Our reception site

This is where we will be getting married. The reception will be just to the side of the building. I am thinking that a tent would look really great there, plus I bought the pink Martha Stewart pom poms, and I think they would look great in the tent. I think that my dress is going to look amazing with the building. I guess I'm pretty much planning my wedding around the look of this place.

The finished pomanders!

Of course there will many more to come, but here is the start of them. They are made with a 5 inch Styrofoam ball, 24-26 silk pink and creme carnations and sheer white ribbon. I used a hot glue gun to stick on the flowers and the ribbon. I got all of supplies through ebay, except for the ribbon which was bought at Micheal's

So I have something else to say.

I just had lunch with my grandmother, which is a weekly thing for us. For the past several months it has been very difficult to sit there with her for 30 minutes. See my gma is a little bit wacky, and I'm being really nice by saying only that. Today, she was talking about her only friend. Yes, she only has 1 friend. This friend of hers is a bit older and apparently hard of hearing. Gma told me that she asked her friend why her she has to say "What" after everything my gma says.?? I explained to my grandmother that there is probably a communication problem and she simple can't hear her. She didn't agree and let me know that her friend's "habit" really annoys her. I told her that when I was a child I said "what" when ever someone said something to me. I had hearing problems as a kid and my hearing did get better but I kept on saying "what" for a little while after. She rolled her eyes when I said this.? Like I was lying or that it annoyed her to know that I had the "habit". Then I told her that I was meeting with our photog next week. She asked "Well, is he in Huntsville?" I said it is a woman (and that kind of freaked her out), and she is in Joppa, AL. She said is that over there near Arab. I said yea (because it is) and she rolled her eyes again.
All I can say is that I really hope that I never become as weird and wacked out as her. I should also point out that my gma isn't very old and in great health. She has just lived alone for about 30 years and has pushed everyone out of her life. I should write more about her. There is so much to write about I could probably fill a book. Just wanted to get that out-she really pushes my buttons.

Meeting with Photog next week

I got in touch with my photographer today. I was hoping to meet with her this weekend, but she's having surgery today so I don't blame her for wanting to meet later next week. I'm just glad that our date is still available. I also worked on the pomanders last night. I really really like them now that I changed the ribbon color. I will post pictures tonight. One thing that I did realize is that I will have to order more flowers. I didn't want to do that because I figure that I'll have about 100 silk flowers left over. Oh well. Yesterday I was looking for a new bird cake topper, since the store at Gulf Shores, where I was going to buy them, went out of business. I looked on Etsy and I couldn't find the same kind of glitter birds, but I found something that I think is even more special. Feltmeupdesigns on Etsy.com makes these adorable little birds. She can make them in any color. So now I just have to figure out the colors.

The Dining Experience

I wanted to write a little bit about the food we had while on vacation. I guess I should also say that I ate quite alot of fish while I on vacation, but I never eat meat, so don't judge me to hard. Sunday night we ate at Mellow Mushroom, of course it was delicious. I had a mushroom and cheese Stromboli and it was awesome. I think our entire family was pleased. Monday night we ate the Original Oyster House, and it too was great. I had scallops, red beans and rice, and slaw. I have never ordered scallops but I'm glad that I did. I think that this dinner was my favorite! Tuesday night we ate at damn LuLu's. I really dislike LuLu's. I have never left that place happy. This time at the horrible LuLu's we waited for over an hour and a half to be seated. In the mean time we hung out at the bar and paid $9.00 for drinks. When we finally got a table I ordered the fish taco's. They were very bland and the side was some very simple chips and cup of salsa. This meal cost $15.00! If it were up to me I would never go back to this hell hole. No one enjoyed their food. Everyone else said that the chicken, burgers, fries, and fish were all very salty. Yuck! Wednesday night we ate at Calypso Joe's. This place is very cool. There is always live music outside and the people are always nice. I had a tuna steak sandwich. It was yummy. I don't think that anyone complained about this place. The food was good and the price was right. On Friday night we went to my beloved Tacky Jack's. We had to wait almost an hour and it seemed that there were a lot of snooty baby's there. But when the came everything was fine again. I love Tacky Jacks! Our last meal was on Saturday and we went to Lillian's. The pizza looked really good but I had a burnt on the bottom Stromboli. Someone ordered a pasta dish and sent it back because the noodles were not. But I don't know for sure that that was true. The service here wasn't that great, it took a while for a food, and the food was blah. If I were to grade this place based on stuffed pizza's and pasta I would give it a "C".
So if you travel down to Alabama's beaches you might want to check out Tacky Jack's, Mellow Mushroom, Calypso Joe's, and the Original Oyster House.

Back in town.

We got back home early Sunday morning. The vacation was excellent. The weather was great-actually not too humid. It was a little cramped in the condo and (of course) I butted heads with a family member. But it was to be expected. Lance and I found an inflatable boat. Originally known as the Club 300. But we quickly changed the name to the Booz Cruise. It was a lot of work to get the Booz Cruise to sail but it was completely worth it, and it gave my arms a nice workout. We ended up playing put-put once. Thank you Jesus! I really do not like put-put. The kids were pretty much on their best behavior and the trip was a success.

Before I left for the beach I had my AACE summer conference. It was in Montgomery, Alabama and we stayed at the Embassy Suites. First things first...the hotel offered a great FREE omelet, pancake, fruit etc.. buffet and a FREE drink reception from 5:30-7:30. Having been offered this I took full advantage. We heard a couple of pretty good speakers and overall the conference was about how to reach students using technology. It gave me some good ideas about using twitter and facebook, however that isn't really my job. My boss would have to set it up and keep it and I don't think he wants to do either.

I'm starving-so I'm going to eat. Tomorrow I want to write about the restaurants we visited at the beach. Some are definitely worth mentioning.

Last day at work...

Tomorrow I will be leaving for a conference and won't be back until Friday afternoon. The conference is AACE-Alabama Association of Colleges and Employers. Then on Sunday I'll be leaving for the beach-Orange Beach. I still have a lot left on my paper but I have to have it completed by the 26th. Boo! I was hoping to have it completed before we left for the beach but with work being so busy I haven't had time to work on it. I don't have any updates on wedding planning. I did see a wedding being set up here at the college and they were setting the reception tables and chairs up in the court yard. I have heard that people had their receptions there but I didn't think that it would be very nice, but it actually was. On the plus side, it may save us some money. I feel like if we have the reception on the front lawn, then we will need a tent=More money. But if we have it in the court yard, there will be shade under the trees. Something to consider. Now I got to get on my paper.

Ugh! Wish I was off today.

I got up on time so that was a plus. I had to stop and get some gas this morning and of course got the slowest pump ever. I only had patience for one gallon-it was that slow. I got to work and had 8 people waiting on me for Fiddler's sign up. All of this going on while I'm feeling nauseated. Ugh!!! I have felt bad for almost 4 hours. I think it's because I took my BC kinda late, 10:30 and it's a different kind. Because the State of Alabama apparently doesn't agree with paying for birth control. I had to get Ortho-TriCylcen because it is the cheapest BC. I'm used to taking the Ortho-TriCyclen Lo because the doctor gave me a bunch of sample packs. Since I'm taking this new BC I think it's too many hormones. I hope I feel better after lunch because I have to get started on paper. This is all the writing I have patience for.

Sleepy

TGIF!! It has been a very busy week and I am so glad that the weekend is almost here. This weekend we are planning to go to Summerfest. It's in downtown Huntsville on Saturday evening. Looks like fun. My only other plans for the weekend. Are of course the usual, but I hope to work on my paper a little bit and maybe cook something on Sunday. I haven't cooked anything in a while. Have a happy weekend!

Mutli-tasker

Just call me the multi-tasker or at least that's what one of my co-workers called me. I have been working on the Fiddler's letters all week-they go out tomorrow. Plus, I have been training in Veteran's Affairs a lot this week too. Also, we have had a lot of activity this week in our office. I guess it's all the new students and of course they all want to sign up for co-op, so that they can work on the Arsenal. I really would like to tell all of these people good luck and go ahead and keep looking for a job. To get a job with the Arsenal you have to be a veteran (to better your chances), have a GPA of 3.0 or better and have lots of business or accounting classes. I actually had a girl call me last week and ask about what jobs we had right now. As I started telling her the three degreed jobs that we had, she stopped me and said I'm only interested in government jobs. Yea, you and everybody else is what I wanted to say to her. It seems that all of our students feel that if they graduate they should be employable to the government. They stick up their noses to any private agencies and it really erks me!! Sure I work for the state, but if I didn't I wouldn't turn down private company jobs.

3 Day Weekend

I found my wedding shoes! I got them at DSW for $59.95. I really love them! I'm happy to have found silver shoes. At least I will be able to wear them again. Lance also bought me something awesome this weekend. He got me a quilt from Anthropologie. We also ate at Cantina Laredo on Friday night. It had a nice atmosphere and the food on the menu looked good. But they offered no vegetarian dinners. I ordered the cheese and onion enchiladas. When I got them they had a meat sauce. I was pretty bummed about it. Lance said that I could just take it home and he would eat it, but we were having a nice dinner and I didn't want to be a snob and not eat it. For July forth we got to visit with Mom and some friends. Overall, it was pretty good weekend.

Woke up late, Chinese dinner was a bad idea, and now this!

So my tummy is really bothering me this morning. Lance's boss wanted to take the employees out to dinner last night. We ate at China Buffet in Madison. It was actually pretty good. Well, Lance didn't think so, but he doesn't like any Chinese food. This morning my tummy has decided to not like Chinese food either. After dinner, about an hour and half later I decided to go for a run and I felt great during and after, so I'm not sure why this is happening this morning. Plus tomorrow is a state holiday and half the staff took off today, so all I can think about is getting the heck out of here. However, I have a much needed hair appointment this afternoon here in Athens so it would be pretty dumb to go home early then drive all the way back. Now for the "and now this"...Lance and I checked our credit report this morning. It updates once a month and today was the day. My credit is still fine (can't tell if it changed because I didn't write down the last scores). However, Lance's went down :( So now we are stuck, .... again. I thought this month would be it. Lance is convinced that because of all of our "shopping" for a loan it has lowered his score. I am not convinced that it would have caused a major blow to his report. But I'm no expert. So, now what do we do. I am tempted to apply through the same company that we have been working with, but I know that I will be devastated if it doesn't turn out the way I want it to. I guess if we don't try again now well have to wait until the very end of the year or the beginning of 2010. Ugghhh! This is very aggravating. I feel like we have done everything in our power to make this work. I still feel like it couldn't hurt anymore than it already has to apply one more time. I have heard that you have 14 or 30 or 45 days to shop for a loan. All of our inquiries are from May 2009 and 1 from June 2009. If all of this is true aren't those dates close enough to not hurt our credit. Who knows???

www.whiteaisle.com

White Aisle is an amazing website that sells jewelry, paper goods, and wedding favors. I recently stumbled on this site and was pleasantly surprised to see vintage inspired jewelry with a cheap price tag. I really really love these earrings. The price isn't all that bad either and I can see myself wearing these again after the wedding. I also love this bracelet. It cost a little more than I would like to spend on a bracelet but I think it's gorgeous. I also love a couple of the pearl bracelets. I don't plan on buying any jewelry until my dress is in my possession. I can't exactly remember the details of my dress so I need to wait on jewelry.
I have also been thinking about BM gifts. I want to get them something that they will actual use and/ or wear again. I have been thinking about candles, totes, housewares, and jewelry. I may just get them a variety of these things.