Friday Five..

we will see how many weeks in a row I will remember to do this... but here it goes.. week 2 of Friday Five:

1. Thankful for a wonderful girls day on Sunday with the sorta-soon to be Mrs., Kristen, having a girls day starting with mimosas and coffee and lovely croissants, wedding dress shopping, pedicures and wine and movie time... could you ask for more?!?! oh and a lot of chatting and even facetime-ing (is that even a real word?!) with her sister is Boston over the dress she bought (You found the dress Kristen! Ekk!)

2. A wonderful husband, whom I got to spend time with Monday and Tuesday - the ability to be close enough to visit him on this leg of his training, having a wonderful dinner and movie night with him. The reassurance I get from him on so many things is needed, appreciated, and well... reminds me why I married him.

3. Water... dear lordy, between E-coli in the water west of the Willamette (seriously told to boil my water before I drink any of it out of the faucet) and working on the pipes around our townhouse that require them turning off the water so many times (seriously had to go outside and check the hose next door to see if it was just us).... you learn to appreciate water that is clean and accessible.

4. The internet... planning our cross country road trip, calculating times, pit stop locations, mileage, points of interest, etc. is about 5,000X quicker and easier than it would be without that... Sooo excited for this trip!

5. Ibuprofen... I was able to miss most of the terrible parts of a Migraine this week due to getting it in me as soon as the spots and tunnel vision began.. so I was able to enjoy the evening with Kristopher instead of wanting to curl up in a ball in a dark closet... (although it became very apparent he's never experienced such a headache/event since he was yelling at me and waving his hands in front of my face in self amusement during the onset of said headache----- refer to #2)

We found the dress!!

Well yesterday was a wonderfully enjoyable day off from work, all jobs, with no feelings of "I should go in and help and make some money..." Kristen got into town as I hopped out of the shower after tiding up the house a bit and we where off...
We got a lovely breakfast with a mimosa and fresh made coffee, croissants and yummy breakfast (my apologizes, this would be a wonderful time for a photo, however I was busy beginning our girls day).

After our yummy breakfast we headed to the bridal salon... now Kristen already had a 1 and 2 dress, same designer, similar designs, but we headed here to try on every kind, b/c I love their relaxed expectations, and outlook on the processes, and the way the store is organized...

1. Try each silhouette on... b/c when else are you ever going to have a reason to try on a ball gown, and you know, at least rule it out justifiably. You can say you tried one on, and it wasn't it... no regrets that it might have been what you where looking for after all...

2. They have the largest stock of any salon in Oregon... aka pretty much have anything you are looking for... or something like it, or they can get it if you really want something they don't have.

3. Its organized by silhouette. So you go to each rack and pick one, two, or seven of them, knowing how its shaped. Which honestly makes it easiest to then focus on the details, and small things about how the dress looks on you.

4. Its a seemingly no pressure to buy environment. I haven't quite decided (nor thought to ask) if they work on commission. I would assume they do, b/c its wedding dresses after all. But there is a respect for budget, and seemingly genuine focus on trying on enough dresses til you don't want to take one off, as well as letting you have your time to digest each dress as long or as little as you please.

5. They don't tell you what does or doesn't look good on you... If you ask questions about how something is shaped, can be altered, removed, etc. They will tell you why, how, or just say they agree it looks a little goofy... but they don't "sell from their own pocket" so to say...  which, lets me honest, the salons that think they know what you want, and don't listen or just let you go at it, regardless of what you said you wanted/didn't want, or don't listen when you say it repeatedly... those are uncomfortable, horror bridal salon stories... and we don't want that.

Anyhow, you probably understand at this point that I like the place. They take appointments, it never feels like its crowded, or you are all looking at the same dress waiting to try it on, that you are a pay check for the sales rep, or that they are sick of seeing girls find the dress... I think they really know a few seconds before you know that you've found it.

Well and we found it... Kristen was dancing in the dress, out of the dress, and well... she didn't stop. Its beautiful, fits perfectly, its just enough and not to much. She wears the dress, and owns it. And as her sister and I both said... "Can I say that you look hot?" Because, honestly she did look hot, and elegant, and sexy, and beautiful, and a gorgeous, smoking, tear jerking bride (I nearly started to have a tear when she asked if Tyler would cry... honey.. if I was nearly to a tear with the clip, and no setting, flowers, make up, or well frankly the groom... he's gonna cry... $10 bucks on it ; ) )

late start...

So because I have been the opener CSR... I am at work every morning at 8 am... which means I'm off by 3.. which in itself is lovely... except when you start the week working a 13 hour shift, followed up by a 10 hour shift at the other job... then there seems to be no catch up sufficient enough, no enough coffee, to counter the exhaustion accumulated.... but today I am not going in until 9:30 ,which is a nice preview of life shortly since August 1st a whole new challenge begins....

but I could get use to this wake up, drink coffee and eat a bowl of cereal, checking email, facebook, and pinterest, before getting in the shower and heading to work thing... after rush hour happens...

Lets see how long before I am accepting more sleep instead...

I hope not!

And run/gym after work?!?!? We are going to try for it today!

need to get on a routine....

So I was thinking I should do a "Friday Five" time deal... something about what I'm thankful for this week, memories, random thoughts... and then it dawned on me... I need to get in a routine again... anything from cleaning, to running, to work, has been all over the board, leaving me tired, with lots to do all the time... I am hoping once I move into this sales position I will be able to get a better routine in order... something about possibly only working around 40 hours a week rather than 55 might allow this.. I am hoping.. of course the first month I will probably still crunch in a few shifts at the Parry Center, since commission checks wont hit til the end of September/beginning of October... but I am hoping... that life gets much more organized...
am I day dreaming?!?!
or is it possible?

Anyhow... we will try Friday Fives... for now I am going to work on things I am thankful for....

1. So thankful for a husband, one that loves me, puts up with my crazies, loves me regardless and will always be there for me.

2. Thankful for Assistant Managers that believe in me, speak up for me, and push me to do more.

3. Thankful for a fuzzy Ruby, otherwise this house would feel very very empty, and missing my husband would be even tougher...

4. Thankful for wonderful parents, that have taught me so much by being just that, wonderful parents.

5. and so thankful for coffee... without it... mornings would roll into afternoons, and I would not be able to put up with nearly the amount of stupid people and errors I deal with on any given day...

Have a wonderful weekend... I can't wait to get through tomorrow.. my dearest friend Kristen is coming to town... to try on wedding dresses!!! and she wants me to go with her, I feel so special. Super excited to spend time with her, and finally see her ring in person!!!

wohoo!

I got the job! I'll be a full time sales rep as of august 1st!.... funny story, bc I got punked when "interviewing" for the spot... but all that I have time for right now is the wohoo part....

Oh and I stamped last night with Cory... and apparently I know more of what I am doing then others... interesting thought... I was making stuff out of the random stuff she had to work with... mostly random fruit stamps... and I succeeded... impressed with myself for making a set of grapes look sweet. ; )

Wedding photos

Ok, so here they are, well at least some of them, I have about 300 or so more to go and share a handful of those with you... 

It was a perfect day, sunny and clear, and then just as you thought it couldn't get any better, it started to snow! Some of the snowing shots looks straight up like we are photoshop-ed in, but so many beautiful moments captured by Lyfe Photography, Eddie and Amy were wonderful and we are so blessed to have their talent capture our day.... 

enjoy, more to come soon...

Married in the month of may..

So I had full intentions of posting pictures, dicussing the wedding and keeping you posted about life in may... And th shit hit the fan. Way way more then we co us ever anticipiate happened in the month of May, and I'll save you the details, just w that kristopher lived out of a suitcase most of the month and I think was in a different city each weekend. The good stuff.. The wedding went amazingly, only touches here and there that I would change, such as having a few more important people be able to make it, and my dress should have been taken in, but really it looked fine so there wasn't really any disaster. The wether as perfect, clear when we went out after the ceremony, end then started to snow later in the evening too... Could not have asked for more. Here is a few of the 700 photos the photographer got back to us... ( will upload later I promise... iPad doesn't seem to want to up to let me put photos in here.... : ( ) We went down to california for lindsay walsh's wedding. It was a great trip, as it was the one that was scheduled out to go on and it was just a beautiful wedding and a blast of a party! Kristopher is up at LDAC at ft Lewis, I went up yesterday and dropped off some stuff for him to be able to prepare meals without having to eat out every meal and spend more money. HiS room situation is kinda in dorms, so it's funny bc he never lived in dorms in college so he is getting that experience now. And of course the first day he gets there he gets told he is the platoon leader, of course, so he has lots of work to do. But it's good for him and really tells you something when he is selected to do such a position. As for myself, I should be doing an interview this week for a sales rep position at our store...so cross your figures bc that would be splendid. Pictures soon, I have a few other fun random ones to share to of ruby, and stamping projects, and well, that S about it, but it's worthwhile posting them.