Worth a 1000 Words

Last week I was here (Portland, Oregon). It quickly became one of my favorite cities EVER. It was like the perfect mix of Bay Area type people, California culture (laid back), and cheap living (condos in the city are $200k! Cheap!).

Today I was here (Temecula Wine Country). A group of us went wine tasting to celebrate a friends 30th bday. Good wine + good friends = good times.

We were driven around in this:

I want to go here for our honeymoon (Aventura Spa Palace, Mexican Riviera)

Friday Fun

1. What time did you get up this morning? Supposed to be 6 but it was really 7am. Oops!
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds!!
3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? Talladega Nights (getting Dave to go to the movies is like pulling teeth!)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Since Friends & Sex and the City went off the air, I haven’t really fallen in love with any new shows. My current rotation: CSI, Big Love, & How I Met Your Mother. Ugly Betty and Studio 60 seem like they’ll be interesting.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Hot green tea, Smart Start cereal with skim milk and fruit (this month I’ve been on a grapes and strawberries kick).
6. What is your middle name? I hate it: Lee
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Japanese. Mmmmm ;-9 Sushi!
8. When was your last vacation? Cabo in March 2006.
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? I don’t like salty foods but if I had to pick then cheddar & sour cream.
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I’m still on a Death Cab for Cutie kick.
11. What type of car do you drive? Ford Focus. Nothing fancy but we’re trying to save money for the wedding and to buy a house. I really want a Lexus IS250!!!
12. What do you cherish most? My health.
13. What characteristics do you despise? People who are high strung! Calm down and enjoy life!!!
14. Favorite item of clothing? Juicy Couture yoga pants since I’ve been feeling fat lately.
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I’m really excited about our possible honeymoon location: Mexican Riviera. Also, lately I’ve REALLY had an itch to go to France someday. I want to see the countryside as well as the city and museums.
16. When is lunchtime? 11:30
17. Where would you like to retire? Never thought about that. Ummmm … Hopefully someplace surrounded by friends and loved ones.
18. What is your dream job? To work for my same federal agency but be part of the leadership staff at the state or national HQ level.
19. What was your most memorable birthday? My 22nd bday. I was feeling majorly bummed because I felt old! (haha!) My best friends planned a nice dinner for me at my favorite restaurant. I was worried no one would come but instead lots of people came to the dinner. We all then went out, got drunk (no idea where) and then we drove from fraternity house to fraternity house showing the boys my “gift” (a giant 6 foot inflatable penis)
21. Favorite sport to watch? College football.
22. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide with Downy
23. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke
24. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Neither!
25. What is your shoe size? 8
26. Do you have any pets? Cutest kitten ever: Fluff
27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I’m going wine tasting this weekend. Me + Vino = Happy
28. What did you want to be when you grew up? A lawyer. I’m bummed that I didn’t have the self confidence to follow through on that dream.
29. When is your birthday? I was born in April.
30. Goal you’d like to accomplish in the next year? Lose weight and become fit AND healthy for my wedding!

Eat, Drink & Be Merry

MIA
I’ve been gone at an all employees’ meeting this past week. 450 of my fellow employees got together in Sacramento to meet, schmooze, and receive “training”. The only training most of the employees received was how much alcohol they could consume before acting like a fool. Trust me when I say that good times were had by all. Now I’m home and a bit sad. There are so many awesome people who work for my agency and it bums me out that we only get to hang out together every few years. Good news is now my body can detox and recover from all the rich food and booze that I consumed over the past few days.

Traveling Jane
While I was gone, Dave was also gone for a meeting in St Louis, MO. On Monday I leave again for a management training course in Portland, OR. On Tuesday Dave leaves for a meeting in Missouri. We both return very late on Thursday. Poor Fluff is going to think that he is owned by the pet sitter since he sees her more often then he sees us.

Fluff
My baby kitty has gained 3 pounds in the past 2 months! Fat cat weighs 8 pounds now and he’s only 7 months old. I can’t imagine my life without that cat. Almost every night he falls asleep on my chest. He attacks our feet while we sleep (which I find adorable and Dave finds deplorable). He practically gets in the shower with us in the mornings. Attacks the newspaper while we attempt to read it (once again me adorable, Dave deplorable). I could go on and on. Fluff is the cutest kitten ever. I’ll try and post pictures of him in his new sweater as soon as I download my camera.

9 months
Where has the time gone? It feels like each month goes by in a blur. Only 9 more months left until Dave and I get married. This month’s duties:
apply for my passport (Dave already has his)
select a honeymoon location (Dave’s task)
contact potential judges to officiate the ceremony
lose weight

Date Night
Dave fell asleep on the couch at 5pm (he was super tired from his meeting in Missouri) so I decided to plan my very own date night. Yes, I took myself out on a date. After having a great workout at the gym, I picked up a blackberry green tea frappe from Starbucks and sushi. I came home, got in Dave’s comfy pajamas, and ate my sushi while watching sappy Lifetime movies. Current movie: “crazylove” young woman has nervous breakdown and falls in love with schizophrenic while in mental hospital. Trials and tribulations follow.

Issues
Every couple has their highs and lows but Dave and I have been pretty lucky to not have many lows in our past. I think our roughest times were the 1st months and that was just because we (and by we I mean me) were trying to figure out where our commitment level stood. I think every couple goes through that period when they try to figure out where they’re headed. Fun? Marriage? Long term?
Lately, Dave and I have experienced our first “real” low that was caused by issues. And by issues I don’t mean big deal breaker issues like he believes in polygamy and I don’t. Nor do I mean small issues like I hate the way he makes the bed in the mornings. The issues we had to face were more of the medium variety. Issues (and by issues I mean baggage/personality quirks/topics of disagreement) that matter enough to make a person upset but not enough to send a person to bed crying every night. As we all know everyone has their issues and I think that getting married is kinda scary because all of a sudden you’re hit with the realization that you’re going to have to live with these issues FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. For the past month Dave and I have tried discussing, ignoring, and solving our issues. Finally (after a long night of arguing) I think that we’ve reached a point where our issues have found a happy compromise. For the past week I’ve felt like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders and our relationship has returned to the loving, easy, rewarding state that it usually occupies.

Suduko
I’ve fallen in love with this game. I could play game after game after game. In fact I think I’ll go play a game now ;-)

Where the Beautiful People Live

Pics I took a few weeks ago of the beach near my house. This really is paradise.

My Day

6:00a - Decide to sleep in since I spent the holiday weekend sick from the flu. Fevers, nausea, and achiness are mostly gone but I'm still feeling a bit more tired then normal.

7:30a - Wake up. Pet cat for as long as possible before needing to get up and get dressed.

7:45a - Weigh myself and find that I have lost 2 pounds in week 1 of my diet. Woo!

8:30a - Grab a Luna Bar and run out of the house because I am late.

8:45a - Meet with psychiatrist to talk about possibility of meds to help prevent my anxiety attacks. Doc gives me some great insightful advice and prescribes me ativan to use only if needed. I was reluctant to take anything that would require me to be on it all the time.

10:00a - Drive to work. Begin reading emails and sorting through inbox.

11:00a - Attempt to get work done but am interrupted every 5 minutes by someone who needs something.

Noon - Eat lunch while reading my Bridal Bargains book.

1:00p - Receive call from local magazine. They want to do an interview with me and highlight me and my agency in their next issue. Photo shoot scheduled for Friday. Make quick note to get eyebrows waxed and hair highlighted before Friday.

1:30p - Jump in car and head to downtown San Diego.

2:00p - Arrive at bridal salon and try on "the dress" again before making my final decision. Am a bit wishy-washy. There's nothing wrong with the dress per se but it's such a big decision and I can't help but wondering if this is really "the dress". Take pics of me in dress, ponder decision some more, and then decide to bite the bullet and put deposit down.

3:00p - Drive to work meeting that is only 4 miles down the road from bridal shop.

4:00p - After meeting finishes, drive to look at veil and tiara that are being sold for $75. Get confused while exiting freeway. Do I want MiraMar Rd? MiraMar Way? Or Mira Mesa Blvd? Couldn't they have given the roads more creative names???? Finally get to house and fall in love with tiara and veil. Both are exactly what I wanted and would normally retail for $400!

5:30p - Drive home after finishing a few things up at the office.

6:00p - Grab a cheese sandwich before heading out the door again. A cheese sandwich is not normally something I would eat but I was frantically looking for food to quiet my rumbling tummy when I saw a loaf of bread and a block of cheese. Easy and no cooking required. Desperate times, desperate measures.

6:30p - Meet potential new employee at Starbucks to do an interview. Witty conversation and interrogating questions follow.

8:00p - Drive home. Fight with cat to try and hang up veil. Cat thinks it's personal mission is to climb up veil and attack beading.

8:30p - Collapse on couch.

10:30p - Go to bed.