eliminated the use of red at the wedding.  Yes, we could have had red, black, and white for the wedding but the color scheme we have chosen for the wedding will definitely have more options plus it makes sense for us as a couple.  I will reveal the color sheme in the blog but not quite yet.  For now the only color scheme reveal is the wedding shower colors!   

The Long Weekend!

I'm happy to report the Cody-man is much better!  I have declared him fully healed from his stinging episode.  Poor pug has slept the last few days away due to the allergy meds he's been on.  Yesterday was the first day since his stinging that he's had enough energy to return to playing.  Today he's been a bit of a playing machine!  He's getting caught up on play time he missed!

We've been busy watching plenty of US Open tennis coverage.  Thank goodness I have Tennis channel at my place because it's been the only channel that featured the evening matches this weekend.  Last night the plan was to channel flip between football and tennis.  But the Alabama vs. Michigan game played in town at Cowboys Stadium was a blowout.  Judging by all the Alabama fans I saw around town I'm thinking it was similar to an Alabama home game!

I've got to end this one quick as we have decided to watch a movie.  We're working our way through the Lord of Rings movies.  I've never seen them.  My fiancé has and he doesn't mind watching them again so I can get caught up before the Hobbit is released.  We recently heard the Hobbit will be released the day before we get married so we likely won't see that one opening weekend! 

P.S.....welcome to September!  This is certainly one of my fave months!  It means Autumn is on it's way!  And at the end of the month I'll get some birthday cake! Have a good Labor day!