Being a dog Aunt will have to do

I have talked several times here about how I would like to have a dog, see my collected works for the background story.  However, lately I have been thinking that for the time being "borrowing" a dog is a good option.  I love coming home to visit my childhood dog (and maybe my parents too) whenever I can.  Also, my sister (and MOH) got a beagle puppy a few months ago.  Even though he is a crazy little puppy with an extreme amount of enthusiasm for life (aka- running around like a psycho for long amounts of time) I think being his Aunt (favorite!) is great.  He makes me laugh hysterically and is a real lover when he's not being insane.  On Tuesday my sister and I took a drive to scout out some houses for Doug and I to look at (we're moving!) and we took Copper with us.  The whole way home he slept in my lap with his head nestled on my arm, while I was driving of course. :)  My heart majorly melted.

Here are some pictures I took of him while working on a Christmas project.  Hi, my name is Copper and look what a cutie I am.

I don't really understand why you are trying to make me sit still and nice with this stupid hat on, but since you're my favorite Aunt I will try to go with it.

You can only ask so much though woman, because I would much rather eat this hat than wear it.  This is the one that I framed for my sister because I think it is the most representative of the true Copper spirit.

I fully intend to make him my running partner when the weather isn't so yucky and when we have moved (!) closer to my family.  And because he is way too cool and important to be left out, here is a nice picture of the first love of my life, Rascals.

I call this Mr. Ace's "I'm going to kill you in your sleep for ruining my life" look.  If a glare could kill, I would definitely be dead as many times as I have seen it.

Merry Christmas from everyone in our house except the aforementioned angry feline!

see more dog and puppy pictures

 This just made me smile after another very long day.  It reminds me very much of seeing my niece and nephew, the greyhounds, licking every last drop from the bottom of my sister or brother-in-law's ice cream cup.

A couple wedding developments this week to come this weekend when I actually have time to write!

There once was a girl

And she met a boy. And the boy was great and they liked each other very much.

But the boy had a cat. And the cat, he didn't much like the girl.And so he tried to hide from his feelings and from the growing affection between the boy and the girl.And he tried to use male bonding to drive the girl out.And he tried to have a heart to heart (or head to head) with the boy about the girl.But the boy's mind could not be changed and so they got engaged and then the next year the girl brought her things to the house of the boy and his cat. And the cat expressed his displeasure.But the girl did not leave. So, the cat laid in her freshly laundered towels.And he again expressed his displeasure. He said, "Why are you here and ruining my life?"But the girl did not leave. And eventually the boy and the girl decided that it was time to once again bring balance to the house. And so, in their most spontaneous and least thought about decision of the year, they adopted a girl kitten.
And she was happy and cuddly and wonderful.And they named her Halo after the boy's favorite video game at the time. And she kept the girl company through long nights of Xbox.And she served as a guard of the girl from the cat, albeit sometimes a sleepy one.And they all lived happily ever after. Except the cat who is suspected to be incapable of happiness. The end.

A quick trip to Victoria's and now it is just left to deciding between...

matching our wedding colors
or something blue.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, no, I guess it really isn't here in the Midwest, but inside our house it is since we put up the tree on Monday. Yes, I know that today is Thanksgiving and I have a post about what I am thankful for in the works too, don't worry. Just a bit out of order. I love Christmas and I don't care for turkey, so deal with it. :)

Our tree is a hodgepodge of decorations from both before and since we have been together. It's definitely a random assortment of items, but it works. Here are some of my favorites:

This is an ornament with a picture of our first cat and from our first Christmas together. We actually got a kitten in late August, who I thought I had written about but I guess not. So now I need to work on a blog post about her in addition to getting her an ornament for the tree.This is a new ornament for this year and was a gift from my mom. Nothing can put me in the Christmas mood faster than watching the claymation Rudolph. Of course, this can also make me a tad homesick, as it reminds me of the long hours spent watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie with my mom pretty much every December that I can remember.
I couldn't resist purchasing this adorable cow angel ornament that I found at Target when Doug and I stopped by to pick up ornament hangers. I am considering it a tribute to my Aunt Sharon who married a dairy farmer.
Doug made a set of two Ninja Turtles when he was a kid and they have always found a place on our tree as a reminder of how one of the first things we bonded over when we met was our mutual admiration for the Turtles when we were younger. What can I say? - Barbie just didn't interest me. We also bonded over going to and disliking the same orthodontist but that hasn't warranted an ornament.
This ornament was a gift from Doug's mom from the Christmas we got engaged.
This sparkly pear is from the wedding of my sister Audra and brother-in-law Derrick. I'm not actually sure if it is in fact an ornament but I love sparkly things.
I majorly heart snowmen. When we move (hopefully before next Christmas) and have more room I fully intend to have two trees. One will be our hodgepodge tree. The other I hope to decorate in snowmen, silver garland and ribbon, and white lights. These are two of my snowmen from past years...

... and this is a new snowman for this year, also a gift from my mom.
And to top it off, our version of an angel- the angel bear! This is actually a small Boyds bear that was a gift from my mom's good friend forever ago. I have always loved it and when we were putting up the tree together for the first time and I discovered that Doug had no tree topper, I knew just the perfect one!
Anyone else have such a motley crew of ornaments on their tree?

Like having a crystal ball

I no longer have to wonder all the time what my wedding will look like because today I saw it. Megan Thiele just happened to post a gorgeous wedding today that occurred at the chapel where Doug and I will get married almost exactly six months from today.I had been thinking about something for these doors for a while but now I have an official mental note to figure something out.

Spectacular light.If I were to have a must take photo list, this one with the ridiculous landscaping would top it.If we're making a list add one of these shots with the stairs too please.
And, of course, some on Lebanon's cute main street.
There's a ton more gorgeousness to be found over on Megan's blog so hop over there to enjoy and leave her some love! Oh, and ask her where the reception was because I have a sneaking suspicion it might be the same as our too.

A Good Cry

It seems to me that lately the only thing that seems to be coming from the dwindling of days between now and wedding day (the official count is 189, by the way) is an increased frequency of wedding related drama and therefore, for me at least, a lot more crying. I can't even remember the last week that went by without me breaking down over something. So far I have chosen not to address these things here for fear of this blog being discovered by those causing the crying. For now I think I will keep it that way but let's just say there is a group of people who seem to find anything and everything we decide for the wedding to be wrong and bad. And they have to tell us. This explanatory/defensive post, for example stemmed from one of our encounters with these people. If you know me in real life, I would imagine that you have already heard one, two, or all of these stories but another one happened today so feel free to ask.

So obviously none of those are good cry's and the topic of this post is actually a good cry from a few weeks ago. I arrived home on a Friday afternoon (not usually a crying event) and had received a package in the mail (also, not a crying event). I opened it to find the bouquet charms I had ordered from Etsy seller DesignsbyTami. And I cried, but this was one really good wedding related cry. I sat there by my front door and cried and just remembered and thanked God for the blessing that both of my grandpas were to me and my families.I initially ordered these to adorn my bouquet, and they will. However, I know these will find a more permanent place in my life post-wedding. I miss and think of my grandpas often and these charms will be such a nice way to carry them with me always, not just on my wedding day.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

I have a problem

Well, I have several actually, but most I don't think I can safely post about here and/or I can do nothing about. I may very well throw caution to the wind sometime this weekend, out of sheer exasperation with my drama filled life, so check back for a more interesting post soon.

So anyway...

I've been finding myself checking my e-mail as well as a certain blog or two several times an hour. I'm waiting (somewhat) patiently for several important e-mails and an even more anticipated blog post of our engagement pictures. This would probably be extremely detracting from my getting work done if I actually had enough work to fill my time. Unfortunately though I don't have enough to do and this is probably only adding to my problem!

Suggestions, please, because this girl is going crazy.