Happy Holidays!

Where Does the Time Go?

So much has happened in the past month - I actually can't believe I haven't written in so long. I have a lot to catch up on. Originally I thought I would just give each event it's own post, but I honestly just can't see myself doing that right now. I will try to summarize what has gone on in the past month.

On June 10, Brian passed his final exams for his Ph.D.!!! Here he is all dressed up on his big day. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and trying his best.

I hit 100,000 miles on my car. Go me!

We visited my great aunt Karen and uncle Tom in Ojai, CA and spent some time with her new horse Molly.

Our first Santa Barbara festival since moving up here was Summer Solstice, which is based off of Carnival in Brazil. Brian was a little overwhelmed with all the craziness, but overall we had a good time.

I had my dress fitting on July 3, where I spent approximately 40 minutes waiting for the seamstress, but only 10 minutes in my dress. Which I guess is a good things, since it fit perfectly.

We spent July 4th at my godparent's house and at Tim and Dorsie's new house in Lakewood.

We brought our cats up with us finally to our apartment. It has been a transition, with Cinder meowing pretty frequently when we leave the room. We are working on disciplining him with a spray water bottle.

July 9-11 was spent in the mountains of Santa Barbara at Engaged Encounter, which is a requirement for us to get married. Basically it's the Catholic Church's way of making sure you really want to get married, because no normal person would sign up for this. You show up at 7:30pm on Friday night and don't get to leave until 4:00pm on Sunday. You spend the whole time writing in a journal and listening to people cry.

Okay, so it wasn't all bad - but it was too corny for me. Because Brian and I had been dating for 4 years, we had already gone through a lot of this. Most of the couples we met had only been together for a year or two. I can see how it would have been helpful a year or two ago. What I really hated was that it felt like summer camp, sleeping in these little twin beds and sharing a bathroom between 20 women. I'm sure if we had brought binoculars we would have been able to see our apartment from where we were. It literally took us 8 minutes to get home.

So that's been my past month - and this next is going to be even more crazy with my company putting on it's annual forum. I'm looking forward to this coming Sunday, where I can finally relax!

Save the Date!

Sending out our Save the Date cards this week (Yes, I know they're a little late. Oops!) so look for them in the mail!

And here's an update picture of my office. Obviously I've got a lot more on my plate then I did before - but I like it. This Friday is the company picnic and I am very excited! I will get to meet everyone's family and Brian is coming as well.

Then we have gift registry shopping to do on Saturday at Macys...not sure how that's going to go. Seems like so much stuff to go over and no time to do it! I have no idea what I need, or what will fit in my little apartment! But all is going well...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...


3 MORE MONTHS!

Parents Come To Visit

Now that I'm all grown up, I get to play hosts to my parents in our little apartment! My Mom came to visit on May 27th, and Dad came to visit June 5th. Ironically, though they came separately, I ended up taking them to mostly the same places!

I took them both to the Zoo, to El Torito Grill for lunch, and drove down State Street to show them Santa Barbara. I took my Dad to the Mission where we looked at chalk drawings that had been done the weekend before for an annual festival. I also cooked sweet Italian sausage in the slow cooker and had that with spaghetti for dinner. I had planned to do that for Mom too, but we ate too much at El Torito.

The Zoo pictures are from June 5th when I went with my Dad, since I forgot my camera when I went with Mom. See if you can spot the baby orange monkey!

Here are the pictures from the chalk drawings at the Santa Barbara Mission. They are all on the asphalt right outside the front steps.

And here is my favorite. It looked so real my Canon PowerShot actually recognized it as a face.

I had a great time with both my parents and can't wait for them to come back! The next time they come to visit Brian will have finished his exams, and he can have some fun too. :)

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