The Mr. and Mrs.

Being Spontaneous

2012-02-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Exciting things are coming up! I generally am not a super spontaneous person, although I would like to think I am. Today, I did something I have never done before. I decided I am going to go visit one of my super duper best friends ever in North Carolina in 2 weeks!!!!!! The ticket has been booked, so its happening! Kathryn and I met Freshman year of highschool. This is a picture of us from highschool.

Don't judge us, its who we are........or were :( Go Harry Potter! After highschool, I moved to Southern California and she moved to Utah so we didn't see each other much at all. Then she moved to Texas when she got married. Then her family moved from my hometown (in Central Cali) to Washington state so she never had a reason to come back to our hometown. Then her husband got a different job and they moved to North Carolina. I've been to 36 states I think, but I've never been to North Carolina!! I'm so excited! I get to see her new baby (who isn't so new anymore....almost 1 year old!) Greenboro, North Carolina, here I come!!!!!!!

The Travel Itch

2012-01-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, lately I have it. I have LOVED traveling ever since I was young. I love to see new things. I love to take the untaken road. I love to be out in nature. I love to see how places are so different than where I am from. Mitch and I are blessed to be taking two FAB vacations this year and I cannot wait!

The first: When I was younger, my family and I used to take our fifth wheel trailer camping for two week road trips every summer. These trips kind of stopped shortly after I started college. Finances were tighter due to that fact and also my dad had recently become self-employed so that made things slightly tighter as well. Since those trips (and since I've been dating Mitch) we did do two consecutive camping road trips up to the sand dunes in Oregon. Those were a blast but Mitch and I were still dating so he just stayed in our trailer with us. This year, we are going to Yellowstone! We are taking our own trailer and going with my family and their trailer and my aunt, uncle and cousins and their trailer. During the trip we will be going by some of my favorite places and seeing some of my favorite things:

Grand Tetons - In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I've ever seen. They are extremely jagged at the top and are usually snowcapped.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming - This quaint little town is nestled in a little valley just outside of Yellowstone National Park. It a wonderful little town to shop in, but it has its ritzier, more expensive areas.

Yellowstone National Park - geysers. They really are all these wonderful colors and they smell fabulous! (sarcasim heavily implied). It is crazy to see these things though. They are everywhere and because of all the minerals they have crazy colors.

Buffalo! It is not uncommon whatsoever to see a herd of buffalo crossing the road. There's no hurrying them so don't even bother. Last time we were there, we took a drive early in the morning and it was SUPER foggy. We were driving super slow and all of a sudden we started to see these big dark masses. As we got closer we saw it was a herd of buffalo casually crossing the road. BEAUTIFUL.

Wildlife itself is not uncommon in Yellowstone at all. You will see Buffalo, Moose, Bears, Wolves, Foxes and many other things if you are lucky.

Old Faithful Geyser - although she wasn't so faithful last time we were there.

On the way out of Yellowstone if we have any time left, we are going to try to go to Glacier National Park in Montana. This place is just plain beautiful. On trips like these, I just love to be surrounded completely by God's beauty. It is so wonderful to take a break from the regular day to day life and see all that is good and wonderful that God has created.

I truly cannot wait to share these wonderful things with Mitch this year. He has never been to any of these places!

Our second trip: For the third year in a row, we are going back to Kauai! My brother-in-law is getting married there! I'm so excited to go back! Mitch and I had the best time there for our honeymoon and our 1-year anniversary and now we get to go back again! We are packing a tow-strap with us this time around so that we can finish 4-wheeling on the roads we were not able to last time with our jeep we rented. So excited!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

I've never really been one to make a resolution and actually keep it (for the New Year anyway). I've done the "I'm going to lose weight" thing before. I've done the "I'm going to join a gym" before. Most of my resolutions have always focused around weight loss. I've always struggled with this. It probably stems from the fact that I hate daily exercise and I LOVE food way too much. I like the kind of exercise that I can't do on a daily basis, like golf.

About 7 years ago or so, I was doing Weight Watchers and lost about 12 pounds which made me feel fantastic, but I gained it all back once I slacked off of Weight Watchers. I did lose weight two years ago when I was motivated by my wedding. I didn't want to have a muffin top over the top of my wedding dress :) I succeeded......but I pretty much gained it all back. This year, I'm taking a little bit of a different approach and hoping that it works.

I'm trying to focus on my overall wellbeing this year and hopefully lose some weight in the process:

I'm eating breakfast every morning. I used to skip breakfast practically every morning because I thought that would help me to lose weight. Well that wasn't really doing anything for me so I decided whether I like it or not, I will be eating a healthy cereal every morning.
Mitch and I are walking for at least 30 minutes at least 4 mornings a week. I love my sleep and this is and was a pretty difficult one to do. Mitch already wakes up about an hour before I used to anyways to read his Bible with the rest of the husbands from our weekly small group.It helps that he is awake and functioning so he can yank me out of bed if need be.
Reading my Bible for at least 30 minutes before going to bed. I just started this last night. I'll let you know how it goes. I would love to do it in the morning, but between the walking and the normal time it takes me to get ready, I would have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and I'm just not ready for that yet.
Being more aware of what I eat. Mitch and I really do not eat that badly; we just both eat too much. Therefore, I am trying to learn proper portion control and be more aware of what I eat. Also, I am trying to replace sugary snacks with heathly ones. I started keeping track of about 90% of the calories that I intake just to help give me a better understanding of how much I should be eating vs. what I was eating.
Doing my RACKed things more frequently. I had set this goal of doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness every day from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Unfortunately I was not as diligent as I had initially intended. Although I did not perform a concious act of kindness everyday, this intention made me more aware of those around me and of different ways to bless them. I would like to continue this practice daily if I am able.
Exerting a more outward example of my faith. I have found that it is so easy to get caught up in the gossip in my office and I struggle with it at times. I do my absolute best most of the time to show Christ's love to others through my actions but there is definate room for improvement. I truly want to be a shining light for God in this dark world and I am going to conciously work toward bettering myself at that.

These are my main goals this year. I'm hoping that through these, I may be able to draw closer to God and show his love to others more frequently. Also, I hope that my leading a healthier lifestyle (even though I'm not making drastic, drastic changes) that I am able to lose a couple pounds and at least get back to where I was for my wedding. The ultimate goal would be to lose 30 pounds this year, but I'm not going to focus on that. I'm just going to focus on being a healthier me, physically, mentally and spiritually.

I hope your new year is fantastic and that you are able to focus on and achieve goals that you have set for yourself!

Annual Dessert Party

2011-12-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you just DYING to see what my dessert table looked like at our party.....here it is:

During this Christmas season, don't forget about those less fortunate than yourself. Here's hoping you have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decor in the Maertens Household

2011-12-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas is my FAVORITE time of year! It makes me so happy! I love to give gifts! I love to wrap gifts! I love to bake! Are you understanding all my excitement with my many exclamation points???

So Mitch and I have an annual dessert party with our friends and close family. We unfortunately had to skip it last year because our house and our lives were way too chaotic because of just getting married/settling in/not having a floor/not having an oven that baked evenly....you know...the usual. So this year, I'm happy to say that we were able to start the tradition back up again! I was a baking fool and didn't take any pictures, but my dad at least took one of the dessert table. Unfortunatly he hasn't emailed it to me yet, so you will have to wait until the next post for that one.

Let's move onto home decor. I really love decorating and I ESPECIALLY love decorating for Christmas....because I kind of love the holiday...if you didn't catch onto that yet. So, here is the Maertens household Christmas decor:

Our newest furniture addition to our house. I am finally able to display our china and have it easily accessible so we can use it! I kept decorating simple on this. On one doorknob, I must a pearl letter "M" ornament and on the other doorknob I used some white ribbon to hang a berry wreath. And then you have my "Dr. Seuss" trees on the floor next to it. I call them that because they are curved.

I always LOVE to share when I get a good deal on something....it's a downfall of mine. So I had been holding out for the Willow Tree Nativity collection. I fell in love with it, but I just couldn't afford it because it was almost $300 for the entire set. I had decided that I was just going to have to save up and buy it piece by piece. The reason I loved that particular set was because they are faceless and simple. I feel like so many nativity scenes out there today are glitzed out and I feel that that is no a correct representation of that night when Jesus was born. Anywho....long story, I know, Mitch and I went to Kohl's on Black Friday and I fould this almost identical faceless set for.............get ready for it..........only $28!!!!!!! What a deal!!!!

My brand new lovely mantle made by my husband.

Entryway table. That tall manzanita tree was actually a centerpiece at our wedding. I kept the hanging jewels on it and added tiny little glass ornaments. That framed printout came from Pinterest. The silver ball things in the glass jar on the right came from Hobby Lobby. The little sparkle balls around the manzanita piece came from Pottery Barn. I unfortunately DID NOT get a good deal on these. They were WAY too expensive, but I loved them so I splurged a bit.

These beautiful sparkly snowflake ornaments came from my new fav home decor place on Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia, Charlie's House.

My sister got me this little metal tree from Target and the sparkly star things came from Pottery Barn.

This tree is one of my favorite decor pieces. It is the sparkliest tree ever. I randomly came across it at Marshall's one day and although it was a little pricey, I totally feel like it was worth it because it's beautiful. I wasn't sure what to cover the base with or what to put around it so for now there is a papertowel underneath it so it doesn't scratch our table.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour of our decorated home!

AAR Annual Installation Party

2011-12-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Every year my office has a fancy cocktail party for the installing of our coming years Board of Directors and leadership team. Our party was last Friday and we had a photobooth there for the first time! These are our pics from that. This is the event that Mitch and I met at 5 years ago, so it is kind of a fun tradition for us to attend every year!

RACK'ed - Days 4, 5, 6

2011-11-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind in posting but that doesn't mean I've stopped doing my daily random acts of kindness!

Day 4 - I went into our local movie theatre at night and handed a couple who just got in line two movie tickets. They were a bit confused and dumbfounded at first. :)

Day 5 - I bought a pre-filled bag of groceries at Pavilions that would go to our local food shelter.

Day 6 - Mitch, me and my sister bought a bunch of non-perishable foods and took them to our church with us this morning because they are collecting food for those in need all month.

For all those doing good deeds and random acts of kindness with me....keep up the gold work!

RACK'ed - Day 3

2011-11-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond today on my lunch hour armed with all my collected coupons. I used two on my purchases and gave the other three to the girl in front of me. I told her that they accept one coupon per item and she was completely stoked and thanked me repeatedly. She has some pretty large items in her cart, so I'm sure it saved her a little chunk of money.

For more information on my RACK'ed challenge, click here: http://stephey26.blogspot.com/2011/11/racked.html

RACK'ed - Day 2

2011-11-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

Day 2 - Our office had a very large luncheon today with gourmet sandwiches. Upon completion of the luncheon, there were a lot of leftover sandwiches. Rather than let them go to waste (as we sometimes do), I asked my boss if I could bag them up and take them at lunch. With his blessing, I bagged up 8 sandwiches and cookie bags and drove around Pasadena on my lunch hour. I told God as I was driving to my destination that He only had 35 minutes to show me 8 people in need while I was driving. With 2 minutes to spare, I handed out my 8th sandwich at lunch. God is good :)

For more information on my RACK'ed challenge, click here: http://stephey26.blogspot.com/2011/11/racked.html

RACK'ed

2011-11-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

I have recently been seeing a lot of things about Random Acts of Kindness on Pinterest and I have challenged myself to do at least one random act of kindness each day starting today leading up to Christmas. I feel like there is so much sadness in the world today and it would be wonderful to bring a bit of cheer to a random individual each day. Also, I feel like life is so busy, it is EXTREMELY easy to get caught up in yourself and your life and not be aware of others around you. Therefore, this is my challenge:

Love on someone random with a random act of kindness each day until Christmas and pray for that individual either before or after the act that they might receive it and be blessed and pay it forward by blessing someone else if they are able.

Now comes the fun part......I am challenging you to do the exact same thing! I have included the printable of what I am giving those that I am blessing with kindness in case you want to use the same one.

If you choose to be a part of this challenge, keep me posted on the different random acts of kindness you are doing.

Day 1 - I paid for the lunch of the man behind me in Taco Bell's drive-thru today. The lady at the window handed him one of the above cards for me.

Now.......go out and be kind!

Fall Decorating

2011-10-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, so I decided to show you all my fall decorating! I LOVE decorating and I am already so excited for Christmas! (I'm also mentally planning it out.....is that bad?) I give a shout-out to Pinterest for some of these ideas! :)

In light of my Christmas planning, I have been asking/begging my husband to do our mantle before then and that wonderful man of mine started on it last night! Its so beautiful already! I'm so excited!!!!

October Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

2011-09-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Lots of Randoms

2011-09-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be about a lot of random things because I'm behind a bit. A couple of weeks ago, we went to Napa for the first time. Neither Mitch or I are really big fans of wine to begin with but after an afternoon of tasting, I came to the conclusion that I just really don't like wine. There were a couple that I would drink if they were already out and available to me at a party or something, but I decided that I would never actively go out and buy these wines. Anywho, the scenary was BEAUTIFUL. The winery we chose to do our only tasting at was a castle! I think it was called Castelo de Amoroso or something like that. They had a drawbridge:

Beautiful view looking out over the valley

The chapel

Big dining room

Sheep!!!

In other news, we are in the process of rebuilding our and our neighbors side gate. These are the steel frames and post that will be the basic support of the whole thing. When finished it will be covered with wood, but we haven't had a change to get to that yet, so there are big sheets of plywood covering it at the moment.

Now that I have a functional oven, I've been baking......

We bought a dining set. When the leaf is in, it seats 8 people. The leaf is not in here. This is how it will look unless we are entertaining. I was going to post a before (with our card table and folding chairs) and after picture, but I came home from work one day last week and my wonderful husband had come home early and had already taken the folding table and chairs down and assembled the new table!

By the way, when we were in Napa, we stayed at the local Holiday Inn Express & Suites. I like staying at those hotels because I find them super clean and nice. Well this particular one had the most AMAZING creation EVER.....an automatic pancake maker machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Press a button and 45 seconds later, 2 fresh hot pancakes come off the conveyor belt. Oh man, I want one......

A Mickey Mouse Fix

2011-09-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a post about a recent visit to Disneyland (although I wish it was). To be honest, I've never quite understood the term anyways. In case you weren't aware, in constuction terms, doing something Mickey Mouse is doing something haphazard and shoddy, which doesn't make sense. The Disney Mickey Mouse is none of these, so again, I don't know why the term means what it does. Anyways, I digress. So presently, we have a separate rangetop stove and oven:

On said rangetop, the lighter doesn't light. therefore, I have to use an actual lighter to light it. Also, in said oven, something is wrong with it and when I try to bake, the outside of things burn before the inside bakes. Since baking is one of my fav things to do, this is quite the bummer. I have avoided baking at all costs since we've lived in this house because of this confounded oven. Also, please note orange extension cord extending vertically to plug my microwave in.

Although we would LOVE to redo the kitchen completely before Christmas, in my heart of hearts I don't think that's going to happen because of the cost involved. Therefore, I BEGGED Mitch to at least put our new oven rangetop in (we already purchased a new one along with a new fridge and microwave hood because of a great deal we got). Mitch hates to do anything less than perfect when it comes to construction so this pretty much killed him to agree to this, but I told him he would benefit because I would be able to bake again. Therefore, he did this:

And this is what it currently looks like. Mitch will be putting shelves where the hole from the oven is. I will have to store pots and pans there because of the cabinet space lost, but I don't even care. I'm so excited to have our new oven rangetop in the kitchen instead of in the garage. Also, when we pulled the oven out, we found out that there was an electric outlet in the wall! Therefore, goodbye orange extension cord!

Also, as a side note, if you are wondering what 40 years of dust accumulated looks like, here is your answer:

Arcadia REALTOR® Magazine

2011-08-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of the year, my new boss and I have been developing an idea to do a complete overhaul of our monthly magazine publication. Previously, our magazine was more of a newsletter. It had lots of clipart and was just not a professional business magazine. The design was done by a third party company, but I gathered articles from our members, edited them and did "ghost" writing for articles that were written by no one. Now, we decided to take it one step further.

I'm pretty crafty making flyers around these here parts and I expressed an interest in moving the design of this magazine completely inhouse. This resulted in my company purchased the Adobe Creative Suite software for me and send me into the heart of Los Angeles for a 2-day training. Well after eight months, my blood, sweat and tears have finally culminated into a finished and final product! Now I'm not only asking for and receiving articles, editing them and writing them, I'm now the designer and publisher.

This magazine has become my baby after these past few months and I'm so happy and proud with the end result. So today, I'm going to give everyone a preview of my magazine! I sent it to print today, so I should have hard copies by the end of next week. So excited to have a magazine that I did all on my own from start to finish! (It is a little nervewracking though having something of this magnitude rest solely on my shoulders, but exciting at the same time.)

Enjoy!

Open publication - Free publishing - More arcadia

Diligence Pays Off

2011-08-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

I pretty much live at Target. I'm really surprised they don't know me by name there. Anywho, now that our local Target carries frozen and fresh food items, I shop there even more! So on the way to the food aisles, I always pass by this shelf that has the most adorable candle holders. I have wanted them so badly since I first saw them, but I wasn't going to pay $45 for the three of them. Well today was my lucky day! I walked past them again and lo and behold, they were on clearance! Picked all three up for only $18! I love a good steal :) I envision using them in our Master bathroom someday when it is finished.

Our 1st Anniversary

2011-08-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

I know......"Gosh, Stephanie. That took you long enough!" Our 1st wedding anniversary was July 10th and life's been way busy since we got back and although I did look at the photos I took, I just never got around to putting a post together until now. So as you may know, Mitch and I returned to Kauai for our 1st wedding anniversary. We were so blessed to be able to go 2 years in a row and we LOVED every minute of it. It was so amazing and beautiful there, just like it was on our Honeymoon! Here are some pics of the week. Enjoy!

While we were there, we drove around alot of "off the beaten path" roads and found this beautiful little fishing hole with a beautiful home in the background.

We also did a lot of 4-wheeling on the many hunting roads that we discovered Kauai has

Mitch was bound and determined to park as close to our condo as possible....jeep, meet curb

Beautiful sunset

This beach (Tunnels Beach) has a reef so large you can see it from space. We spent most of the day here going snorkling.

Looking at the coast from our Na Pali Coast Dinner cruise we took

This tunnel was in Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Johnny Depp goes through it to finally find the Fountain of Youth. Our Captain said in another movie they actually flew a helicopter through that hole. Not sure how though.....

On our dinner crusise, we saw a school of dolphins!

The boat we were on

On the flight home, the pilot came in from the North and flew over California for about 25 minutes. Pretty dang cool.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos. We absolutely LOVE Kauai and the peacefulness and beauty that exists there. We were feeling so blessed to be able to go two years in a row and decided to take a break before trying to go back. However, we recently found out that we will be attending a wedding on Kauai next summer! Going for year 3!

My Latest Obsession

2011-08-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have always LOVED this song because it just moves me. I get tears in my eyes everytime I hear it sung well. It has lately become my newest obsession and I am going to commit myself to learning to play it on the piano. Even though I can play the piano fine (I even teach lessons to kid now and then!), it's been years since I seriously sat myself down and learned a difficult piece in full. This is the end of that! I am going to tech myself how to play "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen! I think this young girl does an AMAZING job with the song and expresses herself beautifully.

Tow Away Zone

2011-08-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

PRELIMINARY DISCLAIMER: Please do not interpret the intent of this post as making fun of anyone or their circumstances in life. It is not the people that I find funny, I find the hilarity in their great endeavors to ensure their parking space is not taken .

Okay, that having been said.....we do not live in a sketchy or dumpy neighborhood by any means. However, diagonally across from our house, there is a woman and her boyfriend who live in their van with every worldy possession they own. Every weekday, they are parked out in front of the woman's parent's house. The woman's children live with their grandparents. Anways.......everyday for almost a year, this is what we get to look at:

Again, I'm not judging. I know that we are blessed to have a roof over our heads and have what we have. That being said, this woman and her boyfriend have taken to putting orange cones in their parking space when they are gone with a big bold sign taped to one that reads "Tow Away Zone" "No Parking" written in marker.

This is what I find hilarious..........because heaven forbid their parking space gets taken. I guess I should just be thankful that they are ensuring we have our parking space in front of our house each and every day/night.

B-I-NGO!

2011-08-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

My office does an annual Bingo event for charity and we have always been out of town every year during that weekend. This year we went and almost our entire small group went with us along with one of my friends Amber with her boyfriend Jonathan. It was really alot of fun, even though none of us won a darn thing!

Beautiful Bliss

2011-07-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

Staring tomorrow..............

Beautiful bliss in Kauai!! Oh I cannot wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vacation, how I've longed for you.....

The Great Hiding of the Boxspring

2011-06-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

So sometimes these creative ideas just pop in my head and I decide to do them without giving much consideration to thoughtful planning or difficulty. I pretty much just wing it off of whatever I am picturing in my head. On Saturday I go the bright idea to sew a bedskirt for our bed. I absolutely LOVE our bedset that we bought from West Elm, but it didn't come with a bedskirt and it has always bothered me that when the bed is made you can still see the boxspring. So, I was determined to fix that!

This post is not going to be really step by step, because as I said before, I kind of just "winged" it. So I bought fabric that closely matches our shams (yay Walmart! JoAnns actually disappointed me this time). I bought a super cheap flat white sheet to act as the top lining. First I laid out the sheet and cut it exactly to the width and length of the bed.

***WARNING***

Do not even consider this project unless you are patient (ironic that I'm not). The total project time for this was literally about 16 hours. My husband can vouch for that because thats how long our house was torn apart. Also, because he had to cook dinner two nights in a row so that I could finish sewing.

Added a pleat

Soon after starting, I realized that my single one stitch sewing machine wasn't going to cut it, so I went out and bought a new one. As soon as I set it up, I realized that the blasted thing doesn't accomodate normal sized thread bobbins! Therefore, I had to set my bobbin up on my old machine (background) and thread the thread through the front new machine! How ridiculous! Needless to say, I took it back......

I measured up from the floor and cut slits in the material. This was the most frustrating part of the entire project. It didn't take me super long, but all the measuring to accomodate the bed frame was ridiculous. I later finished the cuts with a seam.

Lastly, I sewed finished edges on two panels. I then sewed these panels to the backside of the bedskirt at the foot corners. This provided a covering for the boxspring on the corners so that you can't see it.

The finished product! I'm so happy with it! (Just don't look to closely at the seams...haha)

Book Bust

2011-06-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

I LOVE books. Anyone who knows me well, knows this. I literally have ready several thousand books throughout my lifetime. Just during one month alone in second grade, I read 236 books to win a contest (granted, some of these were very, very short children's books). Anywho, out of all the books I've ever read, I have never ever not finished one. It bothers me. No matter if the book is boring or not, I always finish it. It is like some weird thing I am against....leaving a book unfinished.

I may have finally met my match:

This book is possibly the most boring book I have ever read. Lately, I am extremely interested in historical fiction. I found this book for only 50 cents and had to give it a try. Well, I'm glad I didn't waste $15 dollars on it because it is such a drag to read! This book is written based off the journals of a zookeepers wife during the Holocaust. The book mainly discussed the Polish people during this time. So rather than this book taking those journals and making the book seem as though it is written in the first person (i.e. When I experienced the soldiers coming, I felt terrified), the author chose to still keep the third person position (i.e. If she were to experience the soldiers, she would have felt terrified). Maybe I'm off base here, but I find this to be a terrible way to structure a book.

The author is already writing a historical fiction so just make it in the first person! Also, I keep waiting for a plot line or some big event and I'm getting nothing. This book is a total drag. I even took time off this book to read and entirely new book!

Now, to finish reading or not to finish reading? That is the question of assured and definitive boredom....

Tea Hat

2011-05-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a ladies tea party at my church with the girls from our small group and as soon as I heard about it, I decided that I was going to wear a hat. Of course this idea spawned from my infatuation with the royal wedding and all of the amazing hats there. I wish our Western society hadn't lost the factor of sofistication that our English counterparts still possess, but that's a whole other tangent. Back on track. Hats. Okay, so I searched and searched and searched for a Kentucky Derby-like hat and decided that there is no place local that carries such hats, even in Pasadena! So I went online and I found that I could order them online but they ranged from $150-$700!!! Definately was not going to pay that.....so I found a couple pictures of sample hats I loved and decided I was going to make one myself.

These are the materials that I started with: a simple sun hat with a wide brim, black thread to match, 2 different types of tulle (one stiff and one decorative and flimsy), a piece of black satin, feathers to match the dress I was going to wear, and embellishment for the center of the fabric flower, glue gun and some pink material that I ended up not using.

First, I removed the little bow knot that was orginally around the side band where it met the brim and laid out the decorative flimsy tulle on top of the hat.

Next, I sewed little pin-tucks all round the base of the side band to secure the tool to the hat and have it take its form. Notice that I did not make sure the material was flat. I wanted to overlap it at places to add character.

Next I used the stiff tool and gathered it rather haphazardly to create a poof. Once gathered, I sewed the base just itself to keep it together then I sewed it to the base of the hat side band.

Next, I used that poof to determine how the hat would sit on my head. Based on that, I sewed the flimsy tool underneath the left side of the brim (the part that would be down) and then I evenly cut and left loose the remaining edge that would be positioned and tilted upward. I left about 1 1/2 to 2 inches loose. By created the pleated gathers earlier when securing the tulle to the bottom of the side band, it created a nice wave to the tulle when left to lay freely on the brim.

Okay, I skipped photographing a couple of steps because my hands were full. For the flower, I took the underside of a piece of silk (because I didn't want the sheen) and folded it over and then started gathering it in the center and worked my way around. Once I had it somewhat looking like a flower, I sewed the center to secure it to itself then I added the silver embellishment to the center. Then I started to add feathers.

Ta Da!!! The finished product in all its glory!

And here it is on....

A little blurry, but here's a side view.

Another view of the finished product.

At the Ladies Tea Party with Michelle and Meg from our small group.

Cows & Rain

2011-05-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

I was going through my camera and I found these fantastic pictures from when Mitch and I went up to Merced a month or two ago. My mom, my sister and I were hanging out the entire day and we ended it by driving up to UC Merced. It is absolutely beautiful there because it is right in the heart of country land. Also, there are lots of cows!! When you combine cows, rain, beautiful lighting and a rainbow, you get some cool pics! (BTW.....I LOVE cows.) Enjoy!

I truly miss living in Merced when I look at pictures like this. I miss the slower lifestyle. I miss having less traffic. I miss how the towns are actually separated by miles and miles and not just feet. I miss how the country is only a short drive away. I miss being able to get away from crowds of people so easily. I miss going to the grocery store and running into a ton of people you know and having the cashiers know you by name. I miss the cows and I miss having my family closer. Merced is a good place. I'm a fan.

A Royal Affair

2011-04-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was one of the crazies that woke up at 1:00 a.m. to see the start of the William & Kate's wedding covered......and I LOVED every minute of it. It is every little girls dream to grow up and one day meet her prince and fall in love and have a fairytale wedding and live happily ever after. The Royal Wedding was every bit the fairy tale, but it got me thinking about my own wedding.

I started wondering about how Kate feels. To have so much attention and have to invite 1,900 people to your wedding seems a little unsentamental to me. It makes me cherish my wedding that much more. Mitch and I personally knew each and every person at our wedding and they were there because they were handpicked by our families and us because they mean such a great deal. There is no pomp and circumstance or formalities that must be held. Our wedding had the freedom to not only be the fairytale wedding we hoped for, but it was a fairytale with our nearest and dearest. After seeing the wedding this morning, I was in love with the royalness of it all, but I am so thankful that we have the intimate fairytale wedding that we had.

Heroic Measures

2011-04-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mitch was doing some yardwork outside while I was cleaning and working inside. He came to the front door and knocked on it (it was locked). Before I could get to it, he knocked again. I got to the door and opened it and he said in a very concerned voice "I just accidentally cut a tree branch down that had a bird nest in it." I panicked. I didn't want to kill any little birds, especially because the mom has been living on one of our outside garage rafters for the past several months. We bonded. Okay, back to the birds.

I went outside and looked and this is what was on the ground. One bird had fallen out of the nest in the process of it falling from the tree. Can you see them both? They're so tiny!

Literally, the birds were each the size of a quarter.

I panicked and didn't know what to do. I had always grown up hearing that if you touch or go anywhere near a baby bird or its nest, the mom will abandon them and they will die anyway. So I quickly Googled the question "what to do if a baby bird nest falls from a tree". I ended up finding a phone number for our local Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and lo and behold they were open on a Sunday and a man answered the phone. I quickly explained our situation and I learned something new. Birds WILL NOT abandon their young if you touch them or go near the nest because they don't even have a sense of smell! The only birds that can smell are vultures and they do not typically nest around humans. The Wildlife man said to put the fallen baby bird back in the nest with the other one and put the nest back in the tree as close to where it originally was as possible. Our solution:

Yes, this is my handy husbands idea. Zip-tie the chopped branch back to the tree. We are crafty like that. I am proud to report that our solution seems to have worked because it has been a full week later and the birds are still alive and moving! Yay for the life-saving suggestion from the Wildlife Rehab man!

Mammoth Pics

2011-03-15T17:33:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Mitch and I went to Mammoth and went snowboarding and skiing. Here's a few pics:

View out of the front of the condo we stayed in.

I was super cranky when we took this pic because we just got down from literally almost the top of the mountain skiing in that weather. I couldn't even see where I was going and the wind was so strong it was literally blowing me over. Not my idea of a fun time skiing. Thankfully the weather was nice up until then.

View from the back porch of the condo.

4 Years!!

2011-03-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

Has it really been that long? Today is 4 years since Mitch and I started dating. In light of this, I kind of wanted to share a little about what I shared last night in our small group bible study. We were talking about prayer and all of us shared a prayer or two, big or small, that had actually been answered.

All through Junior High and High School, I was convinced that I was going to marry a specifiic guy. I had known this guy since I was very little and my parents were close to his parents when I was little. My prayers were always selfish and shallow about finding the man of my dreams. I always prayed asking God to change the heart of this boy because I knew that I was going to marry him and that he was the one for me. I got bummed out so many times because so often this guy showed interest and then turned right around and was super distant. Long story, short....it was super frustrating interacting with this person, but still...my prayers continued.

During High School, my dad's boss made it so difficult on him, it, in a way, forced him to quit and switch careers. Hence, my dad changed to a career in real estate, which led him to help me get once of my first jobs working at a real estate Association in my hometown.

College time came around and I took a leap of faith and followed God's leading to a school where I knew no one. I didn't know who God would chose for my roommate....nothing. Therefore, my attitude towards my future mate changed. I looked at this as a fresh start and kind of left everything behind. I told God "Obviously what I had been praying for is not working or is not in the plan, so I'm done. I'm not going to look for anyone and whatever happens, happens." This was during my Freshman year of college.

At the end of my Freshman year, I was sick of my current food services position and looked into local real estate Associations for employment since I already knew the industry a bit. I got hired on a my current job and really loved it. At the job, I met some pretty great co-workers my age that I got along with real well.

My Sophomore year of college, my company was having its annual Christmas cocktail party. I was all set to go with one of my good friends from college, but I knew there was a slight chance he may not have been able to go. In the end, he had a family event that he had to attend (he let me know the day of :/ ) but I was fine to just go by myself. My co-worker found out about this and offered to ask his best friend if he wanted to go with me. Not being one to ever choose to do something like that with someone I've never met before, I respectfully declined the offer. He told me to call him if I changed my mind. For the heck of it, after work, I called a couple of friends, male and female, and everyone had seriously legit reasons as to why they couldn't go. So, I decided I was just going to go by myself. Then I called my roommate and she convinced me to just go ahead and tell my co-worker to invite his friend. I hesitated because I just did not consider myself that outgoing to do that sort of thing.

On my commute home I battled with what to do and in the end, just ended up calling my co-worker and asking him to ask his friend for me. What a fantastic decision because if you haven't already guessed, that friend was Mitch :)

I truly believe that having Mitch is my life is the doing of God alone and only through Him would this have even been possible. If my dad hadn't basically been fired, he never would have become a REALTOR, which means he never would have got me connected with the Merced County Association of REALTORS which means I never would have even thought to apply at my current Association of REALTORS which means I never would have met my co-workers which means I never would have met Mitch. Mitch and I literally had no connections that could have ever caused us to meet of our own accord. God alone is responsible for this.

These last four years have been the absolute best of my life. Mitch is such a caring and compassionate man and he is my best friend. He completely balances me and is strong in all the areas that I am weak. I love him with all my heart and could not be happier that I married him!

Sorry if that was way sappy for some of you ;)

My Kryptonite

2011-03-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

Books! Books are my kryptonite! I love them!!! I could read them all the time! Do you like all my exclamation points??!! Okay....simmer down. My recent addition has been historical fiction books. I love them. End of story. I recently discovered the author Michelle Moran. I read her first three books "Cleopatra's Daughter" (fantastic!), "The Heretic Queen" (fantastic!), and "Nefertiti" (fantastic!). My most recent (which I was so excited about that I pre-ordered it) is her newest novel "Madame Tussaud". It is a historical fiction novel about the wax modeling Madame Tussaud.

I thought this book was very good, but I had a harder time getting going on this one than the previous ones. Maybe it was because of all the unfamiliar French names and the fact that men have feminine French names like "Camille". It was really an interesting story behind the woman who starting the infamous wax model museums. It was also interesting because it had a little bit of art history built into it.

I remember in college that I had to memorize a ton of different artwork pieces from many different time eras. One of them was entitled "The Death of Marat". Well throughout this entire book, there is a character named Marat and I never put two and two together until.........SPOILER...................................he dies at the end. The style and description of how he died in the book made me think about that painting and lo and behold......it's the same guy! So that was kind of interesting to have that bit of education background tied into the book.

Overall, good book! Maybe a little hard to get into....unless your French....or your speak French.....and you're used to all the names. Go read it!

House Update

2011-02-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

As I type, Mitch is putting in our hardwood floors!! Yay!!! Couple pictures. More to come.

In other news....I ran into our bed earlier....hard. It hurt. A purple bruise is starting to form.

*Disclaimer: Please ignore the freakishly white raw chicken leg looking apendage that this bruise is on.

Save the TaTa's

2011-02-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night, Mitch and I went to the Motocross event at Angels Stadium in Anaheim. It was a breast cancer awareness event also. So among the Save the TaTa's shirts and the waves of pink, there was a young guy sitting in front of us with the funniest homemade shirt I've ever seen. I asked to take a photo to commemorate the funniness. Behold the awesomeness:

Best breast cancer awareness shirt EVER! hahahahaha....."I stare because I care".....priceless.

Published!

2011-02-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

So basically.....I'm going to be a published writer! Back in November I started looking for real estate publications that I could write and submit an article to just because that looks really good on a resume and also because I really enjoy writing. I found the REALTOR Association Executives Magazine. An Association Executive (my boss's job) is the job position that I hope to one day achieve. So initially, I wasn't supposed to get my article in until their Summer edition. However, I submitted my article this week and the editor informed me that one of their planned articles had fallen through. Therefore, my article should be published by the end of the month! Way cool! Anyways, when I submitted the article, the editor asked me for a headshot. Well, I don't have a headshot, so I rushed home and was going to take a photo of myself.

When I got home, I realized that there were no surfaces that were tri-pod height, so I kind of had to invent my own....

So basically, thats a step stool with a folding chair turned upside down on top of it with another folding chair turned rightside up on top of it with a bag of beef jerky and a box of noodles on top of that. I was standing against the wall in the back of the picture.

I set my camera on the box of noodles.

Now, granted I ended up going to all this trouble for nothing because none of the photos turned out that great. I ended up photoshopping a photo of Mitch and I at my company Christmas Installation party from this past year. Oh well, its the creativeness that counts, right?

Sleepwalking

2011-01-24T11:43:00.001-08:00

So apparently last night I had my first ever episode of sleepwalking. Is it correct tense to say that I sleep walked or slept walked? I'm not sure. Anywho, apparently, I got up last night and turned a couple lights on and then turned them back off and came to bed. Mitch asked me what I was doing and I told him "I need to clean the toilet" and he told me that I didn't need to do that and he would clean it tomorrow. Then I told him "But I already have the parts that I need to clean it." Then apparently I immediately fell back asleep and stopped talking to him.

I do remember having a dream last night, but it wasn't about anything remotely related to this. It was about some ground beef that I just bought for dinner this week. Don't ask. I have weird dreams. Mitch likes to remind me of how weird I am when I tell him my dreams. I digress...back to the topic at hand.

I do remember him telling me sometime during the night (when I was in a semi-concious state) that I must have been sleepwalking.

I'm not sure whether this should concern me or not. It is not unusual for me to talk in my sleep when I am overtly tired. However, I have never (to my knowledge) walked around in my sleep. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

2010-12-19T18:04:00.000-08:00

I feel like our house has rapidly been transforming these past couple of weeks. We are all decorated for Christmas now, drapes are up, tree is up, TV is up! It looks like a home!

I didn't buy enough lights initially so only the bottom 2/3 of our tree was decorated for a little bit :)

Slacker!

2010-12-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, its true. I've been a terrible slacker in posting lately. Here are some house photos. We are currently in the process of painting! Mitch and I bought a beautiful flat screen TV for the family room on Black Friday and it can't be hung until the painting is done. Well...this put Mitch into high gear :)

He also finished the can lights in the family and dining rooms.

A New Addition

2010-10-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

No.......not to our family. Did you think that is what I was going to say? Nope, no babies yet for us. What I meant was.....A new addition to our blog! This past weekend, all I feel that I did was cook and bake. Mitch was sick so I was taking care of him by feeding him new creations. I LOVE to bake and I like to cook. I only like to cook because I am not that creative with spices and such and I truly have to follow a recipe. Anyways, I decided that I am going to start adding my favorite recipes to make, including both meals and desserts. Stay tuned!

Romans

2010-10-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

I'm bored. There is only so much that I can really do around the house until Mitch does some things. Therefore, I was thinking about what we should dress up as for Halloween. This year, especially now that money is tighter, I decided to make our costumes. I HATE, LOATHE AND DESPISE costumes that cost $60+ and are made out of a yard of fabric or less and look like they cost $5 to make. Therefore, I took inspiration from an excellent book that I just finished and I decided to use the money and make something that would be much better quality and will save us money. Therefore, this Halloween, we will be ancient Roman citizens. I will take these sheets:

(Heck yes for clearance sheets in JUST the right colors!)

.....and this inspiration:

.....and I will make us beautiful citizens of ancient Rome:

My only concern is that these projects always start out so great in my head and end up so terrible upon execution (exhibit A: my money bag for the wedding. Turned out looking like a hot pink/zebra doll pillow. Too hidious to even take a photo of). My next trip will be to Joann's Fabrics to find some gold edging to sew onto the red sheets for our stolas. Progress photos to follow....

3 in 1

2010-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a while and I decided I needed to update my blog and give people something new to read. Therefore, I have three mini updates/items of interest:

1) Blog title. I don't like it. I need/want to change it. I want to do some sort of play on words but am not having any creative thoughts at the moment. Maertens Madness? Doesn't really fit. Our lives aren't too crazy at the moment. Maertens Mayhem? Same argument. I am TOTALLY open for suggestions from any of your creative people out there.

2) New book. I need one. I bought two out of blind faith that I have never heard of before from Target the other day. I am working on those, but I am truely looking for either a classic that I haven't read or a book that has won a medal. In general, I feel that those who give out medals are trustworthy to know what a good book is. Therefore, again, open to suggestions.

3) Finances. I have discovered that finances can be a tricky thing in the life of a marriage. They spark many "discussions". When we got married and moved into our home, I thought to myself "This is great! I won't have to pay rent. We will have all this extra money left over to pay off our loans super fast!" Not true. When you get married and move everything to your name and start paying to live in a home, bills happen. LOTS of bills happen. However, I'm proud to report that we are surviving. Although we haven't made any devastating financial mistakes, we have already learned our lesson with certain things. From here on out, no big purchases unless we save for it first. It makes the month very hard when you have a large purchase on a credit card and I REFUSE to carry a balance on my card. I would forgo buying groceries just to pay off my credit card in full. Therefore, lesson learned. Finances - they're a pain in the butt.

Teasers

2010-08-26T17:44:00.001-07:00

Our photographer, Ryan Jones, graced my inbox this morning with a couple of teaser photos. More are to come within the next few days......

I'm Comin' Back

2010-08-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

So, I don't feel like I really talk all that much about my relationship with God on here and quite frankly the reasoning behind that is because I've been a pretty terrible friend/daughter to him this past year. I really allowed myself to get lost in the busyness of life. Also, with all the wedding planning, we were gone almost everyother weekend and that really didn't help. We went to church while we were in Merced, but I just honestly don't get as much out of the sermons at this church as I do in our home just down here. The pastor in our Merced church is much harder to understand and his sermons and so much harder for me to connect to and apply to my current daily life. However, when we attend services at our church down here, the sermons are like living water. I feed off of them and I feel them help me connect with God on such a deeper level.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming this lack of connectiveness on anyone but myself. I really just allowed myself to set my life on cruise control and just live day to day and focus on the daily tasks at hand. Lately however, we have been attending our church every week and also, I witness Mitch turning into such an amazing man of God. He is always the first to tell me no when I would rather sleep in on a Sunday morning. Also, he always reminds me to pray before we have dinner and he is the ones that prays. I am just so amazed at the spiritual change that I have seen in him. Also, one of my friends on Facebook has done a complete 180 in the past year and also has turned into an amazing man of God. This is such an encouragement to see how he once was and who he is now. He stands up for what he believes in. He stands up for God. What an encouragement that is. I find so often that I shy away from controversial things in front of people that I don't know that well, but this friend is not afraid to lay it out on the line and stand for Christ. He is not concerned with what anyone thinks or says to him. He just stands for truth alone. I am continually being encouraged by not only the person this man has become, but also by Mitch and our pastors sermons. I'm finding my way back with the help of Christ and those that He has laid in my path :)

Strikeout

2010-08-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

I'm increasingly frustrated with decisions that my boss makes. We waste SOOOOOO much money at our office on stupid things, yet, when it comes to things like this, I'm told no because we will be rehiring her replacement in 2 months and more business cards will need to be ordered than just mine. So really? Your basically telling me that I have to wait TWO - FOUR months for new cards and force myself to do this for that long?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Are you kidding me???????

Distant, Detached, Disconnected

2010-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

I really would like to blog more and I am lately feeling distant and disconnected because of my lack of internet connection at the house. But, soon that will change! August 7th is the day when the Maertens will become reconnected with life! TV! Internet! Oh the wonderment! Anywho.....Mitch and I recently went to the X Games for his birthday and had tons of fun! Here are a couple pics:

Married Sue? Suzie? Who?

2010-07-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, we are married! Yay! I love it! and I seriously am hoping to have some photos of the house up here soon because it is looking AMAZING! However, we have no internet at the house, so sneaky me tried to see if I could "borrow" someone elses signal in our neighborhood. No such luck. My search results show 9 internet signals and every blasted one of them is locked. Blast. Therefore, I have no means of uploading photos that are on my personal computer at the moment.

On that note, I have discovered a HUGE pet peeve that I possess. (Yes, I am aware that what I am about to say has absolutely nothing to do with my above paragraph. I hate, despise, abhore, dislike with immense intensity when people park in front of our house. It is amazing! The cars that belong to our neighbors are allergic to the empty openings in their driveways and in front of their houses! I've never seen anything like it. Therefore, to protect their precious vehicles and prevent them from breaking out in hives or or a fever, they must park their car in front of our house because their car is not allergic to the asphalt in front of our house.....just the asphalt across the street, and next door, and diagonal to our house and so on. I often find myself sitting in my lawn chair (inside the house because we have no other furniture in the living room at the moment) and intensely staring at our neighbors as I watch them pull up to our non-allerginic asphalt and park. I glare. I've even placed notes on windows. Seriously, the other night, my truck was in the street and when I put it in the driveway for the night, not 1 minute later, the boyfriend of the girl who lives across the street came out and moved his car (which was already parked in front of their house) to the front of our house! Mitch has jokingly (i think) suggested nails under tires. But, I'm not that aggressive. However, I just do not understand the mentality. Is it wrong for me to approach someone if I see them pull up and ask them not to park in front of our house?

I just realized that this post has absolutely NOTHING to do with my title. hahahah....oh man. Okay, so this week several women (who are all in their 50's and 60's) have come up to me and congratulated me on getting married and then they say like "Married Sue" or "Married Suzie" or something of that nature and I utterly and completely don't understand. That is all.

I'm trying

2010-06-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of frustrations right now about the wedding and I am trying so very hard to remember the true purpose of why we are having a wedding to begin with. Not only do I have a week and a half left until the RSVP deadline and 76 of them haven't been returned, BUT there are so many more people declining than we had planned on. The sad part is, some of them are close family. I just truely don't understand. I let everyone know about the wedding in January for goodness sake! I had always envisioned this big 'ole party with all of our family and friends around us and I am trying so hard not to be disappointed. Truely, the only thing that matters is that I get to marry Mitch and start building a life with my very best friend. However, there is so much more hard work than a normal wedding going into this, that it is hard not to be disappointed, sad and frustrated. We really thought we were going to be around the 330 mark because we invited 367 people. Now, I really doubt we will even hit 300. Man, I need some fro-yo or something...I'm so bummed right now.

and so ends the month of May...

2010-06-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, where in the world is this year going?!?!? We are getting married next month! I thought I would update as to the status of our future home. We actually have made quite a bit of progress on it this month (even though it may not really look like it). The front room (where we will be living at) is almost ready to be painted and have carpet laid. This is really only my primary concern. The rest of the house will come with time, but the front bedroom and the kitchen need to be done SOON. We had the walls all smooth coated (goodbye pinkish paint). The bathroom was demolished by a demo-happy friend. We weren't initially planning on doing that, but we think we will be here for a while, so we might as well do it right the first time. Here are some pics:

Corruption

2010-05-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

My boss sent me and a co-worker today to a Young Professionals Networking (YPN) REALTOR Conference all day in Anaheim. I thought that it would be interesting to go to as a break from the mundane day to day office work and also the speakers looked interesting. So, when my boss asked if I was interested in going, I told her yes. What a BAD DECISION.

The morning started off all right with a really great motivational speaker that had some great marketing tips and life tips for mainly REALTORS, but I took some stuff away that I could apply toward my day to day life. The second session was a panelist of representatives from various home listing websites. This was so boring I wanted to poke my eyeball out. The speakers were very soft spoken and conservative and I had no idea what they were even talking about.

The third speaker, during lunch, was great. Really funny about the technology habits of todays society. Then................it all went downhill.

A group of about 7 REALTORS and Affiliates that are affiliated with my office attended this event. After the third speaker, there was a break, so 3 Affiliates, my co-worker and myself sat down in the bar for a bit. EXCUSE ME, but WHEN did the topic of casual sexual encounters become an acceptable topic to discuss in front of people who you work with?!?!?!?!? I was so uncomfortable as these people spoke of how important it is to have many sexual partners before settling down because if you don't, then how will you ever know what you want in a life partner? I was so offended, I jumped in and said, "Well, I only have had one boyfriend and that is the guy that I am marrying". Then, without skipping a beat, one of the Affiliates replyed "and that's what I call naive." EXCUSE ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Then they go on an on and one guy (who is in a relationship of 6 years) says that he (seriously) is trying to convince his girl friend to go on a break so that they can both do the single thing and then come back to each other and get married. Again, annoyed, I said, "Well, I think that if you've found the one, then there is no need to live the glorified single life." Can I just scream right now? I was so frustrated and upset to see a group of future "leaders" who have no morals, no integrity, no sense of professionalism and no standards.

I equate this hyped up YPN Group junk as a glorified fraternity and sorority of REALTORS. They party and all they talk about it alcohol. Seriously, their "events" are all cocktail parties. Forget the education that most events contain. That's out the window for this group. So, in keeping with their standard, there was a mixer after the conference with free alcohol and thats all these people could talk about. They kept bugging and bugging me to stay. I said "No, its Friday night and I have a life and a fiance to go home to". They were like "Well you will sit in 2 hours of traffic so you might as well hang out and have a cocktail." I replied "Well, I will still be home before you." Traffic? Puh-lease. I would much rather deal with idiot drivers than these people who I will forever look at differently. What a waste of a day......

Progress?

2010-05-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, I was actually going to add a new post yesterday because it has been so long and then I got busy at work and I wasn't able to add it and then I got a special request to update it and give people something new to read and so long story, short.....I'm updating it today!

Mitch has been gone all week working on a bathroom remodel up in Merced and I missed him terribly so I was pretty excited to come home (Merced) last night and see him and my parents. It's weird not seeing someone for a week that you are used to seeing everyday. As bad as this sounds, I was somewhat productive this week because Mitch wasn't here. I had a bunch of birthday, shower, wedding gifts that needed to be purchased and in the middle of all of that, I may have found some earrings that I will be wearing for the wedding. I am going to try them on with my dress today because I have my first fitting in Fresno.

As for the house remodel, we are making progress although it is not necessary the kind of progress or the speed that I had been hoping for. I am continuing to clean out the office because it was still completely full of stuff. Mitch has reframed and drywalled the hallway and now we just need to patch and mud it and then put the doors in. Once the doors are in, we can paint the front room and then we can move Mitch into it. Initially we were planning to keep the front bathroom as it was, because it was functioning and we were going to redo it later in the game. You can see how well that plan turned out.....

So, considering that we are kind of down to the wire, we hopefully will be hitting this remodel hard in the next coming weeks. I know that it is hard for Mitch to work and make money plus work on this house, plus to wedding stuff, so I've been trying to do as much of the wedding stuff that I can on my own. I don't want to overwhelm him :) On a positive note.....I mailed out my invitations yesterday!

Little Miss Layla Grace

2010-03-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, my cousin posted a link to a blog about this adorable little girl who was battling Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. I have been following it ever since. Yesterday on March 9th, this precious little girl lost her battle to this terrible cancerous disease. Please keep her family in your prayers.

Such a precious blessing for such a short little while....

Wedding Nightmares

2010-02-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have been averaging about one every week or two and they are ridiculous and super stressful. It started with simply things, like we forgot to purchase alcohol for the bar. Then, in the next dream, for some reason I decided to cut my dress into half so that it had a top and a bottom! Then, the DJ showed up super late and blamed me for some reason. Well last night was the worst one yet! For some reason, the reception hall never got set up. Therefore, I spent the entire morning of the wedding setting it up. I wasn't done by the ceremony so there was a stand-in bride at the alter with Mitch. Then, at the reception, I was wearing a dress made out of my tablecloth material and I was pregnant and I go into labor at the reception. Then everyone starts telling me I should just deliver right there at the reception. I was so stressed out by this entire dream and I woke up at 5 a.m. exhausted and I couldn't go back to sleep.

I really don't know why I am having these because the wedding is not constantly on my mind and I'm really not that stressed at this point about the whole thing. But, what I do know is this ridiculousness needs to stop! I'm tired of having these stressful nightmares and waking up exhausted!

OPERATION: Remodel and Clean Out Grandma's House

2010-02-03T11:14:00.001-08:00

So, a couple of months ago, Mitch's parents felt that it was appropriate and necessary to put one of his grandma's into a full-time care home because of her extreme dimensia and Alzheimer's. At the time, she was living by herself in her home with her dog. The home that she was living in is the one that Mitch's mom grew up in and unfortunately has not been updated or taken care of since Mitch's mom was a little girl. The home is owned free and clear by the family trust. So, long story short...Mitch and I really were trying hard to save up enough money to buy a home when we got married. Unfortunately, the homes down in this area are just too darn expensive for us to be able to do that. Therefore, Mitch's family is allowing us to live in his grandma's home for 2-3 years without paying rent as long as we update and remodel the house. This will allow us to pay off all of our debt (hopefully) and at the same time, save up for a larger down payment so that we will qualify for a bigger loan in a couple of year.

Honestly, Mitch and I have quite the task ahead of us. There are so many belongings that must be sorted through, thrown away and/or sold. Also, there is about 20 years worth of dust and nastiness in this house. So, we are trying to at least paint and clean the front guest bedroom and bathroom enough to where it is livable and then I am currently emptying out the kitchen so that that is functional for us to. (Side note: Yesterday, I spent 3 hours cleaning out the refrigerator. I found 3 dead spiders, 1 dead fly and what looked like an entire spilt mess of melted butter that had solidified in the bottom of the refrigerator. Lovely.) Here are some pictures of what the house currently looks like, junk and all. It looks bad and really dirty, but it's a work in progress :)

Family Room

Looking at the Dining Area and the Kitchen

Front Bedroom (where Mitch and I will be living at first)

Second Bedroom (will eventually be an office)

Front Bathroom

Kitchen

Master Bathroom (not much of a bathroom. Will eventually add and extra 2 feet width to it.)

Hallway leading into Master Bedroom. (Current view of old water heater closet and washer/dryer alcove. These will become one big closet. We will be demoing current closet in bedroom).

A Touch of Flair

2010-01-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

So, Mitch and I made two fun decisions to make our wedding unique and add a touch of flair.

Decision #1: We were initially wanting a sweatheart table for just the two of us. We DID NOT want a traditional head table and we wanted all of our bridal party to be able to sit with their significant others or guests. I was going back through some wedding pictures that our photographer had done about 2 weeks ago and I found this head table idea that I LOVED and I was trying to figure out how to do it with our bridal party and our Reception hall layout. Well, we decided to go ahead and do it and I'm so excited! It is going to add to the "hang-out" party atmosphere.

We are putting our head table in the middle of the room and having us, our bridal party and their significant others all sit together! I know that's a little non-conventional, but hey....it's our wedding!

Decision #2

Feathers! I already knew (from talking with our florist) that I wanted to incorporate feathers into bouquets, boutineers, or centerpieces, but again, I was looking on our photographers website and got a great visual of how to tie these into bouquets and boutineers.

So I think that I'm going to have some black feathers in my hot pink bouquet and the groomsmen will have some black feathers too and maybe even the bridesmaids. Again, a little non-conventional, but hey, its our wedding!

Okay, that is my fun bit of flair that we decided to add to the wedding.

STD's, the Good Kind

2010-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

So, our Save the Date's are almost ready to be mailed out! I just finished printing all the envelopes and I bought 160 stamps last week. The girls are all going to come over tomorrow and help stuff, stamp, and lick them. We might have a little pizza and margaritas along the way... :) Yum!

Utter Disappointment

2009-12-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

Last night, I went with Mitch to the American Red Cross because he was giving blood. I figured that this might be a good step to helping me try to move towards overcoming my extreme fear of needles. I was very proud of myself because my past history of been in close range of needles has been bad, very bad. (i.e. fainting while watching my mom get her blood taken, bargaining with doctors and nurses to not have to have shots, hyperventilating, freaking out, hysterical crying, etc.) So I was very proud of myself for just being in the same room with people who were getting their blood taken. I was good for about 15-20 or so and then I started to feel like the room was getting really stuffy and closing in on me. Then, my eyes couldn't focus on the magazine I was reading. I needed air.

So, I went outside to breath in several lungs full of frigid fresh air and I just couldn't go back inside. So the next 15 minutes I sat in Mitch's truck and cried because of how lame I am and how disappointed I am in myself. My fear of needles is to the absoute extreme and I feel really lonely sometimes because I don't know anyone else who is afraid of them even 1/10 as much as I am.

I feel like a lot of times no one understands the level of intensity of this fear. When I tell people about it, I think they take it with a dose of humor. So many people tell me it is mind over matter, but that really isn't the case. I would love more than anything to be able to at least look at a needle without completely flipping out. Why couldn't I be afraid of heights or something? People can go their entire lives without having to fly in a plane or ride a roller coaster or climb up a ladder. But needles? Its a fact of life and I am so disappointed in myself that I am so terrified of them. I am so proud of Mitch that he is able to donate blood and not have it bother him.

They're Done!

2009-12-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

www.rcjonesphotography.com

Anxious, Anxious, Anxious!

2009-12-04T16:05:00.000-08:00

I'm currently sitting here super anxious because our engagement pictures by Ryan Jones are supposed to be done any day.....I'm so excited.....the anticipation is driving me crazy!!! Ahhhh! (That was my crazy yell)

Empowered

2009-11-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

Today was a monumental day in my office. A suggestion of mine was actually taken to heart and a change was made. Unless you work in or are familiar with my office, you have no idea how HUGE this is. I finally feel like I can make a difference around here. I have suggestions all the time, but I feel as though they fall on a deaf ear. However, lately I have been receiving more and more emails with attachments that I am unable to open. This is due to the fact that these attachements are created in Microsoft office programs that are relatively new. The reason that I am not able to open them is because.......get ready for it....................our office programs here are........2000! It is ridiculousness! Anyways....I've been very repetative with suggesting the upgrades (even disproving wrong thinking about the upgrade to our other programs of operation). Lo and behold, today was a miraculous day. We have been upgraded!

A Candlelight Dinner

2009-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last night, the Santa Ana winds down here were howling like crazy! It was so windy, the trees were blowing all over the place. It was about 5:30 p.m. and I usually don't even eat dinner that early, but thank goodness that I did! Just as my spaghetti was done cooking, the power shut off! Now, if you've ever been to my apartment, you would understand that this could be a pretty scary thing. I live at the base of the foothills in Monrovia and bears, raccoons, and deer are frequent visitors. Just add 2 cups of total darkness, a pinch of lonliness and 5 candles and you have yourself a recipe of nervousness and anxiety!

I normally have absolutely no problem staying up there by myself, but all of these elements were more than I wanted to deal with while staying by myself. Mitch was working in Lake Elsinore so he couldn't even come over to be hang out with me. So, I ate my spaghetti and garlic bread in the romantic light of my 5 candles and called Mitch.

I was somewhat bummed because I was supposed to go get yogurt with my college roommate, Nicole, but because I was worried about the oven, I didn't go. (The oven was on when the power went out and I was afraid that it was going to turn itself back on when the power came on again. I soon found out that this would not have happened).

After I was done with dinner, one of my landlords came down to make sure that I had a flashlight and I mentioned that I was going to go stay the night at Mitch's because he was gone. So, the landlords invited me to hang out upstairs with them and listen to the Laker's game on the radio and enjoy some Halloween candy.

That is what I did and 2 1/2 hours later, the power came back on. Interesting night.....

Lots of DIY

2009-10-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

So, I have this really classy, fun, elegant, party atmosphere pictured in my head for the wedding reception. And as we all know (or maybe only those who are getting or have been married know) these things cost a ridiculous amount of money. You have to be willing to barter, haggle, and negotiate with people to get what you want for cheap. Hence, the decision to hand-sew each one of my 43 tables at the reception. Of course, many have offered to help and lend a sewing machinge (thanks for that!) but I was never too much of a fan of the standard polyester table cloths. I was initially going to use black ones, but my mom and I decided that might look too much like a funeral. So, last weekend, me, Mitch, and his parents went into the L.A. fashion district and I found this amazing material that I LOVE!

It is a fushia-colored crushed shimmer satin and I am absolutely in LOVE with it. Now, I researched this particular material as a table cloth and the EXACT same material rents at $30 per table. No thank you. I can make it for MUCH cheaper. So, end result, Mitch and I are driving into L.A. Friday morning and buying 404 (yes that number really says 404) yards of fabric to sew the table cloths ourselves! It will be quite the accomplishment :)

Craziness

2009-08-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Mitch and I went home this past to do a ton of wedding planning/appointments and such. I feel like we got so much accomplished! And, I'm really excited because we are so going to pull a super nice wedding off with a lot less money than the average wedding costs....AND we are going to invite like 340 people. The funny thing is, when I tell people the OUTRAGEOUS costs that I have been quoted for linens and centerpieces and such, they think that that is an okay price to pay. They seem to look down upon me when I say that I am going to purchase and/or make lots of things by myself because there is NO WAY I am paying this outrageous price that people are trying to make off of things that are going to die anyways. So, in my opinion, people who think it is okay to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on certain things have a little bit of an unrealistic view of life and the value of a dollar. Okay, off my soapbox for now.

Stuff's Comin' Along

2009-08-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I finally finished up on a final project that I had been putting off for one of my classes that I finished back in June. It was a project that I had been putting off and I really wasn't too jazzed about, but I finally finished it and mailed it to my professor. That was like the last thing that was weighing on my mind since I had finished school. So, its really nice to have that finished.

Things for the wedding are moving along too. We have the hall, the church, the pastor, the photographer, and the caterer. We also know what florist we will go with. I know what dresses the bridesmaids will wear, the centerpieces I want, the invitations we want....etc. I pretty much have a really good idea of everything that we are doing. So, everything is going really well with that. I just wish that it would come sooner!

Bride Expo

2009-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Mitch and I went to a bride expo in L.A. to get some ideas on various things for the wedding. I was really glad that he went with me because I wanted him to see different ideas and help me make informed decisions. He surprisingly, really enjoyed it. We both kind of decided to do some sort of a centerpiece that incorporates Manzanita tree branches, hanging crystals, hanging votive candles and hanging flower ball things. I don't know how to really describe flower ball things. I'm kind of using some of these for ideas.

Mitch really likes this idea too! I'm thinking that it will be relatively cost effective considering the number of table that we will need to have (close to 50) because our guest list is so huge. Another thing that I fell in love with is using rhinestone buckles on the invitations somewhere. These are a couple of inspirations.

I will continue to post more stuff about the wedding as our planning continues. If you're interested..................we have a wedding website. You can see it, by going to http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/StephanieOliver&MitchMaertens

Getting Back on my Feet

2009-06-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm so thankful that I had a job to go back to after I was done with my schooling! I am looking forward to my first full time paycheck again next week. There are so many things that I need to get a handle on when that check comes. I feel like my life is out of balance because I have no money. My truck is disgusting, inside and out. It is starting to look like I was living out of it for a couple of months. It needs to be thoroughly vaccumed and wiped down and it needs to be buffed and waxed and washed on the outside. That is my first priority once I have some money. I could do this stuff myself, but I just don't really have the facility and I haven't had the time in which to do it.

I am finding that I'm easily becoming bored now that my life has slowed down. I'm starting to plan some wedding stuff, but I still feel bored. My next huge project to catch up on once I get that paycheck is to do scrapbooking. I am more than a year behind and it is driving me batty. Scrapbooking can become extremely expensive and that is why I gave it up for all this time. However, I really would like to have the scrapbook updated to show to people maybe during the rehersal dinner or something because it is of me and Mitch since we have been dating.

This weekend, I asked my roommate Shannon to take engagement photos of me and Mitch. She takes really good pictures and has really good ideas so I'm hoping that these will all turn out really good. That will be one more thing to check off of the list!

We're Engaged!!!

2009-05-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago (I know...and I'm just now posting?!?!) Mitch and I went up to my grandpa and Marihelen's house to celebrate my sister's birthday, Mother's Day, and my Aunt LeAnne and Uncle Alan's wedding anniversary. I was completely exhausted from a long week of teaching 5th grade and completing college assignments so I was relaxing inside the house. Everyone else was outside on the deck visiting. My dad called me outside because he wanted to take some family pictures. I went outside to do that and then turned around to go back inside the house. Before I made it to the door, Mitch came over to me and kissed me and told me he loved me. I kissed him back and told him I loved him too. Then he bent down and told me that that he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with me. Nothing had clicked yet with me. Then the next thing I know he is down on his knee asking me to marry him. I started bawling and of course....I said yes!

Spring Break and a Root Canal

2009-04-15T13:26:00.001-07:00

So, I am officially done with my Student Teaching in the Kindergarten class that I was in. On Monday, I will start with 5th grade. It should be a drastic change, but we will have to see what I like better! Anyways, I was so stressed towards the end of this last student teaching term. I was teaching full time by myself, trying to work part-time as much as possible, I had a 21 page TPA paper due, and also a 21 slide Powerpoint to turn in. Understandably, I was going crazy!

So, I went home for some rest and relaxation just to find out that I needed a root canal. A root canal?!?!? I'm only 23 years old!!!! Last year, I had to get a crown put on and at that time it was because I didn't really think that flossing was important. Well, I have been a faithful flosser for over a year now and I went back to the dentist not only to find that it didn't help at all, but that my tooth was actually worse than my other one was last year! So I was able to have the root canal done on Monday (which I wasn't initially planning on staying that long in Merced for), and I was able to come home with my sister. Needless to say, my spring break was not as stress-free as I had intended it to be.

A Much Needed Mini Vacation

2009-03-09T19:42:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, me and Mitch took a much needed mini vacation. I have been giving my all to going back to school and teaching Kindergarten AND working part time and I really really wanted a break. So, we took a little vacation! It was soo much fun. I have this Bucket List of things I want to do and go to the San Diego Zoo and ride on Amtrak were both on the list. I also really wanted to see the Gaslamp District.

We had such a good time and I swear that we walked like 5 miles over the course of the weekend. We really didn't eat that healthy, but I don't feel guilty because of all the walking that we did.

The only downside to taking a break in the middle of my overhaul of things is that I had a really hard time getting back into the swing of things; especially when you throw the time change into the mix. I DID NOT want to get up this morning! Anyways, here are some pictures from the trip.

Petco Park

Gaslamp District

We had a caricature drawn of us!!!!

We didn't take a truck down there so we used public transportation to get around everywhere.

Beautiful ocean view from the Amtrak train on the way home.

The meaning of exhaustion

2009-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

So, as you know, I started Student Teaching in a kindergarten classroom this week. I AM EXHAUSTED. I feel as though I have been at this for 3 weeks, instead of only 3 days. I absolutely love my master teacher that I teach under and I love the class. The kids are adorable and say the funniest things! I honestly believe that if it was just this one thing that I was involved in, I could handle it. However, on top of this, I am driving like a mad woman to my office every day except Tuesday so that I can squeeze in as many hours as possible to help the finances. In addition to that, I have a college class that I go to for 3 hours on Tuesday nights and that has additional homework on top of everything else. Yet, somehow, I am still able to be coherent enough to cook dinner and do the necessary homework. Mitch has really been a blessing too because he helps be run errands that I already do not have time to do myself.

So, long story short, I am pretty much exhausted by the end of each day and can't wait to crash. I will persevere and keep on truckin' and get through this will as much enthusiasm and strength as I can.

On a side note, I got so angry today, heads were about to roll. Keep in mind that I am exhausted and I am only staying at my job part-time because I need the money. Everyone in my office knows this and doesn't understand how I balance it all, but I do what I have to do. Anyways, there is a woman that was hired on full-time to supplement me going to part-time work. She has her own desk, and I have my own. Her desk is isolated from the group and so she will usually sit at any desk that is available in the main area if someone is gone. So, I knew that she would be sitting at my desk most days-which is completely fine with me.

HOWEVER, what is NOT fine is the fact that I got into the office today and my desk was a DISASTER. This woman moved EVERYTHING on my desk. If you know me, you know that I am a neat freak and cannot stand clutter. This woman has so much clutter and she moved it all to my desk!!!!!! She even went so far to rearrange all of my crap AND go under my desk and unplug my keyboard from the computer and reroute it where she wanted it to be. So, I invaded my desk when I go there and moved right back in. I put EVERYTHING back the way I had it and I piled all of her crap up in one pile and put it at the very end of my desk. I was so pissed off, I was fuming. It would be one thing if my boss had us switch desks, but I asked my boss and she said we didn't need to. This new lady had NO right to come in and move all of my stuff around. I am so mad just talking about it again, because it was so uncalled for. How freakin' rude! I didn't really say anything today, but if it is all moved back tomorrow, it's on......

SuperBowl Party

2009-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Mitch and I went upstairs (to the people that I rent from) and went to their annual SuperBowl party. This is the second year that we have gone and they usually have around 200 people there. Anyways, this year, I was completely shocked because Steve-O from Jackass was totally there! A celebrity at my landlord's party in little 'ole Monrovia! So crazy! I was shocked. He was signing autographs and taking pics with people so I went to go get my camera, but unfortunately he left with his girlfriend at half-time. Still, even if he acts like a complete idiot on TV or whatever, it was still crazy to see him and be within like a foot of him!

Back to Kindergarten I Go

2009-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've posted, I know. Mostly I blame laziness. I have been enjoying my steady scheduled lifestyle and enjoying my long break from school. I initially took this break so that I could save up money in order to pay for my rent/gas/food when I go back to school in February.

I will be finishing my teaching credential starting in February and part of the program requirement is that you teach in a classroom fulltime - whether you are contracted or not. Problem is, I was unable to get contracted just because of the lousy state of the economy right now, which means.........I get to teach for 16 weeks full-time on a completely voluntary status! Yay me! (extreme sarcasm).

Anyway, long story short, I now have almost enough money to pay for myself to live for 4 1/2 months (of which, I am extremely proud of myself).

So, starting on Monday, I will be in a Kindergarten classroom full time, Monday thru Friday. Also, I will be taking one class at school for my credential that is Tuesday nights from 4:45pm-9:45pm. In addition to this, so that I can have a small income to help offset costs of living, I will be working at my current job every afternoon with the exception of Tuesday. I am going to go crazy and be sooooo exhausted for the next 4 1/2 months. (I have already aplogized to Mitch for being cranky or short with him in the coming weeks).

To sum up, I am both excited, anxious, nervous, and dreading these next coming weeks. It is going to be a strain, but I know that I will love it. The only part that extremely sucks is not being able to work fulltime and having to COMPLETELY drain all my savings that I have worked so hard to accumulate. Oh well, life will go on. Kindergarten, here I come!

Christmas Festivities

2008-12-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

So to celebrate the holiday season a little early, I had a Christmas party! I love parties and love having tons of people over, unfortunately, my apartment is only so large. My roommates and I had our annual little Christmas gift exchange and dinner before the party started. Also, my roommate from my freshman year of college and her boyfriend were able to make it up. That was really special because I haven't seen her since graduation. Anyways, here are some photos from the event....

Present time!

Shannon liked her gifts

Nicole liked her bows

Ho, Ho, Ho

I quickly found out that a Crockpot is not the smartest way (or the fastest) to make homemade hot chocolate. Don't do it!

Roommates!

Mitch and I

One of Rocky and Nikki's twins. I LOVE these boys.

Party People

Thanksgiving in Glamis

2008-12-01T09:09:00.000-08:00

Mitch and I spent Thanksgiving this year in the desert at Glamis. It was my first Thanksgiving not being at home. Even though I spent the holiday with all men and only 1 other girl, it was still pretty fun. I'm definitely not very confident driving our Rhino on the dunes by myself, but I still had fun just because of the fact that we were camping.

Mitch LOVES to ride his dirtbike on the dunes out there and so he had a blast. I took some good reading material and enjoyed myself while he was gone. His friends are pretty cool too so I chatted it up with some of them when he was on the dunes too.

On the way out there, we left Monrovia at about 9:30 at night and got in Glamis at 2:00 in the morning. Mitch's friends were all still up so they helped us park and set up camp, then we all hung out for a bit and ended up going to bed at about 4:00am. It is so crazy how everyone sets up camp though. There is this one really long road that we were on and everyone kinda just parks and makes camp alongside the road.

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL out there, when you are overlooking the dunes.

And this is our fabulous Thanksgiving dinner that Mitch and I so artfully prepared. Mitch deepfried the turkey. That is the BEST way to eat a turkey. It makes it soooo moist.

A Bit of Relief

2008-11-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

So for the past two weeks, Mitch and I had been preparing to put an offer on a house we had found in Pomona that we both really liked. We drew up an offer and we had already been pre-approved already through a mortgage company. However, this property was bank owned and so they required that we did a cross qualification with their lender (who was a COMPLETE pain to deal with).
I have been trying to deal with everything and get everything ready and the listing agent would not return our agents calls, my calls, or my dad's calls. Finally today, I got ahold of her and I got so frustrated with her, I called Mitch and told him we are just going to forget it. This lady said now that she had 3 offers on the property (a few days ago there were none) and the property went back to auction and she didnt' know who we should submit and offer to. I'm through with this listing agent and this property. How in the world do some of these people get real estate licenses? They don't have a single clue in the world!!!!
The only positive to this ending is that I don't have to be so stressed trying to deal with all of this nonsense anymore. So for that, I'm relieved.

Christmastime is just around the corner!

2008-11-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

I'd like to take a moment just to emphasize that fact that I LOVE Christmas! It is quite honestly my favorite time of year! It is by far better than even my birthday! I think that I love it so much because I love to buy gifts for people. I could care less if I got gifts in return, but I just absolutely LOVE to buy gifts and give them away. My downfall is that I really really really enjoy buying expensive gifts for people - which doesn't work so hot when you are on a budget and trying to save for when I'm not going to have a job for 4 1/2 months (whole other soapbox).

Anyways, Mitch does not handle the mall well when it is almost Christmas. So, I had Monday off from work for Veteran's Day and I made him go with me so that we could knock out some presents. I'm happy to say that we covered at least a third of our list. Not bad! I decided I needed to wait until my next paycheck to continue my shopping endeavors.

Another Bear!!!

2008-09-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

Last night there was another bear that came to eat dinner out of the trashcans at the house that I rent from. Who would've thought? Wildlife problems in L.A. County!