My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

One of our favorite things about our wedding date is that it falls on International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD). I’d been toying with an idea for a project that would be a (subtle?) nod to ITLAPD, but had been a little daunted by the actual work involved. I’m happy to report that, thanks to my wonderful friend H, who is experienced in all things crafty, I finished the project this weekend! I’m hoping it’s more funny/cute than over-the-top tacky, but avoiding over-the-top tacky is difficult when dealing with pirates. =)

Come to think of it, many elements of our wedding waver between being funny/cute and over-the-top tacky. Oh well. We think they’ll add a touch of whimsy to our wedding and reflect who we are as a couple. In fact, I’m really excited to share all the do it yourself projects I’ve been working on over the last few months (either at the wedding or in the posts that follow!).

Speaking of neat wedding cakes . . .

More details here.

I love this story and this video.  It makes me teary-eyed every time I see it!

T and I bought our wedding bands this weekend! We both knew what we wanted so it was a relatively painless experience. I hate jewelry shopping (I’m happier with the fake stuff – real jewelry seems like a waste of money) and dislike the Jewelry District (too much pressure to buy) so we tried to get in and out as soon as possible. I was looking for a 2 millimeter white gold, rounded band in a size 4. T was looking for a Tungsten (it’s a scratch proof metal) band in a size 10. Unbeknownst to us, it turned out we were looking for the two least expensive items in the Jewelry District, which are not even carried in many shops. Nevertheless, we were able to track down the exact rings we were looking for in a little over an hour – which left us plenty of time to head home for T’s softball game!

After the game, we met up with our coordinator at the wedding venue and finalized some more details. With a little over a month left, things are really starting to pick up! T had to work Sunday, so I ran errands, did some organizing around the house, and hung out with Alfie, who’s been limping lately for no discernable reason. He hasn’t been whining and there’s no obvious sign of injury so we’re hoping it’ll pass soon on its own. =(

How amazing is this wedding cake?

(You can check out more of the amazing details here.)

This is the adorable cake that inspired the one above:

I’m not a big fan of video games generallly, but I love whimsical cakes. Although my tastes run towards clean lines and simplicity, which is reflected in our wedding cake, there’s a side of me that would love something crazy and cute like this for our wedding.

My co-workers threw T and I a wedding shower today. It was really sweet. Since most of my them have never met T, and he had the day off, I had asked him to swing by. He was the hit of the party. Several co-workers dropped by afterwards to tell me how charming he is and to comment that he was such a good sport about the entire office grilling him for an hour. =)

I’m actually a little overwhelmed by how generous everyone (my co-workers most recently, but certainly my friends and family) has been, both with their time and money. I can only hope to be as nice to the people in my life as they are to me.

Had a phenomenal bridal weekend. My friends and family outdid themselves putting together my bridal shower and bachelorette party. I am incredibly lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

My fabulous sister B organized the bridal shower, which included overseeing the “staff” (including my littlest sister L, both B and L’s boyfriends, my Quad friends, and T), preparing a delicious array of food (from scratch!),* and crafting amazing decorations. B spent months coming up with the menu, doing test runs on the dishes, and hand making the decorations. My sisters and their boyfriends (aka, “laborers”) all drove down from San Jose Friday and got up early Saturday morning to finish preparing for the shower.

My Quad friends organized the bachelorette party. They rented a bi-level suite in Long Beach and decked it out in an Hawaiian theme. The party started out in the suite and then moved to the Mai Tai bar, where they’d rented out a booth and surprised me with a special cake (pictures of which are NSFW). =)

The bridal shower:

The bachelorette party:

And here’s poor Alfie, pooped after an exhausting weekend of entertaining. =)

* To be specific, she made crab rangoon,  chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, cucumber sandwiches, spinach dip, bite sized nachos, mushroom tarts, brownies, french macaroons, mini pies, pear champagne cupcakes, and tiramisu.  And for drinks, she made white wine sangria, lemon spritzers, and mimosas!

This is one of Alfie’s favorite relaxing positions. Weird, huh?

I admit it. I’ve been checking my registry and doing a little happy dance whenever something new is purchased off of it.

Despite having real jobs, a condo, and a dog, we still live like college students. We use mismatched old towels, dine off of chipped dishes from Ikea, make do with two or three scratched up pots and pans, skip vacuuming altogether because our vacuum hasn’t worked properly since 2006, speak quickly on cordless phones so old they barely hold a charge, drink out of reusable POM tea glasses, and serve appetizers on plates adorned with snowmen year-round because they’re the only serving plates we’ve got. We’ve happily made do, but are even happier anticipating the new “adult” life that comes with all of our cool new stuff!

In an effort to avoid boring everyone with the details of the wedding planning, and in order to maintain some element of surprise, I’ve resisted the urge to post pictures of all the cute projects I’ve been working on. However, I haven’t been able to stop shoving my wedding projects in the face of anyone unfortunate enough to enter our home in the last several months! This may be a problem as my bridal shower/bachelorette party is this weekend and half my wedding guests will be over at our place. T thinks I should put my projects under lock and key so I don’t end up forcing everyone there to admire them. =)

Wedding planning is picking up with a little over two months to go. We’re facing a bit of an upheaval in the wedding party because one of T’s groomsmen (who is starting medical school in Ohio) just got his exam schedule and found out he has an exam scheduled for the day of the wedding. We’d obviously understand if he can’t make it, but he’s super sweet and is trying to see if he can get it changed. He also happens to be the father of the ring bearer so things are a bit in the air there but I imagine it’ll sort itself out soon enough.

In any case, we took a break from wedding related stuff to hang out with friends this weekend. Two of my favorite people happened to be visiting from out of town (Tucson and New York) so I got to spend some quality time with them, as well as catch up with a couple of other local friends I haven’t seen in too long. We went to the beach, watched fireworks (Alfie barely reacted to them at all), had brunch on the marina, dinner downtown, and people over for a barbeque (with food provided by another lovely friend!). I also did an 11 mile run on Friday and cleaned house on Sunday! It was a glorious, fun, productive weekend and I wish it were longer.

Now that Alfie’s settled in a bit more, we’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that he’s super friendly. His breed isn’t known for excessive friendliness and we weren’t sure what to expect since he’s a rescue dog, but we had hoped for the best based on the behavior we observed at the pet adoption fair. So far, he’s exceeded our expectations. He loves people and will snuggle up against everyone for more than his fare share of attention. He’s also friendly, although to a lesser degree, with other dogs. That bushy tail never stops wagging.

For some strange reason though, we’ve noticed that other dogs seem to really like chewing on him, especially small dogs. Whenever T or I walk him and run into someone else also walking his or her dog (which is always the case because everyone in our community has a dog), the dogs sniff each other, Alfie’s tail starts wagging, and then *boom* he’s lost a chunk of fur! Poor Alfie. We’re all baffled by the incident, including the other dogs’ owners, and I swear, Alfie shoots me a look as if to say, “What just happened?”

Me: Hon, I want to fill our favor boxes with jelly beans at the bottom. I saw a really cute example of someone doing this on my favorite wedding blog!  What do you think?

T: I guess.  If you want to.

Me: I don’t think you get it. Seriously, it’s really cute. Come look!

T: It’s okay, I get it.

Me: No, look at this! See, that’s what I was thinking of.

T: Ohhhh. Thanks Babe. Because, you know, I had no idea how jelly beans in a box would look like until you showed me this picture. =)

Think I’m a little burnt out on running and working out, which I’ve been doing more or less steadily for the last three years.  Lately, I’ve been waking up early to go running, but then end up finding little things to waste my time until it’s too late to actually get a work-out in.  Like writing this post. 

I’m hoping it’s just because work’s been really busy lately, which I’m not used to anymore.  Since I’ve been getting home later, I just don’t have enough time to sit around and do nothing.  Plus, my list of little wedding details to finalize/finish is growing by the minute and I’m starting to worry when I’ll get it all done.  T, on the other hand, seems oddly convinced wedding planning is a snap.  For example, we had this exchange a few weeks ago . . .

T:  Hey, do we still have stuff to do for the wedding?

Me:  (*Staring in disbelief*)  Um, yeah.

T:  We should make a list!

Me:  (*Thinking, I have about eight different lists*)  Okay.

T:  (*grabbing a post-it note*)  Let’s see, what do we need to do?

Me:  (*snort*)  A post-it?  Really? 

T:  What?

Me:  Um, there’s actually quite a lot of things we still need to do.

T:  Really?  I thought we were pretty much done.  We’ve booked all the vendors.  What could we possibly have left? (*taking pen to post-it*)

Me:  Well, we need to figure out what the guys are going to wear, plan the rehearsal dinner and beach party, prepare the slideshow, buy the rings  . . .

T:  (*abruptly stops writing*) Oh.  So you’re saying there’s a lot left to do.

Me:    Yeah.

T:  (*puts pen down*)  Hey, I think the game’s on.  Maybe we can make the list later?    

Ack!!

Yay, found out the court ruled in our favor on a big motion today! *Stealing T’s victory dance* (T has no need of it since his softball team never wins. 🙂 J/k T and team. I’m sure you guys will win tonight’s game! Alfie and I will be there to root for you.)

Looking forward to having friends over for a pot luck tomorrow, although we have so much to do before then. The place has been a bit of a mess ever since we got Alfie. He’s adorable, and actually very clean and non-destructive for a dog, but he sheds even more than I do, despite our daily grooming. Plus, for some odd reason, he loves to lick the hardwood floor, which leaves a slight film when it dries.

Actually, we’re finding Alfie is full of odd little quirks. For awhile, we thought he was suffering from some doggy mental distorder because he’d get super-hyper for no reason and race around the room, seemingly chasing an invisible prey. Our trainer recently told us, after he did this in class, that it’s fairly common with younger dogs. She calls it the Zoomies. Now that he knows our dog isn’t mental, T loves to see if he can bring on a case of the Zoomies! We kind of hope he doesn’t grow out of it. =)

Alfie also likes to sit on the stairs with his backside one step higher than his front legs. Weird. Oh, and feet. He likes our feet, whether it’s sitting on them or licking them.

His training is going along fairly well.  He’s learned several basic commands and does them when he’s focused.  The problem is getting him to focus.  Our trainer, who works with a lot of dogs, has pointed out that he’s pretty ADD.  You can just see his mind start to wander in the middle of obeying a command, if he’s paying enough attention to register the command in the first place!  Sigh.  Hopefully, practice will make perfect.  We’ve got one more class to make him perfect!

While in line at Chipotle on a Monday night. . .

T: Psst. Hey, do you think that girl in front of us has gotten a nose job or something? Something looks off.

Me: No. She just has tons of makeup on which looks weird ’cause it’s Chipotle and it’s a Monday night and she’s wearing sweats.

T: Oh. Yeah, I think that’s it. You’re so much better at being catty than I am.

Me: Well, you’re still learning.

So yeah, we’re catty. And we were at Chipotle last night. The weather was gorgeous Monday so we’d gone biking earlier in the day and felt semi-justified in the indulgence. Rest assured, I was looking properly sloppy and makeup-less! =)

Aside from Chipotle’s, I had a very bad weekend invoving many meals out and off of my diet. (At least I made my 11 mile run on Sunday!) T’s friend was in town for the weekend so we met up with him and his new girlfriend for dinner Saturday and Sunday. We may have gone to In-N-Out one of those days and I may have gotten a hamburger and fries animal style. (Sooo good. The sauce makes the fries all soggy, just the way I like them!) I went shopping with my girlfriends Sunday morning so there may have also been a visit to a food court (where nothing healthy is ever to be found). And somewhere in between all of this, I may have polished off a box of truffles a friend of mine had given me. (Shhh, T doesn’t know about the truffles. . . ) Ugh. Feeling a little sick and chubby today! Not good since I have to pick up my too-tight wedding dress next weekend.

Aside from eating and shopping, I saw Indiana Jones with T and his brother. We thought about sticking around for the new Narnia movie, but were too tired. (Okay, truth to tell, my back starts to hurt after an hour of sitting in a movie theater so I wasn’t feeling it. Is this a sign of what’s around the corner from my 30th birthday?). The movie was okay in case you’re interested.

Also, I finished the envelope liners for our wedding invitations!! Yay!

I did not finish (or even start) any of the Economists piling up on our coffee table. Boo. It turns out our friends are right. There’s definitely a certain sense of guilt that develops from not reading the Economist after one subscribes to it. It’s like not doing your homework. Well, maybe this weekend. . .

Went on a nice long run with my friend V Saturday morning. Rushed home in time to drop T off at his beach volleyball game (so he could drink with his buddies) and get back before my friends J and A came over with J’s cute, friendly mop of a dog Baxter. After some initial play fighting (we discovered Alfie’s secret weapon is a wicked butt bump), Baxter and Alfie got along really well. Unfortunately, T and I planned the day badly and I had to leave in the middle of the doggie date to pick T up, but we returned in time to hang out with J, A and the dogs a bit before they had to head off.

Saturday night we went to V’s 30th birthday party. (All my friends are turning 30. I’ll be up in a couple of months. Sigh.) There was tons of yummy food and friendly people. I fell off my Weight Watcher’s wagon and indulged in home made guacamole, empanadas, and cupcakes. SO worth it. Yummm.

Sunday, my friend D came over with her husband and their dog, Shelby. We hung out, played Scene It, walked to BOTH nearby dog parks, had a drink at the Coffee Bean and grabbed dinner at C&O (decent food, best garlic knots ever).  Alfie was great all day, even when we left him and Shelby home alone to go grab dinner!

Because I know y’all just can’t get enough.  Look, we got him groomed!  He’s even CUTER! 

He had his first training class today and had the attention span of a gnat, but the trainer said he was very friendly and sweet.  I think our mistake was feeding him before the class so he had no interest in the treat rewards. 

We wonder sometimes if we’ve gotten in over our heads with a Chow.  I read this quote about Chows, which, while funny and cute, is not terribly reassuring for first time dog owners!

“One thing that most people don’t realize about Chows is that they are ‘sentient.’  By that we mean that they are able to think for themselves. Most people forget that the Chow was raised to be a ‘working’ canine. They were supposed to go out into the field, size up the situation, figure out how to handle it, and then act upon it without any direction from a human or even being accompanied by one. Therefore, it should be no surprise that they do not blindly follow your ‘orders’ just because you have said so. They take what you have
‘requested’ under ‘advisement.’ If they deem it to be a reasonable request at that time, then they ‘obey’ . . . if not, well, they just kind of let you know they acknowledge your having spoken, they love you, but are busy at that moment and please get back to them another time. This can be a maddening response to some, but to those who understand the temperament of cats will just look at them, laugh, and understand that that is what is to be expected of the canine that is called the ‘cat of the dog world.'”

So far, so good. Alfie is still tugging on the leash and not responding so well to his name or any commands, but he’s quiet and non-destructive and gets along pretty well with other dogs and people. True to his nature, he’s a little obstinant and can be stand offish, but he’s not mean or aggressive. He’ll greet the other dogs at the dog park and then wander off to do his own thing, occasionally participating in a bout of chase if it happens to pass him. He’s gotten much friendlier with T and I. Last night, when I was sitting on the floor playing with him, he plopped himself on my lap. Keep in mind he’s a fifty pound dog, not a lap dog. I’m not sure if it’s something I should discourage (we’re going to take training classes soon), but it sure is cute.

Alfie has the added benefit of allowing us to meet more neighbors. We’ve met more neighbors in the day and a half that we’ve had him than in the nine months we’ve been living in our condo. Since everyone has a dog, it’s much easier meeting people in the dog park and walking around the neighborhood. The dogs give us something to do about and bond over.

And I’m not ashamed to admit it. T, on the other hand, apparently still likes to pretend he’s cool. =)

We’ve both been reading and enjoying the first book in this sci-fi/fantasy series (which may be coming out as a movie next year). As is often the case in sci-fi/fantasy books, dragons play a pivotal role. I casually brought up, over lunch at Baja Fresh, that I had a question about how the dragons in the book learn English.

Rather than respond, T briefly froze, then quickly looked around the room, mumbled something unintelligible under his breath and hurried us out of the restaurant (fortunately, we’d finished eating!). Apparently bringing up dragons in public is a huge social taboo because it outs him as a dork. Or at least the guy eating with a dork. =)