Red Lips

Kamee from Kamee June Photography (our wedding photographer!) posted self-portraits today...which are amazing, by the way. Her post suggests taking a self-portrait and challenging yourself to see past what you consider your flaws. I've taken self-portraits before but as I was reading this I thought, there's no way I'm taking a self-portrait today. I feel fat and ugly and just...blah (come on, we all feel that way sometimes). Then I thought about it again and realized I should take a self-portrait today BECAUSE I don't feel pretty....just to see if I can change my attitude about myself for the day.

So, here it is...I bought this red hat awhile ago and decided I really needed red lipstick to wear with it. This is the first time I've ever put that red lipstick on because I'm a little scared of it...but I have to admit, I rather liked the look.

Thanks for the challenge, Kamee!

My Mama is Married!

Rudy and I got engaged in January. We'd been dating for 4 years and although I'm happy we waited until we were financially stable and just about settled with our careers to get engaged, knowing that I was going to marry him and waiting for so long was, well...excruciating.

So we set our wedding date for 1.5 years after our engagement. Partly because we wanted to get married in the summer and partly because I wanted plenty of time to plan...less stress that way!

About 9 months into our engagement, Rick entered into the picture.
Now, my mama is NOT the kind of person who thinks of herself, her needs or wants. She really isn't. So although she's quite the catch, she never allowed herself to go out and meet men. She was busy taking care of us, her children and her mother and her uncle and a million other people. So to say that her first date with Rick was a surprise is an understatement. A week or two after the first date, it was, "So, if Rick is still in the picture, can he be my date to your wedding?" Then a couple weeks after that, the word marriage was being thrown around.Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for meeting, falling in love and getting married quickly because sometimes people just know...but I have to say, my MOM getting married (before me) was, well...CRAZY! Next thing I know, they're engaged and setting their date for four months away! After the shock, acceptance that I was going to have to share my mommy with a MAN, and four months of planning...my mama got married.

And you know what? I couldn't be happier for her. But mama? Don't you EVER do something that crazy EVER again...I just can't handle it. ;)All photos by: John Hester Photography

...and then I updated my blog!

Just as I was getting pretty good at updating this thing...I stopped. For a month. A little disappointed in myself, but I suppose that's what going back to work after a 2 week vacation will do to you. :)

I have been pretty busy, though. With less than 5 months until my wedding, work full-time, school full-time, two puppies, a kitty and a fiance, I seem to be finding it hard to use my free time for anything other than sleep. Oh! And did I mention I'm going to have another nephew! I'm so excited! I'll be posting about all that soon too.

Until I get a chance to breathe, here's a teaser of a recent photoshoot.

My Well-Behaved Monsters

I often have trouble convincing people who have met my dogs that they are usually well-behaved. They tend to get...excited...when visitors come over. This is mostly because we have super sweet friends and family who are nice to them, which then causes the dogs to go, ummm, crazy! Jumping and annoying monster dog behavior. We don't have people over often for that reason and when we do, the dogs usually stay upstairs.

What we really need is for people to come over JUST to help us train the dogs to be better behaved with guests. Any takers? =D

Anyway, here's some proof that my dogs do, in fact, relax the majority of the time they're home.



A BIG thank you to Rudy for my new Flip video camera. :) I'm afraid I'm not especially great at filming yet, but I'll be practicing a lot in the future.

To A New Beginning

Exactly 6 months from today, I will be in San Diego, celebrating love. My love for Rudy.

Rudy and I have spent 5 of our 25 years of life together. It's hard to imagine what life was like without him. 5 years is a long time and we've become incredibly comfortable in our lives together. I love that. And it's true, living together has made it so we're already, practically married.

But getting married means more to me than our commitment to one another. It means a day where we get to really celebrate how much we love one another. To concentrate on us. It's our new beginning.

Our first beginning, 5 years ago.

I think we've aged well. :)

(Photo by Kamee June Photography, unedited)

Bite Him On The Nose

I catch myself talking to my animals all the time. And yes, I know that they can’t understand the majority of what I’m saying. They do know words like outside, potty, treat, dinner, bubbles and laser. Boy do they know laser. But every morning before I leave, I give each puppy pets, a kiss, and tell them to be good.

Well, a couple days ago Dusty had an unfortunate accident in our closet. He was really difficult to potty train and isn’t the, bark in your face when he needs to go, kind of dog. He’ll talk a little, cry a little and basically just…stare at you until you take him out. This can be a problem after I leave for work in the morning. Rudy typically sleeps for at least 30 minutes, sometimes hours, after I leave and the puppies get to sleep in those days too. But Rudy is a heavy sleeper…especially in the morning. Nothing will wake that man up. I’ve literally thrown the dogs on top of him, had them lick him and sniff him for minutes, and he still won’t wake up. So the other day, Dusty had to desperately go outside and couldn’t hold it in. I’m guessing he used his usual, I need to go potty cues, and when those didn’t work, he decided to hide in our closet to go. Poor puppy knows he isn’t supposed to go in the house, but when he couldn’t hold it in anymore, he found a place that perhaps we wouldn’t mind.

My shoes are on the floor in the closet. My adorable puppy had his accident…on one of my shoes.

I’ve been as careful as possible to make sure that Dusty does both of his businesses in the morning when I take him out. This morning though, he didn’t want to go. So, my pep talk went something like this:

Me: Dusty, be a good boy today. If you need to potty outside, you wake daddy up. Bark loudly, jump on the bed, lick his ears, bite him on the nose…do whatever it takes to get him up. Just don’t go on my shoes again.

(iPhone Photo)

I suppose it’s a good thing Dusty can’t understand me, or Rudy might be very angry when he wakes up with Dusty’s mouth attached to his nose.

Have a great week!

Andrea

I had a change of plans this weekend. Lovely Autumn wasn't able to make it, so I had to recruit new models...so my rental wouldn't be wasted. ;)

Meet Andrea.

She's Rudy's sister and one of my bridesmaids. She looks, so much like Rudy, it's really kinda scary. In fact, the whole family looks alike. It's a good thing they're all gorgeous people. :) And if my future babies end up looking exactly like all of them, I won't mind at all.