Jet-Lagged from Cali (354 Days to Go)

So the past two weeks have been crazy busy.  First my bridesmaid and college friend, Kim, came in from out of town.  She also brought with her news: she's finally picked a state for her wedding and a date: New Jersey and May 5th.  So, we're basically getting married a month apart.  It made me realize that in a nine month span, I will be in three weddings (one of which will be my own), and attending at the very minimum at least one more.  Every one of these four weddings is being held in a different state.  So, talk about your travel costs.  It'll certainly be an exciting year, that's for certain.

Layover in Phoenix, AZ at sunset

Then, this past weekend, Jeff and I were in California, the San Francisco Bay area for a working vacation.  We were invited by one of the manufacturers for scuba equipment to come out for seminars and workshops that would help to orient us better with all of their product lines but also get a behind the scenes look at the production plant and also upcoming products.  It was fantastic to get out of town, just the two of us, even if it was a semi-working vacation.  Granted, the company is probably regretting the fact that they covered every single bar tab the entire weekend.  I think Jeff and I only paid for food while we were in the airports.  I can tell you one thing about the group of people that we were with, we liked margaritas--a lot.


It was great though.  The other shop owners were all fantastic people.  Even though we were the youngest, we weren't outcast or looked down on at all.  In fact, we were pretty well respected in the discussions.  I was usually the bold one who'd try on the new equipment.  Trying on a new pair of fins is a lot like shopping for shoes.  Comfort, style/functionality, and color are the trifecta.  This pair of fins had everything and it was only the prototype.  I begged Jeff to get the next prototype on loan for our honeymoon.

Oceanic Factory Floor: Sewing Dept.

Long story short, our honeymoon will be in Puerto Rico and thus warm water.  My gear is set up for cold water dives.  So I have a pair of open heel fins that need ankle high boots to be worn.  But in warm water, a full foot fin that doesn't need any socks or boots is preferrable.  Lets face it ladies, it's like going to the beach wearing cowboy boots if I went with the gear I already have.  The prototype fin actually diminishes the need for having two different foot pockets on fins which would be awesome!  That and the fin itself looks very cool and sylish.  I wish I could say more, but I can't and I most certainly couldn't take pictures.

Enjoying some aged Port

While we were out there, we got to go to a wine tasting at Bent Creek winery.  It's actually a brand that's carried in the Pennsylvania state liquor stores, which surprised me a little bit when I found out where we were going.  The wine was amazing.  Especially when you start realizing that some of the wines had a relatively high percent of alcohol.  One of the other shop owners joked that we were essentially all sitting around doing shots--after swirling, sniffing, and observing the color carefully.

Bent Creek Winery

After the tasting, Jeff and I walked through some of the vineyard on our own taking in all of the terracota rooftops and European architecture in that valley.  Not to mention the gorgeous classic cars.  Because the weather is so moderate and relatively dry, classic cars keep in pristine conditions out there.  It seemed like everyone had driven up to the winery in their classic model convertible.

One of the winery's work trucks.  Yes, work truck.

Granted, some people make some major modifications to their classics.

Everett & Jones B-B-Q

Our last night there we went to a bar-b-que joint in Oakland, Everett & Jones.  It was really good food--authentic Southern food.  The shop owners from Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana all agreed.  To top off the evening, there was a live blues band that started to perform too.  So while we enjoyed our pecan pies for dessert after conquering huge stacks of ribs, we got to listen to some blues and take stock in some outrageous pimp suits that were in attendance.  The singer, was quite a character and was having a good time flirting it up with all of the women in our group.  Especially since one of them was from Louisiana and really getting into the music.

Just check out that red
pimp suit in the background!

It was a good trip.  We got on each other's nerves a little with traveling.  I'm a stickler for getting to the airport early while he's very "eh, it'll work out."  Also found out he's pretty claustrophobic when flying too.  It was a good experience for us as a couple.  It now makes more sense to me as to why he insists on driving 2,000 miles round trip to go to his cousin's wedding in Oklahoma.  I just wish that he weren't so road-ragey.  But apparently driving that far is less stressful than airports to him.

First Day at the New Job (397 Days to Go)

I survived my first day at my new job.  I didn't even have trouble getting to be on friendly terms with my new coworkers.  It was a little dull, but most first days usually are because it's all training and reading.  The work itself though doesn't sound like it'll be too overwhelming, which is good.  One can only hope they don't bite off more than they can chew.  But it will be a slight challenge since I'm completely changing the field of science that I'll be working in (biochemistry to analytical chemistry).

The biggest challenge is going to be restructuring my schedule.  I'll be working 6:30 am to 3 pm now instead of roughly 9 to 5 (which was nothing like I actually worked anyway).  I have a feeling it'll be tough for the first few weeks, but I'll end up really liking it because I'll have some free time to get stuff done in the afternoons after I get off work.  Which in the long run will be helpful when it comes to the wedding.  The worst part is that Jeff will keep working late and therefore I'll barely be up much longer after he gets done for the night.

What's funny is that Jeff tried to send me flowers for my last day of work.  Of course, the florist screwed up.  I found out from one of my old coworkers that apparently they did deliver them on my last day--to the first empty desk they could find on the wrong floor.  This happened to be an administrator's desk (and they typically take most of Friday off) and so on Monday morning she found them and delivered them to the address given on the flowers which led right to my old desk.   So, my old coworkers contacted me by phone and Facebook to let me know that I had a gorgeous flower arrangement waiting for me.  Luckily because my new job gets done at 3 pm so I was able to drive back up to the hospital and get let back in.  So I was also able to pick up the items that I'd forgotten on Friday.

So despite the fact that I went back to visit after not even being gone a full day, I don't miss it.  Not a bit.  I was in fact reminded how much I don't miss it when my old supervisor appeared out of thin air and started asking me a bunch of questions about this, that, and the other thing as if I still worked for him.  No, they weren't conversational things at all.  It was, what happened to this order you placed? And I didn't realize you were coming back (not at all joking).  I couldn't get back out of there fast enough.

Last Day at Work (399 Days to Go)

Yesterday seemed like a pretty big milestone in my life.  Not only was it the rollover point of 400 days left before the wedding, but it was also my last day at my old job.  It had a surreal feeling to it all day.  I went in and worked on the same things that I've been working on for the past two weeks--catching up on paperwork.  I took inventory and transferred files and put in a full day's work despite putting in overtime all week long.

So despite the fact that everyone was teasing me about working too hard on my last day and that they took me out to lunch, it never hit me, not even when I was exchanging hugs goodbye for the last two hours.  Even after I went to pick up my car so I could come back and collect my things, I didn't seem to come to a realization that I wouldn't be coming back.  Which really stinks because I was halfway home and locked out  of the hospital's research building when I realized that left behind two pairs of shoes.

I have to admit I'm going to seriously miss the girls I work with.  They are absolutely fantastic.  No one could ever ask for a more supportive group of people to spend five days a week with.  That's why I know it's going to feel weird on Monday morning when I go to my new job for the first time.  I can only hope for that my future coworkers are half as great.  If they are, then I'll be doing pretty good for myself.

Starting a New Career (409 Days to Go)

So I can officially announce that I've gotten a new job.  I received the offer by phone last Thursday and the offer packet in the mail this afternoon.  I gave my two weeks notice to my supervisors yesterday with a resignation letter and to the best of my ability, an in-person chat as well.  My middle supervisor was more or less a little shocked (that I spoke to him first) and wished me the best and gave me some words of warning about ever wanting to move up into management type positions.  All I could do was arch an eyebrow and say that I'd keep it in mind.  Personally I find my ambitions to have the option to move up into management to be healthy.

My direct supervisor didn't get to work until late (this is actually a norm for him and part of the reason I'm moving on) so therefore I didn't get to tell him until later.  When I did speak to him, he hadn't even noticed the e-mail dangling at the top of his inbox titled "Resignation" but instead talked to me for over an hour about the results I'd e-mailed him late last Friday and then about what work was ahead for the next several months.  I sort of just "uh-huh"-ed my way through the conversation without ever getting a word in edgewise to mention I was quitting.  When I did finally tell him, it was sort of like a little "oh" and that was about all.  Then a few questions about where I was going to be working now.

I still haven't told my head supervisor.  That'll be later this morning.  That's when all of the shit hits the fan if you will.  I'll be informing him of exactly why I sought out new employment elsewhere because of my direct supervisor being a jerk to put it mildly.  All of my coworkers have begged and made me promise that I will do this today.  That in itself should tell you that his "management skills" are a concern.  The past two days I've been at work very late because when I gave my two weeks notice it was apparently waving the flag that said give me two months worth of work to do and don't give me time to catch up on paperwork that has to be done.

Apparently in the sciences, it's not often that they have a technician who actually leaves with things in order (let alone wanting to leave things in order).  So I guess my supervisor better get used to the idea that he's going to owe me some major overtime in order to insure that everything that I used to do is in order and ready to be handed over to one of my coworkers.  I'm crossing my fingers that this week will be the last for experiments and they'll leave me an entire week for just paperwork and bureaucracy.  I'm sure I'm being way to optimistic.

Easter Showers (411 Days to Go)

So yesterday was Easter.  And there were random showers throughout the day.  Luckily nothing quite like what they'd called for on the weather reports that I'd read.  Especially since my eldest niece was given the task of seeking out camouflaged eggs out of doors.  The rest of the children had it easy finding brightly colored eggs inside out of the rain.  The girls were all very excited and very pleased with everything they got for Easter.  Apparently the bunny had been very kind indeed to them.  Granted, the bunny had indicated to Jeff and I that a kite would be a good gift for Breanne and a "laptop" for Mackenzie would tickle the little girl.  Mackenzie is always trying to play with her pappy's laptop so we figured she'd want one of her own.  It's aimed at girls older than her and has educational aspects, but for now she's happy to just hit buttons and make stuff happen on the screen, whether or not she understands it.

If only those showers coming down from the sky would have been the only damper on the day for Jeff and I.  Unfortunately, we were also struck by the misfortune that the shower in our apartment now has a cracked floor which is causing an incredibly large amount of leaking into the shop below us.  In short, this means that we are without a shower and will be until we can buy an entirely new shower surround.  We went this weekend and looked at Home Depot and are considering buying a corner unit because it would make our teeny tiny bathroom feel a little more open and we would be able to install some shelving in order to create ourselves a place for our linens.  I'm extremely in favor of anything that will make our bathroom feel larger considering that since I've moved in, all of my makeup, hair accessories, and anything else cosmetic has been in a large Rubbermaid bin that has gone completely untouched because there's nowhere to put it.

We've also been coming to the conclusion lately that there is no way we'll ever be able to afford to move out of our apartment--for at least three years.  This has caused me incredible amounts of stress.  In the months that I've lived here, it's never really felt like home.  I've been living out of boxes to some degree and have never been able to establish an area to be a workspace for sewing, scrapbooking, or whatever.  And with the wedding coming up, this essentially translates into me having no place whatsoever for me to work on things such as putting together save-the-dates or invitations or favors.  So now we've decided that it's time to turn the attic upstairs into a liveable space.  Essentially right now it has holes in the floor and looks exactly as it did two days after it was burned out many years ago.  When Jeff and his parents fixed up the apartment, they'd never bothered really with the attic.  So now we have to tackle that as a project as well.  So we're basically going to end up investing a decent amount of money into remodeling our bathroom and attic just to make our place liveable for the sort-of short term instead of being able to save the money towards a down payment on a house.  Essentially we're in a Catch 22 situation.  A little amusing considering that Catch 22 is Jeff's favorite book.

It's been another one of those incredibly stressful weekends.  I keep hoping that something will give (aside from me) but it seems as though luck is not all that much in my favor.  Jeff keeps telling me to not feel so responsible for us, but it's hard not to when I know that I should be much better off career wise and I just can't seem to get there.  Everyone keeps telling me that it will all come in time, but I feel as though I'm not asking for too much to be able to afford to buy a house especially when I have a masters degree.  Instead, I have the debts belonging to that degree and the salary belonging to a lucky high school dropout.  I did get a job offer from that interview I had last week, but the offer is incredibly low.  I now have to wait until I can review the offer packet and see if I can somehow negotiate a better offer.  What makes it more stressful and frustrating though is that I can't really turn down the job either.  There aren't other jobs available and I can't stay where I'm at either.  Yet another one of those incredibly frustrating Catch 22s.

Drive-In Date Night (413 Days to Go)

So yesterday at work I got the idea that we should make the best of all this rain that we've been getting in Pittsburgh.  Despite the fact that I had not had time to track down the original Scream movies and have a marathon at home, I suggested that we go out to the Dependable Drive-In and see Scream 4 and what would turn into being a big mistake since it was followed by Insidious.  It's a long story but basically after seeing Paranormal Activity with Jeff, he decided to screw with me by pretending to be possessed in the same manner.

We even had an old
school cooler to use

Anyway, back to date night.  I packed up a picnic dinner into an old hand-me-down cooler, popped some popcorn, and filled the back of Jeff's truck with comforters, blankets and pillows.  My goal was to make the night feel like we were back in the 70s or 80s watching one of the classic horror films up there on the big screen.  We spent the night lying in the back of his truck, snacking our way through two thrillers and "enjoying" the extra ambiance of the pouring down rain.  It was the perfect cheap date night.  The only real cost was the admission to the drive-in which is only $6.50/person.  Cheaper than a regular movie admission, and almost as cheap as the Tuesday night prices--but we got to see two movies for that price.

It's tough when you're trying to keep a relationship lively but you're hindered by a tight budget.  But a little creativity and the ability to more or less swear off expensive restaurants can make it possible.   I've even been toying with the idea of geocaching.  But that would require time we don't exactly have right now.  However it sounds really interesting.

Allergies, blech (416 Days to Go)

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. My allergies have gone completely haywire on me.  Add onto that a bucket of wedding related stress and you have a maelstrom better known as the common cold with a side of vengeance.

Beaver County Times

So I eventually found the photo that the photographer took while at the Penguins game Saturday night.  Surprisingly I'm not disappointed in how my hair looks.  Perhaps I should be photographed from behind more often.  The poster has been tucked away in our basement to be saved for another day. Granted, if the weather keeps up what it's been doing yesterday and today, I'm not sure we'll be going out to the game Saturday.  Or hiding Easter eggs for the nieces either.  But rain is a way of life in Pittsburgh.  You either get used to it or you go crazy.

Saturday, I taught my four students at Jo Ann's.  We finally found a time that worked for everyone's crazy schedule.  It was highly entertaining working with all of them.  But that's usually what you get from two sisters and their two daughters.  There was a lot of teasing flying around the table.

After both Jeff and I were done with work, we went to his parents' house for dinner.  And that's pretty much when and where the weekend started to meltdown for me.  I'm starting to reach a high level of frustration having to do with the wedding.  So it doesn't help that nearly every time we go to visit them, they want an update or to discuss the wedding in some form.  So, Jeff and I showed them the venues we plan to look at in early May.  Which then led to a discussion of the guest list since the venue will determine the max number of guests.  Jeff and I are trying to find some place that's decently large but finding a venue to hold more than 200 is frustrating and often expensive.  I did not cope well at all with Jeff and his father both joking around saying that we'll just send out 500 invitations and see what happens.  Top that off with Jeff's mom insisting that there are a minimum of 150 people from their family (not including any family friends) who just have to be invited.  No matter how much I told them it had to be prioritized and brought down, I kept being told that I was wrong that people wouldn't come and I should relax.  I did the opposite.  I started to cry.  Yep.  I started to bawl like a baby right at the dining room table and ran away.

I still don't think Jeff quite understands how much stress I'm under.  I'm constantly being told to just do it myself, and yet, I'm also constantly told that my best isn't right or good enough.  That and I don't like the idea of someone telling me (repeatedly) that Jeff's family is more important as far as getting invited than my family or friends.  Just because his family is larger, doesn't make it more important.  It just means they need to prioritize a little more and I'm sure that they'll understand that we have both budget and seating constraints.  But I can't start cutting my portion of the guest list back down to just my mom and grandma.  Heck, just to invite our bridesmaids, groomsmen and their dates will be 24 guests.

So yesterday, I made a proposal to Jeff about setting the division of guests into stone.  My initial proposal being if there are hypothetically 200 seats available, his parents get 70, my mom gets 40, he and I split the remaining 90.  This means that he and I each get 45.  From our 45 gets subtracted 12 each for our respective members of the bridal party and their guests.  That means we each only have 33 guests to choose ourselves.  So, if the parents have too many guests, they go to their respective child and ask to use some of our remaining 33 spaces.  If we use them, too bad, so sad.  Re-prioritize and give me a B-list for when we start getting some "no"s back on the RSVPs.  

I feel like this is the only way to be fair.  That way my mom has a fair chance of getting to invite family and friends and so do I without having to feel pressured.  Although, right now, bullied feels like a more appropriate term whether or not that's Jeff's parents intention.  I'm fairly certain that it isn't their intention to bully me, but I'm under way too much stress right now to feel differently.  I mean, at one point my FMIL actually told me that my friends from work didn't matter because as soon as I got a new job they wouldn't care about me anymore.  Um, didn't I just spend Friday night hanging out with one of them?  Yeah...  Didn't one of them convince me to get on Match to meet Jeff?  Yeah...  My friends from work are my friends. Period.  Just as my friends from college are my friends.  They've been there fore me quite often more so than my own family.  Like hell they don't get invited.

Am I slightly crazy for trying to get the numbers broken down over a year in advance and set into stone?  Perhaps.  But I'd like to think that if Jeff and I agree on a rule, that it will end a lot of these stress inducing conversations about who deserves to be at Jeff and I's wedding.  Because in all seriousness, I'm ready to call the whole thing off if things don't start to get better soon.  No I don't mean leaving Jeff.  No I don't mean getting eloped.  

Speaking of which, I'd be one dead girl if I eloped.  My eldest cousin did that and she was nearly murdered and she's the "perfect one".  Being the youngest, I have no excuse of "I didn't know it was taboo" because I have very clearly gotten the imagery of me with knives impaling my chest if I elope or have a destination wedding in which my family would not be able to attend.  I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be a better picture if I have the wedding nearby and still don't invite my family simply because there "isn't room" after Jeff's family fills the guest list.  I just don't think that's going to cut it with them.

But anyway, I'm about ready to settle in for a lifetime engagement if this is what wedding planning is going to be cracked up to be for the next 416 days.  Already my immune system has thrown in the towel.  What more do they want from me?

Last Night at the Pens Game (420 Days to Go)

The Bingo Game's Ready to Go!

So last night, Jeff and I went watch Mario's Big Screen outside the Igloo.  One of my coworkers and I went down early and saved a section of blacktop to use for our poster making and also for a small group of our chairs.  Kiss was giving away tickets for the best poster, so my coworker and I decided to enter.  Well, unfortunately, the contest started only mere minutes after we got there so, we couldn't enter.  However, we finished up and polished one of the posters in order to take it with us for the game next Saturday.  I'm kind of glad I kept working on it too because a reporter from the Beaver County Times came over and was taking pictures of my coworker and I as we finished it up.  So, we might end up making the paper tomorrow morning.  But the odds don't look that good since the Pens did lose.  That was probably the only downer for last night.

Jeff was able to make it with plenty of time and even helped me walk down to Milano's and pick up pizza and drinks for the group.  He's even showing a little more mobility in his wrist.  We were even able to grab a couple of white out towels that we getting passed around and enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided we needed to come back for any weekend games that we could.  So, since we're now guaranteed a game 5 on Saturday night, we'll be headed out to go see that on Mario's Big Screen, too.  We're even going to see if we can manage to get a couch to take next time.

After the game though we decided to see if we could find out where the players did signings on the way out of the arena.  Let's put it this way, we found where the players do exit the arena, however it is not accessible to the public at all.  In short, the Penguins no longer sign any autographs after games.  We were no so kindly escorted out of that area after some astonished security guard found us and asked how we got there.  Apparently she did not appreciate my blunt but accurate response of "we walked."  Perhaps she thought that we'd propelled down with climbing gear, I don't know.

 

It's Friday, Friday! (421 Days to Go)

Just in case you haven't heard, It's Friday!  I am in no way a fan of Rebecca Black, but if I have to be subjected to it on every local radio station as I drive to work, I figure you might as well get a small dose too.

So, wish me luck as I have my job interview this morning.  Hopefully it goes well.

But just in case I need cheering up later, Jeff and I are going to be in the Mellon Arena lot watching game 2 of the Penguins playoffs on the jumbotron.  We'll be the crazy couple screaming the loudest (I'll be making up for whatever volume Jeff is lacking much like I did when we went to a game in person last year).  I'll also be going with one of the girls from work and the two of us will be hanging out saving our "turf" until her friend and Jeff can join us after they get done with their respective jobs.  And after Wednesday night's nail biter (at least the first two periods), it should make for a great game tonight.

I've been keeping myself busy.  The past two nights were spent studying up and getting ready for the interview today.  I attempted to make Jeff fulfill his promise to be my personal wedding assistant by sending e-mails to venues requesting an appointment for May 1st.  He lucked out on Wednesday night because our internet connection was on the fritz.

Aside from that, work has been keeping me for crazy hours.  Wednesday night I didn't even get to leave until 7 o'clock.  I guess that more than makes up for the extra hour I took at lunch to deal with the bank, but it certainly makes for an incredibly long day.  And after that, I'd had to meet Jeff for the Steel City Dive Club's meeting at Eat n' Park.  That turned into the most relaxing hour I'd had the entire day.

Oh, and I've decided to open a shop on Cafe Press.  I was inspired by one of the auxillary members for the fire department who wore a t-shirt that had the drink name on the front and had the recipe on the back.  It was a little "Plain Jane" (aka, non-amusing cocktail name) and the recipe was for a drink I'd never heard of nor could imagine ever ordering but it did start my wheels turning.  There are so many crazily named drinks out there that taste great, and yet, anytime I go to a bar and try to order one, the bartender looks at me like I'm nuts.  Thus, the start of Mixers R' Us.  I even have a design for the "Blushing Bride".  I'm slowly adding new pieces of inventory and different designs.  Are there any drinks that you can think of that would be fun?

Joint Banking is the Solution? (422 Days to Go)

So, Tuesday night as usual was our date night.  We went out for Mexican food, discussed the venues in Westmoreland County that we liked and then did our grocery shopping for the month.  Giant Eagle was offering bonus fuel perks on all of their gift cards so we decided to stock up for future dinners out and some summer repair projects we've been planning or might need unexpectedly.  We decided that I would pay for the gift cards since I wasn't the one who'd just broken my wrist and was now broke.  Well, when I went to pay with my debit card, it was declined.  We thought it was a mistake since there is a relatively large balance in my account thanks to my tax return and asked the cashier to try again.  Declined again.

By now I was flustered, mouth agape, and turning bright pink.  I sheepishly dug out my credit card while the cashier gave me an annoyed expression and I did everything in my power to ignore the customers in line behind me.  My credit line isn't very big on that card, my only credit card, and I was cringing at the thought that it was being depleted so badly.  Never mind the fact that I no longer earned any points for the purchase I was trying to make.  Yes, I have the only credit card in America that doesn't have some kind of points.  But I don't like having credit cards because I have enough debt thanks to college.

Immediately after exiting the store, I started dialing the customer service line while using Jeff's phone to check my bank account's activity and balance to make sure nothing funny was up.  I was on hold for 30 minutes before my phone acted up and I accidentally disconnected on my end.  I tried again and was on hold for another 30 minutes without ever getting hold of a person before we were sitting down in the movie theater and had to disconnect.  Oh, and my card was also denied for the measly $10.50 it cost for our movie tickets.  By now I was furious.

Well, yesterday morning the bank finally decided to call me and ask if I had attempted to spend money at the Market District in Robinson.  I emphasized that attempt was the right verbage to use and demanded to know why my card had been shut off without receiving this phone call immediately following the act as was stated in their bank policy.  I was not given an answer.  I demanded a supervisor and got one.  She wouldn't give me an answer either.  I got transferred, spoke to that person barely long enough to confirm my account and was disconnected.  Take me from furious to enraged x 10.  Luckily, I had grabbed some cash from the house to pay for lunch out for a coworker's birthday and immediately following lunch, I walked into a local branch and demanded to speak to the manager.  He took me back to his office, had my card turned back on and tried to find out why the card had been turned off without calling me for 13 hours.  No one would even give him an answer.  I politely thanked the bank manager and silently vowed to yank every dime out of the bank.

So now, I'm planning on going with Jeff tomorrow and opening a joint checking account, having my paycheck rerouted and to get another bank to buyout my car loan, even if it does mean a higher interest rate--I don't really care right now.  I have never been so embarrassed and frustrated by such terrible customer service in my life.  And what infuriates me more is they won't tell me if this will happen again the next time I make a large purchase on my card such as, oh I don't know, a down payment for my venue or caterer.  Wouldn't that be a great way to start a relationship with a vendor?  That would actually be a million times more embarrassing than the grocery store if the caterer told me my card had been declined.  I'm tired of my bank making me feel like it's a crime to occasionally splurge on something big with my own hard earned and saved money.

Has your bank ever left you high and dry without access to your money when you needed it most?

OMG, Monday was Good? (424 Days to Go)

So Sunday, my mom came to visit Jeff and I and took us out to lunch (right after she helped repair what was an ice cream shortage and near crisis in our freezer with some fantastic Turkey Hill Ice Cream).  We went out for lunch at Bahama Breeze and caught up on everything that's been happening: my cousin's new baby, my mom's shop, lack of wedding plans, my job hunt, Jeff's wrist, etc.

While we were sitting there chatting my mom suggested I try Google-ing for barn dances to see if there's a location that would be suitable for our wedding but not necessarily marketed for weddings.  So, yesterday, I had a few spare moments to try searching for her suggested "search terms".  I got nada except for some college group trip to some place in Westmoreland county.  Couldn't find that farm once I tried to narrow in on it.  So I broadened back out and found a catering website with a ton of different farm and outdoor reception sites.  Carson's Weddings may have just restored my faith in being able to find an outdoor venue that I can afford and fall in love with.  Thank you!

So, Sunday night Jeff and I ended up having only what I can describe as an argument.  Only because I was super frustrated.  This weekend I'd had the bomb dropped on me that Jeff would not be available to go with me to venues, cake tasting, or anything unless I was able to make all arrangements be in the evenings or on Sundays that weren't "too busy".  Otherwise, everything is now on my shoulders to bear pretty much alone.  Because as much as I'd love to delegate looking at venues, I can't--not really at least.  I mean, let's be practical, would you let your mother go alone to view a possible venue and base your decision on description alone?  Of course not.  You might as well base your decision on photos from a website.

And of course, I'm starting to actually be busy teaching knitting on the weekends which means I will have even less free time now, specifically, fewer Sundays to try and coordinate with Jeff.  So, Sunday night I was upset because I have too much to do and not enough time and yet more keeps getting dumped on me every time I turn around--such as a fall craft show for the fire hall, more confirmation that the wedding is all on me, and of course all the house hold chores because he's still a gimp.  So not cut out for this much domestication all at once.

But what came of the discussion is that Jeff said he'd be willing to more or less be my personal wedding assistant.  He would take care of calling vendors and venues and setting up the appointments for me to attend.  It's a huge load off my back since I have a supervisor currently who won't leave me alone for five minutes and I've been getting only barely enough time to eat for the past several weeks.  More frustrating: a lack of getting paid for the significant amounts of overtime I have.  In short, the HR system punishes the workers if we are overtime because supervisors don't want to pay it and don't acknowledge that they've caused us overtime either.  It's actually less of a headache to suck it up and ask for a day off and cross your fingers your supervisor allows it. 

Now I only have to hope that Jeff doesn't keep forgetting to make calls on my behalf.  It's certainly happened before and it's frustrating because it causes delays but I can't do any better myself so I guess I have to be grateful for any help I can get.

But, to make Monday all the sweeter, I finally got a call for a job interview on Friday.  This girl needs to dig into the attic and resurrect some analytical chem texts and study up.  Wish me luck!

Domesticated Saturday (426 Days to Go)

So yesterday I only went out during the early afternoon to JoAnn's for their open house in order to recruit knitting students.  For once it seemed to go very well.  So despite some heehawing over whether or not to go, it paid off in the long run (so long as they don't later back out of their classes).

I also found out yesterday morning that another of my articles got published.  This one is about the five largest summer art and craft shows in PA.  Check it out if you're in PA or one of the surrounding states.  It goes from one end of the state to the other.

When I got home, Jeff had finished washing our bed sheets and I remade the bed with our new duvet cover that I picked up the weekend before while shopping with my FMIL.  Best $20 I've spent in a while because our bed no longer looks like a hand me down of a hand me down with it's old patched and stained duvet cover.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon cuddling on the couch watching the movie Runaway Jury while I knitted on my cousin's baby's blanket.  That thing refuses to ever be finished no matter how much I convince myself that it's getting close to the end.  But the movie kept me guessing for a while.  Granted, unlike Jeff I had not read the book first.

For dinner, Jeff had marinated steaks and fired up the grill.  It's finally starting to hold a steady spring-like temperature in Pittsburgh.  In fact I saw trees budding for the first time this week.  While he was grilling, I was making cheesecake like I'd promised to do this weekend.  Domestication does not come easy to me and cheesecake is about the only thing I can make without burning it.  In all seriousness, not even Toll House pre-made cookie dough can survive under my baking.  I blame it on the fact that I haven't been able to figure out how to use the confectionery oven since I used to have a gas oven/stove in my old apartment.

But cheesecake is apparently a specialty of mine.  Today's version:

Layered Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.  

I dunno, sure, whatever.  It needs some kind of name.

So...ingredients: 

2 eggs

2 8oz packages of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of cocoa

10 chocolate chip cookies

2 tsps of vanilla

1 pre-made graham cracker crust

Layer One: Traditional Cheesecake

Mix one 8 oz package of  cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 1 egg together with a mixer.  Pour into graham cracker crust and spread even.

Crush four of the chocolate chip cookies and sprinkle across the bottom layer of the cheesecake.

Layer Two: Chocolate Cheesecake

Mix one 8 oz package of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 1 egg together with mixer.  Pour about a half to 3/4 of the mixture onto the cheesecake and spread even.  The rest will probably be overflow so you'll have to make yourself a single serving size version in a small bowl that's oven safe.  I call the mini cheesecake my upside down cheesecake because it's crust will be on top. And it's perfect for taking to work in a packed lunch.

Jeff looooves cheesecake!

Crush the remaining cookies and sprinkle across the top of both cheesecakes.  Oh and don't forget to let your man help you clean up the only way guys know how--by licking the beaters.

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Bake the mini cheesecake for 30 minutes.  Bake the full sized cheesecake for 45 minutes.

And after some patience, you have this:

 

And because your man is so grateful for cheesecake, you also have this waiting for you...at least I hope you do.

E-mail Inspirations (430 Days to Go)

Happy Hump Day to all!  And in honor of the day I'm trying to get over my wedding planning hump.  It's been about a month since I've actually accomplished much of anything to do with the wedding and in that time, it's been rare for me to really peruse any websites or magazines or anything.  So, today, I'm going out seeking inspiration again to get me amped about being a bride-to-be and excited to get the ball rolling again.

Usually checking my e-mail results in about a half dozen wedding related things, so let's start off with seeing what that rounds up.  First off, discounted cruises to Europe from Holland America.  Not even sure how I managed to get on their list.  But I haven't gotten off because I keep hoping that one will pop up for a more tropic locale when we can afford to get some away time perhaps later this year.  However, that would require paying off Jeff's medical bills and my work situation becoming less hairy.  Speaking of which, last night I got a cold call phone interview from a "life insurance" company that saw my resume on Monster.  Ugh.  The one thing that could possibly be more unstable than my current job would have to be commission based telemarketing.

Alright, next up in the inbox would be "Mixer Night" at the Apostrophe Lounge in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Oops.  Wrong state.  Unsubscribing...now.

Another house listing that we dare not go look at because right now we can't even begin to think about filing the paperwork for preapproval of a loan.

Ah, here's a good one from Otto Productions.  Not only are the of course advertising their DJ and uplighting services, they're also giving some really cute ideas for the reception.  Just what I needed to spark some imagination.  I particularly like their idea of tucking some Penguins tickets into the garter for the hubby to find before the garter toss.  That would totally flip Jeff's lid and because our wedding would be during playoff season, it would be a lot like a date night that I planned while we were dating and took him to a playoff game that I happened to luck into tickets for.  Of course, minus the garter last year.  It was more like a text message asking if he was busy that night with teaching or if he could be free.

Just checking out their website and facebook has certainly been amusing and killed some time at work between "switching the loads" as I like to call certain aspects of my job.  Yes, I analogize my research job to doing the laundry.

And lastly, a response to my request about a photobooth price from Photobooth Pittsburgh.  Jeff and I both love the idea of a photobooth and we keep going back and forth as to whether or not we just want to set up a backdrop of our own, a box of props, and a camera on a tripod or if we want to rent a booth that will provide us with duplicate photostrips for a guestbook/album.  It's probably going to come down to budget in the end but I think we're both leaning towards having it done professionally and still providing our own themed prop box.  I know that it's a relatively new fad, but it's one that I can really get behind.  I've always been into scrapbooking and I think that it's a really great way to get pictures of everyone and to know who they are later when I go to look back over the wedding albums.  Otherwise, I'm not gonna be able to put a name to a face for half of his dad's cousins.

My First Bridal Nightmare (431 Days to Go)

So Sunday's plan more or less completely fell apart.  Oh well.  I think that Jeff and I needed the day to stay home and watch movies more anyway.  My knitting class has now been tentatively rescheduled for Palm Sunday.  Good thing I'm not super religious.

Saturday he had to go back into the shop to work since his dad had to be in the pool with students, so both my FMIL and I kept Jeff company and made sure he didn't over exert himself trying to grab inventory from top shelves.  The last thing we needed was for him to pull his stitches after only a day.

Kohls.com

After we got the shop closed up mid-afternoon, my FMIL and went shopping for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time.  Almost 95% of that time we spent at Kohl's because she a) had a coupon and b) she cannot pass up good sales.  Since I'm still relatively fresh out of school and my current job requires quite the opposite, I don't have much of a professional wardrobe; so together she and I pulled together a nice blazer outfit with a couple of different shirts.  I really liked the blazer (pictured right) because it was so versatile which I thought was incredibly important when just starting to build my wardrobe. Pretty much everything that I bought was Apt 9 brand which was incredibly youthful and vibrant in the color selection.  I never really felt like I was looking at anything that was frumpy or too old for me despite the fact that I'm a little too big to fit into juniors or misses anymore.  I blame the linebacker shoulders I inherited from my father's side of the family.

But it was interesting shopping with my FMIL because I haven't often enjoyed shopping at all. I'm the type of person that prefers to go by myself, try stuff on and get out.  Mostly because my girlfriends have never really had the time that we could get together for shopping trips or even when we do, I feel rushed when looking for myself.  That and shopping with my own mother is difficult because she already has preconceived notions of what I should like and wear.  Typically these don't match up with reality.  I grew up in a town where fashion is about 2-3 years behind and once I moved to Pittsburgh, I was determined to not let that be the case any longer.  I'm not too far out into crazy fashion (like Lady Gaga) but I certainly don't like bells and penguins to decorate my sweaters in the winter.  So hopefully I'll soon have a job interview and a career to go along with the new wardrobe that's underway.

But Saturday night was, well, interesting.  Jeff slept in a recliner in the living room in order to minimize how much he moved around because of his wrist and after a year, I no longer sleep as well in bed alone.  So I was tossing and turning which has pretty much been the case for both of us since he broke his wrist.  Well, that night I had an incredibly vivid dream about our wedding.  Yes, my first wedding nightmare.  I dreamt that when I woke the next morning that it was our wedding day and of course, nothing was done, ordered, ready, delivered or booked.  It was just utter chaos and I went through the day from start to finish in a near panic and missed the ceremony because I was too busy trying to arrange flowers for the reception.  Basically the entire day I was just trying to keep one step ahead of everyone else that I didn't see anyone except for my MOHs and that was to give them the meager six bottles of alcohol I had for the bar which I later found out that the groomsmen drank between the ceremony and reception.

Well, eventually my tossing and turning woke me up and when I fell back asleep I dreamt that I was telling Jeff all about my dream.  We then walked through the whole dream together watching myself flounder about aimlessly and helplessly.  It was an extremely weird out of body experience for a dream inside a dream.  Well, when I finally woke up Sunday morning, Jeff had moved back to the bed at some point and I started to tell him about my weird dream and then paused half afraid that I was about to re-experience the whole damn thing a third time.  I even went so far as to make him pinch me.  It feels like it's way too soon for me start having wedding nightmares.

Dinner Plans (433 Days to Go)

So today is a somewhat busy day.  I'm not sure why Jeff planned to have friends over for dinner two days after he had surgery, but that's what's up.

I'm starting off the afternoon teaching a knitting class at JoAnn's for what will be my record largest class thus far: four students.  So far they've all been one-on-one classes so I'm a little psyched to teach a class in which I actually don't make bad money.  After that I'll be making a mad dash to the Market District in order to pick up last second groceries for dinner and then it'll be time to head home and play sous chef to Jeff's head chef.  I'm still wondering what exactly he's got on the menu.

But I'm looking forward to dinner too.  It'll be the first time that I'll get to meet his friend Will and his girlfriend, Emily, and considering that Will is going to be a groomsman, I'm extremely glad that we're meeting now and not a  year from now.  I'm also a little nervous as I am meeting anyone for the first time in Jeff's life.  I always dread the fact that my lack of a filter will cause me to say something horribly offensive.  Take for instance, last Tuesday night while we were at Red Robin, a little kid (maybe three) tripped and fell right next to our table.  Immediately I start to laugh because that is our reaction to our two-year-old niece falling.  We have her completely convinced to laugh at falls instead of starting to wail.  Well, the little kid's slightly older sibling gives me a look that plainly stated, "WTF?" while Jeff rightfully slapped my hand.  Immediately I realized my faux pas and apologized to Jeff loud enough for the kids parents to hear that I had done it based on instinct because of our niece and forgot that not every family utilizes that method.  The parents quirked a small smile so at least they didn't want to kill me but the five-year-old was still giving me the WTF look the entire way out the door.

As you can see, there is no filter between my brain and my mouth.  I wish that was the worst of my social awkwardness but I know there have been far worse incidences.  Usually dropping the f-bomb in the vicinity of my FFIL while discussing my supervisor causes there to be some crickets chirping.  So here's me crossing my fingers that I can avoid any social awkwardness tonight.  Wish me luck!

Broken Wrist and Wonder Woman (434 Days to Go)

So first up and most importantly: Jeff is home and all titanium plated up!

He's in some pain, but that's to be expected after someone drilled some screws into your bones.  He spent the afternoon yesterday sleeping on and off because the anesthesia made him groggy.  But in between naps, the pain in his arm made him incredibly restless.  Thankfully I didn't have to convince him to sit or lie still for very long in order to get him to fall back asleep again.  Luckily he hasn't suffered from any nausea.  I managed to get him to eat some soup for a late lunch without too much trouble.

I got notified yesterday that my first article was published from the Yahoo! Assignment Desk, so I'm a little tickled with that.  Hopefully occasionally writing some articles might make me a few extra bucks that I can apply to either paying for Jeff's medical expenses or towards our honeymoon fund that got totally depleted to pay the required upfront payments.

Image Source

As I mentioned briefly before, I'm a total geek and so I have to comment on this: Adrianne Palicki's newest Wonder Woman costume reveal is almost as bad as the first.  Ugh.  I know, it's not very wedding related or even day-to-day related, but it's a fashion thing, so that counts right?  What I wouldn't pay to be their costume department chair for one day.  I'd put her in black boots and pants and a motorcycle jacket and leave the red corset alone.  Bam!  Easy peasy, she'd look just like the modern age Wonder Woman from the comics and look like she belongs in the real world rather than a 90's TV series.  When I first heard that NBC was launching the show in the fall and read some of the script break down I nearly cried.  Wonder Woman shouldn't sound like a character reject from Desperate Housewives.  It was so terrible.  It was like they were trying to aim Wonder Woman at well, women.  Wrong! 

Image Source

Wonder Woman isn't for girls, she's for fanboys!  And you're certainly not going to make anyone a comic fan with that kind of show.  Instead, you'll turn away all viewers completely and get canceled faster than FOX's records at canceling shows.  What is FOX down to now, two episodes to sink or swim?  Yes, that's my personal prediction, Adrianne Palicki will not be on TV as Wonder Woman for anything more than one episode.  The rest will make their way into vault and never be seen again.  Why do I think this?  Because it's already happened before, granted on CBS, for a JLA series.  The pure fangirl in me just had to see it.  I wish I hadn't and I'm fairly certain the same will happen when Wonder Woman comes on TV--except I don't have cable, so by the time I seek it out online, it will already have so many criticisms that it will be canceled.  One final word on the subject and then I'll hopefully leave it alone until the show airs: they would have been better off hiring a busty WWE star to play Wonder Woman rather than Adrianne Palicki.  Then Wonder Woman might look believable in the aspect that she could kick your butt.

Date Night (436 Days to Go)

The trip to the doctor's office went relatively well.  Surgery has now officially been scheduled for tomorrow.  So that's one less thing to worry about.  Instead of getting pins like the first orthopedic surgeon had thought, it's going to be one or two permanent titanium plates.  So, the boy who can't seem to remember to take his keys out of his pocket to go through a metal detector will forever be setting metal detectors off.  But the incredibly good news is that he should be back to almost full function in about two weeks after the surgery.  He'll have to wear a splint for a while, but it won't be locking up the movement of his hand and elbow as his temporary cast has been.  He's incredibly grateful because he'll be able to get back to work as usual all the sooner which is important since his busy season is close at hand.

In the meantime, I anxiously await the blow of the medical bills while constantly searching Monster for any hopeful job leads.  I think I'm to the point of giving up on finding anything that is career related and just finding something that I qualify for in general.  I can't really imagine that any science related job that I take can make my career much worse and it has to be better than falling off the bottom rung to take up waitressing instead.  I'm crossing my fingers that I can at least get a job interview somewhere.  It would be a slight boost to my self esteem rather than be completely ignored by everyone I've applied to so far.

Other than that, we've been trying to get back into our date night routine.  It used to be that we went out every Tuesday night for dinner and a movie.  But we're cutting back a little and trying to go only every other week.  But as of lately, I've been either getting home from work too late or too stressed out and tired to want to go out.  We already are pinching our pennies by going Tuesday night.  At least here in Pittsburgh, that's the night that movie theatres have discounted tickets or some kind of promotion.  The theatre we go to in Robinson has tickets for $5.25 and even if we want to see a movie in 3-d, then it's that rate plus the $3.00 premium.  So no matter what, we're paying less than the average movie ticket price as long as we stick to that night.  Dinner usually goes up and down as far as price and quality based on how tight money is that week.  Sometimes we eat at home or we hit up Steak n' Shake if we're feeling a little tight but other times we'll treat ourselves to the Hibachi place that's right near the theatre.  It doesn't happen very often considering how expensive it can be but still every once in a while is better than nothing.  This past Tuesday, we hit up Red Robin and saw Sucker Punch--which was incredible.  I haven't seen a fantasy film like that since...I dunno--never.  What was really amazing to me was the musical score.  Never in my life did I think that Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit could be turned into a fight theme, but they did it and it was good!  I suddenly have a strong desire to go buy some new costumes for cosplay.  Yes, I'm a total geek and I take dressing up at Halloween to new extremes.  Luckily my fiance totally goes along with it, including the occasional comi-con.  For instance, this past Halloween we were the Joker and Harley Quinn.  This coming year we're talking about Buzz Lightyear and Jesse from Toy Story.

Personally I can't wait for it to start being a little warmer so we can switch our date night to the weekend and go to the drive-in instead.  We typically go to the Dependable Drive-In which I have to laugh because nowadays it's marketed as a family place but way back in the day it used to show the skin flicks.  Personally I find this idea creepy.  Why would you want to watch a porno at a drive-in?  What happened to the privacy of your own living room people?  But as I said, nowadays, it's a family place.  They've got four screens so we can always find some pairing of movies that we want to watch.  So even though this particular drive-in is open year round, I prefer to go in the summer.  Then we can pack a picnic dinner, toss out a blanket behind the car and listen to the surround sound of everyone else's car radios.  Much easier than trying to cuddle over a gear shift, which in both of our vehicles is quite in the way.  Surprisingly, more so in my Mini than in his Dakota.  It almost makes me wish I had my gram's '91 Chevy with the bench seat.

Photo Update

Jeff's actual cat scan that we viewed this morning.

My new eyeglasses from Camille Bizien.  My something "Blue" for the wedding.

And so let the cat chewing on the eye glasses begin.
She actually dragged them down off the table when I had my back turned.  Brat.

Jeff's Broken Wrist (437 Days to Go)

That's similar to what Jeff did, except
he knocked both knobs off the radius.
Image Source

So this morning I'm taking Jeff for his second consultation with a second orthopedic surgeon.  Actually today should have been his surgery, but the surgeon's secretary, PA, nurse or whomever who did the scheduling really screwed up.  He broke his wrist last Saturday (the 19th), we took him to the emergency room for x-rays on Sunday when the swelling didn't go down (and because he didn't want to go in the middle of our vacation to Seven Springs), and saw the first orthopedic surgeon Monday.  That first surgeon gave us a recommendation to the second surgeon because he's a hand/wrist specialist and told us we needed to go get cat scans right away so we could get in for a consultation later in the week and get the surgery scheduled for either next Tuesday (yesterday) or Wednesday (today).  So, his secretary called the other surgeon's office and left a message telling them to book an OR and to schedule a consultation to see the cat scans.  Well, all they did was schedule a consultation and they booked it for today rather than a week ago.  So now, Jeff has been wearing a temporary cast on his arm for over a week and it's no longer the right size because the swelling has gone down significantly which is actually now causing it to rub his wrist raw--the broken wrist!  To say the least, I'm annoyed with the health care system.  So hopefully the surgeon will come to the same conclusion we have already for over a week, that he needs surgery asap, and schedule it for in the next few days.  The sooner the boy gets into a regular cast the happier I'll be.

But in the meantime, I'm sitting here waiting.  The upside to all of this is that after we get out of here, I'm dragging him to Sam's Club so we can pick up my new eyeglasses.  I'm not planning on wearing these new frames all the time because I got them specifically for our wedding.  They're rimless, silver, and pale blue.  My current frames are a relatively bold black pair and don't always photograph well, especially since I didn't get glare free lenses.  Essentially, I'm scared that if I start wearing them everyday now, I'll walk into a wall and break them before the wedding.  Don't laugh, I've done some serious bending to my current frames that way.  I really can't ever seem to remember door frames, especially the one around our pantry.  And the pair before these, my cat chewed off the end of one of the ear pieces.  Relatively impressive work actually.  It's not so noticeable to the observer but a real pain for me because they scratch the side of my head like crazy.  So, unless it's a special occasion, those frames will most likely spend a good deal of time hanging out in my top dresser drawer away from my clumsy self and from my kitten's gnawing habit.

Image Source

The other upside is that I have my Nook.  I'm completely addicted to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and just itching to get to the bottom of the mystery.  It's been a while since a book has managed to keep me in suspense for three hundred  plus pages.  However, if I was good, I'd actually be knitting on my cousin's baby's blanket instead.  The silly blanket was supposed to be incredibly easy, but it has so many stitches on it that every time I transport it somewhere, I spend at least a half hour picking stitches back up because nearly the entire thing has fallen off the needles.  Thus, why I'm reading instead.  A girl can only take so much frustration before even her knitting no longer feels like zen.  But I do need to find my zen again soon.  I have to teach knitting at Jo-Ann's on Saturday so it'd probably be best if the teacher wasn't stressed while trying to preach the calming effects of knitting.  Then again, I've always had the attitude of "do as I say, not as I do."