5. Home Again...Home Again...

today is the day!

chris is finally done with the training for his new job and he'll be home to stay in just a few hours!

wahoo!!

4. No Reason

yesterday was an uber crabby day. UBER.

everything pissed me off. things that should not piss a person off (at least as much as it pissed me off). i wanted to punch someone in the face.

then i remembered that i had a deep jet bathtub at home. i took a bubble bath and everything seemed right again.

i woke up this morning and walked on the treadmill in my new sneakers while watching reba (i know it's not the best show but i like her and at 6am what else is on?). today was going to be a good day!

until the copier pissed me off 10 minutes after i got to work. downhill from there. i just want to go home and crawl back into bed (which since i haven't blogged in forever i have to brag about - new king size tempurpedic bed. a-w-e-s-o-m-e!)

ugh. perhaps all this is due to an impending visitors arrival later this week...

3. Arm. Eating. Off.

i'm about ready to eat my arm off. and this last hour and a half is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g by.

thank goodness dinner is planned and i don't have to cook it. we're going out for thai. i heart peanut sauce.

2. Key Lime

i've been trying to eat healthy lately - very hard considering i work in a tax office during tax season (fridge full of soda - candy and chips everywhere).

i bought some fiber one key lime yogurt the other day (straying from my normal yoplait cherry or strawberry) and i must say it was super tasty!

1. I'm Back!

after much debating i've decided to come back to this blog.

i've tried a few other blogs but i just can't come up with a better name than the one i've got here so....

i changed the layout a bit (used to be black) so some of the previous posts may be hard to see becuase i'd made the text white or yellow. when i have time i'll change them but for now if you're that interested in them you'll just have to do some highlighting :)

that's all for now. must get back to work - being a receptionist is pretty demanding!

New Blog

i've taken a cue from molly and decided it's time for a new blog....


i still might post here occasionally so keep checkin' - but in the meantime i've moved here :)

More Dress Shopping!

that's right - more dress shopping! below i posted pictures of the gowns i'm really torn between - opinions?



ha! kidding. kidding.....


although that bottom one is tempting.....(kidding. again.)


my mom is on her way down to visit as i type. she managed to get tomorrow and friday off of work and both days will be filled with dress shopping! (i also managed to fanagle leaving my 12pm each day! although i do wonder how they'll be able to manage without me doing my crossword puzzle book at the front desk.....)


i am very excited! i went shopping this past weekend with a co-worker of mine (she volunteered to my surrogate mother for all wedding related needs and i took her up on it :)) and think i may have found the one. so i called my mom right away and she's on her way!


alright - that is all that is going on in my neck of the woods. i'm off to play some cribbage with my sweetie until mom gets here :) more later!

Oy....

so.....


i hope this doesn't turn into a complainy blog....that is not my intent. i just feel like i have a massive pit in my stomach. you know that kind of feeling where...how do you even describe it...like you're homesick, have a massive paper due tomorrow but haven't started it, sick, miserable, sad...all at once - pit. ugh.


i don't want to go to work tomorrow.


i've been looking for a new job. receptionist. something above receptionist. something history related. i even looked into going back to school for my masters and found not one of the programs is offered in mn. i've applied to at least 15 jobs - no one is hiring - and have not recieved one call for an interview. i'm at a loss....


any suggestions?

FINALLY!!!

the week is finally over and chris will be here any minute now! Wahoo! :)

Wedding Dress Fever!

i have it. wedding. dress. fever.


i went up to duluth this past weekend and tried on three dresses with my mother. i thought it was really rather awkward - all the under garments - the weight of the dresses - wearing something that fancy! it was still fun though....


when i got back home i looked up a few local wedding shops and put them on a list to check out. tuesday night i found myself in one of them - alone - having a blast! i tried on a ton of dresses and put a few on my favorites list. then today i went to another shop and made a list of dresses i wanted to try on there and then made an appointment for tomorrow (they closed at six tonight and i didn't get there until quarter after 5).


so....tomorrow i'm having my bridesmaid kristin tag along with me to try on more dresses and have her give some feedback. oh - and on top of that i made an appointment with yet another shop for this saturday afternoon. unfortunately the friend i wanted to bring will be unavailable so it looks as though i'm going it alone.....but that's okay. i'll narrow down the selection and then when my mom comes down we can possibly pick the one!


one more thing - on the way back from the shop tonight i had to stop by the jewelry store and see how my ring was coming along. he showed me the stones and they looked beautiful! he said the ring should be ready by the end of next week! Eeeee!


the girl who once shunned fancy jewels and big weddings has now turned into the shiny sparkly princess....


i thought i was immune to wedding fever - turns out i was oh-so-wrong!




p.s. i would have included a few pictures of some dresses i like but i don't want chris to have any idea what i'll be wearing :) if you're curious just e-mail me and i'll send ya the pics :)

Hee Hee....

a few weeks ago chris and i went to willmar and it was there that i met his friend dave, his wife staci and their children. staci found me on facebook and remembered that i'd asked her to send me any and all photos she had of chris as i want to incorporate them into the wedding. this is one of 3 that she has sent me so far - i love it! (luckily he's in canada this week and won't see that i've posted this until he gets home :)) and if you're wondering who that other handsome gent is - it's the best man bryan :)

a new low....

as you may have gathered i am in the market for a new job. one that i don't loathe with all of my being. i'd settle for mild hate at this point....


i complained that my job description (given to me 10 months after i was hired) said that a GED was preferred but not required. i thought that was bad until i read this.....


(this was taken from a realtors website - they are need of a receptionist)
"Knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to the completion of high school."




what?

Love You

just thought i'd say i love you!

i was going to blog....but....

......i'm super super (yyyaaaawwwwnnnnn) super sleepy and must hurry along to.....zzzzzzzzz.......

can we say BORED?

third post today? yes - i'm bored.


i was just dinking around on facebook and saw that you can add a wedding box application - something more to distract myself with from the things i should be doing :)


if you have facebook and read this let me know - if you don't you should. mindless fun shall be had by all! :)


and with that i'm done posting today. i think sleep is in order....

Story of the Ring (Part 1)

as you probably saw from my 'we're engaged!' post - this is the ring. my beautiful red plastic adjustable ring. i was thrilled to wear it - even if it did confuse people and prompt them to constantly ask me 'where's the diamond??'


even when the ring started leaving a ring of rust on my skin and chris started asking me if i wanted a 'real' ring - i was still in love with it. after a few weeks though i started to reconsider. i knew the plastic one probably wouldn't last the whole year - and while i had been against an engagement ring to start with it was fun having something on your finger to play with and show to people. but what kind of ring?


i knew from the get-go i couldn't go with a diamond. a girl in an anthropology course i took did a lecture on the diamond industry (years before the movie 'blood diamonds' came out) and how it was basically the mafia - i've been morally against them ever since. that and the fact that some people go into SO much debt over a rock...ay yi yi! now i don't mean to diss on those who have diamonds. i have many good friends that have them and respect their choices - i just knew it wasn't for me. so i started searching. i liked the idea of a pearl - very pretty but not something i could wear everyday. so then i started looking around online at antique rings. i didn't plan to buy one online (who knows what kinds of scams there are!) but just wanted to get some ideas....and i discovered white topaz!


same look as a diamond but practically dirt cheap in comparison! chris and i went to one of the big chain jewelry stores (even though their commercials make us throw up a bit in our mouths) just to see if they even had them. no they did not. end of story. i then went to a local jeweler and asked them if they carried any white topaz rings - they said no but immediately followed that with a 'but we would be happy to order the stone for you and customize it!' very nice!


i browsed around and saw a beautiful diamond ring that i (guiltily) loved. it was a round solitaire with little chippy diamonds all around it - all in a white gold setting with a very thin band. perfect! two days later i brought chris in to show him and we asked the jeweler if he could do that setting but with white topaz - he said that he could although he'd have to enlarge it a teensy bit since he couldn't cut the white topaz into such small chips. fine with me! so the ring i'll be getting will look like an almost $5,000 dollar ring but will have only cost an immensely tiny fraction! in fact - the main cost is the white gold and the custom order - the stone itself is very inexpensive. which will be nice if anything every happens to it - which it shouldn't. it's an 8 on the hardness scale and i'm not doing a ton of hard work with my hands (hello - i don't do any work, remember?)


this is an idea of what the ring will look like - although i'll definitely be posting pictures as soon as i get it (about 3 weeks)

so there ya have it - the story of the ring - part 1. i do feel slightly guilty after having gone on to chris about not wanting a ring and then getting one custom made. even more so i feel guilty about perpetuating the whole gotta have a diamond thing. even though i know it's not one people will think it is - i'll just have to advertise it as the great alternative!

deep down though i'm super excited to wear this ring - IT'S SHINY!

oh! i forgot - the first ring - i mentioned how we were pretty sure it wouldn't survive a whole year? well...it broke today! as i was gathering up my bags to leave work it snagged on something and popped right off! needless to say i was super bummed (it was the cherry on top of my already shit-tastic day)! but i found the red rose and plan on super gluing it back on. i'm always gonna keep it even if it's not always on my ring finger :)

Exhale......

this has been my attitude as of late. well...not everything sucks - just the job. but when you spend the majority of your waking hours at that job it does start to seem like everything.

i'm very frustrated. i'm tired of feeling like this. i feel like there is no job out there that i'll be happy at. i seriously feel like i'd hate anything short of being a tour guide (can't find that job) or working in a yarn store or cute knick knack store (fun but pointless and no benefits or good pay). everything out there seems to have that big corporate cloud looming over it and i am so sick to death of corporate bullshit.

seriously - i'm sick to my stomach over it. the company i work for has no fucking clue about anything. since day one i've been responsible for answering questions about a company i don't even fucking work for! and let me tell you (in case you missed it) - i'm sick of it. i answer ZERO questions about the company i work for. ZERO. i hate it. and i can't really even answer the questions becuase i have yet to get an updated phone list from that other company. not that it matters - the customer service number for that company - i constantly get complaints about how they never answer their phones, return calls or plain just don't help! seriously!

and you know what - i no longer care. i've made it a well known fact that i'm looking for another job. i've made it a well known fact that i am not happy having a guard breathe down my neck all fucking day. does anyone notice? care? no - let's just keep on giving michelle mindless tasks! if i'd known i'd be doing shit like this i'd have dropped out of school in the 5th grade. christ!

ugh...sorry. EXHALE....michelle...EXHALE......

i've been looking for another job. i even got called for an interview but couldn't get it as they were only conducting the interviews 8am-5pm (i could make it there at 5) and i can't take time off. i was pretty sick awhile back and so used up those days. i also used up my doctor time as i went ahead and scheduled them all for one day. i also actually like my boss and didn't want to leave her hanging as she's been swamped as it is (not that having me gone would mean shit as there is a guard at my desk.....). so yeah - finding a job when you have one is damn near impossible. if it weren't for the fact that i actually like having a savings account i'd quite now.

the whole point of this darned blog was to point out that i was reading a Dolce's blog - she is going through something similar with her job. her friend gave her some good words of advice 'i'm way better than the stress i put myself under working here'. so true. so true.

so with that i'm attempting to exhale. attempting to relax and rejoice in the fact that i have a three day weekend. enjoy the fact that i have the worlds greatest fiance, a great family, terrific friends, wonderful in-laws to be (who all still manage to like me despite the crap i spew out in this blog and language i use in doing so...)

exhale.......

seriously....

the one day i actually get myself out of bed early to exercise...the one day where i actually need to shower becuase i'm all sweaty.....NO HOT WATER! not even luke-warm! ICE COLD!

i'm just now regaining feeling in my fingers after washing my hair in the freakin' sink (and still not managing to get all the shampoo out!)

as soon as that apartment office opens.......argh! i know in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal but seriously..the one day i get up and exercise and i can't even shower.......

and now i'm off to a job i loathe......Happy Thursday!

a first (among many to come i'm sure...)

chris and i just got back from a little trip to Target (oh who am i kidding - no trip to Target is ever little) and it was there that i bought my first 3 bridal magazines. a martha stewart one, a knot one for minnesota and another minnesota bride one. i can't wait to look at them tomorrow - hopefully they'll keep my spirits up at work - and get some good ideas :)

and now for my inner squeal of delight.......


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Ladies and Gents...Boys and Girls....

...i would like to take this opportunity to introduce to you my........

Fiance!!!!

(how do you do the little accent marks...)

that's right - we're ENGAGED!!! he actually proposed on April 21st (kelly's wedding anniversary) but we wanted to tell our parents and people we wanted to have in the wedding party in person...and well...this past weekend we accomplished that so now I can shout it out all i want! :)

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!

i'll post more details and pictures as the days pass but for now i'll stick with the proposal. in case you didn't know...i talked about getting married....a lot. i didn't mean to persay but once i started it just never stopped. i tried too - fearing that i would scare him away - but nope - just kept right on yacking....sigh....

i asked him many times if it bothered him that i talked about it so much and he always insisted that it did not. one of the things i made clear in all of my babbling was the fact that i did not want a diamond engagement ring - or any engagement ring for that matter. i did say that if we happened to find a cute little nonsense ring that struck our fancy it'd be fun to have that - but nothing fancy. so one day we were out putzing around and i saw this little plastic red rose ring - i loved it! i told him that i'd wear that as an engagement ring - he bought it! this of course excited me to no end as i now knew that a proposal had to be coming - and two days later it did!

we both knew that the proposal wouldn't be a huge suprise (me and my big mouth garaunteed that!) so we were just hanging out on the couch and he causally asks if i'd like to marry him. thinking that he was just teasing (cause it's happened before...) i said yes in a mocking sort of way. then he took my hands and looked me right in the eye and said 'no, i'm serious - will you marry me?' at this point i'm confused and wondering how far he'll take this cruel little tease. i then realize he's not kidding and start to cry. it took me awhile to actually say 'yes' as i kept asking him if he was sure..sure that all my babbling didn't pressure him. etc. etc. etc. he was sure :)

unfortunately none of the pictures we took that night really turned out. i was crying and ended up looking like ass - while he looked adorable as usual :) so the above are the most showable - the rest will remain on my computer for private viewing only :) below is a picture of the ring i took while out on a walk a week later - the same day we went to the Festival of Nations - which is where the first picture came from :)

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!