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So, almost 6 months into our marriage, E and I still haven't scheduled our day after session or finalized our wedding album photos. We feel like terrible, terrible clients. It's pretty sad since our photos were/are the most important thing to us from our wedding day (aside from getting married, of course!) and we've just been too insanely busy to finalize things. In my defense, I did have all my favorites picked out but I only saved them in our wonderful photographer's online gallery and I'm pretty sure they weren't saved when our gallery expired. Whoops.

Despite our terrible slothliness (yes, I did just make that up) a really awesome wedding blog has decided to feature our engagement session! We love our engagement photos, we all put so much work into the shoot and it's really cool to see them recognized on another site.

You can check them out here at The Bride's Cafe. 

Now all we have to do is get our asses in gear, lose our post wedding pounds, schedule our day after shoot, and get our photos! We've managed to give a framed photo to almost all the people that helped us but we still don't actually have one for ourselves. We don't even have our photos on disc yet. That's some epic failage in the marriage department there and we need to get it taken care of ASAP. 

Where Has the Time Gone???

Wow, I can't believe it's been weeks and weeks since I last posted. I have no idea where the time went or what I've been doing during that time. Half written, unpublished posts litter my blog waiting to be finished and I just haven't had the time to do so.

For anyone that's been wondering, I chose option A:
- Full time work
- Part time school
- Loans roll over

I've been working 9-5(ish) as a researcher for a wonderful non-profit institute. I really enjoy what I'm doing  and it keeps me really busy, taking up extra time in the morning and evening as well. School has also started back up and I'm now working 40+ hours a week and taking two classes. It doesn't leave much time for anything and what extra time I do have I've been filling with all the things I used to take care of before I worked full time.

It's incredible how much work goes into running a house and I enjoy researching and picking out all the things we need. I definitely don't have time to do that during the day anymore so all house matters are regulated to the evenings where they compete with online classes and spending time with E.

Poor Milou is really feeling the effects of me working full time. Since I started she's been acting clingy and a little possessive, even whimpering a little when I leave for work. It's pretty heart breaking but she's an expensive girl and someone's gotta pay for her raw food and luxury pet crate!

New pet residence! Now how to fit it through the doorway??

Milou sleeping in her new house <3

Holy Paychecks Batman, More Work!

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After just two short weeks in my current position, my boss has offered me a full time job. It was really unexpected but upon further consideration I think it's a fabulous opportunity for me and for E and I together. The salary will allow us to save more so we might be able to work towards a decent down payment. It has fantastic health, vision and dental. There is some travel involved. They pay for lunch everyday. It'll look fabulous on a grad school resume. While I was nervous at first, I'm getting more and more excited about it. The only thing left is to make a decision about what to do with classes while working which is tough because it's so tied up in other factors:

Option A: 
- Full time job
- Part time school (no tuition)
- Loans roll over
- I keep parental insurance
- Possible pro-rated salary due to insurance not needed

Option B: 
- Full time job
- No school
- Loans go into repayment
- I take job insurance

Once I get the job squared away, we need to deal with the temptation of moving. Although I'd obviously love to, we shouldn't jump the gun and move out. Our current location means I am approximately 5 minutes away from work and we'd never be able to afford to live that close on our own. No rent means more savings. A house vs apartment means Milou has a backyard with a dog door. Plus, when my mom adopted Tintin we promised her that we'd be there for awhile so he and Milou could play together and run out their puppy energy. Without us being here with our puppy, she would not have adopted such a young dog. I also essentially run the house which is going to be difficult to do with a job or a job+school. I don't relish sharing the responsibilities since I'm a control freak I love doing them but I'm going to have to. I'm also fairly sure my mother and sister might off each off if left to live alone.

Ideas? Thoughts? What would you do? I'm hoping the salary will make the decision for me but I don't know if it will for sure.

BJ's Birthday Party Drunkfest

Late Saturday night, E and I piled Pony and E's friend D into our car and drove out to Granada Hills where we met M and C, the parents of the ever adorable Roxie, for E's friend BJ's birthday party. Phew, that's a lot of letters. We knew going into the party that it was going to be an epic night of drinking, so M and I put on our best tolerant faces and let the boys loose. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, E is a huuuuge lightweight and one beer is usually enough to give him a nice buzz. He doesn't normally drink so once a year or so I become the designated driver for a night of debauchery. This one definitely took the cake though!

M looking capital H.O.T. hot! Photo C/O M's phone

Not being a drinker, the first thing E did was break the cardinal rule of boozing "Beer before liquor, never been sicker". I don't drink so I can't speak to the validity of this statement, but he did get really wasted really fast. The entire group from E's bachelor party was there so D made them summer camp awesome matching shirts to commemorate their night of strip clubbing.

Panda, stranger, and E drinking Irish Car Bombs. Photo C/O Panda

Since no party is complete without a pinata, BJ's friends brought a Booziata filled with little travel sized bottles of hard alcohol. I'm fairly certain that E has only had hard alcohol once before years ago so the party was a whole new ballgame.

E with the Booziata. Photo C/O Panda

The booziata was tied to the slats of the backyard gazebo and the party goers were blindfolded with an overshirt so they could swing drunkenly at the moving transformer with its shot glass shoulder pads. I was fairly sure the fan was going to become a casualty but it miraculously survived. We couldn't say the same for the pool stick bat, that broke in half and went sailing across the pool during the first attempt.

E with his loot. Photos C/O Panda

After a couple beers, an Irish Car Bomb or two and a couple of those shiny little bottles, E was loudly oogling one of the girls who was drunkenly swinging her ass in his face and pole dancing. I think it was the 50 proof apple vodka that he downed in just a few minutes though it was tough to tell, it could have been any one of those pictured above. 

Beer Pong, an Olympic sport. Photo C/O Panda

Generally, E is a very lovable drunk who hollars about how much he loves me in between swigs. His very infrequent boozing doesn't bother me much as long as he's safe and keeps his hands to himself though the girl in the red dress' behind and E passing out on the kitchen floor did test the limits of my patience. 

Bodily restraining E from falling over/making a fool of himself/falling in the pool. Photo C/O Panda

After E, J, D and C bonded over their drunkenness, there was a couple hours or so of drunk rock band which was most amusing to watch. E was by far the drunkest acting one there even though others had consumed comparable amounts of alcohol. One girl even threw up so E was regulated to singing since motor coordination isn't a strong suit of the inebriated.

Pony standing over passed out E. Photo C/O Panda

Ultimately, the boys had a fantastic time and M and I kept careful watch to make sure they didn't get into too much trouble.  We even got enough food and water into E to prevent a hang over and everyone was presentable at breakfast the next morning despite getting home around 3am.

The 40 Dollar Steak Crew, AKA E's Bachelor Party Crew. Photo C/O Panda

Oops we did it again...

This evening, we piled everyone into the car to go see a little sheltie girl we were hoping to add to our family. Her name is Karma, she's 5 years old and we were hoping she would love our family as much as we wanted to love her. When we finally got there an hour and change later, we were surprised to see that she really was quite a little girl, about the size of our cat Devlin and quite different than our boy Pippin was.

Karma. You can't tell but she's actually the size of a large cat. 

We brought Milou in the back and let them attempt to play together but Karma wasn't super into it. The real star of the show was a 10 month old boy named Troy. He was oversized just like Pippin was (about 6 pounds overweight actually, so really just like Pippin) and he and Milou hit it off instantly. We were really torn since we'd gone for Karma and weren't sure if we could handle a second puppy. We wanted an adult who wouldn't require as much training, who would be easy and calm.

It took us two hours of agonizing in the backyard with Milou, Troy and Karma and we were split pretty evenly about which dog we should get. E insisted that Karma was the one for us and initially my mom agreed with him, even though she prefers larger dogs. My sister L and I were increasingly feeling that Troy was the one for us. We went back and forth and back and forth and honestly I would have taken both dogs if they'd let me, they would have fulfilled different emotional needs.

Ultimately, we decided that while Karma might be the calm girl we want now, Troy would eventually grow into the better dog. Karma was already fairly set in her ways at 5 years old while Troy was young and maleable, easier to acclimate to our cats and train. He and Milou were perfectly matched and would grow up together. By the time E and I moved out, Troy would be the adult with the even temperament that my mom wanted. Karma might be the better dog for my mom by herself, but Troy was the better dog for our family.

Troy, 10 months and 34lbs of Pippin look-alike

He's going to need a new name and will require a lot of training but we just couldn't pass him up. We brought him home this evening and after being perfectly behaved in the car he's settling into life at our house. We're going to start crate training him and will put him on Milou's raw diet tomorrow morning.

He has a few health problems we need to keep an eye on, namely his weight, dull fur, urinary crystals, and weak back legs. It seems like a lot to be taking on but I'm fairly sure that all of it can be remedied with good nutrition. A raw diet should restore the oil to his fur, eliminate his urinary crystals and reduce his weight. The reduction in weight plus the building of muscle should strengthen his back legs and I'm hoping he'll be happy and healthy in no time.

In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for a name? We like weirder names, Pippin, Milou, Haji, Devlin etc.
 

There's a Pony in my House

This weekend we played host to J aka Pony, my twin brother from another mother. We lived two houses away from each other and officially met when I was two and he was three, two diaper clad babes looking to learn the mysteries of the potty. His mom used to only allow health food in the house so when he overheard my parents trying to bribe me onto the pot with M&M's he jumped on the opportunity to score some candy and promptly potty trained himself.

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We may not share the same blood but he's been as close as or more so than my biological siblings and people were convinced we were going to get married. We were convinced for most of our lives too until I realized at about 12 that you couldn't marry your siblings and since Pony was obviously my brother, that just wasn't going to fly. Instead, he was the best man/man of honor at my wedding to E, who we met when I was 7, J was 8 and E was 9.

E, S and J <3

I would do anything for those two, for the boys they once were and the men they've become. I'm very fortunate to have married such a wonderful childhood friend since the relationship between J and I is deep and enduring, and someone who hadn't grown up with us would likely misunderstand our bond. One of these days I'll post some footage of our home movies, we have a great one of my four year old self scolding a boy for taking my Pony's toy. We have each other's backs, twin style, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Since my grandpa passed away, I have slowly adopted J's grandpa as my own.  He's an incredible man who has lived a fascinating life and this weekend he turned 90 years old. To celebrate, Pony came into town along with scores of other relatives for a luncheon honoring grandpa. Pony's mother, P, had requested a few hours of my time to help with a video project of grandpa's life.

Baby Grandpa

This quickly turned into a massive undertaking that involved me spending every evening at her house working feverishly on sound editing. I'd go to work in the morning, come home to kiss E and Milou, and then head to P's house. When it got closer to the party, E joined me and again we were in front of her computer all night, sometimes until 3am. We finished just in the nick of time the night before the party and the movie debuted Thursday afternoon at the luncheon. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, Pony and I were sitting in the back crying into our napkins and the biggest praise was from Grandpa who thanked E and I profusely for our efforts.

Pony and family including grandpa and two of his brothers in the front

After the party, the rest of the weekend was a whirlwind. We visited with family, went to Six Flags where it was way too hot, went to a friend's birthday party and paid a visit to the Natural History Museum and the Science Center. More food than our stomaches could hold was consumed with P planning every meal at a different restaurant and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a weekend to recover from the visit.

A New Job

I have a new job. Yes, let me say that again. I. Have. A. New. Job. Those are not words I was expecting to type out for awhile but I admit I am excited about it.

I have worked for this company a few years ago doing database work and very much enjoyed the experience. It's a solid company with genuinely good people and the work environment was always positive.

This time I am returning not as a computer tech but as a researcher and consultant on an Education and Community Development project. It's really exciting stuff, the kind of material I review on my own time for my own personal enjoyment, but this time I get paid for it! It's confidential so I can't discuss much but it is cutting edge research that I'm hoping will have a positive impact on the world.

Thus far I've only committed to part time work but as long as I can fit my classes in with my work schedule  I'll add more hours. If I continue it should be enough to help me save for graduate school and hopefully lead me towards one of my desired careers. Fingers are crossed, I would love to be able to make up my mind!

Also, I will be in an office. With a window. While it's not an exam room, at least it's not a cubicle!

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Happy 15th Birthday Haji

Oh my god, I can NOT believe that my Haji Baba is 15 years old. It feels like only a short time ago that I was picking him out of a litter in the back of a dress shop. He was a one of a kind kitten who has grown into the most unique cat, my constant, loyal companion. He is the first animal that was adopted to be mine and he will always be my baby no matter how old and grumpy he gets.

Happy Birthday Haji, my incorrigible, brilliant, beautiful boy. My heart is not complete without you and I will love you for forever. 

<3 <3 <3