Happily Ever After

Blog Move

2009-03-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the VERY LATE post about moving the blog! I have been blogging over at
my new blog.....

Sunday is a hard day for these two...

2009-01-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008

2009-01-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Christmas in Cincinnati...Of course, The only pictures I have are of Baby Griffin!!! (Can you blame me, he's so freaking cute!!!)

Thanks Worm:)

2008-12-15T13:19:00.001-08:00

So I am sitting here trying to "rest" as I have to start working night shift tonight, and I miss Worm already! We had so much fun, and I just love getting to spend time with her:) Thanks for coming to visit us in Cali Lisa!

The Mystery Spot

2008-12-15T13:05:00.001-08:00

One thing we did while Lisa was here was drive to Santa Cruz and visit "The Mystery Spot." I have no idea how to explain it, but you can read here. I did this with Erica when she came to visit, and it is worth seeing over and over.

Confused? I know. Just read here.

Worm's Visit!

2008-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night Lisa came to visit for a long weekend:) I have been so excited for lisa to get here....She came to visit last year in December too. Lisa is such a great friend to me, and I really appreciate her coming to visit and hang out. I hope she can do it every year:) On Friday morning we woke up and went shopping at the mall. After that we went to Santana Row and ate lunch at Yankee Pier. It was a beautiful day so we ate on the patio in the sun:) After lunch we went and got pedicures...I know, very hard day;)

Here we are in front of the huge Christmas tree in Santana Row...We have this same exact picture from last year!

On Friday night after Derek got off work we went downtown San Jose to Christmas in the Park. We walked around and looked at all the neat Christmas decorations they have...

They have really big snow machines everywhere and Lisa got to experience some "California snow"

The night ended at Gordon Biersch Brewery were we had some good drinks and food:)

Oh Holy Night

2008-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Selah came out with a Christmas CD...All of the songs are beautiful, but here is my favorite. It really reminds me of what Christmas is all about.

Ack!

2008-12-03T16:23:00.002-08:00

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping! When I went to the mall this afternoon I parked right outside the Nordstrom entrance. Of course I did. Why? Oh just a little shoe browsing before I started my day. Well after a successful day of shopping for OTHERS, I headed to my car. And there was one more quick pass by the shoes. This time it was not so quick. It was kinda long. And here is why. I gave in.

Merry Christmas to me. I swear, thats the only time I will say it. Swear.

Star of Wonder, Star of Night

2008-12-03T15:35:00.001-08:00

I. Love. Christmas Music. Ask Derek, I made him listen to it all last weekend while we got our tree and did our decorating. (Christmas music is not his favorite...BUT he knows how much I love it so he downloaded a bunch of Christmas music he could tolerate....very sweet)

Some songs he played were by Stephen Colbert and John Stewart...kinda inappropriate for Christmas songs...but they had to do with Christmas so I will take it. Can't be too picky!

So.

On to my new favorite Christmas song: Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan's "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Such a good song. As are all of Sarah McLachlin's songs...and BNL!

My favorite part~

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem's plain,
Gold I bring, to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to rein

For Mom

2008-12-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

The other night I made chicken pot pie from a recipe that I got while watching Oprah. It is by Cristina Ferrare and she has some other pretty good recipes too! It is almost exactly like Mom's recipe, but instead of pie crust it has cornbread crust. It is very good, and easy to make.

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium Onion , chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups chopped Roasted Chicken
1/2 cup frozen sweet petite peas
1 potato , diced and boiled
1 1/2 cup chopped, cooked carrots
1/2 tsp. salt
Cracked pepper
Dash of Tabasco® sauce

Crust:

3/4 cup white or yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. canola oil

To make filling: Preheat the oven to 400°. Spray a 2-quart casserole with cooking spray. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and unsalted butter together. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add in flour until blended. Slowly stir in 2 cups of heated chicken stock, whisking well. Cook mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 4 minutes. Stir in chicken, peas, potato, carrots, salt, pepper and Tabasco®. Pour into a 2-quart ovenproof casserole dish coated with cooking spray and spread mixture evenly.

To make crust: In a bowl, stir cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir milk, egg and canola oil until well combined. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Spoon the batter evenly on the filling. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes.

Decorated House

2008-12-01T19:18:00.001-08:00

Here is our living room after we decorated!

And what was the lazy cat doing?

Christmas Tradition

2008-12-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Clark: We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.
Audrey: We're not coming all the way out here just to get one of those stupid ties with Santa Clauses on it are we?
Clark: No, I have one of those at home

This year Derek and I decided to go cut our Christmas tree down. We wanted to start a tradition since it is our first Christmas as a married couple! Ever since I was little I have wanted to go chop down a tree (just like Clark and family in Christmas Vacation!). So we headed to Los Gatos to get our tree! We drove up a mountain to a tree farm and it was so beautiful! (Not to mention that it was almost 70 degrees:) After we walked the entire farm we finally found the perfect tree! (Yes, it is a little big...around 9 feet!)

hehe one more:
Clark: Oh, I was just smelling - smiling. I was just blouse - browsing. I, uh, heh heh. Well, I guess it just wouldn't... Oh hee hee, it wouldn't be the Christmas shopping season if the stores were any less hooter than they - HOTTER than they are. Whew. It is warm in here, isn't it?
Mary: You have your coat on.
Clark: Yes, oh do I? Yeah, it is a bit nipply out. I mean nippy. What am I saying, nipple?

Sacramento

2008-11-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

Last week Derek had to go to Sacramento California for a work conference. I happened to be off work so I decided to tag along with him! We stayed in a very nice hotel downtown right next to "Old Sacramento." It is a cute little part of town on the river with some cute shops and old railroad station...Each day while he went to his conference I would shop. shop. and shop some more! There are two really big outlet malls in Sac and one of the biggest indoor malls I have ever seen! It was Right outside the city and seriously so big! (Kinda like an airport!) Everything outside of Sacramento is so so new and really attracting people and families (Home prices are cheap....wait, I mean compared to the bay area!) Each night Derek and I got to go out to dinner downtown and spend some time together...It was nice to get away and spend time with D!

This was the first time I have been to the state Capitol of California! It is a beautiful building in the middle of a pretty neat city.

Projects @ the Moore house:)

2008-11-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Finally Derek and I have had some time to get some things done around the house! It seems like November has gone by so fast! I am getting so excited for the holidays and being able to decorate our new house for Christmas! Right when we first moved in, Derek's great Aunt gave us a pair of antique lamps. I loved them and could not wait to fix them so they worked! The hardware in them was really old and needed to be replaced. They also needed new lamp shades. After a trip to Home Depot and an hour of putting them together(very gently---they are hand painted and very fragile!) here they are!

This next project took us longer than an hour....actually it took us a few weeks(Only working on it during the weekends). Derek's parents friends gave us this hutch when we first moved in. It was painted a brownish color(That had to go) and we wanted to paint it black and put it in our new family room. After refinishing, painting, and putting new hardware on it, here it is!

Another big project has been window treatments. For some reason I love picking out hardware(Windows, furniture, lamps, and much more!). I just think that so many things can look so much better with some good quality hardware! (I know I am a dork:) Here are our new silk curtains in the guest bedroom and the master bedroom:

And more hardware! I have no idea what this is called... Door Knocker? Anyways I found it at an estate sale and thought it would look nice on our front door!

Could not resist the beautiful fall colors:
Here is our Family room! We were originally going to have this be the Living room, but I decided that Derek (gasp) was right about having this be the family/TV room! He thought we should use the biggest room as our family/TV room. I was totally against this idea at first, but eventually Derek convinced me that it could work. In the future we want to redo our kitchen and make the room off of the kitchen the dinning room...and (I hate to admit) it makes sense! After all we did work VERY hard putting the new bamboo floors in the family/TV room!

Here is the very empty future dinning room. Our plan is to put our new table and chairs in here on one side and make the area next to the fireplace a little seating area. We just need a couch, rug, artwork, and a lot of $$$ to redo the kitchen!

oh piss

2008-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right....it's cat pee. Derek and I came home to find that Arnie used an old box in the office as his litter box. When it was warm out we could keep the litter box in the garage and leave the door open. Since it has been cold we moved it inside to the bathroom so we could shut the garage door....and I think we confused the old guy:( At least he kept his pee on the plastic wrap in the box!

National Organ Donor Sabbath

2008-11-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

The weekend of November 14-16, 2008 will be observed as an interfaith celebration of the gifts of hope provided through organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Children and adults all over this country are in need of this life saving gift...I see it every day I am at work. Mothers holding their sick babies day after day while waiting for a new heart. Toddlers walking around the hospital pushing their IV pole day after day while waiting for a new liver. Someone's life will end as another begins. It is so hard.

"Transplantation can save lives, but only if generous individuals and families say yes to donation. One donor may save or improve life for more than 50 recipients. Those who donate organs, tissue, and blood stem cells restore hope and share gifts beyond measure."

Go here to see more information. If you are not already registered to donate, please sign up today!

Wow

2008-11-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

"It’s the day after the election, and as usual, America’s come down with the world’s largest case of manic-depressive disorder. Half of the country is crying, calling in sick, or threatening, like conservative actor Stephen Baldwin, to move out of the country. The other half is dancing on their desks, buying drinks for strangers in bars, and gloating shamelessly every time a Republican walks by.

But with emotions still raw from the two-year-long hotly contested campaign, how are people supposed to behave now that it’s over?

For starters, we may want to acknowledge that it’s not quite over yet."
-MSNBC this morning

I have to admit, I am not the biggest Obama fan, but I respect him. All I can do now is hope the best for him as our President. Things are about to get interesting in the White House, and like I said...I truly hope the best for him and the decisions he makes for our Country.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I am so glad I was working on Halloween this year! I have never been at work on Halloween so I had no idea how fun it was! Each unit at the hospital has a "theme" and there is a "Trick or Treat Trail" where all the kids get to walk around and trick or treat! It was so cute to see all the kids dressed up...these kids don't care if they are sick, they still want to have fun just like everyone else! I work on 3 West (solid organ transplant/cardiac surgery) and here are some of our kiddos:
Julio and Carlos

Julio told me last week that he was excited for Halloween, but he did not have a costume. I asked him what he wanted to be and he said a scary skeleton! So a few days later I went to Target and got him this costume....and he LOVED it! He was so excited to "scare" me and everyone else....He is such a sweet boy!

Trent as "Woody" from Toy Story....Trent is a handful and had me running all over the place:)

We all dressed up as Cats and had cute little ears, tails, and bow ties! (Great costume to wear while working because we were able to dress up and still able to run around to do our job!)

Then to top of a great day, I was able to make it home in time to pass out candy with Derek! He ordered pizza and we sat and ate while all the kids came to the door...it was so fun to have so many kids in the neighborhood! Almost all the candy we bought is gone:)

With Hope

2008-10-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

The past week at work has been really hard for me. We lost a little girl on Friday that had been in and out of the hospital since she was born. I was always so excited to go to work when I knew I got to spend the day taking care of her...Although she was really sick, she always had a smile on her face and just wanted to be loved. She was only 8 years old and she taught everyone around her about hope and strength. She was strong. She was a fighter. Even when she was very sick and felt horrible, she still managed to give me a smile about something (I had to try pretty hard). I only wish I could be half as strong as her. I can't help but wonder why God planned for this to happen....I wish I did not doubt my God, but in times like this, I can't help it. All I know is that right now she is in heaven running, dancing, twirling. She is singing Hannah Montana songs, and she is free from pain. Rest in peace Gianna.

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

So we can cry with hope
And say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope
-Steven Curtis Chapman

How lucky I am!

2008-10-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I got home from a long weekend of work to find my sweet husband making this:

He made one of my favorite dinners...grilled pork tenderloin with pico de gallo and rice! It was so good:) For dessert he made chocolate souffle's topped with strawberries. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband!

Caught me!...I will just smile and look cute.

2008-10-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

I found this picture of Erica and I while I was going through some old boxes in the closet....(Yes, still unpacking from moving 7 months ago) Here we are at Grandma DB's house playing with some toys. I laughed so hard when I saw this because I know Erica so well....and I know she was doing something she was probably not supposed to be doing by the look on her face! I am not sure what she just did or what she was thinking of doing...But I do know that the little pretend smile on her face was because she was about to do something to me! Hahaha it just cracks me up looking at this picture!

CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-10-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last night Derek and I bought our tickets to go back to Cincinnati for Christmas!!! Originally we did not think we would be able to go as I had to work on Christmas. Thanks to an amazing nurse I work with, I was able to switch holidays with her! Now I will have the Christmas holiday AND the weekend right after Christmas off! Derek is off work the whole week of the holidays so it works out perfect! I am so so so excited to see everyone!!! I just hope baby G has not grown too much since I last saw him:)

The Present

2008-10-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

More like home

2008-10-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

While Mom and Dad were here we did a LOT of shopping for our house! Here are some pictures of the new artwork we got...We also got new end tables, chairs and coffee tables....those pictures will come when the house decorating is a little closer to being finished! Thank you Mom and Dad!!!

Stanford

2008-10-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon I took Mom and Dad to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital to see where I work. We took a tour of the hospital and unit that I work on. After that we went to see some of Stanford's campus. Here are a few of Stanford's Memorial Church.

The church was built in the early 1900s by Jane Lathrop Stanford in memory of her husband, Leland Stanford Sr., who founded the university.

Monday Hike

2008-10-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning we decided to go take a hike at Rancho San Antonio Park. We did the Wildcat Loop Trail all the way up to Vista Point which overlooks the south bay area. On the way we saw a daddy deer and baby deer! Also on the way to the trail there is a farm with a lot of animals. I always love to see the animals but it was closed:( We did get to see a momma pig and her cute little pigglets!!! They were so cute!

Horseback riding in Saratoga

2008-10-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Morning we decided to go horseback riding. Derek had to work so he missed out:( We went to Garrod Farms which is only 15 minutes from our house. It is a beautiful farm and winery on the eastern slope of the Santa Cruz mountains. We went on a guided tour for an hour and then spent an hour petting all the horses! It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with Mom and Dad:)

Visiting the Redwood's with Mom and Dad!

2008-10-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park with Mom and Dad. We decided that we were gong to take them there on Friday morning and spend the afternoon at the park. It ended up being a really nice day to go explore the park and we all had a lot of fun!

Some of the really big trees have openings at the bottom where you can go in and see. Some of them were kinda creepy (seems like a great place for little creepy crawly animals to live)...

Dad and Derek got a good laugh at this one! When we were taking the picture Dad made a noise and made Mom and I think there was something in the hole....so we screamed and ran....funny Dad!

Derek was our "Tour Guide" the entire time telling us the history of the trees. Some of these Redwoods are 1800 years old and the tallest one is 285 feet!

Happy Birthday Kar!

2008-10-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Karen's 25th Birthday! Karen has been one of my very best friends since we were in kindergarten. I think I can say that Karen and I have been through everything together! We always have so much fun no matter what we are doing...I wish I was there on your Birthday Kar! I love you:)

Squidoo

2008-10-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Squidoo (an online group that raises tons of money for charities) is giving away $80,000 to selected charities from now until October 15. There are no catches, and no gimmicks - all you have to do is CLICK HERE to visit their website and vote ($2 per vote) for the charity of your choice (from their list of about 50).

There are several good charities to choose from, but the one that got my vote was March of Dimes. They provide funding for research to reduce and prevent premature births, and they provide support for families with preemies.

Each vote gets $2, and you can only vote once (more than that and they will delete your vote(s). Remember, voting ends October 15! So, whether you vote for March of Dimes, or something else, support a worthwhile charity.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

2008-10-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

I was so glad to be in Cincy for Oktoberfest! It is always so fun to go downtown with friends and family and enjoy the German food and beer! Erica, Griffin, Mom and Dad and I all went down on Saturday afternoon...We ate all the authentic German food. (Sauerkraut balls, pretzels, meatballs, fried pickles, bratwurst, and potato pancakes) Yes that is a lot of food! Then on Saturday night I went back down with my friends....it was so nice to be able to go out with everyone!

God Bless Griffin Patrick

2008-10-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Being Griffin's Godmother is a very special honor and I am so glad I was able to be there beside him. God Bless you Baby G!

"And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children." -Isaiah 54:13

The other man in my life:)

2008-10-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I went back to Cincinnati for Baby Griffin's baptism and ended up staying for 10 days! I had so much fun and got to spend a lot of quality time with everyone...especially baby G! I got to babysit him during the week while Erica was at work and we had so much fun! We ended up going to Grandmas to see her every day! We went for walks almost every day and Griffin just loves to be on the move! He is such a good baby and just loves people. He is smiling, cooing, rolling over, eating baby foods, laughing, and he just loves to be the center of attention. I love him so much:)

Happy Birthday Derek!

2008-10-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Derek's 29th Birthday!!! I am very lucky to be married to such a wonderful man! Derek treats me so well and I can't imagine my life without him. We have so much fun together, whatever it may be. Although he has been working a lot lately (Fall soccer season) he still tries to find ways to spend quality time with me. He works very hard and I really appreciate all that he does. Did I say how lucky I am? Happy Birthday baby!

(more wedding pics coming soon!)

Rest In Peace Duncan

2008-09-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight my Mom and Dad had to make a very hard decision and let Duncan go to heaven. Duncan was the sweetest dog in the world and brought so much joy to our family. Dad, Mom and Pat-You were the best family that a dog could ask for and you gave Duncan a wonderful life! Now he is in heaven with Mokie.

We Remember...

2008-09-11T11:08:00.001-07:00

Beautiful baby Genevieve!

2008-09-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome baby Genevieve Arzabal! Since Derek and I were in Felton on Sunday we decided to call our good friends Mike and Rebecca to see if we could visit with them and their new baby! They live in Aptos, Ca, which is right next to where we were hiking! We ended up spending the afternoon with them catching up and holding baby Genevieve...She is SO CUTE! The first thing I noticed when we walked in the door was her HAIR! She has a full head of dark brown hair! (Just like Mike!) Genevieve is such a good baby and loves to be held and rocked. Rebecca and baby Genevieve are happy and healthy...It does not get better than this~!

Felton River

2008-09-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Derek and I both had off work so we decided to go hike to the river in Felton. It was a beautiful day. We also managed to keep cool because we were hiking under the redwoods where it does not get that hot!

Beautiful Yard!

2008-09-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

When we first moved in to this house the front area under the window was covered in weeds. Here are the before pics when we first moved in...

After digging up a million weeds we were finally ready to plant something. Dayle came over to help me dig up weeds in the 90 degree heat! It was so nice of her to come over and help me because I don't know the first thing about gardening! Thanks Dayle:)
Here it is after planting two new trees and three bushes~! This time Dayle and Virgil (Mother and Father in law) both came over to help plant everything...and it turned out so beautiful!

The trees that we planted have little purple star flowers, and the bushes have pink flowers.

Happy Birthday Dayle!

2008-09-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Labor Day ended up being a great day of celebrating and relaxing! Derek ended up coming home from Orange County early on Sunday afternoon so he had a day of vacation on Monday. I was supposed to work on Monday and got a call at 5am asking if I wanted the holiday off....OF COURSE I DID! So Derek and I got to go celebrate his Mom's birthday with Dim Sum for brunch! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and then having cake and ice cream...It was a very nice holiday:)

Happy Birthday Patrick!

2008-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Happy 19th Birthday Pat! I am sorry this is a day late(I was working yesterday on your REAL birthday). Hope you had a great day:)

New Toys

2008-08-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Derek and I finally decided to get a new 24inch I-Mac! We have been talking about it for a year now, and yesterday afternoon we decided to just go get one! It was so exciting and now we can do so much with the new computer! I am most excited about the i-photo and photoshop...I love taking pictures and the new photoshop will help me do some pretty cool things!

A few days earlier I decided that I cannot stand my pink razor phone anymore(Verizon told me it was time for my upgrade)and I wanted a new phone. I went to Verizon and looked at all the phones...The salesman helping me told me that he had them all in stock except for one, the Voyager. Hmm of course I HAD to have that one. Why? Because clearly it was such a good phone that they were sold out. So I headed home to call some other VW stores...Yep, all out. Even VW online was sold out. That made the desire for a Voyager even greater. I spent an hour on the phone with different stores and finally found one! Even though it was a 30 minute drive, it was worth it! Here is my new touch screen Voyager.

And last but not least we finally got to use our new Kate Spade crystal last night! They were a wedding gift from Aunt Debbie, and we did not want to use them until we were married:) Last night we had our friends Kiersten and Charlie over for dinner. Derek knows Charlie through Evergreen's soccer team and Kiersten is a nurse practitioner I work with at LPCH. Derek cooked a very good dinner of marinated grilled pork tenderloin with mint chutney and toasted pine nut rice pilaf. (What a mouthful!) I snapped this pic before dinner, and then forgot about the camera! (I guess it was the wine) They are such a fun couple to be around and we enjoyed drinking wine and talking most of the night!

"I'm Yours"

2008-08-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks and now I'm trying to get back

Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
I look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

Listen to the music of the moment, people dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved

So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

D-d-do do you, do you, d-d-do, do you want to come?
Scooch on over closer dear, I'll whisper in your ear
Oh yes love, love love love love love
Love you love, love you love

I've been spending way too long tricking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed

I guess what I be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do, our name is our virtue

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours

-Jason Mraz

I miss them:(

2008-08-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Final Fling Before the Ring"

2008-08-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before the wedding Erica and Paige had a bachelorette party for me. It started out at Paige's apartment downtown Cincy and ended up (where we always end up!) in Mt. Lookout square. The party was SO much fun and we had a lot of fun drinks and games. All of my best Friends were there and even Mom:) The decorations were very appropriate(R rated) so I cannot show some! The party was actually in Paige's club room so posted all over the front doors, elevators, and walls was this sign...It was so funny!

Some games!

Out to the bars Downtown!

Thank You Erica and Paige for such a great party! Thanks to all my girls who made the night so much fun:)

Bridal Shower

2008-08-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from my bridal shower that my sister Erica had for me! It was so great to have everyone together!!! The decorations were beautiful and the food was perfect! I was really impressed with how amazing everything turned out considering Erica had just had Griffin 3 weeks earlier!!!

Last night here:(

2008-08-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the last night Erica, Scott and Griffin were in town:( We went out to Taj Palace for Indian food. Derek and Scott said the food was very good...Erica and I said the beer was very good:) Baby G slept the ENTIRE time we were there...with loud Indian music blasting! It was so much fun having them here the past week...I got to spend so much time with baby G, he even laughed on command for me!!! I am so sad to see them go in the morning...Thanks for coming to visit guys!

Holy Cross 7.26.08

2008-08-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Holy Cross Immaculata Church. The Wedding Day was beautiful and the weather was perfect. During the ceremony it started to rain a little and as soon as the ceremony was over there was a big rainbow over the city. Derek and I came out of the church and got to see a big beautiful rainbow above us. It was perfect:)

Wedding Day Hair:) 7.26.08

2008-08-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

A few shots of us getting our hair done! The morning at the salon was so much fun! We had champagne and brunch(Thanks Mom and Paige!)waiting for us while we got our hair done!

Rehearsal Dinner 7.25.08

2008-08-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe that all of the wedding events are over:( It was so much fun and Derek and I loved having all of our family and friends together! Here are some pictures of the rehearsal dinner at Vernon Manor Hotel.

Can't wait!

2008-08-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

The photographer just told us that we still need to wait 4 more weeks to see the professional pictures of our wedding!!! We have some pictures that different family/Friends took...So that will do for now:)

Cat meets baby

2008-08-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

And cat does not like baby! Here is Arnie smelling Griffin...Arnie can not wait to get away!

G loves the camera

2008-08-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Since Griffin has been here I have been having so much fun taking his picture! We don't have much to take pictures of around here (sorry Arnie!) so it has been really fun! Here he is posing with all his cute faces!

Sweet Baby G

2008-08-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Blue Moon

2008-08-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Baby G really liked the pretty blue color on my Blue Moon bottle. Yes, it was empty!

Sushi!

2008-08-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

While Erica and Scott were here in California we thought we should take them out for some good sushi. Here we are with our very best friends Meghan and Rusty:) Baby G slept almost the entire dinner...He is such a good baby!

Hike @ Rancho San Antonio

2008-08-11T09:22:00.001-07:00

Santa Cruz beach with baby G

2008-08-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning we decided to head out to the beach in Santa Cruz. Although it was a little windy, the day turned out to be beautiful and baby G loved his first trip to the beach!

Erica, Scott and Baby G!

2008-08-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

One of the big reasons I started this blog is because I have so many pictures of my new nephew Griffin! My sister Erica and her husband Scott decided to vacation in California and stay with us! We have been so excited to have them here...We have been doing a lot of fun things...Pictures soon!

Finally!

2008-08-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

I did it! I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now...and I finally did it! "Land O Michele" is the title that Derek made for the blog. I could not think of a title and decided to just let him choose....hmm what was I thinking:) Derek and I have had a lot going on lately(new house, new nephew, WEDDING!) and we have so much to be thankful for:) Anyways, I thought this would be a great way for our family and friends to see what we have been up to...Enjoy!