New Year, New Changes

so midnight will finally bring 2009.. hopefully another fantastic year! 2008 has been so good to me.. its hard to imagine anything better.. lets see I got engaged, got a house, a cat, went to Italy and passed the freakin CPA exam! But some things to look forward to.. getting MARRIED!, Jamaica, actually becoming a CPA, a nice pay increase and hopefully some good times with family and friends. I can't believe the wedding is less than 6 months away now!

Anyways, we are having a small get together at our house tonight. My family, his family, Jess & Danny.. should be fun. And we are probably picking up the Siamese/Ragdoll kitten either this weekend or next! :) Her name is Rosebud right now.. but we're trying to think of something more appropriate. We've got Kairi, Mika, and Ari so far.. I think Kairi is the winner but we'll see.

Well.. I'm off! Talk to you next year!!

Ciao!

My first large family meal

was yesterday... I cooked a ham, corn, cheesy potatoes, mac n cheese, green beans and rolls. I've watched my mom and grandma prepare this meal many a time and wonder whats the big deal.. why is everyone so stressed? Well I found out yesterday! Thankfully it all turned out well.. but man I'm glad I don't do this every night lol!!

I can't believe its Christmas this week.. although its freakin freezing outside and we've had some snow it just doesn't feel like it should be this time of year. I'm done with all of my Christmas shopping and have all but one of my presents wrapped.. the office is having the Christmas party tonight where everyone will reveal their secret santa's. Should be fun..

Anyways, we've been looking into adopting another kitten but I'm being kinda superficial this time around. One of my favorite Disney movies is the Lady and the Tramp and I've always had a thing for Siamese cats so I have been on a hunt for a kitten that is fairly local and doesn't cost 600 bucks! Well.. I found 2 in columbus, oh and they want 200. They are already spayed and up to date on shots so its a pretty good deal for that breed of cat. So we'll see.. we're going to wait until after the holidays. Hopefully Josie accepts her new lil sister! ;)

Well, that's all I feel like writing for now. I'll post a pic of the cat we're looking at and I'm sure I'll write more after the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!

All I really want for Christmas is..

Not So Silent Nights

so its been awhile since I last blogged. I've been busy. I've had this ingrown toenail (I know, gross right?) for almost a month. Went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago who gave me an antibiotic and told me to soak it in epsom salt and sent me on my way. Well.. it still fucking hurts! So I have a feeling they're going to have to pull it.. which grosses me out and I worry that it won't grow back lol. We'll see. I'm going to try and stick it out another week.

Christmas is only weeks away.. which is so crazy. It just doesn't feel like it should be this time of year for some reason.. But I am over halfway done with my xmas shopping so that's nice. I have to bake cookies this week for my family's cookie exchange.

This past weekend weekend, we went to the Not So Silent Night concert which had 3 local bands, Safetysuit, the Tings Tings and Shiny Toy Guns-- whom I love :) It was a lot of fun and by the end of the night I was front row in the pit. My ears are still ringing lol.

That's been about it besides some random drunken nights and normal boring workdays. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about when it gets closer to the holidays.

Until next time.. Ciao!

Cloud 9

so I don't think I've ever been so happy about anything in my entire life (besides when Derek proposed to me!) but I found out yesterday afternoon that I passed my last test!!!!!! I'm going to be a CPA!!! Its only a matter of time now.. I have to have 2000 hrs of experience and I'm almost at 1700 so its only a few more months before I can apply for my license. I got a freakin 94! I still can't believe it.. they were so fast at grading this time!

Anyways, we ordered the wedding cake yesterday as well as the Groom's cake. We meet with my cousin Bethany about invitations Friday. If anyone knows of decently priced but good day-of coordinators, please let me know!

Its Almost Metallica Time!

so.. yea I took my test Friday. Got to the test center around 11:30 and left at about 3:30. I can't say I feel great about this thing. I felt really good about the multiple choice but one of my simulations was ungodly hard. I felt like such an idiot, it took about 20 min to get my bearings. I think it is going to be REALLY, REALLY close. I pray that I passed it this time, bc I do NOT want to go through this again!!!!!!

Anways, after I was done with my test we went and traded in some of Derek's games that he hasn't touched in years so he could get Gears of War 2 and I could get the new Guitar Hero game. Apparently the periphials (spell?) have been having a lot of recalls so we just bought the game. The drums from Rock Band work for it so that'll have to do for now. so we played some of that. Derek was excited because it has 3 Tool songs.

Today we slept in (wonderful!!!) and went up to Reading to sample some wedding cake. My mom and I have an appointment with them on the 18th but Derek wanted to try the different flavors so we went today since he was off. We decided on white, raspberry marple and lemon. And raspberry for the groom's cake. I think we're going to do an XBOX for his groom's cake and our cake that we liked from the pics is a 3-4 layer cake that has calla lillies. Its pretty! (calla lillies are my favorite flower and in my bouquet so thought it'd be fitting) We just need to decide on a topper. Lets see.. the only other wedding update is that my mom and I meet with my cousin Bethany about invitations on the 22nd.. we're looking into getting a day-of coordinator and the moms are in the process of getting the dresses. Oh yea and we picked out the songs for the reception.. Bride & Father: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac; Groom & Mother: Teardrop by Massive Attack and for our first dance... Nothing Else Matters.. by Metallica :)

Whom I'll be seeing in less than 24 hours!! Me, Gweed and my cousin Ashton are going to Columbus tomorrow for the concert. I haven't heard of the opening act but I am soooo excited to see Metallica again. I wish I could've afforded to get really kickass seats but I have a feeling that it won't matter!

Until next time.. Ciao!

Shooting Star

So with only 4 more days til my exam I've been nonstop studying and the butterflies in my stomach are beginning to grow by the hour. Last night I saw a shooting star.. I can only hope, wish and pray that my wish comes true!!!

We had a pretty good weekend. Friday we just stayed in expecting a lot of trick or treaters. We bought 3 bags of candy bc we live in a really large neighborhood. We had 3 trick or treaters! How disappointing!!! Derek's excited bc it means more candy for him.. but regardless.. it sucked.

Saturday we had our last pre-cana session. Which sucked royally. They talked a lot about God which irritated Derek which in turn irritated me so it was ill feelings all around. But we got our certificate so now all we have to do is take these rediculous Natural Family Planning classes. Our friend Rob got married Saturday night. Good times all around.

Yesterday, I slept in (go daylight savings!) and studied all damn day. Just got home from an all day seminar and guess what I'm going to do?..

All work and no play make Jessica a dull girl

can you name the movie? (obviously it doesn't have Jessica or girl in the line)

Anyways, what is meant is that I AM SOOOOOOOOOO SICK OF STUDYING!!!!!! I study for about 2-3 hours each night and everything is starting to blend together and I am getting so frustrated. I freakin pray I pass this damn thing because I do not wanna go through this again!

So our weekend was pretty interesting. We had pre-cana Saturday, which both of us had been dreading. It actually turned out better than we thought. We have to go back Saturday and although he won't blatantly admit it, I think Derek is looking forward to it. It was just a real eye-opener about certain things like the things we tend to fight about or things we need to work on as an individual or as a couple but most importantly it reminded us of why we are choosing to spend the rest of our lives together. Saturday night, we went over to Amanda and Zach's and sat around their firepit for a few hours. It was nice. They have the coolest cat in the world (well besides Josie lol!) but as I've said in a previous blog it is nice to have another couple to just chill with. I think Derek and Zach are realizing they have more in common and me and Amanda (I think) are slowly rebuilding our friendship. I know it will take time but with everything that we have been through together, I think we will get there. I know it won't be like it was before.. and I honestly hope its not. I want it to be better. I think we both deserve that.

N--E--WAYS.. Sunday I took Morgan to see HSM3. Wow. I love musicals and they have the tendency to be cheesy and over-the-top but the HSM series takes this to a completely different level. Needless to say, I'm glad Morgan enjoyed it.

There has been some drama lately with the whole wedding and family in general. I hope things get better.. it depresses me to think that it might not. And I think I've accepted most of it, but the child in me thinks I deserve better and refuses to completely give up on that. Part of me hopes I grow out of it, part of me thinks that the only bit of innocence or naivity I have left.

I love how others like to remind you of your past in uncomfortable situations with mixed company. Not cool. I just hope that someday those people will realize that I was ALWAYS a good girl; my decisions were not always good. And I realize that I shouldn't have to justify myself to ANYONE. The only thing I can do is continue being the person I am and hope that they will realize over time that I have changed. For the better. I am still not perfect. But then again.. who is??

Ciao

Bridesmaid Dresses

so its been about a week since I last blogged. Not too much has been going on. I've been sick the past few days.. just really bad stomach cramps. And I've been nonstop studying. I cannot tell you how happy I'll be when Nov 7 has come and gone.

So tonight is the fitting for the bridesmaid dresses at Wendy's. They're also letting me bring my dress in so I can try to find a veil and other accessories. Hopefully, all goes well.

Engagement Pics

so Sarah brought me the Engagement Pics this morning. I love them!!!! Steph Keller did such a wonderful job. They are quite a few humorous ones but I think thats the point. I'm too lazy to put some on here, but I think most of you are friends w me on Facebook and/or Myspace so they will be on both of those. Go take a look!!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Typical Tuesday

Hello fellow bloggers. Hope you all had a good weekend! We did.. Friday we went over to Jess and Danny's and ordered some Donatos and played with the baby. She is getting so big! And I swear she gets cuter and cuter!! Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival. So much fun! We got there around noon and stayed til almost 4. We just walked around and just enjoyed the change in scenery. Derek threw some axes, I got to ride a camel, he ate some turkey legs and I actually drank Bud Light (scary!!) The vendors there are very cool. We had our family crests made. It has his and mine and then in the center our wedding date. I know its kinda weird since we're not married yet but we couldn't pass it up. We also found this really kickass artist named Nigel Sade. He does some creepy dark stuff similar to my Uncle Charlie. We have been looking for some pieces to put in the living room but just haven't found anything we were really passionate about until we met this guy. He had 3 pieces that were just amazing. They are so creepy but the meaning behind each is something I deal with on a daily basis and we like the fact that people will be talking about our art when they see it. If you're curious, check out his site: nigelsade.com and look under galleries and it is the 3 pieces under "Modern Attrocities"

Sunday we had our Engagement Pictures done with Steph Keller. She is a lot of fun to work with.. The cat was terrified of my grandparent's dog Lil Joe but she behaved wonderfully. Hopefully there are a lot of cute pics! We should have them in a couple of weeks. We ate dinner at his parents. They made spaghetti and meatballs. Yum!

That's been about it. Oh yea, and Derek might be getting another job. We'll see.

Ciao!

Its Officially October and Josie's Birthday

Yep, Josie is 1 year old today. She's like our kid so we got her a card and a present. Its a remote controlled mouse :) And we're making Tuna Helper just so she can lick the bottom of the can haha. Tonight should be fun!

Last night I went to BINGO with my grandma up at St Paul's. Neither of us had any luck but the fire alarm went off so we had a bit of excitement at least.

I think we are going to go to the Renaissance Festival this weekend. I haven't been since I was in the 7th grade and Derek hasn't been so I think it would be fun to do something different. We've been hanging out with different people lately (mainly Amanda and Zach) which is refreshing. Jess and Danny just have so much going on with Ady that its hard to get together with them and same with most of our other friends. So its been nice to have another couple to hang out with that doesn't "vag" out on you. (For those of you who don't know what "vag" means.. vag= telling someone you will be somewhere or hang out with them only later.. usually that day or even hours before, totally bailing out or just not even showing up with no call) It sucks to be "vag"ed on lol.

Anyways, we are having our engagement pictures taken this Sunday by Steph Keller at my grandparent's farm. Hopefully the weather will be nice.. I'm bringing Morgan along so we can take Josie and have a couple pics with our kitty cat ;) I have so much to do still with the wedding.. it can be a little stifling. But we have booked our honeymoon. We are going to Negril, Jamaica. Ya Mon! And I made the appointment for the girls to be fitted for the dresses.

Meanwhile I've been kinda studying for my exam. Its just so hard with everything else that is going on. Idk. I still have a month.. I guess I'll just have to buckle down here soon.

Another Year Older

So tomorrow is my birthday.. can't wait! Although I can't believe I'm going to be 24.. time flies. I swear it feels like last year I just turned 21!

Tonight I'm going to watch Morgan's soccer game. They're playing St Henry (which if you don't know.. that's where I went to high school) so that should be fun. I think I'm going to be an ass and wear one of my old shdhs shirts in the middle of the ryle section hahaha. Maybe.. we'll see.

4 of our shows are on tonight (Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles and HEROES!) Heroes finally comes back tonight.. I think Derek can barely contain excitement. So we'll probably be up late tonight watching those.

I'm taking the day off work tomorrow.. its going to be nice. I'm going to sleep in! I have a massage appointment at 1:45 and then we're going to Olive Garden afterwards. It should be a nice relaxing bday :)

Manic Monday

Hello fellow bloggers. Hope your Monday is not sucking as bad as the NKY/Ohio/Indiana residents. Hurrican Ike gave us a flavor of his demise yesterday. Winds were 40-50 mph with gusts up to 81 mph. A lot of my neighbors lost siding or some shingles. We were extremely lucky. Our electric went out around 2:30 pm and was out until about 1:00 am. It sucked really bad. We went out for food around 7 and waited in Skyline's drive thru for about an hour. Anywhere that had power was absolutely packed. We had nothing to do all night so we just sat out on our deck drank some beer and smoked a shit ton of cigarettes lol. By about 10:30, we decided to call it a night. I woke up this morning and we had power (Thank you God) but many still don't. The grocery stores are crowded like its the apocalypse. Its crazy.

Besides that, my weekend was pretty chill. In a wonderful way. Friday, we went to Fuji with Jess and Danny and it was very yummy. Saturday, we went and played laser tag and putt-putt with Amanda and Zach, which was fun. Double dates almost always tend to turn out well.

That's been about it. I should've done some studying this weekend but my lazy ass decided not to. but that's life. Hope everyone has a good week! I'll post soon.

Hump Day

Happy Hump Day!

well it has been an exciting uneventful week in the life of me lol. Lets see..

Well Friday since it was raining we just went to Blockbuster and rented movies. I think that's the most money that place has ever seen in 1 purchase! haha jk. But we rented 5 movies and bought 6! (they had the whole 3 for 20 deal going on) and we got Donatos for dinner. I wish they would build one out by us! I couldn't really sleep that night.. the last time I looked at my phone it was 4:30 am.

so my grandpa calls me at 10:45 am Saturday morning wanting to reseed our lawn. I wanted to sleep but didn't want to pass up the offer so I dragged myself out of bed. He tilled the backyard and we went around picking up the loose rocks and helped reseed and lay straw down. My grandma came over to see the new furniture and brought us a housewarming present. She also told me that she was going to give me all of her old movies and books (including Gone with the Wind!) so I was touched that she thought of me. But I do have this weird love for old movies so it seemed fitting.

Saturday night we went and watched Morgan play soccer vs Simon Kenton. Ryle lost and my sister got hit in the nose really hard. It was bleeding.. Gross. But she played awesome so I guess thats what matters!

Sunday, my cousin Ashton came over for a couple of hours. I was doing laundry and noticed the washer wasn't really cleaning the clothes or the clothes would still be extremely wet or have soap foam on them. Not really thinking about it, I threw a load of towels in and took Ashton home. When I got back Derek had this sullen look on his face so I knew something had happened. Well our washer broke. It had leaked all over the laundry room. So we had to scoop out the water into a bucket and ring out all of the towels. It sucked! I went over to my grandparents to finish the rest of the laundry and we called it a night.

Thankfully, one of our clients owns an appliance store so I called the owner Monday morning and he got me a great deal on a Frigidaire front-loading set. They delivered the new washer and dryer yesterday. I love them!

But I had to pretty much cut our savings in half to cover for that, my car insurance and my estimated tax payments. It sucks. But they just passed a new tax law giving a credit for first time homebuyers so hopefully I'll break even or even get a refund! (that's the only downside of owning a business.. paying taxes :(

but that's been about it. I'm going to start my self-study for the exam tomorrow after work. Hopefully I can stay focused and pass the darn thing!

Friday we plan on going out to dinner at Fuji's with Jess and Danny to celebrate our bdays (hers was the 3rd and mine's the 23rd) and Saturday morning I have to wake up at 10 am to call Ticketmaster to get the tickets for the Metallica concert :)

ANTM

So I can't believe Ms Tyra had pulled off the show for this long.. I swear the first episode gets cornier and cornier each cycle!

Well there is a transgender this cycle named Isis and she is absolutely FABULOUS! She knows her shit and can take a helluva picture! I am so rooting for her. My other favorites (so far) are McKey, Elina and Sheena. I am so glad they sent that one girl home last night.. she was doggin Isis during her shoot.

Did anyone watch the new 90210 Tuesday night? I haven't made up my mind about it yet.. I like that some of the old characters are back but I feel that they could have picked a more attractive cast and the storylines are kinda well.. played out. So we'll see what happens.

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday! We don't have any major plans for this weekend except doing some yardwork and hanging up more pictures and hopefully curtains. I think my cousin Ashton may be coming over Sunday as well.

Home Sick

So it was a pretty good weekend.. Friday, me and Jess went to IKEA, which was extremely disappointing. When Derek got off we went to my Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom's house in Ft. Mitchell for a family party. 2 of my 2nd cousins have had babies this summer so they were there.. so cute!

Saturday, Derek had a dentist appointment. He has 7 cavities!!! I guess that's what happens when you don't go to the dentist in 7 years. I'm glad I badgered him enough this past year for him to go. We spent most of the day Saturday cleaning or hanging pictures up. My family came over and brought over our housewarming present: a cornhole set. We were so excited! Its orange with black bengal stripes. So naturally we all played some cornhole and once it get dark, took the party inside for some Snappy pizza and Euchre. Gweed showed up a little later and we called it a night close to 1.

Sunday, Derek wasn't feeling good so I went to the my brothers' football game by myself. It was fun! Although I got sunburnt.. I was so proud to see my brothers kick some Wolverine butt (no offense Amanda and Zach!)

Morgan wanted to hang out with her big sis after the game so we went to Kroger so I could get some food and then we went back to the house and watched the new episode of "I love Money". God that show cracks me up! so anyways, we had another small get-together Sunday night. My bridesmaid Nikki came (who I haven't seen in seems like FOREVER!) so it was nice to catch up with her. And Amanda and Zach came over and us girls had some good wedding planning talk. We watched the fireworks on TV and played some Rock Band and then Gweed showed up later.. I think by 2 everyone had left and Derek passed out. Me and Gweed just watched some Family Guy and I finally went to bed around 3.

Yesterday was a great day. We did absolutely nothing but nap and watch a few episodes of Heroes, gave the kitty a bath and watched the season premieres of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Both of them were AMAZING!

Today I woke up feeling like absolute crap. I was getting ready to get in the shower for work when the nausea hit me. I threw up and quickly realized there was no way I was going to work today. So here I am. I'm feeling a little bit better but am thinking about taking a nap. So with that being said.. that's all for now. I'll post soon.

Ciao!

I'm at a loss for words..

to describe this weekend. Friday I had a seminar for work which was awful. The instructor kept talking about his personal life and politics (YAWN!) so me and Vikki snuck out around 2. Me, my mom and Trey went to the mall so I could find a shirt for my 5 yr high school reunion. Once Derek got off, us and the family went to Beef o Brady's for dinner which was fun.

Saturday, Value City came and dropped off our couch and dining room set. The saleslady forgot to ring up our coffee table so we will have to go back and get that sometime this week. But the couch looks great and we are in love with the dining room table. Jim and Charlie came over to see the new furniture and to get Seasons 3 and 4 of One Tree Hill (I've converted them and now they're addicted just like everyone else!). Charlie got a new SUV; its very nice. And we showed them the pics from Italy..

Gweed came over around 9 so we could head down to Covington for the reunion. I can't even begin to describe all of the emotions I felt that night. It was nice to see some of those people.. others not so much. I felt like I was in high school all over again! Everyone was in their little cliques and I felt awkward and uncomfortable the whole time.. needless to say I drank about 6 beers and had a shot with Gweed lol. I dunno.. some of those girls.. need to grow up! Dressing like skanks and getting trashed and shaking your ass is soooo 5 years ago! haha.

I hadn't ate much before so we left around 1 to get some White Castle (which I can't stand by the way!) but I succumbed to eating some chicken rings. Gweed was wasted haha. We always joke that he's going to be our "guy on the couch" but I love him like my brother so its always fun to have him over. I think we all passed out somewhere between 2 and 3.

Sunday, my mom and Morgan picked me up around 11 to go to Reception's Bridal Show. It was a lot of fun! We found the cake place we want to use (it is soooooo good!!!!) and we tasted the food for the reception and made some decisions for that. We also went to Wendy's Bridal and Morgan tried on the bridesmaid dress I had picked out a month ago and she loved it. So I will be making an appointment here soon so all of us can go..

We have new neighbors.. they moved in about 2 weeks ago. We met them early last week and since their deck and ours are so close to each other we pretty much talk daily lol. So we played some cornhole with them last night and then just caught up on some shows from the DVR. I finished the first season of Gossip Girl and watched a couple of episodes from OTH. I can't wait til they're both back on on the 1st! We decided we're going to have an ongoing party Labor Day weekend.. so hopefully we can get everything cleaned up this week!

I'm cleaning up some drama that ensued this weekend. Hopefully there is some form of closure by the end of the day so I can enjoy the rest of my week!

3 Down.. 1 to Go

So I got my grade for the REG section.. I passed! :) This was actually the best score I've received thus far.. I got an 88! So now all I need to do is retake the Auditing section, which I plan to do in early November because that will give me a full 2 months to rewatch all of the lectures and study.

My partner, Vikki is still waiting for her score. We took this section together..

Busy Weekend

So our first full weekend home was spent either buying stuff for the house or working on stuff with the house. Friday after work, me and Jess went to Belterra, which was fun but of course I didn't win anything :( Afterwards, me and Derek spent about 2 hours going through our pics for Italy and narrowing them down on which ones to order from Walgreens. We narrowed it down from about 1200 to a little over 400.

Saturday we woke up pretty early to go to the DMV to get our new driver's licenses. Mine actually turned out REALLY well! I think this is the best picture I've ever had lol. Derek's turned out good too. From there we went to several different furniture stores from Walmart, to Steinmart to American Freight to finally Value City. We found a few good home pieces from Steinmart bc they are going out of business so everything was marked down. I had a budget for the couch and dining set and let me just say that there was no way I was going to make it unless I wanted cheaply made furniture. So we talked in the parking lot at Value City and decided that it would be better to spend a little more today for something that will last us a long time. So we found a very pretty red sectional at Value City, coffee table and a very nice dining set. It will all be delivered and assembled this coming Saturday. I am so excited!

After shopping, we went to Fuji so I could get my hibachi fix and he could have his sushi. It was pretty good.. I think they changed their shrimp sauce, which is disappointing since its one of my favorite things about that place. That night my grandpa picked me up to take me to Morgan's first varsity soccer game which was all the way in Ft Thomas since she was playing Highlands. They got beat and it wasn't my sister's best game but I was so proud of her! To be on varsity as a freshman is such an achievement and I know how hard she has worked over the years..

Sunday my grandpa came back over around noon bc he was taking a recliner off of our hands. Right after he left, we went and picked up Morgan, stopped at Walgreens to pick up our pictures and went to the movies. Derek saw Pineapple Express (which he says was hilarious) and me and Morgan saw the new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was cute.. but I liked the first one better. After that we dropped off some clothes to Goodwill, visited with the family for a little bit and headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Bath & Body Works to get more stuff for the house. We finally got home around 7.. I made our favorite Tuna Helper and we watched the new episode of I love Money (which is DRAMA.. so much fun to watch!)

All in all, it was not a very exciting weekend, but a very productive one. We still have so much to do at the house.. I know we'll get there one of these days lol. I have my 5 yr high school reunion this coming saturday. I can't believe its been 5 years!!!! I have no clue what to wear lol..

Rome, Italy

So.. before my mind loses all of the details.. here is my blog about beautiful Rome, Italy.

We arrived to the train station Monday night around 6 and caught a cab to our hotel only blocks away from the Colosseum. The room was small but quaint. And the views from our balcony and from the hotel's rooftop were absolutely glorious. Too tired to go out, we decided to eat dinner at the hotel. They have round tables (it was Hotel Lancelot) where you sit with other travellers and talk about your trips. So we ended up sitting next to a priest, Father Bryan and Christopher, a theology student thinking about becoming a seminarian. They were from Birmingham, England. That was interesting to say the least. The food was pretty good and I finally found a red wine a like. Its a sparkling wine that the hotel ended up giving us a bottle to take home as a present.

Tuesday was our ancient Rome tour. My grandma had no desire to go so she stayed back at the hotel. Our tour started at the Piazza Navona. It was so cool to see all of the street vendors and people out. We did a little bit of shopping before meeting our tour guide. From there, we walked to the Pantheon. So cool! It was so dark in there we didn't get too many great pics but then we headed to the Trevi Fountain. There were sooooo many people!!!!!!! We made wishes on our coins and continued the tour. We went to the building that no one seems to know the name of but it is nicknamed the wedding cake topper. Kinda cool. We then walked to Capitol Hill where we got some killer pics of the Roman Forum. During this time, the tour guide said she was going to go show some people something at the top of the hill and would be back in 5 min to get the rest of us. Well.. she never freakin did! So we lost our tour guide and ended up missing out on the Roman Forum. We found them again outside the Colosseum so proceeded inside. No words can express how awesome the Colosseum is. Me and Derek both are huge fans of ancient Rome so it was just so surreal to be inside. We took literally over 100 pictures of that place! That concluded that tour so we went back to the hotel, had pizza at a nearby restaurant (which we would return to every night until we left), had some gelatto (which is amazing btw) and went to bed.

Early Wednesday morning, we had to leave to go for our Vatican tour. My grandma was unfortunately sick so she couldn't make it. We toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica along with the Sistine Chapel. Absolutely freaking beautiful! All of the artwork was breathtaking and the stories behind them were fascinating. Our tour guide that day was magnificent. After that 3 hour tour we had 3 hours to kill before our Scavi tour. We people watched in St. Peter's Square and decided to get some food at a nearby pizzeria. I finally found American beer there. Needless to say, it was Budweiser so still nasty but I "manned up". We then headed to our Scavi tour which would take us below the basilica to where St. Peter's tomb is. It was soooo creepy down there! It smelled of death, the humidity was awful and if you are anywhere near claustrophobic, you shouldn't go down there. Nonetheless it was still pretty cool although we couldn't take pictures. Derek found a rock right out side of St Peter's tomb! We got a pic of John Paul II's tomb and were finally done for the day. Well, besides the usual pizza and gelatto for dinner ;)

Thursday, my grandma felt much better so we took her to St. Peter's Square so she could at least see the Vatican. I think she was very much appreciative. We then headed to the Piazza de Spagna where the Spanish steps are. Usually there are jam packed with people. But it was 9 in the morning and there were cleaning them, so there was no one in sight! We then entered designer heaven (can't remember the name of the street) where we proceeded to get Charlie (my future MIL) a Prada purse. OMG!!!!!!! It is rediculous how expensive this designer shit is! My grandparents wanted to eat at the Hard Rock so we walked to this church where underneath they had the Cappucin Crypt. It is filled with bones from over 4000 monks! It was eery but really cool. After eating at the Hard Rock, we headed back to the Pantheon bc there had been some street vendors with "Frada" bags along with Louis Vuitton and Gucci. We bought 3 Fradas and a Gucci for 100 euro and also got the rest of the souvenirs and gifts for family and friends. Pooped out from all of the shopping we went back to the hotel to get some rest before our final dinner. My grandparents had been eating at the hotel all week so wanted us to take them to the pizzeria we had been raving about. This would be the 3rd night in a row lol. Our waiter was so fantastic.. Derek's brother from another mother lol. So funny. They gave us all free shots of Lemoncello and we got our last gelatto.

My grandparents flight left early in the morning. Ours didn't leave for Amsterdam until 5:15 in the afternoon. So we just played cards and watched TV in the hotel and then headed to the airport. We had McDonalds there. It was 15.90 euro for 2 chicken nugget meals!!!!!!! The flight was pretty smooth.. We arrived in Amsterdam around 8 pm, which I will talk about next time bc my hands are getting tired!

Pescara

So I have started to upload some pictures on both Facebook and Myspace.. most of you are friends with me on there so you can view them there. The only ones I have up so far are from Pescara. The Rome pics and Amsterdam pics will be up by the end of the week. So this first blog will be all about our first 4 days which was in Pescara, Italy.

We got on the plane in Cincinnati around 7:30 pm Wednesday and arrived into Rome's aiport around 10:45 am their time (it would have only been 4:45 am EST) Already exhausted from the flight, we had to take this train called the Leonardo Express to the big Rome train station called Roma Termini. Well, our train to Pescara didn't leave until 4:25 so we had roughly 5 hours to do nothing but wait!!!! It sucked really, really bad. After we got on the train we had 4 hours until we actually reached Pescara around 8:30 on Thursday night. So the first day was pretty much wasted on travelling, on no sleep or food, and with no AC. My grandparents were not happy campers. I felt extreme jet lag that first night and was even talking about going home!!!

But the next morning I felt better rested and was ready to go. Friday, we had the rehearsal lunch. We had to drive an hour up in the hills to this restaurant. It was beautiful! It took 3 hours to eat.. we had 6 courses!!!!!!! I had tried things I never thought I would (zucchini flower with riccota and anchovies; barley; eggplant; wine!) They served us 4 different types of wine! As many of you should know, I can't stand wine! But I figured I'm in Italy its worth a shot. Well I like spumante (which is pretty much champagne but they can't call it that bc its not from France); they also gave us a cherry wine, a rosetta and this nasty ass sicilian wine that tasted more like whiskey or rum than wine. So anyways, we get back to the hotel around 6 and me and Derek decided to check out the beach. It was beautiful! Nothing spectacular but it was fun nonetheless. We also hit up this cute little pizza place right on the beach and had to put our Italian to the test. We both passed successfully :)

Saturday was Charlie's big day. You could tell he was so nervous! The wedding was about an hour away and we had to ride this uncomfortable bus that would send you about 3 ft up out of your seat every time it hit a bump. Terrible. But then we arrive at the church. The pictures cannot fully capture the beauty of this old church. It was built in 500 AD and rennovated in 1200 AD It was simply breathtaking. It overlooked the Adriatic and we got some great pictures of that. The inside of the church was just as beautiful. The only drawback was again no AC. The ceremony was almost 2 hours long (all said in Italian). Charlie even said his vows in Italian. It was so moving. I had to fight from crying. My grandpa lost it a few times. So after the ceremony we head to this glorious castle where their reception (I don't even wanna know how much this wedding cost!!!!!) We had another 6 course meal under the stars. The only thing was that there was no dancing, no real music, no fun. It was beautiful and elegant and classy. But I prefer American weddings where you can get jiggy wit it ;) all in all we didn't get back to the hotel til 3 am!!! It was a 12 hour ordeal!!!!

Needless to say we slept in the next day and had a nice relaxing day on the beach. Charlie and Dani met us that night and said goodbye before heading off to Greece for the honeymoon. (it must be nice to live in france, get married in italy and take your honeymoon in Greece! lol). That night we packed for Rome which was only another 4 hour train ride away..

which I will tell you about next time. I've written a book already haha. There is so much more that I could say but I'm saving both of our times and giving you the highlights. Trust me, there are so many little jokes and stories that pretty much made the trip so much more memorable. Anywho, I'll write about Rome tomorrow or Thursday.

Ciao! Ciao!

ps. I don't really proofread this shit so I apologize ahead of time for bad grammar

Back in the USA

Hi!!!! We have returned from Italy and I have soooo much to tell all of you! and I have so many pictures I need to upload.

I think over the next several days I will give you a better blog of the most memorable moments and pics but I have a ton of work to catch up on. So we are happy to be home, Italy was beautiful, Amsterdam was weird. More later ;)

Ciao!

Last Will and Testament

2 blogs in 1 day! Whoa! So I know this is freakishly morbid but as the butterflies in my stomach are either growing or reproducing, I have been thinking that if (God help me) something horrible was to happen to me on this trip there are only 2 things that really stick out in my mind so you bloggers, relay this to my family if the unthinkable happens.

1) Make sure Josie has a good home!!!
2) Bury Floppy with me

My money and belongings mean nothing to me, but Josie is like my baby and Floppy, well if you know us, he's our love monkey aka the symbol of our love.

Derek's only request is to bury him with Marvel vs Capcom 2. I'll trust Danny with that one. ;)

So anyways, I know that this is probably the weirdest (well not weirdest) but a very odd blog, but I felt if I wrote it down it would help me cope with this whole flying thing. Don't get me wrong, I am so stoked to finally be going to Italy, but there's always that chance.

Love Jess

Ciao!!!!

I leave tomorrow night!!!! I can't believe it is FINALLY here. I feel like I've been planning and talking about it for forever.. I am so excited to see Charlie and Dani and look forward to their wedding and sightseeing in (my opinion) one of the most cultured and beautiful countries in the world! I'm still a little nervous about the flight since it is my first time (I'm a travel virgin!! hehe) but I'm hoping for the best.

See you in 11 days!! :)

Kitty learned a new trick!

So we knew it was only a matter of time before Josie discovered that she could get on the counter jump to the fridge to the top of the cabinets to either the beam that separates our living room and kitchen or on top of the coat closet overlooking the stairs and front entry. Well I came home yesterday from work and couldn't find her. I start freaking out until I hear this little "meow" and look up. There she is! Little shit.. hahaha.

Moving

So this weekend was the big move.. and boy did it suck!!!! All throughout last week we moved the smaller stuff like bags of clothes and boxes and left all of the heavy stuff for the movers on Saturday. They showed up around 7:45 (which isn't really early unless you didn't get home til almost 1 because you saw the Dark Knight) so I headed over to the house because the cable co was supposed to show up between 8 and noon. Of course they didn't show up til 11:30 but it gave me time to chill at the house by myself and I snuck in a little catnap lol. So the movers were finally done around noon and my family stopped by to check out the house. My grandpa gave us some needed yard stuff and the folks ordered pizza to celebrate. We went and got Josie around 6 and brought her back to the house.. She had no idea what to think. It was kinda cute to watch her go in and out of the rooms over and over and over again. She would cry anytime we went outside to get more boxes though. But she has been going in her box (knock on wood) so all in all she has been an excellent kitty! We got a lot done with unpacking and we finally called it a night around 11 pm.

I was sooooo sore the next morning! We slept a good 12 hours though.. but then we slooowly made our way out of bed to go back to apt and get the rest of our stuff and clean. My sweet sister helped us thank goodness! It still took us about 4 hours. So anyways, we went to Walmart to get some more stuff and when we were leaving this horrific storm hit. Apparently there were tornadoes.. we didn't see anything but still scary to be out driving in it! There was a lot of debri in our neighborhood but nothing was damaged. So we (meaning Derek) put some curtains up, put some clothes and dishes away, watched some Design Star and went to bed.

I absolutely hate that our weekend was pretty much a waste, but we finally have our home and I could not be happier. Thank you to all of you who helped us, who offered to help us and who have supported us throughout all of this. We hope to be having a "party" soon after we return from Italy... which only 9 days away!!!!!!!

Closure (lets hope there's never a "fore" in front of that! lol)

WE CLOSED!!!!!!! I own a house now!! We did the final walk-thru with the builder yesterday at 4:30 and closed at 6. I don't think its really fully hit me yet..

Anyways, we spent last night packing up most of our clothes. I have 10 full garbage bags so far just for me! haha. Poor Josie was going crazy. She didn't know what to think so she'd get in "pounce mode" (where she waits for you to walk by and then pounces and bites your leg lol) and then just collapse in exhaustion from running around and climbing on all of the boxes and bags.

But tonight we actually plan on starting to move some of the smaller stuff (our art, awkwards things that can't be boxed like the guitar hero guitars and rock band, some clothes, etc) Thursday, with the help of my friend Gweed (hopefully!) and my grandpa's truck we can get most of the boxes, leaving all of the big furniture for the movers on Saturday.

Sound like fun? hahahaha.. I can't wait til its all over with!

The calm before the storm

So its been FOREVER since I last blogged. I took the 4th section of the CPA exam yesterday.. it was alright. I felt well prepared but they always throw a few curve balls at ya. So I pulled it off and I'll only need to retake Auditing in the fall. For those of you who don't know how the CPA exam works, it is split into 4 sections: Auditing, Regulation, Financial Accounting, and Business Environment Concepts. I have passed BEC, FIN and failed the AUD. Each test is split into 5 testlets: 3 multiple choice sections and 2 simulations where you have to research a certain topic, write a memo among other things.. Its a bear!!!

So anyways, I went shopping with Jessica and Adalynn today. She is getting so big!!! I found a dress for Charlie's wedding and some shoes to walk around Italy in.. we also went to Wendy's Bridal and I found a good candidate for the bridesmaid dresses. We'll see.. I need to find a DJ before we leave for Italy.. which is only 3 weeks away! Craziness!

We "broke into" the house last night. They still have a ton to do.. I don't know how they're going to get it all done before Monday, which is our walk thru with the builder. I'm taking my daddy with me because as a carpenter he obviously will have a good eye for mistakes or things that need to be fixed. And we're SUPPOSED to close on Tuesday, but I just got an email from the mortgage lady and the way she made it sound was that it might get pushed back to Thursday. Which ticks me off because we have a limited time frame to move all of our stuff from the apt to the house. We HAVE to be out of this apt by the 23rd. GRR!! This has been the most stressful process.. I'm really glad we built our own house because it was nice to pick everything out the way we wanted it, but at the same time it can so much more frustrated if it doesn't turn out the way you had pictured it.

I don't know.. this next week is going to be hell.

Until next time.. Ciao!

TGIF

Hmm..
Well.. yesterday was mine and Derek's 4 year anniversary! So I now have 364 days to plan our wedding! :) It was really nice though.. we both took the day off and slept in. We gave Josie a bath, ate at Benihana's and checked on our house. It looks so good. We have landscaping now and they planted us a little tree. So cute!

Besides that, the only other big thing that has happened is that I got my grade for my 3rd test. I failed :( But only by 5 points.. so, once I get back from Italy I'll just have to study my ass off again and hope that I'll have better luck. I have 2 weeks until I take the 4th section. I'm a little worried because I know I will not be as focused as I was on the last three with everything that is going on this next month. But we'll see.. I'll just have to keep praying and hoping for the best!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Ciao!

SUCCESS!!!

I passed!!! I passed!!!
I checked my grade a little over 15 min ago and there it was! I actually did better on this one than the first one! I am so relieved because this was the one section that I absolutely did NOT want to retake. Words cannot express how excited I am and I know it sounds corny but I am so proud of myself. I've sacrificed a lot during these last few months and it is such a joy to see that it is paying off. And I know that Derek and my family and friends have had to put up with a lot from me lol.

I'm still waiting on the grade for the 3rd section. So hopefully I passed that one too and I'll only have the last one in July!

Tila Tuesday

Yea its the finale tonight.. if you get bored enough its on mtv at 10. I'm such a tv junkie anymore!

We had a VERY busy weekend. Friday, we went to the butterfly exhibit, went to Urban Outfitters in Clifton and then to the Music Hall for the opera. It was an experience. Derek hated it. I felt really bad for him, because I could tell he was so miserable. I enjoyed the music and the singing but the story was kinda dull. Which is funny because thats the whole reason I wanted to go..

Anyways, Saturday my parents went to the Busch race down at the speedway so we went to my grandparents to pick up Morgan and Trey around 3. Trey had never seen our house so we did a drive by. They have the whole outside pretty much done now. We still need our driveway, the deck and grass/landscaping but that's pretty much it. They have the drywall done and our ceramic tile was in. Its finally coming together. And very nicely I might add. Then we went back to my parents house, ordered some Larosas and watched "Untraceable". It was decent. Around 7 we left to go to the store and then went down to Wilder to see "The Incredible Hulk". It was better than I expected.. Edward Norton is so freakin hot! lol.

Sunday was Father's Day of course so we went to my grandparents to see my dad and grandpa and then we stopped by his parents house for a couple of hours and had some chocolate and champagne. Yum! I think me and Charlie are becoming a lot closer which is enjoyable. She got the new high heeled Crocs.. I want a pair so bad! But I'm going to wait til next paycheck because I have to pay my trainer and I'm getting my hair done this week.

I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN MY GRADE!!!! I am getting so upset. I emailed the State Board again and they insist that this is normal, when all of my colleagues got their scores weeks ago! They said I should have it by June 30. We'll see.

Oh how I hate Mondays..

A pic of the house as of Saturday!

Its the worst day of the week. No matter how much sleep I get on Sunday night, I am always so tired and lazy come Monday morning. Anyways.. it seems like Mondays is blog day so I guess that's one good thing.

Let's see.. what has happened in the past week? well, still no grade. Big shocker there. My training went a lot better this past week. My right hamstring hurts like a bitch, but that's about it. Friday, I don't think we did anything, because I can't remember doing anything haha. Oh yea, we went to Steve & Barry's to get my dad's birthday present. Exciting stuff lol.

Saturday, Charlie (the future mother-in-law) picked me up and we had an appointment with the florist to discuss flowers and costs. Well, we ended up picking almost all of the flowers! The lady that does the pricing wasn't there so we'll have to see what kind of damage we made haha. After that, we decided to go see Sex and the City at the Levee. AWKWARD! Only because of the gazillion sex scenes in that movie. She seemed cool about it but I squirmed in my seat like a little kid every time there was a slight shot of a boob hahaha. Then we met up with the boys at Dewey's in Crestview Hills and Derek took me back to the apt. We drove by the house on the way out to my dad's birthday party. They have all the brick on and almost all of the siding done. It was so exciting to see it! The drywall looks done on the inside too. Derek stole a small piece of brick for a souvenir ;) I'm dealing with all of the fun financing crap right now.. those of you who have bought a house know what I'm talking about haha.

We finally get to Willie's around 7:15. My dad had no idea we were coming or anyone else. He looked so happy and he got so drunk lol. My grandpa came too so it was really nice to spend time with my family with no drama for once. Bobby and his new girlfriend met us up there after awhile. She was really nice.. so much better than his old girlfriend!! Then we decided to keep drinking so we ran into Kroger to get more beer and he called Brandon who met us back at the apt for some drunken Scene It. Somehow I still managed to beat Brandon haha. Shortly after 2 we decided to finally call it a night.

Yesterday was our lazy day. I just did laundry and we ordered LaRosa's for dinner. Neither of us felt like cooking. It was really nice.

Well, I should get back to work so I'll try blogging before Monday. Til then.. Ciao!

Its Monday..

I start my next (and hopefully last!) section of the Becker courses tonight. My partner Vikki will be there for this section.. should be sufficiently awkward. I still do not have my grade for FIN. I beginning to wonder if they lost it. My friend Jessica who is sitting for Ohio sat for this section a couple of days after me and received her score over a week ago. Either they lost it or KY is slow as fuck. Sorry for the cussing, but I'm getting really frustrated about it.

Our weekend was pretty good. Friday, we went over to Jessica and Danny's and I held Ady for a good hour and a half lol. She gets cuter every time I see her! Jess gave us some pics of her too.. adorable!

Saturday, I had Amanda F's bachelorette party. I had a lot more fun than I had anticipated. I was kinda nervous since I hadn't hung out with most of these girls since high school and well, it was kinda awkward at first but I think as everyone consumed more alcohol, the night got better and better haha. It was really nice to hang out with them.. I can't believe our 5 year reunion is only a few months away! Well, I drank a ton! It usually only takes me maybe 3 or 4 beers to be completely drunk.. well, I lost count at 12 haha. Needless to say, I passed out on Amanda's couch and didn't drive home to my comfy bed til 6:30 the next morning. It was nice to sleep in though and Derek was making fun the rest of the day for it. Apparently I was moaning a lot in my sleep.

Anyways, Sunday we met his parents for an early dinner at Abuelo's. It was very yummy! (However, my stomach didn't agree so much later that night!) and we went to Walmart and bought 2 new TV's. They were having a huge sale so we got a 32" and 42" Vizio plasmas. Upon realizing that the 42" was not going to fit in LOLA the Corolla, we had to call my dad to get the truck.

Finally, we drove to Independence to check on our house. We walked around inside and it looks like they are almost done with the drywall. They had a bunch of scaffolding outside so I can only hope they are getting ready to do the bricking and siding..

Well, that's all I got for now. Hopefully there will be another post in the next few days with either really good news (that I passed!) or really bad..

Until then.. Ciao!

Do the Humpty Dance

haha sorry its hump day so that was the first thing that popped in my head.

I am STILL waiting on my grades! Its driving me crazy.. I just want to know. This past weekend was nice. Friday we went to Bourbon House with Jess and Danny. Its crazy.. they get a night out from the little one but only stay out for 3 hours. I guess I'll understand more when I have children..

Saturday we met Ryan and the builder at our house to make sure everything was going as planned. It was so exciting! We have windows now and they were putting in the insulation while we there. They are supposed to be doing the drywall and the siding/brick this week. I can't believe we move in 7 weeks! We were looking out the back door and it was just a surreal feeling that it would soon be ours. Besides that, we did absolutely nothing but lay in bed and watch HGTV. It was fabulous lol. I think Josie was happy to have us home again.

Sunday I went to the movies with my mom, Morgan and her friend. We saw Prom Night (not my choice obviously). Wow. Very stupid. That's all I have to say about that haha. And neither of our families did anything on Memorial Day so we just went to Fuji and had some sushi and fried rice. I really hate the fact that I crave sushi now. Which I guess its not a bad thing considering its pretty healthy for you but it just seems so weird. I still can't eat the raw stuff though.

I had a really weird situation with a friend of mine yesterday. I don't want to really post it on a public website for her privacy (if you absolutely HAVE to know, email me or something) but I just hope everything works out for her.

I have my first official training session tonight with a guy I went to high school with. Awkward! He's nice and all, but its just embarassing that I let myself go like this. I know that I've toned a bit since I first started working out a few weeks ago, but I'm just not getting the fast results I want. Hopefully he can steer me in the right direction. Wish me luck!

After I sweat, Jess is meeting me and we are going to Belterra. We haven't gone in ages so I'm excited. Hopefully I'll win some money!!! Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I'll have another one in a few days. and maybe I'll be productive and get some pictures up here haha.

It stopped raining! For now..

Well, I took my test Friday. It was supposed to take 4.5 hours and I finished in only 2.5~ I don't know if thats good or bad. The multiple choice weren't bad at all but the simulations were a bear. Still haven't found out about Test 2.

We have a roof on the house now :) We've been talking a lot about how we want to decorate. I think we're going to keep the bathrooms the same. I really like the monkey bathroom haha. It might be juvenile but it puts a smile on my face every time I open the door. We haven't decided whether we want to keep our bedroom the same, because we are thinking about getting a new bed set. Our current bedroom furniture is mismatched and we only have a full bed which can get tiresome at times. We've been staying in a queen at his parents.. and its been nice! lol

Anyways, I figured out that we need to save about $4000 for the house and $10000 for the wedding. How crazy! I know the credit card is going to creep in there at some point, but I think we can do it. Our mortgage payment is only going to be $70 more a month than what we're paying for the apt right now! So we'll see..

Still have to dogsit/housesit for another week. I miss my Josie. I drop by the apt every day to check on her, but I only stay for about an hour and she's so much cuddly than that damn dog. (weird I know) but our cat is unusually friendly. We call her Josiebear, because she acts like a bear most of the time. But it is so funny to watch her sometimes. She plays fetch with us! Seriously. Its awesome. and she's extremely acrobatic. I have a feeling she will make her Youtube debut here soon.

haha Well at this point I feel like I am rambling. I am getting nervous.. we are having our big partner meeting today to discuss how the company is doing, discuss budgets, raises/bonuses, etc. so wish me luck! Talk to you soon :)

Its Monday

Ok, well I'm pretty much caught up with my work so I'm going to take a few minutes to update this thing.

Tax season has been over for practically a month now.. and I am finally catching my breath. This was my first tax season working full time and I cannot even begin to explain how stressful it was. My job is not very strenuous or physical by any means, but after ten hours of looking at 1040's, listening to clients complain that their refund wasn't as big as last year's, or why do they owe this year, or why don't they owe this year.. it definately begins to take a toll on your sanity. On top of that, I was studying for my second part of the CPA.. which I took 4/25. I still haven't received my grade.. but I don't have a good feeling about it. I wasn't fully prepared and I totally blanked on one of the simulations. But we'll see.

I have my next test this Friday on Auditing. I am taking a few days off this week to study.. but Derek's parents are leaving for Key West tomorrow which puts us on Dogsitting duty. I usually don't mind dogsitting Frankie (their extremely high strung Chihuahua) but with having Josie, I feel funny leaving her. So it should be fun trying to plan my next 2 weeks around Frankie. God love him.

Anyways, the wedding planning is going extremely well. As all of the people I have talked to has told me.. I am extremely ambitious and "on the ball" with most things. But I worry that I found my dress too early.. it was 2 sizes too big to begin with and now that I have joined a gym, I'm afraid that I will lose so much weight that the integrity of the dress will be lost by the alterations.

The house is coming along pretty well.. I had a little "freak out" session a couple of weeks ago. But I'm over that. The time constraints still worry me.. but I've realized I can't do anything about it so its not worth it. To put you up to speed.. the lease for our apt is up 7/23. We leave for Italy on 7/30. We are supposed to close on the house 7/15 giving us a little over a week to move from the apt to the house and only a week to catch our breath and pack for Italy. Insane I know! Derek's parents said we can stay with them if it is not done, but I would hate to put Josie in a kennel for that long. I know we are going to be gone in Italy half the time anyway, but I would feel better knowing she can atleast roam around the house and not be stuck in a tiny ass cage all day.

Well, I'm going to try and post atleast a couple of times a week.. LOL.. we'll see how long that lasts. But I have to head out to a client so I'm signing off. Ciao!

New Here

So this is my first official blog on here. Its about 1 week away from Tax Day and I could not be more stressed! I have my next section of the CPA exam on the 25th and I feel so unprepared. Granted I have a little over 2 weeks to study but with everything going on, it seems like I am so pressed for time.

Wedding planning is coming along great.. details will soon follow. I'm not in a very type-y mood today. Got the permits back for building the house.. so its only a matter of time.

Thats all for now.