NaBloPoMo - we broke up

Clearly, NaBloPoMo is not for me. Such is life.

the holidays are upon us. How did that happen so fast? Mr & I are going to his grandparents' for Thanksgiving and having Christmas at home. Our home. We don't have to go anywhere or see anyone, and it really makes me happy. I love having my own tree, and waking up in my house and opening presents with Mr.

This year was supposed to be Christmas at my parents' house. I haven't been for two years because we were trying to get on the same schedule as my brother and sister-in-law, who is on a schedule with her married siblings. Finally, we were on-track. But, they're not going for a myriad of reasons, and when I politely asked if it was ok to bring Hank with us, my mom said that she and dad had discussed it and decided that dogs are for "short, quiet visits."

Hank is banned.

So, because we sent him to Mr's parents during the honeymoon and recently boarded him for a weekend we said we can't do that to him again. So, we're staying home. I was upset, because I don't understand her issue with dogs in the house, but I respect her decision. If I don't want someone/something in my house, I expect others to abide by my rules, so I have to do the same for her. We handled it well, I think. No major drama, but both of us stood firm and didn't want to hurt the other's feelings. Once it was clear that we were both ok with it, there was a noticeable drop in tension.

I blame it on my brother and my sister, really. He would show up at their house with his two large dogs (I would guess about 80lbs), one of whom often peed on the houseplants. My sister has a reasonably well-behaved (at least in comparison) jack-rat who weighs about 5lbs. So, you can understand why my mom associates big dogs with bad dogs. It's no use trying to change her mind. But, seriously, how could you not love this guy?

NaBloPoMo - we meet again

I'm going to try again. I don't make any promises, but I will try.

We got back from Hawai'i yesterday at 4:55am. It was a horrific flight back, but a wonderful, wonderful vacation. I will post pictures and more details soon.

The wedding went off with only a small hitch - the limo driver got lost on the way to the ceremony, so I was about 20 minutes late to my own wedding. Really, it is a small miracle that I managed to get my hair done, get lost on the way back to the hotel, and still manage to be dressed and ready to go ON TIME. I was actually, I think, about five minutes early. The limo showed up late, and then fifteen minutes after we had left (the church is about seven minutes away, tops) we passed the hotel AGAIN. I finally had to holler directions to him from the back of the limo. My dress was way too big for me to crawl up there and give him directions politely. But, it all worked out, I got married and had a blast. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Our band was awesome: The Bill Pollack Orchestra. They are not cheap, but if you are throwing a party in the Chicagoland area and you want everyone to dance their butts off, it is totally worth it.

My photographer was fantastic. You can see pictures of our wedding on his blog: www.kmophoto.com, click on "blog." His server has been wonky today, so there's no knowing if you'll get in or not, but eventually, you will, and it is good. For those of you who were there and/or in it, I'll be sending out a link soon to all the pictures, so you can order if you want. Right now, I can't get to the link, but I'll send it soon.

Neither of those people paid me to promote them, but I loved them so much, I thought I'd spread the word.

I'll post soon with pictures and more details. In the meantime, this is the best jack-o-lantern I have ever seen. Seriously, that is fantastic.

Nick of Time

Monday Post!

I bowled all three games over average tonight!

Death of NaBloPoMo

Sadly, I was unable to post for the last two days. Which means I'm out of the running for the cool prizes offered by Fussy and friends for NaBloPoMo. It was unavoidable. AT&T was strangely on the ball with things and disconnected my internet connection on Thursday night, so I wasn't able to post on Friday. I tried to get Mavis to post for me, but she didn't do it. Turns out, AT&T didn't need to foil my plans since moving took all frickin' day and I never got a chance to write anything. Literally sun-up to the wee hours of the 'morn, we were packing, watching the movers haul our stuff out and then in, and then unpacking and then cleaning the old place and then more unpacking and then sleeping. There's no way I could have posted.

If I've learned anything from this experience, it is this: hire movers. Seriously, it was the best money Mr has ever spent (he paid them and, since I'm not yet Mrs, it was really his money). Those guys were fast and efficient and there's no way we could have done what they did, even if we had several days. And we totally would have broken or damaged things whereas Golan's got everything where it needed to be, safe and sound. They didn't scratch any doors or walls, either.

I know you're worried that now that I'm out of the running for prizes, I'll stop posting, but that's just not true. I promise to keep posting, though I may slack again at Thanksgiving.

Stuff is still overwhelming for me at the moment, but great progress has been made. My house is a mess, but I'm in it. No more going between the condo that I had grown to hate and the house that seemed really far away. And I cannot even begin to express the joy I felt on moving in. Even through the sore feet and back and extreme tiredness, I'm just so happy to be in my house. It's mine. I can do whatever I want. That's awesome. So, it's a mess with boxes everywhere - I have no idea when we got so much stuff. And it won't get put together for a while because we have bowling on Monday and we're leaving for Georgia on Wednesday, but it will eventually get put together.

My paper is almost done. I have one article left to review (two if I'm feeling ambitious tomorrow on the train) and I have to write my overview - which isn't going to be too hard, since I'll have written all my summaries and can review them. Then I turn that in on Tuesday after work and head home to pack for vacation. I really wish I were just staying home so I could get settled, but I want to see my parents and nephew, so that will be nice.

Tomorrow I start my train commute, which is exciting. Sadly, my stop is one of the ones that is skipped when trains are express, so I HAVE to catch my train, at 7:06am or I will definitely be late to work. I also have to catch my train home or it sets me back a while... but it will all work out. I'm sort of concerned about parking, but I think it will be ok. I hope it will, anyway.