Happy 4th!

Oh yeah...
Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday Bailey

My Bailey girl is 5!I know she's not a puppy anymore, but on occasion I still call her that. Even though she's no longer this:

so tiny! and squirmy! and PUPPY!!!

after her first bath. that glare is due to the fact that she hated it.
(come to think of it, she still gives me that look post bath)

And now more so this:

not so tiny. and not as squirmy
(though just as spazzy and unfocasable)

See the gray? Old girl!
(the hat didn't last long)

Some things have obviously changed, like her overall size and weight.  She doesn't fit on my lap anymore and she likes tummy rubs now. There's noticeable gray in her muzzle now it's starting to spread a little more into the rest of her face. And believe it or not as she's gotten older, she's calmed down a bit (It's true! Stop laughing!) and only takes off on a spaztastic chase around the house when her little sister eggs her on. Not to mention she has that little sister and a papa who loves her most of the time. While other things about Bailey have stayed the same, like how she still throws up in the car, loves to chase cats, hates bathes, and is still the prissy puppy who won't go outside if the grass is wet. 

But as spaztastic as she is, she definitely knew what she was doing that day I showed up at the pound. She made a beeline for us when she escaped her crate then latched onto me the second she was put in my arms, cementing her place in my heart with a kiss on the chin.  She made a huge hullabaloo of crying and catawhomping and clamored to get back into my arms after I set her down for a second. She could feel my heart melt as I picked her back up, while all the while I'm pretty sure she was thinking "Hahahaha! Sucker! I'm going to cost you sooooooooo much!"

But I wouldn't trade my birthday girl for the world. Thousands of dollars in vet bills, all disgusting car trips and all the baths that I end up more wet than her, I still wouldn't trade a day.

Happy birthday Bailey!

It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA

Our gym was bought out by another gym a few months ago, and eventually raised our rates.  We were (ok, Mike was) ok if a small rate hike meant we got an new perk, ie: a pool, a track, or even if the classes were included in the membership and not extra like we (he) were paying now. But the only upgrades we got were new lockers* in the locker room and towel service.  Oh, they also removed the tanning booths, (which is actually a good thing, but the point here is that something was removed but the rates went up) 

In short: the raise hike wasn't really worth it, so we started looking for a new place. (it kinda felt like cheating on our gym though)  All I really need is a treadmill and some classes, though my dream gym has an indoor track. (oh, UK Johnson Center, how I love and miss thee terribly) We checked out 2 places, the YMCA and a place really close to us.

We looked at the Y closest to us first and it has everything we both want. It's almost the same price as what we're (ok, once again Mike's) paying now, but, the classes are included (one's taught by a former Panther!) has an indoor and outdoor pool, (polliwog here I come!) includes childcare (one day we'll need this), and, the clincher for me, an outdoor and indoor track (my runner's heart just skipped a beat!).  All in all, a nice place, at a price slightly lower that what we're paying now, with more stuff than we're getting now.

The 2nd place we looked at was close to our house, and the reason we checked it out is because it's super cheap.  It's fine, pretty much the exact same thing we already have (minus the fancy pants lockers and towel service of course), at 3/4th the price. But. The place had a sign posted that the parking lot has has a lot of break ins recently. There are tanning beds** (also extra even on top of the classes) and the recycle bins are adorned with a Pepsi logo.*** Not to mention the sales guy was pushy since they work on commission. And even if he didn't need to work on his sale tactics,**** (which he did) he he rubbed me wrong way regardless by pointing out what women's problem areas are one too many times (my ass is fine, thankyouverymuch) and then generalizing how women act and feel about those problem areas.* I wouldn't have felt comfortable working out there if my husband wasn't there with me to keep an eye on me. Which, no. (and that's exactly what I said as soon as we walked out of there)

So we're going with the Y for seemingly obvious reasons. Mike and I are even thinking of taking some swimming classes to lean how to be better swimmers. After all, we don't want to be stuck in the polliwog level for all times!

*These new lockers have a built in set your own combination lock, and there's no way to use your own lock anymore. Which is not confusing at all. No one has to go to the front desk since they were locked out of their locker and have someone bring the one master key for the entire place for an entirely new lock system that no one knows really knows how to use yet. Oh, and there's no other way to open the lockers since the hinges are on the inside. No, not confusing at ALL. 
**Overall I don't get tanning booths at gyms in general.  It seems odd that a place promoting healthy living provides skin cancer in a box.
***We are solidly Coke people. Not to mention, soft drink + workout = fail.
****Once he figured out he wasn't going to get a sale from us that very moment, and were not going to bring him any new business either, we were not worth his time. I was all too happy to have him push us out the door.
*once again, keep my tush out of it. Pointing out that my "problem area" (which is fine) is going to get checked out by the clientele which makes women very self conscious; did exactly that. Made me very self conscious right there and uneasy about the possibility of getting checked out as we were getting the tour.

Roomie

me: I've had over 30 different roomates.
kathy: that's a lot.
me: yeah, but a bulk of that 30 is because I lived in a big house with 11 bedrooms for 3 years. And we rotated quarters and subleased all the time, so there was always someone new in the house every quarter.  It was a lot of fun though and I loved it at the time. But no way in hell would I ever do that again.  I only have one roomate now though.  Good thing I like him a lot since he's  a permanent one.
mike: And we share a bedroom. What's up roomie?
me: That's right baby, roomates for life.

We fist bump to make it official. That's the dorky part. The sweet part is that we made sure it was our wedding bands that bumped.

Here Comes the Bride (ME!!)

So, I haven't even blogged about the wedding! After blogging about the bubble of tulle for a year, I have yet to show and tell about the happiest day of my life.  This will be a pretty heavy picture post (which for me, means something like, 5 photos), but I don't think any of you will mind!

The whole whole weekend was perfect, everything went smoothly, the weather was great (hot, but no rain) and everyone had a great time it seemed. The beginning of the reception was a bit sloppy from the dj and a few communication blips with our venue, but the day was still just perfect.

The day started with a Thriller dance lesson: 

Seriously. Flash mobs don't just happen on their own

Then onto the salon where we were the weirdest bridal party ever to them

Fun fact: Jeanne's grandma made my veil. It was beautiful and perfect and I hope to pass it down to my children and/or grandchildren one day. That and it was super fun to dance with like a cape! 

We headed back to my parents' house for lunch and to get ready until the limo arrived to take us off to the theater

We got held up in some graduation traffic on the way, and I wondered if I needed to call mike to let him know I was on my way. Then someone pointed out that the entire bride's side not there yet would probably be enough of a clue .

Waited excitedly in the dressing rooms for a few minutes before I got ready to walk down the aisle

My heart was racing a thousand miles a minute but it was a good racing!

Walked down the aisle and met my groom

He was up there waiting for me while I tried my hardest to not sprint up there and squeal out loud!

Got married 

the first 'official' kiss
(without thinking, we had kissed hello the second we met at the alter!)

Took lots and lots of pictures

 lots and lots of happy

And then partied down! Which included: 

Dances with our parents: 

Too Marvelous for Words for me and my dad, and The Man That You've Become for Mike and his mom. The dj played a different version of the song my mother-in-law picked out. I think this picture is when they figure that out, but obviously every one's too happy to really care

The coolest groom's cake ever

Everyone LOVED the shark cake. And the wedding cake was beautiful too!

The aforementioned flash mob: 

Thriller! My wedding present from my high school crew. Nothing says happily ever after like zombies! 

Cake cutting

We're both thinking: how do even cut the shark cake?!

And cake eating

They were both quite tasty in addition to being beautiful

More dancing: 

I just love this picture of my sister

And the happiest couple in the world: 

Best. Day. Ever!!!!!

Chapstick

So, my bridal party was probably one of the weirdest bridal parties the salon had ever had.

• reason 1: I didn't want any glitter anywhere on my face, near me, or my posse. My bridal portraits/trial makeup run, the makeup artist used a glitter eyeshadow at first, which was just not me. And you don't want glitter/shiny makeup that day anyway because it can photograph weird.  And my face was just too "done" for the portraits. (in fairness to my makeup artist, I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted, and it's not her fault she couldn't create something in my head that I couldn't even explain) So wedding day, I brought my own makeup (with no sparkles), and (honestly) loved the results.
• reason 2: I was not a picky bride in the slightest. With the exception of the dress color and skirt length, I didn't dictate what anyone's look should be in general. When it came to hair and makeup, I didn't care what anyone did or didn't do, as long as they were happy with the result.  If they wanted an updo, they could have an updo. If they wanted down, that was cool with me.  I guess they are used to brides who want everyone to look the same so that the bride stands out more, but I figured my big white dress and overall giddiness would be enough for people to know who I was. 
• reason 3: We had to convince my mom to get her makeup done in the first place. So when she was done with her hairstylist and came into the makeup area, my sister and I both squealed with surprise and delight that she had an updo. (as far as I remember, my mom has never had an updo. I don't think I've ever even seen her with a ponytail)  She was so cute!  But she was thinking that she would do her makeup at home. I love my mom very much, but she doesn't do her own makeup well. (a good place to start would be if bought makeup that worked with her skin tone, and didn't just use whatever random stuff my sister and I have left behind) And this was a big event for her too (mother of the bride and all that business), and she had every right to go a little fancier than normal.  So after my sister and I told her to "just get a little something done," and the makeup artist said with fancy hair you need fancy makeup, she got her makeup done. Of course, having to convince her to get her makeup done in the first place, means she understated what she wanted makeup wise.  
• reason 4: We all super understated what we wanted. I warned my posse about trial makeup, so we were all a little wary of how heavy they put makeup on. We all know that you can always add, but taking away/toning down is much much harder.  Plus Priya and Jeanne had a male makeup artist who had a full face of makeup on himself.  And, while his makeup was beautiful, gay man logic implies our idea of full face of makeup was about 14 levels below of what his idea of full face makeup was.  You could tell all the makeup artist were reigning themselves in and tampering their own version of done, but the end result is that everyone liked what they had.    
• reason 5: LB doesn't wear lipstick.  She doesn't wear a lot of makeup in general, and when it came time to put the lipstick, the makeup artist was at a slight loss. 
• makeup artist: what do you wear on your lips?
• lb: chapsick.
• makeup artist: seriously?
• lb: yes
• makeup artist: Wow, that's a new one. We've heard 'clear,' or 'gloss' and even 'tinted lip balm'. But chapstick is a new one. That's going on our facebook page.

So yeah, we were a very odd bridal party to them I bet. But the end result was that everyone looked great, everyone was happy with what they got done, and the day was fabulous!

See? We all look so pretty!
And I think I stand out pretty well if I do say so for myself