Peace out 2011 and still no snow!

So it's dec 30, 2011 today! I'm happy to start a new year and some new adventures. The best was obviously getting married this year and all that went with it. Not to mention the super fabulous honeymoon and 1 week of being treated like a princess by more than just my husband.

From my 101 in 1001, I can cross 3 things of that list before it officially started. Sweet! I fixed a medical claim problemo, added Matt to Aflac (so that shiz never happens again) and added him to my health insurance.

Christmas was good. I was surprised with a kindle fire and we will attend my first devil's game on jan 24, 2012. I'm excited to take him. Together we have attended pro football, pro baseball, and now pro hockey!

Sadly today is not closing day. Otherwise I would not be typing this and I'd be busting my ass moving. At any rate it's in the works so we should have a solid closing date by next week. When the whole world gets back to work from holiday. Speaking of which, when everyone and their mother is off from work it makes for a really crabby totes. The gym is packed, traffic is annoying, and generally they are just all in my way. Come monday thou, haha off to work you all go! My next day off is jan 7 so I suspect some bitchiness between now and then. That will make for a 13 day stint or this girl!

So for now it's a waiting game: the end of this shift, a solid closing date, a day off, and my sister to come visit! Happy New Year's!

Rise and shine and also where the h-e-l-l is the snow?

So it's been about a week or so. I have been meaning to blog but shit gets in the way. I went to work at 0245 this am. What the hell kind of work day is 3-3 anyway? I took the overtime because it's far and few in December. Additionally I did an extra 4hrs yesterday so I am anticipating the made-up-holiday-day I gave myself. Friday night we are going down to my SIL house in jersey. I'm excited to give my 4 new nieces their gifts. Also I will be more excited to give my nephew his gifts, but that will occur whenever my sister gets her ass here.

It's almost the end of December. Apparently I share my father's affinity for snow. Where the eff is it??!! It's thundering right now. Like seriously. I want to board this year. I want to snowmobile, well actually I want to buy one---like really really bad.

Also the closing isn't going to be in NYE anymore. Kind of dissapointes but that gives me more time to get things together. And now I get to work it. Awesome. Next year I want to throw a party.

Speaking of the house, I am super excited to start puppy shopping. I can't decide what kind of dog to get but these guys are soooo fricken cute.

Lastly I went to my first ever cookie swap. I wanted to get all Martha Stewartish but there's a reason that bitch goes to prison and still comes out on top. Here is what I wanted and here is what I got. 3 attempts later we made out ok and the swap was pretty fun too.

Only 3 more days till Christmas. We skimped on the decor this year because we thought we would be moving. This tiny tree thing will NEVER, I repeat never happen again!

1/2 way there...almost

So we were given the tentative closing date of dec 30. Today is dec 13. That's 17 days away. I started to pack up the kitchen and all the various stem ware. I feel like I need more confirmation that this is really a go. If I have to pack and then unpack I will be devastated.

I signed the contract and left the escrow down pmt last Friday. Apparently it still needs to be signed by the seller. Then the mortgage co needs to order the appraisal. Some where matt and I have to find another 1,400 in that time frame. I was hoping for some ot but it's not looking like any will come my way.

Buying a house was more stressful than planning a wedding. I had the wedding of my dreams and somehow, like everyone said, "it will all work out" and it did. I feel like I don't have that reassurance here. And I am totally not a fan of "everything happens for a reason." I hate that saying. The reason things don't happen is because you dropped the ball somehow.

I pray that Matt and I are able to make this work. It will honestly take every last penny of December's income. Too bad I will/had to spend an unexpected 1700.00 this month, that sure would have made things easier for us both. Only time will tell, another cliche I hate, but 17 days from now I hope to be moving my shit. I mean how else would you want to spend your first new years as husband and wife?

101 in 1001 days

101 in 1001 or 3 years

The List; So this thing has become widly popular and I want to give it a try. Lets see what I can dream up vs. what I can accomplish. I think I have come pretty far in life, but hell lets go further.

Fitness

1. Run a 5k spring 2012
2. Run a half marathon in 2013
3. Participate in the Princess Marathon (1/2)  2014
4. Learn how to play golf better with Matt.
5. Complete a tough mudder.
6. Attend a yoga class…once a month for a year 1/12.
7. Do a Ruckus with Ashley
8. Stay a fit wife
9. Be a fit mom

Relationship

1. Go on a picnic with Matt.
2. Have a baby
3. Go on a cruise with mom and ash.
4. Have a total spa day with my Mom.
5. Financially support 5 of my friends’ causes.
6. Write a letter/postcard to friends once a month for a year.
7. Take Matt to Denver for a weekend, through living social
8. Support Matt in his goals – ongoing.
9. Plan a day long date for Matt, doing all things he likes..
10. Have a family photo shoot to announce a baby with chalk board pic
11. Throw my parents an anniversary party.
12. Throw Matt a fabulous 30th birthday party. Keep it a surprise if possible.
13. Send flowers to 3 friends just because.
14. Christmas shop for friends/family during the entire year rather than wait last minute

Financial

1. Write a will.
2. Have 3 months salary in savings.
3. Pay off all credit cards in 2012 sans wells fargo. HSBC; V.S; G.E; Dell, Capital one, Amex, Chase
4. Only buy things I have coupons for (5x)
5. Add Matt to health insurance
6. Add Matt to Aflac
7. Make my car last the 3 years of this list
8. Buy a house
9. Re visit my deffered comp, up %
10. Fix credit
11. Fix case claim
12. Pay 100.00 extra a month on the mortgage for 12 mo 0/12

Health

1. Go one month without eating out.
2. Go one month without drinking beer.
3. Get fruits/veggies from a stand for a season.
4. Turn off my phone/tv/computer for 24 consecutive hours.
5. Go off BC
6. Track everything I eat/drink for two consecutive weeks. Be honest about it.
7. Get three professional massages.
8. Bring lunch to work for 1 month straight
9. Workout 5x a week for one month

Professional Development

1. Study for Sgt test, maybe take a practice test
2. Participate in A Race for the Cure event as a helper.
3. Volunteer at least 100 hours. 
4. Revisit the amount I owe on BS student loans, put an extra 1, 000.00 a year towards each
5. Revisit the amount I owe on MS student loans, put an extra 1,000.00 a year towards each

Personal Development

1. Host a holiday meal (family Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinner)
2. Read 5 books on the best seller list.
3. Host a summer bbq/pig roast.
4. Buy a kindle
5. Make a DIY project for each room of the house
6. Watch 10 classic movies/musicals.
7. Go to a concert.
8. Don’t complain for a week (3 X)
9. Take a cooking/baking class.

For the House

1. Renovate the 1/2 bathroom.
2. Buy a new living room set.
3. Plant a tree, well, plant a tree in my yard
4. Buy a new bedroom set
5. Paint everyroom room in the house.
6. Make a DIY headboard with a door for the spare bedroom
7. Plant a veg garden
8. Plant a flower garden
9. Have an office
10. Finish extra room for a bar/Matt zone
11. Suprise Matt with a new tv
12. Buy a PB media center
13. Buy an entryway piece for a good price
14. Replace front and side doors, paint the inside black
15. Get rid of the pine entry way

For Others and For Good

1. Buy a meal for the person behind me at a restaurant.
2. Compliment 5 strangers.
3. Do 10 random acts of kindness.
4. Buy only local/small business for one month – except for gas.
5. Buy a stranger something off their amazon wish list.

Just Because

1. Go to Mets/Giants/Devils game
2. Attend a fabulous New Years Eve Party
3. Go to Canada
4. Drink a $100+ bottle of wine
5. Try one new recipe a week for one month
6. Visit a winery.
7. Go to dinner at the melting pot.
8. Spend a night in a hotel in NYC.
9. Do a trash the dress or bpic session.
10. Be frivolous with $200 once.
11. Host a holiday party.
12. Eat at a Gorden Ramsey restaurant with Matt.
13. Have dinner by candlelight.
14. Create a recipe book.
15. Find the perfect pair of jeans.
16. Make 7 photo books.
17. Bake 10 different kinds of cake/cupcakes from grandmas cookbook
18. Visit a state I’ve never been to.
19. Go to a tailgate.
20. Get a dog.
21. Make pasta from scratch.
22. Go on another cruise for 1st anniversary
23. Take Matt to NV.

Life is good: the wedding part 4 AKA the BIG DAY

Add caption

September 23, 2011 we got married at Skytop Lodge, in Skytop Pa. Again dad, sorry your birthday was overshadowed by another one of your child's plans. 2012 is all yours! It was a stunning wedding if I do say so myself. I loved it! There.is.not.one.thing that I would change about the wedding. Well for the most part. It did rain like a SOB, so good thing we didn't go with the first pretty plan, nonetheless perfect for rainboot pics. Anyway, I knew from the moment I went to a wedding 2 years prior with my friend Ryan that I wanted to get married there. The place was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Matt and I looked at several (well like 5 places, but he would say several) venues. Nothing topped Skytop. It was like a castle on a golf course. They were totally accommodating and made planning stress free. Well on their end anyway.  We went with a color scheme of green, blue, and browns. I had an A line dress and my fav flowers, which were a total surprise, btw.  Blue heels, which I got for Christmas the year before, and gold flats.  We shared the day with so many amazing friends and family. We had a rehearsal dinner the night before, hosted by my IL at Frogtown Inn near Skytop. The food was delicious. The dancing was fun. And getting cake shoved in my face was tasty. I did a baseball theme cocktail hour for Matt and a DIY photobooth, that my mom and her friends worked their ass (or is it ass's??? they don't share the same ass) off on.  My cousin flew in from MN to take pics of us through out the day. She is an amazing photographer and I am so thankful she saved my ass from a flaky photog I originally went with. Could you imagine the horror if that was f ed up? Seriously I don't think I could get over it. Well ok, so I am obviously going to AW pics now but how do I choose? We will be making photo books as gifts for our parents. Well I already did but its 116 redic pages and I figure I should tailor the books towards each side of the family....so I am starting over. without further adoooo....


This is where the magic happened

Rain boots. It rained like a SOB that day. How fitting that our cake topper bride already had on her polk a dot rain boots??? Meant to be, I guess

This one reminds me of those sexy movie scenes. It was taken in a service elevator. I think these will make the canvas prints I plan on putting somewhere in a new house.

Their flowers were seriously stunning. The colors were perfect.

O and I didn't want to leave out this photobooth. Seriously, if you leave a web-cam unattended you never know what you are going to get. They are hysterical. Like laugh out loud, for real. And because I had no idea what was going on, it made it even more funny.

There are the appropriate ones that can be posted. Lets face it, there are tons of inappropriate ones, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

So pretty much that's it for the wedding. Planning and all the parties that went with it were a blast. I (we) are very fortunate for what we had. Without our family and friends this day and all those leading to this day would not have been possible. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. And for my husband too. 2 days after the wedding we left for our honeymoon aboard carnival cruise line. It was an awesome week of vacation and being spoiled. We did horseback riding, saw some ruins, shopped, kayaked, snorkeled, drank and drank some more. Seriously the whole thing was PERFECT and we could not have asked for anything more.

Learning to cook

So it is my goal to make one new recipe a week for the month of dec. Week 1, so far so good. Matt said he was sick of eating the same stuff all the time. I agree, my variety is pretty sub par. Usu it's baked ziti, tacos, and pizza as the staples. This week I made roasted chicken with mole sauce.

I thought it would be spicy but apparently unsweetened chocolate made it pretty sweet. Weird?!

So how does it go?
1 cup enchilada sauce
1 tbs Salt and pepper each
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup raisins.
Microwave all that shizzz together for 1-2 min. Toss it in a blender w 1/4 cup H2o and blend.

Cook 1 lb of chicken
1/4 tbs olive oil over med heat.
Season w some salt and pepper. Cook 3-4 min on one side. Pour mole sauce over the chicken and turn to coat.

O btw, the oven should have been pre heating at 400 by now. So take the chicken w the sauce and toss in the oven for 12-14 more minutes.

Additionally the recipe called for a side dish of watercress, oranges, and sliced red onion. But I didn't know what the hell watercress was and I was running out of battery to google in the grocery store. I also knew that matt would side eye any dish with oranges and he hates onions. Knorr broccoli and cheddar pasta side it was. I feel a little shame for cheating with the side but we couldn't have just chicken!

Life is good: the wedding part 3

So this event was my last celebration as a single lady..... The bachelorette party. The girls, bridge, amanda and kris were missed, and I took a trip to the beach, which was a surprise for me. We had a blast. The day started out with some sun and sand, which btw, was the only sun and sand I saw this summer : ( (mental note...go to the beach next summer) We visited Bradley beach outside of Point Pleasant, NJ. I had never been there but the houses on the beach were gorgeous. We spent the afternoon doing what girls do.

After the sunny sunshine we got ready for dinner. We had sushi at a delicious restaurant that we just happened to stumble upon then headed off to the bars in Point Pleasant for a night of fist pumping. It was a blast, again everything you could imagine a New Jersey fist pumping club would be. I even made it up to the stage with other ladies, crazy enough to get married. Heres the tame pics.

Getting all dolled up for dinner

Did I mention that they made me wear those redic party assessories?

There are more pics on fb but after many more drinks we are not so pretty. So I'll stop at the

pre-game.

Life is good: The wedding part 2

So while not every bride-to-be is blessed with a bridal shower, I wanted to take this time to send my love to my friends and family for a beautiful bridal shower. Again another fab party with some great deets. This one was vintage housewife theme. Kind of a joke because I am a terrible housewife....well I'm not a housewife. I can clean and decorate but I don't cook. And the plan, my friends, when we do close on the house is prob going to be a house keeper. Hey we work hard enough and I believe in sub contracting. Same holds true for the yard.

Anyway, back to the shower. Vintage table clothes, random kitchen gadgets with pretty flowers, albeit, some I have no idea what they are used for, used as centerpieces.  A recipe cookbook of all desserts, which was my grandmothers', and some delicious desserts made from that same book by my best girlfriends. Melissa coordinated most of the shower at the Port Jervis County Club, which was newly up and running and Ashley made the truck home. Here are some pics of the fab shower. O and I almost forgot the bridal party and I, as well as my 3 new SIL all wore aprons for the day. I didn't want to take it off!!!



Words to live by

Me, Mom, and Ash, with Caden too.

Ash got me a travel trunk, filled with Honeymoon goodies.
I got the girls handmade wine glasses. Complete with what their BM dress looked like and flowers

My grandmother's cook book

Family

Bridal party

Centerpieces

Grandma's goodies made with bridesmaids love!

Life is good:The wedding part I

Today is the perfect day to AW our wedding. And because it was such a fab set of several events, I'll do it in parts so blogger wont get mad at my extensive post or wall of text.  I am off from work, I spent the morning doing errands, and my landlord has put me in a funk....so to dig myself out of that funk, I will AW the wedding. Now where to start? The engagement party? I think so.

When I was growing up my dad fixed machines for some potato chip company owner. That guy had a breath taking beautiful piece of property. I loved it! I wanted to get married there. But as with any outside venue event, mother nature can be a bitch. Bearing that in mind, momma though perhaps we should give it a test run with an engagement party? Yes, please! The engagement party was Sept 25, 10. (sorry dad, another event on your birthday) Matt and I were so thankful to celebrate with friends and family.

For centerpieces my dad cut birch trees and hollowed out a center and to top it off with more adorableness, burned a heart into the log with our initials in the heart. My mom's friend arraigned some pretty flowers for the tables.  We had a tent in a field, added some linens and a chandelier and ta da prettiness. 
And with out further a do....

Matt and I at our engagement party

The pretty deets. Flowers and wine in rich colors.

Cocktails were served on the awesomeness back deck

Thistle, Lilly's and greens

My best college pals.

Delicious cupcakes with bride and grooms

November...Thanks it has been real.

With 6 days shy of a Kardashian wedding November is coming to an end. I made my first turkey as a wife, well first.ever.period. The day we celebrated Thanksgiving was also the 2 month mark for our wedding. So I'm sure we will beat KK and The Hump. Anyway back to the turkey, it turned out pretty decent but turkey in and of it's self isn't its all it's cracked up to be. At least mine wasn't. Matt made mashed potatoes and we cheated with some boxed stove top stuffing. The downfall to our first ever Thanksgiving was that I couldn't imbibe in any adult beverages of the sort! : ( I had to work wed night, then pretty much straight through Thursday afternoon. After work I headed to Amanda's to see her new house, the baby, and to spend some long over due QT for a few days.

So we, as in the ladies of the family, also took a trip to Atlantic City, NJ to celebrate Aunt Eileen's 60th birthday. It was everything I imagined a November New Jersey would be, nonetheless still Brooke and I drank our faces off and had fun. I think that bender was somewhere around 12 hours. I suckered some dude to allow me to follow his bets and made a whopping 200.00; baller for me and my lack of gambling skills.

The house inspection was also the same day as A.C. I'm happy to report that it went over well and that we are moving to contract! Yay!

We FINALLY got wedding pictures back. I'll post a big AW on that later. I am so pleased with how they came out. And me being the photo Nazi, who seeks approval after a pic is taken, could not be happier. Seriously, you know when you get your pic taken and it's all....eww delete, repose, and snap again, well you can't do that at a wedding. And there is not one photo where I don't like how I look (I realize they are edited but still) yay!

I work out!

Girl look at that body
I-I-I I work out
Girl look at that body
I work out

Sept 2009 I entered the police academy at 157ish and probably got in the best shape of my life. We ran and ran some more. My longest run was almost 9 miles. I could hammer out push ups, sit ups and log a few miles. The DI's used to yell, "I will PT you until you die." It was a psychological game that I totally fell for at the time. At the start I fricken HATED it and come time to graduate I started to like it. Ok maybe like a love hate relationship with it.  I probably only dropped about 10 lbs, 147ish but I looked great and felt good. Well after graduation I entered the rainbow. Its a effed up work schedule where you work all types of shifts over the course of a week. Some days I feel like zombieland and I am just going through the motions of shift work. Sometime after Feb 2010 to Dec 2010, I gained the 10 back and then like 7 more. FOR FUCK SAKE!!! 167. I wanted to cry, stick my finger down my throat, seriously considered anorexia, whatever would make that number go away. Well at any rate I took my ass to the gym. I remember when the treadmill said 5.0 mph and I was dogging it. I felt like I couldn't do it. Like 20 minutes was the end of my life.  That was in December 2010. I got a gym buddy, actually two, and we went to the gym a few times a week. It turned into me time and a 40 min gossip session.  In March Planet Fitness opened and I joined. I am proud to say that I have consistently worked out since it opened 8 months ago. I started seeing the numbers on the scale go down. Like down to pre academy weight and then like post academy weight, but the skinny one, and then like down some more. Its a great feeling. I have a small obsession with the scale. I weigh myself several times a day. Its psycho and bad for your mental health, I know. I have come to the point where I can run at 6-7mph for about 40 min with no problem. This week I have hammered out 14.6 miles and strength trained 3x for a period of 20-30 min. I have moved on to the second to last hole in my duty belt which makes me all smiles. I.will.not.be.a.fat.donut.eating.cop!  I am dying to participate in tough mudder and even get the totally awesome tattoo, which may be tacky but I find it pretty bad ass. I would love love love to do the princess marathon in Disney in a tutu, because that's just hysterical. I want to keep going. I think I may have turned into a runner. And while my magical number has not yet been reached I feel pretty damn good so I'll just have to keep at it. Like 10ish more lbs and then I will maintain and maybe try to have a baby although H says and I quote, "why would you try to loose weight if your just going to get fat from a baby." Really???? And just to put things in perspective.

This was taken at our engagement party Sept 2010. Blissfully happy but so unaware of how much weight I had gained. My bf told me one day, "you are getting fat." Honestly I was hurt by her comment but I knew it was true so in the long run I am thankful for how outspoken she is. haha  And how come you never notice until its too late?

Bach party June 2011. Just 9 months later and 17ish lbs less. Same fricken dress, much better fit now. And my arms look smaller! and I think my boobs do too? I do wanna say though, if when I have a baby, since that was apparently just 9 months prior to this pic, if I am looking like the chick above I will be elated. However vain or weight obsessed I may be, I have to say that honestly its about being strong and healthy and those last 10lbs. haha Seriously tho, I must do a tough mudder and get that bad ass tat in 2012 before getting ku!

Can't hardly wait

Remember that movie from the 90's. Well this has nothing to do with that. So last week, after feeling defeated after learning I could not afford a house with $7, 700.00 in taxes, I took a few days off from hunting. I knew a person selling their house privately and decided to check it out. It was OK. A decent size but nothing I was crazy about. The day before I stumbled on one that I thought could be worth while. I hap hazardly called the listing agent as mine was out of town. Turns out I work with his son-in-law (who once saved my life, more on that some other time). At any rate he was more than willing to show us the house on such sort notice. After we checked out the first, we headed over to the second. We took a tour and decided this is IT! Finally after almost 2 years of perusing the Internet and physically looking at a few houses, we decided to put in an offer. The following day, it was accepted!!!

I can not describe how excited I am and I cant keep it to myself although, part of me feels like blogging about the perspective purchase is bad luck. We still have to have an inspection, which is this Saturday and then move to contract. Closing can be a headache but we are looking at 30-60 days to close. I would love love love to host Christmas, but I was already told no way not this year....we will still be unpacking blah blah blah, but he is right! Still I can't wait to break out Christmas lights and Christmas candles and bake an apple pie. OK, I don't know how to bake a pie, but I do have a pie dish and would like to give it a try. I do however have pretty red champagne glasses that I would be elated to use on New Years Eve in a new house. So this inspection is at the end of the week. Speaking of champagne glasses.....

Friday was Veterans Day, my BF and I had a mimosa breakfast (with some food too) and then headed to the spa. Woodlock spa is A.Maz.Ing. Melissa and I have been there a few times and love going for some downtime. She was originally getting married that day but then plans changed, we both had off already, so what better way to spend the day. Woodloch has steam rooms, hot tubs, and pools...then you go for your treatment and when your done you can use the spa again. God I wish we could go monthly!
Sunday morning I got a package. I participated in a food swap with some other Sept brides from the knot. It was so cool getting a package from someone you don't even know. The details were a 20.00 spending limit and something particular to the area where you live. My package came from Chesapeake, Va and had some awesome goodies. Also the bride is 1/4 Japanese, so we got some delicious Japanese products as well. I can't wait until my Ca Sept bride gets here package all the way from NY. I wish I could have sent her a pizza and some bagels but how does one ship a pizza? And the food had to be sealed, so no creepers could poison you. : (

So with 2 exciting this down this week, we look forward to 3 more. The first is the tentative arrival of our wedding pics. My cousin flew in and saved the day basically, more on that later, all the way from MN. I am so looking forward to seeing her awesome work. Second the home inspection. If there is a God in the world, please dont let his house be a shanty in disguise!!! And third a trip to Atlantic City to celebrate my aunt's birthday with my mom, aunts and cousins. Keep ya posted. Maybe I'll win big or just big enough.

Popping the Blog cherry

Totes: I had no idea what it meant or even if it meant anything at all. Totes is a nickname my Husband has been calling me for 3 years now. One fine afternoon while strolling through Central Park, he says to me stop toting behind. My husband is about 6 feel tall and I am roughly 5'2. He walks much faster than I and tends to always drag me when we hold hands and walk. Totes stuck. Fast forward a few years to the movie, I love you man. Paul Rudd while attempting to make up cool nicknames for his bff says Totes MaGotes. Totes became Totes MaGoats. One night while reading a blog I follow, I want to say it was Blogess.com but cant be certain, she wrote Totes your call!? What the hell is Totes and why are people using this word? or made up word? So I googled. Apparently Totes is short form for the following: Totally- commonly used by valley girls appx 190 times a day, really I missed that in Clueless? Totes- they make umbrellas; Totes-they make shoes and lastly Totes- a bag.

So whether it means something or nothing, its me. Why am I blogging and do I really have anything interesting to convey? I have fallen prey to the blogging world. Since planning the wedding I have become obsessed with Theknot, Pinterest, Real Simple, and random DIY blogs. I also have this urge to start an etsy website for making stationary. I fell in love with that aspect of wedding planning and absoutly adore Shutterfly for holiday cards and photobooks. Now with the wedding over, it was fabulous, Husband and I are on to new adventures. Currently that adventure includes purchasing our first home. Its been a treat so far. I fall in love with things I can't have and we agree on very little. With any luck we are looking at another home tomorrow. I have hope. I plan on blogging about our perspective new homes and hopefully the one we actually buy. I need a place for all those new dishes thanks to the bridal shower. I plan on sharing some DIY ideas and down the road some renovations to that new home. Lets face it, I don't have a turn key budget. So for now I will close this blog with some pretty honeymoon pics.