Missing her like crazy...

About 20 years ago, my mom's best friend, Carol, died from an invasive brain tumor. It hit our family hard, and lately my mom and I have been thinking about Carol a lot.

When Carol initially found out about the brain tumor, it wasn't long after that when she passed away. I was pretty young when this happened, so I didn't realize the extent of everything at the time. But now that I'm older and I see how special friendships are in one's life; I miss Carol terribly. And I miss her terribly for my mom too.

Carol used to watch my brother and I when my parents would go out of town for the weekend. It was always fun for us because at night after dinner, we'd get our baths, and she'd lay a blanket down in front of the TV and we were able to eat popcorn and watch all the cartoons we wanted! Carol's daughter, Jenny, also babysat us when my parents went out. Jenny and I also shared a birthday so we had many joint birthday parties with their family and my family.

Carol took these photos of my brother and me when she was watching us one weekend :)

Carol passed away before Jenny got married, so Jenny wasn't able to experience having her mom by her side during all the wedding planning and during her big day. Carol also wasn't able to experience the joy of her grandchild coming into the world. And in a way it makes me feel like Jenny was robbed of these things, and that we've been robbed of having Carol here to laugh with (she loved to laugh) and enjoy more fun times together.

Now that I'm going to get married, and hopefully have babies, I couldn't imagine not having my mom by my side, and because of this, I've been thinking about Carol and Jenny a lot lately. I wish she was still here as my mom's best friend, as my second mom and as Jenny's doting mother. I wish I knew then what I know now, and that I would've soaked up my time with her when I was young. I wish my fiancé and friends could have met Carol and enjoyed her as much as my family did.

I often feel like if Carol were still here and healthy that everything would be different, and better. But, I know God has a reason for everything. I struggle at times to figure out what His reasoning is behind all of this, but I guess it comes down to just truly appreciating those you have in your life. Your parents, your friends and your family. I often take these people for granted in my life, but there are days like today that Carol reminds me to take the time and appreciate these people because you never know when God might take them to Heaven, and you never want to have regrets when He does.

Ring-a-ling-a-ling!

As you know, I was finally able to pick up my ring on Sunday! We had such a wonderful experience with this jeweler and I couldn't be happier with how easy Kenny was to work with. We will definitely be using his services in the future!

As promised, here are some before and after photos:


In case anyone is new to my blog, this is my grandmother's wedding set. My mom had the original diamond added to her wedding ring, and Kevin and I were able to have a new diamond put in this set. When Kenny looked at the ring he commented on what good shape it was still in, so that made me feel good.



And here it is now! Shiny and just like new! I can't stop looking at it. :) I've been waiting to have a ring on my finger for a very. long. time and I couldn't feel more blessed and thankful that this is all actually happening.

Hope you all had a great weekend! I'll update about our weekend later this week.

Potential Possum Problem

Remember yesterday, when I mentioned that Kahlua wouldn't really be able to protect herself should a large cat decide to attack her? Well, I spoke too soon. Don't worry there were no cats involved, only a possum. And surprisingly enough, Kahlua was the one doing the attacking! Well...sort of.

Thursday night I was up far past my bedtime and I let Kahlua out in the backyard one last time before bed so she could do her business. Next thing I know she's barking like crazy and I look out the back door and she's got something cornered in our backyard! I couldn't see it because, I was both delirious from exhaustion at this time of night, and it was also dark. So I yell for Kevin, he comes out and says "It's a possum!"

Now, let me interject here and say that I usually consider myself to be a calm, cool and collected individual under high-stress situations. In my lifetime I think I've had to call 911 on three different occasions for people. None were life-threatening, thankfully, but I was able to assess the situation and act accordingly.

HOWEVER, as soon as Kevin said 'possum' I pretty much freaked out. I vaguely recall putting my hands up to my head and walking in tight little circle around myself, three or four times. All the while dressed in an old t-shirt, with no pants on and just booty shorts (hey! it was bedtime!), in our backyard. I finally collected myself enough to get Kevin a pair of gloves, an old towel and he tossed the possum over the fence (we kind of have a forest behind our backyard).

It wasn't until later that I realized this possum was just a baby! I don't know all the facts about how fast possums grow or anything, but I'd venture to say it was probably a few weeks old. Kahlua is only four pounds and this thing was smaller than she was! So why was I freaking out? I really couldn't tell you. The only thing that was running through my mind at that time was pointy teeth, the possibility of Kahlua getting bit, and a foaming mouth soon thereafter thanks to Rabies.

After all was said and done, and I returned back to "normal" I noticed that Kahlua was so proud of herself. She was walking around the house like she was really big stuff after that. The only thing I kept thinking about yesterday was "Damn, I wish I would've taken a picture of her and that possum last night!"

Fast forward to last night, and again the little possum somehow managed to scramble into our backyard. And again, Kahlua, being the "big," protective dog that she is, cornered the poor thing. This time instead of assisting Kevin by grabbing him a flashlight and gloves, I ran into the house and grabbed my camera and made sure to document this the second time around. ;)

Kahlua is in the foreground, but it's a little hard to see her.

Such an intimidating dog, Kahlua is. See how small the possum is?

Kevin trying to get a hold of it with Kahlua cautiously looking on should the possum decide to get crazy on her daddy. Kahlua even has one of her front paws up like "Do it. I dare you!"

Getting a little too close for my comfort here.

Eventually the thing ran to the other side of the yard and disappeared under our neighbor's fence. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back, but hopefully it decides to when it's still small because they're nasty once they get big!

Neither here nor there...

Welcome, to yet another, scattered post...

• We found our venue! It is such a relief. The official date will be Saturday, August 6, 2011. I put a ticker on the side of my blog. Now we can chill out for the next few months and no more stress-ness (ya I know that's not a word, but whatevs ;)).
• I get my ring on Sunday! The jeweler doesn't open until 11 that day and I'm literally counting down the hours. I'm mostly excited about seeing what it will look like with an actual diamond in it because I've only ever seen this ring with an empty hole in the middle. Don't worry, I'm going to be posting some before-and-after pictures of it so you all can celebrate my joy right along with me. Ha!
• On Sunday my mom and I have a big day of wedding stuff. We're going to see the venue, taste the food they have on the menu, then pick my ring up, then head over to a Bridal Expo. That should be interesting. I'm someone that can easily get annoyed with a bunch of women who are all in one place at the same time. So I think I should take along some patience and possibly a Xanax for that exhibition. We shall see.
• I sent out my cards to my bridesmaids on Tuesday and they have received them! I got the cards from this site. They have a TON of different cards for every one, and every thing, you could imagine. They were super easy to edit and they literally got to me in one. day! I was very impressed. And it was very cost effective. I actually got this idea from my BFF, Maygan. She sent me one some time back asking me to be her MOH for her wedding. I loved it so much that I wanted to do it for my girls too. I also made a card for our flower girl and ring bearer. I thought it would make them feel special too. :) I've left it up to Kevin how he wants to ask his guys. I'm pretty sure he asked a couple of them over the microphone during a night of playing Halo!

This is the front of the card. Obviously this one was for my future SIL. For my cousin it said "Cousin" on the front, and for my friends it said "I would be honored..." on the front.

And here's the wording on the inside. :)

• I made myself a binder to keep all the wedding stuff in. You don't think I'm excited about this upcoming wedding or anything, do you? Haha! Sta.ples had these damask folders for 1/2 off, so I bought a pack, cut them in half, and slipped them inside the clear sleeves of the binder. Then I tied a red ribbon that I had around it. Gives you a little idea of what I hope the decorations to resemble.

• This is what I've been craving this week. Niiice...andddd...healthyyyy! Just the way I like it! ;)

• Speaking of healthy, I've lost 20 pounds! Craziness. I actually stopped my WW membership a couple weeks ago because with this wedding coming up it would be nice to have an extra $40 each month to use towards things for it, but I also felt like I could do the WW plan on my own. I'm at the stage now where I generally know the amount of points of the foods I eat, so I don't have to track so much. I've somehow managed to lose three pounds on my own since I stopped my membership. With Corn Nuts, Shockers and all!
• We have this cat that jumps on our roof every. single. night at precisely 10:40pm. It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that said cat wears a collar that has a bell on it and as soon as that damn thing jingles, Kahlua wants outside to try and "scare" it away. I use the word "scare" ever so lightly because Kahlua is only four pounds and I'm sure if the cat wanted to, it could hurt Kahlua something fierce. But we don't let Kahlua know that. She likes to feel somewhat like a dog and protect her territory. ;)
• I'm soon going to be selling my first house for work! Well not be personally, a realtor will be doing it for me, but I will be getting a cut of the sales price. Super excited!
• I haven't chewed my nails in a really long time. It was a horrible habit that I've had, but I think I've finally kicked it! I think it happened because I know that I'll have a nice ring on my finger and people will be looking at it. Gots to keep my paws looking good now! ;)

Hope you all have a great weekend!!! xoxo

Easy Peasy!

A couple posts ago, I mentioned I'd show you how I made this cute little thing:

I follow Shannon's blog, Bless Our Nest, and she had a great post about getting this subway art for free. So I went to the site she linked, printed it out on white card stock and cut the excess white edges off. Then while I was at Michael's last weekend, I found a really nice scrapbook paper print I liked and also a black frame for 1/2 off. Went home, cut the scrapbook paper to fit the frame, centered and taped the back of the subway art onto the scrapbook paper and there you have it! Like I said, it was less than $5.00! And I think it goes nicely in our living room...

Now it's got me thinking that I could probably make my own subway art too, and hang some more things like this in our guest bathrooms and our bedrooms. The possibilities are endless! :)

Wordless Wednesday

My adorable "niece." I just can't get enough of that face!

It's that time of year again...

Fall is finally here! And I've finally decorated for the occasion! Prepare yourself for picture overload that is soon to follow.


This year I decided to just go with general, Fall decorations instead of Halloween decorations. As you know, I'm not too fond of Halloween. Plus, I figure if I can stick with the general Fall decorations that I won't have to take down Halloween decorations once October is over. The ones I have out now can stay up throughout Halloween and through November until I'm ready to put up Christmas decorations. Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner?!


Most of the stuff I put out I already had except for a few things. Michael's was having a HUGE sale last weekend, so I really scored on some good things. I was kind of bummed because I had a 50% off coupon I wanted to use, but every single thing I got was already discounted and the coupons can't be used on already discounted items.


Like I said, a lot of pictures are about to happen right now. You might want to grab a beverage and snack and get cozy ;)

Our front door. I'm embarrassed to say that this is the first time I've purchased mums. It wasn't until entering the Blog World that I learned that mums are the go-to Fall plant. Brilliant!

Entryway
I filled this with cinnamon-smelling pine cones and Fall leaves. It smells yummy as soon as you walk in the door!
I wrapped the fake berry things (what are they called anyways?) around the "Welcome" sign.
Placed some leaves under the candle holders. I bought a really cheap garland and just cut some leaves off of it to use around the house.
Looking into the living room.
I love this pumpkin! I got it at Home Goods last month. Also, the books under it are wrapped with scrapbook paper. I didn't have any Fall-looking books around the house, so I decided to just make my own. I didn't even have to use tape; just wrapped the paper and tucked it in. Brought me back to my old high school days of when we used to cover our books in brown paper bags! Ha!
I think these are so cute. I had the candle holders, so I took the candles out, placed a leaf on each one, then plopped a pine cone on top. Easy and cheap!
Wrapped another book to make this "Dream" sign stand out more.
This is my favorite little corner in the living room!
$2.00 basket filled with pine cones and leaves.
This whole framed picture cost me less than $5.00! I'll do a separate post on how I made it.
Changed out the candles in the wall sconces with red candles that I had stored away.
Looking into our kitchen.
This is my favorite decoration. I also got this pumpkin at Home Goods, and I got a cheap candle to put in it. I placed the leaves under it so it'd stand out from the black counter top.
I wrapped some more of these fake berry things around the chandelier.
Changed out the bow on my sign :)
I cleaned up these glass candle holders that I've had forever and put my red candles in them and wrapped the last of the dried berry things around them. I love the way they turned out!
Filled these glass containers with leaves and the dried berry things.

And that's a tour of our house decked out for the Fall! Kevin keeps saying how nice it looks and how cozy it feels - which is unusual for him because he usually doesn't notice these type of things. Ha!

And BLESS YOU if you've read all the way through this!