Newlywed Christmas

May your holidays sparkle with moments of love and laughter.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Newlyweds

Gobble, Gobble!

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloweenie!

In the words of Cookie Monster, "Me not take the cookies, me eat the cookies." Nom, Nom, Nom.
Happy Halloween!

Bye Bye Butta Bathroom

This economy is making people do weird things. I've know my painter for 7 years and I recently hired him to re-paint our 2nd bath. I think he lied when he said he put two coats on the walls so I asked him to come back and do touch up work. For almost a week he kept saying he would be here "tomorrow morning" and then wouldn't show. He also told me I had to go buy more paint for him because I didn't pay him enough to the do the job. He used an entire gallon of paint which is impossible. I mean, there was nothing left in the can for even touch ups. I finally had enough of his attitude so I tore him a new one and promised he would never get another penny out of me or anyone that I've ever referred to him. 7 years I've know this guy! I was out $200 and had an unfinished bathroom so I headed to Porter Paints to get some more paint. I have to say I really like this place much more than going to Home Depot or Lowe's for paint. They are so helpful there.

So 3 hours later, the new bathroom made it's debut. Next up ... the family room.

Before

After

McLovin': The Semi Annual Pest

The lovebug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. It is also known as the honeymoon fly, kissingbug or double-headedbug. Two major flights occur each year, first in late spring, then again in late summer. The spring flight occurs during late April and May, the summer during late August and September. Flights extend over periods of four to five weeks. Mating takes place almost immediately after emergence of the females. Adult females live only three to four days, while males live a little longer.

Lovebug adults are attracted to light-colored surfaces, especially if they are freshly painted, but the adults can congregate almost anywhere by reacting to the effects of sunlight on automobile fumes, asphalt, and other products affected by environmental factors still not completely understood.

While lovebugs are not a favored food of most insectivores due to their acidic taste, lovebug larvae—and some adults—are food for birds such as quails, robins and felines named Kyleigh & Sydney (see below).

Spoiled Rotten

When I was three I got a pony, named Alvin, for my birthday. He wasn't a real pony but an old miniature horse. I remember riding him down the street from my grandparent's house to ours kicking him in the sides telling him to giddy up. My Dad liked to spoil me rotten so it is no surprise that I pretty much got whatever I asked for growing up.

This year I ask my husband for a Nook and I got it. Somethings never change. Happy Birthday to Me!

He Likes Cake

I have the cutest husband ever. Happy Birthday Chad!

He's Got Freckles and Red Hair

It was eight years ago today that my husband and I met. My good friend's boyfriend moved into a new apartment which came with a cute roomie. I met Tom but he was neither cute or single. There was another guy, who was single, living in the house but my friend described him like Alfalfa. I had her set up a get together so I could meet him. He was no Alfalfa. He was, and still is, very handsome, smart and super funny. I'm one lucky lady.

Going Bananas!

Every week when I go to the grocery store I get bananas. They are one of my favorite foods. They are yummy, convenient, and are full of vitamins and potassium. Problem is I don't like really ripe bananas and they ripen so fast so I end up throwing some away which is such a waste of food and money. As I was about to throw this weekss too ripe bananas away I had a thought (a rare occurrence if you ask my Dad). I'll make banana bread!

If you recall, I'm not so talented when it comes to the baking aspect of cooking but the only way to get better is through practice. No mishaps this time and my Dad and Husband honestly looked a little surprised at how great it tasted. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts
• Solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)

Directions:

Put flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside. In separate bowl whisk the eggs and vanilla together and set aside. Lightly Crisco the inside of your loaf pan (8x8x4) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a standing mixer, or with an electric hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated then add the bananas.

With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and transfer to loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool bread in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the bread of out the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Fatty McFatfat

I wish someone told me what a heifer I looked like. I find it funny that not only were the pictures above taken one year apart but that I am in almost the exact same stance. Gotta change my pose a little.

So after seeing this wretched picture I joined a gym. It took me almost four months to get my fat ass in there consistently. I blame it on the Holiday Season but I was just really lazy and thought I had enough time to slim down and fit in my wedding dress by May. So midway into January I had a wake up call. I had gone down from 115lbs in August to 110lbs but then back up to 122lbs by January, my heaviest ever. I'm 4'11 so for me this is HUGE!

My scale, my gym and I became best friends. We were inseparable. After 16 weeks of hitting the gym 5 to 6 times a week I lost 17 pounds.


Of course, like all weight loss stories go, I fell off the wagon shortly after the wedding. My goal was accomplished and I got bored and lazy. At first the pounds stayed off but now they are creeping up like a cheap pair of underwear.

No one came out and said to me "Hey Fatty!" when I was fat. It wasn't until I lost all the weight that my husband said he likes me better without the saddle bags. I didn't even know I had them. I asked him if I was fat before and he said yes, but as a good husband who didn't want to die a slow and horrible death, he never told me. I asked him if I was fat now and he said no. Although I now know he'll love me big or small, or that he just doesn't want to die, I can't believe a word out of his mouth.


So now I am going to attempt to get back on the wagon and if you see a version of me that ain't so hot, please feel free to call me by my other name .... Fatty McFatfat.

Better Version of Me

August was a crazy month. I finally got my wedding photos back from the "Ricardos." Their real names are Leigh & Andy Taylor of Leigh Taylor Photography. (For the back story read A Bride Scorned and Oh Hell No!.)

I let a week go by trying to figure out what I wanted to do about this whole situation. By Friday, August 20th I knew what I wanted and instead of keeping everything in writing I called them both. At the time I really wanted to have more color wedding photos and I didn't want to deal with this or them anymore. Andy said they would work on them but they had other projects ahead of mine. I felt a little better although he sounded like a total a-hole on the phone to me while I was "sweet as pie." Kill them with kindness was my new tactic. It's hard to yell at someone when they are so nice on the phone.

Chad and I went on our last vacation of the year to Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. It was nice to get away from work and the wedding photo drama. We slept in, ate a years worth of Southern Grits, and saw as many museums, landmarks, and tours we could get in. On our way back home we made a detour to St. Augustine for lunch. While we were sitting there waiting for our food I checked Facebook. Damn Facebook. It is the best thing ever for finding out what everyone is doing and the worst thing ever for finding out what everyone is doing.

Since my wedding in May, Leigh Taylor has shot two weddings at my wedding venue and as I sit there looking at my iPhone and the pictures on her blog I felt a fury I have never felt before. My wedding was flawless expect for my wedding photographer. She ruined my wedding day, my wedding photographs, my wedding budget, my bank account and now she was ruining my lunch.

I'm sick of people treating me like a doormat, using me for information, using me for money, using me for business, using me, using me, using me .... and underestimating me.

"I've got a plan, a demand and it just began and if you're right, you'll agree. Here's coming a better version of me. " - Fiona Apple

Oh Hell No!

A continuation of "A Bride Scorned" ....


The email I received last week from "Ricky":

"Erica,

We are sooo sorry for the delay. I originally said that it usually takes 8-10 weeks. There are still 2 other brides that were before you. "Lucy" said she will finish yours first by this weekend. I should be able to send them out next Monday.

This has devastated our lively hood. Unfortunately, the infection is something that reoccurs and hopefully surgery can solve. Your wedding is the only one she could not make it to. She cried the day before and day of the wedding that she couldn't be there. When it's infected she can not sit to edit either.

We thought we really connected with you guys at the engagement session and loved you both. I don't know why you would think that your pictures would be edited bad or deleted. We would never ever do anything like that to anybody.

We are more than happy to give you the engagement pictures also for the inconvenience. I'm so sorry you feel the way you do!

Ricky"

As of Tuesday afternoon, I have received my wedding photos. The bad news ... half of the engagement photos were missing and out of 1100 wedding pictures that I received, there was NOT ONE SINGLE PICTURE OF CHAD AND HIS GROOMSMEN! 1100 pictures! This is totally unacceptable so I texted Ricky on Tuesday night, you know, because the photographer I hired is too sick or busy to answer emails, texts or any other form of communication. He stated that:

"Those are shots that would be done by the second shooter when you were getting ready. By the time Chad got there, he had to get dressed and go right down for the first look. We have to stay on a time line from the planner."

We had two hours prior to the ceremony to take pictures and in those two hours, with two photographers, we took the prep pictures, pictures of my girls and I, the first look, and pictures of the entire bridal party. I still don't understand why there isn't one single picture of the groom and his guys because we had plenty of time to take all the other ones. There are other key pictures missing but I find that this one takes the cake. Ricky has yet to respond.

If you have seen some of the photos I've posted on Facebook or Shutterfly you might think they are good photos and I might be blowing this out of proportion. Here is why I don't think I am.

I spent $3,100 for a photography package to include coverage for 7 hours. I should mention she is a one man show with a second shooter. All of the work you see on her site and blog are her and/or her second shooter's photos edited by Lucy. I hired her based on the work I have seen on the website and blog. If you compare all the photos I received from her of my wedding to the other weddings she has shot you can see a considerable difference in the type of quality of the photo. If I wanted those replacement photographers I would of hired them directly. I paid for the best and I don't believe I received that.

I am happy that the photos aren't God awful but what upsets me more is the type of photos I got. I am totally dumbfounded at why I am missing key photos that any professional wedding photographer would know to shoot especially when you factor in the price that I paid for the photographer and photos.

I have done some research into Lucy and I'm finding out that I am not the only un-happy bride out there. Her and her husband's lack of professionalism seems to be a common thread among clients of theirs as early as of July 2009. I am shocked that I am the ONLY one who has spoken up about this and how NOT OKAY this behavior of a "professional" is. They obviously won't take responsibility for any of their actions, or lack thereof, and appear that they are not willing to do what it takes to satisfy a disgruntled client.

It's time to take them down a peg or four .... to be continued.

Would You Like Pickles In That?

I often make fun of others on my blog and it would only be fair of me to poke fun of myself as well. I've done some dumb stuff in my life but this takes the pie ... the key lime pie.


My mother is an amazing cook but I never took much of an interest in cooking while I was living at home. Needless to say when I moved away for college I was lucky that I knew how to boil water. I was notorious for burning everything or turning on the wrong burners and cooking nothing. Me and the stove were not friends. Overtime I learned how to cook, with much trial and error. I started with my Mom's Pisgetti Sauce and was eventually mastering my Grandma's handmade pierogies. It seemed that the more elaborate of a recipe, the easier I found it. The few things I haven't mastered are pancakes and desserts baked in the oven like pies.

Let me start off by saying, and in my defense, this recipe sucked and had horrible directions. I pull down my a cookbook my Mom gave me, and found a Key Lime Pie recipe on a fabric sheet stuffed in the book. I thought it was special and probably super yummy so I wrote down all the ingredients and off to the store I went. Graham cracker crust ... check, limes ... check, cream of tartar ... check?

My first mistake was getting key limes. The recipe called for lime juice. I thought to stay true to a key lime pie, you need key limes. I used the same amount of key lime juice the recipe called for as it did for lime juice so it was a little tart. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This was a recipe for Key Lime Pie with Meringue. So with the pie part out of the way I'm off start to work on the meringue.

Mix 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar with Egg Whites and beat until it peaks.

I had a difficult time finding this cream of tartar by the way. It wasn't with the milk, or cheese but I found something with tartar on it in the condiment section so at least I found it, right? Problem was is that everytime I tried to scoop a stinking quarter teaspoon I got pickles in it. I was pretty sure meringue didn't have pickles in in. I even asked Chad, "do they make a tartar sauce without pickles?" (Did you catch that?) He said no. I then asked what the crap was in tartar sauce and found out it was mayonnaise. Why the heck don't they just ask for mayonnaise then?

So I plopped a quarter teaspoon of my tartar in the egg whites, picked the pickles out and beat it with a fork until it was ... foamy. I knew that meringue was suppose to turn out poofy. The next step was to ...

Bake Until Brown

I wasn't sure exactly what was suppose to turn brown but my runny egg whites were bubbly so maybe it was suppose to poof up in the oven. On the pie it went and into the oven to bake until brown. I watched it through the oven window. The edges got toasty, and brown, then really brown, but my meringue did no poofing. I was dumbfounded.

After 15 minutes I pulled it out and let it cool in the freezer as directed for 30 minutes. The meringue was still runny and bubbly. Gag. I don't know what I did wrong. I scooped it off and my Husband, the boyfriend at the time, sampled my work. I don't think I've ever seen him so disgusted. Poor guy.

At first I didn't think too much of my attempt but my family, and most of my friends, find it to be the dumbest thing I've ever done and the funniest thing they have ever heard. I concur. I still find myself laughing at myself so hard I have tears streaming down my face. If you didn't catch my huge blunder, it was that I used Tartar Sauce instead of Cream of Tartar. My Dad especially loves the part about me "picking the pickles out." Also, if any of you reading this are unsure why my meringue didn't poof, you are suppose to beat it with a beater not a fork. Whoops.

A Bride Scorned

*The names have been changed until this issue has been resolved.

Our wedding photos were the most important thing to us so we splurged a little when hired "Lucy" for $3,100 to photograph our wedding. We had our engagement photos taken by her in March and were very pleased with the outcome and super excited to see what she could do for us on our big day. I was totally shocked when her husband, "Ricky", called at 4pm the day before the wedding to let me know she was very sick and would not be able to make it. They sent two other photographers in her place and Ricky was also there. There wasn't much I could do at the time being that it was 25 hours until I said "I Do." I couldn't pitch a fit or fire them because then I would have no one to document this very special day. Ricky assured me that Lucy's second shooter photographs like her and that Lucy would be editing all the photos so they will all look like Lucy's work. So with not many choices or options I said okay.

I anticipated some sort of communication from Lucy soon following the wedding such as an apology or a preview of some of my photos. A month went by and I had not even heard, or seen, anything from Lucy or Ricky. I was the one who had to chase them down. I sent numerous emails before she set up a gallery of her favorite pictures from our wedding for me to see. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The photos were good, but we paid for great photos and they didn't look like Lucy's work. For example, if you are a Picasso aficionado you would be able to spot a forgery. I am a Lucy aficionado and these felt like a forgery. I told her how I felt and but she stood by the quality of photos. She did offer me a free session with digital negatives to make up for not being there though. I thanked her for the offer but told her I would rather have an album. As much as we are unhappy with the photos we have seen so far, we don't want to do a bridal session. Our wedding was something we wanted to experience once and I can't afford to have my hair and make-up re-done and rent a suit for Chad so we could get better pictures that should of been taken in the first place. Plus I would know that every time I looked at them that it wasn't our wedding day. Unfortunately Lucy said she would be not willing to provide me with an album because that would cost her money and in her offering a session, that would only cost her her time and talent. Apparently, she has no problem taking money out of my pocket though. I didn't respond to that portion of her email. I was, and still am, seething with anger about her unwillingness to do what it takes to make a client happy especially when she has royally screwed up and knows it.

At this point I just want my photos. I was told that I would have all edited photos on a disc between 6 and 8 weeks. At the 8 week mark I tried contacting them to inquire about the whereabouts of said pictures. Lucy responded after I sent her three emails saying that since she was sick (in May) she was still trying to catch up on editing and she would have them to me soon. It will be 12 weeks this Saturday and I still don't have any photos or any clue about when I will be getting them.

I feel like I am personally out of options. I have tried to be a nice as pie to them in fear that if I pushed to hard and upset them in any way our photos would be edited in a very poor manner, take many more weeks or months to get them or my biggest fear, to never receive them at all. It is apparent to me that they care little of making me happy and no matter how many messages I leave them will make them get off their high horse and do the right thing.

To be continued ...

I LOVE KELLY CLARKSON!

As most friends know I am a big advocate of waxing, sugar waxing in particular. This all started about a year ago when I went to go visit my friend in New Jersey. I meant to get waxed before I left but I didn't have time. It just so happened that she needed to go as well so we made it a double date.


I find it comforting when the esthetician has a very heavy accent or doesn't sound like she speaks English because then when they are telling their co-workers what I hairy beast I am, I am none the wiser. So I headed back to the Room of Doom and told her I wanted a half leg and bikini. She nodded and whipped out some ball of weirdness. Sugar wax can be applied either like traditional wax with a Popsicle stick and strips or as a paste, which is more like a ball-o-wax that spreads onto your skin and then is ripped off. So she starts waxing and I'm trying to keep my mind occupied with other thoughts other than the impending pain I'm going to feel. Youch! Eek! I love Kelly Clarkson! Next thing I know she is telling me to turn on my side so she can do my butt. What? Did she say my butt? I thought that with my bad hearing and her heavy accent that I must of misunderstood but I played along and over on my side I went. When she was done I flipped back over and realized she took it ALL! How the hell did that happen?

My friend comes to join me afterward in the lobby of the salon where she asked how I liked the sugar wax. I was beginning to think this sugar wax was code word for a Brazilian. I told her what happened and we were both laughing ... "On your side, I do your butt."

One would think after this experience I would never go back but I have and I love it! The wax, not the act of waxing. Waxing still hurts like a mother but I've noticed that my skin isn't irritated and it doesn't hurt as much as compared to other waxes.

Unfortunately I haven't found an esthetician whose second language was English but I did find one awesome lady that I feel totally at ease with. We even joke and laugh together about my manly legs. Here's my shout out to Cindee Grigson at Bella Vita Medical Spa & Salon!

Blowing The Big Butt Bugle

I've been going to Pilates for months and I really love this class. When I first started I was in the back of the class struggling with the most basic moves such as The Hundred or Swimming. Now I'm in the front of the class and I can successfully do a Roll Over with a Jack Knife. Our instructor has even started including a Pilates Ring and light weights into our work outs to challenge us. I love it.

There are always some new people coming into class and most struggle the way I did. I give them credit for keeping with it. I'll even let the occasional barking spider slide. As I've said before, I've been going to Pilates for months and I can count on my hands the number of times I've heard someone pass wind and I couldn't even tell you who did it ... up until yesterday.

Flatulence man has attended this class 3 times already and I've listened to his Hmmmming and Haaaing as he struggles through the moves. I often want to roll over to him and tell him his form sucks and that is probably why he is having a difficult time but instead I tune his noises out. So as we are doing a Double Leg Stretch I hear a Pffffft come out of his direction. I ignore it. Then I hear another ... rrreeeeeep. This is quite ridiculous. Two in a matter of minutes? Then I smell the faint odor. Oh for crying out loud. Really?! I might be able to handle a little ass thunder but not a stinky one. Yack!

I just hope this incidence has either scared him into returning to Pilates or has forced him to put a cork in it.

I'm BORED! Or Am I?

A thought occurred to me yesterday afternoon as I was being a good wife and washing the husband's car.

For the past few weeks I've been struggling with a lot of free time on my hands and not much to do. This week I not only cleaned Chad's car, I did mine, cleaned the house, touched up paint, ironed a mound of clothing, and even cleaned the baseboards. I've also been reading quite a lot since there isn't much on television at night. I finished two books just last week and this week I am simultaneously reading Twilight and the fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse Series (True Blood) for the second time.

I chalked it up to not having a lot of work but apparently I was wrong. Compared to last year I am doing almost the same amount of work so what is different? And then it "donged" on me. Wedding planning! I've somehow learned to multi-task a lot in the last year and I've become more efficient. Whoops.

Milking the Honeymoon Experience

This past weekend we went on a vacation to Chicago which turned out to be more of an adventure as we suit-cased it through the Windy City.

We planned to stay in the heart of Chicago at The Palmer House. When we tried to check in they notified us that our reservation had been canceled due to non-payment. We had booked with 1800Hotels.com which apparently took our money, canceled our reservation and filed for bankruptcy earlier that day. To make matters even worse, The Palmer House was totally booked for the next two nights and so were most of the hotels in the area. We were homeless.

I only knew one person who lived in Chicago so I called in a favor. We were suppose to have dinner with them while we were there but that turned into dinner and a night on their couch. THANKS AMBER, KENNY & MISS MOLLY!

We were able to find a hotel to stay at the next night. We checked in early at Hotel 71, grabbed some lunch, walked around a little, took a nap and then we were off to my first baseball game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were playing the Phillies and they totally kicked their butt. My hubby is a Phillies fan so it was a sad to watch this ass whooping, especially from the great seats we had.

The next day we trekked back to the Palmer House, checked in, and then were off to "Eat More Monuments." We did all the normal touristy things ... Field Museum, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Skydeck at Willis Tower, the Shedd Aquarium, and of course Gino's Deep Dish Pizza!

It was celebrity central this past week in Chicago as well. We bumped (unfortunately not literally) into Bill Rancic outside his apartment. We were with feet of him and all I could do was stand there in utter shock and hit Chad in the arm. They were also filming Transformers 3 directly across the street from our first hotel (Hotel 71). I was determined to find another famous person, and get a picture this time, but all I found was their trashed cars.

We ended our trip on a good note though ... since it was our "honeymoon", the Palmer House surprised us with Champagne, strawberries and chocolate on our last night there. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Farmer's Tan

Old McErica had a driveway,
EE-I-EE-I-O,
And on that driveway there was some dirt,
EE-I-EE-I-O
A pressure wash here, a pressure wash there, here a wash, there a wash, everywhere a wash, wash,
Old McErica got a tan,
EE-I-EE-I-BURN!

The Adventures of Slick Ric

Up until the wedding I practically lived at LA Fitness. I'm the kind of girl who keeps to myself. I get in, do what I have to do, and get out. I don't wear make-up but I do wear dry fit and I almost always have my hair up in a pony tail.

I was going five to six times a week and I often saw a lot of the same people working out there. Since I didn't know them I gave them nicknames. My first regular is "Ass Cheeky." Ass Cheeky is the girl who would come into cycle class and set up her bike almost in front of mine even though I was in the first row. Normally this wouldn't bother me but her attire did after we got to working out. Her cheerleading shorts were constantly riding up her bum and therefore she was constantly picking her wedge. Eeew. After weeks of this, she showed up in Capri pants and she was "Ass Cheeky No More."

There are some other characters who seem to either bug me or make me laugh at my LA Fitness. "Spike" is always at the gym. My husband and I see her there all the time on the stair stepper or doing lunges. She is bad ass and so is her spiked hair. She is the only die hards I see in there with full make-up and hair done and for extra good measure she wears sunglasses, but not at night, just in the gym.

Super-Barbie is a lovely older woman, with big fake boobs, who attends the Pilates class. I haven't figured out why she does what she does but, there must be a reason for her method. She lays down her mat, sits down, and then safety pins a hand towel around her neck like a cape. I'm not sure if she plans to save the world or she is just cold and a cardigan is too uncomfortable. Either way, she always makes me smile.

Last, but not least, is the Owl. There are not many people that I despise at the gym but she is one of them. She goes to a lot of the same classes I go to and I find her etiquette quite annoying. She busts into the class before the previous one is totally done for starters and sets up her little area. Be careful if you are near her because she has no respect for personal space. I call her the Owl because of the sounds that come out of her mouth during the classes. I'm all about whoo-hooing and whatnot but she brings the hooting to a new level. Beginning of the class, hoot, start of a song, hoot, middle of a song, hoot, end of a song, hoot, etc. You might get a "wow" in there sometimes but more than not, it's a dang WHOO-HOO! It doesn't matter if she is on the other side of the room either. Her hooting is loud enough to be heard over the blaring music and the barking instructions of the teacher. I wonder if I could call animal control to remove her?

My husband thinks I am too critical on these people and thinks karma is going to bite me one day, my Mom doesn't want to go to the gym because of "people like me", and everyone else thinks it is funny. If you really think about it I'm a regular and they probably think the same thing about me. I'm the gal with the hard, hair sprayed hair and my sister, well, she calls me "Slick". Oh, Touche.

Here's Hoping I Picked A Winner!

I can't believe we've been married one month already. It went by so fast and it's been a little difficult adjusting to life minus wedding planning. I had a couple of weeks after our big day to indulge myself in any last minute wedding stuff since my best friend was getting married two weeks after me. It was nice to go to a wedding and have fun. Ours was phenomenal but it totally flew by. I made up for all the drinking and dancing I wasn't able to do at our own wedding at hers. I even made it into her wedding video clip where it appears I was karate chopping something. Oh, dear. Dang those dirty martinis!


So after "Marriage May" we headed out on our honeymoon to Aruba! It was just what I needed. An entire week of sitting on the beach with no phones, texts, emails or even Facebook! I thought not having a wedding to plan was hard adjusting to! I made it 3 days before I caved in and bought some internet minutes to check my email. I find it funny that even though my out of office reply was on, people kept replying to it! My favorite one was "Erica, I see that you are out of town on vacation until next week and won't be checking your email. Please let me know if you can help me in the next two days." Hmmmm, let's think about that. You know I'm out of town until next week not only because I told you, but you got the out of office reply message and yet you want me to put my vacation on hold so I can do work. Um, no thanks. I think I'll finish out the rest of the week with some fruity alcoholic beverage on the beach with my husband.

Now I'm back at work, and life, minus the wedding planning and on the hunt for a new hobby.

Newlywed, Newlyblog

So I've decided to give this blog thing another whirl. I made a website during my wedding planning and blogged on there. I now feel I'm ready to tackle the world of Blogspot. So far, I'm ready to rip my hair out. This site isn't as user friendly as my little old Weebly site. Dang learning curve.