Valentines day

Juju and i typically don't celebrate 'hallmark' holidays. Valentines day, Sweetest Day, Grounds Hog Day etc. He knows how much i love him and i know how much he loves me. I'm not saying its wrong, or dumb to celebrate valentines day, but to me its just another day in which corporate America tries to get you into trouble. Like, have you ever seen or heard those commercials that say, "show her how much you love her with this so and so" or "let her know you love her with this diamond blah blah". Let me make it clear that i am in no away against receiving diamonds. =-) I just think that you need a particular day to express your love to one another. I think having a random romantic dinner or a date on an ordinary Wednesday means more then commercializing your love on February 14th. Plus, i feel bad for the guy who cant come home with the diamond blah blah, to let her know how much he loves her. Now she'll never know!


I digress. So we decided to all go out for valentines day as a group this year. It was the usual peeps. We got all dolled up and headed to Tropical.

Vic and Leah with a bucket o'beers
Keeping with the valentines lovey dovie decor & mood i wore a pink shirt. The funny thing is that it all 'clicked' when once i got there. Then i realized i was that person.

Here is my cousins Marco & Patty.

Candy, Me, My pink shirt & Juju

Juanito and Candy.

(Not Pictured)

Gaby & Jesse

Seeing that it was Valentines day, there was an $8 cover, but those 8 dollars entitled you to a rose, champagne in those fancy fake glasses and all you could eat (or until it was gone) buffet. I thought it was quiet a deal. I mean 8 bucks, that's enough to cover your dinner after bar. Although i think we did have some McChickens at Gaby's house afterwards. oops

Mr.Saavedra's Birthday

Just wanted to throw these pictures out there. A few weekends ago it was my brother in laws, Jesse's birthday! We had hear of this new place tropical and after dinner we decided to check it out.

From left to right: Juju, Jesse, Juanito, Victor & the fire. J/k Don't be alarmed by all the smoke, there really was no fire.

The music was good and there was plenty of tables and chairs. The only thing that killed it for me was that it was extremely smoky, and my contacts became dry almost instantly and the music a few notches too loud. I felt a bit of an old fart when i complained about the music being loud, but it seriously gave me a headache.

Here is Gaby and I. You can see that I'm already squinting.

I volunteered myself to be the designated driver that night, seeing that all the guys were enjoying drinks from very tiny cups, i figured it i would take one for the team.

Here is Vic, Gaby and I. I wonder why she looks happier in this picture? hm. Anyhow we danced all night until my dainty feet could take it no more. Juju and i left shortly after 2, and headed home. But before i even had a chance to ask Juju suggested we simple go through the drive thru instead of a sit down place since he was pretty tired. So was i, so we headed towards McD's on our way home.

So there we are waiting to order our nuggets, when from nowhere, I get rear ended by the car behind me. I know what your thinking, weren't you stopped at the drive thru. Yes. Precisely my point. The chick behind me must have been starving.

Juju and I step out of my car and he examines my bumper as i proceed to scare the living day lights out of her (the driver behind me). I yelled and she began apologizing over and over again. I was tired, hungry and my feet hurt, so when Juj said nothing happened to my car i let it go and go back in.

"2 #10's please"

And that concluded our night.

Happy Birthday Mr.Saavedra

Doing It Ourselves

So like i had mentioned earlier this week, on Friday all my girls and some family met me at Juju's house to get started on our centerpieces. I bought them months ago and i had already tested one with several different colors that i thought would give me the gold tone that i wanted. Since the centerpieces were black, i need to first coat them in brown and then go over them with the gold. Juju and i had thought of different ways to go about this, we even thought about spray painting them, but i really wanted them to have more texture then that. So we opted for the tried and true sponging.

Finally on friday (the 13th-eek) everyone was to meet me at Jujus house, so once Dulce and Pita got there we started unpacking and putting the centerpieces together. Soon after everyone arrived and we were got ready to get down and dirty. eh, well as dirty as sponge painting can get.

As you can see below everyone was sponging there little hearts away, being ever so careful and delicate with my centerpieces.Everyone had completed the first coat on their centerpieces when someone noticed that their paint started flaking off. FLAKING. OFF. what? i ran over to see what they were talking about, since i had already tried one at home and we were following the same procedure i used for the 'test' centerpiece.Well hot damn. Sure enough it came off easier then it went on. It literally came off on your fingers. As so you can see below there was no chance it would hold, even if we were extra careful. Nope. It was so cute because Pita was so determined to finish sponging hers brown, even though we all had come to the sad conclusion that it wasn't working. And Cristy was guarding hers from nati who was being malicious towards her candelabra.
Plan B- Juj, being the genius that he is thought that priming them would help the paint stay. Sure enough, after we washed all the candelabras we had started painting brown, priming them did the trick. So after 14 frozen pizzas, a broken step stool, and several panic filled moments we got a good head start on them.

They aren't completely done, seeing that we had to unscrew and take the candelabras apart. The tea light holders will be a another adventure in its self because they are so tiny. On the bright side 5 of my girls dresses came in. I'm still waiting on 2 more and Dulces. I'll keep you posted on the centerpiece progress.

Double Digits

Its official. I am in the double digits. My heart is racing. It feels like only yesterday i counting down from 300. I have SO many things yet to do. I am dedicating next Monday to booking our florist. I'm taking a day off from work to get the flowers situated. We have 3 appointments lined up, so hopefully one of them will be our florist!. And next week Thursday, I'm going to meet with a travel agent to get pricing on our honeymoon. We still haven't decided if we are going right after the wedding or if we are going a few months after. I'll keep you posted! Seeing that Juju and I have both been working so much, its hard to make time to book appointments with vendors.

Oh side note, remember that i mentioned i had recently lost a few pounds? Well the other day when i went with my bridesmaids to get their dresses we had the alterations manager take the girls measurements. And i thought. Hmm. I don't know when, if at all, i last had my measurements taken. So i did. Vladanka ( the alterations manager) asked me what size i had ordered my dress in. I said 4. She measured me and said, well don't loose anymore weight or else your dress wont fit. Really? And according to my measurements, the 4 would start getting too big. I don't want to toot my own horn, but she did say i was perfect ;-) And who am i to contradict the manager? But i digress. So with Vladanka warning me not to loose anymore weight i felt good. A few days later i got home from work, and i told my mom what Vladanka had said and i told her i wanted to try my wedding dress on, since i hadn't tried it on since i picked it up from the shop.

So i pulled it out of my closet take it out of the bag(s) and being to put it on. la dy la dy la. Hmmm. I couldn't. Seem. To. Get. The. Zipper. Up. Mom? i called out in a panic. she came into my room and finished zipping me up. Perfect! if i didn't need to breathe. I checked the label to find that my dress was a size 2. 2! It zipped, and i don't have any back, front, or arm fat hanging out. But it is very snug. Although i swore into the '2 sandwich a day diet' instantly, i now realize that i have 98 days to loose a few more pounds. So no biggie, but i did have a mild heart attack that afternoon.

Tomorrow i am having a DIY party. Well its not really a party, but i am having all of my girls come over and help me get the centerpieces going. I'll post updates on the weekend.

100 days

I don't remember doing this in grade school, but for about 3 years i worked for MPS. And on the 100th day of school, the kids would have a huge celebration surrounding the # 100. The whole shabang, cups, plates, napkins, all with the # 100 on them. New Years look alike hats with 100 plastered all over, even glasses in which the kids looked through the zeros. (see kid below)Now that i think about it, I'm not sure if the kids really cared they had been in school for 100 days. I think the teachers were happy they were a bit more than half way through. Correct me if I'm wrong but i think there is 180 days of actual school. Teachers say?

Me on the other hand. No hat, No glasses, no parade down the hall. I am celebrating my 100 day mark quietly on the inside. True, i could run down the hall doing cartwheels, but i would unfortunately end up crashing into some ones cube wall. So yay for me, yay for juju. In 100 days we will be Husband & Wife. Oh, and you know what? Tomorrow i will be a double digit-er!

Naked

I have to admit I have had a few 'OMG, Where is my ring?!' moments. I never realized how much I play the underpart of my ring, I always touch if with my thumb.

Before

Yesterday I had to take my ring to the jewelers, so I dropped it off by my sister in laws house. I have to get a costum band made for my ring. The designer has to keep it for 2 whole weeks. He is taking a mold of it and will show me the prototype next week.

Operation Baking Gals!

I learned about this project via a fellow blogger. I became involved in this project myself recently. What it is, is that we have a team that sponsors a soldier and send him homemade baked goods. I know the war is a very touchy subject, so when i was asking a few co workers if they were interested in participating on my team it sounded a bit like this:

Hi girls,

I wanted to let you all know of a project that i am taking a part of...

"this is no way supporting or not supporting the war. We are supporting the courageous men and women who put their lives on the line everyday so that we may sleep peacefully at night. Regardless of why (or why not) war began, the men and women serving overseas answered the call to defend our country. I ask you to help me show our gratitude in this small way"

And so i was floored by the amount of interest that i received from my co workers who wanted to participate. Im very excited to do this. Im extremely glad that there is many people out there that are willing to take some time out of their busy schedules to make someone, a complete stranger, feel appreciated.

Im shipping out my care package on the 20th, so in a few weeks. If you are interested in joining feel free to contact me via email princesskilolo@aol.com Also, i thought i would mention that you dont have to bake, you can also send a care package with other goodies, I have an approved list of goods that can be sent to our soldiers overseas.

Its Cold Out There

The other day in my daily current news and events on-line update i came across a sad yet interesting story. The title read "People Ignore Man Dying on Street". I clicked on the link, not because i am intrigued to see photos or footage, but because i was interested to know what could have possibly been more important than ailing this victim.

I was amazed at the lack of reaction people took to the dying man. There was even a poll asking whether or not you would stop to check on someone who seems to be injured. When readers were polled, 60 something percent of the people said they have or would have stopped to aid a victim. Hm. I wonder why the other 30 something percent wouldn't stop?

I have been, i wouldn't say criticized, but 'scolded' for performing random acts of kindness or for being a responsible citizen. Why? you ask? Well because i may or may have not put myself in the safest situation. But i figure, well if your going to go, might as well it not be in vain. Of course no one knows when their time will be, for all i know i could step out onto the street, be tripped by a snail, hit my head on the curb and die. I mean its a long shot, but it could happen.

Perfect example, one day cookie and I were heading home, when we saw a person in a wheel chair, slumped over. It was the end of November, and if anyone remembers, it was really really cold those last couple of days in November. The person was wearing a few layers of clothing and had a blanket over their legs. I saw them as i drove by and it immediate pulled on my heart strings. I got home and proceeded to get ready for bed. But i couldn't stop thinking about this person. I wonder how long they had been out there for? Where they sick? hungry? in pain? I wonder why they were out there? Where was their family? My eyes were filled with tears before i had a chance to grasp this persons situation. I knew i couldn't bring them home with me, the least i could do was get some food together. I whipped up a few sandwiches, put some fruit and snacks and something to drink in a bag and headed back into the cold to give it to this person.

I was nervous, i was scared. I didn't know how this person would react. I parked my car, picked up the bag of food with one hand and took cookie in the other. I approached the women and asked her if she was ok. I asked her if she needed help. I got no response. I could hear her breathing in a profound sleep so i gently approached her and got a close as i could. I didn't want to wake her and startle her. I left the bag of food and the foot of her blanket.

During this whole ordeal, a couple walked out the corner restaurant and just looked on from afar. There was even a younger guy, who, while i was standing next to this women in the wheel chair, came up to me and asked me to use my phone. And from across the street 2 people pointed and stopped to look. How could this person be invisible to people passing by? How can people be so cold? So heartless? I dont care who you are or what you do, that person, that stranger, that homeless man, is just as human as you and I.

Have you ever done anything like that? Helped out a complete stranger. I know some people might think its stupid or foolish of me to do something like this, but i again i say, Why not? You might respond, because its dangerous. You might get hurt. True. I might, but i might not. I might help that person in more ways than i can count. And besides God will never let anything bad happen to you when you're trying to do his work. And if something does happen, i assure you that you will go to heaven, shoes on and all. If you're not sure if you would be safe or not, but you really want to help someone out. Call 911. I've done it plenty times. Its free.

Not Shaken

Last night Nick and I painted the town red. Er, well not red red, but needless to say we went out. Initially we thought about going dancing, but then we opted to go to a quieter environment. We went to a bar downtown called 'Stir'. It was recommended to us by one of Juju's co-workers. Its not your typical downtown bar, where you're pin balling against other people or screaming at the top of your lungs hoping the bartender heard your order. Its on Wisconsin avenue and right off the river walk, so im sure that in the summer, its quiet a view. Of course its frozen over right now, but the night lights gave it a pretty glow.

So this bar, lounge, was quiet cozy, even though its situated on a busy street. It was modern with updated suede furniture and small candlelit tables. Their specialty drinks were quite tasty, i only tried one, but they all sounded good. The music was good and the atmosphere was very relaxed. You could tell the place had its usuals, so they must be doing something right. I later on discovered that its fairly new, built in 07 & that its owned by 2 long time friends who struck up this idea and started building their dreams in a garage. How amazing?

I had a great time. Juju looked handsome and i, well, not too shabby. Juju and i had a chance to sit back and relax and just have a normal conversation that didn't lead to any wedding related decision making. The only decision we had to make was where we were going to get our after bar meal. Burger King won. Next time Omega, next time.

Dresses. Check!

So we really don't have a flower girl, but I couldn't resist buying this for cookie on wednesday. All the girls finally ordered their bridesmaid dress, well with the exception of my maid of honor. She is still deciding on whether or not she wants to wear a different dress than the bridemaids. So far so good. I have to say though, I am still missing my flowers. I've just been so busy lately, as you can tell by my lack of blogging. I called another perspective flower vendor, and i'll hopefully be meeting with her in a week or so.

On a Lighter Note

I have lost a total of 6.5 pounds, including the 4.5 i first reported. I don't have a goal weight if that's what your pondering. Im not aspiring to weight what i did 4.5 years ago. When i met juju i was a slim 100 pounds. I'm not necessarily proud of that, but that was that. And if you do the math, 4-4.5 pound constant weight gain a year X 4.5 years = 20.25 pound (roughly). Basic math. 100+20.25=120.25. Ewy. Its a lot rougher when you see it on paper, screen. I don't think i have really stated my original starting weight. But there is it. There i was. 120.25 pounds. And not that 120.25 pounds is a lot, i can already see some of you rolling your eyes calling me a skinny bitch, but 120.25 was not where i wanted to be, or where i felt comfortable. It was where i pudged out of certain clothes and startled myself in the mirror as i frantically looked for the camera ( they say the camera adds ten pounds). I just wanted to feel good in my own skin again. And i know I'm not going to be in the low 100s forever. Bones get heavy, you make the transition from Young Lady to Women, blah blah blah. Simply put, at this point in my life, I want to be young, fit, and happy. I am a few months away from getting married. I am a few months away from wearing a bikini beach side. Need i say more?

Mrs.Lonely

Its funny how you tend to miss someone more when they are in another state. I mean i could go a day without Juj, but 64 1/2 hours?!!? That's enough to drive a sane person mad! Mad i tell you. Ok well maybe not mad per say. But lonely, needless to say. Juju has been wanting to go to the Detroit auto show for years. We have been to the Chicago and Milwaukee one in the past, but i guess the Detroit one is bigger and has more luxury cars that don't make it to Milwaukee. So finally he did. He and his family ventured on a last minute road trip to Michigan. They have family in Grand Rapids, so they were to stay there and drive out to Detroit for the show.

But Juju leaving for the weekend really made me realize how much i really feel his absence. Don't get me wrong, i worked all weekend so its not like i had time to physically sit around and miss him, its the fact that he was far far away. I got off of work, it was cold, i was hungry and no Juju to go home to. =-/ The next day ditto, well except i had Burger King for dinner. Bad, i know.

Semi-Homemade Pizza

-sorry reader, this one is long enough to go in the bible-

When we were younger, my siblings, my mom and I would make french bread pizza on Sunday afternoons. I'm not sure if it was ever every Sunday, but we made them often. I think we made it often. Ok to be quiet honest i remember the eating the pizza part the most. So any how, this Sunday at work, i was thinking about dinner all day long. Sad, i know. I wanted to make something healthy but delicious. I finally came to the conclusion that i would try to make the healthiest organic (as possible) pizza. Oh man, i couldn't wait to leave so that i could run to the store to pick up my ingredients.

I stopped at the store and picked up organic fire roasted tomatoes, organic baby mushrooms, an organic green pepper, regular ole' low moisture mozzarella, pepperoni (commercial, nothing fancy) and then proceeded to look for a whole wheat crust. I knew i was too hungry to wait for the dough to rise and all that good stuff, so i figured i would just get a premade one. (*note semi-homemade) Well to much of my disappointment the one brand of wheat crust just happened to be on sale and SOLD out! C'mon, who the heck is wiped clean of whole wheat pizza crust?!? Ugh. At this point, my dogs were barking and my stomach was growling. I had 2 choices, get the regular thin crust (the only thing left) or stop at another store before going home. So i took my chances and went to a second store in search for my whole wheat pizza crust.

I get there, go directly to the designated premade pizza crust area to find that they were completely out. At least the other store had a few thin crusts and some personal size ones. I was outraged! not to mention hungry. Luckily i found the refrigerated pop-out-of-the-can-and-roll-out-yourself kind. Of course not in wheat, but at this point in my odyssey i was too tired to go anywhere else and this let down led me down the wine aisle. 2 please.

I got home and proposed my pizza making idea to my mom and was excited to see that Gaby & hubby were still there. We usually get together at my moms [my] house every Sunday, and since i have been working on the weekends now i rarely see them. So we all rolled up our sleeves and started cutting, washing, greasing, unrolling, pureeing.

Here is gaby, using her Food Network poses.

I eyeballed everything, the sauce, the toppings, the cheese. So here is my version of the recipe. Note, i made 2 that's why i have double of everything. Adjust to recipe yield desired.

2 cans of Pillsbury classic pizza crust
2 cans organic fire roasted tomato chunks or stew (i chose them pre-fire roasted, i figured it would take too long to do it myself) =-)
1 pkg of sliced pepperoni, i think i maybe used a cup total, you'll have left overs
1 organic green pepper
2 bricks (8oz) of low moisture mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp of grated romano cheese
2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
unknown amount of basil (dried)
unknown amount of oregano
a smidgen of garlic powder (no more, no less)

Preheated the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the tomato with basil & oregano. Add the smidgen of garlic powder. This is all to taste, and optional of course. We had to drain out some of the tomato juices, the consistency was too watery.

(Im not sure why it looks like we spread strawberry jelly on our pizza, but rest asure it was tomato sauce)

Pop open can of crust and unroll onto a greased 15x10 inch dark or nonstick cookie sheet.

Top! spread sauce, sprinkle 1 tbsp of romano and parmesan cheese over sauce. Add pepperoni, sliced mushrooms & green peppers. Sprinkle with the desired amount of cheese. I actually used one entire 8 oz brick per pizza. Now that i think about it, i might have used it in excess. But who doesn't love cheesy pizza?

Sprinkle with love and pop into oven for 12-15 minutes.

Cooking time in high altitude or slanted houses may vary. Please hold vigil at oven while baking.

The pizza was incredible. It would honestly knock out the most established competitor's. While the pizza was in the oven, Jesse (Gaby's Hubby) ran to get a movie.

We popped open the bottle of wine and had pizza and watched The Women. Im really glad i decided to cook something instead of stopping at the drive thru. It was nice spending that time cooking with my family.

Cookies

On Saturday night my FMIL (aka 'evelyn','Edi', 'mami', 'eveling') Irma and I made cookies. This was a LONG time coming. See these were originally supposed to be Christmas cookies, then became Hanukah cookies, then new years cookies, then 3 wisemen day cookies. So we figured, how bout we jump ahead of the game and make Valentines day cookies. So i busted out my multiple hearts, and X&O's. Irma got her Gingerbread men and mami got her angels. It was like there was a cookie party and someone forgot to tell the Easter bunny, but i digress.

We were to make about three different batches of cookies. Eh. Only one made it.

The first recipe was called Mexican Wedding Cake, although they are cookies. And i actually have the recipe for this one.

1c butter
3/4c confectioners' sugar
1tsp. vanilla
2c flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter. This can be done by hand, electric mixer or food processor.

Add sugar to the creamed butter. Mix well

Mix in flour and vanilla. Dough will be thick. Do not become frightened.

Once thoroughly mixed pinch off small amounts of cookie dough, about the size of a quarter and roll into 1inch balls.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart from its neighbor.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until bottom is browned. Keep an eye on them, our first batch became Cajun style.

Let cool for a few minutes and then roll in confectioners' sugar. And Enjoy!

These were super easy to make and tasted great.

Now we also attempted to make "spritz cookies" but those were just awful and we didn't have a cookie press so they became very difficult to work with. So i wont even get into those.

The third batch never stood a chance against the clock. We all called it quits around 11:30.

I will post pictures of the cookies once i find my cable that connects my camera to my computer. You havent seen it have you?

What's in the name?

125 days until i become Mrs.Juju.

When i first started this blog, it took me a while to come up with the name. I brainstormed and even asked for suggestions from a few friends. Although the main purpose of this blog was to document our planning and preparation for our wedding, it has evolved to much more then that. I remember, before i had any followers, i would tell myself that i had anonymous readers that didnt want to officially 'follow' my blog. And then one day, as i was showing my sister gaby i noticed this I was exctatic! I had a follower, i rolled my mouse over to the icon to find that Juju was my first follower. I nearly fell over my chair laughing. A good laugh thought, because it took me by surprise because he hadn't mentioned anything. He was my first groupie, my first supporter.

I chose "Becoming Mrs.Juju" vs 'our road to marriage', 'a journey to the aisle', etc., because i realized, my blog life wont end once i become married. Matter of fact, that only begins one of many new chapters in my life. I came to 'Becoming Mrs.Juju' because it means more then many people think. Cute? Yes. But also figuratively and literally, that is what will happen on the day of our wedding and all the days following that. I will become one with him. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” (Ephesians 5:31) And no matter how long we are married for, i will never stop Becoming Mrs.Juju. Everyday i will learn something different and encounter a new decision, obstacle, or adventure. Everyday i will become a bigger part of him, of 'us'. Everyday i will become a new person, wear a new hat and become a better wife than the day before. One day, god willing i will become a mother and thereafter a grandmother. I will always and forever be mrs.Juju, but i will never stop becoming his wife, or the mother to our future children. I will never stop Becoming Mrs.Juju.

Who's a Loser?!?

I am!

I would like to report a 4.5 pound weight loss. That's right, I just shaved off a year of expansion in two weeks. I have to say its not as easy as i thought. Its a lot easier to gain than to lose, that's a no brainer. But I have to say, its nice not living with the fear that, at any given moment, my button could fly off and injure an innocent bystander. I'm being a responsible citizen.

In the last two weeks, i have been to the gym at least 10 times. I have also been making better food choices. I have been keeping a journal of everything i consume in a day, not to mention counting the calories. I have been eating about 1350 to 1500 calories a day in combination with regular visits to the gym. It has not been easy, there is a lot of temptations out there. You don't know how many times I've craved a strawberry pecan sundae from Leon's. Or wanted a second serving of carbs. BUT, i did not succumb to temptations. I do still reward myself with 1 serving of snacks, whether it be chocolate covered pretzels (yumm-o) or maybe kettle corn popcorn. I think that i have been successful thus far because i don't deny myself from having a tasty snack, i didn't cut out sugars or chocolate. I felt that if i did, the moment my palette would have a bite of the 'forbidden' fruit i would binge.

I'm happy with my efforts and results so far. I cant wait to give you another update, hopefully it will be a loss just as good as this one.

Random Ramblings

I was beyond excited when this all occurred. At this point, i have come to terms with it, have stopped smiling, and am now ready to share with you.

We bought our first Christmas tree!! Eeekk! ( oh no, i squealed. This means i wasn't ready ) It is so pretty. It is 7.5 feet tall and pre lit. I'm sure it doesn't have as many light as i would like, but nothing a couple of extra strands of lights cant take care of. We got an amazing deal on it, that's why we couldn't pass it up. We also purchased a tree skirt, one of those plush quilt-like ones, a green and red jingle bell wreath and last but not least... Christmas cookie cutters! I had to work hard to convince Juju to get the jingle bell wreath. He was afraid it would sound too much like a convenient store every time someone would come in. We decided to get it, again, great deal on that too. The cookie cutters weren't much of a battle, he likes cookies. Enough said.

The true reason for our visit to Michael's was to purchase our aisle runner, which i had been looking for weeks. Since I'm a frugal bride and will try to do a lot DIY ('DIM'-do it myself) projects, i was looking for a cloth aisle runner which i will personalize by adding our monogram, since you cant do it on the plastic ones. Oh and i was looking for a specific pattern. And now, that we have came to an agreement about the main & accent colors of our wedding, i can finally buy the paint and get started.

We also purchased a "Bowdabra" to make our bows ( for the pews ), hence the name. We bought a spool of practice ribbon to figure out what type of bows we want. lets see... what else did we buy... hm. Oh yeah, a few silk flowers to toss around a few bridesmaids bouquet ideas. I think that's it. All in all it was a very successful shopping trip to Michael's.

I'll let you know as soon as I start on my DIM projects.

Found'em!

So I have finally found the girls dresses. After a lot of dresses and a lot of laughs, Dulce, Pita & I selected one lucky dress (upon Juju's review) to be apart of our wedding.

Drum roll.... That's right, Champagne with a watermelon sash. Its still to be determined whether the sash will be worn with a block knot or bow to the back, or to the front like in the picture. I bet your wondering what happened to the green right? Don't worry, i am too.

Juju wanted champagne, i wasn't too keen on it, but once pita stood next to me in my dress, it looked incredible. I cant wait. My girls are going to look so beautiful and elegant. And they are less expensive than some of our previous choices.

Oh and let me tell you that we also booked our cake. So that's done as well. The only thing i have to take care of is the flowers. I received a recommendation for a lady who is a stay at home mom, but she runs her own flower business to continue to be foster parents. Isn't that nice? I hope everything goes well with her, it'd be nice to think that she was able to continue to foster children with a little bit of my help.

No Gym. No Way!

Today was the first day i didn't go to the gym, I feel guilty. My legs automatically went on Elliptical mode and i was walking funny for about an hour. Kidding. But on the bright side, i consumed low calorie healthy options today. I even contemplated waking up early and heading to the gym before going to work, but i just couldn't bring myself to doing it.

And tomorrow, i know for a fact i wont be able to make it. Dulce, Pita and I will be going to try on Bridesmaids dresses. This is it ladies and gentlemen, we will come to a decision on dresses tomorrow. Which we should, i mean there is only 4 1/2 months to our wedding. Oh and as we work through our commitment issues, Juju, yet again changed his mind on the dress.

Lets tally, shall we.

# of times Lorena changed her mind= 0
# of times Juju changed his mind = 2

I'm taking home the gold on this one. =-)