Engagement pics, a wedding and Halloween delight!

The Man and I are extremely happy (and relieved) with our engagement pictures. I LOVE our engagement photographer. In fact, Jon and I said that if we hadn't already put down the deposit for our photographer in Hawaii, we would seriously consider having our engagement photographer travel for our wedding. He was so easy to work with, very patient with our questions and has comparable prices. It's really easy to tell that he loves his job and takes great pride in his work. Most importantly (and I believe this is just as important as taking good photos,) he provides great customer service. Didn't pressure us or rush us and helped us understand the difference between eight photographs when all of them looked the same to us! He had taken 85 pictures of us and (thanks be!) there were some photographs that we really really liked. Yes, I have fully embraced the weddingness and am glad we decided to take pictures to commemorate our engagement.
Make no mistake, though. We ended up dropping a butt load more money than we thought we would. I have no doubt that my bank is going to call me again to make sure my credit card wasn't stolen (they did this when I put down a deposit for the venues and bought my wedding sandals all in one weekend.) But we truly hope and believe that this will be our first and last marriage so we chose 1o different photos that we can treasure when we are old. Two are with the puppies.
We also attended Kim's wedding this weekend. It was beautiful. I felt like such a sap because I teared up when she came down the aisle. She had a gorgeous dress that made her looks like a princess and she was simply beautiful. Her wedding was at a vineyard in Livermore and the weather couldn't have been any better! The sun was out, we had a breathtaking view of the vineyard and a nice breeze to keep us cool. The bridesmaids wore pretty deep red gowns and all her guests looked so nice. I feel like I'm doing a review of her wedding. I don't have any pictures but I'm sure Kim will post some once she comes back from her honeymoon. I think she had the best reading I've ever heard at a wedding - "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Suess.
I'm very happy for Kim. It's hard to believe we've known each other since 1999 when we were college roommates for two years. She has always been driven. She was the editor-in-chief of our university paper and is an editor now. Kim is so smart yet humble, very funny and very sarcastic. I think she's such a talented individual and I'm really thankful we have been able to stay friends for eight years. I'm not that great at maintaining friendships (I suppose because it takes effort and I need to make that more of a priority) so I treasure our friendship. I'm so happy she has found someone that knows how great she is and can match her intelligence and wit. I think she likes being challenged :)
Last but not least, Halloween pics. Because we are "that couple" and have been "that couple" for quite some time, I will admit that we took them to a Doggie Halloween Party so we could show off their costumes. And here they are for your enjoyment (as well as mine:)

"We are in hell. Save us."

Wild Boar.

Miss Piggy!

Bumble Bee!

I'm sure that at this moment, they wished we had human children (as oppose to furry) so we wouldn't focus so much on them. Little do they know that life is really good right now and they will probably won't get nearly as much attention once the fur-less children come. Heaven help us all when that happens.

Drove to Sacramento and back ...

... and those five hours give a person a LOT of time to think.
I first thought of favorite childhood smells. (The word, smell, has a negative connotation doesn't it? Oh well.)
My dad's cologne and aftershave mixed together: what he would smell like when he would kiss me good bye before he left for work.
My mom's shampoo, perfume and alcohol (rubbing, not the drink): my mom worked - and still does - in a laboratory and that's what she would smell like when she came home. My mom was a very strong presence in my childhood and probably the person I spent the most time with in my family while growing up.
My parents were no joke. My dad willingly worked graveyard so someone would ALWAYS be home when I was home.
Strawberry Shortcake Doll: she always smelled like baked goods. Yum.
My Little Pony: I just liked the smell of the plastic. I know - odd.
Lunchbox: unlike some other kids, I didn't let my lunchbox get nasty. Mine always smelled like sandwiches, specifically Wonder Bread.
Puto (it's not a bad thing): my mom would bake these steamed rice cakes all the time when I was a little kid.
Freshly cut grass: Now that I think about it, my ghetto school probably had more crab grass than anything else but it smelled really nice when they mowed it.

Let's see, what else did I think about on my drive ...
Oh yes, it's a good thing I don't drive for long stretches on a regular basis. I drive A LOT for my job but there are lots of stops. What's the difference? I have a much bigger urge to snack when I'm driving for a long period of time. I tend to splurge on road trips. So I gave into an urge and bought an Oreo Cookie Shake at Jack in the Box.
Damn, it was good.
Yes, I regret it now but I was a happy driver for a good half hour.
OK, those are the only random thoughts I can remember from my five hour commute.

Clearly not a model

We took our engagement pictures yesterday. My sister found our photographer among four other choices (Thanks, Sister!), I narrowed it down to two and had Jon make the final decision - he feels included and I'm happy with either decision - Win/Win. We picked Santa Cruz for the location because it's always been a favorite place for us to visit and we're getting married on/near the beach so there's kind of a theme.
We wore what seems to be what every other couple in the universe wears when shooting on the beach - white collar shirts and jeans. I almost changed last minute because I'm not keen on white collar shirts but The Man really wanted us to wear the uniform ... so I did. I hate wearing crispy fabric.
We ended up having fun. The photographer was very nice and tried to make us at ease. He wanted us to be natural (ironic since we have never cuddled on wet sand nor make it a habit of being affectionate in front of a stranger but I get where he was going with it all) and The Man, a shy individual, even felt comfortable with him. Best of all, the photographer incorporated the puppies so we hope to have at least one good picture with the girls! I opted to wear my hair down which was pretty tricky considering the wind was whipping it all over the place. But I don't like how I look in photographs wearing a bun or ponytail. The one thing I was worried about is he never "fixed" us - never adjusting hair or clothing out of place so I'm really hoping that nothing was askew or funky because we will certainly have captured it.
Side note - while I was able to fit into the bridesmaid dress from six years ago, I did find out that I gained weight! Yes, I got cocky when I found out I had lost a good amount of weight at My JC meeting two weeks ago and am now paying the price. Anyway, I worried about looking chubby, especially in our seated poses. Bless the photographer for putting me in a lot of poses behind a sitting Jon and giving him a hug so I didn't have to worry about sucking in my tummy. I love those poses!!!!!
After we were done and headed home, The Man and I talked about how we hope we took nice pictures. We're a little worried because we seriously haven't ever taken a picture where we both felt like, "Hot damn, we look good!" but the photo shoot is done and it's up to the hands of our photographer. OK, I am more than a "little worried" because, whileI don't mind posing for pictures (that's all fine and good and even fun,) I get anxious thinking about what the pictures will look like. (I suppose that's why I like digital - "Oh that's a horrible picture!" DELETE. "Ahhh.") I'm not photogenic. And I'm not writing that hoping someone will argue with me and write back, "But you are!" because I know the truth. I throw away or delete all the pictures I hate and only show photos I like. Don't you? So it's a little more nerve wracking knowing you paid money for someone to take your photo and it's ugly. Oh well. At least it's one more thing crossed off of our To Do list! Hallelujah.

Quick updates then I'm out!

1. Got into a near shouting match with someone at work. Can't share the details (remember I like my job) but I was P-I-S-S-E-D. Dark alley + me + her = ass whoopin'. Ok, not really but I can visualize.

2. Taking engagement pictures this weekend (unless we're rained out this weekend) in Santa Cruz. We aren't known for taking great pictures together but maybe a professional can help :)

3. I can fit into a bridesmaid dress that, for the past year, has been too tight. This was a wedding from six years ago. I was putting clothes away in my closet and it fell off of the hanger so I thought, "What the heck?" and tried it on. I still have 10 lbs to go, I think (I didn't weigh myself at JC last week because I KNEW it was all sorts of bad.)

4. Jon has been WONDERFUL during this chaotic time for me. He cooks or gets his own dinner with minimal griping and doesn't bitch at all when I'm on the computer way late at night (as long as it's real work and not visiting blogs. Ah hmm.)

5. Just finished our wedding registry with two stores. We've been putting it off because we kind of didn't want to do it (our families are already spending so much on travel) but we were advised to do it anyway. I thought it would suck but who knew you can do it all online and not step foot into the stores? Awwwwesoooome.

6. Assembling invitations tomorrow night. I have a wonderful and talented friend who designed our invitations. Simple with a little tropical kick. Love her, love the invitations and love saving us $$!

Morbid outlook on things?

I don't know. I thought I didn't like cocky people because they were just too confident. Maybe I'm just jealous that they can be so cocky and I can't.
But they are pretty irritating.
I think a little humility or humbleness is good for the soul. Or, at least, the personality.
The problem is that I think that I could use a little something and I think it's beyond confidence.
Here's the thing, I've been doing pretty good at work for the past three weeks. I've been either #1 or #2 for recruitment of clients. And rather than feeling like, "Ah-yahhhhhhhhh" I'm more like, "Ohhhhh deeeeaaaar" because I feel like there is nowhere to go but down. That I'm going to have a big fat goose egg this week because I've tapped out all my resources.
This can't be healthy.
I remember my senior year in college. For the first time, it looked like I was going to get straight As in all my classes. Maybe it helped that I was no longer active in a sorority AND I didn't have a boyfriend (I guess they really are distracting! Who knew my parents were right.) Rather than feeling proud of myself, I actually freaked out, CRIED and called my mom because I felt like there was a greater chance to fail since the only place go was DOWN.
Thankfully I was talking to my mom over the phone rather than in person because I'm sure she was rolling her eyes and would have had to fought the urge to slap me. Because why couldn't I be effin' happy?!
Even writing this is uncomfortable for me because I know I'm tooting my own horn in order to illustrate how I may have a morbid outlook on things. At least, professionally (or academically.) There are other things I don't mind giving myself props for - having healthy relationships, a relatively clean house, good hair (if there's anything I may be vain about it's probably my hair because I really like my hair - thanks to my trusty flat iron and awesome hair stylist. OK, I take it back because now I'm getting nervous that my hair is going to fall out or break off. I suppose I think I can also get punished for being too cocky.) But everything else, I don't like to talk about UNLESS I feel like someone is attacking me and telling me I suck. Then I'm defensive.
So yah. I think that while I was doing well at work for the past few weeks, I'm going to plummet this week and be the one with the worst numbers. I can't help it.