Tales from a Weird & Righteous Life...

And so the Wedding Blogging Begins...

2010-07-29T08:23:00.004-05:00

Well. Today is 3 months. 3 Months until the BIG day... 92 days to go.

I do feel like we have a handle on all the details... for the most part. LOL

OMG. And yesterday- my shoes came in. I swear these are THE most AMAZING shoes I have ever owned in my LIFE. Sigh. They are SO effin' wonderful. :D :D :D :D

Last week I put together all of our favor boxes. Chris helped :) There are 200 of them. Let's just say it took a little longer than I originally thought it would. And 200 sure looks like more than 200. haha. But I think they will be good. Any ideas on what to put in them? So far we've considered Halloween Oreos, Halloween M&Ms... etc.

Last night we actually nailed down a TON of details. Bridal shower date is set, Bachelor & Bachelorette plans have been laid, and a few other loose ends have been tied. It felt sooo good to get some stuff figured out.

Today I need to call our Pastor, the woman doing our groom's & sheet cake, and call the travel agent for a quote.

Oh- and Kriska- I have sheet music for you and Ross. :)

Until next time...

The future Mrs. Black :)

The countdown is on..

2010-05-11T08:00:00.003-05:00

Well. We are under the 6 month mark! And on top of that it's already the 11th of May- it feels like May is already gone! And that makes me excited because that means our wedding is closer and closer! :D

Work has been good. Sometimes it's really hard for me to get up and go everyday, but it will be nice once my paychecks are consistent (I've only got one paycheck so far lol). One thing I'm not looking forward to is working weekends. We will be alternating weekends starting this weekend. This is kind of bittersweet for me. I just got a job and was SO excited to be working the week and to have the weekend off. BUT now- since I'm more 'trained', the weekends will begin. So this means I will have Friday this week off, work all day Saturday, 1-5 on Sunday and have Monday morning off and I'll have to be at work at 2. Sure it sounds nice- but that's just less and less time to spend with Chris and Paige. Guh.

On top of that I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to do the Via Christi Walkfest at River Fest on Saturday. Bleh. I guess I'll have to do it next year :(

Let's see what else. LoL

Went to the bridal shop about a week and a half ago- all the girls got fitted for their dresses and Paige picked out and tried on her flower girl dress. My favorite was her favorite too- that girl has great taste ;o) Also picked up my dress too!! So it's completely paid for and is currently in my old bedroom at my mom's house. That's a great feeling. Just the fact that it's not at the store anymore! AhhH! We got our engagement pics taken last week too. I am so impatient when it comes to things like this- I'm SO excited to see them! I've been checking my email everyday LOL! I think they will be great- our photographer is AMazing! Once we get those back I can finish up our Save the Dates and get those sent out. After that basically we'll just have to meet with the florist again to finalize what we want. Then it's payment plans to the florist, baker, and photographer. And a waiting game until we address invites. Other than a few odds and ends things to buy (garter, shoes, Chris' tie....) we are good to go! Which makes me really happy because I won't have to stress the day of- or even the week of! And that was actually my plan all along! Woot!

Wellll- I think that's it for now! It's been crazy around here between jobs, kiddos, wedding stuff, and friends!

Until next time,

~The Future Mrs.Black :)

An Empty House

2010-04-02T11:30:00.002-05:00

Well. The past 4 days have been a little crazy. As I said before, I've been babysitting a friend's little girl this week. Her and her brothers went to their mom's house since there is no school today or Monday, so I'm going it alone today! It's a little creepy how quiet my house feels today... ;)

I did sleep in a bit, which was weird because I've been waking up a touch before 6 all week long. But, sleeping until 9 wasn't a bad idea... I feel SO rested today! :) Although, since I did sleep until 9, I feel like I've wasted away my entire day-lol. That's what waking up early will do to ya'.

Went yesterday to take my "drug test" for the job I'm hoping to get at the Apartment Complex. I know for a fact that I'm drug-free (unless they're counting caffine :) ), so now I'm just playing a waiting game to hear back from them. I decided that today (or Monday) may be my last day of "freedom", so I thought I'd give the house a deep cleaning. Get my "spring cleaning" out of the way so it's done and ready for summer. Well, I did the kitchen and living room floors, and dusted the living room and then hit a bit of a brick wall. Where has my motivation gone?! Oh, that's right. I walked into the room with the laptop in it. Lol. So I'm taking a break and decided I'd blog while I'm sitting here.

There's not a whole lot of stuff going on right now, other than Chris working his new job and me staying home playing a waiting game for mine. I'm trying to be productive while I'm here though. I hate feeling like I just sat on my butt all day long while Chris was literally doing manual labor out in the sun all day (He's got a nasty sun-burnt neck to show for it too!). The dishes never fail me, and there is always laundry creeping up on me too. I figured that today would be a good day to not only finish the rest of the house, but to work out in my garden too since it just rained last night. I finished mowing yesterday and spotted a few weeds that could use a sudden uprooting. Hehehe... darned weeds.

And I think that's it for now!

I suppose I'll drag myself back to cleaning... My list of "To-Do's" isn't getting shorter as I sit here :)

Happy Friday!

Sunny with the High of 88!!?

2010-03-31T14:46:00.003-05:00

What an Absolutely BEAUTIFUL day! Sheesh. Every window in our house is open. I love it.

Time for a quick update. Chris got a job!! Yesss!! He's working for Miller paving company- but he's working with his buddy laying gas lines. Basically they are out in holes all day long and playing and digging in the dirt. Today is his 2nd day and he said he really likes it. The hours are "normal". 7am-5pm. At least starting next week we'll be getting a paycheck every Friday. Which will be nice because we are down to about $13.00. That's checking and savings combined. Guh. And I still have to get at least $5.00 in gas today. So we'll go ahead and make that $8.00 for our available funds. sigh. On a lighter note, though, Chris called me today around 11:15 and said that he had a minor emergency. He had bent over to pick something up off the ground and he SPLIT the whole butt out of his jeans!! LOL!! So I had to go take him some jeans. Haha. Hahhhahhaa!! ;)

This week I've been watching Dirk's (Chris' best friend) daughter, Dakota. She's 5. It's fun, but a little stressful because I have to be up at 6 when Dirk comes to get Chris for work & to drop Koda off. Then she's here with me until they get off... They usually get home between 5 & 6. Just depends on how busy they were. So I've baby-sat for, well, it will be 36 hours in the past 3 days. LOL! I feel like a mom. And actually it makes me really excited to be a (hopefully stay at home) mom. :D I've been doing a ton of cleaning, inside and out- and I even tried mowing today. The mower and I had a fight, though, and the damn mower won. :(

I finally got rid of the GIANT piano that was taking up too much space in our spare bedroom. My friend Abbie gave me a desk that she didn't want anymore. So now I have an office :) I'm loving it!

Well- I think that's it for today! Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently! :)

Have a happy, sunny Wednesday!

Grown up hours...

2010-03-01T21:33:00.003-06:00

I'm quite behind on this blog ordeal. :( I've got pictures I need to post, updates to make and new goals to set.

First I'll start with the pictures... :)

Here are a couple of the "bumpy" blanket that I made for Billy. Turned out good, (well in pictures at least) and Chris seemed to like it :)

Also, there's a pic of the "mangyle" vest.... although I've done a lot more than what is shown in this particular picture. That's just the last time I took pictures of it.

And then there's just a fun artsy-ish pic of one night when I was teaching Abbie to knit. We had hot chocolate in fun vintage tea cups :)

So that's the knitting update. Still not done with Kamdyn's blanket. Still not done with the vest. Yeah.

On a lighter note, however, I got a new job. It's very very VERY part time. We are talking 12-16 hours a week right now. It's working in the Child center at the church where Chris and I are attending small group. I'm actually pretty dang excited! I start tomorrow :) Chris also starts at Spirit sometime this week. His start date was a little delayed, but we are going downtown to get things sorted out tomorrow. So hopefully that all goes smoothly.

In the meantime I'm still looking for something to fill in the gaps since the Church job is so part time. I'm hoping that my friend Abbie can talk the latchkey coordinator into letting me come back to Emerson. I used to work there but quit for a "full-time" job so I would have it when I graduated. Then I got laid off a year ago. Guh. You try to make a good decision and then it backfires. Ah well. That's life. I did quit buffalo though. I couldn't be there anymore. Especially if Chris wasn't working there anymore. He keeps me sane there. Or, kept rather. lol.

So now we are day people. We'll work days and have nights and weekends off. Actually, tonight was our first night eating dinner at a 'normal' time. We ate at 7! I know it sounds normal to everyone else, but we have been working nights together since we met. So about a year and a half now. And I'm pretty excited that we'll be in bed in about an hour too. Ohhh the grown up life. I'm quite excited to start living it! :)

I think that's pretty much everything for now. Wedding plans are coming along and we are finally starting to get our finances in order too. Hopefully with these new jobs (and hours) we can finish paying off our debts and start saving for our honeymoon!

Woo!

Only 242 days to go...

Blog Drought.

2010-01-25T15:24:00.003-06:00

Well. Compared to how much I blogged a couple weeks ago, I've been in a blog drought! I've been knitting like a crazy person. Finally got started on Kamdyn's surprise something :D, and as of about an hour ago I have finished Billy's Baby Blanket! I even took pictures to upload... but the camera cord is MIA.

All things considered I think it looks okay for my very first blanket of all time. I originally started with a free Lion brand pattern. The blanket works on double point round needles and in the diagonal. It was a great pattern, nice and simple and I felt like it wasn't going to take WEEKS to complete. Well. I started out- and everything was fine. Then I ran out of yarn. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, however, I bought this particular yarn about 2 years ago at Wal-mart, on Oooober clearance. So I even tried finding it online and there was none. None on eBay, none on the brand website, none anywhere. So. I took the whole thing out (I was 1/2 way done), and decided to do squares just like the original pattern only mini-sized and then stitch them together like a knitted quilt. Great idea at first.

I knit one square and then was so excited, I forgot to count my stitches before I began the decrease. So on the next 4 or so I just counted what I thoughtit was. I was wrong. So I had some with 24-25 stitches at the widest point and some with 27. A couple stitches doesn't sound like a lot- but man. It ended up making a difference in inches! Not. Good. :(

So I just figured I'd do the rest at 27 and just hope that I could stretch the others out and it would just have to work. Well, it worked... except now it's kinda bunchy and ruffly where I wanted it to be flat. I tried doing a crochet border in 2 rounds to make the corners less curly. That helped the corners, but in the middle it's not flat like I was hoping it would be. Like I said before, it's not so bad for my first ever blanket- and Billy is only 3 weeks old so I know he won't judge as long as it's warm :) And warm it is! I don't think his mom and dad will mind too much either- home made gifts are always better, even if they are bumpy and rufflyish.

So I have pictures that I will just have to upload when I find our camera cord. :o|

I did get started on Kamdyn's gift too- hopefully now that I have Billy's blanket out of the way I can get rockin' on her gift :D

Then it's back to scarves for awhile. I've got 4 that I really need to get finished before the end of February. Or asap, rather. Chris' vest will have to be put on hold. :(

I did get a call back on a job though- It's for Enterprise. I have a friend who works there so hopefully she's pulling all the strings she can :) I'm waiting on another call either Wednesday or Thursday to let me know when the interviewing process can begin. So cross those fingers!

Also- we went to the Coliseum on Saturday to help pack up food to be sent to Haiti, and Chris ran into an old manager of his. He's now working at Koch Industries and is the Executive Chef and he offered Chris a job! So we are waiting to hear back on that as well. It would be during the days so he would have nights and weekends free! Finally- real jobs for the both of us! Pray everything works out for the best, I know I sure am!!

I think that's all the updating for now! Time for lunch and off to work...

N

Knitting group take 1. Epic Fail.

2010-01-10T18:04:00.003-06:00

Welp. Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting of the knitting group I'm... starting. (I was going to put 'creating', but that just didn't sound right... hence the "..." for a 'pause'... :P) BUT- a few people cancelled... one is about to pop out a little cutie pa-tootie (code for baby), one is still in Florida, and a couple other misc. conflicts. I'm not mad or anything, but a tad sad**. (L.O.L- that rhymed! Wicked bad too... lol (again)). I was SO excited to get together with a few girlys that are actually good friends. Ones I talk to on a regular basis, and who have always and will always be there for me. And visa versa. I even asked Chris if he'd hang out in the bedroom with the puppies so the girls and I could confabulate and knit in the living room (it'd be a little silly- 6-8 girls in our bedroom trying to find a corner of the bed to sit on just comfortable enough to knit... and that's not even thinking of the ones who are trying to meander their way through the laundry (though it's all clean...) on the floor to pop a squat...), and he said that he'd even take a couple movies in the bedroom- just in case we got caught in conversation and went over the alloted time I had told him we'd be.

Anywho- I was excited to work on knitting-ness. I shall, however, knit tonight in the wonderful company of my fiance and our 2 boogers of puppies. :D

On another note- we are pretty big fans of GSN (Game Show Network- for those who don't watch TV like us ;o) )... and in the afternoons they have GSN live- which basically consists of the hosts taking callers during the commercial breaks of the game shows and hosting games for them to play to win cash, prizes, trips, or this new thing- Oodles. Now. We had heard all about these afore mentioned "oodles", but weren't quite sure what they were or how they worked. So what did I do? Got online- naturally, of course. Well Oodles are kind of like fake money. They even have their own "dollar sign", (or Oodle sign, if you will) and you can use them to enter into sweepstakes or buy things from the Oodle store. We are trying to save up to get a Big Screen TV. Yes. One of the things in the Oodle store is a 52" Sony LCD Flat screen TV. I think this would look absolutely AMAZING hanging in our living room! :D

So they have trivia you can answer to earn Oodles and games you can play to earn Oodles and Oodles of Oodles stuff etc. Needless to say, we've only been playing for about the past 3 days and we already have about 1200 Oodles. The TV is 425,000 Oodles. So while we aren't all that close right now- we are well on our way!! :D

**This little rhyme reminds me of something funny I said the other day. (Well- I think it was FUNNNNY so I decided to share, since this is MY blog and all and I can write about whatever I want :P) We were at work and we had just finished closing and Chris and I were standing waiting for the other server and bartender. I was looking at him, and on the back/side of his ear was a little blonde hair. It was just above the lobe, and it was sticking out (kinda far, lol) and it looked kind of like a little wing!! I said, "Babe! You've got a little hair sticking out the backish/side of your ear! It looks like a little Wing!! You've got an EAR WING!! Get it!? Ear Wing.... Earring... Earwing... Earring!!! HAAAhhahahaa!" And I immediately started laughing! I don't think he thought it was all that funny- but I was cracking up!

Phew. Just thinking of it makes me giggle... :D Good stuff.

Ummmmmm I think that's it for today!

Off to knit...

:o)

Not 1, not 2, but SEVEN.

2010-01-08T01:18:00.004-06:00

So I've realized, (much more this winter than before) that I tend to have several knitting projects going at once. I mean, having two or three at once isn't too bad- once you get tired of one you can switch to another. It makes the process a little easier. Well. as of now, I have 6 going. SIX. Soon to be 7. Good grief. I've got THE Vest for Chris. A baby blanket for Ashley, Sean and little Billy. A scarf for Meg and one for Chris (my boss, not my fiance :P). A scarf for Abbie. Matching arm warmers for Abbie. And a surprise something that I'm planning on starting this weekend for Kriska and B's new little baby girl (who will be here sometime between now and Wednesday!!! YAY!)

So three is acceptable... but SEVEN!? Haha... I suppose this isn't too unheard of knowing me. I get bored easily. Hehee. I suppose as long as everything actually gets FINISHED than it's not a big deal, huh?

On another note- I got a call back about a job! I sent my resume in for a job at the Family Life Counseling Center at Central Community Church because I know a woman who works there and she said there was an opening for the Office Administrative Assistant. So I got a call and of course missed it, but the woman left a message. The resume was sent to the Sr. pastor, and it was his assistant who called and said that the pastor wanted her to chat with me a bit and set up a time for me to go in and meet with them! So I returned her call and left her quite the long message lol. And as I was finishing the message I realized that when I get really excited, I start to talk pretty fast. LOL- so I hope she understood everything I was saying! I know she wasn't an old old lady, but she didn't exactly sound like she was still in her 20's either.... So fingers crossed she understood everything. I did leave my number at the end- just in case- and some how I managed to get that out at an easily audible pace. Pray for a phone call tomorrow! :)

Or Monday at the latest... (haha.. after thought there...)

Tomorrow *today- it's after 12 lol...- Mrs. Hutton is coming over to help me... to instruct me... to guide and lead me in de-cluttering our guest room. Praise God for brave souls like her! :D I just hope that I will be able to 'let go' of the crap we don't need... :o|

Welp- I think I'm going to try and get some knitting in before I hit the hay!

Goodnight moon, goodnight stars, goodnight city with sub zero temperatures....

The biggest loser?

2010-01-05T20:50:00.003-06:00

The new season of the biggest loser began tonight. Last season was the first time I'd ever watched the entire season. I'd seen a show here or there before, but never saw the beginning all the way to the end. If you haven't watched it... it's a very intense reality show. At least I feel like it is. I don't know how many episodes we watched last season before I didn't cry at one! It's just so touching to me. And it kind of hits a nerve too. I don't think that I've necessarily been 'fat' or 'overweight' for my entire life, but I was never the 'skinny' one through middle school until now either. I've always been just a little bigger than I want to be. And it's not even a matter of being 'big' either. It's more like I just want to be more tone. I want my muscles back that I had while dancing in college. Just about the time that the dance team was taken away was when I finally started feeling comfortable in my own skin... well, and body too. Then, of course, there was no more dancing, which meant not really any working out either. But I didn't change any eating habits either. So I was eating the same and working out none. Lol. Sooo.... I really want to just get back into the swing. I have to- I really don't have a choice because if I don't I won't fit into my wedding dress! Ahh! And that would make me cry. A lot.

Anywho.

Ironically- I made two dinners tonight (while watching The Biggest Loser...). One is for Sean and Ash- they just had their precious baby boy early early Saturday morning, so I offered to bring some dinner over so they don't have to worry about cooking. Then I also made Enchiladas! Every year on Christmas eve at my Grandma and Grandpa's house, we have home made enchiladas. They are SO GOOD. Like amazing good. Sooo- I called my Grandma today and got the 'secret' recipe. Needless to say they were a success!! They weren't quite as good as Grandma's... (it never is :D).. but I will say it was like a Fiesta in my mouth! Yum!

I also planned to do some de-cluttering tonight. Guh. I just feel like I don't know where to start! Thankfully Kristabaker Hutton is coming over on Friday to help me with our guest room. It needs to be totally gone through and it just needs a fresh start. I've also got a piano in there that I MUST sell because I need to get a desk. That way the space will actually be functioning, instead of a dumping zone for everything we don't want to deal with/ don't have a place for. It doesn't help that we don't even have a linen closet, coat closet, or basically any storage at all. Sheesh. I like our little house, but I'm dyin' here! I need organization, no clutter, and most of all I need what space we have to be functional- especially since we are quite limited to space in general.

I also didn't finish the dishes... Obviously I'm blogging instead.

Well. I should get off my butt and turn on some wonderful music and find some clothes to fold, put away, dishes to wash, or kitchen junk drawers to clean out.... ;)

Oh- and on another note- I've discovered that I'm growing quite fond of typing my thoughts into the grand internet abyss.

Ah- and I like watching our pups sleep- so peaceful and snuggly and just darn adorable! :)

Would you like fries for your side?

2010-01-05T01:13:00.002-06:00

Back to business. After 5 BEAUTIFUL days off work, getting to spend actual quality time with my wonderful fiance, today we went back to work. Bleh. Don't get me wrong- some days you can make really good money in the restaurant business, but all in all I'm ready for a quote unquote 'real' job. I'm ready for a steady paycheck. I'm ready to have my nights and weekends back. And I'm ready to not have to deal with crappy tippers, rolling silverware, and kissing butt to try and earn an extra $1 or so onto my tip.

Now Brian, I know you LOVE Bww... but I think I've had my fair share. :o| I'm on the job hunt! I've got a couple options that I hope at least turn into interviews, and if that doesn't work.... well I'll just have to figure something else out. Say goodbye to $2.13 an hour and hello to full time employment! :)

Now the vest update... I'm actually getting somewhere with this one and I must say that I THINK it looks great! I'm about 10 inches or so into it and I'm very excited to see it 'unfold' (a little ironic, huh? hehe...) even more! I will be posting pics tomorrow as I'm off work, so I'll actually have the time to get new pics taken and all of them posted.

Wish me luck as I also plan to do some cleaning and de-cluttering as well!

Happy Tuesday!

-Nicole

THE Vest... post numero uno.

2010-01-03T03:55:00.002-06:00

Well today I did it. I started the argyle vest for Chris. I was really nervous to get started- I was afraid I'd mess something up or that I wouldn't be a talented enough knitter to even complete the project. But, alas, my lovely Fiance gave me comforting words of wisdom... "If you mess up you can always just take it out and restart!" With that I began my cast on.

:)

I'm using a free pattern from knitty.... here it is if you are interested... Mangyle Vest

I am modifying the pattern just a bit to fit Chris' personality a little more. For example- On the bottom I chose to do the traditional K5 P5 to get a ribbing. I did, however, still alternate the colors to get the stripe feel. Also, we changed the colors.

I'll post pics soon- hopefully sometime either Sunday or Monday.

This pattern is knit as two separate panels. One for the front, and one as the back. I figured it would be much easier to start out with a pattern like this as I'm an argyle virgin :)

I will say that I am quite proud of how it looks so far! I've got about 4 1/2 inches from bottom up done as of now. And I would guess I've put about 2 hours into it. Thanks to the Advanced Knitting Help website I've managed to begin the battle with Intarsia and Fair Isle. I think Intarsia is my favorite. :)

Anywho- as I said before-- Pics to come soon!

-Nicole

New Year, Knew Knits, and New Blog!

2009-12-31T14:24:00.000-06:00

2010. Sheesh!

This past year has been great. I fell in love with the man of my dreams, watched him get down on one knee and propose to me, fell behind with knitting, got back into it, and hung out with some old friends. It was a good 2009- but I am ready for 2010!

So- New blog! Yay! And I'll be doing a LOT of experimental knitting this year too! Like my first argyle anything, a vest for Chris, and maybe even some puppy clothes :) Oh yes- and I'm also getting married in 10 months :D

So just to start of this blog (in theme with firsts...), here are pictures of my FIRST, hand made by yours truly, argyle chart! Ahhh! :P

-Nicole