The word of the day is...

Overdue. O-V-E-R-D-U-E. Overdue.

Dan got back on Halloween safe and sound, with all luggage and limbs intact. Others were not so fortunate...not so much in the limbs department, but more the luggage department.

[Que that dreamy, flashback music along with a foggy overlay]

It was a Tuesday...but not any ordinary Tuesday...for Dan would be returning from his trip to South Africa. A reunion that would...okay, enough of that. I talked to Dan while he was in Wash. DC for a 4+ hour layover, and really wasn't thinking about work that day at all. He wasn't going to be hungry when he got home, since he was eating lunch in the airport rather than just a snack on the plane, so my big plan of having dinner ready for him was foiled! (Pun intended)

I left work around 1:30 so I could go home and prep the dinner anyway instead of taking time away later. Stephanie had given me the fabulous idea (and recipes) of cooking a pork tenderloin along with asparagus in the oven, and I was already planning on making a sweet potato casserole. Mmmm, the dinner would be grand. I already put the sweet potato casserole together the night before, along with carrot cake cupcakes and chocolate-covered strawberries. All I had to do was put spices on the meat and asparagus, wrap in foil, stick in the fridge, prep myself a little (wink, wink) and be on my way to the airport for his 3:00 arrival. A friend of ours from work wanted to come to the airport also, so he picked me up and we zoomed off.

Long story made shorter for blogging purposes...Dan arrived back home to a (mostly) spotless apartment, minus some boxes stacked up in strategic corners, showed me his souvenirs and took a shower. After that, I threw dinner in the oven, acted like I had slaved over it all day long, and in an hour we had one of the best dinners (if I may say so myself). However, the genius that I am forgot to chill the wine during the day so we couldn't have it with dinner, but we chilled it and had it with our chocolate covered strawberries later.

All was great and it was so good to have him back home. We've already decided that there won't be any more separations like that again. Pathetic I know.

[End flashback sequence]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Wedding and misc. chatter]
Dan and I glued liners and stuffed envelopes with STDs last night. We took our "crabs" and will mail them to other people, that's our wedding gift to our friends and family. I hope they like it. ;) Now all we have to do is address those puppies and get them out the door! We're also planning a little something else that's still a secret to most people, and I printed out the stuff for that last night too. It's been so nice to work with paper again, making things with my hands rather than a mouse. I made personalized address labels too that I'm in love with. They're nothing fancy, but I still love them. After everything is in the mail/delivered I'll post pictures for you to see. Wouldn't want to spoil any designs or surprises!

Tonight Dan and I get to meet with our photographer and pick up our engagement picture DVD!! I loved the ones on the website that I can't WAIT to see the rest. I don't remember if I've posted it here or not, but if you go to our photographer's website he has a select number of our engagement pictures posted for others to see his work. If you click on "Engagement" toward the bottom of the links, we're the second couple down the page! LOVE them!

I can't think of anything else right now, so I'll leave you with pictures of Dan's first night back and a layout from last weekend.


Mmmm, chocolate covered strawberries

Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Pork tenderloin, roasted asparagus and sweet potato casserole

Note to self: put pot holders on the registry

My darling around 9:00 that night, hehe.


See credits here. The photo was taken at O'Charley's the day of our engagement session. Don't you just love being able to whip out your camera at dinner and make everyone in the place look at you when they see a flash? ;)

Seven months from today...

...is our wedding day. I can't believe it.

--------
ETA: I forgot all about this post! It's Wednesday now, I did it last Friday, but blogger had a problem and wouldn't publish it. Better late than never!
--------

Other things I can't believe:

On Thursday my mom and I went to the wedding district in Cincinnati. We only went to one place and I probably tried on about 10 dresses while I was there. Once I got to the 7th or 8th one and tried it on, none of the others compared. I had found my princess dress! I'm so in love with it that I can't stop looking that the picture mom took of me. Of course I wasn't thinking, so we didn't get a picture of the back, but maybe I can eventually. The place we went wouldn't let us take pictures of all the dresses I tried on, only the one I chose, but I'll have that one on the photosite if you want to check it out. If you don't remember the password to the folder, let me know and I'll give it to you! So EXCITED!

I also asked Sheri to be my matron of honor and she accepted! Then, I asked Mandy to be a bridesmaid and she accepted too! I coudn't be happier that they're sharing this with me. I don't even have the words to say... :)

Things seem to be moving along and I know the time will fly by before I know it. The STDs (save the dates) are done for the most part and should be out next week. Now our next step is to get a cake!

So how do you like the new look? I think I'm going to keep this short, get ready for bed and read a little. My darling comes home on Tuesday, can't wait! Goodnight!

Birthday schtuff and other rambling...

[Product placement]

Remember that trip to the mall that Sheri and I took on Sunday? And those B&BW products we added to our collections. Well Sheri told me about a this scent that she absolutely loves and if you know me, you know that I don't stand a chance against peer pressure. I didn't want to buy the whole kit 'n kaboodle in case I didn't like the scent, so I just bought a little gift set with mini sizes of moisture wash, hand lotion, and roll-on perfume. Let me tell you I can't get enough of this stuff! I'm going to go back and buy the regular sizes and you should too! Apparently they don't make the roll-on perfume in anything but the gift sets because I don't see it on the website, but it's to die for! It has permanent residence in my purse along with the lotion. I hope no one walks by my cube at work as I'm sniffing my wrists and hands, wouldn't want them to think I belong in the looney bin or anything!

[Birthday festivities ]

Besides the previously mentioned birthday activities, I also went to have dinner and dessert with my parents. I went armed with my camera hoping to get some cute shots, and I certainly came through. Let the pictures begin...

Since I'm a last minute daugher and I always say that I don't want to do anything for my birthday, you can imagine the problems my poor mother endures. I just wanted to go out to a nice dinner together. So when she calls asking what kind of cake I want and mentions a few different options...including the ever famous ice cream cake or a big chocolate chip cookie cake, I decided to go for the cookie cake this year. However, the mall she and my dad went to didn't have one of the cookie places, and the next best store didn't have a birthday one. Instead, I got double holidays - my birthday and Halloween, lol. Worked for me, and no melting in my car to get it home.


That is my mom caught in the act after she swiped black icing off the cookie...
with the cake knife I might add...gorgeous.


Crazy younger brother who's a model at heart. :)


Rob has taught the cat how to play hide-and-seek, and I had to take a picture of it. To play the game, Rob peeks out from around a corner, looks at the cat and then hides again (like his pose above). He repeats this process a few times until the cat dashes around the corner to find him. I had to laugh my behind off at this, considering I didn't think you could teach a cat to do squat! You can be sure this photo will show up in a layout!


The birthday girl...


There she is again...


The happy siblings.
Of course Rob couldn't put down his mega combo bag of sour patch kids and swedish fish.


Got Rob to put down the superstar glasses and jumbo bag of candy to pose with his favorite sister. He used to be shorter than me, where did I go wrong?

I didn't get any pictures of my dad, so that's the goal for next time. And yes, Rob has leftover eyeliner on in the last picture from a show the night before. Overall, the day was good fun and I even got some jammies from my mom, I believe they were this set here.

[Other rambles]

I think I might be bringing my friend Mandy over to the blogger side of the world. She has a xanga, but I think she can do much better (she does too, hehe). We'll see how that goes. I've wanted to switch to the new beta, but my current template won't work because it's so specialized. I'd have to start from scratch on the template. Anyone else on the beta yet?

I know a couple people already, but anyone else watching the Bachelor? OH, how funny they all want to be princesses, especially Miss Timeline girl whose timeline for marriage is working out perfectly! I thought they'd bring Erica back for more than just voting. At least that's what the preview seemed like... like they've done in other seasons bringing the one psycho girl back. Oh well, I like the girls he gave roses to first for hometown dates, so I'm excited to see next week's show. Of course they had to show the dad who brings out the gun upon meeting him for the first time!

Well I'm off. Enjoy Tuesday and your hump day!