Wedding --- affectionately titled "Take 2"

My older sister got married yesterday. This is #2 for her but I hope that this time is the last time. I mean that sincerely... I'm not taking a shot at her .. I'm sincerely hoping that this is the man for her. Her last marriage was a bit unstable. He was a nice guy etc.. and we all welcomed him warmly into our family but there was some trouble in the marriage and unfortunately it became too much that it was irreparable. I keep poking fun about it to her that she's already married twice before I'm married once. The irony also is that her divorce from her first husband hasn't hit the year mark yet either. Geez, woman! But all jokes and puns aside, I do wish nothing but the best for the two of them. We all went yesterday morning to their ceremony in a nice little boro park where the mayor officiated. We then all met at Villari's Lakeside for a luncheon and to celebrate. It was a nice time and I'm glad that my family was all there. Well, with the exception of my brother who had to work and wasn't able to get the time off. We didn't get too many pics at the reception but I've posted some. The one of my dad, my niece and my sister is my favorite! I've got to get some copies and frame it.

Finally figured out how to blog from my blackberry, so here we go. Pretty hard to type like this actually. I've got to get used to the idea of using two hands.

Just so you know

I didn't fall off the wagon ... but I did skip my weigh in last week. I was supposed to go on Saturday and it didn't quite work out the way I'd hoped. I'm going to really have to buckle down this coming week so that my results are chart topping. (as far as my own progress is concerned). It's been tough.. with all of summer's goodies floating around.. not to mention those Cider Donuts that Amy was talking about!
But I'm on to my program again this week. Nothin' to it, but to do it~ Not sure where I heard that but I didn't make it up - honest. It helps that Weight Watchers has all of their own brand of food products. It makes the points counting so much easier. I know they make money that way, but people like the idea.. so, it all works out. Things have been rather hectic lately. So much to do with the wedding planning and now that we're house shopping. sheesh, I hardly sleep at night. Well, I really never did sleep well, so now it's just a little worse. My dad also is moving this week. I think he and my stepmom make settlement this Wednesday. Happy for them to have found a cute little place to call home. I'm sure they'll be happy. My dad will have his plants and his veggies going full force in no time at all. He prides himself on that. Don't mess with a man and his garden. I remember years ago & I'm talking first-house-we-ever-lived-in years ago, my dad had a garden at the back of our yard and he had all his tomato plants in it. Well, our neighbor had a pesky cat that she allowed to be inside/outside.. and it would get to my dad's tomato plants all the time. He'd finally had enough and invested in a BB Gun. Now that I think back, that was NOT cool..and now I'm questioning why I even shared that with you~ Guess I was just trying to share (?). Oh and I'm on Twitter now. Why? I don't really know. I guess it was just another application that I could add to my Blackberry. It's pretty nifty though. Updating all day long telling a bunch of strangers what I'm doing at any given moment? I've blocked more people than I can count. Weirdos mostly. Advertisers too. Big time. I hope no one has blocked me - I would be really insulted.

*bump* post from 3 years ago ... because she's special

Wednesday, February 08, 2006
well, I said in an earlier post in January, that I hoped I could meet back up with some long lost friends from high school. Turns out I did just that. And it happened to be the one person in particular that I really wanted to get in touch with. Only about a month ago, our class president and some other members of the committee, started contacting the Class of 1994- through Classmates.com -- Our president created a website of his own so that we didn't have to use Classmates and we were all able to go on there and post forums and such-- and leave our email addresses if we so desired.. Well I am so glad that I posted mine, because that is how my long lost friend Shannon got in touch with me. She emailed me and then eventually we talked on the phone. It was so nice to talk to her after 12 long years! It felt like we hadn't missed all that time, but we did. I sure missed her, and I had mentioned to my sister a short while ago that if I wanted to reconnect with anyone, it would be Shannon. We were really good friends in high school- the later years. And I'm not sure how we got so close but we just clicked. I've been really down lately wondering how to catch up with old friends and seem like a whacko, since we hadn't talked in forever and then I'm popping up in an email or a letter to their home. So this has sure brought me some contentment. We both said that we should not lose touch this time and I hope we don't. It's really never too late to catch up. It will take a lot of catching up, I'm sure. But for the most part, we covered the basics already.

Love & Marriage & some other things to note

As if Jeff and I didn't have enough on our plates right now; we decided to really take a dive and we're now house hunting. I think I may take up drinking! Nah, the stress is not all that bad, (yet), I think we're doing ok. I've only got a few more things to iron out with the wedding & I'm not really letting it drive me batty. Things will work out just the way they should. I pray A LOT and ask for the guidance and wisdom to handle all the things He is sending our way. I know we're not in this ALONE. The house hunting has been quite an experience so far - to say the VERY least. We looked at a total of 4 homes over the last weekend and I actually had forgotten about the two that really sent my head in a whirl. I think, honestly, they were that traumatic that I blocked them out. Seriously. To be short and sweet but cut to the chase, and what's probably the real icing on the cake here... We went to one home and they had a dog. No problem right? Nope. He was friendly, if not just aloof. Didn't care that there were strange people in his home, he just sat on his little stoop in the window and let us do as we pleased. Well, evidently, he'd also "done as he pleased" at some point in the day before we arrived. Oh yes. There in the living room, sat not one, not two, but THREE small piles of dog doo! I almost went right back out the front door. At that point, any desire I had to give this house the once over and check it out, had just flown right out the window. Holy Crap. Literally. Ah, but that's not it folks. What? There's more? You betcha. Fast forward to Monday evening. We arrive at our "first" showing of another home. Awfully cute, well kept, quaint. It, unfortunately, was way too small. I could have never survived it. Too bad it had a 1/4 acre of land. Not so bad if I were going to live "outside" the home. Much more room to move. Leave house #1 and venture, just down the block to house #2. Note: I have this thing about going to "see" a home that is occupied. And by that I mean that the residents are actually home at the time of the showing. Realtor arrives on the steps of this home (#2) and she knocks. I look up and see a head in the window, curiously peering out to see who is knocking. A few more minutes pass, a young guy answers the door. He's a bit out of it, it seems, but he takes the realtor's card after a quick "hi, I'm the realtor here to show the house". We walk in, he walks out. The house? Structurally? Not all that bad considering that there are about 4 college aged, beer drinking, poker playing guys inhabiting it. And yes, I say that all based on the obvious facts. Beer bottles of every brand, flavor, country lined the living room wall. The dining room table was adorned with handwriting in every Sharpie color ever made, while the ashtray and poker chip caddy sat smack dab in the middle of it. Cardboard cut outs of movie characters were in the living room. (which by the way scared the shit out of Jeff and then me on the walk back through).
Cosmetically? The same as the latter. We've made our way through most of the rooms at which point we're now at the bathroom. (of which I couldn't really see the floor for all the Maxim & FHM magazines). Jeff walks in & I immediately say "Oh my Gosh, it smells like weed in here!"... Jeff laughs and says I'm crazy and that it's something to do with the bathroom. Oh really? Like what? Mold? Marijuana laden water? Not. But I digress. Next up? The laundry room. Hmmm... let's see, nice paint, no problems, washer & dryer are fairly new...... wait, what's that? OH YEAH! Now do you smell it dear??? Not only was the smell of pot as strong as heck, but it was enough to probably ( although it didn't) give all 3 of us a contact high. We all did laugh about it but the more I thought about it, I was kind of irritated. Obviously, we'd found the "smoking" room and obviously the guy in the window had been "indulging" shortly before we arrived. I don't know if he was embarrassed -- I'd say probably not. But I was almost embarrassed for him. Needless to say when we got outside, I told the realtor and Jeff that I suddenly had the munchies. It was one of those funny things that happen in life ... but the concept of it wasn't funny. If that makes sense. I'm fairly confident that these guys were renting this house & I'd be willing to bet that the owner will never know of this incident but in all honesty, I think he should. It's not a good impression for prospective buyers, that's for sure.