Moments, Memories, and more

A new year

2010-01-05T15:55:00.001-08:00

New blog for a new year :) Sorry that I keep moving around everyone! I promise this is it ... and this blog is going to be sooo much better than the rest, haha.

Clicky!

love, Christie

Updates! Updates! Updates!

2009-10-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

I am alive!! Want the good news or the bad news first?

Good news! Okay: I am going to continue blogging again. Apparently I just have not been inspired lately, but the inspiration is back :) Hurray!

Bad news? I'm moving blogs. I have a bunch of friends who are trying out Wordpress.com instead of Blogspot and I decided to join them. I feel like a new "home" for my blog will be a nice fresh start for some new blogs.

My new "home" is here

So please, come visit!! :) I'm super excited

A Wonderful Quote

2009-07-17T02:12:00.000-07:00

"That thing, that moment, when you kiss someone and everything around you becomes hazy and the only thing in focus is you and this person, and you realize that that person is the only person you're supposed to kiss for the rest of your life. And for one moment you get this amazing gift. And you want to laugh, and you want to cry because you feel so lucky that you found it and so scared that it will go away all at the same time." - A Walk to Remember

Easter Time! (Just a few weeks late)

2009-05-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

First off, Happy Late Easter! It's way overdue, but I still wanted to share with you all what went on in our household for the weekend. My mom sent me some handcrafted goodies via UPS for Easter, and she made sure to include some annoying little paper goodies for Sidd to play with so he wouldn't feel left out. The video of him enjoying his present is below :)

I actually spent Easter day working, and Kevin enjoyed being at home and playing some WoW.
As much as we love Sidd, he is just a little to much for us to handle. Being a Siamese cat, he needs constant attention and it is recommended that you get Siamese cats in pairs. He just isn't happy being alone or on his own. Obviously, just one cat in our condo is enough .... so two cats wouldn't work out well. After school is out, Kevin and I are going to AZ for the weekend and we are going to let Sidd live with my mom and company in AZ. My mom has a bunch of animals and Sidd and them can have fun playing :) It will be more fair for Sidd, and it will save Kevin and I's sanity!

At least we tried :) And now ... I shall go back to writing my paper while Sidd peeks his head over my laptop.

Alive? I think so!

2009-04-28T01:17:00.001-07:00

I am alive, I swear!

I've just been so busy with writing papers lately ...... oh, the joy of it all. Three more weeks of classes, then FINALS!

.... and then summer school.

Dodger vacation in Arizona

2009-03-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

For a Christmas present, my mom bought Kevin and me some tickets to the Dodger spring training games in AZ :) We took Nick with us .... and off we went!

(this is my personal favorite shot ... heh heh)

It was a fun weekend in AZ, and we were able to spend the night at my Mom's house. So I got some Dodger love in .... some family love in ..... and some animal love too <3

Random acts of an annoying yet cute cat - for my mother

2009-03-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Mmmm ..... cupcake coma

2009-02-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Cupcakes!

For my nephew Sean's 2nd birthday party, I decided to take on the task of making his birthday cake :) So ... the creativity wheel began to spin and off I went!

I made a bunch of cupcakes to the party's theme: Disney's Cars movie. I made funfetti cupcakes with a cream cheese icing and then had fun with the decorations :)

And as you can tell .... they were enjoyed immensely :)

Sidd Picture Update

2009-01-21T00:07:00.000-08:00

A lovely weekend getaway keeps the doctors away

2009-01-16T00:35:00.000-08:00

It was time for a vacation and a birthday celebration, which ended up taking Kevin and I towards the lovely town of San Diego :)
We were able to stay at the San Diego Hilton Resort & Spa (totally a 5 star rating from us) and we decided to just play the weekend by however we felt. The best part was that everything was pretty much my choice as my present from Kevin, so of course we were able to get some shopping and Borders thrown into the weekend. We went to Sea World on Sunday and had a bunch of fun just walking around.

Here was our dolphin friend saying "hello" to us :)

We pretty much hit up all the attractions that we could, and I have to admit I got extremely creeped out with the eels (ugh). Although apparently we share the same nose shape, lol.

So after our Seaworld trip, we had fun and got some dinner and drinks and enjoyed our time. The next day we hit up some more shopping (more like good ol' window shopping) and we went to Shoreline Village which is a cute little place full of shops and just gorgeous views. We met a little friend who I would like to name "Carrie Bradshaw" because he/she was quite the bird in the city.

We were having fun feeding him some chocolate chip coffe cake and watching him fight off his friends. He claimed us and definitely wasn't in the mood to share! And of course .... some little kid came by and decided to chase our friend off. ( Thanks buddy :P )

So after some fun in good ol' San Diego .... Kevin and I took the city streets home and stopped by a fun beach we saw, collected some rocks and pebbles, and headed back to home sweet home :)

Introducing ...

2009-01-10T00:45:00.001-08:00

Sidd!

Sidd is the new addition to our family :)

On our trip to Arizona for Christmas, my mom surprised me with a cat for my present. She knew I had wanted the company of an animal for a while now .... so she took it upon herself to fix that!

Sidd (which is short for Siddhartha) is an original Siamese breed (rather than those "new" Siamese cats that are bred for shows and such, the ones with the skinny faces and extra large ears). He was three months old when we got him, and he has already grown a ton. He is now a healthy 6 pound little dude and he will probably end up being pretty large once he grows up :)

So (since I am now obviously a proud mother) I will be keeping you guys posted with fun pictures and stories of the little guy.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas From Us !!

We hope you all have a great holiday and can enjoy this time to be with your family and friends. We get to be with Kevin's family for a night of unwrapping gifts and having fun, and then we are off to Arizona to be with my side of the family for more gifts and love :)

Most of our gifts are wrapped and ready to go :) I had fun wrapping them while Kevin observed ... haha.

So have a wonderful christmas with everyone, we love you all!

-Kevin & Christie W.

Hootie & The Blowfish

2008-12-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

Introducing : Hootie and the Blowfish!!

Ok .... so sorry. I know this is a terrible photo. Kevin and I are trying to figure out how to get better pictures of these guys .... but it's hard! At our new condo .... we have a family of owls. Mamma, Papa and two babies. We named them "Hootie & The Blowfish." ( Yeah, I know. We are real clever). When we first moved in .... we kept hearing this random screeching at night. We thought it might have been an alarm on the back of the Kohl's building, but Kevin one night noticed something sticking out of a vent. With the use of the flashlight, we were able to see our new friends :)
Above is a picture of the Mom sticking out of their home. There are two holes like this in the building, and the babies live in one and then the parents use the other one as their look-out for food. Every night, we love to listen to the little guys call for food, and then the parents show up and swoop around .... making the little ones happy and proud. So far they have been good with us taking their photos .... if only we could get them to come a little closer ....

Water For Elephants

2008-12-11T00:23:00.000-08:00

Water For Elephants is a historical novel written by Sara Gruen. I hadn't previously heard of this book, but Kevin's Mom loaned it to me to read and apparently it has been a pretty big hit for a while.
This book is based on a character named Jacob who flees from his hometown after his parents have been killed in an accident. Jacob was attending Cornell and decided to get up and leave, realizing he couldn't live in the town where his parents were killed. He then joins a circus called The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, where he is thrown into the bizarre world of the circus crowd. Jacob meets many characters that test his strengths and weaknesses, and even his devotion to the heroin Marlena, the head trainer's wife.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons: it gives the reader a rare look into the world of "circus freaks" and still gives the reader the fictional tale they desire. The story is written as a memoir from Jacob, as he sits in an old folks home and desires to go to the circus that has just come to town. It's a tale of true tests while the reader watches Jacob struggle to maintain his own moral compass while falling in love.

Out of a 5 star rating, I would give this story a 3 1/2. It was a good quick read and I am now more interested in the world of the "circus life", but it ended a little too abruptly and perfectly for my liking.

Book Club

2008-12-05T00:59:00.001-08:00

Soo.. i've decided that I want to start reviewing books for you all. For everyone that knows me, I always have a book with me: in my purse, in my car, near my bed, at work, etc. It's definitely my addiction :)

I go through about 2-3 books a month, so I decided that I will review the books I read as soon as I finish them for you all :) It would be awesome to hear all your input, and hopefully I can encourage some of you to pick up certain books and try them out. I'm currently reading Water For Elephants, so I'll let you know the outcome

Cheers!

Holiday Cheer

2008-12-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving & Halloween. I always begin these posts talking about how busy I have been ... and shockingly, I have once again been so busy I haven't had time to post. I am so happy about it being December. This is my favorite month of the year; it includes cold weather, presents, happy people and getting to be with family (and even going more into debt buying presents! Ohh fun).

Kevin and I have finally moved. We are now living in Orange County, residing in little ol' Seal Beach. For those of you who don't know, we found a little condo to move into and we just moved in this weekend. It was kinda bad timing-Thanksgiving, lots of homework, moving, Kevin's birthday, etc. But it was better timing than during the summer around the wedding :) But we are all settled in and slowly clearing all the boxes out.

For Thanksgiving we went to Kevin's parent's home. We ate some yummy food and I spent the evening cooking with my mom-in-law :) The week before I also went to "Friendsgiving" with the co-workers, which was a blast.

Elena, Kristy, Shelby and I also got the chance to go see Dane Cook at the opening of the Long Beach Laugh Factory. It was a fun experience, but I probably wouldn't pay another $50 to go see him again.

For now, this is what has been going on in the life of Christie. Now onward to writing my final term papers!

Ninja Cat Video

2008-10-30T23:58:00.001-07:00

No matter how many times I see this video I can't stop laughing .... enjoy Ninja Kitty!

Happy Halloween :)

2008-10-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great Halloween :)

Sorry for the lack of updates ..... why do I feel like my blog always begins that way? Haha.
We've been busy, BUSY and more busy. All is great though. I just survived my midterms. I can't handle my grammar class anymore, but I'm sticking through it and will survive. It looks like Kevin and I are going to be moving within the next month! Nothing is 100% yet, but it looks as if we will be moving into a Condo in the Seal Beach/Rosmoore area. We have been in our current apartment for 3 1/2 years now - good LORD time flies by fast. But we are ready for a new place, and we are excited for this. So I'll keep you updated as we get updates :)

This election coming up has me all up in jumbles. I'm not one to broadcast my beliefs and who/what I'll be voting for, but I'm definitely still undecided on a lot of things. I'm still doing a lot of research and making sure I understand the pros and cons of a bunch of things, but I have a feeling I won't completely know all of my decisions till I get to that poll Tuesday morning. I hope everyone gets out there and votes though ..... and don't you all love how Krispy Kreme and Ben & Jerrys are giving away free things to people who vote? Haha.

" Did you vote?"
" Duh! Look at my red white and blue doughnut!"

I wasn't able to follow through with becoming a foster parent to the animals in local shelters. I got that crappy flu that everyone had on the day of my orientation, and the next orientation isn't until November. But now..... with Kevin and I moving I'm not sure I should make this commitment till we are all settled in. ( Or maybe I can just persuade Kevin to get me a Kitten or a small dog for my birthday ;) )

I hope everyone has a safe and great Halloween! I'll be spending it serving coffee to all those teens dressed as god knows what lol.

Time for an update!

2008-10-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Herro everyone :)

Lots has been going on lately. The good, the bad, the ugly ... haha.

Unfortunately, my Uncle Jerry passed away on September 28th. We haven't been able to figure out the details, but it was something with his Pancreas. He was only 50 years old, and had never drank/smoked, was always active, and was currently helping his 13 year old daughter keep up with her Junior Olympic standing in Skiing. We are waiting on the toxicology reports to help us heal our hearts with all these feelings of unanswered questions and feelings. My Uncle Jerry was an amazing person, a talented man, and a man who loved to make others laugh. We had the funeral on Sunday, and talk about emotions. This was only my second funeral and it was really tough. I just really hope that I can keep up with the feeling I have currently of taking advantage of every minute of my life, kissing and hugging my Husband as much as possible, and trying to make my Uncle proud.

Sorry for the rambling, but I just feel like I can never say enough about him and this story, and that I just hope that you all will go hug your best friend, Husband, Wife, Daughter, Son, etc. and let them know how much you love them :)

Onto the fun news! I have decided to become a Foster Parent to animals from the local shelters! My application was approved, and I am going to an orientation this Saturday. Basically, whenever a shelter has a animal(s) that are in need of constant attention, they will call me to come pick them up and I can keep them for some time until they are better and ready to be adopted. My job will consist of giving them love, a home for the time, helping them with any medications,etc. This will be a tough one though, with all the love and joy I will gain from this experience, I'm sure I will be getting some animals that have been abused or that just might not make it in the end, but at least I will know they were loved and taken care of in their last few days. So I'm sure I will be posting pictures and stories of the animals I receive so you can hear their stories and see how things work out! Wish me luck :)

Otherwise, everything else is normal and okay. Kevin is doing his same ol' routine with working a bunch. I'm going to school 4 days a week, working at the 'bucks, and now trying to spend as much time as possible with my Aunt and Cousin and helping them through this time :)

love you all, and HUGE hugs sent your way

The Twilight Saga

2008-10-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else reading the Twilight books? I am AMAZED at how good they are. So far, I've read the first two and I'm waiting for the third to be delivered in the mail from my Mom :) I didn't think I would find another group of books that would make me so happy after the whole Harry Potter ordeal, but so far these have been just as good .... if not better. Is anyone else reading these? I highly recommend them, I'm sure they are favored by the females more because of the love story aspect ...... but I think the guys will love 'em too :)

Domokun's Target Halloween Special

2008-09-22T00:32:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I love our Domokun ... and this is just AMAZING. Just another reason to obsess over Target

Let's Go!

2008-09-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

Let's Go Dodgers!! Almost there!!

Politics

2008-09-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else feel like they are watching a fight between Preschoolers while watching these immature words being thrown back and forth between Obama and McCain? I'm not really a huge follower of politics ... I'll be the first to admit that. When I do turn the t.v. on and start watching the updates on the race, I can't help but feel embarrassed that these are our future leaders arguing about lipstick, he said-she said fights, and more.

I'm sorry, but I would rather watch these politicians out on the streets and helping people. Maybe using their money to help our Schools and Hospitals rather than be dressed up in suits and reading other peoples' words ....while comparing people to animals.

This isn't personally against one canidate or another, it's the whole political group that I just don't understand. Does anyone else feel this way?

Always a child at heart

2008-09-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

This post from "C Jane Enjoy It" made my day. No, not just my day.. my MONTH. I hope it gives you as wide of a smile as it did for me.

When Chup and I drove to the cousin's house to pick the children up this afternoon Claire came out of the house with sad eyes.

"What is wrong?" I asked (always with a hint of panic).

"Well, it's just that we were going to go to the Secret Store. But now you are here."

Ahh the Secret Store.

When Stephanie was old enough to understand currency, but young enough to not rebel against her mother-given bowl cut, she had an uncontrollable sweet tooth. Candy, candy, candy always on her mind. Along with the desire for treats was another constant in Steph's life, her cousin (from across the street) Katie D. Katie D and treats. That pretty much sums up the first sixteen years of my sister's life.

One day Steph and Katie D were wondering around Wymount Terrace which is the glorious kingdom of student housing for married BYU students. As luck would have it, they discovered a miniature convenience store hidden away behind the student housing office. And behold, there were freshly baked brownies, cookies and chocolate donuts in plastic encasing ready for consumption! Who knew?

From that day forth, Steph and Katie D did just about anything they could to raise money for the benefit of Secret Store shopping. They went so far as to start a dried flower business built out of the old playhouse in the backyard. You could get a wreath of crusty roses for five dollars. Or a spray of browned daisies for your mantle (perfect for any season!) As I remember, Katie D was the wizard behind the business, while Steph did most of the design. But all orders were celebrated with a trip on a bike to buy the freshest donuts in town.

And here we are, a generation later still finding the joys in a trip to the Secret Store. How could we not oblige Claire and her wadded-up-dollar-bill-toting cousins?

So Chup and I drove them past the old church, over to the Wymount housing offices and parked in front of that very same store that Steph visited so often. That is when it dawned on me that it was still a secret to me as I had never before been inside.

"Wanna drink?" I asked Chup as the kiddies filed out of the car.

"Let's see . . ." He replied sarcastically reminding me that one cannot get a hard core drink on BYU campus. No Coke. No Mountain Dew. No Dr. Pepper. Nor Mr. Pib. Something about caffeine and addiction, I think. Good for us abstaining Mormons.

"Gaterade?" I suggested.

"Good enough." Chup succumbed.

The Secret Store is no bigger than an average master bedroom's closet in a newly constructed home. It looks to be fifty years old judging by the frosted brown linoleum flooring. There were two fridges, one for drinks, the other for BYU Farm dairy products. I first looked for Steph's beloved chocolate donuts, but only found mint brownies with a violent amount of kelly green frosting. The children grabbed ring pop, ring pop, ring pop, ring pop and skittles. A Fresca for me. Thank you.

After all the treats were purchased I took a moment to imagine Steph there twenty years ago. A smile pushing back her ample cheeks, short hair with bangs barely obstructing her vision, and of course, dazzling freckles. And there was Katie D counting out each penny. Giving Steph her cut of the dough with palms out flat. Then I could see Steph turning to the baked goods with eyes as big as the cookies inside. I couldn't help but think that I'd give just about anything in the world to have those days back.

Then, looking down at Claire and Jane laughing with their cousins as ring pops were placed on left index fingers, I realized.

I did have them back.

New! The Secret Life of Bees Trailer (HQ)

2008-09-08T01:00:00.001-07:00

I love this book :) I can't wait for this movie to come out ... it looks amazing. What an amazing cast of people too!

Show me some love!

2008-09-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

I added a new add-on to my blog that I thought was neat. I know some of you actually follow this blog, but I really don't know who else! On the right hand side, I added a "follower" add-on. So click on it and add yourself to my "followers." And if you have your own blog, it's a good way to showcase yours to other people and spread the word.

Thanks!

Love for NieNie

2008-09-05T00:51:00.000-07:00

Within the last year, I have become a fan of an amazing blog called The NieNie Dialogues. My Mom had entered the "blog world" lately and has found some fun blogs to keep up with. I found Stephanie's blog because of this, and instantly became addicted. Stephanie is amazing: she is always putting up amazing and retro-feeling pictures, has fun stories of her family and herself, and it was just an addicting blog in general.

Last week, Stephanie and her Husband were in a plane crash, unfortunately killing the Pilot and badly burning both Steph and her Hubby. Stephanie's Sister made a post on Steph's blog .... telling the unfortunate story to all of NieNie's blog fans. This was such a sad story, and I found myself constantly checking the blog for more updates. Apparently I wasn't alone .... hundreds and hundreds of other blog visitors were leaving desperate messages on the site wanting more information and asking "How can we help?!"

Stephanie's blog was so wonderful that it has attracted SO many others to want to help and keep up with the progress of the family. Stephanie and her family would always release balloons into the sky to celebrate birthdays and such, and as a tribute to Stephanie and her Husband, millions of families across the U.S. and other countries are now releasing balloons into the air and filming it, sending the videos with love and prayers to the family. I can't even begin to go on more about all the other things people have come up with to help out, but to put it simply it has been so moving that it even caught the attention of The New York Times.

Stephanie and her Husband are thankfully pulling through all the surgeries, skin grafts, etc. Poor Stephanie's body was burned over 80% , but she has been pulling through and the Doctors are just thrilled and shocked at her progress. Her sister has been taking care of the children, and she has made her own blog to give daily updates to all of Stephanie's fans.

So I'm including a link to this story for you guys to go check this all out if you get a chance. This whole story has made me feel SO inspiried. I feel for this family so much, and I just have so much respect and love for them all. They have kept a stiff upper lip through all of this and you can just feel the love by reading these blogs and comments. It's a daily encouragement for me to read, and hopefully will become one for you too :)

Time .... where did you go?

2008-08-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

My goodness .... it's almost already September. I start school in three days .. we are expecting a new nephew hopefully this month ... and it's my Brother's 17th birthday ( which most likely means a trip to AZ). It's going to be a hectic month!

But then .... bring on the holidays!! ( and some more money too .... please?)

My classes for this semester at CSULB :

Shakespeare I
English Grammar
Children's Lit.
20th Century Lit.

So in other words.... this could be a fun semester! Or really, really terrible. Haha, wish me luck. I'm going to make an appointment soon with a counselor to make sure I'm on track for graduation next summer .. so we'll see!

1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy beam routine

2008-08-21T23:52:00.001-07:00

This is what the Olympics need more often :)

Bring back the 80s!

2008-08-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

So I caved in and bought two dvd's from Target a few days ago for $5.99 each. To be honest, it's very rare that I have the urge to buy a dvd, but sometimes I see something that I just can't resist. And to prove that point ..... here were my impulse buys:

I couldn't resist :) I grew up on these two movies .... and I can't wait to torture my own kids one day with them!

Family

2008-08-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

The Nephew and I! He is going to be a big brother soon ..... which means Kevin and I are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again :) Kevin's sister is due soon .... so I'll give updates when they are ready!

New

2008-08-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

A new little makeover for my blog! Soon again I shall begin blogging some more. I've just been a tad busy .... welcome to married life. I surely do love having Kevin be my "Hubby" now. Or when we are in a ghetto mood ..... my "H-Dub" or "Hubdizzle."

Haha :)

Summertime hours

2008-07-16T01:28:00.001-07:00

Geesh it's almost 2am and i'm not tired in the least bit. I feel like my day has just begun. But because I have to stay sane and realistic, i need to push myself into bed and just wait till i fall asleep. Good ol' summertime hours are throwing me off! lol. During summer, i always get into funky sleep patterns. As of right now, i sleep to much and then start my days late in the evening. For example: I go to bed around 2am, wake up at 10am and have breakfast and watch The View (yeah yeah i know, but it's mildly entertaining watching those women argue first thing in the morning). So after this ..... i kinda veg and sit on the couch, watching the other crap on t.v. I finally decide there is nothing on worth watching, so i say to myself, " You know what, because it's summer you can.... just go back to bed!" So i do..... and into a 1 1/2 -2 hour nap lol. This leaves me totally energized and i start to want to go out and run errands around 3pm. I feel completely awake around 7 or 8 pm and stay up on my laptop or gaming until about 1 or 2 am.

So yeah, my schedule is going to need some serious re-training once school begins and I have to start working 8am shifts at work, sigh.

So in other words, i need to just enjoy being able to do whatever i want to do until the responsibilities start crawling in! haha. We'll see how that one works...

One Wedding down, onto the next!

2008-07-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Herro everyone! So we are still waiting on our professional photos of the wedding, but trust me you'll see them as soon as they turn up! :o)

Yesterday was Amanda's Bridal shower! Amanda was one of my bridesmaids and a good friend of Kevin and I's. But most of you know her anyways :) haha. I used my camera for about the last half of the shower, so here is the link to the pictures : Amanda's Bridal Shower

We had fun playing games and a bunch of stuff, we even did Toilet Paper Bride and attacked Stacie haha. Here are some pictures of the afternoon !

And now.....

2008-07-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

i'm currently blogging on our other blog right now so go to this blog

and then you can read more blogs!! ( Did i make this all as confusing as possible? lol)

Why hello there folks :)

2008-06-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Everything in the last few months has been SO hectic. But finally, with three weeks to go until the wedding, things are finally coming together and everything feels great. I had my wonderful Bachlorette party, my Bridal shower has happened, and still more festivities to be had! Amanda took me as a present to Disneyland yesterday, and we had so much fun. We were both Brides attacking the town of Disney! Now this weekend, I have my Bachlorette party with my fellow Starbuckians!

Kevin had his amazing Bachelor Party this last weekend in San Diego with his boys. Here are a few pictures from that to share :Thankfully, they all returned safely .... although they all probably napped for about 4 hours once they arrived home. ( I know for a fact kevin did, lol)

3 MORE WEEKS!!!!!

Bridal Shower

2008-06-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I had my bridal shower, and it was wonderful! It was low key, comfy, and so personable. It had been a long time since I had seen a lot of people who were able to come, so it was so nice to be able to catch up with them all, since I probably won't have much time to chat at the wedding. The shower was at my Mom's best friend Judi's home. Judi has always treated me like a daughter, and I was so happy having my shower at her home. Here are some pictures to share with you guys :) I'm sure there will be more coming soon...
Thanks again to everyone who came :) I hope you guys had fun too!

morning after : ick!

2008-05-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

These are the last few pictures that we took on our way home from our long and amazing weekend :) We stopped by a Bagel Place on campus, and had a nice hungover breakfast of bagels and water. After that, we got into our separate cars and headed home ( with the exception of seeing a brand new Lohemans that had opened up, so we had to stop there!)

Bachlorette Party Part II

2008-05-28T22:51:00.001-07:00

On Saturday (after accomplishing a full night of partying in downtown SB), we woke up and headed over UCSB's campus. Pam & Crystal both attended UCSB, so we were given a tour down memory lane and hung out for a while. We got bin candy (which was VERY needed) and we devoured it while we listened to music in the park.

After a nice day out and about in SB, we got all fancied up, & BM Anabelle showed up! So we all headed out to dinner. We were all pretty much exhausted and needed to eat, so we devoured what was put in front of us, haha.

From left to right: Brittani, BM Pamela, Michelle, MOH Crystal, BM Nicole, Bride Christie, and BM Anabelle! (BM Tiffany and BM Amanda were missing)

by the way:
BM= bridesmaid MOH= maid of honor

After taking some cute pictures with everyone, we then headed back to Motel Hacienda to get ready for a party in the room, and then eventually head back out again since we were getting noise complaints from our lovely downstairs neighbors haha.

Bachlorette Party Part 1

2008-05-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

So this post is completely late .... but with the crazy last few weeks of my life with finals, work, and more .... it had to come a tad late :) My B-Party was amazing. Although, i will never be able to party that hard in my life ever again, haha. It was definitely a " try to re-live the good ol' days" and most of us barely survived! Bridesmaid Nicole drove up from San Diego to my place in the LBC, and we then headed over to Bridesmaid Pam's home in Pasadena. I wasn't sure where we were going, so Pam was going to take us to our destination!

After a nice drive up the coast, i realized we were going to Santa Barbara. So Brittani, Pamela, Nicole and I stopped and went shopping for a bit, and then headed to the most amazing place ever: The Hacienda Motel in SB. This would be our place of residence for the weekend, and it was so classic and ghetto fabulous :) We loved it! haha Once we arrived, maid of honor Crystal showed up, and then bridesmaid Tiffany showed up ...... and we got ready for our first night of fun!

We then headed out to downtown Santa Barbara in our costumes. My costume was my hand made t-shirt from crystal that was glitter gel penned with " christie the bride" on it, and then on the back candies hanging from my fake veil. The veil kept falling throughout the night though so it slowly turned into a little chain around my neck and then a veil kite! haha. The girls wore little face masks with feathers on them, and we all had pins on us with nametags of made up names. ( we didn't want any stalkers that night!)

And then the night ended up with us getting some munchies at Dennys:
We were all pretty drunk at this point, having fun with our cups of water and straws ( as demonstrated by Crystal in the back). That's me collapsed over on the table, but Nicole and Tiff both look pretty sane to me!

I'll have another update in the chronicles of Christie's Bachlorette party to follow soon!

Hah!

2008-05-23T00:43:00.001-07:00

more cat pictures

Shelfari

2008-05-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

So i have a new website that i am totally obsessed with. And for all you fellow book lovers out there, i hope you can enjoy it! Kevin's mom got me hooked, and i've had a few friends add it too. It's called Shelfari.

It's an online book lovers community basically, and you have your own personal " shelf " that you can add books that you've read onto. It has pretty decent images of books, and it looks like a cute little bookshelf. It's a good research site too, for people that want book reviews, or even who want to rate and give reviews themselves. Looking at other people's book shelves has helped me compile a list of books that i want to accomplish reading this summer .... I need to find some entertaining ones out there to read while on the beach for the honeymoon :) ( I'll help you edit yours if you need help Nathan! lol).

So go to www.shelfari.com and check it out, you can " add me" as a friend, just type in my name : Christie Nardoni. Kev is on there too and other friends of mine. Hope you guys enjoy it :)

To stay sane would be something that is quite insane

2008-05-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

Lets see: My life in a bucket.

Monday - 1 final Monday (done)

Tuesday - pick up bridesmaid dresses, call academic advisor, call florist,
-call Calamigos, call orthodontist
-cram study for my 3 finals wednesday, and then work from 2:15pm-10:30pm.

Wednesday - grammar final , theatre today final, then theory of fiction and film final at 7:15pm

Thursday - work 8am-4pm ( or something like that) then come home and figure out cupcake and florists situations

Friday: take bridesmaid dresses to them, go get my dress sized up / measured and then altered ( in which i still need to find a friend who will go with me :( )
Saturday: run errands all day, get car and apartment deep cleaned, try to rest
Sunday: work 9-5pm .. ugh.

so basically, my week is insane. It felt good writing this out, but beware for readers: you might become stressed out yourselves. Good Luck to me!

Weekend away!

2008-05-02T13:17:00.001-07:00

I'm off to my Bachlorette Party!! I don't know where i'm going, so it's all a big ol' surprise that my Italian Sister Crystal has pulled off. Apparently she went glue gun happy for some outfits.... so who knows what is in store for me. Eek. lol. So i'm sure i'll have some fun pictures to share when i get back Sunday. Everyone keep Kev some company while i'm gone!

Also, i got my top braces off yesterday. It feels amazing. Now we just have to wait for my bottom teeth to start moving so we can get the bottom ones off.They are being extremely stubborn, sigh.

Ok love you all! Wish me luck this weekend and to come back in one whole piece!

So happy

2008-04-26T00:44:00.001-07:00

So tonight i came home from a long day at work ( but a nice fun grilled cheese dinner at Harbor House with the girls afterwards), and three days after sending out our wedding invitations ..... i come home to 5 RESPONSES ALREADY!!! We got 5 of our little envelopes back in the mail today, and all with " we will attend" checked off :)

We feel so loved, thanks you guys !

Here are those dorky first gift photos btw:

A Perfect Quote

2008-04-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."

Thanks Crystal :)

Our First Present

2008-04-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

As dorky as it is, i was so thrilled to have received our first wedding gift! It was from my stepfather's sister ( so my Aunt) and her husband. They are having their first baby in June so they'll be a tad bit to busy to stop by the wedding :) We were totally surprised that they got us a gift, it made me feel so loved and happy. So, Thankyou Anne-Marie and Rich!

I'll post some pictures when i'm not at school, it's taking forever to load here.

Hope everyone is doing great otherwise. Kev and I are definitely getting giddy about the wedding now :) So please excuse our " cuteness" if you have to witness it firsthand, haha.

Big Step done!!

2008-04-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

The invitations have been ordered!!! yay!

Now back to reality after my wonderful spring break in Arizona with the family :(
but 6 more weeks of school left! ( i think)

Also, if you guys read Kevin and I's wedding website, there are some updates on there too

Can i also praise the happiness that two smores flavored pop tarts can cause when eaten for breakfast? YUM. That pretty much sums up my spring break: pop tarts, 4 dogs, 1 cat and 1 hen, and Souplantation.

next on wedding lists:

-plan honeymoon
-get invitations addressed and out
-figure out all of our music
-meet with our florist to finalize things
- go over to our choices of registry and make sure those are all ready to be viewed :)
- figure out vows
-kevin's suit ... groomsmen
-get my dress altered and get my girl's dresses all together
- bachelortte and bachelor parties!!

ok this list is getting to long... and what's sad is i have a bunch more things to list.... i shall spare you all :)

Finally, fun news for me!

2008-04-01T14:07:00.001-07:00

I'm very happy .... so far i have had a week full of good news, which is definitely a nice change from the last few months! Yesterday i found out that my physical came back perfect. I had a physical about two weeks ago and had my blood drawn, etc. But no worries whatsoever! Perfect cholesterol, my thyroid is fine ( they thought i might have a hyper-thyroid which would explain my sleeping issues lately), perfect blood pressure, etc. My other good news was that i found out that i passed my Written Proficiency Exam at CSULB :) I thought it was way to easy of a written test, but everyone kept telling me to not give my hopes up because their form of grading those tests are ridiculously hard. But, it came back and i passed with flying colors. Woot!

I get to go visit my mom and brother this week in AZ for spring break so i am happy :) I tend to love going to AZ now, it's a home away from home and a nice getaway, plus with great home cooked meals lol. I will miss Kev though :( And, i will be spending most of it doing all the homework that was assigned during spring break ... sigh. I would of stayed around here, but i honestly didn't want to spend my spring break bored and working; all of my friends are out of town/country and Kev will be working and going to Dodger games. At least the Dodger game part is fun :)

Hope everyone else is great! Have a good spring break too!

Yer face

2008-03-27T22:11:00.001-07:00

see more crazy cat pics

The Pyschiatric Ward called School

2008-03-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

As i sit here in the student union at CSULB, i'm taking in deep breaths and trying to relax and focus on my Norton Anthology of English Literature. Fanny Fern talking about women and their existence as understood by men, Emerson talking about " The American Scholar" and Frederick Douglass bringing back terrible memories of growing up on a slave farm and the mistreatment of pure human beings by others. That all sounds so uplifting doesn't it? I always wonder why literature tends to be so depressing. Maybe happy literature would just be to boring. Then again, who was happy during 1820-1865?

Don't get me wrong, I love school and i treasure these moments of sitting with my regular ice blended mocha from Coffee Bean (along with it's perfectly paired blueberry muffin), in the Student Union. But has anyone ever really watched all the other students around them? I was watching others today and trying my best not to laugh. It's hilarious at some of the things that go on around you that you don't notice on a normal basis!

I have my American Lit. Professor sitting in front of me reading a self help book. This i find very interesting. I don't think he notices me in the corner though (thankfully). But i'll be seeing him in two hours for his wonderful midterm. To the other side of me, i have this girl who is loudly reciting her chemistry formulas out loud, and then softly cursing her book when she can't remember a certain formula. About 4 other students near by are completely knocked out in these amazingly comfy chairs the school provides. Some look like they are ready to fall off their chairs, and some have a combination of chairs so they can completely lay down. Two girls just walked behind me, and i swear the blonde said the word " like" about 11 times before walking 10 feet. ( Welcome to cal state long beach, lol)

I just love how odd students can be. We must look like a circus at times, talking to ourselves, cursing our books, falling asleep every chance we get, and more. But we all completely understand each other, because we are going through the same daily cycle of eat, study, eat, work, study, sleep. I think I've been reading to much literature .....

yay for spring break!!

Wedding pictures and updates

2008-03-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Wedding update, with pictures!

Here are my shoes!!! I finally ended up getting the pair i had wanted, and i LOVE them. At first i was scared about trying to pull off red wedding shoes, but i decided that i'm so in love with these that it will be worth it haha.

Here is the back of the bridesmaid dresses.... I would show more but they needed to be tailored and what not, as you can tell by the length :) But also, i didn't want to give to much away! And also, the lovely model bridesmaid is Ms. Amanda :) haha

And here is a dorky picture of my brother and i working on cookie's for the wedding with a fondant icing that we were experimenting with. It was really fun, i've become obsessed with fondant, and you can buy it for a pretty good price at Michaels, and just dye it to whatever color you desire. Plus it tastes amaaazing. My poor brother wasn't enjoying this as much as my mom and I though... hahaI apologize for my brother's hair. I call this his Will Ferrel look .... i guess it's called being 16 again haha.

So far we've gotten pretty much all of our vendors booked, but we just need to do the cake. We even bought our wedding rings last weekend. I don't want to pick mine up though, because i know if i have it in the apartment i won't be able to contain myself from wearing it haha. Now we just need to focus on our songs for the wedding, which is looking to be a lot harder than i thought. You know, it sure is complicated throwing such a huge party!

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

2008-03-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

This was taken from good ol' Wikipedia .... this is amazing haha.

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated constructs. It has been discussed in literature since 1972 when the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport, currently an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.^[1] It was posted to Linguist List by Rapaport in 1992.^[2] It was also featured in Steven Pinker's 1994 book The Language Instinct. Sentences of this type, although not in such a refined form, have been known for a long time. A classic example is the proverb "Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you".

here is the link to read more
Buffalo

and the best sentence ever: hus, the sentence when parsed reads as a description of the pecking order in the social hierarchy of buffaloes living in Buffalo:

[Those] (Buffalo buffalo) [whom] (Buffalo buffalo buffalo) buffalo (Buffalo buffalo).

[Those] buffalo(es) from Buffalo [that are intimidated by] buffalo(es) from Buffalo intimidate buffalo(es) from Buffalo.

Bison from Buffalo, New York who are intimidated by other bison in their community also happen to intimidate other bison in their community.

Joys of registering

2008-02-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

Kevin: So you didn't register for a lot of Martha Stewart things did you?
Christie: *quiet*
Kevin: Crap
Christie: Here, you can just look....
Kevin: Holy Sh*t
Christie: heh heh heh
Kevin: I WILL NOT HAVE A MARTHA STEWART MEAT TENDERIZER!!
Christie: heh heh heh

haha .... i love this :) Don't worry..... i took the martha stewart meat tendorizer off the list for him, i'm not THAT mean :)

This is what i look like when i eat

2008-02-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, some of you might know.... i have a VERY big soft spot for hedgehogs. Ever since i was little my grandma and i have been addicted to hedgehogs. ( Kevin had discovered my soft spot when we went into the pet store in Vegas and they sold them there.... i was THIS close to making him let me buy one..... yeah right lol)

Anyways, you have to watch this video till the end, the end makes it worth it :)

Ballerina memories

2008-02-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

I remember the days that were so easy .... walking down the street from the condo my family and i had lived in until i was about 3. While walking down the street, my eyes caught on to many other girls my age who were running around in their tutus and twirling around, feeling the breeze and fresh air around them as they spun. My eye's had found their focus, and i was determined to one day be inside that dance studio with a ballerina outfit on and TWIRL till i couldn't twirl anymore. At least i would be huffing and puffing on my way home to be able to get home and tell someone about what i had learned!

After moving from this condo, we moved to my favorite home ever on Cordova Street, where i was able to run up and down freely in my driveway and be the best ballerina ever! Which is what the above picture presents : Me excited in our new driveway in my new outfit!!

Missing

2008-02-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

I'm alive, i swear. I've been SO busy lately, every day is either work or school. And then the one days i have fully off.... i have a list of stuff i need to do ( and then i end up sitting on the couch for 5 hours straight watching Law & Order marathons on TNT, lol).

Every saturday that I have off for the next month is booked; Kevin and I have our nephews 1st birthday this saturday, next saturday i have to take my WPE exam at school, and so on and so on.

I hope everyone else is doing good and eventually i'll try to make some decent post!!

p.s. i'm freaking out because i've been procrastinating on so many wedding things, and it's coming up in 4 1/2 months!! I still have yet to get a DJ booked.... register.... eek, i'll shut up now :)

New Semester

2008-01-28T11:52:00.001-08:00

So here I am, sitting at school waiting for my next class to begin. My first class got out within 10 minutes since we don't have our books yet.... so I had the pleasure of catching up on my Medium episodes while waiting the two hours before my next class, lol. So far, i'm already scared for this semester and I've only been to one class. My first class was English Grammar 320. Our teacher looks as if he is in his 70's, talks extremely slow ( class is 2 hours so this will be interesting) and told us that 40% of the students that take this class will either fail or drop out. Way to start the day!! haha. The book for this grammar class is an old grammar book that is about 4 x 6, and about 50 pages thick of old, dirty and used pages. Doesn't look like he has changed the books he uses for about 50 years, haha. So this will be interesting .... but I have to find a way to pass this class because it is required for my English Education BA. So good luck to me!

Now i'm off to " Theatre Today" and " Survey of American Literature"

Wish me luck! Sigh

Love

2008-01-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a shoe person, but i'm in love with these. I think i might just have to be a little risky and have red wedding shoes ;)

Update: What the heck... i just got an email saying that my order for these was canceled because they didn't have any more in stock, and they refunded my money. SIGH. I swear, it was to good to be true to find my wedding shoes for 14.99 from payless, haha. And especially the fact that they only had two sizes left and i was going to be getting the " last size 7 regular."

Updates from here... and there.....

2008-01-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone :) So after finally recovering from the flu, I'm back in action and trying to enjoy my last week and a half before school starts. I'm so not looking forward to school ... why you might ask? Because I am taking the most insane classes ever: English Grammar, Shakespeare, Theory of Fiction and Film, and Survey of English Literature. Each one of these classes seems interesting and challenging, but all together: I'm going to go insane! So wish me luck :)

So Kev and I did our taste testing for the wedding! It ended up being pretty fun; it was about 60 other couples who were going to be married at the same location, and we all were sat at tables for two to enjoy our food. We helped ourselves to appetizers, had waiters pass appetizers around, then we helped ourselves to the main courses and the chocolate fountain for dessert. We found some things we really liked, and some we really didn't. The things we were looking the most forward to ended up being disappointments... but we were really happy with an herb stuffed chicken and the prime rib. We also fell in love with the baked potatoes, grilled vegetables and rosemary grilled potatoes. I tried coconut shrimp for the first time too.. and was amazed! So we have some fun choice to make coming up.... but whatever the dinners will end up being, they'll be good :) I'm hungry for them now.....

I've also been busy doing more stuff for my mom's business. We ended up putting her stuff up onto a website called Etsy. It's like an ebay for people who make their own products and would like to sell them. Her storefront is here if you would like to check it out. It's been fun, and it's a good way to put her business out there and get tips from other people like her and how to sell stuff, get the word out, etc. I've also made her a blog, which she wanted to get into. So if your still bored enough you can check that out here. She just needs to learn the lingo of blogs and such now :) Which will be funny to watch....

And on the wedding note, the bridesmaid dresses are in! I'm thrilled and want to go look at them now.... but that would be ridiculous and i'll have to wait till i get a bridesmaid with me, haha. I also ordered my wedding shoes...... i got them online though, so i'm crossing my fingers they look as good as they did online. And did i mention they were on clearance for $14.99 ?! SCORE! It was fun, the other day i went shopping with my friend Amanda who is also getting married this summer, and we went shopping for bridesmaid dresses for her wedding :) It was fun, we picked the dresses ( which are totally cute) and had our normal lunch at Super Mex. Tis the season for weddings! ( and stress? lol)

Food!

2008-01-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I found out that we get to go this Thursday to the Equestrian Center ( our wedding site) to try out all the yummy foods to pick out for our wedding menu ...... this could either be really dangerous or really fun! Haha. Hopefully we find something we like, i'm very curious how they go about doing this. I have a mental image of Kev and I sitting at a table with 16 different mini plates in front of us with little ice cream scoop sizes of food, and then little rating cards for each one. Hm, I guess we'll see.

Any advice from anyone that has been through this? aka Nathan? haha

Holiday Cheers bring on Holiday Colds

2008-01-06T12:41:00.001-08:00

Once again, after all the fun of the holidays, I am sick. I apologize for no posts in the last few weeks, but they sure have been rough ones. I think i cursed myself by making a post about being happy and anxiety free a while back, because almost three weeks ago i was hit really hard with bad anxiety and insomnia. Fun! After struggling through those mentally hard times, i've learned how to have faith that I can and will become better once again, i just need to trust in things happening over time. Kevin has been a huge help also .... staying up late with me while I paced and being supportive, while also trying to crack me up with humor. So after all that " exciting" stuff..... i've now been hit with the flu massively! I haven't been this sick in a long time, and about 5 other coworkers are currently sick too...... calling out or being at work and spreading the joy of the flu. Unfortunately it's very hard for me to call out because i'm a Shift Lead, and there are very few others that could help take over my shift since they all have either worked that same day or have to many other hours. So yes, being sick and working around food and drinks = not a good idea. But i can't just leave them stranded either while we are changing management over and have no real support.

Kevin and I had some good times during the holidays though :) Even though i wasn't feeling well, we did a lot. Christmas morning we went over to Kevin's parents home and had our first Christmas with the nephew Sean :) He is to cute.... he is only almost 1 so he couldn't really comprehend all these presents he was receiving, but it was still just fun to give them to him. After that we went home, and Kevin's parents then came over Christmas night to have some dinner at our apartment; some nice classic taco salad!

A few days after Christmas, the apartment below us and to the right caught on fire. I got the emergency phone call from Kevin while I was at work to hurry home. I did, and to make a long story short everything ended up being okay. The man had left his stove on and left his apartment, therefore causing an electrical fire that had our stove even smoking from behind. We are now looking into renters insurance because that scared the crap out of us, not a fun thing to go through....

The next day Kevin, my brother and I drove to AZ to go be with my mom and stepfather and celebrate a late christmas there. We had a fun four days there with opening presents, playing new Wii games ( harry potter and mario galaxy) and having an outdoor block party bonfire. After our long drive home, we had new years to celebrate! We went to my friend ( and bridesmaid!) Pam's home in Pasadena to have some drinks and watch t.v. and relax. We were going to spend the night and then walk down to the Rose Parade the next morning, but around 2:30 AM my anxiety started to kick up and I trusted my instincts and told Kev we needed to go home, which he was fine with and supportive of.

So even though there was stress here and there, and i'm now sick, it was a good holiday time after all, and i'm ready to start this new year :) It's the year of the wedding! yay!

End of the semester!!!

2007-12-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

Today was my last final of my first semester at CSULB!!! Now I am just in Arizona with my Mom, Brother & Stepdad relaxing and calming all the jitters before the holidays. I hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Thoughts

2007-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

You have to believe in yourself and trust yourself
know your body and know your feelings
just know that things happen for a reason
and they are all learning experiences

honesty is the key to love for others and love for yourself

Anxiety and Paxil

2007-12-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Today i'm not really feeling well; I'm having a bad anxiety day and i have no idea why. This is what prompted me to write this blog .... the reason why i used to be on Paxil and how some people really do need anti-depressents to help them function.

During my Sophomore year in highschool, my English teacher ( also a family friend) noticed that while taking tests, i would start to shake and just stare at the walls about half way through the test. Apparently I did this enough where she decided to let my parents know, and they kept it in the back of their heads and watched me more. I personally don't remember doing these things, but I do remember all of a sudden during a test blanking on everything i studied... and not being able to finish the test.

During my Freshman and Sophomore years ..... I was on the Varsity Softball Team. I held one of the highest batting averages in the area, took most of the Senior and Junior's spots on the field, and was an overall great player. Once the end of my Sophomore year came around, I realized that I suddenly lost the ability to play Softball like i once had; I would swing at things above my head, run to get a ball in the outfield and drop my glove looking like an idiot because my brain was so boggled, and i basically became a bench warmer. Because of this I felt socially awkward, and I couldn't explain to anyone why my abilities started to disappear.

My mom decided to take me to her doctor, and i described to him little odd things that i had been feeling, but i obviously never had thought of as a problem. He diagnosed me with Social Anxiety.

I began to put things together, and i realized that the things that my doctor had said i would experience with Social Anxiety i had been experiencing all alone.... i just thought it was normal, especially with all the different emotions and things one goes through while in highschool.

Little weird things would happen to me..... I would go out to the movies, and in the middle of the movie i would start to experience feelings like i was having a heart attack. Or when i was out to dinner, i'd be in mid conversation and all of a sudden i would get hot in my neck and want to throw up.

My body and brain were missing parts ( or a chemical imbalance, although i like the term " missing parts" it's kind of more fun, haha) and my brain sometimes couldn't handle a situation like a normal person would. I didn't have that little extra something that coated a nerve to help out a situation.

So after about 6 years on Paxil, i decided to go off about a 1 year ago. I'm doing so much better now.... but it really is hard feeling emotions compared to before. Being on Paxil always made me such a happy bubbily person, I had more patience than the average person ( which was great for working at Starbucks) but I was also numb to a lot of things that I didn't realize, like emotional pain and frustration, etc.

So to get to my point, I still really bad days, such as today. I got home from a get together around 3, and for some reason couldn't fall asleep. I got about 1/2 an hour of sleep, and i've been semi-shaking for most of the day. I have a ball of anxiety located between my ribs, that i just want to blink and have disappear. I try to breathe deeply and hope it removes itself, but it still stays there. I read, watch t.v., think of something happy so I smile ( like my wedding coming up!), but that ball is still there.

I don't believe i'll ever go back on Paxil, but there are defintitely days where i feel i need it. But i've come to terms that it's okay if you need a medication to get you through the day. We all aren't created equal .... and neither are our chemicals, haha.

Inspiration Board Attempt #1

2007-12-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

So lately with all this wedding stuff, I've been keeping up with a lot of websites that I have truly come to love, and one of them is www.stylemepretty.com

Inspiration boards are a feature on a lot of wedding websites these days, and I have made an attempt of my own featuring colors and styles that I would love on my wedding day .... I'm sure there will be many more to follow with how many ideas keep coming and going through my mind!

San Francisco

2007-12-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

During Thanksgiving weekend, my Dad, Brother, Kevin and I went to San Francisco for a little getaway. SF was probably my first real big "city" experience; using all types of transportation except cars, walking everywhere and battling it out on the sidewalks, and having the fun of looking things up on maps to see where restaurants were and such. I loved SF, it's become my new little obsession. It's a place that i feel like i would love to live in for a year to just soak up that culture.

On Thursday ( Thanksgiving) morning, Kevin and I woke up around 8am and began our drive to SF. We got there around 4pm, and went into our hotel room at the King George Hotel located in the Union District ( aka shopping area). Our room was SO tiny. There was a wall, and then a bedside table, then the bed, then another bedside table, and then the wall. I think it was all of 8x8 at the most. Then there was a sliding door that led to the bathroom, which itself was about 6x6. So we hung out in there a lot cause it felt like another room! We then went to dinner at Blue Crush, with my Dad and Brother, and then with two family friends and their families who were also visiting SF for the holidays. After a nice expensive dinner, we walked around the area. We got onto the Trolley and headed for Fisherman's Wharf. It was dark and we were all tired, so we didn't stay for to long. Because it was dark we couldn't see all sea lions at Pier 39, so we knew we would go back later on in the weekend. For the first time in my life, I saw steam coming out of the grates in the ground! I felt like a little kid, I was all giddy and awestruck. I get excited at odd things...
Total miles walked in that day: About 2.

Friday morning we awoke and went to breakfast with my Dad and Bro. They took us to this place called Dotties. Dotties was a very small diner, and we had to wait in a line for 30 minutes outside to just get seated. Of course while standing outside, we had our fun encounters with the homeless people and one man proclaiming that he saw Kevin in a movie the previous night, lol. After our breakfast, Kevin and I got some shopping done. It was " black friday," and it was insane. We didn't really last long, so after this we headed over to the Exploratorium which is an awesome hands on science museum/center. We had so much fun looking around inside, and then outside was another story. It was gorgeous, amazing, beautiful; anything that you think you would see if you went to Europe or something. There were gorgeous statues and buildings, and my brother went climbing and posed with some things that we probably could of gotten kicked out for :) haha.

We then walked over to the Italian District, where we went to Pomodoros. This was a really good Italian place that Wayne Brady actually owns. After this, we got lost in search for a gelato place.... which lead us into the Chinese District. Good lord, i felt like i really was in China. It's amazing how segregated SF is with it's different districts, and how people of different cultures really only stay in those certain areas. So after walking about 2 miles, we found ourselves back in the Italian district and got our ice cream. After this, my Dad thought it would be fun ( and funny) to watch us hike up Lombard St. This is the famous street that is known as the " windiest street in the world." After hiking up that, i figured i was going to die soon so we headed back to the hotel. Total miles walked in that day: around 5.

On Saturday, we woke up around 10am and then got breakfast ( another place where we stood in a line outside for about 20 minutes). We got into our car and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to a place called Muir Woods. We went on a hike that was amazing; a bunch of redwood trees, and we also saw these creepy bannana slugs ( or at least thats what we assumed they were). We hiked about 3 miles before heading back to our car, once again exhausted. The boys also helped a guy push his car back up the mountain when he accidentally went over the edge.
That remained the fun joke of the day, haha.
Total miles walked that day: around 4

Sunday I wanted to finish some shopping, since i couldn't do it on Friday cause of all the crowds. My dad and brother had already left on their flights back since my brother needed to return to AZ. So kevin and i were able to enjoy some time together, and we went back to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions. We ate at Boudin's Bakery for lunch; they are known for their famous bread bowls. So we had one full of Chili and were in heaven.

So all in all, it was an amazing weekend. We walked SO much, but it also felt really good to be out and about. I want to go back so badly one day, and experience more areas and what not. It was a really good Thanksgiving weekend. I like this idea of traveling with family on Thanksgiving. It's hard these days to keep close with family with everyone's schedules, and this is a really fun and good idea to keep everyone together and have fun. I got some nice and dorky souvenirs.... a Starbucks SF mug, and a cute little Christmas ornament shaped as a classic SF style home. So i'm happy :)

Natalie Portman

2007-11-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

Natalie Portman did a wonderful video for The New York Times and just answers simple questions and talks about life. After watching this, i asked myself the same questions. See if you have the urge to do the same.

Anniversary

2007-11-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy 8 year anniversary to Kevin and I :) If you would of told me when i was 15 that kevin and i would still of been together 8 years later, i couldn't describe the happy look that i would of had on my face :) Maybe something like a 6 year old girl at her first disney princess movie?

Hajijiba?

2007-11-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

This is how i feel about picking up my wedding dress today :

fjksfjadksfjdsklfjadsklfjdsklfjasdkfjdsgfhaghkdghiagkajfgksafj!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's sitting in my father's closet...... I want to wear it every night while sitting on the couch and watching t.v. or playing computer games.

Sorry, i'm just a tad excited. It was more gorgeous today then the day i tried it on.

I heart my dress, the end.

YAY!!! FINALLY!

2007-11-16T21:34:00.001-08:00

The trailer for " The Other Boleyn Girl" ..... one of my favorite books of all time, i was scared this movie was going to be a disappointment .... but this trailer has completely proved otherwise ... the countdown begins! :)

Trailer

Christie 101

2007-11-13T21:56:00.001-08:00

I like to eat ice cream while watching The Biggest Loser.
I rule.

Wedding Website

2007-11-12T11:38:00.001-08:00

Kevin and I's wedding website is back up and in action again :) It will be on the save the date cards which will be coming out soon..... but for now have fun looking at it :)

http://wrightnardoniwedding.com

Politics

2007-11-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

So, i don't normally dabble in politics. I don't like the anger that it can bring out in people, and i feel that people can sometimes become to blindsided about what others think that they can't properly think for themselves.

Today i was listening to talk radio.... and they were talking about an incident that happened this last week with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton and her campaign managers, etc. were on the road and stopped in Ohio (or possibly Utah... i always get those two confused for some reason). Before stopping at a local diner, Hillary's campaign people warned this diner that they would be bringing Hillary and many other top notch people, so be prepared. Once at the diner, Hillary spoke to a waitress that worked there, and listened to her story. It was a normal story of a single mother of two who was having to work two jobs in order to properly feed and support her children that she loved so dearly. Hillary was so touched by this story, that later on in the day on her campaign trail she re-told this story of this women she met, focusing on the financial hardships that people in America sometimes have to go through in order to survive.

Because the manager of the diner knew ahead of time Hillary and her team were arriving, he decided to comp all of their meals. Very, very nice of him. Especially for the fact that Hillary probably comes in tow with 10+ people.

So where is the problem? Hillary, nor anyone else in her whole campaign, tipped ANYONE inside that diner. Their whole meal was comped, Hillary had been "touched" by this women's story of her hardships of not earning enough money, and THEY DIDN'T LEAVE A SINGLE PENNY.

I'm not going to say much more..... cause i'm sure you all can guess my opinion on this. But i wanted to share...... I'm not saying this will or won't make me vote for Hillary (i still have yet to declare who i would vote for) but i think small stories like this make a huge difference and really show a person's true character.

Eeek

2007-11-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

My wedding dress has arrived.. now i just have to finish paying for it and go pick it up. The bridesmaid gowns are almost ordered ( waiting for one more girl) and today kevin and i bought our save the date cards. This is becoming more realistic and freaky!! I'm so excited, but also so nervous. Eeek!

For all you guitar hero fans.....

2007-11-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

holy crap .....

Peace or War?

2007-11-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

I've been struggling with something lately and i don't know how to take care of it. All of my life this has been somewhat of an issue but i've always been able to come out on top i guess. This may seem stupid, but this has bitten me in the ass way to many times.

I'm to nice. Sad, huh? haha

I tend to put my feelings and emotions on the backburner when other people are involved, and because of all of the wedding planning i've been going through, i've discovered that it can actually become a problem. I can't really go into details because i'm not sure who reads this.... but i put a lot of love into picking certain people to be in my wedding and they aren't reciprocating. ( Well, only one of them isn't). This person has screwed me over 3 times now, and each time i just keep thinking it was because they were to busy or really did have something better to do. But now i realize that ever since we were children i've put more into our relationship than she has, and that is how it currently is. I guess i'm stuck in thinking that she cares as much about me as i do her.... since i've always looked up to her.

So here is my dilemma .... do i finally learn how to stick up for myself and tell this person that she needs to either start being involved? .... or that maybe it's better that she isn't in it. See...my normal way of handling this would be to let it slide and just let it play out while my feelings get hurt, because i don't want to upset the other person. I don't want them to think of me as a bad individual and that i ruined our relationship. Now that i write this i can see how irrational that sounds, but i've always been this way.

So i guess this is more of a rant, but i ( simply put) don't know how to be mean, lol. I guess i've always put out so much more for my friends, and when i finally ask for them to be there for me, i can tell which ones really care about me and which ones are just there because they've been there for 20+ years.
I know everyone just says to just do it and i'll be happy afterwards, i just don't know how to make that first step and how to communicate this to them without being rude.

Guitar Heroes!!

2007-10-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

Kevin and I have purchased Guitar Hero III for the Wii. We now have no life, thanks! :)

What a FUN game, plus it's fun to listen to each other play it cause there is now constantly good music playing in our apartment. I smell a Wii party coming on....

Creativity

2007-10-29T20:06:00.001-07:00

So i've found this new website, and i'm totally obsessed. It's called www.moo.com
and you can make your own postcards, stickers, cards, etc. You can either use their designs that they have from various fun designers, or you can upload your own photos or designs and use them. They aren't that expensive either.... 20 postcards or cards for 20$. I spent so much time having fun looking around on this site, you guys should check it out if your in a creative mood :)

Philosophy

2007-10-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Food for thought:

When it comes to love you need not fall but rather surrender.
Surrender to the idea that you must love yourself before you can love another.
You must absolutely trust yourself before you can absolutely trust another and
most importantly you must accept your flaws before you can accept the flaws
of another

" Killing our children"

2007-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

I titled this blog to a term that i heard on Oprah the other day. I've seen this title before, on the TLC show " Honey we are killing our kids." Honestly this phrase scares me, but i am one of the people who believe it to be true. Physical activity has become non-existent in peoples homes, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Sure, we could blame television, videogames and computers, but it all still falls back to people in their own homes, making the daily decisions that they do. All of these electronics have become babysitters for parents, making parents jobs easier. So why shouldn't they just put their kids in front of that television while they can catch up on their emails?

When watching Oprah's show yesterday, i was just so thrilled that she was speaking out about this. Of course many people do.... but we all know how powerful Oprah's praise is! haha. In a discussion, she asked the audience members " How many of you used to walk home from school?" About 75% raised their hands. Then she asked, " How many of your children walk home from school?" Only 1 PERSON raised their hand. Out of what, 300 audience members? I know that it's more dangerous now for children to walk home with child predators and what not, but where did we go wrong and make it this way? Without that little daily dose of exercise, children aren't getting the energy they need.

I used to always walk home from school. I used to love it ... my cat Sally would be sitting at the corner of my old street every day around 3:30 waiting for me to turn that bend, and then we would join each other in the walk back to our home. I obviously stopped doing it once i graduated high school and drove a car, and i miss it at times and i'm sure part of my weight gain has to do with that little missing piece. ( 20 pounds since graduating high school... are you kidding me?)

So for the last 6 weeks, i have now lost 7 pounds! How? I walk the endless miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays at school to my classes and back. That is the only thing i'm doing different, and i have a smaller size jean to prove it! To me this just shows what a big difference this could make on our children .... they need just that little bit more exercise to help. I know it's hard, the world can't be perfect. But we can't all go around killing our next generation of children with allowing them to sit in front of their computers all day either, can we?

Feeling Accomplished!

2007-09-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've definitely been in a great mood lately :) I've been working only weekdays ( for some reason my manager has felt the need to give me weekends off... who am i to complain!) and school is tough, but it's so much nicer taking classes that i actually am interested in, rather than those wonderful GE requirements we all have to take.

My Linguistics is a killer.... it's a lot of reading but it's interesting learning how infants learn their language skills and how ESL speakers deal with their issues of speech. I had my first " I really am in college now" experience too! My Comic Spirit teacher decided to bring his Rum bottle to class last Thursday and take a swig of it while teaching. Now mind you... that probably is 100% wrong and i'm sure the Faculty wouldn't be happy if they knew, but it was HILARIOUS. It got me to wake up and listen... which is always a plus. My other classes are okay, just a lot of short story reading and comparing ideas. I'm reading about 3 hours a day of homework. The life of an English Major. ( Sorry Harry Potter, your going to be ignored for a very long time until i decide to like books again)

I went out with one of my bridesmaids ( Amanda!) on Sat. and we went bridesmaid dress shopping :) I've been stressing myself out to much by looking at things online : i've been filling my brain with to many ideas and i've become overwhelmed. But once we went into a store, 5 dresses later I picked one. I've learned i need to just go look at things and quit researching as much as I have been. The dresses are gorgeous and i'm excited to see all of my girls in them looking amazing ! Only 9 more months to go till the wedding.... now onto save the dates, finding a DJ, an Officiant, and a florist. Any recommendations?

A Change of Heart

2007-09-30T10:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, normally i dislike Kanye West. But this SNL video made me laugh and kind of like him a tad more .... this is just to funny. " OH HELLLL NO!"

Party Cake!

2007-09-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Process of planning a wedding summed up in a short video, haha.

RIP Disneyland Pass

2007-09-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Disneyland Pass,

Oh, how we will miss you. For the past 6 years Kevin and I have had you. We've watched your price rise faster than the housing market, but we still stood by. We spent many days and nights at your park, being there for openings such as The Tower of Terror, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and more. After seeing your price raised to the skyrocketing $359.00, we have decided to let you go. We shall miss you greatly. Kevin shall miss running into the trash cans on purpose, or kicking kids heads while trying to get through the traffic of OC teens and parents. I shall miss people watching and observing parents that bring their 2 month olds and then freak out when the child starts to cry on Pirates of the Carribean. But most of all, we'll miss the memories of our date nights together.

So until we win the lottery and can become passholders again.....

- Kevin and Christie

Vintage Sweet Peas

2007-09-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

So i finally finished my mother's website! I took on this task during the summer and wanted to help my Mom out starting her new business. She makes vintage dresses, t-shirts, jackets and more for little girls out of vintage linens that she has found.

Vintage Sweet Peas

So go check it out if you can :) They are really cute to look at and if you know anyone that sells items like these or would be interested in them, pass along the link please ! Since we are new.... the word of mouth really helps.

A few of my favorite things

2007-09-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

The reds in this wedding above are amazing. I'm trying to find bridesmaid dresses in this color, but it just feels so romantic and fun at the same time. Cake is a little to grandma-ish for me though, haha.

This wedding called out to me in a heartbeat. Kevin and I want to try to have a candy table, like the one featured in the above picture, and i love the theme of the seating cards. I have the most creative friends and i know i'm going to have so much fun making all these things with them and my mom. I'm definitely going to try and see how many diy projects i can do to save money. There is no harm in trying and i will feel so accomplished and i hope it will make the wedding more personal :) The colors in the above wedding are amazing too

photos courtesy of my new favorite website : www.stylemepretty.com

Starbucks has kidnapped my brain & sanity

2007-09-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

So i'm 100% stuck. To be honest and get to the point, i hate my job. There was a time when i once loved working for Starbucks : i loved the culture of it, i loved those rainy days serving people coffee and laughing with my coworkers over our lives. I built so many great friendships when i use to live in Glendale at my old store, and it was an amazing job. Now, i've been with the company for 5+ years and i am struggling to stay sane. I'm not happy when i come home, sometimes i'm ready to cry because i'm sick of listening to people complaining about their lives and me holding most of the weight on my shifts. I feel bad for all the times Kevin has had to listen to me complaining and being upset.

But here's my problem and where I'm stuck and sucked in. I've been with the company for a LONG time, which means i'm getting paid pretty well for being only a shift lead. I get full time benefits for only working part time. I get stock. I get tips. I get amazing hours and the flexibility is amazing, i'm in control of it all. So how do i leave? I know once Kevin and I get married i can be put onto his benefits if i need to..... but that's not till next summer. I just am to comfortable and don't know how to leave. I guess this is the downside of being with a company so long , i'm to comfortable and am scared of having to go through the process of interviews and such again. But also, i can't find another part time job that will pay me decently and give me the hours i want ( since i'm at school currently).

I wish i would have gotten out of working for Starbucks a long time ago. I wouldn't be stuck in the vortex that i am now. Hm...

Wedding Site

2007-09-10T14:09:00.001-07:00

So i finally posted some pictures of the LA Equestrian Center where Kevin and I will be getting married next June :) Like i said, it's at the LA Equestrian Center - Calamigos Ranch, in Burbank, CA. It's across the street from Pickwick for those of you who know where that is.

So here are the pictures from the last time i went there to check it out. Enjoy :)

Wedding Site

p.s. I'm so excited :)

Poor, Poor Brit

2007-09-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Britney Spears,
I was semi looking forward to watching you prove yourself to everyone out there that
a) Dislikes you
b) Thinks your on drugs 24/7
c) Thinks your talent disappeared ( the little that there was)
d) Thinks you always lip-sync to your own music
e) Thinks you weren't sane anymore and you could never have a comeback

You failed. And wow, did you ever! At least she did a great job at failing miserably?

Ouch

2007-09-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

So first i'll start with the good news. I really love school :) I started yesterday and i feel like i finally belong to a college ( Since now i'm at a REAL college! Like that reference Jesica?). I was able to see a lot of people that i knew and had fun having my classes with Shannon. Shannon's a coworker of mine who is also majoring in English Lit. / Education so we can take our classes together and help each other out. I'm taking 4 classes : Comparative World Lit., Ethnic Writers, Linguistics, and The Comic Spirit. I have a LOT of reading and writing to do, but it's what i get for being an English major, right? So in other words, it's going to be hard..... but i'm really happy at CSULB, it's beautiful there and i can't wait to meet more people and just have fun.

Ok.... now onto my FREAKING PAIN. Sorry, haha. I went to the dentist today. I've always liked going to the dentist, i've been lucky and have never had a cavity or worse. Two weeks ago i went, and i was told i had two cavities. So of course i was worried and expected the worse, just because i've never had anything happen with my teeth. So, today was my appointment for my fillings. In the middle of them and smelling that disgusting smell of my teeth being shaved down, my dentist realized that i didn't just have a cavity ..... i had a tooth that needed a root canal! So to make a long story short, i had 1/2 the root canal done today... and then i'm going back next wednesday to have it finished. But, next wednesday i also am getting my braces tightened for the first time.

So in other words, i'll be nice and high on meds next wednesday, so if you want to be amused, call me :)

Sorry, this turned more into a rant. But my mouth is throbbing currently and i needed to rant just a tad bit......

7th Grade Memories

2007-08-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

My braces are killing me...... and i think that something is wrong with my right upper gum area because i can't even smile without cold air touching my gums and them starting to throb. Of course my mouth decided to have issues on a 4 day weekend for my dentist and orthodontist.

p.s. yes i have braces now. i used to have them back in the 7-8th grade, but i was " cool " and never wore my retainers. So now i've decided to get braces again before the wedding so i can feel confident about my smile again. 8 more months till they are off.....

My Way Of Escape

2007-08-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

So, i've become completely obsessed with the one thing i've always made fun of. Harry Potter. During the summer i went to Arizona and i saw the 5th movie in the theater with my family. I had never read the books before, never seen any of the movies, and always thought that the people that obsessed their lives around this series of books and movies really had nothing else better to do. After seeing the movie, which was pretty darn good ( even though i was lost throughout the whole thing) and after seeing the stack of all the books sitting in my brothers room going un-used, i decided to give it a try. I needed something new to peak my interest before school started. So i began.....

Now in one month i've read 4 of the books, and i'm now beginning the 5th. Obviously, i'm happy. Haha. I now take back making fun of individuals who sat with their noses in these books for the last few years, although i still am scared of the people that actually take it as far to dress up as the characters. They started off short and fun, and now they are developing into major novels and it's amazing to see the transition that J.K. Rowling makes with them. Even though they are simply written, the connection that the reader gets to feel with Harry and the others is simply amazing and it's easy to get completely lost and forget about what's going on around you.

So now i've learned to try things before i really do decide that i've disliked them, because i've found something that has made my summer that much better. And obviously about 90% of you out there have already read these, but if you haven't, give the first book a try and see what happens. You never know :)

Quick Ketchup?

2007-08-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

So i've started this blog again because i feel like i have so many special things coming up this year that i want to be able to share them with everyone. So welcome, once again :)

I get to start school next week at CSULB! It took me a while to become excitied over this, because my summer just seemed to be cut way to short. I wasn't able to spend as much time traveling or doing the things i wanted because of not being able to get out of work, but that's life i guess. I was able to travel to Arizona though for 5 days, and i enjoyed that time away. But now i'm fully prepared and excited :) GO BEACH! I have to admit it's also fun that Kevin went there and graduated. Now we can decorate our apartment with Long Beach stuff and it's fun.

And .... for the fun wedding update!! We have 10 months to go until June 29th, our wedding. Kevin and I picked out where it will be held ( Calamigos - The LA Equestrian Center in Burbank) and it felt like a big accomplishment to get that part done. And last month my mom and Crystal ( my maid of honor) and I went shopping for a wedding dress, and after the 5th one that i tried on, i found mine ! I felt like something was missing because it was so easy ..... but i guess i'm just simple like that :) Kevin keeps bugging me to see if i will one day give in to telling him what it looks like, but so far i haven't budged :)

So for now thats just a quick update, and there will be a bunch more to come!

and yes.... i know i spelled the word Ketchup as my title, i thought i'd be quirky with my beginning of becoming an English Major.... just pretend you laughed