Short but sweet

I hosted a bridal shower for a friend of mine getting married next month, here are some pictures. Old man time was not my friend that day and working, very quickly, against me. It had nothing to do with the fact that I stayed up till 1:00 AM cleaning the house. Nothing at all.

The food was placed on the counter and I used the buffet /hutch for this pretty ensemble.

Flowers, candles and candy - doesn't get much better


From other side of the table

Favors and two gifts for the games. The favors were mini-Chinese take out boxes in pastel Easter colors. The prizes went to the lady that was married the shortest time (Bride-to be's good friend) and the longest time (Mother of the Groom/MIL)

I thought I was doing good until Bride to be's friend walked in and asked "Can I help with the decorations" which at this point (10 min before the party is to start) I had COMPLETELY forgotten about. There is point, when throwing a party, that you hit the wall of - There is nothing else I can do and It is, what it is. I found myself able to enjoy things after this moment occured. It was done and it looked pretty cute, especially with the decorations.

It was a nice time and I look forward to the wedding.

Much Love!

Happy Valentine's Day!

As Duane and I were finishing up watching "The Apprentice" tonight, I went to check on the dogs and walked into the bedroom to find this picture that is worth about a million gazillion words. Fos was so cuddly up on our bed and looked friggin adorable.

February, 2000 was my first V-day with Duane and I was so excited. I came home that evening from work to find my handsome fiancee snuggling a puppy with a big red bow. Life could'nt be better.... Here are some pics 8 years later of that handsome, regal dog named Foster (I know, the irony of it all- too much sometimes). We went through names for days and needed an Austrailian name for our Blue Queensland Heeler.

A few years later, we adopted Sydney whose nickname is Supermodel Sydney. It's not because she's a drama queen or anything. What dog knows about their "good side"? Um, well, my dog Sydney does.

I finally coaxed Fos off of our bed that he secretly thinks is his, he looks less than thrilled to be on his Target pillow.

Alot better but still looks pretty bugged.

Half way through our impromptu photo shoot, he decided to climb back up on the bed.

S. S. decided that she would hit the hay and was totally bugged with the flash. In fact, all three pix I have taken in this series show her with her eyes closed.

Poor pooch, I hope she isn't blind now.

CAN'T. OPEN. EYES.

Mom, really - Is this necessary???

Someone, anyone, take the camera away from the crazy lady. I'mmmmmmm BBBBBBLINND

Thoreau

A few weeks ago, we lost a young man by the name of Darren Coffey who was back counry skiing at Mountain High in Wrightwood, CA and was struck by an avalanche. A friend of mine at work knew the young man and attended his services, her husband was his mentor. Though I had heard about the accident from my co-worker and the media I was overcome with emotion when reading the copy of his memorial program.

Moments before my co-worker handed me the program, I remembered that I had to turn in something inspirational at school tonight. I was overcome with emotion as I read this amazing and wonderful tribute and saw the pictures of this incredible person. Included in the program was a beautiful poem written by Louisa May Alcott regarding her friend Henry David Thoreau. I made copies and decided to share this with my classmates.

Thoreau's Flute

We, sighing, said "Our Pan is dead;
His pipe hangs mute beside the river;
Around it wistful sunbeams quiver;
But Music's airy voice is fled.
Spring mourns as for untimely frost;
The bluebird chants a requiem;
The willow-blossom waits for him;
The Genius of the wood is lost.

Then from the flute, untouched by hands,
There came a low, harmonious breath:
"For such as he there is no death;
His life the eternal life commands;
Above man's aims his nature rose.
The wisdom of a just content
Made one small spot a continent,
And turned to poetry life's prose.

"Haunting the hills, the stream, the wild,
Swallow and aster, lake and pine,
To him grew human or divine,
Fit mates for this large-hearted child.
Such homage Nature ne'er forgets,
And yearly on the coverlid
'Neath which her darling lieth hid
Will write his name in violets.

"To him no vain regrets belong
Whose soul, that finer instrument,
Gave to the world no poor lament,
But wood-notes ever sweet and strong.
O lonely friend! he still will be
A potent presence, though unseen,
Steadfast, sagacious, and serene;
Seek not for him - he is with thee."
-Louisa May Alcott

Learn more about Darren Coffey.

Sexy Eyes

Amazing how connected our small town is.

I was on the phone with a co-worker and somehow we got started talking about water polo and I stated that my husband played in High school. Truth be known, if my husband met me in High School we probably would not currently be married. He was on water polo and soccer team, I, in turn despised "The Jocks". I did play tennis in high school but the career was short lived, It was the 80's and I had lots of black to wear while cranking up the Duran Duran and Cure tape casettes ( YIKES - thats kind of dating me, do they even make tape casettes anymore?).

So, I digress, back to the co-worker - we'll call her "P" and she is pressing me at this point, where did he go to HS, how about Middle school - and then the words no wife likes to hear - was his first name INSERT YOUR HUSBANDS FIRST NAME HERE. At this point, your waiting to her the girl say " He was my first----kiss--- boyfriend---- etc. She was very cool about it and when I got home, Duane pulled out his middle school annual to locate above mentioned co-worker and confirmed that he never dated her. He clarified that dating in middle school consisted of group dates to movies and holding hands between classes and at recess. This is where the story gets interesting ( I know - finally).

Upon glancing at the pics of our friends going through the painful awkardness of the tween years, I came across the best of page. Guess who was voted "Sexy Eyes" Yes, that would be my hottie of a husband. I've never been prouder. I'm married to Sexy Eyes, I guess that makes me Mrs Sexy Eyes.

I love you Mr. Sexy Eyes :-)

Weekend Project

The goal for the weekend was to find a coffee table for this area. The only criteria - to match the media center on the right hand side of the picture. After several hours on the internet, I was convinced that there was a suitable match at Cost Plus, world market.

While I was spending $3.00 a gallon on gas, driving to 3 different Cost plus', Duane decided to do a lighting project. Your eyes arent decieving you, the cans are crooked from this angle. Long story..... and yes the hallway still looks like this with a bridal shower in 6 days. YIKES!!!

Because the hallway is under construction, our pictures have taken residence on the sofa.

At the third (and last) Cost plus I gave up on the coffee table and we decided that we needed a new media center. This is the old setup.

Here is a picture of the new setup.......much better.

While Duane was building....

I was studying...

And yes, the other living room still looks like this...

APU

One of my goals this year is to take more photos thus I have been dragging my camera sans case around everywhere. I've decided that my camera takes better pictures outside than inside, I'm confident that it has NOTHING to do with the operator of the device. hee hee :-)

Onto the pictures, today, I took a little road trip and traveled about 30 miles west (I love to take drives that way and end up in some part of L.A.) to pick up books for school. After finally finding the campus, apparently there is a West and East Campus separated by about a mile of residential and student housing, I came across a grandoise front entrance which leads to our main campus. The architecture of the the west campus is very modern and I liked the layout. The stone structure outlining a cross reminded me of a very similair one at Pepperdine University. I thought it looked really cool with the clouds behind it.

Ok, that's all for today.