In spite of the usual craziness that I call my weekend, I am so grateful.
1. The fam-I've noticed that our family unit feels more and more like a team effort and that my parents have become close friends. Mom still reminds me to pick up my socks though....
2. The opportunity to work-Sure, I could use a little more money, and couldn't we all? I am just happy to be working when I know that there are so many out of work now, hoping for their next opportunity. I meet dozens of them weekly.
3. My friends at FACE-Thank goodness for Mondays! I always volunteer at the clinic on Monday nights with Aaron, and I have yet to find another group of people who feels the same way I do about animals.
4. My hair--it's been behaving lately. Yay!
5. A few close friends--I really treasure the few friendships that I still cling to, even after graduation, marriages, children, and mortgages.
6. My fur-childrens' father--He is my sunshine : )
7. Having a fully capable body--working out felt so good tonight.
8. Being granted the understanding and good graces of a few people who really matter
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Meet Ginger and Josie
Over the past two months, I've been graced by the presence of two beautiful dogs:
Meet Ginger:
On labor day, Aaron and his parents were boating in some lake in Indiana when they saw a dog walking along the shoreline. Aaron's dad likes to fish (and always asks his vegetarian son to go....????), so the boat was anchored about 100 feet from land. They whistled to get the dog's attention, and to their surprise, she swam to the boat! They checked around to make sure they had not abducted someone's fur-child, and they left their phone number with the lodge just in case.
Here is Ginger just after being pulled up into the boat!
Aaron and I took Ginger (named after the character on Gilligan's Island!) to the FACE clinic to be spayed, and we learned that she had horrible bladder stones! I am pleased to announce that she is doing wonderfully after her surgery this morning!
Next up: Josephine!
Josephine, or Josie, as most call her was chained up outside of the FACE clinic one weekend to be dumped. This sweet pit bull had puncture wounds all over her face, ears, and neck, and it is certain that she will lose her right eye. Last week, Josie was spayed, and the vet also checked out her wounds. We are all shocked that the vet found a BULLET IN HER HEAD! She's recovering nicely and is such a precious girl. If there was ever a dog that had a good excuse to be angry at the world, it's Josie. But she's not. And now she's got a forever home with one of the staff!
This picture was taken at the clinic - Josie will snuggle up in anyone's lap!
Meet Ginger:
On labor day, Aaron and his parents were boating in some lake in Indiana when they saw a dog walking along the shoreline. Aaron's dad likes to fish (and always asks his vegetarian son to go....????), so the boat was anchored about 100 feet from land. They whistled to get the dog's attention, and to their surprise, she swam to the boat! They checked around to make sure they had not abducted someone's fur-child, and they left their phone number with the lodge just in case.
Here is Ginger just after being pulled up into the boat!
Aaron and I took Ginger (named after the character on Gilligan's Island!) to the FACE clinic to be spayed, and we learned that she had horrible bladder stones! I am pleased to announce that she is doing wonderfully after her surgery this morning!
Next up: Josephine!
Josephine, or Josie, as most call her was chained up outside of the FACE clinic one weekend to be dumped. This sweet pit bull had puncture wounds all over her face, ears, and neck, and it is certain that she will lose her right eye. Last week, Josie was spayed, and the vet also checked out her wounds. We are all shocked that the vet found a BULLET IN HER HEAD! She's recovering nicely and is such a precious girl. If there was ever a dog that had a good excuse to be angry at the world, it's Josie. But she's not. And now she's got a forever home with one of the staff!
This picture was taken at the clinic - Josie will snuggle up in anyone's lap!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Freshman year of life has been a bit rough, but at least I have my Mickey Mouse waffle maker
Ever since I was in kindergarten, my mom would make Mickey Mouse waffles on the first day of school. I can remember lying in bed on the morning of my first day back at school and getting excited to eat the waffles with Mom as I smelled them cooking. This tradition lasted all the way through my undergraduate years!
When I moved back from college after graduation, my mom made these waffles without fail for my "freshman year of life." It's not like I'm a huge Disney fan - I just love the tradition and memories that come with eating them.
Tonight, I had nothing to make for dinner because I hadn't had the opportunity to make it to the store yet, so I decided to let Mickey help out. Enjoying the waffles tonight reminded me that I still have something awesome in this world - my family, even though the past three months since graduating have been extremely difficult due to the stress of running the business (seriously, it was not even this hard while I was doing school AND work!).
It may be a complete cliche, but no matter how crappy things get or how many people betray my trust, make me look bad, or complain about getting their paycheck a day sooner, my relationship with my parents is rock solid, and as long as that waffle maker works, the tradition will live on : )
When I moved back from college after graduation, my mom made these waffles without fail for my "freshman year of life." It's not like I'm a huge Disney fan - I just love the tradition and memories that come with eating them.
Tonight, I had nothing to make for dinner because I hadn't had the opportunity to make it to the store yet, so I decided to let Mickey help out. Enjoying the waffles tonight reminded me that I still have something awesome in this world - my family, even though the past three months since graduating have been extremely difficult due to the stress of running the business (seriously, it was not even this hard while I was doing school AND work!).
It may be a complete cliche, but no matter how crappy things get or how many people betray my trust, make me look bad, or complain about getting their paycheck a day sooner, my relationship with my parents is rock solid, and as long as that waffle maker works, the tradition will live on : )
Monday, September 7, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
What a great weekend so far : )
Yesterday, Aaron and I took the day off of work to hang out with each other because we'll be getting married in a year, and we wanted to commemorate that with some fun stuff. We started the day out by sleeping in... except I seem to have lost the ability to sleep until noon and woke up at 9:30! Aaron made us lunch of alfalfa sprout sandwiches (seriously, try these things - all you have to do is make it like you would any deli sandwich except you replace the meat with alfalfa sprouts!) and some trail mix. Aaron had the good sense to put in PB Captain Crunch (which is vegan if I'm not mistaken) and chocolate chips. We ate lunch picnic style at the park where he proposed and took a walk around.
Alfalfa sprouts:
As it turns out, we headed to the office for just a little bit to make sure all was ok (wild horses couldn't drag us away!), and then we went out to dinner at Euphoria (where we'll be getting married next year). The weather was awesome, we actually sat down and had a real conversation about wedding plans, and then we hiked around the canal for just a bit.
It was just a cool way to spend the day - we relaxed for once, and got some stuff done.
To make the whole weekend better, we ate lunch today at a place called WB Pizza that has TONS of vegan options! We had vegan pizza and vegan garlic bread with vegan garlic butter. YUM!!!! Oh, AND our events were fully staffed today. What could be better?
Alfalfa sprouts:
As it turns out, we headed to the office for just a little bit to make sure all was ok (wild horses couldn't drag us away!), and then we went out to dinner at Euphoria (where we'll be getting married next year). The weather was awesome, we actually sat down and had a real conversation about wedding plans, and then we hiked around the canal for just a bit.
It was just a cool way to spend the day - we relaxed for once, and got some stuff done.
To make the whole weekend better, we ate lunch today at a place called WB Pizza that has TONS of vegan options! We had vegan pizza and vegan garlic bread with vegan garlic butter. YUM!!!! Oh, AND our events were fully staffed today. What could be better?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Getting married in about a year...geez!
Tomorrow is September 4th which will be a year out from our wedding.
Working in the wedding industry certainly provides a different perspective on your own wedding for sure. I've become jaded towards them because I've seen so many cookie-cutter weddings that get cranked out on a weekly basis. In fact, the whole planning process kind of nauseates me. I've worked many weddings that were a complete cheese-fest, filled with fake sentiments and inflated guest lists.
Weddings also create unnecessary friction among families and friends. My parents and I are already disagreeing on the guest list. I want a small wedding so that I can actually talk to everyone and avoid feeling like I'm on stage for a performance, but they want everyone under the sun to "help us celebrate." The truth is, I really only want to invite people who have actually been a part of our lives and will likely be in our lives after we tie the knot. I could care less about the gifts that these extra people might bring. So what? I don't even want to register for gifts. I really don't need anything, and I'm constantly trying to weed out items of my that are not joyful, useful, or beautiful. I'd rather set up a charity "registry" and give to the Humane Society or to the FACE clinic.
I'm also pretty turned off by all of the usual rituals that are standard protocol that I'd prefer not to follow.
Here's an idea of what I would like to avoid:
1. Cake-I'm still doing cake I guess, but how about a wedding brownie a la mode instead?
2. The whole bouquet thing--I probably won't be tossing, and I'd rather not even carry flowers. Since Aaron and I are veg-heads, how about a veggie bouquet? Or fruit perhaps?
3. The garter toss - there is NO WAY this is happening
4. Awkward dancing - I've worked too many weddings and been embarrassed for the guests, the bride, the groom, and the families. IF I have any dancing at, it will all be really chill music for slow dancing and will not deafen the guests.
5. A church wedding - while I don't see anything wrong with getting married in a church - I considered it - I won't be following this tradition as my parents would probably prefer. Aaron and I are getting married on a balcony overlooking the canal downtown! How cool is that?
6. Traditional pictures - I want some quirky, artsy photos. Who cares if heads are cut off! It's art! Also, I will likely not plaster my wedding photos all over the internet. Are people really that interested anyway? Those who actually want to see the wedding pictures will have been invited and will get access to them anyway.
7. NO MEAT!
8. I will not be wearing a dress with a 20 foot long piece of fabric dragging behind me. I would like be able to move, please.
9. Animals will be the guests of honor.
10. I will be wearing my hair short-just like I do all the time : )
In short, this will not be me:
Working in the wedding industry certainly provides a different perspective on your own wedding for sure. I've become jaded towards them because I've seen so many cookie-cutter weddings that get cranked out on a weekly basis. In fact, the whole planning process kind of nauseates me. I've worked many weddings that were a complete cheese-fest, filled with fake sentiments and inflated guest lists.
Weddings also create unnecessary friction among families and friends. My parents and I are already disagreeing on the guest list. I want a small wedding so that I can actually talk to everyone and avoid feeling like I'm on stage for a performance, but they want everyone under the sun to "help us celebrate." The truth is, I really only want to invite people who have actually been a part of our lives and will likely be in our lives after we tie the knot. I could care less about the gifts that these extra people might bring. So what? I don't even want to register for gifts. I really don't need anything, and I'm constantly trying to weed out items of my that are not joyful, useful, or beautiful. I'd rather set up a charity "registry" and give to the Humane Society or to the FACE clinic.
I'm also pretty turned off by all of the usual rituals that are standard protocol that I'd prefer not to follow.
Here's an idea of what I would like to avoid:
1. Cake-I'm still doing cake I guess, but how about a wedding brownie a la mode instead?
2. The whole bouquet thing--I probably won't be tossing, and I'd rather not even carry flowers. Since Aaron and I are veg-heads, how about a veggie bouquet? Or fruit perhaps?
3. The garter toss - there is NO WAY this is happening
4. Awkward dancing - I've worked too many weddings and been embarrassed for the guests, the bride, the groom, and the families. IF I have any dancing at, it will all be really chill music for slow dancing and will not deafen the guests.
5. A church wedding - while I don't see anything wrong with getting married in a church - I considered it - I won't be following this tradition as my parents would probably prefer. Aaron and I are getting married on a balcony overlooking the canal downtown! How cool is that?
6. Traditional pictures - I want some quirky, artsy photos. Who cares if heads are cut off! It's art! Also, I will likely not plaster my wedding photos all over the internet. Are people really that interested anyway? Those who actually want to see the wedding pictures will have been invited and will get access to them anyway.
7. NO MEAT!
8. I will not be wearing a dress with a 20 foot long piece of fabric dragging behind me. I would like be able to move, please.
9. Animals will be the guests of honor.
10. I will be wearing my hair short-just like I do all the time : )
In short, this will not be me:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)