Say Olive Juice

my latest creations!

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

When I do actually find the time to get on the computer, I have been addicted to Pinterest and learning about all these new blogs!!

One thing I try really hard NOT to do is say "I'm going to do this"... then never do it. I hope that for the most part that I do about 80% of the things I say I'm going to do. (one thing I thought I truely would do, then didn't was finish my prereqs for nursing school and still kick myself for not doing it.... maybe someday?)

So on pinterest there are lot of DIY things that I REALLY want to do! (as well as that fantastic list I created for myself in december). So below is a few pictures of my recent progress.

There was a post on pinterest about a diy lace flower headband for babies! Heres the post picture:

Heres the one I made: (Micheals only had this one lace so I was a bit limited)

Woo hoo!!

The next thing was found by my friend amanda, and its a "coming home from the hospital" shadow box! Heres the one on Pinterest:

sallypreston.blogspot.com

And heres the one I made..with her premie clothes :)

Last but not least, I made a beanie for my baby! This was not on pinterest. I learned how to crochet on youtube, then found a youtube tutorial on how to make a beanie, and then also how to make a flower and ta-da!

The crown of the hat...

Finished product! The flower is flatter now though. It took me about a week to make, but mostly cause I was learning how to crochet while making it. The next hat will look MUCH better :)

One quick thing, these three things took me about a month to do. As I've mentioned before, there is a false sterotype that stay at home moms have TONS of free time on your hands. That is NOT true. I will say we have a little more freedom with our schedules(as the babies get older) to move things around and be available. BUT we're not just sitting there bored, doing nothing. Most of stuff I have been doing (the crocheting, projects, scrapbooking) has mostly been when cole is home from work. When I'm home, I take care of the baby. If I get free time(like now) I try to blog or shower or get something done for the greater good of the family.

But anyways!! I do think when Elyse goes to school, I'll have a little more free time :)

So what's my next project?? Another hat, and hopefully more scrapbooking. I am looking forward to being DONE scrapping booking my wedding!!

Things to make

2012-01-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

So since I have been slacking on the blogging, I've decided I should try to do, shorter more frequent blogs rather than the longer ones that take forever. So heres to my first shorter blog post!!

So lately, I've been really motivated to make something. I've been a SAHM for 7 months(tomorrow) and what have I accomplished? Well besides keeping Elyse alive, I've scrapbooked a little and finished watching the whole season of Lost, and all of the available seasons of Grey Anatomy, Grimm, The Office, Once upon a time, the ringer, parenthood, up all night and modern family. (Thanks a lot hulu) Oh and I've finished one book... Clash of the Kings(it was a 969 page book though). oh and we started our p90x and happy to say, we're on week 3 and have definitely been sticking to it!

Needless to say, I don't feel all that productive, SO I've decided to search the internet for things to make. The first thing I made from DIY website has been accomplished! I made a flower out of lace. I know.. sounds lame and really insignificant, BUT to me it means I am capable of making things and this is just the start! The flower is going on a headband for elyse.

The other thing on my list is crocheting... in general. Let's see how that goes...

Jan 2012

2012-01-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

January

2012

I can't believe its here already. Well, I've already been slacking on my blogging, but hey... the holidays are hectic!(Then add an adorable little baby and you barely have time to shower!)

Well, the good news is, I have been working on other things, besides being a mommy! I have been playing with my camera more and plan to take a class in March with my friend Amanda on how to use the camera to its optimum ability! I can't wait!

Also, Cole and I have started P90X and have been very good about it! The diet has been going well and teaching us how to eat better in general, and thats really what we need. We've been doing the workout everyday and hope to continue. But if I fall off the bus, and eventually work out 3 times a week, I will be very happy with myself! We're going to hawaii in july and I'd like to be at least 20lbs lighter by then, 30 or 40 would be even better though, but thats definitely going to be a stretch.

Ive continued on my scrapbooks, although not much, but continued! To be honest, i kind of wish I never started them because I dont know when the baby scrapbook will ever end now! I think maybe I'll scrapbook her first year, then do photobooks after?? I dont know...ugh.

After 7 months of being a stay at home mom, I'm finally happy and content with that I am doing and how I help this family. I still have my moments of "I am so useless!!" but I have been able to pull myself out of it. Its nice to be reminded that I had such a great support system up here. I am getting closer to a few friends and that really has made such a big difference. It's really made me realize how much I like washington and hope to raise my kids here. Cole has expressed feeling the same way. Although moving back to the bay area in california would be nice, because of family, we know we wouldn't be able to give our kids what we want financially as well as we could here.

Food on Eyse's face....oh and shes in the dog bed

Cole's favortie.... the dyson :)

Holding my sippy cup!

What's new with Elyse? Well shes almost 7 months old! She's sleeping through the night(like 10-11hr) a lot more lately, with less naps in the day. Shes sitting up unsupported, but I dont prefer to leave her alone when shes sitting yet since Im unsure if she will throw herself backwards are bang her head on the floor. She's also showing signs of being interesting in crawling. Sometimes when she is in upward dog(she does tons of yoga poses all the time) she will look down and arc her back and almost get on all fours. Like Cat stretches.... I should take photos of all her yoga moves :D

Settling in

2011-12-01T10:48:00.001-08:00

It's my first week back in Issaquah, and it's been nice. So much to do though. Still unpacking since Elyse went through 2 clothing sizes while we were gone, decorate for christmas, more unpacking and getting into a routine with Elyse. First and foremost, I want her to get used to her crib. While in CA she wasn't napping in her crib/pack n play. She was napping in her bouncer chair. Although we broke that habit, I now need her to get used to her crib in her room and not a pack n play. I know it doesn't seem like a big difference, but it is.

Anyways, previously I mentioned some projects I wanted to start. Well, since I've started scrapbooking I've really enjoyed it and am now on a roll :D I still need to get better at being more creative about the pages, but I'll get there.

Well Christmas came a little early this year, (well early as in Black Friday) and I got the camera I wanted to start one of my other projects. Photography. I'm no pro at all and am still learning how to use my camera and what all the features mean, but I'm excited and happy none the less. I want to take pictures of Elyse's first christmas and all her milestones this year. Hopefully I can learn how to use the software too and make the pictures really nice and dreamy too :D

While in CA I was able to use my friend's Digital SLR and setup a little photoshoot for Elyse and this year's christmas card! Since Cole and I are still trying to figure out how and when we'll lose our "pregnancy weight" or for cole "couvade syndrome" we won't be starring in our christmas card this year and instead our sweet pea will be doing the honors :D Heres a little sneak peak!

I've been playing around with the camera just about everyday. (with the most beautiful subject ever!) I am excited to get better at it and hopefully next year I can justify getting another lens or filter.

For something a little more non-baby related. We're going to california for Christmas!!! I know we just went and for a long time, but I'm thrilled to go back and see all my family and friends. I can't get enough.

Visiting California with Elyse

2011-11-28T14:52:00.001-08:00

Two months ago, my mom and aunt came to Seattle. They were here to help out with the baby, visit and also kindly watch the baby while Cole and I enjoyed our anniversary night away. A few days later, they took the baby down to California, via airplane. I was going to meet them the following week, via truck after our friend's, Amanda and Tim's wedding. Cole had to go to Mississippi for work for 2.5 weeks so it made this time a good time for Elyse to meet the rest of her family.

This was her first airplane ride :D

Amanda and Tim's wedding was absolutely beautiful!!! It was also great to have Courtney and her bf Tyler there too. The next day, Courtney, Tyler and myself, drove down to Sacramento. It was soooo good to be reunited with my little one again. We stayed at my mom's house for 2 weeks. In the meantime, Elyse got to see her all of her extended family. I also got a few nights off from mommyhood to see my friends.

Elyse was completely spoiled and showered with every gift imaginable! SO much clothes(tons that no longer fit) and toys! Although the trip was great to see family, it didn't go by without its problems. Everyone had their own way of doing things and their own advice to give. I just nodded my head and did whatever I was told. I did have the least amount of experience as a mommy and knew I could learn a thing or two. (even though I wanted to do things my way)

One of the main reasons we were in California was for the wedding of my cousin Auny.... or aka Jennie. I was a co-MOH and Elyse was a flower girl. It was sooo beautiful and the weather couldnt have been more perfect!

With Uncle Derek

Elyse met all of her family on my side of the family at Jennie's wedding. I barely saw her as she was being passed from person to person. Everyone giving her their love. It was a great thing to see.

After the wedding, we were on our way to see more family. Elyse's great grandmother and great grandfather van gundy along with other van gundy family members were waiting in Fresno.

Uncle Kevin

Great Grandma Van Gundy or Nana

4 months old! (10/18/11)

Once we were back from Fresno, we had another trip! Elyse was going to stay with her great grandparents Chavez, while her mom and dad went to New Orleans for Cole's work. Elyse was well taken care of and Cole and I enjoyed one of our favorite cities ever. A vessel cole was working on was being christened and it was a big day. I was so proud of him.

Nap time with Great gandpa(papa)

First Halloween! I'm a Cupcake!

New Orleans

Streetcar ride in New Orleans

After the christening, Cole had to stay in the south for work and I flew home alone to California. Two more weeks of him being away. But not without a packed schedule of family and friends and visitors. All for Elyse of course.

Finally, the family was reunited. Cole flew to Sacramento and we got to spend 5 days together before thanksgiving. I dragged him to twilight, we saw friends, we had lunch, it was great :) Thanksgiving was at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Rancho Cordova. It was another perfect Thanksgiving. Korean American fusion and it was SOOO good :) We had turkey, Ham, rice, kimchee, potatoes, shrimp, short ribs, raw crab kimchee, jellyfish(yuck), mussels, gravy, and of course, we ate it with chopsticks :D

Last but not least, we drove all the way back, from Roseville, to Issaquah. It was a 2 day trip. Elyse did great the first 5 hours. Then she lost it. So we were trying to make it to Salem, OR the first day. Well of course, this was a much longer trip because we ran into the civil war football game traffic, all while Elyse was screaming her head off. She was DONE with that car seat. We did eventually make it to Salem, but that was pushing it. There was absolutely no way we would have made it to Seattle. We stayed with Cole's Aunt and then left the next morning. Also... more traffic. Elyse did good for the first 3 hours, then again... she was done. Needless to say, I don't think we'll be driving to california anytime soon.

The Return of the Blog

2011-11-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

So for the last few months, I've been on a bit of a bloggin break. Well, a break from the computer really. If its not easy to use on my iphone, then I haven't been using it. Mostly because I have been really focusing on how to be the best mom and stay at home wife I can be, but also...who am I kidding... I was also focusing on finding time to sleep. So blogging went to the way side.

Well, now I think I'm finally getting in a better sync with Elyse and balancing being a mom and a wife, and now a blogger. Notice, all of these things are easy to do from the house. Getting out of the house on a daily basis is still a struggle since Elyse HATES her car seat. I will take another entry to catch up all the great things that have been going on since my last entry, but first, I want to write down my future goals and projects.

So breifly, I quit my job back in September to be a full time mom and wife. Yes, I relize that many people are able to balance both of those roles and work. Well, it's not that I can't, its just that I don't have to right now. Cole and I are able to manage our budget off of his salary and since I am happy to give being a SAHM(stay at home mom) a try, then I am. On top of that, my position and Cole's both require long hours at work and that is just not what we want for our family.

But being a SAHM isn't just sitting on the couch, eating bon bons all day. It's much more, and more than even I knew. It's getting up at all hours of the night and day, it's diapers, and spit up, and laundry and clothes and food and all at the same time, trying to find time to conserve energy, find sleep, to avoid looking like a troll so that your husband enjoys coming home to you, it's dinner and breakfast and lunch, it's everything that took you five minutes to do before that now takes an hour. There is down time though. For example, right now. Elyse is down for ther afternoon nap and I've finished most of my earrands.

Anyways, going from a working woman to a stay at home mom, I've decided I need to give myself a few projects to keep myself going(as side from the baby). I say "projects" because some of them are goals and some of them are hobbies. So here they are in no partiular order.

1. Work on Myself - this is probably the main project that leads into all the others. Yes being a SAHM, means I'm a mom and my family is my #1 job/priority. But aside from that, I've noticed it's been easy to let myself go and become this blob that all I do is baby baby baby. Well, I want there to be more to me than that. So I am making this list to better myself in the process, ya know...like keep my brain alive and moving and learning. So thats my first project :D

2. Get Healthly - when I say healthy, I mean it realively. Healthy in my way. Not everyone elses. Yes I'll probably start dieting, and I want to look better for myself and my husband, but it has to be my way in my time. So if you see me getting that carmel macchiato, lay off on the judgement. I'm not going to completely deprive myself of these simple pleasures all the time! But eating a little better, making better food choices and starting some kind of work out will be my start. Now I know that with the holidays coming up, it would be ridiculous to really start dieting now. So come new years, I plan to start it. What is "it"? Well, I want to try P90X and I want to lose my baby weight by Elyse's first birthday. I know its hard and I may not completely succeed on doing the program, but I never know until I try... and so I'm going to try :)

Also, P90X gives me the ablity to workout from home at my own time(elyse's time). Unfortunately, the gym can't baby sit elyse yet so the at home workouts are the best bet.

3. Photography - As my iphone sits there and tells me I have too many photos and videos, I've decided I should make this everyday activity a real hobby. So i've asked santa(cole) very nicely for a canon rebel T3i and we'll see if he comes through :) I have sooo many pictures of Elyse on my phone and wish they were better quality so hopefully I will be able to take better pictures of her soon :D Althought taking a class would be nice, but who will watch my baby while i'm at these classes?? So I hope to find many online tutorials and maybe a few books to learn the basics. Any tips are welcome...

4. Scrapbooking - to go along with the pictures, I'm scrapbooking. I want to scrapbook the first year of Elyse's life. After that, I will print out photos and add to a photoalbum. But this project I have started. Im not so good at being creative with the pages, but I am doing it and proud of it!! I also want to finish my wedding scrapbook... which I have started...but barely.

5. Planting - I am hesitant to call it gardening since I don't have a garden. But my goal is to get 2 planter boxes and put 2 plants in them and keep them alive :) I will have to start off small and see what can survive the Seattle weather.

6. Knitting baby hats - Yes this is a little specific, but since I am the first of most of my friends and family to have a baby, I think making these hats for their up coming babies would be a great thing to do, plus a great baby gift!! I've started this and its really hard so we'll see. If anyone knows how to make these and wants to teach me, I'm definitely willing to learn!

7. Read - I've been reading more in the last few years (thank you girl with the dragon tattoo for getting me started) and I've enjoyed it. So I hope to continue reading more. I don't need the fancy, smarty pants books, just something entertaining :)

Okay so thats all my projects right now. This is already a long/overwhelming list as it is, but hopefully I remember to do these things and can focus on these projects and I make my transition from working woman to SHAM/W. :)

The Story of Elyse - Part Two

2011-07-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Once I was in the OR, I started to shake. It was cold and I was scared. Everything looked so much more serious than the tone of everything back in my room. I saw all the tools and screens and all I could think was to "just take everything a step at a time. The doctor has done this so many times and there was nothing to worry about. I was strong, the baby is strong." So they had me sitting up on the table with my legs hanging over. The anesthesiologist, was preping. I had heard the spinal was going to be the worst part, so I was really scared and nervous of all this "pain" about to come from the spinal. I had asked so many people to make sure Cole could be there for me through the spinal so that I would be okay. They said yes, and probably were wondering why I had even asked.

Everytime the anesthesiologist touched me, I jumped. Not a good sign. I didn't want to jump when he was actually sticking me with a needle! I explained my nerves to everyone. Also, I was worried I would do something stupid like fart. I mean, I was in one of those backless gowns, top of my bare butt open to the poor anesthesiologist. They were about to give me the numbing medicine for the spinal, and I had my doctor, a nurse, (Laura) and Cole all standing in front of me trying to distract me. Then the anesthesiologist warned me that I would feel a pinch and some pressure. Here was the moment.... and it was exactly as he said. It was a pinch and pressure. It was nothing. Getting IV's were much worse in my opinion. Then he again mentioned a little pressure for the spinal, so I clenched and felt a very small amount of pressure. I couldn't believe that was the most "painful" thing.

Once that was over, they had me lay on my back, arms out. They put a wedge under one of my hips, put a curtain up around my breasts and positioned my feet so the bottoms of my feet were touching. From there, the anesthesiologist sprayed something on me to check that the medicine was working. They put in the cathader, which btw was STILL uncomfortable, I still was nervous it wouldn't take. But my dr reassured me that they wouldn't start unless they knew the spinal had worked. So the curtian is now up and I hear my dr say "can you feel this? I'm pinching you". I felt something, but nothing painful. I figured, maybe shes a light pincher? I later found out from cole that she was pinching me with plyers and if I felt it, I would have probably been screaming.

Also, since I had told my dr to not tell me what was going on, I had no idea what was going on. Cole told me right after the pinching, they sliced me right open. I was so oblivious to it all. From there, I could see Cole peeking over everyonce and awhile but he also kept me in the dark. During the time that they actually had me open, I was thinking they were still preping. I had no idea what it actually looked like to have a C section, thank goodness, and if you don't want to know either, avoid googling it. I made that mistake later on.

Cole was great. I was very nervous and the spinal was actually making me shake a lot. I could feel stuff going on around my stomach but it wasn't specific and it definitely didn't hurt at all. Everything just felt like touching, or tugging or pulling, but not in a painful way. I guess having a little one inside kicking you for a couple months gets you accustomed to that feeling. Cole told me stories of our lives to distract me. It was so helpful. With my memory having become SO terrible with the pregnancy, it was nice to hear stories to remind me of things like little things on our wedding day, past holidays, honeymoon, and the dogs. Then I hear, "you have a beautiful baby girl!"

As happy as I was about it, I tired to not 1. look, or 2. panic. Why would I panic? Well... I didn't hear her crying. It made me really nervous. Cole could see and he was smiling, but when he leaned toward me I said "I don't hear crying. Is she okay?" he reassured me that no one seemed nervous, or panicked or scared. She didn't cry, but the neonatologist was in the room and just standing back looking while the nurses were working on her. Another reason to not worry since he wasn't in there getting his hands dirty. I could barely see the top of her head through all the people. But I knew that I wasn't going anywhere since I was being put back together.

Originally, I was soo scared of the surgery that I asked Cole to stay with me through the WHOLE procedure and to not leave when the baby did. But once the baby was out, I told him to go ahead and go with Elyse. I was okay and we both wanted to know what was going on. They took Elyse to the NICU and Cole went with them. I was a little nervous (again) after Cole left because I then remembered that the longest part was them sewing me up, and I just let my main distraction walk out the door!! I guess I had to listen to the drs now. Thankfully they weren't talking about what was going on AT ALL! They were talking about the UW basketball team. Whew! Although I couldn't pitch in on the conversation because I didn't know much about the UW team, it was nice to be distracted anyways. Cole came back for the end and told me about our new little addition and how she was doing. I felt calm after Cole had updated me.

Once they were done, The curtain came down and I was rolled over to my room. As I had mentioned before, I haven't had surgery and was pretty impressed by everything. They had something under me that inflated and then moved me from the table to a bed, then that bed to my bed. They got me all settled, my dr came in to talk to me about how well the surgery went and some side effects I would feel with the medication. After what felt like an eternity, Cole came to the room and showed me pictures of Elyse. Then he was gone again!

I was so jealous that Cole was able to move around and see her. I felt completely fine (thank you meds) and wanted to jump out of bed and go, but I guess not being able to feel the bottom half of my body changes things. He came back to finally let me know that Elyse's transportation was here and they would bring her by really quick for me to see her before she was off. When I finally did see her, I was shocked. She was so small and I couldn't believe she had just come out of me. That my body (with Cole's help) was able to make something so amazing! Thats all the time I got before she had to leave though.

The whole experience was so surreal. After being in that room and that bed for 3 weeks pregnant, then returning and no longer having her there was just strange. I missed her already and was still in shock from everything. Needless to say, I did okay emotionally. Waiting to get out and see her, and finally being able to. I didn't break down a lot or cry too much. I was forewarned, and I knew what was coming and that all the decisions made were for her best interest. Those thoughts were calming.

So the night of June 18th 2011, Elyse Suni Van Gundy was born. She was 4lbs 13oz, and 18 3/4 inches long. She was born in Bellevue, Washington and transferred to UW Hospital in Seattle. After 2 weeks in the NICU, she was able to come home, where she is now :) Being loved

PS. Lastly, the most common question asked about the surgery has been "what was the most painful part?" To be honest, the most painful part was that after the cathader came out, and I had to pee for the first time without it, it was SOOOOO painful. I was upset that I wasn;t warned about this pain at all!!!

The Story of Elyse - Part One

2011-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

So she's arrived!

Here's a little about how it went down and how shes been doing. Last I blogged, I was in the hospital, on bedrest. Busniess as usual, I was still on bedrest, the morning of Saturday June 18th. Felt a little drained and weak, but I assumed the effects of being in bed for three weeks were finally getting to me. My Dr came in and asked how I was as usual. I told her I felt fine, still leaking AF, and the only thing different was sometimes when I had to change my pad of AF, it was a little pink. The Dr said that was normal and if it continued to happen to let her know.

So about an hour later, I went downhill. I was starting to really feel sick and achy. Cole usually spends the morning with me on saturdays, then goes and run errands for the coming week, then comes back and spends the rest of the day with me. (yes, he's a very loving husband) So on this particular Saturday, he needed to go home, do laundry and get his hair cut. Just before he left the hospital, he knew I was starting to not feel well, and told me to let him know if there was anything I wanted. I just let him know I'd call him and let him know how I was doing.

Once he left, I was still pretty miserable. The nurse came in to check on me, and I let her know how I was feeling and that I wasn't feeling great and it was getting worse. She told me that could be an infection, either with myself or the baby and that she needed to let my Dr know. I honestly didn't realize it could be effecting the baby since I had been sick a handful of times throughout my pregnancy, but I was glad the nurse was telling me and keeping me in the loop. After she had told the Dr, and I was put on an IV and NPO. I forgot what NPO stands for, but I know it meant I couldn't have any food or any drinks, not even water. This was a sign that they were thinking surgery.

The Dr comes to talk to me, and she does an exam. As suspected, the pinkish color in my pads was from dilating. There wasnt much, but I was about 1.5cm dilated and it would continue. My contractions were getting stronger (oh... did I mention I was having mild contractions throughout my whole bedrest?), there was no AF left, baby was breeched (definite c section), and my blood test came back saying I had an infection. Unfortunatley, the blood test can't tell us if it is just a cold for me, or if I was sick because of an infection in my uterus. So, knowing all this, it was best to have the c section that day.

Although my emotions have been up and down during the pregnancy, I felt that I would cry and the craziest things and have a heart of ice on others. This was one of those times I decided to cry. Nothing was really sad about the situation though. We were prepared that the baby would be early and in NICU, and we knew that everything that was being done was in the best interest of the baby.

But I felt like crying. I knew I needed to get it together and call Cole and let him know. But first, to get ahold of myself so that he didn't get freaked out by my crying. So I collected myself and called him. Once he said "Hey babe" on the phone, I did everything I could to fight back the crying, which came out as a shaky voice, which I am sure was WAY worse. Soo I let him know everything and that his little girl was coming today. He left the house so fast. He was a little sad I didnt tell him earlier that I was feeling worse and so he could have skipped a few errands to be there when the Dr was.

Once he got there, he too had to calm down and collect himself. He also had to tell our family about the change in plans....we waited a few hours before we did so that we knew as much info as possible. (and because we wanted to relax and not have our phones ring and beep like crazy) I have never had surgery before so this was a big deal in my mind. I wasn't sure if I had a high tolerance for pain or if I would pass out. I didn't really know what to expect as far as how "I would feel" throughout the process. Would I feel it? Would I not? Will I be dizzy? What kind of pain will I be in? Will I hear the baby scream? Will I get to see her? Will she be okay? Will Cole be able to be with me during the spinal? So many things were rushing in my mind and I know that no one could really answer those questions for me.

What I did know was that my c section would be around 7pm or 730pm, Cole could be there the whole way, I didn't want to know what was going on and when, I knew I would feel touching and pressure, and I knew my nurses pretty well for being there 3 weeks. I was extremely comfortable and confident in my Dr and even thought to myself that she was so extremely nice and I was so lucky to have a doctor that was so comforting. I knew that my baby would be named Elyse and I would soon be a mother.

As the time drew closer to when I was going to go into the OR, we were trying to stay calm and not let the nerves and excitment take over. We knew it was a busy day in Labor and Delivery but we really didn't think the most of it. Then our nurse told us some bad news. Due to the amount of recent pre term deliveries that day and the previous days, that they didn't have enough staffing to cover Elyse over the night. They would want her to have a nurse 1 on 1 if she has trouble breathing. So if she comes out with some trouble breathing, they will stablize her and then transport her to University of Washington Hospital. But if she comes out fine, then they would be able to leave her at Overlake. Unfortunately, they felt the chances of her staying at Overlake were slim and wanted us to be prepared.

This is when my emotions when to the ice hearted side. There was nothing I could do, and they were making the decisions based on Elyse's well being. So I signed the papers knowing I wouldn't get to be with my child for a few days after she was born. It should have been an extremely emotional and heartbreaking moment...which it was. But I was unable to so that. All I could think was "make sure she's okay!!! I just want her to be okay".

Finally, the time came. Cole was given his "dad suit", and I was given a gown and cap, moved to a wheelchair and brought into the OR. Never in my life had I been in one before and all I could think was "I'm coming out of this room without my baby, but still a mother".

The last few weeks....

2011-06-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, after reading this you'll think... "why didn't she write this eariler?" Well, I just knew it would be a long story and was still getting used to typing on my netbook. Warning, everything is TMI but it is how it is...

On Friday, May 27th after work, I noticed I felt a "leaking" feeling. Almost like I had lost muscle control and was peeing. It was so awkward! So I rushed to the bathroom leaking on my way there. Then I thought to myself "well, maybe this is just a random pregnancy thing. I'm 29 weeks pregnant!". Then it would happen every 20 min afterward. Before this started, I was feeling a little neasuaed, so I took some medicine that will help and also make you sleepy. So, I was constantly leaking/peeing and super tired... I put down 5 towels and laid down to sleep. Getting up constantly running to the bathroom all night. I was so tired, I kept telling myself "I'll call the doctor in a few minutes...". Cole was also working overtime all week and exhausted, so he also didnt think anything of it and wanted to sleep, just like I did. So finally, 730am on saturday morning comes around and im rushing to the bathroom again. Cole wakes up and I tell him, I don't think its pee, but i dont know whats going on. So he pulls out his "emergency numbers" card we got from our hospital tour.

On the card it says "if you are experiencing leaking or a gush of water, call your doctor immediately". whoops....

So Cole calls the doctor and the doctor says she will call labor and delivery and we should head there right away. So we bring our few dry towels left from the night and a few wash rags since I had no pads in the house at all, and head to the hospital. This is memorial day weekend and we were planning on heading to Idaho to visit Cole's family later that day. On the way to the hospital, we're still thinking that its probably something that could be a "quick fix".

I wasn't in pain or anything, just leaking a ton of liquid! So we get to the hospital and get checked in and they bring me to the oasis. Once in there, we explain the situation to the nurse and she tells me to change into the hospital's mesh panites and a huge pad. As the nurse helps me change and Cole is holding me up, guess what....it had been 20min and I leaked all over the nurse. She was confident in telling me that my water broke.

I moved straight from the oasis to a post pardum room. There they did a few other tests, started an IV, ultrasound and many other uncomfortable tasks...They basically told me they were going to try to prevent me from going into labor for at least 2 days so that the steriod they had given me would help the baby mature her lungs.This is when it set in for Cole and I that we were no longer going to Idaho.

They put me on a few antibiotics to help avoid infection, Magnesium to help avoid labor, and a ton of pads. We saw a perinatologist along with an OB from my OB's practice. They told me that women who rupture their membrane, (aka break their water) about 75% go into labor with in a week.

Well, its now June 16th and I am still in the hospital on bedrest. On saturday, I will have been here for 3weeks. Its been tough to get used to and also knowing how this was not in the plans. But I take everyday as it comes and know that my baby will be here someday and the more I stay, the better for her. At this point, She has lost most of her amniotic fluid but sitll has a solid heart beat. As if the lack of fluid isn't bothering her. She was 3lbs 7oz when we came in in May, and is now 4lbs 4oz. So the time here has helped her. Unfortunately, within that time, she has decided to flip over and is now breeched. So she earned herself a c section. Also, not in the plan.

I weight the pros and cons in my head about the c section, even though there isnt a choice in the matter now. Having major surgery scares me but I know that there isnt a way around it now! So the game plan is if the baby decides shes not happy in my belly, they will go get her. But if she seems fine, they will wait till July 1st to deliver. I have an appt on July 1st at 4pm to have the c section. So we'll see!!

With all this bedrest I have had a hard time. My butt is always numb, I've been leaking non-stop, and they dont encourage me to walk around. Needless to say, I've seen the outside of my room twice since ive been here. Its been very tough mentally to be so confined, but I remind myself that its not about me now.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person

2011-05-27T08:47:00.001-07:00

So I don't actually agree with most of these (mostl #4), but some of them I do and find it REALLY funny how hormonal this person sounds. hahaha Anyways, saw this on the pregnancy board I read and thought I would share. BTW, friends that want to visit, you are NOT held by some of those last expectations.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice.

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations!" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an ass (including, “Did you plan this?”).

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase "my baby".

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it. The same goes for the name of the baby.

4) The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5) Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance, and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is "You look fabulous!"

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.

7) There is a reason that tickets to L&D are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to "help out". If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

8) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

9) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

Quick Update: more tests, gallblader, glucose test

2011-05-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Its definitely been awhile since my last post, and although it’s partially from my laziness, its also because I have been surprisingly busy!

So just to update, I went to a great baby shower thrown by my mother in law and two friends, Courtney and Lindsay at my MIL’s house in Granite Bay, Ca. It was a great day, but I will post about that another time.

Since then, I’ve slowly crawled into my third trimester officially, been taking birthing classes, toured the hospital we will be delivering in, gone to a bachelorette party, wedding and thrown a wedding shower! It’s been a fun an exciting month, nonetheless! Plus work has gotten extremely busy with my peak season starting, so sleeping and resting have become a huge apart of my daily schedule.

But the thing I most want to blog today about is my recent pregnancy related issue. Well, I believe its pregnancy related, but it could also just be “bad eating habit” related. I don’t remember if I mentioned this, but everyone kept saying to me “ you’re pregnant, you can eat what you want!”… this my friends… is so NOT true and I feel as though I’ve learned this the hard way. But, I am learning from my mistakes!

First of all, back in the end of April, I took my 1 hour glucose test. If you’re not familiar with the process, well this is how it goes. Depending on your doctor, they will tell you to fast for 12 hours or tell you to fast for 2. My doctor told me to fast for 2 hours, drink this small red drink and get my blood drawn within an hour of drinking it. (I have severe pregnancy brain, so I think this is how it all went). Well, the reason the drink was red, was because it was fruit punch flavored….. YUCK! I do like fruit punch, I don’t like it when its as sugary and syrupy as that was! Oh, and you have to drink it within a 5 min time period. So not only is it on a empty stomach, its gross and you feel like you want to vomit the whole time. Well, I did this got my blood drawn and to my surprise, I FAILED!

I was really upset and depressed about it. I felt like it could totally have been avoided by eating better and not indulging on every little craving I had! Well, since I failed, I had to go back and take the 3 hour glucose test. This was terrible. It’s similar to the 1 hour test, except, you fast for 12 hours, go get your blood drawn, then they make you drink the drink again(this time I got lemon lime, it was better), then get your blood drawn every hour for three hours. Yes, that means you got your blood drawn 4 times in 1 day. Which, if you’re anything like me, it mades you sick to think about. I was sooo lightheaded by the end of it, I had to take the rest of the day off of work, and you can bet I managed to sleep the whole day, and night.

These tests test for gestational diabetes. Well, thankfully, I passed my 3 hour test and don’t have gestational diabetes. Whew! Regardless, it was awake up call to eat better and be a better mom for my unborn child. Now, I’m not saying I have been a staint about what I eat, but I have definitely taken the idea of “eat whatever you want, whenever you want” out of my head.

Well, although the scare has helped me make better food choices, it hasn’t made my bad food choices completely disappear. Last week, I went to lunch and decided to enjoy a nice meal of chicken fingers and fries. They were tasty, but nothing amazing. I couldn’t even finish since the meal was so big. Later that night, after making dinner, my stomach was starting to feel a little off. But I assumed I was hungry, so I ate dinner, and the feeling still didn’t go away. It got worse.

Now, I actually tend to get stomach aches fairly often and know that when it’s a stomach ache, my whole belly aches. This time, it was only at the top of my belly (TMI warning), just under were my giant breasts now sit. The pain was always there but got worse in waves. So since at first I thought it was a stomach ache, I went to the bathroom and just sat there hoping something would happen, and I would feel better. Nope, nothing usual happened and I definitely wasn’t feeling better, then suddenly, I had to urge to vomit. Sometimes, when I have stomachs I also feel like I have to vomit, but I don’t actually vomit. Well, this time, I did and a lot.

Thankfully, someone had just explained to me what a contraction feels like and that your whole belly gets extremely hard. Well, my belly wasn’t hard so we knew it wasn’t a contraction(thank goodness!) So once the vomiting started, Cole called a 24 hour nurse hotline. They explained it was my gallbladder, and that I could be passing a gallstone. All I could think was “wow… didn’t read anything about my gall bladder in all those pregnancy books!” The nurse asked about what I had eaten and said the chicken finger and fries must have triggered it and that there was no medicine I could take to ease the pain since I was pregnant. The only thing I could do is wait it out, and eat better in the future. I was very upset to hear that. So I layed on my left side and did my best to quietly handle my pain since it was now 11pm and I knew both Cole and I had to work the next day.

I was so exhausted from the lack of food in my body and the pain I was going through, I quickly fell asleep, (while still noting the pain while sleeping). The pain did eventually go away and I was so relieved! It was unlike any stomach pain I had ever had and don’t want to risk going through it again. Again, if I had been better about eating, this may not have happened.

So I went to my OB yesterday (Monday) for my regular appointment, and told her about my episode. She told me there IS medicine I could have been given and if it were to happen again to go to the hospital so I can be treated. I was a little upset to hear that I didn’t need to be going through that pain, but glad to know I managed through it. But due to the issue, my doctor had me go and get an ultrasound done so that they can check my gallbladder.

I went this morning and the nice ultrasound tech also checked on the baby for me as well :) She’s doing good and at my request she also “double checked” the sex for me. The baby is STILL a girl! Haha She was moving like a maniac, kicking me during the session and was head down. I don’t know the results yet as far as my gallbladder goes, but hopefully I’ll know in a few days.

You know you're pregnant when...

2011-04-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

I can't take credit for writing this at all. This is a compilation of the girls on the board I read and posted only the ones I can relate to :) Hope you find this funny even if you aren't pregnant. (you will notice this when you are or your partner is!)

You know you're pregnant when...

-your mood is 99% determined by how comfortable your pants are.

-the thought of having a newborn that "only" sleeps in 3 hour stretches actually sounds appealing, because right now you're up every 2 to pee

-whenever you're out to eat you seriously consider ordering an extra portion to take home "just in case I'm hungry later."

-when dessert has gone from a rare treat after dinner to a must-have!!

-When you start a new load of laundry (that you forgot to do) in the washing machine before switching the clean wet clothes into the dryer, thus soaking the clothes again.

-You start thinking about what is for lunch/dinner before your done with bfast.

-your diet consists of raisin bran, fruit and marshmallows.

-you bought a bathing suit with more fabric than your wedding dress had.

-When you wake up at 6am and eat the leftover chicken wings cold that you have been thinking about since you put them away after dinner...

-When you decide that shaving is more of an exercise or chore and decide against it because you don't want to be out of breathe from reaching since you just caught your breathe from climbing the stairs...

-When you cough/sneeze and pee all at the same time...

-When ppl think it's okay to touch your belly...

-When you are eating cold cereal out of a coffee mug on the couch and realize that at some point the mug ended up resting on your belly...

-when your mood is dramatically lifted when you find out it's potluck day at work.

-when you laugh too hard and start ugly crying.

-when you feel a sneeze coming and clench your thighs.

-you forget there is something sticking out in front of you until you try to squeeze through a small opening and get stuck...

-you think going to bed sounds SO good, but are too tired to get off the couch and get ready so you seriously think about sleeping where you are...

-people start to recognize your weekly rotation of clothes that actually fit you.

-you can walk faster than you can run.

Happy Thursday!

Here is my 24 week picture from last week. Im 25 weeks now :)

2000-2010 Bullet Points

2011-04-26T14:33:00.001-07:00

So this probably would have been better to do in January, but since I didn’t think of it till now, now will just have to do.

2000-2010 Wow.. another decade has past and yet celebrating the 1999/2000 New Years Eve feels like it was just yesterday. So I want to take a blog to reflect on this last decade. What brought this on in the end of April of 2011? Well, as I recently posted, I got a new car and in this car, they are giving me a three month trial of XM radio. When I first heard, I was like “LAME.. I won’t use it”. Well, 1.5 months later… here I am.. addicted to the 90’s on 9 and Pop2K stations. I flip back and forth between these two stations and listen to songs that bring back memories. Some are great memories that make me think of a less stress life and some are really horrible.

Well instead of bringing it all the way back to 1990, we’ll just go back a decade.

Also, the reason for the blog isn’t to give myself a huge “pat on the back” as its more for my to document my memories before I forget them. I mean, I do consider this blog a little bit to be like my diary… public diary so I have to be somewhat cautious about what I write.

So I will bullet all the things that happened in the last 10 years that I consider either to be big steps, milestones, great memories, or big memories to learn from. I won’t go into too much detail as that would make this much longer than it already will be.

So here it goes, bullet points for 2000-2010:

* Had my first kiss

* Got my first job

* Had/got(?) my first boyfriend

* Felt my first heartbreak

* Got my first piercing

* Realized I had a passion for dance

* Preformed my first solo

* Went to Prom

* Won my first cheer Jump-off

* Graduated High School

* Stopped Swimming in school

* Lost touch with some of my friends to a boyfriend

* Got my first car from my parents(as well as a second and third)

* Went to college at a CSU

* Learned to make new friends and truly appreciate my old friends.

* Landed my first internship

* Traveled internationally by plane, car and boat for the first time.

* Joined Student Leadership in college and became and RA

* Graduated College in three years

* Turned 21 and enjoyed it for many years, in many bars and clubs.

* Got my first career job with a company I wanted

* Moved out of state for the first time

* Made friends with people at a club randomly(and stayed friends)

* Tested a friendship and succeeded

* Learned (the hard way) to support myself without help from my parents

* Bought a car all on my own, with my own money for the first time

* Had my own apartment for the first time.

* Became responsible for a life besides my own (Brody)

* Met the love of my life

* Married the love of my life

* Adopted a Vizsla

* Became a homeowner

* Became pregnant and opening a whole new chapter for my family.

It’s hard to realize all of that happened in the last 10 years. But all for the better. I’m so happy to be where and who I am today and wouldn’t have done any of it differently.

Erica and Derek's Wedding Shower Weekend!

2011-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a great weekend!

Cole’s Aunt and Uncle from Idaho came for a visit and we also hosted Erica and Derek’s wedding shower!

It was great to see Jody and Kim. They came on Friday and we have a nice dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. I’m actually still dreaming about the food from that night because it was so delicious!

I actually begged Cole to take me back there last night. Okay okay, I didn’t beg, I just pouted and stomped around the house. But he did good and held his ground on eating in. So he made me a salad from the organic groceries that had just come in and since I was in a foul mood from not being allowed to satisfy my craving, I refused it and ate a ramen instead. (and a pastrami paninni…shush. Don’t judge!)

So back to this weekend; Saturday was spent getting the wedding shower ready. We had put up a few of the decorations already during the week, as well as made a Boston Crème Pie.

This was a wedding shower for our friends, Erica and Derek (aka Derica) . I wanted to make it a little different than our usual dinner party with friends and also since it was at our house, I wanted to make it a little more than the same ol same ol, so I decided a theme would be best! Derek grew up in Boston and thought that it would be fun to do a Botson themed party! With my dad also being from Boston, I thought I would be able to get some ideas from him. Well, when I asked my dad for some ideas, I got more than I could have ever imagined.

Not only did he have some ideas, he asked his sister(my aunt) for some help as well! They sent me so many great things! Chips, coffee, dessert, soup and LOBSTERS! It was more than anyone could ask for and then some. They sent many decorations and fun things I could hang all over my house. The theme was extremely obvious when you walked in.

Although the shower was not a surprise to the couple, the theme was. Almost all of the food was Boston themed and I was really hoping that none of it was gross. The following was the menu for the evening:

Appetizers:

Deviled Eggs

Lobster Bisque

New England Clam Chowder

Wise and Cape Cod Potatoes Chips

Boston Baked Beans- Candy

Main Course:

Cooked Lobster

Quahogs

Mashed Potatoes

Veggies

Actual Boston Baked Beans

Boston Pork Roast

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Dessert:

Boston Crème Pie

Ring Dings

Devil Dogs

Dunkin Donuts Coffee

Thankfully, Derek did recognize everything and the couple seemed to really appreciate the party. It was a great night topped off with some games such as Boston trivia and the “engaged version” of the newlywed game! With everything going on, I forgot to take too many pictures but here are some!

(ps their wedding colors are blue and green)

Dessert Table

Decorations

Living Room Decorations

More Decorations and the "prize table"

Boston Post Cards and the fun "Masshole" Sticker

Appietizers!

Lobster Dinner!

Erica and Derek, the happy engaged couple!

the gang! (im that flash in the mirror!)

My Dear Husband

2011-03-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Random Post

WARNING: this is long

Not much to update about the baby, so instead I’ll update a little of what has been on my mind lately.

My husband :D

I realize this will be a boring post for most, but I think of this blog as not only my own little soap box, but also a little journal for me to reflect on in a few years. This is something that will help me remember the past and be able to relive it. It’s like my own digital version of “The Notebook”.

Last weekend, Cole and I went to the CMA Gala in San Francisco. To try to squeeze in a few moments with our family, we flew into Sacramento after work. Our flight got delayed and we didn’t land till after midnight. We stayed at Lenny’s place, and then took off early the next morning to get my hair done/see my mom. Once that was done, I managed to squeeze in a quick lunch at La Bou(drooling thinking about La Bou) with my Dad and his friend Eva. Which ran a little late and we had to be on our way to San Francisco.

Once in SF, we saw our friend Brittnay. Brittnay is one of our few “joint” friends! It was a very short and fun visit (and long over due) and we were off to the gala at the Westin St Francis in Union Square. It was a beautiful hotel in a beautiful city. It was great to go and see a few familiar faces! With our flight the next morning at 830am out of Sacramento, we had to rush back home. So we took interstate 80 all the way back.

Why am I mentioning our route home? Well, because it has been such a long time since the last time I was driving from SF to Roseville on 80 and we had to drive through Vallejo to get there. Driving through Vallejo brought back so many memories of school. It was such a strange feeling to be going through it. Both good and bad all came rushing back, but most of all the lack of responsibility.

My senior year, last semester, I was making decent money working at the school and barely had any classes. Which meant, I had a lot of time on my hands to live out my last few months of college. These were the memories that really came back to me. The last year of school. Since I had more time on my hands, I saw Courtney and Sharon more often. Also, I was finally 21 so I went to bars and clubs in SF. Before I was 21, I didn’t drink at all. I did a little in High School (sorry mom and dad if you’re reading this!) but really not that much.

So when the legal drinking age finally came around, I had a blast and would like to think my senior year was one of the best years of my life. So I said this post was going to be about my husband, and I haven’t really talked about him yet. Well, here goes the story of us….

For those of you that don’t know, Cole and I went to college together, but didn’t run in the same circles until senior year. Even then, he was an engineer and still had a lot of studying to do while I didn’t and had a different agenda. After being together for 4 years, we’ve come to realize we’ve been around each other since high school. With Cole having gone to Granite Bay High School and myself at Roseville, we’ve actually been at swim meets together, swimming against each other and football games together. Then with CMA, I never would have thought “my future husband is roaming around this campus”.

So, back to senior year in college, I was hanging out with Brittnay and her friends more after I had freed myself from a long relationship I had in college with someone else. I was enjoying my new found “single” self and making new friends along the way. With that was Cole. There were many occasions I would be over at Cole’s house and Cole and I would get to talking. We clicked very well, but didn’t ever recognize it as much more than a friendship. We all went on a trip to Mexico on our senior year spring break and I found myself at Cole’s rental more than my own. There was a time in Mexico that Cole and I were talking for so long at his rental that we fell asleep on the couches. Separate couches… remember… we’re just friends at this point. Also another time, were he came over to the rental I was at we stayed up till almost 4am talking on the balcony. Needless to say, this is when I heard the nicest complement I had ever received. I did have to force it out of him, but I got it!

Anyways, life went on and we didn’t keep in really close contact at all. Just a message here and there to say hi. I’m not really sure how it came about, once I moved to Seattle, he and hung out once or twice while he had training. I even remember Sharon and I teasing him about his Crowley vest that said “My Safety, it’s up to me.”. We went to a movie together as well. (the Davinci code.. yea it’s a little silly that I remember this since we were still just friends). He went up to Alaska and I was enjoying my life in Seattle.

Then a few months go by and he lets me know that he has to go back to Seattle for a bit and I suggested that he just stay with me and to come over Seafair weekend. (the first weekend in August). He agreed, which surprised me, but we had an extra room at the time, so I guess it made sense. I can still remember now, when he came up to say hi at Seafair. I was with Stephanie and Tim, (Courtney was there too, but I believe she managed her way onto a party boat at this time. Lucky girl!) He had a brown AE shirt and Khakis shorts and his side burns… oh the side burns. They were MONSTORUS!

We had all sat at the water, talking and joking around. We all got hungry and decided that we should go to Madison Park for food. One little problem… Steph, Courtney and I didn’t have a car. We took the shuttle from Bellevue over and Cole’s car was fairly far away. So, Tim (the nice guy that he is) offered to take us one by one on his scooter back to Cole’s truck. I had never been on a scooter and thought it was the funniest thing. So after he got us all back to the truck,(except Cole cause I think they decided that would be a little awkward on the scooter together) we went to Madison Park to eat. Cole took us girls back to Bellevue.

Here’s the part of the story that is mostly told so you may or may not have heard this before(or are apart of this story… sorry Court :D ) We had all decided to go out to Belltown that night. So, we got ready and were downstairs waiting for Courtney. We realized that it was taking a little while and someone should check on her. So I did, and there she was… a little angel all swaddled up in her blanket. She had been sleeping! She later told us that she went to lay down for what she thought would just be a few minutes. Made the mistake of turning her light off and never got back up :) Tim had also decided to not come out so the three of us and another person went out that night.

Anyways, we had a great night going out, and although Cole and I danced together the whole time, nothing happened. We were still just friends… with a lot of chemistry.

The next few days Cole stayed with us and we got to know each other more and more. Everyday I got home from work, we’d go out to dinner or he was making dinner. After dinner Cole and I went to my room and watched TV on the floor till we both fell asleep. One of those times was when he kissed me for the first time.

So jumping back to last weekend and driving through Vallejo. It made me wish I would have been able to know Cole in college and wish we could have started our relationship earlier. But he says that he believes we’re together now because that’s how it was meant to be. If we had dated earlier, we may not have liked each other or may not have worked out. I still believe that deep down we would have had the same connection regardless and it very apparent from our past as friends that the chemistry was always there. But since the past can’t be changed, I should look at the future.

So after thinking about all the “what if” scenarios in my head, I have decided that no matter how many way I try to re-think the past, it won’t change and that the important part is we ended up here, together, married and starting a family. I’m pretty sure it’s all my hormones working on overtime, but I’m glad I thought about it. About our pasts, both together and separate.

It makes me more and more grateful to have him in my life. He’s such an amazing partner that sometimes I don’t know what I did to deserve him. But he’s here. I like to look at other married couples in his family and think about us in comparison in a positive way. I’ve noticed how much his grandparents, on both sides, are still married and adore each other and I know that Cole and I adore each other the same. So I have no doubt in my mind we will last as well. We’ve always told each other that we never want to stop holding each others hand and hope to be that old wrinkly couple that holds hands walking down the street. So now, everytime we see an older couple, walking and holding hands, we smile at each other and know “that will be us someday”.

Lastly, I just want to say the reason I’ve decided to write this post is because I think all the time how lucky I am or how happy I am with Cole. I wouldn’t ever say I had “cold feet” but I did wonder if getting married would change the way I looked at Cole. Marriage is such a big commitment and very permanent and I worried if I would feel claustrophobic or something. Needless to say, marriage did change the way I looked at Cole. I didn’t know it was possible, but it made me love him more and adore him more. That saying those vows were nothing short of the best decision of my life and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I couldn’t have picked a better spouse or future father.

Okay, I’ve gushed enough about my husband!! He’s amazing!

It's a Girl!

2011-03-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Lots to update!

First of all, here’s the 19wk picture from last week. Its not all that different from the 17 week one. I’ve gained about 5 pounds in the last 4 weeks! Ugh! Doctor still says I’m doing good, so I guess I am! Haha

I am officially halfway and on week 20! Woo hoo and with that, I went to my anatomy ultrasound on Monday. It was really fun and interesting. We found out that it’s a GIRL! We have a beautiful little daughter to welcome into this world :) When we found out, I, of course, cried.

Let me tell ya, she’s STILL a mover! She was all over the place and the ultrasound tech had to chase her all over my belly to get all the measurements she needed. Then when I moved to my left side, she clamed down a little. Which is interesting because that’s the side I usually sleep on!

But they ended up getting measurements of her legs, arms, head, stomach, heart, open hands and spine. She definitely made the ultrasound tech work for it! We were there for a good 2 hours trying to get them all.

The most asked question now is “Do you have a name yet?”. No we definitely don’t have a name yet. We were kind of preparing ourselves for a boy so we have a boy name all ready to go! But as for a girl, we have a few names we’re kicking around, but nothing we’re set on. So until we are set on a name, we’re not saying anything.

What we’ve learned from the first few months of pregnancy, is everyone wants to “help” with names. But Cole and I want to pick it out for ourselves and really don’t want a lot of opnions. It makes the whole process that much more complicated. Then if you add the “well.. this name would be good cause its your aunt so-an-so.” Just makes its all into a bigger mess. So, when we have a name, and we’re ready to share. We will, but until then we don’t have much. It’s a lot of pressure, so we’re trying to take our time with it :)

Her Face

Left Leg (hopefully ballet legs like mom!)

Her feet: Looks like they need little slippers on them

Profile

She likes to play with her feet. Yes that huge thing by her head is her foot.

Happy St Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Or should I say Happy St. Pug-trick's Day!

Today, people say "why is everyone pretending to be irish?" well... just a side note. I'm an american with irish blood (my dad's side) so I'm not pretending. But Brody, yes he's pretending cause he loves sloppy kisses.

But it's St. Patrick's Day! Everyone gets to be irish today and enjoy it! It's a fun and happy day! One day, I would like to be in Ireland for this day!

Yoga and Body Aches

2011-03-14T15:53:00.001-07:00

Nothing too exciting to report with the pregnancy..

We’re on week 19 and a baby bump picture should be up sometime this week. I believe I’m continuing too grow and haven’t hit much of a plateau in awhile. I can tell because sleeping in a comfortable position has become close to impossible and between my frequent bathroom breaks and hip/joint pain, sleeping soundly has become a thing of the past.

I am constantly looking forward to my next possible massage and have found that sitting in a pre-natal child’s pose and having Cole massage my back is one of the highlights of my day. My breast have grown so much that the only way my shoulders and chest find relief is when I lay on my side.

This prenatal yoga class has actually been really great. I am not usually into yoga or Pilates because I like cardio classes. But since that’s not an option right now, and thanks to a friend, I’ve found a new appreciation for yoga! It stretches me and so accommodating to pregnancy. Some of these positions are just simply comfortable to be in rather than feeling like “work”. Don’t get me wrong though, downward dog still hurts my wrists and plank isn’t something I can hold for longer than a millisecond, but its become more and more interesting to try!

Very Exciting Weekend NBR(Not Baby Related)

2011-03-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

I had a very nice and exciting weekend and I just wanted to share!

After all the traveling my new hubby and I have been doing, it’s very nice to be home. Yes I miss California and all, but being back in Seattle and getting back into the groove of things have been really nice. Although, I don’t know what the future holds and hope to move closer to Sacrmento and family someday, I am becoming more and more content with Seattle. Maybe it’s being pregnant, maybe its being a very happy newly wed, or maybe it’s the friends. Whatever it is, I’m starting to find happiness here.

Cole and I have been enjoying our weekend home and not jam packed with plans. Finding the time to spend with the dogs and each other, and still finding the time for friends is becoming easier and more at our pace. (this means finding time to take my weekend naps on both Saturday and Sunday without rush :) )

Anyways! Why was this weekend so exciting?? Well, for one, our good friends Amanda and Tim got engaged!!! Yay!! We’re all so excited for them and they’re wedding day to come!!

And for two, Cole and I bought a car! We’re so excited! We have been considering a family car for almost a year now. No, we weren’t exactly planning for the baby so soon, well… Cole wasn’t  But we’ve been keeping in mind that my 2 door Acura RSX would eventually need to go and a 4 door car of some kind would need to be purchased.

So after tons of research on Cole’s part, and one too many conversations about cars that drove me crazy, we finally found one that fit the criteria’s. 1. I liked it 2. Cole liked it 3. Babies would fit easily with a stroller 4.gets at least 25 mpg on the highway and lastly, 5. All wheel drive to survive the snow.

So what did we find? The Infiniti G25X.

We’re picking it up today or tomorrow! So we ‘re really excited. (mine will be white... like the pug) Now, might be thinking “does she really think a baby and stroller can fit in that car?” Well, yes I do. Actually I know it can. Cole and I happen to go to the dog park 2 weeks ago and saw a women, getting out of her G25x, with a dog, baby, and stroller, all by herself. So, it definitely helped knowing that it will work :)

Hopefully I will get it soon and post pictures :)

Lastly, Pugmania is on June 18th! What is Pugmania you ask? Well, it’s also known as Pug-a-palooza! Yes, its probably the loudest dog gathering around :) All pug and pug mixes join together for a day in Seattle. There are pug races, and pug kissing contests, pug costume contests, and even pug agility. So, Since this is the first year Brody and I are available to attend, we’ve decided that Brody will be entering the races and the agility contest! Brody is a pretty fast pug since he does chase Taylor and her BFF Nutmeg, but the agility is a whole other beast. So, remembering that my friend Amanda had recently mentioned wanting to make an agility course for her dog, Nutmeg, we starting talking about how to make this work :)

So we have started getting idea’s of the best ways to make our own agility course. So far, this has consisted of plastic gardening stakes for the pole weave, a cut out tunnel laundry basket for the tunnel, and PVC pipe made into a dog jump.

Brody has a couple months to get his agility on, but he will get it! I think the weave will be the hardest thing for him to get. But I think he can do it! Go Team Brody! :)

17 Weeks Picture and Pregnancy Dreams

2011-03-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

For my Blog readers first! (even before facebook!)

The 17 wk picture :) I’ll put it next to the 15wker so you can see the difference. It’s a small difference, but it’s there!

So I don’t know if its because of the intelligender test or what, but I had a crazy dream. First off, pregnancy and dreams. Just in case you didn’t know, apparently some pregnant women mention they have the weirdest dreams while pregnant. I have definitely been experiencing this. Some women get strange dreams and some women have sexual dreams. Most of mine have just been bizarre.

So I haven’t had dreams about the baby’s gender at all. Actually being pregnant hasn’t even occurred in my dreams. Until last night. I won’t go into all the weird details, but I was telling someone about my SON! So weird. I didn’t say his name, but just that I had a son. I wonder if it had to do with the intelligender test or not. But it was a weird and very pleasant feeling.

Also, before bed, I was staring at how big I’ve gotten all over my body and I said to Cole “How can you love me when I look like this? I’m so unattractive!” and his wonderful husbandly response was “babe, I love your personality” ……. DOGHOUSE! j/k he did say that and then laughed and said “I love you pregnant, you’re so cute and round” Still a little bit of a backhanded compliment, but I’ll take it :)

Anyways, I think that also incorporated into my dream. In my dream, I was telling someone about all my baggage and about how my husband and I were getting separated because he wanted a divorce. I assume because I got fat . Dreams are so bizarre. I’m glad they are just dreams and not real life.

I’m not actually big on telling people my dreams, because they are just dreams and not very relevant to actual life. But I decide to blog about this because it was the first time I had one of those “oh my goodness… “Im gong to be a mom” moments.

Lastly, we got this cute pregnancy belly ring for me. I need to cut it to be small still, but wanted to share!

Intelligender Test and other Gender Prediction methods

2011-03-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

After reading a few people talking about this “intelligender test”, it finally sparked our curiosity to try it.
So we did. There is definitely no 100% guarantee of it being correct. It probably has the same likely hood of being accurate as the Chinese gender chart. Anyways, a trip to Walgreen and $35 later, its finally at our home ready to be used.
Now if you’ve never heard of it, I will tell you what it is. It is basically an at home gender test that you can use as early as 10 weeks. Well, we are at week 17 and are eagerly waiting for out next ultrasound to find out the gender of our little one. There are 3 componets to this test. 1. a regular plastic cup 2. a cup with a lid and one side that says “boy” in a brownish color and “girl” in an orangish color.3. a syringe, no needles.
So how this works is, you wait till your first urination of the day. Right as you get out of bed. Which I can imagine will be tricky to remember that early if you don’t have a adorable husband who wakes up earlier than you and wake you up an hour before you should and says “babe….. do you want to go to the bathroom now?” haha he’s so cute
So you get up, step 1 :) and pee in the plastic cup. Then you take the syringe and get 20ml of your early morning pee and put it in a hole at the top of the cup with a lid. Then you discard the remainder of the pee and swirl the sealed cup for 10 seconds. Next you rest it on a white surface for exactly 5 minutes.
There was some powder on the bottom of the cup with the seal. Actually some of that powder looked like glitter so it really started to make me wonder…
After 5 minutes if the liquid was now a brownish color, it is a boy. But if it is an orangish color, then it is a girl.
Wondering what color it turned for us? :)
Well, it turned BROWN :) for BOY!

So now our standings look like this:

Intelligender test: Boy
Chinese Gender Chart: Girl
Old wives tales: Girl
Family: Girl
Some Friends: Girl
Some Friends: Boy
So who knows…
We'll find out in about 2 weeks! Either way, we are thrilled. So if you're wondering if we've thought of names yet? Well, go ahead and keep wondering. We've decieded that we are going to keep it a secret until we have a name we're sticking with. Basically because we dont want anyone's opinion. We want it to be our own :)

Hopefully Cole and I will remember to take my 17wks bump picture tonight. Ya know, before we fall asleep at 8pm :)

I am the "pregnant lady" Stereotype

2011-02-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

I can’t tell what’s bigger lately. My new found extra chin, or my already giant chest getting bigger and bigger. I think that between the two, they are going to start fighting for space. Geez!
It’s been an interesting week. Started off with a fantastic 3 days weekend that ended with our OB appointment. Then the weather decided to get tricky on everyone and snowed. But it snowed more in different areas. For example, it snowed quite a bit at the house and not very much at work. So even though we managed to get a decent 7inches at our house, Cole insisted I have good work ethic and that we’d take the truck and he would drive me to work… another reason to get rid of the truck. (to enjoy a snow day)

I was actually glad I went in. My boss is from Idaho and isn’t too understanding about people missing work at all for snow. I wish he would at least look at the WSDOT cameras at my exit and be a little more understanding. You can bet, if we didn’t have the truck, I wouldn’t have come in. My car wouldn’t have made it out of the neighborhood with out hitting a few cars. I was a good employee for our recent snow storm. I didn’t leave early and I didn’t come in late! :) the only down fall, is I had a pretty bad fall today trying to get to the car. I stepped on what I thought was wet concrete. Turns out it was solid ice and fell on my butt and lower back. Its starting to hurt but mildly.
Other than the snow, I am realizing I am WAY more sensitive than I have ever noticed myself to be. More and more people are upsetting me over the simplest things. I have actually considered cutting myself off from people until I can manage to 1. confront the people that are upsetting me and to let them know what they are saying/doing are upsetting me or 2. learn to get over it, and remember the pregnancy hormones have officially made themselves at home.
I’ve found myself either extremely hurt, or angry or crying over something silly. Even this week, Cole and I were watching re-runs of jersey shore and I started crying. So its official. I’m a pregnant women stereotype.
I like to eat, a lot. My body is definitely bigger, I am moody, emotional and sensitive, and tried at all times of the day. Here’s the thing, I always heard about how women can be bitchy when they're pregnant and how someone people assume that women use pregnancy as an “excuse” to be mean to others… well. I’m here to tell you. It’s100% NOT an excuse. I wish it was. I try really hard to control myself by trying to not respond to things that upset me. But its hard and I only do it because I’m pregnant and its expected that the pregnant lady is going to be “hormonal”.

But if people who aren’t pregnant could practice it as well, it would be a much easier way to live.

Anyways, I just thought I would say now, for the few that may actually read this, if I am mean.. yes I am hormonal. But it’s not voluntary and I don’t want to be this way. But it should not be always brushed off as “she doesn’t mean it, she’s just pregnant”. Sometimes I do mean it.
Now for the crying…. Oh the crying. I cry watching almost every tv show now. I love Vampire diaries. I don’t know why, but I’m hooked. Okay, I do know why. Everyone on that show is extremely good looking and I love watching them all :) The fantasy stuff is interesting too, but still…. The actors and actresses are hott! Who ever did the casting should get an award :)
Anyways, I cried watching that, I cried watching Jersey Shore (when Sammi went home and Ron was being and immature dee-bag and throwing her stuff around), I cried watching the NEWS! I don’t know what’s happening to me. I was even able to not cry at weddings anymore…then at my cousin’s wedding I cried and I had the hardest time!!! Wow! I mean I guess it makes sense since she’s my cousin and a BFF, but I thought I would be able to hold it together. That didn’t happen at all!
I think that’s enough ramblings for today. Next week I will post a 17wks picture! Woo hoo! Probably won’t be too much different from the 15 wk picture, but who knows. I eat like a teenage boy lately.

EDIT: I just remembered another crazy pregnancy symptom I am suffering. Severe memory loss.... yes. Also known as "pregnancy" brain. I actually got into my car the other day, put all my stuff down and couldnt figure out what to do next. Turns out... I completely forgot my keys in the house still. (My car is usually in our garage and unlocked so that how I got in it. ) WOW. It's scary. Also on two different occasions my friend Courtney, had to remind me of a conversation or something we did and I had no memory of it at all!!! I usually have a greta memory and am also really good with remembering names! But the child I am brewing is casuing me turn into an new person. A person who forgets!

3rd OB Appointment

2011-02-22T10:47:00.001-08:00

So we had our 3rd OB appointment yesterday and it went well. It was very short though. Just a “how are doing? Any questions? Are you feeling the baby move yet?” and then they checked the baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler again and the doctor said “very good! 132”

Then she gave us the referral to the imaging center so we can find out the sex of the baby!!! We’re so excited but they won’t see us before 20wks, so our appointment to find out the sex is on March 21st! a month away! This is going to feel like the longest month ever!

There have been a few things I’ve discovered in the last couple weeks. 1. As much as I love the taste of it, my stomach can no longer hold fast food easily. No McDonalds, no burger king, no arby’s and no taco bell. The last two really break my heart, but I have been so sick after trying to have fast food, so I am taking it out of my diet. You would think with no alcohol, no caffeine, and no fast food, I wouldn’t be gaining as much weight as I am! Well, I guess that’s the sneaky thing about carbs. Oh I’ve gained another 4lbs since my last visit. My doctor said “good! You’re gaining weight!” Which was not the response I excepted. I expected “its great you’re gaining weight but you might want to slow it down a notch.” Oh well… it guess its good! I guess in her eyes I’ve only gained 8lbs… but I’m counting sicne the wedding.. and as I’ve mentioned, I’ve gained a steady 4 lbs each other since the wedding!! So, if you care to do the math, you’ll know how much I’ve REALLY gained  but its not all from pregnancy, so I guess I’ll go with what my doctor thinks 

Also, I am more tired now than I was in my first trimester! Last weekend was a 3 day weekend for Cole and I. I took a 2 hour nap, but sat and Sunday and a 3.5 hour nap on Monday!! I also went to bed early each night. I had no problem at all falling back asleep. The bad side is that I waste my day away sleeping. The good side? Cole does all the laundry while I’m asleep. This is usually one of my duties of the house. But he finished 3.5 loads during my Monday nap!

Lastly, this post nasal drip is driving me nuts! I constantly have, what I think is a headache and is probably sinus pain. I went to buy a netti pot and they were out. So I grabbed a saline spray that is suppose to do the same thing as a netti pot. I wasn’t doing it right. First… is came out my throat. Then just came out of the same nostril, then.. Cole decided I was doing it wrong and pushed it really far in my nose and my nose started bleeding. So I’m just going to wait till I can get my hands on a normal netti pot and go from there.

Lastly, I’ve decided. Brody wins for the “has the most sympathy pains in the house”. He eats ALL the time and is always hungry. He’ll eat whatever you give him. He doesn’t even need to smell it first. He sleeps as often as possible and only on comfortable surfaces. Can only exercise for so long before running out of engery. Recently has had lots of gas, AND…… today he woke up with me on of my many trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night and as I left, Cole walked in to shower and I left brody in there. We both heard him whinning more than normal… then I hear Cole say “Brody!! No!! Stop!” HAHAHAHAH the little guy has had his pee pee accident in 2.5 years. Now, im not saying I had an accident, I just mean, he had to go really bad too and couldn’t hold it in any longer. Well, poor guy. He even tried to jump in the shower with cole before his accident. If he had made it into his shower and had his accident… he probably wouldn’t have been in trouble at all. Even though I doubt he realized there was a drain in the shower and if anything was trying to get dad’s attention.

Well… that’s the most recent updates!

Kauai, Sharon's wedding and dealing with my hormones

2011-02-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

Kauai was a great time!! Rather than bored with the details, ill just point out a few highlights and add some pictures!

Although it rained most of our time there, it was still great to 1. not be working, 2. be in weather warmer than 40 degrees 3. see whales from our window 4. Free place to stay (Thank Mom!) 5. not be working… oh did I say that already?? 6. be with good friends

Waimea Canyon - it's a little cloudy :)

Sunrise the second morning...

Luau at the Hyatt in Poipu

Jurassic Park Falls

Waimea Canyon from the Helicopter

Hanalei Bay

In the Helicopter

After Kauai, Cole and I flew straight over to San Francisco for Sharon’s wedding! It was SOOO fun! I was her matron of honor so I don’t have a lot of pictures from the actual wedding, but here are a few from the rehearsal dinner and pre-wedding ceremony :)

There isn’t any pictures of it, but when we were leaving, and I was saying bye to Sharon, I had one of those “obvisouly pregnant” moments. (I’m going to have another right now talking about it!)

I was hugging Sharon and our families goodbye. As I started to hug Sharon (oh goodness.. here it comes) I remembered that I won’t see her after her honeymoon…I won’t see her in a few months either… The next time I’ll see her is a year from now! The baby will be 5 months old! I forgot, that this was the last time I will see her until after she gets back from Korea! I was soo sad (and I’m crying …not loudly.. as I write this. DAMN HORMONES!) that I tried soo hard to stop myself from crying that I started to shake uncontrollably! I was shaking soo much I could tell I was shaking Sharon, against her will, too! Poor Sharon.

I don’t even remember what she said, but it was something along the lines of “stop” or “don’t”. I think she meant the crying and not the shaking :) Anyways, I of course started crying really badly that even after I was done shaking/hugging her I was still crying, even to the car. WOW. I didn’t think I would cry that much! I was definitely sad she was leaving, but it’s not like they are leaving indefinitely or something. I think it HAS to be the hormones and a combination of the fact that I will have to give child birth before she returns… which scares the living daylights out of me.

Rehearsal Dinner Fun

the DRESS!

Amazing Shoes

The Bride is ready!

Lastly, I’m now going into my 16th week!! Now that I can admit I’m starting to “show” I’ll start posting pictures. Let’s just be honest, I’ve gained weight from being so hungry all the time and I’m bloated as can be. I’ll definitely admit, I’m a little bigger than some girls at 15wks, but I would still prefer the “you’re gained weight?” comments to just stop :)

So I’m “bigger” than most girls at 15wks, but from what I’m hearing… they will gain it all later :)

some Last Kauai Pictures

that black nub in the distance is a whale

Sunset the first morning

Sharon's Bachelorette and NT Scan Appointment

2011-02-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

So much has happened and ill try to sum it all up!

Last weekend was a blast! I flew to Sacramento to see Sharon and we went up to South Lake Tahoe with 16 of her closet friends! We had shared a cabin between the 18 of us and it was a great time! The first day we drove up and just hung out around the cabin. That night everyone had drinks, except me, and enjoyed a little dance party with games. Also, to everyone’s surprise a male stripper was invited. I won’t into too much detail, but he was definitely an older man, slightly balding and had no rhythm. He was even clapping off beat.

I’m sure he did his best and as much as Sharon did not really enjoy it or like the idea at all, she was a good sport about it and it made the night fun. I mean, how awkward is it when a male stripper comes and the bachelorette isn’t being a good sport?? Seriously… he’s standing there in a thong…. what’s he suppose to do now?

Hahahaha, it was fun to watch and everyone seemed to have gotten a good laugh from the show. I’m glad I didn’t have one at mine is all I can say  Well, I guess I did if you count being brought on stage at Thunder from Down Under. Which , I will say, those dancers have AMAZING bodies (and lots of hair on their heads…well at least the one that picked me did) so I was kind of okay with it!

Anyways, the next day we walked around the town, watched the sex and the city movie and got ready to go out. I, of course, napped twice during the day. We also did a mini shower where the gifts were suppose to be travel related and Sharon had to guess who gave it to her. She guessed mine right. The Tiffany’s Desk Planner…. I want one 

We went on a party bus to get to the casino Mont Bleu and went to club Opal. Were there was a pretty nice VIP area sectioned off for us! Lots of pillows and a big both to sit in. It was a great night! I was definitely sad to leave my family again. Since I got to see Jennie, Ivy (my cousin in law) and my mom too. I miss Sacramento so much.

Tuesday, we went to our NT scan. We went to Washington imaging center in Issaquah. It was great except they request you drink 24oz of water 1 hour prior to your appointment. With my bladder being an issue as it is, I was stressing out the night before that I would have an accident during the appointment. I even had a dream that I did!!

Needless to say, I made it just fine. I did find out why I’m soo tired too! The baby is moving around so much!! It was nuts! What a busy body just like it’s dad. We don’t; know the sex yet, and are very excited to find out! The baby is acting like my uterus is an anti gravity machine and is flipping all over the place! Most of the pictures we got to take home are random. No normal pictures because the baby would not sit still! I hope this isn’t a sign!

(Heres a picture of the baby's hand at it's mouth)

It was an amazing sight though. Sometimes, I forget I’m pregnant and I just feel fat and sick. It was so great to see there is actually something inside me causing me to gain and feel sick. I, of course, cried when I saw the ultra sound, again! This time, being able to see the spine and the arms and legs was just so amazing! The baby is starting to look really human! I don’t think the feeling of “I’m a mom” has really set in just yet, but it did a little more when I saw the baby look like a baby,…. With a giant head.

Heres a picture from the back and you can see the spine and an arm :)

Friday Morning

2011-01-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

It’s been a shameful morning thus far.

My morning sickness still sucks. Eating helps a lot. So, I’ve had a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and want another one… 2 pieces of toast and a bag of blueberries. Waiting in the sidelines, I still have a peach, a yogurt and strawberries.

Remember when I said, I’m not eating more but I’m gaining weight? Well, that’s all changed. I’m eating more and gaining weight and there’s nothing I can do to stop myself  I guess its good that its all mostly good for the baby! I did feel like it was necessary though. I felt like a mack truck hit me this morning and had such a hard time getting out of bed and vomiting that I was 40min late to work.

I’ve been reading my “what to expect” book and it told me that my body is working to make this placenta and even when I’m asleep, its working away. Which is why pregnant women are so tired. Well, I hope that placenta is almost done cause I don’t know how much me and my work will be able to handle this!

Next note, something no one mentioned about pregnancy, at least not to me and now I have it. My hair is growing like crazy. I actually only really notice it on my legs, but I feel like a drag queen trying to stay fem. Its nuts!!!! I can’t imagine how its going to be in the summer when my legs are showing and from the morning to night I have a 5 o’clock shadow showing! This is going to be interesting.

Well, this is the last post for the week, as I mentioned in me other post, I will be in Lake Tahoe and enjoying my time with my cousins. Next week, we have an appointment at the imaging center and really look forward to the next ultra sound!

2nd Appointment and Stats

2011-01-25T13:25:00.001-08:00

So I am noticing on the baby community boards on the various websites that they put stats of mile markers of the pregnancy in their signatures. Although, I think it’s a great idea to keep track of these things, im going to go ahead and put it in a post rather than in my signature. So here it goes!!!

BFP: 11/29/2010

EDD: 8/8/2011

FU/S: 12/28/2010

FHB: 1/28/2011

That’s all there is for now! So wondering what these crazy acronyms are?

BFP= Big Fat Positive. The first day we got a positive on our HPT(home pregnancy test).

EDD = Estimated Due Date

FU/S: First Ultrasound

FHB: First Heart Beat on the Doppler

Obviously the first two stats are the most exciting, but the list will grow and I will try to update it here and there. Now that we are out of the first trimester and into the second, Cole and I are more excited than ever to watch our little Van Gundy grow!

Anyways, since FHB says 1/25/11 which is today, I guess it’s a good idea to mention how it went!

Nothing too thrilling, but still tears came, nonetheless! They weighed me.. ugh. I’ve gained 4lbs since last appointment which was a month ago. So she said im gaining weight very well and I look good! (I’ve actually gained like 14 total since I became pregnant, but they didn’t weigh me till 8 weeks. So…. Im just going to let them think 4) Keep in mind, I had a little food binge after the wedding too!!!

Also many kind women have told me about their weight gain and how they gained the most in the first trimester and not to worry. Not everyone can be skin, bones and baby. The dr didn’t seem concerned about my physical size, so I’ve decided to not be concerned either. Everyone has a different pregnancy after all!

Next she put the Doppler up to my belly and we heard the heartbeat. Yes, this made me cry on the table, which I am sure made it more difficult to hear. But it went like this… dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub dub. She told us that the reason it would get faint is because the baby was moving around a lot which is good and healthy!

I still have a hard time accepting that there is something living inside me. So anytime I am faced with that fact, I cry a lot. Currently, I am only a pet parent and the mom of 2 loving doggie, who I think of as my children. Brody is my handsome young man, and Taylor is my beautiful little girl. Amazing to think they will finally be put in their “place” as the family pets and no longer my furry children. Yes, I realize how pathetic this paragraph sounds, but it’s the truth.

As for news besides pregnancy, Im headed to Lake Tahoe this weekend for my cousin’s bachelorette party. I know, pregnancy and bachelorette party probably don’t sound like they mix, but Sharon’s one of my bestest friends and its at a cabin. So I won’t necessarily be running around a lot. It will be a lot of fun and really nice to see her! Hopefully I will update with photos next time around:)

short update and Taylor news!

2011-01-20T15:57:00.001-08:00

Status: sick in the morning with easing up around 2pm.

This is going to be a short post. Still been crabby lately and it doesn’t help that I got the smallest bella band, and its already tight. I’m not “showing” per se, but I am getting bigger. My bloated uterus is “showing” though. I really can’t wait till the morning sickness goes away and I can start working out again!!

Yesterday I planned to go to the gym after work. But on my way home, my stomach started to turn. Once I got home, lunch came up and that was the end of me trying to workout till after the first trimester.

On the plus side, Cole and I get our little girl back this weekend! Taylor is coming home, whether she wants to or not!  We are so excited to have our little missy back. Brody is almost too well behaved at our house that hes become a little boring . We’re not used to the house being so quiet and undisturbed.

Meltdowns and Morning Sickness

2011-01-19T10:55:00.001-08:00

Week 11

So this week I’m noticing 2 things. My morning sickness is starting to go away, but not completely and my mood swings are out of control.

Depending on the day, my sickness will be extremely severe causing me to miss work, be late or just vomit in my car (in a bag) on the way to work. Or I won’t notice it at all and I will just have 1 coughing fit where I feel like I am going to throw up for about 2 min and that’s it! I hope this means it’s going to go away soon J

Now, my intense mood swings. These are terrible. Im going to blame it on pregnancy and hope I’m not just a raving b*tch normally. Monday I decided that I was really down and depressed about myself… not sure exactly why. But basically, I was throwing myself a little pitty party. It didn’t help that the seahawks lost, and how I REALLY don’t like sore winner… ya know, the people that even after you admit their team did well that they still rub it in. Yea that doesn’t help. But also that Im getting huge, my clothes don’t fit, im the biggest blimp in every picture, and on top of it, I’m sick and moody!!

I’m trying to calm down and embrace my size and its hard. Cole is doing a good job of trying to keep me sane and nicely point out when he thinks I may be being over dramatic or sensitive. Which seems to be a lot lately! Hopefully I can get this under control before I go on vacation here in a couple weeks with friends!

Cole and I just got back from a very quick trip to Oahu, Hawaii for our friend Mike’s wedding! The wedding was in Haleiwa which is on the north side of the island. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect! No rain, not too much heat. It was just nice to enjoy being outside and not being uncomfortable J

We’re going back to Hawaii here in 3 weeks for our last vacation or what we like to call our babymoon. We’re going with our friend Scott, Lindsay, Jodi and Kevin and staying at my mom’s condo in Lihue, Kauai. It will be nice to see everyone, but also be in such a relaxing place. I love Kauai. Its my favorite island because there isn’t a lot of commotion and not as much commercial tourism as it seems like on other islands. Its very quiet but very green and beautiful! And since I’ve seen and done almost everything a tourist can do on the island, I can go there to purely relax and enjoy the weather(and the company of course)!

The first time I shouldn’t feel bad about my body in Hawaii.. but oddly… the feeling of insecurity doesn’t go away. Hopefully I will overcome it this trip J

updating... nothing much new

2011-01-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Still morning sick, and still regular sick.

I’ve been fighting off a cold the last couple weeks and I can’t wait to be rid of it! This last week was nice. Cole and I have been missing our little girl, our Vizsla, Taylor , and we got to dog sit her friend Nutmeg. Nutmeg is very similar to Taylor so it was really nice to have her around! They are about the same size and weight. Same energy and very similar personalities! Nutmeg and Brody cuddled for most of the day and played occasionally. It really made us miss our Taylor. We watched her from Wednesday to Sunday. It felt SOO short! So now we are definitely trying to see Taylor back as soon as possible.

So before I drown on about pregnancy, have to say GO SEAHAWKS!!! WOO HOO! On their amazing win this weekend against the Super Bowl defending champs the New Orleans Saints! It was a close game and a very exciting one was well. But the Seahawks made Seattle a very happy city on Saturday night! Hope they do well against the Chicago Bears this coming Sunday. Seahawks won the last time they played the bears, but you never know what will happen.

So my tummy has been tossing and turning all morning. I can’t wait till we at least know the sex so I can stop saying “it’s in there”. I don’t really know what to call it or s/he? First things first, boy or girl, the baby is going to need a seahawks onesie! I’m eyeing a few out now. It will be my first baby purchase!

Nothing new on the pregnancy front. Still waiting to hear back from the doctor about the biopsy results. We’re kind of just deciding that no new is good news for now. I have also been so hungry that im started to be disgusted with myself. My appetite has has actually gotten bigger, along with my body, if you can believe it! I’m eating everything in sight and as big as though as I should be 4 months along.. and not 2.5. It’s a little embarrassing. But I’ve decided, I’m just not going to be one of those girls that stays thin and then finally pops out at the end. Its just not me. I’m not going to look like I’m normal from the back either. Hopefully I can tone down the eating a little and have been much better about snacking on something healthy. But the quantities haven’t changed much yet.

The picture of the Bean

2011-01-06T20:51:00.001-08:00

Heres our little tiffany bean, baby van gundy!

and the test results are in!

2011-01-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

I am trying to be better about updating this than I was about the wedding. The wedding was just too much.. not to mention all the other weddings that were going on in the mean time. All were fun though!!

As a warning, this is a pregnancy blog so some things may seem a little “TMI” or “too much information”. But it is what it is and I’m not the first person to go through it. Or even blog about it for that matter. But, you may find out more than you wanted to know… and this is one of those entries.

So earlier this week, I received a phone call from my nurse notifying me that my pap smear had come back abnormal. Apparently, on a scale of normal to cancer, it was right in the middle. So my doctor told me that was considered good news. Needless to say, I immediately made the appointment, got off the phone, and cried a little at my desk…at work. Whoa there hormones!

After some research online and contacting my recently pregnant cousin in law, I started to feel a lot better. Seems to be pretty common and doesn’t usually effect the baby. (Whew!!!)) I had never had an abnormal pap and was of course terrified. Besides my immune system usually failing me, I usually have extremely typical symptoms of any cold, or virus. I’m just usually a textbook case. So when I heard I had an abnormal pap. I freeeeeaked! And I was kind of embarrassed. I didn’t know how it could happen cause I never had to look into it.

As it turns out, it could be a myriad of reasons! Pregnancy is one of them.

So my appointment was today, and the doctor and nurse were terrific about keeping me calm. It hurt, but not so bad I had to scream or anything. Just extreme awkwardness. Things are being moved around down there that don’t usually move around! They started with a colposcopy and she saw 2 areas that were a little abnormal and then proceeded with the biopsy. I’ll get the results here in a few days and can only hope its good news.

On a good note, all my blood tests came back negative! Yay!! No STD’s no HIV, (not that I was worried or anything), good hormone levels for baby, and I’m not a carrier of Cystic Fibrosis!

Next official appointment is planned for Jan 25th and I can’t wait to see how my little green olive is doing!

As for the morning sickness…. Oh yea.. she’s still there. Lingering around from wake up to noon and later sometimes. Even better, I managed to catch a cold, so on top of the nausea and mild vomiting, I have a fever, sore throat, running nose and a cough. See… this is what I meant by my constant failing immune system. So, as you can imagine, I’ve been a peach and my wonderful husband has been a saint. Only 3 more weeks and I’m out of this first trimester and I hope the MS ends!

Will the morning sickness please go away....

2010-12-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Another day, another revelation.

I’m still battling every morning with morning sickness. Its gotten worse, which is a good and bad thing. The reason its good, is it means the baby is doing well. The more symptoms you feel, the better. From what I’m reading. The bad thing, I’m miserable at work and only feel good when I’m sleeping or in the evenings.
Yesterday, I didn’t want to go to bed too early because I wanted to savor feeling normal. So, I’m trying remedies to make me feel better. The first one, ginger in hot water. It is actually helping a little. I don’t feel like I have to constantly be running to the bathroom to gag. But I still feel weak.
Hopefully im not a huge drag this weekend since we’ll be in Chicago!!!!

My mom said she never had any morning sickness, and I get to have it everyday. This is miserable! I can't wait till im out of my first trimester. I will feel better about a lot more things by that time!

and the blog name changes again...

2010-12-29T09:35:00.001-08:00

So this blog has quickly turned from my wedding blog, to my newly wed blog to my pregnancy blog 

It’s still very early to be announcing this too much, but I would rather document my thoughts and changes now than later!

Sooo… if you didn’t know, I’m pregnant!! I’m currently a healthy 8 weeks and 3 days along. Not very far and of course, there’s the chance of miscarriage. But we are nonetheless excited and can’t wait to get to bring this little Van Gundy into the world!

Since I found out on Nov 29th that I got a big fat positive (BFP for those bumpers) on my home pregnancy test three times, I was pretty sure this was the real deal. I chest had started hurting really bad in the beginning of November and I was starting to be skeptical. So after I returned home for thanksgiving, it was the first thing I wanted to do is test.

The most common question we’ve had so far is “was it planned?” Which is a difficult question to answer, but to be frank… no. Our motto after marriage was “if it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.” So we weren’t planning or trying, but we were doing much to avoid it either. We were both extremely excited for kids and were pretty happy when I came out of the bathroom and said “cole…. Can you please come here?” I took the test, the first thing in the morning and Cole didn’t know I had. So as he comes up the stairs, and sees me trying to hide a smile, he stops half way up the stairs and starts smiling too! He knew.

Then he says “is it s yes?” I was sooo giddy and happy but I had to contain it a little. My friend Courtney was over, in the living room. (we drove together from sacramento and we got in soo late that we insisted she stay at our place). So we had to decide, there and then if we were going to tell her. Of course, in my excitement, I did!! But we were also very skeptical. Since, at this point, I had only taken 1 test. So Cole went to the store and I took 2 more tests and they all came out positive.

No major symptoms except my chest being sensitive, until week 6 hit. I started having morning sickness and felt really unwell for 2 days. Then it lightened up and would only happen in the morning until around 10am. I was REALLY happy I wasn’t one of those “all day morning sickness” girls.

Well, now its Week 8. The approximate due date is August 8th 2011 and I am sick as a dog. It’s all day morning sickness now:(

We had our first appointment with our OB Dr Te, in Bellevue. She’s fantastic and we’re really happy with her! She was very nice and easy to talk to. We had our first ultrasound.. (I didn’t know until a few day before that the first ultrasound was transvaginal…glad I had some warning!)

10.2.10

2010-12-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

So this wedding thing. Ya know, the planning that consumed my life for about a year?? Yes, I should finally mention it. I was waiting until I got some of my professional photos before I posted. I have them now!

Really, im sure everyone has seen the photos from me or on facebook, but I figured I should blog about how I remember it. (hopefully I can look back and re-read this when im older and reflect:) )

So, leading up to the day, lots of people say “it goes by so fast” “remember to take the time to take it all in” “its so fast you’ll barely remember it”. Maybe its because I had so much warning, but I did NOT feel like it went fast. It didn’t go slow either! It is easily, the happiest day in my life so far! I was up at 4:30am to 2am the next day, so that could ALSO be why it didn’t go “fast”. I was able to take in everything constantly. I let things happen and it was great.

Spending the night before, with my best friends and having “girl time” to leaving the bar Fado at 2am and getting a cream cheese hotdog in my wedding dress on the way back to the hotel was all AMAZING!

I really enjoyed having the time to see all my friends and family and everyone who flew out to be with us. Their traveling really showed us they cared and we were so blessed to have them near us as we make a lifelong commitment to each other. We learned in our engaged couples retreat, that although love in a component in marriage, its not the key point. The point is the commitment you are making to yourself, your new spouse and God. Knowing that before I said my vows, was very important to me.

There was so many smiling, laughter, chatter, bubbles, and fun that I couldn’t have asked for anything more! I didn’t have a problem with any of my vendors, everyone went above and beyond! There was nothing I was disappointed in. But of course, things happen and it makes the day interesting. 

Lastly, now that I’m married and truly confident in the decision I made in a spouse with Cole, people ask me “so how’s married life?”. I know what they are wanting to hear “same ‘ol, same ol!” or “great, how’s your life”. But to seriously answer that question, married life with Cole, is heaven. Everyday, I come home to him and he looks better and better than the day before! I feel so blissful and connected to him. I really thought that being engaged was enough and there is no way we could be any closer. That nothing would change from engaged life to married life. But it does! I’m his family legally and in the eyes of God now.

Okay, I understand not everyone may feel this way and may say I’m over dramatizing it. Or it’s the “honeymoon stage”. But, its so often nowadays that you see failing marriages and people hating each other so much they can’t look at each other after they got married. I just want to be grateful that I don’t have that and that right now, we’re happy!

Okay enough of that, and here are some pictures!

all Photos are from the AMAZING Azzura Photography!

AKA my cousin Sharon

2010-11-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

I realize this blog was meant to record some of the exciting things happening with wedding planning, and a year long engagement at that, BUT as expected, thing just got so busy and out of hand before the wedding that I wasnt able to update.

So im going to be skipping back and forth through the past and present things that have been going on. Now that this is really a "newlywed" blog :)

so.. where do I re-start? :)

I think I am going to start with the present!

just 2 weeks ago today, my BFF and cousin, Sharon, was whisked away to a thrilling evening with her long time boyfriend and long distance traveling compaion, Jason. He took her to Teatro Zinzanni in San Fransico, then to an evening along at the Westin in SF Union Square. Im not going to get into more details, as this is really their story to share, but the point is, late that night, he popped the question :)

My Shar-long-ee (a nickname) is engaged!!!!!! I had no idea when he was going to do it, so it was a more than pleasant surprised to get a call at 11pm on a thursday (note: I fall asleep at 9am usually) to hear her say "sooooo.... are you ready to be a maid of honor!?"

I was soo thrilled and to this day have continued to be so excited for their wedding!! Her sister auny (Jennie) and I are her maids of honor... which made me realize, Im actuallt eh matron of honor and Auny is the maid of honor. The next morning, I get an evite to a previously planned "welcome home" party turned into a "welcome home and happy engagement" party!!

since Sharon wasnt able to celebrate with me on my pre-wedding events due to her trip to asia, I definitely didnt want to miss ANY of hers!!! So I looked all of the internet and found flights for $49 each way from Seattle to SFO! So on saturday morning, Cole and I went to the airport and flew to SF :)

First off, I love SF. Its probably my favorite city in the world so far (next to london) and to celebrate with my cousin on this occasion meant SO much to me! but to make it better.... we decided to leave that detail out when calling sharon to chat. She had no idea we were coming! Cole and I coordinated with Auny and made our way over to the party!

It took auny and I, 45 min before we found a parking spot, and when I say found... I mean it loosely. What actually happened was it was a construction spot that you couldnt park in until 5pm. We were circling for so long, it finally became 5pm and took the spot! So we grab our stuff and make our way to the house... auny goes in first and then turns to the side as we hear sharon coming up saying how shocked she was that it took her so long to park!

Then turns the corner, does a triple take at me and starts jumping up and down in place!!!!! I was sooo excited and so happy to see her! It was surreal! Then she hugged me, and sharon... let me tell you, sharon rarely cries. She can tear up, but rarely cries. She just ahs an amazing ability to hold it together!

But she didnt this time :D (haha I got her!) she was hugging me crying... which of course made me cry. It was a nice moment, that will go down in the books.. or blog. or whatever :D
As it turned out, it was Oct 30th and the day before halloween, so everyone was celebrating. Cole and I came prepared with costumes.. I was a vampire (again) and Cole was a mexican (again). haha we got ready, and everyone came over. Auny pulled out the champange and then mini speeches were in order.

I had a suprisingly hard time with this. I was shaking so hard the champange was spilling out of my glass! Everything I wanted to say wasnt coming out in complete sentances and suddenly, we were in that moment.

people say "oh every little girl has dreamed of their wedding at least once" but I never did that, when I was young. BUT when I was older, I did! I specifically remember a time, Sharon and I were in college, and we meet to hang out at a CPK between Vallejo and Santa Cruz, and we talked about how we would be each others maid of honors and how we wanted little parts of Monica and Chandlers wedding from the TV show friends....

Now back to the party... we were in that moment, and I realized, this is something we had talked about and its happening! Sharon's getting married and I am SOO excited and happy!

You're probably wondering... why havent I said this about my wedding and didnt I have this feeling at my wedding? Yes and no. Its different. When I got engaged, sharon was JUST leaving for asia and I saw her for maybe in hour in vancouver and it was more of a "Im going to miss you!!!" thing. We didnt get to do the pre-wedding celebrating or anything like that! But at my wedding, I felt very divided and I had to do a lot and see a lot of other people and divide my attention.
But this wasnt that way. It was a smaller group of us, toasting to my friend/cousin/getting grounded from each other/driving to SF on a school day/making up jazz dances/going on strike just to have a sleep over/always there for each other no matter how far/ be each othter "soulmates" cause we werent sure we'd ever find our Leonardo DiCaprio, sharon and her amazing fiance Jason.

well, needless to say, my speech wasnt very good and I trailed off with crying. But I know that Sharon knew what I was trying to say and that at the end of the day, it was their engagement bliss that mattered. Not my speech.

So now, I get to help my "soulmate" plan her wedding.... stay tuned!

oh and in that last picture.... I can't remember, So I can;t explain :)

Quick... ish update!

2010-09-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Its been about a month and a half since I have written anything. Not due to the lack of action, but because I have been going going and going. Its been nuts but fun!!!

I will have to go into more detail when the wedding is over since, I have to make this short.

So first things first: VEGAS

Vegas was amazing. It was perfect and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Well, okay, one thing was missing. My cousin, Sharon. But, we’ll just have to make up for it during her party 

Here’s a couple teasers to start it all off.

Actually, this is a little out of order, but that’s okay. The weekend before Vegas(July 25) we went to Cole’s cousin’s (Shannon) wedding at Newcastle Golf Club in Seattle. Its an absolute beautiful venue and I am so jealous! The wedding was beautiful and fun. They had it on a Sunday and when I think back to all the wedding planning, having a wedding on a Sunday is a great idea! You have 2 great days of the weekend to lead up to it and even getting done at 11pm on a Sunday night was not that bad for Monday!

The weekend after Vegas(August 7) we were in Fresno for another one of Cole’s cousin’s(Katie) wedding. They also had a lovely wedding in a catholic church in Fresno. It was the first time I had been to a full catholic mass wedding. It was long, but not dreadful like most people tend to describe catholic weddings. I actually thought it was really beautiful and lovely! I loved the traditions that were done and so nice to be indoors, especially in comparison to the Fresno heat. I was over 100 that day.

The next weekend Cole and I decided to take some much needed time to ourselves and went to the first preseason Seahawks game against the Titans. We got really good seats and the hawks won! Woo hoo!!! That next weekend we went to the next preseason game against green bay for Courtney’s Birthday! We enjoyed the game, okay… we enjoyed about half the game before we all met up and decided to move on. With that, we went to Cowgirls inc. I don’t know what it is, but theres something about that place. I LOVE it! It’s kind of trashy, but I always have a good time there! I think because its fairly easy to get tasty drinks, the expectations aren’t very high and they play country music! After a couple hours of that, someone…. I didn’t know the guy, convinced us that there was a club “close by” that we should go to called Republiq. We walked so far, in our Seahawks gear, that we all sobered up, when we got there. Then told the cover was $20 per person…. WHAT!?? Who charges $20 per person in Seattle? Anyways, needless to say, it was a great night.

The following weekend, our friends Stephanie and Matt hosted a Couples Shower for us at Newcastle Golf Club. There were great drinks, great food, great company and fun games! It was extremely well organized and Cole and I had a lot of fun! It also was great because Newcastle is just up the road from our house so it was nice to not have a long drive home after a night of celebrating 

Since then it has been wedding planning and more wedding planning.

We have had a break also to celebrate Taylor’s birthday a little early. Since things will be hectic with wedding planning, we decide early is better. With the idea steming from our friend Amanda, Taylor, Brody, Nutmeg and Eli were able to participate in Pawswalk at Magunsen park!!!

oh and we brought dog ice cream..... brody's new guilty pleasure :)

Tid bits, here and there

2010-07-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Caution: this is about nothing in particular.

Cole and I are finally home from a great trip in Portland,Or. Although, I have a new found love for Portland and want to see more of it, it wasn't just the city that made the trip so great. The trip had a rough start since we both had a hard time being prepared to leave. The trip kind of snuck up on us since we have been so busy with Dance lessons, wedding appointments, planing, preparing for other people's weddings, other people's events and work. All the typical stuff and nothing out of the ordinary for most people. But once we finally got to Portland, it was a great time! We went for work related reasons for Cole, and I met his VP/boss. We stayed at the Benson Hotel with our dogs and walked around the Pearl District. It was nice to have the dogs around and to do a little family trip.

One of my favorite parts was on friday night we went to a Builder's Dinner at Kell's in Portland and it was beautiful! It was such a great place and had amazing food! They even had irish cloggers and gave us Kell's Sweatshirts! which I loved! The next day we went to the barge christening for the Crowley barge 455 9.They even announced us!

Later that night we went to Dukes Country bar and met with Courtney, Cheryl and Cheryl's friend Sarah. It was nice to go out there and try to line dance! I was in need of some cowgirl boots though :) So on our way home the next morning, Cole and I stopped in Centralia and I got my first pairs of boots. and I Love them!!! I can't wait to wear them in! One of the hardest things in Portland was to not get too carried away with shopping due to the lack of sales tax! I tried very hard to justify buying things, but Cole reeled me back to reality that if I managed to shop and spend $100... Im saving only $10.....which, yes money is money, but that I shouldnt just spend... to spend. It was a diffcult thing to control. Good thing Cole was strong for me :) He did let me get some very needed eyeliner :D

Well the reason I bring up portland, is Cole and I really needed a break from our lives and the wedding. It was a nice getaway that wasn't too far away and we got to spend a lot of time alone and relaxing, without the pressures of "cleaning the house" or "running errands" or "making appointments".

So here's a random thought... maybe a bit sad, and I'm just feeling sorry for myself at the moment and need to snap out of it. But...so my bachelorette party is in 2 weeks... and I'm really excited. I am! But Im having a hard time getting myself to be outwardly excited. :( I don't know why....

maybe im being selfish and sulking about it cause I feel stressed and I have to much to do to really allow myself to have a vacation, or maybe I feel like I forced everyone to go on this expensive trip to vegas, or maybe... and this is the WORST, is that I don't feel like this is a bachelorette party for me? or that is should be for me? it just feels so selfish....:( and my schedule with everything has just been so busy, that not only have I been unable to ask anyone else to go shopping with me, I havent been offered any plans to go with anyone else. I took Cole shopping for his clothes cause he asked... does that count? and I found something for myself cause I stressed) Okay... I know that sounded bad. And it was... gross...I need to snap out of it FAST! like I said... its only 2 weeks away! The point is, I love Cole and we're awesome... but because of all the planning and everyone having busy schedules as well... I feel a little like a lonely bride... friend-wise. Yes, this is coming from the person who has 16 girls coming to vegas for my bachelorette... I guess just the leading up to it is lonely...friendwise....cause of my busy schedule :( Granted... at times I am reminded that not everyone is coming to celebrate another "last fling before the ring"

Well, I still have some time... and I still need one more outfit. If I dont find the time to shop (or the money for that matter) then I have stuff in my closet that will suffice.

One thing I was worried is that I have heard a lot of couples fight a lot during the wedding planning then dont make it to the vows because their differences showed during the planning. I am happy to say, Cole and I are NOT one of those couples. We have bonded even more.... if that was even possible... and really been there for each other and even though I have these times where I feel "lonely...friend wise" Cole reminds me that he will always be here for me and he will be taking a vow so be my friend forever....

This went from a positive post to a negitive post. So I need to bring it back around!

So on happy note... a few actually! I have been dieting and working out a lot and feeling like my heard work is starting to pay off. I am far from the flawless body of Jennifer Anniston or Rihanna, I am still proud of myself for sheding an inch or two :)\

Also! Cole's cousin Shannon is getting married in exactly a week!!! at Newcastle in Seattle! its going to amazing and beautiful! I can't wait!

Okay.... so obviously my posts for the last couple months have been a little stale and lacking in personality or emotion, so I thought I would do one of things on my mind and the up and downs being engaged... at least for me.

ps... I am VERY aware that my downs are silly and I am just being down. But I would hope that for whoever reads this can just remember, everyone has their bad days. Although not everyone will think that my lows are founded, to me they are and I have to live with them

Invites are Out!!!

2010-07-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

So much is going on lately, I don’t even know where to start!

First off, my invites went out!!! Woo hoo! And here they are!

The design is by Tanya Williams at www.designbytanya.com

And she did an amazing job! The concept is of a story book! This all started when Cole and I were having a hard time finding beginning “wording” for the invites. We found one that said “Boy met girl, they fall in love, move in together and get a dog” which we loved. But we didn’t want to copy it right off the bat. So we had it changed  It seemed like a story and it sparked the creative genius in Tanya, and here is the product 

I also got my hair comb in! yay!! As well as belt for my wedding dress! I was so excited to see the belt on my dress that I made Cole stay downstairs while I tried to put on my wedding dress to see the belt. It LOVE it! Exactly how I wanted it  Once I was done and had put everything away, I saw a rhinestone on the floor. My heart dropped!!! It had obviously come from my belt!

So I had to take the belt out and I noticed another one came loose! I brought it downstairs for Cole to examine and we decided this could be hot glued on (even though everything else was hand stitched on). So I decided it would be best to put glue on the rhinestone, then the rhinestone on the belt. Cole decided it would be better to put glued on the belt, then put the rhinestone on. Well…. Just take a little guess as to which rhinestone turned out better ;)

The rhinestone that Cole and his giant engineer hands put on had too much glue that globbed everywhere. We had to let it dry and carefully cut off all the globs. It looks great now, but you can only image the horror on my face when I saw my belt, with rhinestones….but also with TONS of hot glue 

Everything is much better now :) Now I await the RSVP's..... now the REAL planing begins..... :)

someone elses invites....that I like :)

2010-06-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Ok since I have yet to blog about my invites... and I probably wont till next week. I thought I would blog about someone elses!!! haha

I saw these on this amazing blog called oh so beautful paper. I LOVE this blog!

anyways, these invites are soooo adorable, I wanted to share :) Click Here

99 days!!!!

2010-06-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Today…. Thursday June 24th…. I patiently await a few lovely things in the mail today ..

1. My exciting new baby girl, my iphone4 :)

2. My invites!!! (I will posting them here in a few weeks once they are out in the mail)

3. More pieces to my bridesmaids gift

4. a mini girl night dinner with my ladies!!! Well that’s not in the mail, but its something im looking forward too!

I just can’t wait for my work day to be over so I can see all my exciting stuff!!! Even more so, Im excited to see Cole tomorrow.  HE’s so comfy and wonderful. I love that we can be away from each other, miss each other, but not fall apart,…. Anymore. I used to Cry to hard everytime he left, but now I have that sense of “he’ll be back soon and it will be great”. I guess it’s a little easier for me to say cause its only a week and he barely travels anymore. If he did travel more for long periods of time, I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune:)

Anyways, I was hanging out with my friend and AMAZING make up artist Erica last night (www.ericamadera.com) and we had recently talked about silly wedding terms we see on various wedding blogs. One of them being “Hot dog and two donuts”. Yes its like a fatty meal, but it actually represents 100 days till your wedding! Erica pointed out that yesterday was my hotdog and two donuts! OMG! 100 days away!!! Finally!!! Its starting to happen, its almost here, and the wedding planning is almost over! EXCITING!!!

Through my engagement, I have noticed a few things I would definitely do differently, knowing what I know now:

1. wedding planning is fun and exciting, but very time consuming, and can sometimes distract you from the point. (those vows of love and commitment to another person… yes… that is the point.)

2. Its never to early to wedding dress shop. Don’t feel silly going in before you have a ring. They are expensive, and you should make a very educated decision by looking at as many options as you can. Maybe even in just magazines. I wanted a A line at first, I ended up with a trumpet. I wanted no sleeves… I ended up with sleeves. Look at as many options as possible, don’t get pressured into a dress because it’s a “good deal”. Like your dress for the dress…. Not the price.(but of course, stay in your budget, don’t bother putting one on to “try” unless you can actually afford it…… after tax.)

3. When considering your budget, be realistic. Over budget, don’t under budget. Things add up. When we did our budget, I completely forgot about shoes…. Jewelry, hair pieces, make up, grooms gift…. So many things were left off that were ended up being not cheap.

4. Involve your bridesmaids as much as they want to be involved, or don’t have any. Its kind of easy for a bride to do everything themselves because you don’t want to feel like you are burdening everyone else with your wedding stuff. But some people, mostly your close friends and family, want to be involved!

5. Just because your wedding is expensive, don’t spend your whole engagement locked up in your house because you have to “afford the wedding”. Continue to go out and enjoy your time being engaged. Go camping, vacation, continue your hobbies. Stay happy and not miserable.

Those are the ones that come to mind as of now…. Just some words of advice. Im sure not everyone would agree with me, but its just my little option.

On to some pictures from one of my favorite blogs that I borrow ideas from!!!

So if you didn’t know… I have 2 wonderful doggies. One is a pug. His name is Brody and he is the most handsome pug in the world. Anytime I see a pug I get so excited. Brody doesn’t…. he apparently doesn’t think he is one, and the others are beneath him. But I saw these pictures on SMP and I had to share!

Lastly,…. Look at this girl’s dress!!! Isnt it beautiful! I hope to look that beautiful on my wedding day!!

Its all coming together... yay!

2010-06-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

So many things feel like they are finally coming together! It’s great! Invites should be in soon, and out in a couple weeks, my shoes are in, my dress is in, my belt should be mailed today, starting to collect “wedding night’ attire and thinking about wedding day jewelery! Done a hair and make up trial and Vegas is coming up!!!

Its fantastic to feel on track and not behind on anything. I love it!

I am still working on losing some inches around my body. Im more worried about the inches, than the pounds. I am trying to eat smaller portions, healthier foods, trying to avoid sugar as much as possible and keeping my lunchtime exercising! Its taking a lot of commitment to remember all these things.

With Cole being gone in Jacksonville this week, I am going to try on my dress again, with my shoes and hope I won’t need a hem alteration. With a lace dress, an hem alteration can easily start at $200, depending of the type of lace. It can just go up from there. Seeing that I have already spent a small fortune on my appearance for the wedding, I don’t really want to tack on too many more costs! Okay… I do want a little photo booth, but im pretty sure we can’t afford it haha :D

I have been watching all these silly wedding shows and it just makes me so excited! It also put things in perspective, that I am not the only person in the world to get married and to take a little pressure off. I just really hope I don’t cry during the ceremony. I hope I can just take it all in while its happening!

I think one of the most exciting things will be changing my name. At this point, when I think of “Mrs. Van Gundy” I think of Cole’s mom, but I know that in about 3 months, that will be me as well! So weird! Or to hear “for the first time, I present to you Mr and Mrs Coulston and Holly Van Gundy” . To not see the Johnson after my name…. and so many capital letters in my new name.

I know I may have mentioned it before, and its silly, but I am starting to feel more and more like a bride. I know being a “bride” isn’t that big of a deal, but it feels like it should be. It’s a title most (not every) girl wants to be someday, and it’s a little exciting  To feel like my wedding and pre wedding stuff is happening and to cherish all these moments of happiness with my closest friends and family is really exciting!

Ok, well that’s enough on my “feelings” for now. Haha

One of my bridesmaids, Stephanie, is throwing Cole and myself, a couples shower here in Seattle, in August! We’re actually both really excited about it! Sharon and Courtney and throwing the bachelorette party in july, with the help of the other bridesmaids, Stephanie, Tany, Diana and Lindsay. So we have some fun time ahead of us! Its really nice to have so many friends surrounding us and it really make this time special. Cole and I loving each other is an obvious given (ex: ring on my finger :) ) but to have so many friends and family supporting us is really touching and so wonderful!

Even my friend not in the wedding party! For example, my friend Amanda, helped me through the process of thinking of bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts(Bridesmaid: do not ask her what it is! :) ) and countless other things and my friend Erica doing my hair and make up for the wedding AND my bridal portraits (:) ) and all 17 girls coming ALL the WAY to vegas for the bachelorette!!!! Its just really makes me recognize how grateful I am to not only have Cole in my life, but all my friends and family…. Here I go about my “feelings” again haha.

Okay… I should end this blog before I get all teary eyed….

on a happy note, check out this photo gallery from SMP... how amazing is this venue! I didn't post pictures cause the whole gallery is drool-worthy :)
http://www.stylemepretty.com/gallery/gallery/a-simple-photograph+1693

Blogging

2010-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

I know, I havent had a post in awhile. The reason is, my work computer has now blocked blogger.com except I can use it inintervals of 10 min at a time and only 6 of those 10 minutes a day. Also, work has gotten incredibly busy and made it really diffcult to think about wedding stuff!

But to share some good news, I FINALLY got my shoes in the mail and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! AND I also recieved a proof of my invite and they are so amazing! I love how unique they look! the design the paper, everyone is fantasic! Can't wait till I can share!

Lastly, my wedding dress belt should be done in about a week and then it will be shipped here! I am so excited! I hope it looks wonderful!!!

I will share more when I have more exciting news and possibly once my invites have been sent out, I can show everyone else my invites! Im so excited!

WISHLIST and DIY

2010-06-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Heres a Few more things to add to the wishlist as well as some of the DIY projects I had been working on and FINALLY completed!!!!!Im pretty happy with the outcome:) So first off, I LOVE this wedding dress. I love my own as well, but there is something about the simplicity of this as well as the trumpet-eqse of it that just draws me in!Second, ok, I understand that the puppy looks a little out of place in this photo. I got this from SMP again and apprently, the bride and groom has a destination wedding in Palm Springs and were unable to bring their beloved Vizsla, Sampson. The bride was worried that Sampson would get to excited and jump on her!!! So her friends brought a cardboard cut out of their loved Dog. He was in many pictures and people loved it!... Maybe Brody and Taylor WILL be making a appearance at the wedding!

Now on to my DIY projects. The first one is the bathroom sign I made to go with my bathroom baskets. I am not creative enough to have made teh poem myself and got it from a knottie on the knot.com. I am also not so great with the iphone camera so you may not be able to read it anyways!!!

The next are door hangers for the Groom's getting ready room and the Bride's getting ready rooms. I saw this on the SMP blog.

Lastly, my just married sign. I posted earlier about the sign I wanted to hang in a doorway at the reception. I am not sure how I would get it to hang or if the hotel will even let me hang it, so we will see!!!

paper!

2010-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking at one of the many blogs I follow and one wedding had this amazingly elborate invitation!!!

Turns out the invitation designer, Lehr&Black, is a celebrity invitation designer. If you go to their website, you can see Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, the should have been Ben Afleck/Jen Lopez wedding invite, Shaq, Eva Longoria Parkers, and more. Quite a few are divorced, but I doubt its a trend. Its interesting how much celebrities can put into these!!!

and their cool programs!

and place cards/menus with jewels!

the next thing I am working on is to make door hangers for the Bride and Grooms "getting ready" rooms. They will look something like this, with my own little twists of course!

Thats all for now :)

Cole is such a good Bridesmaid... I mean Groom :)

2010-05-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

So this weekend, I wanted to take time to finish some of the many little DIY projects I have been thinking of.

But before we get to my homemade stuff, I wanted to add a couple things to my wishlist!

First of all, I have been on a kick looking for shoes and I saw this picture!

(Photo: style me pretty)

They are obviously custom and unattainable. The bride works for a shoe company so they were able to get the soels made for her. They are soo nice though! I love them!

(Photo: "oh so Beautiful Paper")

Another is sationary. Since my bachlorette party in Las Vegas is "Twilight" themed, I thought these cards would be SOOO cute as thank you cards. But I can't get to them either as they are samples at the 2010 National Sationary Show!

(If you can't read it, it says "We go together like teen girls and vampires" hahaha)

So this weekend, one of my MOHs, Courtney helped me go shopping for all my supplies! Then, Cole spent saturday night and all of sunday helping me put these guys all together. Two of my projects are still unfinished. One, being the favors for the bachelorette, which I wont be posting until after the party and, two, my "just married" sign. Which I should get done tonight.

The easiest thing to get done was painting the hair on the wedding topper! The wedding topper I like, which I had previously posted, only came with a blonde bride. So I had to paint the hair brown. It was easy but nerv-racking!

Next, We had the letters "C" and "H" to put at our sweetheart table! These will not beon sticks at the table though and hopefulyl not lopsided either!

We painted and decorated paper mache boxes to create a "card box" to put on our gift table. I'm thinking I will have to add to it so people know its a card box. Is it tacky if I put "CARDS" on the front?

Heres the top

Heres the front

Lastly, the hair clips we made for our bridemaids and MOH's. The ones with 1 pearl are for the MOH's as I may change the pearl for them. We'll see!!

Yes, this plus adding coats of paint to the "Just Married" sign took all weekend. Hopefully I can get pictures of that up soon!

Wishlist and Wedding Coordinator

2010-05-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

How cute and appropriate is this button??

so here's the thing, the blog SMP (Style my Pretty) has soo oooo ooo many wonderful ideas, its hard to keep up. But they blog a lot in one day which is good for my attention :)

Of course, here is more to add to my WISH LIST!

Now if I had been informed enough to match the bm's shoes to their flowers that would be wonderful! But it would require all of them to buy new shoes. As of now, they can pick any black heels they want. Even ones they already have, weddings are expensive and I didn't want to add more cost to the girls. Although, If i had all the money in the world, I would totally buy all their shoes, all be the same, match their flowers, have a printed SHORT dress and a solid colored cardigan..... I'm just sayin :)

Today, Cole and I met with our Day of Wedding Coordinator Afton. She is wonderful and I love her already! She is so on top of it all and not overwhelming. In the one hour I met her, she already put my mind to ease. Some one else, will be making sure the wedding goes well and its guaranteed that she will make it happen cause its her career! She doesn't need to make sure her up do is ready or know where her cuff links are. Just that all the BM's and groomsmen are ready as well as the florist and cake and music..... So no one else on that day will have to majorly multi task but her. It was sooo nice to hear her say "I want all the questions to go through me. I don't want anyone to ask the either of you questions that day....just me" Whew!!!! Shes an angel :)

guess what I'm going to talk about now....... you guessed it... SHOES!

I have seriously spend more time on my shoes than my dress, and I bet i will end up with a plain pair of kicks.

but for now, my search continues. I still LOVE the Marylin shoe, but they are quite a few buck-a-roos and its kind of a lot! seeing that I have already purchased one pair of shoes I can't use.....I may still get the Marylin's I'm just disappointed by the height. Even though they are still high!

In case you forgot what they look like, here the are:

they glisten WAY more in the store with the perfect lighting hitting them :)

So here's another one I am checking out. Its less $$ which is good, but sometimes that makes me worry about quality. Anyways, I saw this picture on a SMP blog and LOVE how they shine.

Aren't those girls pretty!?

Anyways, the website didn't give any information on who the shoes are made by or anything. SO I had to just "google" what I knew.. T- Strap, Crystals, heels?

Then I found these and I think they are pretty close!

What do you think? I like them, but I also like the Marylin's..... I need some serious help.

i know that no matter what I pick, the next day will be something bigger and better......for shoes that hide under my dress the whole day anyways! haha

whats a bride to do :(

Over worked, over whelmed and over loved

2010-05-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yea, the title is a little narsastic, but after watching "Julie and Julia" for the first time this weekend, isn't that what a blog is?? haha

So I have been working over time everyday this last week as well as working on saturday. I also get to repeat this process this week!! I was sooo tired on saturday and sunday from everything that has been going on, that I feel asleep at 630pm both nights. It was crazy. I also slept for 10-12 hours per night. Usually when I over sleep, I feel groggy the next day. I definitely don't feel groggy, but I am still tired. can't wait to be back on my normal routine. There is too much to do to mess up my schedule!

So one big thing, is wehave decided we are hiring a wedding coordinator for the day of. Although, this is a big help, it will not go without saying, she is NOT a wedding planner. I still have to figure everthing else out and let her know what is going on. Not the other way around. Wedding planners cost at minimum $2500+ in Seattle. Coordinators are about $400-$2000. Depending on what you need. We're needing about mid range in there. She will be facilitating everything the day of the wedding. From coordinating vendors and making sure that both Cole and I are on time for things, etc. :) Unfortunately, there is too much and too many guests for me to be the head point person AND remember my role as the bride the day of. Although i have my bm, I want them to enjoy themselves at well. THey are no means "salves" for the day. They are my loved friends, and I will not want to treat them as if they were anything else. ..... that being too bossy?? well, of course I am asking them of other things, but those are surprises, and everyone has the right to say no :)

With that, I am also going to admit, I am NOT a low key bride. I knew that from the begining though. Sometimes, a wedding can become a beast bigger than yourself and there is nothing you can to about it. Esp, when people keep giving you "ideas" you can do at your wedding.... trying to remember all the suggestions based on how many guests, its exhausting and overwhelming!!!

If you can';t tell, im at the "details" part of the wedding planning. Shoes, songs, timing, photos, who walks with whom, who will be in what pictures, where will certain pictrues take place? Should I have my ring sautered together before or after, what kind of tie should the boys have, bridal party gifts, dieting, etc.

So for shoes.... I went to luly yang, to look at the bridget shoes. When i went I saw these other lovely ladies....

In person, they glisten and sparkle and its hard to not fall in love with them!!!! My ONLY problem with them, is they are 3 3/8 inches. Where as the bridget is 4 1/4 and I like high heels. Im short and even in my highest heels, cole is taller than me!!!! Oh well, these will probably be better for dancing.

Not sure what to decide still......

Lastly, I recieved the COOLEST thing in the mail this weekend!

Its a hanger for my wedding dress!

Happy Monday!

yes.... shoes again :)

2010-05-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

Shoes seem to be harder to find than the wedding dress!!!!

So my wonderful Coulston, has already found his shoes. But that was easy. He knew what he wanted "a black dress cowboy boot". Although he would love to have all his groomsmen in cowboy boots, asking everyone to spend an extra $150+ dollars on boots, is not very fair.

Anywho, he loves his shoes and thats all that matters :)

Now, as some of you readers know, I have had the hardest time picking out shoes. SO this month, I have decided, I am picking them out!!! But my one requirement is, I have to see them in person before I purchase them. No more fakey/dont like em issues...

So I have narrowed it down to looking at these lovely ladies:

This one I am sure is familiar, the bridal isis by pour la victore

Isis

Pros: Cute Blue Sole, pearls and rinestones, very high heel, and price is reasonable ($186)

Cons: the pictures all look cheapy and cheesy. Nope it looks better in person. the white is leather and not satin :( but then again, satin might be overkill. The buckle is a little, blah..... yes, I care about the silly buckle!

Next is...

Bridget by Benjamin Adams

Bridget

Pros: Satin, high heels, some rinestones, cute buckle and cute design, and a quality brand, comes in ivory. the sandal-ish look is cute!

Cons: I have no idea how much it costs, much more simple than the Isis, no blue sole. :(

Lastly,

Dita by Benjamin Adams

Dita

Pros: LOVE the buckle and brooch! (again, pearl and rinestones), comes in ivory, good brand, very high heel,

Cons: Don't know the price, dont like the sides of the middle of the shoe and wold prefer to to not be sling back with those sides, no blue sole

As you can see, I like a lot of the same things about each. So I have to see them on my foot. its hard to tell, but I have to figure out which will make my talon-like feet look somewhat attactive :) NOW thats what will sell :)

As of now and via pictures, Cole likes the bridget, which I do too. But I want to be a fair fight :)

As for my doomed, fake Loubutions? I have conceeded to wearing them at the rehersal dinner. They are still a very cute style and althought I did get some money back from complaining..... I might as well wear them!

Just a thought

2010-05-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

If I havent mentioned it before, I LOVE LOVE the Style Me Pretty Blog and the Oh So Beauitful Paper blog..... they are so wonderful and allow me to dream about a dream wedding :)Although, sometimes the paper blog makes me think of babies and baby shower.... ;)

Cole is away in Portland tonight so he will be saved from my fantasy wedding ideas for today. I think that I will be enjoying many episodes of the office as well as girly movies for the evening :)

Here is the latest from style me pretty on things I want....

Would this be so cool to have hanging up at the reception!?

Also... check out the envelope liner... yes I'm talking about envelope liners! Its hard to see but its in the picture in the top right corner and it says "hello" in cool font.... I've seen it before, and in the rsvp card it has matching liner that says "RSVP". I WANT it! :) Also check out that amazing vintage umbrella.... what would a Seattle wedding be without an umbrella!?

That blog amazes me on a daily basis.... just like Cole :)

BACK!

2010-05-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

So I'm back from my fun little adventure to California for a weekend! We drove and I am still very exhausted. My eyes are very swollen and have to work extra hours to make up for the work I missed. I even have to work the next to saturdays :( but it will all be worth it in the end.

I dont have amny pictures from the wedding since I saw so many other cameras snapping photos, I figured I could possibly get my hands on some to post later. I was a bridesmaid in the wedding and it was a great time! The bride looked absolutely stunning!!! I hope I can look half as good as she did!! now.... me on the other hand... I did not look so great. Which is fine...but wow.

Ok so here is the picture I handed the stylist:

This was the result.... a growth on the side of my head. granite... I did like the idea, just not as a bm hair style:

I made the best of it though. :)

I do have more fun things to add to my wish list!!!

If I were to have an outdoor wedding, I would have LOVED these:

and of course being able to find these lovely ladies...

Thats all for now. I am so tired and still so much work to do.

My little break from wedding planning is over and now have to go back into planning it all. I am excited for it, but I am also excited for it to be over :) Cole has been the most amazing boyfriend and now fiance. He noticed that there was a lot of work and agreed that we should hire a day of coordinator. Also that he would take over planning the honeymoon. He's so amazing :)

a May Wedding

2010-04-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Stephanie is getting married in 2 weeks! I am one of her bridesmaids and I can;t believe the wedding is actually around the corner!!

TI has helped me not think about my own wedding too much, but then sometimes it does! Stephanie was the one to actually recommend me to get my dress at demetrios and thats were she got her dress too. We were there las night for her FINAL dress fitting. It was really exciting and it's nice to watch someone going through all the wedding excitement before me. It gives me a better idea of what to expect and what to plan for.

Anyways, watching her in her dress, finally done and how great it looked on her was really exciting! Looking in the mirror thinking "THIS is my wedding dress!". She brought her shoes, jewelry, and undergarmets so she could see the final peice. I couldnt believe how stunning it all looked! I would show pictures, but to respect her privacy, I will wait till after the wedding. And yes, there will be pictures :)

All the little details that she has been fine combing through the last few weeks does make me stress a tish thinking of all the deicsions that are still left to be made for mine. But seeing her get through it, day by day, email by email, gives me hope that I can get through it too.

My main hope is to have no worries the day of. That all my BM's will know what I know and if a problem comes up, they would be able to help me handle it. I really hope to not stress about the production and think of what the real importance of the day is.... my vows to Cole. All day, thats all I want to think about.

But everyday up to Oct 2, I will think of the production :) haha But dont get me wrong, I want my BM's to have a great time as well, and hopefully nothign comes up and I will be able to "go with the flow" that day.

On an even lighter note, Cole and I LOVE our dogs. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Our lives orbit around them. So this weekend, we took them to Marymoore dog park here in Seattle, and took them swiming. Taylor can swim already, but brody can't. So we bought him a life jacket to get used to the water. He took a quick dip and quickly returned to land. Here are some pictures of our wonderful canines :)

More Wish List items...

2010-04-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Because it never ends :) More of my favorites from Style me Pretty! Ok so this first one, focus on the middle picture of the printed BM dresses! Oh awesome are those!!! I wish I went with with pattern!! They are WONDERFUL! Plus the above the knee skirts with white cardigan, its perfect.

Ok for the next set, keeping on the tune of BM's, I LOVE these T starp gold shoes! Very summery and elegant!

Close up on the T straps and the red scarf is a great add on!

The middle picture, with the beautiful shoes.... I WANT!!!!

The bottom picture would be my dream venue. So large open backyard, perfect for enertaining and perfect for a wedding!

And to top it off.... and sparkeler exit!

ok thats it for now!

Wish List

2010-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

After looking at many different wedding photos and subscribed to countless wedding and paper blogs, I have started a wish list of "If I could have done anything with my wedding.... this would be it" Well, it's a wish list, not because I am unhappy with what I picked, but because its fun. Side note, I am very happy that we are doing what we can do within our means :)

The dress.... I love my vintage looking dress, but this dress with these heels..... AMAZING! i picked this from the Style me Pretty Blog

Dont mind the girl not smiling. I like the headband

more to come on the wishlist!

Bridal Shower Time!

2010-04-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Cole's Mom's friends, Donna Garton and Mary Ingersoll were very generous and threw me a bridal shower on April 10th!

It was an amazing time and it seemed like everyone had fun! There was amazing food, coffee and mimosas!!! The shower was held at Donna's house and lots of people were able to make it! Some speical mentions were my friend Lynn coming from Long Beach and Courtney who flew down from Seattle. Everyone there was very important to me and I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in my life to attend. Everyone's presence there means so much and it's a wonderful feeling to have so many people support our decision to get married!

There were many beautiful gifts and Cole and I love them all!

There was a game played.... it was very creative! I'm not ususally a touchy person, and rarely hug people, ut most of all, feet. Anyways, the way the game was played was, I was blind folded, and in front of my was a ledge. I had to reach out on this ledge and feet would appear. I didnt know, until after the blindfold was on.

I had to guess, which one was Cole. This was not a couple's shower, so I didnt know Cole was there. But it was a pleasant suprise. :) I had to feel their legs and feet. They all have the same legs, feet and bald spot on the back of their calfs. So, needless to say, I failed miserably and picked his youngest brother. :(

It was a fun game but the most difficult part was having to feel up my future Brother-in-Laws legs!!!!! Awkward, but the mimosas helped me get over it. haha

My RHS Girls doing the "Cheer Pose"

CMA Ladies

The bridesmaids... I need Sharon to photoshop herself and Steph in the picture

Thank you Tany for the Photos!

Wedding Planning Bio: Updated!

2010-04-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

I have slowly but surely been updating my planning bio!
http://hollyandcoulston.weebly.com/

Still more to come of course.

I'm so excited to go to Roseville and see all my friends and family! It will be a nice 3 day vacation from work and wedding planning... i think.

Sometimes I think, this time next year, what will i be thinking about? More work? Baby? New pug? Moving? who knows, but for now, I just look forward to finally having all this weddign stuff behind me.

but I do think it would be fun to work in a wedding dress store. I can't get enough of them!

More Shoes and a little note on the Bridal Shower

2010-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Im headed to California this weekend for my bridal shower in Granite Bay!

Cole's mom(Lenny)'s friends, Donna and Mary have offered to throw me a shower and I am so excited to see everyone! Almost all of my bridesmaids will be in one room at the same time. Almost. Sharon will be in Korea, and Steph will be in Seattle. But Courtney is flying down and the three Sacramento BM's will be there!

Im more excited just to see everyone rather than open gifts. Opening gifts is so awkward! I guess I'll get over it with a glass of champange in my hand. I'll post pictures, if I remember to take any...

So, Im back on the big shoe hunt again!

So before I had found my dream wedding shoe. It was a white satin Christian Louboutin that was a d'Orsay Bow T style... I found a place that sold it. I ordered and a month later it came in.... The box was very shabby and have Chinese characters all over it! You can only imagine what I'm getting at here. anyways, I opened the box to see my babies.... and immediately, I could see the cheap looking satin and flimsy structure.

It hadnt even entered my mind that I could possibly be buying fake shoes..... and that is exactly what happened. Worst of all... they were not cheap in price but they were cheap in quality. I emailed the company and complianed. They offered me a $15 refund. ha!!! So, in true Korean form, I complained more! First off, they were LATE! they should have been in within a week of the order date, second of all they were the wrong shoe! The shoe I had ordered had a blue inside sole, this sole was nude. NOT what I had asked for. I didnt even go into the fact that they were fake as i am sure it was a no brainer to the company that all of their shoes were fake.

I offered to return them with a full refund. They told me to keep them and they would give me about 45% back. I would have had to pay for shipping it back to china so I just took that deal. So now i have a lovely pair of fake CL's in my closet... awesome. And guess what... I dont care. I spent a pretty good amount of money on them, Im going to wear them anyways! hahaha At they end of the day, they are still shoes! This is what I thought I ordered:

BUT they are not my wedding shoes. The quality is really cheap when you get a closer look at them and fit very loosly on my feet. I didn't decide to get one of the best photographers in seattle so they could photography my wanna be CL's. I know I sound like a brat right now, but really.... would you wear them to your wedding?

So, where am I now? Still shoeless.... Good thing I have month ahead and this didnt happen right before the wedding. Whew! :)

I have a few contenders at the moment though:

Here is my favorite so far, but Im not a huge "platform" fan. But I love the blue sole, and combinations of diamonds and perals!

And how cute are these bottoms!

Ok, well I still have time to think about it. I like the elegant look of the Badgley Mischka but I like the fun look of the pour la Victoire. Thoughts?

Florals, Decor and let everyone have Cake!

2010-03-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

We are using the very talented and amazing Aria Style in Seattle as would florist and rentals vendor. John at Aria style has been such a pleasure to work with and I have always felt very comfortable working with him. His prices are very resonable and they are so artistic and wonderful that i know that whatever they come up with will be beautiful!

So if you couldn't tell by looking at the blog page, our colors are eggplant and mango. They are not commonly seen together but I still love they way they look! Here are a few pictures of mock up centerpeices and flowers(but they will be eggplant and mango colored). We are going for a very modern feel as well!

Thos pictures were provided by Aria Style

The below picture is just sometime I saw that reminded me of them :)

There will also be some curly willow in them to give them some height! :)

Kind of like the below picture. This picture has manzanita branches but they are too heavy for our centerpieces.

I also want chair signs for both Cole and I's chairs, but I am not sure how I am going to go about that just yet :)

We are not renting the fancy chairs because we dont really think anyone pays attention to chairs anyways, so I have to figure out 1. how to print these and 2. how to get them to stay on our chairs :) any ideas?

Aria Style also did these AMAZING green Pom boxes at the Seattle wedding show. Cole and I both loved them and they will be appearing at our wedding as centerpeices as well! :) In our colors of course :)

This is a repeat picture, I think. this is exactly who I want my flowers to look... maybe even a tad bigger. The lady slipper orchids are SO beautiful and beargrass with beads is eye catching. I need to carry something to take the attention off of me, since there is no doubt I will be sobbing as I go down the asile and will not be looking so lovely :)

the Cake!

So as everything else, the cake will look like the first two tiers of this cake

I dont know why the cake looks yellow... I think it would be cool to have our cake look that way, but thats also more $$$ :)

The bottom tier will be square with from beading and will have a special phrase hand painted on the bottom.. like this cake

Not sure what the phrase is just yet! :)

Lastly, we couldn't fit our topper actually on the cake, so we will have a mini baby cake that matches the main cake with this lovely topper for our Seattle Themed wedding:

Ok, I think thats enough info for now!

Wedding Planning Bio

2010-03-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

After troll on theknot.com's many topic boards, I had decided to make a planing bio!

I want to warn you before you click on this link, if you are coming to the wedding and dont want to know ALL the details, do not click here. Everything from the venue to dresses and rings are all on there. So think about it and enjoy :)

http://hollyandcoulston.weebly.com/

A Couple more things to mark of the todo list!

2010-03-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I want to say CONGRATS!!!! to my cousin Erik Duckworth and his fiance Ivy Garcia! Erik proposed last weekend on March 19th. I dont know the details, but I am very very happy for them! Another wedding in the future!

This will be a short post so I'll be quick!

Things we have finished:
- Picked food for reception
- Picked wine for reception
- Signed up for dance lessons
- Ordered and fully paid for wedding bands
-Invitation Wording
- Booked room for night before and night of
- Booked Honeymoon flights

Things we have started:
- Took Foccus test and mid way through "counciling"
- Design of invitations and pricing
- Booking hotel rooms for family and wedding party
- Day of planning
- Ceremony day of itinerary
- Reception day of itinerary
- Day before scheduling
- Bridesmaid Lucheon
- Bridesmaid gifts

Im hoping my shoes come in the mail today!

Wedding Invitation Wording

2010-03-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Every month is a busy month lately!

This one started out with invitation wording and now it has moved on to our Catholic engaged couples coucniling, food tasting and dance lessons!

So I never realized how difficult inviation wording can be! Thankfully we are able to use traditional wording on our invitation! Did you know that depending on where you get married, your wording is suppose to be different? I do mean to say "suppose to be" loosely becase at the end of the day, everyone decides to do what they want. But for example, Cole and I are getting married in a Chapel, or aka house of worship. Since we are doing that, our wording should include the phrase "request the honour of your presence" and if you are getting married out doors or in a hotel or reception hall, you should put anything but "request the honour of your presence" as it implies that you will be in a church or worship setting. (Although being only 25, I would have NEVER known that!) But I guess for the people who do notice that, its a good idea to alert people that its a church or church like setting dress appropriately.

I think most people know about the whole "if the brides parents are paying" they put their names first, and if both families are paying then you say "together with their families" or if the couple is paying you are suppose to say you names and then "invites you to etc..". I personally dont care about that because its no one's business in my opinion whos paying. So with that, I think go with that you like more!

Also in the body of the wording, if you are sticking to traditions, the brides name, should state only their first and middle name. If their last name differs from their parents name for some reason, they would put first, middle and last name. Then with the grooms name you would traditionally put "Mr. Coulston Paul Van Gundy" or modernly you can put Coulston Paul if his last name is the same as his parents. It really depends on the style. Cole and i are mixing the traditional with the modern since we are a little of both :)

(I like the wrap around label in this picture :) and belly band with a tag )

Lastly, this is usually not as noticed and i think its something newer. Its almost like a header or and intro to your invitation! i have seen a couple of them, but not to many. "together with their families" is one or "because you have shared in their lives" and then it would go into rest of the invitation. Im not going to share exactly what cole and I have decided on.... I have leave some of it as a suprise!!! :) Ill post pictures after they have been sent out and hopefully everyone has gotten them. But I am still 6.5 months away so I wont be sending them out for awhile :)

then there is packaging.... but thats a whole other moster to tackle...to be discussed after invites are made :)

Wedding Website and Bachelorette Party Invites

2010-03-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in my last post, one on my MOH has created my wedding website for me! its lovely and its complete! For now, of course... some things will be updated as more information is available. Cole and I are both very happy with and are very thankful that it was made by a friend and family member (with love). sharon's very word were "your website is made from love, and free asian and jewish labor". She was refering to herself and her boyfriend Jason :)

Its wonderful and I want to share it with everone http://www.sayolivejuice.com/

Also, I had mentioned before that my bachelorette party will be in Las Vegas and the invites went out a few weeks ago! My other MOH and BM have been wonderful and organzied the event and I can't wait! Its a twilight themed party. No we're not runing around as vampires or anything. As you can tell from the invitation, (if you have read twilight) you can see the refernces. And then theming a night for red drinks and snacks!

Front

Back

These invitations were also made by Tanya Williams at http://www.designbytanya.com/

My Traveling Co- Maid of Honor

2010-02-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

So I have been reading my cousin/Co-MOH's blog and It makes me miss her so so so so much! She is traveling throughout Asia for the year and writing a blog on the way with her wonderful boyfriend, Jason. Their site is http://www.lifeaftercubes.com/. I follow their travels so attentively that every time they come out with a post, I am sitting on edge to read it! They look like they are having such an amazing time and I am so happy for them. I am also very jealous that they exploring the world with each other and going on this once in a lifetime trip. They saved plenty of money, quit their jobs and set out to asia with no real itinerary and decieded to go where ever they would like, with their visas permitting of course. Something that I could only dream of doing!

What does this have to do with wedding stuff besides the fact that she is my MOH? Well, she has been doign what she can while overseas, and traveling. She has been assisting in planning my bachelorette with Courtney, my other MOH and designing my website. She has also been around to listen to all my wedding planning and letting me know when im starting to get cranky about silly subjects. We email back and forth on almost a daily basis and I always look forward to the next email. She has really done an amazing job for someone who is not only on an opposite sleep scheulde, is out of the country and never in the same spot!

So about the wedding, and how this ties in; her travels have really inspired Cole and I to travel somewhere and have more of an adventure like theirs. Although, we are not leaving our jobs or are able to be gone for a year, we are spending 2 weeks in Europe. Okay, so I understand that going to Europe seems somewhat typical to some people since many people go on a back packing trip to Europe after college. But we didn't want to go somewhere where we would have a diffcult time understanding things(this is our honeymoon after all) but we also didn't want to go to a typical honeymoon spot either. Both of us have been to Asia (Thanks CMA!) and we've both been to different parts of Europe. But niether of us have been to Ireland!

Sharon's trip is amazing because its Asia and with the amount of time they have, they have the chance to go visit different corners of Asia that many travlers would not be able to see in 10 days or 2 weeks. We will not be able to have a trip like theirs, but we're doing the best with what we have and are very excited to get a small glimpse of what Sharon and Jason are getting to experiance. Everytime I read their blog, it makes me more and more excited for our honeymoon!

Bachelorette/Bachelor Party and taking a break!

2010-02-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Since I;ve been engaged in October I have been very busy with juggling the holidays, friends weddings, work and my own wedding planning. It's taken quite the toll on the pocketbook, but in the end its all worth it. With that being said, Im hitting a point where I just dont want to think about the wedding for a week and focus back on normal life, or the fun parts of the wedding planning!

All the big vendors are picked and ready, now for the little details. But before I start on that road again, Cole and I have decided to take a little break mentally from it all. Which is actually healthy for ourselves and our relationship. We plan to take another little break from it all in June to go to Victioria BC, but thats a little ways away. But during that time, we will not talk or discuss anything wedding.

As of now though, we are thinking about our bachelor and bachelorette party. yes, I understnad its still far away, and yes I get that it's really early to plan, but had I waited until now to do as much wedding stuff as I have, then I would be very stressed out! So, my bridesmaids have been amazing enough to understand that planning things early put my mind at ease and have already started the party planning. Cole and I have decided to do it on the same weekend in the same city. July 30th-August 1st in Las Vegas!

I look forward to seeing all my girlfriends and going away for a weekend. I really think thats the best part is just to go on a mini vacation for the bachelorette party. Also, because I miss Cole so quickly, we have decided to merge groups late saturday night while in Vegas. Im getting the vegas bug and i;ve only been once!

I'll post more later once the invites are out!

Wedding Shoes and Honeymoons

2010-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

My recent studies on all things weddings, is wedding shoes and honeymoon. For the wedding shoes, I have seriously looked high and low.... via internet, for what I think would be the best fit for me and my wedding dress. Problem being, my dress is very vintage and all the shoes I'm attracted to are very modern. I've noticed the trend where brides will not bother matching the dress and the shoes. They will have a beautiful white lace dress, then hott pink satin strappy sandals! It looks great! Then they would match the shoes with their flowers and so on.

For me, my dress is Ivory lace, and I like these white satin shoes.... I know its really not a big deal, but they are Christain Louboutin shoes and not exactly shoes I would EVER consider dying. So the difference is, would it look so bad to have white shoes and a Ivory dress? I get that most people will think I'm crazy if I think people will notice the difference between white and ivory.... but sadly, brides notice. The other option is they have the same style in Navy blue. Apprently Navy blue is a nice twist as the new "something blue" color rather than baby or tiffany blue which seems to be more popular. So with that, it would be kind of nice.... . BUT my wedding colors are eggplant and mango. (colors that sound like food appeal to me :) ) So it would be very miss matched..... The last thing I was thinking was go with a completely different shoe and find one in dark purple. This has been a failed serach thus far....so if anyone sees any that look good, let me know! I prefer a high heel....

This is the one I'm eyeing right now:

As for the honeymoon, when Cole and I were first talking about marriage and thinking about wedding plans, our first thought was to think about our honeymoon. We both wanted to go to Ireland. Neither of us have ever been there, but I'm half Irish and Cole's just been interested! Anyways, I have a huge fascination with the movie P.S I Love you.... now, maybe its cause the main character's name is Holly and there is a dog in the movie named Brody, but other than that all the views and shoots of the Ireland countryside has really made me think of it as a romantic area. Cole and I are the type that like to have our lazy time near a warm fire place and cold weather, and then we also like the city life and exploring new things. (except food.... im very closeminded when it comes to food)

So before the recent weeks, when people asked where we were planning on honeymooning we have said "Hawaii" because really, its an easier trip to go to the islands and use our Alaska Airlines miles and go for 50% off. But after some consideration we decided to go and do what we really wanted and go to hawaii in 2011. So the plan as of now, is fly to Ireland (haven't decided if we're flying into Shannon or Dublin) spend a week there Bed and Breakfast hopping, head to London for a few days, then to Paris, and fly on home! Since it is a few locations we're taking 2 weeks off rather than 10 days. I've been lucky enough to have gone to London and Paris, but it will be Cole's first time, so hopefully he'll enjoy it! now..... how to teach Cole some French.....:)

Ireland (Northern)

London

Paris

Bride and Bridesmaids Attire

2010-01-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

This is probably the MOST exciting part of the wedding planning process thus far. I hear the registry is, but with the registry, you may or may not get some of the things you pick. But the dress... you pick, you buy, you keep :)

Since Cole and I knew that we were getting well before the actual engagement, I had the opportunity to start looking at dresses with Sharon one of my MOH's before she left for her year long trip in Asia. So, I have honestly been looking for a dress since.... September/August? I started out thinking, I wanted something new, modern and A line. something that still looks like a wedding dress, but not a princess dress, and strapless. I probably tried on 30+ dresses and visited 8 different stores, at minimum. I was determined to find THE dress, and didnt want to settle, and in the right price range. I was really hoping for something under $1,000.

This is how it progressed, first A line, Satin, tube top and above all NO CLEVAGE. THEN I started liking something more sliming, and I loved the Anniston by Maggie Sottero. I loved it! But wanted to keep looking. Then I was searching online and found these beauties by Jim Helm:

But they are suprisingly hard to find, and I was not going to buy a dress I couldnt try on. I was starting to love the soft look of lace and in my head, it looked "bridal" and "elegant". SO I went to Brides by Demetrios in Bellevue. One of my Bridesmaids Stephanie, is also getting married this year, and this is wear she bough her dress!

Well, I happen to find a dress there, that was the best of all the dresses. Has the back of theJim Helm dress on the left and the front trumpet shape of the dress on the left. It has cap sleeves due to the elaborate back and is covered in beautiful lace. There is no pciture of it online or anywhere. So i have no idea what it looks like on a model....which is good! Bad thing is that it was more than double what I was hoping for. I love it and Im happy. I have decided to add a ribbon to the front like the dress on the right, and my veil is fingertip length and is a double veil. More for the traditional effect of the wedding. Cole likes tradition. :) Lastly, I got a flower made of ivory feathers to put in my hair for after the ceremony. Im so excited! Now that I have spent SO MUCH $$ in that store and I call all the time for no reason, and try on my dress as much as I can, every associate knows me by name. Not just the one who helped me. :) (yes, im THAT crazy girl) I figure, I spent all that money on that dress, im gonna wear it as much as I want until the wedding! None of this "wear it for one day" stuff! hahaha

The only thing left is shoes.... Ivory or Eggplant shoes? hrmm.. the next big decision on attire.

Bridemaids dress has been another beast all on its own. I have 6 wonderful bridesmaids and I of course want them to be happy. So the top considerations is the way it looks, price, discount, rewearable and color. I started off with wavering between a long or short dress. Long is an option because the wedding being in Seattle in the fall. It could rain, which is good luck, or it could be warm still. So it opened up the option for more dresses to be considered.

The only kind of long dress I liked was a sweetheart top, very fitted and slightly mermaid. This dress, was difficult to find and when I did it was close to $400. NOT HAPPENING! More than half of my BM's have to travel for the wedding and I think its unfair to have them afford a dress that expensive when they may never wear it again. So slowly, the idea of the long dress was weeded out.

Now to the short dresses. This notation of having the bridesmaid dress ugly to focus all the attention on the bride is strange to me. Why would I want my closest friends and family to be in ugly dresses and then professionally photographed? Thats just a waste of money. Well, the one thing i knew was trying to find something rewearable was close to impossible since i wanted an eggplant colored dress. I was find myself really attracted to Satin plain dresses but I really wanted a pencil skirt. Now, there is a difference between a pencil skirt, and a straight skirt. A straight skirt comes straight down. a pencil skirt gets tighter around the knees and shows off the beautiful curves of a ladies hips and waist. You could turn almost any dress into a pencil skirt, but its easier if it starts off as a straight down. Well, it turns out, satin rarely comes in eggplant. Instead it comes in Plum, and yes, there is a difference. Plum is a brigther purple than eggplant. (I know... its sad I care)

WE finally found one that was reasonable in price (around $200), came in eggplant, short with a striaght down skirt, and gets a discount!(cause of where I bought my wedding dress). Heres a picture, its the black one not the yellow one:

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, and I think all the girls are to!

Save the Dates and Invites

2010-01-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

Aww, those very important things that let people know when and where you are getting married, but are really saying "please plan ahead, we would like to see you, we will feed you". Anyways, I have the please of working with a young and creative invitation designer! Since I havent worked with other invitation vendors, I can't do a huge comparision, but she is great from what I thought other invite designers would be like. I assume most invite designers would have a big company and you're one of a million brides that year. No matter how you go about it, your products will look like someone elses, and mass produced. Maybe in different colors, or sizes, etc. I am also assuming that with a bigger company, you can get lost in the mix. The many emails that come across, and all the specifics you may or may not wanted jumbled in with everyone elses.

The reason I have this impression is because with the many vendors I have met with, I get that vibe from some. If a vendor is having a busy day, and it happens to be one of the days you meet with them, they tend to forget everything about you. I've been called Teresa, Polly,and Paulie. (so far) The sad thing is, I dont even bother correcting them. (even though I should).

Anyways, back to my point, I am working with Tanya Williams at Designs by Tanya in seattle, and it has been like working with a good friend. She is very responsive and has a very fresh and young take on things. She is also very versitle in her designs. Even better, you dont feel like you have to come up with the design yourself! Either way, she is very flexible and makes you feel comfortable. (which is probably why I email her everyday :) )

Here is the WONDERFUL save the date Tanya did for us! I have not sent them out yet, website is under construction still.

Also, I've been working with her on a bridal shower invite for my friend Stephanie and my MOH's are working with her on my bachelorette party invites! Im so excited to see how they turn out!!! Obviously Cole and I love her work and are excited about workign with her for our invitiations too. But thats a couple months away.... wow.. it will creep up on me!

For any of you Washington Brides interested, here is her website. designbytanya.com

My Wedding Blog - sorta (photography)

2010-01-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

So I was thinking of how my blog has no real direction or theme and decided that the best, and most obivous theme for now is a wedding blog. While reading other wedding blogs, I have come to notice how supportive and nice other brides are to helping one another. With ideas, planning and the stress of having the production of a not-so-simple wedding.

I had never really been the girl who always dreamed of my wedding day and white dress. It just dawned on me when I realized that Cole was truely the man I wanted to marry and no one could possibly compare. We've been through our growing pains as a couple and in the end (obivously there was no real end) the good more than out wieghed the bad and I couldnt image someone more complimenting and perfect for me.

So with this wedding thing. Our wedding is turning out to be a medium sized wedding. Although thinking back on when we first got engaged and thought about what kind of wedding we wanted, im starting to wish I would have picked something smaller. Cole proposed on Oct 16 2009 and we will be getting married on Oct 2 2010. In total its about a year to plan everything. Im gonna try to be more focused on a subject as I go through them for the wedding.

First things first. I wanted a very specific photographer and designer for my invites. Azzura Photography. When I saw their photos, I was speechless! All the pictures looked so fresh and yet so romantic! It matched perfectly to what we envisioned for our photos. Not only that, when we met with Tanya our photographer, she was so nice and her pictures also had such a great artistic twist that I knew going with anyone else would be settling. Here is one of her photos I found on their blog that I just loved! And my fav of my little ones...

This is at Newcastle Golf Course. SO PRETTY!!!!

Tanya did a wonderful job on our engagement photos! We can't wait to see what she will come up with for our wedding. I decided to not post any of my favorite pictures from the shoot on this blog or facebook since I will be using them for my save the dates, christmas cards and guestbook. She really worked within our pricing and we very happy and comfortable with what we will be getting as far as products and service! When I have been chatting with other vendors and mention that Azzura will be my photographer, great praise always follows. One person also said "They are the cream of the crop!" They have a great program for couples like the one im in, who are being very price concerned but also quailty concerned. We have smaller package that includes everything we need but decided to not get our wedding album in our package. They have a program where you can get your wedding album on your one year anniversary, and you pay for it during the first year of your marriage instead of pushing yourself to come up with that cost as well while paying for a wedding! Its perfect!

I feel like the photography is really import not to cut corners on. Many people will say "you'll look at them once, and never again". I think it depends on the person and the marriage. During christmas, I took notice to the many wedding photos that families and grandparents have of their kids on the walls of their homes. So it goes to show, you may look at them once, but your loved ones will have them on display for as long as they can.

Another reason its important is that as a bride, you spend all this time planning and preping for this one day, one ceremony, one dinner, and one party. Every detail has a purpose and is a decision you and yoru fiance made. OF COURSE you want to remember it and have it photographed!!! Hopefully, you'll never plan another event like it again! Its your wedding, small or big, you'll never forget that day, and the pictures will help remind you of the details you were too busy to notice during the day :)

No matter what's your holiday..... its a time to celebrate!

2009-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Because its hands down my favorite christmas song, I had to quote N'Sync Merry Christmas Happy Holidays. It brings back warm memories of dancing around sharon's parents house memorizing the dance on TV and recording every possible N'sync move on a VCR. We were so cool!

Christmas season has come so fast and is going so fast as well. It was been a very busy but wonderful month! I got around to seeing almost all of my friends and it was really nice! I miss seeing everyone and feeling like Im getting closer to others. We went wine tasting, a wine dinner, a group christmas dinner where we exchanged gifts, plenty of wedding planning and dress shopping! I think I have found a dress, but im not haulting my search just yet. But, Thank you Maggie Sottero for being so beautiful and so affordable :)

I have wonderfuly friends that got me these beautiful wedding flutes that I just absolutely LOOOOVE! I can't believe how excited I am about flutes, but it makes it that much more real! I seriously wanted to cry when I saw them! The are the Kate Spade Belle Boulevard flutes :)

So in a few hours Cole and I start our trek down to Sacramento. We hope to make it to Fresno and I was thinking of trying to make a day trip to SF if there is time. There will be more dress shopping too! I am really on a hunt to find a bridesmaid dress sooner than later! I really feel on the ball with all the planning, but then i looked at the full list of things to do and it dawned on me, apprently, im about par. Things I plan to get in the near future

- wedding dress
- wedding shoes
-bridemaids dress
-order cake
-register
-send out save the dates

Im excited for when I have something to talk about thats more than weddings.... and my doggies :)

I gave all the dogs these christmas cookies, dog cookies. Lily, Eli, Nutmeg, Taylor and brody. Taylor and brody had terrible stink afterwards so I want to apologize to the parents of the other dogs if they expeiranced the same issue!

ok....time to drive

Flowers, linens, Chirstmas, dresses.... too much to think about!

2009-12-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Although the wedding planning continues, the holidays have made it that much harder to focus!

This is mine and Cole's first week of relaxation. We have been going non-stop for the last couple weeks with wedding appointments and hanging out with friends and holiday stuff. This week we were to start our workout habits for the wedding, but we're putting it off.... again. But the diet has started, and I am hungry all the time! It;s like my body wants to sabotage itself. We're focusing on better foods AND portion control. We'll see how this goes.

Ive decided White is not a flattering color on me. Everytime I've come out of the dressing room in a wedding dress, I look in the mirror is its a michellin man blimp! All I can think is "THIS is suppose to take Cole's breath away?!" Im sure I'll find something, but I can't believe that this is the reaction im having to wedding dresses. I think Im really picky. But I'm going dress shopping again this saturday. I have a feeling this is going to take more than few times for me to find " THE" dress, if in fact its out there at all. Im more about timing. I feel like I'll find something I will be content enough with, when I feel like i've been dress shopping with everyone.... I know it sounds silly. But for example, I havent gone dress shopping with my mom yet! I feel like I am SUPPOSE to find it when im with my mom. But she doesnt want to go with a bunch of 25yr olds... as if she wouldnt fit in. hahahah Anyways, hopefully i'll figure it out by the time I need to.

We also recently met with our florist who is also our designer/rentals coordinator! All in one! I can't believe the amount of flowers that will be in season and to chose from. It was much easier to look through magazines and say "this one" as far as a bouqet goes. We are very excited to see the outcome. Probably more me than cole, but it was fun how involved he is being. I though grooms were suppose to be not very involved and the bride ended up doing all this with their bridesmaids instead. But Cole has been very involved in all the aspects and taken on task that he has actually been working on, and showing me his progress! Im so proud of him helping and taking the wieght off my shoulders. Im marrying an amazing man :)

Cole and I are driving to Roseville for Christmas. Leaving mid day on the 23rd and coming back to Seattle on the 30th. We think. I like taking time off and being in Seattle. Gives me time to unpack and unwind. It will be niiiice :) While in California, I expect it to be a busy time. Im going to try to make it to SF for a day, and we're both trying to go to Fresno again for a day. We will have to see on timing of course.

I think that is it for now.... nothing too exciting :)

Baby....its cold outside

2009-12-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is definitely one of those days I want to be at home, sleeping, with the dogs. I woke up this morning, and it was 19 degrees outside. Cole and i are very stingy heater users so the house was almost as cold as the yard. The ice on my car still remains even after my 30 min commute to work, and having been at work for about and hour. And on top of it, there is no snow! I happen to enjoy the snow, and its usually long stay in Seattle. But so far, theres nothing :(

This is what my dogs are doing, at home right now.

Sick and Dreaming about Moving... again

2009-12-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Somehow, Cole and I both got sick. This is wierd cause Cole has the strongest immune system I have ever seen. But not very strong will power when it comes to getting his own glass of juice.

So now, we're both sick and dogs, and at work.

Everytime we go to Sacramento, we leave there thinking "I miss that place". Its not exactly the terrain or dirt filled hills with no trees that we miss. We miss our large group of friends, that will always be there. Even if I fell off the earth for a year, with no explaination, they would still be there. The friends you never have to try with and always feel yourself.

Now, this is not to say we don;t have great friends in Seattle. We do have great friends in Seattle. They are wonderful!

Anyways, that was a side track. Cole and I miss the combination of family and friends. Its a wierd growing pain I think. Our jobs, and adult lives are here and we can't spend the rest of our lives being the kids. We going to be the parents, in a few years and we really are trying to think about where we want to be parents! Seattle is an easy choice cause we are already here, established, and content. There is so much to do, and learn to do and thats something we are excited about expierancing with our kids!

But then, there is Sacramento. Our kids can be around other kids that we already know their parents, and they will get to know their grandparents more. Really get that feeling of family.

We just got back from Sacramento, and this is the first time I really had the feeling of "I can't wait to go back!". Maybe its the fact that im on vacation, or that Im just as happy to see everyone as they are to see me. Maybe its the warmer weather or the familiarity. Or maybe, its just home.

More than likely, we'll make the decision to stay in Washington. But its nice to dream :)