Just stopping by...

You would think that being away from blogging for a few months would give me a lot of material. And you would be right, except that it would take me a few months to recount everything that has gone on around here! Suffice it to say, I think blogging for me was something that I used more as a procrastination tool than anything else. Now that school is finished and I actually have a life, I'm out living it and don't have a lot of time to blog about it. Either way, I'm not giving up the blog, but entries will continue to be sporadic, I'm sure.

A quick update on just the last two weeks:

- We spent over $700 at the vet for a biopsy on a gigantic mole that sprouted up on Harley's leg, vaccinations for both dogs, some weird procedure on Harley's eyes that ended up clearing his sinuses so he doesn't snore anymore (Honestly? This alone was worth the money!), and two different kinds of eyedrops for the H Bear. No word yet on the biopsy. Please cross your fingers it's benign.

- Rusty's car had to go into the shop the same day as the vet. We're not even going to discuss how much that cost.

- I taught my very first class at work. I had been freaking out over it for weeks for no reason at all. My course evaluations came back from my "students" and I got nothing but positive feedback. Woot! Go me ;)

- Kimmie came to visit!! I think she took exception to the fact that it snowed at home so early this year. Whatever the reason, I'm so glad she came. We had a ton of fun, without stopping for a second. After a visit to Santana Row for shopping, eating and a mani/pedi for each of us, my kickball championships, two parties, a new drinking game based on Gordon Ramsey and how often he cusses, and meals at the best Mexican and brunch places in San Jose - I sent my oldest friend home a happy girl... if a bit sad to leave us (and vice versa!). Luckily she'll be back in the spring for a trip to Napa!

- Brodie broke a window on Monday. The mailman had the nerve to actually deliver our mail. Sheesh, what was he thinking? Don't worry, Brodie is fine, not a scratch on him. We have a cardboard box in the window now (which is not ghetto at all) and when all is said and done, it will cost us almost $1k. God, grant me the serenity to not kick this dog's ass...*

- I spent most of the morning laying in the sun, listening to my iPod. Did I mention it's over 80 degrees here? It's the middle of November!

I'm spending this weekend relaxing, running some errands and catching up on sleep. It is so nice to have a break! Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

*Please don't worry, no dogs were harmed in the destruction of our house. :)

Introducing...

Genevieve America Arzabal! Born August 27, 2008. 6lbs, 3 oz.

She's beautiful! So cute, peaceful and perfect. :) Congrats to Rebecca and Mike, the incredibly happy parents! We are so happy for you and can't wait to meet her!

I now pronounce you...

Husband and Wife!!

A huge congrats to a couple of our best friends, Derek and Michele! They tied the knot this past weekend in a beautiful wedding in Cincinnati, Ohio. The ceremony was held at Holy Cross Immaculata Church and the reception was at the Hyde Park Country Club. Michele totally outdid herself and impressed us all with her cross-country planning. Everything went off without a hitch and she looked absolutely stunning. Seriously. Like a Barbie doll. :) The best moment was at the end of the night when Michele looked at me with a look of quasi-terror on her face and said, "We're going to be an old married couple now!" Don't worry, Michele, it's really not that bad. ;)

Another plus from the weekend was meeting more of their family and friends. Everyone couldn't have been nicer, more welcoming and more fun. I can honestly say I think we made some connections this weekend that will last longer than just the few days we were there.

Not only were we thrilled to be there as guests, but we felt honored to be a part of the wedding. Rusty stood up with Derek as a groomsman and I helped out in my official role as Program Distributor. It's a skill, people. I'm amazing. Really.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

Rehearsal dinner...

The ceremony... (didn't take many pictures. I was too busy being a sap and crying!)

Rusty escorting our new friend, Karen :)

Time to party!

Rusty and the best man, Jason

He cleans up pretty good, eh?

I love the look on Michele's face in this picture. Too cute!

Thanks for everything guys, we had a blast! Best wishes to you both and welcome to the club!! :)

Mandy & Nathan

Sometimes I get really sad that I'm so far away from home - that is, the home where I spent the majority of my "growing up" years. It means I have lost touch with some good friends I made back in Jersey and I usually miss big events because I'm on the other side of the country. So when my one of my oldest and dearest friends, Mandy, told me she was getting married, I was thrilled! But so sad at the same time because I wasn't sure if I would be able to travel to North Carolina for her wedding.

Lucky for me, as a result of a variety of reasons, Mandy and her new husband, Nathan, decided the best locale for their wedding would be Saratoga! Woo! This meant that I didn't have to travel AND I got to stand up with her as a bridesmaid. Their wedding was at the picturesque Hakone Gardens and despite the 100+ degree heat, it was a beautiful ceremony. The scenery was outshone only by the love Mandy and Nathan clearly have for one another. Thankfully, after we got through taking pictures, we were able to escape the dreadful heat to go to the reception at Trevese in Los Gatos. This place was incredible. The food, the wine, the decor... just awesome. I can't wait to go back.

Since I was in the wedding, I wasn't able to take many pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to come back with more pictures later, but for now here are a couple pictures to document the past 2 days.

Mandy and I at the Cielo Terrace - the top of the Hotel Valencia. This is the first time in about seven years we've seen each other in person!

The gorgeous bride! Can you believe she altered the top of her dress from a weird halter to this amazing sweetheart neckline? By herself? Yea. I'm impressed!

Finally! Air conditioning! Us after the ceremony.

The newlyweds cut the cake... and then smash it in each other's faces. :)

Mandy made the programs, seating cards and everything (except the Sensu fan) by hand. This girl is awesome. She kept with the Japanese theme very well and even gave all the girls a card explaining the significance of the Sensu fans in Japanese culture and weddings. Our seating cards all had a different movie quote about love that she picked especially for each of us. Mine was a quote from Moulin Rouge, "Love is a many splendid thing. Love fills us up where we belong. All you need is love!" I love it! :)

Congratulations, Mandy and Nathan!!! I know you've waited a long time for this and I'm so happy you are finally husband and wife! I love you both and wish you all the best. We can't wait to come visit you in Charlotte!

Dan & Sandi

I can't believe I've let it go for so long before putting up a post to congratulate our friends, Dan and Sandi, on their nuptials! They got married at Bass Lake near Yosemite almost a month ago and it was beautiful. Everything from the weather to the scenery to the gorgeous bride. It was a great day and night!

Here are some of the girls hitching a ride to the ceremony from our cabins.

The view of the lake from where Rusty and I sat.
Beautiful bride...Smooch!

Centerpieces

Yummy cake

Us in front of the lake

Congrats and Best Wishes to the happy couple!

And we're back!

I got home yesterday and I am still exhausted. But never say that I didn't put aside my own suffering for the sake of my blog. :)

Anyway, my trip home was great! Too short, but totally worth it. I flew in to New Jersey Thursday night and finally left the airport a little past 1am after waiting for my bags for an hour. Not fun. Luckily I had nothing planned for Friday except sleeping in and catching up with my dogs and oh yeah, my parents!

Friday night I met up with Kim, my oldest, bestest friend from high school. We headed over to Grasshopper Off the Green, a cool Irish bar in Morristown for some drinks, dinner and good old catching up. SO much fun I can't do it justice. I love my Kimmie. :) (Hey Kim, "Mierdamente!" "I can still do whatever the fuck I want!" "You gotta honor your craft, man!" I have no recollection of what any of that means. Gotta love notes on a cocktail napkin after a few drinks!)

Saturday morning my sister, Bridget, and I hopped on a train into NYC to meet up with our other sister, Kristy for a fun weekend, just the three of us. First up: Rent at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway. Just as good as the first time! I'm so sad its leaving. I'd go a hundred more times if I could!

After the show, we wandered through Times Square (ugh, not exactly the most fun, but necessary to get to our car) and found some fun billboards. Like this one for Sex and the City. Okay, it was really for Bacardi, but they used the girls to get more attention ;)
Saturday night the three of us went to my all-time favorite destination in all of New York: Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. ::sigh:: This place never gets old for me! We got such awesome seats, we were literally ON the stage. Check it out. I took this from where I was sitting - no zoom.
Here's me and my sisters having a BLAST! Between all the beer, the awesome music and crowd, how could we not??
Sunday we helped celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge by walking across it. Great views and impressive construction made it something to remember.
Heading towards Brooklyn...
The construction geek in me couldn't get over how incredible the craftsmanship of this bridge was...Walking back towards Manhattan, the view to the right...

And the left...

We walked around more of the city and past Ground Zero. Not much to take pictures of there because of the construction fencing that blocks everything. Even though we didn't see anything, I'm glad we went. I kind of felt like it completed my trip into the city.

That about sums it up! I spent Sunday night eating my favorite dish of my dad's - lemon chicken (mmmmmmm....) and learning how to make it, playing with the dogs and chatting with my mom. Unfortunately, first thing Monday morning I was in the car driving back to the airport. :( Have I mentioned I'm tired? Because I am. I feel like I need a vacation from vacation! Lucky for me, I've got a 10 day trip to Orlando coming up in 2 1/2 weeks. Woohoo!!

Hope you all had a great, long Memorial Day weekend!

Is it over already?

Weekends never last long enough. I'm totally pulling for the 4-day work week. Who's with me?!

We had a fantastic weekend, and yet it completely consisted of manual labor in some intense 97 degree heat. As I mentioned before, two of our best friends, Derek and Michele, just recently bought a house. So Rusty and I offered up our services to help with some of the projects, namely painting and laying their new bamboo floor. Well, I'm happy to say that as I type this, the guys are making the last cuts and laying the last few boards and Michele and I are in relaxation land since we finished the last of the painting earlier this evening. I am sore in the weirdest spots and totally covered in paint. I'm not kidding. I have paint in my hair, on my face, all over my arms and chest, my clothes, and the best? In my CONTACTS. But honestly, it was totally worth it. Michele and I had two full days of one-on-one time for some girl talk which is always a welcome distraction from my home full of boys. I cannot wait for their wedding in July! Oh, the fun we'll have...

Even though we worked from 11am to 11pm yesterday and all day today, this was one of the best weekends we've had in awhile (well, for a weekend that didn't involve traveling to some fun destination). Last night was my 5 year college reunion and I had contemplated going for months, actually I had every intention of going. Then I saw the list of attendees and when I didn't see anyone on the list who I really wanted to "reunite" with, I decided against it. Instead, the money will go into our house fund which will bring us that much closer to the weekends when Derek and Michele will be spending their weekends helping us with our house! ;)

Now its time to kick back, relax, and get some homework done for the end of the week, because next weekend? I'll be in New York!! Wooooo!!!

Just to end on a fun note - I can always find one of these cards to fit a situation in my life. Today I found three!

This just made me laugh...My friends keep getting their emails blocked when they write to me at work...Getting stoked for next week...

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well! Now buck up, little camper and get back to work! :P

It's in the water

Babies babies, everywhere! Just to name a few: my sister-in-law is due in the fall, as is the wife of one of our groomsmen, the sister of a friend of mine just had her baby yesterday and a couple weeks ago I found out that another friend of mine at work is expecting! Yay! I'm so happy for everyone, I could literally explode. :) And my coworker found out last week that she's having a boy! Double Yay! This fabulous news prompted her to question what is in the water at our company because every woman at work in the last 3 years has had a boy (some of them have had more than one boy in that span of time). It makes me wonder if when we're ready, - whichisnotrightnowthankyouverymuch - should I still be working there when I get pregnant since I want at least one girl??

I kid I kid! But it has sparked a conversation or two - granted they are mostly in my head - about what exactly our plans are in terms of kids and why do we bother making plans anyway? Its inevitable that whatever we "decide"will be overridden by the man upstairs. Of course, for the most part we can control the timing of the whole thing, but there are other issues too. Anyone who has ever wanted kids has at some point said something along the lines of "I want two kids. One boy and one girl, preferably in that order." Okay, so that's what I say... whatever. ;) But I think its a well known fact that, except for the lucky few, we rarely get what we want.... or think we want. When it comes to kids, in the end it really doesn't matter if we have all boys, all girls or one of each because its not up to us. Then you've got my husband, ever the optimist, who figures with our luck we'll have one and when we go for the second, we'll end up with twins or ::gulp:: triplets! Yikes!

The point I think I'm trying to make is I'm trying really hard to not over plan our future because... well... its pointless! I've seen people try to live their life by a timeline or a "plan" and when things don't go accordingly, they're lost and upset and that makes me sad. It's great to have goals and all that and try to time things as best you can, but in the end, the best thing we can do is just let go and live by the que será, será attitude.

I know I know. Easier said than done... :) For now, these two mutts are all the kids I can handle.

May lightning strike me

... if I'm lying, but I am so happy classes have started again. I just had a couple weeks off from school and at first I really enjoyed the freedom to go out or just lay around and do nothing without feeling guilty. But by the end, I was getting really bored. I tried to get out and do as much as possible so I could really enjoy the free time I had but when you're trying to save money, there aren't a whole lot of options! Instead I spent a lot of time on the couch, vegging. And honestly, there is only so much Lifetime and HGTV a girl can stand. I know, right?

Because I've been feeling so useless, I offered up my services as Painter Extraordinaire to our good friends who just bought their first home. We spent all day yesterday at their place working on Step 1: lay the subflooring for the new bamboo floor. As a result of a few snags, including some stripped screws from the girls' attempts at drilling them into the floor, we never got to the painting stage of the project. But since its going to be awhile before the Husband and I are able to purchase our first home, I'm more than willing to hang in there for as long as it takes. I love projects like this. When I was younger I loved to watch This Old House and Old Yankee Workshop with my dad. I mean, its not like I ever actually did anything, but I love the idea of learning how to use all the tools we have. Rusty let me play with some of them and my eyes almost popped out of my head with shock when I realized just how powerful a circular saw feels in your hands. Cuh-raaaazy!

Since we're all about packing as much as we can into a narrow window of time, after we left their house, we went home to change and immediately turned around to go to the San Jose Earthquakes Opening Day at SCU. It was amazing to see so many people on campus and the new facilities and amenities we got as a result of the Quakes using our stadium as their home field for the next few years. Semi-boring game that picked up at the end but the real highlights were the fireworks they set off during the national anthem and all the service men and women who held a giant flag. Very cool.

Of course, as I'm sure many of us did, I finished the weekend with some hardcore spring cleaning. Mostly because I had ignored it for a couple weeks, but also because even though I am happy for class to start again, I will still look for anything to put off homework for a few hours.

Come back, Kim!!

I just had a fantastic weekend visiting with my BFF from high school, Kim. She and I met at soccer camp in New Jersey the summer before our freshman year. Actually, we had both been going to the same camp for a few years and I knew who she was, but frankly, she scared the crap out of me! I was totally intimidated by her because of her skills on the soccer field and how outgoing and confident she was. Thank god she turned out to not only be an amazing soccer player, but also super funny, loyal, smart and sweet. Because when we officially met we realized that we were going to spend a lot of time together over the next four years as a result of soccer and being in almost every class together since we were both nerds and would be taking all the honors classes. Since then we've been the best of friends regardless of the fact that we only see each other once a year at best. Fric and Frac. Francesca and Bianca. Kimmie and Meggie.

Kim comes back to visit at least once a year and I absolutely love it when she comes because she is always SO.EXCITED! California is Kim's Shangri La. It didn't matter that the weather didn't cooperate or that we didn't do much until 3 in the afternoon every day. She didn't even complain when we got to Great America yesterday and saw that the park was closed! Blurg.

In any case, we had a great time lounging around, going to a soccer game, shopping, eating, visiting with friends, hanging out at the beach, eating, playing the Wii, eating..... I think you get the idea. :)

Just a few shots from our weekend...

Sandy and Franny

The guy in the red hat was dressed like a pirate. And played the harmonica. It was weird.

Enjoying the view

My girl!

Kim's sweet ride down to San Diego
Franny, I'm gonna miss you!! Can't wait to see you in May! :)