Appointments, shopping, and lists - oh my!

Appointments

I had two adjustment appointments this week with my chiropractor. I got to see my x-rays and talk about a plan for the next 10 weeks. It seems I have a LOT of rotated vertebrae - lower/middle back rotated left and some upper back rotated right - fun. How the heck did that happen? I really like my doctor and her office, though, so I'm stoked about all the visits. [Sheri: remember "Today I'm feeling... STOKED..."] I was just there yesterday and have to go back Monday... "Didn't I just see you?" So, OUT with the back and neck aches!

Last Tuesday night, Dan and I went to a home buying seminar to learn more about the process. Dan already knew some of it, and I just sat and took it all in. I probably couldn't tell you a whole lot about it now, but Dan is the number cruncher and is figuring out different ways to work the system buy our FIRST house - possibly in the spring. Very exciting and scary at the same time.

On Wednesday after work I went to a new family doc in the area - NOT a big fan. I hadn't been to a doctor since last September, so in the meantime I was falling apart at my old age and had a lot of questions. Questions warrant listening and answers. If you count underlying (with some overlying) tones of judgment and a feeling of being rushed as ANSWERS, then she may be your gal. I'll give you her card! Or maybe it's just my imagination. She might be lucky enough to get a second chance in case I was just off my game that day - or she was off HER game - but for now I'm left with no answers to my questions until I make an appointment for blood work and go from there.

Shopping

I'm now ready to entertain! Since Dan and I registered at BB&B for our wedding (among other places), we got a coupon to save 10% off anything that wasn't purchased by guests. That was A LOT since we also registered at Target. No more explanation needed there. And the coupon was only good for three months past our wedding date, so we went SHOPPING! Here is a glimpse of our loot...

For our Christmas party last year, we had to borrow a lot of things from my mom, including divided servers for fruits and veggies. Now we have our own. I'm thinking we should have bought two...


And for our wedding we got a three-tiered serving thing with square plates that is AWESOME. If we don't want to use it as a tiered server, we can just use the plates alone for serving. Genius. This server is the same deal - from the same designer - we can use it tiered or just the bowls. We got several more things, including an ice bucket and plastic bag holder, but I haven't opened it all yet. I'm still trying to rationalize this spent CHUNK of change. Definitely would be fun to make our Christmas par-tay an annual thing, though. Raise your hands if you would attend! It wouldn't be an "apartment warming" or "bring an ornament" party because we have plenty of that now, but I promise it would be GOOD times.

I also bought some much needed dress pants at this place the other day because I had city cash to spend. I'm also second-guessing them because I'm in between sizes. I could wait and lose a little more weight to fit into the next size down... or hope that I can perfectly shrink two of the FOUR pairs I bought because they're cotton and will stretch out (almost fall off) as I wear them. The other two are mainly polyester and should be better. Sometimes I hate pants. I'll just wear skirts during the winter, how about that?

Okay, so who cares about my pants woes. I think the underlying reason I'm examining my purchases is because THIS is the next big buy Dan and I want to make. Mmmm, 10.1 megapixels of in-between-consumer-and-professional camera goodness. And it would be DARN good to have that puppy in my hands for the holidays. 'Nough said.

Lists

Yep, couldn't get by without mentioning some kind of LIST around here. I'm currently working on my 101 in 1001 list and will have it posted by September FIRST! I don't plan to fill it all up now because I'm sure that more fabulous goals will come to me in the future - I want to leave the possibilities wide open. OH, and how COOL is this?! Starting on 09.01.07 and adding 1001 days brings me to 05.28.10. If it wasn't a leap year in 2008, my 1001 days would be up on 05.27.10. May 27th, 2010...woah crazy. MAY 27TH - THREE years of the married life to celebrate. Soooo, I could start my 1001 days on August 31st and take advantage of TWO big milestones on 05.27.10. Or just have two good days in a row to celebrate. Decisions... Opinions?

Here's a cool thing I found the other day through the blog grapevine. August 26th (TOMORROW) starts a Holiday Grand Plan. The blog gives you printable lists and calendars for cleaning/tasks to accomplish EACH WEEK to bring you through to a more organized and prepped holiday. I think we could all use a little bit of that. Dan and I are going to tackle it and I'd love to have people to tackle it with us.

Oh my

Dan is gone all day throwing his friend's bachelor par-tay. Should be a fun day of ca-brew-ing and bar shenanigans for them. We made a t-shirt last night for the lucky bachelor to wear tonight - with a "honey-do list" of things he needs to complete at the bar. Mwa-haha. That reminds me I should see if my camera is around for charging, or if Mr. Best Man already took it.

As for me today, it's time to find a yummy lunch and complete the following...

• make a map card for Mandy's wedding invites
• work on the invitation for Dan's grandparents' surprise anniversary party
  (that's a mouthful)
• come up with an invoice sheet for rye-designs.com
  
• finish that layout of myself with some kind of journaling
  
• listen to Craig and Linus on repeat while completing above tasks
  

Ah, and something that fits better into this list - I was offered another class to teach in November. ALL RIGHT! That means some extra cash, but also less time for doing holiday things. The class will run Thursday nights from November 15th to December 20th with Thanksgiving off. YIKES! HOPEfully the grand plan will help with that. Along with starting things earlier rather than procrastinating. Time to MOVE!

P.S. - do the storytelling bolds, CAPITALS, and italics annoy you? If so, I don't know if I would stop because they FUN and it's my blog, but don't be afraid to let me know. ;)

My forgetful mind...

In thinking about the things I'm digging lately, and what I'm going to put on my 101 in 1001 list, I forgot a few tidbits!

Here's another thing I'm digging - Donna Downey's Inspired. event this April. It's so tempting to go and work with different artists and mediums, playing with all sorts of art, and SHOPPING, but the price is the catch and the event/hotel fees are separate. I could take Dan with me, though, because they'll have golfing and stuff for the guys (even though he may want to join in the workshops - which would total a LOT of money). Anyone else want to go and play in the art with me? :) Registration opens September 15th!

I cleaned off the half of Dan's desk that had extra monitors on it - pretty quickly actually. I got the most important things in baskets that I can use for making cards, invitations, or mini albums. The rest of the stuff is still in the craft closet. But apparently I'm not supposed to USE this desk for my crafts because Urpel already claimed it as HER personal lounge. Crazy cat.




And finally, I scrapped a layout in the last week! AMAZING! This brings me up to a GRAND total of FOUR layouts for the year, lol. I did start another one right after this one, I just haven't figured out what I want the journaling to be. It's a page about me, that's all I know. These photos are from Dan's bachelor party in May. In the bottom photo, his friends are singing You've lost that lovin' feeling to a girl celebrating her bachelorette. I wasn't there to know that, but I've seen the footage my dad took. Quite entertaining! ;)


See it in my gallery here. Made with Holly McCaig's "Boyfriend" kit. Fonts are barcode, pea jenny script, jailbird jenna, and top secret.

That's about it for today... that I can remember. After work I'm meeting my mom for pedicures - BADLY needed right now - and seeing where the night takes me from there! Have a FABulous weekend!

It's the daily things, really...

Things that I'm digging lately, in no particular order:

• I thought I was in Heaven seeing the Martha Stewart line of crafts at Michael's... but now I'm hearing about her exclusive collection at Macy's. Mmmm, that white serving ware is making me DROOL just thinking about it.
  
  
• Ali Edwards' Daily Something is really inspiring me right now, even though I won't be committing to it anytime soon. I love the idea of creating a little something everyday, even if it is just for 10 or 15 minutes and using simple products...just to get the stories out there. But that's not the way I create (maybe it should be?), I'm sloooooow and deliberative. Something to think about! Ali even gave away a "daily something" Photoshop brush or .png file, so go pick it up!
  
  
• I've found a couple people making 101 in 1001 lists. What a concept! I saw on Elsie Flannigan's blog how she made a layout to do 24 things before she turns 25 in a few months. I'm also having a birthday in a couple months - we won't discuss my UPCOMING AGE - but I thought I could do a similar layout for the little goals that could be accomplished in two months. Until I saw the 101 in 1001. Choosing 101 things to accomplish is 1001 days. Pretty much the same, but allowing some longer term goals and things that can only be done in certain seasons, etc. Maybe I'll do both challenges? Who knows. I'm all about the lists and goals lately, but dallying around online and gaining inspiration is a MAJOR part of my vocab also. So maybe I need to make a list and be held accountable. What do you say? (Really, I just want a reason to use a blogger category because I'm too lame eclectic to have posts consisting of only one topic.)
  
  
• I have a new artist on my repeat-until-it-dies playlist. This guy: Linus of Hollywood. Long story short (ha!) - there is a new show on Showtime called Californication with David Duchovny, and one of LoH's songs was on a promo. Got it? Dan was able to figure out who the artist was and find his myspace. Hopefully this guy can't tell how many times I've played the promo song The Girl I'll Never Have or another good one, Farewell to the King. I might have to buy them. Let's see if I can embed the youtube promo.
  
  

Other things lately:

At the end of July, I met up with Mandy, her mom, her future MIL, and future SIL to find her bridesmaids' dresses. We knocked out that task in about two hours flat, and found a very classy dress. And I think it'll have thick enough fabric and look awesome in her winter wedding. And who could argue when the dress is going to be a purplish wine color? ;)

Last weekend Dan and I went to visit Sheri and her hubby, Adam, in Columbus. We got to check out their first house, have dinner and ice cream (the latter at a very interesting house you can read about on her blog). We also played around in Photoshop while the boys played video games. Here's a photo I took while we were driving (as if you couldn't tell). I like that the clouds make it look like I'm picking my nose. Can you see me?

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you look behind me you'll see the lovely Ohio interstate 71 north - somewhere between the Red Bank and Kenwood Cincinnati areas. And always remember, objects in your mirror are closer than they appear..."

Today I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life, and it was actually pretty enjoyable. Mainly a consultation, x-rays, and figuring out what the heck is WRONG WITH MY BACK! I've always had back pain, and since college I've endured a couple pinched/pulled things. Poor Dan was with me for the last one when I woke up one morning, turned my head to look across the room, and heard SNAP in my neck! Holy freaking PAIN, Batman! Actually, Dan wasn't there, but came home about 10 minutes later with me crying that I couldn't get out of bed. After many days of babying myself with drugs and using IcyHot (good thing I was off work for Christmas and New Year's), I could finally sit up and lay down on my own without piercing pain. Then I caught the flu for New Year's 2006, go ME!

Anyway, I have my next appointment with the very nice chiro lady on Monday during lunch. She thinks that there is a shift (?) on my left side, but will know more once she sees the x-rays. I don't know all the chiro lingo - I just know I have issues. Yeah, yeah...

Time to do something productive now that it's almost time for bed.

Lovely random things...

I'm IT! I was tagged by Stephanie, so let's see if I can think up some random things about moi...

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

• Whenever I find a new song or album that I like, I play the heck out of it. That's what I've been doing with Craig's new album. I'll listen to some other songs when I start to get tired of the new one(s), but I come right back to the new. It's especially horrible when someone is in the car with me and all I want to do is play a new song on repeat...have to restrain myself.
  
• It's my own medical diagnosis, but I think I have a little ADD mixed in with a little OCD. I'll start on one thing and think about something else in the meantime, which will lead me to do/remember something else, which will lead me on to five other things...you get the picture. Then I'll remember what I started doing originally and repeat. And the OCD can be seen in the above point about music, finding new obsessions, my need to have things a certain (perfect) way, etc.
  
• A friend in high school gave me the nickname Vixter, among other "Vic" variations. When I wanted my first personalized license plate, the license bureau wouldn't let me use my graduation year (because they couldn't differentiate between zero and the letter O), so I decided to use Vixter. On a similar note, the car with that license plate was lovingly deemed "The Skittle" by Mandy. That car has since been handed down to my younger brother and wrecked. :(
  
• I have ridiculous motion sickness. The Dramamine stays by my side for every road trip and vacation. Macon, Georgia will forever be remembered for my car sickness on a trip to Florida.
  
• Cinderella is my all-time favorite Disney princess. She was my inspiration on wedding day, especially as I walked down the aisle to "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes."
  
• Growing up, I always wondered what it would be like to have a twin. Since I didn't have one, I've hoped for a long time to have twins of my own someday. Our twin kitties are a start, haha...
  
• Some may know this already, but I have a fear of making phone calls that I never/rarely make, and voice mails. If you call my cell phone you will not hear a greeting from me - you will hear the Sprint lady telling you to leave a message, and if I leave you a voice mail you are very lucky indeed. I would rather fight and scream before having to make a phone call to someone I've never called before, and I will get very frustrated when I hang up if the call does not go well.
  
• I don't like old office supplies. I would rather throw out old pens and pencils, scissors, folders, etc. and go to buy new pretty ones - and roam the aisles of the office supply store.

Let's see... I'll tag Sheri, Mandy, and anyone who is reading that hasn't been tagged. I can't think of eight people! :)

Topics o'plenty...

Oh, married life...how I must learn to balance all of your different facets. Would you mind possibly putting a few more hours into my day? Maybe that'll help me tackle everything without the weeks flying by and me failing to accomplish it all...I'm sure it would. Or maybe I should just give up my hobbies for a while, that could help - I haven't completed anything hobby-wise lately - I'd have a lot more time for home and wifely things that way, right? Oh, married life...give me your wisdom.

Music
Right now I'm listening to Craig Lyon's new album, Goodbye You. I met him through Dan, who met him through our friends, and we saw him play in Cincy a few times. He moved out to LA so we obviously can't see him play, but he just released this album and is up for some awards. Very cool guy and mucho talented, so go check out his myspace or buy his new album for only $10. My fav song is Change, listen to that one first . ;) If you go listen or buy, let me know what your fav song is.

Books
I've been on a book craze lately. In the last few years, the most I've read included Harry Potter one and two, and some Chicken Soup books. Easy reading. But after reading about different book reviews in the blog world, and getting a book to read for our small group, I was kick-started into an obsession. Here's my list lately - holding myself back from buying more until I can finish what I have (flashbacks to being a child and not finishing my dinner, ick).

I know, I'm WAY behind the times here. Harry Potter THREE. But what can I do? I was on chapter five in this one from a couple years ago, but I decided to re-read those five chapters before moving forward. I was toying with the notion that I had already seen this movie, because I remembered it SO vividly, but now that I've read more I'm sure I haven't seen it. I'm halfway through this book - switching between this one and our small group book.

This is our small group book, and one that's really helping me to see what marriage was designed to be.
[This is no ordinary self-help book on the Christian family; it focuses far less on how to improve one's marriage than how one's marriage can improve one's Christian faith. Author Thomas even goes so far as to suggest that "God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy," an idea that may shock romantically inclined Americans.]

I read a few pages of this one on Google book search after seeing it on Gina's blog. I was immediately pulled into the story and HAD to buy it. It has a longer description than I want to post here, but check it out here. I won't be reading this one until I finish one of the first two...drats.






Disregard the "search inside" thing on my pretty picture. This one is from the same author as above, so I read a few pages of it and was SUCKED into it, too! I also won't be reading this one for a while either, but I'm darn excited to start it. It has a similar murder theme like The Lovely Bones, but is based on the author's life.



Kitty babies
I haven't shown any pictures of them in a while, so I have some today! Our babies have gotten so big and have such different personalities. Merry does this thing now where Dan will open our bedroom door in the morning, while I'm still in bed snoozing, and she'll bust through and jump up on the bed to lick my face and nudge her head into my hands. For some reason she won't do this when the situation is reversed. If I open the door and Dan is still in bed, she'll still jump onto the bed, but doesn't bother waking up Dan or licking his face. Dan says he's trained her well. Right now, Merry is laying under my desk and licking my TOES every so often. Gotta make sure they're clean, I guess!

Urpel is still very independent. She likes to lay on the couch with Dan, but must approach the situation herself. If you try to approach her she's more keen on running away.

We bought them a blue feather toy because the last feather toy we bought them only had three or four actual feathers in it - they had them ripped out within a few days. They're in love with this thing. One day Merry tried to get it up on a dining room chair with her so she could lay/play with it. Hilarious! Oh, and see my little clown there... Merry with the circus collar? We thought that was too funny at the pet store so we picked it up with the blue toy. The girls didn't think it was as funny, and kept looking around every time the bells on it would ring.

Urpel and I, after she got the collar treatment... mwa-haha. She looks happy, right?

And LOOK! The first one was Merry at Christmas time, and the second was Merry today! My baby is as big as the sink! And unlike her younger days, I had to put treats in the sink to bribe her into it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
Because Dan is SO awesome, he made some changes around the kitchen...

And I decided to switch up our bathroom a little... and there's Urpel taking the last of Merry's bribery treats.

Dan put a couple not-in-use monitors into storage so I could have some extra desk space for CRAFTY things. Now I just have to figure out how I want to arrange things in the baskets we have, and get rid of the mess in here. Sounds easy, right?

Other random things lately...

• We bought Fla-vor-ice popsicles at the store yesterday and I've had three already. I forgot how GOOD those things are.
• Website work is moving sloooowly with the combination of life - see discussion at beginning of post. I'm also not sure what direction I want to take in displaying samples, and that zaps time trying to figure it out.
• If you have some room in your prayer life, throw in a good one for a family in our small group. They've been going through a very rocky time and have so many things to deal with every day. Much appreciated.