6/30/10

4 Hours...

and counting.

Til Marrvelous walks in the door, drops his bags, brushes his teeth and crawls into bed.

I am a happy, happy girl. I really would rather not go 10 nights apart ever again.

(AND Pretty in Pink is on TV right now...um, Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness? Perfection in a song)

Happy Wednesday night everyone!

6/27/10

175 Days

I wanted to wait and share this news on the blog after we spoke to our families and made them aware of our plans first.

Originally Marrvelous and I had envisioned a wedding celebration next summer (either Memorial or Labor Day to capitalize on the long weekend), in the city, with roughly 130 guests. We thought if we waited until next year, it would give us more time to save and plan, as well as give the Scottish guests a lot more time to prepare. As months went by (and as witnessed here) we were struggling with what we wanted to do, what we wanted our wedding to look like, feel like, etc. I admit, I definitely got caught up in a lot of the blogs - I mean, have you seen Style Me Pretty? And during that time, we felt so stressed, so confused, there was definitely a bit more bickering...all of the emotions that neither one of us wanted to associate with our celebration.

6/25/10

Ceremony Venue

This morning I'm going to visit the final two venues in contention for the ceremony.

With checkbook in hand.

And Marrvelous in Denver.

Eeek! We may have a place to get hitched by the end of the day - scary and exciting all at the same time!

6/20/10

Father's Day...

Just wanted to wish all the dads out there a happy day. And send a special happy thought out in the universe to my pops - This is my 3rd Father's Day without him, it's gone by so fast. It wasn't always a smooth relationship, and not always rosy. But I know that he loved me, and tried his best, and I miss him.



[Bob, otherwise known as Moose]



[Christmas 2004 - although a bit blurry]

Day 1

Dropped Marrvelous at the airport at 3:30 this afternoon for a 10 night work trip to Denver. After parking the car back in the city, I immediately walked to our favorite special treat spot - yogorino. We always go together, it's like a mini-date night...get our favorite toppings, walk back towards the house, stop off in Rittenhouse Square to eat the yumminess. It almost felt like cheating by going by myself tonight. But I needed the pick me up. I then came home, got in comfy clothes and promptly ordered Young Victoria off the tv - a movie I was positive he wouldn't be upset to have missed (but I thought it was great). Now I'll finish the evening by flipping through InStyle in bed.

Sigh.

Only 9 more nights to go.

6/18/10

Catios

I casually mentioned to Marrvelous last week that I had read an article on one of my favorite home design sites that talked about outdoor spaces suitable for cats. And how all of the people in the comments provided a dozen or so different ideas on how they made a space safe for their kitties to play in the fresh air. Most of them were screened in patios or sun rooms, and well, that's not going to be happening anytime soon at our center city apartment.

We were instantly intrigued though. Our two cuties, Samson and Reina, love lying by our glass doors that lead from the top floor loft out to the start of the roof deck. They are mesmerized by the leaves blowing, birds hopping along, and other general outdoorsy activities. Marrvelous and I have also discussed the fact that with the amount of times we like to have people over to sit up on the deck, it could be slightly dangerous with all those same people opening and closing those doors. We've tried sitting in the loft (where our computer is) and keeping the doors open. There is a hanging mesh screen in place to help keep out flying bugs and it deterred Sammy and Rei at the beginning. But slowly they've been creeping out and trying to inspect the great outdoors. In comes...Kitty Leash!

6/10/10

Writer's Workshop: 30 Things I vow to do this Summer

I came across this make up your own list of "30 Things I Vow to do This Summer" on Mama's Losin' It blog by way of You Just Can't Google Everything, which by the way is an awesome blog name though I do Google everything.

So I thought, what better way to get in gear and produce a to-do list (with hopefully some fun things thrown in it) than distract myself at work with another blog post!

1. Thoroughly enjoy myself on all-girls' Chicago weekend trip
2. Finally try a quinoa recipe
3. Go to the beach
4. Go to the beach (repeat performance hopefully!)
5. Thoroughly enjoy myself on my all-girls' camping weekend trip
6. Eat minimum 6 smores on said camping trip
7. Take our engagement photos
8. Buy at least one new bathing suit for above beach trips, camping trips, etc...
9. Buy a racket and proceed to allow Marrvelous to school me in the ways of tennis
10. Select/Confirm/Pay for wedding ceremony venue
11. Get out on the golf course at least 3 times to better my game
12. Thoroughly enjoy myself with Marrvelous and his two best mates on our North Carolina weekend getaway
13. Read a new book every two weeks
14. Hang family/friend photos on our wall
15. Continue to school Marrvelous in the ways of lacrosse
16. Be better about blogging
17. Host more bbqs on our glorious roof deck
18. Right after I regarden and plant more greenery up there!
19. Buy a wedding dress - or at least go and try some on!
20. Enjoy lazy nights on the deck with Marrvelous and a 6 pack
21. Scheme more ways to work in vegetarian only meals or days in our life
22. Take the annual goals from my upcoming work evaluation and really start making a name for myself at my Org.
23. Spend more time with my aunt helping her around her house
24. Start working on our housing arrangements in Florida for the holidays
25. Save, save, save
26. Right after I get a couple of cute summer dresses that is
27. and cute sandals
28. Experiment with homemade pizzas
29. Take more time to call friends (and skype with the little one in San Diego!)
30. Snuggle with my family and continue to be amazed at how great my life is!

Honeymoons (Part I)

So as it has become increasingly clear around here - I heart travel. To me, the honeymoon is where it's at! And recently there's been a lot of chatter in the interwebs about honeymoons - where to go, when to go, how long to go, how much to spend, and more. It got me thinking.

I feel like you often hear about these couples who go to Bora Bora, Fiji or some other far-off tropical locale. Do you realize how expensive it is to go to any of these amazing places? And this, after they've just typically spent a good deal on the wedding itself. Pretty astounding. Don't get me wrong, I am counting down until the day Marrvelous and I can jet off to the Maldives and shack up in a bad ass bungalow propped out over the water, where I can stare at the fishies swimming underneath through the glass floor and then just jump off from my own personal dock to go for a dip. I am ALL ABOUT IT. Trust me on that.

6/4/10

Work Schmork

It's a pain in the rear when work and other life responsibilities get in the way of blogging. I've had a much longer post on the drafting board for way too long. Thank goodness for the weekend!

Although...it is Philly Beer Week so we'll see how much coherent, sober writing I end up doing.

I'll be thinking of y'all while I tip back a few (or more)!

Ben with the Hammer of Glory (used by our mayor to tap the opening keg tonight...man I heart this city)