BUSY BUSY BUSY

Ms. Jane has come and sadly gone. We had a wonderful, very productive visit. As you can see, Bruno adores his Nana! Boy did she spoil him! And boy did he let her! Jane and I spent a day out shopping over in Boise and Nampa, looking for envelopes for the wedding invites and a dress for the glamorous Miss. Maria, my junior maid of honor and assorted wedding stuff.



I was a little nervous that Ms Jane would be one of those shoppers I hate, you know the ones...oooh look at this....oh look at that...oh let's go look at that. Nope she's like me. Go in scan the store, go to what you want, grab the right size, pay for it and get out! I was so relieved! 



Nick's sun flowers have grown about a foot since this photo was taken! We think Ms. Jane brought some of that magic Tennessee pixie dust fertilizer with her. Everything has really gone a little nuts since she's been here.My rose bush must have 300 buds on it right now! I can't wait to see what they look like!



The week Ms. Jane was here was sort of like a long slumber party, I don't think we went to bed before 2 am. So we slept in a little, here's Ms. Jane with Bru. He really enjoyed having her here and sharing the bed with just one person instead of two.

When she left, he spent the whole day waiting by the front door for her to come back. We all had such a great time and we all miss her.

Time for dinner! Oh, Nick's job at the theater...going o.k. He's working a lot of long days but not alot of days, which is sort of nice since there is so much to get done around here for the weeding. We'll now it really is time for dinner!

Have a wonderful evening!
xo

BRUNO-GUEST BLOGGER

My name is Bruno-sometimes they call me Brubles or Bruby Doo, but my name is Bruno. I live with Nick and Tig in the coolest house in the world! I know my mom writes about me alot but she doesn't really know what I'm thinking all the time, so, I stole her camera and I'm hijacking her blog!

The first thing I see in the morning.

Today I want to tell you about my world. There is so much going on around here, Dads trying to make Brunotopia look really good for our wedding. Yes, it's my wedding too! I'm going to officially be a Reeves!

Opps that's my paw!

Mom has a bad case of O.C.W.D. and spends alot of time trying to find things for our wedding. I can't wait till it's over. Well, till the reception anyways, the food is going to be yummmmmmy! I know it's all going to be nice and fun. I think she got everything figured out as of today.

Dad



Mom

My life is really good, I get really great food, I have tons of people who love me! People tell me all the time I'm a handsome boy and I'm a good boy, people I don't even know!

Froggy my friend



My toys, I have lots of them!

I'm a real good soccer player! My dad played soccer a bunch, even in England, he's pretty good but not like me! I beat him all the time like 30-0.

My favorite place to nap.

I'm just the luckiest dog in the world, when I think about when I met my mom, at the Humane Society, that was the best day of my life. 

My other favorite nap spot.

In one week my NaNa will be at my house. I have her whole trip planned out, Cuddle cuddle cuddle!!! She is a really special lady. When she came to see me the first time she slept in Mom and Dad's bed all by herself, I thought she might feel lonely in there alone so I jumped up there and snuggled her. She snuggles real good, we've been in love ever since!

The best treat ever!



Mom is going to bake these for breakfast when NaNa gets here. Uh oh Mom's coming! Gotta go. This was sort of fun!
Bye-
Bruno

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

I don't know what I was thinking, of the 5 most stressful things a person can do, I'm doing four this year!

1. Buy a "new" old house

2. Start a new job

3. Move to a new town
4. Get married
5. Have a baby

Only number five is out of the question! I do however now have a grandson, not quite the same. It amazes me how, when you say the word wedding the cost of whatever you were looking at triples! There is so much to do, and now only about 80 days to do it.

If I was in Portland all of this would be easy, I know that place like the back of my hand, where the deals are, who has what, and how long things take. In a new town, a very small town, a very very small town I have no clue! What I have figured out is this...if you want something nice you have to drive to Boise or Nampa or Meridian. Those towns are in Idaho, a state that has sales tax so everything costs even more! We don't even have a Target store here!!

My future mother in love will be here in 9 days. When Nick asked me to marry him, it reminded me that I don't have a mommy any more, and that I really need a mommies help to plan a wedding. When I shared that thought with Ms. Jane she offered to step in, bless her heart, I'm not sure she knew what she was doing!

I have a shopping trip in Idaho planned for her, an evening of sugar cube making, invitation addressing, menu planning and recipe hunting. It's just going to be nice to have her here for some brain storming.



This silly guy has plans for Ms. Jane as well, cuddle, snuggle, love and play! His words. Just mention the word NaNa and his tail wiggles so hard he nearly knocks himself out! He and I are home alone right now, Nick started his job at the theater today. I was looking forward to getting some wedding stuff done while he was gone but I just don't feel very motivated to do it. Maybe I'll start pinning stuff and make some lists. That's it.
Have a great day!

EVEN PUNK ROCK GIRLS GET THE BLUES

Even well intentioned comments can hurt, and well, this last week has been a tough one. That's my excuse for being away for a week. One of the girls at work keeps commenting on my appearance, I've already been feeling ugly, since we moved my hair and skin have gone completely hay wire, and though I hope she means well, right now I don't want to hear confirmation that what has always worked isn't working any more and I can't afford to fix it right now. So I've spent the week having pep talks with myself, watching Youtube videos about "mature" skin care and makeup and trying to feel better about how I look. Normally I have pretty high self esteem, so feeling insecure about something so trivial seems to make it worse!

It's raining here today after three days over 85 degrees, and the scariest wind storm I've ever been in. I was hoping to get a pair of ruby slippers out of the deal, but no. The plants are finally getting a good, deep drink of water and the dust is settling. I have a ton of dusting to do before Ms. Jane gets here in just a couple weeks. I also went out to the Quonset today and boy...I need to do some work out there cleaning and decorating.

living room

bedroom

kitchen




I have my work cut out for me. I do love having this space for my friends and family, a place where they can stay and not feel like their under our feet and we're not in their way.

back windows

I don't think I'll need to spend much money, well, famous last words. Thanks to Ms. Jane though I wt need to buy fabric for the windows. Just a few dishes, some bar stools a couch...o.k. it's adding up! and I almost forgot, I have to stock it with Mystic Mint Cookies! for Dad!!! We got rid of so much on our last two moves, things we didn't have room for in our studio, things that we didn't think we needed, now we could use them, oh well, no use crying over it now.

Nicks latest raised bed

On the wedding front...we finally found the Basque! and no Dad it did not involve throwing a lamb in the middle of Main Street and yelling here Basquey Basquey! I can say that I'm Greek and pretty sure there is some Merino in my DNA! The Basque Club owns the train depot and we want to make sure there isn't a problem standing outside saying I DO! The flower seeds I planted for bouquets are finally coming up and the grass is really filling in nicely! I can't wait to be Mrs. Nick! To officially be Corbin and Maddy's step mother and Caydens Yia Yia! That reminds me I need to find and fill a toy box for Mr. Cayden to have at Papou's house.

Who knows, maybe my rose will be in full bloom for the wedding! I can't wait to see what color it is!  I just found out that my brother Stefan will be taking photos for the wedding! Score! Free good photographer who I can black mail to make sure I get the photos I want!! Bet you didn't think of that did you Froggy Bottom? How do you know it's right? Everything just seems to fall into place. Even my hair and skin are starting to get normal again!

Well, guess that's about all. I'm going to try and be better about posting, it makes me feel better when I do.
Have a lovely evening!
xo

LESSONS I'VE LEARNED

Some things came up this evening that have me thinking, and feeling incredibly grateful. Love is hard, oh sure it's really easy for the first little while, when you shut out the world and nothing but the two of you are important, but it does become work. I learned the truth of that from my dad at my mom's memorial service, o.k. I know that sounds weird, but they had (and I think still have) an amazing relationship, one that I honestly thought I would never find. Dad said that day that anyone who tells you love is easy, that you won't argue, anyone who tells you that is lying. It's so true!! Nick and I have a great love, and it's because, in part, of the teachers I've had in my life.



Mom and Dad taught me that honesty, openness, communication, respect and a good sense of humor are must haves in a relationship. Did they fight? Heck yes!! Did they always agree? Hell no! Did they always work it out? Thank God yes! They didn't keep secrets, even when sometime I wish they would have, everything was right out there between them.

They say that with age comes wisdom, I don't know about that, but as I've gotten older, more comfortable in my own skin, and more reflective I've been able to put the lessons people have tried to gift me in proper contexts. Maybe it's the whole "life experience" thing, but I have more ah ha moments now. My Grand parents also taught me about love, I only hope I can be as loving towards my grandchildren as they were to me. I have so many memories of all of them, and now I see that in their actions, they were trying to help turn me into a good person. I have tested the strength of my family's love over the years, like you wouldn't believe, I have given them every reason to give up on me, hell, I have practically begged them to and yet...




Nick says there is no such thing as "unconditional" love. I disagree. Most of my life has been a sociology experiment, and after several years of observation, yes "unconditional" love does exist. The experiment is over, Thank you family for your participation, and for not killing me, I know it wasn't easy. 

G'mom taught me that love is patient, I know there were times for her that she wanted to brain my G'pop, I also know she loved him, so she let alot slide, with so much grace. She would occasionally be pushed to her limit, spew venom at Pop, stew for about 20 minutes, muttering under her breath and then it was over. I never once heard her throw the past at him, that's another big relationship lesson, let the past be, don't keep "tally". I actually heard a strangers argument once that went something like this, " Four years ago you said...". She also taught me to be creative, once the dog got a mole, G'mom asked Pop to take care of it, he didn't, big mistake, she went to his favorite bakery and got one of those pink boxes...yep, she put the mole in it, put it on the freezer in the garage, and told Pop she got him a treat. I was very glad I was hanging out at their house that day. I learned that humor in the heat of anger can be great for a relationship, Pop laughed pretty hard and took care of that mole.

I guess what I'm saying is that, being in love is very hard work, but if you can talk instead of yelling, laugh, be open and honest and learn to tell the difference between the "BIG" stuff and the "little" stuff, let go of the need to be right, be compassionate, listen more than you talk and remember what is really important, then you are well on your way to having what I am lucky enough to have with Nick. We both say that we want to make life easier for each other, to help the other carry his load. More than saying "I love you" we say "thank you".

A LITTLE EASTER MORNING PORN

I have come to expect some things to be a certain way. Like Easter for example, it should be a day of peace, relaxation and joy. A day of contemplation, a day for family. A day for...



homemade, all the way from scratch, with love in your heart and a song in your soul, cinnamon rolls! I have really been craving a good cinnamon roll, hot out of the oven, but getting up three hours before breakfast, on a holiday? Not happening!! The answer Overnight cinnamon rolls! I'm so happy I found this one! A little crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, just right, and the smell. On an Easter morning, the smell of bread, sugar and cinnamon. What could be better?

A man who does the dishes! Man am I lucky! He doesn't even mind the pink curtains! Since we've moved things have changed, Nick is still stressed, but not like he was in Portland, he's not nearly as angry. I'm not as stressed either. We get to spend more time together doing "normal" couple things, like the dishes or puttering in the yard. We talk more, about the future, the past, mistakes and blessings.

We laugh more. We decided to spend our lives together because we enjoy each others company, in Portland we didn't really have much time to enjoy, we were both so exhausted from just trying to get by. Here, well, I can only speak for myself but I've fallen in love with this big silly goof ball all over again. Nick and I don't really argue, we don't always agree but, life is too short to worry about little stuff like the toilet seat or the cap on the toothpaste or dirty clothes on the bathroom floor or clutter on the table. Maybe it's because we have both been in "bad" relationships or maybe, because we found each other later in life, I'm not sure, I do know that, all my life I have wanted a relationship like my Mom and Dad's and now that I've found it I'm going to hold on to it, and appreciate it.

It's a beautiful day in Ontario and I think I might just go plant some seeds. Maybe I'll just go sit in the yard with Bru and enjoy another cinnamon roll, oh and work on wedding plans.

Happy Easter-
xo

WHAT EVERY GIRL WANTS

I am a very lucky girl indeed. My Nick, my knight in tarnished armour, treats me like a queen. He does little things for me that I would never expect, like the berry plants. Hopefully they will be loaded with berries for the wedding!





I mentioned to him the other day that some planter boxes would be nice on the front porch, what did he do? He went to the garage and made me planter boxes for the front porch! He just does things like that for me. I think I'm going to plant some chamomile in them.




 That brings me to my point, every girl wants to marry a prince. I get to. I don't want to trivialize what we have by calling him my "best friend" he is so much more. He really is my life partner, I spent most of the last two days working on wedding plans, and Nick was right there with me, giving me ideas, and telling me to relax, everything is going to be wonderful.

I was stressing out, to say the least. My biggest stress? Who would preform our wedding. I didn't want some judge or justice of the peace who would just read words off of a page. Nick and I are quirky, and we need a little pluck in our ceremony. I was about to melt down when I checked my email. My Auntie Lis, is ordained! We have our officiant! Someone that I know has personality, who I know will understand if we want a reading from Calvin and Hobbs or Winnie the Pooh. Thank you Aunt Lis! Now I'm a little less stressed about the whole wedding thing.

Every little girl wants to have her wedding be the perfect day. Mine thanks to my Aunt and my Nick is well on it's way to being awesome!!!

Now I have to go to work and make the money to pay for the whole thing!

Have a fantastic day-
xo

LIFE...IT KEEPS HAPPENING

Bruno says he doesn't want to get up today. I know the feeling, sometimes the bed is just so warm and cozy, and out of the bed, a little chilly. This morning is one of those, a little chilly, not cold, not bad, not snowing, just chilly, I hope it's going to warm up a little.





We finally started doing some serious wedding planning this last week. Nick made himself some stompers, you know to make the lawn level? An old pair of high tops some scraps of wood some screws.I've been trying to get the picture on here, It won't budge fron the bottom of the page:( Unfortunately he did his stomping while I was at work, I would have loved to see that. So now we have grass seed down. I spread some flower seeds in one of the front beds for our flower arrangements. I want to wait until the bulbs die back to do the other ones.



Nick knows I love fresh berries so he bought me three blueberry bushes and six raspberry canes. For absolutely no reason! I love him so much. I just hope the weather twerps are wrong about the temperatures this weekend, 31 degrees will throw a very large monkey wrench into our works.

Well, look who decided to get up! He really isn't to much help where the wedding plans are concerned, all he cares about is that he gets to wear a bow tie. We need to figure out the menu, the place, the time, argh! If you want to have a nice wedding there is just so much to do, so many little details. 

Nick and I really do try to live by the saying, use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. This is his hot box, made from old fence boards and the plastic that our new mattress came in. I have a feeling our entire wedding is going to be an upcycled affair. I'm alright with that, that's really how we live.

What was one thing you had, or included in your wedding that you didn't realize would later be very important to both of you? On the other side of that question, what was one thing you thought you just had to have that ended up not being very important at all?

Well, another day off, too many things to get done, and two boys who want to play. Better stop blogging for today.

Fill your day with beauty-

xoxo





MY HOW TIME FLIES

It's hard to believe that we left Portland two months ago, one day short of two months. So much has happened, it feels more like six!

In two months, we've sorted and packed all of our belongings, driven completely across the state, bought a truck, bought a house, I've gone back to work...WOW...



Both Nick and I have remembered lessons learned as children, lessons from parents and grandparents. We have truly been able to slow down a bit, relax a little, and enjoy time together.

We've seen snow that doesn't cripple a city, sunshine, and yes even rain. We've looked to the sky and seen more stars than I've seen since I was a kid on the beach.

We've seen snow covered mountains...

and majestic buttes...

it hasn't been easy...we've had our bumps...but through it all we have all been able to keep in sight what really matters most...we are together, and we are in love. We might not be rich, but who cares!

Well, it's off to work with me.
I hope your day is filled with love, wonder and beauty.

xo