Good quick trip to Colorado for a bit of skiing over the holiday weekend

I had a bit of a disappointment this morning. Other than "I hope that it will be corrected in the coming months", that's all I am going to say about that.

I was also reminded today about my negativity in last night's blog...and thought I would elaborate a bit. I think I was just a bit scared by the twinge of wanting a child - it's a defense for me if I keep reiterating how much I do not want one, cannot have one, etc, etc. If I say it enough and say it passionately enough, I can still keep convincing myself.

Otherwise, life is grand. We have wonderful plans for this week and I cannot wait to get to enjoy them.

I bought a china cabinet yesterday. Thank goodness I found one - it was getting a bit old storing our china in the boxes on the dining room table. I've been needing more storage for all of my serving pieces for years, but could never convince myself to buy one until I was married and had china.

My dining room table doesn't match, but I need to buy a new one anyway. I do love this one but I was unable to get one with a leaf in it at the time, so we will quickly outgrow this one in the coming years. (That doesn't mean I want children - instead, I mean that I want family to visit us on the holidays for a proper meal at some point.) The china cabinet is dark walnut (goes much better with all of my dark walnut everything else than the current light cherry one), so now I have to decide if I want to get the matching table or if I want to just get another walnut table & chairs. They didn't have the matching table at the store we went to, so I had to look at it online today. It's ok. I think there are some at Crate and Barrel that I like better.

I feel sort of shallow for blogging about this. There are so many more in depth thoughts constantly racing through my mind, but it's hard to allow others into my most private thoughts. So much is controversial, too. I've never been one to back down from my beliefs, but at the same time this was intended to be a light-hearted blog about a wedding...not a dissertation on how I would run the world if allowed.

In reference to the sentence above, I have actually had some motherly feelings arise in me in the last couple of weeks. But, I'm still far too selfish for children. I'm even selfish in my motherly feelings - they are arising because of a need for a subject for me to photograph. I am wanting to get a nice digital SLR, but Ben keeps discouraging it because he doesn't think I will use it. Hence the motherly feelings. If you have children, you always have a subject to photograph...and unfortunately, the cat does not make a good replacement.

*But* you also have to go through that whole pregnancy thing which seems downright miserable - and oh, yeah, the ruin of your stomach, thighs, breasts...well, you get the picture....to deal with. And no sleep or time for yourself, constant crying, screaming, dirtiness, expense, zero freedom, etc, etc.

Yes, I am very selfish. Maybe someday I will change. It's going to take a lot more than the desire to take photographs, though.

Random...

Has anyone else noticed on the Sonic commercials with the two guys talking in the car that they are wearing seatbelts as part of their costume? Let me explain - the "seatbelt" is just glued to their shirts...it's not actually a seatbelt - it just continues over their shoulder and down their back. So when they bend forward, sideways, etc, it moves with them. Ben pointed this out to me...and I just saw it for the first time tonight. Weird. Doesn't seem like making it real would hinder their movements.

Do you guys see the same people driving home everyday? We live in a fairly large city - there are between 300k and 400k people here I think - and I think it's funny that I see the same people driving in to work and back home again fairly often. Oh yes, I see you "3GR8KIDS" and "DODD2". Lady with the white sentra that has the nasty exhaust stains on her bumper, oh yeah I pass you too - I always think that you need to clean your car. I read the "BUSHIT" and "You can find dirt under every bush" on a couple of cars regularly. There is this one smallish SUV that has a tiny sticker on the back supporting a candidate and I always try to read it, but alas it was not a smart marketing expense - I have excellent vision and cannot figure out what the name is or what they're (were?) running for. There's jacky, a guy that I went to college with - I pass him in the mornings, usually. Sometimes, I wave - it threw him for a loop when I got my new car.

Oh, speaking of vision, did I ever put on here the troubles with my eye and the fact that I had to wear glasses for a few months? Well, anyway (knock on wood), I *think* I'm finally back in contacts for good. I've gone almost two weeks now. Thank goodness. I was having an identity crisis while in glasses. Plus, I couldn't see my food when I looked down below my frame to spoon or fork it up. That sucked. What especially sucked was the one day on my honeymoon when I couldn't wear contacts out on the beach, but couldn't go without sunglasses, so I just had to be blind. Yeah, that was not so fun.

And now it's time to go to sleepy-town....

From Battle of the Jaywalk on Leno...

JL:"What is a Venetian?"
Guy:"A hotel on the strip."
JL:"No. What is a Venetian?"
Girl:"Blinds."

Hehe. Technically, they were both right.

JL:"Who is the only President elected to four terms?"
After about 7 wrong answers, including Bush (both of them), Clinton, Van Buren, Cleveland, etc...
Guy:"It's a trick question...there's never been one."

Hehe.

PS I just switched to the blogger in beta and i saw for the first time that some people had left comments - but for some reason it didn't allow them to post.

Anyway, feel free to comment if you want - and I'll try to get that figured out.

Watching the second star wars movie right now...

...and Ben always comments on how hot the aliens on that rainy planet are...and I always say back that it's because the media makes us believe that you have to be extremely tall and anorexically thin to be hot.

PS I think the photographer will be able to put the pics online - she hasn't done it yet but I'll let everyone know when she does.

So that next year we know what to buy...

Mexican heather - plant quickly - gets quite broad
Evolvulus - Blue Daze - plant quickly - gets quite broad
Potato Vine
Lavender
Ice Plant (Ben's pick - arid - pink flowers whose petals are sort of spiky)
Calibrachoa (very small plant)

I was being a brat the other day

But I erased it.

Just got done doing a thorough going over of the pics from Stephanie and there are so many that I love that I'm in a bit of trouble. Financial trouble that is. :-) We get to keep the cd and we get 56 prints in a book. The problem is that I absolutely love about 200 of them. I can maybe get it down to 160 or so. Let's hope so.

You just couldn't take a bad picture at this place. And we were fairly photogenic that day.

On top of the wedding ones, our engagement ones were super awesome, too. Signal Point really provided such a beautiful backdrop.

Decisions, decisions.

It's Veteran's Day! Thank you veterans! I love random holidays such as these (especially when it works out that they fall on a friday or monday)

Ahhhhh.....so what do I want to do today? I have a whole list of things to do but just can't seem to get started on anything. I didn't even go work out. I think I am mentally exhausted.

Isn't it funny how your body is so accustomed to its internal clock that you still wake up early on days off?

Mika does have his annual appt today, though. Poor guy, I guess I should buy him some canned food to make him feel better afterwards. We now live quite far from his vet so he becomes a very sick kitty on veteran's day every year. I could change to a closer vet, but they know him - they know the angst he has been through. So we still go there.

I had one crazy week at work. Well, really it's been more like 3 crazy weeks at work. I'm hoping that things will not be so stressful next week. I have learned so much in the last 6 months...I really do learn at least one new thing a day. I know I've said this before, but leaving engineering was the best career move I could ever have made.

Did anyone watch the office last night? Oh, my gosh - the opening scene was the funniest thing I've ever seen - watching Dwight lunge towards Stanley's coffee made me "heehaw" as ben would say so loudly that Mika got scared and ran away.

Oh....had dinner with Dave & Shanon last week and they are engaged! How wonderful. They are so happy and we are just ecstatic for them.

I'm very excited for Christmas this year - usually I don't get like this for awhile. Could be bec I'm used to studying and preparing for finals and this year I don't have to or could be bec I felt like I missed Christmas last year bec I got so horrifyingly sick. I dunno. But I can't wait to start buying presents!

So how do I feel today?

Well, it's definitely a mixture of emotions. Hatred and ignorance were not overcome in this state, nor in 6 others. But thankfully, a few states did the right thing as far as amendments go. A few.

As for *the* election? Well, I was pretty certain that it wouldn't go the way I wanted it, so I was not heartbroken this morning. In all honesty, that was a difficult one for me anyway. I did vote my usual way, but almost didn't vote in that respect at all. I was quite happy to see it so close, though.

Overall, there is such an air of optimism! No single party needs complete control - because then, even checks and balances can't control things. So, *hopefully* we will see some change.

And how wonderful is it that Nancy Pelosi is the first woman speaker of the house? Congratulations to Ms. Pelosi! Make all women of this country proud!

And, back to the hectic life of finance....

Mom and Natie came in on Saturday and I snapped this pic - thought it turned out pretty cool.

Ben and I took our "engagement" photos up there (Signal Point) on his b'day - yes, they were late, but we were supposed to do those in August, and it was just too darn hot. Thankfully, she let us take them when it was a bit cooler. They turned out nice - we got the cd of them tonight. We also got the official wedding cd.

Anyway, things are good. Job is soooooo extremely busy - it creates a very worn out Stacey.

We went to Knoxvillage yesterday and I got to see Catherine's house which is very cute. Did a little shopping - got some fall clothes. Very much needed. Did the cropped pants and stiletto boots combo today - hope that stays in through the rest of the winter bec I felt cute.

Realized today that it's only 7 weeks until Christmas - it sure does come quick , doesn't it?

Ben is asking me when i'm going to go to sleep, so i guess it's time to sign off.

over and out.

I am Stacey ******* and I approve this blog...

because I assure you my very cold fingers typed every word of it. :-) Oops, should I say "I delightedly approve this blog because I worked so hard to educate myself throughout the years and now can reap the rewards by being able to read, write and type"? My original approval didn't seem to have enough flair.

So we did our civic duty yesterday. Stood in the cold and all of that. Here's hoping that it helps this time...although, I fear that the optimism is foolish. *Maybe* enough people are fed up this time. And maybe ignorance and hatred will be overcome.

And that's it for now....